xxxHOLiC/mystery crossover
Title: The Lever Enigma
Series: xxxHOLiC/mystery series
Genre: humour
Word count: 588
Summary: Watanuki doesn't like the look of the things the shop's latest customer has brought with her, and Yuuko is still a long way away from gingerbread cottages.
"Watanuki! Go and fetch me the empty barrel from the storeroom. I've got a customer."
Sighing, Watanuki put down the pan already greased for cooking dinner, and headed straight for the storeroom, with Mokona padding along the hall after him.
The barrel looked much lighter than it actually was; Mokona offered tips as Watanuki tried to get it out of the door.
"Thank you for that, and no mistake," said the customer to Yuuko as Watanuki heaved the barrel on to the floor beside them. She had a kindly, informal voice and a withered face full of character. Watanuki thought she looked like someone's grandmother, and smiled at her. "It was eatin' though the ones I had. There was no stoppin' it!" the old woman added.
There was something strange about the sound of her speech. Watanuki pressed his palms against his ears briefly. "What...?"
"Mokona is translating," said a proud voice from ankle height.
There was another barrel on the floor. Watanuki hadn't seen or heard it arrive, but then, he hadn't seen the customer walk in either. He blinked. A thin column of smoke was rising from the barrel's sealed lid. Looking closer, there were small indentations in the lid itself, as if it had bubbled with heat.
"Not to worry," said the old woman, catching his worried gaze. "It ain't going to blow for a few hours yet, if I'm reading the signs right. Run along, young man."
"I still want dinner. But bring us some cups first," Yuuko said, stretching. "Not the usual cups. The reinforced ones should do nicely."
The cups duly brought, Watanuki told Yuuko that he was going out to buy some extra ingredients for dinner. "I thought they were all there," he explained, "but for some reason there are some missing." He glared at Mokona, who looked up at him, hurt, while the customer began to whistle innocently.
"You can't go quite yet," said Yuuko. "Let me see. Ah, here it is." Feeling with her fingertips in the side of the chaise longue she was draped upon, she took hold of a metallic lever and pulled it up a notch. "Right, there you go."
"Er...nothing happened, did it?"
Yuuko sniffed. "You just don't appreciate artistry. Still, you've time to learn."
"...Okay." Usually it was quicker to accept the strange goings-on at Yuuko's shop than to question them. Besides, dinner wasn't going to cook itself.
***
"I do hope you're not hearin' the clang of the oven door, m'dear. We're all in trouble if that happens."
"Oh, but I do," Yuuko said in a deep, velvety tone. "But that's just because Watanuki is such a wonderful cook."
***
"Yuuko-san...there's a cat in the kitchen. It won't let me in." Watanuki squinted in the absence of his glasses - frames lying abandoned on the kitchen floor, cracked lenses still clinging to them, more or less - and limped over to where Yuuko and the customer were. He suspected that his shoes and the lower legs of his school trousers would never be the same again, no matter how hard he tried to mend them.
The two were red-faced with drink - Yuuko even more tipsy than Watanuki had thought possible of her - and they were singing, loudly. A song about hedgehogs, as Watanuki was soon to discover.
Series: xxxHOLiC/mystery series
Genre: humour
Word count: 588
Summary: Watanuki doesn't like the look of the things the shop's latest customer has brought with her, and Yuuko is still a long way away from gingerbread cottages.
"Watanuki! Go and fetch me the empty barrel from the storeroom. I've got a customer."
Sighing, Watanuki put down the pan already greased for cooking dinner, and headed straight for the storeroom, with Mokona padding along the hall after him.
The barrel looked much lighter than it actually was; Mokona offered tips as Watanuki tried to get it out of the door.
"Thank you for that, and no mistake," said the customer to Yuuko as Watanuki heaved the barrel on to the floor beside them. She had a kindly, informal voice and a withered face full of character. Watanuki thought she looked like someone's grandmother, and smiled at her. "It was eatin' though the ones I had. There was no stoppin' it!" the old woman added.
There was something strange about the sound of her speech. Watanuki pressed his palms against his ears briefly. "What...?"
"Mokona is translating," said a proud voice from ankle height.
There was another barrel on the floor. Watanuki hadn't seen or heard it arrive, but then, he hadn't seen the customer walk in either. He blinked. A thin column of smoke was rising from the barrel's sealed lid. Looking closer, there were small indentations in the lid itself, as if it had bubbled with heat.
"Not to worry," said the old woman, catching his worried gaze. "It ain't going to blow for a few hours yet, if I'm reading the signs right. Run along, young man."
"I still want dinner. But bring us some cups first," Yuuko said, stretching. "Not the usual cups. The reinforced ones should do nicely."
The cups duly brought, Watanuki told Yuuko that he was going out to buy some extra ingredients for dinner. "I thought they were all there," he explained, "but for some reason there are some missing." He glared at Mokona, who looked up at him, hurt, while the customer began to whistle innocently.
"You can't go quite yet," said Yuuko. "Let me see. Ah, here it is." Feeling with her fingertips in the side of the chaise longue she was draped upon, she took hold of a metallic lever and pulled it up a notch. "Right, there you go."
"Er...nothing happened, did it?"
Yuuko sniffed. "You just don't appreciate artistry. Still, you've time to learn."
"...Okay." Usually it was quicker to accept the strange goings-on at Yuuko's shop than to question them. Besides, dinner wasn't going to cook itself.
***
"I do hope you're not hearin' the clang of the oven door, m'dear. We're all in trouble if that happens."
"Oh, but I do," Yuuko said in a deep, velvety tone. "But that's just because Watanuki is such a wonderful cook."
***
"Yuuko-san...there's a cat in the kitchen. It won't let me in." Watanuki squinted in the absence of his glasses - frames lying abandoned on the kitchen floor, cracked lenses still clinging to them, more or less - and limped over to where Yuuko and the customer were. He suspected that his shoes and the lower legs of his school trousers would never be the same again, no matter how hard he tried to mend them.
The two were red-faced with drink - Yuuko even more tipsy than Watanuki had thought possible of her - and they were singing, loudly. A song about hedgehogs, as Watanuki was soon to discover.