My Only Wish

by: s2.koiishii.s2

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A/N: hey! thank you to everyone who reviewed they made me so happy ! i hope all you guys are alright and that you continue to support this story. pft i cant be bothered to post up the disclaimer but you all know the drill. Im kinda getting paranoid, I don't know if the direction im going for this story is okay so tell me what you think: comment, criticize, suggest, anything would be greatly appreciated. ...And um all you guys are girls right? i dont have to worry abt ne guy complaining to me abt the stuff in here? hahaha just read and you'll find out why?

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END OF PREVIOUS CHAPTER...

He couldn't move an inch, his feet were glued to the floor by some force and his mind was swirling with her alluring smell. Without much resistance, he watched as his right hand held the feather pen and signed the brown paper, he felt himself trapped in a trance.

What was it that his father always reminded him?

That's right, he told Syaoran again and again

Again and again

Over and Over

That he shouldn't sign any contract unless he had thoroughly read and understood the risks, terms and conditions within any contract.

But it was too late… the parchment popped into smoke the moment he finished signing it…

What was going to happen now?

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MY ONLY WISH : CHAPTER TWO : BOUND TO YOU

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Rummaging through his closet, Syaoran found a small decent shirt which didn't fit him anymore and tossed it to Sakura who eyed it warily, "What's this?"

"It's a shirt to cover you up," he replied, rolling his eyes, "I can't really have you wandering around in those." He pointed deprecatingly at her clothes and shrugged, "People tend to think things…"

She poked the green shirt he had given her with a pout, "Err... Do you have anything else?"

"That's the smallest shirt I have. Meiling's clothes would probably fit you but I'm not going to ask her or take something of hers, she'll know something's up. I'm not going to risk it."

"But don't you even slightly think that this, THIS," she emphasised, waving the shirt above her head in irritation, "Is worth even the slightest risk?"

He gave her a hard, penetrating glare and nodded as she shrunk underneath his cold eyes, "Hurry up, I'll drive you to my place in the city and you can stay there, I can't have you prancing around in here. I can't even begin to express how crazy my mother would be if she sees you in our house and worse, in my room."

"It's not as if we're doing anything wrong…" she replied lightly, struggling to find the arm holes in the shirt, "And mind you, this isn't as simple as it looks either." The molested shirt accidentally slipped from her grasp and settled by her red stilettos, making her sigh in frustration. Sakura carefully bent down to retrieve it, her slow descent causing her shorts to hitch up higher than Syaoran could take.

"Stop right there!" he suddenly commanded, making Sakura jump in surprise, "let me." He walked up to her and picked it up himself, his eyes firmly glued to the floor, "Can you just wear it with no fuss? Please?" Begging wasn't a notion he favoured but this was an emergency… he was like any male human being after all, self-control was harder to grasp when one was on the brink of losing it.

"Alright, if the master insists upon it…" Her face stretched into a pleasant a smile and behind those emerald orbs emerged a peculiar fire, flames she held cautiously and secretly - as she did not intend to burn him JUST YET. They appeared as discreetly as they vanished, leaving Syaoran to tread blindly and fall effortlessly into her plans.

"By the way, I need you to buy me some stuff from the shops, it's kind of an emergency." She said, pulling the shirt over her head and freeing her hair from it, "I wore your stupid shirt, the least you can do is take me out."

"Wait, are you forgetting the fact that I'm suppose to be the one saying what I want here?" he asked glumly, feeling the more miserable as he watched her twinkle with happiness, "And cut out all that master crap. It's Syaoran."

"As you wish then, Syaoran."

"Hmp." He was thoroughly glad the shirt nearly fell past her knees; she now come across half decent but the length made her look like she was wearing nothing but the shirt.

"Everything's just peachy! Now we need to go to the shops or a grocery store."

"What the hell for?" he demanded, he didn't like the fact that their conversation seemed to drag on without much point, he wanted her to explain their situation and how messed up his life would be with the new arrangement. She didn't seem the least interested and continued to complain about 'the cursed thing' coming tomorrow.

"What cursed thing?" A pang of fear suddenly settled itself in his mind, ideas of supernatural terrors flashed before his eyes, "I mean, you being here and all just prove that anything's possible, not that I'm implying that I don't want you here…" Truthfully, he was still in the state of disbelief, not one part of him considered that Sakura was a genie or capable of granting him wishes. He hated being burdened by things useless to him and although her presence intrigued him, he wasn't sure how to make out of it.

She nodded understandingly, her face held no sign of happiness, "Don't worry," she then smiled reassuringly, "It's nothing of THAT sort… but it may be worse—for you that is…"

"If that's suppose to make me feel better, sorry but that didn't do jack."

"Tsk, I don't think your mother would appreciate it very much if she hears you talk like that," she shook her head disapprovingly and grabbed his hand, "Let's go."

Syaoran looked at her and laughed, "Fine, fine, but were not going anywhere with you looking like that." Sakura returned his gaze and frowned unhappily, "How much worse can you possibly make this for me?"

He threw a pair of jeans to her face and smirked, "A lot worse."

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The smirk didn't leave his face until they reached the grocery store. Beside him, Sakura looked like a hobo, Syaoran's clothes were too big for her and she had nearly tripped countless times. She wore his black leather belt to keep the jeans steady on her hips and his big, rubber slippers, tumbling once in awhile whenever she stepped on her own feet.

"This is not funny." She said menacingly, "A disgrace!"

"Since you dragged me all the way here, you must as well amuse me right? Were even." He retorted as a hint of anger and uneasiness blended with his firm voice, "Just hurry and get what you need. I want to get out of her as soon as possible."

"What's the rush?" she asked, tugging at her belt to pull it up, "I want to look in every aisle but?" The moment they entered through the automatic sliding doors of the grocery store, Sakura had noticed how Syaoran seemed so restless. While heading to the cart and basket area, he examined every check out counter fretfully as Sakura realised that he was trying to avoid someone. At this point she was insistent to find out who it was as she motioned for him to fetch a trolley.

"Don't you think the cart's too big? I'll carry your stuff for you." He said shrugging off the trolley idea, "Let's go inside."

"Can I get those cute red baskets instead then?" she pleaded pointing to the heap and pouting innocently, "Please?"

"Okay whatever but I'm not carrying that thing for you."

Walking through the aisles wasn't as bad as Syaoran thought it would be, although he still found it odd that he was in a grocery store. The last time he was in such a place was when he was five when he became so attached to one of the maids and ordered her to take him with her to buy some milk and bread. He could remember how happy he was; fascinated by every colourful box and bottles they had passed by and wanting to take them all home. Since then, he hadn't been near a grocery store, his education and training became too demanding that it hindered him from wandering off to do something as petty as grocery shopping, he was the heir to the Li business and fortune after all.

They passed by the freezers, the cold air somewhat calming him and easing his worries. He glanced up and watched Sakura as she struggled to walk in front of him, her trousers slipping every now and then. The basket she held was already full of packets of chocolates and sweets; he could only wonder what she planned to do with them.

"Do you want anything Syaoran?" she asked, disturbing him from his train of thoughts, "you've been looking at those cheese and dips for awhile now."

His gaze met her and his smirk returned, "Nice of you to ask Sakura, I thought you've forgotten that I was here and that I'm paying for that stuff you're getting."

"Don't start with that, at least I asked right? So you want anything?"

"Yeah, I feel like ice cream."

"Didn't think you were an ice-cream kind of person…"

"Well, I am. But I'm picky about the flavour and the brand."

"Thought as much," she said as they turned a corner and she searched through the fogged up glass doors, "So what flavour?"

"I don't think they'll have it here though, the brand I want," he stated dryly, "It's the expensive stuff."

"Riiiight… well try another brand then you spoilt brat, what flavour?" Syaoran vaguely scowled at her, unimpressed that she had called him a brat but could care less.

It's not as if I'm the one acting like one…

"Triple rocky road with hazelnut and macadamia – which I bet wont be in here."

She squinted through the freezers, her eyes searching through every tub and hoping she could prove him wrong, "Yeah, I don't think they have it."

"Hmp."

"Shut up, I'll pick you another one then. I don't care if you don't like it, you've got to eat it. I mean, even try it okay? We'll eat it together." She tugged at a door and opened it, reaching in for a purple tub of cookies and cream ice cream. Unfortunately, the one she wanted was placed deep within the shelf and she had to lean in, almost half her body was swallowed by the freezer and she stood on tiptoes, reaching as much as she could. Syaoran was facing the other way, looking through other things that he didn't notice Sakura trip into the freezer and hit her head on one of the middle frozen shelves.

"Damnit!" she cursed as everything began to spin and her head fell unto the same middle shelf, the weight of her head causing it to plunge unto the lower shelves. Tubs of ice cream and packets of frozen goods collapsed unto every glass door, creating a series of crashes and causing a few of the glasses to crack from the impact. "Oopsie!"

"Sakura!" He called out, running up to her and pulling her out of the freezer, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah… I think so." She replied dizzily, wobbling against him, "Sorry, I didn't mean to."

"Expect you to bury yourself in a freezer!" he laughed and supported her body with his left arm and took the basket with his other hand, "Let's go."

"Wait, I want my damn ice cream damnit!" she hollered, trying to scamper to the open freezer but Syaoran held her in place, "I got to have it! I got to eat it!"

He sighed and reached for it himself, piling in unto her basket and heading to the register.

"Evil evil ice cream! Bad bad ice cream! I'm going to eat you… you watch!" he heard her whisper again and again, making him shake his head in amusement. After a few more steps, she was finally able to stand on her own but she still wobbled a bit so Syaoran held her hand to steady her.

"Wait, I still have to get something. The reason I came here was for it." She said and squeezed his hand and dragged him to the next aisle. To Syaoran's dismay he found himself being pulled to the 'hygiene' area, they passed by brand after brand of soap and shampoo.

Hell what is this cursed thing?

Finally, Sakura dropped his arm and she stood in front of an over looming shelf full of feminine sanitary pads! She was too busy looking for the packaging that looked pretty that she missed Syaoran's look of horror. Impulsive dread came over him as he looked from side to side to see if anyone was there in the same aisle as them and he slowly walked to the section of shaving creams. Surely, he had grown up with 4 older sisters, he knew about the "monthly" thing but it still freaked him out.

"Syaoran? Which one do you think I should get?" Sakura suddenly asked, deep in concentration, "Come here, which one's nicer? The pink or the purple one?"

"How am I suppose to know?" he said, his face a bright red, "Just pick one and let's get out of here."

"Aww! But the purple one has butterflies on it!"

"Then get the purple ones."

"But the pink ones have nice, cute flowers in them!"

"Then get the pink ones woman!"

"But the purple ones have----"

Syaoran trudged near her and grabbed her hand, taking both the pink packet and the purple packet. He then shoved them in her arms and hauled her to the paying counters with the basket of chocolates and ice cream swinging on his other hand. The moment they got out of the daunting aisle, they nearly bumped unto rushing employees heading to the freezer area. It seemed that they had just found out - Syaoran heard one of them yelling something about an earthquake of frozen foods.

There were long queues in every counter and this irritated Syaoran. He had never, even once in his life, ever had to wait for service – he was used to fast, reliable servants coming to him with the mere click of his fingers.

"Syaoran, I've got a headache," Sakura complained, thrusting the napkin packets unto him, "Can you just hold these for awhile?"

"No, not really." He answered trying to give it back to her, "They're not even that heavy Sakura."

She giggled and looked up at him, "I know but seriously my head hurts."

He snatched them from her arms and cursed to himself, he could never turn down a request from a woman – his mother taught him that much. "Fine, now just try to keep standing okay? We've got to wait in line. I think we need a doctor to check that head of yours."

"Why?" she asked, mildly insulted, thinking he was suggesting that she was crazy, "I'm okay."

"No you're not, apart from your mental problems, there's a bump on your forehead and it's starting to bruise. I mean you DID destroy a whole row of freezers!"

"Great! This day just can't get any better!" she mumbled, ignorant of the looks people were giving them, now that they know that they were responsible for the damages.

"Look over there Syaoran, the line for the express lane is quite bearable." She pointed out and pushed him to the other side of the grocery to line up there, "Hurry your ass up before more people line up."

Syaoran grunted in response and sighed in relief as they finally reached the counter. He poured out the contents of their basket and called Sakura to stand near him and not skip around.

"Good morning, sir! Welcome to Watashi's Grocery. How are you?" a sweet voice greeted him from behind the counter, a tone he knew too well. He looked up and he was suddenly drowning into pools of dark cerulean eyes.

"Haruna…" he whispered as he stood face to face with his ex-girlfriend. Syaoran could only stare as he took in her somewhat matured face, her smooth, straight dark hair tied up in a high pony-tail.

"Syao--- Li," she smiled pleasantly although there was a trace of surprise and coldness in her voice, "Didn't expect you to be the kind to wander around grocery stores."

"I'm not." He said and continued to look at her, thinking to himself how he would just prefer physical torture than to stand there, his emotional anguish eating him up. His face remained still and stagnant, revealing no feeling or reaction.

Haruna was already accustomed to this; she was used to his cold exterior, his unfriendly and charismatic aura commanding fear and respect and the way he had held unto her when they had been together, as if she was a small fragile piece of ceramic, handled tenderly with his calloused hands. They had been happy for quite awhile, she had stayed with him for more than a year and everyone thought they were bound to get married sooner or later. But some things just couldn't be helped, her life was sailing to a different direction to his and she had feared the extent of his devotion to her. She felt that he had loved her far too much, too much than she could handle.

"How's everything going?" she asked amiably, taking each item and sliding them through the scanner, "Your mother? Meiling? And Eriol?"

"Good." He focused his eyes unto a spot behind her head as she took the purple and pink packets and placed them into a plastic bag.

"She's very pretty." Haruna remarked, implying Sakura, "Haven't seen her around Tomoeda before."

Syaoran followed her gaze and settled unto Sakura's crouched form, she was playing with a young toddler in a stroller and the baby's mother seemed to be very fond of her.

"Yeah. She just arrived a few days ago from China," he lied and called Sakura over, "She wanted to see how the grocery store looked like here in Japan."

Sakura's head jerked up as she heard Syaoran call her name, she stood up and muttered a friendly goodbye to the baby and his mother and walked over to Syaoran's side. Before she could even reach him, she sensed the odd atmosphere radiating from both Syaoran and the register girl. Sakura met the girl's gaze square on, beginning to dislike how she looked at her with such hostility and resentment. She slid purposely into Syaoran's warm arms and smiled kindly at the girl, a hint of triumph visible on her face.

"Friend of yours Syaoran?" Sakura asked, tugging lovingly on his shirt, "Hi, I'm Sakura."

Haruna smiled in return, "Haruna, nice to meet you. That'll be $46.95 thanks." She aimed her attention back to Syaoran and waited for him to take out some cash from his wallet, trying to ignore Sakura's shameless show of affection. To Sakura's relief, Syaoran didn't move away or remove his arm around her; he paid Haruna and took the plastic bag from her.

"Thanks!" Sakura tutted and lead the quiet Syaoran out the register, entwining her fingers with his, "Nice to meet you too. See you!" It felt like dragging a ton of rocks to Sakura, Syaoran's steps were hesitant and heavy but his face remained blank. Once they were out of the grocery store and heading for his car, he disentangled himself from Sakura and swiftly got into his sleek, black convertible Porsche, grunting in dismay. Sakura frowned and got into the passenger seat beside him, feeling frustrated.

"I'm guessing she's the one you didn't want to see."

"Not. Now." He snapped, starting the car and reversing hastily from the parking lot, "Just be quiet until we get to my penthouse."

Sakura looked out the window indignantly, "No."

"What do you mean no?" he asked angrily, "What part of NOT NOW don't you get?"

"Don't pick a fight with me Syaoran, not today of all days!" she yelled, her voice overpowering his, "Your not the one suffering PMS here alright!"

He stared intently on the road ahead, concentrating on driving and ignoring Sakura completely. She took a deep breath and calmed herself, throwing him an annoyed look.

"It seems that this is the perfect opportunity for me to tell you everything you need to know, better this way since it looks like you intend to ignore me. I guess this will be an advantage for me that you're not going to cut me off with questions so sit there and shut up, take this all in as it's really important." She ordered and returned to her usual self, speaking evenly and making herself comfortable. He didn't say anything and she took this as a yes; she contemplated over the fact that if he had said something moronic, she would have accidentally transported him to the North Pole in the means of magic and leave him there to freeze over and die.

"The contract you signed contained more than 500 terms and conditions to follow but there's only a few that you really need to know. I'll tell you the other minor ones if an occasion calls for it or if there's a predicted breach in the rules within the contract before you break them.

First of all, as your genie, I am obligated to grant you 5 wishes, only five. You can't wish for more wishes, once granted, these wishes are irreversible and permanent. There is an interval of 2 months for every wish made; you have to answer to every deadline and wish for something before the next interval begins. You are more than welcome to wish way earlier than these deadlines, in fact, it'll be easier that way.

Secondly, the truth of my existence must only be known to you. To put it lightly, those who get involved when they're not suppose to be are taken care of by the severe laws in my world. I am also held responsible for what I share with you; I am not allowed to tell you about the world in which I have come from.

Thirdly, your wishes cannot relate to me in any way. Our relationship must stay conventional and professional, you wish and I grant, that's all there is to it. Anything other than that is punishable by death.

As I exist only to grant you your wishes, as my master, you are bound by contract to care for my well-being. I cannot go any further than 10 metres from you or I'll start to disappear after a period of time, you see, being my master, you are the only being that connects me to your world, let's say you're my life-line in other words. Being too far away from you will be like breaking our connection and it may very well cause my life and yours. Why is your life at risk you ask? It's because the very moment you had finished signing that contract, part of your life have been given to me so I can exist to grant you your wishes. You know what they say? You can never always take and fully receive until you give…

After fulfilling my duties as your genie, my existence will eventually blur until I cease to exist and you will be the only one who will be able to remember me and your wishes will last you for life."

Sakura didn't realise that she had been staring unto the glove compartment in front of her and that they weren't moving anymore. Syaoran had long stopped the car, half way through her speech and he was now just looking down at her.

"What happens then?" he asked curiously as he absorbed every detail she had just recited and tightening his grasp on the steering wheel that his hands had turned white.

"Then its just best to forget…Don't worry it wont be too hard, just erase all of it and live your life."

"I better just turn this car around then, now that I know I cant live you in my pent house in the city." He announced to the still air that surrounded them and both travelled in silence as there was nothing else to say.

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A/N: so what do you think? til next time then,

xoxox... s2.koiishi.s2