Under the Sea [FREE: IWATOBI SWIM CLUB // HARU X MAKOTO]

Pilot: 'Swimming' the Nest

Haruka Nanase crouched behind the slimy rock colonized by small but fearsome orange crabs that kept trying to pinch at his lusciously scaly skin. He managed to avoid them for the majority of the time, but his focus stayed on the guards that searched for him and he didn't notice as one feisty crab pinched him. He pulled his arm away in pain and tried to make as little noise as possible, but it was too late; the guards had spotted him. In a swift movement, the guards swooped behind Haruka and held his arms behind his back. He had been unsuccessful once again. "Nice going, Shit-stirrer," Haruka said to the menacing crab that had pinched him as he was dragged away unwillingly by the guards.

Thrown back into the castle, Haruka tumbled to the seafloor. Hearing a clatter, a mermaid with long lilac hair turned to inspect the noise. Seeing that it was merely the boy she had raised, she turned back around, rolling her eyes slightly. "Good morning, Haruka." The woman said to the boy who was now lifting himself from the ground. "Morning, Kyoko." He said slightly as he began to swim towards her.

Kyoko Sakamoto was Haruka's mother's best friend when the two were young. Mrs Nanase, trusting Kyoko with her own life, put her into her testament to be Haruka's guardian if anything were to happen to her or Mr Nanase. Kyoko, being 4 years older than Haruka's mother, was 31 years old when she began taking care of Haruka when both of his parents were captured and killed. Her birthday is only 3 days before Haruka's so they've become quite close and join their birthdays when the time comes around. She's a short mermaid, around four foot and eleven inches and weighing around forty-four kilograms. She was a small woman with vibrant lilac hair and big brown eyes and she couldn't be like more of a mother to Haruka Nanase. She has been Haruka's guardian ever since he was 11 years old, so she's been caring for him for around 8 years now, even though Haruka could care for himself for around 3 years now.

When he reached his guardian, he pecked her cheek and then simply carried on swimming."Where do you think you're going?" The mermaid asked, raising a brow towards Haruka. "To my chamber," he stated. The lilac haired mermaid shook her head at him. "You're off to prepare," she started, "you have a date tonight with Gou Matsuoka."

Haruka stared at Kyoko with his mouth gaping open in disgust. "That's Rin's sister!" He yelled to the mermaid. "I'm aware." His guardian began, "I've been speaking to Miyako about this pairing for the longest time now."

Haruka's teeth clenched when he found out that his best friend Rin's mother was in on this too. In an attempt to conceal his anger, Haruka aggressively swam towards the dressing room and began doing what his guardian had told him to anyway.

The merman reached the room made of stone and he pushed aside the seaweed covering the archway into the room and swam in front of the mirror. The mirrors used in the sea were always ones that were found on the sea bed; most likely thrown into the sea by humans.Deadly things, humans. The merpeople were told daily to keep away from the surface or they would face grave consequences, just as the king and queen Nanases did.

That's right, Haruka was a Prince. But he hated the title and did whatever he could to get the merpeople to stop calling him "your Royal Highness". In short, Haruka's great great great great grandfather founded the area of the sea that the certain merpeople of Amuyu (that was the founder's name) live in.

Haruka stared at his face in the mirror and began to freshen himself up for his unwanted date. He brushed his scaly hand through his short jet black hair and ruffled it slightly. He stared into his deep blue eyes that were worshipped by everyone around him. Merpeople's eyes barely have colour in them. It's so dark down at the bottom of the ocean that the majority of their iris is a pupil and only a small ring of colour around that pupil is considered the iris. They say that if you look into a royal's eyes in the sea, your deepest dream would come true. That all seemed well and good, but unfortunately that didn't seem to work when every time Haruka stared into his own eyes in the mirror.