Morg: Heyo! Guys! We're getting really close to the end of this story.

Ikuto: How close is really close?

Amu: Do we even need an end?

Morg: I'm not entirely sure, but close!

Ikuto: Great.

Amu: What's great is that you don't own us so none of this is actually real.

Morg: That is not so great…

~At the Water's Edge~

The storm raged throughout the night. There was nothing that Amu could do, except for keep her and Ikuto afloat through it. The ship was gone. She couldn't see it and she knew that the wind would carry its much larger bulk faster and further than it would push her and Ikuto. It also didn't help that the sun was yet to rise. It would be difficult to see anything in the dark, especially two people in the water.

Once the wind started to die down and the waves became a bit more manageable, Amu knew that she had to start moving. The rain wasn't coming down nearly as hard so the pinkette was certain the storm was finally passing them by.

The male in her arms made Amu rather concerned. Ikuto had been knocked overboard, but she hadn't seen him hit his head on anything. Yet, he was still asleep. Ikuto did a lot for all of them. Amu knew that. She also knew that the human wasn't sleeping as much as he should have been, which was probably one of the reasons he was still unconscious now. It was fatigue. He was so exhausted that his body finally gave out. Amu was very grateful for the fact that she was a mermaid or else Ikuto would have drowned for sure.

With her powers feeling a bit more under her control, Amu reached out in her mind for some sort of land. She needed an island. They both needed to rest and Amu couldn't do it if she had to keep Ikuto alive.

There, a few miles to the west, there was some sort of island out in the middle of the ocean. Amu figured that it might not be much more than rocks and more water since the volcanoes were nearby, but it would be enough. Shifting Ikuto in her arms, Amu flicked her tail to take them towards it.

To her surprise, the island actually had sand. It was a relief to drag Ikuto up onto it and let him rest well above the shoreline. It amused Amu for a moment, as the mermaid sat there brushing the human's hair out of his face, that this wasn't the first time that Amu had saved him from a watery grave. "You'd be dead without me, Ikuto. I hope you realize that."

The sleeping male just kept on sleeping. Amu was fine with that. She would try to rouse him when the sun was well in the sky if he hadn't woken already. Until then, she was also going to sleep. Curling up on the sand besides the human that she'd saved, Amu let her hand rest on Ikuto's chest to feel him breathing before slipping into darkness.

XXX

Kukai's face was grim and determined as he stood on the deck looking at both humans and merpeople before him. "Ikuto and Amu went overboard. Now that the sun is up, we have a chance at finding them. Does anyone have an idea?"

Utau didn't like the look on Kukai's face. She liked seeing him smile his easy smile and laughing at everything even if it wasn't that funny. This responsibility that he carried, he carried well. She just wished he didn't have to. "We're out of gas, right? You said this thing took gas to run."

Nodding, Kukai let out a sigh before running his fingers through his already wild looking hair. "We have to use the sail now, which means the wind has to be on our side or else we won't be going anywhere fast."

Not at all liking the situation, Yaya squeezed Kairi's hand in hers. "Amu-chi and Ikuto-shi must be very far away if they fell in at the beginning of the storm."

"The fish!"

Everyone turned to look at Nagi. There were mixed expressions, though Nagi ignored most of them. "If we let out Amu's familiars and then follow them, they should be able to lead us to her."

Tadase scoffed before crossing his arms. "If they're more than a couple of miles away then there's no way that'll work."

Smacking the prince because he was quite done with the other male's attitude, Kairi ignored the squawk that the blond mermaid let out. "Amu's stronger than any of us. Her familiars are, too. They will definitely be able to lead us to her."

Rima set her shoulders and looked out over the water. "Now we just have to hope that she isn't at the bottom of the ocean."

"She'd be fine, though. She is a mermaid."

Looking over at Tadase, Rima didn't bother to show respect. Instead, she lifted one eyebrow and gave the prince a very judging look. "But Ikuto isn't. And there is no way that Amu would be somewhere that he wasn't if she jumped in to save him."

Swallowing hard, Kukai ran his fingers along Daichi's back. His bird was also tired and not at all pleased with the situation. "Then we'll hope that she isn't at the bottom of the ocean."

Tadase was not pleased with the situation. No one was paying him any respect and the people around him, including his sister, were being far too familiar. It was not the way the prince was used to being treated. It was not the way that he wanted to be treated. He would also correct the problem as soon as he could.

XXX

Groaning, Ikuto coughed a bit. He tried to lift his head to look around but the world spun and so he dropped it right back down into the sand. When he noticed that it was sand beneath him, Ikuto turned to look around. He was on an island. He had no memory of getting to an island, but he was on one. And Amu was right beside him.

Turning the other way, Ikuto studied the mermaid sleeping in the side at his side. She was curled so that her tail wasn't completely stretched out. Amu had one arm bent beneath her head and the other stretched out. Looking down, Ikuto realized that it was resting on his chest.

Something had to have happened for them to end up on an island with Amu only going to sleep if she could feel him breathing. Ikuto almost didn't want to wake her to find out what had gone on while he was out. He knew that she was more tired than she ever let on. Because of her powers, Amu always tried to be stronger than everyone else. Not because she thought that she had to be, but because it was expected of her. Ikuto hated that.

Slowly, Ikuto turned onto his side. He took her hand into his before reaching out to brush some of her pink hair out of her eyes. She was so beautiful, this creature that was so different and yet not that different from him. They shared a love of the sea and a love of life. Ikuto hoped one day that they could share a different sort of love, but that wasn't his choice alone to make.

Eyes fluttering open, Amu looked up at the sky before turning to see Ikuto looking right back at her. Her mouth felt a bit dry, though she wasn't sure why. Licking her lips to wet them, Amu smiled at the male beside her. "Hey."

Smiling right back, Ikuto didn't bother to move away now that Amu was awake. "Hey, how are you feeling?"

Lifting an eyebrow, Amu took in the human still lying beside her. Ikuto had one arm bent beneath his head so that his palm propped him up. His clothes were still wet, though the sun would dry them now that it was up in the sky. He looked better rested now that he'd gotten some sleep. "I'm not the one that got hit by the mast and thrown overboard."

Ikuto remembered being hit. The impact had knocked the wind out of his chest. He hadn't been able to breathe for a bit and he'd stumbled. That much he remembered. But Amu was saying that he'd been thrown overboard. That meant that there was more. "When I was hit?"

Nodding, Amu moved to sit up so that she could stretch. It wasn't that she didn't notice that Ikuto had been holding her hand. It was just that she wasn't quite sure how to respond to it. "You went over the railing and I went after you."

"I don't remember any of it."

Giving a shrug, Amu turned to look back at Ikuto. He was still lying down, but his blue eyes seemed deep as they looked up at her. "That's probably a good thing. It was a bad storm."

Ikuto knew that that meant that Amu had jumped in and saved him. She'd held him above the water during a terrible storm and kept him safe. Ikuto didn't have to have been awake to know that now. Once again, she'd saved him. "Thank you."

Amu turned back away to look out over the ocean. The waves were steadily coming up onto the beach that they were sitting on, but they weren't close to touching them just yet. "Hopefully they find us."

Not entirely worried about that, Ikuto moved. Slowly, he sat up beside Amu and looked at her. She was avoiding his eyes and he knew it, but that didn't mean that he was going to look away. "I'm sure they will. There are some pretty smart minds aboard that boat. Though I must say, this isn't such a bad place to have a bit of a rest."

Closing her eyes, Amu let the wind ruffle her drying hair. Ikuto wasn't wrong. The island was terrible. It had some grasses but no trees. They wouldn't have a break from the sun, but for the first day there that didn't sound too terrible. She could, after all, go into the water if she needed to. Though Amu knew that she wouldn't leave Ikuto to suffer on his own. "I feel like we need a bit of a break."

"It has been a crazy last few days. And that boat was starting to feel more and more crowded."

Amu could feel his gaze. She knew that looking at him was going to make her want to keep looking and she didn't know if that was a good idea. Eventually, she gave in and turned her head to meet his eyes. "Tadase makes the entire ocean feel crowded."

Ikuto chuckled before reaching out to run his fingers along Amu's cheek. "Yeah, I could tell."

Shuddering, Amu leaned into the touch. There was a reason that she did not know keeping her from moving away. "Yeah."

Releasing a sigh, Ikuto moved a bit closer. His eyes moved down to Amu's lips and he couldn't look away. "I am going to kiss you."

Amu stared at Ikuto for just a bit longer before letting her eyes slip shut. The breath that escaped her lips just before she also leaned forward was shaky, but Amu wanted to know what it felt like to have Ikuto so close to her.

Etching the sight before him in his mind so that he would never forget, Ikuto closed the last of the distance between them so that he could kiss the mermaid that he'd been in love with for a while.

The sound of the waves hitting the beach was only interrupted by the caw of a bird. A bird that Ikuto was sure that he knew all too well.

.

Morg: Amuto!

Ikuto: Ah yeah!

Amu: Gross.

Morg: You're gross!