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storypaint) wrote2009-08-23 10:13 pm
storypaint) wrote2009-08-23 10:13 pm
Eclipsed (Clow/Yuuko)
Title: Eclipsed
Fandom: xxxHOLiC
Length: 670 words
Prompt: see lyric prompt below the cut
Pairing: Clow/Yuuko
Other: Ninth in a series; table of contents.
Excerpt: She swept into Clow's house as if she owned it, immediately provoking Yue's ire. Then she looked Yue up and down as though she were assessing him, and smiled an odd, knowing smile. He liked her even less for what she presumed she knew.
She swept into Clow's house as if she owned it, immediately provoking Yue's ire. Then she looked Yue up and down as though she were assessing him, and smiled an odd, knowing smile.
He liked her even less for what she presumed she knew.
She got along well with Cerberus, considering that her element was the moon. She didn't mind his enthusiasm as long as it didn't mean muddy pawprints on her dress, and they had a similar sort of humor. Yue would never presume to tease Clow, but the two of them did it all the time.
As for the Cards, they were wary at first, but she was polite to them (far more polite to elementals than to their master? Yue didn't understand that at all) and eventually most of them warmed to her. Clow didn't let the Card spirits roam free all of the time when he was home, mostly because of the rowdier Cards, but when they were free sometimes Windy would come by to tease her hair, or Wood to twine around her arm, making her look like some sort of tree elemental. They were cards under his jurisdiction, and moon called to moon, but still, Yue felt a little sour.
And he also felt guilty. Yuuko was nearly demented, a hard drinker, a loud talker, a woman with too much self-confidence but the knowledge to bluff through anything she was uncertain about. She was the strangest person Yue had ever met... but she made Clow happy. Yue wasn't sure why, but when she allowed him a kiss or teased him about his poor eyesight or worked magic with him, Clow's eyes sparkled in a way that Yue hadn't seen for a very long time.
So Yue tried to curb his annoyance, even as she tried to provoke him. She wanted to do his hair, which was ridiculous-- Clow had made him and combed his hair and that was the way it should be. She wanted him to drink or eat or smile, all things that she did in excess, and Yue had no desire to do any of them. After a while, she took to calling him "that wet blanket," a nickname he suffered silently.
Her visits were always erratic, rarely announced beforehand and lasting odd hours into the night. Clow often disappeared in the same manner, and Yue had always suspected he was visiting her then. But one day, all visits ceased, and Clow spent a week in solemnity.
It was a return to the person he had been before Yuuko-- his vices tempered, his work ethic strong, his voice quiet. Not that he hadn't had his odd whims before they'd met, but she seemed to encourage them.
Finally, he asked. "What happened to her?"
Clow had been looking through old notes, biting his lip like he did when he was preoccupied. He glanced over his glasses at Yue.
"She died," he said, his gaze refocusing on his handwriting.
Yue stared. He'd thought that the witch was like his master, who'd lived several centuries without showing much age.
Clow sighed. "Or, rather, she's very angry at me and it's complicated."
Yue blinked. Clow would tease and joke, sure, but he didn't joke about death. He kept some things sacred.
"Do you know where my notes are from spring, about ten... no, I suppose fifteen years ago?"
Clow was half-talking to himself, but Yue answered anyway. "I think that the last time you cleaned out your office you put your old records in the library."
"Yes, of course!" Clow smiled. "Thank you, Yue."
Yue was just beginning to readjust to the quiet when Clow brought the Mokona home and flipped everything upside down again. Yuuko was behind it, he knew. Everything about the little creatures screamed her name-- their hyperactivity, their lack of polite language, their drinking.
Yue sighed. It seemed he would never be rid of the Dimension Witch.
At least Clow was happy again.
Fandom: xxxHOLiC
Length: 670 words
Prompt: see lyric prompt below the cut
Pairing: Clow/Yuuko
Other: Ninth in a series; table of contents.
Excerpt: She swept into Clow's house as if she owned it, immediately provoking Yue's ire. Then she looked Yue up and down as though she were assessing him, and smiled an odd, knowing smile. He liked her even less for what she presumed she knew.
She's sun and rain, she's fire and ice
A little crazy but it's nice
-Garth Brooks, She's Every Woman
She swept into Clow's house as if she owned it, immediately provoking Yue's ire. Then she looked Yue up and down as though she were assessing him, and smiled an odd, knowing smile.
He liked her even less for what she presumed she knew.
She got along well with Cerberus, considering that her element was the moon. She didn't mind his enthusiasm as long as it didn't mean muddy pawprints on her dress, and they had a similar sort of humor. Yue would never presume to tease Clow, but the two of them did it all the time.
As for the Cards, they were wary at first, but she was polite to them (far more polite to elementals than to their master? Yue didn't understand that at all) and eventually most of them warmed to her. Clow didn't let the Card spirits roam free all of the time when he was home, mostly because of the rowdier Cards, but when they were free sometimes Windy would come by to tease her hair, or Wood to twine around her arm, making her look like some sort of tree elemental. They were cards under his jurisdiction, and moon called to moon, but still, Yue felt a little sour.
And he also felt guilty. Yuuko was nearly demented, a hard drinker, a loud talker, a woman with too much self-confidence but the knowledge to bluff through anything she was uncertain about. She was the strangest person Yue had ever met... but she made Clow happy. Yue wasn't sure why, but when she allowed him a kiss or teased him about his poor eyesight or worked magic with him, Clow's eyes sparkled in a way that Yue hadn't seen for a very long time.
So Yue tried to curb his annoyance, even as she tried to provoke him. She wanted to do his hair, which was ridiculous-- Clow had made him and combed his hair and that was the way it should be. She wanted him to drink or eat or smile, all things that she did in excess, and Yue had no desire to do any of them. After a while, she took to calling him "that wet blanket," a nickname he suffered silently.
Her visits were always erratic, rarely announced beforehand and lasting odd hours into the night. Clow often disappeared in the same manner, and Yue had always suspected he was visiting her then. But one day, all visits ceased, and Clow spent a week in solemnity.
It was a return to the person he had been before Yuuko-- his vices tempered, his work ethic strong, his voice quiet. Not that he hadn't had his odd whims before they'd met, but she seemed to encourage them.
Finally, he asked. "What happened to her?"
Clow had been looking through old notes, biting his lip like he did when he was preoccupied. He glanced over his glasses at Yue.
"She died," he said, his gaze refocusing on his handwriting.
Yue stared. He'd thought that the witch was like his master, who'd lived several centuries without showing much age.
Clow sighed. "Or, rather, she's very angry at me and it's complicated."
Yue blinked. Clow would tease and joke, sure, but he didn't joke about death. He kept some things sacred.
"Do you know where my notes are from spring, about ten... no, I suppose fifteen years ago?"
Clow was half-talking to himself, but Yue answered anyway. "I think that the last time you cleaned out your office you put your old records in the library."
"Yes, of course!" Clow smiled. "Thank you, Yue."
Yue was just beginning to readjust to the quiet when Clow brought the Mokona home and flipped everything upside down again. Yuuko was behind it, he knew. Everything about the little creatures screamed her name-- their hyperactivity, their lack of polite language, their drinking.
Yue sighed. It seemed he would never be rid of the Dimension Witch.
At least Clow was happy again.