Falling Away

Summary: Haru, a cheerful high school student with a heart of gold. Musica, a gang member with a mission. Let and Julia, two college students with some big secrets. And the young girl that brought them all together, irreversibly.

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Author's Note: Yes, this might seem REALLY familiar if you read this the first time it came around. Same author, different account. Oh, by the way, I'm done with the Oneshots for a bit - now I'll focus on the other three stories I have! Mwuhahah.

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Chapter One: Meeting Elie, Part I

"Haru, get back inside!" Cattleya screamed out the door, watching as her younger brother ran down the road. "You'll catch a chill!" She called, slamming the door behind her and returning to her group of friends.

Haru was running in the rain, without a coat on, towards the beach, as he had every day since his Mom had told him that his Daddy was away, and could come home at any time. It was a child's hope that one day his Daddy would come back, and greet him there on the beach.

When he arrived, he saw no boats looming in the distance. Haru's shoulders slumped and he sat down on a rather wet bench, thirty feet away from the coast. Tears stung in his eyes, and he pulled his legs up to his tiny chest, watching the sea determinedly.

"I thought that guys never cried," a small voice said suddenly from his right. Haru jumped up, falling in the wet sand. The speaker laughed, and Haru looked up at a young girl kneeling next to him. "Sorry about that, I didn't mean to scare you."

Haru blinked, sure he was seeing things. The girl had golden-bronze hair and round brown eyes, but she wasn't anyone he had ever seen before – Haru prided himself in the meaningless accomplishment of knowing everyone by name and face from his sister's grade and below.

"Who're you?" he finally asked, wiping rain and tears off his cheeks. The girl grinned happily, pushing some of her wet hair out of her eyes. "And I wasn't crying! It was the rain!"

She laughed again, "Right. If you say so. And my name is Elie! I turn seven in January," she introduced, standing up and offering him a hand up. Haru simply stared at her hand for a second. "Well, are you gonna lay there all day?"

Finally, Haru took her hand and hoisted himself up. "I'm Haru, and I just turned seven last month," he said, grinning now. Elie's lower lip stuck out, and she crossed her arms against her chest. "What?"

"I didn't want you to be older than me! That means that we won't be in the same class!" she said, sitting down on the muddy sand. Haru stared down at this girl in complete surprise – she wasn't serious, was she?

Suddenly, he laughed, placing his hands on his hips cheerfully. "Just because you're a couple months younger than I am, doesn't mean we won't be in the same class!" he told her, kneeling next to her. "You're really weird, do you know that?"

Next thing he knew, Elie's fist hit in the forehead, and he fell backwards into the muddy sand. "Nu-uh!" she cried, laughing at his expression. He stared down at his clothes, torn between amusement and fear. "I like you, Haru! Let's be friends!"

"OK! But, you gotta help me get all this sand off my back," he said, grinning up at her. Elie leaned around, considering how she could do it.

Suddenly, she grabbed his hand and began dragging him from the beach, "I got a hose outside my house that you can use to rinse it off with!" she declared, leading him up the road and into town.

Haru started running, still grabbing her hand and laughing. She was, without a doubt, the weirdest girl he had ever met before. But, he liked her. She was energetic, and she hadn't made fun of his hair – yet. When the two reached her small home, Elie led him to the back and told him to turn around. Slowly, he did as he was told, closing his eyes. A sudden blast of cold water went seeping down his back, and he jumped away.

"Stay still, silly!" she giggled, continuing. Haru sighed, and allowed her to continue with the minimal amounts of jumping. When she finished, Haru's shirt – however soaking wet – was free of sand and mud.

Haru thanked her cheerfully, turning to run home. "Hey, Elie," he suddenly said, turning and offering her a hand, "wanna come to my house?" Elie blinked in confusion for a second before grabbing onto his hand and nodding. "Awesome!"

Together, the two ran back to Haru's house, jumping in puddles and splashing each other with mud at every opportunity. By the time they both reached his house, they were giggly and covered from head to foot in mud and water.

As stealthily as they could manage, the two sneaked through the back door and up the stairs into his bedroom. Elie looked around in awe, not noticing that she was tracking mud all over the floor. "I like your room, Haru!" she said, laughing. Haru nodded, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Be quiet, or Cattleya and her annoying group of friends will hear you," he told her quietly, placing a finger over his lips. Elie nodded, doing the same. For a second, they sat in silence, broken only by their breathing.

"Haru, if your sister's friends are annoying, couldn't you call one of your friends over or something?" she asked suddenly, sitting down on his bed carefully, trying to get as little water on the sheets as possible. Haru's face darkened and he looked down, not answering. "Haru?"

He sighed. "Well, you're kinda the first friend I've ever had. A lotta kids my age think that I'm a freak, because of my hair color, and because my Mom and Dad are both gone," he explained softly, kicking at some drying mud on the ground.

Elie stayed silent for a second as she digested this. Suddenly, she sprang up and gave Haru a hug. "My Mommy and Daddy are gone too. And, my hair is different too," she told him gently, holding him tightly. Haru slowly lifted his arms and hugged her back. "At least you have your sister, right? I don't have anyone!"

"Heh…yeah, I guess you're right. Sorry for being so mean!" he said, laughing. Elie laughed as well, pulling away. "Wanna play some video games with me?" he asked, pointing the large TV in the corner, and attached to were a multitude of wires. Elie grinned wider, grabbing one of the controllers.

They began playing, throwing caution to the wind and talking as loudly as they wanted, groaned and crying out in frustration as they would start to lose. Both of them began to get so involved in playing the game that neither of them noticing as Cattleya opened the door and gazed around at the mud on the floor, the bed, and the controllers.

"Haru…Glory…" she said in a low voice, causing them both to jump. Haru stared between the mud he could see and the absolute rage on his sister's face. "I'm going to give you two seconds. She better be gone, or I swear to God –"

Before she could finish, Haru grabbed Elie's hand and began pulling her downstairs. "Sorry, Elie! I'll meet you at the beach at noon tomorrow, OK?" he said hurriedly, nearly throwing her out the door. Elie laughed, nodding. "Bye! Thanks for coming over!"

"See ya' tomorrow!" she called, running down the walkway and back into town. Haru stood in the doorway, waving his arm, ignoring as more rain slid onto his clothing. However, Cattleya did not ignore this, and yanked him back inside, preparing him for the biggest scolding she had, or would, ever give the younger boy.

All throughout the lecture, Haru thought about Elie. She was, after all, his very first friend, and he definitely enjoyed her company. Somewhere in his gut, he could feel that the two of them would be friends for a very, very long time.

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Author's Note: Yay! Chapter one done! It's short, and so are the next few chapters, but when things really start getting interesting, they'll get longer. Thanks for reading~ Next chapter will be up when I get back! I'll be going out of town, so...no chance to write.

To the gangsta of love: Yes, I received all of your messages. I replied, but you must not have recieved them. However, I'd like to say to you; thank you. I was being rather...selfish with my stories, and I guess you could say I got a swelled head because my One Piece fanfic got such a huge boom when I posted it after being gone for several years. From now on, nothing will be taken done, I promise. (: