Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ If only for one moment, I could be like you... ❯ The road not taken ( Chapter 1 )

Long ago, when sailors were more common, and the oceans more mysterious, there were tales of enchanting young men and women who dwelled in the depths of the seas. Beautiful creatures that some sailors would swoon over and others would be saved by. Many a sailor hoped to meet such a creature as he set sail on the vast blue waters.

Slowly though, as all fairy tales end up, thanks to some scholar or scientist the tale was put to rest as pure fantasy. How could human-like creatures live anywhere but the land? After all, no one had any physical proof of such a ludicrous creature. No pictures, no actual tangible proof. So, the tales of mer-people died away but...the seductors of the sea never actually died with those tales, and neither did the human fascination with the briny deep.

~~~~~

Ryou smiled as he swam quietly out of the small underwater cove he shared with Bakura. It was still dark in the tropical waters of their home, giving the waters a crisp chill that made Ryou hug himself as he swam. Bakura had told him time and time again that it was a bad idea to get too intrigued with the land-folk...but Ryou simply couldn't help himself! They made such enchanting things, why just the other day he had come across the arm clasps he now wore in a sunken ship. It was a terribly old ship, but the long rest in the depths of the ocean hadn't ruined the silver.

Ryou smiled he had reached the beach, just as the sun was rising. He pulled himself onto the sandy shore and laid back, just enjoying the chance to bask in the golden orb's warmth as it brought the world to life. He'd never actually...seen a human, but seeing isn't everything. Ryou sighed and sat up to look around at the land he would never be a part of. "I wish I wasn't stuck in the sea...I would love to explore all that the land has to offer." He murmured shaking some sand from his drying hair and running his fingers through it to rid himself of some of the ocean's salt.

It was such a sad thing...to be so close and yet so far, from the world that had ensnared his heart. He ached to know all there was to know about the mysterious waterless world. He watched the waves rush over the beach, and the small crabs scuttle around as they searched out their morning meal.

"...Tsk Ryou, Bakura will be furious with you if he catches you."

Ryou jumped slightly, but smiled when his childhood friend Yugi pulled himself on the sandy shore as well. "Oh, but I just can't help it! It's so much warmer here in the mornings...and just look! Everything is so...different. There are the birds and the crabs...and I wish I could see more than just this beach." Ryou finished with a pout giving his tail a slight flip to fan out the fins to warm them further.

Ryou was one of the most beautiful creatures of the sea his tail was luxurious and the fins that adorned it were soft in appearance and billowed with his every movement in the water. Although the fins that he actually used for moving himself were not much unlike those of other merfolk other than being longer and softer, it was the other fins that caught the eyes. The colors of his fins varied by the light and the angle you were looking from. Usually though, they were hues of purples, blues or deep magentas.

Yugi laughed and shoved Ryou lightly. "You're sometimes too curious for your own good; you should consider yourself lucky where you are. Yami tells me that humans are dreadful things that delight in killing other creatures, or locking them away for show. Why would you want to leave a paradise like ours for something like that?" Ryou shrugged lightly. "I suppose I just want to see if his stories are true...How can something so horrible possibly make so many beautiful things?" He said softly, examining the intricately crafted silver arm clasps.

Yugi shrugged. "I'm sure not all of them are bad, after all, every living thing has good and evil in them but it's better if we don't mingle amongst each other anymore." Ryou nodded and sighed. "But I...I just want to see what a land dweller REALLY looks like. I've never seen one you know." Yugi laughed and hugged his friend. "If it makes you feel any better, most of us haven't seen them. Yami has, but he says they're not anything special."

"I suppose...but I still wish I could explore this world. Don't you ever wonder? Doesn't it bother you that we will never go beyond the water? What if one day it all dries up?" Yugi laughed lightly still hugging Ryou. "There's so much water, it could never `all dry up'." Ryou sighed and hugged his friend back; it was a well-known fact that Yugi had begun developing a crush on Ryou when they had grown of age. In fact, it was nearly their time to pick life mates. Ryou dreaded the thought of giving up his life of fancy and exploration...but if he didn't get a life mate with the rest of the young merfolk of his age, he would live without one at all. The last thing he wished was to live life alone.

In honesty, Ryou didn't mind Yugi, if he was to be mated he would actually prefer the sporty other. His fins were more suited to fast swimming, which is why he often caught lunch and shared with Ryou. His tailfin, the `power fin' as he sometimes called it, which amused Ryou to no ends, was wide and streamlined. His other fins resembled the coloration of a lion fish. Yugi's fins were red and purple, with black stripes like the just like lion fish. Definitely sporty.

Ryou had, since he was young and learning to catch fish, had constant troubles due to his beautiful fins that closely resembled the beta fish, and couldn't move fast enough to catch the fish he preferred. But as he grew, he learned new ways to catch the fish or other food he desired. Yugi smirked lightly, the ever-mischievous gleam in his eye. "There is one good thing about the land..." he whispered gently tracing a finger over Ryou's chest. "Plenty of privacy, no one will swim in on us...if we decide to have a little fun."

Ryou blushed and shivered at the touch. "Yugi, you know I'm not going to do that...its not the mating season just yet...not that I look forward to giving up my dreams so early..." Yugi crossed his arms and pouted. "You're no fun...you're so serious Ryou! If you mated with me, we could both explore to your heart's content. I'd do everything I could possibly do to make each day perfect for you."

Ryou nodded and sighed. "I know...I just don't see how everyone can be so ready for such a commitment." Yugi laughed and hugged Ryou tightly. "Because MOST of us are down in the water dating and loving, while certain others are up on the shore with their head in the clouds." Ryou grumbled. "I'll bite you one of these days Yugi..."

"You know I'd like it…"

"That's why I haven't..."