Judar's voice brought Kenmei's attention back to his smug expression, but she was so confused and in shock that she couldn't find it within herself to speak. "You must be able to figure it out by now. I think you're at least decently smart for a human." As he spoke, something began to rise up out of the water behind him, but Kenmei was too locked onto his face to see anything but a blurry shape. Blinking rapidly, Kenmei reached up and rubbed her eyes with her uninjured hand, as if trying to rub this illusion from her mind.
"Look at me."
Giving a small flinch at his voice, she quickly looked back at him, her focus instantly being pulled to the object behind him. A large, scaled maroon and crimson tail lifted from the water, barely giving Kenmei a glimpse of the elaborate fin that sat at the end of the tapered extremity. Beginning to breath heavily in shock, her eyes came back to his, finding herself in awe of his presence. At this point, she knew for a fact that she was not dreaming or imagining anything. The slight tingling in the wound on her hand, and the heat that his gaze sent rushing through her body was enough to keep her tethered to reality.
Judar was indeed the Lonely Water Boy from her story, a creature from the depths of the ocean that came to find solace in the company of a human. However, in this fantasy she was currently living, her story seemed flipped on its head, and she was the one that found peace in the company of a demon of myth. Evil these creatures were, as told in her childhood books and lore in her local library. Yet, she felt no fear, only an undying attraction that she craved to explore deeper.
His expression no longer smug, he seemed a bit bothered by her silence and her stare. Slapping his tail fin against the surface of the water with impatience, he asked, "Are you scared of me?"
Slowly shaking her head as she pulled herself out of shock, Kenmei timidly reached forward, running the tip of her fingers against the scales on the back of his hand. His fingers twitched as if he were going to pull his hand away, but he kept it in place, allowing her touch the slick surface. "I'm not scared…" She spoke softly, as if she were scared she might spook him. "Just fascinated…" She gave a small gasp as the scales rose up off the skin a bit and she pulled her hand away, noticing that the edges were quite sharp. With a frustrated grumble, Judar pushed himself away from the rock. "That, uh.. happens when I'm nervous."
Pulling his braid over his shoulder, he showed what little of his back he could to her. Larger scales covered his shoulder blades and seemed to cascade down his back on either side of his spine, where the fair skin was untouched. These scales, much bigger in comparison to the ones on his hands, currently sat raised off the skin. "Is it like a defensive thing?" Kenmei asked softly, observing them. With a sigh, Judar nodded, rolling his shoulders a bit as if trying to relax himself. "Yeah, when I'm nervous or threatened. Honestly, it kind of hurts. But it goes away when I calm down."
He looked back at her, narrowing his eyes at her in annoyance. "Why are you so calm about this? I thought you would freak out more!" Soft smile crossing her face, Kenmei leaned forward a little more, resting her elbows on her knees. "Did you want me to be?" His face flushed in agitation, Judar began to swim around the pool, no longer bothering to keep his tail hidden beneath the water. She could see it sparkle brilliantly beneath the surface of the water, and when it broke the surface, the shine casted from the sun nearly blinded her.
"I don't want you to be, I guess. It's more… I expected you to be. You're too calm about it!" Currently floating around on his back, his tail rose up and came down with enough force to create a splash and a small wave, tossing the water more onto Kenmei's legs. She shivered and stood, unable to stand the chill any longer. "You're not happy that I accepted it so easily?" Judar turned his pouty gaze to her, beginning to make his way back over. "You're not scared that I could pull you under the water and drown you so I can eat you?"
Kenmei's face flushed a bit, moving her arms to hug herself against the cold. "Well… I can think of worse ways to die." Bewildered by her response, Judar stared up at her with a dumbfounded expression, until he shook his head, as if to physically rid himself of confusion. "You're so weird." He propped himself back up onto the rock with his arms, peering at her knees curiously. Her jeans being ripped in that area, her skin peeked through, gaining his interest enough to make him reach up and poke her skin gently. "Why do you have holes on your, uh… What are these?" He slipped his finger between her skin and the fabric, tugging on it a bit.
"Jeans." Kenmei observed him, noticing his curiosity was almost like that of a child. Judar removed his finger and ran it down her shin, feeling the wet fabric. "What's this fabric called?" Kenmei felt her face flush at his touch, and she assumed he didn't really know the foundation of boundaries. "It's, uhm… It's called denim." He nodded, his hand falling to her hiking boots to tug at the laces. "You know, I spend a lot of time listening to humans. I have since I was little. That's why I can talk to you."
He took a quick moment to glance up at her before his attention was pulled back to her shoes. "Otherwise you wouldn't be able to talk to me. Anyway, humans have such weird things they never talk out loud about, but not things like clothes. It's like common knowledge to all of them. Denim. Shoes…" He tried to mimic the way the shoelace was tied on her other foot, fumbling about with the strings. "Things that are so weird to me, but so common place to you. I hear the words but I don't understand what they mean. What are 'jeans' anyway? What are they for?"
Giving up on the shoelaces, he tugged on the wet fabric of her jeans, looking up at her curiously. "Do you people not like to show your skin or something?" Kenmei looked down at her legs, her hands coming down to poke her fingers in her pockets. "Well… We have different types of clothes for different times of the year, for when it's hot or when it's cold. Jeans are for either, really, but I usually only wear them when it's cold. They have pockets, so they're functional to carry things with, too."
It felt completely bizarre to Kenmei to be explaining these type of mundane things to Judar, but his gaze assured her that he was intently focused. Judar scrunched up his face a bit in confusion, his gaze rising to her stomach. "But why? Why do you want to cover your skin? And what's that?" His finger came up and poked the metal button at the top of her jeans. Her face flushing hotter, she gently smacked his hand away, bringing her hands down to cover that area. "D-don't do that, you can't just poke there!"
Judar glowered at her, taking his hand back, as if he were highly offended. "Why, what does it matter? Is that what holds the jeans on your legs?" Kenmei nodded, crossing her arms. "Yeah, the button is what helps keep it snug on your body." Grumbling in slight frustration, his tail breached and slapped against the surface of the water a few times, his eyes narrowed at the fabric on her legs. "I still don't get why you people hide your skin! It seems pointless to make all these clothes."
Taking a few steps back, Kenmei sat back down in the dry pebbles, tired of standing. "Well we can't go around naked, Judar." In response to her moving further away, Judar pushed himself up onto the flat surface of the rock, until all of what was humanoid of his figure was out of the water. From what Kenmei could see, he was quite lean, if not a little thin, and his aquatic lower half began right at the base of his hips. It was a smooth transition from skin to scales, the thick patches on his back pulling the two sections together. Now that his entire back was exposed to her, she could see a dorsal fin protruded from the skin, beginning right below the arch of his back and continuing down his tail into the water. It was currently folded in against his form, and she grew curious as to what it looked like when he was swimming.
Propping his head up with one arm, he reached over with his free hand, once again tugging at the laces of her shoes. "I know it's not normal for you people to walk around without clothes. They just seem pointless to me." He gently tugged at the shoe, soon slipping it loose from her heel and off her foot completely. He glowered at the sock that covered her foot, seeming disgusted with it. "You even have something else under your shoes? What is wrong with you people." Using only two fingers, as if disgusted to touch it, he tugged her sock off of her foot and tossed it to the side. "Yuck, it's like extra skin!"
Kenmei couldn't help but to giggle at his reaction, flexing her toes about once they were free. "It's to protect the skin of my feet from getting blisters from the shoes." Judar watched her wiggle her toes, eyes bright with curiosity. "Blisters… Sounds painful." His curious expression turned to one of distaste as he looked her foot over. "Ew… feet are ugly. I've never seen one this close before." Kenmei felt her face flush, digging her foot into the pebbles to hide it. "Hey! That's so mean!" Judar grabbed her by the ankle and pulled her foot back out, moving her leg around in the air so he could observe it from different angles.
"Well, I don't know what your feet look like in relation to other feet! Maybe you have cute feet, I don't fucking know." He narrowed his eyes at her, though his expression softened when he noticed how embarrassed she was. Her face flushed a dark red, she was avoiding looking at him, and was trying her best not to pull her leg away. He had effectively crossed the boundaries of personal space, and she was unsure of how to bring it up to him. She was at war with herself, her embarrassment fighting against her emotions.
Kenmei could still not believe that she had become companions with a mythical creature like this, and in truth, she had no idea how to act. She wasn't sure if she should be scared of him. What if all of this was just a trick to make her comfortable before he dragged her to the depths? His pointed teeth and sharp fingernails was proof enough that his main source of food was meat, and that should set fear off inside of her. But, she couldn't find it in herself to be scared of him. Though he was a little invasive to personal space, and had a bit of an attitude, he was gentle and mostly curious. Nothing about him was threatening, and his presence was soothing to her.
The hours trailed on with the same type of mundane conversations, with Judar asking his many questions. What is this? What's it for? How does it work? How is music trapped inside an electronic box? Why do those taste so nasty? Why is that water not salty? Why do you not eat meat? How do you read those human letters in your books? What are those brown dots all over your skin?
By the time the sun was growing low in the sky, Kenmei had answered every question about every item on her person. Now, Judar was laying on his back beside her in the pebbles, tossing a piece of fruit up into the air above him before catching it. "What is this called again?" Kenmei gave a small yawn, pulling her eyes away from the time on her phone to see what he had. "That's a peach. You should try it." Judar glowered at the item as he caught it one last time, holding it up closer to his face. "But it feels weird… Like it's hairy." Unable to help a small giggle, Kenmei shook her head, turning to face him a bit more. "Come on, do it."
As he contemplated the thought, Kenmei's eyes moved to observe him once again, even though she had been staring at him the entire day. He had no scales across his chest and torso, except down along his sides leading to his back, and the skin on his stomach seemed the most fair. Though he was thin, the muscles on his stomach were well defined, and he seemed very fit. Many times, she felt the urge to run her fingertips along the curves of his toned stomach, but she knew that was not appropriate. Physically, he was a flawless creature, and her knowledge of the lore surrounding his kind told her why.
Males and females alike were all pure beauty, with voices that could seduce and charm that could render even the coldest of person helpless. Sailors and people on beaches were known to have vanished without a trace, sometimes even leaving entire ships vacant. Survivors would claim that the Devil Fish had tried to take them away, but what was done to those they successfully captured was left to speculation. Tortured, used for mating rituals, eaten, or even have their legs turned to fins with an unknown magic.
Now, Kenmei knew that their existence was not a myth, but what of their motives? Looking at this living creature beside her, observing a peach with confusion and curiosity, she couldn't bring herself to believe that he had malicious intent. She wanted to believe that he did not plan on harming her, and until he proved otherwise, she decided she would continue to trust him. Suddenly, she was pulled from her thoughts by him yelling out loudly, his tail flapping about in excitement. "What happened?"
Too deep into scarfing down the peach, he could not respond, ripping into it like it was a live animal trying to escape. He ate every bit of it, all the way down to the pit, before he even realized Kenmei had been watching him in shock. Licking his lips, he sat up, peering down at her with almost a crazed excitement. "Can I eat this part, too?" He held up the pit, seeming as if he were ready to shove it into his mouth at any second. Kenmei quickly shook her head, trying to restrain her giggles. "No, no, Judar, that's the seed part. You can't eat that. But here." She reached into her bag, pulling out another one. As she handed it to him, he dropped the pit into the pebbles, not even taking a second to begin devouring the fresh fruit.
No longer able to restrain her giggles, she laughed freely at him, finding his excitement beyond adorable. "And here I thought you didn't like my food." Wiping his mouth off, he dropped the pit onto the ground, shaking his head. "No, I hate those weird… nuts? I hate the nuts. But these fruit things are awesome." Without permission, he began to rummage through her bag, taking another peach for himself. He ate this one more calmly, however, beginning to scoot himself back towards the water. "You'd better go home, it's going to be dark."
With a sigh, Kenmei nodded, grabbing her shoes. "I know… I just enjoy being with you. And you said this would be the last time I could see you, so…" Though she tried to control it, her sadness was apparent in her voice. After sinking himself back into the water, Judar looked up at her, speaking through a full mouth. "I'll tell you what. You bring me more of these, you can see me again. Also, I want you to read me another one of your stories, I liked them." He watched her sit motionless for a bit before he reached back over, able to grab her toes.
Gripping her big toe, he squeezed it, gaining her attention. Kenmei felt her stomach flutter as he grinned at her, heart beginning to pound heavily through her body.
"Five days. Come back here in five days. I'll be mad if you don't have a bunch of these peach things, though. If you're not careful, you'll end up as my snack instead."
