Icewater

Chapter 15: Siren

Disclaimer: no more. I refuse. I. Re. FUSE!

I think I'll start dedicating chapters to my more dedicated/touching reviewers. So. This one's for you, Lungs! You always seem to know exactly where I'm going. Also to dear SasuSakuKawaii, who probably counts for a good half of my total reviews. Remember what i told you about? It is time for the others to know XD

Thanks to both of you, and this is for you!

Enjoy!

Review please!

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Sasuke glanced at the window, where warm sunlight pooled in golden streaks down onto the cold stone floor of the court room.

The girl wasn't here.

He huffed in frustration, both for still not knowing her name and for fruitlessly having come here. He made to turn around and stomp out, but a sudden high-pitched voice froze him in place.

"Sasuke~~~!"

Wincing on the inside, Sasuke smoothly took a large step backwards, effectively removing himself from Karin's tackling range. She ran into the open space with an unscrupulous yelp and steadied herself, whirling around to face him, undeterred by his lack of attention.

"I've missed you these past few days," she cooed innocently.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed.

"What have you been doing here these past few days?" he asked sharply. Karin was not supposed to be here. She hadn't come to the castle since he...

His eyes flashed red for just an instant.

"He put you up to this." It was stated as a fact, and neither denied its legitimacy. Instead, Karin let out a ridiculous peal of giggles.

"It's time for you to come back with us," she chimed lightly, eyes glittering conspiratorially. "We still need you. What ever happened to Taka?" She stuck her bottom lip out. "Those other boys aren't worth it if you're not there, too!"

Sasuke did not reply, instead looking around. His eyes alighted on a Hyuuga who looked around his age, and he brushed Karin aside and walked over to him. He barely held back a groan of annoyance when he heard her ruffled dress behind him as she trailed after him.

He didn't need this right now. Especially not now that the Hyuuga had arrived.

"Hey," he greeted, stopping a foot or two away from the young man. The youth turned to face him, bowing just low enough as etiquette required him to.

For some reason, this set Sasuke on edge. He sensed this young man did not like him.

Then I'll return the feeling, he thought to himself.

"Good day, Prince Sasuke," said the young Hyuuga. "It is a great honor." He righted himself, and his pale eyes locked onto Sasuke's. "I trust you are in good health?" he asked politely.

Inwardly, Sasuke huffed again in irritation.

Court politics, he thought in annoyance. I hate court politics.

Outwardly, his poker face remained unbroken as he responded with a monotone.

"I am. And yourself?"

The Hyuuga replied equally, and then Sasuke hurriedly spoke. The last thing he wanted was to be stuck in the agonizing confines of a drawn-out court conversation. He wanted - needed - to get to the point.

"What is your relation to the Princess Hinata?" he asked.

The Hyuuga barely suppressed a frown, and Sasuke noticed.

"I am of the Branch family. A mere cousin, son of Prince Hizashi." Although his tone was dismissive of his rank, Sasuke had an inkling that his lineage mattered more to the boy than he let on. "I am Neji Hyuuga."

Sasuke nodded.

"It is a pleasure, Neji," he said. "Is your cousin well?"

Neji cracked a smile.

"Princess Hinata is still resting," he said, "But I have the utmost confidence that she will be awake in time for dinner."

Translation: She hadn't yet woken up, but was doing just fine.

Sasuke smiled just a little.

"That's good to know." Sasuke straightened. "Has the demon that attacked you been caught yet?" he asked conversationally. Now that he had ascertained the info he needed, he planned on quickly wrapping this up.

He needed to find the girl.

Well, okay, wanted, but in either case, he needed to end this little chit-chat.

"I heard he was a horrid, murderous thing," piped up Karin.

Sasuke had forgotten about her. Curse court politics.

"This is an acquaintance of mine," Sasuke said. "Karin, meet Neji Hyuuga."

Karin curtsied low as Neji bowed slightly.

"An honor," said Karin, grinning widely. Neji returned her bubbly look with a stoic face.

"The honor is mine," he replied, as was required by etiquette. "Lady Karin, rumors are often misleading." He shook his head. "The demon was destroyed. Someone else slayed it." Neji's eyes became distant as he recalled the events of the previous day. "He had saved the Princess from rogue bandits. We allowed him to travel with us." He looked up at Sasuke, having just remembered something. "He was on his way to speak to you... About a friend of his."

Sasuke chanced a glance at Karin. She was equally as interested in this development.

Which meant either money was involved, or Orochimaru had sent her to gather information such as this.

"But wasn't the demon chased out to sea?" she asked, a mask of confusion plastered onto her face.

Sasuke had to hand it to her: She was an excellent actress.

But he could see through her.

She wanted this information for Orochimaru.

But she's not going to get it, he thought.

"Be that as it may," Sasuke said, effectively silencing Karin from speaking again, "I would like to speak to you about your cousin's condition. In private," he added, looking at Karin. For a moment, her face was rebelliously disdainful, but in the blink of an eye she was smiling, curtsying low to each man before retreating back into the court society.

Sasuke nodded to Neji.

"Come."

The two boys walked out of the courtroom, and Sasuke led him down to the first floor. They continued until they had reached the garden nearest the old library; it was a secluded place. Not many, nobles and servants alike, tended to visit the library, and similarly, the garden in front of it was not well-cared for.

Or perhaps it was; Sasuke had heard from gossiping servants that Ino enjoyed reading. Perhaps the "overgrown" garden was an illusion, meant really to warn most people away from a place the gardening handmaiden liked to sneak away to, a place where she could spend time without the complicated worries and delicate politics within the main castle walls.

Sasuke picked out a path leading into the garden and walked along it until he knew they would not be visible to anyone coming to or going from the library.

Without turning to face Neji, he spoke.

"What happened yesterday?" he asked.

He heard Neji shift.

"The demon came in the shape of a fish that morphed into a man. The boy who saved Princess Hinata the day before fought him; Princess Hinata saved him from a fatal attack." Sasuke heard the boy take a deep breath. "The boy... When Hinata was cut down in front of him, he... It was as if a demon possessed him. He changed shape." The boy let out a soft laugh. "The only thing I could think at the time was that the Legendary Kyuubi had risen out of the oceans to kill us all."

Sasuke turned to face Neji in time to see the boy shaking his head.

"But he only attacked the demon," he said quietly. "The Elders ran him off. He was chased to the ocean, and grew an orange fin and retreated to the waters." He looked up at Sasuke.

The Uchiha Prince was silent, an odd sensation creeping over him.

"What did he look like?" he asked carefully.

"His hair was blonde, and his eyes were blue..." Neji turned seaward. "Blue like the ocean at dawn."

Sasuke felt the sensation spreading throughout his body.

"And his name?" he asked.

The Hyuuga opened his eyes and looked into Sasuke's.

Sasuke put a name to the sensation: pure, raw dread.

"Naruto Uzumaki," said Neji.

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"How's this?"

Sakura tiredly rubbed her eyes.

"What does it say?" she asked. Ino looked down at the book she held.

"It mentions mermaids..." she said, flipping to the page indicated in the index. "...Oh, it's just legends."

Sakura felt her ears perk up. Her Mother had always told her stories of history by way of legends and folk tales; even with the Prophecy, her Mother had called it a tale from long ago. Perhaps human historians were not much different?

"Let's see it!" she said, scooting towards Ino. Each girl had been sorting through her own selected piles of books and papers. Now, they both leaned over the book Ino held.

"I still can't believe we share the same writing system," mumbled Ino. Her expression turned thoughtful. "Maybe we trace our roots back to the same ancestors? That would be something!"

Sakura cleared her throat. She was tired; she hadn't slept since yesterday, but she needed to do this.

"Long ago, there lived a sea creature so powerful, it ruled the earth. With its ability to destroy mountains with the flick of its tail and the power to create tsunamis with a snort of its nostrils, it reigned supreme over land and sea. Then one day, a princess of a foreign land grew weary of the beasts constant destruction and sovereignty. She set out to tame it." Ino sucked in a breath. "I know this one! It's a fairy tale!"

Sakura frowned.

"I..." She closed her mouth, opened it, and closed it again. "For some reason... Never mind." She shook her head.

I feel as if I've heard this before, Sakura thought. But Mother never...

"Hmm..." Ino looked back to the paper, trailing her right index finger beneath the words as she continued reading. "She set out to tame it.

"The Princess came from a kingdom renowned for its magic. She knew a great deal and was wise beyond her years. Using her mind and sorcery combined, she created a vessel to take herself to sea. She fearlessly sailed alone into the freezing deep waters ruled by the beast.

"The beast surfaced from the depths of the waters.

'Who dares to enter my domain?' it asked, snarling. The Princess was unshaken and continued sailing. The beast reared and smashed the front of the barge. The Princess, at that moment, leapt onto the beast's tail and crawled along it until she reached its body. She continued up until she reached his head. There, she curled into a ball in the fur of his ears and rested, for she had been exhausted by her journey.

"The beast, too proud of his own destruction of her ship, did not notice her presence. He took the wreckage in his arms and went to her Kingdom, saying, 'Look, all you who doubt my power. You see before you the grave of your rulers heir.'

"The people, not knowing the Princess had survived, let out a wail of pain. It shook the world, and the Princess awoke, startled. The ground shook from the people's outcry, and the beast stumbled, falling back into the waters. The wreckage of the Princess' ship had fallen before the beast had, and so he landed on it. It wounded him a great deal, and he unleashed a road of pain, his tails lashing out furiously.

"The Princess saw this and realized her people were in danger. She crawled further into the beasts ear, careful to be as silent as possible.

"From her youth, the Mother of the Princess had sung to the young girl a lullaby of thanks and hope for peace. The Princess, recalling it, began to sing.

"The beast heard her voice, and was soothed. When she stopped, he begged her to continue. She replied she would only do so if he agreed to never harm another land and to instead return to the seas forever. The beast was angered by this.

'How can I hear your song if I am not on land?' it asked her.

'If you do as I have commanded, you will hear my song again,' she replied.

"The Princess returned to her kingdom, and the beast returned to his abode deep within the oceans. The Princess made known to her Kingdom her promise to the beast. The people, so devoted to her, did not want her to leave them.

'I must go,' she told them.

'Then so shall we,' they replied.

"The Kingdom gathered their most powerful sorcerers, and together, they enchanted the Kingdom. It fell beneath the waters of the oceans, and sank to the floor. There, the people were transformed so they could live beneath the icy seas.

"The Princess entered the beasts lair.

'I have come,' she said to it. She sang, and the beast was calmed.

'I do not wish for you to ever leave,' it told her. The Princess smiled.

'Then stay with me,' she replied, spreading her arms.

"Its spirit entered her, and the beast was tamed. The Princess and the beast, now one entity, ruled the waters until the Princess had grown too old. Her son replaced her on the throne. On her deathbed, she entrusted the beast's spirit to him. This is the cycle of the Sea Demon and the Princess of the Ocean."

Sakura felt her eyes go wide.

"It all makes sense!" she gasped.

"Yeah, that's probably how we have the same writi-"

"The Demon! It was Kyuubi!" Sakura clapped her hands. "THAT'S where I've heard this story before! In Atlantica, they tell it every year on the spirit wielder's birthing day!" She had been to several of Naruto's birthing day ceremonies, although she usually didn't pay much attention. She frowned. "But the part about her Kingdom sinking under is new to me..."

"There are some theorists who suggest the fairy tale and the legend of Atlantis are connected," said Ino. "Come to think of it, Atlantica and Atlantis both come from the root 'Atlas.'"

And then Sakura made sense of it all.

"No..." she whispered, her breath catching in her throat. "That..." She touched her throat lightly.

"What?" asked Ino.

"It sank beneath icy waters," she whispered. "Ice..." The Ice Ridges... Her voice underwater...

Sakura closed her eyes.

"The Ice Ridges are the remnants of Arcticia. The earliest part of Arcticia." She gasped. "The ship...! The shipwreck, it's the ship from the legend!"

Whose skeleton is that then? asked her Inner. The one floating around inside? It couldn't be the Princess, right?

"Did the Princess have others aboard her ship?" Sakura asked Ino.

Ino frowned.

"Some of the more ancient versions of the tale say the Princess was stolen away by a suitor, and the beast destroyed the ship because she cried out for his help."

"The song was his reward, then?" asked Sakura. Ino shook her head.

"In those versions, the Princess was so terrified of the crashing waves of the ocean and evil aura of the beast that she sang to herself in hopes that it would comfort her." She frowned. "Of course, those versions also say the beast fell madly in love with her, and the bit about their spirits joining is... Not so spiritual."

Sakura waved her hand, imitating Ino's dismissing gesture.

"The point is that her voice above water was her Arctician voice," Sakura said hurriedly. "But below water, her Kingdom's people must have migrated to warmer waters. It must have become Atlantica!" Sakura's eyes were wide as saucers. "That's why Mother went to Atlantica after Arcticia was destroyed! We're - Naruto and I – every single merperson - we're all related to the Princess!"

NOW she knew why her voice had gone along with her Arctician birthright. But then how had Chiyo gotten it back...?

"So then, you have lineage to both Ar-Arcticia -" Ino stumbled over the name "- and Atlantica?"

Sakura grabbed Ino's hands.

"THAT'S HOW SHE DID IT!" she cried. Ino blinked.

"What?"

"The sea witch," replied Sakura, a bit flustered. How could she not have put it all together sooner? It all made so much sense now!

"Uh..." said Ino, confused. "I'm not... Following..."

"Chiyo used a spell to link my Arctician and Atlantican lineage!" said Sakura. "When my Mother, Arcticia's princess, came here years ago, she traded my right to the throne for a hand at love," Sakura explained quickly. "Because of that, the Kingdom was destroyed, and I lost everything connecting me to Arcticia." Her eyes watered as a new revelation came upon her. "Even my Mother, eventually." She blinked the tears away. "That includes my Siren, above-water, voice." She waved her hands sporadically as she continued, accentuating her speech. "But Naruto is Atlantican, and because he's a descendant of the Princess, he has a Siren voice. Chiyo must have somehow used her magic to connect me and the Arcticians who became the first rulers of Atlantica, then used that as a pathway to send me my Arctician rights- through my Atlantican rights!" she clapped her hands excitedly, her tiredness long forgotten. "I can't believe it," she said. "I owe Chiyo so much!"

And we can never repay her, said her Inner somewhat solemnly.

Oh, yes we can! replied Sakura hotly.

Sakura stood.

"Ino," she said slowly. "What would I need to do to steal Prince Sasuke's ship?"

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Naruto knew something was up when he arrived in Pacifica.

It was chaos, to put it simply. Naruto wasn't much of a thinker, but even he knew it was one of the most important duties of a kingdom to maintain the peace in its civilian society.

This was most definitely not peace.

"H-Hey!" he yelled loudly, having been shoved aside roughly by a Merman holding a basket of food. "What's going on?" Naruto mumbled, glancing about. His momentary stationary state led to a large mermaid slapping him to the left with her fin as she scurried past him. All around Naruto, the ocean floors of Pacifica were crowded as civilians shoved each other this way and that, in a hurry to buy emergency goods or find a loved one or make some last-minute arrangements. Naruto noted a number of families packing, or already heading out.

Where do they plan on going? he asked himself skeptically. The Outwaters? Nowhere was safe now; Naruto could sense it. Oceania had fallen, Pacifica was (obviously) still unaware their ruler was alive again, Atlantica was probably torn between rushing to battle and carefully waiting before making a move, and Naruto was wondering how in the seven seas he could possibly make this situation any worse.

The answer came to him with a face-full of sea carrots.

"Bleagh!" he yelped, pushing them away from himself.

"You! Thief!" cried an old merchant, pointing accusingly at the blonde.

"WHAT?" Naruto asked, offended. "I would never steal anything! Ever!" He paused. "Unless I had to." He realized his mistake as the man's eyes narrowed. "Wait, no, I-"

"Get him!" cried the old man. "The blonde boy! Thief! He stole my sea carrots!"

Naruto growled frustratedly and swam away from the merchant, only to find other Merfolk attempting to restrain him. He yanked himself away.

"What gives?" he said, unhappily glaring at the merchant. "You knocked your stupid food into my face! I didn't do anything! Believe it!"

"I don't," spat the old merchant.

Naruto decided it was probably time to make his way to Gaara's office. Hopefully he would be back soon from Chiyo's cave...

He would need all the help he could get.

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AN: From this point on, you may officially call this "The Grand Finale." What did ya think of THAT twist, hmm?

Review please! I will personal reply to shower you with praise and blessings! Who DOESN'T want praise and blessings? :P

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