After Kairi properly learned how to stand and walk without Kris’s help, her eyes were alert because she kept thinking that someone was watching them. She didn’t mention it to Kris since he’d think that she was getting worked up for nothing. 

 

Kris was sitting down on the sand, exhausted from dealing with this girl. Kairi tested out her new legs by jumping around and kicking the sand in the air. Kris watched her, amused by how childish she seemed at the moment. For a moment, he thought that he might have seen her smile a little at her legs, but he brushed it off, thinking it was his mind playing tricks on him. Kairi jumped in the incoming tide and splashed Kris a little. He wiped away the water droplets and smiled a little.  

 

As he was watching her, he could see two objects floating in the water behind her. His eyes got drawn to the objects, and he squinted to get a better look at them. Finally, he could make out that they were a large yellow fish and a red crab looking straight at them. They kept calling out to Kairi, but she couldn‘t hear them at all. “Kairi!” yelled Kris, trying to get her attention. 

 

She twirled around. “What?” 

 

He pointed at the two creatures. “I think you have some people who want to talk to you.” 

 

She looked down at where he was pointing and saw them. “Flounder? Sebastian?” Her face whitened when she saw the look on the crab’s face. 

 

“Ariel, you are in BIG trouble!” He pointed towards her legs. “You’re-you’re HUMAN! Think of what your father would do when he finds out that-” 

 

Kairi shushed him and kneeled down into the water. “You won’t tell him, will you?” She eyed him suspiciously. 

 

“You don’t think I won’t?” Sebastian glanced over at Kris and let out an exasperated sigh. “Oh, great. HE’S human too. So much for his help.” 

 

“Help?” Kairi spun around and stared at Kris. “What is he talking about?”

 

Kris looked back at her, confused. “What-” 

 

“Did you come find me because you were going to return me back to my family?” her voice turned hard and cold again as she glared down at him. 

 

“Y-yes. What’s w-wrong with that?” 

 

Kairi rolled her eyes and turned away from him. “Unbelievable...” she mumbled under her breath as she walked away from them. 

 

“Kairi! Wait!” Flounder called out to her as he swam along with her steps. 

 

Sebastian looked back at Kris and shook his head. “Now why would you tell her that?” 

 

“I don’t know what I said wrong.” Kris scratched his head. *What a moody girl.*

 

The crab rolled his eyes. “Are you dense or something? She ran away because of her family. And then you said that you were going to her to take her back. You were basically confirming that you were betraying her since the beginning.” 

 

Kris looked down at his hands, feeling stupid for his mistake. “Oh,” was the only thing he muttered. 

 

He heard Sebastian sigh. “Well, we’ve got to be getting back to Atlantica. Now listen.” Kris looked up at him. “You are NOT to tell anyone where you came from. This stays a secret, you understand?” Kris nodded. “In the meantime, we’re going to find a way to turn you back.” He shook his head solemnly. “The Sea Witch’s magic is really advanced.” 

 

Kris looked at Sebastian with surprise. “W-wait, so you knew that she went to the Hyorin?” 

 

Sebastian rolled his eyes again. “How do you think we knew that you two were human in the first place? This could only be the work of the Sea Witch, and Kairi is gullible enough to listen to her.” He shook his head in disappointment. “Then we followed you here.” 

 

A shadow covered Kris, and Sebastian stopped talking. Kris looked up and saw Kairi looking at the two with her usual indifferent face. “Let’s go.” 

 

Kris blinked at her. “Where are we going?” 

 

“Don’t ask questions and just follow me,” she said coldly before striding away from him. 

 

Kris shook his head in disappointment. *And I thought she was starting to warm up to me.*

 

Kris got up onto his feet, patting off the sand that was on his . He took a glance towards Sebastian, who stared back. *Take care of Kairi, Kris.* Flounder and him disappeared under the water, back to Atlantica. 

 

Kris turned back to Kairi who had already walked far from him. He jogged over to catch up with her, and when he did, she didn’t even give him a glance. 

 

They remained quiet as they walked to wherever it was that Kairi was taking them. Kris looked around and saw that the surroundings were changing. The ocean started to disappear and were replaced with streets. The sea life were replaced by people.

 

“Yah, Kairi. Are we going into the city?” Kairi replied with a grunt. His eyes widened. “B-but I’m not wearing any clothes! YOU’RE not wearing much either!” 

 

She shot him an icy glare. “Where do you think we’re getting the clothes?” Kris shut his mouth and stopped talking. 

 

They both walked into the city, and like Kris had expected, everyone that passed them were giving the two of them strange stares. Children pointed at the half- Chinese EXO member, and the mothers covered their eyes, dragging them away. Kris bowed his head down in embarrassment. Kairi also didn’t enjoy the stares either, especially from the middle aged men staring at her legs. 

 

Eventually Kairi spotted a clothing store. She rushed over to it with Kris trailing behind her. The old woman in the store looked at them weirdly. “Uhm, hello dears. I’m guessing you need clothes?” 

 

“Uh, yes.” Kairi looked through the assortment of clothes quickly and selected a few items of clothing without really looking at them. She turned around and almost collided with Kris. She glared at him before eyeing him up and down. She raised an eyebrow and turned around, grabbing a pair of boxers as well. She took all of the clothes and laid it in front of the woman. “Ajuhmma, how much would all of this be?” 

 

“106,764 Won.” (A/N: Approximately $100 USD)

 

Kris’s eyes widened a little at the price. “That’s expensive!”

 

The woman shrugged. “If you’re not going to buy, then don’t come here. Good luck trying to find clothes at a cheaper price. This is the cheapest store in the kingdom.” 

 

Kairi bit her bottom lip nervously. “Excuse me for a bit, ajuhmma. I’ll be right back.” She scurried out of the store and down the busy street, leaving Kris by himself. Kris looked around and saw clusters of teenage girls in the store whispering to each other and staring at him coyly. He gulped nervously before running after Kairi.

 

He finally caught up with her when she stopped at a shop. He looked up at the sign and saw that it was a pawn shop. *What would she be doing here?* He walked over to her side as she pulled out a small bag. 

 

“Excuse me?” she called out to the man behind the counter. 

 

The man looked up and raised an eyebrow at the two strangely-clothed people. “May I help you?” he asked greasily. 

 

Kairi opened up the small bag to reveal large, shining pearls. “How much for these?” 

 

Kris gaped at the pearls. The man put on his glasses, grabbed one of the pearls, and examined it with a magnifying glass. His eyebrows rose in surprise. “Wow, they’re real,” he mumbled. He placed the pearl back into the back and removed his glasses. “I’ll offer you 213,528 Won.” (A/N: Approximately $200 USD) 

 

Kairi agreed to the price and exchanged the pearls for the won. While the man was getting the money, Kris whispered into her ear. "Where'd you get the pearls?"

 

Kairi threw him a look. "Flounder gave it to me while you were talking to Sebastian." The man returned with the money, which Kairi accepted graciously, and they left the pawn shop. 

 

They walked back to the clothing store, still gathering stares from people. The woman looked at them in surprise. “Oh, you’re back.” 

 

Kairi slapped down the money onto the counter. “We’ll take those clothes now.” 

 

The woman raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow while taking the money. “Changing rooms are over there.” She pointed to the other side of the room. Kairi took her clothes and went into a changing cubicle without a word, and Kris thanked the woman and went into a cubicle of his own. 

 

Kairi walked out of the room carefully, her light pink heels clacked against the wooden floors. 

She looked down at her cutesy, floral dress and wrinkled her nose in distaste. She walked over to the old woman, ignoring all the hateful glares that were thrown her way. “Ajuhmma?”

 

The woman looked up and bulged her eyes. “Wah! You’re so pretty!” She smiled at Kairi. “Thank goodness you dumped that-uh-rag. So what else do you need?”

 

“Can you tell me where the nearest doctor is?”

 

The woman’s eyes softened. “Oh, hun. You only have 106,764 Won left, right? That’s not enough for a visit for a doctor.”

 

Kairi groaned and thanked the woman. *What am I going to do now?* She tapped her chin and tried to think. Suddenly, a light bulb went off in her head. “I got it!” She walked over to the hats section of the store and quickly grabbed the first hat that she saw. She bought it and walked over to the front door, waiting for Kris to come out of the changing rooms. 

 

Kris finally came out of the dressing room in his plain white t-shirt and jean jacket.

(A/N: BRB, /DYING FROM INTENSE HANDSOMENESS FROM DUH DUIZHANG/)

The girls stared at him with awe. Kairi stared at him also. *Wow, he’s kind of handsome.* She realized what she was thinking and shook it off, disgusted with herself. 

 

Kris searched for Kairi in the store and found her at the front door. She was looking out the window, and the sunlight shone through and enveloped her, making her glow. Her dress twirled a bit as she shifted her weight on the other foot, and Kris couldn’t help but stare at her endless legs. *How does a mermaid have those legs?* She tucked her white locks behind her hair and crossed her arms. *She might be cold, but I still have to admit that she’s a beautiful girl.*

 

He strode over to her without her noticing and smirked. “Well, don‘t you look cute.” 

 

She jumped at the sound of his voice and turned and glared at him. “Shut up,” she growled. “I didn’t bother looking at what I was buying.” She walked outside, and he followed her. 

 

She walked down the street and looked all around for an area filled with people. Men stared at her as she walked past them, but she didn’t notice them. Kris frowned at them and felt protective over her. He threw glares at the boys, who scurried away, frightened by his look. Suddenly, Kairi stopped walking, causing Kris to almost walk right into her. They were on the corner of a street where people were bustling through to get to wherever they were going. 

 

Kris looked down and noticed the hat that she was carrying. “Is that a new hat? I didn't see that in the pile before.” 

 

“Huh?” She twirled around and looked at Kris. Her hair glistened in the sun, causing all the men to stop and gaze at her while the girls pouted in jealousy. “Oh, yeah. I bought it right before you came out of the dressing rooms.” Then she threw it down to the ground. 

 

“And you throw it on the ground. That’s really smart,” Kris commented sarcastically. 

 

Kairi threw him another glare, and she did something that completely caught Kris by surprise; 

 

She started singing. 

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

Sorry for the long chappie today xD I got carried away with what I was writing and didn't want to split it into two separate chapters :P

 

How are you guys today? ^-^ I got hit by a car today haha. It was sorta painful xD