Three days. It had been three days since the Culture Festival and Watanuki had never felt more ostracized and upset in his life. The only people that would talk to him were Doumeki, Himawari, and oddly enough, Konoo. The boys would jeer at him as he passed in the halls and the girls would merely glare at him and gossip behind their hands in that annoying and upsetting way they had.

He had taken to eating on the roof again, like he had before he had met Himawari, Doumeki, and Yuuko. Doumeki never asked why he chose to eat up there, but soon it became a foursome, instead of a sometimes-threesome affair. Konoo joined them, after apparently having followed Doumeki one time, and Himawari showed up far more often than she ever did before.

Perhaps they meant to comfort him, but he didn't think they noticed his treatment. The school acted the same when he was around them; it was only alone that he could feel the gazes, pointing fingers, and unhealthy glares. And as cliché as it sounded, negative feelings such as that often drew Imore/I spirits, which didn't help his mental or physical state at all.

All in all, he wished that the day of the Culture Festival had never happened.

bI~*~*~/b/I

"I can't stand it, Yuuko!"

Yuuko watched as Himawari paced in front of her. Watanuki had gone home and as usual, her lover showed up. But tonight, Himawari was in one of her rare bad moods. The strands of her hair, not in their usual design when she was in school and was loose to curl around her shoulders, practically radiated with fury.

"What is it?"

"The whole school is alienating and picking on Watanuki! He doesn't think we know about it, but I know very well. I know that Doumeki knows too! He's far more observant than Watanuki gives him credit for."

The dimensional witch sipped her sake. "You should have known that would happen. Same sex romances, in reality, are very hard to accept for a lot of people; not to mention the fact that Doumeki-kun is extremely popular and now it's been show that not only is he dating someone, it's another guy who nobody noticed before now."

Himawari chewed on her nail a little, still pacing, even while Maru and Moro had fun playing with the ribbons she had worn that day. "There has to be something we can do about it."

"Well, part of the fault that it's getting so out of hand is Watanuki," she replied. "He naturally runs away instead of resolving conflicts. If he kept his head high and proud, ignoring it, then it probably wouldn't be so bad. But what does he do instead? He runs away, hiding from them, which only encourages them."

It seemed to give Himawari and idea and she grinned. "I know!"

"What is it?"

"Konoo-kun!"

"You mean the captain of Doumeki's archery team?"

"Absolutely!"

"Interesting idea," she murmured, sipping her sake. Konoo Kusanagi was a very interesting character that she chose to use to her advantage. He was also a wild card and it was difficult to tell what he would do at any given circumstance.

This was proving to be quite entertaining.

bI~*~*~/b/I

"Oi, why won't you tell me?"

"Tell you what?!" Watanuki demanded as he and his boyfriend were currently in his apartment studying. His temper had grown a whole lot shorter after the harassment he was receiving and he was liable to yell a lot more than he used to.

"That the kids at school are bothering you."

"IIf you know then why are you asking me?!/I" he yelled automatically, even while his mind pondered the fact that somehow Doumeki had known about it in the first place.

"Because I was waiting for you to tell me." There was a pause. "Kimihiro, you rely on me with the spiritual stuff, but why won't you rely on me in any other way?"

"Aren't we supposed to be studying?!"

"Answer me."

"No."

"Answer me."

"IWill you shut up?!"/I"

"Answer me."

Doumeki's stubborn insistence, the fact that it didn't seem to matter what he said, grated on his nerves. Just how was he supposed to deal with this whole situation?! First the kids at school and now even his boyfriend was harassing him.

"Damn it, just leave me alone!" he yelled. "I can take care of it myself! I don't need your protection!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, he realized what a mistake he'd made. Doumeki's mouth fell into a hard line and the book was snapped closed. Watanuki floundered as suddenly his boyfriend began packing up his school supplies. "Fine. I'll see you tomorrow then."

He was frozen to his spot, unable to stand or reach out for his boyfriend and pull him back and when he heard the door open and close, he knew he'd lost his chance. He was such an idiot! Why did he have to take it out on Doumeki? He'd only wanted to help him; he only loved him…

That night, the bespectacled boy cried himself to sleep.

bI~*~*~/b/I

The next morning, Doumeki wasn't speaking to him. He didn't know where his boyfriend had gone or when he had come back. By the time he had fallen asleep, the apartment had still been quiet. This wasn't like just getting away from each other for a night and meeting in school the next day, all better. Doumeki's parents had kicked him out of the temple when he had made it no secret that he was in love with a boy.

Conversation between them as they walked to school was nil except for one question ventured by Watanuki and received such a cold answer that he didn't dare attempt any more after that.

"Why have you never hid our relationship?"

"Because it's no one else's business."

Doumeki wouldn't even look at him and Watanuki had never felt so lonely before, even though his boyfriend was walking next to him.

Classes were hell as always and he barely endured the day, as he had been the last few since the Culture Festival. And for some reason, he ended up eating lunch alone. Doumeki wouldn't come, Konoo was nowhere to be found, and Himawari had been seen speaking with her friends. He could only stare the expanse of the blue sky above him and wondered what he had done that was so wrong that he was being punished like this.

He'd never been so happy as he was with Doumeki, no matter how much he might yell at him or get angry. He felt so unreasonably upset when Doumeki was angry with him and out of sorts. No matter what he had done in the past, no matter how he yelled or got in scrapes, Doumeki had never been mad at him before. It was a whole new feeling that every beat of his heart was painful and without Doumeki there, he began to wonder for what reason did he endure all the jibes from his classmates.

What was he talking about? It wasn't like they'd broken up, right? He just had to go and talk to Doumeki about it. Grabbing up the bento, which he hadn't really eaten and only picked at, he headed toward the archery range, trying to be as stealthy and unnoticeable as possible. He'd avoided the place since the Culture Festival, but it was the only place he thought Doumeki might be.

Oddly enough, the club area seemed to be deserted except for a lone figure. Just one glance was enough to tell him that it was not Doumeki. Doumeki, while tall, was not that tall and if he could say so, far more dignified than the outline he saw practicing.

"Konoo-kun?"

The arrow was let loose and it hit the bulls-eye before Konoo turned and smiled. "Watanuki-san, what are you doing here? Doumeki-kun's not here, if you were looking for him."

"Oh," he muttered, deflated.

A hand touched his shoulder and he blinked, surprised that he hadn't even noticed Konoo move. "Is there something worrying you? You haven't been yourself lately. You seem to be hiding a lot on the roof."

Watanuki shrugged and went to sit down on the edge of the firing range. "Doumeki and I had a fight last night."

"Let's hope it wasn't over the fact that you're still calling him by his last name," Konoo joked and sat down next to him.

He flushed. "No, I call him by his first name."

"Just not when anyone else is around, right?"

There was silence for a bit, but Watanuki felt compelled to talk. As if it was Konoo's very aura that invited people to confide in him. "Am I in the wrong, Konoo-kun? Things just haven't been right since the Culture Festival."

Konoo's brown eyes watched him for a few more seconds. "Possibly. I'm going to tell you the truth, Watanuki-san. You honestly expected Doumeki-kun to kiss someone, didn't you? That hurt Doumeki-kun. You didn't trust him and you also wanted to hide your relationship. Just because of that, Doumeki-kun had to do such a drastic measure in direct contrast to what you were doing."

"How do you know him so well?" he whispered, suddenly feeling depressed. Did he really know his boyfriend at all? Sure there were some things only he knew, but that was hardly any consolation.

Konoo laughed a little. "Well, let me tell you an interesting story that I've been watching for a long time. There was once a boy who entered this high school named Doumeki Shizuka. He was a natural on the bow and won a lot of competitions, but had no friends. Then another boy showed up named Watanuki Kimihiro. These two were like night and day. Where Doumeki-kun was stoic and friendless, Watanuki-kun appeared to be friendly and lively. For some strange reason, though, when these two met, they ended up fighting and not speaking to each other. Then several months later, suddenly they became inseparable. Despite Watanuki-kun's yelling and insistence that they hated each other, it appeared as if Doumeki-kun really cared for the boy next to him and they became friends. You see, Watanuki-kun really only relaxed and could argue and yell and be himself around Doumeki-kun so everyone could see how great friends they had become."

Watanuki felt very awkward, but his sapphire eyes were riveted on the captain of the archery team, who seemed not to mind at all. The avid way he talked, the friendly demeanor, even how he earnestly seemed to want to help…Hearing about his relationship with Doumeki from a completely outside point of view was, not to put to fine a point on it, intriguing.

"Then one day, Watanuki-kun decided to make Doumeki-kun lunches and always seemed to make Doumeki-kun's lunch what he asked for, even when he yelled that he wouldn't. Soon it became so that you thought it was unnatural when they were Iapart/I instead of together. As time went by, it became obvious that Doumeki-kun was beginning to fall in love with his companion. And much to the joy of both of them, his feelings were reciprocated. But Watanuki-kun wasn't comfortable with their relationship and was afraid of a lot of things: rejection, opinions, even of the love itself, as if he thought he wasn't worthy of it. Then they had a big fight over it and began to not speak to each other."

"How does the story end?" he asked, somewhat breathlessly, feeling as if tears were gathering at the corners of his eyes.

"I don't know," Konoo answered in a soft voice. "Watanuki-san, I've been watching Doumeki-kun for a long time now. He was never close to me, but I've always felt like an older brother to him. He's not the kind of person who finds shame in this kind of relationship. He loves you and doesn't care who knows about it. The fact that you do bothers him. It makes him think that you're ashamed of it, of him."

"But I'm not!" Watanuki protested. "It's just that…!"

Konoo held up his hands in a placating manner. "I know, I know, but if you don't talk to him, how is he supposed to know that?"

IYuuko lifted her pipe to her lips and shrugged. "Watanuki, if you don't tell Doumeki-kun what you're feeling, how is he supposed to know? He's not a mind reader, you know."/I

It was just like Yuuko had told him and he gripped his hair in frustration. This wasn't fair! Why was it always Ihis/I fault?! Why could Konoo know all these things about Doumeki and not him?!

"It's because I've known Doumeki-kun a lot longer than you. Even before we entered high school."

That might be true…wait…he hadn't said that aloud. Slowly, he lifted his head and his pupils contracted in fear. He tried inching away, but that hand touched his shoulder gently. He winced and it was only because he did actually like Konoo that he didn't start running in fear.

"Don't be afraid, Watanuki-san. I think I have something that you might understand, being like you are." There was an embarrassed smile on the captain's lips. "I'm a telepath, medium-strength. Sometimes your thoughts are just so strong to get past my defenses; other times…I open up my wards to let whatever thoughts you're thinking in. Everyone's like a radio. It's not like in books where people who are telepathic get to go into people's heads or not. Thoughts just come at you."

Watanuki slowly relaxed. He did understand strange gifts like that. After all, he had the gift of attracting every damn spirit in the entirety of Japan. Besides, he couldn't really be afraid of Konoo, not when he held such a welcoming smile.

"I hope that I was able to help you out some. I think that your best solution is to just talk it out with Doumeki-kun. There's nothing you do about the school, I think it was just a shock to them. But if you don't have Doumeki-kun, then what is the purpose of enduring what they're saying, right?"

"Thanks…Konoo-kun," he murmured and stood. The bell signaling the end of lunch was going to go off any minute.

b End /b