(Untitled)

[drunkkareoke]

Who: Haku, Doumeki, Watanuki
What: Oh the weather outside is frightful... but a walk across a frozen river isn't much better.
When: Backdate, December 21, after the first day of the Feast of Rebirth
Where: Meria

Comments

[april1st_kanji]

Watanuki had not been feeling very well throughout the entire feast, even bundled up as he was. And now Yuuko was having them go find some special alcohol for her!? It was unbearable! He tromped through the snow out of the forest, not paying his companions much mind until they both stopped at the edge of the forest.

"What are you waiting for!? I want to get her stupid errand over with and go home..."

[drunkkareoke]

"Ah... Wata-kun..." Haku stammered, pointing straight ahead to where the lights were.

"We would get lost going that way," Doumeki stated evenly. "We need to find another route."

[april1st_kanji]

Watanuki turned around and put his hands on his hips, "We can see the lights, how are we going to get lost?"

With that he spun back around and began tromping away again. They could stand there and freeze while they tried to find 'some other way' if they wanted to. But he was cold, and tired, and really wanted a nice hot cup of tea and a warm bath before bed.

[drunkkareoke]

"B-but-!"

"He's not listening, Haku..." Phascomon said from her shoulder, frowning in annoyance.

Doumeki sighed sharply, following Watanuki until he caught up with him, snagging his arm and giving it a rough yank.

"Would you rather freeze in the forest? It's dark. There's snow. You'll trip and break your neck or something. And you're upsetting Yowane-san."

[april1st_kanji]

He let out a faint cry of pain before coughing a few more times, then taking in a few wheezing breaths. Looking up at Haku from the corner of his eye, he tried his best to smile, and shutting his eyes again. He was so tired from the entire ordeal he couldn't keep them open any longer.

Feeling himself slump lower on the seat he didn't even try to open his eyes. Sleep was claiming him swiftly, and he had little energy to fight back with. He hoped no one would get too worried during his little nap. He didn't plan on going anywhere, especially not after Doumeki had tried so hard to save him. He just needed some rest, and to get warm. Then maybe he could move around a little bit.

[drunkkareoke]

Haku was up on her knees in a flash, barely able to balance in the moving vehicle (especially as they went through the light post) but not particularly caring at that moment.

"Wata-kun! You gotta stay awake!" she begged, getting no response. "Nicky!"

"I know, I know! I'm goin' as fast as I can!" Nick yelled, pressing on the gas a little more now that they were on the clean streets of Neon.

[april1st_kanji]

Watanuki's mind began to wander as he slept. He began walking through a string of memories, mostly containing Doumeki. The memories faded after a time, but Doumeki remained, aged a few years, looking at someone behind Watanuki. Turning, Watanuki saw a girl, with no face, waving and running up to Doumeki. The girl reminded Watanuki of Himawari-chan, even without any facial features to distinguise her.

As the girl reached Doumeki he smiled and hooked his arm around her. Then they began walking away. But Watanuki ran after them and the girl asked, 'Whatever happened to that friend of yours?'

'Hm?'

'The strange one?'

'Him? He disappeared...' Doumeki replied matter of factly.

'NO! Doumeki, I'm right here! I didn't disappear, you saved me!' Watanuki yelled as he ran in front of them and waved his arms.

But the couple walked right through him without a thought.

He shifted uncomfortably in his sleep and whispered, "Dou...meki...I'm...here..."

[drunkkareoke]

Frightened and right back in to panic mode, Haku knew she couldn't ask Nick for help. They were nearing the hospital, but not there yet.

But Doumeki beat her to even asking. Hearing Watanuki's tiny voice, he slowly moved over on the seat, carefully pulling the other boy to him and putting his arms around him. He was still too exhausted to try and think of words, but he hoped, some how the move would register in whatever nightmares he was having.

[spirit_kanji]

Several hours passed. The sudden chaos that occurred when they arrived had calmed down and the ward they'd been placed in was quiet save for the occasional passing of nurses. Outside, Haku was curled up on a couch, having cried herself in to exhaustion on Nick's shoulder. A blanket was covering her, but her older brother wasn't anywhere to be found

[april1st_kanji]

Watanuki had regained some of the feeling in his hands. The nurse had mentioned that they needed him to stay awake if at all possible, so Watanuki had been flexing his hands, save for the pinky that no longer worked. After all, he was certain there were 110 ceiling tiles...

[spirit_kanji]

Hesitantly, Doumeki knocked on the door frame and poked his head around the corner.

"You awake... ?"

[april1st_kanji]

Pulling his eyes away from the oddly coloured speck on the ceiling that he couldn't identify, Watanuki recognized Doumeki's voice.

"Doumeki...?" He whispered harshly. Unsure if Doumeki could hear him, or if he'd dozed off again and was dreaming.

[april1st_kanji]

Watanuki nodded, "Yeah...I just need some rest...one of the nurses said the doctor would talk to me in the morning..." He fell backwards into the pillows and winced a little as the pain in his chest flared up again. He needed to remember to talk to the doctor about that too.

[drunkkareoke]

Quietly, Doumeki nodded and stood. At the door, he hesitated, as if there were more that he wanted to say, but all that came out was a quiet "Feel better..." before he slipped out.

Nick was absent again, Haku was still asleep, and he was free to sulk back to his own room and flop down on the bed with a sigh. Shivering, he tugged the blankets over himself, staring at the wall blankly.

A sigh, and he slipped in to a restless sleep.

---

Several hours later, Haku was sitting in Watanuki's room. She'd woken up some time before and found everyone else asleep. She didn't want to wake anyone, but she thought at least Watanuki would like the company.

Occupying the chair Doumeki had earlier, she folded little pieces of paper in to cranes, humming softly to herself.

[april1st_kanji]

Watanuki had been dozing on and off for the past few hours, unable to truly fall asleep, despite how tired he felt. Opening his eyes and glancing blearily around the room, he noticed Yowane-san had come in and was sitting next to the bed.

"Yowane-san...? Why are you still here?" He asked after a few moments.

[drunkkareoke]

"Mm... I wanted to make sure you and Dou-kun were okay," Haku said, smiling sadly up at him. She finished the crane she was working on and held it out to him in the palm of her hand.

"And... Nicky is asleep."

[april1st_kanji]

While Watanuki wasn't very good at reading people, he could tell that Yowane-san knew something. "...are you sure?" He asked, not really wanting to force her to tell him something she was clearly uncomfortable with saying.

[drunkkareoke]

Several things went through Haku's mind. Everything from just telling him to knowing it wasn't her place and all things in between.

Eventually she shook her head.

"I can't..." she said, "I don't understand why, either. Why he can't just... tell you himself. B-but... he has his reasons a-and... Meiko oneechan says even if it's something that's true, he has to be the one to say it. Not some one else..."

[april1st_kanji]

"...but...what could be so hard to tell me...?" They hadn't been fighting, so it couldn't be an apology. There wasn't anything he could think of that Doumeki would have to tell him. He was back to square zero, and even more concerned. Frowning he pulled his knees up to his chest. Maybe Doumeki didn't trust him? But he'd told Yowane-san and Meiko-san...so what did that mean?

He closed his eyes tightly and wrapped his arms around his knees, "I'm sorry Yowane-san...I'm still tired..."

[drunkkareoke]

It was a question Haku had been asking herself for a while, though it did remind her of how Kaito had always been so reluctant to tell Miku his feelings. He had a lot of concerns, one of them being how them being together might affect their already established familial relationship. Sadly, there wasn't much of a parallel there, so Haku couldn't understand why Doumeki would have the same problem.

"I... it's okay..." Haku said quietly, looking at her hands sheepishly. "You should rest..."