Warnings: slash, crude language, aimless, short

Disclaimers: I do not own xxxHOLiC or the associated characters; they belong to the ever-so-wonder CLAMP and associates, of which I am not one (sadly). Written for violet-phoenix-rose's Calendar Challenge on HPFC.

Fumizuki: Books

Doumeki Shizuka had always been quiet. As a child, he had been sickly and his voice had been naturally quiet back then; he was naturally short of breath as well, so he hadn't talked much then since he could only speak a few words at a time. His grandfather made fun of him as a child too, so he had learned to take things silently when he was embarrassed or annoyed.

Later in life, Doumeki was quiet for different reasons. He was quiet because he did not know what to say and therefore felt that nothing should be said if he couldn't think of what that ought to be. Soon, it became a way of life for him; unlike most people, if he couldn't think of what to say, he didn't say anything. He didn't fill up the air with useless noise, since everyone else did plenty of that to make up for his lack.

The most poignant example of this was, of course, Watanuki Kimihiro.

"I could swear I already read this one," whined the noisy boy in question. "Look! I know I've read that sentence before!" He was not shouting, which was usually rather a rare thing, instead being emphatic without raising his voice. But he'd been at it for a while now, only yelling when he forgot himself. Doumeki's deaf-time each day was decreasing dramatically.

It made things a lot easier for Doumeki when he could hear what Watanuki felt the need to say to him, but there were things that Doumeki wished Watanuki's spirit would signal him as being hostile. Well, no, he wished nothing of the sort, but he did want Watanuki to be a bit more careful with his words. Or to take up Doumeki's policy of not speaking unless there was something to actually be said.

"You put this one back in my stack, didn't you?" Watanuki scowled impetuously at Doumeki but was still scanning the pages of his book with glazed eyes.

"No," the answer was quick and quiet. No need to say more than what really needed to be said. Doumeki continued scanning through the book he had selected for the day, but there was no luck, as before.

After Watanuki found out about the weird Doumeki-can't-hear-when-he-shouts thing, and Doumeki had brought the spirit-bait back to his regular state of being, Watanuki had demanded that Doumeki start researching through his grandfather's old books to see if there wasn't information in them. After all, it stood to reason that if there was information on the spider stealing Watanuki's eye – they're not getting to partake of that information was not the point of the argument – then it should have something on the strange reactions of Doumeki's soul.

So far, nothing. A month of nothing.

"You could be more helpful," Watanuki huffed as he placed aside the book that he had supposedly already read (it was more likely that it had been copied or transcribed by the same monk as another tome) and reached for the next in his stack. "I'm taking time off work to help you, but there's nothing here! Are you sure Yuuko can't help?"

Doumeki leveled Watanuki with an annoyed look. Of course he was sure, he had checked with the witch himself. And it wasn't his fault that Watanuki was coming to the shrine with him for an hour each day before work. Really, it was detracting from Doumeki's own time to study and wasn't very helpful, but it didn't really need to be said since the company wasn't that bad and sometimes Watanuki would be frustrated with the old texts and cook something to calm down.

"Hey asshole, you could at least dignify me with a response!" Watanuki's decibel level stayed within the regular human range, but his next sentence was shouted, and Doumeki couldn't be bothered to discern what it was. His eyes drifted back to the book in his lap and he waited for hearing to return.

Watanuki's aggravated breath was harsh in the archer's ears, so he looked up. "Done?"

A tense silence followed, though not one of Doumeki's auditory functions' making.

"Yeah," Watanuki slumped and rested his chin in one palm.

"Good," was all Doumeki said, even though he wanted to say that if Watanuki wanted to help than he should help instead of yell. But of course he wasn't going to say that, because it didn't need to be said. Watanuki knew that yelling wasn't helping the situation at all.

But, then, around Watanuki, Doumeki was practically chatty, so the urge wasn't that strange.

Aged paper and ink absorbed the silence between them.

Author's Note: No way, the title actually had something to do with it this time! :O Yeah. So. Sorry this is so dang late. Kinda forgot about it and got caught up in other stuff (Inspector Auror in particular, and now I'm trying not to get into an Ouran/Gakuen Alice idea 'cause I have other stuff to write ^^"). Oh well, at least you got it. I promise to have Hazuki (September) out by the end of the week (hopefully tomorrow, but my time is currently in high demand!) and Nagatsuki (October) will be out before Halloween. Promise.

Didn't use the quote OR the prompt this time. I don't know if I will again, to be honest. I'm kinda trying to keep the story moving in the appropriate mood.