A/N: Thanks to Sherona849 for your super sweet review! x

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Part 5

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The muggy night air was suffocating as Rin ran down the main roads.

It was 3:37AM -not quite dawn just yet despite the sky turning a shade lighter than pitch black -and it upset Rin greatly that night-time no longer equalled cold air and feeling refreshed. As he staggered along on his quaking legs, he tried to stop himself from sobbing. He'd cried himself dry earlier, so any amount of sobbing would have caused him pain.

It was quite a way to run -or stagger -on foot. Rin hadn't really paid attention. He was used to coming this way on his bike. Should he go back? Just tiptoe back into bed and cuddle Winnie tight and hope that she could absorb all his pain, isolation and all his loneliness? 'No,' he thought. 'Even though she was just a pup she'd done so much for him.'

He forced himself to go on.

It was only when he reached the top of the cliff that the sudden sound through the thick silence coming from the waves crashing and rolling together, hit him. It was wonderful. It was high tide so there would be no beach for him to walk along and the cave would most likely be submerged, not completely, but deep enough. He wasn't even sure if he'd fine the entrance even if there had been a sandy path to walk on. Drawing in a deep breath, Rin staggered along the cliff's edge scanning the choppy waters. There it was!

The pier!

There were a few small boats tied up alongside it but that wasn't what Rin was looking for. As he picked his way down the cliff, slipping and sliding on the steep, gritty path, he caught himself once or twice having lost his footing. His body was hot and sticky with sweat. He just needed to make it down to the pier and he'd be fine. He had time, there was no real rush. He could just see his goal and wanted desperately to reach it.

When his feet slid down onto level ground, he felt relief rush through him. 'Right,' he thought, 'That's the hard part over.'

The wooden planks creaked heavily as Rin hurried along on unsteady legs towards the end of it. Raising his hands to his mouth he called out, "HARU! HARU!" His voice echoed out, carrying over the rolling, black waves. It was like he was shouting into the void. "HARU!" he yelled, his throat growing hoarse. "I NEED YOU HARU!"

The silence that followed was harrowing.

A chill ran down his spine.

What if Haru didn't come back? What if this was the one time he couldn't come? Fear twisted inside his gut like a snake. What if he didn't come? Why wouldn't he come, after all this time? He let his arms fall so that he could wrap them around his midriff and shudder. It wasn't that he was cold. It was more of the realisation that he was completely and utterly alone that burrowed it's way, into his heart like a worm.

Another shiver ran through him.

'I can't do it anymore,' he thought as a stray tear raced down his clammy cheek. 'I really really can't.'

Digging his phone out of his pocket he quickly tapped out a message to Russell, Lori, Gemma and Makoto. It was just a simple message, nothing to warrant any bad feelings in any of them. He just wanted to make sure that they knew what he was thinking, just in case his phone died. He hadn't charged it during the night.

'I'm sorry for the way I've been acting. Things have just gotten on top of me. I love you xox'

He pressed send.

He started to undress, starting with the trainers, socks and jeans. By the time he was left standing in his boxers, he had everything folded up into a hazardous little pile on the edge of the pier. The water was freezing cold as he dropped down through it, like a hot knife through butter. It took his breath away and nearly made him gasp out under the water.

It was strange having the ground disappear from under him.

He was sinking down through the darkness, the cold filling every orifice.

There was no light, no shimmering silver scales in the far distance he felt nothing except the cold water and the temperature dropping and heard nothing save for the rush of his own blood. He really had dropped into the void.

The cold seemed to seep through into his brain.

It made him sleepy ...

Something moved. The black on black shadows rippled and swayed, the weight of an unknown presence circling closer. Rin knew he should kick, should swim, but he felt too limp and exhausted to even twitch a toe.

Something strong and scaly touched him. Rin frowned at the sensation. Then he felt something like fingers curl around his arms and something thick and powerful propelling him up through the water.

Rin gasped out as his face shot out of the waves, coughing and spluttering. Something firm was keeping him afloat. Blinking the sea water out of his eyes, Rin choked and sniffled, feeling pathetic, as the moonlight shone down on Haru's pale features. "Haru?" he breathed. His hands found the merman's solid body and shoulders through the cold water. His fingers were almost numb -How was it so cold? "You c-c-came?"

Dark eyes blinked slowly.

Arms circled around Rin's stomach, drawing their bodies closer.

"I w-was so sc-scared you wouldn't c-come ..." he trailed off, letting his chin drop into the waves. He hoisted himself up, clinging to the creature as though he were Rin's life-line. Wet fingers threaded through his soaked hair.

The strong muscles of Haru's tail wound around his left leg easily, keeping them both afloat. Rin felt his bottom lip tremble. The waves made the dark blue eyes before him ripple. "I'm sorry!" he gasped out, his head bobbing down below the water. Haru was quick to prop him back up again. "I'm sorry I'm not strong enough!"

Haru tilted his head.

"I don't mean about swimming!" Rin managed. "I -I just can't keep going on! I'm not -I'm n-not cut out for this!"

Wrapping a firm arm around Rin, Haru drew the young human closer so that their bare chests were touching. It was an odd sensation, something he hadn't grown used to, as he wiped the hot, salty tears away with his cool, wet hands. He didn't need the little human to cry, not when he'd finally gotten him to this state of mind. He would be safe, here, without the worries of the rest of the world.

Leaning closer, Haru trilled a strange noise into Rin's ear instantly calming his erratic breathing and twitching limbs -most likely brought on by the cold water. There was barely any fight left in the poor thing anyway. Rin wrapped his arms around the merman's shoulders, clinging a little tighter, warmth ebbing back through his muscles. Feeling came back into his fingers and toes. The cramps he'd gotten in his stomach and the squeezing sensation of his skull brought on by his emotional breakdown seemed to slowly smooth away, too.

He floated back a little, keeping his legs wrapped loosely around Haru's hips -or where his hips would have been.

"You know, no one really understood me like you do," Rin murmured, the soft lapping of the waves no longer making his teeth chatter or his lips tremble. It was as though Haru's appearance had caused the earth's temperature to rise. "You don't judge me, you're always there when I needed to vent or cry and, as far as I know, you never swam off and told anyone."

Haru blinked slowly.

He'd done none of those things. He was a loner himself and preferred to keep it that way. He had been curious about Rin, though. Curious how a creature so different could be so similar.

"Thank you for being my friend," Rin smiled.

It wasn't his usual smile; this one trembled on his lips, as though he couldn't quite believe it was happening at all.

Rin felt a tremor run through him.

He often felt as though Haru wasn't entirely real. Not just because he was an actual merman -a creature up until last year he hadn't ever believed, let alone seen proof of its existence -however, it was also due to the fact that now the creature was a carbon-copy of Haru. At least -the Haru that Rin remembered from his childhood and the few photos Makoto had sent to him.

It was almost as though the creature had mimicked his memories ... but how?

Shaking his head, he sighed. It didn't matter. None of it mattered. What mattered now was that the creature did look like Haru and even seemed to act like Haru, and that was all Rin wanted to -no -needed to focus on.

The moon was hanging low in the sky.

Rin frowned up at it. "I guess I should probably head back," he finally said. He didn't want to leave, not yet. Another week or so was going to drag like an eternity, and even after his grounding was over, he knew that Russell would insist on driving him everywhere which meant he probably wouldn't get to see Haru for a very long time.

Haru helped him to cope with life.

He didn't want to think of life without him.

Rin bit down on his lip. Turning in the merman's grip, he reached up for the pier and started to hoist himself up. Haru, alarmed, grabbed at Rin's ankle and tugged him back down. He dropped into the water, coughing a little as he spat up seat water and glared up at the creature. "What was that for? I t-told you I have to go."

Haru shook his head, gripping Rin's wrist and gliding back a little.

Rin clung onto the slippery wood of the pier. "Haru, come on. Look, I don't like it either but I promise to come back, okay?"

Haru hissed, something he hadn't done for ages.

Rin frowned up at the creature, noticing how the Haru-mask seemed to slip a fraction. For a brief moment, the angry, hostile creature he'd first encountered in the cave flashed through -or maybe that was just a trick of the moonlight? Of course it was. It had to be. Reaching up, Rin placed his hands over the filmy gills and stroked the scaly skin until it lay flat, smooth and glowed white once again.

There. His Haru was back.

"Don't get upset," he tried to reason. "It won't be long. You know I always come back."

The creature narrowed its eyes and tugged Rin's hands off its face before jerking his head towards the stretch of sea before them. Haru wanted to go somewhere, to show him something. Rin would have loved to, but it was too dark.

"Haru I can't. It'll be dawn soon. I need to get home."

Haru slumped down into the water, dark eyes narrowed up at Rin, the rest of his face submerged.

"Don't look at me like that!" Rin whined, dropping his head back to rest on the soggy pillar. "You know that's not fair!" Yet something in him bubbled pleasantly at the playful aura falling over them. Despite Haru not being able to speak, Rin felt wave after wave of affection, playfulness and security run through him whenever the creature touched him.

It was like the happiness flowed directly into his bloodstream through touch alone.

He rolled his eyes. "Fine, just -if I tap you twice, that means I need to stop for air, okay?"

Haru sighed but let out a small trill regardless.

Rin nearly went under the black water again as Haru drew him against his chest. His skin was cool, peppered with hard, glossy scales and his arms flared their long, filmy gills. Rin tried to fight the heat in his cheeks as Haru's long white fingers adjusted his position so that he was riding low on his hipbones with his legs wrapped around behind the tail. It was weird, having the gills waving gently against his shins. Haru's left hand wrapped around Rin's thigh, squeezing, his fingers inching a little too far against his buttocks.

He leaned his forehead against Haru's shoulder.

The pearly light of dawn touched the sky, turning the gentle waves from black to a dark, iron grey.

Haru's free hand, wrapped around the back of Rin's chest, holding him tighter. Leaning up to whisper into the creature's oddly shaped ear, Rin whispered, "Okay, let's go."

The water rushed around and through him as they sank below the surface, into the dark blue ocean. It was still cool but for the first time all night it seemed to refresh Rin. He didn't feel the weight of the world and all its worried crowding inside his head. It felt as though his mind was floating, releasing from that anxiety and pressure to be perfect.

Haru watched him, like a submerged statue. Rin wasn't sure how the merman looked in that moment, he just new that he felt something; a connection that ran through them and flowed into the water. He didn't know what to name it, or even if it needed a name. It felt secure and the weightlessness of that thought was humbling.

Haru's tail started to direct them through the water, a strong, firm muscle working between Rin's legs as they swam down and outward.

The pressure started to hurt after a while. Rin would have guessed they'd been swimming for at least an hour in total, with frequent stops for Rin to catch his breath. They hadn't travelled as far as Haru had hoped, at least that was the impression Rin was getting. On the last time they surfaced for Rin to splutter for air he choked out a rough, "I'm sorry! I'm better than most at holding my breath but -but -" he trailed off, leaning his forehead against Haru's sharp collarbone.

Haru's gills flared around his neck, as though he were thinking.

Then he pointed to his mouth.

Rin frowned, "I don't -what're you trying to say?"

Again, the creature pointed to its mouth.

Rin shrugged helplessly. "Show me what you mean. I don't know!"

Haru growled low in his throat before grabbing Rin's face, fingernails almost piercing the skin, and pressed their mouths together. Before his gills could even glare, Rin shoved against his chest. Damnit! The stupid thing was panicking! Haru grabbed both of Rin's flailing arms as he tried to garble some form of admonishment at him, but Haru had neither the time nor the patience. He grabbed the human's face and pressed their mouths together, wrapping his arms around Rin like a vice so that his struggling didn't dislodge their mouths.

Rin whimpered against him.

Haru put all his weight into his tail and together, they sank beneath the surface. Bubbles erupted at the back of his throat as Rin continued to scream out under the water, clearly panicking. Haru closed his eyes and focused on keeping their mouths locked before flaring his gills wide open. It took Rin a moment to realise that fresh oxygen was swarming down his throat and into his lungs.

It calmed him.

His panicked grip on Haru relaxed enough to not be painful.

The ocean around them stretched far, wide and deep, extending into the deepest black-blue all around them. Above was the only direction the water was a brighter, beautiful blue. That was where Rin belonged, really, he knew that. Yet the brightness and people above had done nothing but cause him pain. Whilst Haru had terrified him more than once, and almost drowned him in their playing -one time it had been too close and Rin almost blacked out underwater -but he had always come back and had always been kind. At least, that's how Rin saw things now.

As he stroked the scales lining down the creature's spine, more calm rushed into Rin's lungs as easily as the oxygen he now breathed through Haru.

He didn't even care that they were swimming away from the light and steadily down at a decline. Soon no sunlight would reach the murky depths where the creature was taking him, and a little voice at the back of Rin's mind was screaming at him to let go, kick as fast as he could to the surface. To return to the people he loved and who loved him. To continue on with his life and grow old with someone he would find and love beyond all else.

Somewhere he knew that, and it niggled at him. Yet whenever a thought like that arose, another wave of calm rinsed it away.

Regardless of how the darkness blurred Haru's visage into the true form Rin had first witnessed upon encountering the creature, and how everything was now completely black and even how the oxygen he hungrily drank from Haru's mouth seemed to make him light-headed and see little stars -Rin knew Haru wouldn't do anything bad to him.

He trusted the merman.

They'd come up for air soon.

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Russell glanced down again at the badly folded pile of clothes on the pier.

The policemen were taking photographs as though it were a crime-scene. He supposed in a way it was. Lori was gasping and choking on sobs as her tears soaked Winnie's fur. They'd gotten up at the usual time only to find a text on each of their phone's from Rin. Lori had instantly panicked and raced into his room, while Russel stared down at his phone before following after her.

Rin's bed had been empty.

He hadn't taken anything with him.

Winnie had been asleep on the bed, whimpering lightly, not knowing what had gone wrong but knowing that something was wrong. They'd called the police immediately. They said they couldn't file a missing persons report until they'd been missing for at least twenty-four hours. So Russell said he was going to take matters into his own hands. They went to all the usual spots they could think of, including the school and the cafe Rin worked at.

He hadn't been there.

Eventually, Lori had gotten directions to the secluded beach from Gemma. She'd gotten her number the second time they'd met just in case Rin failed to show-up for work or there was an issue. Gemma had been asleep but was immediately alert as soon as she was told that Rin was missing. She said that even she'd gotten a text from him, identical to theirs. She'd ridden on her bike and met them at the top of the cliff, before guiding them down to the beach.

She'd taken them to the cave.

They'd found Rin's messenger back trapped down in a corner of the rockpool. Gemma had slipped in and fished it out. Lori had started to tremble and cry, fearing the worst, until Russell explained that was the bag Rin had lost months ago. It was a small relief.

They hadn't even been bothering to check the pier, it was only when they started back up the cliff that Gemma had turned and spotted some bright spots of colour and ran down the path to check it out. Russell and Lori had trailed after her, both worn out by the early hour and the steep inclines they'd had to walk.

"RUSSELL! LORI!" Gemma had screamed at them to come over.

Now, forty minutes later the three of them were watching, as though through glass, as Rin's belongings were photographed as 'evidence'. He'd left everything. He must have only been wearing his boxers when he'd jumped in, if that's what he'd even done. However, the policeman claimed there was no proof to suggest he hadn't.

That had made Lori hysterical.

Russell needed to take her out of earshot and calm her down. He left her sitting on a rocky ledge, hunched over in her jacket with Winnie held tightly in her lap. Gemma went over so that she could comfort her, tear tracks staining her own cheeks. Russell had stayed behind to get as much information out of the officers present, as possible. Unfortunately, there was nothing they could tell him except that they were going to open a missing persons file, put an appeal on the news and had already sent orders out for the air-rescue team to scan the surrounding ten miles of sea and beaches.

It was of no comfort to him.

He watched, as though disconnected from his body, as they packed Rin's items into plastic bags, scribbled notes on them and then took them away.

The officer calmly explained that they would do everything they could and would could them if they had any news on Rin's whereabouts. Russell had nodded mutely, unable to take his eyes off the sea that stretched out before him, mocking him. A tremor ran down his spine. Had he done this? Was this ... his fault? Had he pushed Rin to his ultimate breaking point and caused him to ... to ...

He couldn't even finished the thought in his head, let alone say it out loud.

The guilt sat hard and heavy in his chest.

'What have I done?' the thought echoed in his head. 'Am I that bad a dad that I drove Rin to go and k -no! He isn't! There was still a chance. They would find him! They had to find him!'

"Please God ..." he breathed out, his eyes misting over as he raised them up to the blue sky; a blue sky so fresh and beautiful it had always reminded Russell of happy days and good memories. Until now. "Please God let them find him."

The sea gave no response. It merely waved and drifted and softly crashed against the pier, frothing a little over the planks on the spot where Rin's belongings had been just moments ago.

"Oh Rin ..." Russell choked, a tear hovering on his lashes. A sob lodged in his throat as he sank down onto his knees, his face in his hands. "Please, come back. Forgive me, son ..." he pleaded, "Forgive me ..."

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The search went on for two weeks with no results.

Eventually the case petered out despite Lori and Russell continuing to push for results, and even rented out boats to search the local seas themselves.

Gemma did all she could to no avail. Eventually, she quit her job and moved away.

On the 5th of July, Rin's case was declared a 'cold case'.

Four years later, he was declared legally dead by Australian Law.

What actually happened to him, remains unknown.

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THE END

A/N: Thank you so much you guys for the support! I know this was a simple story with a simple premise, but sometimes you just get an idea stuck in your head and you just have to get it out.

Either way I'm glad I did it and now I can relax some more :)

Hope you guys loved it and please follow me for future FREE! stories!

Love Belle xox