DISCLAIMER: xxxHolic belongs to CLAMP.

- 5am On The Bathroom Floor -
(From The Night Before)

Watanuki entered the shop and was greeted with chants of "Dying! Dying!"

As soon as Maru and Moro saw him, they ran over to Watanuki and latched onto him.

"Mistress is dying!" Maru told him, in a tone that was more cheerful than panicked.

"...dying!" Moro echoed.

She probably has a hangover, Watanuki thought irritably. After how much she drank last night, I'm not even surprised. Out loud he said only, "Where's Yuko-san?"

"In the bathroom," Moro answered.

"Bathroom! Bathroom!" Maru repeated.

"Dying! Dying!" the twins chanted together.

They continued clinging to him all the way to the kitchen, where Watanuki pushed the twins off of him and handed them each a glass of water.

"Don't spill those," he instructed sternly.

"Don't spill! Don't spill!" Maru and Moro hissed at each other, walking less rambunctiously than usual as they followed Watanuki to the bathroom.

Watanuki slid open the bathroom door and what he saw there caused him to cry out in equal parts horror and concern, "Yuko-san!"

Yuko was laying on the floor naked, clutching her stomach and moaning "I'm dying" over and over again.

Which must be what started Maru and Moro off saying it, Watanuki thought to himself as he knelt beside her. He slid his arm under her shoulders and lifted her into a sitting position. Her skin felt unnaturally hot against his fingertips as though she had a fever - which is probably why she took all her clothes off, he thought to himself - but she wasn't sweating even the slightest bit.

He took the glass of water that Moro was holding and held it to Yuko's lips.

"Yuko-san, drink this."

She turned her head away.

"I can't," she whined. "I feel like I'm going to throw up."

"Yuko-san, you're dehydrated because you didn't drink any water last night before you went to bed, after you had all that alcohol!" Watanuki explained quickly, trying not to lose his temper.

He knew that Yuko always acted like a baby about it whenever she was feeling sick, but knowing that didn't prepare him to deal with it when it happened. He needed to keep himself under control and not panic or get angry with her if he wanted to help her.

"You'll feel better after you drink some water," he said softly, holding the glass to her lips again.

This time she drank.

When the first glass was empty, he set it aside and took the full glass from Maru.

After Yuko finished the second glass of water, Watanuki asked, "Do you feel any better now?"

"Noooooo," she whined, letting her body fall limply against his chest.

If she's got enough energy to be this dramatic about it, then I'd say she IS feeling better.

After a few moments, Yuko conceded, "Well, maybe I do feel a little better."

Watanuki sighed heavily. Taking care of Yuko was really such a pain. He wondered how she'd ever mananged without him.

Yuko lifted her head and called to the twins, "Maru, Moro, come and help me get dressed~!"

It wasn't until she said this that Watanuki remembered the fact that Yuko was currently naked. He panicked and scrambled away from her, clapping his hands over his eyes.

"Get dressed! Get dressed!" Maru and Moro sang as they gathered up Yuko's clothes.

Watanuki didn't move his hands away from his eyes until he heard Yuko say, "Ah, that's better! Now, I'm ready to go back to sleep."

"Then I'll just go and start-"

"Watanuki, carry me!" Yuko interrupted as if he had not been speaking at all.

"Carry! Carry!" Maru and Moro parroted.

Watanuki sighed as he lifted Yuko into his arms. She was perfectly capable of walking back to her room herself, but she was always like this - acting like a spoiled child whenever she wanted something. He knew it would be easier to just do what she wanted than to argue about it, because he was going to end up doing it in the end anyway.

~Later that day~

Yuko woke up to the sound of Watanuki yelling at Mokona for stealing food while he was cooking, which was soon followed by the sound of Maru and Moro imitating the bickering pair. It sounded like all was normal in the shop...

She sat up and stretched, and smiled when she saw that Watanuki had left a glass of water on the nightstand for her.

-end-

A/N: Reviews are love.