Morg: Heyo! So this is for Sarosh for her birthday! Happy birthday!

Ikuto: So basically you ignore us completely when you want but the moment someone mentions a birthday or requests a chapter you get right to it?

Amu: Sounds about right.

Morg: Hey now! I update for no reason sometimes!

Ikuto: When was the last time you did that?

Amu: You know, if she did own us nothing would ever happen because she's just too lazy.

Morg: Touché.

~At the Water's Edge~

Ikuto did not like the look on the face of the man beside him one bit. Ever since he mentioned to his boat mate that Amu had a prince trying to get close to her, Kukai had put a goofy grin on his face and was in way too happy of a mood. "If you don't knock that shit off I'm going to kick you out of the car without stopping."

Turning his head only slightly so that Kukai was still looking at Ikuto from the corner of his eye with his creepy smile in place, the boat dweller couldn't help but just cheese up his expression even more. "Can't a man be happy that is best friend finally has an interest in a girl? Even if the whole things seems a bit… fishy?"

Groaning, Ikuto searched the ditch along the side of the road for anything to slam his car into. If he hit it right, he could walk away without a scratch while Kukai was left severely injured and unable to make ridiculous puns. "How long have you been thinking of that one?"

"All day."

"You just couldn't help yourself, could you?"

Lacing his fingers together behind his head, Kukai leaned back against his seat in a pleased manner. "Don't be jealous because you didn't think of it first."

Sending a rather pointed look at his friend before focusing once more on the road, Ikuto had to refute that statement and make himself perfectly clear. "I will never, I repeat never, be jealous of you for any reason ever."

Having the type of personality that gave him the ability to hear what he wanted and take whatever was said to him in any way that he wanted, Kukai decided to just keep his smug look on his face as he watched the dark scenery slip by their car. Too bad that Yaya chick couldn't live closer to them.

Knowing that he actually had no effect on the mindset of the man in his passenger seat, Ikuto looked for more objects to hit in order to kill the other. The desire to see Yaya was the only thing keeping Kukai alive at the moment though that didn't mean Ikuto wasn't going to think about the possibilities. Oh yes, the possibilities. Like that fence post, or the mailbox that looked as though it had a strong base. Let's not forget the telephone pole that looked more than promising.

Ikuto was so caught up in imagining a certain man's death over and over again he almost missed the turn for Yaya's driveway. Luckily he remembered before Kukai seemed to notice his almost mistake. "Come on, I don't think she knows we're coming."

Kukai was about to reply to that statement when the door of the house was flung open and Yaya stood just inside the small building with a giant smile on her face.

"Yaya was waiting for you to come back!"

Chuckling, Kukai nudged Ikuto with his shoulder. "You were saying?"

Calming himself by imagining the satisfaction of wrapping his hands around the sides of Kukai's head and snapping the man's neck, Ikuto tried to remind himself that his anger really wasn't to be directed at Kukai. His friend really hadn't done anything wrong, Ikuto was just frustrated in general and Kukai was just an easy target.

"Hey Yaya! We're here because Ikuto wants to ask you more questions and figure out how to hook up with the fish he wants to catch."

Then again, maybe Kukai was the right target. "You'll be walking back."

Sighing, Kukai just followed the other man into the house. He knew that he wasn't going to be walking back, but sometimes Ikuto was too much of a stick in the mud.

Yaya was more than happy to let the two men into her house. Ikuto had even brought back some of her books. "Ikuto-san wants to go fishing?"

Deciding it best to just ignore the question, Ikuto placed the books he'd brought on the table before seating himself on Yaya's couch. "What can you tell me about Prince Tadase?"

The rather energetic girl seemed to lose a bit of spunk for about a second. A second that Ikuto noticed despite the girl shaking her head and smiling once more. "Yaya doesn't know much more than what Yaya's friends tell her. Yaya does know that Prince Tadase-kun isn't one to like being seen as weak. Prince Tadase-kun seems to like having power."

Kukai joined the two sitting in the living room before crossing his arms over his chest. "Bummer, even though the dudes a prince he's still power hungry. Bet he doesn't have many friends."

Yaya giggled as her pigtails swayed to the shaking of her head. "Yaya's friends say that the prince only has his sister."

"You mean Utau."

Pausing, Yaya turned to look over at Ikuto with a slightly surprised look on her young face. "Ikuto-shi knows Utau-chan?"

"I had to meet her when my stepfather took me out to sea with him and showed me the merpeople. That's partly what led to us coming here last time. That and Amu saved my life when I about drowned."

"Amu-chi saved Ikuto-shi's life? Ikuto-shi is very lucky Amu-chi was there!"

Nodding his head, Ikuto had to agree. "That I know, so what do you know of the royal brats?"

Fiddling with her fingers, Yaya tried to figure out the best way to describe the two. Her source wasn't exactly unbiased when it came to talking about the royal family. "Yaya has heard that Utau-chan and Tadase-kun are very spoiled and get anything they want. King-sama will give them anything."

"So let's say that Tadase wants Amu, what would he have to do?"

"Amu-chi is different. Amu-chi is not under the rule of King-sama. King-sama is afraid of Amu-chi. Tadase-kun would not be able to get Amu-chi that way."

Rather pleased to hear that, Ikuto relaxed a bit. Amu had mentioned that the prince was attempting to court her but since the kiddy-king could do nothing via his father to accomplish his means then that meant that Amu could reject him all she wanted. "Good to know."

Yaya nodded happily, pleased to have told something to Ikuto that he didn't already know. Yaya liked having valuable information to share, especially with new friends.

After a few seconds of silence, Kukai decided that neither of the others were going to talk again until he finally said something. "So, Yaya, can you tell us any interesting stories that you have heard from your merperson friend that you liked?"

Ikuto scowled a bit at his friend. This wasn't the direction that he wanted the conversation to go, even if it had died a bit. The look on Yaya's face, however, kept him from interrupting.

Yaya about flew out of here chair. Kukai always seemed to ask such interesting questions. "Yaya has heard the tale of the Tear. Have Kukai-san or Ikuto-shi heard anything about the Tear?"

"Tear? Like when someone is crying? That sort of tear?"

Yaya nodded her head vigorously before jumping out of her chair and racing from the room. Ikuto and Kukai had only a moment to exchange looks before the girl was back with a picture that looked to be hand drawn.

"Did you draw that, Yaya?"

Smiling, Yaya nodded once more. "Yaya's friend told the story and Yaya wrote it down. Later, Yaya added pictures!"

Kukai took the book that the younger girl offered before flipping a couple of pages. The artwork wasn't horrible. "Cool."

Yaya blushed a bit before focusing back on Ikuto while Kukai looked at her book. "Ikuto-shi can take the book to look at it! Yaya does not mind! The Tear was created by Mirene-sama! Mirene-sama was a powerful mermaid that fell in love with a human boy! Mirene-sama wanted to be with him but couldn't because Mirene-sama was a mermaid! Mermaids are not humans!"

If it wasn't for the interesting content behind what the girl was saying, Ikuto would have been rather annoyed by the girl stating the obvious. "So what happened with Mirene-sama and her human boy?"

"Mirene-sama loved him and he loved Mirene-sama but they could not be together so Mirene-sama used her powers to create the Tear after Mirene-sama's boy died. Mermaids live longer than humans of course so Mirene-sama was so sad. She put all her power into the only Tear she cried. Since merpeople don't cry, it was strange for Mirene-sama to cry that tear!"

Ikuto couldn't help but wonder what sort of power Mirene had to put into that Tear and what it could do. "Do you know anything else about it?"

"Yaya doesn't know much. Ikuto-shi can read the story in Yaya's book!"

Kukai continued to flip through the rather long book to see the pictures that Yaya drew along with reading a few words here and there. The girl did a pretty nice job of creating the thing. "Thanks for letting us use it."

Yaya smiled happily as Ikuto and Kukai pushed up off the couch. "Yaya would love for Ikuto-shi to read it!"

Ikuto couldn't help but wonder what sort of power Mirene had to put into that Tear and what it could do. "Do you know anything else about it?"

"Yaya doesn't know much. Ikuto-shi can read the story in Yaya's book!"

Kukai continued to flip through the rather long book to see the pictures that Yaya drew along with reading a few words here and there. The girl did a pretty nice job of creating the thing. "Thanks for letting us use it."

Yaya smiled happily as Ikuto and Kukai pushed up off the couch. "Yaya would love for Ikuto-shi and Kukai-san to come back and talk more soon!"

Heading for the door after making certain that Kukai still had the book in his possession, Ikuto smiled at the girl. "Thank you again, Yaya. We'll be back soon. I promise to take good care of your book."

Waving, Yaya only smiled. "Yaya knows that Ikuto-shi will do a good job!"

Kukai simply saluted towards the girl that giggled at him before climbing back into Ikuto's car. The book being the reason he was indeed getting a ride back. The bird owner wasn't as stupid as he looked. Holding the book meant that he got to be in the car.

Ikuto didn't bother with the speed limit on his way back to their boat. He was rather interested in learning about what that book held in the form of its story. Something told to Yaya by a merperson them. A story that was more than likely not just a myth. Ikuto wanted to know what it was about. He wanted to know more about the Tear and what it could do. "I would like to read that as soon as we get back so if you want to look it over a bit now that's fine."

Kukai nodded before turning on his light and flipping through the pages some more. He'd have plenty of time to read it properly once Ikuto was done scouring the pages. "Seems interesting."

Ikuto didn't reply as they sped through the night. The journey home seemed to take a significantly less amount of time than the ride to Yaya's. Once he was home, however, Ikuto wasn't able to start reading the book right away like he had wanted to. Hanging from the door of their boat was a note for the owner. One that said that Ikuto had a meeting with his beloved stepfather and if he refused or skipped it then the boat would be taken away from him.

Angered, Ikuto ripped the small note from the door before storming inside. He didn't have to go until the next day, but a meeting with his stepfather only meant that he was about to do something he didn't want to or was about to lose some more of his freedom. "Just fucking great."

Seeing the state of the other and figuring out why without reading the crumpled paper on the floor, Kukai brought Yaya's work into the boat without wanting to make Ikuto's mood worse. "I'm sure it'll be nothing."

Ikuto slammed his door in response.

.

Morg: Whoa! More plot reveled! I hope you enjoyed that.

Ikuto: Whatever.

Amu: I wasn't in this chapter so it's fine.

Morg: You were referenced!

Ikuto: People read this crap for Amuto.

Amu: I would argue but you have a point.

Morg: And that epicness is coming! Especially since I got the plot moving with the introduction of the legend! You'll find out more later! Let me know what you think!