Author´s note: Yeey! I updated on time! Hahaha, now really, I will try to update at least once a month, I promise! Once more, I want to thank you all who review/favorite/follow my story. Everytime I get one of those emails my day brightens up! I love you guys! And again, a special thanks to my beta Naria for helping me out even if she doesn´t ship the pairing, and Jenny, who knows nothing about anime but helps me out when I can't find the right word xD Now for the anonymous section!
dara: Thank you for your lovely review! I'm sorry that I can't update daily but I can assure you I am WRITING daily! I hope you keep liking the romance!
ShiZayaUsUkSinJa: I'm so glad to hear you loved the previous chapter so much! You know, I didn't quite understood what you meant about hating love triangles until your previous review? Hahaha! I also hate those stories where the MC cannot decide whether they love personA or personB the most! I´m so sorry for the long wait in the previous chapter. Hopefully, I will be able to keep my pace this time. Hahaha, and no, Shizuo will not get broke, maybe... I hope you like this chapter and tell me your opinion about it soon!
Guest: I'm glad you think that this is the best mermaid AU, it really makes me happy. And I know the wait is long, I'm so sorry! I hope to be able to keep updating like this now!
anonnym: Thank you for your review! I'm glad this story caught your attention! And I'm so glad you like the cliffhangers! I try really hard to keep the story interesting :3 I hope you enjoy the next chappy!
Chapter 6
Shizuo´s POV
I can't believe I'm doing this, I mentally groaned.
I have been standing in front of a store in the clothing district of the city for over half an hour now, deciding whether I should enter this one or not.
My head has been a mess ever since Izaya's proposal yesterday.
"…would you show me what a festival is if I had legs?", the words were still stuck in my mind, as fresh as the moment after they were pronounced.
Izaya had explained me that he "kind of" knew about a spell that could grant legs to a siren in exchange for their voice. It was nothing permanent and, if he was careful enough, he could make it last an entire night. More than enough time to check what a festival was. Everything sounded like a flawless plan, until he reminded me that even with legs, he would still be as stark naked as he usually was.
Which brings me back to my current dilemma.
Why do I keep spending my salary on his whims?, I asked myself, not sure if I wanted to hear the answer or if I had it at all.
The clothes on display looked good from afar, but when I got near them… I just couldn't picture Izaya in them. Some were too simple while others looked too pompous. I ran a hand through my hair. Here I was, losing my precious day off picking clothes for a bastard that had no way of paying me back, and I didn't even know where to begin.
I mean, I was the least qualified person to do something like this!
I was so relieved when I joined the militia. Half of my everyday clothes are provided by them, and the other half is provided by my little brother. Never in my life have I stopped myself to think much about my attire, just picking up whatever felt comfortable and clean, and now I was supposed to pick up an entire wardrobe?
My hands were itching so I quickly lighted a cigarette to try and calm my mind a little. This was (surprisingly) my first smoke in three weeks. A personal record, I must say. First breath in and I could already feel the numbing effects of the blessed nicotine. Good, now I could think straight again. This can't be that hard!
I was still burning holes through the glass of the shop when a familiar voice called me from behind.
"Shizuo! Fancy meeting you here!"
I turned around to see Shinra and Celty walking towards me from the other side of the street. It was a rare sight, seeing them without their medical garbs on.
"Yo, Shinra" I greeted them, stomping over my cigar "Celty" I bowed my head a little. I knew she didn't like the smoke.
"What are you doing here? Suddenly felt like satisfying your fashion needs, hmm?" Shinra asked, checking the front of the store I was still at.
"Nah, I'm not buying for me. Is for a…" siren, "someone else…", I ended up saying. "What about you?", I tried to divert their attention from the topic.
"What? Is it not obvious?" Shinra asked, his body suddenly getting the consistence of noodles. "Me and my dearest here are in a lovey-dovey dat-Ughuh!" The rest of that sentence was promptly cut off by Celty's sharp jab at Shinra's plexus.
"You're buying clothes for a friend? Need some help?" Celty asked using sign language.
At least the militia school classes were useful for something.
"Is more like I don't even know where to begin searching..." I commented, scratching the back of my head, a little embarrassed at the confession.
"Why, Shizuo! You should have told us sooner! We will gladly help you with your little quest for clothes" Shinra said, suddenly recovered. "But we can't possibly purchase clothes standing here, can we?" The doctor grabbed me by the shoulders, pushing me to the door of the store.
Shinra was always like this, meddling into other people's business and then dragging them to his pace. Of course, if I had wanted to, I could very well stomp my feet on the ground and shake Shinra off, but Celty was right beside me, smiling as if asking me to forgive his antics. I just sighed and let myself be led by these two.
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We have spent an hour now looking for clothes. After entering the store I gave them a vague description of Izaya and we started looking around. Shinra was busy going through some of the racks in the back of the store while Celty and I were checking some coats and scarves. It was getting a little chilly at night, after all.
One of the coats being worn by a mannequin caught my attention. It was a long black trench coat with fur lining and several buttons on the front.
"Black, definitely", I mused absentmindedly. I imagined Izaya wearing that same coat and smiled, it didn't look half bad.
"You seem happy", she signaled, giving me a small smile.
I may not have mentioned this before, but Celty could be considered the person who I got along the best after Tom. She liked to hear me out and I would often do the same for her whenever we had free time. And the best of it all was that we didn't need to delve into the details. We would just hear each other and not ask names or anything the other didn't want to share.
"I don't know why, though", I responded her, picking some gloves that were in front of me. "I shouldn't be spending anymore on him".
She laughed silently at that.
"So not only food, but now clothes as well", she added, knowing perfectly well who I was purchasing this for, without really knowing anything.
I had decided to tell Celty about the situation a few nights ago, excluding a lot of information to the point that she only knew I was meeting this person constantly and giving them food.
"What can I say, he is high maintenance, that flea", I said, managing to sound pissed at the situation when I really wasn't. I put the gloves back on their place, but she grabbed them and threw them into the basket she was carrying.
"These are on me", she signaled the black gloves that I was checking before.
I was going to argue against that when a voice interrupted us.
"Hoho, what is going on here? Discussing some dirty secrets I shouldn't know about?", Shinra decided to join our conversation, using his usual annoying tone.
The doctor was well known because of his creepy and somewhat perverted nature, sometimes sputtering comments without an ounce of shame in that same voice.
"Shut up", I cut him off. I wasn't about to discuss that topic with him.
"Well, I guess we have a good amount of clothes by now", he announced, unaffected by my response. "On to the next store!"
I hesitantly followed the two, just hoping that whatever they picked up wouldn't damage my already endangered pocket.
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I was on my way to the cave after my round the following day. In my bag was one of my old shirts, since Izaya had told me that he would need something to start practicing how to walk.
The outfit that Celty and Shinra had helped me purchase was carefully wrapped in a paper bag in my room, waiting for the next festival to come up. Celty had insisted that since this was a gift, it should be properly wrapped up. And I wasn't so against the idea to actually stop her.
When I arrived at the entrance of the rift, I started to feel kinda anxious. I knew that half of my anxiousness was because I really wanted to see a human-like Izaya, and the other half was because I was also really afraid of seeing a human-like Izaya.
Over the past few days, I have come to a middle point with my feelings where I could openly admit that I found myself (more times than I would like to admit) thinking about how cute or beautiful Izaya was. I wasn't sure how or why these thoughts came to be (and I didn't want to know either), but I knew that they were there. And now, faced with the new idea of seeing him in a more normal yet unknown form… It was wrecking havoc on my mind.
I ran a hand over my hair, trying to get rid of some of the anxiousness before stepping into the rift. I was getting nowhere waiting over here anyways.
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"What took you so long?", was what welcomed me this time, along a pouty face from Izaya.
"Despite what you may think, I actually have responsibilities to take care of out there." I jokingly said, successfully avoiding to mention that I had been in front of the cave for fifteen minutes already.
"Hmph!" I heard him scoff along with a tiny murmur that sounded just like: Do brutes even have responsibilities? I didn't comment on that. " Did you bring what I told you?"
Izaya was notoriously more irritating than normal, but his voice was intertwined with an excitement that I wasn't sure I had heard in him before. The idea of getting out of this cave must be something he is really looking forward to, huh.
"Yeah, yeah. It's here", I said while waving the bag a little to show him.
Izaya seemed pleased with that. He eagerly jumped out of the water and landed gracefully in the shore beside the rock I usually sat at. I could tell just by looking that he was excited but also had a small reluctant air.
"Have you done this before?", I voiced my doubt.
"I never had a reason to", he explained, running a hand through the length of his tail. My eyes followed the movement, admiring the red-striped scales. "So, no. I've never done this", Izaya sounded oddly sincere.
I'm not the only one anxious, it seems.
"Well, here goes nothing" Izaya whispered before closing his eyes.
He started to hum a song. The melody started small, so much that I had to strain my ears to be able to catch it in the beginning. Slowly, the tune gained strength and Izaya opened his mouth to add some odd words to the mix. I took me a minute to recognize the melody. It was the same one that I had heard in the beach back then.
My attention was drawn back to his tail when an eerie glow started to emanate from it. I shielded my eyes from the new source of light, taking a few steps towards him. The glow was growing brighter while his voice died down to a mere whisper. Finally, he stopped.
And I couldn't help the sharp intake of air when I looked again.
Where there were once scales, now it was skin. A pale extension of skin. I could feel how my jaw went weak while I was admiring the new limbs that Izaya had grown. He, on the other hand, had an odd expression, something mixed with awe and reluctance. Shyly, he moved his hands over his legs, touching his new skin and trying to move his toes a little. I took notice that his eyes were no longer the piercing glowing red that they used to, either.
My eyes roamed his whole body, and I was relieved to see that everything turned out fine. It wasn't until my gaze decided to wander a little off course that I remembered what the shirt was for.
I turned around somewhat flustered and took out the shirt that I have brought. Then quickly went over and handed it to him.
"Here, cover yourself", I dryly said, expecting for him to take the shirt and put it on. However, Izaya eyed the shirt with a raised brow before glaring at me. Even without words, I swore I could hear his voice in my head saying: Are you an idiot? "Oh, right. Guess you don't know how…", I sighed. "Come on, lift your arms".
It was faster if I did it myself. Izaya looked surprised for a second, but did as I said. I crouched behind him and held the shirt open over his head, managing to get both hands on the sleeves before sliding the rest of the shirt down. Izaya's body build was thinner than mine, so his head went through without any struggle, but the shirt looked huge over his frame, and the sleeves were too long as well.
"Sorry, I know is not the best fit", I examined the length of the shirt. Well, at least it covers the necessary. "How does it feel?"
Izaya just kept admiring the intricate form of the shirt as if it was the most fascinating thing in the world. I felt a small smile tug at the corners of my mouth, finding the whole display endearing, but quickly coughed and tried to cover it with my hand.
"Right, you can't talk", this was going to be harder than I thought. "Nod once for good?"
Izaya finally turned to me, his face a bright pink as if he had been holding his breath for a long time now. Then he started laughing wholeheartedly. I watched him with surprise before understanding that the bastard had been mocking me. AGAIN.
"What was all that about losing your voice?!", I asked, angered and (albeit I would never admit it) embarrassed. Izaya never missed a chance to make fun of me.
"Haha… I never said I couldn't speak at all! You just assumed I wouldn't!", he exclaimed while holding his stomach, tears springing to his eyes.
It took a lot of self-control on my part not to smash him into the ground, all previous fuzzy feelings evaporating from my being.
"Besides…", he took a deep breath, removing some tears from the corner of his eyes. "I did lost my voice. Just not in the sense you were thinking"
I glared at him, daring him NOT to continue this time. He looked at me and grinned.
"I lost my voice as a siren", he wisely elaborated. He looked at his legs and drew them to his chest, placing his chin on his new knees "The voice of a siren is something very powerful and precious, but we can still exchange it for legs to visit you humans on land… Don't you think it's curious?", his voice was barely a whisper now. He slowly turned his head in my direction.
The soft gaze that accompanied his words made me aware that this was Izaya being sincere and finally opening up a little. I took a second to calm down before answering.
"What is so good about humans that you are willing to give up something like your voice to come here?" I asked the first thing that came to mind.
Izaya didn't answer immediately.
"Humans are very interesting…", he finally mumbled, absentmindedly. "And maybe sirens are just a bit too lonely", he turned his head to the pond, watching the dark waters as if they held the answers to unasked questions.
I followed his gaze, trying to decipher the meaning behind those words. I wanted to know what he meant by that, about sirens being lonely. But something in my mind told me that the more I knew about it, the less I would be able to return to my life before any of this started. I wouldn't want to return to it.
I mean, we will go our separate ways one day, right?
The suddenness of that thought pierced me like an ice spear.
"Nevermind", his voice had returned to normal. It was almost like the previous whispers had been just hallucinations. He turned back to me with his usual shit-eating grin.
It disappointed me, not being able to voice my thoughts anymore.I sighed, trying to bury that previous feeling as deep as possible.
"Here", I stood up and extended my arms to him. He looked at me, unsure, glancing back and forth between my hands and his legs. "Come on, I'll help you", I tried to reassure him.
Hesitantly, he took my hands, and I pulled him up with as much carefulness as I could muster. However, when he was upright and supposed to rely his weight on his legs, he simply didn't and ended up colliding against me instead. I held him by the shoulders, noticing how he wasn't able to stand by himself. Izaya darted his hands to my arms immediately, afraid of falling down. I smirked at this.
"Hehe, not as dangerous with four limbs, hmm flea?" I couldn't help the urge to tease him when he looked so damn vulnerable. The words earned me a glare and an attempt from his fingers to pierce my skin by sheer force. The poisonous and long claws no longer there, I noticed.
"If I ever find a way to give you a tail, we'll see who laughs then", he mumbled in a nasty tone, but he still didn't risk letting go of my arms.
I could feel my smirk growing soft. This brat.
"Yes, yes, whatever you say", now that he was more or less on his feet, I could finally see that he was around one feet shorter than me. "Okay now, legs are different than a tail", to what he mumbled something similar to: No shit, genius. A vein popped in my head, but I kept talking. "Your weight has to be distributed between both legs. Here, separate your feet to match the distance between your shoulders", I explained, seeing how he seemed to keep both feet together. Still thinking like a siren, huh?
He was giving me and his legs a distrustful glare. I innocently smiled and used my own foot to push his feet to the sides, separating them forcefully.
"Be careful, you brute!", he screamed, holding my arms for dear life. This is fun, my mind decided.
"You wanna walk? Then do as I say", I exposed, effectively shutting his mouth. He looked as if he wanted to snap back, but decided against it. Maybe the fact that I was his only way to keep standing had something to do with it.
I spent the next half-hour or so trying to convey Izaya to understand the complicated physics involved in walking. It pains me to admit it, but Izaya was pretty intelligent and got the basics of it just fine. Not that I would praise him aloud.
After we got the theory down, I started to let go of him every few minutes to see if he had managed to find his balance. After a few times almost falling over his nose, he finally got to stand on his feet without my help. I was watching him take baby steps from a safe distance when another thought crossed my mind.
"How are you going to get your tail back?"
Izaya stopped to look at me, almost losing his balance in the process. I reached out to him, in case he actually fell but he managed to remain on his feet for once.
"Well, this spell does take my voice as an exchange for these things", he said, sending an annoyed glare to his feet. "The more I talk, the less it will last. I think that with the frequency that I'm doing it now, it will last a few hours. Three tops, maybe".
"Huh, so when we actually go to the festival…?" I wondered aloud, connecting two and two together.
"Correct. I will try to remain as silent as possible to make it last throughout the night", he explained, more focused on remain standing than in the actual conversation.
"A silent flea?", I imagined a silent Izaya. No snarky comments to piss me off, huh. "That sounds good. Why don't you remain like that?" I joked.
"Why, Shizu-chan, I thought that you enjoyed my lovely voice", he responded back. It shouldn't surprise me that he would still risk to piss me off even when a small push from me could very well cause a lot of damage. "Besides, we already know how good you are at dealing with a silent me, right?", Izaya added with a mocking grin.
"Tch, shut up", I mumbled, remembering how much he laughed at that.
"Oh, don't feel bad", he kept using that infuriatingly condescending tone that only promised trouble. "Many underdeveloped species can handle only one way of communication".
"You know, for a supposedly superior being, you really don't have any sense of danger, do you?", I warned, feeling the wolfish grin fall in place.
"Well, that is normally what happens when a more intelligent species face a dumber beast, Shi. Zu. Chan~"
There was only so much I could take of those comments. I couldn't care any less if the guy would be at a disadvantage because he had just learned how to stand straight, I threw my arm in his direction with only enough force to knock him to the other end of the cave.
Surprisingly enough, Izaya dodged the blow by moving to the side just in time. His reflexes took me by surprise, and judging by the disbelieving smile that he sent my way, he was surprised as well. Too bad that I was way too out of it at the moment to congratulate him for getting so good in such a short time.
As soon as the surprise faded, I threw a second punch to where Izaya was. This time, he managed to make a jump to the side to avoid it. I did stop this time, not only because I found such a feat to be amazing, but also because the flea had miscalculated the jump and landed right beside a sharp rock, quickly loosing his balance and falling over it.
The next movement was purely on instinct. My body moved as fast as it could and the next thing I knew was that I had Izaya tightly wrapped in my arms, both of us laying on the cave floor. I quickly checked his head to see if he had hit the rock but I couldn't find any blood nor wound. I sighed in relief, but the feeling didn't last long.
"What did you do now?", Izaya asked in a fake exhausted tone.
"It's your fault for provoking me!", I exclaimed in my defense.
I sat back up, and only when I removed my hands from his back did I notice that I had managed to smash the sharp rock to pieces during our fall. I looked at my hands and, as usual, found no scratch. Guess rocks are just not hard enough.
Izaya examined my hand and then turned around to see the rock, or what was left of it.
"You really are a monster…", he whispered.
It wasn't like I haven't heard those same words before, but hearing them from him, who hasn't called me like that for weeks now, sent a small pang to my chest.
"Should I have let you split your head open then?", I couldn't hold the bitter tone.
Izaya turned his head back to me, surely catching the change in my voice and then laughed.
"Wouldn't that be a little troublesome to clean?", he responded, the mirth never leaving his voice, despite talking about his own death. "Besides, I never said being a monster was a bad thing...".
I couldn't even answer back, because right at that moment his legs started to glow and I had to cover my eyes once more. When the light had finally died down, Izaya's tail was back, along with the red glow of his eyes and the claws.
"It lasted a little less than three hours, huh…", he mused, making invisible calculations in his mind.
I was still thinking of what he had just said, but it didn't feel right to bring it up again. I let the comment slide and stood up completely.
"Need a hand?", I offered, noticing that we were a little too far from the pond for Izaya to just jump back.
"Only if you don't throw me to the other side of the cave", he conditioned, but he still grabbed my hand without any kind of doubt, despite his words.
"Don't make me wanna reconsider, flea", I jokingly warned, pulling him up and grabbing him by the waist while he naturally grabbed my neck.
Now that I thought about it, Izaya was kinda heavy with that tail. If I didn't have this monstrous strength, would I be able to carry him like this?
Guess this strength is not so bad.
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OtPr: That´s all for today folks! Now, I must admit I was a little disappointed myself about how this chapter was coming up. It was just so boring! And long! I know you were expecting the festival... But I needed to develop Shizuo's relationship with Celty and Shinra... Thank goodness Naria helped me cut it down and make the pace a little less boring and I felt a little better with the final result! Still, the decision is really yours my lovely readers! Please let me know what you really think of this chapter and the pace the story is going. I tend to delve a little too much on the details and then I have a monster of over 6000 words in my hands that I hate myself xD I hope to read your reviews and feel free to tell me about anything you feel off! I will try to work on it, promise! Until next time!