A/N: I apologize for the long wait! All summer off to write, and I had to get writers' block, haha. Of course xD So hopefully this won't happen now that school is starting up again soon. Kinda seems backwards, doesn't it? Anyways, thank you for being patient with me and I hope this chapter was worth the wait!

Chapter 10

The boy in the water had wavered for a moment, practically petrified with fear, but after a few moments of silence, he slowly started to float backwards before quickly disappearing underneath the water. Haru did not hesitate and dived in after the boy immediately, catching his arm in mere seconds. Haru could tell the boy was quite strong and probably could have broken free of Haru's grasp if he wanted to, but he seemed too frightened to try.

Haru tightened his grip just in case, but that was a bad idea because right when he did, the boy suddenly regained his strength and Haru felt a powerful kick to his gut and flew out of the water, landing just short of the shore with a loud grunt. The landing was less painful than it could have been, as Haru only felt winded and woozy from the force of the kick, and he put his hand to his head in an attempt to calm the dizziness before he made himself sit up. He blearily looked out to the water and expected the boy to be long gone already, but instead he saw the boy swimming back with a very worried look on his face.

"I am so sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you, I was just trying to get away, and I was scared, and sometimes I don't know my own strength, and…"

Haru was barely listening and mainly concentrating on trying to refocus his eyes, and the boy's chatter only made his head hurt worse; he was surprised the boy came back when he could have easily gotten away. The boy had eventually pulled himself further out of the water as he babbled on, seemingly to get a closer look at Haru's face to see if he was okay, but Haru's gaze suddenly fixated on something that was definitely not quite right about the lower half of this boy's body. Instead of legs, he had a giant black and white colored fish-like tail attached. Haru widened his gaze and rubbed his eyes because there was no way he was seeing straight. He must have bumped his head or something…that had to be it.

The boy paused his talking once he noticed Haru's gaze, looked down at himself, and squawked before he pushed himself back into the water enough to hide his…tail. "Ah, that…that was probably pointless since you've already seen, huh?"

Haru continued to stare at the water, completely dumbfounded. How could this…how could this be real? Haru would have never dreamed that this could be real. Before his parents died, his mother had always told him stories about merpeople who lived in the sea, and he always dreamed about how wonderful it must be to live in the water and never have to leave it. To swim forever and eat as much mackerel as he wanted. To actually feel like he could be one with the water.

He also remembered hearing Rei's brother talk about how Rei would do extensive research on merpeople while he was learning how to swim, so he had seen quite the number of books about them in the library before. Haru sometimes even spent a few afternoons reading them and only wishing that they could be more than just a myth or folk tale. Now there was one sitting right in front of him and it felt so surreal.

"You…you're a…."

"A merman...yes. Well technically I'm a merorca…we have different races, but we're still the same species and I'm so sorry about before and…ah I'm Makoto, nice to meet you!" He sputtered quickly, bowed his head, and held out a shaky hand before a very overwhelmed and still very confused Haruka.

Rei started to laugh, he was laughing hard. Nagisa wasn't sure if he should be relieved or worried, so he chose the latter because he didn't want to get his hopes up. Rei finally spotted Nagisa's worried expression and stopped; his face quickly went from amused to confused.

"This…this is absurd. You're actually being serious?"

Nagisa nodded nervously, fists clenching tightly against the hem of his shirt in preparation for what Rei may say next.

"Do you take me for a fool?"

Nagisa was confused at why Rei would ask such a question, but he shook his head and felt a lump in his throat when he tried to swallow.

"I…can't believe it. You are such a liar…" Nagisa's eyes widened in complete shock and his hands fell from his shirt to his thighs. "This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard! I just wanted to know about your family and how you saved me that night. If you didn't want to tell me, you should have just said so instead of coming up with this outrageous story! I'm insulted that you could not be honest with me. I thought…I thought I was your friend."

Nagisa finally swallowed that lump and he looked up to Rei with apologetic eyes, but was also extremely hurt that Rei thought he was making all of this up. He reached out to touch Rei's shoulder and Rei nudged it away and stood up.

"No, don't touch me. I don't like people who are dishonest. Dishonesty is my least favorite quality in a person. I can't believe that you would just lie to me like that, and such a ridiculous lie at that! After all I've done for you! Giving you a place to stay, teaching you how to write, putting up with your hyper attitude that is frankly a bit annoying…and you just decide to betray me like that."

Nagisa wanted to scream that he wasn't lying, that none of Rei's assumptions were true, but all he could do was shake his head frantically. He panicked and started to glance around the room, searching for his writing pad. When he couldn't find it, an idea dawned on him…he could take Rei to see Makoto! If Rei saw Makoto he would have to believe him! Nagisa ran over to Rei, whose back was now toward him, and he grabbed his hand. Rei stiffened and pried Nagisa's hand away.

"Get out." Rei suddenly whispered, not turning to face him. Then Rei continued with the coldest voice Nagisa had ever heard come out of his mouth. "I want you to leave…I want you to leave the castle, and I never want to see you again."

It took a few seconds before the words really hit Nagisa and he suddenly lost the feeling in his legs and he fell to his knees; the tears came almost instantly. Before Nagisa knew it, Rei was leaving the room and Nagisa couldn't do anything to stop him. He couldn't move to catch him, he couldn't cry out, he didn't even know if he could breathe anymore.

"Pack your things…I'll have Haruka escort you out. I hope you have a nice life." Rei then left the room without another word.

Nagisa continued to cry; he knew this would happen. He shouldn't have tried to tell Rei the truth, he should have just listened to Makoto. He just didn't want to lie to Rei…he couldn't. Nagisa told the truth and Rei thought he was lying anyways. He thought Rei would believe him, he thought Rei would understand, but he was wrong and now he's lost him. He had never felt so alone before in his life.

Nagisa looked down at the ground where his tears had fallen and noticed that something wasn't right. The tears started to gather and the pool was getting rapidly bigger. The water suddenly started to surround Nagisa and, unable to move, he began to sink into it. Nagisa clenched his eyes shut and when he opened them he was completely underwater and a familiar purple presence started to surround him.

Nagisa's chest burned and couldn't breathe, for real this time, then he felt a searing pain in his legs. He glanced down and his legs were melting together, changing color, growing scales…his fin was back and he could breathe again. The darkness continued to surround him and he was frantically searching for a way out.

When he spotted an escape, he began to swim toward it, but something sticky wrapped around his arm and pulled him back. Nagisa felt a light brush against his ear and shivered uncomfortably when he heard a voice speaking quietly into it.

"Not so fast, my dear. You belong to me now, remember?"

Nagisa felt the same stickiness wrap around his entire body, everything went dark before his eyes, and he felt like he was suffocating.

Nagisa's eyes shot open and he was laying down, his body covered in sweat and his breathing heavy. He shot up and frantically looked around the dark room; he was still in the castle in the room Rei so perfectly picked out for him and a sudden relief filled his body. It was a dream. He hadn't told Rei anything and he wasn't being forced to leave. It was just a dream.

Once the shock wore off, the initial fear Nagisa felt in the dream rushed through his mind and he brought a hand to his mouth and started to cry. Would this actually happen if he told Rei the truth? No, it couldn't; Rei was kind, and even if he was somehow hurt by Nagisa or didn't believe him, he wouldn't just react so harshly. Rei wouldn't just kick Nagisa out onto the street.

Rei would never be so cruel, would he? The dream had felt so real that he couldn't stop himself from thinking that this could happen. If Rei felt Nagisa had betrayed him, he wouldn't be cold and kick him out on the spot, but he would probably ask him to leave eventually, and that's what scared Nagisa.

He didn't want to hurt Rei, he didn't want to lose his trust, and he didn't want to lose him. There was no way he could tell Rei the truth, he couldn't risk it. Nagisa let his hand fall from his face and he stared down at it. He couldn't tell Rei the truth but he couldn't lie to him either, what if the outcome was worse? What if Nagisa lied to Rei about his family and how he went about saving his life for Rei to only find out the truth eventually?

Nagisa knew he would feel hurt if Rei told him something as important as that only to find out later that it was all a lie. Nagisa began to cry again; he just didn't know what to do. He couldn't tell Rei the truth, and he couldn't not tell him the truth. Either way, he was doomed to lose Rei's trust somehow.

What was worse, Rei was expecting to have these questions answered soon, and there was no way Nagisa could. He couldn't just tell Rei he didn't want to answer the questions anymore…that would make him look suspicious and possibly lead to even more questions, not to mention it could upset Rei since he looked so excited to finally ask him about himself. The only option was to avoid Rei altogether, but Nagisa couldn't do that! Not with only a week left until his time ran out.

He cradled his head in his hands and he didn't know what to do. It felt like every option would end up with a bad outcome and Nagisa couldn't find any solution where this wouldn't end horribly. He needed help, and he needed it immediately. He threw the covers off of himself, slipped on his shoes, and dashed out of his room to head for the beach. He had just spoken with Makoto, but he was the only one who could help him.

"I know this is a lot to take in…" Makoto said softly, "And probably a little hard to believe, but…Nagisa intentions are pure. He has never wanted to hurt Rei in any way. He really cares about him."

Makoto was right, this really was a lot to take and quite unbelievable considering how much his explanation sounded like something out of a fairy tale; running away, magic potions, true love's kiss, there was even a witch involved. It all sounded completely absurd, but Haru couldn't help but believe every word this boy was saying. His voice was just so sincere and kind and there didn't seem to be an ounce of dishonesty in it.

Haru couldn't quite understand it either; how could he just believe someone he barely met, someone he wasn't even sure existed until now? This could have all been some elaborate ruse to trick Rei and gain his trust and possibly end up getting him hurt. It was Haru's job to protect Rei, yet somehow he could just sit here and believe this ridiculous story.

"I'm not exactly sure what would happen if Rei found out, but…" Makoto continued. "If you could maybe not mention this to him? I know this is a lot of me to ask; you don't know me, so I don't even expect you to trust me, but…"

"I can't just keep this from him. Even if Nagisa does care about him, this is something that shouldn't be kept secret."

"Nagisa will tell him eventually, I know he will. I just know he'd want to tell him all this himself instead of Rei finding out by some other means. Wouldn't that just break Rei's trust and upset him?"

Haru sighed and looked away; he didn't know what he wanted to do anymore.

"Please," Makoto lowered his head again. "…please."

Nagisa dashed down the hallway as quickly and quietly as he could, he didn't want to think about what would happen if someone heard him out of bed so late and running through the halls. He nearly tripped as he ran down the stairs, but caught himself just in time and then quickly opened the doors. As he rushed out, he ran right into something in his path; he saw a form fall in the darkness in front of him and heard a groan of pain on the ground.

"Oi," came a familiar voice. What was Haruka doing outside this time of night? Moonlight swimming? "Twice in one night, jeez." He muttered to himself as he rubbed his head.

Nagisa waved his hands around in apology and reached a hand out to help him up. Haru glanced at Nagisa's hand in hesitation before taking it and stepping up from the ground. Once he was standing again, he stared straight at Nagisa and didn't say anything for a good few minutes and Nagisa started to get uncomfortable, so he tried to avoid looking at Haru directly. Was he really that mad about getting knocked over?

"I just spoke with your friend."

Nagisa suddenly forgot about all of his uncomfortable feelings and averted his gaze back to Haru with a look of fear and confusion. Haru couldn't mean…

"Your friend Makoto." Haru clarified, continuing to stare at Nagisa with that deadpan expression.

Nagisa felt himself choke on his own saliva and coughed harshly into his arm before he could breathe fully again, but breathing suddenly wasn't coming very easy. How did Haru…when did he…how did he even know Makoto's name?

"I'm still confused about your situation, I mean…" He gestured toward Nagisa's person. "A merman? It's hard to believe…"

No, this couldn't be happening; this had to be another dream or something. Soon he would just wake up in his own bed again and he'll have not left his room yet. Nagisa rubbed his eyes harshly a few times, but Haru was still standing there staring at him. This wasn't another dream, was it? Nagisa started to panic and had to remind himself to keep breathing and to not pass out. If he passed out then who knows what Haru would do while Nagisa was blacked out? His mind shot to thoughts of Haru telling Rei everything and then Rei proceeding to overreact and kick him out just like in his dream. He felt himself start to tremble and his eyes started to water again.

"O-oi! Calm down." Haru placed a hand on Nagisa's shoulder to try and calm him. "I'm not going to tell Rei."

A sudden relief filled Nagisa up and it was so strong, he nearly fell over. He wasn't going to tell Rei? But…why?

Haruka caught on to Nagisa's bewildered expression and continued. "Originally, I was going to tell Rei right away, but…this is different. I know you mean a lot to him, and I don't want to see him get hurt; if I told him, it would break your trust and I'd have been the one to help hurt him." Nagisa sniffed and wiped his eyes, feeling very hopeful. "So, I'm not going to tell him." Haru looked away from Nagisa. "I'm willing to give you a chance because your friend gave quite the convincing argument on your behalf about your feelings for Rei. But," he looked back to Nagisa. "If you hurt Rei, I won't forgive you."

Nagisa sniffed again and started nodding frantically. He wished he could tell Haru right then and there that he would not disappoint him, that he could never hurt Rei, and that he would feel absolutely horrible for lying to him about any of this.

Haru seemed to understand whatever expression Nagisa held on his face, because he placed another hand on his shoulder and nodded. Nagisa then wrapped his arms tightly around Haru and nearly started crying from relief.

Haru just stood there and let Nagisa hug him and cry without returning the embrace other than a few awkward pats to Nagisa's head. A moment of sobbing and hiccupping passed, and Haru finally pried Nagisa off of him. "I'm going back to bed now." Nagisa wiped his eyes and nodded. "Oh, and uh, you should tell Rei about this eventually. I'd want him to hear it from you instead of me."

Nagisa looked to the ground. He still couldn't tell Rei, not yet, not after that dream. He couldn't risk it.

"Rei's not going to hate you if you tell him the truth." Haru spoke up, apparently reading Nagisa's thoughts. "It'll be hard to get him to believe you, but one look of that orca friend of yours should do the trick. It worked on me."

Nagisa knew Rei would never be so cruel, but he still couldn't get over that sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"It doesn't have to be right away," Haru continued. "Just promise me you'll tell him before you…change back? Because if you don't, I will, and that might make the situation worse." Nagisa sighed and nodded. Haru had a point there; even if Nagisa was dreading it, he knew he's have to go through with it before his time ran out. "Thank you." Haru bid Nagisa goodnight and returned inside.

Nagisa sat down on the cool ground and tried to enjoy the cool night breeze for a moment, taking in deep breaths and admiring the stars above him. He finally started to reach a more calm state after about ten minutes of sitting there and he decided that there was no need to go consult Makoto anymore. One last look up at the stars and Nagisa finally stood up headed back inside and to his room. He realized how tired he was once he fell onto his bed and started dozing off almost immediately. He still wasn't sure of what he was going to do in the morning, but he felt less worried than he had before.

The next morning, Rei knocked on Nagisa's door to collect him for their run, but Nagisa was so tired from all the troubles from the previous night, that he reluctantly shook his head.

"Are you feeling okay?" Rei asked, concern spreading on his face.

Nagisa rolled over on his side and managed to reach for his note pad on the bed side table and tiredly scribbled out an answer he hoped was legible enough. "Too tired. Not much sleep."

"Oh! Well, then by all means…" Rei took the pad from Nagisa and returned it to its place on the table, and then threw the blanket back over Nagisa. "We don't want you being so tired you get overwhelmed again, do we? So try to get some more rest." Rei fluffed Nagisa's pillow. "Come down for breakfast whenever you feel up to it, okay?"

Nagisa was a bit taken aback by Rei's sudden kindness and stared up at him with sleepy bewildered eyes. His smile was gentle and a bit concerned and Nagisa nearly teared up at the site. What did he mean sudden kindness? Rei has always been like this from the very start. He was the one who took Nagisa in when he suddenly collapsed on the beach despite not even knowing him. He was the one who let him stay in the castle because he wanted to repay him for saving his life. He was the one who was taking the time to teach him even though he could probably do a million other things with his time.

Nagisa couldn't believe that he could have let such an awful dream get to him like that. Of course Rei wouldn't just suddenly yell at him and kick him out, not after all this kindness he has shown him. He smiled back up at Rei and nodded before taking the blanket up to his neck and nuzzling his face into the pillow.

Once he settled comfortably, he felt a light brush of his hair a few seconds later and nearly opened his eyes to look, but decided against it so he could enjoy the warmth from Rei's fingers so close to his face. He smiled softly into the pillow and then heard the sound of footsteps exiting the room.

Nagisa felt so completely relaxed, it was as if a weight had lifted off his shoulders and all the stress from the night before didn't matter anymore. He sighed and drifted back to sleep, and was thankful for the lack of nightmares.

He wasn't sure how long he slept after that, he still wasn't very good at reading a clock, but he felt so much better when he finally woke up and stretched his arms comfortably over his head. Now he knew what he wanted to do. He would tell Rei, but not quite yet. He wanted Rei to get to know a few things about himself before he bombarded him with such an important thing.

He dressed and tried his best to brush out his hair, even though he still preferred when Rei did it, before heading down to the dining hall. He was actually a little disappointed when he found Rei wasn't there, but breakfast looked like it was still being served because there were plates of food still on the table and Rei's brother and Goro were finishing up.

"Ah, mornin', Nagisa! Rei told me you'd be a little late today, but you just barely made breakfast. Here, pull up a seat." Rei's brother gestured for Nagisa to come over and sit. Nagisa nodded sat in an empty chair a few seats away from the two men as to not impose on their conversation. He served himself and filled his plate as much as he wanted without feeling guilty. He supposed that was one good thing about Rei not being there, because recently Rei had tried to make sure Nagisa didn't eat too much or too fast, though he thought it was cute how Rei was looking out for him. Once the two had started up there conversation again, Nagisa didn't really listen until they had become so loud that it was hard to ignore. Haru wasn't kidding when he said they were the two loudest men in the kingdom.

"Why did Haruka look so disgruntled this morning? He doesn't normally get angered so easily, so I was a little worried." Goro asked with a full mouth.

"Oh that? It wasn't anything serious, he was just a little disappointed that there wasn't any mackerel at breakfast."

"Well, I'm sure one day without it won't kill him." Goro laughed.

"I thought that too, but apparently they were out at the market and won't be getting any for another week since the fisherman has fallen ill."

"Oh, well that's unfortunate." Goro grumbled sarcastically. "It'll be good for him to not have it for a while. Eating that much fish all the time can't be very healthy anyways. I'm surprised Rei hasn't gotten on his case with how much he cares about health and what not."

So there was no mackerel for Haru, huh? Nagisa shoved a fork full of food into his mouth and suddenly got the most brilliant idea. He finished his food as fast as he could while making sure not to make himself sick, and quietly excused himself from the table before hurrying out to the beach. He just needed to get Makoto to agree, and then he'd be able to thank Haru properly for keeping his secret.

"You…want me to catch some mackerel?" Makoto questioned with a tilted head.

Nagisa nodded furiously at Makoto and wrote in the sand again. "Please. It's for Haru."

Makoto tensed up once he finished reading the message. "Ah, um…Nagisa…there's something I should probably tell you about Haru…"

Nagisa smiled, shook his head, and wrote in the sand again. "It's okay, I already know. I ran into him last night and he explained everything."

Makoto let out a very relieved breath and relaxed his shoulders. "Oh thank goodness. I'm sorry I told him everything, Nagisa." He looked down. "I tried to swim away, but he jumped in and stopped me; he's actually a really fast swimmer for a human. Then I kicked him back and was so afraid I had hurt him that I had to make sure he was okay, but I ended up ruining my chances to escape. I tried explaining everything the best I could, though I don't think he really believed most of it. I mean, why would he? I asked him if he could keep this a secret, but he didn't really seem up for it. He never agreed to anything and just left. I'm so sorry, Nagisa. I feel awful about this whole thing."

"It's okay, Makoto. He's not going to tell Rei."

"He's not?!"

"Nope. He told me that I make Rei happy and that if he told, he would just make Rei upset and he didn't want that. He says you gave him a pretty convincing argument on my behalf, so he said he'd give me a chance to prove myself. He won't tell Rei, but he wants me to."

"Are you going to?"

"Well, I have to eventually. I don't really have much time left, and I don't want to lie to him. Haru said he might need some convincing, so I'll probably have to bring him to you. I was supposed to answer questions for him today, so I think I want to let him get to know more about me before I tell him."

"Alright," Makoto agreed. "Let me know when you want to tell him, and I'll be right there with you."

Nagisa smiled. "Thank you, Makoto! I don't know how I'd do this without you."

"Of course, that's what I'm here for." Makoto gave a small laugh. "Why do you need the mackerel anyway?"

"Oh, well I guess it'll just be a way for me to properly thank Haru for not telling Rei."

"Ah, I see. I'll look for some. Come back later this evening to check, okay?"

"Thanks again, Makoto." Nagisa gave him a hug and then went back up to the castle. He was nearly to the stairs when he ran into Haru descending them.

"Rei's looking for you. He's in the library." Haru said as he passed, not looking at Nagisa.

Nagisa stopped and turned around, but Haru had already gone. He frowned and hoped Haru wasn't somehow regretting his decision to keep his secret, so he hoped that the mackerel might help cheer him up. Nagisa turned away from the stairs and skipped down the hall and to the library. He peered through the door and found Rei sitting in his usual chair reading a book.

Sometimes Nagisa liked to watch Rei while he read, and he took note of the small things Rei would usually do; like the pace of his eyes as they looked back and forth over the page, how he moved his fingers around occasionally because he tended to get sweaty hands, the way he'd bite his lip in concentration. Nagisa always felt spoiled at being able to look at him closely during these moments, and he was grateful that Rei never seemed to mind. Nagisa shifted slightly and the door creaked, causing Rei to tense slightly and look up from his book.

He looked toward the door and lit up once he spotted Nagisa. "Ah, there you are! Did you have a nice sleep?"

Nagisa nodded happily and shuffled inside to take the seat next to Rei.

"Oh good. I was a bit worried you had over-worked yourself again." Rei set his book down on the table between their chairs and looked at Nagisa a little closer. "You…haven't been doing any more late night studying, have you?"

Nagisa playfully rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"Good." Rei stood up and put his book back on the shelf. "So I was hoping I could ask you a few things about yourself today, but since you were so tired earlier, would you like to try tomorrow instead?" Nagisa pursed his lips and then shook his head. "No?" Rei looked slightly disappointed. "Then…the next day perhaps?" Nagisa shook his head again before standing up from his chair and taking a hold of Rei's hands to pull him out of the library. "N-Nagisa! You could just lead me to where you're taking me instead of dragging me there, you know!"

Where's the fun in that? Nagisa thought, and he continued to drag Rei along until they reached Nagisa's room and sat the two of them down on his bed. He retrieved his notepad from his back pocket and wrote the sentence, "We can start right now!"

"Oh, well…um. Okay!" Rei replied once he read Nagisa's message. "Why are we in your room, though? Wouldn't the library be more suitable?"

Nagisa shrugged and wrote another message. "This just seemed less formal." Rei nodded in agreement upon reading the message and pushed up his glasses.

"So, just let me know if you don't want to answer certain questions, all right? I don't want to force you to answer things you're not comfortable with." Nagisa took in a short breath and his eyes grew a little wider; he should have known Rei would be understanding. Nagisa gave a soft smile before nodding. Now that the worry was gone, he was actually feeling excited about this again.

Rei cleared his throat. "How about…oh! What is your favorite color?"

Nagisa smiled again and scrawled out the word "pink" in the fanciest writing he could manage.

Rei chuckled. "Good thing I gave you the pink room then. I had no idea it was your favorite color, I just…the colors reminded me of your eyes and I remember from that night I…um….a-anyway!" Rei looked away and cleared his throat again, a blush on his face. "Um...do you have any hobbies?"

Nagisa couldn't help but giggle internally at Rei being so flustered, but he pondered the question for a moment. He wasn't sure if he should answer this one or not considering his hobby was collecting human artifacts and that would have been a really weird answer; but he came up with an easy solution and wrote that he likes to collect things.

"Oh?" Rei asked. "What sort of things do you like to collect?"

"All different kinds of things." Nagisa wrote.

"Anything specifically?"

What would Nagisa say? He could easily tell Rei that he didn't want to go into detail about that, but how weird would that come across? Suddenly, Nagisa remembered that he had brought that butterfly brooch with him, so he sprung up from the bed and snatched his bag from the vanity.

He brought the bag over and reached into it, clenching his hand around the brooch tightly before removing it from the bag and presenting it to Rei. Rei's smile faded and he became rigid upon seeing the piece of jewelry that laid in Nagisa's open palm. It was silent for an uncomfortable amount of time, and Rei's voice was slightly strained when he finally decided to speak.

"Where did you get that?"

Nagisa wrote again. "I found it."

"You found it? How did you find…that's impossible I…this-this is mine."

Nagisa's eyes shot open wide and he couldn't believe it. He remembered the exact day he bought this brooch from a traveling merchant because he had just recently found out what butterflies were and he thought the item looked very beautiful even though he had no idea what it was used for; he just wanted it for the butterfly mostly, and the merchant gave him a good price for it too. By what weird coincidence could this have belonged to Rei?

"It was my grandmother's." Rei continued. "She gave it to me for good luck and said it would protect me. She…looked after me and my brother whenever my parents were busy and the two of us grew very close to her. She'd read us stories and taught us how to bake sweets and…" Rei's eyes softened at the memory, "And she never gave up on me when I couldn't learn how to swim. She was probably the one who had the most faith in me, even more so than my brother…which is saying something because he was quite enthusiastic about cheering me on.

I decided to wear that brooch when I dramatically tried to force myself swim and ended up nearly drowning. I never really believed it was a lucky charm, that would have been illogical, but I was out of options and thought maybe it could bring me enough good luck to finally learn how to swim; but I was wrong and still ended up sinking like a rock. The brooch came off of my shirt in the confusion and I never saw it again. Gran was never mad that I lost something so important to her…she was just glad that I was okay, and she said the brooch really did bring me luck because it was lucky that Haruka happened to be there to save me." Rei's expression saddened. "Unfortunately she…passed away a few months later. That brooch was my most precious gift from her…and I lost it."

Nagisa looked from Rei's face and down to the brooch in his hand and the thought made him shiver. The odds of Nagisa finding something of Rei's, it surviving the wreckage of his trove being destroyed by his father, and him bringing it along were just…there was just no way it could have been a coincidence. It was funny too, because this brooch kinda reminded Nagisa of Rei. The colors matching the main colors of himself, Rei's love for butterflies as Nagisa came to find out, and just the beauty of it, really.

The corners of Nagisa's mouth turned up and his heart filled up to the brim with a warmth that had been rising and rising ever since he first met the blue-haired boy. He had been falling, and he knew this, but now…now there was no doubt he had fallen hard and fast; and just over the simplest thing like a long-lost brooch that ended up connecting them.

Nagisa looked back up to Rei, who seemed lost in his own thoughts, and he opened up Rei's hand and placed the brooch into it. Rei finally realized what Nagisa had done and brought his eyes back into focus to stare down at the brooch in his hand. Nagisa curled Rei's fingers delicately over the jewel and looked up to him with soft eyes.

Rei returned Nagisa's gaze and tears started to well up in his eyes before he gave out a shaky breath. "Thank you, Nagisa." He brought his clenched hand up to his chest. "You have no idea how much this means to me." Nagisa nodded brightly and Rei brought up a hand to wipe away his tears. "Heh, here I am babbling about myself again when I wanted to learn more about you."

"It's okay, Rei. This was important to you. I'm happy I was able to return this to you after so long."

Rei smiled fondly at the blond and placed the brooch in his pocket. "So, back to you…"

The two boys sat there for the next hour or so and Nagisa was amazed by all the questions Rei was coming up with; he liked to think that maybe Rei laid in bed the night before and thought up what questions he would ask, and that thought made Nagisa's heart flutter.

Rei started with simple questions like how long he'd been swimming, if he had any special talents, what his favorite food was, and so on. Nagisa found these questions simple enough to answer, and was happy he could tell Rei the truth about all of them.

As time went on and the questions started to get a little more detailed, Nagisa was surprised that Rei didn't ask about how Nagisa managed to save him that night, but he was thankful for that because he was definitely not ready to tell Rei yet. He did manage to ask something else that caught Nagisa off guard, however.

"Do you…do you have a family?" Nagisa's eyes rounded and a small breath caught in his throat. "I mean, you never really mentioned anything and you've been here so long without trying to contact anyone so, I was just wondering…"

Nagisa immediately looked away from Rei, trying not to panic. He could do this. He could find a way to mention them without giving anything away.

"Oh, I apologize! I didn't know." Rei responded apologetically.

Nagisa cocked an eyebrow in confusion and wrote a response. "No, I have a family."

"Oh. Ah, sorry. I was just assuming from your disheartened expression." Rei gave an awkward chuckle. "So, then why haven't you tried contacting them? They don't know where you are, do they? I'm sure they're worried about you."

Nagisa lowered his head and began to write slowly. "I ran away from home…"

"You ran away?!" Panic shot over Rei's face and he looked to Nagisa with worried eyes. "Did something bad happen back home? You…" Rei gulped. "You weren't hurt…or anything, were you?"

Nagisa shook his head. "It wasn't anything like that. My father tried to force me into an arranged marriage with someone I met once…" Nagisa heard a small gasp escape from Rei's mouth before he wrote again. "He didn't even tell me about it, and when I found out we had an argument and then he destroyed my collection and locked me in my room."

Rei looked at the words on the notepad for a few minutes, his brow was tensed in concern and worry. "That's horrible, Nagisa. I'm so sorry." He looked up. "I…don't really have any experience with arranged marriages, it hasn't been much of an occurrence in our family, believe it or not. The last one I recall was with my grandmother on my father's side. Father used to tell us she was quite miserable about the arrangement, so I assume that's why our parents never tried to force my brother and I into anything like that." Rei looked back down at the paper. "I can't really imagine how that must have felt." Rei handed the pad back to Nagisa. "Why not…tell me some happy things about your family. Do you have any siblings?"

Nagisa continued to tell Rei as much as he could about his family without giving anything away. He told him about his sisters and that even though they teased him and picked on him a lot, he knew they could have their moments and he loved them anyways. Rei laughed and nodded in agreement, mentioning that he felt the same way about his own brother.

Nagisa told Rei about his father's more positive points, even though they were hard to remember since he was still so angry with him that he didn't want to think about how he could have any positive points. Then Nagisa told Rei about his mother. He was really close with her when he was little, and he knew he got most of his personality from her. She was adventurous and risky, optimistic and full of energy, and she was definitely the person who inspired his collection.

He hadn't expected to get choked up when he was telling Rei that she had died when he was eight years old, taken by the hands of pirates for reasons Nagisa obviously couldn't tell him yet, but Rei didn't push for details and just sat there with a hand over his mouth and a look of horror and sorrow in his eyes. Once Nagisa started to cry, Rei placed a hand on shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze.

After the tears finally subsided, Nagisa finished up telling Rei about his family and they sat there in a very comfortable silence before Rei cleared his throat. "Um, I have another question, if you don't mind me asking." Nagisa motioned for Rei to continue. "About that night…when you saved me, I mean…"

Nagisa barely had time to panic because right then there was a small knock on the door that jolted the two boys out of their own little world and Rei's brother stepped inside.

"Oh there you are, Rei! Do you have a minute?"

"Ah, yes of course." Rei stood up from the bed and smoothed out his shirt before looking back at Nagisa. "Thank you for today, Nagisa. It's really nice to finally get to know you better. I look forward to more." Rei looked up at the clock that hung on the wall. "Oh," he chuckled. "It seems we've missed lunch. I'll see you at dinner, then." He gave a very tender smile and then left the room with his brother.

Nagisa smiled as he watched Rei leave the room and then he flopped down on his bed in relief. That sure was a close one; just hearing Rei barely start to ask that question nearly gave him a heart attack. He was still far from ready to tell Rei the truth, but he was losing time, he needed gather up some courage and gather it quick. He needed to think of a plan.