Love in Dangerous Waters

Chapter 25 - The Bodyguard and Earth

"Find her." Dad ordered them all, growling in a low voice, and they didn't have to be told twice as they scattered in all directions, as well as the merpeople. "Find her, even if we have to search the whole ocean for her! She will not, and I mean not, do anything else to harm any of my people." He stated, swimming back inside, followed my Mom. I was about to follow, but a hand caught my wrist before I could, jerking me back.

"Hey." Kaito greeted, not looking freaked out at all. "That was one hell of a day, now wasn't it?"

"Little bit." I answered quickly, but he kept stopping me from moving.

"So… you're actually the Princess…" He stated awkwardly, making me feel uncomfortable. "That's, uh… nice."

"Thanks." I said simply, seeing Mom appear in the doorway from the corner of my eye, but didn't say anything. "It's all pretty new to me…"

"I can tell." He replied, flipping his hair in front of his eyes so he couldn't look at me. "Are you… are you going to start at the school soon?"

I wasn't too sure how to answer that, so I tried the best I could. "Um… possibly."

"That's cool." He stammered, rubbing the back of his neck. "So, would you like to hang out later or something? You know, when the sea witch is dead and everything goes back to normal?"

I leaned in questionably, feeling a small smile crack my face. "Are you hitting on me?"

"Indirectly." He laughed, making me copy him.

"Alright, we'll see how it goes with everything else that's going on." I told him, and he did something that looked like a victory stance, which I found a little dorky but cute.

"Sweet. Then I'll see you later?" He asked, and I nodded automatically. "Cool." He smirked before waving and heading off in his own direction, and I went back to join my mother.

"So…" She started, making me face her and turned all gossipy teenager. "Who was that?"

"Kaito." I replied, looking back at where he swam off. "He's my… friend."

"Who was "indirectly" hitting on you." She added with a laugh, and I made a noise with my throat of annoyance and swam forward, trying to find Dad, who was talking to some more guards.

"There you two are!" He exclaimed, swimming over to us. "I thought you two would've followed me."

"No, Aqua was talking to some guy-" Mom started before I shot her a glare, making her mouth snap shut.

"A guy?" Dad asked, leaning in close to me and turning into Mom. "What's his name and where does he live." He asked, although her more stated it, demanding the answer.

"Dad!" I whined, pushing him away from me as a guard came back.

"Yes, we have our best in the class. He'll definitely protect her from Lucille and anything else who acts as a threat." The guard stated, waving in some other guards, who were sending signals everywhere around the castle.

"Um… what's this about?" I asked Dad, tapping on his shoulder.

"Oh, we looked at the defending class and sword-handling at the Academy, and we picked one of the students to act as your bodyguard." Dad explained, but the sound of that didn't sound good at all.

"Wait, um… what?" I asked, thinking and hoping I heard that wrong. "You're having a kid be my bodyguard? Do I even need one?"

"Yes, you do." Dad stated immediately, looking out into the vast ocean, shuddering and turning away. "The ocean is a dangerous place, especially with Lucille out there." He growled, turning back towards me. "And he's not a kid, he's older then you."