Aiko turned her attention away from the person on the bed. She really had asked the wrong question. It was almost like this person was appalled by the idea of being a siren. Aiko would not have that, being a siren was amazing, people feared you once they knew.
Aiko looked back down at her hands, the purple webbing between her fingers slightly glinting in the sunlight that came from the window. What was outside that window? If there was no beach what was there?
Aiko pulled the bed sheets off of her and made way over to the window. Walking more, for some reason felt a little bit more natural now to Aiko. It was as easy as swimming at this point. Making her way to the window, she could see many tall buildings, 'wait that's what they're called?' scattered along as far as she could see. It was an odd sight to see to say the least, it was unlike the homes and colonies of the mer and siren.
After looking out the window for what was probably a few hours, a young lady walked in with a clipboard in hand. At the sound of the door opening Aiko turned her head towards the door. When she finally looked at the door, no-one was there. 'What?' Turning her head even further she found a second door, 'When did that get there?' and a young woman standing in front of it.
"Ahh, you're awake," The woman started, "You can leave now if you wish, as you only seemed to just pass out for some unknown reason. We tested you while you were out and all your vitals seem normal. If you have any problems feel free to come back." The woman then left the room. Aiko was left alone with her thoughts. Well there was the person next to her but she was essentially alone. Seeing as the woman said she could leave, Aiko made her way towards the door the woman left from.
The hallways was empty when she stepped outside of the hospital room. The Fluorescent white lights being the only thing giving life to the barren hallway. 'Which way does she go?' Aiko turned her head left and right. One end only ended in a window and the other end had a door that matched with the sterile white colour of the walls. Seeming the door was better than a window, Aiko made her way towards the door.
Pushing her way through the door, she was met with a large open room. Many people were sitting on chairs that were lined up in a neat orderly fashion. And other people were behind a too big of a desk, either on some sort of device that was held up the side of their face, 'weird' or talking to people on the opposite side of the desk and sending them to go sit in the array of chairs.
Seeming as no one was paying attention to her, she made herself comfortable on one of the many chairs, making sure she was by herself. 'What does she do now?' Aiko looked down towards her hands, splaying open her fingers to see the sheer purple webbing between her fingers, 'Why did that stay?' Aiko pondered the question for what seemed like too long when she snapped out of her thoughts when a loud yell was heard, "Get me discharged!"
Why did that voice sound familiar? It was like Aiko had heard that voice before but from where? She had not been on land for very long and no one from her pod would be on land, so who could it be? Lifting her head up and away from her hands she saw a head of messy brown hair, and the same orange and purple eyes of the person who she shared a room with.
Finally someone who she knew she could talk to! She stood up quickly and made her way towards the person, millions of questions swarming in her head of what to ask first, when she suddenly came to a halt. This person did not like her presence, if going by the fact that fainting was a human tradition in showing that you don't like someone.
Aiko made her way back to the chair she was sitting on, 'Who would she go and ask her questions to? No one knows who or what she is, and she is sure once they find out they'll want to harm or possibly even kill her!' Figuring that asking someone who did not know anything about her was a no go, she was left with only one option. The person who for some reason does not like her.
Coming to that conclusion, she stood up and looked back to where she last saw the person, although they were no longer there. Aiko looked around frantically, where did they go! Catching a glimpse of brown hair leaving through a glass door, Aiko followed suit. Hopefully this was the person she was looking for.
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The person was in fact who she was looking for. She followed behind the person at what she deemed a safe distance. The person stopped at some weird place for a little bit, and grabbed something weird, and then continued walking to a tall building.
And that then leads to the situation Aiko finds herself in. Crouched in an uncomfortable position where she could still see the person. Aiko's legs hurt, not as bad as having shark teeth sunk into her tail bad, but bad enough that she changed positions, making a few noises as she did so. She stayed in that position for what seemed like ages, until the person made their way over to a door and went inside.
Aiko stayed in her position until she deemed it safe to move. She explored the area in which the person was before. Looking around and touching all the different items. After exploring the area, she made her way over to the second door she never saw the person enter. Making her way over to the door and opening it, she was met with an unfamiliar sight, not that everything she had seen so far was unfamiliar. She made her way into the room, closing the door behind her with a soft click.
The room was cold, now that she was fully inside of the room. The room was covered in darkness and as she made her way around the room, she tripped on something super solid and fell down with a loud fud. She was sure that if this person was not asleep they would have definitely heard the noise. Aiko waited for a few moments, waiting to see if she could hear anyone coming. She was met with silence, deeming the silence safe she started to mutter to herself, cursing to herself in merfolk.
A cold object was placed on the back of Aiko's head and she froze, cutting off her muttering in an instant. Too afraid to move she stayed stock still.
"Who are you and what do you want?" a voice came from behind her. Aiko recognised the voice, it was the person who she followed. Aiko tried to explain herself but nothing came out, only quiet puffs of air instead of words. The object on the back of her head started to move, moving towards the front of her face. Once the object was in front of her face it slowly moved down, still pointing towards her, but no longer touching her face. Aiko was grateful for that. Aiko's eyes were tainted towards the ground. She did not want to know what expression this person was making. A small noise was made and Aiko looked back up towards the person waiting for the words to come.
"Why are you here?! Who are you?!" The person said loudly, not quite a yell but pretty close to it. The object made contact with Aiko's skin again, prompting Aiko to speak.
"I'm Aiko! We were in the hospital room together!" She explained. A look of confusion crossed the person's face.
"Okay… why are you here!? You know this is breaking in!" the person said back. 'What was breaking in?'
"I was? I'm sorry I didn't know," She said back, looking at the person with an inquisitive look.
"Okay, you can leave now," the object was taken away from her head, "You are really pissing me off you bitch" their free hand moved to their head as they shook it. It was at this moment that Aiko realised that she never actually got an answer to her question at the hospital.
"Are you a siren?" She asked. A panicked look crossed the person's face, 'Where they going to pass out again?'
"How about I ask you this," the person started, moving closer towards her face, "are you a mermaid?" A small smirk blooming on his face.
A small gasp escaped her lips, and her cheeks heated up. How did they know? She was pretty sure she looked like a human. Maybe they saw the webbing between her fingers.
"I-I… um" She was at a loss for words, what was she meant to say, yes? And reveal who she was.
Wait.
How did they know mermaids existed? If they were on land for ages and was possibly a siren, how would they know mermaids existed? Then she thought,
'Do I really look more mer than siren?'
"How… did you know… mermaids exist?" She asked, looking up at the person before her. How did they know they existed?
"I am a siren," they simply replied. Moving their hand towards Aiko's face and spreading their fingers wide, the orange webbing widening with their fingers. They then pointed towards their left knee. 'What was so special about their knee?' Aiko squinted her eyes, hoping to see what it was that this person wanted her to see. In a small moment the room lights flickered, and in that brief moment she noticed the orange scales on the person's knee. She then looked back up at the person and looked into their eyes, yeah this person was definitely a siren.
"You're like me?" she mumbled to herself, although she was half mer it was still practically the same thing. The person must have heard her as they then said,
"No… we are much different then each other, so very different," They placed the object down on some weird thing with a hole in it, they then asked,
"So are you gonna leave now?" as they pushed her out of the room they were currently in, as soon as they stopped pushing her looked down and shook her head, no she was not going to leave, she needed answers to this weird human world.
"Leave!" the person suddenly yelled. Aiko looked up so fast that she nearly got whiplash, wait a second, Who did this remind her of? Suddenly a memory from a few years ago flashed in her mind.
'Aiko was happily swimming along the corals of her home. It was a nice day for those around her, everyone was smiling and happily chatting with one another. It was nice to say the least, seeing everyone she cared for being so happy.
It was a few days after her father had taken down the leader of a mafia group that threatened the safety of her own pod, and in celebration of his success the pod decided to throw a celebration for him.
"Hey Aiko!" Someone from behind her yelled. Aiko spun around, being greeted by a ruby red tailed mer. He smiled and waved for Aiko to come over to him. Seeing as Aiko had nothing else better to do she swam over.
"Would you be able to go grab Sangwoo for me? I need him for something," He asked, putting his hands together in prayer. Aiko had only known Sangwoo for a little while, he was odd, not looking fully like a siren, but who was Aiko to judge, she wasn't even fully a siren either.
"Sure! Do you know where he might be right now?" She asked, twirling a piece of hair around her finger.
"Umm…. I think he might still be in his den, well at least there was where I last saw him," The Mer said, putting a finger to his cheek as he thought. That checked out, Sangwoo never really left his den, unless he was called on a mission, he never left.
"Ok, thank you!" Aiko started to swim away when she realized something, she needed his name. Spinning around Aiko then asked, "Oh! Could I get your name, so Sangwoo knows?"
The mer seemed puzzled for a second, until the words registered in his head, "Oh yeah sure! The names Hinata," With the name of the mer in mind she swam off towards Sangwoo's den.
It was a short swim to get to Sangwoo's den, he lived on the outskirts of the pods main centre, for reasons unknown to Aiko.
Approaching the den it was eerily silent, not a sound could be heard as she reached the opening.
"Sangwoo? Are you home?" Aiko called out, just swimming through the entrance.
There was no reply.
She called out again,
"Sangwoo?!"
Again she was met with silence. Figuring Sangwoo was busy and could not hear her, she entered the den. It was dead silent as she swam through the den. The many rooms inside offer no signs of life.
Aiko swam around the den for some time, but there was no sign of Sangwoo at all. Deciding that it was fruitless to continue, she made her way back to the entrance of the den. As she was about to leave, a small rectangular object caught her eye, she had never seen such an object before.
Swimming towards the small object, and picking it up, she saw a younger version of Sangwoo. A small smile on the siren's face, although he was not a siren in the strange object. no , he was a human. It confused Aiko, but what confused her more was that there was another person, much smaller than Sangwoo. He seemed to have the same features, brown hair, same dark skin, it was an uncanny resemblance between the two, the only thing that told them apart was that Sangwoo had brown eyes, while the other person had one orange eye and one purple eye.
Just as Aiko was going to inspect the rectangular object closer, a loud voice boomed from behind her.
"What the fuck are you doing here!"
Aiko stilled her movement, whipping her head around to face the voice. Spinning around she was met with Sangwoo. 'Thank god it was not someone else' though aiko. Thinking back to the rectangular object and that strange person, she pointed towards the object and asked,
"Whos that?"
Sangwoo's face paled, he darted forward and snatched the object off of the shelf, clutching it protectively on his chest.
"My brother, now what the fuck are you doing here?
'Sangwoo had a brother?' Why had he never told anyone?
"What's his name?" inquired Aiko, starting straight into Sangwoo's eyes. Sangwoo froze for a moment, seemingly not expecting nor wanting to answer the question.
"Taekjoo," said Sangwoo, a forlorn expression making his way on his face.
"Taekjoo," whispered Aiko, tasting the name on her tongue. Seemingly lost in space she misses the next set of words that come from Sangwoo's mouth.
"What?" Asked Aiko, tilting her head to the side in confusion. Anger bloomed on Sangwoo's face.
"LEAVE!" Screamed Sangwoo.
Aiko immediately swam past Sangwoo and out of the den, not turning back.
"Do you have a brother?" Asked Aiko suddenly, staring intensely into their eyes. No way this was Taekjoo. But could it? The person physically flinched back, confusion and fear covering their features.
"You fucking stalker!" They exclaimed, reaching for the cold object once more. Making contact with her skin once more.
"How do you know Sangwoo!" They exclaimed, gritting their teeth so hard a tooth could crack.
Aiko could feel her eyes widening, she stared at each feature on their face. She stared at their eyes, the colours matched up perfectly, she then started at their hair. The exact same. Aiko continued to stare at the person before her, they were the exact same as the boy in the small box, just bigger now. It was scary how similar this person looked to snagwoo.
Aiko just had to ask one more question about this person,
"Are you two brothers?"
The person visibly flinched back once more, the small cold object backing away from Aiko's head. She placed her hand on the object, lowering it down. She knew they wouldn't shoot, she could see the hesitation in their eyes. She lowered the object down till the person's arm was pointing directly down, it was then that she moved her hand away, patiently waiting for an answer from the person before her.
After a few moments, the person started to move, reaching for the cold object with their other hand, doing something to it then dropping it to the ground. A loud crashing noise filled the silence between the two.
The person then began to bend down and pick up the cold object, putting it once again on the strange thing with a hole in it.
The person then took a deep breath,
"y-yes… Sangwoo's my brother," they said in a shaky voice, turning away to face the wall.
Aiko just stared. Realisation setting in. She just saw Sangwoo's brother. The brother Sangwoo never mentioned it to anyone for reasons unknown. Aiko continued to stare, turning the events of today over and over again in her mind.
"Stop staring at me!" Yelled the person, delivering a glare that could kill, "Fuck woman! You actually have a starting problem!"
Maybe Aiko did have a staring problem, according to this person. They stepped back and put a hand over their eyes, and one on their hips.
"Okay I'm gonna be rational here" They said moving their hand away from their eyes, "you can stay in here with me… as I'm going to be here for a while, but-" They then suddenly stopped, face paling at something. They then stared directly into Aiko's eyes.
"You're Aiko Tanaka?" They asked. Wait? When did she ever say her name?
"...yeah… that's me…? She said skeptically. Running through her time on land for when she could have possibly said her name.
"Kenji Tanaka's daughter…" they then muttered taking a few steps back.
There was no way this person knew of her father, humans have no connections to the siren, even though this person is a siren there is no way they could know about her father.
…
Unless they worked for him, or they were…
His enemy
"That's my dad," she said a bit sadly, she missed her father dearly. It was strange not having him around to say the least.
"Okay, lovely… not really" They said, turning to face Aiko again.
Aiko was confused to say the least, were they sad or happy that she was a Tanaka?
"Just don't get close to me, I don't know what you can do" They then said after a moment. Which was fair enough, Aiko thought. If she was in this person's position she would be wary too. She stepped away from the person, hoping to make them feel a bit more comfortable. She stood in silence for a minute until the person spoke once more,
"When did you first meet me?" A confused expression plastered on their face.
"I don't think we had actually met yet, we were in the same hospital room" She explained, now also wanting to know how exactly they had met.
"Why were we in the hospital?" they then asked.
Aiko wasn't actually sure why they were in a hospital room, hell she didn't even know where she was.
"I'm not sure" she then said quietly, not knowing if her answer would upset the confused person in front of her. Her answer must not have been satisfactory as the person then abruptly stood up and pushed her out of his way, moving towards the room she had been caught in. She followed behind them, not knowing what to do.
She heard a soft "ow" come from the room as she reached the door, peeking her head through the door.
"What happened before we went to the hospital?" they then asked.
"All I know is that I was on the beach," she replied, shrugging her shoulders, as she moved the rest of her body to be seen through the doorway.
Believing her answer did not have enough behind it she then elaborated,
"Well, I was walking along the beach and then, I guess I passed out? If that's what you call it?" She mumbled, looking towards the ground as she did so.
They then just stood in silence for a few moments, everything and nothing running through Aiko's brain. The person then walked past Aiko and back towards a room Aiko had not seen yet. She followed behind, not knowing what else to do.
As she reached the room she saw the person then sitting on a bed? 'Human version of a nest' her brain supplied, she then entered the room and noticed that there was a second bed. Deciding that she was done standing up she sat on the other bed. It was soft to say the least, and felt comfortable.
They sat in silence for a few moments, Aiko fiddling with her hands, giving her brain something to focus on other than the palpable silence between them. The silence was broken by the person.
"Why'd you follow me here?" They asked, not looking at her. Why did Aiko follow them again? She thought for a few moments before realising she wanted to learn about the human world.
"Are you going to hurt me?" The person then suddenly asked. Aiko felt a stab of pain in her heart, but brushed it off. This person was clearly scared.
"No, I just want you to teach me about this weird human world," she then said, chancing a glance towards the person beside her.
"Okay, I'll teach you about the human world" they then said, falling back on the bed and slowly closing their eyes, drifting off in what she presumed to be a light slumber. A warm happy feeling swelled in Aiko's chest. A small smile took place on her face. Suddenly a small thought crossed her mind, the person's name.
"Taekjoo," she said outloud. The name seemed right.
"Yeah" came a groan.
Aiko whipped her head around, 'did i wake them up?'
"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up… but your name is Taekjoo? Right?" She asked, hoping her memory is not failing her.
"Yeah, my name is Taekjoo. Why do you ask tho?" Taekjoo slurred, opening their eyes to look at Aiko.
"I was just confirming something," she mumbled. Laying down on the bed. It really was soft.
She heard a low hum from next to her, she tilted her head to the side to look at Taekjoo, she just had one more question to ask them.
"Do you go by he/his or they/them?" She asked.
"What?"
"Do you go by -" She was cut off.
"No I heard you but like what?"
"Oh," realised Aiko, Taekjoo would not know that.
"Umm… In the mer world, men can umm… either go by he/his or they/them depending on if they were born with umm… either just the male parts or umm… both male and female parts…" She drifted off towards the end. Aiko always found it uncomfortable to talk about this sort of stuff, especially to those who don't know.
"Oh, I umm… I go by he/his," Taekjoo replied. A small relieved smile made its way across Aiko's face. She always disliked trying to remember those who went by they/them, so it was a relief she didn't have to worry about that.
"Can we go to sleep now im fucking tired," Taekjoo said rolling over with a groan.
"Yeah we can, good night,"
"Yeah, yeah good night,"
A yawn escaped Aiko's lips, as she rolled over to face the wall. Today had been a long day and now all Aiko wished to do was sleep to her heart's content.