Mermaid Melody: Pearl Lullaby

Chapter 2

"Who's there?" The crying person asked. Hippo opened the door wider. He got a look at the person crying, and he saw a person he was dying to see. "Y-Yuri?" He asked. "Hippo? Hippo!" She said as she got up and hugged him, and he hugged her back. "Yuri, what happened I thought you were lost with Gackto?" He said. "I was, but somehow I woke up in the middle of the ocean, and I had nowhere to go so I came here to wait for you." She said through her sobs. She was so happy to have seen Hippo again. Hey, there's that feeling, I feel special towards Yuri, and now I feel lucky to be alive too, like now I've been completed. He thought.

"Hippo?" She said. "What is it?" He asked. "Are you mad at me for siding with Gackto?" She asked. "No, I'm not, I felt so incomplete without you here, and now that your back I don't feel resentment towards you. I never did either." He said with a soft smile. "Oh Hippo!" She cried with joy.

"Hello? I'm back!" Lucia called as she entered the house. "Hey Lucia. Did you enjoy your date with Kaito?" Caren said as she nudged her arm. "I had fun, and stop poking at me with your arm, your being like Hanon." She said as she entered the living. "Oh my gosh, your right! I am turning into Hanon. Aah! Someone call a psychiatrist!" She screamed as she ran in a circle. "Good gosh, I was only joking, you shouldn't take things so seriously." Lucia laughed. "Sorry, but you gotta admit, I wouldn't be able to handle being like Hanon. I can't even handle her!" She said as she sat on the couch.

"I guess that's true." Lucia said as she sat next to her. "Hey guys. Ow, it still hurts." Seira said as she walked in. "What's wrong Seira, did you get your tail caught in the drain again?" Lucia asked as she turned to face Seira. "Yeah, but I didn't do it on purpose this time." She said. "That's not what you told us, you said you were only trying to see if your tail could reach the quarter someone dropped in there." Caren said. "Hey I could get ice cream with that quarter!" Seira argued. "Enough about ice cream, that's all it is day and night you wanted to go get ice cream with Lucia yesterday, and Coco the day before, and Hanon the day before that, and Noel before that." Caren said.

"Ice cream is what makes the world go 'round!" Seira said gleefully. "Which world are you living on?" Caren asked. "My world!" Seira said. "Well your world stinks." Caren said. "Your so mean to me." Seira cried. "Oh Seira, shes only kidding, right Caren?" Lucia said as she hugged Seira. "Yeah, I'm just messing with you." Caren said. "But still her world is one big fantasy." She whispered as she exited the room. "So Seira, what do you wanna do?" Lucia asked. "I don't know, oh, now do!" She said. "I'll bet it has to do with ice cream." They heard Caren say from another room. "Shut up! I wanna go for a swim, I haven't gone in a while, and I wanna swim where I can't get my tail caught in a drain." She said.

"I'll agree with you there, and it's a beautiful night tonight, let's go. Wanna come Caren" Lucia called. "Sure, ain't nothin better to do in this crazy house." she said as she reentered the room. "Okay, let's go for a dip in the ocean!" Seira said as they walked out the door.

"Ah, this feels nice." Caren said as she swam under the water. "Yeah, it feels good to swim in a bigger area once in a while." Seira said. "And the moon is so pretty, I always did like full moons, that also means the water will get more waves. Waves are fun to play in." Lucia said. "Were you actually paying attention when you were still going to school?" Caren asked. "Only when I repeatedly being poked by Hanon to pay attention to things about the water or something about the ocean. She and Rina were always telling me too pay attention to at least those things." She said as she shrugged.

"Well, I guess your right about one thing." Caren said. "What?" Lucia asked. "Waves are fun to play in!" Seira said as she swam in a big wave." Yeah, she's right!" Caren said as she joined Seira in the big wave. They swam for a while often poking there heads out to see if anyone had seen them. And after a little while of swimming they decided to get out. "Hey Lucia, have you ever considered going back to school?" Caren asked. "Yeah, you can go with me to school, then we can be in the same class." Seira said. "I guess that wouldn't be such a bad idea, but I don't know about going back to a school I left almost 3 months ago." Lucia said.

"Well, there's a point, but you can say the business transfer didn't go so well, so you can go back when the new semester starts, which is in about a week." Seira said. "Yeah, and that'll make it easier to get back to a normal life. With the sea at peace you can still get an education." Caren said. "Do I have to do the education part?" Lucia asked. "Yes, it's part of being a princess to have an education for applied knowledge. Oh gosh, now I'm sounding like Noel when she reads!" Caren shrieked.

"Shh, we're still mermaids you dummy!" Seira whispered. "Right, sorry, I have a serious problem with screaming above the surface in my mermaid self." Caren said. They changed back into their human forms. "Hey look over there at the beach house, isn't that Hippo?" Seira said as she pointed at the little shed known as the beach house. "That is, and he's with someone." Caren said. "Let's go get a better look." Lucia said and they went behind the rocks to see who Hippo was with. "Hey isn't that the dark lover Yuri?" Caren asked. "Who's Yuri?" Seira asked.

"No time to explain, in the short story, she's Hippo's love from a while ago." Lucia said. "So that is Yuri, I thought she perished with Gackto?" Caren said. "So did I, I guess she made it out alive." Lucia said. "Come on let's go see them. Hippo!" Seira said. "Seira!" Lucia and Caren said. "Hippo, there you are!" She said as she ran to them. "S-Seira, what're you doing here?" Hippo said. "We were swimming and we saw you." She responded. "Hippo, I really should be going though." Yuri said. "Hippo, Seira!" Lucia said as she and Caren ran to them. "Why do you have to go" Hippo asked.

"I can only stay on the surface for a certain period of time, but don't worry, I'll be back tomorrow night. I'm only allowed to come here at night, but at least I'll get to see you." She said as she kissed his cheek and started going back into the water. She stopped. "See you tomorrow Hippo." She said and she dove into the sea. Hippo stood there holding his cheek where she kissed him. "Yuri." He whispered. "Well now, it looks like the penguin so against love with other creatures is getting a taste of the same medicine he complains about!" Caren said.

"Alright, I admit it, I am in love with Yuri, and I was wrong for having judged humans too. But now, I feel happy again, and I feel like the luckiest person alive." He said with a great big smile. Good for you Hippo. Lucia thought as she smiled. "Well, Hippo, Lucia was thinking of going back to school." Seira changed the subject. "Really? You should, all princesses should have a good education." He said. "Now your telling me that, man, why is education so important?" She said. They started walking home while debating about school, when a person from behind a rock near them appeared.

"So this is where you were, I guess I'll have to enroll in school too." The voice said. Now that I've reached the surface, I'll finally be able to see you for the first time, sister. The person thought, and disappeared.

The next morning Hippo was up and floating about the house, weightless because he was so joyful. "Hippo, that fluttering is starting to get annoying." Nikora said as she served the breakfast. "Sorry Nikora, I'll stop." He said as he sat at the table, and changed back into his penguin form. "I never saw you in that form for so long, why were you in it all night?" Nikora asked. "I was out walking and I found Yuri. And I was so happy that I didn't change back." He said as he munched on his toast. "Oh yes, Lucia mentioned that. So Yuri came back?" She asked. "Yeah, but only at night, and she's out of Gackto's control and she can live normally." He said.

"That's good, but I hope this isn't a trap to lure the princesses out." Taki said. "No, otherwise she would've tried to when Seira stuck her nose in!" Caren said. "But she has a point, Yuri must have been freed when the peace returned to the sea after we sealed the Sea of Japan's power." Lucia said. "That's a good point, I mean, there can't be permanent peace if someone like Yuri still existed unless they've been turned into good creatures. That's the way it works." Noel said. "Right, so Yuri has to have turned over a new leaf." Hippo said. "We know Hippo, we'll trust her." Nikora said.

"In other news, me, Hanon and Lucia had a big discussion about this, and we feel we should go back to school for the new semester." Rina said. "That's a great idea. A princess needs her education." Nikora said. Lucia groaned. "That's like the fifth time I've heard that in the last two days." She said. "More like four." Seira corrected. "Not the point." Lucia said. "Anyway, we're going back to we need to re-enroll in school, and plus, things are boring during the day, no business, no fun at all." Hanon said. "Right, so school restarts the semester on Monday so we still got another five days of free time." Rina said.

"Right, but what do we do til then?" Lucia asked. "Well I have to go to school too, maybe we should go enroll right now." Seira said. "Good idea, the sooner the better." Rina said, and she and Hanon, Seira, and Lucia got up and left for the school. "What do we do while they're gone?" Coco asked. "Well, someone has to take Lucia's place in doing the dishes, I have to go open the baths." Nikora said as she got up and left. "I am not doing dishes." Coco said.

"Okay, here's what we'll do, let's all close our eyes and do rock, paper, scissors and see who has to do them." Caren suggested. "Good idea." Coco said and they all closed their eyes. "Rock, paper, scissors." Coco said and when she opened her eyes, Caren, Noel, Hippo, and Taki were gone. "Hey! You tricked me, that's not fair!" She shouted.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

That's chapter two, review please, find out if Hippo's love lasts, and who the mystery person is, also, check to see if Coco did the dishes. Just kidding about the dishes. But do check out the next chapter. Catch ya in the next chapter! See ya!