Shuichirou jumped from his horse as soon as he arrived at Lady Mariko's home. He crossed the hallways quickly, the words of Kaori's letter still on his mind. She had disappeared after Ren's horrible intrusion on the wedding celebration and he desperately worried about her.

"Shuichirou!" Kaori stood up when he entered the gardens and ran to him, holding her fiancé tight.

"Are you all right?!" he cupped her face and examinated her eyes. "Are you really all right?!"

"I am." She smiled, trying to ease his concern. "I am sorry for worrying you."

"I looked for you everywhere. I was afraid Ren had done something to you."

"I thought she would kill him when she first arrived." Mariko said, gently. She was sitting on a low table, drinking some tea. "It took her a while to finally calm down."

"Thank you so much for taking care of her." He got close and kneeled in front of her, making a deep reverence. The lady touched his hand, making him raise his eyes.

"There is no need, Oishi-san. Muramasa-sama was a dear friend; it is only my duty to stop their children to kill each other."

"So, why did you come here?"

"Look what I found on father's old books." She took an old piece of paper from her furisode's sleeves and showed it to him. Shuichirou opened and read it, carefully. His green eyes were wide in surprised and he looked back at her.

"Is this for real?!"

"Yes." Kaori pointed the Muramasa's seal and her father's signature. "Chichiue did not only register Ryoma as his son, he also made him his heir in case Ren could not run the state."

"Did you know about this, Mariko-sama?"

"I did not, Oishi-san. If you can see the date, it happened a little before Muramasa-sama passed away. Maybe he did not have the time to talk to Kaori about it."

"I need to bring Ryoma back. Ryoma can rule Muramasa's properly, I know he can."

"But… how are you going to find him? You do not hear from him for so long."

"I hired someone." Mariko said. "Ryoma was last seen on continent most isolated beach. He is leaving alone there, with no people around."

"He must be so lonely." Kaori said, sadly. "All of this is Ren's fault. I need to find my brother, Shuichirou. I just needed to tell you, so you did not think I left you."

"What are you saying? There is no way I am letting you go alone on this." He looked at her seriously. "I am going with you."

"But, what about the school? You have a life here, I cannot…" Shuichirou touched her face gently and looked straight at his eyes.

"We distanced ourselves from each other once. I will not let this happen again."

"Shuichirou…."

"Let's bring Ryoma home and fix things." He smiled at her. "It s time."

"Yes!" Kaori smiled back, feeling hopeful.

############

The sunset touched the beach with orange and red tones. Ryoma was standing in front of the waves, the golden eyes narrowed. Ten days. Ten horrible, long and lonely days since Sakuno disappeared. He was done with waiting and moping on his house.

Ryoma removed his clothes and ran to the sea, diving deep, the cold hitting his bones to the core.

He looked around for a while, before coming to the surface to take another breath. He needed to find Sakuno and talk to her. He needed to apologize and it could not wait anymore.

Ryoma dived deeper. Even being a fisherman since he moved there, it was very different to be inside the water. The different fishes, the way the sunlight entered trough the tides. Everything was so beautiful!

He noticed a tall kelp forest a few meters down. It seemed like the perfect place for a mermaid to be. Ryoma dived and swam into its direction, entering the algae, his hands pushing them away gently.

He looked everywhere, but no sign of Sakuno and he felt extremely disappointed. Ryoma was about to swim back to the surface when he saw a big shark coming close. He released some of his air with the surprise, but when he was about to swim away, he noticed his foot was entangled on the kelp. He tried to break free, but it was in vain. His movements called the shark attention and it started to swim on Ryoma's direction.

The young human was desperate. He moved even more, trying to release himself. The air was escaping from his lungs due to this effort and he started to get dizzy.

The shark opened his mouth, his full set of teeth about to bite Ryoma's chest, when Sakuno appeared between them, on her mermaid form. She showed her fangs to the shark and electric fields appeared all over her body, making a shield and protecting the human.

It was the last thing Ryoma saw, before fainting due to the lack of oxygen.

############

"Ryoma, wake up!" Sakuno's voice reached his ear and he opened his eyes slowly. "Ryoma!"

He sat down and coughed water for a while. The mermaid looked at him worried.

"Are you okay?!"

"Sa…" he was finally able to speak. "Sakuno?"

"What were you doing?!" her expression changed completely. "Why were you so deep in the ocean?!"

"I was looking for you." The golden eyes were sincere, but she stood up and looked at him seriously.

"Do not dive on the sea anymore!"

"Sakuno, wait!" he grabbed her hand and made her stop, but she freed herself from his grasp. "I was so worried about you, I…"

"Let go of me!" Ryoma noticed the scarlet eyes were glistering with tears.

"Sakuno…"

"How could you be worried? You were the reason I left!"

"I am sorry." His voice was so gentle. "I am really sorry, Sakuno."

"Just because I am not human, that I don't know all your words yet, you have no right to say my feelings are not real!" a big tear fell down her face and he felt horrible.

"I am sorry." He repeated.

Sakuno kneeled down on the sand and rubbed her face with her hands, trying to stop her sadness. The wet red hair was covering her eyes. She had never felt like that before. Her heart was tight and heavy.

Ryoma got close to her, slowly and moved a strand of hair away from her face. She sobbed and looked at his concerned expression for a moment, before averting her eyes.

"I don't like you right now." She whispered.

"I know." His thumb caressed her cheek very gently. "I was stupid. You have every right to be mad at me."

"Mad?"

"Waiting to stay away, not waiting to talk to me anymore." He explained, patiently.

"It is not like that. I really missed you. Every time I heard your voice calling me, it really hurt."

"I am sorry. I have no right to say those things to you. I was just… afraid."

"Afraid?"

"I did not want to think about my feelings for you too. What would it mean for you to be in love with me. For me to be in love with you." She looked at him surprised. "I have been avoiding people for so long, Sakuno. I was already used to the idea of being alone for the rest of my life. But, then, you showed up." He showed her a small smile. "All those days together with you, it was like something entirely new had happened inside of me."

"Something good?"

"Something amazing." He touched her lips and his mouth was really close to hers. "Sakuno, is that really okay? To be here with me, to live in that small house, with so little, in this desert beach? Is that enough? Am I enough?"

She finally touched him, her gentle palms cupping his face and the wet, soft body glued to his.

"You are everything." She whispered, before Ryoma finally kissed her.