"Chubby Bunny! Chubby Bunny!"

"You need to eat more carrots, Chubby Bunny!"

The taunts from the other children echoed in the little girl's ears as she ran the rest of the way home. Her closest friends had all gone in the opposite direction, leaving her to endure the comments of the straggling children that lived nearby. It wasn't far now; she could see the driveway getting closer as their voices drifted off.

'Of course they would,' she thought bitterly. 'If their moms and dads knew of what they told me, they'd be in for it!'

She kicked off her shoes as she entered the house, dropping her bookbag off her shoulder and letting it drag behind her as she walked to the kitchen. As routine, her mother was setting out an after-school snack to enjoy as completed her homework. "Did you have a good day at school, Kagome?"

Kagome shrugged, letting the bookbag rest against her chair as she sat down. The plate before her was an assortment of fruits with a little cup of caramel for a pinch of sweet. She loved dipping her apple slices in caramel but today it only made her frown. "School was fine, Mama," she started, debating on what all she wanted to acknowledge.

Mama seemed to pick up on her daughter's upset. "Did the other kids say something mean to you?" when the little girl nodded slowly, she had to quell the upset she felt herself. "Kids…sometimes they say things they don't mean…"

"They called me 'Chubby Bunny' Mama."

She bit her lip to keep from responding immediately. They'd had this discussion many times since Kagome had started school. On her own, Kagome looked fine. It wasn't until she began school and being around so many other kids her age that it was apparent that Kagome was larger than the others. Not overly so, but enough to make it obvious that she was different. That first year had been painful. Nearly each day her little girl would come home in tears because of the hurtful words. As any good mother would do, she brought the teasing up during a parent-teacher conference. It had been effective during the school day, but once they were out of hearing of the teachers… Mama had even confronted the parents of a few children she had witnessed taunting Kagome, but not much could be done unless the parents saw their child commit the act. Since they were sneaky about it, they continued to get away with it.

"I want you to listen to me, Kagome," Mama took her hands and held tight, drawing her to gaze up. "You are a beautiful little lady. Do not let the things your classmates tell you make you think otherwise. People are born to be different. That's what makes the world a wonderful place. If we all looked the same, we'd be boring."

Kagome nodded, having heard this pep talk multiple times before. "But if I'm not fat, how come they call me names?"

"Some children like to point out differences to make themselves feel better. It's not right, and one day they will learn that when they are the ones being called out. You are not fat, Kagome. You just have more baby weight in places than your classmates do. As you get older it will go away." Mama reached up to smooth back a few stray hairs from her little girl's face. "One day they will see you for the beautiful soul you are."

Kagome's nose wrinkled. "I doubt it."

"Then perhaps someone new will come along and show you," a new voice entered the kitchen. Both turned to see a man standing in the doorway, shrugging out of his uniform jacket.

"Welcome home dear," Mama smiled. "How was your day?"

The man shrugged, not unlike Kagome had earlier, and dropped into the seat opposite his wife. "A bit dull, but I expect when the tourism picks up we'll be working later hours." He turned to Kagome and asked, "Were those kids messing with you again?"

"Yes, Papa."

"And what did I say to do when that happens?"

"Punch them in the neck?"

"Daisuke!"

"What?" Daisuke looked at his wife. "You're going to tell me that you wouldn't have our daughter defend herself, Michiru?"

Kagome watched her parents quietly, reaching out for an apple slice and dunking it in the caramel sauce without realizing it.

Michiru scrambled to come up with a response. "If it came to it, I would hope that Kagome would defend herself – if one of those kids happened to strike first. Anything else would wrong."

"It's okay Mama," the girl said after swallowing her apple slice. "Papa told me only to do that if they tried to hurt me with more than words first."

"See now, no harm done."

Daisuke looked smug as Michiru rolled her eyes and stood up. Dinner needed to be started, and she wasn't going to make her husband cook dinner after spending the day cooking for others. Best to give him a decent meal while she could, because tourist season would begin again soon. With her back to the table, she began to pull ingredients from the cabinets, listening to her daughter ask her father what he meant earlier. She had assumed that he meant her grandpa and didn't understand why because she already knew him.

"No," Daisuke laughed. "Not Grandpa, though he should be coming home soon. What I meant was that maybe one day, someone you've never met before will come into your life. This person will see you as we see you, and I hope that they cherish the luck they were blessed with to meet you."

Kagome wasn't sure what her papa meant by that. From her experiences in school, even new students were keen to poke fun at her appearance. How could there be somebody that would actually enjoy being around her, outside of Eri, Yuka, and Ayumi? She finished off her apple slices and pushed the plate away so she could make space for her homework. Next to her, her papa sat silently and watched, ready to answer a question if needed.

As her father had predicted, her grandfather came home just before dinner was finished. He'd spent the day fishing on the pier, as evidenced by the pole and tacklebox he carried through to the mud room. Kagome continued to work on her assignments, half-listening as the adults discussed their day. Fishing was one of her grandfather's hobbies since retirement, but today it didn't sound like he so much as got a nibble.

"Must be those merfolk scaring the fish off," he sulked.

Her head raised up. "Merfolk?"

"Mermaids and Mermen," Daisuke explained. "Pops, you really can't blame a bad day of fishing on a legend. They're a part of the ocean as well, anyway; I doubt they'd purposely run off a school of fish."

"Then what could be the cause? I've fished at that pier with results each time!"

Michiru approached the table with a plate of dinner rolls. "Maybe it's the type of bait you're using. If fish get too familiar with one kind, they may recognize that there's danger that comes with it."

Kagome didn't care about the topic of fishing, so when she spoke it surprised the whole room. "There are mermaids and mermen in the ocean?"

"You see, Kagome…" her mother started. Kagome wasn't sure she was going to like the answer, if her mother's expression was anything to go by. Her parents never lied to her, but sometimes they got this look that meant that they were trying to figure out just how much to tell her about something. This was one of those times. "…mermaids and mermen…are a legend that's been a part of the island for as long as people have lived here. Some say that they bring danger to fishermen trying to earn a living, some see them as a blessing for protecting the oceans. It's all a matter of who you talk to."

"Oh. What do you think of them?"

Michiru thought for a minute. "I think… if they are real… that they are guardians to the island."

Kagome looked over at her papa for his opinion. "Like your mother, I think they would be guardians," he replied.

"What about Grandpa?"

Before his father could open his mouth, Daisuke responded, "Grandpa thinks that they are conniving creatures that can transform into humans and walk among us. That's why he blames them for a poor fishing day."

"That's stretching it, Daisuke-"

"Pops, you know I'm not wrong."

A small hand tapped the table to get everyone's attention. "They can turn into people, like us?"

Michiru smiled. "As the legends go. Merfolk are said to be half human and half fish-like in appearance. Beautiful and strong, just like you Kagome."

She returned to the oven to collect and serve their dinner onto plates, leaving Kagome to her thoughts. As she put up her completed homework, her mind was filled with questions about merfolk, forgetting all about the nasty comments she had received that afternoon.