Hey everyone, this was a story idea that came into my head and just wouldn't leave! I hope you like it and I appreciate feedback so please follow/review if you like it :) I was originally going to update my other fic before my laptop got damaged (they hate when liquid is spilt on them apparently) and I had to replace it. Fear not, I will be continuing it coz I hate when a story just gets left, I just needed time to mourn the loss of all my files :(

But on a happier note I have this for you. I'm quite looking forward to it. If Sachiko seems a little OOC in this chapter then just bear in mind that she is very much out of her comfort zone. The Islands and the ship I have used here really exist, you can look them up. I wanted to set this story on an Island near Japan and one google search slapped me in the face with a crazy coincidence!

So enjoy and let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: I don't own Marimite or The Little Mermaid

Sachiko hastily pressed her embroidered handkerchief to her lips, the boat pitching violently for the umpteenth time that day. Insides roiling with displeasure, she slumped back onto her bed, expelling an unladylike groan. After 24 hours on open Pacific Ocean in a medium sized ferry liner, she could safely confirm her stomach had nothing left to give.

The Ogasawara Maru had begun its voyage southwards from Tokyo at 10am the previous day, a calm and balmy Sunday. The Monday morning Sachiko was currently experiencing was anything but. A storm front had menaced them since the early hours of the morning and no amount of seasickness medication or calming breathing exercises could unclench her white-knuckled fists.

Sachiko Ogasawara hated the ocean.

It terrified her with its vast emptiness and its untameable, unyielding power. As someone who liked to be in control of her environment at all times, floating in a heaving soup of dark brine filled her with dread. Yet here she was, less than two hours from Chichijima, the only port of access for travellers to the Ogasawara Archipelago.

The islands, sharing her family name, were a point of great pride amongst her ancestral circle. Why, the Ogasawaras? Yes, a family so rich and influential they own their own tropical paradise! The truth was nothing of the sort. While the Ogasawaras owned a great deal of private property in the Archipelago, most of it was World Heritage listed natural parkland. She knew she was probably the first in her family to make the laborious journey in over half a century.

So here she was, lying comatose in the expensively plain private room, asking herself over and over why she was doing this. She was 18 years old and a recent graduate of Tokyo's Lillian Girls. Star of Lillian they had called her. She would glide about the campus like an otherworldly being, polite and brilliant, yet cold and reserved. Her beauty and grace were enviable. Long raven hair falling in shimmering waves about her refined features, high cheekbones and china-doll skin. She achieved everything expected of her as a rich heiress from one of Japan's most prominent families. Gaining flawless marks in everything she put her hand to, she graduated as a prodigy. A girl like her would have her pick of universities with scholarships thrown at her feet. And yet it had all been meaningless to her father.

No sooner had she received the offers from the most prestigious tertiary institutions in the world, her own had come crashing down around her. The schools, the marks, the brilliance had all been little more than a show of her breeding. Her father had smiled at her and had shaken his head with a smirk of confusion when she had sought him out to announce her acceptance into a Japanese Literature degree.

"What ever is the matter my dear? You can write your charming stories all day long when you are the lady of a household, perhaps some tales to tell the children. Kashiwagi will handle the business of course."

What had followed had been a blur of rage so intense that she had strained her voice yelling. She had a vague memory of her mother holding onto her face, gently trying to soothe her before she had blacked out from her distress. She had awoken to find that her father had retaliated in turn, by attempting to set a date for her wedding. The engagement had always been there in the back of her mind, but it had just seemed so ridiculous to her that she had mentally shrunk its significance in her life. If she hadn't she would surely be a reclusive wreck by now.

Sachiko spared a glance at the unoccupied bed opposite hers. Her cousin Touko had proved herself impervious to the wrath of the waves and had frequently ventured up onto the observation deck with a spirit of adventure. Touko Matsudaira was her only companion on this voyage and while they got on very well, there was probably a limit to how many times her cousin wanted to listen to her throwing up, Sachiko reasoned. Blue eyes dull, she raised a weak hand towards the leather journal on her bedside table. It was a beautiful thing. Chocolate brown leather and pristine pages made of thick luxurious parchment. She thumbed through them, so fresh and untouched. It was just the perfect weight for carrying under one's arm, not to heavy for travel. It was the gift her mother had given her the morning prior, at the passenger terminal. Sayako Ogasawara had been the only one present for her departure. She had conveniently neglected to tell he father where she was going. He would find out eventually, he always did. Fortunately for Sachiko, there was not much he could do to stop her. She was legally an adult. 18 years of age. It was this factor, which had changed everything for her, a snag in her father's grand schemes if you will.

Another violent lurch of the ship had Sachiko off the bed and into the en suite bathroom, falling to her knees just in time to spit pathetically into the porcelain basin. Nothing left, hardly surprising. She rinsed her mouth and tottered back into the bedroom. Frail as her constitution had rendered her, the need for fresh air was becoming dire. The stale air of her cabin was stifling. Perhaps a trip to the upper deck would do her good. As a last minute thought she tucked the journal under her left arm and gingerly exited the room. Bracing herself against the railing with her right arm, Sachiko made her way up the corridor. There were only a select few private rooms available for booking aboard the Ogasawara Maru. They were also frightfully expensive. The majority of the passengers sacrificed comfort over money in the lower classes, sleeping on thin mats upon the floor in rows, over 100 in each room. The very thought was abhorrent to her. Being trapped aboard this vessel in a private room was bad enough.

Touko had teased her mercilessly about her circumspect attitude. For Touko this was a grand adventure, a dream come true. In Sachiko's opinion, rollicking adventures weren't for her to live out. She loved reading about them and had even tried her hand at writing them, but was yet to find joy over her anxiety in the real world. Travelling had always been a harrowing experience for her. Several times in her school life she had been required to board a plane for mandatory field trips. Not pleasant, even counting the sedatives she dosed herself with. There was always something so romantic about a stormy sea voyage when it was written down on paper. They can't encapsulate this, Sachiko mused bitterly as she reached the base of the stairs to the deck. She could almost see it. Down below the flimsy floor of this tin can were the miles and miles of dense, suffocating sea.

The metal frame of the ship gave a mighty groan just as Sachiko had placed her foot on the first step.

Maria-sama! This is testing me…

A harsh shudder followed and Sachiko's right hand flew to her jacket pocket, clutching the rosary that lay within. Fingers closed around her talisman, she made her way up the stairs. She had taken it off from its usual place around her neck to prevent befouling it when her seasickness became unbearable. The rosary she usually wore was her most treasured possession. This was not particularly due to any religious value, but because it was given to her by her grandmother. Her father's mother had always been her favourite grandparent. Stoic and strong she had emulated all the self-confidence Sachiko longed to see in herself. But she was also kind and selfless, treating her granddaughter as an equal whenever they were together. When she had passed away in Sachiko's third year at Lillian, it had caused the heiress an agony and grief she had never before experienced. It was strength of emotion she had never felt before. More than any amount of happiness, fear or anger she had any knowledge of. It was just sadness and pain. Not even writing could relieve her of it. The only reason she had found her way back was due to her wonderful Onee-sama, Youko Mizuno and her cousin, Touko. Even still, she now knew just how capable she was of feeling passionate emotions.

If I could have just one wish in my lifetime, it would be to feel that strongly again, but for something wonderful and pure. Not for bitter grief... Oba-san would wish me to be happy. She knew the freedom I wanted even before I discovered it myself. It's the reason she did what she did.

The very reason Sachiko was aboard the Maru was due to a startling bequeathal made in Setsuko Ogasawara's will. It was something her father had conveniently forgotten to mention to her, while she forgave her mother for withholding in knowing she was only being sensitive to her grieving child. At the time of the will's reading Sachiko had been under 18, and preoccupied with her sorrow. As her parents and guardians, her father and mother had attended on her behalf.

After finding out that her father intended to hitch her to her own cousin for purely commercial benefits she had lost the final shreds of respect she had retained for him. She had known the choices available to her. Her mother had sat down with her and they had lain down the facts together. She was either to do as her father and grandfather intended or face estrangement from the Ogasawara clan. She would be destitute, penniless. It must have seemed like a pretty airtight plan…well, that is until it was revealed that Setsuko Ogasawara was bequeathing her entire personal fortune to her granddaughter upon her 18th birthday, thus protecting any parental interference with the money. Having lived modestly off of her husband's family all of her life, the handsome sum had been sitting in several bank accounts gathering interest for a very long time. Needless to say, Sachiko was left rich enough to live a comfortable life, free from any financial worry. No doubt Touru Ogasawara would have kept this under tight wraps until the marriage licenses had been signed. Then all of a sudden, her personal assets would have become the company's, she did not doubt it for one second.

Her mother had told her all of this with a tremulous smile, apologising profusely all throughout for not telling her sooner. She knew her mother never intended to let Touru get away with her money and her freedom like that. She would have been told sooner rather than later. It must be difficult to give your only child a choice which could result in them leaving forever, but she loved Sachiko too much to condemn her to the same caged life she herself had suffered in. So when Sachiko had been told that she had also been bequeathed a luxurious holiday house in the Ogasawara Islands it had been less than a day before she was gazing down at the deeds in her hands, her name signed off in her grandmother's hand. She had wept.

She'd had a chance to free herself from her elite life and she had taken it. The house had been an engagement present for her grandmother, but had remained unvisited for decades. Sachiko had called ahead, ensuring the place would be clean and fully staffed upon her arrival. Deferring her university entrance until the next year she intended to temporarily retreat into her newly acquired sanctuary as far away from her father and grandfather as possible. Touko had even requested to take a month of her summer holidays in order to her cousin settle in. Her father would no doubt realise the permanence of her apathy towards the company eventually. The notion that his only child and heir had no interest in marrying or of carrying children for his uses would come like a slap in the face, no doubt about it. Too bad, she had thought bitterly. If he had spent more time with mother and less time slinking around with his mistresses he would have had other children to use as alternative solutions. Talk about putting all of your eggs in one basket.

Sachiko was shaken from her reverie when she noticed herself ascending the final landing. The dark horizon came into view, pitching and rolling with enormous waves. Maybe this wasn't such a fantastic idea after all, she thought as a wave surged up the side of the ship, raining her with spray.

"Sachiko-onee-sama! You're here…wait, what on earth are you doing up here?" Touko had appeared at her side, clinging to the railing, pigtails significantly more disorderly than usual. A dark cloud above them glowed luminously from beneath as a sheet of lightning lit up the deck.

"I merely came up to take in the air," Sachiko had to raise her voice in order to be heard above the cacophony of wind, waves and (now that she took the time to notice it) the panicked voices of crew members hurrying to and fro.

"Well you can give the air right back and go back downstairs! I think something's wrong, the crew are telling everyone to go inside. They said something about a stabilizer breaking off. That's why the boat keeps tilting; these types of ships need stabiliser fins for rough seas!" Touko was trembling now, whether from the rain pounding the deck or sheer terror was hard to deduce. The ship was tipping more violently now. Sachiko had two choices, calm confidence or utter hysteria. If she could hold off the latter for only a little longer she would be rather self-congratulatory.

"We are nearly there, are we not? Surely the captain can see the islands, or use his instruments to navigate us there safely. We are in no danger so long as the engines keep running. Now let's get off this deck and into the warm, perhaps we can calm ourselves over a hot cup of te-" before Sachiko could finish her sentence there was an immense, metallic grinding shriek followed by a pitching jolt of the ship that lifted everyone on deck up several feet before slamming them down again. The momentum rolled Sachiko into the entrance landing of the stairwell as the ship began listing violently to the starboard side. In her fragile state it took Sachiko several minutes to realise Touko was kneeling in front of her shaking her shoulders, her face anxious and pale.

"Sachiko-onee-sama! Are you alright? Can you hear me? Sachiko-sama please focus on me so I know you won't pass out!"

Sachiko blinked passively up at Touko, a throbbing in the right side of her head, but held her gaze. "T-touko, what's happening? What just happened?"

Her cousin shook her head, "I have no idea, but something happened under the ship and it's still tilting to the left side. You're lucky you didn't get thrown back down the stairs!"

Touko shakily got to her feet, picking up the journal Sachiko had dropped in her left hand whist using her right to help her cousin to her feet. She managed to get them both out onto the deck again to lean against the wall. Now they were outside it was apparent what the ship was doing. It was spinning. The ship appeared to be making one continuous hard left turn. Either the person steering the ship had a terrible sense of humour, or the thing was in utter upheaval.

A young man from the crew hurried by them and Sachiko swallowed her aversion to men for a brief moment to catch his arm. "What on earth just happened?"

The boy turned to her in irritation but faltered a bit when he saw his addressor. The icy death-glare knew no fatigue for Sachiko. She could use it on her deathbed if necessary. "U-um well something blew out the engines on the left side completely, we have no clue what! B-but the ones on the right are jammed in one direction. The Captain's powering down now but unless we all evacuate quickly we'll be run aground on the reef with everyone on board!"

Almost as if to emphasise the stressed boy's point, the crackling loudspeakers around the various points of the ship sparked to life with the voice of the agitated captain. "Hem hem, ladies and gentlemen this is your captain speaking. Due to a mechanical malfunction we are all required to evacuate the vessel immediately. Please do not be alarmed, but move to the rear of the vessel in a calm and orderly fashion, women and children first. Those indoors will find their lifejackets in the metal bins both starboard and portside. There are enough inflatable rafts for all passengers so please remain calm."

Remaining calm seemed like the last thing on everyone's minds however. As soon as the captain's announcement concluded a great wave of panicked screams was heard within the ship. Hurried thundering footsteps set the beat, as all hell broke loose.

People flooded onto the portside deck, rebounding off one another as the ship jolted them. Touko pulled on Sachiko's hand in earnest, urging them to join the throng of people fighting for a safe evacuation. Keeping an eye on the dark brown pigtails in the crowd ahead Sachiko let her right hand stray to the rosary in her pocket for some sort of familiarity in this growing consternation.

Except it wasn't there. She felt her heart freeze in her chest. When? Where did I drop it? I had it up until…She stopped and felt Touko's hand ripped from hers as the crowd carried her younger cousin onwards towards salvation. The stairs! I nearly went down them but the rosary must have gotten flung from my pocket…but I can't retrieve it; there's no time. Touko needs me.

Struggling onwards through the crowd she found herself jostled from all sides. The deck was narrow and the need for self-preservation seemed to be taking up everyone's primary concerns. They pushed past the weakened teen, barely sparing her a glance. There was no order, no organised evacuation plan, and no role calling of the passengers. One particularly aggressive man came barrelling past and Sachiko felt her feet knocked from under her. She had a brief image of a captain's uniform before her head met the metal deck and she was plunged into darkness.

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When the heiress finally came to, she was unsure whether she had been unconscious for two minutes or twenty. All she knew was that she was alone. Gone were the voices and the thudding of feet. Blue eyes opened to a sight she would never forget.

The boat was sinking, water lapping inches from her fingertips. With a terrified shriek Sachiko scrambled to her feet and took in the situation. The ferry had indeed struck the reef…teetering right next to the drop off. The damage was done to the starboard hull and the entirety of the ship would soon slide down into the dark depths below. Unforgiving seas surrounded Sachiko on three sides, whilst pounding surf greeted her from the direction of the reef. Utter, uncontrollable panic seized Sachiko. She was going to die. There was no escape. With a jolt the ship slid down even further, water gurgling out of the stairwell door. The vessel was now tilting to the left at over 45 degrees, requiring the girl to clutch at the railing in order to save herself from sliding into the maelstrom. She searched the horizon desperately. Surely there would still be life rafts nearby. Some of the crew would undoubtedly remain to monitor the ship…right? But the seas were rough and even if there was a raft, there was no way she would be able to swim out. Without a life jacket she would be doomed even in calm water, and in these seas…

Oba-san, Oba-san please help me. Give me something, anything! Maria-sama I don't want to die. Not when I just became free. Please!

As though to mock her prayers the ship slid even further off the reef shelf. Sachiko was dangling from the rail now, the water below swirling and sucking like an enormous plughole.

Oh god this is it. No please not like this. I don't want to, please no no no!

Her pleas went unheard as the ship gave its final groan and fell from the reef. Sachiko hit the water and was pulled under at once. Arms flailing uselessly she attempted to fight the current and break the surface, but the rough waves forced ship down beside her, the immense suction bringing her along for the ride. Water flooded her nose and mouth as the dark brine stung her eyes. The need for air was agonising and she knew the pale light through the surging waves above was the last thing she would ever see.

Except it wasn't.

In the seconds before unconsciousness claimed her she could have sworn she felt a pair of gentle arms surrounding her, spiriting her smoothly upwards.

Oba-san…

There was a blur of brown and a flash of ruby red, and for the third time that day, everything went black.