A/N: Wow, I'm really cranking it out here. I can't believe I'm still working on this despite the massive amounts of READING I have to do for classes. But, it makes my readers happy. I hope. So, somebody commented that Seto is the antagonist for this piece. Hmm… it is possible. Then again, Anzu could secretly be an escapee from a mental institution and is secretly plotting a dastardly plot! You never know with me. Or with Anzu. Expect the unexpected.
Beneath the Surface
Chapter 4
"What a day, huh?" Otogi said as he scrubbed his hands in the sink. "If we could increase the sedative dosage I sure would. I might actually be able to stay on my feet. Say, you want to check out that new dance place I was telling you about?"
Anzu smiled and nodded as she let her hair down.
"How about you, Yami?" Otogi asked as he dried his hands.
"No, he's not going," Anzu answered for him. "He already said that he had work to do."
Otogi rolled his eyes. "You sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure."
"Well, maybe some other time, then," he said with a grin, and left the lab. Bakura had left for the data storage room quite a while ago, so only Yami and Anzu were left in the lab. The merman was curled up in the tank as he always was, the sedative having worn off a while ago.
"Hey, Yami, are you getting enough sleep?" Anzu asked. Yami looked up.
"Yes," he lied. "Why do you ask?"
"Well, you seemed rather… unfocused today. Is there something on your mind?"
Yami was silent for a moment. There was something on his mind, of course, but he didn't know if it would be good to tell Anzu. He was the only one that had noticed all of the merman's pleas for help, after all...
"Well…" he said hesitantly.
"I knew it! There is something wrong," Anzu said, immediately coming over to sit next to Yami. Yami nearly grimaced; Anzu was a good friend, but sometimes she tried a little too hard.
"What's going on, Yami? You can tell me," Anzu said in her most reassuring manner. Yami sighed.
"Well… I've been noticing a few things about the merman…"
"So we've clarified that you aren't blind. That's a big help," Otogi said as he re-entered to grab his forgotten jacket, but Anzu shushed him.
"Go on, Yami," she said intently.
"He seems unhealthily thin and pale. I think the stress of being kept here and having all these tests done is taking a heavy toll on him. It might even be the reason why he's refusing to eat."
"And what do you propose that we do about it?" Otogi asked, seeming to have thought the conversation worthy of his interest.
"Reduce the testing," Yami said immediately.
"But… Yami, we do have a schedule that we're supposed to be following…" Anzu said.
"We can still get all the tests done," Yami said. "We just need to do each one farther apart so that he has time to recover. It will just take a little more time."
Anzu looked at Yami for a long time, then nodded. "Okay," she said. "It won't really do us any good if the subject is too unhealthy to test, now, will it?"
Yami sighed in relief and nodded. Otogi glanced at Yami rather suspiciously but didn't say anything.
"Well, I'm going to go over to the exam lab to get some stuff done," Yami said. "I'll see you guys tomorrow."
Yami peeked into the lab cautiously, wanting to make sure that no one else was around. If anyone found him doing anything with the merman that wasn't in the test schedule, he could be in big trouble. He could see the merman half-asleep in the tank. Yami looked around once more, then went into the lab and carefully locked the door behind him.
After some deliberation, Yami had decided that the best way to try to communicate with the merman would be to teach him sign language. Yami had, in fact, known sign language for years. The child that shared his bunk in the orphanage had been deaf and had taught sign language to Yami so that communication between them would be easier. Yami figured that this was the best way to talk to the merman because the merman spoke at a frequency that Yami couldn't hear and Yami's own speech would sound muffled through the water anyways.
The merman woke up fully as he saw Yami walk over to him. He eyed the human warily for a few moments, then shrunk back to the other side of the tank as Yami came closer. Yami simply sat down next to the tank and slowly, so as not to startle him, motioned for the merman to come towards him. The merman only stared back at him, his arms wrapped around himself protectively. Yami decided that it would be counter-productive to go after the merman; he needed to wait for the merman to come to him.
And sure enough, after a little coaxing the merman became curious. He uncurled from his fetal position and cautiously swam over to Yami. Yami smiled at him, trying to make the merman a little more relaxed. He was pleasantly surprised when the merman smiled back nervously; Yami had noted that the merman didn't seem as afraid of him as he was of the other scientists.
Yami began by pointing to himself and then slowly signed the letters of his own name. The merman only stared at him blankly. Yami did it several more times, then gestured at the merman for him to try. With a little practice, the merman could repeat the symbols pretty well, but Yami didn't think that he understood what the symbols meant. Yami exaggeratedly pointed to himself again, and signed out his name. The merman frowned, and Yami repeated the action. The merman signed out the letters again a few times, then it seemed to dawn on him what Yami was trying to do. He pointed at Yami, and then signed the letters again. Yami nodded and smiled, and the merman smiled genuinely back. He signed Yami's name again.
Yami bit his lip, wondering what to do next. He hadn't really planned any farther than that. He went over to the sink and ran some water into his cupped hand as the merman watched. Yami then pointed to the water in his hand, and signed "water". The merman repeated the symbol, now understanding what Yami was trying to teach him. He moved his hand through the water around him and made the sign again. Yami nodded. The merman was a fast learner.
Yami proceeded to teach the merman various other nouns, such as parts of the body and objects lying about the lab. The merman was quite adept at memorizing the symbols and, when quizzed, could easily repeat them correctly. Problems arose, however, as Yami quickly ran out of materials to work with. Most of the objects in the lab were things that the merman had never seen before, and therefore it would be of little use to the merman to tell him the name of something when he didn't even know what it was.
Then, getting another idea, Yami dug around until he found his notebook. He quickly sketched out a landscape that showed land, with a person standing on it, and the sea with a merman swimming about under the water. He also drew fish, a dolphin and a few other sea creatures that he figured the merman would have seen before.
Yami showed the merman the picture, and the merman seemed to recognize what it was. Yami pointed to the land portion, signing the word for land. The merman repeated it obediently. Yami pointed to the person and signed the word "human", then to the sea. He went on to point to each of the sea creatures, signing their respective names. The last one he came to was the word for merpeople.
As the merman signed the word for his own kind his eyes grew sad. He reached out to touch the glass where the drawing of the merman was just beyond. Yami felt a pang of pity for the merman; surely he missed his home.
Wanting to cheer the merman up, Yami put his hand against the glass where the merman's hand was placed. The sea creature looked up and, seeing their almost-connected hands, smiled. Yami grinned in return, noting to himself that the merman had a very beautiful smile. The happy expression suited him so very well.
The smile, however, faded as the merman frowned. His features contorted in pain and, curling up into a ball, he sank down against the side of the tank. Concerned, Yami knelt down next to the tank, wishing that he could ask the merman what was wrong. The merman curled up tighter, apparently fighting pain. Eventually he relaxed, his form resting limply against the glass. Slowly he raised his head and Yami was appalled at how pale and gaunt his face was. Seeming to see the concern in Yami's eyes, the merman attempted a smile. Yami was not reassured; something was wrong and he wanted to know what. Eventually, the merman looked down at himself and put a webbed hand over his stomach, then looked back up at Yami.
Yami nearly smacked himself for not realizing it earlier. The merman hadn't eaten in days; he had to be starving and the hunger pains must be nearly crippling. Pushing himself to his feet, Yami proceeded to ransack the lab in search of the food that Anzu had supposedly acquired but that the merman had previously refused to eat. Finally Yami remembered that Anzu had been cultivating various sea plants in a tank that was, of course, hidden behind some of Otogi's unorganized files.
After harvesting a generous portion, Yami gestured to the merman to swim to the top of the tank. Yami climbed the not-completely-stable metal stairs to the platform next to the water's surface. The merman looked up at him from between the metal bars of the lid.
Yami lowered some of the wet, leafy vegetation into the tank. The merman immediately grabbed hold of it and ate ravenously. As the sea creature ate Yami went back down the stairs and searched about for anything else that the merman could eat. Surely merpeople ate fish, as well, but were there any in the lab that wouldn't be missed?
It was then that Yami stumbled over yet more of Otogi's possessions, only to find his forgotten lunch. Picking up the scent of fish, Yami investigated the lunch box to find a fresh box of sushi. Sushi is fish, right? While silently thanking Otogi for being so forgetful, Yami climbed back up the stairs. The merman had finished eating what Yami had previously brought him and had been watching Yami as he searched about the lab. When he saw the sushi, however, he looked dubious. It certainly didn't look like fish.
Yami ate one himself to demonstrate that the sushi wasn't dangerous, then offered one to the merman. Still hungry, the merman reluctantly tried one. His eyes lit up as he recognized the taste of fish and soon the box was empty. Yami knelt down on the metal platform as he watched the merman eat, wondering to himself just how many laboratory regulations he was breaking by feeding their subject sushi. If anyone found out he would surely get fired, if not prosecuted.
But, the contented smile on the merman's face as he finished the sushi banished all worry from Yami's mind. All that mattered was that he had been able to help the merman and had made a connection with him. The connection wasn't much now, but if he could keep teaching the merman sign language then they would be able to communicate.
The merman smiled up at him through the water and Yami smiled back. Yes, it was definitely worth the risk. Glancing at the clock, Yami saw that it was almost past midnight. With this knowledge gained Yami suddenly felt very tired. The feeling seemed contagious as the merman's eyelids began to droop.
Yami climbed back down the stairs and the merman let himself sink back down into the tank. Giving the merman one last smile, Yami signed "Good night" to him. The merman seemed unsure of the meaning, but signed it back anyways. As Yami left the lab, he saw the merman curl up on the floor of the tank, smiling slightly to himself.
A/N: Yum sushi. Yes, something is actually happening! And hey, I might even give the merman a name next time. That way I can stop trying to figure out things to call him besides "merman". Please review!
