A/N: ZareEraz here! Heyo everybody! Okay, okay...this time you can thrown bricks at me! (*ducks under handmade fort with her brother's lacrosse helmet and a bat for defense*) Its been a while, because I had school essays to write and I just wasn't in the mood to do any typing for a couple of weeks so I apologize for my negligence and hope that the wait was worth it! Enjoy!

Chapter Seven: The Vacation and The Wings

There were bells in the air – high, soft, tinkling bells that chanted out a simple tune. Along with the bells there was the scratch of writing. The one writing was doing so on the gray walls, her words etched into the surface with a blue luminescence. Those words she so loving carved into the wall were whispered with such reverence and joy in the still air.

Soon…

Soon you'll be here.

I've been waiting for such a long time…

And now…

I hear your footsteps approaching.

Soon, you will be at the door.

You will find me again…

Finally…

Finally…

You have come for me.

The sun was blazingly hot when Yuko walked up to the rental house she had acquired for a short break, the woman's heels clacking on the ground as she approached. Today, she was wearing a high-collared, light purple crop top, a long pink skirt with a white belt and a huge, white sun hat with a gigantic rose sewn into the corner of the crown and the brim.

"Well…here we are." The witch stood in front of the two story building with her right hand on her hip and the other holding Mokona. "It's simply perfect, isn't it?"

"Yeah! This should be fun!" Mokona agreed. Yuko giggled, holding up her hand to her mouth.

"I'm sure it'll be a lot of fun for you guys." Watanuki grumbled behind the cackling pair. The girl was stuck with most of the luggage – bags and bags of clothing, food and essentials (and probably some non-essentials and alcohol in Yuko's case) – all thrown over her shoulders. She had a backpack on her back, two totes hooked around each of her arms, a cooler slung from the left of her body to her right, two bags in the opposite direction and then she was holding several more bags in her angry fists. "Of course, no one's treating you like a pack mule!" The seer grumbled.

"Pretty sad pack mule if you can't handle a few bags." Yuko quipped, turning around in her fabulous sun hat, her hand perched on her hip. "Don't be such a whiner…right?" She turned to Mokona slyly.

"Riiiight!" The fur ball answered cheerfully.

"Carrying all this junk would tire anybody out, not just me!" Watanuki held up the bags in her hands as proof. She was tired, she was sore and she was sweating like a pig under her white color shirt and she was pretty sure that if someone looked closely, they'd be able to see sweat rolling down her legs from under her blue skirt.

"Really?" Yuko asked, her gaze switching to something behind her exhausted slave. "Because Doumeki seems to be doing just fine." Watanuki looked back, a disbelieving look on her face as she watched the two boys walk up behind her. Doumeki was carrying two bags (one in each arm) and Wari was walking next to him carrying nothing at all. Doumeki was still wearing his school uniform – white shirt and black slacks – but Wari had changed it up a bit, wearing a bright yellow T-shirt and jeans with flip flops.

"Thanks for carrying my bags up here, Doumeki. You didn't have to do it but I really appreciate it." Wari smiled cheerfully, thanking his classmate.

"No prob." Doumeki replied coolly. Watanuki blushed – from the heat, from her anger at Doumeki for being Doumeki and in affection at Wari being so cute (even if it was towards the jerkass).

"If it was Wari's luggage, I'd happily take ten or twenty bags." Watanuki grumbled in response. She'd do anything for Wari and that was that, it didn't matter if it was carrying bags, cooking or climbing a mountain…she'd do it, damn it!

"Hey, everyone! Watanuki just told me she'd happily carry all of our things!" Yuko called back to the boys gleefully.

"I didn't say that!" Watanuki growled, her sharp teeth coming out as she waved a bag in Yuko's face angrily.

"Sure, why not." Doumeki replied, holding out Wari's yellow duffle bag. "If that's what you want…then here."

"That is not what I want!" Watanuki snarled at the archer, a cross vein popping out of her head.

"You're really strong Watanuki! I'm surprised you can carry all that!" Wari smiled again. "I don't think I could!"

"Oh it's no trouble!" Watanuki dashed over to Doumeki and took Wari's bag off his hands with a smile. "Aha! Uff!" Watanuki's arm was dragged down as the heavy weight of the boy's bag got the better of her. The top half of her face turned blue as she speculated on what her crush had in there. "What could he possibly have in here!?" She whispered, and then turned and winked sexily at Wari. "Don't worry, I've got this, no problem."

"Moron." Doumeki breathed.

"What did you say, jerkface?!" Watanuki got right into Doumeki's face, snarling viciously and sarcastically at the same time. Wari laughed and ran up the path to get a better look at the house.

"Let me guess: this is the rental house we're going to be staying in?" Wari asked Yuko as he came to a stop by her side.

"Yep. It's been so hot lately that I thought a trip to the beach was in order. You kids should enjoy your summer vacation, so here's your chance." The witch replied. Watanuki took this moment to get a better look at the house too. It was two stories high with a white and brown theme to the exterior with two sloping roofs – one on the second floor and one that wrapped around the front of the house. It was nice enough, plain but still nice. What summer vacation? I've been working the entire time! Watanuki complained in her head, but she put on a smile on the outside.

"This is going to be great!" Watanuki scowled again after that, glaring at Doumeki. "Although…it would've been even better if we had left this jerk at home!" She swung her bags in Doumeki's direction and the force of all that weight on her body spun the girl around and around as she "whoa-ed" and ah-ed," trying to keep what little balance she had left.

"Carrying all those bags must be exhausting." Yuko staged, walking up to the slouched girl as she stopped spinning. Watanuki looked up and got a face full of boobs and Mokona.

"No, its fine." She snarked back. "I'm not even a little tired. Yuko leaned in closer as the girl learned away, a sly twinkle in her eyes.

"Oh, just ask him! I'm sure Doumeki would be willing to help!" Yuko prompted mischeviously.

"I don't need his help!" Watanuki growled, straightening up under her heavy load and huffed towards the rental house.

"Not even a little bit?" Yuko teased as the girl stomped away. She followed close behind (she had the key to the house after all).

"NOT AT ALL!" The girl retorted.

"It would be easier if you'd just aaasssk!" Yuko sang softly.

"Not gooonnnaaa haaapen!" Watanuki sang back, her attitude taking a turn for the worse.

"You really are a moron." Doumeki said, watching the girl stomp towards the door with the witch. Watanuki heard that and stormed back to the where the boy was standing as quick as lightning and got in his face again.

"I'm sick and tired of hearing that! No matter what I do, you always call me a moron! Even now, when I'm the one who's carrying everything! What do I do?! What's up with you and your one puny bag!? You're just so damn calm, you never break a sweat!" Watanuki's rant went on, and Doumeki just plugged his right ear with his free hand. Yuko wasn't paying any attention either and just stood at the door.

"Shall we go in?" Yuko asked to no one in particular. "You have the key Mokona?"

"Aha!" Mokona fished it out from somewhere and held the ornate, golden key in the air triumphantly. It handed the key to Yuko and she went to open the door, sliding the lock with a click.

"You always have the same blank expression on your face!" Watanuki finished, just as Yuko opened the door.

Its hot…

The summers here are always so withering.

I have a flower for you…

A blue flower in a blue vase…

I wanted the house to look nice,

For your arrival.

But it's so hot…

I'm worried the flower might…

Die.

I'll give it some fresh water.

Maybe that will keep it alive a while longer.

Yuko and Mokona went in the house first, followed by Doumeki and Watanuki (who was still yelling at the boy). Watanuki stopped yelling when she ran out of breath and looked around the house with the others. It was a spacious house and all of them were standing in a sitting room with two couches, a coffee table and the carpet under them, with only a few extra decorations. Yuko was busy pulling open the white curtains that hung over the windows, letting the sun in after many months of darkness. The house was done in a olive-like green with lots of wood, making the whole place seem inviting even if it had been vacant for a long time. Watanuki dropped her bags on the floor, grateful to have the crushing weight of everyone's stuff off her shoulders and back. She sighed and made sure that Doumeki wasn't watching before rolling out her shoulders and working a few knots out of her neck

"Isn't it wonderful?" Wari asked, a huge smile on his face as he looked around. Mokona was hopping up and down on the table in excitement, humming a little tune as Yuko finished with the curtains.

"Yes, it is." Yuko replied, walking past the table, setting her sun hat down as she walked towards the stairs. The stairs went up to the second floor where the bedrooms supposedly were, hugging the wall and leaving the sitting room's ceiling completely open up to the roof. "And it's certainly been taken care of." Watanuki looked at the grandfather clock standing in the hall way and noted that it was only a little after three before her musing was interrupted by Wari being incredibly cute.

"Come on! Let's go check out the upstairs!" The curly-haired boy called down to Mokona, already half way up to the second floor himself.

"Yeah!" The pork bun agreed. "Hup!" It jumped down off of the coffee table and followed after the teen with a laugh. Watanuki smiled at Wari's excitement, a light blush dusting her cheeks and watched the pair disappear into the rooms upstairs, then she wandered off to see where the kitchen was. She found it immediately and looked around with a huge smile of her own. The countertops were clean and well-maintained, and there was an island in the middle of the kitchen along with a full stove, a sink and an oven, which stood waiting for her.

"Now this is a gorgeous kitchen!" The raven's shoulders slumped as a sweat drop appeared on her head. "Why do I feel the need to check out the kitchen before seeing anything else? Probably because I'm the only one who cooks…oh well. Time to start unloading." Watanuki grabbed the cooler-bags that held their food and plopped them down on the countertop by the sink. She then reached over to the faucet to make sure the water was turned on, but when she tried to turn the handle, it wouldn't budge. The girl looked down at the sink and scrunched up her face as she tightened her grip and continued twisting until she could feel the blood start to leave her hand from the force of her tugging. She snarled and twisted harder until she heard something in her wrist snap, pain popping up her arm.

"Ow! That hurt!" She gasped, holding onto her wrist as if she could keep the pain bottled up. "Ow! I twisted my wrist!" She whined, trying to move her fingers. Sparks of discomfort shot into her hand and wrist, but nothing seemed to be strained and the girl started turning back to the sink handle to give it a piece of her mind when her eyes slid over something blue. There was a flower in a blue vase in the corner of the counter, its blue petals odd and strangely beautiful as it sat in the water. Watanuki couldn't seem to take her eyes off it for a moment, staring at the deep blue flower and wondering what type it was and if she could find more somewhere…it was really pretty. And then the rush of water distracted the girl and her space out was interrupted by someone she hadn't even heard come into the room, her head whipping to look behind her.

"Wow." Doumeki mocked in his monotone voice. "You've been working out." He'd just turned the sink water on and shut off the valve when he was satisfied that it worked. Watanuki started at him for a moment in surprise, not knowing when he got here but that slightly smug look on his face pissed her off too quickly for her to be startled for long.

"I'd just grabbed hold of it! I wasn't even trying yet!" The girl snapped at the archer, her sharp teeth bared at her unwanted company.

"Wow! This place is really close to the beach!" Wari called from the other room, having come down the stairs with one of his bags. "You could leap off one of the balconies upstairs and land right in the water!" The boy giggled and Watanuki really hoped that the beach was actually further away than that, for her own sake.

"Yes…swimming is really the only way to escape this heat." Yuko explained. "Did you remember to bring your swimsuit? We're going to hit the beach tomorrow."

"Sure did!" Wari replied, walking back up the stairs again, probably going to put his stuff in his room.

"Well, that's good, right?" Yuko asked, turning her head towards Watanuki (who was peeking out of the kitchen).

"Yeah!~" Watanuki held up a sparkling thumbs up and winked at the witch.

At last…

I've waited so long.

Now here you are…

I hope you like my gift,

Isn't it beautiful?

I wonder if you smiled.

Watanuki walked upstairs to put her own things away, getting slotted into the furthest room down the hallway and on the right. She opened the door and walked into the room. The bed was in the right corner, a dresser on her left side and a balcony that led outside was right in front of her at the end of the room. "The bedrooms are nice." Watanuki stated, throwing her bag on her bed and walking over to throw open the curtains. Bright, summer sunshine cascaded into the room, and Watanuki caught her first glimpse of the sea (since she'd been arguing with Doumeki the entire car ride up and didn't once look out the window. Seriously, being in the same car with him was infuriating because he took up so much space with his big frame and she'd gotten squished and then told him to scoot over and she swore he just scooted closer and then she was yelling and Wari was laughing at them and their "act" and Mokona wouldn't stop teasing her and the girl had gotten so distracted that she hadn't seen the sea at all). The raven opened the doors and walked out onto the small balcony, leaning her arms on the red rails that kept her from falling off. The sea was a bright blue, sparking under the sun and several seagulls were calling in the afternoon air. The clouds were all white and puffy and the girl just sighed in enjoyment. It was so peaceful here and she really had needed a vacation…but the only thing about her job that was different was the location. She was still going to have to cook and clean up after everyone…by herself…again. But she pushed those thoughts out of her head and took a deep breath.

"Smell that sea air!" The girl smiled and listened to the waves washing up against the shore and then she thought about all the fun they were going to have tomorrow on the beach. Her light blush returned as she thought of Wari in only a swim suit…his beautiful body naked from the waist up and how gorgeous he was going to look playing in the water. And then her fantasy came crashing down when she remembered that she wasn't going to enjoy the beach at all. "Ug…but the ocean. "

The girl's face turned blue and her stomach did flip flops just thinking about that wasteland of water. All those souls who lost their lives out at sea are waiting for me! The girl groaned, imagining a whole hoard of creepy crawlers and wasted spirits lurking under the surf, ready to pounce and drag her down to a watery grave. The girl ran her hands around her scalp, messing up her already messy hair as the stress of dealing with spirits aggravated her. And then she calmed down and though about good things, leaning her elbows on the railing.

"Oooohhh…but, but…it's such a perfect opportunity to spend time with Wari!" She cooed, blushing again. "Huh?" The girl looked out over the perfect ocean, turning her head to the left to look around the side of the house. Something was pricking the back of her mind, that one of those stinging itches she got sometimes. It was like she was over looking something, like a presence on the edge of her vision, that she couldn't quiet reach. She didn't even know what it was that was bugging her. "What's going on here? It's kinda creepin' me out. I don't like it." The girl grumbled.

"What?" A deep male voice asked. The seer was startled out of her thoughts and flailed around, her elbow slipping off the railing so she collapsed half way over the side and had to jump back quickly so she didn't fall off the second floor.

"Gah!" Watanuki yelped, pulling herself up and clutching at her chest from her near-fall. Watanuki looked over at the unwanted intruder and saw Doumeki leaning against his balcony to her right. He was half-sitting on the rail, his right wrist resting against it as well and looking completely unfazed by Watanuki's over reaction.

"What's bothering you?" Doumeki asked.

"That the person in the room next to mine is YOU!" Watanuki pointed an accusing, angry finger at the boy and then started twirling around and waving her fists in a childish tantrum. "UG! Why don't you just move?! I wanted to be next to Wari!"

"Calm down. He's in the room across the hall." Doumeki replied, taking the fit in stride.

"Across the hall isn't the same as right next to! It's less intimate! You'd realize that if you had a heart!" Watanuki insisted, her voice still screeching as she wailed at the unfairness that she was coupled with Doumeki…again, for heaven's sake! The girl stamped her feet twice to emphasize her point but Doumeki just wasn't getting it.

"I don't get it. What's the difference?"

"No way a person like you would ever understand." Watanuki huffed as she pivoted on her heel and folded her arms, turning her back towards the boy.

"Fine. Whatever you say." Doumeki left, walking back into his room.

"That's right! Go away!" The girl shot back, wanting to have the last word as she yelled at the spot where the brunette used to be.

I wonder if you've realized yet.

I wonder if you're aware of my presence.

Please…

Tell me, dear.

I'm here…

Waiting for you.

"Ah! That hit the spot!" Mokona cheered, rubbing its huge belly after having consumed the dinner Watanuki had just cooked them all. It was around five o'clock in the evening and Watanuki had been in the kitchen the whole time after her little conversation with Doumeki up in their respective rooms. She was currently standing next to Yuko's seat at the head of the table as the witch wiped her mouth daintily with her napkin, with Mokona in the seat to her left and Doumeki next to the furball and then Wari on her right. Watanuki just stood there in her apron and head handkerchief, a towel thrown over her arm making her look even more like the help and less like a guest herself.

"Everything was delicious. My compliments to the chef." Yuko said gratefully, her belly satisfied after such a lovely meal.

"Ah," Watanuki smiled at the compliment. "Would you like another plate, Wari?" The girl turned to her crush and smiled even bigger. Wari looked up at her from his seat and smiled as well.

"No, I'm full. Thank you so much, Watanuki. Everything was fantastic."

"Oh, it was nothing but I'm glad you liked it!" The girl sang, wiggling back and forth in pleased embarrassment with her hand behind her head. And then she stopped wiggling when a plate was shoved into her face from a table away.

"I'll take some more." Doumeki said.

"I wasn't talking to you, you stupid pig!" Watanuki snarled back. "Just how much were you planning to eat!? I slaved over this meal and when the hell was I going to sit down and eat! I haven't had any yet!" She harped.

I'm right here…

Close enough to touch.

I wish you would notice me.

When will you my dear?

I gave you a flower…

I'm waiting for you, my love.

Watanuki finally got to eat after Doumeki had fifths and then shooed everyone outside onto the balcony while she scarfed down her food and worked on dessert at the same time after opening Yuko's bottle of champagne and putting it in a bucket of ice to keep it cool for her. Mokona and Yuko both took a glass and drank it down in a few gulps, sighing in glee.

"Ah!" Mokona and Yuko said simultaneously.

"I love a glass of champagne after dinner!~" Yuko said satisfactorily.

"Oh yeah!~" Mokona agreed.

"I think we all know how much you two like to get toasty. All that I ask is that you pace yourself!" Watanuki said, walking in with a tray of goodies and a smile. "Here you go, Wari! I made you some champagne sorbet! Don't worry, I used the non alcoholic kind." Watanuki slid a wide dish with a stem and the cool treat onto the table where Wari was sitting.

"It looks yummy!" The boy smiled and Watanuki just couldn't handle the cuteness with the sun and the sea behind the teen. Watanuki clapped her hand over her mouth and nearly started crying from the moe. He is so unbelievably adorable!

"Hey, I'll take some of that stuff too." Doumeki said from across the table. Watanuki's pose of cuteness morphed into a grimacing, fist-shake of irritation at the sound of the archer's voice. He's not adorable at all! The rest of what was left of the afternoon was spent outside with the five of them just relaxing, even Watanuki got to sit down and chat (or yell in Doumeki's case) with her classmates. Before they knew it, the sun was setting on the horizon, turning the blue ocean into an expanse of gold waves and silver splashes as the water washed up on the beach, the sky a brilliant orange and yellow above it.

"Alright. Why don't we get to bed so we can have an early start tomorrow?" Yuko suggested, tipping the empty champagne bottle upside down in its bucket and picking up Mokona as she stood.

"That sounds like a good plan." Wari agree, standing up. "I was wondering…" He started, looking at Watanuki. "Watanuki, do you want to go swimming with me tomorrow?" Watanuki couldn't believe her ears! Wari had just asked her to go swimming with him! It was a dream come true. The girl smiled excitedly and nodded her head vigorously, not really lying but not telling the truth either. She wasn't planning on swimming tomorrow, the risk of being caught by an underwater spirit was too great to even attempt getting into the ocean, but she wanted to make Wari happy so the seer pretended like she was going too.

"Sleep well!" She called to Wari as he walked back into the house, and she kept waving like and idiot as a fantasy took over her entire brain. We're going swimming together! We're going swimming together! We're going swimming together! Carousel horses danced around the girl as she fawned.

"Hey." Doumeki interrupted the girl's moment by gliding by on one of the horses and the girl scowled, her temper snapping again.

"Grr! I was having a private moment! Why do you have to interrupt!?" The girl held up both of her clenched fists in Doumeki's face as the archer just stood there looking the same as always. When neither of them said anything, Watanuki stood up normally and looked Doumeki in the eye. "Wait. What's going on?"

"Would you just ask me for help?" Doumeki asked. Now Watanuki was confused. Is he asking about the dishes?

"WHY SHOULD I!?" The girl screeched, holding out both of her hands like an answer would plop right into them. "I don't need your help with this stuff! It's just a few dishes; I can clean them up fine by myself!" What's the deal with him?! Doumeki stared at the girl like she was an idiot and completely missing the point of the question.

"Moron." He sighed and then walked away.

"Wha…" The girl gasped at his preferred insult for her and even though he said it all the time, this time it was like he was disappointed in her and she didn't even do anything wrong! "That's it! See if I make any breakfast for you tomorrow!" She taunted to his broad back as the brunette walked inside. "You ass!"

Watanuki cleaned up the dishes without any trouble at all and then went upstairs to get ready for bed. She marched right past Doumeki's room and stuck her tongue out at the closed door, hoping the boy could feel her annoyance at him. She then walked by Wari's room and smiled, hoping that boy would notice her love someday. And then she stomped to her own room, threw on a pair of blue pants, and a blue tank top before hopping into bed and falling asleep, the weird feeling she'd felt before in this room only a distant reminder as her eyes drifted shut and she nodded off.

I'm still waiting, my dear.

I'm wearing the blue dress you like so much,

Do you remember?

I'm wearing it just for you, my love.

There's something I want you to do…

I'm waiting….

I'm waiting…

I'm waiting…

I'm waiting!

Watanuki was sleeping soundly in her room, being horrified by a dream about champagne, sea monsters, and carousel horses all dancing around her in a chaotic fashion when something woke her up. Scritch, scratch. The girl shifted in her sleep, disturbed by the sound and when it came again, she woke up. Blearily sitting up, the girl untangled herself from her sheets and blinked at the blurry room. There was nothing in there as far as she could see.

"Must be my imagination…" Watanuki yawned as she flopped back on her bed. Scritch, scratch, scritch. "Or not!" The girl shot back up, and looked around again, wide awake this time. Maybe it was Doumeki moving around in the next room…The raven knelt on her bed and turned towards the wall she shared with Doumeki, putting her ear to it and resting her hands on either side of her face. She couldn't hear anything coming from his room, not even the jerk shifting in his sleep. Scritch, scratch! Watanuki's eyes shot wide as she flipped around to stare at the other wall, the one wall she didn't share with anybody. She carefully and quietly inched off her bed and walked towards the other side of the room, forgetting to put her indoor slippers on in her cautious state. The girl gingerly put her ear against the wall and listened. Scratch, scritch, scratch!

"It's coming from next door!" She gasped, leaping away from the wall, quietly, of course. She decided to double check, because, there was no one next door. Of course, there wasn't! That would be silly since she was at the end of the hallway! Watanuki cupped her ear with her hands and stuck her face to the wall again, listening. Scritch, scratch. Watanuki really jumped back this time, strangling a yelp as she stared in horror at her wall. She stumbled backwards across her room, trying to get as far away from the creepy sound as possible and nearly fell over when her feet hit her bed. She slipped on her indoor slippers and glasses and looked at her door. "Alright."

The girl opened her door with a creak, the sound entirely too loud to her ears and she hoped that it hadn't woken anyone else up. She looked down the hallway; a blank wall stared back at her face. There couldn't be someone on the other side of her wall because there was a wall blocking the way to the other side of the wall…if that made any sense in the first place! "I'm at the end of the hallway…ah!" Watanuki gasped when she remembered looking out of her window earlier that day and ran across her room, threw open her curtains and doors and nearly leapt out onto her balcony. The raven grabbed the red railing and planted her feet on the bottom support, leaning out over the edge, her wild bed head blowing in the cool sea breeze. She looked to her left at the corner of the house, studying how the outside of the house was so much longer that in the inside. Something wasn't right here. The hallway stops there…so why does the wall continue past it? It's almost like there's a secret room…she thought as she continued looking at the house under the pale moonlight. Scritch, scratch, scritch. Watanuki gasped again, this time in real fear and she clamped her hand over her mouth as she stumbled back into her room.

Is it a spirit? It sure feels like one! The prickly feeling that the girl had been having from the second she enter the house was back, this time in full force. If it is, it might be something that can hurt Wari! I can't let that happen! I have to find out what's going on! Watanuki threw down her hands and clenched her fists, completely serious now as she fought down her fear. She swallowed once and then peeked out of her room again. Watanuki took just a moment to look at Doumeki's closed door, debating whether or not to wake him up and have him come with her. If it was a spirit, he could ward it off and she'd be safe…No! I don't need his help! I can do this by myself! Besides, I was doing just fine before he was shoved into my life! I can handle things on my own! In all honesty, Watanuki was scared just how much she relied on Doumeki now. She really would've asked him for help, if only her pride didn't get in the way and that was shocking to the girl. She'd never had to rely on someone so much for anything like she was doing with Doumeki now, and he'd probably tease her if she asked for help anyway, so who needed him?!

Watanuki glanced at Wari's door and mustered up her courage again, scanning the end of the hallway. It just looked like a normal hallway, there was nothing creepy about it…except the fact that the house didn't match up inside to outside. There's nothing here that looks like a door…could this really be where the scratching sound is coming from? Watanuki took a few tentative steps towards the wall and cupped her ear to listen again for the sound. What she wasn't expecting was the wall to give out on her. The girl crashed to the floor, hitting her head on the ground and stunned that she'd fallen.

"What the hell…? What happened?" The girl rubbed her head with one hand and picked herself up into a kneel with the other, still on her knees as she massaged the slight bump that had formed under her hair. Paper fluttered down around her as the girl looked up. Right in front of her way the door she'd been looking for. "A hidden room!" She gasped. The girl knee-crawled over to the door and stuck her ear to it, listening, and then jumped back as the scratching sound got louder. There was definitely something in there. Watanuki turned around one more time to look at Doumeki's door, wanting to ask…nope. The girl steeled herself and stood up, grabbing the door knob and opening the hidden room.

She opened the door slowly, the accompanying creak sounding even louder than the last one as she peeked inside. The interior of the room was pitch black, like a void where spirits could be hiding anywhere so Watanuki left the door wide open to let in as much of the moonlight filtering in from her room as she could. She could make out piles of what seemed to be furniture in the room, but everything was still so dark. She took a few steps in. Scritch, scratch. Watanuki gasped, hands flying to her mouth as she looked around the room for the culprit behind the scratching. Damn! She couldn't see anything! The girl swallowed again, trying to get moisture into her dry mouth and held out her hands as she walked into the room a little more, trying to avoid crashing over something and waking everyone else up. Her hands hit a wall, something solid and real, and Watanuki walked along it, sliding her hands along the wall for balance. She took about seven steps before she noticed something really weird about the wall…it wasn't smooth. The girl stopped walking and leaned in closer to see, running one of her fingers over a rough patch, trying to muddle out what it was. When she did, the wall started to glow. She jumped back in terror.

The wall was carved on, the letters left behind illuminating themselves in a pale purplish-blue and semi-lighting the dim room. Watanuki's knees started shaking as she took a few steps back, tilting her head back to see that there were letters on the ceiling too. How did they get up there?! She took another step back and hit something, her balance being thrown off and she flailing to right herself. And then the scratching sound came from behind her…scritch, scratch. Watanuki froze, rigid with fear as she slowly turned to head to see what it was, eyes wide, breath short and the prickly feeling running cold fingers up her spine. There! On the far side of the room there was a pile of something that didn't look like furniture. It started moving and Watanuki choked on her scream. The pile of whatever it was was convulsing on the floor, wave after wave of movement revealing a blue dress and a head of stringy gray hair. The thing lifted off the ground like a circus contortionist, shoulders first then arms and finally the head flopped into place. Then the spirit fell forward and started crawling on the floor, toward Watanuki. The girl was too scared to move, her mouth making quiet noises of distress without really being any help at all. The spirit threw one arm closer, and then another and Watanuki finally, finally took a step back. Then, the spirit started moving its head again, looking up as the gray hair parted and reveal one, dead, blue eye, staring up at the girl. And then it pounced, one of its hands reaching out and grabbing Watanuki's left ankle and the girl yelped and tried to yank her foot out of reach but she tripped in the dark, falling on her back and losing one of her slippers.

"No…no…nonono!" Watanuki gapsed, and whimpered, kicking at the spirit's hand wrapped around her ankle in a death grip. She kicked again and again and her foot slid off her ankle and down the spirit's arm, revealing skeletal white bones hidden under the dress. Watanuki let out a strangled croak instead of the powerful scream she wanted and flipped over on her stomach, fear urging her to crawl away as fast as she could. She threw one arm over the other (not as fast as she'd like because her body was still not cooperating with her and was stiff with terror instead) and got about three feet before another dark shape loomed over her. Its feet were planted right in her path and Watanuki didn't know if she was going to be able to deal with two spirits out for her blood.

"Watanuki." The dark form said, it's even voice familiar but Watanuki was too far gone with horror that she didn't recognize it right away. Instead…she really did try to scream this time and threw her hands over her head as if that was going to protect her. And then her scattered yelps faded away as she looked up, puzzlement on her face as Doumeki looked down at her.

"Just ask." The archer sighed. Watanuki didn't care what he was saying right at the moment, her brain was still stuck on the spirit holding her ankle.

"D-di-did y-you see that!?" Watanuki pointed behind her, completely forgetting that Doumeki couldn't see spirits. "That thing attacked me!" She looked back, expecting to see the skeletal horror gripping her ankle, but that's when she noticed that it was just a glove. "Huh? What the hell?!" Watanuki sat up, still apprehensive and looked more closely at the hand. And that's when the lights came on. The girl's head snapped around and saw Yuko's hand at the light switch. The witch was still in her outfit from today, not even having changed into sleep clothes like she'd expected to be out and about later.

"Even after all this you still won't ask for help. You're such a stubborn ass." Yuko stated, and Wari poked his head over her shoulder to see better. All Watanuki could do was stare at them.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." She said. And then the thing behind her started moving again. Watanuki whimpered and slithered away as the dress came up with the spirit's hair flying everywhere and then it all fell apart.

"Aw! I was found out!" Mokona whined, emerging from the blue dress, holding two pink poles with the spirit's glove-hands hanging off the ends. The pork bun had the hugest, shit-eating grin on its face. "Oh well! Heh heh heh heh heh!" The little bastard cackled at Watanuki (who was still shaking in the after math of almost having peed her pants in fear). And then her temper exploded.

"MOKONA!" The whole situation pissed her off and Watanuki shut her mouth after hitting Mokona on the head (a huge goose egg forming from the high impact) and she stomped past everyone, in a foul mood after having been tricked.

Yuko shrugged as Watanuki slammed her door shut and Wari just sighed. Doumeki didn't ask Watanuki for something this time for helping because, in all actuality, they'd staged this situation, so it wasn't fair for him to request something and he really didn't help at all because she hadn't asked for it. And that's why he let Watanuki storm into her room and slam the door, that stubborn idiot.

Watanuki was so pissed that she didn't even come out of her room the next morning…and she didn't make breakfast much to everyone's dismay so they all had to fend for themselves.

By the time the group set out to swim, Watanuki had come out of her room, but was still refusing to talk to anyone about anything and just moodily got the drinks ready for the beach and unpacked the towels, umbrella, Yuko's fold-up lounge chair and table and headed outside. She didn't say a word while she set everything up and was still silent when she went back inside to change into her swim suit and came out wearing a light pullover over her tasteful one piece. It was a suit that Yuko had helped her pick out, done in a teal blue with a V-neck collar and a white ribbon tied right in the center (where her boobs would be if she'd had a significant amount of those) and little white ruffles that hugged her legs where the suit ended. Watanuki plopped down on the huge towel under the umbrella, folding her arms around her knees and sulking. Yuko did the same thing in her purple one piece (the low neckline accentuating her huge chest), taking her seat under the umbrella and pouring herself a tropical drink from the pitcher Watanuki had brought out, complete with one of those tiny paper umbrellas. Doumeki and Wari walked past Watanuki toward the surf, but when the girl didn't look at them, they shrugged and ran into the waves. Doumeki was wearing blue swim trunks and a T-shirt and Wari went shirtless with white and red trunks. Mokona joined them in the water, floating with its little inner tube as the waves tossed it back and forth. Wari was busying splashing Doumeki (trying to get him to drop the beach ball so he could have it) when Watanuki finally spoke.

"So basically…this was all a set up!?" Watanuki asked begrudgingly, the first words she'd said all day accusing and venomous. She even had her fangs out.

"Well, I guess. If you want to put it simply." Yuko replied, swirling her drink.

"So you guys thought it would be funny to try and scare me?!" Watanuki shrieked. Yuko just sipped her drink through her straw, letting the outburst take its course. The girl leapt to her feet, the picture of defensive and yelled at the witch. "Just so you know: I didn't find it very FUNNY!"

"It wasn't my idea…Wari came up with it." Yuko started. That shut Watanuki up. "He felt sorry that you weren't going to be able to go swimming while we were here."

"What?" Watanuki asked, a slight blush on her cheeks from Wari's concern for her.

"You were the one who wanted to come here. It was your suggestion to take a vacation at the beach, but you knew you couldn't swim." Yuko took another sip of her punch. "You knew it was dangerous out there with the spirits of people who had lost their lives at sea. So I explained to Wari that you wouldn't be able to go swimming while we were here and he said, 'Isn't there something we can do for her?'" Yuko's voice went all sappy, trying to imitate Wari's charm. She failed, in Watanuki's opinion. "The sweet little thing asked that with all his heart."

"Wari wanted to find a way to help me with all his heart…" Watanuki's head snapped up with tears in her eyes and sparkles around her face. "This is wonderful!~"

"So I told him it was simple: all you had to do was ask Doumeki for help." Watanuki's cute face snapped into an expression of pissed off, irritated, loathing and disgust all at the same time, her hair standing on end. "I'm sure he would've agreed to keep you safe, he has the ability to do it and without those pesky spirits bothering you, you could've enjoyed yourself and gone swimming with your little boyfriend. Granted, only for one day, but at least you'd have a little vacation." Yuko shifted her glass, the ice clinking with the movment as she took another drink. Watanuki turned her head to glare at Doumeki, who was now throwing the ball back and forth between himself and Wari, looking as stone-faced as usual. "My compensation from Wari for the advice was that champagne from last night."

Watanuki was in la-la land, a stupid smile plastered to her face. "You mean he was willing to pay for my sake?~" And then la-la land disappeared. "But why?! Why does it have to be him!? Why does it have to be that jerkass that I have to ask for help?!" Watanuki poked angrily at Doumeki and Yuko just shrugged.

"We figured that you might feel that way so Wari came up with a plan, and Mokona was more than happy to help."

"Yeah, I bet." Watanuki grumbled, glaring at the fur ball.

"We were hoping to put you in a situation that would force you to ask for his help." Yuko took a drink, her cranberry eyes leveled on Watanuki. "In hindsight, we may have overdone it a bit. Together we planned out every little detail, and by the end of it you were completely terrified, but you still refused to give in."

"What are you talking about!? I didn't give in because I wasn't scared!" The girl blatantly lied.

"I'm sorry." Watanuki turned towards the newcomer to their conversation. Wari was standing in front of them, a sad look on his face. "I really am. I guess it would've been better if we had found a better way to do it. And now…you still won't be able to go swimming." Wari dropped his curly head a little, disappointment and compassion on his face.

"Don't worry about it." Watanuki shook her head. "It's okay." The girl walked up to her crush and was just about to comfort him with two gentle hands on his shoulders when she was interrupted.

"You know you could've asked last night when you were cleaning up after dinner." Doumeki interjected with his monotone voice, appearing in the middle of the conversation.

"I wasn't talking to you!" Watanuki yelled, forgetting the comforting hands and decided to strangle Doumeki's collar instead.

"Or when we overloaded you with our baggage." Yuko added.

"Yeeaaahhh!~" Mokona mocked, the little fur ball grabbing a drink. Watanuki was going to cook that little meat ball one day. At that point, drinks were handed around and they all sat down for a break. Yuko smoked her pipe as the teens all sat in the shade, Watanuki sandwiched in between the boys.

"So Wari, you came up with the whole plan? How did you think of it?" Watanuki asked.

"You remember that night we told ghost stories?" He asked. How could I forget? I nearly died! "I got the idea from something I'd read to prepare for that. They say it's a true story from around here."

"Ah, so you guys decided to recreate and urban legend." Watanuki was smiling now, pleased that she got to talk to Wari and ignore Doumeki.

"Yeah, apparently there was a woman who lived here who always wore a blue dress. She was locked in a room and wrote on a wall in blue ink: 'let me out of here.'"

"Blue ink?" Then Watanuki remembered the writing all over the room. And now the flower in the kitchen made sense too. "Oh! So that's why there was a blue flower waiting for me in the kitchen, huh? That was quite an impressive touch."

"Huh?" Wari responded.

"I mean, you were really prepared. I assumed you guys put up the paper wall when we got here and you ran upstairs, but when did you do the flower? Come on, you can tell me." Watanuki urged, still smiling.

"Dunno about that." Mokona piped up. Every head turned to the fur ball lounging on Yuko's lap. The creature turned to look at the classmates, and opened its black eyes. "We put up the paper wall and wrote on in the room with blue ink and everything, but I don't know about a flower." There was a moment of silence.

"Think about it." Doumeki started. "The flower was in a vase with fresh water when we got here, right? Remember when you were in the kitchen? You tried to turn the facuet on but…it was stuck. Like it had been a really long time since someone had used it. The flower, the water and the vase were all fresh, which makes me wonder…who put them there?" Doumeki was silence for a minute and then Watanuki spoke up, shivering despite the heat.

"Come on, just admit it!" Watanuki stood up and brushed off her swimsuit before taking the pitcher off of Yuko's table. "You called someone from the rental office ahead of time and they set it up before we got here! You're sneaky" The girl smiled, trying to hide her shivers. Watanuki started walking towards the house, taking the pitcher with her for more drinks when she looked up at the windows on the second floor. Something moved in the last room…but they were all outside….so who…?

"Who's that?" Watanuki breathed, her shivering becoming trembles that wracked her body. Someone was in the house. Someone she didn't know…and didn't want to know. The curtain moved and Watanuki watched as it was drawn back to reveal a figure…a woman. In a blue dress. She stared down at the girl with a wide, pale eye and Watanuki screamed…for real this time.

Ah…I'm finally free…

Everything went black as Watanuki crashed to the ground, the pitcher in her hand tumbling to the ground without breaking on the sand. Doumeki's head snapped up the second she screamed and he ran over to the girl just as she hit the sand. He was then cradling her in his arms, checking her sweaty face and neck to see what was wrong. Nothing was physically wrong with her but as Doumeki looked up to where the seer had been looking, he swore he saw the curtains close just as his gaze hit the window, but he couldn't be sure.

"What's wrong, Doumeki?" Wari asked, halfway to the pair with Yuko and Mokona following close behind.

"I think she fainted." He replied, hoisting the limp girl into his arms.

"Maybe she hadn't quiet recovered from yesterday's scare." Yuko started. "Or it could be something else. Either way, we need to get her inside." They all went inside, leaving everything out on the beach as Doumeki settled Watanuki down on the couch and arranged her long limbs so that she could be comfortable. Yuko went and got a cool, water soaked towel to put on the girl's forehead and they all took a break to wait for her to wake up. Ten minutes of waiting later and Watanuki's eyes flutterd open.

"I saw her…in that room…" She started.

"Watanuki, nobody's been in that room since last night and we were the ones in there." Doumeki said, stating the facts. He didn't discredit Watanuki's sight since she could see spirits and that ghost was probably up there for all he knew, but he didn't want to scare Watanuki even more. But the look he got said that Watanuki was pissed that he wasn't believing her and the girl struggled to her feet and padded off to her room without any help, steaming mad…again.

Later that evening, Watanuki walked out onto the beach, leaving the others to talk before she went to go make dinner. After her embarrassing fainting episode earlier, she was determined to prove that there was someone up in that room. She's yanked on her sandals and stomped outside in the blue dress she'd pulled on after her previous outfit got caked with sand when she'd fainted. She clumped down the stairs and into the living room where Doumeki, Yuko, Mokona and Wari were talking.

"So you're up now!~" Yuko said, turning her head towards the girl from her spot on the couch.

"Yeah, I'm up. What of it?" The girl asked irritability, swinging around the railing and towards the back door.

"Where are you going?" Doumeki asked, peeking around Wari to watch the girl.

"Out!" She hissed back, halting in her tracks and snapping her head around to give the boy a venomous glare.

"Ooo! Scary!~" Yuko sang.

"Watanuki, are you going to be okay?" Wari asked.

"I'll be fine." She toned down her mood for the boy, just brushing him off instead of yelling at him. Watanuki walked past the kitchen without another glance back and headed for the door.

"Do you need any help?" Doumeki asked, not trying to mock her but the girl took it that way anyway.

"Fuck off!" She called back angrily opening and slamming the door shut behind her.

"Ooo. She's not in a good mood." Yuko commented. "Just let her be for a little while and she'll calm down." Watanuki fumed at how Yuko just downplayed her frustration, but let it go because she didn't want to deal with it.

The girl ran down the stairs and to the beach, ignoring the beautiful, orangey-yellow sunset happening in front of her and when she got down to the sand, she backed up until she could see the corner room window. Where she'd seen that creepy lady before. The girl scrunched up her face to focus her vision and look up at the window. The curtains weren't moving now, still, as if no one were in there in the first place.

"Damn, what's going on this time?" Watanuki stood on her toes and strained too see something in the window. "She was there earlier, I swear." The girl took a step back, thinking that the spirit might not appear if she was too close. And then she took another step back…and another…and another…until she was halfway down the beach. She was still squinting up at the window, the fading light making it even harder to see if there was a spirit up there. A sudden breeze picked up Watanuki's skirt and she slapped her hands down on her thighs to hold it down. And that's when she noticed it. The ocean washed over her feet, cool and smooth. And something slimy did too. Whatever it was, it whipped at Watanuki's feet, causing her to cry out and stumble.

Backwards.

Watanuki stepped back into the water, the high tide close enough to reach the fair distance it hadn't covered that afternoon and then…she was in the ocean. She was in the ocean. She could feel the spirits crowding in near her feet, Watanuki opened her mouth to scream but it was choked as a tentacle wrapped around her while she tried to run towards the beach, the house. She didn't get far. The sea spirit snagged her ankle, enclosing the girl in its grasp and pulled. She tripped, but didn't fall in the ocean, catching her balance before she hit the water. Once she was in the water she was dead. That was it. The spirits were going to swarm her and pull her down into the dark depths of the ocean and she'd drown. And that was it. Watanuki yanked on her ankle, trying to run back to shore, flailing her arms and hopping on one leg. She was getting further and further away no matter how hard she tried to get back to the house, her feet digging into the sand and kicking up clouds in the water. Now she was thigh deep in the water and it was getting higher. She tripped and crashed into the waves, choking on saltwater and soaked to the bone. Watanuki looked down for an instant, her hands clawing into the sand and saw what had a hold of her. It was a huge, squid-like spirit with a translucent body, with several times more tentacles than an actual squid and three mouths with gnashing, pointed teeth. So basically a living nightmare. And it was surrounded by other malicious spirits, the little demons swarming around the big one as it pulled on Watanuki and drifted further out to sea. Watanuki's mouth opened to scream, her air supply turning into bubbles as she desperately pulled herself above the water. And this time when she opened her mouth, she really did scream.

Just before she did, Doumeki walked outside to see what was keeping Watanuki from coming inside.

"Oi, Watanuki. You've been out here for fifteen minutes, and Yuko's hungry now…" When he looked out onto the beach he got quite a shock.

"DOUMEKI!" Watanuki screamed, falling into the ocean with a splash, water choking off the rest of her scream as it rushed into her open mouth. She reached for the archer, her arm popping out of the waves as she struggled to swim forward but was dragged backwards and down into the sea, her next scream flooded with water in her lungs.

Doumeki was moving in an instant. He leapt off the stairs and onto the beach, dashing across the sand as fast as he could. Just before he jumped into the water, he heard Wari and Yuko walk out; calling to see what was the problem. He didn't have time to tell them that Watanuki was underwater because he was jumping into the ocean himself, wading through the shallows and then diving into the waves. Doumeki stroked with his powerful arms, pushing himself down as he opened his eyes in the salty water. They stung, but he wouldn't close them, too worried to miss a single sign of Watanuki. He looked left and right and then down as the beach's surface dropped into the ocean floor dramatically and spotted Watanuki's struggling body being pulled down by something. And even if he couldn't see it, he knew it was one of those spirits that she'd been trying to avoid this entire time.

Watanuki was running out of air as she clawed at the tentacle slowly wrapping and tightening around her leg. She felt the darkness of suffocation crowding in on her vision, but kept trying to break free, but it was no use. She was dragged down to the ocean floor roughly, the spirit's arm smacking her into the sand and sending up a cloud. As she tried to get her bearings, Watanuki was mobbed by a swarm of tadpole-like spirits who leapt onto her skin and hair, their little teeth and claws sinking into her skin. She tried to cry out in pain and fear, but only bubbles left her mouth. That was the last of her air. The seer was fading fast as she was dragged along the ocean's floor, the tentacle on her leg sliding up even further to encase her thigh. She thrashed in the water and dispersed the little spirits from her hair, but as she did so, her head smacked a boulder sitting in the sand, effectively knocking the girl out. She was then towed back even faster (since she wasn't struggling any more) heading straight towards the squid spirit's huge maw, the other two mouths snapping in pleasure.

Doumeki swam faster than he ever had before, the muscles he'd trained through archery screaming with exertion. But he wasn't giving up or slowing down. The boy pushed harder, rocketing down to where Watanuki's limp form was. He reached her – his own air supply almost gone – when the spirit almost had her in its mouth (only he couldn't see it). The spirit shuddered at the exorcist's presence, but it wasn't giving up its prize so easily…that is, until Doumeki touched Watanuki's leg, right where the tentacle was. The spirit howled at the touch of the archer's pure aura, shaking the water around them, quaking the very sea. The squid let go of its prey, yowling again as it pushed off the ocean floor and swam out to sea. The other spirits followed the big one and Doumeki had to grab onto Watanuki's shoulders and torso to keep her close as they were jettisoned towards the beach by the sheer force of the squid spirit's undulation. Doumeki kept a tight grip on the unconscious girl, as they spun and twisted in the crazy currents of the water. He was dizzy when he opened his eyes, but immediately found which way was up and swam for the surface. They burst out of the water, the boy gasping for lungfuls of air as he pulled Watanuki out of the water. The boy cradled the girl to his chest, his arms under her knees and shoulders as he ran for shore. Wari was right there with him in the water, running towards the pair.

"Doumeki! Are you okay? Is she okay?" The boy reached the pair, his hands coming up to help, but falling short as he pulled away. Doumeki ran past Wari, heading towards the sand.

"I'm fine, but she's unconscious." The archer dropped to his knees when he hit the beach proper, laying Watanuki down on the sand and checking her pulse. He placed his fingers on her throat, moving to where the neck meets the head and waited for the flow of blood to push against his hand. It didn't come. Doumeki started to get slightly panicked and checked for breathing, tipping the girl's head back and placing his cheek next to her nose. She wasn't breathing either. He then quickly – and carefully turned the girl on her side and swept his fingers through her mouth to open up her air way and pushed against her stomach softly to see if she'd spit up water. She didn't. Watanuki…wake up! He flipped her over again and pinched her nose shut, forcing down his own panic and placed his mouth over hers to give her five rescue breaths. Her chest moved up and down so there wasn't anything blocking her airway. Doumeki then placed his hands in between her breasts, one on top of the other and started doing chest compressions, trying to get Watanuki's pulse back. Each time he switched from breaths to compressions and Watanuki didn't respond was one more moment for Doumeki to panic, dread creeping up his spine. Watanuki, don't you die on me! Wari had already run around the house searching for a phone and couldn't find one and his cell was out of battery and Yuko, Doumeki and Watanuki didn't own a cell phone. They were on their own.

Shit. Watanuki, come on. Stay with me! The boy flipped the unconscious, cold girl over on her side and gently pressed her middle again, trying to get her to vomit and finally there was a reaction. Watanuki sputtered; her mouth opening on its own and then she coughed. The girl's eyes shot wide open and she threw up all the sea water she had swallowed onto the side, hacking up her lungs and coughing violently. Yuko was patting her back, helping her get it all out and Doumeki's arms were around her torso, supporting her.

"Thank god, Watanuki." Doumeki breathed.

"You scared us." Yuko added. The girl blearily looked up and blinked and then passed out again. At least this time she was breathing. Doumeki carefully scooped the raven into his arms, deciding that she'd be better inside and Yuko and Wari followed close behind him. They went into the rental house, all of them worn out by the scare and before Doumeki could walk away, Yuko caught him with a question.

"What happened, Doumeki?" Yuko asked.

"I walked outside to see what was taking her so long and she'd been caught by a spirit. It was dragging her out to sea. She asked for my help." The archer replied, smiling softly as he carried up the girl up to her room.

"Finally!~ And I'm very impressed that you know CPR."

"My grandfather told me to always be prepared in every situation and resuscitating someone seemed like a logical step towards that advice." Doumeki explained. "I also know how to tourniquet a wound, perform the Heimlich maneuver, and set and brace a broken limb."

"Those skills will definitely come in handy if Watanuki's involved. That girl's always getting into trouble." Yuko cooed, eyeing the two teens. She pointed at the unconscious girl in Doumeki's arms. "Case and point. Now let me get her dried off and into bed, 'kay?"

"Hm." Doumeki nodded, climbing the stairs. Once up them, Doumeki handed Watanuki to Yuko and the witch disappeared into the second floor bathroom. The archer went to his room to dry off, the unexpected swim making him surprisingly tired and when Yuko finally emerged from the bathroom with a still unconscious Watanuki, they both went off to her room and Yuko tucked her into bed. Wari stopped by on the way to his room to check on the girl, smiling softly as the seer's chest rose and fell. He said goodnight to everyone and walked off to his room. Yuko said goodnight as well, and headed off toward her room with Mokona, but she stopped at the door, one hand on the frame. Doumeki was still standing by Watanuki's bed, watching the girl sleep.

"You're going to stay with her, I presume?" The witch asked.

"Yeah." The boy replied, taking a seat on the floor and leaning back on the seer's bed.

"Fine then. Have a good evening." Yuko smiled and shut the door behind her. Doumeki listened to Watanuki's breathing as she slept; his own desire to sleep vanishing after all the trouble she'd caused him. Instead, he just sat on the floor, there for her in case she needed something .Whether she liked it or not.

Watanuki opened her eyes heavily some time later as her vision cleared to reveal the dim room around her. Her whole body felt heavy and achy, her head hurt, her lungs burned and her chest felt like it was on fire. She turned her head to work out her kinks whe she saw something by her head, something dark and head-shaped. She blinked again, her vision blurry in her glasses-less state and squinted. It was a head. Domeki's short haired head was tipped against the side of her bed and just seeing it made her frown. Why is he here? The girl tried to think of why that ass might be in her room. She was drawing a blank and kept thinking for a few moments. Then she blushed when she remembered why he might be in her room.

"DOUMEKI!"

Watanuki blushed even deeper in embarrassment. I yelled his name! And I did it so desperately too! Shit! Watanuki groaned at herself and her stupidity and Doumeki must've been awake and thought that she'd groaned in pain (and she did hurt but she didn't groan because of that – at least not yet) because he stirred from his seat on the floor. He turned into a kneel, leaning on the bed to be at her side.

"You awake?" He asked softly. Watanuki tried to speak but her voice came out as a raspy sigh. Doumeki instantly got up and rummaged through her bag and took out a water bottle (probably because he knew that she'd have one in her bag). He then helped the girl prop her head up and pushed her hands away when she reached up to get herself a drink by herself the boy put his hand behind Watanuki's back as she sat up and held up the bottle to her lips.

"I can do it myself," She finally croaked.

"I know," Doumeki replied. "But I'm not going to let you." Watanuki sighed in frustration, but let him give her a drink. Doumeki supported her head with his free hand and watched the girl sip from the bottle and checked her over. Yuko had given her a bath and got her in her pajamas and she looked much beter that before, but she was still pale from her dip in the ocean and her breathing was still shallow from nearly drowning. From the way the girl was tenderly moving, the archer could tell she was hurting (he'd been through similar beatings of his upper body when training for archery club). When Watanuki had finished getting a drink, she cleared her throat and gave Doumeki a hooded look.

"Doumeki…" She started. "Did you…save me again?"

"Yes. I jumped in the ocean and dragged you back to shore." He replied honestly. "What were you doing?" Watanuki blushed again.

"I was trying to find that spirit I saw in the window earlier and walked back too far."

"You could've asked me to come with you."

"But I didn't want to…I don't like people doing things that I can do on my own." The seer admitted solidly. "I like being able to take care of myself. I always have taken care of myself."

"Then do that." Watanuki's head snapped up at that. Doumeki just agreed with me! She was confused now. "But let other people take care of you too, especially when you can't take care of yourself – even when you think you can." Doumeki's eyes were gazing at the girl steadily, the molten orbs boring into her. But no matter how serious he was…what he said made no sense.

"Huh?"

"Let others help you. Ask for help. Let me help." Doumeki's eyes were dead serious as they stared into Watanuki's eyes. "That's what I'm asking you to do for saving you today: start asking." Watanuki pouted, her blue eyes flashing in frustration. I just told him that I don't like to do that! "At least try," He amended when he saw Watanuki's pissed look.

"Fine." Watanuki grumped, slouching down into her bed, closing the discussion. Doumeki turned around and sat against her bed again, much to her displeasure. "You're not going to leave, are you?"

"Nope." He replied.

"Over protective bastard." She hissed. And then she tossed her extra blanket at his head so he wouldn't be chilly. Doumeki took it in stride and pulled the blanket off his head and spread it on his lap. You don't want help, but you'll help anyone else? Idiot, Doumeki mused. "I'm going swimming tomorrow before we leave!" Watanuki stated, subliminally demanding that Doumeki help her go swimming without really asking him too. "Now go to sleep!" Watanuki snapped, burrowing down into her blanket.

"I'm here if you need anything" Doumeki reminded the pouting girl.

"Leave me alone." The seer grumped, already dozing off, her body craving sleep. She was totally out when Domeki's reply finally came.

"Never." And then they were both asleep, quietly breathing in the sea air from the open window.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

She was standing on the school's roof, her fingers tangled in the chain link fence. The wind picked up, blowing her summer skirt off her legs. She was a pretty girl with pale skin, deep, dark eyes and short, dark ash hair. She felt the breeze on her skin and looked up at the blue and white sky, the clouds floating by leisurely. A white bird soared by, gliding through the sky freely. She smiled softly, admiring the freedom the bird had to go wherever it wanted to go whenever it wanted to go. She was envious of it as the creature disappeared into the blue sky.

What she didn't notice was that her shadow stretched out behind her, dark and sinister…and spread its wings out like dark arms.

Watanuki grumbled, holding her pencil above the page she was drawing on. She just couldn't get it right! They were drawing self portraits for art class and she was having the hardest time sketching herself. Her hair was skiwampus, she couldn't riddle out her proportions and her eyes weren't looking right either. Watanuki set her pencil down again, determined to get it perfect…and then sighed again and scrunched up her face in frustration because she was sure she was going to mess up her drawing again if she tried to fix it.

"How's it going, Watanuki?" Wari asked, leaning over to look at the girl's drawing board. They were both sitting outside with the rest of their class and Watanuki looked over at her crush and blushed at how cute he looked in the summer uniform. The boy's wore black pants and a white, short-sleeved shirt for summer and the girl's wore green skirts, black socks and a similar shirt. Only Watanuki had a wedgie in her skirt as she sat with both of her legs tucked under her like a princess, and Wari just looked so relaxed, his drawing board propped up on his knees.

"Well, it could be going better." The girl sighed, staring at her drawing again. "I'm beginning to think that I made a big mistake signing up for art class." She sighed gloomily against but then the girl's gushy mode turned on. "But if I could draw someone's picture I wish it could be yooouuurrrsss!~" She whispered quietly, to herself more than anyone. "Is yours done? Wah!"

"What do you think?" Wari asked, his smiled sparkling. Watanuki was looking at his drawing…but she couldn't quiet tell if the boy was going for an abstract concept or if he was just really bad at sketching. Her face dropped as she looked at the…the…thing…and her brain scrambled for an ambiguously neutral comment…so she didn't hurt his feelings.

"I can honestly say that I've never seen anything like it before!" Watanuki laughed nervously, sticking her hand behind her head and ruffling her pony tail.

"Why, thank you!" Wari didn't seem fazed at all. "Wow, I can't believe how hot it is today. I wonder why they have us working out here."

"Yeah, yeah, absolutely!" Watanuki agreed. And then she realized that it was really weird to be making self portraits outside. The girl crossed her arms in a know-it-all sort of fashion. "Yeah, what are we doing out here? We're drawing self-portraits not landscapes. There's no doubt that this school is a little, no, actually a lot weird."

"Oh wow!" Another girl in their art class gasped. "It looks just like you!"

"Yeah! You're really good!" A second girl complimented. Watanuki looked over at the group near the school's wall. There were three of them and two of the girls, both with brown hair but one had hers in a low pony tail and the other's hair was let loose and wavy, were looking at the board of the girl in the middle. The middle girl was someone Watanuki had seen before but had never really paid any attention too. But now that she got a good look at her, the girl was pretty, but more on the plain side with flipped up ash brown hair pulled away from her face with teal clips and pale skin. Her brown eyes looked doleful and sad, but she was smiling softly as she looked at her picture. If Watanuki could've looked over the girl's shoulder, she would've seen a girl on the page, crammed into the left corner, curled up to her knees with her arms wrapped around her shins with sad eyes, all done in alternating harsh and soft pencil strokes.

"Hey! Since you're finished, do you think you can give me a hand with mine?" Pony tail girl asked.

"Oh yeah! Me too?" The wavy-haired girl jokingly asked. The pony tail girl winked.

"What do you think?" She asked. The ash-haired girl looked to both of them, hesitant for a moment, and then nodded. "You're a life saver! Thanks, Mie!"

"For real!" Wavy girl agreed. Mie put down her board and reach for one of the two boards being held out to her.

"Something wrong?" Wari asked, pulling Watanuki away from her observations. The boy looked to see what Watanuki was staring at and saw the girl. "That girl's in class 2. Everyone says she so nice and quiet and is polite to everyone!"

"Hm." Watanuki responded, still watching.

"What's up? Is there a problem?" Wari asked again.

"No! No, it's nothing!" Watanuki brushed off the comment and turned back to her eyes, trying to figure out whether or not she shaded her right eye too dark. It didn't look right that dark, but it she lightened it, then it wouldn't match the color of her left eye. This is so frustrating! Why do people think art is fun?!

All the while as Watanuki muddled through her portrait, Mie was still smiling.

Later that day, Mie was staring at the sky again, her fingers woven into the chain-link fence of the roof. This time, the clouds were bathed in brilliant golden light from the setting sun, but she didn't feel much like staring at it too long. Mie's gaze dropped down to the fence, but shot right back up when she heard a bird call. This time, there were five white birds flying by, but before they disappeared into the distance, the door to the roof opened and Mie's head snapped around to see who it was. It was her friends.

"Hey! Are you still up here?" Pony Tail called.

"Hurry up, slow poke!" Wavy added. Mie smiled at her best friends and let go of the fence.

"Sorry." She said softly, leaving with the girls.

Down in the art room, surrounded by other student's portraits, Mie's painting waited for her to come back. Hanging on the wall next to some of her classmate's drawings, the picture started to change. A pair of slowly unfurling wings appeared, just beginning to open up on the canvas.

"Man! The break was so long that I forgot how cute Wari looks in his uniform!~" Watanuki cooed while walking to Yuko's shop from school. "Today was such a great day! Except…" The girl stopped in her tracks, her smile fading to an annoyed pout. "…for one, teeny, tiny, little thing." The seer shot an irritated glare at her unwanted companion: Doumeki. "Just what the hell are you doing here?!"

"My club isn't meeting today." He stated simply.

"Why are they taking a break at the start of the semester!?" Watanuki howled, dismayed that Doumeki chose to walk home with her because he had nothing else to do. It was like he loved annoying her!

"What are you asking me for?" Doumeki replied, obviously not knowing the answer to that question either. Just then, the pipe fox wriggled out of Watanuki's breasts and out of her collar, staring the girl in the face. And then he proceeded to run in and out of the girl's clothes, tickling her all the time while he was at it.

"Gah! Ah! Don't go in there! Hehe! Stop that! Hahaha! That tickles!" Watanuki alternated between laughing and scolding as she danced around trying to stop the creature.

"I can't believe you're still carrying that pipe fox around," Doumeki said, watching the girl wriggle and shoving his free hand in his pocket. If Watanuki would've been paying attention, she might've noticed that he sounded just the slightest, teeny, tiniest annoyed, like he was miffed that Watanuki didn't believe that his pure aura could keep her safe without the extra protection of the pipe fox. But she wasn't paying attention and the slight miffed-ness went unnoticed.

"Not my choice!" She shot back, scrambling to catch the pipe fox, her hand going down her collar just a second too late and barley missing the creature as it shot up the bottom of her shirt.

"So then…someone's forcing you to carry it?" Doumeki asked, trying to get to the bottom of why she was carrying him around.

"Nooo." Watanuki sighed mournfully, finally shoving the pipe fox back into her breasts. "He keeps following me!" She whined.

"He just can't stand to be away from you, can he?" Doumeki replied, jealous of the little monster's closeness with his friend.

"Aaaaooowwwwllll," Wanuki moaned. "Just wait 'til Yuko finds out he snuck out of the house after me again." Watanuki's head dropped down into a position of "definitely in trouble." "I bet you just about anything that she'll bury me under a mountain of the worst chores she can think of!" The pair reached a crossroads and Watanuki turned to the right to go to Yuko's shop. When Doumeki didn't move on, she stopped and turned around, thinking he was going to say something important.

"About tomorrow's lunch…" He start.

"How did we get onto that all of a sudden?!" Watanuki snapped, glaring at the boy.

"I want Inari sushi." (1) The archer said, before turning left and walking to his house.

"Let me guess: because it looks like fox ears!" Watanuki mocked, holding up her hands to her head and flapping them like ears.

"Aw, man! What's wrong with me?!" Watanuki's hands dropped down and she pouted again. "I should've told that dumb jock to make his own lunch." She sighed dramatically, disappointed that she'd become so used to cooking for that jerkass. "I hope this doesn't go one for the rest of my life!" And then she went into normal mode as she thought through the situation. "I guess as long as I have to make my own lunch it's no big deal to make his lunch too…what the HELL am I thinking!? That Doumeki is taking advantage of my good nature!" And while some would beg to differ on that last point, Watanuki was distracted by the pipe fox slithering out of her collar again and by the giggling of two girls. The three girls from earlier that day were walking by, the ash-haired girl lagging just a little being the other two as they laughed.

"I know those girls! They're in my art class at school." Watanuki watched them pass her by and nothing seemed out of the ordinary until Mie's back was visible. Watanuki gasped as she and the pipe fox saw two little white wings growing out of her back. "What's that? Is it a design on her shirt? Some kind of costume?" Watanuki rubbed her right eye, clearing it so she could have a better look. "But if it is, then why didn't I notice it before?" The three girls stopped in front of a vending machine filled with drinks and Pony Tail turned to talk to Mie.

"I hate to ask, but do you think you could lend me some change?" She asked, smiling at her friend. "I'll pay you back tomorrow."

"Yeah, me too, please!" Wavy asked just as cheerfully. Mie just glared at them.

"No way." She said it softly, but it was like someone had kicked a puppy right in front of them because both girl's smiles disappeared in an instant as they stared at their quiet friend walk right past them and down the street.

"Is it just me, or did she seem like a totally different person all of a sudden?" Pony Tail asked Wavy.

"You know how the quiet ones are: one day they just snap." Wavy replied.

"Cut it out! You're scaring me!" Pony Tail responded. Both girls walked away from the vending machine drinkless. Watanuki walked up to where they had been standing by the vending machine but stopped when she heard a slight sound under her foot. The girl looked down and picked up her foot. Underneath her, on the ground, was a single white feather. She bent down and picked it up, holding the delicate object in her fingers.

"A feather?" She questioned.

Back in the school's art room, Mie's painting was changing again, its wings unfurling just a little bit more.

Watanuki made it to Yuko's shop without incident, walking up slowly so as not to announce her presence. The shop's door didn't squeak when she opened it, and she peeked inside. There was no one in sight. Watanuki sighed in relief. And then the pipe fox decided to pop out of her collar again and started squeaking and kissing her forehead. Watanuki pulled him off her face and held up her finger to her mouth and shhh-ed him, still trying to be quiet so Yuko didn't find out that he was missing. The girl then pulled out the pipe fox, shoved him down in her skirt's back pocket and took a tip-toed step, turned around and shut the door with a soft squeak.

"Welcome back." A smooth, quiet voice said behind her. Yuko! Watanuki's spine shot straight in terror, and she dropped her bag in surprise as she was found out. The girl turned around with a scared expression on her face and found that Yuko's outfit might be scarier than Yuko herself. Today the witch was wearing a reddish-orange tank top with black ruffles around her boobs and the top had a chocker collar and a piece of fabric that extended down from the choker to the middle of her boobs that also had black ruffles on it. Her red shorts were very short and her belt was white with black ruffles and a huge pink rose tied it together with the end pieces of the belt dangling on Yuko's thigh. She was standing with on hand on her hip like she knew what Watanuki had done (and she seemed to always know what Watanuki did and didn't do, damn it!). "Watanuki," Yuko started talking with a very firm and no-nonsense voice that scared the shit out of the seer. "I want you to show me what's in your pocket right now!"

The girl's hands scrambled all over her body as she whimpered in fear. I am in such deep shit! Thanks for nothing, pipe fox! Now we're both dead! "Actually there's a really good explanation for this! I didn't take him with me; he just followed me on his own! I didn't even know that he was there until I got to school! I'm sorry!" Watanuki pulled out the pipe fox from her skirt and bowed as she held up the troublesome creature out to Yuko with both hands. There was a moment of silence where the fox and the woman just looked at each other before Yuko spoke again.

"I was talking about your other pocket." Yuko said firmly. The pipe fox slithered out of Watanuki's hands and ran across her shoulders, squeaking happily.

"Wait?! So you're not mad about the pipe fox!?" Watanuki asked, standing up while very confused. "So…you must mean…" Watanuki reached into her other pocket and pulled out the white feather she'd picked up off the ground and showed it to her boss.

"Where…did you get that?" The witch asked.

"I found it in the alleyway, while I was walking here after school." Watanuki answered. Yuko reached out her hand and held it up like she telling someone to stop. And then Watanuki's hands burst into a column of flames.

"AAAAAHHHHHH!" She screamed. The fire disappeared a second later, along with the feather but the girl was to mad and terrified to notice at first as she waved her hands around. "Are you crazy?! You nearly burned my eyebrows off! You could at least wait until I'm finished talking before trying something like that!"

"Make sure you watch your back, Watanuki." Yuko said, her voice serious. Watanuki stopped freaking out.

"Huh?"

"Or you could end up as someone's dinner." Yuko's cranberry eyes stared into Watanuki's blue ones, the warning pressing into the girl's mind. She had no response and then Yuko suddenly flipped moods and wanted Watanuki to make a hugely complicated meal and then clean and do all the things that the girl had expected would be thrown on her, just like always. Maru and Moro kept singing their mistresses orders over and over again as the girl did her work and that ticked her off and then Mokona was being a pain in the ass and kept ordering the girl for snacks until she finally just whacked the fur ball with her spatula in a final fit of rage. It wasn't until eleven o'clock that she got home and did her homework and made lunch for the next day, grumbling all the time about "that ass, Doumeki" and "fox ears." The next day at lunch, Watanuki opened up the bento and waited for Doumeki's approval, much to her dismay.

"Wow, these triangles are really perfect." Doumeki said, taking one of the Inari out with his chopsticks. The girl couldn't help but be a little pleased at the compliment, but she hid it behind and annoyed expression.

"I know, because they're fox's ears!" Watanuki flapped her left hand like and ear on top of her head, her right hand not free because it was holding her own chopsticks. "Why did you pick this out of the way corner to have lunch when we could be eating outside! And why am I having lunch with you when I could be having lunch with Wari?! Man this reeks!" Watanuki started her crocodile tears as she complained about eating in the roof's stairwell and missed her crush's bright smile and lovely conversation. Instead she was stuck with an insensitive jerk who only cared about food!

"But he has late lunch." Doumeki replied, eating another Inari.

"I know that!" Watanuki growled, glaring at Doumeki as he ate.

"So?" The archer asked.

"So what?" The girl asked back.

"So finish what you were telling me before. About the girl you saw walking home yesterday that had wings growing out of her back. What happened after that." Why did he jump back to that!? I was telling him that before school started!

"Well, it gets weirder." The girl continued her story without a hitch, but then she stopped when she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Watanuki listened at the footsteps rounded the corner and the girl that she was just telling Doumeki about appeared. Speak of the devil and he shall appear. She walked up to the pair sitting on the steps and stopped walking, looking down at them.

"You're in my way." She said softly, but the rude tone was clear enough. She looked pissed. Watanuki looked down at one of her bento boxes and found that it was in the middle of the stairs, in between her and Doumeki. She grabbed it quickly.

"Oh…sorry." She apologized to the girl. Mie walked past them without another word and opened the door to the roof. Watanuki watched her go and stared at the white wings on her back. They looked a little bigger today.

"Was that her?" Doumeki asked.

"Yeah…" Watanuki replied, still gazing at the closed door.

"I looked at her back but I didn't see any wings or anything."

"Okay…that must mean it's a spirit or something. Ah."

"Something wrong?"

"Well, I could be wrong about this…but when she passed by us just now, the wings on her back seemed larger than they were yesterday." Watanuki turned to look at the door again, the entryway looming behind her like the portal to something downright freaky.

Today, she was out on the roof, but she wasn't happy at all, her fingers clenching the fence in a white knuckled grip. Mie gazed up at the sky, a whole flock of birds passing across the clouds this time. She glowered at the creatures and gripped the fence tighter.

"Hey! Anybody home!" Watanuki called as she walked into the shop later that day. It was a stupid question because somebody was always home, even if it wasn't Yuko. Maru and Moro were waiting just past the genkan in their devil and angel outfits (the summer versions) and clapped the hand closest to their other twin together and threw their free hand out, leaning into each other and kicking up their outside legs in their usual pose.

"Welcome home!" They greeted, giggling happily.

"What's up?" Watanuki asked, kicking off her shoes. "So where is Yuko?"

"Sorry!" Maru replied, holding up her right hand straight up like she had the answer to a question in school. "The mistress has gone out for the day!"

"She's gone out with Mokona!" Moro answered next, mimicking her twin's stance.

"Oh. I see. And I was going to ask her to go to omatsuri." (2)

"The mistress says she sends her regrets!" Maru replied as both girls turned into each other and clapped their hands together.

"She really wanted to play with her Watanuki today!" Moro added.

"Hold on! I'm not her toy!" Watanuki howled.

"Yay!" The twins cheered, throwing their hands into the air.

"Watanuki got our joke!" Maru laughed.

"It was a tricky joke!" Moro laughed with her twin.

"Okay, then. Why don't you two come with me to the festival instead? Wari is going to be there. You both have your own kimonos, right? " Watanuki asked, smiling at the giggling twins. "When I was cleaning out the bureau drawers I found a pair of them and they looked like they were your size, so I thought they were yours." Both girls fell silent and looked at the girl with those endless old eyes they had sometimes, their hand still woven together with the other.

"We can't go." They said together, sadness creeping into their voices.

"What? Do you mean you have to have Yuko's permission?" Watanuki asked, disappointed that Yuko would limit the twins like that. They should be able to go out and have fun too!

"Maru and Moro can never set foot outside the shop." The girls turned towards Watanuki the blue haired twin holding the pink haired twin's right hand with her left hand. "Because unlike you, Maru and Moro don't have souls."

"Wait, you don't have souls?" Watanuki asked, confusion and understanding roiling around in her brain.

"The shop looks normal on the inside but it's different from the outside world." The twins said together ominously. "Those of us without souls cannot cross the rift between the shop and the outside world. Our bodies cannot endure it." Watanuki swallowed loudly, creeped out by the cute girls she saw every day.

"What does that mea-EEEEEEEEE!" Watanuki shrieked and started dancing around, her silliness breaking the seriousness of the moment as her hands flew around her body trying to catch the pipe fox. She snagged the little creature as it flew under her skirt and got right in his face. "Will you stop doing that?!"

"Watanuki has an admirer!" Maru and Moro make a heart with their free arms and met their hands over their heads to shape it.

"A fuzzy one!" Maru sang,

"And a tickly one!" Moro sang back. Watanuki scolded the pipe fox again but then her hands were grabbed by the twins and she was whisked through the house to play games with them and made them snacks. They fell asleep halfway through the afternoon and Watanuki carried the girls to Yuko's huge bed and tucked them in. She then spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning up and making everything nice for when Yuko came back. Not having to cook a huge dinner was a nice change and instead, Watanuki took her time changing into her kimono and do her hair nice for Wari.

Watanuki's yukata was dyed pale blue with navy and black starlings embroidered across the fabric along with tree branches. It was a kimono that her mother had picked out for the girl to wear when she was older…before she died, of course and Watanuki found that even years later, her mother had very excellent taste in fabric. Watanuki hummed as she slipped her arms into her kimono and tied her pale orange obi (something that she'd had to practice a lot to get it right) and straightened the fabric until it lay smooth. Then the girl made use of Yuko's huge bathroom to fix her hair. She'd already washed and dried her hair before getting dressed and brushed her wavy black locks into a shine before letting it fall to her shoulder blades and pinning back some of her bangs with a flower clip Yuko said she'd look cute in. Almost ready to go, Watanuki packed up her school stuff and placed her uniform in a bag to come back for later and slipped on her tabi socks and went to the genkan to leave. Maru and Moro were up and came to say goodbye as she slipped on her zori sandals.

"Have a fun time!" Moro called, waving as Watanuki opened the door.

"Have fun and be safe!" Maru added, waving with her twin. Watanuki smiled and waved back, before picking up her purse and shutting the shop's door behind her.

"I really don't understand it…how can they be alive without any souls? And what was that about the inside of the shop not being the same as the outside?" Watanuki wondered as she walked down the street to the festival. "I should ask Yuko about that when she gets back. I should also ask her about that 'being dinner' remark while I'm at it." Watanuki reached the festival in no time at all and walked up to the shrine, happy to see someone waiting for her by the torii gate (3). "Wari!" She sang, running up to the boy and waving happily. Wari was wearing deep purple kimono with white branches and flowers. He's so cute! Watanuki started crying with joy as Wari waved back at her.

"How are things going tonight, Watanuki?"

"Oh, yeah! Tonight's just great!" As long as I'm spending it with you! Watanuki bushed. "I hope I didn't keep you waiting long!"

"Not at all!" Wari replied cheerfully. I actually got here earlier than I had planned. You've got great timing! We were just having a little chat about you just before you walked up!" Watanuki's face dropped.

"Wha?!" She yelped. "When you say 'we'…you mean-"

"Oi." Doumeki stepped out from behind the pillar and held up one hand in greeting. He was dressed in his maroon yukata with a deep green sash.

"D-D-D-D-D-D-D-Doumeki!" Watanuki snarled. "What the hell do you think you're doing here?!"

"I asked him! I thought that you two were such good friends and that it would be a lot of fun for him to join us!" Wari sparkled as she smiled and Watanuki was slightly less peeved that Doumeki was butting into her time with Wari because the curly-haired boy was so cute.

"Wait a minute…you invited him?" Watanuki asked.

"Sure did! Is something wrong?" Wari asked.

"Oh no! You're fine! It was a really great idea!" Watanuki gave the boy a thumbs up, but inside she was dying from horror.

"Now that Watanuki's finally here, let's go." Doumeki said as he and Wari walked onto the shrine grounds.

"Hold on! Who died and made you the boss!?" Watanuki pointed an accusing finger at the archer.

"Don't be angry! This'll be fun!" Wari turned around and sparkled at the girl again. The seer instantly agreed with her crush. The trio walked onto the shrine and Wari and Watanuki were stunned by the lanterns hung above the food and game booths and all the lights and noise that festivals brought along with them.

"Isn't this great?" Wari asked. "Don't you love the festival at night?"

"Yeah! There's something magical about them!" The seer's smiled dropped off her face again and she looked around suspiciously for spirits. "Except… they show up in the meantime."

"What do you mean? What shows up?" Wari asked. That's right! He doesn't really know!

"I-uh-huh-I meant mosquitoes and stuff!" Watanuki blew off her serious comment with a nervous laugh.

"Oh yeah, it's awful. Here it's almost fall and we're still got all these bugs!"

We're at a shrine, so I guess I should expect a few spirits, but so far…I haven't seen any. Watanuki kept looking around as they weaved through the crowd of people. When she still didn't see any, Watanuki slyly gave Doumeki a sideways glance. I guess it really could be because of him. I suppose…I'm glad…he's here…kind of…DAMN IT! The girl struggled admitting that Doumeki helped out, even in her head where no one could hear her so she just stuck an annoyed look on her face and walked on.

"Hey, guys. Let's try this." Doumeki walked over to a booth and held up a paper net for catching goldfish and waved Watanuki over with it by tipping it back and forth through his fingers.

"Hey! What made you think you could decide what we were going to do?!" Watanuki pointed her finger at the jerkass and snarled with her fangs.

"I think it sounds fun!" Wari agreed with Doumeki.

"Oh yeah! Right!" Watanuki's mood flipped to please her crush. "Absolutely! It wouldn't be a festival without stopping at the goldfish booth! I've been looking forward to doing this all day long! Alright! Let me just warm up my fish catching arm!" Wari chuckled at the girl.

"Wari!" The boy's head turned to catch sight of a group of his friends, two girls and a boy, waving at him. He waved back and stood up.

"Sorry! I'll be back in a minute!" Wari apologized to Watanuki and then ran off to talk with his friends.

"Uh…but I-" Watanuki reached out a lingering had, but Wari was already immersed in conversation with his other friends. The girl's face dropped even lower, her lips coming out in a disappointed pout as her crush left her.

"Aren't you going to give it a try?" Doumeki asked, already holding a bowl with three goldfish in it.

"WHY AM I STUCK ON A ROMANTIC NIGHT WITH A BUNCH OF GOLDFISH AND YOU!?" Watanuki growled, holding up her hands like two avenging gauntlets of claws and teenage rage.

"You're the one who bumped into me." Watanuki stopped her rant when she heard a soft, but icily hard voice that she recognized. It was Mie, she was wearing a pale purple kimono with pink designs and a striped obi.

"Chill out, Mie!" The pony tail girl put her hand on Mie's shoulder. They were at the shooting booth and Mie was holding one of the play guns they used to knock over items on the shelves.

"It's her again!" Watanuki gasped.

"What's your problem? I apologized already didn't I?!" The guy that had apparently bumped into Mie said, both of them taking aggressive stances.

"Do it again!" Mie said, spitefully, but still softly.

"Just let it go!" Pony Tail was pulling at her arm now, trying to defuse the situation with distance.

"Come on." Wavy added, "Let's get out of here, Mie."

"Not yet." Mie took a step forward, "Just say it again!" She said, her voice getting a little louder as she addressed the man in front of her.

"And what if I don't? What are you going to do about it?" Mie stared at the man, her eyebrows furrowing as she got even angrier. A flow of fast flying birds passed before her eyes, glaring red as she anger boiled. She gripped the toy gun viciously and her other hand came up to join the first. Mie then pulled back her arms and with all her strength, swung the gun as hard as she could. The gun slammed into the guy's head, the pistol-whip knocking him down to the ground, crying out in pain as he held his head.

Oh my god! What have you done!?" Pony Tail screamed.

"You should've just apologized again." Mie said venomously. The incident was drawing quite a crowd and now the festival security guards were walking towards the commotion.

"We've got to get out of here now!" Pony Tail grabbed Mie's arm and the three of them ran down towards the shrine. As the girls ran away, Watanuki watched as the wings on Mie's back started growing again, getting larger and larger, the white feathers phasing into full fledged-wings.

"Just as I thought! Her wings keep getting bigger and bigger!" Watanuki gasped. Mie glared at Watanuki as she ran past, but she wasn't the only one that received a glare. "Doumeki! I've got to go. I've got to check something out!" Watanuki ran off, following after Mie and her white wings. Doumeki rolled his eyes at her stupidity and ran after her, his geta slapping on the cobblestones of the shrine. The pair of them ran past a second gate and into the temple proper. The courtyard was walled in, except for the gate and the shrine building itself was dark for the festivities.

"I thought I saw her come this way," Watanuki said softly, looking around the dark temple grounds. The festival lights didn't extend this far back into the shrine, and it was really dark. While she was looking the other way, Mie materialized from the shadows, walking out of the shrine building with her mysterious wings, and her friends nowhere in sight. She walked up to Watanuki and the girl took a surprised step back.

"I know you." Mie spoke softly still, but her voice was harsh and bitter. "You were the girl who was glaring at me. I know you were. Admit it. "

"I'm sorry, but you must be mistaken." Watanuki replied, knowing quite clearly that the only person she'd been glaring at was Doumeki.

"No. I could feel that you were glaring at me. Why don't you just apologize?"

"Listen, I'm really sorry if I gave you the wrong impression somehow…but I wasn't glaring at you. I promise!"

"Just shut up and apologize already!"

"She doesn't owe you and apology." Doumeki said, defending Watanuki. But the girl was too scared, watching the wings on Mei's back grow even bigger, her wing tips brushing the ground. And then three clicks sounded and Watanuki's eyes were drawn to the retractable xacto knife in her hand.

"Just do it! Hurry and apologize!" Mie screamed this time, sweat running down her forehead and cheeks. She gripped her knife in both hands, her arms shaking as she curled into herself like she was in pain. The wings on her back stared spreading themselves and weird little tentacles sprouted around her back and wiggled.

"What the-?!" Watanuki gasped.

"Apologize now!" Mie ran at the seer, bringing up her knife and slashing down at Watanuki. The raven stepped out of the way just in time, avoiding getting sliced down the middle, but the edge of the knife bit into her forearm, cutting deeply and blood started gushing out of the wound. Watanuki grabbed her arm, trying to stem the blood flow as she winced in pain. Doumeki stepped up behind Mie and grabbed her knife with his hand, covering the blade so she couldn't hurt Watanuki again. The knife cut open his palm and fingers, blood squelching out of his grip and dripping onto the ground. He stood between Watanuki and Mie, yanking up her hands, the knife sliding in even deeper, but he didn't wince and didn't shout in pain or anything, just kept his serious face on as he protected his friend.

"You're the one that should apologize." Doumeki said, watching her warped back tremble in anger. She glared at him, her brown eyes narrowing in rage, and then suddenly, she collapsed, her angry expression vanishing as she lost consciousness. The knife fell to the ground, covered in Doumeki's and Watanuki's blood and Watanuki watched as the wings started flapping, pulling Mie into the air against the girl's control. She was out and Watanuki could only guess that Doumeki was seeing a girl dangle in mid-air. Watanuki clapped her hands over her ears as an ear-splitting shriek came from Mie, but she wasn't the one doing the screaming. The seer watched in horror as the wings on Mie's back started wiggling, the tentacles tensing and relaxing until they detached themselves, a white blob coming out of Mie's skin like some sort of parasite. Mie fell to her hands and knees as the wings lifted themselves into the air, finally free of their host.

"Are you okay?" Watanuki asked, forgetting the wings and running to see if Mie was alright. And then the wings shrieked again, flapping just about the temple and them made a dive for Watanuki. Mie wasn't responding and Watanuki shoved her into Doumeki's arms, knowing that she'd be safe there as she got up and ran herself.

The wings circled around Doumeki, avoiding his pure aura and made a beeline for Watanuki's delicious scent. The girl yelped and ran as fast as she could in her kimono, heading towards the wall. Why is it always me?! Why is it always me?! Why is it always ME?! She chanted her mantra in her head while she wailed in real life. The wings were getting closer, the tentacles wriggling and wanting to catch their next prize. Just before they were about to grab Watanuki, the girl dive bombed herself, rolling into a somersault and ducking the tentacles before they could snag her. She stopped rolling on the ground as the wings circled around again and came to flap right in front of her. the girl looked up and yelped, leaping to her feet and backing up against the courtyard's wall. She crept to the right, keeping her back to the wall and the wings in her line of sight until she came to a corner, and then the wings really had her cornered in the most literal sense as they flapped to catch up to the panicking girl. The wing-creature shrieked again, chittering at its prey and then swooped in for the kill. Watanuki screamed and covered her face with her hands.

The pipe fox shot out of her kimono sleeve, his period of being good and not tickling Watanuki over as it rushed in to help his new affection. The pipe fox shot into the air and spun around and around in a knot until he was a shining ball of white, deflecting the wings back with a burst of energy before spinning like a pinwheel and unfurling himself as a beautiful fox. The pipe fox was no longer little and Watanuki gasped in awe at its beautiful, golden fur and the collar of pale fur around his collar and on his _ tails, and the fox had strange red markings on his face. The fox hovered protectively in front of Watanuki and growling menacingly, snarling at the wings as they shrieked back. The fox opened his jaws and a fire shot out of it like lasers off a space ship and hit the wings dead center, setting them alight. The pipe fox leapt and tackled the wings, pinning them on the ground with a crash that created a good sized crater in the earth and tore them to shreds as they burned up with fox fire and disappeared. The fire on the ground burst even brighter as the wings turned to ask and Watanuki walked a little closer, just to make sure that they were gone for good.

I warned you, didn't I? I told you to watch your back." Yuko's voice floated down behind Watanuki and the girl pivoted to see the witch standing in the courtyard with them, dressed in a deep blue kimono, yellow and red obi with black gloves clasping a black umbrella. Her pinned up hair blew in the wind created by the fox's fire a she watched the wings burn up.

"Yuko!?" Watanuki yelped.

"That creature…it was planning to consume you next." Yuko head turned to where Doumeki was standing with Mie. "Just as it consumed her." Doumeki was still holding Mie, but her eyes were closed this time and she was completely limp. Embers of the fire leapt into the air, like huge fireflies that surrounded the group of people in the courtyard. The pip fox whined and jumped over to Yuko, curling itself around her form and tipped his head up. Yuko smiled and scratched the creature's jaw in appreciation for his hard work.

"That's what you meant about being dinner." Watanuki realized. "I was going to be its next victim." Watanuki turned to look back at the fire. "What was it? What kind of creature?"

"A fallen angel."

"Huh?" Watanuki looked back at Yuko again.

"A parasite that feeds on people. It slowly feeds on the mind's ability to practice self control. In return, the victim is freed from all self-restraint.

"So did that monster pick her randomly? Was this a case of bad luck?" Watanuki asked, watching as the fox's fire finally disappeared, leaving not a trace of the wings or the crater that the pipe fox had made in the ground.

"It's more that than. Think about all those stories you hear on the news. A criminal's friends and co-workers all say the same thing when interviewed by the press. The script rarely varies. 'He seemed like such a normal, quiet person.' 'She never seemed like the kind of person to do this kind of thing.' The reality is that this type of creature won't just feed on anyone. It will only feed on someone who secretly wants to lose control, to break free of their inhibitions. This shy, quiet little girl was exactly what it was looking for."

Mei sat up and opened her eyes, but her expression was blank, like Doumeki's face but with less personality.

"She's finally awake!" Watanuki rushed over to Mie to check on her. "Hey, are you okay?" Watanuki placed a hand on her should and shook her gently, but she didn't respond.

"The boundaries of her consciousness have been destroyed." Yuko explained. "And her soul has become unstable. Her mind has retreated into itself. Who knows how long she'll be like this."

"No way." Watanuki breathed. "There's got to be something we can do to bring her back!" Yuko didn't reply. "Yuko! Please!"

"Humans are a strange mixture of strength and weakness. And it may be in this girl's case, that what is lost can be restored…but it's going to take a very long time. " Yuko really did look like a witch then, still holding onto her umbrella, the pipe fox at her back and the glowing ashes of the fire drifting into the air around them. The fox whined and looked up at the moon and Yuko, Watanuki and Doumeki all did the same, gazing up at the whole, white orb in the sky.

"Time to go now." Yuko said a few minutes later, signaling that they needed to get out of here. Watanuki sighed and reached up to rub her eye when she remember that her arm was bleeding. And then she remember that Doumeki's hand was in much worse shape than she was.

"Doumeki!" Watanuki turned to look at the boy and her eyes flitted to his hand. "Your hand!" The seer reached out and grabbed the archer's fingers and gently pryed them apart. The pipe fox wandered over and took the girl out of Doumeki's arms and Yuko helped place Mie on the creatures back and left with them, presumably to get her to someone who would take care of her. Watanuki examined Doumeki's hand and noted that the largest cut was across his palm with the smaller ones on his knuckles closer to his finger tips with a few in between both wounds. She reached into her purse and yanked out and handkerchief, putting one end into her mouth and pulling with her free hand to rip the cloth into strips (her other hand still holding Doumeki's bleeding one). Shen then started wrapping his hand up, taking care not to open the cuts further and trying to gauge pain by Doumeki's facial expression (which showed nothing out of the ordinary) and his body's reactions, like flinching (which there were none.) How does he do that? He's cut up this badly – he might need stitches – and yet he's not even wincing! Once Doumeki's hand was all bandaged up, Watanuki checked her work and then sighed in relief when everything was secured. She was then surprised when Doumeki grabbed her arm and tore up his own handkerchief to bandage her up, being careful to slow down or stop completely when she winced or whimpered as he pinched her deep cut together. Doumeki's stone-faced act made the girl feel like a wuss, but she kept it together as much as she could.

"Are you okay now?" Doumeki asked when he was finished.

"Yeah and how are you? You're cuts are much deeper than mine." Watanuki pointed out.

"Yes, but yours is near vital arteries. You're lucky she didn't cut one of them open." Doumeki said, taking Watanuki's hand in his undamaged one and pulling her back to the festival. When they got back into the lights, the whole place was in an uproar over the ambulance just outside the gates, the paramedics carting Mie away with Yuko and the pipe fox nowhere in sight. Doumeki disappeared for a second and reappeared back with the seven goldfish he'd won and Watanuki was about to reprimand him about being worried about fish after all that just happened to them when one of the spectators noticed that Watanuki and Doumeki were all cut up as well. A shout went up and the pair was shoved through the crowd and into the ambulance as well before Wari had a chance to climb in and just yelled concerns at them from the crowd until they were hustled inside the truck and whisked away.

The ride was quick one with how fast the driver was going, but Doumeki still had time to take one of the goldfish out of his collection and poured some of the bag's water into a bowl that came with the fish as he was being checked over by a paramedic. Watanuki watched him under the armpit of the paramedic checking her over and once they had deemed that the two teens were fine until they got to the hospital, they backed away and Doumeki held out the bowl with the single fish in it to Watanuki with both hands.

"What's this for?" Watanuki asked, eyeing the little creature swimming around the bowl.

"I want you to have this." Doumeki said. "I won it."

"I can see that! You're got like a million goldfish now!" Watanuki grumbled back.

"We've got a tank at home. Take this one."

"And why would I do that?" Watanuki was miffed that she was getting what she considered a consolation prize, since she didn't win any goldfish herself.

"Because its payment for helping you today. In exchange for saving you, I want you to have this." He held up the bowl again.

"But that's helping me and giving me something! It's double for me and none for you except a cut that needs to be stitched up!" Watanuki argued.

"I'm asking you to take this goldfish for helping you because you won't take it under any other circumstance." Doumeki said evenly, his eyes dead serious. Watanuki was stunned at his words, the fact that he wanted to give her something was surprising considering how much he took from her everyday: her time, her patience, her cooking…and now he was giving her something while asking her to do something as well…to accept a gift that she normally wouldn't.

"You're a cheeky bastard." Watanuki replied, blushing just a bit as she gave in and took the goldfish bowl in her hands. Her arm gave a twinge of pain as the extra weight of the bowl strained it, but she kept it steady and pulled her goldfish into her chest. She looked down at that small thing, its frilly fins swishing about. It was a radiant gold-orange color, but it had a patch of scales that were bluish-black sitting on its left side near the dorsal fin. "This one's pretty."

"She's a girl." Doumeki said.

"How can you tell?" Watanuki asked, curious to see how he knew.

"She's got a rounder body; it's fuller than a male's. See?" He held up his bag and pointed to another darker bronze-colored fish swimming around in the water. "He's more streamlined. The vendor told me that's the easiest way to tell gender."

"I see." Watanuki nodded her head, and then she realized what she was doing. "Why am I taking goldfish identifying lessons from you!?"

"Because you asked." The archer replied, setting his bag back down in his lap. Watanuki mumbled some insults and sulked in her seat, still holding onto her new goldfish tightly. "She kind of reminds me of you." Watanuki's ears perked up at that.

"The goldfish? How the hell did a goldfish remind you of me!?" She asked, glaring at Doumeki again.

"Yeah. That spot on her body – the black part – it reminded me of you because a lot of the time you're the gloomy cloud on a sunny day." Watanuki's face tweaked into a snarl at that comment and she was about to harshly inform Doumeki that he was no picnic either and started all of her bad moods but he kept talking. "But when clouds pass over the sun, they provide shade and relief from the heat."

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Watanuki questioned, still peeved about the gloomy cloud comment.

"Figure it out yourself." Doumeki replied. And then they pulled up to the hospital so Watanuki didn't have time for a snarky comeback.

Mie was rolled away into and observation unit and Doumeki and Watanuki were taken into separate rooms and had to wait for a doctor to come in and stitch them up. Watanuki got a nice, gentleman doctor who numbed her arm so all she could feel was the pulled of her skin and not the pain, and sewed her arm up, not even questioning the raven when she wouldn't let go of her goldfish.

"Were you the one who patched up that young man in the other room?" The doctor asked the girl.

"Yes." She replied respectfully and the needle went into her arm against and pulled her skin together. And then her eyes wandered up her arm to her sleeve and she realized that she'd dripped blood onher sleeve and down the left side of her kimono. Shit, I got blood on my yukata! The girl groaned internally at the ruined fabric of the kimono and wondered if several washings would get the stains out or not.

"That was some fine work. You kept him from losing more blood and having to need more stitches if he had torn the cuts while moving. Most excellent work." The doctor smiled at her.

"Thank you." Watanuki smiled back and let him do his work.

"And he did a fine job on your arm as well. Very nice." Watanuki nodded in reply. After she was al patched up, Watanuki was left in the lobby to wait for Doumeki. He wasn't too much longer and walked out with a new set of bandages around his hand.

"Ready to go?" He asked. It was well after midnight and Watanuki yawned before answering.

"Yes, I'm tired." The pair walked home in relative silence, both worn out from their adventures today and Watanuki just made a quick pit stop to Yuko's to grab her clothes and her school bag. And then they were walking to Doumeki's temple where he went inside and then Watanuki was on her own to get to her apartment.

Watanuki got home that night and slumped into her desk chair after kicking off her sandals. She set the goldfish Doumeki had won for her and the bowl that came with the fish down on her desk and leaned over, resting her head on her arms. She was worried for Mie, the quiet girl who would probably end up in a hospital rehabilitation center until she could come out of her waking coma, but she was also thinking about Doumeki as well. He'd sliced his hand for her tonight when he stopped Mie from trying to cut her again. It was reckless and stupid, but he'd still done it, protecting her. Watanuki's hand came up and her index finger dragged down the side of her goldfish's bowl. I'll have to buy some food in the morning and a bigger bowl…and some rocks for the bottom and maybe a few fake plants…make it more home-like…for a fish that is.

"What should I name you?" Watanuki asked out loud, watching her golden fish swim around. "Yuko said names were important and had power, so it needs to be a good one." Every once in a while, her blue and black scales came into view, clashing with the warm yellow-gold of the rest of her body, like a brilliant summer sun with a cloud passing over the light, just like Doumeki said. "Ka. I'll name you Ka…for summer." Watanuki's head fell down into her arms as her hand flopped on the desk, the girl falling asleep almost instantly. What she hadn't really realized was that "ka" was also part of Doumeki's name Shizuka…a tiny tribute to the person who won her the gift that would miff her later.

And as a bonus the next day, Yuko did a magic trick in the laundry that had the blood out of her kimono in a jiffy and Watanuki was so happy that she didn't mind that one day had been added to her debt.

Back in the art room…Mei's picture had lost its wings…and all that remained was the sad little girl, backed into the corner, surrounded by her classmates, including one very interesting Wari and a slightly disproportional Watanuki.

To be continued...

Note 1: Inari sushi is a kind of sushi or rice ball, stuffed with sushi rice in seasoned Aburaage tofu pouches that are tanish-red that mimick fox ears are are very triangle-shaped. That's why Watanuki said that the looked like fox ears.

Note 2: Omatsuri is a fall festival celebrated in Japan. "Matsuri" is the Japanese word for festival or holiday, and festivals are usually sponsored by a local shrine or temple but can be sponsored by secular circles. There are no specific days for all of the festivals in Japan but festival dasy do tend to cluster around traditional holidays like Setsubun or Obon. The omatsuri in this chapter is probably the festival that most shrines hold in late summer or early autumn that is connected to the rice harvest. In matsuri, there are usually game stalls and food stalls that sell food such as takoyaki (octopus balls) and have games like goldfish scooping, along with Karaoke contests, and sumo matches.

Note 3: Torii gates are usually found at the enterances to Shinto shrines and temples, symbolizing the transition from the profance world to the sacred temple grounds. They can also be found at the entryway to Buddist temples.

A/N: There you go! See you all next time! (And hopefully that's not too long away this time!) :3