Title: Crossroads
Crossover: xxxHolic / Kyou Kara Maou
Characters: Ichihara Yuuko, Murata Ken. Brief mention of Watanuki Kimihiro, Shibuya Yuuri, and Shinou.
Pairings: None.
Timeline: None specified.
Once, their eyes meet.
She knows of him, of course—Murata Ken, Earth-born teenage incarnation of the Daikenja, right hand and tactician of Shin Makoku's Original King—for there is very little that affects this world and its flow with others that she does not know.
(Everything has a price.)
She can see the chains of his soul, binding his memories to this flesh, shackles of heartbreak and courage and the guilty tears of a blond-haired, blue-eyed not-stranger. And the thinner, yet stronger ribbons that speak of loyalty and grace, trust and easy acceptance.
She does not know what he knows of her, and no answer would have surprised her. Unlike the rest of the world, she is not about to underestimate him, for perceptions are a powerful thing, and dangerous. And they both—Witch and Sage—have lived enough as to know this terribly well.
In their own defense, each has donned a smiling mask, and cultivates other distractions: he, his bulky, valuably reflective eyepieces, she, her low-cut fashions.
They are young and beautiful, far too wise and so very, very old.
And in a rare moment of nakedness, they share in solemn intimacy the lesson that they both learned so very long ago. That they must bury their pain with disarming grins and teasing laughter, for they have no time to grieve.
Yet in this moment, they do not smile.
He is tired, as is she, but they serve a higher purpose. They cannot claim the privilege of ignorance, or time to rest.
So they stand there in the street, gazes locked, she who knows the future and he who lived the past. Beside each, blinking and bemused, stands a dark-haired boy who knows nothing, yet is trusted with the fate of worlds.
(There are no coincidences.)
Voices—that belong to those more important than the silent eyes of a stranger—break the stillness.
("Murata? What's up?")
"Yuuko-san?"
And they turn away.
("Eh, nothing, Shibuya. Come on, let's go home. I want some of Mama-chan's curry for dinner!")
"Yes, Watanuki-kun? Save your strength, because I want a good dinner and lots and lots of sake when we get home!"
("Don't encourage her with that undignified name! And she's my mother, not yours, anyway!")
"What! It's only 3pm, you alcoholic!"
Both chuckle, teasing and warm.
("Jealous, Shibuya?")
Yuuko smacks her indignant charge with her fan while she laughs and laughs and laughs.
Before they go, they glance back, only once. But the spell is broken. Their eyes slide away without a word, and they walk on.
Murata Ken has no Wishes, after all.