Summary: Mermaids. Sea creatures feared by anyone that dares to defy the vast ocean. Sign of bad luck for sailors and pirates alike.

What happens when a curious mermaid is taken hostage by pirates?

Alternative universe- Mermaid Tora/Kanae x Pirate Ushii/ Eiji

Warning: This fic will contain strong language and sexual content.

A/N: I did my research for this fic, however there is information that is most probably fake or more fictional related to help with the coherency of the story, yet everything will be explained somewhere in the story.

They say that the darkest night always brings out the brightest stars and that was one of the reasons Kanae loved the night.

It was also the only time where she could freely go to the water's surface, taking in the beauty of the darkness as the moon shone above her and the only sound that could be heard would be the waves or maybe occasionally a ship that passed by those waters.

The mermaid was always hiding her tail behind the rock that was in the middle of the water, giving her support to lean on something as she saw the boats passing, always unaware of her presence as she contemplated and admired from far away.

Humans were always a mystery to her, creatures so look alike to mermaids yet so different at the same time. She wasn't exactly unfamiliar to humans as one of her hobbies was sneaking up on the ships that got too close, she didn't hurt them, nor she tried to kill them, most of the times she didn't even do anything else than just explore the ship and then leave or if she found something that caught her eye she would take it with her before going back to her habitat.

Little did she knew that her little hobby would change her life.

One night, just like every single other, she was back to her rock, watching a ship passing by. By the moon's position, she was sure it was pretty late and as she assumed everybody should be sleeping by now so it was time for her to go try her luck.

Like she assumed, the ship seemed to be deserted, this she noticed as soon as she finished climbing the stair that, for some reason had been left what made her job even easier after she had used her ability to change her tail to her human legs.

Unlike what many thought, mermaids had the ability to do so whenever they felt like it and not just whenever they touched water, that was one of the factors that allowed them to choose between a life in the ocean or just live regular humans, of course, there would be consequences on the second one but Kanae never thought much about abdicating on her mermaid life.

With the skill of a feline, she made her way inside, starting with the kitchen as she wanted to avoid going near the quarters, after all, it was always a problem when someone with light sleep managed to hear her.

It didn't take too long until Kanae found something that caught her eye, making her smirk and even purr lightly as she hurried to the pile of barrels and bottles that were on the right corner of the room, quickly grabbing a couple of bottles and immediately opening one of them and drinking the wine that was inside, the familiar taste of alcohol cheering her up and be already happy about her sneak.

As the mermaid was so lost in her small moment with her drink, she didn't even notice that she wasn't alone anymore but her instincts quickly were on again when she heard a noise similar to a saber being removed from its case, what made her drop whatever she was carrying and even ignoring the alcohol that was now spread across the floor as she ran away back to jump to the ocean.

Kanae almost could sigh in relief when she saw the border where she could jump and as she didn't hear any footsteps following it almost made her think she was thinking things but her instinct told her to keep running.

Yet, as she was changing back to her normal form, slender arms grabbed her wrist, pulling her back until her back was against a warm body, whose arms were now around her waist and blocking her arms to keep her in place.

"So you're the one that decided to break into my ship ... " Kanae looked behind her in shock, only to find a broad chest in front of her face, making her look up to be able to face whoever had caught her, finding grey eyes so cold and tired yet with some sort of hidden mystery behind them. There was something in those eyes that made Kanae so intrigued to the point of almost forgetting the situation she was in. On the other side, the man also seemed to have stopped but it wasn't exactly for the same reason as Kanae, in fact, he was admiring her, a special part in particular "huh?"

It took a while for Kanae to look away from those eyes and instead look to whatever had gotten the human's attention, just to find him staring at her tail.

Both shifted their eyes to each other, now fully catching each other's eyes. The grey eyes stared back at the green ones that belonged to the girl on his arms, they shone with innocence and mostly curiosity but he was a little taken back that she showed no signs of fear for being so close to a killing machine as him.

Kanae felt her heartbeat get faster, too fast for her liking if she was honest, but she blamed that for being the first time being so close to a human, and for being found out.

"Well... " She interrupted the strong silence that had been settled by the surprise between the two. If this was one of the crappy lovey-dovey stories her mermaid friends told her down on the ocean, this would be probably be considered one perfect moment where it could be developed into a really pretty love story but Kanae was not a girl for girly-girl love stories. "Shit."

"A mermaid...?" Was the only thing the man could say as if asking out loud made the situation easier to believe, something his eyes were having problems doing.

"H-Hey, you're a pirate right? Like, you go on those hunts for treasures and shits like those...What about we make a deal? I tell you about one of the most valuable treasure any human has ever heard about it and you just let me go back to water so that we'll never need to see each other again?" The mermaid quickly tried to offer, taking in by the ship's construction and even the way the man was dressing it all pointed out to her deduction and if he was indeed a pirate, what would be more attractive than a lost treasure that could only be revealed by her own species?

Yet... Either this pirate didn't believe her or he wasn't as idiotic as she had given him credit for.

"You speak too much..." He told her while removing his saber once again from the case that was attached to his belt and drags it to the girl's throat "Any last words?"

"Want to go swim with the fishes?"

In shock with her bold answer, he didn't even manage to fight back the sudden strong grip Kanae had when she fought to jump back to the water, in a successful attempt to get back into the ocean, ending up dragging the pirate with her.

Finally, she was free once again as the pirate had let her go but in her escaping, the sword he had been using had made its turns during the process and had ended up causing a cut on the man's right arm before being left on the deck, it wasn't too deep yet it was still enough to make the arm bleed and enough to make it harder for him to swim.

Kanae was too much aware of the predators that used to swim along those waters and even if she was supposed to take the chance to run away and just let the man either to his luck to go back or tire himself until he gave up and ended up drowning, there was something in her that didn't want to let him die, not just want but she couldn't let him there to die.

Carefully, she swam her way to him, watching as his eyes didn't leave her as if he was waiting for her actions. Putting herself under his left, unharmed, arm and wrapping the arm around her shoulders she then swam to the rope, completely aware of the questioning look he had been giving her the whole way.

The pirate then held onto the rope/stairs with the left arm, the one that had enough strength to support him but when Kanae backed away his right hand instantly went to grab her wrist, pulling her to him once more "You come with me."

Kanae's eyes had widened in surprise but she kept herself in the water "Why so? You'll kill me as soon as I step in there once again. That gives me, even more, the idea of dragging you back here again... I can easily kill you right now."

Yet, to her surprise, to her threat he had just smirked and pulled her against his body, wrapping his injured arm around her figure to drag her out of the water and be face to face with him "Then why did you saved me?"

A strange heat hit her cheeks as she felt his breath so close, not to talk about their proximity itself. This pirate was surely starting to get on her nerves but she just could stare at her, her tonguetied state refused to let out any words as the man started to climb the stairs with only one hand, the other keeping her in place as they climbed together.

Kanae changed her tail back to legs once on her feet, yet in matters of outfit it was nothing more than a bikini with the same tiger stripes as her tail fins, but her attention was focused on every single movement the male made, watching as he carefully grabbed his saber that had fallen.

"They say a mermaid brings bad luck to sailors... In such a short time I could experience that..." She watched him checking the sword as if it was his most precious treasure, only sparing a second to her, what for some reason made her extremely mad.

"Hey, I just saved your life jerk!"

"You dare speak to me in such way?" He now seemed to give her his full attention, even saving the saber in its case, which made Kanae smirk in accomplishment.

"Oh, I can speak much worse love."

"Interesting..." He hummed, amusement clearly present in his face "So, about that treasure, you were talking about..."

"Oh, now you're curious about it." Kanae couldn't help but glare at him, finding such attitude so nerve-wracking but that only seemed to contribute to his amusement as now the pirate had a graceful smirk on his lips.

"You're a feisty one... Alright, there's no need to say it now, either way, you'll be the one to show us the way there." He stated, making Kanae confused at his meaning.

"Heh?"

"I'll make myself clear. From now on, you're my hostage. Even if I'm thankful for you to have saved me, you were still in the origin of the problem so as I can't kill you, then I'll take you as a hostage until you show me the way to such treasure and then, we'll never will need to see each other again, like you said." He spoke slowly, making every word more and more deeply as if to fix them in Kanae's brain.

Kanae felt a shiver down her back hearing the deep voice that demanded domination over her, the worst part was that it wasn't exactly a shiver from fear if she had something to say it would be the exact opposite to fear in fact.

"I'm a mermaid, I can jump back to the ocean anytime now. Why do you think I'll be an obedient puppy and follow your rules?" She fought back, but her body betrayed her by backing away from the pirate, even if he still made his way to her.

She only stopped when she felt trapped, her back hitting the border of the ship and before she could dodge to any side, two arms trapped her in that same place, making her know there was no place to run.

"Because..." Kanae felt him lower himself to her levels, just to feel his breath near her ear as he whispered to her "You don't want to meet my bad side. Believe me, little mermaid."

She gulped, suddenly nervous in being so near a human, taking in the scent that the pirate transmitted from being so close, and out of nervously she muttered the first thing she came off "One week."

"Hum?"

"I'll give you one week to prove me you deserve the treasure. After all, I'll be breaking my species' rules because of you." She tried to look at him in the eyes, yet being so close was making it an impossible mission to her so she just focused on looking ahead, meeting his chest that was covered by the soaked white half opened shirt, that only exposed more of the skin underneath it, so, feeling even more embarrassed, she looked up again this time not finding so hard to look at his eyes.

"So... You want me to show you I deserve it...? Interesting... Interesting indeed." He smiled a little and backed away, yet not enough to remove his arms from her sides "You're a very interesting woman... No one ever dared to treat me like that..." He looked at her, taking in the human form of the mermaid, she was petite, and that only made him more intrigued as such short figure dared to speak up to him when many of the most powerful and dangerous pirates didn't even manage to look at him "What's your name, Miss?"

"Now you treat me by Miss? What a nerve... Who do you think you are? Why do you even need to know it?"

"To introduce you to the rest of the crew, of course. And for your question, I'm the captain of this ship, Eiji Kashii or more known as Ushii, yet you can simply treat me by the captain." He presented himself with a courtesy light bow, finally letting her go as he thought it would be unpolite to make a deal in such a position.

She huffed at his courtesy "Sure thing Eiji." She smirked when he looked back at her, no expression on his face "And... Kanae. Kanae Aira. Just try to not get on my nerves this week and I'll try to not kill you."

He couldn't suppress a sigh at her still attempt to scare him but then grinned "Are all mermaids like that?"

"Some. The others don't waste time on talking and just drag jerks like you out of the boat instantly." She started out confident but as she realized about what was happening her mood changed to a more serious, something that didn't pass by Eiji "Hey... Can I... Request one thing?"

"As long it's nothing related with you going back to the ocean..."

She shook her head slightly, now knowing that returning back to the ocean would be a difficult mission "Can you... Not say anything about me being a mermaid...? This would be quite problematic for my family."

For the first time, Eiji saw sincerity and a sense of protection on the mermaid's eyes. He would never hurt innocent persons or creatures in general but see how the girl was somehow exposing her weakness he found another level of respect towards her so he nodded " Your secret is safe, just be careful yourself..."

She released a relieved sigh that even herself wasn't aware she had been holding and then smiled at the captain "Thanks..."

Part of her was complaining at why she was thanking, she should just run and jump back to the ocean but the other part seemed to be in control as it demanded her to stay there.

"Tomorrow, I'll introduce you to the rest of the crew. "

Kanae nodded and turned her head to the water, having a new question in mind "And one last question... Where exactly am I going to sleep?"

"With me. At least for tonight. I can't let you alone when there's a high risk of you running away." He explained and started making his way to the captain's quarters, in slow steps as he didn't hear her following, making him turn his head to look at her, who remained in the same spot.

"You... You want me to sleep with you? Who the fuck do you think I am?" She shouted at him, her cheeks feeling incredibly hot as she just thought about the suggestion.

Eiji sighed and walked to her, just to put her over his shoulder and walking to his room, ignoring her protests as he calmly answered her "Don't worry. It's nothing like that and it's only for tonight. Tomorrow you'll have another place to stay." He explained, trying to make her stop complaining before she would wake up the whole crew.

Indeed, he could have put her in the same room as the other women from the crew but... He had to admit he was starting to grow fond of teasing the mermaid.

Even if none of the two truly trusted each other, their encounter had tired them from all the energy they had left and it didn't take too long until they were both sleeping on the captain's bed, already getting prepared for the following day that both were sure it was going to be a long one.

A/N: A new adventure! I know I said this fic wouldn't be really Torashi focused but... I think I lied about that... At first, I really wanted to do a non-romance focused thing but as I've lately started drawing some mermaid Kanae x pirate Eiji my imagination is running wild...

I'm honestly so excited with this idea, it's been already a couple of years since I wanted to do a pirates fic but never had the inspiration to do it but this ship is going to be the end of me.

Well, let's just see how this will go and probably there will be other relationships along the way, as well as some "surprise" guests later on.

As always, please enjoy yourself while reading.