The Dancing Dragon
21st March 2008
Fandom: xxxHoLic
Series: The Seer
Warnings: I've written the spells in English as that is the language they were composed in, but you should take it mean that it was spoken in Japanese. Note that you will find this recurring throughout the series.

If Shizuka had been puzzled to meet Watanuki-sama on a ship, it was nothing against his perplexity at the fact that Watanuki-sama seemed to have no intention of leaving it.

Jason-san noticed the way he furrowed his brows when, a few passing crew heading off to the town that night had patted him on the back and wished him well. They were obviously aware that he would not be leaving. Naturally, he supposed that meant Watanuki-sama would not be going into town, for where the Lord went he followed. But as they made their way away…

"Dinna' ask me why they be needin' a guard when the Lord never leaves tha' Dancing Dragon," muttered one crewmember to his companion. "An' if the Lord be so precious then below deck he should be kept where the crew can keep a better eye on 'im."

"Aye," came the quiet but all too-audible reply, "The Lord's a right good person. Wouldna' want anything to happen to him."

"But what does you and I know?" agreed the first speaker, consternation in his tone. "An' I know when ta' do as I'm told."

Hmm. Well, Watanuki-sama could do what ever he pleased. But Shizuka's brow tightened as he watched them go, annoyed.

Jason-san came to stand beside him. Exchanging a nod with Shizuka before jerking his head over at the departing crew, indicating the snippet they'd over heard, "They're a good lot and usually keep their mouths shut, so don't worry they'll speak to strangers of an eccentric Lord who never leaves the ship."

The monk was not reassured.

Jason-san seemed to accept this, giving a quick smile. But then there was a firm instruction in his tone when he said, "And it's best for Kimihiro to remain on board."

Shizuka simply nodded, inwardly sighing at the way Jason-san mispronounced his Master's name. He didn't need an explanation, rather accustomed to being ignored. Resting his hand on the guard-wall, Shizuka watched the men depart, noting who went and how they moved, one eye keeping Watanuki-sama's cabin in his peripheral vision. And with a cheery wave, Jason-san was last to trot down the gangplank, leaving him and a skeleton crew on board.

It did not escape Shizuka's notice that the remaining men were mostly Asian, if not outright Japanese. One crew member, young and lithe with short-cropped brown hair, welcoming eyes and an easy smile, sauntered almost immediately over,

"Hey there!" Shizuka gave a polite acknowledging noise. The guy grinned, speaking in Japanese, "I'm Sorata Arisugawa, the ship's assistant medic and a member of the ship's Defence. I already know your name so… mind if I call you Doumeki-kun?"

"Nice to meet you, Sorata-san," Shizuka replied blandly, not yet having made his conclusions about this young man. Defence, eh? Shizuka looked him over. Regardless, it would take time for the crew to earn his trust as much as it would for him to earn theirs. This guy seemed to understand that; he seemed very friendly but was for the moment keeping to propriety for Shizuka's sake,

"Ahh, Sorata-kun will do." He grinned again, "Heck, you can even call me Arisugawa… but you know," he sheepishly scratched at his head, "It's kind of a mouthful…"

"Then, simply Sorata?"

Sorata smiled warmly, "And I can call you Doumeki?"

"Of course," Shizuka nodded, expression still plain.

"Good!" Sorata leaned over the guard-wall, folding his arms underneath himself and resting on his elbows as he watched the city lights. Angling his head over his shoulder, his voice lowered, "Don't take this the wrong way, but you should be careful with Watanuki-sama." Shizuka tensed a little, but Sorata flashed him a reassuring smile, "It's not that I doubt you. But things aboard this ship are… complicated." He reached into his neckline and pulled out a—

"Prayer necklace," Shizuka breathed. "You're a priest."

"Well, I was in training, at least," Sorata smiled. "But I left the Monastery a ways ago, and quite a while before I was asked to come aboard this ship." He grinned again, "I have a destiny. And I met a lovely lady." He gave Shizuka a happy wink, "She's the ship's lead medic though I think she'd much prefer to have my position on the Defence."

"Ahh," the monk acknowledged. He set aside the personal information for later. He instead observed, "You cannot be a priest and yet marry."

"Well, no." Sorata didn't seem the least bit regretful, if that huge smile on his face was anything to go by. He held up his hand, showing off the wedding bracelet upon his wrist. "I'm not too sorry to say I believe I made the right choice."

Shizuka said nothing. This was not the point of their conversation, and yet he also understood. Personally, he had wondered about how his parents had felt for each other; when he was returned to the shrine and met his grandfather, the old man had spoken of his own wife with the same expression in his eyes as Sorata did now.

"But being a priest isn't enough," Sorata's voice dropped a little further, warming back to his earlier words. He angled his head toward the rear of the ship; the cabin where Watanuki-sama resided. "I was sufficient enough guard for a while but now…" He patted Shizuka's arm. "I'm sure you're much stronger than I, though. You should be able to handle things much better than I ever could."

Shizuka studied the man, sensing deducing that , yes, he did possess more power. He had an idea of what Sorata meant. He gave a short bow, excusing himself from the conversation, replying with a somewhat cryptic, "Perhaps I will."

He made his way back across the deck, toward Watanuki-sama's cabin, letting himself in. The front room was empty, his hammock still hung in the corner he'd strung it up and his belongings lay beneath it. The bookcases, two tables and their chairs were all undisturbed. Pausing before the door, he extended his senses, feeling out the crew so he would know when they all went below deck.

Once finished, he crossed the room to Watanuki-sama's door, pulling a slip of paper from his robe, clipped between his extended index and middle fingers,

"Guard."

The paper rustled, lifting itself up from its natural wilt, stiffening as characters appeared to write themselves up the surface until the paper was full and it stood fully at attention. Shizuka slapped it onto the door-jam, the paper disintegrating immediately yet the characters remained glowing a liquid black a moment longer before finally fading as well.

He repeated this beside each window and the room's exit door, and as by this time the crew had disappeared below deck, he opened the door and applied yet another to the inner cradle of the door before moving on to the rest of the ship.

Shizuka applied the charms to every section of the ship at as equal intervals as he could manage, keeping to the shadows, careful to keep aware of his surroundings. He worked as quickly as possible. It would make sense for an assassin to attempt something on the new guard's first night; he would be prepared. After all, if as the Council had warned him someone had known what Watanuki was doing then they would very well know he had been Commissioned.

The idea that perhaps the enemy had managed to move quicker, might have attempted at Watanuki-sama's life while he was still on his way had bothered him his entire trip. Exhausted from his travelling or no, he was securing his territory.

In that respect, he was rather grateful his new Master wouldn't leave the ship. A controlled environment was easiest to secure. And as he valued this Commission, he would be pulling out all the stops to get it done. Sorata's warning had his guards up harder and firmer than before.

There was something going on here that he had not been warned about—

His latest charm fluttered away in the wind.

Shizuka remained frozen for a long moment, surprised. He was by the helm, the large wheel of the ship's steering mechanism merely a metre away from him, the dog guarding it poised quietly and watching. This area, the most 'core' part of the ship, seemed to have rejected his charm. Shaking his head, Shizuka decided that would be impossible. He pulled out another charm and released it, applying it to the floor near where he knelt and…

The paper crafted itself as normal, the characters glowed as they usually did, but the paper didn't disintegrate and merely refused to be stuck. The characters faded away abruptly at the moment they should shine their brightest, and the ordinary little piece of paper blew away in a flutter of wind.

Frowning outright, Shizuka poised his left hand before him, index and middle fingers sternly raised and the rest of his hand curled to brace the hand-seal.

"Reveal."

Nothing happened.

Shizuka released the hand-seal and formed another, curving his index finger to meet the tip of his thumb, the three remaining fingers gently curling,

"I seek only knowledge of where I claim as my own, I beseech you show me what another has sown."

The floor glowed faintly, a light which only gifted and trained as he in the occult arts would see. In the next moment, faded characters began to spell across the floor, multiples larger than the characters Shizuka had painted on his charms and bigger than he had ever seen. The words unfolded, a powerful warning spell which stretched across the entire floor of where he knelt.

But the characters didn't stop there. They repeated themselves over and over again, flowing over the floors and down the stairs, across the planks and up the masts. Repeatedly they multiplied until the entire ship was coated in the replicated words, until the entirety of the gigantic ship displayed the spell in all its enormous power.

Completely shocked, Shizuka thumped back on his heels. The characters faded, the request fulfilled.

Across and below from the helm, Watanuki-sama's door slammed open, the Lord's bright blue eyes snapping furious sparks even from this distance. Too late Shizuka realised that his Master would have seen the spells; the Council had told him the Lord had the gift of supernatural sight. And, he realised with an internal groan, he was sitting in a pool of light, perfectly visible as the culprit.

There was no mistaking the command in those azure eyes, glowing with a passion along the lines of, 'Come here so I can kill you.'

He got up and quickly, soundlessly, did as summoned. He would have sighed; he really was only doing his job.

TBC