The ocean floor is warm – composed of soft white sand that stretched endlessly, the surface smooth and sparkling as if it were a sea of jewels. This is home – the town of Samezuka. Adobe-esque buildings crafted from sand packed tight, lined the streets - each building adorned with gems of every color save for the stones that glowed red – for those were rare and forbidden – so much in fact that Aiichiro had never seen one.

A herd of small fish bustled by, bringing with it a soft current, and Nitori moved out of the way – playfully poking the hind end of one fish that lingered behind – his gentle touch startling the creature, freezing it in place before it scurried off to join the others. Aiichiro watched them go with the barest hints of a smile, absently waving his raised hand in a gesture of goodbye. It was the kind of action that made Nitori's classmates tease him. Not that Aiichiro minded – it was all in fun and so he didn't take the words of the other kids to heart. He had made several friends amongst the kids in his neighborhood, so it wasn't as if everyone teased him – just the bigger kids – the ones who had bulked up a lot sooner than Nitori had. His body stature was actually the brunt of most of their jokes – but it wasn't as if size mattered and it wasn't like Nitori wasn't just skin and bones – he had a couple muscles here and there developing from helping his mother in the garden. He was sure, that in no time, he would sprout like the vegetables he and his mother cared for.

Even though the other kids teasings didn't really bother Aiichiro, he still tended to distance himself from them - and so as soon as school let out, he'd head to the outskirts of town. To do so he had to pass through the town square – the area busy and bustling with shops. The sea towns like Samezuka were small – practically villages - and so beneath the ocean's surface they operated on a trading system. Some men would hunt fish (though unlike the people who lived in the town of Iwatobi up on the surface, they had strict fishing rules and hunting was done outside of town – so the colorful fish that usually drifted through were off limits and were the equivalent to the stray cat or dog one might see on the surface) while some men would farm. Samezuka was known for its unique fruit and vegetables – unique because they could only be grown in sea villages – so they fetched quite a hefty sum at the market on the pier. Nitori wasn't quite sure how surface jobs for sea dwellers worked, but some of the adults commuted to and from Iwatobi on a daily basis. The money the humans used was useless down here in Samezuka so not that many people chose to work on land, but the ones that did always came back with delicacies like beef jerky or watermelon. Nitori had never had beef before – only knew that it was made from cows. (Of course, Nitori had never seen a cow in person – only in school books.) And Aiichiro wasn't quite sure how it was possible for people who lived on land to grow watermelon either – but again Nitori had never seen or tasted one and they certainly didn't grow in the ocean.

The town center was bustling with activity as usual and Aiichiro was easily swallowed up by the crowd – being eleven years old and small for his age made it easy for Nitori to slip through unnoticed - and within a matter of minutes he was moving further and further from the town's cacophony of sounds until he was on the outskirts of Samezuka. The quietness outside of town was something Nitori took comfort in – he didn't necessarily like being alone, but there was definitely something quite enjoyable about it.

Nitori spent a lot of his time lingering towards the surface – it wasn't as if he disliked Samezuka, but once he got up to shallow enough waters he could see the sun reflecting off the water – shimmering through the waves. The surface water was warm – but a different kind of warmth then Aiichiro was used to. The water he lived in was clear – so much so that if the people on the surface – or so some of the adults say – were to, during the summer solstice, - when the sun was at its peak brightness - get on a boat directly above their city, then they could see the tops of buildings – the sun penetrative enough to make all the jewels on the town's buildings glimmer. Aiichiro wondered if the people of Iwatobi thought it was as beautiful as he himself imagined it to be.

Occasionally, Nitori would poke his head above the surface – admiring the way the gentle rays of the sun caressed the side of his face and relishing in the way the wind lightly tousled his fast-drying silver locks.

The people of Samezuka aged exactly like the humans do – as far as Aiichiro was concerned, they were exactly alike – the only difference being that Nitori could live and breathe beneath the water's surface. Of course, Nitori had never actually met anyone who lived on the surface – Samezuka had a strict rule that no one under the age of sixteen could go out onto land. The rule was because if a child of the sea lingered on the surface for too long, then they would be unable to return to the ocean's depths. Aiichiro couldn't explain it on a biological standpoint, but in laymen's terms, the people of Samezuka had an extra layer of translucent skin around their body that the humans did not. It was similar to a fishes scale – it protected them and kept them from pruning like humans tended to do when soaked in water for too long – it was also what allowed them to breath under the water and every child of the sea was born with it. Of course, a child's skin was a lot thinner than those of the adults and as such dried up quicker – as it dried, the extra layer would flake off like dead skin if it became cracked enough. It didn't mean death or anything – as beneath their somewhat scales was your ordinary human skin. However, if a person of the sea lost that extra layer of protection, then they would no longer be able to breath beneath the surface.

Fortunately, once the people of Samezuka had matured enough – roughly about the age of sixteen – they could manage a day's time on the surface before their layer began to dry up. So once eligible, if a child of the sea wanted to attend specialty school on the surface, or get a job, they were allowed to. Of course, plenty of sea folk chose not to go – in fact neither of Aiichiro's parents had ever left Samezuka – but Nitori was positive that when the time came, he would definitely go.

So technically, at Nitori's age, he shouldn't be coming up to the surface like this – but it wasn't as if he was leaving the ocean, and so it wasn't like he was breaking any rules, and most importantly, it wasn't like he was putting himself at risk.

Aiichiro came up to the water's surface roughly once a week – mainly just to stare up at the sky in fascination (absently hoping his face doesn't tan). Not too far from where he typically popped up, was a pier. It was also a dock for smaller boats – though many preferred to use the other one further down the coast. The pier was a concrete one that stretched far out into the waters and on the side facing Nitori steep steps stippled down the side that led directly into the water – it was where people from Samezuka usually walked up. This side of the ocean was a lot more industrial - with only a small sliver of sand visible – the rest blocked by a wall and a road just past it. The other side of the beach – in the opposite direction of the other dock, was where the beach was open to the public – there was a drastically larger amount of beach sand on that side, and the wall was even further back to make room for a line of small restaurants and rest houses for the people who played on the beach to go to. That section of the beach however was always crowded and fortunately, far - far away from where Nitori was now. He'd only been on that side of the coast once and promptly stayed away after his first visit – scared someone might spot him.

The people of Samezuka and the people of Iwatobi got along fairly well – but they had their differences and some people weren't as accepting of the sea folk's presence. Nitori had heard stories of Iwatobi children spitting wads of paper at the sea folk or calling them names – nothing too bad – just things children did when they were presented with something new. The adults he had heard the stories from didn't really take it to heart – they were children after all. In fact, it might even be where Nitori got his mindset to not let the words of the other kids his age bug him. In a way, he was preparing himself for the future. That being said, Aiichiro hoped that people would be more accepting then, but it was far easier to conform to the normalcy of disliking the sea folk then to transform the people's beliefs as a whole.

The shrill cry of a child's laugh reached Nitori's ears, snapping him out of his daydreams and his eyes flew towards the pier where a group of kids – probably around Aiichiro's age, if not older – were racing along the pier. Nitori ducked down, submerging himself under the water just until the water's edge rested beneath his eyes. The children didn't even glance his way, and instead of shooting off down towards Samezuka, he lingered in the waters and watched. They were horse-playing – pushing and shoving each other and laughing all the while. The kids in Nitori's class played that way too, though Aiichiro had never joined them – partly because he was never invited and partly because he didn't want to join anyway.

It was when one of the bigger kids – a boy with dark, choppy hair - pushed a slightly shorter boy down, that things took a turn for the worse. Nitori was too far to really see facial expressions, and so he naturally assumed that the fallen kid would start crying – that was what Nitori would have done. But instead, the red-haired boy launched to his feet and took a swing at the other boy – hands curled into a fist – and decked the bigger kid in the face.

Nitori gasped – watching in awe as the red-haired boy tackled the other one to the ground, and he could only look on as they rolled around punching and kicking – the one other kid just staring, mouth agape.

Just when Aiichiro was wondering if he should do something – though hardly knowing what exactly to do – a man's voice boomed 'HEY' from the road and surprised, Nitori turned his attention to the man running towards the children who had quickly separated.

The man grabbed the red-head by the shoulder roughly – who stared down at his shoes, body trembling. The other two kids quickly scurried off, and the man clamped his other hand on the boy's shoulder and steered him to look at him.

"What were you thinking?!" the man bellowed, "This is the third fight this week – what's gotten into you? Do you know how much you worry your mother and I when you act out like this? What's eating at you Rin?"

The man stopped, waiting for an answer and NItori - not wanting to intrude any longer - took the other boy's silence as his cue to leave.

He wondered if the surface children were always that violent – or if such acts were reserved for the bad seeds. It made him weary nonetheless and Aiichiro played with the idea of asking an adult - but that would surely give away his weekly escapades and Nitori wasn't quite ready to jump that hurdle – his mother would probably have a heart attack, and if she didn't his father would.

Speaking of his mother, she was surely wondering where he was by now - so he hurried home – the descent much quicker than the swim to the surface.

Aiichiro's mother was a flamboyant women with short – shoulder length hair that naturally curled at the ends. She was standing at the kitchen counter peeling potatoes, that his father had gotten in town last week, when he walked in.

"Welcome back," she greeted, "How was school?"

Nitori took his time answering – describing in detail the things he had learned and fudging the truth a bit when she asked what he had been up to until now. They fell into a comfortable silence, Nitori scrubbing the peeled potatoes clean as his mother moved to the sink.

Aiichiro always helped his mother cook dinner – not because he had to per say – but mostly because there wasn't much to do here in Samezuka. It was probably part of the reason he yearned to go to Iwatobi so much - unfortunately, it seemed the older he got, the longer the days seemed to drag out.

The first time he expressed his interest in Iwatobi to his mother, she had cried – a mix of coos of how brave he was and sniffles and whines of her not wanting to be apart from her baby boy for even a minute.

A little known fact about the people of the sea – and another quirk about them that set themselves apart from the humans - was that tears and blood, amongst other things, were a bit different for the people of Samezuka.

Of course, this fact was kept strictly to themselves – the elders fearing that humans would take advantage of it should they know.

In the instance of crying, it was – at first – just like humans, but as soon as it rolled off their cheeks it would drop to the ground with a solid 'thunk'. In short – their tears would turn to beryl - usually in a shade of rich blue aquamarine.

The stones were, on occasion tear dropped shaped, but mostly they were round and smooth with no clear cut. There was a jewelry shop in the center of town that would cut and mount the stones into necklaces, earrings, and most often ornaments for their homes.

Jewlery from Samezuka fetched a large price in Iwatobi, but again, because the sea folk didn't use their money beneath the surface, many chose not to sell any - therefore making them a rarity on land even though Nitori was used to seeing them in such abundance.

In fact, if Nitori checked the hutch in the dining room, there were several of his own tears placed on display – things like 'Baby's first tear' and his mother even wore a necklace around her neck made up of the tears his father had shed on their wedding day.

There were plenty of other jewels that the sea folk made but the beryl had to be the most common - and the happier the occasion at which they were shed - the brighter the color.

"Aiichiro sweetie," his mother called and Nitori stared up at her in question, "There's a storm coming soon so be sure to stay away from the surface for the next couple of days."

Nitori flushed red up to his ears, mouth opening and closing like the fish that swam by all the time – at a loss for words to say.

His mother only laughed – and ruffled his hair with her hand, "Don't think you can keep secrets from me young man - don't think I didn't notice how dark your cheeks have gotten recently."

Aiichiro smiled, and let out a small breath – relieved he wasn't in trouble - and lightly pressed his hands against the sides of his face.

"I trust you not to do anything you're not supposed to," his mother went on, "I'm putting all my faith in you alright?"

"Alright!"

It didn't need to be said, but Aiichiro knew this was his mother's way of having him promise to not go onto land until he was of age – and it was a promise he fully expected to keep.

Or at least, on that day, that had been his intention.