A/N: So...hello again!

*ducks to avoid tomatoes*

Disclaimer: I really don't own xxxHolic, or Legal Drug. If I did, CLAMP would update much more frequently. (See what I did there? I made a joke about how I haven't updated in a million years, but CLAMP still updates even slower than I do. How clever.)*

Doumeki, Rikuo and Kazahaya fought their way through the crowd of dancers. Doumeki wasn't really one to talk to strangers, but he found himself asking everyone around him frantically whether they had seen a black haired boy wearing fishnets and a collar. He got some puzzled looks, and a few people pointed over to where Kazahaya and Watanuki had been dancing earlier, but aside from that, no one knew. And no one had seen the tall, dark skinned man that Kazahaya described, either - it was as though the two had simply vanished. The music continued to play, but Doumeki could barely hear it over the pounding of his heart in his ears.

Please! he thought desperately to himself, pushing his way through a sea of faceless bodies. Please...just let him be okay.

A few agonizing minutes later, Doumeki bumped into the strange men who Watanuki had run into before. They were no longer smiling. The small blonde one raised a hand and pointed to a little door in the far wall that Doumeki hadn't seen earlier.

"They went in there." He spoke quietly, but somehow Doumeki could hear him over the thumping of the bass. Without wondering how, or bothering to reply, the archer pushed past the two men and all but ran to the door. Rikuo followed, but the man wearing sunglasses caught Kazahaya's arm, and said something that Doumeki couldn't hear. He didn't pause to wait for the boy to catch up.

Through the door was a set of narrow stairs, leading to a small hallway. At the end of the hallway was another door. Doumeki took the steps two at a time, and grabbed at the door handle, twisting it furiously. It was locked. A voice growled from within the room:

"Hey, we're busy in here!" Even through the door, Doumeki could smell something unnatural, a smell like rot and decay, masked by an unpleasant sweetness.

That was enough for him. Bracing himself, Doumeki slammed his shoulder against the door. There was a cracking of wood, and then the door burst inward.

"I know."

No matter how much he wanted to, it would be a very long time before Doumeki would be able to forget what he saw in that little room. He saw Watanuki. He saw the demon (and it was most definitely a demon - humans simply did not have canines quite so sharp, or ears so long and pointed). And then he saw red.

"Get off him." It was that other voice again, but this time, the voice wasn't alone.

"What, you want him?" The demon mocked, licking the trembling Watanuki's jaw. "Maybe I'll let you have him after I'm done." He grinned an evil, toothy grin. "What's left of him, anyway."

Before Doumeki could move a muscle, a broken painting rose from the ground and smashed the demon in the face with a loud CRACK! This was swiftly followed by the desk chair and several books. A brief glance to Doumeki's left confirmed the source behind the attack– Rikuo's brow was furrowed in concentration, and his eyes were carefully trained on the levitating objects. Not one to question, Doumeki used the Yokai's momentary confusion to breach his defenses and land a punch in his gut that sent the fox spirit stumbling backwards, releasing his hold on Watanuki. The boy slipped to the floor, and as Doumeki reached out in an attempt to catch him, a set of claws made contact with his left arm, leaving long, flaming red gashes in their wake.

Doumeki barely winced at the blow, enough adrenaline coursing through his veins to numb the pain almost completely. After setting Watanuki down gently on the floor, the archer turned to face the winded demon. Doumeki wasn't a good fist fighter (having had very little experience), but he channeled all his pent up energy into every blow he dealt, swinging his fists furiously until the fox demon all but collapsed onto the floor. Standing over the spirit and breathing heavily, Doumeki felt a bit comforted to know that despite his new inability to repel spirits, he was still able to do something to protect Watanuki.

The creature he was fighting no longer looked like a man. It had grown a long, thin snout, and its blood-red eyes gleamed with rage. Its dark skin was now covered in a sleek brown fur which bristled when the creature snarled. Suddenly Doumeki recognized it from several of his grandfather's old texts - it was a kitsune, a fox spirit, similar to Watanuki's pipefox Mugetsu. Only Mugetsu didn't bare its teeth at Doumeki like this yokai did. No, it was definitely not Mugetsu. While he was staring at it, the creature smiled, in a way that only a creature with that many sharp teeth can smile.

"You'll never have him, dog." He said in a throaty voice.

"Look who's talking." Doumeki grunted, before kicking it in the stomach. The creature doubled over, and Doumeki was preparing to kick it again when the desk chair's second attack knocked the demon to the floor, where it lay still.

Doumeki approached the demon carefully, waiting for it to spring back up and attack him, but the creature was unconscious. So, it appeared, was Watanuki. At first he assumed the worst - the boy was still as stone, and just as cold - but upon closer inspection, he realized that Watanuki was just asleep. No matter how hard the archer tried to rouse him, he wouldn't stir.

The bastard must have given him some kind of drug, he thought furiously. Meanwhile, Rikuo had stepped further into the room and appeared to be assessing the damage with a grim look on his face. He looked everywhere but at the naked Watanuki, and a small, somewhat distracted part of Doumeki appreciated that.

Okay. The archer took several calming breaths and tried his best to keep from panicking.

No problem. We've been in situations like this before. Well, not exactly like this…nothing has ever tried to...to rape Watanuki before. And if I had come a second later…

A wave of intense self-deprecation washed over the archer, before he shook it off. He would have time to beat himself up after this was all over. For now, he had to get Watanuki someplace safe. Watanuki's apartment was closest, and when they got there, Doumeki would use his phone to call Yuuko.

After Doumeki had dressed Watanuki as best he could in what was left of his clothing, Rikuo wordlessly helped carry the unconscious boy back down the thin flight of stairs. For once, Doumeki needed the help. The adrenaline from the fight had begun to wear off, and the deep scratches on his arm given to him by the demon were beginning to throb painfully. He hoped they weren't going to get infected. Doumeki had taken off his shirt and used it as a temporary bandage, but it wouldn't be long before the wound bled through the cloth. They needed to get to Watanuki's apartment quickly.

The walk from the seer's apartment to the club had seemed short enough, but now that Doumeki didn't have Watanuki's tight pants and fishnets to distract him, the walk back felt like an eternity. Thankfully, there didn't seem to be any spirits – or at least, none that he could tell. In the interest of getting Watanuki home as quickly as possible, both Rikuo and Doumeki had decided to leave the yokai unconscious back in the little room. Now, however, Doumeki was beginning to regret that decision. He knew that if the yokai had woken up and followed after them, they wouldn't stand a chance.

Well, we'll just have to hope that he didn't, then.

After what had to have been hours, Rikuo left Doumeki and Watanuki at the door to the apartment, promising to bring by some pain medication for Doumeki's arm. The archer nodded at him in thanks, and dug the keys out of the potted plant.

The conversation with Yuuko was very brief. He hadn't even gotten a chance to explain to her what had happened in the club, but somehow he felt like she already knew. "Stay with him tonight, Doumeki - you both have some issues you need to work out together, whether you want to or not."

Yeah, as though I would leave him here alone.

After changing quickly into one of Watanuki's robes, Doumeki sat down carefully on the floor next to the futon, and watched the boy sleep. Instead of feeling relieved like he usually did at the sight of Watanuki lying on his futon slumbering peacefully, Doumeki felt an overwhelming sense of guilt.

I can't let that happen again. I can't let that happen again.

The words echoed in the archer's mind like a mantra.

I can't let that happen again.

Watanuki was safe now, tucked snugly into the futon, but Doumeki knew that the next morning, when they stepped out of the apartment, things would go back to the way they were before. If he wanted to get his powers back and be able to defend Watanuki, his…problem needed to be fixed.

As he watched Watanuki's sleeping face, images of that night at the club rose, unbidden in Doumeki's head - images of pale skin and flushed cheeks, of fishnet and bare skin and bright blue…shit. Gold eyes snapped into focus and looked down – yeah, he was hard. Bad timing too, with the object of his fantasies barely three feet away. Doumeki tried to will his arousal away, but with Watanuki so close, it was fighting a losing battle.

'Why fight it? This is as good of a time as any.'The Evil Doumeki voice was back.

'Um, no, actually. This is a pretty bad time.' And it was…wasn't it?

'It's not like he'll wake up,' argued the voice. 'He's exhausted, not to mention drugged. That boy would sleep through an earthquake.'

The voice had a point. Watanuki looked pretty dead to the world. Very convincingly dead-to-the-world, actually. In fact…was he even breathing?

"Shit!" Doumeki leaned forward and almost fell on top of Watanuki in his hasty attempt to check the boy's pulse. Despite his clumsiness, he managed to find it eventually, and sighed in relief. Even after he was sure Watanuki wasn't dead, the archer kept his two fingers pressed gently against the pale boy's throat. The feel of his pulse beating, slow and strong, gave him a strange sense of peace. Watanuki broke the silence with a long, contented sigh, and somewhere deep within Doumeki, a knot came undone. The hand that had been touching Watanuki's neck came up to rest on a pale cheek as the archer bent down once again, and hesitantly pressed his lips to Watanuki's.

The seer's lips were cold to the touch, and Doumeki shivered, leaning further over and bracing himself with his left arm so that his face and Watanuki's were perfectly aligned. After several seconds, he drew back and shook his head, trying in vain to clear his thoughts.

'This is wrong. This is so, so wrong.'

'Well, you'll probably never get another chance. Might as well take advantage of this one, right?'

It didn't take much convincing. His right hand lifted up the other boy's head as Doumeki bent down a second time. This time however, Watanuki's brow furrowed and, to the archer's surprise, he found himself being pushed back by two thin but strong arms.

"Doumeki, wait!"

Doumeki jumped back the instant Watanuki's eyelids began to flutter, and he rearranged his robe hurriedly, heart beating a mile a minute.

The demon's voice echoed in his ears. "You haven't noticed? He wants you, Bait." The fox-demon's black eyes narrowed, and his features seemed to sharpen somewhat, making him look a great deal more frightening than he had before. "Well, unfortunately for him, I got here first."

Suddenly, the door burst in and Doumeki stood over him, eyes filled with something closely resembling contempt.

"How could you let this happen, Watanuki?" he spat. "I look away for two minutes, and you manage to get yourself into this kind of situation? No, don't answer that. I don't know why I bother with you, I really don't." And with that, Doumeki turned and left the room, leaving Watanuki and the laughing yokai behind him.

"No! Doumeki, wait!"

Watanuki blinked his eyes open and was greeted by a familiar, albeit foggy, ceiling.

A dream. It was just a dream.

Relief flooded through him like a tidal wave. But even as the details of the dream begin to fade from his memory, the expression of contempt on Doumeki's face remained, as well as a familiar feeling of dread.

But if I'm here, that means…

Ignoring his furiously pounding heart, Watanuki shifted his gaze to the left – no archer. Then to the right – no archer, no archer, no…shit. Foggy archer shape. Quickly, Watanuki shut his eyes, but it was…

"Too late."

Well darn.

There was no rush of memory, no vivid images, no brutal flashbacks, just one second he had forgotten, the next, he remembered.

"Oh."

"Yeah, 'Oh'." Watanuki sat up somewhat stiffly, conscious of the scratches on his back and arms. He reached up and prodded his cheek tenderly - there was going to be a bruise there, if there wasn't one already - and looked at the archer with bleary eyes. He patted the ground around the bed, in search of his glasses. A warm hand closed around his wrist, and his glasses were pressed into his open palm.

"Um. Thanks."

"Hn."

The world became clear the instant Watanuki put on his glasses, but the strange look on the archer's face made him want to take them right back off again. He blushed hotly.

For a long time, neither of them spoke.

The boy opened his mouth to say something, anything, to break the uncomfortable silence, but before he was able to utter a single syllable, the archer was grabbing Watanuki's shoulders and shaking them furiously, a desperate, almost panicked look in his eyes.

"Don't. You. EVER. Do that to me again."

What?

Watanuki blinked, too shocked to register the pain of Doumeki's fingers gripping his sore shoulders.

"To…to YOU? You think I got into that…situation to make you uncomfortable??"

Doumeki released him.

"That's not what I meant."

"Well, then what DID you mean, exactly?" Watanuki was getting angry now, and the feeling was somewhat refreshing.

"I was drugged, okay? There wasn't anything I could have done. Nothing YOU could have done." Doumeki's eyes clouded at this last statement.

"Watanuki." Watanuki met his gaze unflinchingly.

"What."

"That yokai. He was going to rape you. You know that, right?"

He just had to say it. As if Watanuki hadn't been there, as if he didn't KNOW. For some reason, this hurt the worst of all. He wasn't a little kid, accepting candy from a stranger and then following him back to his car. Doumeki needed to understand that.

"Look, what's your problem? I'm all right. I am. You…saved me. Again." This time he caught the flash of guilt that crossed Doumeki's face.

Oh. He's upset because of his powers. Because he couldn't repel the demon. This realization made Watanuki soften a little. He lowered his voice.

"We've been through this before, Doumeki, more times than I can count. You've saved me, every single time. If it weren't for you, I'd be as dead as a doornail. What else do you want me to say?" It was difficult for Watanuki to speak of what had happened at the bar so lightly, but the archer was taking this too hard, and for once, Watanuki didn't have the heart to blame him.

"I shouldn't have let you go. I shouldn't have let you wear those clothes. I shouldn't have…" Doumeki's voice trailed off, and he shifted on the floor uncomfortably.

"You're not my keeper, idiot." Watanuki said, without malice. He let his eyes fall to his hands, clasped nervously in his lap. It was now or never.

"So, you…" he paused and took a breath "The yokai said…that is, he inferred that you…might possibly have…be…" He looked up quickly, and upon meeting Doumeki's heated gaze, promptly changed his mind. "He seemed to know that you had lost your powers."

Coward.

The intense look was gone, and Watanuki could practically hear the doors shutting and locking behind Doumeki's eyes, as the archer's face began to recover its normal, stony expression.

NO! I can't let that happen! I want to know! I need to know!

For several seconds, there was a heavy silence.

"Well, I'd imagine that the fact he was able to…"

"WAIT." Doumeki paused, looking at him disinterestedly. "What."

Watanuki gritted his teeth.

"Do you…like me?"

Again, there was silence. Only this silence was different than before, somehow. Watanuki held his breath, waiting, dreading Doumeki's answer.

"Now, what makes you think that?"

Okay, that wasn't exactly a no. Was it his imagination, or did Doumeki sound a bit...sarcastic?

"The yokai mentioned something about you…" he blushed "wanting me. But I could have misinterpreted!" he added, hurriedly. "Or misheard. I wasn't exactly in my right mind."

"No."

Ah, I thought so. Well that's…good, I guess.

"No, you didn't mishear." Oh, alri-wait, what?

"I didn't?" Watanuki wasn't sure what to say to that. He wasn't really sure what to feel, either.

"No." The archer's voice was flat. "I do, I…Watanuki…" Watanuki couldn't believe what he was hearing. A warm sensation flooded his body, and he felt something unfamiliar and not altogether unpleasant stir from deep within him.

"Watanuki, I like you."

There was a stunned silence.

"You…like…me?"

"Yes. I like you." The archer stood up and tucked his hands into the folds of his robe. When he spoke next, his voice was strained."You should get some more sleep. The drug still hasn't worked its way out of your system." And with that, Doumeki turned and left the room, leaving Watanuki speechless.

The hands hidden in the folds of his robe had stopped shaking by the time Doumeki made it out of Watanuki's bedroom, but he felt like his heart was about ready to jump out of his chest.

It wasn't until he made it to the living room that the archer allowed himself to relax. He sat crossed-legged on the couch, closed his eyes and prepared himself for some kind of affirmation that he had regained his powers.

Ten minutes of meditation later, and there didn't seem to be any change. Doumeki didn't understand. Hadn't he confessed his feelings? Why then, did nothing seem any different? Shouldn't there have been flashing lights, or a feeling of relief, or some other kind of indicator that his powers had come back? But no, he felt the same as before.

He was mentally preparing himself to wait another 5 minutes when the voice broke the silence.

'You like him?'

Oh. That would explain it.

'Idiot. You don't like him. You're obsessed with him.'

''Obsessed' is such a strong word…' Doumeki protested weakly. But the voice was right. His 'confession' hadn't been entirely honest.

The voice gave the mental equivalent of a sigh.

'Alright. If you aren't going to take care of this the real way, then I'm going to do it for you.'

Doumeki will get some action soon. Scout's honor.

Review if you'd like, I realize that I'm a bit rusty (understatement of the century), but under your care and guidance, I will improve! :D Con crit is definitely not ignored.

3

*This isn't true, but I'm sure you know that already.