The Inevitable

AN: No! I shall kill you, lousy, unimaginative title! I shall smash you into the ground! Well, anyways. Another started fanfic. Hopefully, I'll finish this one, although I can feel that it's going to be a long one. Chapters abound! Which means even more lousy titles. Oh, joy.

To clarify, the story takes place in the xxxHolic universe (some believe this is also the Cardcaptor Sakura world… hmm…) swapping off regularly to Tsubasa. This is obviously some dumb alternate universe thing, as:

1. Yuuko is alive and demanding as ever.

2. If things go as planned, some things will mess with the current Tsubasa storyline, no matter where you put this in the lengthy timeline.

Oh! This is already making my brain hurt! Let's just try it then!

Chapter 1: Desperation

The first thing Watanuki Kimihiro noticed about the visitor was his blood.

It was everywhere. Matting his dark brown hair, staining his ornately decorated clothes, tracing jagged lines down his hands and face. A trail of it led from the stranger through the front yard of Yuuko's shop, disappearing down a corner behind the fence.

Watanuki resisted the urge to run, forcing himself to stay and observe the visitor further. He didn't like what he saw.

At first, he hadn't noticed how young the visitor was. The wounds and serious look on his face had made Watanuki assume he was older. But the boy was, indeed, just a boy. Quite a bit younger than Watanuki. Much too young to be drenched in the stench of blood.

Watanuki covered his mouth, gagging. Yuuko stood beside him, apparently unaffected by the smell. There was something else, too. Some other smell then that of blood. A smell that Watanuki had encountered many times, emanating off of lost and angry spirits.

The smell of death.

The boy dropped to his hands and knees now, coughing. Watanuki ran forward, placing a hand on the boy's back. The boy flinched, arching his back in an attempt to push Watanuki away. Yuuko noticed this, her crimson eyes narrowing.

"You have no reason to fear, my dear boy," she said. "Watanuki will bring you no harm." Watanuki started rubbing the boy's back in a fruitless attempt to calm him. The boy looked up at Watanuki, a trail of blood spilling out of the corner of his mouth. Watanuki stared at him, trying to reassure the boy, though he felt just as frightened. Their eyes met. Watanuki's hand froze.

Those eyes, Watanuki thought. No. Oh, God, no.

Finally, the boy spoke, averting his gaze from Watanuki and regarding the woman before them. His voice was hoarse and pained. "You are Yuuko, the Witch of Dimensions?"

Yuuko's thin lips turned into a slight smile, though her eyes were still cold. "Yes. Though you should know that if you have come here."

"And you grant wishes, right?"

"Only to those who will pay the price," Yuuko reminded. Her smile sickened Watanuki. "And to those who will give me the pleasure of knowing their names," she continued. The boy nodded, frowning slightly.

"My name is- ah!" The boy gasped in pain and Watanuki froze. He wasn't sure whether to steady the boy or not. Would the wounds hurt if he touched them? The boy looked up at the heavens and Watanuki could see tears in his eyes. A stream of blood from the boy's forehead slid down his cheek, caressing it, until it dripped into the stranger's open mouth. He gagged at the metallic taste, and the taste of bile replaced it.

Finally, after a painful wait for the boy's body to calm, he looked at Yuuko, about to speak.

Yuuko's smile disappeared and the many jokes Watanuki imagined she was plotting in her head died on her lips. For a short instant, he thought he saw panic in her eyes before regaining her cold demeanor. She merely waited until the boy was ready to speak. And when he did, her eyes welled up with tears.

"Li Syaoran."

Then the boy collapsed on the ground, the life fading from his eyes.

He could smell something smoky. It wasn't exactly smoke; it had a stronger smell, like that of perfume. Yes. It reminded him of his mother's perfume. And then, he could see her. Hovering over him, an angry look on her face. "And why didn't you find the Clow Cards?" she said. "Why didn't you return them to the Li clan?"

"Mother…" he whispered, his mouth dry. He was trying to get up, but his body wouldn't obey him. The scent of her perfume came off of her in snake-like tendrils, wrapping around his head.

"Please don't!" He moaned, and the tendrils tightened around his neck. He struggled, his throat and lungs burning, his eyesight fading. His mother seemed to get farther away from him. He was traveling back into a dark tunnel. It felt so calm in the dark. He wanted it to swallow him up and keep him there. Keep him safe.

In the corner of his eye, he noticed a sharp light blazing. His body turned toward it. "No," he said. "It's too bright…" But now he was facing the light, and his eyes widened.

Sakura. She was there, in her school uniform, smiling that warm smile. He sighed. If she was here, then everything would surely be alright…

But then Sakura's smile faded, the happy spark of light in her emerald eyes flickered, and she fell to the ground. He flew towards her, grabbing her in his arms. Blood flowed out of a wound in her stomach. He screamed, long and loud and as hard as he could…

And then his eyes opened. He was lying in a bed, soft blankets tucked up to his neck. He had been stripped down to his shorts and his wounds had been bandaged. He struggled to sit up. He managed to prop himself up on his elbows, but his head throbbed in protest and he flopped back onto the bed. Instead, he slowly turned his head, but the bed was covered with a canopy. The thin layer of fabric hid the outside world from him.

He smelt the smoke wafting overhead and choked. He knew the smell. Incense. His mother had often used it when he was in Hong Kong, and the stench was usually enough to send him outside to train for another hour. He sniffed again. Sandalwood, juniper, and was that agarwood? The smell was overwhelming. He pushed the fabric aside and threw up on the wooden floor.

Panting, he surveyed the mess, noticing a pair of black high heels placed safely away from him. He groaned and turned back into bed.

He had just about closed his eyes when he heard a low chuckle. "My, someone doesn't like my healing methods."

He opened his eyes quickly and turned his head. The pair of black heels, previously unbeknownst to him, were being worn by a tall woman. He tried to clear his thoughts and remember her name. Yuuko. She was smiling at him mischievously. "I do apologize for the odd combination of incense, Li-kun, but their unique traits were needed. You don't mind if I call you Li-kun?"

He shook his head, trying to remember what each incense was used for. Sandalwood and juniper were used for healing, that he could understand, but agarwood? Agarwood was used solely for the mind.

"The incense was all used to heal you," Yuuko explained, as if she had read his mind. It disgusted Li to think that she likely had. "The sandalwood and juniper was used heal your wounds on the outside, but the agarwood was for a different type of wound."

Li looked down, not bothering to ask this woman his questions. She already knew what he was wondering. And he already knew what her explanations would be.

"There was, and most likely still is, something trying to kill you. Something that gave you these wounds, and also… something in your mind."

He recalled the dreams that had tormented him. He had been having a lot of nightmares lately, ones that kept him awake all night and asleep all through class. But these…

Li felt a strange tingle in his head, and guessed that Yuuko was reading his mind again. "While you were sleeping, I admit that I had to have a little look in your memories to see what had brought you here." Her smile disappeared. "I apologize."

"It's fine," he said, croaking out the words with some effort. If Yuuko was at all surprised that he was finally speaking to her, she didn't show it. She merely chuckled, probably assuming that Li was only replying to prevent her from perusing his thoughts.

"So," Yuuko said, sighing as she sat herself in a chair by the boy's bed, "it seems your friend Sakura has run into some more trouble."

He nodded, trying and failing to block the emotions coursing through his veins. "It's my fault," he said, ignoring how sore his throat was. "I got into trouble. Someone… something was chasing me and… it would have gotten me, but she-" He dropped his head.

Yuuko let no emotion show on her face as she listened to Li's sobs, his whole body shaking. When he had finally calmed down, she answered, "And your wish is that she may be saved, is that correct?"

Li looked up and nodded. "I don't deserve to be saved by her. She is worth so much more than I am. I want to save her, and then I want to track down whatever hurt her and make them pay."

"That sounds like two wishes. I must warn you, the combined price of these wishes-"

"I don't care if I die. No one will miss me. As long as I take those things with me, I'm fine."

Yuuko smirked. "You shouldn't interrupt your elders, you know. Just because you're a descendant of that man doesn't mean you can speak to me like he did."

"That man?" Li's brow furrowed. "You mean Clow Reed." Yuuko's smile faded and her eyes looked off into the distance. Li guessed she was remembering something, but within a moment she was back in the present and smiling teasingly at him.

"Twice you've interrupted me now, so stay quiet if you want your wish granted," she chided. "Now, the price for saving Sakura is… nothing."

Li stared in shock, certain she was taunting him again, but she looked truthful. "Sakura could not be killed by the things that tried to hurt you. They were sent only to harm you, so their attack on her wasn't fatal. With a bit of healing magic and some of that incense you love so much, she'll be herself again."

Li showed no signs of relief. He simply asked, "And what about tracking them down?"

"You won't need to track them down. They will come for you again, and I will lead them to a place where you will be strongest. They're powerful, but maybe…" she trailed off.

"And my price?" Li asked.

Yuuko leaned over him, forcing Li to lie down on the bed. She grabbed his arms, forcing them to his sides, and leaned closer towards him. Li struggled, sending waves of magic out in his panic. Yuuko easily blocked them. "Please stop struggling, Li-kun," Yuuko said, smiling coldly. "After all, you said you'd pay any price."

AN: And the Yuuko/Syaoran fans go wild. Okay, stay calm, guys, and get your mind out of the gutter. That's obviously not going to happen. Yuuko's obviously going to do something else, but what? And what about these things attacking poor little Li-kins? All will be answered (hopefully) next chapter! Hurrah!