The wind rustled through the cherry trees outside the swim club where I waited, leaning uneasily against the outside of the building for no more than a few seconds at a time before standing, shifting, settling again. The breeze tousled my hair, giving it a more masculine - if a not completely effortless - appearance, something I appreciated, at least on that particular morning. Maybe especially on that particular morning.
God. If I'd known he would be here, I wouldn't have come.
But no, that wasn't true, was it? He'd done such a great job with Hayato - really rescued him, brought him out of his shell in a way I never could have imagined right after my little brother's near drowning. I certainly hadn't come back to this club expecting to find Makoto assistant-coaching, but as far as results went, I couldn't possibly have chosen a better instructor for Asuka. She was enthusiastic as hell…perhaps a little too enthusiastic, given her proclivity for jumping into the deepest water before learning even the first bit about actually swimming. I'd had to jump in after her at the lake and pull her out twice already. She'd need someone…understanding.
So I couldn't really go wrong with Hayato's beloved 'Coach Tachibana' of years past, could I? Except, well…for everything else.
So I waited. Outside. In the cool April blossom-swept breeze, and well away from prying, knowing eyes. He hadn't seen me when I dropped her off; I was sure of it. And there was no reason to think I had any connection to her…
My cheeks were hot and I was chewing the inside of my cheek when I heard the door open and a little girl came tearing around the corner. She paused in front of me, hands clasped behind her back, and cocked her head to the side, braids swinging behind her as she regarded me very carefully. Finally she broke into a face-splitting grin.
"Papa!"
She threw herself at me and I bent down to greet her, picking her up and nuzzling my face in her neck as she giggled. Her short braids were a shade darker pink than my own hair, damp as they still were from the pool and smelling of chlorine. The bright green eyes that smiled up at me were all her mother's, though, the only thing her mother had ever given her, aside from life.
I suppose I had to be grateful for that, at least.
How could I ever be ashamed to think people might connect her to me? Even people I knew back then…
"Well, little angel? What did you learn today?"
"We dove to the bottom of the pool to pick up rings, and Coach Tachibana helped us work on the backstroke, and I made a new friend!" she said, puffing up her chest with obvious pride as I set her back on her feet and kissed her head.
"That's very impressive! You'll have to tell Uncle Hayato all about it at dinner tonight."
But before I could even finish the sentence, Asuka had my wrist with one tight-fingered little hand and was dragging me toward the door.
"Asuka, baby, it's time to go-"
"You have to meet Hiroki, papa!"
I resisted the urge to dig in my heels, knowing there was absolutely nothing I could say that would disturb the logic of a seven-year-old girl, but unable to follow her with any enthusiasm nonetheless.
"All right, angel girl, but we can only go in for just one moment. Your grandmother and Uncle Hayato will already have dinner waiting by the time we get to-"
She wasn't listening to me at all; instead, she stopped short, grinned her widest grin yet, and pointed ahead of her. I winced openly, wondering what young boy would be the first to vie for my little girl's heart - and such a tender age, she still was! - but I didn't even get a chance to size the kid up because my whole body froze, heart, lungs, brain and all, when I saw the pair standing with him.
That broad, muscly back and dust-brown hair; long red locks and shark-sharp teeth; I'd have recognized either of them anywhere. I felt my center fall out from under me, torn between running toward the friendly faces and fleeing the other direction, and wavered in one place while Asuka, frown furrowing her brows, tugged on my arm determinedly. In the end, though, they saved me from having to explain to her why daddy suddenly decided to turn into a statue, because when Rin leaned up and kissed Makoto lightly on the cheek and Mako returned the action with beaming eyes, that snapped me right out of my stupor.
Well, well, well. Guess I'm not the only one from our year with secrets.
The smile forming on the very edges of my mouth drooped quickly, though, at the thought. Just because they had their secrets didn't mean they'd be understanding. So few were.
"Asuka angel, I'm really sorry, but we do need to hurry today," I said, and my little girl turned and gave me her biggest, saddest doe-eyed pout. "Now stop that. You can introduce me next time, okay, I promise, but for now we need to-"
"Kisumi?"
The voice was a little shrill for Mako's usual deep, gentle timbre. When I finally brought myself to raise my violet eyes to match his emerald green, his cheeks were flushed.
"Shigino?" Mako may have looked like he'd gotten caught stealing cookies from a jar, but Rin's cocky grin and overly-loud voice were the same as ever, even all these years later.
With ease that could only come from years of practice, I stifled my nausea and plastered my own matching grin across my face.
"It's Kisumi, you dolt. Or did you forget?"
"Yeah, yeah, you always were too familiar," Rin grumbled, but he did so without losing a fraction of his good-natured smile, and he walked right over and clasped my hand with enough enthusiasm to make me stumble in place. "Shigino Kisumi! What's it been, five years?"
"…Seven," I said with absolutely certainty, hoping the hesitation didn't disrupt my sunny demeanor. If it did, Rin paid no notice.
"Hell, has it been that long since high school? Man, I don't feel that old yet," Rin said, stretching his arms over his head. For what it was worth, he didn't look old either. "What the hell have you been up to? I didn't even realize you lived around here."
"A ways out of town, actually, but I wanted to bring Asuka somewhere I trusted. I see I wasn't mistaken in my choice," I said, jabbing my chin in Mako's direction, acknowledging him for the first time with the best grin I could manage. "Been awhile, Mako-chan."
Mako's blush deepened, and my grin became slightly more genuine. "We're at least old enough to leave off the -chan, don't you think? Ah, no matter. Not to sound rude but…er…what are you doing here? I mean I saw Shigino on my class list, but I didn't figure little Asuka was related to you." He rubbed the back of his head and cringed. "Should have figured it was too big a coincidence. She's your…sister? Cousin?"
"I…"
"Papa, papa! This is Hiroki!" Asuka shrieked out of nowhere, one hand once again tugging on my wrist and the other wrapped around the wrist of a dusky-pink-haired boy who looked, if slightly overwhelmed, at least not as if he wished he could escape.
"Angel-girl, please be polite to your friend," I said, gently but with a stern undertone, and she blanched and dropped his wrist.
"Er, sorry if I hurt you, Hiroki-kun," she said earnestly.
The boy just shook his head and smiled. "It's okay," he said, his voice small but steady enough to allay my concerns.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Hiroki-kun," I said, before turning my attention back to the two men I'd known years before. Mako looked stunned, mouthing something like "papa?" under his breath. Rin, however, cackled and clapped a hand on my back.
"No way, you're a dad too? Welcome to the club, man. Wish we'd known sooner, looks like these two little lovebirds are already getting along great."
"Eww, no!" Asuka squealed, and she and Hiroki looked at each other, made matching faces of disgust, and dissolved into a fit of giggles before running off away from their fathers' oversight.
"How come you never said anything?" Rin asked, watching after the kids with a fond smile. "I mean, we haven't had Hiroki for all that long yet, officially, but…"
"She must be at least seven," Mako said, very quietly, regarding me with a careful compassion that made me burn to turn away, shield myself. I looked away just long enough, composing myself as quickly as I could, before turning a shining smile back on the pair.
"That she is. Best thing that ever happened to me."
"…And her mother?"
I busied my eyes scanning the lobby to see where Asuka and Hiroki had run off to. "He's a pretty little thing you know," I said with a forceful laugh. "Gonna be a lady-killer for sure. Just make sure it's not my little lady he's killing, yeah?"
"Please, that girl'd run circles around him before he could lift a finger," Rin laughed, and the tension drained from our little group.
Mostly.
I coughed politely. "So, you two, huh? I mean, can't say as Mako surprises me, but I gotta admit, I always kinda saw you ending up with Haru, Mako. No offense, shark-boy!" I jabbed an elbow in his ribs.
Oddly, he had no rejoinder; didn't even yell at me to back up and keep out of people's personal space. He just winced slightly and shifted his eyes at Mako.
"Oh, well, sometimes things don't work out the way we expect them to, do they?" Mako said. He smiled and laughed, but the laugh lacked a certain enthusiasm, and I was furrowing my brow when the tiny whirlwind that was my daughter arrived at my feet, jumping up and down.
"Papa! Can Hiroki come over and play please? Pleeeeease?"
I looked helplessly at the pair next to me, as Hiroki came up - at a far more reasonable pace - behind Asuka and added his plaintive look to the mix.
Damn, that kid's got a better puppy-dog face than Asuka. Well, he gives her solid competition, anyway.
"We can't, tonight," I said, more to Mako and Rin than to my daughter, who already knew the schedule despite what she might pretend. "We're expected back at home shortly for dinner. But I suppose we should probably let them hang out some time. I mean, I guess I'd rather her hang out with a kid you're raising than some stranger!"
"You guess?" Rin asked, knocking me upside the head with a gratefully light flick of the back of his hand. Asuka nearly fell to the ground laughing. "Ha, I like this one," Rin added, gesturing at my daughter. "Sure. We've got your number from the class list. We'll give you a call and set something up."
I guided Asuka through unwilling goodbyes and out the door, rushing to be sure we caught the next bus on the schedule, and wondering despite myself if my next run-in with those two could possibly go as smoothly as this.