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When he was a child, Akira had only one rule.
Never approach a human.
For most of his life, he abided even when he didn't know why exactly it was in place. For most of his life, it was never an issue anyways. Even as childhood fears of the monsters in stories subsided, an apathy grew in their place. What interest did humans bring? He didn't understand how someone could be so amazed by their existance... That is, he hadn't, not until today.
Akira hovered just beneath the waves far from where most humans dared to swim. He watched in awe as one simply sat on the sand, easily more beautiful than any of his own kind. It held a thing in its hand which seemed to fully capture its interest. Akira used the distraction to swim closer without being spotted.
Up close, the human was even more beautiful. Its scales looked smooth to the touch. Their details were so fine he couldn't even see where one began and another ended. Spines on its head laid limp which was strange yet also appealing in a way. Akira wondered if they could be maneuvered. Maybe they were purely for attracting mates rather than defense... Perhaps the best part of it was its eyes. Red like the blood of a fresh kill, just looking at them made Akira hungry although he wasn't entirely sure it was food he was craving.
Akira watched the human in a daze until a strange melody began to play from a distance. The human placed its thing in the sand before reaching into its leg. Akira watched in horror as it fished out a small box that it began to speak into. As the human spoke, he noticed that the spot he'd reached into wasn't actually attached to it. Instead, it hung loosely off its body... Perhaps a sort of camouflage?
He smiled at his own solution. Of course, he'd heard humans were intelligent. Some way to hide from predators made sense. Although, it didn't seem to blend in very well with the beach. If anything were to come now, it wouldn't be very good at hiding... Maybe this human simply didn't care. The thought made Akira's heart race. Beautiful and brave... Quite the combination.
It wasn't long before the human put its little box back where it had gotten it from. It grabbed the other box-like object before standing and leaving. Akira watched it go in disappointment. He wanted to see more.
Luckily for Akira, it didn't take long for his wish to be granted. The next day, the human was sitting on the sand once again. It held the same sort of thing as the previous day only in a different color. Above it sat something colorful that kept the sun from getting onto its skin. Akira stared at the object, transfixed. Maybe it was to stop the human from drying out... Did humans even do that? He knew birds didn't but then again, they were so different from humans.
Akira's train of thought was derailed when the human put its object in the sand. Its face was flushed red and for a moment, Akira worried it was injured. That didn't seem to be the case as it opened a part of its camouflage before going back to looking at its thing.
Akira stared at the human's chest as best he could. He slowly inched his way closer until he could get a clearer look, hardly caring if he was caught.
Up close, Akira noticed the human had two nubs on its chest. He stared in confusion, wondering what purpose they could have served. Below that, he noticed a small hole in its stomach. His heart dropped at the possibility of the human being injured but... It didn't seem to mind. Maybe it hadn't noticed. Or maybe it had a high tolerance for pain.
With that in mind he searched its face for any hint of discomfort yet, strangely enough, found nothing. He watched in fascination for a while until the same box from the day before played a melody. Akira retreated back before he could be spotted, slowly growing to hate that box.
Akira returned to the beach every day to watch his human. Sometimes he learned something new by its behavior, most times, he was simply content to sit and watch as it went on with its life, blissfully unaware of the presence of its admirer.
Some part of Akira ached to get closer. That part grew with every day he watched the human and its strange behavior. He wanted to run his hands along its scales. He wanted to explore each unwebbed finger to figure out how it swimmed... But it never went in the water.
And it was strange. Akira had remembered hearing that humans needed food and water to survive. He remembered stories of humans happening upon his kind only to be ripped to shreds by sharp claws and teeth so clearly humans could exist in water just like him...
Was it scared? The ocean could be scary for those who didn't live in it but... No, that still didn't explain it! His human was brave, it was clever, what could it possibly be afraid of?
Akira frowned as he dove deeper into the water. He placed a hand on his chin to think, just as his human did when looking particularly confused by something. There had to be something he was missing. There had to be some way to connect with his human!
It was a particularly warm day when Akira swam to the beach, ready for his daily routine. He watched his human like always except, this time it had two others with it. Both of their spines were yellow rather than the soft brown of his human. Only one of its new companions looked like it could actually use them for protection. Interesting.
Even more interesting was the fact that his human was being dragged by the other two. A fierce wave of possessive anger rose just as fast as it died when he realized where they were taking his human.
The ocean.
Akira let out a series of excited clicks as he watched them from afar. His human seemed reluctant to enter but the other two forced it into the water. Each smiled as they did. His human did not. Instead, it rolled its eyes before pulling away and walking further in on its own.
Akira watched, his heart beginning to race with pure excitement as the human went from walking to swimming.
This was it.
It came closer, as did its friends. Suddenly, something clicked. They must have been part of the same pod! That's why they would touch it so freely and that's how they could convince it to enter the water. Everything suddenly made sense!
Just a little closer.
His human, despite looking so unhappy, quickly got into the spirit. It swam out ahead of its pod-mates as they encouraged it. It didn't take long for his human to swim above Akira's hiding place. A lifetime of hunting prepared him for this moment.
Now!
Before anyone could react, Akira pounced. He locked eyes with his human for just a moment before grabbing hold of its leg. With all his strength, he pulled his human beneath the waves where they could finally get some privacy. Its pod-mates surely wouldn't mind. Not if Akira treated it gently.
And he did. Webbed hands ran over smooth scales, except, they weren't scales. Akira wasn't sure what covered the human but he liked the feel of it. It was rather soft, as were his human's spines which swayed like an anemone in the water. Its red eyes widened as it tried to push Akira away, clearly startled by how forward he'd been. In his defense, it had been so long since he'd first seen his human, he needed to jump on the first chance he got with it!
Luckily, it didn't take long for the human to calm down. After some gentle chirps and soothing touches, its struggling stopped. Its arms moved along with the current as its eyes closed. Akira smiled as he ran his hand through strangely soft spines once more. It was strange, they didn't hurt or even stick into him... Maybe they really were just for attracting mates. He couldn't exactly say they'd failed at that.
Akira readjusted his grip before going deeper under with his human. He took it to a nearby cave for even more privacy, just incase its pod-mates wanted to follow. He took another look at his human as he swam. At somepoint, the small bubbles from its mouth had stopped. It must have fallen asleep... But that was fine, Akira smiled at his human and pulled it closer. They'd have plenty of time to talk when it woke up!