Author: SithLordWiccan
Rating: NC-17
E-Mail: decepticons_4_ever@hotmail.com. All comments read. Positive feedback welcomed, negative feedback to be collected, put in a rocketship and blasted into the sun.
Distribution: Through the Looking-glass, Mystic Muse.
Disclaimer: This fic contains situations that may be considered unusual and strange to some. These include (but are not limited to) underwater sex between two females, breathholding and implied drowning. If any of this disgusts you, stop reading now and go find something else to do. This disclaimer is here for a reason: to let me off the hook so that I can feel free to go into as much smutty detail as I want without having to feel guilty about it. All "Buffy" characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy.
Notes: Thanks to SallyMcFine and Irene for being my betas. I owe them more than words can ever say. They're as much responsible for what you're about to read than I am. They deserve their props, too.
Summary: Tara is a member of a race of undersea mermaids. Willow is a recreational diver who stumbles into their territory. Smutty underwater loving ensues.

Willow Rosenberg sat on the edge of the small boat she had rented from the docks earlier that day, preparing her dive gear for her latest underwater adventure. The area was rather popular with the local crowd, and tourists often came here for fun and relaxation. She hoped that none would come today, however. Today she wanted to be alone.

She looked out to at the silently rippling water as she thought briefly about how much she enjoyed gliding through the weightless environment of the ocean. Her parents were certified divers and had often let Willow come with them when she was little. Of course, they didn't allow her to go into the water herself, saying that she was too little and that it would be too dangerous. She always stayed on the boat with the captain playing cards.

She couldn't recall when it was that she started to appreciate the water, but she did know that from her teenage years, she always felt as if she had always belonged there. During high school she would spend what free time she had at the local outdoor swimming pool enjoying the feelings she had as she glided around. Most of the time, however, the place was often too crowded by families, so she wasn't able to enjoy it as much as she wanted to. It wasn't that she wasn't a people person. It was just that sometimes she wanted to be alone. She figured it must have come from her upbringing, when her parents spent so much time traveling with her in tow that she didn't have time to make any friends.

The only constant in her life had been swimming. Even after high school, when her parents allowed her to come on their trips, she had found ways to indulge herself. No matter where her parents had gone to, there was a swimming pool either at their hotel or within walking distance. On the times that her parents had left her at the hotel while they went diving, she had often gone to the pool and swam around, though she found that the pools there were often more crowded than they were at home. She didn't mind, but she wished that she could be alone so that she could enjoy herself without having to feel too guilty that someone may be watching.

That led to her decision one night to sneak into the pool after it had closed, just so she could be by herself without having to listen to the constant noise that had often accompanied her daytime visits. Wearing a loose fitting T-shirt and pants and holding a bag containing a mask and fins in one hand, she scaled the fence, dropped as silently as she could to the ground and walked to the edge of the water. Dropping the bag next to her as she reached the edge, she took off her shirt and unbuttoned her jeans, letting them fall down to her ankles. She had taken a moment to examine her body, clad as it was in the blue one piece swimsuit she always wore and never really liked, as it did little more than to highlight just how unremarkable her teenage body was.

She sat down and took her shoes and socks off, putting them, along with her pants, down by the nearby diving board. She then moved to the edge of the pool, soaking her feet in the slightly chilled water. She felt a tingle go up her spine as she moved to don the fins and mask and slid into the water.

She swam around the pool for several minutes, taking several opportunities to dive under the water and run her hands across the pool's surface. As she dove under the surface and began her third slow lap around the pool, she began to feel something that she hadn't really felt before.

She was starting to get aroused. The sensuous feel of the water against the bare skin of her arms and legs was sending jolts of electricity down her spine. The cool temperature of the water, amplified by the colder surrounding air, brought forth a shudder. She looked down to see her nipples poking through the fabric of the swimsuit. She gently rubbed them both with the tips of her fingers, sending a spasm through her body.

As she swam to the side of the pool and started to rise, she took the time to think about what she was feeling. It wasn't something terribly new to her. As a blossoming teenager, she had often felt sexually excited, though it wasn't until she had read some books at the library that she was able to put her feelings into something tangible. But she had never felt this way while swimming in the water. Maybe it was that she was alone or maybe it was that she was doing something she wasn't supposed to be doing. She couldn't tell for sure.

As she broke to the surface, she took a few moments to look around. Although it was night and the chance that anyone passing by was slim, she wanted to make sure that she was alone. After all, breaking into the pool to go swimming by herself was one thing. But what she was about to do was something else entirely.

Taking several breaths, she dove under the surface once again and began to swim to the opposite side of the pool, much like she had been doing. Only this time, she was mainly using her legs to keep her moving forward, as her arms began moving of their own volition across her body. She traced her fingers across her body, sending small pulses across her skin as she teased herself, drawing her fingers away after only a moment's touch. She brought her left hand up to rub the nape of her neck, teasing it by rubbing with her fingertips one moment, then her entire hand the next. Her right hand circled both of her breasts, gently stroking and pinching the nipples after every third or fourth pass. She felt a burning ache in her lower body around that time and moved her hand down to her lower regions, feeling the beginnings of a growing intensity in her chest as her fingers gingerly grazed her mound.

Reaching the other side of the pool, she surfaced and started some breathing exercises, taking in as much air as she could as she prepared to swim back to the pool's opposite end. As she did, she reached for the straps of her bathing suit, pulling them down over her shoulders. She paused for a moment before removing the suit completely, allowing it to fall to the pool surface below.

She thought about the situation she was in. Floating in the pool as nude as the day she had come into the world, she knew that she should be embarrassed. After all, empty or full, night or day, being naked in a public swimming pool was something she would never do.

And yet, as Willow took a final few breaths and dove under the surface again, she couldn't bring herself to care.

Holding onto one of the bars of the nearby pool ladder as well as she could with her right hand, she began to move her left hand in a cursory exploration of her body. She traced a curve around her chest, in between her breasts and lightly rubbing her nipples again, having become painfully erect thanks to the combination of the chilled water and her earlier teasing. She moved her hand back down to gently tickle her thighs, teasing the skin of her sex as she did so. After repeating these motions about three or four times, she moved her hand to her sex again and cupped it in her hand. She gently slid a finger inside of her; gently massage her clit and teasing her inner walls. She paused briefly as she felt the pressure on her chest increase as the waves of pleasure began to course through her.

She struggled to keep herself from breathing, knowing that her orgasm would be more powerful without the lack of oxygen. She couldn't tell, however, if this was because of the fear of drowning or because of the thrill it was bringing her. These thoughts left her mind as quickly as they had come however as she continued to tease her inner walls, having added two fingers to her damp folds, feeling the wetness inside of her just as easily as she felt the wetness outside.

The urge to breathe was growing more intense as she continued to pleasure herself. Willow knew she was on the verge of a powerful and cataclysmic orgasm. Her moans, which had started off small, began to grow in intensity, magnified by the fact that her mouth was clamped shut in an attempt to keep herself under control. An attempt that was, she found herself admitting, failing spectacularly. The need to breathe was overpowering, but she fought it as she buried her fingers deeper inside herself, desperately trying to bring herself to the powerful climax she knew was coming.

Suddenly she felt an intense shock wave pass through her. She gripped the pool ladder and began to moan loud as an intense orgasm passed through her. This intense emotion, combined with her need to breathe, threatened to cause her to black out. As the last shreds of her powerful underwater orgasm faded, she grabbed onto the opposite bar of the pool ladder and weakly began to climb up.

As she moved to sit on the side of the pool, water dripping down her body, she took a moment to figure out what this all meant. Being the overly curious teenager that she was, she had often looked through things she wasn't supposed to. That included several sex books. But none of them had ever said anything about this. She slipped back into the water to retrieve her swimsuit, which had floated up from the pool's bottom and now was at the opposite end of the pool.

That had been nearly twelve years ago, and Willow could still remember it as clearly as if it had happened yesterday. Since then, she had discovered dozens of internet websites that were devoted to Aquaphilia, a term used to describe a form of sexual fetishism which involves images of people swimming or posing underwater and engaging in sexual activity in or under water. Willow could easily admit, and felt proud to do so, that she now considers herself one. "After all," she had thought at the time. “What could be more serene and beautiful than the human form balanced gracefully within the gravity free environments below the sparkling surface of a swimming pool, a rainbow colored coral reef, or crystal clear lagoon?"

It was then that she discovered another major revelation about herself. Most of the stories and pictures she found on these websites involved women underwater and in sexual situations. She found that reading these stories and seeing these pictures aroused her and many was the night that she fell asleep masturbating to them. The dual revelation of being both turned on by both water and women was something that she knew would affect the rest of her life.

"Talk about discovering yourself all at once," she thought as she zipped up her wetsuit top and raised the hood over her head, encasing her upper body in smooth neoprene rubber. She had decided to wear a bright red bikini bottom instead of the wetsuit pants, as it would make any attempt to pleasure herself while she was underwater (and she had no doubt such a situation would arise) much easier.

She had gotten certified as a diver when she was twenty-two, having saved up enough of her money to pay for the lessons herself without her parents' knowledge. She knew that they would disapprove of Willow's frequent dives, since they considered it more of a hobby enjoyed once in a while rather than a way of life. She did so partly because of her interest, piqued as it was by her parents' dives. But mostly it was so she would be able to act out her private underwater fantasies alone.

A small frown creased her features as she moved to strap her buoyancy compensator and its attached tank to her back. Not only had she not told her parents about her pastime, but she never told those who she considered her closest friends. Not even Buffy Summers, herself a certified diver who often accompanied Willow during the relatively few times Willow decided to join others on her underwater adventures. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy the company, though. But every time she went into the water, she felt the uncontrollable urge to please herself. And that wasn't something she knew she could get away with around others. This left her feeling rather isolated, with no one with whom to share the passion for her hobby.

Picking up her mask from the boat's steering controls, she moved to the side of the boat, putting the mask on and adjusting it to her face. She had always known that she wanted to share her fantasies with someone, but her natural shyness kept her from approaching women she found attractive. She had come to accept it, but she had always hoped.

Or maybe it was just that she hadn't met the right woman yet.

Sitting down on the deck of the boat, she put the regulator into her mouth and drew several breaths, pleased to see that the equipment was still in tip-top shape. Placing a hand to her face to help secure them, she flipped off the boat and began yet another underwater adventure, completely unaware of the fact that this adventure would be different from all the others that had come before.

Tara swam silently in the ocean, admiring the natural beauty of the coral reefs and the tropical fish that swam about in schools. Normally such a sight would be amazing, but to one like her, it was merely an everyday part of the scenery.

Taking another look at her surroundings, however, she realized that she was nowhere near where she should be. It was well past the borders of her that were put in place by her clan of mermaids, and it was one of their most sacred laws never to travel this far beyond them. But she couldn't help herself. She was often curious about the world outside her own, mostly because few ever spoke to her about it.

Tara had lived her whole life under the ocean. Despite the common stereotypes associated with mermaids by the surface dwellers, she and the others of her clan had nothing that in any way resembled a tail. They appeared to be, in all aspects, relatively human in appearance. The only features giving away her aquatic nature were a series of small greenish scales, which stood out in contrast to her alabaster skin. These scales resembled those found on several smaller marine animals such as fishes. They were grouped together in several areas across her body; particularly her head, where they emerged from her hairline for several centimeters. Her thighs and feet were also scaled, in addition to the sides of her neck; where, also, a series of gill slits the length of about two inches, allowed her to breathe in the underwater environment. In all other aspects, however, she looked very much like a human woman.

It was a comparison that those of her race were loath to admit, however. She knew that her clan of mermaids held a distrust of humans, stemming from an incident in the past that was long forgotten. She didn't realize why, though, and had often wanted to meet a human, knowing that they sometimes traveled down to the ocean using some form of magic that she couldn't understand. And as a practicing mage, she was familiar with most forms of mermaid magic.

She continued to swim majestically through the ocean floor, one hand lazily tracing across her nude body as the other moved to caress the schools of fish in various shades of color and spongy coral as she floated passed them. She took a moment to examine her body and realized that it was nothing that she had to be ashamed about when it came to her body. With long, golden blonde hair that flowed in the ocean currents, long shapely legs that ended in webbed feet that made her a powerful swimmer, and a generously sized chest that, more often than not, was kept hidden by her beautiful blonde locks, she was the perfect picture of the typical underwater goddess.

Suddenly she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Turning her head toward the movement, she was surprised to see a body moving off in the opposite direction. It was then that she realized that it was a human! The thought filled her with dread, as she had heard rumors from others in her clan that humans were both disruptive and destructive. She knew she should return to the meeting place to inform the Elders of what was going on.

Instead, her curiosity was piqued. She knew that it might be dangerous, and that she would most likely be punished for doing so, but she couldn't help herself. There was something about this human that called to her. She decided to move to investigate, using the nearby coral as cover. After all, she figured, she always wanted to meet a human. This might be her only chance.

Willow glided silently through the ocean, the only sound the rhythmic pulsing from her regulator as she breathed in and out. She watched as the bubbles traveled to the surface, a tingle of excitement growing as she did. She knew what that meant, and she wasn't at all surprised. Whenever she entered the ocean recently, she had felt an intense desire that begged to be released. It made her long, not for the first time, for someone to share her passion with.

She began to trace her left hand over her body, sending a jolt through her body. She gently teased herself this way as her right hand slowly made its way to her bikini bottoms. As she did this, her left hand grasped the zipper of her wetsuit top and gently began to pull it down. Stopping halfway, she reached inside and began to gently caress her breasts, feeling her nipples grow and harden as her teasing brought them to attention. Her other hand dipped into her bikini and gently cupped her mound. She shuddered as she felt the growing wetness that yearned to be released.

She was all too happy to comply, gently inserting a finger into her sex and began to caress her inner folds.

"Oh, goddess!" Tara thought as she watched the human from a safe distance as she fondled herself. "I never knew a human could be so...be so..."

She couldn't think of any way to put her thoughts into words, as the actions being put on display in front of her defied all conventional explanation. She had often spied on humans as they made their way through the area, but she had never seen one so engaged.

She had always had a weakness for female mermaids. This, combined with her talents in magic, had made her unpopular with the majority of her clan. But there were those with whom she enjoyed special moments, where they could discuss whatever was on their minds and practice their Craft. However, they had drawn the proverbial line in the sand at acting on the feelings that they had shared for one another, for fear of bringing the others' wrath down upon them all.

But as she stared at this human, she felt something for her, a feeling that went beyond simple lust. It felt half like a yearning, half like a desire. What caused this desire, she found herself wondering. What was it that was causing this pull she felt toward the human? Tara thought that it was that, unlike most other humans she saw in the area, she was alone. She was often alone, as well, though this was because she wanted it that way. Did this human have desires, too? Was she here alone because of some repression that the surface world had brought upon her?

She gazed intently at the human as she continued her exploration of her body. And she noted that, it was a remarkable body. Modestly proportioned, with shapely legs and a small yet ample chest. This, sadly, was all that she could see, as much of her upper body, along with her lower regions, were covered in clothing. Tara felt regret that she couldn't see more of her body and that she had felt the need to cover herself. The ocean was a place to be natural, to be free.

She lost her train of thought as she became aware of the fact that her hands, seemingly having detached themselves from the rational part of her brain, were moving across her body in much the same fashion as the human's. The thumb and forefinger of her left gently pinched the nipples of her exposed breasts until they became the size of small peaks. Her hands then raised to gently knead them over and over again, sending ripples of pleasure coursing through her body, inflaming her soul. She never thought that anyone could bring out such feelings in her, especially not a surface dweller.

She paused as she opened her eyes to see the human gently begin to unzip the clothing that concealed her upper chest, and silently gasped as she caught sight of two of the most perfectly sized breasts that she had ever seen in her life. They, much like everything else about this human, seemed too good to be true.

Her right hand slowly lowered to her sex, the throbbing and feelings becoming too much for her to ignore anymore, her thoughts on the shape of the human's luxuriously formed chest and how much she would enjoy fondling, nipping and gently stroking them. As that last thought burned into her brain, she began to rub her sex, sending two fingers inside, following up quickly with a third. The small scales on her fingertips helped send her body afire, the heat of her passion flowing out over her as her wetness joined with the natural wetness of the ocean around her.

Willow's hand was moving of its own volition now, all pretense of calm or patience abandoned as her fingers impacted against her inner walls, sending insurmountable pleasure through her body and forcing her to draw air more quickly than she would have liked. She was close now, she could feel it. She continued to send her fingers deeper into herself, her other hand lazily climbing back up her body.

Her moaning, muffled as it was by the regulator, began to grow in intensity. Her breaking point was near, and she only increased her determination. Her hips began to buck violently as she felt her passion explode from her, her self made wetness joining with the natural wetness of the sea.

Feeling herself coming to the breaking point, Tara increased her thrusting, bucking her pelvis to help bring herself closer to climax. She could feel the tidal wave of pressure beginning to form, begging to be unleashed, and suddenly, without any warning, it had. Tara threw herself back into the ocean and moaned in ecstasy as spasm after powerful spasm washed over her.

As Willow began to slowly swim away, her body still tingling in the throws of her orgasm, she realized that she was in no hurry to bring her underwater adventure to a sudden and, she had to admit, pleasurable end. She noted, however, that she didn't want to do it out here in the open where other divers happened along. She looked around for somewhere she could be alone and continue to explore, and spotted an entrance to a cave nearby.

She checked her air supply, found that she had enough to last for quite some time, and made her way to the cave entrance.

As her orgasm subsided, Tara realized that her cry of passion could have alerted the human to her presence and she moved quickly to find if she had been noticed. She was relieved to find, after a few moments, that she was still underwater, though her pleasure at seeing her was soon changed to dread as she saw that her destination was a nearby cave.

Tara knew the cave all too well. It was a superstitious place among her clan, where mermaids had gone and never returned. Her mother had gone several years ago to disprove this theory, and never returned. She didn't know what had happened to her, and those she asked merely said that it was “surface dweller aggression".

Tara hadn't believed that. There was no way that she could. But it didn't help that she still carried a fear about the place. And that the human was now making her way there.

She had been planning to leave to tell the Elders, but she knew that to do so would abandon the human to die. And this was something that, despite her nature, she could not allow. She felt...something for this human, and it just wouldn't allow her to come to harm.

Moving cautiously, and keeping to the coral as much as she could, she kicked her legs and began to follow the human into the cave.

Taking a length of rope from one of the pouches on her buoyancy compensator, Willow wrapped it along the shaft of a nearby piece of coral, and entered the cave, holding onto the rope with her left hand as she swam slowly, her right hand moving down beneath her bikini bottom to one again begin rubbing her sex.

After several minutes, she came to a stop and rested on the ocean floor, sitting cross legged with her back to the cave wall, the tank clanking as it impacted the surface. She let go of the rope in order to free her hand, bringing it up to unzip her wetsuit top the rest of the way, exposing her breasts to the cooled water, her nipples still hard from her earlier teasing. She brought the thumb and forefinger of her left hand up to gently pinch them, the intensity of her touch causing her to squeal each time she did. Her right hand, meanwhile, continued its massage of her precious parts, slowly at first, then more rapidly, two fingers gently inserting to caress herself once more.

Her moans, soft and muffled with her regulator in the way, began to grow in frequency and loudness as the fingers brought her peaks to attention and her sex to a furiously painful wetness just straining for release. She bit down on the regulator's mouthpiece as her hand vibrated faster, her moans increasing in intensity as her orgasm began to build.

After several more seconds, she lost control and began to arch her back; her breaking point reached as wave after wave of intense pleasure was sent through her body. She arched her back again and again, the intensity building, then slowing and finally ceased.

As she began to breathe normally again, she figured that she could probably bring herself to another peak of ecstasy, but she realized that she might not have enough air left. She moved her hand back to the cave wall and began to look for the rope, only to realize that it had disappeared.

"Where did the rope go?" she thought, bubbles nervously pulsing from her lips. "How am I going to get out of here now?"

After a few moments of searching (and failing to find) the rope, she began to panic internally as she realized that she was completely lost in the middle of an ocean cave with no idea how to get back. Every path she could find only seemed to send her deeper into the cave. She should have been aware of this, but her desperation to find a way out blinded her to all other thoughts. The only thing she did think about was how her situation could get any worse.

Then she attempted to take a breath...and didn't draw any air.

Panicking, she reached for her air pressure gauge, and found that it was near empty. "How?!" she panicked. "I had plenty of air. Unless..."

She thought briefly back to her intense orgasm, how her back had arched itself violently...and only now realizing that it must have damaged her tank. She was so intent on trying to find a way to escape that she hadn't realized it...until now.

With blind panic, she began to scramble back the way she had come, hands clawing at the rock around her in a feeble attempt to move faster. She began to feel an intense tightening in her chest, though this time Willow was not pleased about it. Instead, she knew that, unless she found means other than sexual release to make this pressure go away, she would die down here. And no one would know.

Tara had followed the human inside of the cave, after pulling curiously at the piece of rope stuck to the coral near the entrance until she had tugged it completely out. She wondered what it was, but her more immediate problem was to help the human.

As she entered the cave, she was glad that her natural attenuation to the water would her to track her as she moved deeper into the cave. Her empathic senses began to pick up danger, however, and she began to increase her strides.

"I hope she's all right," she thought to herself. She couldn't tell for sure, but a sudden sense of danger ahead didn't help to assuage her fears, so she kicked her legs faster.

She turned left to find the human racing towards her, hand clutched on an oval shaped device over her mouth as she attempted to breathe from it. Tara didn't know what she was doing, but she could tell from her movements that she was panicking about something.

It was then that the human's head looked up at her, emerald green eyes reflected in the mask that she wore. Eyes that quickly widened in fear at the sight of the unknown person in front of her. She backpedaled several feet before realizing that nothing awaited her back there, but realizing that she could go no further, she muffled some sort of exclamation, gesturing wildly to the device she had in her lips.

Tara nodded, knowing that she had to take extra precautions. She gestured with one hand and spoke an ancient chant that would allow the human to fall into a sleep-like trance until she could get her to the surface.

The human looked quizzically at her for a second before falling limp. As Tara moved to collect the human in her arms, she checked to see if she was all right. She was somewhat glad to see that, expect for her inability to breathe (due to the spell sending her into a trance like state), she was all right.

She also noted, with some surprise, how warm the human's skin, where it was exposed, felt against hers. And how much pleasure she found in holding her against her own bare skin. But these feelings would have to wait. She knew that the spell she had cast would not last long, and she would need to take her somewhere she would be safe when she awakened. Flicking her powerful legs and holding onto the human like a long lost treasure, Tara headed back the way she had come, knowing that there was a place nearby where she could tend to her.

And perhaps, if all went well, even learn more about her.