Two

Hanna stared at the cat. "Any wish I want?" she repeated. It nodded. She smiled in a way she had never smiled in her life. "I want to own this house instead of my parents. I want to be the one in charge not THEM."

"Anything you wish," the cat bowed. The girl began to grow. "I'm afraid," the cat said. "That doing this requires you to be a bit older."

"Even better," the girl said, her voice changing. Where a 10 year old once stood, an 15 year old replaced her. "Thanks Magi," the girl said. Julie walked in and screamed. "Miss Julie," Hanna said. "It's me Hanna."

"Um, but..... what?" Hanna laughed and smiled.

"This property is mine now." she walked out of the room, followed by Magi, leaving Julie to fall onto the floor out of pure confusion. Hanna walked swiftly down the hall and entered the large dining room. "Where are my parents?" Hanna asked one of the maids bringing laundry into the other room. She screamed and dropped her basket. "Magi," Hanna said.

"Yes malady?"

"Is it possible for you to modify everyone in the mansion's mind? I'm tired of the confused faces."

"Yes I can. I will do so right away," Magi said. Her eyes glowed blue, then died down. The maid picked up her basket.

"I'm sorry Lady Hanna," she said. "I don't know what came over me." and she walked away frowning.

"Great," Hanna said. "Now the fun begins."

~~~

"Um so how exactly can I help?" Kuro asked.

"Long ago," Em started. "There was a war between humankind and the animal race. They were fighting over control. Power over the planet in which they lived. As you can see, humans won. But there are still animals in the world who hold power. These were the animals who wanted nothing to do with war. They never gained or lost anything in that war because they stayed at peace."

"So you were one of those animals. You didn't want war."

"That is correct," Em answered. "I still use my powers only for good. But I fear that I can no longer say the same for the others. They have..... strayed. They see that they are the only of their kind that still hold power and they've grown worse than those that were first at war."

"So why are you asking me to help you? What do you need?"

"Hmm. Well, I have a sister. It seems she has... um strayed along with the others. And now, I must stop her. She has done something unforgivable of animal-kind. She has given her powers to a child. The humans already have their power. If one gets a hold of more power, who knows what they'll do. With my sister as a wish granter, she could spread havoc without even knowing. All because she allowed a human to grasp her power. If you help me change her mind, maybe just maybe, we can stop her before anything truly bad happens."

"Soooo, I have to go with you to some faraway place to stop a rising power?" Kuro asked.

"Precisely. Are you up to it?"

He looked baffled. "My family..."

"Oh that is a problem I suppose," she said. They sat there thinking. "I don't want your family involved. They wouldn't be able to do it-"

"Why me though? I mean, there are at least a MILLION other boys in the world. Why me?"

"You are special Kuro. You possess powers that no one else can wield."‎ Kuro looked thourougly confused. "I cannot tell you what this power is. You must find for yourself what you are destined to do. It will come to you at the right time. For now, you should wait. I will come in a years time and you can think about coming. If you are not up to it, I suppose I could go myself. Please think about it. You could save the world." All of a sudden, she was engulfed in light and she disappeared. Kuro was so confused, that he just walked right back into the house. He went upstairs into his room and fell onto his bed. He spent that whole night thinking, ignoring any knocks at his door. The next morning, he came downstairs, deep rings under his eyes.

"Kuro are you alright?" his mother asked worriedly.

"No," he said. He couldn't tell her what happened no matter what. Who knew if it was even real anymore? Maybe it was just a really long dream. He sat down and ate a little of his breakfast, but found he had no appetite. He walked to the door, grabbed his messenger bag, and put on his shoes. He left for school without saying anything.

"Ah Kuro-" his mom said. He closed the door behind him. He walked, staring at the street.

"WATCH OUT!" a voice yelled. Kuro felt himself being pushed and for the first time, looked up. He saw a girl hanging on to him as he flew into an alleyway. He also saw a car rush behind them. She had brown hair with blue dip-dyed tips. Then they hit the ground. Hard.

"Ouch," he said sitting up.

"WHAT THE HECK WERE YOU THINKING IDIOT?!" she yelled at him. "We both could have gotten SERIOUSLY HURT! Well whatever, we didn't get hurt too bad." She turned to him. "But if you EVER do something that stupid again, I won't jump in next time." she stood up and brushed her dress off. She gave him one last glare and marched off. Kuro, in a state of shock, stood up and continued walking down the street, now with even more to think about in his clouded brain.

"I bet it was all a stupid dream," he thought. "Why would I have some sort of 'special power' anyways?"

"Hey Kuro!" someone yelled. It was Erin, along with Joey and Connie.

"Hey guys," he said.

"Woah," Connie said. "Have a rough night or somethin'?" she asked.

"Oh," he said. "Ya kinda."

"Well it's cool now cause your friend is here to help," Erin said. "How bout we go to that one game store after school? Or," he whispered this quietly. "Wanna ditch school?"

Connie punched him in the gut. "No," she said.

Erin pouted. "No fun," he muttered.

"Heard that," she said.

"Yeah," Kuro thought. "Everything's back to normal. It was all a stupid dream." But somewhere deep inside him, he doubted. He still worried that in a year she would return, asking him to help her. He wanted to do something about it, he really did, but he also wanted to live a normal life. He didn't want to leave his friends.

"-RTH TO KURO, EARTH TO KURO. COME IN KURO!" Connie was waving her hands in front of his face.

"Sorry, sorry," he said.

"Honestly what happened last night?" she looked concerned.

"Nothing really," he said and he tried to walk past her. She stretched her arms out.

"Nope, something happened and you're going to tell us what or we'll all be late to school," she said.

"Aww hurry up and tell us Kuro. My mom HATES when I'm late," It was Joey that had spoken. He barely ever spoke to people. He barely talked at all.

"No, you guys won't believe me," Kuro said.

"We will," Connie said with confidence.

"No, no you won't," he said. "Now we're going to be late." Connie looked hurt and let him pass. Kuro marched ahead. He just couldn't tell them. They'd laugh and say things like, "Nice joke Kuro." he couldn't let that happen. No one could know.

"Um, you okay Connie?" Joey asked.

"Hmph he doesn't have to tell us and I don't need to deal with HIS problems. Let him figure it out himself," she said.

"Oh no," Erin said. "She ALWAYS does this." he sighed. They walked behind her, knowing this would only last a couple hours.