Disclaimer: Rei: Phew. I finally decided to end this thing XD!
Minato: That's good, then. At least, you have finished yet another one.
Rei: Minato-sama! *heart eyes*
Kushina: Ehem. Naruto still belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. Not to Rei Haruno.
Warnings: Rei: Still the same. No need to repeat.
Kushina: That's right. And it's finally ending!
Minato: Well, thank you for reading this far.
…
Tears of a Mermaid
…
The preparations have taken too long and it is already mid-afternoon when Minato gets forced to stand at the edge of the shore.
Thick rope is wrapped around his feet to prevent him from escaping and his hands are also tied behind him.
The blond is waiting for nothing since he knows that there is a big cage dangling above him to catch the mermaid.
The crowd has been waiting religiously for this thing… since they wanted to see yet another mermaid. Minato then gulps as he hears a man signal Homura that everything is set.
The scientist then smirks and says, "I don't know what happened with my boy. But I will certain do with you."
He shoots Minato from behind… the bullet rushing through his very heart. His eyes widen and his kneels weaken… making his body fall down the deep waters.
His classmates and teachers cry once again but then they don't want to follow his example for defying the group.
Minato's body starts to sink because of the thick rope… and his eyes are left wide open. However, it is miraculous that he remains to feel alive.
He watches Kushina swim towards him… and he tries to whisper, "Don't… go… near… me."
But something is amiss in her eyes… determination fills the orbs and her movements. She catches him and rips open his shirt… only to kiss his wound.
Just like what happened at his neck, the wound disappears and the Kushina blows to make a big bubble enough to case Minato's head.
The blond then feels the presence of air and talks with her, "They're going to capture you!"
"Don't worry, Minato. My friends will be helping me." Then he sees a big school of fishes going their way… and then Kushina bites her own finger.
She bleeds and a drop of her blood spreads along the water. The fishes then develop massive teeth and begin moving their teeth as if biting the water.
They chew off the ropes and then Kushina begin ripping his clothes apart… Minato blushing at the action, "What are you doing?"
"Making things more realistic. Take off your clothes… all of them!" She says and then Minato can't help but to do what is said.
He slips off his clothes and the fishes are starting to rip them apart. Kushina embraces the guy and leads him somewhere as the bubble pops.
The spectators by the shore then see the blood blotting the water and the piranha-like fishes surfacing for more meat.
The men then pull the rope… only to see that it has already been chewed to nothingness. The crowd cries in vain but then the scientist yells, "He got away!"
"Got away?" One of his men asks and then Homura hits him with the gun, "Idiot! The fishes don't have to eat his feet if it's concealed by the ropes!"
The other men set out a steel net and captures the fishes to take them off the water. The divers then set out in pursuit. Homura yells, "I know you'll be back, my mermaid! There's something you want from me!"
…
Tears of a Mermaid
Rei Haruno —Sakura no Imooto
Part 3
…
Minato and Kushina are resting inside a low-lying cave which is nearby the shores of Konoha West Beach. She is finding a pair of garments that will fit Minato… among the pile of clothes they have collected from their food.
Minato knows that it is normal for Kushina to be eating people… but he doesn't know what makes him exceptional.
She gives him a pair of jeans and a loose blue shirt, "Here. They maybe smelly and dirty but…"
"Thank you." He takes them and then he looks at her and she manages to catch his unusual gaze, "Yes? What's wrong, Minato?"
"Why me, Kushina? I mean, I'm not different from those people." He reasons out and then Kushina embraces him, the peculiar warmth of a mermaid's flesh radiates to his chest.
"You are a human… just like them. But you never wanted anything but my image alone." Kushina pulls back a little and then she whispers, "You're not like those greedy souls."
"But Kushina." She shakes her head and stares at his eyes just like the first time they have met. Minato then moves closer but Kushina jerks away.
The blond twitches and then he shifts his eyes away. Kushina slowly dips in the water, "You can only kiss me when you're ready to come with me."
"Kushina." He whispers and then he remembers about something, "The other mermaid! Where is she? Is she still alive?"
"Yes. And she wants revenge… on everyone who made her suffer." Kushina shifts her eyes away and then Minato slips on the clothes and says, "Then we have to stop her! Innocent people is—"
"Minato! They tried to kill you, too! Do you really wanted to save them?" Kushina cries and then Minato smiles at her as he goes into the water as well, "Leaving them out there to die makes me no different than them."
Kushina twitches and then Minato smiles, "Makes me lose the only difference I have."
Kushina then joins him at the water and embraces him to take him back to the beach, "I've warned you. Be ready to be killed by those monsters again."
…
Tears of a Mermaid
…
Minato climbs the big rock like how Kushina told him to and luckily, he has reached the top. He huffs and sighs in relief and looks around the place.
The scientists have been focusing on the seaside and shores rather than the previous places they have been looking at. He frowns at the leftover gadgets nearby, fearing that they might be still working.
He then looks around and see no one around but the machineries… toppled machineries. The raven-haired maiden must have been there a while ago and so everyone might be hiding from her.
Or he might just be too late after all.
He walks around the place and notices blood painting the sand… and some other parts like fingers evident in the sand.
Minato covers his mouth with his hand and feels sorry with the people who have to suffer because of the scientist's goal.
He walks along some more and finds someone under a crumbled piece of big device. She is lying on her back with a big stone arching her spine.
Minato stares at her open eyes and the tear that fell tells him she's still alive. He runs to her and she whispers, "Na… Nami…"
"Yamaguchi. What happened here? Where's everyone?" He holds her hand and tries to find a way to remove the device above her.
He looks at her as she coughs out some more blood, adding some more to the blood covering her mouth and nose.
She then whispers, "Don't… take it off. It's the… only thing… that's holding… my body… together."
"No. I'm so sorry…" He apologizes and then she points to a place at the resort, "She… went there. She wants… the scientist."
"I knew it dammit." He can't help but to curse under his breath but her wince takes his attention, "Namikaze-kun…"
"Yamaguchi?" She smiles and says, "I'm happy… your face… is the last thing… I… see." Her hand falls and her eyes slowly close.
Minato feels down and positions her hand so it won't fall down again.
He then looks at the direction where Yamaguchi has pointed… and the notices some more stuck bodies (complete or not) among the piles.
How can a single mermaid do something like this? I never thought they were this… dangerous.
Minato picks up a piece of broken pen one of his classmates must be carrying earlier. My classmates are innocent. I should save them from Miko. I may still have some more time left.
He runs towards the resort… uncertain of the fate that will befall on him as he threads the path of martyrdom and idiocy.
…
Tears of a Mermaid
…
Heavy footsteps echo around the hallways as they run away from the non-human hunter downstairs. Minato's classmates are lucky enough to have survived… along with the resort owner and his secretary.
They pant as they reach a supposed safe room… the girls already on the verge on crying while the guys pissing their pants.
They just have witnessed a massacre and the raven-haired mermaid was more than a near-extinction beautiful creature of the deep… more than a creature that kills people in just a crack of a whip.
Tou breathes heavily and then he wheezes, "Let's get out of the resort… maybe she won't follow us out there." A girl disagrees, "What if she does? We're endangering much more people!"
"At least, the military can handle her, Fuuka! They have the guns to kill something like that… that monster!" He retorts and then she whispers as she becomes out of breath, "But still…"
"Shhh…" The resort owner shushes them to silence as they hear a weird sound of cloths ripping, something clothed was getting dragged across the hallway's carpet. They also hear people screaming in utmost fear as the mermaid preys on them.
Soon, the door starts getting banged at… pleas of other people getting heard from the other side. However, they refuse to open it… they can't let them in.
They silently cry as the other people get devoured by the mermaid just outside the room… blood already seeping under the door.
The resort owner then gulps down his pleas for survival and bursts open the door only to jump at the mermaid, "Run!" The people run away but then his secretary helps him hold down the mermaid.
The raven-haired mermaid, who has been going around in horrid gray-scaled body, stone eyes and scary-looking face as if a Gorgon, tries to struggle… her whip throwing the secretary away and piercing her with it.
"Ahh!" She groans in pain and the resort owner gets budged off her back, "No! Kaori! Don't touch her, you monster!" He jumps at her again but she just grabs him with the whip and throws him to the woman.
They both hit the wall harder and fall into unconsciousness… the mermaid walks back downstairs to catch up with the people along with that blasted man.
Homura continues to run… he never expected the mermaid to just simply topple his machines over. He is now scared… his men losing their tails in fear.
"Namikaze!" Tou yells as Minato passes by the parallel hallway… and going back to get to them. The blond then checks up on them, "What's going on? Where is she?"
Homura glares at the guy who is miraculously getting helped by the mermaids even though he's also a mere human like them… and humans tend to want the tears that he didn't seem to care about.
Minato gets to see him and then he glares back, "She wants to make you pay… for what happened to your son. She knew you were the one who killed him!" Homura spits at the side and holds out a gun at him, "Kill her! Kill that fucking mermaid!"
"I won't." Minato stands with his words and the tension starts to thicken up as things happen fast enough for them to lose the track of time… and fear.
A door suddenly gets off hinge and thrown towards the man with a gun… causing him to fire and hit Minato's waist.
The blond winces but concentrates more on the following event… the raven mermaid growling at the view of his face. Minato just holds on to his waist and talks to her, "Please… stop hurting innocent people."
"Innocent?" They hear her speak as if she is in her 'more beautiful' form, "You dare label them as innocent? Not watching what that wretched man did to me is the only thing that will render them innocent!"
"Please… I beg you…" Blood starts dripping from his mouth, "Why don't… you just take it out on… him… and me?"
The raven mermaid then eyes at him… oblivious of the man that is aiming the gun at her head. She then grabs his neck and tries to choke him, "It is beyond my knowledge why you are offering yourself. But it seems to be inconvenient for my heart…"
BANG! The bullet goes through her head and the mermaid duly falls down over Minato and he catches her as they crash to the ground.
The injured scientist then fires another shot at her head… nearly missing Minato's, "Die! You fucking monster! Die! If you don't want to be mine then die!"
Tou and Fuuka jump at the man for him to miss the next rounds and they try to steal the gun from him. Minato shakes the mermaid, "Miko, wake up! Miko! Wake up!" He then sees the finds the blood of the mermaid in his hands…
His hand feels different… like it's getting scaly and different. What's going on? He stares at the blood on his hand… and that small scratch he got from climbing the big rock.
He then remembers what happened to the fishes when they get to breathe in Kushina's blood… as his hand starts to darken and develop similar features with a mermaid's hand. Minato curses under his breath, "Shit."
The old man gets away with a final fire at the mermaid and runs off to somewhere. The survivors then gather round Minato while the others stay in where they are, watching the transformation of Minato's hand.
"Shit. Shit. Shit." Minato rubs the blood off his hand with his pants but his hand continues to develop. He then decides to carry the heavy, transformed mermaid bridal style and runs off to the beach. "Miko! Hang in there! I'm taking you to Kushina!"
As they reach the beach, the raven mermaid suddenly jumps off Minato's arms and uses her whip to drag him in with her… leaving the people speechless.
Minato struggles for breath and then the mermaid grabs his neck and continues on choking him, "I never thought you're just like them! I won't let you go near her again! You'll never get near her again!"
Minato starts to lose his breath and he won't be having more now that the mermaid is trying to kill him. He tries to struggle and then the mermaid let goes… only to bite at his neck.
Minato groans under water and tries to take her off… his blood faintly painting the once clear waters of the Konoha West Beach…
Kushina once told me… you can hear out our thoughts… but as what it seems to me… not all of it. You were badly injured with that shot at your head… (Actually I was surprised you're still alive…)
I just wanted her to help you… use her tears to treat you if that is possible. And something happening to my hand… I just thought maybe she could do something about it, too…
Minato gives out the last surge of air that his lungs are holding… his body lifelessly starting to sink down the water. The mermaid has let go of him and swims away to another place…
The blond finally closes his eyes and drifts deeper after watching the raven leave him as if a dead body… that he is soon to become.
He feels his clothes flutter with the small waves of the water… he feels them right then… but not for the next while…
Kushina… I'm so sorry. It's quite a shame… I can't even see you for the last time.
…
Tears of a Mermaid
…
When your dreams waver and when your sight goes blur
Look straight at the seas of blue and I'll be there for you
I will console a poor soul and I will sing to you
Listen to my voice and let me take you, too
When your dreams waver and when your sight… goes blur…
Remember those days that you don't have a clue
Of everything that happens that seems to concern you
Try to get closer, scoot to my side
Let my lap be your pillow and my voice your guide
I will take you with me in my heaven and there you shall be free
So remember those days when all you need is me…
So rest and let the days be done, care not of what happens next
As long as you stay by me… you can be free…
"Kushina?" Minato budges his eyes to open… finding no one by his side.
He did miss her song a lot and he even finds it a miracle that he's still alive after what the raven has done to him.
He rises from his lying position to see that he is at the big rock where everything started… and it reminds him why he was at KWB.
He suddenly craves for the pencil and canvasses that he used to hold and those wonderful paintings that he used to draw… the passion of his heart is currently out of his reach whilst the model of perfection lies before him…
He then remembers his hand… that seems to have reverted back to normal. Kushina must have showered him with her tears… healing every wound and restoring the damages his fragile human body has sustained.
His lashes flutter along with the breeze to take a blink… until he notices the ripples in the water. He leans nearer to see those red threads flowing with it, the consistency of the mane rides the water like silk.
"Kushina?" Minato whispers as the redhead emerges from the waters… flipping her tail for the last time before transforming them into legs.
She climbs up the big rock and lays the head of one of his classmates, named Tou to be honest, at his side. She then slicks her hair behind her.
"Is he…?" She looks at him with a glare and mad expression, "Yes, he's dead… and who knows? You might be next."
Minato looks at her and then she starts hissing at him, "You know what, Minato? I can't believe you gambled your life for those sick creatures!"
"Sorry…" Minato's voice trails off at Kushina's unusual behavior… her sudden madness about his supposed to be righteous actions.
"Stop worrying about those freaks! Please!" Kushina then clutches at his chest, "You're going to get yourself killed! I don't want you to die!"
"Kushina…" Minato bears a small smile on his lips and the redhead twitches as gratitude consumes the blond's face. "Thank you…"
"But if I do so… I don't think my conscience will be able to take it." The blond smiles again before getting up, "I need to help them. But why wouldn't Miko believe me that they're innocent?"
"Minato…" Kushina closes her eyes and glooms over, "I will be waiting for you at these waters. No matter what happens… you'll find me here."
With a tear dripping from her lonely, disappointed and sad eyes, the redhead mermaid takes off as if a bird in flight only to dive deeper into the waters of her realm.
"Sorry, Kushina." Minato whispers and looks at the direction of the resort house, "I will be back to be with you, I promise that."
…
Tears of a Mermaid
…
Above the scorching red flames lies a metal container which cannot conceal the screams of all the living within. Above the scorching flames, it dances side to side… lulling the people inside with the lullaby of death.
The scientist continues to laugh out at his amazing creation… a torture box that should have been used to mermaids that wouldn't cry at his will.
However, he has tricked the survivors to take its first ride… he just wanted to enjoy the sound of their agony and despair.
The raven mermaid is chained at a great post and the heavy sedatives' effects are yet to vanish… despite the presence of a loud stench of a dead body beside her.
Homura looks at her and aims his improvised chainsaw at her, "I wonder if she will start crying if I start chopping her limbs off. If so, I have to be ready."
He chuckles as he brings it down, "My precious tears… my oh-so precious tears!" He then laughs louder… only to have Minato confront him, "Dr. Homura!"
"Ah! If it isn't the mermaid boy!" Homura laughs out and then Minato looks around to see the container and the mermaid… and glare back at the scientist, "What are you doing to them…"
"Can't you see? This experiment is a failure! A failed experiment should be disposed and all traces should be eradicated!" He then points a gun and fires at the blond but he gets to dodge the first one.
He continues running around to find a place to hide as the scientist keeps on firing at him. "Surrender, mermaid boy! I have the mermaid and I have everyone else… and I'll also have you… DEAD!"
"I can't die here." Minato whispers and looks at the mermaid who is nothing near to waking up. He then looks up to see the container… his classmates are inside and he needs to do something.
He is about to think longer but a bullet misses his face, "Almost got you!" He then runs around again to go to another place to hide as the scientist shoots everywhere he could be.
If only there is a way to bring that thing down… Minato looks around the place and sees a switch nearby the platform where Homura is standing a while ago. He sets his eyes on it and runs towards the nearest hiding area.
"What do you think you're doing, mermaid boy? Wanna bring them down?" He laughs out as he fires at the control panel of the torture box to destroy it and throw Minato away from its blast, "I know everything you can do!"
Minato lies pained, injured and out of cover because of the small explosion… rendering himself defenseless from the scientist's firing. The guy fires at his legs so he won't be able to run… and shoulders so he won't be able to punch.
"Boo-hoo, look at you, mermaid boy. You look like you're dying… and how many times do I have to always see you like that!" He kicks Minato's side violently, "Why don't you just die, you immortal brat!"
"I… will not… die… here…" Minato whispers between his groans and huffing in the intense pain… it has not been long since he last felt something like this. The feeling of facing Death all over again…
"Oh, I see. Right… you won't. Well if you have a mermaid by your side… but you're all alone. Why? Have they already abandoned you?" Homura does a mocking coo at him and all Minato give him back is a glare… "You… are the one going to die not me."
"How audacious of you, mermaid boy." The scientist points the gun at Minato's face, "But I regret to inform you that this is the end of you and your mermaid dreams."
"They will never end." A familiar voice speaks and then the scientist looks around as the whole place shakes vigorously… the metal container's chains slowly disconnecting from one another.
Homura looks at a direction and then he finds Kushina standing at a distance… her bare body adorned by a dress she has found somewhere. The scientist unconsciously lowers the gun and falls in love with the mermaid… like how he adored the raven.
"Personification of heaven… a complete paradise…" He whispers as he slowly approaches her, "My heart… I have been robbed by such a beautiful being…"
Minato slowly gets up and tries to warn Kushina of his sedative gun… but then a great catastrophe happens. The metal container then falls down above Homura… squashing him and his mermaid dreams.
"Minato!" Kushina then climbs up the scorching metal container and jumps down as if she hasn't been pricked by the intense heat enveloping the path she passed by, "I'm so glad I followed you!"
"I thought you are just going to wait for me…" Minato embraces her and she freely hugs him back much tighter than his weakened state can take, "I was so scared to live on without you. I was so scared of having you killed."
"Kushina…" Minato smiles yet again before a sudden roar terrified the rundown place to collapse. He looks at where the raven is, "We need to get out of here. Take Miko and run… I'll just—"
Kushina uses her whip to break the container which reveals the survivors who looks half-cook inside it, "Done!" Minato then just smiles at her and they go on their separate tasks…
"Na… Namikaze?" Fuuka whispers and then Minato nods at her, "Come on… we have to get out of here." The survivors manage to get out and Kushina takes Miko somewhere safe.
"Don't worry, Miko-chan. We'll be safe and we will go home sooner."
…
Tears of a Mermaid
…
At last, the Konoha West Beach has finally come to a peaceful state. The scientist and his experiments and men are all captured and taken away… the flattened corpse almost impossible to be recovered.
The survivors are brought to the hospital and the tension the mermaid hunts left is already erased. Everyone just wants to have a good time at the resort.
It's also almost time for the students to be returning from their project trip and Minato is packing his things up. He finishes cleaning up and then he goes down for a moment… and the resort owner greets him.
"How are you doing, Namikaze-san?" He speaks as he organizes their check out forms and assembles the bills they have to pay for the stay. Minato has a smile adorning his lips as he looks around the reception.
"Wow, Fuuka. That painting is so dramatic." One of the girls speaks as they descend the stairs… Fuuka holding out a framed canvass, "Tou died protecting me. This is just a little tribute."
"Can I just go out to the beach for a moment?" Minato talks to the owner and he nods in agreement. The blond speeds his way in the beach area and then he finally goes to the big rock… where Kushina is waiting for him.
"Minato, you came!" She greets him and then he sits down, "I promised I will be back here." He looks far off the horizon where the sun will be setting sooner, "I would surely miss this place."
Kushina still has this sad smile on her face and then she strokes at Minato's hair, "This is where everything began anyway. Miko-chan is already waiting for me…"
"Yeah… I'm glad Miko isn't mad at me anymore." Minato scratches his cheeks and then Kushina laughs out, "To be honest, it's Mikoto. You're right… I'm happy about it, too."
"Kushina." Minato then looks at her who looks back at him, "I love you and I never wanted to leave your side."
Kushina smiles bigger and she scoots nearer. "I am willing to sacrifice everything just to be with you."
"I know you would say that…" Kushina starts crying again, "That's why I don't want to take you anymore. You deserve to live longer, Minato."
"No… I don't want to—" Kushina shakes her head to stop Minato from insisting, "I never wanted you to come with me. It's not a place of eternity…"
"I just wanted to be with you… I don't want to end up as a lover that just waits for you every time. I never want to stay here when you stay at the other side. Please, Kushina…"
"Minato… I'm so sorry… I can't!" She slips off his arms and jumps deep into the water… but Minato just does the same. He dives deep the water as if chasing the mermaid to where she would come home to.
He swims deeper and deeper into the abyss… insisting until his breath runs out and death's hand that is finally reaching out to him be able to gain a touch.
He is willing to leave everything behind… he is willing to die just for him to be where Kushina is…
It's not every day that he feels that way… it's not every day that he gets to be loved by someone like Kushina.
Kushina… I'm so sorry… but I won't settle up for this!
He tries to move on but his breath is giving out and his lungs are breaking in… his arms and legs won't move much and everything is getting too dark to continue. If he goes on… he'll die.
Or maybe he's heading the right way… fishes and other marine creatures are visible and yet they don't attack the stranger. But either way, right or wrong, he's going to drown and the surface is too far from the depths he's in.
Minato just continue on swimming deeper until he can't move anymore… his body refusing to do what he wishes at all. It is hopeless and he knows it very well… he's going to die…
Chasing a dream.
His impossible… yet plausible… mermaid dream.
"Minato." A familiar voice gives a spark within his dying soul and he looks around to see Kushina swimming around him. She embraces him and looks directly at his eyes, "Do you really love me that much?"
You know I do… Kushina, you have become everything to me. I don't want to let the chance pass… I would never have anything like this again. All I ever wanted is to be with you…
Minato embraces her back. I have been seeing you and I love you from the very start. Kushina, take me with you. You always sing that song I love the most… and I know I can really be free when I'm with you.
"Minato…" Kushina starts crying again and then she bears a smile, "Minato, I love you, too…" She then nears her lips to his, "Come with me… and let's see the world beyond the seas."
They finally kiss and Kushina's red hair begins to wrap around Minato as she hugs him tighter. She then swims faster… towards the abyss where mermaids lay and throwing Minato into a mermaid's heavenly oblivion.
…
Tears of a Mermaid
…
It's already time to go, the resort owner and his secretary knock at his room, the bus now waiting for the students who missed the presence of their deceased friends Inuzuka and Tou, "Namikaze-san?"
The door swings open and a note with two paintings welcomes their sights. The resort owner picks up the note and he reads it aloud…
Dear Nakamura-san…
I left the payment inside the envelope underneath the book tray. Can you please deliver my things to my home address?
Can you please tell my friends that I will miss them, too?
I'm already where I wanted to be and where I will be at my happiest.
Thank you for everything.
Namikaze Minato
The secretary then looks at the two paintings that is found with the note, "Such a wonderful artist. I'm happy that he really knew where he would be happy… and he didn't let the opportunity pass."
"I agree." The resort owner lifts up Kushina's portrait which bears her name, "Kushina and Mikoto. The mermaids of Konoha West Beach…"
"Well, everything that happened will be forgotten along with the tragedy." The secretary speaks with a sigh and then the resort owner chuckles, "The tragedy that killed most of our customers will surely be forgotten…"
He collects the paintings and goes downstairs to hang them at the wall, "But their existence will not be…"
"Along with the love story that they wrote in our minds."
…
End of Tears of a Mermaid
…
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