Note: Makoto and Haruka (and any other sea person) appear like mermen creatures amongst each other while to normal humans they appear like the actual mammal/fish they are. If that makes sense.


Haruka continued swimming, unabated by his best friend's whines and pleas to return to the safety of the pod. They were older now, teenagers, and swam away from the group all the time, sometimes not meeting up again for a day or two. Haruka knew that wasn't the problem for his friend, the problem was where they were currently heading.

Haruka had a fascination with the ocean. He wanted to explore, he wanted to search out every crevice, every dark corner, every reef and gaze upon it. He wanted to swim the entire globe, to have danced in the waters of every ocean and sea. To feel the different currents swirl around his slim body. To have the flow of the ocean lead him through life.

Makoto wasn't like that. He preferred the familiarity of his pod and family and of Haruka. He preferred the wide open ocean close to the surface, where the sun could still permeate through its semi transparent edge. He preferred the safety and predictability of his matriarch's route, of his fellow orcas and of Haruka's hand in his own.

Still, Makoto cherished Haruka's presence and indulged him in his little adventures. However, what Haruka was asking of him now was too much for his timid heart.

"Haruka, please!" He continued, tugging him back with his trembling hands. He'd grown much bigger than the other, but he never liked using that to his advantage because it didn't seem quite fair. As such, the dolphin simply pulled away from the tug, edging deeper into the depths of the sea toward the mouth of a menacing cave.

"Just wait out here if you're so scared." He called with a huff and roll of his eyes. You have nothing to fear in the whole wide world, Makoto. You're a young adult killer whale. He couldn't help but snap in his own mind. He would never say that to his friend's face though. Still, if the slump in the others shoulders meant anything, it seemed he had read his mind. He'd forgotten the brunet could do that so easily.

Nevertheless, Haruka kept swimming into the dark cave until he could barely see in front of him. Makoto swam closely behind, clinging tightly to his arm and absolutely shaking. He buried his brunet head into the darker haired boy's shoulder, clenching his eyes shut as if that blind darkness was better than the identical black shade of reality.

Haruka's tail brushed across the rocky ground and he pulled back in shock, making Makoto let out a shrill scream at the sudden movement. "It's just the cave floor." The dolphin assured, "It seems to be getting shallower…"

"We're gonna beach ourselves and suffocate and die!" Makoto cried, the sound muffled by the others bare shoulder, "Let's go back, Haru please!" His grip on the smaller boy tightened but Haruka continued relentless, down the narrowing corridor until he was forced to stop.

"I think this is the end of the cave…" He murmured aloud, feeling around at the wall in front of him. He felt an empty space near the floor, finding a hole, slightly larger than himself. "Wait, there might be more…I don't know if you can fit." He continued, ducking down to inspect it more closely.

"Haru, wait! Don't go in there please!" Makoto begged, trying to hold the squirming mammal back.

"I'll go in for a second and come out. Trust me."

Makoto hesitated, letting out a loud pained sigh before releasing his grip on the other entirely. His hands in turn went to clutching each other. Without another word, the dolphin swam through the hole and out the other side. Makoto waited impatiently, hugging himself and pretending he was in open clear, waters rather than this dark, cramped cave. He heard Haruka gasp from the other side and immediately pressed himself against the wall.

"Haruka?!" He called with slight worry, knocking on the rocky surface. "Haruka are you ok?!"

"You need to come in here…" Was his only response, and he frowned at the vagueness of it. He ducked down to the hole. Pulling his upper body through only to have his tall dorsal fin impede any further progress. He whined, scrabbling in a valiant effort before giving up.

"I can't." He informed, moving his head about to search out the dolphin. It was lighter here, but still dark enough that one could only make out the slightest of outlines of forms. His best friend appeared before him, looking over his conundrum with critical blue eyes. Makoto let out a tired sigh as he lay on the cave floor while Haruka pulled at the weaker surface around the hole in an effort to make it somewhat bigger.

"You should stop eating so much, you're too big." Haruka huffed, chipping away at the hole slowly. Makoto watched with a soft smile, feeling less tense with the other near him.

"Maybe if you ate things other than mackerel you would get bigger." The brunet countered playfully. Haruka rolled his eyes and pushed Makoto back through the hole. The taller let out a shout of surprise, "Don't put me back in the dark!" He pleaded, moving to slip back through the whole and into the fellow cetacean's safe proximity.

"Help me open up the hole then." Was the dolphin's only response as he went back to his job. Makoto mumbled out a fine and went to work as well, in the dark and silence. His fingers trembled because he was still quite frightened; although, when they brushed against Haruka's own he felt reassured by his presence.

"What's so special about it anyway?" Makoto asked, the hole about big enough for him to fit. Haruka didn't respond, but instead offered a hand through the opening. Makoto took it, slipping completely through with only the edge of his fin scraping against the rock. Haruka continued his ascent upwards, breaking the surface and taking in a much needed breath of air. Makoto followed suit, shaking his brown hair and blinking his eyes open.

He let out a gasp.

Haruka felt a small smile tug at his lips.

It was a small cave with a small opening at the very top where the moon shone through, filling the space with its dim shining light. It gave the place an unearthly glow and made the water shimmer beautifully as it reflected the numerous stars above. Makoto looked around in awe before finally resting his eyes on Haruka's and smiling happily.

Haruka wasn't looking at him but could feel the warmth of the others gaze on his skin and it felt as if he was glowing rather than the water around him.

"This will be our secret." The dolphin murmured after a moment, swimming lazily about the pool. Makoto gave a silent nod, watching his best friend move gracefully through the still water. "How long are we staying in the area?"

"At least a few more days if not more." The brunet assured, joining the other in his slow circles. Haruka hummed in response and they let the silence hang comfortably between them and the stars.


"We need to mark the spot before we leave." Haruka insisted, swimming hurriedly over to their secret cave. Makoto swam quickly behind him, worrying his lip at leaving the pod just as they were about to begin moving to a new location. He'd been with his mother and siblings when Haruka had ushered him to follow, leaving them behind with a quick promise to return in the midst of the busy planning. Organizing the pod to move out after such a long stay in an area usually started quiet chaotically.

They reached the cave and Haruka began looking around for some sort of marker. Makoto fidgeted about, his green eyes darting around the area. "What about that large black rock?" He wondered, swimming over to said structure, tucked a little further down. The dolphin joined him, and the pair decided to try to lift it together, and maneuver their way back to the cave entrance. It was heavy but definitely do-able, especially with both pairs of arms and patient swimmi-

"Mako!"

Makoto froze, letting go of the rock and whirling around. Haruka gasped at the sudden full weight of the rock and was forced to drop the mineral, watching helplessly as it descended to the dark depths of the ocean floor, out of sight. There wasn't any time to dwell on the loss.

"Ran, Ren what are you two doing out here!" Makoto shouted, seeing his twin younger siblings swimming through wide, open, dangerous waters toward him. They were older now, but still much too young to be this far from the family. Makoto and Haruka were still relatively low and hidden in the darkness of the overhanging rock barrier where they had picked out the obsidian colored mineral. As such, Ran and Ren didn't immediately see them, and stopped in their swimming to look around for their older brother after hearing the sound of his voice.

Makoto let out a frustrated sigh and went to swim out to them when Haruka saw it and nudged his arm. He then saw it too, his entire form tensed and he quickly darted his eyes between it and his siblings. A terror coursed through his large body at the sight of it. Especially as it was continually creeping closer to his precious baby sister brother. Constantly coming closer. And closer. And closer.

Haruka could feel his best friend trembling beside him, his eyes glued to the scene but incapable of moving. So Haruka made a decision.

"I'll handle him. You get your brother and sister back to your mother." Haruka hissed out quickly, much to Makoto's surprise. And before he could even dare protest the plan, Haruka had darted out of their cover. Ran and Ren grinned at the sight of their friend and moved to swim after him. They soon gasped, however, when their dolphin friend collided with the shark they had not even seen. They shrieked, freezing up, as the predator pulled back in confusion before locking on to its aggressor.

Makoto grabbed a twin in each arm and hauled them away as quick as his powerful tail would take him. Snapped back to reality, the smaller orcas clung to him and watched over his shoulders at the fight they were being taken from. Makoto gritted his teeth, eyes peeled for any sign of the rest of his family. The pod had moved from whence he'd last left them. He was losing precious time.

"Both of you get to Mom right now! Tell her there's a shark in the perimeter and the family needs to move out now!" He ordered, as soon as his pod came into sight, and shoved the pair in their direction. The two calves seemed to hesitate a moment, but Makoto's angry face and loud, "Go!" quickly had them turning and diving for the safety of the pod. The orca watched them go for a moment before turning right around and rushing to his best friend, swimming faster than he'd ever swum before.

Haruka pulled away from the shark, slapping him with his tail and swimming backwards, mindful to go the opposite way from where Makoto had gone. The shark was faster though and lunged for the dolphin, pulling him back into his dangerous embrace. Haruka tried to push away and mistakenly placed his arm in a vulnerable position. He let out a loud scream as the shark bit into his flesh, hearing a sickening snap and seeing the blood gush out in front of him.

Using his tail he shoved himself off the other, trying to get some space between them. His arm hung uselessly beside him, continuing to spill the crimson liquid into the blue ocean. The redheaded shark before him's eyes seemed to shine at the sight and he licked his lips hungrily, flashing a number of sharp, red tinted teeth.

And in that moment, Haruka felt like the small helpless child watching his parents being torn apart. And he was scared, truly terrifyingly scared. He saw the shark about to spring back toward him and looked around helplessly before deciding to just swim up, right as the shark made his move. He was able to land a half smack on his rival's face with the end of his tail, but it only made the predator growl and grow angrier.

The redhead surged after him, persistent, and clearly very hungry. Haruka kept his eyes focused on the ocean's surface until he broke thought it. Springing out of the water and jumping into the air, before diving back down.

In the distance, a local fisherman shouted at his fellow workers to look over at the sight. They had just finished reeling in their catch for the day and were on their way back to the distant shoreline. Before them a dolphin continued jumping out of the water, diving back down and doing the occasional erratic flip. They found themselves in awe of the show, counting their blessings at being delighted with such a sight.

However, one soon realized that something was indeed a miss, "Hold on a second…" He mumbled, "I think the poor girl's hurt." He pointed at the half torn flipper, bleeding steadily into the water.

It was in that moment they noticed the shark chasing the injured creature from below the water. The assorted fishermen frowned, and watched on. It wasn't until they saw the shark come up and take another bite at the suffering mammal that they turned to one another, a growing sympathy shared in their hearts. "Should we…help the girl…?"

They started preparing the hoops and creating a space on deck.

Below surface Haruka clutched his bleeding, useless arm, twice bitten. Tears stung at his eyes but he continued his half hazard swimming and breaching in an effort to tire out the beast. It was to no avail, as the shark suddenly sped up and grabbed a hold of him.

Haruka struggled weakly, angrily glaring at the grinning face in front of him. He was dead. He knew it. But he refused to go down so easily so he never stopped his vain squirming. He was losing so much blood already. He stared at the sharp teeth about to graze his neck and-

But the pain never came as a powerful force shoved the shark right off him and had him spinning away. Haruka blinked his fading blue eyes to see Makoto staring at him with such concern, large powerful tail having just saved him from death.

"Haruka!" The brunet shouted, swimming closer and inspecting the weakening boy, "Haruka!" He repeated desperately. From afar the shark shook itself, gathering back his thoughts that had been knocked out of him. He didn't have a death wish. He was no match against an almost full grown killer whale, and he could tell his side would be bruised from that blow. Still, he hung back. There was no way the dolphin was living after that. He would just wait and hopefully scavenging something for his troubles.

Above the fisherman were shouting, "This poor girl's got a killer whale after her now!" One of them called, readying their catching hoop. He lowered it into the water expertly, putting it over the dolphin's head and starting to pull him up.

Makoto was still reeling from the sight of his best friend bleeding profusely, of his arm just hanging there and of the way his beautiful blue eyes seem clouded and distant. He stared at the foreign object, appearing around his dying friend from the heavens, in confusion before going to shove it off of him. Unfortunately, another fisherman took the blunt end of one of his other instruments and whacked the creature away. Makoto grunted, losing his grip on the dolphin as his vision danced for a moment. In that precious moment, Haruka, limp, was taken out of the water.

The orca immediately surfaced, watching as Haruka's form was placed on the boat and out of his sight. He rammed at the wooden structure angrily, banging on it, pounding on it, rocking it, anything. "HARUKA!" He shrieked, clawing at the boat desperately to no avail.

Two fishermen focused on keeping their injured charged wet and hydrated and secure. One started steering the boat and hitting the gas for the far off coast. The last watched the hungry orca slam into their ship and continue to chase them. "I'm sorry boy…" He muttered with a slight frown, "I know you're hungry but it's a dolphin..." He reasoned, before reaching down to one of their caught fish and throwing it over to him as a pity snack. With that he turned to help the pair tending to their new patient.

Makoto ignored the offering and followed the boat until it became a distant speck, unable to keep up with its motor. He was tired, the adrenaline had left him, and his tail throbbed from the powerful blow he'd delivered. He smacked the water angrily with a balled up fist, sinking down into the water in utter agony.

He'd lost him.

He clutched his face and curled up as he sank far into the ocean, not even caring how deep he got. He ended up on some jutted out rocky ledge and laid there for who knows how long. He'd lost him. He was gone. Gone to who knows where. He had failed to protect him.

Why the hell had he let him go after the shark? Regret consumed his mind in a poisonous black swirl as he relived the moment, replaying it in any other possible way. He was so stupid. He could have forced Haruka to take his twins back and dealt with the shark himself. He was a killer whale, the shark would have left him alone.

His stupidity, his cowardice had just cost him the most important companion in his life.

His whole body shuddered, and he realized he was out of breath. He swam back up and breached the surface, gasping. He wiped at his face and saw the stars above him. He'd been lying immobile for a long time. But that wasn't the thought he dwelled on. Instead, he saw Haruka's peaceful, blissful face in that wonderful cave, as the stars lit him up.

And it was all too much.

The orca let out a long, lonely mournful wail into the vastness of the sea before slowly slipping back down into its hollow depths, heading back the way he had come.


"Rin?" A young female shark looked up from her resting spot in the dark hidden cave. Another shark came into her view, and she smiled up at him. He didn't return the expression, but glided down toward her.

"I didn't get you a killer whale." Rin muttered, offering her the dead fish he'd seen the fishers throw. She blinked at the offering, taking it and snapping it easily in two, giving him the other half. He took it hesitantly. He'd rather her have the entire pathetically small meal.

"I didn't actually expect you to!" She assured, munching on her meal greedily. She made no comment on her brother's prey, simply happy to be eating something. She had no room to talk after all, not anymore at least.

"I almost did." He continued, watching her eyes light up at that, "I almost got you two in fact."

"Really, brother!?" She couldn't believe his words and gave him an incredulous look.

"There were these two young dumb ones, out in the opening, just waiting to be picked off." He explained, using his hands to set the scene. "But then-"

"Then their mom showed up?" She guessed, and he frowned at her interruption, waving her off.

"No, see the weird thing is this dolphin attacked me." He replied, making a motion with his one hand until it collided with his other one.

She blinked, "A dolphin?" The redhead nodded.

"And then I almost got you a dolphin to eat."

"I love dolphin meat!"

"Dont we all." Rin readily agreed, "And I had him too. He was basically dead, I'd bitten his arm almost off and the blood smelled delicious. But then this killer whale-"

"The young ones?" She offered, enraptured. Rin gritted his teeth, he just wanted to get though his story and shushed her.

"No, this other one from no where. He tail whipped me harder than you would believe! It was my kill, what a jerk." He huffed, rubbing at his still stinging side, "But nobody got him in the end, the humans hulled him up." He spat out, finishing his tale.

She frowned, eating up the rest of her small meal, "Humans ruin everything." She sighed out, sliding closer to her brother.

"That they do…" He agreed quietly, ghosting a finger over his sister's missing dorsal fin, the wound still fresh and healing. He felt his other hand tighten into an angry fist and clenched his sharp teeth together.

"I'll catch us some dolphin for sure tomorrow." He promised emptily, and the young girl hummed happily in response, closing her tired eyes. She didn't expect him to fulfill the deed, but was happy to support his words to assure him.

Rin looked up into the darkness of the water in front of their hiding spot, "Stupid humans…Stupid whales…Stupid dolphin." He muttered out with a grimace, sliding his fingers through his sisters long red hair as she slept pressed against him.

The world would be better without them.


And there's chapter two uwu

I'm planning on updating this fic every sunday! Hopefully college will be kind and allow me to stick with that plan.

hope you guys enjoy and review my lovelies