Title: Payment
Author: Gypsy Dancing Girl
Fandom: Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles and xxxHolic
Pairings or Characters: No Pairings. Features from xxxHolic: Yuko, Watanuki, Maru, Moro, Dark Mokona, and nameless customer. Features from Tsubasa: Kurogane, Fay, Clone!Syaoran, Real!Syaoran, Real!Sakura, White Mokona, and Fei Wong Reed.
Genres: Drama, Family, Friendship
Rating: T
Warnings: Speculation as to the end of the series. Alluded to character death. Should be safe to anyone caught up as far as Chapter 180 or so.
A/N: I was giving some serious thought to the end of the journey, and this is the darker version that I've been working as a comparison to the happier In a Perfect World imaginings of Yuko. It started with the single concept that the Tsubasa group has sacrificed a lot and worked very hard to come this far and must still go further to finish the job. Knowing Yuko, she'll probably try to weasel out of repaying them, but I wanted to explore the concept. Though this fic assumes that Clone!Syaoran is redeemable in some fashion, Clone!Sakura is permanently dead, it is merely speculation on my part. Also, I don't mean to be unfair to Yuko's character. I really like her character. But Kurogane definitely doesn't and sometimes, I think Yuko doesn't much like herself. It has to be hard to have all the power in the worlds and not be able to use it to help those you like or hurt those in the wrong. Fai's last words are meant only that bad things happen to cause people to go to Yuko and usually bad things happen as a result of going to Yuko. Even Yuko acknowledges that.
Yuuko's latest business transaction was interrupted by six travelers appearing in the middle of her backyard. The atmosphere cooled by ten degrees and Yuuko made a single hand motion. Maru and Moro instantly shuffled off the customer to the safety of the shop, allowing Yuuko to give the travelers her full attention.
A badly injured teenage boy was slung over the one-armed ninja's back. His clone was supporting the mage (who interestingly enough had two eyes again, one blue and the other gold), while the young princess clutched the white Mokona tightly to her.
"Hello," she offered smoothly.
"It is finished," the ninja growled, shifting the boy's weight. "The foolish man is dead, his creations destroyed, and his palace trashed. That was all you sent us to do, right?"
"Excellent," Yuuko whispered, a smile lighting her face. "Let me call Watanuki! We shall celebrate immediately."
"No thank you, Yuuko-san," the mage interrupted with a blank expression. "We will not be celebrating with you. Our job is finished."
The clone looked at her then with one eye of searing hatred. "We've come for our payment."
Yuuko laughed, a tinkling laugh to hide her annoyance. "What payment?" she bluffed.
Kurogane glared at her. "You owe us for righting the worlds again. That was a difficult job . . . and you owe us payment."
"I'll send Maru and Moro to fetch your things," Yuuko pouted, disappointed that they had discovered the loophole. Her magic bound her to repay them after all.
"Not those," Sakura finally spoke up. "I don't need my missing memories. I've made plenty of new ones."
"What good is that tattoo going to do me now?" Fai chuckled. "And that staff was for show more than anything else."
"I have the real Ginryuu now," Kurogane added. "I need no copy."
Yuuko's eyes widened in surprise, then she wiped away all traces of an expression. "What do you ask of me then? Healing?"
Kurogane snorted. "I wouldn't trust you to heal a dead goblin without extracting a price in some way. No, the Mage and I have talked it over. We want two things from you, Witch."
Fai suddenly smiled pleasantly. "Free Mokona and its sibling. Their powers and time are for them to do with as they please. We will only be taking our Mokona, but the dark Mokona is certainly welcome to visit us at any time."
"Granted," Yuko nodded. She'd always felt pity for her tiny companions. She knew that her Mokona would stay with her anyway. Dark Mokona had always been a close member of her tiny family. She was sure White Mokona would be equally happy with its own tiny family. That's why she had sent it with them in the first place. "And the second price?"
Fai settled one hand on the clone's shoulder. "Syaoran-kun needs a name of his own. I'm sure you know the perfect one, Yuuko-san."
Yuuko sulked. Names were important things and far too costly. She hated being in so much debt that she owed someone a name. "Li . . . just Li . . . you can ask Syaoran if it's fitting enough . . . but there's no name better for this one."
"Syaoran is recovering, you dirty old hag," the clone fairly snarled. "It would be pointless to wake him up for your games. They always come to naught until it's already too late. I accept the name."
"Then it is finally settled?" Sakura asked.
"It is settled," Fai reassured her with a smile. "Now the only question is where to first?"
"May as well reassure that one's brother that she made it through all right," Kurogane muttered grumpily, gesturing to Sakura. "Then we're going to Nihon for awhile."
"An acceptable compromise," Fai applauded lightly, unbalancing himself and knocking both Li and himself over completely.
"Tch . . . idiot," Kurogane scoffed, as Sakura assisted the others. "Oi, manju, you heard us. Get us out of this dimension already before the witch has any funny ideas."
"Yes, I do believe it is time to leave," Fai acknowledged, resting his hands on Sakura's shoulders. "Wave good-bye to Yuko-san, Sakura-chan. If you're truly lucky, you will never see her again."
Yuko returned the wave distantly as the colorful swirls of magic enveloped the travelers. Once they were gone, she smiled. "May all of you be so fortunate . . . I truly wish you well." She turned to Watanuki and smiled broadly. "Bring sake!"
"Yuko-san!"
"Just because they don't want to celebrate doesn't mean that I can't! Bring sake and take the rest of the day off!"
The End.