A/N: Okay. This chapter is rather DouWata-centric (For those who don't know, that's DoumekiXWatanuki, a pairing from Xxxholic) And I've got to say though, this won't be the only one. (Sorry!) I'm moving this fic to the crossover section soon. Anywho… Here goes nothing.

"He hasn't spoken since he got back." Watanuki says quietly as Doumeki slips his arms around his waist. The taller youth pressed his lips softly on the skin behind his ear, causing his hand to slice the apple a little too big and a little too close to his thumb.

"Sorry." Doumeki murmured, snitching the irregularly sliced piece and devouring it. Normally this action would cause an epic flail reaction, but today there was nothing.

"'S okay." The slighter teen went back to his chore. Without missing a beat, Doumeki eased long slender fingers from the handle of the knife.

Watanuki leaned back into the warmth and solid weight. "You're worried." Deep baritone voice said as they gazed out the window. Doumeki could feel soft chuckles course through the body in his arms.

The eye roll obvious in his voice, Watanuki retorted, "Thank you very much for pointing that out. It was very much appreciated." Though his voice was dripping with sarcasm, he turned around anyways and pressed his body harder into the embrace. "I'm just worried. About Arthur-san. H-He just seems… Like a piece of him died when Mokona spirited him back."Pausing, he pressed his cheek against Doumeki's chest. "Hey, promise me something?" His quiet voice amplified in the kitchen bathed in golden sunlight, the strong steady heartbeats thrumming against his cheek. "Promise me that if –if something like this happens to me. And you have to move on-"

"No."

"No? Doumeki-"

"We're not having this conversation." Doumeki said stiffly, pushing the slighter male away slightly. "It's not going to happen to you."

Watanuki's mismatched eyes narrowed. "It could happen to me! Chances are, someday this sort of shit could happen to me! To me, Doumeki. Someday, some sorcerer, wizard, or creature is going to try and hurt you to get to me. God knows that the possibility of it happening is more likely than unlikely." Reaching up, he softened his eyes and cupped his cheek. "And you're probably going to get hurt in the cross-fire. I don't want that, Shizuka." Doumeki flinched at the use of his given name. It's the name that he uses when he really wants something from the temple boy. It's the name that Watanuki cries out when he comes and clings on to him like he's the only thing keeping him here. "I want you safe. Unharmed, because even Yuuko-san can't watch out for us all the time."

"I'm durable. I can stand it, whatever it is they want to throw at me, I'll take it." Doumeki drew him back into his embrace. "I won't let them take you without a fight."

"Idiot." Watanuki sniffed, burrowing his nose into the material of the shirt. "I'm trying to get you to promise me something to keep you safe and you're ignoring it."

Doumeki's smile could be heard in deep rumbles of his chest. "You're my life. Just as Merlin-san is Arthur-san's lifeline. If I was him, I'd do the same too. I'd fight for you." Pausing, " Just as he's planning to fight for Merlin-san."

"He is?"

"I know the type."

Humming slightly, they let the pause settle around them in a cloak of silence. "Then promise me that you'd try not to get too injured."

"Fine." Kissing the brunette on the crown of his head. "Promise you'd let me fight for you."

Huffing, the bespectacled teen pouted. "There's no getting around you, is there?"

This time, Doumeki cupped his cheeks and kissed him, swiping his tongue against plump lower lips. "No. There isn't. Because you're worth fighting for."

Tipping the delicate cup back, Arthur grimaced as the burn of the alcohol made its way down his throat. He'd retched out everything he'd eaten the moment the black furball touched down in the backyard of the witch's shop.

Blue eyes the colour of summer skies looking up into his as he thrusts deeper into him. Long slender fingers stoke his flank, brushing against the pale scar, visible in the glisten of sweat, cooler than the other parts of his skin. "Arthur." He whispers, dragging his name into four syllables. "Arthur." In a moan, like a prayer. He knows that his fingers will leave a ring of bruises in the morning, and in some sick, twisted way, he wants it, likes it. Merlin is his and only he gets to mark him his way.

"I lost him." Arthur says quietly as the vision recedes to the dark vaults of his mind. "Didn't I?"

Yuuko merely spares him a sideways glance. "Young Pendragon, Merlin has not forgotten his love of you. Besides, you could never have had lost something that is ingrained into the very fibres of your being."

"What are you trying to say?" He manages after a short pause. "You didn't see the way that he looked into his eyes. It-It was the way he looked at me."Swallowing, "Now he's looking at him." The crickets began to sing in the rapidly fading light as he took another swig from the cup. Mokona, had poured him another one as he finished.

"One half can never truly be whole without the other that makes it so." Yuuko says softly, placing a cool hand over his. "Merlin loves you. He still does."

"Then-"

"I have no explanations for what you saw."

A pause. "Watanuki said- He said that you took a price for every wish you granted. What was mine?"

"The knowledge of what you saw." Yuuko answers after awhile, flicking her long dark hair over a pale shoulder. "The knowledge that Merlin lies in another's arms and is happy."

"He's happy?"

"You know what you saw." Turning her body, she held his chin. "So what are you gong to do now?"

"Arthur?" He asked after they'd made love in the meadow. The skies were the brilliant sapphire blue that seem to take after Merlin's eyes themselves. He'd been absently rubbing circles onto his skin, watching the falcon flying by above them. When he made a non-committal answer, the warlock in his arms untangled himself from his lover, and straddled the prince. Clasping his hand, he brought it up to his chest, where his heart was beating like a thousand hoof beats. "Remember this. That I live to love you. That I live to make you whole." And then he grinned. That grin that was wide and open and trusting and over flowing with love, adoration and respect. The kiss that followed began the motion all over again.

"What will you do with this knowledge?" Her voice was like smooth velvet, drawing him back.

"I love you forever, Arthur Pendragon. I love you."The first time he says as sleep draws him in.

"You're a prat. A royal prat. But my prat nonetheless." He smiles and plants a kiss on his lips.

"I can never forgive myself. If anything should happen to you." He presses their foreheads together. "Never."

"I-I…." Merlin smiling as he gave him a simple daisy from a bouquet in Morgana's room, like it was the world's most beautiful rose, making him feel guilty that it was just a daisy. Merlin sprawled against the stark whiteness of his linen sheets. Merlin's lashes flutteringly dark against the paleness of his cheeks. Merlin's eyes flashing gold as he casts a spell to protect them both. Merlin's lips forming a little 'O' as he kisses his way south. "I want." Merlin, eyes darkened over and clouded with lust. Merlin begging and crying his name. Merlin's arms around him and he knows he's home. "I want him back. I want him back here. With me." Arthur says in a whisper, but in the small space between him and the Dimensional Witch, it was the loudest shout he could ever muster.

Yuuko merely smiled and turned her eyes up to the moon in the blood red tinged sky. "Then we've got work to do."