〰🐚Siren Series🐚〰

Demure Siren: Chapter 4

Bubbles left his mouth when he released a deep breath. Taking another breath opened gills on both sides of his neck, allowing him to breathe. He felt air fill his lungs, but the gills felt like needles pricking in his throat. His legs were sore like they had been sewn together, sending waves of pain through his lower torso each time he tried to move. But as Keiji looked down, he found a fin with shiny blue scales, twinkling like sapphires in the underwater light. All the pain in the world couldn't subdue his happiness when he realized he was swimming underwater.

He bore the pain willingly, swimming lightly so that all who saw him admired his graceful-swaying movements.

His ear picked up what sounded like humming. A tune he used to sing as a little boy. He followed the sound up north to a grotto, hidden away from the surrounding villages. As Keiji came closer to the entrance he could hear the voice loud and clear, it was the same voice he had heard in the storm. As if by magic, the voice stopped and everything went quiet for a while.

Curiosity got the better of him and Keiji swam into the narrow opening. The grotto had parts that were out of the water, where some blankets and an oil lamp formed a sort of hiding out. The weaving loom confirmed Keiji's suspicions, this must be where Sayuri lives. As he rose slightly out of the water to see better, three arrowheads pricked in his back.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" A familiar voice demanded.

Keiji opened his mouth to answer, but no sound came out. His deal with the witch had cost him his voice, how could he explain himself now?

"I asked you a question, answer me!" Sayuri demanded pushing the trident a little bit harder to make her point clear. But the man didn't answer her, instead, he held his hands above his head, showing a seashell necklace.

Within a flash, Sayuri dropped the trident and spun the man around to see his face. Innocent brown eyes met her, washing a wave of shock over her heart. "Keiji?"

The man nodded, smiling dimly. Sayuri looked down at his bluefin, swishing beside her own. "What happened to you?"

His gaze dropped as he nervously scratched the back of his neck, but he remained silent. Keiji wanted to tell her everything, explain her all. But how? Without his voice, he felt like he had lost a part of himself. Reluctantly he opened his mouth far enough for Sayuri to see the emptiness. Her eyes went wide with fear and she gasped, "By heavens. Who did that to you? Was it that monk?"

Keiji shook his head vigorously. Sayuri took his hands between her own, making Keiji's heart skip a beat. "Don't worry, they won't hurt you here. Just must be hungry, shall I prepare you something to eat?" Guiding him towards the blankets, Sayuri rose out of the water, her fin making a place for two pale legs. Keiji quickly looked away, not wanting to embarrass her by seeing her naked flesh.

As his averted gaze scanned the grotto, he saw a sandbank and got the brightest idea. He could write in the sand. Umeko is what he wrote before catching Sayuri's attention. "I don't know how to read." She confessed with a slight blush.

His brows arched in confusion.

"No one ever taught me how" Sayuri explains. His shoulders slump for a moment before another idea springs to mind. Keiji points to the first letter and then moves his hand under the rug.

"Why is your hand under the rug?"

Keiji points excitedly when she utters the word 'under'. It takes her a moment before understanding lights up her face. "Under," Sayuri repeats.

Keiji raises a single finger.

"U," Sayuri guesses which earn her an agreeing bobbing of Keiji's smiling face. "Oh, I see you are trying to teach me how to read."

He nods again. Before holding op the bowl of milk. "Milk, M." Sayuri answers. Keiji's bright smile makes her heart leap. "What's the next one?"

Keiji points to his eyes.

"Pupils?"

He shakes his head.

"Eyes, E?"

Keiji claps in excitement, before pointing to himself. Sayuri opens her mouth, but glances back at the writing in the sand, counting its letters. "Umeko? Did that witch do this to you?"

Keiji hangs his head in shame upon hearing her accusing tone, answering her question with a small nod. He thought she would have at least been happy to see him, but she has been nothing but worried and on edge since his arrival. If only he could tell her it was okay, he chooses to become this way, for her. Because she saved him. Because she was not the monster everyone made her out to be. She didn't deserve to be treated so coldly by the world, she deserved to be loved. And his heart swelled with love each time he saw her.

A splash brought his attention back to the water. Sayuri was swimming towards the open sea. However, Keiji was much faster and before long he blocked the exit, making her swim into him.

"What are you doing? Let me go!"

Keiji hugged her tightly, refusing to let her go. After a few minutes of struggling Sayuri hang her tail in defeat. "I don't understand?" she sobbed, "Did our meeting curse you to lend you in such trouble?

Keiji quietly nods, in a way his life had become more difficult since he met Sayuri. But if he could do it over he wouldn't change a thing. Not now that he was finally holding her in his arms. As if she had heard his thoughts, she pushed away from him as unforcefully as she could.

"If I'm the one who got you into this trouble, I will get you out of it."

Delighted, Keiji swam back to the sand, ready to explain everything. But as he turned around an orange fin was swishing over the horizon.