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Once upon a time...

There was a boy named Akira, who knew exactly what he planned to do with the rest of his life. He was going to take over his father's work as a fisherman. His dad had been teaching him since he was eight, for eight years, and everyone knew that his father was the best for miles.

On one particular night, Akira's father fell ill. He told him that he would stay in the hut while Akira went fishing the next morning.

Akira was sailing the ocean before dawn, and sat patiently in the boat while the net floated in the water. When he pulled it up a few hours later, he saw that instead of the usual dull, grey fish, there was a single beautiful blue and black fish in the net. He took the fish out of the net gently, admiring its sleek and slender body as it struggled in his hand. Akira couldn't bear to see this fish harmed, so he kissed it and released it into the sea.

He was going to watch it go, but instead of swimming away from the boat, the fish transformed into a beautiful young man. Akira fell immediately in love with this wonderful creature. He introduced himself as Kisho, and told him that for releasing him back into the sea he would grant him any one wish.

Akira knew that to wish for Kisho to stay with him forever would be keeping Kisho from where he was free. Kisho would forever be unhappy. So instead he wished for a single scale from Kisho's side to always remember him by. Kisho kissed Akira once, transformed back into a fish, and swam away.

Akira watched him swim gracefully until he was out of sight. He looked down into the water, and floating beside his boat was the black scale from Kisho. He vowed never to love another, although he knew that they would not meet again. He kept the scale around his neck until he grew old, retired from his job as a fisherman, and lived in solitude in his hut.

Akira spent the days sitting on the beach, staring out into the ocean, dangling his feet in the tide. His father had long since been buried along the coast, and he gazed at the sea alone. One day as he sat before the tide in the mist of the early morning, he saw his beautiful fish swimming to him from the depths of the sea, and by the time he reached the shore he had transformed into his human form. Kisho walked to him, took a wrinkled, frail hand in his, and pulled him towards the sea.

Together they dove into the ocean, Akira to spend his final moments with the one he loved most.