A/n I was asked if this was going to follow the original story. I'm not sure yet. I do know that I'm going to make this story my own. I just don't know how much I'm going to pull from the various versions. I am glad to see interested readers. I hope I didn't leave you hanging for too long. On to the story!

Disclaimer. I don't own Kenshin

A little less than a year later Tae was having her ceremony. Again her sisters gathered around to decorate her with jewelry. Though Megumi had been to the surface many times that year, she was still just as excited as her younger sisters to send Tae away. Their father came along with many other merfolk and gave Tae her pendent of polished coral and declared her of age. And again the sisters turned and swam away to give Tae the freedom to surface when and wherever she wanted.

... . . ...

Kaoru was the first to see Tae return. It was the next day and Tae looked exhausted as she swam to her father's court to report her return. Kaoru gave a hard flick of her tail and settled close to the opening in the rock and coral that held her father's court of merpeople just as Tae excused herself. She moved with slow, lethargic movements and she yawned as Kaoru wrapped her arm around her.

"You were gone even longer than Megumi, Tae. How was it?"

Tae waved one hand at her while she clutched at Kaoru's shoulder with the other and let her pull her along. "No, you have to wait until I can tell everyone." She scolded, smothering another yawn.

Kaoru set her mouth in a line and tugged harder. "Well come on then, everyone's in the gardens.

"I'm coming. Gezz Kaoru it's not like I'm going to forget everything." Tae smiled and with renewed energy, she and Kaoru swam to the coral and sea plant gardens. Kaoru gave a shout and instantly the heads of her sisters popped up and they were rushed as the girls swam over to then firing off excited questions.

Tae settled on a rock and again the younger sisters gathered around her. Megumi floated a ways away, not as eager to hear stories of the surface, only wanting to know how her sister fared.

"So tell us, what did you see?" Misao urged as she settled beside Kaoru.

"Yes, please." Megumi said with a hidden smile as she gave a flick of her hair. 'I'm tired of them always following me around like guppies begging for stories." But hardly anyone heard her as they were too focused on Tae as she smoothed back her wild brown hair.

"I couldn't think of when or where to go to the surface." Tae began. "Megumi always went in the day so I thought I would try seeing the surface in the night." All her sisters, even Megumi pressed closer, eyes wide. Kaoru was nearly yanking the stone beads from her braid with all the eager twisting her fingers were doing.

"So, I swam west." Tae continued.

The girls took a collective breath. West was to land, where humans were. "How far west?" Sayo breathed, hands fluttering at her heart.

"When I broke through the water, I could see land." Tae said and instantly the girls broke into excited clamored. Not even Megumi had seen land

"You must of swam all day." Megumi remarked.

"I did. It was growing dark by the time I reached the surface. The sun was like a large, fat yellow puffer fish in the sky. So warm and bright. It was so low in the sky that it was touching the water and i swam after it for a while."

Kaoru blinked and her sisters shot each other curious glances. "The sun went into the water?" Misao asked.

"Yes! The sky wasn't blue like Megumi says. It was bright pink and gold. The sun fell into the water and I couldn't see it anymore so I gave up and turned to swim closer to land."

"What was the sky like without the sun?" Tusbame said in a whisper.

"A strange color." Tae said softly in thought. "But it drained away quickly as the sun dipped further into the ocean. And the sky was black...deep dark black like the deep chasms here under the water. But there was glittering creatures high in the sky."

"Like the flying creatures?" Kaoru asked.

Tae shook her head." I don't know. It was too dark to see them. They were tiny and they flickered up in the blackness. They were beautiful whatever it was.

"Did you see humans?" Sayo asked.

"I didn't." Tae shook her head and the other sisters gave a sigh. "It was too dark to see them." Tae added, but I could see lights glittering on land like those in the night sky, only larger, and closer."

… . . …

Tae went back to the surface many times that year and saw humans from afar, but didn't have the courage to swim any closer to get a proper look at them. Kaoru figured she would have to wait until she herself was of age before she could get a description of the two-legged land people. Until then, she thrived off the tales that her two eldest sisters spun.

… . . …

Sayo was beautiful on her fifteenth birthday. Her sisters showered her with homemade gifts. Kaoru gathered many tiny seashells and strung them together to make a delicate bracelet. Her gift from her royal father was a pendent made of various milky pearls. The quiet, pure middle child was left to her own devices and was not seen again until late that night.

The mermaid princesses rested in their room, but instead of sleeping they were gossiping. Mostly they teased Megumi about her strange suitors, and decided that Tae should pay more attention to the nice-looking young merman who were too polite and shy to compete for her attentions. They didn't expect Sayo to return until the next day, so it was a surprise when the princess swam into the room through the wide window.

"Sayo!" They all said in surprise. The mermaid looked tired, worn, but there was a soft smile on her face and she quickly went to brush the tangles from her hair.

"I saw incredible things." She said quickly before her sisters could fire questions at her. Her soft voice rang like a new silver bell in her excitement, even being exhausted couldn't smash her thrill.

"Oh, do tell us!" They countered.

"Yes. Did you see humans?" Misao shoved her way into the circle her sisters had created to surround Sayo on her bed.

"I did!" She smiled and laughed in glee at the shocked and amazed faces of her sisters.

"Well don't just sit there, tell us!" Misao demanded.

"Please Sayo, tell us what it was like." Kaoru pleaded.

"Well, I swam west like Tae did. To land. I'm a much faster and better swimmer so I made it there before the sun fell into the water. Sorry Tae." Sayo said softly to her sister. Tae shrugged it away; it was common knowledge that Tae had yet to learn the finesse of swimming at great speed so she was not at all offended by her sister.

"And?" Misao urged, nearly spinning in circles if the wedge of her sisters were not holding her still.

"The sun was high in the sky and very warm. I swam very close to land. I could see the edge where the water lapped up on the dry sand. It was very shallow where I stopped. I could lay in the water and still have my body out of the water."

The girls all babbled at once. "Oh what it must be to see the dry sand." "How dangerous, you could have been stranded at tide." And all manner of separate thoughts went back and forth between the sisters while Sayo took the moment to look at the clams newly clamped to her tail.

"Please go on." Tubame said softly.

"Yes tell us about the humans!" Kaoru couldn't hardly stand it.

"Well they are very loud and noisy and hairy."

"Hairy?" They all questioned in unison.

"Yes that's what I thought at first. A big hairy thing on four legs."

"Sayo…humans have two legs, everyone knows that." Tae said, even though she had only seen them from very far away.

"Yes let me finish!" Sayo laughed. "It was frightening at first. This large thing was making a lot of noise at me while I was sunning myself on a rock that jutted up from the surf. Where I was the water was calm and the tide was low so there was sand everywhere and the creature just walked up upon me. Following the hairy thing were three humans."

The girls squealed, even Kaoru, who was also trying to shush everyone.

"They were small, but very fast for having two legs. They had strange hands on the bottom of their legs with stubby fingers. Useless I think, they were so small. They chased each other and played, not knowing I was watching until one with short golden hair spotted me."

A collective gasp from her sisters and Sayo paused to hold them in their state of terrible suspense.

"I decided to take it home…as a pet." Sayo declared. "I held my hand out and the human just stared at me as it slowly walked into the shallow water." All the girls had their jaws slack. No one could believe that gentle Sayo would drag a human down to the depths to be a pet. Such courage. "But just as it raised its hand to touch mine, the big hairy creature made such a racket and lunged at me that it was afraid it would attack, so I turned and slipped back into the water and into the deeper pools where I watched the humans play for a moment more before turning back."

… . . …

Glassy purple black stones went into the pendant Misao was given on her fifteenth birthday. Kaoru, more skilled now that she was older, created a belt of scalloped shells and draped it on her sister's hips. She hugged Misao and wished her well before the Royal family and court swam away to leave her.

Kaoru wouldn't see her again for days.

The whole kingdom was in a controlled state of worry. Of age merfolk were known to take their time, sometimes swimming to all the various seas, but the royals usually stuck to their own territory, so it was unnerving to have Misao gone so long. Was she in trouble, did she get caught up in the human fishing nets? Did merfolk from other kingdoms have her? Was she lost? Stranded on dry land? But all their worry was for naught, because on the morning of the fifth day, Misao returned.

She was so worn out; Misao couldn't say more than a few words to her father as he carried her to the princess's room and demanded that all the girls go out to the garden to give Misao some peace to sleep a while. Though they were all dying to know what took Misao so long, they obeyed.

Kaoru kept to her grandmother most of the time now. Megumi and Tae were so used to the surface now that they hardly even went up to visit, and they had no more stories to tell. Now that they were allowed to go to the surface, it held little appeal to them. Sayo had only gone up three other times, but not near land nor humans, and all three were now more preoccupied with their suitors. Especially Megumi, who looked as if she had finally started to favor one or two of them.

The sun fell into the sea and the girls silently glided back into their room to get ready for sleep whey they found Misao awake but sleepy eyed in her bed. Kaoru nearly flung herself at her sister and wrapped her arms around her.

"We thought you were lost." Kaoru said, pulling away as the other princesses gathered around. "Where have you been? What happened?"

Misao smiled softly as she lay back against the soft moss of her bed. "I went to a place of magic." The girls all pressed closer, Kaoru and Tubame reclined on Misao's bed with her. "I swam far, the waters were cold."

"Well it is winter." Megumi pointed out unnecessarily.

"No, colder than winter waters. Much colder." Her voice was soft and they all pressed closer. "When I went to the surface, the sun had already fallen into the sea. The sky was a strange color and there was land everywhere, floating bits of white land. They glittered and sparkled like scales on the prettiest mermaid." Misao's eyes were wide as if she was seeing it all over again as she gazed up at the ceiling.

"Ice." Tae said. "Remember Grandmother told us that great chunks of frozen sea water would float down from the Northern Kingdom during the winter."

Misao nodded. "Yes it was ice; I swan over to one of the largest ones, big enough for all of us to stretch out on. And I climbed up on it." The girls murmured their admirations. It's not easy for a mermaid to haul their body and tail out of the water with only their arms. "The sky was the deepest black; the glittering creatures were up there too. And the moon was large and it washed over everything with the softest light I had ever seen. There was a ship."

All the girls lifted their heads. "A human sea vessel? What was it like?" Kaoru urged.

"Big, large enough for so many humans. I could see them with their lights milling about on the vessel." Misao went on to describe the great, giant white sails and how the humans made such strange music and how the chill of the ice under her kept Misao awake most of the night as she watched the ship drift past. She described the creaking of the ship and how it bumped into many of the small floating white ice as if it were never there, but never once coming close to her large bit of ice. So Misao watched from afar, the humans as they danced and sang.

Misao went back under the water to sleep and she swam for many more days in the new sea. But she never once crossed over into the Northern Kingdom for fear of strange merfolk. Kaoru just sat and tried with all her might to picture the glittering ice and its coldness and the sound of human music.

… . . …

Tubame hugged her father after he set a pendant made of quartz swirled with amethyst and white. The poor girl was nervous and clung to Kaoru. "I-I don't know if I can go up there." She confided softly, her eyes still wide from the pain of having the clams on her tail fins.

"Hush." Kaoru said. "You don't have to go up if you don't want to. You can just swim straight up from this spot and poke your head out of the water for an instant." Kaoru pointed up and Tubame followed her gaze up above their heads. "It's your day and you can do whatever you want." Kaoru added before she was pulled away by Misao. They were leaving her now and even though Kaoru wanted her shy elder sister to be comfortable and feel safe, she hoped she would go to the surface, for even just a peek and describe it all to her when she returned.

Tubame was gone all day…and all night…and all morning. Kaoru fretted so did Misao, but the three eldest weren't worried at all. Megumi was finally getting married, she had blossomed into a beautiful female, her tail fins grew and she would receive two more clams to add to her tail on her wedding day. She would get two more after the birth of her first child, more when she became Queen, and more with her first grandchild and more with each major milestone.

Finally late in the morning, Tubame returned. She came to them as they were working in their gardens. Kaoru tended to her sea flowers and coral to rid her mind of worried thoughts and nearly snapped a branch off her coral when she saw her wary sister swim over to them from the main court.

"Tubame." They all greeted softly so as to not frightened their gentle sister and overwhelm her. Tubame swam to her section of garden and slowly tended to it as the other sisters swam over.

"How was it?" Kaoru pressed gently as she handed Tubame a sharp edge of sea shell to trim the tendrils of kelp.

"Beautiful." Tubame said in hushed tones. "I was afraid, and swam away and hid so you would think I went to the surface. I wasn't sure yet if I wanted to go."

All the sister nodded in understanding.

"Night came but I still wasn't sure. But then I decided I would do as Kaoru said and just swim up and take a fast peek. So I swam and swam straight up until I could see the surface. The sun was just about to come out of the ocean when it poked the top of my head out so my eyes were above the water.

"So you didn't even breathe air." Tae clicked her tongue but Misao gave her a shove and hushed her.

"Go on." Kaoru smiled.

"The sun came up from the water and the sky was brilliant…pinks and gold. The white puffy things floating in the sky where alight the likes I have never seen. And the higher the sun went the brighter the golden rays were until it reached above everything and the sky was as blue as the ocean's bluest water." She turned to Kaoru. "Oh it was so beautiful, I can't wait until you get to see it Kaoru."

They talked a bit more before drifting back to their gardens, but Kaoru could hardly keep her mind on her tending. In ten months it would finally be her turn to swim to the surface. Her sisters had seen some pretty amazing things and Kaoru would go to the surface until she had seen them all as well…and then some.

A/n well it looks like I'm going to leave everyone hanging for one more chapter. So sorry, don't kill me. Next chapter: Kaoru finally gets her day and we get to see who she meets, though we all know who it is hehe. Thanks for reading! Reviews and ideas are loved!