It had been a long time since his brother left. Virus had always been the first to do just about everything. The only thing Izaya had him beat was being the first to be born out of eight siblings. Virus himself was the youngest male, and three of last. After Izaya it was Roppi, Psyche, Hibiya, Sakuraya, Virus, Mairu and Kururi in that order. Having eight shark pups at once is tough on a young females body, and as such, their mother didn't survive the birth. But they still managed to grow into healthy and strong Leopard Sharks.

Virus was the first to learn how to hunt properly, and the first to change his form. He was probably the first to explore the human world as well. Izaya certainly wouldn't put it past him. He didn't know though, they lost contact years ago. All that didn't matter though. Izaya was the only one left of his siblings that hadn't left the pod they were born in. Despite the pod taking care of them after their mother died and their father abandon them long before that, it wasn't really his family though. None of them felt attached to stay. Izaya was content enough though. He knew how to survive and not be caught, even when he observed the humans. It was always from afar, so he was rarely in danger.

But others of his kind were. Humans had been hunting them for their fins then throwing them back for dead. The victims of these attacks often received mercy from their fellow kin and put out of their misery. Izaya was afraid this wouldn't stop, so he decided to pay the human world a more intimate visit.

Izaya shifted from his usual full shark form to his half form, which humans call 'mermaids'. In this form, his upper body was a slender body with short black hair, redish eyes, sharp teeth, and black sharpish nails. His lower half was an elongated version of his normal shark tail and fins, dark brown in color with blackish spots. He stretched and looked up to the surface. Not far where he was was a boat bottom breaking the surface. That's where he'd start.

He swam up and poked his head up and looked around. The shore was a good ways away from him, so he'd only have to worry about the boat and it's humans. Good. He approached the boat and called out. "Excuse me!?"

Up on the vessel, a tall blond male was mumbling to himself as he was untangling a net. "How'd I get myself into this?" This was the very last thing he wanted to be doing, but at this point, he was desperate for a job. Everyone else either won't hire him, or he quickly got fired because of his temper. It wasn't like he blew up on purpose. But that didn't matter.

Suddenly he heard a voice from down below. That was unexpected. He looked out over the side and saw a black haired man swimming near his boat. "Eh? What are you doing? It's dangerous to be in the water out here!"

"I'm full aware of any dangers! And I request that you leave!"

"You need to get to shore! Now! These are shark waters!"

"As I said, I'm aware! They won't bother me." Izaya was careful to keep his own tail below the water and out of sight. "I'm just here to warn you. If you don't leave now, I won't be held responsible for what happens to you!" Izaya kept eye contain with the human as he spoke. Honestly he hoped to only scare the human away, but if he had to do more, then so be it. "We don't want your kind here, go home!"

Won't bother him? We? Your kind? The hell? What was this guys problem? Then it hit him.

"You one of those 'fish rights activist's or whatever the hell it's called? Listen kid, I'm just doing my job. If you want to complain, take it up with the City Council. Now…" He pulled the net up. He need to get to work and this brat was in the way. "Move before I net you too!"

Izaya scoffed at the threat. "I'd like to see you try! I'd swim away before you could! And who's the City Council? Does he come by here often? I can't exactly leave this place." What was a 'City Council' anyway? Another human title?

"It's not a who, it's a what." Seriously, who was this guy? Was he foreign? It didn't look like it. "Are you a tourist? If so, then what do you even care?"

Izaya circled the boat a bit before turning his attention back to Shizuo. "I know how this thing is rigged up. I could tear it apart easily if I wanted to. Leave you stranded or let you drown. Your choice. Now tell your crew to get out of here or I'll follow through on my threat. Unlike you, I'm a man of my word."

Shizuo watched him circle the boat. He was pretty good swimmer, he'd give him that. Shizuo couldn't even swim at all. He knew it was stupid, but he was the only one on the ship. Not that he'd tell this brat that. "Tch, you really think you can do that? So, what if we don't leave? Go play with your friends or something and let me work."

"Touchy, aren't you? And for your information, I don't have friends. Don't need or want them. Seems to be the same for you." It was hardly a nice thing to say, but he wasn't here to be nice. "So no one would miss you if you died, right?"

He frowned at the guess that he had no friends. Unfortunately the brat was right. "That's none of your business…," he mumbled.

The merman flicked his tail under the water causing a bit of a ripping effect around him and grinned broadly, unintentionally showing off his unusual teeth. "I care because I live in these waters, Sir. We all depend on the wildlife here and the sharks are no exception. Do you know what happens after you fin a shark? They die. Most of them because they need to constantly be moving in order to live. But all of them either bleed to death or, if there's mercy in this ocean, they're eaten by the others." A harsh truth that needed to be shared. Was he doing this just to save his pod? Not entirely. Some of it was because he was terrified of becoming a victim to this cruelty himself. His kind may be immortal in age, but they could still be killed like any other creature.

Shizuo raised an eyebrow at the odd rippling around the man. "What do ya mean 'live'? A person can't live in water, they'd drown." Stupid brat, just leave. And the sharks? Shizuo knew all that, and he felt guilty enough without him talking about it. "It's…not my problem…," he forced himself to say. He looked away. "Look. This is the last place that would hire me, so please just go away." He sighed. He felt too worn out to really get pissed right now. Not like getting pissed off would really do him any good. It never did. that's why he was forced to taking this one.

Izaya's grin faded quickly and turned into a scowl. "I gave you a warning. I don't care about your pathetic human problems. There's an epidemic in these waters going on and you're not helping!" His anger was too intense and he started slipping up. He grabbed the anchor to the boat and pulled it, causing the small craft to move a little.

"My people are dying. And if you won't listen, then you'll become my prey." He pulled the anchor again, this time harder. "Leave now or the last one will lead you to your grave! I swear! I'll sink you and have your flesh between my teeth in no time! I'm not afraid to try the flesh of man like my brothers!"

"Your people?" he questioned before the boat shook, making him lose his balance. "H-hey! What the hell!?" He regained his balance. "Are you insane? Are you a fucking cannibal? I heard what your saying, and it's absolutely crazy! Leave me the hell alone! I'm doing what I can to survive!"

"SO AM I!" Izaya roared with rage, giving into it and sinking the ship. As he caught his breath his rage began to simmer down, and when the man didn't come up to the surface like he thought he would, the shark began to grow concerned.

How odd… Why would he feel this sort of guilt for someone he just met? Specially a human. Maybe it was because he never actually intended to kill him. "Dammit…" He swore quietly, diving under and starting his search for the blond.

Shizuo didn't know how, but the man broke the boat, and he fell into the water. This was bad, he couldn't swim! He struggled and he tried to get back up for air. But he only sank and lost consciousness. Last thing he saw was a hand before blackness.

He had no idea how long he was out, but next thing he knew, something hit his chest hard, and he spit out a ton of water. He doubled over and coughed, gasping for air. "What…happened?" he asked no one in particular.

He finally caught his breath and looked up, seeing the man from before. "You! You're a…" His eyes trail down and see the man's lower half. "…a fish…"

Dammit all… He wasn't suppose to catch his breath so soon! And now he was exposed. Not that he was being subtle about it earlier, but he was planning on dumping the blond and swimming away. Izaya scowled in disgust at being called a fish, and retreated to the water.

"I'm not a fish, I'm shark! A leopard shark to be exact. Though seeing how you're not familiar around water, I doubt you know anything of sea life." The carnivorous merman turned his back on the now ex-fisherman. "But forget what you saw and go back to land. I did my job and you'll never show your face around my ocean ever again. If you do, I'll keep on my promise to eat you."

"Shark, jellyfish, I don't give a flying fuck," he said, standing up and running his fingers through his hair. He looked out to the water, but couldn't find the boat. "…Where's the boat? Did you…?" He sunk it, didn't he? "Damn it!" He punched the nearby wall of rocks, making everything break under his fist.

As quickly as his rage came, it soon left, and he rested his forehead on the wall. "….That was my last chance….You should had just let me drown…"

Izaya backed away from the man once his anger manifested. That strength… that power… it was awe-inspiring. Of course, he was afraid at first, but… now he wanted to learn more about this human. He pulled himself back onto the land.

"And let a beautiful creature like you get away so easily? I want to know more about you humans. If they're anything like you, I have to experience it myself. Please take me with you!"

Shizuo looked at the creature like he was insane. "Take you where?!" he yelled. "Because of you, I'm going to lose my fucking job! The only one I could get! I need that to survive! It's nothing I was proud of, but it was something!" He balled his fists tightly, gritting his teeth and glaring daggers at the shark. He was seething. But instead of hitting him, he took it out on the wall again, breaking it more. Breathing heavily, he sunk to the ground and hugged his knees. "People like me shouldn't exist…"

"People like me shouldn't exist either if you want to go that route." Izaya replied, mimicking the way he sat, at least as much as his tail would allow. "I don't really understand what you're upset about. With that talent, you could do anything. Anything other than killing my people that is."

The shark scooted over to Shizuo and took in his scent. This was different, and in a good way. In the past, he and his siblings were warned not to interact with humans. They were dangerous and should be killed if they approached. But Izaya could now see why they were so taboo. Their form, their ideas, even their smell was irresistible. To think he used to hate them until he met this one…

"You don't destroy things or hurt people you don't mean too…" Shizuo shook his head. "It's worse here than in my home town…I should never had left…" He stood and sighed. "I'm going go. See if I can fix this at all." His hopes weren't high. "Goodbye." And he started walking away.

Izaya panicked. No, no no! He wasn't going to let him leave this easily! He had too many questions! The shark leapt forward and wrapped his hands around Shizuo's ankle, being dragged along the rock as Shizuo continued to walk. "I was serious! Take me with you! Show me the human world! I want to know everything about you!"

He didn't even care how much it hurt being pulled along the ground, his curiosity was bugging him even more than his sore belly and scales. "I don't even know your name! Mine's Izaya if it helps at all! I'm sorry I ruined your life!"

Shizuo felt the weight on his leg and stopped, looking at it. He frowned. "This ain't no Disney movie. You're not gonna get a happy ending coming along with me." He shook the shark off him. "You're better off in the ocean without me. So leave me alone." And he walked off again.

"Oh come on, you're just saying that! I don't even know what 'Disney' and 'movie' is!" The merman wailed, flopping his tail in a desperate attempt to continue following Shizuo, "Being better off won't deter my curiosity! You're my only chance at learning about humans!" Well, more like just Shizuo. He could care less about the mindless drones of apes wandering the earth. He wanted this one. And he wasn't about to let him get away that easily.

"I'm saying it cause it's true, idiot!" Shizuo turned to see the other following him on the ground. "…What are you even doing? If you're going to try and follow me, I'll just pick you up and throw you right back into the ocean, so stop."

Challenge accepted. Izaya didn't doubt the man would act on his words, but the stubborn shark didn't care. His thirst for knowledge was too great. And he wasn't about to be ignored like this. Not by a long shot. "Then do it!" He grunted, continuing to climb up the beach rock as best he could with what strength he could muster, "If you wanna stop me, then just go ahead and toss me back in the water! I'd rather die than let you get away! I need you!"

Shizuo rolled his eyes, walked back, grabbed Izaya by the arm's and lifted him up. "Don't test me." He walked him back to the water and dropped him in. "So long." And walked away.

"What the-!? HEY! THAT'S NOT FAIR! I DON'T EVEN KNOW YOUR NAME!" The shark howled, his tail thrashing in the water. "DON'T LEAVE WITHOUT TELLING ME YOUR NAME!" He at least wanted that from the man. But it seemed he wouldn't get his wish.

He sat there indignantly, watching his catch get away from him. He never felt so disappointed in his entire life. The one time he actually wanted something so bad he would risk tooth and nail for, it slips out of his grasp. He didn't know whether to be angry or upset at this point, so all he did was scream.

Shizuo had ignored his scream, and Izaya stared in the direction the blond left.

"I want him…"