A/N: ZareEraz here! Chapter Two is here! Hooray! And you'll all be happy because Doumeki's in this one! Enjoy and don't forget to comment!

Chapter Two: The Lies and The Game

Watanuki was seriously not having a good day. First, she'd been called over you Yuko's shop very early in the morning, got ready in a whirl of clothes and school supplies and rushed over there expecting some sort of disaster. Second, she got to the shop and was furious to find that Yuko was fine, the shop was fine the twins and the fur ball were find and no one was dead. But someone was going to be. Instead, Yuko wanted a three course meal for breakfast. Watanuki yelled at her for a good ten minutes before Maru and Moro dragged her by the arm pits into the kitchen and threw her smock at her so she could cook.

"If I'd known she was going to be this demanding I would have never taken this job in the first place." The seer muttered to herself as she tended to the stovetop and Yuko's sake at the same time.

"Hey, Watanuki!" Mokona jumped up behind her. The raven ignored the fur ball and kept cooking. She could feel Maru and Moro's eyes on her and ignored them too. "Hello, Watanuki!"

"Can't you see that I'm in the middle of cooking!" The girl sighed, chopping vegetables.

"Watanuki! Listen!" The fur ball shouted. The girl turned around with a fierce glare.

"Alright! What do you want?!" She snapped.

"The pot's boiling over!" Mokona yelled.

"Boiling over!" Maru repeated.

"Boiling over!" Moro agreed.

"WAH!" Watanuki whipped around to the stove top and panicked, grabbing the hot lid of the pot and taking it off. Hot steam floated into her face, blinding the girl as she flailed, dropping the pot lid on her foot. Watanuki hissed in pain and jumped around, slipping in her socks and falling to the ground.

"That's what I was trying to tell you!" Mokona chortled gleefully.

"Trying to tell you!~" Maru and Moro repeated, each holding one hand out for the Mokona to sit on.

"If you guys saw it you could've just turned down the heat, you know!" Watanuki yelled at the trio, brandishing her ladle at them. "UG! Nothing could possibly be worth all the trouble I'm going through!" She sighed dejectedly.

"Is it ready yet?" Yuko's sultry voice said from behind Watanuki.

"No, no one will leave me alone so I can get my work done." Watanuki said, irritated that with all the room in the shop, everyone just happened to congregate right were she was.

"I can wait on the food but in the meantime, I'll need another drink." Watanuki turned to look at her employer. Yuko was poised in the door way, her leg propped up on the wall high enough to nearly show her underwear. She was wearing a sexy maroon dress today with slits up both sides that ran to her hip bones with a white cloth drape hanging from her elbows and deep brown thigh high stockings. She was holding the sake bottle with her finger and thumb and dangling it back and forth, telling Watanuki to fill it up again.

"Another drink!~" Maru shouted, her fist pumping into the air.

"Another drink!~" Moro copied her twin with a huge smile on her face.

"You already drank it all?!" Watanuki asked, flabbergasted.

"Be a good girl and fill it back up." Yuko leaned over into Watanuki's personal bubble again, her lips inches away from the girl's. She wiggled the bottle back and forth before dropping it into Watanuki waiting hand. The seer sighed; already tired of her boss and it was only seven in the morning!

"Yeah, yeah. I'll take care of it now."

"Ooo! Is this it? It looks delicious!" Yuko asked, dipping her finger into one of Watanuki's dishes and tasting it.

"Don't touch that! No snacking until the meal is finished!" Watnauki ordered, filling up the sake bottle.

"Oh come on. It's just a little taste." Yuko replied. Watanuki turned around with her hands on her hips.

"I don't care if it's just a 'little,' if you eat now it'll ruin your appitie and all my effort will be wasted!" Yuko as giving the girl an amused smile for her rant, but it dropped off her face as she looked towards the door. Maru and Moro's faces lost their smiles as well, turning to where their mistress was looking. "You don't seem to realized how much trouble I'm going through to make this! Do people have no respect for the work of a chef anymore? I mean, really! A-" Watanuki noticed that Yuko wasn't paying attention to her anymore and stopped talking.

"Well…it seems we have a customer." Yuko stated, her voice interested and ominous at the same time. She slunk out of the room, pulling on a pair of gloves to match her stockings.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" She was a young woman, probably in her twenties, wearing a white skirt, a purple striped top and a white jacket with blue shoes as she stood in the entryway of the shop. She had short, curly, brown hair and pale bluish-greenish eyes that seemed to Watanuki like they were blank most of the time. "I'm sorry. I was walking by and before I knew what was happening I ended up in here, but I don't know how."

"This girl didn't mean to come in here either." Watanuki whispered to herself as she, Maru and Moro slid open the door just a crack to spy. She's already made sure everything in the kitchen was fine and then ditched her smock, putting on her gray school jacket on in its place. "Is this some sort of a trap?"

"That's alright. Welcome to my shop." Yuko greeted the girl as she led her into a sparsely decorated room with a small, circular table and two chairs. The two women sat down to talk, Yuko's dress and drape falling to the floor in a puddle of fabric, and the trio outside the room hunkered down to listen in. "We specialize in the granting of wishes here."

"Granting wishes?" The customer asked.

"That's right. You wouldn't be here if there wasn't something you were wishing for." Yuko replied. "And I have the ability to grant your wish. It's a very simple process. But of course, there is always the matter of payment."

"Now that's a sneaky sales pitch." Watanuki commented softly, kneeling on the ground. She didn't even notice that her skirt had flipped up and if anyone happened to walk behind her they would totally be able to see her white, lacy panties.

"It's sneaky!~" Maru repeated softly, but gleefully.

"So sneaky!~" Moro said softly as well.

"You three!" Yuko shouted as she pointed at the crack in the door with a vengeance. "I hope you know I can hear you!" Maru and Moro giggled as the three eavesdroppers clapped their hands over their mouths.

"Now then," Yuko said, standing up. "Why don't you tell me your wish?" She held her hand out to the women.

"I don't know. I can't think of anything in particular that I want to wish for at the moment." There was a pause as the woman thought. "But now that I think about it, there is this: there's something wrong with my little finger." The woman held up her pinky finger to Yuko. "It feels really heavy and I have a hard time moving it. I went to the doctor but he said there's nothing really wrong with it."

"Do you have any vices or bad habits that you could tell me about?"

"Well…no bad habits that I can think of…" The woman trailed off. "Certainly nothing serious enough to affect my health." There was a long paused before Yuko spoke again.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I am." Watanuki watched Yuko stare at the woman's pinky finger, and then looked at it herself. There was a ringing in the seer's ears and then she saw it.

"What is that stuff?" Watanuki saw a ring of black smoke twisting around the woman's finger and then drifting into the air. "Is it smoke?" She blinked and looked at the woman to see if she saw the smoke as well, but the customer wasn't paying and attention to her finger so Watanuki shrugged and passed it off as only something people like her could see.

"Here. I will give you this ring. I would advise you to wear it on your pinky." Yuko held up a small ring with a golden band and a red stone in the center.

"Will putting this on get rid of the problem I was telling you about?" The woman stood up and took the ring in her hands.

"It's for the best that you assume that it will." Yuko replied ominously. "Do with it what you like. But I must warn you that the problem may still worsen. The ring is a bandage, not a cure." Maru and Moro giggled by Watanuki.

"I wonder what's wrong with it?" Watanuki asked to no one in particular, holding up her own little finger. Moro walked over smiling and held up her own pinky to the girl. The customer left after that, taking the ring with her and Yuko finally decided that she wanted to eat breakfast so Watanuki had to scramble to the kitchen to gather everything up, set the table and serve her employer before dashing to school where she was almost late. The first period classes of the day went normal, but Watanuki couldn't help but be distracted, thinking about the customer and how much she despised Yuko for getting her up so early in the morning just to cook. She grumbled to herself during math lessons and could hardly pay attention in English class from her annoyance at the witch made her take a scolding from her teacher and a laugh from her classmates when she got caught writing death notes in her notebook.

The more Watanuki thought about it, the more pissed off she became about how her morning turned out. And so, when gym class rolled around, she was ready to kick some butt at soccer just to let off some steam. She was a speed demon in grey and white sweatpants and on the field, it didn't matter who was up against her for the ball they would be out maneuvered by the normally spastic girl who was so consumed by her annoyance that she was unstoppable. She dodged her classmates, stole the ball out from right under their feet and kicked harder than she ever had, pretending that the ball was Yuko's head. The only thing that stood in her way was the goalie. He was a tall boy, solidly built with short brown hair and deep bronze eyes. He never batted and eyelash at anything (as Watanuki was finding out) and blocked some of her murderous during the game. She was irked that her de-stressification was being foiled by an athletic, stuck up bastard who had the nerve to get in her way when she had the ball in her possession! But mostly the goalie (whom Watanuki was sure was in her homeroom class and had been in previous classes with her – but what was his name?) ignored her and just went on guarding the opposing team's goal with a dead pan on his face. By the end of gym, Watanuki was tired and not pissed at Yuko anymore but was mildly irritated by the goalie (she remembered now – his name was Doumeki!).

The girl walked over to the outside sinks after the game to wash her face off, taking off her glasses before splashing cool water onto her cheeks. She brought up her hand to the barrier between sinks to fish around for her towel, but couldn't find it within a few testing pats. Then she felt fabric by her fingers and grabbed a hold of her towel to rub her face dry. When the raven took the towel away from her face, she was greeted by a pleasant surprise.

"Oh, hi Wari!" The girl said, suddenly blushing at her crush. Wari Kunogi was a cute boy in her class with dark, curly hair that twisted around his face and ears so handsomely and he had the dreamiest blue-green eyes. Watanuki smiled and then internally squealed in joy as the boy smiled back and started a conversation with her.

"Hey, how are you doing? Have a good work out?" It was generic small talk but it meant the world to Watanuki. She smiled wider.

"Y-yeah! Sure did!" Stupid, Watanuki! Don't sound so stiff! Act natural! The girl coached herself, mentally smacking herself for sounding stupid. "What are you doing here?"

"Same as you, I guess. We just got out of gym class." Wari was still smiling. He's so cute! Watanuki internally did a dance of admiration as she continued to talk to her crush.

"Oh, that's right!" Watanuki slipped on her glasses again, her blush getting a shade deeper as she realized that they always had gym classes together. "You group was doing mat exercises today, right?" They were now standing in front of each other as Watanuki walked a few steps closer. I'm talking to Wari!~ He's so cool!

"Yep, and your group was playing soccer. The gym doors were open so I was watching." He was watching?! I hope he didn't see me pick a wedgie out that time when I was staked out in the corner! But who cares? He was watching!~ "I saw you score that winning goal there in the end! That was impressive!" Watanuki nearly fainted from the praise, putting up her hand to her forehead dramatically. Her blush went even deeper. "But I have to say that the goalie on the other side did a pretty good job too." Watanuki's face when blue, her smiled dropping into a look of disgust. "I think his name's Doumeki, right?" Watanuki's teeth chattered in nervousness. This is not where I want the conversation to go! I don't want to talk about him, I want you to talk about me, Wari! Watanuki slumped near the sinks, her good mood evaporating at the mention of another guy. "You know, but not actually being on the soccer team, it's amazing how good you guys really are."

"Not true! I mean – Doumeki isn't really all that great!" Watanuki waved her hand at Wari's comment. "It was a total fluke that he blocked that one shot I made! Seriously! A one in a million, miracle save! Pure dumb luck!" She held up her hands to emphasis her point, a cross vein popping out of her head.

"In that case, I must be the luckiest guy on earth, huh?" A shiver ran up Watanuki's spine as a deep voice sounded behind her. When she realized who it was her cross vein got bigger and she sulked in a slumped posture. "You do realize that I blocked six of your shots, don't you?" Doumeki was standing just a little ways off, nonchalantly eavesdropping into her and Wari's conversation. It pissed Watanuki off that he had the audacity to prove her wrong while she was trying to build herself up in front of the boy she liked! Didn't that guy have any idea what she was trying to do?!

"YEAH WELL – I was just kicking them easy so your team wouldn't look so bad!" Watanuki yelled at him, turning around to point and accusing finger at the annoying boy.

"Yeah, that was it." Doumeki said, his face unemotional, but his eyes held the slightest shine of sarcasm.

"Yeah, it sure was!" Watanuki went on the defensive, teeth pointed in anger. "You and your team should be thanking me right now! I did you a favor!"

"Uh huh." Doumeki replied before starting to walk away. That pissed of Watanuki even more.

"Don't you run away when I'm talking to you!"

"I'm not running away. I'm walking calm away from a crazy person." Doumeki said, turning to look at the furious girl from over his shoulder.

"Come back here! I'm not through with yo-" Watanuki stared to yell when she was cut off.

"Well, I really should go." Wari said cheerfully. Watanuki anger disappeared and tears nearly started running down her cheeks as the cute boy started to leave.

"Go? But why?!" She asked incredulously.

"I'm going to be late for my French Club meeting." He's learning a foreign language?! That's so cool!~ "Are you in any after school clubs?"

"Yeah." Watanuki replied. "Well, it's not a club really, it's more like a part-time job I have."

"Oh, really? Where is it?" They were talking about Watanuki's horrid job but the girl really didn't mind. As long as Wari was talking to her, it didn't matter what they talked about (just as long a Doumeki was not a part of it). The seer crossed her arms, trying to think of a way to describe her wacky job and boss without scaring her crush.

"Well…it's this strange little shop. I don't know how you could explain it." The girl thought for a moment, her face contorting into a weird expression. "But I guess you could call it a consultation agency." An image of Yuko's mysterious/I'm-going-to-do-horrible-things-to-you face popped into her mind. She shivered. The girl laughed the feeling off.

"A consultation agency, huh? Well, that sounds like a lot of fun."

"It isn't fun at all." Watanuki stated bluntly. "In fact, it's the worst job ever." Maru and Moro's and Mokona's faces popped up this time and Watanuki nervously laughed as a feeling of dread passed over her just thinking about the work in store for her when she got to the shop.

"Alright! Well, I'll see you tomorrow, Watanuki!" Wari waved as he walked away.

"Oh…yeah!" Watanuki waved back.

"See ya! Good luck with your job!" Watanuki's eyes went wide and then shined in delight as she blushed at the sentiment.

"Thanks! Goodbye!" Watanuki skipped all the way to Yuko's shop she was in that good of a mood after talking to Wari.

"Wari has to be the cutest boy in the whole school!" Watanuki cheered as she went to her job, laughing and swinging her school bag with joy. "It's so cool that he talked to me! What's more, he even watched me score a goal!~ Hehehe! This is a good day for you, Watanuki! You're a lucky girl! Hehe!" The girl sang as she skipped into the shop, kicking off her shoes and going to Yuko's room. She slid the door open and everything went south from there.

"There's something wrong with your face." Yuko said, hand on her jaw as she watched Watanuki enter what she dubbed as the "receiving room." Watanuki froze in place, her good mood popping like a balloon. Her face dropped as she dropped her school bag on the floor, slumping against the door. It fell over as if to point out the girl's disbelief at what the witch just said.

"Excuse me?" Watanuki asked, shocked. "What did you say?"

"You couldn't hear me?" Yuko asked, lounging on her couch with her damn tea cup. Now she was dressed in a shoulder less, deep turquoise/teal dress (once again with a slit up to her hip) with loose sleeves and white fringe along the bottom of the skirt and across her boobs (and a necklace to match). "I believe I said that there's something wrong with your face."

"What? Mine?"

"Yes, of course I mean yours!" Yuko smiled impishly. "Who else would I mean?" Watanuki took a few steps into the room before collapsing to her hands and knees. She didn't even care if her skirt flew up and anyone saw her underwear.

"A perfectly good day and you had to go and ruin it." The girl said dejectedly, all hope in the world lost to her overly dramatic being.

"I'm sorry, Watanuki, but it's true." Suddenly the terrible trio was hugging the seer's arms (sitting on her shoulder in Mokona's case) and consoling her.

"Sorry, it's true!" Moro said.

"Sorry, it's true!" Maru repeated.

"HA! There's something wrong with your face!" Mokona jeered. Watanuki wanted to strangle the little pork bun! "Hehe!"

"Leave me alone! I can't help what my face looks like! It was all determined by genes before I was born!" She retorted crossly.

"No, you misunderstood." Yuko held up her tea cup. "I wasn't talking about your facial features, I meant your countenance on this particular day." Watanuki's crossness vanished and was replaced by confusion.

"Say what?" Yuko took a sip of tea before responding.

"I'm talking about the reading of faces. It's a different sort of fortune telling than I usually do, but it can be quite effective. According to your face, something went wrong."

"Well, maybe your reading was wrong because I got to talk to Wari today and there's nothing better than that!" Watanuki stood up and brushed down her skirt, a blush forming on her cheeks again.

"Who's Wari?" Yuko asked, amused.

"Wari? He's only the cutest boy in school!" Watanuki praised her crush. "He has the most fun hair and the most amazing eyes I've ever seen before in my entire life!" Watanuki hugged herself in excitement. Then Yuko stood up and got really close in what Watanuki had come to name the "nearly kiss" pose were the witch got right in her face close enough to kiss her, the woman's hand on her chin.

"Well, speaking with someone different can change your luck." Yuko replied. "Did you have any other conversations?" She flicked Watanuki's face as she pulled away. Watanuki crossed her arms, her fangirl persona falling away.

"Well, yes now that you mention it. I also talked to the guy named Doumeki today. So maybe if there's something wrong with my face, it's from talking to that jerk." The seer stewed.

"Ah, Doumeki." Yuko replied. "I think I've heard that name before. Perhaps you and this boy were meant to form and acquaintance." Watanuki instantly protested, her hands flying around her face as she vented her anger.

"I don't think so! If I have my way I won't ever have to see again!" She shouted. "He's rude and arrogant and a bad soccer player and he butted right into my conversation with Wari!"

"Alright, calm down." Yuko coaxed. "Most of the time no one is as good or as bad as we think they are. Watanuki blinked at her.

"What do you know?" The raven snapped. "You've never even met him." But Yuko was looking away now and so were the terrible trio. Watanuki had been ignored again.

"What? You're done arguing? You mean I win?" It was incredible! Yuko almost always won their arguments with her twisted logic and snide inserts! Yuko smiled her I-just-put-a-rat-in-your-room smile.

"Looks like our little friend came back to us." She walked out of the room and everyone followed. The customer from earlier was back in the shop, this time wearing a long coat over her clothes, but she didn't look much different. "Well, hello again." Yuko greeted, putting her hand on the small panel by the genkan (1). Yuko led the woman inside to the same room with the same table where they sat down to talk.

"I-I know it sounds strange, but I didn't mean to come back."

"Oh, don't worry. I was expecting to see you again." Yuko replied. "May I ask if you're still wearing the ring?" Watanuki, Maru and Moro were once again eavesdropping, the door panel to the room cracked just enough so the three of them could see.

"Yes." The woman held up her hand to show the ring on the little finger.

"There's no smoke coming from her hand this time." Watanuki observed, seeing the finger as everyone else saw it. "It must've worked."

"But your bad habit hasn't stopped, has it?" Yuko went on, her cranberry eyes narrowed. The woman gasped. "Please answer my questions. What is your age?" The woman smiled, probably happy that the topic was more safe now.

"I just turned twenty one." Black smoke instantly sprouted from her little finger, this time in bigger clouds that spiraled up to the ceiling. Watanuki was the one who gasped this time.

"Are you employed?"

"Yes."

"Doing what?"

"Um, advertising. I'm a manager." The smoke got thicker, the clouds darker with each word out of the customer's mouth.

"Yes. And your bad habits?" Yuko asked calmly. The woman didn't reply, her eyes just got wider. Yuko's hand came up, pointing at the woman's face before moving in to touch her lips. "There's one right here." Yuko said. Her hand moved down to the customer's chest, lightly touching the area. "And here."

"I'm sorry, I don't understand." What I don't understand is why she's not freaking out that another woman is touching her boobs! Watanuki grumbled in her head. "Is there something I'm doing wrong?" Yes, you're not freaking out over another woman touching your boobs. I know I'd be. In fact, I do freak out when she touches my boobs.

"Has anything changed since the last time you came to me?" Yuko pulled back her I-know-something-you-don't smile on her face.

"Well, actually yes." The customer said, holding up her arm. "It's not just my little finger anymore. Now I'm having a hard time moving my whole arm."

"You need to figure out what's wrong very soon." Yuko pointed to the ring on the woman's pinky finger. "Or you may lose the use of your hand altogether.

"The ring's been cracked," Watanuki said, noticing that the ring was dull and dirty. "It used to be a lot nicer than that."

"Alright." The customer said. "But I can't really think of any bad habits. If I do will I be able to move my arm normally again?"

"Once you realize it, you'll be good as new."

"Okay, thanks."

"Do you care for a drink?" Yuko asked, holding up her hand to where Watanuki was crouched behind the door.

"Watanuki, will you please fix some tea?" Yuko asked.

"Huh?" Watanuki perked up at her name. The customer stood before she could move.

"I appreciate the offer but I can't. I've already made plans to meet with someone after I leave from here." The woman's hand was by her collar bone, the same one that was now spewing out clouds of smoke again.

"Of course you have plans." The rat smile was back on Yuko's face. "Who are you going to visit?"

"It's my boyfriend, we've been dating for almost two years now. We were both in the same creative writing class my freshman year. He graduated a year ago and now he's got this great new job, working at a consulting firm." The smoke coming from the woman's finger was dark now and thicker, the clouds filling up the space around her. And the room was starting to smell like a dumpster full of fish and baby poop had thrown up all over the place.

"What's that smell?!" Watanuki clapped her hand over her mouth and nose in disgust.

"Well, I'd love to have some tea with you the next time I come." Yuko stood up with the customer.

"Of course, that will be just fine. Maru, Moro, please show her out." The door outside slid all the way open as the twins smiled.

"As you wish, mistress." They said in perfect unison. "Follow us this way please." They gestured toward the hall and the woman walked out with the girls.

"I have a feeling this will be the last time we see that unfortunate girl." Yuko stated, all her smiled gone.

"I don't understand." Watanuki said, standing up and walking over to her boss while brushing down her upstart skirt. "Wasn't that ring supposed to help her?"

"By itself it can't." Yuko sat down again as she talked.

"It looked like there was some sort of smoke coming out of her hand whenever she answered one of your questions."

"Yes. That black smoke is the reason that that girl has been having a arm time moving her arm. I believe that she is approaching her limit." Yuko held up her little finger. "Her little finger is just the first thing that will fail her." Watanuki was worried about the customer, concerned for her safely now that she'd spoken to Yuko about what she'd seen. Watanuki made up her mind.

"Do you think it would be alright if I left for a little while?"

"To go after her?" Watanuki didn't respond. "You plan to tell her everything I said about her, aren't you?" No reply. "It won't work the way you want it to, Watanuki. She has to discover her flaw for herself or she cannot be healed."

"Well I'm still going." Watanuki turned to leave.

"Alright, do whatever you like. Its fine with me if you don't finish today's hours. Just remember: whatever you don't get finished today you're going to have to take care of tomorrow." Watanuki grabbed her shoes as Yuko called out after her. Watanuki walked out of the shop and looked around for the woman. She was walking down the street and had just turned the corner. The girl ran after the woman , back into one of the busy business and shopping districts in the city.

"She didn't leave the shop all that long ago so how could she have gotten this far already?" Watanuki asked herself when she lost sight of the woman. She skidded to a halt when she saw the woman come out of a business, sighing with relief.

"So that's five turkey sandwhiches and one tuna?" The customer asked another woman who came out of the same building behind her.

"Thanks for picking those up for us!"

"Sure. I'll be back soon!" Another woman's head popped out.

"Soda too, please!" She called after the customer.

"Got it!"

"That's weird." Watanuki said. "Didn't she tell us she was going to meet up with her boyfriend?"

"Can you believe she's going to be turning twenty seven this year?" The first, brunette woman asked the other blonde one.

"Twenty seven? Are you sure? She looks like she's so young!" The blonde woman replied, looking after the customer woman. Watanuki grimaced. I'm getting really good at this eavesdropping thing, aren't I?

"And she uses it to her advantage." The brunette replied enviously. "Whenever we go to parties she always lies about her age."

"Does she do it to try to impress men? I thought she already had a boyfriend." The blonde asked.

"She doesn't." The short-haired brunette put her hand on her hip. "She's been single for a while now.

"But she was talking about having lunch with him just last week."

"Oh, yeah? What she'd say about him?"

"A lot. Apparently he's been working overseas with some architectural company."

"So it's changed again." The brunette shrugged. "She's lying. I don't think she's had a boyfriend the entire time she's worked here."

"Why do you think that?"

"Two months ago, she said her boyfriend was a lawyer and before that he was a curator of a museum!" The brunette scoffed. "It changes all the time. I think she's just trying to impress everyone. I doubt she means any harm by it but the lies just seem to slip out naturally."

"Hm. I guess it's just a bad habit."

"Habit?" Watanuki repeated. A light clicked on in her brain. "That's it!" The seer ran after the woman, breath huffing from her mouth until she caught up. The woman was talking to a girl in a green jacket, some sort of worker with a clipboard.

"Excuse me? Could you answer some questions for a survey?" The worker asked the woman.

"A survey? Alright." She replied cheerfully.

"First: how old are you?"

"I'm twenty four." She's lying again! As the woman spoke, a dark pillar of smoke formed from her lies and surrounded both of them, but not being able to see any of it, both women were oblivious to the stink and the smoke.

"How would you describe your job?"

"I work in fashion."

"Are you married?"

"Yes, for two years." Watanuki clapped her hand over her nose as the black cloud got bigger, the smell of rotten fish and sewage hitting her like a ton of bricks.

"The same smoke as before! It must come out whenever she's lying!" The girl coughed.

"Thanks very much for your time!" The survey woman bowed in thanks and the customer woman walked away smiling. Watanuki followed and barely caught her next words.

"I think I'm getting that strange feeling again. My neck is so stiff it's hard to move!" Her hand came up to rub her stiff neck as she continued to walk down the street. Watanuki trailed behind the woman for a couple more blocks, keeping an eye on her and the smoke that was clinging to her. They reached a big intersection and started crossing when the customer woman was stopped by another brunette woman in a teal business suit.

"Hey! It's been a while! How are you?" Apparently they knew each other. "I mean, how long has it been?"

"I don't know." The customer woman replied, shrugging.

"Well, too long! How is everything?"

"As good as ever, I suppose." The woman brought her hand up, the one with the ring.

"What a lovely ring! Is it from your boyfriend?"

"Uh huh!" More smoke spewed out of her little finger, completely obscuring her face from Watanuki's view.

"It's just beautiful! Is it an antique?"

"Yes, a family heirloom." Quit lying!

"But it isn't on your ring finger?" The friend asked pointedly.

"He's very particular. He's still looking around for the perfect engagement ring. He wants me to have the best!"

"So you are getting married then! How exciting! What sort of job does he have?"

"A doctor. He works in pediatrics."

"Oh that's great! You're going to marry a doctor?" The friend's eyes bugged out just a little as she smiled. "You have to be the luckiest girl in the world!"

"Well, we haven't set a date yet. He's ready but I'm just not sure. I think we should give it a bit more time, but he really is an amazing guy!" The smoke was dancing around her now, almost like a living thing and still more of it was coming from the woman's little finger.

"Oh, look at that!" The friend noticed the walk signal flashing, warning pedestrians that the light was going to change. "The light's changing! Well, it was really great catching up like this! I'll give you a call soon! We'll do lunch next time, 'kay?"

"Sure, see you later!" The women waved at each other before the friend walked off. By waving, it seemed that the customer woman noticed that the ring wasn't as pretty as it used to be. Watanuki could already see that but it was like she was noticing it for the first time. The woman swiveled her hand around to look at the jewelry. "What's happened to the ring? It looks dirtier than before. Maybe if I just polish it for a bit…"

The ring is a bandage, not a cure. Yuko's words popped into Watanuki's head, a warning that she'd given on the first visit. If she takes that ring off…she's going to be in trouble!

"No! Wait! You can't take off that ring!" Watanuki shouted, but it was already too late. The ring came off and the smoke was let free, billowing upward and out in a clogging mass of stink.

"Hey! Ah…what's happening?" The woman said, not moving and inch from where she was. "I can't move!" From beyond the smoke Watanuki could see the flickering of lights, it was a truck! The truck started honking and Watauki remembered that the light had changed and there weren't supposed to be any walkers in the street! She gasped and almost ran out to help the woman when the truck's wheels squealed in the effort to brake before hitting the woman and Watanuki cringed, shutting her eyes tight so she didn't have to see the impact. Everything went silent, the tinkling of the ring bouncing toward Watanuki the loudest sound she could hear. It rolled to a stop just shy of her foot and clanked until it too fell silent, replaced by the wailing of sirens.

Hours later, Watanuki walked back heavily to Yuko's shop, going in and finding Yuko on her couch, smoking that damn pipe. Watanuki pulled out a handkerchief and set it on the table, opening it up to display the dirty ring. Yuko looked at it a moment before addressing the girl.

"I thought I told you you didn't have to come back tonight and finish your work." She started. "Was it really necessary to accompany the girl to the hospital? Though, I can't say I'm surprised you did." Watanuki had gone to the hospital, accompanying the woman in the ambulance and then waited for her to be carefully deposited in her room to heal. And then she'd left, heading back to Yuko's tired and worn out.

"I don't really see how I had any choice." Watanuki yawned. "There wasn't anyone else around her who knew her and could look after her. She needed someone." Watanuki smiled, happy to tell Yuko the good news. "Fortunately, it looks like she's going to recover from all of this."

"Let's just hope she learned something from it." Yuko leaned back on her couch, crossed her bare leg over the one still in her dress and took a puff from her pipe.

"Yuko," Watanuki started, "If you knew this was going to happen, why didn't you tell her? She could've just stopped lying." Yuko sat up and reached out her hand to pick up the ring in her pointer finger and thumb. She stared at it hard.

"The lies that the girl was telling were for her own sake and no one else's. it wouldn't make a difference if I told her to stop, even if she knew the consequence." The ring disintegrated in the witch's fingertips and Yuko let the pieces drift to the tabletop. "She would still lie. She has to realize that it's her lies that are weighing her body down. That's the only way to stop her."

"So you really don't think she has a chance?" Watanuki asked, surprised at Yuko's speech.

"That's not what I'm saying at all. She has an infinite amount of chances."

"That's good, right?" Watanuki asked, hopeful that the customer's situation could change. Yuko gave her the look that said you-dummy-that's-not-the-point.

"I just want you to realize that you're not the one she needs help from right now." There was a pregnant pause as Watanuki tried to digest that bit of information. And in the minute or so it took for her to ponder that, Yuko had somehow silently switched from leaning and sitting on one side of the couch to doing the same on the other side, not a hair out of place. Watanuki shrugged it off like the rest of the strange things that went on in the shop.

"Yuko, may I ask you something?"

"Yes, what is it?"

"Did you know everything that was going to happen to her from the minute she walked in here?" Yuko took a drag from her pipe and blew out her smoke in delicate swirls. How does she do that? "Do you know what's going to happen to her now? Is it just this girl or can you tell anyone's future just by meeting them once? If that's true you already know what my future is going to be like." When she first started working for the shop owner, Watanuki had had a hard time stomaching all the fortune telling, mumbo jumbo but after a while she did see that Yuko had a gift and a talent for it, so now the questions she was asking didn't seem so ridiculous. Yuko leaned forward on one of her hands, the other down by her knees with the pipe as she sat.

"I have many guesses about your future but that doesn't mean I'm right."

"Why not?" Watanuki leaned closer, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"With the girl, I knew her habits and their consequences, that made her future very predictable for me. Your world is larger than hers – who knows what you might do with it? Any choice you make could change your future. In this world, there is only one possible past for all of us, but it contains an infinite number of futures."

"I'm sorry, but I can't really say that I understand where you're going with all of this." Watanuki admitted her brain block, confused and tired after her long day.

"That's okay, I didn't expect you to comprehend it all yet." Yuko have the girl a look she hadn't seen yet. "By the way, I'm hungry." Pause. "How about some diner? Sound good?" Yuko blushed in anticipation, a huge smile on her face. The three-sixty on the conversation threw Watanuki for a second, but then she lost it.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?! How can you possibly be hungry already?!" The girl waved a fist at her boss.

"Some dinner!~"

"Some dinner!~" Maru and Moro appeared next to Watanuki out of nowhere, dancing around as the girl clutched her head in annoyance.

"Not fair! Earlier you said I was done for the day! I'm being over worked!" Watanuki complained over the twins happy chanting.

"Earlier I was still full from breakfast, but now I have my appetite back." Yuko's not-so-serious face popped up. "So I think it's about time you stop all this silly whining and get to the kitchen like a good worker." Watanuki waved her right hand back and forth disdainfully.

"Even part-time workers like to be treated with some respect." Yuko gave her a sly look.

"I was going to order something easy, but since I respect you as a chef perhaps I won't." Watanuki's face twitched and then she growled at her employer.

"That's not fair! You can't change your mind!" She hissed through closed teeth. "Now just order something easy!" Yuko's pipe came up so she could have a smoke.

"We'll keep it light: tea over rice and sea bream, followed by toasted fish fin. I like mine extra crispy. Watanuki sighed and swung herself around to head to the kitchen. She got to work knowing that Yuko wasn't worth the trouble of arguing with now.

"I'm seriously underappreciated here! Does she know how hard it is to make this stuff?" Watanuki grumbled, warming some sake for dinner. Several minutes later, Mokona, Maru and Moro were distracting her with their antics and she set the fish fin on fire, ("It's on fire!~" Maur said happily and Moro repeated it again, even more happy) leading to hilarity as the raven tried to put it out with Mokona shouting, "Where'd you learn to dance like that?~" and laughing gleefully.

In the other room, Yuko listened to the chaos and crashing dishes in her kitchen in her kitchen and puffed her pipe solemnly. She looked up, as if talking to someone that was and wasn't in the room with her.

"It's so hard to find good help these days, I'm glad she came along. She works hard and she doesn't really complain all that much. Maru and Moro need someone to look after them and Mokona has found her to be a thoroughly amusing diversion." A particularly loud crash come from the kitchen along with a lot of yelling and cursing and giggling. "You'll be just fine. As long as you remember that his world is what you choose to make of it. You can have any future you want, Watanuki." Yuko smiled, and went back to puffing smoke swirls in the air.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

"Are you sure…about this?" Watanuki asked timidly, batting her eyes innocently.

"I'm ready, Watanuki." Yuko's cranberry eyes opened up to look at the nervous girl. "Now, give it to me!"From all outside viewers, this exchange might border on the naughty, erotic side, but in all actually, the pair was playing baseball. Yuko's blue heeled boot swung out onto the ground and she pulled the bat behind her menacingly, waving it back and forth in anticipation. "Pitch, girl!"

"Pitch!" Mokona shouted, pulling down its catcher mask and standing behind Yuko.

"And don't let your skirt flip up! Someone might see your panties!~" Yuko teased.

"Leave my skirt out of this!" The raven yelled, bringing her leg up to pitch the ball, hand and glove wrapped tightly around the projectile she aimed to dig into Yuko's face. Now while this scene of two females and a rabbit might seem strange, it was even stranger in the fact that both women were wearing skirts while doing it – Watanuki in her school uniform and Yuko in a blue, long sleeved, mini dress with a scarf and thigh high boots. To them, it was perfectly normal (a fact that Watanuki would shiver at if she actually had time to realized just how many times she went along with Yuko's harebrained ideas, but right now she was supposed to be throwing a baseball). Watanuki's arms went behind her head and then she swung them around to throw the ball as hard as she could, zooming straight towards Yuko and the pork bun. Yuko's triumphant smile flashed across her face as the ball cracked against her bat and then soared into the air with her mighty swing.

"Gah!" Watanuki gasped, watching the ball disappear from sight.

"And it's outta there!" Mokona cheered, hopping into Yuko's shoulder as the witch brought up her hand to her forehead to watch her hit, the bat resting on her shoulder. A few seconds later there was a crash, the sound of breaking glass and several curse words floating in from the direction the ball went. Watanuki cringed, pitying whoever had to clean up that mess. Yuko just laughed along with Mokona.

"What broke?" The fur ball asked amusedly.

"My guess would be that it's somebody's window!" Yuko chortled.

"Uh oh!" Mokona hopped on top of the bat to get a better view. Watanuki turned around hollowly, her previous feeling of pity being directed at herself because with those two she knew what was going to happen.

"Good luck with that!~" Mokona and Yuko both said, waving the problem off on Watanuki.

"Wait!" She snapped. "So I'm the one who's supposed to clean that up?!" Watanuki was then shoved on her way and trudged across the park into the residential district and knocked on the door of the house with the broken window. She then spent the better part of thirty minutes to an hour cleaning up Yuko's mess while the guy in the house yelled at her and all the girl could do was apoloigize over and over again. By the time she'd made it back to where Yuko was in the park, the witch was hanging out on the swing set and doing the monkey bars just to pass the time.

"What a nice day." Yuko commented, sipping a cup of tea on the playground. The trio was camped out in a park, sitting on animal seats (Yuko was on the dog, Mokona on the duck), their baseball scores scratched into the sand. Watanuki hadn't scored a single point and Yuko was getting up into the fifties.

"Yeah, for you maybe!" Watanuki hissed, pouring her boss more tea when she held out her cup. "Don't you at least feel a little bit guilty? Come on! You broke someone's kitchen window! The ball landed on the table, there was food everywhere! I had to clean it all up and listen so some guy yell at me the whole tim-"

"Watanuki!" Yuko was saved from a longer rant by Wari's entrance into their conversation, the cute boy waving as he ran over.

"Oh, Wari!~" The seer waved back, a blush spreading over her cheeks. "Good to see you!"

"So sorry I'm late! Thanks so much for meeting me here!" Watanuki put her hand behind her head sheepishly.

"No, please, don't worry, really!" Watanuki ducked down and scooped Mokona off the duck and threw it elsewhere. "Here have a seat!" She said while the black fur ball whined through the air.

"Thanks, how nice of you." Wari took a seat and put his school bag on his knees. Watanuki turned to the bag she'd brought with her and started digging into it.

"Are you hungry? I think I might have some crackers in here." She said cheerfully, humming as she searched.

"So, you're Wari?" Yuko asked, fiddling with her red scarf and fixing the pink flower attacked to it at her neck. "About time. I've heard so many good things about you from our Watanuki."

"He-hey!" Watanuki whispered to her employer in a nervous-polite tone. "Are you trying to kill me? Please don't say anything else like that, okay!~" She was smiling, but obviously embarrassed.

"And you're Yuko, right?" Wari asked pleasantly. "I've heard about you too! Watanuki told me you're the owner of the shop she works at after school. Nice to meet you."

"Now that we know each other, tell me what it is you came to ask me about." Yuko got right down to business as she settled into her seat.

"Of course." Wari's adorable smile looked a little painful now, like she was troubled by something. "It's about a friend of mine from another school. There's this game her classmates started playing," Wari's smiled was now completely gone. "Angel. And ever since then, some strange things have started happening. I thought you would know something about it, Yuko."

"What is that? Angel?" Watanuki asked, looking from Wari, to her boss.

"Hm. It's a kind of fortune-telling game. A board that channels spirits to foretell the future." Just hearing the game made Watanuki shiver. Anything to do with spirits she stayed away from and even now (after working for Yuko in her strange little shop) she still couldn't understand why someone would willingly try to call spirits to them. "At least, that's what it's supposed to do, but it sounds as if something else is happening here."

"So I was right. Something's wrong." Wari's voice got all worried and he brought his hand up to his mouth, thinking and stressing at the same time. Yuko stood up and walked over to the boy.

"And you're looking for a way to help this friend of yours?"

"Yeah, I'd like too. I'm worried about her." Watanuki only had time for the fleeting thought of I'd wish he'd worry about me like that! Before Yuko roped him into the deal.

"Alright, your request is accepted. We'll help." There was a pause and even from behind, Watanuki was sure Yuko's cat-ate-the-canary grin was on her face. "Well, she will." Yuko jerked her thumb back at her little worker.

"Just me?! Are you crazy!" Watanuki ranted on, doing crazy arm motions and bitching while Yuko kept talking to herself. "Are you insane?! It's one thing to cook meals and throw a baseball but this is ridiculous! Not this!"

"Of course, I don't feel comfortable sending her out alone to do this. She'll need someone to go with her." Yuko tapped her lip with her pointer finger, thinking.

"How about me? I'll go." Wari volunteered. Yuko shook her head.

"She'll need someone else." And after that they left, the exchange pleasant and Watanuki fawning over Wari before being dragged away by Yuko. Then went back to the shop and Yuko decided she wanted to change for the third time that day and ordered Watanuki to prepare a snack. The girl sighed and grumbled, but did as she was told, donning her smock and tying her hair back with a handkerchief.

"Wari's handsome. I never expected you were such a charmer to boys, Watanuki." Yuko was changing behind a sliding screen, but that didn't stop her from seductively pulling off her scarf and letting it drift to the floor, her arm gracefully coming into view and then disappearing into a silhouette once again.

"I don't understand why I have to be the one to do this." The seer grumbled some more, pouring tea. She could hear the rustle of Yuko's kimono as the witch put it on, knowing that it was going to be a very flamboyant outfit just like always.

"Because," Yuko started. "Oh, Maru? Will you hand me that sash over there? And Moro? Please bring me that clip."

"'Kay!" Both girls ran in opposite directions, doing their mistress' bidding.

"You didn't answer: why do I have to do it?" Watanuki was pissed off at the prospect of doing more work for Yuko, even if it involved Wari.

"Because Watanuki, if I had to do I would have to ask for compensation from Wari." Watanuki clapped her fist into her other hand, realization dawning on her.

"But you can't!" An image of Yuko holding Wari's beautiful face popped into her mind, the prospects horrifying. "If that happens, Wari will be trapped in Yuko's web like I am!" Yuko's arm snaked out from behind the screen and dug the heel of her hand into the back of Watanuki's head.

"Ow!"

"It's not good to speak ill of your employer." The girl rubbed her aching head.

"But what am I supposed to do?" Watanuki asked. "If I run into something dangerous the only thing I'll be any good for is seeing it." She turned to glare holes in Yuko's screen.

"And that's why we're inviting somebody else along!~" Yuko replied teasingly, her bare leg coming out from behind the screen to wave at the raven.

"Does it really have to be that jerk Domeki?!" A cross vein popped out on Watanuki's forehead, her teeth sharp as she complained about her impending doom. "Why do you insist on torturing me?! I'm serious here! This is cruel and unusual punishment!" The girl grabbed her head in frustration, growling.

"But it would be so lonely by yourself!~" Yuko coaxed. "And anyway, just think about how grateful Wari will be when you and Doumeki help out his friend!"

"Thanks for running this by me first, Yuko!" Watanuki threw her arms down angrily.

"Wari was so happy when you agreed to help her!~" Watanuki stiffened, Wari's gorgeous, smiling face appearing in her head.

"Wow! Thanks! You're the best!" He'd said. Watanuki was blushing all over again, her hands on her cheeks and she wiggled back and forth. She was so gone she didn't even notice Mokona on her shoulder, a shit-eating grin on its face.

"Yeah, and he looked so handsome too!" Watanuki sighed happily.

"Way to go!" Mokona said.

"You don't want to let her down." Watanuki knew that Yuko had completely pacified her, but she didn't want to admit it and she was also still thinking about how cute her crush was, to gone to care. "Now, aren't you supposed to meet Doumeki outside the school?" Watanuki's good mood snapped.

"How am I supposed to know?! You're the one who invited him!" Her hands were back on her head and she threw Mokona off as she swung her body around to get herself pumped up. "I'm ready now!" She cried triumphantly, "I may not want to have anything to do with that jerk, Doumeki but for Wari's sake I will go!" A round of applause came from Maru, Moro and Yuko.

"Well said!" Maru said.

"Well said!" Moro repeated.

"They grow up so quickly!" Yuko finished.

"You're my hero!" Mokona jumped up to add its two cents. Yuko slid her changing panel back, now fully clad in a maroon, purple and pale green kimono with lots of lace, smoke detail and crescent moon accents, the sash she had Maru grab for her the one of the most elaborate pieces Watanuki had ever seen her wear. She really did look like something from another world and Watanuki wondered where the witch had picked up on that presence.

"You'll be alright. I may not be going with you, but I'll still be able to advice." Yuko leaned on the panel, one hand still pulling the door back.

"Really?" Watanuki clapped her hands together and gave Yuko the shiniest eyes ever. "You will?"

"I'll need compensation of course. You're regular job isn't going to cover it." I knew there was a catch!

"Yuko!" Tears sprang to Watanuki's eyes. "Please just cut me a break this one time!"

"No." Crap in a bucket. "Here. You're going to need these." Yuko held up something Watanuki had never seen before and never wanted to see again.

"Wait. Why?" She rapid fired, blanching at the prospect of wearing what Yuko was holding.

Twenty minutes later, Watanuki was walking down the sidewalk, well, trudging, dragging, and dawdling, whatever you'd like to call stalling. She was unhappy on multiple accounts. She was peeved that she was set up, peeved that she had to go with Doumeki of all people and peeved that she had to wear…she didn't even want to think about it! She was nearing the school and spotted Doumeki by the gate. Well, Doumeki's leg because he was leaning against the side of the gate that she couldn't see. She dreaded walking up to him looking like she did and nervously fiddled with the fabric of her skirt, avoiding the light of the streetlamp so no one else saw what she was wearing.

"Where you been?" Doumeki asked, standing up to face the girl. She was beat red, the stupid headphones she was wearing finally being displayed for all the world to see. Watanuki had no clue where Yuko had gotten them, but they looked like rounded, white and pink cat ears…something a cosplayer would wear and Watanuki was not a cosplayer! The raven stopped a few feet from Doumeki, steeling her mind and ego for whatever insults or jabs he'd throw her way. They stared at each other a moment, waiting in silence. Doumeki's face didn't change, just stayed the dead pan it always was as the endless moment carried on. "Let's go." He said, giving the girl emotional whip lash.

"What's your problem!? Make fun of me already! I want to get all the wise cracks out of the way right now!" Watanuki yelled stomping her feet and pointing at her ridiculous headphones.

"Hey, if that's your style it's not really my place to comment." Doumeki replied, his voice the same as always. Watanuki was flustered, red in the face and completely ticked off that this boy didn't act like he was supposed to. He was supposed to laugh at her, dammit!

"You think I actually chose to wear these things!?" Watanuki growled, thinking about how she'd gotten roped into wearing the damn things.

"No way! I'm not wearing these things outside!" Watanuki yelled while wearing those things. Yuko was sitting on the floor drinking tea, calmly ignoring the sputtering girl. "What could I possibly need them for?!"

"They're just like headphones." She replied, watching Mokona march around on the floor wearing the other set that looked like Watanuki's. "This way you can hear me no matter how far away you are and I can hear you."

"And why couldn't we just use regular head phones?!" The seer waved an angry fist at her boss. Maru and Moro were reading a picture book over her, each holding one side of the book as they read out loud.

"There was no one in the city. There were houses and you could see light shining from the windows. But in the streets, there was no one. Peeking inside from the window, there were people. But they are with them. I look in other houses. These people are with them, too. This city is just like all the rest…" (2)

"I didn't have any." Yuko told Watanuki as the twins kept reading.

"And you couldn't find anything better than these stupid things?!"

"Sorry. Those are the best kind." Yuko was serious. Watanuki calmed down, curious.

"Really? Why?"

"Because they're funny!" Yuko laughed, her I-got-you smile splitting her face. Watanuki did one of her little dances and gave up.

"She's right. They are pretty funny looking." Doumeki commented after hearing Watanuki's explanation. The raven pointed an accusing finger at her classmate.

"You think I don't know that!?"

"You see? Domeki likes them too! They're cute on you, little Watanuki!" Yuko said through the headphones. "Since he can't hear me through these can you tell him what I have to say?" Watanuki make a face.

"Really?"

"Tell him I say, 'Hello.'"

"What do you need to talk to that jerk for?" Watanuki could just picture Yuko lounging on the floor with the other set of headphones on (she looked great in them while Watanuki just looked funny) and was probably playing a game of chess with Mokona (with Mokona shaped pieces she might add) just like when the girl left.

"Watanuki, I'm trying to be polite. We've never met before. We need to be properly introduced. So please tell Doumeki I say hello." Watanuki growled again, grinding her teeth together before giving up. (She gave up a lot when it came to Yuko, the witch was just to tiring to fight sometimes.)

"Yuko wants me to give you a message." Doumeki turned toward Watanuki and Watauki looked away out of spite. "'Hi Doumeki, how are you doing?'"

"I'm fine, thank you."

"'That's good. My name's Yuko and I'm Watanuki's employer.'"

"Pleased to meet you."

"'Please take care of Watanuki for me tonight.'"

"Of course." This is the strangest conversation I've had to date, Watanuki thought, knowing that not many people had a three way conversation through headphones at night in front of a supposedly creepy school with spirit related problems.

"'Watanuki said that she thinks about you all the time and that she would die without you'-Hey! I never said that, Yuko!" Watanuki caught onto Yuko's trick and yelled at her, blushing and even deeper shade of red because she'd said that to Doumeki, her rival.

"Well, the headphones are working." Watanuki could hear Yuko's you're-so-dumb-Watanuki smile through the headphones. "Now, I think it's time to get started. I'll be here the whole time. Ask if you have any questions, okay?" Watanuki was still making disgusted noises at the witch through the speakers. Mokona's laugh could be heard and Watanuki was about to yell at Yuko for somehow finding a third pair when the pair clinked glasses of sake (that Watanuki had provided for them) and shouted, "To the school!"

"Yeah!"

"Yeah I know! I'm going, okay?!" Watanuki stomped her foot like a child again and rushed the gate, leaping up to grab the top of it with her hands. She hung there for a moment and then snapped at Doumeki. "What are you waiting for?! Let's get this over with!"

"You're the one who's not going anywhere." Doumeki walked over and stood under Watanuki, almost as if making sure she wouldn't fall, but Watanuki didn't believe that. The girl struggled to pull herself up and when she got her foothold at the top of the gate she looked up and gasped. A huge cloud of darkness was winding around the school like a snake, thick and clotted with and evil aura. It twisted and coiled around the building, alive and oppressive to the girl's perception.

"What is it?" Doumeki asked.

"There's something dark hovering over the school…a spirit maybe?" She looked down and saw Doumeki looking at the school. "I know you don't see anything. I'm the only one who can." She said harshly. "There's something wrong in there. This is unbelievable. This spirit is bigger than anything I've ever seen! And powerful."

"Do you think it has something to do with all the strange things happening in the school?"

"Yeah." Watanuki stared at the school a little longer, watching the spirit. She really didn't want to go in there with Doumeki, but even worse, she really didn't want to go in there alone so she'd have to deal with the lesser of the evils.

"You know I can see your panties from this angle." Doumeki informed the girl nonchalantly. Watanuki blushed again, a shiver prickling up her spine as she noticed that he really could see up her skirt when he stood below her. "Blue's a good color on you."

"SHUT UP!" Watanuki fumed and hastily swung her leg over the side of the gate and jumped down before he could see anything else. The girl couldn't even look at him for a few minutes as he climbed over and could sense his amused smile (that is, if he ever smiled). Yuko was laughing at as well from inside the headphones.

"Have you reached the entrance?" The shop owner asked after she'd calmed down.

"Yeah."

"I take it you found a spirit there."

"Oh yeah. A very strong one."

"Describe it to me."

"It's dark and moving in circles, like it's trying to wrap itself around the school or something." Watanuki shivered again, hating the fact that she was going to have to go inside the building with that huge thing wrapped around it.

"Interesting." Pause. "It's a big shot. Careful." Watanuki started to cry.

"That's just great." Doumeki just looked at her.

"Alright, the next step is breaking into the school." The seer's tears dried up and she hissed.

"I knew that, thank you!" Watanuki started walking toward the school and Doumeki followed close behind, his arms crossed over his chest. "You know, I think she's enjoying this a little too much!"

The boy and girl walked around the school, looking for a way to get inside. The grounds were dark and Watanuki almost wanted to ask Doumeki to walk closer to her just so she could feel like spirits weren't going to pop out and try to eat her or possess her or something, but she hadn't lost too much pride from the headphones to actually say anything to that jerk. Thankfully though, Doumeki kept up with her as they checked all the windows, looking on the first floor and the second as they turned the corner to the side of the school. While she was looking, part of the huge spirit snaked by Watanuki and she froze in her tracks, squeaking in fear as it passed her and into a cracked window. Watanuki ran right under the window and tried to jump up to it, but it was much higher than the gate was and she wasn't getting up there without help. The girl sulked as Doumeki walked up beside her, giving her a look that said I'll-help-you-but-only-if-you-ask with his deep bronze eyes. And she hated to ask.

"I can't reach." The raven stated curtly, looking up at Doumeki with hard eyes.

"'Kay. What do you want me to do?" The brunette asked calmly. Watanuki grit her teeth, clenched her fists and debated for ten seconds with herself on the pros and cons of asking for help or looking like a fool when she clearly couldn't jump to the window and finally gave up.

"Can you help me up?" She grumbled.

"'Can you help me up…?" Doumeki started. Watanuki gave him a death glare.

"Please?" She growled, hating the whole conversation. Doumeki threaded his fingers together to make a foot hold for the girl's foot and bent down to help her up. Watanuki put a hand on his shoulder and her foot in his hands to boost herself up. "And don't look up my skirt!" She ordered as the strong boy lifted her up to the window's ledge.

"Too late. I'm really liking the lace." Watanuki used her free foot to kick him in the face, mushng his cheek against her shoe.

"Jerk!"

"See how well you two get along?" Yuko teased.

"And you shut up!" Watanuki snapped at the headphones. The girl scooted over to the window and pushed it open all the way and grabbing the frame before leaning down and offering her and to Doumeki (even though she'd love to leave him down there). Doumeki grabbed her hand and pulled himself up most of the way with his monster arm strength since Watanuki was a little short in the physical department. Once securely on the ledge, Watanuki jumped through the window and into the empty class room, hands instantly clapping over her mouth as she was surrounded in spirit aura. This time it smelled like wet dog and rotting potatoes.

"Ug." Watanuki waded through the stink and purple aura to open the door. The hallway wasn't much better – packed with spirit stink and clouds of purple.

"How's the inside?" Yuko asked.

"It's a disaster! There are spirits everywhere and a really disgusting smell!" Watanuki's voice sounded funny because she was pinching her nose shut with one hand so she didn't pass out from the smell of spirit.

"Does Doumeki smell anything?"

"Hey, do you smell that?" Watanuki asked, turning to her shadow.

"Nope."

"He can't smell it," Watanuki reported to Yuko.

"Well, I would've been surprised if he could." Watauki and Doumek stepped out into the hallway, the corridor seeming endless and creepy in the darkness. "It looks like Wari was right about the damage Angel has caused. Something's very wrong."

"Well, thank you for making me even more creeped out, Yuko." Watanuki tsked.

"That's what I'm here for!~"

"Shut up." The girl started walking down the hallway, looking for the spirit, the game or whatever else might explain what was going on in the school. All the classrooms were empty and there was no one (and no things) in sight. The pair made it to the stairs where the smell was getting stronger, now hinted with the smell of poop. Watanuki cringed and started walking up the stairs, the oppressive aura of the sprits around her making her body heavy. She refused to unplug her nose, so she had to use one had instead of two to help haul herself up by the railing. Doumeki walked behind her as if nothing was wrong, which was totally unfair.

"Where is the smell strongest?" Yuko asked a few minutes later.

"It gets worse the further up we go." Watanuki replied, already tired and strung out from her ordeal.

"Then you need to keep climbing."

"Okay." The raven mumbled.

"What's the matter?" Doumeki asked, trying to show some worry about the girl. He came off as unconcerned again because his voice was monotone. "You sick?"

"Well, I'll be fine!" Watanuki snapped, some of her usually snarky-ness coming back as her rival piped up. "What I don't understand is how you could look so relaxed!"

"Probably because I don't feel anything weird going on."

"I hate you." Watanuki grumbled, continuing to walk up the stairs. "Usually when there are so many spirits in one area they'll start zeroing in on me right away. Why not now?"

"It's because you have such a reliable friend with your, of course!~ You should be thanking Doumeki!" Yuko pointed out.

"Thanking him?" Watanuki sighed, slumping her torso. Doumeki took another step closer.

"What is it?"

"She wants me to thank him but I can't even look at his face without-" Watanuki turned around, keeping her head down and clenching her fists in frustration. "Without wanting to-" Doumeki was giving her a confused look (well as confused as if face of stone would let him be – which was the ever so slight furrow in his eyebrows).

"Bleeeeh!" Watanuki yanked down one of her eyelids with her finger and stuck out her tongue at the boy.

"Did she tell you to do that?" Doumeki asked, referring to Yuko.

"Shut up!" Watanuki swiveled around, pinching her nose again and stomped up the stairs until she was being pressed down on again by the dark aura and had to slow down to a stumble. She heard Doumeki sigh behind her.

"This is fun!~" Yuko said through the headphones.

"Yeah!" Mokona agreed. Watanuki just growled and continued shambling up the dark, gloomy stairs. They reached the roof landing soon after that, Watanuki nearly falling to the ground in a dead faint. She swayed back and forth for a minute before stabilizing herself.

"Is up here where the smell is the strongest?" Doumeki asked.

"Uh huh. Over there." Watanuki pointed to the door leading to the roof.

"On the rooftop?"

"Go out onto the roof." Yuko ordered. "Be very careful." Watanuki was going to answer with a sarcastic comment on how she was already being careful but refrained because Yuko was dead serious now. The girl reached for the door knob and timidly wrapped her hand around it before turning the knob. She cracked the door just the tiniest bit and suddenly all the aura trapped inside the school started getting sucked outside. Then the door instantly swung inward, nearly smashing into Watanuki as whatever was outside forced its way in.

"Gah!" Watanuki threw up both her hands to shield herself as she was pushed back by the force of the aura-wind thing. The raven felt a pair of supporting hands around her waist as she skidded back and refused to acknowledge Doumeki's stabilizing presence and solid body (half out of pride and the other half was too distracted by the smell and wind now that both her hands were occupied shielding her face instead of holding her nose).

Watanuki took a step forward, pushing her way outside and out onto the roof top, each footfall a challenge until suddenly, the wind was gone just as it came. That's when the spirits attacked. The silvery/purple blob crashed down on her back, forcing her into a crouch as she grunted. The blob split into three, two going to each of her arms to pull them back and the other to her leg to yank it forward, contorting the girl's body into a strange dance she had no control over. Then it let do and the raven crashed to the ground as the spirit tackled her again, pinning her to rooftop. She struggled to lift herself up, but the spirit was persistent and held her down. Watanuki heard Doumeki walk up beside her and knew he was seeing her do everything, only he couldn't see the spirit so it looked even odder and more stupid. And then the spirit was gone. Poof!

"You know you look like an idiot, right?" Doumeki said.

"Would you please shut up! I-" Watanuki cut herself off, eyes going wide as she sensed something more ominous behind her. There were voices too. "Did you hear that? Someone's crying!" She sat up and stumbled to her feet. Watanuki made her way across the roof top, looking across the railing to the weird blue/purple cloud on the other side of the school. The crying voices were getting louder and the stink was back so Watanuki plugged her nose again. The night disappeared, the cloud of spirit aura blocking out everything as Watanuki walked closer and closer. All she could see was darkness until three figures appeared, standing around a table. There were girls from the school, one blonde, one red head and one with black hair, still in their school uniforms too. The blonde and black-haired were holding onto the same object, the dark-haired girl leaning on the table as the three of them cried. It was plain freaky.

"Uh, hello." Watanuki greeted in her nasally voice, quiet enough not to scare the girls but loud enough to be heard over the sobs. "What are you girls doing here?"

"It's Angel!" The blonde girl's head snapped up, eyes wide in panic.

"It won't let us leave!" The black-haired girl told the raven.

"It won't listen to anything we tell it!" The blond spoke again.

"It writes the most frightening things and we don't know why!" The read head took her hands away from her eyes to speak and then went straight back to sobbing.

"Frightening? How?" Watanuki took her hand off her nose, forgetting all about the smell and looked at the blonde and brunette's hands. They were both clutching a pen that was poised over a board of characters. Watanuki looked closer and saw that someone had written "die" in kanji with the pen, the character taking up a good portion of the board.

"We've asked it to let us leave so many times!" One of the girls spoke but Watanuki didn't see which one because she was too busy looking at the board.

"But why not let go?" She asked, pointing out the obvious.

"We can't!" The dark-haired girl squeaked. "It told us that if we let go the three of us will be cursed!" The pen started moving, twitching ever so slightly.

"Look! It's starting to move again!" The blonde said, fear written all over her face. The pen started hovering over different words, circling certain ones before moving onto the next. "The…three…of…you…will…stay…here…until…you're…all…dead!"

"Oh no!" All three girls screamed.

"What's going on Watanuki?" Yuko asked.

"Well, there are three girls up here on the roof. They're using Angel."

"Who are you talking too?" The blonde asked desperately. "Not Angel is it?"

"No. No. Not that!" Watanuki consoled.

"Are we really trapped here until we die?!" The dark-haired girl asked, tears running down her face. The red head started walking toward Watanuki, going around the table.

"Can we use that to ask?" She was referring to the headphones.

"Uh, no-Wait!" The red head tried to grab Watanuki's silly head phones off her ears and the seer grabbed her wrists to stop her from doing so.

"Give it to me!" Watanuki leaned her head out of the girl's reach, pushing her away.

"I'm sorry but-" The other two girls screamed, the pen running around the board wilding and pulling their limp bodies along with it.

"My arm feels like it's going to rip off!" The dark-haired girl screamed.

"Why don't you just let go?!" Watanuki batted the red head away as she ran towards the other girls.

"If they do they'll-" The red head never finished. Watanuki grabbed the two girl's wrists as she reached the table and started pulling. They didn't want to let go so Watanuki pulled harder, screwing up her face in concentration.

"I can't quite get it!" She growled, pulling even harder.

"Watanuki, hold on a minute!" Yuko called, her voice slightly panicked, just slightly. "Watanuki!"

"It told us there's a curse!" The red head was clinging to the seer's arms now, trying to pull her away.

"We'll deal with that later!"

"We'll die!"

"Stop!" Watanuki yanked their hands apart, the pen clattering to the table and the smog around the four girls dissipating in a vortex-like swirl to reveal the gray evening. There was a moment of silence before the chaos.

"We're going to die!" All three girls screamed and started running for the railing at the edge of the school. Watanuki was faster and blocked off their path before they could do something stupid, leaning against the railing and warding them off.

"Just calm down!" Watanuki shot a look over to her classmate, just casually standing with his hands on his hips. "I could use a little help over here, Doumeki!" She hissed.

"With what?" He asked. "You've been talking to yourself for the past five minutes." Watanuki eyes went wide. If I'm by myself, then the girls are…! The seer's head snapped toward the girls who were strangely silent now. The aura was back. The girl's shoulders were slumped, their hands opening and closing like they wanted to grab something. Their eyes had disappeared, a grotesque splitting each girl's face.

"We warned you." They hissed, their voices taking on an otherworldly tone. All three sets of hands came up and pushed Watanuki backwards, her back levering over the edge of the railing and falling down. The close contact with the spirits blacked the girl out, falling unconscious as she tipped over the side.

Doumeki had no clue what was going on with his companion. Watanuki had been spouting nonsense ever since they had gotten on the roof. She did that weird little dance and fell to the ground and then walked across the roof and started doing some sort of mime thing; only she broke the rules of mimery and kept talking with her nagging voice. Doumeki just stood calmly through it all, guessing that Watanuki was talking to something he couldn't see. He was going to inform the girl about it, but she seemed to into her conversation to pay much attention to him. It was only when she wildly ran for the railing that she snapped at the boy and he just said it like it was: she was a weirdo who'd been talking to herself. Then the girl went limp, her eyes wide with horror and then she just tipped back, like she'd been pushed by someone who wasn't there. That's when Doumeki reacted. He ran towards the falling girl and grabbed onto her wrists before she could fall, her limp body swinging over a three story drop. Watanuki wasn't that heavy, but Doumeki had to support himself on the railing with his other arm anyway, slight panic for his companion temporarily taking over his whole brain.

And even though the boy couldn't see it, the girl's were disappearing, their bodies morphing into a yellow, clotted, dripping mass of red eyes and evil intent as they crept closer.

"Oi, Watanuki!" Doumeki called down. "You might want to wake up now. Open your eyes." Watanuki's eyes blinked open, the horrid spirit aura that made her lose consciousness dissipating for some reason. She blinked her eyes a few times and looked left, then right, her eyes bleary even with her glasses. She calmly noticed that she was dangling over the side of the building. Over the side of the building. Dangling. Ready to drop.

"WAHHH!" Watanuki screamed, flailing around as she realized where she was.

"Hurry and climb up." Doumeki didn't even point out the fact that it was the girl's stupidity that landed them in this situation.

"Trust me, I'm trying!" Watanuki reached up with her free hand as Doumeki let go of the railing and extended his down. The drippy, yellow spirit was closing in on Doumeki from behind, its ominous presence leaning over him. Watanuki's eyes went wide with a different sort of fear this time.

"Che!" Watanuki blanched, her body freezing. Doumeki looked behind him but saw nothing.

"I take it that there's something behind me?"

"There is! Whatever spirits the Angel game is channeling have apparently gathering into one spot!" Watanuki looked the red eyes of the spirit boring into her as it's wiggling arms reached towards Doumeki. It smiled, its red mouth grinning cruelly. Its arm wound around Doumeki free one, the one Watanuki was trying to grab, squeezing it tightly. Doumeki felt a sharp pain in his arm for no reason, but knew that it was the spirit that Watanuki was seeing. And then there was a pinch in his other arm, the one that was holding onto Watanuki. It wants me to drop her, Doumeki deduced. He tightened his grip, determined not to let Watanuki go.

"Doumeki!" She shouted.

"Quit struggling, and please shut up." Doumeki was still calm, his voice even.

"Don't tell me what to do!" She shouted back. The spirit retracted its arm, leaving a trail of blood dripping down from Doumeki's arm onto Watanuki's wrist. "That's blood! That's a lot of blood!" The spirit chuckled deeply, pleased with its work.

"Watanuki, listen to me. The girls aren't human so you need to avoid touching them." Yuko was still coaching from the headphones, but it was a little late for that piece of advice.

"Yeah, I know!" She screamed back, Doumeki's grip sliding from the blood. The girl panicked.

"So you already did. That thing is a trash heap."

"A what?!"

"It's like a collection of spirits, all the scum left behind by the students who dabble in the occult, like the girls who were using Angel." Pause. "The game is used to summon spirits. Most of the time armatures don't succeed and pass it off as a game of make-believe. Occasionally things go right and the benign spirit that was called will show up. But then, players will get board. They crave something more exciting, more dangerous. They begin to think it would be more interesting if something scary had shown up. If something strange were to happen. If someone were – maybe – to get hurt. These unintentionally evil thoughts leave behind the scum that you see now." Watanuki watched the trash heap hang around Doumeki, teasing his hurt arm. Then she started, the other, huge spirit passing under her in a snake of purple and blue aura.

"The dark spirit from before is underneath me now!" Watanuki looked down in alarm.

"The one that was wrapping around the school?"

"Wah!" Watanuki screamed as the spirit surged up, brushing against her back.

"That dark thing is going to-" Yuko cut out.

"I can't hear you!" Watanuki yelled. The dark spirit reached the top of the school and the aura reformed as a black snake with huge yellow eyes.

"Remember it's a big shot, so be careful!" Watanuki was shaking, looking up at the massive spirit, frozen in place. It twisted around, its fanged maw opening in a roar and then diving down towards the pair.

"WATCH OUT, DOUMEKI!" Watanuki shrieked. But the spirit was more interested in the trash heap and gobbled it up in one bite. That definitely stumped Watanuki. I guess it was hungry. Doumeki got tired of waiting for Watanuki to climb up, her wrist and hand steadily slipping out of his own as she worried about the two spirit around them that he couldn't see and the boy didn't want to drop her so he hauled her up in one pull and they both crashed to the ground as the girl flew over the railing. Watanuki landed hard on her back, the air getting knocked out of her as Doumeki fell back on his but, clutching his stinging, bleeding arm. Watanuki's head smacked the ground and her headphones popped off, spiraling out onto the rooftop. She sat up, rubbing her head and then spotted the big shot.

"IT'S A GIANT SNAKE!" She screamed, flailing around in fright.

"Where?" Doumeki asked, trying to see what she could.

"Oh yeah! I forget that you can't see it!" Watanuki stopped wiggling for a second and wondered what it would be like not to see the spirit. Much, much scarier, she decided, to not know what was going on.

"Tell me, what are we supposed to do with a big snake?" Doumeki asked, holding his arm as he pretended to see what Watanuki was seeing.

"Yeah, that's what I'd like to know!" The girl crouched, ready to make a dash to her headphones before the snake got her. "YUKO!" She yelled, running. The spirit cut her off, its huge head and body snaking in front of the headphones before she could get them, hissing in anger. Watanuki wailed and stumbled back. The snake curved around and made another dive at the girl. Watanuki's eyes got huge and she started running, grabbing Doumeki's arm to drag him along. They ran across the rooftop, getting cut off and shoved into the corner, Watanuki still hanging on to Doumeki until they couldn't go anywhere.

"Let's just stay very still." Watanuki cautioned, her grip on Doumeki's sleeve tightening to bone crushing proportions.

"Since we're looking up at this, I'm guess it's a very tall snake." Doumeki stated calmly, the exact opposite of what Watanuki was.

"Uh huh." Watanuki's mouth had stopped working as the snake glared down at the pair.

"I do feel a chill from that direction." Doumeki noted offhandedly.

"How are you being so composed right now?!" She yelled, her annoyance overriding her fear for a snarky comment. The snake reared up, growling and went in for the kill. "IT'S GONNA EAT US!" Watanuki closed her eyes, burying her face in Doumeki's arm, hating that her last moments were with her worst enemy (but that didn't stop her from clinging to him).

"Please calm yourself and be still!" Yuko's voice intoned from the headphones, loud enough for the snake and her little workers to hear. Watanuki peeked her eyes open and looked at the snake's open mouth (because it was too close to see anything else other than their doom). "I offer myself as a sacrifice to you, great spirit." Unbelievably, the snake pulled away from the live humans and nodded its head around the headphones before flicking them into its mouth with its purple tongue and licking its chops, apparently satisfied. The snake hummed and then disappeared over the side of the building, its tail flicking before leaving the rooftop to the two classmates.

"Is it gone?" Doumeki asked, his chill disappearing.

"Yeah. The snake went back to wherever it came from." Watanuki pointed in a general direction trying to keep her knees from giving out. "Maybe it just needed a snack." Watanuki noticed that she was still holding onto Doumeki and failed her arms to get away, hoping he didn't think that it meant anything. She slyly wiped her hands on her skirt. "It doesn't matter. If you don't want to believe me, then don't." She snapped curtly. Watanuki didn't expect Doumeki to get it, nobody else did. Nobody else believed her besides Yuko, the twins and Mokona (but they really didn't count because they were a whole other type of weird).

"Who said anything about not believing you? I don't define reality as that which I'm able to see, hear, and touch. " Doumeki's words shocked Watanuki. Most other people just passed her off as crazy and avoided her, but he was openly admitting that he could believe her. "Even though I'm not able to see them, you've said that spirits have been drawn to you and followed you your whole life. If you say that there are spirits, I believe that there are."

"Okay." Watanuki replied, stunned that someone actually believed her, that he didn't have fun of her and call her weird. That he didn't shut her out because she was different. It was almost sweet. Almost.

"But it is pathetic that you started bawling like a little girl every time you see one."

"Why you-!" The special moment was shattered and Watanuki just wanted to strangle the boy.

"I have to say, I am sorry we lost those headphones. I'm going miss them." The comment deflated Watanuki.

"Seriously?" The seer asked.

"Of course. They made you look so funny."

"That's it! I'm going to beat you up Doumeki!" Watanuki threatened, readying her hands to claw his eyes out. Doumeki just head one arm to stop the girl, his strong grip keeping her flailing hands from getting with and arms length of his face. He then dragged her to the stairs and out of the school before she could physically assault him before they got to a medical care center.

The next day, Yuko insisted on taking everyone to the park for a treat. And by treat she meant making Watanuki cook takoyaki (3). The girl had to carry everything to the park including the table, the fryer, all the ingredients, the kitchen supplies to make the takoyaki with and the dishes to serve it on. That put her in a foul mood as she cooked, her hair all prickly in irritation under her handkerchief. Doumeki was sitting cross-legged on the ground, his right arm all bandaged up and in a sling from their adventure last night and Wari was sitting on the duck seat, his bright smile back now that his friend's school had been helped.

"Now, Doumeki, I insist!" Yuko said smiling. On this outing she was wearing a long sleeved white top with a high red collar that stretched across her breasts, neck and part of her shoulder, paired with a dark skirt (with a slit…again) and black boots. "You've had such a hard day! You deserve some refreshment!" Mokona hopped over to Doumeki with a bottle of sake (why Yuko insisted on giving minors alcohol Watanuki would never understand, she just knew she wasn't going to drink any – it could be poisoned for all she knew).

"How kind of you. I'd love some." Doumeki held his glass down to Mokona (the strange animal not even phasing him).

"Drink up!~" The fur ball commanded happily, pouring the boy a drink.

"I really want to thank you guys." Wari started. "Because of you, everything's gone back to normal at my friend's school! You know, you're amazing." Watanuki beamed, tossing the takoyaki into the air to flip it.

"Aw, no!~" The raven deflected, embarrassed by the compliment.

"I meant to ask, Doumeki, how's your arm doing?"

"Fine." Watanuki growled as she was ignored, Wari's attention turning to their classmate.

"Are you sure? Its looks painful."

"Na. It's not too bad." What Doumeki didn't say was that he didn't mind it, as long as he could help out his friend.

"So about the snake," Watanuki turned to Yuko as she talked. "It looked like it was protecting the rooftop from those other spirits, right? So it really couldn't have been something evil, could it?" Yuko smiled, holding her can of beer gently. Mokona hopped onto Wari's lad and the boy gingerly held the small, obnoxious creature.

"Well, its presence certainly did come in handy for you." She noted, her cranberry eyes casting over the group. "Malicious intent is something only humans define. To spirits like the snake, intentions don't really matter. It was simply protecting what it considered to be its territory by removing the threat of the other spirits."

"So basically you're telling me that the snake would've taken care of everything even if we hadn't been there?" Watanuki asked, disappointed that she'd had to go through the whole experience. "Aw."

"No, you've got it all wrong." Yuko continued. "It only came because it was attracted by you, Watanuki." The girl stared at her, a little confused. "Like all spirits, the snake found your presence irresistibly attractive. You look so delicious to them…they hunger for you." Yuko set her can down and walked over to Watanuki. "And that's why…I insisted you take Doumeki with you!" Yuko had her mischievous smile one when she clapped her little worker on the shoulder. Watanuki growled.

"But I don't like him!" She grabbed her head in frustration, running her hands all over. "I don't want him coming with me everywhere!"

"His presence counterbalances yours," Yuko said, ignoring Watanuki's antics. "He wards off evil spirits."

"But I wasn't even doing anything." Watanuki stared at Doumeki and Doumeki stared back.

"Just because you weren't aware of it doesn't mean you weren't doing anything. You helped a lot." Yuko brought her hand up to her face flirtatiously and gazed at her employee. "Watanuki wouldn't have been about to make it through such a heavy concentration of spirits by herself! Because you were there, Doumeki, she was able to make it through the spirits and up to the roof." Yuko put on her shit eating grin. "Besides!~ Didn't you hurt your arm trying to save her up there?" She guilted Watanuki and the girl's shoulders slumped as she groaned. Watanuki gave Doumeki a look, not wanting to thank him. They stared at eachother and then Doumeki saved her from saying thanks.

"Sorry, did you want some?" He asked, holding up a ball of takoyaki to her, thinking that was what she wanted.

"NO! I don't want it! I don't need your leftovers!" The girl shouted, shaking a fist at him.

"You guys are so funny when you argue!" Wari laughed.

"Wari!~Would you like me to get Mokona off your lap for you?" Watanuki doted, holding out her hands. "I know I can be annoying sometimes."

"What was that?!" The fur ball hopped up and down in indignation. "That's not a very nice thing to say, Watanuki!" The girl took a step back from the raging fur ball.

"No, please leave it! It's so adorable that I want to take it home with me! But I won't!" The boy joked. Mokona hummed in appreciation.

"Hey." Doumeki caught Watanuki's attention.

"What do you want?!" She snapped.

"Seconds." Doumeki held out his plate

"You're already finished?! I haven't even gotten to eat anything yet!" She snatched his plate out of his hands and went to refill it. "Oh fine! Wait there. I'll make some more!" Watanuki stomped off.

"Could you hurry?" Doumeki asked.

"Don't rush me!" Watanuki hissed. Yuko looked at her fine little worker.

One young girl for whom the spirits hunger. And one young man who keeps them away without knowing it.

"This could be very entertaining, indeed." She smiled slyly.

"Yuko! Wipe that look off your face!" Watanuki yelled, not liking what Yuko could be thinking about (it would probably involve more work for her). Yuko just laughed in answer and snagged a plate of food for herself.

To be continued...

A/N: There you go! You've all day your Doumeki fix now! :3 don't forget to RxR!

Edit: Obviously I can't spell because my fingers are too tired and I just noticed that the above line is in serious need of attention. What I meant to way was: "There you go! Now you've all had your Doumeki fix!" I apologize for any confusion I might have caused.

1. the entryway to a Japanese building where they take off their shoes before entering the rest of the building.

2. I'll take a story request for xxxHolic from the first person to post in the reviews what book the twins are reading and where it's from! :3 (and I mean, any request your little heart desires!) Hint: there are other references to this series made in the same episode (xxxHolic episode three)

3. Takoyaki is a fried dish made out of wheat-flour and is typically filled with diced octopus, tempura scraps, pickled ginger and green onion. Yum!