"So, Kaori-sama, how are things with you?" the elderly lady asked, gently. They were playing shogi at her home. Mariko was a beautiful woman with long silver hair, the late's Muramasa's lord counselor and dear friend. She had retired one year before his death. Even though, she continued to give Kaori advice and spend time with her.
"The same." Kaori replied, moving a piece forward on the board. "Shuichirou proposed to me again."
"He really treasures you, the young Oishi." She smiled. "So, what is your response this time?"
"I did not give him an answer yet. But how can I accept it? He does not want to be anywhere near Ren and I cannot abandon Muramasa with him. The state would collapse and the people would suffer." She smiled, sadly. "I still cannot understand why he would choose someone so troublesome like me."
"You are strong, Kaori. Your preoccupation with others and your responsibility sure is a great attractive." She moved another piece forward. "You will be a good mother someday."
There was a slight blush on Kaori's face.
"I cannot even imagine such a thing."
"You should. Everyone deserves a loving family." The lady looked at her gently. "You especially, after everything you been trough with that brother of yours. Is he still obsessed about the mermaid?"
"Yes." She sighed. "He is offering rewards and hired fishermen to look for her. He is spending a lot of the state's money on this."
"The young lord is only wasting his time as well." Mariko moved another piece. "Is highly unlikely he will see another mermaid on his lifetime. The clan that lived on Muramasa's waters is long extinct."
"What do you mean?"
"Merpeople live in clans, like big families, lead by a matriarch. They have different colors of hair, eyes and tail that indentify them. The clans can be as big as 100 individuals. And they have really long lives. Two centuries ago, one of Muramasa's noble families started to hunt them. They were caught on fishing nets or with harpoons, cornered on the beach. The scales of their tails were sold as precious jewels and their meat was a delicacy."
"That is horrible!"
"When I was a child, there were completely gone already. It really surprised me when you told me about Ren's mermaid. Maybe she got lost from her clan and arrived here by mistake."
"I just hope she is safe." Kaori said, sincerely. "I wished I could apologize for everything she suffered. I just could not watch Ren torture her, after everything he made Ryoma go through."
"About Ryoma-kun, any news on him?"
"Not at all." The pink eyes were filled with sadness.
"You really miss him, right?"
"Every day. I wish I could be braver and protect him properly back then."
Mariko touched Kaori's hand gently and smiled at her.
"You were always a wonderful big sister. I am sure Ryoma-kun really misses you too."
###############
"Sakuno?" Ryoma appeared on the porch of the house and Sakuno was there, laying down and looking at the stars. "What are you doing?"
"Thinking."
"What are you thinking about?" He laid by her side and looked up as well.
"Many things." She moved her head and looked at him. "Ryoma, what is love? You didn't explain to me."
"Ah, well… there are different types of love."
"Really?"
"Yes. There is the love you feel for your family."
"What is family?"
"People you are connected by blood. A father, mother, brother and sister. Remember when I told you about babies? A father and a mother make babies."
"With sex?!"
"Ye...yes." he was a little embarrassed when she said the word so enthusiastically. "If they have more than one baby, they have children, brothers and sisters."
"Do you have those?"
"I used to." He smiled, sadly, remembering his father and Kaori. "But, not anymore."
Sakuno touched his face and looked at him worried. He tried to hide his sadness and continued to talk.
"There is also romantic love. When you really like someone. Usually when a man and a woman love each other, they have sex and create a family."
"A man?"
"I am a man. You are a woman. Well, sort of."
"How do you know the difference?"
"Our bodies." He put Sakuno's hand on his chest. "This part is different, see. Other things as well."
She looked at him curiously at one moment and then she sat down and pulled the collar of her yukata, showing her cleavage to him.
"It is really different. What is the name of these, Ryoma?" she asked, innocently. He turned around, with a deep blush on his face.
"Brea...Breasts."
"Breasts." She repeated slowly. "Why do I have those and you don't?"
"Ah... when a woman has a baby she needs them to feed the child, so..." he sat down suddenly and looked at her. "Wait a minute. That is right, you have breasts. And you have a bellybutton too!"
"Belly...button?"
"This." He put her finger on her belly and she noticed it. "See? When humans have a baby, there is a cord. When we are born, the cord is cut and this is kind of a scar."
"Humans are complicated." Her sentence made him chuckled.
"We sure are. But, if you have them, it means that mermaids carry their children and feed them like us!"
"So I can have a baby?"
"You probably can. When you find another one of your kin. And fall in love." He smiled gently at her.
"How do I know? If I love someone?"
"Well... you want to be around the person all the time. You want to see her smile and happy. You want to take care of her and protect her. To have the person you love close. There are many other things, but I think these are the main ones, so..."
His words stopped then Sakuno cupped his face and looked at him seriously. Her thumb brushed his cheek and her body got close to his.
"Sakuno?"
"Ryoma..." the scarlet eyes looked deeply at the golden ones. "I think I love you."
Her words made his heart clench inside his chest. Ryoma distanced himself from her and averted his eyes.
"What are you saying?" he showed her a small smile. "That cannot be. You are confused."
"I am not." She said, sincerely. "I have been thinking about it for a while now. The reason I feel so safe and well by your side. Your voice and your smell, I memorized them already, I could find you anywhere." Sakuno put both hands over her heart. "When you got poisoned, I was afraid you would never open your eyes again. I was so afraid."
"Sakuno..." he was very touched with her words and the gentleness of her voice talking about him.
"When our lips touched, I felt something like never before. Like I was giving part of my life to you, so..."
"It is impossible." His voice was harsh and he lowered his face, the dark bangs over his eyes. "You cannot be in love with me, because you did not even know what it meant until a few minutes ago. I saved you and you are probably over attached because of it. We are together all the time, it is only natural you would memorize things about me." He scoffed. "It is not like I am special or anything like that."
A soft wind moved her hair and his clothes and he looked at her with a deep frown on his face.
"I have nothing. I live in this small house, barely surviving." I am a coward that ran away. I am a bastard that cannot offer you anything. He completed on his mind. "So, for your own good, it is for the best you are only mistaken about your feelings and..."
Sakuno's big tears stopped his words. They marked her beautiful face and she sobbed, before standing up and leaving in a hurry, without looking or saying anything to him. Even not knowing the meaning of all the words Ryoma used, his body language and tone of voice made her feel small and rejected.
When Ryoma reached the beach, her yukata was on the sand. He called her name many times, but she had already disappeared deep inside the dark sea.