Chapter One- Once Upon A Time...

There was a cave near his house...one he had never seen before in his entire time living in his current home (ever since he was a child). To be fair, it was kind of difficult to find, being shrouded under a much bigger wall of rocks, and near the edge of the beach where no one ever went. But, he was the ever curious teenager, even though he turned 18 in just a few months, and he decided to look around it.

The entrance wasn't much. It looked like an ordinary cave one might find near a beach. And it looked harmless enough. A few crabs scuttled under his feet and some coral lined the edges of the entrance. As he ventured further in, Makoto noticed a slight glow coming from what must be the rear of the tunnel. So..it wasn't very deep. That in itself was both good and bad. Good for his safety, since these kinds of tunnels had a remarkable tendency to collapse if they were too long, but bad for his fun. But as he went further he noticed that the glow wasn't coming from the sun, like he thought. It was coming from a really pretty spring, bathing the dark walls and sandy floor in a light blue shimmer.

He walked forward like he had been hypnotized. And, in a way, he had. It was incredibly peaceful. He was so enraptured that he didn't even notice the raven headed person occupying the pool. That is, until he spoke up.

"Oi. Who are you?"

Makoto glanced down, startled, to find a man laying on the edge, his head in his crossed arms and the rest of him in the water.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I hadn't realiz-"

That's when he noticed it.

The man wasn't keeping himself afloat with his legs. He didn't have any. What he did have was a sapphire blue tail that matched his eyes.

It wasn't the strangest thing Makoto had gone through when he found out a merman lived in his backyard. Okay, more like the little cave about three minutes from his house, but he considered it his backyard since no one even knew it was there. No, the strangest thing was, the man...fish...thing...seemed to know who he was even before he knew Makoto's name. And Makoto, surprisingly, felt the same. There was a feeling of familiarity around the blue-tailed, blue eyed, raven- haired man that Makoto hadn't felt in a really long time.

"What's your name?" He had asked the beautiful creature, for he was incredibly beautiful. Angelic, really.

"Haruka." Was the merman's reply. He seemed very expressionless, almost bored. Like his life had a very predictable path he wasn't fond of. Makoto told him as much.

"You seem very bored, Haruka-san." He added the honorific automatically, even though he wasn't very sure if it was the correct one or not. Haruka seemed to smile a little.

"Call me Haru. Everyone else does. And don't use that weird extra at the end." Makoto nodded immediately and sat down cross-legged in front of Haru. "And, yes, I am bored."

"Bored of what? I would think, being able to breathe underwater and all, one would never get bored." Makoto said, thoughtfully. He thought he heard the merman laugh and decided that he would make him do it again.

"You would think..." Haru looked at the sand rubbing up against his arms. "It's nice, being in the water. I love that...but it's just the same thing, all day, every day." He looked up at Makoto with those alluring blue eyes. "You're the only real change that's ever happened to me. I'm surprised you found this place at all."

"You'd be surprised at how stubborn humans are about some things." Makoto said with a laugh before laying down on his stomach so he and Haru were about the same eye-height. "Am I a good change?" He asked softly, surprised at how much he wanted the answer to be 'yes.' Haru's eyes widened a fraction and he looked away.

"Anything would be..." He answered, just as quiet. Makoto might have said he even looked embarrassed.

"So, that's a yes? Yay. I wouldn't want to be a burden on such an interesting person." He smiled happily. Haru huffed.

"You only say I'm interesting because I'm not human." He said, softly, almost wistfully. Makoto immediately shook his head.

"Well, of course you're interesting because you aren't human. But even if you were, I'd still say you're interesting." He smiled again, making Haru shake his head.

"I don't believe you. If I were a human, I'd be dreadfully dull." Haru commented in a flat tone. Makoto laughed.

"Dreadfully dull, eh? Well, you're mysterious; you love water, so you'd probably be an athlete in some way; you talk very eloquently, so you'd be well-read...you're very beautiful. You'd have no trouble finding someone." He smiled, watching Haru's face turn (interestingly) a deeper and deeper shade of blue. Was he...blushing? Haru eventually turned his head away.

"You're...very kind. I have to go, I can hear them calling me. But this has been nice. I wouldn't mind it happening again."

"I wouldn't mind either." Makoto smiled. "Can you meet me here tomorrow?"

Haru looked at him and smiled a little, nodding. "Same time?"

"Sounds good!" Makoto stood up and brushed all the sand off his shorts. Haru mumbled something and turned away.

"What was that, Haru?" Haru turned his head a little.

"I think you're very interesting too..."

And then he was gone.