Watanuki woke up early that morning. It was unusual for him to be up just before the sun was, so it must have been the big ball of dread in his stomach that made it difficult for him to sleep any longer. Doumeki, being a naturally light sleeper, awoke right around the time Watanuki was quietly cursing to himself as he got back from the baths.

The school day was ahead of them. Watanuki had an idea of how bad the bullies would be, but he also knew they were going to be worse than ever before. He was certain the entire female student body was going to be angry at him for taking up Doumeki's previous eligibility. The boys were just going to think he was an even bigger freak than he was previously. Quite a feat, really, considering they thought he was the world's biggest freak already.

Doumeki toed on his shoes after the normal morning routine and opened one of the closets near the entrance to grab a broom. He figured he may as well do some sweeping outside before school since they had so much extra time. There was a faint, crisp chill in the morning air.

Watanuki found him after a while sweeping the pathways between the rows of trees near the front entrance. The teenager crossed his arms, still concerned for the day to come. "Oi, Shizuka, hurry up or we'll be late for school."

"So grab a broom and help."

"Tch!" Watanuki scowled. "Lazy bum. You've been out here for a while now, how long does it take to sweep?" He turned sharply on his heel to make his way back to the supply closet to grab an extra broom. Doumeki looked up with a quirked eyebrow as Watanuki started flailing his arms around and danced on foot. He must have tripped on a rock.

The teenager started to tip backward on his unsteady feet and fell into something that felt soft and sticky. Doumeki sighed as Watanuki tried pulled his arms away from the large spider's web he just became caught in. "Hold still, you're just getting more tangled."

"Then help me, Mr. Know-It-All!" He flapped his stuck arms for emphasis.

Doumeki lowered his hold on the broom handle to use it to break the web apart and stepped closer. He reached up just above Watanuki's head and started to pull.

"Wait!"

Doumeki froze when his grandfather's hand was suddenly on his arm and restraining him.

"Haruka-san!" Watanuki gasped. "I didn't even see you there!"

"Grandfather?" Doumeki asked, also surprised. The older man seemed to just appear out of nowhere. Haruka looked very concerned and Doumeki wondered what was going on.

"Don't destroy the web yet."

"Why not?" Watanuki asked.

Doumeki lowered the broom handle and waited for his relative to explain the situation.

"Because," Haruka replied to Watanuki. "This isn't an ordinary web." He looked up through the trees, his eyes searching. "Spider-san, I am sure you're here. Please come out."

Blue eyes widened in deep worry. It figured it wasn't an ordinary spider web he landed in.

The lines of thread twitched infrequently as something crawled closer to them. Watanuki may have squeaked when a long black leg extended down from the trees, but if he did he would never admit to it.

More legs followed. The leaves shivered as the large body of the spider moved out from underneath of them. Just the body of the spider alone must have been the size of a basketball.

"Priest," the spider said in greeting, its mandibles spitting the word out in a strange and cumbersome way.

"You've caught something in your web that you should not have," Haruka said, his voice neutral. "I should hope there would be no grudges should we remove him."

"This is my home," the spider asserted. "I do not control who enters my nest. This human boy may not be my usual fare, but I think I can make an exception for him."

"Hey!" Watanuki said indignantly. "I am not your meal!"

Haruka stepped closer to the web and the spider. The large creature made a small hiss of noise and scuttled back a bit higher. "You know the rules on my temple grounds, Spider-san. You are not allowed to make homes in the walkways or living space. I cannot ignore the safety of the people that come and go from here. And yet here we are, with a member of my family caught in your web right in the middle of a rather heavily used pathway."

"But!" The spider scuttled a little higher. "No one has been down this way for days now! Good places to catch food are hard to find!"

"You will release him," Haruka demanded. "And you will do it now. This web cannot remain here. As a gesture of goodwill, I just happen to have a bottle of my sake on hand. You may take it and do with it as you will."

The large black spider was silent for a moment, its many eyes moving around quickly. Watanuki swallowed and prayed this wasn't going to become ugly.

A large spit of web extended from the spider and latched on to the side of the sake bottle in Haruka's hand. The priest released his hold and the item was pulled up into the clutches of the spider's legs. "Fine, I'll let him go." The spider moved quickly around the caught teenager and released him.

Watanuki's body mildly convulsed in an uncontrollable shudder as he stepped away and thought about the large creature being around him just moments ago. He didn't even like bugs and spiders when he was a kid, so seeing something that large was irksome.

Doumeki's arms wrapped around his waist and pulled him roughly into a tight hold. "Hey," Watanuki protested weakly.

"Thank you for your understanding," Haruka smiled at the spider. "Please be well."

"Yeah, fine..." The spider hissed in its strange way of speaking and disappeared back into the trees.

Watanuki stood in a quiet state of shock for a moment. "What... was that?"

"Just a spider," Haruka turned back to them and answered. "But lesser spiders don't have the best of memories, so we had to be careful to remind him of the rules before he put a grudge on one of you for destroying his web."

"What would the spider have done?" Doumeki asked.

They started walking back to the shrine. "A spider has a few different grudges that it can place on a person. The most common grudge is lost vision, maybe even complete removal of an eye. Sometimes they can give you terrible bad luck, or, in extreme cases, frozen limbs."

"Good thing you were there, Haruka-san," Watanuki said with relief.

"A very good thing," Haruka smiled. "That took a bit of time, so you two best hurry before you're late for school."

. . . . . . . .

As soon as they stepped foot on school grounds there were eyes upon them. The hold Watanuki had on his briefcase tightened severely in anxiety. He didn't want to go in.

"Come on," Doumeki said quietly in his ear and pushed gently against his lower back with his hand. "You can't just not go to school."

"Easy for you, you big moron!" Watanuki hissed lowly. "Was there ever a day in your life when you were bothered by bullies? What, no? Oh, good, then shut up."

Doumeki rolled his eyes and kept guiding his partner into school. "Drama queen."

"Neanderthal."

There was a noticeable hush when they entered the doors and walked to their lockers. Doumeki tried to ignore the not-so-subtle whispers as Watanuki stowed away their lunches for the day and grabbed his supplies. It was difficult tuning them out when he kept hearing thinly veiled insults directed at the shorter student.

Oh my god! They finally showed back up at school! Can you believe that? Look, he's just standing there next to him and touching him!

… I thought the rumors from the library had to be made up! There's no way Doumeki-kun would want to be with a freak like Watanuki!

I always knew there was something wrong with Watanuki, I just didn't think he could ruin someone like Doumeki-kun with his weirdness...

He's acting like such a girl, he's even blushing...

The conversations around them grew louder and louder.

Doumeki's jaw clenched in anger as they entered the classroom. He had never had a lower opinion of the students of this school until that morning. He couldn't even imagine lacking that much empathy that he would ridicule someone he didn't even know just for being different.

Watanuki slouched down in his seat and tried to keep his eyes lowered to his homework. The last thing he wanted to do at the moment was make eye contact with someone and start up a conversation.

Part way through first period English Watanuki felt the disgusting pings of spitballs hit his head. Each time one landed on him a few of the students behind him giggled. High school kids were disgusting.

By the time Watanuki and Doumeki split up for their different classes just before lunch the taller teenager felt the incredible urge to punch the lights out of the next person that said something cross about his partner.

Not that he didn't hear unflattering things about himself, but he actually didn't care what was said about him. Even the backhanded comment that he probably spent most of his time with his mouth around Watanuki's erection didn't upset him. So what if they thought he 'sucked dick?' Watanuki enjoyed the attention and he felt no shame regarding their private lives. Not that he'd ever give the students the satisfaction of replying to their comments.

No, it was the look on Watanuki's face every time someone said something cruel about him, shot spitballs at him or slapped his books out of his hands. They had no right to do that to the boy, and it made Doumeki very, very angry.

He worried a great deal over Watanuki's well-being as he tried to concentrate in his literature class. The other boy had gym class and the possibility of things becoming violent were too high.

"Psst, Doumeki-kun," someone whispered behind him.

Doumeki turned his head at looked, recognizing the voice as one of the students in the archery club. The boy, Kaseki-san, discreetly held out a folded note for him to take. Doumeki frowned a little but took the paper anyway. When he knew for certain the teacher had not seen them he opened the note and looked at it.

Scribbled on the blank line paper was the chicken-scratch scrawl of Kaseki's handwriting. It read:

Are you serious about being with Watanuki-san?

Doumeki's eyebrows furrowed together. He deftly picked up his pen and scribbled back a single word. Yes. He turned around and handed the note back. He kept his eyes up front on the distracted teacher and heard the paper rustle behind him as it was opened and read.

A few seconds later and the note was handed back to him. He grabbed it and read through the response.

Okay. We still want you in the archery club, so don't quit, all right? And keep Watanuki-san away from the soccer team. Make sure you both each lunch with us today.

That was worrisome. What had the soccer team been saying since he and Watanuki had been gone from school?

Doumeki stuffed the note in his pocket just before the teacher turned around and surveyed the classroom. When he had another moment he looked back at Kaseki and nodded his head in agreement. He really hoped that gym class went well.

. . . . . . . . .

When class let out Doumeki searched the halls for Watanuki but did not find him. He wanted to ask one of the students if they'd seen him but he currently didn't trust any of them outside of the archery club members and he didn't see any of them either.

After a couple of frenzied rounds around the hallways Doumeki stopped in front of the nurse's office and poked his head inside.

Wouldn't it figure he found Watanuki sitting on a chair with a pack of ice on his face? The boy's glasses were conspicuously missing and there was a streak of blood dried against the side of his cheek. Doumeki walked in quickly and touched his arm. "What happened?"

"Oh, the usual," Watanuki said, his voice muted as if his nose was being pinched. "Basketball game in gym class, ten feet away from the ball and yet three people found the need to knock me over. My glasses fell off and were stepped on, and when I stood back up I got a face full of basketball and a nice bloody nose."

Doumeki sighed and took a seat next to him. "Is anything broken?"

"No, luckily, those stupid jerks didn't break anything. It didn't help my nosebleed when they kept laughing at me, though."

"I'm sorry," Doumeki felt the urge to say.

"All I can say is I told you so," Watanuki groused and leaned his head further back. "Ugh... I hate the feeling of blood running down my throat. It's gross."

"It's lunch time," Doumeki said. "Are you going to be able to eat anything?"

"Not for a while." Watanuki closed his eyes and sighed loudly. "Go eat. I'll meet you in class, if my nose stops running. Not that I'll be able to see class, mind you, with my glasses broken."

"Do you have a spare set?"

"Hah!" Watanuki laughed sarcastically. "A spare set! Do you know how expensive those are? I can't afford new glasses."

"Then we'll go to the eye clinic tonight and order a new pair for you."

"With what money?"

Doumeki looked at Watanuki quietly and waited for his blue eyes to open. After a few seconds of silence Watanuki looked over at him with a disgruntled what? "We're not letting you go blind," Doumeki explained.

"I'm not a leech!"

"You are a moron, though."

"Pot calling the kettle-"

"Oh, Doumeki-san," the nurse interrupted as she walked back into the main office proper. "I'm glad to see you're feeling better! And Watanuki-san, too, aside from his nosebleed." She walked over and gently pulled the ice pack away from Watanuki's face. "The swelling is looking better, Watanuki-san. In a few minutes you should be able to return to lunch."

"Thank you, sensei," Watanuki mumbled, his voice still muted. "I'll be fine."

The woman smiled and handed him another moist towel to dab at the dried blood still on his face. She grabbed a clip board from a counter and walked back to one of the other rooms. "As long as you stay away from the soccer team," Doumeki added belatedly.

"What? What about the soccer team, what did they say?" Watanuki asked worriedly.

Doumeki stood and shrugged. "Dunno, just a warning I got today."

Watanuki groaned in frustration.