Title: Teamwork
Fandom: XXXHOLiC
Characters: Clow and Yuuko
Phrase: #13 – You didn’t really believe that, did you?
Warnings/Ratings: K
Synopsis: These two give a whole new meaning to “planned parenthood”.

Teamwork

“There,” Clow said as he put down his quill. “They do look like the original, don’t you think?”

Yuuko took a good look at the sketches, her head slightly tilted.

“They look like meatbuns,” she said.

“… I hope you meant that in a good way.”

“Of course! The other Mokona looked like a meatbun, too. So delicious!”

Clow pushed up his glasses, unable to hide an amused grin. This woman could act like such a child sometimes…

“You know, it’s not considered good manners among mages to eat your own creations,” he said. “Unless it’s part of a cannibalistic ritual. But that’s not good manners, either.”

“Ha ha, very funny,” Yuuko mocked him. “It’s Cerberus you’ll have to be watching.”

“Now, leave my Guardians out of it,” he warned her. “You don’t want to mess with three instead of one.”

“What, they can do something other than sleep?”

Clow took a deep breath and managed to hold back a reply to that. This was for work, he reminded himself. Work.

“Will you please focus?” he said, waving the piece of paper where he had drawn the Mokonas.

“You started it,” she muttered, but she didn’t push it.

“So,” Clow continued, ignoring her comment, “we’ll make a white one and a black one, like we had agreed. We covered the whole yin and yang business last time, too. Now, about their powers…”

“I thought we had covered their powers already.”

“Oh, those were just the basics,” he said, waving his hands dismissively. “We still have to decide which one gets to do what, and all the details.”

“I still think they should get the same powers,” Yuuko said, arms crossed. “If they’re going to be yin and yang, they must be equal.”

“They can be balanced without being identical. Look at Yue and Cerberus–”

He was interrupted by her exasperated groan.

“Why is everything always about you?” she exclaimed. “Your plans, your Guardians…”

“Well,” he said, raising his eyebrows, “you must admit I have some experience with this kind of project.”

“Who cares? We’re doing this together! You know you need me to get this done, so you better stick to your promises, mister. You said we were going to work as a team.”

Clow smiled sheepishly.

“You didn’t really believe that, did you?” he asked. Yuuko’s glared seemed capable of setting the house on fire.

“Don’t tell me,” she muttered through gritted teeth, “that you have everything planned already.”

“Ah, well… mostly.”

“Mostly meaning ‘everything’?”

He couldn’t help but grin.

“That’s it!” she yelled. “We’re changing plans! NOW!”

Clow straightened his glasses, unflappable.

“Are you sure that you want to completely disregard the work of weeks?” he asked. “This could mean a long delay, you know.”

“I have all the time in the world,” she insisted defiantly.

“Fine,” he sighed, “we’ll start over, then.”

“And this time, you better not ignore me!”

“Of course not,” he told her with his most charming smile. “You can choose their names.”

He ducked just in time to avoid the chair aimed at his head.