Complication
Summary: Shizuka learns more new things.
Warnings: Just a lot of conversation; a subtle setting up in preparation of what is to come.

"Thank you," Watanuki-sama said, slim hands cradling the ceramic little cup, "for sitting with me."

The Lord's eyes remained heavy lidded, face seemingly calm but Shizuka could tell it was a schooled expression. The monk let the silence stretch on, if only just to see how it seemed to rattle Watanuki-sama. He drank his tea, kept his eyes hooded, and remained calm… watching his Master's eyes slowly begin to glint and shine with disquiet.

"So…" The young Lord's fingers fidgeted uneasily over his cup, the only outward betrayal of his anxiety. "I'm… sorry about the trouble earlier." His tone was quite deliberately polite and careful, "You seem very skilled. I've never seen anyone handle a full sword so easily in a small amount of space."

"Thank you." He didn't particularly want to get into a discussion about his training.

"You're welcome." There appeared a relieved smile on Watanuki-sama's face anyway. He seemed to relax when he said, "I suppose you weren't warned about those fool assassins. And on your first day, too," he waved with a hand. "We only just got warning of them recently ourselves. It's been a bit of a pain watching out for them and not knowing when they'd strike." His smile widened a bit, "And now we have them in custody."

"I don't think they are the only people here for this purpose," Shizuka commented. "If they want you dead, they would not have sent all their men in one go, and there certainly would not have been only three of them."

"B-but…" Watanuki seemed to deflate, clearly upset to hear this. "Surely I'm not worth sacrificing lives for."

"If this cousin of yours is as determined as I hear he is," Shizuka stated, brows furrowing as he pinned his Master with his eyes, "And there is as much at stake as I am told… then you are worth a small army." He added his address almost as an after-thought, a reminder of sorts, "Watanuki-sama."

The Seer slouched over his cup, looking a little morose, muttering beneath his breath, "Why can't they all just get on with their lives and leave me alone?"

Shizuka was certain he wasn't meant to hear that, but fought the urge to reply anyway. That side of his concerns settled, he asked, "How clearly do you see the Supernatural elements of this world?"

"Hm?" Watanuki-sama seemed to have lost almost all heart. "Well, I see…" he waved a hand in futile description, "spirits and ghosts, those murky shapes that linger where people died. I see… fog and smoke around things or people." He gathered steam but his voice remained disinterested and weary, "I see creatures that look as real as you or Jason, what seem to be flesh and blood people but they aren't… they aren't people." He scrunched up his nose, "They're animals sometimes. Talking animals. Or even being who are supposed to look human but they're… shaped differently and have purple skin or something." He shuddered, "And shadows. Walking shadows as though they were people themselves, walking about with no discernible features save for their eyes."

The monk supposed that pretty much covered most of his text-book learned material for the first six years of his training. But if Watanuki-sama continued to gain better Sight, he would have only a little more knowledge. He placidly commented, "You see a lot."

"Oh?" Watanuki-sama tilted his head to one side, "I didn't know that. I don't know what 'a lot' means where this… ability is concerned."

Probably hadn't had any comparisons.

"Although that woman mentioned I was pretty powerful." The young noble thoughtfully curled a long finger over his chin, glaring down at the table, "She said I was really powerful. But what would it mean to me?"

Her again. Shizuka silently watched the young Lord, adding this mystery woman to his list of things to quiz Jason about. "Did you always see these things?"

"No, I didn't always, actually." Watanuki-sama pressed his lips together thoughtfully, "I used to see the ghosts first, and that leftover sludge stuff." He waved a dismissive hand then said, "And then bit by bit, and more times as I travelled, I encountered more things and creatures." He shook his head, "Most of the people-like ones are pretty surprised I can see and hear them. They think I'm amusing."

Shizuka tensed and grimly demanded, "Have they ever invited you to go with them?"

"Oh?" Watanuki-sama caught sight of his expression and frowned, "Not you too."

That pretty much summed things up to the monk. "It's a good thing you've never gone off with them." He paused, realising what might have tempted the young Seer, "even if they did say they could tell you more about your power for free."

Watanuki looked surprised a moment, blinking, then turned away with a scowl.

Bull's eye. He couldn't resist adding, "You probably would never have been seen or heard from ever again."

"Alright, alright!" The young Lord huffed, "I get it! Don't go off with strangers! I know!"

"Hn." Sheer luck. It had been sheer luck, Shizuka supposed, that had kept his hapless Master alive long enough for him to be brought into the Order's care. His care.

Slit-eyed irritated, the noble grumbled, "You're bossy, you know that?"

Instead of replying, Shizuka said, "I'm hoping to meet with Jason tomorrow to hear everything he knows about your circumstances and plans. This is so I can better plan how to keep you safe."

"Doumeki-san," Watanuki-sama started, making a small shiver crawl up Shizuka's spine; this was the first time the young noble had ever spoken his name. "I really don't think it's necessary to—"

"You were almost killed tonight, Watanuki-sama," Shizuka pointed out. He let those words sink in, Watanuki-sama's eyes going wide and then sad. He ignored it all as he lifted his cup to finish off his tea. He gentled his tone, "It is best that here on out, we look at your situation realistically."

Both were silent for a long while, drinking tea and immersed in their own thoughts.

Finally, the monk had to ask, "Has anyone ever trained you to use your power?"

"Eh?" Watanuki-sama's head popped up, startled out of his musings. "Ahh… no…"

"Then how did you know to deflect the spell cast at you?" Shizuka frowned, eyes searching out the wrist he knew was damaged. It must have been tended to already, to have been working on the tea preparation earlier.

"Oh." Watanuki-sama stared down at his covered wrist in surprise. "Well, I just focused an amount of energy on my hand and it's like a… like a barrier. Although tonight I didn't use enough, it seems, but these things don't happen all that often so I'm not sure." He frowned a little, "Some things that seem less harmful at first can be so much more powerful, and then things which seem strong can be all for show. I really have difficulty telling." He looked up into Shizuka's eyes, his expression worriedly curious, "Did I do something wrong?"

Despite all his earlier ranting, Shizuka could clearly see that Watanuki-sama liked to learn. The Seer's eyes were expectant and interested, honestly wanting to hear an answer. The monk blinked at the realization before he managed to finally say, "What you did a very basic way to use energy." He frowned, "But most people aren't able to focus the raw energy like that since most people don't always have enough. Have you ever cast a spell before?" Judging by the blank look in the Lord's eyes, Shizuka supposed not. "Do you have any spell-books?"

Watanuki-sama slowly shook his head.

"Do you have anything, any items at all, that are to do with magic?"

When those blue eyes slid away to one side, gaze fixing on the door to his own room, Shizuka turned to glance at it before turning quietly back. Watanuki-sama's voice was soft, "There are some things that I… find. Or search. They are not… normal… but I can't really say if they are magical."

An uneasy feeling settled in Shizuka's stomach, "What do you explore?" Watanuki-sama's eyes snapped back to his. "The Council said you're an explorer. What do you explore? What are you looking for?" Something Jason said earlier rang in his head. "Are you on a quest?"

"A quest." The darkness of Watanuki-sama's blue eyes deepened into a deep-sea blue. "I suppose you could call it that. What I'm looking for… is a cure."

Shizuka blinked. "A cure for what?"

"For me."

"What would you need a cure for?" Shizuka asked, genuinely puzzled and a little alarmed. "The Council mentioned you don't have a very strong constitution but I didn't expect you to be ill."

"I'm not exactly ill…" Watanuki-sama turned to watch the sunlight just beginning to pour in through the cabin porthole. He sighed, "I'm just not… normal."

The truth hit Shizuka rather hard, his fingers clenching around the delicate little cup in his hands that he absently feared the thing would crack. "You mean to your Sight."

"Yes." It was a very soft, very sad reply.

Shizuka needed all of about a half-second to decide his opinion on that: "You're an idiot."

Pause.

"I bloody well don't need to hear that from you, you cretin!!" Watanuki-sama hissed, blasting out of his chair and to his feet, expression twisting into an angry scowl. His eyes were suddenly bright and his cheeks were rapidly turning pink. One of his slim hands gripped his cup so tightly, Shizuka wondered if his cup would crack.

"Well, you were musing about things that can't be changed." Watanuki-sama looked much better irate and energetic this way, in the monk's opinion. That done, he covered his mouth and yawned before he said, "And I know people who would kill to have even half your power…" An unpleasant thought occurred to him at those words; but that would have to wait for later.

"Well I don't want it!" Watanuki-sama growled, sitting back down, glaring across the table.

"Tough luck, Watanuki-sama," Shizuka teased.

"Stop calling me that!"

The monk blinked, puzzled. "What should I call you then?"

Watanuki-sama's cheeks were back to that bright red again.

And now, Shizuka could tell the differences; when the noble's neck turned red as well as his cheeks then it meant he was angry, when it was his ears and cheeks then he was embarrassed… and Shizuka idly wondered if there were any other combinations to be aware of…

"Well," the Lord began. But he ran out of steam a moment then blurted, "Just don't use that honorific. It's too formal."

"Then…" he wondered if it might be too informal, thinking of Jason's mischievous suggestion earlier. "Watanuki?"

The Lord sighed, "That's… better." He gave a rather elegant snort, "Considering you've saved my life, I think that eliminates most formalities."

"As you wish," Shizuka tested the name on his tongue, "Watanuki."

The Seer abruptly stood and collected both their cups, turning quickly away to the side-wall counter and basin there. "You should prepare for rest. I won't be going anywhere."

There was that damnable polite mask again, Shizuka noticed, not needing to see the young Master's face to tell. It was in his voice. He got to his own feet and politely remained standing as Watanuki worked.

"I am henceforth not leaving this cabin without you, so you can rest easy." The Seer turned to wrap up the bag of tea leaves beside the basin, clearing the last of the things away. "Last night and all this early morning has been quite hectic, so I think I will be sleeping extra long. We both need to get back our strength."

The ship gave a lurch under their feet, shouting on deck filtered lightly in. It seemed they were drawing anchor and getting ready to leave. Shizuka felt no inclination to take a last look at the port he had spent almost a week waiting for The Dancing Dragon to pull in. He watched Watanuki instead.

"So," the Lord said, turning to face him again. He gave a short bow, almost formally saying, "Thank you for all your hard work. Good night."

"Your wrist," Shizuka replied instead.

"Excuse me?"

"I asked earlier about how you knew to deflect the spell," the monk reminded his Master patiently. "I am wondering how your wrist is."

"Oh!" Watanuki transferred the bag of tea into what Shizuka knew was his injured hand, and with the other, pulled the sleeve up and held the arm out. There was not a mark on it. He innocently declared, "But it's all healed up already."

Shizuka stared. "I see."

"Well," Watanuki let the sleeve fall back into place and gave a polite nod. "Rest well, then."

"Good night."

The monk watched until the young Lord had disappeared into the bedroom before slumping back down into his seat. Not a mark on his wrist; Shizuka couldn't believe it.

He was going to be in so much trouble.

TBC