Chapter Text
“There she is,” Kaneki said to himself as he admired the woman seated nearby the shoreline. He had been wandering around until one fateful day he saw this mysterious figure. Something about her piqued his interest. Was it her elegant, yet youthful face that stood out from the usual scruffy ones, or perhaps it was how she sat in the same spot each day reading? Truth be told, Kaneki envied the people on land. How they interacted, the things they did, everything was so foreign to him, and he wanted nothing more than to be apart of their world.
Kaneki worried about this upcoming day. Would she tell people about him? How exactly would they react? Kaneki would never want to put his friends or family in danger, but this could be a step forward for everyone. Kaneki slowly approached the shore, trying his best to not get too close.
Kaneki spoke, only audible enough to hear, “U-um, hello.” The woman looked up, but did not seem startled. Maybe she was used to being talked to out of the blue? Her eyes widened at the sight of him, and she slowly closed her book and set it down beside her.
Despite the utter shock she felt, she spoke with a calm demeanor, “Hello, um, who are you?” Kaneki watched as her eyes went back and forth from his tail to his face. This was really happening.
“K-Kaneki Ken, and w-who are you?” Kaneki was mortified as he felt his face heat up. He was stuttering more than he anticipated. Could she tell he was afraid? Maybe he should go back, and hope she would forget seeing him. But who would forget seeing a merman?
“I am Kamishiro Rize,” her gaze finally settled on his face. This was a good sign, she was calming down.
Kaneki’s heartbeat gradually slowed, and he smiled, “It’s nice to finally meet you.”
~*~
These past few weeks have been amazing. Rize read to him everyday by the shore, and, occasionally, he got to read on his own with books she had kept with her since she was a small child.
“My mother gave me these when I was first learning how to read. I held onto them just in case I would possibly need them again,” he repeated these words to himself in his head, recalling what she said. Kaneki was glad she did, though. He especially liked the ones that included dashing princes that saved their true loves. Yet again, the darker themed ones were interesting too, but they were a tad too difficult for him to read on his own. Kaneki leaned back on the rock he sat upon, and slowly let himself slip into the icy morning waters, silvery white tail submerging first. From where he was at, he figured it would take at least up until noon to reach the shoreline. He eventually dunked his head underwater, and began swimming north.
~*~
“Where is she?” Kaneki asked himself. He had swam around the island wondering if she had just relocated, but he couldn’t find her anywhere along the borders. After circling the island twice, he decided to stay by the beach in case she was running late. No worries, right?
~*~
The sun began to set over the horizon, and the water felt cool against his skin. He sighed as he watched the last few humans walk back inside their homes. “Guess I should go home too,” he mumbled to himself as he turned his head south. Once he was far, far away from the island, Kaneki looked at the orange-ish sky from below the surface, long black hair then clouding his vision. He pushed it aside, but he still could not see those tangerine ripples in the water that he adored so much.
Kaneki peeked his head above the shadowy water, and glanced around himself. The darkness of the shadow cast above him sprawled for about ten feet in front of him, only to end with a sharp point. He turned warily to be greeted by the behemoth thing that stood in his path. Kaneki’s eyes widened at the sight of the intimidating ship looming over him, but quickly shut them as something was thrown over him.
He felt himself being torn away from the sea’s grasp, dry air suffocating him. Kaneki gasped as he was slammed onto the wooden planks of the sailboat. He squirmed to try and free himself from the nets, but to no avail. A figure stood above him, voice deep and frightening, “Well, that woman wasn’t lying when she said she saw something extraordinary! How much to you all think they’ll cost on the market? Maybe after we chop ‘em up people will find ‘em more appealing!”
He heard a familiar voice, “You sick bastards!” Kaneki gathered his strength to look at the person who said that. Rather than a person, it was another merman. One with a swirled beard, wide build, and a grey tail. Wait, was that Banjou? What is he doing here? If he’s here, then did the others get kidnapped? Kaneki’s heart sunk. If he was there, he could have prevented this from happening, but instead he went and waited on a person who betrayed him.
The man from before shouted, “Shut up!” Kaneki felt a sharp pain in his side as he was kicked next to Banjou. He barely was able to lift his head to look around the rather disgusting deck. Blood oozed from barrels full of what he hoped weren’t his comrades, and the only people that he could see looked as if they were going to murder them in any second. Fortunately, a voice called telling them to rest, so they went below the ship.
Kaneki’s head flopped down on the ground, grabbing the other’s attention. “Kaneki? What are you doing here?” Banjou was partially slumped up against the barrier of the boat. His arms were blue from either the lack of water, or the fact that they were caught between the holes of the net.
“Well, uh-,” he paused, “let’s discuss that later. Where are the others?”
“They’re at home. I was just going out to find you, but what’s the plan to get out of here?”
“Um,” he looked upwards, “ah, over there.” Banjou turned his head to the side, where Kaneki was looking. “See that sharp thing? Maybe if you rub up against that, you can cut through the net. Then you can help me.”
He nodded, “A-alright.” Banjou did something between a slide and hop to get himself upright. He twisted and turned until the net fell to the ground with a rather loud thump. Both of them flinched at the sound, hoping they had not waken the crew up. “Okay, move quickly,” Kaneki merely nodded, and Banjou used his tail to inch him closer to the sharp object. Suddenly, the entrance leading to the downstairs flung open with the grumpy man from earlier crawling out groggily
“Shouldn’t you have died already?” he groaned. Kaneki yelped at the booming voice, and quickly rushed to cut himself free. Banjou pushed himself up over the edge of the ship, and hurled his body out into the sea, leaving Kaneki alone.
Kaneki stared wide-eyed at the man approaching him at a startling rate. The net dropped to the ground, but it went unheard. His side got closer and closer to the sharp object until- “Argh!” he screamed. A large gash had formed on his right side as bits and pieces of hair fell into the pool of blood that surrounded him. Kaneki readied for a jump, but was a second too late for the man had grabbed the end of his tail.
“You didn’t really think you could get away that easily, did you?” The man laughed, slowly dragging Kaneki back. He looked back to the sea, hoping Banjou could somehow save him. Kaneki’s vision fogged up, and his head started spinning. He turned back to the man and looked down at his tightly gripped hands. Kaneki bent down, opened his mouth, and revealed his pointed teeth. Before the man could react, he bit down on his hands. The man yelled in agony, releasing Kaneki from his grasp. Beautiful white scales painted red flung into the night sky as he fell back into the icy waters he called home.
“Hah…” It was as if the Earth had stopped moving as he fell. The view of the starry heavens told him that he had indeed survived tonight. Kaneki hit the bitter waters before fading into darkness.
~*~
Tsukiyama kicked his shoes off before stepping foot into the sand. It was hot, as he remembered it to be, but still soft to the touch. He had not been to the beach since he turned thirteen, for he was deemed ready to learn what responsibilities he would have to take to rule this land. Lessons took up most of his time, so, inevitably, he could never get out much. The sea filled him with a nostalgic feeling, though. Tsukiyama looked around the beach, vaguely recalling times he spent with his family. Something felt off about this place to him, though. Tsukiyama glanced around the beach, taking in the vast space until he spotted a dark red and seaweed-covered blob nearby the shore.
Hastily, he made his way over to it, afraid it might be alive. Tsukiyama picked up a nearby stick, and poked at it until it was facing upwards. He watched as its moss covered chest shallowly moved up and down. The creature’s face appeared human underneath the dried blood; however, their lower half was something much different. Tsukiyama stared at the bloodied fish tail until he heard quiet groaning followed by incoherent mumbling. Realization hit him like a punch to the gut. Tsukiyama rolled up his pant legs and sleeves, and bent down to pick him up. Their petite upper half made it appear that they would not weigh much, but their tail must have weighed a ton. He figured pushing them would help get them into the water quicker, but he would have to do it carefully so the sand does not harm them any further.
With the support of the water that was now at knee-length, Tsukiyama was able to pick up the creature in his arms. The seaweed and blood had washed off of the merman’s body, revealing his face and pearly white scales. However, the rows of scales soon became more and more scattered until there were none by the end of his tail. There was also a fairly large scar on his side, but it seemed to have closed up. It baffled him how this creature could have stayed alive on land for so long with his clearly visible injuries.
The water was up to Tsukiyama’s waist by this point, and the merman was just barely opening his eyes. He looked down at the man in his arms, “So, you’re finally up?” He looked up at Tsukiyama through half-lidded eyes, and opened his mouth to speak but he couldn’t say anything. Shakily, he pushed himself up, wrapping his arms around Tsukiyama’s neck for support. He turned his head to face him, staring into his crimson eyes.
Kaneki was too tired by this point to mind anything that might happen after this, so he slowly leaned forward, gently kissing the man on the lips. He knew the man was staring back at him, but all he wanted to do was show his thanks. Kaneki knew that the man had accepted his gift of luck when he began kissing back. Kaneki pulled back to look at the flustered man before him. He smiled, “Thank you. Until we meet again.”
The merman leapt out of his arms, and began swimming south. Tsukiyama put two fingers up to his lips as he watched the the man of the sea head back home. “Thank you.”
~*~