Watanuki sat sullenly on the edge of the closed toilet seat in the bathroom and leaned lightly against Doumeki's shoulder for support. It had been two days since he regained coherency after his bad reaction to the pain medication and he'd been spending most of that time sleeping. He still felt a little disoriented but at least he could now stand up without passing out.

Doumeki held a thin wrist in his hands. His fingers hovered over the dirty bandages he was about to remove. "Are you ready?"

His closed his left eye, his face drawn. "Y-Yeah... just take it off." He was afraid to see what was underneath. He'd been told that Haruka had healed his skin, but it still felt hot and tight ever since he'd woken up.

With a breath Doumeki began the task of unwinding the material. He moved at an agonizingly slow pace, always careful and never pulling. It was a few seconds before Watanuki realized his eye was still closed and yet there was no move movement from Doumeki anymore. He opened his uncovered eye and inspected his hand warily. His new glasses currently sat over the bandages that covered the bridge of his nose and his right eye but at least his left could see normally. "My hand looks... fine. A bit red, I think, but not bad." The skin was bright pink, like newly healed flesh just exposed from under an old scab. It was so smooth he could scarcely see any pores.

"Does it hurt?" Doumeki touched the skin softly with his finger. It even felt unusually smooth.

"Not really, just a little sore I guess." He breathed a sigh of relief. His face should be fine then, too. He used his free hand to take off his glasses. "All right. Last one." He could feel the heat of his partner's hands as they framed his face and started to unwind the coverings.

Once finished Doumeki tossed the used bandages in the trash can next to them. "Ready to look in the mirror?"

"...No," Watanuki admitted, but he stood up anyway. He kept his hand over his right eye, afraid to open it yet and have proof that his vision might very well be gone. He had been warned it was a possibility. He stood on wobbly feat and looked at the mirror. The right side of his forehead looked just like the skin of his hand, smooth and shiny. He moved his hand aside and studied his closed eye. Any swelling that might have once existed was gone. Everything looked to be in good order, aside from the pink color of the otherwise pale skin. With a deep breath Watanuki opened his right eyelid.

Nothing in his vision changed. Everything was still dark on the right side. He moved closer to his reflection and tried to study his eye. He felt a fresh wave of horror wash over him. "It's... It's..." His knuckles turned white as he balled his fists. His whole body trembled. "I can't..."

Doumeki caught sight of it just before Watanuki lowered his eyes and ducked his head. The sightless right eye was pure white. Thin, grayish circles left small markings where his iris and pupil were supposed to be, but any actual color was missing. Watanuki was blind in his right eye.

"Oh god..." His hands reached up and covered his face, perhaps trying to hide the evidence of his new, permanent injury from the painful truth the mirror revealed.

Doumeki wrapped his arms around his partner before the boy could stumble away from the mirror and out of his reach. Firmly but carefully he cupped Watanuki's cheeks and turned the boy's face to meet his own.

He was shaking, still dumb with shock and he had no idea what to say or do, because nothing could fix this, and why was Doumeki insisting on looking at him like this? What could he possibly hope to gain by studying his dead eye?

"Marry me."

Watanuki's shaking stilled for a moment as he registered what was just said. Doumeki's hawk-like yellow eyes stared at him intently, penetrating and serious. "What?!" That's all he could say. Why couldn't he think of anything else to say? His brain felt like it had run into a brick wall and was still reeling and stunned from the impact.

"Marry me." Doumeki repeated again.

"But…" Was his token protest, because it was habit by now to always protest what Doumeki said. Why couldn't they get married? There had to be a good reason. Watanuki knew he'd spent a lot of time thinking about this before and always seemed to find a few good reasons why, so how was it he couldn't think of anything now? "We're still in school," he managed to say.

"When we graduate, then. When we are of age."

Watanuki breathed through his mouth and folded his fingers around Doumeki's wrists. His partner was still holding his face and looking at him. It was almost like there was a challenge in his expression, daring the other boy to try and move away. Why would he want to be with me? I'm the one always causing trouble, always making him worried, and always causing problems at school.

Haruka's voice entered his thoughts and reminded him. My grandson loves you more than anything else in this world. He has chosen to protect you and keep you safe. The thought was still alien to him. Just the idea that someone would want to endure such much trouble just to love and be with someone else had to be only fairy tale. No one else had ever bothered to care for him so much since his parents died. I'm really lucky, he suddenly realized. Really, really lucky that Doumeki found him when he did and decided to help him and, even stranger still, fell him love with him so quickly. He was really lucky that Doumeki's family was so accepting and exactly what he needed to stay alive and feel like he actually belonged to something that mattered again. He belonged to a family. "When we're older," he heard himself agreeing.

The tension fled from the taller boy's frame and his shoulders relaxed. Doumeki's hands slid around Watanuki's cheeks to the back of his neck and shoulders and pulled him as close as possible and kissed him. Doumeki hugged him afterward. He locked his partner in his arms as close as he could manage and pressed his face into the side of Watanuki's neck. "We'll find a way to fix this. Trust me."

That's impossible, was the instinctual reply in his head. It had to be impossible. His sight was gone and the eye would never be healed. But, then again, everything about Doumeki was impossible. His food requests were impossible, his ability to protect a spirit magnet were impossible, his freakishly tall height was impossible and his unending devotion was impossible. Perhaps if there was someone who could find an answer to this it was in fact Doumeki. "Y-you probably won't find much," Watanuki said quietly.

"I won't stop looking until I find an answer."

"You're impossible." He hid his face in Doumeki's warm chest.

"Yeah."

It wasn't until after the bath had been drawn and Watanuki was trying not to fall asleep in the blissfully warm water that he realized what Doumeki had done. Somehow his one simple request had managed to completely sidetrack the despair that Watanuki was going to throw himself into. Instead of allowing his partner to dwell on the results of the acid injury Doumeki successfully diverted his attention to think about something good, and something that was to happen in the future. He had also finally gotten the answer he was looking for. Watanuki had put up token protests before regarding the subject. He'd never actually taken it seriously before. He still didn't quite have his head wrapped around the whole idea, but at the moment he was far too fatigued to care. Doumeki loved him, was worried for him, and despite all the trouble he caused wished to spend the rest of his life with him.

Perhaps he should make a cake soon. A large chiffon cake with pink and yellow frosting. Those were spring colors, and he knew those were Akane's favorite shades. Doumeki didn't care what color something was as long as it tasted good, and Watanuki was pretty sure he would eat an entire chiffon cake if his partner was the one to make it. Haruka would probably eat just as much as Doumeki would try to. Perhaps, he thought, he should make two chiffon cakes.

. . . . . . . . . .

"Kimihiro-kun!" Akane exclaimed. She nearly dropped the cup of tea she had just poured herself in the kitchen. "You're up! Oh, I'm so glad to see you awake!" She set down her tea and rushed up to him and enveloped him in a hug. The teenager had just entered the kitchen for the first time since he'd been brought home. He still wasn't standing up all the way and appeared a little unsteady on his feet.

Watanuki blushed and returned the hug a little uncertainly. "Akane-san! Really, there's no need to fuss. I'm okay." He tried to smile as Doumeki's mother smoothed his hair back and inspected his face and hand for any injury.

"Don't be silly. Of course there's need to fuss. I've been so worried for you." She cupped his face and frowned at the patch that covered his right eye. Watanuki's hair was still wet from the bath. "Is your eye still sore? Were you able to open it at all?"

"…I…" The teenager hesitated.

"It's all right," Doumeki's voice said from behind him. "You should show her."

Akane looked on worriedly as Watanuki's face drained of the little color it had. "A-all right." He took off his glasses with shaky hands. He folded the glasses down and clutched the spectacles in one hand while his other touched the gauze patch on his face.

"Kimihiro-kun?" Akane questioned with concern.

"Please don't be upset, Akane-san. I-it could have been a lot worse." His face flinched in reflex as he pulled the patch away and revealed his whole face.

She tried not to cry as she looked at the empty orb that stared blankly at her but all her efforts failed her. She felt her face pinch as she tried to hold back her tears with no success. Watanuki may not have been her own son, but it didn't take much to imagine the way she would feel if such a thing had happened to Doumeki instead. Blood or no blood, he was still family. "Kimihiro-kun. I'm so sorry."

"No, really, it's okay. Please don't be upset. I'm all right," Watanuki tried to console her. Akane hugged him again.

"This is wrong, it's wrong!" She sobbed. "This shouldn't have happened to you! You don't deserve any of this Kimihiro-kun!"

Another pair of arms joined them. Watanuki felt Doumeki wrap his arms around both of them. "It's all right, mom. I'll find a way to fix this."

"I don't see how you could," she sniffed. She pulled away reluctantly and wiped at her cheeks with the heel of her hand.

"There are bound to be answers in the library. I won't stop until I've found something."

She seemed to take heart at the conviction she heard in her son's voice. "Your grandfather should wake up soon. You won't be looking alone. I'll look, too."

"Is he… is he okay?" Watanuki asked. Doumeki had told him what had happened. He had enough worry in his system over Haruka to cover the whole family.

"Yes, he's fine." Her eyes were still wet but she finally managed to get herself under control. She didn't blame Watanuki for putting the patch back over his eye. He set his glasses back on his nose. "He wakes up for a little while every day. Enough to eat and ask the time. He should be fine in a couple more days."

Watanuki released a breath of relief. That was the best news he'd heard since he woke up. "I'm going to make a cake," he declared.

"You can barely stand," Doumeki pointed out.

"Then help me if you want to eat anything."

Akane was already pulling bowls out of the cupboard. "We'll make sure he doesn't work too hard, won't we Shizuka-kun? I want a cake with pink and yellow frosting."

. . . . . . . . .

"This is not okay!" Watanuki all but screeched. "Five days! You've been asleep for five days!"

Haruka chuckled as he rested against his pillows. "I'm not injured, Kimihiro-kun. And it's not like I've been asleep enough to miss much of your cooking."

The teenager's face screwed up in frustration. "This isn't about my cooking! You could have been really hurt! That was a really big risk you took!" He placed the eating tray on the floor next to Haruka's futon with a little more force than necessary. His shaking hands betrayed his act of frustration to be a result of reduced muscle control. He was still weak from the healing, Haruka was sure. "Even Shizuka's been worried, I can tell! And he has the facial expressions of a rock!"

The priest picked up the bowl of miso soup and carefully stirred it. Even the smell of Watanuki's soup was much better than takeout. "Your condition was dire, Kimihiro-kun. If it wasn't Reiki healing then it would have been surgery. You know how many spirits stalk hospitals. How long do you suppose you would have lasted in surgery?"

"Yes, but-" He opened and closed his mouth several times looking for a good defense but didn't seem to be able to find one. "What if something had happened to you?" He pleaded, hoping Haruka could see the sense of that.

"I'm not new to risk, Kimihiro-kun. I know my limits." He sipped his soup and smiled. "I want a cake after all of this, though."

The teenager huffed as he tried to fold up one of the extra blankets. "I'm already making chiffon cake. Two of them in fact! Was that enough for Shizuka? Nope!" He put the haphazardly folded blanket in the closet and started collecting the clothes that were on the floor in a laundry basket. "Shizuka had to have a champagne cake and chocolate-au-fondant. Chocolate-au-fondant! Where did he even find the recipe for that? I haven't made any French food in ages!" He adjusted his glasses and brushed some of his bangs aside. There was a fine sheen of sweat on his forehead. He had been working too hard that day.

Haruka noticed that the boy's fingers carefully tried to avoid touching the bandage that covered his right eye. It seemed like he was trying to ignore it was there. "He wouldn't request it if he thought you could make it."

"Shizuka would request that I get cheese from the moon for crackers if he thought it was actually made of cheese."

Haruka's lips twitched in a smirk. "So would I."

Watanuki huffed again and stood, the basket of clothes propped up on his hip. "You're crazy, the both of you." He scratched his right temple, still studiously trying to avoid the patch.

"Let me see," Haruka said.

Watanuki nearly dropped the basket of clothes. He knew Haruka would never take no for an answer, no matter how convincing his argument was. He couldn't pretend he didn't know what the priest was talking about. Akane had already told her father the extent of the damage. He set the clothes down next to the door before walking over and kneeling next to Haruka's futon. His face was sullen and sad. "All right," he said at length. He took off his glasses and pulled the patch away from his head.

Haruka couldn't say he was surprised by what he saw. He knew what the acid had done to the boy's skin and knew there wouldn't have been a way for him to heal the eye as well. It didn't mean he wasn't disappointed by it, though. "I am sorry Kimihiro-kun that I couldn't do more."

"You did everything," Watanuki told him earnestly. "I wouldn't be alive without you, you and Shizuka both. I'm really lucky that this is all that's left of the acid."

"You are a good boy, Kimihiro-kun."

Watanuki smiled thinly and put the patch and his glasses back on. "Shizuka is convinced he can find a way to fix this. If you couldn't do it, I don't see how he could either."

"I take it he's looking in the library?" Haruka smiled. "He always was the kind of person to make his own fate."

"He hasn't left the library since he saw my eye. He can't do anything though, right? Even if he did find a spell, you always say you're not a magician."

"I'm not," Haruka grinned widely, "but you are."