A.N: SPOILERS about Watanuki's childhood. Sorry for letting this gather dust for so long... Yes, it's been six months and I've only got to write that. And I'm not satisfied with it either.

Sacrifice
Part One- Last Memory

The child was winding his way through the maze of streets, streets he knew by heart and yet whose present foreignness chilled him to the bone. Tears were flowing down his cheeks, dripping down his chin as he whispered the name of the one person who could help him.

He looked very young, a skinny boy with wide eyes, but those eyes were dark windows, too earnest to belong to someone his age. Instead of reflecting juvenile emotions, they were filled with a determination no normal child could have felt.

Guided by the prompting call that resounded inside his head, he walked to her as in a trance, and out of the shadows she emerged to meet him. Slowly, the steely voice enunciated the condition of the deal, one by one.

"You won't recall who you are and you won't remember the people whom you care about… You won't even remember him, who is the reason for your sacrifice, or that you even made such a sacrifice for his sake."

The red eyes didn't blink once as she waited for him to give his answer.

No one but a creation, a being crafted for that sole purpose, would have been willing to go that far. The unbalanced souls only are ready to damage themselves beyond repair without a shred of hesitation.

"I must protect him no matter the cost. I will give whatever you request from me."

The boy stared hard into the eyes of the woman that faced him. His jaw clenched as she stretched a lazy hand towards him, palm facing upward. The tip of her fingers stopped a mere centimeters from his chest, right by the place where his wild heart beat. She was about to do something, something that could never be mended. Suddenly, he felt very scared- It was the last time he would ever be able to remember his parents' faces. In fact, it was the last time he would ever be able to remember anyone's face.

The surrounding air was getting unnaturally cold; he could feel it through the insignificant protection of his shirt, piercing the fabric and scorching his burning skin. Then, smooth as a caress of silk, a dark veil fell over him, obscuring his vision. Slowly, he blinked it away.

There was a woman towering over him- a woman whose eyes were burning like hot coal in the semi-darkness, whose pallor made her look like some ghostly apparition.

He looked at her in incomprehension and fear, looked at his own hands that were clenched around her forearms- that were after all very much real. She pulled away, and he could see that she held something in her white fingers, something that shone vividly at him. Instinctively, he reached out to catch the bright sphere, but she closed her fist and his hopeful fingers tightened around nothing but thin air. For a split second, he watched her without understanding. He saw the painted lips move but couldn't hear anything and the red of her irises was already blurring away, swallowed by white fog.

Part two- Lost Memory

"For the sake of what is to come…"

She caught the boy in her arms as he collapsed, the reflexes she had acquired over time giving her a sense of grace even as she lowered his frail body to the ground. Exerting compensation essentially amounted to inflicting harm upon her clients and she was far from unused to the occurrence of such blackouts. She took in the blank expression, the blue orbs that looked without seeing.

A slate wiped clean. Literally speaking.

As she withdrew, she skimmed a delicate hand over his eyes, drawing them closed. It was no use wasting time feeling sorry for him, like always…She could have laughed and cried at the bitter irony of the whole situation. Instead, she merely focused, taking a step backwards and conjuring up her magical circle around them both.

In the short time they had known each other, she had done what she could- and sadly, it hadn't amounted to much- to spare him as many sufferings as possible. Conscious of his inherent instability, of the fragility of his artificial existence, she had nevertheless wanted him to be as happy as possible. She supposed that, in a sense, she had failed.

He will bring nothing but unhappiness to those around him.

Like his other selves, he was destined to many hardships. However, the witch couldn't help but feel a sense of helplessness at the turn things had taken. Due to the price of his wish, the child would remember none of the happiness he had experienced, thus giving Fei-Wong's malediction a whole new hold on him. Those accursed words would be engraved in his heart forever.

"To guard you from evil influences, your parents gave you this name. You've already earned the right to keep it... Until we meet again, good luck, Watanuki Kimihiro."

The runes and symbols glistened brightly as the frame of the boy slowly dissolved into thin air, leaving a dust of golden specks behind.