To clarify, when Kiku's talking about his house, the floor numbers start at 0, meaning that the ground floor (or the floor at ground level) is floor 0 and the floor above floor 1. I am aware that not all countries do it this way.
"Hey! No fair! I'm the one who killed it!"
"I want those scales! They look so pretty!"
"You can't just take that much meat! Let me have some!"
Kiku scowled at the sounds of the townspeople fighting over their kill. In his opinion, it was completely barbaric. He paid no mind to them as he walked further down the beach, completely out of their sight. He wasn't expecting to find anything in the nets he had set out, so was incredibly surprised to find a shape within the fabric as he began to draw near. Kiku's breath caught; he didn't know whether he could actually kill one of those creatures. He crept closer, noticed the blood from where the merman had caught himself on the net, tearing his fins as he tried to escape… And from a gash across his arm. He swallowed. He couldn't kill it. The merman looked up hazily at him, too weak to even consider his presence properly, and Kiku knew for sure that he couldn't kill the creature. He crouched down to the merman's level, and took in his appearance. Green eyes narrowed as the creature finally took him in, hissing harshly at him.
"It's okay… I won't hurt you," Kiku vowed, but it did little to affect the other's mood. Sighing, Kiku tried to think of a way he could help. His eyes travelled up the beach, to where the other townspeople were slaughtering other Merpeople. The man didn't want that to happen to this particular sea creature; he had an identity now, a face, which made him an individual that Kiku couldn't bring himself to destroy. With that made up in his mind, he set about freeing the merman, who soon began to struggle against him, believing he was going for the kill.
"I just want to free you," Kiku assured, using his knife to cut through the ropes binding the captive. Even when he was free though, the merman could not move from where he was, the damage to his tail too great. He looked up at Kiku fearfully. Kiku bit his lip in concentration, trying to think of something else to do. After a few seconds, the sound of shouting came closer, and he recognised that the rest of the town was on the move. He wasn't going to let them find this merman, so he summoned all his strength and picked up the male, carrying him to a place he knew was safe.
Herakles opened his eyes, looking around blearily. He could smell the blood of his brethren in the air, and knew that the hunt was well and truly on. He struggled against the binds that held him, recognising the net that was wrapped around his fins as a human trap. Unbeknownst to him, each time he tried to flail out of harm's way, the net dug deeper into his fins and tail, creating deep wounds that in themselves began to bleed. Losing his strength fast, Herakles laid back against the sand, and waited to die. It was then when he heard footsteps, and believed that his end was near. He looked hazily up into the face of his killer to find a young boy, brown eyes wavering with indecisiveness. His mind took the information in, but couldn't seem to process it properly. The boy crouched, and Herakles decided he had better do something, with or without his brain's permission. Reacting on instinct, he hissed at the human, who bizarrely started to comfort him; or at least, seemed to, until he brought out a knife, at which point Herakles's survival instinct came into full force, the merman struggling against the human as much as he could. The action only aggravated his wounds, and seemed to be pointless, as the human assured that he meant no harm, and that he would free him. He seemed to be true to his word, but Herakles was unsure why he would bother. As soon as he was free, the merman tried to escape straight away, but found that he was too injured to move. Expecting the human to kill him now, Herakles braced himself, but the human yet again took pity on him. The staring contest between them lasted only a few seconds, before the human picked him up, and Herakles found he couldn't stare any longer, feeling suddenly drowsy again. His eyes drooped, and he slept.
Kiku felt like he had no choice but to hide the merman somewhere safe. The only place that came to mind was a sea cave further around the beach. It was hard work carrying the heavy merman all that way, but Kiku was determined. After a while of walking, he reached the cave. The sea waves lapped at the shore within the cave itself, the dry entrance a hole in the rock of the cave formed by a storm a while ago. Heading for the water's edge, Kiku lowered the creature into the water, allowing the blue liquid to surround him. When the merman was completely submerged, he stood, looking back towards the town. His siblings would be wondering where he was, and to stay any longer would endanger the merman. So, he headed back towards his house.
"Kiku, aru… What happened?" Yao asked worriedly, noticing the blood that coated his brother's hands. Kiku looked down and then back up at Yao.
"Some of those bear traps were still in the water… It was a bloodbath," Kiku half-lied, glaring over at Yong Soo and Li.
"Oh for God's sake, we didn't like, actually use those things, we just skimmed pebbles all afternoon," Li complained, looking to his cousin to back him up.
"Yeah! We realised what we were doing when we noticed the other boys in town setting similar traps into the water… Those guys are such jerks, why would we want to be like them?" Yong Soo confirmed.
"Was it still that messy though? Are the other townspeople that inhumane?" Mei asked, looking over to her brother sadly.
"They're more than inhumane… They seemed to be harvesting Merpeople for their scales and meat rather than culling them as a necessity," Kiku explained.
"Aiyah… Why do something like that? I can't see why we can't just exterminate the creatures humanely," Yao contributed, and the general feeling among Kiku's family was one of agreement.
Kiku himself though, couldn't help but think back to the merman he had rescued from near certain death, and wonder over whether it was right to kill them at all.
Loukas picked his dagger out of the sand, only metres from where his brother napped every single day. How had one of them not spotted it before? He sighed and headed back to his mother, to tell her that he still couldn't find Herakles.
Sadik watched the scene and frowned. He had thrown away that damn thing, sure, but how was he now meant to go in there and tell that family that Herakles wasn't coming back? He knew he would be in trouble this time.
"Is there still no sign of him? None at all?" Helene asked, sounding worried for her eldest son's safety.
"I… I haven't found him in any of his regular nap-spots," Loukas admitted, looking strained.
"Where is Sadik?" Helene remembered. "Often when Herakles isn't napping, he's scrapping with that jerk."
It was at that point that Loukas noticed Sadik was close by indeed, seemingly waiting to say something. "Where's Herakles?" He asked.
"I don't know," Sadik answered defiantly.
"What did you do?" Helene hissed, instinct telling her that Sadik knew more than he was letting on.
"Hey, it's not my fault he swam too close to the shore!" Sadik threw his hands up in defence.
"….He did what?" Helene scowled, looking hellishly angry at Sadik already.
"Look, it wasn't my fault, I didn't know he was gonna get caught in one of those nets!" Sadik defended himself weakly.
"You still lured him to the coast though," the female accused.
"We were only havin' a race, I didn't mean fer it to go this far…" Sadik pouted, hoping that Helene would let it drop. Unfortunately for him, she was far too maternal to let such a thing go.
"You shouldn't have raced him close to the shore! What were you thinking?! You knew the nets went out today!" She yelled, slapping Sadik across the face, before leaving the safety of the coral, swimming towards the coast swiftly, fear gripping her from her hair down to the end of her tail.
'Herakles…'
Herakles woke again to find himself in the water, sheltered within a small sea cave. A look towards the mouth of the cave showed that the hole in the rock was almost too small for him to fit through; it would be a tight squeeze for him to escape. On the other side, the hole was larger, but only accessible by land. It was then that Herakles realised that thoughts of escape were fruitless anyway; the damage to his tail was still not healed, and his arm, although better than his tail, was still injured. Herakles therefore lay still in the water, trying to rest so he could recover- mermen were able to heal faster than humans, after all. As he tried his best to stay as still as possible, his thoughts travelled to the human that had not killed him. Thinking it over with a rational mind, Herakles realised that the man had clearly been unwilling to take life, and as far as he could tell, had saved him. After all, who else on the shore could have brought him here? Herakles had thought that everyone on the land hated merpeople. It seemed like there was one exception. Herakles was instantly intrigued; he wanted to know more about this human.
Kiku left the house early the next morning, armed with only a bucket of fish. He knew in reality he should bring at least some kind of weapon to defend himself with, but the merman was still injured, so surely he posed far less of a threat? That was the reasoning Kiku carried with him at least, as he walked slowly towards the sea cave, bathed in the morning light that sparkled off the water. For a long time, he forgot about the events of the previous day, before he noticed the torn netting lying on the beach. He pulled the woven strips away from the high tide line, to the point where they would never again cause a threat to life, and carried on his way.
As he entered the cave, Kiku noticed the creature still sleeping against a rock, looking serene and at peace. He wondered whether or not to creep closer, leave the fish and run, but before he got a chance, the merman awoke, looking over at him sleepily.
"…?" He looked confused, seemingly a little on edge.
"I brought you food…" Kiku replied, offering the fish forward tentatively.
The merman looked suspicious, and Kiku drew closer, kneeling to his level and placing the bucket at his feet. He took out a fish from the bucket and offered it forwards.
"Is it poisoned?" The merman asked, sounding more curious than mad, but Kiku still looked shocked. He knew merpeople could charm humans with singing, but he was under the impression that other than that they communicated with guttural sounds alone. It seemed that he was wrong.
"Ah, n-no, although, it is not cooked," he replied, now convinced more than ever that he could not do harm to a being that was proving to be increasingly sentient. The killing of these things seemed to be more like a war than an actual cull.
"Cooked?" The merman repeated, unsure as of how to use the word.
"Ah, yes… It is when we heat up food to kill the bacteria inside it," Kiku tried to explain.
"Oh… We do not cook things." The creature shrugged, swimming forwards from the rock and towards the sand Kiku kneeled at, taking the fish without another word and eating it raw, even including the head and eyes, until there was nothing left but bare bones.
"Ah, we do not eat the heads either…" Kiku stated, staring at the merman with wide eyes.
"What is your name?" The merman asked, changing the subject completely.
"I am Kiku. Kiku Honda," the man replied, thinking the question odd, but only being able to reply politely in line with the etiquette his mother had taught him.
"Herakles," the creature merely stated in reply.
"Herakles…" Kiku tested the name, a little surprised that the merman even had one.
"Yeah…" Herakles nodded.
"Do you live far away?" Kiku asked, wondering how the merman would ever make his way back to sea. Herakles shook his head.
"I only live in the coral just beyond the ocean shelf here," he explained, and Kiku was surprised. As a child, he had sailed out to that coral, had fished in the crystalline waters. He had never seen merpeople there before.
"Ah, so you're not all that far away from home then," Kiku confirmed.
"What about you? Do you live around here?" Herakles asked.
"I live in the town up on the cliff… My house is closer to the beach than most, so I suppose I live very close," Kiku described.
"Ah, I see… Can you see the sea from where you live?" Herakles asked.
"I can," the human replied. "Only on the 1st floor of the house though, the view from the ground floor is blocked out by the other houses."
"Floors? I thought you humans had only one floor and that was the earth." Herakles looked confused yet again.
"Ah, yes, well, we build artificial floors in the air that we then climb up to… So that we can build our houses upwards as well as across," Kiku explained.
"Oh… You cannot just swim upwards like we can," Herakles remembered. "That makes sense then… Our kind can just dig into rock formations or pieces of coral higher up and then swim to reach the new space, if we want to expand our living area."
Kiku nodded, wondering how exactly he had managed to strike up conversation with this creature he was meant to hate. Perhaps it was just curiosity. He certainly felt like he understood Herakles a little more now. And perhaps that was right: he had saved his life after all.
"Kiku! Are you down here?" A voice suddenly emanated throughout the cave, and Kiku leapt to his feet.
"Ah! I should go… You can keep the fish," he panicked, running from the space, calling out to Mei, who was searching the nearby beach for her brother, after noticing his absence.
"I wonder… Who that is…" Herakles wondered, leaning against the sand thoughtfully.
"Kiku, what were you doing in there?" Mei asked as they walked back towards the town later that day.
"Oh, I was just searching for crabs," Kiku lied.
"Really? I thought I had heard a voice," she continued, suspicious.
"No… I was alone. It was probably just an echo." Another lie.
"If you say so…" Mei didn't look convinced.
"Why did you come out here?" Kiku questioned, moving the focus from him temporarily.
"You've been gone all day with no explanation, how could I not?" Mei shot back.
"Oh, I'm sorry…" Kiku hadn't realised that he was out that long. But of course, he couldn't give a real explanation- his family would probably kill Herakles if they found him.
"Don't worry about it; I'm sure you were having fun at the time… So I guess time just flew by for you, right?"
Kiku looked over at her questioningly, but didn't protest… It worked as an alibi.
"Did you find him?" Loukas asked, looking towards his mother as she made her way back towards the rest of the pod.
"I only found this…" She mused, holding up a shred of bloodstained netting.
Loukas grimaced and looked down sadly.
"I will find whoever did this," Helene continued, "….And I will destroy them"
"Mama…" Loukas simply hugged his mother, not really knowing what else to do.
"It seems as though the other people in the town have finally calmed down," Yao commented that night, as he and Kiku worked together on dinner.
"Yes… Although, they were quite vicious at their worst," Kiku stated, trying not to let his brother know his discomfort. But Yao knew him too well.
"Kiku… You know, I could have gone instead of you. Maybe I will next time. You shouldn't have to witness that," he offered, placing a tender hand on the other's shoulder.
"I am fine Yao." Kiku wouldn't have wanted Yao to go instead: Yao could well have killed Herakles, and it wasn't like he deserved to witness the bloodbath either.
"Are you sure? You seem to be a little spaced out tonight," Yao continued, sceptical.
"It's nothing…" Kiku assured.
"…You know you can always tell me if something's wrong, right?" Yao considered, with a sincere, caring tone.
"I know, Yao… But I really am fine," Kiku reassured, sending a tiny smile his brother's way.
Yao nodded, and they returned to cooking.