Don't Turn Around

Watanuki has always been harassed by spirits. He doesn't want Domeki's help either. But when a spirit starts to physically hurt him Domeki could be the only one who can help him.

I don't own anything made by CLAMP, especially nothing as amazing as XXX Holic and the characters in it.

Kimihiro Watanuki walked into Yuko's shop and stopped dead in his tracks. Yuko was lying on her couch and moaning like an injured animal.

"Uh, Yuko-san…?" he said apprehensively. She turned her head towards him and said, "Oh, Watanuki, my head is killing me? Could you PLEASE go to the store and get me some eki-kyabe?"

Watanuki looked at her disapprovingly.

"This is what happens when you drink too much," he said.

"Please," she begged.

"Fine!" Watanuki said, "But tonight you only get two yen's worth of alcohol."

"You tyrant!" Yuko cried, obviously appalled at the idea.

"I'll be back," Watanuki said, ignoring her complaints and walking out the door.

That Yuko, she always drinks too much. And then when she gets a hangover the next day she won't stop complaining when it was her fault for drinking so much in the first place. Watanuki sighed then burst out,

"And I'm always the one who has to clean up the mess!!"

"Who's mess are you cleaning up?" A voice Watanuki would rather not have liked to hear at that moment said from behind him. He swirled around and pointed at the man before him.

"That has nothing to do with you, Domeki!" he said, "And what the heck are you doing here anyhow? Are you stalking me?"

Domeki stuck his finger in his ear and said, "Shut up."

"Arrgh, you make me so mad!" Watanuki cried then started stomping away. Domeki followed.

"Why are you following me?" Watanuki growled. Domeki shrugged and said, "I just happen to be going in the same direction, idiot."

Watanuki then glared at him and started walking faster, that is, until he saw something move near a tree to the right of him. He stopped and stared at the area in which something had moved.

"What is it?" Domeki asked, stopping next to him. Watanuki shook his head.

"Nothing…probably just an animal or maybe a spirit," he said and started walking again. But this time he matched his pace with Domeki's. He hated relying on him, but Watanuki didn't want a spirit chasing after him if he could help it.

"It didn't look like a spirit," Domeki said calmly.

"And how would you know?" Watanuki snapped back. Domeki pointed to his right eye.

"I saw it too," he said, "And it didn't look like spirit." Watanuki started walking ahead of him again.

"Fine then!"

He saw the pharmacy just ahead of him and said, "I'm going to the pharmacy, see ya."

Before Watanuki had a chance to walk into the store Domeki said, "I want yakitori for lunch tomorrow." He then began walking away, a finger in his ear, anticipating the other boy's reaction.

"Don't act so high and mighty you jerk!" Watanuki yelled after him before stomping into the pharmacy, "Man, I hate that guy." Watanuki walked along the aisles, looking for what he needed. Finding the eki-kyabe, he picked it up and headed to the cash. But as he passed by one of the aisles he felt a sudden sharp pain in his leg. He looked down and found an exacto (how in the world do you spell it?) knife lying on the floor next to his leg, coated with a thin layer of blood. How could it have stabbed me? He wondered.

"Could it have been on one of the shelves and I ran into it?" he wondered aloud. The pain in his leg was slowly intensifying so he decided to forget about that for now and ask the pharmacists for some first aid.

"Here's your eki-kyabe, Yuko-san," Watanuki said as he entered the women's shop for the second time that day. He handed it to Yuko, who uttered a word of thanks and swallowed the whole bottle. Then Mokona brought her a glass of water and she drank it.

"Aahhh," she sighed, "Much better." She looked at Watanuki.

"What took you so long to get back?" she asked as she stretched. Watanuki scowled.

"It was probably that idiot Domeki, I met him on my way to the pharmacy," he said, sounding annoyed. Yuko merely grinned at this.

"Oh my, it seems our little Watanuki-kun was up to no good while he was out! 3" she cried.

Mokona jumped onto Yuko's shoulder and copied her.

"Watanuki was up to no good!!" it said happily. Watanuki blushed angrily.

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean!?" he yelled. Then he turned away from her and crossed his arms.

"No liqueur for you."

Yuko looked shocked and whispered to Mokona from behind her hand.

"Watanuki's a meanie, taking his sexual frustration out on us," she said, looking his way.

Watanuki walked towards them, looking like the Devil himself.

"I…can…hear…you…you…know," he said trying to restrain his anger. But, not watching where he was going, he bumped in the wall. He gasped as he hit his injured leg.

Yuko looked at him, her face serious.

"Did you hurt yourself?" she asked. Watanuki shook his head.

"No, well, okay, yeah. I injured my leg on a knife at the pharmacy today," he said, holding one hand over the now throbbing cut. Yuko's eyebrows arched as she examined the spot of the injury from where she stood.

"Did you see any ghosts today?" she asked.

"No," Watanuki replied.

"…I think it would be best if you got Domeki-kun to walk you home tonight," she said as she grabbed her pipe.

Watanuki watched her.

"Yuko…?"

"Go make me some food now, Watanuki. It's getting late and I haven't eaten yet!" she cried and Maru and Moro grabbed hold of his hands, leading him into the kitchen.

"Oh, and don't hold back on the beer!" she called after him.

"What the heck is HE doing here?" Watanuki cried as he saw Domeki standing in the doorway of Yuko's shop.

"I called Domeki-kun over," Yuko told him, "He's agreed to walking you home."

Watanuki was pulling at his hair. "Augh! I'm not a child anymore Yuko-san. I can survive walking home by myself at my age!" he cried. Yuko shook her head.

"For tonight, Watanuki, listen to me," she said firmly. Watanuki was silent for a moment. Then he turned to Domeki and yelled, "I'm not doing this because I want to you hear me?"

"Oh, shut up," Domeki said and walked out of the shop Watanuki followed him grudgingly.

Darkness had fallen long ago and as they walked the street was lighten only by the street lamps they frequently passed. They had been walking in silence for a few minutes when Watanuki suddenly got the chills.

"Did you feel that?" he asked, his spine tingling.

"Yeah," Domeki said peering around them as they walked, "Is it because there's a spirit around?"

"I don't know, most likely," Watanuki replied, his gaze drifting around their surroundings as well. He caught a glimpse of a man passing underneath a streetlight just ahead of them. He had a sinister smile on his lips as he gazed at Watanuki almost hungrily. Watanuki froze in place as terror suddenly bubbled up inside of him. He waited fearfully for the man to come nearer to them but he never did.

"I think it's gone," Domeki said when they had stood motionless for over a minute. He glanced over at Watanuki. The boy seemed to have had quite a scare.

"Are you okay?" Domeki asked. Watanuki looked at him.

"Yeah…but when I saw that guy my body just froze. I was petrified for some reason," he said, his eyes showing worry.

"Well, he went away so it should be okay," Domeki said as they started walking once again.

"Yeah…" Watanuki agreed, though he couldn't shake off the feeling that they were being watched.

Yeah, I know, the first chapter's weird. But if your reading this then you at least read it all the way through. Please feel free to review. Constructive criticism only, please.