I don't own xxxHolic

Yuko looked around the yard with a bored expression. Watanuki was four whole hours late. That had never happened before. Not even when he'd been held up by the oden cart owner. Yuko had the sinking feeling that something was very wrong. Mokona jumped onto the porch table.

"Watanuki still isn't here yet." He said his voice a little tense.

Yuko pursed her lips. "Something has happened."

Dômeki stood outside the apartment building that Watanuki lived in with Himawari. Yuko had called them both here suddenly, saying that Watanuki may be in danger.

"Thank you for coming."

They looked to see Yuko coming up the path with a serious look on her face, and Mokona on her shoulder. Himawari looked concerned.

"Yuko-san. Just what's going on?"

Dômeki turned to face her as she came beside them. "You said Watanuki was in trouble. What's going on?"

Yuko looked at them, then turned to the apartment building. "I don't know just yet."

The three friends walked up the stairs to Watanuki's room. The whole building was dark, no one was up. They got to Watanuki's apartment and Yuko go the spare key out from behind the fire extinguisher. But when she went to unlock the door, it was already open. Yuko opened the door and called for Watanuki, but there was not answer. They walked into the living/kitchen area and paused. There was three unfinished bentos on the bench, cold and smelling rank. They moved to look behind the bench and saw something that, although they real didn't want to see, they weren't entirely surprised. Watanuki was laying on the tiled floor of the kitchen, completely passed out.

"Not good." Yuko muttered. "Dômeki, do you think you can carry him to my shop?"

"Yeah."

"If something isn't done fast..." She looked at the young seer. "Watanuki will never wake up."

Back at Yuko's shop the three friends had tucked Watanuki into bed. Maro and Moro were gathering shutters and similar things and setting them up around the room. Yuko was telling them where to put each one. Dômeki and Himawari were standing in confusion, trying to figure out what they were doing.

"The wards are finished." Yuko stated and the two girls placed the last item. She turned to Dômeki and Himawari. "I'll keep the explanation brief. Watanuki has been pulled into an endless dream by a spirit. I'm not sure what kind it is yet, as I don't know what kind of dream his having. However, someone he trusts must enter his dream to bring him out. I can't because I'll be performing the spell and acting as a safety line, in case anything goes wrong. So I will be sending you two."

Silence echoed throughout the room, aside from Watanuki's steady breathing. Dômeki folded his arms.

"Then let's get on with it."

Himawari nodded. "We can't let this happen to Watanuki-kun."

Yuko nodded. "Lay down, both of you. You need to be asleep to enter dreams."

Dômeki and Himawari did as instructed laying against the wall, they closes their eyes as they felt Yuko's magic take effect and send them into a deep sleep. The next time they opened their eyes they were in a hospital room. There was one bed, with white sheets. Sitting in the bed was a little girl no older than five or six. There was a food-tray table in front of her that she was writing on, with a brush, a bottle of inc next to her. The girl had jet black hair, that came down to her shoulders, and deep blue eyes, that resembled Watanuki. She was just sitting there silently, writing on a small slip of paper. She looked up and looked over at them, with a small yet happy smile.

"Onii-chan." Scratch that, she was looking at something behind them.

"Ohio, Imoto-chan!" sounded a familiar voice behind them.

Dômeki and Himawari turned to see Watanuki, the exact same age as the girl in the hospital bed. Watanuki walked into the room with a large pile of books in his arms. He set them down on the bed side table. He grinned proudly at his work.

"These are all the books on spiritual wards and seals I could find at the library. Not bad, huh?" He grinned at his 'little sister'.

"Thank you, Onii-chan." The girl suddenly looked sad. "I'm sorry, to force all this on you."

Watanuki smiled at the girl and ruffled her hair. "Don't worry about it Imoto. As the older brother it's my job to look out for you."

"You're only older than me by two minutes." She protested, angrily.

"Older, is older, Imoto."

Slowly the scene began to fade, the sound of the two children laughing, echoing all around, as the hospital room slowly faded into the distance. They were soon greeted by another scene A bedroom, with books scattered all over the place. The little girl was placing some finished seals on a desk, and packing a backpack. Watanuki walked in, he was dressed in hiking clothes. He spotted the neatly piled seals.

"You're not taking your wards, with you?"

She turned and smiled at him. "We're going to a shrine today, right? I'm sure we won't run into any bad spirits while we're at a shrine."

"But Imoto, aren't you scared of spirits?"

"A little. I mean, I don't relish the idea of being turned into a meal. But that's not what I'm really scared of."

"Then what?"

Then that too faded away, just as she was about to answer, a small, sad, smile on her face. They were now witnessing a frightening scene. Watanuki and the little girl were running at max speed, trying to outrun a huge spirit. They were obviously tiring. Suddenly Watanuki spin around to face the spirit.

"Keep going." He shouted at the girl who had stopped with him.

"What?"

"Keep running. Find Mom and Dad. Don't look back. I'll distract that thing."

The girl's eyes widened in panic, then she shook her head violently. "No, I won't!"

"I said go!"

"No, I'm not leaving you!"

"Imoto! This is an order from your big brother! Run as fast as you can and don't look back! Am I clear?!" He shouted as he turned to look at her.

The whole place suddenly went black, there was the sound of crying. Dômeki and Himawari looked at each other in confusion, then moved towards the sound of crying. When they saw the source of the sound they stopped short. It was the little girl. She was sitting on the ground knees drawn up, rubbing at her eyes with her hands.

"Mommy..." She sobbed quietly. "Mommy... Daddy... Onii-chan... I don't wanna be alone..."

Dômeki walked over to her and knelled down. "Are you lost? What are you doing here?"

She sniffed and looked up. "Onii-chan and me were playing. Then a bad spirit came out and started chasing us." She wiped at her eyes again. "Onii-chan... Onii-chan told me to keep running, find mommy and daddy. But I can't find them, and Onii-chan isn't here. I'm all alone. I don't want to be alone..."

She sniffed as more tears fell down her cheeks. Dômeki placed a hand on her head and she looked at him. "How long have you been here?"

"I don't know..."

"Which way did you come from?"

"I turned so many times I lost track..."

"What's your name?"

"Watanuki."

"First name?"

"Kimihiro..."

Himawari gasped as Dômeki stared at the little girl. This was Watanuki? Wait, since when was Watanuki a girl?

"I don't like it here. It reminds me of the hospital. I hate hospitals." Watanuki muttered.

"Do you know where the spirit is?"

Watanuki shook her head. "I stop sensing it a while ago."

Then it hit. The foul stench of an evil spirit. Watanuki put her hand to her mouth and looked like she was about to be sick. Himawari and Dômeki looked around trying to see the spirit.

"Where could it be?" Himawari whispered.

"Imoto...chan..." came a familiar if slurred voice from behind them.

"Onii..." Watanuki said happily as she turned. Only to stop short at the sight before her. The boy Watanuki was standing there. But he wasn't the same as before. His clothes were shredded. He had deep cuts on his body. One eye was covered with hair, the other bleeding heavily. It was a truly horrible sight. Dômeki stood and moved in front of the little girl.

"What do you want?"

"You betrayed me Kimihiro..." The boy said. "You ran and left me to die. Then you cut your hair and made yourself look like me."

"Kaito..." Watanuki said under her breath as tears streamed down her face.

"Mother, Father and I are dead because of you. How can you live with happiness after that?"

"Kaito."

"That's not your brother Watanuki." Dômeki said to the distraught girl. "that's a spirit discussing itself as your brother to hurt you."

"We're here, now." Himawari said placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "We won't let it hurt you anymore."

Dômeki created a bow in his hand. Drawing the bow, he aimed it at the spirit.

"Are you going to let him shoot me, sister?"

"Shut up, you..." Dômeki growled.

"Don't..."

Dômeki and Himawari stared at Watanuki. "Don't shoot him."

"Watanuki-san, That's not really your brother..."

"I don't care." Watanuki said. "I don't care if it's not really Kaito. I'm fine with that. I'm not afraid of spirits. There's only one thing I'm really afraid of..." She closed her eyes. "...And that's of being alone."

There was a moment of silence before Dômeki spoke. "You're not alone."

Watanuki stared at him. Then Himawari squeezed her shoulder and she turned to look at her.

"We're here. We'll never leave you."

"You're lying." Watanuki accused.

"We're not." Dômeki argued.

"Watanuki, we could never lie to you. Not about this." She hugged the little girl. "We love you too much to lie to you."

With that Dômeki let lose his bow. The arrow hit the fake Kaito, square in the chest. The spirit let out an ear piercing shriek, as it disappeared. Watanuki sniffed and wiped at her tear stained eyes, as Dômeki walk over to them and held out a hand. Watanuki looked at him in surprise.

Dômeki let out a gentle smile. "Let's go home."

Watanuki smiled back. "Home..."

She put her hand in his and gripped hard.

Dômeki and Himawari opened their eyes. They were back in the room at Yuko's. Somehow in their sleep, they'd moved to the bed and gripped one of Watanuki's hands each. Watanuki let out a pained groan and opened her eyes.

"Welcome home, Watanuki-san." Himawari Smiled.

"Himawari-chan..." Watanuki was obviously still a little disorientated. Then she sat up abruptly. "Himawari-chan," She looked and Dômeki. "Dômeki-kun."

"You've all come home."

They looked to see Yuko standing by the door, smiling. "Welcome home, you three."

A little while later, after what had happened had been explained to Watanuki, they were all sitting on the porch, drinking tea.

"I thought that was a dream." Watanuki said quietly.

"In a sense it was." Yuko replied.

Watanuki turned to Dômeki and Himawari. "Thank you. For coming after me."

Himawari smiled, while Dômeki muttered something akin to 'idiot' under his breath.

Two months later. Himawari and Dômeki stood at their usual meeting place, waiting for Watanuki.

"I'm sorry! I'm late aren't I?"

They looked over to see Watanuki running down the path to them. She was wearing her new girl's school uniform, and her hair, which she'd been growing out, was brushing her shoulders as she ran. A white ribbon was tied in her hair with a bow.

Himawari smiled. "No, you're right on time."

Watanuki sighed with relief. The three friends walked to school, happily chatting away. Watanuki had become a lot more relaxed after she stopped pretending to be a guy. Though she still yelled at Dômeki whenever he commented on her cooking. Later that day, when Watanuki and Dômeki were waiting for Himawari at lunch, Watanuki decided to ask a question that she'd been wanting to ask for some time.

"Dômeki," She began. "Why do you bother with me?"

Dômeki just looked at her.

"You always say how annoying I am. So why don't you ever leave?"

They looked at each other for a long moment, in silence. Until Himawari came running over.

"Oh. Ummm, did I interrupt something." She ask when she felt the tense atmosphere.

Watanuki shook her head. "Not at all."

They ate lunch in relative silence. Later walking home, Dômeki and Watanuki were walking in awkward silence. Watanuki was startled as Dômeki grabbed her arm and pulled her into a kiss. It was soft, gentle. Dômeki pulled away after a moment, and looked into Watanuki's eyes.

"That's why I bother with you."

"I see..."

They smiled at each other and continued their walk to Yuko's. Only this time it was hand in hand, and Watanuki Kimihiro knew, that from that day on, she would never be alone again.