Watanuki woke up to the sound of rain, and a headache, so he went outside for no other reason than it seemed like the thing to do. It took effort to stand up - he was tired, but not groggy, which was an improvement - and when he slid the doors to the porch open, he found that the Ame-warashi was standing in the backyard.

"Oh," he said, and she frowned.

"What do you mean 'oh,' that's no way to treat a guest, Watanuki Kimihiro!" she yelled, stamping her umbrella on the ground in front of her.

"Ah, it's just, I wasn't expecting…"

But at least it wasn't a customer; thank god it wasn't a customer, he didn't want to deal with that.

"The Zashiki-warashi told me to send my regards," she said, turning her nose up.

"Oh!" Watanuki smiled. "How is she?"

"Better than you, Shopkeeper." She took in a breath and sighed. "She wanted to see you herself, but you know how it is for her down here. It's bad enough for me, she wouldn't last long at all. Especially since you took her Tengu Guardians' fan." The Ame-warashi narrowed her eyes at him.

"I didn't…"

"Yes, yes, Yuuko-san did. You're the Shopkeeper now. It's in your possession."

"That's not…" He crossed his arms and frowned. "I am."

"Whatever. I've stopped by and made sure you're alright. Aside from that." She pointed at his bandaged hand with her umbrella. "She'll probably cry about it, you know."

"Don't tell her then," he said, not wanting to worry anyone. He was fine, really.

"She would want to know. You screwed up a wish, didn't you?"

He cringed, looking down at his hand, and remembering all the other little injuries he'd gotten since filling in as shopkeeper.

"Idiot," she scoffed, rolling her eyes. "You're just as stupid as you were before."

Watanuki laughed once. "I know. But you're not here to insult me, I presume," he said, now getting the feeling that maybe he did have a customer.

The Ame-warashi smirked, and slung her umbrella over her shoulder.

"That's right, Shopkeeper. I have a wish for you."

"Then by all means," Watanuki returned, bowing slightly and gesturing for her to come in.

She nodded, and followed him into the shop, where he put on a pot of tea.

"I'm going to make this quick, Watanuki Kimihiro," she said, standing in the kitchen with her arms across her chest.

"Generally, I do my work out there," Watanuki said, waving his hand in the direction of the sitting room.

"Cut the ceremony. I know you. I'm not interested in your act, I just have a wish."

Watanuki froze for a moment.

"And where are the snacks, hm?"

"Ah…"

Watanuki turned away from the stove to face the Ame-warashi, who was frowning and had an eyebrow raised at him.

"Not that I'm demanding food. I don't want your food. It just seems weird that you wouldn't have food."

Watanuki didn't respond, turning back to the teapot.

"And look at these takeout boxes - you're barely taking care of yourself. It's pathetic."

God, it was, wasn't it?

"You're not even cooking, are you?"

Watanuki shook his head, and turned back to the Ame-warashi with a smile.

"I suppose not," he said simply.

"Hmph. Pathetic. She'll be so upset about this. Everyone must be upset about this."

A pang went through Watanuki's chest, though he couldn't explain why. Shame? Guilt? Maybe just annoyance at her pointing out every single flaw he was already acutely aware of.

"Well. Watanuki Kimihiro, I have a wish."

"So you said. Do keep in mind, however, that I am unable to leave this place."

She had a strange look on her face.

"So formal."

"This is formal business, is it not?"

"Yes. It is."

"So then. What is your wish?"

ooooooooooooooo

"The Ame-warashi came by today," Watanuki said over dinner with Doumeki that night.

"Oh?"

Watanuki nodded. "She has a wish. Well, she came to me with another spirit's wish."

Doumeki didn't say anything, so Watanuki continued.

"I can't grant it. Even if I could, I'd have to leave the shop and if I leave…"

Doumeki nodded.

"Could you do something for me?" Watanuki asked. "I'll compensate you accordingly. I just… need you to retrieve something."

Doumeki raised an eyebrow. "Retrieve what?"

Watanuki laid back on the floor sighed heavily.

"I don't know," he admitted "I'd know it if I saw it, I'm sure, but I can't see it because I can't go." He put a hand over his right eye and groaned. "This eye doesn't go both ways, it seems. I could use something to talk with you, but I truly do need to see it…"

"Where am I going?"

Watanuki sat up and looked at Doumeki again. He agreed so quickly.

"Ah. She gave me a location," Watanuki said, pushing the paper with the address across the table to Doumeki. "But… god, I'll send you out there, you won't see anything, you'll have to just - you know, I don't even know where this is." He pouted at the whole situation.

"It's a temple."

"Yours?"

Doumeki shook his head.

Watanuki leaned against the table and put his chin in hand. "Mm. Of course, you probably would have noticed if something was amiss there."

"Tomorrow is Sunday. I'll stop by," Doumeki said through a bite of his food.

Watanuki thought about it, and shook his head, taking the paper back from Doumeki. "No. No, not yet. And chew your damn food."

ooooooooooooooo

That night, Watanuki found himself on the porch with Haruka. It was snowing and lovely and his bare feet should have frozen in the cold, but there was no cold.

"You seem troubled, Watanuki-kun," Haruka said to him, smiling slightly in a way Doumeki never did. "They say your face will stick like that, and what a shame that would be."

Watanuki smiled back at Haruka, slightly embarrassed.

"Why do you look so upset?"

"I have a wish to grant."

"I see."

"I need to leave the shop for it, but…"

Haruka took a long breath from his cigarette and let it out slowly, looking out at the yard.

"Apparently, I can't even leave this shop in my dreams," Watanuki continued, and laughed once.

"And why not?" Haruka asked.

Watanuki turned to Haruka abruptly, confused.

"Your body isn't in dreams, Watanuki-kun. I'm willing to bet you can leave the shop here." He smiled brightly, and leaned forward, putting his chin in his hands. "Ah, put a smile on. It suits you better."

ooooooooooooooo

He woke early in the morning, Maru and Moro on either side of him in the bed, and rubbed his eyes, struck with an idea.

The idea, however, required him to be asleep, but for once he wasn't tired, so he got up and considered making breakfast, but decided against it. Cleaning seemed the better option.

So he found his gloves and his headscarf and cleaned the kitchen, letting his thoughts wander.

Watanuki could leave the shop. Not for real, of course, but… Real enough. He'd done it before. He'd just have to figure out how to do it himself. Dreaming he could do, but directing those dreams…

That would be the difficult part. He'd never tried to control his dreaming before, but something told him he would be able to do this without too much trouble. Especially if he had some sort of anchor point to wherever he was trying to go. Over time he could develop the skill, but to start with, a tether would be nice.

Ahhh, and he had one. He was planning on sending Doumeki anyways - he was the only person he could really go to at this point, this was usually Watanuki's job before - so he could just follow Doumeki. That could work. That could actually-

When did he run out of dish soap? He had just bought-

No, no, oh god, that was months ago. He hadn't gone shopping in months. And Doumeki didn't bring back more than the essentials. Dammit, he was out of dish soap. And probably a thousand other things, but he wasn't concerned about that right now. Just the soap.

With a huff, Watanuki gave up on the rest of the dishes, leaving them to soak in the sink and waited for Doumeki to come by. He had said it was Sunday today, so he would probably be over earlier.

It was afternoon and the kitchen was clean (aside from dishes in the sink) and Watanuki was dusting the living room when his head hurt and he snapped to awareness.

He figured it was probably Doumeki, so he didn't bother changing, turning back to his dusting.

"Welcome home!" came the three-part chorus from the entry.

"I don't live here," was Doumeki's predictable reply, and Watanuki listened as his footsteps came closer, then quickly stopped as he entered the room.

"You're cleaning," he said.

"It was dusty," Watanuki explained, turning around and peeling his gloves off.

Doumeki's face was nearly impassive, but there was some sort of emotion there that Watanuki couldn't read.

He'd have to work on that because it was damn annoying, dealing with an expressionless, un-reacting individual on an almost daily basis.

"I have an idea," Watanuki announced as he tossed his gloves onto the table next to him. "On how to grant that wish."

ooooooooooooooo

Doumeki couldn't see him, but Watanuki was there, following after Doumeki as he made his way to the temple the Ame-warashi had directed them to. He'd given Doumeki direction on what to tell them and what to look for, just in case he saw anything, then sent him on his way.

Watanuki had also insisted that the kudakitsune join Doumeki, and it seemed it, at least, could see Watanuki. It was wrapped around Doumeki's neck, staring right at Watanuki with a tilted head.

"Oi," Doumeki said to no one in particular, which meant he probably said it to Watanuki. "This is the temple."

And it certainly was the temple. Even from the sidewalk, and through a dream, Watanuki could feel the aura of whatever it was they were here to purify. The kudakitsune was alert, and Watanuki could almost hear it growling at whatever was there.

Doumeki, however, was unaffected, and just walked forward to enter the temple grounds.

Hesitantly, Watanuki followed after.

Someone came out to greet them, bowing her head slightly.

"Welcome. Are you the one sent to help us?" she asked.

Doumeki raised an eyebrow. "I heard you need something purified," he said simply, following exactly what Watanuki had told him to say.

"Yes, yes that's right."

"Do you know what it is?" Doumeki asked. A long shot, but it didn't hurt to ask.

The woman shook her head. "No. We can feel that something is tainted, but we can't figure out what it is."

Watanuki was having a hard time pinning it down as well. There was something though. Something…

In the far building.

Watanuki split off from the group to investigate the building, which did appear to be the source of the feeling, as it only got worse as he approached.

The door was locked, but that didn't matter. Watanuki wasn't really there anyways, so he just moved himself into the room, which was too dark to see in. It proved not to be an issue, however, as the door opened a moment later to reveal Doumeki, with the kudakitsune still around his neck.

"Ah, did you direct him over here?" Watanuki asked, and the kudakitsune nodded.

Watanuki smiled, glad he'd thought to send it along with Doumeki. The original plan had been to just wake up when he found the item, confer with Doumeki over the phone somewhere, and then… God, whatever, that plan had been stupid. This was much better.

"Thank you, Mugetsu," Watanuki said, reaching to pat it on the head, but his hand passed through and he frowned. "When you're back home then."

"Do you think the source is in here?" that woman asked from outside the building.

"Maybe," Doumeki said, looking around, and Watanuki followed suit, trying to find whatever the hell it was they were looking for.

The building was small, cramped, and based on the assortment of items, probably used for storage. It reminded Watanuki of a smaller version of the back rooms of his - of Yuuko's shop, but far less organized and much dustier.

Then again, he'd let the storerooms get rather dusty lately. Maybe he should fix that.

Not the point.

Watanuki closed his eyes and took a breath, waiting for something.

Ah, he was always waiting, may as well do something for once.

So he started searching the room. Multiple shelves full of books and knick-knacks, trunks he couldn't open, paper spells on the walls, and -

Wait.

Watanuki motioned for the kudakitsune to direct Doumeki to a large trunk, covered in a stack of books and a thick layer of dust.

Doumeki followed the kudakitsune's pull, and the woman from earlier followed him.

"Is there anything in this trunk?" he asked the woman, and she shook her head.

"I don't think so," she said.

Doumeki picked up the stack of books, coughing at the dust, and made a move to open the trunk.

Which suddenly seemed like a terrible idea, so Watanuki reached out to stop him, but his hand passed right through again.

The kudakitsune was on top of it though, wrapping itself around Doumeki's arm and pulling back, shaking its head.

Doumeki pulled away, and knelt down in front of the trunk.

"He needs to bring it back to me," Watanuki told the kudakitsune, which nodded.

And then his vision went fuzzy for a moment, and he looked down at his hands and found they were disappearing before his eyes.

This should have worked. This should have worked, why was he disappearing? He couldn't just-

He woke in his - in Yuuko's - in his bed, and checked to be sure he was still there and he was and-

Watanuki laughed once. He'd probably just woken up. Obviously he needed a bit of practice, but he was sure he'd get better at it.

Mokona was waiting by his bed, a look of concern on his face.

"Are you alright?" he asked, and Watanuki smiled, patting him on the head.

"It worked," he said, actually… excited, oddly enough. He hadn't felt excited since…

It had been a while.

But that wasn't important.

"I'm putting some tea on. Doumeki should be back soon," Watanuki said then.

Mokona hopped on his shoulder as he exited, for the first time since… everything. In fact, he hadn't seen Mokona around much. From time to time for a cup (usually more) of sake, but that was about it.

"Oi, where have you been?" Watanuki asked, frowning at the little… thing.

Mokona didn't answer, but Watanuki felt he knew. He was much closer to Yuuko than he was to Watanuki.

So Watanuki picked him up by the ears and played the part. Not Yuuko's part. He couldn't play Yuuko's part to Mokona.

"Probably off drinking sake," Watanuki said instead.

"Watanuki got it right!"

Watanuki scowled as Mokona squirmed out of his hands and somehow ended up on top of his head.

Out in the sitting room, he found Maru and Moro playing a game. They looked up with smiles on their faces.

"Is Watanuki alright?"

"Is Watanuki alright?"

"Yes, yes, I'm fine." Why was everyone so concerned with this? It was a quick nap, honestly.

Doumeki came by not long after, face pale, trunk in tow, and the kudakitsune around his neck.

"Ah, you brought it," Watanuki said, clapping his hands, and kept his eyes on the trunk as Doumeki set it down in the sitting room he'd just cleaned. Dammit.

It was just as he saw it in his dreams, and just as he felt it as well.

"Oh, this is definitely it," he said as he knelt down and inspected the trunk. He put a hand over it, but didn't touch it just yet. "Did you get it back here alright?"

Doumeki nodded. "More or less."

Watanuki looked up from the trunk to glare at Doumeki. "What do you mean more or less?" he asked.

"I made it back."

"I need to know specifically, now isn't the time for your four word answers."

"Birds flew at me each time I crossed the street."

"Birds?"

"Three times."

"Hm. Good it wasn't four," Watanuki mused as he sat on the ground and turned back to the trunk to inspect it, scrunching his nose at the smell. "There's certainly something wrong with it. Go get some sake from the back, I could use a drink."

Doumeki obliged. So it was one of those days, hm.

While he was off fetching the drinks, the kudakitsune wrapped itself around Watanuki's neck, and Watanuki patted its head as he sat in front of the trunk, trying to discern what the hell was wrong with the stupid thing.

No, no, getting upset doesn't help. Clearing his mind and-

Doumeki came back into the room, and Watanuki waved a hand at him to give him the sake, not looking away from the trunk.

"Mm, thank you," he said, taking the cup from him and drinking half of it before setting it down beside him. "I don't like it."

"The sake?" Doumeki asked.

No matter what changed, you really could always count on Doumeki being an asshole.

Watanuki side-eyed Doumeki and kept talking.

"The trunk. Did the temple seem strange to you? Or even the people? I wasn't there long after you found this."

Doumeki shook his head. "No, nothing stood out. Except the trunk, obviously."

"Did it stand out? To you." He turned back to the trunk and finally put a hand on it, but pulled back abruptly with a start. "You carried this all the way back?"

"Not at first," he said. "I wouldn't have noticed it. Once I was touching it, it felt wrong."

Watanuki looked back to Doumeki, who was already finishing off his drink. His hand was shaking. Odd.

"I want to open it," he admitted. "But the feeling I'm getting from inside it… It isn't something I want here in the shop. What do you think?" he asked, truly not sure what he was doing. This was usually when he stood in the back and watched Yuuko know everything as she always did and here was Watanuki knowing literally nothing and-

No, no, thinking like that wasn't going to help.

Listen to his instincts, listen to the shop, listen to others.

"Open it," Doumeki said decidedly. "It's what needs to be done."

Watanuki took a moment to be confused. Doumeki was so sure of it, but whatever was in the trunk…

"There are two options. I can open this, and let out whatever is in here, and I have a guess, though I'm not certain at all. Or, I can seal it properly. I think I have just the thing." He paused. "I can't help but think of Pandora's Box," he said then. "You know that one, yes?"

"I think… it's less a Pandora's Box, and more a pressure cooker," Doumeki said. "Even if only for a moment, you should open it."

"Pressure cooker," Watanuki repeated, frowning at the trunk. He was right. There was something building in there. The question was whether it was something they wanted to release, or contain. "Hm." He finished off his sake and stood, pushing up his sleeves. "I'm taking it outside then," he announced, and grabbed either side of the trunk, trying not to drop it though his hands almost burned.

Doumeki stood as well, and followed him out.

He hefted the trunk to the backyard and sent the kudakitsune, Mokona, and the girls back inside.

"If this explodes in my face, you're to blame," Watanuki said as he dropped the trunk on the ground and crouched in front of it.

Doumeki crouched down as well, and gave him a look. Just a look. No emotion, no teasing, no concern? Maybe.

"Ready?" Watanuki asked, one hand on the latch and the other on the lid.

Doumeki nodded as he put both hands on the lid as well.

Watanuki opened the latch with a nod, and on the count of three, lifted the lid.

Immediately, there was a horrible stench and an immense pressure in the air. He stumbled back and watched as a cloud of dark smoke threw the lid completely back and shot up into the air.

"Ah. Good call," Watanuki said truthfully, hand covering his nose and mouth.

The smoke gathered and hung there above the trunk for a moment - too long a moment, it had been so long since Watanuki had encountered anything like that, he'd nearly forgotten - before dissipating completely, some of it returning to the trunk.

Watanuki looked over at Doumeki, who had his hands on his knees, and watched as he released a breath. He must have felt it too.

There was still something in the trunk though, if Watanuki's hunch was correct, so he crawled over to it and looked inside. Sure enough, there was a small box, wrapped in yellowed paper.

"Ah. Here's the problem," he said, pulling the box out, and very much not liking the feeling of touching it. "It's broken."

Doumeki leaned in closer to look at the box.

Truly, the box wasn't in terrible condition, just the bindings.

"It needs new spell paper - you carried this all the way back here?" Watanuki asked, reluctantly impressed.

Doumeki nodded. "You asked me to," he said flatly, with what might have been a slight frown, Watanuki wasn't sure.

"Since when do you listen to what I say?" Watanuki asked, closing the trunk and setting the box on top of it.

Doumeki didn't reply, except a tiny 'humph'.

Watanuki narrowed his eyes at Doumeki, then turned away. "Either way… thank you."

There was a long pause, and his words hung in the air for too long a moment before Doumeki finally said, "You're welcome."

Watanuki nodded, then took a breath and sighed.

"I'll get this bound again. Odd they'd have something like this at a temple. They can have their trunk back, of course. Ah, but they may not want it back. Don't worry about it. I'll put it away. And, and I'll have your payment tomorrow - but only if you bring me dish soap!"

ooooooooooooooo

Watanuki spent the night researching spell papers and practicing his kanji and spell-casting before getting one perfect and wrapping the box up in it. The trunk he dragged to the storeroom, which was dirtier than he'd thought it was.

Ah well.

He could clean later.

The Ame-warashi would be back soon and he would collect payment and she would go back to the Zashiki-warashi and oh! Oh, she was probably so worried…

Watanuki would have to make it up to her. With… something.

Food.

He'd make her something. As an apology. And Mokona could have some. And Doumeki too, if he happens to drop by (he always did, thank god - no, that was annoying - no, it was necessary). Ah, and Watanuki could send some back with Doumeki to give to Himawari and Kohane. He hadn't seen or talked to them since… oh since he came to the shop. Odd.

So Watanuki spent the last of his sleepless night baking cookies (he didn't have the ingredients for anything more), feeling the oddest bout of nostalgia for the kitchen. For his old life. For everything he'd lost.

For Yuuko.

He almost expected her to show up at any moment, raving about how delicious his food smelled, or demanding something more extravagant, or… anything. Watanuki would take anything, give anything. Do whatever it took. Was already doing it.

It took everything in him to force himself to finish his baking, and then sat on the floor of the kitchen, allowing himself to cry in a way he hadn't since everything had happened.

He fell asleep there, on the floor, leaned against the wall, and woke to Maru and Moro picking up his hands.

"Watanuki?" Maru said.

"Are you asleep?" Moro asked.

Watanuki shook his head, then fixed his glasses, hoping his eyes weren't red.

"I was, but I'm awake now. I was up very late. Maybe I should go to be-" he began, but then felt that pressure at the back of his mind again. Dammit.

So he hurried off the the bedroom to change into a purple furisode with a black obi, tied loosely because he didn't have time to put it on properly (did he ever bother though? should he?), then ran back out to the backyard to meet with the Ame-warashi.

"Well?" she said as he approached.

"I completed your request," Watanuki said, holding up the box he'd grabbed on the way out.

"Hm. So that little box was stinking up an entire temple?" she asked, face twisted in disgust.

"Ah. It's truly what's inside that tainted the temple grounds."

"Which is?"

"Emotions," Watanuki said, stroking a hand on the box that now felt harmless, thanks to his spell paper. "Feelings. Ill-intent. Trapped in some sort of relic. I'm curious to see, but, well, its effects alone were enough for me," he told her, smiling.

"It looks fine to me," she said, poking at it with a gloved hand.

"Yes, well, the spells binding the box were far too old, and decayed rather badly. The emotions in the relic stirred up quite some trouble, but it's fixed now, I assure you." And, to be honest, he was rather proud of the work he did on it.

"Hmph. Good job then." She took a breath and rolled her eyes, obviously annoyed at giving a compliment to a (kind of) human. "As far as payment goes, I was given this to hand over to you." She pulled a small package out of her pocket and handed it over to Watanuki.

"Thank you," he said, taking it from her. "Ah, actually, I have something I want you to take to the Zashiki-warashi for me."

"What?"

He ran back inside to drop off the payment and grab a bag of cookies, then hurried back to the Ame-warashi.

"Here," he said, holding the bag out for her to take.

She raised an eyebrow as she snatched them up. "So you are cooking."

"Not really," he said, shrugging.

"You're an idiot, Watanuki Kimihiro."

Watanuki allowed himself to just frown at her.

She scoffed. "But you'll figure this out."

"You're being awfully nice about it," he said with a small smile.

The Ame-warashi pouted and looked up and away. "You know, she was an old friend of mine." She didn't specify who 'she' was, but Watanuki knew she meant Yuuko. "Kind of. But no one sticks around forever. We all knew she wasn't permanent. No one is."

"She'll come back," he told her. He knew she would.

"And you'll stay here until then?" she asked, eyebrow raised.

"Yes."

"You'll be here for a long time, Watanuki Kimihiro."

"I know."

Her look softened for a moment. "You're sure about this?"

No. I'm not sure at all, I thought I was but this is different, this is terrifying, this is dangerous.

This is my wish. This is my wish, and I can pay the price.

"I chose this. I'll stay."

"In that case," the Ame-warashi began, "good luck."

And she disappeared in a cloud of raindrops.

A quick pressure in his head. God, it was far too busy these past few days and Watanuki just wanted to sleep.

He hurried to the entrance, but stopped when he heard someone in the kitchen.

Obviously not a customer then.

"By all means, just waltz right in. I'll report you for breaking and entering some time," Watanuki said as he entered.

"I'm not breaking anything," Doumeki replied, holding a bag of takeout and staring at the tray of cookies Watanuki had made earlier that day.

Watanuki snatched the takeout bag from Doumeki's hands, leaving Doumeki standing there.

"Fine. Not-breaking, entering, and then eating," he corrected, somewhat concerned at the odd look on Doumeki's face. "If you're going to eat it, just do it, your face looks stupid."

"You made this?" Doumeki asked.

"Yes," Watanuki confirmed with a pout. "I sent the Ame-warashi back with a gift for the Zashiki-warashi."

"A gift?" Doumeki turned to face Watanuki, eyebrow raised.

Watanuki sighed, remembering. "Not a gift. I took payment from the Ame-warashi." He didn't, really, but the payment was apparently a little too much for the wish. It evened itself out.

What a coincidence.

Doumeki nodded, looking back at the food.

"Eat it," Watanuki told him. "Quit staring at it."

"You're cooking then," Doumeki said, picking up a cookie.

"I cooked that, yes. As far as payment-"

"This."

"Eh?"

"The cookies."

"I… don't know if it's even, but I know that this is even," Watanuki protested, holding up the payment the Ame-warashi gave him.

"This is even."

Watanuki pouted. "You would have eaten it anyways."

Doumeki shrugged and shoved the entire cookie in his mouth.

"It's not even," Watanuki said decidedly. "Dinner."

Doumeki's eyes widened. "Dinner?" he asked through a full mouth.

"Yes, dinner. I'll cook dinner tomorrow. Don't get used to it."

A/N: So this updated quickly! Mainly because I had the previous chapter written over a month ago and I only remembered to post it because I started working on this one. Updates will be sporadic, but still happening! I'm working on the next chapter any everything!