Merry Christmas! (Though this might come late for some people _ )

I know I haven't been doing...anything at all with my account lately. I'll get to finishing my stories, I promise.

I've been working on a story that is actually planned out and stuff (I know, surprise, isn't it?) but I've decided not to put out until all nine of its chapters have been finished. So no, it is not this one. This one is different, though it kinda follows the same idea.

That being said, You becomes the protagonist this time!

Her body kinda hurt. Not in a good way, though was there really a good way to get hurt? She didn't think so, but who was she to know? At any rate, her body hurt. The pain was only accentuated as someone else started shaking her roughly.

"You-chan! Can you hear me?" The voice was so worried, so scared.

She struggled to open her eyes, wanting to help whoever was calling her, even though her entire body wanted to shut down. Her vision blurred at first, red blending with the white of the moon behind the other girl.

"Ri...ko...chan?"

Riko nodded, her brown eyes shimmering with tears. Her ears were flattened as she lowered her head over You's body. "Please help me…You're the only one I can ask…"

"Riko-chan...your ears?" You lifted her hand with difficulty. She touched the tufted ears and found them warm.

"Yes...I'm not human. You-chan, this is hard to explain, but I'll try." Riko took a deep breath. "When you wake up again, you'll be taken to the self-proclaimed leader of this sanctuary. Don't trust anyone. They're the ones who hurt you."

You tried to think back to how she got into this situation in the first place, but couldn't with all the pain still radiating all over her body. And she still wanted to question Riko, though she held her tongue as Riko continued to talk.

"I need your help to get out of this place. They, the ones who hurt you, they're after me too." Riko looked up, her ears pricked and listening.

You tried to turn her head but found the effort too exhausting. She couldn't see much anyway, with Riko on top of her.

"They're coming. I have to go, You-chan." Riko stood up, glancing around. She looked like she was going to say more, but the girl ran off without another word.

You stared up at the stars twinkling above, waiting, wanting to know what was going to happen next. Her aching body and exhaustion took over, pulling her consciousness into darkness. She got the slightest feeling that something lifted her before she completely fell into a dreamless sleep.

She was still lying down, though on her side this time. Unlike the flat, slightly sticky surface she had been lying on before, the surface beneath her shifted and prickled every time she moved a little.

She heard a splash, and instinctively rolled over to see what had caused the noise. She fell off of...something, and landed on compact dirt. She knew it was dirt because some of it had gotten into her mouth.

"You're awake! That's good; you'd lost a lot of blood so I didn't know if you were going to make it!"

You sat up and looked at the girl who had spoke. This girl had long purple hair that was tied up in a neat ponytail. She was also waist-deep in a pool of water. You noticed that the pool of water was fed through a rather wide stream that led out of the cave, for that was where she was. You looked back upon the surface she had fallen from, and saw that it was merely a bed of leaves on top of a rock.

"Man, you really had me worried for a bit. But you're awake now, so I guess you can eat on your own!" The girl gestured at a cloth bag, though she did not leave the water.

You remembered Riko's warning against trusting them, whoever 'them' was. Her stomach had another opinion, and growled loudly. In the end, her hunger won out, and You reached for the bag. White bandages were wrapped around her hand, and as she looked down at herself, she realized that she was almost completely naked if not for the bandages that seem to cover every inch of her skin. She turned back to the girl in the water, the indignant question on the tip of her tongue.

"Ah, we had to take off your clothes because they were covered in blood, y'see? But we have extra clothes for you if you want to wear them. I'll just go get them real quick." Before You could respond, the girl turned and dove back into the water. For a brief second, the bright green tail was in the air for You to see. Then the girl was gone, propelled by her powerful tail.

"Fish tail...mermaid?" The question hung in the air, but there was no one else to respond. You sat and pondered upon it. Then again, she reminded herself, Riko also had a strange tail. She had seen it, long and sleek, as the girl ran from whatever had frightened her. You looked at the bag again, with the warning fresh in her mind. She decided against eating whatever was in it, despite her stomach arguing against her.

"I'm back!" A plastic-wrapped package fell into her lap, tossed by the mermaid girl. She grinned, once again only coming halfway out of the water.

You opened the wet plastic, relieved that the clothes inside were kept dry. She shot a glance at the mermaid. "If you mind...could you?"

"Got it. I won't look." The mermaid swam back out of the cave again.

She pulled the new clothes on over her bandages, stifling a snort as they had even included new undergarments with the uniform. Uniform, she called it, because it looked like one of the sailor uniforms that students wore. The uniform fit perfectly on her, somehow. You felt a little more comfortable now that she wasn't as exposed as before.

"You done?" The girl had come back in without waiting for an answer. "Hm...looks good! Almost makes me want to wear it! Anyway, I haven't introduced myself. I'm Matsuura Kanan, the fish beast, ace swimmer, mermaid, and now doctor!"

"Watanabe You." You said, automatically giving her name in exchange for learning Kanan's. Although, she did have to wonder, why the term 'mermaid' came third in Kanan's list of titles. At any rate, Kanan didn't come off as the deceiving type.

"You-chan then! Come on, I'll show you around!" For the third time so far, Kanan did not wait for an answer. The mermaid swam out of the cave, leaving You to make her own choice.

She started after Kanan; she didn't want to spend her time brooding over who to trust in a dark cave after all. She paused, turned, and grabbed the cloth bag before exiting the cave after Kanan.

Trees arced over the dirt path that You walked on as she ate the sandwich she found inside the bag. Kanan swam along side her, apparently the path followed the length of the river, turning as the water turned. Eventually, though, the path led to a white walkway that ran perpendicular to the river. You put her sandwich into her mouth and climbed up the side of the fence that bordered the walkway. Unable to help herself, she gasped at what she saw on the other side.

A large body of water stretched in front of her, so large that she could barely see the other shore. There were large trees everywhere, and the flowers that grew along the shore were bright and colorful.

"Like it?" Kanan asked, her voice playful.

She nodded, unable to find her voice at the moment. She saw movement in the corner of her eye; Kanan had leapt out of the water! As You watched, Kanan seemed to fly gracefully over the walkway that had blocked her progress to the large lake. The mermaid dove into the water with only the smallest of splashes before coming back up.

"Want to see something better?" You nodded again. "Then come on!"

She sprinted after the mermaid, following the walkway path that stuck the closest to the lake's shore. Her bare feet slapped against the white surface as she ran, panting. She forgot the injuries on her body, forgot Riko's warning. All that mattered was the beautiful place she was in.

Kanan leapt over the walkway again, diving into a different river that led into a different part of the forest.

"W-Wait up!" You clambered over the side of the walkway and jumped down onto the soft grass below. She trotted after the other girl, following the river bank carefully. At one point, she lost Kanan and the river completely in the shrubbery. Stumbling forward blindly, she burst through the bushes and into a clearing.

The trees seemed to make a perfect circle around the clearing. You spotted Kanan waving at her from yet another small pool, and waved back. As she continued to look around, she realized that someone was coming out of the leaves on the far side of the clearing from where she was. A treehouse, perhaps? Yes, she now saw the wooden planks hammered into the trunk of the tree as a makeshift ladder.

The girl that had just come out had a sort of leaderly aura to her. Her arms were crossed as she gazed down at You, giving You the strange feeling that she was being analyzed. The girl backed up a few steps.

"Don't tell me…" You started saying.

The girl ran forward and jumped out into the air. She landed gracefully on the ground, mere centimeters away from You.

"Ten out of ten for that jump, Dia!" Kanan called from her pond.

Dia shot a look at Kanan but the mermaid merely shrugged. You took the time to examine Dia closely. The girl's ears looked almost like Riko's, and they stood up proudly on her head. But her tails, both of them, looked a lot fluffier. You was tempted to stroke one of them, but Dia returned her attention to her at almost that exact moment.

"What kind of beast are you?" Dia asked, scowling. "No ears, no tail, nothing."

Well, what was she supposed to say to that? You decided to answer honestly for the time being. "I'm human, not a beast."

"Lies. They wouldn't put a human in with- nyaa?" Dia shrieked as she dove behind You. Another girl smiled mischievously. "M-Mari-san? What do you think you're doing?"

"Making sure that your tails are as perfectly fluffy as ever!" Mari winked at You. Confused, and probably bleeding again since she felt sharp somethings pressing against her back, You just stared at her. Like Dia, Mari had ears on top of her head. And one, two, three, four tails! "Of course, they'll never be as big and soft like mine!"

"I'm still growing, okay?" Dia retorted. You got the feeling that they were not, in fact, talking about the quality of their tails, but did not speak.

"Sure, okay." Mari said agreeably. "But how long are you going to cling to the newcomer? Chika-chi's going to get jealous~"

"I'm not clinging to her!"

With a bit of relief, You noted that the sharp whatevers were now gone. She decided to back over to where Kanan was, following the belief that Kanan was the least dangerous out of the three. Dia's ears were flattened against her head, and her tails were puffed up, reminding You of an angry cat. Mari, on the other hand, looked mostly unaware of the other girl's anger.

"Are they always like that?" You asked Kanan.

"Yep!" The mermaid said amiably. "They're such good friends, aren't they?"

'Friends' wouldn't be the word You would use to describe them, based on the experience she had so far with them.

"But," Kanan continued, "it'd be nice if they put off their stand-off to decide what to do with you first."

You heard Riko's warning again in her ears. She'd been attacked by something, though she didn't remember what. Riko said it had been 'them' that attacked her. Did she mean these strange people?

Should she trust in what Riko told her? She could flee right now, while Dia and Mari were arguing. Kanan wouldn't be able to stop her; the mermaid couldn't leave the water.

Or should she wait and see what would happen? Kanan didn't seem like a bad person. She couldn't say the same for Dia or Mari yet, but none of them had tried to hurt her. Intentionally that is; the pain on her back said otherwise.

What should she do?

What should You-chan do?

Leave a review with your choice! (I'm trying something new this time.)