Chapter Four: Supply and Demand

Mwahahahaha! Are there any XXXHolic fans in the house? Shifty eyes and mischievous smile BTW I don't own XXXHolic.

Tohru, Kyo, and Yuki had all left for school and Shigure and Chloe were alone in the house again. Chloe fixed coffee in the kitchen; Shigure was still sleeping. She walked up to his room and lightly knocked on the door. Not being shut all the way, it opened to reveal a serene Shigure sleeping topless. Chloe knew full well that it was impolite to stare at a half naked man, but for some reason she couldn't pull her eyes away. She smiled in spite of herself. There was something about him. Something more than just a physical attraction. She felt drawn to him, like some other force pulled her to his house. He was so kind to her. Chloe wanted to stand there and watch him for a little longer. He groaned in his sleep and turned over. At this Chloe realized that he might wake up and find it strange that she was staring at him. So she went down stairs to take the coffee off the pot. About half an hour later Shigure came down stairs, still topless for some reason.

"Oh! You made coffee. Thank you." He said and kissed her lightly on the neck. Chloe's entire being turned bright red.

"Uh…you're welcome." She stuttered. Shigure poured himself some coffee and sat down to read the paper as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

"Hmm…seems the rain should start up again soon. Too bad, I was enjoying the sunny weather." The phone rang and Chloe rushed to get it, still blushing.

"Hello, Shigure Sohma residence." Chloe greeted over the phone.

"Hello Chloe. This is Hatori, how are you?"

"I'm fine, thank you for asking."

"Are you adjusting to Shigure well?"

"Ah…um…he's been very kind."

"Humph. Could I speak with him please?"

"Certainly." Chloe gently set the phone down. "Shigure, Hatori wants to speak with you."

"I'll be right there." He yelled back. He took the phone from her. "Hello?"

"Shigure, I've been looking through the Sohma records to find some information about Chloe."

"Oh? And did you find anything?"

"Yes, actually. I found something very interesting. You lied to me Shigure."

"Why, what ever do you mean?" Shigure played dumb.

"You said that you didn't know this girl. In the records you were a reference of hers for college. She was at your house frequently."

"Oh! Yes that's right. I remember now. Yes I did reference her but it was quite some time ago."

"Hmm…is that so?" Hatori did not believe Shigure, but he decided to let it go. If Shigure didn't want to tell him, he wouldn't. "In any case. I found a recite from the place where she was last seen before she disappeared, then showed up at your house."

"What type of place?" Shigure wondered.

"I'm not sure. But, it looks like she was doing a lot of research on it before she left. There are books and news paper articles every where."

"Do you have the address?"

"Yes. Do you want me to stop in?"

"No. I'll go." He said looking behind him at Chloe in the kitchen reading the paper.

"Do you want me to come?"

"Aw…Ha-san! How sweet of you."

"I offered because it's in Tokyo."

"Very well then. Would you give me a ride?" Shigure asked.

"Chloe. I'm going out for a bit. I don't think I'll be home for dinner, would you tell the others for me?" Shigure requested pulling his coat on.

"Um…sure. Where are you going?"

"Just out with Hatori for a while. We have some errands we need to run."

"Be safe." She wished. He smiled at her.

"I'll be back as soon as I can."

"She was missing for a while? Why didn't anyone try to find her?" Hatori asked. More to just break the silence rather than start conversation. For some reason, Shigure was being quiet. Hatori had never, in his entire life, heard silence around Shigure. All the years wishing that he would just shut up, and now Hatori couldn't stand the silence.

"She wasn't really in touch with her parents. I suppose no one noticed she was missing."

"How did you know she wasn't in touch with her parents?"

"When I was talking to her, before she disappeared, she said that her parents wouldn't approve of her going to the college she was, so cut off communication with her." Shigure had grown accustom to lying about his and Chloe's relationship. He wondered why he still was. It's not like it would matter if Akito ordered her memories erased. She didn't remember him anyway. But Akito might order her to never see him again, and Shigure didn't know if he could stand going through that again.

"I see." Hatori sighed. He'd thought that himself and Shigure were good enough friends that he didn't have to lie to him. But, Hatori supposed that were he in Shigure's shoes, he wouldn't tell him anything either. "Oh! That reminds me."

"What?" Shigure asked turning from the car window to look at Hatori for the first time since that got in the car.

"Someone did put out a missing persons ad for her." Hatori said flipping through some documents.

"Who?"

"Here it is." He said handing the file to his friend. "I was a bit shocked when I saw it. I didn't know he actually spoke to other people besides Akito."

"Kureno." Shigure scuffed. "Stuck up cock!" he spat and threw the file behind him.

"I confronted him about it. He just said that it was his job to put out an ad if someone was missing."

"He's a filthy liar." Shigure mumbled to himself.

"What was that?"

"How long before we get there?" he snapped.

"Not too long. Another hour I guess." And that was the last of the conversation for the ride there.

The shop seemed too big and old to be an antique shop. It had a very high fence and looked practically deserted. When Hatori and Shigure entered the shop they where greeted by two strange little girls. One was called Maru-Dashi, and the other Maro-Dashi. The two had claimed that their mistress had been waiting for them and led them into the dinning room. Tea and cakes rested on the table and in beautiful porcelain dishes. The food and drinks had been made just recently and it did seem as though the two zodiacs had been expected. A huge comfortable looking chair sat at the front of the table possibly, for their host. The two girls stood at the door and watched as Hatori and Shigure quietly sipped their tea.

"Excuse me. But, we would like to speak with the person who runs this shop." Shigure asked after no longer being able to take their blank stares.

"Mistress will be here shortly. She asks that you wait only a little longer." They spoke simultaneously.

"We're in a bit of a rush." Shigure said.

"Please, all your questions about madam Chloe will be answered shortly." The two men's eyes grew wide.

"How did you know we were asking about her?" Hatori asked.

"Please, all your questions about madam Chloe will be answered shortly." They repeated. Shigure looked at Hatori, who shook his head. Shigure sighed and took another teacake. "Ah! Mistress is able to see you know." They announced. Shigure looked up in mid-bite. "Presenting, the owner of this shop! The beautiful and powerful: Madam Yuko!" At the sound of her name a tall woman with long black hair burst forth from the door in front of them. She wore a red yukata and chopsticks, to hold up her hair. Shigure and Hatori realized they were supposed to be clapping and immediately started to do so. Yuko sat in her chair.

"Thank you. Now you must be Shigure and Hatori Sohma." She assumed.

"Y-yes, we are." Shigure spoke amazed.

"And you're here about Chloe Sohma."

"How did you-" Hatori asked.

"I'm sure you have a lot of questions. But I'm a busy woman and I have other things to do, so I'd like to hurry this along."

"Chloe disappeared, this is the last place she was seen. There are articles and research notes all over her house about this place." Hatori said.

"Yes that would make sense. She was seen here last. But I understand she's been found by now. Correct Shigure?"

"Y-yes."

"When we found her, she had amnesia." Hatori added.

"Yes, that's because I erased her memories." Yuko said calmly.

"What!" Shigure shouted. "Why!"

Yuko sighed deeply. "To answer all your questions I'll need to start by telling you what kind of business I run. In few words, I'm a trader. People come to me with things they want or need and I trade it to them for something of equal value. My business is based on equivalent exchange." Yuko stopped to eat another teacake.

"What does this have to do with Chloe?" Shigure pressed.

"I'm getting there, I'm getting there. Calm down. Tell Watanuki we need more tea." She ordered the girls. They went into the kitchen. "Anyway, a while ago Chloe Sohma came to me with a problem. She'd done lots of research on me to find my shop. When she arrived we made a deal I gave her what she wanted in exchange for her memories."

"What did she want so badly?" Hatori asked, but Shigure felt that he already knew the answer.

"She wanted to be able to hold her lover. She told me the names of all the members of the zodiac curse. That's how I knew about you two. After she told me the whole story, we made a deal. The most precious thing in the world to her and in exchange I would make her an exception to the zodiac curse. But only to the one she loved." Hatori looked at Shigure. He hung his head in shame. Hatori looked back over to Yuko.

"The thing most precious. Her memories." Hatori concluded.

"Not exactly. Just her memories of Shigure. But she knew that making this deal would be pointless, so before it was agreed she made another one with me."

"Which was?" Hatori asked.

"She wanted a guarantee that herself and Shigure would end up together again. To do this she traded the rest of her memories. Her life, her parents, her friends. Then I pinned a note to her and had Watanuki drive her to your place." Yuko ended leaning back in her chair. "Speaking of which, where is that tea?" she asked herself.

"So then, how did you know we were coming?" Shigure asked still hanging his head.

"She told me. She said that you would show up here trying to help her and that Hatori would come with you since you didn't own a car or license."

"She seemed to know you quite well, Shigure." Hatori said.

"So she gave up her entire life, so she could be with me?" Shigure said aloud, just to put the situation in perspective.

"That's pretty much it. She'd left you that night with every intent of coming back." Yuko said.

"So, I guess she won't be getting her memories back then?" Hatori assumed.

"Only if, Shigure doesn't want to be with her. Do you want to be with her?" Yuko wondered. Shigure stood from the table and turned to the door.

"Thank you for all your help Miss Yuko. Hatori I think we should be getting home."

"Right." Hatori agreed also standing. "Ms. Yuko." He nodded to her and they left.

The ride back was an uncomfortable tense silence between the dragon and the dog. Shigure spent most of it in thought, staring out the window, whilst Hatori simply tried to concentrate on driving. It wasn't until they were parked in front of Shigure's house late into the night that Shigure finally spoke.

"Thank you for the ride." He said simply, but he did not reach for the car door handle.

"No problem." Hatori said. There was another silence. Shigure still did not make eye contact with his friend.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about her. I just didn't want to risk Akito finding out." Shigure explained.

"I understand Shigure. I'm not mad at you. I'm just disappointed that you'd think that after all I went through with Kana that I wouldn't understand."

"Thank you, old friend." Shigure said finally looking Hatori in the eye and smiling.

"No problem." Hatori smiled back.

Shigure set his shoes down at the door and hung up his coat. He imagined that everyone was in bed by now. He was about to walk up the stairs to his room when he saw someone standing on the steps. It was Chloe. "Shigure," she said voice shaking, "I need to talk to you about something."