A/N: Hello people! Welcome to another multi-chapter story! Don't worry, for those of you reading Monde Amere, I'm still working on that. I'm just taking a teeny hiatus, per se. I'll have more of that for you all soon!

Anyway, I came up with this lovely little idea on a whim one day. Because listening to Pirates of the Caribbean music makes you come up with ideas like this. Turns out, this is not as little of a project as I thought. I basically have the whole story written. I have twenty chapters written and revised, and the story is going to be at least thirty chapters! Thirty chapters people! That is a record for me! Originally, I wasn't going to post this, but then I was like: "Eh, it's interesting, it's unique, I have a bunch written already, so why not? So, here it is. Since I have so much written, I'll be posting a couple of chapters a day. Also, the character list is on my profile.

Summary: AU. Yao Wang's favorite thing to do is sit at the beach every evening to draw. But when his solitary sketching is interrupted by the appearance of a curious, violet-eyed merman, his ordinary little world changes forever.

Rated T. Romance/Drama/Humor. [China, Russia]

Chapter I

One of Yao's favorite things to do was sit by the sea and sketch. His small, solitary house was within a short distance of the beach, so he often walked to it and sat on his favorite rocky shoreline, sketching what he saw. He was there alone, just how he liked it. It was relaxing to him. The sound of the waves crashing against the shore, the sea birds squawking, the breeze ruffling his long, dark hair, it was perfect.

So there he was, sketching. He was sitting on his special rock. It was a large, flat rock, and it was hanging right over the edge, over deep water.

It was a quiet evening. It was chilly, but it was nice. He had decided he'd catch the sunset, and draw it again. He already had several sketches, each a little different. He could honestly never tire of the sunset landscapes.

The sun hadn't quite started setting yet, so he was waiting, sketching a picture of the distant light house directing ships back to the port city. He finished a sketch he was satisfied with, and then moved on to look for something else to draw.

His deep brown eyes scanned the horizon, when he caught sight of a rock out a ways from the shore. He had seen it before, and there wasn't anything particularly special about it. But this time there was something on it. It was a figure. Yao tried his best to scrutinize the shape...it looked like a person with a fishtail? No. He wouldn't believe that. Merfolk didn't exist. They were a myth. He rubbed his eyes and blinked, and when he looked again, it had vanished. This convinced him it was a only a dream. But dream or not, it made the perfect picture. So, after studying the rock for a moment and imagining a mermaid sitting there, he started to sketch again. However, he soon realized that the image on the paper was not near as perfect and beautiful as it had been in his head. Frustrated that he couldn't get it right, he huffed, and put his sketchbook and pencil down beside him. Then, he pulled his knees up to his chest, folded his arms, and rested his chin upon them. He glared, pouting for a moment before readjusting himself into a more comfortable position. This resulted in him dangling his feet over the edge of the large rock he was sitting on, over the salty, cold ocean water.

He listened to the crashing waves, watching the sun that was very slowly starting to descend over the horizon. He began to sing to himself, some old sea chanty that had embedded itself in the back of his mind.

As I sailed from Galway in service to the Queen
My ship she grew lost no land was seen.
I stood at the rail to take the air
And my eyes did see in the water
A mermaid swimming there

Her face shone of moonlight her comb was in her hair
She was garlanded with pearls and shells so rare.
She lifted her glass myself to see
And the image there in her looking glass was my destiny

The vision I saw as I looked into the glass
Foretold of our doom soon come to pass.
My ship would go down into the sea
And the mermaid said I can save you all just believe in me...

The clouds rolled with thunder our ship would soon be lost
I begged for our lives at any cost.
She smiled as she sang my crew to sleep with her charming voice
I did fall into a slumber deep

The next thing I heard as I woke from her spell
Was the distant faint ringing of a bell.
My crew they were shouting at sight of shore
And the mermaid's song shall be in my heart forever more

He got so caught up in his singing, that he payed no mind to anything, until he accidentally knocked his pencil into the water.

"Aiyaah!" he exclaimed, "That's the only one I brought, aru! God, I'm an idiot! The sun's setting already, and if I got home to get another pencil I'll miss it, aru! I guess I should just leave now, da**it!"

He was so busy being angry with himself and his stupidity that he did not notice something had swam up to him. He was about ready to get up and leave, when a splash caught his attention. He looked over the rock right beside him, into the water. A head of short, platinum blonde, silvery hair, and a pair of vibrant violet eyes were peeking out of the water. Startled, he jumped backwards, nearly losing his footing on the rock.

"Careful." warned an unfamiliar voice.

After recovering from his near heart-attack, Yao looked again. There was a young man in the water, hair and pale, shimmering skin wet from it. He had folded his arms over the rock, and was using it to prop himself up. There was something in his right hand.

"Oh!" He held it out to Yao, "Yours?"

"My pencil." he recognized it, "Thanks. But who are you? And why is there a long piece of seaweed around your neck?"

The man cocked his head to the side, confused.

"What is your name?" Yao rephrased the question.

The man pointed to himself, "Ivan." Then he pointed to Yao, "You?"

"Wang Yao...Yao. I am Yao."

"Yao-Yao!" the man exclaimed excitedly.

"Yao." the Chinaman replied impatiently.

"Yao-Yao!" Ivan repeated. There was a wide smile on his face.

Yao sighed and pointed to the seaweed, "What is that?"

Ivan looked down at it, "Seaweed."

"I know...but why do you have it?"

"Scarf."

A seaweed scarf. As if this man wasn't already peculiar enough. "A scarf? Why would you need a scarf?" Yao asked.

Ivan didn't reply. He responded with the same puzzled expression as before.

"It doesn't matter. You don't speak or understand much Mandarin, do you?" That was Yao's first language, and what he had been speaking.

Ivan shook his head sadly, blushing.

"Do you speak English?" Yao asked.

"A little." He replied, in English. He had a Russian accent.

"Okay, good, so do I. Thank you for getting my pencil for me. You should get out of water, now. It is cold, isn't it?"

"Cold never bothers me. I am okay."

"Okay. But don't you want to get out of water? It's getting dark."

"I cannot."

"Why?"

"It is my home."

"What? I do not understand."

Ivan sighed, "One moment." He pushed off the rock with his hands and splashed under the water, and flapped something up onto the rock, nearly smacking Yao with it.

"Ivan, you almost hit me with-what!?" The Chinaman could hardly believe his eyes. It was a huge, vibrant violet tail, with a light violet caudal fin that was almost completely translucent. A fish tail, a freaking fish tail!

"Is this real?" Yao pinched himself. He didn't wake up. No, he wasn't dreaming. But just to be sure he wasn't going completely mad, he reached out a hand and touched the slimy, silvery fin. The moment he did, it was pulled back into the water, and Ivan's upper half reappeared.

"Please do not touch my tail. It is sensitive."

"Sorry...I was just trying to make sure I wasn't going crazy, aru. But you're a merman!?"

"Da."

"Are you Russian?"

"Russian? I do not know. I am merman. I raised in "Baltic Sea" next to very large, white land."

"Then you're Russian."

"Russian? But I am Merman."

"No. You misunderstand. Russian is a nationality, not a thing...it is like...where you come from...people from different places have different nationalities. I am from China. I am Chinese. But I am also a man. I am a Chinese man. You were raised in the sea next to Russia. You are Russian, but you are also a merman, that makes you a Russian merman."

"Okay...?"

He still seemed confused.

"But that does not matter, aru."

Ivan wasn't paying attention. He was too focused on Yao's sketchbook. "What is this thing?" He reached for it.

Yao hastily pulled it out of reach, "No, no!" Startled, Ivan pulled his hand away.

"...Sorry, it is just, this does not belong in water. The paper will get wet and ruined. There's drawings in it, and they are special to me."

"Oh! I see... can I look?"

"Umm..." Yao had never had someone particularly show interest in his sketches, "Yes. Of course...sit and I'll show you, aru. Wait, can you come out of water?"

"Yes. Scoot over."

Yao scooted over and Ivan began to pull himself up onto the rock. He used his arms, and then twisted his body so he was sitting beside the smaller form. The latter was quite intimidated by him. This man was huge! He had to be at least 6 feet tall from his head to his caudal fin and he was quite muscular as well. Muscles rippled in his chest and arms. He could probably crush Yao if he wanted to. But his quiet voice and sweet smile made him less scary...but not the mysterious, threatening aura he gave out. Little 5'6 Yao was nothing compared to him.

"A-are all merpeople as big as you?" Yao blurted out. He covered his mouth...oops...

"Not females. They are normal size. But some males are bigger than me, some are smaller. Are all male humans tiny like you?"

"Hey! I'm not that small, aru!"

"It was just question."

"N-no...most males are talller than me." He flushed.

"Oh, okay. Can I see picture now?"

"Yeah, yeah." He turned to the first page. It was a drawing of a bowl of fruit in his kitchen.

"I like that. But what is that inside bowl?"

"It's fruit. It's food."

"Oh, we have food, but I have never seen that before. What does it taste like?"

"Depends on what kind, but it's usually sweet."

"Hmm, I would like to try some one day."

"I can bring you some."

"Really?"

"Yes, I'll come back tomorrow around this time."

"Okay!" He said excitedly, then he looked back down at the sketchbook, "Turn page now?"

"Sure." He turned the page.

Ivan gasped, "Those flowers are so pretty! I have never seen flower so big and bright before! What is it called?"

"Those are sunflowers."

"I love them!" He exclaimed, "I want to see those too!"

"Unfortunately I can't really bring you those. They're in a field a long way away from here and not near the ocean."

"Oh..." He sighed, disappointed. "But I still like looking at picture. I can see them that way." He looked at the sunflowers for a bit longer, and then continued to look through the pages. Ivan asked questions and Yao would explain to him what each thing or person was.

Eventually, he got to the end of the drawings, to the unfinished picture of the mer-figure on the rock.

"How come you did not finish this one of me on the rock?"

"That was you on that rock? So I wasn't just seeing things?"

"No. I came over here when I heard your singing. Mer-people are attracted to singing. But, back to question, how come you did not finish?"

Yao sighed, "I got frustrated when I could not get it right."

"Oh. Looks pretty though!"

Suddenly, Yao remembered something. "Oh crap! I forgot about the sunset! That is what I came out here to draw and I missed it!"

"You already have drawings of sunset."

"I know, but it is a little different each time...at least how I draw and color it. And I missed it."

"That is okay. There will be one tomorrow . You can come back then."

"I probably will."

"Yao-Yao?"

"Yes?" He mentally cringed. He really did not like that childish pet name.

"I will come back too. I want to see more drawings."

"O-okay, I will bring some more, aru. And your fruit to try I guess."

"Okay! I need to go now, it is getting dark. My pod will be wondering where I am at. I will see you tomorrow. Goodbye." He slid back into the water and dove down, tail flicking above the surface before vanishing. After watching him vanish, Yao pulled himself off the rock. Now, he was going to go home and do research on merpeople.

-xXx-