Seventh
by Nozomi

I.

On Monday Doumeki doesn't walk Watanuki to his part-time job after school. It is one of the rare occasions that he misses the opportunity, but a group of kouhai that have recently joined the archery club have asked him for a demonstration that afternoon, and he can't refuse.

"Sorry," he says to Watanuki at the school gate, and the spectacled boy bristles.

"I already told you I don't need your goddamn help! At least you can't stalk me today!" He explodes, but Doumeki is already halfway across the yard by then, a finger stuffed casually in his ear.

"I hope you shoot yourself-- somewhere important!" Watanuki shouts after him, and stomps off in the opposite direction.

II.

On Tuesday Watanuki has forgotten the entire incident, in lieu of bitching about Yuuko.

"That Yuuko-san!" He mutters darkly, settling down on the grass beside Doumeki at lunch. The taller student can tell the other is preoccupied because Watanuki doesn't even hiss a warning of be grateful to the great Watanuki-sama; or else! at him as he hands over one of the two bentou he's carrying.

Doumeki looks at him a moment, and somehow Watanuki takes the look to mean he should continue verbally harassing his employer; either that, or he's ignoring the archer entirely, which is probably more likely.

"That Yuuko-san!" Watanuki repeats, breaking apart a pair of chopsticks with an angry snap! and digging furiously into his own meal. "She's letting a ghost hang around! A creepy dull-eyed guy who keeps staring and staring and really giving me a bad feeling!"

"'zat so?" Doumeki replies, conversationally.

Watanuki's shoveling food into his mouth at an incredible speed, chomping furiously, as if he's determined to finish in no more than three minutes. "He keeps staring at me, and following me around while I'm working, and making it very hard to get any work done! And that Yuuko-san just laughed when I asked her how long he'd be here, and said he wasn't even sure if he wanted his wish fulfilled, and that if I slacked on the job she'd take it out of my paycheck!" He sets his chopsticks down forcefully. "That guy is so annoying! He doesn't even say anything, he just stares!"

As if all his energy has been spent in that one fit of rage, Watanuki lets out a deep sigh and stares thoughtfully at a blooming cherry tree across the yard. Doumeki has to strain his ears to hear the next remark, which Watanuki mutters softly, almost to himself.

"And he smells like blood."

III.

On Wednesday Doumeki asks about the ghost during lunch. Watanuki, looking tired, gives him a strange look over the bentou he's picking at.

"Yuuko-san said he didn't want to pay the price to have her grant his wish," Watanuki finally begrudges under the weight of the taller student's unrelenting gaze. "He'd have to forget his special person." He adds, for good measure, and Doumeki hmms thoughtfully.

"So he left?"

"...No." Watanuki's gaze shifts sideways. "Instead she took some weird markings on his hands as payment, and told him to hang around me. Said he might find what he's looking for if he waits a while."

"..."

The rest of lunch passes in blessed, if unusual, silence.

"Oi."

"MY NAME IS NOT 'OI,' YOU BASTARD!"

"I want kata-yakisoba tomorrow." Doumeki says, clearing his space. He stands up. "And..."

An irritated look crosses the shorter boy's face as he glances up from clearing his own spot. "WHAT DO YOU WANT NOW, YOU--"

"What's his name?"

The look changes to one of surprise. Watanuki stands and turns to stare at the air on his left, apologetic. "I'm sorry, I never..."

After a moment he glances back at Doumeki.

"Sumeragi," he says. "Sumeragi Subaru." And walks off.

IV.

On Thursday Watanuki comes to school with dark circles under his eyes. He drops a heavy bentou on Doumeki's legs at lunchtime and says, "I overslept, so they're just leftovers." He almost looks apologetic, but when Doumeki raises an eyebrow at him he bristles and adds, "Not that even my leftovers aren't too good for you, bastard! Bow before me and be thankful for this great bounty!" Even this exclamation is low-key, for Watanuki.

Doumeki shrugs and digs in. He feels something indescribable twist in his chest when the other student doesn't even respond to the brush-off, just sits down and opens his own meal. Watanuki darts occasional worried glances at the empty air beside him throughout the entire meal.

Doumeki skips club and walks him to Yuuko's house that afternoon; how can he be expected to look after himself when he's obviously so distracted? He's worried when Watanuki ignores him entirely and stares at empty air the entire way; he's more worried when Yuuko's outside to meet them, with a cup of hot tea for Watanuki "that's sure to cheer you right up!"

V.

On Friday Watanuki doesn't show up until third period, and when he does finally arrive he heads straight to his desk and sets his head down. Sensei doesn't even reprimand him, because the bruises under Watanuki's eyes are so dark and so big that his eyes look like they're going to fall out.

At lunch, when Doumeki asks him what's wrong, Watanuki grins tiredly and says, "It's nothing." But he's never been able to stay silent beneath that gaze for long, even at the best of times, and so he finds himself blurting out what he's learned from the mournful ghost, this blood-soaked Sumeragi.

"He was in love." Watanuki starts, and aims a glare at Doumeki as if to say don't you dare start to mock me, bastard! "But the man he was in love with betrayed him, murdered his sister and then walked away without a second thought."

Neither of them are eating as he continues, under Doumeki's unwavering gaze. "When he finally met the man again... there was a fight. The man tried to kill him, but the attack rebounded and he ended up killing the man instead. The man knew that would happen, and at the end, he told him..." Watanuki glances away, closes his eyes.

"It doesn't matter what he told him. Sumeragi-san killed himself six months later. He'd become something he hated. He can't stop blaming himself."

In the silence between them, Doumeki almost thinks he hears the word seishirou-san whispered.

It must be the wind.

VI.

On Saturday Doumeki stops by Watanuki's apartment on the way to school, to make sure the shorter boy is up on time. He has to knock six times before the door opens, and practically carries Watanuki to school. Still the spectacled boy sleeps through first period.

During the break between periods the archer drags Watanuki into a less crowded part of the hallway and confronts him.

"Tell him to leave." He says.

"I can't." Watanuki won't look at him. "He can't. He won't."

"He's doing this to you. Like before." Doumeki won't back down. "Ask that woman to take him back."

"She won't." His hands are shaking. "She's already taken payment."

Doumeki remembers. The hand seals. Payment for a nudge in the right direction. "What's his wish?" And Watanuki finally looks up at him, but now he's speechless.

"What does he want?" The archer clarifies, hating to see how long it takes for Watanuki to grasp the question.

The shorter boy licks his lips, pauses. "He's trapped here. Something's tying him here, not letting him move on."

"He wants... to die." Watanuki finally says. The words fall heavily in the air between them.

Doumeki knows what he has to do.

----------

When it's over, Watanuki flashes him a quick, grateful smile. Doumeki has a feeling that expression isn't just from the other boy.

"He said 'thank you.'" Watanuki tells him, but the archer shrugs it off. He's only protecting what he has.

VII.

On Sunday, Doumeki dreams of sakura, and warm blood running through his fingers.

Do you know why cherry blossom petals turn a pale red?
It's because they drink the blood of the corpse buried under them.