A/N: How’d the cliffhanger go for you? Liked it? Hated it? Lemme know.

Chapter 4: Fantasy

Reality was a paradox of itself in combat.

Would it be ridiculous to say that science supported the existence of magic? Would it be totally illogical for a weapon to appear out of thin air, or for a fireball to be suddenly conjured up from an open hand?

Yet, simple high school Physics explains everything.

Mass and energy cannot be destroyed, but can be transformed from one form to another. Therefore, a weapon, no matter small or large, can appear out of thin air because the matter around it has been transformed into the weapon.

And Peter didn’t find that fair in combat. Especially when his opponent was using a broad sword that was 5 times the size of his own katana.

“Hold still!” Terry growled as he swung his broad sword, Gladius, over where Peter’s head was a split-second ago, if he didn’t crouch to evade.

As much as physics was unfair, it still had its laws. A heavy item, summonable or not, was still heavy. Terry swung his sword once more, trying to aim for Peter’s legs, and missed.

“You should be using a different weapon, Terry. This is combat training after all. One hit from that stupid sword of yours and I’m a goner, you know,” Peter said, backflipping behind Terry to strike him with Sakabatou’s blunt edge.

Terry then flipped his sword to counter Peter, the cold clang of metal hitting metal resonating through the field. “Tch, this thing may be heavy, but I can still kick some major ass with it. Yours is next, my friend,” Terry said with a small smirk curving up his lips.

Peter knew a counter-attack was imminent, so he leaped back significantly, preparing himself. Terry turned around, heaving the arrow head-shaped sword behind his back.

The broadswordsman then charged head-on towards Peter, catching him –and everyone else watching- by surprise. In Peter’s books, only a fool would charge in blindly into battle.

Gripping his broadsword with only his right hand, Terry brought down his right leg as an anchor to slow him down as he swung his menacingly heavy sword at Peter, who already anticipated that move.

He leapt into the air, easily avoiding the horizontal slash as it passed through below him. Peter expected Terry to gape in surprise, or grit his teeth in annoyance, at least. But Terry’s expression caught Peter unexpectedly. He was actually smiling.

“Gotcha!” Terry said, leaping up with surprising agility to meet Peter mid-air. Knowing Peter had no choice but to parry his strike, Terry swung the blade once at Peter. He expected Peter to try and block it, but instead, Peter spun away from it, in mid-air.

It was as if gravity had no effect on Peter as he continued to pirouette, near-transparent wisps of air surrounding him. Out-flanking Terry until he found an opening, he then struck his katana down Terry’s back, only to have his blade meet with Terry’s once again.

“Backstabbing me’s not gonna do you any good,” he said, turning around as they both started to fall back to the ground.

Peter looked thoughtful, and then smiled sagely. “True. I’ll just let gravity do the rest,” he said, backflipping away from Terry, and getting higher into the air. The katana wielder then outstretched his left arm at Terry’s direction as he continued to fall slowly to the solid ground.

Expecting a fireball or a lightning strike to come at him, Terry instantly shielded himself with his sword. But nothing came.

Then just as his feet barely grazed the overgrown grass, he was lifted off his feet by an unknown force, sending him higher into the air. Yelling a few choices of profanities, Terry tried to regain his balance, and failed altogether. It was as if he was stuck in a tumble-dryer.

Peter already landed smoothly back on the floor, his hand still controlling the tumbling Terry as he remained mid-air.

Jason, who was halfway wolfing down his hamburger, noticed the thin, almost transparent wisps of air surrounding Terry as he continued to spin like a gyroscope. He immediately figured out what Peter was using to make Terry his personal yo-yo.

“OooOooKaaAAyy! I-GivvVe-uuUuup!!” Terry cried as Peter slowly let him down, many of the spectators laughing raucouslyas a slightly dizzy –and very nauseous- Terry staggered out of the whirlwind, not even able to make 2 straight steps without threatening to fall over.

“What in the world happened?” he asked, several of their classmates walking over to help him up, some of which were still laughing. Among them was Eric, who hauled Terry by his collar, dusting off the dirt on his shoulder.

“Peter’s the best guy around here with the wind elemental, man. Haven’t you realized that by now? We’ve been all in the same place since high school,” he said, knocking Terry softly behind the head.

Only then did he realize that particular action may not have been the wisest, because Terry then bent over, almost as if he was going to be sick. He even made the dry heaving sounds for good measure, making the people who came to help him back away in fearful disgust.

“Argh! Terry, not here! There’s gonna be a football match later!” a classmate, Jasper Bong said, contemplating whether to help Terry or dodge him completely.

“I…blame…Peter…” Terry said, almost showing the crowd what he had for lunch that day. “That wasn’t fair, man…”

Peter only shrugged as he walked up to help Terry. Sparring partners or not, friends were still friends. Terry accepted Peter’s hand, muttering a small “Thanks,” under his breath.

“Need to go to the infirmary?” Peter offered, taking out a small blue bottle from his side pocket and handed it to Terry. “It’s a healing potion. You’ll feel better after taking it,” he explained, Terry chuckling.

“You keep a bottle wherever you go?”

“Yes. It’s better to have it and not need it, rather than to need it and not have it,” Peter quipped, Terry chuckling again. “That’s a good line. I’ll need to remember it,” he said, opening the bottle cap and draining its contents.

After finishing it in record time, Terry shook his hand in dismissal. “I don’t think I’ll need to go to the infirmary. The potion did the trick for me,” he said, turning around to grab the broadsword which he left behind.

“Hey, when did you start using wind techniques in battle?” Terry asked as he kept the sword, the others now clearing the field. It was relatively late, and some needed to go home. Some other individuals stayed for the football match later.

Peter looked glassy-eyed for a second as he walked up the raised field-lining, walking over to his bag to take out some cloth to polish his katana.

“Since I was 10. I only started using it more often recently,” Peter explained as Terry stood near him, scratching his head. “10? That’s an awfully early age…” he said, walking off towards the college. He made a silent goodbye wave to Peter, still quite engrossed in his own thoughts.

After some time the katana wielder abandoned his polishing halfway and laid back on the grass. It was a rather temperate day, and Peter didn’t want to waste the remainder of it doing something mundane as polishing his sword.

He felt like dozing off there and then, but his mind protested in objection, better judgment seeping into his logic. It would seem weird to fall asleep on the college field’s sidelines, especially when the entire place would be crowded with people soon.

Muttering some colorful adjectives that were otherwise deemed inappropriate for regular conversations, Peter got up and withdrew his katana, chucking the cloth into his bag as he stalked off to his car.

Before Peter even managed to reach the parking lot he spotted Eric, Jason and Ken talking by the nearby water fountain. Choosing to ignore them and continue on, he barely made 5 steps before Ken called out to him.

“Hey, Peter! Come here for a sec!” he beckoned, waving enthusiastically at him. Knowing he had no other choice than to go there –or risk being dragged bodily by Ken- Peter huffed and made his way there silently, prodding his head upwards in a silent “What?” when he reached them.

“Hey, you free for the evening, Peter?” Jason asked, looking hopeful for all the wrong reasons.

Peter knew nothing good was going to come out of this, but he had to ask. “Why?”

“Well…I’ve got a 5-for-1 promo coupon at Starbucks. And all 5 of ‘em will go to my reward points card. So I was wondering whether you guy are free to go along with me? I’m gonna pull Chris is on this too,” Jason asked, looking like an optimistic puppy.

Peter chewed his thoughts for a fraction of a second. He was free for the whole day, so why not? Besides, he couldn’t even remember the last time he had a Java Chip Frappuchino without having to actually pay for it.

Vanilla. It was such an underestimated flavor. Among the other ice-blended stuff, it was one of the cheapest, too. (By a difference of only a ringgit or two….)

Eric had to thank Leon one day for recommending him this flavor. He was now officially hooked onto it.

Wait, speaking of which….

“Why didn’t we invite Leon for this thing?” Eric asked as he walked with the rest outside Starbucks. Honestly, sitting down was a waste of time. The group decided to spend their time elsewhere, exploring the entire Sunway Pyramid.

Jason shrugged as he had his mouth full of whip cream. “He said that he had something to do, so he wasn’t free. It didn’t really matter, since there’s only the 5 of us anyway,” he reasoned, licking the remaining cream off his lips.

The rest shrugged their answers as well, rather intent on finding something more amusing to do than just aimlessly walk about.

“Hey, wanna take a look at the new gaming exhibit on the 3rd floor? It’ll only be here for 2 days more days,” Chris asked, looking hopeful.

Ken beamed at his younger twin, grinning from ear to ear. “Oh please. All you wanna do is check out that cute girl in the GTA 7 booth again. We already saw her yesterday! She’s way outta your league, man,” he said, Chris bypassing several shades of red as the rest erupted into laughter.

Chris was honestly not the type to go around chasing girls, so this stood to be something rather…interesting.

Then something far more interesting caught Jason’s attention as he 3-point-shot into the trash bin his already-finished drink –in record time, mind.

“Speaking of guys who’re awkward around girls,” Jason began, earning a death glare from Chris. “You’ll never guess who I see with a girl. In the women’s clothing department of Jusco, no less.”

Being curious young men, all of them looked towards the direction of where Jason was pointing. And he was right.

“Leon??” the entire group, save for Jason, said in a rather aghast unison. There before them was Leon, in the women’s clothing department; with the only other abnormality within that picture being the fact that he was accompanied by a girl who was holding up a navy blue t-shirt in front of her, apparently asking Leon for his opinion.

It was already weird enough that Leon was with this girl -shopping for clothes, no less, but Peter honestly could not ignore one other simple detail. Her lustrous mid-length auburn-colored hair was the same shade of orange as her tail. Her tail.

“Figures the only girl who’d actually tag along with him is half-cat. He’s the biggest cat-lover I know on this side of the hemisphere,” Ken quipped, the rest still quite stunned at the initial uptake.

“Actually,” Peter, the only one among the boys who wasn’t taken aback too much, began as he rubbed his chin –a clear sign that he was pondering deeply. “She’s a kitsune, not a cat-girl.”

“A kitsu-what?” Chris asked as he turned back, eyebrows cocked. The rest were now stealing glances between Peter and Leon with his companion, not sure who to look at more.

“A kitsune. That’s Japanese for ‘fox-girl’,” Peter clarified, intently studying the aforesaid girl. She was beautiful, no doubt about that. She looked around the age of 15 to 16, Peter guessed.

She was smiling at Leon as she continued to show him several different articles of clothing, her two pointed fox ears twitching in what Eric gathered was amusement. Even her mesmerizing, full tail swishes gently about, attracting the attention of several on-lookers. Some of the women there even sighed enviously at the luscious qualities of the girl.

Animal-people were not something new in regular places, yet the elegant sight of them was always a crowd-puller.

“Should we go and say ‘Hi’?” Eric asked, noticing that he too was starting to feel hypnotized by the swishing tail.

“Maybe later,” Ken said, batting down his hand. “First, I wanna see how he treats her before he gives us a cover story about who she is later.”

“Good call,” the rest replied as they began to stealthily observe Leon and the girl. Not long into their endeavor -3 minutes, in fact- a wary shop assistant already confronted the 5 boys, who were rather odd-men-out in a ladies’ department store.

“Uhh…we’re just observing our friend over there. The one with the fox-girl,” Jason explained nervously. The bespectacled assistant stole several quick glances at Leon and his partner before sighing in apprehension.

“Ah, yes. They’re a couple, aren’t they? I assumed so because they were earlier shopping in the women’s underwear department,” the assistant said with such a low overtone at the end, cocking a mischievous eyebrow at the other boys, who were rather speechless at the moment.

“Well that’s something you don’t hear everyday…” Chris commented as the assistant walked away. Jason shook his head, clearly in disbelief. “Premarital…Leon? Of all people??”

Ken clicked his teeth reproachfully at Jason before swatting him once on the head. “Leon isn’t that kinda guy, you idiot. She might be his cousin or something,” he said.

Eric couldn’t help but scoff. Again.

“Would his cousin be clinging onto him like that?” he asked. From their position –which was to say, several good meters away from the Leon and the girl, Ken could notice that she was tugging his arm closer to her, the way only a pampered younger sister or doting girlfriend would. And he was certain Leon didn’t have a kitsune for a sister.

“Geez…He’s luckier than the rest of us combined,” Jason said, not concealing his envious tone one bit. He had to admit, this entire situation was a little awkward, but what was life without a few wild cards every now and then?

“Honestly, I now know how it feels like to be a first-class stalker,” Peter said, hiding casually behind a pillar as to not look suspicious to the other shoppers.

They have been tailing Leon and his companion for the past 20 minutes or so, following them from the women’s department and all the way to the cashier.

The girl was rather too physical to Peter’s taste, always holding on to Leon tightly and gripping onto him like a kitten wanting attention. And as far as he could tell, Leon was rather uncomfortable about the matter.

“Geez, demanding, much?” Ken quipped about the girl, chuckling with Eric and Chris.

“Hey, guys?” Jason suddenly asked, tugging on Ken’s shirt. “Does that t-shirt look familiar to you?”

True enough, the boys recognized the red jersey the girl was wearing. It was the same football jersey Leon had from his senior class in high school. “And those jeans are definitely Leon’s,” Ken added as the rest looked at him.

“How can you tell? It’s not as if it’s got his name emblazoned on it or something,” Eric said, he himself looking hard for a sign of some sort.

Ken only leered at him for a fraction of a second before he moved Eric’s head towards a particular direction he was pointing at.

“See that emblem on the back pocket?” Ken asked, Eric squinting his eyes to see the rather large pocket-guard on the back that had one name engraved on it. Leon’s.

“What kind of a guy engraves his own pants??” Chris asked, rather surprised, Jason and Peter already chuckling appreciatively. More often than not, the boys always found something funnily embarrassing about themselves. And it was only harmless humor most of the time. Most.

“The same guy that’s heading this way right now! Hide!” Ken hissed as Leon and the girl were both walking towards the group’s direction, still unaware of their presence.

Panicking just a little bit, the boys ran helter-skelter towards the changing rooms, disappearing into it before Leon or that girl could spot them.

All dangers of being spotted now put aside, the reality of 5 boys in the female dressing room section of a store was not a good one. And that was only realized when the particular changing cubicle next to the boys opened up, the occupant within it squealing in utter surprise.

“Eeek! What in the-?!” she cried, covering herself up eventhough she was still fully clothed. A thousand different scenarios ran through Jason’s mind within that frame of just a few seconds, all of which ended up with all the boys being branded as peeping toms. And it was obvious that was not how he wanted to be seen as, ever.

“Run!” he said, all of them rushing out of the dressing room in record time.

“This is seriously getting out of hand! Why can’t we just leave those 2 alone? We’re gonna get into some serious trouble!” Eric said as they sprinted out of the store, wary that no security guards were after them or anything.

When they reached the exit, Jason almost bent over to the floor, gasping for air as he chuckled. The others were almost just as out of breath as well.

“Well,” Jason said, trying his best to ignore the burning sensation within his chest. “When was the last time we managed to something so fun? Makes me feel like a kid again!”

Ken shook his head as he sat down on a nearby bench, taking in deep breaths of air. “If this is what being a kid again feels like, I’ll pass over on this one,” he said bitterly, running a hand through his hair.

“Ah, it wasn’t that bad. Hey, where’d Leon and that girlfriend of his go?” Eric asked, looking around. “Did we fly by them or something?”

“Yes, you did. But not fast enough,” a vacant voice said from behind them.

Recognizing who said it, they all froze in utter horror as they slowly turned around, staring into the amused expression of Leon Woon.

“Well? Any explanation whatsoever?” he pushed on, arms crossed on his chest. So far he was looking the role of a parent who caught his children in the act of something rather mischievous. And he was enjoying every single second of it.

Jason and Chris both made toothy grins, Ken and Peter smiling with friendly ruefulness. Eric just raised his hands mid-length in mock surrender.

“Friends of yours, then?” the girl spoke, beaming at the boys before looking optimistically at Leon.

“Yes, unfortunately,” Leon said with a grin. He then gently nudged the girl forward, who moved gingerly pace-by-pace.

“This is Peter Lee, Ken and Chris Hoh, Jason Chua and Eric Leong. We’ve all been friends since elementary school,” Leon said, pointing out to each one of the boys, who were all caught rather unprepared by the impromptu introduction.

“Hi,” the girl smiled, waving at them while smiling warmly. She was without a doubt the epitome of sheer adorableness.

“And this girl over here’s Koharu. She’s a fox-girl,” Leon said, Koharu giggling. “I think they’ve gathered as much about that, Leon,” she said appreciatively, curling up her tail around her to brush it softly with her hands.

“So…how do you know Koharu?” Jason asked first. If there was anyone that would happily take the bait, it was him.

Leon looked rather thoughtful for a fraction of a second before looking at Koharu, who in turn only shrugged at him.

“This will take awhile, guys. How ‘bout we head to the food court?”

“Alright,” Ken said as he sat down, his iced lemon tea grasped firmly in his hand, his expression unwavering. “Fess up. Who’s Koharu?”

Narrowing his eyes at Ken, Leon took a deep breath as he analyzed the others. They were just as eager to hear Leon’s explanation as well.

He then turned over to look at Koharu, who shrugged as she took a mouthful of her ice kacang.

“I met Koharu yesterday,” he said with an audible sigh, some of the boys looking rather taken aback.

“So…she’s not related to you or anything?” Eric asked. Both Leon and Koharu shook their heads.

“She’s just a friend. Nothing more, nothing less,” he elaborated, Koharu looking reproachfully at him.

“Just a friend? We’re living together and all I am is ‘just a friend’?” she scoffed. Leon shot Koharu a scandalized look in utter horror.

Ken and Jason, who were both taking sips from their individual drinks at that time, sprayed a fine mist of iced lemon tea and Pepsi, the rest gawking in utter shock.

“I knew it! I knew it!” Ken said, wiping his mouth. “Premarital sex? Aw man, I thought you were better than that,” Jason said, shaking his head.

“No! No! I haven’t done anything with her, at all! Koharu!” Leon growled, leering at the fox-girl with a murderous glare.

She just smiled wryly at him, leaning back into her chair with the ice kacang firmly in her hands.

“What? I just said we’re living together under the same roof. Why did you and your friends need to jump into conclusions?” she asked, looking rather haughtily at them all.

Knowing they’ve been duped, the boys looked away, rather embarrassed by their hasty actions.

“I think you should explain it to them from the top. Start with last night, hun,” she added, Leon once again looking at her reproachfully.

“Don’t call me that,” Leon hissed before averting his attention to the rest. “Do you wanna hear it?” he asked.

“Yeah, sure,” Peter said as the rest nodded or indistinctively gave their replies.

Leon took one last deep sigh before continuing, the eager eyes of his friends and the amused ones of Koharu examining him in every detail. “Remember when we went home after ice-skating last night?”

(Flashback)

The blinding green flash was too much to handle. Leon couldn’t even close his eyes to block them out. Wait, they were closed. It was just too damn bright that Leon fathomed it wouldn’t even make a difference if he was wearing a stupid welding mask.

Would this be the end? Did he just release some demonic spirit into the unknowing world? Did he just make the singular biggest mistake in the world? Maybe.

“Gosh, you wouldn’t believe how cramped up it is in there.”

Wait, what?

Leon opened his eyes and looked to his passenger seat, expecting it to be empty as usual, only to be (partially?) disappointed.

There sat a girl, curled up into a comfortable sitting position on his chair, exactly where the bottle should have been.

Leon couldn’t help but gape openly at her, especially because her tail kept swishing over her cheongsam-clad body.

“W-who are-?” Leon managed. Oh great, smooth move there, genius.

A smile worked up to the lips of the girl, her silver-blue eyes twinkling at Leon. “A man of not-so-many-words, aren’t you?” she asked, giggling softly.

Leon frowned as he moved in his seat, trying to readjust himself to the new occupant in his car.

He then remembered the bottle, and gazed at her. “Are you some sorta genie?” he asked, his expression rather fazed for some unknown reason.

She nodded, but with a rueful smile on her face. “Close. I’m a demi-genie,” she said, leaning back on the seat.

Leon racked his brains for any knowledge he had about magical creatures. “Demi…wait, as in ‘half’? You’re half a genie?”

The girl’s face lit up as she proudly said “Yes!” to him, startling Leon with her sudden spunky-ness.

“You know your Magical Knowledge 101 then. Good, I’d hate to be with a clueless master,” she said, mocking a shiver as she said the last few words. It was those very words that caught Leon’s attention.

“Wait, master? Me?” he said, quite aghast. She sighed and cupped his cheeks with both her hands, startling him further. He couldn’t remember the last time a girl even shook hands with him, let alone bridge the facial distance between them both.

“Yes. You’re. My. Master. Not a very hard reality to swallow, ain’t it?” she asked, speaking word by word to him as her nose laid several centimeters away from his, her smile still clearly written on her face.

She then let go of Leon as he sat back firmly on his chair, his heart thumping painfully against his ribcage.

“I can tell you’re a real hit with the ladies, master,” she laughed appreciatively as she too lay back in her seat. Alright, all things aside, the most basic things needed to be cleared out. Starting with names.

“I’m Leon. Leon Woon. And you are?” he asked, gesturing to her curtly. Being a gentleman mattered right now, as Leon had no idea what he was dealing with.

She looked at him quizzing-ly for a second, and then breathed out in apprehension. “Nice to meet you, Leon. I’m Koharu, and I’ll be your bona-fide semi-all-powerful genie for tonight,” she said with a mock professional accent, shaking Leon’s hand.

“So, Koharu, right? I’m curious,” Leon said, the fox-girl chuckling at his comment. “I’m sure you are.”

Taking that quip rather amusingly, Leon continued. “I gather you’re Japanese, due to the name, yet you wear a Chinese cheongsam and you were trapped in a bottle with Latin inscriptions. I’m afraid I don’t follow.”

Koharu placed a casual hand to her chin, her silver-blue eyes twinkling every now and then. It was a few whole seconds before she replied.

“Yes, I am from Japan. But I prefer cheongsams over kimonos or yukatas. I feel much sexier in it,” she said in a rather matter-of-fact tone.

Hmph, no arguments there….

“As for the Latin bottle? Well…it’s a long story that involves a scam, an irate sorcerer from somewhere in Europe and yours truly. Conclusion is: Scam got busted, sorcerer got mad, cursed me into a bottle to be a demi-genie for life,” she explained, shrugging it off like it was some distant, insignificant memory.

“Then why aren’t you still with him?” Leon simply asked, opening the window slightly and reducing his air-cond’s speed.

“He died rather tragically,” she simply replied, checking her nails under the street lamp’s gaze.

“I’d give my condolences, but I figure it’ll fall upon deaf ears,” Leon replied, not so sure how she would have taken that.

“Very true. I’m sure you’re wondering how he died?” She said, not breaking eye contact from her nails as Leon continued to wait.

“For an all-powerful sorcerer, he was one bloody baka. He died after eating a serving of takifugu. What do you call them in English? Oh yeah! Puffer fish!” she explained, clapping her hands once at the end.

Leon could help but snort a laugh, trying his best to have kept it in. “Puffer fish? He died because he ate puffer fish?”

“Yes! He thought he could remove all the poison himself. The stupid gaijin should’ve known better…So I ended up from his cleared-out apartment to some auction. Some rich guy from Malaysia bought me, thinking I’m some ornament and brought me back to his hometown and placed me in the middle of his dining table. Can you believe that dummy?”

Leon cleared his throat, silently thanking the stars that he didn’t have the opportunity to do the exact same thing.

“And none of his family members could read Latin, I suppose?” Leon asked, Koharu nodding.

“Nope. Then one day his 10-year old kid thought I was a perfect item for show-and-tell day in school, so he brought me in his school bag. Next thing I knew, he accidentally dropped me in class, and I got picked up by another kid whose father owns an antique store in Sunway Pyramid…Am I boring you to death, Leon?”

The bespectacled young man shook his head and urged her to continue. “It’s a good story. Please, continue. I’d love to hear this out.”

“Thanks, hun. Anyway, one day I got bought for only RM10 by some boy that’s about your age. Now he could read Latin, and being smart enough, he thought I was a genie stuck in a bottle. But unfortunately, he was lacking in one thing. Common sense.”

Leon then raised a hand. “Wait, lemme guess. He didn’t rub the bottle?” he asked, Koharu grinning with a nod.

“Exactly. That schmuck read the incantation several times before giving up and tossing me in the garbage bin. The nerve of that prick! So you found me a few hours later, and here I am,” she finished, shrugging once more as she tilted her head to the side, her ears drooping ever so gently in turn.

Resisting the urge to pet her like any other cat, Leon turned away and sighed. “So I do get my 3 wishes, right?” he asked, not wanting to sound rather blunt. (Even though he was...)

“Correction. Instead of your regular 3, you get 6,” she said, holding up 6 fingers to him with another grin.

“Wait, what, 6? Why?” he asked, turning to look straight at her.

“Well, because as a demi-genie, my powers are only half of what a regular genie’s is. Because of that, I can only grant you certain wishes,” she replied, stifling a yawn.

“Twice the amount of wishes, half the capabilities. Is that right?” Leon asked.

“Mm-hmm,” she muttered. “Say, do you have a girlfriend, Leon?” she asked, giving him a schoolgirl’s gaze.

“Hmph, I wish I had one…” Leon muttered, but then realized his grave mistake. “No! That wasn’t a wish! I take it back!”

Koharu erupted in a small peal of laughter before she patted Leon once on the shoulder.

“It wouldn’t have made much of a difference even if you did mean it. I’m still bounded by the 3 Genie Rules,” she said, Leon’s eyes widening.

“I remember them. Or would you rather say them out yourself?”

Koharu smirked before she moved over just a little bit more. “1: You can’t wish for me to kill someone for you. I can gather you’re rather capable of doing it yourself,”

“2: I can’t bring people back from the dead. It’s not a pretty picture! Trust me; the last thing I want is a zombie-infested planet.”

“3: I can’t make someone fall in love with you. Human emotions are something we genies have no control over. However…you could wish for me to be your girlfriend…”

As she muttered the last few words, she ran her hand through Leon’s cheek, bridging the distance between herself and Leon again.

“That wouldn’t be the right thing to do,” Leon said, turning away and gently catching her hand.

“Boy, you are a gentleman. You’re a dying breed,” she commented, sitting back in her chair.

“All matters aside, there is one more thing I can’t do because of my limited power. I can’t make you rich. By doing so I’d have to conjure up money or some bank account, which I can’t do since it involves making bank notes with serial numbers I can’t conjure up from nowhere or digital records I can’t forge.”

“That makes sense…” Leon gathered, looking thoughtful for a moment. Then he looked at her. “Can I wish for your freedom?”

“What?” she asked, looking taken aback for the first time.

“Can I wish for your freedom?” Leon repeated. He was sure she heard him clearly the first time as well. He fathomed it was just her doubt being rather…well, doubtful.

“Yes, you could. But I’ll never see that happening in this lifetime,” she said with a dry laugh.

“Look, you were imprisoned for doing something wrong. I think you did your time well enough and you deserve your freedom. Will you accept it?” Leon confronted her, her eyes now fully opened due to the aggressiveness of Leon’s sudden tone.

“I would. But there’s definitely a catch,” she said bitterly.

“No catch. I’ll use my 5th wish to make it such that you’ll be free after I made my 6th and final wish,” Leon said, his light brown gaze staring into her silver-blue ones.

“W-what would be the 6th?” she asked, her voice lowering down as Leon moved closer to her.

“I’d wish that you’ll have a secure accommodation and a way to survive in KL so you won’t just end up on the streets. Do we have a deal, Koharu?”

She looked thoughtful for a second, as if she was trying to find any loopholes Leon could have generated in his speech.

After a few seconds, she nodded and replied with a soft “Yes.”

Sitting back in his seat, Leon simply said “Good,” before fastening his safety belt and shutting the window.

“Where are we going?” she asked, sitting up and buckling her safety belt as well.

“My place. My parents and brother are on vacation overseas so I’m the only one in it for the moment. You can have the guest bedroom,” Leon said, backing up the car and driving straight into the main road within seconds.

“Me? In a room? Wouldn’t it be more convenient to keep me back in the bottle?” she asked, raising her eyebrows. Apparently she got back her haughtiness in record time.

“It would, but what kind of a person would I be to allow such a thing?” Leon said, not even looking at her.

“I dunno. Maybe you’ll sneak up to my room later in the wee hours of the morning and have your way with me?” she asked provocatively.

Leon let out a really loud sigh and ran a hand across his hair. “I won’t do anything like that. I promise.”

Giggling, Koharu then stretched out before leaning back against the chair, singing along to the song the radio was playing.

“I do hope you have clothes fit for a fine, delicate young lady such as myself,” she commented.

Groaning inwardly, Leon thought for a second before asking “What? The cheongsam not good enough anymore?”

“Oh pu-lease, I’ve been wearing this thing for 2 years straight now. I need a change of clothes!” she said, yelling playfully.

“Fine…We’ll go shopping tomorrow. Happy?” he asked her, not the least amused by the burden he was suddenly given.

“Geez, lighten up, Leon. I’m not all bad. Who knows? Maybe in time you’ll get to like me?” she said, resting her hand behind her head as she sweetly hummed to the tune of the radio, Leon covering half his face as he silently groaned. Why me?

(End Flashback)

“So…she’s staying with you till when, exactly?” Eric asked.

“As long as she wants to. She has no family back in Japan, so I’m her only acquaintance here,” Leon said, Koharu leering at him.

“Acquaintance? That’s it?” she cried, pouting at him with such a passion.

“Yes. We’re not family or anything. I still dunno how I’m gonna tell my folks about you when they get back, Koharu. I don’t think they’ll be too happy to have a new member in the family out of a sudden,” Leon said sharply. But Koharu didn’t continue to pout. Instead, she smiled.

“You just said ‘new member of the family’! Aww, you do want me for a sister,” she said, clinging onto his arm as the rest laughed raucously at Leon for his blunder.

“No I don’t! Get off, Koharu. People are starting to stare!” Leon hissed, tugging her off, but to no avail. She was latched onto his arm like a furry orange vice.

Ken found it all rather strange, and too convenient. Leon always got all the funny things in life, whereas the rest of them were rather normal. That is, if the definition of normal was on par of the sane and un-weird.

An on-off soldier since he was a young teen until now, a magnet for confrontations and fights, and now a magnet for one spunky –and furry- fox girl who just declared herself to be Leon’s sister.

Ken didn’t know whether to envy Leon or pity him. Somehow, the prospects of being normal sounded alluring, but at the same time, mundane beyond comparison.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N:Okay guys. Sorry it took so long to update. I had writer’s block for some time now, and I had a lot of filling-in to do for this chapter.

By the way, this chapter was 16 pages long in Microsoft Word. 16! That’s crazy! No wonder it took me so long to finish it!

So tell me what you guys think of Koharu, okay?

If you want to know what she looks like, go to my earlier posts, as there’s a drawing of her in her cheongsam.

Remember to leave a comment on my blog, yeah? I need feedback and ideas on upcoming chapters. Seriously.