Chapter 5 -
Dawn had barely begun to paint the skies a downy gray by the time the two friends' camp had been rolled up and buried. Loading their tackle into a wide, wooden canoe, Miroku glanced over his shoulder to see his companion sitting with his chin in his knees, staring solemnly out over the misty bay. Once their rods, lures and lunches had been packed into their little boat, the monk stood beside his friend and placed a kind hand on the half demon's slumped shoulder.
"Do not fret, Inuyasha. Many men do their best thinking on quiet fishing expeditions. All will be clear to you when you come ashore, I promise." The hanyou only grunted and slowly hauled himself to his feet.
"Yeah… or they will be infinitely more complicated…"
"With that attitude your problems can only compound… at least try to relax and enjoy yourself today."
"Whatever Miroku."
Without a further word, the pair shoved their craft out through the high tide and finally leap aboard with soaking pants and paddles in hand. They maneuvered the craft until the shore was just barely visible, a tiny scratch on the foggy horizon, knowing that as the day wore on the motion of the ocean would gradually carry them ashore. When the canoe was securely afloat away from all the distractions of the mainland, both men baited their hooks and cast their lines.
Facing their backs to each other, the friends sat in silence for what felt like ages. Being a monk, Miroku was well versed in the art of patience and sat contentedly on his end of the boat waiting peacefully for a tug on his line. Inuyasha on the other hand grew restless at first, then listless. Eventually the hanyou ended up with his legs folded and his jaw cupped in his palms. As the hours passed his mind wandered without leash, making him think of things that weren't necessarily expected.
As anyone might predict, his thoughts first wandered to Kagome, but after a couple hours of mind failing to escape her Inuyasha became fed up. He had come up with some kind or resolution, even though it was arguably rash; he was done hurting himself thinking about a girl who had been very firm in giving him up. The very second he returned to the shore, he would begin his search for the perfect person to become his wife, a kind of vengeful stab at Kagome that also met his own growing needs for companionship. Having Kikyo and Kagome with him for the past few years he could remember, of course excluding the 50 some odd years he had spent pegged to the god tree, had taught him the inexplicable joys of wistful love. It was something he was finding himself more and more lost without.
In retrospect, Miroku had been right; he had done some great thinking after all.
They spent several uneventful hours bobbing on the placid surface of the lake with naught more than a nibble on either hook. Perhaps it was the incorrect bait, or the wrong place to fish, but it was nearly noon before either man felt a tug on his line. First it had been Miroku, just a quick little jerk before the line again went totally slack. Inuyasha's pole quivered and bowed momentarily before it too lost whatever fish had gone after his bait. With an irritated grunt, the hanyou pulled his line in and replaced the stolen scrap of meat on the end of his hook. Resetting his lure, the half demon didn't need to wait more than another minute before again his poll was yanked and his bait was snatched with no prey resulting. After running through a third trial with the same conclusion, Inuyasha growled and peered over the edge of the canoe, trying to spy the clever fish that kept robbing him of his bait.
All at once, the boat rocked violently, nearly throwing the hanyou overboard. Immediately the elder man took a seat and exchanged worried glances with Miroku, who was busy winding up his line to be recast. The waters calmed and both men let their relief show with thankful sighs, but the safety was short-lived. Again the boat was shoved, rocking the tiny vessel hard enough to send a box of rice cakes overboard. Their lunch quickly forgotten, the pair clung to their craft as again it was rammed by whatever monstrous creature was dwelling below the surface. This time the canoe found lacking balance and capsized, dumping its cargo and passengers into the bay with the beast that tipped them.
"Hidan! Leave them alone!"
There was a sudden whirling of fins and scales and spines below the water, and had Inuyasha not been holding his breath, he would have screamed as suddenly, agony surged up his left leg. It was like the feeling of his flesh burning and freezing and dying all at once, a kind of contorting pain that left him nearly immobile, kicking only with his right leg as he struggled to reach the surface and escape the creature that had stung him.
"Get the fuck out of here before I strip your gills!"
Discarding his deep violet robe, Miroku had made it to the surface and clung to the edge of their upturned boat. The monk cast about wildly for any sign of his friend, but none arose, worrying him greatly. Suddenly a head rose up from the water beside him, and as the raven-haired man whirled around to be sure that his companion was safe, he was met with the face of a stranger. A beautiful blue-haired woman treaded water by his side for a moment before ducking her head below the surface. Before he could react in the least, Miroku was grabbed about the shoulders and dragged below the surface. Blinking his eyes open in a desperate attempt to see his attacker, the monk again came face to face with the young lady, finding that the female before him was not only beautiful, but without clothes. Despite his virtue, the young man found his eyes wandering downward, lingering on the exposed breasts for a moment before looking towards more intimate regions. To his surprise, however, where a human's womanhood would have been, there were dazzling ultramarine scales which led into a long, beautiful ningyo tailfin.
Having lost her patience, the mermaid snatched the staring monk's head between her hands and forced his eyes to meet hers.
"He is safe. Deidara will take care of your friend. You need not worry." Miroku blinked stupidly at the fair creature that held his eyes and mind captive; he could hardly remember who she was talking about. "Look… your friend got poisoned by the venomous fish that tipped your boat, but my friend will treat his envenomation, okay? We will return him to you… now go, breathe before you drown." Giving the raven-haired man a quick shove upward, Konan forced him to break the surface and snap out of his lecherous trance.
His head finally breaking the surface, the monk gasped to fill his lungs with fresh breath and clung to the lip of the upturned canoe. Casting about, the young man found himself alone yet again, grasping at the edge of his only means of flotation with no way back to the beach aside from hoping for the tide to work quickly. He found himself wishing that Inuyasha hadn't disappeared, but somehow he had managed to remember the words of the ningyo woman; he had been poisoned and the merfolk were treating his sting. With a low groan, the monk let his head fall forward to rest against the ribs of the little vessel. Whatever would he do when it came time to return to the village and Inuyasha wasn't with him? What could he say to Kaede, that the hanyou had been kidnapped my fish-people? Though the truth, news as such could only cause hostility between the peaceful ningyo and the humans, and it was against Miroku's morals to stir up conflict between two coexisting cultures.
He'd been floating and clinging to the side of his canoe like a half-drowned rat for nearly twenty minutes when again the little boat rocked furiously. The raven-haired man's heart immediately sunk at the thought of whatever toxic creature that had felled his friend returning for a second helping. The tipping of the upturned vessel was much calmer than the previous attack, making the young man curious. Just as he let his head below the surface, the canoe rolled over just above him. Again he caught a glimpse dazzling, indigo scales and soft, alabaster skin. Doubtlessly hoping for another eyeful of the beautiful mermaid's exposed chest, the less-than-pure monk swam slowly underneath the belly of the boat, finding the waters on the other side of the boat to be just as empty as they had been on the side he had come from.
Tired and slightly dejected, he finally gave up the search for the fair creature who clearly didn't want to be found. Miroku returned to the surface, taking in three deep lungfuls of air. Though he was thankful that the ningyo woman had righted his boat, still he wished for another look at her beautiful face and naked skin. Soggy, pruned and covered in salt which irritated his skin greatly, the monk hauled himself over the edge of the boat, finding that the majority of the tackle had been returned in no real order, the only piece missing being the small box of meats to be used for bait. All the while hoping that his missing friend had good fate, Miroku began the long, arduous paddle back to the shore.
"Deidara! Deidara wake up!" The blonde was rudely shaken awake from his rather blissful dreams, breaking the gossamer of his relived memories and tearing him back into reality. He gradually blinked his eyes open, itching at the back of his neck and stretching his gills in a wide yawn.
"What Konan? It's early… haven't you ever heard of sleeping late un?"
"No time to sleep in you idiot. There are bait-fishers in the middle of the bay, and I don't know about you, but I'd fancy a bit of their pork for breakfast."
Immediately the younger ningyo was wise awake and wriggling out of the narrow cave in which he made his bed like an eel. Doing a few twists and loops in the water, the koi tail stretched his spine, limbering up for the beginning of the day. With that, the dynamic duo were off in search of the easiest of meals; one that could be stolen from the humans.
Within perhaps twenty minutes, the pair of merfolk had located the tiny boat bobbing slightly on the gentle waves in the middle of the bay. Sure as Konan had said, there were two hooks dangling into the water, each with a generous morsel of meat attached. Gleefully, the blonde hid underneath the wide canoe and took to removing the little treat from the fisherman's line. Careful not to disturb the string too much, he quickly pulled the tender piece of flesh off of the little bone hook. Once he had the bait off of the lure, Deidara gave the line a quick tug to let the fisherman know he was ready for another piece of meat while quickly popping the treat he had into his mouth and savoring the foreign flavor. Red meats were rare, brash and wonderful to the ningyo, like a fabulous delicacy that only came once in a blue moon.
And so the pair of merfolk floated beneath the boat and ate every scrap of pork that were dangled before them by the unwitting anglers. It might have continued until the fishermen were completely out of bait, but as all good things must come to an early end, there was no such luck. Like a paled phantom, the familiar shape of their albino clan mate gradually came into view. Hidan sneered at the snacking pair and looked on from a few meters off.
"You two fuckers know you're doing it wrong, don't you."
"Get lost Hidan, all the hooks on this boat are taken un." The albino merman arched his dorsal spines in irritation, narrowing his eyes at the smug younger male.
"You just don't understand the fucking correct way to get bait from damned fishermen. Here I'll fucking show you!" With a wave from his powerful tail, the lionfish tailed male launched himself forward, forcing his pod members to dart out of his way as he violently rammed the bottom of the canoe with his sturdy back. The canoe rocked horribly violently, threatening to throw its passengers overboard.
"Stop it Hidan! You'll drown someone like that!"
"Why the fuck would I care? I just want their fucking pork!"
From the other side, again the albino ningyo charged the hull of the tiny canoe, trying to force it to upset its contents. Above there was a scrambling sound as the fishermen struggled to find their balance and brace their little boat for another strike. Though the two onlookers' gills were flailing in anger and concern for the humans onboard, they could do naught but watch, fearing being on the receiving end of one of Hidan's venomous barbs.
"Come on, Hidan, get out of here un! Leave the humans alone un."
"You gonna make me, hook-sucker?" The older male splayed his poisonous spines threateningly, making Deidara frown but say no more. With a cruel smirk, again the albino rushed the boat, and with another fierce blow, the vessel lost balanced and capsized, dumping its cargo and passengers into the bay.
"Hidan! Leave them alone!"
The elder merman dove into the sinking loot, tearing through the useless human junk until he located the little box full of raw meats. With his prize, Hidan wriggled is tail gleefully, his spines knocking into what of the cargo still floated nearby and sinking suddenly into the leg of one of the fishermen.
"Get the fuck out of here before I strip your gills!" Konan shrieked, but all too late as the damage was done, and taking his box of t treats, Hidan made his victorious retreat. It didn't take but a few seconds for both remaining merfolk to taste the blood seeping into the water from the unfortunate man who had been the victim of envenomation. The red robed man struggled in clear agony, fighting his heavy clothes and useless leg to get to the surface for a breath.
Deidara's heart froze in his chest as he instantly recognized the half demon who had rescued him the day before; past the stink of blood in the water, he could clearly detect traces of himself lingering around the sinking victim. He panicked instantly. There was no way he could allow Konan that he had fraternized with landfolk the night before. In a rush of instinct, he darted instantly over to the scarlet-clad man and pressed his back against the hanyou's, locking their elbows together in a standard method that had been used to rescue drowning humans in the centuries of peace.
"Konan, he's been poisoned, I need to get him treatment now before the reaction sets in. Take care of the other fisherman un."
"Are you sure you know what you're doing Deidara?"
"Of course, have some faith in me un." Not allowing for further discussion, the blonde immediately swam to the surface with the half demon on his back. With the air breathing man on his back, the ningyo skimmed just below the surface such that his precious cargo's head still poked above the water while being transported. Though there had been some struggling to begin with, the water in his lungs and the poison in his veins had been enough to force the half demon into unconsciousness while Deidara powered towards the nearest shore, a very small island peeping up out of the bay.