Chapter Text
Tenma Tsukasa is a young prince who would soon grow up to rule his kingdom. A dream for many children his age. He would have all the power, create and remove rules, banish whomever necessary, receive special treatment... who wouldn't want that?
Him.
He's always hated being born into the royal family. He was not allowed to do things other kids could. He's always been jealous of them. He would often look out his window, watching the village children play games together, get dirty in the mud, be loud, having fun. Something that he wasn't allowed to do.
"Tsukasa~! Mother said she wants to speak with you!" His younger sister, Saki, skips up to him, beaming as always.
"Speak with me? About what?"
"I don't know... she didn't say. But she said that it was important!"
"Oh... very well. Thank you, Saki." He pats her head with a smile and makes his way to his mothers room. After a few knocks, he's granted permission to enter.
"Mother? You wanted to speak to me?"
"Yes. Come, sit with me." She pats her bed and he sits himself next to her.
"As you know, when members of our family turn your age, we are allowed to venture further into the forrest."
He was now fifteen, a very important age to their family.
"Yes, I do."
"Seeing as you are now of age, you have my permission to do so. However, you must return before dark and be careful not to get hurt. Do you understand?"
"Yes, mother." He tried to hide how excited he was. He's been looking forward to this day forever, and now it's finally come.
"Well... you may go whenever you'd like. As long as I know you leave, of course."
"Can i... go now?"
She gives him a smile and a nod. "You can. Have fun, but remember what I said."
He immediately jumps up. "Thank you! I'll be back before dinner!" He runs out of her room to get dressed to leave.
Minutes later, he was off. He skips around, playing with animals and singing songs to himself. He eventually reaches a dock of some sort, but it seemed to be empty. By the state of everything around it, nobody had been there in quite some time.
It was the perfect place for some time to himself, something he almost never gets.
He sits himself at the edge of one of the docks, takes off his shoes, and lets his legs swing off the edge. The water was beautiful, it looked like glitter when the sun hit it perfectly.
He lays back for a moment, closing his eyes to rest for a few seconds. When he opens them, he was immediately greeted by another person staring down at him.
He shoots up with a scream, and the other person dissappears into the water.
"Wh-what the hell?!" He looks around, they were gone.
"Who was that?! Was i... imagining things?" With no sight of the other, he thought maybe they weren't even there to begin with.
Not until he sees the water bubble just a few feet away. He brings his legs up and sits on top of them, leaning over to get a closer look.
He lets out a suprised yelp with the top of a head slowly emerges from the water, a pair of yellow eyes meeting his.
"H-hello? Who... are you?" When he attempts to speak with them, they quickly sink back down.
"How are they so good at staying underwater..?" His eyes widen. "There's no way... those people don't exist, right?"
He starts to recall a story he was told when he was younger. A story about hybrids and other species of humans. He was told that in a far part of their kingdom once lived an entire race of human-animal hybrids that can change between the two creatures. He was always convinced that it was only a story, one of fiction.
However... maybe he was wrong. Maybe... those people really did exist after all. But, if they're so special, why were they so far away? Why were children of their village told they were only creatures of fiction?
He wants to talk to this person, no matter what.
He carefully puts his hand into the water, trying to get them to come to him. After a few seconds with no response, he sighs. The sun was starting to set, he needed to go home. He dries off his hand and slips his shoes back on to go home. As he's walking away, he hears a loud splashing coming from behind him.
He flinches at first, and when he turns around, there they were, sitting up on the dock. His eyes go wide, they were... beautiful.
They were fairly tall desipte sitting down, and instead of legs they had a tail of some sort along with multiple blue and purple tentacles that seemed to be almost glowing. Their hair was long and wavy with matching colors as their body.
When they started to turn away, Tsukasa realized he had been looking for too long.
"O-oh! I'm sorry!" He stops them from leaving. "I didn't mean to stare..." He slowly approaches them, trying his best not to scare them.
"My name's Tenma Tsukasa. Do... you have a name?" He gets close enough to kneel down to their level.
When they don't respond, he decides to ask another question. "Okay... well... are you a boy or a girl?"
They look up at him in confusion for a second before looking down at their body. They gesture to their flat chest as if it was the most obvious thing.
"You're... a guy?"
He nods.
"Oh, okay! Me too! Uh..." Before Tsukasa thinks of what else he could ask, the other grabs his hand.
"Are you okay? Do you need something?"
The boy gestures for Tsukasa to wait where he was while he dives back into the water. Tsukasa sits down and waits patiently. When the boy returns, he holds a seashell out in front of Tsukasa.
Tsukasa looks down at the shell for a second then points to himself. "Is that... for me?"
The boy nods with a small smile, nudging it closer to the prince.
"Oh..! Thank you!" Tsukasa takes it and admires its beauty. "It's very pretty."
"By the way..." Tsukasa puts the shell in his pocket. "If you don't mind me asking. What... are you, exactly?"
Seemingly still not wanting to speak, the boy lifts one of his many tentacles and pokes Tsukasa with it. The prince flinches when he feels a slight sting where it touched. It wasn't exactly painful, but it made the area itch, similar to being scratched by a cat.
"Hey—!" He rubs the area with a pout. "So... you're a jellyfish?"
The boy nods and puts one of his own hands over Tsukasas, apologizing for the sudden touch.
"That's pretty cool. I've never seen anyone like you before, we were always told that... you didn't exist."
That seemed to have hurt the boy as a sad expression forms on his face.
"Oh, I'm sorry... I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."
The jellyfish shakes his head and gives him a small reassuring smile.
When the stars get brighter around them, the prince was quickly reminded of the time.
"Ah! Sorry, I need to leave before mother gets upset! I... I'll come back another day, okay?"
The boy nods and jumps into the water, leaning onto the dock with his arms.
"Bye-bye!" Tsukasa waves. The boy waves back from his spot until the prince was no longer in sight.
Days go by, and Tsukasa returns to that dock as often as he could. After a month, the jellyfish was still not speaking to him. Tsukasa asked, and he can speak, but he has yet to actually do it. The prince didn't mind at all though, he still enjoyed the others company.
He hasn't mentioned his status to the hybrid. He's worried that if he knows, he will be afraid of Tsukasa.
This day, though... things felt different.
He went to their spot as usual, and the jellyfish was already waiting for him with a smile.
"Oh, hi!" Tsukasa rushes up to him. "You waited for me?"
The other nods with a smile, he seemed really happy to see his friend.
"You're awfully happy today. Did something good happen?"
The boy looks away for a second before turning back with a heavy breath. "...Rui."
Tsukasa stares at him in shock, processing what just happened. The boy... spoke?!
"Wh-what?"
"Rui... name."
"O-oh! That's your name?" Tsukasa beams. "It's nice!"
Rui blushes and looks away. "Thank... you."
Tsukasa couldn't help but notice Ruis struggle to speak properly. "So... you can speak, but not my language?"
Rui nods. "Jellyfish, we, uh... different... speak?"
"Oh... do all hybrid species have different languages?"
Rui nods again.
"That's pretty cool! You seem to understand me perfectly fine, though. Can you?"
"Yes! Just... not speak."
"Hm, okay... maybe i can teach you!"
Rui tilts his head. "Teach?"
"Yeah! I can help you speak my language! If you'd like me to, of course."
Ruis face lights up at the offer. "Yes! Rui want, uh... want... learn!"
Tsukasa chuckles. "Okay, then! I'll teach you! I have some word cards at my home from when my sister was little, I'll try to bring them next time."
As always, the sun begins to set as Tsukasa has to leave.
Just as promised, he returns the next day with cards for his friend. They start practicing almost immediately.
"Prince?" Rui studies one of the cards. "Prince... Tsukasa." He points at the card and up at an extremely shocked Tsukasa.
"H-huh!? How... how did you know that?!"
Rui tilts his head. "Tsukasa... not want Rui know?"
"N-no, it's not that! I'm just... confused. I never told you about that. So... how did you know?"
"Tenma." Rui simply states.
"You... know my family?"
Rui nods. "All people know. Tenma... eh... Tenma..." He makes large gestures with his arms, unsure of the word to use.
"Big?" The prince questions, getting an unsure shake of the head from the hybrid.
"Ah... well known?"
Rui points with a nod. "Yes! Tenma... well known."
Tsukasa sighs. "Yeah... that makes sense. Well... yes, I am the kings son. I'm a prince." He shrugs, he hates acting like one.
"Tsukasa... not like prince?"
Tsukasa shakes his head. "Not really, no. I've never liked being treated all... special, you know? Not to mention I'll have to be king one day... I don't want to be."
"Hm?" Rui shuffles fully onto the dock, sitting closer. "Why?"
"I just don't. I've always envied the other kids. They get to go out, get messy, play games with each other... but me... I get to go on walks! How... exciting..." His shoulders fall.
"Tsukasa... want to... play?" He grabs the princes hand.
"Huh? What are you getting at?"
"Swim."
"What? No, I can't do that! Mother will kill me if I come back all wet. Plus... i... can't swim."
"Eh?! Can't swim?!" Rui sounded almost offended.
"I was never taught how. Something about it 'being unnecessary as king' or whatever."
Rui stays silent for a minute before springing up with an idea. "Teach!"
"...Huh?"
"Rui teach swim!"
"Like, right now? I-I can't! I'm not in the proper outfit!"
"Please? Rui... want swim with friend..."
"But..." Tsukasa goes to deny again, but... Rui sounded genuinely sad that he did the first time. Maybe... he could just say he fell into a puddle? Or maybe got splashed by a fountain?
"Okay. You can teach me how to to swim."
Rui perks up. "Ah! Come!" He tugs on the princes arm, trying to pull him into the water.
"W-wait! Let me at least take my shoes off!"
Rui groans, but lets him do it anyway. He was immediately pulled into the water, Rui holding him up.
"Wait."
Tsukasa nods and soon sees something glowing under the water. His eyes go wide when he sees something unexpected.
"You have legs?!"
Rui nods. "Can change."
"That— that's so cool!"
Not only did Rui have legs, he surprisingly already had pants on! They matched his tail and tentacles perfectly.
Rui giggles and pulls Tsukasa around again, finally beginning their swimming lesson. After a few hours, Tsukasa had made a bit of progress which made Rui very happy.
They call it quits early so Tsukasa could dry off a bit before going home. He lies back on the deck, Rui next to him reading more of the word cards, quietly voicing them out loud.
"Love..?" He squints at the card, but even with the picture, he's not fully sure what it meant.
"Tsukasa." He gets the others attention. "What is... love?"
"Love?" Tsukasa turns to him, thinking about an answer. "It's... kinda hard to explain. It's like... when you really enjoy being around someone. You feel safe and free around that person or people." He lies back, watching the clouds pass by. "There's different forms, too. Familial, platonic, romantic... all sorts."
Rui listens intently until Tsukasa was done speaking.
"Tsukasa... love Rui?"
"Wh-what?" Tsukasa sits up.
"No?" Rui tilts his head.
"W-well, I mean... i... I guess so? But, like, as a friend."
Rui smiles widely at the confirmation. "Rui love Tsukasa!" He throws the prince into his arms, hugging him tightly.
Tsukasa freezes. Hearing Rui say it back... felt different, strange. Not bad, but... slightly terrifying.
"Alright, alright!" He forces himself to laugh and pushes the boy away. "I've got to return home now... I had fun today, thank you."
Rui smiles. "Rui... had fun."
"Goodnight, Rui."
"Bye-bye!"
Just like always, Tsukasa disappears. As expected, he got scolded for dirtying his clothes, but his excuses seemed to work.