Chapter 1 -
Deidara was a very young ningyo in terms of the number of seasons he had lived through. As the climate underwater changed very little with the gift of the warm currents that spilled into the bay, years were told by the coming and going of the migrating fish. By these standards, Deidara was precisely 243 years and one half-season old, and still he was most youthful of his entire clan. He was lean and long, well-built muscularly speaking and arguably beautiful. Unlike most mermen, the youngest had long blonde tresses done, half of which were done up into a ponytail atop his head, that seemed to flow naturally with the current of the saltwater. His eyes were a bright, beautiful shade of cerulean, surrounded by dark, thick lashes. The skin of his torso was gently tanned, a trait uncommon in most of the ningyo because of their reclusive, deep-sea living habits. Deidara however preferred to live near the surface, marveling in the dazzling brightness of the rippling waves above and swimming near to the shore to watch and listen to the waves that beat against the beach.
Down his spine ran a long, soft, rippling dorsal fin of a soft white nature, the very outer edge of which was vivid orange. The rest of his lower body, his tail, most closely resembled a spotted koi, glittering white scales with large black and orange markings littering is skin. The fin at the end of his tail was long and elegant, fringed and rippling like the very waves above and coupled with two smaller sets of fins that acted as rudders connected where any human's knee might have been.
Like many of the merfolk, Deidara's body was scattered with scars signifying longevity and the ever persisting skirmishes between pods over nesting grounds. This is not to say that the abrasions that traversed his otherwise flawless skin were ugly; by most ningyo standards his healed wounds were considered handsome, especially since nothing had ever come close to injuring his face. He had received a vicious bite to his right arm from a shark that had wandered into the Akatsuki's private cove, and a long gash across his left arm where a fishing line had tangled around his bicep and cut deep into his soft skin. Still the most honorable of his wounds was the cut across his left pectoral, received in a battle with the Uminotaka. Though young for his kind, Deidara was considered to be both brave and beautiful amongst his pod members.
Still to say that he was brave all of the time would be a harsh degree of lying. Most of the blonde's free time was spent close to shore with just his head peeking out over the water so that he could breathe from his gills and still watch and listen as the waves crashed onto the shore. They were beautiful beyond comprehension to Deidara, each unique, wondrous and fleeting, like nothing that could be found under the water. Every time the ocean exploded against the beach was a thrill that lasted for only a second before the waters calmed and receded. It was truly art if the likes of which the blonde had ever seen before, and he would spend hours treading water and watching the roaring waves meet the sand.
Every now and again, Deidara would watch fishermen loading nets into their boats and shoving out into the cove in search of food. He had always been curious about mankind; mostly he had an admiration for their legs and lungs which allowed them movement on the surface world. From time to time he would follow the smaller vessels and say 'hello' to the men aboard, only appearing to screech happily at the crew as he followed in their wake. Though most of his fellows were skittish around humans, knowing the tales of old in which men would hunt the ningyo for their meat, Deidara had no fear of the fishermen. They were mostly friendly, recognizing him as a helpful spirit for on occasion the young merman would corral fish into the waiting nets and chase away the Amikiri which deviously slit the nets of anglers in the bay. After the humans had dragged their haul aboard, the blonde would pull himself up by the side of their canoe, careful to hold his breath and grin at the crew. Frequently he was rewarded with a pat on the head and a fish tucked snugly between his teeth; it was much easier than trying to catch one of the wriggly creatures with his bare palms after all.
Despite his friendliness with the humans, Deidara was still most likely to be found 50 yards or so off of the coast, gazing at the shore and marveling in the beauty of the waves that broke there. Very often his clan members would try to draw him away from his hobby, trying to coax him with the prospect of raiding a neighboring tribe or exploring a new shipwreck that had been uncovered by the shifting tide.
"Come on Deidara-kun, there are so many eels in that old ship! We could fill Kakuzu's treasure chest with them! Don't you want to know what's in there?" A very beautiful ningyo woman begged him, waving her shimmering blueside wrasse tail anxiously such that her ultramarine scales caught the light in a rather distracting manner. "We could find buried gold or beautiful human jewelry," still the blue-haired mermaid insisted pressing still closer to show Deidara the turquoise necklace draped across her bare chest. The blonde blinked down at the gems strung on silver across his friend's bosom, but his mouth twisted, unimpressed by the prospect of finding riches in some old sunken boat.
"I don't know Konan un… those things could be haunted for all we know un…" The shimmering mermaid sighed and shook her head disbelievingly.
"Or you know, you could always find some old corpses from the bastards that died down there. Won't that be fucking fun as hell?" Suddenly the pair was joined from behind by a third ningyo, a silver-haired male with albino skin, magenta eyes and a long, white tail covered from end to end with the notorious fins of the lionfish.
"Stop that Hidan, you know Deidara likes the humans…" Konan snapped, flicking her tailfin at the white merman and giving him a stern look.
"Hey, it's not my fault he's fucking soft. Maybe he should go looking for the Nitaiku no Mie, maybe then he'll grow a pussy like the humans he loves so much!"
All at once, the blue-haired mermaid was in Hidan's face, snarling with her gills flaring and showing their red insides.
"Don't even joke about that you little prick! You know as well as every one of us that the Nitaiku no Mie is cursed with death to all who touch it!" When the silver merman refused to take back his remark, Konan bared her teeth angrily, showing her pointed fangs and with a furious hiss, quickly made a snatch at the male's shoulder. Hidan yelped as the female's teeth found their mark and drew blood from a shallow wound in his shoulder. With an angered sneer, the wrasse tail shook her head through the water to clear her comrade's plasma from her mouth. "Your blood tastes as awful as your personality!" she shot before swimming away after the white, black and orange tail of her friend who had returned to treading water near the surface to watch the waves again.
"Deidara, don't listen to Hidan, he's nothing but a crooked-founder." She spoke to the blonde from under the water, but still he could hear her voice, clear and defined, even with his ears above the surface. Letting his gills fan out in a sigh, the young merman allowed himself to submerge fully again so that he could reply.
"What makes him hate the humans so badly un? They've never done anything to hurt him and yet he's been tipping canoes into shark-infested waters since I can remember un." Konan grunted and brushed a strand of golden hair away from the male's face.
"It's not just the humans. Hidan hates everyone, just humans are easiest for him to pick on." There was a long pause while Deidara looked over his shoulder to see the waves crashing against the shore from the underside as if longing to watch them more. When finally he turned back to Konan, his lips were twisted into a curious kind of frown.
"So, do you think that there really are dead landfolk on that shipwreck un?"
"There might be," she replied tilting her head to the side slightly, "humans are better swimmers that we give them credit for. I bet they made it off of the boat before it sunk all the way."
At this, Deidara immediately brightened, waving his plumy tail in mild enthusiasm and smiling at the mermaid.
"Okay then un. I guess I'll tag along… I mean somebody's gotta protect you from the funayūrei. Wouldn't want you getting snatched away to the underworld by a bunch of angry spirits un."
The female gave him a smile and a nod, nudging Deidara with the end of her indigo tail and swimming off in the direction of the half-buried shipwreck with the blond hot on her tail.