~Vaster than the Sea, Wider than the Sky~

Disclaimer: The characters in this fanfiction belong to Studio Ghibli. Copyright infringement is not intended.

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Wizards did not make their own tea the way normal people did. That was one of the first things Ponyo learnt quickly about her father. They magicked it into being from the very ether with some muttering, accompanied by a lot of hand waving. And this morning, there was a lot of limb action involved. Fujimoto seemed grumpier than usual as he puttered about getting their breakfast ready. When she looked outside, the sea was a stern iron-grey and heavy rain laden clouds hovered on the horizon. Perhaps the weather was making him cranky. Fujimoto muttered again. The teapot glowed slightly and then exhaled a small puff of steam. Tea was ready and she lifted the lid, sniffing the amber liquid happily. "Make sure you eat more," he said as he hovered over to the window. At nine, her bright eyes already displayed a sharp perceptivity as she nibbled a piece of buttered toast. "Is something the matter papa?"

He flapped a hand in her direction vaguely. "Nothing to worry about," he said in what he considered to be a soothing, nonchalant tone which (had he known) completely failed to work with Ponyo. Concerned, she picked up a second piece of toast and followed her father to the living room where she watched him mull over the coats on the stand. One was a light denim one which he wore to 'blend in' with the regular people but the other was a flamboyant thing in peacock blue and yellow stripes and trimmed with gold buttons; a wizard's coat. A blast of wind gusted in, rattling all the windows and her father looked up sharply before snatching up the second one. "Wait here," he remembered to say before running out.

Typically, Ponyo opted instead to poke her head curiously out of the front door Fujimoto had left gaping wide open in his wake. He had his arms folded expectantly as he stood in the middle of the lawn, staring up at the sky. Fat drops of water began falling but he didn't move (living in the sea for most of one's life did have its advantages). Catching sight of her, he shot her a warning look and she nodded obligingly before disappearing back inside.

Twenty minutes later, wet and shivering slightly, Fujimoto was scowling up at the clouds with a thunderous expression that was more than a match for them. He was drenched (which is a very different feeling from being fully submerged). He was cold. "If you're going to appear," he growled, feeling his empty stomach growl in return, "you should do so now instead of manifesting all these dramatic conditions for a quarter of an hour and running!"

Nothing happened.

The wind continued to howl at him and then, with an abrupt crash and a clatter, Ponyo threw the door open again, disabling all his protective spells in the process.

'Ponyo!" he yelled indignantly and missed the front bit of her excited chatter. "and I said to tell you to come in!" she gabbled before dashing away again.

"Eh? Don't run – you'll trip – fall," he panted, giving the sky an evil look before giving chase. Why were nine year olds such a handful? He entered the house just in time to watch his daughter run out to the other end where she threw open the backdoor to a flurry of icy wind and water. "Come in!" she yelled up at the presence standing outside.

"No!" he protested, casting his strongest defense magic on the open doorway. The strong magical force that he had sensed faded away as he shut the door. He glared at Ponyo. "How many times do I have to tell you not to open the door to strangers?" She pouted.

"He's not a stranger!" The door rattled violently and they both fell silent. Then, there was a loud but polite rap on the wood of it. Ponyo stared up at him truculently, her eyes heavy with anticipation. "He's not a stranger!" she repeated.

"Alright," he assented at last, "I'll see what he wants and you stay here behind me."

"Uhuh."

He opened the door and very nearly closed it again. A dragon. He'd never seen one up close like this and the aura it was exuding was powerful. It had dazzling white scales, a powerful tail that ended in a tuft of teal fur and the teeth. Fujimoto found himself taking a few steps back.

"Hello! Do you like rain?"

The dragon peered round at the girl with her sticky fingers and oily grin and then dipped his head gracefully. Her eyes went round. "Really? Papa doesn't like it that much," she said, wiping her hands on her skirt before sticking it out. "My name's Ponyo."

"Hush," Fujimoto ordered before turning back to the dragon. "I apologise. I was expecting you to come by the front." Before the dragon could answer however, there was yet another loud crash in the living room and Sousuke rushed in.

"There's a dragon Fujimoto-san! I saw it circling and then it…" He trailed off, eyes popping as he stared at the creature occupying his friend's back stoop.

Up close, it wasn't anything like the sort of rather fat creatures he'd seen in story books. This one, by comparison, was sort of slender and thin. But all the same, Sousuke was certain the thinness was all muscle and the sleek shiny look to it was due to the hardness of the close fitted armour-like scales that moved with its supple body. The dragon regarded him with light amusement in its olive green eyes and then looked at Fujimoto.

May I come in, it enquired in a surprisingly human voice. Its mouth hadn't moved though, and Sousuke was wondering how it'd spoken when Ponyo began eagerly tugging the new guest in by its large foreleg. Her father wrenched her hand away firmly but gently. "You're in the way. How do you think he'll fit in like this?"

The moment Ponyo's hand left the dragon, a large whirlwind surrounded it and just as quickly as it had appeared, the wind disappeared. Where the large dragon had been, a boy of about seventeen stood. He bowed. "Please forgive the late introduction," he murmured. "I'm Haku, representative from Zeniba, on behalf of the Wizard's Council."

Sousuke was a normal boy. He liked to watch television when Risa allowed him to. He liked shrimp tempura and ham and malt drinks, playing in the surf and talking to the old ladies at the nursing home where his mother worked. He was good in arithmetic and Phy Ed, operating boats and had a working understanding of the international seaman's code.

He just had rather unusual friends. Who seemed to have even stranger acquaintances. Just this morning, as he'd gone out to Ponyo's, the sky had darkened and as the first drops hit the ground, he broke into a run, taking a shortcut through a bushy slope. Looking up, he had seen a wavy strip break from the ranks of clouds massing over the sea and spiral downwards right to where Ponyo's house was. Unlike other children or even adults, Sousuke did not panic. Instead, he focused all his energy into running straight to where the house was. The wavy thing fluttered above him, as if unwilling to land now that it'd seen him, still scrambling over the last leg of scrub and then darted away.

By the time he got there, the front door was open and though Risa had told him many times not to barge in unannounced, this was what he did anyway... to find himself having breakfast opposite a dragon. His initial fear was giving way to genuine curiosity. Although the dragon in front of him appeared to be a boy of sixteen or seventeen (he couldn't quite tell; everybody above the age of thirteen looked the same to him), his eyes were too old for him. Sousuke expected he was probably hundreds of years old, like Ponyo's mother but he didn't quite like to ask. Spirits were as touchy as adults on that matter. He studied the dragon thoughtfully as he sipped his magic tea.

Magic tea. Haku had wondered what strange concoction the little girl would be offering him but when she passed him his portion in a delicate yellow cup, he found it contained a rather watery black tea.

"Please excuse the tea," Fujimoto said sheepishly. "Your arrival was rather… sudden and I was distracted." He waved at the teapot once more and muttered, "stronger!" Heat radiated from the pot and he nodded, satisfied.

Ponyo smiled in delight. "Magic tea!" he saw her mouth as he accepted it. "Thank you. I must apologize too for my unexpected entrance. I had thought the backdoor would be more discreet, given the circumstances." Fujimoto waved aside the apology.

"It's nothing," he grunted, mollified by the dragon's sincere tone.

"How is Zeniba? I've not corresponded with her in at least a decade since her retirement."

"She is well," he answered steadily, "Though, a little more short-tempered than usual because of the pressure from the Council."

Fujimoto nodded. "Yes, it must be difficult." He didn't say the difficult probably lay with her taking on a dragon as an apprentice. Word was out that there would be war if talks broke down with the Coven.

"How did you find my place?" he asked instead. "I made sure it wasn't easy for anyone to locate it."

The dragon smiled. "You do not remember me sir?"

Fujimoto stared at the young man with the strange almond shaped eyes before him. Though he appeared to be in his late teens, he cut an impressive figure with his keen, quiet poise, unforgettable. Fujimoto was absent-minded but he wasn't a dunce. His brow relaxed as on searching his memory, a vision of a bright day at the beach swam into focus. He laughed suddenly with recognition. "But you've grown so much!" he protested. The young man smiled again.

"Zeniba complains all the time about how I grow out my shoes."

Fujimoto waved a hand. "Tell her she should be lucky she's not stuck with an nine year old child with vanity issues." Ponyo stuck her tongue out at him.

"See what I mean," he said, with a glance at the two oil spots on her yellow skirt.

"It was an accident," she muttered.

Haku chuckled. "Brunehilde isn't it?" he asked. To his surprise, the girl shook her head vehemently.

"My name's Ponyo!" she insisted fiercely.

"Alright," he said easily.

She stiffened. "You aren't going to try and call me by my real name?"

"If it's Ponyo you prefer, I'll address you by that," he answered seriously. "Everybody has the right to their own names." Looking up, he noticed the odd look the young boy was giving him. For a moment, he couldn't place it and then realized it was grimness, an expression that didn't seem right on so young a face.

"So, it's Ponyo right?" he confirmed, quickly shifting his attention back to the visibly delighted girl.

"Yes!"

Fujimoto coughed. "Right. To business. How can I help you?"

"About that…" he reached into his blue sleeve and pulled out a letter. Fujimoto accepted it, glancing for a moment at the wax insignia. A lamp and a frog; it was Zeniba's seal. He broke it with a knife and then read the single sheet it contained.

"You wish to stay here."

It wasn't a question and Haku waited. The wizard went back to the letter. "…as an intermediary for the Council…request for…offer protection…trusted member…"

It made sense. Zeniba's letter had made it plain. His little seaside cove was well protected far away from where spirits convened and he and Haku shared the same affinity for water and wind magic. As such, any disturbances in the area would be easily attributed to his work. As plans went, this was a sound one.

"I'll have you know I can't be expected to keep every single fish here quiet. Once outside my barrier, they're not under my jurisdiction," he pointed it. "And a magic user of your level, it's hard to remain inconspicuous." His eyes travelled over the dragon's outfit comprising of a blue smock over a white mandarin collar and grey slacks. It was the garb of apprentice wizards receiving Council training. "The Dragon Coven must be sore with you for siding with the Council."

"Not all of them are. I've been tasked to speak to those who have been neutral so far."

"I had heard that someone from the Council had been appointed as ambassador." He looked at the dragon with renewed respect. "I just didn't think it would have been you."

"You could say I was picked because I'm the only dragon this side."

Fujimoto looked unhappy. "I chose to live here because I didn't want to be involved in Council politics."

"I know," Haku replied. "But surely you must have sensed how the waterways have been affected."

"Yes…" Fujimoto's expression was grim. "The fish have been jumpier than usual." He looked down into his half-finished tea. "It's not that I don't want to help but you've seen for yourself my home. My daughter. The richness of the islands and more importantly the peace." He let the significance of the last bit sink in. The young dragon before him listened with a sympathetic look.

"I understand how much we are asking. And I don't wish to bring the fight here either." He closed his eyes, listening to the sound of waves crashing against the cliff, the mute whispers of ocean life minding its own business. The garden outside was buzzing with small animals and further away, some motor vehicle putting down a slope. It was peaceful. The wizard had done a good job keeping the rhythms of this place harmoniously in sync.

"If I stay here, I will assist in protecting this place. It's the least I can do," he spoke finally. "As you have said, I am a competent magic user… I would like to help. It is places like these that keep something worth working for."

"Thank you for the compliment." Fujimoto smiled and then conceded. "Very well, you have my permission to stay." Haku bowed. "Thank you sir," he said gratefully. "I am glad we understand one another." They shook hands.

And that's that, intro to the other main players from Ponyo done. Chihiro ought to make an appearance soon.

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