Droplets of Water

Creak.  Slosh.   Creak.   Slosh.

The slow rocking of the wooden rowboat kept time with the gentle waves that ever so slightly listed it back and forth.  The waves were calm this far inside the storm wall, keeping the mist in but also keeping all other weather out.  The rowboat was old, but well made in the way many things from years past were.  Even though it creaked anyone could tell it was still in top shape from the care it obviously received, and would be for many years to come.  

Looking from the side one would almost think this was a boat set adrift, with the oars pulled in and no one visible above the hull.  An experience sailor might note, though, that even for such slight waves, the boat still resisted them much more than mere empty wood, as if there was a weight inside.  And indeed there was.  A 15 year old boy lay on the bottom of the boat, one hand up behind his head to cushion it from the boat more than just his blue shinobi headband could provide.  He was lean and muscular, as shown off by the tight black compression T shirt he wore, which tucked inside a pair of bright cobalt blue bathing trunks  he stared up at the listless grey sky.  It was light grey, one he was used to, the daily grey of Kiri, and at this moment it suited him just fine.

Now that he was alone out on the water, he had some time to just relax, unguarded in this thoughts and expressions.  There were no watchful eyes of his parents to appear normal before, searching to make sure he really was fine, that he had recovered ok and the few days of broodiness after he had returned had past and weren't a sign of something deeper.  No other genin to avoid or be awkward around or chat his ear off.  No judging older ninja, or academy students looking up to him, or acquaintances congratulating their performance over konoha.  He flexed his bare feet, sandals kicks off closer to the bow.  It felt good to be off them and in the open air.

He didn't want to think any more about how to fix what his recent trip had broken.  He didn't want to think any more about how he didn't really want the rank chuunin but maybe he did but no he just wanted the ability to do more things but actually..... it was confusing to be too introspective.  Be like the water.  Clear your mind and let things flow past you.

Creak.   Slosh.   Creak.  Slosh.

Hayate lay on the boat for a bit, just enjoying the silence and rocking of the boat, before he felt totally calm, and then a little bored.  He sat up to retrieve his headphones and cassette player, loaded with custom mixtape and fast forwarded to the exact song he wanted to hear.  Settling back down, he pressed play, and closed his eyes once more, sinking deeply into the music, head nodding and toes tapping slightly to the music.

That was, until he felt a drop of water on his face.  A second one didn't follow, so it couldn't have started raining.  Perhaps a stray splash from a wave hitting awkwardly?  He didn't feel a big rocking, but sometimes it happened.  Still absent of more drops, he didn't even bother to fully rouse himself or open an eye.

DRIP  DRIP.

Two more in quick succesion.  Oh man maybe it was raining.  Damn it, he just wanted some time to....  Hayates thoughts were interrupted by a tugging on his earphones.  Yeah, maybe not rain.

A brown eye shot open to see the unchanged grey sky, and peered around to the source of the tugging, coming face to face with another eye not inches from Hayates own, peering back at him.    He quickly scrambled to sit upright against the far wall of the boat, rocking it viciously, the force pulling the headphones from his head as he move away, the song much fainter now but still audible.  A small orange squid, barely two feet from tip to tip, sat on the boat in a small puddle of water.  As the boat rocked it used two tentacles to hold the headphones up and made a sucking/squeaking noise that if Hayate didn't know better, he would think sounded triumphant and happy.

The little audacious creature then plopped the speakers of the headphones around its body, and then began swaying back and forth.  It closed its eyes and wiggled its tentacles as if it were.... dancing?  Hayate was dumbfounded and stared speechless, motionless, as the creature performed while clearly enjoying the music, not minding him one bit.

This wouldn't do.  Hayate reached over to grab the top arch of the headphones, but the creatures eyes shot open and it wrapped two tentacles around the speakers clamped against its body just as quickly.  It let out an angry suckery squeal, reprimanding him, which he promptly ignored.  Hayate tried to life the headphones off the squid, but it held fast, suckers fully gripped and tensed against him and the boat.  Hayate pulled harder, and the squid had a decision to make.  The suckers holding on to the boat let go, and the squid quickly rose into the air with the headphones.

Hayate was left holding his property, but also a writing ball of tentacles dangling from it, angrily lashing at his hands.   Blows stung a bit, but didn't hurt that much.  Hayate was more confused about what to do next.  The position he was in wasn't tenable, so he slowly lowered the squid back to the boat and, once it settled down, let go of the headphones.  The squid stopped lashing at him and resumed swaying to the beat, but now kept both eyes on Hayate.  

What it didn't watch was Hayates hand slowly, deftly, unplug the headset from the cassette player.  The music stopped, and the squid squealed again, lashing a tentacle impatiently against the boat in his direction, demanding, but clearly not willing to come closer.  Hayate smiled.  It was only so smart.  But it still didn't seem to want to give up the headset, shaking it a bit and pulling it away when the genin slowly reached for it, suckers popping as it crawled along the wood.  It made as if to climb the boat walls, and Hayate quickly plugged it back in before the thing could escape.

The muffled sound of the music could be heard once again, and the squid relaxed, settling back down to the boat floor.   How, exactly, was Hayate going to get his headphones back?

WC 1114

It had been a full five minutes, maybe even ten. A few more tentative grabs had resulted in tentacle slaps, and the situation remained unchanged.

The 15 year old genin now sat on the far side of the wooden rowboat, or at least as far as you could get in the small two person craft. As he thought, he gazed down at the water, past his own blonde reflection. He could just barely make out some fish, and perhaps the very hazy outline of the ocean floor. He was still pretty shallow......

That gave him an idea. Hayate had been fishing with his grandfather several times. On one or two occasions, they had followed a shoal of squids to find fresh whelks for his grandmother's special soup.... Hayate didn't care for it too much, and thankfully she didn't make it too often, but the squids seemed to love the little sea snails. The boy took another look at the squid, but it still seemed to be happily jamming away, eyes shut, rocking back and forth.

So he slipped over the edge of the boat into the cool water, diving deep. With powerful, practiced kicks he went straight down, farther and farther, until he reaches the bottom. Sure enough, a few of the shelled creatures clung to the ocean floor. Hayate grabbed the biggest one he could find and turned to face the surface, giving a powerful kick off the sea floor and flutter kicking to the top. Appearing a few feet to the side of the boat, Hayate carefully navigated back to the side he was on before, opposite the squid. A few quick handseals - tiger/dog/horse - and the whelk in his hand faded from view as a thin layer of seawater mixed with chakra rose to coat it and then bend the light around it. He swished it around a few times to test the jutsu, but only a blur appeared, as if vaseline was smeared on glass right in front of where he was looking, the whelk didn't reappear. Perfect.

He chucked the whelk into the boat then hoisted himself in, rocking it slightly. The small orange pest looked up, and wiggled his tentacles around, sensing something but not seeing what he was looking for. Hayate took this opportunity to get a little closer to the squid, a little more, then.... He released the jutsu.

The whelk appeared out of nowhere, and thanks to his moving aside, the squid now had a clear path to it. The orange thing looked at Hayate, then the whelk, then back to Hayate.... then started a mad dash toward the whelk, using all its limbs to scramble over before his imagined competition, the human, could make it there first.

Hayate took the opportunity to swipe with all his speed at the headphones now that the slower squid wasn't actively holding on to them, and deftly took them right off the smooth head. It didn't even seem to notice until it had pulled the whelk into the middle of its tentacles for a gruesome end. It was only after the shell was tossed aside that it seemed to cock its head, noticing the absence of music, and feel around its own body with its tentacles, probing for the headphones. By this time, Hayate had been careful enough to perform the same jutsu on the headphones, making it disappear from sight.

When it finally was clear the music was gone, the squid narrowed its eyes at Hayate and made suspicious squealing sound, but hayate just smiled and held up his hands, standing up to show he didn't have anything. The squid eyed him some more, but then looked back to the shell, and seemed to think real hard. It finally seemed to come to a conclusion, and picked up the whelk shell in one tentacle.

It slowly, carefully ambled over toward Hayate, who turned wary. However, the squid set the shell down by Hayates feet, and then slowly patted his foot twice. Could.... could it have realized he gave it the whelk? As he pondered, it climbed up onto the edge of the boat and turned to look at him. It gave a contented suckery squeal and, no lie, lifted one tentacle in a mock salute, then fell off the side into the water with a splash.

As the Jutsu wore off and the headphones slowly faded back into view, Hayate sat down, stunned. Did that just happen? Did he just get saluted by a squid? What on earth? He clicked off the music and just sat for a little while longer.

He had been out long enough, and that had definitely cleared his mind. He took up the oars of the small craft and began to row toward his grandparents small dock on bottom of the cliff. As he neared it, little drops of rain began to fall haphazardly, creating telltale ripples on the relatively calm water. It wasn't enough to soak him, just the very start, the harbinger of real rain, but it felt right, like the proper end to a day, to his thoughts, to everything that had happened recently. He was ready to move on.

And he felt certain he'd see that little orange guy again. In fact, after he finished tying up the boat, he thought he saw a spec of orange speeding by not to far away, just under the surface, without a care in the world.

Like a Flying Dream, Hayate thought to himself. Hikō Yume.

920 words
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exit
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total word count: 2034
10 stats
2000wc toward familiar: Hiko Yume
34 words to Split Second B rank, bringing it from 1618/3k to 1652/3K

Approved.