“...?” Kairi looked down at her body to see if Kris was trolling with her, but she was indeed . She screamed and crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re too!”

 

“I just said that.” 

 

She shrieked again as she turned away from Kris. She tried to stand up and run, only to topple over on her new legs. She crawled towards a nearby boulder and hid behind it, peeking out to look at Kris. He was just sitting down on the sand, covering his privates with his hands, and his ears were bright red from embarrassment. From the corner of her eye, she spotted 2 dirty old blankets lying on the sand and quickly grabbed them. She wrapped one of them around her body in a makeshift dress. Then still blatantly staring at him with shock, she crawled back over towards Kris and threw the other blanket at him. 

 

Kris quickly wrapped it around his waist, his face still red from earlier. 

 

Kairi was about to say something, but her eyes widened as she grasped the conch necklace around her neck. “My voice... It’s back.” 

 

Kris looked at her knowingly. “You’re welcome,” he said cockily. 

 

Kairi stared at him in disbelief. “H-how?” 

 

He shrugged. “Well, when I was swimming over to you while you were in the whirlpool thing, I snatched it off the table when Hyorin wasn’t looking.” 

 

“Oh,” she muttered before ripping it off of her neck. She could feel the emptiness immediately starting to fill her up again, so she quickly put it back on. She clutched her chest as the unpleasant feeling. “I can’t take this off, or else I can’t speak.” 

 

“Well, I guess you’ll have to keep it on all the time.” 

 

Kairi shot him a glare. *Well, no , Sherlock.* She sighed and lied back down on the sand. Her white hair glistened in the sun. She turned her head to look at Kris when her eyes landed on his hands. “What the ’s wrong with your hands?” 

 

Kris looked down at his calloused and bruised hands. “Oh, well back at Hyorin’s lair, I couldn’t get through because of the boulder, so I had to beat the stone with my hands and make a small opening so I could squeeze through. It’s no big deal.” Kris brushed the issue away. He touched his hand and winced in pain. 

 

Kairi looked at Kris with what was almost a thankful gaze, but when Kris looked over at Kairi, her eyes turned hard and emotionless again. “Let me ask you this,” Kris raised his eyebrows, “how did you find me?” 

 

Kris stared out at the ocean and recalled the memory to her. 

 

~Flashback~ 

 

After Kris talked with those women about the Outskirts, he headed off to there. He reached the border between Atlantica and the Outskirts. There were numerous signs surround the area saying “DO NOT ENTER”, “DANGER”, “TURN BACK”. He ignored all of the signs and continued swimming. 

 

As he entered the area, he had the strange feeling that he was being watched. He looked around and saw nothing but a few fishing eyeing him suspiciously, wondering why a merman was in their premises. He shrugged off the feeling and moved away from the judgmental looks but suddenly realized something. 

 

He turned around and swam over to the fish, who backed away from him slowly. “Do you know where I can find the Sea Witch?” Their suspicious looks turned into fright as they quickly scurried away from the blond man. “W-wait!” But it was too late; they were already gone. He ruffled his hair in frustration. “Aish...” 

 

He didn’t know how long it had been since he started searching for her, but it must have been long because the sun had disappeared and was starting to reappear again. 

 

Finally he reached a huge mountain-like thing. In anger, he punched the wall, hearing a small crack come from his hand. He withdrew his hand and massaged it gently. “Dead end, I can’t believe this.” 

 

He was about to turn back around when he spotted a strange looking boulder in the corner of his eye. It stuck out like a sore thumb and looked as if it was placed there. He swam over to it curiously. He heard something clear its throat behind him, causing him to jump in fright and turn around. 

 

Kris saw a group of fish eyeing him suspiciously. “Yah, merman. Why are you in front of the entranceway of the Sea Witch’s lair?” 

 

Kris’s eyes widened. “THIS is where the Sea Witch’s lair is?” He pointed at the boulder in disbelief. 

 

“Yes! Now, I suggest that you turn around and go back to where you came from. No good can come from seeing her, you hear?” They took one last frightful glance at the boulder before swimming away. 

 

Kris scoffed and turned towards the boulder again. “Yeah, right. I gotta save Kairi.” He gripped the boulder and tried pulling on it, but it wouldn’t budge. The pain in his hand started to throb, and he let go. “AHH!” He clutched his hand and saw that it was already bruising. 

 

He spotted a rock the size of his hand lying on the ground, so he grabbed it and beat against the side of the boulder, where the crack was. Soon, the rock started crumbling, and Kris was left with nothing. Desperately, he hit and clawed at the boulder. He ignored the searing pain that came from his hands by biting down on his bottom lip. 

 

Eventually, he was able to make a big enough crack for him to slip through. He entered the Sea Witch’s lair and quickly swam through the long passage. He spotted the tiny creatures on the ground looking at him with wide eyes, but he quickly put them in the back of his mind. 

 

He reached the end of the passageway and heard Kairi talking. He was about to enter the room when someone else spoke up too. He quickly backed up and hid behind a wall. He peeked over to see who was talking to Kairi. 

 

He examine the familiar cat-like features and long, wavy dirty blonde hair. *Isn’t that Hyorin from Sistar...?* Kris leaned against the wall and waited for the right time to pull Kairi out of there and back home. 

 

Then everything started to go wrong once Kairi agreed to go along with Hyorin’s spell. Kris noticed the evil glint in her eye, and his face whitened with fear. He watched as Hyorin took the conch out of her drawer and place it on top of the desk. He froze in horror when a long string of light escaped from and entered the conch. The water surrounding Kairi began swirling around and around. 

 

Kris broke out of his trance and yelled out her name. He swam into the room and took a glance at Hyorin. She gave him a deep smirk as if she was expecting him to be there. When she looked down at her book, Kris snatched the conch off of the desk and swam over to Kairi. 

 

~Flashback~  

 

Kairi stopped him before he could continue; she knew how the rest of it goes. She lied on the sand with an uneasy feeling in her stomach while looking up at the sky. She glanced at Kris’s hands again and felt a little guilty. 

 

“Let’s get those hands fixed.” Suddenly, she tried standing up again, but her legs shook unsteadily. Kris stood up along with her and held her hand, trying to keep her steady. She threw him a deep glare and pushed him away. “Don’t touch me, ,” she spat at him. Her legs wobbled even more, and she tumbled to the sand again. 

 

Kris’s eyes narrowed. “Oh, my goodness. I’m trying to help you, and you call me a .” He put his hands on his hips. “Are you mentally capable of walking?” He asked with a smirk to his face. 

 

Kairi glared at him for speaking the same way as she did when she first met him. “Shut up,” she hissed. 

 

He rolled his eyes at her stubbornness. “Just let me help you, gosh.” He held out his hand again, but she slapped it aside. 

 

“I can do it myself.” She tried to stand up again little by little, but her legs couldn’t support her weight and was starting to topple over again. She fell over onto Kris, who clasped his arm around her waist. She looked up at him, and their eyes connected.

 

But it wasn’t before long that Kairi punched him in the stomach. He fell to the ground and clutched his stomach, groaning in pain. She glared down at him with her hands on her hips. “YAH! WHAT’D I SAY ABOUT TOUCHING ME?!” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

^-^ OOOOHHH. Kris, you're so heroic <3 LOL. OMG. Just kidding. But Kairi, omg. Darling, you gotta stop punching Kris. Sooner or later, you're going to leave an indent in his stomach from all your punches ;O; 

 

And omg. I'm still getting subscribers *O* omg. <3 THANK YOU <3 Usually people don't want to read a 30 chapter fanfic while it's like 1/6 done. *O* ...... <3