Hello friends, so lovely to see you all back at chapter three!

It feels sort of weird updating so frequently with short little chapters as opposed to my usual grueling schedule of editing and posting every week, but I'm having a great time! This story was super fun to write and it's actually fun to edit (go figure!) but mostly it's fun to update.

All the support has been such a gift, it makes my day whenever I get more feedback, thank you all so much!

So this chapter is more building... but also the first time we get to explore what's going on inside with Watanuki. I love him very much (I mean who wouldn't) and I find him really interesting, but especially his total lack of self-preservation and the associated issues. Finally getting to write about it and learn has been very satisfying, so I hope it is to read too.

I guess I should say at this time that a lot of the names and words here I put together with my INCREDIBLY limited Japanese (the only complete sentence I can say is "I would like some milk tea") so a huge thank you to my friends who actually know the language and to google. That being said, if something sounds funky, that's why. Also this fic is set in some glorious universe where marriage is legal world wide regardless of the gender of the people involved.

Anything else...? No I don't think so! All right enjoy!

Discalimer: I don't own the rights to xxxHolic and I'm making no money from this.

"Do you know where we're going?" asked Doumeki, and Watanuki felt the question like a mosquito in his ear.

"Yes I know where we're going, Yuuko-san told me that much!" Doumeki made no reply and Watanuki forged ahead, muttering darkly until they were out of the station. It had gotten much warmer during their journey, and the summer sun hung directly above them, heavy with its own heat and light. There were taxis lined up, so they picked up the nearest one, and in no time were driving through the pretty little town, then even deeper into the countryside. 'It is beautiful out here, though,' thought Watanuki, as the road led them into a deep green forest of pine trees, the canopy diffusing the bright afternoon sun into a dappled twilight.

He gave a little shiver, though he wasn't sure why. With Doumeki here the spirits shouldn't be bothering him (it was the one thing he was good for, after all!). That and coming up with romantic cover stories, apparently. 'We eloped because our parents didn't approve of our relationship.' Watanuki thought about it as they drove, trying to imagine himself in the situation and get into some kind of character. However, he was having trouble, both because his parents couldn't be bothered and because it was impossible to think of someone taking on that kind of responsibility for his sake. He flushed and gave another little shiver. If anything, Yuuko had played that role for him, but at least she got a shop slave out of the deal. The fictional Doumeki in this scenario would get nothing. It didn't make sense…

"Hey."

"My name's not 'hey!'" Watanuki snapped, jerked unpleasantly from his thoughts.

"Did Yuuko-san tell you anything else about what we're supposed to find?"

"No," replied Watanuki, irritably, folding his arms across his chest.

"Whatever you're looking for, you'll find it here," the cab driver said, confidently, from the front seat. "Sorry to interrupt, but when I heard where you were going, I was really happy for you, weird as that sounds." Watanuki looked away quickly to hide his blush, but Doumeki leaned forward and raised his eyebrows a millimeter at the driver in the rearview mirror.

"It's all right. Why do you say that?"

"The Aihana Couples Retreat works wonders." Doumeki nodded, urging him to continue. "My wife and I were in a rough patch a few years ago so we decided to try it and it was incredible. I wish we'd done it sooner, honestly; we probably could have spared ourselves the rough patch in the first place."

"That's really good to hear," said Doumeki, and his sincerity made Watanuki's skin crawl. Fortunately, at that moment the trees opened up to reveal a large Japanese style inn that reminded Watanuki forcibly of Yuuko's shop. Their driver pulled right up to the front entrance, careful to avoid the other couples arriving, young and old, all genders, some helping each other, others clearly in conflict. They thanked their driver and got out of the car, and Watanuki looked around curiously for a moment, then, "Let's go."

"Shut up!" Watanuki seized his bags from the trunk and stormed up the sweeping stone steps and into the inn.

The lobby was beautiful, all dark woods and paper screens and soft lights. Watanuki could smell incense, flowers and pine as he and Doumeki joined the cue in front of the reception desk, behind which was a hand carved sign that said "Matsumori Inn." He continued looking around, and caught sight of a young woman off by herself with a few suitcases. She was dressed in a huge sweatshirt despite the heat, and Watanuki could see the dark shadows beneath her eyes even from this distance. However, more than any visual cue, she gave him a strange feeling, one he couldn't place but was definitely intriguing. The man ahead of them stepped out of line with a brochure and an envelope of card keys and approached the young woman. She looked up, and caught Watanuki's eye. He turned away, though she'd definitely seen him staring, and knew yet another little shudder.

"Yuriko?" he heard the man ask.

"What? I'm sorry…"

"Hey, we need the credit card used to make the reservation," came Doumeki's voice from in front of him.

"Ugh…" Watanuki pushed past Doumeki impatiently, but managed to return the receptionist's polite smile.

"Welcome!" she said, graciously, and Watanuki forced himself to focus and gave her his name and Yuuko's ostentatiously heavy credit card. "Kimihiro Watanuki, yes, I see you've booked a suite. Excellent choice, sir." Watanuki had no idea what to say to that since he hadn't made the reservation in the first place, but Doumeki put in,

"We wanted privacy." Watanuki hastily turned his indignant sputter into a hacking cough as he imagined Yuuko's most sadistic laugh as she'd booked the room.

"Entirely understandable," replied the receptionist, typing away at her computer while Watanuki bit back retort after retort. "All right everything's settled, if you could please sign here…" She turned her computer screen around and offered him a stylus. Watanuki seized it and signed the screen with rather more force than was necessary, then thrust it at Doumeki so he could sign too. "Wonderful! You'll be in Suite 7, here are your keys," she extended a small envelope across the desk, "and a brochure with a map. Your room is out this door and through the courtyard. If you need anything, someone is at the desk at all times."

"Thank you," Doumeki and Watanuki said together.

"Please enjoy your stay," said the receptionist, conveniently covering Watanuki's irritated growl. He and Doumeki picked up their bags and headed out through the open door opposite the main entrance.

The courtyard was also beautiful, a simple but glamorous maze of stone pathways and manicured trees and flowers. Large, old fashioned lamp posts were placed about and a shishi-odoshi bubbled softly in a corner. The surrounding forest towered overhead, and they could still hear birds singing and insects chirping over the noises of all the people moving about the inn.

Watanuki opened the brochure and consulted the map, then followed one of the stone paths to a corner of the courtyard. They came upon all the suites, which were smaller versions of the inn's main building with room numbers engraved in gold above the doors. Watanuki took one of the card keys out of the envelope the receptionist had given him, approached Suite 7 and unlocked the door to reveal a small entryway. He stepped out of his shoes and continued inside to a large, well proportioned room with a tatami floor and paper screen walls. A small table sat in the center of the room and was laid with tea supplies, a note, a vase of flowers and a tray of sweets. A bathroom was visible through a door to their left, and the sliding door opposite the entryway was open onto a back porch and a view of the ocean.

Watanuki left his bags beside the table and crossed the room to check it out. His eyes widened at the gorgeous view of the sheltered beach and lapping waves. He took a deep breath in, the smells of the pine forest and saltwater reaching him deep in his chest and belly. As he sighed softly and placed his hands on the railing, he knew a split second of pure contentment-

"Hey."

-only to have it shattered by Doumeki's monotone. Typical. Watanuki muttered a few choice swear words and stormed back inside. "What?!" he demanded. Doumeki had the note from the table in one hand and a sweet in the other.

"It says there's a welcome dinner in the evening. We should probably go." Watanuki balled his hands into fists.

"What time?" he growled, to avoid explicitly agreeing.

"Seven. We've got a few hours." Watanuki clenched his fists.

"Fine. I'm going to unpack."

"Make tea first."

"YOU CAN'T JUST ORDER A GUY AROUND LIKE THAT!" Watanuki exploded, though he still snatched up the electric kettle and went to fill it with water from the sink. In spite of himself, he noted appreciatively that he could set the heat to the exact temperature he wanted. He returned to the main room and plugged it in, checking what kind of tea they had before turning it on. He knew Doumeki was still watching him and was becoming increasingly annoyed about it. "What?!" he snapped, getting to his feet and facing him at last. However, Doumeki just popped another sweet into his mouth. "You shouldn't snack that much before dinner." Doumeki picked up another sweet and looked at it appraisingly for a second before putting it back on the plate.

"Yours are better anyway."

"You-"

But at that moment, the kettle began to boil.

Yes, the kettle.

Any ideas what they're supposed to find yet? I'm excited... Also how nice does this hotel sound? I wanna stay there!

I think of reviews when I summon my kekkai, leave me some!