AN: Unfortunately, I couldn’t participate in the Sesskag SAFE event this year but I liked the look of their merperson prompt so I made this. Hope I can join next year (though I don’t know due to uni. Maybe I’ll have failed by then lol) And yus I have far too many stories going on at once. I’ll get to the second chapter of this and Aroma soon, uni is kicking my ass atm.
Enemies to Lovers Prompt: “don't touch me.“ “okay. shall I leave you here to die, then?”
Warning: some gore.
*Jaws music plays*
----
A party was in full swing upon the sleek white luxury yacht, which had dropped anchor out in open ocean. Far off the coast of Malta, it was content to maroon itself in the sweeping, lulling waters of the Mediterranean.
Music blasted, alcohol poured liberally, Charlie liberally shared. Tipsy, tanned partygoers talked and danced. Some people paired off, sucking at each other's necks in corners or heading below deck for other activities, bikinis stripped away.
Kagome felt quite secure with Jiro. As Eri's cousin, he was an easy-going guy who had made her comfortable the second she'd stepped off the plane for a holiday with her high-school friend fresh out of college. Thanks to him and his flatmates, she's experienced snorkel diving, shopped in Bugibba, explored the catacombs, cut her foot in the Blue Lagoon, and gotten wrapped up in the nightlife and drinking culture. She'd all-around had a blast in the summer sun, going a tad wild as a result. Therefore making out below-deck didn't feel too outlandish. Eri had flitted between a few men during the holiday but Kagome had found herself mostly talking with the smiley, amiable Jiro.
Alcohol dulled her senses a little, warming her body with a pleasant, lulling heat. Jiro tasted like beer and aftershave, pressing her back into the bedding of one of the only available rooms. Continuous pounding music vibrated through thin walls as she wrapped her legs around his waist. Outside, the world gleamed in the sunny, cloudless sky, not that she could tell. Without any windows, the room felt compact and claustrophobic, their kisses too loud.
Still, she continued to kiss him, riding cloud nine- made loose from the sun, buzzing alcohol warming her veins and-
Something cold and metallic closed around her wrist. Kagome's eyes fluttered open, slow to react. A second cuff tightened around her other wrist.
The bubble burst.
"What are you doing?" Kagome muttered, blinking slowly. She tried tugging her arms, realising they rested beside her head. She couldn't raise her wrists much, feeling resistance, a chain jangling.
"Making sure you-" Jiro kissed her again, "-don't go anywhere. I'll be right back," he muttered, kissing down her stomach and drawing away.
Kagome jerked and frowned, turning her head and focusing on the handcuffs binding her to the headboard, tugging. "V-very funny, Jiro. I'm not into this though… let me go, yeah?"
"No can-do," he slurred a little with a wink. "Need to grab another beer and uh… I guess a condom. Usually wouldn't bother but you're Eri's friend, so…"
So I'm likely to hear about it if consequences happen, was left unsaid.
Kagome felt like she'd been doused in cold water. Perhaps he meant it in a joking way. Maybe she was supposed to think he was a riot as he rose from the bed and adjusted his pants to try and mask his semi hard-on. But she didn't feel like laughing.
"Jiro- this isn't cool. Get these off now, I mean it," her previously slurred voice sharpened. "This isn't funny!"
Jiro just made a 'two seconds' gesture, closing the door behind him.
Chest tight, Kagome tugged at her wrists again.
Okay, calm down. He's going to come right back.
But he'd left the door unlocked at a party with at least 20 people. Anyone could walk in and…
Kagome paled, a rush of vulnerability shooting through her chest. What if he forgot about her?
She looked at the cuffs.
What if he came back and didn't let her go? She didn't want to kiss him anymore, much less do anything else. She'd trusted Jiro before but that trust had now fizzled out like a whimpering firework. Clearly she didn't know what he was capable of.
She began twisting her left wrist, trying her best to squeeze her hand through the cuff opening. Sensitive skin cried out in protest. Kagome grit her teeth, panting a little. It did no good, hand not budging enough to slip free.
She was working on her hand when the room tilted- boat groaning and metal screaming as something hard hit the bottom, shaking every surface. Kagome gasped, rolling on the covers. Were it not for the cuffs, she'd have fallen to the floor. "The heck?"
The room tilted back into place, boat swaying on the water.
She couldn't hear what was happening above, but a sense of unease twisted in her stomach.
----
Above deck, the partygoers had stopped, muttering their confusion.
"Did we hit a reef?" Eri asked.
"The anchor is down. Boat ain't moving," the owner of the yacht slurred, rubbing his head while people peered over the side of the boat.
"Hey, guys," Jiro stepped up into the waning light of dusk. Blood matted his short hair, having taken a bad fall due to the unexpected lurch. "What the hell was that-?!"
The yacht jolted again, sending everyone stumbling and crying out. Jiro was sent flying, toppling overboard.
"Jiro!" Eri cried out, hearing a splash from her position.
"Oh my g- SHARK!" someone else screamed, pointing at glittering waters. Within the vast stretch of blue, a sharp white dorsal could be seen gliding downward beneath the boat, a tail-fin flicking up and disappearing soon after.
“Someone pull him up!” a woman shrieked.
“It’s okay, the shark won’t bother with him,” one of the locals muttered in an exhausted sounding tone that bespoke his irritation with tourists.
Rapid footfalls could then be heard below deck.
“Luis! We’re taking on water!” someone called from the stairs.
“The fuck?” Luis grunted, hurrying down to check the damage.
Panic swept through the air, people scrambling to grab the two hefty lifeboats and lug them into the water. Everything was happening at once, with many people slow to react out of confusion- others panicking.
Eri scrambled to the edge of the yacht, leaning over the bow to look for Jiro, who surprisingly was nowhere to be seen. She paled. There was no sight of the large shark either.
“Guys,” she called, “Guys! I don’t see Jiro!”
Suddenly arms resurfaced, her cousin breaking the surface of the water, accompanied by a burst of crimson pluming into the waters.
The screams were sobering. Jiro wailed his agony, panicking and trying to climb onto the yacht, fingers unable to find purchase on the slippery side. Everyone who had climbed onto the first lifeboat assisted with hauling him from the sea, shocked into brief silence as the stump of his left leg was revealed, soaked in blood.
“God damn it,” Luis, the owner of the yacht looked at his vessel as it began sinking beneath the waves, jumping into the second lifeboat. He’d assessed the damage, and it was unprecedented. Unable to be stopped or covered up. Something had ripped a sizable hole right down the hull of the boat. There were no coral reefs nearby and they had dropped anchor. Nothing had hit them except…
Except for perhaps that shark.
Sweat beaded on his forehead as he turned to the passengers. “Oi! Is everyone out?”
Eri lept down onto the lifeboat, too shaken by the sight of Jiro bloodied and panicked to really take notice of all the passengers.
“Yeah! I looked!” someone else called, lying through their teeth. “Whatever, just go man! That guy needs to get to the hospital!”
“Someone radio for help! Fetch a Life Guard, Coast Guard, sea rescue, anything!”
The locals didn't answer, either ignoring the exclamation or not having the heart to inform the hysterical guy of the reality of partying on Malta waters.
“The radio is back on the yacht,” Luis pointed out, watching a large tail fin flick up again within the waves further away like a pacing tiger. “I don’t like my chances going aboard. Let’s go.”
Eri tried to get a good view of Jiro on the other boat, worried beyond belief for him. The panicked partygoers paddled away, leaving the sinking vessel to its fate.
---
The radio was still blaring obnoxiously. Kagome couldn't hear over its booming volume, continuing to tug at her wrists with frustration.
“Damn it- Jiro!” she snapped. “You better get back here soon!”
What an asshole. She’d show him a thing or…
Blue eyes widened, hearing the sound of lapping water. Kagome turned her head and looked over the edge of the bed as best she could. Seawater ran beneath the bottom of the closed door, rolling in like a mini-tide. Fear tightened a heavy noose around her neck.
Slivers of water were soon joined by a wave that eased the cabin door open- and from what she could see, more water began rolling below deck.
“H-hello?” Kagome called, voice breaking. She began tugging at the bedpost with more vigour, rattling the metal chain between her cuffs. “Anyone?! I’m down here!”
There was no reply. Everything lay eerily still save for the gentle disturbance of water sloshing through the yacht. She felt the bed tilt- boat dipping sideways slightly.
It’s sinking, she thought with distant panic. The boat is sinking and I’m...and I’m…
Kagome began twisting her hands madly, crying out when metal protested against her skin. She’d likely have to tear some flesh to get free but at least it meant not drowning!
Trying to lick and lather her hands and wrists in saliva to try to help ease them free, she became absorbed in the task.
There was no time to be outraged by her abandonment. Time was the main issue. From the looks of things a few moments ago, the yacht was taking on water fairly quickly. Who knew how long she had lef-
Liquid soaked her bare feet.
Kagome squealed, paling. “H-holy shit.”
The water level had already risen to the height of the bed, steadily climbing higher. It began tipping onto the sheets. Heart in her throat, Kagome yanked violently at the restraints, looking around for something to break them. She tried straining- reaching for and picking up an ashtray nearby on the nightstand. Smashing it against the chain, she tried with all her desperate might to squeeze her hands free from the cuffs.
“Please!” Kagome began to sob. “Please just let me go!”
Her hands were bleeding by now from the abuse of unforgiving metal, but it helped to slick her skin. Hope lept into her heart as she managed to slip her right hand free.
“Yes!” she exclaimed.
The outline of something caught her peripheral vision.
With the room half full now, water lapping around her waist, Kagome stiffened, freezing in place despite the need for haste.
A dorsal fin slinked through the waters of the hallway, creating ripples behind it. The monstrous horror churning in her gut was completely at odds with the cheery summer music still blasting from the radio. She felt complete and utter panic grip her limbs, rendering her unable to move.
Hurry.
She couldn’t budge.
Move!
The ripples changed as a tail-fin flicked up, the sharp, white dorsal fin drifting back to the entrance of the bedroom.
Kagome paled, a scream locked behind her teeth as water swallowed her shoulders. How the hell had a shark found her so damn quick? Was that normal? She remembered the blood leaking from her wrist into the water, and abruptly jerked, yanking hard on the remaining cuff.
“Fuck-fuck-fuck- no! NO!” she cried. "I will NOT be shark-food!"
All sorts of grizzly scenarios began racing in her panicked mind. It was going to eat her. Tear her into tiny chunks and she’d die a painful, violent death without ever getting the chance to kick Jiro in the-
“Calm yourself.”
Kagome stiffened, whipping her head around. Seawater lapped against her chin. She couldn’t see anyone, but a silky male voice had definitely spoken.
“H-hello?” she called. “Help me, please!”
No good- the room remained empty aside from herself and the lingering shark as it swam around the room, fin drifting closer.
Kagome had no choice but to suck in a long breath and sink down as best she could beneath the surface. Black hair flowed up around her hair as she planted both feet on the bedroom wall and yanked with all her might against the cuff, ignoring the pain and strain in her hand. She’d likely break it if she continued but who cared if it meant living-
A hand closed over hers.
Kagome jerked against the touch, eyes snapping open to meet slit pupils. Luminous golden eyes shone with all the vibrancy of a yellow moon- framed with white lashes.
A broken cuff drifted by Kagome's frozen face in the current, and she dazedly flexed her suddenly free hand. Ignoring the handsome, mysterious stranger in favour of air, she swam upwards, breaking the surface and gasping for air- her head bumping the ceiling. Only a head-space amount remained free of water within the room.
N-no way!
Something sleek brushed her ankle, and Kagome jerked as golden eyes became visible, the stranger’s head surfacing nearby.
“Don't touch me!” she hissed, heart thundering.
The pale man with exotic markings on his face arched a brow, silver hair fanning around his chin on the surface like a sleek curtain. “Hm, very well. Shall I leave you here to die, then?”
Shuddering Kagome squeaked as the water level rose. Her nerves were burned out. She was operating on prey instincts now. Fight or flight. Unable to take more than a single gulp of air, she plunged downwards and looked for the exit buried beneath the seawater.
Her lungs were already protesting, but a floating lamp bumping the back of her head only worsened matters- bursting her mouth open before she could even swim. Water immediately flooded inside.
She panicked for half a second before a firm mouth closed over hers.
Stiffening, Kagome jerked and swallowed the seawater, coughing as a tongue prodded between blunt teeth, allowing air to flow in. Choking- bubbles erupted between them, before her swiping hands locked onto the pale man’s shoulders. It took a moment to get the hang of things, but eventually, Kagome calmed, gripping onto her saviour. He felt cool to the touch. His body was strong, webbed fingers cradling her waist.
Blue eyes cracked open, and Kagome froze as she noticed the rest of his lengthy body. A dorsal fin where human anatomy merged with a lengthy tail at his lower back caught her attention first, an array of magenta stripes lashing over his hips and waist leading down to a fanning white shark tail.
Horror painted her features.
The handsome man’s pale face- which had been blank up until this moment- pulled away from hers and transformed into a jagged curl of his lips, flashing incredibly sharp teeth. Golden eyes darkened.
Before Kagome could protest, strong arms pulled her closer about the waist, tail thrashing to send them careening through the water at an alarming speed. They cleared the room and hallway in seconds, swimming out of the sinking ship to drift out into open water.
Instead of releasing her or heading for the surface, the creature forced more air into Kagome’s lungs in a bruising kiss, soon drifting away with her struggling form in tow into a vast stretch of clear blue waters.