Kaito held his hands in front of his face, staring triumphantly at his glistening red fingernails. He turned to look at Meiko. "Thank you! You are really good at this!" He beamed, going back to staring at his nails, contentedly wiggling his fingers.

"I've had years of practice." She rolled her eyes but couldn't help the smile quirking up the corners of her lips. "I used to paint my little brother's nails too. But he was a much more unwilling test subject." She stood up to put the bottle of nail polish back in its place.

"Oh? You have a brother?" He leaned over the side of the bathtub, placing his head in his hands.

"Yeah. We used to fight a lot but I'd always beat him up." She laughed, sitting down and reclining back on the chair.

He wasn't sure whether to be scared or laugh with her. Where is he now?"

"Oh, he's living on his own now too. He visits sometimes." She turned her head to look at him. "Do you have any siblings?"

Kaito became visibly uncomfortable at the question. He fidgeted, clasping his hands together and staring down at them. "I do. I have a little sister… But I never actually got the chance to meet her."

"I'm sorry… I didn't think…" Meiko looked surprised, wishing she hadn't asked, but couldn't help being curious despite herself. "Is she… dead?"

At that, the merman raised his head again. "No. At least- I hope not…" He reached out suddenly, gently taking a lock of her hair in his hand. "You know, brown hair and eyes are very unusual among my people."

She looked puzzled at the sudden change of subject, but didn't interrupt.

"When a child is born with brown hair, their mother is accused of mating with a human. And our leaders force them both to leave and fend on their own. " He looked down sadly, lowering his hand.

She looked even more confused now. Were they so afraid of humans that they would do that to their own kind? She was surprised Kaito had even let her help him after learning this.

"But, even more so than just having brown hair, there is an easier way to determine whether or not a mermaid has mated with a human." He continued uncertainly. "You see, from what I hear, my little sister had a normal hair color for a mermaid, but she was born without gills. Or even fins of any kind… She was born with a pair of legs and feet and could not possibly have survived under water. She was almost completely human."

Meiko stared almost disbelievingly. "Wow… Okay, I was not expecting to hear something like that."

"Not only did my mother have an illegitimate child; she had an illegitimate child with a human. Naturally, they were both kicked out and I never saw them again."

"What do you mean, 'naturally'?! That isn't how things should work!" She was practically seething with anger, but having no one to vent it out on; she got up and began pacing the small bathroom. She stopped abruptly. "Wait, is that what you were doing out in the storm last night? Looking for them or something?"

He couldn't help but smile. "Oh no! It has been many years since then. She's probably a few years younger than you by now."

She glared. "You callin' me old?"

The merman raised his hands in front of himself in defense. "No! No, I would never dream of-"

Her glare deepened as she brought her face up close to his, brown eyes locking onto startled blue. "If that isn't it, then what exactly were you doing so close to shore during that storm, huh?"

"I was… running from something…" I am running from something.

"What from?"

"Ah… I can't really say."

Deciding she had pried into the merman's privacy enough for one day, she walked out of the bathroom and returned carrying a bundle of clothes. "I'm gonna go use my neighbor's shower. I'll tell her there's a leak here or something- Please don't eat anymore soap."

His lips turned down in a pout and she laughed as she left the room.


She felt refreshed after finally being able to shower. She opened the door to her apartment, a soft melody emitted from within. Kaito was singing. She closed the door behind her and stood in the hallway for a had a sweet voice, calm and soothing. Almost captivating. She walked over to the bathroom.

"I know that song." She said, leaning against the doorway. "You're not one of those mermaids that drags people to their death with a song are you?"

The merman opened his eyes, smiling at her shyly. "Of course not! You're thinking of Sirens; they do that. I'm just a regular merman." His tail squirmed about. "They are also much more grotesque looking, I'll have you know. More fish than man, really- How do you know that song?"

She ran a hand through her hair, sitting close to him again once she made sure he wasn't about to try and enchant her. Perhaps he already had, though. "A friend of mine, she taught it to me. She loves marine biology. I don't know, though, is it possible that humans could have recorded a song from your people?"

He leaned back in the bathtub. "Humans are strange. I would not know."

She got up and left the room. He heard rustling down the hallway and it sounded like she was rummaging through something and throwing things. She came back holding a strange, glossy wooden object. The top part was pear shaped with a hole in the middle, but it extended out into a straight wooden piece that had strings attached to it.

"What is that?" Kaito asked breathlessly, blue eyes alight as he stared at the foreign object in her hands.

"It's called a guitar." She answered, sitting in place and strumming the instrument. "Damn, it's way out of tune. It's for making music, but I haven't used it in a long time." She began turning the small nobs at the end and strummed a few more times. "Much better. Do merpeople have any instruments?"

"Not really… You see, many sounds do not resonate under water too well. We have drums, but not much else for making music. We all learn to sing at rather young ages, though. But singing underwater is very different from on land. Human ears would not be able to hear our singing in the water. Or our speech. Learning how to speak like a human was quite a difficult task, my mother went through a great deal of trouble to teach it to me." He laughed ruefully. "I guess it was quite obvious from the start that she had had contact with humans."

Meiko smiled somewhat sadly. She had certainly caught an interesting merman. "Sing again and I'll accompany you."

He brightened up, sitting straight and clearing his throat. He began that soft melody again, a hint of sorrow in his voice. It was a song about hoping for a better future from the depths of the ocean; a song of longing. She strummed the guitar softly in time with his singing, joining him in the second verse. Their voices mixed perfectly, a harmony of sorrow and hope, of power and sweetness.

They sang the last few verses and the room became quiet.

"You have a beautiful voice." He said quietly, seemingly staring at anything but Meiko.

Meiko smiled shyly. "Not compared to yours."

Their eyes met, and the light pink glow was apparent on both their faces. The merman grinned, the dimples on his cheeks showing. "Thank you."

She got up suddenly, propping the guitar up on a wall. "You know- I had an idea earlier, but we aren't going to be able to do it until nighttime."

His eyes widened. He had to admit, he was rather disappointed that their moment of- whatever it was; he didn't want to analyze anything too closely yet- was interrupted. But he was definitely curious. "What is it?"

"It's a surprise!" She beamed, placing her hands on her hips.


(A/N): Well this chapter was really dialogue heavy… I hope a few of your questions were explained. Also, I've pretty much been making up all of the mermaid folklore for this fic. I just researched to make sure I'm not completely twisting everything up and straying too far from the original ideas behind merpeople.

By the way, the song they sang is So-La 2013 by Shu-t featuring KAITO V3 and MEIKO. It's one of the mish-mash of things that inspired this fic. (I highly recommend giving it a listen if you haven't already.)

Thanks for reading!