Ok guys, this has been changed throughout and in no order, so please re-read before continuing onto the next chapter. Thankyou 22/11/08.

A Tail of a Time

Prologue

You know how Mermaids, Dragons, Fairy's, Witches and all of those types of things are meant to be Mythical creatures? Guess again, one of those creatures is real. How do I know? I am one. I am Sakura Haruno, Princess of the Merpeople, a.k.a. 'The Water Clan'.

We can bend, or use, water to our will; except there are rules to this. Not all Merpeople have the same powers. For instance, Royalty has the power to make water from their hands using the water vapour in the air, and they can freeze water, as well as having the powers of normal Merpeople (otherwise known as 'Commoners').

The normal powers consist of only being able to use, and bend to our will, water that already exists, and being able to transform into a human for as long as 24 hours at a time, with at least an hour in between. Cool huh?

Well, as I said, I am the Princess and only 3 people have the powers of the Royalty: my mum, my dad… and me.

Pirates have heard of us and forever try to catch us; seriously it gets boring after a while. I have never been caught before, mainly cause I can outswim any net, any fish, any shark or any Merperson. I am the fastest in all the oceans.

There are certain characteristics that make the Royalty able to be seen and known that they are Royals. Firstly, our tails and fins are longer, secondly, our different powers, and thirdly the fact that our jewellery (pearls and crowns) are more sophisticated and our tail is more decorated. For instance, on my tail, I was born with dark pink flowers around the rim with the scales being light pink. The ending fin is a darker pink than the scales, yet a lighter pink than the flowers and has the same coloured flowers as the decorative rim. I was just born like that.

Then for the top half I have 2 large starfish (still alive might I add) attached to my chest blocking it from view with seaweed straps. I have a diamond belly button ring, this also shows that I am Royalty because normal Mermaids would have only a pearl, and we have them in plentiful sack fulls. I have a pearl bracelet on each wrist (which every Mermaid has), and because I am Royalty I have a pearl necklace as well. Apparently only Royalty can have a Pearl necklace. I have my hair in two plaits with pearl hair bands holding them together and on my ears I have two smaller live starfish called Nura and Tori. If I am in trouble they are able to go for help, but that has never happened before.

Resting on my head is the one thing every Royal Mermaid has… a tiara; a band of silver in an intricate design with a ruby raindrop in the middle. If everything else didn't show you that I was Royalty, obviously the tiara would do it.

There is only one kingdom in all the oceans, and that is my kingdom that I shall rule once my father, Damien, and my mother, Suki, step down. Our kingdom is fairly ruled with a fair King and a know-all Queen. Add an adventurous and caring Princess (soon to be Queen) to the list and what you have is a kingdom every Merperson loves and not one single person has tried to overtake us.

Our lifespan is longer than a humans' for we have the power and knowledge of the oceans. A human lasts until they are about 90. We Merpeople live to the age of 450. With every ten years that passes, we age only one. So… roughly we live to the appearance of a 45 year old, which is good because we Merpeople have our prides and we like to die with dignity and beauty.

At the moment I am 170 years old and not considered a fully grown Mermaid with her full potential of powers. When a Merperson turns to the age of 180 they are considered a full grown Merperson and only when you have done an honorary achievement will you bring your powers into their full potential, otherwise they will stay at a weakened state like the majority of the Merpeople in my kingdom. Not that this is looked down upon, this is what is considered normal in how kingdom and a person who achieves their full potential is rare and well thought of. A Royal who has not reached their full potential by the age of 180 years of age is considered abnormal though, that is why the Royals have such a high image to maintain.

As I said before with the whole 'being able to change into a two footed land- walking human being for 24 hours tops' thing, its true. We can only stay in that form for 24 hours, after than we automatically change back into a human, which is bad if we are no where near a water source.

Here's the thing, we need water at least once a day, whether we drink it, soak it up or whatever, we need water. Then, once a week minimum we need salt water in our systems, otherwise, even with normal water, we would still shrivel up. And then we would end up looking like a prune.

When a Merperson changes, we automatically have something covering our lower half, it has the same theme as our tails, so for a commoners' tail is would just be the one colour, but with a Royal it wouldn't. For instance, I have a light pink pair of shorts that appears when I shift into my human form with dark pink flowers around the band at the top.

Even when we have two legs we still can breathe under water and have all the qualities we used to have as a Merperson. Nothing changed on the inside only on the outside. I know, I know, it's complicated, but that's our life.

I now believe I have covered everything there is to know about me and my people, I'm sure if something comes up I will tell you.

Now, like I said about me never being caught… I was kind of lying. I once got caught in a net from the ship 'The Bloody Sharingan', weird name right? I thought so too. I got caught in its' nets while I protected some of my people from being captured. I am just that kind of girl. I would rather I get captured then some of my people because I know as a fact that I am stronger and have a better chance of surviving then they do. And even though I went through Hell and pain, I never ever regretted being caught because if I hadn't I never would have met my true love and made new friends. This is my story; of love, pain, terror and sadness. If you read on be prepared for the adventure of a lifetime…