Disclaimer: The ladies of Clamp own xxxHolic, I'm borrowing them for my little bit of fun.

Warnings: Nothing new since chapter one so far.

Chapter 3 - A long night, a short day

As soon as she got in the door Aya got out her cell phone and called Yuuko.

"Well it's about time"

"Gee, ever hear of Hello or Hi nice to hear from you? How was your fist day at school?"

"Never mind that, how did it go?"

"You're having Lasagna tomorrow for dinner. We just finished shopping for the ingredients. The boys are headed your way now."

"Really! Lasagna, I love Lasagna."

[sigh] "Yuuko"

Watanuki got dinner served to the witch and her partner in crime, (he was so going to find that camera and smash it to pieces, little did he know that Yuuko had videotaped the whole thing as well.) He then cleaned up the kitchen and straighten up from all the chasing of said pork bun of evil. He was about to leave for home…

"Watanuki, come here please"

"I am NOT getting you any more sake. Really Yuuko-san you need to think about your health more"

"Well while some Sake would be delicious, (hint, hint) that's not what I wanted to talk about. Did you meet anyone today?"

"Huh? Yeah, I did. A new foreign exchange student at school, she's staying with Himiwari-chan. We meet her because she gave me chocolates from Himiwari-chan for Valentine's day today. Her name is Suboshi Aya, she said that Himiwari-chan call's her Aya-chan and that we can call her the same, if we like."

"Good. She is going to be one of your very important people. The connection has been made."

"Hitsuzen, Right? I may be a little slow on the uptake sometimes Yuuko-san, but even I got this one right away. Hell, even that idiot Doumeki likes her."

"Yes, well she is also one of 'his' very important people too. In fact, she will be a very important person to each one of you. I am including Himiwari-chan in this. The future can change just by meeting a certain person. Time moves forward and it will cause you to change with it"

"Ah, okay Yukko" Great, [sigh] she was being all mysterious and cryptic on him again. Maybe it would make sense later, it usually did. Unfortunately he usually also did something incredibly stupid first before figuring it out. Maybe he could skip that part this time around, it would sure be a nice change of pace. With that Watanuki was finally able to leave the shop for the night and head home.

Once Watanuki got home, he tossed his school bag on table in his living room and sat down. It was at this point that he realized that he actually had some free time on his hands. His Homework was already done, He and Aya had worked on it while waiting for Doumeki, and he had finished the little that was left at Yuuko's. And because Aya-Chan was making enough Lasagna for everyone tomorrow he didn't have bentos to make. He looked around his immaculate apartment. Nope all clean.

Seeing as there was absolutely nothing he really needed to do. He felt free to enjoy himself, going into his bottom dresser drawer he took out the new manga series from Clamp he had just picked up. He set out his futon, got himself a couple of snacks, some tea and settled in to be transported to another world thru the artist groups vision. By the time he came up for air, it had finally grown late enough for bed. Yawning and stretching the young teen got up, changed into his favorite jammies, brushed his teeth and went back to the futon, this time turning out the lights prepared to get a good night sleep.

Despite being exhausted from the long exciting day. Watanuki's over active mind decided 'now' was as good a time as any to replay the day's events and wonder what it all meant. He looked over to where he had placed the Valentine's Day chocolates he had gotten from three, yes THREE whole people He was counting Aya-chan using 'Yuuko logic', ( besides Himiwari had told Aya-chan it was from both of them, so there, na.) Sometimes using 'Yuuko Logic' was a good thing. He smiled to himself, not that he would ever tell the drunken witch he thought so.

And then there was the chocolates from Doumeki. Again, just a simple store bought box of Valentine's Day chocolates. But precious none the less for having been given. Along with the revelations from lunch….Where DID that leave him in regards to his once upon a time imagined rival? Friends? No. Watanuki was honest enough with himself (at least here in the dark and alone) to admit that it was more than that. Much more, and had been for some time now.

Good Lord, he WAS slow and obviously the King of Denial.

The whole Spider Eye incident should have opened his eyes. His willingness to sacrifice his eye for Doumeki, should have told him something about his own feelings, but he was totally in denial about why he had done it at the time. And that had made it so hard for him to understand WHY Doumeki had been so furious with him. That Doumeki had actually gotten Furious and then given him the cold shoulder to boot. Oh, that had really made him mad.

Yup, denial. No doubt about it now. And then when he had lost his eye forever to the Spider Queen. Doumeki had given half of his right eye to him. Yeah, he was the 'real' dumbass here alright.

Watanuki put a hand to his face, it was warm all right. [sigh] Blushing, all alone in the dark. Stupid pale skin always gave him away. How confusing… He loved his beautiful and perfect Himiwari-chan didn't he? Hmmm, let's see...check, yep those feelings are still there. And now Aya-chan, this new girl, was pulling at his heartstrings already, it was going to be a very short fall. And he wondered if he should fight it.

According to Yuuko it was all 'Hitsuzen'.

Look at the mess he had made of his relationship with Doumeki, fighting Hitsuzen. Of course then again maybe their fights had been a part of their Hitsuzen. And Damnit the archer did annoy the hell out of him. He was beginning to think he did it on Pur..pose... Oh Hell. Of course he did it on purpose. Slow again Kimihiro. Grinning to himself, Watanuki Kimihiro decided that Doumeki Shizuka was in for a few surprises. And life was about to get way more interesting for everyone, especially a certain idiotic stoic archer. Aya-chan was defiantly going to shake up the big Jerk, that was for sure, and Kimihiro had a few ideas of his own.

Still chuckling to himself, Kimihiro finally fell into a deep and peaceful sleep.

His dreams that night were happy ones. Dreams that started out with the four of them tumbling and playing like children, laughing and tickling each other until they were weak from laughing too hard. Then they morphed into peaceful Dreams of comfort. Warm sunshine on a soft blanket, arms wrapped around each other, heads against chests, the sounds of heartbeats slow and steady bringing a peace to each one. Everyone holding everyone else, not knowing or caring who exactly was holding who. Then just before waking the Dream morphed once more. This time as lips finally touched lips, then moved to the next set of lips, hands moved up and down arms, legs and torso's, fingers trailing against a cheek here and there, Exploring. Eyes meeting, then closing with a sigh.

We are all connected thru the world of Dreams, so Haruka-san had once told him. And so that night there were three other teens having the same happy dream as Watanuki. Just the first of many such nights to come.

It was with these happy feelings, feelings of being completely 'Loved and accepted' that Watanuki Kimihiro awoke that day. He wasn't even that upset when he found Doumeki leaning against a wall waiting for him to leave his apartment. He didn't start his usual shouting at the archer with a 'what the hell are you doing here' instead….

"Good, figured you'd be here. That Lasagna is going to be really heavy, we should get over to Himiwari-chan's and help the girls carry it to school" Doumeki narrowed his eyes at the slightly shorter teen for a moment before falling into step with him as they headed to the Kunogi's.

"Did you fall and hit your head when you were chasing Mokona, or did That Woman do something?"

"What? No, nothing like that. Just the usual, constantly tripping over Maru and Moro, while they are trying to help me with dinner, Mokona getting into 'absolutely' everything, the pipefox nearly strangling me as usual, And Yuuko demanding Sake and snacks, at the top of her lungs. It was all in all a pretty normal evening as far the shop goes." By the time Watanuki finish his recitation he was laughing. Cause it really was just SO funny. And honestly wasn't nearly as bad as he made it out to be, life in the shop was always interesting.

"Did you catch a cold?"

"NO YOU DOLT! I DID NOT CATCH A COLD, HIT MY HEAD, OR GET POSSESED BY A SPIRIT IF THAT'S YOUR NEXT QUESTION! Geez, can't a guy try to be nice to you once in a while. A person might begin to think you like me screaming at you. So how weird does that make you"

"Oh" With that said the usually stoic archer had the grace to blush, just ever so slightly. That made Watanuki's day. So he decided to move forward with "Dumbfound Doumeki" act 2.

" You think the girls would like to go see that new movie this weekend?"

"With us?"

"Yeah with US, You idiot. A group date. [mumbling to himself] And I thought I was slow"

"A group date?"

"You been sniffing too much incense at the temple or what? Yes, a group date, you, me, Himiwari-chan and Aya-chan. All for one and one for all. Do I need to draw you a picture?"

"A date,… yeah, I think they'll go for it. Can I ask what brought this on?"

"I may be slow at times but I get things eventually. And I've been thinking a lot about things since yesterday. A date seemed like a logical place to start"

"Your scaring me... that actually made sense."

"OH, JUST SHUT UP AND GET YOUR ASS MOVING OR WE'RE NEVER GOING TO GET THERE" Some habits really are hard to break.

A few more minutes found them meeting up with Himiwari and Aya as they rounded the corner at the end of their block. Doumeki plucked the heavy lasagna trays from the struggling girl's arms. As Watanuki did his Himiwari-chan dance. Once that was completed the teens headed towards school. The girls and the more vocal of two the boys, chatting about school, homework and the delicious smells coming from the pans Doumeki was carrying.

When Lunch period finally arrived the lasagna was a huge hit. Doumeki had four helpings of it. That was a sure sign of acceptance as far as Watanuki was concerned. This meant he now had someone to help him fill the black hole that was the archers stomach. Himiwari-chan and Aya-chan got along great, he was really glad to see it. Because Himiwari really didn't have any girlfriends that she hung out. She was in her own way just as lonely as Watanuki himself. Which Watanuki didn't understand at all, what with Himiwari being so kind and generous and sweet and not to mention - CUTE-CUTE-CUTE.

After they had finished up the lasagna and cleaned up the classroom they were using, the Home economics teacher had let Watanuki use for their lunch today. The boys with a glance at each other decided it was time to go for the gold.

"aaahhh, Himiwari-Chan, Aya-Chan, Doumeki and I were kind of you know w-wondering, if you would be willing, to you know, Kinda ..…"

"Go on a date"

"Yeah, what he said, to see a movie this weekend."

The girls looked at each other, doing that silent and very scary girl communication thing. Then they both smiled, and it was like the sun had finally come out after a month of rain.

"We would love too!" They said in unison. Yep, girls sure were scary all right.

As they walked to class they talked about the Movie they were going to go see. When it was discovered that no one had any after school activities that day. They all decided to go grab some Ice Cream afterwards. Life was good, real good.

Well unless you were a rabid Doumeki fangirl or fanboy that is.

High school being what it was, it didn't even take a long for the entire school to hear that the Student council president and the School Spaz had a double date with two of the cutest girls in the school.

Ah, Hitsuzen.