Tantalizing the Senses
Chapter 6 – Sixth Sense

AN: Um, so it only took me a year and a half to deliver this last fic in the senses series. The half-dozen scenarios I cooked up for the sixth sense never survived because CLAMP kept trumping me with new developments in the plot line. There are mild manga spoilers for Kohane.

xxxHolic belongs to the brilliance that is CLAMP.

..sixth sense..

The subject of the sixth sense – extrasensory perception, or ESP – came up in the most mundane way possible: from the subsection of a textbook chapter in a special honors class in sensory and perception Himawari-chan took.

The day should be like any other, Watanuki sighed to himself, with the three of them – Himawari-chan, himself, and Doumeki – eating lunch under the shade of their favorite tree on the school grounds. He'd compliment Himawari's hair or feed Tanpopo tidbits of food, Doumeki would continue to be an annoyance and Himawari would smile at both of them.

Nowadays however, Himawari's smile was a little too knowing, and today they were talking about extrasensory perception which was possibly one of Watanuki's most hated subjects, and lately, Doumeki picked up on his moods far too easily.

"What's wrong?" Doumeki's low, no-nonsense voice cut through his musings, and only then did Watanuki notice the concerned glances Himawari and Tanpopo were giving him.

"Watanuki-kun, does the subject bother you?" Himawari bit worryingly at her lip. "You can see spirits, after all; extrasensory senses are nothing special for you." Her eyes lingered briefly on Watanuki's arms – where several scars from his ghostly encounters peeked through his sleeves – before gliding away. "Doumeki-kun, Watanuki-kun's tempura is really tasty, don't you think?"

"It's okay, Himawari-chan," Watanuki was quick to reassure and nudged the lacquer box of little sakura-shaped cupcakes nearer to her. "It's nothing to worry about.

From the steady, unwavering gaze Doumeki leveled at him, Watanuki knew he wasn't going to get away with just brushing it off. The worried look in Himawari's dark eyes only further sealed his fate.

Maybe things were a little different, now that his and Doumeki's relationship was… was… Watanuki struggled for a moment, before making up his mind: a little different. Just because he and Doumeki were on slightly better – that is, to say, different – terms didn't mean he treated Himawari any less than she deserved. He was so used to cooking his best dishes and accommodating her wishes that it felt strange to do otherwise.

Watanuki sighed, and stabbed a prawn tempura idly.

"Zener guessing cards, telepathy, the strange habit of knowing a little too much than one should rightfully know – my classmates covered them all in their efforts to 'figure' me out. I used to get teased a lot for my ability when I was younger, but that's in the past."

Himawari's eyebrows furrowed cutely. "How young were you?"

"Early grade school, before I figured out that not everyone could see what I saw. The other kids were awed at first, but later they just thought I just wanted the attention and was making up my sightings."

There were patches in Watanuki's early memories – if he was honest with himself, they were missing in their entirety – but this was something he was sure of, if only because it happened so often it was imprinted in his mind.

"A teacher thought I eavesdropped and cheated because of the things friendly ghosts would tell me. Other students were worried that I could read their mind." Watanuki took a vicious bite of his tempura. "After a while I learned to keep anything out of the ordinary to myself."

The scornful teasing and disbelieving adults were why Watanuki hated his magical sight and wished that the creatures he saw would stop following him. The deadly human-eating spirits just made it a wise wish to wish for.

"I'm sorry, Watanuki-kun," Himawari said softly, placing one slim hand above his. On her shoulder, Tanpopo gave a quiet cheep of sympathy.

Watanuki nodded, and because Himawari sounded forlorn, smiled for her. "The more dangerous spirits didn't hunt me until I was older. And nowadays people are more understanding. Like you, Himawari-chan!"

He beamed at her, cheered at the memories of their time together, and Tanpopo gave an authoritative chirp as if to say exactly and Himawari was smiling and they were all back on secure footing.

Then Watanuki noticed that Doumeki took the last cupcake (the one he was saving for himself! And Doumeki already had two!) and the rest of lunch passed by in the usual fashion.

--

Doumeki had a way of picking up his attention without doing anything overt; he didn't hover (Doumekis don't hover) and they certainly didn't touch (because guys just don't do the whole touchy-feely thing very well). But Doumeki would just stand there by his side and Watanuki would feel a sort of prickle at the back of his neck that made him turn instinctively around every time.

It happened often enough that Watanuki recognized the feeling. He allowed Himawari and Tanpopo to walk beyond earshot before facing his companion.

There was a sort of steady intenseness in the way Doumeki stared at him, the kind of gaze that made Watanuki squirm on the inside despite himself.

"Are you coming to the shrine?" Doumeki asked before Watanuki could snap at him out of irritation.

Watanuki sniffed. "You already know the answer. Kohane-chan stays there, after all." He tucked the bento boxes more securely under his arm and jogged to catch up with Himawari.

--

The Ame Warashi was visiting at Yuuko's shop, which was both a good thing and a bad thing for Watanuki. Good, because it kept Yuuko from ribbing him about the whole ESP thing; bad, because the Ame Warashi had a sharper tongue than Yuuko, with less inclination to keep it sheathed (also, it was the only reason why Yuuko didn't say much; it was so much more amusing watching from a distance). News had a strange way of traveling around amongst spirits and the supernatural, and lately many eyes have been on Watanuki.

"What's so special about being able to see spirits anyway?" Ame Warashi demanded, brandishing her umbrella in his direction, almost taking out Watanuki's eye. "I see them everywhere and I don't go around bewailing my fate."

Watanuki resisted the urge to point out that she was a spirit herself so of course she wouldn't think it strange, if only because he really couldn't afford to lose another eye. "With all due respect," he said, doing his best to smile politely, "There's nothing wrong with seeing spirits; it's just that I was teased about it when I was younger."

Ame Warashi sniffed. "We know that – teased, scorned, bullied, the works. Stop grimacing," she ordered. "We heard the entire conversation."

Watanuki's eyes veered suspiciously to Yuuko, who smiled serenely behind her champagne glass. Ame Warashi rapped Watanuki on the head with her umbrella. "Pay attention! We want those cupcakes you baked for that frilly-haired girl, by the way, they looked tasty."

Watanuki rubbed at his temple and willed his headache to stay at bay. "Is there a point to this?" he asked warily.

The rain spirit ignored the question. "What you need," she said darkly, "is not this so-called sixth sense, but just a good dose of good old common sense. Humans lack proper instincts." She glared at his right eye as if it was a personal affront to her, and threw herself gracefully into the cushion beside Yuuko, somehow curling up all her limbs into a prim sitting position.

Watanuki glowered at the barely-muffled laughter Yuuko failed to hide behind one hand, and vowed to put vinegar in the Ame Warashi's batch of cupcake batter.

--

Yuuko sent Watanuki away early to prevent Ame Warashi from destroying the shop in her attempt to commit watery revenge for the vinegary cupcakes, which meant Watanuki made it to Doumeki's place in time for tea.

It also meant Watanuki made it in time to catch the end of Doumeki's recount of Himawari's extrasensory perception class topic. Doumeki had to stuff his fingers in his ears to save his eardrums from Watanuki's scream of outrage.

"She wanted to know what we did at school today. This was one of the more interesting topics," Doumeki stared pointedly down at Kohane-chan's uplifted face as if to say you wanted her to be happy – well, this makes her happy.

Watanuki glanced at Kohane, her hair bound into two long braids and a tiny hint of a smile on her lips, and immediately deflated. Fine, he glared at Doumeki, you win, and pretended not to see Doumeki's smirk of triumph by fawning over the teapot in Kohane's hands.

"Sight, smell, sound, touch and taste," Kohane recited, "and the sixth sense. I wonder why only a selected few have that extra sense."

"It's a nuisance, that's what it is," Watanuki barely kept his frown from degenerating into a downright scowl. "I know we've met our fair share of the goodly spirits, but it's still a pain." He glanced sideways at Kohane, trying to gauge her expression. Out of the two of them, Kohane had suffered the most social repercussions from her other sight and exorcist skills.

"Actually," Doumeki interjected calmly, "what you and Kohane-chan have is supernatural sight. And since it is tied to sight, it can't – technically, at least – be ESP."

Watanuki glared. "And just why not? The sixth sense is anything that doesn't have to do with the five normal senses. And my ability to see ghosts and other things is not normal."

Doumeki accepted the tea Kohane poured with a slight nod of thanks. "Extrasensory perception is defined as the ability to acquire information through any means independent of human physical senses or prior experience." He tilted his head back slightly to look up at Watanuki, his face devoid of either a smirk or knowing smile and merely housing a bland expression. "You see spirits; that's a heightened form of sight. I suppose you have five and a half senses."

Doumeki picked up the last butter cookie and ate it in three bites, pausing between each crunch to stare at Watanuki gaping like a goldfish.

"You— you--!" Watanuki spluttered. I cannot believe you just said that with a straight face!

"Now excuse me, I have duties to perform." Doumeki downed his tea, nodded in Kohane's direction and walked off towards the shrine.

Watanuki tipped his head to the sky and muttered curses under his breath.

"It's like love, isn't it?"

Watanuki blinked and pulled his attention away from his surroundings. "Kohane-chan?"

Kohane's blue eyes clouded slightly as if she were distracted with a complex puzzle. She glanced up when Watanuki hovered over her, instinctively schooling her face into one of calm and maturity. Watanuki heaved an inner sigh – years of being under the spotlight and facing the pressures of upholding her mother's expectations have left their mark on her. There was no use dwelling on it; all Watanuki could do now was do his best to tease as many smiles from Kohane-chan as possible.

And one day, he'd work his way up to hearing pure, heartfelt laughter from her.

But meanwhile, what was that about love?

"Kohane-chan," Watanuki asked in the scandalized tone of an overprotective elder brother, "you haven't… fallen, for anyone, have you?" Oh gods, when did she have time to do so? She didn't attend school, and the only guys Kohane meet on a regular basis was himself...

.. and Doumeki …

"No," Kohane answered, just in time to stop Watanuki from having a seizure, "What you and Shizuka-kun talked about earlier. The sixth sense."

"It's like love?" Watanuki frowned and stole Doumeki's seat. "How'd you get to that conclusion?"

"Kimihiro-kun, why do you like Himawari-san?"

It was a strange question, but Watanuki didn't hesitate to answer. "There's just something about her. Her smile, the way she ties her hair up in the cutest hairstyles. The way she lights up a room when she enters, the way she looks at people without judging them. The way she just seems to understand people."

Kohane nodded, folding her hands together on her lap. "The connections between two people: it isn't something everyone can explain. We can name a number of physical attributes and personality traits we like about someone, but sometimes it's intangible."

She smiled suddenly, a tiny, shy smile; like the unexpected break of dawn through a cloud-filled sky, it was beautiful. "When I first met you, Kimihiro-kun, I knew. That we'd be friends and that you were someone I wanted to know. Wasn't it the same for you?"

"Yes," Watanuki muttered, staring at the younger girl, and wondering just how differently she saw the world. Yuuko might have taken Kohane's exorcist skills, but Kohane's most precious ability lay elsewhere. "There's a bond between us, and I, for one, am glad for it."

Kohane dipped her head, allowing her long hair to shield her face briefly, still at odds with such proclamations. "Thank you," she said, and in her words were an echoed me too.

--

Kohane spent a long, long moment gazing up at Doumeki's face as he washed and she dried the dishes from dinner. Kohane hid her feelings well, but Doumeki was a master at it; not even his eyes betrayed his thoughts. He simply held the crystal blue plate suspended in the air, excess water dripping first in rivulets, then steady droplets.

Then Kohane blinked and that strange moment dissipated like a bubble in midair.

"Kimihiro-kun is outside alone. I can finish the rest of the dishes." She took the plate and bent over it, swiping her drying cloth meticulously over the entire surface.

Doumeki raised an eyebrow. He carefully wiped down his hands, patted Kohane's hair twice and left without comment.

Watanuki's squawks of outrage over Doumeki's interruption of whatever he was doing echoed in the kitchen a short minute later. Kohane smiled.

--

Watanuki lay staring up at the ceiling; over the past few weeks, the wooden beams had become a familiar sight. For safety, he now resided full time at Yuuko's shop, but on the days where Watanuki stayed past sunset visiting Kohane-chan, both Yuuko and Doumeki deemed it prudent that he passed the night at Doumeki's. Watanuki, as Yuuko was fond of pointing out, was quite safe as long as he stayed put in Doumeki's presence.

Doumeki was cat-footed silent as he padded around the room; only the soft rustle of fabric and the miniscule dip and give on the futon's surface betrayed his presence. It was a ritual by now, one Watanuki had come to terms with. Every night, Doumeki set up wards and sealed them within a protective barrier around their futons, despite all the security staying in a shrine already provided.

He knew Doumeki finished his last duties when cold fingertips brushed against the sides of his face. Those fingers lingered briefly at his temples, and as they swept away they took his glasses with them. Watanuki didn't really need them, but wearing his glasses were a comfort nonetheless. The sharper images they offered could mean a crucial second's warning of a deadly spirit when Doumeki attention was elsewhere.

Watanuki turned his head to the side. His left eye picked up nothing but blurry edges in the dark, but to his right eye, those same blurs crystallized into Doumeki's face, as if it recognized its true owner no matter what the circumstances.

Watanuki closed his eyes and flailed a fist randomly, managing to catch Doumeki in the chest, if the soft ouff was any indication. "I have no idea how 'we' work," he mumbled, "I have no idea why a 'we' even exists at all. Except that there is a 'we'."

"Well," came the dry reply, "it's obviously a miracle." Two fingers tapped against Watanuki's forehead in rapid succession. Watanuki scrunched his eyebrows and blindly swatted at the offending hand.

"Or," Doumeki's voice said into his ear, breath feathering across Watanuki's cheek, "You have a sixth sense that tells you, if you'd rather. Because you aren't smart enough to figure it out otherwise."

Watanuki's temper snapped. "Why you--!" he screeched, jerking to a sitting position, and avoided slamming his head against Doumeki's only due to the latter's speedy retreat. Watanuki groped around for his glasses before giving them up for a lost cause, and settled for glaring at the half-blurry shape that was Doumeki.

And because Doumeki was still snickering away, Watanuki shut him up in the most effective way he knew, with lips, tongue and a tackle that drove Doumeki flat on his back on the futon.

His vision was full of Doumeki's black hair, and he could hear the wind whistling outside above the roar of his and Doumeki's heartbeat. Doumeki's skin was salty, smooth and warm, and he carried that cold, pure scent that marked him as Doumeki.

And maybe noticing all these things was suppose to be a sign, but Watanuki didn't need any of it to know that what they had and shared was theirs and theirs alone.

..end..

AN: To those who have been waiting for this, thank you for sticking with me until the end. It's been an interesting journey trying to puzzle out the Doumeki/Watanuki relationship.

Reviews and con/crit are much beloved.