Circle in the Sand

Circle in the Sand

Flora_Winters

Disclaimer: I do not own xxxHolic and I’m not making any money here either. Also, I am very upset with CLAMP at the moment. They know what they did.

Summary: Yuko and the gang decide to take a seaside vacation. A local “teen” takes an interest in Doumeki and Watanuki pretends he doesn’t care. Language, MM, OC, Violence

Prologue

Listening to the somber sound of the ocean waves gently rolling ever in and back out filled Watanuki with a small sense of depression. He longed to go swimming, but the sea was swarming with schools of the dead. Doomed souls, forever lost at sea due to shipwrecks, suicide, murder, storms and other such life-ending tragedies.

Glancing to his right, he saw Doumeki looking out at the cerulean surf with those always calm, vacant eyes of his. The jock was so laid back, if he looked any more relaxed, he’d be one of the dead things that wanted to devour him.

“Spirits desire you, Watanuki,” Yuko’s spooky voice slithered through the recesses of his mind like a jeweled serpent with butterfly wings. “Your pale flesh smells sweet to them. They find your soul irresistible.”

He shivered, suddenly feeling very cold, even though it was a hot, summer day.

Damn, she was a creepy one.

A violent mental slap sent him sprawling into a tall sand dune face first. His fall made a fantastic noise.

“What was that about?” Doumeki deadpanned, wiggling his toes, digging them into the warm sand. “Do you want me to bury you?”

“Bury! Bury!” Mokona chirped, bouncing on top of the taller teen’s dark head. “Let’s bury Watanuki like treasure.”

Watanuki moaned. This was supposed to be a vacation.

“I’ll get the shovels,” Yuko teetered, standing before them, decked out in stunningly red, two piece bathing suit and matching high heels. “And then we’ll draw up a map and hunt the Watanuki.”

A corner of Doumeki’s mouth twitched ever so slightly upwards. It was so fast, nobody actually saw it do so.

“No, thank you,” Watanuki growled, pulling his head from the sand, giving it a good shake. “I’d rather be eaten by a shark.”

Mokona began to hum the Jaws theme song and Watanuki threw his sandal at the black ball of fluff. There was a loud thud and the smaller teen gawked.

“Ouch,” Doumeki deadpanned, rubbing his injured forehead.

Mokona peered over a broad shoulder. “Dum! Dum! Dum!”

Watanuki looked away from the archer. He wasn’t about to apologize to him. That would teach him to carry strange things around on his head.

“Mokona is not a strange thing!” Mokona yelled at him. “Mokona is a Mokona!”

The blue eyed boy sighed.

“Watanuki,” his eerie employer spoke, plopping down on a large beach towel. “Bring me some plum wine and that book I forgot to bring with me.”

And let the drunkenness begin.

“I am not going to get drunk,” she told him, causing him to take a startled step backwards. “I am merely going to get lightly toasted. That’s all.”

She was grinning like a demon. Her teeth were white and perfect. Any minute now, she was going to start growing fangs.

“I am no demon,” she told him, making him run back towards the cottage. “But I do have a few by their leashes!” She called after him, laughing loudly.

The door slammed shut behind him and he stood in the cool shadows of the hallway. He could smell something sweet, knowing it to be the incense Yuko had lit earlier in order to chase away the musty smell of a house that had been closed up for the season.

He went into the kitchen and spotted Doumeki’s swimming trunks. They were draped over the back of a wooden chair.

The jerk was lucky. At least he could go swimming. The only thing he had to worry about was the sharks or a bad case of stomach cramps.

He leaned back against the marble countertop, giving Himawari a thought. He hoped she was having fun at her cousin’s house. She deserved to have fun.

Snatching three glasses, he took up the chilled wine. He glanced at the swimming trunks once more, picturing Doumeki in them and growled under his breath. He hoped the jerk lost them to a rogue wave and then was forced to be at his mercy.

He cackled maniacally.

“Watanuki!” Yuko yelled. “Quit Romanticizing and bring me my liquor!”

He quickly did just that, but took his time about doing so.

OOOOO

A yellow ball landed at Doumeki’s feet and he looked down at it. It was round and the size of a large softball.

Bending down, he picked it up. It was heavier than it looked, but it was surprisingly soft.

“Hey!” A voice called to him and he glanced up. “That’s my ball.”

A boy stood several feet from where he was. He looked to be about a year younger than him, possibly two.

He tossed the ball to the blond and suddenly noticed how green his eyes were. They reminded him of grass after a good rain.

The shaggy blond caught the ball and smiled. It was a bright smile, too. He seemed to light up from the inside.

Doumeki began to wipe sand from his jeans, only for the ball to land at his feet again. He looked up, seeing that the blond was still smiling at him.

“You look bored,” the blond said, catching the ball again. “My name is Aki. Wanna hang out?”

Doumeki caught the ball this time around, looked at it in his hand, and then tossed it back with a slight nodding of his head. He got no negative vibes from the blond and he looked really nice.

“I’m staying with my sister just down the beach,” Aki told him, tossing the ball again. “I told you my name. What’s yours?”

“Doumeki,” he tells him, nothing more.

Aki nods. “Strong name.”

Doumeki slightly cocked a brow, but said nothing. He didn’t quite know what to make of Aki. It was almost as if he had come from nowhere, but he knew he wasn’t a ghost. He couldn’t see spirits. So that ruled that out pretty quickly.

“Let’s swim,” Aki tells him, turning towards the water, taking off his shirt.

Doumeki paused, looking at the teen’s slender back. He had winged tattoos. The large wings reminded him of those a dragonfly has. All golden and emerald. Curiosity had him wanting to touch their smooth, flawless design. The tattoos were huge. The tips of the wings vanished into the seat of Aki’s swimming trunks. His fingers wanted to trace them.

“I don’t have my trunks on,” Doumeki calls after him.

Aki glances over his shoulder. “You can always dry your jeans later or you can simply take them off.”

Doumeki smirked.

He could just go back and change, but that might seem rude. So, he ran after the blond, following him into the surf.

OOOOO

Yuko pulled down her razor blade sunglasses and looked at her Watanuki.

“It would seem Doumeki has made a friend.”

Watanuki put the glasses and wine down and looked. The jock picked up a yelling blond and dunked him under the water.

Thunder boomed in the darkest reaches of his mind.

/And just who the hell is this twit?/

Doumeki was lightly smiling and the blond was laughing, splashing the taller teen as fast as he could. The jock moved to grab the skinny blond, but the blond ducked under the waves, giving Doumeki pause.

Watanuki glared molten blue.

Suddenly, Doumeki’s hands went up as he was pulled under. Both teens came up seconds later, splashing at each other.

Mokona bounced over, landing on Watanuki’s shoulder. “Jealous?”

“Hello no!”

Yuko snorted, taking up a glass. “I hear Jealously can become an ugly monster.”

Watanuki ignored her.

/Just who the hell is this guy? Where did he come from? Why is Doumeki smiling like that?/

“Why don’t you go join them?” Yuko asked, smiling. “As long as Doumeki is there, the spirits can’t touch you.”

Watanuki hugged.

“I have dishes to clean and dinner to make.”

He stalked off, hands balled into angry fists at his side.

Yuko rolled her crimson eyes and shook her head.

Mokona giggled from her lap. “Somebody’s jealous.”

The witch beamed. “My plan is working perfectly.”

“The plot thickens,” Mokona giggled some more.

Yuko took a long drink straight from the bottle this time. “You bet!”

She watched the blond jump on Doumeki’s broad back and how they both went under with a big splash. They were having so much fun.

“Jealousy is a green-eyed monster,” she spoke only to Mokona. “And when it sets those jade eyes on something or someone, it will never blink.”

Mokona nodded. “More sake!”

Watanuki shouted from the open window. “Come get it yourself!”

Yuko howled with laughter, watching the two boys play in the surf.

To Be Continued…

Please review and tell me what you think.

~Flora