Higurashi Kagome sighed in delight as she shedded her clothes on the empty beach, ready to jump into the water in her swimsuit for a midnight swim under the light of a full moon.
The beach wasn't a popular one during the daytime, let alone at night, simply because of the fact that all of the rocks on the beach made it difficult for people to stretch out and enjoy the sandy banks.
Kagome didn't care about the beach itself; she was here for the water.
She craved it; it called to her, soothing her and helping her feel at ease when her life was in turmoil. She'd recently broken up with her boyfriend of six months and she needed the peace and tranquility that being alone in the water would bring.
Now dressed solely in her one piece swimsuit, she waded into the cool water, sighing in contentment as the water lapped at her flesh. Wanting to acclimate quickly, she leaned forward and dove into the water. As she resurfaced, she let her body float along the water, keeping a cursory look out for any unusual activity in the water.
Not that she expected to find any of the aquatic variety. If there was any trouble to be found, it would likely be of the human sort.
She'd been floating in the water for some time, mindlessly thinking of nothing at all, when she saw movement. Something, out of the corner of her eye, splashed in the water around her.
She immediately straightened, shifting to tread water so she could get a better viewpoint of what was in the water with her.
It was a person, she realized after a moment, who was in the water just a few feet from her. A man.
And judging from the expression on his moonlit face, he was as surprised to see her as she was to see him.
Only...he looked like no other man she'd ever seen before. His hair, unless her eyes were playing tricks on her, was long and silver, flowing in the water around him, and his eyes were golden with an eerie reflection in the moonlight. But his coloring paled in comparison to the crescent moon and the magenta stripes on his cheeks, pointing straight to his pointed ears.
"You—" she began only to be interrupted by his cold voice.
"You should not be here, human."
"Human?" she repeated stupidly and then suddenly squealed as something smooth and sleek, like a dolphin's body, caressed her skin. She looked down to see a silvery tail that connected to the man before her and only then did she understand.
He wasn't a man at all.
"You're a merman," she breathed, both awed and astonished. She'd always thought they were mythical creatures that hadn't really existed...
"Hnn." He gave a short nod. "You do not belong here. Leave."
She felt her temper flare at how easily he dismissed her. "Listen here, buster; I've been coming to this beach for over twenty years and I'm not going to leave just because some merman shows up out of nowhere and demands that I leave."
He lifted his chin. "This beach does not belong to your kind."
She glared. "I've never seen your kind here before, either, merman."
"Nor would you." He ran a hand over his silvery locks. "It is only in use as a meeting grounds every hundred years. Now leave."
Kagome digested that for a moment but decided, for all the ferocity of his glare, that he was not going to injure her. She couldn't say why she knew that with such certainty, only that she did. "I don't see any others of your kind here. You might want the water to yourself but the way I see it, there's plenty of ocean for us both."
He lifted a hand out of the water, showing off claws that glowed a faint green color. "You will leave."
She barely heard his threat, her attention caught as it was by the stripes on his wrist that matched the ones on his face. "You have stripes on your wrists, too," she murmured, grabbing his arm as he inhaled sharply. "Where else do you have them."
"Woman—"
"Kagome," she corrected absently, tracing the lines of one of his stripes as he shuddered.
"—you will unhand this one immediately," he finished, staring pointedly at her hands as she held his. "Or this one will remove your hand for you."
As she suspected, he didn't tug his hand away despite the look of irritation on his face. In fact, he looked a little surprised that she hadn't instantly obeyed his command, almost as if he wasn't used to being disobeyed. "'This one?'" she repeated as his words sank in. "How old are you?" She paused. "What's your name, anyway?"
He was silent for a moment, his expression flat. "It is not important."
"Well, I'm not letting go until you tell me. You're the first and probably only merman I'll ever meet so it seems silly not to know your name. I promise not to tell anyone that you did," she added with a hopeful grin. "Besides, it's not like anyone would believe me, anyway. And you know mine, too."
He exhaled with an expression of resignation. "If you are told, will you leave."
She waved her free hand around in the water. "Alright, alright. Sure." She'd gotten the distraction she'd been seeking, anyway.
He pressed his lips together and then said, "Sesshomaru." He pointedly looked down at his hand again.
"Nice to meet you, Sesshomaru," she said, shifting her grip to shake his hand as he looked down at their hands in surprise.
"Hnn." His grip briefly tightened before it went slack.
"Shaking hands," she clarified, in case he didn't understand, as she released his hand. "It's a human custom. A greeting."
There was an odd expression on his face then.
“Well," she continued brightly, "a deal's a deal. Enjoy your night, Sesshomaru." She turned to swim back to shore and then stopped. "Hey, if I return here tomorrow, would you be here?"
She wasn't sure what had prompted her to ask the question but now that she'd asked it, she wouldn't take it back. If she was being honest with herself, she was curious about him and something told her that, though he never showed it, he was curious as well.
"You, a human, would seek out a merman?" he asked, his voice low.
"Sure, why not?" She shrugged as she grinned at him.
His eyes widened and then, to her surprise, he looked amused. "Perhaps," was all he said in response.
"Then I'll be back. Tomorrow." She grinned at him as she waved and then she turned and swam to shore. By the time she reached the sandy banks and turned around, he was gone.
But she was there the next night—and so was he.