"Yuuko…?" Doumeki started as he slowly regained his strength, still laying on his back and looking up at the witch. Yuuko let out a soft chuckle as she put her hands on her hips and looked around the area.

"Wow, you boys sure do get into a lot of trouble when I'm not around, especially Watanuki." She looked back down at Doumeki and extended her thin arm to help him up. He accepted it and stood, examining himself.

"When did you get back?" the archer asked. "How did you make the pain stop?"

"I got back just a while ago. About the pain, it was easy; I just granted your wish of wanting it to stop." Doumeki gasped. He didn't remember making the wish for it to stop... "It was a subconscious wish." The witch added, almost as if reading his thoughts. Doumeki, despite being relieved that the witch was here and could help him, narrowed his eyes at Yuuko.

"What's the price?" he asked curiously. Yuuko put her hands back on her hips. She was wearing a deep blue kimono with a butterfly pattern on it, a red obi with beads wrapped around it, her long black hair tied up into a bun with a butterfly clip holding it in place.

"I'll call this a freebie…" she started, "…only if you save Watanuki." Doumeki thought back to Watanuki and instantly, what little was left of his hope for saving the boy fell.

"The demon has him." He said, voice slightly lower than usual. "It's my fault. I couldn't do anything." He lowered his gaze to the cement ground. "He was suffering and I knew it, but I couldn't do anything!" He unconsciously clenched his fists at his side. "I made things worse." Yuuko came up beside the tall teen and comfortingly put her hand on his shoulder.

"You did well, Doumeki-kun." Her voice was stern, her crimson eyes locked onto Doumeki. "You did exactly what I told you and nothing else." He looked over at her in shock.

"What?" he asked, confusion staining his voice. Yuuko removed her hand and crossed her arms.

"Do you remember what I told you on the phone?" She asked. "I told you to draw the demon out; that it was the only way to exorcize it. You couldn't have done anything without making him worse."

"But I—" he started when Yuuko put a finger to his lips, instantly silencing him. Her eyes narrowed as they focused on his golden ones, and she spoke with a calm yet stern voice.

" This is unlike you, Doumeki-kun, submerging yourself in self-regret. You can tear yourself up about this all you want, but the sooner you accept what happened than the sooner we can go rescue Watanuki-kun before he disappears." She walked in front of him, her back turned as she spoke to him. "You do want to save him, don't you?" she asked, her voice knowing. Doumeki instantly nodded.

"Yeah, I'll save him…but how? That demon…it said I couldn't exorcize it while it was in Watanuki's body…" Yuuko turned and faced the archer.

"You know why you can't exorcize it?" She asked, only to receive silence from Doumeki's end. "It's because of Watanuki's blood. It is enhancing the demon's aura, creating a steel-like barrier for him, one your arrows can't pass through."

"Then how…?" Doumeki started when he fell silent. He was feeling so weak at the moment, an emotion that felt strange to him. He usually was the calm and stoic one, the one that kept his cool and his head on his shoulders in desperate times. Could it be because the danger Watanuki was in was greater than anything they have encountered so far? Yuuko flashed Doumeki a calming smile as she walked back up to him.

"If you can't exorcize the demon from the outside, then you simply have to go inside to exorcize it." Doumeki raised an eyebrow as Yuuko gave a mischievous smile. "Just listen carefully."

Doumeki ran along the sidewalk, bow strung across his uninjured shoulder, through the dull, gray looking town in search of the Watanuki-imposter. Everything seemed to have lost its color, and the sky looked as if it could rain at any minute. He looked over to see a young looking girl lying sprawled out on the side of the road. Without hesitation, Doumeki ran up to her and dropped down beside her.

"Oi!" He called to the girl. She had short brown hair and wore an elementary school's uniform, but Doumeki didn't know which school. She didn't respond, her eyes closed as if lost in a deep slumber. The archer shook her again, thinking she was dead, but sighed in relief as he could see and hear her breathing. What happened to her? Doumeki thought as he looked around for any signs of help. He didn't have time to deal with this, as much as he hated to admit. He needed to find Watanuki, he needed to make sure the seer was alright. He needed to save him, to bring Watanuki back to him. As his eyes scanned the oddly darkened streets, he spotted a man, leaning up against a building. Instantly, Doumeki picked up the little girl and ran down the street towards the man.

"Oi, can you hear me?" Doumeki asked as he shook the man, having set the girl down beside him. This man looked pretty young, early twenties at most. He slumped back against the wall unconscious as Doumeki stopped shaking him. He looked around and noticed, a few feet away from them, an older woman was on the ground as well, unconscious as the other two people were. Doumeki scanned further down the road to see a few others on the ground or propped up against something as well. What the… What's going on? Doumeki took back off in a sprint, following the trail of bodies as they led him down the seemingly endless road. A few people here, a few there, all of different ages and sizes. This must be that demon's doing! Doumeki realized as he took another turn down the street, seeing more bodies piled up to show him that was the way he should go. If I follow these bodies, then they should lead me right to it. Despite how sick this situation made Doumeki feel, he was relieved to know that finding the demon wasn't going to be as hard as he thought. But what did it do to them? He wondered as he avoided stepping on a person's arm. They were alive, just unconscious. Almost as if he drained their energy. Then a thought hit Doumeki but he pushed it to the side as he stopped at the entrance of the local park where he could feel a dark aura leaking out from it.

"This must be the place," The archer thought out loud as he gripped his bow and stepped inside. He scanned the area. Everything looked dark and cold, like the place hasn't been inhabited in years. The only thing that shook Doumeki from this thought was the bodies of children and adults all spread around the playground and through the grass. Doumeki followed his senses as he walked down the hiker's path through the small woods and into a clearing. Hundreds of thousands of flowers growing on very tall, intricately placed bushes were spread out throughout the garden, all wilting at what the teen assumed to be the dark aura. Walking through the maze of brush (occasionally stepping over a body), a wave of nausea hit the archer like a ton of bricks. His knees buckled from under him, but he wouldn't allow himself to fall to the ground and appear weak. Clenching his fists again, he inhaled and rounded the last corner of the maze. What he saw left him wide eyed in a state of shock.

There, up ahead, was the demon possessing Watanuki's body. In its pale hands it held a woman, early twenties with blonde hair. It brought her up to its face with their lips just inches apart. She was conscious, tears filling her eyes as she struggled to get away by kicking her dark, denim clad legs in every direction, begging to be released. Doumeki snapped out of his shock and ran up to them.

"Put her down!" He growled towards the demon, eyes narrowing as he held his bow up in his firing stance. The woman and the demon both turned to look at him, relief evident on the woman's face. At first, the demon's crimson eyes widened in shock. Then, a smug look overcame his features and he leaned closer towards the woman, muttering the word, "gladly", before he heard the woman scream as she turned back towards her attacker and some dark mist came out of her mouth and into the mouth of the demon. Suddenly, the Watanuki-look-a-like let her go after she let out a choked sob and collapsed onto the grass. Doumeki looked at the woman lying in a heap on the ground then back towards the demon, extreme anger and hatred evident on his features.

"What did you do to her and the others?" He asked, his voice unusually calm. The demon laughed and licked its lips, making Doumeki even angrier.

"I merely fed myself upon their emotions. The bad ones, to be exact." After seeing the archer's confused expression, it continued. "I create fear inside of them and feed off of it. The more I extract the negative emotions from, the stronger I get."

"I thought that's why you possessed Watanuki." Doumeki said crossly, holding his bow in place. The demon sighed.

"Didn't I tell you before?" it asked. "I want power. Sure you're friend gave me some, but not nearly as much as I wanted." Then it narrowed its eyes as the already thick atmosphere grew even thicker, if at all possible. "And didn't I say never to cross my path again?" It began to step closer, completely disregarding the woman at its feet by kicking her as it walked past her. "Seeing as I can't do to you what I did to the others, you'll have to die now." With dull red eyes locking onto Doumeki's gold ones, the feel of fire shooting up through Doumeki's veins appeared once again, though this time worse than before. Letting out a startled gasp, the archer fell to his feet and dropped his bow, wrapping his arms around his body. The demon wasn't getting its usual enjoyment at watching its prey suffer, merely watching with disgust rather than amusement. "I hate it when my prey doesn't put up a fight. It's no fun." Moving it it's eerie puppet-like manner, the demon approached the young exorcist and positioned itself so that it was on its knee, arm propped up on its opposite leg as it was eye level with the archer. "After seeing you before me again, even though I gave you the chance to escape, I had such high hopes for you." Doumeki strained his neck to look up into the red eyes, willing to give anything to see blue ones again.

Just need…a few more minutes… Doumeki thought as he clutched his hand tighter to his chest, trying to relieve himself of the pain. He used his free hand to slowly reach for his bow that sat a foot away from him. The demon leaned closer towards Doumeki's ear and the archer could feel a smirk on it's lips.

"I'll take good care of your friend," It said. Something in Doumeki clicked as, with newfound energy, he swung his arm that managed to get a hold of his bow around and aimed right for the demon. With cat like reflexes, the demon dodged and jumped a few feet back, an amused look apparent on its face. The pain inside Doumeki ceased and he kneeled over, panting and gasping for breath as sweat poured off his face.

"Now that's what I wanted to see!" It laughed crazily, throwing its head towards the sky. "You just don't give up, and I like that!" It lowered its head back towards the teen on the ground a few feet ahead. "This is what makes the game of death that much more entertaining for me." It then extended Watanuki's arm out to the side, fingers outstretched as if reaching for something. "Want to see a wonderful trick I learned now that I've had more power?" it asked, a wicked and unbecoming grin on its face. Doumeki, still in a state of shock, said nothing.

Just a little longer… he thought as he narrowed his eyes at the demon. Hold on Watanuki. Suddenly, a fire ignited onto the demon's hand, spreading down its arm and engulfing the entire limb in blue flames. And just as quickly as the flames appeared, they disappeared, leaving what appeared to be a dry, thick skinned, leather looking arm with extended claws, resembling in shape and size something similar to a beast. The demon laughed again, the simple act making Doumeki's blood run cold as he did nothing but stare in shock at what had happened to the once thin pale limb.

"Like it?" the demon asked, moving the claw-like fingers around as if trying to get a feel of them. "With a little more power I'll be able to revert to my true form while still on the land of the living. Then everything will die."

"No…I won't let you." Doumeki started, standing up and weakly holding up his bow in his firing stance.

We're out of time. Doumeki thought as the demon cackled at him.

"And what do you plan to do about it when you are as powerless with that bow as that woman lying over there?" it asked, taking a few steps towards the weakened archer. Doumeki said nothing as he allowed a smirk to roll onto his lips. The demon narrowed its eyes. "I don't like that look," it growled as it held its deformed arm back, getting ready to strike. "You'll pay!" it shouted as it swung down as hard as it can, aiming straight for the archer's face.

Doumeki closed his eyes.

"I'm sorry I'm late, Doumeki-kun, I had a few things to take care of before I came here." Doumeki opened his eyes to see Yuuko standing beside the Watanuki imposter, a triumphant smile on her face. She held up three talismans in one hand, and a roll of what appeared to be police tape in the other. "I figured you could use a few of these." She said, gesturing towards the talismans. They appeared to be three strips of paper, but Doumeki knew that they had high spiritual powers on them, these ones in particular having some strange power on them he couldn't place.

"W-what did you do to me?" The demon screamed at Yuuko, and for the first time since he opened his eyes Doumeki truly looked at the demon. Its arm was just a few inches above Doumeki's head, still as if frozen in time. A look of pure rage evident on its face. Yuuko chuckled.

"Well I can't have you killing such a wonderful person!" she said, holding the talismans up once more. "I used these to paralyze you while Doumeki was distracting you and placed one on your back. The demon looked at the paper and growled.

"How did you get that paper?" It asked, crimson eyes glowing with fury that gave Doumeki the urge to step back. Yuuko gave another grin, this one more mischievous and knowing.

"I visited the current living descendant of the priest who exorcized you the first time. It took a while, but we were finally able to find the special paper that had been blessed by that man centuries ago. I just wrote the spell on them." Doumeki looked over at the witch in shock.

"That's where you were?" he asked, golden eyes wide. Yuuko nodded.

"Now Doumeki, place one of the talismans on your bow." Yuuko ordered, handing one of the pieces of papers to the archer which he stuck on. He nodded towards Yuuko after he was finished. "Now shoot." At this, the demon busted out laughing, causing both Yuuko and Doumeki to look towards it.

"You're insane if you think that little toothpick arrow will be able to get rid of me!" he shouted, laughing maniacally.

"Of course it's not going to completely get rid of you, you're much too powerful now." Yuuko said in a stoic voice. "We're just going to subdue you for the time being." The demon stopped laughing.

"It won't work," It growled as it struggled against its invisible bounds, "who do you think you are?"

"I'm the employer of the boy you're possessing, and that's Doumeki," She replied, pointing towards the exhausted archer. "Now shall we continue?" Yuuko asked as she turned towards Doumeki, nodding her head. The demon began shouting profanities as Doumeki aimed his bow and the arrow, amplified to three times it's original size by the talisman, towards the body of his best friend and shot. The demon was hit square in the chest, instantly making the deformed arm disappear in a burst of the familiar blue flame and the original arm taking its place. Watanuki's body fell to the ground like a ragdoll. Doumeki released the breath he didn't know he was holding and fell to his knees.

"Is it over?" he asked, weakly looking over at the familiar unconscious face of his friend. Yuuko frowned.

"I wish it was," she replied, grabbing the discarded police tape and pulling on the cut off end of it. Doumeki saw that it wasn't police tape but similar yellow tape with a different language on it. "The talisman combined with your arrow was only enough to render it unconscious. I told you earlier, we have to exorcize it from the inside." She wrapped the tape around Watanuki's wrist and pulled out some more of it, making it longer.

"Why not just use more talismans?" he asked as Yuuko ripped off the strand of tape she pulled from the roll and began tying it around Doumeki's wrist. "It would make the arrows even stronger, maybe enough to exorcize that thing." Yuuko shook her head.

"If those talismans were any stronger then Watanuki would die."

"What?" Doumeki asked, shock evident on his face. "How did you know they wouldn't kill him when I first put on one my bow?" he asked. Yuuko's face softened as she looked at the archer.

"I didn't really know, the strength of these talisman's are unpredictable, just like the man who made them. I had a feeling it wouldn't though." Doumeki opened his mouth to say more but Yuuko shook her head. "We don't have time to complain about something that worked in our favor. You need to go now." She said. Doumeki raised an eyebrow.

"Go where?" he asked. He held up his arm. "And what is this for?" he pointed towards the yellow take that connected him and Watanuki. Yuuko sighed.

"This tape is connecting yours and Watanuki's minds, acting as a bridge to give you the chance to go and find where he was forced to go after the demon took over his body. You can use your arrows in there, but be careful since you will be in the demons territory." She placed her hand on his shoulder as he gave her a determined look. "Bring him back," she said, a soft smile on her lips. Doumeki nodded and looked towards the slim figure a few feet away from him. If he didn't know any better, he would assume it was the old Watanuki lying there, a peaceful look on his pale features and not some psychotic demon bent of feeding off of miserable people.

Wait for me Watanuki, I'll bring you back.

"The tape only takes effect when both people are sleeping," Yuuko said, interrupting the archer's thoughts. Doumeki looked over at her.

"But how do I—" he started when Yuuko stood up and kicked him in the back of the head hard.

"Sorry Doumeki-kun, not enough time to rock you to sleep or sing you a lullaby." She grinned before a more solemn expression took over. "Good luck,"