Einin awoke from her hypnotic slumber, to unfamiliar surroundings. Her heart raced, where the Hell was she? She scrambled up into a standing position to look around, only to realize most of her clothes were gone, and left her exposed to the chilly air. The only thing remaining on her body was the loose shirt she had been wearing, but it had been cut off (or rather, ripped off, telling by the rough, tattered edges) just below her breasts.

The room - or what would better be described as a cave - was dark and cylindrical, with two apparent exits: a hole near the top that let in light, and a slightly larger hole that lead to a waterway, from what she could see. She could feel herself shivering, despite the fact that that it seemed to be mid-day from what she could see through what might be called a skylight… if you had a particularly sick sense of humor.

"Hello!" she yelled above, trying to catch the attention of anyone who might walk by... but the only thing she heard in response, was her own voice echoing around the cove. It sounded more desperate and pathetic then she would have liked. Despite the futility, she attempted to jump and climb out of the hole… but it was entirely too high for her to reach. She had to at least make an attempt; the burden would be too much for her to bear if she didn't try everything...

She felt her eyes watering up with frustrated tears, but she hastily wiped them away before the first one could fall. However, once the first managed to escape, it was an uphill battle to keep the rest from following. She took a deep breath in and let out a deep sigh, trying to calm herself down before she tried jumping again, and again, and again. Soon, though, she resigned to stop, not because she'd lost the will to escape, but rather that her knees were getting bloodied and bruised from numerous botched landings.

Einin bit her lip, trying to calm down again before looking for an alternative plan… aha! The waterway entrance! She wasn't the best swimmer, but she figured she could probably make it if it was a short way out. Her thirst was overwhelming by now, but she had to put that out of mind in order to strategize. The cold floor of the cave, in direct contact with her naked skin, sent a chill through her bones, so she wasn't able to linger for long (not that she wanted to, in any capacity) before approaching the submerged exit.

The tunnel was dark, and she couldn't see an outlet from where she peered down from above, as the water was rather murky. With a resigned breath, she dove in, slipping down and swimming through the tunnel. No light could be seen past the first curve, or the second, or the third. She was forced to turn around, as she couldn't hold her breath for much longer, and surfaced again with a loud, clamoring gasp. Once she'd taken a short rest, she inhaled sharply and sunk beneath the water again, attempting a second time to find a way out. She made it further this time, but still met no success, and she dejectedly returned to her prison to ditch that plan as well.

Hot, angry tears ran down her face as she pulled herself out of the water and began to cry. Not any sort of crying, either; rather it was the type of crying where every single negative thing that had ever been done to you hits you all at once. Sobs and hiccups shook her body and echoed through the room, she was in the middle of weeping - and perhaps, to a certain extent, mourning - when a cold, clammy hand grabbed her shoulder and pulled her onto her back. Her eyes widened as she recognized her captor, and unfortunately, seeing him just provoked her into more hysterics. Embarrassed, she covered her blotchy face, and attempted to turn away from him to give herself a second to compose herself. However, he apparently had other plans, as she soon felt herself being pulled into a seated position.

"Anemone-chan! Did you hurt yourself by accident?"

Ostensibly, his face showed a look of concern, but Einin couldn't shake the feeling that the truth was far more sinister. Even his supposedly soothing tone of voice made her skin crawl, "Aww, shhh… it's okay, it's okay! No need to cry - Kou-kun will help you. We'll give you a nice bath to clean you up..."

Einin blinked tears away, confused at who he was addressing, but then it hit her, and her voice quivered as she spoke up, "E-excuse me... um... Kou? D-do you... have any water?" For the moment, she could think of nothing except quenching her thirst. Frankly, her throat was parched, no thanks to her emotional state.

"Hm? Don't you have water right there?" he asked; the way he stressed it sounded as if he was confused by her question.

"Um... I can't drink salt water. If I do, I'll just get really sick, and die," she explained slowly, and cautiously opened her eyes... only to find that the blond was absolutely stark naked. Her face turned a startling red as she looked him up and down: his hair was shorter then she remembered, but he was just as beautiful as the last time she'd seen him. She watched his face as it slipped into thoughtfulness, then he nodded and mumbled something along the lines of 'that makes sense', before he looked back at her. Kou reached out to pet her head, then stood up.

"In that case, I'll be right back, Anemone-chan! Be a good girl while I'm gone~"

Einin stared at him, finding his word choice rather peculiar... then gasped as she watched him transform into the exact creature that she remembered kidnapping her at the beach. His warm golden tail almost seemed to wave goodbye to her as it slipped back under in the water.

She choked on air as she processed the events unfolding before her. Time seemed to stop as she tried to wrap her head around the fact that she had just been kidnapped by a mermaid, for what appeared to be no particular reason. Questions popped up too quickly for her to answer or even dwell on for more than a second or two:

Who was he? What did he want? Why her? Mermaids are real? Why does he keep calling me Anemone? Is this real? Have I gone insane?

It was practically endless, this stream of unanswered questions. As crazy as it was, she had no choice but to wait and hope he came back for her...