Disclaimer: I don't own anything besides the twisted ideas in my head and shazzleshales. O.o

Chapter 10: The King's Thirteen

"Uwaa! They're so pretty!" gasped Tohru excitedly.

Yuki and Amina sweatdropped. Pretty is not an adjective used to describe a shazzleshale unless there's an ugly following it, thought Amina. Only Tohru could appreciate the so-called beauty of shazzleshales. They were large, bulbous excuses of sea flowers: a odd hue of grayish-blue with slimy leaves. The only good thing to say about them was their plump petals made great pillows--until they started to rot.

Tohru swam around one of the huge flowers eagerly, twisting and turning to admire it from every angle. Suddenly she stopped and looked up with a thoughtful expression on her face. Flicking her tail eagerly, she struggled up to the very top of the flower, then perched comfortably on the spongy center.

Amina's first thought was to tell Tohru to get off before she got hurt, but then squashed that notion when Yuki laughed at her antics.

"How's the view up there?" teased Yuki.

Tohru beamed. "It's amazing! I can see for miles! Oh, hi Amina-san! What are you doing hiding behind the bushes?"

Typical naïve Tohru...doesn't even knows she's being spied upon...

Shark fins! I got caught! Amina wailed internally, then straightened up.

"Um...hello Tohru-san, Yuki-sama."

Yuki arched an eyebrow. "What were you doing spying on us?"

As poor Amina trembled under his icy stare, Tohru quickly interfered.

"Yuki, Amina-san is my lady-in-waiting!"

Amina noticed Yuki's stare mellowed after that and she marveled at the control Tohru had over him. Her fingers itched to grab her shell phone right now and report to Aya right now.

"Yuki, Amina-san, come up! I see an adorable little girl and I was wondering if you knew her."

Yuki swam up to Tohru and stared at the direction she was pointing. A few meters away, there was a young mergirl hunched over a scroll, reading under the shade of a large chunk of coral. Even from this far away, Yuki could tell who it was by the unique coloring of her hair.

"That's Her Royal Highness the Third, Kisa Sohma."

Tohru gasped at this. "EHH?! That little girl is a princess?"

When Yuki and Amina nodded, she asked another question that had been bugging her for a while. "Kisa-chan is the Third and Ayame-san is the Sixth, right? What do those numbers mean?"

Yuki sighed and rubbed his forehead. In a low tone, he explained, "It's the order for the throne, so that means Kisa is third in line and Ayame sixth. It's based on your nobility, status, and rank. There's something called 'The King's Thirteen.' To us, thirteen is a lucky number, and there are only 13 of us worth mentioning when somebody asks whose next in line for the crown."

Tohru's eyes widened. "B-but, she's so young!"

Yuki sighed again. "Um. Akito is sickly, so 'The King's Thirteen' list may be started soon."

"Who's the first person on the list?"

"Me. I suppose I haven't really properly introduced myself. I am His Royal Highness the First, Yuki Sohma." Yuki made a disgusted face after he said his complete title.
"Sorry. Akito forces us to introduce the other Sohmas and ourselves that way."

While Tohru was shocked speechless, Yuki said, "Do you want to meet Kisa? I'm sure she'll like you."

Tohru finally processed what Yuki said and exclaimed, "Yuki, that's fantastic! You'll be a great ruler! But not that I want Akito-sama to die, just the opposite! Even though I've never met him, but still...you would be if you needed to one day. And of course the day will come, because everybody goes someday, right? I mean...oh." Tohru blushed madly as she realized that-once again- she had been babbling randomly in front of Yuki. "Um...sure! I'd love to meet Kisa-chan."

"Great! Let's go." Yuki gracefully dived off the now-drooping shazzleshale and disappeared from view. Tohru giggled and prepared to jumped off, but got her tail tangled in a stray vine and tumbled down awkwardly.

"Eep!" She landed in the outstretched arms of...

"Amina-chan! Sorry!" She slithered out of the grasp of her bewildered lady-in-waiting and apologized.

Ha ha! Bet you all thought it was Yuki, eh? Nope. I'm evil.

Amina just laughed and arranged Tohru's shawl tighter around her shoulders. "Hurry up now. Yuki-sama is waiting." Tohru blushed and nodded happily. Amina watched as she caught up with Yuki and they both swam in the direction Kisa was.

Amina giggled happily at the cute couple they made, then drew her shell phone out of her voluminous pockets.

"Hello Ayame-sama..."

Kisa sighed happily. Currently, she was sitting on the grass, her light pink and slightly gold tail folded neatly under her. Since it was one of those rare days where she wasn't busy, she was wearing a comfortable plain white vest instead of her usual heavy, itchy dresses. Sitting on the grass and hunched over a scroll of poetry, it was a wonder nobody mistakened her for a servant's daughter. A cool current of water ruffled her hair and streaked across her face, making her giggle happily. Suddenly, a particular line of poetry from "The Forsaken Merman" caught her eye. Softly murmuring, she repeated it.

Come, dear children, let us away;
Down and away below.
Now my brothers call from the bay;
Now the great winds shoreward blow;
Now the salt tides seaward flow;
Now the wild white horses play,
Champ and chafe and toss in the spray.
Children dear, let us away.
This way, this way!

Somebody whispered, "That sounds beautiful, Kisa-chan."

Startled, she turned looked up and saw her cousin Yuki and a pretty-looking mermaid.

"Yuki-san, hello!" whispered the shyest princess.

Smiling kindly at Kisa, Yuki introduced Tohru, explaining she was here on some business.

"Kisa-chan, what I'm about to tell you is very secret. Nobody besides me knows."

Kisa nodded, eyes wide. "You can tell me."

Yuki whispered, "Tohru is a half-fin."

Tohru didn't know what a half-fin was, but judging by the shocked little sound Kisa made, it probably was very surprising.

"Really?" choked out the startled mermaid. "Wow! I've read about them, but I've never seen one before."

"Yuki, what is a half-fin?" asked a confused Tohru.

"Kisa-chan, give her a definition."

The little mergirl straightened and said "The child of a merperson and a human. They are highly uncommon and tend to have a mixture of human and mer-genes. They became outcasts when King Ino banned them from society."

After finishing her lengthy description, Kisa and Yuki glanced at Tohru uncertainly.

"This is why we have to make sure your secret is safe. If Akito finds out..." Yuki trailed off.

Tohru nodded, "Of course. I understand. I'll have to go tomorrow anyway. Uo might be back already."After she said that, she felt a funny little twinge of pain in her heart. Why do I feel this way? wondered Tohru. I miss Uo and Hana a lot, but I'll miss Ayame-san, Amina-chan, Shigure-san, Kisa-chan, and especially Yuki. Wha...why especially?!

While Tohru was silently having her inner conflict, Yuki looked at Kisa again. "This is really urgent. Can you get us a pass to where the records are kept?"

Kisa frowned. "Strange. The birth records are usually public, unless there's been something that they want to hush up. I'll try, but it might take a couple of days."

Yuki and Tohru shared a triumphant smile while behind the bushes, Amina stared in shock. Tohru-san is a half-fin?! With shaking fingers, she whispered Ayame's name into her shell phone.

"Mina-chan? Well, there certainly is a lot of news to report, isn't there?"

Gulping, Amina whispered, "Half-fin. She's a half-fin."

Then she witnessed a phenomenon. Ayame was shocked speechless for a minute, then he whispered, "A-are you sure?"

"Positive, Ayame-sama."

"...well. I knew there was something special about her. How WONDERFUL!"

Energetic Aya is back in the building...

"What should we do?" asked Amina.

"Nothing for now. Operation Perfect Princess is still on. So we've hit a little blip in the road. That's nothing compared to the importance of my little brother's happiness."

"Ayame-san, a LITTLE BLIP? She's-"

"Yuki could love a sea cucumber for all I care! All that matters is...he's in love. (Although I'm glad Tohru-chan isn't as ugly as a sea cucumber. That would certainly put a damper on things) So far, only Kisa, Yuki, you, and I know. That's fine. If Akito hears that Tohru is here and knows that little tidbit of information, that would be a problem. Anyway, just continue tailing them. Be careful, Mina-chan! Toodles!" With that note, Aya hung up.

Amina chewed her lip nervously as she plunked her phone back into her pockets. She would have to be extra careful not to let anybody else find out. Ayame-sama is depending on me! I can't let him down now!

Unfortunately, me, Mimi-chan, has decided to spice this story up! Sorry, Mina-chan!

Approximately four feet above them all, a strange fish was lurking. It was a very intelligent species, bred to eavesdrop and tattle on anything interesting happening inside the palace walls. In it's little fishy brain, it recorded everything that they just talked about. Then, it swam away, back to the palace, through a window, and whispered about the secret going-ons occurring to its master, King Akito..."
"I cannot believe this! A filthy half-fin in MY city?! Something has to be done!" roared Akito furiously. He paced the grand throne room agitatedly, ignoring the satin cushions scattered on the marble floor or the priceless works of art. Finally, he collapsed with a frustrated growl on the throne, crown askew and a grimace contorting his otherwise lovely face, if it we not marred by hate and pain.

"Kureno, what should I do?"

The auburn-haired merman regarded the angry king and assumed this was where he should answer him.

"I do not know, Akito," he answered softly as he straightened his crown and smoothed the silky black locks.

He sighed and leaned back on the hard throne, trying to find a better position on the inflexible chair. Sinewy arms danged limply from the armrests and his sleek ebony tail flicked lifelessly. Sighing wearily, he said softly, "I cannot believe this. What would my father do?"

"Akira-sama would have pity and let them love," answered Kureno even softer.

Instead of blowing up like Kureno predicted, Akito sighed deeper and closed his eyes.

"It is difficult. After he died in the Great Plague, that woman has never really forgiven me, has she?"

"Ren-sama is just upset. She didn't mean those things she said. She loved Akira-sama as much as you do."

Akito growled. "Why does this keep coming back to love? I knew the fool Ayame would betray me. I predicted that useless servant would too. Kisa always was addlebrained, reading and muttering to herself and acting mute!" Each thought spoken out loud brought greater agitation into Akito's voice.

"Yuki...my little pet...IT'S ALL HIS FAULT!" screamed Akito. Kureno tried to restrain him, but his eyes snapped open and he jumped up, pacing the room again, cerulean-blue cloak billowing behind him.

"Love...what a disgusting concept. He's always trying to anger me, when I've sheltered him, fed him, made him the first of the King's Thirteen...and now this. He falls for a freak of nature, a HALF-FIN, for Neptune's sake!"

Suddenly, he stopped. Eyebrows furrowed for a minute, then broke into a sinister smile.

"Akito, what are you thinking of?"

"Love...Yuki doesn't know what it is..."

"Beg pardon?"

"He never knew what real love is. What he has for that pathetic half-fin is a mere crush."

Akito was once again pacing, thinking hard. "We'll give Yuki false hope...let him continue flirting with that filth, then at the upcoming ball we'll make sure she is...occupied. Yuki will be convinced that she doesn't return his feelings, then we'll set him up with Machi." Here he gave a short sharp laugh.

"Machi...what a pathetic excuse for a princess when she is clearly a useless child. Remember the scandal, Kureno? Her father caught with a mistress! How disgraceful. She's bland as uncooked koi fish and twice as dull."

Kureno knew Akito wanted to ease the tension between Furuba and Machi's city, Urumai, but even though he hated half-fins that much, he would not be so extreme as to allow Machi to marry Yuki, unless...

"You're planning something, aren't you, Akito?"

Smiling cruelly, he replied, "Of course.

"May I ask what it is?"

"We'll wait. They'll 'fall in love' with each other and soon have a splendid wedding...gowns and parties and celebrations of the like. Then, a few years into their marriage, they will have an adorable little child. However, somebody will accidentally tell Machi's mother that Yuki loved a half-fin before. She won't be able to stand the humiliation, and call the marriage off."

Kureno blinked. But won't that cause even more tension than now? Unless...

"Machi's mother can't do anything besides breaking them up because of the child."

"Exactly. We'll have Yuki back, single, and as wanted as anything. If we need to, we'll marry him off and repeat the process," shrugged Akito.

Kureno's eyes narrowed slightly. "What about Yuki's feelings?"

Akito answered nonchalantly, "What about them? If he really 'loves' Machi, then it will be even more fun to see the heart-broken expression on his face. Now go. You're dismissed."

As Kureno headed towards the door, his gold-flecked auburn tail propelling him smoothly, Akito said, "Wait!"

Kureno paused and looked over his shoulder.

"Make sure Kisa can't get a pass to the confidential records. Speak of this to no one."

And he left.

For the first time he could remember, Kureno was questioning his loyalty to Akito. Why should Yuki be unhappy?

Yay!! Chapter 10 is here after 2 months! Sorry to all my readers. School is really busy. Thanks to all the lovely reviews I recieved, prompting me to update! So here is this big fat 2448 word chapter for you guys to enjoy, review, read, review, review, review! MAJOR HINT

Random blab: I learned how to do single space! Ctrl+Enter! Yay me!

New twists in the plot are revealed! Tohru is a half-fin, Akito's plan is known, and Kureno is in doubt over Akito's plans! In the next chappie, Tohru will meet Kagura!

Ja ne, snarklings!

Mimi-chan
xxfirebubblesxx