Part One: Elementary School
Chapter One: Uniform

Ponyo stood in front of the mirror, gazing at her reflection. The uniform she wore was a baby-blue-and-white sailor uniform with a lining at the hem of the dress designed to look like waves, and had a matching white beret wrapped with a shiny blue ribbon.

Today was Sosuke and Ponyo's first day of kindergarten, and that meant a new uniform. She never wore much of anything other than her typical red dress, but the uniform for her elementary school seemed to fit her amazing well, almost as if it was made for her.

"Ponyo, it's time for breakfast," Sosuke told Ponyo as he stepped inside the room they shared together, wearing the boy's version of her uniform. As soon as Sosuke sat eyes on Ponyo, his breath caught in his throat, his face flushing a bright red.

Ponyo tilted her head with confusion at his strange reaction. She was still trying to get used to understanding some human emotions, though she has been watching lots of anime to help her learn. Ponyo thought about it, and she realized he was making the same face some of the characters make whenever something embarrassing happens.

"What's wrong, Sosuke?" Ponyo asked with a silly smile, giggling slightly at the thought of something embarrassing happening to Sosuke. Maybe his pants had ripped or maybe Sosuke's mom, Lisa, had said something funny that she hadn't heard. "Sosuke's making a funny face."

"N-nothing is wrong! Just, just-!" Sosuke gulped, looking very intently at the floor. "Just please hurry down for breakfast!" Sosuke slammed the door closed and ran down the stairs, leaving Ponyo behind with a very confused look on her face.

"Where's Ponyo?" Lisa asked Sosuke with a bright smile on her face. Even though she was in a rush, she was excited about bringing Ponyo to school for her first time. It's something that the whole town has been talking about ever since the day Ponyo and Sosuke shared that kiss, that it would be great to see these two grow up together and go to school together – even just the thought of seeing Ponyo, the magical little girl that used to be a fish, in the Hisakawa school uniform was an exciting thought to everyone.

"She's coming," was all Sosuke said as he sat down at the table, blushing so much that his ears were red.

Lisa looked at him suspiciously, but said nothing. She was excited to have Ponyo at the house, don't get her wrong, but as she looked at Sosuke with his flustered face, she's starting to question if it was a good idea to put them in the same room. Lisa had originally thought it would be a good temporary place to have her sleep until they could get an adaption to the house built, since they are both still so young, but she couldn't help being worried about what's going to happen, especially since she'd already seen what great lengths they would go for each other.

As Lisa set the table, Ponyo came storming down the stairs excitedly with a huge grin on her face and screamed out excitedly "HAM!"

"Ponyo, you're supposed to say good morning," Lisa corrected with a giggle, serving the eggs and ham breakfast with a bowl rice that she had prepared for them all. "My, you look so cute in your uniform! Are you excited for going to school with Sosuke for the first time today?"

"Yes!" Ponyo replied happily and leaped into her chair, about to dig in before stopping herself mid-reach for a slice of ham. Ponyo readjusted herself in her chair until she was sitting properly before clapping her hands together and calmingly saying "Itadakimasu."

"Good job, Ponyo!" Sosuke praised Ponyo as Lisa pet her head approvingly.

Ponyo giggled with a huge smile on her face as she picked up her chopsticks - with her hands instead of her feet - and then picked up the ham slices and gulped them down without even chewing.

"Well, it's progress," Lisa said with a chuckle before sitting down at her seat and picking up her own chopsticks. "Itadakimasu."

"Itadakimasu," Sosuke echoed, digging into his breakfast as well.

"What's a school like?" Ponyo asked Sosuke after gulping down her second slice of ham. "Do we swim together in the ocean?"

"No, Ponyo, that's a school of fish," Lisa corrected her with a giggle. "A school for humans is where you learn to do things like read and write and solve math problems or learn about other countries and their languages."

"OOO, OOOO, I WANT TO LEARN A BUNCH OF LANGUAGES!" Ponyo screamed out with excitement, her face covered in rice. "I WANT TO LEARN A BUNCH OF LANGUAGES SO THAT I CAN BE FRIENDS WITH EVERY HUMAN IN THE WORLD!"

"But learning a new language is hard," Sosuke informed Ponyo sadly. "And you won't start learning them until your first year of junior high."

At Ponyo's saddened look, Lisa quickly added "But we could possibly hire a language tutor so that you can start learning earlier."

Ponyo looked at her brightly. "Really?!"

"Really," Lisa assured her with a smile. "Now hurry up and eat, we don't have much time."

The ride to school was so exciting for Ponyo, and it was contagious to everyone they passed as she stuck her head out the car window and waved at everyone. Many of the town's folk waved back and greeted Ponyo with big smiles on their faces, most of them calling their complements to how good she looked in her school uniform.

Most of the towns folk had taken a great liking to Ponyo, saying that she was a blessing from the sea, a gift to them from the Goddess Of Mercy herself. No one blamed her for the town being nearly completely taken over by the water, seeing as how there were no casualties and as soon as the water went back down there was surprisingly no damage to anything, as if it all had been protected by some type of magic. Not-to-mention the fact that all of the residents at the nursing home became blessed with the strength and agility that they had when they were young.

As they began to drive over the bridge, they stopped temporarily upon seeing Granmamare waiting for them.

"MAMA!" Ponyo squealed with excitement as she shot out of the car, Sosuke quickly following behind her, both of them sharing the same grin.

"Good morning Ponyo, Sosuke, Lisa," Granmamare told them all in a soft, soothing tone. "I take it you are happy with your new life as a human so far?"

"Yes!" Ponyo answered happily. "Ponyo eats ham!"

"We are taking care of her," Lisa reassured Garnmamare, stepping forward and placing her hands on Ponyo and Sosuke's shoulders. "And so is everyone else in town. You don't have to worry."

"I wasn't worried about her," Granmamare told Lisa, looking over at Sosuke. "I was worried about your son."

"Sosuke?" Ponyo breathed out with confusion, looking back and forth from Sosuke and Granmamare.

"You've been exposed to a lot of magic, little one," the goddess cooned, brushing her hand against Sosuke's cheek. "You are going to have to follow some rules if you want to stay human. If you want Ponyo to stay human."

"What?" Sosuke said with shock, his eyes filling with horror.

"You said they had more time," Lisa said sadly, though she held herself strong. "You said they had multiple years-"

"And they do," Granmamare interrupted. "But before they get there, Sosuke needs to prepare. It's a simple task, nothing too hard, just needs to grow out his hair."

"Is that all?" Lisa said as Sosuke opened his mouth. "I really need to get them to school."

"That is all," Granmamare told her with the slight bow of her head, starting to turn around and swim back to the ocean. "I do not wish to make Ponyo late for her first day of school." She waved at Ponyo, her gentle smile not seeming to fit with the mood she was leaving. "I will see you again, Sosuke."

"Bye-bye, mama!" Ponyo called out to Granmamare, though her voice wasn't as cheerful as it normally was as she waved goodbye.

"Come on, kids," Lisa told them, pushing them back to the car, as she watched Granmamare disappear into the depths of the ocean. "We should hurry up and head to the opening ceremony."

For the rest of the car ride, they drove in silence. Lisa just focused on the road with her hands clenched tightly to the steering wheel, Sosuke looked down at the floor board with a look like he was still trying to process everything that had been said, and even Ponyo didn't feel like waving to everyone anymore and simply just picked at the hem of her dress.

"Mom–"

"It was nothing you need to worry about, sweetie," Lisa quickly interrupted Sosuke. "It's nothing you have to worry about for years to come. Let's just . . . focus on what's happening now! It's a big day today, you two going to your first day of school!" Lisa tried to sound cheerful, but tears began to streak her face. "You two are going to have so much fun together! You are going to make so many friends, and learn how to read and write and to solve puzzles-!"

Lisa could say no more as she parked the car in front of the school, breaking down as her head hits the car horn, a long, loud blast of a siren escaping the car and blocking out the sounds of her crying.

Ponyo covered up her ears with a grimace, but Sosuke just focused on his mom, pulling her in for a hug. He had no idea what was going on, and had a thousand questions to ask, but all he cared about right now was getting his mom to stop crying. He hated seeing his mom cry - his strong, cheerful mom reduced to sobs was just a painful sight for him to see. It normally happened whenever she and Koichi argued, after they put Sosuke to bed and thought he was asleep. She would always argue about how Koichi was spending too much time at sea on his fishing boat instead of at home, and he would always fight back saying that they probably wouldn't have a home if he didn't put in so many hours on his fishing boat. It would always end with Lisa crying and Koichi hugging her as he repeated over and over again that he was sorry and saying how much he loved her and Sosuke.

Lisa lifted her head and meekly smiled down at Sosuke, wiping away her tears. "Thank you, Sosuke." Lisa took in a deep breath, her back straightening as she got her normal shinning, confident smile her face. "Now, let's go in!"

The opening was rather boring to Ponyo. She couldn't understand some of the big words the teachers and principal were using, making her hope that she would soon be able to understand all of those in her classes.

"Now, I have a surprise for you all," the principal said finally, snapping Ponyo out of her bored daze. "Now, I'm sure all of you know about our towns special little girl, Ponyo, has joined our school starting today to experience what a school is like." People started to excited, looking over at Ponyo and whispering things eagerly to each other. "And I have asked a head of time, and Ponyo would like to say a few words for us. Ponyo?"
"PRESENT!" Ponyo exclaimed excitedly, quickly standing up in her chair and waving her hand back and forth, causing everyone to giggle and laugh at her silliness. Ponyo jumped off the chair, grabbed Sosuke's hand, and began to run to the stage, dragging Sosuke behind her.

"Ponyo!" Sosuke called out to his friend with dismay, struggling to keep up with her. "Slow down, Ponyo!"

Ponyo smiled brightly, ignoring his cries, and ran up the stairs with Sosuke in tow, not stopping until they were right in front of the mic stand, which they shortened down to their size.

"HI!" Ponyo yelled into the mic, but after cringing at its loudness, gets more quiet. "I'm Ponyo! I love ham! And this is Sosuke!" Ponyo raised up Sosuke's hand and pointed at him. "Ponyo loves Sosuke, too!"

The audience laughed with amusement. Lisa let out a sigh, despite the smile on her face.

"Ponyo, I don't think that's what they want you to say," Sosuke says with a chuckle.

"What do they want me to say?" Ponyo asks, tilting her head with curiosity.

"Well, um," Sosuke said into the mic, trying to think of what they really did want her to say. "Why did you want to go to school?"

"To make friends!" Ponyo said proudly with a big, childish grin on her face. "Ponyo wants to make friends at school with Sosuke!"

A united "Awwwww!" comes from most of the audience at Ponyo's cuteness.

"What about the classes?" Sosuke continued, seeming to enjoy himself. "Is there any certain subjects you are looking forward to?"

"Ponyo wants to learn how to speak in many languages!" Ponyo called out excitedly. "And how to make ham!"

Lisa chuckled, muttering "Oh, Ponyo," to herself with affection.

"They do have cooking classes here for when you're older," Sosuke said with a laugh. "But I don't think they teach you specifically how to cook ham."

"Oh," Ponyo said, looking a little sad, before brightening up again. "What about you, Sosuke? What do you want to learn here?"

"Um . . ." Sosuke never thought about that before. What did he want to learn about?
Sosuke flashed back to when Ponyo and he were riding his toy boat across the water on their hunt to try and find his mom, and how he would point to all of the different fish in the water below them and Ponyo would name them all for him. There were so many sizes and colors of fish, and so many that he never heard of and doubted he could ever pronounce their names. He also thought about how glad he felt when he saved Ponyo from that glass jar back when she was still a fish, how fascinated he felt as he looked at her bright orange scales.

"I'd like to learn about fish!" Sosuke said excitedly. "I want to learn about all different kinds of fish in the ocean!"

Another "Awwwww!" was said by the audience, Lisa looking surprised. She remembered all the times Sosuke had said he wanted to be a fisherman like his father, but this was the first time she heard of him specifically wanting to learn about the fish. A smile crept along her face as she watched Ponyo and Sosuke continue to ask each other questions about their hopes and dreams, looking at how happy the two of them looked.

It's all thanks to Ponyo, Lisa thought to herself with pride in her two, beautiful children. Ponyo helped inspired this dream in him.

'Many good things will come to Sosuke from staying by Ponyo's side,' Granmamare's voice echoed in Lisa's head. 'But there are also many bad things that will come to them as well as their children as they continue to love each other in this forbidden romance.'

Lisa gripped her fist tightly, forcing herself to keep a smile on her face as the Pricipal got Ponyo and Sosuke to stop talking and started to wrap up the ceremony. I've already cried too much today, I don't want them to worry any further.
But as the two came back over to their seats, Ponyo chatting with excitement, Sosuke placed his hands onto hers and looked up at Lisa with worry.

"I'm so proud of you two!" Lisa told them and she brought both of them into a huge hug, Ponyo giggling and squirming about as Sosuke just looked at her with concern.

Sosuke is so sharp, Lisa thought to herself, burying her tears in fake laughter. He'll definitely grow up into a fine man.

If he grows up, she added darkly, remembering the conversation she had with Granmamare on that fated day, when all of their lives changed forever.

For better or for worse, Lisa didn't know.

-

A/N - First chapter done! :D

Now, for those of you that are wondering where this fanfiction is going to go, this is basically going to be story following Ponyo and Sosuke's life after the movie Ponyo ended, and this is going to go on for a loooooong time. The first part is going to be about the things happening to them during elementary school, then after that I plan on skipping middle school and going straight to high school, and so on. Sosuke will probably be in his thirties by the time this fanfiction ends.

So, if you like what you see so far, you better strap in, because this is going to be a long and rocky road.