Ryoma was sitting on the sand. It was almost night and he was waiting for Sakuno to return from the sea. She was there for a while now. A couple of days had passed since he read the manuscript and those words continued to fill his head. His wife's notice his spirit was down, but he would always show her a small smile and assured her everything was fine.

Since then, his chest hurt a little every time she went to the ocean. His eyes followed her figure into the tides and he would wait patiently for her to return. Many times he wanted to ask her about the fears on his mind. Would she still be with him with the possibility of never having a child? Would she leave him someday? On their wedding vows, she used the word forever, but how exactly was that for a mermaid? Ryoma took a deep breath and he hid his face between his crossed arms. He called himself a coward for not addressing the topics with her, but he was just afraid she would, indeed, leave him behind.

His thoughts were interrupted by the familiar sound of a horse running and he raised his head, surprised. His sister was coming with Shuichirou.

He stood up and wondered if was seeing things, frozen on his place. But, when Oishi stopped the animal a few meters from him, Kaori jumped and ran into his direction.

"Ryoma!" she held the layers of her furisode tight on her body, before jumping on her brother's neck. They fell on the sand and Kaori held him tight when he sat down, totally stunned.

"Ka…Kaori."

"Ryoma, it is really you!" she cupped and examined his expression.

"Hello, Ryoma-kun." Shuichirou said, coming close, pulling the horse from its rein. "It's been a while."

"Shuichirou-san." He was so surprised it took him a while to be able to formulate sentences on his brain. "What… what are you doing here?"

"We should have arrived sooner, but our other horse got injured, he had to stop on a city and buy another one." She couldn't stop herself from smiling. "I was so worried about you! There is so much I need to tell you and…."

They attention was called when Sakuno appeared on the beach. Her hair was glued on her naked figure and she stopped, surprised at seeing them.

She recognized Kaori and ran to her, kneeling by her side and holding her hands tightly.

"I never thought I would see you again! Thank you so much for saving me!"

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

"Here, Kaori." Ryoma offered some tea to his sisterand to Shuichirou before sitting by his wife's side. They were all sitting on the back porch of the house. Sakuno was already dressed in a purple yukata with small white butterflies, her hair tight on a ponytail. It was so strange to her seeing the mermaid dressed like a regular human and talking.

The young Muramasa lady had a deep frown on her face, trying to put the pieces together of what her brother had told her.

"Let me see if I understood correctly. She appeared here injured and then you got married to her?"

"Yes." he replied, seriously. Kaori had told him about the things Ren had done to his wife and his blood was boiling in anger. "So Ren was the one who hurt her so much. And the worst part is that, I am not even surprised by it."

"Ryoma, it is okay." His wife gently touched his hand. "It's in the past."

"I am so sorry, Sakuno." He grabbed her hand and placed on his forehead, his expression taken by pure pain. Kaori watched that and she still couldn't believe her eyes.

"Ryoma-kun, we came here because we need your help." Shuichirou said. "Your brother is doing horrible things to Muramasa. Since you left the state is without doctors, he spent a lot of the public money with futile things and he even threatened Kaori."

"What?" he looked at his sister.

"You need to return home." Kaori picked up their father's document and showed to him. "Chichiue entrusted Muramasa to you."

Ryoma picked up the paper and read it, the golden eyes wide in absolute shock. It took him a while to return it to his sister.

"I do not want this." He said, seriously. "There is no way I will be the state's heir."

"What are you saying? Didn't you read it properly? Chichiue says you are the one that should take over if Ren is incapable of doing so. And he is clearly not fit for the job. You know this."

"I am not fit either. I never had any wishes of such thing. I have a wife and a home to take care of now. I cannot leave Sakuno here to deal with the wrongdoings of Ren."

"Muramasa is your home!" she said, angrily. "You were born there; you are the son of the Muramasa's lord! All your life you Ren called you a bastard, now there is your chance to prove him wrong and help our people!"

"I am sorry, Kaori." He said, gently. "I have no intentions of coming back."

"You are turning your back on Chichiue's wishes to play house in this stupid place with a fish?"

"Kaori!' Shuichirou reprehended her.

"She is my wife." Ryoma had a horrible look on his face.

"She is not even human! She doesn't understand marriage and love! You are fooling yourself!"

"Shut up!" Sakuno's scream made them all surprised. Her head was down and the red bangs were over her eyes, but Ryoma noticed the trembling hands grabbing the cloth of the yukata.

"Sakuno…"

"I am not a fish." she raised her head and looked at Kaori with a dangerous glare. "Even if I am not a human, I know what love is. I married Ryoma on my own free will. We had a ceremony with a priest and we made promises to each other. You cannot come to our home and say those horrible things and scream at my husband. You have no right."

Kaori looked at her brother with a disappointed expression, before turning around and leaving the house.

"I am sorry." Shuichirou said to them, before standing up after his wife.

"Thank you for saying those things." Ryoma touched Sakuno's trembling hands and showed her a small smile. "I am sorry for the way Kaori behaved."

"I don't understand." The scarlet eyes were filled with tears. "Us being together, is it wrong?"

"It is not." He kissed her cheek. "We are doing nothing wrong."

The mermaid hugged her husband tight, her heart filled with sadness.

###########

Dinner time came and Ryoma offered Shuichirou and his sister some food. Kaori was still angrily sitting on the beach and refused to eat.

Her husband sat by her side, with a bowl of rice covered with fish stew. The smell was very good.

"I did not know Ryoma was such a good cook. Food is great." He said gently.

"I am not hungry."

"He moved things around for us to sleep at his home. We should go there soon; it will be very cold in here."

"I am not going. I am staying here until he regains some senses and agrees to help me out."

"Oh, so we are staying?"

"Of course!" she finally looked at her, the pink eyes apprehensive. "He is Muramasa's only hope. I do not understand why is he been so stubborn and selfish."

"You are also behaving like that."

"Are you taking their side?!"

"The things you said were mean, Kaori." The green eyes were serious. "You have no right in disqualifying your brother's marriage. Can you even imagine how hard it was for him to live completely alone on this place until Sakuno-san appeared? You should be happy Ryoma-kun found someone he really treasures. And she seems to care about him very much as well. Her being a mermaid is only a detail that does not bother them."

"He can always return home and take her. There is no need for them to stay here."

"He explained to me. She needs to be near the water at all times, otherwise she suffers. You were the one who saved her; do you really want him to risk taking her back to a place where Ren can get a hold on her again?"

She remained quietly, averting her eyes. Shuichirou held his wife and kissed her cheek.

"I know you are worried, but fighting with Ryoma-kun will not help. You spent so much time missing and worrying about him and now you are wasting the opportunity of staying with your brother again." He smiled gently at her. "Let's go to sleep. Things will be better in the morning."

"I am staying right here."

Suichirou took a deep breath. His wife could be extremely stubborn and proud.

"Okay, then." He stood up and started to collect some pieces of wood near the house.

He made a base for a tent and brought a wide sheet from the bag that was on the saddle of their horse, putting it over.

"Here."

"You do not have to sleep here with me."

"Of course I do. What kind of husband I would be if I let my wife sleep alone on the cold beach?"

Kaori was touched by his words, but before she could say anything her stomach growled loudly and she was extremely embarrassed.

"It seems I am a little hungry."

"It seems." He chuckled, sitting by her side while she started to eat.

###########

"Are you sure they are going to be okay out there?" Sakuno asked, while eating a bowl of rice. "It is going to be cold."

"Shuichirou-san said she will not come inside." He took a deep breath. "You cannot make Kaori do anything."

"I wonder if she liked the food." She finished the rice in seconds and then started to eat another plate of stew. It was the third one.

"Are you okay? You are eating a lot."

"Right?!" she responded between big bites on the fish. It took her a while to chew and swallow. "I am really hungry tonight! And your food tastes even better!"

"Well, at least you are no longer skinny like before." He smiled at her, before he yawned. "I am so tired, I am going to bed. Tomorrow is going to be a long day with Kaori's deadly glares at me."

"You can go. I will go to bed as soon as I finish. Good night, Ryoma." She said, with a smile, before her husband stood up and placed a gentle kiss on the top of her head, before leaving the kitchen.