Melodic Mermaid

A Free! Fanfic

Rating: M

Pairings: SouMako, HaruMako. Makoto harem.

Warnings: Angst in later chapters, yaoi in later chapters, mermaid yaoi in later chapters, sea creauture yaoi. (Whatever floats your boat.)

Hello readers. I am quite excited to say that I've mustered up enough courage to start writing some Free! fanfction on this site. I definitely wouldn't be brave enough to write it on my other account. I would find it quite embarrassing. But I want to thank those who have read my other stories, for having such patience for updates. You people are the ones who motivate me the most. Usually, I'd go on to say, 'Without further ado', but today is slightly different. I want to give a premise of the story itself. It will have hurt and comfort, but not the type that deals with broken friendships...Is what I'd like to say. I cannot lie, some parts of this story will be about relationships and friendships, as well as discovering bonds. And once again, to let you all down, Haruka will not be a mermaid in this fic. Its quite hilarious that his seiyuu was in anime with a mermaid, but he wasn't the mermaid. Well, this story will be quite dark as well, some of the plot having to do with a curse and all. But I would not like to spoil anymore of this story. I probably will have a regular updating day for this story. In fact, I will have a regular updating schedule for all multi-chapter stories I have written so far. So now I can say, without further ado, let's get on with the story.

It was a Sunday night, 10:00 p.m to be exact. In other words, pretty late. The stars twinkled brightly over the ocean, illuminating the surface with a radiant glow. The moon was full, also adding to the light in the night sky. Tonight was special, very special indeed. Fish gathered near the sand, excitedly waiting for someone to come to the shore. They were ready to welcome their kin once more. Breeds upon breeds of fish gathered as a young male stood at the edge of the water, along side another male. Green eyes scanned the ocean, seeing the fish gathering so excitedly.

"They're so restless...aren't they?"

The other male said nothing in response, leading Makoto to look up at him.

"Yamazaki-kun?" he questioned, and the other just sighed.

"I already told you to drop the '-kun'. Just 'Sou-chan' is fine." Sousuke muttered. He placed his hand behind his heard, scratching a bit. "What are we here for again Makoto? You woke me up just to look at fish?" he asked boredly, and Makoto couldn't help but chuckle.

"Gomen. I came here because there was a disturbance." he said, and Sousuke eyed him weirdly. "You know what I'm talking about...right?" Makoto questioned him, eyes filled with barely recognizable fear. If he was wrong, he was definitely screwed, and he'd have to pray that Sousuke would keep quiet. He felt a hand on his head, ruffling his hair.

"Of course I know you idiot. How could I not sense that you were like me?" It was Sousuke's turn to laugh as Makoto pouted. "But anyways, I'm tired, so we have to make this quick." he said, Makoto nodded fervently. The two quickly undressed before diving into the water.

Sousuke stared avidly as Makoto closed his eyes, ready to transform. Makoto squeezed his eyes shut, feeling himself become one with the ocean. His heart pulsed violently, and he waited as the water rushed through his ears. Said ears slowly morphed into medium sized fins and the side of his head. He felt the sides of his ribs open lightly, yet painfully, which enabled him to breathe. The scales raised from his skin, a shimmering, glittery, green. His legs pulled themselves closer to each other, and scales began to form from his waist down, to the tips of his toes. Two extra thick layers formed over it, then a large, elegant fin began to grow at the end. In the middle, they split slightly, making two large fins. His fingers stretched slightly, webbing growing in between each finger quickly. Beautiful nail-like claws extended from each finger, not too long, but not too short. Sousuke stared in awe, looking at Makoto's beautiful form.

"Makoto you look..."

"Ugh..." Makoto let out a pained grunt, and Sousuke watched in horror as he thrashed slightly. Dark, black scales, shining darkly forcefully appeared, stretching up from his shoulder and to the side of his face and right past his left eye and up to his forehead. Splotches of black scales appeared randomly on his tail and arms. The claws turned a glittering black and gold, and in his left eye, his pupil and iris turned a cold green, the white of his eyes turning black. Makoto let out a groan, turning away from Sousuke, who had already transformed, his scales a dark navy blue with aquamarine tones in it.

"Makoto!" Sousuke swam over to him, clutching the shoulder that had the black scales. Sousuke hissed in pain, and Makoto shoved him away.

"Gomen, Sou-chan. I've gotten myself into a mess..."

"You're...you're cursed?" Sousuke asked incredulously. From what he had known, only mermaids with the darkest of hearts could become cursed.

"Yeah...you can leave if you want...its okay if you're scared..."

"Far from it. Its alright. We'll find a way to fix this. See? Even they want to help," Sousuke gestured to a swarm of small fish that had come, all different colors, but all dishing out the same amount of affection, nuzzling him everywhere. Makoto giggled, and couldn't help but caress them. Sousuke smiled, then flinched.

"Makoto. There's a sea creature in trouble." the fish moved all at once, seemingly nodding at Makoto. The two mermen swam farther out into the ocean at lightning speed. The fish continued to lead them, and as they neared the area, Makoto heard indistinct chatter.

"...sell for..."

"...a shark and a squid!" Makoto gasped and turned to Sousuke, who was equally as shocked. The two nodded, and Makoto swam up to the surface. A woman was speaking.

"We'll be fucking rich. These types are so rare! Who knows what fortune we can come by?" she laughed, and Makoto cringed. He could tell she was the type that couldn't go down without a fight. The woman turned to the squid that was slowly dying, eyes looking tired and miserable. It turned to the shark that was lying next to it, which was still struggling. It turned back to the woman that was above it, giving her pleading eyes. She snickered, looking off the side of the boat. She nearly choked on her spit, falling to the floor. Her henchmen rushed to her aid, yelling their worries.

"I...I saw it! Catch it now!"

"What?" they asked.

"The mermaid! Catch it now!" she screamed, and the group of men threw their lines in, expectantly waiting to get what their boss had wished for.

Sousuke chuckled underneath the waves. "Makoto...you made them put up quite a riot." when Makoto didn't respond, Sousuke turned to see quite a sight. Makoto's scales were now fully black and gold, both of his eyes black and green. Sousuke gasped as Makoto opened his mouth.

"Makoto! Don't sing! That can kill humans at close range!" Makoto opened his mouth, and Sousuke cringed as he heard screams from above. He always wondered about Makoto's singing. It was deep and melodic, yet high and soothing. He sang so beautifully that he needed no words.

It was just pure vocalizing.

But for his level of singing in such close proximity, it really could kill someone. Sousuke peeked up, seeing the woman by herself, surrounded by her dead henchmen. Before Sousuke could comprehend, Makoto had stretched his arm out, grabbing the woman by her leg. She screamed, flailing wildly.

"Please! Let me go! I'll give back your sea creatures!" she was pulled down, her head barely above the water. Makoto popped up, fringe covering his eyes, a smirk playing on his lips.

"Its a shame," Sousuke flinched, looking as surprised as the woman. "You were so beautiful...But I'll have to end you..." and she was yanked down, her fingers slipping off the edges. Sousuke's eyes widened as wide as they could get. The woman's last words were so simple, yet struck a chord within Makoto, he could tell.

"You're...you're not a merman...no way..." before her fingers slipped below the surface. Sousuke climbed aboard the ship, untying the squid and the shark. He carried them back into the water. He noticed, Makoto was back to normal now, except for the black splotches and such that were already there.

The squid and shark swam towards him, snuggling him as much as they could.

"Its okay, you guys are safe now..." Makoto gave a sad smile, and Sousuke could've swore he saw tears in Makoto's eyes. Makoto gave the squid a kiss on the head, and it swam around happily. Makoto did the same to the shark before sending the both of them off. Sousuke sighed.

"Makoto...let's go." Sousuke said, and Makoto nodded.

When both of them had returned to their human form and had finished getting dressed, Sousuke turned to Makoto.

"Tomorrow, meet me after swim practice. Bring Nagisa with you." Sousuke said, garnering a bewildered look from Makoto.

"Nagisa? Does he-"

"I mean...you can be dense Makoto, but I never expected this. Nagisa is one too."

"W-What?"

"He makes it so obvious that its unnoticeable. But he probably doesn't know that you're one either. He may have a solution, but hey...I don't know." Makoto gave a solemn smile, green eyes lighting up with the smallest shine of hope.

"And hey...afterwards..." Sousuke mumbled, the lightest of pink dusting his cheeks.

"What?" Makoto asked curiously.

"Afterwards...let me take you out on a date." Sousuke finished, rubbing the back of his neck.

Makoto stared blankly, before his face grew bright red. "EH?!"

Makoto woke up, rubbing his eyes tiredly. He looked at his clock and sat up, slightly disgruntled. He might as well get up now, before ending up late. He headed straight for the bath, got clean, got dressed, helped his mother with breakfast, took a piece of toast for himself, and headed out. He then stopped by to play with neighborhood cat, who was a little bit more affectionate than usual(probably because of his late night endeavors). He headed to Haru's house, going through their normal routine of waking him up and getting him ready; perhaps Makoto was the one who considered it routine. As the both of them headed to school, Haru glanced over to Makoto, whose expression was terribly out of character.

It was solemn.

His eyes seemed to be missing that normal shine; in fact, they were dark and overcast, like the sky when it was about to rain. He even had small purple bags under his eyes. Now Haru knew something was wrong. As stressed as Makoto had ever been, he never got bags under his eyes. He didn't have his usual dazzling smile that never failed to amaze Haru.

"What's wrong." it came out more like a statement than a question, because Haru was not going to give him the choice of rebutting said statement. Makoto sighed; Haruka noted that he rarely did that either; and rubbed the back of his head.

"I'm just really sleepy Haru. Nothing to worry about." Makoto muttered; Haruka that he didn't even do this either; and Haruka leaned near him and sniffed.

"You smell like the ocean," Haruka noted aloud. "And it seems recent."

"I...I went swimming yesterday night. Really late. With a friend."

"Who?" Haru pretty much demanded an answer. he sure as hell knew that Makoto would've invited him. Who the hell was this person.

"Sousuke." Haru froze, gripping his bag strap tightly, in half anger, half shock. "Haru-chan?"

"Drop the '-chan'."

"Alright Haru."

Haru was counting. This was about his...third shocking revelation this morning. And now, for once, Makoto actually listened to him. Don't get him wrong, he liked when he was listened to, but seeing Makoto smile and disregard his words was always better. He'd choose that over this any day. The rest of their walk was enveloped in a deafening silence, so much that Haruka himself couldn't even understand it.

But the breaking point was when they arrived at school. The two were about to enter when they had spotted Sousuke.

"Makoto." Sousuke said, staring at the two. "Remember what I asked you. Don't forget Nagisa." Makoto nodded with a small smile; his first smile this morning, Haru noted.

"I won't forget."

"Don't forget our date either."

Haru swore to himself in this moment that he had never been so angry in his life.

"O-Okay...Sou-chan." Makoto said, blushing slightly.

That did it.

Without thinking, Haru swooped Makoto up into his arms, channeling a strength he never knew existed inside himself. He guessed stuff like this happened when one was in love.

"He's mine." He had stated confidently. Makoto squeaked, flaming from his ears and down to his neck.

"H-H-Haru?! Put me down!" Makoto's pleas went unheard as sparks flew in between Haru and Sousuke.

"You're on." Sousuke said before turning to leave. "See you later, Mako-chan." he sent a devious smirk towards Haru, who returned it with a glare as cold as the water he loved swimming in.

The day seemed to drag on for Haru.

He couldn't stop thinking about the morning and his mini face off with Sousuke. He knew that some people liked Makoto, if the oggling and desperate stares were anything to go by, but he didn't even know that Sousuke had some sort of attraction to him as well.

Well. He sort of knew that there was a possibility. Makoto was amazing. He was perfect. He was anything someone could want. He was handsome, loving, caring, family-oriented, responsible, intelligent. His athletic ability was also something that was not to be mentioned. The mere fact that he continued swimming even though his fears of the ocean, was enough for Haru to fall for him, hard. But even though he was pretty sure Makoto knee everything about him, he definitely knew he didn't know a whole lot about Makoto.

That was the issue.

The fact that Makoto could even bond with Sousuke without him even knowing seemed so...

Surreal.

Like Haru was just missing out on something for a really long time. Something so blatantly obvious,

The bell rang, dismissing all of Haru's thoughts. He wasn't surprised to see Makoto in front of his desk, waiting patiently. He stood up without a word, walking outside the classroom. He heard a thud, and Makoto groaned, rubbing his forehead.

Haru was having none of it.

"Makoto!" He nearly yelled, grabbing the attention of some students.

"Haru? What's wrong?"

"I should be asking you that! You've been out of it all day! And now..."

"H-Haru! Calm down!"

"No...I can't. I couldn't even calm down from this morning. When he asked you out."

A round of gasps filled the hallway, and then Haru finally realized that they were still in front of their classroom. Makoto's face was now a bright red. Haru sighed and grabbed the other by his tie, dragging him down the hallway. Haru ignored the various stares and such that was being given to them.

"Sorry Makoto. But I known that you'd never forget to duck your head when stepping out of class. Something is going on, and I intend to find out."

"You're talking a lot more than usual, Haru-chan."

"Drop the '-chan' already."

Here is the first chapter, before you all start freaking out. I am completely aware of the fact that yes, they are quite out of character. I'm sorry, but I simply let myself get carried away because this story was so fun to start writing that I couldn't contain my excitement. I hope you all like it so far, and please remember that your support is always nice to receive.