Chapter Text
Did you hear the news, Nirei had jabbered at him earlier that morning over the phone. They caught poachers just off the coast by you. The phone had crackled with the unsteady connection and Nirei’s breathing. He was talking so fast that every time he was forced to stop for breath it came loud and staticky through Haruka’s speaker. He wished he had paid closer attention to what Nirei had told him now.
He had come down to the beach to do some collecting - clams for the clam bake Tsugera wanted to have on Friday and seashells to trade with Hiragi when he went to town - and maybe a little fishing in the tide pools. There were usually a few crabs worth grabbing but fish were always hit or miss in the pools. He still would go to check, even if he walked away empty handed. Today the tide pools looked like something closer to a murder scene. There was blood everywhere.
The pools were rocky and tucked along the jagged, curving cliff side that was crowned with a lighthouse. Most of the ones closest to the beach were so shallow that the water barely covered the tops of Haruka’s shoes. There were a few deep and wide enough that the water would cover his head before his feet touched the bottom. He supposed that those weren’t really classified as tide pools. Either way it didn’t really matter.
Because at the midway point of where the tide pools along the cliff side connected with the woods and sea there was a body. Even with the hazy, soft blue-ish light of the barely overcast morning Haruka could see sparkling patches of bright white, stark black, and what he thinks is red. That part he wasn’t sure about because the squirming, thrashing, and very much alive body was the source of blood. He vaguely remembered Nirei saying something about the apprehended poachers having cut their nets before capture.
The revelation of an aquatic humanoid species living in the waters of their planet had happened years before Haruka was born. So the sight of a very clearly not entirely human creature wasn’t entirely a shock. The blood had been, no doubt. Haruka couldn’t get a good look at them. Between the blood, the net tangled around them, and the thrashing they were doing it was next to impossible to make out anything other than a smear of colors.
“Well,” he mumbled to himself as he watched where he stepped along the slick rock around the pools. “It’s a good thing I usually have a knife on me.”
The aquanids, which was a stupid name in Haruka’s opinion, were a very intelligent species. Several of them who had pods near human settlements could understand human languages and some could even speak some of those languages. Haruka really hoped that this was one that could at the very least understand him. Especially since he was probably going to have to cut them out of the net.
The thrashing had stopped, but a choked whine came from them that made Haruka speed up his approach. Up close, it was easier to see that their scales were black, white, and a reddish-orange. It was also easier to see that the net was strangling them.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” Haruka said in a soft voice as he set the bucket down.
He didn’t even realize he was speaking until it was out of his mouth. His focus had zeroed in on the face of the trapped aquanid. He could only see part of their face and he kept eye contact with the wide brown eye bright with terror that hadn’t left him since he’d spoken.
“I’m gonna come closer,” he stayed slightly crouched. Vague memories of making yourself appear smaller when approaching scared and potentially hostile people surfaced in the back of his mind. Probably from some weird foreign movie Nirei made him watch. He left his hand in his pocket with the knife as he got closer. “I’m gonna cut you out, okay?”
It was easier to tell more about them the closer he got. Things like they were likely a he and that he was heavily injured. That he was young, likely close to Haruka’s age. That he wasn’t going to just listen and trust Haruka. That last one was made obvious when Haruka got almost within arms reach of him and he started thrashing again.
“Don’t- don’t move please.” Haruka nearly fell when he tried to move too fast to stop them. “You’re just making it worse!”
The boy -Haruka decided that it was easier to just think of him with human terms- the boy had his hands pinned to his chest by the net and Haruka could see where it was digging into his skin from how tightly wrapped it was. He’d gone limp and still after Haruka had shouted at him. Almost like the fight had drained completely out of him. Haruka knew better, but he hoped that maybe he’d get out of this without getting attacked. Either way he’d get yelled at by Hiragi.
Everything was slick with blood or uncomfortably dry. Which was saying something, Haruka wasn’t someone that lived in the water and he was uncomfortable with how dry parts of the other boy were. The boy’s eye watched him, full of suspicion, and he bared his very sharp teeth at Haruka when he reached for some of the netting around his neck.
“Yeah, yeah,” Haruka grumbled out loud. The netting was tight enough that he could see the purpling of bruising already showing up on the boy’s neck. “You’re very scary. Unfortunately, Hiragi is scarier than you.”
It took a bit of work to find where to cut to stop the net from strangling him. It wasn’t lost on Haruka that every time he made a cut that the other boy flinched. That after he’d cut away what was choking him and moved on to freeing the rest of him, the boy would hold his breath every time the knife got close. A particularly finicky part had been where the netting was tangled with the boy’s fins. The whimper that had escaped him when Haruka’s knife had pressed against him told Haruka a lot about what the last 24 hours had probably felt like for the other.
“Almost done,” he said softly and soothingly. It was the gentlest Haruka had been in a long time. He leaned back when the last piece was cut away and slid the knife into his pocket. “Alright, let’s see…”
Talking aloud was an unfortunate habit he’d gained when he’d moved into his own place. Living alone had given him a few quirks and habits that Tsugera insisted were great virtues and Nirei laughed about. It seemed that this particular quirk of his was proving helpful now though. The boy had stayed still apart from the small movement of opening and closing his hands.
“Should probably check your injuries, but I don’t have any bandages on me,” he narrated his thoughts. “Maybe move you closer to one of the deeper pools, though I don’t think you’ll fit in them. It’s probably uncomfortable to not be wet.”
Haruka wondered, not for the first time, if the boy could understand what he was saying. Or if he was too exhausted from everything and just listening to the strange words from a strange human. No time like the present to figure shit out.
Haruka looked at the boy’s face. “Can you sit up?” He barely stopped himself from asking another question.
The boy didn’t look like he could be much older than Haruka if he was older. Haruka doubted it. The littlest bits of baby fat that still clung to his cheeks and jaw didn’t help him any when he growled a little at Haruka. It was hard to see him as scary when his growl sounded like it hurt and when his arms shook as he pushed himself up. He was almost gasping for breath when he settled.
“Can I move you to one of the pools? You’re too big to get in them fully but it’ll probably help.”
That time he had to sit under a very scrutinizing look. It was… cute. The way the boy’s nose scrunched and how the weak sunlight made the one eye that Haruka could see clearly glimmer an almost red color. The boy nodded after what felt like years taken directly off Haruka’s life span.
“I’m not dragging you over there. So I’m gonna pick you up, okay?”
Another nod, this one much more hesitant. Thankfully for Haruka, the boy wasn’t quite old enough to have claws even if he did have fangs. So when he gasped and gripped Haruka’s shirt when he’d lifted him, Haruka didn’t have to worry about getting clawed or his shirt getting destroyed. He did have a small concern over having those fangs so close to his throat. But it was small, even if he’d had them flashed at him twice now.
“Okay,” he mumbled as he steadied himself. The boy was much lighter than he’d expected him to be. Pressed against him like he was, Haruka could feel the way he was trembling and the weird almost unnatural chill of him. He wobbled a little when he went to take a step. “Easy, I’m not gonna drop you.”
Haruka had never encountered anyone who was as suspicious and jumpy as he himself was. Though he supposed if he’d had to go through what he assumes this boy had, he’d probably be the same way. He was just thankful that the boy seemed to have decided that Haruka wasn’t going to hurt him. Or resigned himself to whatever Haruka wanted from him. That one hurt a little.
Haruka had dragged the netting further up and just out of reach of high tide once he’d gotten the boy settled by one of the pools. He’d also texted Hiragi. If anyone was gonna know anything about this crazy situation Haruka had found himself in, it would be the guy who studied marine life for a living. Or at least he hopes he’s helpful.
Dr Shark
What do you mean you’ve got a problem that only I can help with?
Migraine Causer
I dunno. You know anyone else who knows a lot of folks with fish tails?
Dr Shark
You give me stomach pains.
Migraine Causer
Yeah yeah. So does Kaji and Ume.
Migraine Causer
You gonna tell me what to do to help him or what?
Dr Shark
Don’t leave him at the tide pools. That much blood in the water is gonna attract predators. Probably already has.
Migraine Causer
So what? I take him to my house and put him in the bath tub?
Turn on the shower and water him like a plant?
Dr Shark
Ideally, no. But you can’t really bring him to the center right now either.
Migraine Causer
Right, well. He ain’t gonna fit in my tub.
Dr Shark
Just do your best to patch him up. A cool damp towel will help keep his tail wet.
Dr. Shark
He hasn’t said anything?
Migraine Causer
No. Though with how dark the bruising on his neck is, I’m not surprised.
Dr Shark
Right. We’ll talk more later.
Call me if you need anything else.
Dumping buckets of salt water over the head of someone injured was probably not Haruka’s best idea, but it was the best he had with what he had on hand. The boy hadn’t done more than just take it the entire time. Hiragi had mentioned that the boy might start showing signs of shock and blood loss. Especially blood loss.
He hadn’t moved much at all when Haruka had sat next to him and told him what Hiragi had said they should do. Just nodded his head a little when Haruka had asked him questions. The boy looked exhausted and his eye a little glassy. When Haruka went to pick him up again to take him home, he was warm. A fever wasn’t anything to be too concerned about, according to Hiragi, but it was still concerning to Haruka.
Somewhere around the time Haruka started up the steps to his yard and the front door, the boy had passed out. It made the process of disinfecting and bandaging him easier, but it didn’t help Haruka not worry more. Neither did the fact that he didn’t wake up when Haruka put him in the tub. Haruka resigned himself to sleeping on the floor of the bathroom and texting Hiragi all night. He was too worried to do anything else.
Dr Shark
I’ll come by to check on him tomorrow.
Migraine Causer
Call when you get here and I’ll let you in
Dr Shark
Duh. I’m not Kaji.