It Started With A Kiss (A Kisame Story)

Chapter 1.

She was having the dream again.

She’d had it so many times now, she could recite it off by heart, even if a few details changed each time. But it was one Umi had had for as long as she could remember. There were always images of her changing; of her staying that way, with a presence being by her side that entire time—but the moment that presence disappeared, she returned to her usual form and was left alone. A feeling of sadness and despair always overcame her in the dream when she was on her own in the darkness, and it was only when the images returned that she felt better. Some things she didn’t understand; several clouds always appeared and drifted her around her; but not the usual kind. These were black and red, and hand drawn, not natural. They were from somewhere, clearly; a symbol for some sort of place or group—but how would Umi know? She knew nothing of the larger world out there. But then they would disappear, and finally someone would reveal themselves from the darkness. He didn’t look like most people she’d seen, and at first he had almost scared her. But the more she saw him, the more she saw the genuine emotion on his face and the smile that appeared; he was strangely handsome, and she felt a connection, even if she didn’t truly know who he was. When his image appeared in the dream things always felt better, and when he disappeared, everything changed to darkness. But so much of her life was connected to him, she understood that; and then just like always, the dream ended with it all blending into one, as one word came from the silence:

Kisame.

Waking up, Umi took a deep breath and slowly began to open her eyes, staring up at the dappled sunshine flickering through the canopy of leaves above her for a moment. It was going to be a beautiful day, a slight breeze whispering through the trees but blue, clear skies and a temperature that was just right. To begin with, however, Umi didn’t feel like moving from her spot. Whenever she had that dream—that vision, whatever you wanted to call it—it always brought up thoughts about her life; about the direction it was going in. So much of it was uncertain, and so much of it she was unsatisfied with. She could make up stories and lie about her identity and true personality, but it wasn’t exactly enough; the idea that she had a life, in the end, was a lie in itself. With the way she was living now, it wasn’t quite the way everyone else’s was. Umi had accepted she was different a long time ago, but even those who were different had a chance. And yet Umi was 24 now, and things didn’t seem to be wanting to change any time soon. Maybe ‘Kisame’ could help; but when was he going to turn up? She couldn’t wait for him forever—especially when she didn’t even know how he was supposed to fit in with her life. And how was she supposed to do a thing, anyway, if she couldn’t even go on land for more than one day a year?

Sighing in irritation, Umi finally decided to get up, and glancing onto the shore for one last time, she dived under the water, flicking her tail to head round to the other side of the lake—at least there she could get some breakfast. Because that’s what was different about Umi. She was human—but not like most; and not always. For the majority of the time...she lived as a mermaid. A half life that was never really completed; an emptiness that meant that although she was human; although she understood everything on shore with what she had read and she knew she belonged up there...she could never truly be one with it. There was only one day—her birthday—that allowed her to return to her birthplace. She’d get this feeling in her tail, and when she swam up to the surface, her legs would come back, and she’d be able to walk again. It always took a while to get used to, considering she was used to swimming most of the time...but it was the day she lived for. Though she could communicate with the sea creatures in the lake, it wasn’t enough. They fit in with their environment; they looked like they were supposed to for the lake. But she didn’t. If she went up as she was now, she was weird and different—but it remained that way when she swam to the bottom.

Finally spotting the place she’d been looking for, Umi resurfaced, resting her arms on the rocks and leaning her head on top of that, calling out gently to the animals who were in the trees nearby. Her abilities included talking with animals, as she had lived with them for most of her life, and as such they could understand her, bringing her over the fruit that grew in the trees when she asked. Though she could eat what she found in the lake; the usual sea food and stuff, once she had tried some fruit when she came up on land once, she couldn’t dismiss it from her diet afterwards. There was so much more variety up there, and ultimately it meant she did what she could to change things around. Thanking them, she began to eat, chatting casually as those from the lake joined her too, pondering what she was planning on doing today. There was only so much space she had, after all, considering she lived in lake and sometimes that area was made even smaller when groups of humans began to arrive.

People in the village knew of her existence; she was sort of a legend in the area. But she was more solid and real than most spirits or ethereal creatures in the world, and as such a lot of the villagers were wary of her, and tried to keep their distance. A lot of the time it was the children she spoke to, having been dared by their friends to go and find her, and curious about her when she surfaced and began to talk to them. Sometimes when travellers passed through she got a chance to talk to them if she felt it was okay, but overall she had been told to avoid humans as much as possible. Her power was covetable, and therefore people might try to take it. Lots of people knew about the rumours about her, and she’d never know who might turn around and try to take it from her; who might try and use it for purposes she was against.

Not that Umi agreed.

“Did you hear? There might be a group of villagers coming down here for the day; fishing, swimming...all kinds. I might go visit,” she suggested to the fish who had swam up next to her, one of whom she was very familiar with; but he quickly shook his head, responding firmly,

“You can’t, Umi! You know you can’t trust the humans; especially the villagers. Just stay away from them.”

“Come on, Sakana. There are thousands of people in the world; and not all of them can be out to get me; not everyone’s goal could be to steal my power and use for their own needs. And even if there was somebody who was trying to get my power, it would be a little more complicated than just turning up and dragging my out of the water. If you remember, I can’t use my abilities to their full extent unless I’m in human form; and if you haven’t noticed—that’s a very rare thing. They have to get the key first if they’re going to get anywhere. You just worry too much,” Umi replied dismissively, rolling her eyes as he looked at her sternly, before sighing. Regardless of whether she listened to Sakana or not, getting up and joining the humans on shore was still an impossible task; and therefore she brushed it off for the moment, suggesting sweetly,

“Alright then.  How about we both go for a swim instead? To take our minds off of it?”

Now at that, Sakana perked up completely, nodding and darting off through the water. Umi giggled, but followed on swiftly—at least this way she might be able to forget about the humans and what they could offer her.

But what Umi didn’t know was that the situation concerning her abilities wasn’t about to be so complicated anymore. She tried to find out as much as she could about what was going on in the world, having done pretty well so far—but there was only so much she could know. Especially when it came down to those who kept to the shadows, hiding from the general population and for most people to not even know who they were. If Umi had known that people were after her—and very close by—that very moment, she might have chosen her words more carefully. If she had known that the key that had been hidden for so long was now in their possession, she might have tried to hide as much as possible. But instead she raced through the water, chasing the waves and thinking about going to visit the humans—even just going to observe for a while. For so long Umi had dreamed of finally being human; and all of the time, not just for one day, and always wondered if it was ever going to happen.

But whether it was going to be such a good thing when they arrived was a much more difficult question to answer....