A/N: This...one-shot...is just...an obviously-written-at-eleven-at-night-one-shot. XD Senseless...but hey, don't let me stop you! XP (shot)

Sanchita

Watanuki was recovering. Himawari had already taken his scars, but still, she could see the shop today.

She entered the shop, her pace normal, frowning a bit as she glanced about. She heard a unanimous and simultaneous welcome from the exuberant girls Maru and Moro, and smiled and greeted them back. They led her to their master dutifully. Yuuko was sprawled out in a fashionable kimono as always, taking long drags of her hookah. "Himawari-chan...to what do I owe this fine visit?" Yuuko regarded her with half-draped eyes and a predatory smile, but Himawari only stood smiling, her best innocent act on.

"I've come today in search of knowledge," Himawari said plainly.

"There are libraries for that, you knowww," Yuuko teased in a sing-song voice.

"I don't think libraries will have what I'm looking for, I'm afraid, lest I wouldn't bother you about it."

"Such a good girl." Yuuko gestured for Himawari to sit, and she did so, as Yuuko herself stood, taking another drag of her hookah. The aroma in the room was sweet. "So, your wish is for knowledge. But of what kind?"

"I'd like to know a bit more about my curse, if possible..."

Yuuko was silent, exhaling. "This kind of discussion may cost you."

"I'd like to know, though. Please..."

Yuuko sighed. "I may not be able to give you the exact answer, and I'll try to move my words so that you get to pay little." With that, she brought a finger to Himawari's left cheek, and suddenly where Yuuko's finger had landed began to burn horribly. Himawari cried out at the sudden pain, but as quickly as Yuuko had done it, it was over. Reeling a bit, Himawari cupped her cheek while Yuuko smoked a bit more before beginning:

"Sanchita."

Himawari blinked, looking up. "Prarabdha. Kriyamana. A sort of life sentence."

Himawari brushed her burned cheek with her fingers, feeling its fringed edges, and looked back up at Yuuko intently. Yuuko restlessly yet lazily moved about the store, seeming to go over her wares mentally, yet also seeming authoritatively focused on her explanation.

"It would be wrong to call it fate," she went on. "There is no fate, like I have said. There is hitsuzen. Our destinies are in fact solidified, but only because of how we shape it, of our own volition, of our own free will." Yuuko paused, then rifled through a few miscellaneous objects. Himawari straightened a bit from her seat on the floor.

"A-Ah, Yuuko-san, do you need help looking for something?" Himawari asked.

Yuuko did not respond, only smiled slightly. Suddenly she pulled out something, out of Himawari's view. "Here it is..." She turned, holding it up. "Bird feed. Here, get up and follow me."

Himawari blinked, a bit confused, but obliged regardless. She followed Yuuko to the window, who threw out and sprinkled some bird feed.

"But, your life now, its state, your condition...it is the result of a high accumulation of all karma, and unfortunately, most of it is bad karma. Of paap, as used in Hindu teachings..." Yuuko turned to look at Himawari's ever-inquisitive face. "You are a good girl, Himawari-chan. You are also a reformed girl. You bear your sins. These sins are not the sins of your current life." She looked back out the window. "This curse...hurting someone unknowingly, while not nearly as bad as knowingly harming someone, is still a stain upon your life. It is paap. In many of your past lives, this curse had driven you insane, you know. Driven you to unspeakable things, things that Himawari-chan would never do."

"I...what kind of things?"

Yuuko did not respond, only looking out intently. Himawari's brow furrowed, and she looked pointedly up at Yuuko, gesturing towards the small burn mark on her cheek. "I've paid the price for these questions, Yuuko-san, so please..."

Yuuko suddenly smiled, looking again towards Himawari with those lovely crimson eyes of hers. They'd always reminded Himawari of refined wine. "But you've conversed with me before without paying. Why can people attain knowledge without a price, at times? Ignoring paying for an education, of course."

"...Impossible. Then, an unseen price." Himawari thought for a moment. "Innocence?"

"Very good," Yuuko said with approval. "There have been arguments throughout the ages about ignorance, innocence, and knowledge. About which is better. And each argument has its valid points, it just depends on the person to which they prefer. So for all knowledge attained, equal amounts of ignorance and innocence is lost. But today, your payment was a burn to your cheek. Why do you think that is?"

"Will this scar go away...?" Himawari asked. "I would like to know that, before I answer..."

"It will not."

"Then, a permanent mark of lost ignorance, or innocence...?"

"Almost. If that were just the case, then I would not have done anything besides have this talk with you. But...this..." Yuuko cupped Himawari's face in her hands, lithe fingers brushing softly over the burn mark. "This is a sign of an human's lost innocence. People regard a person's face as their identity. That is, what I'm telling you are things humans do not know. These Hindu teachings are known, of course, but in regards to your curse...

"At the beginning, you were very in between, Himawari-chan. Not good, nor bad. Except that, through some unfortunate choices, you would not hurt people directly, but indirectly, and this became your stigma. Prarabdha is what comes back to you. They may take a very, very long time to return, to even later lives, but you will receive the brunt of them."

Himawari opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the loud chirping of birds. Both women looked out to see two birds gathering around the feed.

"Two birds of beautiful plumage— inseparable friends— live on the same tree. Of these two one eats the sweet fruit while the other looks on, without eating," Yuuko said cryptically.

Himawari sighed, looking up towards Yuuko. "So this curse really is my fault, then." Her eyes were desolate, despairing. "I hurt others, and that is the base cause of this..."

Yuuko's features had shockingly, visually saddened, something Yuuko was usually so apt at concealing. A frown tugged at her lips and a bit of guilt was evident in her eyes. "Himawari-chan, you are who you are now. The sins of the past are yours to bear, but you have become a wonderful girl. You are virtuous and kind, and this behavior will not go unnoticed. Once enough of your sins are paid for, and your curse will just drift away. I am sorry that your rewards may come late in your life, it may even come in another life all together, but they will come, I assure you."

"But in the meantime, I will hurt people like Watanuki?" Himawari held back tears. "It isn't fair, Yuuko...me from the past isn't me from the present, and yet I get the consequences, and more importantly, as do the people around me...is this truly the ways of the world?"

Yuuko sighed, looping her arms around Himawari, who flinched at the contact. Yuuko's great power would probably protect her from anything the curse could do, but Himawari was still now instinctively frightened of touch. "As the curse solidified and followed your soul, things began to spiral out of control. You were condemned in many lives. One I see you being accused as a witch...they would've done better as to burn me..." Yuuko remarked quietly. "You are a good girl, though. You always were, you were just woefully unlucky. But. Kriyamana. Do you know what that is? That is the karma you are building now, in your current life. And it is beautiful. You keep on being a good girl, and this curse will disappear naturally."

Himawari let one or two tears fall, but she held the rest back, and gave in to Yuuko's embrace, leaning into it. It felt wonderful to be so close to someone. It was the very being that knew all of her sins, and still called her good. "Y-Yuuko-san...thank you for this discussion..." She looked up at Yuuko and put on her best smile. "I-I feel better, I think."

Yuuko brushed her fingers over Himawari's cheek, thoughtfully, hesitantly, sympathetically, affectionately. "At the very least, I feel as though I've done well if you feel better. You may get something good in your future, too." Yuuko grinned. "A present."

Himawari's expression turned surprised and inquisitive. "Oh, but why, I don't need any presents! This talk was enough for me..."

"No, no buts, and you'll like it, I promise," Yuuko said in a singsong voice. "Now run along while I watch over Watanuki."

"Ah...okay, Yuuko-san." Himawari hurried to the exit, turning to bow before leaving. "Thank you again for today!"

Yuuko leaned back into her couch, opening a bottle of sake. Mokona popped up at the arrival of sake, cheering, while Yuuko drowned any doubts into a bottle of alcohol.

A/N: The present was Tanpopo, if you didn't catch it, aha. I was too vague anyways, probably. XD Just my little take on Himawari...it's kind of nonsense and late night but it helped get my writing juices flowing at least...feedback appreciated!

Footnotes:

Sanchita: the accumulated karma. It would be impossible to experience and endure all Karmas in one life. From this stock of sanchita karma, a handful is taken out to serve one lifetime and this handful of actions, which has begun to bear fruit and which will be exhausted only on their fruit being enjoyed and not otherwise, is known as prarabdha karma.

Prarabdha: fruit-bearing karma is the portion of accumulated karma that has "ripened" and appears as a particular problem in the present life.

Kriyamana: everything that we produce in current life. All kriyamana karmas flow in to sanchita karma and consequently shape our future. Only in human life we can change our future destiny. After death we loose Kriya Shakti (ability to act) and do (kriyamana) karma until we are born again in human body.

Two birds of beautiful plumage- inseperable friends- live on the same tree. Of those two, one eats the sweet fruit while the other looks on without eating: The first bird being the individual soul, and the second representing god. The tree represents the body. Soul identifies with the body, reaps the fruit of its actions, and undergoes rebirth. God stands alone and does not eat, always contented to watch and master of those eating and eaten.