Disclaimer: I don't own xxxHolic, either Petshop of Horrors series, or any of the characters in therein.

A Touch of Melancholy

"Tampopo? What's wrong with Tampopo?" Watanuki turned to Himawari with concern. She looked worried, which in his opinion was something that the universe should not allow to happen.

"I don't know! For the past few days, he's just been...under the weather. Look at him, don't you think he seems different from how he usually acts?"

Watanuki peered at the small yellow bird perched on Himawari's shoulder. Normally, Tampopo was cheerful and perky, like Mokona (except that Tampopo didn't insist on Watanuki fixing him liquor and snacks). But today he seemed listless: his wings drooped, his eyes were dull, and he didn't seem to care at all that Watanuki and Domeki were there.

"You're right," Watanuki said, "he does seem a little off. Maybe you should take him to a vet?"

"But Tampopo's not an ordinary bird, is he? Would a vet know how to help him? What if they accidentally made him worse because of how different he is from most birds?"

This was a valid point. Tampopo had hatched from an egg that Yuko had gotten from who-knew-where, and was immune to Himawari's curse. (No! Watanuki thought. Nothing about Himawari-chan could be described as a curse! It's just an...an...an unfortunate side-effect of her wonderful and charming personality! She's so perfect that her perfection warps the universe itself and makes bad things happen to the people around her! It has to balance out her perfection somehow, otherwise all of existence would implode! Yes, that's it!) Watanuki had once seen him eat blossoms given as payment by some mysterious entity that had stretched out its webbed hand from a hole in the world, and suffer no ill effects. He was clearly not your run-of-the-mill canary.

"Why don't we take him to Yuko-san?" he suggested, inwardly groaning at the thought of the extra work she'd make him do as payment for this favor. "She's the one who gave his egg to me, so she must know something about him. If he's got some kind of, I don't know, magical illness or something, I bet she'll know what to do about it."

"That sounds like a good idea. And Domeki-kun, would you mind coming along?"

"Sure."

"Ah! Why do you have to be so deadpan about this? Can't you see that Tampopo's life might be at stake?" Seeing the look on Himawari's face, Watanuki quickly amended, "Oh, I'm sure it's nothing serious, Himawari-chan! I just meant that Domeki should be more sensitive about it!"

Domeki muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "idiot" under his breath as the trio set off for Yuko's shop.

"Not feeling well?" Yuko asked. She was stretched out on a couch, smoking her pipe as usual. Appropriately enough, her kimono featured a pattern of golden birds on a deep blue background. "Well, that is a problem. Luckily, I know just the person who can help. I'm actually going to be meeting him for tea tomorrow. Why don't the three of you come along and bring Tampopo? I'm sure he'd be happy to take a look-exotic animals are something of a hobby of his. Of course, you'll have to pay a price for it." She raised an eyebrow. "And you'll have to pay him a fee as well."

"I know, I know, I'll make a meal for both of you."

"And alcohol!" Mokona chimed in.

Watanuki sighed and reminded himself that he was doing this to help the beautiful and talented Himawari-chan.

"Hey, I remember this place!" Watanuki exclaimed as they approached the pastry shop. "Himawari-chan, isn't this the place you bought our Valentine's Day chocolate from?"

Himawari nodded. "Yes. Their cakes and sweets are very good."

"Well, that must be why my friend chose this place to meet," Yuko said. "He loves sweets."

"Will they let me bring Tampopo inside, though?" Himawari hesistated outside the door.

"No one else has ever made a fuss about you bringing him places," Domeki pointed out. "Even at school, which is odd, because I know they'd have a fit if someone tried to bring a dog or cat in."

"You know, I never thought of that, but it's true," said Watanuki. "But then again, this is Tampopo we're talking about, so maybe it's not odd?"

Continuing her longstanding tradition of giving completely unenlightening answers, Yuko only said, "Life is full of odd things, that's what makes it interesting," and stepped inside.

As soon as she entered, a young man sitting at one of the tables waved to her. At least, Watanuki thought it was a man. He had delicate facial features, his hair was cut in a style Watanuki had seen on girls at his school, and was wearing a kimono. "Yuko-san!" he called enthusiastically.

"D-san, it's been too long." Yuko swept over to the man, and was completely unfazed when he leaped up and hugged her.

"Oh, but you've brought friends with you and I only got a small table! Let's move over there," he said, leading the group to a table by the window.

"How have you been, D-san? I'm glad you were able to get a little time off from tending to your shop."

"Oh, you wouldn't believe how hard it was! Taizuu is such a taskmaster, always complaining when I close the shop in the middle of the day for my tea break. But I was able to sneak out the back." He and Yuko shared a chuckle, and Watanuki felt a cold wave of foreboding wash over him.

"D-san, this is my employee, Watanuki-kun, and his friends Domeki-kun and Himawari-chan. I've brought them along because Himawari-chan has a rather special pet who's not feeling his best, and I thought you might be able to help."

Himawari lifted Tampopo off her shoulder and tentatively held him out to Count D. Tampopo gave a weak "chirp" as D took him from Himawari's hands.

"Oh, my," he breathed. "This is a rare pet indeed. You must have a great deal of faith in these children, Yuko-san, to entrust such a creature to them."

Yuko nodded. "I do."

D examined Tampopo carefully, and gently stroked the top of his head. "Please, is there anything you can do to help, D-san?" Himawari had ordered a slice of strawberry chiffon cake, but hadn't touched it. "Tampopo is...well...that is, I..."

"He's a companion that you don't have to worry about hurting by accident, is that it?"

Himawari gasped. "Yes! But how did you..."

D smiled. "Young lady, I've come across many strange and exotic creatures in my time, and nearly as many strange and exotic people. I can recognize a nexus of ill-fortune when I see one. And I can just as easily recognize one of those rare beings with the ability to resist such powers." He handed Tampopo back to Himawari and said, "I believe I can help Tampopo, but I'll need to bring him back to my shop in Kabuki-cho."

"Your shop?"

"Oh, didn't Yuko-san tell you? I own a pet store."

Watanuki looked around curiously as they entered the large building. Corridors stretched off in every direction from the main lobby, lined with stores as far as the eye could see. As they entered, a smiling employee had handed them brochures detailing the range of products and services they could find here, from hairstyling to specialty foods to high-end jewelry.

"Count D!" An outraged voice echoed from the escalator leading up to the second floor. A well-dressed, stern-looking man was hurrying down the escalator towards them. "Where have you been?"

"Meeting with customers!" D responded, completely unruffled by the man's obvious anger.

"You are supposed to be in your shop! Look here!" He thrust a brochure like the one Watanuki was holding under Count D's nose. "It says very clearly that your store is open right now. Yet there's a 'Closed' sign on the door! What sort of message does that send to our customers?"

"But Taizuu, I've brought customers here!" He gestured to the group surrounding him. "Don't think of it as 'abandoning the shop,' think of it as 'making a house call'."

"Sir, that's true," Himawari spoke up. "My pet bird isn't feeling well, and D-san offered to take a look at him." She held out Tampopo, who ruffled his feathers and gave the stern man a plaintive look.

At the sight of four potential customers, one of whom was very elegantly dressed, the stern man's demeanor changed completely. "Ah, you all have my greatest apologies! My name is Woo-Fei Rau, and I own this shopping center. Please, if you need anything, don't hesistate to ask. And I hope your pet recovers quickly, young lady."

The group followed D down a hall to a large, ornate set of doors marked "Count D's Pet Shop." He ushered them inside and closed the doors behind them (leaving the "Closed" sign that had so offended Woo-Fei firmly in place, Watanuki noticed). "Whew!" he exclaimed. "You see what I mean, Yuko-san? I leave my shop for five minutes and he makes such a fuss!" Thinking about how much time it had taken them to walk here from the sweets shop, the time they'd spent in the sweets shop, and the fact that it must have taken D just as long to walk there as it had taken them to walk back, Watanuki was sure it had been a lot more than five minutes, but of course he didn't say so.

D's store was quite unusual for a pet shop. Some of the animals were in cages, but many more were simply perched on couches and chairs or walking around the floor. Futhermore, types of animals that normally didn't get along well, such as cats and birds, were sitting peacefully beside each other. There was a very striking greyhound curled up next to one table, and Watanuki bent down to examine it. The dog woofed softly and wagged its tail. Tentatively, Watanuki reached out to pet it...and nearly fell over as a wave of vertigo washed over him. What was that? The dog seemed to be flickering in his vision, and for some reason he had a very strong mental image of a human child with the same liquid black eyes that the dog sported. "Oh!"

"Watanuki-kun, are you alright?" Himawari rushed over to his side, and Domeki was immediately there as well, placing a steadying hand on his arm.

"I...I just got a little dizzy for a second. It must be the heat. I'm fine." He gave Himawari a reassuring smile, and she seemed mollified, but Domeki didn't look convinced.

"Oh my!" Count D hurried over, and lifted Watanuki to his feet with surprising strength. He guided Watanuki to an overstuffed armchair, then bustled over to an end table where a teapot and several glasses with ice in them stood waiting. "This heat really is oppressive, isn't it? I simply must speak to Taizuu about the air-conditioning system! It won't do him any good if his precious customers faint from heatstroke, now will it? In the meantime, have some of this delicious iced tea. I'm sure that will cool you off nicely!"

Watanuki sipped the iced tea, which was indeed very refreshing. Somehow, though, he didn't think it was heatstroke that had made him feel woozy. Are all the pets in this shop magical creatures like Tampopo? Is that why I suddenly felt so strange? He noticed that Domeki had sat across from him at the table. And now Mr. Expressionless is going to stick to me like glue!

Over on a large sofa, Count D was bending over Tampopo. "Yes, yes, I think I know what will perk him right up." He beamed at Himawari. "Tampopo isn't physically sick. He's lonely."

"Lonely? But I take him with me everywhere! I pay a lot of attention to him, and Domeki-kun and Watanuki-kun do too. Isn't that right?"

"Absolutely!" Watanuki said, while Domeki nodded silently.

"Oh, I didn't mean it like that! It's clear to me that you all take very good care of little Tampopo. But late summer is mating season for his kind, you know. He isn't lonely just for someone to pay attention to him."

"But," Watanuki protested, "he only hatched a couple of months ago. He can't be an adult yet, can he?"

"Most birds, when they're first hatched, have no feathers. Some of them, their eyes are still closed. Was Tampopo like that?"

Watanuki thought about it. "Well...no. He had all his feathers, and he was able to fly around and stuff. He was pretty much the same as he is now."

"Exactly. Tampopo's species mature very quickly. He's certainly ready to find a mate."

"Are you saying I should buy a companion for him?" Himawari asked. "I wouldn't mind doing that, except...well...are all of Tampopo's species like him? I mean, I don't want to get another pet if I'm going to hurt it."

"Ah, now, that is an interesting fact about little Tampopo. His species develops according to the desires of whoever holds their egg prior to hatching. Tampopo is immune to your curse because the person who cared for his egg wanted him to be a companion for you. Another member of his kind, whose egg was held by someone else, wouldn't necessarily have the same protection. But never fear! I have a perfect solution. I happen to have a female of Tampopo's species here in the shop. If you leave Tampopo with me for a couple of days, he can spend some time with her, and that should cure his loneliness. When you pick him up, he'll be back to his old self!"

"Really? That's great! Tampopo's made me so happy, I want him to be happy too."

Count D beamed. "Don't you worry! We'll have him right as rain in no time! Now if you'll just bring him this way..." He led Himawari towards a door in the back wall of the shop.

Domeki stood up. "Watanuki, will you be okay if I leave for a few minutes? Yuko-san will still be here if you start to feel strange again."

Watanuki nodded. "I think I'll be okay. And you should go with Himawari-chan. I wouldn't want anything to happen to D-san."

Domeki's eyes narrowed. (How is it even possible for them to get any tinier than they already are? Watanuki wondered.) "That's not what I'm worried about." Before Watanuki could ask what he meant, he strode out of the room after D and Himawari.

"Yuko-san?" Watanuki stared into his cup of iced tea.

"Yes?" Yuko had wandered around the store while everyone else talked to Count D, examining each of the pets in turn.

"The pets that D-san sells here...are they..."

"They are not ordinary pets."

"So, is his shop like yours? Can people only see it if they really need a special pet? And are the prices like the ones at your shop?"

Yuko looked thoughtful. "D-san's store is not exactly the same as mine. Anyone can enter it, and D-san has more discretion over his prices than I do over mine. But you could say that the two are similar."

"Because they both deal in things that are magical?"

"Well, yes, but that's only the most superficial similarity. Customers of both stores often learn valuable lessons. And both stores give customers exactly what they think they want."

Count D led Himawari and Domeki through a maze of hallways and staircases behind the shop. A single store can't possibly be this big, Domeki thought. Maybe he's taking us to some kind of common storeroom?

Finally, D stopped in front of a set of large double doors. "It's right in here," he said, gesturing for Himawari to open the door. She did so, and stepped into a cavernous room.

The floor of the room was stone, but there was a square cut out of the stone in the center of the room. Rich, loamy dirt filled this square, and growing out of it was a tree. The leaves on the upper branches rustled, and a small, yellow bird peeked out. It looked exactly like Tampopo, except that it was missing the orange patches on its cheeks and forehead. "Peep?"

Tampopo lifted his head, and his eyes seemed to light up when he saw the other bird. "Peep! Peep, peep, peep!" He fluttered his wings and looked up at Himawari.

She laughed. "It's okay, Tampopo, go ahead!"

Tampopo launched himself off Himawari's finger and joined the other bird in the tree. They quickly disappeared among the leaves.

"He seems very happy," Himawari said. "Does your bird have a name?"

"Why, of course," said D. "She's called Tsubaki."

"And when should I come back to get Tampopo?"

"Oh, in a few days. Just come anytime. Except around teatime."

"Thank you so much, D-san!" Himawari exclaimed, and left the room.

D turned to follow her out, but Domeki said, "Wait."

D raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

Domeki's face was set in a serious expression. "What exactly are you?"

D laughed. "Why, I'm just a humble pet store owner."

"No, you're not. What are you up to? If you intend to trick or hurt Himawari-chan..."

D glanced at the wall. A lamp hanging from the ceiling cast a gentle glow throughout the room, and it projected Domeki's shadow on that wall. While Domeki's hands were empty, his shadow appeared to be holding a bow. "Hmph. I shouldn't have expected anything less from Haruka-san's grandson, I suppose. Although, I hadn't heard that you could see such things. Perhaps..." He leaned forward slightly, and sniffed. "Yes, I can smell Watanuki-kun's blood in you. Perhaps that's why? In any case, I have no ill intent towards Himawari-chan."

"You're certain? I can imagine that there are some in the supernatural world who would consider her curse a powerful weapon."

"I suppose there are. But I have no need of such a thing...and even if I did, Yuko-san has taken an interest in her. Even I would not think lightly of crossing Yuko-san." He smiled, and gestured towards the door. "Now, shall we return to the main room of the shop? Yuko-san and Watanuki-kun are waiting for us, after all."

"Now don't forget, Watanuki-kun, you have to bring D-san some of your handmade sweets when you come back with Himawari-chan to pick up Tampopo. And of course, you owe me some as well."

D clapped his hands together in delight. "Yuko-san says you're a wonderful cook, so I'm looking forward to it!"

"And while you're at it, you could make me some dessert too," Domeki added.

"Hey, I cook for you enough already!" Watanuki shot back indignantly.

D chuckled. "Yuko-san, we really must get together again sometime!"

"Consider it a date!" The two of them laughed, and Watanuki suppressed the urge to shiver. Those two are way too alike for their own good...

"You see? All better!" D proudly held out Tampopo, who chirped happily at the sight of Himawari. He fluttered across the room and zoomed around her head a couple of times before settling himself on her shoulder as usual.

"I'm so glad!" Himawari beamed. "Thank you so much, D-san!"

"Here's your payment," Watanuki said, holding out a box.

"Ooh, what do we have here?" D eagerly opened the box, looking for all the world like a child opening Christmas gifts. "Ah, it's fondant au chocolat! That's one of my favorites!"

"You'll need to heat it up to the right temperature to get the best flavor," Watanuki pointed out. "There's a little paper in there with instructions..."

"Yes, yes, of course! Oh, this is wonderful!" D did a happy little twirl and flounced off towards the door that led to the back room.

Himawari giggled. "He's such a character, isn't he? He reminds me of Yuko-san."

"He is a lot like her, except that he's obsessed with sweet foods instead of alcohol." He turned quickly as the door of the shop slammed open and Woo-Fei Rau strode in, looking furious.

Watanuki and Himawari made their escape, the sound of Woo-Fei's yelling following them down the hallway. And I think the people who have to work with D-san and Yuko-san find them equally frustrating, too...

Having finally gotten Woo-Fei out of his hair (again), Count D contemplated the pearly white egg he held in his hands. Warmth radiated from it, and he could almost feel something stirring inside.

How do you want me to grow?

A/N: This story grew out of a random idea I got about Yuko and Count D meeting while rereading some xxxHolic volumes.

The female bird's name, Tsubaki, means "camellia," which seemed appropriate since Tampopo is also a flower name.