Sorry about the slow updates but I'm getting writers block – again. Any ideas from you guys are always welcome.

Oh, xImperferctlyx, here's your update!

Sorry if Ren seems a little ooc in this chapter by the way.

Two Worlds, One love

Chapter 7 – Taking a little dip

Pearl and Pilika arrived at Yoh's place and knocked on the door. No answer. They knocked again but still they were left outside. "Yoh?" Pilika knocked a third time and the door creaked open a fragment. The two girls looked at each other with a nervous glance before the mermaid pushed open the door fully.

They gasped when the light from outside hit the room in front of them. It was a mess, and I mean a mess. The sponge seats had been ripped to shreds, the shell cupboards smashed with there contents spilled across the floor and walls.

"Oh my…" The small fish looked around, her eyes wide at the destruction before her.

"Check the kitchen; I'll look in the bedroom"

Pearl nodded and swam off. Pilika entered the bedroom and, unlike the front room, it was neat and tidy. But there was no sign of the merman. She checked everywhere but couldn't find a trace of Yoh. Where was he?

She went back out but couldn't find anything at all to give her a clue as to where he was or what had happened. Pearl came back through but her search came up empty as well.

"What are we going to do now?"

"I don't know…" Pilika really didn't know what to do. Her brother had been kidnapped, her father couldn't know the truth because that was the last thing she wanted him to know and the one person who could help them was missing.

"Hey, look"

She turned to see what pearl had found. In the far corner of the room was a small pool of weird looking black stuff, like octopus ink. "What's that?" Pearl sniffed it but recoiled back. "It smells like a dead eel!"

Pilika reached out and touched it with the tip of her fingers. "It's sticky" She thought for a minute about what it could be…then it hit her. "Oh no…"

"What? What is it?"

"Hao"

Pearl gasped. "Pil…"

"Pearl, that's the only answer for this stuff. Octopuses don't come into the Kingdom"

"But, he's banned from the Kingdom"

"Do you really think that bothers him? He's gonna come here when he pleases. The only person that scares him is father"

"But what would he want with Yoh?"

"I don't know…come on" She swam outside. Pearl swam after her calling for her to stop.

"Where are we going?"

"You're gonna lead me to where you last saw my brother" She pulled the fish in front of her and gave her a small push.

"Why?"

"To see if we can find any clues"

"You do know that was up on the beach though?"

"I don't care, I want my brother back"

Horo lay at the bottom of the pool, board out of his mind. Arms behind his head he watched his tail flap slowly back and forth above him. He'd been left alone for an hour at least and he'd only realised he hadn't eaten since yesterday. Just on cue his stomach grumbled.

Suddenly something hit his tail hard and in a flash he swam into a corner. Rubbing his now sore tail he looked over at the thing which attacked him. It was a square object and upon closer inspection he found it to be a book. Picking it up he examined it but the cover was blank and after flicking through he found the pages were too.

Looking up he saw a familiar reflection and smirked. So he wanted to play games huh? Throwing the book up he used his tail, like a racket, and hit it back up. He laughed when the reflection quickly disappeared.

Breaking the surface he laughed upon seeing a wet boy with the book lying a little way off. "Yes, it's extremely funny when I get soaked by a book" Ren shook the water out of his hair.

"Well, that's what you get for throwing the book at me. Why'd you do that anyway?"

"To get your attention. It was the only thing I could think of"

"Why didn't you just splash on the surface or something?"

Ren looked at the ground and spoke quietly. "I…didn't want to…"

Horo raised an eyebrow. "And why not?"

"I…I'm scared of falling in there so I don't touch the water, or go too close to the edge"

The merman thought for a moment then smiled, holding out his hand. "Take my hand"

The human blinked a couple of times. "W-what?"

"Take my hand. I'll show you that there's nothing to be afraid of" But Ren just shook his head and backed away.

"No, what if I start panicking and drown or…"

"You'll be fine, I promise. Nothing will happen when you're with me" He kept his hand outstretched and smiled when Ren took it. "I promise" he repeated.

The smaller boy slowly crawled to the edge of the pool and frowned into the water. His heart skipped a beat. He never knew the pool was so deep. "H-Horo…"

"It's OK. Sit on the edge there and put your, um, legs, in the water"

"Why'd you say it like that?"

"Sorry, I'm not used to saying the word 'legs'" He slowly sat on the edge and carefully put his legs in. The water felt sort of cold but it was hardly used so there was no point in heating it. "Now, lean forward and put your arms around my neck and I'll slowly pull you in"

Doing as he was told Ren placed his arms around the prince's neck and felt himself being pulled in. He didn't like it. His breathing became hitched and he closed his eyes. The worst part was when he slipped and went in with a little splash. He clung to Horo for dear life while the merman encircled his arms around the boy's tiny waist.

"Are you all right?" When the golden eyes opened he only just realised how close their faces were. Here comes the blush again…

"Yeah, I'm fine" His teeth started chattering.

"Cold?" All he got was a nod. "If I get you moving you'll be warm"

"B-but…"

"I promise…" When he got another nod he slowly swam backwards, pulling the small boy with him. Ren could feel Horo's tail brush against his legs and felt safe for some reason. After going around a couple of times Horo decided to try something. Ren's eyes widened when he felt the arms leave his waist and his arms slipping from his neck.

"No! Don't let go!"

"I'm just going to take your hand, don't worry" He stopped and let his hand slide down the boy's arm and grasp his hand firmly. "Move your arms around a bit and just relax"

When he tried it out for himself Ren seemed to find it not that hard. He was floating and wasn't going under and he had Horo's hand, the hand that was…slowly slipping…away!

"Horo!"

"You're doing fine. See?"

"Horo, I don't like this!" He started panicking and splashing about.

"Calm down Ren!"

But he wasn't listening and ended up going under the water. Horo dived down, grabbed the small waist and pulled him back up. Ren grasped the merman's neck and gulped in the air he forgot to take when going under. Horo suddenly felt guilty when the little one started coughing. Swimming over to the side he pushed Ren back up. The younger of the two caught his breath and looked at him.

"I'm sorry Ren, I didn't mean for that to happen"

"It's OK, I always do that. I start panicking over nothing" He sat up straight and rung out his dripping wet hair, the spike now gone making it look like he had really long hair.

Banging and hurried footsteps echoed. Without being told Horo disappeared under the darkened water. Lyserg, Jun and a pink haired girl entered the room. "Oh my God Ren, are you all right!" His sister pulled him into a hug, not caring about getting her own clothes wet.

"I'm fine, I just, slipped and fell in"

"Stupid ass" Ren glared at Lyserg. The pink haired girl went to a nearby cupboard and took out a towel, giving it to him.

"Thanks Tam" He took a quick look at the pool before being lead away to his own room.

Yoh struggled against the ropes the bound him to a pole. His brother had just showed up saying Yoh was to follow him but when he refused he was taken the hard way. His hands were tied in front so he couldn't bend his tail and free himself. That was one of his gifts; he was good at getting out of tight spots. But this was Hao he was dealing with and it wasn't so easy. Anyway his tail had been pinned down by heavy chains. Where Hao got them from he didn't know.

Hearing a laugh he turned to see his twin watching him struggle. "What do you want now?"

"I love it when you're mad"

Yoh just rolled his eyes and looked away. "Hao, please, tell me what you're up to?"

"I heard your little prince was in a spot of bother"

"Horo? Where is he?"

"In the hands of some human" Yoh's eyes widened. It couldn't be true. "And I need you to help me with my plan"

"And what makes you think I'll go along with it?" Hao approached him and pulled out a knife, pressing it against his throat.

"Because I can kill you faster that I can blink"

"I don't care, I refuse to be a part of anymore of your schemes" He cried out when a sharp pain shot through his stomach. Looking down he saw a large stab wound before Hao roughly forced his twin to look at him.

"I'm not afraid to hurt you so don't push your luck! Now, listen to me…"