The curse lives on. . . . . .

"What do we do now?"

Inuyasha and Kagome sat together on the shore near the ocean, the waves moving to and fro passing their feet. The coldness of the ocean felt good against the rising temperatures of the day. The wind had a gentle breeze every now and then, blowing Kagome's hair back over her shoulders.

"Ki and I were planning on searching the rest of islands before we did anything else. We need to find Sango, Miroku, and Shippo," Kagome said and stood up, which she had mastered by now. Walking was fairly easy yet again.

"I wonder," she thought aloud and walked into the shallow water, where the sea only came up to her knees. "Inuyasha do you think I could tap into my mermaid magic like before?" she asked, turning in his direction. "It's worth a shot," he said. Inuyasha walked over to her, stirring up sand under water. Kagome held his hand and closed her eyes, not noticing Inuyasha blush.

For a long time she stood there, Inuyasha was alert for any change, though none came. Right when he was going to tell her it was useless the winds changed direction. He felt Kagome's grasp on his hand tighten and a large wave formed in the distance and headed for them. Every step it took, it gained more water, largening itself.

Kagome released Inuyasha's hand and held her arms out wide. "Whatever you do don't move," she whispered, peeking one eye open to see him. "Alright," he whispered back.

The wave came roaring toward them, massive and strong. The very earth trembled beneath its weight. The wave hit with immense force, pushing them both back a little ways. The water rushed past Inuyasha, that he couldn't see anything else around him. Soon the force was too much, he shut his eyes tightly. Even after the wave disappeared, mist sprayed along his face.

Inuyasha opened his eyes and his heart raced. Kagome was gone! He sniffed the air, but something wasn't right. The air he breathed in went right through him, almost no scent what so ever.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome called from a distance away from shore. Her head was surfaced, but it was to deep to see anything else. She dove back in and lept out of the water, revealing her green flipper. She splashed back down and swam over to him. In the process his shirt slipped off her scales and sank down to the bottom, forcing her to take a small detour to retrieve it.

Suddenly a tinging feeling raced through Inuyasha's body. His hands felt different. He looked down at them, gapping. Between his fingers was webbing, like a fish! Inuyasha looked down at his feet, to find the same thing. What was going on!

Kagome reappeared and handed him his shirt. "What did you do!" he yelled. Kagome shuddered from his anger. "I turned back into a mermaid so we can get off the island," she said weakly. "And I didn't have enough power to make you a mermaid, so I-" Inuyasha cut her off. "W-what is this?" he stuttered in confusion. "Just swim out with me," she said, her voice regaining its strength.

Inuyasha nodded blankly. He walked out into the deeper waters, until it became to deep to stand. "Go under, please?" she asked him. "It's hard to explain." Kagome took his hand gently and pulled him down. His first instinct was to go back up for air, but the need disappeared. "Take a deep breath," Kagome urged him on. He followed her orders, only to find that he could breath!

Inuyasha's eyes shot open, to find that nothing was blurry like before. To see under water mermaids had thin lens over their eyes. "I didn't have enough power to make you a mermaid, but I tried my best to be able to let you breath and swim faster. It's only temporary though. Sorry if the webbing scared you," she said meekly.

"Keh it didn't scare me, just surprise me," he scoffed. Kagome 'eeped' and launched herself into his arms, thankful that he wasn't mad.

Inuyasha's eyes were wide with wonder. Everything was so much different here. The water was crystal blue, glittering from the sun. The sandy bottom shook when fish zoomed past. The marine plants swayed in the soft current. Everything was so peaceful, almost like a dream.

"Isn't it wonderful?" Kagome asked noticing his astonishment. He nodded in silence. Kagome yelped from surprise when she felt him grab onto her tail. She giggled softly when he ran his hand over it and looked at it in different angles.

Inuyasha knew he had seen her flipper before, but it was still so strange. Almost like the same urge Kagome had to tweak his ears, he wanted to touch it. Her scales glistened from the sun. The green was not what it seemed on land, forest green. No, it was more of an aqua green. He ran his hand gently down over it, the slippery wet feeling. It thinned out on the bottom, like the end of a fish's tail. It parted in two different directions, obviously so that she could swim faster and change direction quickly. He traced it over a few times and then let go, watching as she flicked it back and forth.

He noticed that before. When she would lie on the shore or stay in one place, she would flick it back and forth. Sometimes it would curl back, or fold over. It seemed like a funny thing to notice, but it always puzzled him. Sometimes she even held onto it herself and tugged it forward.

"I knew I should have tried harder to get you a flipper," Kagome cursed herself. "No, that's ok," he mumbled. Honestly, he liked fiddling with her tail more than he would if he had one of his own. "We need to head north," Kagome continued on, not seeing Inuyasha blush under his own thoughts. "This is the first island on the chain. The rest head north, or at least that's what Ki told me." She was silent for a moment and inuyasha looked up, only to find she was staring at him.

They both said nothing, turning breaking the gaze from embarrassment. "Do you know which way is north?" she asked. Inuyasha sniffed the air and stopped short, remembering that he was under water. But then he remembered, again, he could smell under water. Inuyasha smelt again and snorted. "That way," he pointed.

Kagome nodded. She, as a mermaid, also had a great sense of smell. But Inuyasha had mermaid powers, along with his old hanyou ones. The only real difference between them was the flipper and he couldn't use mermaid magic. He had her vision, breath, smell, and speed. She knew he would need all the abilities and use them to their full extent.

You never know what you can run into in the huge ocean.

This was a set up chapter, I had to set up the scene, and her being a mermaid again. The curse is not broken guys, you have to remember that.

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Note: Thanks to all of my reviewers this story is still going. It was supposed to end when Aussie died, but I have changed the enemy and conflict. Don't worry it will all come together in the end.