"Swallowtail"

Watanuki flung himself forward without a second though, reaching for the archer with a desperate hand as the giant spider descended.

"Doumeki!"

It all seemed to happen in slow motion - the spiders huge jaws were so close to their faces, he could almost hear the pre-emptive grind of their bones beneath it's fangs, but the fear of being devoured was for once on the the back burner in comparison to the terror of Doumeki being injured in any way. It took all the strength in Watanuki's slender body, but he managed to wrench the archer away from the jaws of death just in time.

They tumbled back onto the hard concrete of the street leaving the spider to snap and buck in abject fury after receiving an empty bite. No sooner had their butts connected with the ground than Doumeki composed himself and picked Watanuki up, moving them away from the beast they were facing and steering the seer behind him reflexively.

"Doumeki, what are you going to do?" Watanuki stood on his toes, lifting himself up with Doumeki's shoulders so he could hiss in his ear. "It's huge! Let's run!"

"I'll shoot it." He said simply. "It's too big to outrun. Stand back."

Watanuki edged away and gave Doumeki the space he needed to ready his bow-free arrow. He pulled back the invisible string and a shimmering arrow followed his fingers like a blue slice being cut out of the universe. He took aim at the centre of the spider's head, between it's many beady eyes, and his arm trembled with the tightness of the draw.

In the instant that he fired, the spider shot it's own torpedo of hard white silk. From their proximity it was like launching a sword from a crossbow, and it hit the arrow in mid flight, exploding and sending tendrils of broken spiritual energy spilling out into the street. One offshoot sliced across Doumeki's firing arm and ankle, sending fans of blood across his school uniform.

"Doumeki!" Watanuki raced over to the archer as he sunk down to his knees. "C'mon, we have to get out of here!"

Doumeki's expression pinched as the blood pooled around his ankle and trickled down his arm.

"Watanuki..." He looked up into the seer's big blue eyes.

Watanuki swallowed hard; that look told him the grim reality. Doumeki couldn't move.

The spider advanced, it's legs breaking apart the concrete like bomb detonations.

"Go...! Go...!" Doumeki urged, trying to push Watanuki away but he wouldn't budge.

"I'm not going anywhere!" he said. "I'm through with you always carrying my burdens! You don't get to push me aside and sacrifice yourself this time! I won't allow it! This time, I will protect you!"

The influx of emotions between them them was palpable, it was like a fire beneath them, and it triggered their shared eye to open. For an instant they could see how the other saw them; wide eyed and flushed with dawning adoration.

Watanuki wrapped his arms around Doumeki's shoulders, pushing his face into his chest and shielding him as the spider descended. The beast ripped into his back with it's fangs.

Watanuki screamed.

From below him Doumeki stared up in helpless horror, "Watanuki!"

The seer forced his teeth together in an effort to suppress his pain before Doumeki. The agony of the bite was overwhelming though, it felt like his back was being pulled apart at the spine. He squeezed his eyes shut, the vain hope of a miracle pushing past his lashes in the form of tears.

Suddenly and without warning the spider released his back. A golden light was leaking out of the slashes left by its fangs and Doumeki stared in confusion and awe as the light started to take shape...

"Watanuki, look..."

Watanuki became aware that the pain had stopped, and tentatively cracking open an eye, saw that the golden glow was now so wide it blocked the spider from view. It extended out into four definite shapes, arches, before the intensity if its brilliance forced his eyes shut.

The gold light lit up the dark street like a small sun, radiating a mystical pulse which blew like gusts of wind from the very centre of Watanuki's back. In the blindness he could only feel, and he registered a familiar weight beginning to form between his shoulder blades. Watanuki's shirt and black school jacked slid down his arms and off.

When the light at last receded he found himself still crouch before Doumeki but there was a shadow cast over them. At first he feared it were the spider again, but glancing over his shoulder Watanuki gaped.

Wings.

He had grown wings again, only this time they were yellow and black. A swallowtail's pattern bore over him like a giant kite.

"Watanuki...!" Doumeki was shaking his arm again.

The spider had recovered and was preparing to attack. It tore across the street towards them with it's eyes inflamed and it's jaws dripping. Watanuki spread his wings and wrapped his arms around Doumeki again, inadvertently pressing his bare flesh to the archer's lips, hoping that the wings would shield them.

Just as the beast reached them another figure fell from the sky, spearing it through the abdomen and effectively halting it's jaws. The two turned to watch as the spider cried and struggled but eventually succumbed to its impalement. The figure leapt off and stepped into the light.

"Cho!" Watanuki exclaimed.

The former enemy now wore the Monarch garb; a lavish orange kimono decorated with black stripes and moons and stars. Amber jewels hung around his neck and clinked around his wrists, and of course his wings stood erect behind him like two huge war flags.

"What was that thing?" Doumeki asked directly, as Watanuki helped him to his feet. He hung on the seer, careful to avoid the newly sprung wings.

Cho's eyes narrowed. "A baby." He spat. "A low level minion. I was only able to kill it because it was distracted."

"But what was it doing here, attacking us?" Watanuki asked, trying to remain acutely unaware of Doumeki's steadying hand on his naked chest.

"Jorogumo's lawless patrons are revolting, killing butterfly spirits," Cho said. "Our kingdom has been destroyed - and it's your fault!"

"My fault!?" Watanuki shook with rage.

"If you had just accepted your destiny-!"

"Now, now, boys." Came a sultry voice from the darkness - Yuuko stepped into the lamplight. "Haven't we had enough fighting for one night?"

"Yuuko-San..."

"I think we should all return to the shop, poor Watanuki is out here with no shirt on. He must be cold."

Doumeki immediately shook off his jacket and wrapped it around his bare shoulders. Watanuki clutched it together at the throat without a second thought. Doumeki's hand stayed on his shoulder.

"But, Yuuko-San, Cho isn't a customer."

"Yes, he is. He has a very fervent wish. Don't you?" She glanced at him, and colour bloomed in his cheeks.

"Yes, Ma'am."

"It's settled then. Doumeki, can you make it to the shop on your ankle?"

"Yes."

"Then let's go."

Once they arrived at the shop Yuuko handed Watanuki a rather curious lilac kimono.

"This will merge with your new wings so you can use them without ruining anymore clothes." She smiled.

Watanuki slipped it on over his folded yellow wings and sure enough they bled through the fabric to become an exquisite design on the back and sleeves. With a thought, though, they would spring out of the material without tearing it.

"Amazing..."

Suitably dressed he went over with a first aid kit to bandage Doumeki's ankle.

"Thank you." Doumeki said. "For protecting me."

Watanuki flushed. "D-Don't say embarrassing things, idiot."

"You said it first though."

"That was in the heat of the moment!"

Doumeki allowed himself a small smile while Watanuki's eyes were focused on dressing his ankle.

"Excuse me," interrupted Cho. "I was the one who saved the both of you."

"You were the one who cursed me!" Watanuki cut back. "It's your fault we were nearly eaten in the first place!"

"I may have given you the Monarch wings, but these," he gestured to Watnuki's swallowtail stems. "are entirely yours."

Watanuki looked to Yuuko disbelievingly. "Yuuko-San...is it true? Are these wings mine?"

"That's right." She said grimly. "Becoming a Monarch awakened your true spiritual power, and this is how it's chosen to manifest itself."

"But why?"

"Nothing's by coincidence, there is a reason. You must find it."

He grimaced comically. "What a typical answer..."