Cat Skin

a xxxHOLiC fanfiction by Wyrdley

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Notes: PG-13 for violence and language. Release date – September 20, 2005. This one is a little short, I'm afraid, but things will begin moving along quickly in the next part.

Disclaimer: I do not own xxxHOLiC, but I do own any original characters that may appear in this story. Please read the original books by CLAMP, because they rock.

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Part 4

Shizuka felt his raised pulse skip as he dove for the fallen bow. As he saw the monster paw roughly at a limp Watanuki, he forced the end of the bow into the cool ground, fumbling for the string coiled neatly on the tip. The archer pulled it loose and flexed the weapon, and the thing's mouth opened, revealing both porcine tusks and lupine fangs—

The lucky cat shot out of a shadow and drove needle-fine claws into the beast's uninjured eye, hissing as it tore into the malevolent flesh. The monster squealed and batted at its own head as it tried to shake the feline free. Shizuka fitted the string to his bow and raised it to his cheek.

The cat noticed this and leaped free of the thing's head—

—and landed on Shizuka's left hand, its claws piercing the skin. Letting out a curse, Shizuka's grip on the bow failed and the tensed weapon rebounded towards his face, striking him on the side of his head. He fell backwards onto his back, shaking the damned cat away. It scrambled away, where to, Shizuka didn't care, but he was personally going to rip its hide off himself when he had a moment.

Wincing, he stood up and aimed his bow again—

The creature was gone. Watanuki was moaning on the edge of the porch and rubbing his arm; Shizuka spun and scanned the dark grounds of the temple with his keen eyes and caught just the slightest bit of movement at the gate. The monster was dragging itself away in an unsteady line, unable to see well out of its damaged eyes. Lips pressed together grimly, Shizuka pulled on the string.

And the damned cat bit his ankle. Hard. Shizuka dropped his stance and kicked it aside. "What the hell are you doing?" The monster vanished from view and the cat, unaffected by Shizuka's abuse, scampered after it. When it realized neither Shizuka nor Watanuki was following it, the cat stopped and hissed at them.

Shizuka ignored it and turned his attention to Watanuki. The idiot was slouched on the ground and peering around, obviously dazed. The archer didn't like the way he was favoring his left arm and knelt next to him, staring at his eyes to see if they were dilated.

Watanuki's pupils seemed fine, but his eyes revealed that he hurt. "Hey, anything broken?"

Those blue eyes slowly turned in his direction, not glaring for once. "Don't think so, but it feels like that thing tried to use my arm to floss its teeth." He shivered as Shizuka's hand reflexively touched him arm. "Bastard! Don't do that." Watanuki moved away from him and did his best to stand up straight. He leaned against one of the porch's supports, his clouded eyes becoming annoyed slits. "It'll be fine. Did you get that thing?"

The cat hissed at them and twirled in place, impatiently. Shizuka let his face become expressionless as he regarded the damnable creature. "The cat stopped me. It escaped." His left hand twinged as it gripped the bow murderously.

"Huh? Why?" Watanuki's voice lost its irritation in his shock. "I thought you wanted us to catch the thing that was hunting the lucky cats down!" he cried out to the cat. The cat nodded, then moved towards the gate, peering over its shoulder. "I don't get it," the boy mumbled, then stumbled towards the cat, then stopping as he realized he had taken his shoes off.

The archer thought a moment. "The cat wants us to track that thing," Shizuka said, "to wherever its den is." He stepped back up to the temple to fetch his arrows. "Find my sandals, idiot."

"WHAT?"

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It didn't take long for the boys to find the creature's trail again. It was moving so slowly that the cat had stopped in its tracks so abruptly when they caught up to it that Shizuka nearly tripped over the thing. They had been creeping cautiously after it ever since, not speaking to each other. Shizuka could feel a bruise developing on his face from where his bow had hit him.

School was going to be interesting tomorrow. He wondered what sort of rumors would erupt when both he and Watanuki came to school with their various bumps and bruises.

He wondered what his father would say. Shizuka had never revealed his exorcistic abilities to the man, simply because he didn't want to shame him. His father hadn't inherited the ability to turn away evil spirits and had always seemed somewhat insecure about it. Shizuka knew that it pained the man to perform temple services—he wondered if it was because he felt like a fraud.

Would his father be proud of the fact that Shizuka used his abilities to protect Watanuki? Or would he feel threatened by it? Shizuka wasn't sure. The man tended to condescend to people with spiritual gifts without really noticing he was doing it.

Shizuka put the thought aside and listened to Watanuki breathing harshly next to him. The idiot was limping and a few beads of sweat stood out on his forehead. Shizuka had been so focused on the smaller boy's arm, he hadn't really noticed he was moving with an uneven gait.

He stopped walking. The cat glanced at him curiously and Watanuki staggered to a halt. "What's wrong?" Watanuki asked.

"Your leg. When did it get hurt?"

"Oh, I tripped over the cat when I first found her. I banged my knee on the ground."

Shizuka wondered why it was called a "lucky cat." "Do you need to come? If we run into another one of those things—"

"I'll be fine." Watanuki's blue eyes scowled at Shizuka stubbornly. "My presence was part of the lucky cat's bargain with Yuuko-san. Lay off." He began walking again, forcing his sore knee to support his weight.

"Idiot."

"Shut your hole. Why should you care? Just make sure you don't miss when you shoot."

So Shizuka shut up, but he kept a close watch on Watanuki. The ungrateful jerk.

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To be continued…

Reviewers:

Akabeko: Heh. I checked out your website. Loved the rant on Fangirl Japanese. I was very entertained.

Spellcaster Hikaru: Well, Fei Wang doesn't figure into this fic at all. If you think the little piggie-thingy was creepy, you're gonna love what's coming next. As for Watanuki's relationship to Clow, you should check out both Laurus Nobilis and Hiragizawa's livejournals. They're both huge Clow fans.

The Violent Tomboy: It's okay.

SilverShiningStar: Glad you like. I try to update about once a week, so keep tuned in.

Laurus Nobilis: Thanks for the kudos. I try to writeaction sequenceslike they're going to be made into a movie, so I try to keep the action as simple and clear as possible, without going overboard. The effects of the cat's price will become clearer later on.

Korie: Thank you for the review! I've been researching a bunch of different things for this series... Just you wait. I've already got a few more stories in the planning stages. And, no, Watanuki is not an archer. I hope this part made that clear.