Into the Blue by Trouble_In_Shangri_la

Into the Blue

Setting: Modern

Universe: Veeeeeeeeeery Alternate

Warnings: Violence, sexual content and possibly disturbing scenery.

Other notes: No, Kagome didn't go evil because of who she works for. It's more like getting stuck with that guy you hate for a project in science class.

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or any characters in its franchise. I'm not making money off the writing of this story.

o0o

Into the Blue

o0o

Maybe a great magnet pulls

all souls towards truth.

- k.d. Lang, "Constant Craving"

o0o

She was five when it happened. Never did remember how or why. One moment she was peering at playful dolphins swimming in the cruise ship's wake and the next she'd slipped. It was a fifteen foot fall. The water slapped her like cement, stealing her senses and robbing her of the ability to kick. All she could do was stare up at the distorted sparkle of the sun growing more distant. Her eyes burned from the salt in the cold water.

A strong arm wrapped around her waist. Suddenly she was moving!

Turning her head, she glimpsed golden eyes, silver hair that flowed in the water, purple stripes and a pointed ear. That was all she saw before consciousness left her.

When she woke again, she found herself lying on a deserted beach. The pretty man sat propped on his elbow, peering down at her, his brow etched in a thin frown. His wet bangs clung to the moon on his forehead. The water didn't bead on his skin at all despite his being soaking wet.

She touched his arm. He was real.

"You saved me!" She cried happily.

A smirk curled his small lips.

"Kagome!" A soprano voice called.

The pretty man quickly fled from her visual field. By the time she sat up, her rescuer was nowhere in sight.

"Oh, God, Kagome! You're okay!" Her mother picked her up and held her close.

Kagome giggled and snuggled against her mother's chest, "The pretty man saved me! Did you see him?"

"…I didn't see anyone, honey. C'mon, let's get you to the hospital."

o0o

-Twenty years later-

A large boat dropped anchor into the deep, sparkling blue.

Kagome zipped her black wetsuit shut and gave her scuba tank a last once-over before she fastened it to her back. A quick test breath let her know the regulator worked properly. She spit in her mask and smeared the saliva around to prevent the inside from fogging. Her feet soon found themselves at home in her large two-foot flippers.

"I'm clear. Naraku?"

Onigumo Naraku shot her a wicked smile. He looked like a merman perched on the railing with his inky black hair falling around him in waves. His deep crimson wet suit fit his toned body in a way that gave Kagome the creeps. "Sure."

She rolled her eyes, Naraku was always trying to flirt with her. "Should I put that hair up before it gets tangled in a propeller?"

"If you please."

Ugh. Kagome waddled forward and bound his coarse hair into a quick, not too neat braid. Its thickness made her wonder how he managed to get a brush through it in the morning. "There."

"Let's grab those samples." Naraku said, drawing back. "Oh…and if you see anything weird, set off a flare." He slipped his diving mask on without spitting on the glass first. Then he shoved his regulator into his mouth and wordlessly tipped himself backwards off the boat's edge. His body splashed down unceremoniously. The boat instantly shifted with the loss of weight.

"Ass." Kagome muttered to his sinking frame. She knew he meant sound the alarm if she spotted any new fish or coral species so he could claim the discovery. He already stole three other discoveries from her by using that same excuse.

Kagome placed her equipment properly and dropped backwards off the boat. The world soon became a beautiful blue shimmer surrounded by rainbow colors below. Various corals and seaweeds littered the sea floor thirty feet below. Kagome kicked her way down, pausing occasionally to pop her ears so the pressure wouldn't damage her eardrums. At twenty feet the water's gravity pressed in from all directions. She'd learned to work with it. She smiled and took photos of baby shrimp swarming near an orange stag horn coral formation.

Silver king mackerels and striped, needle-nosed blue marlins darted hither and thither. Kagome's favorite was the fierce lionfish, a striped creature with a spiky dorsal fin growing from its back. Everything about it said 'don't mess with me'. She photographed the lionfish as it fed near a clump of white elk's horn coral.

Kagome swam to the sea floor and collected coral samples in small vials. Then she took a few sand samples, trying not to disturb the eels waiting to pounce on prey. When she filled her vials, she surfaced to deposit them in a metal basket tied to the side of the ship. Naraku came up with the idea. It allowed them to drop off samples without removing their equipment first.

She had just dove back down when Naraku swam towards her. He put a hand to his throat and gave a thumb's up to indicate his air was low and he was surfacing. She nodded to indicate understanding, pointing below and opening her hand as a sign that she still wanted to take photos. He let her go and ascended, his flippers vanishing from the glistening veil separating air from water.

Good, I can relax while he gets a new tank. Kagome thought, smiling against the regulator in her mouth. That's when she noticed the string of bait intended to attract fish was missing. She gasped and searched the water for signs of sharks, but found none. The surrounding blueness was calm. Great…just great.

"Naraku!" Kagome called out upon surfacing, "More bait below!"

"Okay," Naraku acknowledged with a wave. Kagome let herself sink back underwater, replacing her regulator as she descended. The line of frozen chum plopped scant inches above her head. She made a face. The iced fish guts warmed and sent a small, brownish cloud of blood and fluids out into the water.

The mackerels Kagome saw earlier cautiously approached. Kagome descended to take pictures without frightening them away. As soon as she turned her back, a shadow passed overhead. The bait was gone before she could spot the pilferer.

This time, however, the thief left a trail of fish guts in its wake.

Kagome smiled smugly as she followed the gory line away from the ship. It wasn't long before the trail ended above a rock and coral mix that formed a small cave. Clouds of disturbed sediment surrounded the opening, a clear sign that something recently swam by.

Filaments grew from the cave's mouth. Long, shimmering strands that curled in the water like smoke in the air, moving gently in the current. Beneath that she saw the end of a huge fishtail with iridescent silver scales and gold flukes resembling those of a dolphin.

Gotcha! Kagome reached down and grabbed the scaly tail in both hands.

The tail shook her off with surprising force. Sand rose in huge underwater clouds. Kagome rocked backwards, nearly chipping her teeth on the regulator. A second later she found herself staring straight into two narrowed golden eyes. It took her several seconds to recognize what she saw as a man's face. His eyelids were red, which made his gaze all the more piercing. Maroon stripes drew twin slashes across each cheekbone and a blue-violet crescent moon adorned his pale brow. Pointed ears framed his face. The white "filaments" were his hair, which floated around him like a halo. His small lips pulled into a somewhat vexed sneer. He turned his head and spat out a piece of chum.

Her eyes wandered down his muscular body. The stripes on his cheeks repeated themselves on his forearms and sides. At his hips his pallid skin faded into the shimmering silver fishtail she just grabbed. It swayed gently behind him, keeping him stationary in the constant ocean current. He clutched the remains of his stolen food in his right hand.

A merman. She was staring at a real, live merman!

Unbidden, the memory of her accident at age five played across her mind.

--The pretty man sat propped on his elbow, peering down at her, his brow etched in a thin frown. His wet bangs clung to the moon on his forehead. The water didn't bead on his skin at all despite his being soaking wet.--

The merman flipped his tail once and circled her with a grace she would never hope to achieve. His hair was a rippling banner behind him that stretched over four feet long.

Kagome remembered her camera. She held it up and clicked the shutter, capturing him while he eyed her curiously.

Suddenly, he wrapped his tail around her legs and stared straight into her eyes. He reached towards her. She leaned back, afraid he would take the regulator from her mouth. His hand dropped and clasped hers. Silent emotions swirled through her. Curiosity, wonder, trepidation, then a huge dose of her own awe. He seemed to be searching through her mind. She squeezed his hand, noticing his skin was slick like a dolphin's. Probably coated in some kind of oil or slime to keep it from wrinkling.

His name flashed by as a sharp blade gleaming under moonlight.

~Sesshoumaru.~

Then she tingled when he sensed hers. His mouth formed a half-smile. To him, her name was a sea of stormy blue under a brilliant sun.

A splash sounded. Sesshoumaru unwrapped his tail and darted off into the murk. Kagome sighed as Naraku came up beside her, thankful he showed no signs of seeing the retreating merman. He frowned behind his mask and pointed at the settling sand. She shaped her hand like a dorsal fin and moved it back and forth, indicating a shark.

The frown remained as Naraku gestured to her tank. Kagome pulled the gauge around and startled at how little air she had left. She quickly made the surface signal and headed up towards the boat.

o0o

Sunset painted the sparkling water varying shades of red and gold, but Kagome paid it little mind. Naraku droned on about a hybrid coral he saw. She only pretended to listen. Her mind remained on the beautiful merman she beheld under the waves. The way he communicated with her was unlike any language she ever heard of. He spoke in emotions and images that somehow translated themselves in a form she could understand.

Naraku stared at her. "Your tits are on backwards."

"Huh?" Kagome blinked down at her chest, then raised a brow at her partner. "What the hell?"

"Just seeing if you were paying attention. You've been staring at the water for the past…oh…ten minutes. Your ramen's getting cold."

"Just thinking about that…." she bit her lip, "…shark."

Naraku ran a hand through his wavy hair. He might have been attractive if his personality wasn't as slimy as a jellyfish. With a casual eye-roll, he captured several noodles in his chopsticks and transferred them to his mouth. "The brain coral isn't growing much this year."

Kagome shrugged and said, "It does that every few years."

"Whatever." He picked up his bowl and headed for the trapdoor leading below deck. "I'm calling it a night as far as work is concerned."

"Fine with me. I'll probably take the little boat out and relax before I hit the sack." Kagome set her bowl down after eating only half its contents. She hoped Naraku would go right to sleep, therefore cutting down the chance of him spotting her with the merman. The last thing she needed was him stealing yet another discovery, especially one this big.

No reply from Naraku. Good. Kagome didn't feel like looking at or talking to him anymore. She headed for the back of the boat and tossed her flippers, a scuba tank and a bucket of fresh chum in the little rowboat tied to the railing. The descent down the ladder was quick and she unwrapped the knot tying the smaller boat to its larger counterpart. She set the oars into the water and rowed herself away as fast as humanly possible. Soon, Naraku's little ship appeared smaller than a bathtub toy.

Kagome ignited a halogen lantern already present in her little boat. Pulling the oars in, she held the light over the clear water. The seafloor wasn't more than ten feet below her. If Sesshoumaru was down there, she'd spot him. Logic kicked in to remind her the ocean covered most of the planet. He could be anywhere. She felt a little bad about using food to attract the merman like an animal, but it seemed the only way to draw him out of hiding.

Kagome sighed and set the chum block gently in the water, shook it to spread the scent around and placed it back in the bucket. The fishy smell clung unpleasantly to her fingers. She bent and rubbed her hands together underwater, trying to scrub off the stench.

A silver head appeared. Gold eyes flicked open, a transparent third eyelid sliding away a second later.

"Well, hello there," said Kagome.

Sesshoumaru just gazed up lazily, his glistening tail stirring the water.

"Hungry?" Kagome held up a small piece of half-thawed fish guts. The merman glided closer with a relatively expressionless face. He only looked at the food. She lowered the bait to his level and smiled when he took it in his fangs. She noticed he had an Adam's apple. Which meant he probably had vocal cords, too. "Do you speak my language?"

He raised a quizzical brow at her. She took that as a no.

Kagome pulled her flippers on and strapped herself into the scuba gear. Sesshoumaru's nose twitched at the fake fins. He drew back as she tipped backwards into the water. The halogen light cast an eerie glow. Kagome righted herself and reached for Sesshoumaru's hand. His long fingers clasped hers. She closed her eyes and filed through her memories of the accident when she was five. He gave a little blink, pushing himself up to look closer at her.

~I remember.~

His thought came as a feeling that translated itself into words she understood. She recalled how he darted off when Naraku dove in.

The merman's thin eyebrows dipped. ~He was cruel.~

Kagome showed him she wanted the same thing Naraku did. Sesshoumaru shook his head and told her she wanted more than that, but she just didn't know it yet. As if he knew more about her than she did. Then he adjusted his grip on her hand and sped off towards deeper water. Only his tail moved when he swam, his upper body remained relatively stationary. To turn, he just tilted his body like an airplane. His hair never tangled, not even during an abrupt change in direction.

Eep! Wow, he's fast!

Sesshoumaru towed Kagome swiftly over a coral reef. The water shallowed until they came upon sand. Kagome poked her head above the waves, lifted her mask off her eyes and took the regulator from her mouth. Sesshoumaru released her hand and bodysurfed onto the soft sand. Kagome laughed, took off her fins and waded to shore. There, she slipped the scuba tank off her back and plopped down in the sand. The halogen lamp created sparkles on her wetsuit.

--When she woke again, she found herself lying on a deserted beach. The pretty man sat propped on his elbow, peering down at her…--

Kagome snapped out of her thoughts. Sesshoumaru crawled forward on his belly and sat up. He curled his beautiful silver tail around her waist. She felt him replay the same memory she just experienced, only she saw herself through his eyes. He'd kissed her little mouth to suck some of the water from her lungs. It caused her to cough and expel the rest. That was when she had awakened.

"But why?" Then she shook her head and asked him through feelings.

~I wanted you to live.~

Of course he would give an answer like that.

Kagome asked why he saved her out of a thousand other little girls who probably drowned in the sea before her. First she used words, then thoughts and emotions. It was weird how her words went right over his head while he clearly understood her feelings.

In reply, Sesshoumaru gently grasped the back of her head and pressed his lips to hers. Kagome was so startled she tipped backwards with him on top of her. He continued his soft kiss, his mouth molding hers to his will. She saw images of him as a little boy holding something bright in his hands. His sorrow when he had to let that light go shot across Kagome's consciousness. So strongly that she started to cry softly as if she were experiencing the loss herself.

He kissed her tears and the emotions changed from the pain of loss to the joy of dancing on the waves. She saw him leaping over the water like a dolphin and sleeping on the back of a blue whale. He showed her sunken ships and undersea caves full of life never seen by human eyes.

Sesshoumaru drew back after a time. Kagome noticed his fingers had wrinkled a lot like hers did whenever she spent any length of time underwater. He used his tail to scoop water from the surf and splash himself. Then he splashed her. She laughed and shielded her face.

Rolling onto her stomach next to him, she bent her legs so her feet stuck up in the air. He curled his fishtail until the gold flukes dangled in front of his face. It wasn't bound at all to the limits of human leg joints. Kagome could tell he had pelvic bones, but the bone structure for his tail was an utter mystery to her. Thousands of glittering scales as large as her thumbnail covered him from hips to flukes. And the flukes were four feet across…or close to it, she didn't have a ruler to confirm.

Kagome touched Sesshoumaru's tail, noticing the scales were hard like smooth leather. The rigid flukes had a texture similar to her diving fins. He watched her curiously. She brushed her fingers through his hair. Lighter and more slick than human hair, so even when wet the strands didn't stick together for long.

"You're so beautiful," she said.

Sesshoumaru nudged her palm with his nose. He crawled to her scuba gear, turned and looked over his shoulder, taking her hand. ~You must return.~

Reluctantly, Kagome nodded and put her scuba gear back on. Sesshoumaru rolled over into the nearest wave, waiting while she waded out to meet him. He took her hand and sped her off the same direction they came.

o0o

"So you got lost in this cave and spent all night finding your way back out?" Naraku eyed her suspiciously, his eyebrows drawn into a straight line. His tone remained even when he said, "A likely story. How is it you spent that much time and only used an hour's worth of air?"

"Surface pockets," Kagome answered quickly. She wanted to squirm, wring her hands and run away screaming. Under that calmness she could tell Naraku was pissed at her. "I'm so glad you were actually concerned for me and not for the samples I might have lost…had I been taking any."

Naraku's eyes narrowed. He huffed and faced the boat's stainless steel steering wheel. "It's your neck."

She couldn't help but notice he wore a smug little smile, and for the life of her she didn't know why.

"Pack up," he said. "We're heading in."

Kagome was too defeated to protest and slunk below deck to pack up her clothes, cameras, flippers and wetsuit. Her partner never offered to help her disembark. She wound up carrying her heavy belongings alone. The car ride to her home near the pier only took half an hour, mostly due to every light turning red at the last second.

The next morning, Kagome walked downstairs into her darkroom to develop her underwater photos. She turned on the red light, shut the door and flipped the camera open.

Her camera was empty. In the film's place sat a note from Naraku thanking her for the interesting footage. When she opened the newspaper, Sesshoumaru's picture was all over the front page.

Naraku…you son of a bitch!

o0o

"Come on…come on!" Kagome shouted uselessly at her little motorboat. She kept stomping her flipper-clad feet and snarling into her snorkel as if her frustrated ministrations would speed the boat's progress. The old, rusty engine barely reached a speed of fifteen knots. She cut the engine upon arriving at the coral reef, lowered her swimming goggles and dove in.

Kagome took a deep breath and pushed off the boat to go deeper. Visibility proved as horrible underwater as it was above. She cursed the fog and murk. Another gulp of air and she pushed off towards the cave where she first met Sesshoumaru. Coral scraped her legs along the way. The salty water dug at her scratches like acid. She rose up for one more breath before diving down towards the cave, her muscles burning with the desperate effort.

Sesshoumaru slept wrapped in his hair, his body curled nose to flukes like a cat in the cave. Kagome only saw him because of his shiny silver tail.

She kicked down and shook his shoulder until he opened his eyes. Then she retreated to the surface for more air, cursing her lack of gills. The merman's head popped above the surface next to her. He knit his brow at her distress.

Grabbing his shoulders, she spat out her snorkel and said, "You have to get away, Naraku knows about you."

Of course he didn't understand her words, and the flurry of emotions swirling through her mind seemed to confuse him more than explain her reason for seeking him out. His crescent moon distorted slightly. He reflected her own fear back to her the way one might repeat a question in attempt to understand it.

A helicopter's chop-chop split the silence. Kagome stiffened and focused on Sesshoumaru's amber eyes. ~Swim for deep water.~

Sesshoumaru dipped his head under when the helicopter broke through the fog. Wind from its spinning propellers turned the calm water violent. Kagome met his gaze through the water. The merman surfaced briefly to kiss her and dove again, his gold flukes splashing on the surface.

The chopper flew dangerously low to follow Sesshoumaru's progress. Sesshoumaru reached his top swimming speed and started leaping like a dolphin. All she could see was his tail and his long hair flapping in the air.

Divers dove in to surround him. Small craft scooted across Sesshoumaru's path. The next time he tried to jump, he flailed and fell straight down. Kagome saw him surface again, his momentum broken by the nets. He clawed his way free and turned to look at her.

She hauled herself into the boat and started its engine. "No, swim!"

Someone fired a blowgun. Sesshoumaru arched and floundered. The divers moved in to grab him, but he smashed one across the face with his powerful tail. He lashed out once more, ripping one diver's arm completely off. His nails sprayed a poisonous acid that reduced another man's torso to a bloody, bubbling mass of melting organs.

Just then the chopper turned, giving Kagome a view of black hair waving in the breeze.

Naraku shot the merman again. Sesshoumaru went limp at the same moment Kagome reached him. He floated belly-up on the choppy water, two tranquilizer darts protruding from his side. His eyes were fluttering.

Before Kagome could reach for him, two divers capsized her boat. The sting of salt water in her eyes made her grimace and she hurriedly surfaced for air. She watched helplessly as a basket containing the unconscious merman disappeared into the helicopter's open door.

"Naraku! You ba - " the water choked her off. "You bastard!"

Naraku couldn't hear her. He blew her a kiss and made an obscene gesture with a hand over his crotch. Then the door slammed and the helicopter sped away.

o0o

Sesshoumaru's new home became an aquarium of twenty feet from side to side and ten feet deep. Just enough for him to wander around. He had no privacy at all, no coral cave to sleep in and no rocks to hide behind. Naraku kept him mildly sedated so he wouldn't struggle. As a result he swam in aimless circles, often bumping into the glass before changing direction.

That was how Kagome found Sesshoumaru upon Naraku allowing her to see him.

Word had recently come to her saying the merman was so combative around everyone else that tests were impossible. Naraku was forced to call her in. Her orders were to arrive prepared to swim, so she came wearing a green one-piece bathing suit under her sundress.

"Make him cooperate, or I'll terminate him. If I can't have him, no one else can, either. His life is in your hands." The arrogance in Naraku's voice made her stomach pucker. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a press conference to attend. I'll see you later for test results. Kagura? We're leaving."

Bastard, Kagome thought while glaring at Naraku's retreating back. Kagura walked alongside him. Him and his floozies. One week it was Kagura, the next it would be Yuka and another week he'd be dating Eri or Ayumi. His wavy black hair swayed against his dark suit as he walked and disgusting success bled off his frame.

She ascended the ladder and sat on the edge of the tank. Scuba equipment was set up in a basket hanging over the water. She geared up and slid under.

Sesshoumaru continued his lazy circles, his hair forming diaphanous patterns in the water around him. He looked stoned. Kagome swam into his path. He dodged her and went back the way he came. Either he didn't recognize her didn't want to "talk".

She caught his hands. He sank to the aquarium floor without a struggle. His normally bright, inquisitive mind felt dulled and hazy because of the drugs, but she easily discerned his jumbled confusion, fear and loneliness.

~Why?~

Touching his face, she tried to explain concepts like a laboratory, experiments and what Naraku may do. She very grudgingly told him that he may win his freedom if he cooperated. The lie killed her inside, but the longer Sesshoumaru behaved himself, the longer he'd live, and that would provide time for her to plan an escape.

~You need to talk to them like you talk to me. They don't know you're intelligent because you don't speak in words like humans do.~

He pulled back, darted into the corner and curled himself into a tight ball. His long hair completely shielded him from view. Kagome swished forward and took his hand again. A wave of betrayal lashed back at her, followed by the prickles of the fear and trepidation she'd felt upon seeking him out.

She gasped. ~No…no! I had nothing to do with that! I was trying to warn you! Please, Sesshoumaru…~

Sesshoumaru's eyes drifted shut. Kagome took the regulator from her mouth and kissed his pretty white hand, trying with all her might to convince him he was safe for now. Then she withdrew and surfaced. Her mind felt drained and heavy. As much as she loved scuba diving, she was always glad to unhook herself from the cumbersome oxygen tank. She rested on the ladder rungs and rolled her aching shoulders.

The merman appeared behind her. She faced him and was met with a fierce, overpowering kiss. His tongue broke past the barrier of her lips to taste the inside of her mouth. She pushed her mask off and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him against her chest.

"Sessh - "

Sesshoumaru's mouth cut her off. She grew hyper aware of his scaly tail rubbing her through her bathing suit. A piece of anatomy that wasn't there before prodded her thigh. His pale hands trailed up her spine to the back of her head. She watched his citrine eyes darken and shimmer with naked desire. He kneaded her breasts, his sharp nails brushing across her erect nipples. ~Be one with me.~

Kagome became conscious of a huge, pink erection extending through a slit in his pelvic area. For a split second she was sick inside. Sesshoumaru wasn't exactly human, and she had only seen him four or five times in her life…and he wanted this?!

A sigh blew past her lips. ~I don't know if we should.~

But her body ached for him, or she was picking up how much he desired her, she couldn't tell for sure. She panted in attempt to keep up with her heartbeat. Surely he felt how much he'd aroused her.

Reality crashed down hard on Kagome's head. Sesshoumaru may die before she could plan his escape. He knew that as well, and here he was trying to express his feelings for her in the only way he knew how. He'd been waiting practically her whole life to see her again. And there she was, thinking about rejecting him because…

Tears blurred her dark eyes. Why should it matter that he wasn't human like her? He didn't seem to care that she had legs and he was born with fins.

Kagome lowered a hand and carefully pushed the gusset of her bathing suit aside. She turned her head for a second to check around, but nobody was in the vicinity. In the time it took her to look away, Sesshoumaru sank to examine her genitals. His curiosity made her giggle. Then he began probing her outer folds, thus cutting off her laughter. She closed her eyes and inhaled as he slowly explored which hole went where.

"Mmmh…"

Sesshoumaru's eyes never left Kagome's face. She met his gaze through the water and smiled. He spread her swollen inner lips and stared straight at her womanly opening.

~You are a virgin?~

She nodded slowly, her cheeks flushed. He surfaced and tenderly cupped her cheek. His touch was soft, gentle, as if she might break. He smirked and brushed his small lips all over her neck and chest. Tingling sensations spread through her body. She closed her eyes and shuddered, dragging her nails up his back. It made him shiver. A smile curled her lips. She flicked her tongue over his salty, slippery earlobe.

~What about you?~ Kagome asked between heartbeats.

~Untouched…until now.~ Sesshoumaru's reply washed over her as a purple wave of soft warmth. He nuzzled his face against her breasts.

The merman came up to kiss her again. She felt his smooth hardness press against her entrance. As they came in contact, she found herself relaxing. He sent her calming sensations to show her it wouldn't hurt. All she felt was pressure, a pop and delicious fullness.

Kagome fell outside herself. Sesshoumaru's thoughts wrapped around hers like tornado debris. She spiraled into his bottomless gold eyes with no hope or desire to escape. He kissed her softly and she felt him experiencing her whole life, one year for each slow thrust.

In turn she saw his - battles with sharks, beautiful sunsets, storms, other merfolk. As a child, he was the prettiest little boy in his kingdom. His father appeared as a fierce-looking merman with a face lined in jagged blue stripes. Ancient humans saw him surface once, long ago, and he became the one around which tales of Poseidon and Neptune were born. His mother, like him, had a moon upon her brow. She swam through Kagome's mind, a beautiful golden-tailed mermaid whose silver hair nearly reached the length of her body.

No wonder your flukes are gold. Heh, you have your mother's lips.

And then came an image showing little Sesshoumaru holding a ball of light in his hands. It was a single human soul. Her soul.

Sesshoumaru's mind spun again and she witnessed how immature human souls were handed down from Heaven, each enclosed in a tiny glass sphere, to be watched over by mer-children until they grew up. By then the souls would be strong enough to withstand the impurities of earthly life. She fell into Sesshoumaru's care, and he guarded her soul with his life for more than a century. Over time he fell for her. He was in love with her for longer than she'd been alive. And all this time, all these years, he awaited her return.

She felt his sadness at letting her go to be born, his joy upon seeing her young face and his excitement as he waited for her to reach adulthood. Her heart squeezed in recognition to his touch. His kisses, his eyes, his skin, his heartbeat, his scent…the familiarity crashed down on her like a thousand tsunamis.

Reality swirled around Kagome, causing her to clutch Sesshoumaru's shoulders in attempt to remain grounded. Sesshoumaru rubbed his cheek against hers as if to soothe her. She held his face in her hands and stiffened, biting the insides of her lips as the quivers of orgasm rocked her body.

Sesshoumaru appeared on the verge of tears. At the moment of her climax, he pressed his forehead to hers and released as well. He moaned into her ear, the first vocal sound she ever heard him make. His voice was low and smooth like velvet against her ears. Sensations from his climax thrust her into an aftershock orgasm.

"Sesshoumaru," she whispered, her breaths short.

He opened his eyes, looking at her. Shaking her head, she brushed his wet bangs out of his eyes and kissed the moon on his forehead. She laid her head on his shoulder and, in thinking about what awaited, accidentally showed him the tests she had to do. Blood draws, skin and scale samples and a physical exam.

The serene expression left his face. He quietly presented his arm. That made her blink and laugh.

~So you're listening in on my thoughts now?~

Sesshoumaru backed off and dove under, letting himself sink to the tank's glass bottom. His silver hair trailed behind to settle around him in soft swirls. Each scale on his tail shone like abalone under the harsh aquarium lights. He seemed too beautiful for the drab, lifeless laboratory.

Kagome breathed out and walked away, barely believing what just took place between them.

o0o

Morning found Sesshoumaru sitting in a chicken wire cage while a forklift suspended him over a large, narrow aquarium. A huge water pump sat at one end and a reservoir at the other.

"Drop," Naraku said to the forklift operator.

The bottom of the cage flipped open, tossing Sesshoumaru unceremoniously into the tank with a loud splash. He narrowed his eyes at Naraku, his face evidence enough that he wasn't too happy about being awakened for a test that could have been done in the afternoon. But Naraku never cared what others wanted. It was always all about him.

Sesshoumaru flitted back and forth behind the glass. A segmented feces string dangled from the back of his tail like a chain of sausages. In that sense he was like an animal - he went wherever, whenever, because the ocean current had always carried it away. Kagome used a collection net to remove it and held the dripping mess out to Naraku.

"Do you want to sample this, first?"

He wrinkled his nose at the foul smell, "No, I want to start the test."

She handed the net off to another technician. They always went through Sesshoumaru's stools to study his digestive processes. If he ate something shelled, like oysters, clams, crabs or lobsters, he tended to absorb the meat and pass the undigested shells along with part of his intestinal lining, which wrapped the chunks up in convenient little mucus segments to protect his guts from the sharp edges.

On test days like this, Sesshoumaru tended to make them extra smelly. He knew it caused a minor inconvenience to have someone clean it up.

Naraku's dark eyes flitted over the EKG machine. Kagome watched him check over the sensors inside the tank that measured Sesshoumaru's oxygen consumption and heartbeat. Regular peaks and valleys spiked across the monitor. A graph marked his oxygen saturation. Both sets of sensors were in working order.

Sighing, Kagome moved beside the aquarium. Sesshoumaru drifted to her level and pressed a hand to the glass. She paced. He followed her movements. Ever since they made love, she found she could hear his mind without touching him…perhaps in a way he was still touching her, he'd spilled part of himself inside her body.

Like last night - she hardly got any sleep because his aching loneliness gnawed at her heart. If she didn't free him soon, he would lose his sparkle and die.

A smirk curled Naraku's thin lips. He fluffed his hair and leaned back in his chair, his lab coat spreading open. "He seems awfully fond of you, Kagome."

"Probably because I'm the only one around here who gives a damn about him."

He snorted. "I'm starting the test."

With that, Naraku turned a dial and the water in the tank began to move. Kagome instructed Sesshoumaru not to let the moving water push him back. Sesshoumaru responded accordingly and started to swim against the current. The bottom half of his tail rippled lazily. His placid expression suggested he enjoyed the exercise. Swimming in circles, he sent silently to Kagome, got boring after awhile.

The dial clicked, forcing Sesshoumaru to swish his tail faster. So far his pulse hadn't changed.

At fifteen knots he held his arm tight to his body and utilized his entire lower half. Twenty knots had him swishing his upper half side to side, which made him zigzag, thus creating his own small wake to keep his speed constant. His hair flew up as if blown by hurricane winds. He kept his mouth slightly open and Kagome noticed his pulse and oxygen consumption increased. An acceleration to thirty knots created faint signs of strain.

"Interesting…"

Naraku turned the surge up to forty knots. Sesshoumaru lost some ground at first. Then he caught up and started doing mini-leaps on the surface like a swimmer performing butterfly strokes. His pulse jumped to one-ten. At fifty knots he began full out dolphin-jumping. He actually jumped to save energy - each time he left the water he took a huge breath that literally doubled the oxygen content in his blood.

The test continued until Sesshoumaru tired and lost more ground than he gained.

"Okay, that's enough of that." Naraku shut off the power, causing Sesshoumaru to belly flop in calming water.

Sesshoumaru finished with a heart rate of two-twenty, but it only took him about five minutes to regain his resting pulse back. The collection cage dropped into the water. He always hated that thing and never entered it without something to entice him. In this case, Kagome used a chunk of octopus tentacle. Sesshoumaru loved octopus, so he swam right for it and the cage snapped shut behind him without a fuss.

Naraku smiled down at his notes, looking smugly pleased by the results. One gesture sent the forklift away to the next test. Sesshoumaru thrashed angrily and the same green poison Kagome saw before splattered all over the cage, causing pieces to melt off. He climbed through the hole he created and flung himself at Naraku. Naraku jerked away, pulled out his dart gun and shot the merman full of sedative.

"Those nails are pretty nasty, don't you agree, Kagome?" Naraku knelt next to Sesshoumaru's dazed form and grabbed one of his hands. He squeezed the merman's thumbnail and a stream of green acid squirted halfway across the room. The air smelled briefly like ammonia and ozone. "Imagine sneaking over a country in a crop-duster plane and spraying an enemy with this stuff…can you imagine how rich I'd be with this discovery?"

"You wouldn't - "

Naraku stood up, smirked and turned towards the door. "Get a sample."

o0o

A hydraulic lift gently lowered a new mesh cage into the tank. Sesshoumaru lay sprawled out inside, still sedated from the stressful MRI scan Naraku put him through. His unconscious body bobbed lifelessly against the mesh. The cage would hold him near the surface for monitoring until he awoke. He had a low oxygen saturation score, but it rose once he inhaled a few "breaths" of water.

Kagome no longer knew if the depression she felt was Sesshoumaru's or her own. Earlier that morning, Sesshoumaru didn't even struggle when Sango removed him from the tank to be weighed, and usually he showed his displeasure for the cold metal scale by unplugging the equipment. This time there were no plugs being pulled and no thrashing. In the two weeks since his capture he steadily lost almost ten pounds.

"I don't like it any more than you do," Sango had said, "but it's easier if you don't get attached."

Too late for that, Kagome thought.

"That third lung of gills is the most fascinating thing I've ever seen," Naraku blathered on, pointing to the screenshots on his laptop. His colleagues stood gathered around, transfixed by the findings.

It turned out that Sesshoumaru had a third bronchus leading into an extra "lung" lined wall to wall with vertical gills. Valves closed his air breathing lungs off when he dove and he inhaled and exhaled underwater to pull oxygenated water across his gills. Naraku discovered this by shoving the sedated merman's head in a bucket of water and observing the MRI monitor.

"…his main oxygen intake comes from the water. He can even smell while submerged, but his sense of smell is stronger in the air. Now, extended periods of air breathing eventually dry out a reservoir of moisture that he burps up after he absorbs all the oxygen. He uses his lungs as a supplement rather than a replacement. Too long without a dive are, for him, quite similar to us trying to breathe at a high altitude." He pointed to highlighted organs, "His air lungs are smaller and contain less alveoli than ours. This is to accommodate a larger heart for greater pumping capacity in deep water. Depths tests showed it shrank to a more normal size and pumped harder as the water pressure increased."

Kagome placed a hand on the aquarium's glass side. Sesshoumaru remained unconscious, his face hidden by his endless hair. The only thing she found interesting was the scan of his tail. Two "extended" femurs grew from his pelvis to his "knees", then tapered off into pure cartilage. The solid bones were segmented like twin spinal columns and completely encapsulated in powerful muscles. On the screen his tail looked as if it tried to become legs and failed.

Sesshoumaru stirred slightly. The cage released him instantly and he swam groggily towards a back corner of the aquarium. He curled up nose to flukes, peering sadly out at the people gathered around Naraku. His dolphin-like sparkle was dimmer than ever. Kagome barely felt it. Sometimes his mind fell completely silent, and these silences were growing longer and longer.

"…that's all." Naraku finished with his presentation. "We should discuss this over a late lunch. Kagome?"

"I'm not very hungry," Kagome admitted, her eyes staying on Sesshoumaru. "I'll just call it a day and turn in early, okay?"

"Suit yourself." A sneer curled Naraku's pouty upper lip. Would he ever stop trying to get into her pants?

She pressed her forehead to the cool glass at the same moment Naraku closed the metal door. He shut the lights off on the way out, so the only illumination came from the warming lamp glowing beneath the tank. It used to bring out the beautiful sparkle in Sesshoumaru's fishtail, but he hadn't groomed his tail in three days and old body oil obscured its shine.

~Tomorrow…I'm going to try. Hopefully Sango will be willing to help me out. I talked to her on the phone last night and she's starting to see the wrong in this.~

The merman's head lifted. He pushed his hair out of the way to meet her eyes. For the first time in a long while, hope flickered across his face. ~Freedom.~

~Yeah…freedom.~

Freedom. Kagome closed her eyes and headed for the door. Sesshoumaru could never venture near humans again after this. Doing so risked his life. Part of her wished he never came - losing him was going to tear her apart. Either way, whether he died or escaped, they were going to separate. How could life be so unfair?

o0o

The phone rang. Kagome tried to ignore it, but whoever was calling wouldn't give up. To top it off a weird pain kept prickling across her skin. She groaned and rolled over to check her bedside clock. Three in the morning. The sheets rustled as she reached for the phone and dragged the receiver to her ear. "Hello?"

"Kagome? It's Sango. You better get to the lab."

"Why?"

"It's the merman…" Sango's voice was hushed, cautious. "Naraku drained his tank."

Now Kagome was wide awake. She sat bolt upright. "What?"

"He took the water pump apart, so I can't just refill it. Kagome, hurry up and get here. If you want to get him out of here, you'll have to do it now."

She pulled her jeans on, "Grew a backbone, did we?"

"I hate this job. Hurry." A click as the other line hung up.

Kagome threw blue leggings and a pink T-shirt onto her disheveled body. She grabbed her keys and drove barefoot to the lab. The traffic was so minimal that she arrived in fifteen minutes, flashed her ID to the guard at the gate and slammed through the doors. Her panting echoed off the tile floor in the maze of halls. She rounded the corner and skidded through the metal door.

Oh, God…

Sesshoumaru lay sprawled at the bottom of the aquarium. There wasn't so much as a puddle to offer him comfort. The merman's hair was completely dry, his shriveling fishtail looked like a slimy appendage that didn't belong and wrinkles covered his previously smooth white skin. His translucent third eyelids were drawn halfway across his eyeballs, glittering dully under his long lashes.

Tears sprang from Kagome's eyes. Taking the ladder two rungs at a time, she slid down the other side to kneel beside him. "Sesshoumaru?" She touched his shoulder. The oil that protected his skin from the water came off on her hand in sticky strings. Trails of slime and feces marked where he crawled before finally passing out.

I don't see any urine puddles…this is bad.

"Sango, get me as many water bottles as you can. Get the gurney and drop the cage in here. We have to get him out now."

Nodding, Sango ran off. Kagome took comfort in the jingling keys on her belt and focused on Sesshoumaru. She touched his hair. It rustled like dried straw against her fingertips. ~Don't die. Can you hear me? Don't die.~

Footsteps pounded back into the room. "I only found three. Here!"

Kagome caught the bottles one at a time. "Thanks." She opened one and proceeded to empty its contents over Sesshoumaru's head and chest. She dumped the second over his tail, rubbing the scales to distribute the water evenly. For the third, she plugged his nose and poured the water down his throat.

Sesshoumaru sputtered a few times, but didn't cough, a sign that he was breathing the water and not choking on it. His tail slapped the glass and he regurgitated half of the water Kagome offered.

"Cage."

"Right, Kagome. Here it comes."

The forklift hissed.

~Okay, Sesshoumaru…we're lifting you with the cage. You have to lay still on that white thing over there. You will be covered with a sheet, and if you move, you'll put yourself in danger. Do you understand?~ Kagome showed him a few mental images of men carrying him back to the empty tank. This prompted a groggy nod. She helped him slide into the mesh container and waited impatiently while it slowly moved to deposit him on the gurney.

Sango hurried to cover the merman with the white sheet. He was too long for the gurney and his flukes dangled off the end. Nothing could be done about that. Kagome covered it with an extra sheet and prayed no one would discover the ruse until too late.

"He's not going to fit in my car." Kagome whispered.

"I've got the keys to a company van. We'll put him in the back." Sango craned her neck to see out the tiny window in the door. She looked back, "Okay, it's clear. Go!"

Kagome shoved the door open and helped Sango ease the gurney into the hall. Sesshoumaru did beautifully at laying completely still - Kagome couldn't even hear him breathe.

Somehow, Sango and Kagome maneuvered the gurney to the back exit without incident. They rushed towards the white van parked near the exit. The wheels on the gurney squeaked over the rough asphalt.

Sango ran ahead, unlocked the back doors and swung them open. She raced around the front so she could get the driver's side door open. Kagome collapsed the gurney and eased it towards the darkness of the van. It wasn't until she got closer that she realized lab equipment narrowed the entrance by several inches.

"The gurney won't fit!" Kagome called. "Help me lift him!"

"Damn." Sango hissed. Her footsteps scrambled past the rear tires and her face reappeared in the pale lights illuminating the parking lot.

As they struggled to shift Sesshoumaru's heavy body off the gurney, he thrashed like a shark.

"Oh! No, it's us!" Kagome fought to keep her grip on the merman through the sheets. He'd already flung off the one covering his flukes. His swinging tail smacked into the gurney and sent it rolling until it slammed into the dumpster next to the building.

Sesshoumaru sent Kagome a slew of mixed images she couldn't make sense of. Was he panicking? She focused her mind on calm thoughts - the ocean, a sunset, a quiet night. His thrashing stilled and he let them pull him the rest of the way into the musty-smelling van. He sat up and wiggled the sheets off his body in the same instant Sango slammed the driver's side door. The van was dark. Only Sesshoumaru's tail and hair shimmered, though not as beautifully as they did underwater.

~We're getting you out of there.~ Kagome managed to convey. She touched his broad shoulder, but frowned when it still felt sticky. ~Does that hurt?~

Sesshoumaru settled quietly atop the pile of sheets. His beautiful hair hung around his body like dried out straw.

What was taking Sango so long?

Kagome started to crawl towards the back of the van. She froze at the sound of Naraku's voice approaching from the left.

"…and you didn't know it was low on gas until just now?"

"That's right." Sango's calm answer was on the right, the driver's side. "I'm glad I checked when I did. Better I take care of it now, before somebody takes it out to the boat and can't get back."

"Sure." Naraku's boots tapped past the rear tires.

Kagome hurriedly locked the back doors. She ducked across Sesshoumaru's flukes when Naraku turned his head. Her heart squeezed in on itself. Beneath her, Sesshoumaru flexed his tail.

"Sango!" Kagome hissed.

Naraku jiggled the door handles. He hopped onto the rear bumper. Keys rattled in the lock.

Sesshoumaru growled.

"No!" Kagome reached back to stop him.

Sesshoumaru turned himself around easily using just his arms. He coiled his tail beneath him like a snake and lunged at the back doors. His claws broke the window, knocking Naraku aside and spraying glass halfway across the parking lot.

"Bitch!" Naraku snarled.

"Go!" Kagome screamed at Sango. She fell against Sesshoumaru when the van peeled backwards, then sped forward. The wheels bumped over the curbing. In the rear window, Kagome saw a black Kawasaki motorcycle headlight flick on.

"He's tailing us on his motorcycle!" She yelled.

"I'll try to lose him." Sango's answer was muffled by the wind whistling past the broken rear window.

A large, unwieldy van versus a nimble, maneuverable motorcycle didn't strike Kagome as great odds for escape. Especially when she heard a loud bang followed by the clank of something slamming into the back door. She peeked out the window to see Naraku holding a silver revolver in his right hand.

"Damn, he has a gun! Sesshoumaru, stay down!" Kagome shoved the merman to the van floor when another shot broke the other back window. "Sango! Are you okay?"

"The bullet missed me! Hang on, I'm about to break a ton of laws!"

The van turned, throwing Kagome and Sesshoumaru against the left wall. Sesshoumaru's claws scrambled for purchase on the metal floor. He was drying out again and losing strength. He laid himself down on the pile of sheets. Kagome held onto his shoulder as the van rounded another sharp turn.

"Stay with me," she whispered, stroking Sesshoumaru's hair. "Sango, he isn't doing so well!"

"I'm doing the best I can!" Sango replied.

A semi horn blasted from the right. Kagome heard another pop and ducked, covering Sesshoumaru's body with her own. She lifted her head to see out the back window. Naraku was still on their tail, his wavy black hair whipping like tentacles from the base of his black motorcycle helmet. He was a dark, nimble shadow against the glare of city lights and car headlamps.

The van jolted over a bump. Sesshoumaru wasn't even trying to brace himself anymore. He barely responded to Kagome shaking his shoulder. His mind was far too quiet.

"We're coming up on train tracks!" Sango shouted.

Kagome heard the warning bells. Then she heard the crack of Sango blowing through the gates and felt the rattle of wheels bumping across tracks. Naraku slammed on the brakes and disappeared from view when the train roared between them.

She recognized the cross-streets. They were only one mile from the ocean. The sky was slowly brightening with the first hints of dawn.

"We're almost there…"

Sesshoumaru looked up and parted his dry, cracked lips. His fangs gleamed between them. Kagome felt something pull on the depths of her being like a too-tight string.

"No!" Kagome took his face in both hands, forcing him to look at her. "You're not going to die." Her eyes welled up until his image blurred. "Fight!"

~Pain. Too dry.~ Sesshoumaru answered her.

Kagome closed her mouth and struggled through panic to convey how close they were to the sea. She bent towards his face and kissed him softly on the mouth. The sticky substance on his skin came off in strings. It tasted as salty as seawater. She stayed bent over him as the van slowed and, mercifully, turned off the road. Sand rattled in the rims of the tires.

The van halted near the surf. Kagome heard the waves crashing against the beach. She unlocked the back doors and they swung open to reveal a milky sky above choppy water.

Sesshoumaru didn't appear to be breathing. Kagome leaned over to rest her cheek near his lips. She did not feel any air movement. Would rescue breathing work on someone whose main oxygen input came from water?

Sango appeared on the right. "Is he okay?"

"No. We've got to hurry." Kagome grabbed Sesshoumaru around the middle while Sango took hold of his tail. Both women grunted with effort to drag the listless merman out of the van and carry him to the foamy water's edge. The surf knocked Kagome onto her knees. Sesshoumaru's tail slipped out of Sango's grasp with a wet splat. Salty spray blasted Kagome in the face.

"How is he?" Sango asked. Dragging Sesshoumaru left her out of breath. She tried to wipe her hair from her eyes, but it fell right back into her face.

"I don't know," said Kagome. Another wave rocked her on her knees. She watched as Sesshoumaru's beautiful hair spread out amidst the foam.

The sun broke the horizon just then. Kagome saw the blue of Sesshoumaru's lips and the pallor taking over his skin. He was as cyanotic as a drowning victim. His eyes were fixed and unresponsive. She touched the side of his throat. There was still a pulse, but she barely felt it. He wasn't making any efforts at respiration.

"Come on, Sesshoumaru." Kagome pleaded with him as she scooped up handfuls of water and poured them on his face. In desperation she wrapped her arms around his waist and dragged him further into the surf. The next wave washed over, submerging them both in cool, frothy water. She could see his lips starting to pink up and rubbed his face to stimulate him back to consciousness.

Sesshoumaru blinked his eyes and squinted in the morning light. He moved his mouth like a fish, gulping in water until he was strong enough to roll over and lift his head to meet her eyes.

Sango's voice broke the silence. "Kagome! We have to go. Naraku is going to catch up any second!"

"You go!" Kagome answered.

"Are you crazy? He has a gun!"

"And he's looking for a van."

Sesshoumaru's ears twitched. Kagome saw visions of a motorcycle rounding the last bend to the beach. Before she could say anything further, Sesshoumaru grabbed her around the middle and carried her further into the water.

"Kagome!"

"Go, Sango!" Kagome managed to say. The last thing she heard before the water closed over her head was Naraku's motorcycle roaring onto the beach.

Sesshoumaru swam fast over a patch of sea grass. Kagome gripped his hand tighter. She hadn't taken a good breath, and her lungs screamed. He pulled her close, gripped the back of her head and kissed her, and the burning in her chest disappeared. She was able to inhale and exhale. He spat something viscous into her mouth before pulling away. Gagging, Kagome covered her mouth and nose so she wouldn't involuntarily inhale.

And realized that she didn't need to. Whatever Sesshoumaru injected into her mouth shut off her need to breathe without suffocating her. He answered her silent question with images of skin against water.

A splash sounded when they reached the pier. Kagome glimpsed dark hair and silver, and then the crack of gunfire underwater. Everything beyond that happened in flashes.

Something bright green on Sesshoumaru's fingertips.

Naraku rocking back.

Sesshoumaru releasing Kagome's hand.

Naraku and Sesshoumaru wrestling for the gun.

Black and white hair mingling.

A flash of movement.

The gun falling away.

Then Naraku floated past Kagome, his mouth wide open. Blood poured from his throat in crimson clouds. He made two spasmodic attempts to breathe before his eyes rolled back. His black hair surrounded him as the current carried his body away in a bloody trail.

Sesshoumaru's face emerged through the blood in the water. He flashed a small smile that might have been sweet if it weren't for his fangs.

~The cruel one is vanquished.~

Kagome nodded slowly. She'd never seen another human being die before, and tried to shake the image of Naraku out of her mind. Sesshoumaru cupped her cheek in his palm. His golden eyes searched hers.

~I had no choice,~ he told her.

~I know.~ She met his gaze.

Sesshoumaru took her hand. He led her away from Naraku's body. They swam through shafts of sunlight and clouds of sand. He pointed out fish and shells. Sometimes, he let go of her hand to swim circles around her, his moves so graceful he almost defied gravity. This was his domain. In it, she felt as clumsy as he was on land.

How unfair was life?

How could it show her someone so beautiful, but create him from a world she could never be a part of?

How could it grant her his presence, knowing the impossibility of their relationship?

Kagome was glad for the water. It kept her tears from showing.

She kicked to keep herself upright and watched Sesshoumaru leap out of the water like a dolphin. His pale face came towards her in a cloud of bubbles. He looked at her with soft eyes holding the same realization.

They loved each other.

Why didn't their differences seem to trouble him?

~Don't despair.~ Sesshoumaru took Kagome's hand again. He pulled her close and their lips met. For a heartbeat the hottest volcano could not compare to his kiss. She wrapped her legs around his waist, kissing him as if devouring his soul. His shoulders shook in a soundless chuckle. He embraced her and kept on swimming, completely unencumbered by her weight around his waist. Kagome watched Sesshoumaru's hair ripple across his pale back. Every one of his muscles flexed and relaxed against her chest and stomach. She felt the power within his body each time he flicked his tail. Not even the current swayed him.

Underwater, in his domain, Sesshoumaru was Lord.

Why was the most perfect man for her a fish?

They surfaced near a beach Kagome vaguely recognized. Sesshoumaru showed her the same image at night. This was the secluded shore he brought her to shortly after they met.

Kagome crawled onto the sand. She coughed up the mucus plug in her throat and spat it on a rock.

"I wish you could talk," she sniffed, blinking salt water off her eyelashes. "I wish I could make you understand what people will do to you if you're caught again."

Sesshoumaru just flicked his tail against the surf. He looked at her through the silver fringe of his wet bangs.

She started to cry, and turned away.

"Damn you!" Kagome covered her face. "You make me fall in love with you when it's impossible to love you! I can't live in the water. You can't live on land. It's not fair!"

Sesshoumaru settled on his belly, propped himself on his elbows and just watched her. His face remained an impassive mask. The sight of his alien, yet beautiful form cracked Kagome's innards open even further.

Kagome sat down in the sand. Her wet clothes, cold and nearly transparent, clung to her body. She drew her knees to her chest and rested her cheek on top of them.

Sesshoumaru crawled forward, parked beside her and assumed the same pose - or tried, at least. Kagome couldn't tell if he was mocking her or trying to understand her body language.

You're a fish and I'm a mammal, Kagome thought bitterly.

Suddenly, Sesshoumaru pounced. Kagome fell backwards under his weight, drowning in his kiss and the strength of his hands. Nothing mattered when he touched her skin. She slipped her shirt and leggings off and let him take her, and they strained together amidst the sparkling white sea foam. Kagome fell into Sesshoumaru again and again and was blessed once more with the sound of his soft moan.

When it was over, she relaxed under the warmth of his body and listened to him breathe. His breaths were always shallower than hers.

"Do you even understand what I say?" Kagome whispered against Sesshoumaru's pointed ear.

Sesshoumaru picked his head up to peer at her. His delicate eyebrows dipped in a frown that slightly distorted the moon on his forehead. He closed his red eyelids and moved his head in a slow nod, sending her memories of listening to people in the lab chatter constantly. Sometimes Naraku left the TV on all night long while he slept at his desk.

She touched his bottom lip. He had such a cute, boyish mouth. Then his fangs came out as he playfully nipped her fingertip.

"Then it's not hard." Kagome stroked his chin. "If you can moan, you can talk."

He shook his head, slowly, and bent to kiss the side of her throat.

She sighed. "I wish we could be together."

Sesshoumaru kissed her ear and sat up. He showed her open water. They had to leave.

Kagome got up, shook the sand off her soggy clothes and pulled them on. Reappearing naked on a crowded beach just to walk home would not make the best impression, though the idea seemed to amuse the merman crawling back into the surf. Once underwater, Sesshoumaru kissed her and passed her another salty mouthful of slime that didn't taste at all horrible. It was like swallowing jelly.

Sesshoumaru swam languidly with the current. He never grew tired. As they powered through the water, he reflected Kagome's wish back at her. Then he gazed at her with questioning eyes.

~I wish it, too.~ He seemed to sigh, but his face remained a mask.

Because once they reached the pier, they would have to part ways. Sesshoumaru could never venture near land again without risking his life. Kagome clung to his hand. She'd return to a normal life forever changed.

~I won't forget you, Sesshoumaru.~ Kagome held his hand tighter when she saw the cement pillars of the pier in the distance. ~I promise.~

Sesshoumaru fixed her in his penetrating eyes. ~I will always be here.~

They were still a ways from shore when their heads broke the surface. Kagome took Sesshoumaru's features in one more time. His silver hair, his pale skin, his violet moon, his maroon stripes, his pointed ears, his fierce golden eyes and his boyish mouth. So beautiful, so alien…

"I love you," she whispered.

Sesshoumaru pecked her on the mouth and dove, his silver tail and gold flukes slapping the surface. Kagome watched his shimmering form glide away until he disappeared beneath reflections of the sun.

Just like that, Sesshoumaru was gone.

Kagome swam back to shore in a daze. She spat out the gel that helped her survive underwater and turned back towards the ocean. Somewhere out there, he would always be. But not with her. They were a fairy tale, and all fairy tales ended.

o0o

Six months went by.

Kagome cleaned up her apartment and returned her life to some semblance of normal. When she went on dives, she still watched for signs of Sesshoumaru. He never reappeared.

She tried dating - and while she met many men she liked, they just didn't compare to the merman she couldn't forget.

Which was why she now sat sullenly in Hojo's car while he drove her home in the middle of a nasty rainstorm. Hojo had grown taller and more handsome than his high school days. He'd even changed his hair into a stylish, long shag that made him look a little like a bad boy.

"That was great sashimi," Hojo prattled on. "I don't think I made many friends in the karaoke bar, though."

Kagome snickered. "Afraid not, Hojo. But it was pretty funny watching you imitate Britney Spears. I don't think I have the guts to try that."

Hojo's cheeks turned bright red at that. He laughed as they pulled up to her house and came around to open her door like a gentleman. His black umbrella popped open, shielding her from the rain. "May I walk you to your door, Kagome?"

"Thanks." She took his outstretched hand, but didn't hold his arm when they walked together to her door. "I had a good time." She bit her lip, "maybe we can do this again sometime?"

"Sure!" Hojo's shy smile was undeniably cute. He was too shy to kiss her, though, and she wasn't sure she wanted him to.

Kagome fished her keys from her purse and unlocked her front door. "Good night."

"G'night, Kagome." Hojo bowed slightly. He turned and his footsteps splashed in puddles when he walked back to his car.

Kagome closed the door, turned the deadbolt and dropped her keys on the foyer table. She took her shoes off without stepping off the indoor welcome mat and dumped them in their cubbyhole next to the door. Then she shrugged off her green rain coat to hang on the hook inside the foyer closet.

She had just set out her supplies for hot tea when Hojo knocked on her door again.

"Just a minute!" Kagome grumped at the interruption. Leaving the teabag on the counter, she stomped towards the door. "What did you forget this time, Hojo? I swear, you do this on - " she got the door open, " - purpose."

Except the figure in her doorway wasn't Hojo. Not unless Hojo grew six inches taller and found himself a fantastic silver wig.

Standing in her doorway, wet and naked except for a white floral bed sheet, was Sesshoumaru.

Kagome stared up at his face in utter confusion. Her eyes traveled slowly downwards to the pair of legs and bare, clawed feet poking out from under the sheet wrapped around his waist. Maroon stripes marked his calves and the outer edges of his feet.

"Sess-Sesshoumaru?" She covered her mouth with one hand and took two steps back. The vision before her defied logic. He was supposed to have fins! Beautiful, silver fins with golden flukes!

Sesshoumaru took two graceful steps forward. He let go of the bed sheet and it caressed him as it fell away, revealing that he had everything a man was supposed to have. Nothing about him looked different except for his legs. He still had his alien, uncanny beauty. His golden eyes still pierced her soul. He wasn't a merman anymore, but he definitely wasn't human, either.

"Kagome," he said, his voice deep and soft against the rain falling outside. He spoke her name like he'd used language all his life.

Kagome's eyes overflowed. He could talk!

"H-How?"

"Because." His small mouth smiled slightly, revealing his fangs. He reached out and touched her face. "You wished it."

She stretched out her hands and cupped his cheeks. He had absolutely flawless skin, and his hair flowed like satin between her fingers. "You gave up the sea?"

"You don't live in the sea." Sesshoumaru answered simply. Then he bent and captured her lips in a fierce kiss that stole her breath away. "I don't want to be where you can't live."

Kagome forgot how to breathe again once Sesshoumaru's mouth migrated to her throat. Her heart throbbed like a bird set free. Sesshoumaru scooped her up bridal style and carried her to the couch. She shed her clothes when he descended upon her, his hair reflecting the amber of the street lamps outside.

The rain continued its relentless attack on the pavement, but Kagome hardly noticed it. Sesshoumaru surrounded her like the storm. She felt guilty about the nights she spent lamenting the day they met because he obviously hadn't done the same. Then he slipped into her and she forgot all about their separation.

Afterward, as they lay sweating and panting in the afterglow, Kagome realized the how's and why's didn't matter anymore. The only person she could ever love was right there in her arms.