So, it occurred to me that Akira was very underappreciated in the fanfic archive, and I always wondered how he would process the events that were happening around him. And so this little one-shot happened.

Anyway, there may be some confusion because this is a third person POV of Akira, and so he will refer to various characters by different names depending on his age ('Namaka' being the obvious example). So I have put a little note at the end of the fic to clear that up.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the fic!

A lot of things happened in the year Akira turned four.

It all started with the Tomoebi. That in itself was a special event, for apparently it used to be something that could only be viewed underwater. But now, because of the ice, it could be seen by the surface.

Miu watched it with her class that evening, while he stayed with Mama and Papa and watched it. It was bright, and beautiful, but it became special because with it, it brought Mama's little brother-his uncle Hikari, who had been sleeping under the sea for a long time.

Almost as if it was a chain reaction, other things started to happen. Miu got Ena; Kaname (Hikari's friend) awoke. The ice which had always been on the sea slowly started to melt, and the grownups were whispering things behind closed doors. People from Tsugu's university were coming and asking Mama and Miu questions, and that was the first time Akira realised that the world he had seen in his short life hadn't always been the way it was now.

Then Namaka arrived.

When Namaka first arrived, she was asleep, and no amount of noise woke her up for what felt like a long time. Akira drew pictures for her, while Miu and Hikari worried about her. But eventually, she did wake up. Namaka fast became his absolute favourite person (possibly even more than Miu, which was saying something).He wanted to go everywhere with her, and she would happily play with him. But apparently things weren't as good as he thought they were, because Hikari and Miu still looked worried, and so did Tsugu and Kaname and 'Saki.

And that is how the Ofunehiki started. Apparently one had happened before he was born, and that is when Hikari and Kaname and Namaka went to sleep in the sea. He was too young to understand the specific reasons they were doing the Ofunehiki this time around, but he knew it was to do with Namaka.

He watched it with Mama and Papa and Tsugu's grandfather. Although he didn't have a clue what was going on, he knew it was serious, and in some ways, he found the experience captivating. And then Namaka fell into the sea, and Miu went after her, and everything went crazy. From the bits and pieces he had gathered, he knew that the grownups were worried about a repeat of what had happened 5 years ago. So as he watched, he felt a little scared too.

But things had ended happily. Namaka was saved, and so was Miu. Nobody died, and the ice had started to break up. When the sea began to move, and the other sleeping sea-people woke up , he somehow understood that things had changed for the better.

…

Ordinarily, the events would have been ones that he would have forgotten, given time, as he was so young when they had occurred. But they were so significant, and changed the course of his life so much, that they stuck in his mind. Besides, those events had come up time and time again in conversation.

Soon after the sea had started moving, Akira got Ena, just like Miu had. It seemed that any child who had a parent or grandparent who was pure-sea-person was able to get Ena now. The only difference was , unlike a pure sea person , their Ena wasn't at its full strength from birth , and only got stronger over time , so very young children tended to get ill if they stayed too long in the sea. Hence why Mama always got annoyed when he continually dived in the sea. But he enjoyed it-he could visit Namaka, Hikari and even his own grandfather. His Mama had told him about his grandfather, but he hadn't really believed her (or understood her) until he had met him after that Ofunehiki.

A few months after the sea started moving, Akira celebrated his fourth birthday. As well as friends from day-care, all his friends and family from the sea were there. The sun was shining, the salt flake snow had stopped falling, and he had lots and lots of fun. But what made it special was the fact that Egawa's baby was born on that very day.

Akira was taken by Mama to go visit Egawa's wife Yuriko-san in the hospital the next day. The baby was tiny and scrawny with impossibly big brown eyes that looked at his unblinkingly. Akira peered over the crib.

"Hello little baby." The baby made noises, but didn't say anything.

"Mama, why isn't it talking?" he asked.

Mama laughed.

"The baby's a she. A little girl. And she's too young to be able to talk."

"Oh." For some odd reason, this did not deter Akira from babbling on and on at her while Mama and Yuriko talked.

"So , does she have a name yet?"

"We were thinking 'Umiko' , because even though neither of us are from the sea , at the same time , we all are. Because everything comes from the sea , right?"

"Umiko-Chan…I think that's a lovely name. "

"Thanks, Akari-san."

Akira looked at Umiko.

Everything comes from the sea.

…

When he was 5, he gained a baby brother who was named Kazuki. A year after that, Tomoko , his little sister , was born. As he grew up , he became more and more curious about his world , and was constantly asking questions , earning him a reputation as a nosy an inquisitive kid. When his elementary school decided to start a newspaper , he was one of the first to join it.

During school holidays , he would go down to the sea with his siblings and visit everyone he knew down there. Because Dad couldn't come on these trips , occasionally Miu-nee would take him , Kazuki and Tomoko while Mum stayed up top , or sometimes Miu-nee would stay on the surface while Mum took them. During those stays , he would go around Shioshishio and ask questions , and this way he built up a good collection of stories relating to the sea and the life lived down there. With each visit , he felt luckier that half of his origins came from the sea.

…

When he was 10 , Miu-nee announced that she was going to track down her birth-mother's family .

Until that point , Akira had never really thought about the fact that Miu-nee had a different mother to him , Kazuki and Tomoko. It wasn't something that had been hidden from him , and he was aware that as she had grown , Miu-nee looked more and more like the woman in the photograph that stood near the home phone. But it wasn't really something he had thought about until that day.

Miu-nee was 21 then, and had come home from university, where she was studying Oceanography in the same department as Tsumugu-san.

Mum and Dad were nothing but supportive, but behind closed doors , Akira overheard concerns.

"She hadn't been in contact with her family since she left the sea. Are you sure this is okay? I mean , I'll give you every detail that I have , but I'm just not sure…" Dad said.

"Exactly . This isn't those days , when sea people were banished from the sea if they decided to live on the land. Someone needs to let that family know. And I feel like I want to find out more about where I came from , but in the specific , family sense. "Miu-nee replied.

Akira didn't listen to the rest of the conversation , but he knew two things. The first being that Miu-nee was definitely going to find her birth mother's family. The second was that he wanted to help her.

…

Understandably , Miu-nee didn't want him to come at first. But eventually , through sheer persistence , he wore her down. And so , for the first time , he headed to a sea-village that wasn't Shioshishio.

The specifics of the quest , as he had come to think of it , didn't leave a personal impression on him , given that this was Miu-nee's family. But the memories stuck in him long enough for him to write an article about it , frame it , and present it to her when she left to return to university.

When the family went to visit her in her apartment for the new year , he saw his article hung up in the living room.

It was at that moment that he knew he wanted to become a journalist.

…

School was a mixture of hate and love for him. On one hand , he hated studying , but his personal ambitions were a motivator , and he participated fully in the school newspapers in both middle and high school.

Kazuki was a bit of a nerd, on the other hand, and his grades put Akira's to shame every time. Tomoko, on the other hand was creative and artistic, and sometimes ended up with grades even worse than his(although neither of them had ever failed a year). His small circle of friends (both in his own year group and the ones closer to Kazuki and Tomoko's ages) were average, although not without quirks of their own.

But it was Umiko who he was secretly the most proud of. She was smart, smarter than Kazuki , but she wasn't a nerd about it. Infact, she was actually pretty cool. This might have had something to do with the fact that she had skipped a year at the beginning of middle school, but overall , she was cool. And as the years went by , this was an opinion he held that was in a way that was more than just-a-friend.

Of course , this wasn't really something he showed. On the outside , whenever they were all in a group , he treated her the same as he would any of his other younger friends. But when alone , it was as if they had completely knew each other. Just like he had when she was a baby , he was often the one who talked the most. But even so , there was an understanding.

…

For his 18th birthday, he was allowed to have a barbeque by the beach, with no parental supervision. Kaname and Sayu-nee had come down from the city with their 8 year old son Satoshi, but Sayu-nee had gone with Satoshi to visit Miu-nee, and so Kaname was pretty much the only adult there. And Kaname was pretty cool.

Along with his closest school friends, Kazuki, Tomoko, Umiko, Mucchi, Kaede and Tomoko's two best friends, Eriko and Mei , were the ones he had invited , and they were all enjoying the food and generally having a good time.

This continued even as the sun went down. But as the sky got darker , and the waves lapped at the shore quietly , Akira started to think back to the events of 15 years ago.

It all started here , didn't it? No , not quite here. But this beach , this is where it all started , when Miu-nee and Tsumugu-san found Hikari.

He wandered away , until the waves were hitting his bare feet , thinking about events that he hadn't really experienced , but had been told about over the years. Things that he shouldn't remember , but somehow did.

"Akira?"

He turned.

"Umiko."

"What are you doing?" she walked up to him , looking at him curiously.

"Thinking."

"I can see that. What about?"

Weirdly, he actually had to think about his response to that. "The sea."

"Ahh, how sweet. D'ya think about me often?"

Akira tilted his head as he regarded his friend. 14 years old, and yet nearly as tall as him, with eyes that were still impossibly wide and ridiculously dark. Such comforting eyes.

"Is that a serious question?"

"Duh!" Funnily enough, she did look serious.

"Well…in that case yes."

She was silent after that , and looked down at the ground , tracing patterns in the wet sand with her toe.

Akira waited for her to say something , but she didn't. Eventually , Tomoko called them over for more food , and he decided to break the silence.

"Let's walk slowly , and we'll talk." He declared. So they did.

"Well ", he asked "What's up?"

"You are leaving."

It took Akira a moment to realise that she was referring to the fact that he'd soon be leaving to study Journalism at university.

"Oh. "

"Oh? That's all you have to say?" Umiko seemed angry.

"It's not permanent though." he explained. "I'll be back during the holidays."

Umiko just gave him a look, and then he realised that maybe that wasn't enough. He flashbacked to the day after she was born and he had looked in on her and wondered why she didn't talk. That seemed like such a long time ago, but that had been the start of something. What that something was, he didn't know. But he did have his suspicions.

"And when I have finished, I will come back. For you. If you want." He gave her a sideways look. Judging by the smile that began to spread across her face, he had said the right thing.

"Really?"

"Have I ever lied to you?"

Umiko shook her head.

"You see?"

"How are you able to say that so easily?"

"How? Well…how do I put this…" he looked at the reflection of the moon on the water, searching for the words. An odd concept for him, being without words. Eventually, he spoke again. "Just like your name….everything comes from the sea. Why would I not return?"

As soon as he said it , he cursed himself , and hoped that he hadn't made a stupid fool of himself. But Umiko seemed to understand, even if he didn't completely.

And that was enough.

Miu/Miu-nee=Miuna.

'Saki=Chisaki.

Tsugu=Tsumugu

Mucchi=Mugen . She's a made up character- to be exact , she is Tsumugu and Chisaki's eldest daughter.

And I'm sure we all know who Namaka is.

Anyway, I intend on doing NagiAsu Epilogue fics from a Tsumugu/Chisaki as well as a Kaname/Sayu viewpoint. I also plan on writing a one-shot that goes into greater detail about the time Miuna decides to track down her birth mother's family. But I don't know when that will be. Probably not any time soon. But it'll happen eventually.