Dalliance
Chapter Two
-Excitement-
"I can't believe you were so foolish as to let a human see you like that." Kanamé scolded his sister, looking anything but pleased. "And you kissed him!"
"He was so cute Kanamé." She refuted. "He needed help, and he's the one who offered." She blushed, looking embarrassed.
The elder shook his head as the two swam through the ocean, back to their home at Starfish Reef. Izayoi left her brother, not wanting to be thrown at her parents for swimming off like she had. She headed towards her home and entered through the window, opening her dresser drawer so she could replace the top she'd lost. She took out a top made of white shells and fastened it on before she snuck back out to find her cousins to tell them of her adventure.
She founded them near the coral park, sitting with another dark haired mermaid, whose tail was a gorgeous pearl color. "Ami! Ayame!" she called to her family. "You'll ever guess what has happened to me!"
The two mermaids turned to look at their cousin, similar expressions on their faces. They had long auburn hair, and vivid teal eyes. One of the women had a purple tail, with a somewhat sheer purple scarf tied around her chest, though it was folded in the front to conceal her breasts. Her sister's hair was wavy, and she had an orange tail, two large orange starfish over her ample chest. "What happened Iza?" Ayame, the younger of the two, asked.
"Are you alright?" Ami asked.
"I'm more than alright. I'm ecstatic." She giggled, sliding beside them. "I met a boy!" she squealed, but then corrected herself. "Well he's a man, but still! He's amazing!"
"A merman?" Ayame squealed in excitement. "What's he like?"
Izayoi blinked. "Oh no, he's not a merman…" she explained, her smile growing. "I saved him from the waters of the storm last night."
Ami raised a brow. "So…he's a human." She stated, crossing her arms. "Do your parents know yet?"
"Who cares Mimi! Iza's in love." Ayame giggled, hugging her cousin. "I can tell."
"I do love him! So very much! I want to marry him!" she declared, swooning.
The brunette with them blinked, appearing confused. "How do you know if you love him? It was just one night."
A dark blush spread across her cheeks as she poked her fingers together nervously. "Well…he was actually unconscious until this morning."
Ami raised a brow. "So…how do you know you love him?" she asked.
"I just know. When I saw him, my heart was overflowing with so much of everything! He was cute and tender and his eyes were the color of the angry sky! Plus, he kissed me." she giggled.
Ayame squealed in glee, clapping her hands together. "Yay! I'm so happy for you Iza!"
"Why'd you let him kiss you?" Ami asked. "You know kisses are sacred."
"Well…" she trailed off. "He said he had to repay me for saving his life, and I wanted to kiss him so badly, I couldn't help but ask, and he was just as excited as I was. So we kissed and it felt amazing."
Ami smiled. "What's it like Iza? To kiss a man?"
"It's the sweetest thing you will ever feel." She sighed contently, leaning against her cousin. "I want to see him again so badly, so I told him where I was."
Chitose went wide eyed. "You told humans where we live?"
"Iza! That's forbidden?" Ami nearly shrieked. "Do you have any idea what could happen to us because of what you've done?"
"He's not going to hunt us or anything." She tried to explain. "I know from deep in my heart he's a good man. He would never do anything to harm us." She nodded.
"How do you know that?" Chitose actually yelled, looking panicked.
Ami shook her head. "I have to warn everyone." She said, beginning to swim off towards the city.
"No!" Izayoi swam after her, grabbing her arm to stop her. "Please don't!" she begged. "I promise nothing will happen, so please Ami don't tell anyone."
The auburn haired mermaid frowned, conflicted. "But Iza…how do you know? You just met that human, you don't know anything about him. You can't trust humans. They're not as pure as we are."
She gave her cousin a look. "Noriaki." She said simply.
Chitose nodded, shrugging. "She has a point Ami."
"She really does." Ayame agreed.
Ami sighed. "Fine, I won't say anything. But only because you're so happy…" she said, smiling slightly. "I am glad for you, really."
Izayoi blew out a few bubbles of relief and hugged her cousin. "Thank you."
She returned her embrace. "You're welcome." She said, releasing the ebony haired mermaid. "Just please be careful."
"You know I will. But I felt something inside compel me to save him. So he must be something special." She looked up towards the surface, her smile growing. "I want to see him so badly, my heart aches."
"Iza, what did you do while you waited for him to wake up?" Ayame asked curiously. "You said he was unconscious for most of the night…so how did you not get bored?"
A dark blush spread across Izayoi's cheeks. "Um…well…I don't really wanna talk about it."
"You did bad things, didn't you Iza?" Ami snickered. "Dirty girl."
"Well…" she trailed off, looking away. "I may have removed his pants and explored the male body a bit while he was unconscious."
"That's weird." Chitose said, blushing at the mere thought. Ayame nodded, her own face a dark red.
Ami just laughed. "Iza! That's so gross!" She giggled, pinching her cousin's side lightly in a teasing manner. "Pervert." She said, taking enjoyment out of the ebony haired mermaid's admission.
"I know! I know!" she giggled, holding her hands over her cheeks. "But he's so amazing! More beautiful than any merman I've ever seen." She swooned.
Ayame sighed dreamily. "It's all so romantic. I wish I could find someone the way you did Izayoi."
"Well if I don't see him soon, you could always go with me to the land I found him. The people seem so nice there." She perked up, giving her cousin the directions to the land she'd visited.
"Iza, don't encourage her to break the rules." Ami frowned. "It's bad enough you traveled so far away from home, we don't need others to do it as well."
"But sister, I could finally meet a human!" Ayame said happily.
The two girls giggled. "A cute boy! Maybe even a prince." Izayoi continued.
Chitose shook her head with a sigh. "I'm going to go see Hayate."
Ami sighed as the brunette swam away. "We should probably get going to Ayame. Mom and dad want us to come over for dinner, and you know how she hates it when we're late."
Ayame nodded. "Right. Bye Iza!" she hugged her cousin before quickly swimming off. Ami did the same, only she held on a bit longer.
"Be careful with your heart Iza." She said, pulling away. "You've always been like a big sister to me, even though we're only days apart…" she smiled slightly. "And I don't want to see you hurt."
"Don't worry. I have complete and utter faith in him." she nodded, waving to them as she swam away. She knew they were just being overly suspicious about her new found love, even if it was sudden. She just couldn't wait to see Kai again.
Sanosuke swam on his back, staring up at the bright sky through the salty water he was currently swimming through, his hands linked behind his head. His raven colored hair was flat against his head from the speed with which his equally dark tail was propelling him forward. He wasn't too worried about running into anything, since he wasn't close enough to the sandy bottom to be near any rocks or reefs, but he wasn't high enough for any passing sailors to think he was anything other than a large fish, despite the water being extremely clear in this part of the sea. But he doubted humans would be that observant.
He sighed, allowing his forest green eyes to close as he slowed his pace. It was so nice to be away from his relatives and all the other mer-folk. They were always so happy, all the time, and carefree. He just didn't understand how you could swim around and do nothing all day and be happy. And that was not what he was doing right now, oh no. He was having quiet time. In which he just happened to be swimming around doing nothing. But it was still different.
He continued to do this for a while, until suddenly he hit something with the top of his head. He straightened, rubbing the sore spot while taking in the sight of a large ship that had sunk to the bottom of the sea. Apparently what he had hit was the mast, because the ship was separated into two large parts further down. The Uchiha took in the scene, discovering that this was a fairly new addition to the ocean, since there weren't many barnacles covering the top yet.
Suddenly something shiny caught his eye, and he squinted. Perhaps it was a treasure? If so, he could bring it back for his mother. She always liked shiny things, especially if it was of human origin. Deciding to go investigate, he turned and propelled himself downward, keeping an eye out for sharks. They were fans of sunken ships, after all, and he didn't feel like dealing with any of them right now.
As he got closer, it became easier to make out what the object was. It was in fact, the end of a tail. A very beautiful tail. It shined in the light coming in from the surface, its translucent glow giving off an almost rainbow shimmer to the scales. His gaze traveled up the form, a frown marring his brow when a large wooden beam blocked the rest of his view of the creature. It couldn't be a mermaid, because he'd never seen one this color before, and if one such as this existed, everyone would know about it. He swam up slightly, going until he was over the beam. He blinked at the sight before him.
There, lying on the sandy bottom, was a female. She was either asleep or unconscious, stuck trapped beneath the beam, but he didn't care, because it gave him the chance to peruse her form. She had wonderful looking skin, and long golden hair floating around her. Her breasts were covered by an exotic-looking top, made of what felt like a silky material. Its colors changed from one bright shade to the next, matching her almost rainbow-like tail. It was cut into long diamond shapes, a silver metal twisting beneath her breasts and around her back, fastening in the center of her cleavage with a golden diamond. A thinner band of the metal came up and fastened behind her neck, keeping her top in place. And while her breasts weren't overly large, they were of a nice size, though there was enough material left over to hang in two long triangles down the sides of her flat stomach. Also hanging from her neck was a necklace made of swirls of white gold, the metal forming two large flowers that looked almost like daisies in the center, with swirls branching off to make the chain. Another few swirls hung even lower down her cleavage, and each one had small sapphires welded into them, slightly larger ones where the swirls connected, and even bigger ones making up the centers of the flowers. It was a very nice piece of jewelry, and Sanosuke figured if she was dead he would take it to his mother. She would definitely like it, and if not, he knew his sister would love it.
Unable to help himself, Sanosuke placed one hand on the wooden beam and leaned down so that he could stroke her cheek. "Hey." He said, trying to rouse the girl. When she didn't move, he flicked his tail to help him get closer, their faces inches apart as he tried once more. "Wake up." He said, cupping her cheek and tilting her face towards him so that he could better examine her features.
Amber eyes flashed open in alarm and a screech so loud it sent off sonar saves made Sanosuke wince back and cover his ears. But he instantly knew what she was. A siren. The girl looked around in fear, finally seeming to notice she was caught. She tried to kick out from under it, but the more she moved the more pain wracked through her body. She struggled anyways, trying to push off the beams when she looked up and saw the dark merman above her. Her eyes widened slightly and she looked even more nervous than before.
"Stop struggling, you're making it worse." Sanosuke said, looking over the damage. "I think I can lift them enough for you to get out." he stated, looking to her for permission. Despite the prejudices between mermaids and sirens, he couldn't just leave her in this pain. She was so beautiful…and he would hope that someone would do him a kindness like this if he ever needed it. Not that he would, but still.
She looked down at the wreckage before meeting his gaze once more and nodding. He moved to the other side and slipped his hands beneath the wood. Gritting his teeth, his tail began to move frantically, stirring up the sand as he tried to lift the weight off of her. They were a lot heavier than he'd first surmised, and it wasn't until then he realized they were still connected to the ship, so he would also be moving some of the wreckage as well. He was about to give up hope, until he felt himself rising as the wood creaked from being moved. Through the stirred up sand, he saw the siren's tail begin to move a bit, before it quickly disappeared from sight. Taking that as the sign that she was free, he let go of the beams, which hit the ocean floor with a thump, causing even more sand to rise. Not caring, Sanosuke practically collapsed on top of the beams, laying on his back and breathing somewhat heavily as he tried to recover from the hard task he had just completed.
The blonde swam through the murky water until she was above him, staring down at him curiously. "You…helped me?" She said softly, her voice carrying so beautifully it was almost like she was singing.
He blinked, looking up at her. "Well…yeah. You needed my help." He said simply, rising from the beams a bit so that he was closer to her. "I'm Sanosuke." he smiled slightly.
"My name is Talia." She said, still watching him curiously as she leaned closer. "You saved me, even though you know what I am?"
"What you are doesn't really matter to me." The young Uchiha's smile widened, and he reached out to tangle his fingers in her silky golden locks. "You're beautiful." He said softly. "Beautiful things should never suffer the way I knew you were." he locked gazes with her as he allowed his fingers to slide through her hair until his hand was back at his side.
Talia's smile widened as she lowered to his level, now looking up at him. "I've never been so close to a merman before." She gave him a once over before meeting his green eyes again. "You're really cute…and brave." She giggled.
Sanosuke chuckled. "Bravery had nothing to do with it." he said, taking her hand in both of his and holding it up against his palm, as if he were examining it. "I've never seen a siren before." He admitted. "There's not many differences between us." He observed, linking their fingers and holding their hands between them.
"Not many one can see." She assured with a somewhat dark smile.
He shrugged, chalking her response to do with something that sirens could do. Suddenly he realized he was still holding her hand, and quickly released it. "Sorry." He blushed slightly. "I just…I don't usually touch others like that…I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable if I was."
She blinked, looking confused, but finally shook her head. "You didn't make me uncomfortable." She assured with a smile. "You are my savior." Talia spoke softly, leaning closer to him. "My hero." She giggled, giving him a chaste kiss.
Sanosuke's eyes widened in slight surprise as he touched his fingertips to his lips. Kisses were sacred among his kind, and not something you shared lightly. And this siren had just stolen one from him. But he wasn't upset, as most would have been. He'd liked it, or, what he'd felt of it at least. "That was…my first kiss." He admitted softly, almost sounding bashful.
Talia giggled. "It was?" she held her hand to her cheek. "Well how lucky for me."
A smile slowly made its way up his face. "You want my second one?" he asked, taking her free hand in his and rubbing his finger over her knuckles.
The blonde laughed, blushing slightly. "Be careful what you tempt a siren with."
"Why?" he wondered, pulling her closer so that their noses were just barely touching. "Are you easily tempted?" he cocked his head to the side in curiosity.
Talia's smile grew as her heart began to pound. "Not usually…" she giggled. "But I'm pretty allured right now."
He smirked, something inside him taking over as he leaned in and brushed his lips against hers, teasing her. Then, without warning, he pressed his mouth to hers, his eyes shutting as he relished the feeling of their contact. Talia gasped, which gave him an opening to delve his tongue into her mouth. Finally, she allowed herself to relax and closed her eyes kissing him back as something strung together between them.
She lifted her hands and held his face to hers as their moment grew more feverish and heated, the place where there lips were began to shine with most beautiful light. Talia moved closer, her sharp claws forming as did her vicious fangs. Sanosuke ran his tongue along her mouth and then winced, pulling back. Blood started to taint the water, just a little since it was only a small amount, but Talia was wide eyed and ashamed. "I'm so sorry!" she moved back, covering her mouth with her hand before turning and swimming off.
"Wait!" Sanosuke called out, swimming after her. "Talia!" he tried to speed up, but it was to no avail, for sirens were much faster than mermaids, and that was saying something. He slowed to a stop a sighed as he lost sight of her. "Come back." He whispered sadly, a frown marring his brow. He reached up and touched his lips once more, his tongue already slowing in how much it was bleeding.
He sighed once more, turning and slowly making his way back to Starfish Reef. He'd probably never see her again. It was already unlikely that he would have found her trapped there, and so to see her again…some sort of miracle would have to happen. But when they'd kissed, he'd felt something stir deep within him and reach out to her, and now it felt as though part of him was lost.
Wiping all emotion from his face, he picked up the pace so that he would be home before night fell. And even though he knew he should be grateful he had escaped an encounter with a siren unscathed…for the most part, he couldn't help the overwhelming sadness that filled him, making him think he would never be happy again.
His only thoughts on that were of how worried his behavior was going to make his mother, but he couldn't bring himself to care. Because until he saw Talia again, nothing mattered.
