Several beautiful and curvy merwomen surrounded King Jiraiya with their small starfish bras, laughing as the merman told them some not-very-funny and not-quite-true tales about his past. Rock Lee spotted a mermaid swimming her way towards the chamber and he notified Jiraiya with a light kick in the arm with his right foot. Jiraiya bid goodbye to his female friends and practiced some serious expressions as Sakura steadily got closer. He muttered to himself "Sakura! …Sakura-chan! SAKURA! Sakura…" Each with a different tone of voice. The crab smacked his forehead and shook his head. The girl finally approached them.

"Sakura…I just don't know what's gone into your head, young lady…" he scolded her, or attempted to.

"Dad, I'm sorry! Please forgive me, I just forgot and I—."

"As a result of your careless behavior—," started the king

"And misuse of the power of youth!" Rock Lee, who was sitting just a bit behind Jiraiya's ear, exclaimed.

"All of the facilities—!"

"All of the festivities, sire." whispered the turtle. Jiraiya quickly stated,

"All of the festivities were—!" he was cut off once more.

"Absolutely destroyed! They were ruined all because of you!" Rock Lee exploded, "This concert was supposed to be the pinnacle of my distinguishing career! The epitome of musical art exemplifying the power and the beauty of youth! Now, thanks to you, I am the laughing stock of the entire kingdom!"

Timid little Konohamaru gathered some amazing confidence and said, "But, it wasn't her fault! F-first of all, there were these two mer-ninja that were chasing us!" Jiraiya and Rock Lee gave him glares of infuriation. He quickly continued, "But, we got away! It ends up that it was all just a mistake and confusion in their plans! Heh hehhh…then there was this seagull and he showed us this and did that and—" Jiraiya cut off the young fish as he was in the middle of his charades.

"A seagull? What?! Birds don't exist underwat—OH! You went up to the surface again, didn't you?...DIDN'T YOU?!"

"Nothing much happened…" Sakura muttered. She cast her green eyes down, she knew what was coming, "As usual…" she thought.

" How many times must we go through this? You could've been seen by one of those earth-polluting, disgusting, power-hungry, oil spilling HUMANS!" he cried out. At the word 'humans', an audience not visible to Sakura and Konohamaru booed and made yells and cries of disgust and anger. Sakura ignored them.

"Father! They are not disgusting humans!"

"They're dangerous! Do you think I want to see my youngest daughter and her fishy friend caught in a fisher's net or harpooned by one of their…harpoons?!"

"Dad, I'm sixteen years old! I'm not a child anymore!"

"Don't you use that tone with me, young lady! As long as you live under my seven oceans, you'll obey my rules!" he thundered. Konohamaru began to count the number of oceans on his fin-fingers.

"But, if you would just listen—."

"NO! Not another word! I am never ever going to hear of you going to the surface again! You got that?!" thundered Jiraiya, his cheeks red and breath smelling of sea-water sake. Sakura turned around slowly; tears on the verge of falling were seen from Rock Lee and Jiraiya's perspective. She then quickly swam away crying with Konohamaru trailing behind. The sea was silent as Jiraiya watched his daughter swim away. The redness in the king's cheeks began to fade and he asked his advisor, "Do you think I was…too hard on her?"

"No, of course not sire! Why, if Sakura was my daughter, I'd show her who's who. None of this 'surface' crap and other nonsense. Yeah, I'd keep her under tight control, just as any parent should of his or her rebellious teenage child!" Jiraiya nodded, his confidence boosted.

"Yeah! You're absolutely right, Lee!" He shook his fist and gave a smirk.

"Of course I am sire."

"Sakura needs constant supervision."

"Constant!"

"Someone to watch over her to keep her out of trouble."

"All the time—."

"And you are just the turtle to do it!" Jiraiya exclaimed, pointing a stubby finger Rock Lee.

"How, oh, how do I get myself into these situations? I should be writing symphonies and musical numbers, not following around some hot-headed teenager…" grumbled the green and orange turtle. He was slowly swimming through an area of the ocean only a short while from the palace. It had coral and rock formations jutting out at random in this wide area but time and the flow of the water eventually wore down the formations' edges to make a beautiful area great for playing in by young sea creatures as their mothers wouldn't want them to get hurt on those formerly sharp edges.

Seconds after he had finished speaking, he saw Sakura and Konohamaru swim towards a large boulder. He sneakily trailed after them and saw them slip past a narrow space in between the boulder and it seemed —a cave… that it concealed. He quickly swam towards the cave as quickly as a sea turtle could and managed to get inside in time to see Sakura and Konohamaru speaking to each other. Rock Lee hid behind a few rocks, out of the sight of the mermaid and fish. "What on earth is she doing?" he thought as he closed his gaping jaw; the grotto was round and large enough to hold just a few merpeople and with shelve-like ridges all along the blue-grey, almost silver, walls in the same color.

Some of the ridges were larger and shapelier than others, and yet regardless of the many shelves that the small cavern held, items from the human world were crowding on every one. The grotto's ceiling as non-existent, as it rose higher and higher until finally ending in a small opening, where beyond it was the sea. The sun cast gentle rays into the cavern, giving off a somewhat sad yet peaceful lighting in the area. The sunlight also made the cavern a place of beauty as light reflected from the various items that the light hit

Sakura was lying on her stomach on a large flat rock with an antique candle with to arms set before her as well as a grand wooden jewelry box that had remained polished even after all these years under the water.

"Onee-chan, are you… okay?" gently asked Konohamaru. An expression of utmost concern for his friend was apparent on his face. He was about to pat her on the back, but withdrew when he saw her expression. Sakura would not want him to see her when she wasn't strong. Even if she claimed to dislike it when he referred to her as his sister, one could tell that she enjoyed the acknowledgment and respect given to her. Something that people, most of all her father, often did not give her.

The girl held the fork in her hands and let her fingers feel over its cool body. "If only I could get him to understand," she said, to herself more than the young fish. I just don't see things the way he does. I don't see how a world that makes such wonderful things…could be bad.

"Look at this stuff, isn't it neat? Wouldn't you think my collection's complete?" she set the fork into the center-piece of an ornate candle with three arms. "Wouldn't you think I'm a girl, a girl who has…everything?" She gazed first up to the surface which she could see through the opening of the grotto above, longingly, and then all around her at all of her amazing discoveries.

"Look at this trove, treasures untold, how many wonders can one cavern hold? Looking around here you'd think," she shrugged half-heartedly, "Sure, she's got everything." She swam further up to a ridge of items and shifted her fingers through some jewelry and pieces of tinted glass smoothed by the ocean.

"I've got gadgets and gismos aplenty. I've got whozits and whitesmiths galore," she came up to Konohamaru holding a small chest, "You want thingamabobs?" She opened it to reveal some hooks and fishing-bait, " I got twenty…but who cares?" She closed the box and put it aside, then laid her arms over a faded globe and rested her head on it. Her green eyes stared up longingly to the surface. "I want more…" she swam over to a music box.

"I wanna be where the people are. I wanna see, wanna seem them dancing! Walking around on those…" she hesitated and asked Konohamaru as she spun around the dancers on the music box with her hand, "What do you call 'em?" He moved himself vertically to playfully wag his dark blue tail at her. "Oh," she said, tugging and tickling his fin, "feet."

She began to swim backwards around the cavern,

"Flipping your fins you don't get too far, legs are required for—," she grabbed hold of his fins and simulated dancing, "jumping, dancing…Strolling along down a—what's that word again?" she ceased pretending to walk and thoughtfully put her index finger to her chin, "street!"

She ascended in slow spirals to the opening of the grotto, her eyes ever-so into the distance above. "Up where they walk, up where they run. Up where they stay all day in the sun! Wandering free, wish I could be, part of that world!" she reached out with her right hand and grasped her heart with her left. She was descending to the sandy floor. "What would I give, if I could live out of these waters?" She stretched out her arms as she lay on the ground, "Who would I pay to spend a day warm on the sand?" Her smile faded as she propped up her elbow in the sand and rested her chin on her hand.

"Bet'cha on land they understand," she sat up, "bet they don't reprimand their daughters…Bright young women, sick of swimming', ready to stand…" she swam up and did a few simple twists and flips. "And ready to know what the people know," she sang as she flipped through the pages of a book with Konohamaru, "Ask 'em my questions and get some answers!" She went to a painting with a man gazing at a burning candle. "What's a fire and why does it—what's the word?—burn?" At this word her hands clamped to her chest where her heart was with her eyes closed.

"When's it my turn? Wouldn't I love?" she said, swimming towards the shimmering surface. "Love to explore that shore up above…" she approached the opening and reached her arm and hand through it, grasping nothing but water. "Out of the sea…" she said, her voice quieter and weaker than before, she withdrew her arm and brought it close to her torso. She sighed and seemed to be holding back tears. Sakura began to descend once more. 'Wish I could be…" She alighted onto the smooth rock and laid her scarlet lower body on it. A sad expression took to Konohamaru's face as Sakura continued to gaze up to the surface beyond the cavern. Her pink hair swayed gently in the water, wavering and brushing around her face.

"Part of that world."

I sincerely apologize for the major break of sorts that I had taken in posting this chapter. I haven't felt the best in the past few months, and when I was feeling well enough to write, what do you know, I wasn't near a computer that I could peacefully write at without someone bothering me about why the heck was a person my age listening to 'The Little Mermaid' music, and watching videos on it online. Forgive me, but, I don't know if I'll ever finish this fanfic.

Oh, and I changed the species of Rock Lee from a crab to a turtle, 'cause... I felt like it.

*Kow-tows to the people who've returned and bothered to read this* I humbly thank you for nagging me about posting a new chapter, otherwise this wouldn't be here! :3