Disclaimer: Not mine. Never has been. How sad.. :(
It took nearly a month for Watanuki to get completely better from whatever it was that had struck him down at that time. (Yuuko had refused to answer Doumeki's questions on this, saying he "needn't know just yet.")
For the first week, Doumeki had managed to get off work, under the guise that he didn't "feel well enough" to work. Of course, Watanuki found out about this soon enough, and was mildly annoyed at the bartender for this (though he was also rather flattered, but he tried to hide that from Doumeki as much as he could, which wasn't all that much, but still..).
The slender male had demanded that Doumeki return to work, and stop worrying about him so much. Begrudgingly, Doumeki gave in to the man's wished, once said man had been able to sit upright for longer than 10 minutes at a time.
Despite this, Doumeki returned to Yuuko's place after work for the next couple weeks, staying with the blue-eyed invalid for as long as he possibly could, as if he were afraid that, at any moment, something would happen to the man again. For good reason, too, anyone could say, because seeing your loved one just collapse out of nowhere and then have to pay a price to save their life to the Witch of Dimensions, and not a hospital, is something that could very easily make one worried about said loved one to a point of paranoia.
But that didn't mean Watanuki liked it. finally, the man had told Doumeki to go home, and, at the very least, not sleep at Yuuko's place, because he would be fine. Doumeki, of course, seemed skeptical, but agreed reluctantly when Yuuko actually joined Watanuki's side, and assured him (when the two were alone) that Watanuki would be fine from now on, when it related to something like this.
Doumeki had been finishing his subpar lunch at home when he'd heard the knocking on his door a week or so later. He was a little surprised when he saw Watanuki's two other friends, Kohane and Himawari, standing outside his door. Himawari smiled when she saw him.
"Sorry to bother you, Doumeki-kun, but Yuuko-san just let us know that she's having a party to celebrate Watanuki's recovery, and she said we should invite you, as well," the woman explained, expression cheery as usual.
Doumeki only gave a small hum as a response, sliding on the shoes that sat comfortably by the door. Neither girl seemed to mind his lack of speech; Himawari because she remembered how he'd been in high school, and Kohane because she was a quiet person herself.
Still without saying anything, Doumeki stepped out of the house, locking the door behind him, and looked expectantly at the two females standing in front of him.
"Let's go then!" Himawari said, starting down the steps and down the stone walkway leading away from Doumeki's family temple, Kohane and Doumeki in tow.
Though Doumeki would've preferred to go much faster than the girls were walking as they made their way towards what Doumeki assumed would be Yuuko's shop, he matched their pace out of politeness, and his own upbringing.
As a child, his grandfather had always told him to try to protect those who didn't have the strength he had, so as to never corrupt himself, and so he would always remember that he, too, had once been a weakling. His parents, who had retired from the life of shrine keepers and now lived in the country, had continuously taught Doumeki this as he grew older, so Doumeki really had no option as to what he preferred, right now.
After all, how could Doumeki protect these two girls, who, while probably strong in their own right, were not as strong as he was, and, in the case of Kohane, younger, if he was not at least walking at the same pace they were?
Anyway, aside from all that, Doumeki had a feeling they were purposefully walking at a very, very leisurely pace, and damned if he was too blind to see it probably had something to do with him. It was not like Yuuko to send someone to fetch him, and, even if it had been for him to "protect" these girls, she would've sent him out to fetch them, and not the other way around. Really, nothing else made sense as to why he now had these two young women walking on either side of him.
Finally, after the three had been walking in silence for a while, Kohane broke the silence, bringing the group to a stop.
"Shizuka-kun," she said, voice trailing off at the end, "we've been told what happened to Kimihiro-kun... and how you saved him."
Doumeki didn't falter as he shifted his gaze to the girl, waiting for her to go on. He had a feeling he knew where this was going, as he noted the girl's even more serious than usual expression.
".... Promise.. you'll take care of Kimihiro-kun, okay?" the girl finally managed to say, grabbing onto Doumeki's left hand, and giving him an almost pleading look. Doumeki didn't hesitate in placing his free hand on top of the girl's head comfortingly.
"I promise."
Doumeki suddenly felt a light touch on his shoulder, and he turned to see Himawari by his side, looking rather relieved, and.. was that pride he saw in her expression?
After carefully examining the two females' expressions of relief mixed with pride, Doumeki couldn't help but feel he'd just been passed some imaginary torch by the two of them. Though it made sense to the golden-eyed bartender, he couldn't help but find the sensation extremely bizarre. I mean, it was two average females who weren't exactly all that athletic (from what Doumeki could tell), giving one of the most stoic of male bartenders who regularly worked out to stay healthy "permission" to protect their other fully-grown male friend, though Doumeki would concede that Kimihiro wasn't the strongest physically, either.
Had Doumeki been anyone else, he might've laughed at the absurdity of it all, but Doumeki wasn't anyone else, so he didn't even consider laughing at the situation at all. Instead, he wordlessly removed his hand from Kohane's head, turned, and continued in the direction they'd been going before, the girls walking on either side of him just like before, but this time a little bit closer.
Doumeki kept his eyes ever-forward as they walked, thoughts already on the bespectacled man they were on their way to see. Not only had he promised the two females to take care of the man, he had promised himself to do exactly the same thing. And Doumeki Shizuka always took his promises, the few that he made, very seriously.
AN: This one was long, holy crap. :o! But I kinda like how it turned out, lol. Especially the part where Kohane's like: "protect Kimihiro-kun, plzkthx." I always thought that scene in the manga/OAD was just too cute, so I couldn't resist putting it in here. And when I say cute, I mean in a totally platonic, older brother/younger sister way. I'm purely a DouWata fangirl. Lol.
I couldn't help but add the whole bizarre part in here, because it just.. is. I mean, even in canon it's a bit bizarre, and a little funny, when you think about it. Kohane was like.. what, 8 years old in canon? And it's just really funny.
[EDIT]: Totally forgot to add this before, but about Kohane referring to Domeki as Shizuka-kun. She doesn't mean it in a degrading manner, but more like she calls him that is canon, and it felt weird to write it any other way. So, she has, in fact, asked Doumeki if it's alright to call him "Shizuka-kun," and Doumeki was like: "Okay." Ehehe. Sorry if you were confused. ^^;
Also, for the whole strength thing, listen to me feminists before you freak out. I'm not saying that girls should be weaker than guys at all, or that Himawari and Kohane aren't strong emotionally, BUT, think of it this way. Doumeki, we know, is an athlete, in canon, and in this story. Neither Himawari nor Kohane, to our knowledge, work out more than walking. I believe that they'd have a decent enough amount of strength to protect themselves as much as possible when necessary, but.. I mean.. compared to Doumeki is how I'm writing this. Please don't misunderstand me. I'm all for women's individuality and all, being a girl myself, but that doesn't mean I think all girls are particularly strong, physically. I'm not, myself, but that doesn't mean I do that to be "pretty." I'm just not someone who likes working out, and I think Himawari and Kohane are the same way, ish. So.. yeah. just don't give me any inflammatory reviews about that, okay? I promise, I'm not trying to degrade women at all, lol.
Anywho, other than that. Don't forget to review any theories as to what caused Watanuki to need to be saved! I've already gotten a couple, and one may end up being what I decide as the reason. So, don't be afraid to say something, if you have something to say. I'm trying to reply to my reviewers more often, as well, because I get great ideas that way. Plus, if you happen to inspire me to write something, like a one-shot or a chapter, I'll credit you in that chapter! That's right, your screenname, at the top of the chapter, looking all fancy. Totally. So speak up! Reviews fuel my creative mind, and more creativity means more chapters/stories for you~
Also, holy crap. 40 reviews already for this. You know, there was a time when even getting 1 review was a huuuge accomplishment for me. And now, the number's been upped to 5 reviews per story. But I digress. It's all because of you guys that I've even gotten this far. :3 You guys are the best, and thank you all so much for reading this story, and for all of you who've faved it, and added it to your alerts, or added me to your alerts list. I appreciate all you guys so much. ;_;
