Written for the Free! Kink Meme.

Prompt: Magical contracts - When Haruka almost drowned when they were kids, Makoto, young as he was, ended up striking a deal with an ocean spirit/magical creature/mermaid to save Haruka. The contract has two clauses:

1. He can't talk about it. (and that's why in the anime, he states his issue about the ocean as being related to the old fisherman)

2. if Makoto can't get Haruka to fall in love with him by the time he's 17/18, he's going to claim Makoto.


Haru was drowning.

It was the only thought in Makoto's head. There was space for nothing else. Haru was drowning. Haru was drowning and he had to save him.

The water was dark and all encompassing, a different world where sight was blurred and sound was muted and the cold leeched the body's ability to move. It was hard to see anything and Haru's form was reduced to pale flashes in the tendrils of weak winter light that seeped through the waves. His own arm stretched out in front of him, reaching towards his friend's drifting body was a pallid streak of white, getting swallowed in the darkness. Makoto had always been afraid of the darkness and all the things it hid.

But Haru was drowning. And he had to save him. There was no space for any other thought. Not the cold seeping into his bones. Not the breath that was running out of his lungs and making his head spin with dizziness as he fought to reach Haru under the water.

And perhaps that dizziness was the reason he didn't notice or question the voice next to his ear, telling him he could save Haru. Not until the murky, inky blue surrounding him suddenly changed into blackness. Time stood still and Makoto's body was standing on nothingness instead – a vast nothingness that stretched away all around him, above and below. And out of the dark nothing a figure loomed forward, still obscured in shadows, wearing them like a robe. A pale, near translucent face with large eyes and slits where a nose should have been, that wavered between ethereal beauty and terrifying monstrosity, framed by hair like waving seaweed, with a white neck and arms that were lengthier than they should have been. When the long-fingered hands reached forward to stroke his face, they were cold and clammy and Makoto wanted to scream, but the breath was caught in his throat.

'I can show you how to save him. Just say yes and I'll make sure he's safe.'

The voice sounded slippery, like an eel he had caught fishing with his father a few years ago. It wasn't the sort of voice you could trust, certainly not a voice that felt safe. Makoto wanted desperately to run away, but when he turned his head he caught sight of Haru's body, floating in the abyss.

Haru! His fingers had been near, just an inch more and Haru would have been in his grasp. He could save Haru himself. This, whatever this was, must be some sort of dream or hallucination he was having because he was running out of breath. He had to stop dreaming and concentrate.

'It's not a dream, Ma-chan. I just had to stop the flow, so we could chat. You can't save him by yourself.' The creature whispered, voice lilting. 'I'll show you.'

And it did. Makoto had a vision of his fingers closing on empty space, Haru swept away by the river's current, and then another of himself dragging Haru's body to shore, but no longer breathing and dead before the ambulance arrived.

No! What was happening? Was the creature real? Could it reach inside his head? Why was it showing him these things? He couldn't let Haru drown. That couldn't be what would happen.

'I'm trying to help you, Ma-chan. I can help you save him. See?'

It showed him pulling his friend to the shore, but this time Haru was spluttering out river-water. It showed them in an ambulance and later, awake and safe in a hospital.

'We just have to make a small deal, Ma-chan, and he'll be safe. It isn't fair if I don't get anything in return for helping, is it? You just have to say yes.'

All he had to do was say yes. Say yes and Haru would be safe again.

A scroll appeared in the creature's hand, opening itself. It smiled at him with pointed teeth. Makoto had seen teeth like that once in a documentary about fish that lived really, really deep in the ocean and made their own light.

'Just a formality, really. It's always good to get things in writing. And I suppose we should go through the clauses. One, you tell no one about this.' The creatures face switched from beautiful to terrifying, with a death-like gauntness to its features and all its teeth on display. It thrust its face closer to his, to drive home the importance of this point and then retreated into a friendlier stance. Makoto nodded to show he understood, terror making his movements too quick and jerky.

'Good. And two – you make Haru fall in love with you. You have until you turn eighteen.' Makoto looked at it in confusion, his movements freezing in incomprehension. But it leaned forward to stroke his face, lovingly, and whispered in his ear, 'But if you don't, Ma-chan, then I get you. I'll take you away, into the ocean, to live with me forever. So, what do you say, Ma-chan – do you want to save Haruka?'

Makoto looked between the scroll and his best friend. If he said yes, Haru would be safe. And then there wasn't a choice at all, the 'yes' had already clawed its way out of his throat and past his lips, without much conscious thought on his part.

The creature darted forward to grab his hand, cutting his finger and pressing it to the bottom of the scroll, leaving a mark in his blood to seal the deal. It grinned it at him and disappeared, the nothingness rushing away into murky, inky blue again and Makoto saw the last of his air go up past his face in a bubble towards to surface. But that no longer mattered, because somehow Haru was in his arms and they were breaking the surface of the water and Rin was reaching towards him from the river bank, helping to pull them both ashore. He didn't even register his voice giving instructions but Aki was calling an ambulance and Rin was helping him tear Haru's clothes open at the chest, so that they could listen and pump at it, because that was what you were supposed to do when someone drowned, wasn't it?

Distantly, he heard a voice calling Haru's name, over and over and took a while to realise it was his own at a heart-stopping moment where it didn't seem like his friend was breathing and Makoto felt a spark move through the air, past him and into that still body. Then Haru was coughing, spitting up murky water and they were in an ambulance one moment, the hospital the next, surrounded by bustling doctors and nurses, seeing to Haru and talking to him. He was barely aware of his own voice answering the questions they asked him.

He didn't notice he was shaking until they were alone in the room and Haru's eyes were fluttering open and it was a conscious effort after that to make himself stop. When those blue eyes turned towards him, asking for an explanation, he was surprised at how composed he sounded and that he was able to give any information at all, but somehow his mind had kept track of everything, even in his daze.

It was hard, to keep that composure after that, to fix that smile on his face as he left the hospital with Rin and got on the bus. Rin, who had been so silent during all of it that Makoto had nearly forgotten his presence. When Rin said, "I was so scared, I had no idea what to do." Makoto hurried to reassure him.

"It's fine. It's just influenza. He didn't catch pneumonia; he'll get better right away."

"No, its not about Nanase. I meant you, at the bridge."

The response made the smile freeze on his face in confusion. When Rin told him then that he was shaking when they pulled Haru out of the river, he could only answer honestly, "I was kind of in a daze, I don't really remember." He got a strange look in reply.

But when Rin was gone, Makoto found he couldn't control his body anymore, the strength leaving him in a sudden rush. His hands started to shake first and then the rest of his body, and the only thing he could do was stay silent as the tears flowed down his face. He purposely ignored the throbbing cut on his finger.


A/N: Honestly, I haven't written anything other than essays for a while now, so my writing is kind of rusty. So, if you see anything, please don't hesitate to point it out. And constructive criticism is always appreciated. Please review!