xxx ---------- xxx--------xxx

"Doumeki!"

"We must protect Yuuko-san!"

…must protect her…

Must protect…

xxx ------ xxx --------xxx

It was, perhaps, fundamentally impossible o explain the feeling that seemed to gather in his heart and welled in his eyes at the moment. It was almost rueful, intrigued at best, and stupidly, horrendously terrified at most.

He thought he would never see the day the dimension witch would be defeated.

Oh, but he had envisioned such ways. It all involved whacking her head with a broom by himself (of course) and Yuuko's profuse begging of forgiveness, as well as her tasks of doing the mundane and demeaning chores she constantly made him do in exchange for payment. (Never mind the fact that he was actually enjoying cooking for her…)

But it was never like this. Never in his mind would she be humiliatingly, disgustingly defeated at the hands of a freak ghost with a deluded sense of honor and promises to his own special person.

Watanuki thought the world was over when he saw her freeze, bound by the spirit's magic.

It was not for the spirit to lock her away in a painting to add to his collection. No, it was not. She deserved to grave the earth with her cosmic presence, granting wishes and giving help to those in need for it.

She deserved to be alive and free.

He could feel tears working their way through his throat, could feel his face heat up in outrage as he began screaming in earnest, screaming in anger and hatred and despair and sorrow..only, he wasn't sure which.

"Yuuko-san!"

'YOU! Return Yuuko-san!"

Don't keep her away from me; I still have much to learn from this world..

I still have much to tell her.

And then, before he could lose himself to the insanity that were his turbulent emotions, she began to speak.

"I finally found it:"

"To get what Watanuki had discovered, I had to get inside your heart."

She said calmly to the spirit keeping her bound..

Or even perhaps him. Watanuki felt his eyebrows rise in surprise.

Did she say that to make him feel better?

…oh hell, she probably did. Strangely, it did make him feel better. But the world be damned if he was going to tell her that.

Not yet. But soon.

Was she truly invincible? Too powerful to be kept away like some trinket a person grows out of desire of?

He stopped a strangled laugh that threatened to escape him. Here he was worked up over nothing. Everything was according to her plan, as always. It seemed, that despite her weakness of not moving beyond the allowed intervention to keep thr balance, her omniscient presence knew no bounds.

The tell tale movement of magic caught him off guard. Focused as he was on himself, he was only able to see the last vestiges of the vast mansion until it returned to normal. Watanuki turned, by intuition, to where he surmised she was.

She was there, behind him, in body and soul.

He leapt up, grinning ear to ear.

"Yuuko-san, you are safe and sound!"

She smiled.

Watanuki could feel his heart beat faster.

Thank you…

For your presence.

…that is the only thing that matter right now…

…to me.

xxx --------- xxx -------------xxx

The aftermath. It was oddly peaceful, comfortable. The waters beside their rented place were clea, tranquil and beautiful, sparkling against the sun's rays.

""Does Yuuko-san have a harsh past of love or a wounded love story?"

He asked, oce she trailed off. With a grace that reminded him of a butterfly, she asked,

"Do you want to know?"

He found himself nodding. He knew there was equivalent compensation for it, but oddly, right now he couldn't muster up the need to care.

…but maybe, it is not for him to know now. Be it by fate, destiny or even coincidence, the question was left unanswered. He slipped away.

Perhaps, if he stayed a bit longer, he would have noticed the small smile Yuuko allowed herself to show after a minute distraction.

There was no need for him to know about her past loves…

Because, in the vast expanse of the multiverse where all beings dwelled, human and demon alike, her present…

..Was within the grasp of his own two hands.