Discovery

'I will not drown.' Gaara thought to himself as he was swept off the deck. He fought his way to the surface, only to be hit by a plank that had been resting on the ship with him only moments ago. Before it could be taken away by the current, he swung around and grabbed it, clinging on for dear life.

Cold air struck his face, but as he gasped for air, water rushed into his mouth. He spat it back out as another wave swallowed him. His lungs burned, demanding oxygen, as he was buffeted by several waves at once. He surfaced again, this time catching a glimpse of the schooner. His stomach sank as he found how far away it had already become, Her crew nothing but brightly coloured insects. A roaring came to his ears, and with only a second to look upwards, he realized he had drifted into the bottom of a swell, and a giant wave was about to crash on him.

It hit with the force of a car, slamming his head against the board he clung to and driving him unconscious. He drifted on, held on the wood by a snag in his shirt, as he was tossed around like a play toy.

As soon as they reached the island, word was sent back to the mainland of the loss of Gaara via messenger bird. Several of the islands' small boats set off in search as the mainland sent out everything from beachcombers on land to warships in the sea.

Naruto seethed, not only at himself, but at Gaara's father. He knew the entire search was a façade, that the king would be elated if his youngest died, and only had the search so that he would look good for his people.

Naruto could only pray someone who wasn't loyal to the king found Gaara first.

Gaara awoke to blinding sunlight. He covered his eyes, trying to remember what had happened. Being neck-deep in water was a good memory booster. Glancing around, he tried to discern if land was anywhere nearby. Finding none, he debated his options. One, he was undoubtedly closer to the island, however, it was small and easy to miss. He could easily swim right past it and into the open ocean. Second, he could head back to the much further away mainland, which he would hit no matter what, though greatly increased his risk of death by sea monster or exposure.

Cursing under his breath, he started swimming west, towards his country.

Rock Lee thrust himself over a rocky outcropping. He was exploring on his day off from knight training. He had been somewhat surprised, since Gai-sensei was usually a stickler about training, but brushed it off. Nothing was going to keep him from it out here anyway, since he made up his own training exercises sometimes when he was alone.

Buffeted by a wave, Lee stretched, from his webbed fingers down to his ridged back, all the way down to his tailfin. Even his long, spiked ears wiggled as he did so. Then using his outstretched arms, and the large webbing that came off them, he propelled himself forward, continuing his exploration of the reef. He wasn't supposed to be so close to land, and therefore humans, but his curiosity and boredom helped the currents under his fins.

Even though it was forbidden to be seen, Lee actually had acquired a somewhat morbid curiosity about seeing humans. He vaguely remembered when one had drowned in a Surface Storm (what the merfolk call a rainstorm on the ocean), he had seen its peculiar legs, so different from any of the legged creatures that lived in the water with his people. It's monotonous skin colour, without the sheen of its tailfin. The lack of ears, or the webbing between the fingers and on the arm. And all this he had been able to observe before the body was confiscated and disposed of by the Matmesu, the Priest-Knights of the realm. Humans were a very peculiar species indeed, in his eyes.

Floating along, he could see it. Those two weird legs, in those strange colours, normally brown or black. He wondered if it was a distinguishing pattern, or merely a colouration to attract the opposite sex? Who knew how primitive humans were still, after all? All people were really told of them was that they were murderers and thieves, and enjoyed killing other creatures only over killing each other. Though it was hard to imagine when one had never really seen said creature. It was almost as if humans were a fairytale, something to scare the little ones with. Floating on, he continued to reminisce on the human corpse he had seen so long ago.

Lee could see those strange legs, if you could even call them that. He blinked. It took him a moment to realize that he actually was looking at a pair of human legs.

Lee nearly freaked out. A human was floating around on the Surface! If anyone even saw him near it, he would be in trouble! But…

They weren't moving. The human was just floating along, holding onto some sort of plank. If it was dead, then no one could get him in trouble, since he hadn't been seen.

With a deceptively brief glance, Lee sped up to the Surface, coming up behind the human. Sunlight pierced his sensitive eyes, but he just squinted as he got used to it. He slowly made his way over, until he was just a few feet behind the human.

Cautiously, Lee splashed it gently. Getting no response, he did it again, but harder. Finally, he doused it with a flick of his fin, yet it still didn't move. Now confident, Lee came up to the boy and got a good look at his face.

What he had noticed first off, before he swam up, was the flaming red hair that glistened due to being newly doused, and held back by a loosening blue ribbon. Pale, sunburned skin peeked from under the mop, contrasting against the deep purple-black bags around his eyes. His lips were dry and chapped, evidence that he'd been drifting for several days. During this close examination of the alien species, Lee noticed something he hadn't before.

It was breathing.

He jerked back, childishly fearing it to come after him for a moment when he realized that he was the one in his native element, while the other was half-dead.

Upon realizing it was alive, he should have swum away and left it to the waves. But, it seemed so small, so frail. It had a small frame, which seemed all the smaller with the tight-fitting navy blue vest and oversized, ornate sleeves.

No! He shook his head. Humans killed! They were evil creatures, with no purpose in the world!

The human chose that moment to heave a long, raspy sigh.

Lee stopped. Humans may be evil, but wouldn't leaving him here be just as bad as killing him himself? The shore was not even a half-days' swim from here (for Lee, at least). He could get him to shore and be back in time that no one would know he'd been there.

Sighing, Lee dunked his head underwater, checked for anyone who may have followed him, then turned to the human. Reaching out with tentative, webbed fingers, he gripped the humans' shoulder and flipped it over onto his own chest when he discovered something else about humans; they were hot! Against his own cool skin, the humans' was blazing hot, enough to make him drop it in surprise for a moment. Lee grabbed it back up and was still for a second as it started coughing up the water that had spilled into its mouth.

Tensely waiting for it to finish, Lee eased it back onto his chest, letting himself get used to the blazing hot body. Then turning towards land, Lee set himself for a long trek of side-stroking.