A/N: ZareEraz here! I've got the last part of the movie for ya! I hope you like it! And don't worry, the Spider's Grudge arc is next this time, I promise. That's one of my favorite parts of xxxHolic too. Well, enjoy and don't forget to review so I can know what you think. Happy Reading! :3
Interlude: A Midsummer Night's Dream Part 2 – The Collection and The Payment
Watanuki let the door swing shut behind her, finding herself outside in a peaceful rice field minus the rice and bright stars, faraway mountains and a few willow trees in front of her. The forest was quite some way off and the sound of crickets whispered through the quiet night, completely calming her to the point where she couldn't remember what had been so urgent just a few moments before. Surprisingly enough, she was completely dressed in her school uniform and jacket even though she'd neglected to put on her normal clothes before leaving her bedroom. The girl stepped into the field and looked back, realizing that the mountains were actually painted on the walls of the huge room – someone had just made the inside look like the outside. The girl glanced up at the moon painting on the ceiling and found the moon rabbit making rice cakes on its mortar. She looked the other way, finding Saturn and Mars hanging in the other corner.
Watanuki started walking down the path she was on, passing in between a few ponds and walking past the willow trees. The moon rabbit started to move, pounding rice above her head as she gazed at the stars, looking at the constellations that were draw as stars and then outlined with the shapes they were supposed to represent. Cygnus' cross was connected, but someone had drawn a swan in the sky, flying among the stars. And there was Sagittarius and Scorpio and Crux, Gemini, Capricorn and some others that Watanuki didn't recognize, but it didn't matter because she'd found another door. The girl walked through and entered a different room.
This room made her feel tiny. It looked like a parlor room, but all the furniture was massive, the coffee table at least six feet taller than she was and the chairs were the same and the dressers…even the clock was huge! As the seer walked underneath the table, she wondered if this was what Mokona felt like. She knew time was passing as she walked into the next room, but she wasn't sure how much since she didn't have a watch or a phone on her. It didn't really matter, not when she couldn't quite recall what she was trying to do. The next room looked like the outside again, only there was one path and it was surrounded by hundreds of Jizo statues, all moss covered and staring at Watanuki as she passed them. She could hear then chanting too, the words indiscernible as they floated around her head. The next room was a huge sea of water and rowboats, some in good condition and others falling apart, gathered in a room that was lit by only a far off, faint magenta light. The only other thing that glowed was the rickety shanty that sat by the pier the girl walked on, glowing that same, sickly pink color. The next room was full of giant drinking birds, the heat engines chirping every time they dipped their heads and popped back up only to duck down for another drink moments later. Watanuki looked around, unsurprised and not even a little bit curious on how some of them were stuck to the ceiling upside down without splashing their water everywhere. But she had remembered what she'd been worried about earlier and started calling for his wayward boyfriend.
"Doumeki!" She yelled, putting her hand up to cup her mouth. "Where are you? This isn't funny! Shizuka!" She kept calling throughout each room, looking high and low for the archer until her path was halted. She'd entered a room lit by street lamps with hundreds of room in it, all spiraling up and up and up into the darkness of the mansion. The stairs leading up alternated with each door, switching from red stone to blue every other one. At the bottom, where Watanuki was standing, there was an odd structure that looked like someone that a cathedral would be decorated with and there were people dressed in Victorian clothing standing on two spinning platforms, one on top of the other. Well, they weren't quite people, but full-size statues made to look like people and some had their arms up, others looked like they were dancing or singing, but none of them looked very happy…even the ones with smiles on their faces.
"There's something really strange about this place." Watanuki whispered, looking up at the people statues. "Something very strange." Watanuki tore her eyes away from the people statues and looked at the first door on the huge spiral staircase. It was a blue stone alcove with an odd looking stone placed in the floor in front of the door. On the gray stone, someone had etched two marks that looked like a backwards question mark without the dot and a normal question mark without the dot. It kind of looked like a trap, so when Watanuki walked up to the floor stone, she creeped around it just in case stepping on it activated a booby trap or something. She was standing in front of the door now, staring at its wood face with one question on her lips.
"What's in there?" She asked, reaching for the knob and opening the door. It opened with a creak and she peeked one eye in.
The room itself was small widthwise, but it extended farther back than the girl had anticipated. But the room itself wasn't the interesting thing…it's what was inside that was interesting. Lining the walls and floor and ceiling were glass cases held in place by black bars and supports and inside the blue lit cases were antenna. "It looks like a butterfly collection!" Watanuki exclaimed, walking up to look at a case closer. "Sort of." But instead of beautiful wings, this person had ripped the bodies apart of all the specimens and just kept the heads. The girl swallowed, creeped out by someone who'd collect thousands of insects just to keep their heads and antennae. Watanuki didn't want to be here anymore, that creeping feeling of being watched and haunted crawling up into her stomach again. She took a step back, hands trembling, ready to run when something grabbed her shoulder. She did the logical thing and screamed at a pitch that no human should even strive to copy if they wanted to keep their ears intact.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"The girl continued screaming even as she whirled away from whatever had touched her at high speeds, throwing her arms over her face like that would protect her. But it wasn't a monster that had grabbed her, but Doumeki, who was trying to keep his ears intact after hearing his girlfriend scream.
"Oh…it's you, Watanuki." He stated in his own brand of sarcasm, ears ringing. The girl immediately calmed down and sank to the floor boneless, relieved that she wasn't going to be eaten by a spirit.
"Yes, it's me!" She leapt to her feet and growled in her boyfriend's face. "I've been wandering around this stupid place all night looking for you and Yuko!"
"You were worried about us?" Doumeki asked, giving the girl a blank look. Watanuki quailed, not wanting to admit that she was worried to his face (but she had been worried nonetheless), because dammit! She could take care of herself without running to Doumeki for every little thing!
"I didn't say I was worried," She started, looking away and blushing, basically giving herself away despite her words, "I just went to sleep and when I woke up and you were gone. Plus the whole room had been changed around, so I started wandering around looking for you and I just ended up here."
"So did I. And I left my room to look for you." Doumeki agreed. "It's strange, but I have a feeling that we were led here somehow."
"So you were worried about me!" Watanuki gloated, triumphantly, the tables having turned.
"Then that means you were worried about me too." Doumeki shot back. The girl's blush deepened before she forced it down.
"I didn't say that!"
"It's okay." Doumeki teased in his monotone. "You can be worried about your boyfriend. I'd be worried if you weren't." Watanuki didn't have a reply to that so Doumeki just leaned down and kissed her cheek.
"What was that for?" She asked, her hand coming up to touch her cheek once he pulled away.
"It was sweet of you to worry about me." The smallest smile in the world was pasted on his face.
"I never said that-!" She shouted, but she was cut off when Doumeki's mouth came crashing down on hers, his arms snaking around her waist. Surprised by his sudden affection, Watanuki didn't do anything for a few moments and just let Doumeki kiss her, but then she noticed the antennae again and decided that kissing in this creepy mansion surrounded by butterfly heads was just about the last thing she wanted to do right now. So, she broke away from the kiss and glared at her boyfriend. But he just took it in stride and quickly stole another kiss before she really got mad.
"No! We are not making out in a place like this!" Watanuki yanked herself away from Doumeki's lips and snarled at him.
"Can we make out someplace else?" He asked as the girl started shoving him out of the door.
"If it will make you shut up about it, fine!" Watanuki was blushing again. The world's smallest smile was back again as Doumeki let himself be pushed out the door.
"You need to be more truthful with yourself." He advised, referring to the whole conversation they'd been having.
"And you need to be less grabby!"
"Never." The seer was about to get mad at him again when she thought she heard something, whipping around to try and see who was there. Her hands were trembling again as fear pushed out the normalcy of being with Doumeki, but one hand stopped trembling when Doumeki took it in his own huge hand. Watanuki's head flipped around, half-glaring half-grateful. He just gave her a look.
"Come on. You know it'll make you feel better." He had a point but she didn't want him to know that, but she still kept the hand.
"Dumbass."
"Let's go." Since there was no other way out of the room than the way they'd came, Watanuki and Doumeki walked up to the next door in a red alcove, both a little curious about what was inside. The stone on the floor was etched with five horizontal lines with little X's through all of them. Watanuki had no clue what that could be but she opened the door anyway. Inside, illuminated by three uncovered light bulbs was a room full of barbed wires, some strung out like fences and other coiled up on the walls and ceiling.
"Fences?" Watanuki asked to no one in particular as she walked in.
"Barbwire barricades." Doumeki answered nonetheless. Does he always have to correct me?!
"Weirder and weirder." Watanuki said as she looked around. "First a room full of butterfly antennae and now a barbed wire fence collection? What's next?" She asked in trepidation, holding onto Doumeki's hand a little tighter.
The next stone was etched with an image of a belt or a collar that was buckled, and inside that purple lit room where dog collars of all shapes and sizes hung on the walls and ceiling, leaving the floor clear. Most of them had spikes or studs, but some were plain and just had buckles.
"Must be the collar room." Watanuki said.
"Want to wear one?" Doumeki asked, pointing to a collar with diamonds on it. "This one looks nice."
"Shut up! I'm not your dog!" Watanuki growled, baring her very dog-like fangs at the man. "How about I make you wear one!?"
"Woof." Doumeki replied, unfazed.
The next collection room was full of birdcages warmly lit by yellow lights – some very simple and some so ornate that Watanuki couldn't believe the detail and work that had been put into some of the pieces. The next room was hardly lit at all and held all sorts of hunting traps and bear traps that looked even more menacing in the darkness. The next collection room was full of tube-like pants that the girl couldn't name but the room looked like a threatening green house full of mutant plants. There were rooms full of canes, rocks that looked like they had faces, chains, metronomes, test tube sets, Japanese theater and festival masks, saws and knives, pot lids, hanging hooks, traffic lights…and the rooms seem to extend up forever and no matter how many doors they opened, there wasn't an exit to be found. They kept looking, Watanuki still holding onto Doumeki's hand as she led him to room after room.
The next room was full of spoons, all lining the walls and ceiling, and lit by yellow light that accented the gold colored walls. Watanuki ahd never seen this collection before but there was something familiar about it that she just couldn't place.
"Spoons?" Watanuki mused, looking at the wall. Doumeki wanted to wander further back into the room than they had before so he let go of his girlfriend's hand and did so, leaving her staring at the wall.
Watanuki swept her eyes over a section of wall, looking at the designs and makes of the spoons, her eye catching on one in particular. Now, she'd never have noticed it if she hadn't been standing in the exact spot she was so it must've been inevitable, but on silver spoon stuck out to her. It had a red jewel on its fat handle, and the three flower design was familiar. "Hey…wait…I know this one." Where had she seen it before? Watanuki thought for a moment and then it hit her. The Blue Robe man had tucked it into his shirt after dinner! "It's from dinner earlier!"
"Oi, Watanuki. Come here." Doumeki called from the back of the room. The girl left her part of the wall walked down to him, not even getting mad at him for saying "oi" because he had used her name that time. The girl walked up to the wall he was staring at and gaped at the painting hanging on the wall. It was Blue Robe!
"Hey! That looks like him!" Watanuki pointed to the painting, her raised hand trembling. "The man who disappeared after dinner. Why would there be a picture of him hanging up in here?" But Watanuki never got her answer because all of a sudden Red Jacket and Old Suit Man (minus the suit but plus a yukata) appeared behind them and started talking.
"Looks like you two couldn't sleep any better than we could, huh?" Old Suit Man asked, rubbing one of his shoulders. Watanuki and Doumeki turned to look at the pair, both surprised by their sudden appearance. "Those beds really are uncomfortable, aren't they?"
"Ha!" Red Jacket scoffed. "You were just trying to find our host before anyone else did so you could suck up to him."
"Shut up, you little rat!" Old Suit Man whirled on Red Jacket. "I could say the same thing about you anyway!"
"You're just all worked up because I've got you figured out!" Red Jacket snapped back.
"This really isn't the best time to argue!" Watanuki interrupted, sick of hearing these collectors just go after each other's throats. "Don't you realize that this guy has us trapped in here?"
"Yeah, so what if he does?" Old Suit replied, shocking the girl. He sounded so unconcerned about being stuck in this creepy place!
"I'll complete my collection if it means staying here the rest of my life!" Red Jacket said, his voice taking on an insane sort of timber, his face stretching into a strained smile with wide eyes. He started walking out of the room, leaving everyone else behind.
"I'm not going to let anyone out do me!" Old Suit vowed, his own face looking a little crazy as he followed Red Jacket out the door.
"Man, those two are weird." Watanuki sighed, creeped out and relieved that they were gone.
"You know, in this place," Doumeki started. "I think we're considered the weird ones."
"Then let's go!" Watanuki turned to her boyfriend, finding the perfect excuse to leave. "We just need to find Yuko and get out of here!"
Just then, a bell started to toll outside the room. Watanuki and Doumeki ran to the door and looked down, finding that the bell was sounding from somewhere below them. A suspicious feel washed over Watanuki, like the bell was signaling something that wasn't the time…it was ominous and disturbing to the girl, but she found herself running down the spiral room's stairs with Doumeki, Red Jacket and Old Suit running to catch up with them since they'd run up several spirals in their competition to outdo one another. As they ran, the odd structure with the people statutes started to move, it's two platforms spinning in time to the music it started to place. It was a giant music box! Doumeki reached the last two rooms or so before the bottom floor and jumped off the side, reaching back behind him to prompt Watanuki to jump as well. She trusted him to catch her and leapt off the stairs. The archer caught her waist with both of his hands and lowered her down, her hands on his shoulders to steady herself. They both rant to the front of the giant music box and watched as the laughing people statues turned and turned. Red Jacket and Old Suit Man joined them a few moments later, watching just as they were. The song started to wind down, the mechanism spinning the platforms coming to a rest, a man with a newsie cap and shoulder satchel coming to rest right in front of them. On cue with the music ending, the bottom of the satchel opened, dumping out four numbered pieces of paper, folded like the notes Watanuki had been seeing all day.
"Move it!" Red Jacket pushed Doumeki out of the way to get to the papers on the floor.
"Let me see those!" Old Suit Man did the same with Watanuki, kneeling down to grab two notes before Red Jacket could take them all. "'By leaving the rooms assigned to you, you have all broken…the rules…' What the-!?" He stared to read. "'As punishment, I have devised a game in which all of you shall participate.'"
"'Hide and seek.'" Red Jacket continued, reading his notes out loud. "'If you can find me within ten minutes that means you win. If you don't find me you lose. Win and we give you what you came here for, lose and you'll have to play another game. Let's begin.' What's going on?!"
The sound of fingers snapping drenched the four of them in darkness, the street lamps on the stairs all shutting off at the same time and Watanuki's sinking feeling got stronger as she reached for Doumeki's hand again. They couldn't lose…not in this place! Losing could mean anything in a weird place like this, even death!
The room was dark above their heads and beyond where they were standing, seemingly endless, the only light source was right under their feet and that wasn't near strong enough to illuminate the room, wherever the light was coming from anyway – Watanuki couldn't tell where it was coming from. There was a strange rumbling sound above them too, like a mechanism was turning and the parts were making clicking and rolling noises. Trapped in this new room, Old Suit Man and Red Jacket started looking around for an exit instinctively, and Watanuki looked too…only she was looking up.
"Messing with our heads-!" Red Jacket hissed, looking for a way out. "Screw this! I'm getting out of here!"
"The ceiling-!" She cried, as the whole roof came down low enough to be illuminated. It was moving and it was going to crush them if they didn't get out of here fast! Damn! I feel like I'm in one of those jungle adventure movies!
"What is this?! What do we do?!" Old Suit Man growled, stomping around like a little child. Suddenly, the whole room lit up dimly, revealing a full size door on the one side. Red Jacket and Old Suit Man ran to it, both trying to pull open the seemingly locked door, arguing and shoving and kicking the whole time they did it. With that door occupied by two people Watanuki did not want to mess with, the girl didn't know what do to. Thankfully, Doumeki was the observant type and had found another door, just big enough for a child on the other side of the room.
"Watanuki." He called. The girl flipped around and then ran to him when she saw the other exit. They knelt down together and looked at the grimy door. Watanuki's eyes widened as she wiped away the dust and found the same Celtic knot clover that was on the gate of the mansion and on the key into the house and in her dream.
"I know this pattern! I saw it in my dream!" She exclaimed, seeing the full two clovers and the keyhole. "I know! We need Yuko's key!" A sudden urge to frisk her pockets came over the girl and she did just that, digging her hands through her jacket and skirt. "Now…if only we had it…but that would be too convenient wouldn't it?" With my luck, Yuko's still got it and we're now dead. "Oh, here it is!" Watanuki yanked out and object in her skirt pocket and she knew to be the key and held it up, inserting it into the lock and turning it.
"Did she know this would happen?!" Watanuki asked. The key didn't budge. The girl's heart leapt into her throat, panic setting in after her moment of calm. "It won't open!"
"Give it here." Doumeki pushed Watanuki's hand away and took the key. The seer glanced back at the other two, seeing them still struggling with the door, now blocked by the lowering ceiling and almost shouted at Doumeki to hurry the hell up, but then the key turned and the small door could just barely open as the ceiling started to press on it. "Done, hurry." Doumeki commanded, crawling into the room beyond. Watanuki reached around the door to yank the key out as the ceiling bent and then splintered the door, sending the remains careening across the room. She held up her arms to cover her eyes from the flying splinters that came with the destruction of the door, wasting precious seconds. The ceiling was brushing her head now, almost ready to crush her when she threw herself through the doorway, the sounds of screaming suddenly cutting off behind her as the ceiling hit the floor.
Watanuki and Doumeki both looked at the blocked doorway, barely having escaped death and the game had just started! To distract herself from the imminent threat of death, the girl tore her eyes away from the closed room and looked around. This place looked like that attic room in her dream, with the bookshelf full of books and knick knacks and stuffed animals, another case filled with more books and a few bottles of wine and sake and the single window with the curtains that the little girl had hid behind. Even the stacked table and chairs were there, all in color this time.
"This place was in my dream too!" She breathed, her chest still heaving in terror as she stood up and walked towards the window.
"Looks like this place has been gathering dust for decades." Doumeki commented, standing up and running his fingers across a shelf and then blowing a cloud of dust off of his hands. Watanuki found a small easel in the corner that seemed to hold a painting, judging by the cloth draped over the canvas. The raven pulled the cloth off and stared at the little brunette girl in the pink dress depicted in the picture, sitting on that swing that she'd seen outside the mansion. She was even holding her little bean bags.
"It's that girl!" She gasped. Doumeki peeked over her shoulder to look.
"Do you know her or something?"
"I've seen her a couple of times since we've been here." The girl outside her bedroom window, the girl in her dream…and probably the spirit she'd seen in the hallway on the way back to the dining room. "I bet you that she's the one that's got us locked up in this mansion!" Watanuki went to the window next, opening it with a sickening creak. "We need to hurry! We don't have much time! We have to find the girl and get Yuko back from her and then get out of here and never come back! Now let's get going!" She leapt out the window into a sort of sewer like hallway done in brick and Doumeki followed her out, running just a step behind her.
"How much time is left?" Watanuki asked.
"Don't know." Doumeki answered honestly. A bell tolled somewhere and writing appeared on the floor in front of their feet, moving with them.
Four minutes left, it said.
"I said I had a bad feeling about this place!" Watanuki growled. "But did anyone listen to me? No! There is no fucking way that we're going to find them in four minutes in this huge mansion!" They ran through the Paris sewer room and then the cathedral catwalk room and then the hallway with the bamboo stalks on one side and the paneled doors on the other. More writing appeared on the paper windows, moving with the pair again as the bell sounded again.
Three minutes left, it said.
"So, are we running to anywhere in particular now?" Doumeki asked, keeping pace with Watanuki and almost passing her. That still ticked the girl off that he was faster so kicked her feet harder to get in front again.
"Nope." She replied. "All I know is that we can't stop!" Then they were running through a gray stone hallway with red flowers in little alcoves, opening the dark wood doors when they had into them. The next door opened into a dimly lit hallway with wood floors and white walls and more writing appeared in front of them along with a tolling bell.
Two minutes left, it said.
"Aw, damnit!" Watanuki wailed. They were running out of time!
" A dead end." Doumeki called out, as the hallway came to a stop. But Watanuki felt like she'd been here before and looked down, seeing a tiny little opening that they could barely crawl through.
"Don't look at my underwear!" She ordered, ducking down and starting to wriggling through. Doumeki knelt and followed the girl, having to look in front of him to see where he was going and getting a look at her panties at the same time.
"Should you really be worried about that now?"
"Always!" She snapped back. They crawled as fast as they could and reached the end of the little hall, squeezing out and standing up into a room with a crooked cat walk that rested floors and floors above the bottom level, the Japanese style doors lit up with warm light.
"Wait, something's strange here…this place looks familiar!" Watanuki recalled that she'd passed through this room on the way to the bathroom and then the next room was the first hallway they'd ever walked through, the one with the flowers lining the walls and the marble floors. "We're right back where we started!" She cried in dismay turning around and hoping that Doumeki followed her. The next room was the one with the shrine and the long stairs down into the cathedral catwalk that they'd already been through. The rain had stopped and the night sky above them was filled with stars, illuminating the sutras pasted to the walls. "We're running in circles here!" Watanuki skid to a halt, throwing her hands up in defeat and trying to catch her breath. Doumeki stopped too, not knowing why she said they were running in circles – he'd never seen any of these rooms before. "So what do we do now?!" The bell tolled again, writing appearing on the poles holding up the walls.
One minute left, it said. But they had already lost.
"Damnit!" Watanuki hissed again, looking around at all the signs. And when she turned around to look at Doumeki for reassurance or something like that, she found herself staring into the dead eyes of the little girl spirit. She grabbed onto Watanuki's shoulders, her mouth moving as if trying to say something as the girl screamed and tried to push her away desperately.
"What is it? Kimihiro?" Doumeki said, his voice sounding a little panicked as the girl started swaying and flailing, to close to the railing and a fatal drop than he'd like her to be. "What's wrong?" He couldn't see anything out of the ordinary around her, so why what she acting like that?" Watanuki kept screaming as the spirit pushed her over the edge of the rail, her body dangling upside down as Doumeki reached out and caught her foot, trying to hold her up before she fell to her death. Then the rail broke under his weight and they both tipped over the side, falling down, down, down as the spirit of the girl hovered at the top of the mansion, lifelessly watching them fall. Everything faded into black and all Watanuki had to hold onto was Doumeki as he used her clothes to crawl up her body and then hug her as they fell. She buried her head into his chest, not wanting to see their imminent, messy end, still screaming even as he held her.
The falling stopped suddenly (just like everything else in the mansion – sudden this, sudden that) and Watanuki found herself sitting in Doumeki's lap as the archer looked behind her. Watanuki didn't even complain about behind in her boyfriend's lap and looked at the lone door in front of them. It looked like all the other doors that had been in the spiral collection room and it even had its own floor stone too, lit by a spot light shining down on it. But unlike the other rooms, this door looked old and the wall it was set into had cracking paint, it didn't look pristine at all as the other's had. Doumeki scooted his girl out of his lap and stood up, helping her to her feet before walking over to look at the floor stone. This one was etched with the outline of a person that looked liked images that differentiated men's and women's bathrooms, and inside its chest was a little red heart. Whatever than meant, it was certain that this was the door they were meant to go through, seeing as there were no other exits. Watanuki reached out and opened the door, walking into what had to be the final room. Whatever happened in here felt like it was going to be the last trick. The door shut behind them as soon as Doumeki stepped through.
The room was dimly lit with only a lone light illuminating a chair in the center of the room, if you could call it a "center." In reality, the room was shaped like a cross, the walls and ceiling littered with octagonal shapes that looked like frames of all sizes set into it, and the chair was where the four halls met. And there was a person in that chair.
"So…" A deep voice echoed throughout the room. "You managed to find me."
"And who exactly are you?!" Watanuki yelled, fed up with all the tricks and dicking around. The man sitting in the chair had white-ash colored hair from what she could see, the ends brushing past his white shirt collar and onto the blue part of his shirt. His legs were crossed and sticking out diagonally from behind the chair, clad in white slacks and shoes.
"Uh, who are you talking to?" Doumeki asked, only seeing an ordinary chair when Watanuki was clearly shouting at something out of the ordinary.
"Wait a minute!" It finally dawned on the girl. "If I'm the only one who can see you, then that means you're-!"
"It is truly amazing the number of things people come to possess during their relatively short lives." The spirit of the man said, ignoring everything the girl had just said. "Of course, there are those among us who amass a great deal of one particular thing."
"I assume that you're talking about those people we call 'collectors.'" A female voice said from behind Watanuki and Doumeki. The pair turned and found Yuko standing behind them, gaudy jewelry and all.
"Yuko! You're alright!" Watanuki shouted, a genuine smile gracing her face as she found her boss safe and sound.
"I'll have you know that you've been difficult to keep track of. No sooner did your presence disappear and here you are again." The man said, his eyes sliding over to study the witch. Watanuki was too busy being relieved to care about anything he said (but it did confirm her suspicion of being watched and dragged along in the mansion).
"Watanuki here can detect spirits, but no spirit can approach or harm Doumeki." Yuko commented as she walked up to her charges. "They make a rather effective tool against you, like a blinder, don't you think?"
"I see it now." The man admitted.
"So," Yuko continued. "What kind of penalty game do you have planned for us?"
"All me to show you…my private collection." The man said ominously. "No one else has ever seen it before." The empty frames on the walls lit up, all holding pictures of people – all ages, genders and sizes – some smug, some bored looking and some smiling like they're photo had been taken for the school yearbook.
"What is this?" Watanuki gasped, looking all around her at the faces of people she'd never met. Except one, and it was conveniently right in front of her again.
"If you look closely, you'll recognize one of the faces." The man prompted. And that was the face that Watanuki had found familiar. It was Blue Robe again, and he was nestled between pictures of another man and a woman. "The spoon collector from this evening was chosen to be placed here.
"What?!" Watanuki snapped her head towards the triumphant looking man.
"Tonight was a competition." He explained. "I had to determine which of you would be entering my collection."
"That's why you invited all the collectors to your mansion." Yuko said, finally understanding. She crossed her arms as she continued to unravel their host's intentions. "Not to complete their collections, but to add to your own."
"I study them carefully all evening to assess their quality," The man continued. "Unfortunately, only one was worthy to enter into my grand collection."
"And what happened to the ones you didn't choose!?" Watanuki snarled, pissed that this man had toyed with them all evening, picked the one person he liked and probably done away with the others that didn't meet his standards.
"They all have a lovely new home inside one of my favorite paintings." The man sighed. It clicked in both Watanuki's mind and Doumeki's. They'd seen that painting, the one that seemed to be a party at the mansion but had only held angry or despondent people in it.
"Do you mean the one in the parlor!?" Watanuki asked.
"You'll find that now it has six more inhabitants that it did earlier." The man continued. "Collectors have an unusual attachment to some specific sort of thing – that attachment is something that we describe with the suffix '-holic.' Can you imagine for a moment if one collected souls instead of things?"
"So what you have here is a collection of collectors." Yuko finished up. "You became fascinated by their obsession with things and instead of collecting objects, you collected them. Is it enough now? Are you satisfied with these souls or will there be more?"
"My collection is incomplete," He answered, acknowledging the later outcome of Yuko's question. "You see…I am still missing the most important piece of all." That does not sound good at all, Watanuki thought, trepidation clawing its way up her stomach and into her chest. "I'm afraid that I'll be needing your soul…witch." The last word was hissed, the frustration of trying to keep track of and capture Yuko finally showing through.
"I'm flattered that you think so highly of me. Unfortunately, I don't collect anything so I wouldn't fit in." Yuko replied.
"On the contrary, as a part of your business, you collect people's most prized collections every day." The man countered. "If that doesn't make one the ultimate collector, then I really couldn't say what does."
"While I've enjoyed your hospitality thus far, I'll have to decline. I'm not about to let myself be trapped in this mansion." Yuko stated, turning down the proposal politely. "Besides, you're the one who's really trapped here." Yuko started walking towards the man, intent on doing something but Watanuki didn't know what. But at that moment, the man turned around in his swivel chair and held up his hand, snapping his fingers.
The walls exploded, shattering the frames and glass of the collection into a million pieces, and sending up clouds of smoke into the air. Watanuki ducked her head under her arms, but her face got scratched by falling glass before she covered herself. When she peeked up after the explosions, she saw that the room was gone, replaced by and endless white space and a hoard of slippery, wiggly spirits snaking their way towards them. Yuko dodged the first spirits and they whirled around to snap at her again. She side stepped and the fangs of the snake-like spirit sank into the floor, destroying the ground where it hit.
"Doumeki!" Watanuki shouted over the howling of the spirits. "We have to protect Yuko!" And stay close to her because she knows what she'd doing and I do not! She added mentally.
Unbeknownst to the trio, the rest of the mansion was being invaded by the different collections housed throughout it, the giant kokeshi dolls popping out of the floor of the spiral room, the drinking birds poking their heads through the tatami mat room, the creepy red and gray stone statues pushing their way through the wood paneled hallway – but they soon found out when all of the collections started showing up where they were. Watanuki got smacked in the face by a male kokeshi doll, knocking her to the ground and Doumeki pushed on away from his and had to brace another against his arm as they surrounded him. Watanuki grabbed her aching face and moaned, and then screamed as a drinking bird was bringing its beak down on the spot she was laying on. The girl somersaulted backwards just in time, the beak of the bird punching a hold in the ground where her hips had been moments before. She sighed, having escaped and then screamed again as the bird came after her, punching holes in the ground where her body parts were. The girl dodged and leapt and wiggled around as the bird's neck became flexible and started trying to snake around her. She dipped and twisted and bent into all sorts of shapes to save herself, frustrating the hell out of the bird. The room was shaking now, starting to fall apart and more and more collections pushed through the ground to attack them. The man in the chair seemed unaffected though, just smiling as the chaos unfolded around him.
Yuko was still advancing on him through, the spirits he sent at her missing every time, blowing her hair this was and that but never touching her. Yuko just brushed some of her wild lock behind her ear as if a nice summer breeze had disturbed her and not hissing spirits. The ceiling of the room crumbled around them, huge chunks of rock crashing to the floor, but Yuko and the man just faced each other, the latter finally getting out of his chair and standing up. The drinking bird was still coming after Watanuki but she'd picked up a chunk of what used to be ceiling and held it up like a shield and the bird embedded its beak into it, now stuck as it tried to free itself. Watanuki smiled triumphantly, but her victory didn't last as the bird whipped its head around and dislodged the debris, smacking it into the girl's face.
"GAH!" The seer shouted, holding her aching face again.
Doumeki was only doing a little bit better as the giant kokeshi dolls assaulted him from all sides. He had both of his hands on two different dolls, the force of their pushing almost breaking his hold on them, but he used their own force against them and spun around one hundred and eighty degrees, letting them fall to the ground as he slipped between them. Another came charging at him and the archer knelt down, catching it on his arm and shoulder before standing up, flipping the doll over his body and onto the ground. And that's where his success ended as an army of the creepy stone statues Watanuki had been scared by marched on him, pushing him back even as he tried to stop them. The statues that weren't dealing with Doumeki were with Watanuki, hoisting the girl up in their arms and carrying her off as she tried to jump out of their hold.
"Stop! Hey! I said quit it!" She screamed, pushing at their hands, but they were unaffected and started walking towards a huge gaping hole that had just broken off from the floor. "What are you doing! Let me go! Let me go! Put me down!" The girl wailed. The statues man handled her hands and feet into the arms of four statues (one for each limb) and the rest started pushing her torso like a swing, turning the whole group so that when they let go, the girl would go flying into the hole and die from yet another perilous drop. They pushed her once, twice, three times and then the girl felt their grip slacken, ready to toss her. She screamed, not knowing whether or not she screamed out a name or just screamed nonsense as the black hole loomed below her. Suddenly (as with most things in the mansion) a giant kokeshi doll rolled through the statues, bowling them over and knocking the raven out of their grip, which was fortunate for her. What was not fortunate was that she had been knocked out over the hole anyway.
"No!" She shrieked, reaching out for the ledge even as she fell. Thankfully, her hand caught, but there wasn't much to hold onto so the girl's grip started to slip. She held on tighter, trying to stop her fall when the worst possible thing happened: the wall crumbled underneath her forceful grip, breaking into little fragments. She had nothing to hold onto! She started to drop, her scream increasing in volume until it cut off by the sudden lurch in her fall. She'd stopped! Hanging over empty space, Watanuki looked up and found Doumeki hanging onto her wrist.
"There's no way I'm letting you fall." He said, hauling the girl up to the ground again. She could've cried over his perfect timing. The girl grabbed the ledge with her free hand and helped pull herself up.
"Thank yo-" She started saying.
"You still owe me a kiss." He finished. That cut off her apology and she didn't feel like finishing it now that she knew his intentions.
"I'll kiss you later, you big, stupid jerk ass!" She hissed. "Is that all you think about?!"
"No. It would be pretty horrible if you did die." He replied as they stood up.
"Why couldn't you just say that from the start!?" She snarled. But they barely had time to argue before another problem presented itself. A ball started rolling towards them and it grew the closer it got. It was the moon from the rice field room, and the rabbit emerged from its surface, mallet and all, looking ready to pound them into dust. The huge creature came at Watanuki first, raising its mallet above its head and bringing it crashing down. The girl scrambled out of the way and looked back in horror at the crate the rabbit had made where her ass used to be. It turned and glared at her. Watanuki screamed again and leapt to her feet. The rabbit swung its mallet horizontality next, barely missing a ducking Doumeki before it swung straight down, missing Doumeki again as he jumped out of the way. The mallet came at Watanuki next and she rolled down to the ground, feeling the rush of air as the hammer passed over her. The rabbit fell over due to the force of its swing and rolled to its feet after hitting the ground, swinging at Doumeki twice. Watanuki leapt up and kicked it in the face to distract it from her boyfriend, but then the creature was coming after her! She screamed and ran away, barely jumping away as the mallet skimmed past her back.
"Noooooooooooo!" She squealed. Having made a perfect distraction, Doumeki used this opportunity to grab the huge moon that the rabbit had come in and got behind it, pushing the ball with all his might and sending it rolling towards the creature and his girlfriend. The seer had tripped and fallen to the ground, crawling back on her elbows as the rabbit advanced on her threateningly, its mallet scraping the ground.
"Kimihiro! Heads up!" Doumeki shouted, drawing the girl's attention. The rabbit's too, but it was too slow and the moon rolled over him as Watanuki barely curled herself away. She scrambled to her feet and ran over to Doumeki, feeling safer if she had someone watching her back. Over the sounds of the collapsing room, the girl heard Yuko speaking, almost to the man who was looking increasingly frustrated and unstable that he couldn't hit or capture the woman advancing on him.
"You may haunt the mansion, but in reality, the mansion now possesses you." The witch's voice took on that mysterious, echo-y quality that it did sometimes, sending shivers up the girl's spine. "Even with all this power that you've gathered over the last hundred years – it doesn't matter how many people's souls you collect, even adding my soul to your collection won't change anything. You're as dammed as those people in the paintings. When I think about that, I almost feel sorry for you, but not quite." The man's expression took on a murderous but at the same time, scared quality as he unleashed another barrage of spirits on the woman, completely clouding out her form even as she tripped a little and caught herself. The cloud of spirits hid her for a moment, before she burst through it, running at the spirit, determination in her eyes. Yuko wasn't scared, but the spirit was, backing away fearfully until he himself tripped, falling to the ground.
"This game ends now!" Yuko said harshly, holding up her gloved hand as if to attack. As she reached the spirit, a bright, shining circle appeared on the floor, enveloping her in a pillar of light and holding her froze in place. She couldn't move, her hair and dress whipped behind her as if she was still running. She'd crossed some kind of seal on the floor, the eye of the seal staring up at her ruefully.
"You fell for it." The spirit chuckled. Yuko's body disappeared, the circle vanishing, but a line of portraits appeared behind the spirit, portraits of some of the collector's he'd gathered, including his newest one. Yuko was painted on a blue background, hand held up like it had been when she was frozen, hanging next to the spoon collector on the insubstantial wall.
"Oh no! it's Yuko!" Watanuki yelled. She and Doumeki were surrounded by the statues and kokeshi dolls again, but they had stopped moving, their job done now that their master had what he wanted. The white room disappeared, replaced by shifting walls of smoke, the only thing visible being the portraits. There weren't even any exits.
"I've finally captured you."The spirit said, standing in front of his newest addition to his collection. "You don't think I'll be satisfied? We'll see about that."
"You let her go!" Watanuki screamed, running at the spirit who'd trapped her friend and employer. A giant flower appeared in front of her as she neared the man, smacking her back and sending her tumbling to the floor. Doumeki ran up and knelt behind the raven, stopping her shoulders before she could roll too far.
"Oh, I almost forgot. I have to get rid of you miserable brats as well." The man looked behind him and stared the pair down with a sickly smile. He started walking towards him, his face holding all sorts of painful promises at causing him so much trouble.
"I found what I was looking for." Yuko's voice came from somewhere in the room, stopping the spirit in his tracks. The Yuko in the painting moved, her hand coming down as she looked out into the room. "I had to get inside your mind in order to obtain what Watanuki had already found." Yuko held up the painting of the little girl in the pink dress, the same painting that Watanuki had already found. You remember now, don't you?" Yuko asked. "This is what you've been looking for all these years. This is what you've truly wanted." The spirit walked back to Yuko, placing his hands on her painting and then dropping his head. His hands slipped through the surface and came around to hold the painting of the girl, pulling it out into reality. He stared at it for a moment before crossing his arms behind the picture, hugging the object and beginning to cry as the walls and ceiling started to crumble again.
Outside, the mansion started to crumble, the patchwork architecture dissolving and crashing to the ground and then disappeared, leaving behind a much smaller, but no less grand house in its wake, surrounded by a huge, grass covered yard. The spirit's malicious intent was gone, leaving behind a peaceful sense of normalcy and a bright morning. Watanuki and Doumeki were outside, staring up at the sky and the trees of the mountains surrounding them, the backside of the mansion in front of them.
"The mansion's changed!" Watanuki exclaimed. The spirit man was kneeling on the ground by the left back corner of the house, still holding the painting. He didn't look like he was going to do anything, but the girl had learned never to be too careful and watched him like a hawk. While doing so, she saw something out of the corner of her eye and whipped her head around, seeing Yuko standing at the other corner. "You got out!" She shouted, leaping to her feet and running over to the woman. "Are you alright?!" When she rounded the corner, the girl saw an old woman in a wheelchair next to Yuko. "Huh? Who is this old lady?"
"I wish I knew how to thank you for what you've done," The old woman started. She looked familiar somehow, her faded brown hair cut short, her soft blue eyes striking a cord with the raven. She was wearing a yellow dress with a white ruffled collar and the huge pink bow that also seemed familiar, but Watanuki just couldn't quite place why. "You have granted my only wish." She bowed to Yuko respectfully.
"I have to warn you, he's still a little lost inside himself." Yuko said, pulling out the golden key the young lady had given her back at the shop. "Here, I thought you'd might like to have this back." Okay, now Watanuki was really confused. Wasn't that key given to Yuko by that young lady at the shop? Then why is she trying to give it to this old woman? The old lady looked at it and then shook her head.
"No thank you. I don't think I'll be needing it now." She said. Yuko smiled at her. The old lady then turned her wheelchair to the right and started to roll herself over to the man kneeling on the grass. When she reached him, stopped. "Excuse me, young man…do you remember who I am?" The man looked up at gazed at the woman a moment before his eyes widened, filling with tears. To everyone else, she was an old woman, but to him, she was still a young girl wearing her favorite pink dress, her brown hair long like she used to have it. They had said goodbye at this very mansion, and he'd promised her that he'd make a collection that no one else had ever had, prompting her to keep expanding her own bean bag collection. It had been a sorrowful parting as she'd valiantly tried not to cry. She'd promised to come back someday when she was all grown up, as long as he'd promise to watch over the house and in return he promised that they'd meet again one day…and now they had.
"I've missed you." He said, throwing his head into her lap, not even trying to hold back his tears. Her hand came up and stroked his head softly.
"I can't tell you how much I've missed you. I'm sorry I stayed away so long." She apologized. "I bought back the house like I said I would but the key wouldn't work and I couldn't get back inside."
"Somewhere along the line, I forgot the reason behind my collection…I was keeping it for you to see, to show you that I'd kept my promise…I became lost in it. I'm so sorry."
"I think it's finally time to let go of your collection." The old woman said. "It's been long enough."
"You're right." He nodded.
"Still, I'm so glad you remember me, So much time has passed and I've gotten very old."
"To me, you haven't changed at all." He replied, looking up and still seeing the smiling face of the young girl he used to know. "I still see you as you were the day you left." The little girl smiled at him.
"I'm home." She said.
"Welcome back." He replied.
"We can be together forever, right?"
"Yes. You can stay forever." The door to the mansion opened behind them, bathing the pair in bright light before they walked inside, hand in hand, the door shutting behind them all by itself.
Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ
They found an inn on the other side of the lake, across from where the mansion sat, because Yuko decided that they should all get some relaxation time after their adventure. Watanuki agreed with her this time…the only problem was that Yuko had only gotten then two rooms with a kitchen, so she'd either be sleeping with Yuko and Mokona and Doumeki got a whole room to himself, or she'd be sleeping with Doumeki because Yuko was devious and pushy. Well…Yuko and Mokona if she thought about it hard enough. At least there were three futons. The possibility that Yuko would sleep in the same room as Doumeki never crossed her mind because that was just to weird to think about.
Yuko was the first to take a bath, shoving everyone else out of the way even though Watanuki and Doumeki had done most of the running around. When the witch emerged with her newly washed hair and body clad in a light pink yukata, she took a seat by the open window and fanned herself on the ledge, leaning against the door. Watanuki then took her turn in the bath, shoving Doumeki out of the way much like her employer had and slammed the door shut before he snuck in with her. Despite wanting to soak for just about forever, Watanuki rinsed and washed herself before letting herself soak in the water for a short time. Then she got out so Doumeki could take a bath and put on her own pink yukata. She came out of the bathroom still drying her hair with a towel and then twisting it up in the cloth so that it was out of her face. It looked like she was wearing a turban when she was done.
"I'm exhausted!" Mokona said, finally reappearing after a night and a morning of being absent, flopping down by the window with Yuko.
"What are you exhausted!? You did nothing the whole time!" Watanuki snapped, coming in the room behind the fur ball. Watanuki looked out the window and gazed at the mansion, just like Yuko was. "What do you think will become of that mansion now that it's not haunted anymore?" She asked.
"The old woman has decided to turn it into a museum." Yuko answered. "She's going to be its curator." Watanuki took a seat at the Western table and chair in the room, still looking out of the window.
"Will she be able to handle it all by herself?"
"Don't worry. The collectors that were freed offered to help her, they even wanted to donate to the museum."
"I guess that the mansion won't be closed up anymore, will it?" Watanuki sighed, leaning back in her chair. "Still, I had no idea that the girl at the mansion, and the young lady who came to your shop, were spirit projections of that old lady. All I saw were both young girls.
"I guess that that is the disadvantage to your sight…" Yuko stated. "Once you see the spirit of something, it's very difficult to see the form it takes around other people." She paused, as if lost in thought. Watanuki poured them both a cup of tea from the set on the table. "There was a moment there where I was going to turn her away. But then, somehow, I felt a connection to her…like she was feeling something I'd felt long ago." Watanuki stopped drinking and looked at her boss, surprised at where the conversation had gone.
"I've never heard you talk about your past before, Yuko…were you in love once? Was your heart ever broken?" She asked, curious as to what Yuko's life had been before she owned the shop, or if she'd always lived there.
"You want to know?" Yuko turned from the window and stared at the girl with her deep, cranberry colored eyes, as if daring her to ask. Watanuki didn't know what that look might entail for compensation, but she wanted to know anyway and nodded, her curiosity burning. But before Yuko could speak, Mokona jumped up, its eyes wide, its blue jewel glowing.
"I have an urgent message from Syaoran!" The creature said.
"Oh, I haven't heard from them in a while." Yuko said. Syaoran and his group of dimension travelers were people that Yuko were helping, granting their individual wishes as a group venture. Watanuki didn't get to see where they were going to what they were doing often, so this was almost as intriguing as Yuko's love life. Mokona jumped up onto the window ledge and its jewel started projecting an image in a circle of light. A brunette boy with brown eyes and two girls appeared in the image, one with short blonde hair and green eyes and the other with long black hair and blue eyes. The blonde girl was Sakura, if Watanuki was remembering correcting, but the other girl was unfamiliar to the seer.
"Yuko! It's me! I need help to save the Land of Birds!" Syaoran said, his voice a little desperate. "I have to find a way to open a magic bird cage in order to save this place!"
"So, basically you need a key, is that right?" Yuko said, reaching into her yukata sleeve. Watanuki stared at her, seeing exactly where this conversation was going amazingly enough. "Well, I think I have just the thing to help you." She did in fact, as Watanuki had guessed, hold up the key to the mansion, its gold surface shining in the sunlight. "This key recently came into my possession," Well, that's an understatement! The old lady just gave it to you not an hour ago! "It can open anything you wish."
"Thank you, Yuko." Syaoran's head dipped in a bow.
"I assume that you remember I require compensation, Syaoran?" Yuko prompted, getting her price.
"I don't think I have anything to give you." He replied. Then they're sunk! Yuko never gives up anything without getting something in return. She'd call it balance but I'd call it manipulation, Watanuki grumbled to herself.
"What about this?" The black haired girl asked, holding up a small, tinkling bell. "Will this work, Yuko?"
"In order to be equal in worth, this thing must be important to you." Yuko guessed. "This bell must be more than it seems. I accept. Mokona." She called to her companion. Mokona opened its mouth and swallowed the key as Yuko tossed it in, and then tossed out the bell into Yuko's hands. Syaroan was now holding the key in his hands. "Use it well…and good luck." The image disappeared and Mokona returned to its normal, lazy self. Yuko slipped the magenta strap of the small, white bell onto her finger, ringing the object as she looked at its blue flower designs.
"This bell really is quite lovely. Watanuki," She started, turning to the girl. "Maybe I can use it from now on whenever I want to call you." The raven gaped at her boss, but then the door slid open and Doumeki walked out, drying his hair off and draping the towel across his shoulders as he went to sit on a cushion at the Japanese style table in the center of the room.
"Well you sure were in the bath a long time!" She snapped, more irritated at Yuko than him, but the girl didn't dare take out her frustration on the woman controlling her life. Just as she was about to go rag on him again, Wari followed the archer in, wearing a cute, green button up that matched his eyes and tan slacks that fit perfectly on his legs. The whole ensemble had Watanuki beaming at the cuteness as her classmate came in and sat down.
"Waaaaaarriiiii!~" The girl sang, completely surprised by the boy's sudden appearance.
"Hi, Watanuki!" Wari smiled and greeting the girl. "It's good to see you!" Before Watanuki could say anything else, Wari was running off to the window. "What a gorgeous view! Thank you, Yuko! It was so nice of you to invite me!" Watanuki stared at Yuko in shock. She never did things this nice!
"Oh it's my pleasure, and I know Watanuki is happy to see you. She's the reason I asked you to come."
"Oh! Thank you, Yuko!~" Watanuki beamed, running over to the woman and taking her hand. "I have never been happier to be your mistreated servant than I am right now!"
"And Doumeki as well." Yuko continued.
"Yo." Doumeki raised his hand in a second greeting (since he'd met the other man outside already).
"Well, alright then!" Yuko yanked a huge bottle of sake out from someplace Watanuki never wanted to mention again and set it in her lap, popping the cork out and lovingly stoking the glass. "Now that all the work's done, it's time for sake!"
"Hey…" Watanuki said, looking at the label on the bottle. She recognized the label now, as Yuko poured herself a glass. "Wasn't that in a room at the mansion…?"
"A gift from the old woman as compensation for granting her wish." Yuko said, gazing lovingly at her next buzz. "And now…I just need to think of a way to have you thank me for inviting Wari over. There's so much to choose from…" Yuko turned her devil gaze on the seer. She quailed under that look, terrified at what Yuko could make her do.
"Oh, just tell me. The suspense will kill me." The girl grumbled. Yuko held up her new bell and jingled it.
"Let's see, I've got my sake…now I think we need snacks! I asked the staff to stock the fridge while you were in the bath!~"
"Do I look like a cook to you!?" The girl gaped at having work shoved on her when they were supposed to be relaxing.
"Oh, please Watanuki! I just love your cooking!" Wari asked.
"Of course, Wari!~ Whatever you want!~" The girl sang, grabbing the apron that Yuko had packed in her tote bag and putting it on, pullign her hair out of its turban and up into her customary pony tail
"How about you make us up a sashimi platter?" Doumeki asked, sipping his own cup of tea.
"I don't remember asking for your order!" Watanuki snarled.
"Sashimi sounds great!" Wari said.
"Of course! I'm on it right now!" The raven replied.
"Don't forget the wasabi." Doumeki added.
"Why do you make it then!? Here's my apron!" Watanuki held it out to him.
"I love wasabi!" Wari smiled.
"I'm on it!"
Yuko smiled at the antics going on behind her and looked out the window again, holding up her glass to the mansion across the water from her.
"Here's to a beautiful view." She said, taking a drink to an accomplished venture.
The day progressed much in that fashion, and Watanuki didn't have to make dinner because Yuko ordered it (the kitchen was just not big enough for the woman to exploit her servant's talents to the fullest) so the early repast was order-free for once. Wari ended up leaving early in the evening to travel back to his aunt's house, since it wasn't too far from where they were – just a short bus ride – much to Watanuki's disappointment but as soon as the charming young man left, she felt the previous day and extremely long night crash down on her. She was dead tired, and that was Yuko's signal to stop partying and drinking and go to bed, because now she couldn't make Watanuki do anything without a massive amount of complaining and groaning that was more irritating that entertaining. So after polishing off her third bottle of sake, Yuko whipped out a futon set and walked into the kitchen room because it was bigger and if she needed a midnight snack, they're be no one to stop her, leaving Doumeki in the smaller of the two rooms. Doumeki grabbed one of the remaining two futon sets and set up his bed for the night in the single room, fluffing his pillow and watching his girlfriend out of the corner of his eye. Having been dreading this moment all day because she didn't know where to sleep (or where she'd be forced to sleep), Watanuki reached for the last futon.
However, she was beaten to the punch by Mokona.
"This one's mine!" The fur ball laughed, dragging the bed out of its cupboard and hopping into Yuko's room before Watanuki had the chance to snag it.
"Hey! Mokona! Get back here! That's my futon!" Watanuki snarled, crawling after the pork bun.
"I got it first! And I need my beauty sleep!" Mokona replied, setting up its bed in a flash and jumping onto the pillow.
"You can just use Yuko's pillow! You don't need a whole bed!" Watanuki argued.
"Watanuki," Yuko interrupted, her voice mischievously smooth, "Just because Mokona isn't as big as you, doesn't mean that Mokona should go without a bed!" She continued mockingly.
"But that fur ball always sleeps with one of us! Even if I don't like it!" Watanuki shot back, pointing out the fact that Mokona had never needed a whole bed before.
"Well, Mokona wants a whole bed tonight, so it looks like you'll just have to share!~" Yuko flapped her hand at the girl, gesturing for her to go to Doumeki. "Gooooood niiiiiiight!~" She sang, sliding the door shut and closing off the two rooms and effectively ending the agreement with no room for discussion.
"Damn pork bun…I'm going to cook you some day!" She hissed. Watanuki started blushing, refusing to look away from the door that had just been closed in her face. If she looked behind her, she was going to find her boyfriend being extremely perverted, she just knew it. The silence in the wake of the argument lasted for a few moments and Watanuki knew that Yuko and Mokona had their ears plastered to the door, trying to hear every gory detail and that made Watanuki's blood rush under her skin a little faster. She still hadn't gotten used to being with Doumeki in settings like this, not since the Demon Parade thing where she'd gotten the shock of her life waking up next to him. She hadn't even handled last night at the mansion very well. This was a huge mess, and knowing Doumeki, he was staring at her for being awkward and waiting for her to do something, but all she could do was clench her hands on top of her knees and stare at the door, hoping that it would open again. But it didn't, and she knew that she'd be spending the night in Doumeki's bed. He still hadn't said anything, surprisingly enough, so maybe…even if was a long shot…maybe he was already asleep. She wouldn't know unless she looked, because asking him might wake him up if he really was asleep.
The raven decided to chance it and peeked behind her.
Doumeki was lying on one side of the futon, resting his head on his upturned hand, elbow resting on his pillow. I knew he wouldn't be asleep, Watanuki sighed mentally. The archer reached for the blanket covering him and held up it up, a clear gesture.
"Get in already. I'm tired." Doumeki said.
"Don't act so calm about this!" Watanuki whined, her blush deepening.
"What's the big deal? We've shared a futon before." Doumeki pointed out.
"It is a big deal! And I was unconscious for most of it!" Watanuki grumbled back.
"And you'll be unconscious for most of this time too." He yawned, his exhaustion starting to show. "We're not doing anything besides sleeping, okay?" She could just sleep on the floor, but that wouldn't be comfortable in the least and it would really hurt Doumeki's feelings. As reassuring as that last statement had sounded, something else started bothering the girl, even as she crawled over to futon, sliding under the blanket and turning her back on Doumeki, not looking at him even once. He let the blanket drop over both of them and brought his other arm underneath the covers as well, sighing as Watanuki resolutely kept a good half a foot in between then.
"Watanuki, seriously, I'm not going to do anything." The man sighed, a little peeved that his girlfriend was being so squirrelly and untrusting. It bruised his ego a bit.
"It's not that…" She started, completely trusting Doumeki's words at this point (let's face it, he really wouldn't do anything that she didn't want), but…there was something that she had to do.
"What is it?" He asked, wanting to get everything out before they went to sleep otherwise this would be a really awkward night.
Watanuki rolled around and scooted closer, diminishing the half-foot gap between them and bringing her upper hand to cup his cheek. Surprised but not showing it, the archer held still as his girlfriend reached her head up and softly pressed her lips against his. She tipped her head into the pillow for a better angle as he started to kiss back, ever so softly moving his lips as his own arm came up to wrap around her shoulders. The kiss continued to be gentle as the quiet moments dragged on, Watanuki's hand coming down from Doumeki's face to rest of his neck, wrapping around his broad back as much as it could. The explanation came when they broke for air.
"I owe you a kiss…" She started, pulling away from his lips. "Several in fact, since we're no longer surrounded by butterfly heads." Doumeki remembered that she had promised to make out with him "later" after he tried kissing her in the mansion.
"So you do." He whispered, beginning to place soft pecks on her cheek, eye and nose.
"As payment…" She gasped as he made his way down to her neck and kissed the sensitive spot near her ear. "For helping me."
"I think Yuko would approve." The archer replied, kissing that spot again as Watanuki arced into his chest.
"She'd better not be watching." Watanuki brought her hand up to stroke Doumeki's hair as he continued to kiss her neck and collarbone, pulling her yukata off her shoulder just a bit to do it. Doumeki peeked up and saw the door cracked open the tiniest bit before softly sliding shut again. He didn't tell Watanuki. "Watch it." The seer hissed as she felt her robe start to slip off her shoulder a little more than she liked. Being good, Doumeki slipped her yukata back into place and came back to her lips, capturing her mouth in a much more heated embrace.
Watanuki opened up her mouth to him, giving Doumeki exactly what he wanted. The man pressed his tongue into her mouth, coaxing hers to play as he delved as deep as he could. Watanuki moaned and brushed her tongue against his, her lips suckling lightly as the kiss became a little messier, a little wetter. When they pulled apart to breath next, it was Watanuki who kissed back first, was licking at his bottom lip, silently asking to come in. Doumeki opened his mouth again and let her in, brushing his tongue against hers as she explored his mouth. He pulled her close, pressing her right up against his chest and torso so there wasn't any space between them. Watanuki's top arm came around under his, her hand gripping at his back, bunching his yukata in her fist. They continued to kiss until Watanuki's arm went a little slack, her fatigue beginning to show and Doumeki was in the same shape, as much as he wanted to continue. He broke their last heated kiss and delicately nipped on her top lip, placing soft, open mouth kisses on her cheek and forehead as they both settled down to sleep. Watanuki sighed into his touched, curling her head into his chest, feeling safe under his arm.
"Good night, Kimihiro." Doumeki whispered, kissing the top of her head as she settled into him.
"'night, Shizuka." She whispered back, his name tapering off as she started to drift into sleep.
Within minutes, both of them were asleep, the horrendous adventure of the mansion far behind them as they dreamed contently in each other's arms. There would probably be a ton of teasing waiting for them in the morning, but for now, this peace was priceless.
To Be Continued...
A/N: And there you go! I'll see you all later and don't forget to let me know what you think! :3