[A/N] THM: Hey guys! Good news- I recovered enough from my injuries to make sure this chapter turned out the way it was supposed to! As always, in case we haven't mentioned, we don't own Tsubasa or anyone in it, although we are making attempts on your behalf- Rika is bidding for Fai (who is quite cheerful about all this) on the black market while I am building a case to sue for Kurogane. As you have been warned, this is M rated for a reason, but will not be apparent in this chapter. Even so, watch out- the yaoi is coming. And this is written equally by me and Rika- without her it wouldn't happen. So please favorite and review on at least one of our accounts! Thanks for reading! And yes, we are mean authors. Why, you ask? Read to find out.

TheHatter

[Fai]

Before night fell, I let Syaoran and Sakura help me change the bandages. I didn't want to, but I had screwed with them enough. They didn't deserve my selfishness. So I held back the sick feeling whenever they touched him and only averted them a little over half the time, asking them to hold bottles of antiseptic, or gauze, even scissors so that I could tend to him. The wound was ugly- deep, and jagged, made by one of the odd serrated swords that were so popular here. The flesh around the wound was mottled pink and irritated, something that set off alarm bells. I put on more antiseptic, and prayed to whatever sick thing might listen to a bastard like me that it would be better in the morning. Not all Gods answer the prayers of the deserving- if the ones on this world did, then I was in trouble.

I knew myself well enough that I wouldn't sleep tonight. Even if I tried, which I didn't. At all. Instead, I kept my seat next to Kuro's bed. My legs were cramping up from sitting so long, and I still didn't move. Some people would have paced, but I just sat. Why move? Why bother? I couldn't think of any reason that I was worth the effort.

My hand rested on Kurogane's forehead- burning up. On an inkling, I switched from his strangly dry to forehead to his cool cheek. Kuro was never like this- nor was anyone else. Ever. A chill went down my spine. Normally the ninja was warm to the touch, this skin not soft and yet oddly smooth. Even in snow storms, he had never gotten as cold as his cheeks were now, nor had his skin ever had that dried out feeling to them. I grabbed his hand- cold, dry, limp and lifeless. I felt the beginnings of panic welling up and I clamped down on them.

It had to be the blood loss. He lost blood before, a snide voice insisted. Not this much, I told it. It wasn't right. He shouldn't have been unconscious, and there was no way that anyone should have been able to be that feverish and still be as cold as he was. It was unnatural, just like the paper-white palor under his dark complexion. Just like the way his skin didn't glow with health. Just like the way his eyes didn't move behind his lids and if I wasn't touching him it seemed as if he had stopped breathing. Kurogane was a deep breather; especially in sleep- I could always see the rise of his chest and know when he had fallen asleep. He was still.

I pushed back his hair, even though his headband kept it back already. I didn't want to take it off. Taking it off when he never did would mean something was wrong. I pushed back his thick, almost coarse but too-soft hair again. And again. And again. It was dark, and watching it move over my pale fingers, tangling and catching on them was enthralling. Even as he was, his hair was exactly the same. I had always wanted to muss it. I caught myself and I pulled away.

I could hear his breathing, a rough sound between a weeze, a whisper and a sigh. It sounded like the air was whistling in and out of his lungs instead of him drawing it smoothly in and out as usual. Eerie. Wrong.

I made a decision. I stood in the door, opened it a crack and peered out- nothing but shadows. I walked down the hall, searching for Syaoran's room- distinguished by the fact that he alone never closed the door. I stood in the shadow beside the door frame, where I would be invisible from inside the room and peeked inside the room. As I'd hoped, Mokona was sleeping on the bed with- Sakura? I looked around, and found Syaoran dozing, leaning against the bed. They must've been talking, and Sakura fell asleep. Syaoran, being who he was, would have just put her in his bed, and most likely would've camped out on the couch if he hadn't fallen asleep first. I almost smiled, as I picked up the small, white creature that was Mokona Modoki. I carried him back to Kurogane's room, and whistled three, long, quiet notes- no one woke, but the red jewel on Mokona's head lit up, casting a circular picture of Yuuko-san in the air. She was reclining, laid languidly back on a low couch-like thing- I could tell be her posture though I could only see her from her shoulders and above, smoking her long pipe. She blew out a long, slow stream of smoke then turned to me slowly.

"Ah. Mage-san." She sounded unsurprised "You haven't called me yet" she noted, holding her pipe out of the way.

"No," I told her.

"You require my assistance?" I couldn't quite tell, but I thought one brow lifted a little, but it was so close to the witch's normal expression that I couldn't be sure.

"Yes."

Yuuko nodded. I explained.

"I . . ." I swallowed hard, trying to say it. "I . . ." my throat closed. I took a deep, steady breath and decided that I would say it now. "I think it might be poisoned."

Yuuko glanced over at Kurogane's sleeping form on the bed behind me, then at something over her shoulder. Her face was the same blankly expressionless one she always wore, at least when she wasn't teasing someone.

"What is your wish?" She asked. No inflection, no expression, nothing. She just stared into my very being with red eyes, so similar to his and yet nothing like them.

I bit my lip, glanced at Kurogane out of the corner of my eye, then down at my hands in my lap. My wish.What was my wish? I bit my lip harder, almost drawing blood. What was my wish?

"I could find out." She informed me, a statement of a fact I already knew.

"What would it cost?" I asked, nerves creeping coldly like a snake of icy needles up my spine.

"Not more than you can pay." She said. "But more than you will."

I stopped meeting her intensely blank red gaze to look at the floor, Kuro just visible on the periphery of my sight. I looked back at Yuuko. I touched Mokona, brushed my fingers against his foot. The image of Yuuko wavered. There was a moment of static, then she was gone, just as if she had never been.

I put Mokona back with Syaoran and Sakura, my steps silent, and went back to sit in the chair Sakura had found for me. I leaned my elbows on my thighs and stared into the space between my knees. Not more than you can pay. More than you will. Yuuko's eyes, when she told me this, said that she knew, knew more than the price. Maybe it came with being the Time-Space Witch, seeing all eventualities, always knowing. Maybe it was just millennia of experience. But she knew. And that scared me.

[At Yuuko's Shop]

"Yuuko-san! Yuuko-san, someone's here!" Watanuki called, his voice carrying oddly through the shop.

"Yuuko-san?" He asked curiously, poking his head around the door frame. He caught sight of the circle projecting from Mokona, and fell silent, watching for a moment as the man in it finished saying something he couldn't make out.

Yuuko glanced over her shoulder at him, giving him a look. Watanuki nodded, straightened his ruffled apron and stood waiting.

"What is your wish?" She asked. The man spoke again, but his voice crackled and from the door Watanuki couldn't understand him. He was blond, tall and thin, but dressed in strange clothes. He was vaguely familiar, and Watanuki was sure he had seen him somewhere, if only very brieflt.

"I could find out" Yuuko told him. Watanuki felt the goose bumps rise on his back. Yuuko wasn't usually that serious, that . . . . .cold. And wasn't that one of the men traveling with Sakura-chan? What was he asking for, he wondered, a brow creasing in worry for the group.

The mage spoke again, looking a little wary.

"Not more than you can pay, but more than you will." Yuuko sounded certain, and a bit odd. What was off about the conversation? Watanuki thought as the man bit his lip. What was so wrong? More than you will. That was it. Yuuko never influenced people's choices. She gave options, but never, never opinions, not even vague factual ones like that. What was the man asking for? And what was the price? Would he pay? His face said that he didn't want to.

Then, suddenly, the circle was gone. "Yuuko-san?" Watanuki asked tentatively, stepping uncertainly forward. Yuuko took a slow puff on her pipe and looked at him out of the corner of her eye.

"Yes, Watanuki?"

"Was. . . was something wrong with . ." He struggled for a moment, trying to remember his name "Fai-san? You were acting so strangely . . ."

Yuuko smiled, a tiny bitter curl of her lips. "It depends. He probably thinks so."

"Yuuko-san. . ."He propped a fist on his hip, fixing her with an impatient look behind his glasses. Yuuko smiled a little wider- her apprentice was learning.

"We stopped pretending" She said slowly. She took another puff on her pipe, and Watanuki watched the smoke coil against the ceiling. "It has to happen sometime."

"He didn't get what he wanted to ask for did he?" Watanuki asked it, but it wasn't a question so much as a realization aloud.

"No." Yuuko met his eyes.

"But he'll be back." Yuuko watched the smoke curl lazily around. "You know what would go perfectly with this pipe? The sake I got from the Oden-fox. Bring it to me!" She said, her usual demeanor setting around her like a comfortable cloak.

Watanuki shouted angrily. "You have a customer!"

"I don't care. I want liqueur!"

"Arrrg. I will get the sake. . . . You deal with your customer!" Watanuki commanded, and Yuuko pretended to pout. As she walked down the hall, she said to herself, quietly, "He'll be back. They always come back."

[A/N] RxR: First off, e-cookies to the people who gave me my first 2 reviews, KendraheartsFox and Hazureskywar! YAY! So, at first Yuuko was only going to appear very briefly, and watanuki wasn't going to show up at all, but they wormed in somehow. Ah, well, I love Kimihiro-kun, so it's okay. And Yuuko-chan is meh drinking buddy! **Toasts**

THM: Wait. Wait-wait-wait-wait-wait! Rika got reviews? **looks around desperately**. And I got NONE? WHYYYY? Why have my fans deserted me? Do the readers hate me? I think you hate me. No reviews=no love fic=no love me= **sobs in corner**

B-bye (sniffled) **returns to corner, depressed Tama-kun style**

RxR: Oh, dear. Not this again. Okay, you guys rate and review, I'll get her to stop being depressed and write. **Sighs** Oh, dear…