Shy and Breathless Part 1

Shy and Breathless
At the bottom of the ocean, there was an underwater high school, filled with students who could breathe underwater, and those who can't. This was Atlantis Corridor High School.

It was the end of a long day, at Atlantis High, the students swimming out of the grounds like a huge school of fish. Among the crowds, was a very shy Russian neko girl, keeping to herself. She was wearing her school uniform, short-sleeved short and a floating skirt, school bag on her back, and a rebreather in her mouth, providing her with precious oxygen so she can survive in this aquatic environment. The name on her bag said "ANASTASIA MAKAROV".

The shy Anastasia had just bade farewell to her school friends and was leaving the school grounds, at the back of the crowd. Once the other students had left, Anastasia went in her own direction, different from everyone elses, kicking vertically through the water with ease, her arms gently pulling her forward in a butterfly motion.

Once she was certain she was alone, she found a wide rock sticking above the surface that was big enough to walk on. She took a deep breath from her regulator and held it in her lungs and cheeks, puffing them up. She put her regulator in her bag and made her way to the surface. Within seconds, she broke through the surface of the blue, hair splashing behind her, taking a gasp of fresh air. Anastasia pulled herself onto the rock, being careful not to cut herself on a barnicle or a shell. She made certain that she was alone, but even so, she hid between two rises just to be sure. She was there for minutes, then, she emerged, in a light blue one-piece swimsuit, with a heart-shaped cutout in the belly area. She felt embarrassed about this look, despite there being no-one around. But one of her friends bought her that swimsuit, so she would try it, just to show her gratitude.

But then....in the distance, she saw a splash. Then she saw a distant figure rocket 50 feet into the air. Anastasia watched in puzzlement. Then she saw the figure descending....in her direction. At breakneck speed. Once she realised the impending impact. She dove underwater without a second thought, hoping the sea will protect and hide her. She hid under the water, but she heard no impact. She hesitated to see what was up there, but she didnt take a breath before she dove, so her lungs said to surface. She slowly floated up and poked her face above, trying to breathe quietly until she saw what was there.

It was a man. A very tall man, about 6 foot 10 inches. He had longish brown hair. He was wearing a black mafia style trenchcoat, buttoned up in the torso, with black jeans and wingtail shoes. He had the cold eyes of an assassin. He was shaking off his trenchcoat, when he, by chance, looked in Anastasia's direction. Frightened by his image, she took a quick breath and hid under again. But the man had good eyes, and he could see her neko tail floating under the surface. At this moment, Anastasia thought the best option was to run. Or swim, in this case. But as soon as she turned around, the man was right there in front of her. She screamed, letting out an amount of her air. She was petrified, about to cry. "P-pleablse donbl't hurblt mble," she whimpered.

But the man's cold face expression was gone, replaced with a friendly, but puzzled face. "I'm not going to hurt you. I wouldn't dare hurt an innocent woman." Bewildered by his clear speech underwater, her cheeks blushed red and she looked away. Then, the man grabbed her hand and pulled her to the surface, letting her breathe. "W-why did you pull m-me up," Anastasia said, still unable to look the man in the eye, her cheeks still rosy red. The man replied, "Well, you have to breathe, don't you? I don't want a girl to drown. By the way, its nice to meet you. Call me S." S offered his hand to her. "A-anastasia...Makarov," she stuttered. "Ah, shy are we? I understand. I'm autistic."

Anastasia widened her eyes and finally looked in his direction. "O-oh. I'm sorry for being scared of y-you earlier..." She blushed again. S smiled compassionately. "That's okay, I don't blame you. Many are scared of me. But only those who get me mad. That's why you saw me like that earlier. I was taking care of a....nuisence." Anastasia widened her eyes and backed away slightly. Then she came closer back. "S-sorry," she stuttered again. "I'm v-very shy."

Then S changed the subject. "What were you doing here exactly?" Anastasia blushed heavily. She didn't want S to know she was just trying out her swimsuit, so she tried to think of another excuse. "U-uh, I, I was....going to explore that underwater tunnel over there, see?" She frantically pointed. S looked towards it. "Ah, I see. Mind if I come along? You know what they say, never dive alone." Anastasia, dragged in by her own excuse, accepted.

They both swam towards the tunnel entrance and Anastasia took the biggest breath she could and held in her lungs and cheeks. They dove headfirst down into the tunnel. It was dark at first, but gaps in the rock kept the tunnel lit just enough for them both to see. "Oh, I forgot to ask," S said, able to breath underwater. "How long can you hold your breath for?" "Sixblteebln minubltes," she gurgled, trying to lose as little air as possible, because neither of them knew how deep this tunnel was, or where it would lead.

They dove deeper and deeper until the tunnel reached a dead end. "Oh," S said. "That's disappointing." Anastasia nodded in agreement and signaled that they should go up, for she only had 9 minutes of air left. Then they heard a deep rumble. Within seconds the cave began to shake. Anastasia panicked and swam without looking where she was going and got her whole body tangled in a field of kelp. She was completely stuck. S pulled out a knife to cut her loose, but the cave collasped in front of him, seperating him from his trapped friend.

Seeing she was cut off from S, the cave collasped in the other direction, trapping her both ends. Her panic had cut down her breathhold time, and her cheeks were swelling and turning red, her chest began to burn and bubbles of stale air escaped her lips. She couldn't even reach her own mouth because her hands were tangled in the kelp. Her stomach and chest began to convulse. She thought to herself: "I just wanted try on my present....how could it kill me?" She wanted to cry as she knew her fate was almost certain....

To be continued....