title Fishing (1/2)
summary Seashell bras are so impractical. Whose idea was this?
pairing sasusaku

The sea was the color of gunmetal. The choppy waves bashed against the shore.

"Shit. I'm not going out in that."

"Me either. Pass me another beer?"

Someone dug into the cooler. Water dripped off the sides of the can as it changed hands.

"Only a crazy person would go in when it's like this."

As the words left his mouth, someone ran past them. Arms pumping at her sides. Wind whipping her hair around as she sprinted to the edge of the cliff.

"HEY! LADY! STOP!"

She dove. Slicing a clean arc through the air. Eyes squeezing shut as she plunged into the water.

"Fuck! Should I call an ambulance?"

"No! Wait! I think I see her."

They peeked over the edge of the cliff. Just in time to see her head break the surface of the water. She bobbed in the waves, rocked back and forth. Before they could call out to her, she waved her hand at them. And then she slipped beneath the surface. A strange glimmer flickering in the water for just a few seconds.

"Was that...?"

"...Gimme another beer."

The water here was green. It was murky, too. Sakura stretched her arms out in front of her. They were just white blurs. She paused, waiting for her eyes to adjust. She looked up at the surface. Despite the grey day, light still filtered down from the surface.

She could feel it when her eyeballs finally shifted. The corneas stretching and flattening. The structures inside moving into the right places. She touched the side of her neck. Ran her thumbs along the folds of her gills. When she opened her mouth, bubbles flooded up in a stream to the surface.

She opened her eyes again and she could see.

With one powerful flex of her tail, she continued her way down.

It was too quiet as she descended. Even as it grew darker and colder, not a single flash of scales greeted her. Only when she glimpsed the dark slash in the coral did someone come out to greet her.

"Welcome back!" one of the patrols greeted her, lifting his spear. She smiled in return. Slipping through the tangles of kelp, she made her way down. Into the gaping wound in the seabed. As she twisted through the darkness, up ahead, she could see the walls beginning to glow. Bioluminescent plankton scuttling around twinkled as she approached. She knew better than to touch them. They bit.

Soon, the tunnel began to turn upwards. She eased herself up the path, pushing off the stone with her hands.

The path widened into a huge cavern. More glowing plankton lined the walls here. But there were also luminous blue plants growing into the stone.

"Hey! Look who's back!" someone called out.

"Welcome home!"

Sakura smiled. Briefly clasping hands with people as they passed her. She made her way through the cave. Weaving around the coral structures and the shelters built from stone and tied together with lengths of living kelp.
She slipped into one of the buildings. The one with strings of pearls draped along the entrance. There was even a curtain fashioned from an old fisherman's net.

"Welcome home, dear," Tsunade said, floating from her bed to greet her. They clasped each other's forearms.

"I'm just here for the night, Grandmother," Sakura said before Tsunade could ask. The other woman's smile dimmed. She let out a sigh that bubbled out of her. In this isolated place, it was impossible to tell what was day and what was night. It was the return of the patrol changing shifts that let everyone know that the sun had set.

Others poured into the hut, eyes bright with excitement. They chatted for a long time. They peppered Sakura with questions about the surface. Giddy with excitement as she told them of the big metal vehicles humans used to move their dry, finless bodies. But eventually, Tsunade chased them out, shooing them back to their own homes.

"I get to see my beloved granddaughter maybe once a year and they hog all your time," grumbled Tsunade. And Sakura laughed, hugging her grandmother close to her heart.

Voices lowered as others began to settle in for the night. The insides of their huts dimming as they covered their lights. Some of them used glass bowls filled with more glowing plankton. Others kept special squid, whose speckled bodies shimmered light purple. They used whatever they could scavenge from the seabed. Old lobster traps. Discarded glass bottles.

Tsunade draped a length of cloth over the light. And as the inside of her home darkened, she took Sakura's hand.

"You could stay a little longer. I know that the children have missed you," Tsunade reminded her. And Sakura lifted her smooth hand to her cheek. Pressing it close.

"I know, Grandmother. But I'm going back," she replied, like always.

They slept, hands joined. And when the patrols changed shifts again, Sakura slipped out with them.

"Say, have you been to the North Sea lately, Sakura? Have you talked to Yoko?" one of them asked her as they navigated the glowing tunnels. Sakura glanced over at him. He pointedly avoided her eyes, but it was written all over his face.

She smiled. She grasped one of her silvery-blue scales and plucked it out. Ignoring the sting, she pressed it into his palm.

"Hold this under your tongue when you sleep tonight. You will be able to visit her in your dreams," Sakura promised him. He beamed at her, eyes crinkling in the corners.

"Thank you."

Once they exited the tunnel, Sakura stretched her arms. She stared at the crevice leading to the sequestered little village. Stretching her hands out in front of her, she weaved her hands through the water. Until slowly, a faint glimmer of lacy filaments seeped from her fingertips. She spread it across the mouth of the opening. It glittered as it settled over the black rock, settling into the craggy surface. And then it disappeared.

She tilted her head back, staring up at the faint glimmer of the surface. The rays of light were beginning to cut through. The sun had already risen.

"Do you need us to see you off?" one of the patrols offered. But Sakura only grasped his forearm, shaking her head. They touched foreheads for a brief moment before she swam off.

A school of silver fish danced around her on her way up. They weaved around like one big organism. And when her fins moved a little too close, they dashed off. Light glinting off their scales in a dizzying display.

She paused to search the surface. Unbroken waves ebbing and flowing without ceasing. After a while, she saw a shadow bobbing up and down. She adjusted her course, powerful strokes of her tail pulling her higher and higher.

Sakura's head broke the surface of the water a while later. She gulped down a deep breath, and then another. Waiting for her lungs to adjust to the oxygen rushing in. The cool air stung the inside of her chest. Her lenses of her eyes shifted too, trying to take in all the sunlight at once.

"Need a hand?"

Sakura didn't even look at him as she lifted her arms out of the water.

His hands were warm. He hauled her over the side of the boat. Laying her gently on the deck. He crouched beside her, cheek in his hand.

The gills on the sides of her throat fused shut. She coughed up the salt water that lingered in her lungs. And she lay there, forehead pressed to the deck as she waited for her head to stop spinning.

"You're early. I thought you would have stayed longer," remarked Sasuke. Sakura looked at him. Just in time for him to witness her irises and pupils shrink until he could see the whites again. She blinked a few times. Vision blurring and then unblurring.

Finally, she could see Sasuke smiling down at her. His sunglasses perched on top of his head. He stepped away for a moment. She raised herself on her elbows, still trying to catch her breath. When he returned, it was to wrap her in a big towel. He lifted her up in his arms.

"Breakfast isn't ready yet. You want some coffee?" he asked. Sakura nodded her head, laying it on his chest. The gentle sway of the boat rocking them both as he walked.

At first, she had laughed when he had bought the houseboat. It was a big, lumbering thing. It took forever to make turns, and parking it in any dock also took forever. She had once called it a floating microwave, and Sasuke had sulked for a full day.

But, as Sasuke carried her inside, she had to admit that it was rather nice. Home being so close to the space beneath the waves.

The inside of the house was filled with the fragrance of coffee. He seated her on the counter before he poured her a hot cup. Left it by her hand to cool.

"You could have stayed longer, you know," Sasuke said again. Sakura watched him turn on the electric stove. He unhooked a frying pan from the copper rack above.

"Why? So you could meet with your secret mistress?" asked Sakura. The look of disgust he turned to give her was absolutely perfect. She beamed at him.

"I said hi to my grandmother and I renewed the privacy charms protecting the village. I did both the things I wanted to do," she then replied to his earlier comments. And even with his back turned to her, she knew that the space between his eyebrows was wrinkling. He cracked eggs into the hot pan. She listened to the whites sizzle and pop against the cast iron.

"You don't miss them?"

She looked at his back. He scraped hard with the spatula. Making too much noise as he flipped the eggs. He cursed when one of the yolks popped.

"I do. But I sort of don't," she replied. She picked up the coffee. Blew on it before she took the first sip. Sasuke straightened to take two plates out of the cabinet. Set them on the counter to plate the eggs. She knew he would serve himself the egg that had exploded already.

The toast popped up. They both jolted a little.

"I was born with this mark," Sakura said, tapping the little diamond on her forehead. "They knew I was a sea witch before I even sang my first song. I always knew I would leave the village." As she spoke, Sakura buttered both slices of toast. Dropped one onto his plate.

Sasuke looked away.

"That's not what I meant," he mumbled. She froze, toast halfway to her mouth. She studied his face for a while. Took a bite.

"Ah. The other thing?" she asked instead. And Sasuke nodded.

She shrugged. "It can't be helped. That's just the way we were born." Sasuke nibbled on his toast with little enthusiasm.

"And are you sure that-"

"Yes, I'm still happy, Sasuke," Sakura answered his question before he could finish it. She eyed his expression again. Heaved a sigh. Sakura leaned over to kiss his forehead.

"My little pond hopper."

He wrinkled his nose. Pulling away, he crunched his teeth through his toast.

"Don't call me that," he sulked. Sakura kissed his forehead again. She popped the yolk with the corner of her bread. Mopping up the gold that dribbled across the plate.