Shirahoshi was the baby of her family, but it was no doubt surprising she was a big girl. The young mermaid princess had been hatched of the biggest egg that had ever been conceived within the kingdom, and it was more surprising how her mother, Queen Otohine had spent months carrying her in the womb.
She was on her way for growing up fast, and her father and older brothers were doing everything to make sure she received the proper care and subsistence to be brought up happily and healthily. Though this was at times difficult, especially when Shirahoshi had discovered a mud pool and decided to play around in it.
The pink-haired princess was barely recognizable having her entire being coated in grimy, greyish mud. She giggled and smirked, blinking her sapphire-blue eyes with glee as she thrashed and swung around playfully like a monster in her imagination. The grime and muck was splattering all around the cove, making the water very murky itself.
"She needs a good cleaning, father." One of her brothers insisted. He, the king of their merfolk society, had no objection on the matter had to be done. "But...Shirahoshi-kun's never had a bath before, and who knows if she'll literally freak if we even tried to help wash her off." Another one of the brothers inquired.
They had settled to make a plan that wouldn't draw too much emotional stress from Shirahoshi, but rather get her to play along and see it wasn't all that bad.
The mermaid blew mud bubbles from her lips, still splashing and giggling mischievously. One of her siblings, Fukaboshi, approached her with a soft smile. "Shirahoshi-imoto, would you please come with your onii-san to play? I think we found more mud pools just asking for you to splash in them."
"Muddy!" Shirahoshi laughed, her voice boasting excitedly. The young mermaid began to crawl after Fukaboshi until they reached a cavern area along the coast. From there, her other brothers and their father were waiting, prepared. Once the pink-haired toddler was in, they set up nets around to keep her from escaping like a child's playpen. She became frightened, knowing it was a trick.
"Now!" Their father exclaimed, as the mermen got to pouring a vat of slimy, pink substance upon Shirahoshi. It was the biggest vat of homemade bubble soap they had, and it began to rinse down on the mermaid like rainfall. Ryuboshi, the second-eldest child, got to lathering and sliding across her backside with
a huge sea sponge. While she was frightened and crying, Shirahoshi was in minutes coated softly in bubbly white foam. She blinked her eyes softly, and then took notice to giggling as it felt fun. The sludgy mud began to slip off her body as Ryuboshi continued scrubbing on her.
"She's seemed to calm down now, father." Fukaboshi added. "Shall we proceed with rinsing her off?" The king nodded, directing for the third son, Manboshi to do his part. Manboshi had called upon for dolphins to appear. The sea mammals began spraying a gush of soft, fresh water from their rounded blue melons at
Shirahoshi. The water cooled her down and rinsed off the bubbly coating, showing off clean, shiny and smoothened skin. Shirahoshi drank some of the water and then splashed it out as spit, still in a cheery, playful mood from her bath experience.
"I think she actually liked it, father." Ryuboshi spoke. Shirahoshi splashed around in the clean water as the nets were let down, chasing after the dolphins as if they were butterflies in a garden.
"Let's just hope she doesn't get into another mud pool for a while..." The king added. Though knowing his daughter, she'd probably just go getting all messy to be washed off once more.