Morg: Heyo! I'm really glad that everyone is enjoying this story so far!

Ikuto: I know I would enjoy it more.

Amu: Pervert.

Morg: I don't think he said anything perverted there, Amu.

Ikuto: No, I just meant there could be some things that could be better.

Amu: I know what you mean and you are still a pervert.

Morg: Not nice.

Ikuto: Not nice at all.

Amu: And if either of you owned me, I'd care.

Morg: Harsh.

Ikuto: This calls for punishment.

~At the Water's Edge~

"You better be taking this seriously."

Kukai sighed for the fifth time during their thirty minute drive. Where was the trust friends were supposed to have in each other? "I promise that she is legit. She knows stuff about merpeople and will be able to give you information."

Rolling his eyes, Ikuto stared out his window with a slight frown on his handsome face. "If this turns out to be some cracked up chick that you did no research on and scrambled to find in the last minute you can kiss that stupid bird goodbye."

"Don't you bring Daichi into this! He's got nothing to do with you and your moodiness!"

Fighting off the feeling to smack his own face, Ikuto turned his not amused gaze on his friend. "I just want to make sure that you are taking this seriously. I had to freaking put up with that bull shit for a month just to have the suit fixed. I held up my half of the deal. You better hold up yours."

No trust at all. "Have I ever steered you wrong? Come on, Ikuto. I am taking this seriously! Just meet the chick and see for yourself. I asked all sorts of questions over the phone and she was able to answer all of them in a way that suggested that she really knew what she was talking about. I will admit that she seemed a little eager to talk to me and has a strange way of speaking, but she knows her shit."

With those words only making him feel slightly more confident about their trip to talk to this girl, Ikuto let out his own weary sigh. "I'll give her a chance, but if this isn't legit you are walking home."

"That's all I'm asking for, and I'm glad you decided that because we are here."

Ikuto turned his gaze to look at the house they were pulling up to. This couldn't possibly be the right place since it looked like an ordinary house and not someplace where a merperson expert lived. "Looks too ordinary."

"Would you just wait until we get inside before you start making your decisions?"

"I was just saying."

There came the sixth sigh. "I don't know why I even try to help you out sometimes. You are such a Debbie downer."

The sound of the seat belt hitting the side of the car was all the response Ikuto gave Kukai. There were only so many stupid comments he could take in a day and Kukai had reached his limit. Like the idiot was really the one putting up with Ikuto's behavior. If anyone was putting up with someone else it was Ikuto dealing with Kukai's stupidity.

Letting his door click shut, Kukai followed Ikuto up the front stairs of the house. This was definitely the right address for the girl. He knew that for a fact since she'd practically screamed it at him four times over the phone. "Be nice to her, Ikuto."

"I said I would give her a chance, but only one."

Kukai said nothing in return as he knocked on the door only to have it flung open two seconds later by a bouncy girl with red pigtails. "Hello, I think we spoke over the phone. I'm Kukai and this is Ikuto."

"Yaya is so happy to meet Kukai-san and Ikuto-shi! Yaya wanted Kukai-san and Ikuto-shi to come in!"

Though the outside looked rather normal, the girl that owned the place was definitely not. Ikuto could feel any hope he had for getting information during this visit to be slipping away. The actual inside of her house was much different from the outside. Ikuto was slightly impressed due to the amount of objects and tokens related to merpeople placed neatly around the room. None of it was the typical tacky stuff that some people had. Everything on display looked as if it held reliable information on the subject he was so desperate to learn more about.

Kukai nudged the man next to him. "Told you to give her a chance."

Choosing to ignore his friend completely, Ikuto continued to roam his eyes around the inside of Yaya's house. "So Yaya, what can you tell me about merpeople."

Smiling, Yaya motioned for Ikuto and Kukai to follow her to the living room couch. "Ikuto-shi is welcome to look at all of Yaya's information. Yaya is happy to share with Ikuto-shi and Kukai-san! The only thing that Yaya can tell Ikuto-shi about the merpeople that Ikuto-shi cannot read for himself here is that Ikuto-shi's father is the one making sure that humans never find out about merpeople. In return, the merpeople help Ikuto-shi's father with his ships."

"How could you possibly know that if I don't know that?"

Smiling, Yaya tapped her nose with one finger. "Because Yaya is friends with some of the merpeople. One of them works for the king fixing Ikuto-shi's father's boats when they need work from under water."

"Really? Will you tell me their names?"

"Yaya has promised not to."

Ikuto held in his sigh before he gave a small smile. "Okay then. Would it be alright if I started looking around?"

The girl started nodding her head so hard her pigtails flopped on top of her head. "Of course, Ikuto-shi! Look at anything Yaya has!"

Doing just that, Ikuto moved off the couch to examine a rather large painting on the wall of the room. He completely ignored Kukai as the other man moved to stand beside him.

"Do you believe me now?"

"Shut it, I'm reading."

"I told you that she was legit. Now you have to be nice to Daichi."

"Can it or the bird will suffer."

"You can't do anything to him."

"Say goodbye to his favorite crackers because they might just fall overboard when we get home."

"You wouldn't dare!"

"Then shut your mouth and start reading."

Kukai followed the orders, although begrudgingly, and started reading the same information that Ikuto was so they could talk about it later.

Hours later, Ikuto finally decided to call it a night. He had four books that he was going to borrow from Yaya and return at a later date. He'd also promised to be back within the week to keep looking at the things he couldn't take with him from her house. "Yaya, can I ask you one last favor?"

"Yaya wants to know."

"When you talk to your merpeople friends again, can you ask if they know anything about a mermaid named Amu?"

When the girl remained silent, Ikuto knew something was up.

Yaya took a breath before smiling. "Yaya will do as Ikuto-shi asks."

"Thanks Yaya."

With a tired wave of their hands, Kukai and Ikuto left the house for their car. Once again, Kukai slipped behind the steering wheel and waited for Ikuto to buckle as the other boy shuffled the books in his lap until he could get his belt to click.

"So are we going home?"

Ikuto nodded his head before leaning back a little in his seat. "Yes, but tomorrow I'll be going to visit my stepfather."

"Sounds like a good idea to me. I bet he knows a lot about this subject. I wonder why he's never mentioned it to you before."

"Because he's a bastard."

"The man funds everything we do. Be just a little more grateful."

"I'll be grateful when he finally dies and I can sell everything. I knew something wasn't right about the way he was the only one to have ships running on any sort of body of water. This just explains it."

"Don't go in their all pissy. You know he'll just take away more of your freedom."

"Let him try."

Kukai let his eyes slide from the road to look at his friend. "I'm serious. Don't go causing trouble that you don't need. We already have our hands full with the diving you want to do and the information we are finding."

Shifting the books nestled in his lap, Ikuto stared straight ahead to avoid Kukai's gaze. "I get it. I'll just ask him politely and then ask to meet one of them. Sound fair?"

Finally satisfied, Kukai turned back to the road in time to make their turn for the pier. He was more than ready to snuggle with his bird and get some shut eye before getting up to get ready for their dive the following day. Hopefully they would find something that would make Ikuto happy so he wouldn't just storm into his father's office. "Night man."

"Yeah, get some shut eye. We have work to do tomorrow."

"Aye Aye Captain."

Rolling his eyes, Ikuto just moved past the other man to climb aboard his yacht to head for bed. He would deal with his lying stepfather another time.

XXX

Swishing her tail, Rima gazed at her lover. The fact that he had to leave for another stupid trip for the worthless humans and their ships had her angry. She wanted him home with her. Not out in the ocean where she didn't know what could happen to him. "Are you coming back this time?"

Nagihiko smiled to his wife before flicking his tail to close the distance between them. "I'll always come back to you."

"Who says I'm always going to want you back?"

Taking the feisty mermaid in his arms, Nagi placed a soft kiss on her lips. "I love you, Rima. I promise I'll be safe and come back soon. I have to go now or I'll be late."

Pouting, but only just a little, Rima hugged her husband back before kissing him a little harder than he'd kissed her. "You better come back safe or you're going to be in a heap of trouble."

Smiling as he pulled away, Nagi blew his wife a kiss as he swam out the door. Going on these trips was mandatory for the mermen the king picked. Nagi just happened to be one of the men the king wanted to be working on keeping the ships safe. The job wasn't so bad. He just had to swim along with the ship and make sure no damage was done to it. There had only been one time when a sea creature had attempted to attack a ship that Nagi was guarding. He'd managed to fend it off with the others in his group without being injured. A couple of other mermen weren't so lucky.

Rima hadn't been pleased when she'd heard about it and frequently warned her husband that he best be careful or she was going to hurt him herself. Nagi never underestimated her threats. Rima was perfectly capable with following through with any that she made.

With her husband now gone, Rima felt her house was too empty. Not a few moments later, she was on her way out the door to visit a friend. One that most other merpeople avoided like a puffer fish with poisonous spikes. Something Rima never understood considering how awesome she found Amu to be.

Swimming to the pinkette's house took Rima a good hour. Amu lived far from any other merperson. Something Rima knew was a good thing despite how inconvenient it was. Not to mention the octopus that tended to make other merpeople freeze in their spots when they got too close to the house.

As always, Rima was halted by eight long arms. She didn't have to move before a voice floated through the water.

"Let her in, Su. You know I don't like it when you stop Nagi and Rima. Heck, I've never asked you to stop anyone. Crazy octopus."

The motherly fish let Rima by while rubbing a long tentacle on her as if she was apologizing. Smiling, Rima patted the octopus as she swam by. "Don't worry about it, Su. I would be protective too."

The octopus twirled in the water before darting off to lurk somewhere else. Rima didn't doubt that one of the other three fish were watching her now that Su was off to scout more of the surrounding area.

Finding Amu in her small house, Rima swam right in and settled on the floor of Amu's kitchen. "Nagihiko left for another trip."

"I'm sorry to hear that, Rima. I know how much you miss him when he leaves."

"Whatever! He can be gone as long as he wants as long as he freaking comes back in one piece."

Amu sighed as she grabbed some of the edible coral she had stored in her kitchen and joined Rima. "Don't say that. I know he's going to be fine and it's okay to miss him."

Rima let out her own sigh as she flopped back to lie on Amu's floor. "Stupid Nagi making me fall so far in love with him it hurts when I can't be near him. Forget the king and his stupid tasks! I want my husband!"

Smiling, Amu moved herself so that she was seated next to Rima's head. Pulling the long, blonde hair onto her scaly lap, Amu began to run her fingers through the shimmering mess. A few braids were added here and there just so Amu's fingers would have more to do.

Rima complained a little more before she fell silent and just listened as Amu hummed a song for her. "I wish you could find someone that wasn't an asshole so that you could be happy too, Amu."

Wanting to desperately change the subject before Rima started attempting to convince Amu to try dating, Amu randomly said the first thing that came to mind. She instantly regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth and floated into the water. "I saved a human from drowning about a month ago."

"What!"

.

Morg: So this wasn't the original fourth chapter. I was about halfway through the fourth chapter when I realized that I needed this information in the fourth chapter. So I had to stop writing that and write this to post.

Ikuto: So basically the chapter you were writing will be the fifth chapter.

Amu: Sounds about right.

Morg: Wrong! It'll most like be the sixth. Possibly even the seventh.

Ikuto: Either way, this story is a lame T story.

Amu: Not lame! I like this one a lot!

Morg: I'll let the readers decide if it's good! Review!