Disclaimer- I don't own any of the CLAMP characters, but anything that isn't related to them are all original character concepts that I came up with, so please no stealing. Thanks a bunch and hope you all enjoy.
Fate can be changed and destiny can be shaped into whatever you make of it. Unfortunate that the one who can shape these things, the one who can grant the gift of time, money, fame, and fortune and any other wish you desire, never wanted the role of balance to begin with. This is the story of a talented witch who can transcend time and alter the universe for a price.
It was in the dead of winter in the dying dimension. A large landscape of nothing but dead wastes and shadowed places. A cloaked figure trudged through the snow toward an ancient city that laid in ruins. The cloak was rugged and ripped from wandering through the different dimensions that were just beginning to appear. Well, most of them were already there, it depended on your version of existence as well as time.
The figure carried a bundle that was wrapped tightly and guarded it against the cold winds and snow. Time was short and he needed to get the bundle to the dimensional portal. The creatures of old were not too far behind. The cloak whipped about and the hood was blown from his head. It revealed a younger man of about 20 years, though in truth his eyes told of a different age. After all, to his kind, age never mattered anyway. His hair was black as night, and his eyes were like twinkling blue sapphires. As if a shooting star descended upon them eons ago. The portal was close, and he moved on into the dark of night, into the eye of the storm that ravaged around him.
He could hear the sound of the shadow wolves creeping closer behind him. He pulled his hood back over his features, holding the bundle tight. It had taken all of his courage to bring her this far, all of his magic to sustain the enduring warmth around the new-born babe. He checked the bundle as he walked through the bitter cold. She was sleeping peacefully, as he thought she was. A black-haired child with eyes that equaled the dark storms around him. Even equaled that of the night sky. This child was destined for something more, something greater that he himself could not provide.
He kept moving, struggling now that he was closer to his destination, to the portal that would take this child to the shrine of a new day. The place called earth was in existence, beyond this cold dark world. He needed to speak, to beg the old hag of a dimensional witch to take this child of destiny, to a safe place where she could be guarded from harm. The ancients told the story of the balance of wishes. He knew what had to be sacrificed, as those that were left of his race had explained to him. Very little remained in this wasteland of a dimension and he needed to make sure that his powers were passed on, that his role as guardian had been served.
Finally he saw the two white pillars, ancient ruins that his sage-like race had spoken of. He held the bundled baby tight in his hands as he walked through the dimensional hole in the center. A bubble of magic appeared around him, and slowly, him and the baby were gone. Just as he disappeared he saw the snarling demon hounds stare at him with anger in their red glowing eyes. Already he suffered from injuries caused by the demon lord's pets. He could feel his energy draining, he used up his life force to save the baby, the girl he called his own.
He appeared before a building that was strange and foreign to him. The steps leading up to the shop looked like a shrine in a sense. Though very peculiar to his eyes. He had little time to gawk however, as an old hag of a woman appeared before him. She held a long thin cigarette stick and would breath in, then out smoke would billow. Her gray eyes would turn to the young-looking man as a smile shaped on her face. She wore a long kimono, and on it flowers of grey were stitched in. Her hair was silver and tied up in a bun, held in by red chopsticks with golden dragons embedded on them.
She looked the man up and down and spoke,
"Sage, what is your wish?"
His throat was so dry that he could hardly speak, but, with his last ounce of strength he utilized his vocal cords for the first time in weeks since his journey began.
"I seek to save this child, give her a place to be safe from the demons around her."
The old woman breathed in the pipe, and more smoke billowed out,
"Every wish granted, has a price young-sage, what will you give me in trade? You have no magic left, and you are dying."
The man sighed and looked down at the bundle, the child of destiny. At least that is what the others had said.
"I offer this child, she is yours to do what you wish."
At that point the man placed the child at the witches feet. He collapsed like a pile of rags, the last of his strength zapped from his body as he whispered one more thing.
"Please keep her from Harm….her name is…."
Then he was gone. His body turned to dust and a winter wind whipped by to blow him and the rags away from the magical shop. The old witch would look down at the baby girl and would pick her up. She tilted the girl this way and that. The baby rubbed it's eyes and looked at the old woman, a smile on her face. Somewhere in the deep old Crone's heart, she found a soft spot, and after all, she herself would not be around forever anyway. She needed an heir, and what better way to fulfill the position than with a man's dying wish. The old woman smiled and said,
"Whatever name you had beforehand I shall call you Yuuko Icchihara for now."