Sunlight poured into the window of their hotel room as the sun rose. No one was really in the mood to move. The night before had been interesting. Konoka had healed everyone with what spells she knew, so they were all feeling much better. Setsuna shifted in the sheets almost jumping at the sensation of another under the covers with her. She relaxed when she realized it was Konoka, who was in her night clothes. Setsuna ran a hand down her side and felt Konoka stir. She quietly said, "Good morning Konoka. It looks like today is going to be another picture perfect day. No Fate coming to snatch you away. Nothing between us and the beach except that sleepy head Kotaro, his girlfriend and Kaede. They all need to get up and dressed but we should beat them to it and wake them up."

Konoka nodded as she yawned and stretched. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she rolled out of bed. Setsuna was already getting dressed for the beach. A day of relaxation never sounded so good in all of her life. She finished getting dressed. She was going to wear the outfit Evangeline had given her before the wedding when she had been forced into twelve days of hard training. She saw Konoka pulling on the swimsuit she had brought with her. It was a sexy little bikini she had worn on many occasions. Setsuna thought that it looked better on her today than it had at any other point in time. After they had finished getting dressed the first person they woke up was Kaede who the gestured to be quiet and to get dressed for the day. Kotaro and Chizuru were still asleep. Kotaro was on his back, arms and legs spread out and Chizuru had cuddled up with him, using his body as a pillow. Setsuna smiled and quietly told everyone her plan to wake them up.

Setsuna smirked as she took in a breath and then yelled, "Help Kotaro! Kaede has run off with my wife!!"

Kotaro jumped out of the bed and almost his skin all in one motion. Half awake he said, "Don..worry I got it!" He tripped over the bed sheets and fell. Chizuru smiled after being awoken so suddenly. "Kota-kun I think they're just pulling your leg to get you out of bed."

He grumbled as he got up off the floor. "Yeah well they could've told me to just get up. I would've gotten up. But no..Setsuna has to go all loud yells and fake cries for help to get me out of bed and make me make a fool of myself. Great job Ne-chan."

Setsuna, Konoka and Kaede had been laughing at the whole scene. After they had calmed down enough they told the two of them to get dressed and to meet them in the lobby. Kotaro grumbled a bit more and then went off to grab his swimming trunks. Chizuru smiled and followed suit. Setsuna, Konoka and Kaede did not have to wait long for Kotaro and Chizuru. They were all soon talking about the past few days as they headed out of the hotel and toward the beach.

The sun hit them as soon as they got outside. It was a gorgeous day and the sky couldn't have been any clearer. The crowds of people walking down the streets were bustling with talk and idle chatter about the weather. The beach was only a couple of blocks away from the hotel but in the heat the distance felt longer. Even though it was first thing in the morning the temperature had already hit seventy degrees. It was shaping up to be a record breaking day, the forecast the night before had been for one-hundred plus by noon. As they made their way onto the beach the sand scorched their feet as they walked to the water. They all jumped right in after leaving their towels up in the dry sand. The water was cool and felt great in the heat. Setsuna enjoyed diving into the wave and trying to cut them with chi as she did so. Kotaro ran out on top of the water until he was sure it was over his head and then jumped in. Chizuru and Konoka waded in through the surf. Kaede raced Kotaro out and did a spinning jump into the water.

Below the surface of the water it was quiet and the light was a deep azure color. Light beams filtered in through the surface as they all swam out to a nearby reef. The reef was about fifty feet from the shoreline and about twenty feet down. They all stopped above it and took a breath before diving down. The water got colder the deeper they went , but on such a hot day they didn't mind. The reef teemed with fish of all colors and kinds. The was a couple of small sharks that could be seen lower down and a small turtle lazily made its way by. Setsuna was surprised by all of the variety of life here. And could see Konoka smiling and pointing at the turtle. Kaede and Chizuru were exploring the reef itself and Kotaro was keeping a look out for sharks. The water was so clear that the only thing preventing Setsuna from seeing further was the light didn't reach far enough.

Fish swam around her in colorful circles. She went over to Konoka who was inspecting a large Coral. The Coral was bright pink and stood out among the yellows and oranges. Setsuna thought that it was unusual but paid it no mind. Kotaro, Kaede and Chizuru all swam up to them and gestured toward the surface. They all went up and after taking a few breaths Kotaro spoke. "We found a small shipwreck on the edge of the reef about ten yards from here. We should go check it out for treasure. Who knows, we might get lucky and find a ton of gold and jewels."

Setsuna nodded in agreement. Konoka smiled at her and said, "Sounds interesting Kotaro-kun. How big is the ship?"

Kotaro smiled and said, "It looks like one of the old ships that the Americans used when they first came here. Chizuru thinks it might have been a pirate ship at one point in time. I'm inclined to agree with her after seeing the inside of the ship through one of the windows."

Setsuna and Konoka both looked at each other and agreed with Kotaro and they all followed him down to the ship. He was right, it was an old Galleon style sailing ship. It looked like it had been sunk in a battle of some sort, judging by the holes that could be seen that were torn into the hull. Kotaro directed them into the ship using hand signs and gestured that he wanted them to explore it as fully as possible. Fish swirled in and out of the ship. The turtle had followed them over from the reef and was watching as they swam into the ship. Setsuna slowly made her way through the ship's corridors. A shark silently swam past her, paying her no mind as she went further into the ship. Scattered gold coins littered the floor of the room she had just entered. Konoka, who had been following her smiled and gestured toward the coins. Setsuna soon had a pocket full of the gold coins and was working her way through the room.

Down a deck, Kotaro and Chizuru were helping Kaede open a trap door to the lowest deck. Years of salt had corroded the door shut and Kotaro had to use a ki blast to open it. As they swam in the realized what it was on front of them. Piles of gold and silver coins filled the room about halfway to the ceiling. Kotaro smiled like a little kid who has entered toy store for the first time. He gestured to Chizuru and Kaede to pick up as many as they could carry. They would have to make sure to remember this room and come back for more coins. After Kotaro filled his pockets he followed Chizuru and Kaede out of the room. They silently swam through the ship and toward the surface.

Setsuna and Konoka had explored the room a bit more an decided it was time to go up to the surface for air and to check if the others had found anything. She had to nudge the small turtle that had been interminably following them out of her way before she could leave the room and head up to the surface. They slowly made their way to the surface, noticing that the rest of the group was already there. Setsuna spoke after she broke the surface. "We found the Captain's room. Coins were everywhere. What did you guys find?"

Kotaro smiled and said, "Nothing much. Just the entire ship's hold full of gold and silver. We should head for shore and see what it is we've found."

Setsuna nodded and they all headed in toward the beach. They had only been underwater for a couple of minutes and already they had found a good amount of treasure. Now all they had to do was to find out where the treasure came from. They walked back onto the beach, Kotaro and Setsuna's pants making clinking noises from all the coins they had. The headed up to where they had left their towels and put all the treasure out on one of the towels. Setsuna picked up one of the gold coins and made out writing on it she couldn't read. She mused about it for a second before handing it to Kotaro saying, "I think the writing on it is either really old English or Spanish. What do you think it says on it?"

Kotaro looked at it for a moment before saying, "I have absolutely no idea. This is Bookstore and Yuekichi's territory. We'd have to ask one of them to see if they could find anything out."

Setsuna sighed and looked at more of the coins. The silver ones were the only ones that looked familiar to her. It was a Piece of Eight coin. She recalled the name of it but couldn't place if she had heard it from a history lesson or television. She decided to count all they had and proudly said, "We've got Seventy of the gold ones and close to ninety of those silver ones. If we sold just this much we'd be rich, not to mention what still on that ship. We need to go get gear to go get more of this. We can't pass up an opportunity to get some easy money."

Kotaro, Chizuru, Kaede and Konoka all smiled at one another. If they managed to pick that ship clean they would be set for a long time. Images of what they would do with the money they would get for this flashed through their heads. Kotaro thought of settling down and living in a nice house. Kaede thought of her future as well. Chizuru thought about going into college to become a cook. Konoka thought about being happily with Setsuna for the rest of their lives. Konoka answered for all of them. "That sounds like a great idea Se-chan. We'll have to find somewhere save to store the treasure while we collect it though. A boat of our own would do the trick if we can get one."

Setsuna smiled and said, "Good idea. Alright everyone. We're going into town and buying what we need with what we get from this pile of coins. We'll need scuba gear, bags to carry the gold back up to the surface, a boat to store our stuff and we'll also need food for breaks and such. This will definitely be an adventure. I'm still so happy that we don't have to deal with Fate anymore. This is so much better than having to worry about what's coming next. Anyway, let's get going. We need to find someone who'll pay top dollar for our treasure and we'll also need to find out where to get what we need. Let's go treasure hunting!"

They all cheered and collected up all the gold and silver before heading off the beach. It was going to be one interesting treasure hunt.

(Author's note: Massive change in gears here. From fighting Fate to treasure hunting! For all you die-hard Akamatsu-sensei fans you should know who the turtle in this chapter is. For those that don't, it's Tama-chan from Love Hina. Hopefully you all enjoyed reading this chapter. Next chapter coming soon.)

Shinobi of the Onyx Sands.