Author's note: Never written for Free! before. This is all entirely new and I'm certainly worried.

I should also make a point of saying I am not Japanese, and I'm not 100% certain of japanese culture, so I may be entirely wrong with some of this. If anybody sees a mistake regarding this, don't hesitate to correct me, I am still learning and trying hard to get it right.

Disclaimer: Free! does not belong to me, though the OCs do. I created them myself, and any similarity to another character is purely coincidental.

Chapter One - Starting Blocks

It was like nobody had really noticed any difference, and school went on as usual. They did not complain, but at the same time a dull pain irritated each of them in the back of their heads.

They only wanted a little recognition.

"I suppose we only have ourselves to blame. If we hadn't been disqualified..."

The companions all glared at the speaker, and he didn't try to be optimistic again. His eyes drifted to the floor, a light smile still on his gentle face.

"We're not supposed to talk about it." Their spectacle-clad friend muttered, glancing around to see if anybody had heard. "For all they know, we just didn't get through."

"We'll do it next year, right Rei?" The smallest - and squeakiest- boy asked, his eyes boring into Rei's expectantly. They all make different sounds of affirmatives.

Though they had won their second heat in the relay race (and with very little in the way of competition, too), they had done so with a different team's swimmer on board, and therefore their win had been discounted. They couldn't say they regretted it either, not while it was still warm enough to swim in their outdoor pool at school. There was sure to come a time where they would curse the idea, but for now, they settled in the calming peace of a long-overdue reunion.

So with their 'loss' evident on their faces, the majority of the school had elected to steer clear of the subject so as not to rub the bad news in. For one particular member of their group, this could not be better news.

"I have literature first." Said group member muttered. "I'll see you later."

"I do too, Haru-Chan, wait up."

He did not wait, and the friend did not expect him to, instead running to catch up. "Sad it's all over?"

Haruka glanced up at his best friend and frowned. In a habitual gesture, he looked away and stared off into the distance as he replied. "Not really. It's not the last time we'll get to swim together."

"True."

They waited outside the classroom for their teacher, as was custom for their school. They still had a few minutes before the bell rang, though, and it made them one of the first pupils to arrive.

The girl in the front of the line turned to see who had joined her, her face brightened immediately. "Makoto-San, Haruka-San."

They glanced over at her, though they were both familiar with her being in their lesson, neither of them had spoken to her at all. She had a plain face, though with clear complexion and bright golden eyes that seemed to dance with her smile. Her most striking feature was her hair, though, as it was a deep green colour, and barely settled in a constant place as it was so thick and wavy.

Makoto, being the more social of the pair of them, smiled and nodded. "Hello Emiko-San."

"I just wanted to congratulate you for your win at the weekend." She beamed, her eyes crinkling in the corners. She failed to notice the look of surprise on her conversant's faces. "It's a shame they wouldn't let you go through to the next stage."

"Well, there's always next year." Makoto replied politely, at the same time as Haruka asking; "How do you know about that?"

A light tinge in her cheeks emerged as she laughed once. "I was there watching!" They didn't reply, allowing her to explain. "I'm part of a swimming club too, though a different kind of swimming..."

Haruka frowned, there hadn't been any female heats that day. He didn't bother to voice this fact though, instead he simply stared with his usual apathetic expression. Emiko was not too oblivious to notice, but most people were used to seeing very little expression on Haruka's face.

Upon spotting more peers arriving for class, she draws in closer to the two boys so they could hear her hushed tone. "Is there somewhere I can meet you at lunch? I have a business proposal."

"A business proposal?"

She hushes Makoto quickly, people were already looking over at them curiously. It was a universal truth that even the slightest shift in social groupings in an otherwise monotonous school usually stirred up a lot of gossip. Ayumi and Tamayo were already whispering, trying not to look in their direction to obviously.

"Uhh... Well we usually head for the pool at lunch..." Makoto tells her quietly, then looks at Haruka. "You could meet us there if you want?"

She forms a wide smile again. "Great, see you at lunch!" She tells them as the bell rings and Amakata lets them into the classroom.

"Wonder what she wants?" Makoto mutters at Haruka as they take their usual seat in the back corner of the class by the window.

Haruka made a non-committal shrug, then resumed his thoughts as he stared out of the window.

The hour and a half lesson dragged in a slow blur, and they left with a small pile of homework for them to do in the half term holidays. By break time after their second lesson, they'd had very little else to think about, and the business proposal was now making them unbearably curious.

"Doesn't she write for the school blog?" Nagisa asked when they had told him and Rei about the unusual conversation.

Rei shook his head; "That's Eiko Hirano." He explains, pushing his glasses up his nose. "They do know each other though..."

"I don't want everybody knowing we were disqualified!" Nagisa yelped, effectively doing the opposite of his words. Thankfully, nobody seemed to be listening. Haruka shot him a disbelieving glare, but he couldn't deny that he agreed.

"We don't have to tell her anything." He told them.

Makoto nodded. "Besides, she was there, what could she possibly want to know that she doesn't already?"

They all agreed, pushing that idea aside.

"Maybe Gou-Chan knows her." Rei offered. The problem was, she didn't usually meet them at break times, only at lunch, by which time they may have already pulled out clumps of hair in curiosity.

They ate in silence and headed for another hour and a half of lessons; Physical education for Makoto and Haruka, of which they spent one hour of the session running a large circuit around the entire school, and all they could think about was how they were dying to cool off in their outdoor pool.

"I suppose it's good stamina training." Makoto panted, glancing over as Haruka kept pace with him. They most certainly weren't the best at running, not being able to use their arms to aid their speed much, but they were definitely fitter than the majority of the class.

"It's a waste of time." Haruka replied, his voice uneven as his gait affected his breathing pattern. "I could be swimming and improving more effectively."

Makoto couldn't help but agree, they weren't built for marathons, but races. Still, they endured, and they had to admit it had taken their minds of the conversation they would be having at lunch.

The teacher dismissed them once they reached the changing rooms (they had come third and fourth in the class) and started getting into their uniform before the rest of the class had even returned.

Haruka, however, had other ideas.

"Seriously?"

The blue haired boy looked over his shoulder, staring innocently as his best friend perked a brow and made a point of looking at his swimming trunks.

"You're going swimming at lunch?"

"I'm not hungry." He shrugged, and having spent a useless hour of his day sweating out in a sport he did want to pursue, he was adamant he was going use the next hour doing something he actually enjoyed.

Makoto sighed, but couldn't help smiling. He wasn't surprised in the least, but he had to put up some form of protest, that's what friends were for.

They wandered across to where Rei and Nagisa's class was just coming to a close, and they all headed for the pool together. Rei noticed Haruka's hastily pulled on uniform and deduced what Makoto had already known.

"I might swim too, I could do with the practice." He muttered, catching the half smile in Haruka's eye as they climbed the steps into the pool's changing rooms.

Nagisa nudged him. "We've got a whole year to practice, you don't have to work so hard now!"

"How will I get better if I think like that, Nagisa-Kun?"

The blonde paused before he replied, (which was, in itself, a shock to the group). "We could do another desert island training regime!"

"No!" The other three replied together and without hesitation, then laughed at their panic. The disaster that had been their first training programme was something none of them wanted to repeat.

If there were a record for fastest person to strip off clothes, Haruka would undoubtedly hold it. He barely paused to hop out of his trousers and was mid dive as he threw his shirt aside. The excitement his otherwise indifferent friend had shown proved to be too much for Nagisa too, and he simply yanked off his clothes down to his boxers and followed, not thinking about the consequence of having no underwear to change into after. Rei shot a pleading look at Makoto, both of which seemed to have taken on the parental roles of the friendship group, and changed calmly into his swimwear.

"Do you want me to wait with you for Emiko-Kun?" Rei offered, but his eyeline kept wandering over to the pool where Nagisa was now holding a gangly-limbed handstand.

"You go practice," Makoto smiled, "as captain, I'll do the business."

"What business?"

They both turned to find their manager, Gou Matsuoka, sister of their former swimming partner, Rin Matsuoka. They hadn't spoken much during the old swimming days, but in the past year, Gou had become a staple point in the Iwatobi swim club. She was very much the reason they had gotten as far as they did in the heats this year, and certainly wasn't part of the reason they'd been disqualified.

Makoto explained the situation once more, watching as Rei hurried off and began his list of stretches.

"Emiko is a synchronised swimmer." Gou told him. "She trains somewhere just outside the city, I think. Quite good too, from what I've heard. I wonder what she wants?"

They stopped talking as they spotted her approaching, and Gou stood to greet her. "Emiko-Kun!"

"Hey!" The green haired girl grinned, hurrying over and placing her bag on the floor. She pulled out a small box, and in it she revealed a box of homemade cookies. "Would you like one?" The two standing with her did not refuse, for they looked amazing. It took mere seconds for Nagisa to catch on, and was heaving himself out of the pool to get to them. Feeling rude to not join them, Rei climbed out and yanked his towel from the railing, shortly followed by Haruka, who was loath to leave the serenity of the pool.

Being surrounded by a group of semi-nude males was something Gou had only just managed to get used to without regressing into a leering, drooling mess. Emiko, however, had turned bright red being in such close proximity to magnificently formed and glimmering wet abs, pecs and biceps.

"I guess I should just go ahead and ask, really." Emiko muttered, mainly to herself. The concept had seemed so simple in her head, yet she felt extremely rude and intruding now she was here proposing the idea. "Me and my two friends would like to join your swim club."

Eyebrows rose, and nobody knew really how to reply at first.

"We don't really have any administrative roles that need filling..." Rei finally voiced up, and Gou nodded in agreement. They already had a manager, captain, coach and supervisor.

"Well I..." Emiko stammered, wishing she hadn't bothered. "I meant as swimmers."

Again, they were all at a loss at how to respond. Unisex teams were unprecedented. It was just a rule that males and females did not swim together.

Before the silence went on too long, Emiko continued her persuasion. "We're already Synchro swimmers." She explained. "We just would like somewhere we could practice after school."

"We use the pool after school." Haruka finally voiced up, his protectiveness of the one thing he cherished kicking in. "There wouldn't be enough room for us all to practice in."

"Are you sure? It's a big pool?" Emiko countered, "and there are only four of you and three of us."

Though it was selfish, he couldn't help but think of the hours they had laboured over fixing their pool, and that she was asking to reap the benefits without the blood, sweat and tears. He had to remind himself that Rei had also done that, and they had made a very important friend and team mate in the decision. He settled for pursing his lips and looking away.

"Would we be classed as a club if we do two kinds of swimming though?" Nagisa wondered aloud. Gou nodded and glanced at Emiko, who shrugged.

"I'm guessing, technically, no. Though this could mean two different extra-curricular budgets from the school which we could use together. If you were to offer us your pool during the summer, we could pool our money together for joint spending."

This sounded like a promising prospect. The boys looked between one another in silent communication.

Seeing that she was getting somewhere, she continued her sales pitch. "I also have received confirmation of discounted indoor swimming pool use for the winter, which we could use together as a club."

"What? How? I tried everywhere for a decent price!" Nagisa whined, then laughed. "Haruka got a cold swimming in the pool early springtime." He stopped when said boy shot a dark look.

"I work there." She shrugged simply.

They went quiet to think, and Emiko offered more cookies around the group, hoping it would sweeten the deal for them just that little bit more.

"How about a trial?" The captain offered, knowing he was treading a careful line between the two arguments. Since none of his team objected, (whether or not it was because they had cookie in their mouth, he was not sure) he smiled at his idea.

Emiko nodded eagerly. "Really? That would be amazing!" She beamed a bright smile, then held out her hand as if to seal the deal. "Of course, the decision is entirely up to you. We could be a really awesome team though, we'd support you in your competitions, and you could see ours, if you wanted to of course-"

Makoto interrupted her rambling as politely as possible. "We'll be here after school today, or is that too soon?"

She shook her head frantically. "Oh no, we brought our swimwear in the hopes that you might offer!" With that, she stood, hoisted her bag onto her shoulder and left the cookies for them to finish. "Thank you, thank you so much!"

They watched her as she hurried through the changing room and there was a distinct squealing on the other side of the building. The three girls hurried past the fence, waving excitedly and making their way to the picnic area to eat.

"What have you done, Makoto..." Haruka sighed, then dove back into the pool for some peace and quiet.