The marine biologist had short purple hair that flowed closely about her face under the clear tropical waters. Her figure was shapely, shown off in the tight wetsuit she wore, and her split fins matched her suit and hair.
Unbeknownst to her, she had a secret admirer that came to visit every day as she checked the reef life.
"This way."
"Hurry, or she'll spot us!"
Far below, two shadows slipped quickly into a hidden cave on the ocean floor with the low sounds of clicks and whistles. There was a light scuffle that disturbed the sand and a cloud of ink erupted from the entrance, dissipating slowly into the water. And then, a few minutes later red eyes were shining out of the darkness, blinking as they tracked the scientist's movements.
The woman above continued to methodically check the species swimming around her, without any idea that two creatures straight out of the pages of a fairy tale were watching her.
There were two merpeople hidden in the cave.
The woman was part mako, the fastest type of shark there was. She'd caught the octopus as it was resting when they darted into the cave to hide. Her tail was sleek and a pretty blue color. The man was a leopard shark, his tail patterned with dark markings that enabled him to blend in with his surroundings. Both had long, dark hair that floated around them as they tore into their lunch and watched the human swim around.
"Aizawa?"
The man blinked, and his red eyes softened to gray. "What?"
"Are you protecting us? Is that why you've been coming out here alone every day for weeks?"
He shook his head and helped himself to part of her catch. "No, Kayama. I don't feel that she's dangerous at all." Aizawa chewed reflectivity for a moment. "She's pretty." He watched as she glided elegantly about the coral, managing to look like she belonged though she couldn't breathe and had no tail. "And her scent is nice."
"Don't be an idiot," Kayama snorted rudely, her mouth full after biting into a tentacle. "Walkers aren't pretty. They have those disgusting stumps instead of tails."
He absently scratched his chest, staring up at the disturbance at the top of the water. "She's healing the reef and the creatures that live here. I've been watching her capture injured fish and bring them back later."
"Walkers are the ones that fuck up the reef in the first place!"
He couldn't argue fully with that. "...maybe some of them don't agree with the ones that fuck it up."
"Okay, but why did you bring me this time?"
"Insurance." Aizawa's voice remained calm, though his pulse was racing. He'd decided to show himself to her weeks ago, but now was the time. "Stay here," he called out to his friend as he beat his powerful tail, swiftly driving himself towards the purple-haired woman.
Kayama choked. "<i>Aizawa!</i> Do you have a death wish?! Don't do anything stupid!"
He ignored her frantic clicks and growls, focusing instead on the beautiful human that was stroking a bright patterned parrot fish. He stayed away at first, out of her field of vision - or so he thought. Everything happened so fast that later it would seem like a dream.
She whirled around and saw him.
Aizawa tensed, but the walker, though surprised, simply waved at him. Bubbles drifted up from the mask she wore and she looked up as if gauging when she would have to return to her natural habitat. When she turned her back he saw a flash of green and he swore. A moray eel was poking out of a concealed hole in the reef, swaying in the menacing manner that preceeded an attack. Her side was too close to his hideaway and he was going to strike. Aizawa's eyes widened and he pushed her out of the way, using his heavy tail to strike out at the eel and knock it harmlessly into the distance. The walker waved her arms, frantically trying to fight her body's natural buoyancy as she spun out and floated to the surface.
Aizawa watched as she broke through and gasped for air. He winced, tasting blood in the water.
"Shit, he got me." That was bad news and he needed to get away fast, before other predators arrived. When he tried to leave, however, a sharp pain raced through his lower body and he stiffened, unable to move.
The walker dove back down to him. She moved her two sticks in an oddly graceful way through the water, holding them together so they functioned almost like a tail. In the moments before he blacked out he thought how she could almost pass for one of his kind as she reached out, concern clearly showing on her face.
When he opened his eyes he was in an environment he didn't recognize; a small area filled with unusual tasting water. There were walls that weren't coral yet felt rough to the touch, and the ground was also hard and cold.
But the worst was the eerie silence.
Underwater should be noisy, filled with the sounds of the creatures that shared their home with him and the walker's vehicles plowing through the upper waves. The silence was almost deafening and though it was good he was alone since he was injured, Aizawa had to push a crushing sense of fear aside. To distract himself he examined his tail and saw there was a thin coating of something over the wound. The bleeding had stopped and it didn't hurt as much, so he didn't touch it. He instinctively knew it was the work of the woman who had reached out to him. A good thing she'd been there, although he could have made it alone. His ear flaps fluttered then as he picked up noises. They were coming from the surface, though, not underwater, a gathering of people on the surface.
<i>There she is!</i>
He flexed his arms and popped up like a cork, water streaming from his long hair. There were many different walkers with her, some wearing long coats and others wetsuits. Aizawa swam around to her as she stood near the side of the water.
<i>They're afraid of me</i>. His ears wiggled in amusement when he saw how close she was. <i>She's not</i>.
The group in front of her took a collective step back when he rose up to swim near. A few were holding objects in their hands he recognized easily as weapons. The woman drew in a quick breath when he approached, but didn't jump back like the others. Aizawa could examine her closely now.
She was fairly short, with eyes that matched her dark purple hair. She was out of her wetsuit and appeared thinner, in a pair of worn jeans and a baggy t-shirt with a shark on it. Aizawa noticed that she wore no jewelry or other adornments except for a leather cord around her neck, the end of which was hidden under her shirt. This was contrary to what they thought they knew about walker females, and he was instantly curious as to why she wasn't mated like the others he'd seen.
"You helped me." He pointed at his tail and the wound that would quickly heal, though perhaps they didn't know that.
One of the men, a large guy with spiky, white hair stepped up in such a menacing way it caused him to hiss in warning. Aizawa slowly held his hands out in the universal gesture that showed <i>he</i> held no weapons, his eyes focused on the long, thin tube pointing at him.
The walkers commenced speaking with each other in loud, impassioned voices and he watched them all very carefully. He couldn't understand so he paid attention to their tones and body language instead.
"So we know it's not one of those weirdos that pretend to be a mermaid," a slender woman muttered in the back.
"Right," the big man nodded. "That's a real creature. We need to sedate it before it can attack."
The woman grew angry. "Stop it, Vlad, he's <i>sentient</i>. Look. A human head and chest - although covered in harder skin and scales, and some biological differences, he obviously has a language and self knowledge."
"And it's just as clear the creature has the tail of a shark. What other traits does it possess? We don't know anything about it, so it's logical to treat it as dangerous."
"Stop calling him an it!" Her expression firmed, and she stepped in front of Aizawa. "I'm not going to treat him like a wild beast. Even creatures have rights, and he's more than that."
"Yeah, Elly? That's more reason to keep it sedated. The thing's whole stance is battle ready."
She actually stamped her foot in irritation. "See how he's telling you he's not armed? You're <i>threatening</i> him! Of course he's going to be wary. What would you do if someone pointed a gun at you? Listen up." Elly pointed at the group. "I'm in charge here, and I say <i>he's to be treated like one of us</i>. Do I make myself clear?"
Aizawa nodded to himself. As he suspected, the good-smelling female was in charge and she was protecting him. Though it was unusual he accepted her help, realizing he was in a different world with the walkers and he would need to adjust. He did, however, bare his hunting teeth at the man from behind her. He would not permit anyone to question his benefactor's authority without a sign of disapproval.
"You can't communicate with it - uh, with him," Vlad corrected, stammering a little when he saw row upon row of pointy teeth directed at him.
"I get that we need to be able to talk. We can teach each other our languages, and I'll do testing along the way as I gain his trust and vice versa. He's not a prisoner or a test subject - the gate needs to remain unlocked <i>at all times</i>."
"If he leaves, we lose the opportunity ..!"
Elly ignored the protest, pointing at the merman and then the exit out to the ocean. "Look, you can come and go as you please." She walked over and demonstrated how it worked, a simple latch that he could reach up to unhook. Aizawa quickly unlatched it and then closed it just as fast, waving a hand at the indoor pool and his injury to indicate he knew it was better to stay put for now.
"I'm not going anywhere yet," he told her firmly.
Her face showed she didn't quite understand but knew he was showing that he wouldn't leave. She nodded and smiled, and he wondered again at her teeth. They were so dull and tiny, yet she flashed them so much at him. Was this how the walkers signaled friendliness to each other? Mers showed their teeth for aggression and during mating, so although it felt wrong he carefully bared his fangs in an approximation of her expression. The other researchers recoiled at the toothy grimace, but Elly didn't. Aizawa's heart beat faster when she showed even more of them.
"Your kind must not smile much, huh?"
<i>Her voice is beautiful</i>. His ear flaps lowered and he ducked partway under the water to conceal a blush. All that display of teeth had an effect on him; he did find her attractive, after all.
Their relationship was tenuous at best, a guarded kind of goodwill though neither were completely certain of the other. Elly wanted to show this possible new friend and ambassador to a new race that she respected and welcomed him. She took off the corded necklace she wore and offered it to him across her open palms.
Aizawa's eyes widened.
Dangling from the end of the leather cord was a gorgeous shell that shone brightly in the sunlight.
<i>She doesn't know what this means</i>! He forced himself to try and understand the land creature. She was being generous, but couldn't know that shiny objects were given to court his kind. Perhaps the walkers didn't give things to their mates when they proposed. There was so much he didn't know.
And yet Aizawa couldn't turn off the emotions that surged through him no matter how hard he tried. The offering was a rare shell, one that would have been hard for his kind to find, let alone a land walker. It was a <i>magnificent</i> Gift. He hesitated, his hand twitching at his side as he looked into her eyes and back at the beautiful pendant.
On her part, Elly was startled to see that, close up, he was even more handsome than she had thought at first. His eyes were a smoky gray color and a scattering of darker scales ran up along his neck, blending into the scruffy hair on his face that gave him a rogueish, unshaven look.
"It's okay," she said softly. "I want you to have it."
He reached out to take it from her and their hands touched. His palm was warm though the water droplets dripping off him were cool. There was a fine webbing between his fingers that shimmered in the sunlight and she noticed he had glittering, sharp black claws.
"Thank you," he said in a low voice as he slipped it around his neck.
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