About

Name: Kimihiro Watanuki
Age: 15-17
Birthday: April 1
Powers: Attract malovent Spirits, See spirits.

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Watanuki is a high school student whose life has been a rather difficult one — not only have both his parents died, forcing him to live alone, but he is plagued daily by spirits that only he can see (both the ability to see them and the cause of their attacks are evidently heritable traits—apparently Watanuki's blood smells very delicious to spirits).

On one run-of-the mill day, while Watanuki is being attacked by a monster, he falls over and his hand touches a fence. Oddly, the monster is instantly repelled. Beyond the fence is a very strange house, and before he knows it, Watanuki has stumbled past the two fence posts and into the courtyard of the house. Two little girls appear at the front door and take him by the hand, welcoming him into the house as a guest. Watanuki argues that he only stumbled in by accident, but a strange voice replies that it was inevitable he stumble in—it was "hitsuzen". This voice belongs to the powerful sorceress Yūko Ichihara, and the home he has stumbled into is actually a store that grants wishes.

Yūko asks what Watanuki wishes for, and although he never asks for anything directly Yūko sort of telepathically knows that Watanuki wants to stop seeing and being abused by his "spiritual friends". Yūko agrees to fulfill his wish, but only for an equitable payment—he must work at her store as payment, and when his "diligence" has balanced out his wish, she will grant it. This marks the beginning of Watanuki's very involved part-time job, a fated meeting with a certain quartet from Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, and so many "chance" happenings which occur not out of coincidence, but "hitsuzen".

PersonalityEdit

Watanuki is known for a having both a volatile and caring nature to him. Depending upon the person he talks to, his emotions tend to be overly exaggerated. With Himawari he throws himself into the air accompanied by hearts and a "Himawari-chaaaaan!!" squeal. With Domeki, he almost always expresses irritation with various facial expressions, screaming, and arm motions that reminds Himawari of an angry cat. With the exception of these two and Yūko, Watanuki tends to address everyone around him with formality and kindness.

One of Watanuki's greater problems, especially early on in the manga, is his lack of self-worth. He found absolutely no value in himself and would often use himself to aid another, even if his life were at stake. An example of this is when he willingly gives up his right eye to the Spider's Grudge to save Domeki's, without considering how much his decision might hurt Domeki. He's forced to face up to this problem when trying to save the Zashiki-Warashi from the Joro-Gumo, when the spider matron harshly chatises him for his lack of consideration for both his own self and those who cared about him. Faced with the facts of how much he's hurt those around him, Watanuki begins to see some value in himself. He will still often use himself to save others, but now he is mindful of just how much his actions hurt other people.

At the shopEdit

Life for Watanuki changes significantly once he starts working as Yūko's assistant (rather, her very indignant indentured servant) who not only cooks (wonderfully), cleans (diligently), and complains (constantly), but finds himself performing very odd jobs and learning more about the occult.

After the death of Yuko, Watanuki is left in charge of the shop. After his parents cease to exist, that choice becomes his price to continue existing (as, by this time, his status as an anomaly in space-time is made greater, as is Syaoran's). Watanuki continues to grant wishes in the shop, although often taking too little or too much as prices.

Four years after this, Watanuki and Syaoran meet again (although to Syaoran it has been nearly two years[1]. Watanuki grants Syaoran his wish to return to Clow Country, accepting a signature as the price.

Ten years after Yuko's disappearance, Watanuki grants a wish to a black-haired girl with her right eye covered with bandages. Being unable to leave the shop, Watanuki tasked Doumeki and Kohane with filming her request. After fulfilling the request, the girl ordered Doumeki to give the tape to Watanuki and nobody else. Watanuki plays the tape, and the girl remarks, "I'm back, Watanuki-kun." After rewinding the tape several times, Watanuki responds with, "Wecome back, Yuko-san."[2]

Existence Edit

Volume 12 - 13 of the manga deals with the mystery surrounding Watanuki. Volume 12 already hinted that he is falling more asleep and dwelling in the dream world. In chapters 143 and 144 Watanuki admits to being bothered by the fact that he could not remember details of his life including his parents' names, his school year, and anything about people he meets outside of the shop besides Dômeki and Himawari. Nor is he ever seen eating or remember eating. It is revealed in Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle that Watanuki gave his memories to Yuko as the price to protect and help the travelers as well as to help locate both Sakuras. It is revealed by Yuuko in chapter 157 of XxxHolic, that both Watanuki's and the clone Sakura's memories are sealed in black Mokona's left ear ring (Watanuki's memories of his parents, Sakura's memories of Syaoran). Not only is his memory of his past erased, but so is his memory of the exchange. After expressing doubts about his humanity, Yūko then assures him that he is in fact human, "like that boy [Syaoran]", and shares a strong bond with him. This bond is revealed when Syaoran explains to Fai and Kurogane that Watanuki was his replacement as the price for saving Sakura - Watanuki is actually Syaoran, in other words.

Watanuki entered an empty world where he witnessed the death of Yuko. Vowing to wait for her to return and look after the shop, not long after this, Watanuki is forced to return to this world when his parents (Sakura and Syaoran) disappear from existence. As the price to continue existing, Watanuki agrees to remain within the shop forever, until Yuko's return. In Chp 213, the time that Watanuki was supposed to stay in the shop was up; however, Watanuki still chooses to remain in the shop and wait for Yuko, no matter how long it took.