Work Text:
She always quite loved the name Yuuko. There have been many names during her (very long) lifetime, and she’s quite forgotten some.
But Yuuko had a special ring to it. The ideograms chosen were as simple as can be, just like she preferred. A love for eating and a zest for life was much more interesting than the endlessly complicated and overly fancy names her fellow mages chose.
Never in her life could she use her birth name again — for that meant danger and death. And, to be truthful, she never quite liked the name those so-called parents gave her.
Clow is the first and last mage she’s met who kept his original name — and didn’t die due to it.
Had they been younger, they would have most likely battled and never seen each other again, as far as she was concerned. Many things about Clow irritated her, and the man did not make it easy.
Even centuries old now, she still had a hard time being patient with him. His never ending plastered-on smile that never leaves his face, his dreams for the future he obsessively tries to make come true, and the utter distance (perhaps disdain) he has for others irk her.
In a way, he understands her better than anyone else she’s met. And that also irks her.
They meet professionally across many occasions — always the best ones are called for the most dangerous and complicated missions, so it is never surprising to see him there. What confounds her is how he is always genuinely happy to see her. Even a small word from her brightens that fake countenance.
And Yuuko feels quite powerful.
Meeting a god should have been a one in a lifetime event. And it was, doubtlessly. But both of them had lived long then, and the Mokona being in front of them was cute first, omnipotent second. But immediately, both mages understood they were in front of a truly powerful entity.
It was another high-level work for both of them, proficient in traveling dimensions — and trying to leave the least noise behind, although no one could truly do it perfectly — but to meet the god of a world was not in their plans.
The cute marshmallow looking being explained how they were both integral to many planes of existence — Clow more so than her — and how they must always keep their powers (and desires) in check.
He takes it more seriously than she ever did. Yuuko was quite good at keeping everything in check (except her love for alcohol) but Clow had a hard time containing his powers.
Being too powerful did take its toll on people.
That encounter stayed in their minds for decades. Eventually, they decide to create their own little Mokonas… for the sake of the children of the future and different dimensions. But that is at a much later time, when Yuuko is no longer completely herself.
Not alive and bursting with energy, with a healthy color to her skin.
A version much paler, prisoner to time and space, is the Yuuko who finishes the Mokonas with Clow.
After a few decades of knowing Clow, she can see him for what he is.
Clow is actually quite transparent, once one gets to observe well enough. He likes what he likes, and his preference is quite obvious. She sees it easily enough in herself, his past lovers — surprisingly small in number for someone of his name and fame — and even in his own moon guardian.
It is not her appearance, though, that Clow is so taken with, contrary to her earlier beliefs. Their drinking dates, as she calls them, involve truly only the sharing of the best alcoholic beverages known to humans and ayakashi alike.
Yuuko likes to play the slow game. Test her opponents — for is that not what all mages are? Friendship and family are no such options for their kind — and see how far they can go. No one ever outdrinks her in her lifetime (or after).
Clow doesn’t even come close; the man is a disaster with alcohol. It’s endearing in a way, how he’s happy just to accompany her, cook for her, and listen to her talk all day long, no matter if it’s just silly talk — or all lies. He knows well enough what is what, and he never tries to control the conversation. Or her.
Yuuko doesn’t know quite what she brings to the table to a strange hermit man like him, but she grows to appreciate his presence.
Long for it, soon enough.
As one must, she researches him. Younger than her, but just as willful and a master of appearances — unlike her, he only keeps his age young without altering much. A child of two worlds: East and West, one who has mastered both types of magic. That is perhaps what makes him so unique and unbeatable.
She herself has spent many moons studying different types of magic, but she must admit Clow is a true natural. Not only does he understand, but he creates his own symbol quite effortlessly. Ever humble, he never accepts the praise.
“There will be someone much better than me.” He smiles mysteriously, as if this is more interesting to him than it will ever be to her.
“In what way?” She asks in an intentionally mean-spirited way. The sake he brings is always of the best kind, of course, which makes her doubly irritated but excited for their once in a decade date.
“In every way.” For once, his smile fades. “She will do what I could not…” A pause with a saddened, heavy sigh that shows his real age. “And take care of them better than I ever could.”
Modesty in mages is not only rare but seemingly impossible. She herself felt victim to her own hubris many times before, closely risking death.
Self-hatred in mages, on the other hand, is quite common. Yuuko herself was a victim of this for quite some centuries.
Clow Reed seems to somehow embody both.
For the first time, Ichihara Yuuko is completely intrigued by Clow Reed.
Death comes easily to her — at least, it was supposed to. As a witch of many (truly, too many to count by this point) centuries, it felt like a new adventure by now. She’s experienced and seen so much; this would come as something new. And a butterfly must always be constantly changing its form, no?
At least, that was it for her. The end comes for all living (and non-living) beings, and, as powerful as she was, nature still had its rules to be followed.
Clow changed the game.
It was a selfish, small wish. Like a child’s.
If not, Yuuko would never have forgiven him.
(She never quite forgives him anyway).
Eternity is not a gift or a wish she ever dreamed of — yet Clow gave it to her anyway, unwillingly.
He spends his entire life trying to undo it.
Like many things, he dies without properly concluding it.
And Yuuko is left alone, timeless and stuck.
A butterfly that never got to fly, stuck in a box — a shop — of their own creation.
It kills her a little — just a bit — but how much he looks like Clow. And, yes, how ironic it is to use the word ‘kill’. She’s become quite used to it and it’s no longer funny (it never was).
Watanuki Kimihiro. The ‘other one’. The one who never should have existed.
An anomaly in time and space, caught and stuck — forbidden from going anywhere or being anything.
Just like her.
She knew well what to expect by now, be it from dreams, visions, and her own power. His predicament, personality, strength, flaws… nothing was secret.
Nothing was a surprise… at least, it was supposed to be that way.
But the way he looks at her, so frightened, running from not only ayakashi but the cruelty of the human world as well. Those doe-like eyes, the pale face, the power that emanates from him. It all seems too much when they first meet in person.
How much he looks like a son they could have had… maybe, in another universe. If they hadn’t been who they are now.
Yuuko spent her last decades, while still alive, wondering what her life could’ve been, had she not been the powerful witch she is. Clow spent his whole life haunted by that very question.
Their last conversations veered too much into the unknown, all the ‘what could have beens’, and she would have none of it. They were the very best in their fields, and wondering about being some nobody professor with a perfect daughter did not interest Yuuko.
She would have none of it.
To think Clow, who stopped her time, could never stop his own. Or he never truly tried or desired it.
His deepest wishes betrayed him in the end, as God Mokona advised them oh so long ago. If only they’d truly understood the message… but Yuuko knows this is what would have happened even then. Clow could never let her go. Even though they both knew it was time.
Yuuko let him go, long before he died.
Maybe being dead herself helped with letting go of the material things.
Still, the taste of sweet sake, nights staring at the full moon, and the sound of a sad, contained laughter brought back memories. Some heavy and tiring. Others are light and enduring.
Yuuko mourns Clow: the right way. The way one mourns when someone has well and truly parted this world.
She mourns him the way he never could mourn her.
She decides to keep doing what she always did: helping people. But now limited to a very small space (at first).
Being able to leave the store was a success in its own right. Even with all her power, it took her a few decades. But Yuuko knew she had to do it. Once the boy came to her, she must be able to leave whenever necessary. So she could protect him, watch over him. For both her and Clow’s sake. And the children from another time.
Watanuki grumbles nonstop, but his hands are fast at work, cutting the daikon expertly to provide the best sake side dishes. No matter what he says, this boy loves to serve and be useful to others.
A talent in some, a burden for others who lack the self-esteem to take care of themselves. So much like Clow, that boy was. Surprisingly so, considering Clow’s original descendant, Li Syaoran, barely looked or acted like the man.
Yuuko wonders if this is a personal sort of punishment the universe brought her. As she is now no longer a participant in time, a being outside of nature, the universe tries to make things right. To show her that the time has long been over. And that this boy, who should not exist, haunts her now, like Clow once did.
Slowly, she sees how Watanuki is different from Clow. Or from Syaoran. Or from anyone, really. He is his own self.
Even if his existence is not to be, he struggles and fights and does everything to remain. To be here with his loved ones. To scream to the world that he exists.
And Yuuko sees him.
Not just her: Doumeki is the first, then Himawari, the ayakashi, Kohane-chan… soon, Watanuki is surrounded by love.
If only he could see it.
If only Clow had seen it, way back then. How much love and respect he had, how there was no fear of dying. To part to the next stage in life.
Maybe then he wouldn’t have struggled against fate. And Yuuko would have gone as well, naturally, calmly, like a butterfly.
She will eventually — of that she knows. Like all beings, she must eventually go. This is just biding time for what is to come.
And for the first time since Clow made that cursed wish, Yuuko is happy to still be here in this world. Surrounded by ayakashi and these young teenagers, who struggle, laugh, cry, and make mistakes… she feels young again.
She feels alive.
It feels like a miracle.
“Yuuko-san, I will wait for you.”
The words Watanuki says in the dream are not just the result of some alcohol-induced sleep (the best ones, since she gets to not think of the past or Clow). They are prophetic, as she knows well the feeling by now.
And she worries. This isn’t the best end of Watanuki. He should be surrounded by people and live his life the best way he can. The best way she can guarantee it.
So she gives the egg to Doumeki. Even knowing he might never use it, the fool in love that he is. The loyal to the end priest. Yuuko has always been fond of him.
Himawari receives some advice for the future: what day she should visit Watanuki, what a good husband would be, how to deal with her newfound normal luck — a miracle for the young girl.
To Kohane-chan, she doesn’t need to explain the egg, as Doumeki will do so. The young seer reminds Yuuko of her past self: drowning in self-doubt, eager to please those around her while her own self disappeared. She doesn’t have enough time, so she entrusts her dear friend to guide Kohane-chan well. The girl is in good hands.
Yuuko, for the first time, wishes for more time.
Time to teach Watanuki more — not just about how to protect himself and the dangerous nature of wishes — but also to teach him about what matters: love, compassion, finding your own people, happiness.
Power is indeed overrated. It never did Clow — or her — any good.
But time proves equal to her soon enough.
No one can live forever, after all.
The children from other worlds will keep traveling together, now fully reformed: the honored samurai with the reformed wizard, and the young teenagers lost in time. Their Mokona will keep them safe while her — and Watanuki’s — Mokona here will do the rest.
Saying goodbye to Maru and Moro is harder than anything else (except Watanuki) as the girls truly took a piece of the witch’s heart. The children’s excitement and zest for life were features both Clow and her picked for them. No child should ever be sad after all.
There are still months to come until she is to become a butterfly — finally and truly. But Yuuko prepares even so.
She says nothing to Watanuki. The dear boy deserves more happiness than he was ever given. And if she can extend that time of lightness in his life, even if for a few months, she will do so.
“Yuuko-san, can you please stop drinking and draping yourself over the table? I need to clean it!” Watanuki grumbles while serving her another tea, as if he didn’t already clean the table yesterday.
The witch of dimensions smirks and pretends to be more drunk than she is, hugging him while he complains. It is silly and childish, but it’s the only way she can really display affection.
In all her years of life, she’s never been very good at the touchy-feely stuff.
“The future is set, my dear. Your time will soon go back to normal.” Her dearest friend shows her the future in the sand, her wrinkled hand smoothly using her equipment.
Yuuko smiles, relieved. It is good news.
She sees the wrinkled hand and wonders how hers would look now, were she her true age. Much older than that, for sure. Perhaps a hand that might not even look like one, closer to the monkey paw that so traumatized poor, sweet Watanuki. That boy was too innocent and good for his own good. She worried about him. Knowing that Doumeki was always at his side, ready to protect at a moment’s notice, helped a bit. She couldn’t be by his side all the time — nor should she.
“I know you are worried about the boy.” The old woman smiled beatifically, her wrinkles only enhancing the age and sagacity behind that empathic look. “He will be alright, my dear.”
Yuuko nods down and holds her hand, grateful. She’s never been good with words, so she settles for a “Shall we celebrate with the sake I brought?”, to which her decades-old friend knows well as a sign of true gratitude.
Meeting Clow’s successor was as interesting as she expected. The owner of the Clow now Sakura Cards is as sweet and energetic a young girl as Yuuko expected. What strikes her is how this Sakura is a determined and deeply loving person. The ideal type of mage, so rare in this world. Yuuko feels quite honored to meet her.
“Better than me in every aspect,” Clow once said. Yuuko was prone to agreeing.
Maybe the way to counteract immeasurable power was to have a heart capable of as much love.
Even at their age, they keep learning. That’s what Yuuko loves about this world.
“Keep him safe for me, okay?” Yuuko asks Doumeki, now her customer and a staple at her store — never for wishes but only to accompany Watanuki. Ever vigilant, ever loyal.
His face would seem the same to most people, but she recognizes the grit behind it. And also the slightly annoyed ‘Do you really need to ask me that… now?’ in his face. She smirks. How she loves irritating the young.
No one beats Watanuki’s hilarious reactions, though pissing off Doumeki is also pretty fun. He’s quite different from his always tranquil grandfather, a little similar to Clow, in a way.
“Make sure to stay in his life, no matter what.” She says to Himawari, who listens to her so intently, so adoringly. “Regardless of where you end up living and who you end up marrying.”
The teenager widens her eyes at that. Expected, really, as in her mind the idea of living with anyone without causing them endless problems (or death) seemed like a fairytale. The idea of leaving this town, her friends, also seems too strange. At least, for now.
Yuuko doesn’t want to tell too much about the future. She knows from experience how knowing too much can ruin things or make the present truly unenjoyable. So she says the least possible. But she wants to make sure this girl, Watanuki’s first crush, stays in his life. She knows Himawari-chan cares and will do her best. She caresses her hair and ignores the telling blush. This girl deserves to be happy as well, just like Watanuki.
Kohane-chan doesn’t need words. She knows well, from her own powers if not from her guardian, what Yuuko means to say. It is a delight to talk to someone so wise and so young. If only half the mages had Kohane’s grace, forgiveness, and spirit. The world of magic wouldn’t be so strife with conflicts and problems, really. But that is no longer a problem for Yuuko.
She knows what is in store for all of them. These are only probabilities, and the future could still change.
The witch of dimensions has been granting wishes for decades. She’s worked for the good of the world (and many dimensions) for centuries.
Now, she has a wish of her own. One that she hopes the universe will listen.
“Let them find happiness, please. Even after I am long gone.”
And Yuuko Ichihara, store owner and wish-granter, makes a wish from the bottom of her heart.