BEWARE THIS STORY CONTAINS THE BIGGEST SPOILER OF THE SERIES (so far). DON'T READ IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW!

Of the Sea

Written by Kirusuchinu

Rating: PG-13

They were back at the beach house. Hello, Souma Family Summer Vacation from Hell. Beware. This time, they had managed to bring more people along. There was Shigure, Yuki, Kyou, Tooru, Hatori (driver), Momiji, Kagura, Rin, Ayame and...Akito. With Hatori's excuse that the ocean air would be good for him.

Of course Akito would have rather been eaten alive by rabid kittens than be here. Same goes for Yuki and Kyou, being forced into such close proximity to Akito. They were desperately trying to stay in a different room, or better yet, part of the house. This wasn't that hard, however, seeing as Akito mostly stayed in the same room, sitting on the bed, staring almost wistfully out the window. Normal.

Unless he was forced to go outside. Like Shigure had done.

Spoiler start

Now she sat, perched on a rock, waiting for Shigure to come back from his 'exploring.' Why did I ever let this idiot bring me along? The waves were closer and closer, and Shigure was still missing. She wrapped her yukata more tightly around her to block out the cool sea air. The ocean spray wet the rock around her, and still no where to go. However, minutes later, she heard some rustling in the bushed and Shigure popped out and said

"I found a nice little cove a little way down, wanna come?"

She gave a him a look that said quite clearly that No, she did not want to come, but nonetheless rose from her perch on the rock and followed.

He led her through some trees, and down a small path he had cleared. The sound of the ocean waves crashing beyond the trees could be heard, accompanied by the cheerful gurgling of the stream that lay beside the path. As they neared the end of the path, they heard

"Namie! Annabelle! Nooo - come back!" a feminine voice called, followed by two splashes and a scraping sound. Shigure started going through the bushes, Akito creeping along behind. He stopped short, however, when they reached the clearing, nearly causing Akito to trip over him. There, on the rock in the middle of the cove, was a girl…naked. She had scrapes all over her front from trying to scramble off the rock as the approached. The strangest thing yet, her legs had many scales placed randomly on them. She saw them and started to slide frantically across the rock, stopping a few feet from the edge, where she sat, panting. She looked at the two of them with a panicked look.

"W-what do you people want?" she demanded.

Akito gave her the How - Dare - You - Speak - To - Me - Like - That look but kept silent. Shigure, who had been eyeing her finally spoke up.

"I should be asking you the same question. This is Souma property."

Actually, it wasn't, but he wanted to seem gracious for not throwing her off immediately. She glared.

"The Sea is no one's property," she retaliated.

"Well, this part belongs to the Souma family. I suppose you'll just have to come with us…"

That was well played. He only did that to have the company of a girl (even if she did look about twelve) who wouldn't go insane and murder him if he tried anything.

Her glare darkened and she still sat firmly, as if glued to the rock. He took this as a challenge, climbed up, grabbed her lightly by the wrist, and pulled a bit. She yanked back so hard her elbow banged against the rock behind her, yet she didn't flinch and kept on glaring. "I'm not coming with you!"

By now, Shigure was having a very hard time keeping his composure and trying to cope with the fact that he was so close to a girl with no clothes on….Until she saw him staring.

SLAP

"O-okay…let's just be getting back now…" He said, his eyes trying to refocus. She sat down, ignoring him with her arms across her chest and her legs crossed.

"I already said I will not go back with you, did I not?"

At this, he pulled a bit harder and pulled her up off the rock, and started dragging her along. It really was more like dragging, because she was making no effort to walk alongside him. Akito had been watching this scene unfold and made a quick decision as they made it to where she was standing. She unwrapped the topmost layer of her yukata and handed it to the girl, who took it and glanced back up at Akito. She wrapped it around herself as best as she could with one hand, until she reached the hand Shigure had an iron grip on, which she pried loose and plopped down on a rock to finish tying it.

She sat after she had finished, a slight smile playing on her lips, directed at Akito of course. While Shigure tried to figure out just what to do with this girl. He finally decided something, and picked her up and flipped her across his shoulder.

"Hey stoppit what are you doing put me down!" she shrieked all in one breath. Her protests were in vain, however, as he ignored her and continued to trudge down the path. He didn't only want her for his own perverted reasons, there were a few questions he wanted answered. What kind of a girl had scales on her legs and seemed to be missing the ability to even stand?

As the approached the beach house, her screams had quieted somewhat, and she seemed to have given up, seeing as there was no way for her to get out of this, being unable to walk. The three reached the house and Shigure flung the door open. Sitting in the front room were Yuki, Tooru, and Momiji. They gaped and she was brought into the room. Finally, Shigure set her down, and the first question that came out was

"What have you done this time, Shigure?"