Once, in the narrow Sea of Japan,
there lived a fish with shiny silver scales. The fish, being a rather solitary
animal; he was a barracuda, didn’t have that many friends. All the other fish
would flit away from him as fast as they could. The barracuda, who was named
Yari, didn’t fully realize the impact of opening his mouth when he was caught
among a school of other fish.

Whenever
Yari opened his mouth to yawn, hundreds of teeth would gleam like kitchen
cutlery.

All
of the other fish would see this, gasp, and scurry into their respective coral
homes as fast as their curved fins could carry them. Yari also had a problem
because of his head. With its arrow-head shape, a fish with poor eyesight could
mistake Yari for a man’s harpoon in a fishing boat.

Yari
understood that none of the other fish wanted to become sushi. Yet, he wished
that they weren’t so hasty to judge his motivations. He had no desire to eat or
harm them in any way.

            One day, Yari, feeling especially
lonely, dived under a bridge made of red and pink coral.

He
knew that some fish would feed on clams that tried to find shelter in the solid
mass of coral.

While
Yari hovered underneath this bridge, muttering and trying to gather his
thoughts, one of his goggle-shaped eyes caught sight of a starfish. The starfish
was beautiful with perfectly formed arms and legs. The starfish was also a brilliant
shade of pink. It camouflaged nicely in its protective environment of coral.
Yari also noticed that starfish was encrusted with tiny particles.

“It
must be sea dust,” Yari thought to himself, “The starfish has obviously been
sleeping in this spot for a long time.” Overcome by curiosity, Yari coughed
respectfully and the starfish woke.  

As
Yari edged closer, the starfish opened its eyes and asked, “What brings you
here?”

Yari
went on to explain that he had been looking for a friend and had been very
unsuccessful…

The
starfish laughed and said, “Perhaps, that’s a good thing.”

“Excuse
me?” Yari asked in confusion, “I don’t understand.”

Cliff
hanger…

Hi
everyone! I’m back again! Since I love nature, I decided to write another story
about animals!

Originally,
this story was supposed to be shorter, but if you like it, I could try to come
up with a second part. Please, let me know what you think! Love you guys! 

 P.S. The painting of a lake above is something that I created from a summer art class almost two years ago. Enjoy!