a/n Hi! Wow I almost forgot about this story…my bad. I'm sure many of you want to thrash me within an inch of my life. At least this is a nice long chapter to keep you distracted while I run and hide. Hehe

This has turned out to become one of my favorite chapters, being one of the pinnacle moments in the mermaid story. I hope many of my readers, reviewers and lurkers are still around to give me feedback.

I also want to shamelessly plug my new collection of short stories. Blossoms on the Cherry Tree. It's a bunch of shorts/drabbles/two-shots of mostly Kenshin/ Kaoru romance that I had cluttering up my computer that I wanted to put in one spot. My goal is to reach 100 little blossoms of writing. If you haven't stopped to read it, please do, I will be eternally thankful. Well enough of that, on to the story!

Disclaimer, I don't own Kenshin.

Life back under the sea…was Hell.

Kaoru made up a story about her time on the surface. Watching boats and sitting on the beach and listening to human music and seeing fire. But the storm, the wreck and saving a human from drowning never spilled from her lips.

Time went by, days, weeks and Kaoru grew more and more melancholy. Once a week or so she would swim off the moment she woke up never to return until it was time for sleep. She would spend all day swimming back to the beach she had left her human and watch for him. But she never saw him again. She saw a great deal more things. Many more humans that she could ever hope to remember. She saw their pets and the flying creatures in the sky. She saw the small human, the offspring running unclothed in the shallows. The sight of them and the sound of their laughter brightened Kaoru's spirits if only for a while. She'd come to recognize the male and female human and would creep as close to shore as she dared when she would spy a human female with a bundle in her arms. More often than not it was a tiny child. One too small to run with the other children. Kaoru always had to fight the impulse to snatch the bundle or one of the children in the shallows to take home with her.

She never knew where such evil thoughts came from. Kaoru knew humans couldn't live in the water, why was she always wanting to drag one down to its death?

The seasons changed, and changed again, and changed again. But Kaoru never gave up watching for any sign of her human, hoping that she would see him again one day.

More time passed, months, Kaoru's sixteenth birthday came and went. She had been to the surface more times than all her sisters put together. This was not so surprising to them, the youngest mermaid had always been obsessed with life above the sea, but what got them was how she only seemed to grow more and more depressed with each passing month.

Her seventeenth birthday flew by and still she would visit the surface. Life on that beach was common to her now. She knew of the best little hiding places and the best rocks to sun herself and how to spy on humans. She would sing on that beach, calling for him even though she didn't know his name. Often she would sing the soft lullaby she had when she left him on the beach. Memories would overtake her and she wept often.

… . . …

"Kaoru just being around you is so depressing." Megumi said. She was visiting with Tae and Sayo. Married life suited the eldest mermaid well. Tae was to be wed in the next two months and Sayo was engaged. Misao was still one of the mermen, preferring hunting and adventures than courting and Tubame was still too shy to do much more than talk with a male. Kaoru had flat out ignored her suitors, and after over two whole years of it, had deserted the idea of courting Kaoru.

"Shut up, Megumi." Kaoru said, passing her three sisters without a glance.

"You know I saw a human the other day. Got really close to it." Sayo said in her soft voice.

Kaoru paused and looked over her shoulder.

"Oh? What was it doing?" Tae said, "looking interested.

"Nothing. It wasn't swimming, or looking for food or talking or anything…it was just watching me with big wide eyes."

"That's because it was dead Sayo, Hohohoho!" Megumi said with a laugh. "They can't live in the water, you know that. Hohohoho-Ahh!"

Kaoru flew up to Megumi and swing her tail around hard, whacking the woman across the head and face with her fins. The sharp shell of the clams clamped to her tail sliced her sister across the face. The three sisters were shocked into silence. "You think you're so funny Megumi, you nasty, kelp eating sea cow. Worthless, carcass eating parasite!" She fumed, whirling around to Sayo, who shrunk back. "And you! Did you drag that human under the water to drown? How about those children? You said you wanted one on your first day on the surface. Did you kill any of them?"

"N-no." Sayo stuttered.

"If I ever hear of you doing so I swear I'll bash your skull in with a rock, slice you open and wrap your guts around your neck and stuff you in a little hole where no one will ever find you!" And with that Kaoru thrashed her tail and vanished into the coral kingdom.

All three sisters watched her go before turning to look at one another. Tae, happy to be spared Kaoru's wrath was the first to breathe. "Wow, what's got into her. I've never heard her so angry."

"I.. it's my fault." Sayo said. "We all know Kaoru's temper and her love for humans, I never should have said that joke."

The two of them turned to Megumi who sat shocked and bleeding from the cuts across her face. "I… I think there must be something wrong with her." Megumi finally stated. "Maybe we should get the healer to take a look at her."

"Yeah, she hasn't been right in the head for quite a long time." Tae agreed

… . . …

Kaoru fumed, swimming back and forth in the room she shared with the rest of her sisters. She was happy that Megumi had married and left for another room in the kingdom. Her tail flicked in agitation, propelling her to and fro in the room. Slowly her anger ebbed, but didn't leave completely and she snapped at the first sign of life in the room. "What!" she shouted as soon as she noticed the movement.

It was Misao, she froze in mid tail flick and brought her hands up. "Damn Kaoru, I just saw what you did to Megumi's face. What in the deep caverns has gotten into you?"

Kaoru growled a moment before sinking down on her soft kelp and moss bed. "I'm sorry Misao; she made me mad with one of her drowned human jokes again."

"Oh those." Misao nodded as she too allowed her body to sink into her bed.

"She and Sayo…they always had that fascination with dragging humans into the water…and so have I." Kaoru confessed.

Misao snapped her eyes over to her sister. "Really?"

"Yes, I'm a monster!" Kaoru nearly wailed. "Why do I have such thoughts…why do we all have them? The humans have never really harmed us so why do we want to kill them?"

The sisters sat in silence a moment, all Misao could do was shrug. She didn't know.

"It's natural," said an old voice at their door. Both sisters turned and jumped from their beds as their old grandmother floated in with her huge transparent fins. "I heard about the fight Kaoru dear, and I couldn't help but overhear your sorrow."

"Grandmother, please tell me, why do mermaids drag humans down to their deaths? And why do we want to steal their babies?" She floated over to a large rock shelf on which their grandmother perched herself. Both she and Misao folded their fins under them and rested at her tail fin.

"Long ago, Mermaid were very jealous of humans and wanted all they had. They confused the humans to crash their boats against the rocks and stole the fish they hunted for. Once, we used to steal away human children and turn them into mermaids."

Kaoru's mouth dropped. "H-How?"

"As long as the child was young enough that's its feet had yet to walk on the dry earth, the mermaid could turn its legs into fins. Often the mermaid would trade…her own child in place of the human one as long as the merchild was young enough that it had not swam on its own yet. The merchild would grow legs as soon as it touched the sand and the human mother would raise it with little knowledge that it was not her real offspring. Obviously the child would not thrive on land and would eventually return to the sea and return to being a mermaid. Sometimes the stolen human child would return to land, legs and all…but would always waste away from grief if they didn't return to the life they had known in the sea." She turned her white eyes to Kaoru. "The urge has faded away these past thousand years, but sometimes it shows up stronger in some than in others. Sadly though, we have lost the power to transform the children. So any human child you steal will only drown if you take it under the surface."

Kaoru shivered at the thought and it upset her to think of a poor mother with her empty bundle and a cold, drowned, tiny child in the water.

"Humans knew of us back in those days. They hunted us and used us for our power. But as our power grew weaker, their interest in us faded until we've become more of a story for the humans. Back then we were a vengeful race. Causing their ships to sink, to take their lives as they took ours. But those days are over, but the instinct is still in us all."

"It's still horrible for Megumi to make such jokes." Kaoru said softly yet her anger was gone. Her grandmother set her frail hand on her head.

"Pay no attention to your sisters. They do not have the love and interest in the surface and humans as you do."

… . . …

Talking with her grandmother made Kaoru feel better. She was still disturbed at her thoughts, but now she had a reason to why they came and she knew that she could simply control them. She was no longer afraid to spy on the humans and their children.

It was on one such spying mission that suddenly changed everything for Kaoru.

Creeping closer to the wooden structure that jutted out into the water, Kaoru was trying her hardest to spy on two young children playing. They wore thick garments for the weather had yet to warm up for spring. A large group of voices alerted the young mermaid that more humans were arriving and so she ducked under the wooden structure and slipped back into the water and swam for the rocks. Here she could spy the large number of humans without being seen. Peeking her head above water, Kaoru slipped behind the rocks and clung to one as she pulled her body slightly out of the water. The sight she saw stopped her heart.

A large group of humans called the children over, There were perhaps five of them, and one of them had hair as red as coral.

It was her human!

A small sound escaped her as she wanted to call out for him, but she clapped her hand over her mouth and ducked back behind the rocks. He was walking, smiling with the other humans, a female on his right carried something large and colorful. It seemed to be keeping her face in the shade. One other female had the same and they took the children in by the hands as they walked off. Her human was talking with another, much taller male as they made their way back up to where the beach turned to rock. Kaoru Turned and pressed her back against the rock. Her human was here! After two cycles of the seasons she has finally spotted him.

Her heart felt like it wanted to rip from her chest, it was beating so hard. Her spirit rose to the highest white clouds, she was so elated. She wanted to rush forward and drag him into the water with her, or drag herself out of the water to be with him. The urge was so strong she was nearly hugging the rock she hid behind to keep her tail from taking her to shore. The group was turning, heading up the beach and away from the water. Pain filled her. Would he disappear and make her wait for another two turns of the seasons to see him again? Kaoru knew at that moment she would never survive it.

"Wait!" She called out. "Don't go!"

A miracle…her red-headed human paused, and looked over his shoulder. Just as Kaoru could see the profile of his face, she remembered that she was not a human. It would be dangerous if she was spotted, even by her human. She ducked at the last moment and hid behind the rock and covered her face with her hands and cried.

… . . …

"What is it?" Sanosuke asked seeing his friend pause to look back at the sea. It had been nearly two years since the ship wreck and it was on this beach that he had been found. Sanosuke wondered how the prince would take returning to this beach for the first time and it had seemed Kenshin was fine with it.

"I…I thought I heard something, that I did." Kenshin said slowly as his eyes scanned the beach and the rolling surf beyond it.

"Oh yeah?" Sanosuke looked out at the peaceful beach.

"Sounded like a voice, but I couldn't understand it."

Sanosuke eyed the prince. He was dressed in white, for the man had yet to go back on a ship or even a boat. He had hardly set a toe into the ocean. But at least the effects of his rescue had faded and Kenshin no longer gazed out at the ocean for hours. "I thought you stopped hearing those voices."

"I did." Kenshin lied; he heard the voices, the singing in his dreams almost every night. It was impossible for him to forget.

A few yards in front of them, Tomoe and her companions turned and waited for them. "Come on you two, we'll come back tomorrow!" She called.

"Let's go Kenshin. Your cousin's callin' you." Sanosuke tried to act as if nothing was amiss as he clapped his friend on the shoulder and nearly had to drag him those first two steps before Kenshin appeared to shake out of it and flash the women ahead of him a smile.

"Coming, that we are."

… . . …

Kaoru felt like she would rather let the waves dash her body against sharp and jagged rock than to leave the little beach now that she knew her human was so close by. Would he return? She had no idea. Perhaps this was the last time she would ever see him. The very idea caused such a rip in her emotions such a pain, that she actually clutched at her chest, it was aching so. Even so, Kaoru slipped under the waves as the sun dipped into the sea. She swam long and hard, as if trying to get away from her pain, but the further she went, the more it hurt and the more she wanted to be with her human.

Kaoru already knew there was no way she could ever return to her home, the coral kingdom deep under the sea. She could never survive there, just as her human could never survive in the water. Kaoru loved the surface, she loved the land and she loved humans. She just couldn't stay away.

Kaoru's tail froze as an idea slowly formed and grew in her mind.

Their lived many sea witches in the oceans, none more powerful than the once that lived a day's swim from the kingdom. Perhaps she could help Kaoru. It was then that the idea took full form all at once. If she could get the sea witch to give her legs…she could join her human on land! For the first time in many seasons hope blossomed in Kaoru's heart and she changed her course just slightly to visit the sea witch.

She didn't know much about the witch, just that she was powerful, scary and her father and grandmother many times forbid her and her sisters from even thinking of seeing her for anything. But Kaoru felt she had no choice. Her father, the King nor her grandmother could do anything to take away this pain she felt, her urge to experience life out of the water, or her love for the human she had saved. They couldn't make her forget it all.

Even more urgent, she had no idea how long her human was going to be there. If she was to become human herself and find him, she would have to act now before too much time past. With every hour her human could be moving further and further from the beach. '

Kaoru dipped low and skimmed the bottom of the ocean. Bright corals slowly faded away for long forests of growing kelp and dark, deep caves opened their dark mouths up at her. Kaoru was forced to slow down to navigate her way past the forest of thick kelp. She wasn't sure where the sea witch would be, only that she lived around the kelp forest, Kaoru could only pray that she was in the right one. But she didn't have to fear for long, for the kelp cleared and in the center of the clearing sat a large cave and sitting beside that cave was the sea witch.

The sea witch was many times larger than the youngest princess. She had blue-grey hair that floated in locks as if she had ells growing from her head and there were trying to wiggle free from her. Her most striking feature was the fact that she had two tails, two inky black tails and fins that moved in unison. She smiled and her teeth were like those of a shark.

"What do I own the pleasure young princess?" She said, not moving from her perch. Deep dark eyes as black as the dark sky gazed intently at her.

Kaoru backed up slight now that she was the center of the witch's attention. Desperation did not stop her from feeling fear. All the stories she'd been told as a child about the witch suddenly rushed to the front of her memory. "I…uh.."

"Yes, yes what is it?" The witch pressed as she flicked her two great tails and floated to settle down on her bed of kelp at the mouth of the cave.

The mermaid squeezed her eyes shut and screwed her courage together. This was the only chance she had to getting what she wanted and getting out of the shadows of her older sisters, of finally thriving up at the surface. "I want to be a human" Kaoru blurted. There was silence and Kaoru opened her eyes. The sea witch's shark like smile was twice as large, splitting her face in two.

"Well…Human" She swam over to her vast garden and began to pull various plants from it before making her way to a large stone in the very center of the clearing that had been carved into a large bowl, she beckoned Kaoru to come closer. "Why?"

Kaoru tried to ignore the strange things that squirmed from the plants in her hands as she floated closer. "I s-saw a human…I saved him, from drowning."

The witch nodded as she mindlessly grabbed at colorful sea flowers and crushed them into the bowl. "A man. I'm not surprised. Humans are so interesting…the men most of all. They are so weak when it comes to the voices of mermaids. Forever?"

"I beg your pardon?" Kaoru couldn't pry her eyes away as the witch grabbed a few wiggling fish from the water around them and spiny creatures crawling up the pocked marked stone that held the bowl and mashed them alive into the bowl. Kaoru winced.

"I asked if you want to be a human forever?" The witch turned, her black eyes now electric green.

Forever? Kaoru thought of her father and of her sisters. They would miss her dearly she knew. And it pained Kaoru to think of never seeing her grandmother again. She glanced about at the waters she knew as her home. Could she leave it forever for one single human? She reflected on her feelings when she swam away from the beach just a few hours ago. This was her home, but she could never live here, not after having such a taste of the world above the sea, of humans. "Yes. Forever."

"I admit that I can't make anything that will turn you human forever. You see…human forms need a soul to survive. You may look like a human, but will have no soul." The witch used her bony hands to mix the mashed plants and creatures together and she worked the goo around in the bowl.

"A soul?" Kaoru wasn't familiar.

The Sea Witch nodded as if listening to her inner thoughts. "This human man you saved? You love him?"

Kaoru felt her face blushing, but she tried to ignore it. Would the Witch believe her, a mere child, of loving a human? "I do."

That was enough to satisfy the Sea Witch it seemed. Two giant tails flicked and beat at the water as the witch turned to vanish into the depths of the cave. She returned with a small polished cone-shaped sea shell. "Marriage to a human will grant you a human soul."

"Marriage? Could I possibly marry a human?" Kaoru couldn't fathom. She was thinking she would live out her life next to the man she saved and loved, exploring the world above the sea. Could she really win his heart as he had hers?

"Of course. You have an advantage anyways, human men are weak against mermaids, remember." She turned to the small girl and raised one finger, a sharp, long nail curving from said finger. "Now listen. As said, You may be in human form but without a soul you will quickly fade and die. Do you know of the large glowing moon in the night sky?"

Kaoru did know of the glowing ball in the dark sky. She stated as such.

"Take this potion by morning, and you will have until the third full moon to marry a human and gain a soul before you die."

Kaoru remembered that the glowing ball was full the night before, and that it took normally around thirty light and dark skies for the orb to be full again. "Ninety days?" Kaoru asked.

The witch nodded. "Eighty-four to Ninety days of light and dark before your body will fade from a lack of a soul. Of course you can take this potion whenever you want…just remember, ninety days is your limit."

Could she do it? Kaoru had kept her vigil for the red-haired human for so long, she was willing to do whatever it took to stay with him, no matter what the risk could be. "I understand."

"Good" the Witch nodded. "Now for payment. I require something of you to pay for the potion."

Kaoru blinked. She didn't have anything other than the clams clamped on her fins and the large sapphire pendent her father had given her years ago. If the Witch wanted the stone then so be it.

"No, not that rock." The witch said as Kaoru was lifting the chain from her neck. "I need items for more potions. Items from mermaids are rare, my potions will be powerful." Her eyes gleamed with the ideas that bubbled to her mind. "I'll take…your voice."

Kaoru balked slightly. Her voice? How? "Why."

"What's more alluring that a mermaid's voice? Your voice will give my potions great power." The Witch set the cone shell on the lip of the bowl and once more vanished into her cave and returned just as quickly with a scallop shell in her hand. She flipped it open and set it on the lip of the bowl as well. "You agree on this payment?"

Kaoru looked away from her bright eyes and gazed into the forest of kelp swaying in the current. What would she need her voice for anyways? She was certain that she and the humans spoke a vastly different language. It would be hard to communicate with them. Hard but not impossible. No more impossible than communication without a voice. "Agreed." Kaoru said as she turned back to the Witch.

Before Kaoru could even focus on the large creature, the Sea Witch surged forward as Kaoru uttered her agreement. Before her mouth could close the Witch had her bony fingers in her mouth, Sharp nails stabbed at her tongue and Kaoru was forced to let the Witch pull her tongue from her mouth. With a glint of light, Kaoru spotted a blade in the other hand of the Witch and with a swipe; the Witch had sliced Kaoru's tongue from her mouth.

Kaoru cried out as the Witch backed away with her prize. The little mermaid clapped both hands over her mouth as pain shot from her mouth to every part of her body. What was left of the severed muscle recoiled back into her mouth. But most of it was gone. Kaoru could already feel the difference in her mouth without half of her tongue. Blood gushed and Kaoru opened her mouth. A half strangled moan escaped as well as a dark cloud of blood. "Nugh." She said, a cry that didn't sound right as she watched the cloud of blood vanish in the water. Past the vanishing cloud of blood she could see the Sea Witch place her tongue in the scallop shell and snapped it closed. With her prize safe and tucked away the Witch returned to the bowl and took up the mash of goo in one hand and the cone shell in the other.

With a squeeze the mush oozed a dark green fluid that strangely did not mix with the sea water. Instead the Witch carefully dripped the ooze into the shell. With the shell full. The witch took a kelp leaf and stuffed the top of the shell to keep the potion from escaping. She turned to the princess.

Kaoru's vision was blurry from the pain, her whole body felt numb against the pain in her mouth, but she forced herself to reach out and take the shell. The Witch did not let go.

"Drinking this will transform you, be far away from the sea when you do this, for you will not have fins nor the ability to survive in water." The Witch warned.

Kaoru remembered the drowning humans that night she rescued her red-haired human. She knew the danger water was for humans. She nodded, struggling not to make a sound of pain.

"Transformation will be excruciating. Enough to drive away the pain you feel in your mouth. Be in a safe place during this time, for you will be vulnerable."

Again Kaoru nodded, but the Witch would not let go of the shell.

"And remember, you have a time limit, you must marry."

Kaoru nodded a third time and only then did the Witch give her the shell. Like a startled fish, Kaoru kicked her tail and rose high above the kelp forest like a shot. She swam away hard and fast as the Witch's laughter chased her.

… . . …

Kaoru had pauses outside the waters of her home. Before her stretched the rock and coral kingdom where her family dwelled. She could see the tower where her royal father and grandmother lived. She knew her sisters lived in the coral cave just below it. She could just drop the shell and swim home and be there in moments, and she would be safe with people she knew loved her.

But she would be unhappy. And she would always wonder about the life she could have had on the surface. Plus she knew she couldn't face her family with no voice, knowing that she had sold one of her powers to the sea witch. She couldn't face her grandmother knowing that she would never be able to join her sisters in singing.

No, she couldn't go back home.

… . . …

Kaoru found herself on the beach where she had seen her red-haired human; where she had brought him when she had saved him from the sea. The day had past while she was under the sea and the moon was already high in the sky by the time she arrived. Everything was sparkling and silent. Nothing but the sound of waves brushing against the land. Beyond she could see the lights of the town. They were warm and inviting, Kaoru ached to go there.

Soon, she would be able to see the life within those dwellings with the warm light. She bobbed above the waves, gazing at the life of humans beyond the beach until the moon fell from the sky and it turned lavender as the sun started to rise. She swam closer. The tide was going out and rocks jutted up from the waves. They were the same rocks she would use to spy at life on the beach. She let a wave carry her to the rocks and she clung to them as the wave fell away. Pulling herself up, she draped her body against the gentle curve of the rock and glanced over the edge. The sun had not yet above the horizon, but the air was warm. Glancing around the rock she could see that the beach was just as deserted as it had been at night.

In her left hand she clutched the shell. It was now or never. And now that it came right down to it, Kaoru felt her conviction slipping. But the dull pain in her mouth reminded her of what she had given up. She could see land and her very being cried out to explore life beyond it. To walk…to find the human she had dreamed about for seasons. She had no idea how long the potion would take, so she decided to take it now before the humans wandered onto the beach as they often did.

With the tide out, there was only a small strip of water and a stretch of sand before the beach rose up. The water wasn't deep and not very wide, so she was certain she could get through it once she had legs.

Legs, the very idea made excitement tingle from the top of her head to the very fin of her tail. She struggled with the kelp plug as she pulled it from the shell and Kaoru kept her eyes on the beach and not the greenish goop in the shell. She tipped the shell up and poured the contents down her throat. She was suddenly very glad she couldn't really taste much of it because of her missing tongue. The potion settled heavy in her stomach and instantly her middle tingled as the potion was absorbed by her body. Kaoru braced herself, but nothing could prepare her for the onslaught of pain.

At first it was just a general discomfort as the warm tingling from her middle shifted to hot pain as it spread throughout her body. Her chest heaved as burning heat seared her insides around her heart. Breathing was hard for a moment as her lungs were reformed. Now and forever her body would reject water just as humans did. She found that fact frightening, but before she could dwell on it, the pain moved to her tail, and here it grew.

Horrified, she watched as her transparent fin turned brown around the edges. The clams that signaled her royal status dropped from the rotting fin as it grew slimy and rotted to brown and then black. She felt sick as she watched her body rotting as if dead. Then suddenly the fins slid off her tail to drop into the ocean. Her tail was already splitting, she could see the red raw wound at the very tip of her tail. On its own accord, her tail pulled at itself, pulling the split wider and wider.

"Naaahhh!" She cried as the pain grew. Hot tears came from her eyes. She was surprised by this, having never had tears before, but the simple fact was overshadowed by the pain. The split was halfway up her tail now and she could see the red muscles and the white of bone as it was shifting and reforming. Her beautiful blue scales were peeling back and sloughing off her body in massive chunks until there was nothing left but a raw and bleeding tail.

Scared and in pain, Kaoru clung to the rock with all her strength and cried, her voice distorted by her lack of a tongue. Her tail kept wiggling on its own, pulling itself in half more and more. It was then that the voice of the Sea Witch rose from the water.

"You must suffer the pain of silence…and the pain of innocence lost."

The ethereal voice died away as strangely as it rose up. Kaoru didn't know if the witch was near, but she didn't care, for the pain drove away any rational thought from her mind, the split reached her middle, where her scales ended and the flesh of her torso began. Here the pain was at its worse. Kaoru feared the split would go higher. Would her insides spill out like a gutted fish? The pain was such that Kaoru started to see black sunbursts and white spots. Her fingers held the rock in a death grip in case she lost consciousness, which she was very close to. The split and raw tail started to fuse together at her torso anatomy of a female was being formed, she could feel flesh bubbling up from nowhere to gather at her front and at the base of her spine.

Time had past. The sun was already climbing the sky and the morning was well underway. How long had she been suffering on the rock? She had no idea. She had screamed and cried, regardless of being overheard by a human. She just couldn't hold back the wrenching cries that came.

She could head bones grinding and popping. She could feel it, a vibration of every bone in her body and legs formed. Bones grew thicker. She could see tendons stretch and pull tight though the window the raw wound created. No matter the pain, the fascination of legs forced her to watch. At her torso skin was creeping down to cover the raw wound, it was only then that the pain was starting to ebb. But the worst was yet to come. The tips of her tail started to split again. Pain throbbed at each little split. Five on each side. But thankfully the splits didn't go far. The rods of bone that was growing this whole time snapped in two places.

A scream echoed across the beach.

Kaoru hugged at the rock as she watched the legs that had taking so long and so much pain to form only to break. She felt pressure in the other side and knew it was coming. The bones shook and snapped in two places in perfect mirror of the other. Again Kaoru screamed; a sound she had never heard uttered by any living thing. More bones formed at the breaks. Kaoru realized it was the joints that every human had. The lower break angled sharply as bones grew to connect the splits in the tail. Toes.

Suddenly, even with the pain, Kaoru was excited. No longer did she have two wiggling raw slabs of meat below her navel. Now she had something that, yes was raw and bleeding, but at least looked like legs and feet.

The skin was creeping lower and lower and the pain was starting to become a memory. She wanted to examine every new part of herself, but her strength was failing her. Pain and blood loss had drained her. The sun was well into the sky, a while longer and it would be mid-day. So much time had passed, so much pain. There was another problem, the tide was back and waves lapped at Kaoru's new limbs. The salt water stung at the open wounds, but she clenched her eyes shut and waited.

Finally, after what seemed a lifetime, the pain was gone. Kaoru slowly opened her eyes and she saw two perfect legs, knees, feet, toes and all. She was a human!

But she had no more strength. The pain of transformation had sucked it all away. A large wave crashed into her and her hold on the rock slipped and Kaoru found herself slipping right into the water. She didn't panic…not until she tried to kick her tail only to have to two new legs flail about uselessly under the water and Kaoru's head dipped under the surface. She took a breath, only to have her lungs fill with water.

The wave rushed away and Kaoru popped back up and her body violently rejected the water she had breathed. She coughed and gagged. The pain was almost like the pain of her first breath of air many years ago. Another wave came and pushed Kaoru back under the water and tumbled her about for a moment.

She didn't come this far and endured so much pain to drown a few yards from land! Angry that she couldn't tell up from down, Kaoru thrust out her hands and she suddenly felt sand. She had kicked with her legs in this instant and propelled her head right into the fine grit of the sandy bottom. She could see light above her, where the surface was, but no matter how hard she thrashed her new legs and clawed with her hands, she couldn't seem to swim. The salt water burned her eyes; prickly seaweed ebbed to and fro from the waves and tangled in her limbs and hair.

No! She couldn't drown like this in the shallows! She was so close!

… . . …

"Think you'll ever go back out to sea Kenshin-san?." Deep dark eyes turned to him and Kenshin turned away from them to gaze out at the waves.

Sand gave way under their footsteps, Tomoe's arm was wrapped around his and he gave her arm a pat with his free hand. "Soon Tomoe-san."

She gave him a pout and playfully slapped at his shoulder. "You said that months ago. I'll drag you out there myself Kenshin…I will."

One look at the set of her lips told Kenshin that she believed every word she said. Her snow-white Kimono was grey with the overcast sky, her inky hair was shiny and hung like a glossy curtain at her back. His cousin was a symbol of beauty and grace. At her side bounced a parasol tied from her obi. She wasn't using it because of the overcast day.

Likewise he was in a dark blue gi with black hakama's and had his long hair tied back. At his side was a sword. He was the opposite of his cousin.

"It's like that saying about falling off a horse, you have to get right back on." Tomoe said sternly. "You love the sea Kenshin. Even with this accident I see you gazing out at the ocean all the time. Even Sano has noticed…he said you were becoming obsessed." She muttered. "I'm tired of seeing you in white all the time."

Kenshin laughed. In truth he did miss the sea, but that was not the reason for his gazing out at it all the time. He knew Sanosuke would never utter a word to another living soul; that he had lost his mind due to being rescued by a mermaid and hearing her song. Mermaid song drove men insane, he had said…made them run back into the sea. Maybe that was why he didn't dare get any closer than the beach where the waves just lapped at their sandals. He was afraid, just not for the reason Tomoe thought.

Suddenly Tomoe froze, she grew stiff at his side. "What is it?" Kenshin said, noticing her large, dark eyes locked onto something. Kenshin glanced over and spotted something dark being licked by the foamy waves.

"Gods." Tomoe whispered.

It was then that they both realized what they were seeing. Dropping their linked arms, they rushed to the mass laying on the sandy beach. The sight of pale, naked flesh brought them up short; Kenshin was already reaching out to turn Tomoe away from the sight of a drowned body. But just as he raised his hands, they saw the motionless form take a shuttering breath.

"Alive!" Tomoe shouted as she dropped to her knees, ignoring the wet sand that would surly ruin the delicate silk of her kimono. Kenshin fell to his knees beside her and the two tore and the tangled mess of seaweed that covered the poor creature.

"It's a woman." Kenshin stated. It was obvious once they uncovered enough of her pale, naked flesh. Kenshin turned her on her back and was startled at the sight of her face. She was young, yet familiar.

"Do you know her?" Tomoe said, noticing the shocked look on his face.

"I'm not sure." Kenshin ripped at his gi, pulling it open and pulling it from his pants; he draped his gi over the girl's cold, wet body to cover some of her nakedness. Tomoe reached out and untangled a thin silver chain from the poor girl's hair and they both gasped as a large, heavy sapphire set in a silver pendent was pulled away from the tangle of midnight hair.

"She must be someone important to own such a thing." Tomoe mused before turning to Kenshin. "Don't just sit there Baka! Go get help, Hurry!"

Kenshin didn't have to be told twice. Even though he didn't want to leave her side, he took one more look at the girl before turning and bolting back the way they had come.

Tomoe fretted as the girl gave a cough, her breathing was harsh with a gurgling sound. Obvious the girl had sea water in her lungs. She petted the girl, keeping her mess of hair away from her face. "There, it's alright now, your safe now." She said in her most comforting voice. Even though the air was warm, the sun was covered by the overcast clouds, and the girl started to shiver violently. Tomoe felt her skin, it was hot…she was feverish.

There was a sound of running and Tomoe glanced up as Kenshin returned. "I called for a doctor to be sent, I'm not waiting for help." He said as his arms worked their way under the girl, he lifted her with ease, even though she was dead weight. He pressed her limp body against his bare chest. Tomoe scrambled to her feet and the pair rushed back to the estate.

"I hope we're not too late!" Tomoe cried.

A/n Gah, the trauma! I feel bad for torturing Kaoru, trust me. She and Kenshin are together now, that's all that matters to her, I'm sure. (and to you, my readers, as well) hehe. Reviews are loved! Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long to get out. Thanks for reading!