Morg: Heyo! Sorry not sorry it has been a while.

Ikuto: Are you going with the grad school excuse?

Amu: She needs better excuses.

Morg: Naw, man. I just have been pretty lazy when it comes to this fic.

Ikuto: Don't we know it.

Amu: You might as well quit. Not like we care.

Morg: One day, I'll own you. Then you'll have to care.

Ikuto: Probably not.

~At the Water's Edge~

Traveling through the ocean was no easy feat. Especially for the group of mismatched merpeople. Utau, Kairi, Tadase and Amu had to continue swimming north in dangerous waters-dangerous because they were unknown-while carrying all the supplies. It was difficult because Utau was still a little out of it due to her injuries, Amu was still recovering from using her powers and Tadase wouldn't stop complaining about everything.

Amu desperately wanted to tell the prince to shut up, but she knew it would be overstepping the bounds of their working relationship. The only reason she knew that everything was working was because Tadase wasn't trying to tie her up to make her do whatever he wanted.

Their companion fish stuck close to them as the water grew colder with every swish of their tails. Moving north wasn't exactly the best idea. They had to find Ikuto and the others. Amu had promised that they would and she wasn't one to go back on her promises.

Tadase shrugged the pack that he was carrying higher onto his back. He hated it. He was a prince and shouldn't be made to do such trivial work. They should have brought more servants. "Hindsight is a bitch when it bites you in the ass. We should have brought more servants for this endeavor. Then we wouldn't have been taken captive and I wouldn't have to carry this shit."

Sighing, Utau turned around to face her little brother. He was beyond annoying and she hated him more than ever for it. "What sucks is having to listen to you complain like a little bitch. This is the situation and this is what's happening. Quit complaining about it and just swim."

"Well, I don-"

"I swear to fucking anything higher than me that if you don't shut up I'll feed you to the next sea monster and everyone will say you died in an attack."

The rant left Utau a bit breathless.

It also left Amu and Kairi to trade amused looks. Seeing the siblings away from their usual power and standing was quite interesting. Out in the northern bits of the untamed ocean, they were all on equal footing, so to speak.

Pushing his glasses into place, Kairi didn't bother to look at either the prince or the princess. "I believe that we should travel in silence for a bit."

Holding back her laughter at that, Amu set her things down onto the bottom of the ocean. They were staying close to it for the time being. That way nothing could surprise them out of its depths. "Let's take a short break."

No one argued as they also dropped their things onto the sandy bottom. Amu was thankful for their silence. She wanted to use it to her advantage as she settled to sit. Days had passed since the encounter with the sprites. Amu was quickly recovering, but she wasn't all the way there. Traveling with the other three and so much to carry did that to her. They'd taken far too much from the sprite's camp. Even after leaving some of the unneeded stuff behind, they still had a lot to carry.

Sighing, the pinkette swished some of her hair out of her face. Su nudged against her side. Amu stroked the creature's side as she began to relax her mind. She wasn't planning to try and use her powers so soon, but she wanted to find the others. Being alone with the two royals-not Kairi because she actually liked him-was starting to wear her thin. Amu wanted to be away from them, or at least have others around, too.

Sighing out again, Amu further relaxed her mind. She felt the water moving around her. The waves lapping and the currents drifting. The ocean was so large, but she was only feeling a small part of it. Slowly, she pushed further out. Amu was looking for boats. She wanted to find Ikuto's yacht. Then she could take them there.

Nothing was in the water but fish for several miles. Amu didn't know where she was in regards to the ship so she couldn't just push further out in one direction. She had to move in all directions. Her bubble grew bigger and bigger as she pressed her powers out further.

Tiredly, Amu tried once more. Just one more push and then she'd give up until tomorrow. There. There was something on the water. It wasn't exactly north of them, but if they changed their direction just slightly then they'd find whatever it was. Amu knew it was some sort of boat or ship. She just couldn't be sure that it was Ikuto. "We have to go that way."

Kairi pushed his glasses up on his face again before nodding. "Then we'll go that way."

The look Utau sent Tadase kept him from speaking.

XXX

Yaya let out another sigh as she sat on the edge of the small ship. Her feet dangled over the edge as she leaned her torso against the bars. Her chin rested on the middle one as she stared out at the water. Even if she was the only one at the railing, Yaya knew that the others were just as eager as she was to see Amu return. Yaya hoped that the mermaid would have a certain merman with her.

Even if she had known before that Kairi was in that sort of trouble, Yaya knew that she wouldn't have been able to change anything that was happening. Still, as she sat at the railing and stared into the ocean for any speck of pink or green, she imaged herself swooping in to save the day.

In the middle of a particularly vivid scene of her slapping the merman prince, Yaya found herself staring at several faces swimming along the side of the ship. For a moment, she dismissed them as being Rima and Nagi. Then she remembered that they weren't in the water, but on the ship with her. "Amu-chan!"

Grinning up at the other girl, Amu lifted her hand to wave at Yaya. "Tell them to stop. It's hard to keep up."

Scrambling away from the railing, Yaya put her loud voice to good use. "Stop! Ikuto-shi! Stop the boat!"

Popping his head out of the top cabin, Kukai looked down to see Yaya leaning over the railing. He didn't have to ask to know who she was talking to. Instead, he hit the right buttons to make the ship come to a stop as Dachi let out a squawk from where he was perched. "Yeah, I know buddy. They found us."

Ikuto was out the door of the ship just before Rima dragged herself out behind him. He was anxious to see why Yaya was calling for them to stop. Part of him already knew, but he wasn't going to let himself hope when he might get crushed for it. "What is it?"

Grinning, Amu dipped down into the water to motion to the other three to come up. It was Ikuto's boat after all. "Request to come aboard, Captain."

Leaning over the railing of the boat, blue clashed with gold. Ikuto grinned as he looked down at Amu. "For you, my lady, always."

Other heads rose out of the ocean near Amu, but Ikuto's eyes stayed on hers. "Kukai! Let's get the rope and pull them up!"

The first mate was already at work with the rope. There was a loop at one end of it. That way, the merperson in the water could wear it around their chest with their arms through as the people on the boat pulled them up. It was an easier way to get them aboard. Less wet, too. "Already on it!"

It didn't take long to have everyone aboard the ship. Ikuto wasn't all that happy to see Utau, but she seemed more than happy to see him. She kept trying to get close to him and talk with him. Ikuto wasn't interested. What he was interested in was the pinkette that was still in the ocean. Amu was putting the fish into the hold before she came to ride the rope up to the deck.

Waiting until Amu gave a thumbs up to show that she was ready, Ikuto couldn't help but smile down at the mermaid again. "Ready?"

Amu nodded while making sure the rope was around her but wasn't going to hurt her. "Yeah, I think so."

Turning to look over his shoulder, Ikuto nodded towards Kukai and Nagi. They were both helping him pull the rope. "All right. Last one! Heave!"

Slowly, Amu was lifted out of the water. She laughed as they got her up to the railing of the ship. It was quite the experience to be in the air like she was. "I wasn't sure that this was your ship so I was trying to be careful when I approached it. I'm so glad it was you."

Ikuto couldn't help the feeling in his chest. He tried to repress his smile because he didn't want to look like a fool, but he was so glad to have Amu back with him. He'd missed her a lot while she'd been rescuing the merpeople with her. "Glad to have you back."

Looking around the rather crowded deck of the small ship, Amu gave a nod of her head. "Glad to be back."

Clearing his throat, Kukai held up his arm so that Dachi could land on it. The bird circled down to its perch before the first mate began to speak. "So, correct me if I'm wrong, but we can head somewhere else now, right? I mean, the whole point of us going was to stop these three knuckle heads from doing something dangerous and getting hurt. If we have them with us then we don't need to go on."

Tadase was tired. He was tired from all the swimming. He was tired of people not treating him like the prince he was. And He was tired of not having the things he wanted. "Wrong! I want the pearl! I won't stop until I have it. Even if we go somewhere else, I will come back for it the first chance I have."

After the outburst, the others took a few seconds to look at each other. It wasn't until Utau moved forward that they knew they couldn't turn back just yet. "I would also like to have it."

Ignoring the pointed look that the princess was sending him, Ikuto let out a sigh. "The ocean is getting colder and so is the air. We have enough power and supplies to keep going for a while yet. I can't make any promises that we can go all the way."

Reaching out, Amu gave Ikuto's hand a squeeze. She hoped they wouldn't find it. The pearl was dangerous. It was a power that no one should have. Not even herself. "Then I guess we go on."

The matter was settled. Yaya knew that it was. Whatever anyone else had to talk about, it didn't matter as she threw herself onto Kairi. The only reason she'd held back for so long was because she thought it might be a bit inappropriate. Now she just didn't care. "Kairi-koi!"

Patting the back of the girl that was hugging him, Kairi didn't bother to look at the others that he knew were watching him and Yaya. Their opinions didn't matter so much to the merman. He didn't care what they were thinking. Not when he was hugging Yaya. Not when he was kissing her.

.

Morg: So there's that.

Ikuto: Well jeez.

Amu: Go Yaya.

Morg: I just can't seem to be nice to Tadase. I really don't dislike him. I just can't help but write him as a bastard at times.

Ikuto: We're not complaining.

Amu: Maybe not you, but I think it's harsh.

Morg: Oh well!