Naruto waited under the water, staying steady against the waves crashing against the shore above. The storm was persistent and annoying. It made him antsy and worst, it kept the human from coming to see him. Originally, he had been drawn to the little lagoon a while ago by the strange, circling star that seemed to be captured in the odd land folk structure. He had followed it into the mainland, watching in awe as it spun round and round, its light traveling far over the waters. He wanted to know what it was, and how humans had managed it, he had chased a falling star once as a pup and never even made it close. Was it magic?
He had almost fled when the human came out that first night, sitting heavily on the rocks and watching for something Naruto couldn't see.
"Are you one of them, the Uzushio?" He asked and Naruto froze, how had the human known? But then the human chuckled and had made him even more confused. Were all humans this confusing? What did he mean?
He wasn't sure what kept pulling him back in, the light, the human, or his own curiosity. Either way, he shouldn't be here, the feeling of betrayal sitting heavy in his gut every time he returned. His mother had always warned him of the dangers of the mainland, of the monsters that used to hunt them for their magic and now for their pelts.
"Stay in deep water Naruto." Her human hands were warm on his small face, her violet eyes serious but there was a sadness that he didn't yet understand in them. She had been training him how to use his legs to walk and run on a small sandbar far from prying eyes. He had hidden his fear when she taught him how to use his clumsy human fingers to untie the knots of a sailor's net and then quickly wrap himself back into his seal form. She taught him how to fight with a rock or a sharp piece of shell, she even taught him to read and write the human language even though his understanding was rudimentary at best as a child. "I'm teaching you this Pup because your father," she hesitated and Naruto's ears perked, his mother rarely spoke of his father. "Your father was a human, a kind and loving one, so you should know their ways, as well as it is our heritage. I may teach you about them because we used to walk side by side with the land dwellers but do not be mistaken Pup. We do not belong with them." She crouched in front of him suddenly, hands pressing desperately into his shoulders and it scared him. "Do not let any human see you, my Naruto. Don't let them take your pelt. Promise me you won't go near the mainland, that you won't ever go near the humans."
"I promise." It had been easy then to keep that promise, it had been easy to ignore his innate curiosity about his human side when they traveled with their small colony. He didn't need to think of the land dwellers when he was in their small world. But one by one their numbers dwindled until his mother wouldn't even let him leave their safe waters to hunt or even shift. He had argued that he wasn't a pup anymore and she had trained him well enough to fend for himself, but she had been adamant. Then one day, not even she returned. That was when he had first broken his promise to his mother, moving closer to the mainland for food and letting his curiosity get the better of him.
"There you are," the human breathed when he surfaced, looking almost relieved to see him, maybe he had been worried because of the storm and Naruto wanted to grin. He was strong, he could handle this little squall. He let out a huff as he crouched, holding out his hand and he eagerly bumped his nose against the warm fingers. He liked how the man smelled, sharp and what he imagined fresh earth smelled like. But something was wrong, the human seemed tense, and he wished… he wished he could ask with his own voice. It wasn't the first time that he had wished that, he had dreams of stashing his pelt and walking on the sand with him and his animals, maybe seeing if the humans were as bad as the elders of the colony had said. He liked this human, he was kind, he didn't seem like a monster, he seemed like a person he could trust. Maybe he was all alone too.
"You should be careful Uzumaki." His attention snapped back to the human, that name, Uzumaki, resonating in his blood. The human man had started calling him that shortly after their first encounter and the use of the name had filled him with an odd sort of warmth, like his mother's old stories had. "Can you believe it Obito? I'm talking to a seal and telling it to be careful." Naruto cocked his head as his hand dropped and he couldn't help the questioning whine. He never understood fully what the human said and it drove him crazy, he wanted to know, wanted to talk with him. But that would mean shedding his pelt and fully breaking his promise. But he looks so sad… The man looked at him again, his strange dark eyes were the same as his mother's had been when he had made his promise. "Just watch your back, okay?" He whined again, feeling uneasy, why was the human giving him a warning after all this time? He dipped back beneath the water, not wanting to be under that intense gaze.
"Be safe." He left the lagoon, feeling the ocean start to churn as the storm picked up again. Everything would be back to normal tomorrow.
"What's it like?" Suigetsu, a pesky water spirit that hung around the sunken remnants of Uzushio, asked, his sharp teeth glinting off the distant sunlight. "You barely belonged with your own kind when they were here and you definitely don't belong on land with those freaks." Naruto resisted the urge to growl, hoping that he would leave him alone, focusing on looking for the carved pieces of stone that lined his ancestral home. He wondered if his human would like it as a gift or if he'd throw it back into the ocean. "You really think that human man wants this crap?" Suigetsu floated in front of him, white hair floating around his pale face and purple eyes glowing, a nice piece of spiral-carved stone twirling between his fingers. "You think that that human actually cares about an outcast like you?" This time Naruto snapped, teeth closing around the spirit's arm as he dissipated into the water around them, the piece of stone falling into the silt below. "Come on now Naruto, if you want him so bad then shed your pelt and tell me huh?" He laughed, reappearing behind him. "Or better yet, tell him, I dare ya!" Suigetsu's laugh echoed distorted as he disappeared again.
Naruto gritted his teeth and turned towards the surface, leaving the carved stones beneath him. Maybe Suigetsu had a point, that he should just get over it and meet him. If things went bad, he could always return to the sea just like his mother had all those years ago. He paused, floating, as he was overwhelmed by a sudden wave of grief, he missed her and she had been an outcast just like him even though he hadn't understood then. Rumors had always followed them within the colony but he been too young to understand the harsh words and implications, but he did now. Kushina had broken the rules and left the colony, retreating to the mainland and not returning until she was pregnant with him.
"But why did you leave him?" Naruto had asked when he was old enough and she explained.
"He left first Pup," she sighed sadly, her eyes drawn the horizon that Naruto always found himself looking for. "There was a foolish war and he had to, he said it was his duty. I waited but he didn't come back. Sometimes people don't come back Naruto."
Maybe it was in his blood to want what he couldn't have and now even she had left him as his father had left her. It hurt to be alone. He shook his head fiercely, no she wouldn't have just left him, something must have happened. Maybe the surface held the answers for once.
Naruto looked up as a dark shadow passed overhead and he wanted to grin as the giant beast slowed to a stop. He had first stumbled across the great-tailed beast when he was just a pup and further from the colony than he should have been. He had heard of him before, from the elders, who described Isobu as being a feared monster and as the beast that had dragged Uzushio back to the depths. But Naruto hadn't been afraid and the beast seemed to be more warier of him at first. He grinned as he remembered how the elders had yelled at him, his mom fighting right back before turning on him with her own rage. Isobu would understand where he was coming from, he hoped at least as he and the beast resurfaced as if already knowing what he wanted to do.
His magic pulled at his skin and he curled in on himself, twisting and turning as his pelt expanded and relaxed around him. The effort had him sprawling on Isobu's shell atop his head and panting from the exertion. It had been so long, too long his body screamed as he wiggled his fingers and toes, feeling the warm and rough surface under his human skin.
"I-Isobu?" The name rolled off his tongue, stiff and awkward and underneath his back, the great three-tailed beast rumbled. "Isobu," he repeated, growling in frustration as his voice broke and his throat felt like it was on fire. But I can still speak! Even though it hurt, he felt the curl of excitement in his stomach. He could bark and communicate with other seals and the spirits but he hadn't been sure if that would translate to human speech, he wasn't even sure how long it had been since he had spoken like this. But he could, he could talk to the human!
"Better," Isobu rumbled, his tails splashing behind them and Naruto sighed, rolling over onto his stomach and reaching up to trace one of the deadly spikes along Isobu's head. "Naruto?" Isobu asked timidly, shifting in the water and he made a questioning noise. "You've never shifted to speak with me before. You wish to leave, don't you? You want to join the surface." Naruto stiffened, not sure how to answer his friend.
"I don't- I don't want to," he said softly, voice still grating in his throat. "B-But I'm… I'm lonely, y'know?"
"Yes, I know," he rumbled, and Naruto closed his eyes, gripping his pelt to his chest tightly. "I sometimes miss my own siblings."
"Siblings?" Naruto squawked, pulling himself to look down over the crest of Isobu's head and catching a glimpse of golden eyes.
"I have brothers and sisters, yes," Isobu sounded amused but sad. "Humans are untrustworthy, but they are loud like you are. Maybe you will fit in."
"Gee thanks," he drawled, trying to clear his throat. "Y-You sound like the others."
"They were smart, you are not my friend. Another reason you might fit in with them."
"H-Hey!" The great beast ducked suddenly, submerging his full body in the water and causing Naruto to scramble, wrapping himself in his pelt as he sunk.
"I will miss you if you leave," the beast said as Naruto found himself level with the massive eye. "Be careful."
It wouldn't be forever, he thought. Just a short while. Isobu nodded as if he understood and then with a gust of water he was gone. With his mind made he turned back down to the ruins of Uzushio, grabbing that piece of stone that Suigetsu had held between his jaws. He would give it to his human.
He was going to do it, Naruto assured himself. The annoying storm had finally settled for good and the sun was shining high in the sky. He had found a perfect spot not far from the trapped star but out of sight from where the human usually walked. Yes, I'm gonna do it. He dropped the stone on the shore and ducked beneath the gentle waves, twisting his body and willing the change, losing his breath in little bubbles as he separated himself. It was hard and he struggled for longer than he would have liked but it was still faster than when he had shifted with Isobu.
He took a deep, gasping breath once he resurfaced, coughing to try and clear his lungs and flick the water from his hair and out of his eyes. Naruto gathered his pelt around his waist, before looking down at his hands. The tan skin there was still foreign to him and he stumbled as his feet were sucked into the sand. Crap, this was going to be harder than he thought. He let out a small yelp as his knees buckled with the force of the next wave sending him sprawling in the surf with a mouthful of saltwater and sand.
"Urgh," he gagged and spit. "Dammit!" Such an idiot! He coughed again, throat burning from the salt and vocal cords grating painfully. Damn, still hurts.
"You said a bad word." He yelped louder this time, scrambling backward and coughing again as water rushed over his shoulders. How did humans do this?! "Are you a mermaid?" He flinched again, meeting the large crimson eyes of a human child perched on a large rock, watching him carefully. He had seen this child before he realized, he had watched from afar as they had played with the human's animals. He remembered feeling jealous because it had looked like fun and the child had been on their beach.
"What?" He rasped trying to push himself back up.
"Are you a mermaid?" The child repeated.
"What's that?" he asked, frowning, and feeling himself grow impatient. He didn't want to be wasting his time talking to this kid, he wanted to be talking to his human! The girl rolled her eyes with a huff.
"Do you know Uncle Kakashi? He lives in the lighthouse."
"Mirai!" Naruto flinched at the strange voice, panic quickly overwhelming his resolve.
"Here Daddy!" The girl called back, unnerving gaze still on him and he flinched again. What was he doing? He didn't know these humans!
"Do not let any human see you."
He was back under before he could even think, wrapping himself back in the comfort of his pelt and fleeing away from the shore.
"Daddy, a mermaid!" He heard the little girl yell but he didn't turn around until he was further out, hesitantly letting his head pop out to watch. The child was in the arms of another man and his human was strolling along the shore behind with his animals. Wait, Kakashi, was that his human's name?
Kakashi… there was a surge of joy in his chest and he let out a happy bark. He might not have gotten to talk to him but he finally had a name. That alone had made it worth it.
He moved back to the shore when the sun started to set, he plucked his rock back from the water and waited. Should I try again? He wondered, feeling the magic prickle at his skin.
"Hey there Uzumaki." He flinched as his human, Kakashi, was suddenly in front of him, pulling a piece of fabric away from his face. Naruto had noticed it before when the human and child were with him too. Was this some human custom? Or was Naruto the only one allowed to see his face? "Maa or should I be calling you our mermaid?" He chuckled and Naruto still didn't know what the hell a mermaid was but he didn't like them and he felt like Kakashi was teasing him now. The human shook his head with another chuckle and held out his hand. "She couldn't stop talking about you, telling everyone we met about the mermaid by the lighthouse. What's this?" He asked when Naruto suddenly dropped the carved rock into his open palm. He let out a soft bark, nudging his cold fingers with his nose as the human stared at him with his strange eyes. "You really are a strange one, aren't you?" Naruto didn't know what he meant but he held the stone between his slender fingers like it was precious. He knew immediately that he wouldn't throw it away. They sat there for several minutes, the comfortable silence stretching out as he watched Kakashi carefully trace the whorls carved into stone and clouds slowly rolled in once again.
"Seems we weren't quite free of the storm after all," Kakashi sighed, looking skyward as rain started to fall and thunder echoed over the water. "Be safe Uzumaki."
Naruto turned away, he'd have his chance to try again tomorrow, he thought as darkness fell, obscuring the moon and any other shadows that might be hiding on the surface.
AN:
since we've seen each other last I've:
traveled back home (I was visiting my family at the time of posting),
not too long after that, we sold our house, got a new one, and then moved across the country.
Now, I'm at my new place but I have none of my stuff so this whole chapter was written either in a hotel or by sitting on the floor of my bedroom so here's hoping you like it.
Hope you all are having a great summer and staying safe!
