Just Passing The Time.

(Please feel free to skip this introduction if you like. It makes little sense unless you have read my profile or Livejournal. Know only that this is ultimately a Douwata fic, and that this is going to be a long multi chapter story broken into four arcs. If long hauls aren't you thing than perhaps this story is not for you)

Lady Rouge sits in the center of her huge desk with her nose buried in a manga book. Taking a look at the title you realize that it is the latest chapter of xxxHolic. The red pearl. Of course you have read it already and my gosh didn't you squeal like a school girl when Watanuki took the initiative to flirt with his 'errand boy'.

"You give me a spoiler and I'll give you an ulcer" The girl mutters from between the pages as she points your attention in the direction of a tattered blue leather book sitting on a pile of sand in the corner.

"They are a little older in that, and I've taken some liberties"

As you make your way to the book, you wait for more of an introduction, but receive none. The young woman is too engrossed in her manga it seems.

"The mistress's worked very hard on that's" The little Pygmy creature Skrit startles you a he wanders past with a hessian sack slung over his shoulder, its contents sounding very fragile as he lets it thump to the floor. "It's going to bee's a very long one's"

You pick up the blue book and leaf through the first few pages. It doesn't seem like it has much potential, you think. If only you knew.

Skrit: "If Skrit says Disclaimers, Mistress feeds him Oranges!" The little pigmy seems very excited by the prospect. Fishing into his bag he retrieves a bottle of clear liquid and a sphere of the aforementioned fruit. "We don't eats lemons, or limes we saves them for the stories! Only Sake and Oranges!"

Lady Rouge: "I write these stories to pass the time, not as a form of profit. Clamp own these monstrosities, I'm only pulling on their fates strings and watching the consequence. I do not own their characters; I merely torture them on the weekends.

Warnings: There will be yaoi. There will not be open smut for most of this. I concentrate on the journey, not the ending. There may be violence and gore in parts, but if you could handle Tsubasa, xxxHolic and X/1999 then you should not have a problem.

"There is a price for everything. Love is no exception."

Prelude

"I'm back"

"He's sleeping"

"Still sleeping"

The quiet reply from the twins was not reassuring. With panic rising a little higher in his chest, Shizuka Doumeki kicked off his shoes and started down the hall at a quick pace. Doors passed him in a blur, and he steadfastly ignored the parts of the wall that were starting to disintegrate, revealing the empty housing lot that was the anchor for the shop to this world.

'Don't you dare leave'

Slamming the sliding door aside a little more forceful than he usually would, the amber eyed university professor narrowed his eyes at the scene before him.

Indeed Kimihiro Watanuki was in exactly the same place that he had left him, doing exactly as the girls had described. Flat on his back with hands rested peacefully across his chest, the fifteen year old body of the time stopped shop owner was still. His dark hair, just long enough to curl on his pillow showed no signs of a restless struggle and his chest rose and fell in its usual steady rhythm. Eyes closed, the boy was totally relaxed and in the deepest of sleeps, totally oblivious to the world.

That was exactly the problem.

Narrowing his eyes in anger, Shizuka crossed the room in a few quick strides and latched his hand onto the boys shoulder, giving him a rough shake.

"Watanuki!"

The boy didn't stir, but Shizuka hadn't really thought that it would work. He was pretty sure you could thump the boy with a piece of two-by-four in this state and he would not even bat an eyelid. The only reaction that did occur was for the floor beneath his feet to shimmer slightly invisible as another strand anchoring the house disappeared.

There was no helping it.

Shrugging out of his starched blazer and dropping his cobalt tie to the floor, the twenty three year old fell into the mode of his second profession. Biting down on the tip of his right hands index finger, his teeth pierced the skin easily and a rivulet of red blossomed. Careful not to spill a drop, he moved his hand quickly to the boys pale brow and hastily drew the kanji for 'Awake' in his blood. It was probably not entirely necessary to use blood, but in his anger, Shizuka did not feel patience enough to go seek out his calligraphy brushes and blessed ink. Beside due to his blood link with the boy, this method was more direct. The results would be faster.

Holding a steady hand over the boys face, Shizuka took a position kneeling beside Watanuki and began the mantra that his grandfather had passed to him. Like so many of the invaluable lessons that Haruka Doumeki had left to the future heir of his line, the words seemed almost geared toward the young seer before him.

Yume wa imamo megurite wasuregataki furusato

(Even now my dreams circle back to my unforgettable home town)

An eyelid twitched. Followed by a finger, but still Watanuki remained in his sleep.

"Baka" Shizuka muttered beneath his breath. The idiot was resisting him. Setting his weight into his knees and leaning slightly forward, the exorcist monk pulled forth a blank leaf of paper and scrawled on it hastily with his already clotting finger.

"Come back here you idiot" he whispered softly as he released the piece of paper to hover in the air before him.

Kaeru!

(Return!)

At his command the paper slammed down to seal over the persistent teenager's chest, glowing a shimmering gold before being absorbed into the boy's body itself. Another advantage of the blood link. Shizuka knew that had his blood not been inside the seer's body, the paper would have remained in the tangible world. Watanuki's powers were too strong to allow another's foreign magic into his system, even in this state.

Still it was Watanuki's call as to whether his command was obeyed. Although the monk's powers had grown to astounding levels over the years, so much so that he had even surpassed his most powerful ancestors, he knew that his power was only a shadow to the young magician before him. Much to his constant vexation no matter what the laws of magic, binding, seals, sutras and mantra's constantly preached, their effects were little more than nudges to Kimihiro.

"Damn it, don't make me come and get you"

Seconds passed, and Watanuki's face remained impassive. Sunlight streamed in from over head for a moment as the shop fluctuations opened a hole in the roof. It was gone a moment later, but it weighed the situation as serious and an adrenaline born of fear and concern flooded the last Doumeki.

He was losing him.

Gritting his teeth, the monk wiped away the Kanji on the seer's forehead and redrew 'Guide'. Fishing out another leaf of paper, he quickly wrote another word before repeating his earlier process.

Shibaru!

(Bind!)

The paper once again disappeared and the blood kanji glowed as Shizuka stilled his mind and tried to enter Watanuki's dream. When nothing happened for a moment, Shizuka closed his eyes and brushed the fingers of his left hand over the egg nestled in his pocket.

Was this the moment that Yuuko had foretold to him?

Would he finally need it?

Grasping it fully, Doumeki decided to simple use the egg as luck for the moment and dipped his right index finger into the blood on Watanuki's forehead. Perhaps he wouldn't have to use it. If he just concentrated harder he would break into the dream. A soft whimper from Moro strengthened his resolve.

'Please Watanuki… let me in'

Biànhuà!

Watanuki's rebuff was like a cataclysm. A torrent of feelings and thoughts slammed into the monk with the force of a hurricane, sending the man sprawling. A cracking sound resounded through the room as Doumeki fell and tumbled onto his side, thoroughly destroying the egg in his pocket.

'This was Destined to Happen'

Shizuka's head snapped up to attention, looking around for the owner of that voice. Had he simply imagined it? When he saw nothing, his attention went back to the shards of egg in his pocket. The egg it seemed had been dry and hollow. It was nothing but dust now.

And Watanuki was still sleeping.

The house was in serious danger of passing the point of no return. He had never seen the shop fade when Yuuko began to fail as an anchor, but he was fairly certain that the destabilization had not gone this far. Almost an entire wall was missing, and even the twins were looking slightly too bright to be stable in their earthly shells.

Watanuki would be a victim of his own ability it seemed.

'No. Not while I still breathe'

Seized by fleeting inspiration, and possibly desperate for the egg not to have gone to waste, Shizuka sprinkled the egg dust over the prone form of his best friend and slammed his hand onto Watanuki's chest right above his heart.

"Kimihiro Watanuki!" He shouted closing his eyes tight and pouring his soul into his words. "I'm still here, so don't leave me!"

Quiet in the darkness.

After a moment, Shizuka opened his eyes.

Nothing.

Then, slowly the floor beneath Shizuka solidified and become opaque. The fluctuations that had moments before danced across the walls disappeared, and on a spiritual level, the monk could feel the presence of the shop growing heavy, and reconnecting with its fraying ties.

'And it was Always, going to Happen like this'

It seemed that the master was back.