ayyy guess who accidentally joined the merman AU bandwagon =u=''

I sincerely apologize for any ooc-ness that may occur throughout the story OTL I am really sorry

There will be two parts to this work.

They say that if you were to sail too far out into the sea without taking the proper precautions, you might just fall victim to the sea-folk who wait in hiding solely for a chance like this. And they also say that being captured by a mermaid meant being enslaved, served on a platter, and basically lost to the world altogether as though you were spirited away.

He called that bullshit.

He was just a little over twenty years old that time, with seventeen of those years spent on a wooden boat bouncing with the waves. His father had been a fisherman, and so had his grandfather. And so had his grandfather's father. And so had his many, many grandfathers before them. And of course, so was he. Fishing skills were probably already ingrained in his genes after having so many generations of his family spent hauling up nets and setting traps and maneuvering the waves. No, he was not afraid of the sea by any means, much less these mythical creatures that so many people seemed to be excessively concerned about.

He did, nevertheless, take the precaution of not sailing too far out from the bay. Mermaids or not, the ocean was dangerous. On good days, the waters would be calm, and the catch would be incredibly satisfying. On bad days, however, it would seem as if this vast body of water cared for nothing but to rid herself of the annoying fleas that dared to invade her territory; producing waves so violent that even heavy cruisers threatened to overturn and sink into her endless depths.

And of course, bad days meant no fish and catch and income.

But even good days carry a risk, as even the gentle waves could cause your downfall if you were not paying enough attention - especially when all that's protecting you from the passively aggressive sea below was an old-fashioned wooden boat. Being carried too far out made returning to land an incredible challenge, and he figured that he wouldn't be able to do it even with his fisherman genes. There was only so much a human can do.

At any rate, there was one day in which he made a catch that - as cliché as it sounded - changed a part of his life. He thought he'd just gotten himself an impressive haul at first, for the net was unusually heavy when he started dragging it out of the water. He heaved, pulled, heaved, pulled - and finally, with a last burst of strength, he managed to heave his net up and onto his boat.

And entangled in his net, along with hundreds of desperately flopping fish, was a boy.

Correction - he was not a boy; not a human boy, anyway. The fisherman's gaze was immediately drawn to the stranger's lower half.

From the waist down, where the legs were normally supposed to be, was a red, scaly fish tail.

They exist. Weirdly enough, that didn't seem to particularly take him by surprise. Sure, he'd thought those rumors were just plain nonsense, but it wasn't like he had a choice to doubt now that one of them was glaring at him with a gaze he figured intense enough to burn a hole right through him if he left him like that.

Silently, he bent down, and gently disentangled the merling boy, careful not to make too abrupt movements. When the task was done, he stayed squatted down before him, staring him with a wonder he didn't know he had. Bright scarlet eyes met his own dark ones, questioning. He was putting on a brave front, but he knew he was scared. When he reached out, the boy flinched back, wary.

He smiled, and before the boy could react, placed his hand on his head, and softly ruffled his damp red hair, surprisingly smooth despite the sea salt.

"I won't hurt you," he said, and the latter cocked his head to the side, evidently not understanding. Ah, he thought. Their kind probably wouldn't know the human tongue. But no matter. He gestured to the boy, then to the sea, hoping he would understand. The boy failed to comprehend until a minute later, then his face brightened up. Seeing this, the fisherman let out a good-natured laugh, further moving his hands into a carrying gesture. The boy nodded without hesitation this time - enthusiastic, even. Careful in case he was more fragile than he looked, he fisherman slipped his hands under the boy, and with a huff, lifted him from the pile of fish. He guessed he weighed about how a normal human child about his size would weigh; not too heavy, but not too light either.

He didn't even have the chance to lower him into the water. As soon as he stepped towards the edge of the boat, the boy jumped off his arms and dove back into his home, sending a wave of sea spray towards the highly amused fisherman. He spun smoothly around in the water twice, before resurfacing, waving his thanks, and disappearing with barely a ripple to indicate he'd been there at all.

The merfolk were myths created by the locals back in the old times as a warning for the people to never swim or sail too far into the sea. They were believed to be ruthless, bloodthirsty, and hungry for human meat.

But after this encounter, the young fisherman thought that maybe, just maybe, they weren't so bad after all.

xXx

For seven years he'd been watching over that strange man on his boat, staying right under the currents that mostly shielded him from the sight of anyone above.

Taiga would've looked like a teenage boy with dark red hair and eyes of the same color if it wasn't for the large, lean fishtail that sported from his waist down instead of legs. He was, as you can already guess, a merman. An actual merman in the flesh hanging around in human territories to observe the fisherman who once spared his life when he was still a merling.

Taiga wasn't the only one merman in existence, though. In fact, there was a whole population of merfolk living in an area that was actually not that far from the bays and harbors of the human town nearby. Fishing boats and cruisers passed above their land every time. Tourists who decide to take a dive would spot it without needing to have their ears popped deaf by the pressure.

But of course, the merfolk wouldn't be a myth if their domain was that easily discovered. Though reality mostly differs from how the fairy tales describe them to be, they do possess a little magic. The reason why no human was able to catch even catch a glimpse at these half man, half fish folk all this while was because there was a literal barrier between them.

This barrier was very particular; only reacting to the presence of everything human and nothing else; not the sea creatures, not the merfolk themselves. It worked by instantly teleporting the unwanted visitors to the other side of the barrier as soon as they approached within its range, convincing them that that area was just like every place else on the sea bed.

And apart from keeping outsiders out, it also worked to keep the merfolk inside. They were banned from ever interacting with humans lest it endangers the whole species - because they knew of the latter's nature of being easily overwhelmed by their greed for riches. They knew that once captured, they were done for. They'd be sold, bargained, exploited. No, they could not afford to be caught. For the sake of the survival of their species, the humans must remain ignorant. They must never know that the merfolk existed.

That was, with the exception of one human.

Taiga had always had that rebellious streak in him, and it honestly wasn't much of a surprise that he was the one who found the supposed nonexistent flaw in the barrier that separated their world from the humans'. He knew in his gut that he had to report it to the adults so that it could be fixed as soon as possible, but being the child he was, he thought, "What harm could it do? Nobody's going to find it since no one ever goes there." So he'd kept it as his very own secret.

It had been purely coincidental that he'd ran into a human on his very first venture out of the protective walls of his home territory. It was also purely coincidental that the human who caught him was not like how his people described the rest of his kind to be. It was because of this person; the kindness in his eyes, the amiability of his smile, that Taiga learnt that perhaps not all humans were as bad as how his parents and the elders in town claimed they were. Perhaps not every one of them had financial profit as their main thought.

Perhaps there could be a chance for their people to get along.

But Taiga was still wary, naïve as he was. This man could also have been one of a kind. He could've been the only human out there who would catch merling and let him go without any second thoughts. He could've been the only human out there who had enough compassion and sense to remember that they were not the only ones who had lives to live and people to love.

He could've been the only human Taiga could trust.

And he was.

Ever since that encounter, Taiga had been watching over the human man as often as he could from a safe distance. He'd eventually found out the latter particularly liked to fish at a specific spot after a while of observation, and had even went out of his way to make sure he would have a plentiful catch whenever he came to the sea. The merfolk never actually minded letting the humans share their source of food. They could take all those small fries for all they cared. It didn't matter to them as long as their quality fish were left untouched.

Taiga wasn't very sure how long had passed ever since he met the fisherman (time was difficult for the merfolk since they aged differently from the humans), but he eventually started seeing someone else on that familiar white-painted boat. The fisherman's appearance had changed slightly by then; his posture showing more exhaustion, his skin darker from all those hours under the sun, the look on his face harder and more matured. Taiga couldn't really decide if he'd imagined it at first, but he swore he saw a fluff of hair by the man's legs the other day. He'd decided not to care about that at first, but curiosity eventually got the better of him and he'd ended up swimming close to the surface of the water a few mornings after to have a better look while the fisherman had his back turned away.

What Taiga didn't know was that fated meetings could happen twice.

xXx

Of course he had to bring his son along with him to the sea to let him see the wonders of fishing.

The lad was seven when he first popped him onto the boat with him and brought out into the sea - and even that was considered slightly late. He himself had followed his own father to battle the waves when he was not even five! But no matter. Age did not matter as long as the boy didn't get seasick and loved the ocean as much as he did.

And he did. His son was usually a very quiet boy (he got that trait from his mother) but when he was out there at the mercy of the sea, he seemed to become another person altogether; his smiles wider, his laughs joyful. His eyes brighter. It made his heart soar to the skies and his chest swell with pride at the sight of his son enjoying himself so much at the place of his love and livelihood. The fisherman genes were strong in this little boy as well.

He taught him all the basics of catching fish; the types of bait he should use, the stance he should take when hauling a catch to avoid toppling the boat, the ways to mend a net. He didn't let him do any net-hauling right away, of course. His boy was too small to win against the strength of hundreds of fish. He mostly asked him to do the simpler things like fishing using a line or mending the broken nets or chucking some fish into the freezer box for the special orders they occasionally receive.

And his son had, as if oblivious to the queer smell of fish and sea salt, happily obliged. He did every single thing without complain and hardly ever asking for help. He was so proud of him he thought he would burst. His son was everything he hoped for him to be. Because he too, had his heart captured by the sea.

Of course, being a man (or boy, in his son's case) of the sea meant falling into the water at least once or twice. Being over-enthusiastic wasn't always good, especially when one was still a child and had his fate in the hands of the ocean.

The lad had been leaning too far over the edge of their boat that day, mesmerized by the shoal of butterfly fishes that happened to swim close. He had just reached down to thrust his fingers into the cool water when he abruptly lost his balance and fell over with a huge splash.

He was not going to deny it. He had panicked that second and had wasted precious time being frozen in place. When the thought of his son being drowned finally succeeded in jarring him back into motion, the little boy was already halfway climbing his way back up onto the boat, and all he had to do was help him up and hug him tight in his arms because he was okay; he was okay.

"Nee, Papa," his son had said the first thing after he'd calmed down and finally let him go from his embrace. "Do mermen exist?"

That took him utterly by surprise. The topic hadn't crossed his mind for a long, long time; not since that one incident all those years ago. But even though he knew the truth, he hesitated in revealing it to his son. He really didn't know what he should do if the boy were to start insisting on seeing one after he told him.

So he took the safer approach. He returned the question with another. "What do you mean?"

"Because when I was in the water just now-" The look in his son's large blue eyes was one of pure admiration. "- the boy who caught me and lifted me back up had a fish tail instead of legs!"

The memory of the merling he'd once saved resurfaced abruptly, and he couldn't refrain from letting a smile spread across his lips. Ah, so that's it. His eyes scanned the water for any familiar traces of red, but to no avail. He wasn't disappointed. He wasn't exactly expecting to see him, anyway. He did, however, wonder how much the child had grown. He had no idea where this fondness he harbored for this redheaded fish-boy came from; it was as though there was supposed to be some sort of connection between them that he couldn't quite grasp.

"Did he, now?" He mused, pleasantly surprised by the turn of events. He took his son's hand and directed his gaze towards the sea and to the dark waters below. "Then I suppose you should be polite and thank him for saving you!"

The little boy stared back at him wide-eyed, clearly to have expected him to consider his words nothing but a child's wild imagination. He held his gaze, determined to convince him that he believed him.

The smile his son wore then was the brightest one he'd seen yet. He watched as the child conveniently forget about what he'd just experienced and once again scrambled to the edge of the boat. He then cupped his hands on either side of his mouth, and shouted a loud "Thank you!" to the waves.

The boy wasn't sure if he'd imagined it, but he thought he saw a glimmer of reddish pink directly below his line of sight.

xXx

Nine years later, Kuroko Tetsuya was still following his father to sea, but he was admittedly no longer the energetic kid he used to be.

He still loved the ocean - don't get him wrong. He just thought he shouldn't spend his energy unnecessarily to ogle at things when he could use it to haul fish out of the water. His father wasn't getting any younger by the day, and with age came all the pains and aches that hindered him from doing his job well. Most of the fish-hauling was up to Tetsuya now; his father doing the lighter work while supervising him on board.

Sometimes, Tetsuya sailed to the ocean alone because his dad was either too lazy or too in pain to follow. And it was during these times that he would properly meet face to face with a certain merman who'd taken a liking to him and his old man since a long while ago.

"Good morning, Taiga-kun," he greeted as the redhead shook saltwater off his hair after coming to the surface. Taiga looked almost the same as how Tetsuya had first seen him all those years back; about his age or perhaps a little older. Tetsuya wasn't really sure how the aging system of the merfolk worked, but he was positive that it wasn't like the humans'.

"Mornin'," Taiga's voice echoed in Tetsuya's mind, clear as day. A big grin was plastered on his face; he was genuinely happy to see his human friend.

One thing Tetsuya discovered about the merfolk was that they couldn't talk. They relied solely on telepathy for communication, and humans were not supposed to be able to hear their voices. Taiga called it the language of the sea, because every living thing in the ocean talked to one another that way. The only ones who couldn't hear nor understand them were the two legged people on land.

Except for one.

Tetsuya couldn't decide who had been more surprised the first time he heard Taiga's voice - him, or the merman himself. Ever since Tetsuya was saved from drowning that once by Taiga, the redhead had taken it upon himself to swim a little closer to the surface in order to properly watch over him in case he were to drop in again. As annoying as it was, Taiga wasn't going to let him drown on his watch. And there was once when he was just staring intently at the little boy from underwater while complaining to himself that this was such a drag when Tetsuya suddenly turned his attention to him.

"What's a 'drag'?" he'd asked, and Taiga could only stare and stare at him because did he just hear him?

"You can hear me?" His eyes had been wide with incredulity. No. This was wrong. Humans couldn't hear their voices. Humans weren't supposed to hear them.

"I can hear you." And Tetsuya had answered him casually, not even fully realizing the fact that the merman still had his mouth closed and was fully submerged in the sea. It was only when Taiga continued staring at him with his look of utter bewilderment that it dawned him.

He could hear the merman's voice.

The merman could understand his words.

"Your dad's not here again?" Taiga asked him now, placing both his arms on the edge of the boat to raise himself higher so he would have to crane his neck less to look at him while they conversed. He was careful to adjust his strength so he wouldn't be leaning the whole of his weight there.

"He was up late last night trying to settle his accounts," Tetsuya told him, bundling a fishing net in his arms. He headed to the other side of the boat where Taiga wasn't occupying and casted it into the waves. "So I thought it'd be better to let him sleep in for today."

"Hmm." Taiga leaned his head on his left arm and watched as Tetsuya trotted over and sat down. It had been pure curiosity at first, but eventually Taiga found himself increasingly drawn to this human boy because of how unusual he seemed to be. Of course, there was the fact that he could actually hear and understand the language of the sea - but there was also more to that. Taiga mostly found himself strangely mesmerized by that pair of large, round eyes that mirrored the color of the sky behind him; a blue that Taiga always thought was so far away, so unreachable.

So beautiful.

"Is something wrong?" Tetsuya's voice jerked Taiga out of his reverie, and blush immediately rose to the latter's face when he realized he'd been staring.

"It's nothing." He managed to keep his stammer in check before it went out of hand. Tetsuya gave him a doubtful look, but otherwise said nothing else. There was one major thing about him that Taiga noticed had changed. Tetsuya used to be really expressive in the past even though he didn't say much; he laughed and smiled often, looked hurt when it hurt, all that. But as the years passed and Taiga watched him grow up, those expressions seemed to slowly fade away. Tetsuya barely showed any emotion on his face and voice now; and Taiga noticed the change started right after that one incident.

It was as if the sea had robbed him of his ability to convey his feelings through his face.

"Hey, Tetsuya?" Taiga started, and the boy in question raised an eyebrow at his queer tone. "Do you love the ocean?"

There was a short pause in which Tetsuya let his mind process the sudden inquiry before he replied. "Yes."

And he dreaded hearing the next question he knew Taiga would ask next.

"Are you still afraid of the ocean?"

He could've lied. He could've lied and told him that no, he was no longer afraid; that he was already over it. That it was all nothing but a fuzzy memory that he could barely remember. But he knew Taiga knew; the reason why he no longer leaned over the edge of the boat to gaze into the turquoise waves, the reason why he always refused to join him for a swim even though he was tempted to and had so many chances. The reason why he never dipped his fingers wonderingly into the water anymore.

"Yes."

Despite knowing full well of Tetsuya's answer, Taiga still felt slightly upset. "I see."

Tetsuya casted his gaze downwards. "I'm sorry."

"But it doesn't matter," Taiga added, deliberately ignoring his companion's apology. When Tetsuya looked up again, he saw determination burning in Taiga's scarlet eyes. "I promise that one day, I'll show you the side of the ocean that's not scary in the least."

He didn't deny the fearsomeness of the ocean. He didn't promise to show him that the sea was not as scary at all. And that was what made Tetsuya believe him.

"More importantly," Tetsuya started, unable to stop the little smile from finding its way to his lips. "Taiga-kun's scaring all the fish away."

"Pssh, those small fries aren't afraid of me," Taiga said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "They just hate my guts."

xXx

Tetsuya wasn't particularly fond of going to school, but he guessed he hadn't much of a reason to hate it.

It would be far more enjoyable, though, if a particularly group of students weren't there.

Many people in their little port town knew of the Kuroko family's main profession, as there were a only few fishermen left staying near the harbor and the seafood supply mainly came from them. Even so, no one really bothered about Tetsuya's and his father's job, and he wasn't the one to stand out much in school. Tetsuya would've been able to live on in relative peace if it wasn't for a certain gang of kids that, for some reason unbeknownst to him, decided they didn't like him.

"You stink of fish!" they'd be telling him as they hurl stones at his direction the moment they spot him. "Just walking past you makes me want to throw up!"

Tetsuya had been lucky then because while he would've just let them do whatever they wanted until they grew bored and left, he had a friend who acted as his self-proclaimed bodyguard. And it was this friend of his who'd hurtle his way over and beat Tetsuya's bullies up until they were crying for their uncle.

"Do as much look at Tetsu again," he'd threaten them with a look of murderous rage. "And I swear I'll kill you and chuck you into the sea."

Tetsuya wasn't as lucky when he entered high school, though - because that was when Aomine's parents decided to send him to a school nearer to their home and thus separating the two boys. Tetsuya honestly had no problem with that until he realized that one of the bullies from grade school had ended up in the same high school as him.

And as if that wasn't bad enough, three years of middle school weren't enough to make him forget.

He'd started off pretty lame because no one could really be bothered with his annoying invitations to torment the innocent fisherman's son. The students who knew Tetsuya from his previous schools thought he was an okay guy while the others just didn't see the point in holding any baseless grudges on a person who's existence they were barely even aware of. Unfortunately, however, the guy eventually managed to brainwash/convince a couple of students to help him drive Tetsuya back to the sea where they thought he belonged, and the misery began there.

Tetsuya didn't mind putting up with the childish scribbles on the whiteboard and the rubbish in his desk, but the real problem started when they decided to throw stones at him again. He thought it'd be a bother if it hurt enough to hinder him from hauling nets out of the water. His dad would have to do more work if it came to that, and Tetsuya didn't like it. He'd prefer to let his father do less work; the man was getting old, despite his fit appearance.

Taiga did notice the bruises that he would sport on his arms and legs (and, at times when they got a lucky shot, face) but he was never inclined to point them out. Tetsuya was grateful for that. He didn't want the merman to take pity on him or anything.

Because it wasn't like he could do anything to help him on land.

…

Sometimes Taiga would see bruises on Tetsuya's arms. Lots of them.

He'd honestly never actually paid much attention to them. Tetsuya was considerably tough despite his frail, thinly appearance. He had spent all those years challenging the sea, after all. His lean arms were strong, his fingers scarred and calloused from all the times when the nets or hooks cut into his skin. Tetsuya was obviously not a person who's foreign to injuries. The one thing that Taiga never did understand though, was why Tetsuya never seemed to tan from his exposure to the sun. His skin was pale from the moment Taiga first saw him - but that was all beside the point.

Anyway, there came one day when even Taiga could not ignore what he saw any longer. The few blue-black spots were fine, but he knew it wasn't okay when practically Tetsuya's whole arm was bruised and scratched. Something must be wrong. Taiga might be really slow in a lot of things, but Tetsuya obviously had a problem.

"What happened?" Taiga asked the first thing after Tetsuya settled down on the soft sand beside him. Apart from meeting in the middle of the sea, they had another place to see each other that no one else knew about except Tetsuya's father. Every clear evening, just a little bit after the sun had set and Tetsuya had finished his washing the plates after dinner, he would slip out, head to the beach, and take a long walk to the eastern end where Taiga would await him behind a rock formation that conveniently hid them from view. As good of a cover the formation provided, Tetsuya was still a little worried for Taiga's safety. Anyone could've accidentally discover it and decide to use it as their personal hangout or to simply go there and sulk after an argument because it was one of those rare spots that was barely affected by the high tide. But Taiga assured him that he'd had it covered. He promised he wouldn't swim near until he was really sure the person sitting there waiting for him was Tetsuya and no one else.

"It's nothing," Tetsuya dismissed nonchalantly, moving his arms away from Taiga's lingering hand. Taiga shot him a look like, 'Really? Do you think I'm that stupid' before reaching out and grabbing his companion's arm without mercy.

"Of course it's not nothing!" he burst out when Tetsuya winced hard and yelped in pain at his touch. "There's no way it'd hurt so much if it was nothing!"

But even with his insistence for him to tell him what's wrong, Tetsuya clammed up and outright refused to let another word escape his mouth. After trying for what seemed to be an eternity to make him talk, Taiga finally gave up. Tetsuya was even more stubborn than him sometimes, geez!

"Fine. Don't tell me," he muttered, sighing in defeat. "But at least let me do something about that."

Tetsuya watched as the redhead scooped some seawater into his cupped hand, and tenderly rubbed it onto his arm with a look of intense concentration on his face. Abruptly, he realized that the dull ache in his arm was fading.

"I'm not really good at healing," Taiga admitted once he was done, sucking in a breath through his mouth. "But that should at least make the pain less. Now give me your other arm."

"Thank you, Taiga-kun," Tetsuya told him as he worked on his other arm. Taiga only grinned at him in response, showing off his set of slightly pointed teeth. Even though he tried to look tough, Tetsuya noticed that Taiga's efforts seemed to be draining him, and he felt a pang of guilt. He shouldn't have displayed his arms like that and hoped for his companion to be ignorant. "And I'm sorry for troubling you."

"You did not seriously expect me to just leave you like that, did you?" Taiga retorted incredulously, and Tetsuya kept quiet, wordlessly watching the waves creep back and forth from the beach. The water reached up to his ankles when it tumbled in, soaking Tetsuya's shorts and the hem of his shirt. Not that he minded that. He was used to having his clothes dripping wet.

"Why does Taiga-kun care so much about me?" Tetsuya asked all of the sudden, his gaze still fixed towards the horizon. He didn't sound haughty, but genuinely curious. Why was the merman so attached to him? Why would he go such great lengths and risk his life just so that he could meet him? Why would he push himself to do something he wasn't good at just to make him feel better? Why would he spend his time watching over a couple of humans when the merfolk were supposed to stay away from the humans?

"Hmm?" Taiga tilted his head slightly to the side in thought. "Instincts, I guess?"

"By instincts, you mean?" Tetsuya prompted. By the sound of it, he was starting to regret asking already.

"Oh, you know." Taiga flopped himself on the sand with a swift, sudden motion, creating a big splash when his back hit the water below him. "Kinda like how some animals take in the pups of other animals to raise them because they just couldn't leave them behind?"

"I thought fish were supposed to be cold blooded monsters that would eat their own children at times."

"Not all fish." Taiga looked offended, and Tetsuya couldn't help but crack a tiny smile, despite himself. "Some do take really good care of their children, for your information."

"I was just teasing you, Taiga-kun," Tetsuya told him with a small laugh. He then reached out, and gently brushed Taiga's fringe away from his eyes with his fingertips. "Thank you for everything you've done for us all these years."

Taiga studied his face from below, an eyebrow raised. "What's with that all of the sudden?"

Tetsuya's gaze found his companion's, and at the first sight of it, Taiga caught his breath. For the umpteenth time in his life, he was utterly and completely enthralled by those hauntingly blue eyes that held so much depth, so much emotion that sometimes he felt he would drown in his gaze.

"It just occurred to me that I'm really glad to have met Taiga-kun."

And at his words, Taiga promptly took after the color of his tail. "Quit saying such embarrassing things out of the blue!"

He sat up, anxious to hide his face. How could the guy say something as lethally cheesy as that with a straight face, he would never know. It was only after a long while of comfortable silence that Taiga finally managed to swallow his embarrassment and will himself to face Tetsuya once more. When he glanced over his shoulder, he noticed the faraway look on the other boy's face; a look he realize he'd always see whenever Tetsuya was staring at the ocean while his thoughts wandered off. Taiga once asked why he seemed so wistful for the sea when he met it almost every day, and the latter had been unable to reply. Taiga had even joked a couple of times that perhaps Tetsuya used to be a marine creature before he was reborn as a human. An anchovy, perhaps.

Of course, Tetsuya had whacked him really hard then, but whatever.

The pair sat side by side wordlessly for the rest of the moments they spent together, each content with merely having the other as company. Their relationship was like this all this while. Most of the time they'd just slip into long lapses of quietness before calling it a day and parting ways. Both weren't very good with long conversations, and they honestly couldn't really be bothered to make an attempt. Taiga knew why Tetsuya was careful to put a thin, invisible barrier between them that prevented them from getting any closer than they already were.

Tetsuya was aware that one day, Taiga might just stop coming to see him entirely. And to prepare himself for that one possibility, the former had taken all the measures he could think of to make saying goodbye easier; each so subtle that Taiga wouldn't even have noticed it if he hadn't paid as much attention.

Taiga thought that was a really depressing way to live. Instead of cherishing what he had in the present, Tetsuya chose to fear the future. Taiga was the exact opposite. He personally preferred to live each and every moment to the fullest precisely because he knew the sort of life he was leading could come to an end any moment so he wouldn't have any regrets when it came to that.

Which was why, when he made sure Tetsuya had disappeared from sight after he'd left, Taiga had sought after a certain friend of his for a favor.

xXx

Tetsuya's parents were upset when they saw the bruises, but their son insisted he was going to be alright.

Tetsuya didn't want to burden them more than he already did - a mindset that was extremely necessary considering just how independent he was. He promised he'd find a way to deal with it himself; maybe report to the teachers or something like that. There wasn't a need for anyone else to be involved. If he could face something as fearsome as the sea himself, he darn well could handle a bunch of humans who took their dislike towards him too far.

Facing them head on was out of the question (he might be strong but he couldn't fight to save his life - literally) and he knew getting them suspended would only give them a more solid reason to take it out on him, so Tetsuya frankly was temporarily at loss with what he should do. Go straight to the parents and tell them his predicament in hopes of them making their children stop? Not likely. He wasn't the sort to tell stories either so he'd leave it as that. Maybe he should look for Aomine and ask for advice? He'd probably volunteer to solve the problem for him with a few flying fists and get himself in trouble so maybe not.

He did have one option, now that he thought of it, and it seemed to be the best bet he had. Tetsuya was good at not being noticeable, so he could always just slip off somewhere to avoid that insufferable gang whenever he saw them close by. He was glad he's observant of his surroundings and had a keen intuition thanks to his years spent on the ocean. He should be able to do this.

It worked out pretty well at the beginning. He started eating lunch with a good friend and classmate of his named Ogiwara in the cafeteria where a large number of students were around with a few teachers bound to be lurking about. He gathered his stuff as fast as he could when school was over and timed his pace to follow the crowd of students who were anxious to exit the building. And when he was out of the gates, Tetsuya took the effort to jog the first two kilometers before finally slowing down to catch his breath and proceeding to briskly walk the rest of his way back home once he was certain the coast was clear.

Tetsuya managed to carry on peacefully for the first month or so, until it all came to an abrupt end when the wretched group got too tired of losing the main target of their verbal and physical abuse and decided to corner him before he could slip off.

Tetsuya thought they were probably just going to claim he stank of fish guts again (which he did not) and perhaps shove him around a little and jeer at him. What he did not expect, was for them grab him by the arms and drag him all the way to the seaside.

"Since you like salt water so much," one of them had hissed into his ear as they led him closer and closer to the waves crashing into the sand. "We're just going to bathe you in it."

No.

Of everything not this.

He could handle the pain, the sneers, the insults. The rubbish on his desk, the doodles on the whiteboard, the pins in his shoes. But not this. They couldn't do this. He didn't want to remember; the darkness, the bubbles, the lack of air. The pain in his throat, his lungs, his head. The current that held him frozen and dragged him down, down, down.

Tetsuya desperately tried resisting as his tormentors forced him further and further away from the shore, but to no avail. He alone had no chance against the four of them. He couldn't break free, couldn't run away. Couldn't call for help, couldn't make them stop.

He was so scared.

"Hey, don't you think we're going too far with this?" A guy voiced uncertainly, standing a little away from his gang as if he had nothing to do with them.

"You kidding? It's his fault that I got detention the other day." The leader said, and grabbed a fistful of Tetsuya's hair. "Besides, it's all because of him that I was bored stiff for the whole of last month."

Tetsuya had just the time to take a quick breath before his head was plunged into the water.

…

"Taiga! Oi, Taiga!"

Hearing the urgent call (or squawk, in this case) of his name, Taiga shot up to the surface from his lounging spot with one powerful flick of his tail, raising his arm as soon as he broke through so that the seagull could land and talk to him without having to circle around his head like a fish with a damaged fin.

"It's your friend!" the bird told him, flapping its wings in agitation. "The group of humans are trying to drown him near the harbor!"

It barely had time to take off into the air again before Taiga dived back under and headed straight towards the shore of the human settlement. Furious wouldn't even describe what he was feeling at the moment in the least. Lava bubbled up from the pit of his stomach, threatening to erupt in one terrible explosion at the slightest push. Taiga had been holding himself back all this while because Tetsuya was seemingly doing fine by himself. He monitored his condition through his seagull friend whom he'd asked to report to him if anything were to happen in return for a month's supply of good fish. He'd also found out about the group of humans who liked to harm Tetsuya that way. Taiga knew his actions were akin to spying, but with Tetsuya unwilling to tell him a thing, he had no choice.

Taiga came to a stop a little away from the scene; his hands shaking, his breathing coming out in uneven breaths at his attempt to control himself. He hated these humans. Loathed them. How dare they hurt Tetsuya? How dare they make him go through that again? He wanted to hurl himself at them, to tear them apart and feed their insides to the eyeless creatures of the deep sea. He wanted to rend, to rage, to stain his own two hands with their blood and serve as a living reminder to anyone who dared mess with Tetsuya that this was what's going to happen if they went too far.

But the merfolk had one strict rule above all, and that was to never, ever, harm humans. Taiga was taught that bloodshed would only lead to bloodshed, and his people could not afford to make the human race their enemy. They were to continue staying in hiding while living as a myth to the two-legged people on land and nothing more. Do not involve yourself with the humans. Do not hurt them and they will not hurt you.

Taiga placed his fingers to his lips, and blew; a long, sharp whistle unheard to those illiterate to the language of the sea. And as he waited, he watched. He watched with increasing frustration and helplessness as Tetsuya struggled for breath, struggled to break free, struggled to keep himself from going insane with fear.

Taiga clenched his fists, his fingernails digging deep enough into the flesh of his palms to draw blood. He couldn't betray his people any more than he can betray Tetsuya, but he couldn't just sit tight and watch while he waited for reinforcements to come. Not ever. Not after what Tetsuya had been through and was going through again. He'd promised himself that he'd never let him go through that again, never let him fear the sea again.

Taiga was about to make a decision that could've made both Tetsuya and his people hit him for being a rash idiot when he felt something brushing against his arm. He turned, and felt a grin making its way to his lips despite the circumstances.

"Hey, thanks for coming."

…

Tetsuya couldn't see, couldn't breathe.

Couldn't breathe.

He couldn't breathe.

The memories he'd worked so hard to bury in the depths of his mind and forget in order to continue his life on the sea came flooding back in an instant, numbing his senses, freezing his limbs. He held his breath as long as he could, tried to inhale when he was pulled back from the water for those split seconds. His heartbeat was almost loud enough to drown out the sound of the waves, the gleeful laughter.

The terrified screaming.

Wait. The screaming?

"-ark!"

Abruptly, Tetsuya felt the iron grips around him let go. He straightened at once and sputtered seawater from his nose and mouth, breathing heavily. He turned around as he willed his legs to keep holding him upright, the sight of four figures running off at full speed back towards land catching his attention. What did they scream before they fled? Ark?

Shark.

The part of his mind that miraculously still worked told him that was pure nonsense. There was no way a shark would swim to such shallow waters. They must've made a mistake.

Tetsuya was completely convinced that they were just high with the excitement of the moment to think there was actually a shark heading towards them until he noticed the dorsal fin.

Tetsuya felt his heart stop beating for a moment. He wasn't bleeding anywhere, was he? Standing very still, his eyes followed the fin that cut smoothly through the water and circled around him. Had scabs formed on the cuts on his arms? Was it going to eat him here and now?

He nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt something touching the back of his leg, flinching so hard that he was sure the shark would've bitten him already.

"It's okay! He doesn't feel like eating anytime soon."

Amazing how Tetsuya felt himself relax the moment he heard the familiar, comforting voice. He looked down, and Taiga waved at him from below the waves, a triumphant smile on his face.

"How did you know?" Tetsuya asked rather than thanking him, much to Taiga's chagrin. The latter decided he was stupid to have expected to be thanked in the first place, and shrugged.

"I had a friend keep an eye on you," he said, ignoring the look Tetsuya shot him after registering his words. "You can't expect me to sit back and do nothing when you're clearly in trouble."

"What if someone sees you?" Tetsuya shot back, and Taiga noticed he was still very careful not to make any sudden movements because of the shark encircling them as if being on guard.

"Relax - I've got that covered," Taiga dismissed carelessly, swimming to join the shark. He petted the giant fish affectionately. "That aside, why don't you say hi to this big guy?"

Tetsuya had no idea what made him comply. He looked the shark in the eye, and greeted him in his usual polite way. "Good evening."

"Ohh, you can speak the language of the sea?" A gravelly sort of voice echoed in the back of his mind, similar to how Taiga's would when they conversed. The shark sounded fascinated, though his black eyes remained blank as canvas.

"Apparently," Tetsuya replied, feeling the tension in his body tentatively ebbing away. "Thank you so much for helping me."

"I just scared them," the shark said modestly. "Besides, Taiga's the one you should be thanking."

Tetsuya honestly preferred not to give the merman anymore encouragement to come to his aid under such risky circumstances, but courtesy compelled him to express his gratitude anyway.

"Thank you very much, Taiga-kun," he said, albeit a little too stiffly. "But please don't do this again."

"Do what?" Taiga returned innocently, and Tetsuya sighed. This was probably going to be a problem in the future. Taiga must've seen the look on his face because he barked out a laugh, earning him weird stares from his two companions.

"I don't think I'll need to save you again from those fish-crap, if that's what you're thinking," he said wanly, the amused smile not leaving his lips. "Heck, I doubt they'll even dare come near the sea anymore after today."

Tetsuya kept quiet and averted his gaze, and Taiga felt a spark of irritation well up within him. Was this how a guy should react when another person went to such great lengths to help him? Even so, he somehow knew Tetsuya was genuinely grateful; he's just anxious that he might repeat this reckless feat of his and get endanger himself and the whole merman race in the future. Taiga also guessed it'd take him nothing less than forever to convince the human boy that he really had taken the necessary precautions to avoid being spotted, so he didn't bother.

"You know what? Fine," Taiga sighed wearily, willing his annoyance to subside. "I promise I won't do this again. I won't swim near here ever again."

Tetsuya glanced back at him, and Taiga experienced one of those rare moments where he could actually figure out what the former was thinking by his expressions.

"I didn't say anything about the rock formation though," he added before Tetsuya could start speaking, and grinned when he saw how he visibly relaxed.

"I apologize if I sounded harsh just now," Tetsuya told him, and Taiga merely dismissed it with a shake of his head. "And thank you so much, Taiga-kun."

"No problem," Taiga replied, then made a shooing motion with his hand. "Now go home before you catch one of those colds you once told me about."

Tetsuya nodded. "Be careful on the way home too, Taiga-kun."

Once Tetsuya had disappeared from his view, Taiga cursed himself for being too late.

Because he once again saw fear in Tetsuya's eyes as he stood in the water to speak with him.

Tetsuya was afraid of the sea all over again.

xXx

Taiga stared at the can of.. something Tetsuya was holding out to him.

"Excuse me for asking," Taiga cleared his throat before looking up to stare pointedly at the boy. "But what the hell is this supposed to be?"

"A token of my gratitude," Tetsuya answered with an impossibly straight face, meeting his gaze with those blank eyes of his. "For saving me the other day."

"And..?" Taiga prompted because he obviously needed a longer explanation than that. Tetsuya turned the can in his hands and studied the label, his expression unchanging.

"It's fish food."

"I'm sorry - what?" Taiga was almost - almost expecting Tetsuya to crack up at his own joke. Unfortunately, he did not. "Isn't that what you humans feed to the poor souls you keep in those glass boxes in your homes?"

"As a matter of fact, yes."

"And may I remind you that I'm a wild merman and not a pet fish?" Taiga crossed his arms and gave him a judging look. "I am not eating that."

Tetsuya actually dared - dared to look downcast. "But I went all the way to get you this."

"Oh, no. You're not going to guilt me. No way." Taiga willed himself to look away to avoid his so-called maternal instincts from taking over at the sight of Tetsuya looking so dejected.

"I even got you the premium brand," Tetsuya sulked softly, and despite everything, Taiga found him incredibly childish yet annoyingly adorable. It wasn't everyday he got to see this side of Tetsuya, and perhaps it was because of this that he felt his resolve crumbling and getting carried off by the breeze. Just a bite, he swore to himself.

"Okay, okay, I get it." Taiga scratched the back of his neck and reached for the can with his free hand. "Thanks for the meal."

He picked a piece out of the mush with his fingers and lifted it to his mouth, aware that Tetsuya was watching him with unusually keen interest. Frankly, he'd expected it to taste like his father's homemade pickled seaweed (which is to say, bad) but since it didn't trigger his gag reflexes, he guessed it wasn't so bad. It's edible, to the very least.

"A little too salty for my tastes, but it's surprisingly okay?" Taiga mused while he chewed. "What is this stuff made of, anyway?"

"I think it'll be better for you not to know, Taiga-kun," Tetsuya told him, and Taiga wisely decided to let the topic go. He finished the rest of the fish food in a couple of large gulps and handed the empty can back to Tetsuya to dispose of it properly later when he got home. As the latter moved to set it properly aside so it wouldn't get carried into the sea by the waves, Taiga made himself comfortable by resting his head on his crossed legs, staring at the skies above.

"So," Taiga started after a short stretch of silence between him and his companion. "Are those asshats still bothering you?"

"Hmm, not really," Tetsuya replied, absently poking Taiga's cheeks with his finger. Taiga tried to swat his hand away, but he was persistent, and the redhead soon gave up. "Rather, they have this flicker of fear in their faces whenever they look at me now."

"Because you survived a shark attack?" Taiga chuckled, and Tetsuya shrugged, an equally amused smile on his face.

"Perhaps," he said before turning sober once more. "But really. How is it that you managed to stay unseen despite your size?"

He asked this because Taiga was a full-grown, buff, two-meter long merman with blood red hair and a bright red tail that were bound to make him stand out in the colors of the ocean.

"Well.. I might or might not have learnt how to blend with the waves some time ago," Taiga said, attempting to be bashful but failing by the second. "Rather, it's a sort of skill all merfolk have to learn in case of emergencies."

"I see." Tetsuya moved his fingers over the little cluster of scales just above Taiga's cheekbones. Other than his tail and sharp teeth, what made the redhead distinctly a merman were the random patches of luminescent scales he had all over his human half and the gills -barely visible when he's not in the water- on the sides of his neck. Tetsuya particularly liked the feel of his smooth scales on his fingertips; why so, he did not know.

"It's going to rain tomorrow," Taiga said a little while later, his attention fixed at the sky. Tetsuya looked up as well, and raised an eyebrow at the lack of clouds.

"How can you tell?" he asked. Taiga's gaze flickered towards him, his features set in a queer look.

"It's the sea," he answered in a tone that suggested Tetsuya should've known that already. "She sounds different tonight."

Tetsuya decided not to doubt him any further. "Is it going to be a storm?"

"Not a huge one." Taiga shifted into a more comfortable position. "But it'll be long. We probably won't be able to meet at all."

"You don't sound too happy," Tetsuya pointed out, the faintest trace of a smile on his lips. "You think you're going to miss me?"

"Who knows?" Taiga responded mischievously. "I just might."

"It's only for a day, Taiga-kun. I won't be going anywhere."

"I know." Taiga opened his mouth to say more, but paused at the last moment, hesitating. The next thing he was about to blurt out was a little embarrassing, he had to admit. He thought it'd be best for him not to voice it out lest Tetsuya teases him about him for the rest of his life.

"Don't you have any friends down there?" Tetsuya's inquiry tugged Taiga out of his reverie, and the latter refocused his attention to his companion.

"Not many, but yes," Taiga told him, curious. "Why?"

"Just asking." Tetsuya shrugged, and Taiga couldn't help but feel there was something more to that. "Do they know about you coming here?"

"Only one guy, actually." Taiga knitted his eyebrows slightly. "He's the only one I can trust. I'm not that close to the rest of them so they probably won't notice if I'm gone."

"What about your parents?" Tetsuya asked further, remembering his own parents who'd utterly freak out if he didn't get home by the time he said he'd get home even though they let him go out into the sea alone. He noticed the change in Taiga's gaze when he voiced his question.

"They're in another town," Taiga said, his tone tinged with wistfulness. "I live by myself right now."

"It must be lonely," Tetsuya sympathized, running his fingers through the merman's red locks. Taiga shook his head, unperturbed by the way the boy's fingers tugged at his hair.

"They left quite recently so it's really not that bad," he said, then broke into an honest smile. "Besides, I've got you and your dad to keep me company now."

"That's not enough and you know it," Tetsuya told him dryly.

"It's plenty enough to me," Taiga said, reaching to brush a lock of Tetsuya's soft, blue hair behind his ear. "Being able to see you is more than enough."

"I see,' Tetsuya said, then gently eased the merman off his legs, ignoring the numbness that soon followed. "That's good to hear."

"You going to go now?" Taiga inquired as Tetsuya struggled to stand up without his legs giving way. Tetsuya nodded, bunching parts of his shorts to wring them dry. Taiga didn't bother pointing out that he was a little early that night. "Well, okay. Be careful on your way home."

"You too, Taiga-kun. Good night." With small wave, Tetsuya turned around, and started making his way home. Taiga too, dove into the sea and began his journey back.

Neither of them noticed how red the other's face was when they looked away.

xXx

"Hey, Ryouta? Can I ask you something?"

The said person turned to face Taiga, eyebrows raised. Ryouta was a merman with short blonde hair and a golden tail and was gorgeous even in merfolk standards. Now that Taiga thought of it, it did seem a little odd that someone as popular and attractive as Ryouta to hang out with someone as painfully normal as him. Though attractive as he was, Ryouta could, at times, be quite annoying because he got excited easily and was able to blabber on about something for hours on end. It irked Taiga that he was the only person he trusted enough to confide in about the matter.

"Hmm? What is it?" Ryouta tilted his head in question. Taiga scratched the back of his neck and hesitated to continue because really, the topic will be embarrassing as hell especially when he practically already knew how the blond was going to react.

"H-How does - umm-" Taiga's stammering alone was enough to make him feel mortified. He clenched his fists, and willed himself to man the heck up. He wasn't some sort of girly maiden for Pete's sake! "How does falling in love feel like?"

The way Ryouta's features lighted up the second the words left his lips made Taiga immediately regret ever being born.

"Taigacchi's thinks he's in love?" he muses excitedly and Taiga was just a step away from burying himself into the sand and staying there till he became a fossil. "Oh, my god! Who's the lucky girl?"

"Just answer the question," Taiga grumbled with his arms crossed, hating himself already for the way his cheeks were burning right then. Ryouta outright refused to do so and instead indulged himself in his fanboying a minute longer, rolling around in the water while fantasizing about the redhead's potential mate. Taiga was just about to decide on punching him and swimming off when he finally calmed down and apologized playfully.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorryyyy!" he said, then cleared his throat to regain his composure. "Let's see - how does it feel like to be in love, right?"

Wordlessly, Taiga nodded, still willing the bloodrush in his face to fade. He figured the blond should know about things like this since he was so into those cheesy romance novels and comics. Ryouta was quiet in thought for a few seconds, a look of deep concentration on his face. Taiga also sometimes marveled at how different of a person Ryouta would seem to be when he was serious. Maybe that's why so many mermaids had a crush on him.

"Hmm I guess it all starts with you suddenly noticing a lot of things about that person?" Ryouta started, crossing his arms. "Even the littlest things like a certain detail in their features or some quirks you never knew they had before. Oh, and of course there's the way your heart will beat strangely when you see them and you'll feel very bothered for no apparent reason."

"Will I have this fierce need to protect them?" Taiga muttered without realizing it. Fortunately for him, Ryouta did not take it upon himself to tease him. He could tell that Taiga really was putting a lot of thought into this.

"Yeah," he affirmed cheerfully. "And you'll also feel that you must make sure they're always happy no matter what happens."

"I..see,' Taiga trailed off, and Ryouta failed to refrain the smile from creeping to his face at the sight of him.

"Sooo can I know who's the one now?" He swam closer to his companion and prodded, nudging his side with his elbow. "Is it the mermaid near the coral reef who always brings you the anemones? Or is it the one living near your place who has a garden of cucumbers?"

"No, not them," Taiga denied absently, looking oddly panicky as if coming to a very bad realization. His eyes darted around for a few moments before settling once more on the blond, and Ryouta did not need to be an expert to know that he was truly dismayed by what he had just came to comprehend. "What should I do?"

"What do you mean?" Ryouta asked, beginning to feel nervous himself. He already had a very vague idea of what Taiga was going to say next. He watched in increasing anxiety as Taiga raked his fingers roughly through his hair, looking utterly at loss.

"I think.." His voice was soft as a whisper when he spoke again, a contrast to his usually obscenely loud tone. "I think I might be falling for a human."

Ryouta sucked in a breath, his heart skipping a beat at the drop of the bombshell. He had expected this somewhat, but he was still pretty taken aback. He already had the feeling a while ago that what Taiga felt towards the human boy whom he's so attracted so was not mere maternal instinct; not with the way the former's eyes sparkled whenever he mentioned him and the way he perked up with excitement when it was time for him to slip out to meet him. Not with how he was willing to endanger both himself and the whole species by meeting him.

"What should I do?" Taiga muttered again, and Ryouta honestly had no idea how to answer. Common sense told him that falling in love with a human is the worst thing that could happen to a member of the merfolk. Yet, Ryouta could not bring himself to tell his friend to give it up, nor did he have the heart to give him false hopes by telling him to go on with it and deal with things one at the time. He had seen enough to know that despite how many people romanticize it, love cannot conquer all. Taiga had gotten himself into a incredibly difficult situation, and Ryouta did not know how to pull him out of it without hurting him.

"I.. don't know, Taigacchi. I'm sorry," Ryouta breathed, feeling probably as conflicted as the redhead. However, it dawned him a split second later that he had absolutely no right to tell him what he should and should not do. It's not like Taiga would listen to him anyway; being the wild, free spirit he was. "Maybe you should start by spending some time to think for yourself on what you want to do?"

"I don't want to lose him," Taiga said without hesitation, and while his dedication was something to be praised, Ryouta couldn't help guiltily thinking that perhaps letting go might be Taiga's only option if he did not want to have his heart broken. It's not too late. He could still do it. He could still turn back.

But Ryouta was unable to say any of that.

"Then don't do anything that will make that happen," he told him instead, praying hard for his sliver of doubtfulness to not show on his face and voice. "Make sure you keep treasuring every moment you get to spend with him."

Taiga's gaze met his, and he nodded grimly. "Alright. Thanks, Ryouta."

And Ryouta could only smile back and hope for the best. "No problem."

xXx

It rained hard, as Taiga had expected.

But what Taiga did not foresee was that it was going to rain for three days straight.

Tetsuya sat on the veranda of his home fixing the multiple broken nets that he and his father had accumulated and neglected to fix for the last two years. He stared out at the sea as his fingers worked on the fiber links with practiced accuracy. The rain was more of a heavy drizzle, but the ocean was violent. Waves tore into the beach, and instead of the its usual bright aqua, the sea was a forbidding gray. One of the first things Tetsuya had been taught by his father was to always observe the sea's mood before deciding whether to place himself at her mercy or not.

Never, ever taunt her when she's brooding - that's the most important rule of all.

"You're going to get it tangled up if you keep spacing out."

Instinctively, Tetsuya stopped at whatever he was doing, turning towards the owner of the voice. His father slid the door shut behind him before walking over to join him on the floor. He took one look at Tetsuya's handiwork and tutted disapprovingly.

"You'll have to undo that and start again," he told him, and Tetsuya proceeded to do just that without any complaints. His father took a moment to study his blank face, trying his hardest to decipher his thoughts from what little hints he managed to find.

"You look kind of lost," he observed, and Tetsuya's gaze flickered up to regard him. "Is it because you couldn't go to the sea these days?"

Tetsuya shrugged. "Not really."

His father was quiet for a second. "Is it because you weren't able to meet Taiga-kun, then?"

He noticed his son's hesitation to answer before the latter could mask it. "I don't think so."

"Speaking of Taiga-kun," he pressed on despite seeing his son's efforts to avoid the topic. "How's he doing, anyway?"

"Energetic as always," Tetsuya answered, and his father couldn't help noticing how his tone of voice seem to soften when he's describing the merman. "He's still pretty loud at times, but at least he's learnt to control himself better now." A pause. "And I discovered that he's very, very kind."

"Hasn't he always been?" His father laughed, and the blush was on Tetsuya's cheeks before he could suppress it. "You're really fond of him, aren't you, Tetsuya?"

There's no point in denying it when it's so obvious. Reluctantly, Tetsuya nodded. The smile did not leave his father's face, but Tetsuya noticed there was something else in his eyes; something like a tinge of sadness.

"I want you to know that your mother and I support you friendship with Taiga-kun with all our hearts," he started, and Tetsuya could already tell this conversation was going to take a turn. He swallowed, bracing himself for what's about to come. "We know how precious you two are to each other, and we honestly don't want anything that could tear the both of you apart if that's possible. We don't want to see any of you unhappy." He shifted his weight on the floor. "But Tetsuya, you must always remember the circumstances you're facing yourself."

How could he forget. Tetsuya grew up with the constant reminder that the two of them lived in two different worlds that weren't supposed to interact. Taiga belonged to the sea and he the land. No, Tetsuya never forgot, never let himself forget. He could never push away the dread of knowing that he would separate with him one day somehow or another. Tetsuya couldn't stay in this little port town forever. Taiga would probably not be able to keep sneaking out forever. The list went on and on.

One way or another, they will separate, like it or not.

And Tetsuya knew that without a doubt, his heart will break when that happens.

His efforts to keep a safe distance between him and the merman was not completely futile, but he couldn't say it was completely effective, either. He used to think of Taiga as his reliable older brother or something like that when he was younger, but now - he wasn't so sure anymore. And he knew this was bad for him. He couldn't start thinking of him differently now. He couldn't afford to. He didn't want to make saying goodbye in the future more painful than it should already be. He didn't want to tie Taiga down with baseless hopes that he himself did not wholeheartedly believe in.

"I will," was all Tetsuya said before reverting his attention back to the task at hand. Without another word, his father too, picked up a broken net, and started mending it alongside him. As he worked, Tetsuya was grateful for the non-awkward atmosphere. In fact, he felt almost at ease. He knew his father wasn't very good at communicating (not that much better than himself, anyway) since he spent so much time alone in the sea listening to the lapping of waves instead of human speech. And it's because he knew this that he appreciated his father not trying to keep him talking.

They worked in silence until the final meager rays of sunlight finally disappeared and it became too dark for them to go on. Tetsuya's feet felt numb from sitting cross-legged for so long, but he ignored it as he trudged back indoors.

"Huh," Tetsuya's father mused, turning away from the television once the boy himself stepped into the living room after cleaning himself of the grime and rust and dried blood on his hands, giving him a significant look. "Apparently the weather's going to be great tomorrow."

xXx

Tetsuya paused from rowing, setting down the oars to flex his shoulders.

Sunlight reflected off the surface of the water, making opening his eyes without getting blinded almost impossible. After raining continuously for the past few days, the sky was a clear blue with barely any clouds, and it was sunny as hell. Tetsuya had no issues going out into the sea in the mornings when the brightness wasn't this jarring, but now that he's doing it in the middle of the afternoon, he was sure he could list out at least twenty problems he's experiencing on a piece of paper and shove it on Taiga's face.

Really, nobody sane would sail into the sea in this kind of weather - not without a motorized boat and a pair of sunglasses, at least. Despite his fondness for the merman, Tetsuya inwardly grumbled at Taiga for making him go out in his light and heat. The big straw hat his father loaned him did little to shade his eyes from the blinding sun, and his arms hurt from rowing. Taiga had requested earlier in the morning to meet up with him in a hidden place he knew of that's not the rock formation where they usually met, and Tetsuya had reluctantly agreed without knowing just how he would suffer later on.

"You doing okay down there?"

Tetsuya resisted his body's automatic response to look up at the seagull circling overhead. "Just a little tired. How much further?"

"You're almost there," the bird promised, flying down to perch on the edge of Tetsuya's boat. Tetsuya sighed softly before grabbing oars once more. His arms might be strong, but his stamina wasn't something to boast about. In fact, both Aomine and Ogiwara would always tease him whenever they had gym class together because he ran out of breath so quickly. It was one thing to haul nets out of the water and it was another to run two laps around the school perimeter - Tetsuya found that out the hard way.

By the time he managed to reach his destination, Tetsuya was covered in sweat and his hands felt numb from gripping the wooden oars. Tetsuya would've borrowed his father's fishing boat if it didn't stand out so much. Anyone would've found it strange for a fishing boat to be heading out to the sea in the middle of the day - not that there was anyone at the harbor and the beach when he left because nobody sane would subject themselves to the harsh sunlight. His father only had this wooden boat other than their usual one, so Tetsuya had to make do. He'd thought it wouldn't matter as long as it didn't start sinking on him anytime soon.

"We're here."

Exhausted, Tetsuya allowed himself five seconds to catch his breath before looking up. The place was a little familiar, but he couldn't quite pinpoint where he was. He guessed he was still pretty close to land, since it didn't feel like he'd been rowing that much despite how his arms were aching. He turned away from the sea and towards the structure that had been shielding him from the sun ever since he came to a stop, and his heart skipped a beat.

The bird had brought him to a sea cave.

"Taiga's waiting for you in there," the seagull told him before flapping its wings a few times in preparation to take off. "I'll be back later to guide you back."

And with that, it left the boy to gape at the stone structure looming over him. The cave wasn't very deep, but it was still of an impressive size; the top of the entrance alone towering four meters above him. Tetsuya managed to overcome his stupor after a minute of awed staring, and finally remembering the main reason he was there in the first place, he rowed through the stone arc.

The inside of the cave was a large contrast to the brightness outside and Tetsuya had no problems with that. The only illumination inside was from the rays of light that seeped in through cracks and holes on the stalactite-covered ceiling. As he went further inside, Tetsuya discovered that instead of being hollowed all the way through as he'd initially thought, the cave ended with a small sandy shore.

"You're finally here!"

Hearing Taiga's clear voice in his head was a little unnerving since Tetsuya expected his voice to echo in the vast emptiness around them. He ignored it as he searched for the redhead in question who was nowhere in sight.

"You're so slow, geez," Taiga commented impatiently after watching Tetsuya's struggle for half a second and the latter was just about to retort something back when he felt a force giving his boat a shove from behind, nearly scaring him out of his wits. Taiga grumbled all the way as he pushed until the boat was successfully beached.

"I thought you humans had boats that moved by themselves," Taiga crossed his arms and deadpanned as Tetsuya took a moment to regain his breath. He was obviously not impressed.

"Not all of them," was all Tetsuya could say in return to that, his hands on his hips. The boat was heavier than it looked, and it had not been an easy feat to haul it up shore so it wouldn't drift off, not even with Taiga's help. Tetsuya inhaled several more deep breaths before straightening up, lifting his gaze to take in the sight before him.

Now that he was looking from a different perspective, he realized just how amazingly beautiful the place actually was. The seawater there was greener and more vivid than what Tetsuya always saw, and the rocky walls of the cave were tinged aqua from the reflection of the waves. He could see the bright skies through the entrance, and for a second, it looked to him as if that was a portal to another place, another universe. Maybe it was. Maybe he was in another world, cut off from his own.

"It's great, isn't it?" Taiga asked proudly when Tetsuya stepped towards him at the edge of the sand. The latter nodded wordlessly in agreement. It was gorgeous.

"I'm surprised you managed to find a place like this," Tetsuya said, squatting down and dipping his fingers into the water. It abruptly occurred to him that he hadn't done this in a long time; not since the day the sea nearly took his life. Taiga must've realized it too because when he glanced up, he was staring at him with a strange look.

"I had some time on my hands the past few days," Taiga finally cleared his throat and explained, looking away. "So I did some exploring."

"The ocean is dangerous even to a merman when it's violent," Tetsuya told him, knitting his eyebrows in disapproval. Taiga dismissed it with a wave of his hand.

"I'm alive, aren't I?" he said casually before turning around to face his companion. "Besides, this place can be our new meeting spot or something. It's less risky since practically no one knows we're here, right?"

"And what makes you think I have the time and energy to come here every day?" Tetsuya ran his hand over his face and sighed wearily. "In case you don't know, Taiga-kun, rowing that boat is really exhausting."

"Okay, okay. Maybe not every day." Taiga mumbled the last part. His attention then settled on Tetsuya's arms; instead of the usual pale alabaster, they were now starting to turn pinkish.

"Ah. This is going to hurt later," Tetsuya mused aloud as he too, studied his limbs. His dad had no problems with letting him tan (he thought it'd make him look manlier), but his mother had other ideas and had insisted for him to apply some sun block before he set off. It seemed that the multiple layers of cream weren't enough to stop him from getting sunburn.

"It'll feel better if you take a dip," Taiga said despite knowing full well of Tetsuya's phobia. But he could see; he could see that Tetsuya was actually tempted to join him in the clear, cool water. He knew he was curious to find out how it'd feel against his stinging, sweat-layered skin.

But he knew he was also still very afraid.

"I swear I won't let you drown," Taiga promised, meaning every word he said. He'll never let him experience that again. He'll show him that the sea was nothing to be afraid of when she's in her best mood.

Tetsuya really was tempted to just dive in and let the coldness of the sea envelope him and wash away his sweat and exhaustion. He wanted to feel the weightlessness Taiga always exhibited when he dove in and out of the waves. But the memories of darkness and suffocation wouldn't leave him alone. He's still scared, and it honestly made him mad. He was a fisherman, and yet he's afraid of the water! The bloody irony of it all!

"I'm really sorry, Taiga-kun," Tetsuya told him, hugging his knees. His fingers dug harshly into his skin. It's frustrating beyond words. He wanted so badly for this stupid fear to go away and leave him alone. He didn't want to be afraid of the ocean any longer, but he still wasn't strong enough. He couldn't convince himself that he'll be fine even with Taiga around. "I can't do it."

The crestfallen look that swept across Taiga's face nearly broke his heart. Tetsuya hated himself then, hated how utterly weak he was to be unable to overcome his fears even after so long. But it's no use. Every single time he found the courage to try, it left him as soon as he went under. Memories of suffocation and darkness persistently haunted his mind and made it impossible to relax. Tetsuya knew it wasn't something he could get over in a single day, but he'd been trying again and again and again without gaining any results. As if something had finally went wrong with the fisherman genes he'd inherited; the dark recollections of the day he'd almost drowned to death permanently damaging the allele that had to do with being unafraid of the water.

"Hey, it's fine. I understand," Taiga said when he noticed how Tetsuya seemed to be brutally beating himself up inwardly. "And I should be the one apologizing. I shouldn't have asked."

"It's not Taiga-kun's fault," Tetsuya started to say, and it was at that moment that Taiga felt something in him snap.

"It is my damn fault, you stupid idiot!" he burst, slamming his fist onto the surface of the water. Tetsuya saw it now; the guilt and self-loathing in the merman's eyes that been so perfectly masked for so many years. "I was there, Tetsuya. If I hadn't been spacing out, I could've saved you before you fell unconscious. I could've stopped the sea from making you fear her." He paused, letting out a harsh, bitter laugh while he ran his fingers roughly through his hair. "But I did not."

Tetsuya honestly didn't blame him in the least. It was his own fault that he was careless. It was his own fault for leaning so far out of the boat despite his father's warnings. Realization suddenly dawned him a little afterwards. Maybe this was why Taiga cared so much about him now. It's because he felt remorseful about being unable to help him that one time. It's because he wanted to make up for what he couldn't do. It's because he wanted to make sure he wouldn't make the same mistake ever again.

"It hadn't been your duty to save me," Tetsuya said, and Taiga could only stare at him because he just didn't understand a thing at all, did he? Or was he simply too stubborn to let himself understand?

"But don't you see? It's not about duty or anything stupid like that," Taiga responded in exasperation. "I'll never be able to forgive myself if I let you die when I could've saved you."

"Because my father spared your life all those years ago?" Tetsuya asked, almost drily, and is greeted with yet another humorless laugh from the redhead.

"Because I love you, Tetsuya." When he spoke, his voice was incredibly soft even in Tetsuya's mind. It almost sounded like a scoff; as if he was laughing at the irony. "I know I'm not supposed to, and yet-"

"Please stop there," Tetsuya cut him off before he could say any more. Taiga studied his eyes, hoping to find anything - anything at all that indicated the emotions behind Tetsuya's response to his confession. It wasn't as difficult as he'd thought it'd be. Everything was written right there on his face.

And more than anything, Tetsuya looked anguished.

Taiga halfheartedly wondered if he'd actually been hating him all along. He couldn't have, could he? Had he gone overboard and ended up being overly clingy instead of protective? Taiga didn't know. His thoughts raged in his mind, making it almost impossible to think straight.

"I want us to be friends, Taiga-kun. Nothing more." Tetsuya's voice is carefully controlled. He's forcing himself, Taiga realized. He's forcing himself to believe in his own words. "For the sake of both of us."

Most of the time, Taiga's proud to be part of the merfolk. They were special. They were considered a legend. They were different from the humans who overpopulate the earth. But at times, especially during the moments where he faced his own feelings for Tetsuya, he hated it. He was aware that it really wasn't something they had control over, but it still seemed unfair for him at times. Why couldn't the merfolk accept and trust the humans? Why must so many humans lose their trust by being greed-driven monsters?

"I understand." Taiga clenched his fists to stop his hands from shaking. Dejection weighed down so heavily on his shoulders that he thought he'd actually experience how sinking feels like for the first time in his life. But at least he's not asking to never see each other again. At least they can still be friends. At least. He took a breath, and forced himself for a lopsided grin. He didn't know how hard he failed. He didn't care. "Okay."

"I'm sorry, Taiga-kun," Tetsuya told him, genuinely sounding apologetic. Taiga shook his head. It's not Tetsuya's fault. He knew Tetsuya was trying to keep a safe distance between them, yet he'd so selfishly wanted to take things further. If there's anyone at blame, it's him. It's him for being so confident, so self-centered. So sure that Tetsuya would accept him.

"I understand, really," Taiga said, waving his hands to emphasize his point. He exhaled a breath through his mouth, willing the quiver that was threatening to appear in his voice to go away. "We'll keep being friends. That's it."

Because a human and merman can never be together. Taiga was foolish to have believed that it could be wrong, that he could change things if he simply tried hard enough.

"But Tetsuya," Taiga broke the soon to be awkward silence, remembering the main reason he'd wanted the boy to go there in the first place. "At least let me show you what I've found."

Tetsuya didn't even flinch when Taiga reached out, and touched his forehead. Taiga's fingers left a tingling sensation on his skin after he'd retracted his hand.

"Close your eyes when I dive down, okay?" Taiga instructed, and wordlessly, Tetsuya complied. He shut his eyelids as soon as Taiga disappeared under the waves.

He honestly had no idea what he should be expecting when his vision suddenly brightened and an image came into focus like one of those video footages where the camera is brought outside from a dark place. Strange. Tetsuya was pretty sure he still had his eyes closed tight.

Even stranger - he was underwater.

It wasn't the darkness Tetsuya remembered. No- the waters were illuminated by the sunrays streaming in from above and he could almost see every single detail to this miniature paradise that belonged to the sea. A little further out where the water was slightly deeper and directly under a patch of sunlight, was a miniature coral reef, complete with a stunning assortment of multicolored corals which colors ranged from bright yellow to fluorescent purple. There were several shoals of fish swimming around, undisturbed by the presence of the merman.

"Can you see this?" Taiga's voice echoed in his mind, sounding half unsure, half hopeful. Tetsuya almost nodded before he remembered that the merman probably wouldn't be able to see him do that from where he was.

"Yes," he said, a tinge of awe in his mind's voice, the tension he'd felt between the two of them slowly toning down. The sight Taiga was showing him was breathtakingly beautiful. This was what Taiga had always wanted to let him see. The true beauty of the ocean. The side of her that wasn't violent, wasn't seeking to rid herself of intruders at every chance.

The side of her that Tetsuya had instantly fell in love with ever since he was a young boy.

"I've created a small link between the two of us in order to show you that," Taiga explained once he'd resurfaced. He sounded tentative, like he was worried that Tetsuya will be mad at him for doing that. "But its weak and it'll fade off in a few hours so you won't have to worry about randomly getting glimpses of what I'm seeing."

"Alright," Tetsuya nodded, and offered the redhead a small smile. "Thank you for that, Taiga-kun. It's lovely."

"No problem," Taiga answered with a smile of his own, though Tetsuya could tell that his heart wasn't completely in it. Guilt crept up on him, but he had to do what he had to do. He had no choice. His selfish desires alone were not enough to go against the laws of nature. As much as it hurt the both of them, Tetsuya forced himself to reject both Taiga's and his own feelings.

They exchanged no more words after that up until Tetsuya was back at the open sea, and that was only because the boy had too much courtesy to not wish a friend a safe journey home. Really, there wasn't much else to say. The two of them needed the time, the space, and the silence to collect their thoughts that were all over the place.

Even Taiga's seagull friend could sense the heavy atmosphere, but it was wise enough not to pry. It settled down on his perch on Tetsuya's boat, took one look at the human, and guessed that things probably did not turn out well between him and the merman. It's a pity. Their affection for each other was so painfully obvious its almost frustrating to watch at times.

"Come on, boy. Let's get you home."

xXx

Taiga didn't look for Tetsuya for the next week or so because he thought they should have some space and time to recover after everything that'd happened in that sea cave.

It was quite a depressing period for him, those six days. Taiga had next to nothing to do when he wasn't looking for Tetsuya, nor could he find the motivation to do anything for the time being. He spent most of his moments at home staring into space and trying to calm his raging thoughts and attempting not to feel too dejected because it's not like Tetsuya told him to never see him again, right? They're still friends. They'll be awkward, but they'll still be friends.

It was this thought that finally drove Taiga to venture out to resume his daily meetings with the human boy once more. However, Taiga was admittedly still relatively distracted the day he slipped out of the barrier, and he did not notice that he was being followed by one of his neighbor's young daughter who'd intended to approach him to hand him a basket of freshly picked seaweed. The mermaid, being the curious young child she was, had followed him all the way to the insolated field a little away from the settlement area and had, unfortunately, seen him disappear behind a veil of flickering light.

And, being the young, curious little mermaid she was, she'd followed him out.