Beyond the sea 6

 He was so <i>wonderful</i>.

Hizashi Yamada was much kinder, and more handsome, and interesting than she thought possible for a human to be. His kiss, though pure of intent, a simple fleeting touch, had sent shivers up her spine. That fabled sense of electricity when touched by the right partner was actually real!

Elly spun around in a circle, high on emotion and playfully passing her hand through the little scattered schools of fish throughout the reef. She exclaimed in surprise when a tiny octopus came out of a crevasse with a shell in her tight grip and helped her find a few others.

That done, her mood sobered quickly. She knew where she needed to go next so she gathered her courage and angled down into the safer, deeper depths. She didn't need to go too far, and technically this level was still the sunlight zone because it was light, rife with with sea plants and creatures. But only a few meters farther the depths lurked, a rich, dark blue that quickly bottomed out to black. She shivered and rubbed her arms as if to ward off a sudden chill.

The reef was larger around here, and she swam nervously forward until she saw the hidden entrance she was searching for. If you had an eye for sea life, you might notice that it was an octopus's garden. The small opening was decorated with shells and debris that shone prettily when rays of light from above struck them, although she knew the real reason was to reinforce their homes.

The tiny hole in the reef was dark. She knew who lived here but it didn't lessen her anxiety.

As she hesitated, a bleak voice called out.

"Back so soon?" A long pause, then a world-weary sigh. "You'd better come in, then."

Being under water, mers couldn't physically communicate except with sounds like clicks and whistles. They spoke mostly by some form of telepathy that was supplemented by the other sounds. Her brain translated the voice in her head as "hearing" above ground speech, however.

Her gills stopped fluttering for a moment as she held her breath, then she furled her fins and pushed into the cave. "Aizawa?"

"Yes." A shining red light flashed in the deeper areas of the cave and then he was there, crawling up to greet her.

Elly shuddered. The merman was rippling with muscle, not only above but below as well. His lightly tanned body morphed into a great, black swarming mass of tentacles below his navel. She knew an octopus had only eight, but there was an illusion of so many more. These legs pulled him up to her level and he settled on the lighted portion of the sandy floor to speak with her. Not only was his octopus half a thing of nightmares but he was unlucky enough to have lost an eye at some point, and one elbow had a huge, sea star shaped scar covering it.

It was clear he thought he wasn't attractive and he didn't bother much with shaving, leaving dark stubble on his cheeks, lip and chin. His black hair was long as he only cut it if it got in his way, and it floated about his gloomy features looking very much like his tentacles. In contrast, a pretty, gleaming white unicornfish swam around him, dashing to hide behind his back from the visitor.

"It's okay," he murmured, and the fish butted his hand fondly.

"I - I need to ask how to end this."

"I know," he said simply. "There's no other reason you would come back to me."