Rin woke up to a still asleep Haru, and smiled at himself as he slowly raised his hand to caress his black, soft hair. Rin, watching how deeply he was sleeping, snaked his hand under his own jacket and rested it on the small spot on the low of his back, just above the start of the blue scales. He traced slow circles there, then, up his spine and down again, watching the relaxed sighs escaping from the merman's slightly parted lips.

After a few minutes, Rin noticed the fluttering eyelids and watched as Haru slowly awoke from his slumber. "Rin?" He asked sleepily.

"Yeah?"

"It's cold"

Shit.

Rin hadn't noticed, but when Haru had raised his head from his arms, his lips were purple again, and his hands were freezing when Rin touched them.

Haru suddenly looked back and blushed, lowering his eyes. Rin carefully sat up on the hammock, trying to not bend or do something to the tail that was slowly disentangling from his leg. He slowly picked up Haru after he stood up and was surprised once again when the merman wrapped his arms around his neck. Rin walked to his room and saw the clock. 1:30. "We napped quite a while" he told Haru, who was shaking a little in his arms. "Here" he sat him on the edge of his bed, but, as he turned to look at the clock again, he felt something nagging at the side of his mind.

He was forgetting something. Something just didn´t fit. It was 1:30 p.m. in the afternoon on a nice Saturday. What was he forgetting? But when the door to his house sounded with knocks, he instantly remembered and reacted. He picked Haru up and ran to the bathroom, where he carefully sat him (after he had taken off is jacket) on the tub and signaled for him to be quiet.

"What´s wrong?" he asked curiously, but Rin just put a finger to his lips and widened his eyes, obtaining a nod in return.

As Rin hears the welcome from his corridor, he slowly shut the door and turned, just in time to see Makoto leaving his bags on the kitchen´s table. "Hey Rin!" he says smiling. "God, it´s been a long day on the station. But I got free the rest of the day, as always"

Makoto frowned at Rin. He walked towards him warily. "Okay, what´s going on?" Rin realized he had been leaning so heavily on the bathroom door and quickly dismissed his worry with a sigh and a laugh.

"Nothing, just…" he held a hand above his stomach. "Stomachache, you do not want to go in there"

Makoto frowned for a second, inspecting Rin´s face carefully. He could always tell when he was lying, but the sick look on Rin´s face was genuine, so Makoto just smiled his casual smile and went to his bedroom. "Oh. Poor you. It´s been a long time since you got your last one"

His best friend walked around like he was in his own house and slumped down on the bed. "Yeah, long day…"

"We got, like, four false calls," Makoto laughed, but it only made Rin a little uneasy "and a crazy old woman who thought her hair was on fire when it was just ginger"

Rin laughed shakily. "Looks like someone didn´t take her pills" they laugh together. They had been friends since forever, and on every Saturday he would pass by his house to hang out. "

"What is this?" Makoto held in his hands a light blue scale, and was staring at the floor where several shards of glass laid. "This looks like…Rin" he looked at him dead in the eye. "What did you do?"

Rin quickly invented an excuse. Makoto was really caring and sensible, and was deeply offended when someone hurt any living creature. He was horrified of the torture of the merfolk but, like Rin couldn´t do anything about it. "I found the scale on the beach" before Makoto could protest, because being on the beach was deeply forbidden "I thought I saw something on the water, for a moment though it was a dolphin, but it was nothing"

"And the glass?"

Rin sighed. "I accidentally pushed the water vase from my nightstand"

"And since when do you have a vase on your nightstand"

"Since I wake up from nightmares about what you told me a week ago"

There was a silence, and then Makoto spoke quietly. "I have been having nightmares too"

"It´s just inhuman" Rin said angrily. "They are people, just a different kind"

"They tried to rebel…we killed one" Makoto shook his head. "It´s not fair to them. They were just angry"

Rin had blocked the image from his mind, but the description came into his head.

One week ago

"It was horrible" Makoto said. "We were walking around wih the crew when we saw a lot of people gathered outside the stadium, you know, the one where we raced at. ´They´re making a demonstration´ they were all saying and we were curious, so we followed.

"We got through after a few minutes and we were too stunned to protest. They had taken out the pool and built a platform, and there was a man standing there with a microphone and two covered somethings behind him, which looked too much like a tanks. ´Here we have the myths that have become real. Here we have the creatures who scare us away from the ocean. Here, the killers and responsible for so many shipwrecks and deaths. The cause of those who were lost at sea´ the man pulled the cover from the tank on the right, and inside it was a mermaid. She was beautiful, but she looked in s much pain. ´Here is our revenge´ the man said and so many people cheered.

"The man then broke the tank and held the mermaid by the tail. Her screams…she kept screaming Rin. And the people kept cheering. ´Here we leave a message for him to deliver´ he took out the other covering from the tank and inside was a merman, who kept pounding his fists on the glass and banging his tail against it. ´This is her mate people´ there were catcalls as the merman kept protesting.

"He took out a gun and shot her. Just shot her again and again on the tail and she kept screaming. The merman was deep on the floor of the tank with his hands against the glass, still pounding, still screaming silently. The man brought out a sword and showed it to the crowd. ´Look and learn, for this is what they´ll do with us if we don´t strike first´ and he…he cut her in half and then raised the tail with his hand like a trophy.

"And the crowd kept cheering. And the merman kept pounding. And the mermaid kept wailing in pain. And not one of them stopped. And the man threw the upper part of the mermaid to the crowd, and they destroyed it" Makoto was in tears. "I can still hear her Rin" He looked at his hands. "And I see her blood in my hands. In human hands. Destroying such a beautiful creature"

Even though Rin hadn´t seen it, he could imagine it perfectly. And he wouldn´t stop dreaming about it. "I know Makoto"

He sighed deeply. "Can you imagine how it would´ve been if we had never killed her? If none of that had happened? Imagine how we could swim among them and live in peace.

"You dream too much" Rin said a little sadly. "I just try to ignore it. Try living ignoring this injustice"

"Yeah" Makoto nodded heavily. "I could try"

"How do you think you would look if you were one?" Rin asked, trying to get the image of the ripped mermaid out of his head. "I think I would have a red tail, very fast one. I would be a celebrity and all the girls would want my autographs"

Makoto laughed. "The girls" he chuckled "I thought you were more to the other gender. But anyways. I think my tail would be green, and very long. I would live freely, helping people. Maybe get a mate" he laughed again. "They´re fantastic, aren´t they?"

"Yes"

Makoto stood suddenly and stretched. "Ah, be right back" he started walking and, before Rin could process what was happening, Makoto opened the bathroom´s door. "Makoto, don´t-!" but it was too late.

Rin ran to the bathroom as fast as he could and stood in front of Haru, who had a look of pure fear in his face and had backed against the wall of the tub. When Rin had stood in front of him, the merman had reached to his leg and hid behind it.

"OH MY GOD!" Makoto screamed, falling back against the wall. "OH MY GOD RIN, YOU HAVE A-" but he quickly shut up when he saw the alarmed expression on Rin´s face.

"Makoto! Keep your voice down!" he whispered urgently. "You´re scaring him!"

Rin turned around and knelt in front of Haru. He looked very scared and troubled, his chest rising and falling rapidly. Rin put his hands on Haru´s neck and he held his wrists tightly. "Hey, it´s okay. You´re okay. Breathe, okay? Just breathe" The merman nodded and rested his hands on Rin´s neck, resting his forehead on his. "Don´t worry. He won´t say anything. He´s my friend"

Behind Rin, Makoto was muttering rapidly. "Oh my god, Rin. There´s one – you have one on your bath tub – oh my god. How? Why? Rin there´s a merman on your tub. Rin he´s showing affection. Oh my god, you have to be kidding me.

As Haru concentrated on breathing with his eyes closed. Rin called out to his panicked friend. "Calm down Makoto. You´re scaring him. If you won´t calm down just go to my room and wait for me. Don´t you dare get out of this house. Go" Makoto scrambled away as Rin turned back to Haru. "Don´t worry. Just stay here. I´ll go calm him down"

Rin stood and went to his bedroom, where Makoto was pacing back and forth, muttering under his breathe. Rin sat him down on his bed and explained everything since he had woken up to his screams to the cuts on his tail and how he couldn´t go back to the sea. He left out all the blushes and the nap in the Hammock, and how he is slowly falling in love with him.

When he´s finished Makoto laughs. "This is crazy, Rin. You´re crazy"

"Believe me, I know"