Gathering Souls
Summary - The night of the dead is always known for it's promotion of horrible creatures, faces hidden behind masks, and gatherings of unknown entities. How will this prove true for Watanuki on Halloween?
Pairing – Yuuwaku or Donut (It's a little bit of both although the whole thing is suppose to be Yuuwaku.)
Disclaimer - I don't own CLAMP, I don't own CLAMP, I don't own CLAMP... (repeats like a mantra).
Author Note - Halloween Special! Well, Kiseki Gurl and I were thinking of holiday stories so I just wanted to write stuff. My inspiration is so strange. But yeah the first thing that came into my mind was a Yuuwaka fic. I've never written one, so it may be a bit strange. And so enjoy!
"Finally, a night with Himawari-chan!" Pumping his fists into the air Watanuki cheered for the joyous event, known as Halloween. But as the happy expression came upon his face, it disappeared quickly at the thought of another. "Doumeki is coming too..."
At the thought if the silent and strong archer, he couldn't help but be slightly relieved. Doumeki could be rather dependable at times, at times. Halloween wasn't a very good day for Watanuki. Large amounts of spirit would overwhelm him with their presence. He would often faint from the sheer amount of ethereal beings that lurked in the graveyards. He used to wonder why that would happen to him on this day. That was before he met Yuuko. Everything that happens has a reason. Those words from Yuuko reflected in his head. He had an idea to explain what happened to him. Was this a day for spirits to come back and reveal themselves on this day? Was this a day for them to come back and tell people of the living of their existence? A day for them to actually be in the world of that they use to be? That was very definition of Halloween. Hopefully with Doumeki, there would be no trouble on this special night. If Watanuki had to depend on him, he hoped it was at this time.
"YAY! Tonight will be the best night ever!" And with that he skipped merrily to the shop while women and their children dived out of the pathway of the psychotic boy.
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"You're staying here tonight."
"EHHH!"
Watanuki stared at the pale skinned woman in front of him, wondering, and still wondering, and then wondering some more, by what fate had landed him in this position. Oh yeah, it's all fate. Right, that was an easy question, why did he have to think about that.
"It's all about fate, you know that you need to make candy for me, and who's going to get me sake?" Yuuko, laid on her side faced away from Watanuki. She flipped onto her back to watch the black hair boy vent.
"But, but, Yuuko-san, I thought I could have breaks on holidays and family problems!"
"Since when did I say that? I only stated that if it was important that you may leave. An event like this, is not very important. You came to the shop on Valentine's Day and White Day. Why not Halloween?" Watanuki gaped at her. "Well, if you want this day, then you have to give an equal price for the day. One this day, that you want to leave the shop, then you have to give me another day of your life."
"Another day of my life...?" Watanuki could only imagine what she meant. Images flashed before his eyes, Yuuko sitting in a throne commanding the poor servant Watanuki. He was sad as she cackled evilly as he had to obey her whishes, dressed in a... maid outfit!? "ARRRRRRRG!"
"I just mean, that for one day you will have to obey my whishes to every exact word. It's only fair." Yuuko looked at him daring him to say otherwise.
Hey! This is for only one night! How is a whole day fair? He thought, but smartly kept his mouth shut.
"Well, it's either that, or you can go into the night in this." Magically, Yuuko produced a frilly pink apron, well at least that was what he thought at first glance. Looking closer, he saw a monstrosity of an outfit. It wasn't a maid outfit, but could very well be. In her right hand was a no-sleeved powder pink priestess outfit, although there was no way a priestess would where anything close to what she held up. The shoulders had lace coming out of it and the bottom hem came just above the knee. At the waist was a sash of white with a black lacy apron type thing at the bottom. And to his horror, in her left hand was a large pair of white cat ears with pink frills to cover up the headband.
"THANK YOU FOR YOUR KINDNESS YUUKO-SAN.I WILL TAKE YOUR OFFER OF DEVOTING A DAY TO YOUR SERVICES. GOODBYE AND HAVE A NICE DAY."
That was all Watanuki said before scrambling out the door after bowing several times to Yuuko. Staring at the sight of him running away, Yuuko couldn't help but say to herself: "And I was looking forward to him wearing it..."
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"This is fun isn't it Watanuki-kun? Doumeki-kun?" Himawari looked at the two boys she was trick-or-treating with for the night. Dressed in a black and pink princess outfit, and a cute smile she looked the part of royalty. Next to her was Watanuki dressed in a chef outfit and Doumeki... was dressed in his archery uniform.
"It sure is Himawari-chan!" Smiling brightly at the girl, Watanuki immediately turned to the other boy and mumbled; "And what is with your outfit Doumeki? Couldn't you at least dress the part for Halloween?"
Not even turning to look at Watanuki, he replied. "The same should go for you Watanuki."
"Huh! Why you-!" But he was cut off by Himawari leaping off to another house.
"Ah! Wait for me!"
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For the whole night the trick-or-treating went without an incident. That could be good for ones in a normal life, but not to this group. Himawari got the candy she wanted, that was okay for the situation. Watanuki did not get a momen alone with Himawari. That was bad because he would obviously sulk the next day. And as for Doumeki, no one could tell what he was thinking, except for himself.
Everything was normal, until Himawari declared "We should go to the graveyard tonight! It'll be really fun!." Without asking the consent of the two boys, she skipped ahead in the direction of what Watanuki exactly wanted to avoid.
So far, the group had only been in the rather lit areas of the town, as Himawari said 'Where most of the people are.' Watanuki had agreed with a smile, but in the back of his mind Watanuki was glad they were not going anywhere that would affect him and his ability to see spirits.
"Are you alright?" He jumped, startled at at the deep voice that talked out of the shadows. It was just Domeki.
"Of course," Watanuki replied, knowing that he was not and that Doumeki knew he was not.
Domeki said nothing.
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Walking into what seemed to be eternal darkness, Watanuki felt inclined to run away in the opposite direction. The air seemed to get colder as it prickled at his skin. Surprisingly Watanuki could see nothing out of the ordinary, but that alone made him feel even more uneasy. Each step into the dark caused a wave of pressure to wash over him. At first he thought it was imagination, or at least that was what he told himself to believe. The pressure around Watanuki grew more persistent as they walked further in.
A kiss...
Watanuki jumped. He whipped his head only to see the night and his two companions. Himawari voice was like nothing like soft, seductive tone he heard at that moment. She would never say anything like that. Doumeki couldn't had said that, because he was obviously not a woman. He ignored the voice, which oddly reminded him of a certain pale skinned-
My love...
At this point Watanuki could swear that he felt gentle caresses on his skin. There was a soft touch at his cheek, a sudden squeeze of his hand, and dare he say a warm embrace around his waist?
It scared Watanuki, to no end. Normally he would thank the gods for not having his gift, but now he wished that he could have his sight back, if only to know what was happening around him.
It stopped. They had arrived at the graveyard.
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The sight of the graveyard stopped Watanuki in his tracks. The sensation that ran down his back was likened to being soaked by a cold waterfall only to have been dried and placed shakily back into the original position you were standing in. The first thing he noticed was the sounds of chains. There were soft tinkling of chain links, as if summer rain. There were the rattling and clanging and banning of others. In the deep back of the darkness were loud thuds of metal against metal, and the shrieks of the unknown. It overwhelmed him that was until he saw the ones the chains kept from leaving.
The small chains that he had barely heard held souls tied down into the ground. Despite the things that kept them in the ground, they laughed joyfully talking amongst one another and not even noticing their bindings. The chains were long and could stretch out long distances as he saw one soul glide away into the shadows. The larger chains had those who did not look so happy. They glared at the metal bands on their wrists and ocasionally cracked a smile only to scowl once more. There heads low, the chains were a bigger burden then the ones who had thin ones. They could stretch out, yet the length of the chain would not allow them to go very far away, as one chain was tugging mercilessly at the ground it went into.
Watanuki didn't want to know the ones that had the heavier chains, which sounded like thunder when rattled. It would have been too devastating to handle. There were swirls of happiness and awe at the ones who were not burdened as much as the others, the tugs of pity and compassion for the ones that had heavy bindings, and there was fear and terror at the ones who could have had such a terrible life to treat them like that in the afterlife.
Why were did they come at such a time? Why were all of the souls bound by chains that ran into the ground? Watanuki's head was spinning with questions. Then, there was only darkness.
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"Ugh..." Watanuki groaned at the pounding in his head.
"So you're awake." Looking over with bleary eyes, he spotted Yuuko sitting at the table with a sake bottle in her hand.
I must have fainted again. Getting up slowly, he tried to walk over to the table before being stopped. "You shouldn't be getting up." Stopping at Yuuko's voice, Watanuki could only think Did Yuuko-san just worry about my welfare? Dumbly, he stared in mid stride. "You fainted when Himawari left your group. Doumeki had to carry you over here. He knew you didn't look well when you went into the graveyard, although from the looks of it, this isn't your first time fainting."
Sitting down on the mat he was laid upon he told her his story. "Whenever I would go near a graveyard at Halloween, I would always faint. I thought it was because of my ability to see spirits. Now that I think about it, this is the first time I've lasted so long."
"That's because you've gotten more use to the emotions spirits give off."
"Emotions?"
"Yes, before you've never had proper teachings of what your sight told you. Now you know what is happening and that has helped built an immunity to these emotions. You think it's more natural now to see these sights." That was surprising for Watanuki. He did not know whether to feel happy he did not faint in front of Himawari, or to feel horrified at the fact he was getting use to the 'spirit' business.
He then remembered the sight he saw. "But what about those spirits..."
Closing her eyes and taking another sip of sake Yuuko answered. "That is natural. On this day the souls of the dead come out to where ever they had ended their life. Depending on what deeds they did, the burden will lessen or increase. What you know as ghosts, or dead people on this day, is merely the ones that were strong enough with raw emotion to break free of their chains. Normally, they are the ones that had a strong desire of hate and sins. Those souls are the ones that terrorize people on Halloween."
"But why?" Watanuki asked.
"Those that are dead are given another chance or torture on this day. They get to come back to the living world, if not only to observe what has happened. Anything deeper than that, I cannot say." Yuuko took another sip of her sake.
A day to come back to the world of the living? This is to much. Watanuki had to get out. The explanations were not helping at all with his throbbing temple. "I'm going outside for some air."
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The scene was probably to much to handle. I should have warned him. Yuuko watched silently as Watanuki left the room in low spirits. That's what she had always did. She watched silently leaving Watanuki to his own problems. That was how Yuuko had handled these types of problems.
Maybe, that was why she could a slight twinge at her chest when she saw his broken face filled with sadness. Watanuki had grown on her, he had amazing culinary talents (which she enjoyed everyday) and was very good at work. Just maybe, these little talents he had, had made her grow fond of him. Yuuko decided for just this one time, she would help him in his time of need.
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Watanuki sighed, as a cool night's breeze swept at his air. He leaned against the railing for support of what he could say was a very long day. He heard the door open as Yuuko must have stepped outside with him. Her footsteps softly sounded on the wooden walkway, as she stopped behind him. Watanuki didn't care what she did now. It had nothing to do with him, this spirit business. He was only an unfortunate soul who had been given this gift of seeing spirits. The he jumped as he felt arms wrap around his middle.
The one behind was already established as Yuuko, but how could Watanuki comprehend the fact that she was hugging him? Despite the arms wrapped around his waist, and her chin softly resting on his shoulder, or the warm puffs of air at his neck, he felt that he did not know the person embracing him.
He could practically feel her smile against his skin, while she had her head on his shoulder. "It's a lot to take in, but you'll have to accept it for now. The world works in strange ways that cannot be comprehended in a small matter of time. You will understand soon, but until that time, you will have to stay in my care. The words I speak are not false, I will protect you."
Watanuki listened with his eyes closed, for once believing that maybe everything was going to be alright.
Sooooo? I know it's not very Yuuwaka-ish, and it's kinda donut-ish when I think about it, but I really hoped it was good. When I read this like a month later, I'm probably going to kill myself over the ooc-ness of it all. I had to delay To Capture Emotion because I wanted to do a Halloween fic. Sorry about that, and I will have the story updated soon enough. Also, to those who want a sequal (if anyone wants a sequal) then I will make one at the request of my readers. If you want a sequel to the story please review, and tell me you want one. If I make a sequel, then it will probably be seperate from this one.
Well, I hope all of you have a happy Halloween! Read and review!