This chapter is set about 9 years before the original story line. That's all I have to say for now. Enjoy!

It was one of the more cold days of October about 9 years ago. Tachibana Makoto was waiting on the bus that were to take him to his education-place. Today was a special day actually. When Makoto finished school he would have to go to his part time job as a swim coach and teach some kids how to swim.

The bus stopped now and Makoto boarded it. Today the bus was full of people and Makoto couldn't find a free spot until a blue-haired boy with glasses pulled the blonde boy sitting next to him, closer, leaving a free seat for Makoto who gladly took the opportunity.

"Thanks a lot," Makoto smiled at the boy.

"It's no trouble," The boy said and to this the blonde whined.

"I was sleeping there, Rei-chan!"

The blue-haired said nothing, he just pulled out a red lollipop and handed it to the blonde boy, who soon lit up and stuffed the lollipop into his mouth with a satisfied expression on his face.

Makoto found himself to be amused by the pair. He had never met anyone like those to before and he was sure that he most likely wouldn't meet anyone like them ever again.

Makoto entered the swim club that afternoon. He found the leader and got his instructions. It was simple enough. He was to just teach a small class of kids how to swim and let that be it. He got a list of names of the kids he'd be teaching and looked it over. None really stood out to him.

Makoto went out and met his swim-class. There were seven kids in total. Four boys and three girls. One of the boys looked familiar to him, but he couldn't figure out why that was at the moment. It was a blonde boy with round, magenta eyes. He was smaller than the others, and by far the most cheerful looking one of them.

Makoto called out the names of the kids and learned that the blonde boy's name was Hazuki Nagisa. It still didn't help him remember where he'd seen the boy before. He decided to push it aside and just teach his class.

It was afterwards that he remembered where he'd seen the boy before. He was talking to the parents of the kids in the class when a blue-haired boy with glasses entered the swim club and was greeted by a loud cry from the blonde boy.

"Rei-chan!" the blonde yelled as he ran up and hugged the older boy. Now Makoto remembered that he had met those two on the bus that same morning and he only remembered because of the blonde boy's nickname for the blue-haired. Rei was a girl's name wasn't it? But so was the name Nagisa so it wasn't too surprising when Makoto thought about it.

"Those two are really sweet, aren't they?" a woman asked another.

"I've heard they're both orphans," the woman answered.

"I won't mind adopting them," the first woman said.

"Drop that idea," a third interrupted the conversation. I tried to have the blue-haired over once and he just dragged the blonde one along," she sighed. "That kid is more trouble than they are both worth,"

Makoto watched as Rei grabbed Nagisa's hand and they walked out together. From what he could guess Rei was about eight years old and Nagisa couldn't be a day older than five years old. It was kinda sad that they'd got such a bad reputation in such a young age.

"Where are they from?" Makoto asked.

"Iwatobi Adopting Center," The third woman said.

Makoto nodded and thanked her. Shortly after then he left the club and walked home in deep thoughts. Maybe he should do some digging about that orphanage. And especially about those kids too.

There was swimming every day. Thankfully Makoto only had one class. He took his time watching Nagisa and Rei. It was every day after swimming that Rei would come to take Nagisa home. It was a sight that Makoto soon learned to adjust to. He hadn't seen them on the bus since that first day.

"Hazuki," Makoto called after the 10th swimming lesson. Nagisa stopped and turned to look at Makoto.

"What is it Coach Tachibana-chan?" he asked.

"Why is it always that other boy who picks you up?" Makoto asked. "Shouldn't a grown up do it instead?"

Nagisa shook his head. "Rei-chan's like a brother to me. He is more family than any grown-up could ever be," the boy explained. "He's always looking out for me,"

"For how long have you two known each other?" Makoto asked.

"I don't know…" Nagisa got a thoughtful look on his face. "I can't remember a time when Rei-chan and I weren't around each other,"

Makoto nodded and let the boy go shower and change. He went out and was about to leave the swim club when he noticed Rei enter the building and Nagisa ran up to him as always.

"Rei-chan, for how long have we known each other?" Nagisa asked.

"Why do you suddenly want to know?" Rei asked.

"Coach Tachibana-chan asked," Nagisa pointed at Makoto and Rei grabbed Nagisa's pointing hand.

"It's not nice to point at others like that!" Rei instructed the boy. Then he looked at Makoto. "Why do you want to know, Tachibana-chan-san?" he asked.

Makoto fought back a laughter before answering. "I was just curious,"

"I guess we were brought in by the same time, four years ago," Rei said. "I just took responsibility for him and we've stuck together ever since,"

"That's right!" Nagisa exclaimed even if he had no clue if it was or not.

Makoto smiled at the pair. He'd like to get to know them better. "Who do I have to ask to have the two of you over for dinner someday?" Makoto asked Rei.

"I don't know," Rei asked. "Someone from the staff?"

Makoto nodded. Then he let the boys go home.

The following Saturday he had Rei and Nagisa over for dinner and everything went well. From then on, he had them over for dinner twice a week until the beginning of December when he finally made up his mind and decided to adopt the both of them. He felt bad for both boys that nobody wanted them because Nagisa was a bit difficult to handle. In all honesty he didn't think it was that bad. When you just got used to the unusual amount of energy the small boy seemed to be holding, he was actually fun to be around and Makoto sometimes found himself looking forward to the dinners with the two boys.

"Mako-chan!" Nagisa yelled as Makoto came home from work one late afternoon. He'd brought his childhood friend along with him.

"Mako-chan?" Kisumi asked. He looked at Makoto with questioning eyes. "Who is that kid anyway?"

Makoto smiled. "I adopted two kids recently," he explained. Rei appeared in the door just then. "The blonde is Nagisa, and the one with the glasses is Rei," Makoto said. "We got on first names a while ago,"

"I don't get it," Kisumi said. "My ex had them over once and she said that they were more trouble than they were worth,"

Makoto just smiled. "She's not the first. Though I don't mind such a small amount of trouble as these two are. It's only natural for a pair like them,"

Hope it was somewhat enjoyable. I tried to make it a bit cute and express the relationship between Rei and Nagisa. I hope I managed.

I will have to apologize in advance. My laptop is messed up, or the battery is, probably. No matter how much it charges, the battery is slowly dropping towards zero. Each time I remove the charger it dies completely at the exact second. Hopefully I get a new one. If I do, I will have to get everything reinstalled, that mean's I can't publish anymore of this before I have my dropbox reinstalled on my new laptop. And just so you know, I'm an idiot when it comes to technology.

Well, I hope it won't be too long until the next chapter is published but until then, please leave a few reviews and remember to favorite and follow.

And thank you to those two who favorited. I'm glad to see that someone likes this story enough to do that. It's much appreciated.

Jackie