You were soaked from the knees down, the saltwater splashing against your shins as you carefully stepped across the slippery rocks near the edge of the beach. In one hand: a blue net. In the other: intense crab-hunting focus.
“I saw one! Over there! Under that big rock!” Naruto shouted, nearly wiping out as he scrambled forward, sending a spray of cold water right into your face.
"Naruto—!"
"Sorry! Sorry!" he laughed, holding his own net high like a weapon of destiny. “That crab was huge! I swear, it was like, this big—” he gestured wildly, clearly exaggerating by about two feet.
You grinned, crouching low to peer beneath a small crevice between rocks. A little red crab scuttled sideways, its claws twitching. “Gotcha…” you whispered.
You swooped your net, Naruto gasped, and you scooped the crab triumphantly into a little bucket nearby.
"YES!"
"Whoa—! Okay, okay, so it’s 3–2 now, you’re winning,” Naruto muttered, puffing his cheeks and splashing toward his side of the rocks again. “But I’m just letting you have a head start!”
"Sure you are," you teased.
He crouched low, eyes narrowed. “I’m gonna catch the biggest crab on this whole beach. Just you watch. It’s gonna be like... a crab boss. With, like, battle scars and a kunai in its claw."
"I don’t think they use weapons," you laughed.
"That’s what they want you to think."
The two of you moved slowly, carefully over the rocks, sometimes slipping, sometimes soaking your shorts or yelling when cold water splashed too high. At one point, Naruto shrieked, full, high-pitched panic when a crab pinched the end of his finger.
"IT GOT ME! I’M DOWN! GO ON WITHOUT ME-"
"Naruto. You're fine."
"It wanted blood."
Despite the chaos, the sky was turning golden with the approaching sunset, the breeze warm, the salt air soft and easy to breathe. You glanced at Naruto as he crouched again, drenched, dripping, hair stuck to his forehead, but grinning like a little kid.
"Hey," you said, holding up your bucket with the day’s catch. “We’re a pretty good team.”
He looked up, then smiled sheepishly. "Yeah… we are, huh?"
And even if he didn’t catch the crab boss, for Naruto, standing there beside you, ankle-deep in the sea and sun, it still felt like he won something.