GAH! This took forever to write DX

sorry about the slow update, but a million things are happening at the same time. Oh well, my goal is to finish this fic before the summer holidays are over!!!

THANK YOU! To everyone who reviewed and still reading this fic, you all get Dounuts and a Mokona hat:)

this chapter was longer than I had expected it to be, so all the reasons why Watanuki forgot Doumeki and etc will be explained in the next chapter... but for now we have the rest of the flash back. I hope you all enjoy it!

Chapter 9

(Flash back continued)

It had now been two weeks since Watanuki had arrived to the school and every day he had always been with Doumeki, despite telling everyone that they were rivals. Watanuki felt that even though this Doumeki Shizuka was annoying, food stealing (he always takes a bit of Watanuki's lunch, though he did say Watanuki could have some of his lunch if he want) idiot - he was someone Watanuki didn't mind getting close to. He didn't mind talking with Doumeki or sharing text books when there wasn't enough to go around the class. He didn't mind when they were walking on their way to school and Doumeki held his hand again. It just felt good, although Watanuki would never say so, Watanuki secretly admitted to himself that Doumeki was a really good friend.

"Lets go to the park after school."

"What?" Watanuki stopped daydreaming and raised his head to see those amber eyes again staring at him. In about two seconds flat Watanuki turned red again and started yelling at the taller boy. "What makes you think I want to go to the park today, eh!? What if I had something more important to do than go to the park with you."

"Because it's not going to rain today. I think the weather will be nice..." Doumeki seem to draw closer towards Watanuki, just about an inch apart whilst standing in the corridor when they should be on their way to lunch. "...and I thought that we could enjoy it together."

"W-well, okay. I'll go!" Watanuki started to walk past Doumeki, as his face flushed more.

"But we better go have lunch, otherwise we won't have time to eat."

There was a short pause.

"So, we have a date then?"

Watanuki thought that he would have exploded and destroyed the school once those words left Doumeki's mouth.

---

The sun was out, the wind was gently blowing in the breeze and Watanuki was walking along side Doumeki.

"This is not a date!"

"Okay."

"I just thought it would be alright just to hang out for a bit."

"Okay."

"Can you say anything else other than okay?"

"Hn."

"GAH! Your hopeless."

Watanuki was starting to regret agreeing to go out with Doumeki to the park. Suddenly he felt a tap on his shoulder, Doumeki standing right beside him looking stoic as usual.

"What?"

Doumeki leaned in to the spectacled boy's face. Watanuki felt that they were really close, perhaps even close enough to...

"You're it."

"Huh?" Watanuki was left with a blank look, as he saw Doumeki with a smirk before running away from the other boy. The shorter boy squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. He then started to chase after the amber eyed boy.

"Why you... Why are we playing a stupid kid's game!?"

But once they got started, the two seem to be having a lot of fun. At one point, Watanuki pulled on Doumeki, causing the pair of them to fall down to the ground. They found themselves in an awkward position, Watanuki on top of Doumeki with his head hovering over the amber eyed boy. It almost seemed like they would have kissed...

Except at this point Watanuki erupted into a fit of giggles. Doumeki could only respond with a look of confusion.

"Heh heh.. Your face! I love that looked..."

"Love?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, there was silence. Watanuki cursed himself for the slip of the tongue. Looking away from Doumeki's face, the blue eyed boy hoped that Doumeki wouldn't hate him. As the smaller boy moved off the amber eyed boy, Watanuki began to stutter and blush.

"I didn't.. I didn't mean it like that! I meant - I meant...uh... that your face looked funny! That's it! I was laughing at your stupid face! Because it looks so... stop laughing at me!!"

Watanuki waved his arms in the name of fury at the other boy, who was currently sitting up with a grin on his face due to the amusement of the supremely embarrassed boy.

---

It was Valentines day and Watanuki was in deep thought again, as he sat at his desk staring at his text book. Doumeki gazed at the spectacled boy, wondering what could be going through his friend's head.

Months have gone by and Doumeki felt that they have gotten closer, creating a strong bond between the two. They had just hung out most of the times, learning more about each other every time.

Doumeki found that Watanuki was very competitive when playing games like soccer or the tag game. Watanuki found that Doumeki read ghost stories when he was invited over to his house, seeing a large pile stacked neatly on a shelf.

Doumeki had found that Watanuki would blush whenever they had hugged or held hands, whilst Watanuki found that Doumeki had a beautiful smile (not that he would tell the other boy that anytime soon).

The amber eyed boy remembered spending Christmas eve with the other boy since they would both be with their own families on Christmas day. He could remember how cold it was outside and how Watanuki told him off for not dressing properly, which then lead to the shorter boy giving Doumeki a set of blue gloves.

"They're not presents! They're just some old gloves of mine!" even though they seem new and never worn before, the thought of wearing Watanuki's gloves would have been nice.

'As if we were holding hands again.' Doumeki smiled slightly at that thought, only to frown when he looked at the spectacled boy next to him.

Lately, Watanuki was more quiet than usual. It worried the stoic boy that Watanuki could be in some trouble or dealing with a problem on his own. Whatever the reason the amber eyed boy was determined to find out. Once the lesson was over Doumeki stood up to follow the blue eyed boy out the classroom, only to be stopped by a curly haired girl with a pink box of chocolates in her hands.

"Doumeki-kun, I just wanted to give you-"

"Excuse me." Doumeki didn't give the girl a chance to finish her sentence, as he walked out the room to catch up with Watanuki.

---

Watanuki stood in front of his locker, glaring at a small green paper bag containing chocolates for a certain someone.

'It would be weird if I gave them to him today! Doumeki would probably laugh at me, eat the chocolates, laugh at me some more and then he would throw the paper bag at my head!' Watanuki sighed. Last night he had discovered a recipe for making chocolate that was difficult to make. But he had done it all by himself, his Mother and Father were given some and said it was really delicious.

'I want to know if Doumeki would like them too. Maybe he won't mind getting chocolates from me, even if it is Valentines day. We're two guys, it's not the same as a girl giving chocolates. It's got nothing to do with Valentines day... well, maybe a little. But he won't know that!...will he?'

At that point, Watanuki was about to slam his head into his locker door when Doumeki had finally reached him.

"Oi, is everything okay-?" Doumeki was interrupted by a sudden green bag shoved in his face by the other boy, who was currently looking at his shoes.

"These are for you!"

Doumeki looked speechless and did not say anything in response, which did nothing for Watanuki's nerves right now.

"They're... They're just... something I made. Okay." as Watanuki trailed off Doumeki took the bag and said 'thank you', making the small boy's heart beat harder.

"You can't do that!"

The pair turned to see a group of girls staring at both Watanuki and Doumeki, whilst the girl leading the group (the curly haired one from class) continued to speak.

"Boy's don't give chocolates to boys, it's wrong!"

Watanuki wanted the ground to swallow him and disappear from everyone, not because of embarrassment but because he felt guilty for making Doumeki looking like a fool. Watanuki got scared that Doumeki would hate him now for doing something so stupid. He began to regret just about everything he had done since last night, when he had first thought it would be a good idea to make chocolates.

"Why is it wrong?"

Doumeki asked the girl with his usual emotionless tone, to which the girl did not reply. Doumeki went over to his locker and pulled out a small purple box, giving it to Watanuki.

"Happy Valentines."

The tall boy turned, looking at everyone with his cool amber eyes.

"I don't there's anything wrong with giving a best friend chocolates on Valentines day."

"But... he's a boy!"

"So?"

"So...so..."

The girl tried to say something to argue her point, however she just looked down embarrassed and annoyed at losing the debate. The crowd quickly moved on as the teacher came to shoo the students off to their next lesson. Watanuki saw the girl throw a pink box in a nearby bin.

"Was that girl trying to give you chocolates?"

"Hn." Watanuki wanted to punch the taller boy for never answering his questions. Although he couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for the other girl. Now that he thought about it, maybe the girl got upset that Doumeki accepted Watanuki's chocolates and perhaps she didn't get a chance to give her's to Doumeki. Peering from the corner of his eye, he saw Doumeki munching happily on a piece of darker chocolate.

"These are good."

"Well, they should be. It took me forever to make those so I hope you're grateful."

"Hn."

"Gah! Hopeless!" Watanuki opened the purple box and took a chocolate square to eat. Doumeki stopped his eating noises, waiting to hear Watanuki's opinion. After a few moments, Watanuki spoke up.

"These chocolates taste horrible."

"Sorry, I'm not very good at cooking."

"Never mind..." Watanuki smiled softly at Doumeki "It's the thought that's sweet."

---

The weather felt cool, but not too cold. The sky was clear blue, which as Doumeki said it reminded him of Kimihiro's eyes, although Watanuki had told him to shut up and not call him by his first name followed by Watanuki's fluster dance. They were walking home together as usual, talking and smiling at each other. When it came to a split street where one way lead to Doumeki's home and the other lead to Watanuki's home, Doumeki turned to Watanuki as he smiled and waved his hand.

"See you tomorrow."

---

When Doumeki arrived home, he saw his mother looking distressed.

"Shizuka, I'm afraid I have some bad news... it's about Grandfather... He's very ill at the moment and..."

Doumeki's mother broke into tears, telling her son that his Grandfather had been sent to hospital and the doctor were not sure of how much time he had left. sure She told him to go straight to his room to pack everything he would need. The amber eyed boy did as he was told, feeling a twisted emotion inside his stomach as he worried for his Grandfather.

As the whole family drove off in the car, Doumeki just realized that he didn't tell Watanuki that he was going to be away for awhile.

'I guess I'll have to tell him where I went when I get back...'

---

Two weeks later Doumeki and his family had returned home, relived that the older man had now recovered from his illness, which turned out to be the flu. Doumeki would have arrived home sooner, if it wasn't for the car breaking down - which caused his Father to have a rant dance that made Doumeki think of Watanuki. So the family stayed in Doumeki's grandfather's home, and in all that time the young boy had started to daydream about a certain blue eyed boy...

'Watanuki...'

Now that he was back home, Doumeki couldn't wait to see his friend again. His mother had written him a note to give into the school's office, explaining his absence and told him to say hi to Watanuki when he saw him.

But Doumeki never made it to school that day.

Doumeki was passing through the park, when he noticed a boy sitting on the swings. It took the tall boy a few seconds to realize that it was Watanuki. There was a leap of joy in Doumeki's heart that tempted him to run over to the smaller boy, which then sunk as the amber eyed boy felt that something was not right. There was something in the boy's posture that seemed to have a 'gloomy' feel to it. So instead, Doumeki chose to make his way over to the swings cautiously. As he stepped closer, the amber eyed boy noticed tears falling down the pale face.

"Kimihiro?"

Just for that moment it felt good to say Watanuki's name again.

The smaller boy snapped his head up looking surprised to hear Doumeki. The tall boy thought for sure that Watanuki would yell at him for disappearing or for sneaking up on the boy without making a sound. But instead the boy leapt up and embraced Doumeki, crying harder than before. Just like that rainy day, two arms wrapped round the blue eyed boy as if trying to protect Watanuki from anymore pain or harm from anyone else.

"What happened?" behind the stoic tone there was a sense of gentle worry, which somehow soothed the distressed spectacled boy. "Did someone hurt you?"

"My- my parents... they're...gone."

"Gone?"

"Dead" a sob followed afterwards, causing Watanuki to shake harder, Doumeki wasn't sure of what he should do so he started to rub the shorter boy's back in hope of calming him down a bit. After awhile the pair went towards a bench, with Watanuki holding onto Doumeki - as if he was afraid of losing him. Watanuki was the first to speak, sounding quiet but loud enough for the boy to hear.

"I thought, you were gone forever. You didn't say goodbye or anything."

"I'm sorry, my grandfather was sick and we had to leave incase...in case something happened to him."

"I'm not angry. I just felt lonely." Watanuki rested his head on Doumeki's shoulder, feeling a headache coming along. "I missed you."

"I missed you too."

There was a beautiful silence between the two. One absorbing the other's presence, gaining a wholesome and comforting feeling that made the two feel almost complete. All the hurt Watanuki had felt when he had been told of his parent's death, and the thought of Doumeki never coming back felt painful in his heart. It felt like a big weight of emotion was crushing down on him, but it was lifted the minute Doumeki had appeared. There was still a feeling of grief for his parents lingering in his mind, but the touch of the amber eyed boy's hand had made Watanuki feel safe and secure. Even if it was only for now, it still felt ever so nice.

---

Doumeki watched the shorter boy staring at the sky, hands still connected with each other which had reminded Watanuki that he still had something to be happy about.

"I never even got to say goodbye to them." Watanuki did not have any more tears to shed, but his voice sounded as if he was ready to cry again. Doumeki stroked his thumb over the side of the pale hand still holding onto his own, not knowing what to say to comfort the blue eyed boy.

"Do... you want to come and stay at my house?"

Watanuki snapped out of his sad expression to a look of surprise, those beautiful eyes widening and staring in Doumeki's direction.

"What?"

"I said, do you want to come and stay at my house."

Amber eyes stared back into blue eyes, emotions that clearly said 'let me help you, let me protect you' which make Watanuki feel like he had butterflies in his stomach. Watanuki wanted to say yes. He wanted so badly to be with Doumeki, to hold his hand, to laugh, to yell, to cry, to smile... but...

'I'm afraid...' Watanuki had a fear in his heart. For two weeks, he had truly believed that Doumeki was gone forever. When his classmates had spread a rumor that Doumeki moved away (even though he knew now that it was just a rumor), he felt a part of him become hollow. He remembered crying and being embraced by his mother who didn't know why her son was crying so much... it felt warm, to know that at least his parents were still there.

'But now they're gone... what would happen if Doumeki disappeared too?' Watanuki knew it would hurt much more than the first time Doumeki went away. The spectacled boy shook his head, breaking away from the eye contact with the amber eyed boy.

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Your... what if your parents don't want me there?"

"My parents like you. They wouldn't mind..."

"And what if they did mind?"

"It wouldn't be their problem, because I'm the one who wants you."

'Want me?' Watanuki knew he was blushing now.

"Watanuki. You're... very important to me. If I lost you, I would be sad too."

Doumeki's eyes filled with warmth for the young boy, whom caught a glance of this feeling radiating from those eyes.

"Kimihiro, I want to say... that I like you. I really like you." There was a tone of confidence and certainty in his words, as if he was making a pledge for the smaller boy. "I choose you Watanuki."

Inside Watanuki at this moment, emotions were conflicting against each other - battling to decide whether or not that Doumeki could be trusted. Was watanuki really the one Doumeki liked the most? Why did Watanuki felt this way about the boy too... why was it that Doumeki was the only one who could make him feel so confused, make his heart beat so fast, make him feel lost when he was gone...

"No... don't say that..." Watanuki barely whispered those small words, but Doumeki was able to catch them.

"Kimihiro?"

"If you say stuff like that..." Watanuki stood up from the bench, hands clenched as he looked away from Doumeki, "...I'll end up believing you."

"I'm telling the truth. I choose you..."

"Stop it!" Watanuki turned to push the taller boy, who just caught hold of those delicate hands. "If you keep saying things like that, I'll believe you! Then when you're gone, it'll hurt."

Watanuki began to sob again, Doumeki loosening his grip on the hands feeling confused himself. Did this mean that his Kimihiro liked him back? And if so, why did it hurt the smaller boy so much?

'Then when you're gone, it'll hurt.'

Ah. Doumeki saw what Watanuki had meant. The blue eyed boy had just lost his parents and thought he had lost a friend too, and so it wasn't that Watanuki didn't trust him - it was a fear of losing another person. Doumeki tried to hug the spectacled boy, but Watanuki managed to struggle out of the grip and ran.

Doumeki ran with all his might after Watanuki, who had tears streaming down his eyes. He didn't know where he was running to nor the reason why he was running from his friend, it was just an urge that Watanuki felt that he had to do.

However, once they both ran out the park, Watanuki was in the middle of the street when he noticed a truck speeding towards him. For some reason he couldn't move out the way quick enough.

"Kimihiro!"

It all happened so fast. Doumeki had jumped in front of the boy, trying to push him out of the way. But then they were both hit, everything went so slow. Watanuki whispered before he came in contact with the ground.

"Shizuka."

Then everything went black for the pair of them.