Chapter Three: The Merprince

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Alright, here's the next chapter...I tried to get it done really fast...especially after Sakura's little, ahem, "push"...wow...I never had a reviewer scare me into updating...gee, I feel so loved ^_^

Thanks to all who took the time to read and review!! Continue!!

~ Maeven~

"Sohmas," the boy with the startling crimson eyes spat out. "I should've known."

Uotani jumped out of her seat and stared at the boy. "O-orange top?"

He folded his arms and retorted, "Yankee."

The blonde girl laughed and ran to the boy, cracking her knuckles. "Yay! Someone to tackle again!!"

The boy blanched and quickly backed away, holding his hands in defense. "U- uotani...stay away from -" But it was too late and with a *POOF*, Uotani stared bewilderedly at a little scowling orange cat in her arms.

Kisa blinked. "O-onii-chan's a cat?" Tohru blinked. 'This was Kyou-kun? The Merprince? Uotani and Kisa's brother? The one who used to play tag with her and yank on her tailfin? This tall well-built boy with dazzling crimson eyes? The one who transformed into a little kitty in a blink of an eye...just like the Sohmas? How was this possible? What happened to that short, carroty hair kid that loved teasing her?' The girl plopped down heavily on a nearby armchair.

"KYOU-KUN!!" Kagura flew over to Uotani. The cat caught sight of the girl and immediately tried clamoring away. Alas, it was too late yet again. "Kyou-kun!! Where have you been? You just suddenly disappeared that day! But I knew you would return to me!! I just knew it!! But...WHAT IN THE WORLD DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING LOLLING AROUND IN ANOTHER GIRL'S ARMS?!!" The brown-haired girl thrashed the cat into a pulp.

"B-baka! She's my freaking sister!!" Kyou managed to wheeze out in between the ruthless shaking.

Kagura blinked and immediately squeezed the cat to her. "Oh Kyou!! I can't believe you brought your sister to meet me!! Are you planning to propose to me now?! Sister-in-law!!" She threw her arms wide open to Uotani, who backed away uneasily.

*POOF* Kagura found herself hugging a naked Kyou, her face buried in his chest. The boy flushed and rumbled, "Baka! Let go of me!" The girl released her hold, letting everyone else in the room an ample view of the boy's state. "Eep!" All the girls turned around and poor Kyou reddened even more.

"Baka neko," Yuki threw the cat his clothes and rolled his eyes.

"Kuso nezumi," Kyou growled as he struggled into his clothes.

* * *

After Kyou had finally gotten settled down, he demanded to know why the girls suddenly disappeared.

"After I reached home and thought I could finally get some rest, mother comes to me in tears, blubbering something about how you guys were kidnapped off by hu-" Kyou halted at Uotani's warning look and finished feebly. "-huge monsters." The Sohmas blinked.

"Oh no! We just happened to pass by and found these poor people drowning...so we decided out of the goodness of our hearts to rescue them...and by doing so, found out their little secret...which you also appear to have...care to explain that to me?" Uotani raised an eyebrow.

Kyou ignored the girl. "You should've just let them drown."

Yuki retorted. "Well, how fortunate your family members neither possess your cruelty nor stupidity...I would have really pitied your mother."

The orange haired boy flared. "Don't bring my mother into this!"

Yuki snapped. "In case you misunderstood me, I was sympathizing with her over having such an idiotic son and not "bringing her into this", as you so eloquently put."

Kyou slammed the table and loomed up. Yuki stood up in response and the two boys glared at each other deadly.

"Both of you stop this before I'm forced to do.....something," Hanajima stated monotonously. Kyou paled and sat back down. He had one too many horrifying childhood experiences with the girl, famed throughout the ocean kingdom as the Sea Witch, and he wasn't anxious to relive anyone of them. Even Yuki could sense the girl's hidden power and he, too, quickly took a seat.

Tohru ventured hesitantly to break the tension. "Ano...Kyou-kun...can you tell us how you got the same curse as the Sohmas?"

Kyou stared at her curiously and she bit her lip. "W-what?" she asked nervously.

He squint his eyes, scrutinizing her. "What?! Did I do something?" she panicked.

He shook his head thoughtfully. "No...it's just..."

"What?!"

"Have we met before?"

Tohru collapsed to the floor. 'K-kyou-kun doesn't even remember me!! Oh no! I must have been so unimportant that he forgot all about me!! I must be some blob in his memories...a miniscule dot...a nonexistent point...'

"Baka!" Uotani whacked Kyou's head. "You really are dumb!! She's Tohru, duh!! Only the girl we've been playing with since babies!"

"Ow! You little -" he stopped. "T-tohru?" He peered at the girl again, who was currently dazed off in her little diatribe. 'This is Honda Tohru? The little short girl who hung around his sisters? The one he dropped eels on? The one he teased and laughed at for ages? The one he nicknamed Onigiri Mermaid for her little round head? How can someone change so much in one year? Impossible!' The girl turned and stared miserably into his eyes and he flushed, hastily looking away. 'She's tall now...and her hair's longer and shinier now...and her eyes had deepened into royal emerald instead of that muddy pea soup color...and her head's no longer the shape of those human riceballs...and her smile's definitely much more brighter...and prettier...'

Yuki darted his dark purple eyes back and forth between the two people. For some reason, he didn't like the way the neko was blushing around Tohru. 'Such a sweet, friendly girl shouldn't be associated with such a distasteful, ill-mannered, rude...' he could continue forever. His own cheeks began to heat up as he recalled how he woke up to the startled girl's forest green eyes, with the imprint of her lips still heavy on his.

Shigure grinned devilishly as he observed his cousin, the cute brown-haired girl, and the little kitty. All three were red and all three were lost in their thoughts.

"Ne, Kyoukichi-kun!! Why don't we tell them the story of how we met, how we happened upon this curse, and how we sadly departed from each other?!" Ayame raised a hand dramatically to his forehead.

A vein throbbed in the boy's forehead and he gritted his teeth, "Stop calling me that, you damn snake...and how we sadly departed? I swam away from you sickos like my ta-ahem - legs were on fire...as for the curse...don't even remind me...it was all your fault!! It happened just a year ago after I just departed from home to fight in the war..."

/FLASHBACK/

Kyou swam quickly through the blue waters, holding an arm tightly to a wound a shark had recently given him. He grimaced and reminded himself that it will soon heal. Suddenly, something crashed through the water and rammed into his head. He swore, seeing colored spots in front of his eyes. He narrowed his eyes and looked around, determined to find that stupid thing and slash it to pieces.

To his shock, it was a girl. She floated down, the water pulling heavily on her huge pink dress. "A human," he spat. "A stupid human with its pollution and killing of our brothers. I should've know. Well, good heavens! One less to damage our seas!" He started to swim off but a gnawing feeling kept bothering him. 'I really can't leave a girl to die here....even if she's a human...' He darted a look at the sinking girl and with a sigh, he turned back.

/FLASHBACK ENDS/

Kyou moans, "Here's the part I regret."

Kagura frowned, "What do you mean? Here's the part when you rescued me and I fell in love with you!!"

Kyou buried his head in his palms, "That's exactly what I mean. Should've just let you drowned."

"NANI?!"

After a pummeling, Kyou painfully resumed his story.

/FLASHBACK/

Kyou dived, the cool water running their hands through his orange hair. He reached out his arms to pull the girl up when another something rammed into his ribs. He gasped in pain and blood seeped through a wound in his side, billowing in the water. He looked down to see a shark barreling down on the girl, its sharp teeth ready to tear through its fresh meal.

Kyou's eyes flashed and he lunged toward the shark. "Okay, as much as I hate humans, I hate sharks even more...so today's your lucky day, you stupid girl," he pulled out his dagger and stabbed it into the shark's eye. It thrashed about wildly and Kyou got sent somersaulting backwards by a forceful smack of its tail. The boy growled and yanked the fish away from the girl again, this time driving his weapon into its head. With a final weak struggle, the shark drifted lifelessly through the waters. Blood clouded in the water, blinding the boy's vision.

He groped in the water and finally finding the girl's hand, he yanked her up to the surface.

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Flashback story to be continued next chapter...please don't hurt me...I really need to do my homework now...

Make sure to review!!

~Maeven~