Good morning, everyone! I'm a little groggy from this cold and the cold medicine I took, but! This is the chapter I was most excited to write and the chapter I'm most excited to post, without question, but beforehand I've gotta give a disclaimer, because who doesn't love a good disclaimer?

I am NOT a couples therapist. I am not a mental health professional of any kind. If you were expecting legit couples therapy you are unfortunately in the wrong place.

Although I've gotta give a shout out to Psychology In Seattle's youtube channel (specifically the 90 Day Fiance reaction videos) for giving me tons of inspiration and information. Definitely check them out, if anything, for the doctor's cats.

Regardless, this chapter was super fun to write because for goodness sake SOMEONE needed to say this to Watanuki, it might as well be this nice doctor! I love Watanuki but HELP. Doumeki puts up with a lot. I hope you all like this chapter too!

Another disclaimer!: I don't own the rights to xxxHolic and I'm making no money off of this.

Doumeki consulted the schedule and map one more time, then got up from the table and led a still fuming Watanuki out of the dining room and around a corner to a hallway lined with doors to the conference rooms set aside for therapy sessions. 'So what if it would look suspicious?!' Watanuki thought, viciously, surely they didn't need to be doing this, surely they'd have done better to follow Yuriko and Renjiro and try and eavesdrop or something, what was Doumeki thinking?! Well, he didn't think. Obviously. That was one of the many, many reasons he made Watanuki so frustrated all the time!

"Here," said Doumeki, stopping abruptly after consulting the schedule a final time. Watanuki walked on a few steps before he realized what had happened, then did an awkward about face and stomped back over to the door Doumeki had indicated, cursing. Doumeki gave him a look, then knocked, and a friendly voice from inside called,

"Come in!" Doumeki pushed the door open and they found themselves in a room with paper screened walls like their suite, though it had a carpeted floor and a matching couch and chair with a table between them. Another shishi-odoshi gently splashed on the sill of the open window, in front of which stood a middle aged woman with sharp, intelligent eyes, wearing a black skirt suit and her hair in a high ponytail. "Good morning, I'm Dr. Sakurai," she said, her soft voice contrasting with her rather austere appearance.

"Shizuka Doumeki, nice to meet you."

"Kimihiro Watanuki." She shook both of their hands with another warm smile.

"Very nice to meet you as well, please make yourselves comfortable." She sat down on the chair while Doumeki took one side of the couch and Watanuki took the other, thinking grudgingly of the one bed they'd have to share again that night. "So tell me what brings you in today," said Dr. Sakurai, picking up a clipboard and pen from the table and balancing it on her knee. Watanuki turned at once to Doumeki, because he always told their cover story. He leaned forward, his elbows on his knees and chin in his hands.

"Well, we've been having problems." Watanuki rolled his eyes. "It seems like we're on opposite sides of every issue and that we can't ever reach each other." Doumeki's expression was unchanging, except for his eyes looking regretfully towards the floor rather than at the doctor.

"I'm sorry to hear that," said Dr. Sakurai, tilting her head to the side.

"We got married under unusual circumstances," Doumeki pressed on, and he told her their story. Watanuki's palms began to sweat and he prayed she'd believe them. There was no obvious reason she wouldn't, but something about her gave him the feeling that she could see through deception easier than most people. Fortunately, she just listened, nodded and made occasional notes. "At the time, getting married seemed like the obvious solution, because it would force people to recognize our relationship, but now," Doumeki broke off with a sigh and slight shrug of his shoulders. Watanuki rolled his eyes again.

"Right," said Dr. Sakurai, "so what I'm hearing is now you're learning what it really means to be in this type of intimate partnership." Doumeki nodded and Watanuki crossed his arms and legs and looked away to hide his distasteful expression. "And ultimately you'd like to reduce conflict and increase intimacy." Watanuki shuddered at the last word. "Unless I misheard?" She turned to Watanuki, her eyes widening curiously. "What do you think?" He flushed deeply.

"What?! Oh, um, reduce conflict and increase intimacy, sounds good!" Dr. Sakurai said nothing, and Watanuki's already hot flush burned brighter. "What?!" he demanded, "I agree!"

"Yes, but you're also raising your voice and red in the face," Dr. Sakurai pointed out, concerned rather than teasing.

"He does this a lot," said Doumeki, entirely seriously.

"YOU AREN'T HELPING!"

"All right, hold on a minute," said Dr. Sakurai, raising her voice a fraction and placing her pen free hand up in front of her in a stopping gesture. "Let's talk about this calmly." Watanuki closed his eyes, willing himself to be patient as he took a deep breath in and sighed it out. His temper calmed by maybe half a degree, but his face continued to burn. "All right. If reducing conflict and increasing intimacy aren't necessarily goals, may I ask you another question?"

"Yes," replied Watanuki, as calmly as he could.

"If you had to say on a scale from one to ten, one being one foot out the door and ten being fully committed, how invested are you in this relationship?" Watanuki's eyes widened behind his glasses and he forgot his irritation completely. He opened his mouth, but truly had no idea how to answer. "I know it can be a hard question, but it's nothing set it stone, I'm just trying to get a feel for where you are in this moment." Still Watanuki had no idea how to answer. He wrapped his arms and legs tighter around himself.

"I, well, that's- You go first!" he snapped, pointing aggressively at Doumeki. Any normal person would shove his hand away, 'Or at least roll his eyes,' Watanuki thought. However, Doumeki just looked into Watanuki's face, then took his extended hand in both his own. Watanuki shuddered and glared back at him, about to open his mouth to snap, but then Doumeki said, very seriously,

"Ten."

Any nasty reply Watanuki might have made died in his throat as he felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. "I, but," he managed, after a moment, digging his fingers into Doumeki's surprisingly warm hands. "I didn't ask you for any of this, you know!" he managed, and though it felt good to vent his temper and to squeeze Doumeki's hand so hard it must have hurt, he felt his throat begin to burn.

"You didn't ask for any of this?" asked Dr. Sakurai.

"No!" Watanuki cried, in a much higher voice than usual. He cleared his throat. "No, I didn't!"

"All right," said Dr. Sakurai, "and how are you feeling about it?"

"He's always doing things I didn't ask him for!" snapped Watanuki.

"That's not a feeling, that's a judgement," Dr. Sakurai reminded him, kindly, and Watanuki let out an infuriated growl and yanked his hand out of Doumeki's grip. "So how are you feeling about it?" Watanuki stared at her blankly, suddenly realizing he had no idea how to answer the question. "There's no wrong answer. Hurt? Frustrated? Resentful?"

"Frustrated," Watanuki decided, because it wasn't like that wasn't true. Beside him, Doumeki placed his forearms on his thighs and his chin in his hands.

"You're frustrated by the fact that Shizuka does things you don't ask for?"

"Yes!" snapped Watanuki, and in that moment, he realized just how true it was. "Like I said, I never asked for any of this!"

"Any of what?" asked Dr. Sakurai, making a little note on her clipboard and leaning forward. "Do you mean just marrying you or are there other things?" Watanuki's eyes widened. He'd completely forgotten that she thought they were talking about their cover story and not their actual circumstances. He flushed and wrapped his arms around himself again, thinking about the question. His first thoughts were that he kept the spirits away and allowed him to be around Himawari-chan safely, but there were also smaller things like helping him out with jobs for Yuuko-San, or rescuing him from the associated dangerous circumstances. Of course, he couldn't say any of that to the doctor.

"Well," he began, eventually, looking into Dr. Sakurai's face to avoid catching Doumeki's eye. "I guess, committing to me, sacrificing for me, putting himself in danger for me when I'd never ask him to do any of that!" His voice rose dramatically as he spoke. "Then expecting me to be grateful afterwards!" He gave a little shiver and his throat burned painfully. The shishi-odoshi splashed in the following silence.

"Mmhmm," replied Dr. Sakurai, making another little note on her clipboard. The shishi-odoshi splashed again.

"I don't need you to be grateful," said Doumeki, so quietly that both Watanuki and Dr. Sakurai almost missed it. Watanuki snapped his gaze to Doumeki, who was once more staring down at his clasped hands.

"What does that mean?! You can't just say stuff like that!" exploded Watanuki at a much lower volume than usual. Doumeki faced him again, and his gaze was like an electric charge even through his bored expression.

"It means I didn't do any of that because I wanted something from you," he said, still very quietly. Watanuki opened his mouth, found he had nothing to say, closed it again and turned wide eyed to Dr. Sakurai, silently demanding an explanation.

"So what I'm hearing," she said, slowly, "is a lot of resentment from you, Kimihiro."

"Yeah, well," muttered Watanuki, darkly.

"But underneath I think I'm hearing some guilt." Watanuki had no reply to this so he just continued to stare at her, and she went on, "Maybe rather than questioning Shizuka's motives or getting frustrated by his actions, you might start to look at why you don't think someone would care about you or look after you without hoping to gain something. Don't you think you deserve to be cared about and looked after?" Again, Watanuki had no idea what to say to that, so he just stared blankly at the doctor. For a whole minute, the only sound was the shishi-odoshi. "How are you feeling, Shizuka?" asked Dr. Sakurai, eventually, leaving Watanuki to continue to stare blankly ahead of him. Doumeki took a deep breath in and sighed it out.

"Validated," he said. He turned to Watanuki, clearly expecting him to lash out, but still he said nothing. Dr. Sakurai nodded, made one last note and checked her watch.

"Well, that's time," she said, smiling, "tonight just keep thinking about what we discussed," she cast a sideways glance at Watanuki, "and if you have any questions or insights, I'll be around. Of course, if you want to book another session, we can do that as well." Still smiling, she stood up, and Doumeki and Watanuki did too. "It was very nice meeting both of you." She shook both of their hands again.

"Very nice meeting you, thank you for your help," Doumeki told her. He placed his hand carefully on Watanuki's lower back and led him out of the room. With one last splash of the shishi-odoshi, they were out the door.

"Are you okay?" asked Doumeki, the moment the door fell shut behind them.

"What?" asked Watanuki, the question taking a long time to travel from his ears to his brain.

"Are you-"

"Of course I am!" Watanuki snapped, finally making the connection, before adding, for good measure, "Get off." Doumeki took his hand away somewhat reluctantly, and Watanuki sighed impatiently. "Come on, we have to get ready for this hike now."

Oh man he's feeling some type of way... What do you all think?

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