Will Watanuki Ever See Shizuka Again
It's Hitsuzen, Like it Or Not
~ A Doumeki Shizuka/Watanuki Kimihiro Manifesto ~
by: 
aishuu
Spoilers through Manga Part 100.
About the series:
XXXholic (pronounced 'Holic') is one of CLAMP's most recent series. The series centers around Ichihara Yuuko and her shop, where anything can be bought – for a price. Watanuki Kimihiro, a high school student with an unwanted gift to see the supernatural, stumbles into the shop, and is promised a way to get rid of his sight. All he has to do is work for Yuuko for an unspecified amount of time.
Watanuki is exposed to a a variety of clients who have a wide array of wishes. Some of them are innocent, but most have a sinister side. A key concept of the series is the idea of "Hitsuzen," which is fate. Everything happens for a reason – but only if you believe it does. XXXholic has a strong dose of mysticism, but the main point is that nothing is gained without cost.
XXXholic features frequent crossovers with Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles, with items flowing back and forth through the universes. It's only one piece of the interconnected worlds CLAMP is fond of creating, but definitely stands alone.
This essay is based on the manga, since the anime is relatively new. I also draw on some of CLAMP's previous series (Card Captor Sakura, Tokyo Babylon/X:1999, Legal Drug, Wish) since CLAMP has certain patterns when it comes to creating "relationships."
Watanuki Kimihiro: April Fool
For his whole life, Watanuki Kimihiro has seen things he rather wouldn't. He's a bit peculiar – he tends to spaz out quite a bit, and spends a lot of time running from the supernatural (which of course no one else sees, so it's like he's hallucinating to everyone else). Watanuki has been chased by all kinds of nasty things, most of which want to eat him. His spiritual power makes him look quite tasty to them.
All Watanuki wants is to be normal. He's willing to go along with Yuuko's demands that he work in her shop, which exposes him to many weird/dangerous situations.
Watanuki is the kind of person who appears "decent" at just about everything. He's a good student, a hard worker, good at sports, but he's not outstanding – without his ability of Sight, he'd probably fade right into the background. His only extraordinary abilities are on the domestic front – he's an excellent cook, and able to clean just about anything.
Watanuki has an immense crush of Himawari Kunogi, a girl who is "bad luck" for him. When she's around, bad things happen to him. She's sweet, but is in the habit of blowing him off without realizing it. Still, he swoons all over her. In a recent chapter of the manga, Yuuko asks him what he likes about her, and he's only able to say "everything." He doesn't understand where his feelings for her come from, and Yuuko hints that he'll figure it out.
Looking over CLAMP's previous manga (Card Captor Sakura), it's possible his attraction is on the supernatural level. Like Li Syaoran's attraction to Tsukishirou Yukito, it makes sense that Watanuki is attracted to some mystical aspect of Himawari (It's hinted quite strongly that she has some kind of supernatural ability – it's possible she isn't human).
Watanuki has a strange kind of maturity – he lives alone and takes care of himself, yet he appears socially stunted. He doesn't seem to have any close friends at the start of the series, although as time goes on he becomes closer to Doumeki.
Watanuki is also a very lonely person. His abilities have isolated him, and at the start of the series, he doesn't have any close friends. He's an orphan, lives alone, and is fiercely independent, more from necessity than through choice.
Watanuki is very kind person, and is willing to forgive easily. He's very empathetic to those in trouble, and this sometimes gets him into trouble when he helps things that are harmful to him. He also forgives a lot of the supernatural things that "hurt" him if they're human in appearance, especially if they're hurting him as a way to salve their loneliness.
Watanuki also is into self-sacrifice, which is because he doesn't value himself. Tied in with his essentially kind nature, it spells trouble.
Throughout the series, Watanuki is undergoing a series of changes. Most of these come from lessons he learns while working at Yuuko's shop.
Archer: Doumeki Shizuka
Doumeki Shizuka is good at just about everything. He's a good student, is popular with girls, and a good athlete. He's accomplished at kyuudo (Japanese archery) which implies a calm, deep personality capable of centering himself. Think of your typical "strong silent hero" and that's a pretty good picture of what he's like.
Then add a touch of sarcasm – that's Doumeki.
Doumeki lives in a temple, where his grandfather used to be head priest. Doumeki's grandfather was a very supernaturally gifted, and Doumeki has inherited some of his abilities, most notably the ability to repel evil spirits. However, he lacks the Sight so he doesn't see most of the weird things going on.
In some respects, he's very stereotypical – however, he's also very open minded. He's willing to believe Watanuki without proof, because he trusts him. His rather blasé attitude to the chaos that surrounds Watanuki – dragging Doumeki in – shows a willingness to believe, but not be impressed.
Doumeki likes to tease Watanuki in a deadpanned fashioned. He finds it amusing to watch Watanuki flip out over little things, and is able to incite him like no one else. He's also very fond of Watanuki's cooking. Most of the time when he agrees to accompany Watanuki at some task, the "price" is paid in food.
The most interesting thing about Doumeki is his independence. He is unable to see Yuuko's shop (it appears to him as nothing more than a vacant lot) because he has no need of anything Yuuko sells. If there's a problem, he's going to find a solution on his own, even if that solution is impossible.
Doumeki is one of CLAMP's best adjusted characters, which is saying something since CLAMP is renown for giving characters plenty to angst about. He might have some challenges in his life, but he's able to deal with things without sinking into a wallow of emo.
Going Halves: Doumeki and Watanuki in canon
This relationship could be defined as "practically canon." CLAMP is not afraid of shonen ai, and there's tons of hints that Doumeki and Watanuki are meant to be together.
The first hint that something is going to happen between Doumeki and Watanuki comes before Doumeki's entrance. While visiting a fortune teller, the lady mentions a "male friend who he will always fight with, but whose relationship will go deeper."
Doumeki enters in the next chapter. It's right after gym, and Watanuki is talking to Himawari – and then enter Doumeki, who just managed to stop all of Watanuki's shots in soccer. Predictably, Watanuki spazzes out, but Himawari says that they're quite close.
A lot of the canon support for the pairing comes from comments from Yuuko, who occasionally acts as a narrator to give insights into situations Watanuki is put in. She tells him to keep Doumeki close, since his exorcism abilities will help Watanuki. Interestingly, Himawari also has a habit of pushing the two together, talking about their closeness.
Watanuki is irritated beyond belief by Doumeki, whose laconic attitude is at direct odds with Watanuki's overreactions. Watanuki is also jealous that Himawari treats Doumeki exactly the same as she treats Watanuki himself (who tries to see "affection" in everything Himawari does, only to be shot down, again and again).
Doumeki is harder to decipher, often agitating Watanuki just to get a reaction. He claims to find Watanuki's loud reaction annoying, but also enjoys watching Watanuki being an "idiot."
A key scene to show how much Doumeki values Watanuki occurs in volume six. Watanuki is being drained by a spirit of a woman, something which makes him ill and that will kill him eventually. Watanuki declares this is fine, since both he and the spirit (who reminds him of his mother) are lonely.
Enter Doumeki, who declares he's going to stop her. Watanuki tries to keep Doumeki from hurting her, but Doumeki fires his arrow anyway, and the women willingly lets herself get shot, telling Watanuki he's cured her of her loneliness, adding, "You must also have someone who wouldn't want you to disappear."
Yuuko explains the situation to Watanuki after he recovers. "[Doumeki] only made a choice. He decided to shoot that woman. It didn't matter to him that he might have hurt you, or that you might hate him afterwards. He just didn't want you to disappear."
CLAMP is known for having an eye fetish (witness Syaoran and Seishirou in Tsubasa, Seishirou and Subaru in Tokyo Babylon/X:1999, Kokuyo and Hisui in Wish). The loss of eyesight is seen in the later two cases as a sacrifice for someone beloved, and it appears in XXXholic with a strange twist: both Doumeki and Watanuki sacrifice their sight for the other.
When Watanuki accidentally damages a spider web, Doumeki finishes the job and takes the entire web down. Unfortunately, this earns a grudge from a spider, which manifests as a web over Doumeki's eye. Doumeki loses his sight in his right eye. Determined to save him, Watanuki gives up his own eyesight, partly because he feels to blame.
After a lot of trouble, Doumeki manages to sacrifice "half" his eye so both of them have sight – Doumeki's vision is worse (previously he had 2.0 vision; he ended up with 1.0 vision) but Watanuki's vision actually improves. Since they're sharing eyesight, Doumeki also gains a bit of "sight" from Watanuki as well. It's as convoluted as you'd expect CLAMP to get.
It's not entirely angsty/world changing situations that define their relationship. There's lots of cute moments where they're put together in a "paired" sense, notably a scene where they have to share a lantern to participate in a spirit's parade – just like a bride and groom cutting a cake together (according to Yuuko).
Eating Donuts: The Fangirl Perspective
The pairing is called "Donuts" by fans of XXXholic. Personally, I think it's one of the more ridiculous names I've seen in fandom, but let's not go into that.
Donuts is the most popular pairing in XXXholic fandom (with the possible exception of Clow/Yuuko). Why? Well, the manga centers around Watanuki's three relationships – with Yuuko, with Doumeki, and with Himawari. Since Yuuko is much older than Watanuki, and Himawari is the kind of "cute girl" that fangirls tend to dislike, it's easy to see why the pairing is popular.
The predecessor of this pairing can be found in Legal Drug. Rikuo/Kazahaya is set up with some very similar dynamics – Kazahaya has supernatural abilities like Watanuki, and Rikuo is a similar type to Doumeki. I like Doumeki/Watanuki a bit better, since they're on more equal footing, and Doumeki doesn't have the same hint of "angsty back story" that motivates Rikuo, and Watanuki doesn't "give up" the way Kazahaya has a tendency to do.
Doumeki and Watanuki are a study of contrasts: Watanuki rarely thinks things through, while Doumeki always acts after thinking matters over. Watanuki is highly emotional; Doumeki is calm. Watanuki doesn't value himself, while Doumeki values everything, but is willing to make the hard decisions on when something has to be sacrificed.
It reminds me very much of "yin yang" in that where one blows hot (Watanuki), the other is cold. Their abilities are complimentary; Watanuki has Sight, Doumeki has the ability to protect Watanuki from those things. When things come down to it, Watanuki and Doumeki can depend on each other.
What I find most interesting about Doumeki/Watanuki is the fact that it's not a cuddly relationship, although it's deep. They're both going to be there for each other, along with adding rather sharp remarks about the other's stupidity. The relationship is still in the beginning stages, but holds the potential for becoming a true partnership, once Watanuki is ready. He's the key in this evolution. Doumeki seems to have acknowledged how important Watanuki is to him – Watanuki needs to be able to accept this.
I don't think Watanuki is ready for a serious sexual relationship for quite a while. He's immature in many respects, and he needs to finish whatever path Yuuko has him set on before he can commit to someone seriously; however, when he commits it will be deep and lifelong, since he's the type who never backs down.
Luckily Doumeki is pretty patient, because it's going to take some time. Doumeki most likely would be willing to wait. His faith and devotion in Watanuki are shown through actions, not words. Doumeki can't see what Watanuki sees, but he believes Watanuki – and this kind of trust is invaluable.
Doumeki/Watanuki Recs:
Web Sites:
STFU – the Doumeki/Watanuki fan listing
Kimihiro.net. Solid basic XXXholic site.
Lunap. The XXXholic recs section.
Fleeting Fancies. The Doumeki/Watanuki recs section.
Communities:
xxx_holic : The main XXXholic community.
doumekiwatanuki : A shipping comm. Very nicely maintained, with tags organizing fic, art,
Fan fiction:
July by evherie : PWP, but still has good characterization.
Closer by evherie :Watanuki is such a wife sometimes.
The Arrow by lazulisong : Great Doumeki perspective of a pivotal moment.
Hidden Meanings by lazzchan : Short but sweet.
Getting a Hands On Education by still_ciircee : Sizzle, sizzle. This is hot yet somehow in character.
Peeking into the Future by trixie_chick : Doumeki gets a glimpse into the future, and likes what he sees.
Measure for Measure by hydr0phobia : Watanuki has to deal with Doumeki's fangirls.
Faith by redex: Watanuki must decide.
Credit to mklutz for being her usual awesome self and serving as a sounding board.
Source: https://ship-manifesto.livejournal.com/139553.html