Title: "Hitsuzen"

Title: "Hitsuzen"

Summary: On his way home from a tiresome day at school, Watanuki sees a gang beat up someone. Rushing to save the poor kid, he ends up getting beaten himself. Who else is to save him but Doumeki? ( DouWata / EkiNuki fluff if you squint really hard. 8D ) Oneshot

Disclaimer: I do not own XxxHolic. CLAMP does.

A/N: This story is for Black Roses666 for helping me with my Soc. Stud. exam. Thanks dude! XD

If this is sucky, it's all because I wrote it at 2am. But once you start writing, you can't stop, right? XD (shot)

Night was fast approaching as Watanuki walked through the streets.

Being kept at school late because of some extra work he helped his teacher with was worth the grade, but the darkening sky made him feel slightly apprehensive about it.

He shook his head as he continued to walk home. "It's too late for doubting, Watanuki. What's done is done." he said to himself.

As he quietly trudged through the streets, he noticed how eerie it was at nighttime, especially if you were all alone. He clutched his schoolbag tighter as he turned left to another street.

'At least something paranormal isn't following me.' he thought to himself as he gave a furtive glance over his shoulder.

Suddenly, a scream was heard, piercing the silence. Instinctively, Watanuki ran to the source of the sound.

He was lead to a narrow alleyway, with a lone streetlamp that was the only source of light. Watanuki's eyes squinted to try and discern what had made the sound. His eyes widened at what he saw.

Three teenagers, a bit older than himself, were beating up a black-haired boy that appeared to be his age. A blue-haired teen held the boy's arms up, leaving him to thrash his legs around wildly in attempt to free himself.

The blonde-haired teen, who Watanuki took to be the leader of the gang, smirked at the struggling boy. "It's useless to do that, ya little punk. If ya don't wanna get hurt worse than ya already are, just tell me where the money is." he said as he leaned closer to the boy's bruised face. He held his chin up so that they were at eye level, bringing his face closer until they were only a few inches apart. "Got it?" he whispered, before letting go.

The boy stopped thrashing when the leader had spoken to him. He shuddered as he had gotten a few inches to his face, feeling his hot, alcohol-smelling breath. The boy's face showed confusion and much fear as he replied, "I-I don't know w-what money you're t-talking about-!! P-Please let me g-go…" he begged.

The third teen, who was a fat and ugly looking teen, seemed to be experiencing schadenfreude as the boy begged. He grinned nastily as he looked at the leader, waiting for the signal.

The leader, seeing the third teen's excitement, nodded to him with a smirk.

The third teen's grin grew as he punched the boy repeatedly on the stomach, hard. The boy cried of out in pain and coughed out some blood.

The leader smirked. "Had enough? Now are ya ready 'ta tell me where the goddamn money is?" he asked him, grabbing the boy by the hair and pulling him closer to his face.

The boy shut his eyes tightly, not bothering to respond to the leader. "P-Please…" he begged, "L-Let me g-go…" He coughed weakly as tears slid down his face.

"Ya pathetic wimp! You're gonna get it now!" the leader shouted angrily as he began his onslaught of punches and kicks to the boy.

The fat and ugly teen just laughed at the boy getting beaten up, clearly experiencing more schadenfreude.

Meanwhile, Watanuki, who grew to hate the gang of teens beating up the boy with every second that passed, couldn't take it anymore. He ran towards the blue-haired teen, who was holding the boy, at full force, intending to knock him down and free the boy from his grasp.

Amidst his running he yelled out loud, "Leave him alone!"

His figure collided with that of the blue-haired teen and succeeded in making him fall down and let go of the boy.

The boy, seeing this as an opportunity to escape, ran wildly away from the alley, occasionally stumbling.

The leader, startled by Watanuki's sudden appearance, turned from surprised to pissed, along with his other companions.

"Ya nosy punk! You'll pay for letting him escape with your life!" he shouted as he, and his companions, ran towards Watanuki and started beating him up.

Watanuki, who was still on the floor after knocking down the blue-haired teen, was unable to act quickly enough and ended up getting beaten. He tried desperately to defend himself, kicking and punching wildly, but to no avail.

Three-against-one wasn't really fair so Watanuki slowly lost the battle.

A blow to the cheek caused Watanuki's glasses to fly off his face and fall to the ground, shattered. A forceful kick to the stomach caused Watanuki to double over and cry out in pain, blood spurting from his mouth. He tasted the nasty metallic taste of blood as he clutched his throbbing stomach.

He couldn't stop himself from screaming out loud as the onslaught of kicks and punches grew. He thought that he was going to die there as his vision began to swim and the next thing he saw was darkness.

Archery practice had ended late for Doumeki. So by the time he was headed home, night had already fallen. He walked home exhaustedly, though it didn't show on his (always) stoical face.

Trudging through the streets with his bow and arrow case, a mysterious sound caught Doumeki's ear. Despite his exhaustion, Doumeki's curiosity got the best of him. He sneaked towards the source of the sound, which was a narrow alleyway.

He spotted three teenagers, a bit older than himself, beating up a familiar black-haired boy that appeared to be his age. As he squinted his eyes to try and discern who it was, he spotted the boy's schoolbag nearby. Seeing his school emblem on it, he assumed it to be someone from his school and year level.

As he thought of a plan to save the boy, his eyes wandered to his bow and arrow case. An idea formed in his head as he took out his bow and arrow, and put them into position. He stepped quietly into the light and held his weapon in position.

"Get away from him!" he yelled at the three teenagers who were oblivious to his presence until now.

They suddenly stopped kicking and punching the boy enough to turn around and face Doumeki. Upon seeing his weapon, they were struck by fear and quickly ran away from the scene, yelling in fright.

Doumeki smirked to himself as he put his weapon back in the case and quickly went towards the injured boy. As he walked towards him, he now knew why he looked so familiar.

"Watanuki!" he yelled, dropping his belongings and rushing to the boy's side.

Watanuki lay before Doumeki's eyes, beaten and bruised. He seemed to be unconscious but, thankfully, alive. His school uniform was torn at random places and dirtied by either his blood or the dirt from the ground.

Doumeki, overcome with worry, carefully picked up Watanuki, along with his (and Watanuki's) fallen belongings. Thinking it was safer for him to bring Watanuki to his place; he quickly walked to his home.

As soon as he arrived at the temple, he ran into his room and carefully laid Watanuki on his futon. He put their belongings on a nearby table and stood up.

Deciding it to be the best course of action, Doumeki sighed as he dragged his tired body to the bathroom and grabbed the first aid kit. He brought it with him as he sat on the floor beside Watanuki's sleeping form. Seeing the blood that stained his face made him angry at the gang who did this to him. Add the bruises that were already beginning to form, he was even angrier. He swore that if they broke any bones, he'd personally track them down and murder them.

His brows furrowed as his anger grew. He took a deep breath as he pinched the bridge of his nose, in attempt to calm himself. 'The important thing now is to start treating his wounds.' He kept telling himself in his head.

He sighed heavily as he began stripping Watanuki's tattered clothes off and started administering his wounds.

Hours later, Doumeki had just finished dressing Watanuki in one of his hakamas. It was one of the only things he could find that fitted Watanuki comfortably. He pulled the blanket up to Watanuki's chest and tucked him in.

He stood up to collect all the dirty things and cleaned up the surroundings. After finishing the last of the mess made, he sat down on the floor next to where Watanuki lay.

Silence filled the air as the only sounds that Doumeki could hear were the chirping of the cicadas and Watanuki's slow and rhythmic breathing. He stared at the rise and fall of the boy's chest, counting as his chest went up and down, up and down…Slowly, his eyes made their way to Watanuki's face. A few parts had bandages on them but at least not much damage had been done. As he stared at his face, he noticed how cute Watanuki looked when he was asleep. 'Almost like a child…' he thought with a smirk.

With another heavy sigh he collapsed on the floor in exhaustion. He was glad that it was all finally over. He closed his eyes and invited sleep to take him over.

Doumeki's slumber was disturbed by the sound of someone whimpering. Slightly disoriented, Doumeki sat and rubbed his eyes open. His head turned to his side to so see Watanuki reaching out to something in his sleep. Tears were sliding down the boy's face as he talked in his sleep. "Mom…dad…no! P-Please…don't g-go away again! P-Please don't l-leave me a-alone…" he said with a voice that was barely a whisper.

Realization overcame Doumeki as his brows furrowed. 'He's…crying…?' he thought to himself. He crawled closer to Watanuki and gently shook him awake. "Wake up, Watanuki! It's just a dream!" he said to him, loud enough for him to hear.

As if on cue, Watanuki's eyes fluttered open. He sat up quickly, causing his to wince in pain and clutch his sides.

Doumeki quickly withdrew himself, avoiding the possible collision. "You idiot." he told Watanuki, "Lie back down before you break those bruised ribs of yours."

Watanuki opened his eyes and turned to face Doumeki, surprised. "Doumeki…?!" he said with a confused face, "Where am I? What happened?" he asked.

Doumeki sighed. "You're at my place. And only an idiot like you would forget that he got beaten up." he replied with a smirk.

Memories of the previous night flooded back to Watanuki's mind. His face flushed with embarrassment as he crossed his arms and said, "Well I'm sorry for getting into a fight I didn't want to, Mr. I-Know-Everything."

Doumeki smirked yet again as he asked, "How'd you get into that fight? Did you do something?"

Watanuki's face turned a dark shade of pink. "No! I just saw someone get beaten up by those goons and decided to tackle one of them. I know it was stupid, but I couldn't think of anything else to do, okay?" he replied rather sourly.

"And eventually get beaten up yourself until I saved your sorry ass." Doumeki said, finishing the story, still smirking.

Watanuki flushed with embarrassment yet again. He finally noticed that there were still traces of tears from when he was crying in his sleep. He made a move to wipe them with his sleeve, only to discover that he wasn't wearing his clothes. He was wearing a light purple hakama that he figured was probably Doumeki's. His face turned a darker shade of red at this.

Doumeki, upon noticing Watanuki wiping away his tears, mumbled, "It's okay if you don't want to talk about it."

Watanuki, surprised at this, smiled to himself. Upon further inspection of himself, he found that Doumeki had also treated his wound and wrapped bandages around the necessary areas. His smile grew as he snuck a glance at Doumeki who was currently rubbing his eyes again, trying to keep himself awake.

Though he didn't want to admit it, Watanuki felt a great rush of affection for Doumeki for doing all that for him. Saving him from those goons, bringing him to his own house, and nursing his wounds. He was truly grateful (and thankful) that Doumeki was around.

After a brief period of silence, Watanuki broke it by mumbling something incoherent.

Doumeki raised an eyebrow and said, "Come again?"

Watanuki turning a darker shade of pink, looked away from Doumeki and mumbled louder, "Thanks…"

Doumeki, slight surprised at this, smirked at Watanuki. "You're welcome. But you owe me." he said, patting Watanuki's head.

Watanuki's face turned a darker shade of pink (possibly red) as he turned his head to face Doumeki and say, "Fine, fine! I'll cook whatever you want for bento next time!"

Doumeki took his hand off Watanuki's head as he smirked yet again and said, "Hmm…Anything I want…I want yakiniku with umeboshi."

"Don't pick anything that's out of season!" Watanuki yelled at him.

Doumeki sighed to himself as he covered his ears. "So loud…and you said anything."

Watanuki just scoffed at Doumeki, arms crossed.

End.

A/N: Bwah. Fear my sucky-ness. D :

Please review. : D Constructive criticism will be loved.