"So…what would happen if we did more than kiss?"

At the sound of Doumeki's question, Watanuki cleared his throat and continued to treat the scratches on the archer's wrists. Yuuko had just finished cuing Doumeki into what she believed was happening to him, and the formidable silence that followed her explanation, had been interrupted by an even more formidable foe—

Doumeki's bluntness.

Yuuko raised a thin eyebrow at the archer, and then turned to Watanuki. "You certainly have your ways, don't you?"

"Shut up," Watanuki muttered, his eyes glued to Doumeki's wrist.

"To tell you the truth, I'm not certain what would happen," Yuuko said, turning back to Doumeki, who had been quietly awaiting an answer. "I suppose you two would have to figure that out yourselves; the only thing I ask is that you figure it out far away from the shop."

"Yuuko-san!" Watanuki shouted, dropping the cotton-balls and bandages in his hands. "This is not funny. He could kill me." Watanuki gripped his head in full-out panic-mode. "Oh god, he could actually kill me. And when we're doing that of all things. That's just not normal. There's absolutely nothing about this situation that's normal." Watanuki grabbed Doumeki by the front of his shirt. "Why would you want to do that to me? Why are you such a freak?!"

"The pot calling the kettle—"

"I was tricked dammit!" Watanuki cried, shaking Doumeki now. "Just because you're handsome and cool, and I was tricked. Be less cool so I don't fall for you, dammit!"

"Well, I'll excuse myself then," Yuuko said, seeing as how her young charge was blurting out things that she expected he would prefer she not hear.

"Where the hell are you going?" Watanuki practically screamed at his employer, and the woman, despite herself, sat back down like a chastised school girl. "You have to fix this. Doumeki might be an unholy freak, but I'm not letting that get between us. This relationship is going to work if I have to kill him and everyone in this shop to make it happen."

"Glad we're not over-reacting," Doumeki said.

"Hey, if you have a solution for the freak problem then I'm all ears, but if you're only going to sit there and make dumb sarcastic remarks then I'm going to throw you through the screen."

Doumeki turned his head, put a finger in one ear—"If I'm a freak, then you're the freak-magnet."

It was at this time that Maru and Moro, as well as their ring-leader Mokona, chose to burst through the screen, the shop's twins circling Watanuki and singing in a cheery voice: "Freak-magnet, freak-magnet. Watanuki is a freak magnet," while Mokona did the chorus for "Tatakae! Casshern" because it was one of Yuuko's favorites and honestly he thought it was appropriate for all platitudes.

"I AM NOT A FREAK MAGNET!"

"Actually," Yuuko started, "it's quite a suitable title, considering the people that are attracted to you and the remarkable powers they possess. You certainly can't label them as normal, now can you?

Watanuki stopped trying to catch Mokona and throw him out the way he came—"Tatakae! Casshern" and all, and turned to look at his employer in disbelief.

"There's Himawari-chan and, not to put it lightly, her killer bad luck," Yuuko said, bending her thumb as she listed it off.

"What about Himawari-chan?" Watanuki asked, not liking how she readying the other four fingers on her hand. "Himawari-chan is not a freak! She is a beautiful flower and you will take that back!"

"There's the Zashiki-warashi and her ability to purify corrupt spaces," she continued, another finger down for the count.

"Let's not forget Doumeki!" Mokona piped up. "I'm on your side, so don't forget me when you break out the good shochu."

"Thanks," Doumeki said to Mokona, and poured him some alcohol.

"Hold on a minute here," Watanuki interrupted, hands in front of him.

"Yes, Doumeki and his exorcist powers," Yuuko said to Mokona, bending another finger. "We can't forget about Doumeki--the current favorite."

"Kohane-chan. Kohane-chan," Maru and Moro sing-songed.

"What the hell is wrong with you people?" Watanuki yelled.

"Kohane is a former medium. She will grow up into a fine woman one day," Yuuko said, bending another finger. "And certainly, she would never be able to forget the kind boy who brought her out of her shell all those years ago."

"You people make me sick. All of you," Watanuki said as he eyed the lot of them. "And Doumeki, that better not be alcohol you're drinking or I swear to god--"

"The pipe-fox," Doumeki added as he sipped an unknown liquid aka alcohol. "He's been up Watanuki's shirt more than I have."

"You have never been—what the hell?!"Watanuki said, stopping himself mid-sentence and kicking Doumeki in the side.

"Oh, we can't leave out the non-human contingent," Yuuko said, in full agreement with Doumeki.

"The pipe-fox and his destructive fox-fire!"

"The oden shop-owner's son and his delicious oden," Doumeki added as he rubbed his side.

Watanuki glared at Yuuko and Doumeki. "I'm glad you guys are having so much fun at my expense."

"I'll have to use my other hand to count now," Yuuko said, not paying her charge any mind. "Watanuki has such a huge fan-club. I'm so jealous~"

"Jealousy, jealousy," Maru and Moro repeated.

Watanuki crossed his arms over his chest. "Just for clarification, I hate everyone in this room right now."

"And last but not least," Yuuko said, about to make Watanuki hate them even more, "Haruka-san!"

Doumeki spat out a mouthful of sake.

"What?! No, hey, that's not even funny. That's Doumeki's grandfather."

"Don't think we don't know about your little dream-dates with Haruka-san," Yuuko said, nudging him with a finger. "You're quite the sly fox, going after the egg and the hen."

"I'm not going after anyone," Watanuki said, his ears beet red now. "Haruka-san and I…we have a lot in common. We're…Geez, why am I even explaining this to you people? And what the hell, they look exactly alike."

Doumeki turned to look at him, and Watanuki gave him a strained smile. "Uhh…we got off topic again. Yuuko-san, can't you do anything about Doumeki, or are you going to make me go in circles until I pass out."

"I'm not certain of what to do with you two," Yuuko said, falling back into serious mode. She was so bipolar sometimes. "I suppose I could give Doumeki some seals, but I would advise against it since restraining his exorcist powers would cause your own to become stronger. And you'll get a lot more night attacks if that's the case."

"Night attacks?" Doumeki asked, and gave him a questioning look that Watanuki promptly avoided.

"If it can stop him from doing a repeat of this afternoon then that's fine. I'm a light sleeper, anyway. I'll get used to it again."

"What do you mean 'night attacks'?" Doumeki asked, not willing to drop the subject.

"It's nothing," Watanuki said, ignoring Doumeki for a second time and turning back to Yuuko. "So what do I have to give you for these seals? Not an arm and a leg, I hope."

"Not exactly," Yuuko said, but bit her tongue as she noticed the pissed look on Doumeki's face. He was not a usually expressive person, so when an expression did make its way on his face, it was hard not to miss.

"So what do I have to give you?" Watanuki asked again, completely unaware of what was happening right next to him. He turned to look at Doumeki and then back at Yuuko. "What?"

"Can you give us a minute?" Doumeki said to the dimensional witch, and Yuuko nodded, more than willing to give her clueless charge and his boyfriend the space they needed to argue, as there was undoubtedly going to be an argument in the next minute or so.

"What's wrong?" Watanuki asked when Yuuko slid the screenbehind her. He leaned into Doumeki, inspecting the scratches on the side of his chin. "Does it hurt? I'll put something on it if it does."

"You're doing it again," Doumeki said, his eyes trained forward. "You're taking all the burden on yourself. I thought we had an understanding about this."

Watanuki squeezed a dollop of topical ointment onto his finger. "I'm not taking all the burden onto myself," he said as he tilted Doumeki's head and gently applied the ointment to his scratches. "But didn't you listen to what Yuuko-san said. Sure you were the one to wreck the dojo, but it was initially my fault. I'm the cause of this, so it's only reasonable that I'm the one to pay for it." Watanuki leaned into him again, blowing gently on the scratches, and Doumeki tried to nudge him away, as if embarrassed by what he was doing.

"You can say what you want, I'm not letting you pay for this by yourself."

"Why are you making such a big deal out of this?" Watanuki asked, and tried to put a band-aid on his face, but Doumeki grabbed his hand, lowering it to the floor.

"I thought we agreed to take on the burden together."

"Yeah, but…" Watanuki glanced down at the hand on top of his. "Ugh, you're so annoying. What the hell do you want from me? I'm trying to fix everything. For you. For us. Why won't you let me just…fix it?"

"I didn't ask you to," Doumeki said, letting go of his hand.

"You don't have to," Watanuki replied, and tried to get Doumeki to look at him, but the archer turned his head. "If the problem is something I created with my actions then I'll take full responsibility."

"No," Doumeki said, and Watanuki stopped, completely thrown off by such a simple, and yet at the same time, powerful response. Doumeki turned to face him.

"No."

Watanuki narrowed his eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what it sounds like," Doumeki said. "You have no idea how to compromise so I'm compromising for you."

Watanuki leaned back from Doumeki, staring at him warily. "A-are you trying to intimidate me into letting you do this? You might be a little bigger, but don't think I can't take you." Watanuki stood up and looked down at Doumeki. "Just because we're going out now doesn't mean we're friends either. You're still my mortal nemesis." He might make-out with his mortal nemesis on occasion, but that didn't stop them from being enemies. "I have no problem getting into an actual fight with you. Actually, I've always wanted it to happen someday since you really bug me."

Doumeki stood up to his full height, looked down at Watanuki, and then turned to walk out.

"Haa!" Watanuki shouted at Doumeki's back, feeling victory in his grasp. He pointed a finger at the archer. "That's right, run away with your tail between your legs. But then again, I wouldn't want to fight me either. You're lucky I'm letting you off the hook so easily."

"I'm not running away," Doumeki said. "I'll see you outside."

The screen door slid crisply shut and Watanuki blinked at the space where Doumeki had been standing not too long ago.

It had never really dawned on him that it wasn't a good idea to speak to Doumeki like he did.

He knew how to handle the other boys in his class--knew that since he came off as a bit girly and melodramatic, other boys didn't know how to talk to him and, as a result, left him to his own devices. He never pushed it with anyone of them either. He was always polite and generally tried to stay out of their way.

However, the same rules that he used to regulate his interaction with the other males in his class, he never used with Doumeki.

He was always calling Doumeki names and being very physical with him—he'd grab him by the front of his shirt, get in his face on a daily basis, and in general do everything that would have made any other guy want to kick his ass.

When they'd started to get acquainted, he was sure Doumeki had thought about it a few times—about actually getting into a fight with him. He wouldn't blame Doumeki either. He was always baiting him.

Which brought him back to his first thought--it had never been a smart idea on his part to speak to Doumeki like he did. He noticed how the other boys treated Doumeki; they generally stayed out of his way. Not that they had anything to fear; Doumeki was not the bullying type. He was actually the opposite, and had always come to his rescue when he needed it. But the other boys in class didn't know that. To them, Doumeki was intimidating in his silent, no expression way, and hard to approach. It was why votes were always passed so quickly in his class. As their class representative, nobody wanted to antagonize the boy who could hit a target from 30 meters away.

In hindsight Watanuki felt he would have done himself a favor to take a cue from Doumeki's classmates, especially since Doumeki, on top of being able to hit a target 30 meters away, could now make it explode on contact.

"I want to see a clean fight," Mokona said between them. He was wearing tiny, white boxing gloves and a white head-band that said "#1 in Japan". Yuuko was also wearing a white head-band, except hers said "#1 in every dimension of Japan".

Watanuki wondered why he even told these two anything anymore, especially when this was one of their more normal responses. He also wondered where in the world Mokona had gotten those tiny,white boxing gloves.

"Fight!" Mokona bounced away as if he very much expected Doumeki and him to instantly start battling it out. When no one moved, both boys staring at each other across the space that separated them, Watanuki sighed and slumped over.

"Are you seriously considering fighting me over something so stupid?" he said. "Don't you think it's more reasonable for one of us to deal with Yuuko-san? My way would give her less people to swindle."

"A five point deduction for bringing personal matters into this," Yuuko said on the veranda.

"This is all about personal matters!" Watanuki screamed. "And what the hell is Mokona drawing around us?" Watanuki watched as the black, manjuu-bun like creature circled Doumeki and him with white chalk.

"The circle of death," Yuuko replied.

Watanuki stared at his employer.

Of course it was the circle of death. How could it be anything but the circle of death?

"Get out of here!" Watanuki screamed, throwing Mokona at Yuuko, chalk and all. "I'm trying to reason with this idiot and you two are making this really difficult."

"You're the one who's making it difficult," Doumeki said.

"And again," Watanuki huffed, "you're making a big deal out of nothing."

Mokona jumped down from the veranda and resumed drawing the circle of death, as it seemed there would still be a need for it.

"Then that settles it," Doumeki said, and took a step towards him.

Watanuki took a step back. "Settles what? What's been settled?"

Doumeki dropped his black button-up gakuran outside the circle, rolled up the sleeves of the white shirt underneath, and positioned himself in a grapple stance, two hands out in the front, one raised higher than the other.

"Oh, does Doumeki know Judo?" Yuuko asked.

"I'm a three-dan black belt," Doumeki said.

"Oh, so you're up there. Well, good luck, Watanuki."

"Don't sound like that when you tell me 'good luck'!" Watanuki shouted. When he saw Doumeki moving forward he took another step back. "You bastard, I won't be so easy to throw. Don't get any ideas."

Doumeki's hand suddenly shot forward with the intention to grab him by the front of his shirt, but Watanuki jumped back, lost his footing as soon as he did, and backpeddled the rest of way until he fell on his ass. Before Doumeki could even take another step forward, Watanuki scrambled past him to the other side of the circle. He was freakishly fast for someone moving on his hands.

Yuuko smirked at the unfolding scenario. "Doumeki might be a three-dan in Judo, but our very own Watanuki is a four-dan in evasion tactics and all out weird movements. Even ghosts have a hard time holding onto him. Doumeki might be defeated by the sheer weirdness that is Watanuki's pace."

"King of weird movements~" Maru singsonged.

"Reigning King~" Moro repeated.

Fortunately for everyone's ears Watanuki was too busy flailing and dodging to shout at them. He ducked Doumeki's hand, ducked it again, and then bent completely backwards to avoid the sweeping arc of his arm. Almost immediately Watanuki righted himself, pushing up with his feet from the ground and flipping over a little clumsily so he was no longer in that awkward crab-walk position.

Doumeki stopped and raised an eyebrow.

"Flexible isn't he?" Yuuko said, clapping her hands together like a child who had found a new toy. "I think he should be a circus freak when he grows up."

As if that should be something to be proud of, Watanuki held his chin in his hand haughtily and turned to Doumeki with an accomplished look on his face. "Heh. Do you finally see the difference between us, peasant? If you do, then bow to your great Watanuki-sama and I might forget this sad little revolt of yours."

Doumeki stared at his Watanuki-sama for a moment before grabbing him by the front of his shirt, hooking his arm around Watanuki's upper arm, and flipping him over his shoulder as he turned his body into the motion of it.

"Ippon," Doumeki said, calling his win. He picked up his gakuran and started to put it on.

"What the hell was that?" Watanuki screamed, rolling around on the ground in anger and indignation. "I want a rematch. It can't end with evil triumphing like this. I want a rematch!"

"An ippon is a one-throw win. There is no rematch after ippon," Doumeki explained, as if it were not up to him. He put out his hand to help him up. "Don't be a sore loser."

"Whatever," Watanuki said, slapping his hand away. "This is stupid. I would have let you pay half for those seals if you had asked me nicely."

"No you wouldn't have," Doumeki said. He'd argued with him, tried to intimidate him, and then had to throw him across the yard for the spectacles-wearing boy to even think about letting him pay half for seals that, for all intents and purposes, were going to be his. Stubborn didn't even begin to describe Watanuki's personality.

Stubborn and unceasingly selfless.

"Geez you jerk, are you going to help me up or not?" Watanuki said, waving a hand at him.

Doumeki stared down at Watanuki.

Bossy, too. Unbelievably bossy.

Yuuko swept into the room with a chalice-like censer, Maru and Moro following in closely behind with the same type of censers and setting them down, one behind Watanuki and the other behind Doumeki. Yuuko placed her censer behind her as she sat down, as well as several slips of rice paper.

"This new incense is really strong," Watanuki said, putting a hand over his nose. The smoke rising from the censers behind each of them was becoming thick and covering the room in a dark grayish smoke. It made it hard to make out the borders of the room.

"The incense is necessary," Yuuko said, drawing on her pipe and blowing the smoke right in Watanuki's face, which he knew was altogether not necessary.

"Cut it out," Watanuki coughed, trying to wave it all away.

"So I take it you have both decided to pay," Yuuko said, ignoring her charge's protests. She turned to look at Doumeki who simply nodded.

Yuuko, satisfied that the children had forged an understanding between them, nodded to Doumeki in turn and then put a hand out to Watanuki, ready to get down to business.

"The second button on your school uniform," she said.

Watanuki stared at her hand. "What?"

"I also need the second button on your uniform," Yuuko said to Doumeki.

The boy looked down at his gakuran. His hand hesitated over the item asked for. Then, as if cross over the fact that he would never have the chance to give it to the person it had been promised to, Doumeki ripped out the button from his uniform coat and handed it over to Yuuko quietly.

"But that's supposed to be my button in another year," Watanuki grumbled, mad and not caring to hide it like Doumeki.

It was tradition for a boy to give the person he liked the second button on his uniform on the last day of high school.

All the emotions of those three years—the heart-ache, the happiness, the confusion —all of it was said to be contained in that one small button because of its proximity to the heart.

To give the button away to someone meant to confess your love to them. It meant that for the three years of high school you had been thinking about them. That all the emotions contained within that button were for them, had been caused by them, and needed to be returned.

To give the button away was considered serious business for Watanuki, who had always been a hopeless romantic and felt that outward displays of affection were important to any relationship.

It was supposed to be his button.

He wanted that damn button.

"No, I don't consent to this," Watanuki said, and actually snatched the button away from Yuuko. "This is past ridiculous. Do you have any idea what I had to go through to get this button? This bastard has been annoying me for two years now. He's not made it easy. And he still has another year left."

"If you want the seals," said Yuuko, sighing, "then you'll have to hand them both over."

Watanuki pressed a protective hand over his chest and his own button.

All his emotions of the past two years were contained in this button—the aversion he felt towards Doumeki when they first met, the jealousy and competitiveness, the hurt he felt when Doumeki had exorcised the lady in the park, and then feeling so helplessly touched by his actions and crying over it in front of Yuuko. The begrudging feelings of friendship that sprung up as a result, and the protectiveness he felt when Doumeki lost his eye in place of him. It was all in here, a silent witness, and he wanted to give it to Doumeki when they finished high school.

"I don't want to!" Watanuki said, on the verge of throwing a temper tantrum. Grown-up time was very much over. "This isn't fair. You have to take something else. If I pay you myself then the price should be different, right?"

Doumeki narrowed his eyes at Watanuki, who was already going back on their deal, and grabbed him by the front of the shirt, ready to snap the button off his uniform.

"Let go, asshole. I'm not giving her an important part of my youth, and neither are you. I'll dump you in a heartbeat if you give that damn button to anyone but me."

Doumeki's grip on his shirt lessoned. "I can't exactly give her anything when you're still clutching onto it."

"And that's how it's going to stay," Watanuki said, his mind made up. "So ask me for something else because these aren't for sale," he said, and pocketed Doumeki's button with thoughts of mending it back onto his gakuran when they left the shop.

Yuuko silently stared at Watanuki with hidden wonder, not because of the absolutely stupid and inefficient way he was going about dealing with what should be a simple payment transaction, but because he was as stubborn as a mule, and if Doumeki wasn't careful, Watanuki would rule over him with an iron-fist for the rest of his life. Watanuki might take after Clow in looks, but personality-wise he was no lamb. Too bad there were no lambs in this room for him to boss around either.

"If I'm only taking payment from you then expect it to be quite a price," Yuuko warned.

"Like what?"

"Your actual memories of high school," Yuuko said.

"WHAT?! What the hell are these seals made of?"

"Then you understand why it would be best for the two of you to pay the price instead of one. With both of you the emotions contained within the buttons are strong enough so they can create a very close similitude of a memory. It would be enough to make the seals. With only one of you the genuine article would be needed."

"But I can't give you those memories," Watanuki said in a tiny voice.

"Then hand them over," Doumeki said, and ripped the button from his uniform. Watanuki opened his mouth to protest, but he had nothing to say to stop Doumeki and could only watch helplessly as he took back his own button and handed them both to the dimensional witch.

"What are you going to do with them?" Watanuki asked, watching sullenly as Yuuko closed the buttons into her palm. He blinked in surprise as black wisps seeped from the confines of her fist and mixed into the gray smoke. When Yuuko opened her hands the buttons were gone.

"A strong bond is usually at the heart of every seal—the need to protect oneself, the need to protect someone…" Yuuko picked up a slip of rice paper behind her and dark smoke began to curl around it. Suddenly Watanuki heard scribbling as the dark smoke transported itself on the paper into archaic Japanese.

"The bonds between people are very effective at containing power. I used the second button on your uniforms because memories…"

Yuuko handed the slip of paper to Watanuki with a mysterious smile, "…Memories are the strongest bonds one can form."

For a moment Watanuki felt an immense gap between him and Yuuko. He stared at the dimensional witch as if he were seeing her for the first time. "Yuuko-san?"

"Help Doumeki put these on," Yuuko said, pointing to the rest of the seals on the floor. "I didn't place the seals directly onto his body because they're not permanent. You will want the option of taking them off if the ghosts become too much for you to handle."

"Then where should I put them?" Watanuki asked, returning to the present matter. He had no idea why he'd blanked out like that.

"Doumeki's power stems from his core. And in archery, he uses his arms and back to draw the bow and release it. It would do you good to place them in areas where you can interrupt the chi flow that happens during that process." She stood up from the mat and slid the screen open. "I'm sure you two would like some privacy for this." A leer was already forming on her face, and it was as if nothing had ever changed. "Hopefully my precious shop can hold up if you excite Doumeki again."

"Get out of here," Watanuki said and threw a shoe at his employer, who dodged it with unnatural squiggly motions. He watched her slide the screen door close, the purple of one iris the last thing he saw before she shut the door behind her.

"Is something wrong?" Doumeki asked, and took off gakuran.

"I don't think so…" Watanuki said, still staring at the closed door. He listened for Yuuko's footsteps to drop off. "Nothing's wrong, but Yuuko-san feels so…distant lately."

"Hasn't she always been?" Doumeki said as he unbuttoned his white under-shirt. "But then again, I'm not close to her like you are."

"No, it's…" Watanuki shook his head and sighed. "I guess I'm being oversensitive. It's just that—" He turned his gaze away from the door to Doumeki and stopped. "You could have given me a warning," he said as he stared at Doumeki without his shirt. He hitched his glasses up on his nose and squinted.

"For what? We change in the locker-room right next to each other every day. You shower next to me."

"That's different," Watanuki said, defending his craziness. "I keep my eyes to myself. Well…sometimes it can't be helped because you'll walk into my line of sight or something, but it's still different." Sometimes he took a peek but that had mostly been for comparison purposes, which was completely harmless and should not count.

"Put those on for me," Doumeki said, pointing to the seals. He had caught Watanuki staring/glaring at him in the shower a couple of times; had never said anything because Watanuki was complicated and defensive; would never say anything because that would make him a big hypocrite for reasons that should be obvious.

"Don't boss me around," Watanuki muttered and slapped one of the seals on Doumeki's shoulders. Then he patted it lightly in apology as slapping on seals didn't seem like the best way to go about fixing Doumeki. "Hey, do you feel any different?"

Doumeki shrugged.

"I'm glad your health is worth a shrug to you." Watanuki slapped a seal on the other shoulder. "How do you feel now?"

"Hungry."

"I swear to god," Watanuki hissed, and walked around to Doumeki's back. He placed the rest of the seals across the width of Doumeki's shoulders and down his arms. They went on easily enough.

For some reason, when he was done, Watanuki found himself peeling up one end of a seal on the back of Doumeki's upper arm, but an inquisitive 'hm?' from Doumeki made him quickly smooth it back down into place.

"They're not uncomfortable?" Watanuki asked, feeling oddly restless now that the seals were in place. He thought they were supposed to help with that.

"A little," Doumeki conceded. He rolled one of his shoulders as if it felt stiff and then grabbed his shirt to put it on. He caught Watanuki's gaze when he slipped on his shirt. "It should be fine."

"We'll see," Watanuki said, and stood up to go tell Yuuko they were leaving.