This is what happens when you're surrounded by Free fans on the team…and you're a fan yourself _


A cool, light breeze is blowing across the Iwatobi High school campus, rustling the cherry blossoms surrounding swimming pool. The trees have just fully bloomed, sending soft, pink petals drifting away in the breeze. It is the perfect weather for swimming as the temperature has just started to warm up. And that is why Haruka Nanase, 17 years old, can be found standing atop the diving board instead of sitting in class like he should be. Though his face remains expressionless, his ocean blue eyes are glinting excitedly down at the water below him before they are raised determinedly to face the pool. Pulling down the goggles resting on top of his head, Haruka readies himself to dive, his toned muscles contracting as he poises himself over the water. Imagining a buzzer, he pushes off the diving board. He is now in the air, and there is a two second delay before he breaks through the water's surface. And then all at once, he is surrounded by water and its cool and gentle touch – he is once more free.

He streamlines for a few seconds before breaking into free-style, his arms moving in smooth, sure strokes and his legs kicking above the water at a rhythmic pace. As he starts to swim laps, he doesn't notice that he has a spectator. The maroon-haired girl is staring at Haru's smooth, glistening body with glittering russet-colored eyes, drool beginning to dribble down her chin. She watches as Haru takes a breath, his right arm coming out of the water, the muscles contracting smoothly before sinking below the surface. What gorgeous triceps and biceps!

She nearly squeals in glee, but manages to stifle her urges. Deciding that she will be able to observe him better if she was closer, she starts walking to the edge of the pool before squatting down and continuing to stare at Haru. Sensing a presence observing him, Haru glances out of the corner of his eyes to see Gou, but decides to ignore her since he is too enraptured with swimming to care. However, as she does not leave, he eventually decides to swim over to see what she wanted.

Coming to a stop before her, he takes his goggles off and shakes his head, flicking gleaming drops of water off of his lustrous black hair. As the water drips down his face and body, Kou can't help but feel excitement course through her body. The way the water is slowly trickling down his porcelain skin and shining from the sun makes him look like a model and she just wants to collapse on the ground and squeal right there. But she can't since she still has a job to do. Using every ounce of her willpower, she resists turning into a squealing, screaming pile of goo, but she still couldn't help the blush that blossoms across her cheeks.

"What are you doing here, Gou?" She twitches in annoyance, the blush fading away. She was sure that she had told all of them to call her Kou. Matsuoka Gou, the younger sister of Matsuoka Rin and a first year at Iwatobi High School, is the manager of the recently established club. Matsuoka Kou was a normal…kind-of-normal…teenage girl who enjoys hanging out with her friends and having fun.

She glares daggers at him. "I could ask you the same thing! You're ditching class aren't you?" She sucks in a deep breath before shouting, "And don't call me Gou! I already told you, it's Kou! Koooouuuu!"

He shakes his head again to get the water out of his eyes and once more light is shining wondrously upon his body and Kou almost faints right then and there. She can't have Haru thinking she's some perverted, hormonal teenaged girl that had only come to ogle at his body even though she is ogling him…but that wasn't the point!

Haru ignores the second part of her talk. "I'll be fine. But what about you? Aren't you ditching class too?"

And that is the reason why she is here, to get him back to class – not to ogle at him! But those triceps….! No! Gou shakes her head to clear her thoughts. "Ama-sensei told me to come out here to drag you back to class," she explains. "She says that she won't send you up to the principal this time, but she's not going to be so nice next time. That is why you better get back to class."

Haru sighs in exasperation as he holds onto the edge of the pool. "I thought she'd understand that I'm practicing for our future tournaments."

She gives him a deadpan stare. "You just want to be in the water, don't you, Haru-chan?"

Suddenly, he sinks down a bit until his chin is touching the water and looks up at her with half-lidded eyes. Her blush comes back full force. "W-what?"

The two engage in an awkward staring contest until Haru breaks the silence, closing his eyes. "Don't call me Haru-chan."

She is momentarily confused until she realizes what she had just said. Haru-chan. She had just called him Haru-chan! She turns away in embarrassment, her heart dropping into her stomach and her face turning a vivid red. She always called him Haru-senpai, but she should have known that Nagisa would eventually influence her to call him Haru-chan. Slowly, she turns back to face Haru, her face still burning red and her eyes refusing to look at his face. But it's not like she can look at his body without being reduced to a blabbering fool, so she forces herself to look at him. "O-oh! Sorry, Haru-senpai! It was a slip of the tongue. I've just been around Nagisa-kun for too long!" She continues babbling on and on before breaking into nervous laughter. And then awkward silence. Haru just continues staring at her stoically as she starts to fidget. S-say something! She mentally begs, feeling increasingly flustered.

He closes his eyes once again before replying, "Just don't call me Haru-chan again." His voice sounds almost petulant and she can't help but give a small smile. Gradually, her heartbeat slows back to normal and her blush starts to fade away once more.

Taking slow, deep, and calming breaths, she desperately tries to change the conversation. "So, when are you going to climb out of there and get back to class?"

He stares at her again and the awkward atmosphere returns. She rolls her eyes mentally. Trust Haru to be a conversation-killer. "I won't."

"What? Why?" she questions him, leaning forward in confusion. She never pegged Haru as the type of person to ditch class whenever he feels like it.

"I'd rather be out here in the pool," he continues, kicking off of the side of the pool and floating away from her.

"But-!" She cut herself off as she momentarily loses her balance. Pin wheeling her arms, she manages to catch herself before she plunged headfirst into the pool. She'd hate to walk around school, soaked to the bone and dripping water everywhere. Or worse, be accused of ditching class to swim with Haru. She'd never live that down. Clearing her throat, she regains her composure and looks at him in the eye.

"You don't want to get in trouble, do you?" She continues sternly.

"I told you. I'll be fine."

She glares at him before giving up, sighing in exasperation. She still doesn't know why she had volunteered to come out and attempt to bring Haru back to class. It's not like he'd listen to anyone. He doesn't even listen to Makoto and they had been friends for years! Her reasoning then was that since she's the manager of the swim club, it is her responsibility to bring him back. But now she isn't so sure. What kind of manager is she if she couldn't even handle one of the swim club members?

"Can't I do anything to get you back to class?" He swims back over to her and looks up to stare straight into her eyes, his mouth set into a thin line of concentration. She refuses to blush again and instead gives him what she hoped was the evil eye and not a hopeless stare. "What is it?"

Haru suddenly stands in the pool, redirecting his gaze to something behind her. Straightening up, she follows his gaze, but finds no one there. "There's no one- huh?" She yelps as something grabs onto her right wrist and she swiftly turns to see Haru's hand. Wha-? She lets out a stifled shriek of surprise when Haru abruptly yanks her into the pull headfirst.

Blinking chlorine out of her eyes and spluttering as she spit out a mouthful of water, Gou resurfaces gasping for air. Her hands are clenched into fists and her eyes are narrowed in anger as she glares icy daggers at Haru, every inch of her soaking wet. "What was that for!?" She shouts as she frustratingly pushes her hair out of her eyes only to have them fall back into place.

She didn't think she ever saw Haru smile before, but she swears that his lips had just twitched into a momentary smirk. "Swim with me for a bit and then I'll head back to class," he bargains. Her face burns furiously as she yells in frustration.

"What kind of logic is that?! You better hope I don't decide to climb out of here right now and get the principal!"

"You're still here, aren't you? Everyone needs to be free once in a while." he counters quietly, his arms crossed across his chest. She is left speechless. One, because Haru had just pulled her in the pool – during class hours mind you – just to swim with him; and two, because she's barely a foot away from him and he is half-naked, and glistening, and wet, and cool, and-and-and those triceps! She screamed internally as she blushes again. That's a smirk! That is definitely a smirk! She screams internally as she covers her burning face.

He tilts his head in slight confusion then shrugs, leaving her there stunned as he swims away. The water is splashed intentionally into her face. She shakes her head, in an attempt to clear her head and clear some of the water lazily sliding down her face. She crosses her arms in bewilderment. She always knew that Haru isn't as aloof as he always seemed and that he definitely had a caring side to him, but did he really pull her in just to get her to swim? The usually quiet, water-loving, oblivious, and blunt Haru?

"You do know I'm not wearing swimming clothes, right?" she calls after him.

"So?" He nonchalantly asks as he finishes another lap. "Just take off the blazer. It's what's dragging you down."

"What the hell, Haru-senpai! School's still in session!" He ignores her this time. She throws up her arm in grief. "That's it! I'm gonna head to the office!" She begins to pull herself out of the pull before freezing in place as she feels his gaze on her back. Slowly, she lowers herself into the pool again, the water splashing out of the sides as she turns curiously to stare back. She frowns at the look in his eyes. It wasn't sad, or blaming, or anything at all really, but it makes her feel that if she left now she will definitely regret it. All of a sudden, she is reminded of a time back when everyone was still part of the same swim club and when they were all still kids just enjoying the feeling of being in the water without any concerns, rivalries, or worries. Sighing, knowing that she will regret it later anyway, and starts unbuttoning her blazer before tossing it on the edge of the pool. She stands there for a moment, her wet, white-collared shirt and gray skirt clinging to her skin uncomfortably, before she tentatively begins to paddle towards Haru.

There is a very small, brief smile sent her way and her heart warms in response. Suddenly, he starts to swim away before looking back at her. Bristling at the obvious challenge, Gou swims after him, but he still manages to stay way ahead of her the entire time. As time passed by, her uneasiness from skipping class starts to fade away and she gradually becomes relaxed. Turning onto her back to face the clouds and sun, she laughs in pure joy. The sky is so beautiful.


1 hour later…

Gou is floating on her back next to Haru and they are both staring at the cherry blossoms surrounding the pool. A smile is playing on her lips when Haru suddenly speaks.

"What was that about forcing me to go back to class?"

She gasps and quickly sinks below the water as she loses her focus. Bursting out of the water, she gasps for breath as she frantically searches the area for any indication of how much time has passed. Her earlier uneasiness comes back with a vengeance. "Oh no! Is school already out?" She couldn't hear any students around.

Someone suddenly clears their throat and Gou freezes, her heart leaping up into her throat. Her heart is beating rapidly and she did not want to turn around – one look at Haru's slightly admonished expression tells her all she needs to know. Nervously turning, she is met with the sight of a very irritated Ama-sensei with Makoto, Rei, and Nagisa standing unsurely behind her. "So, when were you two planning to return to class exactly? After school ended?" She asks with a sickly, sweet tone. Gou understandably panics.

"Ama-sensei! I can explain!" she begins as she quickly pulls herself out of the pool. Water is dripping from her in what seemed to be bucketfuls as she stands in front of Ama-sensei in shame, her head lowered quietly. In her peripheral vision, she can see that Haru has also joined her. They are greeted with pure silence. Gou blinks in confusion. Where are the lectures, the philosophy talks, the sweetly evil threats? Looking up cautiously, she is confused when she sees Makoto and Nagisa covering their eyes. Turning to the side, she sees that Haru and Rei are both looking off into the distance. Only Ama-sensei is looking at her and she seems amused, but also extremely exasperated.

"What?"

No one answers her for a few seconds until Makoto speaks up in an oddly strangled tone of voice. "Your…shirt." He coughs in embarrassment. Realization dawns on her face as she glances down. Sure enough, the statement that white fabric becomes see-through when soaked is true. Her blouse is utterly transparent.

Letting out an inhuman shriek that probably the entire school heard, she dashes to grab her blazer before swiftly shrugging it on and buttoning it up. Forget what she said earlier about the worst thing that could happen to her is walking around campus wet or getting caught swimming with Haru – which she did, ironically enough...- this is the worst thing that can happen to her! Already she is blushing in embarrassment and her mood doesn't improve when Nagisa starts laughing.

"It's not funny, Nagisa!"

However, his laughter is contagious and eventually the rest of the club starts joining in. Even Ama-sensei and Rei. She stares at them all as if they're insane before her mouth tilts into a fond smile. Only these people could be so carefree. Soon, she begins to laugh along too as they all stand there by the edge of the pool. Anyone that walks by might think they are crazy, but she doesn't find herself caring. She might as well enjoy any fun times she can with the knuckleheads she called her friends.

To be free.


Once again, thank you to Kitsura E. for editing this for me :) she made this a billion times better. Trust me, she did. And let's get this outta the way. I don't support any pairings involving Gou/Kou so there will be no definite pairings. I'm just throwing in a few romantic hints, but nothing for sure since even the anime isn't complete yet ;) Chapter 2 will be Gou with Makoto.

See ya next time and review please!

-Lefty/Deli/Blanca (or May Yuki)