Yukiko: Hello everyone, I'm terribly sorry for not updating for almost a year. Life hit me square across the face and I couldn't avoid it no matter what I did. I had a Debut last March, I've had family problems right after and is still continuing, writer's block for a very long time and when I was about to write again, my health turned for the worst and I spent most of the last two month in and out of the hospital. I'm truly sorry. Plus I'm starting college soon so, I'll try to update as much as I can. Please forgive me for my long absence. And I do hope that with these future chapters I can make it up to you guys. (Bows Deeply)
I won't be doing Readers Responses for this chapter ONLY, the next time I update I'll post it up! Thanks for your understanding.


Ichigo, Toshiro, Karin, Yuzu, Grimmjow and Ulquiorra swam back towards Lorem Ipsum after the invasion of the Shokoys. They continued their trek in silence leaving each of them to their own thoughts, Toshiro's thoughts however, is not all that joyful.
Ichigo's home was invaded… right after I arrived. I'm sure the merfolk will be suspicious of me…

Toshiro sighed quietly, but it did not go unnoticed by Ichigo. The Prince eyes Toshiro with concern and gently squeezed the human's hand in comfort as if saying, don't worry about it.

The human appeared to have a ghost of a smile and averted his eyes away from the compassionate brown of the merman and straight forward to the now visible cities of Lorem Ipsum. As they grew closer, Toshiro frowned at the destruction that one invasion has done in a few hours. The group swam slowly as they see the merpeople and the aquatic life forms, mainly the sharks and whales; try to clean up debris of their coral homes. Some mermaids and mermen stopped what they were doing to give respect to the royals of their kingdom before eying Toshiro. The said human visibly stiffened thinking that they would throw hurtful remarks towards him, but relaxed when they gave him the same respect as the royals along with smiles.

Suddenly a messenger from the castle swam up to the group, bowed to Ichigo and then began to relay the message.

"My Prince and Princesses, King Isshin wishes your presence." He then looked at Toshiro, "He also wishes for Toshiro Hitsugaya's presence as well."

Ichigo nodded, "Thank you, we'll head over there now."

Grimmjow and Ulquiorra swam up to their Prince, "We'll go to the barracks to see if there were any casualties during the invasion."

Ichigo nodded to his two closest friends, "Alright, meet me in my Study when you're done." With that said the two bowed to Ichigo and swam the opposite direction of the castle gates. Ichigo looked at Toshiro with a weak smile, "Are you okay?"

The white haired man just sighed, "I just have a lot on my mind, but I'm fine." Yuzu swam to Toshiro and placed her hand on his arm, a comforting gesture while Karin just rolled her eyes.

"Come on, Father is waiting."


In the throne room, Toshiro listened to Ichigo and his father conversing about the attack. Toshiro also noticed another merman in the room, one he did not recognize. When he first entered the chambers, Toshiro's eyes fell immediately towards the color of the tail. It's black!

He remembered what Karin told him back at the cave, you can tell the difference between merpeople and Shokoys by the color of their tails. Their tails are pure black like that color of the Sea Witch's, Ursula, tentacles.

He was about to speak up as to why there was a Shokoy in the castle, but was interrupted by Ichigo who swam up to the mysterious figure with a firm hand shake and a smile, "Zangetsu! It's so good to see you again, when did you get back? I know we didn't get to talk to each other back then."

"Just before the Shokoys appeared. You seem well Ichigo."
The Prince smiled, "Yeah. Hey is Tensa with you?"

Tensa is Zangetsu's only son who is about one or two years younger than Ichigo himself, but his speech and wise remarks is what makes him seem older than he actually is.

Zangetsu nodded, "Yes, he is here. Tensa is probably in the library."

The orange haired merman grinned at the thought of seeing Tensa again, they were like brothers even though they were not related and Yuzu and Karin looked up to them for stories outside of the kingdom.

Zangetsu's eyes fell upon Toshiro and floated towards him, "Is this the human you speak of Isshin?"

Isshin sat on his throne with his mighty sword beside him, "Yes that's him." He looked to Toshiro Zangetsu, this is Toshiro Hitsugaya. Toshiro this is one of my Generals and a good friend of him, Zangetsu. "

Toshiro's eyes widen and quickly bowed as much as he could while being held down by Yuzu and Karin. Zangetsu nodded before swimming back to Isshin, "I should head back to the barracks and see what is going on. It is good to see you Ichigo, Yuzu and Karin, as well as you Toshiro Hitsugaya." With that he swam out of the room.

After Isshin and Ichigo talked, the King of Lorem Ipsum got off his throne, "I'll be out for a while. I have to speak with King Triton about the matters of the Shokoys and Ursula." He noticed Toshiro's confused expression so he explained, "Ursula was once King Trident's royal witch who protected his kingdom and its people with her magic. However, her greed for power and almost stealing the sacred Trident of the Sea forced Triton to banish her from his kingdom. I don't allow her here either, but for some reason she's coming out from the shadows as of late." The King of Lorem Ipsum retrieved his sword before heading to the exit, "Stay out of trouble all of you."

When Isshin left, Ichigo ran his hand through his hair before looking at his sisters and Toshiro, "Let's go to my studies, Grimmjow and Ulquiorra are probably there already."

True to his words, the two body guards were waiting for them in Ichigo's Study talking about something. After a few moments of gossiping, Yuzu asked, "So now what do you guys want to do?"

Each of the mermaids and mermen had a thoughtful expression aside of Toshiro since he didn't know much of the merfolks culture. Karin snapped her fingers, "How about we play some Lorem Ludus! We can teach Toshiro how to play!"

Everyone grinned at the idea, but then Ichigo frowned, "But Toshiro can't swim as fast as us. He'd be in a disadvantage for himself and his team."

Toshiro shook his head, "It's alright, I can just watch you guys."

Karin pouted, "But then the teams would be uneven!"

Grimmjow rolled his eyes, "Oh please Karin, with you playing Lorem Ludus, it's like there are two of you on the field." His remark earned him a swat on the head by the raven haired mermaid princess.

Ulquiorra just sighed, "We'll think of something when we get there. Come, we can play at the castle's personal field, the Shokoys didn't get that far into the castle so it should be intact."

When they entered the field, Toshiro's eyes widen in amazement and shock, "What! This is the field you guys play on?" He also noticed three ring hoops at the end of very long poles at each end of the field.

Ichigo nodded, "Yeah, this game is consisted of speed, so Lorem Ludus players are fast swimmers and need a lot of room to get around."

Toshiro shook his head in disbelief, "The length is almost like two football fields and as wide as one."

Grimmjow raised an eyebrow, "What's football?"

"It's a human sport."

"Ah."

They all swam down to the center of the field and happened to see three large dolphins close by.

Yuzu called out to them, "Ririn! Noba! Kurodo!"

The three dolphins swam over to them, Toshiro immediately recognized Ririn but didn't know the other two. The red-ish dolphin inclined its head to the royals as well as the yellow and black colored mixed dolphin. The two dolphins noticed Toshiro near Ichigo and introduced themselves.

"My name is Noba," said the red dolphin.

"And I am Kurodo a pleasure to meet you!" said the mix colored dolphin.

Toshior nodded, "I'm Toshiro Hitsugaya."

Karin swam up to Ririn, "You guys want to play Loream Ludus? Can one of you guys help Toshiro get around the field and such that way he can keep up with the game."

Noba swam up to Toshiro, "I'll be your partner."

The human smiled, "Thank you Noba."

"But isn't that cheating? Dolphins are naturally faster and merpeople," said Grimmjow.

Ichigo eyed his friend, "You are such a wuss. Not confident in your own strength?"

Grimmjow headbutted the Prince, "No! Shut up Strawberry!"

"Don't call me that Blueberry!"

Ririn twirled around and used her large tail to create a strong current towards Ichigo and Grimmjow, separating them, "Knock it off! Kurodo and I will be the referees; Toshiro will play with the mermaid rules."

Toshiro sputtered, "Mermaid rules? What do you mean?"

Yuzu touched his arm, "Mermaid rules just simply mean that there is no tackling on said person or doing anything that may cause injury to the player."

Ichigo nodded, "Yeah, Lorem Ludus is a very physical sport. I broke an arm the last time I played."

Toshiro's eyes widen even more but Ichigo quickly added, "Don't worry, since you're using the Mermaid rules we can't touch you only block. Plus you have Noba with you so we can't really get close to you since you are really fast."

Noba swam up to Toshiro, "Hold on to my dorsal fin." The human complied and he suddenly felt a surging feeling at the palm of his hand, "I used my own magic so that you can't let go of me. It'll be easier for you hold on while I'm moving about the field."

Nodding Toshiro smiled, "This is going to be fun."

Kurodo and Ririn went off to the sides high up above the field, "First team to reach five points wins!"

The teams consisted of Ichigo, Karin, Toshiro and Noba while on the other team was Yuzu, Grimmjow and Ulquiorra.

The round harden ball as placed in the middle of the field, Yuzu and Karin were going to start it off. The both of them were about 20 feet from the ball and when Ririn made the call, the two Princesses kicked their fin as hard as they could towards the ball. Karin got to it first and swam towards the goal posts protected by the other team. Ichigo, Toshiro and Noba were right behind her before breaking off the guard the other players. Ichigo guarded Grimmjow, Toshiro and Noba guarded Ulquiorra and Yuzu tried to steal the ball from her sister. Karin eyes Ichigo and threw the ball across the water zooming right past Grimmjow and into Ichigo's hand.

The orange haired merman kicked his fin towards the goal posts, Grimmjow growled at Ichigo when he got pass his defenses and swam up before diving back down in full speed towards Ichigo's exposed back, successfully tackling out of course and at the same time, Ichigo accidently released the ball. Ulquiorra saw the unprotected ball and made a mad dash for it only to have it swiped by Toshiro and Noba. Using one hand to hold on to the ball and the other on Noba's fin, the two quickly made their way towards the goal posts. Getting close enough, Toshiro threw the ball into one of the hoops, scoring his team a point.

"ONE POINT TO TOSHIRO'S TEAM!" screamed Ririn and Kurodo.

Ichigo swam up to the pair and gave them a high-five.

The game continued on for hours because of the many turnovers made by Toshiro and Yuzu because she too had the Mermaid rule on her unlike her sister.

In the end it was a very close game, with Toshiro's team being the victor.

"No fair, you guys had Noba," grumbled Grimmjow.

Toshiro let out a smirk, "Don't hate the players, hate the game."

Grimmjow had a confused expression at the human phrase. Ichigo laughed and playfully punched Grimmjow, "You just suck."

"Shut up!"

Yuzu looked up towards the ocean's surface, there was an orange light coming down from the surface indicating it was sunset.

"Shouldn't we take Toshiro back to the surface? It's nearly night time there."

Toshiro totally forgot that he promised his Grandmother that he would be back hours ago, he was having so much fun that he lost track of time.

Seeing Toshiro's face, Ichigo took Toshiro's hand, "I'll take him back, and not all of us have to go." Before the others could protest, Ichigo and Toshiro had already swam away to the mainland.


Surfacing out of the ocean, Ichigo and Toshiro appeared just a couple meters from civilization on an untouched part of the beach. Toshiro walked towards the shores while Ichigo stayed half submerged in the water, not wanting to be seen by a random passerby.

"Thanks for taking me back Ichigo and letting me play Lorem Ludus. I haven't had that much fun in years."

Ichigo broke out in a warm smile, "You're welcome Toshiro. I'm glad you had fun despite what happened."

"Will you and your people be alright?"

Ichigo shrugged but kept his smile on, "We'll manage somehow. So, um, will you be coming back to Lorem Ipsum?"

Toshiro had a thoughtful expression, "I haven't spend time with my family and friends here. It would be suspicious if I kept running off and then coming back nearly night time. As much as I love being with you guys, I have them to be with too, that's pretty much why I'm here in the first place."

Ichigo nodded, "Alright, so when are you planning on coming back, you know, so that I know when to pick you up and such."

"How about in three days."

Toshiro smiled, "Three days." Ichigo began to turn around and head back to the deeper part of the ocean when he heard water splashing. He turned back to Toshiro and what happened next caught him by surprise, Toshiro kissing him on the cheek. When the human pulled back, his face was beet red and mumbled an apology only to have Ichigo smirk in triumph.

"Three days Toshiro and I'll be right here waiting for you." That's when he turned and swam back to Lorem Ipsum.

Toshiro stood there staring at the sunset in the quiet but in his mind was nothing close to quiet, I can't believe I just kissed a Prince! What the hell was I thinking!

Shaking his head in a vigorous manner, Toshiro walked down the beach towards his Grandmother's beach house only to stop when he spotted his Grandmother at the shoreline. He hid behind some rocks when he saw something come up from the ocean towards the elderly lady. Toshiro's eyes widen in shock when he saw none other than Isshin, the King of Lorem Ipsum.

What is he doing here in the surface? Why is he talking to my Grandmother? How did they know each other?

He watched them talking but he couldn't hear a single word. He then saw Isshin hand his Grandmother something that looked like a bouquet and the woman taking it. Isshin inclined his head before turning back to the ocean, disappearing into its dark blue depths.

The elder Hitsugaya turned away from the ocean, with the bouquet in hand, towards the streets of Okinawa. Toshiro tailed a few feet away from her staying hidden in the shadows. She walked through steel gates and Toshiro noticed it was a cemetery. He followed her inside and saw that she stopped in front of a grave then placing the bouquet in front of it. After a while, Toshiro's Grandmother left the site and when she had left the cemetery, Toshiro walked out of his hiding spot to the gravesite. He noted that the bouquet that Isshin gave to his Grandmother was actually a bouquet made of beautiful colored sea corals molded into shapes of flowers, particularly Sakura Blossoms. Deep in his memory, Toshiro saw the exact same bouquet in Ichigo's room and Study.

What does this mean?

Toshiro looked from the flowers to the gravestone and read the inscriptions:

Here lies

Masaki Kurosaki

An Angel who will always be in our hearts.

April 4, X748 – July 17, X777

Toshiro frowned, "Masaki… Kurosaki? Who is she?" So many questions ran in Toshiro's head, Who is she to Isshin? To Grandmother? What's going on?


Yukiko: And there you have it. Chapter 7 of Under the Sea. Again I'm sorry for the late update, I do hope this chapter brings back your attention and such.

Ichigo: You leave for months and then when you come back you left them a cliffhanger? What is wrong with you?

Yukiko: it's part of my plan for this story. And shut up! Stop pissing about it and just do what you have to do in the script. Please, review and thank you for reading this. I'm truly sorry for not updating for months. (bows deeply)


~Yukiko Shiroryuu~