Yuuko-centric. Beware of the overwrought metaphors. Whee. Warnings: Slight spoilers for Tsubasa and xxxHolic.

Kami

In some ways, she is God.

She holds sway over a dominion of wishes and dreams, able to alter past and future. There are limitations—but even the omnipotent must have them. But one cannot deny, however, that the woman is more powerful that almost all on any given Earth, bested only by a man who's been dead for years now.

She is God, and she is chained.

Locked inside what is sometimes a lot, sometimes a glittering shop, she waits for those to come to her with their desires, and willingly gives them what they want—for an appropriate price, of course. She has the occasional assistant—an archangel to her divinity. But in the end, only she can do what is asked of her.

She is God, and she laughs.

Sometimes, what her hired help gets into makes her smile and ask for some more sake. The antics of the travelers she watches over amuse her, and the spirits who flit in and out of her awareness make her grin. She takes all the chances she can to taste the sweet oddities of mortal life, and oft tries to follow obscure traditions and strange customs just because she can. She is allowed her eccentricities, for they keep her sane in the power that sometimes can overwhelm.

She is God, and she feels concern for the faithful.

When the queen-goddess asked to be revered with her doomed lover in exchange for never being reincarnated again, she smiled—though she does not know whether it was out of happiness and hope or a sad sort of sympathy.

When the boy came to her, bearing the bat-like symbol of her greatest opponent and demanding that she takes him to his other eye—the rest of his heart—she smiled, though whether it was sad, or benevolent, or proud, or maybe a combination of the three, she does not know.

When the people come to her, their souls crying out for what they desperately need, she smiles in a way that no one can decipher, wishing that these innocents didn't have to come to her.

But she grants the prayer all the same.

There are days when she drinks more sake than usual in honor of the souls that were "lost".

There are days when she laughs more than usual to celebrate the souls who were "saved".

She is always remembering the wishes she granted, and wondering if it was necessary.

She is always waiting for the dreams unspoken and unbidden that never the less come to her.

For in the end,

While everything is crashing down,

Despite the chaos and the insanity,

When everything comes to a close,

She is still

God.

-FINE-

A/N: …

That was… odd. And very drabble-esque, but I love Yuuko-san, so I did it. Huzzah.

Review. Because it's awesome and wonderful when you do. And Yuuko wants you to.