Disclaimer: Tell'em Kimi-Chan.

"Sure, Clamp has us all securely in their clutches but they let us hang out with nice people like Syn here."

"Thank you Kimi-chan, here's the usual batch of Inarizushi"

"Idiot archer thinks I have 'time' to cook all his insane requests. Thanks Syn-chan you're great."

Summary: A price is paid for a gift, a customer visits the shop.

Chapter 11 – Prices

Yuuko had been sipping her wine and watching the teens as they exchanged their White Day gifts. She wasn't surprised by the Mage's gift to Watanuki and Himiwari, they had discussed together the possible options that could keep Watanuki safe and yet leave Himiwari's necessary bad luck intact and yet allow them to be with one another. That to was necessary just as was the 'price' the Mage was about to pay.

"Aya-chan shouldn't you be getting ready?"

"What's that Yuuko-san? Get ready for what?" Asked Watanuki who with Himiwari had paused in their dancing about and sat back down to catch their breath.

"To pay her price to the Wild Magic, of course."

"Her price? You know what the price is, tell me what is it?

"That, is for Aya-chan to say"

"Aya-chan, Tell us please?"

"Huh? Sure, why not the Magic didn't indicate that I had to keep it secret or anything like that. In fact the Magic gave me a very clear picture of the 'why' this time, it doesn't always do that. So maybe I was meant to tell you. I need to leave here in a few minutes and head over to the Amusement Park and there I will find a lost little girl, who I will return to her parents"

"Well that doesn't sound very difficult." Watanuki stated looking a trifle confused.

"True, [shrug] and usually that is as much as I know of many of the prices I pay. This time though the Wild Magic let me know 'Why', and perhaps I am supposed to explain it to you, perhaps this is part of my price as well." Aya took a drink of her tea, looked at her companions and continued.

"This particular little girl has been marked out by a demented serial killer he has been watching her constantly and waiting for his chance. Today is going to be his one opportunity to grab her. I am going to keep that from happening, and so this little girl will now grow up to become a counselor at a high school for troubled kids. Where one day she will meet and influence a young man, who will go on to become a famous pediatric surgeon. This young surgeon will in turn one day develop a procedure that will save the lives of countless children."

"Oh, Wow that's so, just so….'Huge'. "

"Yes that why that magic doesn't always bother explaining the price it requests, the effects may take years or even decades to be felt, it may be that what is being affected is happening in another world entirely."

"I'll go with you"

Doumeki had stood up and was extending his hand to the blonde teenage girl. Aya nodded and accepted the archers hand as she stood up. Then letting the others know that they would be back in time for the dinner Watanuki had been planning, they left the shop to go pay the price.

Watanuki was just coming in from the kitchen where he had been putting the finishing touches on dinner, Himiwari and Mokona were playing a game of Go Fish. Mokona was cheating outrageously which was making Himiwari laugh uproariously, when they heard the door to the shop slam. Footsteps were heard running towards them, then the door to the living room was to thrown open. Aya came into the room and went straight to Yuuko and fell to her knees in front of the Dimensional Witch, her eyes full of unshed tears.

Stretching out one slender hand towards the mage she placed a single finger under chin of the trembling mage and lifted her face and gazed into her eyes.

"I See. So you now understand that keeping the balance is far harder than you ever expected, and the true price of your wish has been revealed"

'Yuuko, oh Gods, it hurts!" Tormented by too much knowledge, the girl her eyes brimming with tears finally broke, wrapping her arms about the slim waist of the woman before her, she buried her head in Yuuko's lap and… sobbed. Yuuko stroked her head as she cried, running her long fingers in the soft blonde hair of the Mage. She spotted Doumeki in the doorway eying her, his brows knit.

"What happened Shizuka-kun, didn't... didn't you find the little girl?" Worried Himiwari-chan queried the silent teen in the doorway.

"We found the little girl and returned her to her frantic parents with no problem. It was when we were leaving the Amusement Park. She just stopped walking and started hyperventilating, I-I went to touch her…she shrugged me off and bolted. She ran all the way here. I have no idea what's wrong."

"She saw that 'other' child."

"Other child? What child do you mean, Yuuko-san? Watanuki had moved to a spot behind the distraught girl and placing his hands on her shoulders he had pulled her back against him, wrapping one arm around her to hold her to him while he used the other to cradle her head to his shoulder. The Mage was quiet now, eyes closed, accepting the comfort the slender Seer gave her.

"That Killer, he feeds off the terror of his innocent victims. He has been very careful so far to choose only children that cannot be psychically traced. Tonight Aya-chan denied him his chosen meal, but he still needed desperately to feed. She 'saw' the child he took in the little girls' place, a young boy child." Yuuko looked up off into the distance, hearing something that fortunately the others could not.

"It is done… We have a customer."

There standing in the room, was the spirit of a small boy, he had a mop of dark hair and serious dark eyes.

"That you are here means you have a wish you want granted, for this is a shop that grants wishes, in return for a price. What is your wish?"

"The Bad Man, he shouldn't be able to do this to little kids anymore."

"You are a good boy. Your wish will be granted. You have already paid the price. Rest well... Ryo-chan."

The spirit child quickly faded as he passed on to the next plane, to the World of Waiting. Yuuko reached into her kimono pulling out her Cell phone, open she called one of the numbers she had save in her 'Favorites' contacts.

"Kakei here."

"The wrong child was taken tonight. The wish has finally been made, and you will be able to track him now."

"Yuuko-san...What do you have for me?"

"The old Amusement Park, far back alley, second trash bin on the left, you will be able to take it from there."

"Gotcha, Should I take…"

"Make sure to take Osaiga with you, he will know how to handle it, try to keep Kazahaya out of it if you can."

"I'm not sure I'll be able to do that. I'm going to need him."

"(Sigh) I know."

"I'll call you when it's finished"

Click

Yukko looked at the faces of the teens in the room, reading the emotions reflected there. Himiwari was mostly confused and concerned for her upset friend. Watanuki who had been dealing with the supernatural all his life was waiting expectantly for some answers, looking to Yuuko for them. Doumeki was leaning in the doorway watching it all. To the casual observer, it might appear as if there were no emotions on the face of the stoic archer. Years of Temple training and strenuous archery practice had given him vast control over both his physical body as well as his emotions. At least to those who did not know him, to those who did, his body language and the minuet flashes of facial expressions spoke volumes. Shizuka Doumeki was furious.

His eyes moved from The Dimensional Witch to the silent Mage in Watanuki's arms and back. FIX THIS! The unsaid words hung in the air between the Witch and the Warrior. With a nod, the Witch leaned forward and took the Mages chin into her hands forcing the girl to meet her cinnamon gaze.

"Stop feeling sorry for yourself and start thinking."

Gasp

"Yuuko-san!" Cried both Himiwari and Watanuki together.

"Yuuko?"

"Think. If you had not saved the little girl, what would have happened to her? Eh?"

"She-she would have died, just like the little boy."

"And? What about the future you saw, and that young man…. the surgeon"

"Huh? He-he would have stayed in the gang scene and by the time he was 23 he would have been convicted and executed for murder, a drug deal gone bad."

"So…He will now be able to someday discover that surgical procedure, and help all those children, children's lives he will save. Also, had the Killer gotten that little girl she would not have been his last victim. He would have continued torturing and killing children. The sacrifice of this one little boy has saved countless other small lives."

"B-b-but, he was so… helpless and alone. There was nothing I could do; the price would have been far too high."

"I know Dear One, believe me, 'I' know." having released the girls chin, she laid her hand against her cheek, and gave her a sad knowing look. Then she looked around at the other people in the room, before returning her eyes to the troubled Mage.

"You will learn to cope and you have these, your Very Important People to support you. Tonight a small boy was sacrificed so a Monster could be stopped."

"Sake?" Asked the powerful Witch of Dimensions, reaching for the bottle sitting at her side.

"Yes please"

Later that night, Yukko was watching the moon as it moved across the sky. Mokona had passed out under the table and was snoring softly clutching an empty sake bottle. Watanuki had gone to bed several hours ago, at the insistence of his friends who seeing how the evening had tired the Seer and would not let him clean up the dinner dishes himself. The Mage was coping, Doumeki and Himiwari had taken her home to sleep it off.

''''''ring'''''

"Kekai"

"Yuuko-san, we found him. It's over."

"And…?"

"It was a failed clone, just like you thought."

"I suspected as much, that magician and those pulling his strings are getting bolder, and more desperate. Is it completely destroyed?"

"Yeah, Osaiga handled it."

"Good."

Balance had been restored.

For the Moment...

AN: Not everything in life is light and fluffy, and this story just seems to have a life of its own at times and writes itself. Some fluff coming up in the next chapter. Sometimes you just gotta and Douwata screams for good fluff.