Spoilers for recent chapters of both Tsubasa and xxxHolic. Writen for the 15pairings livejournal community.
The ninja was still sleeping when Mokona deposited him on her storeroom floor, shirtless except for the bandages for the wounds on his back. He slept as still as Mokona had described, her only indication that he was still alive was the steady rise and fall of his stomach. She studied his sleeping from for a few minutes, Mokona sitting on her shoulder now that his part was temporarily finished. Tanned skin was stretched tightly over defined muscles. He left hand with the scar glowing eerily in the dim light was curved as if he had been holding onto something in his sleep before she had transferred him to her shop. The harsh lines in his face seemed in sharper relief than ever given the recent trauma of his life. His spiky hair looked surprisingly soft, and she had the strongest desire to touch it.
His left hand twitched as it realized whatever it was he had been holding onto was no longer in his grasp. Crimson eyes shot open, and the warrior sat up and began looking around him frantically.
"Good morning, Kurogane!" she interjected cheerfully before the ninja really began to panic and destroy her storeroom. She needed most of those things. The angry eyes finally settled on her, and she felt a small fire igniting in her veins. "I hope you don't mind, but Watanuki needs some rest and I need some work done."
"Send me back," he ordered in a low growl, and she was amused that he actually believed he could intimidate her. "What if he wakes up and needs me? Send me back now." She liked his defiant red eyes; she had become so accustomed to easily convincing people to do what she wanted them to. It had been such a very long time since anybody had refused her so boldly. She had been starting to think no one ever would again. "If anything happens to him because you've kept me here-"
"Relax," she said, patting him on the shoulder in an effort to calm him. His skin was cool against her palm. "Just do a few chores for me, and I'll have you back long before he wakes up." She could see the mistrust lingering in his eyes. She moved her hand and placed a finger under his chin. "Of course, I won't send you back until you do the chores for me. In the meantime, he'll have to suffer without you, writhing in agony."
"You wouldn't dare," he countered. "It's against your principles to cause the death of another." He sounded convinced, but she had already seen the doubt and concern flash through his eyes.
"Either way, I'm not going to send you back until you do a few chores for me." She trailed her fingers down to his neck before pulling her hand away. "So, the sooner you get them done, the sooner we can send you back."
"What do you want me to do?" She was amused by the resignation in his voice, though slightly disappointed he was not doing it because he wanted to help her. Though he hardly seemed like the type to willingly offer his services to somebody.
"Can you move everything in this area to this one?" pointing to each respective portion of the room. She noted the worried way he glanced at the crates and random items. "Don't worry. Once you get started, you'll find it's much easier than it looks."
She watched as he picked up a box from the nearest shelf, muscles rippling in his arms, and transferred it to the other side of the storeroom. "Mokona, look at that body," she said once he was sufficiently distracted by his task. "I would like to do things to that body." She could almost imagine the larger, tan body writhing beneath hers as the ninja whimpered and gasped. It was probably for the best that he did not know she was thinking about him like a piece of meat… or livestock. "Kurogane, I'm going to leave you here for a bit." She was not sure if the ninja heard her, he seemed so focused on his task; she wondered if he put that type of determination into the bedroom as well.
"Ah, Maru, Moro, we have a guest for dinner this evening. Do you think you can make something traditional since Watanuki still isn't quite feeling himself?"
"Hai!"
"Mokona, you help them, too." The black creature on her shoulder nodded and followed the other two to the kitchen. She went to her bedroom to change her clothes and reevaluate her plan of action.
She had been wearing one of her kimono, thinking it would make the ninja more comfortable and possibly get him to notice her. Since both accounts had undeniably failed, she needed to change into something that would be more likely to capture his attention. She wondered if such a thing possibly existed as she finally decided on a pair of tight pants and a low-cut shirt. She realized from that man she was probably not going to get any more attention from him even if she was naked.
When she got back to the storeroom, he had just gotten to his old sword. She watched him from a safe distance as he picked it up and looked at it forlornly for a moment. "You can have it back as payment for helping me today," she said, startling him to the point that he almost dropped the sword.
"I don't need it anymore," he replied gruffly, putting the sword away in it's new location. She had not really wanted to part with that sword anyway. It was pretty, and she might be able to give it to somebody some day.
She tried not to smile when he hesitated at the mage's tattoo. "Just pick it up," she instructed, but inwardly she wondered how much of the hesitation was caused by him not knowing what to make of the thing and how much was caused by him thinking about the blonde. She watched him work for a good hour or so, muscles twitching under her gaze though he did not acknowledge her. At one point, he stopped and stretched, and suddenly the room felt very hot to her. They just did not make men like that anymore. It was a shame she had to import them from other worlds.
He seemed surprised when he turned around to find nothing else waiting for him. "I told you it would not take as long as you thought it would. Now I have room for my stuff again!" He gave her a disgruntled glared at that comment. "You should take a shower before you go back so no one gets suspicious about where all the sweat came from." Sweat she had been watching trace the curves of his muscles for the past hour.
He nodded, and she showed him to the shower room. Mokona came and jumped on her shoulder as she partially closed the door. "Yuuko, dinner is ready whenever you're done."
"Excellent." She turned around to peak through the door. He had removed the bandages and his pants and was just about to step into the shower. She sighed appreciatively at the well-sculpted thighs and calves and was highly disappointed that she did not get the chance to see the front. "Mokona, look at that gorgeous body." She briefly contemplated keeping him until she found a way to clone him.
With a sigh, she pried her eyes away from the sight of the water caressing the man's muscles. "I should tell Maru and Moro to rewrap his bandages when he's finished."
"Yuuko doesn't want to do? It would be a good excuse to touch that body."
"No, Mokona, covering him up would be absolutely impossible for me to do." But, oh, how she would love to help him out of his clothes. And then she would burn them.
She ended up finishing the dinner herself; some of it seemed a bit burnt. She just hoped the ninja would not notice too much.
"Oi," he started, stepping into the room where she had set up their meal, "send me back now."
"You need to eat first to replenish the energy you just lost. Remember, you're eating for two now!"
With a 'tch,' he sat down across from her and picked up the chopsticks. She found it difficult to concentrate on her own meal, fascinated instead by the warrior's mouth and wishing it were on her instead. He had still shown no signs of noticing her though. "Can I go back now?" he asked as soon as he was finished.
She could have invented reasons to keep him longer, but making him hate her was not the way to get what she wanted. She moved closer to him and placed her hand on his thigh. "First, I need to pay you for your work today." She leaned over and kissed him fleetingly on the lips. "I can give you more if you want," she told him suggestively.
"Send me back now." She sighed and removed her hand from his thigh after giving it a light caress.
"Mokona, send the ninja back to his friends." She downed her entire bottle of sake after he had been transported back, hopefully to where he had left from. "What a waste."
"He managed to get a lot of work done," Mokona said, hopping back onto her shoulder.
"I was referring to the fact that he seems to be completely asexual. It's such a waste of a very good body."