Until yesterday, I only regretted
Without looking back, I take a step forward

Kuyamu koto shika dekinai kinou made
Furikaerazu fumidaseru

The days following their night on the sea floor seemed to go by rather quickly, or so it seemed to Takeru. He had a nearly set schedule now, which took a bit to get used to the idea of. Before he'd met Yukino, he'd just done everything regardless if there was a deadline or not. A run early in the morning, breakfast after and then his daily duties as a god of the sea. Most of which involved looking over how bad the seas seemed off that day, and maybe creating a storm or two to have some fun.

Normally he took his time with doing the god part of his day, but every god had noticed that he now rushed to get them out of the way early in the day so he would have free time at night. And every night, he would disappear it seemed, not a sound being heard in his house for hours.

Tsukito watched his brother set out for his morning run from his place under the ever-blooming sakura tree, eyes thoughtful. He considered the change in Takeru one for the better, as the headstrong god had used to lollygag all day, not really caring about doing his duties. Granted, there was still the occasional day that he'd run and then vanish for the remainder of the day, but it was only about two days out of the week.

The purple haired god realized something. It always coincided on the mortal's weekend days, the days he liked to skip. Perhaps his younger brother just was used to the days they had gone to school for the one year? The Moon God himself had had to resist the urge to take those certain days off out of habit.

Perhaps he misses those day, he mused quietly, patiently waiting for his brother to return.

"Ah, nothing like a morning run," Takeru sighed happily, sliding the door open to his house as he stepped inside.

"Welcome home," a soft voice said, and the bluenette grinned and turned to where his brother stood.

"You're up early, bro," he commented, moving towards the elegant god with a grin.

"...What will you be doing today, Takeru?" Golden eyes met gold in a steady gaze.

"The usual. Get some breakfast, do my duties and then go relax."

"May I join you later when we've finished our duties?"

The question threw Takeru off, and he stared at his brother in surprise. "U-um, I'm not sure about that, bro..." the god stammered, scratching the back of his neck nervously. I have to keep her a secret still, an inner voice told him, though he didn't know why he had to hide Yukino from his brother of all people.

"What's wrong? I'd like to see what you do to relax after your duties are done."

"It's kind of a personal thing I do," the Sea God said, and Tsukito noticed the very light blush that adorned his younger brother's face. His head tilted slightly.

"Do you pleasure yourself?"

A choking sound escaped from Takeru's throat at the question, his entire face flushing at such an outrageous assumption. "B-bro, hell no!"

"You don't have to be embarrassed, it's perfectly natural," was the calm response. The purple-haired god nodded, sure now of his brother's pastime.

"I do not do that!" Takeru protested loudly, wondering just how his brother had gotten that idea in his head.

"Then what do you do? I have not seen you outside of your duties in the morning, and you still sometimes skip them."

"I...I go to another place. It's a secret I don't want anyone else to know about."

And I don't want him to meet Yukino yet...that stubborn jellyfish would only show him her stingers.

A strange look crossed Tsukito's face then, one that Takeru couldn't pin.

"Very well then. I'll leave you to it then." With that said, the Moon God moved past his brother and exited the house, his robes barely making a sound as he moved. "Be safe."

"Y-you too, bro," Takeru mumbled, not feeling well about having to give his older brother the round-about. He trusted him, he really did, but a part of him just wasn't ready for Tsukito to know about Yukino yet. A heavy sigh passed Takeru's lips as he headed into his kitchen, feeling the need for a nice meal.

His neck was stiff after he finished his duties of the day. The oceans were fine, and Takeru had stirred up a few currents to make a few storms in one of the southern oceans so that some land that had been dry for a while now could have some relief.

The Sea God looked up at the sky and saw that it was getting on in time, nearly time for Yukino to be out of school. He walked back to his house slowly, feeling no rush. If she was coming today, she would call him.

The last week however, it had been rare for her to have time to talk to him. Takeru frowned slightly, realizing that it'd been three days since they'd met up last. However, she was very adamant about studying for those final tests, so he left her be and just hoped each day that she'd be able to have some spare time.

Last he'd heard Nayomi had shown back up at school, but beside the occasional death glare had left his white-haired friend alone. The number of people who bugged her had increased as well, the number one being her old love interest, that Koto-whatever.

Just thinking of it made Takeru clench his jaw. What the guy was doing was trying to get his jellyfish to open up, and show her soft spots to let others take jabs at it, breaking her down farther. She thought he was sweet, but as a guy, the god could see right through him

He was proud of her, however, when she'd told him that she'd found it easier to push him away, to reject his seemingly friendly advances. The little jellyfish wasn't so easily duped anymore, and was able to tell who to show her stingers to.

In fact, I think I'm the only one that she honestly talks to, the blue-haired god thought, sitting down to eat some lunch while he waited for any hint of a call from her.

The pearl he had enhanced for her held just a tiny fraction of his power, and he was able to sense what she was doing if he truly concentrated. It wasn't like he could spy on her, but he was able to tell her emotions at the time. Getting comfortable, Takeru closed his eyes for a few seconds and concentrated, wondering what she was doing.

He felt a hint of stress right off the bat, which was expected since she was studying so hard. Yukino had once told him that even though she didn't know what she was going to do with her life after school, she at least wanted to have her options open with her acedemics. He also felt a lingering annoyance, as if someone had bothered her recently. There was also a fierce determination, to which he smirked.

There was also another emotion underneath the surface of fresh emotions, one that had only come up after the night they'd spent watching the turtles and jellyfish. It was a warm, pleasent one, and though he didn't know what exactly it was, he was somehow comforted by the fact it was there. Assured she was fine, he opened his eyes and kept eating, wondering if he should go to the cave and wait for her.

Deciding it would be better to take a short walk instead to clear his head, he put his empty dishes to the side and stood up, opening the shojo and heading for his usual running path.

It was a few hours after dark that he heard the murmur of her voice saying his name. It was audible only to him, and for some reason she was quieter than normal, but Takeru still leapt up and headed for the back room where the pool was, eager to be there already.

The water of the pool sucked him in, and within a few seconds he was standing in the familiar cave on the other side, looking around. "Oi, jellyfish."

There was no response, to which he frowned. Had she called him by mistake? Or was Yukino just playing a joke on him? He turned around, eyeing the dark spaces of the cave, not eager to be tackled and tickled.

He spotted the blanket they kept in the cave near where the sunset drawing was, and raised an eyebrow at the figure curled up on it with books strewn all about, a small lantern lighting up the surface area. "Hey, why are you studying here of all places?" Takeru asked, walking over to stand by her.

When there was still no reply, a frown formed and he knelt down, only to blink. She's asleep?

Yukino's head was laying on a book, her white hair held back in a short ponytail to keep most of it out of her eyes. An empty pack of daifuku and a half-full water bottle lay nearby on top of other tomes, proof that she had indeed been here to study. He shook his head at her sleeping form, slowly moving his jellyfish so that she'd be more comfortable.

"You silly fish," the god muttered, putting the books to the side and kneeling next to her to try and wrap the blanket over her some so the girl wouldn't get cold.

She shifted only slightly as he moved her, murmuring his name. Takeru raised an eyebrow at that, now knowing how he'd heard her. Curled up as she was, it wasn't any wonder that the pearl had picked up her voice. Shaking his head at how silly this human girl could be, he looked around for anything he could use as a pillow.

Unfortunately there wasn't much, and he didn't think she'd like to drool on her books while she slept. Looking down at her, the blunette debated on what he could do to make her more comfortable.

"..." He sighed, not really seeing any other option. He laid himself down beside her after removing the armor on his arm and tugged her close, placing her head on his chest to use as a pillow instead of the hard cave floor. Takeru then flipped the blanket that was loose around her so that she'd be warm, not using the part he was laying on to cover his own body. He was fine with the temperature of the cave.

The Storm god watched as she slept, noticing the way her eyelids moved slightly as she dreamed. The teen snuggled up closer to him, causing a light blush to form on his face.

"If you were tired from studying," he muttered, brushing some of her bangs out of the way, "then you should have just taken some time to sleep instead of going till you passed out."

The only response he got was a small, happy sigh, earning a chuckle from him as he propped his free arm behind his head, the other wrapped around her shoulders to keep her close and warm. As he watched the light from the pool dance on the ceiling, he felt sleep tug at his own mind, and closed his eyes, only intending to rest for a few minutes.

A rather loud, annoying noise startled him from his deep sleep. Takeru heard a loud groan and felt Yukino reach around and grab for the source of the noise behind her, fumbling fingers grabbing her phone and pulling it so she could see it and turn the alarm off.

"Dammit...where am I?" she yawned loudly before opening her eyes. The god felt her stiffen in shock when she saw where she was, and he hid his amusement, playing like he was still asleep himself to see what she did.

Yukino stared at him for a while, no doubt trying to remember how she'd gotten into this position, and he was having trouble keeping the smirk off his face. He could feel her heartbeat pick up where her chest was smooshed against his side, which he wasn't sure was normal or not.

Finally she inched herself away from him and sat up, and he risked a peek through his eyelashes to see the white-haired girl patting her cheeks to cool the rather obvious blush that was there. Grinning, he sat up himself and looked at her.

"Sleep well, jellyfish?"

A surprised squeak left her as she jumped, turning her wide blue eyes to look at him in shock. "U-uh, I...I..."

Takeru laughed some at that, reaching over and ruffling her hair affectionatly. "Calm down. You fell asleep while studying and called me in your sleep. I just made you more comfortable so you could get some shut eye."

"O-oh, yeah..." The teen cast her eyes downward, that blush returning to her face. She looks cute when she's shy, he thought idly, but shrugged the thought away after a few seconds.

"So why have you been studying so hard that you'd pass out in a cave?" he asked, standing up and arching his back to pop it, groaning in relief when it did.

"I have a really big test later today, and I wanted to make the best grade possible. Wait," she gasped, and grabbed for her phone again. "Oh god, I have to go!"

"Eh? Why?"

"I have to walk to school, return these books, and get ready for the day!" She was clearly panicking, and started to dart around and grab whatever she could and stuff it into her school pack.

"What about your uniform?" he asked, pointing out the ruffled state it was in from being slept in.

"I'll fix it later, I just have to go!" Swinging the pack onto her shoulder, Yukino bolted to the entrance to the pool room before pausing and looking back at him. A cute smile appeared, and Takeru felt his heart give an odd flip-flopping sensation.

"Thanks for last night, by the way. I'll be back later, I promise!"

And with that, she was gone.

Scratching his cheek and wondering about the feeling that one smile had given him, he turned and looked at the blanket that lay in total disarray now. With a sigh he started to straighten it, only to pause when two things fell to the side.

The first was a box of chalk that had half the contents used up, and he immediately looked around the wall. He spotted the new addition immediately, blinking at the image of him and Yukino resting on the sea floor, surrounded by sea turtles and jellyfish. He had to admit, the girl could draw rather well with chalk.

The second item was one he knew was very important to her: her phone. He picked up the item, turning it over and eyeing the blue wave pattern of the box around it. "Hmm...she'll probably need this later today," he mused aloud, wondering what exactly he was going to do.

It was obvious he was going to have to return it, but beyond the shore surrounding the cave, he really had no knowledge of where he was in the human world. A heavy sigh left his lips and Takeru stood up, holding the phone in his hand and looking towards the cave exit, considering the options he had.

"...She owes me one for this."

Another chapter? Le gasp! Lol nah, I'm just eager to write and post these. It's hard to control myself with how fast I post them, because I know that all of you want to know what happens next as well. I have to keep to at least one chapter a day though, otherwise it'll all be over too quickly.

Tomorrow shall have an interesting surprise for Yukino...