The characters "Mana" and "Yuta" are the sole creation of the brilliant 
manga artist Rumiko Takahashi.  All other characters are created by me, Luna 
Hinomura.  Any constructive C&C is welcome.  No destructive, please.  I would 
particularly appreciate any information on how to draw readers in, and how to 
make scenes more descriptive.
     For those of you who have neither heard, read, nor seen Mermaid Saga, it 
is based on a legend that whomever eats mermaid flesh will become immortal.  
However, 99.9% of the time, it either kills the person or turns them into a 
"lost soul," also known as "one of the poisoned."  Only very rarely does a 
person come along who eats the flesh and becomes immortal.  Mana and Yuta are 
two of these such humans, and they travel together.  It is also assumed by me 
that they might possibly be... in love...  ^_^
	This fan-fic is posted on my website at 
http://homepages.go.com/homepages/l/u/n/lunahinomura/mermaid00.html if you 
would like to go see it.  Anything in between <these brackets> is a thought.  
Anything in between *these stars* is an accented word.

Ningyo no Yakusoku
(Mermaid's Promise)
~ Chapter 1: Eternal Souls ~ 

	They were walking again.  She was on the wall alongside the towering 
cliff, he next to it.  Most young girls her age would never dream of walking 
so precariously, but it never bothered her.  Neither the height nor the 
prospect of death frightened her.  She'd come to terms with it long ago, and 
had learned to accept death and fear of death as a part of life.  For humans, 
at least, not for. . .
	She turned to her companion.  "Hey, Yuta, how long do you think we've 
been walking?" she asked.  The young man she was walking with turned.  At 
first glance, one might correctly guess that he was the age of 20.  Upon 
closer inspection, however, something seemed strange, different.  There was 
something in his eyes, something inconceivable by human standards.  His eyes 
seemed ageless, but still held light.  His expressions and movements appeared 
to belong to one experienced, one wise and aged.  Yet, his body protested 
otherwise.
	"I don't know, Mana," Yuta replied.
	Mana hopped down from the wall.  "I want to rest; it's almost 
nighttime.  And I want to see what's in that shop over there."
	Yuta set down the duffle bag he had been carrying.  He looked at 
Mana, then at the store she was pointing at.
	Though the glance at Mana was brief, there was something within it.  
The glance bordered on the love between siblings, or perhaps the love of a 
mentor.  One who did not know them might even have mistaken them for actual 
lovers, had their superficial 'ages' not been so different.  He sighed.  "I'm 
tired too, we need another job if we're going to keep traveling."
	"Ok."  Mana turned to look down the cliff.  She liked walking on 
walls.  Yuta was taller than she, and it was hard to always look up to talk 
to him.  Of course, this way, *he* had to look up to talk to *her.*  It was a 
no-win situation; either way, one of them would get a sore neck.
	"How high is the cliff, anyway?" Yuta asked, joining her.  Cars 
zoomed by, but the two were oblivious to them, even to the impertinent people 
who honked.
	"It's not the steepest or tallest cliff we've ever seen," she said, 
turning to Yuta.  "Are you ever afraid of the height?"
	"No, not anymore," he replied.
	"Me either."
	They stood watching the ocean waves break upon the rocky shore, 
gradually eroding them, farther and farther down.  Mana blinked.  One day, 
perhaps, a long time from now, they would return to this beach, and the 
scenery would have changed, as well as society, people, and everything.  It 
was kind of neat to see what people could do in a few years, not a very long 
time.  Mana related her thoughts to Yuta.
	Yuta considered what she'd said.  "Sure, I guess it's not very long 
to us, but by human standards, even a decade could be labeled as 'a long 
time'."
	Mana cocked her head.  Yuta didn't seem to have understood at all.  
But he'd provided his own information, which she decided was worthy enough of 
pondering.
	Looking at the twilight sea always reminded Yuta of that fateful 
trip, when he'd gone with a couple of friends to search for a mermaid and its 
life-giving flesh.  Little did they know that it was actually poison, a 
deadlier poison than could ever be speculated by human minds.  One minute 
they'd been talking, laughing, the next, they were dead. . .  All, save Yuta. 
 He didn't know what was so different about him, just that he didn't really 
care either way if those damn legends were true or not.  After he'd become 
immortal, he'd fled from his village, from the people he loved, and the 
people who loved him.  From. . .  He pushed the thought aside.  He didn't 
want to think of *her.*  Not when he had Mana now.  He'd spent 500 years 
looking for someone like Mana.  <It's still not right for humans to be 
immortal. . .>  The thoughts of his friends saddened him, somehow, and he 
turned again to Mana.  He was about to speak when she opened her mouth first.
	"Yuta, we've been though a lot together, wouldn't you say?"
	"Yeah. . ."
	"I'm glad we will always travel together.  Yuta. . .  Would you-- 
would you promise me something?"
	"Yes, Mana?"
	"Promise me that we'll always be together, and if we're ever 
separated, each one will search for the other, or maybe others like us.  That 
way, we'll have something worthy in our life to live for.  I always said I'd 
search for you for eternity."
	"I promise," Yuta replied, looking deeply into her eyes.  They 
sparkled from the sunset and the light reflected from the sea.  He found it 
strangely breathtaking.  The innocence he saw there, the youth. . .  It would 
be there and stay there for all time.  "But Mana. . ."
	"What?"
	"You have to promise me, too."
	She smiled.  "I promise."  Then, they looked back at the 
ever-changing sea.  It was dark and foreboding, the sun having since set.
	They were so deep in their own thoughts that they didn't hear the man 
approach them.  The stream of cars had slowed to only an occasional cargo 
truck or a stray car, late in getting home.  The man glanced around, wary of 
the danger.  His hand twitched, hidden behind the folds of his pants.  
Abruptly deciding, he advanced towards Mana, and yanked her head back by her 
by her long hair.  Mana shrieked in surprise, and then the man's hand snapped 
out, pressing a gun to her temple.  He began backing away from Yuta, dragging 
Mana along with him.
	"Hey!" Yuta yelled, striding towards the man.
	"Don't move!" the man ordered.  "I swear, I will shoot her; or maybe 
you first, if you don't stop.  Just toss me your wallet and I'll be on my 
way.  I don't want any plastic, just give me the cold hard cash."
	Yuta refused to stop advancing.  What had he to fear of death?  
Besides, he had no wallet, no money.  Why else would he be traveling on foot? 
 The man was a fool.
	"Stop!" the man hollered.  "I told you, I'll shoot!"
	Yuta hesitated, almost in arm's reach of the slow moving man.  Mana's 
eyes were wide with fright.  She whimpered until he pulled harder on her 
hair, and she winced in pain.  "Yuta. . ." she gasped, reaching out to him 
with an unsteady arm.
	That did it.  Yuta would die before he let anyone hurt Mana.  He 
didn't have much to lose by death anyway, for that matter.  He leaped at the 
man, and the sound of a shot resounded in his ears.  But it hadn't hit him.  
He wrenched the man off Mana, banging the man's hand against the wall 
bordering the cliff.  The man dropped the gun, and Yuta heard it hitting the 
rocks below.  Yuta was still grasping the man's wrists.  Using his full 
force, he pushed the man into the wall.
	"I should just shove you over," Yuta growled.
	"Not if I do it first!"  A sharp pain hit Yuta in the stomach as the 
man's foot connected with it.  Then he was being lifted up, over the man's 
head.  Then he was falling, down to the unforgiving rocks below.  The man 
tried to let go of Yuta, but Yuta would not let him have the pleasure of 
winning.  Together, they descended upon the rocks, then all was black.

~ End of Chapter 1 ~