A/N: Hello all. I've updated, finally, and I hope you all like it.
Yes, the last note was a doozy. But I really didn't have any ideas (special thanks to Runelesca! If there was a way to send cookies via internet, you would have gotten some by now. Half-baked chocolate chip, to be exact.) and it was right before a nasty spell in my life. Nasty in the form that I couldn't really write.
First off, I went to see Kenny Wayne Shepherd (anyone heard of him or listened to his music? Anyone?) and got his autograph at a meet n' greet, then I went to my cousin's house for a seven-year-in-the-waiting sleepover. My birthday was after that, after a long spell of doctor's office visits, and I got together with friends I hadn't seen since June. Somewhere before that I dyed my hair. Then, after my birthday, I went to get surgery (my first surgical experience, complete with anesthesia) and couldn't sit for a week because it was my infection. Then another sleepover, and that brings me up to now, when I've been purposedly not going on Gaia (I get sucked into it easily) and concentrating on fanfiction, neglecting three (four?) guilds (one is mine, as well) and a high-speed thread. I'm such a bad person...
Anyways, notes on this chapter. The idea for Youko in Atlantis came partly from Rune, partly from my sister (except she suggested Yuusuke...I don't know how that changed) and partly from my own sad humor. I actually had a friend tell me that she loved it when Youko couldn't stay upright, so I just had to add more of that...By the way, need more ideas...again..."
Right, this is getting pretty long. My last thing is the poll for the shadowed figure (which you see more of later) and what the ideas are: Karasu: 1; Toguro: 0; Naraku: 0; Rando: 0; Other (please specify in a review)1 (Urasue)
Okay, I lied, there's two more things...First, there is a themesong for this story. Each of mine have one now, either one that fits (ACE) or one that I listened to to get inspiration (every other story by ACE). This one's theme is Stupid by Sarah McLachlan, and the others are on my profile. Also, People have been asking about Youko dead on land, alive in the sea. My response to all of your confusion is that it will be revealed in due course. Probably closer to the end than anything. Can all of you handle that?
Now, read.
--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--
"Alright, we've gotta do something about you," Kagome said as she turned to Youko. The land-dweller-turned-water-dweller faced her as well, raising an eyebrow. "Well, we can't just prance up to the palace and say 'Hello, he's from the world above and will be living here from now on, play nice'. You'll be skewered and made into shark fodder."
Youko nodded reluctantly. "It doesn't help that I'm completely out of place here, as well. I mean, I can't even swim...I never thought it would be this hard." He flushed in embarrassment, trying not to remember the fact that, had Kagome not been holding him there, he would be flailing about with no way of righting himself.
"Well, you need a name. And to learn how to swim, an excuse for not knowing our customs, a job..." Kagome trailed. "Any ideas?"
They sat there in silence for a moment, each coming up with their own stories. "Well," Youko began, "I could say that I have amnesia. You could just give me a name to go by, and that would give me a plausible reason for mistakes."
Kagome nodded. "I could also teach you a crash course in swimming for now. You could also explain away all the fancy swimming you want if you hit your head. You just can't let someone examine you, since you don't have any evidence of hitting your skull against anything. Also, I think I can wrangle a job, since I know someone who owes me a favor. As long as you don't mind working as a server," she said in a questioning tone.
Youko shook his head. "Not at all. I don't have any status here, so I'm going to have to work sometime. Might as well be sooner rather than later."
Kagome half-smiled. "Right, then all that's left for now is teaching you to swim." As Youko watched, Kagome's eyes gained an evil glimmer in them. All of the sudden, he was incredibly nervous, and extremely concious of the hand holding him in place.
A hand which was rapidly pulling itself away from him.
"Don't squirm, try to flip yourself over," Kagome said with much more amusement than necessary. As she sat there, floating calmly in the water, her face wrought with laughter, Youko was slowly flipping upside down. His arms were doing nothing to stop the motion, and it was funny to watch him attempt to right himself. "Don't use your arms so much, they don't help."
"Easy for you to say," Youko snapped, already upside down for all his efforts to the contrary.
Kagome hid a smile. "I told you, your arms, as a person, are only to help you eat, move things, and not for swimming. Use your tail to balance." She said it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, which irritated Youko.
Youko had completely flipped upside down. His arms were folded in anger as he regarded the amused mer-maiden. Not that Kagome could help it- to her, he was pouting like a child, his hair floating all over the place and his tail twitching with annoyance. They regarded each other for a few moments, then Kagome shook her head.
"I won't help. There's no way that I can teach you if you don't work by trial and error. It's up to you, right yourself." She tried to smooth her face into a mask of cool indifference, but it didn't work.
Youko pursed his lips, then decided to try out an idea. Gathering himself, he sat up, folding himself over. It worked, for all of two seconds, before his flipped over and was, once again, hanging out upside down.
Kagome laughed openly, which didn't help his mood. "You can start an act like that, and just keep going around and around that way," she commented from the sidelines. "I'm sure people would pay a lot to see it, since you wouldn't necessarily be able to get out of it once you started. Try again."
Youko was getting incredibly annoyed at her, not helping at all, and said as much. She just smiled and sat there, looking smug. He moved his gaze off of her, instead moving to concentrate on getting things right. He thought for a while, going over what he did wrong. The only way he had come up with to flip himself right-side up had, obviously, not worked. However, if he could tweak it a bit...
After a short time, in which Kagome scrutinized him closely and tried to figure out why she felt so comfortable around him, Youko attempted to right himself again. And this time...
"It worked!" He said, hardly able to believe that he wasn't floating around in a circle once more. He had used less force to pull himself this time, and had moved his arms as a tight-rope walker would, in order to keep himself upright. His arms were still moving to keep him floating correctly, and with shocked realization, he saw that Kagome was doing the same thing.
"Nice job," Kagome clapped, swimming over to him. "Now, you get to learn to swim. Ever learned where you came from?"
Youko nodded. "However, when I learned, I was taught to use both feet and both arms. Plus, there was the overwhelming fact that I couldn't breathe underwater," he added with a hint of sarcasm. "So, any advice would be most appreciated."
Kagome nodded. "Have you ever tried swimming as if you had both feet hooked together?" she asked. "I guess it would be a little like that, but if you just swim as if you had only one leg, then that should work."
Youko nodded. "Alright, I'll try. But no laughing if I mess this one up," he warned with a glare. Kagome nodded solemnly, and watched as he attempted (and succeeded) at swimming.
Youko swam around some, making sure he got the basics down. Kagome gave him some pointers in efficiency, and he practiced swimming in all different directions, before the two came to the silent agreement that they should get back to Atlantis.
--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--
Atlantis was a sight to behold. Youko kept looking all around him, trying to take in the sights, the sounds, and the people. He had never imagioned that the people of Atlantis would have such diverse tails- there were anything and everything under the sea. He even caught an odd combination of a crab and a human out of the corner of his eye. His face was a tomatoe, since there were as many women as men, and none of them had a stitch on them, but that didn't stop his enthusiasm.
"You're acting like a guppie," Kagome pointed out casually. She had to keep her pace somewhat slowed, since Youko was nowhere near as good a swimmer as the young princess. She waved to a handful of people she knew on sight, smiling the others as they gawked in response to her companion. After all, it wasn't every day a newcomer came to Atlantis, let alone four so soon. "We're almost to the palace now."
Youko skidded to a halt as he saw his first view of the palace royale of Atlantis. Kagome knew he would stop, but didn't pause in her purpose as she approached the gates. "You're falling behind, you know."
Youko caught up after a momentary struggle. "You live here?" He couldn't help keeping the awe from his voice. He would have given anything to be born and raised in a place like Kagome's home; from Youko's impression, it seemed as if the young woman would have given anything to be born elsewhere.
They passed between a pair of shark-tailed guards, looking identical to Youko's eye, and entered the entrance hall. Youko kept, quite literally, on Kagome's tail as she led him through the palace's twisting pathways.
They came to a pair of grand doors, which Youko still didn't know why they had them (Kagome had just rolled her eyes and hadn't answered), and Kagome went right up to them and knocked grandly. It took a short moment before they opened, a pair of muddy brown eyes peering out.
Kagome smiled. "Hello there, Shippo," she greeted.
The eyes, now earning the name Shippo, squealed and launched themselves at the brunette. "Kagome!" it said, burrowing itself into her torso. Youko blinked, and took a good look at the child.
He had dusty red hair, probably the closest the people had seen before they saw Youko's new color. It was held back in a tail of its own, bobbing cheerfully. He was paler than Kagome was, and harbored the tail of a sea-horse. The tail, as he watched, whipped about in a hyper manner, betraying the ecstatic mood of the boy. He appeared about seven years old or so, and had one of the largest, most innocent smiles Youko had seen outside of Rin's.
"I can't believe you didn't come see me sooner, I've missed you. I wouldn't care even if you came while I was working, I would have made time to see you," Shippo was saying, looking up at Kagome's smirking face.
"But then I wouldn't have found someone," she pointed out, looking over at Youko. "See, this person is...Suuichi, and he's going to be working here with you, for now."
Shippo peered around Kagome's stomach to see Youko. They hadn't agreed on a name beforehand, so Youko had to assume that Suuichi would be his Atlantis name. "Nice to meet you," he said, nodding to the youth. "I'm Suuichi, I guess." He shot Kagome a look, as she shrugged.
"You guess?" Shippo looked back up at Kagome. "What does he mean? It's his name, isn't it?"
Kagome pulled out of the embrace and shrugged again. "He can't remember much, not even his name, so that's why I'm setting him up with a job. There's still an opening, yes?"
Shippo's head nodded emphatically as he backed into the room. "Come on, I'll show him around while you talk to him," he said, motioning to Youko. "C'mon, Suuichi, follow me."
Youko smiled, reminded intensly of his sister. He was sure, if they had been able to meet, that they would have been best friends right away. "I'm coming. It's Shippo, right?"
The young Atlantian answered affirmitively and began to take Youko on a tour of what appeared to be the armory. There were various weapons that the prince recognized immediately, including spears and a sort of club, and many others that he didn't have a clue about, his favorite of which was a braided string of sea-weed tied to a broken shell.
As he was educated on the guards, he learned about his tour guide. Apparently Shippo was one of many people the equivalent to the pages on land, and his boss was the same as a knight. Shippo helped to take care of the weapons, learned their use, and learned tactics and strategy along with various other lessons in the life of a person.
He finally concluded the tour and, grabbing Youko's wrist to make sure the prince wouldn't leave, brought him to where a fuming Kagome was waiting with another, smug looking merman.
This time, the term merman was appropriate. He had dark hair, though not as dark as Kagome, and his eyes were the golden-brown color of sand. His tail was a dull brown, he had just enough muscles to look flattering, and he was obviously the boss of Shippo. Shippo, when they got near enough, let go of Youko's hand and made a bee-line toward Kagome.
Youko paused, meeting the stare of the other man squarely. The guy's peircing gaze didn't hold a candle to Youko's father's, and so he was able to keep eye contact without flinching.
The other man was the first to look away. He turned to Kagome and said, "This is the wimp that you want me to hire?"
Kagome glared at him. "Inuyasha, he's not a wimp. He can't help it if he's...got no memory of how he got here. He just needs somewhere to work, and nobody in their right mind would work for you, not with your reputation." The man, Inuyasha, bristled as Kagome smirked at him. "Besides, you need the help."
Inuyasha grimaced, knowing that the princess was right. It didn't make him feel any better, though, especially since he had been trying to get her attention and affection for years, and this new brat just waltzed in unannounced and recieved not only her concern, but her friendship as well, it seemed.
He swam up to the newcomer. "She tells me your name is Suuichi." The adolescent nodded. "Right, I'll tell you everything once, and then you're on your own. I'm not going to babysit you. If you have a problem, take it up with someone who cares." He pushed Suuichi ahead of him, smiling sadistically as the red-head floundered for a moment.
It wasn't that Inuyasha was normally this cruel- it was only towards those who tried to take Kagome from him. After all, he had been there first, didn't that mean he got first claims over her affection?
"Brat," he called to Shippo, "You've work to do." Shippo gave Kagome a farewell hug, getting her promise to visit again soon, and hurried over. Inuyasha pushed him and Suuichi over to the rack of spears, and picked one up. "Alright, Red, here's what you do..."
--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--
The figure peered into the cauldron, calling up an image. It was the royal family, minus one white-headed annoyance, and they were all standing on the beachside. The villagers, and anyone else who could make it, had all turned out for this day- the day of Prince Youko's funeral.
There wasn't a dry eye in the crowd as the priest began the ceremony. Youko had been loved by nearly everyone, a select few with minds along the figure's thought track excluded. He had always been sneaking out, whether into the town or onto a ship, and had always been polite to everyone he met.
As the figure watched, the king stepped foward and laid a sword along the body. The body itself had been draped in a shroud, made by the queen and meant for the king's eventual death, so as to protect the people from the gruesome sight of the slain prince. The sword was an intricate, if deadly, peice of artwork that had been meant for Youko's coronation gift from his sister. She had had it commisioned especially for him, basing it off of one of his many story weapons, using all of her allowance to pay for it. There was no other like it.
Now, as they laid on a beached rowboat, they were all doomed to be claimed by the sea. It was royal tradition that, any family member to die, would be sent by ship to float out to sea. Then, with archers lining the coast, the would send flaming arrows to claim body and boat, slowly sinking them.
Rin was in her mother's arms, her head buried in the crook of Queen Kagura's neck. She had been a wreck ever since she found out her brother wouldn't return from the realm of sleep, and had hardly slept or eaten since then. The people were getting worried about her, having heard tales of the young princess from the mouth of Youko himself.
The priest finished his speech, and the figure smirked. It was the smile of one who knew they had won, and were just biding their time until malicious plans came into fruitation.
Four burly guards, those whom Youko had handpicked and trained alongside, those who had been the closest of all his friends, helped each other shove the boat off the shore. The boat floated docily away, carried by the tide, out to the prince's final resting place. The king walked over to his wife and only surviving child, then gave the signal.
A volley of arrows flew and hit their mark. The setting sun added to the fiery grave of the prince's boat, shifting with the tide as a lone breeze stirred the surface. Not a soul said a word as they watched the heir sink beneath the waves he had loved so much, the one place in his life that he had treasured, and the reason of his demise.
As the last ashes died, the crowd scattered slowly. Even though it felt like the world should have come to a screeching halt, the villagers knew that that wasn't the case. No matter how much they wanted to mourn the loss of a good and kind man, that wouldn't prepare for the wintering months.
The last people from the shore were the family. They slowly retreated to their seaside palace, giving each other comfort where they could. It wouldn't bring back their son and brother, but it would help them get through the night to the next dawn.
That night, only a single soul laughed with twisted joy.
--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--
End Chapter
--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--
Character List:
Shippo is my seahorse, the one that announces everything to King Triton
Inuyasha is a random guard
--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--
Any questions? Comments? Suggestions? Please review.