Chapter Text
After a whirlwind of a day, Hinata hoped he would’ve collapsed and slept without a single issue. An hour went by and then another, and he realized sleeping was just not happening. For one, his mind was replaying the image of his sister pale and bleeding on a rocky ledge and his stomach was in knots over what he was going to say to Kenma. He really couldn’t gauge what his reaction would be if he asked to bring Natsu. Sure he’d met her...but that entire situation was out of either of their control. What if he got upset if he brought up bringing his sister? Hinata pushed his pillow onto his face. That was dumb. Kenma was rightfully private, but he wouldn’t get mad at him for this. With all the time they had spent together, Hinata hoped that it meant Kenma would trust him and trust his judgement that Natsu was going to keep his secret. Exhaustion finally settled into his head, pushing the thought far from his mind and into sleep.
Hinata woke up feeling slightly more rested than he had in the last few days. He instinctively checked his phone and understood why; he had overslept his alarm by at least an hour. Instead of springing up in a rush, he took his time getting ready. It helped to clear his head briefly. The day after the storm was beautiful.The sky was a vivid blue and the surrounding air was cool, a complete difference from yesterday. He wished his mind could appreciate the clear day, but he was still reeling from everything that had happened. Hinata went on autopilot as he made his way down the path, he almost didn’t register that Kenma was even waiting for him until he felt a small splash tickle his cheek. He saw Kenma’s soft smile and he plopped down next to him. A webbed hand rested on top of his a moment later.
“Is your sister doing well Shouyou?” There was an edge of concern in his voice.
“Yeah…she’s doing fine. She’s coming home in a little while actually.” His hand gripped Kenma’s. He felt a gentle squeeze back.
He felt the familiar sting of tears threatening to fall. Everything became overwhelming.
“I was so scared when I saw her here. I thought…she had drowned. I froze.” He quickly wiped his face. “I’m just so glad that you were there.”
Kenma watched quietly, large eyes shining with emotion.
Hinata laughed lightly. “You’ll probably never know how grateful I am. Thank you.”
“…You’re welcome Shouyou.” Kenma’s other hand fiddled in the sand for a moment.
“I was completely terrified of what would happen if no one came when I made noise…I didn’t know what I was doing but I knew she needed help. I guess what I’m trying to say is that…you’re my friend and I did what I could to help, I understand what this means to you.” Kenma was pulled into tight hug. It lasted for several moments before Hinata pulled back to stare at his face. A light blue tinge covered Kenma’s cheeks.
“…You’ve done that before…but I never asked what that was?” He sounded flustered. It never occurred to Hinata that hugs were something a mermaid knew nothing about. He wasn’t thinking. Emotion was driving all of his actions and Hinata was unsure if he was going to make one good decision today.
When he got past the lump in his throat he spoke. “A hug, I really don’t how to explain it besides saying it’s something friends do to show…” he searched for a good word, “affection?” His face burned. Hinata became very aware of Kenma’s hand still gripping his.
“Oh. Interesting.”
It was quiet. The waves kept gently splashing providing a nice respite from the worry building in Hinata. He didn’t know what he was scared of. Offending Kenma? Making it seem like Kenma owed it to him or something? He sighed, and just decided to go for it.
“I told Natsu about you.”
“I figured you would. She did see me.”
“…Are you mad?”
Kenma blinked. “No. It honestly doesn’t bother me Shouyou.”
“I asked her if she wanted to meet you, officially I mean. But I said it would only be ok if you said it was ok. You’ve already done so much so I didn’t want to feel I was asking for too much and-“
He was cut off by Kenma giving him a bone-crushing hug. Kenma was much stronger than he thought. Air filled his lungs and he was face to face with Kenma.
“You talk a lot Shouyou, I thought it was a good idea to stop you.” He was incredibly cheeky when he wanted to be. Hinata burst out laughing. Tension rolled off his shoulders as he laughed.
“Your sister wants to meet me?”
“Yeah. Maybe it’s more like…I want to stop lying to her. I didn’t know how me coming here was affecting her. Little kids are always curious…sooner or later she was gonna follow me. I just wish she wouldn’t have gotten hurt doing it. If you’re really ok with it, could I bring her here to meet you?”
“Of course Shouyou. I want to see her too.” Kenma gave him a genuine smile. Hinata believed him.
They spent the rest of the day with light conversation, mostly about Kenma’s problems he still had about the movie they watched. While they chatted, their hands stayed clasped together on the sand.
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Hinata left slightly earlier so he’d be back by the time Natsu got to the house. She was in her room slightly groggy when he came in.
“How ya feeling?”
She shrugged. “Ok, really sleepy though. The medicine the doctor gave mama makes me feel tired.” Despite her saying she felt tired, he could feel her excitement as he prepared to tell her the news.
“So, I went and saw Kenma today and you wanna know what he told me?”
She scooted up to the edge of the bed, completely awake. “What did he say?”
“He said, yes.” He braced for her screaming, but she never did. Natsu’s eyes got wide and it looked like she forgot how to breathe for a moment. He ruffled her hair, which prompted her to slap his hand away. They shared a good laugh, like all siblings do when they actually enjoyed each other’s company.
“We can go tomorrow if you want.”
Natsu got very quiet. “He’s not gonna come here?”
“…Natsu, he’s a mermaid. He kinda needs to be in or near water like all the time?” He stopped himself before he could say anything else. He didn’t need to ask why she didn’t want to go to the beach to see Kenma, because he understood. Just walking down the path earlier had shaken him. Hinata couldn’t imagine what horrors about the ocean were in his six-year old sister’s mind now.
“You tell me when you wanna go, ok? And at any point you want to come back here, just say the word and we’ll leave.”
“What word?”
Hinata rolled his eyes playfully. “It’s just a saying…but if you need a word, how about seashell?”
“Or starfish?” She added, seemingly missing the point entirely. Hinata just went with it. They kept saying random words back and forth until the medicine took its full effect on Natsu and she curled up in her blankets asleep. He stayed and watched for a few minutes before leaving.
---
When his alarm went off the next morning, Hinata felt conflicted. Getting up to follow his usual routine of meeting Kenma felt like it needed to take a back seat. Natsu wasn’t bedridden but she wasn’t eager to go outside, even with the promise of meeting a mermaid. Leaving to go see him, no matter how much Hinata wanted to spend time with him, seemed wrong. He didn’t want a repeat of the tide incident so going to tell Kenma he wasn’t going to visit the cove was not happening either. Hinata wished Kenma had a cell phone, a quick text could clear up everything. But having a mermaid as friend definitely brought several challenges. He made a decision and he was going to stick with it.
It seemed his parents had similar feelings regarding Natsu. They were both up sitting at the table eating breakfast with Natsu happily chatting away between them. A simple family breakfast was a great change of pace from the last couple of days of panic and hospitals. Hinata joined in, laughing at Natsu re-telling her dream from last night. His mom was particularly doting on Natsu. It was almost if she thought she’d disappear if she touched the ground. Every ten minutes or so, someone would ask how she was doing. Hinata could tell his sister was getting slightly overwhelmed from being coddled so much. She looked to him to escape. He pretty much knew what the answer was going to be when he asked, but he tried.
“Can we go outside for a bit? She’s probably getting tired of being in all day.” He was met with a very firm no. He could see it from their point of view, of how nervous they’d be to let her go to the beach but on the other hand…Natsu was getting antsy.
“Well maybe we can just go hang out around town?” His dad at least agreed to his idea. It was a short trip however. Hinata convinced them to go the bakery (A nice thank you gift for a friend). He got to enjoy the rest of the day actually hanging out with his whole family on vacation. As time passed, he could feel his parent’s, and his own anxiety, fade. By the time she was ready for bed however, Natsu was definitely tired of the attention. He figured he’d give her space tonight but he heard her whisper to him as he passed by her door.
“Did you need something?” He called from the doorway. In the most secretive wave her tiny form she could muster, her hands waved him over to the bed. Playing along, he sank down to the floor to army crawl. She held in giggles as his head popped up over the side.
“You’re so silly Shouyou! Stop trying to make me laugh I wanted to ask about seeing Kenma soon.” She was trying to whisper but little bits of laughter didn’t help.
“Well I guess whenever Mom and Dad say its ok to go to the beach again…we can go.” He felt hesitant even saying that. As great as the day had been Hinata was worried that his parents were gonna keep a close eye on her for the rest of the trip.
She sighed, falling back on her pillow. “They’re never gonna let me go anywhere forever.”
“We just gotta give them time Natsu. They’ll come around. Maybe I’ll ask if we can all go together or something. But we have alot of time to go to see him before we have to leave. I also want to make sure you’re ready to go down to the water again, you know?”
“Yeah, I guess.” She stared at the ceiling for a moment and looked back to him with a question that caught him off guard.
“What if after we leave…we never get to see him again? The ocean is so big, he could go anywhere right?” Her eyes got wide with worry at the thought. Hinata honestly felt the same way, but he was pretty sure unloading his own anxieties on his little sister wasn’t a good way to go.
“Well…I’d be pretty sad if that happened. I really like Kenma,”alot more than he was willing to admit, “ And I know you’re gonna love him and not just because of him being a mermaid. I haven’t known him for too long, not even a whole week yet, but I want to think we’ll see him again.” He smiled to himself as he finished speaking.
“I hope we get to be friends too.”
“Lil’ sis, I think I can promise you that.”
By the time he got up in the morning the rest of his family was up sitting at the table idly chatting. For a minute he assumed today was gonna be more of the same hovering over his sister, except when he sat down at the table he picked up on the ends of a conversation.
“I still wanna go to the beach and if Shouyou is there I won’t be scared and you won’t have to be scared either. We don’t have to stay all day either, just for a little while. Please?”
A couple of quick glances were shared between his parents before his dad sighed and relented. His mom still hesitated for another moment before agreeing to let the pair go down to the beach. She set some very strict conditions, most of which were to keep Natsu’s stitches clean, and to make sure she never left his sight. They could only stay for a little over an hour so she could come home and rest. Hinata set an alarm on his phone to make sure the were back on time. Seeing that she had convinced her parents she quickly finished her breakfast and hurried off to get ready. He laughed at her enthusiasm, which was quickly catching. He found himself giddy at the thought of getting to see Kenma again. Sitting still through breakfast was difficult. A question about why his face was red brought him back to reality. That was enough breakfast for now.
Walking out of the house with his little sister trailing after him usually would feel so mundane. He couldn’t believe that something so plain as walking to the ocean could feel this exciting, and nerve-wracking. A hand grasped his as the water came into view. He could feel her trembling as the went on, he slowed to a stop.
“I could give you a piggyback ride until we get there, will that help?” He knelt down in the sand and she immediately scrambled up his back, burying her head into the back of his shirt to cover up her eyes. After adjusting to her weight, the pair went on their way down the path to the cove.
Kenma lounged on the sand, head facing the water. He kept hoping Shouyou would’ve shown up the day before, but after waiting for most of the day he figured he was keeping his sister company. He was excited, but terribly nervous too. Hanging out with one human, especially Shouyou, was easy and honestly the some of the best times he had during his summers here. Another one, and younger one? He had no clue what to expect. Would she like him? Would she want him to do all kinds of water tricks like her brother? What even would she talk to him about? Questions buzzed through his head and he heard the soft crunching of the sand outside the cove. Shouyou stood there smiling as he gently nudged the smaller person he was currently carrying. It was a funny sight when another red-haired head popped up next to Shouyou’s. What was even funnier was her wiggling to get down when she finally realized where she was.
“Hurry hurry, put me down!” She squealed. Once she was fully settled on the ground, she slowly crept up to Kenma, awestruck.
All of her excitement seemed to turn to shyness as she gave the mermaid a tiny wave. She looked back to her brother sort of frozen in place. Sensing that he was needed, he made his way over and held her hand until she was next to Kenma.
“Hold out your hand and say hi.” Hinata whispered gently.
With the tiny boost, she stuck at her hand out and felt a webbed hand lay on top of hers. She got a small hello out when she gasped.
“Shouyou did you hear it? I think I heard bells in my head, it was so cool!” She hopped around while still holding Kenma’s hand.
“Well if it was in your head I didn’t hear it, but did you hear what he said?” He was trying so hard not to laugh at her reaction. It was adorable to the point of Hinata wanting to capture the moment somehow, but he just continued to watch.
“I think…I heard a hello?” Her head whipped back to Kenma. “Yeah it was. Oh ok, I’ll let him know. Kenma asked if you wanted to hold his other hand so you could hear too.”
Logically, he understood that in order to part of the conversation he’d have to do that, but maybe it was the way his sister nonchalantly said that Kenma wanted him to hold his hand caught him off guard. Trying to play it cool went out the window when he stumbled on sand. Thankfully neither of them pointed it out.
“Maybe he’s kinda tired, he carried me here because the water is scary.” He was just going to pretend that they weren’t talking about him.
Settling down next to his friend, Kenma’s hand fell on top of his naturally. This was something they did all the time, so he couldn’t understand his nerves. It’s not like his sister was going to pick up on him being self conscious, but Kenma might. A voice pulled him to the present. Thank goodness it was directed at Natsu.
“ I hope you’re feeling better Natsu.”
“Uh huh, I have stitches but they don’t hurt too much.” She pointed to back of her head.
“Stitches?” Kenma looked towards him to explain, but Natsu spoke up.
“It’s like special string that helped close the scratch. I got them at the doctor’s office. They have to stay in for…um, how many days did momma say?”She asked.
“Another five or six days. Maybe less if you heal pretty fast.”
“That is good to hear then. I’m not sure what else to ask you…I’ve never talked to a younger human before.” He must have been a little flustered admitting that. Hinata jumped in to help.
“Natsu, you wanna show him the coloring book you brought?”
Suddenly remembering the bright yellow bag on her back, she opened it up and pulled out the well loved book. Flipping through it, she looked a little upset.
“This is the fairy one, the mermaid one I think it’s back at the house.” She found her most recent picture and held it up for Kenma to see. After inspecting the drawing Kenma reached for Natsu’s hand, tons of questions lined up for her.
“This is a coloring book you said, but what is it exactly is that? And how did you get the colors on here?” This was going to be a very long and amusing conversation. He let Natsu have the reins for this one.
First she explained, in very heavy detail, what books were because Kenma had never heard of books. Which lead to a six year old’s explanation of how paper worked. Next she pulled out her box of crayons, to give a demonstration of how they worked for each and every one. Kenma was totally invested. She handed him one to try out for himself on a new picture, which derailed into another topic of staying in the lines on the paper. Hinata couldn’t help it when he chuckled, but shut up when he got a glare from his sister. Staying in the lines is serious business. Crayon talk moved on to Kenma working on a picture with Natsu. He asked about what they were coloring in and she unloaded all of the knowledge she had on fairies for about ten minutes straight.
Natsu bolted upright with a very important question. “Wait, are fairies real Shouyou?”
He was only expecting Natsu to stare at him but Kenma looked up to, ready to take his word about the existence of fairies. No pressure. He sighed.
“Well I don’t really know…I’ve never seen one, but,” Looking over to a literal mermaid, “It’s gotta be possible I mean until I met one, I didn’t think mermaids existed.” He got twin expressions of shock. Kenma’s was more playful, Natsu’s wasn’t.
She looked between the page she was working on and Kenma thoughtfully. “I think they’re real, and maybe I’ll get to meet one. I’d ask it a bunch of questions, and then I’d write a book about the stuff.”
A subtle shift of webbed fingers had Hinata glancing at their hands. When he looked up, gold eyes were watching him intently with a relaxed smile on his face. He returned the smile.
“You never know.”