Tantalizing the Senses
Chapter 5 – Taste

AN: Late again; it does seem like its the trend with me. Exams are a wonderful bundle of joy. I'm sorry I haven't been replying to the reviews I've received – I love and appreciate each and every one I receive, so thank you! I'll try my best to reply them when I have back internet connection and free time :)

As always, I follow the manga as it is being released in Japan, so there will be mild spoilers – nothing overt – for up to around chapter 120.

xxxHoLiC belongs to the brilliance that is CLAMP.

..taste..

"Doumeki-kun, don't you think you and Watanuki-kun have been getting along a lot better than usual?"

Kunogi Himawari was a sweet, pleasant girl; for all her apparent naivety and smiles, she was very perceptive when it came to matters of the heart, especially Watanuki's. Although, to be fair, Watanuki was the type who wore his heart on his sleeves – that annoying shrill voice was a distraction, of course, and Watanuki himself was quite adept at averting attention, but it was easy to discern his moods, thoughts betrayed by the glint of black eyes or the stubborn set of the chin.

It's just that Watanuki can be so incredibly infuriating at times, even though Doumeki rarely ever showed his irritation. The bespectacled boy had a clear affinity for trouble; he attracted it the way magnets tossed amongst iron fillings did. It sent a prickle of something crawling up Doumeki's spine every time he was forced to drag Watanuki away from some spirit's clutches, a strange mixture of resignation, mild disbelief and exasperation. It was beginning to reach the point where he wasn't surprised to see his hand shoot out in reflex reaction to pull Watanuki back from danger's way, adding a snip remark or two in hopes that the anger and irritation it aroused in the other would serve as a reminder not to end up in the same situation again.

"Watanuki-kun has been less preoccupied lately; I'm glad whatever was bothering him has passed. I've been so worried about his injured eye, but now… he doesn't look as though he's being torn in two directions any longer."

Kunogi worried greatly every time she caught sight of bandages adorning Watanuki's hands and arms, or when he bore the faded bruises from an ill-encounter. She kept the sunny smile, but her eyes, dark and bottomless, flicked immediately to Doumeki in silent beseech to watch over and keep their mutual friend safe.

Doumeki wondered how Watanuki, who was infatuated with Kunogi, failed to see just how much she cared for him. He also wondered when "Watanuki" had become synonymous with "friend."

Doumeki didn't mind Yuuko's advice that he and Watanuki stick closer together; it took a lot to ruffle Doumeki's sleek black feathers. He was so used working in his own world, surrounded but untouched by the girls who loved his looks and the boys who admired his athletic skills. His world, a world of calm, of meditation and ritualistic purification had never converged with another's until the day he shot the formless arrow to exorcise the spirits that had been clinging to Watanuki during the telling of the Hundred Ghost Stories.

"The shop Watanuki-kun works at is very interesting, isn't it? I used to think it was so cool, especially Mokona-chan, but now, I can't help thinking it's also quite dangerous. Yuuko-san won't let anything happen, I believe, but…"

It was never clear when he became Watanuki's designated caretaker; it just seemed so natural to take up the role after his first exorcism – the first of many times he and Watanuki had been tossed into a bizarre situation. It was a role he was familiar with; the instinctive need to protect was ingrained in his blood, as Yuuko had implied. He also couldn't hide the mild sadistic pleasure he took in jabbing and teasing Watanuki because of the sheer emotion he could goad out of the other. It was something of a fascination for Doumeki, who was too accustomed to keeping his emotions under reign.

It was those frivolous emotions that clued Doumeki into his changing view of Watanuki. There was that sharp tang of irritation-shock-fear when Watanuki almost died in his stubbornness to see the spirit he had come to regard as a mother-figure and pure spicy anger when Watanuki traded in his eye to absolve the spider's grudge on Doumeki.

Each time, Doumeki could almost taste it, the palpable sour-bitterness of his emotions flooding his mouth.

Something had clicked then for him, then, but being who he was, Doumeki had kept silent, allowing those fledgling emotions to lie dormant. He portrayed the same calm, unshakable image he had always projected; never once did he really let up with the sarcastic, jabbing remarks and smirks Watanuki hated, but despite it all, Doumeki continued to watch, and he continued protect.

"I think Watanuki-kun has been alone for a long time. I'm happy that I'm friends with both of you, but sometimes I feel as though... there are certain things that only you can do for him, Doumeki-kun."

Until suddenly it struck him that things had changed, and the cue he had been subconsciously looking for was there all along, covert clues in the miraculous truce he and Watanuki had forged, a gradual understanding that theirs was a relationship of mutual equality; a kind of bizarre yin-yang connection that made no sense whatsoever.

"There's a connection between the two of you. Yuuko-san thinks so, even though she never says it directly. Don't you feel it?"

"Hey."

"Why are you standing in the corner like that?" Watanuki asked exasperatedly, on his way home after a day at Yuuko's shop. "And I have a name, you know; it wouldn't kill you to learn it."

Doumeki studied him carefully, the way Watanuki didn't quite flare up at him like a hissy-angry kitten anymore, a fluffy ball of mock teeth and claws that didn't quite manage to really sink deep enough to draw a message across. Instead, he wore a cloak of wariness with all the pretended dignity of an old gentleman cat, more willing to glare a warning and walk away than to attack.

"Are you just going to stare at my back the entire day?" Watanuki demanded, whirling around and pointing an accusing finger in Doumeki's direction. "It's disturbing. Spit it out, whatever's bothering you."

With a tiny, tiny inner grin, Doumeki wondered if angry Watanuki-cats could be placated with scritches.

Then he shrugged.

"You asked for it."

Doumeki gallantly pushed Watanuki off the sidewalk, ignoring the squawk of outrage – so maybe Watanuki wasn't quite the dignified cat yet – and up against a wall, kissing him hard.

It was interesting how Watanuki went shell-shocked still for a split second before thrashing wildly in Doumeki's grip. It helped that he had one arm braced against the wall, forming a virtual cage that prevented Watanuki from bolting at the first hint of Doumeki's actions. They grappled for one long moment as Watanuki started fighting for control of the kiss, using a fair amount of teeth before realizing he had other options.

Doumeki pulled back skillfully before Watanuki's heel could come down – heavily – on his foot.

"Doumeki-kun, you understand, right?"

"So. Can I call you Kimihiro now?" Doumeki asked, licking his lips and watching Watanuki very carefully.

"The hell?" Watanuki snarled, eyes flashing despite the dazed look in their depths and his glasses knocked half askew. "Only if I call you Shizuka first, you miserable excuse for a selfish idiot!"

A small smile graced the curve of Doumeki's lips. Impulsively, he ran his fingers through Watanuki's hair in a caress-scratch, as if rubbing the back of nonexistent cat ears.

"Was that a yes?"

"What the fuck?"

With a flick of his tongue, Doumeki tasted the syllables of Watanuki Kimihiro's name on his lips.

..end..

More AN: Written with the comment someone made about how Himawari is often ignored in Doumeki/Watanuki fics in mind. Anyhow, consider this an early Christmas present, since I'll be out of town during that time. And I really can't write a senses fic-series about xxxHoLiC and ignore the sixth sense, right? Look for that around the New Year...

As always, reviews and con/crit are much beloved. Happy Holidays!