Obligatory Worry

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"Haru... Haru... Haru..." Makoto kept calling out as he clutched the prone Haru's shirt. He was shaking, uncontrollably shaking. Ha had been since they had found Haru in the river, moments away from drowning.

Somehow Makoto had, had the presence of mind to rush in and fish Haru out. Rin and helped of course but Makoto had been the one in-charge. The one who had given instruction to call the ambulance and inform the swim club had been Makoto. Yet Makoto was out of his mind with fear. Rin could tell because he had never seen someone so, so very afraid. Rin did not know what to do, what to think. He just sat next to Makoto feeling helpless, eyes glued to Makoto's hand that clutched Haru's shirt.

Wait... hadn't he seen this before? Suddenly Rin remembered that day. The day of his father's funeral. He had been walking in-line with the other mourners, clutching his sisters hand. That's when he had noticed two boys about his standing to one side, gawking at them. One was hiding behind the other with a look confusion mingled with fear on his face, clutching the shirt of the boy in front of him... was that... had they been Makoto and Haru?

"Haru..." Makoto kept calling, "Haru..."

Rin jerked awake, damn it! He didn't need this! He was tired, he wanted to sleep! But ever since Gou had mentioned that Makoto and Haru were here and that they were training in the ocean, he could not but help worry. It was obligatory worry for someone who had been a friend. Makoto of course, was nothing to him now... or so Rin would really like to believe. Damn! Damn it all to hell and back because he really didn't want to care.

Rin sighed and thought back to the moment just before their relay finals when he had told the boys about his father. About how his father had dreamt of being an Olympic swimmer but had to give-up his dream and become a fisherman. How his father had ended-up drowning just 3km off the coast. How he had switched to Iwatobi elementary and attended Iwatobi swim club with only two months to go until the end of the year after deciding to go to Australia because he had wanted to talk to his father, to see him before he went to Australia. Somehow Rin thought that by going to his father's old club, making a relay team and winning the relay - just like his father had done with his team, he would have been able to see his father and he had. Makoto, Nagisa, Haru... his team, his friends had helped him see his father like he wanted to before he set off for Australia. He had sworn he would not forget them... and he hadn't... he had just been kind of mean to them... damn now he was feeling guilty.

Rin sighed again and turned to his side, he had an unobstructed view of the window and could see the clear night sky slowly become overcast, wondering once again if Makoto was really alright. Remembering how Makoto had seized-up in the pool during practice after Haru's near drowning incident. But then he remembered again Makoto calling out for Haru, holding on to Haru's shirt and Rin smiled self mockingly. Of course Makoto was alright, he was with Haru afterall! Rin had been useless to comfort Makoto when they were kids and he would be even more useless now. He was, afterall, not Haru.

In truth Makoto and Haru were not that different. Haru hid his true feelings behind a mask of stoicism, Makoto hid his behind a smile. But somehow the two always knew what the other was actually thinking, feeling behind the mask. Rin had no clue. He would be as useless now as he had been back when they were kids and he could only mutely watch as Makoto drowned in terror, clutching to Haru as if he was a life raft.

Outside the wind picked-up and the rain started coming down hard as a full on storm started to brew. Rin watched the storm for a full minute before the implications hit him. Gou had told him that the boys were camping by the ocean... Makoto... Rin thought as a rising panic gripped him and unbidden, images flooded his brain of walking once again in a funeral procession, clutching his sister's hand. Only this time, Haru was not a by-standard but one of the mourner because... Makoto... "No!" Rin found himself begging out loud, "Not again! Please not again..." Obligation or not, Rin never again wanted to be part of a funeral procession for the drowned.

Author's Note: All the Flashbacks mentioned in this fic are directly from High Speed!, the concept novel for Free! set during the boys final year of elementary school. For some reason half the Free!dom thinks Makoto actually witness the boat accident that killed Rin's father. NO HE DIDN'T. He saw the funeral and later found out the funeral was for fishermen who had gone down 3km off the coast. It's because ' that Makoto ended-up so traumatised. He couldn't comprehend why the fishermen couldn't just swim ashore. If he had seen the accident, the would have known why the fisherman couldn't just swim, e.g. bad weather, too much wreckage etc, etc.

The only drowning incident Makoto witnessed, before Rei that is, was Haru - of course given that Haru is Makoto's soulmate, even though Haru didn't drown and Rin and Makoto were able to save him, the incident was probably deeply scarring for Makoto.

Also, I don't mean Haru and Makoto are soulmates in the romantic sense necessarily (still on board the HMS friendship here) because your soulmate doesn't have to be the person you are romantically involved with. Just someone who have a deep connection with and I don't think anyone can deny that Haru and Makoto have a deep connection... actually scratch that. I am sure there are anti-Haru/Mako essays out there talking about how Haru doesn't care about Makoto and even their friendship is one-sided or something.