Sore.

He felt as if his body was dragged through a stampede of horses. The ache, pain and soreness seemed to render him motionless as he slowly came to his senses.

Slowly, he became conscious of his breathing. Then felt the softness under his back. It was silent around him. He opened his eyes slowly and blinked a couple of times till a ceiling came into focus.

Turning his head, he saw a hunched up figure beside his futon, knees drawn up and pressed closed to the chest.

Memories from the fight with the spirit seeped back into his mind and he immediately took a better look at the figure, feeling some of his ache lift off.

As if sensing the eyes on him, the figure turned his shadowed face cautiously towards the futon. The figure moved closer to him and Doumeki studied his face.

Without any second thoughts, he asked the first thing that popped into his mind.

"Are you hurt?"

There was a short sharp intake of breath and a pale shaking hand slowly stretched out towards him.

Doumeki instantly felt worry rising in him but before he could say anything, tear-filled mismatched eyes came into sight and Watanuki snapped.

"You big idiot!"

Watanuki lunged towards the archer and pressed trembling but firm lips on his own.

Doumeki was shocked. Granted it wasn't the first time Watanuki had spring such an attack on him but the previous kisses were nothing like that. Doumeki could feel it all the way to his bones.

Watanuki was now kissing him with parted lips and his movements were desperate in an attempt to deepen the kiss.

Doumeki was well aware of the tear-stricken face and felt the wetness and the soft lips that were trembling badly. Wanting to calm the boy down, he wrapped his arms around Watanuki and pressed the boy closer to his body.

With that yielding slender frame tightly in his embrace and those soft lips kissing him like there was no tomorrow, Doumeki knew that he could not stop.

He responded and took charge, tilting Watanuki's head and deepening the kiss with a fierce passion. Doumeki wanted to kiss the trembles away and he swept his tongue across Watanuki's lips and slipped into the willing warm cavern.

Watanuki released a soft moan and moved his own tongue to meet the archer's. Their mouths were meshed together in a deep passionate kiss and Doumeki was drinking in whatever sounds Watanuki was emitting.

Doumeki began to shift his attention to other areas. He kissed a hot trail from Watanuki's chin up his jaw line, nibbled gently on the boy's ear and nipped his way down the pale neck.

Watanuki moaned a little and wrapped his arms tighter around Doumeki's neck. Doumeki, though lost in the throes of passion, was well aware of this submissive Watanuki. And hell was he not turned on by the small gasps and sounds from the body that had lost some of its trembling.

He moved his lips to Watanuki's throat and kissed down to the small area of exposed collarbone and sucked gently on the skin. Watanuki's breathing was becoming a little heavy and Doumeki went up to take those soft lips once again.

He broke the kiss softly and stared as Watanuki opened his glazed eyes. Doumeki held his breath a little and tensed, waiting for Watanuki to bolt from his arms as he usually does when he realized he has done more than just a brush of lips.

But Watanuki remained where he was and Doumeki leaned forward, a little surprised and instantly groaned at the sharp pain raking his side.

Watanuki's eyes widened with worry and touched his bandaged area gently with his fingers.

"Does it hurt very badly?"

Doumeki grunted, not one to voice out his pain.

Watanuki drew in a shaky breath.

"I…I thought you… you were gone… I didn't know what to do… Yu-Yuuko-san said… said you were injured badly… I…"

Doumeki felt an ache that had nothing to do with his wound and he took hold of Watanuki's fingers that were beginning to tremble again.

"Why? Why the hell did you go do a stupid thing like that?" Watanuki was starting to rattle. "You could have… you could have died! This is not like the hydrangeas incident! This is… this is mad! You…"

Doumeki kissed him again and Watanuki made a small sound of restrain but made no other objections. This is a much better way to shut him up, Doumeki thought. He slide his hand down Watanuki's side to rest on his hips, moved it sensually behind and –

"Ne, ne, has Doumeki woken up yet?"

Doumeki groaned inwardly and the boy in his arms tensed up at the voice.

As the door slide open, Watanuki had already leapt from his lap and was now a fair distance away from him.

"Ah, you're awake, Doumeki!" the black Mokona bounced in and noted with much curiosity Watanuki awkwardly at the corner.

Yuuko poked her head from the doorway. "You're looking well, the both of you! I can see the… vitality!" she gave a small smirk as Watanuki seemed to burn right down to his toes.

She glanced over to Doumeki. "You need to rest well. That was quite a blow to your body."

Something else clicked in Doumeki's mind. "Where's the baby?"

"He's fine. We brought him back to the temple with us." Mokona said.

Doumeki watched as Watanuki got to his feet. "I'll go check on him." He quickly fled the room.

"We'll leave you to rest then." Yuuko announced cheerfully and left the room, Mokona in tow.

---------------------

Watanuki's feet seemed to be walking on their own. Soft gurgles made him raise his head and he saw the baby on a cushion. The baby let out a toothy grin and stretched a chubby arm out towards Watanuki.

Watanuki merely took notice as he picked up him up. His mind was still reeling from before. Those hot arousing kisses were burned onto his lips, skin and mind permanently. He had no idea he could display such wanton lust around a person he hated.

Or at least, he thought he hated.

"Deep in thought about Doumeki?"

Watanuki jerked in shock and glared at the leering face of Yuuko.

"Wh-who's thinking of him? Why should I think about that jerk?" he stammered and made a pretext of playing with the baby as he sat him back down on the cushion.

"Hmmmm…" Yuuko straightened up and look at her employee.

"You owe him one again, you know? He did risk his life to save yours and now he's lying in bed with that injury."

"I didn't ask him to risk his life… that idiot…" Watanuki muttered under his breath.

"A fact's a fact. He. Risk. His. Life. For. You. Make sure you thank him properly." Yuuko emphasized as she stared at Watanuki straight in the eye.

Watanuki was almost afraid to go near Doumeki again. These rousing feelings were getting stronger and after getting the scare of almost losing the archer, he could hardly control them any longer. He didn't understand why he was feeling this way.

Ok, so maybe he didn'thate Doumeki this much. He just… annoyed him sometimes. Most of the time, maybe. Those kisses… Doumeki had responded didn't he? Does that mean he…?

"Ne, Watanuki."

Watanuki turned to look at Yuuko.

"Sometimes, it's good to listen to your heart. Your mind might have internalized too much of the common sense you see everyday. And as a result, people might not follow the true path that they really want."

Watanuki stared at Yuuko as she walked out of the room, calling out to Mokona to go back.

"Listen to the heart. Somehow that sounds really cliché." Watanuki gazed out to the front porch before the sound of Yuuko's voice jerked him back again.

"Ah yes I nearly forgot. I'll take care of the baby for you in the meantime." She said, walking back towards Watanuki.

"Huh? You? Take care of the baby?" Watanuki stared at her doubtfully.

"What? You think I'm incapable?" Yuuko placed her hands on her hips indignantly. "Doumeki's injured. You need to take care of him. So I'll handle the baby."

"Mokona will help too." Mokona supplied helpfully.

Watanuki knew she had a point there. Not that he's going to actually stay by his side and look after him though. Humph.

--------------------

When they were a distance away from the temple, Yuuko placed the baby down onto the ground. The baby glowed and transformed into raccoon and scampered off into the arms of the approaching person.

Yuuko smiled gleefully and waved cheerfully at the company. "It went very well! Good job!"

The visitor tossed her head as she stroked the raccoon. "Of course. I was the one who set up the plan after all. My little one here won't fail in its task."

She took another look at Yuuko. "So the dense ones finally got it?"

Yuuko gave a wistful smile. "Not yet. But soon. Very soon."

------------------

Note: In Japanese legends, a raccoon is one of the animals that have the supernatural powers to transform to anything they desire and can acquire magical abilities.

A/n: Ok, so my main ultimate aim was smut. I can't help it. More smut obviously in the next chap since its ending. Review to let me know you're still here? (smile)

Thank you so much for all the reviews so far. You've all made my day!!