This has taken its own shape after two weeks of writing and basically began writing itself….
Watanuki was this close/ to combusting. Precious Himawari-chan was at his side however and he didn't want to seem like a madman.
"Oi." Doumeki finally spoke up after Watanuki began pulling at his hair ten minutes ago.
"H-huh?" Watanuki asked turning to his two friends, his left eye twitching involuntarily.
Doumeki nodded, "Where?"
Watanuki shook his head wildly, "Everywhere."
Doumeki nodded very slowly.
What the heck? Was his neck stiff or something?
Himawari smiled and said happily, "You two are such good friends."
Watanuki, who hadn't heard, agreed with a small but noticeable nod.
Himawari stopped walking and tilted and said slowly, "So do you two have any idea where we are yet? We shouldn't go any further otherwise, it doesn't feel right." Himawari frowned as Watanuki did a 180 at almost yelled at her.
"We sh-! I mean, I am sorry Himawari-chan! I am, truly!" Watanuki waved his arms out like a crazy helicopter.
Himawari nodded and forced a smile on her face.
Doumeki lifted an eyebrow at Watanuki. Did he just yell at Kunogi? "…no." Doumeki answered he original question to break the tension.
"Me neither."
Himawari looked from one boy to the other. "So Watanuki-kun and Doumeki-kun were supposed to go to Yuuko-san's?"
Watanuki nodded, "She said we had a job to do. That's it! If she knows everything then she'll know how to get us out of here!"
Doumeki nodded, "Maybe…Or maybe this is our mission."
Watanuki stiffened, "But then why is Himawari-chan here? This is too dangerous for her!" Watanuki flailed. "We have to get her home safely!"
Himawari-chan smiled weakly, "But Watanuki-kun? How did I get here with you…?"
Watanuki thought back to it, but he couldn't remember. "I don't know…"
"She didn't." Doumeki said slowly.
Huh? "W-what are you talking about, Doumeki?" Watanuki's voice failed on him so the rest didn't come out.
"Doumeki-kun is right. This is based off of your memories…Or, it was supposed to be…Now, however, you are in an unknown place…Meaning?" Himawari said slowly.
Watanuki could see how this Himawari was not the Himawari-chan that he knew…She spoke a full sentence without getting distracted.
"That something is wrong?"
Watanuki turned to Doumeki.
"Yes. There IS something wrong with this dream…What is it?"
"…nightmares…" Watanuki breathed. "I don't know where I am!"
Doumeki and Himawari disappeared in a puff of smoke…
Watanuki was standing alone…Spirits wandering all around.
He broke out into a mad run. This was crazy! If this was just a dream, he could outrun the spirits like in real life, right?
Wrong!
He fell on the ground; a spirit wrapped its tentacles around Watanuki's leg, desperately.
This wasn't what he wanted…Well, who would? He couldn't help but ask himself.
"Oi."
He had heard the voice…It wasn't imagination…
His breath was being pulled out of his body like a vacuum. "D-…"
A hand wrapped around his wrist and yanked him of the ground, and the spirit backed away as if at gun point.
Doumeki was at his side when he looked to his right. He was being pulled again.
They were running like mad men…
"Is it still there?"
Well, Doumeki was smart enough to know Watanuki wasn't flat on the ground for his health.
"No-no, but there are more. Don't stop, please!"
That was the first time Watanuki had ever said the word please to him.
Doumeki didn't stop, even when he felt Watanuki stumble again. "Keep going!" he had said. A reassurance that he was okay…In a Watanuki way.
The running didn't stop until they were safely out of spirit range…Which happened to be on a random abandoned school roof.
"How did we get up here?" Watanuki asked in amazement.
"We ran through the door, up the stairs and to the roof."
Watanuki nodded and looked around…How do they get down, was the real question.
Doumeki walked to the fence, which blocked the edge of the roof, and looked down. "Looks like we are stuck up here for a while…The spirits really want you this time."
Watanuki turned to Doumeki. "This is just a dream. So why is it so hard to control?"
"Maybe it's because you are about to pee your pants." Doumeki suggested.
"Was that a question or a comment?" Watanuki hissed.
"It was a comment."
"Then keep your stupid comments to yourself!" Watanuki yelled, flailing and waving.
Doumeki sat down, "I want something special with lunch tomorrow…"
Watanuki frowned, "You have the attention span of a rabbit."
"You don't know how long rabbit's attention spans are." Doumeki pointed out.
"…You are just begging to get hurt." Watanuki seethed.
"Are you thinking that I did it on purpose?" Doumeki asked.
"OKAY! LETS ACT LIKE DOUMEKI SHIZUKA ISNT THE MOST ANNOYING PERSON IN THE WORD AND SEE HOW THAT TURNS OUT! BAD! YOU LITTLE JERK!" Watanuki yelled.
"That made no sense…" Doumeki said.
"Nothing is at this point…"
"On the upside, we'll be safe for a bit…"
"On the down-side, your powers don't work in this crazy dream so who knows how long we will be up here?"
"Just rest. You look like you are turning green."
"Shut up." Watanuki sat down angrily.
He wasn't feeling good…He felt like his stomach was trying to use his throat as an escape route.
"What is it?" Doumeki asked when Watanuki's thin arms wrapped around his stomach loosely.
"I think I am gonna be sick...heh, that would be like me…Get sick while in trouble."
"Calm down, it is just a dream."
Watanuki looked over at him…His glare could have been a dagger if it weren't for the stupid pain in his stomach…It was most likely just a stitch in his side…but with him, it could have been much more…
"Just a dream?" He nodded as he asked the question and stood to stretch… "If this is just a dream then why does everything hurt like hell?"
"Because everything that involves feeling has to do with your brain…If you see something painful happening to you, you automatically feel it…" Doumeki shrugged as he said it, but he seemed certain…
Watanuki nodded and smiled, "I guess that could explain everything! But seeing as you…"
He looked into Doumeki's eyes really hard…Like he was concentrating…before he turned away and frowned lightly… "But seeing as you don't ever seem to be in pain…we can't really test that theory can we?"
Doumeki watched as Watanuki started making faces, and finally he stopped moving all together…
"Watanuki?"
"Hm…"
"What is it?"
Watanuki stayed quiet for a minute and Doumeki thought he might have actually had to repeat himself…until Watanuki looked at him and said, "I'm just tired…There's nothing wrong…"
Doumeki nodded and took to staring at the sky…It was a nice day in La-la-land and Doumeki was left to wonder whether this was his or Watanuki's dream…because Watanuki's head just hit his shoulder…
It was clear that Watanuki wasn't conscious because he would have never allowed himself to touch Doumeki without flailing and yelling for a bit before finding it useless…but here he was…silent and still…
After a while of staring at the sky…Doumeki had a hard time staying awake as well…
"Doumeki…Doumeki…"
The voice was echoing in his mind, but he just wanted it to shut up so he could get some decent rest…He didn't realize how tired he was before…
"D-Doumeki…? Doumeki…"
Then there was the shaking…It wasn't a violent shaking…more of a vibrating, on shoulder…
"Doumeki, wake up! You moron…"
Ah, now he recognized that voice…It was Watanuki…
…but his voice was lacking its usual derogatory and spunky manner…Instead it was replaced with something like fear…Like he was terrified…
"D-Doumeki, I know you can hear me you big idiot…Now wake up…!"
Yes, Watanuki was right…He could hear him…But no matter what he did, he could not wake up…
"Doumeki! Please…We slept until night…Don't leave me awake and alone!"
He was standing under a street lamp…
"Doumeki I hate you and if you don't wake up now I am never making you bento again!" Watanuki's voice was shaking…He must have realized something was wrong now, too. "Doumeki…?" His voice was going getting harder to hear now…but he could just make out Watanuki saying, "Please, come back…Don't leave me here alone, please…"
He was awake…But asleep…Or maybe he had left Watanuki alone in a dream? Or maybe he was in another dream?
He was still standing under the street lamp…but now it was raining…
He must have been in a dream…I wasn't rain a while ago…That was too sudden…
Watanuki must have been splashing water on him…Or crying…
He walked from under the light and looked up at the sky…It was sunny…And it looked as if This sky was the same as Watanuki's sky…Maybe if he figured out where Watanuki was…he could find his body and get back to it…
"…If you die in a dream…Then you get out of a dream, right?" He was mainly talking to himself…so he didn't expect someone to answer
…so when someone answered…he was taken a bit off guard…
"Yes."
He almost jumped…but turned instead… "Yes?"
"Yes, to your question…If you die in a dream…You would have to in real life."
A boy was standing behind him…About ten feet away…With a smile on his face…
"Who are you?"
"…That is a good question, but I would only be able to tell you what you know…Seeing as I am only part of your subconscious." The boy smiled wider. "But, if you want, my name is Watanuki Kimihiro."
"You aren't Watanuki…"
"…of course I am. I am just the way you wish Watanuki would treat you."
Doumeki stared into the eyes of this Watanuki-want to be and waited for him to say something else.
"Oh, of course, Doumeki…I would love to help you find me. This way…Even though you weren't paying attention along the way…Your subconscious was…Right now, that's me." Watanuki turned and kept walking. After a ways of walking he pointed at a mailbox. "Recognize that?"
Doumeki did…They had passed that mailbox with Kunogi…
"Now if we keep walking a little ways we will find the spot where you found me." Watanuki turned and flashed another bright smile at him…
"So, why are you helping me?"
"I'm your subconscious…I have to…" Watanuki turned suddenly and started up a street that Doumeki knew as the street with the school they were in. "I can't have you stuck here forever, then your goal would never be reached…"
"Goal?"
"Yes, your own personal goal…That you and I only know about…" Watanuki said walking into the school.
"…I wasn't aware that I had one."
"How do you feel about Kunogi?" It was just a question…but why did it seem like it was mocking him as he let it hang in the air for a while.
"If you are my subconscious…you would know the answer…"
Watanuki smiled evilly. "And I do…but, admit it, it was fun while it lasted…Watanuki will figure it out soon enough…Maybe he won't avoid you like you secretly feel, eh?"
"…" He was starting to not like his subconscious…
"Doumeki, Doumeki, Doumeki, did you really think it would last forever? I was bound to figure it out…And then I would have to say the one thing that would hurt you the most… 'Doumeki Shizuka, you little creeper, I hate you and don't you ever think otherwise! You have a sick, sick mind!' And you would never be able to deal with that." Watanuki said slowly.
"…" His subconscious knew too much…he was using it against him and he didn't like it…
"Doumeki, what would be the worst that could happen if you just tell him?"
"He would avoid me…"
"Or he would call you a creep and act like nothing happened…"
"Either way…" He stared at his feet as he walked up the stairs leading to the roof.
"…you would get hurt…Physically and Emotionally."
Doumeki nodded. That was the worst of it…and even if Watanuki was never to know…It would still hurt…
"What if there was a chance that Watanuki would accept…? Would you tell him then?"
Doumeki looked at his subconscious with narrow eyes, "What's the catch?"
"No catch…" Watanuki said looking away as a blush crept onto his face… "I just want you to kiss me…"
Doumeki blinked…His subconscious…wanted him to kiss it? There was no logic in that…but hey; whatever got him his chance to see how Watanuki felt about him…he could deal.
He walked up to the step Watanuki was on…His face was turned away still and he was blushing, "I will…do anything…" He pulled Watanuki by the hand and brought his lips to Watanuki's in a nice…subtle kiss….
Watanuki's face flushed deeper as Doumeki pulled away… "He's on the roof…He has to give you some sort of pain to wake you…A kick or something…A pinch…"
"…thank you…" Doumeki slid his hand out of Watanuki's and walked up the rest of the steps…He was standing in the doorway when Watanuki came up behind him….
"Right there…" he pointed to the place Doumeki remembered being…
Doumeki stood over by it…but found that something was different…
Watanuki put a hand on his shoulder… "He is still trying to wake you…" He frowned and turned to the edge…It was close…and something was still missing…He was racking his brain, but nothing was coming…
It wasn't until Watanuki pushed him off the side of the building that he realized the fence around the edge was gone…
His eyes opened and he was staring into a mass on silky black hair. He turned his head…It was daylight now…Which meant Watanuki must have cried himself to sleep…
He moved. "Doumeki?" It was said quietly, but he heard it…The concern that accompanied his name.
"Yeah…"
"…You're okay? Y-you wouldn't wake up before?" his voice was breaking…He had to clear his throat three times… was he wiping the tears from his eyes?…He must have been because his head was still resting on Doumeki's chest…
"I'm fine now…"
"Why wouldn't you wake up…?" Doumeki could tell by the way his voice was shaking that his eyes were about to start leaking again…
"My subconscious wouldn't let me…" was all he could say at the moment…He was too distracted with Watanuki's other hand absently rubbing his hand…
"Your sub…." Watanuki was getting up now…His face was flushed and his eyes were red. Maybe he hadn't slept and had just collapsed on Doumeki in exhaustion… "You got locked in your own mind…by your own mind…?"
On any normal day Watanuki would have broken down in laughter at the thought of Doumeki being locked away by his own mind…But seeing as this wasn't any normal day…he just stared down at Doumeki…
"Yeah, it wanted me to confess something to myself…" Doumeki felt his breath coming quick at the way Watanuki was looking at him…
"I-I thought you were dead…A-a-and it was…I was scared…Do you now that I sat here all night scared by myself…I couldn't even go to sleep…I literally watched the sun rise…Whatever it was that you learned better have been pretty damn important for me to have to be alone for more than seven hours!"
There was Watanuki…
"It was…I didn't mean to let you be here by yourself…" Doumeki scratched his head and frowned…It hurt like hell…His subconscious would pay for this…Somehow…
"…you didn't? I mean…You…" Watanuki looked away and exhaled sharply… "You wouldn't have if you had the choice…"
Doumeki nodded in agreement.
Watanuki looked back at him and his face flushed a darker shade of red…
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine…Can I ask you something, though?" Watanuki asked, his face still as red as before…
Doumeki nodded…
"You said just a while ago…That you didn't particularly like Himawari-chan…" Watanuki was staring at his hands now… "Why did you say that?"
"My subconscious asked me…"
Watanuki looked up in bewilderment, then at his hands once more… "Oh…"
He was being extremely quiet for Watanuki…and he wasn't asking Doumeki what it was he was supposedly confessing to himself…That wasn't very Watanuki like…
"Are you okay?"
"Tired…but we have something to do here and I-…" Watanuki broke off so suddenly that Doumeki had not doubt of what was coming next and caught Watanuki before he could hit the ground…
Doumeki laid him down gently…then looked over the edge of the roof…The spirits were gone, at least…
"Watanuki…" Doumeki said leaning down next to him and putting a hand to his forehead. At least it really was just exhaustion…He watched Watanuki carefully…
"Sh…" He held up hand and rested it on Doumeki's forehead…
"Watanuki…"
"Sh." He broke out into wild giggles then…
Doumeki stood and picked up Watanuki, who was still giggling, and started back to ground level.
"Doumeki~" Watanuki looked up at him… "Doumeki…"
"Hn…" Doumeki looked down at Watanuki as he walked.
"Doumeki~!" He wrapped his arms around his neck and pulled himself up a little. He began whispering in Doumeki's ears. "Go to sleep…Doesn't that sound so pleasant right now?"
Well…Doumeki couldn't argue with that…but he could argue that now wasn't the time…
"Join me…Doumeki…Let's just got to sleep…Sleep." Watanuki kept saying softly in his ear.
"Stop…" Doumeki said trying to nudge Watanuki away with his shoulder.
"Sleep then…" Watanuki giggled… "Please…?"
And how exactly was he supposed to say no to that?
"You idiot." He hissed against his own will…Watanuki was pulling at his collar now and softly licking his neck. What the…?
"Doumeki…." Watanuki leaned back to look into Doumeki's eyes before pulling himself up and kissing Doumeki softly on the lips.
Doumeki almost dropped Watanuki as Watanuki kept the kiss going; nervously kissing the sides of his mouth and finally…
"Doumeki!" Watanuki said slowly.
"Hmn?" Doumeki asked breathlessly.
"Why are we outside of Yuuko-san's shop?" Watanuki asked.
"…" Doumeki turned and looked to his….right….and saw those two posts that he wasn't able to go through before…and the shop a good distance away…
"I think I should go get Yuuko-san…Wait here…" Watanuki sat up and started to get up.
Doumeki grabbed his hand, "Wait…"
Watanuki looked down at him before sliding his hand slowly out of Doumeki's. "I'll be right back,…we can talk then…" And with that he stood and walked away.
Doumeki didn't have to wait long, Watanuki was back in the blink of an eye.
"Yuuko-san says I should tell you to come in and we can eat first…" Watanuki reached down to help Doumeki up and out of his sitting position. "Maybe I can make something you want…Since you got me out of that safely and all…"
"I wouldn't expect anything less…" Doumeki said accepting the help.
"Here I am trying to be nice-Do you HAVE to be a damn bastard about everything, eh?" Watanuki yanked Doumeki up onto his feet and continued his rant. "I mean, why can't you just leave things as they are while I'm being nice? Why do you always have to have the last damn word, eh?"
He stared at Doumeki, expecting some wise ass retort and when it didn't come he narrowed his eyes at Doumeki… "What?"
"…" Doumeki didn't say anything, but stared down at his hands…Which were still in Watanuki's own hand.
"Oh,…well…I was distracted…And you didn't remind me …" Watanuki blushed, and rambled. "And you…And me…I, uh…"
Doumeki leaned forward and kissed Watanuki lightly and gently on the lips…
It was over too quickly, but he didn't want to give Watanuki too much time to think about it…If he did Doumeki would have been bodily injured by now.
So he pulled away…When he looked at Watanuki, he saw a strange needy and desperately confused expression on his face. He really didn't understand…
But he understood the feelings in his own heart…So he did what his heart said to do next… "Get the hell over here…" Watanuki grabbed Doumeki by the collar and yanked him forward, bringing his lips to his own again…It was his turn to initiate it.
And Doumeki took no time to follow through with the rest…
"Ah…" Watanuki reluctantly pushed away. "I guess we should just…go in now…You look like you lost weight since lunch…"
Doumeki smirked as he watched Watanuki rant about how endless Doumeki's stomach was…
THE END