XxxHolic

the boy is Watanuki Kimihiro; beside him is Kudakitsune(a pipe fox spirit)
















Summary

Kimihiro Watanuki is a high school student plagued by yōkai, supernatural beings magically attracted to him. The creatures are invisible to others, and as a result he feels extremely burdened by them. When he quite literally stumbles into a shop that grants wishes, his life changes drastically.
The shop is owned by Yūko Ichihara, a mysterious, beautiful witch of many names and esoteric renown. The seemingly all-knowing witch offers to grant Watanuki's wish to be rid of his ability to see spirits. However, in exchange, he must pay a price equal to the power required to grant the wish. Yūko discovers that Watanuki is very skilled with his hands and a hard worker. As a result, Watanuki is forced to perform housework and odd jobs for Yūko until he has done enough work for his wish to be granted.
Shortly afterwards, other characters become involved with Watanuki's position, including his love interest, Himawari Kunogi, and his "rival," Shizuka Dōmeki. The three become increasingly "friendly," despite the number of times Watanuki becomes annoyed by Dōmeki's calm demeanor.

Main Characters

Kimihiro Watanuki (四月一日 君尋, Watanuki Kimihiro)

An orphaned boy cursed with the ability to see yōkai (spirits), Watanuki entered into an agreement with Yūko to work for her in exchange for the fulfillment of his wish–to never see spirits again. However, despite the fact that he hates his ability, Watanuki often goes out of his way to help people that he comes into contact with because of his power, even when he is not required to do so by his job. He is also very independent, because he has had to live alone for most of his life, and is an excellent cook and housekeeper.

Watanuki is infatuated with his classmate, Himawari, and frequently tries to impress her in any way he can. He looks on his other classmate, Dōmeki, as a potential rival for Himawari, even though the other boy has never really expressed an interest in her. Because of Dōmeki's ability to repel spirits, Watanuki must spend increasingly more time in his presence, and this has begun to alter their relationship to a sort of grudging friendship. Despite this, Watanuki outwardly reacts in a very hostile way towards Dōmeki, though his actions towards him often speak differently than his words.

Even though Yūko is strikingly beautiful, seductive and often a tease, Watanuki seems to be unfazed being around her and his romantic attention still revolves around Himawari. In fact, Watanuki seemed to be more irritated than anything else when Yūko teases him. But, further, it seems that they develop a very strong and affectionate relationship.

When Watanuki was critically injured in the manga, forcing Himawari and Dōmeki to make a wish of Yūko to save his life and make payments for her services; a Syaoran from Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, whom Watanuki saw briefly when he arrived to make a wish, also paid for his life in advance. Watanuki's relationship with this Syaoran has not been revealed yet.

Yūko Ichihara (壱原 侑子, Ichihara Yūko)
Being one extremely experienced in her industry, Yūko is not foolish enough to give away her real name like Watanuki. That aside, Yūko has served as a major catalyst for Watanuki's transformation, acting somewhat as his mentor. She loves to drink and eat Watanuki's wonderful cooking and dragging Watanuki on crazy outings at the drop of a hat.
Despite this immature and free-spirited attitude, Yūko has been known to be sage-like and serious when the time calls for it. Yūko seems to know the true hitsuzen that Watanuki will follow, and has often offered cryptic messages to warn him of impending danger or a folk tale that he should take a bit more seriously. She also seems to truly care about him, making sure he is safe at night, sending the Kudakitsune (pipe-fox) with him for extra protection, or calling Dōmeki when he needs saving.
Yūko is very powerful when it comes to magic and knowledge and is highly respected within the spirit realm. However, she doesn't often appear to get directly involved in things beyond whatever contact she has with those making wishes. Sometimes, she sends Watanuki to do jobs for her, such as when she granted a wish from Himawari. Yūko seems to take the role of someone playing chess when it comes to the big picture of things that are going on.

Shizuka Dōmeki (百目鬼 静, Dōmeki Shizuka)
Dōmeki is Watanuki's classmate and one-sided rival. He is part of the school's archery club and often participates (and tops) school competitions. He lives by a shrine owned by his late grandfather.
Dōmeki's personality is a total opposite that of Watanuki's. He has a cool, calm and often sarcastic character. Much to the annoyance of Watanuki, he seems to hang around him especially when Watanuki gets a chance to be alone with Himawari.
While Watanuki is monster bait, Dōmeki is monster repellant, due to his grandfather's exorcism abilities that were passed down to him. The fortune teller from volume 2 foresees Dōmeki's arrival into the story, stating that Watanuki will gain a friend that he'll constantly fight with, but their relationship will "run deeper"
Yūko advises that Watanuki stay close to Dōmeki because his very presence drives away the spirits that attack Watanuki, but Watanuki's jealousy and general annoyance with Dōmeki's mellow, laid-back demeanor keep him from liking Dōmeki–or at least admitting that he does. The fact that on several occasions Dōmeki has had to come to Watanuki's rescue doesn't help, especially since most of these situations involve Watanuki passing. out and Dōmeki having to carry him somewhere to rest, or Watanuki falling from a building just to have his wrist caught by Dōmeki at the last second. As payment for his services, Watanuki makes him bento lunches (sometimes with Yūko's nudging, sometimes without), and Dōmeki often demands really difficult or impossible lunch requests for the next day just to irk him.
According to the way he holds his bow, Dōmeki is right-handed. Also, after having his right arm injured while saving Watanuki from falling off of a building, Himawari comments on this being a shame, considering he's right-handed.
Before chapter 119 of the manga, Dōmeki could only see a vacant lot where Yūko's store was supposed to be. Yūko explains in volume 8 of the manga that since Dōmeki does not need anything from her, the shop does not physically or visually exist to him. However, after Watanuki falls out of a window in chapter 117 and is seriously injured, Dōmeki is able to enter Yūko's shop in order to wish to save Watanuki's life.

Himawari Kunogi (九軒 ひまわり, Kunogi Himawari)

Watanuki's main love interest. He has been infatuated with Himawari ever since the beginning of the series and even some cryptic remarks from Yūko like "are you sure she's good luck?" haven't deterred him.

Himawari is caring and kind towards Watanuki, but she has her own reasons to avoid him to become closer to her, as for some reason she was born with the power to cause serious misfortune (although unintended) to those around her, an issue that even brought death to her grandmother and sometimes put her friends in trouble.