Title: Love of Language
Universe: xxxHOLiC
Theme/Topic: Language
Rating: PG
Character/Pairing/s: Doumeki, Watanuki
Warnings/Spoilers: None that I can really think of. Maybe some of the other language is wrong… If you don't speak this language (it's a surprise!), then you might not understand some (most?) parts of this fic… The other language parts I'll put italic and underline…
Summary: Not even Watanuki knew he could speak another language.
Dedication: You. :]
A/N: I know the 'body' remembers, but can I make Watanuki know another language? …SURE, why not?
Disclaimer: No, I don't own it. Sorry if I got your hopes up.
Distribution: Don't do it.

"You know, Yuuko's insane. Possibly in the membrane," Watanuki huffed while maneuvering himself over to the side of the sidewalk. "She just had to have sake from this godforsaken place..." He stopped and waited for the idiot to make it over to him.

When he did finally make it next to him, he said with his face as stiff as a board, "Stop complaining, it's not so bad a place." He squeezed next to his companion for the day, much to the other boy's dismay.

Watanuki fumed and spun to look at Doumeki. "WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! THIS PLACE IS FILLED TO THE BRIM WITH PEOPLE AND WE HAD TO TAKE FOUR TRAINS HERE! FOUR!" Doumeki plugged his ear as Watanuki kept ranting, mostly to himself. "I insisted we take that weird little walkway of hers but then, NO, she insisted I take YOU because spirits or something so we had to take the stupid TRAIN. FOUR TRAINS!"

When it seemed he was done, Doumeki looked at him. "So, are we close to where we need to be?" Watanuki dug into his pocket and fished out what looked like a napkin. He had scrawled the address down when Yuuko was yelling about sake and this glorious place she knew of that just had the best sake she'd ever tasted.

He looked around then said, "No, we have about three or four more blocks to go." He sighed and moved to merge into oncoming 'traffic'. Doumeki followed.

The street was packed with people. Even the simile 'packed like sardines' couldn't cut it. Watanuki hated it. Every time he moved, he touched someone he didn't know. It gave him the creeps. He still felt Doumeki behind him and that put him at ease (which made him irritated with himself). Up ahead, he could see a break in the crowd. As he got closer, he noticed a woman at its center.

Nothing was particularly odd about her, other than the fact she was clearly not Japanese. As they got closer, he noticed that she seemed to be looking for something. Curious, he started walking a little bit faster, with Doumeki at his heels.

They were about five feet away when she locked eyes with Watanuki. Her expression seemed to lift a bit and she started walking towards them. She smiled a bit and said to the seer, "Ah, excuse-moi!"

Ah, she wasn't Japanese after all. Watanuki felt Doumeki right behind him when he stopped and smiled at her warmly. What came out of his mouth next, neither he nor Doumeki predicted. "Oui?"

Doumeki looked down at him with slightly widened eyes. The woman seemed somewhat surprised herself, but she continued, "Pourriez-vous me dire où je pourrais trouver le café connu sous le nom de..." She looked down at a piece of paper in her hand, which also looked like a napkin, "Cat's Eye?"

Watanuki smiled and replied, "The Cat's Eye café, hm? Je ne suis pas sûr moi-même, mais je pense que les deux blocs et à gauche." He then turned around and pointed in the direction he was speaking about. Doumeki kept his stoic face on but his eyes displayed clear confusion. Watanuki couldn't blame him. He himself had no idea where this was coming from, but it was working so he kept on doing it.

The woman brightened and said cheerfully, "Merci, merci beaucoup! J'ai été errant ici depuis si longtemps, et maintenant que j'ai finalement obtenu un certain nombre d'orientations!" She shook his hand but stopped to compliment him, "Vous savez, vous parlez couramment le français très japonais pour un garçon de l'école!"

Watanuki flushed and rubbed the back of his neck, "M-Merci! Croyez-moi, je n'ai aucune idée si cela est en provenance de ... Mais je suis content j'ai été d'une aide à vous!" The woman looked confused for a second but shrugged it off and went to look for the Cat's Eye café.

"When did you learn French?" Doumeki finally asked, confusion nowhere near his voice. He looked down at a baffled Watanuki.

"I… don't remember," he said quietly. He was quite saddened that he couldn't remember ever learning French. He most likely learned it and forgotten it, just like his parents. His shoulders sagged.

"Well, even if you don't remember, you certainly helped her out a lot," Doumeki was the type to compliment without really meaning to. He stared in the direction the woman went then shifted his sight to Watanuki.

The seer gazed up at him with a slightly pink face. He smiled a quaint smile. "Yeah, I guess I did," he walked a few steps ahead of Doumeki and turned around with a small smile on his face. "Tant que je fais ce rêve une réalité, il n'a pas d'importance si j'ai perdu mes souvenirs. Venez sur Doumeki, nous allons."

Watanuki never meant for Doumeki to understand what he said that day, but somehow, even if it was in another language…

Doumeki understood and followed.

*points at above chapter* That is what you get when you get this brilliant idea to type a story at two thirty in the morning. Sorry it's somewhat in another language! I know it's too late to really… not read it but you can just forget about this chapter and move on, if you want. Or you can copy and paste the French into Google and see the translation. Or you can try to figure out what they're saying. Lastly, you can do nothing. BUT PLEASE! If you know French and it's horribly wrong, PLEASE TELL ME. I used Google, and Google isn't THAT reliable. Also, review please!