They were in there senior year now, having made it through high school alive was what made it truly important to them. Most people would have meant that half jokingly, but over the last year or so, Yuuko's jobs had been one close call after another for the boys. Making it through alive was more than just an achievement.
Doumeki enjoyed the fact that he could eat without worrying about his eardrums blowing out, but it was never a good thing when Watanuki was too quiet. When Watanuki went quiet, it meant trouble of some sort. The last time they had been nearly eaten by a strange houseplant he had received from an anonymous source and had turned out to be some sort of spirit in disguise.
Quiet Watanuki was a bad thing.
"Oi."
"…"
"Oi, idiot, you there?"
"What? My name is not 'Oi' or 'idiot'!" Watanuki yelled at him, coming out of his little newspaper world. "What do you want anyway?"
"For lunch tomorrow I want yaki soba and shrimp." Doumeki said, talking a bit of today's bento. "And you put to much salt in this."
"If you don't like it, don't eat it!" That was the ear piercing scream he was used to. Doumeki braced himself as Watanuki paused, drawing in a deep breath. "I don't take orders!"
He pulled his fingers out of his ears, not for the first time impressed with the lung capacity of the smaller and almost frail looking boy, even if he didn't show it on his face. "What are you looking at?"
Watanuki blinked at the sudden change in topic before folding the newspaper and stuffing it into his bag. "I was looking at the newspaper, even you should know what that is."
Doumeki shrugged. "I was asking about the section idiot; what were you looking for?"
"Nothing! Am I not allowed to read the newspaper now?" Watanuki flailed, causing his glasses to slide down the bridge of his nose.
Doumeki reached over and gently pushed the glasses back into place. "You were reading like you were searching for something, that's all."
Watanuki tried to bat his hand away, but was too slow. "So, even if I was, it's none of your business."
He made sure to glance at the newspaper when Watanuki turned away. There was a small part of it still sticking up from the corner of the bag and it clearly read "Apartments" on it. It didn't take a genius to figure out what Watanuki looking at the apartment section meant. Had money really gotten that tight?
They separated from lunch, Doumeki's mind still running over the challenges ahead. He had no doubt that Watanuki would be going to college, but how could he afford the books, let alone the tuition, if he had to also pay for an apartment, even if he had a roommate? What about the life insurance checks he was receiving? Did they stop or were they just not enough to keep up with the monetary demands of Watanuki's admittedly penny-pinching life?
Archery practice had gotten so easy, thanks to Yuuko's jobs, that he didn't even have to concentrate anymore to hit the target. His thoughts kept going in the same circle and he didn't even notice Yuuko at first, standing out of the way and in the shadows of one of the targets.
She didn't approach until all the other members had gone home for the day. Yuuko's presence usually meant something bad and he waited for it. What would it be this time? Playing errand boy again? Destroy some demon or another? And Doumeki didn't even get paid for the stuff he did.
The Dimensional Witch chuckled at his wary stance. "My, my, you certainly aren't leaping for joy." His face remained unchanged and though he didn't role his eyes, somehow the meaning got across anyway, somehow. "I assume you know by now what Watanuki's been searching for?"
"An apartment," he supplied, turning to put his bow away.
"Quite. They're kicking him out." She examined her nails in a predatory fashion, as if they were claws and was obviously waiting for a specific response.
"Why doesn't he live with you? He works for you every day."
It was apparently not something she was expecting, since her unfettered laughter ran around him like little musical notes that had grown feet and were dancing. The very strange analogy, now that he thought about it, could only attest to how long he'd been dealing with not only Yuuko but also Watanuki. They had certainly rubbed off on him.
She had tears in her eyes when she looked up again. "Doumeki-kun, you're hilarious! Do you actually think that Watanuki would ever live with me?"
The image formed in his mind of how Watanuki would react if he had asked that question, it came to him easily: he'd either froth at the mouth in rage or fall over dead in a heart attack. It was a toss up as to which it was, but there could be no other response. The boy was volatile that way, he thought fondly, and almost smiled.
"But I'm sure you can help him," she teased and turned to leave.
Wait, that was it? Just come, mention about the apartment and leave? "Didn't you have a job for us?"
Yuuko glanced over her shoulder and put on her most mysterious smile. "Nope."
Watanuki ran a hand through his hair, leaning over what he guessed was the seven hundredth newspaper. There was nothing. Everything was either too expensive, or, if it was in his price range, too far away. Like there was some dark force working against him. Yuuko would have called it hitsuzen, but then again, she called everything hitsuzen. Maybe it was, for all he knew, this could have been some small part of a large, complicated cosmic scheme he would never know the true extent of. But even if it was, he didn't like to think about things in those terms.
He was getting kicked out of his apartment, school was taking its toll on his funds, and the noise some of the recent spirit incidents had caused had put him on the bad side of his neighbors. It wasn't like he could explain his situation to them, they would probably have him committed, and that would not help his situation.
His neighbors, as was, already thought he was off his rocker. He heard them whispering to each other when he passed by them sometimes. How he wasn't quite right, and to just think about how different he would be if his parents were still around. At first, such whispers had stung, now he just mentally shook his head at them; even if his parents were still around, that wouldn't stop the spirits.
He was getting desperate, only a week to go and he would be homeless. Desperate meant that if all else failed he would be asking Yuuko, just the thought made him shudder; not only would he be living with the strangest person he had ever met, including every spirit he had ever encountered, but also it would put him in even more debt when he was already working with no end in sight.
As it was, he had exhausted all other options, short of searching on the internet, but that was not an option for him. He didn't own a computer anyway, or a television or even a radio for that matter, but they just wasted electricity and, therefore, money he didn't have to waste.
Pulling out another newspaper, he flipped to the page he wanted and resumed his search. Scanning first location to narrow down his options, then price. The price oh real estate had gone up in the last month, so badly his wallet hurt, and all the books he had had to buy for school were taking their toll. But, he still had a week to go, and a week was more than enough time to make things work in his favor.
This is Oro-chan's story that I helped her out with. Orochimaruhan and I posted on the xxxholic and the doumekiwatanuki livejournal communities. We also don't own xxxholic.