Morg: Heyo! So I know I've been updating a lot lately, but I just feel like writing.

Ikuto: Update something else.

Amu: Just because this is another T story, doesn't mean you should dog it.

Morg: I'm planning on updating some more. Just be patient.

Ikuto: Whatever.

Amu: I don't think Morg wants to own you.

~At the Water's Edge~

Amu kept herself hovering above the spot where she'd seen the man almost die. His suit was still there. On the one hand, she wanted to return it to him because it was ruining the ocean floor. On the other hand, she didn't want to do anything to make the man think of her ever again.

One of her fishes swam closer to get a better look and ended up stuck within the darn thing. That made up Amu's mind for her. No way was she going to leave that death trap on the ocean floor when it had already put Ran into danger. The red snapper was only able to escape the suit because Amu was there to help her. "Don't do that again, Ran. I want all of you to go back home and wait for me."

Amu watched as her four friends swam away from her before she gathered up the suit and lugged it through the water. How she would return it, Amu didn't know. The only option she had was to put it on the same beach that she'd left the human on. At least it wouldn't be in the water.

XXX

"What do you expect to find? Some sort of scale or something? Come on man, give it a rest."

Ikuto couldn't believe that Kukai was teasing him so much about how he survived. How could his best friend not believe him? With no options left, Ikuto convinced Kukai to go with him back to that beach so he could find some sort of proof that Amu existed. Even though the mermaid had asked that he forget about her, Ikuto just couldn't. She had saved his life and she was so beautiful. "Like I have another option? You don't believe me so of course I'm going to look for proof."

"Whatever man."

Kukai only agreed to go along because he didn't want to upset his friend any more than he already was. The man had become obsessed with legends and myths of the half human half fish creatures that were rumored to live in the ocean. Going to the beach was the least he could do to get his friend out of his funk.

Pulling to the side of the road, Kukai and Ikuto got out of their car and headed for the beach that Ikuto knew was the one that Amu had placed him on before saving his life. Somewhere on that beach had to be the proof that Amu existed. Not knowing what good it would do once he convinced Kukai, Ikuto felt like he had to.

The grass thinned and the ground went to being more sand and rock than dirt. They rounded a large boulder and froze. Before them, neatly folded and laying on the sand was the suit Ikuto had been wearing the day he went diving. The first of its kind and the one he had yet to tell his father he had lost.

Kukai sighed. "This doesn't prove that she exists."

Not knowing exactly what to say, Ikuto turned to stare at his best friend in disbelief. "Alright, then you explain how this got here and why it is folded. You can't use the ocean as a reason because those boots weigh twenty pounds each and the helmet weighs at least thirty. There is no way that the current could have pulled it off the ocean floor and even if it could, that doesn't explain why the damn thing is folded. She is real!"

Kukai knew that his friend had a point. After staring at the water without much left to argue about, he turned to his friend. "Alright, so she's real. Now what?"

Ikuto smirked. "We find out everything we can about them.

A long sigh escaped from Kukai's lips. There went the chance that Ikuto would just let the whole thing go and get back to studying real things in the ocean. Like fish that weren't supposedly half human. "Well, the good thing is now you don't have to explain to your father how you lost his brand new diving suit. I mean, the thing is top of the line equipment."

Ikuto nodded while watching the waves gently gliding up and down the sand. "Don't you find it strange that almost all other forms of technology have advanced so far and yet here we are with a suit that weighs almost as much as I do to go diving in?"

"Hey man, I just help you look at the colorful fishes. I don't mess with the gear or invent it."

Kukai had a point, though Ikuto remained silent and didn't agree or disagree. He wasn't involved with inventing the equipment he used. His father literally gave him anything he wanted as long as Ikuto agreed to take over the family business. At least when his father made him give up 'playing' in the water Ikuto could still be around the ocean considering that his family's company was shipping. Basically, his father owned the sea. All of it.

Pushing those depressing thoughts to the back of his mind, Ikuto sat down on the sand. "So what do we do now? Should we just go diving again and look for proof?"

Kukai sighed again, something he was doing a lot of lately, and sat down as well. "I don't know. Aren't you supposed to be the smart one? For now, why don't you run back to daddy and tell him how much fun diving was. Then you can act all innocent and let him know that we need to repair the suit since you had a little accident while getting back on the boat. No big deal, just need the hose to be reattached."

"How did you ever become my friend?"

"You love my energy."

"My father will be pissed and I'll probably have to agree to something stupid because of this."

Kukai only rolled his eyes before pushing himself up. "You go deal with your old man and sell another little piece of your soul and I'll do some more research on merpeople and try to figure out what our next step is in that department. We can't do any more diving until the suit is fixed anyways."

Stupid Kukai and his stupid point. "Yeah, let's go."

XXX

Ikuto stopped before the door and took a deep breath. A feeling of dread was so ingrained into his system that Ikuto didn't see himself coming out of this meeting alive. Getting the suit alone had cost him six months of his freedom. Who knew what his father was going to demand of him next.

Knocking before pushing the door open, Ikuto stepped into the large office and waited for his father to usher him forwards.

"What is it now, Ikuto?"

Rolling his eyes without his father noticing, Ikuto moved towards the enormous desk on the other side of the room. "I wanted to thank you for the opportunity of having that diving suit. Being beneath the waves was phenomenal. I just have one requ-"

"What did you do?"

"The hose became unattached while I was returning to the boat. I just need it fixed."

The older man finally looked up from his desk to study his son. They were nothing alike being that the man was not Ikuto's real father. His mother had remarried after his real father was lost at sea and this man, Ikuto's stepfather, now ran the family business. "You will go with me on a trip across the ocean or I will not have it fixed."

The punishment wasn't too harsh. Ikuto had been on plenty of these trips before. They were mostly to show him how things worked while out at sea. Some of them had been quite enjoyable. "Fine. Have it fixed before we return. How long?"

"A month."

Ikuto bit back his groan and nodded before leaving the office without saying anything more to his father.

XXX

"This sucks. You have to leave and things were just getting good. At least he is going to fix the suit for you."

Despite having numerous houses that Ikuto could live in, he chose his yacht as his abode. Kukai just happened to live with him since the boat could definitely hold more than one person without it feeling the least bit cramped. "Yeah whatever, I'll only be gone a month. I expect you to have everything ready when I return."

"Same as always. Just order me around like a slave."

"Oh I'm sorry, did you want to start paying rent?"

"The entire ship will be spotless upon your arrival!"

Ikuto smirked as he slung his bag over his shoulder and exited his home. He'd be back. Being out at sea wasn't so bad and he'd enjoy it the best he could while thinking about one particular pink haired, half fish, half human creature.

XXX

"I don't see what you see in her, little brother. She's a freak."

The young prince held back his anger as his older sister taunted him once again. "We've been over this. She has powers and I want power. Enough said."

Utau sighed as she flicked her tail once again, causing the water surrounding her to stir up. "I still say that she's a freak. I bet she's all high and mighty just because she can control the elements. How will you ever get her to become yours, Tadase?"

A not so pleasant grin filled the merman's face. "I have the perfect plant to make Amu mine, just you wait, big sis."

Letting out a groan of disbelief, Utau used her powerful tail to propel herself out of the room she and her brother were both in. There wasn't time for this. Father had told her that one of the ships that they protected was to be crossing soon. The princess liked to watch as the huge wooden object glided along the top of the water.

Without wasting a moment more on her brother and his pathetic love life, Utau swam along the bottom of the ocean. Not long into her journey, Eru and Iru, her pet fish, joined her as she swam. Though they were complete opposites, the angel fish and devil fish had both become attached to the princess and got along rather well considering the devil fish was always teasing the angel one.

They reached a rather barren area of the ocean floor before Utau stopped herself from swimming farther along. The water was shifting and the feeling of something approaching began growing in the pit of her stomach. Soon enough the ship was in her sights. Utau smiled as she looked up at it. Swimming along in the current that was left in its wake was an enjoyable game, though her father forbad any mermaid from doing it.

Utau waited until the perfect moment to push herself through the water, to burst into the rolling waves and let her body be carried as the water moved. Several times she repeated her game until she grew tired and decided to swim along in a calmer current produced by the giant wooden beast. As she stared up through the little amount of water, Utau could see the side of the boat. She was close enough to it that someone would have to look straight down into the water and stare hard to see her though she had the perfect view at anyone that stood at the railing.

People moved past. Utau had seen humans before. They were rather intriguing with their two legs, but there was little else interesting about them. Most of them couldn't swim. How pathetic.

Just as she was about to swim back home and claim innocence, a person moved to the railing of the ship and stared out over the water. Utau kept herself moving with the boat to be able to continue looking at this human. He was beautiful. Hair a dark blue and from what she could see, his body was fit and not burley like many other humans. That human was perfect and she wanted him.

.

Morg: Been a while for this one. I hope you enjoyed it.

Ikuto: Not really.

Amu: You don't enjoy anything.

Morg: I doubt that's true.

Ikuto: I could show what I enjoy

Amu: Oh look at the time! Review!