Pet Shop Of Horrors Fan Fiction / XXXHolic Fan Fiction ❯ Dessert ❯ One-Shot

Desert

 

A/N: Um… if you must blame someone, blame my roommate. Not me.

 

Watanuki should have known by now that when Himawari-chan smiled at him at the beginning of the day, it meant something bad was going to happen. Alas, he didn't, and was thus doubly grumpy as he stomped his way to work.

 

“Geez, that damn Doumeki! He just butts into my conversation with Himawari-chan, asking what today's bento would be, when it's just the start of the day…” He grumbled, taking his shoes off in Yuuko-san's genkan, “And then, of course, it's just my luck that it's my turn to go around delivering papers, WITH HIM, TOO!”

 

“Watanuki's in a bad mood…” Yuuko and Mokona observed as the part-timer entered the room with a stomp.

 

“Bad mood. Bad mood.” Chanted Maru and Moro with grins identical to their master's as they linked hands and danced around Watanuki, who was trying not to trip over them.

 

“YOU DON'T NEED TO ANNOUNCE IT WHENEVER I HAVE A BAD DAY!” He shouted at them, which only made Yuuko laugh.

 

“Naa~ but I thought you'd want some attention after such a difficult day…” She pouted, still grinning. Watanuki turned his back on her and stomped towards the kitchen.

 

“No, thank you.” He shouted, not sounding thankful in the least. Yuuko did nothing to improve his mood by shouting an order.

 

“Watanuki, while you're in there, make some cake- chocolate ones with raspberry frosting!” The shop owner called, which made Watanuki angrier.

 

“How much are you going to EAT, today?” He shouted at her, completely ignoring her order for food. Yuuko didn't listen, and continued her orders.

 

“And while you're at it, some strawberry mochi would be nice. Ooh, and let's not forget some jasmine tea. Put sugar and honey in that- it'll be perfect!” She continued, as though talking to herself, completely oblivious to Watanuki's reactions.

 

“Who puts SUGAR in jasmine tea? That's VILE!” He shouted, as his long arms flailed. Maru and Moro seemed to find this amusing.

 

“Vile! Vile!” They chanted, and Yuuko laughed at their childish antics, which mirrored her own so very well. Watanuki wanted to cry.

 

“Yuuko-san never listens to me: even if I was about to die and wanted to tell her my last wishes, she'd never listen to me- she's so selfish…” He moaned, to himself. This was, naturally, when Yuuko heard.

 

“WHO ARE YOU CALLING SELFISH IN THERE?” She demanded, still somehow grinning, and throwing Mokona at his head, where the black meat bun landed a perfect hit. Watanuki fell over with pain and dizziness.

 

“I want to be sure we have food to suit our guest's tastes when he arrives. And that should be any time soon.” The wish-granter explained, lighting some incense in a dish.

 

This, however, only peeved Watanuki further.

 

“IF YOU KNOW THIS PERSON SO WELL, HOW COME YOU CAN'T TELL WHEN HE'S GOING TO ARRIVE?” He demanded. Yuuko continued to laugh.

 

“Now, Watanuki dear, you don't want to hurt his FEELINGS by making him wait, do you?” She asked, which made Watanuki squirm, quite uncomfortably- the idea of making a guest wait for food, possibly the only food he COULD eat, and being so rude as to have caused that was not a pleasant concept.

 

And of course, knowing Yuuko-san, she might just charge him for making a guest wait…

 

“Then get cooking.” The ever helpful shop owner suggested, with a satisfied smirk. This time, Watanuki did as he was told without a fuss, though, on the inside, his stomach was writhing with the concept of so much sugar.

 

As the first cakes came out of the oven, Watanuki could hear Maru and Moro running to the front door, chanting to themselves,

 

“Guest is here! Guest is here!” And then, the voice of Yuuko-san calling to him,

 

“Watanuki! Go show our guest in!” Watanuki would have protested, but her earlier warning of `hurting his feelings' kept his tongue in check. Instead, he left the cakes to cool and went to the front door.

 

Standing outside the gate was a person, holding a kind of birdcage, though whether they were man or woman was anyone's guess. Their hair was short and thin, and a silky black. Their clothes looked like they were made of the finest Chinese silk, a dark black under robe, with a jade green and fire red coverlet, embroidered with delicate flowers and a single, serpent-like dragon.

 

The person turned their face towards Watanuki, and he noticed their eyes were different colors- one an astonishing violet, and the other, a celestial golden yellow. However, there didn't seem to be any of the usual ayakashi around him, so Watanuki made his best polite smile and bowed.

 

“A-Ano… irrashai mase…” He stammered, and the person smiled back. Watanuki frowned just the slightest at seeing the glimmer of the dark lipstick the person wore.

 

“Pardon the intrusion.” The person replied, in a light, but masculine voice, which only deepened Watanuki's curiosity, as he turned to lead the person… whom he now assumed was a man… inside the shop.

 

Yuuko was waiting, as always, dressed formally in one of her more impeccable kimonos, smiling broadly as she saw the guest.

 

“It's been a long time, D.” She said, nodding politely. D, if that was the man's name, nodded back with a similar smile.

 

“So very nice to see you, Yuuko-chan.” He replied, toeing off his shoes as Yuuko led him into a room, where Maru and Moro brought in the cakes Watanuki had slaved over. D looked rather delighted.

 

“Oh, don't these look enticing…” He noted, with an undertone of delight as Yuuko set one before him.

 

“Aah… Our Watanuki's specialty is cooking up treats like these.” She replied, grinning broadly, and hiding no measure of mischievousness. D chuckled.

 

“Yuuko-chan is so considerate.” He said, which made Watanuki, outside the door with the overly sugared jasmine tea, want to throw up.

 

“Considerate, he calls her… Yuuko-san is always so deceptive of everyone…” He muttered, which, naturally, Yuuko heard.

 

“Watanuki, bring in the tea and stop mumbling.” She snapped, and he could tell that he was going to hit him with Mokona again for THAT comment, so he brought in the tea and retreated as quickly as possible.

 

D sipped his tea delicately, before putting the birdcage, which had been next to him on the floor, on the table top.

 

“Yuuko-chan, I wanted to ask you about these- they've been coming quite frequently to my pet shop, and I can't quite figure out where they're from…” He lifted the cover that was over the cage, revealing that inside were fluttering about ten, maybe even twenty, glass-like butterflies.

 

Yuuko started to laugh.

 

“Oh, of course they would go to you. I'd been wondering what had happened to those butterflies…” She said, as the creatures fluttered about inside the cage, before she called out again, “Watanuki! Go into the storage room and bring out the big carpet!” The sound of something glass breaking followed this request, before Watanuki came into the room, looking furious.

 

“D-D-D-Demo, YUU~KO-SAN, WHEN I CLEANED OUT THE STORAGE ROOM EVERYTHING GOT ROTATED IN THERE, AND THAT THING IS IN THE WAY BACK, NOW! BESIDES, DO YOU KNOW HOW HEAVY THAT WAS? I HAD TO HAVE MORO AND MARU HELP ME CARRY IT OUT! AND I'VE STILL GOT THINGS TO COOK- THING YOU TOLD ME TO MAKE, AND THERE'S STILL A CAKE IN THE OVEN! I CAN'T LEAVE THAT UNATTENDED! HOW DO YOU EXPECT ME TO DO ALL THESE THINGS AT ONCE?!” Watanuki shouted, doing his characteristic flailing arms dance. D continued to sip his tea, calmly watching the show Watanuki put on as Yuuko laughed at his antics.

 

“You'll have more time if you don't complain about it in such length.” She said, in a mockingly pacifying voice. Watanuki sighed, as though begging for pity, and left to attempt the requests Yuuko had made of him.

 

“Such a short temper for someone so young…” D noted, with his gaze intensely fixed on the door Watanuki had left through, “I wonder… how is his diet, Yuuko-chan?” The other shopkeeper turned his attention back to Yuuko, who shrugged.

 

“Sou… only Watanuki can answer or decide that… he thinks very little of himself, and suffers because of this, not even realizing the effect it has on those around him…” She muttered, as though in thought, but D nodded in agreement.

 

“Sadly, it's not only him… it's very common, these days…” D noted, thinking to some of his own customers. Yuuko gave him a look before continuing.

 

“Though… it won't be that way forever…” She pointed out, before changing the topic, “Ne, D… Some time ago, an Ame Warashi came to this shop with a request to save a hydrangea bush… and what she gave us in payment was a kudakitsune. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?” The wish granter gave her friend a sly look, to which D only smiled.

 

“Ah, was she a loud, bossy girl with an umbrella?” He asked, and as Yuuko nodded and giggled at his choice of description, gave an affirmative, “Yes, indeed- she told me that she needed something to match the price of saving a hydrangea with, so I gave her the little fox spirit.”

 

“I see…” Yuuko mused, looking as though she found this funny, “And what did she pay for it?” D smiled, reminiscently.

 

“A century old hozuki of Hyakki Yakko nectar- it was delectable for flavoring a bundt cake another customer paid me…” He replied, as Yuuko sweatdropped- though more because she would have wanted the nectar than from exasperation.

 

A loud crash announced Watanuki's return as he collapsed on the floor with the heavy carpet. The fox spirit, which had decided to crawl inside his shirt, slithered out, took one look at D, and began nuzzling Watanuki, as though attempting to revive him, somehow.

 

“Ah, here it is- The butterflies escaped from this carpet every time I took it out to beat it.” Yuuko explained, unrolling a corner of the carpet so that the butterflies still inside it fluttered about. D unhooked the cage and the butterflies inside flew back into the carpeting.

 

“In that case, that may suit very nicely- I have a customer that's been asking for an unusual kind of butterfly to keep as a pet…” The pet shopkeeper mused, tapping his chin with his finger.

 

“But the price…” Yuuko prompted, and D's smile didn't falter.

 

“I think I brought just the thing…” He mused, before reaching back into the cage and pulling back out a bottle. It didn't look like anything special to Watanuki- it was about the same size as a normal bottle of wine, but didn't have any label or marking that proved it was anything of interest, but Yuuko squealed.

 

“CHINATOWN'S FINEST! I'LL BET YOUR GRANDFATHER REMEMBERS SEEING THIS WHEN HE WAS A BOY…” Yuuko sounded absolutely delighted, taking the bottle from D's hands and inspecting it much more closely.

 

“And considering that chocolate liqueur is not commonly known as being made in Chinatown, it's even more valuable.” D added, as though to impress upon her exactly how precious this was.

 

“Very well, then- this should be enough.” Yuuko agreed, leaning the carpet towards D so he could reach it.

 

Which, conveniently, meant that Watanuki was getting squished.

 

 

“So, his shop is where the kudakitsune came from, huh?” Watanuki asked, later, as Yuuko was polishing off her dinner.

 

“Sou. D and I have known each other for quite a while now- he's incredibly wise in the ways of the spiritual world for a man with little to no spiritual power, himself…” She mused, replying to the question.

 

“Wow… but to think he'd be connected with some of the things here in this shop… that's such a coincidence…” Watanuki mused, before he was interrupted.

 

“It wasn't coincidence.” Yuuko said, giving him a look, “For there is no such thing…”

 

Watanuki didn't answer. He knew all too well what she was going to say.

 

“There is only hitsuzen.”