Hi, I'm Gariell and thank you for stopping by. Just in case you're reading my other multi-chapter fics, please don't strangle me. I know I'm horrible at holding back. This is my sixth ongoing multi-chapter fic, but I can assure you that this story won't be a long one. Except for one-shot, I won't publish anything else after this one, unless one of my multi-chapters has been finished. I will most likely finish this real quick compared to the other fics. I originally intended this fic to be a long one-shot, but I realized it's better to be chaptered.

Putting that aside, thank you for giving this fic a chance! Yes, this fic is about merman Makoto. I've written another merfic but I just can't get enough of it. In all nervousness, I hope you enjoy this one.

Reviews are very much appreciated and I hope I'll see you again in the next chapter. ^^

Chapter 1

The First Day

:-:

He hears it again.

This particularly melodious, honeyed voice has been teasing his eardrums to pleasure almost every night. The song is hummed from the sea, carried by the sea breeze, harmonized with sounds made by soft licks of calm waves onto the wet sand. Yamazaki Sousuke inhales a whiff of salty air as his gaze drifts toward the dark horizon. The moon adds a sparkling touch over the ripples of water.

Just like what he will do every night, Sousuke settles himself in a relaxed sitting position near the crashing waves. His legs are stretched lazily to the front, palms buried over the sand. He closes his teal irises, suspending his thoughts to immerse in the soothing melody of the sea.

The first time Sousuke moved to this small, comfortable house standing by the sea, he'd questioned where the song actually came from. The tunes dancing in the air were unmistakably hummed by a voice produced with vocal cords. Someone is always humming in the night. Yet, whenever Sousuke tried to follow the source of the voice, the song always stopped abruptly, drifting away to nothingness by the soft breeze.

Since a month ago, Sousuke has stopped trying to find out who is humming the song. He accepts this magical and pleasant hearing experience as a gift from the miraculous, mysterious depth of the ocean. He has learned to bury his curiosity and ignore it.

Finally, the humming softens, until the voice turns faint before disappearing. Sousuke exhales a deep breath, then his lips crack to a smile. Tomorrow, he will come again, and the day after that, and the following days. Every tomorrow night, Sousuke would like to come near this isolated side of the sea to enjoy the mysterious humming.

He doesn't, and will never, tell anyone about his secret little piece of heaven on earth. Not even to Rin. This side of the sea is his, and his alone. This voice, glazed with honey, is there for his own pleasure. He will protect it from any harm.

This moonless night, Sousuke isn't able to come out of his house. A storm is roaring outside. If Sousuke doesn't know better, he will suspect that the rooftop of his house has been blown away by the blasting gust of wind. Sousuke is never afraid of storms. In this weather, instead of curling up to a big bundle, he brews a steamy black coffee and sits by his study desk, reading an old crime novel he inherited from his late-grandfather.

He's engrossed in the climax of the story when he hears hard knocks against the front door. At first, Sousuke ignores them, assuming they are just hallucinatory sounds made by the howling wind. Yet, when the knocks intensify, he releases a grunt as he abandons his novel dog-eared on the desk. Sousuke walks toward the front door, wondering who will come to his house in this weather and at this late hour. The teal-eyed man is ready with a crowbar in case it turns out to be an attack rather than a friendly guest.

When Sousuke carefully opens the front door and peeks outside, he clearly doesn't expect to see a young man drenched under the heavy rainfall. He barely wears any clothes—he's covered only by a piece of old ragged clothes people will most likely throw away. What immediately seizes Sousuke's attention is his pair of vivid, lovely green eyes that are naturally droopy as if he's sleepy. Sousuke is struck by the radiating beauty of this man, despite the horrible dark clothes he's wearing. His mouth parts open, crowbar dangled in his loose grasp. Sousuke blinks, trying not to let his guard down. "Who are you?" He asks, glaring at the suspicious man.

Instead of answering, the man tilts his head to the side, seemingly confused. Sousuke ignores how charmed he is by the cuteness of that little gesture. He furrows his brows. Does he fail to hear Sousuke's question? The storm is cacophonous, after all.

"Who are you?" Sousuke repeats with louder, yet lower tones. When the man in front of him doesn't even react, Sousuke tries again. "Who. Are. You?" He's practically shouting in his attempt to defeat the cacophony of the storm. Is this man deaf?

The man is clearly shivering in the cold, but Sousuke fights the urge to invite him inside. He won't let a suspicious man invade his private property.

Those green eyes shift their gaze toward the ground. Sousuke notices that his hands are clutching something in front of his tummy. It looks like a seashell—a large cockle shell, to be precise. Muttering a small, possibly unheard 'excuse me', Sousuke hesitantly takes the shell out of the man's weak grasps. He finds nothing extraordinary from the shell. Sousuke does a quick inspection of the stranger's body. He seems to bring no weapon—he's obviously empty-handed, and his ragged clothes are barely covering his tall and lean body.

Letting out a sigh, he finally gives in. "Come inside," Sousuke says, "you're shivering." He gently pulls the man's arm, guiding him inside his warm house. Sousuke can't stop thinking who this man is. Is he a beggar? Judging from the clothes, he does look like a beggar, yet he doesn't even make an attempt to beg him for something. Does he make the right move of letting him inside?

Once they are inside, the lights in Sousuke's house allow him to see the stranger more clearly. He's a brunet—he has olive-brown hair that perfectly harmonizes the beautiful green of his eyes. His body is nicely sculpted—there's no unnecessary fat either. He's just a little shorter than Sousuke, who has been considered very tall among his peers.

The brunet is unbelievably attractive. Sousuke wants to rip those ridiculous clothes off him—no, not to expose more of his body (which is definitely a wrong thing to do to a stranger, although Sousuke secretly indulges that little fantasy), but to dress him in a more appropriate garment, preferably a warm one. Sousuke realizes that is what he has to do. The stranger wraps his arms around his shivering body, trying to fight the cold.

Sousuke hesitates before pulling the man along to stop in front of the door of his bedroom. "Wait here. Don't think of doing anything," he commands as he enters his room. He leaves the door opened so he can constantly take a glance at the brunet—who's just standing there while watching Sousuke—as he rummages inside his wardrobe. Sousuke pulls out a fresh dry towel and a set of his clothes. He throws the towel toward the green-eyed stranger, who awkwardly catches it in between his arms. "Dry yourself up."

Thankfully, the brunet finally moves and does what Sousuke asked him. As he rubs the towel over his soaked body, Sousuke approaches him with his set of clothes. "Go and change. You may take a shower if you want. The bathroom's there at the corner." He hands his set of clothes to the stranger.

The other stares at the clothes in his hands for a while. Suddenly, he shifts his gaze up to Sousuke and his seemingly soft lips curl into an adorable smile—a smile wide enough that his eyes are closed. Sousuke's heart isn't prepared for this. That smile can match the sunshine and make flowers bloom. It's that kind of smile that is capable to stop a war.

Angel, Sousuke subconsciously states, he's too angelic to be human.

Sousuke's heart feels like bursting and blushes creep all over his face when he notices that the brunet is innocently pulling the remaining of his clothes off and seems ready to show off all his naked glory in front of him. "Oi!" Sousuke blurts in panic, grabbing the other's wrist before he can strip off more than appropriate. "D-do it in the bathroom!"

The stranger blinks in confusion. Sousuke takes a deep breath before pushing him toward the bathroom. "Do you understand a thing I say? Can you answer me? Can you speak at all? Are you deaf, or are you mute?" Sousuke doesn't expect himself to bombard the clueless stranger with series of questions, but he can't help being curious.

He's frustrated when he still receives no answer. Sousuke pushes him gently inside the bathroom and closes the door from the outside. His heart strangely pounds against his ribcage. This whole situation is confusing. He never meets a stranger like this that he doesn't know what he should do. Suddenly, he remembers the large cockle shell the brunet is bringing with him. Where did he put it? He walks away from the bathroom, spotting the cockle shell on the end table near the front door.

Sousuke takes the seashell in his palm and examines it. It has a beautiful orange color. He flips it to the other side, revealing the white surface, which should be the internal part. What takes his fascination are the words and numbers written on it. They are carved on the white surface.

28 Days

Makoto

"Twenty-eight days. Makoto." He reads. What are these supposed to mean? Is 'Makoto' a name? Probably the stranger's name?

Sousuke hears a distant sound of shower coming from the bathroom. He massages his temple and makes his way back to his study desk in the bedroom, sipping on his coffee and watching the heavy raindrops land and roll on the glass window. He will let the brunet stay here until the storm is over, then he will kindly ask him to leave, probably giving him some money and clothes. After that, Sousuke can go back to his own happy business. There. That should do it.

Sousuke has reached the falling action part of his novel when he hears the bathroom door being slid open. Sousuke has his bedroom door hanging wide open, so it will be easy for his visitor to find him. It doesn't take long until the brunet shows up in front of his door without entering, wearing Sousuke's set of clothes, which is a bit oversized on him, but definitely much better than his hideous ragged clothes from before.

After turning his novel page dog-eared, Sousuke stands up from his seat and walks to the green-eyed man. He slams his palm at the side of his door, suggestively preventing the stranger to step inside. "So, maybe we need to talk, except if you're mute?"

Finally, the brunet shakes his head.

"So you can speak?"

Ignoring Sousuke's question, the stranger walks away from him. Sousuke squints his eyes in suspicion and silently follows. Sousuke can see his adorable face scrunches in worry when he stops near the empty end table, staring blankly at it.

"Oh, you're searching for this?" Sousuke lifts the large cockle shell in front of him. The brunet turns, widening his green eyes. He approaches him, arm stretches to take the shell. Sousuke instinctively pulls the shell away. "Before that, is your name Makoto?"

The other blinks. Unpredictably, a cute smile starts to form up on his lips again. "Makoto." He finally says, with an extremely familiar, melodious voice glazed with honey.

Oh my goodness.

Sousuke can't believe it. His droopy teal eyes widen in shock, mouth gapes open and close like fish out of water. There's no way he doesn't recognize this voice. He hears it almost every night, humming a song from the sea.

"Makoto," the brunet starts again, still speaking with that captivating voice that has the capability to suspend Sousuke's breath in his throat. His finger moves up, pointing at his own chest. "I... I am Makoto..." He awkwardly informs, blushing a little.

"S-so you're not mute..." Sousuke really doesn't know how to reply, nor does he has a clue of what he should do. "Uh, I'm Sousuke. Yamazaki Sousuke." Introducing himself seems to be the easiest, obvious action to take.

"Sousuke." Makoto repeats, his index finger moves up, pointing at Sousuke's chest. His lively green eyes bored into Sousuke's teal ones. "Yamazaki... or... Sousuke...?"

"Both." Sousuke answers, "I mean, both are my names, but just call me Sousuke."

Makoto replies with a silent nod, but no words came out of his mouth. After an awkward silence, Sousuke finally decides to break it.

"So, Makoto, can you understand a thing I say?"

The brunet stares at him blankly, completely clueless. "Makoto... you, a, and I..." he says, and shakes his head. Sousuke concludes that it's Makoto's way to tell him that he only understands four words of Sousuke's question, and not for the rest.

"Where do you come from?"

Again, no reply. Sousuke curses under his breath, feeling grateful that Makoto surely doesn't understand any of his curse words. "Okay, look. I think you're having a serious communicating issues. It's not like you can understand what I said, but..." Sousuke heaves a sigh, "okay."

Now Sousuke can't consider to kick Makoto out of his house in this state. Makoto doesn't have a clue as to how to speak with others. Then again, even when he's fine with the language, Sousuke won't let him go so easily without finding out who Makoto really is. He has the exact same voice as the one that's always humming near the seashore every night.

Out of the blue, an idea strikes Sousuke's head and glows like a bright lamp. "Makoto," he calls, flashing him a small smile. The brunet automatically smiles back. "Come here." He gestures with a hand and starts to walk toward the living room. He turns his body a little, making sure Makoto is following him.

"Come here..." Makoto repeats, walking behind Sousuke. He's slowly but surely learning the language. "Come here."

"Right." Sousuke nods. "You are right."

"I am right." Makoto's smile widens, then he nods, mimicking Sousuke's gesture. The black-haired man can't hold his smile to get wider. Makoto seems like a smart guy. Sousuke is pretty sure that Makoto can easily learn to speak properly within days.

Sousuke enters the living room, finding his laptop resting on the table. He grabs his laptop and sits comfortably on his white sofa, placing the laptop on his lap. Makoto patiently observes him, standing still beside Sousuke. "Sit." Sousuke pats the remaining space beside him, "Sit down."

"Sit down." Makoto echoes again and nods, sitting beside Sousuke. The brunet glances around, bouncing a little on his seat, as if learning his surroundings. Sousuke turns his laptop on, leaning his back against the sofa. As his laptop loads the home screen, Sousuke notices that Makoto is raising his brow, observing the laptop in fascination. "Technology..." he says, fingers rubbing his chin.

"Hey, you understand technology?" Sousuke asks in surprise. Makoto replies with a nod.

"Technology," he points to the laptop, "fancy stuff."

"Wow," Sousuke gives him a small smile, "you do know some words."

Makoto smiles innocently at him, tilting his head to the side. Sousuke simply imagines a questioning mark lingering in the air near Makoto's head. He laughs a little. "You're unbelievable. No worries, you will learn a lot within days. You're a smart guy."

Of course, Makoto barely understands his words. Sousuke focuses his attention to his laptop, fingers playing against the touchpad. He opens up a browser and frowns at the very slow internet connection. It should be expected. Although the storm has died down, the rain is still pouring down in heavy sheets outside.

Sousuke types the word 'home' in the search engine, searching for some images. He opens up a picture of a house, pointing the picture with his index finger. "Look, Makoto."

"Look, Sousuke." Makoto mirrors the first word, staring at the picture in full interest. Sousuke chuckles in amusement.

"No." He shakes his head, "You look."

"I look...?" Makoto smiles. "What is 'look'?"

"Great. At least you know the word 'what'. Look is..." Sousuke rubs the back of his neck. How should he explain this? "Look." He points toward the window. Makoto's eyes followed, pointing his finger as well.

"Look...?" Makoto then swings his finger toward a potted green plant beside the television.

"Well, it's not about pointing your finger. 'Look' is... uh..." Sousuke sighs, "Look at me, Makoto."

"Look at you...?" Makoto is about to lift his finger, but Sousuke grabs his wrist, holding it down.

"Look at me." Sousuke repeats, teal orbs fixed against Makoto's bright emerald eyes. Makoto's eyes are like the sea—the clear green surface of it—and Sousuke feels like he's drowning in them. Adorable blushes adorn Makoto's cheeks as he stares deep at Sousuke, but he doesn't back away, or cut off the invisible strong connection between their gazes.

Before Sousuke can stop himself, he pulls Makoto closer to him. Those green eyes widen in surprise when their faces almost touch. Light puff of Makoto's breath caresses Sousuke's lips. Fighting the strong urge to press his lips against the brunet's to feel how soft they are, Sousuke's hand shoots up toward the back of Makoto's neck. A little push forward will satisfy his abrupt desire, but Sousuke knows how to hold back. His hand lifts up, trailing upward until it reaches the top of Makoto's head and he begins to pat the silky strands of the olive-brown hair. "You understand now?" Sousuke asks, scooting away from his seat and releasing Makoto's wrist.

The blushes haven't left Makoto's cheeks. After Sousuke releases his wrist, Makoto's hand immediately rests onto his chest. Sousuke realizes that his heart is also beating in accelerated pace. His large hand finds Makoto's a bit smaller one on the brunet's chest, pressing both their hands onto it. Faintly, Sousuke can feel Makoto's heart drumming behind the many layers. "Heartbeat." Sousuke says, eyes focus on Makoto's chest. "This is heartbeat."

"Heartbeat." Makoto's tongue obediently follows.

"Yes." Sousuke breathes with a smile, "That's it. That is heartbeat. It's going crazy when you're seeing someone you love." Sousuke hopes Makoto doesn't understand most of the words he says. It's not that he's confident that Makoto loves him. Of course he's not. They're strangers.

Makoto smiles sheepishly, shaking his head again, failing to understand. Sousuke's eyes soften. Makoto is indeed cute. Too cute for their own good, and Sousuke is afraid.

He's afraid if he will be in too deep, and he won't be able to break the surface.

After releasing a deep breath to ease his own chest, Sousuke's hand slowly leaves Makoto's and he pushes his laptop closer to Makoto so both of them can see the screen more clearly. "Look at that." He points again at the image of a nice wooden house. "This is home. Do you have a home?"

"Home..." Makoto's fingertips lightly touch the screen. His green eyes seem distant. "I..."

Sousuke turns to face Makoto.

"I..." Makoto gulps, "Who am I...?"

"You're Makoto." Sousuke answers, raising his brow in bewilderment. Makoto shakes his head.

"Who am I?" He asks again, hands clutching his olive-brown hair. "I don't..."

"You don't know? You mean, you don't know who you are? Are you saying that you're suffering some sort of amnesia?"

Makoto frowns in confusion.

"Alright. Sorry. What I mean is... you don't remember?" He hopes Makoto understands the word 'remember'.

"I don't." Makoto answers, "I don't..."

Great. It is fixed, then. He absolutely should forget about asking Makoto to leave. He definitely can't shoo this angelic cutie away—not in his vulnerable condition. Makoto can't speak and doesn't even know who he is—thus a conclusion that he's suffering a serious amnesia can be weaved. Besides, Makoto is too mysterious and fascinating for Sousuke to let go of, since he possesses this alluring, honey-glazed voice that haunts Sousuke practically every night.

He can't help a small smirk to show up on his lips. Now his little piece of heaven is in front of him, in the form of a really attractive brunet with beautiful green eyes and a charming smile. Whatever his past is, Sousuke believes he's a perfect angel—his angel.

Mine, and mine alone.