Umi no Uta

Author's Note: Ok, from here on, the chapters will switch off between Kuroi's experiences and those he left behind's experiences. I would really appreaciate feedback. Thank you.

~*~Chapter 6~*~


“Is he alive?”

“I’m not sure. You shake him.”

“No way I’m touching him! He might lash out! You did, you know.”

“Wasn’t my fault! You uh…”

“Was too your fault. Now…do you think he’s alive or not?”

“He doesn’t look dead.”

“Can’t know for sure unless we touch him and see! His chest isn’t moving…”

Kuroi’s consciousness swam in murk. He could hear two people near him, talking. Their voices were faint and unfamiliar. Where was he? He tried to shift, letting out a silent moan. He froze suddenly as he felt a gentle touch on his neck.

“He has a pulse! And I heard a moan! He lives!”

“That’s good. He has a chance, then, of getting back to whatever life they took him from. How old is he?”

“He doesn’t look much older than 20…but not younger than 17. He’s either barely adult or almost there.”

“Young! What were they thinking?”

“Do you really want to know, Kenji? I don’t think I do…”

"I think I’ll agree there, Dragos. For once, I’ll agree with you.”

“Should we wake him?”

“Probably better to wake him naturally. If we force him awake, he could have nasty side effects.”

“Too true. Alright. You take first watch protecting him from them, then. I’m going to sleep as much as I can.”

“Fine by me. Might be better for him anyways, to wake up with someone who’s been here longer. Rest well, Dragos.”

“Keep him safe, Kenji.”

Kuroi tried to shift, panicking when he felt someone lay near him. He tried to cry out, but nothing got through the murk he was swimming through. What was wrong with him? He felt helpless, absolutely helpless. His breathing rate increased rapidly, hyperventilating unconsciously.

“Shh…hey, little one…It’s ok…”

Someone was talking to him now. Kuroi felt strong arms wrap around him. They weren’t Akusuko’s…this one felt completely different. Where was he? He began to panic once more, attempting to thrash out of the other’s arms.

“Hey, calm down, young one…You’re safe right now. I’m not going to harm you. You’re still suffering from the sedative the human’s shot you with. It’ll wear off. Calm down, breath slowly. You’re alright. I’m not going to hurt you…I promise you that.”

Kuroi took a deep breath, willing himself to listen to the stranger. Gradually he forced his eyes to open, staring up into bright green eyes. He blinked curiously.

Green eyes smiled. “Well good morning, sleepy.”

Kuroi yawned slightly, blushing in embarrassment. He couldn’t move very well, still, but he was able to speak. “Who? Where? What?” He asked, unable to formulate intelligent thoughts.

“Well, my name is Kenji Ryrogo. That over there is Dragos Mir. You are in a giant tank somewhere in the human world where people wish to oogle at us and do whacked out experiments.”

Kuroi blinked. “Humans? Akusuko is where?”

“First tell us about yourself, little one. We’ll exchange stories and maybe that will help answer your questions.” Dragos stated from behind Kenji, swimming into a reclined position with a yawn.

“Dragos, he’s just woken up. He is probably scared to death and thus won’t spout off his entire life’s story to us! Idiot!” Kenji smacked Dragos on the head. While Dragos complained, Kenji turned his attention back to Kuroi. “Don’t worry about what he said. Tell us what you’d like. We’d prefer a name and maybe a clan, if you have one, but no more than that.”

“Kuroi. No clan ‘nymore. Destroyed.” Kuroi replied, yawning again. He shifted slightly. The murk had cleared a lot since his eyes opened, but he still felt sluggish. “Feel weird.” He stated, belatedly realizing he was slurring his words.

“Those are after effects of that dang sedative they shot you with.” Dragos replied stretching out. “They’re a pain to get out of. Just keep focused on trying to move a little at a time and you should be fine.”

Kuroi nodded slightly. He looked up at Kenji curiously. “Clan? Yours?”

Kenji sighed and looked forlorn. “I was in Metsubo.” He replied softly. “Though I’ve been gone for so long I wonder if anyone even remembers me there…”

“D’ntte an’ ‘Kusko said somethin’ ‘bout k’nji.” Kuroi slurred.

“Dientte? Wait…you know the people in Metsubo?”

Kuroi nodded slowly. “Kels’ ‘ad me put in ‘subo ‘fter Shir an’ Das fought.” He slurred.

Dragos sighed. “Oh stop interrogating the youngling!” He growled at Kenji. “He’s slurring his words, and that’s not a good thing. Remember what Shizuko said! Give him a few more hours then ask about your clan.”

Kenji stared at Dragos for a long time, making Kuroi squirm from the tension building between the two. “Alright. I apologize, Kuroi. I’d forgotten.” Kenji stated monotonously, still watching Dragos. “You need as much rest as you can get. Please sleep and don’t worry about us bothering you.”

Kuroi sighed, his eyes getting heavy. These two were confusing him. Perhaps they were right, though…and sleep did sound so inviting…

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Kuroi shifted and stretched, sleep finally leaving him. He let out a big sigh, settling down once more where he slept, muttering to himself about uncomfortable surfaces and how Dientte was going to get a berating from him about that.

“Ah, the youngling awakes.”

Kuroi jerked up and away from the sardonic voice, rapidly looking for a place to hide. He ran into something behind him that chuckled, causing the youngling to freak out even more.

“Woah…calm down there, little one. We’re not going to hurt you.”

Kuroi backed quickly away from both mermen, stopping only when he ran into something clear that blocked his way. He began to panic once more.

“Little one! Stop thrashing! You’ll call attention to yourself! We don’t want them to know you’re awake yet! The humans will…”

Kuroi stopped, clicking out panic and fear. Receiving reassuring clicks in return he finally found his voice. “Who are you? Where am I? Where’s Akusuko? Where’s Dientte?”

“Well, for starters, I am Kenji. That’s Dragos. I’m from Metsubo and Dragos is from Tiamat. You were captured and sedated heavily by some humans and brought here. Where here is, we have no clue…we only know that we’re on land inside a tank. I have no clue who Akusuko is, and Dientte’s the elder for Metsubo so I assume they’re both safe in the ocean.” Kenji rapidly replied to Kuroi’s inquiries, causing Kuroi’s head to swim. Kenji panted softly.

Dragos snickered at Kenji’s rapid reply. “Since he seems to be unable to speak much, and we’ve been thus far open to you…you get to answer some of our questions. What is your name and clan? If you don’t have a clan, where do you reside? How many cycles do you have?”

“Ah…I’m Kuroi. My clan was destroyed, so I resided in Orden until recently. Elder Kelso moved me to Metsubo because of…family problems. I have seventeen and one half cycles.” Kuroi bowed his head, hugging his arms around his chest.

Kenji and Dragos both moved beside him, taking the youngling into their arms. Kenji broke the silence soothingly. “Don’t cry, little one. We’ll do our best to help protect you…”

Dragos nodded, though Kuroi couldn’t see the gesture. “Hopefully we’ll actually get things planned. Not all the humans here are mean…one is a sweetheart and she actually keeps us well. In human terms, she “owns” us…even though we are sentient and all, humans don’t think we’re more than animals. So she regulates the scientists workings…”

A beeping startled the three, causing Dragos and Kenji to sandwich Kuroi between them. Kuroi felt Kenji’s arms wrap around his midsection, pulling the youngling close to the adult. He peaked over Dragos’s shoulder and began to quake with fear. Something was being lowered from the top of the tank. Kuroi could make out the outlines of humans in strange garb standing around the surface. Their voices were muddled, but Kenji whispered into his ear the translations of the strange speech.

“ ‘They’ve taken a liking to her.’

‘So you think we actually got a female this time?’

‘Look how protective the other two are! That’s got to be a female!’

‘She doesn’t have mammary glands…’

‘Not all species have breasts.’

‘They look partially humanoid and they tested into the mammal category…’

‘That means nothing!’

‘We should have looked around more. I’m sure that is a male!’

‘Why would they be so protective? Look, we’re not going to accomplish anything standing around! Let’s separate the three and do tests on her.’

‘The boss isn’t here, though!’

‘Look, I don’t care! I want to run these new tests!’ ”

Kuroi began to quake with fear. “Kenji…” He whispered in fear. “What are they going to do to me?”

“I don’t know, little one. They’ve never done anything bad to us…” Kenji replied.

“Well, whatever they’re doing,” Dragos hissed, “they’re going to try it on Kuroi. I don’t like that…where’s Shizuko?”

“Shizuko?” Kuroi asked curiously.

“Don’t ask now, Kuroi. Be ready to struggle a lot. If they grab your arm, lash out with your tail. Do you have a tail spike?”

“Yessir.”

“Good. If they try anything, attack.” Dragos said shortly. “Don’t hold back.”

“I haven’t developed poison…” Kuroi whispered.

“Don’t worry about that, little one. Just try to fend them off for as long as possible.” Kenji whispered. “We’ll do our best to get over and help you.”

Kuroi flinched as he heard a few splashes from the surface. He felt Kenji’s arms wrap around him tighter, saw Dragos get into a more defensive stance. He watched as two pairs of barbs and spikes grew from Dragos’s arms, another set growing from his tail.

Suddenly the approaching humans stopped, swimming back to the surface. Snapping their heads up, the three were able to make out shouting. Kenji began to laugh while Dragos just shook his head, spikes receding back into his arms and tail.

“Looks like that answered my question.” Dragos replied.

“I’ll translate for you.” Kenji whispered.

‘What do you think you’re doing? You don’t have my permission to enter the tank at all. You are all now officially on probation from touching the tank! Work with the samples you currently have. Don’t ruin any of them either, damnit!’

‘Ma’am, we were just trying to get some samples off the female.’

‘Well, you should have bloody well asked me first! First mistake! Second mistake: not informing me the MOMENT the newcomer was waking up! Third mistake: diving into the tank like that! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? You could have contaminated the already delicate ecosystem within the tank! Ask first! I get any and all samples from them!’

‘But Ma’am…’

‘No buts!!!!! GET OUT OF HERE! You are all dismissed until further notice. GO!!!!!’

“That’s it.” Kenji replied, releasing Kuroi from his grasp. “That’s Shizuko. She’s really nice. She doesn’t treat us badly.’ Kenji whispered to Kuroi. Kuroi blinked and just stared at the surface. “Come on, we’ll go introduce you…”

Kuroi followed slowly behind Kenji and Dragos, heading to the surface where the human was kneeling next to the tank. He followed the other’s examples of sticking their heads out of the water, staring at the human.

“I’m sorry about them, guys. They had no right to do that…”

Dragos grinned. “Shizuko, that was such a joy to watch!”

“Eh hehe…Did they do anything to you?”

“Nah, they only started in after Kuroi was well awake. Oh! Sorry! Shizuko, this is Kuroi. Kuroi, this is Shizuko.”

Shizuko smiled at Kuroi. “Nice to meet you, Kuroi.”

Kuroi shivered, shrinking back from them. “Ah…” His eyes rolled back into his head, sinking back into the water as a dead weight.

“Ooo, did he just faint?” Shizuko asked curiously.

Dragos sighed. “Apparently this was too much for him. Will you be staying here for a while, Shizuko?”

Shizuko nodded. “I do live here now. It is my facility. Give me a call when he wakes up…”

Kenji stared down at Kuroi, following him into the water. Noticing a glint in the water, he lashed out with his tail, feeling a slight shocking sensation run through him. Shaking his head, he stared at what he just broke.

“Well, Dragos, it looks like Kenji’s just found one of the cameras the scientists hid in there…” Shizuko stated loud enough for Kenji to hear.

Kenji swam up to the surface slowly, blood staining the water. He whimper-clicked in pain. “Dragos…” He whimpered.

“Shizuko, could you patch him up…I’ll go get Kuroi to a more comfortable spot…”

Shizuko nodded, putting her hand into the water for Kenji. “Give me your tail, Kenji. I’ll see what I can do for you.”

Kenji bit his lip, flipping his tail into Shizuko’s hand. “Sorry, Shizuko…” he whispered after hoisting himself out of the water enough so he could see what was going on (and give Shizuko some leverage). He occasionally stuck his head back into the water to wet his gills, but always kept an eye on her job.

“Just don’t get destructive with that part of your tail…” She replied, cleaning the wound. After a few minutes, and Kenji whimpering the entire time, Shizuko managed to get the glass out of Kenji’s tail and stitch the wound closed. “There. Just be gentle. Now go get some rest. I’ll go prepare you food. Yell for me when he wakes up.” She stood, brushing off her knees.

“Yes, ma’am…” Kenji cheeked, diving back down to where Dragos had dragged the unconscious Kuroi.

“Cheeky brat.” Shizuko replied, heading off into the lab.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

FYI: my merfolk's defenses--in my fantasy world, merfolk have developed unique defense systems. Most have the ability to grow spikes and barbs from their tails or limbs. In Kuroi, Kenji, and Dragos's case, since they're all the same basic "mammalian/predatorial fish" shape (tails), they can grow spikes. Some, like Kuroi's species, develop poisin sacs that paralyze their enemies. These sacs don't usually develop until the merman/woman is 20 cycles. Each of them have more defenses than just the spikes, but let's wait before telling you this. Some will be revealed in later chapters.