3: Lost

"So, do you know when this guest is coming?" Doumeki asked, grabbing one of the bento that Watanuki had made.

"No, Yuuko-san didn't tell me anything. They could come today, or a month from now." It was a testament to how tired and preoccupied the young man was that he didn't flail at Doumeki for taking a bento without asking.

"I'm sure Yuuko-san's guest will be here soon," Himawari said. "She always gets everything done just in time."

"Aah, Himawari-chan is right!" Watanuki gushed, turning to putty like he always did at the girl's words.

"Mm-hm!" she nodded, smiling. "Yuuko-san always has a reason for what she does, right?"

After bidding Himawari a cheery good-bye, and grumbling at Doumeki, (or to himself. No one can really tell with that kid) Watanuki headed to Yuuko's shop to work. He hoped she wouldn't be making any weird requests like she had been doing over the past few days, but when it came to Yuuko, he knew that was practically an impossibility. Yuuko always made weird requests. Always. It was just something he had learned to live with while he worked for the so-called 'Dimensional Witch.' The latest weird order had been to bring anyone who seemed surprised he could see them to the shop. This probably meant that this person was a spirit. He hoped that he wouldn't run into any other spirits until he met this person, and had done as Yuuko asked.

Apparently, he wasn't so lucky. Staggering under the weight of a gross, blobby spirit, he made his painstaking way to Yuuko's shop, hoping that he could make it to the fence before he was eaten, though his chances really weren't looking that good.

Suddenly, the grotesque spirit left him, making a strange frightened-sounding whine. Watanuki looked up to see a strange white-haired child staring at him. He shivered. The air was much colder here, and heavier, somehow.

"I'm glad it left." Watanuki looked up at the kid. On closer inspection, the kid's white hair wasn't the only thing weird about him. He was dressed in black clothes that had been ripped up so much you could hardly tell what they had originally been. In the boy's hand, he clutched a piece of fabric- white on one side, turquoise on the other. He looked like he had been through the wringer. Not only were his clothes tattered, his skin was too. Countless little cuts and scrapes had left little trails of dried blood on his skin, and just above his left temple, in stark contrast to his white hair, sat a mass of dried blood. "It was giving me a weird feeling."

"Did you say that?" Watanuki asked the kid eventually. Well, it was better than 'what the hell happened to you? You look like you were pulled through a combine harvester'.

The kid just looked at him wearily.

"I'm talking to you, kid," Watanuki said after a while. He hated being ignored.

"Don't call me kid!" Growled the little white haired… kid. He seemed ready to come at Watanuki and pound him into the dirt for the perceived insult, but stopped as a sudden expression of shock washed over his face. "You… you can see me?"

Was this kid the person Yuuko had meant? Watanuki wondered. He nodded. "Yeah, I can see you. And hear you. Did you say-"

"Your not supposed to see me," the injured boy said, interrupting Watanuki. He seemed angry about this. Or frustrated.

"Why?" Watanuki countered. "Am I not supposed to?" Was the kid a spirit or something?

"I- I don't know."

"Er…" This was awkward. Did the kid have some kind of amnesia? Did spirits get amnesia? "Are you…" he paused. 'Are you lost' seemed slightly insulting for someone like this kid, who seemed to radiate pride. If Watanuki insulted him, it was likely he wouldn't come to the shop, and that would be a bad thing. At least, he assumed it was a bad thing. "Do you have anywhere you need to be?"

"Yes." The answer was immediate, firm, and commanding. The kid was 110% sure about this.

"Where?"

The assuredness that the kid had projected deflated like a punctured balloon. "I… don't know. I have to be somewhere, doing something, or else it will never get done! I have to do all the work! Always!" He had been shouting indignantly, but deflated once more. "But I don't know what it is, or where I have to go to do it!"

This was the perfect chance. "I know someone who could help you," Watanuki said.

"Who?"

"She owns a shop, and she grants wishes. She can help you. Please let me take you to her," Watanuki said, babbling a little because he didn't really know what to tell the kid. He held his breath as he waited for the kid to answer.

Finally, the kid nodded his ascent, and Watanuki exhaled loudly, earning him a weird look from everybody around him. He smiled at the kid. "I'm glad," he said. "Please follow me."

Maru and Moro greeted them at the shop's entrance.

"Come in," they chorused. "Mistress is waiting for you."

The white-haired kid glared at Watanuki, as if this suspiciousness was his fault. "Sorry," Watanuki said in apology, "I know it seems weird, but don't worry, please." For a moment, it seemed that the amnesiac would walk out of the shop, however, he continued to follow Yuuko's underlings through the shop.

"Aah, so he's finally arrived," the Witch herself said in greeting.

"You were expecting me? Why?" The kid raised a white eyebrow.

Yuuko exhaled the lungful of smoke she had inhaled from her wood and silver pipe. "What shall we call you?" she asked instead, re-directing the kid's question.

"Huh?" Puzzled, the kid frowned at Yuuko.

"Well, I can't do business with you calling you 'kid,' now can I," Yuuko purred.

Watanuki wanted to shout 'Be careful! It's a trap! Don't tell her your real name! She'll get you in her clutches!' but two things stopped him. The kid probably didn't remember his real name, considering how he was acting, and had Watanuki said those things, they probably would have earned him a smack from Yuuko-san for his talk about 'clutches.'

"I… my name is…" the white-haired boy's scowl grew even more pronounced as he tried in vein to remember his own name. "Call me… call me Taicho."

"Taicho?" He couldn't help it, he really couldn't. The word just slipped out. Why would the kid want to be called 'Captain'? Unfortunately, his disbelieving tone annoyed the kid, and earned him an icy glare.

"Yes, Taicho. Call me Taicho."

"Ok, ok," Watanuki said, trying to placate the angry spirit-kid. "Just making sure… heh." 'Don't hurt me, please!' was the obvious message. Watanuki had learned to be cautious of things that other people couldn't see- spirits, like this kid seemed to be- and a lifetime of caution was hardly going to be thrown out the window just because he was working for someone else who could see them- or most of them. Especially since he was working for Yuuko-san. Sure, he was seeing fewer spirits, (because he was spending time with Doumeki, but he conveniently ignored this fact) but some of the ones he was seeing now were more powerful and more likely to eat him.

"Taicho it is, then," Yuuko declared. "So, Taicho, why have you come to my shop?"

The white-haired spirit frowned. "I… I'm not sure. I woke up on a street. This kid-" here he jerked his thumb at Watanuki, "Was coming my way with this huge globby thing on him."

Here Yuuko looked up at Watanuki, raising an eyebrow. "It was one of those big spirits. The kind that leave when I touch the fence," he explained, conveniently leaving out the fact that he had been too far away from the fence for it to have been any help. He didn't want Yuuko to order him to ask Doumeki to escort him from school to work everyday, or something like that.

"Don't get lazy and let your guard down just because your working for me, Watanuki-kun," Yuuko-san said without looking at him. "If you got eaten, it would be hard for me to find someone else I can keep around as long as you to work around here."

"ANYway," Taicho continued, looking miffed at the interruption. "When the kid gets closer to me, the big ooze-spirit leaves, and then the kid who can see me invites me to your shop. And that's it. That's why I'm here."

Watanuki waited for Yuuko to tell the kid that he was there, in fact, to get his wish granted, but the correction never came. Yuuko took another drag of her pipe, exhaled and said, "Do you have a place to stay?"

Taicho thought for a moment, trying to recall if he had a place to stay or not. "… No. I don't."

"You could stay here, for a price," Yuuko offered. Watanuki held his breath. This wasn't business as usual, and shouldn't be as intense, but it might as well have been Yuuko dangling a person's wish in front of their face instead of just offering a place to stay. Moro and Maru watched silently as the transaction happened.

"I know I don't have money."

"Did I say anything about money?" Yuuko smiled. "No, you will give me payment in a different way, and will do so as long as you choose to stay in this shop. What do you say?"

"… Fine."

"Excellent!" Yuuko squealed. "Taicho, your payment will be helping Watanuki, except in the kitchen. In everything else, you will aid him. That will be your payment," she declared. "But first… Watanuki, show our guest to the bath, so he can get cleaned up."

"That kid is so weird!" Watanuki said as he returned from showing Taicho around. "How long did you let the bath sit there? The water was freezing by the time we got there? But, anyway, we get to the bath, and the water's freezing, and he says 'it's fine.' How is it fine? The whole ROOM was cold, Yuuko-san! What's up with that?"

"He liked it, didn't he?" Yuuko grinned from across the room

"And what's with your attitude?" Watanuki demanded.

"What?" Yuuko pulled an innocent-looking face.

"Don't give me that. Why are you being so nice to him? You didn't pull any of those creepy stunts you usually do. And why didn't you offer to grant his wish like you do with everybody else?"

"The price for granting him a wish would be too high for him right now, and when he can afford to pay, I wouldn't accept payment. Not that he'd be willing to consider that payment." Yuuko explained, though that explanation raised as many questions as it answered.

"What do you mean? Why? Don't you try to get payment from everyone you meet?"

The witch picked up on the insinuation. "I'm not greedy! How can you think that?" Yuuko asked, mock sorrow in her voice. "You wound me, Watanuki-kun, you really do… How could you say such things about me?"

"Maybe because they're true?" Watanuki grumbled. "I mean, I seems that everyone you come across you try to get in your clutches."

"Again with this 'clutches' talk! Really, Watanuki-kun!"

"Watanuki's in her clutches, Watanuki's in her clutches!"

"Clutches, clutches!" Maru and Moro chanted as the danced through the room on whatever strange errand or whim.

"What's the matter with him, anyway?" Watanuki asked, curious despite himself. "Does he have amnesia because he hit his head, or something? Like in soap operas?"

Yuuko's mood shifted from playful to contemplative as Watanuki waited for the answer. "He has lost the memories that tell him who he is, in as well as a part of his soul, but not because of the injury on his head, though that may have aided it."

"His soul?" Watanuki gulped. "Do you mean his soul soul? Or… what was it you said… something valuable to him?"

"Yes."

"'Yes' wha-" Mokona, bored with this game of question-and-answer, decided to attach itself to Watanuki's head.

"Sake! Sake! Time for sake!"

"What a wonderful idea, Mokonka! Watanuki, bring the sake and some snacks!" Yuuko demanded from her couch.

"It's too early!" Watanuki protested, though he still started in the direction of the kitchen. "And you! Get off my head!" He grabbed Monoka, and tossed it at Yuuko.

"Watanuki-kun," his employer (slave-driver) called as he left the room, "When you're finished, get the iodine."

"Oh," Watanuki paused, and he recalled guiltily that Yuuko's newest customer had been hurt. "Right."

Yuuko must have heard the worry in his voice because she called after him, "Don't worry about Taicho. Those little scrapes won't slow him down."

"And the cut on his head?"

"That is what the iodine is for." She blew smoke at him. "Quit being a worry wart, Watanuki-kun. Head wounds always bleed heavily. If it were a serious injury, he'd be dead by now. Now it's time for sake!"

Taicho was glad to be alone, and he soon took advantage of the bath that had been readied for him. He was grateful, even if he had no idea how that woman had known he was coming. Eagerly shedding tattered, bloodstained clothing that he had no memory of dirtying, he slipped into the bath.

It came as a shock to him that not only was the bath cold, but that he liked the cold. Had he always liked the cold? He liked the cold here and now, but had it always been so, or had he just acquired his affinity for low temperature? He didn't know; the past was a blur of grey.

Another thing he didn't know was how he'd gotten the numerous scars that were scattered across his body. Most were small, and faded, but there was one, large and new looking that sat on his right shoulder that worried him. It looked as though somebody had tried to cut his arm off, or maybe they had tried to get to his heart, but had gotten the wrong side of his body. Either way, the new, shiny scar didn't look like the person had any intention of letting him walk away from the encounter. Taicho wondered how he had survived. Had it happened at the same time he lost his memory? He couldn't remember. And that was the problem.

He was startled out of his reverie when the two strange girls who had welcomed him to the shop opened the door. He let out a startled squawk, and sunk lower into the water, eliciting a giggle from the strange girls.

"Don't worry," the blue haired one giggled.

"We won't see anything," the other added, and they both closed their eyes.

"Mistress just wants you to know that there are fresh clothes for you," the blue-haired one said, pointing at a corner of the room, where there were clothes sitting there, folded nicely.

"Thank you," Taicho said politely, having raised his mouth above water level to talk to the pair. The just giggled again, and left, closing the door.

After the strange girls that gave him the creeps, he finished his bath, carefully washing around his various wounds; especially the large cut on his head. It wasn't a cut from a blade, as far as he could tell- he'd probably gotten it by hitting his head against something hard. And sharp. And it was bleeding again.

Despite his gentleness around the gash, the water had inevitably loosened the scab that had formed. Blood oozed sluggishly from the re-opened scrape. Taicho was vaguely worried. He didn't want to bleed all over, but he knew (somehow) that he wouldn't die from this head wound.

Taicho wandered out of the bathroom, trying to remember the way through the large house/shop to the room where that woman had been. Hopefully she would have bandages or something for his head. He met the boy who had brought him here as he was pondering which way to go in a hallway.

"Oh, it's you," the boy said. He was wearing a white apron-dress thing that had what looked like lace on the collar. "Did you actually like that bath? I don't know what Yuuko-san was thinking with that cold water-"

"I like the cold."

"Oh. Fine, then." The kid seemed miffed by his sharp response, but Taicho didn't really care. He didn't need the boy's approval. He was… He was what? Something important, he was sure. Or was he? Was he important? Or was he just a little brat that most people didn't like? His head started to feel fuzzy, and the world started going out of focus as he tried to chase after the shards of his identity, but the foray into his dark mind was interrupted by the boy in glasses.

"Yuuko-san wants to talk to you," he said. "Follow me, please."

A/N: Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Sorry it cut off so abruptly, but if I had gone on, I wouldn't have made deadline, so there you go. Some people –cough'narubleach'cough- were wondering why my story so far was so short. Well, those were set-up chapters. I had to set the tone, so that was kind of necessary. Yeah, I know. But, don't worry. This chapter is much longer. It's roughly 4.5 times longer than my entire fic so far. Yeah, it's longer.

Originally, it was roughly two pages or so shorter, but you can thank Reidluver for the (even) longer chapter. She wanted to see Hitsugaya and Watanuki interact. I re—read what I had written and found it quite lacking in any sort of people talking to people type scenes, so I went back and revamped this chapter, and I'm adding another chapter. (That one has will have those two. Don't worry) That means chapter four didn't exist before, and chapter five should be called chapter four and chapter six should be called chapter seven and so on. If anyone gets that reference, I'll… I dunno, write something that you want. Whatever you want. Seriously.

So, in closing, please review. I really like reviews, even if it's just a word or something. They make wonderful Christmas presents... Please, tell me what you think. I love hearing what people think. I know you people are reading my story- lets me spy on you (creepy much? I know, right?) And I'd greatly love more reviews. 'Either you love it, or you hate it. Anything between is pointless.'

(Real Life corner: Has anyone here seen the TV show The Prisoner?)