Disclaimer: I don't own Mermaid Melody or any of it's characters. but you already knew that right?

EARTH & OCEAN
chapter 3: Secret Meetings

"Rina!" Called Lucia as she swam through an underwater castle settled at the bottom of the sea near the small village. The structure was entirely made out of white sea coral and the surrounded land was full of the sea life. Behind the castle was a deep crevasse that had a bridge going across to the other side, just in case for a quick escape. The blond mermaid swam through her home at top speed, calling out her friend's name until she rounded a corner and headbutted someone coming the opposite way. The two merpeople floated to the dirt ground of the castle and the unknown person groaned. Lucia looked while rubbing her head and gasped.

"Rina!"

"Please try to be more careful Princess." said her friend. Rina was a young mermaid like the pink princess with ankle long green hair that had square bangs and a green tail fin. Her eyes were a deep hazel green and an annoyed look was currently on her face.

"I'm so sorry, but i have to tell you something." said Lucia as the two got up, Rina rubbing a sore spot on her grass green tail.

"what would be so important that you would speed through this place to find me?" Rina asked with a slight glare. Lucia quickly looked around before she smiled and whispered "I met someone!" the green mermaid gasped and grabbed the pink mermaid's wrist. She dragged her friend down the hallway she was coming from until they reached the dead end where a pink door blocked them. She opened it and pushed her friend inside before closing the door and locking it.

"Okay," she said once she was done and put her hands on her hips. "Out with it-is he cute? did he have a nice colored tail? Is he royal? Do we know him?"

"Whoa, slow down Rina!" said Lucia, bringing her hands up in the stop signal. "He's handsome, he's a prince, and no, you don't know him."

"Oh, is he from another ocean?" the question came out as a whisper. Lucia remained quiet for a minute before she said "No. He's from a village called Kyoto."

"KYOTO!" Rina screamed out in surprise. "That's the Land people's territory!"

"Shush! not so loud!"

"But you broke a cardinal rule for the merfolk: you are to never go on land, let your fin dry and mingle! If the land walkers find out that
someone among them is a mermaid, then they'll kill him or her!"

"I know, but i had to get away from the palace. Besides, I had a lot of fun and I am going back next week."

"Oh no you wont! I'm going to tell your father!"

"Please don't! I really like this guy, and he doesn't know about
me being a mermaid princess." Lucia pleaded to her friend. Rina looked into the blond's tear filled eyes and sighed with defeat.

"Okay, but either Hanon or I will accompany you all right?" a smile quickly grew on the blond's face as she hugged the green mermaid and said "thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouRina!"

"Kaito, what are you doing?" asked a young man with dark greenish black hair and a pair of glasses hiding his hazel eyes. The eighteen year old in question turned around in shock, his right leg hanging out of the window he was about to climb out of and said "Hamasaki!?"

"What are you doing your highness?" Hamasaki asked again,crossing his arms over his chest.

"Nothing." The young prince lied. "I was just relaxing near the window, that's all."

"With you leg hanging out of it?"

"Um..."

"You were going to meet that girl you danced with on your birthday right?" Kaito let out a forced nervous laugh as beads of anime sweat formed on his forehead. The young man with glasses glared at him, and Kaito abruptly stopped his fake laugh. Kaito sighed and mumbled "how did you know?"

"You're wearing peasant clothes, you're about to leave the castle through a window on the second floor, and this Lucia person is all you've ever talk about for the last week." Kaito's face turned a slight shade of pink while he brought his still dangling leg back into the onyx castle.

"What are you doing now?" asked Hamasaki, this time with a smirk on his face. The prince froze, his leg in the air while his friend continued. "I said I would watch over Coco for the day. Might as well cover for you as well." A large smile swept across Kaito's face, erasing the pink as he lowered his limb back outside the indow. He planted it onto the balcony waiting below and said "Thanks Hamasaki. I owe you." the young man with glasses only nodded, still smirking as the eighteen year old lowered the rest of himself onto the balcony. He was then quickly glad that the window he chose was on the first floor as he vaulted over the balcony ledge. He landed on the grassy ground in a crouch with amazing agility and started running as he stood up. He ran through the servant's gate and down a dirt path until he was at the edge of the village, out of breath. From there he walked until he reached the lip of the village square. Before he stepped onto the square's bricks, he saw Lucia and another girl with aquamarine blue wavy hair sitting on the fountain's edge. A young boy was playing his guitar while standing in front of the girls and an open black case was next to is feet. The boy played a turn-a-round and the two girls started to sing, Lucia lead and the other girl singing backup. As he listened, Kaito felt a happy warm feeling and couldn't help but think that the beautiful girl had a voice that matched her perfectly. After a minute of listening, the prince walked quietly across the square, up to the group who didn't noticed him, and dropped a gold coin into the case. It clanked as it hit the pile of silver already accumulating in the case and the group stopped.

"Kaito!" said Lucia with happiness as soon as she saw who was the small group's audience. The young man with the guitar bowed and quickly put his instrument back into it's case on top of the coins. He fled from the square and the three watched him until he disappeared into the darkness of an ally.

"I'm glad you were able to come Lucia." said Kaito once the boy was gone.

"Me too. I hope you don't mind my friend here as well." the girl with aquamarine hair took his hand and shook it while looking him in the eye. She released his hand and said with a smile "I'm Hanon. But you two don't have to worry about me. I have some...shopping to do. In fact, I'd better get going. Lucia, I'll meet you here at dusk." Hanon quickly left the two, who were surprised at her speed and remained quiet for a few moments.

"So..." said Kaito to break the silence. Why was it so awkward? "Is...there somewhere you would like to go?" the blond thought for a moment before answering.

"How about we walk through the woods? I heard from the locals that it's pretty during this time of day and there's small ponds everywhere."

"That actually sounds like a perfect idea. But let's grab a lunch first and then we'll eat in a meadow in the forest." Lucia nodded with a childish smile before the two turned their bodies towards a nearby deli to get food for their spontaneous picnic.

The underwater palace sat quietly underneath the navy blue ocean as Lucia and Hanon, whoes tale was the same color as her hair, swam downwards it from the surface. on the surface of the water, the telltale signs of the sunset still shone, turning a small amount of the water underneath it a pinkish orange color. On Hanon's back she had tied a seaweed bag full of the land walker's clothes for future disguises. As the two reached the back entrance of the castle, Lucia spotted Rina holding the servant's entrance door open and waved. The green mermaid waved them inside and closed the thin wood door behind her and locked it. The group continued to be silent as they swam through the halls, making turns with a slight splash sound in the water each time until they reached a hallway with a pink door at the end. The three girls went through that door and Rina closed, and locked it before turning to her friends.

"Well?" she asked in a whisper.

"It was amazing!" said the mermaid princess with hearts in her eyes. "We took a walk in the most beautiful forest and had a picnic in a meadow! He then took me shopping and bought me this!" Lucia pointed to the necklace she was now wearing around her neck. It was simple, made out of pink pearls and scallops, but it was also very pretty. "It's perfect to hide my Pearl inside now so I don't have to leave it with you anymore."

"Wow." was all Rina could say. Was this Kaito just being, nice, did he really cared for Lucia, or was he just being a playboy?

"That's not the best part!" said Lucia with more excitement. the other girls hushed her from the loud conversation their talk was turning into before she said "He agreed to meet me next week!" The pink mermaid sighed with a giggle as she floated down onto her frilly bed. She let her thoughts drift back to the prince while Hanon chuckled to herself.

"I've got to admit, he was handsome." she said so quiet that only Rina could hear. The green mermaid sighed with a slight annoyance and said "Does he know?"

"of course not!" said the pink and blue mermaid in unison. the two burst into a fit of giggles as Rina continued "Okay, that's good. But Lucia, I don't want you to get to close to Kaito. Remember who you are and who he is." 'and what happened to your sister who died at the hands of the land people.' she wanted to add but new better not too.

"I know." mumbled Lucia as she drifted off to sleep. Her thoughts continued to go to Kaito as she thought in her drowsy mind 'But I can't control how I feel.'