Disclaimer: xxxHolic and all characters are complete property of CLAMP. The story is mine and is based off of CLAMP's property.

Watanuki sat on the steps by the science classrooms with Himawari. Dômeki was not there, he was sick. Watanuki was happy about this because, well, for starters: No Dômeki and a whole day of Himawari and just Himawari.

"Watanuki-kun, this mini bento you made me is delicious!" Himawari chirped as she popped a little ball of rice into her mouth. Watanuki blushed.

"You're the delicious one!" Watanuki thought to himself.

"Did you make one for Dômeki?" Himawari finished the box and wrapped it back up.

"Huh? Well…" Watanuki had made something for him, but it was a favor that he owed. "Yes, I did." He simply responded.

"It really is too bad he's sick today…I know, do you want to go over to his house after school with me?" Himawari put up a finger.

"Uh, uhm. Sure. If you're going."

"Oh, Watanuki-kun. You and Dômeki are such good friends"

After school the two made their way to Dômeki's, he was sick with a bad flu with a high fever. They were let in anyhow because no one was home.

"Hello, Dômeki." Himawari whispered. "How are you feeling?"

Dômeki looked up at her as he said "Better than I did earlier."

"Watanuki made you a lunchbox."

"I'm not hungry, thank you."

"WHAT? Why are you so ungrateful?" Watanuki screamed.

"Ow, shut up. Loud noises hurt my head more than usual right now." Dômeki's apathy had not gone since he got sick.

"Watanuki, why don't you go put the lunchbox in Dômeki's fridge?" Himawari suggested.

"Fine." Watanuki gathered the food and walked to the kitchen. Dômeki's house closely resembled Yûko's when Watanuki remembered…"OH NO! I'll be late for work!"

He threw the box in the fridge, yet did it carefully. Watanuki took wide stride steps and stopped abruptly by Dômeki's room. "I'm sorry I have to go before I'm late!" and with that he sped out of the house.

"He's so strange," Dômeki said out loud.

"Watanuki-kun is always full of life, you know?" Himawari said sunnily.

"More than you'll ever know, Kunogi-san."

"Please," Himawari laid down next to Dômeki, "Call me Himawari…"

In the mean time, Watanuki was arriving at Yûko's house. Out of breath, he removed his shoes and entered the house.

"Sorry! I'm late because I went to see Dômeki with Himawari-chan," panted Watanuki.

"Not good to be late today, Watanuki, dear. You should have come straight here. I'm sure Dômeki will be at school tomorrow," Yûko murmured.

"Wha-what? What's wrong?" Watanuki asked frantically, Yûko sounded serious.

"Because today…I feel hungrier then usual! Now chop-chop! I want some fresh tea cakes…and…HARD LIQUOR!"

"What! YOU HAD ME PARANOID! And you're supposed to have TEA with tea cakes!" Watanuki waved his hands and arms angrily.

"Hahaha, well get started on it, I'm famished! I'll get the liquor!" Yûko giggled and hopped off in her robes to the liquor cabinet.

Watanuki put on his bandana and apron, and began to look up a recipe for tea cakes. He felt a little weary and tired as he turned the pages, he figured it was the small print and he needed thicker glasses. He found one and gathered up the dry ingredients first. The last thing he went to get was the flour only because it was so high up in a cupboard. He ran to get the stepping stool and sprinted back. He panted, which was unusual for him because it was only about 10 steps and he was somewhat athletic. He didn't think much of it and reached up to get the flour. He felt faint as he brought the container full of flour down. He slowly and cautiously stepped down and as he put the flour on the counter Maru and Moro entered to help.

"Here we are to help you Watanuki!" the little girls said in unison.

Watanuki handed them a rubber spatula and told Moro to hold the bowl of dry ingredients and Maru to mix it up carefully. He added the flour and sent them off to mix. They giggled and stood off to the side as Watanuki prepared the rest of the cake. He pulled out butter and eggs. He beat the butter in with sugar and all was going well until he cracked the eggs into the mix.

"crack," went one egg and Watanuki became dizzy.

"clink," went the other egg. It cracked on the side of the bowl, but he stopped. His head began to hurt, and forgetting about the egg, brought his hands up to his face. It cracked on his forehead, egg ran down his face and neck, shards of shell crept down his glasses and apron. He backed into the counter where Maru and Moro had put the dry ingredients. Watanuki put his hand back for support and flipped the bowl over. Dusty ingredients dumped all over Watanuki as he fell to the ground. Maru and Moro ran to get Yûko, who had a bottle of whiskey that was two thirds empty.

"Mistress! Mistress! Come quickly! Watanuki has passed out!" the soulless ones shouted as they lead Yûko to the kitchen.

"Oh my,my. Poor Watanuki… Let's clean this messy boy up shall we?" Yûko's voice was devilish as ever as she put down the bottle and ordered Maru and Moro to remove the bandana, apron and his school jacket.

Yûko removed Watanuki's glasses and cleaned them. She wiped his face with a warm cloth after Maru and Moro laid him down on a spare futon set up in Yûko's room.

"Misstress, is Watanuki ill?" Maru and Moro asked.

"He's probably got Dômeki's flu. I visited him earlier this week and he was in terrible shape, but now I suppose he's better if Watanuki was late," responded Yûko.

Yûko put a moist cloth on Watanuki's forehead. She watched the boy sleep and smiled quietly to herself. Something about him had always intrigued her, and she caressed his face with her hand. He stirred and turned his head toward her hand, he opened his eyes slowly. His head throbbed, his body ached, he didn't want to move.

"Yûko-san…?" Watanuki weakly spoke and was slightly bewildered.

"Hush, you're not going anywhere, now eat something. Mokona, bring some fruit."

Mokona came bouncing out from nowhere, with a ripe flat persimmon. The weather was starting to get cold at this time of year, but the weather inside was just starting to heat up…