Nexus: This might seem a little strange for some people. I did say this would be on hold for a while and on my profile, I stated I wouldn't upload it until I finished ILE,WIFI? Well, I got 2 more chapters of that story done, but I can't think of much for the next chapter as my brain gave me a wave of ideas for this next chapter yesterday! This is good for all the fans of this story.

And since it's been a while, I'd like to thank...

magic135- for the follow and the reviews :)

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mermaid princess lilian- for letting me use her story 'the wedding' as a base/ started, for letting me edit that and also for the 4 times you reviewed

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THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU!

I thought you all deserved a mentioning in your own little way for supporting what is and still is, my very first fanfic.

Luchia: Thanks guys and don't forget, Nexus doesn't own any of us!

Hanon: A big thanks from me to. Nexus does own her ideas and the OC's in this story though.

Everyone: We all give you a massive thank you and we hope you enjoy chapter 11


Chapter 11: Secrets and the Ring

- Last time-

"You don't recognise me? Look at the scar," Shaga said brushing his hair out of his face a little so the scar could be fully seen.

Kaito looked at the scar as an image of an all too familiar class mate popped into his head.

"AMERU SHAGA?!" Kaito screamed as his brain worked out who it was. Only one person he knew had a scar that strange, Ameru Shaga, well, Serebu Shaga to be correct.

"Hi," he said meekly as Kaito swam back a bit, just staring at him in shock.

"What are you doing here?" Kaito asked after he'd swam behind the nearby rock, his head poking over the top and the end of his tail wrapped around the side of it, just in case Shaga had some weird purpose for being down here.

"I could ask you and your friends the same thing!" Shaga retaliated.

"You know, I'm getting really tired of people always saying 'I could ask you the same thing' and... wait, my friends?"

"Yes, Luchia, Hanon, Rina, their boyfriends... that lot." Shaga dragged their names on a little. "You leave the school for a year and through twisted events that should be impossible, I find you here like this!"

"Hold on how, how much do you know?"

"Come out from behind that rock and I'll tell you," Shaga said plainly. He didn't want to talk to Kaito about these matter with him hiding.

Kaito sighed and left the vicinity of the rock and swam over to where Shaga was, and sat down beside him.

"How is this all even possible?" Shaga said in utter disbelief.

"What's even possible?" Kaito asked.

"All of this! How I'm at the bottom of the ocean with you, how you're a merman, let alone anything that's not been said about your friends yet. I want answers Kaito," Shaga replied.

"Okay, but, why don't we start with you?" Kaito asked. "Since when were you the member of a clan?"

"Apparently, since birth. I'm a lot like you, I had a fake family. My mother died when I was born and my father took me back to the seas. He says he lost me 2 weeks after I was bought back home and I, like you, picked up a foster family. But when I was 10, I lost them the same way you did, on a boat accident. And the weirdest part about this all, Luchia was the one who saved me for the disaster."

"Luchia?" Kaito asked shocked. "So not only are we both clan members, had a foster family, lost them in the same way, the same mermaid saved us too?"

"Seems that way," Shaga continued. "When I woke up though, I was all alone in a hospital bed. I was lucky though, a second foster family had taken me in. My first family's name, my real family, was Serebu. Hence the clan I belong to as it seems my father hosts the clans last name. My second family, foster family 1, had the last name I do now, Ameru. Since I knew them the most, I kept it once they died as a serving memory for them. And my third family, my current foster family 2, have the last name of Yatsu."

"Sounds harsh, how did you come to being down here then?" Kaito then asked.

"It was last night."

"Last night?"

Shaga then began the long talk again. "When you came to the surface with Luchia and got transformed into what you are now by that woman, what was her name again... Aqua Regina? Back then I saw the whole thing. I was going to follow you until a man named Serebu Hayate stopped me and told me many things that didn't make any sense. I wanted answers but he said 'it was too dangerous to talk here' and dragged me into the sea. When I woke up, he explained to me that I was his father and was a member of his clan, the Serebu Clan. Since I didn't believe him, he showed me a set of video's almost, it was like I was there when what happened happened. He showed me his girlfriend Sharuu, who was pregnant with me so that girl was my mother. He showed me her death as well. My father used to be a merman until Aqua Regina later stripped him of that power because he lost me so easily. I felt the clan's home and I ended up out here, hoping I would find one of you lot first and I did."

Kaito took in all the information before putting an arm around Shaga. "I'm sorry that all of this happened to you Shaga, is there anything me or Luchia can do to help?"

Then it hit Shaga, "your turn now. Tell me all about you and Luchia then, and your friends. I want to know if what Hayate said is really true. Start with now and then go to the start."

Kaito was a bit confused about why he wanted it in that order but still happily told Shaga his story. "Well, as for starters, you know that Luchia is a mermaid, the mermaid princess of the North Pacific Ocean and that we've being going out for quite some time now. We had to come back to her home in the sea, here, because the two of us are getting married. Luchia has to marry into Royalty and since I'm the prince of the Panthalassa Clan, she's allowed to marry me. The reason why I'm a merman though now, is a little more complicated."

"I have time," Shaga answered.

"Alright then. When we first came here, she cast a spell on me that would allow a Clan member to possess a tail as long as they had a piece of seaweed toast everyday, because it apparently has a power that keeps the spell alive. And as long as I didn't return to the surface, it would stay. The night we came down here though, I had a dream about Luchia all thanks to my brother Gaito, who informed me about a trial. A clan member can take it when they are in love in order to become a permanent merperson. The Clan members lover is taken by someone close to them, for me, Luchia was taken by Gaito, and then copied leaving the real and the fake. To tell which one is which, there is usually one inside difference that will help you work out which is which. And as you can guess, I worked it out. This is also the reason why you saw me become a merman thanks to Aqua Regina-sama, she completed the transformation for me."

"Whoa, sounds like a lot happened on your end as well. Now, your friends?" Shaga asked, jogging him memory.

"Oh yeah, Hanon is the mermaid princess of the South Atlantic Ocean whilst Rina is mermaid princess of the North Atlantic Ocean. As for Masahiro and Nagisa, when we all got into some trouble a long time ago, Luchia found a book on merpeople that included a ritual spell for turning normal humans into merpeople with their consent and some magic. Sine Luchia is Aqua Regina-sama's successor, we used her through Luchia's body to complete the rituals, meaning that Nagisa and Masahiro agreed and on their own will, became mermen. We came back about 3 days ago and we've been living in Luchia's Palace since. Once all the wedding business is over though, Hanon and Nagisa will return to the South Atlantic for the rest of our time down here and Rina and Masahiro will return to the North Atlantic. We're down here for a year though, once the year is up, we may return to the human world. That sound about right from what you know?"

"You've given it to me in more detail but the basic's are essentially the same. I still can't believe that this happened to you," Shaga said plainly.

"That what happened?"

"That you got turned into a merman."

"I don't mind really, I was already a prince of the sea. This transformation, if of anything, has made me feel more whole. Don't you feel like something's missing?" He asked turning his head to Shaga.

It was true, being down here, Shaga did feel like something was missing. "Yes."

"That's every clan members desire, the desire to be free in the world of merpeople. Maybe one day you'll go through the trial too." Kaito smiled at the end to try and cheer Shaga up.

Shaga eventually smiled before asking, "it's a big deal to ask of you, but could you take me to see Luchia and everyone else?"

"Why?"

"If want to ask Luchia if she can take me home, not back to Hayate, but back with my foster family. I know I'm a member of a clan but currently I belong with my foster family. Plus in the human world, I've technically disappeared, everyone will be worrying about me." Shaga's voice saddened at the end.

Kaito felt his pain and agreed. "I'll take you to them, just look over there." Kaito's hand was pointing behind them.

Shaga whipped his body around and stared in awe at the glowing pink castle that was quite far away in the distance. "Is that?"

"Yep, Luchia's home. Where we're sat now is the coral reefs of this Ocean, I always come here when I troubled, it's truly fate that we even met at all. Let's go," Kaito said as he grabbed Shaga's hand and literally began pulling him towards the Castle as he swam at great speed.

*Whoa, he's fast!* Shaga thought as he just let Kaito carry on pulling him.


Back at the Palace, Luchia had been sat around waiting for Kaito to return from his swim. As for Hanon, Rina, Nagisa and Masahiro, they'd gone. During the wedding preparations in the morning, they noticed on the list there were two things they needed that Hanon and Rina's Kingdoms owned. Naturally, Hanon and Nagisa left for the South Atlantic and Rina and Masahiro to the North. They would stay there for the night and then return to Luchia's Kingdom the next morning.

"Mou, how long is Kaito going to be this morning?" Luchia asked herself, sighing as she sat down on her bed.

Just as if someone above had heard her prayer, a knock came to her bedroom door.

"Who is it?" She asked in a monotone voice.

"I thought you'd be perhaps a little bit happy to hear I'm back," the voice behind the door replied.

"Kaito!" Luchia said as her face lifted with happiness and literally threw the door open to reveal Kaito.

"I'm back." He said plainly before launching into a hug and a nice long needed kiss with her.

After they 'eventually' broke apart from each other, Luchia asked, "how come you took so long out on the reefs this morning?"

"Well," Kaito began to say, scratching his head. "I kinda ran into someone."

Luchia crossed her arms. "Don't tell me it's another person we know from the human world who is actually one of us or a clan member again?" Her voice was slightly sarcastic but more annoyed.

Kaito just sighed at her, swimming to the side and pulling Shaga in front of him, holding him by the wrist.

"I found this guy, recognise the scar at all?" Kaito asked, trying to make it easier for her to see who it was.

Luchia gasped once she'd worked out who it was. "You're, Ameru Shaga? You're in our class aren't you? You're a, clan member?"

"Yes. I must say, I'm still dead surprised and shocked on the inside to find out that you're really a mermaid in all fairness. Why did you never tell anyone?" Shaga asked.

"It was a law, no mermaid or merman was ever allowed to tell a human what they were or they would be turned into foam. There's an exception to clan members though and we've just recently learnt that the previous law is a bunch of bull, it's not true at all." Luchia explained. "But how did you end up down here, let alone find out what you are?"

Shaga then spent the next 5 minutes sitting on Luchia's bed in between her and Kaito explaining to Luchia what had happened. About seeing them, being dragged down by Hayate, finding out about his real mother and father.

"And one more thing, when the ship accident happened 7 years ago, when I was 10, it was you who saved me."

"Heh, I, saved you? I remember saving a human but I wouldn't have guessed it was you at all, you looked so different back then with shorter hair and no scar. How did you get that scar anyway?" Luchia asked.

"Hayate still never told me that, it's not important anyway. What is important is what I asked Kaito to bring me here for, can you take me home?"

"Take you home?"

"Not to Hayate, but to the surface. I can't stay here much longer. I've been gone since yesterday and everyone will be worrying about me right now. My family more so, because I technically never returned last night."

Luchia understood the situation, but also knew they were suppose to stay here for the year. "Even though I'm not supposed to go to the surface, I'll at least take you close to the shore. Deal?" She extended her hand out to Shaga.

"Deal!" Shaga replied shaking it.

Before they left the room though, a knock came at the door.

"Who is it?" Luchia asked again.

"It's Yukairi!" Yukairi said in a happy manor.

"Come in then," Luchia replied.

As Yukairi came in through the door, her eyes were fixated on the man in front of her who she'd never seen before.

"And who's this?" Yukairi asked in a harsh tone.

"Don't sound so mean, this is Shaga. A member of the Serebu clan." Luchia explained.

"Serebu, you mean the previous servers to Karen's kingdom?"

"Karen, she's one of you too?" Shaga asked.

Luchia then silenced him. "Shh, we'll talk on the way up."

"Yukairi, can I ask you to watch the palace? Me and Kaito are going to return Shaga to the surface. He got dragged down here against his will and we need to get him back. If anyone ask's about me, just say I went to look for Kaito because he still hadn't come back yet."

Yukairi then saluted. "Leave it to me Luchia-sama!"

"Thank you Yukairi," Kaito said smiling at her.

Yukairi then blushed slightly before turning her head away from them. "It's, it's okay. It's one of the duties of a servant to follow the Princess's commands. See you later then." She then swam at high speed out of the room and went back to working.

Kaito just tilted his head. "Strange girl."

"Agreed," Luchia and Shaga said nodding their heads in agreement.

"Are we going now or what?" Shaga asked.

"Yep, lets go then." Luchia said pulling Shaga with her, Kaito following in tow.

Together, the three of them snuck out of the palace unnoticed and began swimming for the surface in a sort of diagonal line.

"So, Karen is a princess too?" Shaga asked, bringing up the 'to be talked about on the way up' topic.

"Yes," Kaito began. "In total there are seven princesses. Luchia, ruler of the North Pacific Ocean. Hanon and Rina, rulers of the North and South Atlantic Oceans, Hanon to South and Rina to the north. Then there's Karen and Noel, Noel is the ruler of the Arctic Ocean and Karen is ruler of the Antarctic Ocean. Coco is the ruler of the South Pacific Ocean and finally, Sara and young Seira. Since Sara is still alive, she is the ruler to the Indian Ocean but when she goes, Seira will rule in her place."

"Whoa, and that's just seven princesses, let alone everyone within the Kingdom or outlying clans. That girl said that my clan previously served Karen's Kingdom, what does that mean?"

Luchia took this one. "Out of all 20 clans, 7 of them were chosen to guard the mermaid kingdoms. The Panthalassa Clan, Kaito's Clan, are guards to my Kingdom. The Octavious still serve Hanon and the Verenasus still serve Rina. You're clan, the Serebu Clan used to serve Karen, until a war broke out, leaving the Batsumo Clan to serve instead. Then we have the Makala Clan who serve Noel and are also a brotherly Clan with the Batsumo to show the bond between the two Kingdoms, Karen and Noel are pretty much sisters after all. To the South of me, the Janobu Clan serve Coco. This last one is tough, since Sara went on rampage and destroyed her kingdom, the Kerasus Clan split up. But since Seira came to life, they've bound back together and are re-building the kingdom."

"I question why I'm ever asking you all this, it's not like I'm coming back to the Ocean any time soon."

"Trust me on this one Shaga, no clan member can resist the call of the Ocean for long. That's why I surf, to keep that close connection. Didn't you ever feel a strange connection to it?" Kaito asked.

"Well, I did usually go for a late walk on the beach most nights, I don't know what gave me the urge to do so," Shaga replied now dwelling on the past.

After about another 10 minutes, they were nearly there.

Luchia held out her left arm, halting the boys. "Wait here, I need to check the coast is clear."

Luchia slowly poked her head above the surface and noticed they were only 40 feet from the shore. Lucky for them, no-one was around, what with it being a school day and all.

She popped her head back down, signalling to the boys that it was okay to surface.

Breaking the surface, Shaga had forgotten all about how good it felt to breathe real air.

When Shaga saw the beach, he couldn't be happier. It had only been one day, but he'd missed dry land so much!

He turned around to Luchia and Kaito and said, "thank you so much you two. I don't know what I'd do without you."

Kaito just laughed slightly. "I guess not much. Well, you could have run into Hanon or Rina I suppose."

Shaga then laughed too. "I guess so. By the way, give them my best, you know, Nagisa and Masahiro."

"What do you mean?"

"Just give them my best, for being brave about the whole situation. From what I've heard, they've practically given up the human side of them just to be with the ones I love. I hope those two are happy with their new lives, so, give them my best."

Once they both understood, they nodded and watched Shaga as he swam back to shore.

"It feels good to be back," Shaga said to himself before turning around and waving to Luchia and Kaito.

They in returned waved back and watched as Shaga ran into the distance, back home presumably.

"So now what?" Kaito asked.

"What do you mean now what?" Luchia asked in return confused.

"I mean, what do we do now? Do we go back or do we..."

"You're not seriously suggesting we stay here for a bit?" Luchia asked.

"Why not?"

"Isn't that breaking our promise, of staying in the seas for a year."

"Not really, as long as we don't leave the sea, right?" Kaito said being clever.

Luchia actually saw his clever point. "What do you suggest we do?"

"Just stay up here for a bit, I miss the human world and breathing real air after 3 days."

With that said, the two of them found their special rock and sat themselves upon it. When I say sat, Luchia sat with her tail in the water, whilst Kaito had sprawled himself out across the rock, letting the ends of his fins dangle in the water.

A couple of hours flew by, the two just sitting there enjoying the rays of the mid day sun. It was good for them.

After a while, Kaito finally brought up what he'd been wanting to tell Luchia for a while. He rearranged himself so he was sitting on his tail like he was sitting on his knees.

"Luchia?"

She spun herself around to talk to him. "What is it?"

"I think it's time I let my true feelings out, about all of this," he said motioning to his tail.

Luchia looked down at it before a hand was brought to her cheek that turned her head to look directly at Kaito.

He slowly dropped the hand and began to speak. "I can't begin to thank you enough over everything that's happened over the last 3 days. Before, I was afraid that I would lose you. We all knew one day you would have to return to the sea, and at the time, we all knew I couldn't stay with you forever. I may have had duties as a clan member, but my love for the human world overrides that fact. That was until we defeat Mikeru. I realised then, nothing could split us up. If you went back to sea, I would go with you. And after all that's happened now, it doesn't matter which world we stay in, we're welcomed in both. Ever since I became a merman, I've truly become a part of your world. We're human and mer in the same ways, we belong in both worlds and this, is a great bond between us. Nagisa and Masahiro sealed their bonds faster, so I'm overjoyed that our bonds were sealed not long after. I love you Luchia, the fact that I've decided to marry you and stay with you, no matter where we go, is only but a small token of my love. But there is one more thing I need, wait here."

Before Luchia could say anything, Kaito dove into the sea and swam under the rock. There was a little hole within the rock where he'd hidden a little bag. He grabbed the bag and surfaced in front of Luchia. Her faced was still flushed from his kind speech a minute ago.

Unscrambling the bag, he dove in for the content, a small black box.

Luchia looked closely at the box, before her eyes grew wide, realising what was in it.

Kaito slowly opened it in front of her to reveal a ring. The ring was pure silver, consisting of three intertwined and weaving bands that looked like moving water. The centre of the ring itself was a small yet detailed image of Luchia and Kaito, holding each other closely, their tails wrapped around each other. 2 hearts were shaped above them, the one of the left bigger than the other, representing the ring that Kaito had given Luchia a couple of years ago. When she looked closer, there were words engraved in the hearts. 'Land or sea, we'll always be together.'

Luchia gasped and covered her mouth with both hands, tears streaming down her face, the occasional happy sob coming in between.

"Luchia?" Kaito asked worried. He wasn't sure if she was happy or sad.

Luchia then launched herself at an unsuspecting Kaito, pushing them under the waves. Kaito quickly grabbed the box and clamped it tightly in his left hand.

When he recovered he looked at her face again, to see she was crying with tears of happiness, even though the tears practically melted into the water around them.

"Do I take it then that this is a yes?" Kaito asked.

"Yes yes YES, a thousand times yes!" Luchia screamed as she hugged Kaito ever so lightly, like she was clinging on for dear life.

Kaito just smiled and closed his eyes. "I'm happy. I'm so happy that I gave this all up for you."

Once Luchia had recovered from her tears and happiness, Kaito re-took out the ring and slid it onto her finger.

"That leads me to think of something, where did you get this ring and when?" Luchia asked.

"Well..."

FLASHBACK

It was the morning that Yamu kun was returning home, the day before Shaga was found as Shaga had been knocked out for a whole day.

Yamu was just about to leave before.

"Yamu!" Kaito called as he swam to catch up to him.

He stopped and looked behind him to see Kaito.

"What is it?" He asked.

"I was just wondering about something, do you know anyone on the surface who would be any good at making rings for people like us?" Kaito asked in return.

Yamu smiled. "You're in luck, you'll be wanting to see my father. He works at a local jewellers and jewellery maker. But if the right person is asking, items for merpeople can be forged behind the lock doors of the shops. He works at Dark Jewellers, the shop in our local centre on floor 2. Go there and show him proof of who you are and he'll be willing to forge anything for you. What were you thinking of doing?"

"I want to get Luchia a special ring for our wedding, one that symbolises our relationship and homes on both land and sea now."

Yamu just smiled again. "Yep, father will have no worries about it. Also, tell him I said hi, I haven't seen him in a while, not since I left on the same day you did, he'll be wondering where I went to again, he never knows where I am. See you some other time Kaito." And with that said, Yamu began the long swim home to his Clan.

Once he'd gone, Kaito then began his swim to the surface, remembering the way he came down.

When he broke the surface, he looked to make sure no one was near 'round and hopped up onto a nearby low cliff, the same one Luchia had once sat on.

He sat there for a few minutes before asking himself, "how long does it take to change back?"

About 30 seconds later, his legs flashed bright red and before he knew it, he had legs again. He was back to wearing a white t-shirt his red short sleeved jacket, a pair of black jeans and some simple converse.

When he stood up, he nearly fell over. "It can't surely be this hard to walk, it's only been 2 days, god."

Once he'd manage to get his balance back, he headed into town.

He eventually arrived at the place, Dark Jewellers. He walked inside the shop and was greeted by a 42 year old man who had the same sort of looks as Yamu, just a lot older and had a little more muscle and was much taller too. "Can I help you there kid?" The man asked politely.

"Yeah, a boy named Meguro Yamu sent me to you. Do you know him?"

"Yamu, he's my son! I'm Meguro Arrou. What can I do for you?" Arrou replied in a friendly manor.

"I need something forged, but not for humans." Kaito stated.

"What do you know kid? Whisper it."

Kaito then whispered the word, 'merpeople' in his ear which peaked Arrou's interest straight away.

"I'm gonna need to see some form of ID that you are son, or at least a clan member.

Kaito thought about it for a second before lifting some hair off of his fringe as the mark on his forehead glowed lightly.

Arrou now recognised who he was. "Are you Domouto Kaito? Prince of the Panthalassa Clan?" Arrou whispered.

"Yep, that's me." Kaito said before he was being dragged to the back of the store by Arrou.

Arrou quickly unlocked the black chained door that was there and dragged him in, firmly shutting it behind him.

"Rumours are that you, Luchia, Hanon and Rina all left for a year. Why are you here now?" Arrou asked.

"If your Yamu's father you should know what we all are and why we left." Kaito stated.

"Yes, the duties of a princess, to return to the sea and marry into royalty- wait!" It had suddenly hit Arrou, the reason why they'd left.

"You, and Luchia, are getting married?" Arrou asked.

"Right, and I wanted you to forge a special ring for me, to symbolise are love on the both the land we've lived on and the sea where we were born."

"Awwwww, such a sucker for romance, alright," Arrou said softly before flicking a switch which threw the room into complete brightness.

When Kaito looked around again, he saw a massive pool of water and a large crafting table at the bottom, materials laid all around it.

"So, this is where you forge items, down there?" Kaito asked.

"Items for merpeople are usually forged my mytherial steel and by the hands of a clan member, with masters in forging, like me for example. Now, you coming in or what?" Arrou asked as he dove into the water, his clothes melting away and a dark green tail, the shade a little darker than his own hair, appearing.

"So, he's like Yamu then, born that way, one of the 9 special born. Him and Yamu being 2 of them, just 7 left in the Verenasus Clan, I must add that to the records when I get back," Kaito reminded himself. Since he was soon to be married and was taking lessons on clan history, he was told to keep a record of who the 9 special born were in each clan. The clans never gave away which were the special born, but you could always tell by the strange colour of their eyes, they were light in the middle and grew darker around the edges.

Kaito then followed in after, to see that Arrou had already set on preparing his materials. There was another little stool at the bottom so Kaito took rest on that whilst Arrou got ready.

Arrou eventually looked up after he finished his preparations. "And since when did this happen?" He asked, clearly making point to Kaito's appendage.

"I was put through the trial 1 day after we arrived. I guess the world decided it was time already. We were going to use the ritual spell but since I'm not human, we couldn't do that." Kaito explained.

"Hang on, 'the' ritual spell. Since when did you get your hands on it?" Arrou questioned.

Kaito then explained the whole situation but left out Nagisa and Masahiro.

"I see, so if the ritual wasn't for you, was it for Nagisa and Masahiro?"

Kaito's mouth dropped before he quickly closed it. "How did you work it out so fast?"

Arrou just laughed. "I haven't seen them since you left either. Their parents had informed me that they'd gone with you lot so I presume the ritual spell was used to turn them into merman, am I right?"

"Yes, now, if you don't mind, I'm not even supposed to be here right now so do you mind if we hurry it up?" Kaito asked.

"Of course."

After about an hour of working together, they'd finally forged the perfect ring.

"It's perfect, thank you ever so much Arrou. What do I owe you?" Kaito asked, he was sure he would have to do something in return for such a wonderfully crafted item.

"Nothing really, but if Yamu sent you here, where is he? I never know where that kid is nowadays." Arrou pleaded.

"He went back to the Verenasus Clan's home this morning, he was helping us with the trial which is why I asked him if he knew anyone who could forge items for us on land, and he said you. But that's where he is," Kaito explained.

"Thanks kid, that's all. Enjoy life with Luchia for a year."

Kaito then shook Arrou's hand before climbing out the pool, transforming, getting the ring put in a box and sneaking back to the Ocean, making sure no-one saw him.

He might have failed though, for his friend Daisuke saw him coming out the shop and had followed him all the way back to the Ocean. When he saw Kaito disappear under the waves and never surface, he knew something was wrong with the whole 'leaving' situation. He wasn't entirely sure it was Kaito though, his hair looked a little different and his eyes had changed colour slightly, to be more of a reddy orange colour. He was sure it was just someone who looked like him and left the situation alone.

END FLASHBACK

"Kaito! I thought the law was no going back to the surface?!" She shouted in annoyance.

"I'm sorry, I just wanted to get something special for you," he pleaded.

Luchia sighed. "You made sure no-one saw you right?"

"Positive."

Luchia then pulled Kaito in for a long sweet kiss, she was just so happy that he'd gone out of the way so much, breaking rules, just to get her the perfect ring.

Once they broke apart, Kaito said, "I take it you're happy about the ring then?"

"More than I can express," she replied. "we should be heading back though, we've been gone nearly 3 hours, you can't have been out at the reefs 'this' long, now can you?"

"I guess so, lets go then."

And with that said, Kaito and Luchia swam back home, unaware of the person who'd been following them home the entire time.

"Not long now little mermaid princess, not long now until your pearls are all mine!"


Nexus: God! I thought this chapter was never going to end. I promise they'll be more action next time! Well, it's going to be one of those chapters where the perspective changes a lot. Between Hanon, Rina, Luchia, Daisuke, the one who'd been following them home...

Daisuke: Since when do I come into this story!?

Kaito: Since now, we need someone from the human world for the next chapter for a short amount of time, after all, you play a vital role in part 2.

Daisuke: I do!?

Everyone: You do.

Shaga: So what now, I've gone to the surface and that's it?

Nexus: Nooooo, not quite, you might be coming back...

Shaga: Well why not use me as the human perspective instead of Daisuke?

Nexus: Because it's my story! You know to much now anyway and you're not all human. I need a PURE human perspective, not clan member perspective.

Well, it might be a while before chapter 12 comes out but just be glad you even got a chapter 11!

Everyone: See you all next time! xxx