Title: Alpha and Omega

Anime: xxxHolic

Pairings/Characters: Plainly dou/wata; a one-sided dou/haris; the usual cast and my OC characters (I don't know if I'm planning to add any more characters, heck, these people are good enough. 8D);

Rating: T for now (should I raise it now? Oh well, the blood isn't that bad. xD)

Disclaimer: I only own what's mine; xxxHolic, sadly, is not one of them.

-

Eyes open

-

All I want to do is to stay with you

So will you let me do so then?

The future is hazy and the skies are blue

Look out with your eyes open

-

In truth, he thought he was dead at first. The lack of colors and sounds compelled him to believe that he was in some other place then, somewhere barren and lifeless, and that maybe he would never see anybody again. Even Watanuki, despite his close ties towards the spiritual realm. It had been greatly alarming at first, but being who he was, he found himself accepting his new-found destiny with only a mere grunt, a nod of the head. Somehow, dying didn't really bother him.

He started walking. Well, he wasn't really sure if he WAS walking, since there were no sounds coming from his steps and there was no visible plane to walk on to, but he was moving anyway. The darkness around him was endless; it was always the same thing wherever he turned, and there was no indication of any direction of some sort. He continued moving forward though, since there wasn't anywhere else to go- there was just some sort of a call leading him to where he was going, wherever it was, and as he was praying it to be heaven a bright light shone upon him and then-

-he was awake. He was on a laid-out futon on the floor, with the orange glow of late noon illuminating his slightly-irritated-yet-blank features. He raised an arm to cover his eyes, sighing as he did so. What he had couldn't be called a nightmare- he had, after all, faced it with a somewhat morbid reverence, as if it would not have damaged anyone, even if it was true.

The soft lighting around him was enough to illuminate certain things hiding in the dark, and though he was practically expecting it, the figure of a sleeping Haris Manson on the sofa leaning on the wall still managed to take him by surprise. He had been used to quite enough admirers that he knew very well that one kiss was enough, no matter how passionate. Whatever happened between them during their short trip was, well, rather one-sided and uncalled for, even if he had to admit that he did nothing to stop her of the sort.

Which somehow brought about guilt, but then again, he was so used to having to hide his emotions that he might as well not be feeling it at all. And plus the fact that Watanuki himself had stabbed him in the gut- he could feel no hatred towards the boy, since he never did in the first place. He felt like he was accepting the wound as some sort of punishment for not being there for him and tagging along someone else, just as easily had he accepted the vague sense of after death in his earlier dream.

He was about to push himself off the bed when another female entered the room- one who was always so distant, so terribly hard to reach, but he had never bothered anyway. She, unlike all women he had ever met, who had a distracting taste for provoking clothes, stood by the doorway once again with an almost inviting set of fabric and a smug look on her face. Of course, he had always been pretty decent- no matter how Watanuki insisted on labeling him a pervert- and he took no charms nor desire radiating from the woman and, despite her teasing look, she would not have it the way either. She was standing there, looking dangerously irresistible to anyone normal, but to Doumeki she was just a Time Witch who had privacy-invading issues.

"Ah, Doumeki-kun, a pleasant day to you," she said rather casually as if her issues were being looked over, and Doumeki was too polite and too uninterested to not comply; "I take it your hungry?"

Doumeki allowed himself to nod, not sparing anyone the lack of his conversation skills. From behind the layers of skirts trailing down Yuuko's legs came an over joyous Maru and Moro, both having a tray of something edible in their hands. The two squealing children placed the meal on Doumeki's lap, who immediately started to dig in.

"It's been a day," she said as the twins left the room; "Your injury is healing well. Maybe later you can leave the bed and be on your feet."

"Hm," was all Doumeki could say, biting into the crisp sukiyakidon; "Is there a price for the healing?"

Yuuko brought a hand to her mouth and laughed somewhat haughtily, "Ohoho! Doumeki-kun, am I really like that?" A pause, and when it was clear the archer had no intention of replying, too busy with his food, she added; "Besides, it's the ever so kawaii Iris-chan who'd done the healing. I was but a kind provider for the bandages, the food, and the bed."

Doumeki glanced briefly at the sleeping figure near him. "And Haris?"

Yuuko's eyes were half-lidded with a tiny tinge of sadness, and her smile was somewhat forced. "She's been keeping watch of you all day," she whispered. "She even dealt with Watanuki, and now he's back to normal."

The archer held his gaze with the Time witch, and the two were held in silent enchantment for a while, each equally mysterious to the other. After some time though, the silence broke.

"If it makes you feel better, Watanuki had not been acting on his own," Yuuko stated, turning to leave; "But I suppose you know that already."

Doumeki placed the tray on his lap beside him, making a movement to leave the bed, swinging his legs downwards to meet the cool feel of wood beneath his feet. "Hn," He allowed himself to say.

Yuuko just watched him as he slipped pass her through the doorway. She knew, as well as he did, that when it came to Watanuki, there was no stopping the stoic archer. His loyalty and concern brought a smile back to her slender face, and she even told him as he left, "He's at the front porch. He's been wanting to apologize ever since he came back to his senses."

Doumeki hid a smile as he headed towards the direction said. Silly Watanuki.

-

A long time ago, perhaps before any of this harum-scarum had ever happened, Doumeki had always looked at Watanuki with a somewhat skeptical view- mostly about how a person like him, weak and frail and white and entirely human, be of some delicious treat to the supernatural entities that had long committed themselves to having a piece of such 'delicacy', when any human being- him being counted- can see how ordinary Watanuki appeared. Well, of course he wasn't- anybody given the gift to actually see the spirits littering around the streets could never be called ordinary- but there wasn't anything special to see in the spirit seer, optically viewed, of course.

Even now, after so much tasks and near-death experiences they had together, Doumeki can't still figure out what it is Watanuki had within him that spirits find very attracting, and why in hell they wouldn't- and couldn't- find anybody else to prey on. It's obviously not because the archer can't find any reason and grows tired of saving the spirit seer- hell, he would never ever grow tired of it, since all he wants is to be with the boy till death do us part- but because Watanuki, weak and frail and white and entirely human Watanuki, would soon slip easily beneath his fingers, because maybe he never belonged to this world in the first place.

And he's scared of that. He doesn't want to imagine a future without a flailing bespectacled boy beside him. In fact, the very thought of such a possibility caused him to hurt; that's why he had always been sacrificing, why he always had been there no matter what.

But the future, coated in hitsuzen, will always remain murky and unsure, like the deep dark parts in the ocean; one day, hitsuzen will take him away, and Doumeki will be forced into a situation without Watanuki, and what would happen then?

So, in all simplicity of a boy raised in a temple, Doumeki Shizuka satisfies himself by taking what he can get.

The spirit seer was sitting with his knees under his chin, watching the last rays of the sunset flit about behind the trees, coloring the skies with a reddish warmth; Doumeki made his way beside the boy, sitting down with a leg up and the other hanging down, making sure to brush his fingers ever so slightly against the spirit seer's own.

"D-doumeki!" Watanuki blushed, bringing his hand away. "You sickening bastard, sneaking up on me like that, I hope that one day your sneaking would give me a heart attack and you would die of guilt and shame for causing a pathetic death to a poor little boy like me-"

"Watanuki," Doumeki said, cutting across; though he honestly missed Watanuki's usual tirades, there was no time for that. "How are you?"

A small intake of breath, a rustle of clothes. Watanuki averted his attention towards his feet, wiggling his toes as if to entertain him. His was the voice laced with embarrassment and remorse; "I'm okay," was the muffled reply.

Doumeki allowed silence take place, all the while smiling secretly to himself. Before him, the stars were beginning to peek from behind the darkening curtains of the early evening sky, and he turned his gaze upwards and thanked the gods for the moment he was experiencing right then, knowing full well that it might only be a tough break after everything that had happened, but he was okay with that. Every moment he had with Watanuki would always be treasured, after all.

There's a soft sniff coming from beside him, followed by a couple more, and soon he realized that it was actually coming from the boy with him. The bony shoulders were shaking, his whole frame riddled with a series of tremors; he brought his hands to both sides, slowly tilting the trembling boy to him, forcing him to lean on his shoulder and cry.

"I'm sorry," Watanuki whispered in between hiccups; "I'm sorry, so so sorry."

After each apology, Doumeki allowed the bespectacled boy a few responsive one-word sounds, ranging from "Hm," to "Ah," and "Sure," respectively. What Watanuki did not know and forced to deny was the fact that Doumeki had long forgiven him, as soon as the blade left his stomach. The boy was facing so much right then, it only seemed merciful to grant him such forgiveness. Not that he never did deserve it in the first place anyway.

Watanuki adjusted his face on the fabric of the archer's yukata, after a good long cry. He liked the feeling of safety and warmth coming from the other's body, but as he was drifting off to sleep, Doumeki said, "Idiot."

Immediately, the spirit seer started spazzing out, leaning back as much as possible as not to hit Doumeki; as a fist came down an inch close to the archer's face, the taller boy's hand came to holding the other's wrist in place, and Watanuki was about to say or scream something when a pair of insistent lips met his and suddenly nothing really mattered anymore.

Or at least, for the first few seconds. Then something did matter- it was how he should angle his face to better align with Doumeki's; it was how far he should lean back as to not be thoroughly laid upon, but well, that bit was slightly impossible, and he found himself on his back and the big archer on top of him; what mattered too was how annoying his clothes were starting to be, and how he wanted- desperately- to pry them off. What mattered the most, though, was the simple fact that he was once again kissing Doumeki, and once again it was quite obvious that neither of them had any intention of letting off.

Well, everything started to get hazy after that, but if anyone was to ask Watanuki for an honest answer, he would have replied with "Well, that night was special, AND STOP LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT YOU WEIRDO" or something of the sort. Basically though, as would all slightly dignified romance movies would have it, there were brief flashes of lips and skin and...Well, something more intimate than that. And anything intimate always had people feel like days had passed, but as reality would have it, it may very well be a span of a few minutes.

So it wasn't quite surprising for Doumeki to realize that it had only taken them fifteen minutes at large to fully vent out, and that they had been doing it on the front porch, where any normal human passerby or sneaky on-lookers were bound to catch sight of such a dubious deed, but then again, there wasn't really anybody watching them. Not that it bothered him anyway.

And maybe it did, but then Doumeki wasn't known to be someone visibly affected by any of his emotions- though in sex the grunts came in more frequent and the flush refused to leave at all- so he let it slide, poking the exposed thigh of the spirit seer with a steady pointer finger, drawing out a completely satisfying growl of irritation that seemed too normal and out-of-place right then and there.

Watanuki let himself open an eye, but what greeted him refused to enter his all-too-tired-yet-satisfied train of thought, so as he succumbed to sleep once again he barely heard what Doumeki had to say.

"Idiot."

And he mentally added a note to sock the bastard in the morning.

-

There were some occasions when Doumeki deemed to be an inconsiderate person, no matter how much sacrifices did the said archer offer him. And though any normal being would agree that Watanuki was very stubborn to admit that NO, Doumeki is NOT an inconsiderate person, the spirit seer would have replied to that as "WELL YOU HAVEN'T SEEN HIM WITHOUT HIS CLOTHES ON" or something relatedly lewd like that.

Reality is a cruel thing against a person in denial; for as the soft beams of light trickled over his face, coloring the pale features with a bright yellow, it was quite obvious that Doumeki was concerned enough to not let him spend the night on the front porch, half-naked. In fact, as the spirit seer struggled to get off bed, he noticed that he was clothed in a different yukata and clean boxers, and that the futon he was sleeping on was laid properly on the floor, and that the covers had been on him before he kicked them away.

Watanuki drew in a sharp breath- the kind that clearly stated "FINE you win" - as his hand traveled to his side, searching for his glasses. Well, that was one thing Doumeki forgot about: his glasses.

Mumbling about inconsiderate idiots and stupider idiots forever in denial, he left the room, all the while with his arms stretched out slightly in front of him and him squinting a bit to get a better view, though with the eye Doumeki had given him, it wasn't as extremely impaired as before. Said jerk suddenly appeared before him, but just as silently, so Watanuki was to blame when he slammed into the taller boy.

"You ass," Watanuki hissed, holding his fists above Doumeki's chest, face hovering below the archer's chin. If it weren't for the slight tension in the smaller boy's body, the whole form could have been quite romantic. Quite.

"Morning to you too," Doumeki said, in some sort of sigh. When the spirit seer looked up though, the big oaf was smiling (if a slight upturn of lips were called as such). He found himself lost in the familiar amber eyes for a moment, but then as reality kicked in he started behaving very Watanuki-like, much to Doumeki's disappointment (but the smile stayed, because at the same time, he was greatly amused to see the spirit seer fluster and spaz around like this in his arms).

He instinctively took hold of one of the flailing fists, just like he did the night before- and, also like the night before, Doumeki leaned in to kiss him, though this one was more of a "good-morning-sunshine-the-world-says-hello" rather than "shut-up-and-let-me-fuck-you" kind.

As soon as they did start kissing passionately though, there was a small sound of gentle surprise behind them- and when the two turned to see who it was, Doumeki slightly surprise and sulky at the interruption and Watanuki flustered with indignance and something else, the familiar figure of Himawari Kunogi came into view.

"Himawari-chan! You're okay!" Watanuki said all too happily, after glaring daggers at the archer beside him. "I'm sorry we didn't visit you at all, things were going like hell around here-"

"That's alright, Yuuko-san told me everything." Replied a smiling Himawari-chan, clearly back to normal, and Yuuko exited the lobby to join them in the hallway with a smug look of FINALLY on her face; "My apologies for the kiss, Watanuki-kun. It brought you so much trouble." Kunogi added, this time looking worried.

"No no no, it's okay! You weren't yourself, Himawari-chan!" The spirit seer assured.

"Mou, nobody told me about you two though," Said Himawari, "I'm so thrilled to know that you guys are together now!"

"It's not what you think, this big oaf here is a pervert--!" Watanuki pointed at the archer beside him, who only raised his eyebrows in skepticism; "That kiss was purely accidental!"

"Come Himawari-chan, Iris is waiting for you in the garden," Yuuko said, turning to the said girl, all the while ignoring the spazzmic attacks Watanuki was throwing before them; "Let's leave these two alone."

Himawari nodded her approval, gave a short wave and a kind smile at the two boys, and left with the Time witch.

Watanuki puffed up his cheeks in anger. "You could've said something to hide it," he said sulkily.

"Why do we need to?" Doumeki asked in return, making a movement to enter the lobby and to leave the spirit seer to his chores. "I want waffles for breakfast."

"HELL I CARE FOR WHAT YOU WANT," He could hear Watanuki scream behind him, but he didn't take it for the truth. Knowing Watanuki, he would make his requests anyway, and he smiled.

As he slid the door close behind him, he was quite surprised to see Haris sitting somewhere in the middle of the room, drinking tea. She had been with Yuuko and Himawari earlier before, after all.

She raised her gaze, and the two stared at each other for quite a long while. A warning signal started to go in Doumeki's head, but he knew she wouldn't do anything as of now. Perhaps later. Perhaps never.

It wasn't over yet.

"Don't do anything stupid," he told her blankly, crossing the room and exiting towards the front porch of the house.

"I won't," was her reply, but he could feel the slight tinge of lie in her voice.

-

A/N: I get easily confused by the chapter numbers. Oh well. So Intermission should be labeled chapter 8 then, because I AM TOO LAZY to fix it. DX

Sorry if this took long. I changed the idea of writing something graphic because I would faint if I tried. I don't have proper training yet, so I shouldn't push myself too much. Oh well.

AND YES IT ISN'T OVER YET 8D I think it's up to thirteen, but still. Haha. I just hope chapter 11 (OMG DOUBLE DIGITS) wouldn't take as long, but it might, since I'm going to work on Parasite too. xD Why don't you guys read that while I'm gone? I've successfully finished and uploaded the first chapter to that and a oneshot, just to make up for the time. Oh well. Read and Review people. I greatly appreciate those who make themselves heard. xD No matter how screwed up the review is. Haha. AND YES MICHAEL I MEAN YOU SO I REPORTED YOURS AS SPAM. Anyway, action and blood for the next chapter, yippee! 8D See you then!