Hard Garnet (Yuuko and Watanuki gen)

[storypaint]

Disclaimer: xxxHOLiC belongs to CLAMP.
Pairing or Characters Involved: Yuuko and Watanuki gen
Fandom: xxxHOLiC
Rating: G
Warning: none
Title: Hard Garnet
Author: rhap_chan
Notes: A piece of what's shaping up to be a longer story entitled "Your First-Born," which probably won't hit 64_hexagrams (too long).

More than anything nowadays, Yuuko is cold.

If she said it aloud, there'd be no hesitation in Watanuki's response. "If you're cold, put more clothes on! I'm not taking care of you when you're sick!" He forgets that she takes care of him, but that is not the point here.

She doesn't say it out loud, because that isn't really what she means.

Yuuko means that many people pass through her shop, and she begins to care about them less and less. Human beings are always the same, she's come to realize. If she would think a little harder she might wonder why she doesn't include herself in that general label of human beings.

She is other, and she is cold, because the only human being she really gave a damn about is dead, and walking around in the form of a ten-year-old. She detests the idea. It's almost as if he's mocking her by wearing the form he did when they met those years ago.

The thought of it makes her shiver. Watanuki doesn't rail at her like she has anticipated. He's been a much-dampened boy lately, ever since Himawari announced her plans to move out of the city. Watanuki goes to the storage closet and tosses a blanket at her head.

She takes the comforter without protest and drapes it over herself, clutching the cloth to her face so that she doesn't have to meet his eyes. She can see the look he gives her and almost doesn't recognize pity when it's on someone else's face. She chooses to ignore it, the high and mighty Space-Time Witch. Watanuki nods slightly and goes into the other room.

Yuuko opens the I-Ching to see the hexagram for today. Number twenty, Contemplation. She sighs a little. There will be no story today. Not today.