Disclaimer: I don't own 'Free!', but I do own the OC.

Hardest Of Hearts

She was, of all the things to be defined by, definitely one who didn't waver. Once her mind was made, her course determined, she stuck to it with all her resolve and patience. Admittedly, however, Satsuki Moriyama wasn't well known for being that virtuous.

It was a fact supported by her current actions, and an explanation for her blatant irritation. Of course, whenever she came to visit, Haruka Nanase refused to answer the door.

It left her momentarily stumped, until she decided on the most logical course of action, which just so happened to be using the back entrance. She had no problem stomping up the side of his house, wearing a fierce scowl and carrying a plastic bag of food. It wasn't like she had to come here; truly, it was only at the request of her mother that she visited.

The Moriyama family were the proud owners of a local bakery, and at the end of the day Satsuki's mum liked to send her around with some leftover food from the day. She was just the type of mother to worry about everyone like that, especially given that Haruka lived on his own. Satsuki was inclined to agree that she didn't trust Haruka to be alone either, but that was only ever an excuse for her to visit. Truth be told, she actually rather liked him – even if he wouldn't answer the door for her.

For the year she had known Haruka closely, which was only really their first year of high school, she had become strangely well acquainted with these circumstances. She didn't mind them all that much anymore, even though she made a point to slam the back door open as loud as she could.

She took a deep breath before announcing herself with not-so subtle, "Hey, dumbass!"

The hallway echoed her own voice back to her. With a resigned sigh, she shut the door behind her and continued on in. It was easy enough to make her way to the kitchen, even though the light was switched off. She blinked a few times after turning it on, but nothing more.

Satsuki took a moment to stand there in silence, running a hand through her short, tangled hair. The place was as tidy as ever, leading her to leave the bag of bread on the tabletop. Haruka would know who it was from without any note, though she had the sneaking suspicion she knew where he was.

It was the beginning of winter – and who was she kidding, anyone with half a brain could have guessed just where Haruka would be at this time.

"Bathroom." She muttered to herself.

Turning swiftly on her heel, Satsuki began to walk back down the hall she had just come up. She pulled her jacket tighter around her, hands shoved into the pockets even though Haruka's house really wasn't that cold. At least he had enough sense to turn the heater on.

She found the right door easy enough, hazel eyes pinning it down through a process of elimination. There was a moment of hesitation, of calculation, but Satsuki's heart had always ruled over her head.

This time, she didn't knock before entering.

As she expected, a noisy splash of water met her immediate appearance, and she found Haruka to be exactly where she had guessed. He sat in the bathtub, swimmers on, and sent her that same, impassive look that he always had.

"What are you doing here?" From his words, Satsuki could infer his surprise.

"I was dropping off some of our leftover bread from the bakery," Satsuki replied, just as coolly, "My mum says hi, by the way."

"Oh. Thanks."

Satsuki nodded shortly, resisting a smile at the sight of Haruka half-naked and wet. "You do need to eat something other than fish."

He tilted his head, a silent question of why.

"It's important to have a balance diet – well, that's what my mum says anyway. I suppose she's right. If you eat like shit all the time, you have screw up your body," Satsuki explained, already turning away. Through the wayward curls of her hair, she shot Haruka a parting glance as she declared, "And you wouldn't want to get sick, would you? You wouldn't be able to swim then."

The moment she turned away, Haruka's expression fell. A frown drew his brows together, his lips downturned in what, on any other person, would have been a pout. He didn't even give his words a second thought before he said, "You weren't worried about me then?"

A furious blush spread across her cheeks, her embarrassment like wildfire. She had no idea how he could have known, chalking it down to a lucky guess – unless he was teasing her, though it seemed a very farfetched idea. Hating the feeling of being so vulnerable, she squeezed her eyes shut and tried to push the feelings aside.

Haruka watched her from the reflection in the mirror, his blue eyes intent upon every reaction, every thought passing through her narrow, hazel eyes. It was honest enough to convince him of the true answer.

"Like I would ever stress myself out about you, Haru." She snapped, as was habit in these situations. As a rule, Satsuki rejected the idea of admitting vulnerability.

It was such a blatant lie, the answer Haruka had expected but one that still managed to surprise him. At the very least, it was reason enough to help him make up his mind. Satsuki had only become a problem recently, perplexing him at every turn in ways he never knew how to handle. There was something very particular about the kind of nervousness she inspired.

But then, as if he had asked an even bigger, more consequential question, her answer resolved all insecurities.

In a second, Haruka had stood and stepped out of the bathtub. At the splashing water, Satsuki turned to face him and was confronted with the immediate sight of Haruka walking towards her. His eyes flashed with unfamiliar emotion, a second-long warning before she was suddenly hoisted into the air.

It wasn't hard to Haruka to pick her up, as she was neither tall nor heavily built. He secured a hold on her quickly, carrying her frontwards like a child, before walking back over and into the bathtub. He ignored her squeak of protest entirely – nothing at all could have stopped him from sitting back down.

Water sloshed over the edge of the tub, enveloping his body and hers. Satsuki froze as she was lowered into the water, clothes and all, but it was a temporary shock.

"Haru!"

Despite her anger, her fingers were still hooked around his neck and her legs remained at either side of his hips. Satsuki did her best, had the kind of severe features necessary to convey hatred at its most potent, but he had only to look at her and she hesitated.

"You'll dry off." He declared.

"But it'll take ages!" she cried. "Why didn't you just ask me to stay longer – no, never mind, I forgot that you're too stupid to think of that!"

Haruka offered her a look equivalent to a shrug. "You can borrow some of my clothes."

"Jesus." She muttered, burying her head into her hands. He couldn't know for sure, but he had the suspicion that she was blushing again.

"You could stay the night as well."

"Really?" Satsuki wondered, too surprised to be annoyed, "You don't care about what sort of impression that would give us?"

He shook his head, leaving her to take it whatever way she would.

Satsuki held her arms out around her, lifting the hem of her jacket to see just how soaked it was. Her in inspection ended in a matter of seconds, concluding with a resignation to her fate. "I suppose your parents wouldn't care, and my mum wouldn't mind," Satsuki murmured offhandedly, "She sorta wants to adopt you anyway."

"…Thanks."

"I think it's gross," Satsuki remarked, "I hope you don't think of me like a sister ever."

"You're too mean to be a little sister."

She met him in a dead stare. "Are you some kind of closest perv, Haru?"

"No."

At his lack of a reaction, she huffed irritably. When she averted her eyes, he found the courage to lean in a little closer. The brown of her iris seemed more prominent in that moment, causing him to realise they were only ever really green under natural light. His attention then shifted to her hand against the bathtub, tensing as she made to stand.

In a flash, Haruka had settled his hands against her legs, keeping her thighs locked around his waist, even if it would only be for a moment longer. "Not yet." He declared, recalling her previous words about asking – though Haruka wasn't really inclined to go that far just yet.

Satsuki shot him an odd look, a silent question, but settled down into the water nonetheless. She slid her hand under his, prying it from her knee as gently as she could.

"How long have you been in here?" Satsuki blurted.

Haruka shrugged. "A while."

"Because," she continued, laughter bubbling up from inside, "Your hands are all wrinkly like prunes."

He frowned at the comment, unable to look away from the sight of her giggling. It was rare to see her so genuinely amused by something, especially when Haruka always seemed to irritate her more than anything. For him, it was a comfort to see her so at ease.

When he ran his fingers across her palm, she shivered violently. "Don't – it tickles."

"Sorry." Haruka murmured, but his hands had already reached her neck.

Satsuki's skin had never felt so sensitive, and it didn't really help when she flushed hot and started blushing. She was pretty certain it was a dream – nothing else seemed to explain why his fingers graced her skin so eagerly. The sensation was so dominant she hardly noticed as Haruka moved to his knees, leaning over her.

At that point, neither of them were really thinking. Thinking only tended to complicate things, in the particular case of kissing someone, it wasn't really needed.

It was a feeling. It was the millions of butterflies that tickled her skin. It was the warmth of his mouth against hers. A moment that didn't feel so much like a moment as it did a lifetime. It was physical, and Satsuki was determined to convince herself it could be nothing else. Yet it didn't change the fact that Haruka Nanase was kissing her.

It ended with all the suddenness that it had begun with. Haruka offered her an even look and said, "I wanted to know what it'd be like."

"Oh." Satsuki breathed, pushing aside all her flustered thoughts just to get through the sentence, "What did you think?"

"It was how I expected it to be." Haruka then glanced to the side, acting coy. When he spoke, it was with a tone so impersonal it only further convinced Satsuki to believe it was a dream. It had to be, especially since he so easily added, "I want to do it again."

"And here I was thinking you were asexual or something – wait." Haruka didn't move, which was permission enough for Satsuki to continue, "You mean kissing, or kissing me?"

"Kissing you – you don't make a big deal out of things like that. I like that."

Satsuki buried her face into her wet hands, glowing with embarrassment. "Shut up." She mumbled, voice muffled by her palms.

Water splashed against her when he settled back down. "But you do make a big deal out of that."

"Out of what?" Satsuki asked, glanced up quickly.

Haruka looked as if he wasn't sure how to say the words. "Compliments. Emotional things."

"Again, shut up."

"You're sensitive to emotions."

"You'll learn how sensitive you are if you don't shut it."

The threat was half-hearted. When uttered by Satsuki, who was not particularly intimidating when she was blushing so profusely, Haruka was inclined to dismiss it for the lie it was. Still, he couldn't deny that there was something fiercely cute about the way she looked, and he couldn't deny that he had come to notice that more and more of late.

With her eyes still shut, she missed the soft smile he sent her way.

"Can we kiss again?" Haruka wondered.

"Maybe," she shot back, looking up. The moment she did, discovering Haruka's face so close to hers, Satsuki was quick to close the distance.

It was a quick peck, lacking the surprise of the first kiss but all the nerves of impulse and insecurity. Satsuki, after pulling away, studied him. Haruka stared right back, his eyes distracted from hers as he watched her lips press together slowly.

"You know, there are better ways to go about this." She remarked.

"Like what?"

"For one, don't dump me into bathtubs." Satsuki quipped.

His fingers wandered to the side of her face, plucking a few short, stray hairs from her cheek and tucking them back. For once, defying his expectations, she didn't slap his hand away. He had to wonder why, for her and for him – it seemed that their hearts were not as hard as they seemed.

"And?" Haruka asked, prompting her to continue.

"Well, the other thing is that you don't always have to ask before kissing me. I'll let you kiss me whenever you want," Satsuki paused, a smile ghosting over her lips, "On the condition that I can call you my boyfriend."

Haruka's hands were already around her waist, tickling her neck, before the agreement had even passed from his lips. It was a simple, resolute, "Okay."

Granted, it was a little unorthodox – but then, so was Haruka. In both respects, Satsuki didn't particularly mind, and she was in fact quite partial to them. She would go along with it, wherever it led, and it wasn't just because of how he kissed her.

It was for the promise of possibility, for the infiniteness of how she felt. Anything could happen, and so long as Haruka was there with her, Satsuki found that happiness was very much inescapable.

I'm still wallowing in misery about the series ending - and I haven't even watched it yet (two episodes off, I'm trynna make it last)! Enjoy some post-Free! writing, although this is actually set prior (or near the start, it's a little vague) to the anime storyline.

Satsuki Moriyama is a character who also makes an appearance in my multi-chap Rin/OC story, 'Falling'. As a side character, I felt she was a little neglected and so decided to build up her storyline. For reference, if any of you do read or are interested in reading 'Falling', this oneshot is set before those events and helps explain the dynamic between Satsuki and Haruka in 'Falling'.

Thank you all for reading and to anyone who favourites and/or reviews (if any of you do).