Shipwrecked

Pirate/Merman AU. Aomine is a pirate of an infamous ship called The Miracle. The Miracle goes out to sea one stormy day and gets destroyed by nature, making everyone abandon ship. Aomine thought he was going to die, but then he is saved.

Aomine had a feeling that something would go wrong because the day started out perfectly. The skies were blue, the sun was out, the birds were flying and he managed to steal a few of the greatest bottles of alcohol that ever existed. Despite how stupendous the day seemed to start out, it all ended up going to hell the moment they left dock.

The Miracle had set sail after Akashi had done his business with some high-up merchant, and they all left with many crates of sugar, tea and alcohol. They were under orders to deliver the supplies (well, most of it, anyway – because honestly, they were pirates, of course they were bound to steal some of it) in the next week. That all went down the drain when hours later, the white, fluffy clouds turned into dark, angry ones that filled the sky and blocked out the sun. The calm water changed and soon enough waves started crashing down on them, disrupting their once peaceful journey across the ocean.

It all happened way to fast, as if time had been sped up. The harsh, unrelenting waves tore apart the Miracle, sending everything and everyone plummeting into the water.

Aomine tried to help one of the others, but their soaked hand slipped from his and soon enough a wave had pushed him under the surface of the water. The waves kept pushing, keeping him under no matter how hard Aomine struggled to pump his legs to break the surface. His legs ached from kicking and with one final crashing wave, he was pushed further into the depths of the ocean, his vision blurring from lack of air in his lungs.

Despite his obscured vision, he could see one figure swimming towards him, and Aomine thought, 'Maybe I'll live…'

Aomine woke with a start, coughing and hacking up water. He felt a pressure come off his chest and he opened his eyes, vision still blurred. He reached up and rubbed at his eyes, smelling the salty sea but feeling dry sand underneath him. Confused, Aomine slowly sat up, his body feeling heavy and his mind still groggy from passing out. "I'm alive…" He voiced, cringing at the grating and gravelly sound of his voice.

"You're welcome." An annoyed voice huffed, making Aomine blink in realization. He looked around, but saw no one, until he noticed movement coming from below him. The dark skinned pirate looked down, seeing water gently lapping at the sand he sat on, and a figure half-submerged in the water.

"Who… are you?" Aomine asked, raising his eyebrow because he certainly had not remembered seeing such a… such a pretty young man on their pirate ship. His eyes widened, "The ship!" He exclaimed, making to stand.

The stranger put a hand on his wrist, keeping him down. "Your little pirate ship is gone. The sea destroyed it."

"… What about the others?"

"From what I saw, some of them were on a smaller boat. I'm not sure about everyone, though." The young man stated, releasing Aomine's wrist once he saw that Aomine was not about to bolt away. Aomine sighed and scrubbed at his face tiredly. He glanced back down at the stranger, narrowing his eyes as he studied him.

The stranger (who apparently saved him) had soft, pale looking skin and short, messy black hair. The most noticeable and intriguing part about the guy were his big, pretty eyes. They were a steely-blue color that seemed to shimmer from what Aomine guessed was the sun reflecting off the water's surface. But, then Aomine noticed there was no sun, as they were inside a cave.

He tore his eyes away from the strange who was oddly still half in the water, only his torso sticking out, and looked around the cave. It was not as dark as Aomine thought it would be, and he could see light coming from a hole in the cave, under the water. "How did you find this place?" Aomine asked before he could stop himself.

The guy looked somewhat amused and also annoyed at the same time. "I live here." He answered. Aomine took the information in and chuckled. "What?" The guy asked, frowning.

"You can't live here."

"Of course I can."

"No. We're in the middle of… nowhere." Aomine was not entirely sure where they were, mostly because he was stuck in a cave with a weird person. "Why don't you just come out of the water, anyway?" He asked, changing the subject

"I can't."

"Why not?" Now Aomine was beginning to get a little annoyed. If his so-called savior wanted to be difficult, then fine. Two could play at that game.

"I'd rather not die."

"What do you-" Before Aomine could even think to finish his question, the person sunk into the water and disappeared. "…" Aomine moved onto his hands and knees, peering into the water. A splash a few feet away caught his attention and Aomine looked over. "What-…" His royal blue orbs widened, staring at the shimmering, blue tail in his sight.

Just as soon as it came out, it went back into the water and the stranger looked away with a grimace. "If my tail is out of the water, it hurts too much. If my tail is out for too long then eventually I'll die." He explained.

"You-… You're-"

"A merman, yeah."

"A creature from legend." Aomine stated, not sure what to feel about this new discovery. He has heard a multitude of stories of sea-men meeting these mer-people who were said to be made up beings. He thought they were something made up, exactly what he said – a legend. Now all of a sudden he was meeting one in real life? Aomine thought of another thing he heard, and before he could stop himself, he asked, "Do you sink ships?"

"I'm not a siren." He spat, crossing his arms over the sand. The merman rested his head against his folder arms and stared at Aomine. "You humans often confuse us. Mer-people are harmless in that aspect. Sirens are the ones who sing with their sickening-sweet voices and lure sailors into crashing their ships into rocks or to commit suicide."

Aomine blinked, not feeling entirely happy to hear such things. If there were a difference, then that would mean that there really are sirens out there that do just as the merman had said. "And before you ask: No, a siren did nothing to you. Not that I'm sticking up for them. I hate them."

"Aren't you… close? Like, related, or something?"

"… Are you an idiot?" Aomine glared, crossing his arms over his chest. The merman arched his eyebrow when his question was not answered and looked away. "Fine, don't answer."

"I'm not an idiot!"

"Says you." The merman whispered, playing with the sand. "Are you well enough to leave?"

"I'm not sure… Where are we?"

"On an island. It would take a day's travel to get back to where you came from, probably."

"Probably." Aomine repeated, rubbing his face as he sighed heavily. "Do you have food? Do you eat?"

The merman scoffed, tossing a handful of sand at Aomine. "Of course I eat. And… I have nothing at the moment. I could get something to eat, though." With that, the merman vanished under the water with a splash; the last thing Aomine saw was a glimmering, cobalt-blue tail.

It was not until an hour later the merman came back. It was about time too because Aomine was beginning to feel off and weird about being stuck in a small cave, alone. The only sounds that could be heard were the gently sound of the waves and his breathing. The sun had set and the cave only got darker as the minutes ticked away.

So he would be lying if he did not feel relieved when he heard the merman come back with a splashing noise. "Hey." Aomine greeted, still feeling slightly on edge as he inched closer to the water, but far enough so the gently waves would not get him wet. "Did you get food?"

"Yeah, just hold on a second." The merman replied, a hint of an annoyed tone in his voice. Aomine raised his hands silently and backed away, sitting back down and stretching. "Do you need light?" At the question, Aomine nodded.

The merman sighed and looked around. He backed away from the small shore of his cave and swam over to a chest covered in dried out seaweed and barnacles. He dug around and made a faint noise of frustration before he finally pulled a small object out. "This would work, right?" He asked, holding up a small glass case which held a candle in the middle.

Aomine's eyes widened and he nodded, holding his hand out. The merman handed it to him, resting his head on his arms again, watching in minor interest as Aomine opened the glass case. Aomine smirked, never feeling happier than finding a match set inside the candle's case. He struck a match and lit the candle. The flame was big for a few seconds before it went down to a small flicker, lighting up the dark cave. The pirate looked to the merman, who was surprised at the flicker of the fire. He appeared wary and extremely curious at the same time, and Aomine found himself wondering if this was the first time the merman saw fire. "Cool, isn't it?"

"I thought it would be rather hot, actually." The merman replied, causing Aomine to snort and chuckle. The merman's cheeks turned rosy suddenly as he looked away, a small pout on his lips.

"You're right, but I mean cool as in…" At the confused expression, Aomine trailed off, suddenly not knowing how to explain human slang to a merman who he did not even knew existed up until a couple hours ago. "Just… Nevermind." He shook his head, smiling tiredly.

"Here." The merman offered Aomine a bag that was still wet and smelled of the sea. "You're food." He added in a huff.

"Thanks." Aomine said gruffly, taking the dripping bag with a small frown of distaste. He peered into the bag and was not all that surprised to see a bunch of seaweed, clams and small fishes. "Do you have any sticks?" The tanned pirate asked, wanting to make a fire or something.

"From trees?"

"Yeah."

"No… But you can find those on the island."

"How do I get to the island?"

"Just swim out of through the hole in the water. Once you resurface you go left and the island is literally right there. My home is connected to it, after all."

"Wow." Aomine blinked, thinking being shipwrecked would not be that bad if he had easy access to an island. "Well… Do you eat these raw?" He held a clam up, wishing that he could make a fire to at least cook the fish.

The merman nodded, "There is another way?"

"With this," Aomine pointed to the flame of the candle, "But it's too small." He added, sulking slightly.

"Oh," The merman said. He turned away and stifled a yawn, rubbing his eyes sleepily. "If I sleep, will you kill me?"

"What? No." Aomine made a face at that, feeling as if he was being accused. "Why would I kill you, I mean you saved… me."

"…?"

"You could have let me die, why?"

"I don't know…" The merman shrugged his shoulders, creating a small dip in the wet sand, watching it fill with water. "You just seemed so desperate to live, and I already saw that those other guys were alive. By the way, what's your name?"

Aomine's eyes widened at the last question. It was not surprising that he did not offer his name, but now that he thought about it, he was rather curious as to what the merman's name was, if he had one. "It's Aomine. Aomine Daiki."

"Aomine Daiki…" The merman repeated, smiling to himself. "I am Yukio."

"Is that… a given name?" The pirate asked.

"Yeah… I forgot what my family name was…" The merman frowned. "It has been too many centuries since I was a human."

"Oh, I see…" Aomine nodded solemnly, until the words actually sunk in. "Wait. You were human once? And centuries? How old are you?" Aomine stared at the merman – at Yukio – shocked and feeling disgruntled. Yukio appeared to be a teenager, around his age.

"Yeah." Yukio gave him an odd look, moving further into the water so he could swim around without bumping into the rocky cave wall or the sandy beach within the cave. "All mer-people started off as humans. And I'm almost 300."

"That…"

"Is surprising? Did you think we were just born this way?" Yukio scoffed, dipping under the water and appearing back on the shore. Aomine watched as water trickled down his face, watched the pink tongue that poked up to lick the droplet of water that trailed by his mouth. He shook his head and looked back into Yukio's eyes when he started to talk again. "I guess you wouldn't know because no matter the reason… or cause, of how we died and became like this, mer-people do not age. You may think of us as immortal in that sense, but it isn't true. We can be killed just as easily as you." Yukio looked somewhat amused at that, poking holes in the sand with his fingers.

"Does everyone become one, then?"

Yukio laughed, making Aomine flush slightly. "Not at all. I won't tell you how, because I would feel I'd be giving away too much information to a human, of all things… But no, not everyone."

Aomine frowned, wanting to know. He crossed his arms rather childishly and looked away. "Fine, don't tell me." He muttered.

Yukio stared at the human before moving to the rock where he normally slept, half submerged in the water and half on the surface. He laid his head on the sand, staring at the pouting Aomine before he moved onto his back, staring at the rocky cave above him. "You know, maybe if you're lucky, your friends might come to this island because it is the only one in sight from where your ship sunk."

Aomine looked at Yukio, stunned for a moment before he spoke, "Really?" He asked, feeling more hopeful than before.

"Really." Yukio nodded, offering a small smirk. "I guess you'll find out in the morning, though."

"Why not now?" Aomine asked in a challenging tone, tensing as if he was about to get up and dive into the water. Yukio rolled away, facing the opposite way as the pirate.

"I doubt you'd want to swim into the dark water and chance meeting a shark or any other fish that finds you a threat."

"There are… sharks here?"

"Way more than you think." Yukio chuckled in amusement, not even needing to see Aomine's facial expression because he could practically hear it through the tone of his voice. "So, I'll see you in the morning. Goodnight."

Aomine frowned at the merman, his cheeks darkening from the embarrassment of being laughed at, "Yeah, night." He mumbled, falling onto his back and closing his eyes.

No one knows how badly I want to be a mermaid ; u; Like, seriously. Hehe… heh… Ah, anyways. I don't think I meant for this to be more than 1000 words… but it somehow ended up that way. Oh well 8D

~WinterAssassin~