Chapter 3 -

With gritty sand between his toes and his hands tucked into his sleeves, Inuyasha grumbled irately to himself. His mood had been cross at best for the last week and a half, ever since the girl he had worked so hard to form a love with had disappeared never to return. Of course the Shikon Jewel had been mended and Naraku slain and the world set right, but that was the very problem. Without being needed in the feudal era, Kagome had realized that home was where she was needed most. Though she knew Inuyasha loved her hopelessly and she returned the feeling in such a way, there was nothing more for a love that was so divided by time. A week and a half ago, she had bid the half demon her final goodbye, telling him not to forget her but still to move on. A week and a half ago, Inuyasha had begged her to stay, telling her how pointless his life was without her in it. A week and a half ago, she had disappeared down the Bone Eater's Well anyway. A week and a half ago, the well had ceased to function as a time portal to modern Tokyo, and ever since, there was no rousing the distraught hanyou from his slump.

In hopes that a little adventure and a change of scenery would do him good and raise his spirits, Miroku had demanded a visit to the seaside not twenty miles west of Kaede's village. The pair planned to make camp in the warm evening on the pristine sands of the Sagami Bay, and a fishing expedition had been planned for the day afterward. As the day wound down, Inuyasha's demeanor had seen little improvement, but at the very least he was up and moving instead of curled up and miserable in his cabin in the woods.

The pair hiked up the warm shore in their bare feet, the silver-haired half demon staying silent but listening with his keen pointed dog ears as Miroku recounted the story of a gypsie who had stayed with the monks in their monastery.

"And one evening, after much merrymaking, Ebisu suggested something rater brash to the girl. Immediately she gasped and said 'You can't do that! You're a monk!' to which Ebisu only grinned and said 'Actually milady, I'm just a friar'."

The encounter must have been uproariously hilarious, because once he had finished telling the story, he couldn't contain his laughter. On the other hand, his companion only nodded slightly and grunted in a kind of acknowledgment of his friend's humor. With his plot to improve Inuyasha's mood again foiled, the raven-haired monk sighed and gave in to walking quietly side-by-side with the hanyou.

They must have walked at least a mile up the beach, letting the salty waves lick playfully at their toes every now and again. There was a slight bend in the shore where a tangle of trees forced a sandy outcropping further out into the bay and gave the land a natural elbow in the otherwise unbroken coast. When the two came around the corner, a glimmer of silver and gold caught the half demon's keen eye, and he picked up his pace to investigate. Draped over a large, sand-covered boulder was what appeared to be the tail of a very large fish, tied to an anchor and cast ashore by the cruel surf. The tail itself was quite gorgeous, having the distinct coloration and flowing fins of a spotted koi fish, only immense in size.

With his natural curiosity grabbed, Inuyasha couldn't help but investigate, peering over the edge of the rock to see the rest of the monster-fish that had washed up on the beach. What he found was not the kind of fish he had been expecting, however. Leaning over the cusp of the rugged boulder, the hanyou's eyes fell on the body of a man, or the torso at least, attached to the wilted tail. Overall, the strange biological phenomenon appeared to be dead; Inuyasha had to crinkle his sensitive nose against the powerful stink of drying fish. The only indication that the creature might still be alive was the occasional fanning of its gills. Looking over the stranded body, Inuyasha could tell only by the lack of breasts that the fish-man was male. He spent another long while looking over the strange beast in wonderment before again the flapping of the thing's gills caught his attention. The beached sea-creature was suffocating in the air.

Hardly thinking before he acted, as was quite typical for Inuyasha to say the least, the hanyou immediately rushed around the other side of the rock to stand directly beside the miserable ningyo.

"Inuyasha, is that-?"

"Shut up Miroku! Can't you see he can't breathe?"

There wasn't a moment's hesitation as the hanyou cut the grimy rope off of the beached merman's tailfin with his razor-sharp claws. As the anchor fell away, the koi tail slumped slightly. Next, Inuyasha scooped the drying fish in his arms, noting how the creature's blue eyes were rolled back and a minute film of foam clung to his hopelessly parted lips. If it wasn't for the occasional flapping of the bright red gills, Inuyasha surely would have pronounced the ningyo dead.

With the blonde koi tail firmly in his grasp, the half demon leaped out into the roaring whitecaps, forcing himself out passed where the current pulled and the waves broke, carrying the helpless fish out to deeper, safer waters. Once he had waded past the cresting surf, Inuyasha kept moving until he stood in about four and a half feet of brine, covering his body up to his shoulders and submerging the merman in his arms completely.

Suddenly Deidara felt the rush of his breath returning to him as slowly oxygen made it back into his system. His desperate gills churned the water and suddenly his eyes regained their sight, blinking away the mucus that had formed over his dry ocular. At the same time, however, he began to regain the feeling in the rest of his body and looking around wildly, found himself belly-up in the arms of a red robed man. Panic was his first reaction, but when the man clutching his shoulder and lateral muscles made no move to harm him, only held him stead in the water, that fear melted away into relief.

For a moment the blonde allowed himself to be held in the comfortable weightlessness of the water relishing in the human contact for all its strangeness. The moment might have gone on quite a bit longer had There not been a quiet gasping from above and with a sudden shifting, the man that cradled the ningyo's weakened frame ducked his head underwater. At first, Deidara went totally rigid, not having expected to come eye-to-eye with his rescuer, but seeing as how it was impossible to gage whether the merman was recovering through the water, Inuyasha had been forced to dive to see for himself. For that petrifying moment, bright cerulean eyes met deep gold ones and the pair held each other's gaze for what felt like ages.

The moment ended all too suddenly, as Inuyasha yanked his head back to gasp for a fresh breath of air, shaking his wetted, silver hair and looking over his shoulder to the monk waiting on the land.

"I'm pretty sure he's recovering, I just think he's kind of freaked out and disoriented right now."

Miroku only waved to show that he had heard and continued to wait patiently as Inuyasha carried out his good deed.

Turning back to the charge in his arms, the hanyou took in another deep breath and sealed his lips, plunging under the water again to keep an eye on the ningyo's progress. No sooner had his head ducked under the surface again than the merman in hi his arms suddenly lurched as if in surprise. Nearly losing his grip on the fish, Inuyasha let a few bubbles escape from his nostrils, unable to react fast enough as suddenly a pair of warm, wet arms reached out for him and wrapped around his neck. Before the hanyou could pull away, the blonde male rapidly closed the gap between them. The silver haired man could only watch with wide-eyed astonishment as the ningyo pulled him in close and suddenly sealed their lips together. There was a heart-stopping moment while their mouths were in contact and nothing was going on in Inuyasha's upstairs. He couldn't even react as suddenly his jaws were invaded by the rough, luke-warm, salty tongue of the merman he had rescued. In the other male's grip, he was helpless to pull away from the strange, startling and fishy tasting kiss; had Deidara wished to, he could have drowned the man that had saved his life by simply overpowering him in the water.

Nothing of that nature happened, however, as suddenly the tongue retracted and the blonde looked the half demon in the eyes once again. Inuyasha could only stare in astonishment as the ningyo gave him the warmest of smiles.

"Thank you un" the koi tail spoke in a perfectly clear voice under the water, stroking the side of the hanyou's cheek. With that said, the merman suddenly jerked and quickly wriggled out of the stunned hanyou's grasp, disappearing into the open bay with unparalleled speed.

All the while, Inuyasha had nearly forgotten to breathe; only remembering as his chest began to give him a terrible pain for want of oxygen. Throwing his head above water, the hanyou took in several deep lungfuls of air. As soon as he had caught his breath, Inuyasha whirled around to face his friend on the shore.

"Did… Did you see that Miroku?"

"See what? The ningyo? Of course I did!"

"No, I mean…! Ah!" The silver-haired mutt had been about to bring up the sudden kiss, but stopped himself, finding it to be something he'd rather not discuss with his lecherous companion. "N-nothing! Just… he's fine… s-swam off."

"Well that's good. How about you come out of that water now and dry off before night sets in and you freeze your rear off."

To this, the half demon could only grunt and nod, fighting his way out of the rolling tide and wiping his lips. He still couldn't get the taste of fish out of his mouth.