Nothing could compare to the beauty of a Spring Island on the Grand Line. Nothing. It had the perfect weather, with rain and storms one day, and sunny skies and no clouds the next. The temperature was a steady 76 degrees all year round, and the sea was always the perfect temperature for swimming. This was what 20 year old Inaki Ikami was doing. Inaki was the only human being on the deserted island called Kintara. She had been stranded on the island for almost ten years, and had learned many things in her simple existence. She had been abandoned by a Pirate crew on the island. They hadn't meant harm, truly. In fact, they left her with plenty of supplies, clothes, food, and anything else she could ask for. They'd left her because they didn't want her to die with them. So they'd left her on a deserted island. She had long suspected they weren't all entirely sane. But then again, she wasn't totally alone. She had Tank, the ten foot long Bull Shark that had attached itself to her about four years back. She had saved him from a fishing line, and he had followed her around like a puppy ever since. She liked the company, even if it wasn't the safest. The best thing about this island, she felt, was that it had a secret, discovered only by those who had also wound up on the island, and had stayed there. When one reached the two year mark of living on the island, you would begin to understand the animals that lived there. It would begin as only easy, simple words, until they were speaking like humans. However, it was only the island and the surrounding waters' animals that could be understood, for some unknown reason. So, she was never truly alone. However, since that first day she’d realized the animals here were sentient, she'd been a vegetarian, unable to eat the animals who knew when they would die .
When she was abandoned, luck would have it that it was an abandoned military base. For the past ten years she'd been perfecting the use of all weapons, including the katana, guns, crossbow, staff, and other such things. Her main weapons of choice, however, were duel knives. For some reason, when she held them, she felt at home. She felt... right. It meant that she was well and truly safe.
One thing that she loved about being on the island was that she could swim, all the time, no matter what. Even if it was raining, there were plenty of springs in the island, most in caves. And since Tank was a Bull Shark, he was perfectly capable of following Inaki wherever she went, as long as it was near water.
Currently, she was sitting on a rock that jutted out of the ocean about 50 yards from shore, enjoying the breeze and the soft roar of the waves as they washed up onto the beach. Her eyes closed, she felt the heat of the sun and heard the cry of gulls overhead. She could only be out for about ten more minutes, or she would burn badly. Since she lived on a Spring island, and thus the weather was the same all year, she was always a nice, even tan color. Often she had to wear a hat, because she had dark hair, which drew the sun's heat to her.
"Tank, are you there?" she called out suddenly, still not opening her eyes. She felt a rough, sandpapery snout bump by her foot, and smiled. Tank was there. She didn't know why she'd doubted, since he was almost always nearby when she swam. He had taken to defending her since she'd saved him. Once he had rescued her from drowning when a storm had suddenly blown in, and she'd been caught in the water.
"Well, Tank, I'm going in. It'll be getting dark soon. See you tomorrow, kay?" She opened her eyes just in time to see a shark fin vanish beneath the waves. This should've terrified her. She was swimming with a shark, for heaven's sake! However, she felt safer with Tank in the water. He'd protected her before, and there was no reason to believe he would stop now.
Back on shore, she stretched luxuriously, curling backward as she yawned. Another great day. Tomorrow, though, it seemed like there would be a storm. Already clouds were building, marring the gorgeous serenity of the island. So, she'd head from the west cape, then. That was the most sheltered area of the island, and Tank knew to look for her there when it was storming.
Now, however, she had to get back to her home.
Her home consisted of a cave, a blanket, a couple rocks, and a bunch of clothes. The pirates had left her with plenty of sizes when they'd abandoned her, so she supposed they'd thought it out a little bit. They knew she would grow, since young girls usually continued growing far after the age of ten.
After changing into the clothes she used as pajamas, she grabbed a blanket and settled down in the sand near the creek by her cave. She loved her home, and had chosen it for more reasons than just it had a beautiful view. For one, the cave was protected by huge trees all around it, preventing the rain from ever flowing into the cave. Another was that, at the moment, no animals lived there. In fact, none had lived there for almost seven years. The first three years of her island adventure she had slept under trees and bushes. It hadn't been very comfortable.
Once she set up her blanket just right, she leaned back casually. It was now that she missed books. Sure, they'd left her many things, but books weren't among them. She remembered reading a long time ago, but they'd been simple books. Thinking on it, she doubted she'd even be able to read anymore. It'd just been too long.
So, she amused herself by making up stories. She faintly remembered a time when her mother had told her stories about princes, princesses and dragons. Thinking, she decided to tell the story she knew best. Little Red Riding Hood. She loved the wolf in the story, even if her was the 'bad guy'.
As she spoke, her voice became softer than it ever did normally. As she closed her eyes, she forgot the world around her, and thus forgot the birds perching overhead, eyeing her curiously. She didn't hear the murmurs that surrounded her. She was caught up in the story. She added details. Changed existing ones. Made Little Red into Little Blue Riding Hood. Made the old grandma a rabbit. Made the wolf win. This was her story, after all. What good would it do to have the good guy lose? Because, obviously, the wolf was the good guy.
When she reached the ending of the story, she began a new one. Above her the animals twittered nervously, the quieted again. Soon the soft sounds of her own voice had lulled her in an easy sleep.
Inaki woke to the sounds of birds screaming, sending her scrambling. She looked at the sky in fear, wondering what had set off the animals. In a split moment decision, she snatched up her blanket and ran inside, heart pounding.
Night had fallen, so she slid into warmer clothes, then followed the sound of screeching birds. It ended on a cliff, overlooking the open ocean. For a moment, she couldn't see anything in the darkness, then she saw the sails. A boat?! But, only three boats had come to the island in the ten years she'd lived there! And there was something written on the sails.
Swallowing her fear and knowing, she looked harder. When at last she saw what she had been dreading, she let out a low moan. Marines. She covered her face in her hands, shaking her head miserably. Were they coming back for the weaponry? Were they coming to take the island back? Was this a freak accident? Would they find her? Did they know she used to be a pirate?
Tamping down her fears, she looked again, only to freeze in paralyzing fear. Where had they gone? In the brief moments she had wallowed in anxiety, they had disappeared from sight. They could now pop up in any one of the island's natural harbors. She had to get back to the cave. She would store up food and prepare to wait out her visitors. Luckily, the cave she lived in went down through the entire island to the cape on the other side, where Tank went whenever there was a storm, which one was coming up.
Having decided, she thanked the birds quietly, then started to run. She had to get back to the cave swiftly now. There was no way she'd have any idea where the Marines had landed, and she was now longing for the security of her home.
It had just started to rain when she reached her cave, which she thanked the heavens for greatly. The rain would make it harder to get to her cave, and would also conceal the cave better.
It took a minute to hide the evidence of her living in the cave, then she stepped inside. A swift yank on a vine let lichen fall in the opening of the cave, hiding it fairly well. One would have to be looking hard to find it, and hopefully the rain would be distracting them from doing that.
With everything taken care of, she grabbed a piece of fruit, then curled up in a ball. She fell asleep listening to the rain outside, falling silently. She dreamed of her family.
Waking up, Inaki realized a fatal flaw in her plan. She was hungry. Hungrier than she'd been in a long time. And she felt dirty. The entire bottom of the cave was covered in sand, so she had sand in her clothes and her hair. Normally she slept on a blanket, but with the cave closed up, it had gotten incredibly hot during the night. She must've kicked it off while she slept.
She sat and thought awhile, then shrugged. She could hearing the wind howling outside, and knew leaving the cave wouldn't be smart, especially with the Marines on the island. So, she would go to the other end of the cave, and meet up with Tank. Maybe ... just maybe he'd bring her food? It was far fetched, especially since she couldn't just start eating meat after 8 years and expect to be fine. She couldn't ask Tank to find her fruit, though, for obvious reasons. Still, she wanted company, and he was great when it came to that.
It took her only a moment to get dusted off, though she used to blanket to wrap around her shoulders, and keep her warm. Though the night had been hot, the day was chilly. The chill of the storm was soaking into her bones, and she just wanted to stay warm.
It took about five minutes to reach the end of the cave, which made her immensely grateful, since she had only a torch to light her way.
She stubbed her toe a number of times, and had to stop once or twice to allow her foot to stop throbbing. Her worry was really making her stupid now. She would have to slow down on the return trip, or face a bruised foot later. An injury now was out of the question, seeing as she could very well be depending on her agility and fitness to escape imprisonment, and even death.
When the cave started sloping down, Inaki calmed, realizing her panicked flight was over, and there was friendship waiting at the end of the tunnel. The tunnel kept sloping down, until water lapped at the edges. The water was cold and murky, telling Inaki everything she needed to know about the storm. It had passed over this area not long ago, but judging by the sounds echoing, it had moved on.
"Tank!" she cried, in a pathetic half-whisper, half-shout. She waited for a moment, terror rushing through her. She hadn't thought about how to attract Tank's attention without also attracting the attention of potential followers... It made her nearly faint with the thought of being caught.
Suddenly, she sighed out heavily, disgusted with herself. Tank would be able to sense her splashing in the water, and no one else would hear her. At times, she forgot Tank was not a human, but a creature made for killing.
Crouching down, she slapped the top of the water a couple times, then backed up. Tank was not the only shark living in this bay, but he was the only one who talked to her regularly. The other sharks could be rather arrogant, and it usually ticked off Inaki when she talked to them.
It was Tank's snout, however, that emerged from the murky water, followed closely by a black eye. After he had focused on her, he returned back to the water. A moment later, she heard him, "What brings you this way, sister?"
In a way, she didn't really hear him. The voice came from inside her head, an echo inside of her. How was a shark supposed to talk besides in your head, of course? They didn't have vocal cords.
"Strangers are on the island, brother. Their sales bear the crest of the Marines, and I fear they have returned for my weapons. I've hidden them for now, but who knows if they'll find my cave?" She tried to figure a way to incorporate her need for food into the conversation, but her stomach beat her too it.
"Hungry?" asked Tank, a chuckle in his thoughts. Inaki made a face at him, though he wouldn't be able to see it.
"Sort of. I have no food. I would ask you for some, but I can't eat meat. Do you think you can talk to a sea bird, or perhaps a turtle of some sort? I need fruits or vegetables. Anything, really, besides meat." Inaki was blushing, though she didn't know why. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that this was the first time she had actually asked Tank for help. All of the other times he had simply been there to help without asking.
Suddenly, Tank laughed loudly, challengingly. "You think I can't fetch you some measly fruit? Wait here, sister. I'll be back before the hour is out, and I'll have your precious fruit," he said, the derision in his voice only managed by a creature that survives on meat alone, and cannot understand the desire for other foods.
Inaki watched him go with a crooked smile, then she settled down to wait. It would probably take awhile. Until then, she would content herself with speaking with some of the other fish in the area. It would never hurt to have eyes watching for those Marines.
At noon, Inaki was woken by Tank with a nudge to her foot, and something freezing dropped in her lap. “Oh my gosh!” wailed Inaki, shoving the freezing thing off of her. “Tank!! That was NOT funny!” she cried, even though she was choking as she tried to stop her laughter. Alright, it had been a little bit funny. Suddenly she exclaimed, “You found fruit!” In her lap was a rack of bananas, making her wonder how on earth he had gotten them.
“I told you I would, didn’t I?” asked Tank, his tone all-too innocent. Inaki was dying to ask where he had found these, but he was expecting it, and she wouldn’t give in.
Inaki sat there a moment, her will silently trying to crush Tank’s until she heard his mental sigh, and grinned widely. She had won this round.
“Some humans, probably your Marines, were trying to get the bananas, but they fell in the water. They didn’t seem very keen to enter my river when I showed my fins,” he said, chuckling. “You should’ve seen their faces when I grabbed your fruit and left. You’d think they’d never seen a shark eat bananas before!”
Inaki choked on the banana, laughing quietly. Tank had managed to get her mind off of the threat of being found out, exactly as he had planned. She sat there chuckling, before wiping the tears from her eyes. She sucked in a deep breath, then yawned widely. “Thank you, Tank. I’m going to take a quick dip, so keep an eye out for them, okay? I just feel so dirty…”
Tank stuck his head back above the water for a moment, eyeing her. A moment later, a chuckle rumbled through her mind, and he said, “Go ahead. You look terrible!”
Inaki stared at him, mouth open and uncomprehending, before laughing aloud. “Thanks, Tank. It’s good to know that you care about me.”
“Always and forever, sister!” replied the shark, before diving back down, leaving a bunch of bubbles in his wake.
Inaki stared after him, contemplating if he was going to ambush her down there, then shrugged to herself. Either way she wanted a nice, quick soak, and the only way to do that now was in the bay. She couldn't get to the Marine Base for a shower, and even if she could, that was probably where the other Marines were going.
Inaki dove into the water, keeping her clothing on. No matter what, she wasn't going to strip down when there were people on the island. That was just begging for all sorts of problems to arise.
The water was delightfully chilled, not quite as cold as she had first suspected, and it quickly wiped away any traces of sleep that had been still clung to her.
It was a sudden and shocking thing when a tentacle wrapped around her ankle, dragging her down. Her reflexes almost caused her to scream, but years of swimming had taught her differently. She let the octopus pull her down, until she was face to face with it.
"There are humans here. They ride in a pirate ship that once visited here, and left you behind," it said, with a shrill, clicking voice inside her head. Its black eyes stared at her, into her eyes, and into her soul.
It was too much to hope for. Kicking off of the bottom, she swam to the surface, chest straining, and mind unbelieving. They had come back? For her? She broke the surface with a gasp, which startled her. How long had she been down there? It had felt like only a few moments, but she could hold her breath for minutes without a problem.
Frowning, she looked around, trying to gauge where the shore was.
There. It wasn't far off, actually, but she knew the waves and current following the storm would make the going tough. Still... she had to try. The only family she had ever known had returned, and she needed to see them. She needed to find out if they were okay.
When she was abandoned, luck would have it that it was an abandoned military base. For the past ten years she'd been perfecting the use of all weapons, including the katana, guns, crossbow, staff, and other such things. Her main weapons of choice, however, were duel knives. For some reason, when she held them, she felt at home. She felt... right. It meant that she was well and truly safe.
One thing that she loved about being on the island was that she could swim, all the time, no matter what. Even if it was raining, there were plenty of springs in the island, most in caves. And since Tank was a Bull Shark, he was perfectly capable of following Inaki wherever she went, as long as it was near water.
Currently, she was sitting on a rock that jutted out of the ocean about 50 yards from shore, enjoying the breeze and the soft roar of the waves as they washed up onto the beach. Her eyes closed, she felt the heat of the sun and heard the cry of gulls overhead. She could only be out for about ten more minutes, or she would burn badly. Since she lived on a Spring island, and thus the weather was the same all year, she was always a nice, even tan color. Often she had to wear a hat, because she had dark hair, which drew the sun's heat to her.
"Tank, are you there?" she called out suddenly, still not opening her eyes. She felt a rough, sandpapery snout bump by her foot, and smiled. Tank was there. She didn't know why she'd doubted, since he was almost always nearby when she swam. He had taken to defending her since she'd saved him. Once he had rescued her from drowning when a storm had suddenly blown in, and she'd been caught in the water.
"Well, Tank, I'm going in. It'll be getting dark soon. See you tomorrow, kay?" She opened her eyes just in time to see a shark fin vanish beneath the waves. This should've terrified her. She was swimming with a shark, for heaven's sake! However, she felt safer with Tank in the water. He'd protected her before, and there was no reason to believe he would stop now.
Back on shore, she stretched luxuriously, curling backward as she yawned. Another great day. Tomorrow, though, it seemed like there would be a storm. Already clouds were building, marring the gorgeous serenity of the island. So, she'd head from the west cape, then. That was the most sheltered area of the island, and Tank knew to look for her there when it was storming.
Now, however, she had to get back to her home.
Her home consisted of a cave, a blanket, a couple rocks, and a bunch of clothes. The pirates had left her with plenty of sizes when they'd abandoned her, so she supposed they'd thought it out a little bit. They knew she would grow, since young girls usually continued growing far after the age of ten.
After changing into the clothes she used as pajamas, she grabbed a blanket and settled down in the sand near the creek by her cave. She loved her home, and had chosen it for more reasons than just it had a beautiful view. For one, the cave was protected by huge trees all around it, preventing the rain from ever flowing into the cave. Another was that, at the moment, no animals lived there. In fact, none had lived there for almost seven years. The first three years of her island adventure she had slept under trees and bushes. It hadn't been very comfortable.
Once she set up her blanket just right, she leaned back casually. It was now that she missed books. Sure, they'd left her many things, but books weren't among them. She remembered reading a long time ago, but they'd been simple books. Thinking on it, she doubted she'd even be able to read anymore. It'd just been too long.
So, she amused herself by making up stories. She faintly remembered a time when her mother had told her stories about princes, princesses and dragons. Thinking, she decided to tell the story she knew best. Little Red Riding Hood. She loved the wolf in the story, even if her was the 'bad guy'.
As she spoke, her voice became softer than it ever did normally. As she closed her eyes, she forgot the world around her, and thus forgot the birds perching overhead, eyeing her curiously. She didn't hear the murmurs that surrounded her. She was caught up in the story. She added details. Changed existing ones. Made Little Red into Little Blue Riding Hood. Made the old grandma a rabbit. Made the wolf win. This was her story, after all. What good would it do to have the good guy lose? Because, obviously, the wolf was the good guy.
When she reached the ending of the story, she began a new one. Above her the animals twittered nervously, the quieted again. Soon the soft sounds of her own voice had lulled her in an easy sleep.
Inaki woke to the sounds of birds screaming, sending her scrambling. She looked at the sky in fear, wondering what had set off the animals. In a split moment decision, she snatched up her blanket and ran inside, heart pounding.
Night had fallen, so she slid into warmer clothes, then followed the sound of screeching birds. It ended on a cliff, overlooking the open ocean. For a moment, she couldn't see anything in the darkness, then she saw the sails. A boat?! But, only three boats had come to the island in the ten years she'd lived there! And there was something written on the sails.
Swallowing her fear and knowing, she looked harder. When at last she saw what she had been dreading, she let out a low moan. Marines. She covered her face in her hands, shaking her head miserably. Were they coming back for the weaponry? Were they coming to take the island back? Was this a freak accident? Would they find her? Did they know she used to be a pirate?
Tamping down her fears, she looked again, only to freeze in paralyzing fear. Where had they gone? In the brief moments she had wallowed in anxiety, they had disappeared from sight. They could now pop up in any one of the island's natural harbors. She had to get back to the cave. She would store up food and prepare to wait out her visitors. Luckily, the cave she lived in went down through the entire island to the cape on the other side, where Tank went whenever there was a storm, which one was coming up.
Having decided, she thanked the birds quietly, then started to run. She had to get back to the cave swiftly now. There was no way she'd have any idea where the Marines had landed, and she was now longing for the security of her home.
It had just started to rain when she reached her cave, which she thanked the heavens for greatly. The rain would make it harder to get to her cave, and would also conceal the cave better.
It took a minute to hide the evidence of her living in the cave, then she stepped inside. A swift yank on a vine let lichen fall in the opening of the cave, hiding it fairly well. One would have to be looking hard to find it, and hopefully the rain would be distracting them from doing that.
With everything taken care of, she grabbed a piece of fruit, then curled up in a ball. She fell asleep listening to the rain outside, falling silently. She dreamed of her family.
Waking up, Inaki realized a fatal flaw in her plan. She was hungry. Hungrier than she'd been in a long time. And she felt dirty. The entire bottom of the cave was covered in sand, so she had sand in her clothes and her hair. Normally she slept on a blanket, but with the cave closed up, it had gotten incredibly hot during the night. She must've kicked it off while she slept.
She sat and thought awhile, then shrugged. She could hearing the wind howling outside, and knew leaving the cave wouldn't be smart, especially with the Marines on the island. So, she would go to the other end of the cave, and meet up with Tank. Maybe ... just maybe he'd bring her food? It was far fetched, especially since she couldn't just start eating meat after 8 years and expect to be fine. She couldn't ask Tank to find her fruit, though, for obvious reasons. Still, she wanted company, and he was great when it came to that.
It took her only a moment to get dusted off, though she used to blanket to wrap around her shoulders, and keep her warm. Though the night had been hot, the day was chilly. The chill of the storm was soaking into her bones, and she just wanted to stay warm.
It took about five minutes to reach the end of the cave, which made her immensely grateful, since she had only a torch to light her way.
She stubbed her toe a number of times, and had to stop once or twice to allow her foot to stop throbbing. Her worry was really making her stupid now. She would have to slow down on the return trip, or face a bruised foot later. An injury now was out of the question, seeing as she could very well be depending on her agility and fitness to escape imprisonment, and even death.
When the cave started sloping down, Inaki calmed, realizing her panicked flight was over, and there was friendship waiting at the end of the tunnel. The tunnel kept sloping down, until water lapped at the edges. The water was cold and murky, telling Inaki everything she needed to know about the storm. It had passed over this area not long ago, but judging by the sounds echoing, it had moved on.
"Tank!" she cried, in a pathetic half-whisper, half-shout. She waited for a moment, terror rushing through her. She hadn't thought about how to attract Tank's attention without also attracting the attention of potential followers... It made her nearly faint with the thought of being caught.
Suddenly, she sighed out heavily, disgusted with herself. Tank would be able to sense her splashing in the water, and no one else would hear her. At times, she forgot Tank was not a human, but a creature made for killing.
Crouching down, she slapped the top of the water a couple times, then backed up. Tank was not the only shark living in this bay, but he was the only one who talked to her regularly. The other sharks could be rather arrogant, and it usually ticked off Inaki when she talked to them.
It was Tank's snout, however, that emerged from the murky water, followed closely by a black eye. After he had focused on her, he returned back to the water. A moment later, she heard him, "What brings you this way, sister?"
In a way, she didn't really hear him. The voice came from inside her head, an echo inside of her. How was a shark supposed to talk besides in your head, of course? They didn't have vocal cords.
"Strangers are on the island, brother. Their sales bear the crest of the Marines, and I fear they have returned for my weapons. I've hidden them for now, but who knows if they'll find my cave?" She tried to figure a way to incorporate her need for food into the conversation, but her stomach beat her too it.
"Hungry?" asked Tank, a chuckle in his thoughts. Inaki made a face at him, though he wouldn't be able to see it.
"Sort of. I have no food. I would ask you for some, but I can't eat meat. Do you think you can talk to a sea bird, or perhaps a turtle of some sort? I need fruits or vegetables. Anything, really, besides meat." Inaki was blushing, though she didn't know why. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that this was the first time she had actually asked Tank for help. All of the other times he had simply been there to help without asking.
Suddenly, Tank laughed loudly, challengingly. "You think I can't fetch you some measly fruit? Wait here, sister. I'll be back before the hour is out, and I'll have your precious fruit," he said, the derision in his voice only managed by a creature that survives on meat alone, and cannot understand the desire for other foods.
Inaki watched him go with a crooked smile, then she settled down to wait. It would probably take awhile. Until then, she would content herself with speaking with some of the other fish in the area. It would never hurt to have eyes watching for those Marines.
At noon, Inaki was woken by Tank with a nudge to her foot, and something freezing dropped in her lap. “Oh my gosh!” wailed Inaki, shoving the freezing thing off of her. “Tank!! That was NOT funny!” she cried, even though she was choking as she tried to stop her laughter. Alright, it had been a little bit funny. Suddenly she exclaimed, “You found fruit!” In her lap was a rack of bananas, making her wonder how on earth he had gotten them.
“I told you I would, didn’t I?” asked Tank, his tone all-too innocent. Inaki was dying to ask where he had found these, but he was expecting it, and she wouldn’t give in.
Inaki sat there a moment, her will silently trying to crush Tank’s until she heard his mental sigh, and grinned widely. She had won this round.
“Some humans, probably your Marines, were trying to get the bananas, but they fell in the water. They didn’t seem very keen to enter my river when I showed my fins,” he said, chuckling. “You should’ve seen their faces when I grabbed your fruit and left. You’d think they’d never seen a shark eat bananas before!”
Inaki choked on the banana, laughing quietly. Tank had managed to get her mind off of the threat of being found out, exactly as he had planned. She sat there chuckling, before wiping the tears from her eyes. She sucked in a deep breath, then yawned widely. “Thank you, Tank. I’m going to take a quick dip, so keep an eye out for them, okay? I just feel so dirty…”
Tank stuck his head back above the water for a moment, eyeing her. A moment later, a chuckle rumbled through her mind, and he said, “Go ahead. You look terrible!”
Inaki stared at him, mouth open and uncomprehending, before laughing aloud. “Thanks, Tank. It’s good to know that you care about me.”
“Always and forever, sister!” replied the shark, before diving back down, leaving a bunch of bubbles in his wake.
Inaki stared after him, contemplating if he was going to ambush her down there, then shrugged to herself. Either way she wanted a nice, quick soak, and the only way to do that now was in the bay. She couldn't get to the Marine Base for a shower, and even if she could, that was probably where the other Marines were going.
Inaki dove into the water, keeping her clothing on. No matter what, she wasn't going to strip down when there were people on the island. That was just begging for all sorts of problems to arise.
The water was delightfully chilled, not quite as cold as she had first suspected, and it quickly wiped away any traces of sleep that had been still clung to her.
It was a sudden and shocking thing when a tentacle wrapped around her ankle, dragging her down. Her reflexes almost caused her to scream, but years of swimming had taught her differently. She let the octopus pull her down, until she was face to face with it.
"There are humans here. They ride in a pirate ship that once visited here, and left you behind," it said, with a shrill, clicking voice inside her head. Its black eyes stared at her, into her eyes, and into her soul.
It was too much to hope for. Kicking off of the bottom, she swam to the surface, chest straining, and mind unbelieving. They had come back? For her? She broke the surface with a gasp, which startled her. How long had she been down there? It had felt like only a few moments, but she could hold her breath for minutes without a problem.
Frowning, she looked around, trying to gauge where the shore was.
There. It wasn't far off, actually, but she knew the waves and current following the storm would make the going tough. Still... she had to try. The only family she had ever known had returned, and she needed to see them. She needed to find out if they were okay.
