Birthday Headcanons!

Terukaneaoi sirens & sea stuff AU where Teru's the heir of the Minamoto household, a noble family whose business focuses on maritime trades with overseas lands. The Minamotos have the ability to see and slay supernatural sea creatures and a secret duty to fight them off to protect civilians since ancient times. But the Minamoto siblings are affected with a condition inherited from their mother, that make their blood especially attractive to supernaturals and weaken their capacities to fight them. As their father's also partially lost his combat abilities because of a previous hunt he took part in, severe restrictions were put onto the siblings to forbid them from ever approaching the sea.

But as time goes on, the condition that translates itself by a mark on part of their body weakens for Kou and Tiara and worsens for Teru, which reinforces the supervision put onto him.

He shows himself particularly good at business though, and as his parents often go away on affair trips, he's left with most of the administrative work and kinda drowns under responsibilities, to avoid them being put onto his siblings shoulders. Slowly but surely, he makes a name for himself and people recognize him everywhere, expect lots from him and make him busier and busier, so much he doesn't have time for himself anymore. He longs for a simple life he doesn't get and freedom he can't reach.

One day though, the entire city gets attacked and the Minamotos are forced to escape by sea. His mother gets stabbed on the ship and a sea creature attacks it. They're in the middle of the ocean when she gets killed and Teru's separated from his father and siblings by the creature he somehow manages to escape from. When he miraculously survives, he makes it his goal to find his siblings back, having no idea where they went or if they were even safe after the accident. He severely resents supernatural creatures for ever touching his family.

Akane is a citizen from a coast village of another land that got into a sea accident and lost his best friend, Aoi, two years ago. He's convinced she's still alive though, trapped by the siren hoard that attacked them and cursed him to turn into one too when he touches water. His one and only goal since the accident is to find her again, losing himself in his frantic search. He stays all day at home, lost in research papers and piles of documents, only periodically going out to experiment or patrol on abandoned beaches. As fails keep piling up, he becomes a shadow of himself.

Aoi is Akane's childhood bestfriend. Of curious nature, she had taken interest in supernatural tales since young, especially those of sea creatures. She gets turned into a siren after getting caught in an accident where she manages to save Akane before her human consciousness fades away. Since then, she wanders in the deep seas, regretting things she doesn't remember and longing hard for a boy she had forgotten long ago.

She survives by enchanting sailors who can't see her with her voice, trapping their boats and draining their energy off them.

When Teru's ships crashes, she's attracted by the smell of the particular blood hidden amongst liters and liters of regular ones. When she finds the unconscious boy she at first mistakes for another siren, her curiosity is appealed and she pulls him underwater to drain off his life as she sings him a melody. But the boy seems to see her, and when she touches the mark on his neck, she can sense an electric pulse that only screams danger to her senses. But because his blood tastes delicious, because the energy she drains off him feels particularly good and because his mesmerized eyes carry a look she hadn't seen since two years ago, she doesn't kill him right away. She instead marks him as her prey and carries him to the nearest piece land, saving him for her own entertainment.

On one of his outings, Akane sees Teru's figure floating on a wooden board near a rock, miles away from the coast. Despite having gone kinda insane since his childhood friend's loss, he doesn't think twice before jumping in the water to rescue the stranger. When he makes it back to the beach, he tries to get the unconscious boy to breath again.

After he finally comes awake, Akane discovers Teru got attacked by a sea creature, surprised to meet another survivor after years. He also recognizes what he learned in his searches was a siren's prey mark on his wrist. Akane had been looking for any siren for so long, even resorting to use his own voice he hated with all his might to attract one. So when he sees Teru, hope that dimmed after months and months of failure sparks again, and he is certain that he'll find and save Aoi with this new asset. But Teru is in really bad shape, having spent weeks completely unconscious in the ocean, traveling from a land to another by the bare force of a siren that drained his already lacking energy throught the mark on his wrist.

He spends a few months resting at Akane's house, recovering slower than he would like. He doesn't manage to find any clue on what happened to his siblings, only that the connections with his kingdom had been completely severed. After the first few weeks, Teru manages to vaguely learn about what Akane is always working on, discovering that he's looking for someone. They kinda bond over that ; Teru tells Akane about his siblings and gets him to open up, although reluctantly at first, about Aoi. They also share their aversion for supernatural creatures, though Akane never actually tells Teru about his curse. Teru learns to appreciate Akane's presence, his casualness, so different from what he was accustomed to back home. He sees a shift in Akane's behavior, slowly relaxing around him, less on edge and not entirely consumed by his research anymore.

Curiosity slowly grows about the girl he tells him about; he wishes he can meet her someday. Curiosity also grows about the siren that saved him, the beautiful creature that left a mark on his wrist, as faint memories come back. He wants to find her and thank her for saving his life, see her breathtaking eyes once more before never talking to her ever again, as she's one of the beings he swore he wouldn't forgive and did leave an annoying prey mark on him that made him take so long to recover.

Teru also thinks about his family. The thoughts make him unable to fully appreciate the rest he gets at Akane's he had longed for for years, he stays up at night remembering his mother, hallucinating his siblings telling him they'll never meet again.

As soon as Teru gets back on feet, Akane leads the two of them to a clandestine ship heading to Teru's land, as its official communication ways were abruptly closed right before their meeting on the beach. Akane plans on luring the siren who marked Teru out with said guy and do whatever it takes to make them lead him to Aoi. As a bonus, he gets to see genuine excitement on the face of the boy he had kinda grew fond of.

After all, Teru gets to be on a ship and travel for himself for once, he gets to discover freedom in normal conditions and has what could be akin to a friend by his side. If his neck slightly buzzes and his mind flashes tentacles and blinding red as he gets onto the ship, he doesn't mention it.

When the trip that is planned to last about a month is well into its second week and there's still no sign of any siren being nearby, Akane's excitement considerably dims. He doesn't loose hope though, refusing to believe he had spent the past month on a false hope. And so, the lack of results and things to do make him turn to the one distraction he has. He inevitably grows closer to Teru. He feels himself being more and more like, well, himself, before the accident. His washed out personality eventually becomes vibrant again, the dullness Aoi's loss had instaured slowly washing itself away. He thinks it's for the best, Aoi wouldn't have even recognized him if he met her again like that. He cuts his hair, and decides to take control on his life back, for her.

Teru slightly changes too, a personality he never really got to express emerging along his newfound freedom. When he finds his siblings, he promises himself to take them on trips like these. He wants to experience freedom alongside them this time. He doesn't know if they'll ever want to step on a ship again though.

The both of them fall into a casual dynamic, light banter coming along their true colors. Akane learns that the calm and always preoccupied guy whose seemingly only interest was his siblings is actually insufferable and a total weirdo. He can tell him about the entire history of his land and study its economic data from the past 20 years while at the same time not knowing the rules of rock paper scissors. He can't help but find it cute.

At some point, they start to share late night conversations. Teru confesses his past struggles to someone else for the first time, opening up about pressure and expectations, how much he had wanted simplicity and freedom. And something about his smile, or the way he looks at him pulls Akane in, pushes him to grab Teru's shoulder one night and lean closer to him. He's about to kiss him when his hand touches the back of Teru's neck, and he gets zapped. His cursed senses go wild, and that takes him out of the moment, makes him realize just what he was about to do. He feels guilty. He feels like he insulted Aoi by trying to, do something, with another person. The accident makes him distance himself from Teru for a while. Teru's left confused as hell. He doesn't get to think much of it tho, as he quickly gets exhausted after unclenching the zap. Letting out this kind of energy makes him weaker, and attracts one particular siren...

Aoi finds her way back to Teru thanks to the energy he let out she recognizes. An evening, she sings the melody she sang when she rescued him to lure him out. Unsurprisingly, he comes to meet her, the prey mark on his wrist probably making him way more sensitive to her presence than anyone else. But he isn't immediately enchanted by her voice as she expects. Although, he doesn't look exactly in control of himself either, instead looking at her absentely from the boat. He's seemingly still asleep, but his body makes a point not to jump in the water. Shouldn't he be a little more grateful to someone who saved his life? How arrogant and disrespectful, to refuse her call like that. She changes the tune she sings, and this time, Teru can't resist. When he sinks, Teru awakens. He's met with Aoi's face and her angelic voice, and despite swearing not to interact with her ever again after thanking her, he can't pull his eyes off her. With no high and tiredness from a fight, weakened and marked prey this time, he gets enchanted by her voice, falling hard for her. Seeing her success, Aoi starts draining his energy, planning to turn this human with a special blood into a siren all to herself. And so, the following days, she lures him at night to drain him, taste his blood, taking the time to prepare for the transformation as she's not powerful enough to complete it quickly.

Teru gets stuck into a constant state of hypnosis. He forgets about his siblings and his goals, only seeing Aoi, wanting to be by her side, waiting for her beautiful voice to call on him. His physical condition gets even weaker, worse than when he first got found by Akane. He barely goes out of his cabinet anymore.

Days pass like that, and Akane who had completely distanced himself from Teru notices the changement in his behavior. He doesn't actually go check up on him though, too preoccupied by his guilt to confront him. He spirals all over again in his thoughts.

But one night, he remembers about his actual goal - finding a siren - and, as he didn't check for days now, he resorts to sing a siren tune, hoping to attract the one who marked Teru. What he attracts isn't what he expects tho, as it's the prey himself who comes out of his cabinet a few minutes into his melody. Akane's surprised at first, the tune only made to be heard by sirens, then he comes to the realization. He's sure Teru somehow caught on on his true nature and expects to get yelled at, or straight up attacked (fear had kinda grown towards Teru since he got zapped), knowing the boy's resentment towards sea creatures. He does none of that though. He instead throws himself in the water. Akane doesn't understand at first, but follows him anyway.

Akane despises his siren form, but he's grateful it allows him to breath underwater, as Teru swims during a long time, towards no particular goal. But when he sees his wrist glowing, he's practically sure the siren is nearby, and he picks up the pace.

Then he sees her.

Akane Aoi. The very one girl he had been looking for for so long. She's as breathtaking as he remembers, but the human glint in her eyes is gone. Akane is devastated as he finds out she became a complete siren. No way to revert back, no, he had learnt that over the past two years.

When Teru swims into her arms, he seems oddly at peace, almost drugged. Aoi's caressing the boys hair, holding his wrist and lightly piercing it. The wrist's glowing. Akane can't believe she was the siren who marked Teru.

Then he gets hit again with the realization that it is Aoi, the one he had been looking for for years, the girl he had promised himself to save. (He was too late, and oh so wrong about her fate).

And so, he bursts in, dives straight towards Aoi and locks eyes with hers, inhuman jade pupils staring into even less human aquamarines, in hopes she would remember him somehow (it is impossible). Her eyes do widen a bit seeing him, and she even reaches out to cup his face. At that, Akane freezes. Sirens don't usually do this right? When her hand touches him, he forgets everything. Forgets about Teru, about his curse, about how a full siren can't revert back to human and can't gain their memories back either, ever. Irrational, desperate, hope grows within him, hope that she does remember, that there is still part of her that's human, that there is still something for him to save, to wish for, that she isn't lost yet. He needs to believe that he can do something, even if it costs his life to bring her back.

His human part gets mesmerized by her eyes, and tears of joy - or total madness - roll of his own. The sanity he had managed to regain the past few months slips away in a go - he's completely overwhelmed by the relief of reuniting with Aoi, the birth of a new, completely insane goal, and the terrifying look in her beautiful irises, taking the shape of rows and rows of circles, akin to hypnosis spirals. Akane's getting enchanted, and his only half-siren body can't resist it, especially not since it comes from Aoi. She herself doesn't seem conscious of what she's doing, the look on her face becoming more and more confused, almost on the verge of crashing out, tumult boiling behind her eyes. The sight of this anormal siren is setting her senses ablaze, contradicting everything she is, trying to pull out a side of her that doesn't exist anymore.

A year ago, Akane skips a passage of a book. "If sirens are confronted with the deepest regret they didn't let go of , they remember, and they..."

Her nails dig into his skin but her hold somehow stays gentle. She's about to pull him even closer when they're interrupted by a flash of bright light, coming from Teru. Akane only gains the slightest hint of a clear mind when he turns away from Aoi's wide eyes to see the mark on Teru's wrist glowing dark red. His nearby veins bursts open. Akane's smells the delicious scent of a very special blood but also something akin to poison mixed in it. The blood is black. Like his. Like the siren's from two years ago. Gears of his hypnotized mind switch up. Why Teru heard the tune he was humming on the boat. Why he was loosing his energy all of sudden, just like he did himself when he got cursed. Why he is here.

He doesn't dare to take a closer look at the mark, already knowing it isn't that of a prey anymore, that it had transformed into the same he had on his torso, but complete. He can't believe he hasn't seen this coming. His friend getting transformed right under his eyes. Aoi lets go of him, but doesn't go to Teru either. Instable energy boils up in her, and she starts shaking hard. Akane is torn between staying for her or saving his friend. He fights off Aoi's hypnosis and his own mind screaming at him to stay and swims to Teru. Because Teru's still part human as of now, and he can't stand the idea of failing him again, after letting all the clues past his nose. But the blood starts forming a cage around Teru, pushing Akane away, and then his whole body starts glowing. He understands that he's witnessing the final step of a transformation. And that he can't do anything. He can't save a person dear to him, again. The only thing he can do is to wait for it to be over and hope Teru's kept a bit of his humanity. (Deep within, he knows it's too late anyway. It's impossible to turn a siren back, even with signs of humanity like Aoi. He refuses to acknowledge it.)

Aoi's shaking gets worse. Her eyes become pitch black. Seeing the siren getting away from her, weirdly makes her head ache. Her chest glows dark near her heart and her voice lets out loud, incoherent screeches to call him back.

Akane, agitated, comes back to her, and when she meets his eyes again, she remembers. Aoi Akane, her childhood bestfriend. The most important person in her life. The light glows even brighter, dark blood coming out of her eyes. The arteries flowing to her unbeating heart implode. Her hypnosis abruptly stops.

Remembering is the most dangerous thing to a siren. Never, ever, remember. You can't remember. (You can, but don't)

She finally sees him, this time unclouded, completely himself. His eyes shine in horror, and on his face is plastered an expression that has already been addressed to her once before on a certain ship. She notices he's holding her in his arms. His gloved hands aren't as warm nor as steady as she remembers.

"...They die."

That's not how she wanted their reunion to be. Two years ago, she had promised herself to revert back to human, to find Akane and tell him all the things she didn't get the chance to say to him. Two years ago, she had also forgotten who she was.

Aoi feels the energy she needs to survive leave her body as the core of the siren part of herself breaks into pieces. Akane's eyes are blown wide. Shakily, she cups his cheek again.

"Akane-kun...I..remember now.." she manages to say. Yeah, it hits her full force now. The blurred face she had unconsciously been looking for for the past two years, the regrets she had, it was all Akane. Now, she's herself again, and they could live happily ever after... But of course not. What a shame it has to end like that.

She thinks of that other boy, the human that was turning into a siren at the moment. She had enjoyed his presence. Even if he didn't remember, he had been nice to her when she brought him to safety. He probably has people important to him, family, maybe friends. One look at Akane earlier, at his eyes that were way more tired than before but just as beautiful worriedly staring at him made her understand the boy meant a lot him. She'd prefer for Akane to think only about her in what she knows are her last moments, but she can't resolve herself to condemn Minamoto Teru. So, in a whisper, as blood pools up her mouth, she tells Akane to help him, as a last wish.

It would've been better if he had given up two years ago. Then, he wouldn't have had to wear such a shattered expression on his face. But, selfish as it is, even if it hurts Akane, she can't help but be grateful to have gotten the chance to see him once more, before dying as herself and not anyone else. She doesn't say anything, but the last smile she adresses Akane is enough to tell him everything she's had on her heart since the day they parted and all the way before. No regrets anymore. She loves him.

Silently, as her eyes finally become humane again, I love you. Just like that, her lids close and she goes as the water slowly darkens.

Akane's underwater breath hitches, and he looses it. She died because of him, that was sure. She died. Aoi died. Aoi. Died. Dead. His hold on her tightens as her physical body dissipates. At some point, he's left alone with a single scale that stayed behind and grabs it as a lifeline. His hands clench it tight. Salty tears mix in the ocean water. Without Aoi, he doesn't know what to do anymore (he doesn't even know if he wants to keep on living).

Then he hears a loud thump. It is Teru's cage. The transformation shouldn't be done so soon. He remembers Aoi telling him to help him. He should do that.

Akane slowly swims to Teru's cage. He sees it dissipating, revealing an unconscious boy inside. Teru is buzzing from electricity, his skin burnt, his body electrified. His Minamoto blood combined with his condition refused the siren transformation, the opposition between the two damaging his body instead. Teru isn't breathing. His eyes don't open either.

Akane gently takes him away from the cage, into his arms, to inspect him. No response to anything he does. His face, at least, looks at peace. Akane can't believe it. He shakily buries his head into his chest. How could this happen..?

In the end, the last thing he did with him was this unnecessary kiss attempt, probably leaving him confused, then the whole ignoring thing. Teru's not going to see his siblings he loved so much again. He isn't going to live a long and free life either. It's all because of Akane. He..he should've given up on Aoi. He shouldn't have ever dragged Teru onto the boat knowing full well how dangerous a prey mark is. She wouldn't have died. He would've found a way to live, eventually. He stripped their lives away from them.

Akane stays there for hours, empty and filled with void, an unresponsive boy in his arms and the only thing left from a girl he looked for for years clutched tight in his hand.

Days pass, and he decides to bring Teru's body back to his brother. Maybe Aoi would like the travel. He wants to build her a proper tomb after that, bury her like she deserves to.

It takes years for him to find Kou. With no information aside from Teru's descriptions, it is not an easy task. He wanders across the world, a casket on his back, a necklace holding a scale in a small box on his neck. When he dives into sea, he never once meets another siren. Sea creatures avoid him, sensing the energy of a fallen comrade and the intense aura of a dead Minamoto from him. It's fine. He doesn't want to ever interact with any of them anyway.

His journey comes to an end when he finally recognizes a mop of blond hair with a red earring, radiating a familiar electric energy. He's in a city then, one that has clearly been through a lot, but is already in the middle of being reconstructed. The boy's praying to a monument for the fallen. In the entrance, three people, likely his friends and a younger girl he can't think of any name for but Tiara. Teru would've been happy with how good they came out as grown ups. Akane clutches his necklace, then slowly approches the kneeling figure.

"...Kou, is it?"

---

Yup that's it! Here are the sketches that inspired ts (I kinda strayed a lot from the original idea as you can kinda see)

Then these came after

Well huuuh thanks for reading :D

(OG draft)

Photobombinghgg💥💥

This shouldn't have taken forever but it did, what the hell

Finishing the first episode of Interview with the Vampire only to get on TikTok and see ppl calling MITSUHANA of all ships abusive and unshippable and putting it in the same category as incest ships was truly a surreal experience. Anyways friendly reminder that I am fully on board with these two and I love them dearly. MitsuHana world domination, I just know they would bully each other so hard

asjdf im gonna move my arts to a side blog bc how much repost i do on main and lowkey i want an aesthetic art blog asdkfjhasjdf 💔💔💔

mitsuba and his extendable scarf appreciation post

When Tsukasa sang with Nene

It's one of my favorite Tsukasa's moments. AidaIro showed his artistic and delicate, emotional side. "Over the rainbow" is a song about hope in painful or distressing circumstances. I think the lyrics are also a reference to what he wants deep inside.

Something he longs for, maybe something ideal for him, a hope he has for better circumstances. Which also means he's in a situation he can't escape (Being the person's he loves the most and thinks that hates him, yorishiro. Being Amane's yorishiro). A situation that makes him feel hurt, a situation that he's struggling with and he wants to break free from it.

But then Nene joins in and they sing along!!! He's looking upward and ahead with a soft gaze, with a gentle smile. He also shows more of his deepest feelings in his face, the sadness but also the good memories from when he was alive, he was reminiscing about the past.

And at the same time it's a face of hope, a face of someone soon to be in a better situation, a face of someone about to be free from the chains someone else put on him. To me, it was his personal farewell before he disappears. Before Nene destroys him. His face shows it all.

I think it's one of the very few times that Tsukasa let himself to feel, he let his feelings show: Pain, hope, nostalgia and enjoyment. He was genuinely having fun singing along with Nene, he opened up a bit, he was so comfortable to express himself and Nene also got relaxed to sing along with him.

They shared something they really liked in common, that is, to sing and they did it together. It was a personal, meaningful moment between them in which he showed his innermost emotions through his facial expression, through the lyrics of the song, through his behaviour. That was unexpected and enchanting.

And I link this hope to this scene. Apart from granting Amane's wish, to bring happiness to him, to bring better circumstances for him with his ultimate sacrifice, there's his hope to disappear, to finally be free from his painful situation.

It's something really sad, his hope for himself in his current circumstances in the original timeline. He longs to be free even if it means to disappear.

He has his childish, carefree side but he also has his emotional, deep side which he almost never shows and because of that, some people tend to overlook it. I would love to learn more about his inner emotional world. We'll probably see more of it from when he was alive.

Yako letting Kou hold her and cleaning his tears is so precious to me. I love their friendship.

First Mermay piece!

Hanako is a Black ghost knife fish and Nene is a betta fish!!

hi 👻

🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨

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