Chapter 5

When Mitsutada woke up, he was alone.

Warm sheets wrapped around him, and everything still smelled of Ookurikara. So much of him wanted to snuggle back down, and close his eyes again. The slight ache in his legs reminded him of yesterday's events and that made him even more resistant to getting up. It would be much easier to pretend it never happened and let it slip into the obscurity of memory. If he focused his thoughts on the ocean-waves lapping up against the shore and the sound of the wind on open water-forgetting everything else was easy.

He couldn't forget Ookurikara though.

With a sigh, he pushed the sheets off himself, and stuck his legs out over the edge of the bed. The sudden lack of heat made him regret his decision immediately, but it was too late to stop now. His legs felt considerably lighter than the previous night, but they were still brand new, and he figured it would be better to be safe than sorry; the memory of all the times he fell over yesterday made him cringe. With this in mind, he put his weight on his heels experimentally. They seemed to hold fine, so he slowly stood up, frowning a bit at the dull ache in new muscles. He could walk, albeit slowly. Before he left the room though, he decided to attempt to fix the sheets on the bed. He wasn't sure how to properly arrange them, and from the look of it, neither did Ookurikara; they were quite wrinkled, and tossed in a mound in the center of the bed. Even after straightening and flattening them, the wrinkles persisted. Still, they were evenly distributed now, which was a start. His frown deepened, but he figured there wasn't anything else to be done about it now. Step by step, he made his way out of the room and towards the kitchen.

From the sound of sizzling and the smell of some kind of food, Ookurikara 's current activities were easy enough to understand. However, they were a bit harder to believe, since all the time that Mitsutada had known the fisherman, he had never once actually seen evidence that he could or did cook. Even with fishing, he typically released everything he caught because cleaning and gutting the fish felt like too much of a hassle. So of course Mitsutada was surprised when entered the kitchen to see the other man clad in an apron (the short kind that only covers your waist), with all his attention on the stove. He turned at the sound, and soon his expression mirrored Mitsutada's own.

"You can walk?"

Though it was more of a precaution than anything, Mitsutada's hands rested heavily on the door frame. Anyone could see that he had arrived on his own though, so for the moment he decided not to fret too much. "I walked plenty yesterday. My legs were just worn out last evening; they're brand new after all." After everything, he felt terribly defensive, and it leaked through into his voice.

"How long have you...?" The shock hadn't left Ookurikara though, and in that moment, both of them realized that the fisherman had no idea when the mermaid had become and ex-mermaid. Before the other opted to answer though, a bit of hot oil from whatever fried in the pan flew up and struck Ookurikara's arm. He turned back to his previous task with a slight curse.

This gave the fresh and curious human enough time to really look at the things being cooked. A bowl of some sort of semi-liquid took up space on one side of the stove, and a plate with what looked like flat, round, soft bread was visible on the other side. Based on the smell, Mitsutada would say that this food was best with sweets. Ookurikara brought jam and some kind of syrup to the table with the finished product soon after and the new human mentally patted himself on the back. He needed to get used to the human way of living since his mermaid tail was never coming back, and he liked the idea of cooking quite a bit.

So much, it seemed, that he forgot about the tension between the two of them and eagerly dug into the new food when it was offered. On its own, the food was soft and pleasant tasting, but the syrup and the jam definitely did wonders. A smile of contentment washed over his face as he savored a bite covered in a bit of fruit jam. These were amazing.

"Glad you like the pancakes." The sudden comment caused the ex-mermaid jump slightly, which only made the tanned man sitting across from him smile more. Well, it wasn't really a big smile, but it was definitely notable for him.

"They're wonderful, Kuri-Chan," the response came easily and honestly.

"... I am not that good at pancakes, but...I can make them for you again... if you want." The embarrassment was back, almost like old times, and Mitsutada found himself smiling further at the memories. But this time, he refused to be pulled in.

"When?" Smile now completely absent, Mitsutada fixed his lone eye entirely on the man he had come so far for. "You don't want me here."

Whereas the ex-mermaid's expression had changed with a controlled smoothness, Ookurikara's completely crumbled. The soft mood created by the sweets and the morning's drowsiness dissipated under the weight of the words alone. "I... I never said that I didn't want you here." The word "want" echoed in the room. It bounced about in Mitsutada's small human ears. It hit his chest like an arrow, and his pounding heart sent it dripping down to his groin. The word wiggled through the muscles in his brain, tying them in knots. It dug into the edges of his lips and pulled them back hard. He was not smiling.

If it was possible to understand anything after all the joy and hurt and chaos of the last few weeks, it would be one thing: Ookurikara's didn't really know what he wanted at all.

"You want me here, but you don't want to be my mate?" Pushing too hard was something Mitsutada usually didn't do. Especially with the fisherman, who could be quite skittish. But after everything, after all the sacrifices, there came a point when definitions needed setting.

The pain was there, in those yellow eyes, but Mitsutada tried to ignore it and focus on the words that were coming out of his mouth instead. "I don't know anything about you, Mitsutada. We've been seeing each other for almost a year, but that hardly counts when we only interacted in one place." His eyes shot to Mitsutada's gloves an eyepatch for a moment, betraying his thoughts. "I can't say that I am your mate and not know so much about you." The obvious thought behind the words left them heavy on his tongue, and he looked away, not sure what to follow up with.

Weight or no, the mermaid could not be swayed easily, and continued his questioning. "Would you rather I leave?"

A tanned hand shot across the table, and the mermaid couldn't push away the fingers that seemed desperate to intertwine with his. Those yellow eyes burned. All the hesitance was gone and only conviction coated his voice. "I want you to stay."

"If not as your mate, then as what?" And the question seemed silly, because why should feelings need to be categorized into names? It should be enough to just be around Ookurikara, knowing that both of them were mutually interested in each other. But it did matter. Because having that name to verbalize their bond had meant everything to him. It was a reassurance as well as a mile marker. People threw away everything for their mates, and no one batted an eyelash. The name alone put all those feelings of passion and devotion into an easy package that everyone could understand. But perhaps it was just that-an ideal. It wasn't really possible.

But before the musings pulled Mitsutada too deep, Ookurikara squeezed his hand and pushed out an answer. "I can't be your mate, Mitsutada. Not yet, anyway..." and here he paused, as if considering all the options. A light seemed to go off in his head though. Suddenly, he seemed to be glowing, alit with this new idea of his. He caught the other's eye.

"Mitsutada, go out with me."

The ex-mermaid blinked. "Go out where?"

The heavy atmosphere all but dissolved as the two stared at each other with equal confusion.

"Become my boyfriend?" Ookurikara tired again.

"Your friend who is male?"

Things just weren't translating, and the fisherman ran his free hand through his hair. "When you have found someone you like, but need time to get to know them and decide whether or not to be their mate, what do you call that?"

The ex-mermaid's lips parted slightly in understanding. "Counting. Kuri-Chan, you want to do that with me?"

"...It's not what you want, but it's all I can give."

The words fluttered into ears that were no longer webbed and settled into a brain that had still not completed the transformation into humanity yet. "Under those conditions, I can stay by your side?"

"...If you want." That shy side made another appearance in the form of Ookurikara's sudden interest in the other side of the room, and the other man couldn't help but smile. He squeezed the hand that was holding his so tightly still.

"I do want to. Please let me be your..." Here he paused, realizing he didn't know the word just yet.

"Boyfriend," Ookurikara supplied.

"Thank you." He was a bit embarrassed at the slip up, but carried on nonetheless. "Let me be your boyfriend and be mine as well." It was obvious that the last two weeks weren't forgiven just like that, but the desire to stay close was more than enough keep them trying.


The joy of lazing about on the couch became the second human pastime Mitsutada learned that day. Normally be would have protested to such a listless activity, but his legs were still not quite ready for prolonged use, and he wasn't about to turn down a chance to cuddle with his ex-mate but new boyfriend. A foot hooked around his, and the other mumbled shyly into the soft skin on his neck: "I like your legs."

His chest heaved with short but hearty chuckles. "I would hope so. They're permanent after all."

The man who had been so comfortably tangled against him suddenly went rigid. He sat up straight and looked at Mitsutada like a fisherman looks at a broken line. "You can't... change back?"

The smile on his lips showed no bitterness. Some sadness, perhaps, but it was not enough to change the commitment which flavored his voice. "I was worried about you, and this was the only way I could move on my own. This is me now."

The shock moved inward, and transformed into something of self-loathing. "Mitsutada, because of me, you..."

But the sentence wasn't allowed to go any further. A sturdy hand cupped that tanned face firmly and drew their eyes together. "I made the decision and I will not regret it, Kuri-Chan." The other bit down on his lips, but nodded slowly.


In the days that followed, Mitsutada learned what it meant to Ookurikara to be human. He thoroughly explored and learned everything about the house, from electronics to cleaning products (Though the last one was spotty at best since the fisherman obviously didn't really know what he was doing when it came to cleaning.). They went to the grocery store together, and Mitsutada realized the equivalent of healthy human food.

They even regularly went back to the dock, and Ookurikara tried to teach him about lures and lines. The ex-mermaid was drawn in by the sea though, and found himself slowly stripping down to his underthings so he could meet the water fully again. Without his tail, though, he couldn't swim at all. If he hadn't caught himself on one of the posts, he might have drown right there in the shallow water beneath Ookurikara's feet. He smiled sheepishly at the mortified fisherman, embarrassedly trying to explain that he needed help getting up on the dock again. At the time, it was easy to laugh off. Later though, curled up against his boyfriend in the bed they now shared every night, he bit down on his lips and had to focus to keep from soaking the pillow with what was leaking from his eyes.

The two police officers came back to check on him (that's when he finally learned their names, Ichigo and Nakigitsune), and after the awkward initial explanation ("You don't suppose that he left you at the beach because you kept calling him your wife, do you?"), they became fast friends. Upon hearing the offhand comment that the ex-mermaid wanted to learn to cook, Ichigo happily offered to teach him. And that was the beginning of Mitsutada's weekly outings to the Toushirou household. He always came back in the evening with bundle of stories accompanied by laughter and a few Tupperwares full of the day's recipe.

The days settled into a pleasant routine. Mitsutada did the housework and cooking when Ookurikara was at work. And when all the corners were dust free and there were no more wrinkles in the sheets, he set about fixing up the yard and redoing the exterior of the house. He had initially be too enthralled with the idea of "Kuri-Chan's house!" to realize how worn down it was, but going to the Toushirou's place had given him a comparison, and he wasn't about to let the two of them keep living in a shack. But even with all this, there were still plenty of evenings where they sat quietly on the dock together. Life was comfortable again.

TBC…