A/N - if I had continued to write more at the end, this would have just gotten too long... whoops.

Thank you water beds for the insperation for the start of this chapter.

Fujimoto sat on the small chair, staring out side where Ponyo and Sosuke were playing. The patio door was open, allowing a strong smell of salt to relax him, but the chair however. That was a different matter. He was sure Lisa meant well, but a rubber chair filled with water just wasn't going to keep him comfortable.

In fact, it was the opposite. His body was trying to soak the water, but the rubber prevented him from doing so. And this left him rather thirsty and uncomfortable. Licking his lips, Fujimoto bent down and began untie his shoes.

"I give up; my body can't take it anymore."

He threw the first shoe out the door, closely followed by the second. After draining his socks for his secret supply of water, they finally followed the shoes tied together. Dipping his feet in the small layer of water on the plastic sheet, he sighed as very slowly, he began to become rehydrated.

Closing his eyes, he leant back awkwardly in the chair, and waited for his head to clear with return of water.

"Fujimoto?"

Fujimoto opened one eye to see Sosuke stood in front of him, holding the small toy boat in his hands. "I'm hungry."

"Hungry?"

"Yeah. It's time to eat. Didn't you read the list?"

"List? Oh, right."

Sitting up straight, he went into his pocket and pulled the long list out. He hadn't bothered to read it earlier on, instead resorting to sitting down and doing nothing in a sulk. But now, he could see important times, information, and any specific jobs he would have to do. And, listed at what should have been a while ago, was dinner.

When did it get so late?

"What do you eat?"

Ponyo, now appearing from outside with her green bucket, smiled and then exclaimed, "ham!"

"Disgusting human food you mean... fine. Something with ham it is."

Fujimoto sighed, wanting to complete his complaints, but Ponyo's frown had told him alone to be silent on his 'I hate the humans' talk.

Standing, he walked to the kitchen and opened the fridge, and peered in. Stocked was ham, ham, ham... it was almost predicting that he would only know to use ham. Well, that was true. But only because of what he had been left.

Taking one packet of ham between his thumb and finger, he grabbed a small bag of vegetables and dropped them on the counter. He glanced at the list once more, before reaching into one of the written cupboards and pulling out three packets of noodles and bowls.

Filling the kettle with water and setting it to boil on the stove, he pointed at the table for Ponyo and Sosuke to sit at. Taking the bowls and noodle packets, they ran to the table and started to prepare the bowls for water. While they were busy with the job, Fujimoto leant under the tap and opened his mouth. The cold water splashed on his face as he drank it messily and by the time the kettle had boiled, he had drank enough water to finally cure his headache. Shaking his head, he turned the gas on the cooker off, and walked to the table.

Both children didn't comment on the long time for the tap, since Fujimoto was now dry, but became excited when he began pouring the water. Filling each bowl, Fujimoto set the tops of the bowls correctly and walked back to the sink to place the still warm kettle on the side. "I wouldn't think you'd eat noodles."

Fujimoto glanced over his shoulder from the sink at Sosuke, eyes wide, before shrugging. "It has water in, it is mostly grown food. What in there goes against anything I am?"

He filled a glass with water, brining the ham and vegetables to the table where he sat down, arms folded.

"I'm surprised you eat."

Returning a bored expression, Fujimoto picked his chop sticks up and began to twirl one in his fingers. "That was just a stupid statement, so I'm not going to answer."

"You usually just drink your elixirs. A different one for different things," Ponyo said with a smile, remembering the days when she had fins.

"I don't get hungry that often. If I do, I'll just get something - or indeed, drink some of my elixirs. You're both ignoring the point though, that I do eat and I do know how to use things like chop sticks."

He did one final spin, before stalling the stick and pointing at Sosuke. "And, when I was human, noodles was my favourite meal."

Lifting the cover on his bowl, he saw the noodles were cooked properly, and placed a selection of vegetables on top. Already dipping his chopsticks into his noodles, he did the same for Ponyo's and Sosuke's bowl, adding two pieces of ham along with the veg while starting on his own food. After dropping the last piece of ham back into the packet, he settled properly to eat his noodles. "Why don't you have the last piece of ham?"

Noodles dangling from his mouth, Fujimoto blinked and slurped them up. "Because, I don't want the ham."

"Dad will eat the ham!"

Ponyo picked the piece of meat up, and before Fujimoto could stop her, she dropped it into his bowl. The water splashed out the bowl and the ham floated on top of the noodles, which Fujimoto was sure the pig it came from was very happy to be doing so. "I really don't want it. I'm happy with just vegetables."

"Too late now," Sosuke said smiling, "it's in your bowl. And it's rude to leave food."

Sosuke began eating his noodles, smiling into the bowl after trapping Fujimoto. Although Ponyo started with her noodles, she kept her eyes on Fujimoto to make sure he ate the ham.

Poking it, Fujimoto finally picked the meat up between his chop sticks. He stared at it for a second, before grimacing and taking a bite out of it. His hair seemed deflate as he chewed slowly on the small piece, disgust filling his face.

Ponyo started clapping, giggling as her father swallowed. "Ham!"

Covering his mouth, Fujimoto stuck his tongue out behind his hand from the different taste. After burping quietly, he dropped the meat back to his bowl. To remove the taste, he quickly returned to the noodles alone and ignored his daughter's constant cry of ham.