Author: Yah...sorry it took so long to update. For some reason the Document Uploading manager thing wouldn't convert my files so that I could post anything. It's strange. I finally managed to get it working though. I've made new resolutions. I am no longer going to say what chapters are next because my predictions are always wrong. This story is turning out to be a lot longer than I expected and no, this chapter is not called, Dinner with Fujimoto...

Chapter 4

A Darn Good Reason to Watch Winnie the Pooh

Dingalingalingalingaling.

Lisa opened her eyes to the blinding light. When it was too much to bear, she stuffed her head back into her pillow, and hit the top of the alarm clock so that the irritating sound would stop.

Lisa groaned. It was yet another day. 'What day is it? Friday? Thursday?

No wait…It is Wednesday!' Luckily, Wednesday was her day off but she also knew that having Friday off was much more relevant and that she would have to go into work one day and ask her boss if she could take Friday off instead.

'You know what that means!' she thought digging her head deeper into her pillow. 'I can't sleep in because I still have to take the kids to school! YAYYYYY.'

She didn't move and drowsily pulled the covers over her head. It wasn't until later that someone opened the door to her room and shouted,

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!"

Ponyo ran into the room, and jumped on the bed so that she could pounce on Lisa. Lisa groaned. "Five more minutes."

"Mom, you have to take us to school." Sosuke's voice cut in. He must have just walked into the room, because Lisa didn't recall him being there when Ponyo came in. Ponyo was jumping on the bed and it made Lisa's head bounce on the pillow which didn't help her sleep much. She could swear that Ponyo's jumping would do some damage to the springs and that her fine white mattress would no longer be comfortable.

"Ok, ok." Lisa gave up, "Get your things ready, I'll be up in two friggin seconds."

"YAAAAAAY" Ponyo shouted gleefully, landing on the floor with a thump and running out of the room to get her things ready, swiftly. Lisa remembered when she was a child and could run around non stop as if your fuel gauge was pointing to full all the time.

Why was it that children, who are always on an ultimate high, meagrely reply, "NO NAP" when you simply suggest they have a nap? Lisa would have loved to have a nap especially just a few more minutes of sleep.

When she finally forced herself up, she rubbed her eyes, and looked at her dull appearance in the mirror. For a split second she reminded herself of Fujimoto, for she had circles under her eyes, but her morning bed hair and her white PJs were the only things that convinced her that she didn't magically swap souls with Fujimoto like what happens in the Freaky Friday with Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis. Lisa did, however believed she was starting to look like the crypt keeper which was a strange analogy, considering that she was just thinking of the Freaky Friday movie.

This was her daily routine of waking up. She saw her frightful appearance, hid her sleep deprived look with a bit of cover up, smelt her breath in her hand to get an idea of how much toothpaste she would need to put on her toothbrush (which would usually be half a tube), then go downstairs to eat her every day bowl of cinnamon toast crunch. Of course the kids preferred Reese's Puff Cereal, but ever since Lisa saw rabbit droppings, it spoiled her appeal of Reese's Puff Cereal.

"It's time to go, you two." Lisa said at the front door, attempting to put on her jacket. "Come on. You were the ones complaining that I was sleeping in. Move your butts."

"Coming!" Sosuke and Ponyo said running into the front hall with their packed lunches. Lisa noticed that Sosuke was carrying a bucket full of water.

"What's that?" Lisa asked crossing her arms.

"Oh this?" Sosuke asked holding the bucket higher, "Ponyo and I found a hermit crab, yesterday. Don't worry mom, we'll take care of him. I'll be really responsible."

"Ahuh." Lisa mused. "You know how your teacher doesn't like animals for show and tell."

"But mom maybe-

"No. Sosuke, leave the crab here. Maybe it's better if he's here. There's less of a chance that he'll get eaten by a cat or a bird."

"But-

"Sosuke." Lisa said sternly. "Remember what happened to Ponyo when you brought her to school? Well I think it's for the best."

Sosuke looked down. "I guess your right." He said solemnly. He placed the bucket on the front counter. "Stay here, Mr. Whiggins." He assured the crab, "Ponyo and I will be back for you soon."

Lisa wondered if she was too harsh on Sosuke. "Hey, don't worry, Sosuke. I'll be home to take care of him." She guaranteed, winking at him. "Are you ready to go Ponyo?"

"Ready!" Ponyo answered, smiling as far as her lips could curl.


Fujimoto paced back and forth in his underwater lair. Within the great bubble, where all his daughters were kept, all seven hundred and eighteen daughters were watching him intently. Their heads would turn back and forth corresponding to his frustrated pace, and all of them seemed like they were waiting for something interesting to happen. Perhaps he would trip. Perhaps another sister would want to turn into a human. Perhaps a giant squid would rip the lair open and eat their father.

Yes, it was very boring being a fish, so they pretty much hoped for something to happen even if it was an extreme dilemma. Hey, if there was a dilemma they would have front row seats.

"How do I leave a note to your mother without making it seem obvious?" Fujimoto asked his many daughters. His daughters exchanged looks and clearly suggested they had no idea what the hell he was talking about. "Right, you girls are only 2, how the heck did I expect you to speak any English at all?"

Again, the girl fishes exchanged glances. They all garbled in high-pitched voices but it was all gibberish, and not a single piece of advice flowed through any of their mouths.

"Well that's just great." Fujimoto mumbled, "I'm speaking to fishes that can't even speak fish, let alone, English." He brushed off dust off his shirt and composed himself very elegantly, giving his daughters a sly look. "Well in that case I can pretty much say anything to you. If you girls think you're so smug you'll be happy to know that I-snuck-in-human-icecream-and-ate-it-secretly-behind-your-backs-then bought-myself-a-stash-of-Pringles-and-Lays-chips-so-that-your-mother-would-be-pisst-that-I-ate-human-food-and-that-I-totally-disregarded-her-rules-and-that-I'm-sick-and-tired-of-being-stuck-with-seven-hundred-and-eighteen-know-it-alls-alone,-even-though-you-don't-even-know-how-to-speak-english-or-french-or-latin-or-german-which-I-slaved-over-when-I-was-your-age-and-that-I-hate-having-to-watch-every-action-you-girls-do-and-hope-you-don't-mess-around-with-the-wrong-people! I hate this save the cheerleader, save the world business. It's predominantly exhausting!"

After Fujimoto's long and plucky speech, the girls merely watched him. All seven hundred and eighteen eyes were on him giving very curious looks. Fujimoto sighed, looking up at the ceiling. "Something told me that you would have no reaction to that whatsoever. I deduce that I'm going to have to write this letter alone."

He walked to a desk in the corner of the room and picked up a feathered quill. Yes, after so many years of visiting humans he was still used to writing with the conventional pen and ink. Moving a ton of clutter off his desk, he picked up a piece of paper, placed it on the empty space on his desk and began scratching.

"Dear, Gran Mamare (My loveliest, dearest, beautiful pearl...of the ocean?)"

He said awkwardly writing the words quickly, and thinking, 'damn, I wish I paid more attention to my poetry teacher. I was never good at poetry...' He continued writing.

"I'll be out late. Some unofficial business has caught my attention above sea level. I must heed to theses affairs, and you probably won't see me until late tonight, that is, if you're actually home. The girls have been acting ill-disciplined, and I've been at my elixirs to calm them down, hence the shoddiness and tackiness of this letter.

Love, Fujimoto."

He finished his letter, with a final stroke of his pen, and then looked it over to see if he did a convincing job. It was lame, but it would have to do for now. And he added, Love to give it more of a compassionate affect.

Fujimoto didn't like it when people asked him to come for dinner…well at least when he was human. The people who had servants at the time, he had no problem's accepting dinner from, for the servants were hired specifically for that purpose. But for people who couldn't afford servants, he felt bad, merely because the woman would have to cook for more people. In this day and age, he knew nobody had servants anymore. Only the disgustingly rich had servants.

He didn't want Lisa to carry the burden of cooking by herself, and something gave him the idea that she actually didn't like cooking, so he felt it would be better if he went in unexpectedly and helped her. Perhaps he would cook for her himself. Anyhow, she probably wouldn't like it if he dropped in early, but in this case, he didn't care if he annoyed her.

­


Lisa stumbled into the house. She had just dropped Ponyo and Sosuke off at school and was still tired from the morning. She hated that, when you get up in the morning for some stupid reason, you come back home and your still tired, yet you don't want to go back to sleep.

"WHY!!!! WHY ME! WHY!" She murmured. She almost knocked the bucket off the counter, and a splashing sound was heard. Some water landed on the floor, but luckily the hermit crab was alright. "Right...I forgot you were here. I suppose I should place you in a more suitable environment."

She ran into the kitchen and went through the cupboards to find their old fish tank. When she found the large circular container, she went out the screen door to head for the shoreline where she could fill buckets of sand and find other fish tank ornaments, when she came back, she decorated the fish tank and poured the bucket of sea water Sosuke brought, into the fish tank where the crab fell in as well.

"There." She announced swiping her hands to rid of the sand. "That should be better for you." She looked around the room grasping the idea that she didn't have much to do at the house alone. Feeling somewhat depressed, she microwaved some popcorn, turned on the TV, and turned on their DVD movie of Winnie the Pooh.

It was just about the only movie that was guaranteed to keep her in the state of mind she was already in, the state that is one level higher than fully depressed.

'I don't feel like preparing anything for dinner right now, I'll just see what I feel like making when the time comes…" She thought, stuffing handfuls of popcorn in her mouth and watching the part where Winnie manages to get stuck in Rabbit's door.

'That reminds me of me.' She growled to herself. 'I'm just a big nothing stuck in some rabbit hole.' She grabbed some ketchup and smothered her popcorn in it without thinking.

The doorbell rang.

This was alarming. Lisa wasn't expecting anyone until later this evening.

"Oh crap, I hope it's not a salesman. I rather it be a burglar with a machine gun." She said standing up rapidly, almost knocking the big bowl of popcorn over. She stood with her shoulders back and head high as if to suggest she wasn't just watching something as juvenile as Winnie the Pooh.

She walked to the front door where she could see a tall, large silhouette on the other side of the window. "Oh, crap. It's a pervert. I knew it would be one of those." Instantly, she grabbed an umbrella from the basket near the shoe rack, and lifted it high so that if the pervert made any vile moves, she would get a clear blow right in the face.

The doorbell rang again.

"Coming in a second," She called to the stranger unsurely, creeping slowly towards the door. She turned the lock little by little, took a deep breath… then, with her heart beating wildly, she promptly swung the door open.

"Lisa I thought-

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! IT SERVES YOU RIGHT TO KNOCK ON MY DOOR, PERVERT!" She screamed shutting her eyes and whacking the stranger in the face with her umbrella.

"Shit! What the hell did you just hit me with?!" The stranger cursed; dropping a bunch of bags and falling to the ground…Lisa looked down at the paper bags he was carrying. They were grocery bags and it was highly unlikely that a pervert would come knocking at your door with grocery bags. When she finally gained courage to look at the stranger- whom she just blindly hit- who was sitting on the ground at her door, she gasped.

Fujimoto was covering his right eye with hands and making sounds inflicted by pain. Lisa dropped the umbrella, rubbed her eyes, and looked at Fujimoto again to make sure it was actually him and not some hallucinated image. When she was sure it was him who knocked on the door, she muttered, "Oh crap," and got to her knees to help him up. "Sorry, Sorry, Sorry, Sorry!" She said, gathering up the grocery bags as well. "I didn't know it was you, you're supposed to be here this evening, not this morning. Not now!"

"I didn't want you to cook for me." Fujimoto notified, suppressing the pain. "I know this sounds strange, but I didn't want you to carry the burden yourself, so I thought I'd come by and… cook with you."

"Haven't you ever heard of a telephone?" Lisa scolded, finally managing to get him standing and leading him inside the house, with his arm around her shoulder. It was hard to carry the grocery bags and have him lean on you at the same time.

"I told you, I forgot I left my cell phone in my pocket when I went undersea and it obviously damaged the device."

"Well if you didn't want me to cook for you then you should have told me you wouldn't bother coming today." Lisa demanded. "I'm sick of you prowling men, only around to annoy women. Stop changing plans and stop 'going with the flow'! You go with the current everyday. You should have at least some fixed plans."

Lisa led Fujimoto to kitchen where she sat him at the table and placed the grocery bags on the counter. Fujimoto sighed and shook his head. You could tell his head was aching, the spot where she had hit him with her umbrella. "I never said I wasn't going to accept your invitation, in fact I was quite obliged to come here. It's infrequent for me to plans with any humans at all."

Lisa looked towards the counter, where she had just placed the bags. "What's with the grocery bags?" She asked tapping her foot lightly on the ground.

"I was thinking we could make Italian food, maybe Moroccan if you feel more up to it." Fujimoto indicated.

Lisa stopped tapping her foot, looked at him and smiled. "I didn't know you were big into cooking."

"Three hundred years of experience, dear." Fujimoto winked. "I have too many stories to share. You'd get bored of them eventually."

"But experience interests me." Lisa explained, inching a bit forward to him.

"Ah, it's funny that you mention that, because there is a woman -who has a strange perspective of things and has a very short temper- that interests me.

The two of them stared at each other for a moment and fell silent. Lisa didn't think it was an awkward silence because awkward silences only happened when you were struggling to think of another topic that would concern your comrade. For some reason, she knew he was thinking the exact same thing… unless he was the typical guy who pretty much imagined every woman they came across naked.

Something broke the silence and was coming from the other room.

The wonderful thing about Tiggers,

are Tiggers are wonderful things

Their tops are made out of rubber

Their bottoms are made out of spring!

They're bouncy, bouncy, bouncy, bouncy,

fun, fun, fun, fun, fun!

The wonderful thing about Tiggers is that I'MMMMMMM the only one!!!!

Lisa's eyes flew wide open. "Shit!! Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!" She cursed, banging her head against her palm several times. She headed towards the TV room in a scurry and Fujimoto laughed.

"You were watching Winnie the Pooh before I got here?" he asked under dormant chuckles.

She went quickly to the TV and turned it off. She had forgotten to turn Winnie the Pooh off when she went to answer the door. When she went back into the kitchen her cheeks turned scarlet. "Great! Now, you must think I'm a weirdo, or some creepy pedophile woman." She suggested.

Fujimoto waved his hands in disagreement. "No, no. I completely understand. I must admit, colours of cartoons do catch the eye."

"It's not because of the colours though! What movies are there to watch when the only people who watch TV in this house are five year olds? And besides, cartoons are heart warming and give a sense of luxury…especially Winnie the Pooh. When you are in a bad mood, you must watch Winnie the Pooh."

"When you are in a…bad mood? Are you saying...you were in a bad mood before I got here?" Fujimoto asked curious.

Lisa slammed her hands on the table. "Don't ask." She growled. "After I went shopping with you, yesterday, I came home to find out that Koichi still wasn't home."

Fujimoto nodded. "I see," he enlightened. Enquiringly and probably wondering whether there was a bruise forming, he put some pressure near his right eye, and flinched in pain. "Ouch…I never saw what you hit me with." he explained.

Lisa snapped out of her daydream of kicking Koichi's butt. "Oh! Oh dear…I hit you with an umbrella." She said, realising that she left Fujimoto sitting at the table in a poor state. "We should probably ice that before it gets worse." She quickly grabbed a bowl, filled it with water, went to the freezer, pulled a couple of ice cubes out and dumped them in the bowl of water. Before she bent down to level herself with where Fujimoto sat, she grabbed a cloth, and soaked it in the bowl of ice water. When she figured the cloth was cold enough, she beckoned for him to lean in closer and started dabbing the spot where she hit him. He winced in pain a few times.

"I reckon I have something significantly close to a black eye… well actually, Ow… I probably do have a black eye, now." Fujimoto muttered.

Lisa laughed, "With those circles you have under your eyes all the time, I don't think anyone will see the difference when you have a black eye."

"Well thank you." Fujimoto replied sarcastically. "You're remarkably rude. Somehow I thought you'd be a little more empathetic, seeing that you're a mother of two."

Lisa bowed her head. "Don't say that, Fujimoto. I do have feelings; you know…I'm sorry if I come across to you as some hormonal, high strung woman who is stereotypical." Lisa stated sadly. She sighed and continued dabbing the cloth on his face. "I try getting to know people…I do! And I try opening new doors with them. Forgive me if I felt a little passive at the beginning…But I know what you're thinking…and I'm sorry… I know I'm a horrible human being… "

Fujimoto shook his head, put his hand over Lisa's to stop her from dabbing over his eye and spoke in tender words. "Lisa, what you're describing is fallacious. I've seen what you can be. You're caring. You know what should be done in horrid situations. Why, you even risked your life to save those at the senior citizen's home back when the hurricane hit this island."

Lisa fell silent, and didn't know what to say to that. She looked down to the ground then smiled. "You're sweet Fujimoto, really."

"But it's true, Lisa." He interjected, "If I hadn't shown up on time, you would have drowned saving the senior's and whoever else was out there's life. You're heroic, Lisa. Truly."

"Shutup." Lisa said jokingly and putting on a smile. "You can stop saying all this mushy stuff, now. Maybe we should start cooking, because if we want a good meal, we are going to need to do some hardcore catering. Now…what did you buy?"

"Couscous, a ton of vegetables, pastas, spices, some meats, cheeses…some other stuff…" Fujimoto listed, standing up from his chair and walking around the kitchen to observe it.

"Great…then let's pre heat the oven!" Lisa said, doing the same, and clapping her hands together.

"But Lisa, we wouldn't need-

Fujimoto stopped in his tracks and stood still for what seemed like ages. He had just passed the fish tank where Sosuke's new crab dwelled and he turned pale as if he had just seen a ghost. Lisa guessed he had just noticed the crab after all this time. Backing up a few paces to get a clear view of the fish tank he asked, "Where did you get that crab, Lisa?"

Lisa shrugged thinking it was no big deal, but when she saw the almost disturbed expression on his face, she answered, "Sosuke found him near the shoreline this morning, or so he says." Lisa briskly walked towards the fish tank, "I presume you'd want us to give him back to the ocean then? I can guess you're touchy on the subject of keeping sea creatures in fish tanks. Sosuke would be sad, and Ponyo, maybe, but I guess I could convince him that the ocean is the best place for an aquatic crustacean to live."

Fujimoto shook his head, "No, no, it's not that." After a few glimpses at the crab he said, "That crab does not come from these waters. It's a species that amalgamates near Bermuda. If you know about the Bermuda triangle, it is the origin of the Atlantic Sea Empire. That's why a ship can not cross its waters without turmoil."

"So, what's so special about it? The crab Sosuke found is a rare find, that's all."

"That crab did not travel here on its own course." Fujimoto whispered. "It's a personal message to me…" He touched the edge of the fish tank, and ran his finger along it.

"The Atlantic will be here," He said, "and they're threatening to claim these oceans under callous circumstances…"


Ooooo scary. O.o. It's not much of a cliffhanger though. I'm going to have to make things a little more exciting from now on. I must admit, so far, this was the most pointless chapter and I was going to add the dinner scene, but then this chapter would have been SOOOOOO long. Consider this a director's cut or somthing :D. I promise, the next one won't be so bad. But hey! Thanks for reading! People seem to like the GranMamare and Fujimoto couple a little more, and I don't mind that couple. I just could never imagine them living together as normal human beings. I could do a fanfiction on them too. Thanks for reading again. I love reading your reviews!