Seeing is Believing (Clow, Yuuko, Watanuki gen)

[storypaint]

Disclaimer: xxxHOLiC belongs to CLAMP.
Pairing or Characters Involved: Clow, Yuuko, Watanuki
Fandom: xxxHOLiC
Rating: G
Warning: none
Title: Seeing is Believing
Author: rhap_chan
Notes: Written for theme 02 Receptive. Features kid!Clow and teen!Yuuko.

Summary: Yuuko tells Watanuki a story about her first meeting with a boy who saw unwanted spirits-- Clow. 903 words. Second of a series.

The second day that Watanuki came into work and Yuuko was reading the I-Ching, she had contorted herself into a lotus position. With her eyes half-lidded and her hair a glossy cover on her body, she could have been a goddess. The illusion was helped by the bottles of sake that littered the floor around her-- offerings.

"Were you up all night drinking?" Watanuki said. After a moment Yuuko looked past the book.

"It aids in my enlightenment," she atoned, but then she giggled. "Not all night..."

"Yuuko-san..." Watanuki said, and sighed. Fluidly she stood and then pinched his nose.

"You're not very receptive today," she said thoughtfully as he complained.

"Receptive? What?" Watanuki said, annoyed.

"Receptive to cosmic forces, Watanuki. Come on, let's take a walk."

"I need to clean," Watanuki tried to protest, but she took his hand and dragged him out onto the sidewalk.

"When I was young, Watanuki," she said after a moment, "I knew plenty of people with your problem."

"What am I, your crack psychologist?" Watanuki wondered, but she kept talking and walking, and he followed slightly behind, eyes peeled for spirits. They tended to be attracted to Yuuko as well as him.

*

Yuuko found him first cowering in the corner of the dirty alley. She heard his whimpers from the street, and they sounded like cat noises. She'd been considering a cat for some time, and that was why she stepped into the side alley, but this creature wasn't something she could-- or would-- adopt.

The little spirit teasing the boy was very surprised when it was picked up by the scruff of its neck and shaken. It wasn't generally corporeal in this world. One look at Yuuko was enough for it to vanish quickly into thin air.

Even at sixteen, her reputation preceded her.

The little boy stopped whimpering and she said to him, "It can't hurt you, you know."

"No, I didn't," the boy said. "The teeth marks in my hand fooled me."

He held up one hand and she could see the blood streaks through the dust. She rolled her eyes.

"You believed too much," Yuuko said. "It couldn't have hurt you otherwise."

*

"So you're saying that if I didn't believe in these things they wouldn't eat me?" Watanuki said, twisting his head just enough to see the smoky creature that was following them from a distance. It had no apparent eyes or features, but when it caught his eyes on it, it darkened in color.

"Not yours," Yuuko said cheerfully. "You attract the strong ones. He was lucky."

"Oh," Watanuki said despondently as the creature was joined by another small one.

*

The boy rose to his feet, and then bent over and rescued a pair of glasses from the dirt. He seemed embarrassed to be caught like he was, but he had a defiant stance. He waved his hand over the glasses and then replaced them on his nose. Yuuko knew that the glowing hand and his gesture were for her benefit. He was another one of those who thought he was better because he was a boy, she thought.

In response, she cracked his glasses without moving at all. The glass didn't fall out, but he frowned at her.

"I'm Clow Reed," he said, bowing a little.

"Born March 23. 11 years old," she said smoothly. "Magic somewhere in-between two worlds, already stronger than your peers, but unable to connect with them. Ambitious, clever, too kind. A name is a powerful thing, Reed. You should know that, if you want to be the most powerful magician in the world."

"How did you know that?" he said, and the glasses slid down his nose. He caught them but one of the panes of glass fell out along the cracks.

"It is the dream of all young magicians," she replied. "Is that why you're in this area, kid?"

He nodded and looked away from her. "Someone told me about a witch who lives around here. They said she was very powerful."

"Ah," Yuuko said, nodding in understanding. "You want to meet Yuuko the Time-Space Witch?"

"Yeah," he said, brightening. "Could you tell me where she lives?"

"You won't be able to find it," Yuuko replied. "Not with a wish like yours."

"What does that mean?" he asked, but she had turned to walk away.

"Try again when you've figured things out, Reed," she called over her shoulder.

"What's your name?" he asked desperately.

"You can call me Yuuko, if you'd like," she said, emerging back onto the street, and though Clow rushed to see where she'd gone, it was as though she had vanished.

*

"You tormented that guy a lot, didn't you," Watanuki said knowingly, as one of the little smoky things made an attempt on his shoe. He walked faster so he could walk beside Yuuko, but the sidewalk was too crowded for that.

"Most of his life," Yuuko admitted freely. "He couldn't actually see the shop until he was thirteen, though."

"You think you could get these things to go away?" Watanuki asked nervously as a smoky thing began to nibble on the hem of his school pants. Its breath was hot on his ankle, much hotter than a normal creature's.

Yuuko lifted an eyebrow. "You know it will cost you. Perhaps you should try not believing in them?"

"Would that work?" Watanuki asked, pushing past people rudely to avoid the thing's intentions.

"Probably not," Yuuko replied thoughtfully, and Watanuki began to run.