Sweet, first story! W00T! Anyway, this is, as I said, my first story so it may not be that awesome, but that's what reviews and flames are for, right?
Idea did sort of come from the little mermaid but it's much more different than any mermaid story I've read so far, hope you guys enjoy it!
Claimer: I do own one character and that's Ruin, Naruto's step mother, but that's about it
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or anything relating to Naruto.
On with the story!
The sun set into the deep blue abyss know as the Asmodeus (1) sea, drawing the sun and the royal ships, and living creatures into its bosom, never to return. As the sun sank slowly into the western horizon, a figure sat himself upon a lone rock that was settled between the horizon and the shore. This figure was of a boy, who's hair stole that color of the setting sun and eyes that swam with the swam color as the sea he was trapped within.
He stared longingly at the shore of a world he would only experience from a distance, for now, on this rock, on the border where no other of his kind could cross.
Oh, I forgot to mention, this boy with sunset hair and ocean deep eyes was a mermaid.
Well, a merboy because he was quite certain he was male compared to the female of his kind. There were more merpeople, under these waves. They live in the cool deepest part of the sea that still allowed the sun to reach their ocean floor. The city was made of coral rock, illuminated by sun in day and a sea volcano that fueled the city's small power source. The city glittered from the scales of fish that swam in the schools in and out, through the city. Sea grown gems, like pearls, lined the homes and streets of the city, tended by the merfolk who continue to live their lives underneath the foaming surface, away from the human's shore line. They stay hidden and mysterious in their shining kingdom in the deep blue abyss.
Bu this boy was more amazed by the human shore line than the entire sea kingdom's jeweled homes combined. The boy sat on the rock as the sun behind him exploded into flames as it descends slowly into the sea as the merboy watches the shore line, waiting for anything to happen before he has to return to his home. The boy soon perked up as he saw a ship sailing towards him from the human shore line. Sliding from the rock he was resting on, the merboy camouflaged himself in sea foam and the ship drew closer to him.
As the ship drew closer, the merboy lowered into the water more and more until only his ocean eyes and sun set hair were visible above the sea foam that surrounded the rock. The blue eyes followed the ship as it drew closer to his rock, the sails flapping in the night air softly, the deck lights flickered as the men aboard the vessel moved swiftly about it.
'Busy with whatever it is that humans are busy with aboard ships,' thought the boy.
Then a hand touched the boy's shoulder, startling the boy. Quickly catching the offensive hand within his own, the boy turned to see his friend Kiba, another merboy who had spiky brown hair that was framing his face, still damp and dripping with salt water. Two red triangles upon his cheeks signifying which clan he belonged to.
"Kiba!" exclaimed the blonde merboy, shoving the other boy, "You nearly caused me to jump out of my scales, what do you want?"
Kiba stroked his hand to allow the circulation to return to his scaly fingers as he barked out, "Don't act so surprised, you're always up here," Kiba explained, "And some of us at home are forced to come and get you," Kiba then faked a look of hurt, "you should have more respect for your friends, Naruto."
Said boy waved his friends comment off, "Yea, yea, I appreciate you all, now what's the real reason they sent you up here to find me?"
Kiba scratched the back of his head and said, "It's your orientation tonight."
Naruto's eyes got really big, his smiled disappeared.
"Holy shit!" stated Naruto as he dove past Kiba, swimming fiercely through the water towards home, "I can't believe I forgot! Iruka's going to kill me!"
As Naruto and Kiba split through the water, their mighty tails propelling them forward, a white light appears at the tip of their fin and begins to work it's way up.
What you are about to witness now is not unusual or truly magical, though, no doubt that mermaids are magnificently magical creatures. This is a simple transformation that happens at night to all merfolk.
The history behind the start of the merpeople begins stating that all merpeople were once humans. Though, there were those that did venture to the sea many times, wishing to live there. At the time, though, this idea was considered absurd and unimaginable. Those who wished to live in the sea then practiced an unheard of, not evil or black, per say, magic that would allow them to change their shape to accommodate to the sea's climates. They took what they needed and willingly left the human shores, never to be seen.
For awhile at least.
When the ancestors felt homesick for the human world, they would return to their two legged appearance at night and walk among the humans until the suns lights ran them back into the ocean. They lived beneath the ocean for centuries, building their city of coral, building their culture and population. Living as the humans did, only with more water.
Unfortunately, the humans soon forgot about the merpeople from only catching glimpses of them aboard ships or at night.
So Naruto and Kiba swam closer to the sea kingdom of Asmodeus's gates, their tails began to split apart to create two strong pair of legs. Though they did still cut through the water, a tail had the single powerful push that legs, no matter how strong, could not match.
Swimming through the glittering gates, the two boys swerved and curved in and through the brightly lit streets until they came to a stop at a tall, door thick with coral, which lead to the school and main arena. Kiba and Naruto pushed open the door, only to have something grab them but their ears, tugging them forward… hard.
"Where have you two been, my gracious, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you two wanted to skip put on this prestigious. Well too bad. This is a very important night…" ranted Naruto and Kiba's caretaker, Iruka. A mother of sorts who would scold you in a heart beat if he found that you had not cleaned your room, pulled a prank, not done your homework, or not eaten your steamed seaweed. Motherly things that, no matter how annoying, made Iruka loved by everyone.
But now, as he dragged his students to the main arena of the school, Naruto and Kiba were both thinking about pulling a nasty trick on the motherly merman.
"And another think, do you relies what and honor it is to have a noble family, any family for that matter, want to adopt you into their clan, Naruto," Explained Iruka, "you should be more grateful for such an…an…"
"Honor?" Naruto suggested.
"Yes, exactly! An honor!" Iruka continued to ramble on and on about honor and nobility. In this city, one couple could only have one child as to keep the population in check. When most families were unable to have a child, they adopted a child from the orphanage and had and 'orientation', a sort of ceremony to bring the child into the family's clan and depending on how noble the family was determined how grand the ceremony would be.
All families had a symbol or a marking to indicate whose family they lived in. It was also a sign of rank in society, whether you were a poor merfolk with no family to being in a noble family.
There are some exceptions, like if a family has twins, the council would no kill a child if it could not be helped that the child was born, which is why rape is a serious crime, punished by banishment or death. If a family lost their child in a tragedy then the family was allowed to have another.
Sometimes, for the sake of keeping a noble family living long and prospering, the council would allow on special occasions, the family to have two or more children, if that family was that noble and powerful.
That was the kind of family that Naruto would be joining tonight.
The Uzumaki clan was the noblest family to date, with family within the council and controlling it. The head of the family was Kyuubi Uzumaki, with his fire red hair what went well with the orange scales that covered his body, who's ancestors were the first to construct the city Asmodeus from the sea bed to a coral civilization. He and his wife, Ruin who had white hair, pale blue scales over her body and wore elegant dresses that every female in a noble family could afford.
The council was seated at the top center of the arena and on the ground there, centered within the arena, was the stage. Merpeople of every class all over Asmodeus filled the arena to watch the orientation, wishing that either they or their children could have been the lucky child to enter such a noble family. Everyone was dressed according to their clan; each clan had special fashions or colors to distinguish themselves from other families. Some of the more nobler families had elegantly designed outfits with fierce, bold colors adoring the material. The lower families had the simple, even home made clothes with moderate colors to the cheap, fading fabric. But no family complained, the sea world was peaceful with only its mild disagreements.
Near the stage were Kyuubi and his wife, dressed in red and navy blue silk like fabrics, the riches of colors in the city. Noble families sat closes to the stage as poorer families sat higher up, the entire arena roaring with commotion about the child who would soon join the Uzumaki clan. Soon, trumpets sounded and all came to a hush as the doors opened to reveal Iruka with a well dressed Naruto at his side, they both glided to the stage.
As Naruto passed some of the people, he heard them speak kindly or evilly of him and what he was about to accomplish. Naruto held his head high as he approached Kyuubi, who could possible kill him, and Ruin, who could get Kyuubi to kill him. Though Naruto did not falter as he stepped on to the stage, in front of the two nobles, Ruin gave him a reassuring smile and said, "Everything will be fine, Naruto," and the group turned toward the council. Naruto's smile was small but there.
The murmuring stopped as the council called everyone to attention, looking down to the noble couple, Naruto, and Iruka.
Then the head council women, a blonde, hazel eyed mermaid in her late fifties named Tsunade, stood and began the proceedings.
"People of Asmodeus, we gather here today to see a star being brought into this galaxy of this noble family, a noble family older than many of us her. This here child has a spark that this family needs to continue it's long legacy of keeping this city safe and prospering. Any of those who oppose to this may shut the hell up and not try any funny business while this ceremony is being held," for clarity, Tsunade cracked her knuckles, "Is that clear?"
When no one objected, Tsunade smiled and continued, "Now then, who here is giving this child to this family?"
"I, Iruka Umino, give this child to these noble parents," answered Iruka.
And who is excepting this child?" asked Tsunade to Kyuubi and Ruin.
Kyuubi's gruff voice rung out, "I, Kyuubi Uzumaki."
"And I, Ruin Uzumaki," continued Ruin after her husband, "Wish to take this child."
Tsunade then turned to Naruto, "And are you that child?"
"Yes," answered Naruto, "I, Naruto, wish to join this family."
"Do you," Tsunade continued, "Naruto, except the duties that come with being in this noble family?"
"Yes," Naruto answered. How could Naruto forget? They had a freakin' book on the terms and conditions of being an Uzumaki! Some scary stuff that Naruto shouldn't dwell on too long for he had to listen to the rest of the ceremony.
"And you, Kyuubi and Ruin Uzumaki," Tsunade said turning to the couple, "do you promise to abide by the child care laws set years ago?"
With out any hesitation Kyuubi barked out, "Of course, my grandparents were witnesses to those laws."
Ruin glared at her husband, "Just say yes, dear."
Kyuubi scratched the back of his neck, "Fine, yes."
The water was now full of anxiety.
"Now for the marking," Tsunade said as she sat to watch the noble couple mark Naruto into their family. Both parents' hand glowed, Kyuubi's a dark red and Ruin's a light blue as they both approached Naruto. Kyuubi gave Naruto the clan symbol, which he placed on Naruto's stomach. The symbol resembled that of a spiral sun with other smaller squiggles around it. The mark burned a little but Naruto keep his face straight as Kyuubi finished up. Then Ruin came forward and placed the actually family seal on Naruto's cheeks, three parallel lines on each cheek. After she was done, Ruin smiled at Naruto and held him close to her side, smiling motherly at Naruto, as the council members stood.
Tsunade spoke loud and clear for the entire arena to hear, "The marking is complete, Naruto Uzumaki, "Tsunade turned to Naruto, "You are now apart of this family, congratulations."
The entire Arena erupted in cheers, the council members applauded as the family hugged each other. Iruka stood to the side, smiling sadly at he thought of losing someone as close to a son as Naruto, but he was happy that Naruto would be going to a great family. The water around the group was very warm as the family pulled apart, all with their own smiles, Kyuubi with a satisfied smirk, Ruin with a small, loving smile, and Naruto with his wide smile filled with sunshine.
After the ceremony, Naruto, Kyuubi, Ruin, and Iruka joined the other noble families and their children, the children from the orphanage and Kiba where all there as well. There, Naruto met his sister, Sakura, a beautiful mermaid with pink hair and scales running down her arms that brought out her sea green eyes that matched her dress, and his brother, Gaara, a merboy the same his age Naruto with flaming red hair, the same green eyes as Sakura's, a slightly lighter green, with black circles around his eyes and a tattoo of 'love' on his forehead. It was a grand night full of music, food, fun, and meeting some families that scared the crap out of Naruto, and getting to know his new parents.
When the party was over, the moon was still high as the family made their way to their house. Oh, wait…. correction, mansion.
They swam up to the large doors of a sunken ship that served as their mansion that boarder that city and the rest of the sea. The ship has coral all over it's mass, multicolored rock towers sprouting from the ship, creating the rooms within the mansion. Gems lined the coral along the outside of the mansion giving it a glow when the sun hit it just right.
That night, after Naruto was shown to his room, he sat in his bed, waiting for something to happen, when he saw Sakura swimming up toward the surface, where the moon shone on her hair making it glow slightly.
Naruto swam through his window, slowly following Sakura, curious to where she might be going this time of night.
The water was dark and quiet.
Sakura swam a few yards ahead of Naruto, oblivious to the merboy behind her. Soon, they were at the border of their world and the human shore, but Sakura keep going, as did Naruto, though a little more cautiously. Naruto went to his rock and hid behind it, watching Sakura's shadow emerge from the water and walk down the shore line, toward the large human castle.
Naruto quickly dove back into the water and swam back home, to his room. When he did reach his window, he was tired. Lying on his bed, Naruto last thought about Sakura and her secret night outing on the human shore.
These night adventures continued the same as regular life, during the day Naruto and his friends would go to school, study, do homework, pull pranks on Iruka, get in trouble and serve detention. At home Naruto took magic lessons from Ruin, trying to increase his magical energy which Ruin was very proud of him for having. Every mermaid had magical energy, but it can always be expanded to do many amazing things. When ever Kyuubi came home, he would teach Naruto little bits about the history of Asmodeus, it's ancestry, and how to use magic to defend ones self.
At night, Naruto would follow Sakura on her journeys to the human world at ungodly hours of the night. Naruto noticed that she did not go out every night, some times she would go a whole week with out going, but when she did go, Naruto was right behind her. Naruto normally would wait till she started walking on the shore to turn back home, but every night Naruto would get bolder. Getting closer to the shore when Sakura was walking along it. Every night Naruto would get as close as to actually following Sakura on shore, until he would slip back into the water and swim home, curious about what Sakura was doing on the human shore.
Then, on night, another night where Naruto would follow Sakura to the human shore, the water was warmer and the air hot at night with the season change. Sakura walked on the shore like before and like before, Naruto followed her until they both reached the human castle that sat at the shore line a little ways away from where they entered from. It was only lit by the rays of the moon; Naruto was in awe at the site of the human building, caressing the buildings white sides, towering well above. Naruto stayed a few feet away from Sakura, hidden behind a rock protruding from the ground, as she approached the one lit window ten feet from the ground on that side of the castle, sat beneath it and began to sing.
It was a mysterious mermaid song that was sung as a sort of lullaby in the merpeople's native tongue that made Naruto start to feel very sleepy and tired. His eyes started to droop but then the singing stopped. When Naruto looked up, he saw that the light had gone off and Sakura was running past him, with a pleased smile on her face.
The curtains pulled back to show a young man, older than Naruto with black, messy hair that framed midnight eyes and pale skin that glowed in the moon light. To Naruto, he glowed all over.
There was silence until Naruto had to shift to get comfortable, but the movement caught the hawk's eye.
"I see you down there, pretending to hide behind that rock, come out now or I'll make you!" shouted the boy.
Naruto stiffened his body, unmoved, afraid of showing his face to the boy. Naruto hoped that the boy would return to his room and allow Naruto to sneak away into the night. Unfortunately, a hand came down upon Naruto's mop of blonde hair and pulled him form behind the rock to kneeling in front of the very pale and very pissed boy from the window.
'How did he get down here so fast?' thought Naruto, panicking at the anger radiating from this human.
They just stared at each other. Pained, curious blue eyes looking up to indifferent and pissed off midnight black ones. They boy tightened his grip on Naruto's strands, making said boy grunt in pain, as his glare narrowed at Naruto, "were you the one singing outside my window?"
Naruto hesitated, unsure how to answer the boy's question. A hard tug came to his hard after a moment of silence. "Well?" the boy asked.
Naruto's face became stiff as stone as he answered, "What if I am?"
The boy looked down at Naruto for a few minutes, looking at him hard; he released the blonde from his grip. Naruto stood up and rubbed the sore spot on top of his head, looking back to the boy only to find he still had to look up to those black eyes.
"What's your name?" the boy asked.
"Does it matter? I thought you would want nothing to do with the person that was interrupting your beauty sleep," Naruto retorted.
The boys glared didn't falter nor did it intensify, "What do I call you, dobe?"
Naruto's eyes twitched in annoyance, "Naruto."
"Naruto…" the boy said as if tasting the word on his tongue, "You may call me Sasuke."
"Pleasure, now if you'll excuse me, I need to be getting home," Naruto started to turn around until his arm was pulled back, he glared at Sasuke, "What?"
"You've been trespassing on my property for months now, a crime here, if you must know," Sasuke's eyes gleamed wickedly; a smirk appeared on his lips, "Do you know what happens to criminals who are caught?"
Naruto looked to have thought for a moment then answered, "You let them soak in the sea until they are swept away by waves or eaten alive by fish?" Hoping that Sasuke would fall for his trick.
Sasuke's smirk widened, "That's charity," Sasuke pulled Naruto closer to him, midnight eyes bore into ocean blue ones, Naruto's entire body stiffened, "You will work for me as my servant for the rest of your life."
Naruto was scared at first, thinking that he would never see his family again or Kiba, until he died and became one with the sea foam. Then Naruto realized once this human saw Naruto in sun light, the human would throw him out anyway. Naruto would return home to angry parents who would want to know where Naruto had been. Naruto, quickly, started thinking of an excuse.
Sasuke tugged at Naruto, leading him to the castle. The moon was very close to dipping into the western horizon, behind the castle, as if the moon itself were bowing to the majestic building. Naruto looked to the east and willed the sun to rise faster so that this human would let him free, back to his home under the sea.
Sasuke pulled Naruto threw a small door at the back of the castle, 'A servant's entrance,' thought Naruto as he was lead through what he assumed to be a kitchen then through more doors to a large room with high ceilings that connected to the gold walls that rooted the marble floor beneath them.
Vases full of flowers were on stools all around the room, red carpet leading from the large doors to a grand, wide stair case that Sasuke lead Naruto up, turned to the left and lead up more stairs into a dark hallway that both boys walked in silence. Framed pictures hanging on the walls around them, following them with piercing gazes upon them. The scariest parts about the paintings were that they all looked the same, black hair, midnight piercing eyes. It made Naruto wish he were back home.
Soon, after forever and a day, the boys reached a lone door at he end of the hallway. Sasuke opened the door to reveal a room with very little furnishings other than a large bed, a night stand with a candle on it and a dresser. Sasuke shoved Naruto into what was apparently Sasuke's room as said boy closed the door until he heard a 'click' and turned to face his guest.
Naruto did not look about the room, but walked to he window and watched as the night sky started to show small signs of the suns arrival but not enough to change his legs into a tail. Naruto felt Sasuke's eyes on him and turned to face the prick.
"You will stay in this room unless I send you for something or you have to accompany me somewhere," Sasuke explained to his captive, "today is your only free day I'll give you for tomorrow you will officially will be my personal servant."
Naruto huffed and turned away from Sasuke muttering under his breath a "We'll see about that" and turned back to gazing out the window to see the sun shyly peeking over the horizon. Naruto turned to see Sasuke return to his bed.
"Sasuke, was it?" Naruto as hesitantly.
A muffle came from the bed, "You'll be changing that to 'master' soon, but yes, what is it?"
"I would like to… erm- wash up for you," Naruto said, unsure how to phrase it, "where's your… um…..water room?"
Sasuke sat up and looked at Naruto curiously, but reluctantly pointed to a door inside the room they were in, "Over there and don't even think of escaping. I'll be in this room and there are no windows in that wash room," Sasuke laid back down and said, "Have fun," and went to sleep.
Naruto sighed as he walked to the 'was room' and closed the door behind him. Once Naruto entered the room, he noticed that Sasuke had lied about there being no window. There was one but it wouldn't fit Naruto, but he could defiantly see outside and saw the sky lighten up, the approach of the dawn was soon at hand. Naruto turned to see that a steaming bath had already been prepared, possibly for Sasuke. Naruto took the liberty of removing what little cloth he had on and sat himself in the water, feeling a little at home.
Soon the sun was in the sky, shinning bright on the sea and into the little window of the wash room that Naruto was occupying. As Naruto starts to relax into the water, his waist starts to glow blue and spirals down his leg, binding them together in a scaly orange, green-ish tail that lay on the lid of the tub. The water was very relaxing that Naruto found himself falling asleep, dreaming about his family that, hopefully, was worried about him.
Sasuke woke a few hours later to sun in his eyes and an empty room. Sasuke looked about the room, pretty sure that he had a new blonde servant in his room or maybe he had been dreaming.
'Yeah, probably a dream,' thought Sasuke, 'but I would have been very happy to have a cute little blonde play thing.'
Sasuke smirked at the thought as he removed himself from his comfy bed and walked toward his wash room where he knew a bath would be waiting for him. Sasuke reached for the handle for the door but paused. He sort of remembered the servant boy from his dream saying he need the wash room and never came out. But Sasuke shrugged and entered the washroom, ready for a bath.
What Sasuke wasn't ready for was to see his guest, asleep in the tub where his bath was suppose to be. Sasuke was so in raged that he did not notice the tail that was also peering from out of the tub until he had awoken Naruto and the tail moved.
Then Sasuke just stared at it blankly.
Naruto watched, dazed from sleep, Sasuke stare at his lower body and felt a little self conscious about the silence that flooded the wash room. Then there was a knock on the bedroom door, causing both boys to jump and stiffen up.
"Y-your Highness, a-are you d-de-descent?" asked the voice from outside the door.
Sasuke turned to leave the room but Naruto reached from out of the tub and stopped Sasuke and glared into those midnight eyes, as if saying 'don't say anything or I'll kill you.'
Sasuke pushed Naruto's hand off him and walked out the room. The merboy leaned out of the tub, trying to hear what was being said outside. As Sasuke walked to the door, he removes his sleeping shirt to where he as only wearing his breeches and opened the door to find one of his family's servants there. Sasuke watched in mild amusement and a sexy smirk on his face as the servant's eyes widened to see his bare torso.
"Oh, I-I-I'm so s-sorry, I'll l-leave," said the maid with a bow.
Sasuke smirked widened as he leaned against the door frame, closer to the maid and crossed his arms over his chest, "It's fine, what did you come here for?" Sasuke raised an elegant eyebrow at the stuttering maid.
"P-plea-please sire, if I'm n-not needed-"
"Oh, but you are," said Sasuke, cutting the maid off and pulled her into his room, closing the door behind them.
"I've been awfully lonely, maybe you can help me with that?" said Sasuke smoothly, pulling the maid closer to his bed.
Naruto was listening to this conversation, feeling forgotten in the wash room. He listen to more of the maids stuttering until the door opened, closed and all was silent. Sasuke reappeared at the wash room door and continued to stare. Naruto flicked his tail about until Sasuke came around to hold where Naruto's toes would be. Naruto stifled a laugh as the other boy ran his hand over the tip of Naruto's tail slowly, concentrating on the smooth, slightly slimy appendage closely. Then Sasuke became bolder, tracing his fingers along Naruto's shins, knees, brushing his thighs until Naruto smacked his hand away, staring straight into glaring midnight eyes.
"Sorry, Your Highness," apologized Naruto, sarcasm dripping from his teeth, "but no hands past that point, and yes this is the real deal," and Naruto gave a flick of his tail to put emphases on his point.
Sasuke looked straight through blue eyes, then back at the tail beneath him and stood up.
"I do doubt that this is my own imagination, but it does pose a problem," stated Sasuke.
"And what problem would that be?" questioned Naruto hoping that this would mean that Sasuke would release him.
"It just means that you'll have to stay in the tub for now," said Sasuke simply and turned to leave.
"Wait!" yelled Naruto hoisting himself to sit on the lid of the tub, glaring at Sasuke, "You can't leave me in here to die!"
Sasuke turned his face to smirk at Naruto, "Oh I'll find something for you to do, that is," Sasuke then raised and eyebrow, "until I tire of you," and then the wash room door was closed, leaving only an angered Naruto inside.
To be continued...
-WMDYW loves you all! .
1. Asmodeus-The name for the seven deathly sin, Lust.