Author's Notes

Finally took this chapter out of my head and wrote it onto paper. Sorry this winds up shorter, but it simply has to end there. This was originally a part of the first chapter, but it had started getting too long. Apparently I didn't succeed in splitting it down the middle though.

Bit at the end is taken from xxxHolic episode 10. Watanuki's horror story.

Meetings

'They are very much like you and Dōmeki, Watanuki. But you should be more grateful. After all, you have something more that they don't.' – Yuuko gets an interesting pair of customers…

Kouichi/Koichi K & Yuuko I

"Everybody relates to others and shares something with them. That's why we can never truly be free. That's what makes us feel joy, sadness and love." – Yuko Ichihara

Chapter 2

Crossorads

Yuuko drained the last of her tea. Well?' she asked after a little pause.

Mokona bounded to the empty cup quite happily. Koichi stared blankly.

'Have you decided whether or not to ask me for you Wish?'

'I decided…' He looked at the edges of the reed mat as if counting the frays existing, then up into her eyes. 'I think…this is something I can and should do on my own.'

'You think so?' The dimension witch raised an eyebrow.

The other hesitated a moment, then nodded.

'Fine then.' She twirled a lock of hair. 'The rain's let up now.'

'I…should be going then.' He made no move to stand up. 'What do I owe you, for the…tea.' The hesitation before the last word made it sound more like a statement than the question it implied.

'The little black book in your bag,' was the calm reply.

'The little black…' the boy repeated somewhat vaguely, thinking what in his bag fit that predicament – before it clicked and his eyes widened. If he hadn't been seated in his current position, it was also quite probable he would have risen an inch or two from his place. 'I can't. That –'

Yuuko held up a hand. 'No,' she mused. 'Too valuable.' Her gaze rested on the mostly dry bookbag, sitting inconspicuously at a corner of the mat. 'Perhaps there is something else in there of a more appropriate value.'

The teen twisted slightly in his seat. 'There are only school materials,' he answered quietly, saying so far easier as it was something objective and thus quite simple to describe. 'And the candle from crafts class.'

'That will do.' Yuuko stood, retrieving an empty-candle holder from a cabinet-top, along with a box of matches. 'As long as you light it.'

Lips parted slightly as if to form a question, but evidently Koichi decided against it and simply did as he was told. Yuuko replaced the candle-holder in its previous position, now sprouting a small stylised candle with a small flame dancing upon its wick.

'What do you think?' Yuuko asked casually, leaning against the door-frame as her assistant closed the door.

'You say that as if you expect me to know everything that just happened,' Watanuki grumbled in reply, before turning around to scold the other. 'Don't lean like that; it's bad for your figure.'

Yuuko ignored him. 'Surely you have an idea,' she persisted.

'He was quiet?' the other offered.

The girls giggled, as did Mokona.

'Kouichi talked to Mokona,' the black Mokona pointed out, jumping deftly into the hand Yuuko offered.

'Yes,' the woman replied, lifting the small form higher. 'He was quiet in front of us, but he talked quite easily to Mokona here. What else?'

Watanuki frowned slightly. 'Why am I being interrogated? I still need to finish the –'

'You've got all day tomorrow.' Yuuko waved her free hand. 'It's Sunday. Starting with pancakes for breakfast.'

The boy's jaw dropped open.

'So…what else?'

Blue eyes blinked, drifting somewhat out of focus as their owner thought. 'He realised this wasn't an ordinary shop, and he didn't seem as surprised as I would have expected seeing Mokona.'

'What's that supposed to mean?' Mokona puffed up his chest. 'Are you saying I'm weird?'

Watanuki sweat-dropped, shaking his head as Maru and Moro giggled.

'So you don't see it,' Yuuko sighed, closing her eyes slightly as she pushed the screen door open and slipped within. The couch awaited her, and she cast herself upon it with her usual grace.

'I don't even see how a book and a candle are prices for tea!' Watanuki declared, exasperated.

'No?' The woman raised an eyebrow. 'But then, you don't know which book or what sort of candle?'

'Huh?' He looked at the small flame flickering. 'It looks like any ordinary candle made in crafts…although far better than mine looked at that age.'

A slight smirk danced on the other's lips. 'He's younger than you think.'

'Finishing junior high?' Watanuki asked, somewhat suspiciously. Yuuko had a habit of making him second-guess his observations.

'Just starting actually.' She lifted Mokona up to her shoulder. 'As for the book and the candle, both he poured his heart in to.'

'But he seemed to have no problem giving you the candle?' the senior high-school student pointed out. 'But the book…'

'…was precious to him,' Yuuko finished. 'Think of it as a journal or a diary of sorts. The candle was more the fruits of his labour; he said it was a project in art's class, but you said yourself it looks more refined than any piece of classwork you've seen from others in a similar band.' The grin widened. 'Granted, you were two years out.'

'Well, everyone can't be as all-knowing as you,' the other grated out.

'Indeed.' She laughed, hiding the falsity of that statement behind a reaction of humour. 'As for why they could both be potential prices, part of why he came here was to have someone to confide with. Like many, it is difficult for him to do so with people; he cannot with his own family for certain reasons, and very few have the courage to share their souls with strangers. Non-human entities on the other hand…' A hand fingered Mokona's ear, and the earring it wore. 'Are another matter. In the barest sense they are inanimate, because they lack the thing that separates humans from all other things in this plane of existence.' She turned to Watanuki, carmine eyes unusually serious. 'Do you know what that is?'

'Umm…' The boy thought. 'Free will?'

'Surely you can think of a better word than that,' Yuuko scolded. 'Knowing that all things are inevitable in this world, free will appears to find itself in little consequence, does it not? Choices themselves are foreordained – you simply do not know what choice you are to make.' She leaned forward, hair sliding down her shoulder as she balanced her weight on her hip. 'One could even say that it is ignorance that sets mankind apart from other things, living or not.'

She straightened up, pushing her hair back. 'A price must be paid for everything obtained, although it may not necessarily be to a person. The process of giving and receiving centres only around that one soul; all others become a consequence and should they receive something, they must give something in return. In most cases I simply act as a middle-woman of sorts; the less interference required from my part the less I ask for in return. However, even without my interference at all, there are still prices to be paid in order to achieve something in return.' She slowed her eyes, tilting her head against the wall. 'And when others' wishes are tailored to prevent such wishes, then the price required is automatically larger. It goes to say though that the reward received in return is equally large. This is why observing such strands is a very difficult job.' She opened her eyes again. 'Be careful the next time you meet that boy.'

'Huh?' Watanuki blinked.

The dimension witch turned and passed through the door, closing it behind her. 'Start on the dinner,' she ordered through the screen.

'Yuuko!' A pause. 'You're going to charge me for that, aren't you?'

'Of course,' came the amused reply.

'But…what was –'

'You'll see. I imagine we'll be getting another customer soon. One that should clear things up.'

The rain had left up, but the sky was dark and dreary and hung overhead with the weight of the world. Koichi's clothes were stiff, but relatively dry and the hardness served to protect him from the slight chill that danced upon the wind. His face though was open to the elements; his hands at least were safe. His bag had straps and thus was borne on both shoulders, and his hands were thus free to occupy the pants pockets.

The way home seemed unnaturally long. Perhaps it was because he was only half familiar with the path he followed; somehow, the shop's exit had taken him all the way to Shibuya, so it would take at least another forty minutes to walk…and that was if he walked at normal speed and didn't dawdle.

He was not doing either of those two things, for the length itself was enough to add an extra drag to his step. He was feeling tired too; a part of him just wanted to collapse in his bed and sleep…but his bed, or futon rather, was simply too far away. Just being able to talk freely, to say things he was unable to write…while it took a load off his shoulders it also took away a feeling that really could only be matched (under differing circumstances) by adrenaline. Or like hitting a trough after a peak.

But he had to keep going, because he had to get home, and there was nothing…except –

He stopped suddenly at the edge of the road. Shibuya. Of course.

There was Koji walking on the other side of the crossroads.

He crossed the road too late.

It took a moment to figure out which road the other had taken; cars streaked merrily behind him, formally ahead, but offering no assistance in the least. One of the paths curved; another went straight. He'd tried the former first, hurrying along in an almost-run reaching another crossroad…with the boy he was chasing after just departing the straight path.

He could have hit himself, having chosen the longer of the two paths, but the slight reprimand meant the boy had slipped through his fingers again. Or maybe it was hesitation to blame; he couldn't really be sure and the latter certainly wasn't one he could simply rule out.

But something froze his feet in place, and by the time he made it across the road the other was vanishing again.

He ran after; this time, the other remained in his sight but people blocked his progress. Crowds flocking in all directions, hindering his ability to move. The figure before him grew ever further, swallowed up by a bright light –

He shook his head, banishing the memories of his nightmare from his mind and retracting the hand that had automatically stretched so far. He would never catch up like that, but –

The path was looping again. Across a car-park. He quickly darted through the cars that sat there in waiting for their owners, weaving through the inanimate objects with far more ease than with other people.

Only he didn't quite manage to catch the other when he turned at the next crossroad, heading away from his home.

Koichi shouted after him; too quietly, his voice was easily swallowed by the hums of engines and the murmurs of people rising to the grey clouds as he plunged into the crowd again.

But the gap between then was close now. Not close enough though. Not nearly close enough. He quickly looked around, following the path with his eyes and hoping the other didn't deviate from it…or their dance would come to an end without results, and how could he go back and say nothing –

He stopped short when the other was no-where to be seen. Cars stopped at a light. He took the opportunity to cross; the crowd on the other side was dense and it was quite possible the other was somewhere within it.

But he wasn't, and something was building up in his gut. Something crawling, like when he had sat at his grandmother's beside during her last breaths. That sense of apprehension, that something was going to happen. The feeling that send his skin into a tremor isolate from the cold that attempted to assault it.

Someone jostled him and he spun around in a sudden blind panic, unable to grasp its origin, but then the crowd parted and he found himself staring at the suddenly emptied road. A crossroad. Another crossroad.

Something nagged him about that. Something his grandmother had once told him about crossroads. But at that moment, Koji appeared at the other edge, turning the corner again.

'Koji!' the other shouted, going forward – before jerking to a stop as his entire body froze in place. He willed himself to move, particularly when the other turned to stare right into his own eyes, blue against blue…but his body refused to respond. His heart hammered in his chest; he should at least be able to twitch. Stumble back. Move away. Or forward – where he wanted. But he was frozen. Still. Unblinking. As though time had come to a standstill. Maybe it had. His brain yelled him, screamed –

No, that was someone else screaming, along with something washing over him. Darkness? No, there was light first. Like the light he dreamed swallowing the figure of the same face as he chased after –

And then blotting into grey as his body collapsed under the force that struck it, his grandmother's voice whispering in his ears.

'Crossroads house doors to other dimensions, and the fourth dimension is death. Shi. The number four; it was why the number is considered unlucky. And to see a person four times on a four-way crossroad is for those doors to open and swallow you…'