71

The True You

Shadows clung to the sea walls both above and below. Although the water was comfortably warm, there was a certain chill in the water that grew colder the closer they reached the dark cave. Furuichi took a deep breath, then entered the cave. He had learned that the Wise Octopus did not like wasting time with formalities. "You again," aged tentacles twitched and twisted at the sight of Furuichi, "what do you want this time?"

"Wise Octopus, I come only to ask a question."

"A question?" Though the tone was gruff, the octopus's tentacles curled with interest.

"Get to it, boy."

"What is he?"

Furuichi nodded in the direction behind him, forcing Oga to swim toward the angler fish that surrounded the ginormous creature. Swimming was still something new to the captain, a large tail instead of legs. Furuichi chuckled under his breath when he saw the dark flippers move out of unison. "Hmm….Come closer."

Oga bit his tongue, but moved closer to the weathered creature. Oga didn't think he looked all that different from Furuichi. Although the old captain wished his tail had shiny scales like Furuichi's. The Wise Octopus narrowed, clouded beady eyes. Oga's tail was like a siren's yet the creature had never seen this color or texture before, but had heard the legends older than the cave the Octopus resided. Oga did his best to hold back recoiling when tentacles poked and prodded the captain's new body. Eyes sliding toward Furuichi, Oga could tell the silverfish was holding himself back from attacking the ancient creature for touching Oga without permission. (Apparently that was the rule for all creatures of the sea, asking permission unless they were being eaten.) Oga felt a particularly friendly tentacle slide down from the tip of his dark hair, over the new fin adorning his spine, finishing down the tip of the long, black tail and flippers.

"Judging everything I've seen," Oga sighed and relaxed his muscles when those tentacles pulled away from his body, "he's still a siren."

"But," Furuichi pulled Oga smoothly behind him, "he looks so different. I've never seen another siren that looks like him."

"Indeed."

The Wise Octopus tucked the tentacles under his body, getting ready for sleep.

"He is a shark. And from the look at both of your hips," Furuichi shuddered at the deliberate once over the Wise Octopus gave his person, "the marks on both of you mean you're fated pairs. Meaning," the Octopus yawned, "your forced fealty toward Poseidon has now been lifted. Congratulations."

The two men swam out of the cave, happy to reach brighter waters. "I still have so many questions." Furuichi sighed. "But I'm just glad to see you're okay. And that Poseiden's Tear didn't do anything strange."

"And I'm glad to be able to do this," Oga pressed Furuichi into the nearest rock wall. Furuichi's eyebrows furrowed, and the silver siren took into a mouth full of water to argue, but was effectively cut off from Oga's lips locking onto his. "Mmm ooch!" Furuichi's hands drew back from Oga's fin. "That's sharp!"

"Sorry! I can't reach it, so I didn't know…"

"Let me take you to my den so I can explore you more."

Oga's tail twitched, followed by a lecherous grin. "No need to say more, Silver Fish. Lead the way."

Furuichi rolled his eyes, but grabbed Oga's hand, acting as a tugboat until Oga got the hang of swimming without help. It was true, however, they did have matching spots at their left hip. Although Furuichi's was black it was the same color of Oga's tail, and Oga's was silver, the same as Furuichi's tail. When the two sirens had finally situated themself in Furuichi's den, Furuichi saw that his Conch had crumbled into dust and that another one had not replaced it. A siren with no Conch meant that Poseidon had truly relieved the creature's of their duty and were allowed to live the rest of their days in freedom.

Furuichi hugged Oga and kissed him fervently. "Whoa, slow down, I still don't know how to use my thing!"

"I'll teach you just hurry up!"

"Yeesh, I'm hurrying, I'm hurrying!"