InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Bottled Genius ❯ Wish Number One ( Chapter 2 )

AN: I'm back at last - with the second chapter. Sorry about the wait, I'm not usually this slow but I've had a lot of Internet problems lately.

And since you asked Hibiscus I've been writing since I was 11 I think (I'm 16 now) though some stuff I wrote back then makes me cringe and think 'maybe I should have come up with a plot for that story before I started to write it…' But I discovered Inuyasha only a year or two ago, after discovering it through Ranma ½, and fell in love with all the characters (aside from Naraku of course… and possible Kikyo). However I only started writing on ff.net since August last year!

I hope that satisfies your curiosity ^_^

Bottled Genius

Chapter 2

Wish Number One

The strong morning light through the window beside Kagome's bed was what probably woke her up the next morning… that or Souta wrestling with the chest of drawers to get his clothes out of the sticky drawers. She made a mental note to remind her Grandpa about curtains and separate rooms as she pulled the covers over her head and tried to pretend that she was someone else… a certain someone who lived in a Shrine in central Tokyo that could still keep in contact with her friends.

It wasn't until Kagome had listed all the bad things in her life, that she remembered the latest one.

Ever so slowly she pulled the covers back down and peered over them to stare at the three bottles on her bedside table. The experience of the night before came flooding back with sudden clarity and she bit her lip… had it been real?

The answer to that was obviously no. Boys didn't have long hair - major real world fact number one. And they certainly didn't have claws like some kind of… dinosaur… perhaps that was the wrong association… But she also knew for a fact that boy's didn't materialise and dissipate at will before her eyes - that was physically impossible!

Obviously she'd been under a lot of stress lately and had imagined the whole ordeal. She'd probably been sleep-walking again and dreamt that a Genie had come to offer her a dream come true - ten wishes to get her out of this living hell. Of course, it wasn't quite a living hell… but she certainly wasn't liking her new home or her new life ahead of her.

Kagome shook her head as she decided to put the Genie boy to the back of her mind and settle back down in her bed to catch up on her rest. Well, that was the plan, but her mother had other ideas.

"Kagome - you have to get up soon - it's Monday!" Mrs Higurashi yelled at the top of her lungs to be heard through the big house.

The extracted a rather painful groan from the teenager as she found something new to add to her list of 'Bad things which happen to me'. But there was no point beating around the bush, and so she swung her legs out and pushed herself out of bed and onto her feet with the grace of a baby elephant. She padded across the cold floor on her way to pick out her new school uniform from her drawers.

It was brown… ugh… and the style had gone out twenty years ago. She wrinkled her nose in dismay and tottered off to find the bathroom.

As she wandered aimlessly though the corridors she wondered what on earth she'd do with ten wishes anyway? She remembered something in the junior years of school, where each student had to decide what they would wish for if they were given three wishes.

Practically everyone had wished for world peace and to solve world hunger with their first two. Kagome had decided that since everyone else was feeding all the starving children and making politicians shake hands, she could afford to be a little selfish.

Her first one would be to wish for a pony - a black one called Clover. That had been her fantasy at the age of six. Though where on earth she'd put this pony, she had no idea. There had never been any room in the Shrine for one, but that hadn't been important.

Wish number two would be for a house made of sweets and chocolate. So she could grow up nibbling at the curtains and never have to go to the candy store again. Of course, with that kind of house, she'd probably weigh three hundred pounds by the age of twenty five. No need to go to the candy store? She wouldn't be able to get out of the front door to get to the store with that much blub. She'd end up having to eat around the door frame…

The third wish had been rather self indulgent (as though the previous two weren't). She wished for a thousand more wishes, and swore that she'd use at least one of them to cure cancer and purge hatred and evil from the world. Maybe.

But that had all been when she was six. What would she wish for now? She obtained a dreamy sort of smile as she floated to the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face. With ten wishes she could be a little less restrained with the wishes. She'd definitely wish for world peace straight away. She'd wish to become some exotic princess and have her own palace and servants and lines of gorgeous men just queuing up to try and woo her. Ah! Speaking of men - she'd wish that the cute boy at school would just glance in her direction for once. Sod that - she'd make him fall head over heals in love with her!

But she'd probably never see cute boy again…

Lost in her thoughts, she tripped over the two steps in the hall and banged her shin on the top lip. "I'd wish I were less clumsy…" she hissed with pain.

With another sigh she heaved herself up and continued to the bathroom to get ready for her first day at a new school.

^_^

Souta looked up from the river as he heard the front door go and his sister stepped out of the house with a rather disgruntled sort of expression. He mentally tutted and rolled his eyes. Kagome could be so stubborn and fixed in her ways sometimes… she wasn't about to accept the change in scenery as easily as everyone else.

Mrs Higurashi appeared at the door to wave them off. "Remember what I told you both! School's just down the road now - keep going right and you'll hit it in no time."

Kagome still looked ticked off as she took Souta's hand and dragged him off down the road.

Of course, 'just down the road' seemed like a few hundred miles to Kagome. The road was long, boring and very quiet, and school was right at the opposite end to Grandpa's house.

They were late when they arrived eventually - mostly because Kagome had gotten lost on the way to bathroom again. Kagome; being held responsible for her own tardiness as well as Souta's, was dragged immediately before the head mistress and given 'you've not only let yourself down…' routine.

If that hadn't been a bad start to the day enough as it was, then Math's being the first lesson made it the worst start ever. She arrived halfway through the lesson and obviously offended the teacher by doing so - who'd then been only too delighted to discover that Math's was not Kagome's strongest subject in the world!

It had been a teasing torture for the next hour… the teacher had delivered lovely easy questions to the other students, such as 'what is seven plus three?' or 'what is two times five?'. And when he got to Kagome he randomly gave her a question like 'what is the square root of three hundred and fifty one?'.

She almost fainted with sheer relief when the bell rung, signalling break time was commencing. She optimistically (and foolishly) pretended that the day couldn't possibly get much worse that it had already. Things could only get better.

Wrong.

^_^

Mrs Higurashi hummed and smiled to herself placidly as she arranged the freshly cut flowers in the vase before her on the kitchen table. She leaned forward and sniffed the wonderful fragrance before positioning the vase dead centre on the table and sweeping up the fallen cuttings with her hands.

She dropped the scraps into the bin before moving to wash her hands in the sink - Lily pollen was always a bad one to stain your fingers and clothes with. As she washed she absently glanced up through the kitchen window to look out at the garden outside - before doing a sudden double-take, her hands freezing in the soapy water.

But there was nothing there now… but for just a second she could have sworn she'd seen a white haired boy lying on top of the large, rusty oil tank a few metres away, the same way snoopy the dog would lie on his kennel. But now there was nothing, except for the sway of the white flowers on the trellis surrounding the oil tank. Perhaps she'd mistaken them for a moment…

With a frown she pulled back from the sink and snapped the water from her hands. "Dad?!" she called into the house. "You know when you said this house wasn't haunted…?!"

^_^

"I don't believe it!" Kagome fumed as she left Souta back at the river outside the house where he seemed to belong now, and stomped off into the house with a smouldering temper. She slammed doors in her wake and fisted her hands by her side. She planned to go lock herself in her room and sulk for a good portion of the day, but first she wanted to load her problems off onto her mother.

"Mom - you won't believe this!" she started angrily as she entered the kitchen. "I don't think I could have had a worse… day… if… you… what… um…" she trailed off slowly, her anger slowly turning to confusion as she watched her mother tacking up some garlic beside the kitchen window.

"Hello, Kagome-dear." Her mother said cheerfully, as though there was nothing strange happening at all. "How was your day at school?"

"Mom - have you been watching the twilight zone again?" Kagome frowned. "What's with the garlic?"

"Just vanquishing evil spirits, honey." Her mother replied breezily.

"Oh… ok…" Kagome came forward to take a closer look. "We have a vampire infestation then?"

"Oh don't pretend to humour me - I'm just doing it for your Grandfather. I said something about ghosts - big mistake - and now he's putting up all kinds of charms against evil." Her mother smiled lightly before dusting her hands and turning to look down at her daughter. "So how was your day?"

"Horrible." Kagome said, allowing her expression to fall. "The Headmistress gave me detention in the first five minutes, then the math's teacher picked on me all through the lesson because I'm new and stupid at maths and then this group of 'tough guys' decided to follow me around at lunch, and the only way I escaped them was the hide out in the girls' bathroom, and even then I think the only reason I got away with it is because they were too stupid to look in there."

"Aw." Her mother stroked her hair sympathetically. "Maybe it'll be better tomorrow."

Just the reminder that there was another school day to come set Kagome into an even deeper mood. Don't forget about Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday school days. "Great… maybe I'll just go hang myself tonight and save me the hassle." She griped as she stomped off, leaving her mother to continue her job with the garlic.

Kagome managed to find her way to her room without too many wrong turns and flopped down onto her bed, burying her face into the pillow and waiting for the tears to come. Funnily enough, she realised that maybe she was too angry at herself and her situation to feel completely miserable. In a way that was good… anger kept her from being a manic depressant… now there was a pleasant thought.

Her mother must have come in at some point in the day because the bed was made beneath her and the window was open to let some fresh air in. She noted this vaguely as she heard the sound of Souta's childish giggling bubble up from below. He was probably playing pooh-sticks with Grandpa over the bridge again. Well at least someone was enjoying himself…

Kagome closed her eyes and let her anger go… she really couldn't hold onto it for very long… she sagged visibly and felt a prickle of tears. "I wish I could just go back home…"

"Would that be your first wish?"

For a moment Kagome wondered how her mother had suddenly got such a rough, masculine sounding voice. She lifted her head slowly and fixed a confused gaze on the large hand that was rested casually against the bed stead. No, her mother definitely did not sport such hands… or such nails… Curiously she followed the arm up to the owner of the hand and blinked stupidly when she met sharp gold eyes.

A perfect moment of complete stillness and utter silence descended on the small bedroom, as Kagome stared and the boy stared back. Until he suddenly flashed that same slightly conceited smirk he'd shown the night before. "Hi." A small fang was glimpsed.

"No!" Kagome threw herself away from the bed and slammed unsteadily into the rickety bookcase against the wall. She crumpled to her feet and hid her face in her hands. "No - this isn't real - this is all a dream - I've fallen asleep again and I'm dreaming of the Genie boy again-" she pinched her arm, hard. "Ow - wake up - ow - ok… ok… a hallucination…" she took a deep steadying breath, still with her eyes screwed tight shut.

She'd count to three and he'd be gone… everything would be normal… one… two… three…

She lowered her hands timidly and peeked her eyes open… to see him still standing there, head cocked and watching her like she was an alien. She slapped her hands back over her eyes and battled to stay calm. Ten! One…two… three…

"Oh, pull yourself together." That same strong, large hand closed around her forearm and dragged her to her feet. Kagome snatched her arm back the minute he released it and leaned back against the bookcase, spilling a few old books in the process… before she hadn't been able to look at him - now she couldn't even blink in fear of taking her eyes off him. He'd touched her… she'd felt his hand… he'd felt very real to her…

"You…" she struggled to find her voice. He narrowed his eyes impatiently as she tried to form to the words. "Y-you…"

"Oh fuck… you're not a mute are you?" he groaned suddenly. "You didn't talk much last night - look - if you can't make the wishes then why the hell did you bother opening the bottle to summon-"

He suddenly yelped and drew back sharply as Kagome gave him a sharp pinch through his shirt. "What the hell was that for?!" he exploded.

"You're real!" she exploded right back. "I'm not imagining you!"

"No shit Sherlock…" he rubbed his offended chest with a distinct scowl in her direction. "What were you trying to do - give me a nipple twist?!"

"I was just making sure-" she interrupted herself. "Hey wait - who the hell do you think you are coming in here and yelling at me like that?! I should call the police!"

"And what would they do with a Wishbringer?" he retorted acidly.

Kagome swallowed her reply in surprise. Her supposed dream last night seemed to be very real today… "You… you weren't kidding last night… when you were talking about those wishes… were you?"

He snorted and moved to flop onto her neatly made bed. "This is business. You don't muck around in business." He told her shortly, folding his arms behind his head. "We have two ways of doing this, the fast way or the long way. Personally I prefer the long way, seeing as it lets me remain active for a few days at least, but with you, maybe we should make this a short visit and you make all your wishes within the next ten minutes for all the joy that I'll have in your company." He gave her a sideways look as he said this.

"What?" Kagome had been too lost in shock to really catch what he'd said.

He glared at her. "Ain't you listening to me? Which way will it be? Long or short?!"

"What are you talking about?!" she defended herself with a cry. "You talk so fast about this wishing stuff - what the hell does it mean?"

"Right, right…" The boy took a deep breath and forcibly relaxed back onto the bed. "You're a newbie… I keep forgetting… usually when people pop to the cork on the bottle they know exactly what to expect, I don't have to beat around the bush."

"Just…" Kagome reset the bookcase behind her which was now oddly tilted. "Just tell me… what are you…? You can't be… human."

"Well you're sure earning your keep at school aren't you." He responded dryly. "No, I'm not human."

"Then… you're a Genie?" Kagome's voice hitched slightly.

A slow smile spread lazily across his face. "Nope. There's no such thing as a Genie."

"No, I saw the film - everyone saw that Disney film where Aladdin rubs the lamp and a Genie pops out to-"

"What, you mean that stupid old Arabian tale?" The boy scoffed. "That tale's so old everyone got confused. The 'Genie' was a Wishbringer - he was just named Genie. It's a stupid, misleading story that has stereotyped Wishbringers and you would be wise to forget it."

"Oh." Was all Kagome managed to say to that. "So… if Genie was the name of that other Ge- I mean, Wishbringer… then what's your name?"

He seemed to take his time answering. "It's Inuyasha. But you can call me whatever the hell you want."

"No… Inuyasha's fine." Kagome nodded quickly. "But… I'm confused… how come Aladdin got three wishes and you're supposedly giving me ten?"

"Because that Wishbringer was a third generation and I'm a tenth generation." The Wishbringer named Inuyasha told her like he was speaking to a slow witted child. "Obviously."

"Well… how come you're tenth and he was-"

"Because the Wishbringer which made him was a second generation and the Wishbringer which sired me was a ninth Generation." He told her bluntly. "Got it?"

Kagome didn't think she had anything. She just remained quiet as she stared at the ground, trying to process all this new information. With a sigh, Inuyasha pushed himself to sit on the edge of the bed, facing her. "You want me to go through the rules again, girl?"

Kagome nodded slowly and sank down onto Souta's bed.

"Ok. I'm a tenth Generation which means you get ten wishes, no more, no less, understand?"

Kagome nodded again, confident that she had that part at least.

"You can't wish for me to conjure stuff. Like I said, I can bend Physics but I can't break the rules. Though I'm working on it." He gave her that humourless smile again. "But if every Wishbringer in this world could conjure then this world would be overflowing in all sorts of crap that's popped out of thin air and what kind of place would that be?"

"A very messy one." Kagome agreed.

"Right. And no wishing people back from the dead. Like with the conjuring stuff - dead people need souls which are usually already being used my new people, so if I raise the dead then you'll just make zombies which go around consuming souls. Not pretty and not very pleasant smelling either. So I can't revive people for you." He gave her a conspiratorially look. "But I can kill as many people as you want, though."

Kagome swallowed. "Um… next rule, please."

"No wishing for me to be your sex slave, trophy husband and so on so forth. I said before that I am obliged to smudge your pathetic existence from this earth and wait for a new master to come along."

"I… wasn't planning on doing that." She told him uneasily.

"Good, then I won't have to kill you." He responded seriously.

"Has that ever happened before?"

"Anyway!" Inuyasha seemed that dodge that question well by making a show of standing up. "The last rule is that you're not allowed to set me free with your last wish."

Kagome perked up. "Does that mean I can set you free with my ninth wish then?" she asked brightly.

He flinched slightly and looked at her. "No." he said shortly. "I only said the last wish because I know your type. You think 'oh, poor thing, stuck in a bottle to sleep for decades at a time - why not set him free', but of course your type would take advantage of my power for nine wishes before oh so generously setting me free with the last wish. But since you ask - you can't set me free with any other wishes either. It's just not done."

Kagome shifted slightly on Souta's bed. "So, you can't wish yourself free?"

"That's the catch about being a Wishbringer. You have phenomenal power to change the world, change people, all at the simple utterance of 'I wish…'. But try using that power on yourself and you end up killing yourself. Or end up using that power outside of wishing, and you end up killing yourself still."

"Your power is only for granting wishes then?" She asked, watching his face intently. He wasn't showing much.

"I can do little things… like…" He flicked his wrist and a book went sailing out of the bookcase towards Kagome. She caught it quickly before it smacked her in the face. "Not much more than that or it takes my life force. So you can't catch me out with the 'Simon says' trick. I can't give you anything unless you say 'I wish' otherwise I'll implode. Understand?"

Kagome nodded, slightly stricken.

"Good." He folded his arms. "Now what will it be?"

Kagome stared at him a moment, taking in the sight of him. He couldn't have been much older than she was… seventeen at most… and wearing some rather old looking and moth eaten clothes she'd seen in a long time. She couldn't help the small laugh that escaped her.

"Something funny?" he demanded sharply.

"No… it's just that…" she looked up at him again. "You don't really look like a Genie… sorry… a Wishbringer… I suppose if anything, I was expecting bangles and earrings and blue skin and-"

"Turbans and a lamp. I know." Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "Very cliché image you know. It's amazing how stupid and ignorant people can be."

"I guess…" Kagome noticed the way one ear was twisted towards the window, listening to the sounds of Grandpa and Souta outside, while the other was trained on her. "So Wishbringers have white hair and dog ears?"

"No. That's just me." He narrowed his eyes slightly, both ears training on her… making her feel extremely uncomfortable to know he had all his sense trained on her. "But that's stepping into personal space now. Make your first wish, or do you intend to keep on stalling with small talk and chit chat for a bit longer?"

"I… I don't know what to wish for…" she admitted. "I could have anything?"

"Anything." He was watching he with all the focus of a cat eyeing the mouse.

"I…" she averted her eyes away from him, down to the book she held clasped in her hands. "I've never thought about it seriously. I wouldn't know where the begin…"

"Sure you do. How about a black pony… no… a black horse, I think you'd outgrow a pony. You could still call it clover though."

Kagome shifted her gaze back to his, the fine hairs at the back of her neck standing up in apprehension.

"And you could wish to be three hundred pounds instantly without going through all the trouble of eating your way through your house." He cocked his head again with a slow smile. "Or you could have your heart's desire. To get out of this hell hole." He cast a disapproving look around the bedroom. "Get away from all this dust and grime and get back into your beloved city centre. Would you like that? Is that what you want above all other things?"

Kagome didn't like his tone… she didn't like his expression and she didn't like the way he was watching her the way a predator watched its prey. She vaguely recalled Kikyo's journal… the warnings, the wishes she regretted…

But he was offering to take her back where she belonged. Something she needed, something only he could give her. Just one wish and she'd be back home in the Shrine.

"Where's the catch?" she asked warily. "Ten wishes. There must be some sort of catch."

"Oh, a clever one." His smirk broadened so it was nearly a grin. "I have to admit most people aren't that bright. They plunge headfirst into wishes for all sorts of lame stuff like money and beauty. They never stop to think about a catch."

Kagome frowned slightly. "You're not answering my question. Is there a catch to this?" Was there a curse…?

He regarded her for a moment before shaking his head slowly. "There is only one catch… but you already passed it. The only catch to gaining ten wishes is the one in a million chance of finding a Wishbringer to grant them. You've won the lottery, girl. That's the catch. The sheer pot luck of finding me."

Her frown deepened. "There has to be something more than that… something you're not telling me… like I have to sell my soul to you or something afterwards… or die…"

"Don't be so grim." He admonished, but his eyes still remained complacent. "I swear to you on my life that there is no other catch. What you see is what you get. I can't lie to you, you're my mistress."

Kagome watched him a moment. He was hiding something… but she didn't know what.

"Are you going to make your first wish yet… mistress?" he prompted. "Do you wish to be back where you belong or perhaps you'd prefer to have a C cup instead of a measly B?"

Kagome's jaw clenched slightly and she self-consciously folded her arms over his chest. "All I have to do is wish for it… and you'll give it me?"

"I think I've made my point pretty clear by now, don't you think?" he waited for her.

Kagome chewed her lip before lifting her head to face him. "I wish to be back home, where I belong. I want to move back to the Shrine."

That secretive little conceited smile tugged at his lips as he inclined his head slightly. "As you wish."

AN: Inuyasha, an evil Genie? Apparently…