It all started a long time ago… Well, it really wasn't that much if we consider the length of time; but it all started early in her life, so, for her, it had been a long time…

~~~17 years back…~~~
"Catch me, Melody-chan! If you can, that is!" laughed the 8 year old brunette boy.
"Stop, Rei-kun! Wait for me!" a tiny voice echoed behind him.
As the duo ran happily around the house, their parents smiled brightly at their antics. The mothers kept them in sight and never ceased the warnings of carefulness; the fathers, on the other side, laughed and joked loudly by the fireplace. The two families were good friends, and upon their meeting, the children befriended each other rather quickly as well.
The boy, 5 years older than the little girl, held said girl dearly and always did his best to protect her when and if push came to shove; and, living close by, they saw each other nearly everyday.
"Do you think they'll get married when they grow up?" giggled the boy's mother.
"They have too, just look at them, so perfect for one another!" cooed the girl's mother.
The fathers laughed at both their wives before carrying on with their conversation.
"Don't overdo it, Reiji, otherwise she'll get tired and give up." Warned the boy's father.
"Yes, dad, I know!" nodded the boy, suddenly jumping onto the sofa and calling towards his back: "Come on, Melody-chan!"
It took a bit for the girl to finally reach the sofa and, when she finally did, she was unable to climb on top of it; Reiji once more entered on cue, sliding down from his seat, picking her up with his small arms and sitting her on the couch.
"There, Melody-chan!" he grinned brightly, proud of his feat.
"Thank you, Rei-kun!" she giggled cutely, before asking seriously: "Can you do my hair?"
"Of course I can!" he beamed as the girl's mother handed him a brush and a couple of hair ties. "What do you want me to make you?"
"Hmm…" she appeared to be thinking extremely hard. "Braids!"
"Melody-chan, what do you want to be when you grow up?" Reiji asked as he styled her hair into two cute little braids.
"A dancer!" she stated proudly. "And you, Rei-chan?"
"A singer! I want to sing and make people happy!" he said, determined. "Hey, if you end up not dancing, you could come and sing with me!"
"I don't know…"
"Come on, it would be cute if we sang together!" cheered the brunette.
Soon, it was time to dinner, so the two families sat together, ate and chatted throughout the night. Later on, when the adults were finally finished, they found the children sleeping on the sofa, cuddled together, sound asleep.

~~~15 years back~~~
"Guess who! Guess who!" an all too familiar voice echoed in Melody's little ears as something covered her eyes.
"Who is it?" echoed the same voice one more time.
"Is it… Rei-chan?" she wondered cutely.
"We must really be destined to stick together, Melody-chan!" grinned the brunette. "You even know it's me at the 'guess who' game!"
The girl opened her big eyes and turned around; her guess had been right, so she smiled a big toothy grin. Retributing the smile, Reiji picked up the younger girl in a hug and twirled her around.
"I'm sure you'll be my wife, Melody-chan! Cause if that doesn't happen then we'll be with the wrong people!" declared the brunette decidedly, suddenly being interrupted by a cyan-haired boy.
"You're worrying, Reiji, idiot!" muttered Aine, the brunette's bestfriend and Melody's cousin.
"I don't want to be with the wrong person…" said the girl worriedly, believing in all the boy's words with her 5 year old naiveté; to what, in response, Reiji smiled and nodded, after ignoring the cyan-head.
"Then you have to marry me! We can get through everything together!" beamed the brunette.
"I guess you're right…" she agreed, puffing her cheeks in thought.
"I'm always right! So, you have to promise you'll marry me someday!" he declared in all seriousness.
"Kotobuki-san, that's not the right way to propose to a girl!" scolded a girl from their neighbourhood, who happened to be in the park that they with them.
Reiji gasped in realisation. He told Melody to wait beside her cousin and quickly ran up to his mother who was talking with Aine's and Melody's mothers, he asked them something and Aine's mother gave him a piece of wire she happened to have in her bag. With his back turned to his friends, the brunette played with the bit of wire for a few seconds, before running back to his playmates with his hands behind his back.
Reiji suddenly kneeled down before her and smiled brightly at her tiny frame.
"Yukimura Melody, will you promise me that, when we grow up, you will marry me?" he asked, helding his head solemnly high.
"I promise!" nodded the brunette with the brightest smile she could muster. With that said, Reiji took the girl's tiny left hand and slipped the small wire circlet onto her ring finger.
The girls on the playground giggled at the scene while the boys, with the exception of Aine, snickered at him and sent him weird looks. However, Reiji could not have cared less; he was going to marry his little princess, it was a promise that he vowed he would never break.

~~~10 years back~~~
Reiji and Aine were 15 years old, Melody was now 10. Despite their age difference, things never did change; Reiji kept faithful to his promise and never did get a girlfriend. All seemed to be going well, and it should've been so…
Unfortunately, not all that is is destined to remain…
It was a stormy night, Melody was staying at Reiji's house for her parents had gone out to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Dinner, games, everything was wonderful, until, at about 11pm a call came in, it was from the hospital… Melody's parents had died… An explosion in the restaurant had been the cause.
After her parents' death notice, she moved away to live with her mother's parents in Italy; ever since that day, Reiji had never seen her again…