Chapter 1

Allen awoke with a start, panting and thrashing about, heart hammering away borderline heart attack fast. He'd had the nightmare that he always had from the time he turned twelve. Nothing was ever said, of course, but what he could see spoke louder than words ever could. It was always the same scene: a city leveled to rubble and charred remains, trees and houses and people burned to the ground. In the middle, he saw himself standing next to a man he could never identify but knew he was close to, both of them battle-worn and wielding swords, the man having a katana and himself a large broadsword, and they were always fighting a large, fat, messed up in the head clown freak, who had a negative of Allen's sword. It always began and ended the same way, in the same spots like a fixed point or a broken record; Allen and the mystery man rushing at the clown and engaging in what seemed like the final battle, fighting for what seemed like an eternity, then Allen and the man realize they'd have to sacrifice themselves in order to win. Miraculously, they killed the freak without dying, but somehow the already destroyed city gave way, exploding and revealing a creature worse than the clown they'd just disposed of… a dragon.

At that point in the battle it was just them two, everyone else having died already, so it didn't take long for them to fall, and though the dream faded out at that point, he always got the feeling that there was more to it than his dreams showed. Sighing, he stretched and got off his bed, deciding there was no point in trying to figure it out. He let himself lean back and observed the roof of the cave that was his home. There was plant and other sea life growing on there, tiny little creatures that reflected the silver of his scales. Feeling a tickling at his fins, he glanced down, seeing the smaller bottom feeders glide over his tail. His tail… the tail that reflected he was a prince, that he was nobility and therefore higher and more worthy than any other merfolk. Silver scales that seemed to glow and change colors with the sun whenever he decided to sunbathe in his secluded oasis… silver scales that set him apart and set him up for trouble almost every second of every day he lived.

A loud bang resonated throughout the cave, startling him out of his daydream. He turned around swiftly, barely readying himself for his rather sudden visitor... high priestess of the Atlantic… his mother.

"So you're awake this time, huh?" was her form of greeting him.

"Yes, mistress." Was all he responded. It was all he could respond, really. She was his mother, but he wasn't allowed to address her as such. She hated him after all.

"Good. It's about time. I will be very busy today, so I can't spare a second to baby you. I expect you to be at the palace an hour earlier today, for… formal meetings of the high priestess of the Pacific and her daughter, so be on your best." She glanced around the cave looking disgusted before settling her eyes on him. "Try to keep quiet, will you?" she said, turning and letting him be.

Allen sighed. "Great… one hour of freedom, stolen… what to do…?" he said as he swam out of his cave. Looking to the west, he pondered whether to go or not before racing out towards his most favorite spot, much faster than his mother ever would be able to. Racing out, chasing after fleeting dreams that he knew would never be but hoped for anyway, almost tasting them…

There! He could see the cliff already, way in the distance, and the wooden beams supporting the dock of the house that he'd practically become obsessed with for the past few months. Slowing down as he drew closer to the human home, he swam up to a long, thin rock, slowly swimming to the surface and peeking his head barely above the surface of the water, making sure he couldn't be seen from the second floor window of the home. The sun was just barely peeking above the horizon now, morning having just arrived. Inside the home, its three occupants were only just beginning to stir, about to begin their day. Hearing a loud bang, followed by yelling, Allen knew another day had begun for them, and he smiled, getting comfortable.

Kanda groaned as he stirred in his bed, awakened by his internal alarm clock, as usual one hour before his actual alarm was set to go off. He glanced at his window and sighed. Through it, he could see the sun barely starting to peek out over the horizon. He got up and headed for his bathroom, grabbing a towel off a rack and undressing to shower. For the past few months now he'd been waking up with the feeling that someone was watching him from outside his window, which was ridiculous. His room was on the second floor of his house, all the way to the back of the house, which sat at the edge of a large rock that overlooked the ocean. The house itself was next to the mouth of a river, but the back of the house sat facing the ocean, and the only thing that was solid behind the house was the dock that had been built two years after he moved in.

Chalking it off to be just his imagination, he stepped out of the shower and into his room, welcomed by the sight of his room bathed completely in the early morning sunlight. His room itself was a moderate size, not too small but not very big either, but considering his small amount of belongings and how he'd set up his things about his room, the small space looked to be very large. The dominating feature of his room was the one window facing the ocean, not because of the ocean but because the window itself was so large it took up over half of the wall itself, so much so that he had a pretty large view of the ocean in its full glory, and all behind his house.

Kanda shook his head, trying to clear it. His alarm was set to go off any minute now, considering he'd been standing in the middle of the room staring like an idiot for a good half hour, which meant he only had one more hour he could waste before he had to worry about being late to school. Classes began at eight sharp, but since he lived ten minutes away from school, he could just as easily wait until seven, even seven thirty and still be able to walk to school and make it on time. Recently though, school hadn't really been his main priority.

He got dressed, shut off his alarm before it went off, then after eating a light breakfast, he walked out of the house and sat on the edge of their dock, easily and quickly getting lost in the beauty of the calm waves of the ocean. He distantly heard his caretakers leave, one then the other, then there was absolute silence. The hours melted away without his noticing.

Allen was worried. He'd been watching the humans for the past seven hours, and the youngest had yet to even move. He still wasn't sure how they measured their days, but he was absolutely positive that today was one of the days when they were all gone for most of the day. The male human that had sat on the dock seemed to have been completely lost in thought from the moment he set foot outside his home, and hadn't moved to eat or drink or anything. Granted, Allen himself hadn't moved either, but he didn't need to eat thrice a day to function properly.

The human shuffled on the dock, positioning himself so he was a bit more comfortable, snapping Allen out of his own thoughts. 'Maybe he'll finally go inside...' Allen thought. He didn't really want the human to go, but he had to eat something eventually, and if he stayed outside any longer, he'd probably end up falling asleep there. Once again, the human moved, this time sighing as he closed his eyes and rubbed his face with his hands.

"What time is it..." he muttered to himself, moving to get the strange rectangular device out of his pocket. Glancing at it, he seemed to freeze as he stared at it in shock.

"WHAT?! SHIT! There's no way... What?!" he finally said as he shot up on the dock, gripping the device hard enough to make it crack. "How..."

Another noise resounded nearby, of something falling against something. Footsteps could be heard, harsh and determined, a panicked look crossing the human's face as the sound neared.

"KANDA YUU, YOU HAVE SOME SERIOUS EXPLAINING TO DO!" he heard a woman yell out moments before she came to stand on the dock.

The human that Allen now knew was named Kanda stood before the woman silently, which apparently was not the right answer.

"Well? What exactly was so important that you had to skip a day of school and sit out here for, what, seven hours? What were you doing? Jacking off?" said the woman.

Kanda blushed slightly at her words. "No, I... don't have a reason. I just lost track of time..." he all but mumbled, looking to the side in what could only be described as shame.

The woman raised her eyebrows. "Seriously? Lost track of time? What kind of excuse is that?" she said.

"It's the truth, okay? I came out here to enjoy the view and got lost in thought." Kanda said, snapping his gaze back to the woman's, holding it this time.

"For seven hours?" Allen couldn't see the woman's face, but her voice said she didn't believe him.

"Yes. I don't know how, so don't even ask, but yes." he once again flushed with embarrassment, but he held her gaze.

The woman stayed silent as they stared each other down, finally sighing as she seemingly accepted his answer. "Fine. But you can forget about having Mugen this weekend." she said, walking away.

"What?! You barely let me have it as it is!" Kanda protested, walking after the woman.

"Well, you should've thought about that! This isn't the first time you just 'lose track of time'! You want your Mugen? Get your shit straight!" she said, slamming the door shut, effectively ending the conversation.

Kanda sighed, returning to the edge of the dock, for the first time noticing the odd rippling of the water by the rock. He moved to the side trying to get a better view, meeting Allen's gaze long enough to realize there was someone there.

'Shit! He saw me!' was all Allen could think as he quickly ducked back behind the rock, hoping that maybe the human wouldn't try to make him come out or something. Well, he'd never been that lucky.

"Hey, you!"

'No such luck, huh?' Allen thought, sighing as he allowed himself to sink into the water further, wondering in a somewhat dull fashion just how screwed he really was.

"Come out! I saw you; don't try to hide!" Kanda hollered out, the boom of his voice making Allen flinch.

He peeked his head out again, looking at Kanda shyly, flinching as he was met with a powerful glare from the human.

"Out. NOW." he ground out, motioning with his finger for Allen to go to him.

Allen shook his head rapidly, not having the courage to speak, fearing what might happen if he lost control of it.

"What? What do you mean no? Get over here, dumbass! Shouldn't you be in school, kid?" Kanda said, effectively pissing Allen off.

"Me? What about you?" he said, pushing himself up so he half sat, half lay on the rock, making sure his tail couldn't be seen from above the water. Turning to look at Kanda, he crossed his arms over the top of the rock, returning Kanda's glare heartily.

Kanda blushed slightly at Allen's comment, knowing the boy had probably heard the earlier conversation. "That's none of your business, kid. Get over here, now." He said, trying to recover whatever scraps of his dignity he could.

Remembering why they were talking at all, Allen instantly shrunk back in the water, once again nervous.

"No! Why do you want me out so bad anyway?" he said, peeking out at Kanda again.

"Why do you want to stay in the water?" Kanda countered.

The answer was too easy for Allen. "I like the water, is that so bad?" he said, hoping that he'd leave it at that.

Thankfully, the woman's voice came from an open window, calling out, "Oi, ponytail! I know you have homework; get your ass in here and start studying!"

The split second Kanda turned around was more than enough for Allen to dive down into the water and make a mad dash for the dock, diving to hide under it. He could hear a conversation above him, muffled by the water, no longer shouts of disdain from either Kanda or the strange woman who'd shown up upset. He watched carefully as the two figures walked about on the dock, and took great care not to move too much lest he be noticed. After ten agonizing minutes in which he could tell the human was looking for him, he finally saw him move away from the edge and walk towards his home. Allen let out a deep sigh of relief, letting himself relax as he prepared to swim back to the city. Apparently, the split second he was relaxed was also more than enough for the human, for it was in that instant that Allen felt a warm hand close around his arm, pulling him up and out of the water. He didn't even have enough time to cry out as he was lifted out of the water and onto the dock, into the sun and out in plain view.

"What the hell...?"

Allen kept his eyes fixed on the wood of the dock. What else could he do? There was no way he was going to be able to explain what he was, no way the human would believe him.

"Oi... are you serious?" Kanda asked. When Allen didn't respond, nor even glance up at him, Kanda grabbed his chin and forced his face up, earning a growl from the boy.

"Answer me, you. What the hell is this?" Kanda demanded.

"What's it look like, idiot?" was Allen's response, finally looking up to lock eyes with him.

Kanda was left in a state of dazed shock, mainly an effect of looking so deeply into Allen's shockingly bright silver eyes, so it took him a good minute to work out exactly what it was that Allen was insinuating.

"Wait a minute, you don't actually expect me to believe that this..." Kanda said, trailing off as he took a more careful look at Allen's tail.

"Yes, why do you think I didn't want to come out? The water is cold, you know." Allen said, watching with interest as Kanda stared at his fins with the open curiosity of a child.

"It's real?" Kanda said quietly, poking one of his side fins and marveling at how it twitched and shied away from him, then looking up at Allen as he let out a small giggle at the contact.

"You believe me?" Allen said. He wasn't ignorant; he knew there were substances and disguises that humans could use to mimic his appearance.

"No human could bend their legs in that angle." Kanda said, gesturing at the manner in which Allen's tail curved towards his front rather than bend and curve behind him. "Or have their legs be that slim..."

Allen watched as Kanda sated his curiosity of him, poking and fondling and caressing his tail whichever way he chose, not once objecting. It felt nice, to have him touch him in such a manner, and aside from warning him against a specific area, he wasn't in any way ashamed of letting the human touch him.

They both lost track of time very quickly, Allen in watching Kanda, and Kanda in observing Allen's tail. It wasn't until the sun started to set that Allen remembered where he'd been expected at that day.

"Shit... No, damn it, how could I forget?!" Allen hissed out, his tail snapping back suddenly, twitching in what Kanda recognized to be fear.

"Forget what?" Kanda asked carefully. He didn't want the boy to leave just yet, but at the same time he felt it was about time he went back to the ocean.

"I was supposed to be at the castle two hours ago... Damn, she's going to kill me...!" Allen said, rambling on about some "meeting", his tail twitching more and more the more agitated the boy became.

"She can't be that terrible..." Kanda said, instantly snapping Allen out of his rambling.

"She is. Believe me, she is... no one ever dares defy her, if they do... what will I tell her?" Allen said, once again trailing off into another ramble.

"Why don't you leave then, if you're so afraid of her?" Kanda asked.

Allen shook his head. "I can't, I've tried before... she always finds me. Last time I tried to leave, she banished me from the kingdom. I'm only allowed in for those meetings... I have to go..."

Kanda watched him as he thought of how to get out of any more trouble. "Will you be alright?" he asked.

Allen looked at him. "Yes... I suppose so. It's not like she can do anything worse to me anyway..." sighing, Allen flipped his tail against the dock, launching himself back into the water, coming back up to talk again to Kanda.

"Sorry about earlier... You could sense me, I know... I didn't mean to distract you for so long." he said.

Kanda chuckled. "It's alright... I've done worse, at any rate." he watched him for a moment, pondering whether or not to ask, but ended up asking anyway when the boy made a move to dive back under. "What's your name?"

Allen looked at him, surprised, before he too chuckled, answering. "Allen. It's Allen. And you're Kanda, right?"

"Yeah... hey, listen, come back if you can, ok?" Kanda said, flushing ever so slightly.

Once again, Allen seemed surprised. Then, he smiled, and Kanda's blush intensified. "Ok... I will. Until next time, then." he said.

"Yeah... See you then..." Kanda said, watching as he dove and swam away, the flash of his scales dimming the further away and down he went. He stood, watching as the sun set, mind blissfully blank, until one single thought shattered his inner peace and composture. 'He was beautiful...'

So, here's the new and improved (I hope) version of chapter one. I know I took forever, I'm terrible ... Let me know what you guys think!