Siren Song - 1

AU Hizashi/Els
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The woman lived by herself in a small home on a tiny stretch of beach. She had relied on the fantasies and kinder worlds found in books to get her through a tough childhood, and due to this still had more than a touch of whimsy in her soul. She wanted to believe dragons and fairies existed; that the magic of Santa Claus was real. Reality often struck her unkindly in the face as she struggled to share her love of peaceful, happy thoughts to others.

Adults just grew up cold, without magic anymore. It was sad, because personally she thought that's what people needed.

The singing began a few weeks into the summer of her thirtieth year. It was something more than melodious, a song without words that made her happy, yet want to weep when the last notes had faded from the air. The woman had asked her family what they thought only to have them question her sanity. She had then resorted to recording the song to upload it online, but it was the same.

She would often fall asleep to the sound of the waves crashing on the beach and the soft, haunting melody only she seemed to be able to hear. But after a few bad days in a row with no love or support to boost her in her time of need, she couldn't bear it any more. She donned her swimsuit, some protective gear for the reef and head out late one night armed with a flashlight and towel only. She had been warned from an early age about night swimming, but had lived here long enough to know where the bad areas were. Stretching on the shore, she heard the song again and focused in on it, trying to decipher where it was coming from. The crash and spray of the waves made it very difficult to tell, but by sheer luck she saw movement on a large rock jutting out a few feet out. Setting out for this large chunk, she soon got her feet under her and crept around until she found him.

He had his lower half in the water as he sat, nude to the waist with a beaded coral bracelet on one wrist. Long, blond hair flowed down his back, the fact that it was mostly dry a testament to how long he must have been sitting.

"Hey! My name is Elly and I live on the beach in that house over there. Are you the one that's been singing every night?"

The man gasped in surprise and slipped out of view into the water without another sound. She peered around the rock, frowning. Where could he have gone?

"You - you could hear me?"

"Ah!" She jumped and barely avoided falling in herself. "Are - are you the one coming here every night to sing?"

He blinked, his impossibly bright green eyes wide as he stared at her. His pale face was all she could see, framed in the ocean by his long, blond hair. "You heard me," he repeated, obviously quite stunned by the fact. "No one else can hear that song."

"Yeah. Well, I thought everyone was just being mean when they said they couldn't hear."

He swam closer. "It's true. Only a siren's soulmate can hear their special song."

Wait... siren? Soulmate?

The man had gotten his hands on the bottom of the rock and he jumped up. A spray of water accompanied his leap as he slid up beside her, human from the waist up but a silvery skinned fish on the bottom. Elly choked, a hundred thoughts running through her head. The silver was shimmery and iridescent, the fins and tail a yellow that matched his hair color. She backed up, not entirely certain she hadn't met a madman out here.

"Hello, Elly. My name is Hizashi."

She ignored the niceties for now, too shocked. "Is that one of those latex swimwear things? Like, some people like to put on and pretend they're..." She stopped, looking closer. "It's - it's not a costume, is it. I can't see a seam at all."

"You're taking this better than I imagined you would. I mean, we know you exist. Humans don't really accept that we do, though." He swept one hand around, tying his hair back with a cord he took off his arm.

"I might be in shock." She squinted, once more caught off guard by how handsome he was. "I think I am. But I've always wanted beings like you to be real, so..."

He reached out for her, a soft smile on his lips. "Do you mind if I hold your hand? Every siren dreams of this day and I'm a little overwhelmed."

Elly wordlessly held one out and he grasped it lightly. "Thank you. Um. You're really warm."

"So are you," she noted in surprise.

"Yep. Technically I'm a mammal, so I'm warm blooded. I just mimic a fish from the waist down."

"Really?" Elly looked harder, then saw he was blushing. "Sorry. I'm staring at your - well, yeah. It doesn't look embarrassing, but that's your um. Your lower half. Sorry."

"I like having your eyes on me," he said shyly. "I never thought anyone would hear my song and find me! Hey, let's head for the beach? You're going to get cold sitting on this rock - and, heck, so am I eventually."

"All right." She watched him as he moved gracefully in the water alongside her, wondering what he would do once he was at the shore.

"Whoohoo!" Hizashi leaped, arcing out and rolling as he fell so that the impact would distribute throughout his body. Elly winced but he seemed perfectly fine, so she clambered awkwardly out of the froth to pick up the towel she had placed on the sand.

"I never thought I'd be talking to - hell, let's face it -- a dream for a lot of people. A fantasy creature." She dried herself quickly off and then handed the cloth to him, eyebrows raised.

He laughed, accepting it with a smile. "I bet you have the same questions. Every time we match with a human they have the same questions." He dragged his tail farther up on dry ground and began stripping the water off it with his palms.

"Oh?"

"Yeah. And you know what I'm talking about." He gave her a very direct look. She noticed he had two tiny, well-kept points of a mustache on his upper lip. They wiggled when he talked or smiled.

"The thought did cross my mind."

"Just wait for it..." He eyed his tail speculatively, rubbing with the towel. "Ah, there we go." In one quick motion he wrapped himself around the waist, and with good reason. The scales smoothed more, turning a fleshier color. As she watched in astonishment he picked himself up to face her on two very human legs.

She blinked. "Have you ever seen a movie?"

His answering grin was huge. "You're thinking 'Splash', aren't you?"