Disclaimer: I claim no rights to Yu Yu Hakusho, nor any related characters or merchandise, and make no profit from the writing or distribution of this work of fiction.
On his eighteenth birthday, Urameshi Yusuke receives a very strange gift. It appears to be nothing more than a small, unremarkable oil lamp from his mother, who is enjoying a spontaneous trip to the Middle East with friends. It is old and dusty and plain, and Yusuke can't quite understand why his mother would think to send it to him, but he does appreciate the sentiment behind it, so he places it on an empty corner of his dresser. It remains there for about a week. Then things start to get even stranger.
He's rummaging around his room for a pair of clean socks when his hip bumps the dresser, setting the lamp wobbling precariously. Looking back on it later, Yusuke will realize that he never placed the lamp that close to the edge, but at the moment he can only lunge for it and hope to make it in time.
He's just short, and the lamp slips through his grasp, though he manages to slow its descent enough to keep it from breaking against the floor. With a relieved sigh, Yusuke leans further forward to retrieve it, but a cloud of white mist suddenly streams out, and he jerks backwards, getting tangled up in his own feet and tumbling painfully to the floor.
The mist solidifies quickly, and Yusuke finds himself gazing at a pair of pale, fabric-draped legs in what was empty space just a moment ago. He follows them slowly upwards, his gaze tracing over narrow hips, a very bare chest, a slender neck, before he finally finds himself staring into a pair of cool green eyes.
"Eeep!" Yusuke manages to utter, and those emerald eyes roll towards the ceiling as their owner snorts rather condescendingly. Yusuke barely notices, preoccupied with trying to figure out what the hell has just happened.
The farthest he can get is that there is a strange boy standing in his room, having apparently materialized from the lamp his mother sent him as a birthday present. His long red hair is pulled back into a high ponytail. His green eyes gaze calmly out from above a thin, filmy veil, rimmed with soft black lines. He's bare to the waist, clad only in gauzy silver pants that are barely decent, but he is wearing quite a bit of jewelry: heavy bangles on his wrists, bells on his ankles, a slim headdress that drapes elegantly across his forehead. And strangest of all, he exudes a sort of presence that Yusuke can feel pressing against him: something…otherworldly, but strangely familiar somehow.
"What are you?" Yusuke asks without thinking. The boy raises a delicate eyebrow.
"The djinn of your lamp," he replies shortly, which Yusuke just finds maddeningly unhelpful.
"What the hell's a djinn?" he demands, and now the boy's lips curve into a mocking smirk.
"We're more colloquially known as 'genies'," he says, and Yusuke notes the disgust coloring the djinn's tone.
"A…djinn," he pronounces carefully, "…as in…I get three wishes?"
The boy sighs, his jewelry ringing with the slight motion. "Yes, three wishes. And to accompany them, three rules."
"Rules?"
The djinn holds up a hand, reciting rules rather listlessly as he counts them off on long, elegant fingers. "Rule number one: You may not wish for more wishes. Rule number two: I cannot raise anyone from the dead. And rule number three: I cannot interfere with true love."
Yusuke blinks. "That's it?"
Those green eyes turn to him once more in a scornful gaze. "I said there were only three rules."
"Huh," Yusuke comments rather eloquently, and then there is an awkward moment of silence as he considers his options.
"Have you a wish, Master?" the djinn finally asks impatiently, snapping Yusuke rather abruptly out of his contemplation.
"My name's Urameshi," he responds in lieu of an answer, glancing up with a weak smile. "Urameshi Yusuke. You don't have to call me 'master'."
The boy either doesn't hear him, or he doesn't care, as he only reiterates, "A wish, Master?"
Yusuke shakes his head, his smile fading. "I haven't got anything at the moment. I'm sorr – "
The djinn calmly cuts him off. "Then I will return to my lamp. Call on me when you desire your first wish granted." And with that, he turns away.
"Wait!" Yusuke says quickly, and the boy halts, but doesn't turn. "It's just – there's so much I still don't know. Like your name. What's your name?"
"My name is irrelevant," the djinn responds tersely, and then he's gone without a trace, leaving Yusuke wondering what he's done wrong.