XXXHolic Fan Fiction ❯ Red Strings ❯ Red Strings ( Chapter 1 )

Yuuko let the smoke glide from her lips. The bewildered youth standing before her was tearing at his hair again, his legs kicking up and down at awkward angles in his fit of neurotics. She smiled and took another long drag from the pipe that balanced so perfectly between her fingers.

 

She had only told him the truth.

 

Yuuko squinted ever so slightly, searching the air for the magical webs that went unnoticed by everyday people. If only those poor souls could see the complex ether of spirit and emotion that they blundered through every day.

 

And yes…the string, crimson, no blood red, no red as passion stretched out the door, forming the shortest distance between two hearts.

 

Actually it was their fingers, but the sake suppressed that little critical voice in her head as quickly as it came.

 

She stroked the pipe fox who had unwound himself from Watanuki's neck and now was resting upon her divan. Red strings indeed.

 

Xxx

 

Doumeki rested on the stone in front of Yuuko. His knees splayed out from either side, making him look as if he had chosen to sit on a chair for children. Doumeki really was a tall and strongly built boy. In fact, his cup of nectar looked as if it might be crushed by the sheer size of his fingertips. With that same sharp-as-an-arrow stare as he always had, he watched her from over the cup.

 

“I can't go into your shop, or even see it because I don't need to be there.”

 

Yuuko nodded politely, taking a sip from her glass. “You and Watanuki have crossed paths with me for entirely different reasons.”

 

Doumeki hunched over a little further than usual, now subjecting the ground to the penetrating introspection of his eyes. He wondered exactly what his reason was. The boy glanced over to Watanuki, who was now battling both the advances of a nectar-smitten pipe fox and the playful bouncing of Mokona.

 

Was it all because of Watanuki? Sometimes he thought he knew, but other times, he thought it could be something else.

 

In the haze of the drink, Doumeki saw something flicker, like moonlight dancing off the silk of a spider's web. As quickly as it had come, it vanished in a flash of red.

 

Xxx

 

Watanuki peered out the windows of the shop. Rain. Rain was everywhere. He sighed. Now that it was dark he really didn't want to go back to his apartment. In fact, he rarely ever went back to his apartment anyways. Working for Yuuko was a 24 hour job whether he wanted it to be or not.

 

Oddly enough, she never charged him for the spare room that he stayed in. Perhaps it was because then she could have him concoct any late night snacks her exotic stomach dreamed up. Come to think of it, that was probably how she was charging him anyway. Damn it all!

 

Curling up in the sheets, his body was glad to finally rest after another full day. Tomorrow would only bring more monstrosities his way. Watanuki closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

 

Xxx

 

Doumeki walked to the abandoned lot where Yuuko's shop hid from those who were fortunate. Yuuko had told him to meet Watanuki here; it was another one of those missions. He hitched the bag that held his archery equipment further up his shoulder and leaned against a tree.

 

Suddenly a gated building miraculously appeared out of nothing. Doumeki shook his head and rubbed his eyes, but by the time he removed his hands, it was back to nothingness.

 

He sighed. He should have slept more the night before.

 

Aha! There it was again! Doumeki pressed his lips into a line as he studied the shop. It looked just as he had imagined it would, with arcane and magical artifacts stuck helter-skelter through the windows.

 

Doumeki blinked. The shop was gone.

 

Soon afterwards, Watanuki appeared from the thin air, looking as disgruntled as ever, muttering to himself something about Yuuko and sake. Doumeki had yet to learn the exact details of what sort of job he was accompanying the scrawny medium for, but usually, he couldn't see most of it anyway.

 

Whatever happened today, Doumeki would be there. That was all that mattered.

 

Xxx

 

Watanuki stretched his hands high above his head, trying to shake off the last residues of sleep that clung to his brain. Returning his hands to his sides, he grudgingly realized the reason why the night would not let go of him so easily. Weighed down by his arms on either side, he sheets now felt excruciatingly tight against a certain part of his anatomy.

 

He sighed. There really was only one thing he could do. In order to reach the bathroom, he would have to pass by Moro and Maru, the Pipe fox, and worst of all, Yuuko, so he didn't dare to walk outside.

 

He closed his eyes, and pictured Himawari reaching for him. Her bright eyes, her silky hair, her beautiful smile… Everything about her, even her imaginary touch was heaven.

 

Just as Watanuki felt the surge of pleasure surface from him, she was gone. Instead, he saw Doumeki leaning over him, his face passively observing the movements of his hands. Suddenly, a faint shimmer of red silken strings formed around Doumeki's hands and around their two bodies in an intricate network. At the threads' appearance, Watanuki saw a satisfied smile spread over the face of the dark eyed boy.

 

Damn it!

 

That was the 5th time this week! Even in his own brain Watanuki couldn't get a private moment with Himawari.

 

Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!

 

But then again, he supposed, it could be worse. Doumeki could have asked for lunch.

 

And he still needed to do something about his…umm…not so little problem.

 

Xxx

 

“Yuuko.”

 

“Yes?” The sorceress turned to face Doumeki.

 

“You said that I had no need to come into your shop because you have no need to cure my pure spirit.”

 

Yuuko took a sip of her sake. “Are you seeing it suddenly?”

 

Doumeki shook his head. “Sometimes. But then it vanishes into thin air.”

 

“Mmmm.” Yuuko pondered it for a second, toying with the barrel of her pipe. “Does this happen often?”

 

“Only in the mornings when I come to wait for Watanuki.”

 

Yuuko had her ideas. “I see.”

 

“Does that mean anything?” Doumeki asked.

 

“Perhaps so, perhaps not. Perhaps you should ask Watanuki about it; after all, you are friends.”

 

“Ok.” Doumeki's answer came out more like a grunt than like words. He watched Yuuko and her elaborate kimono vanish from sight. He was pretty sure that he didn't need anything from the shop.

 

The strangest thought crept into his mind. Did the shop, or rather a person in the shop, need him for something? Was it Watanuki? That had to be it! After all, Yuuko did tell him to ask his cohort about the strange appearances.

 

Doumeki stared again into the nothingness that stood where the shop should have been. He could have sworn he saw it once again, but then again, it was very late. It was time for him to head home.

 

Yuuko held her breath until she entered into the inner most chambers of the shop. She didn't want Doumeki, or anyone else for that matter to hear her laugh.

 

Xxx

 

Doumeki waited outside, just as he always did. He rested his back against the same old tree, readjusted his bag in the same old way, and waited patiently just as he had done every time before. Only this time it was going to be different.

 

He stared calculatingly at the waving field of grass. It remained just as it had been every time before.

 

Now!

 

Doumeki was sworn to protect Watanuki. There would be no stopping him, even if the turmoil with spirits was in the shop itself.

 

The tall youth shot through the gate, sprinted across the lawn, and threw open the door to the shop. Doumeki was not missing his chance.

 

He had never been in the shop before, but somehow he just knew where to go. Perhaps that was because it was the only room that didn't absolutely stink of smoke, sake, and incense. Doumeki had to wonder. Did all of that go to conceal the odor of the spirits Watanuki was so annoyed with? Or was he just oddly out of place?

 

“Watanuki! Is there something that you need!!!” Doumeki barked as he barreled through the door of Watanuki's room.

 

After a very awkward silence, the tension gave birth to a scream.

 

Xxx

 

Yuuko lounged upon her couch. She turned her half lidded eyes to Watanuki who had come storming into the room.

 

“You! You let Doumeki in! I know it!” He seethed.

 

Yuuko looked at him bemusedly. Her servant was such an odd thing.

 

Watanuki stamped around, gesticulating wildly. “I already told you! We are NOT FRIENDS! We never WILL BE FRIENDS!”

 

The sorceress inspected her nails, gazing at the ghostly red threads emitted by her own hands that connected her to her secret web of fate. In the corner of her vision, she saw Doumeki sneak in as unobtrusively as he could manage. His presence was obvious to Yuuko, but Watanuki had yet to notice.

 

“Doumeki doesn't need anything from me.” She said coolly. “There is another way that Doumeki could have entered the house.”

 

“How!?”

 

“Watanuki, Doumeki has brought it to my attention that he is able to see the shop for brief periods of time in the mornings when he waits for you.”

 

Watanuki finally stood still, his brain now searching for clues to the mystery. Nothing was coming to mind.

 

“Watanuki, is there something that you have needed Doumeki for every morning?”

 

Yuuko smiled as she watched his face drain pale white only to flush beet red.

 

“No. Not at all.”

 

The flustered boy whirled around, only thud into the broad, muscular chest of Doumeki. The moment their eyes met, Watanuki knew that Doumeki understood exactly what had happened. The spindly blue eyed boy dashed out the front door as fast as he could, his paramour chasing behind him like a faithful hound.

 

Yuuko chuckled as she drank a swig of her sake. She was right before and she was right now. Hell, she would always be right.

 

Red strings of destiny indeed.