The young boy sat at the edge of the dock, feet dangling in the water, kicking lazily back and forth. The sun was slowly sinking on the horizon, and his parents were back inside the house. Despite the deep urge he had to jump in, his parents had specifically told him to be out of the water as the sun started to set. He tossed a smooth stone back and forth in his hands, heaving out a sigh. It was so boring not being able to swim.

His eyebrows furrowed, and he let out a soft growl of frustration, throwing the rock into the water. He then listened for the splosh of it breaking the surface. Instead of hearing that, however, he heard the rock make contact with something rather solid, and a loud "owwww!" rang through the air. Blue eyes widening, he leaned forward on the dock, trying to see out, but being unable to see in the fading light.

As he scanned the water for any sign of movement, he felt something brush by his foot once, but he brushed it off. And then it did it again, and he jerked it away, eyes narrowing. I must be imagining things, he thought. He only finally paid attention to what had been brushing by his feet when he felt sharp teeth sink into the flesh. Letting out a squeal, he thrashed his leg around, his foot making contact with what felt like a face, although he couldn't be sure seeing as he was too focused on the fact that there was some creature's teeth sunken into his foot. Once he kicked the thing, however, it released, and Haruka's eyes narrowed, going back to the edge, leaning over. He saw only ripples in the water, and was about to back away, when a face rose up, hitting him square in the nose. Recoiling, he gripped his face, hoping it wasn't broken, and stared down at the boy that had emerged from the water, rubbing his head.

"Ouuuuuuuuuuch!" he exclaimed, glaring over at Haru. "Watch where you're throwing rocks, and kicking, alright?" the boy grumbled, and Haru noticed the slight bruise forming on his head, and realized he was the boy he'd hit with the rock.

"Oh...sorry. Wait, did you say kick?"

The redheaded boy nodded, letting out a groan.

"Yeah, you threw a rock at my head, and then kicked me in the face!"

"...but you bit my foot." Haru argued.

The boy sighed, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, fine, whatever. We both hurt each other, so we're even, alright?" he said, reaching a hand up to shake Haru's. It was only then that Haru was starting to note the little details that were off about him. First off, his teeth were extremely sharp and oh my god, were they serrated? Second, he had these odd markings on his neck, like slash marks, but they were dark and seemed to...move. And finally, he hand fins on his arms.

Haru shuffled back, drawing his knees up to his chest, his eyes narrowing. The moment he did that, he could see hurt flash across the boy's eyes. Momentarily, he felt guilty, and then was reminded by a throbbing pain in his foot that he wasdangerous.

"What...what are you?"

The boy sighed, a half-hearted smirk coming onto his face, and obviously not reaching his eyes. "I'd prefer you asked my name, first. But, I'm a...well, I guess you could call me a shark boy. And the name's Rin. Here, I'll show you."

Before Haru could ask what he meant to "show" him, Rin dove back underwater. Slowly, he began to edge toward the end of the dock, eyes narrowed, and ready to spring away at any moment. As he glanced over, he saw a ripple in the water, and backed away just in time. Rin leaped out of the water, twisted his body in midair, and landed onto the dock, his back smacking against the wood with a sort of sickening sound. Rin let out a groan, but sat up, and Haru could only stare.

His upper half was human, or...sort of human. The slashes on his neck were actually gills, which still continued to open and close as he breathed in and out. There were also more gills on his torso, but it was his lower half that drew his attention the most. There was a net coiled tightly around it, digging into the skin. Shark skin. This boy's lower half was a shark.
It took a moment for Haruka to recover from the initial shock, but once he did, he tentatively leaned forward to poke at the net. Rin was lightning fast though, letting out low growl and glaring at him, his teeth bared, making it very clear that he wanted nobody touching him.

Haru frowned, his teeth worrying at the inside of his lip. "That...that hurts, doesn't it?"

Rin nodded, looking sadly down at his limp lower half. "I'd be able to get out of it!...if I could just stay in a place for a while. If I dry off, my legs just turn back to...a human's."

Hearing this, Haru's suddenly perked up, although his body language didn't show it. "Wait here..." he said, running to where the dock began, and scooping up his towel. Hurrying back down to the edge, he handed it to Rin. "Here, dry yourself off with this, okay? I'll go run in and tell my parents you're here."

"What?! No! Don't do that!" he shouted, using the towel to carefully dry off his tail, whimpering softly afterward. "If they see me here, like this..."

"No, no, they won't see you. Trust me. By the time they come out here, you'll be dried off, right?"

Rin nodded, slowly.

"You can't just be out there on your own. I'll take care of you."

Before Rin could force out another word, Haru was scrambling to the house, calling for his parents. Sighing, he frantically dried off his lower half.

"So you're saying that he just…showed up on the beach." Haru's mother said slowly, staring at the redheaded boy standing in front of her, wrapped in a towel, and leaning heavily on Haru.

"Yes."

"And he was limping?"

"Yes."

"That seems really odd, Haru…"

"Yes. But he's here, right? And we can't leave him."

She let out a huge sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose between her thumb and her forefinger.

"You're right. We can't. We'll take him for the night, alright? And then see if there's a missing person's report for him."

Despite the fact that no smile touched his face, she could see that Haru was overjoyed, just by looking in his eyes. Looking over, she kneeled in front of Rin, shaking the towel over his still slightly damp shoulders and hair, smiling.

"What's your name, sweetheart?" she asked gently.

"Rin. Rin Matsuoka."
"Well…let's get you some clothes, Rin, and then we'll go home."

Rin's eyes widened, a smile slowly spreading across his face.

Home. I've never had a home before…he thought, before shaking Haru's shoulder, indicating that he wanted to get moving. Haru nodded, and he helped Rin limp off to his room to pick out some clothes.

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