Disclaimer: I do not own Clamp. If I did, xxxHolic and Tsubasa RC would update faithfully EVERY WEEK, and Kobato would have over 10 volumes by now. But it would also be really crappy, so it's probably a good thing I don't. Heh.

A/N: Oh dear oh dear oh dear. It took me roughly 1,000,000 hours to figure out where this chapter was going. I must have re-written it 4 times before it finally started to un-suck itself. So yeah, sorry about the late update. I'm in the middle of the next chapter, so it should be up within the next couple of days. Diving Into You is on a temp. hiatus, cuz I'm liking this story a lot better right now, but DON'T WORRY! I'll be picking it up again soon

Chapter 4: Temptations

Doumeki was a pretty chill guy. Years of meditation had trained him to remain calm in stressful situations, and years of archery had taught him how to focus. Right now however, he was having a bit of trouble with both.

Pull them up pull them up pull them UP! Unfortunately for the archer (or perhaps not so unfortunately, considering the thoughts he had been having lately) Watanuki did not read minds, so the boy's pants remained dangerously low on his hips, exposing his slender waist and a pair of thin and extremely grabbable (1) love handles.

On any other night Doumeki would have been able to look the other way, but for some reason he was currently unable to tear his eyes off of that sliver of white skin that peeked so provokingly out at him.

It wasn't so much the love handles themselves, but the entire waist that fascinated Doumeki. He imagined encircling that waist with his long arms and pulling the boy firmly against him into an embrace.

Watanuki's skin would be so soft against his rough hands, like (Doumeki's mind tried to come up with a decent comparison, but failed (2)) soft skin. He knew that for a fact, actually: the boy had amazingly soft skin.

But what would Watanuki's reaction be? There would be screaming, no doubt.

He'd like it. Of course he'd like it. It would just take him a little while to get used to the idea.

Shuttup. He definitely wouldn't.

You're being unreasonable. Who wouldn't give in to you? One gentle touch and he'd be puddy in your –

I said shut up! I should not be thinking about this right now. We're on a mission. … I'll think about it later.

It had only been a few days since the incident, and Doumeki was feeling slightly frazzled. Actually, 'slightly' was a bit of an understatement.

He refused to let Watanuki out of his sight for a single minute, and had spent the past two nights in the seer's apartment, afraid that the moment he left, Watanuki would be assaulted by spirits.

The thing that disturbed Doumeki the most however was the fact that his constant presence didn't seem to be helping Watanuki in the slightest. Like the witch said, he had definitely lost a lot of his spirit-repelling abilities. He hadn't had a chance to try out any of Yuuko's 'cures', because…well, being around Watanuki all the time made it a bit too dangerous.

There was no way he was going to risk the seer walking in on him while he was…busy. Yeah, it'd just have to wait.

But until then, Watanuki was going to have to put up with him.

For his part, Watanuki had seemed more on-edge than usual. He snapped at Doumeki more frequently, and even neglected to jump for joy every time Himawari was near, choosing instead to give her a distracted wave and smile.

To Himawari's credit, she didn't seem to notice. Sometimes it astounded Doumeki how dense she could be. (She could never be as dense as his Watanuki though.)

Although Watanuki might have been unwilling to admit it, Doumeki knew that the boy was seeing more spirits than normal. It was the way the seer's eyes shifted unconsciously from side to side, as though he was checking for invisible stalkers (which was, essentially, what he was doing).

That, and the occasionally glimpse through his right eye (3) indicated that his hunch was correct. The spirits were everywhere. Small, but everwhere.

Doumeki was surprised Watanuki hadn't confronted him about it yet, although when put into a historical context, it made sense. Watanuki hated the fact that he depended on Doumeki to protect him from harm, and was probably too embarrassed to ask his arch-nemesis why he was being plagued by so many more spirits than usual.

Meanwhile…"Would you quit staring?! It's making me uncomfortable." Watanuki's face had turned pink under Doumeki's scrutiny, and he fidgeted awkwardly with his hands. Doumeki had to make a conscious effort to tear his eyes away.

The muffled sounds of music and laughter alerted the two boys that they were close to their destination. Strangely enough, it hadn't been a long walk from Watanuki's apartment to the club.

Neither boy had known of it's existence before Yuuko had sent them on this mission, and so it was a surprise to both of them to see the bright neon sign flashing CLOVER in brilliant letters directly above them.

Clover? What kind of name is that? Watanuki took a deep breath in, before putting a determined expression on his face.

Brace yourself, Watanuki. Just think about how wonderful it will be, not being hunted by spirits anymore. Just think about how nice it will be not being forced to hang out with Doumeki every minute of every day.

Somehow, this last thought failed to give him as much pleasure as it had in the past. Shaking his head, the boy decided not to think about it, choosing instead to adjust his pants so they didn't ride so low on his waist.

The attempt, however, was in vain. Stupid pants. Stupid club. Stupid Doumeki. Stupid Yuuko!

Back at the shop, the Dimensional Witch had practically forced him out of his school uniform, giving him instead a pair of tight jeans, a long-sleeved fishnet shirt, pair of black combat boots and finally, a studded collar with a strange silver ring in the center, directly above Watanuki's clavicle. (4)

It was a weird looking thing, and needless to say, he felt like an idiot.

It had taken the combined efforts of Yuuko, Mokona, Maru and Moro, and even Doumeki, in his own, subtle way, to get Watanuki to consent to wearing the ensemble, and he was now severely regretting his decision. At least he had escaped before Yuuko had been able to bring out the makeup…

Doumeki, to Watanuki's dismay, didn't look at all uncomfortable in his baggy, ripped jeans, white undershirt and studded wrist cuffs (to match with Watanuki's collar, no doubt. Yuuko had a twisted sense of humor).

He might even go so far as to say that the archer looked…fairly decent. As decent as he could, anyway, being Doumeki and all.

"Shouldn't we go inside?" The admittedly decent-looking archer interrupted Watanuki from his thoughts.

"Shuttup, idiot. We have to get our tickets first, you know!"

Doumeki pulled a set of tickets out of his back pocket and flicked Watanuki between the eyes. "Got em."

Watanuki flushed pink at this, though it was hard to tell with the bright oranges and greens dancing across his face. I guess there's no stopping it then…the seer sighed resignedly. "Ok, let's do this."

Doumeki had been unhappy with this plan from the get-go. When Yuuko first mentioned the word 'club', alarm bells began ringing in his head. Somehow, Watanuki at a club just didn't seem like a good idea.

The loud music, flashing lights, and crowded dance floor were bound to throw the boy into an epileptic fit. Not to mention all the spirits that were sure to be hanging around…sexual predator spirits, no doubt.

Why on earth couldn't Yuuko buy her liquor from a store like a normal person? There must be some ulterior motive, her sending them out on a ridiculous mission like this, but what was it…?

Doumeki shrugged inwardly. He'd find out eventually. In the meantime, Watanuki needed to quit distracting him with that damned fishnet shirt of his.

They had made it to the front of the club without incident. Watanuki was staring into space, and didn't notice when Doumeki bought them both tickets and started steering him to the entrance.

The neon light from the sign made Watanuki's pale skin glow, and Doumeki thought that he caught a glimpse of his navel when Watanuki finally turned to face him. Not that he was looking. Aw hell, he was looking. Stupid fishnets.

"Shouldn't we go inside?" Watanuki's quietness was starting to disturb the archer.

"Shuttup, idiot. We have to get our tickets first, you know!" That was more like it.

"Got em." Doumeki flicked Watanuki in the forehead with the tickets and walked through the entrance, keeping a close eye on the boy beside him.

"Ok" he heard the seer mutter to himself, and Doumeki could see a faint blush on his cheeks (or maybe it was just the light?) "let's do this."

They both stepped through the glass door marked "Club Clover, Entrance" and into the noise.

Please let this end well prayed Doumeki to whichever god would listen.

(1) That's right, grabbable is a word. ;;;

(2) PC tried to come up w/ a good comparison and failed.

(3) Crap, which eye was it again? What with the Shaorans, Fai and Seishiro, I get a bit confused. Silly Clamp and their strange obsession with eye gouging.

(4) Sound familiar?

Sorry this chapter jumped around a lot. It keeps switching perspectives, and will probably continue to do so until this story is over. So if that makes you dizzy, I apologize.

Coming up next: loud music, booze, and guest appearances from some of our favorite Clamp characters.

Reviews please!