Sayuri was bored. Beyond bored actually. There was absolutely nothing to do, nothing to seek, nothing to be enthusiastic about. Days and nights were endless foam of greyness. Life felt completely dull.
Completely and utterly dull.
Ever since that fateful day fifteen years ago Sayuri's life had taken a drastic change. She had known her father would be angry for not following his rules and her mother would be absolutely horrified over her injuries, but she had thought they would forgive her in time and life would continue to be the same.
Oh, how wrong she had been.
First, after listening to the merking's booming voice yelling at him for hours, Eri had decided he wasn't worth of being Sayuri's personal guard anymore. He had let her get hurt and by that failed her, his family and the royal guard. Without saying a word he had laid his trident down, stripped the blue pearls from his hair and swam out from the throne room. Sayuri hadn't seen him since.
His mother had visited her later on and relayed Eri's message to Sayuri. I will return when I feel worthy of your presence again, it had read.
”But... but he is already worthy. I'm not above him! It was all my fault, I didn't listen to him and without him I'd surely be dead!” Sayuri had tried to explain, but it had already been too late. Eri had left their secluded home and no one knew where he was.
”He is an honest and fiercely loyal man, but blames himself too much,” his mother had said with a distant look in her eyes. “He has too much of his father in him. He'll come back when he feels ready.”
Secondly, she was almost stripped from the silver pearl. Her father had taken one swift look at it when Eri had told him what happened and pulled it from his daughters hands. The look on her father's face was one of utter disgust.
”Human trash,” he had muttered. “You risked your life because of human trash.”
”It's a gift,” Sayuri had whispered and flinched when his father turned his stern gaze at her. She loved her silver pearl, even though it didn't make the beautiful sound underwater as it had on the surface. But still, it was a gift, a memory of the silver-haired boy and she wanted to treasure it. It had been her first real adventure. With humans nonetheless!
”A gift,” he repeated and Sayuri nodded.
”I... I got it from the boy we rescued,” she explained. She and Eri had towed him to the nearest fishing village and watched as the fishers found the boy's unconscious form on the small makeshift raft. She had wanted to stay and watch the village too (it had been so full of life and people and fish!), but that time Eri had won all her arguments.
“The boy,” the king had muttered. “The human boy...” Sayuri didn't like the look in his eyes when he glanced at the silver pearl. “I don't want this trash to poison my kingdom. It needs to be destroyed.”
Without a second thought Sayuri had snatched the silver pearl back and hugged it closely to her chest. The look on her father's face would have been priceless if the situation hadn't been so dire.
“I... I won't let you! It's mine, it's my gift and I won't give it to you!”
Now that Sayuri looked back at the incident she realized she had been a fool. If she had cooperated with her father he might have let her continue her trips. The third thing that had happened during his father disciplinary lecture had been stripping her from all of her freedom. She was not to venture outside of the Halls of the Moon and the royal guardsmen would stop her if she even tried. If her father hadn't been so mad at her, she might still roam the seas and satisfy her curiosity. Now she could only look as the merfolk went in and out the Moon Gate. And in the end she stopped looking, because it reminded her too much of the fact that she couldn't do it.
She had tried to figure out things she could do to keep her occupied. She tried knitting, she tried singing, she tried figure-swimming, she tried everything! None of that interested her as much as the world outside did. The company of her sisters turned into annoyance. They had no ambitions and they didn't even care what the outside might offer them! They just offered her a dumbfound look when she asked why they didn't have any lust for adventures.
“Why should we have? All we need is here. And the outside of full of those disgusting humans. They are dangerous,” her eldest sister had nodded vigorously, “yeah, I know they are a danger to us all. They want to enslave us. Father has told me all about their vicious plans!” It took all of Sayuri's willpower not to start yelling to her sister. Sometimes they were just plainly idiotic.
She feared she was eventually going to lose her mind. She knew exactly how every day was going to turn out to be, because the days were all the same! Things never changed! She had tried to ask her mother to convince her father to let her make even small trips outside, but her father was relentless. No one of the royal family was allowed outside anymore It was too dangerous, Sayuri's little accident had proved that to her father. There might be humans. There might be sharks. There might be poisonous jellyfishes. There might be tons of excuses Sayuri wasn't buying.
“Too dangerous, too risky, too everything, but all here is so unbelievably boring!” Sayuri muttered to herself. “Even the royal guards are boring...” She had tried japing the guards like she often had done with Eri, but that had only gotten her father mad. Sayuri sighed. Everything she ever did just made her father mad.
She had spent the better half of the day just floating in the royal garden thinking. Although the scenery had stayed the same for the most part of Sayuri's life, it was her favorite place, mostly because of the mosaics painted and sculpted on the walls surrounding. They depicted the glorious days of her people, when they still roamed the sea freely and without fear. Sayuri touched briefly the face of the First sinking his trident deep in the skull of the leviathan. The features of the First were no longer visible due to seawater washing the color away, but Sayuri had heard he had been handsome and fearless. Unlike some other merking she knew...
What had bothered her most of her life was the lack of female presence in the mosaic. Surely there had been fearless queens too? She had asked her mother and sisters once and received giggles and snorts. Her mother at least had the courtesy of not to laugh although the smile tugging on her lips was as annoying.
“Mermaids are not warriors, my dear. We are the backbone of our home, weaving seaweed beds for our loved ones who battle in our stead. We sing mournful songs for those who are not returned. We are the ones who remember and tell our sons. Our part is important too, but we do not leave our home to kill leviathans or krakens,” she had explained calmly.
“But I've heard stories that us mermaids are the ones who kill humans with our kiss, dragging them with us to drown!” Sayuri had argued. “Surely there's some truth in those stories!” Her mother had just stared at her, her hands stopped in mid-motion to comb her sister's hair. It had taken a while for mother to regain her composure.
“You should not listen to the old merhags in the square,” she had muttered. “They know nothing.”
“But mother...”
“This conversation is over!” Sayuri's mother had snapped and Sayuri's mouth had shut itself.
Sayuri sighed and lifted her hand away from the cool rock. If she looked at the picture close enough it looked like almost moving, but she knew she was only lying to herself. The days of the adventurers were over and she would live the rest of her long life fading in these gray halls. The sudden movement below her made Sayuri turn around. She only caught a glimpse but that was enough. Only one person had a tail of radiant pink and that was her little sister Kei. Sayuri almost yelled to make her stop, but caught herself in time. It would be much more entertaining to follow Kei unnoticed and find out where she was going! She could pretend to be the First, following the trail of the Leviathan to its nest.
Sayuri propelled through the water and shot after her little sister. Kei was swimming fast, but her big sister was faster and it wasn't hard for Sayuri to keep up with her pace. A couple of times she had to hide behind a rock or in the sea weed so that Kei wouldn't realize Sayuri was following her. Each time Kei glanced back Sayuri became more intrigued. Where was Kei going?
Sayuri knew the Halls of the Moon like the back of her hand. She had spent the last ten years exploring the caves and caverns and had found nothing of interest. Usually the caves where either blocked or collapsed and you couldn't see where they led. Some of the caves were turned into housing, like the big one where her father held court. Her sister was swimming towards a secluded area, which held most of the blocked caves. Sayuri had gone there once, but there was nothing but solid rock there to her utter disappointment.
She couldn't figure out what Kei could possibly do there. That made following her even more interesting. Her little sister had a secret! Maybe she had hidden things in here? Things father wouldn't want to see! Or perhaps - Sayuri gasped - she was meeting with someone! Could her little sister possibly be courting someone behind their father's back? Even Kei couldn't be that bold! And at her fifteen years of age she was too young to court anyone. Even Sayuri hadn't been courted yet and she was already reaching the age of thirty! Her mother had said that when the time was right they would start searching a possible suitor for her. She herself had married at the subtle age of one-hundred and thirty after courting with Sayuri's father for fifteen years. The merpeople did everything slowly including aging.
Sayuri saw Kei snatching a small blue light-fish with her until she made a sharp turn to a descend into a cave. Sayuri scratched her head. Why would Kei need a light fish? The big ones illuminated the Halls and the light usually was sufficient in the caves too. Perhaps Kei had found a tunnel? Sayuri couldn't hold herself anymore, she had to know what Kei was hiding!
The cave opening was small and for a while Sayuri was sure she would got stuck if she tried to get in. But if Kei had fit through, so would she! Or at least she tried to tell herself that. She managed to slither through, but received a few painful scratches around her hip. She brushed them off as if nothing had happened. Her curiosity was piqued now. She hadn't felt this enthusiastic about anything in years!
She glanced around the small opening, but found nothing of interest. It was a fairly normal looking tunnel, nothing special about it. Kei had ventured forward and Sayuri could still see the faint glimmer of the small fish. She didn't have her own source of light with her so Sayuri swam after Kei. She didn't want to get stuck in darkness.
To her amazement she didn't see Kei anywhere. The tunnel just lead to a dead end. The fish was there though, floating in the middle of the way. Sayuri glanced around her. Where in the name of the seas had Kei gone? Sayuri had seen her coming here. She couldn't just vanish!
Sayuri backtracked to see if she had missed any potential hiding places but saw none. She returned back to the fish and stared at it, as if it could speak and tell her where her sister had gone. The fish just stared back.
“Oh, this is useless,” Sayuri exclaimed and once again glanced around her. “You can't tell me where Kei went...” But the fish did the unbelievable and swam right next to a rock. Sayuri stared at it and then at the fish.
“Did my sister go there? Behind the rock?” she asked just to be sure. The fish looked like it was nodding. Sayuri feared she might be going nuts, but nevertheless followed the fish. The rock was big enough to hide a possible entrance. She tried moving it and was surprised to notice that it moved easily. Further investigation proved that the rock actually was hollow on the inside.
“What in the name of the sea,” Sayuri muttered. “Why is there a hollow rock here?” She glanced at the tunnel that had revealed itself. Kei had went there, but where did it lead? Sayuri peered into the darkness. Was it safe? In the back of her head the voice of reason was trying to tell her that her father would be really angry. But Sayuri didn't listen.
She swam after her little sister. The fish followed her and lit the tunnel eerie blue. Sayuri was grateful for the light for she had never liked darkness. She even kept some fishes around her sleeping chamber so it was never completely dark there. Her mother had called her silly, but had let her keep the fishes anyway.
Sayuri didn't know how far she had swum but noticed the difference in the water almost instantly. It was growing warmer. She could see some light ahead. Different kind of light. Natural light.
Her eyes grew wide when she realized where she was going. To the surface! Her swimming came to a halt. Kei had gone to the surface without any guardians, and Sayuri was about to do the same! Kraken's bottoms! For a moment all she could do was open and close her mouth in utter disbelief. The surface.
A cry of joy escaped from Sayuri's mouth and she raced to the top and towards the light. She was going to see the sun again! At that moment she didn't care about anything else. She had spent fifteen years dreaming about the life on the surface, dreaming about to be able to let the sun kiss her skin once again and dreaming to meet humans! She emerged from the sea and did a backflip. A giggle erupted from her throat and she couldn't help but to laugh. Everything was so beautiful.
The moment would have been perfect if one very unhappy mermaid hadn't said anything.
“Sayuri! Why are you here?!” Sayuri could hear from Kei's voice that she was angry. And she looked the part too. Her arms were akimbo and her mouth was pressed into a thin line. Her pale pink colored hair had formed a cloud around her head and her tail was swaying from side to side with snapping motions.
“I followed you!” Sayuri explained happily. The surface. “And I would've done it earlier if I knew where you were visiting!” She expected her sister to accept her company now that Sayuri knew what Kei's secret was, but Kei was having none of that.
“Leave! You are ruining everything!” she yelled and Sayuri's smile froze on her face. “Someone will miss you and then they will know of the secret passage! Did you even cover it after you?” Sayuri formed a little “O” with her mouth. The thought hadn't even crossed her mind. Kei understood immediately what the look on Sayuri's face meant.
“You are an idiot, Sayuri! You hear me? An idiot!”
“Well, how was I supposed to know the passage led to the surface?” she yelled back. “And it's not like you were that hard to follow! Anyone could have followed you, did you think of that?! But only I did and believe me,” Sayuri glanced around her marveling at the beauty, “I will tell no one.”
“Oh, like you told no one that one of the guards had kissed our precious big sister? Like you told no one that the oyster collector had found a extremely rare pearl? Like you told no one that...”
“Be quiet, this time I'm serious!” Sayuri promised and tried to force the blush from her cheeks. Those had all been careless slips, she could keep her mouth shut if she really tried.
“Yeah, right,” Kei sighed and roller her eyes. “I doubt you can be serious.” Sayuri stuck her tongue out. She could be if she wanted to! She just rarely wanted it. And she had so many thought running in her head that sometimes she just forgot she wasn't supposed to say something. She was about to answer to Kei when her eyes shifted to something she almost didn't believe.
“Is... Is that land?” she asked with eyes wide open. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Now it was Kei's time to squirm under Sayuri's gaze.
“Well, maybe...” Kei muttered and fidgeted with her hands.
“What do you mean maybe? That's land, right!” Sayuri's was sure of it now. It looked much the same as the land she and Eri had taken the boy from the ship.
“Well, yes...” was Kei's quiet answer. She still hadn't stopped squirming.
“I want to go there!” A gleam lighted in Sayuri's eyes. She would regret it forever if she didn't! Who knew, her father might catch them afterwards and she would never have a second change. She even started to swim towards the shore. Kei didn't share her enthusiasm.
“You can't go there, you idiot!” she stated and swam ahead of her.
“And why not?” Sayuri tried to swim past her, but Kei put her body in front of her. Sayuri could have easily pushed her aside, but she was her little sister. She needed to be gentle with her.
“Because... because you are so strange. The humans will immediately think something is off with you!” Kei was making up excuses and it showed in her voice. Sayuri furrowed and looked past her. There were humans there? She might see humans again! Now she was even more determined to see at least something!
“Silly, I won't go to the land-land, just to the shore. It's not like I can walk with my tail like humans do...” she laughed and took her little sisters hand. “Come, we'll go together!” Kei didn't move, but a blush redder than she had ever seen was on her face. Sayuri raised her eyebrows. Why was Kei so embarrassed? Had she more secrets in store for Sayuri?
“Yeah, about that...” Kei started. Had the humans seen Kei and that was why they shouldn't go near the shore? How many times had Kei already visited here? Was it dangerous to go?
“What about it?” Sayuri asked. She needed to know everything before going. She didn't want the events from ten years ago to repeat themselves. She could always hide the fact she had gone to visit the surface-world but she couldn't hide injuries. Especially if something were to happen to her little sister.
“We actually get legs if we are not touching the sea water,” Kei blurted out. All thoughts escaped Sayuri's head at that moment.
“We what?!”
[Reviews - 17]Chapter or Story
Table of Contents
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Chapter notes: Beta: inuyashas_only_1
Rating: T
Pairing: Kakashi/OC
Genre: Romance, Adventure, Fluff
Warnings: I seriously can't figure out what there is to warn you about. Pirates? Yarr?Hahaa, SLIGHTLY AU!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I only own the OC's you don't recognize from the manga/anime.
Word count: 3,343
A/N: Again with Sayuri's POV (the next chapter will probably be in Kakashi's). I hope you are enjoying the story so far... :)