Recently, I've become very addicted to xxxHOLiC and I have started supporting both YuukoWata and YuukoClow. So, here's my very first xxxHOLiC fic, which is a definite YuukoWata (I should add Himawari at the end, but who says I can't?)

Note: I'm not very updated with the story, I admit, so I might, might, might commit some plot mistakes. Thank you for your kind consideration.

Disclaimer: I don't own xxxHOLiC.

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"You look awful. Again."

The slither in her voice jolted Watanuki to the usual matter, almost causing him to drop the pan he held. Oddly, he was depressed to the point where not even Yuuko's sneak-ups could make a scream escape his lips. The slender figure standing before him, next to the kitchen entrance, seemed to have halted throwing daggers at him for once.

All Watanuki could do was mutter back at her with his stuffy new accent, "Sorry, Yuuko-san." He sniffed before proceeding. "I just don't feel good, that's all." Grabbing for the salt shaker, Watanuki continued, wiping his nose with his handkerchief, "Aside from this nasty cold I got from all this rain, I saw Himawari-chan walking with Doumeki-bastard today."

"Tell me, please," Yuuko spoke to the old woman, calm in the outside yet pleading inside. The tint in her eyes appeared to have been drained, as if all her power, all her superiority as a wish-granter had disappeared altogether on the spot. Yuuko was confident that the diviner/fortuneteller before her knew what she wanted to know.

Yuuko rolled her eyes in amusement at Watanuki's constant I-hate-Doumeki personality. "A cold can do the opposite of wonders. Just be glad that it's not raining tonight." she mused out loud, "But seeing a sight like that can topple a wall."

"I know!" Watanuki exclaimed, slapping a hand onto the side of his head in frustration as a response to the hyperbole, "I mean, did they have to share the same umbrella? Himawari-chan and Doumeki experiencing a moment like that is… is…"

Yuuko bent closer to Watanuki, smirking at him with her eyes lathered with a spell, "It's inhumane, ne?"

"Inhumane is taking it lightly, Yuuko-san," Watanuki sobbed, lifting the pan of beef above the flame in exasperation, "It's callous! Heartless! Cruel!" With this, Watanuki's mouth quivered with arriving sadness. Slamming the pan back onto the stove, he snorted and eventually heaved a sigh not heavier than his heart.

Yuuko softened her stare at her young employee, running her soft palm down his lean back. For once, her pale complexion matched her insights on the situation. Sometimes, she admits, that she was Himawari, no matter how troublesome the lass was. She envied not the freedom from binds of magic, but the hidden affection of the morose Watanuki.

At this, all the aging woman did was smile. From her pocket, she took a leather pouch containing the finest sands on the earth. They were her tarot cards. Anxious for the first time, Yuuko leaned nearer to the scattering sand.

"Now, if you're ever going to finish that meal you're cooking," Yuuko mentioned, trying to help him pull himself together, "You'd better get your elbow out of the flame." Instead of chuckling at Watanuki's carelessness, she voluntarily lifted his elbow from the flame and sent awareness through him. Luckily, her statement was more than enough to wake him up.

Eyes widening in shock, Watanuki yelped at consciousness of the burning sleeve and hurried to the sink, screaming things about his new uniform, wasting fire and imagining his skin evaporating with the ashes. Usually, Yuuko would find herself smiling at his recklessness to many things, especially when it comes to kitchen duties. For now, she could only ponder on her earlier conversation with the old fortuneteller even more.

The sand finally settled before her, forming lines that curved with delicacy and grace. Yuuko felt like she had never understood. The butterfly form sat before her on the smooth teak floor of the house. Butterflies, she and the fortuneteller knew, represented her. But by the looks of it, something about it has changed.

Dragging his feet, Watanuki walked pathetically back to the stove and found his beef engulfed in flames as well, disintegrating into an inferno. Finally, probably for the second time today, Watanuki screeched ala banshee and panicked. When he had finished gasping at his suffering masterpiece, he turned to Yuuko, who was simply observing everything happen, and screeched, "Why didn't you turn it off?! Didn't you see it?!"

He continued to fan the burning meat, wishing and hoping that coal-black cow chunks that smelled like rubber tasted good with Yuuko's beer. Out of desperation, Watanuki grabbed for the metal handle of the pan and decided to toss it into the sink. But he ended up letting go of it due to the heat compressed onto the metal.

Chewing on her thin lips, Yuuko contemplated on the disastrous kitchen mayhem at present. Despite the fact that the still-smoking beef were all over the floor, the tap water was running manically, the stove fire was still roaring and Watanuki was jumping around, yelling about how painful his toe is, she giggled. She hardly enjoyed chaos, mind you.

As Mokona and her two little girls arrived at the kitchen entrance out of curiosity of what was going on, Yuuko still didn't budge. Leaning on the wall beside her, she felt her right cheek tinge pastel pink from the enjoyment of witnessing one of her employee's accidents. Her slim fingers tapped in a harmonious rhythm, like Watanuki's shouting was a love song to her.

The old woman looked up at her, the wrinkles around her temples smiling back. "Butterflies represent change." The diviner spoke up, grinning with her eyes, the windows to one's soul, "And you, Yuuko-chan, have been a reason for someone's transformation, specifically your Watanuki…

… But, this time, it is little Watanuki who has caused the change within you."

In a few minutes' time, the meat were already rid of, the fire was extinguished, the water has stopped flowing and Watanuki had his toe bandaged. Truly, Yuuko has not left her place by the kitchen entrance since.

Done with cleaning up most of the mess, Watanuki grumbled at Yuuko as she took out her incense-thin cigarette, "Really, Yuuko-san, you should've—"

But before he could even go on with his ranting, Yuuko carved a tiny, sweet smile, showing the impish child spirit within her. She reached out for Watanuki's left cheek and pinched it lovingly yet excessively, then said in a mellow and melting voice…

"You know what? It's wonderful how you're the only one who can make me laugh."

Still, the elderly woman added, "Yet, Yuuko-chan must remember that fate has decided that Watanuki be the source of her laughter and happiness and nothing more. Destiny has stated this." One last remark came out, pulling strings at Yuuko's heart uncomfortably, "Watanuki Kimihiro is destined for someone else, Yuuko-chan."

Nothing has felt so painful for the Dimension Witch.

Strangely, Watanuki found it hard to absorb it all in. Eventually, he managed to just twitch the corner of his lips and mumble awkwardly, "… You're welcome?" For Watanuki, compliments from people like Yuuko didn't feel like they were meant to make him feel better. They felt like words meaninglessly thrown at him.

He never realized how wrong he has been for so long.

-O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O-

"I never knew grapes went well with beer!"

The fuzzy, ebony Mokona gulped down grape after grape, satisfying himself. Unfortunately, Yuuko's last stocks of dinner-worthy ingredients were victims of Watanuki's kitchen mishap. They could've bought more items from the nearest store if Yuuko or Watanuki had any money. For now, grapes had to do.

Popping a grape into her mouth, Yuuko stole a glance at Watanuki. He sat there across her at the table, chewing sullenly yet nearly miserably on his share of grapes. Everyone else had finished early, leaving the table before seven. But Yuuko remained at the table, still silently observing Watanuki gnaw on his grapes dejectedly.

As Yuuko stood up, she rummaged for the bottle of champagne from her shoulder bag, asking an additional question as if nothing was wrong, "By the way, what's the weather for tonight?" She never fails to ask that.

The answer confused her in a way: "There will be no rain, but the ground shall water."

Indeed, it hasn't rained since this noon. But even up till now, the prediction has never become clear.

Shoving his plate of six grapes away from him, Watanuki sniffed and eventually whispered a few complaints which he didn't know was coming. Again, he pulled his handkerchief from his side pocket and blew his nose, discovering how the bug he caught had gotten worst.

"Do you have an umbrella to take with you as you walk home?" Yuuko questioned him, next to concerned. If it were to rain on his way home, he'd definitely need one. Not that she didn't trust the old diviner's forecast, thought. It was just the fact she didn't understand that made her doubt at the moment.

Hearing her, Watanuki shook his head and once again sniffed. "I think I'll be fine, Yuuko-san," he assured her, "The sky doesn't look like it has any more downpours in it. Besides, I always have an umbrella with me nowadays." At this, Yuuko nodded and smiled. It was not like Watanuki to not worry about getting wet, though.

"Shall you be going?" Yuuko questioned.

Watanuki nodded and proceeded to stand up, on his way out of the shop. Yuuko followed his out, her kimono's hem trailing her behind. Strangely, the hush of the crickets also sent shivers down her arms. As Watanuki walked past the boundary of the shop, Yuuko felt remorse eat her up somehow.

"Watanuki, wait." She halted him in his tracks for a split moment. Briskly, she moved towards him with three steps at a time. Her iris shot back at his blue ones as she made her way through. Watanuki, not knowing what was going on, waited for what she was supposed to do.

Upon reaching him, Yuuko led her hand to his cheek, cupping it gently. What she wanted to do was vague even to herself. But, eventually, she found herself bending a little bit lower, letting her chilly, petite lips softly touch the tip of Watanuki's blushing nose. As an immediate reaction (which seemed to be a second too late), Watanuki squeaked and fell back.

"W-What was that for?!" Watanuki screamed, glaring back at Yuuko, who stood with her hands on her hips and a smile spread evenly on her face. Watanuki's glasses slid down the lean bridge of his nose as his cheeks felt like they'd been set on fire. A mental demand for an explanation whirled in Watanuki's head.

"Kisses are magical." Yuuko simply told him, winking at him, "And you should be thanking me for doing such an act like kissing a cold away."

Watanuki was ready to yell around about how she shouldn't go around smacking people's noses, but when he realized that his nose had cleared up, he changed his mind. "…It's… gone…" he murmured as he sniffed again and again, checking if the cold really disappeared. True to her word, Yuuko had 'kissed' it away.

At this, Yuuko smirked her signature smile once again and mentioned, "You can't impress Himawari-chan with a cold, now could you?" Grinning back at her, Watanuki pushed himself from the ground, brushed the dirt off of his uniform and thanked Yuuko with merely a nod and a delighted beam.

From there, Watanuki went on his way, his figure ebbing into the shadows of the curb. "Good night, Watanuki." She called out to him from where she stood.

Gladly, Watanuki waved at her considerately and called back, "You, too, Yuuko-san!"

Chuckling, Yuuko added, teasing him, "Should I call Doumeki and tell him to accompany you through your walk home?" Unsurprisingly, She was answered by a series of disgusted comments, irritated screeches and sneezes from Watanuki. Even though he was already far-off, Yuuko could still hear the resonating voice of the charming boy.

Standing there at the entrance of her home and shop, Yuuko couldn't help but turn her gaze down onto the ground below her. Beyond the glaze of her lanterns from within her home, the world seemed so much like a dark existence. Maybe, just maybe, she has gotten so used to the human world that she already had her own fair share of darkness.

Yuuko-chan must remember that fate has decided that Watanuki be the source of her laughter and happiness and nothing more.

Watanuki is destined for someone else, Yuuko-chan.

Fate has plans for everyone. It's just that most of the time, Fate's plans don't always guarantee happy endings.

With that diminutive thought, Yuuko trapped her bottom lip with her teeth and clenched her fists. Not once has this kind of expression overwhelmed her. Sometimes, she tends to forget what emotion it was. But, then, she recalled what emotion it was: Sadness. Only now did she experience it again.

And in a star's twinkle, Yuuko blinked and allowed a few fluid tears to ruin her powdered cheeks and fall onto the ground below. Her chest would rise and fall with every sob and tear. Darker shades stretched on the ground beneath her as the liquid crystals didn't cease to fall. It was not like her to feel such a superficial kind of compassion.

There, the words came back to her: There will be no rain, but the ground shall water.

Indeed, Watanuki has caused a change within her. She now knew empathy, the basis of humans' souls. It was a change no one but Watanuki could've established within her. For now, she wishes him well. For now, she shall let herself envy the troublesome, little girl Watanuki loves. For now, she will let the torture of unrequited and foolish infatuation strike her heart.

For now, she will let the tears fall. But only for now and never again.