De Maris Terrarumque

By:

Katrara

"Itachi! Itachi! Can you take me down to the ship today? Please!" An over excited child cried, swimming around in front of Itachi. Itachi merely sighed, used to his little brothers antics and constant begging to go do things with him.

"Alright Sasuke, but not for long, alright?" Itachi consented, getting a bright smile and nod from the younger.

"Yay! Let's go than!" Sasuke exclaimed, grabbing his brother's hand and practically dragging him towards the site of the old ship. It had been there for years, since before Itachi was even born. An old wooden ship that had sunk in a storm decades ago that had chosen an area outside the underwater city to rest until it decayed away. For the younger children it was either a place rumored to be haunted and avoided at all cost or, in Sasuke's case, a place for exploration and adventure.

Sasuke and Itachi were from a more wealthy family, one of the original families to set up this city and had one of the longest histories in the merpeoples world. The magic of the old sirens still running strong in their blood even. The Uchiha's were a well respected family, a powerful one too at one time in the land beneath the waves, until the day that caused for a great change in rules for the merpeople.

Five Years Ago

It had been a beautiful day for the Uchiha's that resided in the city, a perfect day to go up to the surface. There was a nice place about ten miles off from the city above the waves, no humans knew about the area and it had plenty of rocks for the merpeople to relax on while the younger ones played. It was almost like a park for them, with all the fish and dolphins that were in the area to play with and on this day the Uchiha's had decided to make a bit of a family picnic up there.

Little Sasuke was only a few months old at the time, to small to even swim yet and was just enjoying the warm sun on his skin and scales in his mothers lap when it happened.

Who finally noticed was unknown but someone in the family made a loud shout of 'humans!' and all chaos broke loose. Everyone turned to see the ship, pirate ship, closing in on the once secluded area, and they'd spotted the legendary people of the sea.

Within seconds the air was clouded with gun smoke, the water tainted with blood. Crying and gunfire mixed together, everyone trying to get back under the water to safety. A few chose to stay above, doing what they could to fight the humans off; the older ones of the family who had more magic than others controlling the waves to smash against the boat, push it away from the family. Others were using the sweet voice that was passed down from the siren's to lure those with weapons off the ship but it was too late by now. The damage had been done.

All of a sudden, the ship exploded, somehow the barrels of gunpowder having caught on fire. The blast sent debris and the like into the water, killing more.

The entire event felt to those who took part as though it had lasted for hours, when in reality the time between the shout of warning and the final explosion being barely minutes apart. The entire Uchiha family being brought down, ruined from exsistence. Out of the fifety some that had gone on the picnic that day only three managed to survive. Itachi, a mere six year old, his baby brother who his mother had handed to him ordering him to swim and hide with his baby brother as fast as he could, and the brothers uncle, Madara.

Itachi had chosen the safest spot to be behind a large rock, sinking down in the water and using what little control over the water he had to make some waves to better conceal himself and his whimpering brother. The bolder had been large enough to protect them from most of the blast, Itachi having curled around the small infant in an attempt to keep him as safe as possible. His back taking the damage of the explosion when a red hot, sharp, peice of metal hit his back, breaking the skin and burning it at the same time. A sharp cry of pain leaving his lips to match his now crying brothers.

Madara managed to find the two after the waves calmed down again and the cries had all stopped except one, one that he recognized. Following the sound of a crying baby he easily found his dear nephews; Itachi trying to calm his crying brother down as silent tears raced down his face in pain both physical and emotional. He had wasted no time in tending to the two, getting them underwater and a safe distance away from the area that reeked of blood and fire; the sharks would be there soon.

Unfortuantley Itachi's wound ended up scaring as it wasn't taken care of immediatley, getting to safety being the first priority. There was a slight infection as well but nothing that the local healer couldn't handle. Itachi had been successful in keeping his brother safe as well, the little infant seeming fine once he was returned to the familiar city; unaware of the great lose he just had.

After that day Madara has adopted the two boys, and gone to the council to discuss some changes in the way things worked to prevent this from happening again. From that day forth going to the surface was deemed unsafe and strictly forbidden on any grounds. Those that chose to go up anyway would be on thier own, aid would not be given under any circumstance.

Both Madara and Itachi worried for Sasuke because of this rule, it was easy to see the young boys curiosity of the world above the waves. Of his desire to see the light outside of the blue waters and in the clear air. To see the sky, clouds, birds, even ships that weren't accesible below the waters surface. But it was for the best and they all knew it, their entire family had been taken from them because of the land above the waves and there was no way that another loved one would be lost to the savage humans.

"There it is Itachi!" Sasuke exclaimed, swimming faster now for the sunken ship that was within his sight. Itachi just sighed, letting Sasuke swim on ahead of him to begin his exploration of the different levels to the ship.

Sasuke barely paid Itachi any mind, use to his brother's silence. Itachi was the one Sasuke clung to, not having any family outside of him and Madara, and although Madara treated them like the kids he'd never had it wasn't the same as his real parents nor Itachi. The two brother's had a silent unbreakable bond almost, constantly around each other and when separated for extended periods of time Sasuke would go into a pure panic.

"Ne, big brother look at this!" Sasuke yelled, holding up the small silver tiara he had found that was embedded with pearls and saphires. Itachi smiled at his brother, taking the crown and placing it on the youngers head. The blue in the saphires nicely complemented Sasukes dark hair and eyes, along with his murkey purple tail; Itachi's was a velvet red that contrasted with his pale skin.

A bright smile spread across the youngers face at the crown being placed on his head, making him feel like a prince. "Now how about you go see if you can find some pearls in here to go along with that your highness." Itachi teased, hugging his brother; a bit longer and stronger of a hug than normal.

Sasuke eagerly returned the hug, "okay Itachi!" And off he went into the deeper parts of the ship.

About ten minutes later when Sasuke had found a pearl necklace and some diamond rings did he finally notice that Itachi hadn't been following behind him through the ship.

"Itachi?" Sasuke called into the dark hallways of the old ship, recieving no reply. He called out again and got nothing in return but the soft creak of the wood against the waters current. Again and again Sasuke called out, voice becoming more and more frantic as he swam around the ship looking for his big brother. After nearly an hour of his frantic searching he collapsed on the dirty wooden floor, curling in on his small frame and crying, his brothers name falling from his lips.

"Itachi..."

His brother was gone.

Eleven Years Later...

Itachi Uchiha was never found after that day.

A few hours after Sasuke had crumpled on the ships floor Madara had gone out looking for his two nephews, and only came home with one. Afterwards they had searched for months, trying to find the missing Uchiha but nothing was ever found, not a single clue to the eleven year olds disappearence (although now Itachi would be twenty-two.)

Eventually the search was given up, forcing Sasuke and Madara to grow up with just the duet instead of the trio. Sasuke had never quite been the same afterwards either, he had maintained his curious nature and again gone out to explore after he had broken free of the depression that had taken him upon his brother's initial disappearence. But now he was more rebellious, not listening to the rules often, sneaking out more, and he preferred to be alone. Never bothering to make friends with the merepeople of his age.

As he got older the rebellion got worse and when he was eleven Madara caught him up at the surface.

Madara had yelled and screamed at the boy for hours after that, grounding him to the house and forbidding any more exploration from him. He even went as far as hiding (possibly destroying) all of the treasures Sasuke had collected over the years of the human world. This in turn had made Sasuke cut himself off even more, distancing himself from his only remaining family.

The teen, a fresh sixteen years old, hadn't changed any in the passing years either. He had found a small sea cave off of the city, hid the enterance with a large bolder that he could barely move himself and turned it into his own little hideaway. Not a soul knew of this little secret cave but him and he intended to keep it that way, creating a little haven for himself within it's stone walls.

The cave itself was an interesting one, once inside it was a single roomed area in a circle. The floor of the cave was very wide and the further up you went the narrower the space got, with a small opening for light at the top, just large enough for Sasuke to sneak through if he needed a quick escape from it. The walls practically resembelled shelves at times and Sasuke used that to his advantage, filling the make-shift shelves with different things from the human world that he found from sunken ships.

In his defiance against his uncle and the rules he'd gone farther out away from the city and had stumbled upon a good handful of sunken ships, each one carrying different kinds of treasures inside it. Sasuke loved it himself, he could hide within that cave for hours surronded by his collection of human-things. Imagining what it would be like to be in a different world, to be a different person, a different creature entirely; one with family and friends, with people who understood him and where his life wasn't full of empty voids from the loses he had suffered. In this little place he could be whoever he wanted to be, his dreams could briefly become a reality in here and no one could stop him.

Another thing Sasuke loved about his little cave was that it was very secluded, out past the seaweed fields where no one went. All the way out here (although it wasn't that far for Sasuke, he had found plenty of short-cuts to his little haven over the years) no one could hear him sing. He hadn't inherited the manipulation powers of the sea from his father's side of the Uchiha line but from his mother and uncle's side he had gained the singing voice of a siren, a beautiful one at that.

Originally Itachi had been considered the family prodigey, not only having manipulation over the water but the famous Uchiha voice of a siren. Although the Uchiha's were known for both water manipulation and sirens, it was the sirens that made them truely famous and was the trait that every Uchiha hoped to pass on to their offspring. Itachi had lucked out and gotten both. Sasuke though had an even sweeter voice that was even considered a rare beauty amoung the merepeople. He had quickly discovered that singing in the city was a bad idea unless he wanted unneccessary attention, which he did not.

So Sasuke would often sing to himself in his little piece of paradise. If he didn't feel like exploring some day he would just lay on the sandy floor of the cave and sing a random melody that came to his head. Sometimes some passing fish would come down in the little sky-light and swim around him as he sang, and a rare true smile would spread across his face in those peaceful moments that were meant for just him and the natural sea around him.

Still, those moments were brief and few as Sasuke found himself more often than not exploring some sunken ship or breaking the most forbidden rule and swimming to the surface. Allowing himself to just lay there and float in the fresh air.

Besides, what his uncle didn't know wouldn't hurt him and there wasn't a soul who wanted to harm the young Uchiha siren. The boy could take care of himself after being nearly entirely alone for so many years. All he needed was his little cave, his haven of paradise; where no one but himself could touch him.

NEW STORY! You're all gonna kill me right? This is project number what that I've started?

Let's see, we have Of Tea and Blood and UnWanted. I found some old Death Note stories I never finished. There's still one story here on the ItaSasu fandom I never finished. And this doesn't even count the three SuperJail fanfictions that are all in progress, along with the one Mighty Boosh oneshot, and the one Hetalia oneshot either. Did I mention I have an intention to rewrite most of my ItaSasu works too?

Alright, so now that we've looked at what all I'm suppose to be writing let us look at my schedule...I start school in barely two weeks...and I still have three books to read before this..I should do that too..

OKAY! SO ONTO THE STORIES NOTES NOW!

As we can all see it's gonna be another ItaSasu, but this time it has a different kind of twist to it; we have gone The Little Mermaid style and no, this will not be put in the crossovers because they tend to annoy me and I am not using any characters from The Little Mermaid, just using the story-line for this fanfic.

From the age of about three to about eleven I was obsessed with The Little Mermaid, as in I had wallpaper, posters, pictures, sheets, pillows, blankets, quilts, T-shirts, pj's, sandles, bathingsuits, toys, costumes, movies, recorded shows and about 18 Ariel barbie dolls and this is just the stuff I can remember. So, I had a bad obsession for a few years but don't we all! So after The Little Mermaid I took a one year break, and than found anime. Can you guess what my first anime was? ... Naruto! Which of course has remained my favorite anime and I found some pictures on DeviantArt that just happened to inspire this and here we are! Combining my two horrible obsessions in one fanfic!

Now than, one more thing. You all know me, yes? THE RATING HAS AN 85% CHANCE OF GOING UP TO MATURE!

Note: The Title De Maris Terrarumque translates to Of Sea and Land in Latin.

That is all. Thank You.

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