A Siren's Pretty Face

Michikatsu stared at the disturbing but beautiful face. The being's face had a dark gray skin tone, it probably lived deep into the ocean. Its eyes were a deep red with black sclera to make the illusion that it wasn't there. The creature had red marks over his face, shoulders and lower belly. It wore black cloth around his chest and silver jewelry around his waist. Michikatsu stared longer than he intended, but could you blame him? The creature was absolutely majestic.

It hissed at Michikatsu, which caused the human to step away. The creature glared at Michikatsu, baring its fangs. "Hey, it's okay. I'm here to help y-" Michikatsu turned to Maru, whom growled at the creature. It glared at Maru and hissed back, causing Maru to bark louder. Michikatsu frowned and went to Maru to calm him down. "Buddy, be quiet okay?" He gently patted the dog. Maru huffed but kept quiet, carefully watching as Michikatsu walked back to the creature.

The human was careful to make himself look smaller to not look as threatening, he understood the creature's defensive stance. "Hey there... I'm going to help you, alright?" The creature glared at him, a hint of confusion in its eyes. It clearly didn't understand what language Michikatsu spoke and he frowned. This was going to be hard.

Michikatsu turned to the being with a gentle smile. Slowly, he made sure he avoided those sharp nails of the creature. Now that he had a better look at the tail, it reminded him of an anglerfish (which made sense since both that type of fish and this creature lived in the deep sea). Michikatsu gently placed his hand on the being's tail, causing it to huff and hiss in pain. He simply ignored it and tried to figure out on how to take this harpoon out...

A few minutes passed but he couldn't think of anything without excessively harming the other. "I'll be back, okay buddy?" Michikatsu got up and grabbed his phone out of his pocket and looked for the number of the old folk he bought the house from. He remembered that the old man knew how to handle harpoons and whatnot.

Michikatsu pressed on the call button and waited until the old man, Yasu, answered. "Yes? Who is it?" He asked, sounding tired. Michikatsu didn't blame him, it was already quite late. "It's Michikatsu, the one who bought your forest home." "Ah Michikatsu-san! How has the house been? Is everything alright?" Michikatsu sighed softly. "The house has been fine... Uh, you know something about harpoons, right?" Yasu let out a confused noise. "Indeed, I've made harpoons for almost 30 years. What's the problem? Do you want to know how to use one?"

Michikatsu didn't speak for a few seconds. "Well... Not exactly... I found a... fish with a harpoon in its tail." The creature turned to Michikatsu and glared at him. It clearly understood some words and it was apparently very offended. Michikatsu smiled nervously and turned his attention to the phone again. "A fish you say? Okay. Can you get close to it?" Michikatsu looked back at the wounded creature. "I'll try..." Michikatsu slowly walked closer to the other.

"I'm not going to hurt you, okay buddy?" The creature hissed at him, showing his sharp teeth. Michikatsu yelped and moved his hands into a protective position. He sighed softly and took his shoes and shoes off. The redhead rolled his jeans up and walked into the cold water. As he shivered from the cold, he walked towards the harpoon that stuck out of the water. He held the phone to his ear again. "Okay, I'm near it." Yasu hummed in response. "What type of harpoon is it? You need to look at the top-" "I know Yasu-san." Michikatsu grumbled slightly. "I can't read it, the words have faded... But there's a button under it. What's that for?"

Yasu was silent for a minute, which concerned Michikatsu. "Yasu-san?" "Sorry. Does it have multiple buttons? If not, press on that button and very gently pull the harpoon out. But you'd need to have a piece of cloth or something so the fish won't lose blood." Michikatsu sighed softly as he watched the creature try and wiggle itself out of the harpoon. "Right, thank you for helping me. Have a good day, Yasu-san." "You aswell, Michikatsu." Michikatsu hung up and put his phone in his pocket.

Michikatsu walked back into the water and gripped his shirt, ripping a piece off of it. He placed his hand on the tail of the creature and pressed on the button on the harpoon. He felt the harpoon's point get loose and carefully watched the creature's reaction. The creature hissed at the movement and looked at Michikatsu, its face distressed. "It'll be okay, I promise."

The creature slowly nodded, laying its head down and trying to relax its muscles. Michikatsu smiled softly and began pulling the harpoon out and making sure he didn't let go of the button. The creature whined in pain as the rod left its tail. Michikatsu watched the creature and lifted its tail, holding the piece of cloth under the now open wound.

Once the harpoon was out of the creature's tail, Michikatsu laid it on the shore and began wrapping the cloth around the wounded tail. He gently laid the tail back into the water and stepped out, his dark purple eyes locking with the creature's deep red ones. The creature looked distraught, rightfully so. It panted, trying to stay awake.

Michikatsu frowned softly and looked around for anything he could give the other to feed. The creature watched Michikatsu, shaking softly. Michikatsu turned back to the creature and smiled gently. "I'll find you some food, okay?" He got up, causing the other to flinch and hiss at him. Michikatsu stepped away, holding his hands out in defense. "Calm down, I won't hurt you."

The creature huffed and used its hands to splash the dirty water on Michikatsu's face, a shit eating grin on its face. It seemed that it did know Michikatsu wouldn't hurt him. Michikatsu stared at the creature with shock. "I saved you and your response is splashing water, dirty water on my face", he deadpanned and used the rest of his shirt to wipe the water off of him. "I even had to rip a piece of my shirt." Michikatsu sighed and walked to Maru, gently patting the dog's head.

"What do I do with it?" He huffed and sat down, rubbing his forehead. He watched the moon, it was already going down. Michikatsu looked around and spotted a few fish. "Maybe.." Michikatsu grabbed a small knife out of his pocket and walked towards the fish. He quickly stabbed one, watching it squirm before bleeding out. "Sorry buddy..." A frown grew on his face as he brought the fish towards the still injured creature. Michikatsu gave the other another gentle smile and pushed the fish towards the creature.

The creature grabbed the fish with its webbed fingers, smelling it, presumably checking for traps or poison. After a few minutes, it quickly swallowed the fish, purring happily at the taste. Michikatsu smiled softly and sat down. The creature crawled closer to Michikatsu, staring at Michikatsu with a glint of happiness in its eyes. "Thank you."