Kurage Kai

A Wish From The Heart
Written by @laikavtuber"If you could have just one wish granted, what would it be?"
In the deepest part of the ocean, a single bioluminescent jellyfish danced through the waves. It was a slow, almost mournful dance for its friend. A small, soft smile was illuminated in the shimmering blue glow.
Of course, to him, he didn't need the light to see. Being what he was, Kai could see in the inky black depths as well as anyone in a beautiful moonlit night. He simply liked watching his little friend dance, and through his light saw the beauty of the surface world.
"Human, wait! Do not eat me! I am all scale and bone! I can grant your wish in return for my freedom!" He watched a Melanurus Wrasse scream at a human who had caught it mid courtship ritual.
Kai sighed as the human went back and forth with the fish, before reaching out and taking the jellyfish in both hands. "Let's go then."
"You're being too nice," his little friend said from his hands.
Kai ascended to the surface in a shimmering rainbow light as he put a bubble around Tsukki. "Well, it serves my purpose too."
The fisherman and Melanurus Wrasse were bowled over by a harsh wave of sea water. Kai hovered over them, on a throne made of churning waves and foam. Well, he tried to make it look like a simple chair, but it was hard when it was literally drawing water up, it had to flow somewhere, making it look like the back of a throne. This had the unfortunate side effect of making both the human and the fish begin their species' respective signs of respect. Bowing, and whatever the hell fish did.
"Oh great Poseidon! Please spare me! I merely sought to feed my family! Mizuchi, please, I have a wife, eight kids at home, and two mistresses, and four more kids, and a dog! And a cat that sometimes hangs around! I just-!" The human babbled in a panic. "Watatsumi! Please!"
"Oh! My lord! I was just trying to convince this human not to eat me! I wasn't really going to try and intrude on your domain! I just wanted to get a girlfriend and got interrupted!" The colorful Wrasse wasn't quite helping his case.
Kai laughed softly. It was amusing, these mortals. He waved his hand dismissively, accidentally making it seem as if he was causing a wave to crash over the stern. Talk about good timing.
Kai leaned over the human, more menacing than he intended to be but, well, he was a deity. Even a gentle smile would be horrifying for most. "Relax... Tell me. If you could have just one wish granted, what would it be?"
The fisherman's head snapped up, and though Kai kept his soft, friendly gaze, he felt an immense sense of disappointment as soon as he saw the greed in the fisherman's eyes. This was going to be the same as always, wasn't it?
"One wish? Oh, I uh... It would be too presumptuous of me, oh mighty god of the waves, but... Perhaps a treasure, so that I might provide for my family?"
Kai managed to prevent his face from falling a little flat. He could see the man's lies like a dark mist rising from his shoulders. The mist revealed that the man was planning to sell the treasure for personal profit, and not for his family of two. The smile quirked into a small smirk.
"Very well... Wrasse, a scale if you will."
"Eep!" The Wrasse had almost managed to sneak off the ship. Tsukki spun in the bubble of water, flashing an angry red. If fish could have facial expressions, one would assume this Wrasse just witnessed death itself. "As you wish!"
Kai took the scale, and blew on it softly. The scale shone faintly before turning into solid gold. He held it out to the fisherman, who stared at it, frozen. "Take note, fisherman... Take this scale, and plant it within a pot of sand from the beach nearest your house. Water it with a pot of sea water, and it will sprout enough fish to feed your family for a day. It will sprout another of itself with the rotation of the moon. Beware, should you sell or trade the scale's bounty, or the scales themselves, all shall be as poison. Should you understand, take this scale, and provide."
The fisherman snatched the scale with a greedy glint to his eye. Kai closed his eyes with a soft breath. Indeed it was the same as always. After copious groveling, the fisherman left, intending to stockpile the scales and sell them as gold pieces. Clearly he didn't listen.
Kai glanced over toward Wrasse, who swam back towards the friends he'd been hanging out with. It was, yet again, same as always.
"I can't believe Kai granted that guy's wish!" Wrasse laughed.
"Chump's a total pushover, always granting wishes to humans."
"Biased bastard neva gives any to us."
"That's why we can use him to get out of gettin' caught!"
The group swam away laughing. Kai stood on a dais of waves as a harsh rain began. Tsukki’'s shine took on a soft blue glow, and it swam its little bubble over to nuzzle Kai's cheek. Kai gave a small start, having been lost in thought, but smiled at his friend, petting the top of his bell with a finger.
"You're the best, Tsukki." Tsukki nodded. "Of course!" Kai took his friend in hand and descended back to his domain. "Modesty becomes you, old friend." "Obviously!" Tsukki watched Kai lapse into thoughtful silence. He took that opportunity to reminisce about when he'd first met his old friend. It must have been, oh... A few centuries ago, at least?
Tsukki was human then. A mere child: a rambunctious, hot headed orphan. One that, after his usual weekly beating from the village teenagers, was starving. He had saved up all he could to afford that rice ball, hiding it away. Now, he had nothing, as he limped along the beach. Maybe he could find something washed up on shore he could eat. Or find some seaweed...
He had caught sight of him, standing on the waves. A man, staring at the seaside village from a distance. A sea spirit? He looked kind of sad. Oh well, Tsukki needed to eat. He couldn't afford to stare at a spirit for too long.
"Sweet! Some seaweed!" Tsukki exclaimed as he watched a large mass of the stuff wash up towards shore in the tide. He should have been watching where he was rushing. "AAH!"
Tsukki had fallen into the tide after stepping onto... Something. The water shoved him back up on shore, which he used to scramble away from the water. His leg was already badly beaten, what the hell now?
A soft voice startled him from his left side. "Hmm. Looks like you stepped on a sea urchin."
The sea spirit from earlier was crouching beside him, looking at the pin sticking out of the child's foot. Tsukki just scrambled backwards and away, accidentally pushing it deeper and screaming in pain. Kai leapt on him, sitting on his legs and grabbing his ankle. With a single swift movement, and a yelp of pain from Tsukki, Kai pulled the urchin's sting from his flesh.
"Ow ow ow! Hey! What are you doing down there!? Stop that!"
"Oh, sorry." Kai stood up, holding Tsukki by his ankle and accidentally lifting him in the air. Taking his other hand, he wrapped it with some sea water. Placing it over the sting, he drew out the poison, and healed the wound.
"Put me down! I wish you'd put me down already!"
"Oh. As you wish."
Kai let go. After recovering in the sand for a minute, Tsukki jumped up. Somewhere in his diatribe, he noticed he was feeling fine, and his entire leg was feeling better. He stopped, and looked down. No, it wasn't just looking better. It was better. And he felt better over all.
"What the hell did you do?" Tsukkil looked himself over, limbs stuck in silly juxtaposition not unlike the kung fu crane pose.
Kai laughed a little. "I just fixed you up and granted your wish. You were looking a little roughed up, just trying to find some food... Bullies are the same no matter where you go, huh?" As he spoke, Kai placed a pile of fresh seaweed on the sand in front of Tsukki, the same mass the boy had nearly died getting.
Tsukki looked back and forth from the seaweed to the spirit. His father always told him to be careful with spirits, they often expected something in return. The growl of his stomach tossed that advice off the pier, and he dug in.
"So!" He said in between bites, "What brings you out here, spirit? And thanks for my leg."
"You're welcome. I'm just," Kai paused briefly to gather his thoughts. "Doing what I always do. Helping people's wishes."
"What do you get out of it?"
"I don't know. A connection, perhaps? If only for a little while."
Tsukki stopped eating, watching this sea spirit. Wiping the seaweed and water from his hand on his shirt, he held out a hand. "I'm Tsukki."
Kai smiled a bit and shook it. "Kai." "You help wishes along? Who helps you?" the boy asked as he fished around in the mess of seaweed.
Kai glanced at the village, then stared off into the sea. "No one, I guess. Just me, as it always has been. Even when I was human." "You were human?"
Kai shrugged. "It's a vague memory, but the notion is there." "Well. I wish you had someone who could help you... As much as I wish I had a friend sometimes..."
Kai looked down at him. He watched a soft golden mist drift off the boy's shoulders. There was a little darkness there, but he had a pure heart. He smiled softly, and crouched down to be at the child's level. "Truly? If that's the one wish you could have granted, is that honestly it?"
Tsukki flashed him a big, toothy smile and handed him the best piece of seaweed. "Obviously!”

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