The Rarity of the Sea
MadaSaku
The characters do not belong to me but belong to Kishi-
Once upon a time there was a mermaid that had a secret; she had the power to turn her tail into legs so she could walk on land. She would use this power to go to town to see other people, to see the world above the water. She hid this secret from her family, they would not like that she could transform her body to match the humans. Today was a day like every other, she went to beach and transformed her tail into her legs and grabbed the clothes she kept hidden by a rock. She got dressed and made her way into the forest to go to the town. Like always she would walk around and try to talk to the people but they always seemed too busy to hold a conversation so she decided to do a walk around the town and see if there was anything different. She had been looking up at the sky, spotting the clouds and the funny shapes they made, she hadn't been watching where she was going and walked right into a child, knocking over the child in the process. The child took off the hood that was hiding their head, showing that this child was a little boy; a little boy whose face had turned red and looked up at the girl that pushed him over.
The girl that had been frozen from surprise had finally gotten over it and began saying sorry to the little boy but it didn't help. The little boy began yelling for his Aunt, the girl had tried to stop him by saying sorry even more. She had been so scared when a woman told the boy to be quiet and to "Come here," from behind her, then the woman told the girl to stand up and turn around. The girl did so, and quickly; it was obvious that the girl had messed up when she viewed the woman; she was dressed in a clean gown and jewelry, and the crown on her head made her believe that this woman had to be royalty. That said woman looked the girl up and down, then the woman frowned, not happy with how she looked. The boy had a grin on his face that made the girl believe that she had doomed herself and wished she hadn't left the ocean. It was then the woman spoke, "Do you know who I am?" The girl could only feel even worse when she couldn't answer the question so she shook her head no. "What is your name?" Was the next question the woman asked; "Sakura," was all the girl said while looking at the ground. "My name is Queen Mikoto, my husband is the ruler of this kingdom, and this is my young nephew, Izuna." After those words left the now known Queens' mouth the girl now known as Sakura quickly bowed knowing that it was the right thing to do. The Queen asked Sakura to lift her head and explain why her nephew had been yelling. So Sakura did, she told the Queen of how she wasn't watching where she was going and didn't mean to walk into her nephew, and said sorry. "It isn't me whom you need have accept your apology, but my nephew." The Queen looked down at her nephew, waiting to hear his answer. "I don't forgive her, she got me all dirty," he said with a pout. The queen sighed, "Come to the castle tomorrow and we'll find a punishment for you, oh and don't try to run away, those who do never get very far." With that the Queen walked away with her nephew behind her. Sakura could only stand there frozen and watching them walk away, the little boy looked back with a smile on him face. Sakura walked back to the beach with her head down, afraid of tomorrow and wondering if she shouldn't leave the ocean. But she became sad at the thought of never being able to go back into town without getting caught as a runaway to make it worse. She took a deep breath before jumping into the ocean with the ideas of what tomorrow might bring her.
Sakura had gotten to the beach a little earlier than usual, wanting to walk through the town before meeting her possible doom. As she made her way around the town visiting shops and watching people pass by, some willing to talk but just to say good morning. She had put off going to the castle for a couple hours, but going to the castle could no longer be put off as she came near the road that lead up to the castle. There were guards standing at the gate that blocked the entrance that lead to the front of the big castle, the towers came up of the sides and windows with a colorful shine, outside were walls that were a plain, gray brick that were most likely used against attacks. She hadn't been paying attention when the guards had asked who she was, she only came out her thoughts when one of the guards grabbed her and asked what she wanted. Sakura had been confused for a moment but when she finally was about to speak, the other guard had yelled something about a Prince but she wasn't sure. The guard that grabbed her had let go and went to one of the sides of the gate and the other to the other side. She saw someone on a horse riding to the gate, she couldn't make out much of the person but she can guess that this was the "Prince" the guard yelled about. The big gate opened and out came the said Prince on his horse, as he came out he stopped and looked down at her. "You the peasant my aunt said to go look for? The one who is to be punished for pushing my little brother on the ground?" He stared at her waiting for an answer, but she was too much in thought about the boy who didn't seem much older than her. The prince seemed to lose patience with her and decided to smack her on her head to get her attention, her face turned red and she quickly answered yes.
The prince nodded his head and turned his horse around only speaking to tell her to follow, and she did. She walked on the side of him, watching him, or staring in this case. He almost looked like the Queen and like the little boy from yesterday, except this older brothers' hair had been shoulder length, black, and spikey; his eyes that seemed to hold boredom in them were a dark color, almost black with a hint of red. Compared to the males from her family he was almost plain, yet beautiful. His clothes were almost as plain, a white dress shirt and a black vest with jeweled buttons of what looked to be rubies on them; black pants and black boots. She had been about the town many times and most of the folks wore what looked like similar clothing but that had seemed to show their class among the kingdom. She isn't completely used to seeing clothing and all the different styles, she was used to tails and all their different colors, her family had all different colored tails; she, herself had a red with a rainbow like tint when the sunlight hit it in a certain way. The humans didn't have the colorful hair like her kind did, they had boring colors, but her kind had colors of all different shades; hers being a pastel pink, she had to wear a cloak so her hair didn't stand out. Good thing too, if the Queen had seen her hair she may have been a tad suspicious of her. Mer-folk are known to be captured by pirates and sold, lots of magical creatures have been captured and sold alike, that's why spotting a magical creature has become a rarity because they are such good game, they fear the humans; this had been part of the reason for her first venture out of water, to see if all the tales were true and sadly they were.
Sakura stopped thinking about such sad things and looked forward to see them nearing the outer wall with a very big and scary gate that began going up as they got closer. Not too far ahead she spotted a large staircase going up to a pair of doors that looked big enough to fit a giant through. As they neared the stairs the Prince jumped off his horse and a servant came and took the horse away. The Prince made his way up the stairs with her behind him, two guards in shiny armor stood on either side of the door. The door seemed to open by itself but as they walked in until she spotted the two men holding the doors, both wearing butler clothing. They walked along a red carpet which lead to two big chairs, no doubt at their beautiful craftsmanship that those had been the King and Queens' throne, both chairs had been preoccupied by both said Queen and King. The great hall had been more beautiful than the outside, colors of gold, red, and browns and blues. She had seen rooms like this from her home under the water though the King and Queen of her ocean had a room that was made up of different colored coral. She stopped at the steps that lead up to the thrones and looked over at the Prince to see that he had bowed his head which made her quickly bow in respect to the King and Queen as well, "Very good Maddy," was what the Queen said after nodding to show mutual respect no doubtable for most likely her older nephew. "Aunt, might I be excused?" "Maddy'' had asked. The King gave a small chuckle before looking at his wife whom had a smile on her face. "No you may not, you and your little brother are to be present at the given moment, and I had a maid send for him, he should be on his way." His face turned into a frown as his Aunt finished her sentence, she wasn't sure if it was because the mention of his brother or the not being able to leave, either way he wasn't happy, though he didn't question the Queen. Soon enough a door that had been to the right opened and a maid with the little boy named Izuna had come through, Izuna looked tired, his hair looked a little wild on one side so she had to think he had been napping beforehand.
"Since you are both here we may start," the little smile on the Queens face turned into what could be described as an evil grin, "But before that, Sakura please remove your hood, it's disrespectful to still be hiding underneath it." Sakura became slightly uncomfortable with the idea of removing her hood, she didn't want them to see her odd hair and have her questioned if she's some creature for them to hang up as a reward. All of them had stared at her, waiting for her to follow the Queens orders, Maddy who seemed to lose patience grabbed the back of the hood and pulled it down, revealing Sakura and her odd features. She became more fearful as they all stared, though the Queen hardly looked shocked nor surprised at all, neither did the King, almost as if they already knew. She looked over at Maddy and saw that his face went from shock to awe, so much that he reached up and grabbed some of her hair. She wished he hadn't as it made her even more uncomfortable and made her even more aware of the fact that her hair had been a wild mess from the lack of care she gave it, when his fingers got caught in strands that were knotted together. The pulling of her hair when he tried to remove his fingers made everything worse as the King, Queen, and Izuna began laughing, when he finally got his fingers untangled he quickly looked away, embarrassed at what happened. "Anyway as I was saying, I've thought long and hard on your punishment and I believe I've thought of a good one." The Queen finally said after clearing her throat but the smile on her face made it seem as though she was trying not to laugh, same goes with the King, Izuna had his hands covering his mouth trying to keep quiet as Maddy looked at the little boy with an embarrassedly angry face. "You two will be the Izuna's personal watcher," with that the boys had a face of horror but Sakura had a face of relief, happy that her doom didn't come just yet. Both boys had started to protest saying they didn't need to be watched or that they didn't want to watch anyone, and that they were fine with how things were. "There will be no disagreements as your Uncle and I along with your cousins will be gone for a week as we have a treaty that is to be signed from the kingdom over, you will need to be watched Izuna and this young lady and your older brother will be the ones to do it, do you understand?" The Queen and King now had a serious face on them and weren't going to take a no for an answer. Izuna had been whining and Maddy had been trying to squeeze his way out of doing the task of watching over his brother. "I said do you understand?" the Queen asked in a louder voice which quieted both the boys and made both of them answer with a yes ma'am. "Good, now we will have a room prepared and some clothing for you to wear, you will need to stay here for a week, I will have a maid explain to you what you will need to know."
"But, your Highne-…" Sakura had been cut off as she started to speak. "There will be no buts, this is your punishment and you will accept it, be glad it's an easy one, and if you're worried about your family you shouldn't be and don't be too worried to hide who you are, or what you are." The Queen finished with a smile, and waved to a maid. The maid came over to her and asked her to follow, Sakura did so, as she walked to the door that Izuna and the maid first came through she looked back and saw that Maddy looked like he was about to be sick.
The maid had taken her to a room that felt like a mile away with how far the room was from where throne room is. The room had been huge, though the room had been plain colored there was still an elegant feel to it. The maid told her that this will be her room for how long her stay will be, the maid began going through the rules of the castle and what will be needed from her. "Now let's get you cleaned up before dinner." After that the maid left the room but returned with two other girls in the same uniform, "We will draw you a bath and hopefully we can fix that hair of yours," the head maid said with a hint of distaste. Sakura felt a little insulted but there wasn't much she could say at this point. Not long after she was given a bath, and dressed in a light green gown but nothing fancy. The head maid showed her to a dining hall that was only a tad smaller than the Throne room but still as beautiful. The six members of royalty were already sitting there; the King and Queen had been talking but the sons and nephews had been quiet though Maddy looked at her when she walked in. The Queen who had been on the left side of the long table had finally noticed her and invited her to sit across from Izuna who had been sitting next to his cousin who looked just a bit younger than him. Sakura did as she was told and awkwardly sat down next to Maddy whom seem just as uncomfortable. ''You seem to look more well than you did before, the bath and change of clothes did well for you," the King said with a smile, Sakura on the other hand gave an awkward smile and a thank you. "We never got to formally meet, my name is King Fugaku," the King greeted. "Nice to meet you, Your Majesty, my name is Sakura." Right after their greetings the doors to the kitchen had burst open and butlers had multiple trays of food and a tray of drinks. Dinner had mostly been conversations between the King and Queen and odd looks toward Sakura from Izuna, Maddy stared at his plate as he ate and remained silent. After everyone had been finished eating and the servants were clearing the table, the King and Queen had said goodnight and made their way out of the dining hall. A maid had tapped Izuna on the shoulder and removed him from his chair and they also left the dining hall, the two other boys whose names she had learned to be Sasuke and Itachi during dinner had bid Maddy and Sakura goodnight. Maddy and Sakura were the only ones left, though Maddy didn't take long before getting up and leaving Sakura by herself. Sakura sat there thinking about home and how much she misses it, wishing that she could tell her family what's going on, but she didn't know how to tell them about her secret after all this time. Sakura finally got up from the table and began to walk to the doors she came in through, but she noticed that her legs began to hurt; her legs have never hurt before now, she didn't understand why they did. She thought it may have been best to hurry to her room. She made her way down the halls she remembers but it wasn't long before she got lost in the candle lit halls. She had been wondering around for some time before she walked in front of an open set of doors, the room inside was well lit, her curiosity got the better of her and she went inside. There were books everywhere, shelves and shelves of books, she'd never seen so many, she has seen a bookshop that had a few torn up books, and the shopkeeper was nice enough to explain what they were. She heard light footsteps on one of the higher floors, she looked up and tried to see who it was but she couldn't see anyone. She gave up searching and decided to come back some other time as now the pain in her legs was becoming worse. She was about to leave when a voice came from behind her, "Are you following me?" She looked behind her and there was Maddy, standing by the staircase to a higher floor, books in hand. "Uh… No, I got kinda lost on my way to my room, I was just leaving, sorry to have bothered you, Your Highness," Sakura spoke quickly trying to get away while her legs will still let her. "How are you supposed to find your room if you're already lost?" The question had stopped Sakura as he was right, she had no idea where to go. "I was about to head back to my room and since your room is close to mine, I might as well have you follow me… And none of that Your Highness stuff, just call me by my name." Maddy walked out the door with Sakura following behind him.
Sakura looked at the books in his hand, she didn't understand what was written on the front cover so she had to assume it was from a foreign country.
"Um, do you like to read Your Highn-… Uh, Maddy?" Sakura asked trying to break the silence and to take her mind off the growing pain in her legs.
"Yes I do, the library is where I usually spend my time when I'm not out riding," Maddy answered quickly, "That might be important for you to know, just in case."
"Oh alright, so um… Is Maddy your real name? Or was it given to you by the queen?" Sakura brought up the question that has been on her mind, though she somewhat regretted it when the boy in question turned almost quickly. He opened his mouth to speak but closed it, instead he gave a snort and turned around.
"My name is Madara but my Aunt decided she'd give that ridiculous pet name," Madara gave an annoyed huff, "Now everyone thinks my actual name is Maddy rather than Madara."
"Uh huh, why don't you just tell them to use your real name rather that the pet name the queen gave you?" Sakura decided to press on as he was willing to answer her previous question.
"I tried but the people believe that using the name that the queen nick-named me will get in good with her," Maddy sighed, "Plus I've gotten rather used to it even if it is annoying, and since we're on the subject, I wouldn't mind if you called me Madara rather than Maddy."
Sakura agreed and was about to ask another question, that is until her legs gave out on her as the pain became unbearable. Madara who had been Sakura's soft landing had pushed her off of him as he was about to make his way to his feet angry at the sudden impact. He turned to look at the girl who caused his fall as he was about to show his disdain until he saw the pain in her face as the tears falling down her cheeks had held the reflection of the candle light. Madara wasn't sure what to do, he hasn't had to deal with a girl in this situation. He was about to ask her what was wrong, that is until the light that shined around her legs had stopped him. Her legs had transformed into her tail, leaving Sakura in horror and pain and Madara in pure shock.
"Please don't hurt me, please, I don't wanna die, I don't wanna become a decoration!" Sakura had yelled the first things that came to mind, hoping this boy wouldn't hurt her.
The boy's face went from shock to confusion at her words, "Why would I do such a thing? That's such a horrible thing to do to such a rarity like you?"
It was Sakura's turn to be confused, the atmosphere around Madara had shifted as he bent down and started reaching for her tail. "What?" was all she could say.
Madara gave a chuckle, "I've read stories and listened to tales of mermaids but I've never seen one for myself, yet here one is right in front of me. May I?" Madara's hand hovered close to her tail, waiting for permission to touch it.
Sakura wasn't sure if it was a good idea but she shook her head yes, worried that his politeness may disappear if she said no. "Does your family not kill magical creatures for game?" Sakura asked as she watched him slide and slightly rub her tail with his hand sending odd sensations through her body. Madara didn't answer as he seemed to study her tail though it was becoming very uncomfortable as his hand tends to slide under her dress to the more covered part of her tail. Madara took a deep breath and removed his hand then grabbed his books and put them in her lap. Sakura gave him a confused look before she realized what he was doing. He slid one arm under her tail and the other around her back, picking her up in one swift movement though he lost balance and took a step back before fixing his grip. "You're a lot heavier than I expected," was all Madara said before walking forward. Sakura blushed and stared at the books she clutched to her chest, ''I'm sorry'' was what she managed to say, receiving a small chuckle from the boy carrying her.
Not long had it taken for them to reach her room, and for her to be put on her bed. Madara cleared his throat after setting her down, "As curious as I am about what happened tonight I think it would be a better idea to let you rest after today's events," Sakura shook her head agreeing, but he still didn't leave for some reason, though she watch as he put his hand to his chin for a second before removing it and looking at her, "So, um… Should I put some water in the tub for you or are you alright with sleeping like that?"
"Oh… I wouldn't want you to have to do that," Sakura said quickly, wishing to just sleep to get away from the pain that didn't want to leave her be, though the feeling of being in water again sounds refreshing. Madara walked away, but to Sakura's confusion he ended up walking to her bathroom and turning what sounded like water on. Next thing she knew he emerged from the bathroom and walked back to her and picked her back up and carried her to the bathroom and straight to the tub. He placed her on the rim of tub and stepped back.
"It shouldn't take long for it to fill up but you're going to have to turn the faucet off yourself as I'm going to my bedroom, do you know how to do that?" Sakura shook her head no, and with that Madara showed her how to work the nobs and the faucet.
"Thank you," Sakura finally said as the water was now rising.
"You're welcome," Madara said as he walked to the doors separating the bathroom and the bedroom, stopping only to slightly turn and say goodnight, followed with Sakura saying goodnight to him as well and having him shut both the doors to the bathroom.
-End of chapter 1 (Or part 1)-
To be honest this wasn't a Madasaku story at all but was actually a story for school that I never got to finish so I just changed the names, don't hate me please. Also this is probably only gonna be 3 "Chapters" long, maybe longer depending on how it goes. Also Izuna is 14 ½ (halfs count so shush) years old, I just imagined him bending down looking at something when she ran into him. Madara is about 16 and Sakura is 15. Their ages would be explained later but I'm just putting it out there so there's no confusion. This is gonna be one odd story so buckle up for the ride, I know I am.
