Fish out of Water

"I... I'm so sorry. I asked too much too soon."

Lelei was not expecting that answer at all, and he immediately felt guilty for asking about her parents. It showed on his face too, with a mix of concern and guilt. This time, he could not stop himself from floating a little closer to Yuki and putting a hand on her shoulder for comfort.

"I apologize, again. I just wanted to know where you came from, in terms of heritage and blood."

He removed his hand soon after, knowing that he might be going too far again.

"You see, I am a Kamohoalii. A shark person. I've never met another that did not come from my home kingdom. Yet you're here, and you clearly have some kind of connection. I can feel it.

Tell me, how do you feel about sharks? Have you ever wondered why you are the way you are?"

If Lelei's teeth could gleam, then they would have been lighting up the lake bed with how many he was showing after Yuki's revelation. He was ecstatic to learn that Yuki was the child of a human woman and a shark man, and his smile was as wide as his teeth were numerous.

"That's! That's amazing!"

He could not help himself. He did a little twirl in the water out of excitement.

"I had a suspicion, but I didn't think it was possible! Until you said it. I knew I felt something for you when I saw you, Yuki. It was blood. A part of you is like me. Your veins course with powerful Kamohoalii blood."

Feeling much more at ease with the girl, for better or worse, Lelei started circling around Yuki to get a better look at her from all sides. She lacked a head fin like him, but she had a back fin to make up for it. No tail, but she seemed to have the teeth. Unless she was hiding some small ones beneath her bikini, she also lacked any traditional tattoos, though that was very understandable.

"Tell me. What did he look like in the picture? What color was he? Did you see any tattoos or piercings? What were they? You see, I could tell you what they meant. To the Kamohoalii, tattoos and adornments carry meaning.

Here..."

As carefully as he could, so as not to flash the poor girl, Lelei lowered the side of his swimming trunks enough to show off his extensive tattoos on his thigh.

"These are the markings of a Royal Guard, the Captain in fact, which I was before I came to the land."

Lelei did his best to hide his shark man bits from the girl, and he hoped he succeeded. If he did not then not only would he feel greatly ashamed for flashing a young girl, but he would also have to give his sympathies to any boys she might meet in the future. Hopefully he would not set her expectation too high in that case.

When it seemed like Yuki had gotten a good enough look at his tattoos, he quickly pulled his trunks back up.

"Arms and legs... Arms and legs.... Hm... Darn it. I couldn't tell you what his tattoos meant unless I saw the actual designs."

Her father being leaner than he was came as no surprise to Lelei. He was the strange one. His muscles and bulk had built up over time as he spent his life on land, while his people generally kept a leaner swimmer's build under the water. The lack of piercings could have met any number of things, not the least of which was him simply not wearing them in the picture. Lelei didn't wear his piercings very much anymore either.

But the mention of a medallion? That was intriguing.

"Can you show me this medallion? We can go back on land if that's where it is."

Lelei followed closely behind Yuki, his tail providing all the power he needed to move through the water. Up close, he could get a better appreciation of her ability to swim so well without a tail. Perhaps it was the shark part of her showing through her human side.

One thing she did have on Lelei, however, was that she was better at surface swimming than he was. Below the surface, where he could his tail to its fullest potential, Lelei was the master. But on the surface, where being half in and half out put him in an awkward position with his tail, Yuki had the advantage of swimming more or less just like a human. Still, Lelei followed closely under the water until he could just stand up and walk. At that time, he was also greeted with some harsh sounds coming from Yuki.

"Hey. Are you okay?"

He was at her side immediately, holding her shoulders and patting her on the back. To him it sounded like she was choking, and that was always a concern. The transition from water to air, or vise versa, never bother Lelei, so he did not consider that it was a problem for her.

After a few more cautious pats, Lelei let Yuki go. Her hesitant smile was returned with a small concerned one from Lelei. If she said she was alright, then he had to believe her. She knew her body better than he did, and he knew almost nothing about her mixed physiology. He hoped that she would eventually grown into her body a little more and no longer have to sputter and wheeze when transitioning from water to land, or land to water.

The night was cool and dark, and Lelei was hesitant to let Yuki wander too far from his line of sight. Though she had apparently made it out to the lake by herself with no trouble at all, now that he was there he had to be the concerned adult and followed closely behind her.

"Have you ever considered cutting your hair? It seems mighty inconvenient for it to be over your eyes so much, if you ask me."

Not that Lelei had any idea what hair was like at all. Shark people were naturally hairless, on their heads and on their bodies. It was obviously Yuki's human side giving her hair on her head, and presumably elsewhere. If she was old enough.