A/N: Thanks to FanofBellaandEdward for reviewing this!
II
His mouth tasted vile.
That was the first coherent thought that Rin had when he sluggishly came back to the world of the conscious a number of long hours afterwards. He grimaced as he slumped against the backrest of the sofa and dragged his hands down his face and yawning heavily. He hadn't believed he was that tired, but apparently a nice long sleep was all he'd needed.
Shifting, he leaned over the edge of the sofa and reached for the television remote. He'd accidentally left the damned thing on the entire time he'd been asleep. His mother was not going to be happy when she got the electricity bill. Raking his fingers through his hair he was about to turn it off when the re-runs of the news came on. Frowning up at the bright screen he leaned back a little, tilting his head as the newsreader came on. There was nothing of importance until the weather came on.
"We're expecting to see some terrible storms coming from the Eastern border, with strong winds ..."
A shiver ran through him. His stomach ran cold and knotted tightly within him. The cereal he'd eaten before sleeping was threatening to swarm up his throat like locusts desperate for freedom. He hurried over to the kitchen, poured himself some water and drank the entire glass down in three swift gulps. He felt it splash down in his empty stomach, like waves against the rocks down at the beach.
The beach...
Frowning heavily he couldn't place his finger on why the beach was so important. Of course if it rained rather heavily, then it meant it wouldn't be wise for him to go onto the pier. It also meant that fishing was out of the question for the locals until the sea settled down a little more. Fishing ... Boats ... His eyes went wide as he realised what his mind had been trying to block out.
The creature.
Would it even be there? What would he do it had already managed to get itself back into the water? What if the gulls had pecked it to death? Then it would be a completely wasted journey. He furrowed his brow as he glanced at the kitchen clock. He groaned; that didn't help at all. It had two hands, it wasn't a digital one. Trying back to the dark living room he searched in vain for his phone. He finally found it, just poking out from underneath the sofa. He clicked the screen and saw that it was 5AM. How on earth had he slept for almost an entire day? No wonder he felt so heavy headed.
Trudging over to the bathroom, not bothering in turning on any lights, he made his way over to the sink and opened the medicine cupboard. He quickly brushed his teeth as hard as he could and then rinsed his mouth out with the strongest mouthwash he owned, before spitting the flavour into the sink and letting another shiver run through him. Did he dare take the risk? Was it even worth driving in such a horrible state of sleeplessness? What was the point in going to see if the creature was still there?
'Because if it was a stranded dog or a lost kitten, you wouldn't have run away in the first place!' sneered the voice at the back of his head. He couldn't deny the truth of the statement. Even if it was only in his head. If it had been a lost child or a dog or anything else he wouldn't have run away. He'd have taken them with him to his house and then called the police and filed a proper report. But what was the protocol for this sort of ... creature? He didn't even know what it was. A part of him didn't want to know at all.
And yet he felt some sort of emotion gnawing away at him. Was it guilt? No it couldn't be. He had no reason to feel guilty. Was it because the creature had been alive, clearly stranded in a rock-pool, injured and alone? If it had been taken somewhere safer then perhaps Rin wouldn't be chastising himself and hunting for his wellington boots in order to trek the sodden beach. Huffing the entire time, he pulled his mac on over his head, tucked his hair under a baseball cap and tugged the hood over everything.
Swiping his car keys off the counter, he left the dry warmth of his house.
Despite being early in the morning, the world looked as though it was still asleep, the heavy clouds already covering the majority of the sky, a swift wind easing them across the sky at a brisk pace, unlike the lazy way they normally moved. Hurrying away to the garage, he tugged the door up and stepped into the sheltered area, opened the car door and slotted his key into the ignition.
Within moments the engine roared to life and he was backing out onto the main road, seemingly the only thing moving on the roads at such an early hour. He turned the heaters on as he moved the pick-up truck along the wide, bending road, the sea hugging close to the shore already.
He shivered as the choppy grey waves crashed and frothed against the pier as he awkwardly climbed over slippery black rocks near where the boats had been moored. They were now bobbing on the water; that could only mean that his luck of finding the creature was next to none. He didn't know how he felt about that. On the one hand it meant that the creature was out of his mind and his life completely, but on the other hand if the gulls had gotten to it...
A few gulls braving the gushing winds cawed and swooped low over his head, but he decided to ignore them as he bowed his head, stuffed his hands in his pockets and made his way over even higher, wetter rocks, his boots slipping and skidding on loose pebbles. He let out a loud string of curses as the wind chapped his cheeks and lips. His muscles were quivering with the cold as he came into view of the large, sloping cliffs that sank down into the ocean.
Squinting up over the rocks he stepped down into a sandy pit that came up at the mouth of a small cave etched into the side of the cliff. He stopped short, staring down at the sand and frowning heavily. He couldn't be sure but there were a few streaks of what could possibly be blood. Swallowing thickly, he scrutinized the surrounding areas, looking for something, anything that would indicate if it was the creature and where it was now hiding.
Following the trail of blood through the sand, he noticed the marks in the sand that looking as though something big had been dragged through. He felt his insides turn to ice as he came toward a tight alcove carved into the rock, just inside the mouth of the cave. The air was damp and cloying as he sucked it in. The stench of rotten fish and seaweed smacked his senses as he strained his eyes into the gloom to find anything to indicate the creature. A few crusted scales dotted the sand around his feet.
Now that he'd gotten there, he wasn't sure he wanted to proceed. What did he plan to do if the creature was huddled up in the alcove? Take it home? That was laughable in itself. What would he do with it if and when he did get it home?
He really hadn't thought this through.
Then he heard something; something that sounded like a distressed animal clawing at the rocks. Edging deeper into the cave, he stumbled over something thick and fleshy. Sweat broke out down the back of his neck. It was here. Looking down, he could make out the outline of something thick and shimmering a dull blue-green colour. He tentatively nudged it again with his boot and yelped when the thing -was it a tail? -thrashed out against his shin. The muscle in that thing was swift and powerful. He could already feel his shin beginning to bruise.
Following the line of the dull scales, he saw that the creature had clawed its way into a deep set alcove. It was far too narrow for Rin to fit in himself, but he doubted the creature had fit without a struggle.
Drawing in deep breaths, he crouched down and, with shaking hands, got a hold of the narrowest part of the trail, the heavy fins limply twitching before he gave a swift tug. The tail thrashed and jerked in his grip but he held tight and tugged again. After a lot of pulling and maintaining a grip on the distressed creature, he finally saw the stark white skin as he finished freeing the creature from the tight, sharp alcove it'd squeezed into. Instead of calming down, the creature arched in the gritty sand and let out a bone-chilling cry. Its voice sounded like it was about to break from the shrillness of it, and its gills flared along its jaw.
"Calm down!" he tried to shout over the continuous cries. He tried to dodge, unsuccessfully from the sharp claws that lashed out at the empty air between them. "I'm not going to hurt you!" He didn't know why he was trying to reason with an over-sized fish but he hadn't come back all this way just to get his eyes clawed out.
Dipping his hand into his pocket, he took out the thick rubber bands he'd taken from under his bed. Originally they'd been used for him to stretch his arm and shoulder muscles better. They were incredibly durable so hopefully they'd be of some use to him now. He stood back and waited until the creature managed to get back onto its front again. Just as it was trying to slide its way back into the alcove he sprung upon it, digging a knee down into its back and pinning it into the gritty sand.
The creature screeched and thrashed but was unable to scrape its way back across the grit. Rin managed to get one of the thick bands under its chest before forcing each arm down to its side and wrapped the rubbed securely around it. It still rocks and cried out beneath him but he did his best to block the sounds out as he bound the fins together and finally, wrapped the final hand around the 'thighs' and webbed hands. Kneeling back onto the sand, his breathing hard and heavy to his ears, he tried to catch his breath and calm his heart down.
The creature craned its neck to the side and caught his eye. Its filmy eyelids narrowed a little before its dark eyes fixated on him. A strangled hiss issued out from its mouth.
Rin merely glared right back and sneered, flashing his sharp teeth. Surprisingly enough, the creatures thin, white lips eased back over its teeth and it averted its gaze. Almost cowering within its rubber binds. Was it afraid of him now? Or perhaps it was simply giving up for the time being.
Stretching his muscles quickly, he grabbed the creature by the chest, dipped and shifted the thing over his shoulders. The cold wind skirted around his ankles as he straightened his back up, then rose to his full height. He staggered a little with the additional weight. It was a trial getting up to the main road, even though the concrete steps were worn smooth.
His breathing was getting heavier and heavier as he finally made it onto the flat embankment beside the road. His pick-up truck was parked on the shoulder a little way away. He staggered a little as he finally made his way around the back of the truck. He managed to throw the oilskin cover aside and finally dumped the creature into the back. He hadn't been able to do it gently. There was simply no way for it to be done.
Tugging the oilskin back over the creature to shield it from view, he pinned it down before turning to climb back into the driver's seat. As soon as the engine was on, he turned the heater up before pulling a U-turn and driving in the direction of his home. By this point there were a few early morning commuters straggling about, but none bothered to look twice at his truck. Thankfully, the creature wasn't making any fuss in the back of the car. On the one hand, he was grateful; on the other hand he still needed to think of what to do when he actually got home. A small part of him knew that he needed to call someone, anyone, to help him with the animal. However ... there was a part of him that liked knowing something no one else did.
Rubbing his temples, he relaxed in the driver's seat as he cruised along the almost empty roads.
He knew that if he were to call Sousuke, the taller man would simply over-react and panic. He knew he was going to get nothing but anger and irrationality from him, if he even dared to let his friend know what was going on.
On the other hand he could always call Makoto. He was the most rational of all his friends and was normally always level-headed when it came to crises.
Rei and Nagisa were both out; Rei was too scientific it was a wonder he didn't analyse his own breathing patterns, and Nagisa was like a gerbil on sugar. They were truly a force to be reckoned with when they got together.
Letting out a heavy sigh, he massaged his temples yet again, his sore eyelids almost closing a couple of times as he made his way safely back into his garage. To make sure no one saw what he was up to, he closed the door and turned the bare bulb on. It swung weakly in the faint draft that came in through the small crack in one of the walls. Wiping the sweat from the back of his neck and forehead, he unhooked the oilskin from the back of the truck and hauled it to one side.
The creature looked even worse than it had in the gloom of the cave. However, he wouldn't know what he was officially dealing with until he was able to investigate underneath better lighting. The creature appeared to be asleep as he easily managed to lift it out of the truck and carefully made his way up the couple of steps leading into the house. The wrinkled his nose as he kicked the door shut, the smell of scale rot clogging his senses once again. He really needed to do something about that. He didn't know what exactly, but he had a funny feeling he'd be on Google for the majority of the evening.
Slipping a little on the laminate flooring, he managed to make his way over the island counter in the kitchen. With one final lurch he managed to get the creature onto the counter with a heavy thud. The tail slapped down against the side, making Rin jump at the sudden sound. The creature didn't wake up though. Either that or Rin had accidentally knocked unconscious in the back of the truck.
He reached out with shaking fingers and pressed them to the creatures' slippery neck. Something fluttered against his fingertips. A pulse! He didn't understand why he felt relieved that the creature was, in fact, still alive, but it left him feeling a little better.
Rin ran his eyes up and down the length of the creature and grimaced a little. The lacerations and scratches decorating the creatures' slimy, pale skin were clearly aggravated from having rolled in the dirt. The sea-water probably hadn't helped. It most likely felt like having rolled around in a patch of nettles. He cringed as he gently prodded around the tender skin around the scrapes.
A few muscles twitched but the creature still didn't wake up.
Breathing heavily, he flicked the kitchen lights on and clenched his jaw. He needed to use some ointment to get any infections out. He didn't know what sort of reaction it would have but that's what his mother normally did when he skinned his legs whilst out running. He glanced down at the creature, fully focused on it again, and groaned, dropping his head into his hands. This wasn't going to work. There was no way he could just use ointment on this creature without knowing the repercussions. Not to mention, where was he going to put the damned thing.
He really really hadn't thought any of this through.
He dragged a stool out from the counter and climbed up onto it. He hunched over on the counter, his elbows pressing down into the marbled top. He dropped his head into his hands and let out a yell of frustration. Luckily, the yell was muffled by his hands. What had he done? What had he been thinking? Why hadn't he just gone to the airport with his mother and sister and seen them off? Why had he insisted that his training was so damned important that he couldn't delay or even miss one lousy morning jog?
Clawing his hands through his hair, he shuddered at the thought of being lumbered with a strange creature.
He didn't know what he was going to do. He hadn't felt this hopeless since he was a little boy and was constantly terrified of the monster under his bed. He remembered hurrying into his parent's room and crawling in beside his mother, snuggling up against her chest until he fell asleep. However, now there was nowhere for him to run and hardly anywhere for him to hide. There was no mother or Gou to hug him tight and tell him that everything was going to be okay in that sweet, endearing way they usually did, whether he wanted comforting or not.
Unfortunately for him, there would be no comfort today.
All around him the house was silent. The only sound came from the wind howling outside the windows.
A/N: Let me know what you think so far X