Chapter 12 -
Days went by filled with an increasing closeness that seemed to bring new learning and increasingly more frequent moments of innocent intimacy between the unlikely pair. Each morning, Inuyasha would cast aside his sleeping robes; cook himself a quick breakfast and splash out into the surf where Deidara would be waiting as surely as the sun would rise. Like a loyal dog which waited all night for his master's return, the merman was joyous beyond belief when Inuyasha would rejoin him in the bay, squealing happily and swimming laps. More often than not, the ningyo would demand a chaste kiss as a way of starting the morning off on a high note. The days passed, filled with a kind of continuing discussion of each creature's world as they swapped stories of their lives on land and at sea.
Strangely, what got Deidara most enthused about the surface world wasn't their social structure or their mating habits or their cuisine, but the expression of self through art. In the culture of the merfolk, art tended to play a very minute role as most mediums are rendered useless by the waters in which the ningyo live. Paints and inks disperse in any water eventually and papers fall into pieces when heavily saturated, clays dissolve to nothing but mud and there can exist no fire below the surface, eliminating metal and glasswork. The only forms of more permanent art Deidara had ever witnessed being created by merfolk were lyric and stone carvings. Yet still neither memory nor rock last forever and songs are forgotten and sculptures erode in the tide. Thus the fact that the men on land had a way of keeping their art for an eternity was baffling.
With the new snorkel secured between his lips, Inuyasha was more than happy to let the merman talk his pointed ears off, though the things Deidara told him were different in nature to the teachings of the surface world. Where the half demon had spent many days telling the ningyo of the workings of the society of men, the blonde retold countless 'flashbulb memories,' quick anecdotes of his own life. Where Inuyasha explained the mechanisms of his home-turf through careful description, the koi-tail did so with a brief recapitulation of his own 200 some odd year long life. Therein too lay the major difference between the worlds; landfolk were a society of beings which relied heavily on the recorded fact and a set of rules written by ancient generations while the merfolk were a culture of creatures who governed their daily lives by loosely fitted morals and primal instinct.
The near constant proximity of the pair bread a kind of rare fondness that was difficult to describe for Inuyasha. The affections of the blonde merman turned more towards his half demon companion with each passing day and vice versa. Though it was strange for the hanyou to suddenly find himself under the attractive pull of a male, let alone a merman, the feeling was less foreign to the blonde. As the ningyo race had always been unbalanced in their ratio of males to females, the concept of two males sharing intimacy was not as bizarre to him, and the fact that Inuyasha was a land creature made the titillating new emotions all the more intriguing. The very sparks that seemed to amplify with each new meeting were identical to the kinds of sparks you would expect to see between two children that have just realized that perhaps the other doesn't have cooties after all. It was unspoken but evident; never mentioned yet ever present; taboo yet blatant. At the same time, however, it didn't need to be said; both knew the sparks were there, after all, they both had eyes.
Inuyasha had the most difficult time adjusting to the fact that he found himself wanting to be with a merman. It was a struggle of morals to some degree. Though it was not as if he had been raised by any family which had taught him that loving another of mankind was sinful; it was simply a social practice to which he had naturally conformed. So strange had it been when first he encountered that man, Jakotsu, from the Band of Seven who had lusted after his body and blood that the very notion of one man laying with another had become an unsung turnoff for the half demon, and yet… there was Deidara who disproved the rule.
The attraction to the young ningyo that seemed to have Inuyasha in its grip was so strong some nights, as he prepared to depart the waters he would hold and kiss the blonde with a kind of surging passion. On one or two occasions, even as he waded out of the brine, having mashed lips and twined tongues with Deidara until his lungs screamed for air, he was dissatisfied. Even as the merman had nuzzled his throat affectionately and bade him goodnight, Inuyasha's heart still pounded in his chest and his hot blood pulled through his veins. Before hauling himself off to sleep, the half demon had slipped off into the woods to sate his own desires under the cover of the dense forest. With the image of Deidara's beautiful and strange body swimming through his mind and the feeling of his hot, salty mouth still fresh on his lips, Inuyasha set himself to satisfy his yearnings in a way that he dare not propose to the ningyo in question.
Despite his nudity and his otherwise openness about his body, such being most natural and common among his people, Deidara did not have any fondness for having his undersides touched. Such naturally ruled out any advancement the hanyou could possibly desire in the nature of a sexual connection. The simple fact was that the ningyo would lurch away at the slightest touch to his soft underbelly, increasingly more so the closer the action came towards his vent. Thought there had been many questions Inuyasha had posed specifically about the merman's anatomy, he had been most intrigued by the tiny orifice just below where the line between skin and scales became blurred. In place of normal human genitalia, Deidara had one simple slit which served all three purposes; it was the opening through which solid and liquid waste was disposed of as well as the release point of reproductive milt. Finding the discussion of the workings of his most decidedly personal place to be rather off-putting, Deidara didn't hold up the conversation for long. Resultantly, the area remained surrounded in a kind of mystery that made Inuyasha fill in the blanks by himself.
Yet even as some topics were narrowly avoided, the conversation never stopped. Even as his skin grew dry and weathered from constant salt exposure, still the hanyou refused to give up his closeness to his newfound companion. On evenings during which his hide was far too irritated to stay out much longer, Inuyasha would scrabble his way along a rocky outcropping that jutted like a peninsula into the bay. Separated from the rough shore that churned the waves so violently, Inuyasha could sit himself near to the water without being far from the blonde. There they continued their seemingly endless conversation well into the night all the while as Inuyasha spooned sweet, golden honey to the merman in the surf just below.
In any case, it has been said before and it will be said again: all good things must come to an end. The food rations of the half demon were dwindling as the week was nearing its close, and on the morning he polished off the last of his food stores, he waded out into the bay and gave his finned friend the news.
"Hey, kid… listen… My food rations have run out, so I'll need to go into town for a day and restock before I can come back…" The merman let out a shrill whine, a sharp note of despair edging the sound such that the cry pierced Inuyasha's heart. Placing the bamboo snorkel between his lips, the half demon ducked underwater, aided by a quick jerk to his dangling tresses from Deidara.
"But Inuyasha, you can't go! Why can't you stay here with me un? I'll bring you fish and keep you fed. Don't you know that un?" His bright blue eyes were piteous and he clung to the hanyou's shoulders as if by simply holding him there he could keep the other man forever. Resurfacing, Inuyasha gently cupped the back of the ningyo's blonde head, holding the course, sopping tresses delicately as if the creature in his palm was made of sodden paper.
"I can't do that, kid. I need to eat more than just fish, all land-dwellers do. We get sick from just eating one thing all the time, we need vegetables and fruits and red meats and stuff. But I promise I'll be back as soon as I've resupplied." Still the merman whined like a pouting child and looked up at Inuyasha with glossy eyes that pleaded for him to stay. Sighing, again Inuyasha slipped underwater.
"If you absolutely must go… then take me with you un…" For a long moment, their gazes locked as if neither could quite understand exactly what had just slipped past Deidara's lips. Nervously, the blonde chewed his bottom lip with his fangs for a moment before the pair resurfaced.
"You know… you know I can't do that kid." Inuyasha grunted, his lips turning downward into the beginnings of a frown. "You know you can't breathe out of the water… Deidara what are you saying? Take you with me? That's not possible." Solemnly he shook his dripping-wet head as if to deny those pleading, cerulean eyes, though looking into them it was very difficult to stay firm and not promise that he would find a way.
"But Inuyasha un… didn't you say there was a way? When you were telling me about the scroll the priestess gave to you un… you said there was a spell to make a ningyo into a man… was it not true un?"
Like a bolt of lightning, the memory jumped into the forefront of Inuyasha's mind. Of course! How had ne not remembered it sooner? The sutras designed by the biologist who had helped to write the manual had to be the key. It was so perfect, wasn't it? So simple it was easy!
"Deidara you're a genius!" He exclaimed, yanking the startled merman above the water and crashing their lips together in sudden exhilaration. Abandoning the stunned ningyo to fight his way back ashore, Inuyasha nearly tripped on the water in his haste to return to the ancient scroll and find the afore mentioned spell. Touching a finger to his own lips, Deidara gave an astonished squeak before re turning to watch as the silver-haired hanyou dove into his tent in search of the desired text. Eagerly the hanyou rolled through the tome until he came upon that section towards the end that showed diagrams of the sutras that had been used to foster the transmogrification. Ignoring the questioning peeps that came from time to time as Deidara tried to understand what exactly he was up to, Inuyasha used his claws to carefully cut away a scrap of blank parchment to be used as the sutra. With a creased brow and a steady hand, he worked to perfectly copy the inscription from the scroll onto the new sutra.
When the seal was copied character for character, symbol for symbol, Inuyasha combed over the instructions before daring to bring the technique to Deidara.
Prepare the sutra and an adhesive made of tree sap. Remove the ningyo from the water, your work must be swift or the creature will suffocate. Quickly dry the soft spinal skin and the dorsal fin with a cloth. Apply the sap to the blank side of the sutra and press the paper firmly across the shoulders of the ningyo, just above the dorsal fin. Stand back and be prepared to resuscitate as the newly formed lungs are completely collapsed after the transformation is complete. Afterwards you must be certain that the sutra does not become damaged, including by water, or the creature will revert and could die without water nearby.
The directions made Inuyasha nervous at best, but the scroll assured its reader that following the directions explicitly would harbor no ill result or adverse side effect. Warily, Inuyasha gathered a good few ounces of tree sap, tapping into the nearest arbor with his razor-sharp claws and drawing out its sticky blood. With the sap coating the bottom of his only bowl, Inuyasha set the adhesive aside and ventured out into the churning waters again to explain his plan to the merman in question and be sure that Deidara was prepared for what sounded like such a brutal transformation.
It seemed as if the ningyo had been waiting attentively yet anxiously for a verdict as he looked up with that same pleading expression to Inuyasha, wordlessly begging for some way to join him on land. Inuyasha gave the merman a halfhearted smile and stroked his fingers carefully through the course blonde tresses.
"Okay kid… so you were right… I found the spell, but it looks kind of, well… tricky." He paused to think carefully about the words he used before continuing. "The transformation looks like it would hurt, and if I'm not quick enough… you could suffocate… are you sure you want to go through with this? I mean are you willing to go through the pain and do you trust me to keep you alive?"
There was a long moment during which Deidara looked away without making a sound, his eyes seeming lost in an internal weighing of options. The ningyo wanted terribly to accompany Inuyasha wherever he went but the thought of going through a painful and potentially lethal process to do so was reasonably off-putting. He seemed to ponder both for what felt like ages before finally glancing up again at the hanyou and giving his land-dwelling companion a slight nod of agreement. Returning the gesture, Inuyasha continued to stroke his fingers through the merman's hair as he went on to explain.
"Okay, so to start the transformation, I'll have to take you out of the water and lay you on the beach, so you'll need to hold your breath as long as possible. I'll be as fast as I can but still the change takes time. The scroll said I have to dry your back and your fin and then stick a seal across your shoulders with tree sap. It also said that when the transformation is done you won't be able to breathe right away, so I'll be there to help you breathe…" He smiled as Deidara nodded in contemplative understanding. "Oh, and one other thing… it said to never let anything happen to the seal or you will change back, and that includes getting it wet."
With a low groaning noise, the merman bowed his golden head and churned the waters with his gills for a moment to be sure that his blood was well stocked with oxygen before he was removed from the bay completely. When he felt mostly assured, the ningyo blinked up at his half-demon companion and gave a slight nod to show that he was ready for the process to begin. Inuyasha heaved a heavy sigh and wrapped his firm arms around the koi-tail's broad shoulders, embracing him tightly and pressing their lips together in a chaste, loving gesture. As he did so, one of his hands slid lower on the merman's body until it briefly grasped at the rippling, muscular spine where the rear end of a human would have been. Still lower the hanyou's hand ventured until his arm cupped beneath the powerful tail and he pulled the entre creature out of the water in his powerful grasp.
Fighting against the tide and the clock, Inuyasha hauled the ningyo ashore and laid him belly-down on the sands beyond the licking reach of the waves. With an unused robe, the half demon made haste to wipe all the water away from Deidara's back, leaving the soft, tanned skin to feel sticky as it reacted to being exposed to air. The blonde tried not to wriggle, but sometimes instinct would force him to shift his drying tail in the sand suddenly. With a deft finger, Inuyasha made as much haste as possible to spread the sticky sap across the back of the sutra he had made and quickly pressed the seal into the ningyo's shoulders , sitting back and preparing to lurch into action once the transformation was finished.
The instant the seal touched his skin, it stuck and Deidara let out a deafening wail, his fingers digging into the sand and his eyes slamming shut as everywhere on is body muscles, bones and vital organs shifted. For a moment it was as if the flesh beneath skin and scale was alive with thousands of wriggling parasites, and the merman screamed in agony. The creature's tail was the first to retract, withering like a dying flower it curled inwards and shrunk, retreating within itself until the backbone retreated inward completely, leaving a slight dimple and the ningyo's exposed vent. At nearly the same time, from the place where the scales had once met with skin, a pair of lumps sprouted and grew outward, twisting as new flesh seemed to bubble up around them from out of nowhere. The spindly lumps gradually took shape as new legs, though the unfamiliar limbs lay useless, sprawled awkwardly in the sand as Deidara continued to writhe and shriek and suddenly jerked rolling onto his back in the process.
Within the merman's torso, an entirely different kind of pain was setting his every nerve aflame with agony as his internal organs were replaced, reshaped and even removed. The air-bladder that allowed all subaquatic creatures to regulate their depth easily collapsed in on itself and disappeared while his gills were spackled over with skin and swallowed up completely. Suddenly the horrible, terrifying screaming stopped altogether, leaving the sounds of frantic jerking and seizing in its wake as still the transmogrification marched on. From the system that had once brought oxygen into his blood from the water, a new pair of lungs sprouted, in his slightly caved-in chest while his digestive system shrunk to accommodate for new intestines. The heart shifted dramatically upwards and compacted, freezing for a moment before beginning again to pump blood through the frantically changing system. The three tracts that had once joined at the vent split off and the reproductive organs that had once been housed in Deidara's belly shifted downwards to hang in vulnerable sacks just below his growing intermittent organ. Thigh muscles grew thick and sinewy to clasp around the exposed anus with powerful gluteus muscles. The fangs in Deidara's mouth seemed to shrink back and his upper lip smoothed over while his tongue suddenly sprouted a thousand sensory buds. The strong membrane connecting the knuckles of each of his hands withdrew and the pointed claws that curved from his fingertips retreated into gnarled fingernails.
Gradually the shifting inside of the newly created human died away and he stared, still trembling in indescribable pain, up at Inuyasha as if begging for some kind of aid. The half demon hesitated, unsure of himself for a moment, but seeing the agonized desperation in the other man's lurid blue eyes, he had to do something. Without thinking much, the hanyou crouched over the quaking man and took a deep breath, pressing their lips together, pinching Deidara's nose and blowing. The narrow chest visibly expanded as air rushed to fill the virgin lungs with their first breath. With the first push bringing Deidara to a point where his own muscles could take over, the untried diaphragm undulated violently as the ningyo twisted his head away and nearly choked on his own air. Rolling over onto his side and then to res on his elbows and hips, the blonde hunched his shoulders and hacked; the feeling of his chest being full of the usually toxic air causing an instinctual reaction to expel the gas from his body. After a great deal of coughing and wheezing, the muscle spasms subsided and clutching his head Deidara let out a low groan.
"Oh holy Susanoo-no-mikoto!" he swore in the name of the Shinto god of the sea. "My father… nothing ever so painful… god… like dying…"
"But see?" came the soft, reassuring crooning of Inuyasha's voice, causing the newly made man to lift his head and look up at the hanyou curiously. With a careful hand, the half demon smoothed his palm over the smooth skin where once dorsal spines had divide Deidara's back. "If it was like dying, then you have been reborn…"