Chapter One
The Floating Island
The jellyfish drifted just out of reach of my outstretched hand, belling out like a dancer's skirt, dappled pink and purple in the bright, midday sunlight filtering through the water. I stretched a little further, my fingers just missing it's round, soft body. It's tentacles undulated like ribbons in the water, beautiful but capable of delivering a powerful sting if touched.
"Come on…" I mumbled to myself, "just a little poke!" I felt a gentle tug on my fin,
"Be careful," said Aoi-chan, "you shouldn't get too close to it."
"It looks so squishy, though!" I said, but I drifted down towards Aoi anyway, casting a disappointed look at the jellyfish. "I really wanted to touch it."
"You're such a kid sometimes," Aoi-chan chuckled.
"It's just because I'm so bored," I looked back up at the surface, the jellyfish bobbed gently in the water, shimmering, so close to the surface it could kiss it "dare me to go up to the surface?"
"No!" Aoi's indigo eyes shot open in shock, "if you go up to the surface you'll get in trouble!"
"Only if I'm caught, and you wouldn't tell on me, right Aoi?" I batted my eyelashes in what I hoped was an expression of innocence. Aoi frowned at me, but only for a minute, she lowered her head and sighed, her shoulders slumping.
"It's not like I can stop you," she gripped my hands suddenly, holding them tight, "but be careful, Nene-chan, promise me!"
"Of course I'll be careful, silly, it's not like the first time I've ever done this before," Before Aoi could lecture me any further, I darted upwards, before good sense could catch up to me. I surfaced with a gasp, shivering as the sea-salt air pricked my skin. I pushed my dripping hair out of my eyes to see, and when I did, I had to do a double take. On the edge of the horizon, there was a dark, hulking shape. I shaded my eyes from the sun, was it some sort of whale? No, this was bigger than even the blue whales that came this way during their mating migration. What then? A sea monster? My body went cold. I shaded my eyes, squinting, it had a strangely jagged shape, like a badly broken finger, pointing crookedly to the sky. My gills began to ache, so I re-submerged, coming face to face with Aoi, who had bravely made her way up to check on me.
"You took so long! I was getting really worried," she frowned, "Nene-chan? Are you okay? You look like you saw the Sea Witch."
"There's something up there, something really weird!"
"Those are birds, we've been over this."
"It's not a bird, it's like a...like a rock, a big floating rock."
"It's probably a trick of the light, you know that air plays tricks with your eyes."
"Then come up," I said, intertwining my fingers with hers, "come up and see for yourself."
Aoi hesitated, concern flickering in her eyes, finally she took a deep breath and surfaced, I went up with her, my fingers still curled tightly around hers. She stared at the shape in the distance in wide eyed disbelief. When she went back under, she pulled me down with her.
"You saw it too," I said. She nodded, at a loss for words. After a long pause, she found them:
"We have to tell the Minamoto clan head, He'll want to know about this."
XxXxX
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" I had to speed up to swim beside Aoi, her face was calm and resolute, but I knew her well enough to detect the nervousness in the set of her jaw, and the stiffness of her shoulders, "we could get in trouble for being on the surface."
"This is more important than getting in trouble," she said, "depending on what this is, we could be in trouble already."
"How?" I asked, "I've never heard of anything like this before."
Aoi turned her stern gaze on me, "That's exactly my point," she said, "I've never seen anything like it either, it could be a bad omen."
I bit my bottom lip until it hurt, but I didn't say anything. I didn't want my days of flirting with the surface to be over, and if the Minamoto clan heard that we'd been up there they would post a guard, or several guards, and I'd never be able to show my face up there again.
But then, I didn't want any of our people to get caught or killed either. I followed Aoi back home in silence, mind in turmoil.
"You don't have to come with me, Nene-chan," said Aoi, as we stopped outside of the driftwood arch leading to our village, "I won't tell anyone you were up there with me."
I shook my head, "absolutely not, I'm coming too."
Aoi gave me a sad smile, "I knew you'd say that."
XxXxX
"An island?" Minamoto no Yoshimitsu, the ancient clan head furrowed his bushy brows, he turned to his son, Minamoto Yoshiie who shook his head in disbelief.
"You must be mistaken," he said, "there are no islands in these waters, that's why we chose them for our home," he gave us a patient, comforting smile, "it was probably just a trick of the light."
"Even so…" Minamoto Teru, Yoshiie's son spoke up, his voice was quiet but commanding, and everyone turned their eyes on him, "we should investigate, right? It's better to waste effort on a false alarm than it is to be complacent in the face of danger."
I nodded eagerly at his words, fighting to keep the simpering smile off of my face, Minamoto Teru was a genius, a warrior, and extremely good looking to boot, he was like the village idol.
"The boy speaks sense," said Minamoto no Yoshimitsu, "very well then, Teru, I entrust you to investigate this supposed island," Teru nodded his assent, "and Kou," now all eyes drifted to Minamoto Kou, Yoshiie's youngest son, who seemed to wilt under the attention, "you'll accompany him."
"Of course," he said, but he looked uncertain, I tried to give him a reassuring smile, but when he saw me, he only blushed and looked away.
"I'm coming to!" A slender, magenta haired merman pushed his way to the front of the assembly, fists clenched in stubborn determination.
"Mitsuba," Teru gave him a look of utter contempt, "this isn't a play date..."
"You can come," Kou interrupted, "he can come, right Teru-nii?"
Teru sighed, "fine, but if we get in trouble it's survival of the fittest," he turned his shark-like gaze on Mitsuba, "do you understand?"
Mitsuba only nodded, not at all cowed by Teru's sudden hostility.
"Akane-san," Teru turned to Aoi, "I need you to show me where you saw this Island."
"Of course," Aoi smiled at me, and gave my shoulder a squeeze, "I'll be right back, Nene-chan, wait for me, okay?"
"Okay!" I grinned, trying not to turn green with envy.
XxXxX
I pushed an old clay jar around in the sand with my tail, trying to distract myself from the soul-crushing boredom that was creeping back into the forefront of my mind. Aoi and the others had been gone far longer than I had expected. I found myself wishing the elders were up, at least they'd keep me occupied by bossing me around.
"Are you worrying about Akane-chan?" Shijima Mei, the only surviving member of her clan, settled down next to me, long pointed stick in hand.
"Yes," I said, "I hope they didn't run into trouble."
"They'll be fine," she said calmly, scratching at the sand with her long stick, "not a one of them is incapable of taking care of themselves, and neither are you."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that you shouldn't be so passive," she didn't look up at me as she spoke, "you've gotta take life by the tusks, so to speak."
"How would you suggest I do that, Shijima-san?" I flopped back on my back, letting the sand puff up around me. Shijima gave me an impatient smack on the fin.
"You're so tense all the time, everyone can see it, you're going crazy, like a dolphin stuck in shallow water," She smoothed out the sand drawing she had been working on, and started again. "so, stop drifting around and fix it, do something interesting."
"Much easier said than done,"
"Maybe that's true, but it can be done all the same," she smiled at the drawing she made in the sand, satisfied, "anyway, I've got to go, it looks like they're coming back," she pointed up to where we could just make out the shadows of Teru and the others swimming home, and glided off into the seaweed. I pushed myself up off the sand, and turned to look at her drawing. It was the island, in perfect detail, complete with trees, and cliff-sides, and in the center: a massive castle. The drawing seemed almost alive.
I patted the sand back into place with my fin, it was a bold statement from Shijima-chan, and one that could get her in deep trouble if she was found out.
She had been close to the island. I looked regretfully at the blank stretch of sand where her picture had been. The image of that large, somewhat crooked castle had left it's imprint on my mind.
And why had she kept it a secret from the elders?
XxXxX
"Thank goodness you're back," I said, catching Aoi as she swam home, she looked pale, and tired, distraught, "are you alright?"
She managed a weak smile, "yes, I'm fine, just terribly tired, I'll tell you all about it tomorrow, Nene, is that okay?"
"Of course," I said, feeling crestfallen, but doing my best to hide it, "get your rest, I'll see you tomorrow." She gave me another tired smile, and then darted away, disappearing into the mouth of a cave.
I sighed, and slumped back down onto the powdery sand. I was anxious, but not entirely sure why, the palms of my hands itched, and I wrapped my arms around my body to keep from scratching them.
"You don't quite look like yourself, Yashiro-san," I tilted my head up to see Minamoto Kou, floating above me, a concerned expression on his face. Mitsuba hovered nearby, looking sullen.
"Minamoto-kun! Oh thank goodness, just the person I wanted to see!" I bolted upright, startling him.
"I-I am?" He asked, his cheeks turned pink and he absently scratched the back of his neck, "is something wrong?"
"No, nothing's wrong perse," I hesitated, I didn't want to tell him how disappointed I was at having been left behind by the others, even though it still felt a little unfair, since I had discovered the Island in the first place, "I'm just bursting with curiosity, did you see it close up? The Island I mean."
Kou shook his head, his sunset-blond locks floating around his face like a halo.
"Teru-nii wouldn't let us approach it, he says he senses a powerful dark magic emanating from it, we're going to call a clan meeting to see what can be done."
"A powerful dark magic…" I frowned, I hadn't felt any magic coming from it one way or the other, but I wasn't particularly sensitive to such things.
"He doesn't know what he's talking about," said Mitsuba, crossing his arms over his chest, "to Teru, everything unfamiliar has a 'powerful dark magic'" he rolled his eyes, and Kou gave him a reproachful look.
"Teru-nii is one of the best warriors of our time, Grandfather says so."
"Well if he says so it must be true," Mitsuba's voice was dripping with sarcasm, Kou's frown deepened but he said nothing.
"I want to go see it," I said, half to myself, "up close, I want to see the…" I caught myself before I could utter the word 'castle' Kou was my friend, but he was also part of the most powerful family in our village, and I couldn't risk Shijima-san's safety.
"No way!" said Kou, at the same time Mitsuba said:
"Good idea," they exchanged glares, but there was no hostility behind them. Kou and Mitsuba were nearly inseparable.
"That's two against one, Minamoto-kun, majority rules."
"This isn't a game," he said, "if there is some powerful dark magic, then we could be caught, or even killed, and don't get me started on what would happen if my family found out that we'd scouted the surface without permission.
"But how would they find out?" asked Mitsuba, "you know the patrol schedules, so it'd be easy for us to slip past, and you're such a bro-con that no one would ever suspect you."
"I'm not a bro-con," Kou protested, red faced again. "Alright, fine, we'll go, but only on my terms," he pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger, his gills flaring. "I'll tell you when and where to meet up, sit tight until then, and don't do anything stupid," he shot another withering glare at Mitsuba, "especially you."