Author: YamiTai (elufuir on livejournal)

Title: Under the Sea

Fandom: Naruto

Word Count: 696 (Oneshot)

Genre: General

Rating: PG-13 (rated for Kakashi being Kakashi, only… worse, and some swearing)

Pairing: KakaIru. Sort of (read: not really)

Summary: After a mission gone awry, Kakashi finds himself rescued by a... what? o.O

Author's notes: Something like this has probably been done before, but I haven't seen it yet, and this plot-scarecrow just wouldn't leave me alone…

I have to warn you that this, while not being any good, probably is written poorly, too, as I am no native speaker of English (it is, in fact, my second language- I'm from Germany). But I want to improve my English, so please, tell me what's wrong!

Nevertheless, I hope you'll enjoy this.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Kakashi, Iruka or anything else in this fiction save the idea for the plot. Sadly.

Under the Sea

Hatake Kakashi was… sinking.

'Well,' he thought bemusedly while being pulled deeper into the water by the weight tied to his ankles, 'this certainly did not go according to plan.'

He really shouldn't be that surprised, he supposed; but in his defence it had to be said that while S-class missions were known to rarely pass without some problems, they also hardly ever went as bad as this one did. Just his luck that he managed to end up with the one mission they had had that day at the mission desk that not only left him wet and chilled to the bone, but also with a few tons (at least it felt this way) of weight attached to him pulling him to the bottom of the ocean. He would have pouted if it hadn't been so perfectly pointless… even if there were someone around to see it, the fact that there was a mask clinging to his face even tighter than it normally did, now that it was wet, did not exactly make the situation any more comfortable.

He half-heartedly tugged at the charka- enforced rope around his wrists, tried to wriggle his fingers. Nope, definitely no chance of getting free… damn those pirates who were entirely too clever and had tied his fingers together so that he couldn't even form any hand seals.

Kakashi was becoming increasingly pissed. As if all the aforementioned problems weren't enough, it would take ages to get his Icha-Icha novel- of all things a personally signed special edition with illustrations- dry, and even then the dedication would be lost.

His life sucked.

Well, he decided, that was it. If he got out of this- and he somewhat doubted that (he was good at holding his breath, sure, but he wasn't an anatomical wonder… at least not in that sense)- he was going to have a word or two with Tsunade about how to properly assign Shinobi to missions that didn't destroy their most treasured possessions, ninja- rules be damned.

The Copy-nin watched the spot of slightly blue-tainted sunlight above him getting smaller and smaller. 'Funny,' he thought as the edges of his vision grew blurrier, a silvery shimmer appearing to his right for just one short moment, 'didn't have that feeling for a long time. Nice to be reminded of why I hate drowning.'

Then all went black.

---

When the ninja awoke it was to the sensation of someone tugging at his mask.

Quick as lightning a kunai lay against the offender's throat. Kakashi distantly noted that the idiot had removed his bonds but didn't take off his weapons' pouch. Well, good for him… Only when he heard a soft gasp he opened his eyes- and found himself staring at a startled face barely inches away from his own. He took a few steps back, letting his eyes wander over the other's body. They first moved from the big, startled eyes in the handsome face, uniquely marked by the thin scar stretching over the nose, to the naked chest. Yup, definitely male, Kakashi decided, even if his build was a bit slight and the face held some rather feminine qualities… he let his gaze travel even further down, resting his eyes on…

He stared.

… a tail. A finned, greyish- blue tail with occasional patches of silvery scales.

So… a merman had rescued him. Interesting. He put the kunai away, enjoying the blush that showed on the other's cheeks.

"S- so… are you okay?"

Nice, melodious voice, too. The Shinobi's visible eye was curving upwards. "And here I was hoping for a sexy, young, full-bosomed beauty…" He let his eyes wander over his saviour's body once again, grinning inwardly. "Well, you're pretty enough, even though a bit flat-chested."

The smile grew even more pronounced as Kakashi watched the merman first reddening in embarrassment, then narrowing his eyes dangerously.

"PERVERT!!!"

---

The Copy-nin still was chuckling long after his rescuer had vanished into the sea again. This man really had the cutest blush… he smiled, then winced at the sharp pain shooting through his left cheek.

But boy, did the merman have a mean right hook…