---------------------------------------------------Kokoro chapter 4---------------------------------------------------------

Days passed, weeks passed. Months passed before she knew where she was. When she was in the middle of the ocean, she sometimes sang. She made her own songs, contented that no one would ever hear. The other thing she did was practice her weapon skills. She learnt by trial and error what to do, and what not to do. That's how she ate. Seagulls tasted horrible, for example. She tried hunting in the water and saw her movements were too slow and clumsy. Kokoro trained and after what seemed like years, was finally skilled enough to catch them. That said she was no Olympic swimmer. Sometimes she would scramble on board, with a mouth full of seawater and legs tangled with seaweed. For drinking water she couldn't do much. She tried to purify it to almost no avail, and relied on rain. The tiny little boat was easy to manage, but she yearned to be on land again.

Kai was never thought about. She pushed him out of her mind, determined to forget. Never again would she love someone. She was bad luck- it was better not to drag anyone into her mess of a life. But sometimes he would manage to slip into her thoughts for an hour or two. She pondered if he was alive, if he had escaped, and why he had saved her. And on one night she finally realized that she had been head-over-heels in love with him.

That's it…I loved him. And he's not coming back.

She was just starting to feel the familiar twinges of loss when she noticed the wind had picked up. She checked the clouds; they were dark and approaching fast. Within an hour the waves were sweeping the boat back and forth, making Kokoro grab the edges and fear the worst. The ocean spray blasted her face as the first wave made it into the boat. After that more and more ice water drenched her and the small sailboat, making the weight of its load too much to take. The boat was sinking fast, and Kokoro had just enough time to cast an element protection spell on the book and stuff it into her pocket before she had no choice other than to jump. The water wasn't that much of a shock, she was already soaked. The thing that surprised her was the power of the waves. She had no idea they could be this strong. They pulled her this way and that. She was at their mercy. Her lungs screamed for air, but she couldn't claw her way to the surface. She couldn't breathe. Her breath blew out in a giant bubble and she felt the freezing water fill her lungs. No, she couldn't die here…she refused to! On the verge of losing consciousness, Kokoro heard a voice.

For your life, a curse. You will forever be marked.

Then a blazing white light. Was she dead? No, she could feel her leg. Something red was oozing out of it. Oh…blood. A blazing pain attacked her leg in odd directions. She saw a black mark gripping up her leg. She squeezed her eyes shut; the salt water was burning them. Another pain encased her whole body this time. Her legs opened up and blood was everywhere. Every pore on her body felt horrible pain and she found it harder with every second to bear. She noticed she hadn't taken a breath in more than 30 seconds and wondered how long this could last. Finally the pain subsided. She opened her eye, then with wonder, the other. She gasped--If that was possible to do underwater. Her eyesight was perfect under the water. She pulled her hand up to find it was covered with scales. Her eyes widened. She was covered head to toe in scales. But more shocking than that was the fact that she didn't have any toes. She had a tail as thin and as long as dolphins. It looked more like a fish's though, as she had side-fins near her waist. Also located around there were some gills. Two more fins appeared at her chest. Her hair band was still tied up. She realized with sickening fear she had sank.

Everything was dark except for a little light that drifted slowly in the waves. She decided to swim up and ignore the light. After around five minutes of travel upward she hadn't made any progress. It was still dark as night. And the light was still there. It was closer now, an eerie sign.

What if I'm going the wrong way? What if I've been going down?

She froze. The light was right near her fin. She felt a silky object touch her tail, and a fresh wave of terror rose up in her. She darted away from whatever it was. It swam through the water faster than she expected and only then did she comprehend how much trouble she was in. The light let her see its face. She wished it hadn't.

Its black color disguised it, making it blend into the deep sea. Its tiny eyes stared grotesquely at her, a neon white color. Its teeth, long and sharp, bended in to her and its fins were tiny and tattered. It was an angler fish, and she was its new found prey. She burst up-or at least what she thought was up- and tried to make herself as streamlined as she could. She looked behind her to see the light shifting back and forth in an effort to catch up to her. She swam harder, faster. Pain surged through her arm as she hit a rock. She was used to the pain, but the disappointment was searing.

There aren't any rocks at the surface. Rocks sink. Stupid…

She realized she was taking all of this extremely well. Almost dying, turning into a mermaid and all that. She made her way up and continued to think. What happened to her clothes? Her weapons? Her eye patch? His spell book? It would all be together if it was there, but it had been more than an hour since the storm. Maybe the waters were still choppy out there. Wait. She was a mermaid. How would she turn back? When, or if, that happened, would she be able to go back to mermaid form? Her head hurt. Could she sleep here?

Couldn't hurt~! She closed her eyes and fell into a deep and fitful sleep.

First thing in her head when she woke- That was the stupidest thing I've ever done. Second thing- Where am I? She was still in the ocean, but she was surrounded. By mermaids. There were about 20 of them, all a bit darker in color than her. They looked at her and whispered to each other; surprisingly they spoke words she half understood.

"She…not…from….here?" Said the first one in a whispering voice.

"No. Not…from…Killi." Said the second. The third garbled something. They nodded.

"Look! …Awake!" One gasped. Everyone crowded around her, asking her questions and telling her things.

"…S…Stop!" She spoke. Everyone jumped back, afraid.

"….Sorry?" Said the first one. "I'll start. Who….you?"

"…I'm…" She hesitated. Obviously they wouldn't spread the word anywhere above the sea. "Kokoro…that's my name…"

They swam forward, each with their own questions. She tried to answer them all without giving too much away. Finally they finished. She got up to leave when one more mermaid burst into the space they were in. She was a young one, and was obviously flustered and had swum fast to get there.

"Is…this yours? I found them…and put them in a backpack…" She spoke easily in more understandable English. Kokoro gasped. Her stuff! Her shirt, and shorts, and her weapons! A little more digging in the pack revealed his book and her eye patch. She quickly said her good-byes and thank-yous then disappeared into the sea. Again.