An XXXHolic/Hikaru no Go X-over
By Lady Addiction
WWWW
CHAPTER 6: DOUBTS
Watanuki was the first to stumble to him, crawling. He didn't have his glasses and his eyes seemed enormous in the darkness of the room. "Shindou, Shindou, are you alright?"
Shindou was breathing rapidly, his fists clenching in his lap. "I'm okay, I'm okay," he repeated.
There was a sudden flare of yellow light and the smell of sulphur came upon them. Doumeki approached carefully, carrying a lit paper lantern. Mokona was cradled drowsing in the crook of his left arm. "Did it work?" the boy asked.
Shindou rubbed his hands on his face. Watanuki reached out to pat his back, half-afraid that his hand would pass through. To his secret delight, it didn't and he awkwardly tried to rub the other boy's back. "I'm fine, Watanuki. And yes, it worked. It was incredibly hard though. It was so hard to think so slowly, and he sounded so far away!"
"What did he say?" Doumeki continued the interrogation.
"He said something about the game with the River-God, and how he came out of the river from which he drowned. He says the river was only half as big as it was one thousand years ago, and that it had rocky banks and bamboo groves. He also mentioned something about a well and a shrine. Then he screamed. He screamed," Shindou repeated in a whisper, his face visibly haggard from the shock. "I think, I think the tanuki did something to him, but I couldn't see anything. I can only hear his voice."
"Well, that narrows it down," Doumeki replied calmly. "I'm sure there are only a few rivers that would have all of these things together." He looked at a clock set on the wall. "It's a little past five. Do you want to go back to sleep?"
"No," Shindou replied firmly. "You guys can sleep, but if Mokona can help me turn the pages, I want to take a look at that map book you have."
Mokona bounded over to him and grabbed Shindou's right index finger. "Mokona will help all Mokona can," it said sincerely. Shindou smiled at it. "Thanks, Mokona. I appreciate it
Watanuki rubbed at his face. "I might as well stay awake, too. Let me find the way to the kitchen and I'll see if I can prepare a bit of a snack and coffee for us." He crawled back to his futon and blankets, fishing out his glasses, then stumbled out of the room.
"I'll freshen up," Doumeki stated before following Watanuki.
Shindou hugged his knees, Mokona a comforting warmth on his shoulder. "Mokona knows that we'll save your friend," it whispered to him. "Watanuki and Doumeki and Mokona will help! Everything will be alright."
The boy's smile was wan. The echoes of Sai's pained shriek still lingered in his mind, if not in his ears. "I hope you're right, Mokona, I hope you're right."
555
To Shindou's great annoyance, they had to wait until nightfall to begin their quest. While Watanuki had showed up to class (and had a leisurely conversation with his beloved Himawari-chan), Doumeki had skipped classes to scout the five potential locations they had managed to locate. He took Mokona with him. He had returned triumphant in the late afternoon saying that Mokona had found a matching location with great spiritual activity.
When Watanuki had returned to the temple, he had found Shindou pensively sitting at the temple's front porch. Apparently, the boy-spirit had made his way back to his body just in time to hear the doctor telling his parents and a friend of his named Touya that his body's vital signs were faltering. Watanuki sat beside him, only able to offer a listening ear as his companion ranted about how frustrated he felt, standing there and not being able to tell his agitated visitors that he was alright ("My mother was crying! And my dad, he-he was…and Touya…"). Shindou had stayed to watch his parents leave and Touya settle at his bedside, reading a children's book out loud ("…a children's book! We're eighteen years old, not eight!" – and if Watanuki heard a curiously affectionate undertone to his friend's incredulous statements about the Touya person, he kept it to himself).
After a few hours of preparation and last minute strategy meetings, they rode a bus to the outskirts of the city to the foot of the small mountain called Koryuu (" 'Little dragon'?" Shindou had exclaimed loudly as they looked at the well-worn signboard, "who names these things anyway!), heading up the trail. The three of them had decided to dress in variations of greens and blacks, and Watanuki carried a bulky knapsack, while Doumeki carried weapons, the book, and Mokona. Shindou tromped after them.
By the time they reached the river, Watanuki was panting heavily and staggering. He was glowering at his tireless companions, Shindou for being incorporeal and invulnerable to human weakness, and Doumeki for simply being an inhuman bastard. At the sight of the rushing waters, he moaned and plopped down onto a large rock. "Y-you j-jerk …" he gasped out, squinting at Doumeki, "w-we're not…in…in s-some…ma-marathon…you, you know…"
The archer merely prowled around, ignoring the smaller boy's spluttering complaints. Shindou trailed after him. "Are you sure this is it?" he asked nervously.
"Yes, I found the well and shrine as you described it. It's only a few more yards upstream from here."
Watanuki took off the backpack and tried to regain his breath. He also tried to hide the fact that he was eavesdropping.
Shindou blew out a breath loudly. "I-I'm not sure I can do this," he admitted in an undertone. Bastard only looked at him. "I mean, I can handle human opponents, but we're talking about a spirit here! A demon! And the kitsune shopkeeper already said that he cheats."
"You must make a decision and follow through," Jerkwad replied after a thoughtful quiet, "if you cannot give a good game, then we must rethink our plans and maybe return tomorrow. You will still have two days before the week is up."
Shindou shook his head angrily. "No! We've been through that book several times! There is no other solution than this! I-I-"
"To enter a battlefield, one must enter with a calm mind and spirit," Bastard said gravely. Watanuki scowled at him, valiantly refraining from blowing a raspberry. "We are entering the lair of a trickster, who will use everything it can to throw us into a turmoil so that we will make a mistake. If you feel you cannot do this now, it is better to wait than to risk losing all due to impatience."
"Just, just give me time, okay!" With that, Shindou stalked off and brooded some distance away, pacing beneath an acacia tree.
"Do you find it necessary to irritate everybody around you?" Watanuki queried him in a vicious tone as the bigger youth came abreast of him. Doumeki only looked at him, his mouth tightening.
"I speak only the truth. How will it help his friend or us if he gets himself trapped because he played a game when he couldn't think clearly?"
Watanuki's face soured, but he remained quiet. They waited until Shindou walked towards them. The boy's handsome face was set in a fiercely determined expression, his green eyes clear and bright. "I'm ready," he stated simply.
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On to Chapter 7…
