A/N: Koi is Japanese for "carp," but like – all the other chapters in this story – it's a fishy play on words; in this case the English word "coy."

Koi

Water was a very special element. It offered all the strength and support of a solid, but flowed around and over anything in its path. Stormy or stagnant, its moods may have only been rivaled by the wind itself. More tangible than cold, open atmosphere, water cradled all its denizens, creating an entirely separate dimension.

Too bad it just slips right through your arms.

With a sigh and the ocean current propelling him along, Kichiruka loped easily through a capsized ship, weaving through the splintered holes in the damaged hull. It was large and majestic, probably a noble's cruiser, but its once lavish features now lay in ruin. Not that Kichiruka minded. He had a special quarters furnished for him elsewhere, but since he'd arrived in these waters, the demon had preferred this old vessel above all else. Its dark and dilapidated exterior belied the inside's lost treasures, forgotten relics, and glowing phosphate. There was nothing else like it, and the long-since abandoned derelict stirred a particular sentiment from its sole occupant.

Even if it is a little out of the ways.

He froze for a second. An unfamiliar shadow lurked among the deck's poles. Slipping behind a wall of coral, Kichiruka peered from the barricade. The silhouette's lean frame was lengthened by the piscine tailfin that slowly lashed from one side to the other as it hovered in place. The sail on the figure's head was plain enough, sticking straight up and fanning out like a mohawk; but if he squinted, Kichiruka could make out a distinctive needle nose.

"Master Tensai!" Kichiruka called cheerfully, eagerly zipping forward. "To what honor do I owe this unexpected vis—"

"Idiot." The older demon jabbed his lanced nose inches from his pupil's face. "You think I don't know when you've done something stupid? That I didn't feel the lapse in your aura when you returned?"

Coming to a dead halt, Kichiruka canted his head to one side. He honestly had no idea what this reprimand was about, but he knew one did not give Tensai a blank stare. Dutifully, he clutched the conch staff and postured smartly. "I swear it won't happen again."

"It had better not." Tensai drifted to a dimly lit corner of the hull, casually studying the arrangement of some barnacles. "If you had given it over to a demon – even a halfling, considering your burgeoning experience – you would never have gotten it back."

Kichiruka frowned and nodded seriously, still not sure where this was going.

"I had my doubts when Lord Ichikawa unexpectedly requested your presence last evening. Do you realize that if you had arrived any slower it would have been my neck on the line? Do you? No, of course not! There you are making no use of the technique I perfected for you. Why? Because you gave it away to heaven knows where! And let yourself be reduced to simple swimming like everyone else. What for?"

Kichiruka thought back, trying to remember why he had resumed the habit again. The idea of it being for some other benefit vaguely came to mind…

"Gods, why did you do something so foolish?" Tensai's tirade was rising to its thundering crescendo as the sail on his head flushed a deeper blue. "If Ichikawa didn't see your potential I would have expelled your hide a long time ago! Does my technique, my art, mean that little to you?"

Kichiruka's stony façade faltered as he finally realized what his instructor was ranting about. "Master Tensai, teleportation is a technique I've worked hard for. I wouldn't –"

"Then why?" Tensai's open claws trembled in supplication before Kichiruka. "Why would you just give it away?"

Hands flying up defensively, the junior demon declared, "But I didn't! Teleportation is not just anything I'd freely give to another creature even if they wished f – Rin!"

oOo

Kichiruka hadn't expected Rin to be sitting right where they'd last met. That she was at their usual rendezvous made him wonder if she was already anticipating his return. Calm and serene, with her fishing basket beside her she looked much like did that first day he ran into her. If nothing was wrong maybe he had done something right for once. Feeling his pulse do a little flip-flop, Kichiruka paddled up to the girl.

"Your spell flopped," Rin said dryly, her face remaining carefully blank.

Uh-oh. Kichiruka fidgeted in the brook's tranquil current. "It was working fine when I watched you practice…"

"And why did I come out all soggy?"

Oh, is that all? "Uh…because you were in the water?" he replied, hoping that was the answer.

"I know that, stupid. I mean, when I left the stream why didn't I dry out?"

"Did you try standing in the sun?"

Massaging her temples in measured, circular motions, Rin counted backwards from ten. Kichiruka recognized it as something Master Tensai did on occasion. It wasn't a good sign. Then Rin opened her eyes and continued in a slow, even tone, "Whenever you come out of the water you're perfectly dry, right?"

"Well, technically, no. My body coats itself in a liquid film that preserves…" – Rin's searing glare intensified – "Yes, my clothes are dry."

"So when you did the spell you conveniently left that out," she accused.

"No!" Kichiruka huffed indignantly. "I gave you the power you asked for. Aquatic teleportation. Drying is something else! I told you I'm not a daiyokai here! Everything I do I learn. My spells are all separate of each other. Drying being a completely different incantation compared to teleportation."

Rin thought about it for minute, then remembered how he paused to dry her comb that one time. "Okay. I can live with that, but why did the power I wish for suddenly disappear at a crucial moment?"

Kichiruka's eyes widened. "You weren't in quicksand, were you? Oof!"

Rin crackled her knuckles. "Fortunately for you, no. I'm here, aren't I? Now what the hell happened?"

An uneasy chuckle jittered its way out of Kichiruka. "Well, you didn't expect wishes just to come from anywhere, now did you? Everything has to come from someplace…in this case, me."

"So you let me borrow a power that's actually yours?"

"Yeah…sorta…" He smiled weakly. "Actually, I kinda forgot…"

Rin's brow twitched, but she calmly pressed on to ascertain her hypothesis. "And when you needed to use it again it returned right back to you, the original owner."

"Ah, so you do understand! Phew! I thought you'd be – "

She clobbered Kichiruka with her fishing basket in a rapid succession of furious whacks. The basket was light and empty, but fast to get her point across. Rin didn't stop until the last strike swished through the air and only connected with water.

"That's a rip off! Do you know how foolish you made me look?" Rin craned her neck to glower at him from afar. "Do over."

"Hey, you got your wish!" Kichiruka called from a safer distance. "And you were complaining about how it wasn't working out anyway."

"You never warned it would work out like that." Then, she stubbornly insisted again, "Do over."

Kichiruka chuckled. "You're kinda spoiled, you know that?"

"Don't lecture me," Rin shot back. "It was your offer to grant a wish in the first place."

"You want an entirely new wish?" He resurfaced closer to the irate village girl, albeit behind the flat stone in the brook. "Like what?"

"Well…" Rin wasn't sure. Too bad you can't just wish for maturity. But she certainly didn't want to wind up with Kichiruka's! "I'll think of something else."

"Ri-ight. In the next month? You think I'm going to keep leaving my ocean for that?" Kichiruka scrambled up to perch on the rock. Then teetered from one side to the other. He didn't plunge gracelessly into the water, but it was obvious he made the sudden loss of balance look intentional.

An ivory comb was reset thoughtfully in raven tresses. "Do you even know how to use that body?"

"Why?" Kichiruka's pointed ears flexed, and he smiled devilishly at Rin. "Wanna find out?"

"Ech, perv!" She waved a hand in his direction. "You wish!"

"No, I grant," he corrected with a wide, toothy grin.

Great, I've found the yokai version of Miroku. Rin rolled her eyes. "Seriously, though. I haven't seen you even set foot outside your little pond."

" 'Cause I don't need to," Kichiruka pouted, crossing his arms.

Rin thought about the last time she had seen water demon out of his element. About a couple of weeks ago now. And as she recalled it, he was pretty clumsy to boot, doddering on stiff knees and losing his balance in the middle of "acrobatic feats." She snickered.

"What's so funny?" Kichiruka frowned.

"You haven't been practicing walking, have you?"

Eyes narrowed to ice-blue chips.

Rin toyed with the loose end of her basket. "And you're not very good either, huh?"

"What's your point? I'm water, I don't need to scuttle around on the dirt like a bottom-feeder when I can drift through my element."

"But obviously you had to learn that human guise for a reason, right?" Kichiruka's expression darkened and Rin's smile brightened. "Aha! So you are expected to walk!"

Sinking until only his eyes peeked from the water's surface, the demon sullenly gurgled. "And what are you gonna do about it?"

Rin trailed her fingers through the water, a half-smile lurking in the corner of her mouth. "Let's make a bargain: if I teach you how to walk, you'll grant me another wish in place of the last one that flopped."

Kichiruka tugged on one of the bangs springing beside his cheek. There really wasn't much to think about. Rin had made him a fair offer. And she didn't look like the type who would laugh at him if he screwed up. Hopefully. "Fine."

Rin smiled like she'd just sealed a business negotiation. Her eyes giving a high lofty gaze. Lord Sesshomaru would be proud. Then she glanced at the late afternoon sun. "Look, I've still got a lot of chores to do before the day's over, so do you want to pick this up – "

"Tomorrow," Kichiruka hastily interjected.

Rin nodded and the two exchanged a look of mutual agreement.

Let's just get this over with.

.

A/N: New(!) character sketches and expressions available here: feral-instinct. deviantart. com/#/d2qwo6d and feral-instinct. deviantart. com/#/d2qwnfq (please remove spaces before use).

Due to quarter final exams "Hooked" is going on a short hiatus and will resume June 14th. Thank you for reading! Reviews are most appreciated as I like to know how this story is going since it's just getting started (and I always do my best to reply!). Thanks!