Waking up

When Watanuki woke up the first thing he saw was an unfamiliar ceiling. He was confused. This wasn't the shop, he could tell. The second thing he saw was the form of someone familiar.

"Doumeki?", he asked, slowly sitting up.

Said person looked up as he heard his name and his eyes widened slightly as they fell on the boy lying on the futon.

"Where am I? This isn't the shop. How could I leave it? You didn't do anything, did you?", asked Watanuki while trying to glare at Doumeki.

Doumeki, who, Watanuki noticed, looked relieved, replied in an even tone. "You're at the temple. You collapsed and I took you here."

Now if anything, Watanuki was even more confused. But as he looked at the other boy he noticed something different.

"Why do you look so young?"

And really, Doumeki looked like when they were younger and not like an assistant teacher at the university like he knew he was. He didn't get an answer, just a stare that seemed to say, that he was insane. Nothing new from Doumeki.

"And you didn't answer my question of why I could suddenly leave the shop!", Watanuki tried again, glaring.

"Why shouldn't you be able to leave the shop?"

"Huh?" Watanuki was baffled. "What do you mean? You know that I can't leave the shop. It was the price I paid. That I have to wait for Yuuko-san to come back and not being able to leave the shop until that day."

Now it was Doumeki's turn to look confused and slightly worried again. Watanuki couldn't remember the last time he saw so many expressions on Doumeki's face.

"But Yuuko is at the shop. I talked to her after you collapsed. She told me to let you rest here at the temple."

Watanuki couldn't believe what he just heard. 'But Yuuko-san is dead. She can't be here...'

He looked at Doumeki again and this time he noticed that he was wearing a school uniform. How didn't he notice it before?

'But if he really is as young as he looks...then does that mean that...and he did say that he talked to her...'

He quickly stood up, almost falling down again, and rushed to the door. As Doumeki didn't expect him to stand up so quick, he couldn't stop him from leaving. So he stood as well and ran after him with an exasperated sigh.

He was running as fast as he could, not caring that he was only wearing a sleeping yukata and wearing no shoes. His heart was pounding hard in his chest.

He could hear Doumeki who was running right behind him but Watanuki was faster.

He tried to keep his hope down but still... 'Yuuko-san..Yuuko-san..'

There. He could see the gate. He rushed trough it and entered the house, ignoring the twins as they welcomed him happily. He run all the way down the hallway, knowing, that if she really was alive, she would be waiting.

He ripped open the sliding doors and almost fell down in his rush to get into the ornate room. (A/N: You know, the room were she first waited for Watanuki)

And there she sat on her ornate sofa, smoking and smiling.

He could hear Doumeki coming to a stop right behind him but he just looked at Yuuko and her soft smile that seemed to know about all his troubles.

He didn't hesitate and ran forward to embrace her tightly. She didn't seem shocked. She just layed her pipe down and then embraced him back.

Watanuki was softly crying on her shoulder quietly mumbling "Yuuko-san...Yuuko-san, you're alive..."

If Doumeki was confused he didn't show it. He just went with the twins and Mokona (which had suddenly appeared) and left the room.

After a while Watanuki loosened his arms a bit and looked up at Yuuko, still holding on to her as if afraid she would dissappear.

"Yuuko-san. I- You" He swallowed and tried again. "You were dead. I saw you die. I-I-"

"Shh, I know. But it's okay. It was all a dream." Yuuko softly patted his hair.

"A- a dream? But...it was all so real. I mean, I lived years and years and took over your shop. How could this all be a dream?" He shook his head, not believing it. "If anything, this right now could be a dream!"

"Watanuki, look at me!" He did so. "Good. And now I'm telling you that it was all a dream. It was inevitable that you would see this one special dream. And while I knew what it contained, I couldn't do anything to spare you the pain. It was all hitsuzen."

"Really?" He didn't care that he sounded like a child. At Yuuko's nod he embraced her again. She let it happen and held him while patting his hair softly.

After a while she said: "You know that even though you had it hard and I really feel sorry for you, you have to cook me dinner for a long while for staining my dress with your tears and snot." She smiled and evil smile.

And Watanuki couldn't even get angry. He was so glad that it was all a dream and she was still alive.

A/N: This was partly based on a dream of mine. I dreamed that I was Watanuki and suddenly knew that Yuuko was still alive. The scene when they embraced stayed in my mind so I tried to write it down. Somehow it didn't turn out like I wanted it to...OTL.

Please be kind and ignore my misspellings and grammar mistakes.

Oh, and please review :)