Free! doesn't belong to me. Neither does High Speed!
Gou and the sea
.
Gou couldn't swim.
Rin had never really given it much thought. His sister had never been able to swim, and never once had she expressed the desire to learn. As he grew older, the days spent at the beach with his family blended and morphed into a blurry continuum where Rin would race Sousuke until they were exhausted under his mother's concerned, somewhat tired gaze and swim back to the shore to find Gou standing still, waves caressing her waist until she got cold and ran back to wrap herself up in her towel.
It was the most striking memory Rin had, when he thought about Gou and the sea. A little girl shivering, curled up under an umbrella, only her face visible under the pink fabric.
It wasn't like Rin hadn't tried to teach her to swim, when they were children. When he told her to come into the water, Gou would usually stick her tongue out and declare that she was too mature to spend her time playing around in the sea; Rin would say she was just scared because she couldn't swim and drag her into the water, and Gou would resist and told her brother to leave her alone.
And they ended up yelling and pulling at each other's hair and their mother would come between them; she always told a weepy Gou to go back to her towel and scolded Rin.
She never once reprimanded Gou, but she explained to Rin, when he stopped claiming his sister's crying was but crocodile tears, that forcing Gou to learn when she didn't want to swim wasn't right. Rin didn't quite understand back then, but he would walk to his sister anyway, would sit by her side and ask again, softly, whether she wanted to swim, promising he would take care of her in the water.
Gou always shook her head, wiped away her tears and said she would rather make a sand castle.
Rin always complied.
.
Rin wasn't surprised when Gou sat down on her towel, legs crossed and red hair tied in a long, thick braid thrown over her shoulder.
He narrowed his eyes at his sister's classmates when they pulled at her hand, with the obvious intention of getting her into the sea. Gou quickly shook her head, though, and it seemed to be enough.
"She can't swim yet?" Sousuke's deep voice startled Rin.
"I doubt she can even float."
Deciding Gou would be alright on her own, Rin looked around. Haruka was already wearing only his swimsuit, a trail of clothes behind him as he headed towards the water, the only look back dedicated to Makoto, who waved his hand and gave a reassuring smile.
Rin found himself following Haruka, throwing his clothes away as he ran. He grabbed Haruka's shoulders from behind when they were knee-deep, pointed at the furthest buoy with a grin.
"Race you there."
The beach day had been, apparently, Rei's idea. Even though they still had time until Haruka and Makoto graduated, the second year students were worried and wanted to make sure they would have new members to join. Therefore they had invited potential members to spend the day with them. Since it was a good opportunity to enjoy some time with his friends, Rin had invited himself, as well as some teammates; Sousuke had even taken Kisumi with him.
After swimming from buoy to buoy several times, Rin was exhausted, and so was Haruka. They held onto a yellow buoy, competitiveness slowly dissolving with every kiss, caresses more thrilling than any race.
Rin would have lost himself to it had a high-pitched shriek not reached his ears.
Startled, he pulled back, swallowing water. As Haruka grabbed his arm and pulled him close on instinct, Rin looked at the shore, coughing; there seemed to be a commotion at the water's edge, where several people crowded together. He wouldn't have given it a second thought, but he knew who had screamed.
"Let's go," he ordered, already starting to swim to the shore.
He sensed Haruka's presence right beside him until they got out of the water.
By then people had dispersed; as he walked towards his sister Rin overheard fragments of apologies, someone exclaiming but it was a joke! and Nagisa's oddly furious reply.
Rin had an odd feeling of déjà vu when he spotted Gou, cuddled up under her towel, coughs still cutting off her quiet sobs. She looked as tiny as she was in his memories, and there was something immensely wrong with it. Sousuke and Kisumi were sitting by her side, looking as helpless as Rin felt as he plopped down on the other side.
"What happened?"
Gou held her breath for two full seconds, then shuddered and let out another sob.
"Apparently her classmates dragged her into the sea and didn't believe her when she said she can't swim," Sousuke explained when it was clear Gou wouldn't, "and pulled her under the surface."
Rin rubbed his hand up and down Gou's back, glaring at the Iwatobi students. His anger was half-hearted, though, and he knew it. He couldn't help but remember the times he had tried to get his sister to swim. Guilt pooled in his stomach, dark and viscous and reminding him he had also upset Gou out of his own selfish reasons.
His gaze met Haruka's for a second; he was still standing before them, seemingly worried as droplets of water ran down his body. Rin shrugged, got another shrug and watched as Haruka turned around and walked away, as if saying good luck with this.
Kisumi got the hint too, apparently; he grabbed Sousuke's wrist and took him to the water.
For some seconds afterwards, Rin stayed silent.
"I'm sorry," he muttered eventually. He had given up trying to comfort his sister physically; he pulled up his knees and hugged his legs, staring at the sea instead of Gou.
Gou snorted.
"What for?" She stopped to sniff. "You did nothing."
"Not this time." Rin looked down. "I– I had never really thought being in the water when you can't swim must be scary." A part of him felt stupid for apologising for things he had done before turning ten, but Rin knew he had to do it.
"It is," Gou replied quietly. "You didn't think about it because you swim so well. But it is."
The rolling waves swallowed the voices of friends and classmates. For a minute, neither Rin nor Gou said anything. Rin shivered when the cool sea breeze blew on his wet skin. It gave him the courage to ask something he had been wondering for a long time.
"Does it have to do with Dad?"
He turned his head just in time to catch Gou's glassy eyes fixed on him, widening in surprise. It lasted only a moment, though; soon the both of them were staring at the ocean again.
"Probably," Gou answered. She sniffed again; and when she resumed talking, her voice sounded a bit more confident. "I've always refused to swim," she started, "but I don't have any reason… I'm just not interested." She sighed softly. "I once asked Mum, because she loves telling that story of when you learnt to swim with Dad and that friend of his.
"She said I was too little to swim when Dad died, but I was jealous because he had already taught you." There was a sad smile in her voice. "Apparently I threw a tantrum when he died, because he had promised me he would teach me too."
Rin huffed softly. He knew he had thrown a fit too at that time. Both he and Gou had too much temper.
"I… I don't remember Dad at all," Gou added, "but… there's that."
She had stopped crying somewhere during her explanation, even though her voice had grown quieter as she spoke.
Rin was at a loss for words. He spotted Makoto floating not too far from the shore, probably telling Haruka, who floated next to him, about the incident with Gou.
"Hey, Gou." He looked at his sister, relieved when he noticed she didn't look as upset as before. "You're not scared of the sea, right?"
"No." Gou sounded almost offended by the suggestion.
Rin bit down on his lower lip.
"Then… Would you let me teach you?"
Gou raised her eyebrows. "You're not Dad."
"I'm not trying to." Not anymore. "But who would teach you better than your brother?"
A smile made its way to Gou's lips. Happy, calm and –it made Rin feel a trace of a guilt he thought he had gotten rid of months ago– relieved.
"At least you're asking before dragging me into the water…" she mumbled.
"Is that a yes?"
Gou leant her head on Rin's shoulder, prompting him to sneak an arm around her waist. It had been a while since the last time Rin hugged his sister.
"But not today," she muttered. "Better without classmates who might laugh at me."
"I could punch whoever does that," Rin suggested.
His sister elbowed him in the ribs. "I could too, but it would distract me."
Rin laughed, pulled her closer and placed a kiss on her still wet hair.
"Then tomorrow is it?"
Gou nodded.
They sat together for a while longer, cradled by the sea breeze and the crashing waves.
Author's notes: I'll be forever salty about KyoAni not giving Gou any development.
You know, feedback is welcome ;)