Author Notes: A cute little story about Tao and the main character Akari. I made this pretty quickly, but it's still good. Note- I had to write this WITHOUT playing the game yet. However, I still think I've managed to capture Tao's personality.
"Tao, the fish seem to like you," A girl with raw umber hair ending just at the tip of her shoulders, knelt next to a boy who was sitting Indian-style, watching the fish she pointed to. "I wonder why, don't you work for the fish company and catch them?"
"Maybe they like my carefree-ness," Tao, with a smile that seemed glued to his face, stretched before letting his eyes follow one of the fishes that swam in a circle and bobbed up and down. "Or maybe they like you, Akari."
"I wonder..." Akari fell back onto the grass and rested her arms on her lap as she lay down. "You have a pretty simple life, Tao. You fish, you nap, and of course you eat... but... I do envy you. Life on a farm is pretty tough, especially when the crops are ready to harvest, phew! I bet that's why you chose the fishing company; you can chill out while you fish."
"My uncle gets angry with me because of my laziness, though," Tao lay back, a sweat bead ran down his temple. "I keep telling him though, it's not laziness it's merely a laid-back life style."
"Ha! I'm going to miss being able to do this..."
"Miss?" He still had the unmistakable smile, but a questioning feeling weaved into his look, somehow.
"I..." Akari paused. "I'm leaving this island. I'm heading back to the mainland, Tao... I'm sorry I didn't tell you first but... I'm leaving the farm too; I just haven't been able to do it... I'm leaving it all to this new guy coming... You're the last one I told." Her russet eyes traced his face from the corner of her eye sockets, trying to catch some sort of differing emotion.
"..." He kept the smile, but looked towards the fish in the river. "It'll be a bit lonely here, I guess..."
"So... That's... it..." Akari sighed. Nothing. He hadn't even frowned for a split second. "I'm leaving at six o'clock today. Well... Good-bye Tao." Standing up, she exhaled noisily one more time before slipping off into the distance, heading back to the farm she had once called home.
"..." Tao pulled in the fishing line and gathered up his things. Getting to his own feet, he too began toward home, feeling slightly down, but happy she wasn't terribly sad about leaving. "Uncle, I'm home."
"What? You're home...!? But...! You're not going to stop Akari...??" His uncle Oz had a very confused expression on his face.
"No... It's her decision, as long as she decides it, it must be what she wants," Tao rubbed the back of his neck. "Anyway, I brought some dinner home, I gu-"
"Forget the fish!" Oz gaped. "Akari wanted some sort of eccentric response from you! She was testing if you liked her or not!! She WANTED you to stop her!!" With these words, Tao froze in the position of which he went to set down the tackle box. "She's leaving in five minutes! At this rate, she'll be off the island and then she'l-"
"Say that again." His hair hung in front of his face.
"What? That she'll be leaving in five minutes...?"
"No, before that."
"That Akari wanted you to stop her...??"
"..." Straightening himself up, Tao didn't speak a word as he ran out the front door, which he hadn't done in a very very long time. "A-Akari! Akari! AKARI!" He yelled like a banshee and everyone he passed by grew wide eyes and looks that obviously read: Is that Tao? "AKARI! DON'T GO! AKARI! AKARI! AKARI!" He brought himself all the way to the dock and stopped at the railing, almost proceeding in falling over. "Akari...! I'm... too late...!" He clenched the rails tightly and gritted his teeth at the sight of the white ship in the distance.
"Actually, you're too early."
"Huh...!?" He jerked his body towards the familiar voice to see Akari sitting patiently on a bench. "A-Akari...!"
"Well... What are you doing here...?" She stood up, strode over to him with petite quaint steps. "You should be eating dinner about now... right?"
"..." His eyes opened, revealing jade emeralds as he examined her face, finding the words. With nothing coming to mind, he constricted his arms around her and pulled her in tightly, planting a gentle, yet forceful kiss on her lips. "Akari..." He let go of her and balled his hands into fists. "Don't go.. Please..." As he looked down, waiting for the words "I've already decided" like she normally always said, he was suddenly stunned by a warm embrace and words:
"I... I won't go. Not now, Not Ever."