Childfic Series: Kigai Yuuto

                        It\'s nice to live wishing for something, thinking,

                        \"Let\'s do this, I want to do that\" - but it\'s not bad to live

                        \"for the time being\" and \"going with the flow\" either.

                                     What you are, how you were born.

                                     Sometimes you understand when you live naturally.

                                               -Yuuto Character File

Kigai Yuuto walked along beside his mother down the path towards the beach. This would be the first time he would get to see the ocean. Readjusting his grip on his mother\'s hand, he sighed quietly. He wanted to race ahead, but knew better than to do so. He was supposed to stay with her and his baby sister. He glanced up at her quietly. \"  kaasan, how much longer till we reach the beach?\"

\"Not long, we\'re almost there.\" she said as they began to descend down the hill in front of them. He looked around as they reached the bottom, taking in the white sand and then the massive body of water beyond. He had heard stories about the sea, but most of them had cast it as a deadly frightening thing, one that killed the disrespectful and unwary. It didn\'t seem frightening to him, he stood there for a moment just watching it as it moved slowly over the sand near it.

He felt his hand released and glanced once over at his mother before moving away over the sand towards the water, enthralled by the beauty of it. He heard his name called and paused half way to look back over his shoulder.

\"Don\'t go near the water, Yuuto. Stay up on the sand out of the tide.\"

He sighed and looked back at the waves once more before sitting down and simply watching them move. He didn\'t know why he had to stay back here, it wasn\'t like he was going to go out in it.. he just wanted to touch it. He wondered absently if it felt any different than the water they used at home, would one be able to feel the salt in it? He listened quietly to the sound of the waves moving and sighed quietly again, looking back over his shoulder. A friend of his mother\'s had apparently joined them on the beach and they were currently talking to each other, not minding him for the moment.

An idea came and he absently chewed on his bottom lip as he looked back towards the massive ocean and then at the two women. It wouldn\'t take him long tose ose the distance between the waves and him, he could satisfy his curiosity and come back up onto the beach proper before his mother noticed he had moved. Looking back towards his mother again, he noted she was turned away from him at the moment, obviously trusting him to stay where he was and out of trouble. He hesitated for a moment, he didn\'t normally purposely disobey orders once they were given, but he didn\'t know when he might have this chance again. It had taken a lot of begging and caroling to get this trip. He looked back towards the water again and got up, dusting the sand off his legs before moving towards the ocean.

Pausing for a moment just out of reach of the waves, he slipped his shoes off and gave one last wary glance back towards where the two women still were. So far it appeared they hadn\'t noticed his movement. Giving a small faint smile, he turned back to the waves and moved out over the wet sand, amused how it felt beneath bare feet. He paused a little while out from where he had left his shoes and waited for one of the waves to flow back over the sand he was standing on.

When it did he laughed quietly at feeling of it moving over his feet and ankles. It felt like one of his mother\'s large over-affectionate cats was rubbing itself around his ankles, warm, soft, comforting. He bent down and let it run over his hands as it flowed back out away from him slowly as if reluctant to leave. Something unexpected happened as he watched the next wave come in, part of the water seemed to lift itself up off the sands and dance in the air above it moving slowly towards him. He straightened up and reached out towards it, running small fingers through the stream of water as it danced in front of him, a couple more streams followed it and moved around him, but never really touching him. He laughed again in delight at the show the water was putting on, watching a smaller stream of water split off from the larger body that was dancing through the air to curl in his palm, shimmering and moving sinuously over it.

He was startled when he heard the yell behind him, turning to look behind him, he saw both women were now staring at him and the watery display. He lowered his hand and turned as he saw his mother give Tomoe to the other woman and begin running towards him. He felt guilty for getting caught having disobeying her previous order, flinching faintly as he heard his named called in the sharp tone that usually meant he was in trouble. The water drew back, falling down towards the sand and he sighed sadly as it left.

He waited, head bowed for his mother to come get him and knew now, no matter how much pleading was used next time, there would be no more trips here because of his disobedience. He looked up as he heard the startled gasp of surprise and saw his mother a couple feet in front of him, staring at something behind him in shock and ..fear? Frowning faintly, he turned his hto sto see what it was and stared in astonished awe at the sight of the massive wave that was towering over him. A couple sinuous streams parted from the body of the wave to curl around him as if to comfort. It took him a moment to realize that despite how impossible it sounded the water had reacted to his emotions and inner fear of the punishment to follow the disobedience that he had displayed in defying his mother\'s order to stay on the beach away from the water.

Glancing away from the water to his mother, he again felt guilty for scaring her indirectly. Feeling a faint rush of salty warm air breeze past him he looked back towards the ocean to find the wave had lowered itself back into the rest of the ocean, as if reassured he wasn\'t in any danger now. He moved away from the edge of the shore towards his mother and waited in front of her silently, head down sorrowed.

He was taken completely by surprise as she threw her arms around him and picked him up off the ground, holding him close against her. He felt her turn to move back up the beach, pausing only once and stooping briefly to retrieve his shoes from where he had left them. He wrapped his arms around her neck and rested his head against her shoulder silently. He heard her speaking softly to him as they moved back towards where the other woman waited with his baby sister.

\"You shouldn\'t have done that, you could\'ve been hurt or even killed. You scared me going out into the water like that, you could have drowned.\"

\"It wouldn\'t of hurt me, kaasan.\" He said quietly staring down at the sand. He felt her arms tighten around him briefly at his words and he gave a small soft sigh.

\"The ocean isn\'t as friendly as it seems, Yuuto-kun. You shouldn\'t assume something isn\'t dangerous just because it doesn\'t look dangerous.\"

\"Alright.\"

He felt her arms shift around him and then loosen. He released his hold around her neck as she lowered him back down to stand on his own feet, taking Tomoe back from her friend and settling her against one shoulder before taking one of his hands to lead him back up the hill towards the path they had walked down to reach the beach. He gave the beach and the ocean one last lingering look before it disappeared from sight as they crested the hill. He would have to ask his grandmother about what happened today. Maybe she could tell him why the water acted the way it did. He leaned against his mother\'s side tired and quiet as they left the beach and the salty air behind.