Those who held an underwater kingdom, who were the creatures of the sea. The fearsome, beautiful maidens who lured fishermen by their hypnotic voice to their watery graves.

They were known as mermaids. Fish-people with traits like a fish: gills to breathe underwater, a powerful fish tail for legs covered in beautiful scales all in one color or different colors. Always beautiful, their inhuman beauty was what caught those lost out at sea's attention. And once they had their gaze, the mermaids would sing to them in an equally inhuman and beautiful voice. Its hypnotizing lull controling the poor humans to come closer, and closer . . .

And then with blinding speed reach up and drag their prey under the water's depths. But it wasn't their flesh they wanted.

It was their souls. Eating a human's soul preserved their youth, and made them everlasting.

A mermaid could live forever by doing this. They were powerful beings who travelled in groups or families, despite their eating habits, they were very friendly creatures who loved one another deeply.

They had few rules, but there was one among their society that must always be upheld. And that is, to never mate with a human.

Mermaids believed in staying a pure species, no hybrids with mermaid blood. The penality for breaking this rule was death or exile.

But there was always one who would break this rule. One who would go against their own kind by falling in love with a human.

~ * * * ~

Her name was Kairu, for the sea, and because she was blue. Her hair, her eyes, and even her tail.

Her family was resting in an old cave, preparing to head south in about two months. There was a shoreline a mile away that was empty, no humans around, and Kairu liked to visit it to explore.

She found interesting things decorating the shallow end, such as a mirror, money, a silver chain, sea shells, and sharp strange-looking weapons.

Kairu looked around and sensed for sure that no humans were around before raising up out of the water.

Her gills on the sides of her neck smoothed down into her pale skin and she took a breath of air, filling her new lungs.

Next came her tail, it slithered until it split at the bottom into two halves before making its way up. Her fins turned into feet while her blue scales turned into pale white flesh. They became a pair of legs, in which Kairu stood up.

With a grin, she started running up the beach. Her clothes instantly formed on her body, which was a light blue dress. She stopped abruptly when she heard a voice.

"Your gonna be in trouble, you know . . ." Came a snooty voice that was strangely melodic.

Kairu turned swiftly around to see a mermaid, like herself, with her upper body raised out of the water.

It was her best friend, her sister, Rin. Unlike having blue-colored hair, hers was a beautiful turquoise—that color stuck between blue and green. Her eyes were a vibrant purple, and she had tanned skin. The color of her tail was the same color as her eyes. She was a year older than Kairu.

"Please don't tell!" Kairu pleaded with her sister while holding her hands up together as if praying.

Rin shook her head in dismay. "Go on and play, baby sister. I didn't see anything."

"Thanks, you're the best!" Kairu shouted just as she went back under the water.

Rin was the closest person she had, her mom coming second. She often came off as strong, tough, and a true adult. But when she was around Kairu, she was completely different. The two of them acted childish, and were always getting into things. Like two peas in a pod.

They were best friends. Kairu could trust Rin with her life, and any secret she may have.

Kairu ran into the surrounding forest, wondering what she may find. Even though she was a being of the water, she couldn't help her curiosity of the world above the water's surface, so she explored it whenever she got the chance.

She liked to spy on humans and watch them live their lives. You see, Kairu was only sixteen, she still hasn't adopted the mermaid eating lifestyle yet. Devouring human souls. She always cringed at the mere mention of it.

The very thought at not just taking a human life, but their soul. They don't even get to go to the after life, without a soul.

But . . Kairu thought. If I don't take their souls then I'll eventually shrivel up and die, and be left behind by my family . . . She had an internal dilemma—take up the harsh mermaid lifestyle, or succumb to the legend of dying prematurely in the worst way.

Suddenly, she sensed someone nearby and silently hid herself amongst the trees. Her sapphire eyes studied the human before her; which confused her, she knew they were well away from any village.

It was a boy. Who looked no older than sixteen himself, maybe closer to seventeen though . . .

Kairu was immediately mesmerized by his beauty. Never had she seen such flawless raven black hair, spiked out in the back. Or how creamy his ivory skin was compared to her own pale complexion. His eyes were downcast though, so she didn't really get a good look at them but they looked to be as dark as his hair. He wore a white top as clothing for his upper half which was split down the middle and revealed his chiseled chest. He had a purple rope-like belt tied around his waist where he wore dark pants that covered his lower half.

All she could do was stare at the male human. She had seen them before, but this one just caught and held her attention like no other! She wanted to know why, why was it him? And just who was he . . . ?

Suddenly, he stood up, and she realized just how tall he was. He looked on into the distance before jumping so quickly away that if Kairu had blinked she would have missed it.

He was gone, and Kairu's heart—that had been pounding furiousily this whole time though she just realized it—seemed to have gone with him. Whoever he is.

She didn't feel the urge to explore any longer, which was weird for Kairu. It seemed her curiosity was never picqued, and Rin always had to come get her.

Once back at the ocean, she dived in and immediately transformed back into a mermaid. Her legs forming into a blue-scaled tail, gills forming on the sides of her neck, and her blue dress from before turned into a much shorter version made of blue shells.

She swam past all of the sea's life forms and made it to the cave that was well-hidden and protected by sharks and a single giant squid. It was where her and her family was staying. Mermaids had the power to manipulate anything of the ocean, so it was easy to tell the most fiercest predators to guard their base.

The cave inside was very spacious since it went further underground, a hidden underwater cavern.

"Kairu!" Came the voice belonging to her mother, Vivaldi.

Vivaldi is a very old mermaid though she didn't look a day older than thirty. She had long dark brown hair that was curly and thick, pretty hazel eyes, and lightly tanned skin. Her mermaid tale was silver, and her top was made of some of the rarest silver sea shells. She had a specially made crown in her hair, made from a special type of coral found in only the bottom of the sea in certain parts of the world. It was called the Aoi Coral, because it was as blue as the ocean with one small piece of ruby in the middle. The head of the mermaid's family wore it.

Kairu's mother swam to her, her perfect face pinched in what her daughter knew as stress. "Where have you been? We must quickly hurry! The festival will soon be upon us and you must practice your voice." Vivaldi was from an ocean on the other side of the world, so she had a different accent than all of the other mermaids in these parts.

Vivaldi led Kairu into a separate chamber that was the most spacious, so they chose it to be their practice area for their songs.

Mermaids had a special type of voice that was unlike any other. More melodic than a human's, as piercing as a howling wolf, yet softer than a bird's. Because their voice was their weapon.

The trigger in luring others to them, to completely hypnotize them as if they were under a spell . . .

They each had their own voice, there was no question that each one was beautiful, but there was always one that was deemed as the most beautiful, the most powerful . . .

And, unfortunately to Kairu, that voice belonged to her. She already didn't have the desire to take a human's soul, but now she had a special weapon built in her that could lure hundreds to her in a single note.

That was why she would be the star of the show. And why her mother was pushing her to practice most of her time away.

Vivaldi snapped her fingers, a signal for everyone to assemble. "Now, let's begin."

Instantly, mermaids grabbed instruments and started playing music. The instruments resembled the human's, yet they were all made from the ocean. Most of them from a dense coral.

Every family of mermaid had their own preference of music, as humans do. Kairu's family liked the softer kind, not the loud and boisterous kind of an orchestra. The kind made from soft, sweet melodies that weaved together and told a story of their own, even without a voice. The type that could change at any given moment.

Kairu grew up with this, and so now it seems to amplify her voice even more.

Vivaldi started looking around in annoyance before finally huffing. "And where is your sister?" she asked in a subtly tone, just enough for Kairu to hear so the others wouldn't be disturbed with thier music playing.

"I don't know . . ." she spoke lowly, looking around as well. She found it ironic since it was normally her that was late to these things, but now it was the other way around.

Her mother sighed. "Then we must begin without her." She nodded toward Kairu to start and the blue mermaid swam up to the main stand.

The music started like normal, a soft beat that reminded Kairu of the sound the water makes when waves hit the sandy shore of the life outside the water. And the longing it brings as more instruments add to it . . .

Kairu inhaled the salt water, refreshing her voice as she closed her eyes and found the words.

Kairu only saw darkness with her eyes closed, but then an image started forming. Raven black hair, creamy ivory skin . . .

The boy from before! But why is he appearing?

She opened her eyes and saw the image fade away into the dark water.

Her eyes studied the underwater prison that served as her home. Why couldn't she be free to enjoy life?

Above the water.

She opened her eyes as the notes hit her, her voice taking on a sad undertone that made it even more piercing, like a deep wailing. And as her blue eyes closed, a tear fell, though it just melted away into the water, unseen by anyone.

Unseen to anyone of the deep turmoil inside her.

And as her voice faded away, so too did the music and the cheering began as her mother swam up to her with a smiling face of approval.

* ~ * ~ *

Kairu lay in her bed—a giant dead clam made to fit her form almost perfectly—and thought back on her song. She had made it herself some time ago, it was her very first song so it held a lot of meaning.

She didn't know why she chose some of the lyrics . . . it just, came to her. Her mother and sister said that was normal for every singer. Just like it was natural for an instrumental type of mermaid to play a tune that they've never heard before. It just came, and was played.

The song, which she named Swimming Home, seemed apologetic in a way . . . Constantly reciting the words "I'm sorry." But to who? Her lover? Or maybe to her kind . . . She knew that it was a song about mermaids, given that it started with "Way down, all the way down." Kairu always thought of the deep blue abyss of the ocean when singing those words. How inescapable it was . . .

Her eyes grew wide. Was it some sort of premonition? Was this life truly inescapable, with no way for her to be happy at all? Then again, maybe happiness just wasn't meant for her.

It was like that for her mother. She was happy because she had Kairu and Rin, but there was a big part of her missing . . . A big part of her happiness.

Kairu's father. He died long ago, when Kairu was only little. Her memories of him are hazy, she only remembers him of being kind and gentle towards her. Teaching her how to swim, but then he was gone. The mentioning of her father is taboo to her mother so she doesn't know much.

Rin says he died while protecting the family. From what, she didn't know, not even Rin knew that.

"Psst, is the coast clear?" Kairu suddenly heard a whisper and looked up to see her sister peeping in from a small opening the rock made.

"Yeah," Kairu told her, and Rin came swimming in.

They shared a room, they always have, ever since they were little. Rin set a small green bag down on her bed, it was the bag that she liked to take with her wherever she went.

Kairu raised a blue brow. "What did you get? Find anything rare?"

Rin got that gleem in her eyes like she always does when after one of her days out. Despite Kairu's curiosity for things on land, Rin was an adventurous type that liked to find things under the water. Especially when they were in a new part of the ocean.

"You know it, want to see?"

Kairu nodded, her curiosity flaring.

Rin unwrapped the small bag and took out rare looking gems that seemed to sparkle even without sunlight. "I found these near a sunken ship, I didn't have time to investigate it since I ran out of time." Rin handed the jewels to her younger sister.

Kairu studied them. There were three in all, each with a different color. One was a light green color that sparkled all on its own, very nice to look at. The other was a bright blue, reminding Kairu of the sky. The last was a strange gem, it lacked any color besides black. And it was the deepest of blacks too . . . onyx, perhaps? But out of the three of them the onyx one seemed to entrance her the most. Why was it that color? Would it sparkle like the other two in the sunlight?

Rin then held up what looked to be a hairpiece for one's hair. It was pearl white with tiny flecks of pink gems in it.

"It's very pretty," Kairu commented.

"I wish I could have gotten more. Oh, there was so much! I'll be going again tomorrow, you should come too, Kairu."

Kairu looked away, uncertain. She had always enjoyed going on adventures with her sister when she was younger, but that was before she was introduced to the world on land.

Where her heart belonged most.

"Sorry, sister, maybe some other time, okay?" Kairu mumbled, she needed to go to the land tomorrow.

Rin's eyes fell, and her smile was fake. "Oh okay, sure."

Kairu knew that more than anything Rin wanted her to spend more time with her. For quality time between sisters, to reconnect. It seemed ever since Kairu found the glory of life on land, that's all she ever wanted to do.

Did that make her selfish?

Looking at her sister's crestfallen face, she knew that she was. She wanted to fix it, but not right now.

All she wanted to do was find that boy again, and see him again with her eyes.

Kairu was up early the next morning, having not had much sleep the night before. She constantly tossed and tumbled, dreams of the boy from before always teasing her mind.

She didn't even know him!

But you will know him, her thoughts began to promise. Today.

Her excitement grew as she swam toward the shore. So excited in fact, that she forgot one of the most important rules a mermaid should take.

And that was to check her surroundings before coming into view.

The same boy from before was there, sitting on a rock and looking out at the ocean where she was at.

She gasped from within the water and hoped that her blue form blended in with the water as she retreated into the lower depths.

Did he see me? she thought, how could she have been so careless?

But as her heartbeat slowed down to normal, she took in all of his features once again. The sun was behind the clouds today, which made him seem even darker.

Kairu took in the last feature that she had been longing for. His eyes.

They were utterly black, like the gem stone from before that Rin had brought in. The same unyielding onyx black color . . .

As she gazed into them, she noticed something peculiar. His outside exterior was absolutely emotionless, it would be very hard for one to guess what emotion he was feeling. But inside those eyes lay what was inside him, his inner turmoil.

Kairu was known to be amazingly perceptive when it came to people's emotions, but that was only because she always tended to look people in the eyes more than she knew she should. She picked up on things then, when people were easily embarrassed and didn't like to share things about themselves, they always turned away. Those that were relatively shy or quiet with not much contact with people avoided eye contact altogether. And then there were those that stared right back, those who had either nothing to hide, or just were good with people. Sometimes though, they claimed to have just gotten lost in the blue of her eyes, the blue the same as the ocean . . . .

And in his eyes, she saw that he had emotions conflicting inside him, much like she did. The only ones she could manage to see and clarify was a struggling guilt and anger. Was he angry with himself over something he did?

She didn't get to decipher any more because she realized that he had been staring right at her the entire time.

He seemed to have realized it too, because he quickly jumped up and threw some sharp looking objects at her.

She barely missed them, one grazing a strand of her long blue hair.

"Who's there? Come out or I'll force you out!" A mighty voice yelled in a demanding tone into the wind, stunning Kairu for a moment in its deepness.

Now she had a voice to match the face. All she needed was a name, would it be wrong to ask?

He had more of the pointy weapons out so she knew that he would back up his word. Which left her with no choice.

There would be no time to transform, no time to be able to swim away from this distance between them.

Swallowing her nerves, she slowly swam up as far as she could into the shallow pool until she was directly in front of him, raising out of the water.

Her blue alien form out for all to see as his dark eyes took her in with astonishment. The dark eyes that held so many emotions like her own . . . .