Chapter One
As calming as many found the sound of the sea to be, Syo could not stand it at this point. Why he volunteered to even take the ship out for a week long voyage was beyond him. At least he was returning home later that day. The ship was close to Syo's home, which he was very thankful for since he could not wait another day to leave the ship and the sea.
"I hate this, but at least I'm not locked up in the castle like always…" Syo muttered to himself as he walked away from the center of the boat to the railing to stare off into the never ending blue sea. At least here he had some freedom compared to the little amount he had in the castle.
Syo was a prince who was born with a weak heart. It took visits from various magicians, sages, healers, and witch doctors to have allowed him to live this long. Even though his heart is in better condition than when he was born, it was still weak and needed to be cared for. Even now on the boat, there was a healer available should Syo experience any heart difficulties. It was just like the castle, but at least here it was the ocean that kept him prisoner rather than his heart. At the castle, de could rarely leave the grounds for the fear of sudden attack occurring. If this ship could free him from his luxurious cell, he would gladly take the chance and risk his health. To the prince's relief, he was in perfect condition since the day he sailed out of the port. Honestly, his family was worried over nothing. Their constant care felt more like a heavy chain rather than doting affection.
The young, blond prince was too deep in his thoughts to even realize the sea had suddenly turned turbulent. It only came to his attention when a wave hit the ship, and caused Syo to hit the railing.
"Prince! Please get inside the ship!" yelled a shipmate. Syo attempted to head to safety, but another wave struck the ship, and sent the small prince into the deep, violent water.
He was knocked unconscious as his body hit the water. The last thing his blue eyes managed to see was a humanoid figure heading towards him.
"An angel…I must be dead…" were the last words to be uttered by his lips before everything went black.
Even though the sea was calm, there were various signs that it would soon turn violent. Anyone who lived in the sea could figure that out, but those above the surface only had the sky to warn them. Too often, a rogue wave would appear before the sky could even turn gray.
Ai had little interest in humans, but he knew the ship was in danger. He knew he could do little to help, but at the least he could take any belongings from the ship and deposit them on the beach in hopes someone would recognize them. Of course, he would keep anything of interest for himself. Human trinkets were very interesting for mermaids. Well, technically he was a merman, but he didn't mind either term.
He followed the ship closely, and watched as the waves knocked it. He was surprised no one had fallen over yet, but continued to observe. He had no intention of rescuing anyone, not that he even could if more than one fell, he only wanted a few pieces of human items if he was lucky any were to fall into the water.
He surfaced for a minute to see how well the people aboard were managing themselves, and to his surprise, they were doing well even with the late warning.
"Smart humans, but I wish at least something interesting would fall off the boat." Ai said to himself. As he was about to submerge, he noticed a body fall off of the ship, and his eyes followed the it until the body hit the water. Curiosity took hold of him, and he dove under the water to see the drowning human. As he swam closer to the unconscious body, he noticed this human was different from others who had met terrible fates with the sea. They were often ugly with missing teeth, scarred faces, and much, much older. This human, however, was very young with flawless, soft, pale skin. His clothes were also different from other humans who had fallen into the water. The young human's clothes were more fine with pieces of gold embedded into it. He must be very important if he had something precious sewed into his clothes Ai figured.
He pressed his ear against the young man's chest. A soft, faint heartbeat was audible, but it grew weaker with each passing second. He had no plans of saving anyone, but before his mind could even process what to do, he found himself carrying the small human to shore. He could not understand why he was doing this, but he figured it had to be because he was so different from anyone else he had seen, and the fact that there was only one body to save as opposed to the many that usually fell or drowned with the boat during any shipwreck. Surely, this was the reason for his action. What else would drive him to save someone from land.
When the two were near the shoreline, he beached himself and the stranger he rescued on a clear beach with soft sand. He pressed his ear against his chest one more time, and found the heart beat to be even weaker than before. This human was obviously important, and needed to be saved. Ai pressed his palms over the other's chest, and pushed down with great force repeatedly until the human's lungs coughed out seawater. He remained unconscious, but he was breathing at the least.
The young mermaid sighed in relief, and placed his light blue tail over the young man's legs to keep him warm, while he held his upper body in his arms. Ai was fascinated with his features, and could not help but trace over them with his fingers. First, his nose, then each cheek, and lastly his thumb brushed over his lower lip.
"Blonde hair…" Ai whispered to himself as he ran his hand through it. He compared his own cyan colored hair to it. "It's much softer than mine…" As his hand continued to smoothen it, he suddenly noticed a set of blue eyes staring up at him.
Syo could not believe what his eyes were seeing. The sight was directly in front him, no, it was holding him. There was a mermaid stroking his hair, but he still could not believe this was happening to him.
It was not long before the young mermaid noticed Syo was awake and watching him. He took the chance to speak to it, hoping he could ask it a few questions.
"H-Hello…Were you the one who saved me?" The mermaid quickly dropped him, and tried to get himself back into the water.
"Wait!" Syo called as he sat back up. "I just want to talk! Please stay here!" But it was too late. The mermaid disappeared back into the depths of the sea without even saying a word to the prince he rescued from a terrible fate. While Syo stared out into the sea for any trace of the creature, he heard the sound of castle guards calling his name. At least he managed to end up home even after losing the mermaid to the vast, endless sea. The prince closed his eyes, and fell back asleep as the guards carried his weak body back to the castle to be nurtured back to full health.
