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Dream Sweet in Sea Major

KiriSaku
She hadn't meant to swim so close, but man's world was no better than a lure in her throat she couldn't pull free from. She was weak to it's thrall, seductive and mysterious with lights and smells and sights she had no names for. But, just like a lure, it proved to be her doom.It was in the harbor she came back to consciousness, naked in the mess of open bodies, left cold from the night. The net she had been left to dry in was slashed in parts, but her new ankles stayed tangled in the twine, leaving her dangling over the floor from the suspended mess. She tried to shift but choked on a gasp as pain exploded beneath her skin. Moving felt like dying, every shift of her new legs was against invisible knives, and it took her a few minutes to work through what she was feeling.
Eventually, with small, forced movements, Sakura freed herself from the knots before whatever came to feed on the fishermen came back for her.She glanced around the room once more, taking in the bloodshed. Nothing simple had open these bodies. They had been peeled open and left in soaked pieces that were starting to stink.Its their own fault, she thought. They had been fishing and raising horrors up out of the deep when all the folklore and fables existed to warn them against such folly. They should have known better.Sakura turned to glance backwards over her shoulder and saw more of the carnage. More than one fish tank had been smashed and drained back into the sea. glass glittered in between the blood puddles. There were two other nets that had been heavy with bodies when she had been first brought into the warehouse over the docks.Now they now hung empty.The last tug of rope around her ankle came undone and Sakura fell the three feet to land in a damp clump on the stained floorboards. More pain made her choke. If she had tears she would have cried from how it humbled her, but soon it dulled to a throb she could ignore. There were other things she could focus her mind on. She smelled of brine, but now there was blood-not hers- in her long pink hair that she could inhale the scent of. Maybe it was supposed to be disgusting, but it was a smell from the world of man's world and she was a babe to it. It was so much easier to focus on the smell of blood than the pain in her legs.Sakura hobbled over to the nearest crate, away from the hole in the floor that led back to the waves. It was pain to move on legs, but she knew the transition back would be just as painful and ten times more draining.
'I'm not going back, I'm not going back' she thought to herself, drawing strength from the chant.She finally had a chance on land, she wanted to take it.There was a room off to the side decorated with fish plaques and posters. It was a sort of waiting room for workers. She saw the lewd books left behind and an ash tray for cigarettes-all things she had found and salvaged beneath the waves but never like this! There were lockers too, just like the ones sunk in ships. She reached for one but it refused to pry open. Gripping again, she thought about the strength she needed and yanked hard. The metal came apart on a whine, tearing off its hinges. Inside there were work shoes-too big-trousers-also too big-and a pair of white teeshirts.She ripped apart the other two lockers before finding something sparkling in the last one. She pulled it out and laid it over her naked chest. It was a sequined costume. She looked up and saw a woman wearing something similar, kicking high in the air and smiling wide on the faded poster. It wasn't the only thing that would fit her, but it sparkled. Plus, the human in the poster looked like she was fitting in by being all dressed up.
Sakura tugged it over her body, wincing when her legs moved into the holes made for them.It took time, but after a while she stood again, swaying only slightly, and moved on. She saw her reflection in the glass of a window and smiled, stretching her mouth wide to match the woman in the poster's expression. Her heart hammered a little louder as she realized she was really on land, finally with legs for herself. This wasn't a dream, this was real, the pain proved that point. Still... It wasn't quite right and she couldn't exactly pin down why.'I don't know enough,' she thought to herself.She turned away from the glass and searched for a body. There were plenty left behind from the mess, but she didn't know how useful their bits would be. The dying always had more to glean than the dead.There was a man close to the work room that Sakura sat down next to. He was torn open but it didn't matter to her what condition his body was as long as the brain was in tact. She pulled his head onto her lap and sighed before bending over his dead expression and inhaling what was left of his evanescence. As she expected, it came out thin and weak, but there was something for her to swallow. She sucked the white ghost of his knowing down, seeing his sights, hearing his thoughts, feeling his past. She got fragments, but it was enough to learn from.Sakura drank the knowing from two other men. She had to stop at the third and wrinkle up her nose at what she discovered in his memories. She was wearing a whore's costume-one that belonged to a girl the dead man apparently hired on the regular. The way he thought of her, the way he used her like a resource, made Sakura's skin crawl. She dropped his head and slapped at the fabric, trying to peel off the garment's sparkling top and rip away only what was left of the costume.
There was too much to learn. The more she drank from the bodies the more questions she was filled with. She saw speakeasies and fire, she saw monsters and war. She saw a demon or a god, standing above it all and laughing at the ants that ran and killed for his amusement. She saw ages. She saw time pass. She saw the gods pass on, his chaos growing in their absence.Killjoy used to be called something else, but even before the cull of man and rise of monsters, it had always been a cesspool for sin. It had always been a place of adventure and fright, one with turf wars and shootouts between factions vying for power.
"That's what they were doing here," Sakura said aloud, only to wince at the feel of blood in her throat. Oh. It hurt to speak, she had forgotten that.The turf wars raged on between different factions. One particular faction hoped to capture something ancient and powerful from the oceans in order to tip the scales in their favor. Whatever they had drudged up was too powerful, and not something that could be tamed. Sakura counted eight dead bodies, including the one on her lap.If Sakura stayed she would only get caught up in the chaos of Killjoy's turf wars. It would be hard to avoid it, seeing as how the town fell to monsters decades ago. But it was the surface, and she didn't want to go back so soon. Not when she hadn't seen anything for herself in person. Stolen memories wouldn't be enough. She needed more.

"Damn, I can smell it from here."Sakura looked up sharply, hearing the voice that clearly wasn't dead. There was someone still alive in the facility, or maybe they were just finally coming into the warehouse.Did she hide, did she confront them? Would they think she did this? Would they care? What if they were the people who pulled her out in the first place and hung her out to dry? Should she have slipped into the waters when she had a chance?Sakura tried to, but when she moved to stand her legs failed her. She tried again but they collapsed like jelly and sticks. Her heart hammered in fear as she watched to see if scales would sprout, but her legs remained whole and intact. She looked human, but why wouldn't her legs work for her, and why were they shaking so terribly when she tried to run?With no other choice, Sakura crawled away from the body, intent on hiding behind a crate when her arms wobbled too and she fell on her chest. Her whole body was shaking and it was only a minute later when she realized why.
'I'm afraid.'
The door opened and Sakura turned to it, tears leaking from her eyes like saltwater only to see a figure as unnatural as she, standing there. He was tall, fit with a powerful feature, shark black eyes and the skin of a finfolk. He was tinted head to toe with bluish gray skin, coloring even his hair. He took in the carnage but his eyes froze on her.He didn't move. He didn't even blink as time stretched between them.Her mind was a mess of insults dismissing her as nothing more than a foolish pip in the ocean. How could she have been so stupid? She should have swam away while she had the chance!

"Kisame, what the hell are you doing, taking so long?" a new voice called out, followed by the lumbering body of a shorter man with ash gray skin and dark charcoal hair. The new man stopped behind Kisame and shoved him aside, only to pause at the sight."Shit."Sakura grabbed at the wooden planks under her and pulled herself up, eyes turning to the hole in the floor where all the ocean sank. She made it two drags before she heard the footsteps behind her. Before they could reach for her she turned over and held her hands out, ready to fight them off."Oi, oi, hey!" the blue one was bumbling with something long and green, the trench coat he had been wearing. He held it out like a net, ready to trap her again and she swiped at it."Shitface, don't be soft," the other snapped, shoving Kisame aside and tearing the trench coat away. "She thinks it's a net.""It's not, she's naked!""She's also a dreg. We should just let her go." He turned back and looked at her, almost glaring. "She's feral by the looks of it. Did you forget we have work to do?"Kisame frowned, grabbing his coat and yanking it back when his partner wouldn't release it right away. "Don't be a dick about it, Zabuza. I know what we came for. You're more than enough to work over the pieces."The man called Zabuza grunted and then nodded. He looked back over at Sakura and then turned on his heel, hiking up his shoulders as he stalked. Sakura got the impression of a barracuda slithering through the waters."D-don't mind him. He doesn't think well of anyone." Kisame folded his coat over his arm, moving slowly. "Do you…need help getting back to the water?"Sakura paused, not knowing if she should reply or not. He hadn't made a move to hurt her, but she couldn't forget the way her body reacted. Fear still made her arms shake. Sakura saved her voice and instead shook her head then turned back to her crawling. The rest of her still shook too much to stand.Kisame stayed where he stood, watching her go and making no move to stop her. She looked back once, just to check, but he didn't seem to move as he watched her struggle. There was an odd way to his expressions. It was hard to tell what they were, since so much of his face was angles and glare. He had the eyes of a shark and those were always hard to read.Sakura reached the edge of the broken floor, where the wood cracked and ran down into the shallow waters. There wasn't a lot, but it would be enough to swim in and make it back to her ocean.She gripped the side of the hole and slid down the broken planks, bracing for the sting of the saltwater, knowing it would hurt to melt her legs into a tail again. She hit the water and sank down to her neck, pushing herself the rest of the way underwater, only to struggle. She pushed herself deeper, feeling a pinch in her chest, but no scales bloomed and her toes still wiggled as she kicked in the water. Her legs were still there, her body was still human. The pinch in her chest was her need for air.She wasn't transforming.Why?Hadn't the two other mermaids caught been able to return to the sea? They were gone when she woke up, so she assumed they had made it safely back, but Sakura was still drowning. When it got to be too much she pumped her arms and broke the surface, grabbing for the splintered wood and pulling herself up."You okay?"She looked up and saw Kisame staring down at her. He was frowning, but she didn't know if he was scowling or not.Not knowing if her voice would be able to come out for him, she shook her head, the shorter strands of her hair slapping her in the face. The rest of it floated around her shoulders in the water."You can't go back?" he guessed.Sakura made a strangled sound, feeling panic bloom in her heart next to those treacherous lungs that refused to work underwater. She was supposed to transform back. She was supposed to be able to go back home. Why couldn't she? Had they done something to her while she had been asleep? Had stealing the evanescence of the dead done it to her? It shouldn't have. Mermaids stole the evanescence of drowned sailors all the time. Some were even dead when she stole from them."You're still there?" The voice of Zabuza came from somewhere Sakura couldn't see."Shut it, she needs help!" Kisame snapped back, voice sharp and raised in anger. The gills on his neck flared.Zabuza approached the edge and looked down, seeing her predicament. "They took her Seaheart.""What?" Kisame raised a single brow.Zabuza growled, waving his hands as if he wanted to dump her out of them. "They were after her magic, and it looks like they managed to extract it. It's common practice these days since the tail eating takes so much work. Don't look at me like that, you know the old stories.""What's going to happen to her?" Kisame asked, stepping back from the edge to better see where she drifted."She'll try to go back and drown herself. She can't help it since she's bound by the call of the ocean, regardless of her form." He waved his hand again. "Let her go. You're worse than a human with these things."But Kisame knelt down and swung his legs over the side and slid down into the water. It didn't seem to bother him or react to him in any odd way. The other man called out to him once, cursed loudly, and then started to wander away, out of sight."See if I care when she bites out your throat for touching her. She's feral."Kisame hesitated at the edge of where the dim moonlight hit the water. He held onto the edge of the wooden planks and extended his hand. He didn't reach for her, but waited."I'm not going to hurt you. Bad men did this to you. I'd like to help you if you let me. I…I don't think you're as stupid as he says you are. Don't try to go back or else you'll drown."Sakura made a strangled noise and hit the water with her fist, eyes glistening with her own tears. That should have been her first clue, when her tears stayed water instead of becoming pearls. She could feel her cheeks heat with all the pain she felt in her heart. She wanted to speak and talk and run and hide from this feeling, but she was just so scared. She couldn't even stand, much less talk in this distressed state."I know, I know you want to go home. I believe you, but you can't do that without dying and you're smarter than that, so don't throw yourself away. I'm Kisame by the way. I'm not one of the fishermen-those are the guys who dragged you out. I'd like to help you if you let me."Sakura looked up, almost moving towards him."Your Seaheart, we could look for it. I know where they would sell a thing like that. People would want it for the immortality of it. We'd help you get it back."'Why?'
That didn't sound like an easy thing to do. Why would he want to help her."Please," Kisame implored her once more. "I know what it's like to be left behind and left alone. You're scared but that's okay. I won't hurt you. Please trust me, okay?"He wasn't human. His skin wasn't like the skin of the men who took her, pulled her out of the ocean and rubbed their hands down her tail. He was something else, he was one of the old ones who had blood from the old world in him, anyone could see that much.But was that enough to trust him?
'What choice do you have?'
Sakura held one arm over her chest and reached for him with the other one. He took her hand and pulled her close, up out of the water before throwing his green trench coat around her. She shivered, wet in the open air and he ran his hands over her arms, creating friction."Can you speak?" he asked, still rubbing her down.Sakura thought about lying, but ended up nodding for him before lifting up two fingers together. She made a motion like she was squeezing something between them. 'Little' the hand sign meant."It hurts, doesn't it…? You're not used to it cause your vocal cords are all wrong for this sort of thing. Don't worry about it, I have a feeling you're smarter than he says you are. When you can, tell me your name."He pulled her up the broken floor and held her when she started to fall on unsteady feet. It wasn't because she was scared anymore. Her legs were just weak from the newness of being. She could walk, but it was odd and uneven. She ended up falling against his side more than once."Here."He reached down and pulled her to him before tilting her sideways, then lifting up. Sakura made a noise and reached for his neck, grabbing for it to steady herself. He chuckled at her reaction, but carried her around like she weighted nothing. Considering the size difference, that was most likely."You're brining it with us?" Zabuza asked in annoyance, watching as Kisame walked past with the squirming bundle in his arms. "I'm telling you now this is a bad idea. Put it back and let nature be sated.""No. Now, mind your own business."Zabuza growled, but didn't say anything more. Without further complaint, the shorter of the two fell into step behind Kisame and followed the blue man out of the back of the warehouse to the main entrance where a door was left open to the road. Parked half on the sidewalk was a sleek automobile they had left in a hurry.Zabuza stopped to watch as Kisame opened the backseat door and held it open with his knee before sliding her in. Closing the door he rounded the car to slip into the driver's seat. Sakura sat up and stared out the window at Zabuza while Kisame turned over the engine from the front, watching the road. With his attention caught, Sakura stuck her tongue out at Zabuza before sliding down in her seat and curling up.'Not so feral, am I?'
Keeping the mermaid child was an issue, but Kisame knew it wouldn't be a major one. Other members kept women on the side for fun all the time. He should be allowed to share his room with a creature in pain and need.That's what he thought, anyway."What the hell?" Mei sneered, bright eyes shinning like daggers as she looked down at the girl still in Kisame's arms, now half asleep from the car ride. "No. The answer is no.""Finally," Zabuza breathed, leaning back against the wall and crossing his arms. "At least someone here has some damn sense."Mei glared at the shorter male and then fixed her eyes once more on the girl. "You're not going to keep her in your room like some cheep call girl. She may not look like a child, but she's just as innocent out of the waters and I won't have anyone taking advantage of her while she's here. I'll take her. She'll have her own room and we'll get the brat to hire a tutor or something for her until we can help her get back home.""What? You're letting her stay?" Zabuza gasped, leaning off the wall and dropping his arms.Mei placed her hands on her hips and the full intensity of her glare was focused on Zabuza. "No girl, woman, or creature gets taken advantage of in my house. Do I make myself clear?""No one would want to," Zabuza grunted. "It's too much work. Throw her back in the water with the lame catch.""You're heartless," Kisame bit over his shoulder, scowling at his friend."It's not that simple," Mei added. "She's not a fish, she's not just a mermaid either. You think they all look like that when they dry out? Look at her coloring. She's highborn, one of the fair breeds, and she reeks of the deep waters." Mei reached for a strand of the limp girl's hair and twirled it between two fingers, watching how it reflected light and shone. "Damn if she wasn't bioluminescent with a fishtail.""She's staying though, that doesn't change?" Kisame repeated, words slow and hopeful."Obviously. Now, where is Yagura? He was supposed to report in before any of you came back but he's still burning the town? I'm going to have words with that brat." Mei turned sharply and face the door. "Cho-cho!"Moments later a small blue haired boy peaked his head in and gulped. "It's Chōjūrō,""Cho-cho, go get a guest room prepped in the same wing as mine. It's for a girl so don't slack off. I need it now.""N-now?" Chōjūrō squeaked, eyes going wide."Yeah, just prep it real quick, that's one of your jobs; maid service." Mei turned to look at Zabuza. "Are you still dressing Haku like a girl? Let us borrow some of his old dresses.""They're not dresses, he just naturally looked feminine in anything robe-like." Zabuza looked away to avoid offending her with his glare. "Plus, he's out with Yagura, so I have no way of getting his things or knowing where he keeps them.""Then go shopping," Mei sweetly cooed.
Kisame made a shushing sound, watching the bundle in his arms with rapt attention. "She's pretty out of it, but she might wake up soon," Kisame said, watching Sakura stir and then cuddle closer in his arms. He almost stopped breathing. An hour ago she had been ready to crawl over glass to get away from him but now she was dozing lightly in his arms. He was going to be upset when he has to eventually put her down.

"Don't count on it. She lost her magic, she'll be pretty lethargic for days. Some creatures never recover from something like that, some die in the first week," Mei explained. Her expression and tone both softened. "I don't want to scare you, Kisame, and I swear we'll do everything we can, but don't get too attached so soon, Fish Face. She might not pull through.""You said she was special though.""Which can make the loss all the more painful." Mei frowned looking down at the girl again. "But I think she'll pull through if she was able to walk and talk with you. She seems strong. Either way, we'll have someone keep an eye on her for when she wakes.""You want us to do anything else about the raid?" Zabuza asked, sounding grumpier than usual."No, the others are out and will deal with it. You've done well, boys, go rest. Kisame, find where Cho-cho is setting up the room and help him out, will you?"Helping meant putting her down and Kisame didn't think he was ready for that, but he nodded anyway and left.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

She remembered when they took her heart.The edges of the memory were fuzzy and stained, distorted with odd colors and missing pieces, but she could see through the haze well enough to make out the theft. They had taken a scrimshaw knife and cut into her chest, peeling back layers of flesh and saltwater. The image blurred and then the saltwater leaking from her wounds turned red, she dried up at the edges as rough hands threw her back into a net, leaving her for death.
Sakura woke and grabbed at her chest, feeling for the wound, only to find smooth flesh. The wound had healed itself when her seaheart had been removed. It had been a lucky stroke. Without her seaheart she couldn’t use her soul magic or transform in the water, but she could still heal it seemed. What other limits and expectations existed were ones she would have to discover.

If she closed her eyes she could see the images from the night previous. There had once been the bodies of two other merfolk caught up in nets alongside her. After their hearts were removed they woke up and both made a break for the ocean as soon as they could see a way into the waters. Sakura had been barely awake at that point and didn’t remember anything more, but she could surmise what had happened next. Without their seahearts they would have drowned trying to reach home again.
Hadn’t she tried to do the same?
She hadn’t known either of them, but Sakura knew what the pull of the ocean felt like even if she didn’t feel it as strongly as others. She had always been a little too in love with the world above the waves, captivated by stars and clouds and the way people build whole new words for themselves on the hills. At one point in her life it had been her dearest desire to reach the surface, and it was likely her love of the land that kept her from drowning herself like the others once she got into the water again.
Soft light peaked in over the edge of the curtains and Sakura winced, turning around in bed to put a hand up like some messy defense. Shadows in the shape of fingers shaded her eyes and with a little wincing she adjusted to the sight of the room. It was still dim with only a little light, but her eyes were still sensitive from living so long in the dark. Last night had been darker.
What was this cruel assaulting light?“Damn sunlight,” a gruff voice interrupted.
Suddenly there was a massive shadow blocking out the light, pulling the curtains tighter. In the dim Sakura risked a glance and cracked a single eye open. Standing in front of the window was a hulking figure, one she recognized. When she inhaled she could remember the smell of his shoulders, where she laid her head and rested.
He turned and she saw his face again. There were wrinkles between his brows as he leaned down, kneeling next to the bed. “He-hey,” he whisper-spoke. His eyes were glassy and black, like the eyes of a shark. She could see a shimmery reflection of herself in those eyes.
“Hey,” she whispered back, voice cracking with pain.He cursed a little under his breath and reached for something on the nearby nightstand. He turned around and pushed a glass of water into her hands. “Here, drink this. It’ll help your throat. Drink, like this,” he explained, mimicking the action of turning the cup back to swallow what fell out.
From the memories she had devoured last night, Sakura knew what drinking was, but it was still a new sensation. She touched the rim of the glass to her lips and tilted the bottom up just enough for a splash of water to touch her upper lip. It almost startled her, but it was so natural and easy when she drank for the first time. Sweet water was just what her throat needed.
“Slow down there, angel,” the large man chuckled, kneeling next to the bed. “There’s plenty more where that came from so take your time. I’m Kisame, by the way. Maybe you remember me from last night.”
Sakura only half heard what he was saying as she gulped down more and more of the water from the bottom of the glass. When the glass was empty she almost dropped it. Kisame reached out and caught it, wrapping his hand around hers as she clumsily reminded herself she wasn’t underwater anymore. Things wouldn’t float away if she let them go since the land had far more gravity.
“Better?” he laughed, taking the glass out of her hands.
“Better,” Sakura whispered, voice still pinched and quiet.
“That’s good to hear, lemme get you another one, angel.” His smile stretched wide and crooked as he poured more water into her cup.“Angel?” Sakura echoed the word, feeling the stretch of it. There were memories that weren’t hers of pretty babies with wings dancing on painted ceilings and stained glass maidens with glowing lights behind their heads. That’s what land dwellers thought of when they thought of ‘angels.’“As pretty as one,” Kisame said, passing the glass back into her hands. “But wheel else should I call you if I don’t have a name? How about it, mind sharing your name with me?”
“Sakura,” she confessed, knowing it was the name of a land flower, something that didn’t suit merfolk such as herself. Maybe that’s when her cursed fascination with the land began.
“Sakura, that’s a real pretty name,” Kisame said, voice soft as he watched her. “How are you feeling today? You were out like a log for most of the night. Do you remember coming back to this place?”She didn’t. When she glanced around the room again she recognized what the furniture was and knew what everything was named, but it was her first time seeing a bed in person, much less the finer details of the guest room she was sleeping in.
“You brought me here.”“Yup.”
His eyes tracked her as she scanned the room again. When she looked back and met his gaze head on he didn’t flinch. “Why?”“It seemed like you needed help.” “And ?”
Sakura felt her shoulders coming up as she tensed for something else to be said, something she’d have to be weary of. Why would someone help her instead of taking advantage of her when she was in such a disoriented state?
What did this person really want? What did his family want? What of his people? If there were going to be demands and conditions she wanted to know.“And it wasn’t a hard thing to offer help. I guess you’d be right to be weary, I think I would be too if I were in your place, but it really is that simple. The people who took your seaheart are enemies of ours.”“So you want my help against them?”Kisame waved his hands in the air between them. “Not at all, it ain’t like that. It’s our business who we’re friends and enemies with, that don’t mean you gotta be pulled into it. I just mentioned it to help be transparent and give you the full picture. We weren’t expecting anything when we helped you and we still don’t want anything. Just…rest here and get better. That’s all you should be worrying about right now.”“Where is ‘here’ exactly?” Sakura asked, glancing around the nondescript room once more. The light from the window that was peeking through around the edges of the curtain was still distracting, but she saw enough of the room around her to know it was small“This is Mei’s dorm house, she’s our boss, or our Donna. She runs the ship around here and makes the decisions. She gave us the okay to prop you up here in one of the-”
Kisame’s words cut off mid sentence and his eyes narrowed, looking past Sakura. She turned but couldn’t see anything remarkable about the wall behind her. When she looked back at Kisame it was less about where he was looking and more what he was listening to. She saw the muscles in his neck leading up to his ears tense, explaining the unfocus of his eyes. He was listening to something outside the room she couldn’t hear.“Wait here,” he said, standing. He crossed the room in two steps and was out, shutting the door behind him. Once he was outside there was a soft sound of shoes on wood and then she couldn’t hear any more of his footsteps.
Sakura pushed back the covers and slid her legs over the edge of the bed, mentally bracing for what would come next. She slipped over the side and stood on her new legs and gasped. It really was like knives stabbing at her with every step. Even standing was painful. She braced against the side of the bed and forced her legs to move. It was another sharp pain that spiked and then dulled. One foot in front of the other, Sakura braced against the wall and made her way to the door. She leaned against it first, trying to focus on listening instead of the pain in her legs, but there wasn’t anything discernable on the other side of the wood. She wouldn’t hear or know anything for herself if she stayed in this room.The door wasn’t heavy when she pulled it back. As soon as she was out in the hallway she could hear the commotion. There was a heavy iron smell she picked up on before the sounds made sense. Someone on the property was bleeding.
Her jaw was aching and it was almost enough to make her forget about the knives in her legs when she walked.
Almost.There were pops in the air and when Sakura got to the ground floor she could smell smoke alongside blood. There were holes in the wall, splintering wood. Bullet holes , her mind screamed, remembering things she didn’t know from someone else’s mind. There was a panic flavoring the memory. Bullets were bad news. Bullets meant guns and guns meant that the enemy was in the house.
Sakura glanced back up and saw the winding staircase that spiraled and spiraled to the various upper floors, until at the last floor a skylight let cloudy sunlight down through the skylight. She winced away from how it made her eyes water and followed a hallway to where the blood was strongest.
Strong arms pulled her back and slammed her against a wall.“Fucking fish-what are you doing here?”
Sakura almost struggled but caught herself when she recognized the face and voice. It wasn’t Kisame but this man was the one who had been there when Kisame picked her up and brought her back. Someone else remembered him from across enemy lines and Sakura knew the name ‘Zabuza’ was his. Others called him the Barracuda or the Bloody Demon of the Mist . He had a reputation amongst his enemies.
“Kisame-where is he?” Sakura asked instead of answering, smelling more and more blood. Zabuza wasn’t leaking, so it wasn’t his blood she smelled.
Zabuza cursed under his breath and strong-armed her away from the wall and down another hallway. He hesitated at a crossroad before mentally deciding on something and stuffing her into a room that looked like it could have been a wet room. “Stay here and Kisame will come across you when he’s done.”
Something was wrong with Zabuza’s tone. It wasn’t angry anymore, but before she could ask him about it he was running out the door again.
Sakura slid backwards against the wall until she was sitting on top of a basket of folded sheets left in an overfilled hamper. She didn’t care about getting them dirty as she pulled her legs up, rubbing at her ankles. It had been better when Zabuza dragged her, he was so strong she never had to use her legs.
At this rate it would be weeks before she was comfortable walking on human legs. She was envious of the mid tier mermaids who didn’t dwell as deep as her people did. Their transformations were just as painful in the beginning, but they would get over the pain much faster. She wanted to go out and look for Kisame again but her legs were screaming and she needed to give them rest.
If she held her breath and listened there were sounds she could pick up on. It sounded like there were ‘infiltrators’ in the building. It was unclear who these infiltrators were but it was clear that they were making trouble for Zabuza and Kisame. Bullets and blood . But Zabuza and Kisame were both well feared men in the city, if the memories she had stolen meant anything. They would be fine regardless of the bullets and blood. They didn’t have magic of their own, but they weren’t as human as the other land dwellers; one look at either of them told a person that much.A door in the back of the room she hadn’t seen before opened and assaulting sunlight poured in, making her cry out and fall off the stack of folded bed sheets. It was too bright and there was already too much pain in her body, she curled her arms around her head and turned away from the light, making a pained sound deep in her throat as tears caught between her lashes. Someone came into the room and laughed. Sakura recoiled when someone turned her over and grabbed at the collar of her nightshirt, lifting her half up.
“It looks like our soup’s missing ingredient was here the whole time. What were they doing, leaving a merfolk in their fucking laundry room?” the voice laughed. The blood she had smelled was so close and Sakura when Sakura gasped it was practically in her nostrils. She forced a single eye open, wincing and watering. The man leering over her had a wound leaking across his face. The blood was so strong, it made her gut roll.
Where was Kisame?

There was blood across the floor and a dead hand under the toe of his designer shoes. The rest of the offender’s arm was shredded and left in pieces across the floor. Yagura leaned his head to the side and lowered his eyelids before lifting a rolled cigarette to his lips. This was starting to get tiring. He didn’t know how many more mid-day raids they could deal with without going insane. Back in his day an attack like this warranted a response twice as bloody, but Mei urged caution and care. When they struck back it was going to matter.“Fuck me for falling asleep and leaving this mess to her,” Yagura muttered under his breath. He patted his pockets, looking for a lighter. Another one of his soldiers came up from around the courtyard corner just as he touched a flame to the end of his cigarette.

“It’s good that the rumor about our daylight weakness is working,” Chōjūrō offered when he noticed his superior’s ire. “A-and they attacked our decoy dorm like we wanted them to.”
Yagura inhaled and tasted the heavy tobacco on his tongue before exhaling a cloud of rolling smoke. It gave his agitated heart a little heaviness. He felt more settled, but not completely free of irritation.

“Where the hell are Kisame and Zabuza?” Yagura demanded instead of responding to Chōjūrō’s comment.
“Uh-that, K-Kisame said he had to go clean up and Zabuza is in the garage,” Chōjūrō answered immediately.Yagura didn’t respond but turned heel and headed for the garage. He didn’t have to go far before he saw the blood trails that led into the old carriage house that now stored Mei’s fleet. Zabuza was between two automobiles with his demon blade buried into the chest of one of Orochimaru’s men. The blade was sucking up blood and healing itself.“Why the fuck weren’t you where you were supposed to be?” Yagura growled, only half as pissed as he looked. He knew Zabuza’s delay hadn’t been consequential, he just wanted someone to curse at. Zabuza was a good enough target, few others could stand the verbal abuse as well as he could.
“Two minutes don’t fucking matter,” Zabuza answered without looking up.
“I don’t like repeating myself,” Yagura warned. “I asked you a question, Momochi.”Zabuza glanced up and his shoulders rounded. “Kisame’s little pet was out in the halls, stumbling around. I got her out of the way then got to where I needed to be.”The mermaid they had salvaged from the Sound docks! Mei had mentioned that mission in a debrief and Yagura only remembered listening up until Mei mentioned the mermaid’s missing seaheart. Unless the merkin was a deep sea dweller she’d be no better than a newborn without her seaheart and it wasn’t like they were running a charity.
Still, Mei was their leader for a reason. Maybe she had some plans for the guest. If they could salvage her seaheart before it was consumed then maybe they’d have a worthwhile ally. And as cruel as he liked to play at, Yagura didn’t like the idea of tossing out such a pathetic creature that was as helpless and dumb as a newborn. He wasn’t going to take on the work but maybe they could foist the responsibility onto Chōjūrō or a sap like Kisame.“Is that why Kisame said he had to go clean himself?” Yagura all but gagged, putting the clues together. When Zabuza only shrugged he went on. “Where did you put her?”

Zabuza looked down at the body under his blade. In the shadow of the garage he hid his expression behind long bangs that fell forward. “She’s in one of the downstairs rooms.”
“You know better than to be obtuse with me,” Yagura warned.Still, Zabuza hesitated. Yagura noticed something off in the way Zabuza hesitated. There was something almost shameful in the way Zabuza kept his eyes down, something that reminded Yagura of
Chōjūrō or any of the other rookie foot soldiers in their ranks. Zabuza was supposedly one of the last people on the planet to ever feel or show shame. The demon didn’t know what remorse was.
Yagura crossed over the bloodstains and stopped in front of the taller man. He reached out and clamped a hand down on Zabuza’s shoulder. Killing intent suddenly filled the garage as Yagura flexed his hold.
“I don’t like repeating myself,” Yagura warned, voice measured and calm.
To his credit, Zabuza didn’t flinch when he answered. “The laundry folding room…downstairs.”
“The one with the external exit?” Yagura clarified. “The one even an idiot could lock?”Zabuza didn’t respond and Yagura understood why. Yagura shoved Zabuza back and turned to head back towards the dorm, cursing up a storm about the headache that was in store for him. They’d have a mess to clean up, an angry Donna, and-depending on how fond Kisame was of their guest-a very angry general that would become a nightmare to command. Kisame was already extremely difficult to corral into doing whatever they wanted. If he lost his new pet he’d be even worse. Stupid Zabuza probably did it on purpose to spite Kisame into being a nuisance. The two of them were a pain in the ass pair.
Yagura took one last long drag from his cigarette and then tossed it to the ground, stomping it under heel as he passed. Chōjūrō wisely jumped out of the way and stayed clear as Yagura marched into the dorm house and turned down the winding halls towards the laundry room.
There was an overwhelmingly strong stink of fresh blood and he swore once more under his breath before pushing open the door.
Daylight was coming in from the open door, casting a golden hue and dark shadows over the pockets of the room. The body on the floor was torn open and pulled apart, and the merkin’s hands were bloody up to the elbows with his gore. She swallowed and breathed out of her mouth, panting like she had just been interrupted from something taxing. Blood stained her chin and mouth, dripping off her jaw. She had torn the man apart and feasted on his heart.

“I…” she stammered, eyes wide and glassy. There were tear streaks down her face, cutting into the mess of blood. “I didn’t mean to-to make such a bad mess,” she whispered, sounding like she was on the verge of crying. “I just smelled the blood and he was going to hurt me so I-I couldn’t help it.” More tears spilled free over the edges of her lashes.
Yagura felt the bottom of his chest where something warm pooled and churned, agitated to life by the sight in front of him. The dying sunlight made her pale hair a golden halo as she dripped more blood and tears. She had torn the man apart with her bare hands, something the deep dwellers could do even without their seahearts. He hadn’t thought he’d ever witness such a sight for himself after waking up from his 300 year long nap and finding the world far too tame and civilized for his sensibilities. Blood soaked through the front of her nightshirt and made it cling to her body, showing off the shape of her. He had never felt so tempted to reach for someone and hold them.
She swallowed, wiping the back of her bloody hand across her mouth, trying to hide the edges of her teeth. “I didn’t mean to kill him,” she whispered, rousing him from his momentary reverie.“I’m so glad you did,” Yagura answered, finding his voice again. She was looking at him and he wanted to keep her attention all to himself. “What’s your name, precious?”

She opened her mouth but the answer came from outside.“ Sakura ,” Kisame bellowed, sounding far off. The sound bounced off the walls outside and made the building shake. It wouldn’t take Kisame to scent track Sakura down and steal her attention for himself.
Yagura shut the door behind him and crossed over to where Sakura crouched over the mutilated body. His illusionary magic on the door throbbed once before unfurling behind him. It wouldn’t hold Kisame back for long, but Yagura didn’t need it to last forever. “Come with me, precious, and we’ll see to it you’re a little cleaned up before Kisame finds you.”Sakura glanced towards the door and Yagura saw the way her eyes saw through his illusion before returning to his outstretched hand. If she was still in touch with her instincts he wondered if they were warning her about him. He was a predator who wouldn’t look away from her. Did she know better?“Your name?” she asked.“Yagura.”
She repeated his name under her breath and he thought it might be the most dangerous sound in the world. He was scared of what he might be willing to do to hear that sound again.
“You don’t smell like Kisame…or Zabuza.”He almost quirked a smile. “What do I smell like?”“Older and…more blood.”“Is that such a terrible thing?” he asked in a teasing tone, nodding to the body she had mutilated.She met his gaze with one of her own, unflinching. “No,” she whispered.
When she reached for his hand he felt the heat of an arrow striking his heart, then a rush of adrenaline that was almost painful. He tugged her up onto her feet and noticed the way she staggered. He shrugged off his suit jacket and threw it around her shoulders, hiding the way blood made her a feast for the eyes.
“Does it hurt?” he asked.
She shook her head but didn’t meet his eyes. “No.” What an adorable liar . It was probably just as painful as the stories said new mermaid legs would be. If she happened to stumble he wouldn’t be far.

“Lean on me, I’ll take you somewhere nice to wash up.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Don’t be disruptive, she’s digesting her meal and needs a good sleep,” Yagura chastised.

Kisame wanted to argue and curse out his elder the way he would anyone else in their family, but Mei and Yagura were the only two he had to watch his words around. Mei was their head but that was only because Yagura wasn’t interested in the responsibility that came with the authority.

Sakura was curled up and sleeping in the center of Yagura’s bed atop the covers. She had pulled down a pillow and wrapped herself around it, crossing her ankles in her sleep like it was still a tail she needed to curl around. Yagura sat in a chair next to the bed and had a long mother of pearl handled comb he was using to brush through long strands of her hair. As he combed through her hair pearls fell out, dropping onto the covers and collecting in the divots. It wasn’t clear if the pearls were coming from her hair or the enchanted comb. What was more puzzling was Yagura’s disposition.

Merfolk weren’t an unheard of occurrence. They were rare and highly treasured, but Kisame had seen plenty both dead and alive since joining Mei’s family. Unfortunately the Sound Triad ran a robust black market where mermaid parts counted as inventory. Some people still believed eating a mermaid’s tail could bring them immortality, so there was a market for it.

Quietly, Kisame shut the door behind him and crossed the room to stop at the foot of the bed. “I didn’t know you were looking for her.”

“There are many things you don’t know, Kisame,” Yagura answered without looking up from his work. He set aside a silky strand and picked up another, fitting the teeth of the comb close to her skull, lightly scratching. “But you needn’t worry. Even without intervention, Sakura seemed more than capable of taking care of herself.”

“She lost her seaheart, plus she’s lost and alone on the surface for the first time in her life. What do you mean she can take care of herself?”

Yagura chuckled. “I mean exactly that. You heard the details, didn’t you?”

“She killed someone who was part of the raid.”

“

Mauled

them,” Yagura slyly corrected. “Ripped them to pieces and feeded on their flesh like a natural born carnivore. Seahearts are things of magic, but that doesn’t mean she is without the means of self preservation.”

“She still needs someone looking out for her.”

“Did you not notice my presence?”

Yagura’s demeanor turned hard and Kisame felt the pressure pushing his shoulders down. The room filled with killing intent more potent than anything Kisame or Zabuza could muster on their own. Kisame dared lift his eyes and he saw the miasma starting to cloud around Yagura. The afterimage of a leviathan pulsed in the shadows, reminding Kisame who he was talking to. Yagura might be polymorphed to look as a human, but that didn’t change his true nature.

But Kisame wasn’t any old pushover. He was a captain and that meant his knees didn’t buckle or bend. He braced against the chill and stared down the shadows of an ancient terror, withstanding the killing intent. Sweat beaded on the back of his neck and Kisame felt the gills on the side of his neck open, flaring from the strain.

“Didn’t miss a thing, sir,” Kisame ground out, daring Yagura to keep up the bravado. The temperature in the room had dropped and Sakura curled more tightly around the pillows in her arms, drawing their attention.

Yagura scoffed at Kisame before looking back to Sakura. It was like a lightswitch turning off how the killing intent fell away and the room returned to normal. Yagura picked up the comb again and ran it through the last loose strand of Sakura’s hair, pulling pearls out from in between the strands.

“You need not be so dramatic about these things. I intend to watch over our newest member when I can, but I suppose she would benefit from a more pedestrian companion.”

Kisame watched as Yagura finished combing through Sakura’s hair and set the last strand down on top of the others. “Your trust is deeply appreciated, sir.”

“I’m sure,” Yagura said on an exhale. He bent down to scoop up the shed pearls into a handkerchief from his breast pocket. He folded the cloth around the pearls and then tucked it back into his pocket, having magiced the items into a space between spaces. “She’ll sleep for many more hours like this, so leave her to her dreaming. Can I trust you to know when she wakes from the room across the hall?”

They were in Yagura’s house, tucked away and safer than any of the other communal properties. Kisame didn’t have his own room on the property, so he’d have to use the guest room across the hall if he was going to stay. If he stayed that close he’d be able to

feel

it when Sakura woke.

“Are you allowing me to stay?”

“Don’t sound so flattered. I have more rooms than I know what to do with.”

Kisame bobbed his head. “I’ll be nearby in case she wakes up. Is there anything else I should be more weary of?”

Yagura traced the edges of his folded handkerchief while absently watching Sakura sleep. “Zabuza has also been invited onto the property. Don’t make a mess of things.”

“Him?” Kisame sputtered. “What did you do that for? Did you not get what he meant to happen when he left her behind like that? Yet you invited that bastard

here

.” He cursed again under his breath, feeling his gills flare from the agitation.

“He’s the strongest after you and he knows now what he did was wrong. He will be making it up to us with his service.”

“Sakura isn’t going to like it.”

“I’m not sure you know her well enough to speak for her,” Yagura warned, glaring from under the shadow his bangs cast. “He will be working off his mistake with labor. Don’t bicker with him.”

“If he’s staying here, what about the rest of the family? Won’t Mei have something to say about moving her captains out here and off the field?”

“She won’t be able to complain.” Yagura pulled his hand away from his pocket square and stepped towards the door.
“Make peace with the Barracuda. I won’t repeat myself in my own home.”

Kisame tucked his chin in and bowed slightly towards his elder. “Yes sir,” he murmured.

She was swimming through cold currents. It was dark water, as most water tends to be, but the luminescent twinkling in the abyss painted a picture Sakura could navigate with ease. Against the pressure of millions and millions of gallons of water, Sakura flexed her magic out and pitched over another crevasse, feeling for the edges of the rock face all the way down. There were no lights this far down but she didn’t need lights anymore. When Sakura opened her mouth she could taste the iron edge of blood in the water.

Yes

.

She had been tracking this wound for days now but she was near enough to taste the promise of a deep feed.

A deep,

satisfying

feed.

Something else was in the water nearby and she twisted away, avoiding a barbed tail aimed at her torso. She could feel the shape of her attacker nearby and reached for its gills with her claws, tearing open one side of the creature and spilling new blood. It was a killing blow, a blow that meant she had the right to stop and feast, but the creature was small and unimpressive. It wasn’t worth getting distracted now, not when she was so close. If she hesitated others would rush in.

She pulled herself along and pushed off the rocks to swim out, following the scent from earlier with renewed urgency. Others were starting to smell it and would come rushing in soon-that or her prey would dive deeper than she could go with her magical limits. Already she could feel the beginning of a strain.

Something smaller tried to swim past her but she slashed at it too and swam through its gore, dead set on the smell from before. She was so close she couldn’t lose it now. If the water wasn’t midnight colored she might have been able to see it, but in the abyss her other senses worked just as well in helping her find the edges of her prey.

There!

It spilled for meter after meter, bleeding and coiling as it struggled to make its way along the ocean’s floor. A massive arm unrolled itself from underneath its body and then another followed, bracing against the stone. With a shuddering heave it pulled the rest of its mass forward and then repeated the motion. Much of its back end was ruined, shredded and broken, crippling it in the water. Smaller carnivores were nibbling at its wounds already, but nothing as large or as dangerous as Sakura.

Sakura pushed herself towards the monster’s vaguely anthropoid outline, avoiding its broken claws. She grabbed onto one of its useless wings and tugged it out, making the sin taunt before she bit down. Under her fangs it shuddered and bellowed. Rocks vibrate into pieces and shattered, smaller fish imploded and heat fissures ruptured up from underground. Sakura dislodged and pulled at his wing, tearing it free.

The monster rotated onto its back and tried to reach for her with one of its many pronged claws, but she was already digging her hands into his chest, pulling herself up its body rib by rib until she found its secondary heart. She had already devoured the first one during their first fight and the monster hadn’t rested long enough to heal up or regrow its secondary organ. It had exhausted itself trying to evade her all this while, but its luck had finally run out.

This was its last life.

The world around her attempted to distort itself and Sakura pushed against it with her own magic, feeling her limits approaching. The creature was frantic and too close to death to show any hesitation. One of its rubbery arms curled out, trying to grab her, but Sakura wriggled free and burrowed into his chest, digging through flesh and gristle. One of its prodigious claws aimed true and speared her through the tail but Sakura snarled and tore her tail in two to escape.

She was an open wound but she had never been closer to her prey’s true end.

The monster’s heart thumped wildly with fear, casting a pale light she could now see by. In the gloom it was pale white and blanched with cosmic radiation-the kind that should never trespass into her dark ocean.

Sakura sank her teeth into his heart and drank deep.

It was a different morning and a different room when she awoke again.

The memories from the day before rushed in and she groaned into the pillow, realizing she had done something the humans considered a breach of law. Murder amongst the human folk was not the same as murder beneath the waves.

But she had been so

hungry

.

Pushing up, Sakura sat upright and realized that some of the worst pains in her legs and back were significantly dulled. She wasn’t sure if that was because she had grown used to the pain or because she had healed, but she was grateful regardless.

Sakura tugged at the fabric around her chest, pulling it down enough to press her palm flat against her skin. She could feel it, weak and slow, but the beat of her secondary heart was there, stirring to life. Now that she had fed on blood there was enough magic for it to start growing. It was a pale, sad imitation compared to her primary seaheart, but her saltheart would get the job done and help her survive whatever the surface had to threaten her with.

If she thought about it much longer she would only grow mad at the theft of her carefully cultivated seaheart. She had fed it deep horrors at great personal cost in order to grow and evolve, yet someone had plucked it from her body like a bloom in a garden, not caring for the naked stalk left behind.

Festering bastards. She wasn’t without her means, even if she was greatly diminished. If she came across them again she wouldn’t be so mesmerized and gullible.

Sakura turned towards the edge of the bed and listened to the far off sounds that drifted through the walls. It was too faint or too far away to hear, but as soon as her feet touched the ground the voices cut off.
Seconds later there were heavy footsteps that stopped at her door and then knocking.

“Sakura? It’s Kisame. Are you awake and can I come in?”

The first few steps were the most painful, but the more she walked the easier it became. Sakura made her way across the wide room and pulled open the bedroom door, noting how much heavier and ornate everything was in this new location.

“I’m awake,” she quietly explained, feeling a little sheepish about talking to anyone after her mess yesterday. She wasn’t sure how she looked in his eyes. Was there blood between her teeth still? Were her pupils still slit? Did she seem monstrous to him?

Kisame looked just as she remembered him the last time he ran out of the room and into the fray. His shirt collar was a bit more wrinkled and his hair was sticking up at odd angles in places, but he still towered over her and had to hunch when she got close. He seemed to breathe out a sigh of relief when she opened the door on her own.

“I’m glad you seem alright. You gave me a scare yesterday. Didn’t know where you were when I came back to an empty room.”

“Sorry, I must have worried you by running off like that. I just got…hungry.” Sakura swallowed, careful to keep her throat lubricated. She was thirsty again.

There were more footsteps down the hallway and Kisame turned to glare back over his shoulder. Sakura saw the way his gills flared on either side of his neck. He took a step closer to her but didn’t look away from whoever was coming down the hallway. His figure blocked out most of the doorway as he braced a hand on either side of the door jam. “What are you doing here? I thought I already told you I don’t care.”

“Shut up, I’m not here for you,” Zabuza growled.

“Like hell you ain’t.” A static flickered around Kisame and his hair seemed to glow and flare from leaking magic. Sakura licked her lips and caught a taste of it.

“Yagura told you to knock it off already. Mei just showed up for dinner. You have twenty minutes before she gets tired of smoking with Yagura in the greenhouse.” Zabuza took another step and tried to look around Kisame’s shoulder to where Sakura was. “You’re invited to dinner too, Pinky.”

“They’re smoking?” Sakura echoed, ignoring the invitation and the nickname at the end.

A second later her stolen memories corrected the confusion with an image of two men leaning against a brick wall, lighting rolled white paper on fire and breathing out the smoke. Sakura remembered another person’s memory of choking on their first ‘cig’ with an older step brother-a stolen memory that felt too intimate. She shook her head and wrinkled her nose, trying to pull herself out of the memory before it felt too much like hers.

“It’s something some people like to do,” Kisame explained. “You can try it for yourself but I don’t think you’ll like it. Most aquatic types find it distasteful. Mei and Yagura are mostly indulging as a way of showing off and power squawking.”

“You shouldn’t let them hear you talking so disrespectfully,” Zabuza warned.

“

You

should learn to mind your own business better,” Kisame quipped. “You’ve done your job so scram.”

All the edges of his body were sharp and dangerous, but when he reached up to push Sakura back into the bedroom his touch was feather-gentle. She stepped back, allowing him to follow her in even though he left the door open behind him. Zabuza, sighed heavily and walked off, muttering under his breath things Sakura couldn’t make out.

“Don’t mind his temper, he’s been chastised,” Kisame explained.

“Chastised?” Sakura worried she had misheard. What had Zabuza done that needed to be chastised? Because of him she had found food and filled her belly. She was stronger now, and even had access to a little of her old magic. It was nothing compared to what she was once capable of but it was a start.

Kisame’s face wrinkled in contemplation before he exhaled loudly and shook his head. “Never mind, it isn’t worth it. He’s just here on site to work with the boss. You don’t have to pay him any mind. Uh, now that I think about it, you’re finally up. How are you feeling? You slept for two days.”

“I’m fine. I’m not starving anymore.”

Kisame frowned. “I didn’t know you were hungry last time and I just left you. I’m sorry, I should've taken better care of ya.”

Sakura couldn’t help but smile at his glassy shark eyes, glimmering with remorse. It was cute to see all the emotions he was feeling on his face. Kisame was so expressive and always had something new for her to observe and watch. Maybe it was because he was the first to pick her up and show interest in her, to extend this offer of care and comfort, but Sakura felt compelled to keep watching Kisame for all the different expressions he could make.

“You don’t need to apologize for anything. I’m sorry I worried you when I ran off. I wasn’t thinking of how anyone would react when I left.” She touched his hand and he nearly flinched but didn’t pull back. The high points of his cheeks flushed with purple color. “Thank you for helping me. Will you help me again?”

“Of course,” he promised, eyes fixated on the place where her hand rested atop his.

Would those colors in his cheeks darken if she held his hand? What if she kissed his knuckles? How dark could he blush

?

Sakura bit her lip and chastised her instincts. She was too much of a predator for the others who lived on land. Even amongst some of the most extraordinary land dwellers, there was a sense of propriety she would need to adjust to if she wanted to fit in better. As terrible as the loss of her seaheart had been, she didn’t want to forget that it was a dream come true to make it to land. She had survived the transformation despite her grandmother’s warnings. She was able to walk with only minor pain, which meant there were a hundred different places she could reach now.

But first, dinner.

Kisame had helped her pick something out to wear and she had changed while he kept watch outside. When she emerged wearing a pretty blue dress that was a little loose he laughed before he could help himself. Mei’s size wasn’t a perfect match for what Sakura needed but it would get the job done.

“Here,” Kisame said, offering her his arm. When she stared blankly at his bent arm Kisame must have realized she didn’t know what he meant, so he took her hand and looped her arm over his. “I’ll escort you.”

“This feels fancy.”

“Trust me,” Kisame chuckled, “Yagura’s mansion is one of the only places I bother with these manners. Most of the time we never worry about anything more than just respecting the big bird herself and what she says. Anyone else can take some shit talking.”

“Like me?”

“If someone tries talking shit with you, ask them if their eyes are working.”

“What should I say if they say

yes

?”

“Tell ‘em it’s a shame they were born with bad taste or call me and I’d be happy to beat some sense into them.”

Sakura licked her lips. “I can’t kill more people. That’s a big deal on the surface, even if I’ve already seen a lot of killing.”

Kisame hummed, sounding thoughtful. “You’re not wrong. We’re in the dirty business of having to defend our territory with lethal means, lest adversaries creep in and take advantage of the people we watch over. Don’t lose sleep over it if you feel guilty.”

“I’m not used to having to hold back,” Sakura admitted. “I’m used to hunting and eating whatever I wanted when I got hungry.”

Kisame grinned. “You should fit in just fine with the rest of the folks around here. You don’t have any other place you wanted to go, did you? Any land relatives or points of contact?” Sakura shook her head. “If you had someone you wanted to meet with we’d help you get there but if you’re on your own, think about staying here with us. You’d be safer from the people who hurt you in the first place.”

It was a jarring memory, but Sakura couldn’t forget the sensation of her heart’s removal, the pain of drying out her tail without her seaheart, and those first few steps on legs that felt like they were filled with shards of glass.

But she was the lucky one.

There had been others before her and likely there would be others after her. All her life she had been warned away from the surface where new horrors hunted and lived. It was the same warning all merfolk were raised on. And yet, it was one thing to hear it as a child and another to experience it firsthand. Others had been killed, the worst instances were ones where their tails were cut open and eaten for supposed immortality.

Was someone eating her seaheart now in some arcane tonic for power, or working it in as an ingredient into some elaborate spell? Who had their hands on her heart now?

“Who were the people who hurt me?” Sakura asked in a softer voice, one that was barely audible. When she glanced up again she knew Kisame had heard her. They had come to a wide staircase that wound downward.

“They’re bad people, the Oto Family,” Kisame explained while escorting her downstairs. “We’ll protect you from them. If you still wanna know more details about them then ask Mei or Yagura, they’re the boss for a reason.”

Finally, they stepped off the last step and onto the expensive hardwood of the first floor that stretched on and on. The soft sounds of conversation were louder now. Kisame nodded to a place where the hallway forked and led her down the left path, closer to the laughter and chatter.

There was a room with a long table being set up with food from servants who didn’t lift their eyes. In the nearby room there were green velvet armchairs and marble ashtrays. Mei lounged back in one of the chairs while Yagura sat on the edge of a different armchair, tapping the excess off the edge of his cigarette. He looked up and saw Sakura first.

Something warm stirred the underside of her salt heart. A stronger predator was watching her, but it wasn’t fear she was feeling.

“You’ve done as I asked, good job Kisame,” Mei said, standing first.

“Of course,” Kisame murmured, inclining his head forward in respect as Mei approached.

Her long red hair was curled and left to drape over her shoulder in elegant waves. When she moved, the deep blue of her dinner gown shimmered against the nearby firelight. Mei held her cigarette stick up to her lips but only tapped its end against her bottom lip, looking over Sakura with unflinching eyes. Yagura had a greater gravity to his power, he was older and stronger, but Mei’s aura of power was wide and far reaching, like the magical power of a king. Sakura hadn’t felt such a unique aura in such a long time. No one had ruled over her kind in centuries.

“How was the walk? We were worried about your acclimating to legs without a seaheart but it seems you’re able to get around just fine,” said Mei.

“It’s much better today,” Sakura answered quickly. “It’s not that bad.”

“That’s no excuse for keeping her standing on the threshold,” Yagura sighed, stamping out his cigarette and standing. “The dinner should be ready. Shall we adjourn?”

Mei waved to a doorway inside the room that led into the formal dining room where the table from earlier was even heavier with fresh food. Sakura could smell meat and butter even if she was only used to one of those two things. Someone else’s memories were making her hungry again.

Kisame followed Mei’s lead while Yagura trailed behind all of them. Inside the dining room there were already a few figures waiting behind chairs. Sakura recognized Zabuza right away but the other two were unfamiliar. ONe was an older man with a patch over one eye and the other was a youth with the same saw teeth as Zabuza and light blue hair. When his eyes met Sakura’s he quickly looked down and rolled his shoulders inward.

“Ao and Chōjūrō,” Mei explained, gesturing with her hand first to the old man and then the youth. “They’re my second and my apprentice. I keep few others as close as they.”

“Come, sit,” Yagura urged, taking a seat at one end of the table while Mei took her place at the opposite head. Ao was first to pull out a chair for Mei and then sit at her right side. Chōjūrō took the seat to her left followed by Zabuza.

Kisame gestured to the opposite side of the table and pulled out a chair for Sakura next to Yagura before he sat down on her opposite side. There was no one across from Sakura as Zabuza was seated directly opposite Kisame.

“Is Haku not able to join us?” Mei asked, looking at the empty seat beside Zabuza.

“He is tied up with his duties.”

“It seems he’s often late when you’re not there to keep him on schedule,” Yagura commented.

Sakura watched a vein in Zabuza’s neck jump but he kept his eyes lowered, refusing to show any form of defiance or aggression in front of his superiors.

“He’s retrieving important intelligence. I wouldn’t want him to botch the job because he was rushing,” Mei interjected. “Either way, the food is ready so we might as well eat.”

Yagura gestured to the spread and smiled. “Please, help yourselves.”

Different servants standing against the walls stepped up and took the plates in front of each guest to load with food, beckoned by Yagura’s signal. Sakura sat back and waited while meats and vegetables were added to her polished dish. When it was set back down in front of her again she knew only half the names of things added.

“Give her more of that,” Yagura said, stopping one of the servers from retreating. The mute girl stepped up and scooped more of some dark black much onto the side of Sakura’s plate. “They’re fish egg. You might enjoy them if you’re more carnivore than the rest of us.”

“You should encourage her to eat more human foods. Acclimating to land life can be difficult enough without the proper nutrients,” Mei chastised.

“But I’m not human,” Sakura said.

Something about her words made Mei grin. “No one here is human, my dear. Still, it’s a part of the acclimation process that helps us live amongst them without suspicion. It may not change much in the way we look, but there is an unsettling aura the supernaturals wear like a coat that unnerves our mortal neighbors. Dressing like them, eating their food, drinking their water, it all works to help cloak us in plain sight and keep our little family running.”

Sakura felt a texture to the sound in her ears when Mei spoke and realized a moment later why that was. Mei was a very old siren matron, one who had likely seeded a coven herself. There was no

intentional

magic in her voice, but even without effort she sounded mesmerizing. How many sirens were there that still were powerful enough to run a coven, much less seed one? No wonder she seemed so charismatic.

“Try some food,” Kisame quietly encouraged, breaking Sakura free from her own thoughts.

Sakura took one of the forks next to her plate and then quickly changed it to a spoon when she saw what Yagura was using to eat his caviar with.There was something familiar about the food, even if she couldn’t remember feasting on fish eggs before. She tried some of the meat next once she saw what the proper fork to use was. A small plate was pushed her way with slices of crab meat soaked in butter resting up against bread rolls. She helped herself to some of that next and almost didn’t stop herself from licking her fingers clean. She wanted to suck the juices off her knuckles before they ran off but at such a fancy table with so many eyes on her, she knew better than to look any more like the monster she was.

Yagura chuckled under his breath but didn't say anything as Sakura helped herself to more and more, eating without worrying about the words exchanged overhead or the conversation continued without her. A few times she paused to look up but she was largely ignored for the sake of continuing conversation, except for Yagura, who stayed quiet and watched her with the same care a predator watched another predator.

He knew better than to look at her like she was prey.

“So Sakura,” Mei spoke up, turning away from Ao, “Have you given any consideration to the offer for adoption?”

“Excuse me?”

“It’s nothing as elaborate as what you’re assuming,” Yagura interjected. “It is in regards to the Family.”

“As in, you want me to be loyal to your…family.” Sakura wanted to say gang but that word was too simple for what Mei was operating. It was a business and it was an army, but it was so much more than either of those titles.

“It isn’t as one-sided as you’re fearing, there are things we can offer you,” Mei explained, reaching for her wine glass. She held it to her lips but didn’t drink. “Like your seaheart.”

Sakura felt her edges and the faint memory of how sharp she could be buzzed under her skin and scales. The static made her hair lift off her shoulders and she leaned forward, bracing one hand on the table.

Mei met Sakura’s eyes with a challenge, promising not to back down.

“She doesn’t have it, we don’t have it,” Kisame rushed to explain. He touched her shoulder and didn’t pull back when a spark tinged up his palm. “It’s an offer to retrieve it.”

“It’s good to see you still have teeth,” Mei laughed. She tilted back her wine glass and drank, leaning back into her seat like she wasn’t worried about what Sakura could do. “But Kisame is right. We don’t have what you want, but we’re the only ones willing to work towards retrieving such a treasure on your behalf. What we ask in return is your loyalty and obedience.”

“It’s bold to ask for more than loyalty with near empty hands,” Sakura warned. There was still frizzy magic making her hair wave around her face in a halo of warning. If she still had her seaheart her scale would be standing on end, flaring with gold and green lights.

“Being timid doesn’t win one much in these waters. Are you not interested in securing help for retrieving what was taken from you? That’s where our friend Haku is right now. He took off to confirm the black market sale of your heart. Supposedly it’s already killed one fool who was too weak to absorb it and is back in circulation.”

Sakura felt a roll of discomfort when she imagined someone trying to eat her heart. It was a mercy the welp who made the attempt had been too weak to consume it. She knew her heart was strong, but that didn’t mean it would always be stronger than the person trying to consume it. If someone like Yagura tried, she was sure he’d be able to survive consuming it. Maybe next time her heart was sold she wouldn’t get so lucky.

She sat back in her seat and felt the shortest strands of her hair fall back and brush the tops of her shoulders again. The rest was quiet in rolling curves down her back. “What would this adoption look like?”

As she feared there was a formal ritual that included the sharing of blood and wearing of oaths. It wasn’t the tricky stuff she had to be weary of, but it still unsettled Sakura that she would have to swear even a conditional allegiance to another figure who wasn’t her coven mother or mentor. But neither of those women were above the waves. Sakura was alone and as far as friends went, she knew she could have fallen in with worse people. Mei was devious and manipulative, but she was loyal to her people and protective of her family.

There was a cut on her arm that healed rapidly, leaving a thin pink mark that would fade in the morning. Sakura pressed against it and felt the thinnest of bruises under her fingertips. Around her the lights dimmed and the sigil she stood atop went dark.

“It’s done then,” Mei said, sounding satisfied if a bit tired.

It had been older magic she tapped into, the sort only a matron or coven mother could hope to handle. Even Yagura in all his might wouldn’t have been able to secure such elaborate magics. Mei had been fierce and terrifying in the midst of the ritual, transforming into something beautiful and horrifying all at once, with the waves under her feet and the storm in her hair.

Mei crossed the sigil and braced a hand on Sakura’s shoulder. Her teasing expression from earlier was gone. Her eyes were warm and tired as she smiled down at Sakura. “Welcome to our family. Please take care of my loved ones, dearest.”

Sakura saw Kisame on the edge of the boundary, waiting with his fists clenched. Others dotted the land around Mei’s ritual stone, watching with amazement and wonder. Kisame sensed her gaze and lifted his chin, showing off a forced smile. During the storm of the ritual she had heard him yelling out and thought he was upset about something, but now he just looked worn out.

“I will,” Sakura promised, looking back towards Mei.

Mei’s hand drifted down Sakura’s shoulder to her arm to the place where that pin scar still stood out raw and raised. She pressed her thumb against it and Sakura held herself back from wincing. Mei lifted her eyes, gazing through thick lashes with a lazy smile. “I know you will.” A beat of sweat rolled off the edge of her temple.

Ao was the first to step up onto the ritual stone. Mei dropped Sakura’s wrist and headed for him, accepting the offered arm to lean on as he led her off the sigil and back towards the house. Several other members were drawing back now, trailing her out like guppies.

“You’re alright?” Kisame asked, climbing up and jogging over to her side. He reached for her but held his hands back, keeping them at his sides. “She gave you a rank. Aren’t you exhausted?”

If Sakura pulled the scar on her arm open again the magic scrawl might be visible. It had been written into her skin with magic and now it was washed into her blood. “I don’t know what it means to be a

piccolo capo

? Is that what you are?”

“I’m a capo, so I’m a rank above you. But usually everyone starts out as a soldier and then has to work their way up.” Kisame smiled wide. “But I’m not surprised. It would make sense to promote someone as important as you.”

“Yes, yes, I’m sure you’re all very excited to have a new

minore

in your party, but the stars are coming out,” Yagura said, stepping up behind Sakura.

The new magic helped Sakura recognize Yagura’s role in the family. Mei was their don, or

dominus

but Yagura also held that same title, only his was

piccolo dominus

. Only Mei could boast of having absolute authority in the family.

Yagura waved to the far end of the ritual stone. “Kisame, you’ve been perfectly attentive, but I’d like a moment alone with our newest member. Return to your post. You will be called when needed.”

There was a pressure to his words Sakura was now privy too. The cut in her arm bled something into her blood that made her tingle for her superior's words. It wasn’t a compulsion, something that forced her to obey, but it was something that guided her into following her superior’s commands.

Kisame bowed his head and Sakura saw a vein in his neck jump before he straightened out and marched back towards the house, never once looking back.

“Don’t mind him. He doesn’t like me as much as Mei but he knows I don’t mean him ill,” Yagura said. He offered Sakura his arm. “Now that you are part of the family I have a gift I wanted to share with you. Will you come to see it?”

It wasn’t a command so there was no compulsion or tingle to do as he bid, but Sakura felt a curiosity that was stronger than compulsion. What would a predator like Yagura come up with as a gift?

She looped her arm around his, remembering how she had done the same with Kisame mere hours earlier. In comparison Yagura was much shorter and stood only a head taller than Sakura.

“I have a green house that’s not far from here,” he explained before tugging her towards a winding path that snaked up towards a long Victorian style glass house with green tinted panels. There was a door left closed that Yagura led her through before closing behind them. A second door, also made of glass, was ahead. He glanced around the room before opening up the second door and leading Sakura through.

“I have to check to make sure none of the guests try to escape. I would hate to part with any of them.”

Sakura’s question fell apart before she could ask it as she stepped out from under the threshold door into a world of greenery teeming with rainbow colored butterflies and moths. Outside the stars were twinkling but the greenhouse was lit with lowlights and while many of the insects were sleeping, plenty stirred with opalescent wings that made the moonlight all the more enchanting. Sakura felt struck and childish as she gazed up at the rarity of it all. She had lived her whole lived under the waves in a world teaming with its own unique beauty, but she had never seen something like this.

“I thought you’d like it,” Yagura whispered, squeezing her hand once. “I’ll bring you back in the morning when more of them are awake. It’s even more dazzling under the sun.”

“They’re beautiful,” Sakura breathed, caught up in the moment.

“Yes, they are.”

“DId you build this place for them? With all these…these flowers and plants?”

“Yes,” Yagura chuckled. “I’m very proud of my work here, as I am the chief designer and breeder for this lepidopterarium. It’s taken several years to get it just the way I want it and I’m still in the process of perfecting it.”

“It’s perfect the way it is,” Sakura whispered, transfixed by a moth with long sea green wings. It settled on a flower and slowly closed and opened its wings again, showing off just for her.

For a while longer Yagura didn’t say anything, but stayed quiet while Sakura watched the different moths and butterflies flit from flower to flower.

“If you like it then consider this space yours. It’ll act as a sanctuary for you during your stay here. Come and enjoy as often as you’d like.”

“Me?” she echoed in disbelief.

“Yes, you, dearest," Yagura chuckled in a voice both deep and strong. “Welcome to the family, Sakura.”