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9/10: Prompt: Water. Zoisite reflects on how the ghost he sees every time he is in the water.

A/N: Izou Saitou is Zoisite's human name and has been everytime I write the character.

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The Ghost in the Water

Izou Saitou's morning routine had become very predictable since he entered high school. Get up (quietly so as not to wake his father), sneak out of his dingy apartment (because heaven help him if he accidentally woke up his father from his hangover), and make it to school before anyone else. He didn't even grab breakfast, the water called to him too loudly. No, not the water, the ghost who haunted it. He couldn't remember when it started. Most of his earliest memories seemed to involve the ghost and its strange connection to water.

The most vivid one was when he was little and he was in a swim class in his elementary school. The entire class had been placed in life jackets and were only supposed to get used to trending water. Saitou's straps hadn't been tightened properly and when he jumped into the water the life jacket slipped off and he sank to the bottom of the pool.

He remembered panicking and his immature body was unsure of how to properly react to the incident. Just as he felt his chest tighten from the need for air he saw her. A being of pure white seeming to form from the bubbles escaping his mouth. It grabbed him, gently caressed his face, and lifted him to the pool's edge safely. Saitou didn't know what to make of the situation. It was too unbelievable but he still knew it had happened.

When he would talk about it people would call him crazy or insist he learned to swim on his own to save himself. Yet he could feel it. As if something more connected to his very soul had appeared and aided him in his time of need.

At first he didn't think it would happen and he had just been foolish. Yet, the apparition came again. It was a few months later when he went swimming with some friends in the ocean the event happened again. He was captured by some riptide and forced out to sea. Again, he was lost at the mercy of the water but just as it felt like he couldn't hold his breath any longer.

Yet, once more the mysterious spirit appeared before him. This time though he managed to get a better look at it. It was in the shape of a person but there was much more to it than before. The form was female, slender, with short hair, radiating with blue light, and a smile which melted Saitou's young heart. Once more the apparition helped the young boy in the water and got him back to shore safely.

This time after he was saved, Saiotu didn't tell others about his discovery. He didn't want others to tell him it wasn't real. Instead, he began to experiment and see if there was a way to make the appreciation appear again.

Unfortunately he was young and desperate to make a connection. He chose a dangerous path to obtain his goal. He grabbed a piece of rope and used it to tie a cinder block around himself before jumping into the pool after closing time.

The spirit saved him again but this time it spoke. Not only did it speak but it chastised him for his recluse nature.

"Do not endanger your life," The ghost warned him after depositing him on the edge of the pool. "I will not always be able to appear and save you. This is but a fraction of my power from another time. Do not abuse it."

"I want to know what you are," Saitou pleaded, reaching out and grasping the ghost's hand. It sent a chill down his spine but for some reason it wasn't a terrible sensation. It reminded him of a time long ago and of a memory he couldn't quite grasp.

"Connect with the water," The ghost instructed, a smile once again appearing on its face. "And you will be able to find me."

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So began Saitou's personal devotion to swimming. Everytime he could find a chance to swim he would take it. He made sure to study and get into High School equipped with a pool. Diligently, every morning before class he snuck into school and went for a swim. Just as the ghost promised, the more he swam, the more he saw her. She would be right next to him, in the opposite swim lane swimming next to him. Every time became a race and every time he saw her his heart felt like he was on the verge of obtaining a piece long since missing.

Despite all his efforts, there was one face he couldn't escape. He was chasing a ghost. No matter how much he chased her, the apparitions remained outside just out of his reach. He swam, pushing himself to his absolute limit, but at the end of each session he was left exhausted and still unable to find an answer of who the ghost was or where he had met her before.

Unable to swim anymore, he climbed out of the pool and collapsed onto the cold stone of the gym floor, panting for air. He was so lost in trying to regain his strength he didn't notice the person nearby until they spoke.

"Still going after your water ghost?" Reiko asked, playing on her phone. His neighbor and the closest thing he had to family in the world was the only one he had told about the strange ghost he saw when he was in the water. She had been supportive at first as it seemed to cause him to become devoted to swimming but the more he pushed himself to the breaking point, the more she became worried about his state of mind. "If you keep it up you'll end up a ghost yourself."

"Maybe," Saitou panted, sitting up and ringing the water out of his long hair. "Still…I'm going to keep trying to connect with her."

"Stop this…please," Reiko begged, putting down her phone and shooting Saitou with a look of concern. "I know you want her to be real but…if you keep this up…I'm worried it's becoming an obsession."

Saitou hesitated. He wanted to argue but he knew how it looked to anyone on the outside. Despite how it made his heart leap to see the ghostly form of the water spirit, he had pushed himself to breaking point physically trying to connect with her. On the days school wasn't in session, he would go to the local sports facility to get in more water time there. He was putting in more hours than individuals on the school's swim team.

Sighing, Saitou eventually answered, "Let me think about it."

"Whatever," Reiko grumbled, not wanting to fight with him again so early in the morning. "Get changed, school starts in 20 minutes."

Reiko walked out of the pool area, leaving Saitou alone to compose himself. As he stood up and grabbed a towel to dry himself, Saitou heard a door open and the clicking of heels on the hard ground. He turned towards the noise and saw an unfamiliar face. It was a woman in expensive clothing, sunglasses, and deep red hair. Saitou wondered if she was some new teacher and could only imagine how his immature classmates would act upon seeing such a sophisticated beauty walking around the hallways.

"Izou Saitou?" The woman asked, pulling off her sunglasses. She had eyes as red as her hair and they sent a chill down his spine as he looked at her.

"Who wants to know?" Saitou wondered, beginning to think she wasn't a teacher at all.

"Someone who can help you obtain what you want," The woman replied, emitting a sinister aura. "I can help you to understand your beloved water spirit even deeper."

Saitou hesitated, looking at the woman suspiciously. Few people knew about his ghost and he was absolutely positive this wasn't some kind of prank. The woman before him didn't look like she enjoyed playing pranks. His gaze turned from the woman to the water before turning back to the woman.

"I'm listening," Saitou relented, hoping this woman might actually be able to give him the answers he was searching for.

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First prompt of the week done. With the prompt just being "water" I was immediately inspired by the idea of some part of the Ami connecting with him through water. So he's seeing a ghost of her powers trying to protect him and make sure he doesn't get himself killed. The woman with red hair is obviously Beryl. I'm surprised I've never written a full scene of Beryl approaching one of the Shitensou in the modern era to recruit them before now.

One down and six to go. Reviews are love.