Okay, so I literally watched both Free! seasons in less than 48 hours. The story and animation and everything about it was so great (MUSCLES YES GOU I AGREE) that I just had to make an OC...or two. Actually I had a dream about Natsume and Takumi last night, that's how I came up with them. Anyway, I hope you enjoy! ^_^

"Oi." I shake my younger brother for what feels like the thousandth time, gripping his shoulder and wrenching it back and forth. Jeez, he sleeps like a rock. I yank the blanket down from his face, then proceed to yell in it. "Oi, Takumi! Get up!"

"Nee-chan..." He mumbles groggily, eyes still closed, trying to tug the blanket back up. Sadly for him, I have such a tight grip on the blue cloth that it doesn't budge a centimeter. No way. I finally got him to respond. I refuse to let this idiot drift back off so easily. "Just five more minutes..."

I scoff. In his dreams. He's already said that four times. A loud snore weasels its way out of him. "That's it, you lazy bum!" I yank his blanket completely off, and I don't stop pulling until it's laying in the middle of the carpet on the other side of the room. "We're going to be late to school! It's the first day!"

He shoots up out of his bed with wild eyes, and equally wild bed head. His feet are on the ground less than a second later. Why can't he always be this motivated? "Why didn't you say that earlier?!"

"I did!" I exclaim, watching him race around his messy room to try to find his uniform. "But you were too busy dreaming to actually listen."

"You should have tried harder!" He whines, pulling his penguin-covered sleep shirt over his head. He tosses the smelly article at my face. "Get out, Neechan! I have to change!"

"It's not like I didn't change your diapers when you were little." I throw the shirt back at him, he barely catches it he's so flustered. I roll my eyes as I slide his room door shut. His embarrassed reply is muffled by the door. "Breakfast is on the table!"

Back in my room I flick my iPod speakers on before I take one last look in the mirror to make sure I look human enough, and not like a zombie, which is how I feel. I got zero sleep last night. I was too anxious for today I guess, possibly still jet lagged. My brother and I just got back from America two days ago, where we had been living since we were six and four. Our parents want us to 'get back in touch' with our culture, but I know they just want to get rid of us. They don't have time for us, too busy with other things like the company and fancy dinners with equally fancy people for their children. They just shove a mountain of money at us and let us do what we want. I could go missing and they'd never notice.

I run a hand through my loosely curled, and surprisingly thick hair. I call it the mane. It's parted in the middle, framing my face, and tumbling down my back. It is quite strange in coloring too, light purple at the roots, and gradually fading to a darker purple color as it reaches the tips. My eyes on the other hand are just big and bright blue. I have a lot of piercings, three lobe in each ear, industrial and one cartilage in my right, tragus and three cartilage in my left, along with a belly ring, and a nose ring. I have a a tattoo on my left wrist too. It's just the Roman numeral two, nothing fancy, but it means a lot to me. I started with the piercings and stuff initially to get my parents attention, but they didn't notice, and I actually took a liking to the whole look. It distracts people from the fact that my parents are billionaires, makes me feel almost normal.

Since it's technically spring, I have to wear the second year Iwatobi girl's summer uniform, which consists of a short-sleeved white shirt with a dark gray collar tucked into a short high-waisted black skirt, a green polka-dotted bow tie around my neck, white thigh high socks and my dark green high top converse. I pull my mane up into a high ponytail because it's going to be hot today, making sure I slick all the fly-aways back.

There's movement in the hallway, and I exit my room only to nearly be knocked on my ass by my baby brother.

"Ah! Sorry, Nee-chan!" He smiles apologetically at me.

"Nah, it's fine." I eye him up and down, taking in his rumpled appearance. The summer uniform for first year boys consist of gray trousers, a white shirt with a dark gray collar, a blue polka-dotted tie, and his black sneakers. His shirt and pants are still wrinkled. I scrunch my nose. He really did rush.

I've been told Takumi and I look a lot alike, and I know that's not surprising considering we're brother and sister, but you'd be surprised just how different some siblings look. We have the same big blue eyes (Mom liked to joke that our eyes were the color of sapphires because she only wore sapphires while she was pregnant with us. I never found that funny), facial features, creamy skin tone, and loose curls. Our hair shades are different though, his being just dark purple, like plums, same as the ends of my hair. His hair is parted on the right, and his bangs fall slightly into his left eye. He has his ears pieced like me, but only once with a small black stud in each ear. Takumi is also taller than me, which isn't surprising considering my 5'0". I blame it on Grandma and Great Aunt Miyu for only being 4'10" and 4'9". Takumi got the short gene too, albeit not as bad as me at 5'5". "It didn't take you very long to get ready."

He gives me a 'no duh' look. "You said breakfast was on the table, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I did." A chuckle escapes my mouth. Takumi is such a glutton, an insatiable glutton. You throw food into the mix and he's in. "Let's hurry before it all gets cold. I worked hard on it, ya know."

Timeskip

"Hey, Neechan, are you nervous for today?" Takumi asks, fiddling with the strap of his backpack. We're on the way to the bus stop, which is only three blocks from our house.

"A little." I admit. "We've never been new students before. We've known the same kids our whole lives, but now we're forced to meet totally different people, and in a totally different country... I don't know what to think about it."

Takumi's eyes shift towards his feet, and I want to punch myself. I probably shouldn't have said that to him. It is his first year of high school, and to be starting it somewhere as different as this... It cannot be easy. "But I'm sure you'll be fine. You're friendly and people like you, it's me they don't."

"That's not true at all!" He exclaims. "All your teammates back home loved you!" He's referring to the fact that I was the captain of my schools track and field team. It wasn't a big deal, I mostly just helped them out with technique and improving times, ran a few races here, dished out a little inspirational speech there, but that was totally different from this. With sports, everyone can relate on a certain level because sports and competition are what humans evolved for, it is a language that everyone speaks no matter how old, smart, shy, or wealthy. Healthy competition brings people together in a way nothing else can.

School is a whole different story.

"That's true." Takumi is still looking at me expectantly, like I'm supposed to say something inspirational, so I decide to change the subject. "I was looking up places for you to swim last night," His eyes immediately brighten. Takumi wants to swim in the Olympics, be the next Michael Phelps, and I'm going to make sure he gets there. "I found a good place a few blocks from home, a gym. We can check it out after school."

"Okay!"

"And we're starting up your conditioning again tomorrow." I add in. "I only gave you the day off because of school."

"For you to drop something like that on me after telling me about a place where I can swim..." He gives me a dirty look. "It was cruel."

I blink a few times, trying to make sense of the schedule that the elderly lady in the office just handed me. I guess she was having a bad day because she just shoved the paper at me and told me to go. She did the same thing to Takumi. "So this means my homeroom is room 2-1?"

Takumi frowns, looking over my shoulder at the paper in my hand. "I, uh, I guess?"

"Jeez." I run my hand through my hair. Don't new students usually get a tour guide or something? "This is what we get for not starting school on time like everyone else. We should have made Father send us last month."

"That probably would have been a good idea." Takumi furrows his eyebrows as he looks down at his own schedule. "I think I'm in room 1-2." He looks up at me hopefully, like we're back in elementary school and it's his first day of kindergarten. "Will you walk me?"

"How old are you again?" I tease, pinching the cheek of his that is closest to me, which would be the left.

"I'm fifteen!" He exclaims, batting my hand away. His face is getting red. "But that has nothing to do with it! I just don't want to get lost!"

I raise an eyebrow, barely containing my laughter. "How am I supposed to help you when I can even help myself?"

"Fine!" He pouts, taking off down the hall in a storm. "Just don't be surprised if I go missing!"

I shake my head, finally unable to hold the laughter back any longer. My eyes slide to the paper on the wall, and I extend my arm in the opposite direction he's walking in. "First year rooms are that way."

"How do you know?" He barks. He doesn't even pause to look back at me.

I gesture to the paper. "There's a sign. "

Takumi huffs as he walks past me, now heading in the right direction.

I snicker as I run to catch up with him. "Don't be mad at me! You're the one who ran off."

"You're the one who started it!"

That's true.

Timeskip

The halls are moving.

I swear the halls are moving.

Every time I go left it's like I'm going right, and every time I go right it's like I'm going left. I don't understand it at all. I managed to get Takumi to his class on time, how I don't think I'll ever know, but that was on the whole other side of the school and now I'm completely lost, not to mention officially school starts in a few minutes.

I'm going to strangle Takumi...if I make it out alive.

Maybe I'll be the one who goes missing.

I groan loudly, stopping my footsteps just before I run straight into yet another door that probably only has disappointment and pain hidden behind it. I look up, and I swear I nearly shoot through the room from the relief I'm feeling. Room 2-1...finally!

I am about to slide it open, when the door opens by itself. I take a startled step backwards. There is a pretty brown-haired woman standing there. She's dressed like a teacher, but on the other hand she also looks to young to be one. "You must be the new student, right?"

Yup, she's a teacher. She just gave me the teacher smile. "Yeah, that's me."

"Welcome, I'm Ms. Amakata." She gives me a friendly smile, then turns back towards the classroom. "Class, we have a new student." Amakata-sensei begins to write my name on the chalkboard. She gestures for me to come in with her head when she's about halfway done. I take a deep breath, readying myself before entering the room. I have no clue what to expect. They don't usually do this in America, you just sit down and hope that people notice you, or not, so hopefully my classmates aren't as vicious and blood thirsty as the ones I had back home...but that might be because I went to a private all girls boarding school. I stand next to the teacher's desk in the front of the room. "Go ahead and introduce yourself." Amakata-sensei insists.

I do a quick scan of the kids in the room before I speak. None of them look too deadly. "I'm Natsume Igarashi. I just transferred here from America after living there for eleven years."

"Really? You're Japanese is so good!" Amakata-sensei gushes. "Oh!" She covers her mouth with her hand. "Sorry for interrupting!"

"No, it's fine." I shake my head, actually thankful that she interrupted because I had no clue what to say next. "And thank you, Amakata-sensei. My parents are Japanese, so we speak it all the time at home."

"Oh, you're bilingual!" She claps her hands in excitement. "How unique!"

I speak Spanish too, so actually I'm trilingual, but I just roll with it. I get the feeling she can be pretty scary when she wants to. No teacher is this nice.

"Well, Igarashi-san, do you play any sports?" Sensei asks.

"Yeah," I nod my head. "I run track competitively, and my little brother who's a first year here, he's a competitive swimmer."

That seems to catch her attention, making her eyes widen. There are two other boys in the class that have the same reaction as her, a brown-haired one with green eyes, and a dark-haired one with blue eyes.

Is Takumi swimming really that interesting to these people?

The bell rings, and class is finally dismissed for lunch. My phone vibrates only seconds after I make it into the hallway.

Takumi: Hey, Nee-chan, let's eat on the roof! I'll meet you there in a 5! Gotta seal the deal with a hot chick first! ;)

Take your time. I send back. Hopefully he can feel my sarcasm. I flip my phone closed and shove it back into my shoulder bag, then continue down the halls. Now at least there's other people walking around, so I'll just ask if I get lost.

"Hey! Igarashi-san! Wait up!" What the? I look over my shoulder, only to see the two boys that were staring at me earlier running down the hall after me. What's with them? The taller boy is panting when he gets to me, hands on his knees. "It is Igarashi-san, right?"

"Natsume is fine."

The taller boy straightens up. He smiles at me, and it's a really nice smile. "I'm Makoto Tachibana, but just call me Makoto, and that's Haruka Nanase."

"Nice to meet you, Makoto-san, Nanase-san. Now, what is it you guys want?"

"You said your brother was a swimmer." Nanase says, like that explains everything.

"Yeah, he is." I eye him in confusion. "He's a really good swimmer, but what's that got to do with anything?"

Makoto and Nanase exchange similar anticipating looks. "He should join the swim team!"

I roll my eyes. "Ha ha, very funny." I turn away and continue wandering down the hall. "Iwatobi doesn't have a swim team, it was a nice try though." I should have guessed someone would try to mess with me. I use to do it to underclassmen in America. I told them things like our school had a hot tub on the roof, and a bowling alley in the basement.

"No really!" Makoto exclaims. Once again they run to catch up with me, but this time I don't stop. "It's a new club we started in the first week of school. We only recently finished fixing up the pool."

"Even if there is a swim club now, why should I tell him to join?" I ask, whirling around to face them. "Do you guys have any titles, or awards? Are you even recognized for anything?" Their silence answers my questions. I cross my arms. "Exactly. My brother has big dreams, Olympic dreams, and it's my job as his older sister to make sure he achieves them. He doesn't have time to waste on a high school swim team, especially one that just got started, okay?. Don't get me wrong, you guys seem nice and all, but I'm sorry. It's not happening."

I turn on my heel, leaving then standing there.

"Just one time." Nanase demands, and despite my determination, something about his tone makes me hesitate. "He doesn't have to join, but just come to practice one time."

I ready to tell them off, but the determined looks on their faces stop me. They won't be taking no for an answer. "Fine," I mutter. "just one practice."

"Great!" Makoto exclaims. "It's today right after school! See you there, Natsu-chan!"

I watch the two of them retreat back down the hall in dread. Come on, how bad can it be? It's a free practice in a free pool with other swimmers. It'll be fine... right?

I make my way to the stair case that leads to the roof, about half way up my eyebrows furrow. Wait, did he just...?

Did he call me Natsu-chan?

Well, what did you think? (o~o)

Please review and let me know! Thanks for reading! ^_^