Disclaimer and Author's Note: Read the Prologue.

I'd like to cut down the BS-ing. :o) Shall we?

Chapter One

The dolphin closed its eyes as a soft and gentle hand smoothed across the bulging dent on its head soothingly. The little grey porpoise thrilled happily as the tanned hand continued to stroke its head and snout affectionately. Then the adorable creature nuzzled at the coral bracelet that the hand wore as if to encourage more caresses.

"Iruka-sensei!"

Iruka paused and looked up from the small bottle-nosed dolphin he was petting. Kiba, the guard, was swimming over to him. He frowned worriedly as the younger mer approached him looking urgent and worried.

"Kiba-kun?"

"Iruka-sensei, have you seen the Prince?" the dog fish asked, urgently.

"No, I haven't," Iruka answered. "Isn't he in his room?"

"No, I checked on him and he isn't there."

"How about the kitchen? Maybe he went there for a snack?" Iruka said, worry worming into his heart.

"I already looked there. As well as his usual hiding places," the sentinel replied hastily.

Iruka frowned. He shivered as an indescribable feeling crept up his spine.

Something is going to happen.

A high thrilling sound snapped him out of his trance-like distress.

Iruka looked down as the dolphin he had been playing with, nuzzled its snout against his palm. He resumed his patting and turned towards the sentinel who seemed to be waiting for his instructions.

"Go and gather the rest of the guardians and search the castle again. Tell Shikamaru, Chouji and Shino to wait for me at the East gate. They'll be searching outside with me--"

"I want to go with you, Iruka-sensei," Kiba answered before Iruka even finished.

"No, I need someone to take care of things back here," Iruka said patiently, then shook his head when Kiba looked about to protest. "Kiba, I need you here. The others are not used to the outside, especially on land. If anything happens here, you have to look for us where the others will not."

Kiba nodded eyes wide as comprehension dawned. Ashore. They were going on shore to look for the wayward prince. Knowing the golden haired urchin, there was a big possibility he would be on shore.

"Yes, sir!"

Naruto grumbled as he plucked an empty sea shell. He was lying on his stomach against a large boulder by the beach, his tail flipping idly against the water as he 'tanned' himself.

"Stupid, stupid arrangement, stupid rules, stupid dumb snake! Argggh!" Naruto growled in frustration. If it wasn't because of that stupid power-hungry eel, he wouldn't have to get married. "Why do I have to get married!? Why can't that old hag get--" he stopped himself, guilt welling in his chest at the thought.

Of course, the Queen wouldn't get married. Not that she can't. No one tells the Queen what to do after all. It's just that she won't. She had sworn that she would not marry again and she had never gone against her words before.

Now, because of the threat posed by the dark sea serpent, Orochimaru, they had to get help from other kingdoms. And naturally, the alliances between kingdoms are sealed with the agreement of marriage within the royal line. Which means that...

Naruto sighed heavily, deflating like a balloon.

It was his duty.

But it didn't mean that he had to like it.

"Why can't I at least get to be the dominant one? Ceh!" he groused.

Then, the golden haired mer looked up and frowned as he studied the dark clouds that were gathering in the clear bluish-red sky.

The globe beneath the sallow hand glowed eerily, pulsing like a pale imitation of a living being. Golden eyes narrowed contemplation as he stroked the smooth surface of the sphere.

A flash of light so bright it seemed to vibrate through the dark and gloomy throne room.

A smile stretched across the pallid features.

"That's rather odd."

"Hmm?" Kakashi turned to look at the sailor... what was his name? Tatsuna?

"The wind," the veteran said shortly, making no sense as he did not continue to explain what he meant.

"It looks like it's going to rain," another younger sailor said, rounding a thick cord. The old man nodded as he continued to survey the previously clear sky.

Kakashi looked up too, brows knitting together at the sight of the unexpected weather change.

"Where is that idiot?" Shikamaru grumbled, as he glared as far as he could see. "So troublesome."

"Mayhap he has gone far west instead?" Shino asked.

"I wouldn't put it past him to do just that to throw us off his trail," Iruka stated, idly touching the bracelet strung with colourful corals shaped roughly like dolphins. Or at least, that was what Naruto claimed that it was supposed to be anyway. Iruka had accepted the gift gratefully at that time, and had worn it daily since.

"We'll split up. If anyone manages to find the prince, get the little ones to inform the rest," Iruka gestured at the four small grey porpoises that had gathered and followed him. The dolphins took guard beside each of the mers and dutifully trailed after them as they went their own ways.

Iruka took the west.

Floating lightly on the raging waves, Naruto watched in mild curiosity (who was he kidding, he was very curious, as a matter of fact) at the bobbing vessel that was being swept to and fro by the strong wind and sea.

He could hear voices shouting as the... people? (Was that what Iruka-sensei called them?) scurried about on the large ship.

/What are they doing?/ Naruto thought to himself as he continued watching the humans as they tried to do something to the white pieces hanging from the ship's tall pillars.

"NARUTO!"

Despite the howling wind and thunderous storm, the shout rang clear... and dangerously near. A hand slapped onto his shoulder non-too-gently startling the blond prince so badly, he nearly jumped out of the water. But the hand clamped tightly onto his shoulder stopped any motion other than a sharp jolt.

"Naruto...," came the slow familiar growl.

"Eep," was all he managed before a fist came flying down onto his head.

Hours after that humiliating incident, Sasuke felt much better. At least, good enough to swallow a bowl of soup and a few pieces of bread. The dark haired prince twitched and grimaced in embarrassment as the memory of leaning over the railing puking his guts out returned to him.

"Idiot." He didn't know whether he meant himself or the cause of his bane, namely the masked moron he called his teacher.

Sasuke jerked when the ship suddenly swayed alarming to its side. The unsteady tilt caused the bed he was sitting on to slide noisily across his small cabin to the other side. With wide eyes, Sasuke clutched tightly onto his bed until the ship finally up righted again. Then scowling heavily, he stood up from his bed. Pulling his robe over his nightclothes, he opened the door as the vessel rocked violently from side to side. He could hear the wind and thunder roaring outside even before he managed to get to the door leading to the deck of the ship.

The ship tilted again as the wind howled and wailed against the waves in the sea and the sails of the vessel, throwing the liner horribly out of balance.

"Shit!" he grabbed onto the door frame and pushed himself onto the deck just one of the crew member slipped on the wet floor. The man lost balance, slid across the deck and slammed onto the railing. The sailor tried to get up but the violent rocking sent the man tilting nearly over the wooden barrier. Sasuke reacted quickly and reached out to grab the man before he could fall over.

Behind them, one of the ship masts creaked and snapped when a lightning struck onto the wood, breaking the pole in half and sending huge shards of wood flying in all direction. One of these broken pieces spiraled treacherously towards them just as Sasuke turned.

In time for the wood to hit and graze him in the temple.

The impact didn't cause too much damage but it was enough to make the young prince fall back over the handrail.

Sasuke blacked out before he even hit the water.

"Sasuke!"

Kakashi, who had been surveying the storm with a frown, had turned back in time to see the prince get hit. He cursed as he pulled down his mask and jumped into the precarious sea after his ward. When he emerged onto the surface, he felt panic surge up in his chest. Wihtout much hesitation, the silver haired man once again dived down into the murky and tempest water.

"Naruto!"

"I'm not going back!" Naruto exclaimed stubbornly, hanging onto the protruding side of the large wooden vessel like a lifeline as his tutor tried to pull him away.

"Don't be stub-"

His teacher was interrupted when a shout echoed above them and something fell with a big splash near them.

"What-?"

"Duck!" Iruka shouted to him, pushing his head in before something else fell in next to them. From below, Naruto could see clearly, a 'man' paddling around feverishly for a quite sometime, as if in search of something.

"Naruto."

The blond prince turned towards his teacher who pointed down wards.

"Help him."

"What?" Naruto blinked incomprehensively as his guardian gestured towards the sea bed.

"Go!"

"Aa. Hai!," he responded automatically. Whenever his teacher used that tone, he felt he had no choice but to do as told or risk the guilt of seeing his most favourite mer's disappointment.

The golden mer propelled himself downwards with his tail and side fins. At first, he couldn't see anything, but soon he was able to see a dark shape sinking further down. It was a human, an unconscious one at that. Naruto grasped the person's hand and hauled him up towards the surface.

/Man, for someone his size, he's sure is heavy/ Naruto thought to himself as he nearly lost grip of the dark one. Hurriedly, he grasped the other with both hands and swam harder than he had ever had.

Kakashi could feel his strength slowly drain from him as he fought against the furious current of the ocean. Breathing was getting difficult. And it seemed to take too much effort to even keep afloat now.

/Sasuke./

Driven by urgency, he dove into the raging waters again. But the force of the waves was too much to handle even by someone like him. Soon, he was being swept around by the currents like a leaf falling from a tree being blown around in the autumn breeze.

/Shit. Have to find Sasu--/

Then by the corner of his eyes, his mind registered something floating towards him.

Echoes of what Obito had said resounded through his mind.

She was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen...

Long dark hair wisping about an exotic face and enigmatic dark eyes, the vision embraced him. Gentle yet sure, Kakashi felt himself being pulled up swiftly towards the surface. He didn't know how he managed to get through the ordeal having swallowed so much sea water. But he did, and when he broke through the surface, air came as a blessing for his well-abused lungs.

"Keep your head up," someone whispered softly beside his ear against the sound of the violent storm, a hand was pushing his chin up so that he could avoid the sea water from beating into his face and into his nose or mouth. But Kakashi instinctively fought against the hand, wanting to cough the water that he had swallowed out of his system.

"No, listen to me," the voice became urgent, "I'm here to help."

Kakashi tried to relax, forcing himself to become lax with difficulty but he had to, if he wanted to help his rescuer help him.

Instinctively, Kakashi's hand clutched at the hand that was on his chin, keeping it up above the water surface. His fingers brushed across a bracelet and without meaning to, tighten his fist around it, the sharp corners biting into his flesh. The pain wasn't enough to clear the haziness that was beginning to taint his thoughts but the feeling of fear that lurked behind his heart at the failure of finding his ward keep him awake.

"Your friend is alright," the voice reassured gently, waking him from his guilt trip.

And sure enough, as Kakashi squinted to clear the blurriness that was clouding his vision, he saw a familiar dark head floating alongside something yellow.

Relief spread through his being. Then he hacked with weary coughs and came to the realization that he felt extremely tired. Too tired.

/Shit.../

"Stay awake." was the last words he heard before the darkness consumed him and he lost consciousness.

"Naruto! What have you done?" Iruka asked horrified at the sight that greeted him when he finally spotted the blond and his rescued. The dark-haired boy in the blonde's arm was looking too blue to be deemed healthy for land people.

"Nothing!" Naruto replied defensively and automatically.

"Did you bring him up to air on the way here?" Iruka asked the first thing that came to mind.

"Was I supposed to?" the blonde asked naively.

Iruka slapped his forehead with his hand.

"What?" Naruto whined, "I didn't know." Then he pouted. "Now what?"

Iruka sighed, pulling himself out of the water onto the shore after he had managed to push his heavy white-haired load onto a rocky beach.

"Push him out," the dark haired mer instructed. As the blond mer grumbled at how heavy land people were while pushing the dark haired one out of the water non-too-gently, Iruka focused hard on his silvery blue tail.

/I need legs.../

Pain surged through his lower half as his bones splintered and broke, reconstructing it self into two parts. His metallic greyish blue tail melted into smooth dark skin as the silhouette of two legs formed.

Naruto halted in his curses as he watched in half fascination and half horror as his tutor's beautiful shiny tail spilt in half. His teacher buckled and screamed in pain as the once tail reformed into a pair of human legs and Iruka's flukes reshaped into feet.

"Iruka-sensei!"

"I-I'm alright," Iruka assured quickly, but he couldn't stop himself from wincing in pain. Looking down, he was suddenly glad for the 'clothing' that he had on. Thin as they were, at least they managed to cover his newly acquired human genitalia that would have most likely stirred embarrassing questions from his blond ward.

"But-"

"Don't worry," Iruka interrupted, he slowly crawled on his knees towards the blond prince and the dark haired one, not trusting himself to 'walk' without falling face first. "I've done this before."

/Years ago.../ he added to himself but he didn't say that out loud. Naruto didn't need to know that.

But Iruka really did know what he was doing. He leaned down to listen to the boy's heart and tested his breathing. The beating was sluggish but it was there. Iruka put his palms on the boy's chest. A soft bluish glow glimmer beneath Iruka's palm for a moment before the unconscious boy jerked suddenly. Then he started, inhaled a deep breath and proceeded to cough out the salty sea water he had swallowed. Iruka pushed him to his side to assist him in ridding his stomach of it, holding the dark head up with his other hand.

After a series of painful heaves, the dark-haired mer laid the boy back onto his back. The boy gasped for air as he struggled against the darkness for consciousness. Iruka instinctively pushed Naruto back, in case the boy does wake up. But the impish little mer didn't seem to understand. He crawled around Iruka to stare at the boy with bright curious blue eyes.

"Who..." the boy started, staring at them with heavy-lidded eyes.

"It doesn't matter," Iruka intercepted quickly and smoothly, "You're safe now, you need to rest." The now turned human mer sifted a hand through the dark locks gently, soothingly, with desired results. The dark haired boy's equally dark eyes closed into unconsciousness as the spell that Iruka casted took its effects.

"Iruka-sensei, you..."

"It's better if they don't see us," Iruka answered before his student could question him. He removed his hand away from the dark haired boy's forehead.

"What do we do now?" the blue-eyed mer asked, picking idly at the small rock that his golden tail was resting on. It was damn uncomfortable.

"We go for help," Iruka answered, steadily getting onto his newly formed legs. Naruto watched with an expression with a combination of apprehension and curiousity. He had never seen his teacher like this before despite the years that they have been with together.

"You stay here," the pony tailed teacher said, raising a hand to halt any protest, "I'll just be gone a while."

"But--" Naruto started.

"If anything happens," Iruka interrupted as he unwound his sash from his waist, "jump into the water and get away. I'll meet you back at the palace."

"I don't--" the blond stopped when his tutor shot him a stern look.

"Don't ever let them see you, Naruto," Iruka said with so much seriousness Naruto couldn't help but nod at the order.

Seeing that, Iruka unfold and opened his long sash to wrap around himself again so that it became long enough to cover more of him.

"Iruka-sensei. What are you doing?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Covering myself like a human," Iruka mumbled. Finally, he tied off the ends of the sash and untied his hair. The wet hair fell onto his face, covering most of his features.

"Be careful," Naruto said quickly, watching as his teacher approached the forest.

"You too," came the answer before his dark haired teacher disappeared.

It seemed like eternity before his teacher returned. Iruka seemed a little disoriented if not a little disconcerted as he emerged from the foliages, gesturing wildly towards Naruto then the sea.

"Hurry! Jump in!" Iruka whispered urgently. Naruto turned towards the ocean and was ready to throw himseld in when his teacher reached him. The blond pushed himself from the rocky beach into the salty water at the same time the dark haired mer dived gracefully into the sea.

Once in the water, Naruto turned back to see his guardian's tail form back from the pair of limbs his teacher called 'legs'. Before he could even get a word out, the dark haired teacher of his caught his hand and pulled him along, swimming far away from the shore.

When deemed enough, Iruka released Naruto's hand and head towards the surface. Naruto followed. The two of them came out into the air gently, and turned to watch the scene enfolding in front of them.

A group of humans sitting on some four legged animals came bursting out of the forest. They seemed shocked when they found the two victims that Iruka and Naruto had rescued and for a moment, didn't seem to know what to do. Then, when one of them started shouting and the others spurred into action, jumping down from their horses to check if the two people were still alive. When it became apparent that they were, they proceeded to carry the drenched victims to the horses and laid them atop the restless creatures.

Watching from a distance where none of the humans could see, the two mers were safe from exposure. And when the humans finally left, Iruka turned to Naruto.

"Let's go home," Iruka said, brushing his hair away from his face. His expression was so gentle Naruto couldn't bring himself to disobey his teacher.

"Okay."

A pause.

"...Only if you promise not to ground me."

A sigh.

Genma chewed furiously on his straw, looking back to shoot a glance at the two men they had found by the beach. He frowned as he recognized one of them as the youngest prince of the Royal Uchiha bloodline. If he was here, than the other must be his escort or guardian.

What are they doing here? According to the messenger, they should still be at sea, not arriving until next week. Had the ship that they had been on capsized in a storm? But it was impossible. As far as he knew, it had been relatively quiet in the last few days and there hadn't even been a drop of water, much less a storm in the entire kingdom.

Something seemed seriously wrong here.

And what the hell had he seen just now?

Genma scowled as he thought back.

Was it just a vision?

Just no longer than an hour ago, the hunting party consisting of himself, Raidou, Asuma, and their followers had been chasing a deer they had found running through the forest, when Genma sworn he had seen a woman with dark hair watching them from afar.

For some reason he couldn't comprehend, Genma had prompted his horse towards the figure instead. His actions seemed to have startled her greatly for the woman fled quickly. The wheat haired Duke followed, breaking away from the group. He wasn't worried for he knew that his friends would be able to track him down easily being seasoned hunters themselves.

And true enough, when they realized that he was no longer with them, they followed his trail. Only to find him staring at two wet figures lying on the beach, obviously victims of shipwreck. Then he had shouted to his men to see if the two men were alright as he dismounted from his own horse.

When Genma found out that they were still breathing, his men carried the two victims onto the horses to bring them back to the castle.

The Duke turned away from the two men, surveying his front as the huge Konoha Castle came into view.

/Royalties from another country drowned in our waters would have caused a down right havoc. Hokage-sama will not be happy about this development but at least they are still alive. We will find out what had happened later when they have waken./

Try as he might though, Genma couldn't seem to quail the nagging feeling that refused to leave him alone.

And who was that woman?

Visible purple veins on the pale hand bulged as the hand tightened its hold on the glowing globe. A knock on the door resounded across the empty enclosed throne room.

"Enter." He hissed. The door opened and a silvery haired mer slid into the room, bowing low in respect.

"Your Majesty?"

"Kabuto, do you know who they are?" he held out the glass globe. On it, a golden mer was flipping his tail, swimming around a darker mer with a smooth dolphin-like tail. They were both laughing as if they had no worries in the world. Kabuto's eyes narrowed as he identified them.

"My Lord Orochimaru, they are Naruto and Iruka of the Taikinyou royal line," he informed the Dark Serpent King.

Days later...

"GAHHHH!!!"

Iruka rolled his eyes, never stopping from mumbling his spell as his fingers moved deftly, collecting and materializing long strands of golden sunshine.

"Why can't I ever get it right!? Damnit!"

Iruka stopped with a sigh.

"Naruto, watch your language," he said almost automatically. The thread he held in his hand glittered enticingly as the dolphin mer held them up to the sunlight. The blond beside him pouted, obviously frustrated at the lack of yield. Tried as he might, he couldn't even seem to produce a single string long enough to wrap around his wrist much less one that was long enough to weave into anything. The threads just kept breaking before they even materialized!

The two of them were having a break from Naruto's usual studies when the golden mer asked if his teacher could teach him to weave. Iruka didn't seem to find anything wrong with the suggestion, so he agreed.

It was barely half an hour later when Naruto finally declared defeat. Who would have thought that the ever persistent and stubborn mer would ever admit defeat to anything? Especially something so trifle. He just didn't have enough concentration for something so intricate.

Naruto huffed, then crawled over to Iruka and plopped himself onto his tutor's lap to mope about everything.

"Iruka-sama."

The dolphin mer looked up from the golden mer in his lap.

A sentinel of the Golden Sea Palace was on guard in front of him, his face serious and formal.

"Yes?" Iruka answered, tapping onto Naruto's shoulder. The golden prince grumbled but got off and scowled/pouted at the guard for interrupting his break.

"Iruka-sama, the Golden Lady wants to speak to you," the sentinel relayed.

"What does the old hag wants now?" Naruto demanded out loud. Iruka cuffed him on the head with his knuckle as he gave his answer.

"I'll be there," Iruka said to the guard, getting up.

"ITAI YO! Mou! Iruka-sensei, you didn't have to hit my head so hard," Naruto whined, rubbing his sore head. A gentle hand touched his hand and the blond looked up at his tutor

"Be good," Iruka mockingly admonished. His voice, tone and smile was so gentle and affectionate, Naruto couldn't help but grin up at his almost brother.

Iruka then turned towards the castle, swimming gracefully towards the coral inset palace. Not knowing that they were being watched.

Translation:

Hai! – Yes!

Itai yo! – That hurts!

Mou! – Geez!

Note: Iruka had lured Genma and the others to find Sasuke and Kakashi by creating a small illusion of a deer running across their path. But unfortunately, Genma had caught sight of Iruka and had given chase. That was what had thrown Iruka off when he had appeared looking harassed in front of Naruto. He hadn't counted on Genma seeing him. Anyway, they'll meet each other again soon. ;o) Their followers are nobody of importance, just added to increase the number of the hunting party, that's all.

And also, mers, naturally have better eyesight in water than humans that's why Naruto and Iruka could see Kakashi but not the other way round.

Next chapter, Iruka set out to the Serpent King's Lair as envoy. Oro has plans for the poor little dolphin. (This is the part where a lot seemed to be waiting for)

Special Thanks for reviewing in the last chapter to:

Wuffie Lover

plur

cutiedraco

Malisciously Creative – (Gee. Thanx. You made me feel much better by telling me that I'm not alone.) ;o)

Isolde1

SweetMoons

Teki Star – (Thanx for beta-ing, hon)

myrrh fae – (Sorry, Gaa can't come out yet. I dun think there's such a thing as a raccoon fish just kidding. Maybe in sequel. Keyword: Maybe)

Yanslana – Oro got some screen time Alright. Fine. He'll get more next chapter.

Muchacha

EscagirlUK

Mister Pineapple

:) – (I hope this chapter answers all your questions.)

Yuen-chan

Crabapplered – (I'll try to get rid of the comments but some things must be added in)

AJ the Dark Raven – (Really really glad you like it )

FairyCake513

Rui Yazawa – ( Ho ho. You've gotten the first one right but no, no ObiKaka or KakaObi.)

Anyway, if you have spotted any mistakes that me or Teki-chan had missed, pls do tell me thanks for reading and please review before you press the 'Back' button.

Lots of luv,

SirenM