Pet Shop Of Horrors Fan Fiction / XXXHolic Fan Fiction ❯ A Pet for D ❯ A Pet for D ( Chapter 1 )

Title: A Pet for D

 

Main pairing: Leon/D (kinda), Watanuki/Domêki (kinda)

 

MY Inspiration: Pet Shop of Horrors, crossing over with xxxHolic

 

Disclaimer: This is my standard disclaimer; I don't own anything in regards to the sources of MY Inspiration. All publically recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

 

All the characters, worlds, base concepts or general ideas are just a bit food for the writing bug. This story is pure fiction and is in no way meant to copy or reflect real life, events or people, should this happen then obviously it is pure coincidence.

 

Author's Note:

 

 

Summary: A pet is sent another Dimension into this one. Leon touches a mysterious fence on some weird street in Tokyo. Count D never had a pet that belonged to him alone, but now he's about to get his wish. How does all this come together?

 

Speech Legend:

“Normal”

`Thoughts'

(…Other language(s)…)

 

-----

 

One Shot

 

-----

 

Leon knew that he was getting close to D's Pet Shop. He just didn't know where to begin looking, but he was absolutely sure that it was in this city. He watched the people walking on the sidewalks and he leaned back to avoid a pair of rollerblading morons. His back leaned against a strange wooden fence that didn't seem to belong in this area.

 

Suddenly for some reason that he couldn't explain, he walked into the yard and saw a beautiful silkscreen door. Looking at the door pissed him off for some reason. `Oh great,' he thought. `I bet there's another freak of nature behind that door. Well there's no way that I'm going in.'

 

Well that thought didn't last long enough for him because for some reason his legs were pulling him the direction of the door. There was nothing that he could do about it now. His body was being pulled in by a force that he had no control over.

 

“What the hell?” He complained, when he rounded the corner of the house in time to see a tall lady in a super tight kimono, accenting her ample body. “Oh great, just what I need, another D.”

 

Yûko snapped her Tengu fan in his direction. It was a fan that can call upon the winds to make someone fly far away or to flatten them to the ground by force. In this case it flattened the man to the ground. “Silence you,” she said. “Who are you?”

 

Leon got up slowly. He shook his head not realizing that he was understood this lady. “Name's Leon Orcot,” he told her. “I just leaned up against the fence back there to avoid a couple of kids. I'll just be going now.”

 

A tall youth walked up to her and said one word, “Hitsuzen.”

 

Yûko was surprised that the boy would even mention the word since he didn't particular like to be in its influence. Leon was staring at the two wondering just what the hell they were talking about.

 

Unfortunately, that's when Mokona's eyes popped wide and his mouth opened up to spit out a small globule of slime encased in a clear egg-like shell. Watanuki gave her the cup of purified well water that he knew she needed. He brought from Domêki's place not knowing why, but just instinctively knowing that it was needed now.

 

She dropped the egg thing into it and there was a small rainbow glow of colours. She took the mirror from Moro's hands and looked into it. Then she looked at the man that was sitting on the ground just watching everything with slightly wide eyes.

 

Leon cocked his head to one side and asked, “What?”

 

“Hitsuzen,” she said. “As defined by the Kodansha Japanese Desk Dictionary, second edition, it states that Hitsuzen is a naturally foreordained event. A state, in which, other outcomes are impossible. A result which can only be obtained by a single causality and other causalities would necessarily create different results. (i)”

 

Leon rolled his eyes because this sounded just like D. Possibilities, probabilities, wishes and dreams, all by another name mean the same thing. “So you're saying what's meant to be will be,” he said. “Whatever! You're just another D trying to sell something that I don't want. I'll be leaving now.”

 

“Without getting your wish,” Yûko said. “Only someone who wants something can come in here. Touching the fence is a hint that you need something from me. Only those who have a need come here, so what's your wish?”

 

“My wish is not your business lady,” Leon said. “Only one person can grant me my dream and you ain't it. Sorry for bothering you.”

 

She looked at what was probably the most stubborn man that she had ever come across. She tilted her head and then stepped forward. She took his chin in her hand and forced him to look her in the eyes. “I'll grant your wish,” she said.

 

“No,” Leon said gritting his teeth, pulling away from her hand.

 

Her eyes glowed a bit and then she just nodded. “You won't find him,” she said.

 

Leon just glared at her. “He's in this town,” he said. “I know it.”

 

“Yes… He is,” she replied. “But you will not be able to see him because he will be gone by the time that you find out the location. Just like all the other times that you've gotten close to reaching him. His Shop moved away from you. You do know why, don't you?”

 

The tall blond man looked to the ground and nodded. “I'm not giving up,” he said.

 

She grinned and said, “You'd do anything to see him, wouldn't you?”

 

He frowned and then realized that he was doing everything that he could. He looked around the yard and noticed that he hadn't even been fazed by the events nor by the strange rabbit creature that was looking at him as though it understood everything. He looked at the teenager that was standing next to the woman.

 

“Maybe there's something more that I need to do, but I don't know what it is and I don't know if I want to pay that kind of price,” Leon confirmed.

 

“Deal,” she said. “I'll grant you your wish. Nothing is worth too much to get what you truly want. Besides granting your wish will allow me to finally grant another's wish at the same time. Watanuki, fetch me that scroll.”

 

Watanuki nodded, knowing what scroll she was talking about. It was one that he had just noticed this morning. His boss had it out on the table for a while. He was curious about it, but he knew that the answer to it would come to the shop.

 

`These things always happened that way,' he thought. He picked up the scroll and had the feeling that this was an ancient contract of some sort. He shook that thought away.

 

There was a knock at the door. He opened it to find Domêki there. The other teenager just looked at the scroll and brought forth another one that looked the same. Watanuki sighed, “Come with me.”

 

Yûko looked up as both boys returned, each carrying a scroll in their hands. Domêki spoke up. “It's my grandfather's. He left instructions that this be brought here on this day.”

 

Leon hadn't even moved from where he stood by waiting for what might happen next. The woman had tried to get him to talk, but he was used to such tactics and wasn't fooled. She'd get nothing from him.

 

“Ah boys,” she said. “I'm glad to see you Domêki. I need you to hold onto this.” He took the cup from her hands and another flash of coloured light domed the contents before fading to a soft pale green glow.

 

Yûko took the scroll from the spiritually strong boy, opened it and read it quickly. It was a complimentary scroll to the one that she had been brooding about. “Very well,” she said. She turned to look at Leon and said, “I will grant your wish, but payment must be made.”

 

“I have nothing to pay you with,” Leon said. It was true. He had his savings and planned his travels carefully in order to preserve his funds. He was mostly pack-packing everywhere and he stayed in the cheapest hotels that he could find.

 

“Payment for wishes is not taken in money,” she said. “It could be a task, a portion of your aura, years from your life or even your soul. It must be in such a way or form that it is not disproportionate to the wish.”

 

Leon paused for a moment. He knew that this was something of a turning point in his life. Yet his life, at the moment, was void and empty without his frequent interactions with D. For some reason there was something in him that needed that crazy Chinese whatever he was. He looked up and said, “What do I need to do?”

 

“Domêki,” Yûko said. “Give him the cup.” The blonde American took the cup in his hands. He looked inside it when there was another flashed of coloured light. This time it turned blue. It was a deep, dark blue that was closer to purple, but complimented his eye colour. “Drink it and accept.”

 

He paused looking into it. He knew that what he was about to do would cause some changes. He wasn't sure just what they were. `There's more to this accepting thing,' he thought. He could feel their eyes on him, waiting him out.

 

`I accept this with everything that I am. I really need D and you're my ticket.' He said internally to the thing in the cup.

 

“I accept,” he said out loud. He swallowed it down quickly, knowing that there might be something unnatural or perhaps supernatural in the cup. It slimed its way down and settled in his stomach.

 

He heard a voice in his mind. `Seven days,' it said.

 

“Seven days,” he repeated to the others.

 

“Very well,” Yûko said. “Your payment will be complete in seven days. During that time you will stay here and help us out. You cannot leave.”

 

Leon knew that something was going to happen. “Can I make a couple of calls?” He asked. “I need to let my brother know that things are changing for me.”

 

Yûko nodded and said, “Watanuki, why don't you show to the guest room across from your room. He'll need to get used to a few things here. Oh, before you go, hand me the scroll. After you've shown him to his room and the bathing room, make supper for us please.”

 

Watanuki handed her the scroll and lead the stranger to the guest room. There he explained how things were set up and then showed him to the bathing room, explaining the custom of a showering or washing first before soaking in the water.

 

“I'm not much of a soaker type, but whatever,” Leon said. “Thanks kid, I can take it from here.”

 

Watanuki walked towards the kitchen mentally preparing the meal he was going to serve. Domêki was already there sitting near a table in the corner. He wanted to stay out of the way, but he also wanted to watch the other boy with his shared eye.

 

Domêki liked to watch him move about in the kitchen. It was like this person was someone completely different. He was graceful and fluid. There was a rhythm to the way he moved.

 

Watanuki already knew that the other teen liked to watch him in the kitchen. `As long as he stays out of my way,' he thought. `The others had better not disturb me either.'

 

“Wa… tan…nu… ki…”, Mokona sang out. “Yûko wants …”

 

“No,” Watanuki growled out. “No beer, no saké and no liquor of any kind before dinner. I'm busy right now and the answer's no.” He turned back to the stove to monitor the cooking food.

 

“B..b.. but,” Mokono said tearfully.

 

“NO,” the teenager said. He picked up the rabbit thing by the ears a placed him out of the kitchen. “NO…”

 

Yûko was slumped over the table they used for eating. She watched as Mokona bounded up and said, “The meany said no.”

 

“Oh no,” she cried. “Watanuki's a meany.”

 

Her two golem girls dashed into the kitchen and chanted over and over again. “Watanuki's a meany, a meany. Watanuki's a meany, a meany.”

 

Leon had just finished cleaning up from his extended travels. `Seven days,' he thought. `In seven days I'll be able to see D… I wonder what that thing was.' He packed his things in the corner of the room that had been assigned to him.

 

-----

 

Later that night, Leon was dreaming. He was in another world. It was completely different from anything that he had ever seen. There were people walking around with animalistic features. It reminded him of the animals that he had seen from D's ship in the sky before he was pushed from the deck.

 

There was a war on this world. Several creatures escaped in different directions, but he thought that he could understand the pure heart of a girl. She had traveling companions with her and there was something about her that allowed her to understand his need.

 

`No that was the creature's needs,' he thought in his dream. The creature was weak and needed to merge with another being in order to be able to live. It needed to be accepted. `Ah man,' Leon thought. `I accepted without knowing how it would change me.'

 

“Yes you did,” the being thought. “We will merge and once the merger is complete you will be more than you were and yet I know that I will also be alive.”

 

“Will I still be myself?” Leon asked. “I need to be myself.”

 

“Don't worry,” the creature said. “Together we will be more, but your mind will be your own. I will live inside it, in a place that my knowledge, memories and dreams will belong to you now. I'm entrusting them to you. That is how my people have lived for so long. I didn't want this knowledge to disappear.”

 

“I guess that's all right,” Leon replied. He paused for a long moment and then said, “I think I'm craving some fish, but something's wrong with that.”

 

“What's wrong with that?”

 

“For some reason it feels like I'm craving some raw fish,” Leon answered. “Is that you?”

 

“Yes,” the other said. “It's has been so long since I tasted real food and the meal you had tonight could not be shared at this time.”

 

“I'm guessing that the other meals will be, huh?” Leon speculated.

 

“Yes,” the other said. “Be careful and don't over indulge my cravings or you may find that the changes to your body will be greater than you know.”

 

“What fucking changes?” The human asked. “What are we talking about?”

 

“I can't tell you because I don't know what they will be,” the creature sharing his mind said. “There will be some, but I think that one will be longer fur.”

 

Leon rolled over in his sleep and muttered sarcastically, “Wonderful.”

 

-----

 

Three days later Leon was moaning. He needed to run and stretch or something, but the witch wasn't letting him leave the store. He had agreed to stay there for seven days, but it was getting on his nerves.

 

The first morning after his hair had grown to reach his mid-back and then it stayed that long. It got thicker, but didn't grow longer. His teeth had sharpened a bit that morning too.

 

The next day he was feeling an itch on his back that he couldn't reach. It was annoying for the entire day, but when Watanuki walked in on him in his room that's when the boy noticed the patches of flaky skin. He gave Leon some softening salts and told him to soak in the tub for half an hour.

 

That had helped and at least Leon was able to sleep peacefully that night.

 

During the days he helped Yûko out by lugging the heavier stuff out of the warehouse for her assistant to clean the shelving. When he wasn't doing that the golem girls, Mokona and Domêki were teaching him the Japanese language.

 

He was pissed off by the baby books that the teenager had brought, but then again he needed to begin at the beginning. The being in his mind absorbed the information at an alarming rate. During the nights when they conversed with each other the knowledge was exchanged.

 

Leon imparted his own knowledge, even some of the things that he had forgotten, plus everything to do with D. The other helped him to understand the language that they were learning together. Still all this sitting around and waiting was driving him nuts.

 

“There's got to be something else that I can do,” he told Yûko. “I need to move, do something.”

 

“Very well, follow me,” she said. She led him through a doorway. “I have some errands to run and you're coming with me to carry my things back.”

 

`Well, at least we're getting out of here,' he thought.

 

-----

 

Another pain filled night passed, but this time he needed to scrub his back something fierce. He looked at the ruined sheets and knew that he was in for a day of scrubbing them by hand. `At least Ma taught me how to wash those properly,' he thought, gathering the entire bedding. `It needs to soak for a bit and then I'll see whether it's salvageable.'

 

He quickly learned that he couldn't cut his hair. Well he could, but then he'd be doing that every day and that was not a habit that he wanted to get into. He let Yûko's girls take care of his hair for the time being. He usually ended up with a single long braid down his back, but that was fine with him.

 

He placed the sleeping pallet in the tub and then he stripped in order to take care of the… whatever it was that had sloughed off of his body during the near. He looked at his changes in the mirror and wonder just what else was going to happen.

 

He stretched up his arms to the ceiling of the small room and proceeded to stretch out his sleep. He leaned backwards and suddenly he felt his body comply by bending further back then he normally would have.

 

`I haven't done that since I was a kid,' he thought, leaning far enough to seem to have prepared for flipping backwards. His stomach muscles were tight and they helped him to straighten out. Once he was upright he shook his head to ward of the temporary dizziness that he felt.

 

As soon as the water hit his back he yelped. “What the fuck?” He said out loud. He turned his back towards the mirror and twisted his neck to look behind him. “What the hell is this?”

 

`Sorry,' the faint voice said in the back of his mind. `I think it was because you stepped away from the barrier of this store. Don't get too upset, please.'

 

Leon leaned forward and sighed. `Hey kid it's all right, but you need to know that normal humans in this place don't have wings. What am I going to do with these?'

 

“Leon,” Maru called through the door.

 

“Are you all right?” Moro asked.

 

“I'm fine girls,” he told them. “I'm sorry for waking you. Don't worry I'll be out soon, okay?”

 

“ `Kay,” they said together, their footsteps pattering away.

 

He sighed and then he heard a reply to his last question. `They can be hidden by your will. I will teach you that tonight.'

 

`All right,' he responded. `You go back to sleep. I think that I can manage today without too much trouble. I'm not going to leave this shop until everything is done.'

 

`Thank you,' the sleepy voice sighed.

 

-----

 

Leon struggled with the waterlogged futon, but it had needed to be done a very specific way. His new strength helped him with it. His wings were another matter. They kept getting in the way for most of the day, but luckily they were not white wings.

 

He had seen them on some people during his outing the day before. He had asked about them and Yûko had seemed surprised that he could see them. It was before she leaned in and truly looked at his eyes. All she said at the time was, “I see… I'll explain this to you tomorrow.”

 

He lugged the futon out the back door and onto the solid bamboo pole set up for drying rugs and sheets. He looked it over. “Good there are no stains,” he said. He looked to the sky and then looked at his futon. “It'll be dry by evening. We're going to have a hot day.”

 

“Are we?” Yûko asked, smoking her small pipe from the doorway, sending white puffs into the air.

 

Leon looked at her and nodded. “Yes,” he said. “It's going to be a dry heat, too. I don't sense any water in the air today.”

 

She looked at the wings from his back and was relieved that they were not the same as the ones he had been asking about. Those ones took time to grow, whereas his appeared overnight. “Why are you washing your futon?” She asked. “Watanuki could have done it.”

 

“It needed to be soaked,” Leon said. “I needed to be sure that the filling hadn't been ruined. That couldn't wait until he came here and it's not something that I would make him do.”

 

“Well even if it had,” she said, blowing smoke up into the air. “That futon can only be used by you. It's yours, you know.”

 

“What?”

 

“It was made for you,” she said. “Well, I'm hungry. What are you in the mood for?”

 

“Fish,” Leon answered without thinking about it. “Lots of raw fish or raw meat… with rice on the side.” He blinked and then he shook his head. “Well whatever is fine by me as long as it's fresh, I don't mean raw.”

 

Mokona spoke up from his perch on Yûko's shoulder. “Your animal is craving raw meats, that's fine,” it said. “Sometimes you need to feed it or else you might overindulge from the lack.”

 

“I would never do that,” Leon stated. “Besides I have to be careful and not overdo these things anyway. If I had just stayed behind yesterday then these wings might not have come out for another few days.”

 

That night the girls, Mokona, and Watanuki each had their chance to feel the wings. Watanuki was petting and cleaning them at the same time, while the girls were fiddling with his hair. Leon was relaxed, leaning forward with his arms wrapped around his knees.

 

Domêki walked into the room and frowned. He wasn't sure that he liked the fact that the other teenager was petting the other man. He pulled out an arrow from his bag and gave it to Yûko.

 

Watanuki wondered about the expression that the other teenager had, but then he put it out of his mind. “This is going to pinch,” he said, tugging a couple of the bent feathers. To straighten them he had to be sure that they were going to stay. He pulled a couple of the looser ones out and set them aside.

 

Leon noticed the arrow and asked, “Do you do archery?”

 

“Yes,” Domêki replied.

 

“Do you make your own arrows?” When the more solemn teenager nodded, he said. “If you think that these would make good flight arrows, you can have these if you want them.”

 

Domêki looked at the pile and picked up a couple of the feathers to judge them. There was something about them that he suspected would be very useful to him and then he wondered why the man would give them away. “Thank you,” Domêki said.

 

“No problem,” Leon said.

 

Watanuki leaned back and said, “That took some time, but it looks like we're done. What do you want us to do with these little ones?”

 

“Whatever is useful,” Leon said automatically. He looked at everyone in the room and said, “You can have them as a thank you for your help. I don't know if I will molt or not, but I have a feeling that everything will be manageable from now on.”

 

-----

 

On the last evening, Leon dreamed more deeply than he had ever dreamed before. He dreamed of a city where the people flew under their own wings. They still had their animal like features, but he also saw that the children of those beings were actually little animals for a while. From these he learned how to blend and seem his normal self, as well take on his full form.

 

There were cats, dogs, bears, birds and all manner of creature that he had no knowledge of ever knowing on his planet. Two tailed wolf-like creatures, three headed cats, double-winged birds, there was so much more out there that he was feeling overwhelmed. He watched as they took on an animal form and a humanoid form.

 

The city was amazing. It was filled with technology that he had never seen in his lifetime other than on television. It was something truly spectacular to see. However he was filled with that same sense of loneliness that he felt when D had left him behind during their museum adventure.

 

He woke up the next day with tears in his eyes, knowing that he wouldn't have another dream conversation with the other mind. They had merged successfully. Leon was now just the same as that otherworldly creature would have been had it been able to continue living in its dimension.

 

His wings and feathers had fully formed. He went to the bathing room in order to be able to see his true form. He shifted and then looked in the mirror. `A large cougar with wings, that's what I am. Well, at least my eyes have remained the same,' he thought. He turned around to look at his full form. `Four paws accounted for. Scars belonging to me are there. Wings… the same colour as the fur.'

 

He shifted back to his human form and noted that the wings were easier to hide now. He got dressed and prepared his things to go. “Good morning Orcot-san,” Yûko said, pushing his button first thing.

 

“Yûko,” he said pronouncing it like yucko. They had been doing that since the first morning that her girls pounced on him to wake him up.

 

“Stop right there,” she said. “Where do you think you're going?”

 

Leon cocked his head to one side. “This is the eighth day that I've been here,” he said. “It's time for me to go.”

 

“You need to wait for Watanuki and Domêki to come back,” she told him. “They will accompany you to the Pet Shop. I have an errand that they need to do for me.”

 

“All right,” he said. “Can I walk around the neighborhood?”

 

“Actually there are a few things that I'd like you to get for me,” she said handing him a list and pouch of money. “You can meet the boys at the park a few blocks from here and come back with them.”

 

“This is a test, isn't it?” He asked, frowning at the Japanese writing on the paper. The map was crudely drawn. “Did you have that fur ball draw this?”

 

“Yep,” Mokona spoke out. “I'm coming with you too.”

 

“Whatever,” Leon said, putting his duffle bag by the door. He looked at the bag that Yûko was holding out and he said. “I'm not carrying that. It looks like it was made for those dinky Chihuahua dogs.”

 

“It is, but you need it in order to carry Mokona,” she said. “It will give him a place to sleep when…”

 

He shook his head and pulled out a faded green canvas satchel. He pickup the black fur-ball and stuffed him in there. Mokona popped his head out and then started swinging in the bag.

 

“This is better than being near his armpit,” he said, causing the others to laugh. “I'll be fine in here. Ooh look it Yûko,” he said waving a crumpled piece of paper in the air.

 

Leon snatched it from the bunny like creature and stuffed in his duffle. “That's not for you,” he said. “I had better find it where I left it. This is D's.”

 

Yûko nodded and said, “Don't worry. It will remain just where you leave it. Now have fun and don't forget to meet the boys.”

 

-----

 

Leon was getting mad. “Will you just shut up,” he told the black hairball through gritted teeth. “This is the last stop.”

 

He was tired. Following Yûko's map lead him too many strange places and he felt like he had been walking around the entire town. He looked at his watch and then he started to head to the park that she had listed on the paper.

 

That was until he was assaulted with the scent of something really delicious. He followed his nose to the small Oden cart by the lone street lamp. “This smells,” he sniffed. “Heavenly.”

 

“Hiya,” Mokona piped up to the small fox next to the cart.

 

Leon blinked and then he shrugged. “I take it you know them,” he stated. Mokona nodded. “I wonder if I can get some take away.”

 

“Of course you may young man,” an older voice told him. Leon looked up to see an adult fox with small round glasses on his nose. “You've come from Yûko's. I can tell.”

 

Leon groaned and replied, “Yah. I have to go meet up with her assistant. What can I give in return for the Oden?”

 

The little fox was talking a mile a minute with Mokona. “Hey you like strange stuff right,” Mokona said. “How about I give you this?”

 

“Oh my,” the older fox said. “That looks really rare.”

 

“Isn't that one of mine?” Leon said looking at the long feather that he had put aside for Domêki.

 

“Yep,” Mokona said cheekily. “Yûko said I could have it. It's one of the longer ones that Watanuki pulled and that Domêki played with for a while the other night. Good trade?”

 

The older fox nodded and the little one was jumping up and down. “Yes, it is a good trade,” the older one said, while the little fox put the feather away with his other treasures. “Here…” The older fox said, handing Leon a huge package wrapped in a cloth. “Watanuki can return the containers at a later time.”

 

“Thank you,” Leon said, bowing to the fox. When he looked back the cart was gone, but he had the food in his arms, plus the other strange purchases that Yûko had charged him to get. He looked down at Mokona, saying, “Let's go get the boys.”

 

-----

 

D was sitting in his primary salon, when the door to his shop opened up. He was surprised to see two boys walk in with something that looked like an oversized cougar with wings.

 

“Oh my,” he exclaimed. “What a beautiful animal?” He reached out to pet it, but the animal just frowned and dodged the Kami spirit.

 

“He's not happy right now,” one of the boys said.

 

“Here,” the other said. He was holding out a duffle bag. “This belongs to him.”

 

“What on earth does an animal have to do with something so human?” D said, looking at the bag, but refusing to hold it, afraid that if he did he'd break a nail.

 

The boy with dual coloured eyes said, “The closer we got to this shop the more he changed into that. My name is Watanuki and this is Domêki. We came from Yûko's.”

 

D looked at both of them and said politely, “You're just in time for tea. Why don't you bring that in with you?” He pointed to the bag that the other youth was holding. He showed them into the room where his tea service was ready for use. “I'm not certain that I know just who Yûko is and would you mind explaining to me why you have brought him here?”

 

Watanuki held out a scroll. “This is for you,” he said. “She said what you need to know is in there.”

 

“Thank you boys,” D said.

 

“You need to read that now,” Domêki said with his regular abruptness. “We'll wait.”

 

“That's not how…” Watanuki began to say loudly.

 

Domêki didn't say anything. He just turned away and plugged his muttering something about, “Too loud.”

 

The other boy just deflated quickly, but he grabbed his tea and a cake quickly before Domêki realized that the best had been taken. “Mmm,” Watanuki said groaning as the flavor burst on his tongue. “D-san this is wonderful.”

 

Meanwhile D wasn't paying too much attention because of the old letter that he was reading. His face went through several emotions before he settled back into his normal semblance of calm. “Well that certainly explains a few things, but now what am I going to do with this information,” D said out loud. “I never wanted a pet of my own.”

 

The cougar growled out something that might have sounded like, “Liar.” However, no one could understand it. It sat back on its haunches and turned its blue eyes into the mis-matched set of the Shop owner.

 

D was struck by the colour of the eyes. They reminded him of his Pet Detective. “Unusual,” he muttered. “Well now that you boys are here, can I interest you in a pet of your own?”

 

The cougar stood in front of the boys and shook his head back and forth. Domêki answered for the both of them. “No thank you,” he said. “We have enough responsibilities that we cannot accept another.”

 

“Much as I hate to agree with the sourpuss,” Watanuki mumbled and then said out loud. “He's right. We have too much to do at this point in time. We cannot accept a pet at this time. Beside Yûko's got a couple of them already…”

 

That's when the spirit pipe fox appeared to agree. It was wrapped around Watanuki's neck. “Mugetsu,” the teen said, trying to chastise the little thing. “Yûko might have needed you back at the shop. You shouldn't have come.”

 

The little thing just ignored him and proceeded to kiss the boy on the nose. It turned around and then launched itself onto the cougar releasing the trick spell that the dimension witch had laid on the blond man.

 

“Ah that bitch,” Leon said growling out loud and grabbing the spirit pipe fox to shake. “She did lay a spell on me.” He shook it gently enough that the little creature knew that the larger human would not harm him. Mugetsu gave the man a few kisses on the nose before allowing itself to be transferred back to Watanuki.

 

“You guys had better leave now,” Leon said. “You don't want to be buying any Pets from this man. I don't want to see either of signing a contract for something neither of you need. Besides you should never trust a Chinese salesman in a woman's dress.”

 

“Ayiii,” D shouted. “How dare you?” His hair was fluttering and the traditional robes seemed to flare out with some unseen wind.

 

Watanuki and Domêki's eyes widened at the spirituality that they could see. “Guys,” Leon said, grabbing their arms and forcing them to leave. “Go, mission accomplished and all that. You should scram, Yûko will be worried.” He shoved them out of the door and called out to them. “Don't forget to pick up her saké.”

 

Leon shut the door and locked it. He flipped the sign around to closed and then he turned around to face the wrath of D. He walked back into the parlor in time to see the man trying to pack his things. “Running away D,” he said. “Before you go there's something that I need to give you.”

 

D watch warily as the ex-detective walked over to his duffle. He pulled out a piece of paper and shoved it at the irate man. “Don't forget this again,” he said. “I'm done chasing you. So now that you have that, you can run away all you want.”

 

D unfolded the paper and looked at the childish crayon drawing that Chris, Leon's younger brother, had drawn so long ago. He was confused. He didn't want or need something like this. It was like he had formed an attachment and that was something that he wasn't allowed to have.

 

“Why do I need this?” D asked. “This is a child's drawing.”

 

“True,” Leon said, sitting on the couch that had been vacated by the two boys. He leaned back, putting his arms over the back of the sofa. “It was only made with love for you and given to you with that same love…” He paused and then let his final blow hit the Kami. “Isn't it the stuff dreams are made of? You can sell it, make a contract for it, but you can't handle receiving it. That's why you ran away, isn't it? It's why you're going to run away now. So go ahead and pack, just go. I'm done chasing you.”

 

(…Human, you go too far…) Totetsu said coming into the parlor from the back rooms, baring his fangs. (…Your ass is mine now. Hurting D like that…)

 

“Try it goat-boy and your ass is grass,” Leon said baring his own fangs.

 

(…You think you can take me on…) Tetsu said. (…You're just a pathetic human that needed D for your stupid investigations…)

 

Leon's eyes flashed. He stood up and…

 

“Stop it the both of you,” D said. He sighed and said, “You're just in time for tea My Dear Detective.”

 

Leon blinked and then he asked, “How come you always serve tea just as I come to your Shop?”

 

D's eyes watered a bit at the old standby that he had been missing for the last few years. This human man did make his life more interesting. “It's you Detective that comes just in time. Will you be here long?”

 

“I'll stay for as long as you want me to stay,” Leon said honestly. “I mean I hope to go back and see my brother some time in the future. Just not that far into the future though.”

 

“Why not?” D said serving the tea.

 

Leon shrugged and said, “Humans have such short life spans. If I don't keep track of him, he'll die before I have a chance to poke at him for growing old.”

 

D dropped his cup onto the table. He frowned and then was angry. “You're human too,” he said. “How dare you think that watching someone grow old be a funny thing?”

 

“Chris already knows that I will be outliving him,” Leon said. “That is unless he chooses the same path that I have taken.” He shifted back into the animal form that had walked into the Pet Shop with Yûko's assistants.

 

(…I'll stay as long as you want me to stay…) Leon said. (…Tell me to go and I'll never bother you again…) He lifted his wings up and with a down beat he was up in the air and out of the way of Totetsu's pounce. (…Missed me, goat-boy…)

 

(…Grrr…) The totesu growled. (…Get back down here and…) He dodged the attack from above and tried to pounce again.

 

(…Too slow…) Leon taunted landing some distance away. He shifted back into his human form, but he left the wings out just in case the tiger-goat mix decided to attack. Tetsu didn't and Leon turned his attention to D.

 

The Chinese man was surprised. “B..b..bu..but,” he stuttered. “I..ii…it was a joke… no?”

 

“No D. Me changing into an animal is not a joke,” Leon walked up to the man was walking backwards. “Yûko just thought it would be more interesting if I appeared here in my other form first. I didn't agree her and had told her no. But coming here with those two boys, well their magic pushed me into it the closer we came in contact with the aura of your Shop. I was released from that by the spirit pipe fox. It was meant to be a harmless thing.”

 

“Then this,” D eyes got slightly larger when he noticed the folded wings. Leon turned around so that the other man could see them.

 

“They're real,” Leon said.

 

D couldn't help himself. He stroked them gently. He was feeling the texture and judging it. There was something otherworldly about them and that had nothing to do with his kind of otherworldly.

 

“That's nice,” Leon purred. He stopped when he felt D step away from him.

 

D had stopped what he was doing and then returned to look at the scroll that had been returned to the shop. He opened it up once more and then he read the lines. Leon leaned over to read over the others man's shoulders and read it out loud.

 

(…The holder of this contract agrees to the following: 1. Open a dimensional gate to allow an extinct species a chance a new life. 2. Fulfill the wish of a Kami, known as the Guardian of Earth's creature, also known as D. 3. Create a creature unique to this planet Earth…)

 

(…Contracts with requirements of three…) Leon said. “Man you guys deal in dangerous stuff. So D,” he said kneeling down with his head bowed. “Do you have a wish that I can fulfill?”

 

D took hold of the blond's chin and made him look directly into his unshielded mis-matched eyes. His magic flared, “Do you have a wish or dream that I can help you with?”

 

Leon smiled, gently took the hand of the powerful creature in front of him. “I've already been granted my wish,” he said. “I'm here.”

 

D blinked, he thought for a moment and then he said something that he had been hiding for a long while now. “I want you to stay with me,” he said. He looked at this strange creature before him. He could see the changes that have occurred changing this human into this mix of human and other.

 

“Forever,” he clarified.

 

Leon lowered his head to kiss D on the lips. Accepting the request, he said the only thing to needed to seal the deal.

 

“Granted.”

 

-----

 

END

 

(i) Direct quote from: xxxHolic, volume 1, page 12