Chapter 10

He saw the unusual swimming pool, or was it an aquarium? It was large enough to be a very deep pool, deeper than any he'd ever seen outside of a theme park or animal sanctuary, and he guessed it was larger than anything that Lory had for his own use with Natsuko, his anaconda. There was a fine white sand on the bottom, algae covered stones, kelp and seaweed, along with a variety of other colorful ocean plants. To make it all complete, a nice variety of sea creatures and fish were there. He was actually quite impressed with it.

"Wow... It's amazing." He commented absently, kneeling on the side and dragging his fingers through the water distractedly, barely noticing the quiet sound of her smoothly slipping into the water. Had he not heard the wet plop of her thick towel, on the tile, he would have never noticed that she'd entered the water.

He didn't see her enter the water. He didn't see her swim to the bottom, as far as he knew. All he really witnessed was the very beautiful tail of a very large, black, fish. A fish he'd never seen before. He was starting to worry when she'd been under the water for five minutes. His eyes searched as best he could. Where is she? "Kyoko!?" He called out to her in a worried voice.

She sighed inwardly. She had a feeling that if she didn't surface soon, he would come in after her. She peered up from the depths, through the water, at his panicked and worried visage. Deciding to do something that would absolutely convince him that she wasn't wearing special gear, and prove to him that she was what she was, she sped to the surface, propelled her body into the air and back-flipped back into the water. Something that she'd seen in an animated movie once when she was little, and practiced to perfection any time she had the opportunity. If that didn't convince him, nothing would.

He watched it happen. It was almost as if it were in slow-motion when she broke the surface of the water. Strawberry-blonde hair, dripping with water; an elegant neck, adorned with little slits that resembled gills and the tell-tale hickey marks he'd left on her; smooth, bare, uninterrupted, porcelain skin, pert little dark buds, and a smooth, flat, toned, belly that led down to what could only be described as a black fish's tail with elegant, long, delicate-looking fins. They reminded him of one of those beta fishes he'd seen in pet shops. The entire experience had shocked him to silence and essentially threw him to his bum.

"S-Sorry..." He heard the familiar angelic voice of what he now knew to be his little mermaid.

He sat up and quickly crawled to the edge of the large aquarium on his hands and knees. "Y-You're real?... I'm not just hallucinating?" He breathed out as he took in the glorious sight of her.

She nodded, swimming to the edge and resting her arms on the tile, hiding her upper half from him.

He reached to caress her cheek and neck, then was a little shocked when she quickly pulled away from him while scrunching her shoulder to her cheek to protect her gill-slits and neck. "U-Um... Y-You probably sh-shouldn't do th-that." She stammered, blushing very brightly. "Th-They're v-very sensitive." She stammered, blushing beautifully. It was one thing, him not knowing what it did to her, but him now knowing... well, that was just entirely too much for her to handle, and a completely different situation, in her mind.

"Oh..." He answered, then the images of how she'd responded to him giving her a hickey finally made sense. "OH..." He blushed, with wide eyes. "S-Sorry about that." He honestly really didn't know what to say about that, now that he understood. "I... Um..."

She shook her head. "You didn't know..." She blushed even more. If that was possible.

Feeling the dire need to change the subject immediately, he decided to bring up the subject of magic. "I know this is a little stupid for me to ask, but does this mean that you can do magic?"

She smiled, giggled and shook her head. "No... But I can move things with my mind if I think about it... Kinda like... Hmm, I guess it's telekinesis. You know, like those people on those shows that bend spoons with their minds?" She gave him a small smile and glanced at him beneath her thick, dark lashes. "Not like the Fairy Magic Corn can do." She pouted.

He visibly winced a little and she noticed. He looked a little sad? Upset? He sighed. She shared her biggest secret with him, perhaps it was time for him to return the favor. He looked up at her and gave her a sad smile. "Kyoko, there's something I need to tell you too. You trusted me with your secrets, now it's my turn." He told her, removing his shoes and socks, then rolling his pant legs to his knees. He then dipped his legs in and began swishing the water with his feet, enjoying the calming liquid flowing around him. He leaned back on his hands and stared up through the skylights and sighed. "My Dad and Mom have a place on the coast." He chuckled. "They actually have a private beach. It's really nice, but the water gets kinda cold in the winter. You wouldn't really think it would be that way for Southern California, but it is." He smiled nostalgically, and noticed that she'd inched a little closer. "I wanted to be an actor like my dad." He glanced at her. "He's very good, you know. Better than I could ever be." He sighed out and looked up at the ceiling again. "It's pretty hard to be as good as your dad when your only ten, but I wanted to go everywhere and be everywhere that he was. Movies, commercials, all his jobs. Some directors and producers don't appreciate having a random kid on the set, but because my dad was, who he was, they allowed it. Other actors didn't care much for the special treatment and decided to take it out on me when he wasn't around..." He felt a small, webbed feminine hand on his knee. It comforted him that she wasn't pulling away from him. "He had a job in Kyoto and wanted me there with him. He promised that after he was done filming for the day, he would take me to all the places he went when he was my age, so I decided to stay out of the way until he was done. I found a nice little stream in a clearing." He heard a little gasp. He looked up at her and nodded. He sighed. "I-I'm sorry, Kyoko-chan... I'm not a fairy... I never was... I was just a lonely little boy who needed a friend, and would do anything to make that little friend happy. I'm so sorry." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a contact lens case. He removed the lenses and looked up at her apologetically.

"I suppose I can't complain about you not telling me, but can I ask why you're hiding it even now?" She asked, as her tail curled and swished in the water.

He was quiet for a long while.

"It's okay Corn... If you can't talk about it... I understand." She told him quietly, remembering the nights filled with his restless sleep and nightmares.

He shook his head and caressed her hair. "I want you to know. It's important to me." He heard her stomach growl and he chuckled. "Are you hungry?"

She blushed and nodded. "I had kind of a busy morning." She pouted cutely.

He nodded knowingly. "I think we both have." He smiled softly.

"I um... I can make us lunch... but I kinda need to get out." She blushed, pointing to a dry towel folded on a lounge chair.

His eyes went wide with the realization that she was completely bare under the water, at least her upper half was. "OH! Sorry. Do you need the towel?"

She glanced at him shyly and shook her head. "No... I can get it. I just... I just need you to turn around." She told him quietly.

"Ah... Okay, sorry about that. I can leave the room if you need me to." He told her, removing his feet from the water and preparing to stand.

She shook her head. "It's okay... I... trust you." She smiled softly and watched as he closed his eyes, then turned his back to her.

"Better?" He asked, with mental images of his beautiful little mermaid swimming through his mind.

"Much. Thank you." She told him, quickly wrapping herself in the towel. "Okay... All done." She called to him when she was covered by the towel and the thick robe behind the changing screen, they'd set up earlier.

He was determined that after lunch, he would tell her everything, and she was just as determined to let him know the danger he was in if he decided to continue protecting her as he insisted.