untitled (Doumeki gen)

[storypaint]

Sketch #24 - Doumeki

Character: Doumeki Shizuka (xxxHOLiC)
Disclaimer: xxxHOLiC belongs to CLAMP. All fanfiction archived here is a derivative of canon material that is not my property. I do not profit from these writings. The opinions and actions expressed in these stories are not necessarily the views and beliefs of the original author or me.
Note: Basically the same continuity as the last sketch. References canon-- the chapter where Doumeki holds the umbrella for Watanuki, which is I believe in volume 5 or 6.

Doumeki holds the stupid umbrella for hours, even when he gets tired, and it's plenty of time to think about Watanuki and his employer and the utter insanity of all of this.

Watanuki's wish is to not be able to see spirits anymore. If Doumeki fell victim to them as often as his hapless classmate did, he would want the same thing. And he knows that Yuuko can take care of this problem.

She's probably trying to teach Watanuki a lesson. She seems to do that a lot.

In fact, even though she says she's paying Doumeki for his aid to Watanuki by taking his pay out of Watanuki's debt, he thinks she's probably telling Watanuki that he's being charged for Doumeki's services.

She's probably trying to teach Doumeki a lesson too, but he doesn't think about that. If he learns something, then he learns something-- that's all there is to it. He holds the umbrella and waits for Watanuki to return to his flesh and remembers his grandfather chanting. He is pretty sure that babysitting someone like Watanuki is not in a priest's contract. He certainly doesn't remember anyone like this boy ever meeting his grandfather.

Whatever her motivations, Yuuko has charged him with Watanuki's safety, so he holds the darn umbrella. It's the perfect task for him, the boy with patient determination. He read a silly story once about a girl who ate an elephant, piece by piece, and he looked up from the book and nodded, while his classmates were amazed.

"Why not?" he said, and though several of the less-mature boys had offered to bring in an elephant and let him try, none of them actually did.

The funny thing is, Doumeki probably would have done it.

It is strange to see Watanuki's face composed smoothly in sleep. Doumeki keeps waiting for an eyebrow to twitch, a glare to form, a fist to fold. He's amazed by Watanuki's attempts to hide his fear with anger. It's brazen idiocy, really, but he won't tell.

Yuuko pays him by lessening Watanuki's debt, and Watanuki pays him in food. As far as Doumeki is concerned, this is a pretty good arrangement.