Modern Monsters

Nalunani the Mershark & Katori the Mermaid

Female Main Character x Male Monster

When I was first born, I was hand chosen to be the bride of the Oyabun's son. I am a Koi, and was thus deemed the most acceptable mate for my future husband. I was also chosen for my colors, the golden spots amongst the pearly white scales of my tail and body. Not only that, I was born with a rare face spot on my face. In the eyes of the Oyabun and the rest of the tribe, I was considered good fortune and would bring prosperity and wealth to my future husband. I was raised to be ready to take on such a hefty role. Everything was planned before me. My every movement, my every action, it was made up for me.

I was also kept under heavy guard, no one was allowed to touch me or speak to me without the permission of my father or future husband. I was told over and over how lucky I was and how I was going to enjoy my life once I was married. I would be rich and powerful, they all said. But really, let me be honest, my husband would be rich and powerful. Me? I was just like one of the servants in the mansion, just more decorated and more chained.

I dared to dream of escaping this life, of being more than I was and what was predestined for me. The ocean was so big and I had seen so very little of it. I dreamed of traveling the world like mermaids before me. But my dreams were only hurting me in the long run. Such hope could suffocate me.

Then the day came that the wedding was announced and my misery grew. Reo, my future husband, barely ever saw me. We had dinners together every so often and, while I knew everything about him, I didn't know him at all. I heard rumors of him having many girlfriends on the outside. And yet if even one of his guards looked at me for too long, that was a punishable crime. How was I supposed to tolerate such obscenely high double standards? Let alone being married to a man who only saw me as a garden for his children?

The wedding was fast approaching, and I was suffocated further and further. One of my guards, Touma, who had become my confidant and friend since he started guarding me when I was very young, could sense my worry. He was one of the biggest guards, covered in tattoos down his back and arms. Some of the tattoos had become misshapen with all the scars on his body. His long blue tail was thick and sturdy, and the fin had been replaced by a prosthetic.

"I could be killed for saying anything against Reo," he tells me one evening through my locked door. "But if you are so miserable now, it will only get worse."

"I know." I sit by the door so that we can talk. "But I don't know what else to do, Touma. And the ideas I do have-" I stop myself from going further.

"What ideas, Lady Katori?" Touma insists.

I sigh and wrap my arms around myself. "I know of a way to contact the Nalu."

Touma goes very quiet and I can hear the water shift ever so slightly. "The Nalu?" He whispers back. "How do you know of this?"

"My mother," I whisper. "Her brother works for him."

"But your uncle was killed," Touma murmurs.

"Oyabun wanted that to be true. But the Nalu saved him. My uncle has been loyal to him ever since and has been keeping secret contact with my mother for years now. She told me, if I am scared, she would ask her brother to send word to the Nalu."

"Lady Katori, if you do such a thing, that could mean war!" Touma hisses. "You cannot be thinking such a thing."

"I don't care what training and power Reo has. You know as well as I do how unstable he is. Do you think that any of us would survive his reign?" I sigh and clasp my head in my hands. "I told you it was a crazy idea!"

Touma is silent again for a long time. "If you have such a letter, now would be the time to send it."

Touma agrees to deliver the letter to my mother. When he does, he reports back to me that she is taking it directly to her brother and she would stay with the Nalu's tribe until they come and attack the compound.