Blessed of the Sea

By: Dyaoka

Disclaimer: I don't own the Prince of Tennis, nor do I own the Little Mermaid.

Notes/Warnings: O_O A Sakuno x Ryoma fic! Though the love is only one-sided...but beware. If you don't like Sakuno, I suggest you click the back button on your browser. But if you're OK with her, go on ahead and read. Don't say I didn't warn you. Oh, and this type of writing...I don't think I'll ever be doing it again. >.< Later in the story, there will be shonen-ai.

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Part One

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Has anyone ever bothered to believe in mermaids? No, of course not. They are only spurious tales of old, proven false by scientists. Those that were known as mermaids were the manatee, the Sea Cow. They were large, gentle creatures with incredibly sad eyes.

 

But real mermaids are not like that.

 

They are graceful beings, blessed of the Sea God, his beautiful children. They were the humans without legs, but rather fins like the fishes. They breathed through the water as they breathed through the air; they were timid creatures that were frightened much by the world above them. Their voices were glorious, yet incoherent to sailors that would hear them sometimes. They were wrongly named Sirens in the time of old, yet named so rightly. There were those, the exiled, that lured the sailors to their deaths with their beautiful song.

 

But that is another story to tell. In the deep, deep ocean, away from prying eyes, the merpeople lived. There was a whole kingdom down there; a King who had been widowed years before. His wife, the Queen, had fallen ill and died. The King's mother took power over the throne instead, for her son was greived by his beautious wife's death. And left behind was not only an entire kingdom, but four beautiful daughters who were the pearls of the sea and each a year apart.

 

The old doweress, kind and wise, continued to rule over the Kingdom. Years passed and their territory were pushed back, by the humans that delved deeper into the secrets of the ocean's mysterious depths. Despite all the danger, the yearly custom of the royal children continued.

 

When one of the royal children turned fifteen, they were allowed to see the world above them--to surface and see the sky and sun.

 

When the eldest, Saori, turned fifteen, she went out into the world above. Saori returned, a month later with much stories to tell her sisters.

 

"It was beautiful!" she had said as she brushed her long, long hair. "I saw many things in the black depths of the blanket above the sea...tiny white stones glittered up in the blanket called the sky! It was so warm and I felt the wind..."

 

The second child, Ann, had always been a curious child. She was caring, yet she was unafraid to voice her opinions, not at all timid. She had many admirers, yet she accepted none. Her fifteenth birthday came and passed; Ann had went up to the world above with much enthusiasm. Like her elder sister, she came back down a month later. Her eyes glittered with happiness as she related what she had seen.

 

"Everything was white! The water was hard and dense, and there was much wind that kept blowing this way and that way." Ann turned to her eldest sister and said solemnly. "I did not see the tiny white stones that glittered upon the dark blanket called the sky. Instead, I saw grey and white and water falling. How I wish I could see it..." Her long bright auburn hair fell in front of her eyes.

 

Both Tomoka and Sakuno, both the youngest and were twins, though they looked nothing a like, went up to the surface world together on their birthday, after their party. Their grandmother had given them gifts; gifts of the highest calibre. Pinned to both of their long hair were chains of pearls and white lillies. Upon their fins, eight great oysters were attached there, to show their rank.

 

"Sakuno! Look, have you ever seen this?" Tomoka asked, as they surfaced. Her long hair fell about her as she lifted her head out of the water. It no longer felt light and floaty...but rather rough and tangly. But neither of the two girls cared about that at the moment. They were too entranced by the sky, which indeed held many tiny white stones, as told by Saori. But there were also some of those grey things called clouds, as described by their sister Ann.

 

"Sakuno," Tomoka turned to her sister, who was taking in everything with a bewildered expression. "We'll meet back later, alright? I want to go and see some other sights...sights that our sisters kept describing to us! Will you be alright by yourself?"

 

Sakuno nodded, her head bobbed up and down in the water. Tomoka gave a laugh, sounding crystilline and clear in the silence of the night where the only sound was waves. Sakuno waved to her twin as she swam away, her seaweed-green tail flashing silver in the moonlight.

 

Taking her sister's example, Sakuno swam away as well. Though she was excited about seeing the world of above, she was still quite fearful of it.

 

She hadn't been swimming long when she heard a deep rumble in the water. Immediately, Sakuno's head popped up out of the water, trying to discern what that was. It was quite painful to the ears! With a small wimper, Sakuno decided not to dive again since the water seemed to transmit the sound better. The mermaid squinted in the dark--her eyesight wasn't as good as it was in the air as it was underwater. "Oh, heavens...!"

 

It was a huge ship...something she's never seen before. It was a sight to behold! Oh, how it traveled so smoothly over the water as if it was nothing at all. Windows shone a bright golden as light poured through it. Distinct laughter reached the mermaid's ears and Sakuno resolved to get closer. Gathering her wits and courage, Sakuno swam closer to the ship. It didn't seem to be going at quite a fast speed, so Sakuno was able to keep up with it quite easily...though there weren't many things out there in the water that could best the merpeople in terms of speed.

 

Sakuno tentatively reached out and brushed her hand against the giant ship. The ship was cool to the touch and a dark blue color that was quite faded. Sakuno swam slightly away from the giant ship, still admiring it. Her eyes gazed higher, where she saw white railings and bright, bright light. There, leaning upon the railings, was a boy. He was staring out at sea, his own dark hair making him charming and mysterious. Even from a distance away, Sakuno could tell that the boy's eyes were the colors of the golden light that emmitted from the ship's oval windows. The boy had unknowingly enchanted her.

 

Almost abruptly, the boy looked down at the dark, dark depths of the waters below him, as if sensing someone was watching him from below. In the dark, he could not make out anything below and Sakuno held her breath the moment she saw him look down. The boy was completely different from the merfolk. He was...he was indescribable.

 

A small beam of light suddenly shone upon Sakuno, from the ship as it passed her. That one moment, it revealed where she was and Sakuno was sure she saw the boy's eyes widen as they caught sight of her, a maiden from the sea.

 

"Hey! Are you ok?" came a voice. It was the human's voice. It sounded strange, to Sakuno, who has never heard a human's voice before. She decided that she liked it. "Answer me!"

 

Sakuno was about to answer back, but a sudden flash of white light scared her. He had caught sight of her again and he looked rather frightened. For which reason, Sakuno could not fathom why. A loud rumble happened in the sky and suddenly, a light pelting water came falling down from the sky. This surprised Sakuno. This was something that her sister Ann had described! Oh, how lucky!

 

"Hello?! I know you're out there! Answer!"

 

But Sakuno did not answer. Instead she stayed silent and making as little noise as possible, she swam towards the great ship. All the boy was able to see was something swimming over to the side of the ship. There must be a way on!

 

There was another flash of light and a boom of thunder. Unconsciously, Sakuno shivered. She noticed that the ship started to sway slightly, rocking back and forth gently. Yet, Sakuno knew, that this wasn't suppose to be happening to the ship. It was suppose to stay straight, not move back and forth.

 

Looking around, Sakuno noticed that the waves were getting rougher and higher and the water from the sky was falling at a faster rate, almost hurting her with the force it was falling down at. There was suddenly a loud crack, as lightning hit the ship, sending a burst of flames into the air. There was the loud screams of humans as Sakuno suddenly found that several had jumped overboard and into the dangerous depths of the ocean.

 

"I never should have left alone...!" Sakuno cried as the storm continued to rage. She heard creaking of metal as the ship tried to keep itself together. But there was a loud explosion from above as more fire shot up into the sky and frantic cries from the humans were heard. "Oh, Tomoka! How could you have just left me?!"

 

There was a strange whirring noise from above and excited clamor from humans accompanied that sound. Sakuno immediately swam away from the large ship, but not so far as to not be able to see what was going on. It seemed that they were lowering all these smaller boats into the rough ocean waves. Whatever for? There was a large light being shone around and Sakuno ducked, swimming back into the water. All the humans saw was a large tail that quickly disappeared under the water. They had never been so bewildered...after all, what sort of fish has green scales?

 

There was another flash of lightning, and again, it struck the ship, but this time, it struck at the side of it, leaving a dark, black mark against the side of the ship. Sakuno shivered as she lowered herself into the water, wanting to get away from the horrible light. It was causing damage everywhere! What was going on? What was this light?

 

"Holy hell!" one of the sailors cursed. "What did we do to get into this mess?!"

 

"Whatever, just get outta here! We've got the gold already!"

 

Oh, foolish, courageous, silly sailors! Sakuno watched from below as the smaller of the dark shape moved away, rather quickly, from the dark shadow that was the ship. They say that the exiles lead the sailors to their doom, tempting them with their sweet voices, making promises of safety, riches, and pleasure. Can the humans not hear it? Sakuno had never felt so sorry for the humans before.

 

Sakuno went deeper into the water's depths, where it wasn't in as much as a turmoil as it was above. She watched in horror as the dark shadow seemed to be lit on fire and sinking so very, very slowly. Down so deep, she could not hear the human's shouting, but she was sure there was.

 

Yet, the ship still moved forward, heading to wherever it's destination was. The rocking of the ship still had not stopped, but rather, it had gotten worse.

 

Sakuno stayed where she was, watching as suddenly lifeless bodies of humans sank down next to her. She gave a shriek of surprise as a drowning man came in front of her. His eyes were open and his hands were desperate at trying to get back up to get some air, but was failing miserably. Just before his body went rigid, his eyes landed upon Sakuno. The vision had never left Sakuno and her courage was jolted by this.

 

Immediately, she swam to the surface of the water, gasping upon the image that she saw.

 

Not very long ago, the ship was fine, going along the water smoothly. Now, it was a complete mess, lit alight with orange, red and yellow. There was dozen other smaller ships that floated around the largest, which was sinking. But her eyes were trained on a boy that was struggling to get onto one of those smaller ships. There were two other boys trying to help him get on, but he was suddenly pulled down by someone else. The other human had grabbed onto the boy's legs and pulled him downward and using that force, he had pushed himself up and onto the boat, sacrificing the boy as he did so. The golden eyed boy sank below the giant waves.

 

Without another care in the world, Sakuno dove under the waves yet again, searching for the boy. At first, she had thought he would be able to join her, beneath the waters. But she realized that humans needed air and cannot survive in the water. And he must not die. He was too...precious to die. And it was unfair. He would have had a chance to live, if not for that other human. In the dark waters, Sakuno swam frantically around, wondering where the waves could have taken him. Almost instantly, Sakuno had found him, not far from the spot he was pulled down, though he was sinking fast. His golden eyes were closed, his body was lifeless in the water, almost like a life-sized doll. Hastily, Sakuno gripped a hold of the boy and started to pull him upward. He was heavy, the robes he wore were dragging him down.

 

Quickly, the mermaid freed the boy of his shoes and outer shirts. She quickly surfaced, bringing him with her. The boy gasped for breath the moment he could. Sakuno held his head above the water, allowing him to breath and catch his breath. The storm didn't seem to be intent on calming anytime soon. Golden eyes opened slightly to see who his savior was. Sakuno smiled softly at him.

 

"It's ok."

 

With gentle hands, she brought him closer to her, all the while keeping his head above the water and swam as swiftly and as smoothly as she could towards wherever land was.

 

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Part One End

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So, how do you all like this? No, Ryoma won't end up with Sakuno. I must say that I was really bored one day...my other folders were inaccessible so I just started to write this. Just wanted to try something new. Did anyone notice the inconsistent pairings I've been writing? =P I don't think I've written about the same couple twice.