Title: "Searching"

Author: Manzuma

Series: xxxholic by CLAMP

Disclaimer: you know i wish i owned XXXholic, but i don't so yea...

Summary: A client arrives at Yuko's shop as a last resort to help her find something important, only to be helped by Watanuki and, much to his dismay, Domeki

Pairings: Doumeki/Watanuki in later chapters...cuz it's practically canon gods dammit

Chapter One: The Arrival

The front doors to the shop slammed open, causing Watanuki, who was currently dusting a table nearby to practically jump out of his skin. Running in the direction of the noise, he found a young woman on her knees in the doorway, her face buried in her hands. With eyes full of worry, he walked up to her and placed a gentle hand on her back, only to have it slapped away by her own.

"Don't touch me!" She said in a voice that was hoarse from crying. "I don't need your problems to mix with my own..." She looked up at him, her tearfilled eyes full of disgust. "Where is the owner of this store?" She wiped her eyes on her sleeves and stood up, keeping a distance between herself and Watanuki. Her sorrow seemed to have diminished for the time being.

"That would be me." Came a calm voice from behind him, and out of the shadows stepped Yuko, a woman who gave an air of grace and self control ((a/n: except around sake ... . )). She was dressed in a semi-formal yukata and was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. Looking to Watanuki and then to the woman, she nods and he steps back beside her to watch carefully as she approaches the woman slowly. "I take it that you know the meaning of this store." It was said as a fact, not a question.

The woman nodded, her eyes were now dry but seemed drained. "I know what I risk by coming here as well, but I don't care. I need your help and will pay whatever the price may be." She took a deep breathe in and out and looked to Watanuki. "My apologies for my behavior earlier, I just do not enjoy the company of many people for a specific reason." She bowed her head to him in an apologetic fashion and stood up straight. She seemed to calm down the longer she stood in the shop.

"Let's take this conversation outside, shall we?" Asked Yuuko, and the woman nodded, turning around. She walked out the door, leaving Watanuki some free time to question his boss.

"What was with the multi mood changes, Yuuko-san?" He asked, slightly confused at the two extremes that he saw. Looking around, he noticed something. "Where are the three little ones?" Meaning Maru, Moro, and Mokona, neither of whom were in the room that they were in, nor could he hear them anywhere.

Yuuko merely chuckled, a mischevious/mysterious look on her face. "Oh, they'll be joining us shortly, don't worry too much." A soft object brushed his elbow and he looked down to see the pipe fox spirit looking at him. He smiled at it and it wrapped itself around his arm. "The reason for her emotions to change like that so greatly is because they are not her own."

Watanuki stopped and looked at her as they left the house/store, glancing between Yuuko and the woman. "Wait, what do you mean not her emotions?" The latter of whom he looked at was outside the gate that surrounded the shop and was leaning on the outside of it with her arms crossed in a very familiar fashion. She looked up at them and nodded, a tense look on her face.

"I mean that it takes a lot of energy for a woman like her to act like herself when she is surrounded by other living people." As they stepped out of the borders's of the shop, they saw a familiar face standing next to the woman, looking at her curiously with his soft gold eyes. "This woman is an empath, and with her reaction to being touched by one like you who has many bad thoughts and negative emotions, she must be a pretty sensitive one."

The woman looked up at them as they approached, ignoring Domeki for the time being. "Thank you for helping me, but why did you want us to meet out here instead of doing the payment inside your house?" She seemed worried and hesitant and it appeared that those were her own feelings, since Doumeki, who was nearest to her, merely maintained an expression of light curiousity.

Yuuko smirked, her eyes gleeming as she plotted great things. "Because, these three will be helping you and the taller one can't enter this shop." The pipe fox spirit raised it's head in excitement of going on a trip, it's little ears perked happily as it cuddled Watanuki.

A thought crossed his mind, but before the smaller boy could say anything, Doumeki voiced what he was thinking. "Does that mean that you already know the wish? Watanuki looks like he doesn't know what is going on, which isn't horribly rare but he usually has a slight idea." He moved away from the woman and stepped next to the one he was talking about.

Yuuko merely chuckled, pulling three slips of paper out of her pocket and handed them to the woman. "She's in search of her missing half, Doumeki-kun. It was stolen from her by force and she is left as basically an empty shell. She can't act on her own emotions, for her missing piece is what gave her the power to control her own mind. You all are going to search for the other half, even though it may take a while, and by the gods, you will definetly be going places."

The woman nodded in thanks to Yuuko, and handed her a cloth made of a dark material with what appeared to be a celtic pattern sewn on it. "This has been passed in my family for as long as our clan's gaurdian has been around. It should be a good price, I hope." She wore no expression on her face, but stood stoic, waiting patiently for the taller woman's reply.

Yuuko drapped it over her shoulder delicatly and smiled to her. "It will be fine, the price would be higher, but I'm only sending my hired help and his companion along so I'm not doing anything directly." She turned around and took a step towards the enterance in the gateway. "Perhaps you should introduce yourself first, otherwise it is quite uncomfortable traveling with complete strangers." With that she walked towards her house and shut the door sharply behind her.

The woman turned to them, her grey eyes still void of emotion."My name is Shinkan Yoru, and the one who we are to search for is Purin Takeya." She bowed in respect and waited for the others to introduce themselves. When they did, she nodded, saying "Thank you Domeki-kun and Watanuki-kun for helping me."

Looking at the papers, Watanuki asked. "Do you know whan those are for Yoru-san?"

Shinkan nodded and glanced at them as they gave off a soft glow for a few seconds. "These will tell us the direction on which we will travel." The papers seemed to tug north and she looked at them, "I guess where we need to go, huh?" With that she began walking north with the two of them following a good distance behind.

Watanuki glanced at Doumeki as he felt the fox spirit cuddling him under his shirt sleeve. "So what do you suppose we should do to help Yoru-san find her missing piece?" He asked the taller boy, his own blue eyes hesitant about asking for advice. Sure, he owed Doumeki for a lot of help he had shown, but that didn't mean anything to the other boy, right?

Doumeki merely shrugged as he kept a weary eye on the woman in front of them. She was a good three yards in front of them, and both boys felt it was probably a good idea to give her space. They didn't want any of their own emotions of problems to rub off on her. "Since she's human, evidently, we should trust that she won't purposley endanger herself or us. Eitherway, I'm sure that the pipe fox spirit would have at least some idea of where to look." He reached over Watanuki's shoulder and pulled out the reluctant creature, which seemed to be trying to pull itself in the direction of the one he was previously on.

Watanuki leaned close to the small spirit and smiled softly, saying "Will you help us help Yoru-san?" He was asking simply because the fox only reacted to things that Yuko or Watanuki said. It nodded its head up and down as it struggled to release itself from Doumeki's grip. Accomplishing its goal, it flew back to bespecled boy and wrapped itself around his neck loosly, glaring at the taller teen in a gloating fashion.

The archer smirked. "I guess we have our answer."

Afterwords:

Loki: -pops in- thats chapter one...O.o;;

Thetys: Yes, you self righteous jerk it is...

Sara: Now now, children, lets just let the readers decide.

Theyts: Whatever -glares at Loki- please leave a comment and tell me what you think so far

Loki: Tater Tot till then my lovelies 3