Chapter 2: Wishful Assassin
It's a freezing winter night and Ueno Park is covered by spirits and mist. They are all staring at him, silent and unmoving, some of them wear outfits that must be centuries old, even samurai armours and Edo courtesan dresses. Some of them move their lips silently as if trying to say something urgent, but whispers are all Watanuki can hear through the veil of time and wind.
It's like walking on a neglected graveyard. His stomach is turning, his brain is shutting down. The spirits' destiny lines, thick and thin, unroll from their pinkies and converge like spider webs to the roots of a single gigantic Sakura tree.
Doumeki, who can't see anything but dormant vegetation and snow in the night, squeezes Watanuki's hand just like Yuuko told him to do. He asks quietly, stoic voice rising like a wave of normalcy over Watanuki's mounting panic. "Where?"
"Up there." Watanuki says, pointing at the mother of all Sakura trees, blossoming luxuriantly in the winter's night, beautiful flowers painted pink with blood. This time Doumeki can see it too. His eyebrows frown slightly and his grip on Watanuki's hand grows tighter.
They draw closer as the congregation of spirits step back as if they were royalty, forced away by the natural repellent that is Doumeki. Watanuki reaches out for the majestic Sakura, shaking hand hovering over the ancient bark, as if afraid of getting burn.
"I don't understand." Watanuki whispers. "It feeds on all these spirits and deaths – it's still feeding. Shouldn't I be coughing my lungs out? There is so much mist. But it is grey. Always grey. Yuuko would know…"
"Why should she stink and make you cough, young man? Sure you know better than that."
It's a disembodied, sensuous male voice. It feels real and yet it feels like it's coming from every one of Watanuki's bones.
"It only feeds because it's hungry. It's no more malevolent than a Siberian tiger. No more malicious than a typhoon. No more brutal than time itself. It only does what it was born to do."
Watanuki and Doumeki raise their eyes and find a man perching peacefully on one of the tallest branches. He wears a black trench coat and sunglasses, of all things, and he is smiling as calmly as an enlightened monk or a miscreant on opium. The grey mist is much thicker around him, enveloping his tall body like a blanket. With a swift movement, he drops from the tree and lands on perfectly waxed leather shoes, followed by a rain of Sakura petals. Watanuki doesn't have a chance to draw back because Doumeki has already pulled him behind himself, protecting him with his own body and soul.
Creepy and intense, the man doesn't draw closer, but doesn't stop smiling either. Watanuki, realises with horror that he can like this man if he tries, love him even, and die with a smile on his face while he feeds him to that beautiful tree.
Siberian tiger and typhoon. Time itself. He only does what he is born to do.
"I'm the former Guardian of the Sakura Tree's Tomb." The tall man announces, lighting a cigarette and dragging on it with deep pleasure, curling tobacco smoke melting in the ghostly mist. "What are you fascinating young men doing here?"
"Ichihara Yuuko." Watanuki stammers and the man's urbane smile becomes a sharp grin of recognition.
"Never forgets a good sell, does she?" He sighs jovially. And before Watanuki can answer that the man shoots upwards back to the tree. There is a tiny rain of pink petals and the man drops again. This time with a tiny, frail-looking Sakura shrub in his black gloved hands, ball roots carefully wrapped with a white blanket.
"Tell her it must be planted during Spring. Until then the roots must not be exposed to the light of the sun under any circumstances. It must be watered and, most importantly, it must be fed regularly." Stretching his arms, he offers the frail baby plant to Watanuki. The boy gingerly leaves his safe place behind Doumeki to accept the offering with a respectful bow.
That seems to please the man endlessly. The man grins so charmingly it makes Watanuki's legs weak to the point he forgets Himawari-chan completely.
"It was really hard to persuade the Sakura to part from it." He comments, his voice dropping to a lower timbre, his ubiquitous smile pulling sideways.
"T-thank you." Watanuki stammers politely, and before he can step back, the man touches his pinkie lightly, sending freezing shivers down his spine and an almost sexual gasp out of his mouth.
Doumeki steps forward and clutches Watanuki's shoulders so brutually it hurts, but the man has already stepped back, looking really amused.
"You can't move that finger anymore, can you? That has just saved your life. Your boss is very shrewd indeed. Please do tell her to not get too mad at me. You are way too alluring and I had to try."
Doumeki is fast, but he is not as fast as an extremely qualified professional assassin, which is probably why Watanuki ends up being kissed. The man's lips pressed gently to his, teasing and delicious and domineering and…
As if nothing ever happened, the man draws back while both boys stare at him in shock and horror, although Watanuki is not half as horrified as he knows he should be and that only makes him even more horrified.
The man licks his lips like a naughty child and looks at them longingly. Watanuki can't tell if he just misses company or is considering murder axing them, but he realises that doesn't make any difference.
"What did you wish for?" cuts in Doumeki bluntly, killing the mood like a fallen piano.
Watanuki winces, but the man is unfazed and joyful as always.
"Well that's sort of embarrassing." He says as he drags on his cigarette, not sounding embarrassed at all. "I wished for True Love. And I wished for a successor. It was the same wish, really." He grins and adds with a certain pride in his voice. "If you ever meet him, be careful, my intriguing young men. He is much more dangerous than I ever was – he has a conscience, you see."
Taking another drag on his cigarette, the man leans on the tree bark, raises his sunglasses and winks playfully at them. Wish a shudder, Watanuki looks away so he won't stare at the man's pair of milky white eyes.
"If he ever finds out you can see me, he will never let you go. He has hundreds of questions to ask me, but not a single one I intend to answer."
Tigers, and typhoons, time itself. True Love and successors. Watanuki buttons his coat up to his chin, takes a last look at the mysterious Sakura tree and it's faithful guardian, and decides it is high time to return to his relatively simpler life.
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Note:
Sometimes Doumeki sees things after Watanuki has seen them. Especially after the whole eye incident. I've shamelessly taken advantage of that.