A/N: ZareEraz here! I know its been foooooooooooooorever since I last updated this story and I'm so sorry about that! In apology, I have a huge, juicy chapter for everyone so I hope that you enjoy reading it! Let me know what you think (as always) in the review section and I will try to pump out some more updates as quick as I can! Happy Reading!

Chapter Thirteen: The Spider's Web and The Grudge

Watanuki was walking down the street on the way to school on a normal day. Well, it was sort of normal. She could see everything out of her left eye perfectly – the sky and the walls of the houses on the street, even Wari, who was walking in front of her – but her right eye was all black and cloudy, unable to see anything. Her vision was split right down the middle and at the time, she didn't really think anything was wrong and just ran up to her classmate and started talking with the cute boy.

"Waaaaaariiiiiii!~" The girl called, catching up to her friend. Wari turned and smiled, his short curls bouncing as he started talking. Watanuki couldn't hear a word he was saying, and that's when she knew that something was wrong. "What?" She asked, but it seemed that Wari couldn't hear her either and just kept smiling and talking. And then suddenly, the image of Wari was replaced by a ceiling on the left side of her vision, and pitch blackness on the right. She'd opened her eyes and was staring up at Yuko's ceiling. "What?" She asked again, wondering why she couldn't see properly. And that's when the girl noticed that she had a guest in her room.

Mokona was plastered to her face, its whole body hugging her nose and right eye and ear as it slept on top of her. The girl tried to get her bearings for a moment, still hanging between sleep and wakefulness and blinked a few times in the dim morning light. And after that, she pounced.

"So it was your fault!" The irritated girl shouted, ripping the pork bun off of her face and glaring at it with her blurry vision. Mokona's huge eyes popped open wide for a moment, giving the creature a creepy appearance, before slowly closing again and its whole body falling limp in the seer's hands. "Don't just fall asleep again!" But of course, Mokona never listened to her and just kept on sleeping. Watanuki sighed and stared at the fur ball with a frustrated expression on her face. "For God's sake, I was forced to have a strange dream with this loser clinging to my face….But I saw Wari in my dream!~" The girl dissolved into smiles and giggles as she thought about her former crush (still crushing apparently). "Ha, ha! Today's going to be a great day if I saw Wari already!"

"Great…day…" Mokona mumbled in its sleep. Just then, Maru and Moro slid open the doors to Watanuki's home-away-from-home and started calling for her in their chipper voices.

"Watanuki!~" Maru started.

"Watanuki!~" Moro repeated.

"It's breakfast time!~" They sang together, dancing into the spacious room.

"Breakfast time!?" Mokona was all ears now, woken up by the call of food.

"Breakfast time!~ Breakfast time!~" The twins ran over to Watanuki's futon and each took a side, Maru picking up the mattress and Mokona taking the blanket. The raven was tossed out of bed unceremoniously as they ripped the ground out from underneath her and the warmth of the blanket off of her lap and hit the floor hard, completing her wake-up. Mokona jumped high into the air, avoiding Watanuki's spectacular double flip before landing on the face-down girl's gracefully.

"I got it! I got it!" Watanuki shouted, sitting up and throwing Mokona off of her. Having done their job, Maru and Moro threw the bedding on the floor for Watanuki to clean up and danced out of the room singing about breakfast. Mokona followed them, chanting for food as well, leaving the girl with an aching face, a grumbled disposition and a bad case of bed head. By the time the raven got herself pulled together, Yuko was calling for breakfast as well, having already been up and dressed (and flamboyantly for so early in the morning) for about ten minutes before her little slave made it to the kitchen. And then by the time the raven actually had breakfast ready…Yuko was distracted by the TV in the living room. As Watanuki served the food at the low table, Yuko munched on bowl of rice, her eyes glued to the screen talking about an exorcism reality TV show.

"This young girl is the spiritual seer that is currently the talk of the town, Kohane." The male host started. The TV showed a picture of a young girl with long pale hair standing in a dim grove of some sort, her light colored dress and pale skin standing out in the darkness.

"She really is a pretty young thing." The female hostess commented.

"But don't be fooled by her looks." The male host went on. "In a Kanagawa hospital, Kohane was able to expel all the ghosts that had been plaguing the area all by herself!" This little narration was interrupted by Mokona's munching, stuffing its face with Watanuki's perfectly fried tamagoyaki. Yuko daintily picked at her rice, careful not to get any on her black dress with a red little embroidered across the torso. She'd paired the elegant attire with a huge, real red lily over her left ear and had pulled up her hair into a messy bun of sorts, long pieces of hair cascading out of it tastefully.

"I can't believe it-" And then the channel was changed, flipping thought a weather channel, and a sports channel before finally clicking off. Yuko, Mokona, Maru and Moro all "ohhed" in surprise and then looked at Watanuki, finding her the culprit.

"Hey!" Yuko complained.

"You should've watch TV during meals." The girl stated simply, fixing her headscarf and picking up her own bowl of rice. "And besides, wasn't I telling you something more important than the television?"

"And what was that?" Mokona and Yuko asked, both tipping their heads, not having bother to pay attention to the seer.

"Wari! I was talking about Wari!" Watanuki growled, irritated at having been ignored…again.

"Ah." Yuko replied.

"Just 'ah!?'" Watanuki retorted.

"Well, it looks like something very unfortunate is going to happen then." The witch gave Watanuki one of her ambiguously wicked smiles (even if it was kind of undermined by the grains of rice stuck to her chin).

"What?" Watanuki looked at the women with confusion written all over her face. She dropped the rice scoop in shock. "But I had a dream about Wari and he had a huge smile on his face!" How could that be bad!?

"I know I've told you before, Watanuki, but Wari isn't exactly your lucky guy." Yuko reminded the girl.

"Bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-but-" Watanuki studdered, still confused at to why seeing Wari in a dream was a bad thing. While she was stuttering, Mokona walked across the table and stole her bowl of rice right out of her hand, muttering, "Geez, what does someone have to do to get food around this place!" before walking back to its spot.

"What Wari is so cute!" Watanuki argued, not even noticing the missing bowl of rice.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Yuko argued back.

"Just by looking at him, I can feel the happiness in my overflowing!" Watanuki struck a powerful pose, completely convinced of her ex-crush's goodness and beauty.

"She said it! She did!" Maru and Moro cheered.

"Oooooo," Yuko commented. "I wonder if Wari feels the same what you do." Mokona join in on the last part and they sniggered to themselves, knowing that he didn't. Watanuki's entire body fell, nearly sending her to the floor in depressed mortification of the reality of her one-sided affection.

"Watanuki's crushed!" Maru and Moro cheered again.

"That aside," Yuko continued. "This breakfast is delicious, Watanuki. Even though it's only breakfast, there's so much food ! Now if only we had some sake to make it even better-"

"No freaking way!" Watanuki snapped, still peeved at the woman for her making her depressed. The witched picked up Mokona in her hand and held the other over her mouth, having a hush hush conversation with her companion.

"Oh dear, she's really upset."

"Upset!" Mokona agreed.

"Just because she's not that popular!"

"She gets all worked up!" Mokona finished. Watanuki could still hear the whispers (they weren't trying to hide them) and each word just twisted the knife a little deeper, making her more irritated and volatile.

"You can only have two cups of sake for dinner tonight!" Watanuki declared, leaping to her feet, trying to make Yuko feel the way she was.

"You monster!" The pair shouted.

By the time Watanuki made it out of the shop she was all riled up and even more irritated than when she started being irritated. The girl stomped down the street, muttering to herself. "I even slept over to make breakfast just for them and that's how I'm treated?! And on top of that Mokona made me have that strange dream and I got teased by Yuko! Damn!" It was at that moment that the girl paused in her stomping and looked at where she was. "This is Doumeki's house, right?" On her walk to school, she had ended up passing by Doumeki's temple, the grounds quiet and devoid of patrons in the early morning. It was truly a beautiful place, so serene and majestic compared to the houses around it. The girl paused and thought about checking up on her boyfriend, but then decided against it. He'd just try to snack on their bentos early and bug her and he probably wasn't even there anyway.

"He's probably already left for morning training at the archery club," She reasoned, finding an excuse to keep walking to school. "So there's no reason for me to stop." The girl started on her way again when a voice called out to her.

"Oi." She stopped dead in her tracks, her irritation returning in full force as she noticed that Doumeki was standing right behind the gate.

"He's here!" She yelped. "Today of all days…" She muttered, whirling around and shouting at her boyfriend. "And how many times do I have to tell you that I have a name and it's not, 'oi!?'"

"Perfect timing." Doumeki replied, ignoring his girlfriend's high-strung antics so early in the morning. Really, she was a pain. "Help me out." He continued, holding up a dust pan and broom for the girl. He'd been sweeping the grounds when she passed by, still in a casual gi top and pants he always wore for chores.

"Would you listen when someone talks to you!?" Watanuki yelled, incredibly mad now at having been ignored for the millionth time by that bastard. But somehow (probably with the use of black magic) Watanuki ended up helping Doumeki clean the ground, picking up trash and the last of the fall leaves blow around by the wind with her tongs and garbage bag. But she also made sure to keep grumbling about being held up on the way to school, and how she was so gracious to help him out with his chores.

"But you would've made it to school on time even if you had left later, right? So what's the big deal?" Doumeki asked, sweeping off the main path.

"I did come from Yuko's shop, so I guess it would've been fine." Watanuki shrugged. "It's closer to school."

"It is?" Doumeki asked, turning to look at the girl. She was bending over to get some paper and her skirt was riding up, almost giving him a peek at what color of panties she was wearing today – but not quite.

"What?" Watanuki asked, confused that he didn't know where the shop was. "You've been there before; When Yuko asked you to pick me up." It had been during the incident with the specter woman who'd made Watanuki sick. Doumeki had taken her to the temple after having grabbed her from the shop.

"When?" He asked, pausing in his sweeping as the girl stood up, covering her butt once again.

"When I collapsed at Yuko's shop." Watanuki went back to picking up leaves and stray garbage.

"Shop?" Doumeki wondered, thinking about when he'd picked the girl up. He hadn't seen any shop.

"What is it now?" The raven asked.

"Nothing really." The archer replied. Watanuki started to wander off again but Doumeki still had a question. "What's in today's lunch." And he swore the girl leapt to his spot ten feet away in a single jump, just to get mad in his face.

"It's a squid dish!" She yelled. "You were the one who told me to make it, weren't you!?" She flipped out, her fangs showing as she shouted at the brunette, her arms flailing around. Suddenly, her right arm was caught in something, her hand and tongs getting tangled up in a spider's web.

"Ah!" Startled, she struggled to free herself from the sticky mess, half way pulling the web down out of the tree it hung in.

"A spider's web?" Doumeki mused, watching the girl for a second before stepping in. "Watch where you're flailing, idiot."

"Who's the idiot here?!" Watanuki growled, stomping her foot.

"Stop squirming, you'll only make it worse." The archer replied, putting his arm into the air. He hooked the spider web with his broom handle and tugged on it firmly, pulling the web down and letting it fall around them like silver rain, freeing the girl from its ensnarement. After freeing the raven, he turned and walked away to finish his chores. "You really are an idiot." Watanuki's face screwed up, a cross vein appearing on her forehead as she ran after the jerk.

"You've said that twice now! Stop it!" She yelled. "Just who's the idiot here?!"

As the pair walked (or stomped, in Watanuki's case) away, they were unaware of the menace behind them, hanging down from the tree were the web had been. A lone spider dangled on its web, eight red eyes watched the monster that'd destroyed its home and held a grudge deep in its heart.

Good God, meeting Doumeki on the way to school today…it really is just as Yuko said! I'm unlucky and always will be! Watanuki grumbled to herself during lunch time, her angry face even more angrier than normal.

"Is something wrong, Watanuki?" Wari asked, dragging the girl's attention back to their lovely picnic lunch outside. He was holding up a bento lunch for her to take a bite, a concerned look on his face.

"Not at all!" The raven blushed and reached out her chopsticks to take a meatball. But since I get to eat Wari's homemade bento today, I guess I'm not that unlucky! Good things can happen too! "Itadakimasu!" The seer thanked her friend for the food before popping it in her mouth, chewing enthusiastically before breaking out into an even bigger smile. "Wow! That was delicious! That's Wari for you!"

"It's something I bought at the store." Wari replied, his ever-present smile still there. Watanuki froze, the rest of her praise caught in her throat, a sweatdrop rolling down the back of her head.

"But you're the one who warmed it up, right Wari-?"

"That was my mom." Wari kept smiling, leaving the girl at a loss of what to say. She flopped on the ground and rolled around frustrated and in one of her wiggly moods as she tried to come up with an appropriate response.

"Why are you getting friendly with the ground?" Another voice asked, watching the girl perform her usual antics. It was Doumeki.

"I was not!" Watanuki's head snapped up and she snarled at her boyfriend. He was looking down at her from his considerable height, but something was wrong with his face. The more Watanuki stared at it the more she noticed that it looked just ever so slightly pinched – his brows, eyes and mouth. He looked uncomfortable, but not enough to warrant the worry of someone who couldn't read his face like Watanuki could. As she was looking, Doumeki's hand came up and he rubbed his right eye a few times with the heel of it.

"What's wrong?" Watanuki asked, sitting up.

"Nothing. Probably just dust in my eye." Doumeki replied, his voice and face back to normal. He sat down next to his classmates and crossed his legs in his usual fashion.

"Geez, don't act so delicate." Watanuki scoffed. "It doesn't fit you."

"So, where's the squid dish?" Doumeki ignored his girlfriend and started looking for his request.

"Why don't you listen to me when I'm talking to you!?" Watanuki's fangs came out but she was ignored once again, the jab accompanied by Wari's cute laugh. Damn bastard, why do I like him again!?

Watanuki pouted for the rest of lunch, refusing to eat anything but Wari's (store-bought) cooking, so Doumeki claimed the rest of her lunch along with his own. The rest of the day passed by normally, but something pricked Watanuki's consciousness and wouldn't leave her alone. Doumeki's face…Doumeki's face rarely showed emotion…and it never showed discomfort for himself, only others. It was something that had the raven just the tiniest bit worried, but not enough to, you know, express concern over. Doumeki was fine, he had to be. Watanuki dismissed the whole subject from her mind.

However, the issue did not dismiss itself. It fact, it came to a head on the way home from school.

"Damn, it's just us again," Watanuki whined, slumping as she walked down the street. The sun was well on its way to setting, and she was Doumeki were walking by themselves, no Wari in sight. But Doumeki wasn't making a comment on how she should be glad to walk home with her boyfriend, so Watanuki kept whining. "Waaaaarrriiii! I wanted o go home with you!" Doumeki was holding the right side of his face in his hand, his expression taking on the pinched, painful look it had earlier, only more so. After she'd finished wailing, Watanuki noticed this, her earlier concern popping up again.

"What's wrong?" She turned to look at the archer. "You still have dust or something stuck in your eye?" Doumeki stopped in his tracks, and the seer stopped too, her concern growing.

"It wasn't dust." The man replied. He stood still for a moment, and Watanuki just watched him carefully. Doumeki's right foot moved just a little bit, as if to check his balance, but then he collapsed, falling to his knees, his free hand letting go of his bag and hitting the pavement to catch himself.

"Oi! Doumeki!" Watanuki shouted, shocked. She knelt down to the ground, her hand on the archer's shoulder as he sat up slowly, kneeling on the ground.

"My eye won't open." He stated, his hand still clutching his face.

"What?" Watanuki breathed, her mind instantly trying to jump to a solution. Okay, his eye won't open. Who can fix that? A doctor! It took less than a second, but she was on her feet, looking around for which way they needed to go to get Doumeki to a hospital. This was a new experience, being so intimately concerned for Doumeki. Up until that point in her life, Watanuki hadn't needed – or wanted – anyone to look after her. She didn't really care about her own safety, but now she was almost desperate to help her boyfriend. "A hospital! They can-"

"I don't think this is anything a hospital can fix." Doumeki interrupted the raven, instinctively knowing what was wrong.

"And why is that?!" Watanuki snapped back, frustrated at his lack of urgency. Doumeki pulled his hand away and the girl gasped as she saw the damage to his eye, her own eyes wide in shock. It looked like a spider's web was stretched across the right side of his face, the center of it looking as if it was sewing Doumeki's eye shut.

"That's…" Watanuki whispered, almost fearful of the mark on his face. Doumeki covered it up again, looking like he was in a little pain.

"I've never heard of and illness where a web-like thing attaches to you and you can't open your eye."

"Why are you so calm?!" Watanuki shouted, frantic and panicked enough for the both of them. He can't open his eye, for god's sake! We can't go to a hospital or doctor and yet he's so composed! And then her brain hit upon something: if the cause was supernatural, she knew right where to go. "I know! Yuko might know something about this! Let's go to the shop!" Watanuki grabbed Doumeki's hand and started pulling, trying to get him to his feet.

"That's impossible." He replied. The girl stopped pulling and Doumeki yanked his arm back.

"But…why?" She didn't get his behavior at all. He should be panicked and scared and wanting to find help right away…and yet, she was the one doing all of that. This was all backwards, all of it.

"I cannot enter Yuko's shop." Doumeki stated, his one eye hard as he looked at the girl. That look meant that the discussion had ended. Doumeki couldn't (or wouldn't) enter Yuko's shop, and therefore he wouldn't get any answers for himself. "I'm going home."

"Home?!" Watanuki shouted, disbelieving his attitude. "At a time like this!? We need to get you help!"

"I'm going home." Doumeki stated again, standing up on wobbly feet. The raven knew that he had made up his mind to go home and when Doumeki made up his mind, nothing was going to stop him.

The seer didn't know what to do, she knew that Yuko would have an answer for her, even if Doumeki wouldn't come to the shop. She would ask for him…even if he didn't want her to. The girl bottled up her plan and helped Doumeki to his feet, gathering up their school bags and walking to the temple. The whole trip was silent, neither speaking and the seer felt her boyfriend in the temple, walking him up to the doors, but not going in herself. She had her job to go to, he knew that much, but everything else she was going to do…well…he didn't need to know about that until she had a solution of some sort. Yuko would know what to do, she always did. The second Doumeki was in the temple and out of sight, Watanuki ran towards the shop, her irrational fear and worry making her legs move at nearly unearthly speeds. She dashed down the street, around the corner, up a couple of streets and around another corner and down a few more blocks, until the shop's fence came into sight. The girl nearly leapt the entire walkway in her haste, threw open the doors, kicked her shoes off and dropped her bag unceremoniously on the floor. Down the hall she ran in her stockinged feet and around the corner to Yuko's receiving room, knowing she'd be there at this hour. Watanuki slid open the doors, startling the twins (who were reading their favorite book – A City with No People) and interrupting Yuko's manga reading time (as the witch was lounging on her couch and peeked out from behind Macaroni Horenso).

"Yuko! Doumeki's eye won't open!" Watanuki exclaimed, completely panicked at this point as she scampered up to her boss' couch. "I tried to bring him to the shop, but he was spouting some crazy shit about not being able to enter it! And even thought I tried to stop him, he went back to his house! That dumbass! He-" Yuko suddenly sat up, startling the raven into silence, her hand moving lightening quick to touch the girl's right cheek. Her pale fingers skimmed across skin for a few moments, before moving away, pulling something with them. Yuko's body drifted back to the couch, her hair and red lily dress floating down gracefully with her, her cranberry eyes fixed on her hand. She opened her fingers, letting a glinting, silver thread settle on her palm. Watanuki watched the thread, not having realized it had been on her, and everything in the world seemed to focus on that one point. Everything around Yuko darkened, only her white skin and the red lilies on her dress and in her hair were bright – that an the silvery thread.

"He's a victim of a grudge." She stated ominously, her eyes deeply serious. "A spider's."

"A grudge?" Watanuki asked.

"He's done something worthy of having a grudge borne against him, right?" Yuko asked. Watanuki's brain instantly flashed back to the moment just that morning when Doumeki had freed her from a spider's web, breaking the delicate threads to free her hand. She gasped.

"That was just because I got caught in the web myself!" She argued, not understanding how such a little thing could warrant such a reaction.

"To you, Watanuki, it might be a 'just because.'" Yuko started, letting the web fall to the floor and picking up her pipe, the room clouding as she smoked. "But to the spider, it might have been a disaster, on that destroyed its precious home. Watanuki, wouldn't you feel some resentment and hate if suddenly, one day, the place you were living was destroyed without any explanation?"

"Well, I…" She started, unsure how to answer.

"Even if it does not appear to be a significant matter from one perspective, From another perspective, it is a huge incident, and most of the time, it is the recipient who feels the later shock. Only they can say whether it's not a big deal or not. Grudges are things that can be borne easily." The girl sank to the floor, the severity of their actions coming to light once she looked at it from the spider's perspective.

"Even so, I was the one who got caught in the spider's web in the first place. The grudge should be against me!" The raven argued.

"The spider resented Doumeki, the one who'd destroyed its home, more than you, who'd just gotten caught in it. To the spider, Doumeki deserved to be hated more."

"That's entirely unreasonable!" Watanuki shouted.

"A grudge is an unreasonable thing." Yuko replied, completely calm towards the girl's reaction.

"Will Doumeki's eye stay like that?" Watanuki asked, that being the second most important question on her mind.

"Until the spider forgets its grudge."

"How will that happen?!"

"Once it is satisfied with the results." Yuko tapped her kiseru pipe against its dish, dislodging some spent tobacco into its depths. "When the other party has received at least as much damage. However, there are people who aren't satisfied when equal damage had been inflicted and continue to hold a grudge even after the one they hate is destroyed. But since it's a spider this time, equal damage should be more than enough."

Watanuki thought about the whole situation for a moment, the most important question she had looming in her mind, having changed a bit since she'd entered the shop. At first, she'd wanted to know how to get rid of the web, but since this was the grudge of the spider, that seemed to be out of the question. A gnawing sense of guilt was eating at her, roiling around in her stomach. She'd started this whole mess by not paying attention to where she was flinging her arms, as usual and now Doumeki was in a great deal of trouble. It wasn't right. She should be the one who-! The grudge would linger until the spider was satisfied. But…if the grudge couldn't be lifted…could it be…

"Yuko…" Watanuki looked into the witch's eyes, hoping that with her help, she could make things right.

The dim sunset turned into a dark, late night, lingering on as Doumeki sat in his room at the temple, the only lighted room in the whole of his house. The wind whipped outside, foreboding, considering the state the archer was in. The brunette unfolded his arms, pulling one out of his yukata sleeve and brought it up to his sealed eye, lightly touching the web-like marks protruding from his skin. He tried opening his eye again, the tiny muscles of his face straining, but it was closed tight.

"It really won't open." He said softly, more to himself than to anyone else. He was alone with his curse, having come to the conclusion that the spider's web he'd destroyed was the cause of this. It was the only explanation really, he hadn't done anything to any other spiders that day, and in all honesty, whenever Watanuki was involved with something, things tended to go wrong. Or exactly how they were supposed to, as Yuko might say. Either way, Doumeki was just a bit glad that the curse had fallen upon him and not his girlfriend – if it had been Watanuki, things probably would've been far worse, considering her abilities and general misfortune. But still, a lurking heaviness lingered in his stomach, making the whole affair uneasy, even if he was fine with the outcome.

The wind picked up outside, pulling the man from his thoughts as it started to blow against the outside doors of his room. The doors were shaking and creaking under the strain, moaning steadily. It was almost as if the wind was trying to get inside, knocking on the screens almost violently. Unless…it really was a person knocking on the door. Maybe it was Watanuki, coming to see how he was doing. Of course, she'd brush it off as just "passing by" but it would be nice to see her again, especially if she'd calmed down. She might even begrudgingly admit that she was worried about him. But there was no need for her to knock like that, she'd probably just throw the doors open with a dramatic pose and ask him to praise Watanuki-sama for her generosity or something like that. So, maybe it wasn't her.

Doumeki stood up slowly and walked towards the door.

"Who is it?" He asked. The noise quieted down suddenly, the silence disturbing after all the ruckus. Receiving no answer, Doumeki reached out with both hands and pushed the screen doors open from both sides. The lights flicked off behind him, casting the room into darkness except for the dim moonlight shining down. The wind was completely gone, the leaves on the trees silent now, the night quiet. The archer stood for a moment in the quiet, perplexed but calm when suddenly a huge gust threw itself upon him. The wind came ripping and grabbing at his clothes, almost feeling like webs that dragged across skin and fabric, and he threw his hands up to protect his face, squeezing his remaining eye shut. He couldn't breathe in the onslaught, the sheer force knocking whatever breath he had had out of his body. But just as abruptly as it had come, the gust disappeared, leaving the quiet behind in its wake. Doumeki opened his eyes again, surprised that he could do so.

"It's gone." He whispered, staring out into the night with both his eyes. Whatever curse he had on him, it was gone now, gone as if it had never existed in the first place. Watanuki will be happy, she was so worried this afternoon, Doumeki thought. Sure, he'd been a little worried about it too, but Watanuki had nearly been distraught. He'd show her that he was okay in the morning and she'd be happy.

At least, that's how it was supposed to go.

The next morning, Doumeki was up earlier than usual, unable to sleep because of the strange events that had happened the night before. As he laid awake, he had ample time to think about it. It made no sense for his curse to disappear so quickly…it had only been day since he'd incurred it and from what he'd learned from his grandfather, curses are nasty things to get rid of and take considerable time and expertise break. But despite the unusual circumstances, Doumeki was glad to tell Watanuki at least, he didn't want his girlfriend to worry about him, especially with how distressed she'd looked yesterday when he'd collapsed in the street. She was going to be happy, and that's all that really mattered. He finished up his chores in no time and waited by the gate of the temple, waiting for Watanuki to walk by like she'd started doing lately. Apparently, Yuko had her stay over more and more now, for breakfasts or late nights when the girl didn't want to walk home at two in the morning. Maybe she'd even give him a kiss, if she was happy enough.

A short time later, he could hear the girl's crisp footsteps approaching the temple, almost echoing in the quite of the morning. But when Watanuki walked past the gate, she didn't stop, she didn't call out to him and definitely didn't give a kiss – she just rushed past without saying a word, her uniform skirt swishing with each step she took. Doumeki walked out of the temple grounds and followed after her, concerned with the girl's lack of greeting or some other such nagging, all of it suspiciously absent. The archer called out to her, trying to get Watanuki to stop running on ahead and actually walk with him.

"Oi." He called.

"My name is not 'oi.'" She hissed. At least that's normal, Doumeki thought, but Watanuki still didn't look at him and didn't stop walking. He walked after her, catching up easily with his considerable stride and followed few steps behind the raven.

"Oi." He tried again.

"I'm not 'oi!'" She snapped, clearly pissed at his greeting, like usual. If only things were like usual. The unsettling heaviness in Doumeki's stomach that he'd been feeling since last night roiled. Something was up with Watanuki and he was going to find out what it was. But first, the good news. He wanted her to be at least a little glad before he made her mad by prying into what was wrong.

"My eye is better." He stated simply, watching the back of the girl's head. She didn't turn around to see. "The spider's web that was on it is gone."

"Good for you." She huffed, still not looking back. That feeling was moving up the brunette's stomach and into his chest. Something was really wrong here, he could feel it. She was hiding something.

"Hey. Wait up." Doumeki insisted. Watanuki didn't stop walking. "Oi."

"Like I said already: I'm not – " The girl started, her voice like a broken record. Doumeki's hand shot out, his strong fingers gripping her arm in an unbreakable hold. Watanuki stopped in her tracks, unable to move forward and Doumeki pulled her back, finally getting a look at her face when she was forced to turn towards him. Doumeki's eyes widened, seeing the white medical eye patch that covered the girl's right eye, the straps wrapped around her ears under her glasses. What happened? Did something attack her? But the whole thing seemed familiar. Could it be…

"What is that?" Doumeki asked, his voice dropping low.

"I have a bit of a sty. It's nothing." Watanuki grumbled, yanking her arm out of Doumeki's grip when he slacked it. A single thought flashed through Doumeki's head – her eye is injured on the same side my curse was. And he knew, he knew that she'd done something to take the curse off of him – had done something horrible to herself to spare him the inconvenience and pain of bearing the curse himself. Watanuki, what have you done?!

"You did something, didn't you?" His voice was even, but it held so much more than his normal monotone, even Watanuki could tell that something had upset him.

"No idea what you're talking about." She replied, still refusing to look him in the eye as she turned forward again.

"I'm asking you to tell me what you did to lift the spider's web off of my eye." It was not a request: it was a demand. Doumeki walked up to his girlfriend, dropped his school bag and grabbed the front of her uniform, tightening his fist in the cloth of her jacket as he swung her around and into the front wall of a house next to them, knowing that she wouldn't like what he was doing. But there was no other way to find out what she'd done. She wouldn't tell him. She'd lie to him and brush it off; it was just the way she was. Once she'd taken something on, Watanuki hated to give in and ask for help or admit that she'd taken on too much. It was an admirable quality – to be able to have that much determination and stubbornness to accomplish impossible things – but right now, it was getting in the way. Doumeki pressed his body up next to hers, trapping the girl in between a rock and a hard place as she struggled to break free, her hand flying up to cover her face as she let go of her own bag.

"No! Stop it!" She cried, but she was too slow. Doumeki's freed hand was on the patch, ripping it off of her face and sending her glasses flying. They crashed into the pavement, lucky to be in one piece, the sound of the fall clicking quietly behind them. Doumeki held the patch in his hand, staring into Watanuki's face, willing her to move her hand back down so he could see what she'd done. He'd seen a glimpse of what she'd managed to do, and he didn't like it at all. Watanuki was glaring at him, and he didn't like that either.

"You bitch." Doumeki growled, glaring back. Watanuki's hand came down as they glowered at each other. She'd done the unthinkable, something that Doumeki would have never forced on her for his sake. She shouldn't have done what she did.

Watanuki's right eye was glassy and sightless, the once brilliant sapphire that it had been now just a pathetic imitation at watery gray.

Doumeki let go of her jacket, his hands resting at his sides again, the one still holding the patch, trembling in anger. He wouldn't let this one slide by. Watanuki had done something that pissed him off and he wasn't going to stand for it. Anger rushed through him, heat and fury coiling around his heart as the one person he had sworn to protect just threw everything he'd done for her back in his face like she didn't care. It was unforgiveable and selfish, just like her. He was going to fix this.

"I want to see Yuko." Doumeki demanded, keeping his voice under control by sheer force of will. He wanted to yell and scream at her, but he couldn't. It wasn't in his nature to be loud – that was Watanuki's job. But he hoped that she could hear the anger in his voice, could feel his frustration and resentment for her actions. "I can't go into her shop, so I need you to call her here."

"Schools' about to start," Watanuki replied, closing her eye and cutting herself off. She wasn't budging an inch, being stubborn as usual. "Why would I – " Watanuki's answer was cut off as Doumeki smacked his hand flat into the wall behind her, just barely missing her face. The force of his movement ruffled her hair as she stared at him wide eyed, her mouth hanging open. Doumeki was furious and she'd only seen him like this one other time. It was frightening.

"Call her." Doumeki ordered, looming over the girl. Watanuki glared at him with her one good eye, the other seeing only darkness. As much as she wished to defy him and just go to school, Doumeki wasn't going to let to her go without getting what he wanted. It was just the way he was.

"Fine, asshole." She huffed, tsking at him and bending down to pick of her bag. She stood and smacked the patch out of the archer's hand and moodily put it on again, covering up her useless eye before retrieving her fallen glasses. Doumeki watched her do it, seething at the girl. He picked up his bag as well and they stood facing away from each other, both trying their hardest not to give in but not to fight because if they fought, it would be horrible and it would end badly with consequences neither of them wanted to face.

"I'll be at the park." Doumeki informed the seer, starting to walk down the street.

"Do whatever you like." Watanuki hissed, itching to knock her boyfriend down a few pegs, stoking the fight unconsciously.

"Like you did? Dumbass." The archer let some of his frustration slip out again.

"Try callin' me 'dumbass' again and I'm going to kick your dumb ass!" Watanuki shrieked, stomping her foot like a petulant child.

"Just get Yuko." Doumeki threw over his shoulder, staring to walk towards the park.

"Don't tell me what to do!" She shouted after him, but in the end, she did what he told her to do. She turned heel and stomped back to the shop, both of them disappearing around different corners at about the same time.

Doumeki waited for Yuko at the Third City Park, the park they always seemed to go to, sitting on the dog toy as the bright morning grayed with a threatening rain storm. Doumeki thoughts were spinning, his anger making him circle back to Watanuki's actions again and again. He was going to be like this all day, stuck in this rut of thinking, cursing her foolishness and getting angrier and angrier unless Yuko could fix it. Yuko had to be able to fix it – she'd grant his wish, as long as he had suitable compensation. And that's how Yuko found him. The archer's head came up to watch the approaching woman as she seemed to melt out of the mist and grayness, her thigh high boots clicking ominously, her outfit reflecting the drab colors. Doumeki was used to her more flamboyant style, but today, Yuko was wearing a brown-gray dress that matched the morning, and a dark jacket over it, her black hair simply left down.

"Calling me out so early in the morning…is going to cost you." She said, her voice like a soothing threat. Due to her nature and occupation, Doumeki knew all of this was going to cost him, morning or not.

"If there is something I can give, then by all means, I'll give it." The brunette gestured to the duck seat for his guest to sit down. Yuko obligingly sat, crossing her legs sensually. "So please, turn Watanuki's eye back to normal."

"The one who stole Watanuki's eye was the spider," Yuko began, "The same on who cursed your eye with a spider's web. Watanuki said this yesterday when she came to me: 'If the spider came to hate Doumeki more than me…if I did something to be even more hated, would the grudge shift to me?' And I answered, 'Yes.' Then she asked me to tell her how, and I did."

"Why though?" Doumeki asked, wondering if it was possible for this woman to exist outside of her emotions, if it was possible that she didn't care for Watanuki's safety as long as it kept her business going. How else could she let something so cruel happen to the girl, to both of them?

"Because Watanuki wished it." The witch answered simply.

"Even though you knew she would end up like that?" Doumeki's eyes narrowed ever so slightly, glaring at the woman.

"Even so." Yuko gazed back at the frustrated teen calmly. "The shop exists to grant wishes, that is what it is for. People are mysterious creatures, from one person's perspective something may seem unfortunate, but to another, it brings them happiness."

"Then can you tell me how to get her eye back from the spider? Please." The archer asked next, starting to understand where Watanuki's line of thinking had gone. She'd been the one caught in the spider's web, had she not done that, nothing would've happened. Doumeki wouldn't have made the choice to free her, therefore losing use of his eye to the curse. She thought that she should be the one to be punished, for causing the mess in the first place.

"I can't do that." She answered truthfully.

"Why not?"

"To restore Watanuki's eye, this time, Doumeki, you would lose your right eye. If there are wishes equal in desire and outcome, then I give the one that was requested first a higher priority." It made sense, it really did, but that didn't mean that Doumeki liked it. The man lowered his head, staring at his hands and wondering what he could do…if he could do anything at all. Yuko couldn't help him, he and Watanuki desired the same thing, so their wishes were now of equal status, and the dumbass had beaten him to the punch. It was truly frustrating, maddening and stupid.

"You're angry, aren't you?" Yuko asked, as if she was watching his internal struggle with a front row seat.

"I'm not." Doumeki lifted his head to continue the conversation. "Not at you, anyway."

"But you are mad at Watanuki." She concluded. Doumeki didn't refute her, it was the truth. "It's alright to be angry. She does not understand how painful it can be for a person to be sacrificed for. Especially when it is someone important. She doesn't understand any of it at all." Doumeki could predict the way Watanuki would act, how she would brush off her actions like it was nothing and smile her days away while he brooded in the background, furious. "You just have to get mad at her, and teach her that." Yuko finished. The conversation over, both of them came to an understanding about the issue at hand, and Doumeki bid the witch goodbye, thanking her for her services even if she didn't grant his wish. He walked out of the park, turning in the opposite direction of the school, heading back home.

If Yuko couldn't help him, he'd find another way to save Watanuki from herself.

"Wari! Shall we go home together?" Watanuki called, spinning happily as they packed up their schoolbags.

"Sure!" Wari smiled cutely. Yes! Watanuki squealed internally, happy to walk home with Wari for once instead of Doumeki. Sure, walking with boyfriends was cool and all, but Doumeki had been really mean to her, so she didn't want to see him right now. In fact, she hadn't seen him for almost a week, which was odd, but good since she was still kinda mad at him. But that didn't matter right now, she was going to walk home with Wari…again! The girl was nearly skipping as the pair left together, heading towards Wari's house.

"It's gotten warmer, hasn't it?" Wari asked, making small talk like he always did.

"It really has!" Watanuki answered happily. I like this! Lately I'm always going home with Wari. Doumeki is off on his own for once, yay!

"Oh, Doumeki!" Wari interrupted the girl's thoughts like he could read them.

"WHERE?! Where is that bastard!? Where?! Where!?" The seer hissed like a cat looking all around for her absent boyfriend, ready to give him a piece of her mind about the last time they'd been together.

"He's not here. I was just saying I promised to lend him a book." Wari corrected cheerfully. "But I haven't seen him lately so I haven't been able to give it to him." Damn you, Doumeki! How dare you trade books with my sweet Wari! "Are you going to your part-time job at Yuko's shop today, Watanuki?"

"Yeah." She answered, forgetting her internal rant (also forgetting that Wari wasn't hers and that Doumeki was one who was actually hers).

"Then you'll pass by Doumeki's house, right?" The thought of going to Doumeki's was distasteful to the girl, especially after what had happened between them.

"I technically do…sort of." She replied.

"Could you give this to him for me?" Wari, rummaged through his bag and pulled out a book with a yellow cover, holding it out to the girl. The girl stared at the book, horrified at being asked to go to Doumeki's house in the first place when they were mad at each other but also because Doumeki was trading books with Wari, and that was even more horrifying. When she didn't answer, Wari retracted his request. "I'm sorry, you must be busy, Watanuki."

"It's no problem!" The raven lovingly snatched the book out of Wari's hands, smiling like a love struck fool. "I had something I needed to do at Doumeki's place anyway!"

"LIKE HELL I DID!" Watanuki snarled as she stomped up the temple's walk by herself a few minutes later. "I had no reason to come to this damn place! Even when he's not there he always gets in the way, that Doumeki! And I'm still mad at him for that crap he pulled a few days ago!" The girl stopped stomping when she noticed the tree that the spider's web had been in, standing off to the right side of the path. The girl stopped by the tree, her eye drifting to the branch were the spider's web had been hanging, the blue depths of her pupil unreadable as she thought about everything that had happened. There is the place…where that spider's web was, she thought to herself. I've gotten pretty used to having only one eye. The sight of Doumeki in the same state she was in now flashed through her mind, making her heart ache a little at seeing him like that and then him avoiding her for making everything right. She closed both of her eyes, even the one behind the patch that couldn't see, trying to push down the ache. If I tell him I don't mind, he shouldn't either. That bastard needs to get over himself. She opened her eyes again when she was sure that she felt a little better, but then the strangest thing happened.

Her vision split, her left eye still looking at the spider's tree, but the other eye was seeing things for the first time, even covered up by the patch! And it wasn't the rest of the tree and the temple! Whatever her eye was seeing was not where she was. Her vision her right eye was flying over the rooftops of houses! The girl stumbled, shocked, her left eye turning to see the temple as she wobbled on her feet, but not her right eye was seeing stuff from an even greater height, as if it really was flying. The temple side tilted as the Watanuki tried to get a grip on herself, and the weird side darkened for a minute before showing her something else. Her right eye vision was running through grass now, the strands looking like menacing claws from her ground-like perspective before changing again to the picture of beautiful, while daffodils, their radiance unearthly in the sunlight. And then it changed again, showing the girl the gray world of the demon parade then a flash of blue with some red as a person ran by her. Developing a headache, Watanuki threw Wari's book over her eye, trying to shut out the images, as she stumbled across the path. As soon as she did that, her ride side when dark, only seeing blackness. The girl turned to look another way, making sure that the images were gone, and all she saw were the bare branches of the temple's trees. She took the book off her face, just making sure again, but could only see the ordinary now.

"Does it bother you?" A voice asked. Watanuki whirled around, surprised at being seen acting like an idiot. It was Doumeki. He was standing near her, dressed in his chore clothes and holding a stack of books. She had no clue what to say to him, especially after what happened. But he seemed to want to say something. "Does your eye hurt?" He asked again.

"Don't startle me like that." She grumbled, answering him. "It doesn't hurt; forget about it." She finally said what she had wanted to say to him. Now he shouldn't worry about it. But if Watanuki had been looking at Doumeki's face carefully, she'd have seen a tormented expression hiding just skin deep.

"Why don't you go home or to Yuko's shop?" Doumeki said next, sounding almost like a command to get out of his presence. That ticked Watanuki off.

"I was about to leave without you telling me." The girl stomped her foot and started yelling louder. "And don't order me around! If Wari hadn't asked me to come, why the hell would I have come here?!" She shoved Wari's book out in front of her and put on her superior air as a way of coping with the fact that Doumeki apparently didn't want her around. "This is the book that my sweet Wari asked me to bring you! Worship it and offer it prayers in gratitude!" It finally registered with the girl that Doumeki already had a stack of books in his hand, holding them with one arm like they didn't weight anything at all. "So what's with that pile of books? Did you go to the library?" The books looked old, their dark brown and yellow pages showing age and they were bound in the old way too.

"No." Doumeki answered. "They came from our storehouse." He pointed off to the back of the temple. Interested and having not been asked to leave for a second time, Watanuki left Wari's book on Doumeki's stack and started walking in the direction he was pointing, and the archer followed close behind. The storehouse was near the back of the temple – it was at least two stories high, its walls whitewashed and the double door were left open because Doumeki had been getting in there.

"Oh wow. A residence with its own storehouse. It's like a commercial." Watanuki stared in awe at its size.

"Wouldn't that fit an architectural company better?" Doumeki interjected.

"It screams out that there's history here." Watanuki continued, ignoring him.

"Well, it was built over one hundred years ago."

"A hundred years?!" Watanuki yelped, surprised that something this old looked so good. "But the walls and stuff don't look that old!"

"My family did a large restoration before I was born. The one who used it most of the time was my grandfather anyways." The archer replied as the girl kept staring. It was nice to see her again, any they were having such a friendly chat. But with Watanuki's temperament, it would sour soon enough, so Doumeki was going to enjoy all he could get.

"You said that your grandfather was the head priest or something, right?"

"Yeah."

"So then, the rest of your chores you do at home are cleaning this storehouse?" Still is awe of the building, Watanuki was curious as to what kind of books it held and went to look at her boyfriend's pile. "Hm?" She made a noise as she read a few of the titles. They were things like "Treaty on the Breaking of Curses/Spells" and "Backfiring of Curses and Rituals." Watanuki looked up at Doumeki and he just stared down at her, his expression even more stone-like than usual. He moved the books away from her and covered up some of the titles, trying to hide the fact that he was researching on his own. And Watanuki had soured the conversation by prying. So, to stop an argument on the real issue, Doumeki opened up the old argument.

"Aren't you supposed to be going to your job or something?" The archer asked. "Or, if you want to help me clean, the broom is over there." He pointed towards where she knew the cleaning supplies were, his sleeve covering up the titles for him.

"Who would want to do that?! You forced me to do it!" Watanuki howled, several cross veins popping up out of her head. She hastily declined the offer and stomped out of the temple, heading towards Yuko's place. But she might've been better off cleaning the temple with Doumeki because Yuko had her do something worse.

Namely, wearing a dress.

Today, Yuko had taken it upon herself to decorate (or have the twins decorate, Watanuki really couldn't tell) the second dining room so that it looked like Wonderland and thrown up everywhere. Yuko was dressed like the Queen of Hearts, Maru was the Mad Hatter (hat and all) and Moro was the March Hare (ears and nest of straw present as well). The floors and ceiling were somehow magically black and white tile now, a huge dining table set for tea with room for fifteen guests had appeared in the cender of the room, there were giant chess pieces everywhere and a few trees with white and red roses blooming in them and all sorts of Alice in Wonderland dolls were sitting around the edges of the room, including Humpty Dumpty, TweedleDee and TweedleDum, the frog footman, the Dodo, the White Rabbit and the Cheshire cat. Mokona was asleep in the middle of the table to top it all off.

And Watanuki was wearing and Alice dress. How embarrassing.

Yuko was sipping her tea and daintily eating the tea time pastries and sandwiches Watanuki had made up as the girl walked back in with a fresh pot of tea and a tray of more goodies. Her dress quietly whooshed as she walked and the girl was still grumbling about Doumeki, resolutely trying to ignore the fact that she was wearing a dress.

"And just when I have gone over there to deliver Wari's book to his especially! Who would do the cleaning!?" She picked up her rant right where she'd left off when Yuko had ordered more tea. Trying to use me as a servant, that Doumeki!" Watanuki growled.

"Oh, yes, I'm sure no one's ever tried to do that before." Yuko replied sarcastically, eyeing her servant's dress. She's almost too easy to order around now. I hardly had to push her to get her into that dress. She changed the subject to a more delightful one. "Doumeki's storehouse, huh?" She blushed, holding up her heart-shaped fan to her face. "I'm sure there are many treasures hidden away in there."

"Treasure!" Maru sang as she leapt out of her seat.

"Treasure!" Moro sang back, jumping out of her seat as well.

"Treasure! Treasure! Lots of treasure!~" They both sang, starting to dance and then spin down either side of the table, repeating their little song over and over again.

"Hey, now! Sit down you two!" Watanuki tried to stop them, but they weren't listening anymore. "By the way…why am I Alice?!" Watanuki finally addressed the dress problem, grabbing handfuls of the skirt and hoisting them up, nearly showing Yuko her panties.

"It's more interesting that way." Yuko replied. "Dianne Aldman's Alice was good, but as an English love, I prefer Tenniel's. (1)

"What the heck is that?" Watanuki asked as Yuko took a sip of tea. Mokona stirred in its sleep, disturbed by the twin's singing, but just stretched and plopped face down on the table to nap again. How does it not suffocate like that? Watanuki wondered. "At any rate, it looked like an amazing storehouse." Yuko popped a pastry in her mouth as she listened. "The books he had looked old too."

"What kind of books were they?" The witch-turned queen asked.

"Well, I saw one that was about breaking curses and one about backfiring them and ritual stuff."

"Oh, I see." Yuko smiled, figuring everything out.

"See what?"

"I figured out what Doumeki has been doing at home all this time." She elaborated.

"Like I said, he's cleaning out the storehouse." Watanuki reiterated.

"He won't find it unless he cleans it out." Yuko replied.

"Find what?" All of a sudden, Yuko's finger was right in her face, pointing at her right eye and startling the girl in the process.

"A way to give you back your eye."

"What?" Watanuki's eyes widened, starting to understand.

"Doumeki's grandfather was the head priest and preformed exorcisms of evil spirits, didn't he? There must be books related to those skills in that storehouse." The twin's voices were the only thing that interrupted Yuko, the rest of the room taking on a bit of an eerie atmosphere as things came to light. "For him to have books on breaking curses and other things like that, is fortunate. Antique book and technique shops would be on their knees begging for him to give them up. For a astronomical of money. But instead, since I turned him down to restore your eye, he's decided to look on his own, all for you."

"That idiot!" Watanuki spat, hating the fact that Doumeki was meddling in her affairs. "I did it of my own volition, he should just stay out of it!"

"If that's the case, I think you should just leave Doumeki to his own devices, don't you?" Watanuki had nothing to say and remained silent. "Watanuki, could you get me some brandy for my tea?" Yuko asked, testing the girl's usual temper.

"Sure. Give me a minute." She said, not resisting at all, as if her mind were somewhere else. The girl walked out of the room, past Maru and Moro who were now on the table and drawing on Mokona's back with white chalk, playing a game of tick tack toe.

"X!" Moro said, placing her mark.

"O!" Maru seconded, placing her own mark.

"X!"

"O!"

When Watanuki had left, shutting the door behind her, Yuko reach for the hooka next to her, taking a drag from the hose and letting the smoke drift through the air.

"Even when he's been told it's impossible, he is doing what he can by himself, searching for a solution. That's the kind of devotion one would expect out of a lover. You're very lucky Watanuki." Yuko smiled. "That is also the reason why Doumeki has no need to enter this shop." Mokona finally woke up while Yuko was talking to herself, jumping to its feet and giving a huge yawn that stretched the whole of its body. "She's going to go, right?" Yuko asked her companion. Mokona jumped up and off of Moro's and Maru's head, punching their nest and hat over their eyes before landing next to the witch.

"Oh yeah." It agreed. They knew it would happen, with almost undeniable certainty.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

A dog barked in the night, its howls echoing across the streets like a ghost as Doumeki studied in the storehouse. It was late, incredibly so, but he couldn't stop. For the past several days and nights, this is what he'd done, talking only a few breaks to eat, use the restroom and do his normal chores. Books were left in piles everywhere, on the floor and the low desk, all useless to him. The lone light from his kerosesene lamp was sufficient enough to light the space of the desk and a little bit of the storehouse, making the shadows even deeper. Doumeki crisply shut the book he was currently reading, disappointed that it had nothing on spider's curses, just like all the other books. He'd cleaned out and read almost everything in the storehouse at this point. He was nearly at his wit's end, even if his face didn't show it.

"All that's left are the books in the chest." He said, to no one in particular. Just then, the sliding door into the storehouse was pushed open with a slam. "Who's there?" He asked, turning to see a late night visitor.

"It's Watanuki-sama!" Watanuki was standing there in a dramatic pose, her glasses glinting in the dim light. She was still in her uniform and had her school bag with her, along with another bag.

"What time do you think it is?" Doumeki asked, standing up to greet her. It was nice to see her for a second time in one day, after so long absence.

"That's my line!" She huffed, shutting the door behind her and stepping into the genkan. "How long is cleaning supposed to take? Slowpoke!"

"What about your job?" Doumeki asked, dodging the question.

"I'm done with that." Watanuki kicked off her shoes before stepping up onto the storehouse floor. "Geez! You haven't cleaned up at all! This is why you're an idiot." The archer was not in the mood to be criticized or be made fun of, much less by her. He had one more chest to go through and then that was it: he was all out of options to help her.

"Just get going, will yo-" Suddenly, there was a bag in his face, the one that wasn't Watanuki's school bag. Doumeki had to lean back to avoid being hit by it and stared at it, confused, as it was dropped in his hands.

"Untio your pitiful self, in my graciousness I have brought you a meal worth of the gods!" Watanuki struck a few poses, starting to look like the prince character in a manga as she did so. "Worship it and dance with gratitude at my greatness!" She started laughing like the villain in an manga and Doumeki just shrugged, reaching inside the bag for her home cooking.

"Moron." He said.

"WHAT WAS THAT, YOU BASTARD!?" Watanuki leapt at him, her hands grabbing the collar of his gi shirt. He plugged his one ear and held his lunch out of the way as Watanuki's fangs came out. It was just like it normally was. Everything was normal, except for one thing.

"If you have that much energy I guess you're fine." He commented.

"HUH?!" The seer shouted, starting to sound like the leader of a punk gang.

"In this storehouse, my grandfather collected mountains of books on things like techniques and tools for using charms. It means nothing to you, right?" Doumeki asked, getting out of the girl's grip and sitting down to pull out his food.

"I'm getting really pissed at you!" Watanuki snarled, completely normal.

"It also seems that my grandfather was being sure that he didn't bring anything dangerous in here." The archer ignored her just as she was ignoring him. Watanuki looked around, finding the objects that Doumeki was talking about (apparently not ignoring him completely). In each of the four corners of the room, talismans had been placed on the beams.

"Protective wards?" She whispered, looking at all four. And now she got where Doumeki was going with this. "That's right. Normally, in stuffy places where the air stagnates like this, there would be spirits…but I can't sense any." But even if there weren't any obvious spirits, something was nagging at the back of the raven's mind…an ominous presence that seemed to shift and move, almost undetected. She couldn't get a read on it. "But…there is something…" Watanuki tried to focus on the presence, trying to find where it was, sharpening her unfortunate gift to figure out what was going on. A few moments passed in quite as she concentrated and sensed…and then…

"There's no tea." Doumeki shattered the girl's concentration with his mundane comment as he started to eat.

"You're eating already?!" Watanuki snarled, completely forgetting the presence and flying off the handle at her unconcerned boyfriend. But he ignored her and started eating. Watanuki went to grab her thermos and wondered how he liked the food. She'd gone with simple things this time – tamagoyaki, steamed vegetables, potatoes, onigiri and the like – so the whole meal wasn't anything fancy. The girl unscrewed the lid of her thermos and flipped it around expertly, having done this many times, and used it as a cup. "Geez, I can't leave you alone for a second," she grumbled. Once the cup/lid was full, she pushed it into Doumeki's face.

"Here!" She snipped. "It's not tea but I made some Miso soup. Bow your head three time and give thanks before drinking!" Watanuki ordered.

"Sure." Doumeki took the cup by the handle and looked at it for a second, like he really was going to bow his head and give thanks. But then he just started drinking without doing any of that.

"That's not giving thanks, you bastard!" Watnauki shook and angry fist at him. But if Doumeki could've argued (which he couldn't because he was eating) he would've argued that eating someone else's food with gusto was thanks in and of itself. And so he ate. "These are just leftovers from Yuko's." The raven started babbling, letting her mouth run while the archer just listened and ate quietly, picking up some inarizushi with his chopsticks. "Leftover are more than good enough for you." In actuality, Watanuki had made this from scratch just for him, since Yuko had wanted English tea today to make her Alice theme, but she wasn't going to tell him that.

"I want croquettes next time." (2) He requested, as if he knew that she'd made this just for him.

"GAH!" Watanuki yelped. "Listen when someone is talking to you! They were leftovers!" Watanuki tried to solidify her lie with drama (not all of it fake because he really wasn't listening to her). Doumeki, being the Doumeki he was, devoured his food quickly, all while maintaining his stone-faced composure, and soon, he was handing the empty, two-layer bento box back to Watanuki.

"Gochisousama." (3) He said with a single bow of his head while Watanuki placed the lid back on the box. "That was good." Then he stood up and walked off to look at more books.

"Geez, he really thinks he's something special." Watanuki grumbled to herself. Now that the food was taken care of, she looked around the desk she was sitting next to, her gaze flitting from book to book, astounded that the brunette had apparently read all of them while supposedly cleaning. It was frustrating to think that he was doing all this research on his own, trying to fix something that she'd chosen or herself. She'd fixed the grudge placed upon him, why wasn't he grateful for that? Now that he was better, there was no reason to worry for her, and yet, he was still doing this.

"Are you looking for it?" She asked, her question pointed because she already knew the answer.

"What?" Doumeki paused in pulling a book off of the storehouse's massive bookcase, and gave her a blank look.

"A way to restore my eye." Doumeki didn't answer and just opened the book in his hands, giving Watanuki all the answer she needed. He needed to understand that she was fine like this, this outcome is what she chose to help him. "I'm fine, even if I have to stay like this." Her words were heavy on her tongue, full of hidden emotion and confusion at his actions for trying to undermine her desire to help him. She's too damn stubborn, Doumeki shook his head ever so slightly.

"Well, I am not." Doumeki's answer was also heavy, hiding feelings of worry and regret for what had happened. Geez, he's stubborn, Watanuki rolled her eyes.

Silence ensued between them, both individuals unmoving in their convictions. There was nothing more to say on the subject – they were both dissatisfied with the other's attitude.

"You should head back soon. Spirits come out more easily at night, don't they?" Doumeki broke the silence, trying to get the tiring, unhelpful girl out of his way if she wasn't going to help him. He had to find a way to help her get her eye back, that's all that really mattered right now. They could solve their other issues after that. But Watanuki didn't leave. She picked a book off the desk and rested it on her folded knees, opening it up.

"If you're doing research on your own, then I can do it on my own too." She replied with a huff. Doumeki turned at look at her, surprised by her actions considering what she'd done to herself (of course, his face didn't show it). Watanuki turned to glare at him. "You got a complaint or something!?"

"I read that one already." The girl's face flushed in embarrassment, a sweatdrop forming on her forehead. "Read those ones." Doumeki pointed to the chest he hadn't gone through yet.

"Don't order me around!" Watanuki snapped, standing up and brushing her skirt down. "Geez, you've always acted like this!" Watanuki walked over to the chest, tucked into the corner with another one, a diagonal support beam and the face of the wall making a little niche above it. She bent down to pick up the chest. "In here, right?" She lifted the box, surprised by how light it was despite its size and overcompensated, smacking the corner into the support beam and knocking a piece of wood off of it, revealing a little compartment. "Oh, shit, I broke it!" She exclaimed, hoping that she didn't just break Doumeki storehouse permanently.

"Wait," Doumeki said, catching sight of something inside the compartment wrapped in and aged paper. He walked over and reached for the parcel as Watanuki set the chest down again and started having a freak out.

"I broke someone's storehouse! Oh my god, what am I going to do?!" She flapped her gums, speaking faster and faster as she went on. "What, what should I do?! I'll have to compensate you! I'm sure it can be fixed! Ah! What've I done!?" Doumeki ignored her in the back ground and carefully tore open the paper wrapped around the object. It was a book, a book with a talisman pasted on the front done in his grandfather's hand writing. The kanji on the spell was accompanied by a drawing of a strange-looking arrow, one with a horseshoe tip rather than the traditional arrowhead. This book was very old and it held something important if it was hidden away like it had been.

"This is my grandfather's handwriting." Doumeki said out loud, interrupting Watanuki's hysterics.

"Oh, so this is something your grandfather wrote?" The seer asked, calming down and coming to take a look. She saw the workmanship of the talisman on the front and was kinda floored by it. "Oh wow, he's good. In fact, he's so food I can't even read it."

"This is the greatest thing you could find." Doumeki admitted, his eyes getting a little warmer as he gazed at Watanuki, particularly at her eye patch.

"So you can read it? You know what it is?"

"Yeah." Doumeki took the book over to the desk, clearing away all the other manuscripts and moving the lamp closer so he could read better. Watanuki stood by him as he sat down, starting to read, impressed that he could understand such intricate and skillful handwriting. Several minutes passed in silence as the archer read, and Watanuki was getting fidgety, irked that he hadn't told her what he'd found. Actually, it was what she found so she should know what she had found.

"Oi." The archer piped up.

"How many times are you going to make me say it?!" Watanuki shouted, pissed that he still wasn't using her actual name. "My name is not, 'oi!'"

"Found it." He replied, ignoring her.

"Found what, exactly?" Watanuki huffed, still irked that he hadn't told her what she'd found.

"A spell to return an eye taken by a spider." He answered, showing her the book. Watanuki couldn't believe her eyes. On the left page there was a drawing of a spider in its web, a thread coming from the left corner of the illustration, up to the spider's outstretched leg and then back down to where and eyeball hung at the very end. The opposite page seemed to have ritual instructions, but Watanuki couldn't read them.

"Geez, that's oddly specific!" Watanuki gasped, not believing their luck. "Wait, so this is a common occurrence?" Doumeki started reading, overjoyed that all his study had been worth it. With Watanuki's help, his could fix this.

"On the night of a new moon, draw water from a well and wash the lost eye." He began, both of their eyes firmly fixed on the page, so close to the answers. "And with that water-" As the archer continued, Watanuki felt something, that presence she couldn't pin point, suddenly get stronger as she became aware of it once again.

Her head snapped in the direction of Wari's book, sitting next to Doumeki's other books. It opened by itself, and the pages flipped quickly as if caught in a gust of wind. Doumeki stopped reading to stare too as the book flopped open to a random page. Then something even stranger started to happen: the characters on the page started to move, shaking and tugging as they pulled themselves free of their confines, gathering at the center of the two pages. Both teens gasped as a black blob of letters and ink rising out of the spine. The blob rose out of the book once all of the characters had been pulled into it, forming a snake-like creature that lunged at Doumeki. Watanuki gasped, grabbing at Doumeki's collar and yanking him away from the creature, both of them crashing to the ground. If only he hadn't dropped the book. It fell, falling open to a random page on the floor. The creature stopping lunging at the teens and its head swung around to look at the book, its body stretching down to the pages. And then it started to eat. Its head ran down the lines of text, the characters disappearing as it gobbled up the words.

"Its eating the characters…" Watanuki breathed, watching at her only hope at getting her eye back was devoured. Doumeki was moving in an instant, intent of getting the book back. He was going to fix Watanuki so that nothing had happened, that way, he could look her in both of her eyes and not see her suffering anymore than she had to. But as he started to lunge for the tome, the seer's hands were on his shoulders, holding him back.

"Don't get close to it!" She screamed, fearful of what that creature could do to humans if they agitated it.

"At this rate, all the words will be eaten." Doumeki argued back, his voice inflecting anger without holding much of it. The man broke her hold on his easily and reached for the book. The snake reared its head as he got close and hissed, revealing a set of sharp, black fangs. He almost had it, even if he was bitten or something else, he was going to get that book back. Suddenly, the snake was pushed down, trapped by one by the bento box layers that Watanuki had grabbed.

"It can't get us now!" She yelled, breathing heavily from her dash and out of fear.

"You moron." Doumeki sighed.

"What did I do?!" Watanuki half-heartedly snapped, still focused on the snake.

"What's the point of trapping it with the book?" The archer pointed out, kneeling down to remove the box.

"Don't touch it! It'll jump out again!"

"How am I supposed to get the book if I can't touch it?"

"I'm telling you to stop it!" Watanuki was yelling again. "What will you do if it's something you can't handle!?" The girl didn't want anything to happen to Doumeki again – she'd already gotten him into so much trouble already. If Doumeki, the one who had a strong resistance to spirits, couldn't handle the snake, then what could she do? This was all she could do to begin with!

"Then you should go." Doumeki encouraged, worried about Watanuki's safety but still determined to get the book.

"I'm not leavning!"

"Then I'm not leaving it either." The box rattled violently, the snake inside it hissing menacingly as it tried to get out. What to do, what to do?! Watanuki had no clue how to deal with this and neither did Doumeki. The only person who did wasn't even there…

"That's right!" Watanuki could get Yuko! "I should as Yuko what to-" the girl by cut off by a cheerful voice.

"You called?" Yuko sang. Watanuki whirled around to see Yuko standing in the door she'd just opened, waving at her. Mokona was sitting on the woman's shoulder and she'd changed into some more normal clothes than the Queen of Hearts outfit she'd been wearing earlier, namely a pair of red pants and a long sleeved crop top, her hair already yanked up into a new bun.

"Yuko!?" Watanuki exclaimed.

"Hey ya!" Mokona greeted.

"Hi!~" The witch added brightly. She skipped into the genkan and kicked off her heels. "Sorry for the intrusion, but this looks like fun." The witch stepped into the storehouse and walked up to the teens, looking down at the box with a questioning look. "Are you taking it home, Watanuki?" She asked, referring to the caught snake.

"No I'm not!" Watanuki shook her head vehemently and jumped away from the box.

"Well, then…I think it would be better if we just had it disappear." Yuko tapped her chin with one finger, thinking.

"Yes, please!" The seer begged, nodding furiously.

Yuko took a look around the room, starting in one corner and moving counterclockwise until she'd looked in all four corners before circling back.

"Doumeki, can I make use of those wards?" Doumeki looked at the talisman closest to him, wondering if it was a good idea to let her have them. They protected the storehouse, so it wasn't a great idea to let them go. "I'll draw you up new ones later, if you like."

"That's fine." He decided. Yuko smiled and held her hand out in front of her.

"Mokona." She requested.

"Yeah!" The furball jumped off her shoulder into her hand and then Yuko held it above her head. Mokona opened it huge mouth and took a gigantic breath, calling up a gale inside the storehouse, the winds whipping and pulling on the four wards. The pieces of paper gave way after a moment, being sucked into the creature as it closed its mouth.

The long strands of Yuko's hair that weren't in her bun stopped whipping wildly and settled down with the wind, and the witch brought her companion down to chest level. Mokona opened its mouth again, the talismans drifting out, floating in the air for a moment before filing into Yuko's hand. She pinched the papers in between her pointer finger and thumb and put Mokona on her shoulder again, letting the pork bun hold on to three of the papers. Then she carefully knelt down and placed her hands on the box, ready to lift it and expose the snake underneath. Watanuki and Doumeki watched carefully, the former with trepidation. Yuko lifted the box and tucked it under her left arm quickly as the snake uncoiled itself, leaping at her face. She held up the first talisman, protecting herself and stopping the creature in its tracks, maw open wide in a hiss.

"See here?" Yuko asked, jiggling the talisman. "There are some tasty words right here." She flicked the paper onto the floor and the snake leapt after it, eating the words as it had done with the book, the characters flowing down its body in little lumps. Yuko flicked another one onto the floor as soon as it was finished and the creature leapt for that one, repeating the process all over again. "This one too." She prompted, waving the third a little. The snake leapt at the ward, yanking it from the witch's fingers and hastily devouring the written characters. Yuko watched the creature, like one would watch an amusing pet, her eyes hooded, painted lips almost smiling. "And don't forget this one." She flicked the fourth and final ward down and the snake leapt on that one too, the lumps traveling down its body a little slower than the rest had. As the last of the words disappeared into the creature's gullet, the snake's body started to…unravel, the black threads of its body pulling it apart into a giant, writhing mass for its size. The threads wriggled and bunched up until they were pulled back down, turning white and wrapping into an egg shaped oval as big as Yuko's hand, the whole thing resting on the blank paper that had once been a protective ward.

"Just as you would expect from wards written by Doumeki's grandfather." Yuko said, picking up the bundle, admiring the work of the wards. "That was incredibly effective."

"What...what the heck happened?" Watanuki asked, staring in awe at was used to be the snake.

"This is a bookworm," Yuko said, holding up the bundled up snake. "It lives inside books and its favorite snack are words that are important or have significant value. That's why it latched onto the words that Doumeki's grandfather had written." Yuko picked up the fourth talisman that was lying next to her and flipped around to both sides. "It ate all the words on the four wards and now it can't move at all. It's kind of like it ate the protective barrier, and now it's in the bookworm's body."

While Yuko was explaining to Watanuki what had happened, Doumeki went and picked up the book he'd dropped, flipping to the page with the spell he'd been looking for. The page was destroyed, only a few marks and words were left, including about half the illustration. It was completely useless now, Watanuki's only hope to get her eye back had vanished. His eyes narrowed angry at this turn of events.

"They're gone." He grumbled.

"It's because I covered it up." Watanuki replied moodily.

"Is that a 'sorry?'" Doumeki asked pointedly.

"Like hell it is!" Watanuki shrieked while Doumeki covered his ears with his hands (and the book by default) and leaned away from her loudness. She grabbed his collar and shook him backwards the forwards, nearly breathing fire in her anger. "God! You're always so ridiculously full of yourself! Always, always, always, always, always-!" Yuko smiled at their hilarity and took a look around Doumeki family's treasured storehouse, spotting a modern book on the desk next to the aged tomes Doumeki had been studying. She picked up the yellow and teal book, holding it up.

"Hey…who does this book belong to?" The witch asked, already having an inkling.

"It's Wari's book-" Watanuki started to reply, and then she freaked out again, dropping Doumeki on the floor. "The inside! What happened to the inside!" She shouted, running over and taking the book when Yuko offered it. The girl opened the book and started flipping through the pages, finding that everything had been destroyed and only the vaguest of smudges were left on the paper. "What the heck?! It's ruined! What should I do? Wari's book is ruined!" Watanuki's face turned green as her stomach roiled, nearly sobbing as her beloved crush's property was damaged beyond repair.

"Oh, so it was Wari's…" Yuko mused, her suspicions confirmed. Watanuki sighed, despondent.

"Oh, by the way, what are you doing here at this time of night, Yuko?" The girl asked, curious to know how the witch was so quick to their rescue.

"I wasn't to see Doumeki's storehouse, of course." Yuko pulled a princely pose, her eyes nearly sparkling in admiration. "I thought that there might be treasure here.~"

"You're such a selfish person, you know that?!" Watanuki snapped.

"And also…" Yuko twirled around and clapped her hands together, blushing cutely along with Mokona. "Because Watanuki specifically made a bento box, so I thought that we might have dinner too!~"

"Food!~" Mokona cheered. Shivers ran up Watanuki's spine, the girl horrified that she was going to be outed to by her boyfriend by her boss. The girl turned around so Doumeki wouldn't see her start to sweat, the beads running down her face at an alarming rate.

"I thought it was just leftovers." Doumeki stated.

"Oh really?~" Yuko sang, giving the girl a pointed look, knowing exactly what was going on and loving a good tease. "We only had a ceremonious English tea this afternoon." Watanuki leapt in between the two of them to shut Yuko up, waving her arm around like a chicken trying to take flight before attempting to push Yuko out the door.

"Any, it's late, so we should get going, right Yuko?" Watanuki insisted, laughing nervously, feeling Doumeki's blank stare on her.

"Hey, the night's still young." Yuko argued playfully, knowing she'd caught the girl lying to her boyfriend red-handed. "This is the time for partying."

"Then why don't we do it at the shop!?" Watanuki hastily suggested. "Right, right?!" Yuko have her that coy look, signaling that she wasn't done playing yet.

"But I came all the way here…" Yuko whined, acting like a spoiled child.

"We did!" Mokona seconded.

"Tea, you say?" Doumeki mused, understanding what Watanuki had done and getting ready to plug his ears. It was so cute the way she acted sometimes, bringing him food when she didn't have too. However, her screaming in his ears was not so cute.

"Zip it, you bastard!" Watanuki yelled, ticked off that he'd figured it out.

"Watanuki!" Yuko called. The girl turned to see what was up. "Come on! Let's get started and have some fun!~" Yuko held up a huge bottle of sake and she and Mokona both had a cup to go with it.

"Sake!~" Mokona cheered.

"Your preparation is impeccable, as always." Watanuki said sarcastically.

"Then why don't you prepare by making some yummy food?" Yuko prompted.

"Hell no!" The girl snapped. "You want me to go buy ingredients at his time of night?!" Yuko started pouting at the girl's outburst.

"But I didn't get to eat any of your bento…" Watanuki gaped at her childishness.

"You can use whatever's in our fridge. I'm sure there's enough." Doumeki offered, still feeling a little hungry, even after having been fed.

"Even if you say that, what should I make?" Watanuki asked, bummed out by the usual turn of events. She should've seen Doumeki's answer coming, though.

"You should make croquettes." He replied, hell bent on getting his snack. Watanuki's face dead panned as much as Doumeki's face always did.

"Do you really want to eat croquettes that much?" She asked.

"Yeah." He replied frankly.

"Then make some croquettes, Watanuki!" Yuko cheered.

"But you shouldn't drink sake with croquettes!" She protested.

Five batches of croquettes (and various other foods) later and floor littered with sake bottles to boot, Watanuki was just about done with Yuko's relentless teasing and pushed the woman out of the storehouse door around five in the morning.

"Yuko! Get your drunk ass home! I have school in a few hours!" Watanuki grumbled, shoving at the witch's back.

"So does Doumeki and he's not being a buzz kill!~" Yuko pointed out, pouting and digging her heels into the ground.

"He's been skipping school for days, he doesn't care!" The raven argued back, straining against the taller woman's weight.

"I'm coming back to school." Doumeki stated, watching the pair from the storehouse door.

"See?!" Watanuki gloated. "Now we have to go! It's late!"

"The gracious thing for Doumeki to do is let us stay the night! I mean, would he let two women walk the dark streets alone at this hour?" Yuko posed the question, using her coy voice.

"You're the one that wanted to party until this hour!" The seer huffed, still pushing the witch but getting nowhere.

"I do have rooms, if you would like to stay." Doumeki offered.

"We're staying!~" Yuko leapt in the air, sending Watanuki crashing to the ground when all the weight she'd been pushing disappeared.

"Oof!" The seer exclaimed, getting a face full of dirt. Yuko skipped towards the temple, ecstatic to be sleeping over. "You've got to be kidding me." Watanuki sighed as the woman disappeared inside the temple, suddenly falling quiet after Doumeki told her which room she could stay in.

"Are you still going home?" Doumeki asked, watching the girl as she slumped on the ground.

"Of course, I am!" Watanuki growled, jumping to her feet. "Why would I stay here!?"

"Because you can sleep safe in a warm bed without having to worry about spirits assaulting you on the way home," The archer supplied. "As one example."

"Just one!?" Watanuki snarled. "Are you saying I can get into more trouble than that!?"

"Yes." Doumeki knew it was true and Watanuki knew it was true too (but she wasn't going to admit it).

"Fine. I'm staying." Watanuki huffed like she was above it all. "But it's only because my walk in the morning will be shorter, got it?" The archer hummed, seeing right through her excuse. "Which room can I stay in?" The seer asked.

"Mine." He answered instantly.

"I'm not sleeping in your bed you pervert!" The girl blushed furiously at the thought and growled at him.

"Just sleep with him already!" Yuko shouted, as she poked her head out of a door, giggling at the embarrassed girl.

"You shut up!" Watanuki yelled back.

"Ooooo!~ Scary!~" Yuko and Mokona both giggled teasingly. Watanuki was going to blow a gasket at them.

"Do you want to take a bath?" Doumeki asked, interrupting their spat.

"Yes, that would be nice." The raven answered coolly, trying not to give in to that damn woman's teasing any more than she already had.

"I'll come with you, then." The brunette added.

"No you're not!" The girl was blushing even harder now, cursing the fact that she associated with two people who had no sense of dignity! (Well, three if you counted Mokona.)

"Just get naked with him already!" Yuko shouted again. "You know you want too!"

"I said SHUT UP!" Watanuki was going to punch in her the face, holding up an angry fist at the bitch. "I'm sleeping in my own room and I'm taking my own bath, got it!?" She yelled at her boss. "And if you," she continued, glaring at Doumeki, "follow me into either of those places you're going to wish you hadn't." The girl had a murderous look in her eye that even Doumeki's boyfriend status wouldn't save him from it.

"Kill joy." He huffed, his voice still monotone. Watanuki was so furious at him having the last word that she stomped off without saying anything else, mentally cursing both Yuko and Doumeki, frustrated that she couldn't come out of top with either of them. But thankfully, both of them stayed out of her hair for the rest of the night (morning), and she was able to get up before either of them (she'd hardly slept anyway) and was out of the temple before she had to see their faces. But the girl quickly tired on her way to school, and barely made it to her seat without collapsing.

"I can't believe we ended up drinking in Doumeki's storehouse all night." Watanuki sighed as she slouched over to her seat the next day at school, completely exhausted. She set her school bag down on her desk and started grabbing her books. "Are those two fish or something? And why do they feel the need to tease me so mercilessly? It's so embarrassing when they get like that." Watanuki pulled out a book, but it wasn't her textbook, it was Wari's ruined book. The girl stared at it with a trouble expression, worrying about the state of the book (and what Wari would say when he saw it) and the events that had transpired the previous evening. But her thoughts were interrupted by a cheerful voice calling her name.

"Good morning, Watanuki!" Wari was standing next to her already!

"Wari! It's you!" Watanuki jumped, started by the greeting, the damaged book still on her mind. She looked at it again and decided to get the confession over with, even if he was going to be mad at her. "I'm sorry," she apologized, holding out the book with both hands and bowing her head.

"Huh?" Wari asked, confused. Watanuki explained everything that had happened the night before with the bookworm and apologized again when Wari started looking through the ruined pages.

"You're right." He said, flipping through the chapters. "There are letters scattered everywhere."

"I'm sorry I couldn't stop it." Watanuki apologized again, feeling really bad about it.

"It's not your fault, Watanuki." Wari gave her a radiant smile. "Don't give it a second thought, okay?"

"Oh you're just so nice, Wari!~" Watanuki blushed like a idiot, gushing at her crush.

"You called it a bookworm, right? I would've liked to see that." Wari mused, marveling at the things Watanuki got to see and do.

"Oh no you don't, it was uber creepy." She shook her head. "It gave me goose bumps. Oh, and Doumeki said he'd buy you a new copy."

"That's nice, but he doesn't have to."

"But it seems like he wants to read it after all, that cheeky bastard." Watanuki made a face to mock Doumeki but then thought about what Yuko had said about that book. "Hey…who does this book belong to? That's what she'd asked, as if she'd already know. But why was Yuko so concerned with the owner of the book? Now that I think about it, she's said something about Wari before…that he's not exactly my lucky guy. But what could she mean? Wari looked up from checking out his ruined book and saw Watanuki with a worried face.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"Nothing's wrong at all, Wari! You're as cute as ever!~" Watanuki perked up again, deciding that for the rest of the day, she wasn't going to worry about any of that. And she didn't, even so far as to being chipper until she went shopping for dinner.

"That Doumeki didn't even come to school today like he said he was going to." Watanuki grumbled on her way to Yuko's shop that afternoon. "I bet his ass is hungover just like Yuko's, those bastards. But that doesn't matter right now! Wari wasn't mad at me and today's been pretty great despite the fact that I only got two hours of sleep." Watanuki smiled, swinging her shopping bag cheerfully as she walked. "I suppose I'll make a buta kakunidon tonight (4). And for a side…Cobb salad with lots of vegetables! Eating a balanced diet is important after all!"

As the girl was walking, her vision did that thing again, the thing where her right eye could see things from under her eye patch, things that she shouldn't have been able to see at all. This time, her right eye was looking at a dimly lit forest, its view partly obscured by grass and low growing plants. A huge black crow flew at her, her right ear able to hear its call as if she were there. Watanuki dropped her bags and ducked out of instinct with a shout, avoiding something that wasn't even there before falling to her knees on the ground, her right hand coming up to cover her eye.

"What was that…?" She breathed, freaked out by the experience. With her right eye now covered by her hand, the vision stopped; blackness covering her eye like it should behind the patch. But now her left eye was seeing something that wasn't really there. Well…it wasn't really there for most people but for Watanuki, it really was there.

It was a goldfish, a huge goldfish as big as her hand that was swimming through the air like it would water. The red and white frills of the creature's fins swayed gracefully as it floated near her, reminding the girl of her own gold fish Ka, only much bigger. With a flick of its fins, the goldfish floated higher, the movement making a watery swish even though it was swimming through air. Appearing out of nowhere, a girl in a red miniskirt and black T-shirt jumped at the fish from the right, her white calf-high boots making a click on the house wall as she leapt off of it and caught the fish in her hands. The girl landed on the opposite side of the street, her boots gracefully clicking on yet another wall, the yellow eyes of the girl staring at the goldfish struggling in her hands gleefully. The dark haired girl blushed and smiled at her catch.

"I got you, yes I did!~" She purred, opening her mouth and swallowing the goldfish whole, only the swishing tail sticking out of her mouth before she slurped it in. "Delicious!~" Watanuki gaped.

"She ate it! She ate the fish!" Watanuki couldn't believe it. Opening her mouth had drawn the cat-like girl's attention, her yellow eyes catching sight of the seer instantly, even as she licked her fingers. Crap, I caught her gaze! The girl leapt off the wall and landed in front of the raven, her fall extremely slow and graceful before her boots clicked on the ground. She leaned over and placed her hands on her knees to look at Watanuki closer, her eyes narrowed. Watanuki had no clue what to do at this point and just gaped again.

"Oh, so it is you." The girl recognized her! But Watanuki had never seen her before. "You're the one everyone's talking about in our world."

"'Our…world?'" Watanuki stumbled over her words as the girl leaned in even closer, almost within kissing distance (not that she'd kiss her or anything!).

"There's a big scramble over your eye right now." The girl continued, pointing her finger at Watanuki's eye patch.

"Huh?" Whatever she meant, it couldn't be good. The girl stood up straight and folded her arms, pouting.

"I want it too, but she'll get really mad, yes, she will."

"She?" Watanuki repeated. Before she could ask a single question, the girl's head flipped around, her nose twitching as she spotted another goldfish floating above the roof of the house next to them.

"There's another one!~" The girl skipped off, following the floating fish and leaping up onto the walls again.

"Wait a second!" Watanuki called after her. "What do you mean by 'scramble?!'"

"You should ask that girl!" The weirdo called back leaping into the air and catching the fish with both hands again, disappearing behind the trees and not emerging again.

"I don't know who you're talking about!" Watanuki called desperately, but the girl didn't come back or give her an answer.

At least when she told Yuko about, she gave her an answer.

"That was the Nekomusume, a cat girl."

"What. She was?" Watanuki had finally gotten to ask her questions after she'd made dinner and snack and cocktail. It was ridiculous just how pushy Yuko was, but now that she was lounging on the porch in her chair, playing chess with Mokona, the seer could finally ask her questions. Yuko moved one of her black chess pieces to put Mokona in a bind, fixing a strap of her very revealing, red dress as the creature sweated under her onslaught.

"She was chasing goldfish, right?" Yuko asked, reaching for her wine glass as Mokona planned its next move. Watanuki looked the witch's sexy outfit up and down once more as she fiddled with her serving tray, wondering if a piece of clothing should be called that when there was hardly any making up that dress. It was a backless dress with a gold collar that made up the halter, two separate pieces of cloth falling over Yuko's chest and splitting to reveal her stomach before closing up again around her hips, the skirt draping to the floor with huge slits up the side. The dress should've been called a boob-and-butt cover, and that was being gracious. "And cats love goldfish, don't they?"

"But do cat girls wear boots and miniskirts?" Watanuki asked, still confused as to how a mostly normal looking girl could be considered a cat-girl. She didn't even have cat ears or a tail…she just looked like a normal girl. Except for eating huge, floating goldfish, that is. Yuko polished off her glass of wine, her face turning serious as she ran one hand through her ponytail.

"So…the cat girl said that there is a scramble for your right eye, didn't she? In the spirit's world?" Yuko's cranberry eyes hooked onto Watanuki's single blue one.

"Yes." Watanuki nodded, worried about the whole situation.

"This have become a bit more complicated then." Apparently Yuko was worried about it too.

"What?"

"If we don't hurry, your right eye will never come back to you." The witch stated ominously, the look in her eyes scaring the girl a little bit. That look, combined with the new information that they'd received. That foreboding stayed with the girl all throughout the evening as she worked and it haunted her dreams and waking thoughts the next day at school, toning down her usually high strung personality. Especially when she was alone.

Watanuki was sweeping a corner of the school grounds by herself while the rest of the classes did chores in other areas of the building, lost in her thoughts and worries. She brushed at fallen leaves and some trash as she thought. She'd told Doumeki that she was fine with losing her eye for his sake and she'd even told herself that she'd gotten used to only having one eye, but…she'd lied to herself a little. She was completely fine helping Doumeki get his eye back, but having to live with that stupid patch and knowing that her eye might be lost forever was something she didn't want to happen, not really. She wanted her eye, but not at the expense of others, so if she lost it to protect whoever wanted to help her, so be it. But…there was still a chance to get it back, Yuko had said so. But would that even happen? Even if she did something? Or would she really lose it forever.

"It won't return, huh?" She whispered, turning to look at herself in the reflection of the window, staring at her self-imposed disfigurement.

"What'd you say?" Doumeki's reflection was suddenly encroaching on hers and the girl jumped, shivers running up her spine as her boyfriend nearly scared the shit out of her.

"Don't sneak up on people like that!" She snapped, baring her fangs.

"I've been standing here a while." Doumeki replied, having seen the girl sweeping for a few moment before glaring at herself. "Before you got lost in your our little world. So, what did you say?" The archer asked, wanting to know why Watanuki had said what she did. Watanuki's face dropped again, becoming the exact opposite of how she normally acted, and she didn't say a word. "Oi." Doumeki prompted, wanting her to explain herself, hating the fact that she was probably hiding something from him again, trying to protect him when she clearly needed help. But he never got to press her because Wari came running up, curls bouncing and with a huge smile on his face.

"Hey, Watanuki! Doumeki!" He called, waving.

"Wari!~" Watanuki jumped on the distraction, avoiding Doumeki's question and tried to smile brightly for her former crush.

"Are you done with your cleaning yet?" He asked.

"Mostly! I just have to take the trash out now." The girl replied.

"I'm all done too. I thought that maybe we could walk home together." Wari suggested.

"Sure!"

"Want to come along, Doumeki?" Wari asked his classmate. Watanuki whirled on the archer in shock.

"Sorry, I have club." Doumeki declined.

"Oh, that's too bad. Let's go home together next time then." Wari said with a smile, not seeing Watanuki making face's at Doumeki behind him. "Let's get going then, Watanuki." He finished, turning to the girl (who was now behaving perfectly).

"Sure! I'll be right back, so wait for me!" The girl ran off to take the trash out and grab her school bag.

"Watanuki seems to get it high spirits now." Wari commented.

"More like high idiocy." Doumeki shrugged.

"But I am worried about her right eye. She's been wearing that patch a while now. I hope it heals soon." The boy's smile disappeared for just a minute, showing Doumeki the worry that that damn idiot was causing for everybody because of her selfish choice. But, unable to do anything about it on his own, now that the spell for restoring Watanuki's eye had been destroyed, Doumeki left the pair alone to go to his club activities and try to think of something else.

On the way home, Wari asked Watanuki to tell him the story about the bookworm again, wondering about all the scary parts and asked if the girl had been scared at all.

"Oh yeah." Watanuki nodded.

"Really?"

"Yeah, really." The girl nodded. "I think you would've been scared too.

"But I actually like scary and mysterious things a lot."

"Oh, yeah." Watanuki's smile became a little strained at that statement, wondering how someone so sweet could like the stuff she had to deal with on an almost daily basis. "I forgot about that. But that's one of the things that makes you so wonderful!~"

"Actually, I really liked that program they had on TV a little while ago, the one about the spiritual seer girl. It was so cool!"

"Oh, a girl?" Watanuki asked, finding the whole situation familiar. Maybe this girl was just like she was.

"Her name's Kohane," Wari went one, a huge smile on his face. "She'd super cute." But Wari is more than cute! Watanuki gushed to herself, compromising the conversation with her own personal opinions. All too soon, they had to part ways at a crossroads.

"Well, my house is this way." Wari pointed down to the left of the intersection. Watanuki sighed dramatically.

"So, we have to split up already?" She whined.

"Yeah, time sure flies when you're having fun, doesn't it?" Wari asked, but Watanuki was too busy gushing over the fact that Wari had fun with her to answer. "Bye, Watanuki! See you tomorrow!" The boy started walking down the street, leaving the girl to go to her part-time job.

"See you tomorrow!" The girl waved, smiling happily, starting to walk away as well. "When he said he was having fun, he was having fun with me right?~ Being with Wari makes me really happy. He's so nice!" The raven's face dropped as Yuko's words flashed through her head again, the ones about Wari not being her luck. "So why did Yuko say that?" Before she could think about it any further, Watanuki's right eye did that thing again, her vision splitting suddenly. This time, she saw the flash of a girl with dark hair that looked to familiar to her…

The squealing of tires and the piercing ring of a car horn broke the girl's concentration and when she regained her senses, she saw a silver car ramming into a pedestrian, a woman with dark hair falling to the ground violently. Is that what I was seeing…? The driver was slumped over the wheel, having being caught by the air bag when the crash happened. The woman on the ground was struggling to move, bits of glass tingling down on top of her from the windshield of the car. Normally, Watanuki would've run up to see if she could help, but she was so disconnected at the moment that a few other people did that for her. She stared at the accident, not fully in control of herself until something smacked her head.

"Hey!" Watanuki snapped back into herself and glared up at whoever had hit her. It was Keith and his posse riding on their surf-board things, the spirit holding his huge paper fan, his sunglasses glinting. "Karasu Tengu?!"

"Everything is your fault!" Keith accused, frowning at the girl.

"It's all your fault!" Another of the Tengu shouted.

"What is going on!?" The girl didn't know why they were mad at her, she hadn't even accidently make Zashiki-Warish cry!

"Take us." Keith commanded.

"But there was just and accident!" Watanuki pointed to the car, finally back to her senses enough to be worried about the woman and the driver. She had to go help them!

"This isn't the place you should be." Keith stated, his voice deadly serious. "You shouldn't be here!" Watanuki was shocked, this wasn't any kind of mad that she'd seen him in before. He was furious. "Take us." He commanded again. Sirens could be heard in the distance now, an ambulance on its way to the crash.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Watanuki argued back ,not understanding what they were asking.

"To your mistress!" Keith yelled, baring his fangs in a threat.

"To…Yuko…?" The girl had never seen then like this. Something horrible must've happened to make Keith and the other's act this way, something that only Yuko could help fix. The ambulance arrived on the site of the crash, making the girl's choice for her. Now that those people were being helped, she would take Keith and the other's to Yuko's shop. So that's what she did.

Yuko received her guests outside on the porch, sitting in her wicker chair like it was a throne. Mokona was seated on the back and Maru and Moro were brushing the long strands of Yuko's hair that weren't up in her top bun. The woman looked at ease, even if her guests weren't, playing with the hem of her long sleeved white shirt, straightening one of the buttons that ran down the fabric as she listened to their request.

"We have a favor to ask." Keith started, acting as a spokesperson for all of the Tengu.

"Compensation will be required." Yuko uncrossed and re-crossed her legs, brushing her maroon skin down as he continued.

"We understand, but please…" The Tengu bowed in unison.

"What is your wish?" Yuko asked, getting right down to it.

"Zashiki-Warishi has been captured." He informed the witch, straightening up. Watanuki gasped in shock, thinking of her soft-spoken friend, horror clawing at her heart.

"We want to save her, but we can't approach where she is." Keith went on.

"Even though we want to save her, we can't." Another of the Tengu looked on the verge of tears as he spoke.

"So there is a barrier even the Karasu-Tengu can't break, is there?"

"Zashiki-Warishi is harmed by malicious miasma; it's like poison to her." Keith went on (5). "So if she stays in a place like that…held prisoner…" The Tengu didn't even want to finish.

"What compensation do you offer?" Yuko asked, willing to grant the wish if they could pay the price. The Tengu groups sank to their knees, four out of the five, bowing their heads to the ground in supplication and respect, asking with all their hearts and Keith held out a stunning fan to the witch. "Mokona." Yuko commanded. The furball opened its mouth and took in a huge breath, the winds pulling the fan through the air to Yuko, where she grabbed it handle to admire it. The fan was a bit longer than her forearm, with an ornate wood handle, a long string and tassel attacked to the end and a fan that looked like purple fire with a glowing orange and yellow center, the very middle accented with red and green. "The Tengu's fan." Yuko hummed (6), "It's your treasure, isn't it?"

"We would rather lose it than her. We can trade it, right?" Keith asked.

"That is acceptable." Yuko concluded. "I will grant your wish." The Tengu's faces lit up, smiles breaking out of their lips. "But, breaking a barrier doesn't require this much compensation, it's too much." Yuko hid half of her face behind her new fan. "Everything must be balanced, neither too much nor too little can be taken. That is why I'm sending my part-timer with you, as well as breaking the barrier that holds Zashiki-Warishi." Yuko pointed the fan at her employee, but before the girl could protest, the Tengu did it for her.

"But it's her fault that she was-!" Watanuki gasped again, wondering what on earth was going on. How could I have…Zashiki-Warishi is in danger because of me?!

"That may be true, but you will not be able to save Zashiki-Warishi on your own." Yuko went on, leaning forward in her chair. The Tengu shut up, hearing the truth in her words. "What will you do, Watanuki?" Yuko's eyes trained on the raven, letting her make the choice.

"I'll go." She answered immediately. It wasn't a choice at all.

"It will be dangerous." Yuko warned. Watanuki's mind was already made up.

"I'm going." She repeated, her eyes narrowing in determination. She would save Zashiki-Warishi. She would've done it anyway but now it was even more vital that she go, especially if it was her fault that the sprite was in danger. Yuko smiled, pleased with the girl's choice. She held out her arm and the pipe fox came slithering out of her clothes, leaping towards Watanuki and lovingly trying to squeeze the girl's arm off as it hugged her.

"Ow!" Watanuki gasped, wiggling around as she got used to the creature's squeeze again. "The pipe fox?"

"Take him with you." Yuko said as she held the Tengu's fan over her head, the long tassel on the handle swinging as she did so. Great gusts of wind emanated from the fan, the ropes whipping and winding around the seven figures in front of it. Watanuki and the Tengu had to throw their hands up to protect their faces from the onslaught, and Watanuki started screaming as the ropes melded into a swirling tornado, pulling the Tengu and her into it before the whirling column disappeared, leaving the yard shockingly quiet after the uproar. "That's the power of the Tengu's fan for you." Yuko commented, looking at the iridescent shine of the fan. It took them to the place where Zashiki-Warishi is in one swoop." Mokona leapt onto its mistress' lap.

"Was it alright for Mokona not to go too?" It asked, a worried expression on its face.

"This is something that Watanuki was come to understand on her own." Yuko replied ominously, watching the spot where her little slave had disappeared. She has to learn this all on her own. That is the path she has chosen.

To be continued…

A/N:That's all folks! I hope that was worth the extremely long wait. Let me know what you think and I'll see you all next time! ;3

Note 1: John Tenniel is the most recognizable illustrator of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Caroll. He was the second one to make illustrations for the book (besides the author himself) and his pictures were printed with the first editions of the book and are still used today. I have no clue who Dianne Aldman is, sorry guys. I can't find her work on Alice anywhere.

Note 2: Croquettes are a type fried food originating from France that has gained popularity worldwide. It's a food roll fried in breadcrumbs and can be filled with potatoes or ground meat as the main ingredients and then having shellfish, fish, cheese and vegetables mixed in as well with a béchamel or brown sauce. Depending on how it is prepared, croquettes can be considered a delicacy or a fast food.

Note 3: Gochisousama is a phrase you say after eating, it means "that was delicious" and is similar to Itadakimasu.

Note 4: Buta kakunidon is basically a braised pork rice bowl. Don is a Japanese rice bowl dish (also known a donburi) where the fish, meat and vegetables along with other ingredients are simmered together and then served over white rice.

Note 5: A miasma is a term used to a unpleasant or unhealthy smell or vapor, but it also refers to an unpleasant or oppressive atmosphere that surrounds or emanates for someone or something. The second definition is what Keith is using, but the first does apply since Watanuki gets sick from smelling a spirit's presence.

Note 6: A Tengu's fan is a magical object. It's not clearly stated what the fan can do, but it xxxHolic the fan can transport people places by wind/tornado. In the popular story, The Tengu's Fan, a troublemaker aquires a tengu fan that grows and strinks noses and he uses it on a lord's daughter, making her nose grow grotesquely long. He shrinks her nose to gain her hand in marriage, and then later, accidently fans himself while dozing, growing his nose so long it reaches up into the clouds, resulting in a lot of pain for him when people in the clouds start pulling on his nose. The story is also told with a raccon dog (tanuki) as the scoundrel.