TeFu fanfic--TSM 03

Title: The Smiling Merman
Chapter: 3. Stand Up and Walk
Author: a1y_puff
Pairing: TezuFuji of course, and… (Censored) x An
Genre: parody/romance
Rating: PG-13 I think ;;
Story Summary: a parody of the little mermaid. Fuji was a merman who found interest to a certain stoic Prince named Tezuka xD
Chapter Summary: Fuji finally made it to the land. He finally met the human being he was interested in. the man invited him in, but although Fuji already had his legs, he couldn’t walk?
Warning: Shonen Ai, AU! And maybe… some OOC-ness for the sake of the story xD
Disclaimer: PoT and its characters aren’t mine, neither “The Little Mermaid”. I’m so sad >.<

A/N: Hey guys, I’m back with chapter 3!! Tezuka and Fuji is going to meet here, hurrah!! XD
But before that, I’d like to thank everyone who had commented on the prev chaps! I got quite a lot, thanks!
I’m happy I got more reviews in chapter 2. I hope I’ll get even more reviews for this chapter XD
And for anyone who have been silent readers, please leave your reviews too if you like this, ne? It’ll make me happy and will most likely speed me up in writing chapters XD


Anyway, notes:
1. words inside 'this' are writings/notes
2 Words inside 'this and in italics' are thoughts or  the likes


-Chapter 3-
STAND UP AND WALK



Fuji saw black. Or rather, he couldn’t see anything. Was he dreaming? But he didn’t remember going to sleep. He tried to remember something… anything, to explain his current condition. He then remembered visiting Inui…

Oh right, Inui’s potion… he drank it. And then what happened? Oh, his throat was burning and he couldn’t breathe. He then felt a very painful sensation and then…

Everything was black.

Wait, he wasn’t like… dead, was he? Because if yes, he was going to haunt Inui for life!

‘…hey…’

He heard a voice. It sounded so far away. He had heard that voice before. But where?

‘… you…’

He couldn’t really hear what the voice was trying to say.

“Hey, wake up!”

Fuji’s eyes snapped open. He felt dizzy as he tried to get up to a sitting position… wait, sitting position?

Fuji immediately turned his head to see his tail… oh WOW! It had turned to a pair of beautiful legs! The potion really worked.

“Hey, are you okay?” asked a deep and cold voice. Fuji turned his head and saw a familiar face.

It was that man. The man he had rescued a week ago from drowning. The man with soft, beautiful dark brown hair, and beautiful hazel eyes… hey wait, he wore glasses? He didn’t wear any glasses before. Oh, wait. It must have fallen off to the ocean when he drowned.

“You are not answering. Are you okay?” he asked again. Fuji couldn’t tell if his tone was worried or annoyed.  

Fuji opened his mouth, ready to answer, but no words came out.

Oh right… he had lost his voice.

Fuji brought his forefinger to the sands and wrote ‘I am fine’ in human’s alphabet. Now, he was grateful they taught human’s alphabet at school.

Fuji looked up to face the man — whom he had already known the name; Tezuka Kunimitsu – and smiled at him.

Tezuka frowned. He looked at Fuji’s face, then to the writing on the sand. “Are you mute?” he asked again.

Fuji’s smile faltered a bit as he wrote ‘yes’. Just a few hours ago, he still had his rather feminine voice, but now he had lost it.

“I see,” Tezuka said. His tone sounded a little concerned, if Fuji was not mistaken.

Tezuka took a good look at the stranger in front of his eyes. When he first saw him lying unconscious on the sand, he almost thought he was a she for his face and slender body showed feminine features. But soon, he found out that he was actually a male.

Now that reminded him of something. He took off his mantle and gave it to Fuji. “Here. Put it on,” he offered—no, commanded might be the word.

Fuji looked confused at first and then he realized that he was naked. Well, he had been naked since he was born as a merman and mermen didn’t have that… that…thing between his legs now. What was that again? He remembered reading about that in a book of human’s anatomy, but he didn’t remember the name. Fuji figured out that it must be something that you should cover, since he noticed Tezuka was trying to look everywhere but there. He looked rather uneasy too.

Fuji smiled once again and mouthed a voiceless ‘thank you’ as he accepted Tezuka’s mantle and wrapped his body with it.

“Where are you from?” Tezuka asked again, once Fuji had something to cover his body with.

Fuji was doubtful for a moment. How should he answer the question? He just wrote ‘from far, far away’. He wasn’t lying, was he? It was true that he came from far, far away, deep under the sea.

“How did you get here, and why were you naked? Were you robbed or something?” Tezuka asked again. He felt that he had talked way too much than his usual self, but that’s the least he could do to make a conversation with a mute man.

Fuji didn’t answer this. He merely smiled. He opened his eyes, though, and sent a message to Tezuka’s eyes that he wasn’t going to answer that. Tezuka somehow caught the message and decided not to pry any further.

“Fine, then. Now, do you have anywhere to go?” he asked.

Fuji smiled again. His heart was saying ‘I’m here to meet you’, but his head told him that it would be wise not to say so. So, he merely shook his head.

For a moment, Tezuka was deep in thought. Now, he had no choice but to take this man home with him. It was almost like he was about to pick up an abandoned puppy or something.

“Fine. Come with me,” Tezuka stood up, turned around and gave Fuji a silent command to follow him.

Fuji was trying to stand up, but hell, he never had legs before. He fell immediately as he stood up.

As he heard a soft thud behind him, Tezuka turned his head and saw Fuji on his knees.

Okay, first try never best, Fuji thought as he once again tried to stand up and… he did! Now, he just needed to walk. Fuji was about to move his left leg when he suddenly froze. 'Err, how do you walk again?' he asked himself.

If any of his merfolk friends were there, they would consider the frown on Fuji’s face a rare sight. Fuji was always smiling, after all.

He tried to move his left foot at last, but as soon as it left the ground, he lost his balance and fell down, again.

‘This is really annoying. Damn, I should’ve learned how to walk first… or at least read some books on how you do it,’ Fuji mused inwardly.

“You can’t walk?” Tezuka asked almost in annoyance, perhaps.

Fuji slowly raised his head to face Tezuka, shook his head and smiled apologetically.

“Are your legs injured?” Tezuka asked.

‘No, I just haven’t learned how to walk,’ Fuji answered in his mind. But it would sound weird if he said that, so he merely nodded.

Tezuka sighed before he finally walked towards Fuji, picked him up, and carried him, bridal-style.

Fuji was surprised for a moment. In his normal state, he didn’t think he would appreciate this kind of… kindness? He got his pride as a man and he didn’t like it to be treated like a weakling, but well, he was not in his normal state. He needed help since he couldn’t walk on his own.

So just this time, he would let himself being helped… by this man, only.


-x-X-x-


Fuji found himself in a big bedroom, dressed in something similar to what Tezuka wore. A set of clothes that only nobles wore. He finally wore some clothes after being forced into a bath—Tezuka had dropped him in the bathroom and had his maids to, well, bathe Fuji, which the maids seemed to accept the task VERY gleefully.

Now, what should he do? He didn’t have any plan at all. He didn’t plan to turn into human and go meet his prince charming—wait, scratch that. Well, to meet the human-being he had been interested in. He had been interested in humans since he was a child after all, so it was just a mere curiosity… or so he thought.

Now that he remembered it, he didn’t say a word to his family. Will they be angry that he had gone to the land? Inui should have informed them by now, though.

Since he had nothing better to do, he decided that he should first learn how to walk. He stood up and put his left hand on the wall as a support. He tried to lift his left foot off the ground. Slowly, slowly…

And he fell.

Damn the land and its gravity. Damn balance. Water was much more convenient for him. But hell, he was a tensai! He should be able to do it soon, right?

As he stood up, the door clicked open. Tezuka was there, standing and (maybe) looking worried. Fuji assumed that he might be worried from the slight frown on his brows.

Tezuka was about to go and help Fuji but he raised a hand, telling him to stop. Tezuka stopped on his tracks, as he watched Fuji slowly raising to his feet and once again, trying to walk. Fuji almost fell down again, and Tezuka was ready to help him, but Fuji refused once more.

Tezuka stood still in front of the door. He was eyeing Fuji as the lithe boy was trying to walk again. Fuji put his left hand on the wall for support as he slowly lifted his left foot off the ground. He almost lost his balance again, but he had learned how to steady himself as he made one step forward with his right foot.

Okay, he had made one step. He tried to repeat his action with the other foot, and… he did it. He was probably starting to get used to the so-called gravity and balance.

So he made another step, and another one, and another…

And he finally managed to walk to Tezuka, who had been waiting for him at the door. He was now feeling triumphant over gravity and balance. He was indeed a tensai, he thought proudly.

But as he made his last step, he fell off-balanced and almost hit the floor, had Tezuka not caught him just in time.

Fuji smiled at him as an apology. Tezuka just stared back. For a moment or two, both of them stayed still in the half-embraced position. Somehow, the contact made Fuji felt weird, as he felt Tezuka’s hand around his waist, supporting him so he wouldn’t fall.

“Enough for today,” Tezuka broke the silence. “You can try walking again later. Now, rest,” Tezuka commanded. Fuji just nodded submissively.

He was about to step away from Tezuka when he felt the latter’s strong grip on his arm. Alright, this time, he would let Tezuka help him walk to his bed and help him sit down there. Tezuka then took a notepad and a pen from the nightstand and gave them to Fuji.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

Oh right, Fuji had not introduce himself yet. Fuji smiled as he wrote his name on the notepad.

‘Fuji Shuusuke.’

Tezuka nodded as he read the name of the man he had brought home. He looked at Fuji and introduced himself. “I’m Tezuka Kunimitsu,” he said.

Fuji just nodded and smiled at him.  

‘I know…’

Suddenly, there was a loud voice that seemed to be calling for Tezuka as it said, “Nyaaaaa~! Tezukaaa~! The great, great Your highneeees~ where are youuu~~?”

Fuji could see Tezuka’s brows twitched a little, before the tall boy walked to the door and let out his head so that whoever calling him could see him. “I’m here, Kikumaru. Don’t be so loud and stop calling me that.” He crossed his arms as he leaned on the doorframe.

“Unya! So there you are! But what are you doing there? Isn’t that room empty…” Kikumaru stopped on his track as he peered inside the room and found a beautiful person that he first thought was a girl, but seeing the clothes that person wore; he decided that the person was a male.

“Hoi hoi! Who’s that, nya? Your friend?” Kikumaru asked Tezuka as he waved his hand to greet the smiling boy.

“His name is Fuji Shuusuke,” Fuji nodded at the mention of his name. “He will stay here for a while,” Tezuka explained.

“Hmm… well then nice to meet you! I’m Kikumaru Eiji, but Eiji is fine!” Kikumaru said as he suddenly was in front of Fuji. “So Fuji, why are you here?”

Fuji just smiled at Kikumaru, who threw him curious glance.

“Kikumaru, he’s mute,” Tezuka said, and Fuji inwardly chuckled at the careful tone he caught at Tezuka’s voice.

“Eh? Nya, sorry, I didn’t know!” he panicked, but Fuji smiled at him, telling him it was okay.

“So why were you looking for me?” Tezuka asked Kikumaru.

The redhead promptly bounced back to Tezuka, who was still at the door and said, “Oh right! The Queen’s looking for you. She said she wanted to talk.”

“About what?”

Kikumaru grinned at this and patted Tezuka’s shoulder repeatedly. “What are you saying? It’s about your fiancée of course! She’s coming soon enough right?”

Fuji’s heart skipped a beat.


<center>-To Be Continued-</center>



Side Story #1: Two days before.

‘This must be a dream’ An thought as she stared at the man’s unconscious face. This was supposed to happen a week ago. She stared at the man in front of him: closed eyelids with the long lashes, and wet hair that fell on his face. Just thinking about him made her cheeks flush and she hated it. She had never been like this before.

Suddenly, the image of the man slowly dissolved as she finally regained consciousness. She slowly opened her eyelids. Her vision was blurred.

“Ooh, she’s alive!”

An promptly sat up in shock. Where was she? Who were these humans? As confused as she was, she looked down and found her tail had turned into legs. Oh right, she was on land now, to find the man that she…

“She should be mine, then!” said a voice. An was annoyed, though when she spun her head to the source of the voice, she blinked.

It was the boy she had rescued a week ago. But somehow, that boy, in his conscious state, was different from when he was unconscious. He looked a lot more like a brat.

“Hey, Akaya, haven’t you ever heard of the saying, ‘finders keepers’? I saw her first so she should be mine!” stated a sliver-haired boy.

What was that? She was going to be one of these boys’ slave?

‘No way!’

She was about to protest when she found out that she couldn’t speak. Her voice wouldn’t come out. ‘Oh right, the side-effect. Great, just great…’

“What are you saying, Niou-senpai! I’m the prince here, so it’s obvious that she will be mine!” Akaya, the boy she had saved, said with a smug face.

“You’re abusing your status as Prince, Akaya!”

“Cut it you guys, the girl’s getting confused,” a bald boy cut in, but he was being ignored.

“Forget it, Jackal. Once they start, they won’t stop,” a redhead with a gum said. “Oi, Yagyuu, what are you doing?” he asked as he saw a boy with glasses walked towards the girl.

Yagyuu, being the gentleman that he is, removed his mantle and gently drapped it around An. “What’s your name?” he asked.

Still in her incoherent state, An said nothing. Instead, she glared suspiciously at Yagyuu and clutched the mantle he gave tightly around her body.

“Don’t worry, girl, we won’t hurt you,” the redhead, named Marui, added as he stepped closer and squatted in front of An.

Jackal also decided to leave the two fighting boys alone to join Yagyuu and Marui. “Why are you here?” he asked.

An stared at the three pairs of eyes and opened her mouth to answer, only to be reminded of the fact that she no longer had a voice. She looked down, disheartened.

“Looks like she can’t talk,” Marui sighed. “Now, what are we gonna do with her?”

“Do you have a place to go?” Yagyuu asked again. An shook her head.

The three boys stared at each other, oblivious to the quarrel happening just one meter behind them.

“Hey, Yagyuu~ tell this brat to not always do as he pleases… Hey, why are you three so silent?” Niou asked as he stepped closer, followed by Akaya.

“This girl is mute and she has nowhere to go, it seems,” Jackal was the one to answer.

The five boys were silent for a moment, when suddenly, Kirihara swept the girl up and carried her on his arms.

An mouthed a ‘WHAT-ARE-YOU-DOING?!’ while trying to struggle by kicking and punching Kirihara.

“Ouch, ouch! Stop it, girl! You’re coming with me!” Kirihara snapped at her.

“Hey, Akaya, you’re not serious about making her your slave, are you? I was just kidding!” Niou said.

‘Kidding?!’  An screamed inwardly. ‘Do humans always make jokes about enslaving people?’

“Shut up! I wasn’t serious either but it’s not like she has anywhere to go. I’m taking her in!” Kirihara shouted and kept on walking while carrying the still-struggling An.

Yagyuu sighed. “We have to report this to the King and Queen,” he said, before following Kirihara with the others.

As she thought that struggling was futile, An stopped, though she was still glaring furiously at Kirihara and occasionally threw light punches to the boy’s chest.

She wondered if she had made the biggest mistake in her life by turning into a human just to meet this brat…

-end.for.now-