Morg: Heyo! Here it is! The Epilogue!

Ikuto: About time!

Amu: I was sort of hoping you'd never write it.

Morg: I will never leave a story unfinished.

Ikuto: Great.

Amu: You should try it just once.

Morg: Nope! I don't own you guys and you don't own me!

~At the Water's Edge Epilogue~

Utau stumbled as she let go of Kukai and the tree that she'd been holding onto. Learning how to walk wasn't exactly easy, but she was getting the hang of it. During the time it had taken them to sail south and find an island that looked untouched, she'd learned how to better move about on the boat, but being on firm land was completely different. "I think I'm getting the hang of this."

Kukai decided that it was probably in his best interest to not say anything at the moment. She wasn't wrong, but she wasn't nearly as proficient at walking as she still was at swimming. He supposed you could take the mermaid out of the girl but she would always be able to swim like a fish. "Is this easier or harder than the sand had been?"

"I think this is easier. The sand was too shifty. I like the firm dirt a lot more. Plus I can catch myself on trees."

Snorting at that, Kukai reached out to help steady Utau once more as the girl let go of the tree and tried to take a few more steps. "Let's not overdo it. Your legs are still not that strong."

That might have been true but Utau was never one to back down from a challenge. Becoming human and learning how to do everything that humans did was her top priority. It was a bit of a surprise that the becoming human part was the easiest part to accomplish. "Want to carry me back down to the beach? I think I'm at my limit."

Kukai had no problem with swooping Utau into his arms and making his way towards the beach where Nagi, Rima, Kairi and Yaya were sure to be lounging. At first, he'd been a bit worried that seeing the others with their tails would make Utau miss hers, but the girl hadn't shown it if she did feel that way. "Right this way, my lady!"

Laughing, Utau placed a kiss against Kukai's cheek. Utau was pretty sure that if she had this particular human by her side then she'd never regret her decision.

The others welcomed them back with a smile and a few waves until Kukai and Utau got close enough to sit with them on the sand.

"Do you think that he's made it back yet?"

Utau turned away from Kukai to look out at the sea. They'd had a meeting one night and had decided to toss Tadase into the ocean once it got warm enough that it wouldn't kill him. The others had pointed the little prince in the right direction and then had watched as he left without looking back.

Unable to say she was surprised that Tadase had picked power over friendship, Utau decided that letting her brother return the kingdom without allowing him to know where she and the others were was the best choice. "I think he's probably close. That or he got kidnapped by sprites or eaten by a sea monster. Either way, he won't ever be coming back."

Kukai slipped his hand into Utau's to give it a squeeze. Regardless of how they all felt about Tadase, he was still her brother. "So Yaya, how goes the swimming lessons?"

Yaya grinned up at the other male before flicking her tail around on the sand. "Yaya is getting better every day. Kairi-koi says so!"

The smile that Kairi gave her told the others that he would say anything to make her smile at him in return, though they figured that she was also probably learning how to swim.

"So," Kukai said as he laid back in the sand with his hands behind his head. "How much longer do we give the new love birds before we go check on them?"

The others all exchanged looks before shaking their heads. No one was going to respond to that. Interrupting a mermaid as powerful as Amu was, was not something that any of them wanted to do.

In the end, it was Utau that shoved him so that he was face down in the sand and spluttering while everyone else just laughed.

Their life on the island was one that they were all still getting used to, but none of them regretted being there. And when they got tired of it, they could board the boat and look for another adventure.

XXX

Amu didn't tell Ikuto at first. She wasn't actually sure why she held it back, but she remained a mermaid and he remained human until they'd gotten to the island. And then, once she and he had gone off to a different area where they could be alone together, she'd stood before him on two legs.

Smiling at the memory of his face and the way he'd wrapped his arms around her and kissed her, Amu rolled over in Ikuto's arms to press a kiss to the corner of his lips. They hadn't been getting a whole lot of sleep considering how busy they'd been lately, but she was ready to reveal something else to him. "Ikuto, wake up."

Groaning a bit, Ikuto tightened his arms around Amu before shoving his face into her neck. "Don't want to."

Forcing herself out of his arms, though she did it slowly and as nicely as she could, Amu moved until she was waist deep in the water of the ocean. Her fish happily greeted her. None of them seemed to care that she had legs rather than a tail. "Come on, you. I want to swim for a bit."

Sitting up, Ikuto groaned again before he lost the ability to even think. Seeing Amu standing in the ocean while she was naked was enough to make his brain stop working. "Amu?"

"Ikuto," Amu called from the waves. "Come and swim with me."

Moving quickly, Ikuto stumbled to his feet and down to the water. He didn't hesitate to plunge through the waves until he had her back in his arms and could kiss the salt water from her lips.

Laughing, Amu pushed him away. "This shouldn't hurt."

Ikuto didn't know what she was talking about. Then his body was tingling and he was changing. His legs stuck together and were covered in scales. He was no longer human, but a merman. For a moment, he just hung in the water and stared at himself. Then he caught a flash of pink out of the corner of his eye and chased after Amu.

Moving with a tail was not easy. Ikuto could understand now why Amu hadn't been very good at walking. "Amu! What is this!?"

Smiling, Amu waited for Ikuto to be within her reach before she wrapped her arms around his neck. "I have the Tear, Ikuto. It is mine forever. I can use it on myself and the man I love as many times as I want as long as the man that I love loves me back."

The kiss that he shared with Amu underwater would definitely not be the last.

.

Morg: So that's that.

Ikuto: Not a terrible ending.

Amu: Gross.

Morg: I hope you guys loved this story!