Ritsuka, still in his half alive trance, slowly made his way to home room. He hasn't spoken a word or looked at anyone since last night. He couldn't even believe that last night happened. Right when he had her back she was taken away again... His fingers gripped around the photo in his pocket.
"Hey, Ritsuka!" Cole stood up straight and walked towards him from homeroom. "Some Mexican lady is waiting for you. She said she had to ask you something really important."
"Mexican lady?" Ritsuka questioned for a second before his mind snapped back to life. "Where is she?"
"Home room." Cole answered. "Do you know her?" he asked, puzzled.
"She's a friend of mine." Ritsuka replied as he ran into his classroom. Sure enough, there was Rebecca talking frantically with the teacher. "Rebecca, what's wrong?"
"Ritsuka, where's Ami?! Is she with you?" Rebecca asked, her voice raspy, her eyes tear worn and puffy.
"What? No, why?" Ritsuka asked as he grabbed her shoulders. His heart seemed to be thumping in his throat, his insides in knots.
"Right after you left with your father she ran off! She hasn't come back and I don't know where she is!" Rebecca broke down into more tears.
Ritsuka let her go and took a step back, taking it all in. There were no words to describe how helpless and hopeless he felt right now. He shook his head, desperately trying to get the black thoughts out of his head, and ran out of the school toward the beach...______________________________________________
She took in a shaky breath as the calm, morning waves gently pushed her further in the beach. The sun had already dried and warmed her now salty face and some of her clothes were dry and crusty from the sea salt. Her limbs were sore and her insides ached. She had no idea where she was or how she got there, but neither did she care. She had decided to lie there and wait patiently for death to ease her away, even if that thing playing with her toes won't stop. Playing with her toes? Ami quickly sat straight up to find...___________________
Ritsuka ran and ran on the endless beach. She just had to be there, where else would she go? He had to run into her sometime, this island wasn't that big. He couldn't help but feel as if this was his entire fault. Like, if Ami was hurt he'd be to blame..._____________________________________________________
The girl woke up at the slightest touch of the little things she had at the tips of her legs. Curiosity and fear plastered her drowsy, golden eyes, but she didn't look like she remembered him. He wondered how she had forgotten someone like him. He hasn't forgotten her, even though it has been a long time since they've seen each other. He couldn't forget that fabled red hair and those honey eyes. This was the second time he's saved her, anyways...
Ami looked at the boy with bronze hair and wondered why he was shirtless. Did he just save her? She gazed at his sea foam eyes amazement. They were the most gorgeous color she had ever seen. And his sun-kissed skin was rich and dazzling; she was so tempted to touch him just to make sure he was real. But those urges disappeared as soon as she noticed the shining blue tail glistening in the water...
Ami gazed at him for a moment, searching for an imperfection to make sure he was real. When she came up empty handed she decided that this was all a dream. A hallucination right before she dies. A very handsome hallucination...
"H-hi..." Ami stuttered through her lips at the merman mirage. He gave her a curious look because she was talking in a language he has never heard before. Ami slapped her forehead, of course he didn't know what she was saying! He's a merman mirage for crying out loud. So, pointing to herself, she stated, "A-mi."
The mirage seemed to understand what that meant as realization covered his eyes. "Ami?" he seemed to ask as he pointed to her toes.
Ami wiggled her toes and nodded, "Ami."
"Mitsukuni." The mirage merman pointed to himself.
Ami was surprised that he even had a name. None the less, she stuck out her hand for a shake, smiling, "Hi, Mitsukuni!"
Mitsukuni looked at her out reached hand in wonder, but took it even so. He just didn't know it meant a hand shake, he took it as an invitation to learn her language. He pulled the girl close and laid his icy lips on hers. To him it wasn't a kiss, though. To the merman it was a language transfer.
Ami panicked as the sun-kissed boy locked lips with her. Her blood started to boil under her cheeks and her insides just about burst as her heart pounded into overdrive. Even though he looked like he spent all day in the sun, his lips and hands were so cold. They way their lips totally fit into each other, like two pieces of a puzzle but at the same time like ying and yang, was a feeling that sent Ami totally out of this world. Then her mind knocked her back to reality. First off, she hasn't believed in his kind since she was seven, second, he was a hallucination! A figment of her imagination! This just couldn't be possible. She tried to pull away, but he wouldn't let!
Mitsukuni felt her trying to pull away, but his language transfer wasn't complete yet. This was such a complex language; he just needed a few more seconds.
Ami freaked out when he didn't move. He looked like he knew she wanted to stop, but he didn't let her go. With her other hand she started to pound his shoulder and push him away, but he still wouldn't move. Angrier, she attempted to yell through her closed lips, flailing her free arm and leg, but her yell only came out as a loud, hoarse hum.
Suddenly, he let go of her and put his arms up to defend himself, "There! I'm done." he stated.
"You're done?!" Ami exclaimed in disbelief, "What were you doing?! Why did you kiss me?!"
"Kiss? What's a kiss?" he asked her, his eyes dead curious.
"Wha..." Ami gasped in surprised. Was he serious or was he just pulling her leg? Deciding that it was the latter, she growled, "Then what was that, hmm? Who do you think you are?"
"I thought I already told you, I'm Mitsukuni. And that was a language transfer. I can speak your language now." He replied, composedly.
A chill crept up Ami's spine as she asked, "Was that your first la-language transfer?" she was too afraid to hear the answer as she pulled her legs away from the bizarre mirage merman.
"Well, no." he stated, no sign of worry in his eyes as he faced upwards and began counting. "Let's see... Russian, French, Spanish, Italian, Indian, Chinese, Japanese... That's all." He turned back to Ami, seven fingers raised.
"Se-se-se-se-se-se-SEVEN?!" Ami choked out in despair. "No! No! No!" she shrieked, upset to tears that her first kiss wasn't his as well.
"You really don't remember?" Mitsukuni declared randomly, though his question sounded more like a statement. "You don't remember me at all."
Ami turned to him in wonder. What did he mean by not remembering him? Ami sat there and thought about it before she came to a very wrong conclusion. "Were you that freak that tried to spear me with a trident two years ago?!" she cried out, her mind on the edge of insanity.
"What...?" Mitsukuni huffed, an annoyed expression on his face. "No you--!" he exclaimed, nudging her on the head.
"Ow!" Ami protectively put her hand on the now throbbing bump on her head. She winced in the obvious pain; he had hit her pretty hard! "That hurt...Mitsukuni..." Ami turned to him, her eyes brimming with tears.
It was his first time seeing actual tears. He had heard about them under the waves before, but he's never seen them in real life. He learned that they come out of human eyes when they were in physical or emotional plain.
"I-" he began to apologize; reaching out to catch one of her tears. But he stopped when he sensed a presence not far behind him. "I have to go." He told her instead, looking behind him. He pushed himself off the sand and jumped into the ocean
"Mitsukuni, wait!" Ami mindlessly rushed in after him, wondering why he was in such a rush. "Come back, Mitsukuni!" she had gotten a few feet into the water, but soon her aching knees gave out from all of the sudden pressure. "Ahh!" she screamed, half in the air, half under water.
Even before she could think to swim back up, Mitsukuni's cold fingers held her face under the waves. "If you want to see me again, meet me here at the same time tomorrow." She heard his velvety voice crystal clear even though they were underwater. "It's the only time we'll be safe." Then he gave her a mischievous smiled, the most emotion she's seen out of him in this whole episode, before he pressed his icy lips back on hers sending a tingling sensation throughout her body. He pulled away and smirked, "That was a kiss," he laughed before a current of water wrapped around him and he was gone.
Ami stayed submerged for a moment, her mind in a crazy, love blur, before she swam to the top gasping for air. Then she stayed a float there, looking out at the never ending blueness. Her heart was desperately trying to have a firm grasp about everything that happened and how she felt about this. She put a hand on her slightly frozen lips, wondering if that merman was really just a figment of her imagination...______________________________________________________
Ritsuka continued running, tears flying off his face. He was searching the never ending sea, his eyes twitching and turning at every little movement around him. Ami had to be on the beach, there isn't anywhere she's rather be.
His eyes rested on an odd red buoy he's never seen before and he stopped in his tracks to take a better look at it. Rubbing the tears out of his eyes, he realized that it wasn't a buoy, but a head with unmistakable red hair!
"AMI!" Ritsuka called out, his pounding heart desperately hoping this was not an illusion. The head turned around and he could make out golden eyes. "Ami!!" he waved at her, a very relieved smile making its way on his face. "Ami! Swim over here!" he cried out, not daring to get into the waves.
Ami turned and looked back at the sea once more before she started to swim back to shore. How she even got that far into the ocean, she didn't know. But she was far enough that she couldn't feel the ocean floor. Her body still hurt, but her mind was adrift elsewhere, not caring to pay enough attention to her body's weaknesses. As soon as she could reach the sand, she started to walk to the beach, every step a little heavier than the last.
When she was at least waist high out of the water, Ritsuka ran in, picked up the tired girl, and set her on her own feet in ankle high water. Quickly, he pulled her close, wrapped his arms tightly around her waist, and leaned his head on hers whispering, "I thought I lost you, Ami... Right when I had you back... I really thought you were gone. I went to the cliff and you weren't there and... I thought..."
Ami shut her eyes. It was her turn to feel his warm tears running down her face. It was her turn to be the strong one.
"Where did you go? Where were you?"
She draped her arms around his neck and laid her head on his shoulder. She knew she had to tell him the truth. She couldn't lie to him. She could never lie to Ritsuka. "I did go to the cliff..." she whispered, her voice low, but strong.
Ritsuka's heart stopped beating.
"Just like your mom..." she finished.
His blood went icy cold. _________________________________________