The Sea Prince

Chapter 15

Hello again (dodges a shoe) ACK! ok I deserved that! sorry for the...once again wait. I'm sorry about that, but next chapter I'll make it up to you by showing...kukuku, behind the scenes ^^. I hope you'll enjoy it (gets camera ready) I'm sure you'll have fun ^^

Kurama and Youko slumped on different chairs as they both stopped to try and catch their breath. They had been cleaning for an hour now, but had only gotten through half of the utensils. This was not because they were not any good, in fact Kurama had gotten the hang of washing dishes rather quickly, and Youko was already excellent at cleaning things (He has to keep his stolen treasures shiny after all!) it was just that there were so many dishes.

They both panted for a while, exhausted from their hard work. "This is impossible! How can 1 palace have so many dishes? I think we were better off just ditching the place and finding another job." Youko said in agitation. Kurama could understand his mood, for he was getting frustrated with the dishes as well.

'The work is annoying- no, down right frustrating. However if we didn't do this we… I would be in even worse shape, especially if I couldn't meet Hiei. He is the only thing that can save me after all.' Kurama thought as he got up and headed for the sinks. He took a deep breath of air before he plunged his hands into the water and started to wash the utensils again. He flinched at the temperature of the water, but kept his steady speed.

'He's not used to the water at all." Youko thought, observing the prince. 'This is expected. He has lived under the ocean for 17 years, and is more then used to temperatures below 0 degrees. He hasn't even been to the tropics! His new human skin is helping relieve some of the pain, but it will be a while before he can get use to it.'

Kurama tried to scrub most of the dishes away from the hot water; however, he still flinched when he had to place his hands back in the soapy water. Every time his hands resurfaced, they became a darker red then before, and Kurama knew why. He flinched when he tried to grab a knife, but grabbed the blade instead of the handle and cut his hand. He brought it out of the water and clenched it tightly. 'Damn it! There must be an easier way to do this. If only…' He was so deep in thought, that he didn't notice the blood in the water begin to glow. 'If only…I could use my water power!'

So deep in his own thoughts, Kurama didn't notice Youko head over to him out of concern. However, Youko did notice the happenings in the water, especially when it started to glow a light blue color, and the blood seemed to be absorbed. Then, the water started to bubble, as if a water jet was in the sink. Looking at Shuichi in shock, Youko did the only thing that came to mind, and grabbed Shuichi's arm. This seemed to snap the prince out of his thoughts, and open his eyes which were glowing light blue. Shuichi look shocked as he saw the water stop bubbling and the blue quickly left, leaving just purely clean water, even though there were still utensils at the bottom.

At first, Youko stared at Shuichi in shock while Shuichi stared at the water in the same way. However it was replaced by a smirk as the fox pulled on the boy's arm, forcing the prince to look at him.

"Call out to it again Shuichi. Call to the water which wants to hear you."

Kurama looked at Youko in shock before looking at the water, the words of the man beside him echoed in his head. 'It wants…to hear me?' Kurama thought. Slowly, he dipped his hands into the sink again, and found it cool to the touch (but very cold to actual humans). Slowly and somewhat nervously, he started pouring his unique energy into the water, and called out; 'I am Kurama of th seven sea princes, please answer my call.'

The response was almost automatic as the water glowed blue around his hands, and spread throughout the sink. Youko turned the tap on the sink. This made it so Kurama's power could travel from the sink into the pipes, and eventually the power would spread even without Shuichi channeling his energy. All the water that connected to the taps would be under his control. It was the introductory stage in water power which Shuichi did when he was a child, and now had to do again. It allowed the user to connect to the water easier, and make the water bend to his control, and for his powers and him to have a 'relationship'. Without one, the water would be more resistant, sloppy, and require more energy to make it harder to use. This also put less stress on the controller's body and mind, since it made sure the water would not turn on the user. To put it simply, it's a very important 1st step, and one Kurama had to take again to familiarize himself with the water and its source.

Kurama opened his eyes and looked into the glowing blue water. He smiled when he saw that the water had accepted him by absorbing the ki, and was spreading throughout the pipes. Feeling a bit fatigue, he went back to his chair and sat down, with Youko smirking as he dragged himself to Shuichi, leaving a small seal on the tap. It was to make sure that no one outside the pipes could sense Shuichi's unique energy. 'The last thing we need is for people to know of his power.' He thought as he went in front of Shuichi and sat down in the chair in front of him.

"So~ Shu-chan," The fox said in a sly voice. "Things should get easier from now on, am I right." He said with a smirk. The redhead although panting slightly, looked up with the same smirk and nodded. This job would become a piece of shell cake.

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Hiei sighed as he slumped down on his desk again. 'Its endless,' he cursed, referring to his tax report. 'Though this is probably nothing compared to what the dish washer has to do.' An image of the red haired beauty flashed in his mind and Hiei quickly shook his head. 'I'm not concerned, I'm… enjoying his pain; schadenfreude is what it is.' He quickly tried to lie to himself, while referring to the German word which meant happiness for the misfortunes of others. He then sighed in annoyance, thinking about how pathetic it had to be when you had lie to yourself so badly.

"What's up Hiei, head in a cloud?" Hiei looked up and glared at the queen in front of him. Mukuro however just laughed and closed the door after her. "You really are over due though Hiei, are you sure you don't need any help?" She asked when she got to his desk and picked up one of his recent documents to read it over.

"Hn, I'm perfectly capable of doing this by myself Mukuro. Besides, wasn't it you who said personal experience would be the best way to learn? I refuse to act weak just because this is new." Hiei said stubbornly. However, he didn't see Mukuro grimace as she read it over once.

'He has no talent with taxes,' she decided quickly after finishing reading.

"You are new at this, so I don't expect you to be perfect, but I do hope you ask for help especially due to your inexperience. There's a difference between being weak and being inexperienced." Mukuro said, but Hiei just looked away while crossing his arms stubbornly.

"Hn!" Mukuro sighed at Hiei's response and turned around to hide her annoyance.

"Very well my son, continue with your mule like behavior." She said as she calmly walked away. 'Besides, it's not like I'll approve it if it sucks as it does now."

"Oh, and before I forget, I must tell you that it appears our new dish washer has finished his load." Hiei stopped writing and dropped his pencil he was writing with immediately. "Yes that was my thoughts too." Mukuro said with a smirk.

Hiei's eyes were wide in astonishment, before he snatched a clock off his desk and stared at it intently. 3 hours! It had been three hours since the boy had started, and he had already finished all the dishes.

"This…is not possible." Hiei said completely confused. "He's a human who just washed upon our shores not too long ago, how can he have the energy to do this? Especially when the average hours for a human to finish the job is… eighteen hours. How could he do it in three?"

"Also he beat your record with Yusuke which was four and a half hours, and still has some energy to walk." Mukuro said as an after-thought, though she was smirking when Hiei glared at her (When he and Yusuke did the dishes, they passed out almost instantly and stayed asleep for the next two days). "How he did it is a mystery, and we'll figure out how he could do such a thing later on. However, I believe we should worry more about tomorrow's events for the mean time."

"…Tomorrow? I actually have to go through with it?" Hiei said in disbelief and anger. However a small glare from Mukuro shut him up.

"You- Dearest son- will be at the ball tomorrow, and we will be looking out for you potential mates! UNLESS of course you wish for me to just choose one now? Princess Koto would probably pounce on the chance for a taste of you, or maybe-"

"FINE I'LL GO!" Hiei yelled out in vein. He rubbed his eyes tiredly as he slumped down on the desk again. He hated big events, especially parties. The music always sucked, he had to tolerate being surrounded by humans and their stench, and lastly, people were always throwing themselves on him. Anti-social fire demon plus hundreds of people insisting to talk to him did not add up well (for him).

He was brought back to the real world when Mukuro touched his arm and smiled down at him. "Don't worry Hiei, I will make sure that they are worthy, and I will not trust someone unworthy to mate you. After all, fire demons mate forever." She then dared to stroke his white starburst in his hair before walking away. Hiei reached up to his hair and glared half heartedly at her, then sighed and looked away.

'When I'm stronger, I will tell her what I should have said when I was little…' looking at the tax report again, he decided to get up and walk away for now. 'I do better after I procrastinate anyway' he decided as he closed the door to his office. The paper work was once again left behind for another day.

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Kurama sighed as he walked over to his room and fell on the giant doors. He just leaned on them face first as he looked for his keys for the giant elk doors. Finding the unique metal objects, he quickly fumbled with them before he got the key in correctly and opened the door. He barely made it too the bed before his legs collapsed under him and he fell partly onto the bed, his feet just hanging off the end.

His job hadn't been the easiest, that's for sure. After rediscovering his water powers, he had used it to create many mini dish washers, where Youko threw all the utensils in, Kurama cleaned them in groups. It was exhausting on the body, mind and energy, due to the fact that water energy was a thing that used all three of the aspects to be used. Youko knew the strain on Shuichi's body, and did as much as he could for the child as they did the dishes, including doing some on his own, drying and putting the dishes away. This helped the prince a lot.

However, Kurama did admit that it felt easier to move the water on land rather then inside the ocean. This was because he didn't have to separate the water he was using, from other water that surrounded him constantly. So it was much more easily controlled, and could less energy consuming at the same time. However even if it was easier, it was still exhausting due to the fact he was still recovering from all the things that had happened to him. From the deal with Karasu to the new environment, he had once again over exerted himself.

Youko crawled out of the prince's pocket and turned towards the exhausted prince. "Hey Shuichi, are you alright?" The crab asked in concern, only to hear a muffled groan in return. "I'll take that yes."

Shuichi then turned to face the crab, he was obviously tired but Youko thought it would be a good idea to take a shower before bed.

"Think Shuichi, it would really relax your muscles, and you would also be just a bit more awake for your stretches that Yukina said you should do.' Kurama did think about and grabbed the list that Yukina had showed him before hand. He kept it close to his bed so he wouldn't have to go far to get them. As he read though, the words became blurry, as he started falling asleep.

"So Shuichi, do you have a plan for Hiei-san? Your lover boy awaits you know, you can't just spend your time…sleeping." He said the last part with a sweat drop appearing behind his head as he saw the prince. The prince was sleeping on his side with one of his head on the pillows, and the pillow spooned to his chest. Youko then smiled and held his breath, transforming one last time that night.

Youko gently covered Kurama's sleeping body with a blanket, and tucked the prince in. He then gently brushed the hair out of the prince's face, and kissed his forehead. 'Sweet dreams my little prince.'

Karasu watched the entire day through a crystal ball, and had hit his head in his stupidity. In his hand was his and Kurama's contract, which had slightly changed from what he wanted. However both sides of the deal had to be fair, and if they were not then some circumstances would change. "Unfortunately it was my half which was not fair. Curses, I knew Hiei could never want a human, so that's what I was going to turn Shuichi into. However the deal had 'love' in it, which screwed up everything." Karasu said the word with such loathing that the two eels behind him shivered.

"So boss, does that mean you were cheating and your curse backfired on you?" The younger asked and Karasu turned and glared at the two. 'That's a yes.' The brothers thought in sync.

"It means that my plan is somewhat off. What I really wanted was to make Kurama a weak and defenseless human, what I got, was a fish who grew legs and lost its gills." Karasu said making the eels widen their eyes in shock. "Kurama has kept all his powers, along with his quick healing ability which human's lack, and if he can talk to Youko so clearly without talking, then he's kept his mind power as well. I am also willing to bet that he can still talk to any type of fish or whale in the ocean. Who knows what other powers he has kept in his frail body, but I do know this. A sea based power can not be fully contained in a land based form; something may change in his form or mind. Not even I know what may happen, but I do have ideas. It's more then likely that the second form is possible."

"I doubt that." Karasu turned to look at the younger Toguro which stood its ground. "The second form is rarely shown in any merman or mermaid. It's purely used in self defense, and only when the victim is at their limits, and is terrified to the beyond. Fear is the key component, and Kurama doesn't seem to be one who would spook easily."

"Funny, you are right about that Toguro-san, but that child has already transformed once, and it's easier to change once it has already happened." Both Toguro's looked shocked at the information. "It's true, it happened years ago, when the child was only 5. You should have seen it, black eyes, sharp fangs, theirs a reason why the merpeople worship sharks you know." Karasu smirked as he remembered the scene.

"Alas, he could never remember it though. He was the first child ever to succumb that form, which was seen as a bad omen. It's no wonder why people were nervous around him, even feared the young child." The younger Toguro paled while the other one smirked.

"So you were there then Karasu-kun? May I be so bold to say that you had a thing to do with it?" Karasu glared at first, but then smirked from beneath his mask.

"Who knows, but you are right Toguro. There isn't a likely chance of the second form happening again, but one can dream." He said before he chuckled darkly. 'Yes…one can dream Kurama-chan, one can always dream of your monstrous form, the most feared and disturbing truth behind the merpeople.'

waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! please review! for my editor is going to try and make me write a whole chapter in one week... help me.