InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Bottled Genius ❯ Another Hit and Miss ( Chapter 3 )

AN: No one quite got how the wish could go wrong… but you'll find out in just a moment. (It's like pin the tail on the donkey - we'll see who figures out the closest disaster that the wish could bring?)

Bottled Genius

Chapter 3

Another Hit and Miss

In the time it took Kagome to blink, everything had changed. The air that filled her lungs seemed fresher, less musty than a few moments ago - not to mention her settings had changed completely. Before she'd been sat on her brother's bed, looking at the Wishbringer… and now she was standing at the back of a fair sized room, watching people pray on their knees.

For a long time Kagome was too surprised to even move a muscle. She scanned the room with confusion, wondering where the hell she was exactly. Then it finally, and belatedly hit her, she was in a small Shrine. A Buddhist altar was set at the head of the room, complete with burning incense and tablets of names of the deceased… there were quite a few.

Kagome had never in her life seen this room, this miniature Shrine… something wasn't right. With a stumped and stupefied expression she slipped out through the doors as quietly as she could but stopped dead outside.

She'd stepped into a rather white looking corridor. Two women in nurse uniform passed by with a polite smile in her direction whilst a man in a wheel chair with a drip attached to his hand was wheeled past by a third nurse.

Kagome didn't have to be a genius to realise that she was in a hospital.

And since when had she mentioned anything about a hospital in her wish?!

It didn't take her very long to get angry, but it was mostly to cover up for her fear. When she'd made that wish she'd been half convinced that nothing would happen, that maybe the boy had been a figment of her imagination. But in the blink of an eye, literally, she'd been… teleported? It took incredible power to do something like that… she wasn't sure she wanted to be messing with it.

"Excuse me?" Kagome flagged down a passing doctor. "Could you tell me which hospital this is?"

He gave her a strange look but answered nonetheless. "Murayami Hospital."

"Murayami… are you sure?" she blinked in surprise at him.

"Pretty sure, yes." He nodded.

"Thank you." Kagome was as confused as ever as she toddled off in search of a payphone. The ones in the lobby of the hospital were in use, so she was directed out of the building to the phone booths outside. With the bit of small change she had she planned to call her mother… what else could she do?

Kagome pulled open the heavy door of one of the boxes and stepped inside. Glumly she picked up the receiver and punched out her home number… problem was… she didn't remember her new phone number… after all, she'd only been living there for a few days. "Ah… crap…" She thumped her forehead against the machine miserably. "Ow…"

There was a knock on the glass door behind her and she looked up expectantly… to see Inuyasha standing outside giving her a cheerful little wave. "You don't look happy." He called. "Something the matter?"

Kagome all but threw herself out of that booth to face him, anger burning her cheeks and clenching her hands into fists. "What the hell is this supposed to be?!" she yelled at him. "I said I wanted to go home! Murayami hospital is no where near my house!!"

He snorted and folded his arms. "You said nothing of the sort."

"Well I sure as hell didn't ask to be sent to hospital!" she swept an arm around her. "Does this look like my shrine to you?!"

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHe looked around dubiously. "I can't really say, because I've never seen your stupid shrine." He saw her about to make another angry outburst and cut her off. "You asked to go back to where you belong - and by the philosophical degree exacted in the twelfth century - every person technically belongs wherever they were born, be it a hospital, barn, or the bathroom in a train carriage. You were born in this hospital if you don't remember."

"What?!" Kagome shrieked. "That's not what I wanted! I wanted to go to my Shrine - I said that!"

"Yeah, the shrine here, right?" Inuyasha glanced at the hospital.

Kagome gave an exasperated groan and leaned against the side of the phone box. "You knew this wasn't what I wanted… I wanted to go home…"

"Even if I'd done that you would have been alone." He pointed out dryly.

"How come?" she glanced up at him.

"Because you never mentioned anything about family in your wish."

Kagome sighed and dropped her head again. "I bet Aladdin never had this much trouble…"

"Well if you wanted your wishes granted with much initiative on my part maybe you should have found yourself a fifth generation or higher. It's not my fault you're stupid enough to make vague wishes and expect me to grant it exactly the way you want them."

"You mean I have to watch what I say?" Kagome narrowed her eyes sharply at him. "That sounds like a catch to me."

"Say it however you like." He shrugged with a smug look. Kagome's eyes narrowed to slits at his evident attitude.

"Do you even care about this?!" she snapped. "How the hell am I supposed to get home?! I can't remember my number and my family don't even know I'm gone!"

"No need to stress." He rolled his eyes. "Just wish to return back to the old house."

"No - because you'll probably send me to Siberia or some crazy place like that." Kagome replied angrily. "You could have at least told me to be careful about the wishes! Now I know what Kikyo was talking about!"

Inuyasha's attention had snapped completely on her again at the very mention of the previous girl's name. "What did you say?"

"I said you could at least have told me to be careful!"

"How could you know Kikyo?!" Inuyasha's face was suddenly before her own with such a dark and stormy expression that her anger left her in a heartbeat and she took a wary step back. "Kikyo was before your time - she died forty years before you were born!"

"I-I found her journal…" Kagome stammered. "She mentioned… wishes… you… and something about a curse…"

"This journal?" he suddenly reached into the air, making her flinch as though he were about to strike her - but all he did was pluck the old book that had materialised into the thin air beside her head. He turned the book over in his hand, looking at it flatly with disdain. "What a load of garbage."

The question was out of Kagome's mouth before she had a chance to think about how it would be taken. "Did you kill her?"

Those intelligent deep eyes locked on hers. He didn't move or make any move to answer.

"Did you kill her father?" she continued quietly. "Did you take her voice away so she couldn't sing? Did you give her the old house because she wished it? Did you find someone for her to love, but didn't allow for her to keep it?"

"Yes, yes, yes, yes and… yes." He replied through clenched teeth. The book in his hand turned to ash and fell to the pavement. Kagome's eyes followed his dusty hand as it fell back to his side before raising her eyes to meet his. She wasn't sure she wanted ten wishes anymore.

"I want to go home." She said eventually, turning a frown to the pavement.

Inuyasha leaned back slowly and stuck out his hand. "Give me your change."

"Why? You intend to rob me too?"

"Just give me the money." He scowled at her. "I remember the number."

Warily, she handed the change over and watched as he stomped off into the phone box. He picked up the received and leaned against the side as he tapped out the number for her home. There was a few silent beats. Was he going to talk to her mother for her?

She started forward towards the door, intending to take over when Inuyasha suddenly spoke into the phone.

"Hi, Mom, I think I'll need a lift home… yes… well, you remember Eri's father had that trouble with his heart, well he had a heart attack."

And he said all this in a perfect imitation of Kagome's voice. She stared at him, not really realising what he was saying, but fixed on the rather feminine voice that she vaguely recognised as her own.

"Well Eri wanted me to come down to Murayami hospital for emotional support - oh don't worry - he's ok - just a bad case of indigestion… Yes… I will… thank you… I'll see you soon then, I'll be waiting outside."

He put the phone down and pushed the door open. "Well she seems nice."

"You… you just pretended to be me."

"Well you're too slow to think of a good excuse and sound like a natural liar."

"You don't know that. I lie very well actually." She told him tersely.

"You're lying right there." He folded his arms.

She shook her head and hugged herself. "I suppose I should thank you at least… why did you help me out?"

"Because you might wish to turn me into a frog next time for 'cheating' you."

"Don't give me ideas…" He'd be lucky if she didn't throw his bottle into a river and walk away laughing. She didn't plan on using any of her future wishes… not after he just blatantly admitted to murdering a girl and her father…

"Call me again when you think of a more suitable wish." He said suddenly and disappeared before she had a chance to protest. With a sigh she went to sit down on the concrete steps and put her head in her hands, running her fingers through her hair wearily as she contemplated the enormity of what she'd just wiggled into.

She didn't understand Inuyasha… at first he'd come across to her as some arrogant, slightly peevish and petulant boy. Not much older than herself. But now… all that bad ass attitude was just superficial it seemed… under the surface he seemed to have hidden agendas… hidden motives…

Was he trying to help her, or hurt her?

Something told her that he wasn't a good guy… but he didn't quite strike her as a bad guy either. Those eyes held so much… like he'd seen more things than she could imagine… and that look in his eyes when she'd mentioned Kikyo…

Kagome blew out a sigh and closed her eyes. Inuyasha was a puzzle to her… but maybe she should just leave him be… instead of trying to figure him out?

^_^

Inuyasha licked his thumb idly as he leafed through the pages of the large book he held against the pillow. He sniffed, the dust rising from the old pages tickled his nose and made his eyes itch, but he eventually found the page he'd left off at and flopped onto his back to prop the book on his chest to continue reading.

No sooner had he started reading than he heard the front door go and two female voices entered the house. He paused briefly to look towards the door of the small bedroom before going back to the book. It wasn't long before he heard light footsteps ascending the stairs, coming towards him.

He didn't bother looking up as Kagome entered the doorway, but out of the corner of his eyes he saw her stop upon seeing him and lean against the door frame.

"Nice drive here?" he questioned idly, not looking up from the book.

"Three hours. And it rained like the Niagara falls on the windscreen all the way." She replied.

Inuyasha grunted an even response and turned the page.

"I've been thinking…" Kagome started.

"Easy, girl."

He heard her sigh and move further into the room until she was standing beside his bed. He still didn't bother to look at her. "Do you… have any control over how you grant wishes?" she asked.

Inuyasha was having trouble reading beyond the first sentence of the page he was on. Why did this girl have to ask such perceptive questions? Why couldn't she be like every other master he'd had and just assume that he was evil and that was the end of it. "What makes you say that?"

"Do you deliberately make wishes turn out bad or is it just like… you know…" she struggled for words. "Just the way it works?"

"It's through no fault of my own that you word your wishes badly. If you want to move back to your shrine you have to make at least five or six wishes before you get it right." He smirked slightly. "You only have nine left you know."

"I know a better way." She said suddenly.

"Oh?"

"I wish for 25,000,000 yen."

Inuyasha slapped the book shut and gave her the slow clap with a long hard incredulous look. "Congratulations - you're the fifty-sixth master to ask for money - and I've only had sixty-two masters in total."

Kagome shifted uncomfortably under his glare. "It's not what it looks like."

"Oh I don't blame you. But I really thought you were different." He sat up on the bed and propped himself up on his hands. "But you do like to prove me wrong don't you. Well, it's cliché, boring, lame and greedy but if that's what you want…"

"It's to buy the Shrine back." Kagome told him suddenly. "Wishing for it directly seems to create too many problems and misunderstandings… so I'll get the money and we can do it ourselves."

"Twenty five million will only buy back the Shrine. Why don't you wish for a hundred million and never have to worry about being evicted again?" he pointed out.

"I don't need a hundred, I just want my Shrine back, thank you." Kagome responded evenly. "So. I wish for twenty five million yen right now."

Inuyasha sighed and stood, handing a bag over at the same time that had just appeared in his hand. "Here, take it." He dumped it into her arms. "Go buy back your stupid house."

Kagome blinked at him a moment before peeking inside the bag and gasping. Her arms nearly turned to jelly… she couldn't believe she was holding that much money… "Thank you." She whispered breathlessly.

"Don't bother with gratitude." He grumped as he flattened out on her bed again. "It's not like I have a choice."

"Well… thank you anyway." She had turned and run out of the room before she had a chance to see the slightly perplexed look he gave her.

^_^

"Mom!"

Mrs Higurashi looked up as her daughter blew into the kitchen like a small hurricane. It was quite a surprise to see her so happy and excited suddenly when only a few minutes ago she'd be a miserable little camper in the car all the way home from Murayami.

"What's that?" her mother asked idly as she noticed the bag clutched in Kagome's arms. Kagome's grin spread even wider and she trotted forward to dump the bag on the kitchen table before flinging it wide open, bearing all.

Mrs Higurashi dropped the plate she had been drying. It smashed on the floor at her feet but she paid no attention as she stared at the pile upon piles of bills inside the bag. "What on earth…?" she helplessly tottered over, staring widely at the money. "How did you…"

A call from the hall interrupted them. "What was that crash?" Grandpa and Souta arrived at the door moments later - and their reaction to the money was very similar to Mrs Higurashi's. Souta was the first to break out of the stupor as he rushed forward to Kagome's side and picked up the top wad of bills.

"Is this what I think it is?" he sniffed the money before flipping through them. "Wow… did you steal it Kagome?"

"Don't be silly, I found it in the attic." Inuyasha was right, she was a terrible liar, but right then her family were too shocked and absorbed by the bag to notice.

"How much do you think is here?" Mrs Higurashi murmured, plucking the money away from Souta lest he run off with it.

"Twenty five million… I counted before I came down." Kagome watched her mother with barely suppressed excitement. "You know what this means don't you… twenty five million could buy back our old house-"

"Kagome - we can't keep this money!" her mother cried as she gaped at her daughter. "That would be stealing!"

"What…?" Kagome stared back at her mother, her smile sliding off her face tragically.

"People do not just find twenty five million yen in their attics everyday - this money doesn't belong to us, we have to give it to the police." Mrs Higurashi firmly closed the bag and broke the spell of awe it held over them all.

"But Mom!" Souta wailed.

"No buts - we can't keep the money, Souta." His mother shook her head at her son.

"Can't we just keep a little of it?" Grandpa pleaded with his daughter. "Just enough to buy a hot tub-"

"Or an indoor heated swimming pool!" Souta leapt in.

"Yes!" Grandpa agreed with his grandson.

"You're as bad as he is!" Mrs Higurashi told Grandpa with a frown. "I'm sorry, but this money must go to the police, it just isn't right to keep it… how could we live with our consciences if we just take this money and use it."

"I could." Souta shrugged.

"Me two." Grandpa nodded.

"Not going to happen!"

"But Mom-" Kagome jumped in quickly, clutching her mother's sleeve. "You don't understand - this money is ours - it's not stolen!"

"Kagome, I'm pretty sure I would know if we had twenty five million to our name."

"But…" Kagome struggled to find some excuse that didn't sound too far fetched as 'I wished for it from a Genie'. "Everything in this house is Grandpa's and the money was in the attic - it's his! Maybe… maybe it's some of Kikyo's old fortune left over!"

"Kikyo? Who's Kikyo?" Her mother echoed.

"The girl who lived here before us!"

"The one who died with the smile." Souta added helpfully. "In the attic. Hey - do you think it's some kind of Mafia conspiracy and Kikyo got caught up in financial trouble and stole the money from gangsters who came after her and they'd be like, knocking on the door and she'd be like, hiding in the attic clutching the money to her chest and then they'd come up and kill her - but she'd already hid the money under the dead pigeons so they'd never know where it is and-"

"Souta - shut up!" Kagome snapped. Her nerves were already rattled enough as they were. After all… she knew the truth about how Kikyo died…

"Then it is stolen money." Mrs Higurashi shot back at them.

"Um…" For the life of her, Kagome could think of no other excuse as to why they should keep the money for themselves. Perhaps she was about to spill the secret… tell them she had a Genie boy in the bedroom… sorry… a Wishbringer boy in the bedroom reading 'Paradise Lost'. That he was the one who had given her the money… who'd teleported her straight to Murayami faster than you could say 'Don't be stupid Kagome'.

But before she could utter a word of the truth, Souta suddenly shushed them all and they fell silent, straining to hear what he was listening to. The only sound in the house was the radio playing in the living room. Up until a few moments ago, it had been playing classical music, but had now been interrupted by a deep voice news reader.

"-Urgent news bulletin: Local police have reported that exactly twenty five million yen has disappeared from the vault in the Central Bank of Izu. Eye witnesses are baffled and specialists are searching for the missing millions this very moment-"

The signal broke up and the news bulletin was lost… all they heard was plain white noise echoing from the living room. They all turned their eyes to the money in front of them.

"I think… we should be taking this to the police." Mrs Higurashi said slowly, looking up at Kagome who had a hand pressed to her mouth.

"No wait!" Souta cried. "We have to wait a while and then the police will start offering a reward for the money to be handed over!"

"You little money-grubber." Mrs Higurashi scolded her son. "We can't keep the money, we have to give it in to the Bank. Don't you understand?"

Kagome's hand dropped from her mouth and she took a deep breath. "She's right. We can't keep the money… it's not ours…"

Souta made a rude noise under his breath and stomped off grumbling about women. Grandpa just nodded in agreement with Kagome. "It's best we hands it over."

Kagome left them both to decided how they would contact the police and give the impression that they weren't the ones who'd stolen the money. She padded through the hallways, up the stairs and stopped silently at the doorway to her bedroom. "You…"

Inuyasha smiled placidly from where he was sat on her bed. "Something the matter?" he asked in a deceptively innocent tone.

"You took the money… from the bank…" Kagome ground out furiously. "You stole it!"

He clicked his fingers and clicked his tongue in a 'foiled again' sort of way. "It was the news report wasn't it? I knew I should have cut it off sooner. You would have been none the wiser."

"You stole the money and you thought it would be ok!" Kagome stormed into the room to face him angrily, "What would have happened if we'd tried to buy the house back now - they would have known that we were the ones with the money - we could have been arrested and put on trial!"

"They can do that now, huh?" he looked thoughtful. "That puts a damper on the fun…"

Kagome pressed her hands to her faced and squashed a scream. "This is ridiculous - I didn't ask you to steal the money!"

"Well where was it supposed to come from them, eh?" he snapped back. "I told you - I can't conjure! If you want money it has to come out of someone else's pocket. And it was better to come from a bank than some poverty stricken family, right?"

With a groan Kagome slid to sit down on Souta's bed. "This is too much… I can't believe it went wrong…"

"Guess you aren't as bright as you thought then." Inuyasha said, a small smile playing on his lips. "Nevermind. You wouldn't have been able to keep the money anyway, even if it wasn't stolen… your mother was having none of it was she? You still have eight wishes to go. And please try to make the next one more imaginative."

Kagome snapped a glare on him.

"I'm sure there are more important things that you want other than your stupid house. I could give you anything you wanted. I could make you insanely happy as long as you make the right wish." He stood and cocked his head as he folded his arms. "I could make you beautiful… so beautiful people would weep at your feet thinking you were some kind of angel. I could make you famous, more famous than Elvis."

"Yes, you could make me famous and beautiful." Kagome said evenly. "But you could also probably ruin my life through it. You'd make me so beautiful that I'd get unwanted attention and start getting stalked by creepy men. And you would make me so famous you'd make people sick of the sight of me. Before long I'll be famous for being so hated. Infamous if you like."

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes at her. "Not as stupid as I thought… you learn fast…"

"Faster than Kikyo?" Kagome met his gaze steadily.

"Unfortunately for her, yes." Inuyasha unfolded his arms and rolled his shoulders as through working out the tension in the muscles. "Well, who needs fame and beauty. They're just as cliché and lame as fortune anyway. How about I turn you into a man?"

"Not something I strive for."

"But it's one wish that tends to work without any kind of hitch." He replied. "I once had a master who wished to be a woman - because he'd fallen in love with a lesbian. Unfortunately for him, the woman declared she didn't like blonde women like him and he was destined to be stuck as a woman for the rest of his life. He'd used his last wish on something lame too, so he couldn't turn himself back."

Kagome stared at him.

"Kinda reminds me of that time when a master wished to become a tree - in love with nature I suppose… but irritatingly, that was his fifth wish. And I was stuck with a tree for a master for about two years until I eventually found a passing woodsman who would cut down the tree for me and even then it took about a week for the stupid tree to actually die after being hacked down. But in the end I eventually went back to sleep until someone new picked me up…"

"It seems everyone who takes you on ends up miserable or dead." Kagome commented.

"That is so not true." He said indignantly. "There are plenty of people who went on to lead a normal life after meeting me."

"Yeah… like who?" Kagome challenged.

"Like… well…" Inuyasha ticked off his fingers, counting under his breath before looking back at Kagome. "Um… oh - I know! There was this one guy - he was like my second ever master - and he went on to become Master of all Japan."

"Hah! Pull the other one." Kagome rolled her eyes.

"No seriously… I think his name was… Noddy… no… Nobunaga… Oddy Nobunaga or something…"

Kagome turned a slow shocked gaze to him. "What… you mean Oda Nobunaga."

"Ah - that's it." He nodded. "See? Now there was a man who knew how to make his wishes - destroy the opposition and equip his armies with western Firelocks… though I never thought they were a good idea… they had a disturbing tendency to blow up in your face. But hey, they worked for him."

A frown appeared on Kagome's face. "But Oda Nobunaga was murdered at a fairly young age."

"Forty-eight isn't young."

"He still died." Kagome pointed out.

"It's not my fault his generals assassinated him. That's what happens when you get involved with power struggles. He was a bit of a ruthless man. He didn't care who I had to kill… regardless of their age or innocence."

Kagome's gaze faltered to her lap.

"So you see… not all people end up as bad as… as bad as Kikyo ended up."

"I don't care." Kagome gave a light shake of her head. "Just go away."

"What?"

"Just leave me alone." She pushed past him as she made her way back to her head and flopped onto the mattress, face down. But great… now her bed smelt vaguely of sandalwood.

A few moments later she looked up to see if he was still there… but he was gone… and she was alone in her bedroom again. She returned her face back to her pillow and squeezed her eyes shut.

She hated this house. She hate sharing a room with her brother. She hated the musty old smell of dust and how everything was covered in it. She hated the way her bed dipped in the middle like an elephant had been using it for the past few decades… she hated that she'd probably never see her friends again, that she'd never see a decent shopping centre again, or that she'd never get decent hot water either. And above all things… she hated this school…

Kagome hugged her pillow tighter as she mentally grimaced. And, as people tend to do when they find themselves in a miserable position, she began to cry quietly to herself. "I hate this house… I hate my life… I hate this school… I wish I never had to go there again…"

She'd said it simply for the sake of depressed rambling, already forgetting that these days, wishing wasn't as far fetched as she used to believe. And she was too far gone with tears and sobbing to hear the soft voice elsewhere in the room.

"As you wish."

AN: I wish it was that easy to get money… I can keep on dreaming though…