Chapter 10: Aftermath

Light cascaded and wind whipped around the three exhausted teens and Pipe Fox as they fought to remain in control against the strange magical currents that propelled them downwards. After what seemed like an eternity, they reached the end of the strange tunnel and hovered in the air above the wooden floor before gravity took over and they fell to the ground rather roughly in a pile with Watanuki (naturally) at the bottom followed by Doumeki and Himawari who landed on both boys. The Pipe Fox however gracefully landed on its feet beside the pile of teens.

"GAAAAAH! GET OFF ME ALREADY DOUMEKI!" Watanuki shouted as he tried to pull himself out from underneath the heavy teens on top of him.

"Shut up. I'm too tired to move," Doumeki only responded plugging his ears and starting to feel the full impact of the damage he had acquired. Himawari scrambled off the two and helped Doumeki to his feet. Watanuki shed a few anime style tears over how Himawari was fussing over the archer's wounds while mentally muttering a few curses o: "damn you Doumeki" and the like. He climbed to get to his feet as well but was stopped by the Pipe Fox who rushed over and nuzzled his cheek knocking him over on his rear once more. Watanuki tried to push the loving spirit off him when a capricious laugh caught the group's attention.

"It's good to see that you all have returned safely." The lot turned to find a smiling Yuuko standing before them in a black and red butterfly pattern kimono and a grinning Mokona sitting in her hands. It was then that they realized that they had found themselves back in Yuuko's study once more apparently brought back by the seal that Watanuki noticed had encircled the gang.

"Yuuko-san," Watanuki began as he got to his feet but was cut off by Mokona who jumped down from Yuuko's hands and landed in front of the seer.

"Yo Watanuki, written as April first Watanuki," Mokona said before motioning for him to bend down. Curious Watanuki did so only to be smacked upside his head with an oversized fan knocking his glasses off and creating a rather large anime-style lump on his head. "That was for making Mokona worry."

"WHAT ARE YOU A KARASU-TENGU?" Watanuki hollered after finding his glasses and preparing to throttle the little black pork bun for the unnecessary act of violence. However, he was interrupted by Maru and Moro who slid open the paper door and tackled Watanuki to the ground in joy.

"Watanuki, Watanuki! You're home, you're home!" The twins chirped hugging him. Mokona and the Pipe Fox joined in too dog piling on him and pinning him to the ground as he yelled and demanded to be let up through a combination of laughing and angry shouting.

"Now, now, that's enough," Yuuko said clapping her hands together telling the twins and two creatures got off the seer. "Maru, Moro, if you would be so kind as to escort young Doumeki to the bedroom and take care of his injuries."

"Yes mistress," the twins responded simultaneously as they trotted over to the exhausted archer and each grabbed his hand leading him to the room. Before he left the room Yuuko spoke up once more.

"By the way Doumeki-kun, I will be needing proper payment for the sudden escape route." Doumeki glowered but kept silent and simply nodded too tired to care about the extra charge. He turned to the door but again was stopped by the dimension witch. "And Doumeki-kun," she said causing him to turn as she approached him. "Thank you for bringing Watanuki back safely." Taken aback by the sudden sign of thanks, Doumeki only nodded again before being lead through the doorway. Yuuko then turned back to the remaining two teens before glancing at the clock, which read 1 am.

"Goodness, to get so late in only a matter of hours." Yuuko looked to Himawari who also noticed the time.

"You're right, I'd better get home before my parents start to worry or call the police," she agreed. She turned to leave through the doorway but stopped and hustled over to Watanuki. "Watanuki-kun,"

"Y-Yes Himawari-chan?" He answered only to be met with a small peck on the cheek by the girl.

"It's good to have you back. See you on Monday!" Himawari said before taking off through the door and exiting the shop. Watanuki froze in place until he turned beet red all over and steam blew out of his ears (much like a certain vestal spirit) and finally collapsing to the ground with a huge, goofy grin.

"Way to go lover boy!" Mokona said nudging the fallen seer. Yuuko only smiled before turning to leave the room herself.

"Yuuko-san," Watanuki spoke up breaking through his love struck stupor. Yuuko looked back to him as he sat on his knees. "…Thank you…" Yuuko smiled almost sincerely before switching to a smug smile.

"Of course you will be working twice as hard to pay off the debt of my as well as Mokona's, Himawari-chan's, Doumeki-kun's, and the Kudakitsune's rescuing services. Starting of course with a celebratory feast with lots of sake!" Watanuki's jaw dropped upon hearing this.

"B-But Yuuko-san—"

"Oi Watanuki, get me a whisky and water with sour plums on the side! Ooh, and maybe some takoyaki!" Mokona ordered.

"DON'T ORDER ME AROUND YOUR LITTLE FURBALL!" Watanuki shouted in protest as Yuuko left the room sliding the paper door shut behind her. She stood with her back towards the door before giving a genuine and gentle smile.

"It's good to have you back…Watanuki."

Over a week passed since Watanuki was rescued from Kamisori and things slowly went back to normal, or as normal as Watanuki was considered. Doumeki was out of commission from archery practice for a few days during school due to the injuries he sustained through fighting Kamisori. In addition to paying the original price of being sent to the spirit realm, he also had to pay Yuuko for the rescue with a special scroll of his grandfather's that was, for some strange reason, a procedure/incantation for easy wine-making (how Yuuko knew Doumeki's grandfather had it or how he came into possession of this Watanuki will never know). And of course, Watanuki was given the task of completing the rather mind-numbing process to provide fresh wine for Yuuko as payment for skipping a day's worth of work for when he was held hostage (all the while complaining how unreasonable Yuuko was being). The Pipe Fox eventually changed back to its normal size thanks to visiting the Zashiki's pure domain. And of course the three teens continued to eat lunch together as of nothing had ever happened. However, that wasn't to say nothing had changed.

Friday morning came and Watanuki and Doumeki (who was now fully healed) walked to school in silence. Normally both boys would be grateful for the silence but Doumeki's mind wandered back to the last words Kamisori spoke. "Who's to say another demon won't slip through the cracks…You failed to protect him once…It will be bound to happen again…You can't protect him forever…"No matter how hard Doumeki tried he just couldn't get those words out of his head. Though he didn't show any outward signs of these troublesome thoughts, Watanuki couldn't help but feel a little guilt towards the archer's funk.

"It's not your fault you know," Watanuki spoke up surprising the archer out of his thoughts. Doumeki stared at him with a raised brow. "Yuuko-san told me what happened between you and that demon that imprisoned me…and what it said. It would have happened regardless, whether you were there or not. And if you weren't there…" Watanuki gulped at the dismal thought and thought it best not to continue. Doumeki on the other hand just stared at him shocked at the out of character gesture of compassion. Watanuki then looked straight at him with a hard stare before thrusting his (Doumeki's) bentou into his (Doumeki's) hands. "So…don't blame yourself for something as stupid as that! You moron!" Watanuki said looking away from his best friend/enemy. Doumeki stayed quiet for a moment before taking the bentou and grunted.

"'Kay. But if there isn't any fried shrimp in here then you owe me for my long bow's damages." Thinking fast he covered his ears as Watanuki began shouting and raving all the way to school, completely oblivious to the warm grin that showed on the archer's face.

"Idiot."

The End

Author's Notes: And done! My first fan fiction posted on here is finally complete! Thanks to all my readers who stuck by this story to the very end and I hope to post my next story soon.