With Lungs Like Gills (Merman!Brothers x Reader)

Chapter 4

I took a small breath and looked under the surface of the water, seeing Yamano's brother swim a lot faster than I've seen him move towards the drop-off edge where I had passed out yesterday. I knew that I had the chance to catch up, but my mind continued to race as I forced myself to calm down and take a shallow breath after a long exhale, slipping under the surface and focusing on the retreating purple fin. As I came within a few feet of him, I saw Yamano's brother briefly turn around and seemingly look up at me before swimming past the edge and into the dark below. My heart thudded in my chest as I remembered the feeling of drowning, but pushed past the fear and reached out towards him, my fingertips barely brushing against the tips of his fin. As if offended by what I did, he whirled towards me much faster than I anticipated, both of his hands gripping my wrists tightly and glaring right into my eyes through my goggles.

"You just won't quit, will you?" I could somehow hear everything he was saying, despite being underwater, "I don't want you around, faker, and I don't need your pathetic pity!"

But I just want to help you...! I wish I could've spoken like he somehow did. My years of training helped keep my mouth shut and my heart rate slow, but my exterior calmness only seemed to piss of him off even more.

"I should've killed you yesterday," He growled through clenched teeth, "Maybe I'll finish the job today."

His face leered closer to me, and I tried to pull away when I realized his teeth had somehow sharpened into jagged fangs, his mouth closing in on my left shoulder. I tried to reach for my diving knife, but he kept my hands pinned firmly by my sides. I heard the rush of water past my ear before I felt the tight grip on my wrists suddenly release, watching on as the familiar silhouette of Genki Iemon grappled with the man in front of me.

Feeling my lungs convulse as they started to reach their limit, I had no choice but to focus on saving myself. I swam towards the surface and sucked in a lungful of fresh air, immediately turning back down and putting as much power as I could into my legs to try and reach the two men still grappling with each other.

Yamano's brother had both of his hands clasped around Genki's throat, my coworker gritting his teeth tightly as his vivid green gaze was fixated on the 'merman'. I tried to pull Genki away from him, but the grip the man had on Genki's throat was too tight. I mentally apologized to the brother and drew my dagger, shoving it into his forearm. A deafening shriek emanated from the brother, and I took that brief moment to grab Genki and swim as fast as I could towards the surface. A searing pain lanced up my leg as the surface loomed closer, my lungs beginning to burn as the air within them became depleted.

Catching the scream of pain in my throat, I looked down to see Yamano's brother clawing at my left calf, his long nails ripping into the muscle. I let go of Genki to try and break free from Yamano's brother, but his nearly-frantic movements were dragging me further underwater.

Goddamn it...not again...! I tried to kick at the man with my right heel, but the movement was clumsy underwater and he was able to shove my leg aside without it hitting anything.

"Ichimatsu, stop!"

I heard the voice come from above me, barely recognizing it. The man's head looked from me towards the speaker, and his expression nearly went slack as his nails released their painful hold. With the sudden change in demeanor from Yamano's brother, I guessed that his name was 'Ichimatsu', but the revelation didn't last long as I realized that this was my chance. I kicked away from him and up towards the surface, my lungs burning as the oxygen they had was nearly spent. After taking a few deep breaths in after breaking the surface, I turned around and realized that Genki hadn't surfaced yet.

Looking back under the waves, I saw a relieved-looking Genki reach up towards the surface a meter under me with no 'Ichimatsu' in sight. I grabbed his hand and pulled him up, swimming us both over towards the rocky crevice that I used as an entrance, my left leg crying out in agony as I forced it to move in tandem with my right leg.