Chase rubbed his hand against his forehead, scowling. "Ouch," he said, but his tone was light. He lifted his feet off the ground and doggy-paddled animatedly out to deeper water, which was entirely dark and cloudy. He could barely see the outlines of his legs in the water. He motioned to Kazumi. "Come on."

"aye aye sir!" kazu said and dove underwater. She popped up a few seocnds later in the deeper water. "man!" she said. "you ca't see anything down there!" kazu half-smiled. Then, she let out a shirek. "EEKKKK!" she yelled. "something brushed agenst my let!" "oh wait, i think it was just seaweed." she said letting out a sigh of reileif. "it's happend to me enough times i should know better." she said. A sweat drop appeared on her head.

Chase exhaled loudly. "Don't scare me like that!" he scolded, wagging his finger at her and frowning. "I thought I was going to have to punch a shark in the schnoz, or something." He flopped back in the water and kicked his legs, propelling himself further into the water. He looked at the shore, which was getting further and further away as he swam. He didn't like the shoreline; too crowded more often than not. He liked the open water.

Kazumi laughed hastraicly. "with that attitude, i bet you could!" "wow! chase-san is alot of fun!" kazu said closing her eyes and smiling. "kazumi's glad she met him!" kazu said speaking in third person for no appernt reason. "hey, want to have a breath-holding contest?" "whoever can hold his breath the lost, wins!" 'but i'm not going to take it easy on you, kay?" "i'm an expert, concidering i've lived on a farm all my life!"

"What does living on a farm have to do with holding your breath?" Chase asked, raising his eyebrows. "Whatever." He grinned, and then said in a rush, "Readysetgo." He took a deep breath and disappeared under the water, closing his eyes and counting. One, two, three, four... He and his sister would have competitions like this a lot. He usually won.

Kazu went under at the same time. She started to count in her head as well. Her eyes were closed, she was relaxed, and didn't think-just did. The smell. kazu thought the answer to his question. She completely cleared her mind. Thinking of nothing. Then, that picture, that horrible scene flashed in her head. Her father..on the ground..barley breathing. Her eyes shot open and water rushed into her lungs. She quickly went to the surface coughing and hacking. Why...did i think of that all of a sudden? she wondered. why papa? why now? She gapsed and gapsed for air. Swallowed more than i thought.

Beneath the murky water, without his glasses, it was surprising that Chase could see Kazumi shooting up to the surface. But he did, and he followed her up, grinning. "I win!" he crowed, pumping his fist up into the air. Then he looked at Kazumi again; she was coughing and gasping for breath. He frowned and swam over to her, treading water by her. "What happened? Swallow ocean water, or get it up your nose?" he asked sympathetically. Many a time had the water gone down something it wasn't supposed to. The stinging wasn't pleasant.

"n-i'm fine." kazu said still coughing. "i was just caught off gaurd..is all." "you got lucky." kazu coughed even harder. Of all times, papa, why now? She was slightly embaressed. "wow." she said in a rough voice. "i feel stupid right now." "i'm going to have to win agenst you one day or another you know." she laghed, but the laugh turned into a cough.

Chase grinned. "You sure you want to risk a rematch, princess?" He hesitated, and then shook his head. "Yeah. You need to get out of the water. As in, now. I don't want you to choke to death in the middle of the ocean." He grabbed her wrist and began to paddle back to shore, standing up as soon as he could feel the ocean floor. "You sure you're okay?" he asked.

"You sure you want to risk a rematch, princess?" chase said. Kazus eyes widend. P-princess? she thought. Next thing she knew, she was being pulled through the water. "ah! right!' she said. Kazu hadn't heard what chase had said, she agreed anyway, though. "erm..i'm sorry." she said looking away. "kinda ruined it, didn't I?" she closed her eyes and smiled. A sweat drop appeaed on her head. "it seems like both times we've hung out..i've done something over-dramatic or wrong." "i'll try and be better, i promise.."

Chase chuckled. "I have a little sister. I'm totally used to drama." He grinned at her as the water started getting lower and lower, and soon, they were on the shore. "It's really not that big of a deal. I was getting waterlogged, anyways." He held up his hands as proof. The skin on his fingers was wrinkled and pale. "Let's do something a little less crazy next time," he suggested. "Hey, let's get some dinner sometime, or something. We could get a whole group of people together, and have a dinner party, or something." He immediately started to think of people he could invite along.

Kazu's face lit up. "ah! that would me fun!" "i knw so many people we could invite too!♥" "but where would we go?" kazu started to rack through her brain. "let's see, there's a diner on sunshine island. there's a cafe too." "there's a bar in for-get-me-not valley...hmmm." "where would you want to go chase-san?"

"Well, there's good restaurants in pretty much every town..." Chase thought for a moment. After a pause, he snapped his fingers and said, "I've got it! There's a Fireworks display in Forget-Me-Not tomorrow. We can get dinner either here in Mineral Town, or in Sunshine Island, which is on the way to Forget-Me-Not, and then we can go to the Fireworks afterwards!"

Kazu's eyes sparkled. "waaaa! that'd be so cool!" "i'd love to see the fireworks festival♥" "that'd be so much fun!" "waaaa! i'm so excited!" Kazu bounced up and down while clapping her hands. "i'm looking forward to it!" she said. "but...who else will we invite..?" she wondered. "ian-san might like to go....but then again, you never know with him." "hmmmm. what do you think?"

Chase thought for a second. "Well, you invite anyone you think might want to go. And I'll do the same. Sure, I don't know that many people yet, but..." He had just moved there, and didn't know as many people as Kazumi did, but the people he had met were nice enough. He smiled. "This is gonna be fun. And then we can all go together to the fireworks and not have to worry about watching 'em alone, or whatever."

"sounds nice!" kazu said looking at him and smiling gently. They finally reached the shore. "so...i'll see you then?" she asked picking up her clothes. She brushed some wet hair out of her face. "oh, and you said you had a little sister? i'd like to meet her someday." kazu closed her eyes and smiled. "she's lucky, she has a big brother like you♥" "i never had any siblings, but i'm sure it must be loads of fun!" "well, see you around then!" kazu waved and started to walk off.