Addiction

by ZareEraz

Fem!Watanuki! Watanuki has been able to see spirits for as long as she could remember and one day she meets a mysterious woman who says she can grant the girl's wish to be free of them, but at a price. The seer is then forced to work in the witch's shop as payment and also team up with a guy she hates and a black fur ball she wants to cook. But it's all just inevitability...

11. The Demon Parade and The Snowball Fight

A/N: ZareEraz here! Thanks for waiting a while for this one! It's super long and full of DouWata yumminess that I hope you enjoy! Don't forget to read and review! :3 Happy Reading!

Chapter Ten: The Demon Parade and The Snowball Fight

"I can't believe it!" Watanuki grumbled as she whacked her duster against the shelves of the storehouse, sending up clouds of dust that hovered in the air before dropping down on the floor that she would have to sweep…later. Much later, because right now, it was taking all of her time just to get the shelves decent. And she was also grumpy because her winter uniform was going to be filthy by the time she was done, even with her long-sleeved smock covering up most of the jacket and skirt. "I spend all that time cleaning the warehouse and it's a mess again! Damn that Yuko!" Watanuki growled, whacking her duster harder as she snarled. As she whacked, Watanuki noticed a strange picture on the shelf she was cleaning and leaned in to get a closer look. "Huh?" It was a picture of a anthropomorphic cat wearing a green kimono with white and green patterns on the edges of her sleeves and her obi was a dark blue. The cat had golden fur and big, green, cat-like eyes, ears that were as big as her head and she was holding a strange lantern in her hand that seemed to give the picture and eerie glow. She was smiling mischievously, much like Yuko would, and it gave Watanuki and unsettling feeling, like the cat-lady was watching her.

"Look at that! It's a little kitty-cat." Watanuki rested her chin on the shelf to stare right into the small picture, resting her hands under her chin. "It's wearing a kimono…and what's that glowing thingy? Hm?" Watanuki stopped her musing and watched the picture as it shifted ever so slightly. Then it started wiggling and then rocking back and forth and then jumping like something was tossing it around. Watanuki had barely any time to react when the picture clunked down into its spot again and suddenly there was a face right up next to the glass. The yellow and white face pushed against the frame until it popped right through! Watanuki screamed, her voice traveling up several octaves as she scrambled away from the shelf as fast as was physically possible, falling on the floor in the process. Along with the head came the rest of the creature's body until the entirety of the cat-lady in the picture was sitting on Watanuki in the middle of the storehouse. Watanuki kept screaming at the cat-lady sat on her, wriggling and twisting and trying to get away from the spirit before it ate her or something like that.

"What a rude child! Talking about me right in front of my face!" The cat-lady held up her sleeve to her face, much like the ladies of old Japan used to do when they talked. She spoke with much dignity and Watanuki could tell that she was not pleased by the way she had been received by the girl. Just then, the door to the storehouse slid open and Yuko decided to make her appearance, wearing a white, high-collared top with red accents paired with an aquamarine skirt and having pulled her long, black hair into a high, side pony tail, she looked ready for a party.

"I heard a god-awful scream in here. What's all the commotion? Watanuki, get a move on! We're all out of munchies in the other room!" Yuko poked her head in, smiling like she was enjoying the whole scene (which she was) and carrying Mokona on her shoulder. "And how about some broiled fish?"

"And don't forget to bring some sake!" Mokona added, pulling out the empty sake bottle it had downed just a few minutes earlier. Both the witch and the fur ball caught sight of the cat-lady.

"It's good to see you, dear Yuko!" The cat-lady greeted the witch, smiling like she was seeing an old friend (she was).

"Good to see you, dear Akari!" Yuko bowed her head respectfully and smiled warmly, sitting down next to the cat sprite. "My, my, is it really that time of year again?"

"Oh yes! It's that time of year again!" The cat-lady Akari replied, holding up her sleeve to her mouth daintily.

"Where has all the time gone?"

"It passes like and arrow in flight." It was at this moment that Watanuki spoke up. Well, she snarled up really, flailing around as the two women sat on her, holding their little reunion on the girl's back.

"Could you please talk about this somewhere else!? Move please!"

"You'll have to forgive Watanuki, she can be a bit testy at times." Yuko sighed, standing up with her friend.

"I am not testy this time!" The girl denied as she was allowed up. The seer brushed off her clothes from being on the dirty floor, sending up her own little clouds of dust. "You sat on me!"

"But you are testy, you admitted it!" Yuko giggled. Mokona and Akari joined in laughing at the poor girl and Watanuki realized that she had painted herself into a corner with that one.

"Whatever!" The girl huffed, stomping away.

"Some broiled fish, Watanuki!" Yuko called after her.

"And sake, please." Akari added.

"Lots of it!" Mokona cheered. Watanuki growled and just went to do what she was told. Better that than be made fun of some more.

Several hours later, Yuko, Akari and Mokona were roaring drunk and eating everything in sight. The trio was sitting at one of the low tables, looking out into the evening after Watanuki had opened a set of porch doors. The girl scowled, watching the three of them laugh and talk, holding even more snacks and sake. At least she had Maru and Moro to help her carry plates and bottles.

"Two drunks and one animal…" Watanuki suddenly realized that her life was weird. And the only reason that that pissed her off was because she'd gotten used to the weirdness in Yuko's shop and that was scary. Half the time she was slave and the other half was spent completing dangerous errands that Yuko sent her on and half that time of that half she was almost getting killed! Mostly, Watanuki was just messed up at this point.

"Shake a leg, Watanuki!~" Yuko called, holding her empty bottle above her head. It was her nineth.

"We need more sake!" Akari sang, wiggling her bottle too. It was her sixth.

"Sake!~ More sake!~" Mokona shouted, jumping up and down with both of its empty bottles. That was Mokona's seventh and eighth.

"Yeah…yeah…" The girl sighed.

"Sake!~ Sake!~ Sake!~ Sake!~" Maru and Moro sang as they twirled over to the table with more alcohol and snacks. Watanuki trudged behind them, carrying her own share of food and drink, her shoulder slumped.

"And I bet we'll need more ekikiyabe for later." (1) She grumbled. After setting down her load, Watanuki sat down next to the table and went back to broiling the mirinboshi that Yuko had ordered in the storehouse. She salted the fish again and flipped it around with her cooking chopsticks. The fish was set on a small weaved sheet (like the ones you let cookies cool on) and had a little white oven under it with the fire burning brightly beneath the fish.

"It's a little early this year, isn't it?" Yuko asked, pouring more sake into her guest's cup.

"That's correct. We've had so much rain that we can expect an excellent vintage." Akari took a sip from her cup after she'd finished talking. "So she's the one." The cat sprite gave Watanuki a once over with narrowed eyes, drawing the girl's attention. It was like she was eyeing a mouse.

"Huh?" The seer asked.

"This is the young woman that Zashiki-Warish is enamored with? Isn't she the one who did that little favor for Ame-Warishi as well?" Watanuki gasped, surprised that this strange sprite she'd never met before knew about those things. And as if having timed it perfectly, the pipe fox leapt at the girl from behind in a sneak attack and wrapped himself around her face several times to plant some kisses on her cheeks. The girl squealed and yelped when he stopped kissing her and then dove down the high collar of her jacket and shirt, wriggling around in her clothes until the little monster settled in between her small breasts just like he always did. She would swear on a Bible that pipe fox was a pervert in the highest degree. Akari chuckled and the girl wriggled and squirmed her way right off the porch and into the garden. "And the pipe fox really likes her!" Watanuki ended up gasping for air over a boulder, the pipe fox still nestled at her chest and the two ladies behind her just went back to drinking. "Do you know how famous you are where I come from, kiddo?" Yuko laughed heartily.

"That's wonderful!~" The witch stated.

"Wonderful!~ Wonderful!~ Wonderfulwonderful!~" Mokona agreed, sounding teasing at the same time.

"Watanuki's famous!" Maru sang, hopping back near the table.

"Watanuki's famous!~" Moro repeated, hopping back with her sister. They linked hands and started running around in circles joyfully.

"This one is famous!" Maru sang.

"That one is not!" Moro sang back. Watanuki had no idea who she was talking about.

"Where does she come from anyway?" Watanuki gasped, looking up from her rock. Akari pulled out a golden pocket watch from her sleeve and looked at it for a moment.

"Oh, my goodness gracious. Look at the time." She said, clicking her watch shut. "Well, I must be getting along, dear." Yuko finished taking a drink before answering.

"Thank you so much for the gift." She said graciously, even though Watanuki hadn't seen Akari give out any gifts to anyone. The cat sprite stood up and walked toward Yuko.

"You don't have to be so formal! After all, you and I are old friends, aren't we?" The sprite held up her lantern, and Watanuki finally got a good look at it. It looked like a red paper lantern, only it was shaped like a huge cherry with a stem and it wasn't glowing like a lantern. Akari used her free hand to hold back her kimono sleeve and presented her lantern to the witch, but Yuko held her hand out.

"Could you please give it to Watanuki this year?" She asked. Akari instantly leapt over to where Watanuki was crawling back onto the porch and stuck her face right into the girl's, much like a cat would do to a sleeping human that it wants to get up. The sprite narrowed her eyes again and tipped her head to either side a few times, scrutinizing the girl and Watanuki got over her surprise and frowned at the cat-lady.

"You look like more trouble than you're worth." Watanuki didn't know whether to be insulted or not, the lady was just too polite! "But Yuko must see something special in you, otherwise, she wouldn't waste her time." Akari's pupils dilated, the black taking up almost all of the green, much like a happy or curious cat's eyes will do. "Keep up the good work, young lady, and the changes will come, little by little. Lots of changes." Now Watanuki didn't know whether to be scared or not. The way Akari said it, it sounded like these changes might be painful or horrific. But Watanuki didn't have time to think about that before the sprite was holding out her lantern to the girl. The raven paused for a moment to look at the lantern and then took the stem in her fingers as Akari let go. The sprite then walked over to the table and drank straight from a sake bottle, finishing the whole thing in just a few gulps before sighing happily.

"I must say Yuko that you are the best host on any world that I have ever visited!" Akari held out her hand and a small fire started from nowhere under her paw, and when it disappeared, another cherry lantern was in its place. Akari grasped the stem and then daintily walked off of the porch and into the dim evening. She turned around once, to bow to her hosts on the porch and to waved goodbye. "Bye! See you all next year!"

"See you next year!~" Yuko, Mokona, Maru and Moro shouted back, waving as the sprite walked away. She stopped just in front of the tree line that Yuko had grown in her garden and winked at the group on the porch before bursting into flames and disappearing, much like the appearance of the second cherry lantern.

"Yuko, what is this thing?" Watanuki asked, holding up her lantern.

"You really want to know?" She asked, half teasing, half mysterious. She nodded, so Yuko told the girl.

"It's a what?" Wari asked cheerfully, eating his sandwich at lunch the next day.

"A ground cherry!~" Watanuki replied, smiling happily (3). They were eating on the stairs near the roof today because the weather outside was too cold. Wari was sitting on a chair he'd swiped from a nearby classroom and Watanuki was sitting on the stairs.

"Well, that was obvious." Doumeki interjected, reminding Watanuki that the two of them had a third wheel at this little lunch date.

"WILL YOU BUTT OUT?!" Watanuki yelled, threatening to poke out Doumeki's eyes with her chopsticks. All he ever did was eat all her food and interrupt her. Watanuki had no idea why he kept sticking around, but mostly it was just annoying. She wished he would just go away! But the girl never said it out loud because then Yuko might grant her wish and take something really horrible for her compensation. Like her first born child or something like that.

"By the way you described it; it sounds bigger than a regular one." Wari commented.

"You're not going to get any strange vibes from this thing, are you?" Doumeki asked with a mouth full of food. If Watanuki weren't so pissed at him, she might actually be touched that the archer was concerned for her well-being. However…she was pissed at him and didn't give a shit.

"According to Yuko, as long as you're holding it, you can participate." Watanuki said, ignoring her classmate.

"But in what exactly?" Doumeki asked, shoveling another mouthful of food into his gullet, per the norm.

"She said 'just go ahead and try it.'" Watanuki used air quotes to emphasize Yuko's words, which was quite a feat seeing as she was still holding the eye poking chopsticks in her fingers. "I don't know whether to be excited about it or scared shitless."

"Sounds like it might be fun!" Wari said, smiling cheerfully.

"Wari! If you wanted to come-" Watanuki started, blushing and deciding that it Wari came she'd be excited instead of scared shitless. It would be wonderful to have Wari with her when whatever was going to happen happened.

"Sorry, I'd love to but I have plans." The boy amended, rejecting Watanuki's proposal. The girl sank to the floor in dejection and waited for a spirit to eat her so she could die, having been shot down by her crush. "Can't Doumeki go with you?" Wari suggested, smiling the same as ever.

And that's how Watanuki and Doumeki both ended up in the park that evening. There were several things that sucked: first – it was already getting dark even though it was, like, only four, second – when it was dark spirits were more likely to come out and swarm Watanuki, third – the girl had been sent on some mission with the ground cherry that she didn't even know what she was supposed do with because Yuko didn't explain jack-shit, and fourth – she had to do it with Doumeki of all people!

"Just shoot me now." Watanuki groaned. There was a moment of silence and then the volcano erupted. "YOU KNOW, IT WOULD'VE BEEN JUST FINE IF YOU HADN'T COME ALONG!" Watanuki screamed, flailing and jumping and stomping around in her huge little temper tantrum. Doumeki just covered up the ear closest to the girl and said, "Too loud."

"I'm not helping you this time no matter what!" Watanuki said, pointing an accusing finger at her companion.

"Remind me, when exactly did you ever help me out before?" Doumeki said, the slightest bit of sarcasm inflected in his voice, just barely under the surface. (2)

"Grr! Grrrrr! ARGH!" Watanuki started to boil again and Doumeki just ignored her as she stopped up a storm in her little corner of the park. "Gah! Gah! Gahgahgahgahgahgahgahgahgahgahgah!"

"What should we do now?" Doumeki asked. Watanuki swiveled around with a vengeance and glared at the boy.

"WHAT TIME IS IT!?"

"It's just a little before four o'clock." Doumeki said looking at a wristwatch that Watanuki didn't even know he owned, but she did now. Watanuki dropped her school bag on the ground and held up the other object in her hand. It was the ground cherry wrapped in a green cloth so she didn't look too weird carrying a giant ground cherry in public. Watanuki put her hand under the cherry and let the pinched edges of the cloth go, revealing the brightly glowing cherry. It had a round light right in the center, much like the cherry in Akari's picture in Yuko's store house. This cherry was glowing just as brightly as the picture had seemed too, changing the deep red of the cherry into a bright orange. Watanuki picked it up by the stem and stared at it, confused as to where the light came from. "It's glowing," Doumeki said, stating the obvious.

"Yeah…but it's not warm." Watanuki replied, feeling a lack of heat if anything. As she was staring at the ground cherry, a piece of paper fell out of the wrapping cloth and started drifting towards the ground before Doumeki caught it. "What's that?" Watanuki took a few steps closer to Doumeki to see what it was, leaning over his shoulder. That's Yuko's handwriting. "Is it a letter from Yuko?"

"It says: 'You will only be able to see and participate if you are properly holding the ground cherry,'" Doumeki started, reading from Yuko's letter in his monotone voice.

"But see what?" Watanuki asked. That question had been asked several times that day and she still didn't have an answer.

"Wait, there's more." Doumeki continued reading. "'So you two will have to behave yourselves. Hold it together. It may help to imagine yourselves as a young couple cutting into their wedding cake.'" Watanuki's mouth dropped to the ground. How could Yuko write that?! And how can Doumeki just read that with a straight face! She was completely mortified, stuck halfway between blushing like her porn stash had been found or ripping Doumeki's mouth off for having read that offending sentence. So she went with a freak out, running halfway across the park bawling her eyes out, huge streams of tears trailing behind her until she stopped to stomp and wail to the sky, her hands over her eyes.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE DOUMEKI?! I WOULD'VE BEEN SO HAPPY IF IT HAD BEEN WARI! CAN ANYONE TELL ME WHY I'M BEING PUNSHISHED LIKE THIS?!"

"'Don't be such a baby." Doumeki said. Watanuki's tears dried up in an instant and she dashed across the park back to Doumeki with an avenging battle cry.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?! DON'T YOU CALL ME A BABY! I AM A GROWN ASS WOMAN!" She shouted, waving her fists (and the ground cherry by default) in the air until she could shake them at Doumeki's face.

"That's what it says in the note." Doumeki said, pointing to the letter as the girl skidded to a halt in front of him.

"Oh." The seer's rant evaporated as she leaned over to to look at the letter, the surprised syllable on her tongue. "So it does. It's as if Yuko foresaw how I'd react."

"'You're catching on, Watanuki.'" Doumeki read. Watanuki wheeled around, searching for any sign of Yuko. She had to be watching. Watanuki looked left, then right, then left again, and right again, putting her hand up to her forehead like a sailor watching the coast, her eyebrows set in skeptical mode. She couldn't see anyone in the dim light, let along Yuko but she kept looking back and forth with her eyes. Left, right, left, right, left. "'Relax, I'm not watching.'" Watanuki's face slid into and disgruntled, funny face as she was called out by a piece of paper and the dork reading it. "'Bup bup bup. Be careful. Your face'll freeze like that.'"

"Come on! You were totally making that up!" Watanuki wheeled on Doumeki next, a huge cross vein crowing her head as she bared her fangs at the boy. She hated being played with, by Yuko and by Doumeki.

"Signed by Mokona."

"Now wait a minute!"

"And Maru and Moro." Doumeki finished up. Watanuki snatched the letter from his hand ferociously.

"Arg! You liar! I bet they can't even write!" Watanuki looked at the letter, seeing Yuko's and Mokona's signatures but not Maru's and Moro's. The girl wasn't wrong, the twins couldn't write. But they did the next best thing. Watanuki smiled softly at the two scribbled heads at the bottom of the page, the pink crayon one being Moro's smiling face and the black crayon one that was sleepy being Moro's face. It was actually pretty adorable. And they she realized that the twins were going along with Yuko's joke and it pissed her off again. "Will you people please just stop messing with me?!" Watanuki yelled to anyone who was within earshot, waving her arms (and the ground cherry by default) above her head.

"Too looooud." Doumeki said, bordering on singing phrases just like Yuko was prone to do when it came to Watanuki. But he didn't really, his voice was too monotone. Doumeki took the ground cherry out of Watanuki's fist before the girl could break it and that started a whole other round of yelling about how you're not supposed to take things that aren't yours and Doumeki just plugged the one ear closest to Watanuki's loud mouth. By the time Watanuki was all yelled out, the parks streetlamps were turning on, lighting up the dimness with bright patches of light. Doumeki just sighed and unplugged his ear and then held out the ground cherry in between them. He pinched his index finger, middle finger and thumb at the stem and took up half of the space on the stem. He was completely fine with pretending that they were a young couple cutting into their wedding cake. In fact, sometime in the future, he might want that to happen, especially if it was with Watanuki. For now, he was just fine to hold her hand on the ground cherry. But, Watanuki was being a spaz and wouldn't hold the damn thing, her fingers creeping close to the stem, trembling in anger or mortification (Doumeki couldn't figure out which one and he really wished she'd stop being such an ass around him (but he'd never say that out loud because Yuko might grant his wish and take something horrific as compensation…like his first born child or something like that)).

When she finally grabbed the stem, she grabbed it as far away from Doumeki's hand as possible and she was slumped over and crying. "But I don't wanna!" Watanuki was distracted by her humiliation at the hands of Yuko's letter when the light from the ground cherry grew brighter and brighter, whiting out everything around them so the pair couldn't see a thing.

Watanuki slowly opened her eyes, her vision blurry from the bright light of the cherry. She blinked a few times, trying to riddle out what she was seeing. It looked like a bunch of little glowing lights were being carried by strangely shaped clouds, bouncing and flying past her at a leisurely pace. Some of the clouds bounced, some of them slithered and some flew, gliding past with their lights faster than the clouds on the ground. And then the clouds started forming shapes as the seer blinked away her temporary blindness. Some looked fish or insect shaped, others looked like four-legged animals and others just looked weird period, being tall and skinny or short and fat. It was all weird actually. When Watanuki could finally see, she realized that the clouds weren't clouds at all, but strange beings holding ground cherries just like she and Doumeki were. And speaking of Doumeki, Watanuki quickly glanced at the archer beside her and saw that his mouth was slightly open in surprise (even if the rest of his face remained the same as usual). That's a first, Watanuki said to herself and then she realized that her face probably looked the same. So before Doumeki could catch her staring at him, Watanuki went back to watching the lights in front of her, the creatures' long shadows reaching out towards the pair who were standing a good ten feet from the long line of creatures. Their lantern was glowing just as brightly as the lanterns that were passing them, the warm orange glow joining the hundreds of others in the gray landscape. In fact, the orange lanterns and the colors on the creatures were the only colors that Watanuki could see, the rest of the ground and sky was a dark gray and the clouds above were a mix of white and a lighter gray.

"What on earth can it be?" Watanuki breathed, still watching the brightly colored creatures pass them. Some looked like hopping umbrellas, other looked like animals and some didn't really have a shape at all and were just blobs of cascading colors that moved through everything else.

"Hyakki Yako?" Doumeki replied, not believing his eyes (4). He'd never seen anything like this before, the strange creatures in front of him seemed like something out of a dream…or a nightmare. Is this what Watanuki has to see every day of her life? Does she have to know that these things are right next to her and not acknowledge them at all in order to appear normal to those of us who can't see them? It seemed like such a huge burden to see such amazing and terrifying creatures on a daily bases, to keep herself from being devoured or spirited away and not lose her sanity when other people didn't believe her. Doumeki had always believed that Watanuki could see things like this, but to see them himself…he was beginning to understand why Watanuki didn't believe that he believed her. It was too absurd for someone who had never seen monsters or spirits to say that he believed that others could see them and that's why Watanuki had been skeptical of his belief in her second sight for so long. It was an offer that was almost too good to be true. She'd probably thought, How can anyone understand what I go through when they have no clue what I actually see? Well, he could see it now and it was two parts terrifying and one part amazing.

"This is a parade of spirits and apparitions carrying lanterns? A monster procession?" Watanuki asked. This was definitely Doumeki's area of expertise if anything. Watanuki knew about spirits and yokai, but Doumeki had learned all the trivia about them from his grandfather, which he never let the girl forget every time he shared any information he had.

"Yeah, like that old painting from the Edo period, the Gazu Monster Procession."

"Do you think we're in a world of drawings?" Watanuki asked, hoping that it was just a painting because if it was the real thing, she was going to be screwed over so many times. If it was real, these spirits would be on her in seconds, probably tearing her apart and devouring her just for fun.

"How should I know?" Doumeki replied.

"If you don't know then shut your trap!" Watanuki snapped, furious that Doumeki had sounded like he'd known what was going on, leading her to believe that he could handle the situation they were in now. But, since he'd admitted that he had no clue what was going on, they were clueless at what to do. However, Watanuki's angry voice had drawn the attention of a blue fish yokai in a brown kimono. She stopped walking and turned to look at the pair holding a lantern, her face going flat when she looked at the boy and the girl like a real fish's.

"What are you two doing?" She said, her voice high and breathy. She started walking towards the pair and Watanuki started trembling as she got closer. Several other smaller spirits trailed behind her, interested in the late comers. Please, don't eat me. Please, don't eat me. Please don't eat me! "If you don't hurry you'll be left behind!"

"The monster procession waits for no one!" A turtle spirit added, standing by the fish yokai's side with his lantern in his hand.

"So this really is a monster procession?" Watanuki asked, barely keeping the tremble out of her voice. They didn't seem like evil spirits and they hadn't made a move to eat her, so right now it was probably best to figure out what the hell she and Doumeki were going to do.

"Well, of course it is!" The low voiced turtle yokai replied. "We do this once a year!" So it's just like the demon parade legend back home. Another spirit walked up next to the turtle and fish spirits as they were talking. It was a crane spirit wearing a kimono as well, standing taller than the other spirits and the two humans.

"Why do you ask?" The fish yokai asked. "Did you think it was something else?"

"I thought we were in a world of drawings…" Watanuki trailed off, blushing slightly in embarrassment. Obviously her guess had been wrong and this was a real demon parade. The three spirits burst into laughter. Watanuki blushed deeper.

"The humans do have a painting like that, don't they?" The crane spirit said between laughs. So at least I'm not completely stupid, Watanuki amended.

"You have got to be kidding us, right?" The fish spirit giggled. "Oh, you two are just too cute!"

"We're going to get left behind too." The crane spirit noted, poking the turtle and fish as the parade passed all of them.

"You're right! We'd better get going!" The fish agreed. The three spirits walked back into the parade and disappeared into the sea of colors and lanterns. Watanuki looked ahead to see where the parade started, but it was so long that she couldn't see the beginning. She looked towards the back, but she couldn't see the end either.

"I guess we just join the parade then?" Watanuki asked nervously, her hand trembling on the cherry lantern. She hoped Doumeki couldn't feel it. They spirits they'd talked to hadn't eaten her, but that didn't mean that the others wouldn't as well, but it seemed like the only choice they had was to join the monster procession.

"I guess." Doumeki agreed. He had felt Watanuki's trembling which made him worry for the girl's safety, but so far, nothing had attacked them so it should be okay to join the parade. He took the first step, leading Watanuki to the path. Her breathing sped up as they walked closer and closer to the monsters that would devour Watanuki on any other day. It was like all of Watanuki's nightmares and realities had materialized at the same time, tormenting her. But she trusted Doumeki to keep her safe, he had before and Yuko trusted him too. It would be okay as long as she had Doumeki. It's fine. It's fine. Everything's going to be fine. If I stick with Doumeki – as much I despise it – I'll be fine. One step closer, and then another. Watanuki trailed behind Doumeki, her arm reaching forward to hold the lantern and his reaching back to hold his part of the stem. They took another step, and another. The parade was three feet away, then two, then one. Watanuki took a deep breath as they neared the procession, trying to act calm as Doumeki waited for her to come to his side. She stepped forward until they were even and she looked at him.

Doumeki had been watching her carefully the entire time they'd approached the procession and he could see that she'd come to some sort of decision. But now, seeing her eyes looking up at him, he was beginning to wonder whether this was a good idea or not. Doumeki could see the fear in her eyes, the terror at being faced with such a large group of spirits; but also trust – trust in him, he hoped. He'd keep Watanuki safe.

Her hand moved. Watanuki fingers slid down the stem of the ground cherry lantern until her fingers were touching Doumeki's. They weren't really holding hands, but it was as close as they could get while still holding the cherry. Doumeki watched as Watanuki took another deep breath and he knew that she was ready. They took that last step together, crossing onto the path and melting into the parade.

They entered seamlessly, the spirits around them making way for them until Watanuki and Doumeki were walking in the center of the group. Watanuki's eyes flicked from spirit to spirit, but they weren't really paying any attention to her. She also noticed that they weren't moving away from Doumeki, the yokai around him just strolling peacefully with the demon parade. They don't sense me or avoid Doumeki…maybe the ground cherry has something to do with that. Maybe it dulls personal powers and abilities. That would explain why so many different spirits can be around each other for this long.

"Oi." Doumeki interrupted Watanuki's thoughts after a little while, pulling the girl from her musings.

"What?" She asked, disgruntled at behind interrupted with her observations.

"How are you feeling?" Doumeki asked. "Feeling sick at all? Any strange smells?" Doumeki remembered the time with Angel when Watanuki could barely stand because she said it smelled so bad. But so far, she hadn't been almost throwing up or plugging her nose.

"Not particularly." Ever since they'd joined the parade, the only roiling in her stomach she'd had was caused by her own stress over the situation and even that was started to abate, the girl had been too distracted thinking about the ground cherry to notice the spirits around them.

"That's good right? That's means the spirits in this process aren't actually evil, right?"

"You think?"

"You haven't gotten sick as far as I can tell, so these spirits must not feel any malice towards you." Doumeki paused for a second, thinking. "Though, I suppose there could be some dangerous ones around here somewhere."

"Why did you have to say that?" Watanuki grumbled, remembering that she was really in a demon parade and not on some afternoon stroll. Her stomach jumped a little bit. "I guess so…but how would I know? A spirit is a spirit to me." She huffed. No spirit had ever really been kind to her, there were very few exceptions to that, so they had to all be the same, right?

"You can tell the difference, can you? Between the good ones and the evil ones?" Doumeki asked, leveling his eyes at his companion. Being critizied by someone who had next to no experience with spirits compared to her didn't sit well with Watanuki. She narrowed her eyes at Doumeki and scowled.

"Oh and you can tell the difference? What do you know?!" She snapped. Doumeki had to be honest.

"Nothing." He was really just thinking out loud when he started talking.

"Oh, that's BRILLANT!" Watanuki shouted.

"Better pick up the pace." Doumeki pointed to the demon procession. "They're going to leave us behind." As the two of them had been talking, they'd stopped and the procession had walked right past them, the spirits moving to either side of the pair and leaving them behind. They were literally at the end of the parade with only a few spirits around them. There was a spirit that looked like a stone lantern on four legs, a big square-ish spirit with one eye and a few little animal spirits that skittered past Watanuki's feet. Doumeki pulled on the lantern, starting to walking faster, dragging Watanuki behind him. The girl stumbled and had to catch herself without letting go of the cherry, Yuko's warning about being able to see and participate by holding onto the cherry echoing in her head. She balanced herself and started walking with Doumeki, only to be tripped again when he pulled harder on the lantern. "Slow poke." He stated.

"It's hard to run holding onto this thing!" Watanuki shot back. "It'd be easier if we each had our own cherry!" Doumeki had to agree with her there, but he liked the fact that they were almost holding hands better than having his own lantern. If Watanuki and Doumeki had been birds, or even flying yokai, they could've seen the whole procession laid out in front of them from the sky. It was a dazzling line of lights and colors in the bleak landscape of this world, the gray sky and earth working only to enhance the spectacular array of spirits moving along the path to an unknown destination. However, they had the next best thing when the reach the top of a hill and could look down and see most of the parade.

"Look at all of them! Where could they be going?" Watanuki asked, more to herself than anyone else.

"I have no idea." Doumeki replied. Watanuki blew up again, screaming in his ear and since he only had one free hand, Doumeki plugged his left ear with his right hand so the girl didn't make him go deaf.

"Where do you get off with that pompous, know-it-all attitude of yours, you pretentious jerk!?" Watanuki had been so busy yelling that she hadn't been paying attention to who (or what) was in front of them and stumbled right into the square-ish blue spirit with the one eye in front. Her face crashed into its back hard, leaving red marks on both the spirit's back and Watanuki's nose.

"Heeeeey!" The spirit bellowed in a deep voice. "That hurt!"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Watanuki's fear sparked in her chest and she really didn't want to be eaten and so she apologized profusely and bowed to the spirit so it wouldn't eat her.

"Ow. Be more careful then!" The spirit rubbed its back with its free hand and started walking again. Watanuki sighed in relief and placed her hand on her throbbing nose, rubbing it tenderly. She was about to rail on Doumeki again but when she looked up, he wasn't even paying attention to her. Instead he was looking up ahead. Watanuki looked too. The demon parade was heading up a large mountain-like rock, the path they were on framed on both sides by huge curves of rock, almost like some huge hand had gutted half a watermelon and had just left the rind. Behind the rocks, Watanuki could see a glowing light, the first light other than the lanterns that she'd seen in the barren landscape. It had to be extremely bright to light up the sky and most of the path that they were on now. She wondered what could be up there, if that's where the monster procession was headed.

Watanuki and Doumeki silently started to walk up the mountain, following the last of the spirits up the rocky path and closer to the light. The walk itself was not hard, mostly just a steady incline, but it took a long time to walk up it, the mountain was so huge. Watanuki was winded by the time they reached the top, but she refused to let Doumeki see it and tried to keep her breathing even. The light behind the mountain got brighter and brighter, casting long shadows from the rocks, the spirits and the two humans in the demon procession. The last of the demon procession had crested the mountain in front of the pair and disappeared for a few moments as Watanuki and Doumeki climbed towards the top, their single lantern burning brightly between them. As they crested the hill behind the spirits, Watanuki and Doumeki both stopped at the same time, staring open mouthed at the sight before them. It was nearly indescribable.

"It's incredible." Doumeki said.

"It's huge." Watanuki added. Down the mountain at the end of the path was a giant, glowing tree. It's trunk must've been a mile long, it's white branches sweeping about to cover a significant amount of the horizon and it glowed with an eerie, but peaceful blue light and had glowing balls of yellow light adorning its branches. The beginning of the demon procession was already gathering around the trunk and roots of the tree, the rest of the parade still following the path that wound down the mountain to the valley floor. They still had such a long way to go, but the tree stood out in the bleak landscape like beacon. And so the walk continued, down the mountain, and into the valley where the giant tree resided. Watanuki and Doumeki hardly paid attention to anything anymore, just following behind the parade until they too stood at the base of the tree. The balls of yellow light that Watanuki had seen on the tree were actually huge red flowers filled with glowing petals.

"Amazing…the tree is so bright!" Watanuki gasped, standing with Doumeki behind the crowd of spirits.

"So, are you getting any bad feelings?" Doumeki asked, looking at his classmate and wondering how the spirit tree was affecting the girl.

"Overwhelming maybe…but not bad." She answered, still staring up at the tree.

"With blossoms like that," A wasp spirit in front of the girl started saying, "I think we can look forward to another excellent year."

"Absolutely!" A furry, pink demon with six eyes all stacked on top of each other answered, smiling. Watanuki had no idea what they were talking about, but it was obviously a good thing that the flowers looked so bright. The girl wanted to see what was going on around the trunk and started leaning around the spirits in front of her and jumping to get a better look.

"What's happening?" Doumeki asked, letting his arm holding the cherry lantern go limp so that Watanuki could move around. The girl jumped up a few more time and spotted what was going on. A spirit was holding up its ground cherry to a blossom on the tree.

"Not…" Jump, "sure! It looks like they're bringing the ground cherries closer to the tree for some reason." The girl took a step forward to get closer, when she tripped over a little spirit she hadn't see by her feet, the little raccoon-dog creature bungling up her feet. Watanuki fell forward with a gasp, the little spirit scurrying away before she'd even hit the ground. Watanuki tipped forward, her right arm pulling Doumeki's until he couldn't lean forward fast enough anymore. Watanuki's hand slipped from the cherry, a pinging sound ringing out from the lantern in Doumeki's hand as Watanuki crashed to the ground.

Whatever spell that had kept Watanuki and Doumeki safe shattered.

The demons around the pair stopped looking at the tree, their narrowed eyes whirling around to see the two humans standing at the back of the crowd. The first to spot them was a bull demon, its four eyes glaring at the pair, and then a lizard demon saw them, and then more and more spirits caught sight of the pair. It only took Watanuki a second to get off her chest where she'd fallen on the ground and grab a hold of the lantern again, kneeling down on the ground, but it was too late. The spirits surrounded them.

There was a moment of silence as the multi-colored spirits watched the two humans, the wind whistling through the crowd as row after row of eyes watched the girl and the boy. And then the silence was broken by shouts of surprise.

"A human?"

"It's a human!"

"A human!"

"A human!"

"Why is a human here?"

"Here, of all places."

"Impossible!"

"But it really is here."

"How did they get a ground cherry?"

"More than that…what should we do about them?"

Watanuki watched as the spirits talked amongst themselves and she knew she'd messed up. They were surrounded by swaying spirits, the colors of each demon blending into the next as they wriggled and writhed around the two humans, their lantern hypnotic as they swung back and forth and back and forth.

"What should we do?" Asked a high voice.

"What should we do?" Asked a deep voice.

"What a bother." Another sighed.

"Well, they are human, after all."

"We'll be infected!"

"Is it something that could hurt us?"

"That's right! They're enemies, aren't they?"

"That's right!"

"They are enemies!" Watanuki's eyes widened as the spirits kept talking, the voices around them getting meaner and meaner with each sentence. The voices were hungry.

"Which means…" A low voice started.

"Without a doubt…"A soft one continued.

"It can't be helped." A decided voice finished.

"WE'LL HAVE TO EAT 'EM!" The whole crowd said together, taking one step in closer, shrinking the circle around Watanuki and Doumeki. They were so screwed.

"Should we?" The demons' eyes narrowed, gleaming hungrily.

"Definitely."

"We have no choice."

"Let's eat them!"

"Eat them up!"

"Eat them!" The spirits swarmed, getting closer and closer, the circle they'd left around the pair of humans shrinking rapidly. Watanuki couldn't move, she couldn't breathe. She'd doomed both of them by letting go of the ground cherry, she'd killed them both. Watanuki's body went limp, tears sprang to her eyes, her heart clenched in fear and her legs shook under her. If she hadn't already been on the ground she'd have collapsed there long ago. They were dead. They were both dead and she'd been the one to do it. If only she hadn't let go of the ground cherry, if only she'd been more patient to see what had been going on, if only she hadn't tripped, hadn't gotten in the way again then everything would be fine. It would've been fine. All of it, fine. But she ruined it. It was not fine anymore and they were going to die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. She was going to be eaten, just like she'd feared. All her nightmares were coming true, her every waking fear a reality. The spirits were going to take one more step closer and open their mouths with their sharp teeth and they were going to tear her and Doumeki apart. Just for being human. A single tear slipped out of Watanuki's eye, her breath hitching one last time before it was all over. She was going to die here with Doumeki, in a strange world surrounded by demons who hated her. She was going to die. Watanuki closed her eyes, not wanting to see when the spirits finally descended on her. She didn't want to see any of it. She just wanted to wake up from this nightmare.

Suddenly, she was being pulled to her feet, a strong hand under her arm pit lifting her up. Her eyes snapped open as her feet hit the ground and she was standing again, next to Doumeki who was saying something to her. She blinked a few times and listened to him.

"Oi! This is no time to be standing around like an idiot." Doumeki said shaking the girl's shoulder, trying to snap her out of whatever slump she'd been in just a second ago.

It had been terrifying to see the spirits turn on them, something that probably had to be the scariest thing that Doumeki had ever seen, that is…until he'd looked down and seen Watanuki. She'd been slumped on the ground from where she'd snapped back to hold the ground cherry, but she seemed to be gone. Like all the life and vitality that had once been Watanuki had disappeared. She'd been about ready to cry, tears welling in her eyes, but her face was blank, her body limp. It was like she hadn't been there anymore. Doumeki realized that she'd shut down in the face of all her fears. She'd lived with the possibility of being devoured by spirits for so long that when she'd finally been confronted with that fear as a reality, she'd chosen not to feel it. She'd chosen to shut it out like a bad dream she just wanted to go away. And that became the most terrifying thing that Doumeki had ever seen. He had to watch the girl he was beginning to love give up on her own life. Faced with death, she'd given into despair. But he wasn't going to. He was going to save Watanuki, no matter the cost.

He'd reached down and pulled Watanuki to her feet, telling her to get a move on and then dragged her through a gap in the demon's circle. Doumeki clutched the ground cherry to his chest, not letting go of it even though its protection was gone. In his other hand was Watanuki's, the one he was clutching tightly as they ran and as she came back to her senses, she squeezed his hand back just as tightly, if not tighter. And she was screaming. As loud as she could by the pitch of it.

"Stop them!" A red-faced demon with huge teeth yelled, stirring up the hoard of spirits as the pair of humans ran through the crowd. They broke through the circle without being caught and Doumeki pulled Watanuki up the path they'd come, running as fast as he could without leaving the girl behind. What they didn't see as they ran up the path was a group of spirits that they knew.

The Karasu Tengu were floating on their little surfboards just off the path, each holding a separate ground cherry and watching Watanuki and Doumeki run past them with the entire demon procession chasing after them.

"Isn't that…?" One started.

"It's that Watanuki chick and some other guy!" Another realized.

"What are two humans doing in a place like this anyway?" Another asked.

"If they're chasing her then she must be the real jerk we always thought she was!" Another stated.

"Looks like she's going to get eaten." Another observed.

"Well, it serves her right." Another nodded. There was a pause as the five Tengu watched the chase. "Do you think we should help the chick? If she gets eaten then she'll cry." The other Tengu looked at the one who'd spoken and then at their leader with the sunglasses.

"Then I guess we have no choice then." The leader said, pushing his glasses up his nose. "Split into two groups men!"

"Right!"

"Get them!" A snake demon shouted, running at the front of the procession. Watanuki and Doumeki were barely hanging onto their lead, running as fast as they could.

"Come back here!" A pink demon elephant trumpeted.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?!" Watanuki screamed. "No way am I going back there!"

"Hey!" The shout distracted the girl and she looked to her left where the voice had come from. It was a Karasu Tengu! The leader by the looks of it and he was flying right next to Watanuki on his board. "This is no place for humans you know." He said.

"Karasu Tengu!" Watanuki shouted, relieved that not every spirit in the parade was trying to kill her. Well, these guys "punished" her, but they never really tried to kill her at least.

"My name is Keith, you four-eyed human freak!" He snapped back. Two other Tengu joined Keith, gliding along just behind him.

"You've got a face that would break glass!" The other sunglasses Tengu taunted.

"And you dress funny!" Another teased. That's rich coming from them in their blue trench coats and dorky red scarves!

"Knock it off! Would you just do something to help us?!" Watanuki shrieked, waving an angry fist at the trio. Keith took out his huge paper fan and whacked the girl in the face in retaliation and her rude manners.

"You are in no position to make demands, you freak! We'll end up looking like the bad guys if we end up helping you too directly!" He shouted back to a crying Watanuki. That's really hurt! She growled at the Tengu, holding her already bruised nose a second time. "You're going to have to help yourself…IF YOU CAN!" He snapped. Keith then jumped off his board and onto the other sunglasses Tengu's board, leaving his empty. "Go!" He said, flying off with his buddies until they disappeared in the gray sky. The yellow board sank closer to the ground, only a few inches from skidding across the dirt.

"Jump!" Watanuki shouted at Doumeki. She let go of his hand and leapt onto the board, taking the front end and trying to balance herself so she didn't crash the contraption. Doumeki did as he was told and jumped onto the back end of the board, upsetting its balance for just a moment before Watanuki settled it again, holding her arms out to steady herself. Once they were both on, the board flew into the sky, leaving all the running yokai far behind them.

"Get back down here, you cowards!" One of the spirits shouted, as if they would actually do as it said. Watanuki took the board higher and Doumeki looked back to see just how huge the crowd chasing them had gotten as he was keeping a look out for the flying spirits.

"Here they come." He said, drawing Watanuki's attention to the significantly smaller group that was still after them.

The bird spirits and the spirits who could fly were gaining on them, climbing up the sky to catch the pair. Some were birds, some were snakes, and some just had wings, like the blue square spirit with the one eye who was following them. Watanuki screamed again, trying to get higher as a purple bird spirit broke away from the group to give chase. And it was huge! It opened its beak and a second face appeared in the darkness of its throat. Watanuki dodged the bird as it shot past them and then crouched down to dodge a spirit that had a Buddha head but a bird's body. Doumeki crouched with her, holding onto the Tengu's surfboard with his free hand while Watanuki held on with both hands. Flying the board was trickier than it looked and it took almost all of Watanuki's concentration to keep them upright. They dodged a snack spirit but then the square spirit head butted them, sending the board and the humans clinging to it into a spin that took Watanuki a little while to stop. The gray earth and sky tumbled head over heels as they spun, but soon they were upright again and Watanuki's heart dropped out of her throat and back into her chest where it was supposed to be.

They hadn't been caught yet, but in the amount of time it took Watanuki to correct the spin they'd been sent into, a fish spirit had shot ahead of them, stopping and turning around to open its mouth. As Watanuki and Doumeki got close to the spirit, it grew in size exponentially, its mouth able to swallow a house whole, its fangs ready to crush them. Watanuki screamed and veered to the right, the board doing a one-eighty turn as the fish snapped its jaws shut, barely missing the teens. And then the board flipped around again, heading in the direction they'd been going, but now Watanuki's weight had shifted too far forward and the board tipped towards the ground. Watanuki didn't have any purchase on the surfboard and quickly slipped off the end, flailing and screaming as she plummeted to the ground.

Doumeki had been looking behind them, still acting as the look out when he heard the girl scream. His head snapped around and he found himself alone on the board, watching as a terrified Watanuki fell to her death. He couldn't even enjoy the panties shots this time.

"Watanuki!" He shouted, panicking, reaching a useless hand out towards her. She was too far away for him to catch, but he had to try! Doumeki pitched forward into a steep dive, trying to catch up to the seer, getting faster and faster.

Watanuki screamed louder, reach up towards Doumeki, wanting him to catch her, to save her, but she was falling too fast and she knew it. She was going to die today, but not by spirits devouring her. First she'd hit the ground and be crunched into a bloody pulp, all her bones breaking, her skull cracking open like a ripe melon and then the spirits would devour her. The gray sky whizzed past, the clouds streaking by the girl as she fell. Why did she always plummet to her death when the Karasu Tengu were involved?! Doumeki wasn't close enough to grab her and the ground was closing in fast. Watanuki kept screaming, her voice raw from the effort. She reached for Doumeki's hand, but he wasn't going to make it. The ground was closer now, and Watanuki was speeding for her death full throttle. She closed her eyes, squeezing them shut so she wouldn't have to see anything, wouldn't have to see the ground, wouldn't have to see herself and wouldn't have to see Doumeki's face when she crashed. She was falling, there was no stopping that inevitable fate.

And then she wasn't.

The girl oofed as her back hit something solid, but light at the same time. That definitely wasn't the ground! The seer's eyes snapped open and she found herself staring up at the sky. She was floating upwards, her fall stopped by a glowing blanket of blue fireflies. Watanuki stared up in shock as she drew closer to Doumeki, who'd stopped his dive as soon as Watanuki had been caught, grabbing onto the back end of the board to balance himself at the tilted angle. They stared at each other as Watanuki passed the archer, the look in both of their eyes reflecting shock and relief back at each other before Watanuki rose higher into the sky. She looked up and spotted Zashiki-Warishi floating mid-air, clasping her hands to her chest as the Karasu Tengu flew around her.

"Umm…hello." The protective sprite said, greeting the girl she'd just saved.

"Zashiki-Warishi…" Watanuki said back, thanking her lucky stars that the sprite had saved her.

"What in the world are you doing here?" Zashiki-Warishi asked. Watanuki sat up on her cloud of fireflies as Doumeki drew level to the girls on the Tengu's board, sitting down and hovering with the ground cherry in his lap. The girl was happy to note that the sprite was still wearing the hair pins she'd given her the last time they'd met, the little white wings holding Zashiki-Warishi's blue hair back.

"Doumeki and I were in the monster procession and they found out that we were human."

"Do-doumeki?" The sprite said slowly, confused. And then something in her brain clicked and she whirled to look at the boy on the board. "Oh! Oh dear! You're the person whose soul I took! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!" The sprite bowed in apology.

"It's okay." Doumeki waved his hand in dismissal. Watanuki was surprised that he'd made light of a situation in which he could've died. But then, she'd never seen Doumeki hold a grudge about anything.

"Anyway, it's too dangerous here!" Zashiki-Warishi turned to Watanuki again and held out her hand, blushing. "Come with me and I can take you some place safe!"

"Wow! Thanks a lot!" Watanuki took the other girl's hand and suddenly, Zashiki-Warishi retracted her hand, blushing harder. And that's when the firefly cloud vanished, leaving nothing between Watanuki and the ground.

"Eh…?" The seer said, finding no words in her brain before flapping her arms in an attempt to fly and not almost die for the third time that day. "Ah! Where'd it go!? Where'd it go!? Where'd it go?!" Her hands started grabbing for anything they could to hold on to, grabbing nothing but air over and over again until she caught something solid. "That's not it! That's not it! That's not it! That's not it! That't not it! That's it!" Watanuki hand caught the edge of the surfboard that Doumeki was sitting on, finally catching onto something as she started falling again. Doumeki grabbed onto the girl's wrist, holding her in place as much as he could.

Unfortunately, the seer had unbalanced the board and tipped it forward enough to cause her and Doumeki (who was still holding onto her wrist) to spin head over heels and back into Watanuki's previous fall. The two teens whizzed through the sky again, only this time they were both falling and had virtually no one to catch them. Watanuki screamed her lungs out, her chest aching from the lack of air in her body as she grabbed onto Doumeki's uniform shirt. The archer reached around with his free arm (the other still holding onto the ground cherry) and pulled Watanuki into his chest, putting his back between her and the ground. It wasn't much protection, but at least he could do something before they became road kill.

"Oh my god! You have to save them!" Zashiki-Warishi yelled, calling to her Tengu friends.

"Yes, sir!" They chorused, diving down faster than Watanuki and Doumeki and hovering over the ground as the humans got closer.

"Let's go!" Keith yelled, brandishing his white paper fan.

"Right!" The rest of the Tengu yanked out their fans and held them out in front of them, creating a little net.

"No! Not that way!" Zashiki-Warishi pleaded, but it was too late. As the Watanuki-Doumeki ball of limbs neared the ground, Keith and his comrades angled their fans and hit the pair as hard as they could, knocking the teens forward instead of straight down and sending them rolling across the ground. Doumeki's grip on Watanuki was smacked away by the force of the Tengu's quick save, the girl flying off on her own. Doumeki was lucky he guessed. He landed on his back and butt, sliding with the ground cherry at his chest instead of bouncing like Watanuki did. The girl was the unlucky one in the quick save, rolling and bouncing from one side to the other, bopping her head and then her butt and then her head until she landed on her stomach and slid to a stop with Doumeki. They lay on the ground for a moment, but only a moment before the demons were on them again, surrounding the pair like they had at the tree. And now they were even more pissed because they had to chase their food. Watanuki leapt next to Doumeki, sitting back to back with him as the spirits closed in, baying for their blood. Watanuki shrieked, splitting the ear drums of anyone (or anything) closest to her (including Doumeki).

"Don't hurt them!" Zashiki-Warishi shouted, trying to stop the stampede, but no one paid attention to her. The spirits were five feet away, then four feet, then three feet and then two…one…Watanuki grabbed Doumeki's hand and held it for the last time, squeezing her eyes shut as the spirit's pounced.

"WAIT!" A small voice shouted, breaking through the screams of Watanuki and the yells of the yokai. The demons backed up, surprised that someone among their ranks didn't want them to eat the humans. Watanuki's eyes shot open as she heard footsteps running towards her in the sudden quiet. A path opened up in front of her and she stared down it, trying to see who'd saved them. Doumeki twisted around to look too, still holding Watanuki's hand. She could see someone moving towards them, panting heavily as they ran. It was the little oden fox! He was running towards them in his green kimono and holding a glowing ground cherry just like everyone else!

"It's that little fox!" Watanuki gasped as the fox child stopped running and caught his breath in front of the girl. "From the food stand." The oden fox turned around to address the spirits around him, his little voice trembling slightly in front of such a large group. His little fists were shaking and his tail swished nervously, but he still spoke up.

"Watanuki's really a good person! So I'm begging you to please not eat her!" He shouted.

"A good person?" A gruff voice questioned in the crowd.

"You're lying!" Another accused.

"Prove it!" Another shouted.

"Yeah!" Another agreed.

"She came to my father's shop and said that our oden was really delicious!" The little fox child shouted back. "Besides, he gave me this!" The little fox held up the broken arrow shaft that Watanuki had given him the one that had protective properties. All the spirits around them gasped in surprise.

"An arrow of virtue!" On spirit cried.

"Magnificent!"Another gasped.

"Imbued with the essence of someone pure and noble in spirit!" A third exclaimed.

"It had the power to protect us from any malicious intent!" The fourth spirit's voice sounded a little jealous.

"A remarkable amulet!" A fifth agreed.

"Only a good person would give me such a thing so spare her!" The little fox child pleaded, a sweat breaking out on his fur.

"Very well." A calm, feminine voice said. She spoke so loudly that the whole procession could hear her, but the voice itself was quiet and gentle. Everyone's head flipped around, searching for the voice that came from behind them. It was the tree! The tree was a spirit too! "Let us welcome this child of humanity." The spirit tree's flowers seemed to glow more brightly as she spoke.

"Did it…?" Watanuki whispered.

"Yeah. The tree just spoke to us." Doumeki replied. They were still holding hands, sitting on the ground staring up at the tree. Doumeki looked at Watanuki, her eyes shining in the demon tree's light. "How does it make you feel?"

"I'm not getting a bad feeling." She whispered back. "If anything I'd say it feels…awesome."

"That's very flattering, young lady." The tree thanked the young girl for her compliment. Watanuki jumped in surprise, never having been thanked by a tree before.

"At least it's modest." Doumeki noted.

"Now…you may approach. Bring the ground cherry to me." It sounded like a command, but at the same time, it wasn't. Watanuki and Doumeki stood up, letting go of each other's hands to do so. Once standing, Doumeki held out the ground cherry in his left hand and Watanuki placed her hand over his, holding on tightly. There was a ghost of a smile on Doumeki's face, but Watanuki didn't see it. They walked towards the spirit tree, its light enveloping them warmly as they approached and stopped near one of the red, glowing blossoms. Doumeki looked at Watanuki for what to do next because she'd been the one to see what had been happening at the spirit tree before she let go of the lantern. Watanuki moved her hand, guiding Doumeki's arm up with hers until the ground cherry was just below the blossom. A small stream of liquid flowed from the blossoms inner light, the golden-amber substance draining into the ground cherry,

"Its smells wonderful!" Watanuki said, smiling as the cherry was filled up with the sparkling liquid.

"What is it?" Doumeki asked, leaning in for a closer look.

"This is the nectar that, once a year, only those who make the monster procession may drink." When the cherry was all the way full, Watanuki let go of Doumeki's hand, letting the archer take possession of the cherry once again before walking towards the fox child. "Please, drink with great care. And remember, it is thanks to the little fox that you are able to return with this." Watanuki stood before the little fox and smiled, kneeling down to take his hands in her own. The little fox's tail wagged and he blushed as the girl thanked him.

"You saved our lives. Thank you very much." Watanuki said, squeezing both of his paws in her hands. He giggled and smiled, too embarrassed and happy to say anything. Watanuki kissed his cheek in gratitude and the fox child's tail bristled into a poof in surprise, his blush deepening as Watanuki giggled at him good naturedly. Doumeki watched the exchanged from a distance, wishing he could have a kiss from Watanuki too. He'd saved her life too…it just wasn't fair. The fox and the girl said goodbye before Watanuki walked over to Doumeki. The archer stared at the girl for a moment and Watanuki stared back, not sure what he wanted.

"What?" She asked cautiously. Doumeki pointed to his cheek.

"Kiss." He said. Watanuki scowled, remembering the last time he'd wanted a kiss on the "cheek" and ended up losing her first kiss to the jerkass.

"No way am I falling for that again!" She snapped, pivoting around so she didn't have to look at his face and folded her arms in a huff. The little oden fox giggled at the pair and so did the Tengu, and Zashiki-Warishi just blushed deeper, being embarrassed for them.

The spirit tree watched the exchange, amused by the two humans before her before speaking, "You children have rare, unique spirits. But it will not always be good that is attracted to that energy. You have been through difficult times up 'til now, because you are changing, little by little. Value that transformation, especially those changes made possible by the people you've met." Watanuki smiled up at the tree, thankful that she had shared her bounty with them.

Then it was time to go. The demon procession making way for the girl and the boy as they walked towards the Karasu Tengu and hopped on a board. Doumeki sat behind Watanuki, his legs straddling the board and he held out his hand to the girl, offering to help her on. Watanuki, begrudgingly, took the hand offered to her and hopped on, swinging her leg over the board and settling down in a straddle. Keith hopped on another Tengu's board and Zashiki-Warishi waited for everyone to get settled before floating into the sky. Watanuki waved down at the little oden fox as they flew away and the fox waved back excitedly, his lantern swaying in the air. Suddenly, Watanuki was distracted by Doumeki's arms around her waist, pulling her back into his chest as they were flying.

"Hey! What are you doing?" They both ended up balanced in the middle of the surfboard, Watanuki basically sitting in Doumeki's lap, his arms wrapped around her and the ground cherry in between her legs.

"So you don't fall off again." He replied, moving his head right next to her ear so that her pony tail would quit whipping him in the face.

"I wasn't going to fall off again!" Watanuki said, blushing at the contact. Her shoulders crept up into her ears, embarrassment plain in her posture, but Doumeki chose not to tease her this time and just guided her to lean back into his chest. Besides, flying was more comfortable this way and he really didn't want Watanuki to fall. "Whatever!" The girl huffed, resting the back of her head on Doumeki's throat so he could rest his head on hers. As they floated along, Watanuki and Doumeki watched the spirit tree glow in the distance, her huge height lighting up the land around her. They flew like that for a while, following the Tengu and Zashiki-Warishi towards a shining portal in the sky. It looked like the moon but as they approached it, the light grew brighter and brighter until it blocked out every other thing.

Watanuki blinked away the sudden light and found herself standing in the park with Doumeki, both of them holding the full ground cherry. Zashiki-Warishi and the Tengu were nowhere in sight. Crickets were chirping in the night, a lone bird letting out a call before falling silent. It was so normal. Watanuki couldn't believe that things could be so normal after what just happened, unless the whole adventure was just a figment of her imagination (which it seemed to real to be just something she'd made up).

"We're back." She whispered, stating the obvious. She turned to Doumeki. "That wasn't a dream, was it?" The archer looked down at his watch, the one Watanuki hadn't known that he owned, but did now.

"If it was, then we've been standing here dreaming for nearly eight hours." He replied, looking at the full ground cherry in his hand.

"Gah!" Watanuki looked up at the park's clock, reading the time as five after midnight. No wonder she was dead tired. "I just don't get it" The girl scratched her head. "Why would Yuko give the ground cherry to me?"

"That's an easy one!" Yuko's voice came from behind the girl. Watanuki whirled around to find her boss standing on top of a climbing jungle gym with a slide, wearing a sexy red dress with gloves that was cut so low her breasts almost popped out of the fabric. "It was so that you could get that delicious nectar for me!" The witch crooned with a smiled. Mokona cheered with her as Yuko jumped down and slid down the slide like a five-year-old. As she neared the end of the slide, Yuko's force shot her straight into Watanuki (who was standing at the end of the slide) and the witched used both of her black-heeled feet to kick her slave out of the way, sending Watanuki flying into the sandbox and skidding to a halt in her own little dust cloud with Yuko riding on top of her. On the way down to the sandbox, Yuko had snatched the ground cherry right out from under Doumeki's nose and she sat on Watanuki, snuggling the nectar and rubbing her face against its container.

"The nectar from that tree is incredible! It's far more delicious than any wine or sake that's made in the human world!" The witch blushed in anticipation of drinking such a delightful treat.

"In other words…" Watanuki grumbled, her face planted in the sand. "What you're saying is…"

"Thanks for doing all the dirty work, sucker!~" Yuko and Mokona finished, laughing at the girl.

"Those angry spirits were just about to eat us, you crazy bitch!" Watanuki's fang popped out as she shouted, but Yuko and Mokona just kept laughing. "Ha! Ha! Ha! Very funny!" She retorted angrily in retaliation.

"Come, Doumeki! Join us in a drink!~" Yuko declared, making a ninety degree turn and walking away from Watanuki with a conquering finger pointing the way.

"Yay! Sake!~" Mokona cheered.

"I won't say no." Doumeki said, shrugging and following the witch.

"We brought along a picnic spread and some of Watanuki's delicious, homemade appetizers!" Yuko added.

"Like a buffet! Yay!~" Mokona shouted. Watanuki held up her hands as if she was trying to stop them, but they were already walking away, heading towards the stationary hippo and duck seats that they were going to use as chairs.

"When the tree talked about change caused by certain people I wonder if she meant Yuko."

"Cheers!~" Three glasses clinked together and Yuko, Mokona and Doumeki started partying without the girl.

Was she talking about the way that Yuko's changed me into her very own personal servant?!

"Watanuki! You're missing out!" Yuko said, holding up her half empty glass as she called to the seer. Watanuki waved her hand in front of her face.

"You know I can't drink! I'm underage!" She protested.

"This won't make you drunk! It's nectar!" Mokona replied, jumping up and down on the hippo. "Come on!"

"Don't be such a stick in the mud." Doumeki added. That one really pissed Watanuki off. She could handle Yuko making fun of her, she could handle Mokona, but by no means necessary was she going to put up with Doumeki making fun of her. The girl growled, her eyebrows pinching together in irritation.

"If you don't hurry, we'll have to drink it all ourselves!~" Yuko called.

"GAAAAH! Okay! I'll drink! You guys are such a pain!" Watanuki snarled, conceding to drink just a little. The three of them had popped open the ground cherry, pulling out the stem and making a hole in the tope to get to the nectar inside. Yuko held out a glass of the yellow liquid and Watanuki chugged it down, resolutely determined to have just one glass. She deserved it anyway, she's the one who got it!

"Well done, Ms. Stick-in-the-Mud!" Yuko said with a smile as Watanuki finished the glass in one go. The seer felt all warm and tingly inside, the nectar taking the edge off of the girl's tiring adventure. And it really did taste delicious, but the raven really couldn't find a way to describe it.

"Here! Have some more!" Mokona held up another full glass and Watanuki stared at it for a moment, floundering on whether or not she should go back on her decision to only have one glass. But it tasted sooooo goooood! The girl swiped the cup out of the fur ball's paws.

"I will!" Watanuki down the second glass just as quickly and Yuko smiled like a cat who'd just caught a mouse. She was reeling the girl into her trap, trying to see how fast her little slave got drunk and passed out. Doumeki looked at Yuko and Mokona and at Watanuki, figuring out exactly what was going on.

"You're going to hate yourself in the morning," He warned, drinking his own glass. Doumeki had had plenty of experience drinking despite his young age and he knew where Watanuki was headed if she didn't slow down. But he did have to admit, that blush on her face caused by the nectar was pretty adorable.

"Hey! It's nectar!~ I won't get drunk!~" Watanuki said, dancing around happily, completely duped by her employer. "I'll even drink your share!"

"Now, now, Watanuki. You can't take other people's drinks!" Yuko admonished softly as the girl tried to swipe Doumeki's cup out of his hands. The archer was having none of that and just kept it out of reach until the seer calmed down.

"Oh yes I can!~ I'm the one who went and got it after all!" The girl twirled around, the force of her spin lifting up her skirt so that everyone could see her butterfly panties. Doumeki tipped his head to get a better look (Watanuki was providing the view after all) and Yuko and Mokona just laughed at the girl. Watanuki danced off a little into the park, the nectar making her silly, and then danced back, nearly losing her balance as her vision blurred, making the night all soft and fuzzy. "Whoooaaa." She said as she nearly tipped over, righting herself just in time to make it back to the picnic blanket.

"I went with you." Doumeki reminded the girl.

"So what?" She sang, "It was because of my arrow that we were saved so you owwweeee meeee!" Watanuki wiggling around, balancing on one leg as best she could, still feeling silly.

"And who gave that arrow to you in the first place?" Doumeki asked, reminding the girl again that it was him who saved them.

"Ah shut your pie hole, Doumeki!"

"Watanuki! I've never seen you like this before!" Yuko giggled, watching her April fool live up to her name.

"It's only Doumeki so who cares?" Watanuki answered back. Yuko and Mokona just laughed at her. Two glasses later and Watanuki passed out on the blanket, flipping up her skirt in the process off falling down on her face. Doumeki just left it alone and ate and drank quietly with Yuko and the fur ball. Yuko chuckled at her silly girl. A half an hour later when most of the food and been eater and the nectar was almost gone, Mokona was dozing with Watanuki on the blanket, leaning on the girl's back for warmth.

"I guess some people just have no head for nectar." Yuko smiled. The crickets chirped in the paused as Yuko sipped her drink. Doumeki stared at the witch, resting his elbows on his knees while holding his four glass of nectar, leaning over to watch the woman. Something had been bothering him for a while now, and since Watanuki was asleep and he had Yuko alone, he figured that now would be a good time to ask.

"What are you doing here, Yuko?" He asked. "There was no need to you to meet us. Watanuki would've just brought the nectar to your shop. So why were you waiting for us?" Yuko remained silent, her giggly face dropping for her serious one. "It was because I was with her, wasn't it?" Yuko didn't say a word. Doumeki asked the loaded question. "Is there some reason that you don't want me in your shop?"

"You're very perceptive." She said, glancing down at her sixth glass of nectar. Her eyes slid up from the cup and to Doumeki's face. "There's no need to for you to visit my shop. My shop is both of this world…and not of this world. Only those that have a need…are able to cross the rift between worlds and enter in."

"So…you're saying that Watanuki has a need to be there?" Doumeki deduced. Both the witch and the archer looked down at the sleeping girl who looked so peaceful as she lay there quietly.

"Yes. You see, the shop is preparing her for what lies ahead. That's why she came." Yuko paused. "There is no such thing a coincidence. There is only inevitability." She finished, sipping at her drink. They sat in the quiet of the night for a little while longer, the two of them picking at the leftover snacks and listening to the night birds and the crickets. But after a while, Yuko decided it was time to go.

"Doumeki?" Yuko sang, knocking back the last of the nectar in her cup. Mokona had woken up and was hopping its way over to its mistress and jumped onto her shoulder as she sighed in satisfaction at the drink.

"Hm?" He asked, turning his head away from Watanuki to look at the witch.

"Would you be a dear and take our little Watanuki home?" She asked. "Otherwise, I don't think she's moving from that spot. And besides, she's not fit to gallivant around the neighborhood in her state." Yuko pointed to the passed out girl on the blanket. Doumeki looked at Watanuki again. She was lying on her stomach, her legs and arms sprawled every which way and snoring lightly. Her face had the glow of the nectar drink, dusting her cheeks with a very becoming pink. Doumeki had seen a few drunk people in his time and Watanuki seemed like one of those who would be unconscious until morning, no matter who shouted and tossed her around. She wasn't going anywhere without help. Doumeki nodded at Yuko.

"Oh, thanks!" Yuko smiled mischievously. "You're such a gentleman!" The witch winked at Mokona and the fur ball winked back. Doumeki didn't know why they were winking but it couldn't be good. Instead of worrying about it, he just started packing up their late night picnic because Yuko had just poured the last of the nectar into her cup and was swirling it around, meaning that she was almost done. Doumeki carefully placed the nearly empty bento boxes back into their wrapping cloths. Yuko did the same for the cups, sweeping up the rest of the dishes for Watanuki to clean tomorrow. Doumeki rolled the girl off the blanket and both the witch and the archer folded it up before it rested in Yuko's arms. The next order of business was getting Watanuki onto Doumeki's back so he could carry her home.

Doumeki helped Yuko sit the girl up and the witch held her employee's shoulders while Doumeki turned around the knelt with his back towards her, his arms face up and pulled behind him to hold Watanuki's legs. Yuko pushed Watanuki forward until her head was resting on Doumeki's shoulder, her chest against his back and then let Doumeki wrap his arms around her thighs. Yuko finshed off the piggy-back by loosely wrapping the girl's arms around Doumeki's neck, so she'd at least be a little balanced. The archer stood up, bouncing Watanuki lightly once or twice to settle her weight on his back before turning to thank Yuko. The woman picked up everything and Mokona hopped on her shoulder, giving Doumeki directions to Watanuki's apartment in case he didn't know (he hadn't) and after that they strolled off into the night, leaving Doumeki with the unconscious girl.

"Let's get going." Doumeki whispered

Watanuki said something in her sleep, but Doumeki couldn't make out what it was. It was probably gibberish anyway, the girl was so drunk. Doumeki was a little tipsy himself, but not nearly as bad as Watanuki. The world looked at little fuzzy to the archer, the edges of things softening up, but not enough to make him lose his head. He'd be fine in the morning. She however, would have a raging hangover. Douemki took a breath and then started walking out of the park, leaving behind the strange happenings of the day. He walked slowly, so not to wake up Watanuki as she lay against his back. Feeling her weight on him was like a physical reminder that she was still alive and that made Doumeki very happy. He thought back to how many times she'd almost died that day…first with the demons chasing them…then falling off of the Tengu's board…then falling after Zashiki-Warishi's fire flies disappeared…and then when the demons were on them again. Watanuki had almost died two more times that he had, and Doumeki didn't like those odds. Watanuki was a lot of trouble, but she didn't need to be that much trouble. The girl shifted against his back, her arms curling around his neck reflexively as her sleeping body got comfortable being on him. Her arms dropped after a few minutes, tired probably, and Watanuki went back to snoring lightly. Doumeki rolled his eyes at the girl and kept walking.

It took about forty minutes of walking to get to Watanuki's apartment, and by the time he got there, Doumeki was exhausted. His back and butt hurt from all the falling he'd done that day, and his arms ached from carrying Watanuki so far. She wasn't particularly heavy, but after a while on his back, anyone's weight would've hurt. Doumeki looked up at her apartment building, not excited to see stairs. The building looked a little run down, but nice enough. The archer sighed and started walking down the front path and then up the stairs to Watanuki's floor before taking a left, walking down the hall three doors and reaching above the doorframe for her extra key. To this however, he had to let go of one of Watanuki's legs, the girls knee and hip straightening out and tipping her to the right as he reached for the key. The girl's limp body tilted, her right arm slipping off his shoulder and Doumeki started falling with her when she started to drag him now. Doumeki grabbed the key hidden on top of the doorframe and scrambled to catch the girl. He managed to get his hand on her side, pushing against her ribcage until she was straight up and down before he quickly switched his hold and grabbed her right leg again, key in hand. The archer sighed in relief at not having dropped the girl and stuck the key into her doorknob and entering her apartment, locking it behind him.

Inside Watanuki's apartment was dark and Doumeki had to set the girl down on the floor first to take of both their shoes in the genkan. While Doumeki was taking off his shoes, Watanuki rolled over, her stocking clad foot smacking him in the face. He was knocked backwards with a grunt and sighed at his classmate. Once Doumeki's shoes were off, he picked up Watanuki in his arms princess-style and walked into her apartment, clicking on a light to see where he was going. Watanuki's apartment was small, but it seemed to be the perfect size for the girl. There was a kitchen and a bedroom and bathroom with its own, tiny bathtub and sink. Doumeki laid the girl down in the living room section of the apartment that he supposed also doubled at her bedroom. Inside, he was surprised to find that their school bags had mysteriously been transported into the apartment, both of the bags sitting next to each other on the floor. Yuko must've done something to get them there. Doumeki ignored them for the moment and went in search of sleeping things. But first, he noticed that a fish bowl sat on the seer's desk, holding the goldfish he'd given her during the last omatsuri. The little fish looked happy in its bowl, swimming around the little castle that Watanuki had purchased as a house and dodging around the fake seaweed and plastic plants. He also saw the hair clips he'd given to her a little while ago sitting next to the fish bowl, their white and yellow tsubaki blossoms bright in the moonlight as well. She kept them. Doumeki smiled softly as the fish bowl's water glowed in the moonlight, sparkling off the fish's golden scales. Doumeki turned back to the task at hand and rummaged around in Watanuki's drawers and closets for her futon and spread it out with the pillow and blanket. Next, he found Watanuki's sleeping clothes – a tank top and long pants – and held them in his hands, wondering what to do next.

We're both filthy and need baths, but I don't think Watanuki would appreciate me giving her a bath. But then the next question is…do I leave her in her school uniform….or do I change her into sleeping clothes? Doumeki looked at Watanuki, still passed out on the floor. If I change her, she's going to lob my head off…but I don't think she'd like sleeping in her uniform. What to do…

In the end, Doumeki decided that he was going to take his chances and change Watanuki into her pajamas. She could smack him for it later. First, he rolled the girl over onto her stomach and unbuttoned her gray uniform jacket. It was quite dirty as he peeled it off her skin, caked with dust and dirt from the monster procession world and from the park. Next, Doumeki unbuttoned the white shirt underneath the jacket and tried not to stare too long at Watanuki's bra (it matched her butterfly panties). The next item to come off was Watanuki's socks and then her skirt and once again, Doumeki tried his hardest not to stare at her panties. It didn't work and he ended up wasting five minutes wondering where the hell she found her cute underwear. Seriously, every time he got a peek at her panties, they were always cute or sexy looking. Doumeki yanked his brain out of the gutter and sighed, deciding that even if he wasn't going to bathe Watanuki, he should at least wipe her off a little bit. Doumeki went into the bathroom and found a pink washcloth that Watanuki had left hanging up with her towel and dampened it with warm water. He grabbed a dry wash cloth on his way out and made his way back to the sleeping girl.

Doumeki knelt next to the seer and started carefully wiping off the girls smudged face, praying that she wouldn't wake up and find him cleaning her. That would probably cause her to throw him out the window, but if she was drunk, she might just pass out again. It could go either way. Doumeki gently wiped her cheeks, nose forehead and ears before working his way down her neck. Watanuki's eyelids fluttered as he started cleaning her off, but she remained asleep. The archer continued to clean ther girl's body, wiping off her shoulders, collarbone and her chest (not lingering too long on her chest) and then continued down her stomach and hips and then cleaned both of her legs and feet. As he was wiping her feet, Watanuki's legs jumped in his hands, and Doumeki realized that Watanuki had ticklish feet and found it kind of adorable, smiling to himself softly, before toweling off the girl just as gently as he had cleaned her off. He then carefully flipped the girl over and wiped off her back so that she was all clean before slipping her into her pajamas. It wasn't as easy as it sounded to get a girl into her tank top and pants, and Watanuki's limp body was not helping at all.

The pants were easy enough; it was just a matter of putting each leg in the correct pant holes and then sliding the cloth up to her hips. Of course, he'd had to shift parts of her body off the floor to slid the pants up, but it wasn't that difficult. The tank top on the other hand, was a bit more difficult. First Doumeki tried to do what he did with the pants, get one arm in each hole, but then Watanuki's head was in the way and went she felt the fabric, she shirt, tossing this way or that in her sleep which made it even more difficult get her top on. This would've been erotic in any other situation, with a half-naked girl rolling on the ground and all but Doumeki was tired and really wanted to sleep. In the end, he sat Watanuki up the best he could against his chest, her dead weight leaning on him as he slid her arms into the arm holes and then popped her head through the top. To finish up, Doumeki reached into the girl's shirt and unhooked her bra, maneuvering the garment down to her hips underneath her tank top and threading her arms out of the straps. The boy laid Watanuki down again and piled all her clothes in the corner of the room.

"Next time, you're dressing yourself." He said. Watanuki just hiccupped in her sleep. Doumeki scratched his head and sighed, unbuttoning his own dirty jacket and shirt, dropping them next to Watanuki's clothes. He took the two wash cloths back into the bathroom and started the shower. He figured that he at least could be all the way clean, even if he couldn't get Watanuki to take a bath. As the water heated up, Doumeki unbuttoned his pants and slid them off along with his underwear and socks, stepping out of the whole pile. He rolled out his sore shoulders and arms, stepping into the spray of the shower. Now, it might seem rude to use someone else's shower without permission, but Watanuki had used the bath at his house before so this was just compensation for that. And really, Doumeki didn't care as long as he got clean and got to sleep.

The hot shower helped loosen all of the archer's muscles and the stress of the day, the alcoholic nectar lulling him into an almost-doze before he realized that he was swaying on his feet. "Get a grip, Doumeki." He said to himself. "You don't want Watanuki waking up in the morning to you knocked out in the shower because you slipped and knocked yourself unconscious." Doumeki quickly finished cleaning himself and stepped out of the shower smelling like jasmine and vanilla, the scent that always lingered on Watanuki's skin from her body wash. He dried himself and shook out his hair, the wet strands sticking up in odd places as they dried. Doumeki hated putting on dirty clothes after having bathed, but he had no choice and slipped back into his boxers. But he did refuse to sleep in his uniform pants. Watanuki would just have to deal with him being half-naked.

As an afterthought, Doumeki went back to Watanuki and shook her shoulder lightly, to see if he could just get her awake for ten seconds. "Watanuki." He whispered. The girl moaned and one blue eye cracked open slightly. She didn't even look coherent, but that's what he wanted. "As my payment for saving you today, I'm staying the night. Is that okay?" He asked.

"Mmmm." She moaned, her eye closing again.

"I'll take that as a yes." He said, letting her sleep, Doumeki picked up Watanuki, and shuffled over to the futon on his knees, lying her down and placing her head on the pillow before covering her up with the blanket. Then he went in search of a second futon, going through Watanuki drawers and closets again before realized that Watanuki lived alone and probably rarely had company, and therefore…she only had one futon. She she was currently sleeping on it. Doumeki groaned, realizing that if he was going to get any decent sleep, he was going to have to share the futon with Watanuki…which she was probably going to tear his balls off for doing. He sighed again and just resigned himself to punishment in the morning. Doumeki righted everything he had touched in the apartment so it was one less thing for her to yell at him for and turned off the light. Doumeki crawled over to Watanuk and the futon and pulled the blanket back. Watanuki shivered at the sudden cold, so Doumeki climbed in quickly, pulling the blanket over them both.

The raven settled down again as their combined heat warmed up the space between them and she snuggled into her pillow. Doumeki laid his head down on his half of the pillow and gazed at the girl in front of him. When she wasn't yelling at him or complaining, she was quite beautiful, her pale skin almost ephemeral in the moonlight, her dark hair falling over her cheeks lightly. Doumeki reached out to run his fingers through her hair when he saw that he'd forgotten to take out her pony tail. The young man reached up and pulled on the blue ribbon bow holding her hair up. It came away with a little resistance, but Doumeki got it undone and Watanuki's hair came out and spread all over her face. Doumeki brushed the strands off of her cheeks and ran his fingers through her hair softly to get most of the knots out of it before resting his hand on the girl's cheek. Her breath ghosted against his tan skin, a sure sign that she was still alive.

"I'm so glad you're safe." He whispered to her, knowing that she couldn't hear him. "I thought you were going to die today, and it really hurt me to think that you weren't going to be around anymore for me to make fun of. Don't do it again. I can't handle you dying." His bronze eyes glowed in the dark, holding more emotion in that moment than he'd ever let them before. Love, fear, worry, affection, protectiveness…they were all there. "I'd never be able to enjoy food again without you. Who'd make my lunch for me?" He whispered, falling back on his monotone, teasing behavior. He just loved to mess with Watanuki. The girl sighed, her forehead scrunching up as she dreamed. Her hand came flying up as she turned over and smacked Doumeki in the face, just like she'd do if he insulted her while she was awake. Watanuki is still Watanuki, even asleep. Doumeki rubbed his face, noting that he probably deserved the smack and settled into sleep. He felt Watanuki's hand resting on the futon near his own, and on impulse, he grasped her hand lightly, threading their fingers together just like when they were running from the spirits earlier. "I'm always going to be there for you, Kimihiro Watanuki." Doumeki whispered, hoping that the girl felt like that towards him a little, but he couldn't tell, she was still asleep.

"I love you." He whispered, his eyes closing from exhaustion. Nobody heard his confession but him, even Watanuki's ears were deaf to it as they slept together. She did however, feel a nice warmth beside her, a comforting hand on her own and she smiled sleepily, dreaming of flying through the sky with Doumeki again, riding on the Tengu's surfboard with his arms wrapped around her. It hadn't been a bad experience, just a different one. And if Watanuki was being honest with herself, sleeping or waking, Doumeki wasn't such a bad guy to have around. She was even starting to like him…but just a smidge. But he still annoyed the hell out of her most of the time, but that was just Doumeki. He was like that, just like she was loud and liked to yell a lot. It was just who they were. If only that sentiment translated into reality.

When Watanuki woke up in the morning, all the bubbly feelings she'd had while dreaming popped into the fact that Doumeki was sleeping in her bed, nearly-naked with his arms around her. She blinked her blue eyes a few times, trying to see if the nectar was causing her to see things differently than they were, but nope, there was no way to excuse away the fact that Doumeki's toned chest was right in her face, his arms coiled around her back and she was snuggling into his warmth. The girl blew a gasket.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOUSE?!" She screamed, waking up Doumeki in the most horrific fashion, by smacking him in the face a she yelled him awake and pushed him away. And then Watanuki experienced the symptoms of her first hangover and clutched her head as her loud screams echoed and bounced around in her head painfully, sparking a nasty headache. Watanuki groaned, hating life and tried to look up at the pervert in her bed when she discovered the second symptom of hangovers: sensitivity to light. The sunlight from her open window stabbed at her eyes, sending flashing of pain up into her already aching head and making the whole situation worse. She screwed her eyes shut, diving under the blanket to block out the light.

"Got a hangover?" Doumeki asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He blinked away sleep and was greeted by the sight of Watanuki's butt sticking out from underneath the blanket they'd shared, the girl hidden from the hips up. His vision was blurry and sensitive and he had dry mouth, but he knew how to handle these things. Watanuki didn't and it was painfully obvious that she was hurting.

"I thought you and Yuko said the nectar wasn't alcoholic…" Watanuki groaned.

"That was a lie on Yuko's part. We also told you not to drink so much. You've never been drunk before." Doumeki pointed out, getting up and walking over to the kitchen to looke for two glasses of water and a hope of finding some aspirin for Watanuki's headache.

"You're both bastards. Lying, sneaky, bastards." Watanuki grumbled from under the blanket. "And what are you doing in my house?" The seer's head popped up from under the opposite end of the blanket from where she'd dived in, watching Doumeki with squinty eyes as he walked back into the living area with their water. He placed the girl's glass and aspirin on the floor in front of her and Watanuki watched him carefully as he drank his own water. He was dressed in only his boxers, all his tan, muscled glory staring her right in the face. Doumeki was ripped, no lie, and Watanuki couldn't help but take a peek at his abs and arms. But she couldn't let Douemki catch her doing that and instead, fell back on insulting him by shouting. "And why are you only wearing your underwear?! Put on some clothes!"

"Quiet or you're going to make your headache worse." As he said it, Watanuki was clutching her head again, her skull throbbing from her shout.

"Ow." She moaned.

"Drink." Doumeki said, pointing to the girl's glass of water. Watanuki reached out and sipped at her water, popping the pills into her mouth and then finishing her glass. At least her throat and mouth felt better.

"I carried you home. It was late and I was tired so I asked if I could stay here for the night and you said yes." Doumeki explained in monotone.

"I did?" Watanuki didn't remember that conversation, but then again, last night was a little fuzzy in her brain.

"I also took it as my payment for saving your life yesterday. Twice."

"Twice?!" Watanuki snapped indignantly. "No, it was once!"

"Once with the arrow, and the other was when you were slumped on the ground and I got you moving, or else you would've been eaten." Doumeki argued with his blank face. "Twice."

"Whatever." She mumbled. There could be worse ways to wake up. She'd just wish he'd put on some clothes.

"So…what's for breakfast?" Doumeki asked, his stomach grumbling.

"GET OUT OF MY HOUSE, YOU FREELOADER!" Watanuki yelled in response.

"Headache." He reminded her.

"Ow." She moaned, hating her life. Why can't he just leave me alone?!

"Told you."

"Shut up!" The raven grumbled. "Go put on some clothes before I call the police on you!"

"Hm." The archer replied, standing up to go put on his dirty uniform. Watanuki groaned to herself. She was all hot and flustered at having a very cute boy in her house…alone…all night…with her. If felt really weird to have a boy in her house, (to have anyone over actually) and she just wanted him to go away before she said something embarrassing and dug herself into a hole like she was prone to do. Watanuki peeked out from under her blanket, taking a quick glance to watch Doumeki step into his pants and pull them up, the dark cloth an excellent contrast for his skin. Why am I thinking like this?! I don't like this jerk! What is wrong with me?! Her heart was beating rapidly, her breath shortening as she watched the man she supposedly hated getting dressed right in front of her before heading into the bathroom to brush his hair or go to the bathroom or whatever. But he still hadn't put a shirt on! Watanuki was nervous, but in the lovey-dovey sort of way and not the fearing-for-my-life sort of way. Do I…like Doumeki? NO WAY!" The girl shot up, a deep blush coating her cheeks as she scrambled around her apartment for something to distract herself from the fact that Doumeki was in her house, Doumeki was using her bathroom and Doumeki had been sleeping with her up until a few minutes ago (but not like…sleeping sleeping, just regular sleeping…right?). That thought, that maybe a drunken Watanuki had done something unspeakable with Doumeki last night stalled the girl's brain, tripping up her feet and causing her to crash into a wall, efficiently stopping her mad scramble for a distraction.

Doumeki poked his head out of the bathroom and spotted Watanuki on the floor, curled up in a ball as she clutched her head for entirely different reasons than her headache.

"You okay?" He asked.

"NO! I am not okay!" The girl growled, thankful that her arms hid her blush. How could I ever think that I had done…done…arg! With Doumeki of all people! It's impossible! Impossible!

"You're too loud. And angry." Doumeki replied, walking out of the bathroom.

"Of course I'm going to be loud!" Watanuki huffed, sitting up and rubbed her sore forehead from where it made contact with the wall, the huge red mark on her skin getting bigger from her rubbing. "I woke up in my house with no recollection of how I got here, dressed in different clothes that you probably dressed me in and sleeping next to you! Of course I'm going to be loud and angry!"

"Did you not like me sleeping over?" Doumeki asked, wanting an honest opinion, leveling his bronze eyes at her.

"Well, it wouldn't be such a problem if I knew what we'd done after…after…" Watanuki's brain dropped into the gutter and she just had to ask, no matter how embarrassing it was. She had to know. She had no recollection after the park party, none whatsoever and it's not that she didn't trust Doumeki – she trusted him enough to know that he'd keep her safe – but…if they had done something like…that…then she needed to know. Drunk people did crazy things all the time! So how was she supposed to know what she had done when she couldn't remember anything?! "D-d-did…w-we…" She pointed to Doumeki's bare chest and then pointed to hers before wrapping her arms around herself. "Do…any of…that?" Silence ensued for about thirty seconds before Doumeki rolled his eyes and huffed.

"Do you really think so low of me that I would take advantage of an unconscious woman?" He said, a tiny bit of anger leaking into his voice as he stared hard at the seer.

"No!" She argued immediately, abating some of Doumeki's suspicions about what the girl actually thought about him. "I-I-I j-just…" The girl trailed off, blushing like crazy and curling into herself.

"Just what?" He asked, wanting to get all of Watanuki's weirdness about him out in the open before she did something stupid and before he did something stupid that ruined their relationship. If she had a problem with him, then he wanted to know about it now. "What is it, Watanuki? Do you have a problem with me?"

"No! I-I-I j-just…I don't open up myself to anyone like this!" Watanuki blurted out, yelling almost as loud as when she'd woke up. The girl winced as her head throbbed, but she didn't grab her head this time. She stared at Doumeki and suddenly, he could see so many kinds of emotions swirling in those big, blue orbs. Embarrassment…fear…caution…and a want to…to…what? He couldn't figure out that. Obviously she was struggling with something and she looked ready to let it all out. So he just looked back at her, waiting for the girl to let her mouth run away with her like it did so often. And it did.

"Doumeki…I don't have people over, I don't let people in my house…people usually don't want to associate with me because I'm the freak." Watanuki revealed. "I was the odd kid in school who claimed she could see spirits and that distanced people from me. Until I met Yuko, Wari and you…I didn't have any friends…I had no one." Doumeki listened to the girl's confession of sorts, touched that even though he bugged her and she annoyed him, she still considered him a friend. "So to have someone in my house, without my permission, and have them stay the night, go through my things and even dress me…"Watanuki hugged herself again, as if she was trying to cover up the insecurities that she was whispering to him. "You've seen everything." Watanuki didn't speak for a moment and then suddenly, her head snapped up.

"You didn't see me naked, did you?!" And suddenly the serious atmosphere was gone, whisked away by Watanuki's panic. She'd noticed her bra-less state "You stared, didn't you?!" She snapped, back to her normal self.

"You were staring." Doumeki said, pointing out that he had caught the girl looking at him while he was changing. Watanuki's blush deepened as she realized she'd been caught spying on him, the redness spreading down her neck and Doumeki decided that he liked her like that…it was cute.

"I-I…whatever!" Watanuki huffed, brushing the whole conversation under the carpet. She cast her eyes around the room for a distraction, anything to get away from her awkwardness and Doumeki's bare chest that was staring her in the face. Seriously, it was very distracting. Watanuki caught sight of Doumeki's dirty pants and jacket and decided on a course of action. "You can't wear those clothes outside until they've been cleaned. There's a washer and dryer downstairs and to the right where you can wash your clothes." The girl strode past Doumeki and walked into a little hallway past the bathroom. She opened a closet and started rummaging around in it.

"But what will I wear down there?" Doumeki asked, being practical. If he was washing his clothes, he certainly wasn't wearing them and he didn't thing that Watanuki would appreciate that considering how badly she acted when he was in his boxers.

"This!" Watanuki said as she yanked on something wedged in the closet. It popped out unexpectedly and sent the girl sprawling on the floor as a storage box knocked her in the head. "Ow!" Watanuki rubbed her head and picked up the box, prying off the lid. The girl left the box on the floor and knelt down beside it. She carefully pulled out a light green yukata with feathers embroidered on it in black and gold. It definitely wasn't Watanuki's, it was too big and broad for the seer's slight frame and clearly sized for a man. But who's what is? Watanuki lived alone.

"A man's yukata?" He asked, puzzled.

"Would you rather wear one of mine?" Watanuki retorted, standing up and holding out the garment to Doumeki. "It was my dad's before…" She trailed off and just shoved the yukata into his chest. "Just wear it! I'm going to take a shower so don't you even think of peeking!" She knelt down and repacked the box and placed the lid on it before whirling away, grabbing a pair of casual clothes to go to Yuko's shop since they didn't have school and slammed the bathroom door behind her. Doumeki just watched her do it, holding the old yukata gently in his hands. He had never heard Watanuki talk about her parent's before and it was apparently a topic that was not open to discussion by the way Watanuki had closed it so quickly. Still, it was generous of her to let him wear something that was precious to her. Wherever her father had gone, Watanuki had taken good care of his things for him, judging by the cleanliness of the garment and the careful way it was packed into the storage container.

Doumeki smiled to himself and set the yukata down on Watanuki's desk before stripping out of his pants and boxers. He threw his dirty clothes with his jacket, shirt and socks in the corner and unfolded the robe Watanuki had lent him carefully before slipping his arms through the sleeves, folding the garment closed and securing it with the tie. Whoever he was, Watanuki's father was just about Doumeki's size, maybe slightly smaller, so the robe fit nicely. Doumeki was sure to be careful with it as he picked up his dirty clothes. He could hear the water in the shower turn on in the bathroom and thought about peeking…but then thought better of it and just went to wash his clothes.

"There's detergent under the sink!" Watanuki called, popping her head out of the bathroom door. Doumeki turned around to acknowledge that he'd heard her but he concluded that Watanuki hadn't been expecting him to still be in the room or expecting him to turn around if he had been in the room because the door was open a lot more than it should've been and Watanuki was the shirtless one this time. They stared at each other for a split second (and actually, Doumeki's eyes were drawn to the seer's bare chest) before Watanuki exploded.

"YOU PERVERT!" Several hair brushes and a bucket of hair ribbons flew at the teen as he ducked for cover, but Watanuki did get in a few hits before slamming the door shut in his face. Doumeki walked calmly outside, savoring the memory of Watanuki half-naked that he would treasure for years to come while he went to wash his clothes. Doumeki walked down the stairs and found the washer and dryer in a community room and luckily for him, no one else was around doing their laundry. Doumeki separated out his whites and darks and started his first load of clothes, taking advantage of Watanuki's detergent. Them the archer decided that he'd better stayed out of the girl's apartment while she showered (because she actually might find something more dangerous to throw at him if she got made again) and spent about an hour outside washing and drying his school uniform, fiddling with the cloth of Watanuki's father's yukata, and wondering if someday he might hear the whole story about what happened to her parents.

When his clothes were dry, Doumeki walked back upstairs and knocked on Watanuki's door.

"Come in." She said through the door and Doumeki let himself in. The girl was out of the shower and dressed in slacks and a long sleeved V-neck shirt in a very becoming blue. She was in the kitchen, her hair let loose as she cooked up a simple breakfast of rice, fish and miso soup. For two, he might add. Doumeki walked in and before he could say anything, Watanuki was talking again. "There's an ironing board in the closet if you want to press your uniform." She said, not turning around. Doumeki nodded (even though she couldn't see it) and went to iron his uniform before putting it on.

Watanuki hadn't turned around because she was still blushing like an idiot from what had happened earlier. How could I have been so stupid! Have all that talk I said about not exposing myself I really went and did it! He just had to be in the room when I stuck my head out of the bathroom! Watanuki growled to herself and flipped the fish grilling on her stove. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! She chastised herself mentally for about the thousandth time, finishing up breakfast and setting the table for two. Just calm down. Doumeki probably won't mention it…at least I hope he won't!

Said boy walked in after a few minutes, dressed neatly in his clean uniform and sat down at the table, waiting for Watanuki to join him. The girl sat down, twiddling her thumbs nervously.

"If that ever happens again – and by that I mean you staying over – (which it won't) you can wear my father's yukata. I don't ever want to wake up to you in your underwear again!"

"Never?" Doumeki asked, picking up his bowl of rice.

"Never, you pervert!" Watanuki snapped, blushing deeper. Doumeki didn't reply, knowing that Watanuki was just acting so strict because she was embarrassed and nervous about everything that had happened that morning. So he decided to fluster her some more, just for fun.

"You're pretty. You should really be more confident about your body." Doumeki teased in his monotone. Watanuki balked at his comment, gaping at him as he ate some rice and sipped at his soup. A shiver traveled up her spine as Doumeki commented on that moment and she was so humiliated that she did something that Doumeki considered quite inhuman. She kicked him out right in the middle of breakfast, throwing his school bag and shoes out after him.

"GET OUT!" She yelled, growling at her companion on her doorstep.

"But what about breakfast?" He asked, his stomach growling at only having consumed half of Watanuki's wonderful cooking.

"GO FIND SOME YOURSELF!" The door slammed in Doumeki's face and the boy was left outside all alone, wondering what she was going to do with the extra food from breakfast.

By the time Watanuki got to Yuko's shop later that morning, she was in such a weird mood. She was embarrassed that Doumeki had seen her half-naked, unsettled that he'd just invited himself into her house and rummaged through all her stuff while she was passed out, but grateful that he'd taken such good care of her while she had been unconscious. All those emotions – plus about fifty more – roiled around inside of her when she entered the shop. Yuko was standing in the hallways when the girl looked up from taking her shoes off, an evil grin of her face as she toyed with her pink kimono's sashes. Mokona was sitting on her shoulder, an identical look on its face.

"What?" Watanuki asked, praying that the witch didn't have some impossible task for her to complete today. In fact, what the woman had in mind was much, much worse.

"Did someone have a good night?" Yuko sang ominously, her grin widening.

"And a good morning?" Mokona teased heartlessly. Watanuki's face paled, knowing that they had somehow known exactly what had happened that morning. They knew, and they were going to exploit that information mercilessly, making the seer's life a living hell. And then Watanuki realized that if they knew what had happened, they must've had a hand in setting up the situation in the first place, that's just how Yuko and Mokona operated.

"You set me up!" The raven accused, trying act mad and superior to their tricks, but the effect was undermined by her deep blush returning to her cheeks.

"Maybe!~" Yuko sang, clapping her hands joyfully.

"No maybe not!~" Mokona added, jumping up and down.

"Which is it?!" The girl snapped as she leapt into the hallway and advanced on the pair.

"We're not telling!~" They crooned, running away from the wrathful seer as she chased them down the hallway, baying for blood.

"Tell me which it is and your might be able to keep your limbs!" Watanuki shouted, grabbing at Yuko's kimono and missing.

"I'm not telling!~" Yuko giggled, dodging the girl's claws. "But I do hope that Doumeki enjoyed the show you put on, you naughty girl! And the show he put on for you! Naughty boy!"

"I'm going to kill you!" Watanuki snarled, her blush turning an angry red. The rest of the morning and a good part of the afternoon was spent hunting Yuko and Mokona down and the rest of the afternoon was spent putting the shop back together after Watanuki had calmed down and stopped her rampage of destruction. But she still didn't escape the teasing Yuko and her fur ball relentlessly subjected her to and in the end, she was contemplating the best place to hide their dead bodies so that nobody would ever find them again. And if Doumeki breathed a word of what had transpired that morning to anyone, he'd find himself in the same place.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Snow drifted down from the gray sky over Tokyo, blanketing the city in a layer of white that would soon turn gray in the street, muting the constant noise of cars and people for just a moment. It was freezing outside, and yet, Yuko was still sitting out on her porch at a single table with sake and snacks, watching the snow fall around her. It was so calming and peaceful to view the first heavy snowfall of the season. There had been other snowfalls, but they hadn't lasted long and the snow had soon melted into slush that turned gray and black as the streets, but this snow was different…it would stay white for a long time as it piled up on the ground. So peaceful and quiet. Yuko sipped at her sake in her purple, smoke-embroidered kimono and let a soft, chilly breeze run through her high pony tail. The only thing that wasn't peaceful and quiet was her little servant standing behind her with broom in hand, smock on and hair tied back in her handkerchief. The contents of Yuko's storehouse were laid out all across the room (since the girl obviously couldn't put them outside like she'd normally do) and the eclectic collection of strange and ordinary objects were in for the cleaning of their life…again.

"Ug. No matter how much I clean this place just seems to get dirtier. You're really going to have a mess to take care of at the end of the year." Watanuki sighed. "You need to keep all your stuff organized on a daily basis…hey Yuko! Are you even listening to me!?" The girl turned to glare at her employer's laziness.

"Hm?" Yuko hummed, holding out her glass for Mokona to pour her another drink. "I'm not going to be the one who has to deal with it." She admitted.

"Hmmmm." Mokona hummed, pouring itself another glass of sake as well. "Watanuki's going to have to deal with it!~"

"It's Watanuki's job!~" Maru sang.

"It's Watanuki's job!~" Moro repeated. The twins were sitting on the edge of the porch, their feet dangling off the edge. They were both wearing the warmer versions of their angel and devil outfits, their skirts a little longer, their sleeves fell to their wrists and they were both wearing knee high socks. They smiled at Watanuki, their teasing grins cute and annoying at the same time.

"And what do you think you're doing?! Drinking in the afternoon!?" Watanuki stomped over to Yuko's table, choosing to ignore the twins because if she got mad at them, they'd just think it was funny and run away like she was playing a game.

"Why not?" Yuko asked, leaning back in her chair. "When its night you drink and enjoy the moonlight, and when it's snowing you drink and enjoy the snow. Isn't it obvious?" She said it as if everyone drank twice their weight in alcohol every damn day.

"Yeah, yeah. Of course. What was I thinking?" Watanuki sighed and pivoted around, dejectedly leaving Yuko to her own devices. There was no arguing with her when she got like this...actually…there was no arguing with her period. Yuko always got what was due her, even when it came to bossing Watanuki around. Watanuki went back inside to start cleaning; taking off her head cloth and tying it around her mouth like a surgical mask so she didn't inhale dust and suffocate. She took up her duster and whacked it against several boxes to dislodge the grim coating them. "Ug. She can always find a reason to drink." The girl grumbled. Just then, she hit a box just a little too hard and it started to tip backwards off the pile of boxes. Watanuki dropped her duster and snatched up the box before it could fall (because if she broke whatever was inside it, Yuko would make her pay for it in horrible ways), precariously leaning over the other objects of the storehouse as she got her balance back. It was heavier than she expected so it took a few moments for the seer to stand up straight, but she did it and went to ask Yuko what was inside that made it so heavy.

"Hey, Yuko!" The raven called, walking up to the witch. Yuko looked over, her cup still at her lips. "Look at what I found." Watanuki was holding the box in her arms, showing Yuko.

"Ah. I almost forgot that I had that old thing still lying around." Yuko set down her cup and placed her chin in the palm of her hand.

"Me too!" Mokona agreed.

"It certainly brings back memories!" Yuko shook her head, smiling and reminiscing about something that Watanuki didn't know about. It kinda ticked her off that she was the one who found it and yet, wasn't getting an answer as to what was inside the damn thing.

"Those sure were the good old days!" Mokona agreed. Yuko stopped talking, and looked out over the snow, her eyes staring into the middle distance.

"Stop reminiscing!" Watanuki growled, wanting to know what was inside. She started to claw at the lid trying to get the thing open. "I'm just going to pry this thing open and see for myself! If it's something useless, I'm getting rid of it!" As hard as she pulled, the lid wouldn't come off. Watanuki sank to the floor, trying to see if she could use both her hands to get it off instead of just one like she'd been attempting to do while she'd been standing.

"I guess I'm okay with that. Have fun." Yuko said slyly, watching the girl struggle with the box. "Of course, you should know that the box will only open once a certain condition has been met."

"Like what?" Watanuki stopped trying to get the box open and looked up at her boss.

"Who cares?" Yuko held up her empty sake glass. "I need another hot sake."

"Another sake!" Maru sang, standing up.

"Another sake!" Moro sang, taking her place next to her twin.

"And get me another barley shōchū and water!" Mokona ordered (5).

"Shōchū and water!~" Maru repeated, swinging her arms into the air.

"Shōchū and water!~" Moro repeated back, swinging her arms in the opposite direction.

"And go ahead and make it a double!" Mokona added. "And while you're in the kitchen, get me a dish of sour plums on the side!"

"Sour plums!~ Sour plums!~ Sour plums!~" The twins sang, dancing back and forth and continuing their chant while Yuko talked.

"I'm feeling peckish too! How about some boiled tofu?" The witch suggested, smiling.

"Boiled tofu!~ Boiled tofu!"~

"Yeah! Great idea!" Mokona agreed.

"Hold on!" Watanuki stood up and glared at the four people ordering her around. "I'm in the middle of a major house cleaning here! What kind of slave driver are you?!" She growled.

"Well, that's the way it goes." Yuko replied. "Life is all about being flexible, you know." Watanuki clenched her fists, trying to control her anger but failing miserably. "Now…why don't we hurry up with those snacks?" Yuko teased.

"GAAAAAH! You're being so unreasonable!" She screamed, throwing her hands in the air and running towards the kitchen. The rest of the day was spent ping ponging from cleaning to getting snacks to cleaning to making dinner to cleaning to preparing an after dinner snack to cleaning to gathering an after dinner after snack snack to cleaning to grabbing late night drinks to putting away everything that got cleaned to grabbing one last round of drinks and snacks before throwing a spatula at Yuko and Mokona and running out of the shop screaming at their behavior.

When she woke up the next morning, Watanuki was surprised to see that the snow had continued all night, piling up at least a foot and a half high. She got dressed quickly for school, throwing on her shirt, gray jacket, skirt, shoes and socks before shrugging on her cream winter coat and wrapping a blue scarf around her neck. She ran through the new-fallen snow and kicked up her own clouds of white on the way to school. By the time she reached the entrance, Watanuki's face was red from the cold, her hair was in disarray from running and her mouth was smiling like an idiot. She walked into the school and spotted Wari and Doumeki and went to join them.

"Wow! I can't believe it ended up snowing all night!" Watanuki said in awe, looking outside of the school's windows. She was in the front locker room where everyone was taking off their outside shoes and putting on their school shoes (6). She opened her locker to switch out her shoes, when she noticed a note in there already. Watanuki's brain went into hyper-speed, thinking about the implications of the note. First, the note could be a love confession (because that's just how people did it) and second, if it was that was horrible! Wari was standing right in front of her and would get the wrong idea that someone liked her when she really liked Wari! Third, if it was a love confession, it could be in the wrong locker…yeah, definitely the wrong locker. And fourth, it could be something completely unrelated to a love confession...but that wasn't likely with Watanuki's luck. The raven snapped her locker shut, her gloved hand keeping the door shut and she hoped that Wari and his cute face hadn't see it. No such luck.

"Watanuki! Is that a love letter in your locker?" Wari said, smiling. The seer's crush was looking especially cute today with his curly hair all tousled from the light snowfall outside. He was wearing the boy's winter coat over his uniform just like Doumeki, the long jacket falling nearly to his ankles which made him look sophisticated…he was practically a gentleman. Doumeki on the other hand, just looked like an idiot in Watanuki's opinion (even if he looked very dashing as well, despite the girl's denial). Watanuki blushed, cursing her bad luck and the letter, whoever it was from.

"Oh, no! That's absolutely impossible! No way, no how!" Now that the letter had been seen, there was no hiding it so Watanuki just opened up her locker to take the letter and burn it before anyone else saw it when the damn thing started flapping and flew right out of the locker! Watanuki gasped and dodged the flying piece of paper as it dove towards the floor and then flapped up past Doumeki's face and fell into Watanuki's gloved hands. The girl opened the note and it read: You lost. And that's when Watanuki figured out who the note was from. Yuko. She leaned against the lockers, her arm covering her face. "I feel weak."

"Hey look! I think there's something written on the back." Wari pointed out. Watanuki looked down at the note and saw more writing and began to read.

"'Dear Watanuki, I had a wonderful idea for something really fun to do! So come to the park first thing after school today. Bring Doumeki, and of course, Wari! Yuko.'" Watanuki gave the note a skeptical look. "What is this?"

"It's from Yuko, right?" Wari asked. "Well, isn't that nice!"

"Yeah…nice and suspicious." Watanuki scowled. "She had that smug little I-know-something-you-don't-know look on her face last night." Watanuki started fanning herself with the note, keeping up her miniature rant. "I'm pretty sure this is just one of her little sneaky tricks she's always playing on me." Watanuki opened up the note again to make sure that she'd read everything, but when she did the note on the inside had changed to: What do you mean you're "pretty sure?! Yuko." Watanuki yelped and threw the note in the air, startled by whatever magic Yuko had used to change the words. "How does she do that?!"

"It sounds like fun! I think we should go!" Wari said as Watanuki reached down to pick up the note.

"Hm?" The girl asked, confused as to why Wari would agree to play Yuko's little game.

"I'm in." Doumeki concurred.

"Wah?" Watanuki gaped her classmate. Why is this happening?! Why are they agreeing to go?! All day long, Watanuki puzzled over the note and why Wari and Doumeki wanted to go to the park without knowing what was going to happen. Frankly, Yuko's ideas terrified the girl and she wasn't sure she wanted to participate in the first place. But, despite her apprehensions, they ended up at the park after school anyway.

"I've got a bad feeling about this." Watanuki said as she trudged behind Wari and Doumeki as they made their way down the sidewalk. The park that Yuko had picked was the Third City park (which happened to be the park that all their supernatural encounters happened at now that Watanuki thought about it) and as the trio walked through the snow Watanuki spotted a black fur ball with a Santa cap on.

"Huh? Mokona?" The girl asked as the three of them stopped in front of the Mokona's rock.

"Oi, Watanuki!" The creature raised one paw in greeting. "Born on April first! That makes you an April Fool!"

"HA! HA! Like I've never heard that one before!" Watanukki growled, baring her fangs at Mokona. "Can you give that joke a rest already, you floppy little fur ball!?"

"We weren't expecting you, Mokona." Wari said, addressing the creature. "Did Yuko ask you to come as well?"

"Yep!" Mokona folded its arms.

"Stupid little pork bun!" Watanuki hissed. Something bright caught the girl's attention to her left and she looked around Doumeki and Wari to see what it was. Ame-Warishi's bright red hair stood out in the white expanse of the field, and she was dressed in her usual Loli Goth manner. This time it was a purple dress with fur on the cuffs and hem, paired with a light purple shawl with fur and white pom poms. Watanuki sighed as she looked at the sprite. "Don't tell me she invited you too?"

"Do you know this girl, Watanuki?" Wari asked. It suddenly occurred to Watanuki that Wari hadn't met the rain sprite during the hydrangea incident and Watanuki herself was alone the last time they'd met on the mountain, which was weird because everyone else knew the sprite.

"Uh huh." Watanuki said, nodding. Wari bowed to the sprite and introduced himself.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Wari."

"Yeah, hi." Ame-Warishi nodded. "Cripes, what a pain. I can't believe I let you drag me to a place like this." The rain sprite looked behind her. Watanuki glanced in the same direction as Ame-Warishi, but she couldn't see anyone there. That is, until Zashiki-Warishi popped out from behind the red head's back clad in her own bright pink coat and yellow mittens. Watanuki hadn't even know she was there hiding behind her – and how did she do that anyway? It had looked like Ame-Warishi was the only one who'd been standing in the snow, but Zashiki-Warishi had been there the whole time! Watanuki hadn't even seen a second pair of legs in the snow!

"Um…hi." Zashiki-Warishi said, waving at the trio.

"So you came too?" Watanuki asked, smiling and taking a few steps closer to she could hear the quiet sprite.

"Y-yes…we were invited." Zashiki-Warishi blushed, still hiding behind her friend.

"Well, that's great." Before the conversation could go any further, Yuko made her grand entrance.

"Heeeey!~ Well, it looks like everyone made it, huh?" Yuko sang, calling to the group down below from her perch on top of a huge pile of boulders that looked like a mountain in the middle of the park. She was standing on the highest rock, arms crossed over her chest and wearing a dress that Watanuki had just dubbed her "Slutty Santa" outfit. Basically, the red dress had white fur trim on the hem of the skirt, the cuffs of her draped sleeves and around the hood framing her face. What made the whole outfit slutty was, however, was the fact that almost all of her chest was exposed, her boobs nearly popping out of the fur trimmed bodice.

"Yuko!" Watanuki yelled, stomping over to the edge of the iced-over pond Yuko was towering over. "It's about time you showed up! Now what's the big idea of dragging us all out to the park in the snow?!"

"Now that's a good question." Yuko said, turning to the side. She then struck a flamboyant pose (like the ones you'd see in anime and manga), pointing a commanding finger down at Watanuki from the top of her tower, her other hand on her hip. "To be brief…a snowball fight!"

There was a moment of silence where nobody said a word because it was all ridiculous. The chilly winter wind whistled by for a moment, filling in the quiet. If anyone had been watching from a distance, they would've seen an eclectic group of kids and one stuffed animal looking up at a strange woman pointing down at them. That woman spoke first, pushing an excited fist out in front of her.

"Hooray…" She whisper-cheered, the exclamation dying out with the wind. Another moment of silence passed.

"HUH?!" Watanuki said back.

"A snowball fight!~ A snowball fight!~ A snowball fight!~ Hooray!~" Mokona cheered, leaping across the snow, up the pile of boulders and jumped up to high-five the witch as if they'd planned it all out. Yuko high-fived back confidently, a smirk on her face as someone (or thing) got on board with her plan.

"No." Watanuki sweat dropped, watching the crazies have their fun. "I'm too old for these games."

"Now, you're never too old for a good old-fashioned snowball fight." Yuko admonished the girl. "Besides, you'll learn that some games are much more fun when you're all grown up." Yuko said slyly, raising up the back of her hand to cover her mouth seductively. Watanuki gasped, her face blushing deep red as she thought through the implications of what Yuko was saying.

"N-n-now wait a minute!" Watanuki said as her heart beat grew louder in her ears, her rapid pulse generating from her embarrassment and curiosity at what Yuko was saying. She was trying to figure out if Yuko was just talking about children's games being fun as an adult, or if she was talking about "adult play." Like…oh, she didn't even want to think about doing those things with so many people around her. "You're not talking about what I think you're talking about, are you?"

"Probably not!" Yuko said teasingly. Watanuki flopped right into the snow, completely humiliated at the hands of her boss and she'd probably just embarrassed herself in front of her friends, her crush and the guy who wouldn't leave her alone.

"Well, whatever your game is we're not playing!" Watanuki yelled back, standing up and beginning to stop away to someplace warm. "You two people can play your game. Well, it's like one person and one animal!" Watanuki poked at the fur ball with her snide remark.

"Mokona is not an animal!" The pork bun yelled back, jumping up and down. "Mokona's a Mokona!"

"Yeah, whatever." Watanuki threw over her shoulder. "Come on guys, let's get out of here." Wari and Doumeki looked at each other, silently deciding to throw a wrench in Watanuki's plans.

"I think it sound like a lot of fun." Wari said. The seer came sliding back into the picture, falling into the snow for the second time in as many minutes.

"What about you?!" Watanuki snapped at Doumeki, popping up from the ground with a pile of snow on her head and shoulders. Doumeki didn't reply verbally, he just held up his hands…clad in pink mittens with red flowers on them. "Don't tell me you want to do it too?! And by the way you're gloves are totally lame!"

"They are? My mom had an extra pair so I let him borrow them." Wari said sadly. "I guess they're not as cute as I thought they were." Watanuki face dropped as she realized that she'd insulted her crush's mom's mittens. The girl giggled nervously.

"No, no! The mittens are cute! They're totally, flawlessly, perfectly cute! So cute!" The girl went on and on but nobody was really listening to her any more.

"What do you think?"Ame-Warishi asked her friend, turning around to look at the protective sprite. "Do you want to stick around or do you want to hit the road?"

"Um…ah…well…I kinda…" Zashiki-Warishi started, never really getting a full sentence out as she hid behind her yellow mittens (with the cute pink bunnies on them if anyone ever asked Watanuki what she thought of the mittens) and blushed.

"Alright." The rain sprite sighed. "I guess since we came all the way down here we might as well stay."

"Oh, thank you!" Zashiki-Warishi hugged her friend. Watanuki growled and started stomping in the snow because her plans of leaving were now ruined.

"YUUUUKKKOOOO!" Watanuki screamed. "You're not serious about this are you?!"

"But of course!" The witch smirked. "And I even brought a grand prize for today's winner." Yuko reach behind her skirt and flamboyantly presented the box that Watanuki had found in the storeroom the day before.

"Wait…that's the…" Watanuki started. Wari just looked at the box and Doumeki was still holding up his hands, displaying his pink mittens for all the world to see. Yuko set the box down on top of her mountain and slapped on of her hands on it.

"A magic treasure box that will grant anything the winner might wish for!" She declared.

"Did you say…anything?" Watanuki asked taking a few steps closer. "ANYTHING?"

"That's right!" Yuko took a few steps down her mountain so that she could rest her elbow on the box so she could rest her cheek on her elbow. "Of course, no one can open the magic box except the winner of the snowball fight." Yuko explained.

"That is sooooo unreasonable!" Watanuki scoffed. "Of course," she mused, "That explains why it wouldn't open up yesterday. Ooookaaaay…I'm gonna win and wish for something out of that box that's gonna prevent Yuko from pushing me around ever again!" As she spoke, Watanuki's face got more and more evil as her eye brows knit together and her smirk widened. She chuckled menacingly.

"Okay everyone! I want you all to start building a snowman in whatever shape you want!" Yuko called, skating around on the frozen pond with her regular shoes (Watanuki couldn't even fathom how she did that).

"Huh?" Watanuki asked, her evil face dropping off in her confusion. "Snowman? I thought this was a snowball fight!" Yuko pivoted into a backwards glide, one of her feet lifting up gracefully as her long bangs streamed out in front of her.

"Stop complaining and just make one, Watanuki. I'll explain things in a minute." She smiled and skated off into a graceful jump turn, leaving all of Watanuki's questions hanging in the air.

"When she smiles like that I get knots in my stomach." The girl groaned. Never mind that now! I'm going to win this thing! Everyone started rolling up balls of snow for their snowmen and fifteen minutes later, everyone had a snowman. "There! It's all done!" Watanuki stood up from her work and found Doumeki standing beside her, staring down at her snowman.

"That's not a snowman. That's a snow-bunny." Doumeki said, looking down at the adorable little snow bunny with snow flowers on its ears and little red eyes. But it was cute the way the girl had been carefully crafted her rabbit and Doumeki had snuck glances at her while he worked just to watch.

"Great. Everybody's a critic." Watanuki grumbled. Then she pointed at Doumeki's snowman in disgust. "Oi! Don't tell me you're trying to pass that thing off as your entry!" Doumeki's "snowman" actually looked like a robot, with an oil drum as its body, bendy, metal pipes for arms and legs and a snow head with two simple eyes and mouth. "On the other hand, yours is perfectly gorgeous, Wari!" The girl smiled at the curly-haired boy as he finished his snowman. The snowman was made of seven balls of snow with one huge one for a head, two little ones on top of that for ears, a medium sized one for the body, two little ones for arms and then a smallish one on the bottom for…something. "It's a sea angel right? It's perfect! You must have a natural talent for sculpture."

"What's a sea angel?" Wari asked, disillusioning Watanuki of his brilliance.

"Uh…well…it's…forget about it." She replied, not wanting to make her classmate feel stupid (which he wasn't).

"Don't waste your praise on that pile of slush!" Ame-Warishi called out. Watanuki looked over to where the sprite had been working and found a pair of very realistic snowmen behind the red head. "If you really want to know what sculpture is all about then take a look at mine!"

The pair of snowmen were Raijin and Fujin, the Japanese gods of weather. They looked like shirtless ogres with their horns and fangs, but Ame-Warishi had done a really good job on them. Raijin was surrounding by his circle of drums, his hammers in his hands and Fujin had his wind-tossed hair and bag of wind so he could call up storms (7).

"Wow." Wari breathed.

"Oh, give me a break." Watanuki huffed and then she spotted Zashiki-Warish's snowman…well, snow-Pegasus. It was taller than she was, standing on four legs and the sprite was hiding behind the horse's wing. "A Pegasus, huh? Nice work! It's adorable!"

"Thanks…" Zashiki-Warishi said quietly, blushing again. "I'm very glad you like it."

"Um hm." Mokona cleared its throat and got everyone's attention, standing in the snow with its arms crossed and looking smug. "Actually, Mokona's is the best of them all!"

"Holy shit!" Watanuki yelled, looking up at the giant snow-Mokona that stood taller than the trees in the park.

"Ta-da! I named it White Mokona because I could!" The little fur ball explained.

"How did you even do that?!" Watanuki asked incredulously, looking at the detail and exactness that had gone into created such a monstrosity.

"Alright!~ Is everyone finished?" Yuko asked, clapping her hands together. She walked over and stood on a bench, drawing the group to her position. They all stood in front of the witch like a line of soldiers getting ready for battle…a snow battle. "It's finally time to start the snowball fight! The rules are a little bit complicated." She paused for a moment, building the drama. "You must use your snowman to throw snowballs at other players. And that's it." Another moment of silence ensued.

"Who does what now?" Watanuki asked, extremely confused. She chuckled in disbelief. "Because it sounded like you said to use your snowman to throw snowballs at the other players." As Watanuki was talking, Doumeki's snowman had walked up to Watanuki's snow bunny and scooped up a handful of snow, pausing for a moment to judge its trajectory before slamming the little bunny with a high velocity impact of frozen liquid, which is just a fancy way of saying that the bunny got creamed.

"AAAAAHHHHHH!" Watanuki screamed as her bunny disappeared into a pile of snow, slapping her hands on her head in horror.

"You got that right." Doumeki said, tapping his chin thoughtfully. Watanuki growled and grabbed his collar to strangle him.

"That was a false start!" Watanuki yelled.

"Ha!" Mokona laughed. "You lost the game before it even started!"

"Forget the game and tell me how in the hell can a snowman move on its own!" She screamed, throwing her hands up in the air and turning towards Yuko. "I mean, we're just using big piles of snow and nothing else, right?! Except in that idiot Doumeki's case." Watanuki grumbled.

"There are lots of technical ways to explain it but they're all such a pain, so just forget about it." Yuko sighed, shaking her head. "Just think of it as a magical moment that happened on a snowy afternoon!~" The witch clapped her hands together, her eyes shining and her aura sparkling around her. Watanuki couldn't believe her!

"Alright!~ It's time to activate White Mokona!" Mokona shouted, hopping up a tree and across its snow Mokona until it was sitting in the cockpit on its head. "White Mokonaaaaa….GO!~ Pilder on!" (8)

"Wait, I think I've seen this show." Doumeki commented.

"What's that supposed to mean!?" Watanuki snapped at him, not getting the obscure references. "It doesn't matter," the raven said, holding up a dismissive hand. "Because I've already lost. See ya, everyone." Watanuki started walking off, shoving her hands in her pockets and planning her hot shower and dinner that evening (her legs were seriously freezing in that skirt).

"Hm hm!" Mokona chuckled, jiggling two of the three joy sticks that it used to move the White Mokona. The giant Mokona sprang to life, raising its arms in the air and roaring as only snow can before it started tromping towards Watanuki. Mokona laughed from up in the cockpit as they both approached the girl. Watanuki was walking towards where she'd left her bag and spotted the white monstrosity coming towards her.

"Hm? What? Wait a minute…" The girl watched the snow monster stomp in her direction and it wasn't stopping. Watanuki was getting nervous…shouldn't Mokona be targeting the other players with snowmen still? Why was that little shit ball coming towards her?! "Hold on. My bunny's finished! I'm already out of the game!" She started running and Mokona sent its snowman after her, shouting in glee.

"I'm settling an old score! It's personal!" The little pork bun yelled down at its prey. Watanuki skidded to a halt, glaring up at the Mokona.

"That's my line you conniving, bossy, little asshole!" The girl yelled up to the pork bun. And then she had to leap out of the way as White Mokona's ear came hurtling down to crush her. "Ahhhh!" She screamed, falling face first in the snow, her skirt flipping up to reveal her panties of choice that day, and surprisingly enough, they had little pink bunnies on them. Doumeki took out a camera and snapped a picture before anyone noticed, promising to treasure the keepsake forever. Unaware of what Doumeki had done (so she couldn't yell at him), Watanuki jumped up and raced across the snow, jumping out of the way as White Mokona's ears swung from side to side, trying to smack her like a bug. Snow flew into the air with each impact and Watanuki almost got caught several times, only her cat-like reflexes and generally clumsiness saved her.

"Somebody stop this thing before it kills me!" She screamed, running away as fast as she could. Mokona laughed evilly, squeezing the triggers of the White Mokona so hard that they broke off. It looked down at the broken controls in its hands and shrugged.

"Oh well! It's only snow after all!" Mokona yelled before screaming as the White Mokona rampaged, still trying to swat Watanuki. The girl and the Mokona screamed and Watanuki ended up running under a park slide in a desperate attempt to escape, the White Mokona following her. She screamed louder as the snowman stomped after her, trying to step over the slide and failing miserably. The White Mokona's legs couldn't reach and the slide collapsed the bottom half of the snowman while the top half fell after Watanuki. The seer screamed again as a mountain of snow fell on her, burying her in a gigantic crash. Watanuki's head popped out of the snow a few moments after the dust had settled, gasping for air and shivering

"Ha!" Mokona huffed, completely unaffected and unburied even though it had been on top of the snow creature. "The only reason you got away was because its legs were too short."

"Yeah?! Well, whose fault was that, Stubby?" Watanuki snapped, glaring hotly at the fur ball. "That's what you get for making it look like yourself!"

"No! It's different!" Mokona protested.

"Oh, yeah? And how's that?" Watanuki asked facetiously.

"That was White Mokona! I'm Black Mokona!"

"That's a difference in color, not legs!" Watanuki growled, banging her fists into the snow several times. And that's when the girl realized that she was wet in some very uncomfortable places…like down her shirt and in her underwear (but not for the normal reasons). "And now because of you I have snow in places that I didn't even know snow could go!"

"That was hot." Doumeki said, taking out his camera and snapping a picture as Watanuki reached down her coat and her shirt to pull out a chunk of snow. "Now say something else dirty." He requested.

"What do you think I am?! A peep show!?" Watanuki took the chunk of snow she'd found in her shirt and threw it at the archer's face, hitting him dead on. He didn't even mind that one.

"Oi." Doumeki said, pointing to the pile of snow to distract Watanuki. Her skirt had flipped up again and he wasn't about to waste an opportunity to see those bunnies again. "I think…I'm out too." But he did have a valid reason to point at the pile of what used to be White Mokona because his snowman had gotten caught up in the crash and was now a pile of snow and an oil drum.

"That's what you get! HAHAHA!" Watanuki smirked. "That's karma's way of making you its bitch for your false start earlier!"

"Hey!" Wari called, pointing to the huge pile of snow. "It's moving!" Watanuki, Doumeki, Wari, Ame-Warishi, Zashiki-Warishi and Mokona all watched as a tiny bit of the snow started wiggling and shaking until Watanuki's snow-bunny popped its head out of the ground by what was left of Doumeki's snowman. Watanuki whooped in delight. She was still in the game!

"It must've dug itself a hole to hide in." Doumeki surmised. "What a coward."

"What was that?!" Watanuki hissed, turning on Doumeki. "You have not room to talk you cheater!" The snow rabbit looked at the people staring down at it and got on its hind legs, running to the right in an attempt to get away. "Hey! Wait! Come back here!" Watanuki called. She groaned at her snow-bunny got further and further away.

"Deserting in the face of the enemy…it really is a coward." Doumeki commented. Watanuki chose to ignore him and just glared instead.

"Heeeeey!" She yelled, running after her snow-bunny. "Fight a little at least! Stop hopping away!"

"You damned son of a bitch!" An annoying voice yelled behind the seer.

"I'm a girl you, asswipe!" Watanuki called back before she even knew who was yelling at her. It was at that point that Watanuki realized that her mouth was running away with her again and honestly, she'd put up with so much shit that it was at least, a little warranted, but sometimes she took the swearing too far. And she realized this when a giant paper fan whacked her in the back of the head and threw her into a tree, the impact sending another round of snow crashing down on top of her. Pain blossomed on the back of Watanuki's head where the fan had got her and on the front too where the tree had got her. "Ow…" She groaned, running her head and standing up. Snow had gone down her shirt again as well. Watanuki looked up to see who had hit her when she was greeted by the angry faces of the Karasu Tengu, fans out and hovering on their boards. Watanuki cringed as they grumbled unhappily.

"What the hell was that for!?" Watanuki snapped.

"You made her cry again, didn't you!?" Keith shouted, waving his fan angrily at the girl. Watanuki gasped and looked around for Zashiki-Warishi. She found the sprite standing with her snow-Pegasus and Ame-Warishi, the seer's snow-bunny hopping toward the kneeling girl.

"Thank goodness!" The sprite sighed, tears welling up in her eyes. "Watanuki's still in the game!" Watanuki cursed the sprite's way too tender heart (but she'd never say it out loud) because it always got her into trouble like this!

"You see!" Another Tengu snarled, waving his fan. "You did make her cry!"

"No I didn't! Not really!" Watanuki waved her arms in argument and desperation. She knew what was coming next and wanted to avoid it at all costs if she could. She had no such luck.

"No excuses!" The second Tengu with sunglasses said. "Punish her!" The Tengu charged, shouting a battle cry and zoomed at the girl. Watanuki ran for her life for the second time that day, dashing through the snow as fast as she was physically capable.

"No!" Zashiki-Warishi yelled, standing up and shouting at her friends. "She didn't do anything! It's not what you think!" But the Tengu were having none of it and flew in a straight line, heading towards Watanuki. Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Four fans hit the girl's head in quick succession as the spirits flew past her and the girl thought for just a moment that that was only four…but then the fifth fan wacked her in the head and sent her tumbling into the snow…again. Bam! Watanuki was down for the count. The Tengu circled around, ready to deliver the final blow when Zashiki-Warishi cried out again. "Everyone stop!"

Watanuki shook the snow off of her and looked up, seeing the Tengu coming right for her. The girl screamed, throwing her arms over her head to protect herself. But she didn't have too. Zashiki-Warishi's snow-Pegasus moved lightning fast; protecting the girl that its maker wanted protected and jumped in the way of the charging Tengu. The spirits ran straight into the horse, shattering its body with their impact and taking Zashiki-Warishi out of the game.

"Oooooo!" Everyone on the sidelines said as they watched.

"Oh." Yuko sighed, disappointed that someone else was out, and not by the normal means of how the game was supposed to go. The Tengu shot out of the snow and brushed themselves off as Zashiki-Warishi calmed them down and explained the situation.

"We're sorry." Keith apologized, kneeling and bowing in the snow with his comrades.

"We'll gladly accept any punishment you name." Another Tengu added.

"No, it's alright." Zashiki-Warishi said, smiling. She turned to Watanuki and apologized for the Tengu's behavior. "I'm sorry about that. The whole thing's my fault." Watanuki shook her head, smiling softly.

"No, thanks for saving me." Watanuki's smiled widened…and then she got hit full in the face with a snowball. The raven whirled around to see who the culprit was and found her snow-bunny sitting nonchalantly in the snow. "Hey, you! You're not supposed to throw snowballs at me!" Watanuki growled and ran after her snow-bunny as the creature got up and started running again. "Can't you give me just a little cooperation?!"

"Just look at them…having such a good time." Yuko sighed, holding up her ever-present pipe. "And here I set the whole thing up and I feel so left out." The witch took a smoke. Watanuki popped up next to her boss and growled.

"And what makes you think we're having such a-" A chunk of snow smacked her in the face again. "Wonderful time…?" She finished gloomily as her snow-bunny got out of hand again.

"But you want to know something?" Yuko said slyly. She continued on without waiting for the seer to answer. "The one who's going to win this thing is me!"

"Huh?"

"Now!" Yuko held her arm up as if she was summoning something. "Come forth, darling!"

"I thought she wasn't going to play!" Watanuki gasped as she saw the monstrosity that Yuko had created. It looked like a video game soldier, completely with armor, a helmet and face mask. Watanuki yelped and if she could've seen Yuko's rape face she would've yelped again. It was damn terrifying!

"Finally!" Ame-Warishi scoffed. "An opponent who won't waste my time!" The sprite was standing with Raijin and Fujin behind her, ready for battle. "Sorry, Yuko, but I'm going to have to take you down." The two snow-gods leapt into the air.

"We'll see about that won't we?" Yuko said mischievously, her eyes sparkling. Her snow-soldier's eyes lit up red and it drew a machine gun from its back, pointing the barrel at the approaching snow-gods and fired. Raijin got hit first, seven or eight snowballs slamming into his chest in quick succession, like bullets fired from a machine gun. Then the snow-soldier turned and Fujin and did the same, knocking the snow-gods out of the sky.

"He's pretty good…" Ame-Warishi grumbled, focusing on the battle. "GO RAIJIN!" She shouted, pointing to the thunder god. Raijin came crashing down to earth, feet first and stomped into a solid stance, raising his hammers above his head. He then started spinning the circle of drums that was at his back, banging on them with his hammers powerfully, until his rhythm became a frantic dance of blasts. "NOW FUJIN!" Ame-Warishi called, pointing to the wind god. Fujin twirled his bag of wind around, gaining momentum until he began a wild spin, whirling and whirling until his spin became a tornado of snow. The field became the center of a blizzard, throwing snow and ice into the air as a real tornado appeared out of Fujin's whirlwind and twisted around to point down at the snow-soldier, dumping buckets of water down onto Yuko's creation. Lightning cracked and flared from Rajin's drums, whipping and snapping at the snow-soldier.

Doumeki and Mokona sat on a park bench, calmly watching the impressive display of the snow-gods. "Isn't this supposed to be a snowball fight?" Doumeki asked.

"Yeah!" Mokona answered.

"Why isn't it having any effect on him?!" Ame-Warishi yelled at Yuko, shocked that her downpour wasn't melting the snow-solider on the spot. "Are you sure that thing's made out of snow?!"

"Don't underestimate the power of fantasy!" Yuko chortled back confidently. The snow-soldier, raised it gun and aimed at the snow tornado, blasting away at it until Fujin's motion was stopped, the tornado disappearing and leaving the snow-god wide open for a direct attack that caught him in the chest and sent him flying backwards. Raijin leapt into the air, beating his drums and sending another round of lightning towards his enemy. The snow-soldier rolled out of the way, dodging the deadly blast and sent another volley of shots into the thunder god, kneeling down in the snow for traction. Rajin was sent flying as well, crashing into the snow a dozen meters back. Fujin retaliated and opened his wind bag on the ground, sending a low-flying air blast at Yukos snowman. But he was prepared for that too and held up his left arm, a circular shield snapping around and locking in place just in time to block that attack. Snow flew into the air, the billowing clouds obscuring the fighters for a few moments.

"This snowball fight is turning into an all out war." Doumeki commented, folding his arms. Mokona and Zashiki-Warishi both nodded in agreement. The snow-soldier hid behind a tree, bracing himself against another wind attack and then jumped out to shoot more rapid fire snowballs at the wind god before leaping behind the tree again to escape another attack.

"You're not bad." Ame-Warishi consented as her Raijin created more lightning and sent it towards the snow-soldier.

"Come on, is that all you've got?" Yuko taunted calmly.

"How in the hell can that thing make so many snowballs so fast?" Watanuki panted as she ran up to the benches where everyone else was, giving up on catching her snow-bunny.

"Maybe that's how." Doumeki said, pointing to the hose that ran from the snow-soldier's gun and twisted out of the park towards the street. And if they were to follow the hose out of the park, down the street over several telephone poles and streetlamps, they'd find themselves at a very familiar shop where two little girls were shoveling snow and forming snowballs to be fed into a machine that looked like a giant shredder (but didn't actually shred) and sent them down the hose where they'd then be used to pummel other snowmen. The twins were happily making the snowballs as they sang, "Heave!~ Ho!~ Heave!~ Ho!~ while working and using up all the snow in the yard.

"I have a secret strategy!" Yuko revealed, smiling like the devil himself. "Maru and Moro are my backup! Clever, huh? I call them my Snowball Support Squad!" The witch declared triumphantly.

"That's not fair!" Watanuki said, raining on her parade from the sidelines. Yuko was not pleased and let her face show it. "We were supposed to build a snowman, not recruit and army!" Meanwhile, the snow-soldier was still pummeling Fujin, the snow-god throwing his arms up in front of him for protection, but finally succumbing to the onslaught of the snowball machine gun and bursting into pieces. The snow-soldier turned on Raijin next, blasting away at the god until he too burst into pieces.

"Fujin! Raijin!" Ame-Warishi cried out, watching at both of the snowmen collapsed into nothing but piles of snow before her eyes. The sprite sank to her knees in defeat, glaring at the witch who took her down. She stood up, holding onto her dignity and trudged over to Zashiki-Warishi's bench and sitting down.

"Well, well. Looks like I'm the winner." Yuko noted smugly, folding her arms. "All that's left is…" The witch glanced at the last snowman she had to defeat. Watanuki's eyes followed Yuko's and she nearly choked when she saw who was next to die. Wari was running after his snowman as it bobbed away from him.

"Wait! Come back!" The boy shouted. Watanuki felt sorry for her crush after seeing the destructive power of Yuko's soldier.

"Well, this is going to end badly." Doumeki noted.

"Mmm hmm." Zashiki-Warishi and Mokona both nodded in agreement.

"Come on! Where are you going?" Wari called to his snowman.

"WARI!" Watanuki yelled, trying to get his attention and warn him of the oncoming attack. The boy and the snowman both stopped running and looked at the girl who was frantically waving her arms. "Get out of there! You're in the target zone!"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Yuko laughed, framing her mouth with the back of her hand like some anime villain before bending back into a dramatic pose and pointing at Wari's snowman. "Fire at will, Darling!" She shot straight up and clapped her hands together gleefully as Darling began a new onslaguth of . "You know, I've been waiting my whole like to say that line!"

"Oi, Watanuki. Come relax and enjoy and snow cone." Doumeki called to the girl and suddenly everyone was holding a snow cone from out of nowhere. Even Ame-Warishi!

"What are you talking about?!" The girl snapped, glaring at the archer and his damn snow cone from nowhere. "How can you just sit like that when Wari's in trouble?!"

Back at the shop while Watanuki was ranting Doumeki's ear off, Maru and Moro were both enjoying a break on the porch steps and each reading their own copies of the same book.

"I wonder how the mistress is doing on the battlefield." Maru asked, flipping a page in her picture book.

"Judging by the look of things here I'd say she kicking so many butts out there for sure." Moro answered, flipping a page in her picture book.

"She is. So you'd better make more snowballs." Maru agreed, grabbing the shovel by her feet and shoving the handle towards her twin. "Here. Take this!" She said with a smile.

"I think you should make them. Here." Moro shoved the handle back at her twin.

"You do it. Here." Maru said, shoving it back.

"But I don't want too. Here." Moro said, shoving it back.

"You can't say that! Here!

"I can say what I want! Here!"

"No you can't! Here!" And back and forth and back and forth the shovel went. Meanwhile, the snowballs in the machine were shooting off through the hose and into Yuko's next conquest, the pile getting smaller and smaller by the second.

"Oh wow!" Wari gasped, watching as the snowballs that Maru and Moro had made flew through the air from Darling and were gobbled up by his sea angel. The snowman had its mouth open and was catching all the projectiles, growing bigger and bigger with each passing second. Everyone turned to watch with growing anticipation. They knew was what coming next.

"It looks like it's almost at its limit!" Mokona announced. Doumeki nodded.

"I'm afraid you're right…" Watanuki grumbled, feeling sorry that Wari was about to be eliminated from the game. The girl sighed heavily, but then spotted her snow-bunny a little ways off. "Nice and easy…" she whispered, tip-toeing towards her prey in an attempt to catch it, completely ignoring the fact that Wari's sea angel had grown to exponential heights by eating snowballs and burst into a pile of snow when it became too big, barely missing the fleeing Wari.

"Guess that means I'm out of the game too." Wari said, shrugging. "But it was a lot of fun!"

""There are no more challengers! So it looks like I win!" Yuko announced, waving her arm in front of the treasure box that was hers as she skated across the pond and climbed up the miniature mountain again. The rest of the players gathered around to see what was going to happen next when Watanuki stalked up to the witch.

"Not so fast!" The seer shouted standing in front of everyone with her snow-bunny tucked at her hip. She didn't look very threatening, but her confidence made up for some of that. "I don't think you can count me out just yet!"

"Oh, so you're back for more?~" Mokona teased from Wari's arms.

"So your bunny's hiding behind you now?" Doumeki commented. Watanuki was shaking from anger and trying not to rip the archer's head off again. "It's a coward."

"SHUT UP! Cheater shouldn't talk!" Watanuki held up a silencing finger at the brunette and Doumeki decided that he liked her a little bossy, but only when it came off a confidence. All the other times she was bossy were just annoying as all get out.

"I'd like to take a crack at that it but it's so pathetic. I mean, a bunny?" Ame-Warishi scoffed.

"Good luck, Watanuki!" Wari called. Watanuki set her snow-bunny on the ground and it chirped at her.

"Alright, you hang in there." She whispered, stroking the bunny's cold back once in comfort.

"Okay, then." Watanuki said, standing up tall. "It's just you and me now, Yuko. I'm going to kick your ass."

"Fine. If that's the way you want it." The witch conceded. Darling stood next to its mistress, standing even taller than Yuko herself (and that was pretty hard to do). Watanuki and Yuko stared at each other for a moment, their snowmen by their sides and the moment of silence stretched out between them like the snowscape of the park. Blue eyes stared into cranberry ones and the tension in the air thickened, until Yuko's first order snapped it.

"Darling, time to punish her!" Yuko ordered, pointing towards her slave and sending her Darling into battle. The snow-soldier dashed across the snow obediently.

"Is he gonna use electric shock?" Doumeki wondered out loud.

"What kind of crack was that!?" Watanuki snarled, waving an angry fist at the archer. And then it clicked in Watanuki's head. "Oh, wait. I actually know what they're referring too…" And she kinda hoped that she wouldn't have figured it out. The "punishment" and "electric shock" that Doumeki and Yuko were referring too struck a chord with Watanuki as she remembered a conversation she'd had with Doumeki a while ago. It was when they were dealing with the twins, Emiko and Tomo and Yuko had been talking to the girl about chains that weight humans down, like time, death and words. And when Watanuki had mused aloud about it, Doumeki had thought she was into BDSM hobbies and pervy stuff like that, which she wasn't! But now that he'd brought it up again, Watanuki asked herself for a second time…does he like that kind of thing? And then she realized what she'd been thinking about. Why am I even asking that question?! I don't care if he's into dirty stuff like that! I have a snowball fight to win! But despite her inner monologue, Watanuki thoughts walked right out of her mouth…again. "Do you like that stuff?!" She asked incredulously.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Doumeki replied, actually knowing exactly what she was talking about. "Shouldn't you be paying attention?" He reminded the girl.

"You don't have to tell me!" Watanuki hissed. She then turned to face Darling and sent her snow-bunny into action…or at least she tried. "Go! Uh...bunny!" Her bunny just chirped at her again and didn't move and inch. "He's going to get you!" Watanuki was starting to panic as the snow-soldier approached. If it could take out two initation gods, then what could Darling do to actual flesh and blood?! "Get going!" The bunny stayed put.

"Would you please run, for me?" Watanuki pleased, kneeling in the cold snow, wishing that she had pants on as she sank up to her thighs in snow. The bunny chirped and didn't move. Now Watanuki was angry, her face red in frustration. "You were running around like a drunken lunatic a few minutes ago!" She complained. The snow-bunny hopped towards her and pulled on her sleeve with its teeth. It kept pulling, trying to get Watanuki to move somewhere. "What's the matter?! Do you have some sort of rabbit death wish?!" Watanuki threw her hands into the air resigning herself to defeat. Darling was in close range now, there's no way he'd miss when his prey was right in front of him.

"AHHHHHH! I am so dead!" The girl screamed the crossed her hands over her face because she was pretty sure that Darling was aiming for her and not her snow-bunny. But as the snow-soldier pulled on the trigger, nothing came out, just a futile clicking noise as Watanuki realized he was out of ammo.

"Huh?" Watanuki gasped.

"Huh?" Yuko puzzled.

Back at the shop, things were getting pretty heated between Maru and Moro, so much so that their argument completely blocked out the fact that the machine had run out of snowballs.

"You're a big, fat, lazy bones! Here!" Maru snapped, pushing the shovel with all her strength towards her twin. "I think you're a bossy pants! Here!"

"Just switch for a second! Here!" Moro pushed back with all her strength as they both struggled to dump the work on the other.

"I don't want too! It's your turn!"

"You have to switch! Take it!"

"Forget it!"

Watanuki pointed and laughed at Darling, not knowing that her good fortune was granted to her by the immature squabble of two lazy girls. "You're out of ammo!~ You're completely useless without a weapon to wave around! What's the matter?! Come on! Here! Shoot me!" Watanuki stuck her tongue out at the snow-soldier, blowing raspberries and teasing the snowman. Yuko growled at her employee, ticked off that her ultimate weapon was having a malfunction and annoyed that Watanuki had gotten so cocky. But then the witch felt something nudge her foot and she looked down, noticing that she was standing on the hose and a single snowball was caught behind her foot. Her eyes narrowed at the delicious irony of the situation. Watanuki thought that Darling didn't have any ammo, but she would be sorely surprised when she got clobbered in the face. It didn't matter whether the snow-bunny got destroyed now or later, as long as Watanuki learned her place. Yuko watched as Watanuki struck a thinking pose, getting right in Darling's face as he fiddled with his gun. "If you're not gonna shoot, then maybe I should attack you then, huuuuuhhh?" Watanuki rolled out her punching arm. Yuko lifted up her foot, grinning wolfishly and began the countdown to Watanuki's doom.

"Three…two…one…" She said softly, relishing the anticipation. Then something unexpected happened. Darling unhooked the hose from his gun and looked inside to see if something was blocking the way. Yuko's eyes widened in horror as she watched her creation's head explode from the impact of the zooming snowball, splattering Darling's head everywhere. Watanuki gagged on snow, caught up in the explosion of snow, her entire front half snowed over as Darling fell to the ground, defeated. Watanuki sat up in a pile of what used to be Darling's upper body, a look of disbelief on her face as her own snow-bunny walked up behind her.

"What happened? Did…I just win?" She asked incredulously.

"Congratulations, Watanuki!" Wari called from the sidelines, clapping his hands in delight. "Looks like you're the winner!"

"She only won because her opponent screwed up!" Mokona argued.

"It doesn't matter! I'm the winner! Isn't that right?!" Watanuki shouted at the pork bun, turning to Yuko for confirmation.

"I guess it can't be helped. I admit my defeat." Yuko sighed and held up her hands.

"Whoopee! And she snatches victory from the jaws of defeat!" Watanuki cheered, twirling around happily. "I'd never thought I'd live to see this day! It just goes to show that you should never give up!"

"We get it. You win." Yuko growled discontentedly as she walked away. "Yadda yadda yadda." She was pissed off at losing, but she was trying not to let it show, going more for a indifferent disgruntlement.

"That's right I won and you shouldn't act to indifferent about it after you just lost!" Watanuki snapped, pointing at the witch dramatically. But in the end, she followed Yuko over to the treasure box to get her prize. Everyone else stood around as well, waiting to see what would happen.

"So I get anything I wish for, right?" Watanuki said, rubbing her hands together as she thought about what she wanted. Something to get back a Yuko? Something to make Wari fall for me? Or something to get Doumeki to leave me alone? Which one? Which one? "What should it be? Should I wish for this…? Or that…?" The raven knelt down to open the box lid, deciding that revenge against Yuko was the most important of her objective for now and was about to wish for something that would get the wish off her back.

"By the way Watanuki, I forgot to ask…what are we having for dinner tonight?" Yuko said, right as the girl opened the box.

"Huh?" She uttered. In a poof of yellow smoke, the box was opened and inside lay a closed dish with black Mokonas on it and two jugs of sake. Watanuki stared down in horror at the turn of events. Yuko smiled devilishly, having snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.

"Well…apparently since we were just talking about dinner, that's what you must've been thinking about when you opened the wishing box."

"Now hold on!" Watanuki shrieked, standing up and glaring at the witch.

"I think it might be nice if we had a hotpot party in the snow tonight, don't you?" (8)Yuko continued, ignoring the furious girl. "I anticipated something like this might happen so…" Yuko snapped her fingers and Ame-Warishi, Zashiki-Warishi and Wari walked up with several shopping bags that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

"Boy, this stuff is heavy." The rain sprite grumbled.

"But I think we have it all." Wari said cheerfully.

"And naturally, we'll need a cozy little dining area." Yuko snapped her fingers again. And suddenly Doumeki was standing next to a giant igloo that he and Mokona had apparently just made, holding onto a shovel as the pork bun dashed out from under the kotatsu table nestled inside (10).

"Oi." Doumeki said, patting the last of the snow into place.

"Okay everybody! Get in there and make yourselves at home!" Yuko said proudly, ushering her guests inside. "And Watanuki, you get our feast ready!" Everyone took off their boots and filed into the igloo to sit on the mat and under the kotatsu as the girl stared dumbly at everything that had just happened. She couldn't believe her eyes!

"That must've been a lie! Sounds like you've been prepared for this!" Watanuki freaked out, throwing a Watanuki-sized tantrum by stamping and jumping around in the snow. "I bet she had this whole thing planned out from the beginning!" The girl was crying now, big fat tears running down her face as her victory was turned into a nightmare. "And this tacky looked casserole dish and utensils must've been in the box the entire time!" She wailed, holding up the Mokona dish.

"Don't call that work of art 'tacky!'" Mokona snapped, completely disgusted at the girl's description of its wonderful physique. But inevitability, Watanuki ended up in her cooking smock and head-kerchief serving the hot pot to everyone else. Yuko sat at the head of the kotatsu and Doumeki at the foot with Wari on one side and the sprites on the other. And Mokona just wherever the hell Mokona wanted to go. Watanuki sighed, stirring the hotpot and picking out the ingredients that everyone called for.

"I guess…this is how it usually turns out…" She sighed again, completely downcast. "After all, life is all about being flexible." She said, echoing Yuko's words from yesterday. Outside their igloo of warmth and light, snow began to fall, beginning the process of covering up the great battle that had been waged on the field that day.

"Itadakimasu!" Everyone called as they began eating. Yuko smiled as she took a bite from her bowl.

"You know what? This makes me really thirsty!" The witch hummed. "Watanuki, get me a beer!"

"Yeah!~ Me too!~" Mokona called.

"Hey, I think I'll have some too!" Ame-Warishi added.

"Here." The seer said numbly as she walked into the igloo holding a tray with two bottles of beer. "Thanks for waiting."

"Watanuki, the hotpot is delicious!" Wari said, the first and only one to thank the girl for her hard work. "Right?" The boy asked Doumeki.

"Yeah." The archer nodded in agreement.

"Do you think we should give her a hand?" Zashiki-Warishi asked, being the only one who'd offered to help.

"Nah, she's doing this because she wants too." Ame-Warishi replied, chewing on a particularly good piece of meat.

"Watanuki! We need more garland chrysanthemums and shiitake mushrooms!" Mokona shouted.

"I think it's about time we started the seafood!" Yuko added. "Bring in the shrimp and oysters!"

"Yeah, yeah…I'll go get it." The seer replied glumly, sighing again.

"And be quick about it!~" Yuko sang. Watanuki growled, despising the fact that she was being treated like a slave…again.

"Watanuki! I need a shōchū and water here!" Mokona ordered. "And some sour plums on the side just the way I like them!"

"And I want a hot sake!~" Yuko added. "Would you bring me a big cup and not one of those little ones you always use?" The entire the time the pork bun and the witch had been ordering Watanuki around, the girl had been trembling in anger, grinding her teeth together as she was used again and again and again without any regards to how she was feeling. And finally, it just boiled down to the point where she screamed as loud as she could, shaking the whole igloo as her little snow-bunny hopped up to her feet.

"THIS IS SO UNREASONABLE!" The scream was so loud that Watanuki scared off her snow-bunny as it dashed away from the fuming girl. The raven snarled and walked outside to get the things that Yuko and Mokona had ordered, hating herself for not having a spine anymore and just letting everyone walk all over her. After thirty mintues of being everyone's personal servant, the girl had had enough.

Watanuki stomped out into the park, shrugging on her cream-colored coat and throwing her smock into the snow. I've had it with them! Completely selfish…cocky…and unreasonable! Watanuki trudged through the snow, leaving the igloo that Doumeki had built behind her as the light from inside the snow house grew distant in the night. A light flurry kicked up, whisking new fallen snow up into Watanuki's face as she looked for a place to sit by herself for a while. All day she'd been teased, tricked and humiliated all on top of being Yuko's little servant in front of everyone and she just couldn't take it one minute more. Let them grab their own drinks! I'm done! After walking down several paths and around a corner, Watanuki spotted a park bench under a glowing lamplight that wasn't too buried in snow and sloughed her way over to it before plopping down on the cold seat. She folded her arms around her chest, shivering as the snowflakes drifted down from the sky around her, piling up on the snow that they'd disturbed that afternoon. Pretty soon, if it kept snowing, all the holes and foot prints from the snowball fight would be filled in, like it had never happened. Watanuki wished it had never happened.

It wasn't that the snowball fight itself hadn't been fun…it was the stuff afterwards that hadn't been. She had to cook, she had to make sure everyone had drinks, she had to be the one going in and out of the igloo on errands, she didn't get to eat with everyone and she didn't get a wish. That had probably been the worst part of the evening because at first she thought the whole snowball fight was silly and was instantly taken out. But then her snow bunny had survived and she'd actually won against Yuko at something, only to have her victory and supposed wish snatched away as the box either granted the idea of food that was in her head at the time, or if Yuko had stashed the food in there beforehand thinking that she was going to win for sure. Either way, Watanuki had been screwed from the beginning, her hollow victory ruined by Yuko's petty tricks. That witch…she drives me crazy! Most of the time I can handle it and it's even a little fun, but not today! She's jerked me around too much to be forgiven easily! Watanuki stewed, hunkering down on her bench and puffing angry clouds of breath into the air. They can yell for me all they want, but I'm not catering to them anymore!

Watanuki sat out in the cold for a little while, maybe twenty minutes or so, wondering if Yuko and the rest of them were even missing her, and hoping they did. If anything, she wanted them to come find her and drag her back to the party (of course, she'd protest, but only for a little bit) that way, she'd know if she was really needed. But she wouldn't go looking to be needed; they had to come to her this time! It was a matter of respect now, and Watanuki felt like there'd been a lack of respect for some time, and instead, she was just being used as a housekeeper and cook because she could clean and cook and that's where her value ended. It was all quite degrading now that she thought about it.

The raven sank into her seat now, completely depressed that she could be taken advantage of so easily. This wouldn't have happened in the past! Watanuki was headstrong and stubborn and before she met Yuko, she wouldn't do anything she hadn't wanted to do. But since she'd met the witch, she'd met her match and Yuko was now the pro at getting what she wanted, whether Watanuki wanted it or not. It was degrading. The girl shivered, wishing that she had pants on instead of her uniform skirt, tears welling up in her eyes. There were spare blankets back at the igloo but she refused to move from that spot, until someone came looking for her.

That someone happened to be Doumeki. The archer had gotten up from his seat in the igloo after Watanuki had ignored three of Yuko's calls for drinks and two of his own calls for more food. It was then that he'd decided to go see what was taking so long. He ducked under the doorway of the igloo and stood up, holding a bowl of hot pot ingredients and looking to see if the girl was around the food/supplies pile. She wasn't, and her coat was gone, her smock thrown haphazardly into the snow and half-buried in new snow. Doumeki picked up the wet smock and folded it up, placing it on the extra canister for the burner before walking out into the snow a little bit. Watanuki wasn't in sight.

"Oh, Doumeki," Yuko poked her head out of the igloo, her cheeks a light red from drinking. "Would please go find Watanuki…I have a feeling she's not very pleased with how things turned out this afternoon. Would you cheer her up for me?" Doumeki nodded, already having been resolved to find Watanuki with or without Yuko asking. "Thanks!~" Yuko's head disappeared and Doumeki turned his back on the snow house. Time to find Watanuki.

Doumeki left the igloo and started walking around the park, deciphering the half-filled in foot prints in the snow and muddling out which ones were from the snowball fight and which ones were Watanuki's. He walked with his head down for a little bit, covering his bowl of food with one had to keep it warm as he searched. Down several paths and around a corner, Doumeki found a shivering Watanuki sitting alone on a park bench. He stopped, watching her sit for a moment, seeing her sniff and wipe at her eyes…as if she'd been crying. Doumeki grew concerned, wondering if Watanuki had left the party to cry alone in the dark. He couldn't imagine the real reasons behind her melancholy, but it was just too sad to see her sitting there all alone while there was a party going on with all her friends. Doumeki started walking towards her, his footsteps crunching in the snow as he approached her, signaling his presence to the girl.

"What are you doing here, jerkass?" She snapped, sniffing as her head turned and caught sight of him.

"Looking for you." He answered, stopping in front of the bench where his and Watanuki's footsteps mingled in the snow.

"Why? You all seemed to be doing fine without me." She snarled, clearly upset at being left out of the party.

"We were wondering where you'd gone."

"Oh, goody. So you only notice me when I'm gone. At least that's something." Watanuki huffed, wrapping her arms around herself tighter. "Now that you've found me…go away." Doumeki stared at the girl. Clearly she didn't want him around, but then why didn't she come back now? Did she want someone to stay with her, out here in the snow? Or did she want someone to bring her back to the party? Did she even want to go back? Doumeki shrugged and did the opposite of what she said despite her harsh words. He sat down on the bench and took out a pair of chopsticks from his coat, holding his food bowl in his hand. "What are you doing? I asked you to leave!" Watanuki growled at the sudden intrusion, but she didn't really make a move to get the boy to leave, she just sat on the opposite side of the bench and refused to look at him. The hotpot stew steamed in the cool air, letting out a little warmth in his hands. Doumeki picked up some sukiyaki with his chopsticks and held it out to Watanuki.

"What's the supposed to mean?" She said, eyeing the mouthful carefully.

"If you cook it, you should eat it too." Doumeki said, holding up a piece of meat in his chopsticks.

"Most of the time you and Yuko eat everything be I can have a chance to-umph!" Watauki's rant was interrupted by Doumeki shoving his chopsticks into her mouth at the moment it was the widest in her rant, effectively shutting her up with meat. Watanuki chewed and swallowed, the warm food sliding down her throat and into her stomach pleasantly. She looked up at Doumeki, her glare a little softer as he took a bite and then picked out some vegetables for her, holding up his chopsticks. Watanuki leaned closer and took the bite, chewing as Doumeki took another before holding up his chopsticks to her again. They continued like that in silence until the bowl was empty. Doumeki set the foodless bowl down on the bench and scooted in closer to Watanuki so he could share a little warmth with her cold body. Watanuki's legs were bare and had started turning a little blue in the cold, so Doumeki unbuttoned his coat and pulled it off, draping it across their legs as they sat together.

"Hey! You need that!" Watanuki protested, as Doumeki placed the blanket across their legs and waved her hands away before she could take it off. "You'll freeze!"

"Not if I do this." The archer said, leaning into Watanuki, wrapping his right arm around the seer and pulling her close.

"But-I-ah…um…" Watanuki was at a loss for words as Doumeki squished them together. It certainly was warmer, but…it was kinda weird for him to hold her. But it wasn't all bad…in fact…it was kinda nice. At least she knew someone wanted her around, even if it was just for warmth. And her legs felt better too, wrapped up in his warm coat, his body heat still clinging to the fabric. They sat together for a while, just watching the snowfall in the lamplight, unaware that they had an audience watching them from a little ways off, hiding the bushes.

"I didn't think that she'd let him do that!" Yuko whispered excitedly.

"Aw! They look so cute together!" Wari whispered back.

"And you're okay with that?" Yuko asked, eyeing the smiling boy.

"Sure! I've got no reason not too!"

"I feel bad for Zashiki-Warishi though," Yuko sighed, looking at the sprite. Zashiki-Warishi was watching Watanuki and Doumeki through the bushes, trying not to cry.

"Hey! Are you sad?" Mokona asked the sprite.

"No, I'm not! Not really…I kinda knew that my affection was unrequited…to an extent." The blue-haired girl said, blushing deeply. Ame-Warishi wrapped her arm around her friend.

"She's a fool anyway. She doesn't deserve you." The rain sprite whispered.

"That's not true…" Zashiki-Warishi replied. "She's just…better for him." She pointed to Doumeki.

"But there's still a chance that they won't work out." Yuko said, watching the pair. "Watanuki's very good a pushing people away when it suits her. But I do hope that they at least have a little fun."

"It'll be fun to watch, if nothing else." Ame-Warishi said.

"Yeah!" Mokona agreed.

"I just hope they're happy, whatever ends up happening." Wari smiled.

"Me too." Zashiki-Warishi smiled, holding in her tears just in case her Tengu friends were nearby. Right now, she didn't think that that sort of ruckus was a good idea. She could cry later if she felt like it. The group watched the pair for a little while longer, waiting for something to happen. Yuko and Mokona wanted a kiss, that way they could use it as ammunition to torment Watanuki. Wari wanted them to continue to sit next to each other, it was so cute! Zashiki-Warishi didn't want anything in particular and Ame-Warishi was debating on whether or not to dump snow on Watanuki in retaliation for making her friend sad. However, none of those things actually happened because Watanuki did something first. And that something was shoving Doumeki off the bench and into the snow.

"Don't think that because I let you sit by me you can do whatever you want!" She yelled. No one in the spying group knew what happened, but it clearly upset the girl back to her normal self. Watanuki threw Doumeki's coat at him and stomped away right past their hiding bushes, blushing furiously as she went on her way. They poked their heads out of the bushes and watched the girl go and then looked at Doumeki. He stood up and brushed off some of the snow Watanuki had pushed him into. Yuko leapt out of the bush and walked over to the archer, burning to know what had happened.

"Doumeki…what did you do?" Yuko asked, coming to stand by the snow covered boy as he put on his coat.

"I tried to touch her butt." He said honestly.

"Don't you think that was a little too progressive?"The witch asked, raising and eyebrow.

"Hm." Doumeki shrugged. "I was looking for her panties." He added.

"So?" She questioned. Doumeki looked at her with his blank face.

"It felt nice." The witch burst into laughter at his comment, holding her stomach as she giggled herself breathless.

"Well, if nothing else, you two will be interesting!" She sang, her laughter echoing in the night.

When Watanuki stomped all the way back to the igloo, everyone was waiting for her inside, calling for more food, even Doumeki! She could never figure out how he managed that (and the fact that everyone in the igloo had pulled the same trick without her knowing made it even funnier to those in on the secret). But when she did get back, Yuko invited the girl to sit down and eat with them…after she cooked up another pot (because they'd eaten whatever had been there). Watanuki grumbled as she went to fetch the next hotpot round, but she smiled to herself secretly, looking up into the sky to watch the snowfall for just a moment before heading back inside to eat.

To be continued...

A/n: And there you go! I hope you liked it! :3 See you next time!

Note 1: Ekikyabe is the Japanese "hangover cure." There's hardly any informationa about it online and it's not worth looking up (because there are some questionable sites that have it as a tag that I wouldn't recommend going too…you're been warned!) Watanuki uses aspirin in the English dub.

Note 2: Watanuki would like to have me mention that she did actually help Doumeki out one time. It was the incident when Zashiki-Warishi accidently stole Doumeki's soul and Watanuki got it back for him.

Note 3: Ground cherrys are known as "hoozuki" in Japanese (and I think in Chinese too). The kanji reads "demon light" and demon means "ghost" in Chinese, as it refers to the red paper lantern the dead carry in the after life. Which makes a lot of sense for the episode because holding the "demon light" allows peopled and spirits to be a part of a demon parade. In herbal medicine, the hoozuki root is called Physalis alkekengi and is mainly used as a cough remedy and a diuretic, and it contains trace amounts of poison. In the past, it was used by prostitutes to induce fetal rejection, and so must never be consumed by a pregnant woman. It contains alkaloids and hystonin which cause miscarriages. And now you know more about ground cherries than you ever wanted to know. The explanation is courtesy of the anime series Hoozuki no Reitetsu (which I will be using later in my dimension hopping story).

Note 4: Hyakki Yagyo (the variation Doumeki uses is Hyakki Yako) is commonly known as the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons in which the parade is made up of one hundred kinds of spirits and yokai. Japanese legend has it that every year the yokai Nurarihyon leads all of the yokai through the streets of Japan at night during the summer. Anyone who crosses the procession will either perish or be spirited away until protected by handwritten scrolls made by onmyoji spell casters. The nigh parade that Watanuki and Doumeki reference is the Gazu Hyakki Yagyo book, the first book of artist Toriyama Sekien's famous Gazu Hyakki Yago e-on series that was published in 1776. The books are supernatural bestiaries, collections of ghosts, spirits and monster that Toriyama based off of literature, folklore and art. If you're interested in the demon parade, I'd suggest watching the Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan anime series. It doesn't completely stick to the traditional sense of the demon parade (of course not, it's also a fictional work) but it does illustrate the base workings of the demon parade and it's just a fun show.

Note 5: Shōchū is Japanese liquor that is normally distilled from rice (kome), barley (mugi), sweet potatoes (imo), buckwheat (soba) or brown sugar (kokutō) but can also be distilled from other ingredients like chestnut, sesame seeds, potatoes or carrots. Shōchū contains 25 percent alcohol by volume, which is less than whiskey and standard-strength vodka, but is stronger than sake and wine. Shōchū originates from Kyūshū but is produced in locations all around Japan.

Note 6: The inside shoes that Japanese students wear are called uwabaki and they are very similar to slippers. Uwabaki are usually worn indoors at home, school and certain companies and public buildings that don't allow street shoes. That's why Japanese homes have a little slipper rack by the genkan and schools have locker rooms or the like in the front, so that people can change into their uwabaki before going inside. A few of the reasons Japanese people wear uwabaki are cultural and practical. Japanese culture mandates that people should remove their shoes when coming inside, especially if the floors have rugs, polished wood or tatami (grass mats). Uwabaki are light, and flexible, easy to slip on and off and their soles are kept clean, helping keep floor maintenance to a minimum. In school, each student has an assigned locker to keep their uwabaki stored in when they're not at school, and a place to put their regular shoes in when they are. Uwabaki are mainly white, but can have stripes of color that indicate grade level on the toes. xxxHolic's happen to be brown…which is confusing because their normal shoes are brown too…go figure.

Note 7: Raijin and Fujin are the Japanese gods of thunder/lightening and wind, respectively. Rajin it usually depicted with his hammers and drums, and with three fingers, each representing the past, present and future. Raijin is amongst the most feared deities, but it was also considered good luck for a rice field to be struck by lightning, a sign of a bountiful harvest. Fujin is the god of wind and is depicted with messy hair and his bag of wind and with four fingers on each hand representing the cardinal directions. These gods are known for their strength and power, especially since Japan had suffered many typoons that had caused great damage.

Note 8: Mokona shouts a catchphrase (and Doumeki recognizes it) from a super robot manga series called Mazinger Z, written and illustrated by Go Nagai and was first published in Shonen Jump in 1972. The "Pilder on" phrase refers to when one of the characters starts the Pilder Jet.

Note 9: Hotpots are fall and winter dishes that are common in many East Asian countries and all of them have similar elements to the Japanese hotpot. A hotpot is a stew consisting of a metal pot of stock at the center of a dining table that is kept simmering as the ingredients are placed in the pot to cook. Hotpot ingredients include thinly sliced meat, leaf vegetables, tofu, egg dumplings, mushrooms and seafood as well as a variety of other ingredients depending on the type of hotpot.

Note 10: A kotatsu is a low wooden table with a blanket or a futon thrown over it with a tabletop resting on top of that. The heating element that warms the kotatsu is underneath and usually attached to the table itself. And most of what I learned about a kotatsu was from Ouran Highschool Host Club.