DISCLAIMERS: There's no way Slamdunk would be mine . . . yeah. . .

WARNING: Unbelievable OOCness . . . promise. . .

ONE WISH Chapter 3

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"You lied to me!"

"You're so paranoid!" Sendoh shouted. "Is there anything wrong if I enter politics?!"

"You know that's not what I meant," she argued back, trying to control her anger. "We've already talked about that matter. You promised you won't go for politics!"

"It was father who wants me to do it," he said, now in a softer tone. He doesn't want to catch attention from the people in the municipal hall. "I can't do anything about it. And being a principal, your father has a great influence in people, also your grandfather."

She stared at her fiancé in awe, didn't believe herself on what she's hearing. She could have forgiven him for lying at her. But to hear those words from him- the motive he has for marrying her was unacceptable.

"You want to use me," she hissed. "You wanted to marry me not because you loved me, but because you wanted to use us in politics!"

Senoh groaned in a way she thought he think she was so narrow-minded. "You have a wide imagination, Naya. Of course, I love you. Would I ask your hand in married if I do not?"

She was seething with anger. If she trusted herself to speak she couldn't be so sure that the words that would come out from her mouth is enough not to hurt him. They were in the municipal hall because Sendoh was in her father's office, and she doesn't want to make a scene. She turned her back and quickly walked out of the building.

"Naya!" Sendoh shouted, but she didn't turn around. She continued to walk towards her scooter and before he could reach her, she was already driving away.
* * *
"I brought you some food, Naya. You missed your lunch again!" Ritsuko said in her lecturing tone. She placed the basket beside her niece.

"Thanks, Aunt Reiko . . ."

The huge dog beside Naya stood up quickly and sniffed the food inside the basket. The old maid shooed the animal.

"Sendoh passed by the house a while ago, I didn't tell him you were here. He said he would come back. Had a fight? You two are not in speaking terms, lately. It's been days and he's starting to miss you."

The smile on her lips faded. "I don't want to talk to him. What time will I meet father in the pier?" she said, changing the subject.

"He told me that you should be there by six." She turned her gaze to the other basket that was supposed to be for the fishes Naya will catch. She shook her head when she noticed it was still empty. "I'm glad to remember that I should bring you your food even if it was almost dawn, coz you won't get your ass up there not until you catch a single fish."

"I caught a fish, for your information! I just let it go because it was not that big." She looked at her fishing rod, hoping that something would pull in her rod any moment now. "And besides I had brunch so I wasn't hungry." She looked up to her. "Wanna join me? Let's eat. . ."

"No, I have to get back now, if I would wait for you to catch a single fish, we wouldn't have dinner for tonight! And you should go meet your father now, if you don't want to get stuck on the strong waves." The old woman turned her back and walked to the seashores on her way home.

Naya stood up and placed the fishing rod near the tree, then turned to her dog that was still sniffing the basket.

"Chao, Rufus," she told the dog as she opened the basket and picked the food container one by one.

Other than two bananas and a bottle of water, on the plastic canister were the rice and the other one containing two pieces of fried chicken. She gave the tossed the other piece to Rufus.

"If you want that, then there, you can have it." She talked to the dog as if it was a human being. "The bananas and the rice were enough for me. I'm on a . . . diet." She laughed to herself after that, because she loved to eat, and she's very thankful that she's not gaining a single weight.

She was slim for her five feet and six inches height, which was envied by her friends and acquaintances. She may not be categorized as a Miss-World beauty, but Naya was pretty nonetheless. And most of all, Mother Nature blessed her with fine and creamy skin. Her cheerfulness added to her attraction, she was so easy to please and could laugh and smile at a simple joke.

She turned to watch the sea as she put down her feet; half of her legs were under the water. This was her favorite place. The small harbor was being surrounded by many tall coconut trees, small rocks and grasses were to be found near the river. The part of the place was owned by her grandfather and if the land has been a little plainer, it should have been turned into a beach resort if her grandfather was still alive.

The other part in front of the river was the one her father inherited from his parents, it's not that big, in fact it was no more than a half hectare.

The harbor was made by Mariko's father for the big boats used for fishing. Then he started into politics and ran as the captain of their village. Then afterwards became the vice-mayor and served two terms as mayor.

When he ran for vice governor, he leased half of the land on the bank and sold the motor boats to use in the company. He only left a large fishing boat that served as a family use, the one she's sailing across the water back and forth.

And Naya was very thankful that her grandfather didn't sell her favorite place.

*"this was your favorite place, right, Naya?" she remembered her grandfather once said that to her. She was in her first year in high school. "So from this day on . . . this harbor is yours . . ." then his laugh echoed around*

That must be the reason why that part of the property wasn't sold, that even in a "joke" way, he grandfather did gave that to her, and she really appreciated it. She would treasure this place forever.

"Hey!" she shouted at Rufus, who was already pouncing on her food, puppy eyes telling her to let go of the food.

Rufus was one of her grandfather's gifts to her. It was still a puppy when he gave it to her and she fell in love with it on first sight.

She made a face, and then gave the piece to Rufus. "There, have it! You cheater. . ."

She wiped her hands on her pedal pusher and turned to the fishing rod while chewing the remaining food in her mouth. She gathered the line and threw the hook and sinker on the water.

But the hook didn't sink that easily. It made a clink sound, as though it hit a small metal thing.

Naya frowned and stood up, looking at that part of the water. "What was that, Rufus?"

The dog's ears went up and barely made a noise.

"The hook had hit on some kind of a trash bottle!" she said, disappointed while watching the bottle being led on the shore by the small waves. "Damn it. . ." she muttered.

She set aside the fishing rod and reached for the bottle of water on the basket and drank on it. Then she picked the banana and stared at her dog.

"You don't want this!" she shouted, sitting again on the harbor.

She was splashing her feet on the water as she started peeling her banana. She was about to take a bite when she noticed the bottle again, still floating.

"H-hey. . . Rufus take a look at that . . . there's something inside the bottle . . ." she laughed. "Maybe it's a genie, Rufus. Go, get it!" she patted her dog and pointed out her finger on the water.

The dog quickly followed and jumped into the water.

"If that's a genie, Rufus, I'll let it go, and then I'll make a wish; that he made us rich! And my second wish . . ." she paused for a while, thinking what her second wish would be. "I know! I'll make you a human! A rich and handsome Arabian prince!" her laughter echoed again at the foolishness she thought.

Rufus pushed the bottle to her using its mouth. Naya kneeled on the sand near the shore and reached the bottle.

"What's in here?" she said, looking inside the bottle. "Maybe it's a trash." She rolled it over before deciding to open it.

Before she could turn the bottle over, she found that Rufus was already beside her, drying itself (you know how dogs dry themselves *_*) while the water splashed all over Naya.

"Rufus, I'm wet!" she shrieked, pushing the dog away. Then she continued reaching for the paper inside the bottle. Sticking her index finger inside, she managed to pull out the paper.

"Wow, a message in a bottle, Rufus! Just like in the movie!" she was amused. She read what was written on it.

I am a very rich man, but a lonely one. Find me, And I will take you to the ends of the earth . . .

Naya laughed. "Really, huh. And here goes a calling card. Hmmm. . . . K. Rukawa, vice-president, Rukawa Meat Processing Company." She bit her lip and turned to Rufus who was looking at her.

"Who the freaking hell did this, Rufus?" how romantic and foolish. What do you think? Does this man really exist? Is he really the one who wrote this? Or maybe someone picked up his card and planned to play with it. And why would a wealthy man would waste his time doing such foolishness?" she looked at the calling card again. It looked authentic; in fact the texture of the paper was expensive-looking.

"And what does this Rukawa looked like? Oh, well . . . judging by his position in the company. . . I'm sure he's around the age of Bill Gates. Hehe."

She shrugged. She put the paper back on the bottle, while she decided to put the calling card inside her blouse that goes through her bra.

"We will go back here for this, Rufus, after we fetched father. Let's go now or else we'll be late." She said, going down towards the big boat beside the harbor. Rufus jumped towards the boat while she untied the rope on the tree, then brought the engine to life. Soon, they were in the middle of the water to meet her father on the other side of the land who went to visit an old friend.

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They were sailing smoothly and Naya didn't pay much attention on the steering wheel on the boat. She was used to it. The sea was calm and clear and she didn't see any other boat except for a big yacht she was sure was still far enough from them. She moved away from the steering wheel and didn't notice that they were moving slower than the usual. She pulled out the calling card from her blouse and read it again.

"Rukawa Meat Processing Company, Emerald Building, Tokyo. What if I'll take a visit in here after my seminar, what do you think?""

The dog barked as if disagreeing to her plans. She rolled her eyes. Rufus barked again and stood up this time and tried to pounce on the calling card in her hand.

"Hey, what are you doing!?" she shooed the dog, raising her hands in the air.

She lost her balance when the dog tried to pounce again, and to avoid a bad fall she held the steering wheel, accidentally turning it around to other direction.

"Ouch! That hurts . . ." she muttered, massaging her hip that was hit on the side of the boat. "I'm gonna cook you, Rufus, believe me!" she was still holding the steering wheel, getting strength from it to finally stand up, enough for the boat to completely sail into an entirely different direction.

She was getting up when out of nowhere, from her peripheral vision she saw a small speed boat meeting hers. Her eyes grew wide.

"Rufus, the speed boat is going to crash on us!" she screamed at her dog, her two hands on the steering wheel as she struggled to turn the boat into another direction. But the boat was moving slower and slower.

She was so sure the speed boat was going to crash on her boat. She was more worried on the person on the boat, not knowing where it came from and why she didn't hear its engine.

Her boat was quite big and it's not that easy to avoid it besides that no matter how she tried the boat moved slower. As she was still struggling at the steering wheel she saw the man on the speed boat jumped into the water.

"Oh, no!" she put her hands on her eyes.

The speed boat came crushing at the far end of the boat.

The whole boat suddenly shook by its impact, and she wasn't able to hold on as she and Rufus came rolling down at the other side of the boat.

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End of chapter three!

Just wanna thank the first three people who reviewed my fic (the one I accidentally removed) and to mitchy. Thanks again!