Haruka hardly made a sound as he dived into the pool, his hands cutting the water's surface like a blade. The water felt cool, yet alive on Haruka's skin; he could faintly feel it sliding past him as he moved, and he was almost reminded of flight.
As his initial submerged dolphin kicks began to lose their power and he began to run out of air, Haruka brought up his arm, and finally his first real stroke brought him back to the surface.
Haruka was doing one of his favorite warm-up drills, one where he made no sound and didn't splash. Instead, he slid his arms in and out of the water to a constant, relaxing rhythm; his whole body rotating slightly with his arms, so it almost felt like a dance. With each powerful stoke, Haruka felt a small boost that his legs didn't give with their constant kicking, and these regular boosts felt like the bobbing of the ocean to him, even if he was in a still and silent pool.
As he brought his arm back, he brought his face up with it, sliding to the side to steal a breath before submerging in the water as his arm came over. Haruka liked to look into the water; to see the light dance under it's surface, to see his own shaky reflection float across the bottom of the pool, and to watch the different lines painted on the pool's floor rush past him, making him feel much faster than he was actually moving.
Haruka increased his speed, still not letting himself lose control of his clean, controlled strokes, but now the dance was faster, the bursts of speed the constant, the markings on the floor rushing by. His gentle calm began to be replaced by exhilaration, and even with his face submerged he felt himself smile. He made his last strokes long and powerful, the last just touching the edge of the wall without every extra kicks.
He pulled himself up from the wall, whipping his hair out of his face as he took a big breath that might as well have been a sigh. After his swim, he felt calm, happy, and alive.