Chapter Two

Chūya opened his eyes and knew he had slept somewhere different than the water. He felt weird, different in some way. He blinked as he stared up at the ceiling and remembered that the dumb human had taken him out of the tank and wanted to see if he would turn into a human. He didn't feel any different, not really. He sat up and realized that his body was covered, and the human had gone to sleep in the chair beside the bed. He looked around the room and found it to be a plain room with only a few items in it. He could see the door to the bathroom and the door outside. He wondered if it had worked?

He lifted the blanket and stared in shock. He made some sort of noise that was between a squeal and a yelp. It surprised the human, he thought his name was Dazai or something, and he nearly fell off the chair he was sitting in.

"What?" Dazai said as he stared at him.

"I…it worked!" he exclaimed and threw off the blanket to reveal a human appearing lower body. His legs were covered in tiny translucent scales, but they were legs. He wiggled the feet and saw the toes were webbed much like his hands.

"Well, um, here, you need to put this on," Dazai said and shoved clothing at him.

Chūya had no idea what to do with clothes, and he had no idea how to even walk on these appendages. He'd never had legs before, after all. He glared at the human.

"I can't put this on; I don't fucking know how!" he snapped.

Dazai sighed and came over and helped him maneuver his upper body into the white shirt. He then moved his legs to the side of the bed and showed him how to put his feet into the pants and had him stand up. He almost fell back down as soon as he stood, but he managed to hold onto Dazai and keep himself upright.

"Stupid mackerel human," he growled as he tried to balance. It was harder than he imagined.

Dazai got the pants up and tied at the waist. He sighed and Chūya looked down to see they covered his feet because it was too long.

"You're petite, just like I thought," Dazai said with a grin. "See how short you are?"

Chūya looked up at him and was annoyed because he was indeed quite a bit shorter than him. He hated the fact that he'd been right. He snorted and crossed his arms as he sat down hard on the bed. He panted a little from the effort standing had been on him.

Dazai stood back and put his hands on his hips. "Is walking going to be too hard for you?"

He snarled at him. "Of course not, I can handle doing anything a human does!" he pushed himself to stand up again, this time without grabbing onto the infernal human.

It took nearly two hours, but Chūya finally got somewhat able to walk on his newly acquired feet. Dazai had to roll up the legs of the pants for him, though, because he kept tripping on them at first. He felt accomplished when he could walk around the room without falling the first time. He could do this! He found Dazai was smiling at him and he felt a rush of heat to his cheeks. He then sat back down on the bed, completely exhausted after such a short time.

"This is good!" Dazai said as he sat down beside him. He grabbed Chūya's hand and smiled at him again. "Now we can try to get you to our ship and away from these people who were trying to experiment on you."

Chūya felt that same heat flush to his cheeks as they sat there. He nearly jumped when there was a knock on the door. Dazai got up and opened it. Chūya could see that it was the blond-haired man from the night before that had come up with the idea of letting him dry off to get legs.

"It worked!" Dazai exclaimed. "They're not perfectly human at all, covered in scales like his tail was, but he's figured out how to walk on them pretty quickly."

Kunikida adjusted his glasses and nodded. "Good, because the Navy is looking for him. Well, they aren't specifically looking for a mermaid, what they're looking for is 'lost property' that was 'stolen from a government warehouse' last night. I would guess that property is him."

"Hmm," Dazai said as he looked down at Chūya. "Well, as long as someone hasn't worked with him directly, they shouldn't recognize him. We need to get him to the Ada."

"Not a good idea to leave this room right now. The place is crawling with naval folks looking for anyone that looks suspicious. He still has gills, and his ears are definitely not human," Kunikida observed as he folded his arms over his chest.

Chūya reached up and touched his ears where they frilled at the edges. He frowned and wondered what he was going to do. Then something suddenly dawned on him.

"Wait, if you knew about me changing to have human legs, that means somewhere there has been another mermaid like me," he said and looked up between the two tall humans.

Kunikida nodded. "So, it would seem that there has been another mermaid, or well, really merman, since you're a male." Kunikida stopped and looked to Dazai. "He is male, right?"

"Um, yeah, definitely male," Dazai commented, looking at Chūya pointedly.

Chūya growled under his breath and crossed his arms angrily. "Stupid damn humans," he muttered. "I don't wanna be in a big thing of water for others to look at. I just wanna be left alone."

"Well, I'm sure that we'll figure out something. For now, we'll just wait here. We might have to go to the ship at night. Should we tell the captain?" Dazai asked as he stared at Chūya again.

Feeling somewhat exhausted, Chūya laid back down on the bed. "I need to sleep again, I'm tired," he said as he looked over at the two of them.

Kunikida nodded. "You stay here with him, I'll go talk to the captain and see what he wants to do. Behave and stay here," he said and glared at Dazai.

"Ah, why would I do anything like leave him alone?" Dazai asked, looking abashed at the thought.

"You aren't the most reliable person on the ship," Kunikida mumbled and turned to leave.

Chūya was going to tell him something but he was too tired. He felt his eyes close and he fell into a deep sleep again. Beside him, Dazai sat down and watched with a confused expression.

He was not sure what it was that he was feeling, and he had no idea why he was feeling whatever it was. For the first time in a while, he hadn't thought of diving beneath the waves and never coming up again. He hadn't wondered what it would be like to stop existing. It was a strange influence that this strange creature had on him, and he wondered what it meant. Emotions weren't the things he understood the best, and he most certainly wasn't a sentimental man. He yawned, though, growing weary himself. He settled back into the chair and let sleep claim him once again

The sea hadn't been rough that day when he set out. In fact, the ship he was on was quite nice and the weather perfect for sailing. He was coming from somewhere else, moving with his family to Yokohama. He didn't remember them very well anymore, though. He remembered the storm rolling in suddenly and surprising the men on their ship. He was ushered below deck and told to stay down there and hopefully he would be safe.

He wasn't safe, though. The storm crashed and bashed the ship until it was nothing but a wreckage on the floor of the sea. He sighed as he swam to keep himself above water. What was the point? What was he existing for anyway? He let himself slip below the water, thinking that he would drown in the sea that he had dreamed of as a child.

Then, he was being pulled toward the light, toward the surface of the ocean and pushed onto a board that was large enough to hold him up. He coughed and spit water and wondered just what had happened as he looked around. He swore he saw something moving, but it could have just been the storm moving the water. He was tired, though, and fell asleep on the makeshift raft.

When he woke, it was a clear, bright morning. He sat on the raft and looked around at the still water. There were other floating pieces of the boat and some of the contents. He realized that on his raft, there was a small collection of random objects. He picked through them, finding silverware, a barnacled encrusted compass, a rusted piece of metal, and most importantly, one of the small skins of water that had been stored on the ship. He resisted the urge to open and drink it. He had no idea how long he'd be stuck out to sea, and he wasn't going to waste the water he had. But where had these objects come from?

That night, he found himself falling into another dreamless sleep. He swore as he was going to sleep that he saw something coming toward him in the water. He dozed off before he could see more. He had a dream at some point that he was moving in the water. He woke with a start as the sun rose again. Once more, there were strange items added to the pile of things that had been there before. Now, there was a pocket watch and a belt buckle in the shape of a bird. He picked up the things and wondered how in the world they were getting on the raft with him. Someone or something had to be putting them on there, it was the only explanation.

For another two nights, the same thing was repeated. He was at the end of his water reserve by that time and had given up hope of a painless death. Honestly, he didn't want to drown because he knew you could think up until the very end, and the lungs filling with water was painful. Still, the sun beating down on him as he floated had started to burn his skin and he wasn't sure how much longer he could last.

That was when the ship spotted him. He remembered seeing something out in the water, something blue or green, and at first, he was tempted to swim toward it. He swore it was some sort of creature. Instead, he swam toward the ship that had found him. They threw him a life saver to pull him up onto their ship. He found out they were called the Port Mafia, and their leader was a man named Mori. Captain Mori took him under his wing, then, at the age of fourteen. He would then spend the next four years on that ship until the events that made him leave occurred. He didn't want to think of that, as he came to wakefulness in the dim light of the afternoon.

Could it be that this was the same creature? He looked at Chūya and wondered. That had been eight years ago. Had this been what saved him from a watery grave? Had this been why he survived?

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Kunikida wasn't sure exactly what he was going to say to the captain, but he knew he would most likely listen to him at least. He had to see what he thought of their current predicament. He sighed and made his way past a group of Naval officials asking questions of one of the fish merchants. He tried not to look interested in what they were saying, but he caught a snippet of the conversation.

"…you see anyone that doesn't belong here?" the naval officer was asking.

"No, sir, I haven't seen anything like that," the merchant responded.

"No new people you've never seen?"

"Well, I can't say that, we have ships pull in all the time, so there's always someone I don't know walking about…"

Kunikida lost the conversation but knew this was going to be a problem for them. Getting the merman from Dazai's room to the ship was going to be trouble. He arrived at the Ada and headed up the gangplank to see if the captain had any ideas for what they should do with their Piscean friend. He saw that Kenji had already come back and was cleaning the deck. He looked toward the captain's quarters and went to knock on the door.

"Enter," came the response.

Captain Fukuzawa sat behind his desk looking over some charts of the sea. He wore a green kusodo style shirt in green. He looked up with his eyes lighting on Kunikida's face. He brushed his pale hair over his ear.

"Do you have something for me?" he asked.

"Yes, sir. I have a problem. It involves Dazai…" Kunikida began.

The captain arched a brow and looked at him pointedly. "What kind of problem?"

"Well, it seems that he came into possession of a merman last night…" he started and saw the look he was getting from the captain. "I know. He says he accidentally broke into a warehouse where he was being kept and experimented on by the government. I went by and suggested trying to dry him off and see if he would transform to have legs like I've heard before, and he did."

The captain nodded and Kunikida shifted. "The problem is that the government is looking for him, and to get him back out to sea on the ship, we have to get him from Dazai's room to here without arousing suspicion."

"That is a problem. How close to human does he look?" he asked.

"That's the problem, he still looks the same from the waist up, including the gills on the sides of his neck and his ears don't look human at all. He managed to learn how to walk somewhat but it wasn't something natural to him. I'm not sure how to get him from there to here." Kunikida wasn't sure what the captain thought about the situation because his face was set in a neutral expression like always.

"I don't fear the government officials. No doubt if it came out that they were experimenting on a living creature, they'd lose face in the public eye. I suggest finding a couple of the crew and walking him among a larger group. Perhaps the Atsushi boy and Tanizaki. I would, however, wait until the officials are not looking as intently as they currently are."

Kunikida bowed a little. "Of course," he said. "I'll tell Dazai."

He excused himself and exited the chamber to see that Atsushi had returned to the ship after all. He nodded to himself and approached him. "Hey, brat," he said as he approached him.

"Yes, sir?" he stammered out.

"I have a mission for you. I want you to go to room 7 at the Agency Inn and tell Dazai that we have a plan, but he needs to stay put for a day or so. He'll explain when you get there. You're going to help us save a life," Kunikida said with a grin.

Atsushi just stared at him a minute then nodded and took off to the gangplank to do what he had been asked. Kunikida would find Tanizaki and see about getting him recruited into the plan for walking the creature from the Inn to the Ada.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Dazai woke to someone knocking on the door. He groaned and stood up, going to the door to find it was Atsushi. He guessed he had come back to the boat after all.

"Dazai sir," he said nervously. "Kunikida said to come and tell you to stay put for a day or so. Something like that."

He sighed. Staying put wasn't what he wanted to do, but he would do it for now. "He did, did he?"

Atsushi looked beyond him into the room, no doubt seeing another figure on the bed. "He said you would explain?"

Dazai sighed and motioned Atsushi into the room. "Come in, then. I'll have you meet Chūya."

"Chūya?" Atsushi said as he looked to the sleeping form.

"He's a mermaid. Well, merman I guess is more accurate, but he's got human legs now that he's dried off. We're going to take him on the Ada and help him escape the government that had caught him and was experimenting on him," Dazai explained as Atsushi leaned over the bed and stared at Chūya's very obviously inhuman form.

"As you can see, we have to be careful when we move him because he doesn't look quite human," Dazai pointed out.

Chūya picked that moment to open his eyes and stare up at Atsushi. He sat up and pulled himself to the head of the bed, backpedaling immediately.

"Easy, he's a friend from my ship," Dazai said as he moved over and put a hand on his arm.

"More humans?" Chūya growled and glared at Atsushi. Dazai smiled and patted his arm.

"You'll have to get used to a few of them," he told him as he sat down beside him on the bed. "This is Atsushi."

"Yes, hello," Atsushi stammered out as he stood there watching him.

Chūya snorted and crossed his arms. "Whatever, stupid humans."

"Atsushi, you can go back to the ship and tell Kunikida that I'll wait here for his instructions for what we're going to do," Dazai said and waved at him dismissively.

With a slight bow, Atsushi quickly exited the room to do what he'd been asked. Dazai looked at Chūya again and put a hand back on his arm. Chūya looked at him with wide eyes. Dazai thought he could get lost in those eyes if he wasn't careful. He didn't understand it at all but he had the strangest urge to just hold him in his arms. Perhaps it was knowing that no one had ever held him gently before, but there was something about him that set fire to his mind.

"Well, you humans have to eat, too," Chūya said after a moment. "I need to eat something."

Dazai blinked. Of course, he realized that his own stomach was telling him that they had missed breakfast and lunch with their walking practice. "I'll go out and get something for us. What do you eat?"

Chūya shook his head. "I can eat anything humans eat, I think."

"Alright, I'll go get something for us. What do you usually eat?" Dazai asked, curious now.

"Sea weed, fish, that sort of thing," Chūya said with a shrug.

"Ah, well, we might have to change your palate to something more…palatable." Dazai smiled and headed out the door to find some dinner for both of them.

He returned a little while later to find Chūya walking around the room again on his legs. He smiled to himself as he shut and locked the door behind him, holding two containers of food. "I brought crab," he said proudly as he sat the container on the bed.

"Crab? Okay," Chūya said and came to sit down on the bed. He grabbed the container and looked over the dish. It was crab in a bed of rice with vegetables. "This looks different," he muttered but picked up a piece with his fingers and ate it. He looked at Dazai with a wide-eyed stare.

"Do you like it? Here, here's a fork. I have a couple," Dazai said and handed over the utensil to him.

Chūya stared at it, then watched Dazai for a minute eating. Then he mimicked eating with the fork like Dazai was, carefully spearing the food and eating off of it. Dazai couldn't help but grin at the way he was learning how to do things. After a few failed attempt at picking up the rice, Dazai leaned over and showed him how to scoop it onto the fork and fed him a bite. Chūya looked surprised but took it, then figured out how to do it on his own. He finished his food and watched as Chūya did the same. He saw that Chūya was looking at the door in a wistful manner as he sat on the bed.

"What is it?" Dazai asked after he'd put away the empty containers and the two forks. He might have stolen them from the eatery he'd stopped at to buy their dinner. He figured they'd never miss a couple forks.

Chūya sighed. "I just want to be free to go outside when I want to," he said and turned back to Dazai. "I'm still trapped, though in a different way."

Dazai moved over and sat beside Chūya on the bed. He reached up and ran his hand down the outside of his arm where there were bruises still. "I hope that being trapped with me is far preferable than being trapped where you were."

He had no idea why he was doing it, but he wanted to take things so much further than they had gone so far. It was a driving need to possess this creature for himself, he supposed. He understood now that he must have been the one to save him from drowning when he was fourteen years old. But he couldn't be sure of that with all the memories being as muddled from that time as they were. Still, something about him drew him like a siren draws sailors to their doom. He wondered if it was his doom that he was courting when he did this, and came to the conclusion, he didn't care in the least.

Chūya's face reddened and he leaned away a little. "Um, well yes, it is better," he said finally, turning and looking away from Dazai. Dazai could see his breathing had sped up and he smirked. Perhaps this would be easier than he thought.

"You are very lovely, you know," Dazai murmured as his hand slipped across his back.

Chūya turned toward him and looked up with his gray eyes sparkling in the dim light. "Oh…" he breathed as Dazai leaned closer to him. He didn't lean away though, as Dazai touched his face softly. "Yeah, you seem to be interested in this. Shall I continue?" Dazai whispered, close to his ear now.

"Uh huh," was all Chūya could say as he stared at Dazai with wide eyes.

Dazai leaned up and pressed his lips to Chūya's. They were dry and soft as he flicked his tongue out to gently caress the seam of his lips. Chūya's mouth parted and Dazai took the initiative to slip his tongue against him. He tasted of the crab they'd just eaten, but it didn't bother Dazai. He moved both hands to Chūya's face, gently cradling it as he explored his mouth slowly, languidly. After a few minutes, Dazai pulled back and saw Chūya's face was flushed red and he was panting slightly. He smiled at him, caressing the side of his face with a gentle hand.

"You've never done this," Dazai observed as Chūya looked at him.

"Of course not, stupid Mackerel," he snapped, crossing his arms angrily. "When would I have done anything like this, especially with a dumb human?"

Dazai smirked, using his fingers to turn him to face him once again before he leaned in and kissed him again. This time, Chūya responded, pushing back against his tongue and taking his own time to explore Dazai's mouth. He leaned in, bringing his body closer to Dazai's, almost hungrily devouring him. Dazai let him continue until need for breath forced him to pull away. He slid one hand down Chūya's back and into the back of the loose pants he wore and squeezed him slightly.

"Ah, I don't know how I'm feeling," Chūya panted, squirming as Dazai's hand rested on him.

"Feeling good, I hope," Dazai breathed as he leaned in and began to lick at the gills that were on the side of his neck.

"Ooh," Chūya gasped out as Dazai kissed and sucked along his neck, finding that obviously his gills were sensitive.

Dazai grabbed him suddenly at the hips and spun him into straddling his lap. Chūya seemed a little shocked that he could be moved so easily, but Dazai had carried him already. He felt Chūya's hands start to explore his stomach and chest under his shirt. He reached down and pulled Chūya's shirt up and over his head. Chūya gasped as the white shirt came off and his fingers went to the buttons on Dazai's shirt, fumbling with them.

"Here," Dazai breathed and quickly unbuttoned the white shirt he wore and slipped it off his shoulders. Underneath, his arms were wrapped in bandages and around his neck to under his arms. They were still tightly wrapped and secure.

Chūya ran fingers over the white bandages that were wrapped around his neck and arms. He stroked his fingers under the edges against his already warm skin. Dazai slid both hands around and cradled Chūya against him and could feel that he was indeed as into the moment as he himself was. He smirked and slipped a hand down the front of him. Chūya gasped and looked down at what he was doing.

"Have you ever done anything like this?" Dazai asked as he stroked him a few times.

"Nuh uh," he said as he writhed against Dazai's hand. "It feels different but good…" he moaned out.

"Hmm, then we have to keep going, don't we?" Dazai said as he slid his hand out of the pants and untied them before he slid them down off his hips. "Stand up," he instructed and Chūya did as he told him, the pants slipping down to the floor. Dazai smirked and reached for him again, stroking him as Chūya watched, seemingly entranced by what his own body was doing. It was obviously the first time he'd experienced this sort of thing, and for some reason that excited Dazai even more. He smirked at him and gripped him by the hips again and steered him to sit back down on the bed.

Dazai slid up between Chūya's legs, pushing the apart as he moved. Chūya just watched him, eyes wide and breath bated. Dazai crawled up and put his hands to either side of Chūya's head as he dove down to engage him in another kiss. He took one hand and began to stroke him slowly as he continued to kiss him soundly. He broke the kiss and found his hand to be covered in the slippery liquid. He slipped his hand down to press gently at Chūya's entrance. He gasped and sat up a little.

"What are you doing?" he asked with wide eyes.

"Something you'll like, just give it a minute," Dazai said with a deep exhale as he slipped a finger into him.

Chūya frowned but didn't move. "It feels weird…"

"Shh, just give me a minute to make it feel really good," Dazai promised, sliding a second finger into him and twisting his hand to reach what he was looking for… There, he thought as he felt the spongy spot and began to stroke his fingers over it until Chūya was writhing back on his hand and insensible.

"Fuck!" Chūya exclaimed as he grabbed his own hair and began to tense up.

"Oh, don't get too far ahead," Dazai muttered and pulled his fingers away, leaving Chūya panting and glaring at him.

"Wh-why'd ya stop?" he said, and his frustration was obvious.

"Because I want us both to feel good, with something even better," Dazai said as he loosened his own pants, pulling himself free and stroking himself as he stared at the writhing body below him.

Dazai positioned himself and began to press forward into him slowly. Chūya gasped and started to tense his body again. "Hush, relax," Dazai whispered, stroking his flagging erection back to full again.

"It…it kind of hurts…" Chūya whined, but only grabbed onto Dazai's arms.

"Give it a minute," Dazai whispered and slid forward again, stroking him as he moved. Chūya arched up for a second and Dazai knew he'd brushed against his sweet spot.

"I don't know if I can do this," Chūya gasped as his legs flexed around Dazai's. "I feel strange…"

Dazai smirked as he slid back and thrust forward again, this time pushing all the way in in one stroke. The sound Chūya made was inhuman as he arched his back again, fingernails digging into Dazai's upper arms. He was vaguely glad that he'd left his wrappings on him. He knew he wasn't going to last long as tight as Chūya's body was around him. He pushed Chūya's legs back more, allowing him a good angle and view as he plunged into his body. Again, Chūya's hands were tangled in his own hair and he was making a keening sound in his throat. Vaguely, Dazai hoped he wasn't too loud because the walls here were thin.

Finally, knowing that he was at his own limit, he began to stroke Chūya in time with his thrusts. Chūya gasped out and let out another inhuman sound that was luckily low pitched as he came, spilling on Dazai's hand. Dazai dropped his hands to the bed beside him and thrust a few more times, feeling Chūya tighten around him until it was maddening. He thrust in hard one last time and fell over the crest he was riding. He panted and stayed still for a few moments until he pulled back and fell to the bed beside Chūya.

"Human ways are strange," Chūya whispered, turning to stare at Dazai.

Dazai smiled, leaning over to capture his lips in another kiss. "Yes, yes they are."