A.N: 1) Warning: SPOILERS regarding the Himawari arc and Watanuki's past.
2) I tried to respect the global plot line to give this credibility, but no doubt it contradicts the story in some aspects… So it's better if you take this as slightly AU. (That said, you can point out discrepancies if you like, I'm interested.)
3) I regret having to say this but I find no comfort in people quietly adding this story to their favorite list. If you like it so much, maybe you should leave an opinion, a remark, a suggestion, a piece of advice, a question, a rotten tomato… etc. And not leave me crying alone in a corner amid the silence ;)
And I'm ever grateful to 'nitpickernose', of course!
Interference
Holding the wet cloth in between trembling fingers, Yuuko gently wiped some sweat off his forehead. That boy. How many times had she cured him, nursed him through painful recoveries? How many times had she witnessed him rush headlong into dangerous situations without being able to protect him? Unquestionably, that time had been the worst of all.
It broke her heart to see him like this, so severely hurt, covered in bandages from head to foot and nearly as pale as the sheets beneath him. He was delirious from temperature and among his meaningless raving, she picked out the girl's name. He, who was given the power to see all evil. How could he not have seen Himawari for what she really was? He was finally realizing now, and though it meant nothing good for their relationship, it might well be the key to their individual happiness.
He moaned in his sleep and she edged closer. Ignoring the protest of her aching muscles, she slipped an arm under his shoulders and lifted him slightly, her other hand coming and resting on the back of his nape. Her chilly palm slid up and down his burning skin, from between his shoulder blades to the root of his hair, dispensing soothing freshness in its leave. It was all she could do to keep his brain from literally frying.
His lashes twitched and he suddenly stared at her, with wide, fever-bright eyes.
"Yuuko-san…" He murmured, and shifted in the bed, closer and closer, until he was leaning against her, grabbing her clothing as if to keep her from leaving. She hissed in pain, but didn't pull back. He needed her by his side.
Ignoring the nagging soreness of her body, she laid him back down onto the mattress and proceeded with her healing spells, hands hovering in a mysterious dance over his bandaged chest, fingers skimming precise areas. Finally, she cupped his face in both hands, letting the power flow through her and into him. Cautiously- She didn't have the stamina for more…
Vertigo nevertheless struck her brutally and she sank forward. The ghost of a moment, her forehead rested against the boy's shoulder, the fingers of his unharmed hand tightening even more around the fabric of her wide sleeve. Methodically, she unclenched each of them, and used the last of her strength to pull herself back up. She winced and collapsed in the nearby chair more than she sat. At the moment, Yuuko could have sworn that every inch of her unbroken skin was nothing but a ravaged, bloody mess. She could feel the bite of thousands of imaginary glass shards, a rain of daggers, pointed, deadly… Naturally, there wasn't a single droplet of red, not a single tear on her pale arms, but then again, why should there be?
The numbness in the pinkie of her right hand was actually what worried her the most. Unlike Watanuki, she was still able to feel it and move it. But there was no mistaking- the magic had deserted that tiny area forever. It wasn't much of a problem in itself, but it filled her with fear. For this normal-looking finger was the symbol of her mutilated powers.
As the Dimensional Witch, she could never afford to go against hitsuzen, and certainly not against the very rules that governed her so called existence. She had no right to interfere.
Yet she had, and now she would have to pay the price. Those who make a wish always have to give something equal in return- Himawari's skin would be engraved with scars forever, Doumeki's bloody tribute nearly cost him his life. And Yuuko…
White-hot pain was pulsing through the woman's veins, radiating from her heart into her whole body. Her blood had seemingly turned to venom. When he would wake up, she would be better, but for now she had to wait. Because from now on and until the very end of her existence, she was condemned to share each of the boy's sufferings, to endure it in her own flesh.
Haruka had stopped Watanuki at the edge of the kingdom of the dead, but Yuuko- She had done much more than that. She had yanked the link tying him to the living. She had let her voice reach him, through layers of dreams and dimensions, far past where humans where supposed to go. She had brought him back… against his own will. It had been like a nightmare come true. Doumeki's sacrifice, Himawari's sacrifice, Haruka's help, she had found out, weren't enough to save him. Only because, deep inside, Watanuki had no desire to be saved. And although his friends' wishes had managed to neutralize the lethal physical injuries, his mind wanted him to stay in the shadows, forever.
The agony he had felt at the moment, combined with the sorrow he had been feeling for all of his young life, had driven the subconsciously suicidal Watanuki out of his senses. He had wished to die, and he had beckoned approaching death with open arms.
But Yuuko would never have resigned herself to bring back a corpse, or an empty, soulless shell. She had vowed to take him back to the surface- something he didn't want. She had fought to preserve his sanity- something he hadn't asked for. She had wished to take away the intolerable hurt. Eventually, she had bound his destiny to hers even more tightly, uniting them in a bond of suffering.
Nonetheless, there were rules that mustn't be broken, and the pact was without concession- Under no circumstance am I allowed to use magic in order to grant my own wishes… Likewise I am forbidden to go against the expressed will of a client… I can never do anything for free…
For the first time, she had almost shattered those most basic rules. The consequences had proved to be nearly fatal. For once, she had been scared. She had hovered on the brink of disappearance because of him, before having served the purpose she was to serve. The slightest misjudgment on her part would have meant the end of everything, the end of the plan she was to carry out, the end of Syaoran and Sakura…
She had challenged hitsuzen, stretching the laws beyond belief. She had granted the wish, not as her own, but as the unspoken one of the people who loved Watanuki. Doumeki and Himawari didn't have the endurance to take more than what they were already taking, but they would have done anything in their power to save him. From the bottom of their heart, they wished for him to be saved, entirely, not only his body but also his soul.
Granting an unformulated wish was a hard stretch of the rule…
As for Watanuki's desperate screams and resistance, she had countered them wordlessly, delving in his heart to force out memories and drench him into awareness of the people who cared for him and whom he cared for.
Himawari… Doumeki… Haruka and above all, Kohane. The child who meant the world to him.
He would never remember the desperate way he had fought Yuuko, only the terrible yearning of death that had possessed him while he was in the limbo. In the end, she had succeeded in shaking him, just enough for him to give in to her.
Influencing him into taking her offered hand was another hard stretch of the rule…
As for the price… Usually, when the compensation accidentally turned out inadequate for the service provided- either too weak or too strong- the provider, the shop owner, would come to harm. In this case, however, she had willingly denied herself compensation, because in her knowledge, no human being would be able to survive what was needed to save Watanuki's soul. The witch had thought of summoning Zashiki-Warashi, whose divinity shielded partially, but that would have been counting without the Karasu Tengu and Ame-warashi. That had left her with one last option. Abstain from exerting compensation altogether.
But leaving the exchange unbalanced came as close to a breach of rules as could be…
All-consuming, raging, inhuman pain… Part of her magic damaged beyond repair… The weight of the wish, the price of interference would be borne… by the witch herself. Shivering uncontrollably, she pulled the fabric of her kimono tighter around her treacherously intact body. Hitsuzen was sometimes so cruel…
