Chapter 2: First Impressions

Special shout out for Beta heartsns for proofing this story and TheUnitedWritersVXN for providing valuable advice!

Morning has arrived, signaling the start of a fresh new day for the little merman, who wasted no time leaving his nest to start his day off bright and cheery. But as he climbed the steep sloping shelf like he did every single day, he sensed something was off. It was too quiet.

Slowing his pace, Naruto approached the reefs with heightened awareness. Gamakichi and Gamatatsu were in the distance so that meant no sharks were nearby, but still, something was wrong. He could feel it. Lack of fish nearby was proof enough that he was right.

Something had to be scaring them off.

But what?

Heart thudded against his chest at a quickening tempo, Naruto anxiously approached a large jagged rock with as much stealth as he could muster, his large tail fins barely swaying in the current. No bubbles were made when he swam this time, no sound at all as he kept to the shadows. Whatever threat was in the area it wasn't going to notice him before he found it first.

Erring on the side of caution, the blond tucked his tail into a dark crevice of a large bolder. Careful not to shine any of his bright scales in the radiant sunlight as he scanned the area, knowing that they would be a dead giveaway to his location.

As far as he could see, there was nothing in the distance that stood out. Still, something had to be out there, Naruto was certain of it.

So Naruto waited.

And waited some more…

Time ticked on, a growing sense of unease knotted up his stomach the longer it went on without spotting anything alarming. Paranoia was quickly becoming a real possibility, then suddenly Naruto's tiny—barely visible—electrical sensors (located around his nose) picked up a large disturbance traveling through the water. Whatever it was wasn't moving fast, but it was moving. Approximately 15 tail lengths, to be exact, and coming from just behind the nearest reef wall.

Now that Naruto was focused on that point, he could actually hear the creature moving around in the water, and not just his rapid beating heart. Actually, the creature was quite…loud.

Like really loud.

No deadly predator would be making that much ruckus when hunting, or it wouldn't be eating for quite a while. No wonder all the fish were hiding. The thing was a menace. Naruto was actually embarrassed that he didn't hear it earlier.

With the immediate threat lessened, curiosity overtook fear and Naruto unraveled himself from the shelter of the rock to solve the mystery. Advancing towards the reef, the young merman made sure to swim low near the sandy bottom as to not give himself away so easily. The closer he got to the target the louder it became. A plethora of bubbles rose up to the top, deriving from the suspected area containing the boisterous animal. Far more bubbles than Naruto's ever seen outside of whales.

What the heck?

Whales don't go anywhere near reefs or shallows. Their large bodies needed huge amounts of open space to move freely in. Maybe it got stranded? Hurt or possibly lost? That happened on rare occasions and Naruto was always able to help get them back into deeper waters.

An urgent feeling of obligation to help the poor creature out washed away the sour aftertaste of fear in Naruto's mouth like the retreating tide. Naruto picked up the pace, yet remained careful to stay under the radar in case he was wrong. Never could he be too careful when swimming in an ocean teaming with predators.

Edging over the reef wall, the blond merman didn't see anything unusual that captured his gaze, at first. Upon closer inspection, the trail of the bubbles led to a pair of black fins peeking above a large colony of pillar and staghorn corals. Seconds later, the rest of the black, rubbery body bobbed up in Naruto's line of vision, revealing the mysterious creature.

Long and streamlined, with two large and separated flippers that reminded Naruto of a sea lion he'd met once before. However, there were a few major differences that didn't make any sense to him.

Like the animals face.

It was not round and snouted like that of any seal or sea lion he's seen before. Instead, its face was flat and hard looking. Covered in the same material-like substance Naruto often found when rummaging through human artifacts and trash. The creature also was blowing out an insane amount of bubbles at non-stop rate, like it was having difficulties breathing. That's what concerned Naruto the most.

Maybe the poor sea lion got something stuck on his face and couldn't get it off?

Animals getting entangled in garbage was a pretty common event around here.

But sea lions weren't.

In all his time spending prowling the coast, the merman's only ever encountered one before. And it wasn't a pleasant experience.

Fast, intelligent, and agile, sea lions were a potentially vicious predators and difficult to deal with. They could easily cause mass chaos to a fragile ecosystem like a coral reef without much effort on their part. Both sea lion and seal species were considered competition to a merman. There was no way Naruto was about to let some bully land-water beast take over his turf without a fight.

Although, the longer the blue-eyed merman watched the poor beast struggle in the water, the more unrealistic the threat of competition between him and the sea lion became.

Simply put, the handicapped fur seal posed no serious danger for a healthy adult merman in its debilitated form.

Naruto couldn't help but take pity on it as he observed the creature moving around in the water like a clumsy manatee. It moved way to slow to actually catch anything faster than a crab scuttling on the sandy bottom. And if the crippling face mask wasn't bad enough, there was another large object attached to its front flippers, like the sea lion was holding on to something or more trash was stuck to it. The sad animal was just hoveringly around a family of angel fish—likely starving but unable to hunt properly. It would eventually starve to death if that's the fastest it could go.

Naruto wanted to help the defenseless creature out but instinct was telling him to wait a little longer. The sea lion traveled all this way to get here, after all. So it couldn't be completely helpless. But the merman was pretty impressed that it made it this long. Traveling such a far distance from its home to the island must've been a daunting task. That's quite an epic voyage for a handicapped sea lion to make it out in one piece.

Then again, maybe that's why it was here. Maybe it was so dumb it got lost and drifted away from its pack, seeking shelter at the nearest island it could find. Maybe it survived on sheer luck alone.

Whatever the case, there was too many unanswered questions, too many unknown variables for Naruto to risk his safely on a misjudgment. So he decided to stay out of harm's way and watch how it played out. Anyways, it seemed to be doing well enough for now. Only if it appeared to need immediate intervention would he provide assistance. He wasn't a heartless monster that would ignore an innocent animal in need of help—even if that animal did have the potential of becoming a spear in his side. The merman had been around long enough to know not to act prematurely and corner a wounded sea lion no matter how harmless it looked. They were still large predators with sharp teeth and a nasty temperament when threatened, easily outweighing a merman's body weight by four to six times.

Naruto would know. Scarring at the base of his tail was the nasty souvenir he acquired from his last encounter with one. Damn thing thought he'd make a fun chew toy. Lesson learned the hard way that sea lions were packed full of dense muscle and were surprisingly agile and fast. Never again would he make that mistake—even if this one did appear particularly skinny and slow.

Naruto continued to spy on the animal until the sun lowered, the water turning dark and difficult to see through. Predictably, the sea lion decided to call it a day as well and returned back to shore where he slept at night, and Naruto went back to his ship wreck.

The blond was pleasantly surprised that a whole day had passed without even once thinking about his daily routines. Naruto couldn't remember that last time anything captured his attention like that for such a long period of time. What was even more surprising was that the culprit was a strange seal-type animal. Not another merman or even a dolphin.

Maybe it was a good thing the sea lion managed to make it to the island after all.

But Naruto knew that it couldn't stay here forever. The sea lion needed to go at some point, the sooner the better. But for the time being…he'd watch it from the distance. That had to be safe enough. In the very least it would make for great entertainment, the blond thought as he drifted off to sleep.

The following day the little merman woke up earlier than usual, anticipation and excitement rejuvenated his tired body. Eager to find out whether or not the defective sea lion made it through the night. For all Naruto knew, the land could've been teaming with more dangerous predators than the sea. Although, he found that highly doubtful. Or else the sea lion would've chosen the ocean to sleep in—no matter how stupid it was. Survival instinct always won in the end.

Dang it, why was he even thinking about the stupid sea lion so early in the day?

For some reason he couldn't get the creature out of his head. His first priority should've been to find food—since he skipped a whole day without eating, to busy stalking the new arrival. Defiantly not about checking the health status of the new island invader. He had no idea why he found it so interesting when there was nothing truly remarkable about the beast. Naruto had every right to be annoyed with the creature invading his turf, but for some reason he couldn't find it in him to hate it.

Chalk it up to loneliness, he supposed. Even so…it was still unusual for him to feel this way about any creature outside of his fellow merfolk. Gamakichi and Gamatatsu were the only other two that held a deep place in his heart. It was so messed up. One strange creature comes around and his whole life gets turned upside down...

After snatching up a quick breakfast of snapper, Naruto caught a second one for the half-starved sea lion. Placing the fresh fish onto the same rock that his new neighbor used to exit the sea with, he figured it wouldn't hurt to give the sea lion a hand; as long as it was out of his way, that is. It was possible it wouldn't use the same path twice but it was worth a shot.

Naruto's long tail whipped back and forth gracefully as he swam back to his observation rock. He flattened his body against the cool hard surface as he waited the arrival of his new and unsuspecting guest.

It didn't take long before the dolphin brothers interrupted his little peep show. They nudged his side playfully, apparently missing his company after skipping out on them yesterday. Playfully nudging them back, Naruto clicked no then gently pushed their long snouts away using both hands. He felt bad for ditching them once again, but he was too intrigued with the sea lion to go off and play with them today.

The brothers took the hint after a few more persistent jabs and left as quickly as they came, chasing after an unfortunate stingray passing by.

Naruto smirked, dolphins were really easy to please.

The merman didn't have to wait very long for the sea lion to reemerge back into the ocean. Entering in the same general area as the previous day. His tail flicked with excitement. Happy that it made it through the night, even with the hard mask still being on, making it difficult for the animal to breathe and eat.

But it was still alive. So that was good.

Naruto scrutinized its every movement, taking note that the beast was still as clumsy and awkward in the water as he remembered last. The sea lion remained oblivious to the merman's presence as it nonchalantly explored the reef while Naruto kept it safe by keeping sharp lookout for predators. Handicapped sea lions would make a tasty meal and easy prey for any hungry shark nearby. That's not the kind of attention Naruto needed around his reef.

TBC…

A/N: Hmmm...Naruto doesn't have a very high opinion of Sasuke now does he? Hehe

Sasuke's POV will be in this story too.

Hope you enjoyed it. Next chapter will be posted next week!