The Father, Daughter Bonding

Chapter I

It's been seventeen months after the Sea of Death invaded the Sea Kingdom, everything was going back to normal.

Samekichi had returned to Wadanohara, and he's living with her, Dolphi, Fukami and Memoca, Wadanohara's other familiars. Of course everybody in the Sea Kingdom apologized to the shark, even Princess Uomi, and he forgives them. Everybody was enjoying life, well everyone except for Wadanohara, who was feeling rather depressed deep inside.

One day, while walking to the Sea of Stars, Wadanohara and Samekichi were taking to each other, when he noticed that the Sea Witch was rather quiet. They both stopped to look at the stars that was continually falling without stopping.

Samekichi turned to her. "Are you okay, Wadanohara? You look a little down lately. Can you tell me what's wrong?" he asked, gently. She turned to face him.

Usually she tell the other familiars that she was perfectly fine, although Fukami could see through her lie, but Samekichi was her first familiar after all; she knows him longer before the other familiars, so Wadanohara sighed, and started to talk after a long silence.

"I don't know, but lately I've been thinking about something, but I don't want to talk about it to the others" she replied.

"Well, what is it then?"

Wadanohara turned away from her shark familiar. "...I've been thinking about him, and I... miss him" she said, looking down. Samekichi thought about it for a while until it finally hit him so quickly.

Her old man... she misses her old man, he thought, feeling sorry for Wadanohara. Samekichi knows this of course.

Wadanohara's father, the Great Sorcerer, Meikai. Although the shark didn't know the Great Sorcerer because he sacrificed his life to restore peace to the sea from the Sea of Death long ago, Samekichi figured that Meikai was a caring father to sacrifice his own life in order to not only to protect the Sea Kingdom, but to protect Wadanohara, and that was way before they were even born.

In fact, even way before that Samekichi was accused, Wadanohara sometimes talks to him about her father. He even saw a portrait of Meikai on the wall of the main room. He can't help but feel sorry for Wadanohara.

Samekichi looked at the stars, placing an arm around her shoulders. "You really missed your dad, huh" Samekichi said after a silence.

"I do, Samekichi. It's funny, even though I never seen his face, I always seen him spiritual when I look at the moon. Strange, right?"

"No, I don't think it's strange. I think it's pretty nice if you talk about your dad a lot, even though you never met him in person."

Wadanohara smiled, and nodded slightly. "Yeah, you're right about that." Wadanohara suddenly stopped smiling, and looked at Samekichi, and he looked at Wadanohara. "Actually, he did say something to me" Wadanohara admitted, smiling.

This made Samekichi surprised and curious. "What did he say to you?" he asked.

"'I always pray for your happiness', that what he said when the Sea of Death invaded us"

Samekichi smiled. "Really, well I hope that you will see him some day."

"Yeah, me too."

_______

A few days passed by, Samekichi was about to go to the surface of the sea, when he spotted Tatsumiya, Meikai's former familiar. He knows that Tatsumiya took care of Wadanohara when the Sea Witch was still a baby, and he knows that the female oar fish was Meikai's first familiar.

Maybe, I could talk to Tatsumiya, maybe she knows more about the Great Sorcerer, Samekichi thought, so he decided to talk to her.

Tatsumiya was walking when she spotted Samekichi walking towards her. This made her surprised 'cause on rare occasions, Samekichi would start a conversation with Tatsumiya. She shook the thought away, and smiled.

"Hello there, Samekichi" Tatsumiya said, sweetly before smiling at Samekichi.

"Hey, Tatsumiya. Can I talk to you about something, if that's okay with you?" he asked.

"Okay, then."

The two familiars walk to the Sea of Stars so that they could have a private conversation. "What is it, you want to talk about?" Tatsumiya asked.

"I want to talk you about... Meikai, the Great Sorcerer" he said, awkwardly. Tatsumiya suddenly stopped, causing Samekichi to stop as well.

"Okay then... what about the Great Sorcerer?"

"Well, Wadanohara mentioned that she felt a little depressed, and then she talks to me about her father, so can you tell me more about her father?"

Tatsumiya closed her eyes, trying to remember of the times she last saw Lord Meikai. "Lord Meikai... is the best witch that I ever knew, like Wadanohara. He's kind, caring, and brave, and calm and collected" a sigh escaped from Tatsumiya's mouth. "He'll do anything to protect everyone in the sea, that's why he sacrificed his life is seal away the Sea of Death."

Tatsumiya opened her eyes. "Why did you ask, Samekichi?"

"Lately, I noticed that Wadanohara would play the piano at sun rise to sun set, there are times that Wadanohara would look at the portrait of her father, and sometimes she would stay up late and look at the moon."

Tatsumiya was completely taken back. Wadanohara had been doing that? Well, Tatsumiya also noticed that Wadanohara was depressed without even saying it.

"How long she's been doing that?"

"She's been doing that just a few months ago, Tatsumiya" Samekichi answered.

Tatsumiya nodded. "I see, so she really misses him, does she?"

"Yeah, but... do you also miss him?"

"Yeah, I miss him" Tatsumiya smiled, looking away him. "If only there was another way to seal the Sea of Death back then, then Meikai wound still be here, and he wound protect Wadanohara, and say sweet things to her."

Samekichi smiled too. "Yeah, that'll be nice." He looked at the stars that were still falling quickly, but gently from the sky.

"Speaking of which" Tatsumiya started, looking back at Samekichi, who looked at her. "Have the other familiars noticed that Wadanohara was depressed?"

"Oh..." Samekichi stopped smiling and had an irritated look on his face. "No, they never noticed it. Honestly, it's like they pretended that they never know a single thing in Wadanohara's head; it's like they are looking at a brick wall."

The female oar fish had an annoyed look on her face. "Oh, I see..."