Today was the day that Yami would have to start trying to take a human form for himself. The one place to do that was the Shallows, up on the beach. A Karish would lie in wait until a human came up near the water, and then… Yami shuddered. It seemed horrible to do that to another creature.
As he swam up to the Shallows, Yami began to wonder why Karish were created the way that they were. Why were we given so much power over human lives? What were we meant to do so that we must have this atrocious ability?
Yami's tail twitched as he waited for what seemed like hours. But the tides had only changed a bit, so it couldn't have been that long. Maybe he was having second thoughts about this whole experience, but what was the alternative? Dying on the Shore as all the water inside you floated away. Yami couldn't imagine not being completely saturated with water, much less it coming out of your pores into the Air until you didn't have any left.
Yugi strolled down the shore of the beach, gazing out at the calm ocean. It always soothed him to come here. He had already finished his homework the night before; anything to take his mind off of the pain in his gut. The bruises were starting to form again, coloring his face a dark shade of blue-green. It was almost sickening.
Something in the water caught his eyes. Yugi walked toward the water, gazing down into the shallow, clear water next to a rock. It looked like a shining, silvery-white fish of some sort. Something about it was odd, though… it appeared to have delicate tendrils extending from its back. Yugi had never seen a fish like that before. It must have been pretty rare.
I wish I could catch it, Yugi thought idly. I'd have something for the science fair.
It was as if the white fish sensed his thoughts, because it started to move. Yugi frowned and hoped that it wouldn't go. Suddenly, the fish sprung out of the water, and Yugi gasped as the thing headed straight for him.
Yami shakily established control over the boy's nervous system and experimentally moved a few of his fingers. From what he had learned, this human was male and was just an adolescent. They had a lot in common.
Yami contracted his abdominal muscles and made to sit up, but he cried out with his new human lungs as a sharp pain ran through his body. Yami touched a hand to his lips, surprised. He had opened this hole in his face and let actual Air come out of it. It had made a sound.
He looked down at this new body spread out before him. It was so strange… everything was different. He could actually see on Dry Land now. One time, Yami had tried to jump above the water and look into a human boat to see the people inside. It had been so blurry that he could barely see the boat's wall beside him.
Also, he had these strange protuberances… what humans called legs and arms, with even more smaller protuberances on the ends of them. A strange sensation tingled the inside of that lump on his face when he breathed in Air through it. It was like nothing he had ever experienced before.
The human was standing, Yami thought. Or was the word "spanding"? He couldn't really remember. But why does it hurt when I try to stand? Is it like that all the time? He was beginning to wonder why any Karish would want to do this when he was interrupted by a second voice in his head.
"Please…" it begged. "Let me go! I don't want to be here! Let me go!"
Yami gasped in surprise. That was the voice of the human whose body he was wearing right now… What was he supposed to do? The elders had never told him anything about this. The boy continued to scream in his mind, and Yami would have gone insane if he didn't answer.
"I… I didn't mean to hurt you," Yami said uncertainly. "Human, I didn't have any choice in this." He was lying. He did have a choice. He could have chosen death instead.
The boy stopped his panicked shrieking. "Who…what are you? What do you want with me?"
Yami sighed. "You don't know about my kind anymore, do you? Humans don't deserve to be punished for what they don't ever remember…"
"What are you talking about? Answer me!" the boy demanded. He was getting very angry now. Yami couldn't blame him. If he was in the boy's position, he would be angry too. He decided to explain everything. If he was going to be sharing this human's body for the next twenty-three years, he wouldn't be able to ignore all of his questions. He didn't even know how he was going to put up with another person's constant presence for all of that time.
"Human, my name is Yami," he said. "I am one of a race of beings called the 'Karish'. Have you heard of us before?" Yami tried to be as calming and considerate as he could. He didn't want to upset or offend his host.
"N-no…" the boy replied quietly.
"We live in the Great Sea. On the seventeenth anniversary of our birth, we are obligated by law to take a human host until we are forty years of age."
"The Great Sea… the Pacific?" the boy asked. Yami was confused. What was the Pacific?
"I… I don't know, Human. But I never wanted to do this. If I didn't, I would have been executed."
The human was silent for a few moments. He seemed to understand Yami's predicament. "Why do the… Karish have a law like that?"
Yami grimaced. The boy was going to hear it from the one person who probably hated the law most. It was hurting innocent people every day: the humans, his father… "Your kind may not remember, but thousands of years ago we lived on Dry Land with you. We lived in your rivers and streams. But when you found out what we could do, you drove us into the Great Sea. My people say that this is a sort of… vengeance."
The boy began to sob. "I didn't do anything to you…"
"I know, Human. I've tried to convince my kind of that, but they won't believe me." Yami's heart was filled with sorrow, and he felt his eyes began to sting. His throat closed off so that breathing was difficult and water came out of his eyes. "Human, I cannot live in this world pretending to be you. We are so different in form, but we are alike in mind. I won't steal your life and body from you, but you must do something for me in return."
"… What is it?" the boy asked.
"Firstly, you must allow me to stay in your body. I will be quiet and I won't interfere, but I cannot go back to my home yet. Secondly, you must promise not to drink any 'alcohol' while we share this form. I reside in your stomach, and alcohol is poison to me." Yami realized the intense risks he was taking by doing this, but his conscience would have him do nothing else. "Thirdly, if humans have names I would like to know yours."
Yugi weighed his options carefully. Right now he was trapped in a limbo inside his mind, listening to this alien voice speaking to him from inside his own body. It was asking favors of him, giving his body back to him, even going so far as to tell Yugi how to kill him. It would be so simple to do it, too… but after everything this poor creature had gone through, how could he murder him? He would be saving Yami's life in exchange for a promise of sobriety. How hard could it be?
"My name is Yugi," Yugi answered finally. "And yes, I will share my body with you. Just… let me have it back now, please?" he added frantically. Being disconnected from his physical form was a disconcerting experience.
In a few moments he felt everything as clear as day. From his bruises to the tips of his toes, he was back in his body. Yugi sat up and clenched his hands experimentally.
Suddenly, he felt a twinge of curiosity from his new body roommate, as if it had opened his mouth to speak and then stopped suddenly. "What?" Yugi asked.
Yami seemed embarrassed. "When I tried to sit up, it hurt," he admitted. "Did I do it wrong, or is it always like that?"
Yugi almost laughed. He never really realized how foreign his body must have felt to this fish-like creature sitting in his stomach. "It's been like that a lot recently. I don't think you did it wrong; don't feel bad."
Yami seemed contented with this answer, and retreated back into himself. Maybe this experience with Yami wouldn't be so bad. For once, Yugi had a friend who wouldn't leave him, and that was comforting, in a way. They could get to be really close.