Shark Bait.
Chapter Three.
Naruto was having the time of his life; for once people weren't sneering down upon him, calling him stupid or telling him to shut up. For the very first time he felt smart. Itachi knew nothing about all the things on land, and what was completely normal to him was a mystery to the merman. And while he was explaining everything about roads, zoos and, what puzzled the merman the most, wheels, he got to stare at that tail all he wanted. "Why would you want to put dangerous animals in the middle of cities? That sounds rather stupid to me, are all humans stupid?"
"Are you calling me stupid?" "I'm calling the things humans do stupid, don't you agree? They keep things that can kill them as pets?" That tail was amazing; he would be able to swim faster than any boat could sail, he could do whatever he wanted! Itachi finally caught him looking at his tail and saw the opening he'd been looking for during the entire conversation. "You like my tail, huh?" the boy blushed and nodded. "This beauty can power me up to speeds you can't even imagine, do you want to feel the fins?" The boy's eyes grew to the size of saucers and he furiously shook his head. "I'm not supposed to get too close to you, you're dangerous!"
Itachi chuckled, "That I am, but you have no reason to fear me, boy, you're not the one who caught me, or is going to sell me, and you brought me food. You don't know this, but I used to be of pretty high standing down below, and might be again someday. But I need to get back in the water to be able to fix the things I left undone, will you help me?" Naruto looked to his feet and shrugged half-heartedly. "I-I really can't… my brother will kill me and we'd lose this job, I'm really sorry sir!" he turned and ran away, slamming the heavy iron door shut behind him. Itachi slumped down into the tub with a sigh. "Ah it was worth a try…"
After a while the light went out and he figured it was night or something, there was no way he was getting anywhere anymore now. So he slid down until he was completely submerged in the water and relaxed. His tail didn't fit though so it hung to the floor, but he didn't mind, the water was flooding in his lungs and his eyes could finally rest. Luckily for him his species wasn't bound to salt water, the fresh water he was lying in felt just as pleasant on his skin. His mind was far from at ease though, and his arm started to act up, so he couldn't sleep at all. Maybe that was lucky, since his hearing was enhanced as long as he was submerged and awake he could clearly feel the footsteps next to the tub vibrate in the water.
He stayed absolutely still, this person was much lighter that an adult human, and since he hadn't seen any other children besides Naruto it was pretty clear who his visitor was. While trembling fingers ghosted over the tip of his tail and softly touched one of the large black fins hanging on the ground Itachi calculated the distance from the tub to the door. With a fluid motion he sat up, turned around, swished his tail from the boys grasp, leaned over the edge of the tub and grabbed the door. The boy fell flat on his ass in shock and Itachi threw the heavy door shut, it automatically locked itself. Pleased with his action Itachi twisted a bit to reverse his position until his tail was pointing at the door and he faced the child. "What did you expect?" he asked while he leaned forward, grabbed the boy under his arms and lifted him back to his feet. The boy took a staggering step backwards, shielding his face from the blows that were certainly coming with his arms. "I am a creature of the sea, not some sludgy fisherman, there's no need to fear me."
Lifting the boy had been stupid, his wrist that had just started to heal was torn open again, but he wouldn't be distracted from his goal this time, so he held his bad arm under water, out of the boy's sight. He leaned nonchalantly on his good arm and smiled, luckily the dumb kid turned the light on when he came in. "Don't be so scared now, I won't eat you. Honestly, you are quite stupid are you not?" Naruto turned beet red and his eyebrows knitted together in a frown. "I'm not stupid! Don't call me stupid I just wanted to feel it!" "That is exactly why you're stupid. Did I not offer you to touch it, and did you not refuse?" the boy puffed up his cheeks and stared at his feet in defeat again. Itachi couldn't help but chuckle at the sight, the boy really was quite cute.
"Look." He lifted his tail into the air while repressing his wince, showing the torn ligaments and other wounds to the boy. "If you tugged on that fin even a little you would've ripped it right off, so you shouldn't go doing things without taking notice of the consequences, alright?" "I'm sorry, sir." Naruto murmured while he glanced up to see the fin. A huge wave of guilt crashed over him at seeing the state of it, he had been planning to give it a little tug to see how sturdy it was, if Itachi hadn't stopped him… "Here." Itachi extended his arm, unfolding the large fin connecting it to his body, towards the boy. "It's the same kind, but you understand if I don't exactly trust you with my tail anymore, don't you?" "Why did you close the door?" "So you wouldn't run away and we could have this nice little chat." If he could get the kid to come within arm length, that'd mean he trusted him and there might still be a chance to get out!
The boy hesitantly took a step forward, putting himself back within reach. When the merman smiled and nodded encouragingly he found the nerve to run his fingers over the smooth black fin. He gasped, "Wow! It's really soft; I bet it's even softer than silk." "Of course, it has to be incredibly smooth, so I can sail through the water without any trouble. Say Naruto, have you ever met a prince before?" The boy, who was now at ease, couldn't take his eyes off the smooth black expanse of elastic skin. "No of course not! When would I ever meet a prince?" "How about right now? In a few months I was supposed to become king of all the oceans, sees, lakes and rivers of the world." Oh what a big, fat lie it was, but that didn't matter. "Except… well, now I'm stuck here I can't take up my position."
The boy looked up at him with eyes filled with disbelief and hope. "You're a real prince?" he whispered hopefully. "Yes, look, I'll show you." Itachi's back, which had previously been covered in nothing but his pale skin, shuddered and shook. His spine pressed up tighter and tighter against the skin, and the vertebrae from his shoulder blades down to his waist seemed to become pointier. With a painful groan the sharp spikes pierced the merman's skin and shot up into the air as high as his tail was long, and they formed a massive dorsal fin. Instead of being black like the rest of his fish-like parts, this fin, bones and all, seemed to be made from pure gold.
Naruto let out a breathy 'wooooooooow' and took another step closer to get a better look. This, however, gave him the opportunity to look into the bath and see that the water had turned completely red. He screamed. "No! No no no no no, shut up just shut up! It's nothing bad so be quiet!" this wasn't how it was supposed to go, damn it. "You're hurt! How? What happened!" the boy looked up at him with eyes filled with worries. "Is it my fault? I'm so sorry! Sir, prince, I'm so sorry please what can I do?" heavy footsteps approached the door, and muffled voices could be heard yelling. "Naruto! Naruto are you in there? What's going on?" Oh no , things weren't supposed to be like this! With all the power he could muster Itachi managed to pull his dorsal fin back inside right before the door slammed open.
The sailors ran in, took one look at the situation and froze. "Naruto what did you DO? He's bleeding out, get him outta that tub!" "Captain's gonna kill us, grab the tail!" Itachi tried to squirm out of their hold but one of the sailors grabbed his already damaged fin and tried to yank him up by it. With a sickening sound of ripped flesh it tore loose, and Itachi lost it. He tried to claw at the men with his good hand but pressed down on his gnashed wrist too hard, he slipped, they pulled on his tail, and his head hit the side of the bathtub too hard. There was nothing but pain, he saw Naruto crying and probably yelling at the sailor that ripped his fin off but he couldn't hear anything anymore. Then everything went black.
When he woke up he felt sluggish and his mind was clouded. He tried to open his eyes but couldn't find the strength to move his eyelids. What's going on? He tried to think but his thoughts moved slowly, as if they had to make their way through some kind of thick syrup before he could find them. He felt good though, as if he were back in the water. But he couldn't feel any part of his body, all there was was a tingly sensation, but compared to the pain from before he welcomed it. His mind had become exhausted just from thinking about what had happened and before he managed to notice it he'd been sucked back into the darkness.
The next time he woke up he felt clearer, his thoughts were less syrupy, and he managed to open his eyes. He was in a tank with some kind of see-through walls and an iron bottom, it was filled with seawater and he let himself sink to the bottom with a sigh. He touched the wall but felt nothing, his entire body was still numb. A blue canvas covered the tank, which seemed to be constantly wobbling and shaking. It didn't hold the light back, so he could see what was going on around him. There was a fresh white bandage around his wrist and his fin seemed to have been attached to him with little crooked nails, it was pressed against his tail and had a bandage around it also. Good, it meant he would still be able to swim in time. He felt his back, which was left open after he retracted his dorsal fin, and the large split had been sown shut with some kind of thread. At that moment he felt very grateful to be worth more in one piece.
After a while he started to get the feeling in his limbs back, but his wrist and tail remained numb. He saw the canvas flutter a bit on one side of the tank and he pressed himself against the invisible wall there… glass, he remembered Naruto calling it. The blue fabric seemed to have come loose there, and he saw a round thing spinning beneath him, faster than he could discern. How amazing, that must be a wheel. And if he remembered it right wheels were used to transport things, so he was being taken somewhere. Under the wheel was a flat grey surface, a… what was it? Asphalt road. How ingenious humans were! Truly, they couldn't swim where they needed to go, so they made these flat roads to travel on with ease. He was quite impressed, though he'd found it a little implausible when Naruto told him about it.
He briefly wondered about the boy, he hoped they hadn't punished him too much; he'd been innocent after all. Suddenly the wheel below him stopped spinning and the water, including its occupant, splashed up against one side of the tank. The sound he'd remembered from the boat and that he'd be hearing the whole time he'd been in the tank suddenly stopped. Engine, Naruto'd called it. He could hear voices from outside the tank, and the canvas was being undone on every side. The next moment it was completely pulled away and the bright sun became visible overhead. A second later there were flashing lights all around him, voices were screaming excitedly and humans were everywhere. Their voices kept reverberating in his tank, up to deafening volumes. The flashes blinded him. He pressed his hands over his ears, ignoring the pain that resurfaced at the action, closed his eyes and curled himself up into a bundle. What was happening? Why were there so many humans and what were those lights? He was scared; would they pull on him and hurt him as well?
He wrapped his large tail around himself protectively, inducing many 'ooooh's and 'aaah's in the crowd. A creaking voice sounded over the others, penetrating his mind over and over again with the same message of there finally being a second merman in this, the most progressive zoo of the entire world, and he had been caught only little ways off shore. He didn't want to hear it; he wanted it to end, to make it all stop. It was drowning his thoughts, all the sounds, lights and voices, it was breaking his mind. He didn't want any of this, he just wanted to go home and see his brother. Back in the ocean, he wanted to be back in the ocean. He started yelling to drown out the other voices, screaming at them to shut up, to stop, to leave him alone. But they only got louder.
He smelled blood, the bandages around his wrist had turned red and the water was changing colour too, but he couldn't stop pressing his hands over his ears, anything was better than those voices, he wanted to cry. Never in his life had he felt this helpless. He couldn't get out of the tank, and there was no water anywhere else in sight. Suddenly a familiar and desperate voice penetrated the wall of noise, "Sir! Prince! I'm so sorry, please forgive me!" someone made their way through the crowd and pressed himself against the glass tank. "Naruto?" yes, thank god, a familiar face. Itachi opened his eyes and used his good hand to push himself to the side the boy was pressed to. "Naruto, talk to me, please just talk to me." The boy started rambling about where he was, what the flashes and cameras were, and what was happening. By focussing only on the kid who was talking loudly with tears streaming down his face Itachi managed to maintain his sanity for just a little longer.
The people were amazed, the previous merman this zoo had purchased was nothing short of a monster, but this one was the most beautiful thing they'd ever seen! A skin as flawless as a perfect pearl, and pale as the moon. The long black hair drifting around the perfectly sculpted face only added to his features, and the black tail was, in comparison the the monstrous shark-tail of the other, a thing one would only see in movies… and dreams.
Itachi was losing himself, no matter his usual composure and calm mind; he was growing more and more desperate. He was bleeding too much; everything was a red haze around him, he couldn't see or hear the boy anymore. He couldn't see or hear anything anymore. The last thing he noticed was two humans in some weird full-body suit jumping into the tank. One grabbed him, and he didn't have the strength to resist. The other took out a little pump with a needle at the end, stuck in Itachi's unscathed arm and pumped the white fluid it held inside into his body.
The car that towed the large tank started up again and pulled it towards a staff-only entrance, leaving the spectators and reporters behind. The tank, complete with its once again passed out occupant was taken to the back of the exhibit of the other merman, the one they only caught a few days prior and who'd been a lot more trouble, and a lot more violent than this one. The tank was connected to the other large water tank that was part of the marine section of the zoo and the glass gate was opened. All the water in the tank crashed into the exhibit, pulling Itachi with it.
"Is this really okay?" one of the zoo's employees asked another, who shrugged. "What do I care." "But isn't the other one a… sharkman? What if he tries to eat him?" "Not our problem, let's go eat."
In the corner of the exhibit a dark blue form that'd been blissfully asleep behind a large boulder, away from the public's eye, awoke with a shock. His nostrils flared, pupils widened and stomach growled at the sudden and intense taste of blood in the water. The rows upon rows of pointy teeth stretched into a wicked grin. He grabbed the boulder with his massive hands and in one smooth motion, without even having to use his powerful tail that immediately blocked the entire glass front of the exhibit, thrust himself through the water. His dorsal fin was as sharp as his teeth, and as high as his massive tail was long. The fins on this tail were sharp and his blue lower body was covered in rows of spikes.
In less than a fraction of a second he arrived at his prey's side. "What do we have here? I remember you, pretty little thing." He grabbed the young merman, who was less than half his size, and pulled the prince to his chest. "How nice to see you again." He grabbed the bleeding wrist and brought it to his face to inhale the blood that was still steadily flowing into the water. It'd been too long since he made a kill, the fish the humans gave him were pathetic little snacks, but now they gave him such a lovely thing to tear limb from limb. He could already taste the crunchy bones hidden under the supple flesh. It wasn't like the arrogant piece of shit would remember him anyway, so it was fine to eat him. "Your life belongs to me after all." He whispered to the tasty little prey in his arms. He decided to start with the bleeding wrist, and was just about to sink his teeth into the pale flesh when Itachi opened his eyes. He sleepily looked up at the blue monstrosity before him and a shock of recognition hit him, the blue hair, insane eyes, sharp teeth and massive body… "Kisame?"