dragons and mermen (bokuaka)

Gift

Since bokuto gave me those flowers, I want to give him something back. The only question is, what would he like? There are flowers down here sure, but they won't survive on the surface for more than a day. I go swimming around, thinking of what I could get him, when I see something shiny glisten in the sunlight reaching down here. I swim towards it and fins something I'm sure he'll like! I go over and see a skeleton, and gag slightly. By the looks of it, he's been there for quite a while. But never mind that, there's something he might like on his finger. 

It's a simple gold ring, but he is a dragon, and they love their hoards. Surely he'll love this. But I Wonder what this skeleton is doing here. I mean don't get me wrong, there are plenty of human skeletons in the ocean, but their usually near shipwrecks. This guy though, is about 20 kilometers away from the nearest shipwreck, way too far to be from it. I peak to the surface and see a cliff. That's about it. Odd, this seems familiar. Oh well, it's probably nothing. I leave without giving it a second thought. As I'm swimming back, I examine the ring. It seems to be too small to fit him, but if I put it on some string or something, It'll work fine, and he can just wear it around  his neck.

Out of boredom, I slip the ring into my finger, not expecting it to fit, but to my surprise, it does. That guy and I must have had the same ring size. I take the ring off and continue swimming home.

When I get home, I dig around for a bit, before I find some string and tie it through the ring. Satisfied with my work, I go to the usual meeting place. "Morning kaashi!" He says smiling. I like his smile. 

"It's afternoon bokuto-san." He paused for a minute. 

"Oh! Right. My bad." He laughed it off. "Anyways, how are you doing?"

"I'm doing okay. I found a skeleton near a cliff while I was swimming around."

"And you're not phased by that?"

"No. There's a lot of skeletons out there. How is this any different?"

"Oh. I think I saw a human jump off a cliff once. She died once she hit the water."

"What happened?"

"I tried to save her, but she died. I overheard other humans talking about it. I think it's called suicide or something like that?"

"Maybe that's what he did."

"I don't know. Nither of us were there for that. Oh yeah! I almost forgot!" he reached in his pocket and pulled out something covered in silver. He unwrapped it and I saw a brown thing. 

"What's that?"

"I think it's called chocolate. I tried some earlier, and it tastes really good! Try some!" He said handing some to me. Hesitantly I put it in my mouth, eating the thing. I blinked a few times, and swallowed after a minute.

"That's good."

"Yeah!" 

"Thanks for letting me have some bokuto-san."

"Ah, it's nothing akaashi!" We stayed together talking more until the sun began setting. Just as he was about to fly off, I stopped him. "Is something wrong?"

"No, I just almost forgot to give this to you." I said, holding the ring by the string. 

"OOH! That's really pretty kaashi!" He mumbled something, but I brushed it off. He knelt down and I placed it over his neck. He smiled and admired the ring. "Thank you!" He said, and grabbed me for a hug. His skin was warm, kind of hot. But I didn't mind it, and hugged back. 

"No problem bokuto-san." I said as he let go. 

"Well, I'd better get going. It's getting pretty late, you know?"

"Yeah. I'd better get going too. The ocean can get dangerous at night." 

"Night akaashi!" He said, before flying off, and I dove back into the ocean swimming back to my home.