Alright, this will hopefully be a collection of short xxxHOLIC-stories. This first chapter was inpired by a Korean horror movie called "The Tale Of Two Sisters", I think it's a really good movie and it's worth of checking out! Any way, I hope you'll enjoy this!

Chapter 1: The Two Sisters

It was a normal day of rainy season, at least as normal as day can be when you're working for Yûko Ichihara. Watanuki was doing his daily chores in Yûko's shop when he heard a faint knock at the door.

When he opened the door, he saw an elegant middle-aged woman standing in the rain with an umbrella on her right hand. She looked carefully at Watanuki.

"Is this the shop where wishes are granted? Can you really do that?" She suddenly blurted out.

"I can do that. I'm the owner of this shop," Yûko was suddenly standing behind Watanuki and grabbed his elbows.

"Why do you DO THAT? You're creeping me out!" Watanuki whined to his employer and tried to escape Yûko's touch.

"Be careful, Watanuki. Try to stay out of this," Yûko whispered to his ear.

Before Watanuki could answer anything, Yûko was gone and already talking to her customer.

"Come inside, we can talk here inside," the lady looked unsure as she came inside carefully looking around her.

Then Watanuki realized that the lady wasn't alone. There was still a young woman standing on the doorway with an umbrella.

"Satsuki, come inside, you'll get sick standing like that on the rain," the lady said to the girl, who didn't show any reaction to woman's plea.

"I'm sorry, my daughter is sometimes like that..." the woman laughed nervously.

"You don't need to explain anything," Yûko replied her nonchalantly.

"Are you sure you don't want to come inside? I can make a nice cup of hot tea," Watanuki tried to convice the emotionless looking girl called Satsuki.

She looked at Watanuki for a moment, then she stepped inside and put away her umbrella. Watanuki took off her coat when she turned back to the door and it almost seemed as if she gave her hand to someone.

First Watanuki thought he was out of his mind when he saw that Satsuki was holding hands with a young girl who was barefeet and dressed only in a white nightgown even though it was quite cold outside. But the most disturbing thing was that girl's nightgown was covered with blood and the blood was also dripping from her legs.

"What the-?" Watanuki gasped.

"You may go to the living room with your daughter, Watanuki will soon bring some tea," Yûko showed the way to the livingroom to her customers and then turned back to Watanuki.

"Watanuki," Yûko called him with a stern voice.

"¨Yûko-san, there's a... A bloody girl with that woman called Satsuki..." terrified Watanuki explained.

"She's a spirit, I thought you would see her... Be careful, Watanuki, and let me handle this. It's more complicated then it seems. Don't cut in. And if you're as curious as I think you are, you may listen behind the door as long as they won't notice you," Yûko adviced him and gave him a playful grin during the last sentence. She was gone before Watanuki could answer anything.

"Curious? There's a bloody spirit of a dead girl in her livingroom and she only thinks that I'm being curious if I want to know what's going on..." Watanuki mumbled angrily as he prepared the tea.

When he entered the livingroom to serve the tea nobody said a word. Everyone was sitting still, Yûko looking as etheric as usuallly, Satsuki was looking emotionless as the spirit which was standing behind her and the lady looked still nervous.

"Thank you, Watanuki. Leave it to the table and you may go then," Yûko said softly to him.

Watanuki nodded and put the tray carefully to the table before he left the room.

Even though he was still somewhat insulted of Yûko calling him curious he decided to stay behind the door so that he would hear and see from the gap between the sliding doors what was happening.

"So what is that you wish for?" Yûko asked when all the three of them were were drinking tea.

"It's quite a long story..." the lady was hesitaiting.

"Go on," Yûko commanded her.

"Well, my younger daughter Sui died 8 years ago in a... A-an accident and it was... Quite a shock, especially for Satsuki who was really close with her... It was really hard and we, I mean me and my husband, had to put Satsuki into mental hospital in order to protect the others and her from herself... Few weeks ago Satsuki was realesed from the hospital and there have been... Strange things happening in our house after that... What I wish for is that you could take away what ever is paining Satsuki... I wish that things would go back to normal..." The older woman mumbled and looked at her hands.

"What is that which is paining you, Satsuki?" Yûko went closer to Satsuki and took her chin into her hand and looked at her eyes.

"N-nothing... It's just that... Sui's still with me... She's with me all the time, every where... Mother won't believe me, she never has..." The confused young woman tried to explain as the spirit still loomed behind her.

"She's DEAD, Satsuki! DEAD! What you're saying makes no sense!" Satsuki's mother screamed at her and the girl in return lowered her head so that her black hair was covering her face completely.

"Say, how did your daughter die?" Yûko asked calmly from the lady almost as if the whole scene had not happened.

"She had problems with her health, she was mentally unstable. It was an accident she caused by herself, I think she didn't mean it, but she died nevertheless..."

"She died because of you... You could have helped her but you did nothing, you always hated her... She was your daughter and you let her die..." Satsuki was glaring at her mother behind her hair.

"How can you say that, I would have helped her if I could have!" The woman's face was full of hatred.

"Sui can't rest in peace because of you! No matter what you do you will carry the burden of her death on your shoulders!" Satsuki snapped back.

"I'm sick of hearing that from you! I'm sick of all these strange things! And I'm sick of your so-called ghost!" The woman yelled back.

"But I'm not the only one who sees Sui... Some guests that has visited our house lately have also claimed that they have seen Sui in the house... I'm not crazy, even the boy who works in this shop saw her! I know he did, I saw his reaction!" Sui tried to convince Yûko as tears were falling down her cheeks.

"So he saw Sui, huh? We can call him back and ask him if he did see her, can't we?" The woman suggested with a devilish smile which proved that she didn't believe her daughter.

Watanuki winced at the idea of becoming a tool in their fight. But before he did anything, Yûko, who had remained silent while the two women had fought, started to talk.

"I wish you would keep Watanuki out of this, he has nothing to do with your problems," Yûko said coldly to the lady, who mumbled her apologies in return.

'Did Yûko mean this when she told me to be careful? Did she know this?' Once again Watanuki wondered what exactly Yûko Ichihara was capable of.

"I think we're missing the point here. So you want me to grant your wish?" Yûko asked with a hint of irritation in her voice.

"Yes, I do", the woman answered with confident.

"And what was your wish again?" Yûko looked at the woman intensively through her thick lashes.

"I wish that this "ghost" would stop paining Satsuki and our family."

"What would you give in order to make your wish come true?" Yüko asked as she sipped her tea.

"Anything," the woman answered with no trace of hesitation.

"You say that all too easily, but I shall grant your wish", Yûko put her tea cup away and stood up gracefully. She went straight to Satsuki and kneeled in front of her. She touched gently her forehead and the the spirit behind her started to vanish. "Mother, why...?" Watanuki could hear the spirit moan quietly before she was gone completely.

"She's gone," Yûko confirmed the lady as she stood up.

"Thank God... Will Satsuki be alright?" She looked at her daughter who looked pale and somewhat confused.

"She just needs to rest, she will be fine in few days,Yûko answered as the woman kneeled next to Satsuki.

"Mother, what happened...? Where am I...?" The puzzled looking girl asked.

"It's alright dear, everything will be just alright..."The woman hushed.

"So what is the price for this?" The woman suddenly remembered and looked back at Yûko.

"You must destroy everything related to Sui and all her property," Yûko answered as she looked at the woman and her daughter.

"But that... That is... Impossible..." For the first time the woman started to hesitate.

"You said you would do anything," Yûko answered emotionlessly.

"Yes, but... What happens if I don't?" the lady stood up and helped her almost unconscious daughter to her feet.

"If Satsuki sees something that used to be Sui's or something that reminds Satsuki of her sister, it is likely that Sui will come back and things will get even more out of hands than before. Do you understand?" Yüko made sure as they walked together to the door.

"Yes... Yes, I do.. Thank you," The woman whsipered and bowed lightly and she still holding her daughter. Then she took their umbrellas and stepped outside of the door that Yûko had opened.

Yüko sighed as she closed the door.

"Yûko-san?" Watanuki came to the lobby when he heard that Yûko shut the frontdoor.

"Yes Watanuki, what is it?" Yûko turned to the boy.

"Do you really think that the lady had something to do with her daughter's death?" Watanuki couldn't help thinking of it.

"It seems very likely. The world is full of tragedies like that and there is even more of that kind of people who are willing to do anything in order to forget about their past. But the truth is that you can never escape from your past. It will always come back to haunt you. Your past will always be part you, like it or not. Remember it, Watanuki, and you'll be a bit wiser than the most of the people," Yüko finished one of her famous speeches.

"Watanuki...?" Yûko called him as he was still deep in his thoughts.

"Yes, Yüko-san?" He asked a bit taken aback.

"Did you forget something in the oven...? It smells like something's burning," Yûko sniffed.

"Oh nooooooo! The cake! My masterpiece!" Watanuki screamed as he hurried to the kitchen.

Yûko smiled warmly as she looked Watanuki go.

"We still have such a long way to go, Watanuki. But no need to worry. This is turning out well. Very well."