Hello everyone, it's K.
I'm extremely happy to present to you, my very first work on this website!
This will be a fanfiction involving Free! Iwatobi Swim Club's very own Nanase Haruka!
This is also a fanfiction dedicated to S (DreamerType), in which the main "heroine" of the story
will be an embodiment of her. Yes, this story will feature an OC under her own choice name. Feel free to mentally replace that name with yours should you choose to as you read on haha! This will be written from Sila and Haruka's first/third person POV. I apologize if any characters are OOC throughout the story, as will I be changing a few details here and there.
* Anything in the story displayed in italics, are the characters thoughts and/or represent sounds from any type of physical interaction within the story.
Please read at your own discretion for this story will be rated M for mature attributes including;
language, and content. (NOTE: It will feature some explicit scenes in future chapters!)
DISCLAIMER: I do not own the series Free! Iwatobi Swim Club, it's characters, plot-line or any qualities involved the series such as; setting, and etc. All credit rightfully goes to Masahiro Yokotani. I only claim credit for the OC character, Sila Mallory and other names original to the story, but irrelevant to the actual anime.
Without further ado, enjoy! This is The Water, Him and I.
| Iwatobi Elementary School, 6th Grade |
"…nii-chan.."
"…ru-nii-chan.."
"HARU-NII-CHAN!"
His eyes flew open, everything blurry and groggy, but with much haste in adjusting to the light. He turned his vision upwards, not that it needed to go up too high regardless as he cupped his eyes from the bright rays of sunlight only to see Sila. She wasn't his sister by blood, but by a close family friendship. They had been together since around the time of birth. Although he was only a month ahead of her in age, they grew up together. From crib life, to their first steps, and even upon entrance into kindergarten.. You could always find them side by side.
"Ugh.. What is it Sila? And I told you to stop calling me that..." He frowned, throwing off another audible sigh out of irritation. He got up and rested his hand on top of Sila's head, rubbing it reassuringly whilst still in a light daze. "Haru-nii-chan, you fell asleep outside again.. You'll be late for swim!" she said, tugging on his arm roughly and looking up at him with those pleading brown eyes. Yawning and patting his mouth with his free hand, he kept his teary stare firm on her face. " Shouldn't you be getting home? I'm fi—", he cut himself off with wide eyes, pausing dead in his tracks, and soon ran full throttle towards the school's multipurpose building entrance with realization that he could not be, would not be late to a practice. There they had quite a number of miscellaneous rooms used for various afterschool clubs, including the gym and the school's very small, yet very efficient swimming pool. "There isn't a practice in the world Haru-nii-chan would miss.." Sila chuckled quietly to herself while watching Haru's back disappear into the building. She smiled a painful smile at the thought of returning home. She didn't want to. That was the last place on earth she would want to return to and there was only one reason for that, if that reason was even present at the time.. but she didn't have much of a choice. Her house was only a few blocks away, a short enough distance for her to be able to get to school and back just by walking. It was a very evenly proportioned house; graced with smooth, white cement under burgundy-stained roofs, about medium in overall size, with a sporty three car garage and balconies that extended out towards the front of the house, protruding from opposing sides. She stood in front of the doorbell, staring at it hesitantly before finally reaching out a finger to activate the contraption. DING DONG~ After a few minutes of waiting, the call was answered with a brief, "Yes? This is the Mallory residence". She looked into the camera and replied, "Mama? It's me Sila. Please open the gate!"
"Ah! Sila! One moment honey."
BRRRRRRRIIIINNNGGG~
The gate opened and Sila walked inside. "I'm home!", she shouted while closing the front door, slipping her feet out of her shoes and properly placing them below the step. Her mother entered to greet her. She was a beautiful middle-aged woman, with medium length dark brown hair and hazel brown eyes to compliment. Short, pale and petite.
"Welcome home baby! How was school?", her mother asked.
"Fine.", she replied.
"How was Haru today?", came yet another repetitive question slipping out of her mother's mouth while she took Sila into a warm embrace.
"The usual.", she responded while wrapping her arms around her mother's back gently in response. "I caught him sleeping under the cherry blossom tree on the side of M building, and he was nearly late to swim practice again. You should've been there to see his face Mama! His eyes got so big, I couldn't help but laugh to myself when he left. He looked like a galloping ho—". Sila was in the middle of answering, but was suddenly cut off by another voice. "What took you so long?" This one was lower, monotone and masculine, and she knew right away. "P-Papa is here..?", she stuttered in a hushed, shaky tone. Goosebumps formed on her skin, and tremors took control of every nerve in her body. She was scared. "Sila, get your ass over here. Don't you dare test my patience and make me wait.", he hollered. Sila fearfully glanced up at her mother's face, who bit her lip and returned a look of to just get going. She walked into the living room with her mother following, only to find a tall, slender, middle-aged man with jet black hair and tan skin sitting at the dining table. He was in the middle of holding and reading a newspaper with one hand, and detaching his lips from a cup of coffee sitting in the other. Sila's mother looked at him with disgust. "Mind your tongue Tatsuya.", she hissed. He stood up and slammed his newspaper down on the table, causing Sila to run to take cover behind her mother. Glaring at the two, he scowled in return,"Why don't you watch yours Katsumi? I asked for the girl, not your fucking habitual bickering so shut. Up." The sprouting tears became evident in Sila's eyes as she thought to herself, "Here they go again.. I hate papa, I really hate him."
Her parents were divorced, and Sila lived with her mother. However, every now and then Sila's father, Tatsuya, would come to visit. It's not like they had the will to refuse. Regardless of their ever so deepening hatred for each other, she feared him and he wanted to see the only child he bore with whom he held such strict expectation from. Even as a student in the top 5% of her class, he still looked at her like some sort of disappointment. In his eyes, that wasn't good enough, and Sila needed to try even harder with time. It was an everyday struggle to meet his merciless perfectionist ways and she hated every bit of the journey. Sila also wasn't allowed to go to her father's house by herself, nor did she want to out of any personal desire. He was cruel, vicious.. Seemingly obsessed with unleashing his malicious fury on them come every visit. Always patronizing Sila and his former wife. Mocking them, yelling at them, threatening them and notoriously getting into one conflict after another.. You name it. Whether the argument was over something trivial, or over something of significant concern, they were all the same nonetheless. Cussing, screaming, slamming. To the extent where things have been thrown and broken, and brutal physical contact was made. He was a force that shouldn't be reckoned with. This was not only out of advantage over one's own initial precautionary awareness, but also to render themselves safe of any "impending" harm.
"Sila, it's almost 4:00. Your mother should've told you that you were supposed to be home twenty minutes to 3. Where the fuck were you?", he started fiercely, throwing piercing charcoal black glares back and forth between the two.
"I don't have all goddamn day child, answer me."
The small, fragile girl planted her feet, hidden in fear behind her mother. She remained silent, tears trailing down her face one after the other.
"Sila.", he warned, stepping closer. "Answer me. Now."
Still, she remained quiet, unable to talk as her father reached his hand towards her only to be halted by her mother. "Tatsuya, do not put your hands on her.", Katsumi threatened. He sneered for a brief moment, and shoved her out of the way. BANG~ At this, Sila became enraged, raising her voice at him as the tears flowed from her eyes. "PAPA! STOP HURTING MAMA LIKE THAT!", she blared out, making an escape from her father's savage hands to her mother who had taken a painful seat to the floor from impact. Sila crouched down, and hugged the bawling woman tight. It wasn't a big deal, the whereabouts that caused her to get home almost an hour late. Sila was simply tired of answering to such a well.. asshole tone. Tired of being afraid but, such disciplinary views were no justification to Sila's rebellious behavior in his book. Retaliation was like one daunting step towards her demise, and she knew to stand her place whenever it came to Tatsuya's turbulent behavior. Tatsuya turned towards them, stating blatantly, "You are a disappointment, and your mother is no better a person." Insult after insult. "You are but a burdening insect in my life Sila. You will never live up to my expectations. I'm tired of coming all the way down here to a failure of a child. In fact, how could I possibly consider you my own blood when you can't even respect your father down to the simplest of requests." Disbelief and shock were written all over her mother's helpless face, and with words as repulsive as this, Sila stood up, her fists tightened into a ball. Her blood was boiling. She was only in the sixth grade and yet her father felt it necessary to degrade Sila in any and every way possible. "For goodness sake Tatsuya, she's only in the sixth grade! What more do you want from her?!", her mother blurted out. Even with her mother on her side, she still felt all the same. Alone. Hatred was tormenting her from every atom and particle that made up her entirety.
"I hate you... I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you."
These were thoughts that she could not keep to herself any longer. "I HATE YOU!", she screeched, her once feather-like voice bouncing off every nook and crevice in the house. She let her emotions get the best of her, and it took only a few seconds before she was outside the front gate. Running, crying, running and crying some more. Going where the wind took her, she ended up in a park far on the other side of the neighborhood. Wheezing, and gasping for air, Sila climbed the slide and hid in the circular play tunnel that connected the different parts of the playground together. "What am I doing..? I have no phone and it's getting dark…", she muttered weakly to herself as she hugged her knees into her chest. Burying her face into them, she continuously sobbed, whimpering only one word she knew best. One word she knew like the back of her hand. One word that was able to turn all her pain into happiness in a matter of seconds.
"Haru..", she thought.
" I want Haru-nii-chan…"
Hours passed by, but Sila remained balled up inside the tube. Night was creeping onto her, and by the time she had realized it, she peaked outside to be welcomed by nothing but darkness. Maybe the moon, stars and a few dimly lit streetlights lined up down the roads would provide a guide to getting her back home safely. Yet again, fear consumed her mind but this time it wasn't over her dad, but over the fact that she was alone in the dark. In the midst of this realization, she still was unwilling to actually return home. "Papa crossed the line..", she thought to herself. As she began to walk, Sila felt a small drop of moisture hit her cheek. She wiped it off. "Rain..?" She sighed and paced herself, walking a little faster than before. The rain however didn't stop, and the droplets began to pursue her with harder hits. "Ow.. Ow! Ouch..!", she complained as they fell onto her endlessly. She soon took refuge inside a 24 hour service convenience store called "Kazoku no Michi". It was a store located not by her elementary school, but further down by the high school which was still quite a considerable distance from home. Sila looked down, only to notice that she was completely drenched head to toe in water then looked back up to find the cashier walking her way.
"Hello little miss, how may I help you? Are you lost?", he asked.
Sila shook her head, and tears began to form in her eyes again. The cashier frowned and walked over to the candy aisle. He grabbed a package of reese's cups and walked back to her. Crouching down to meet her height, he handed her the candy. "Don't cry anymore little miss.. There there, take that. It's on the house, but don't tell my boss!", he joked, and laughed in her direction. Sila smiled and continuously wiped the tears from her eyes. "My my, what a beautiful smile you have there. Did you have a bad day?", he asked, offering his hand. Sila took it, nodded and was guided to a chair that was set up behind the cash register. She turned around, placed her hands on the seat and propped herself up to sit on it. The cashier went back to the candy aisle, and returned with a few more packages of reese's. He handed them to her and smiled again, "My name is Akihito, but please call me Aki-san for short. Is that all right?" The little girl looked up at him with her beaming café-colored eyes over the pile of chocolate she now cradled in her arms. "My name is Sila, Sila Mallory! Thank you for the candy Aki-san!", another radiant smile sent his way.
DING~
The automatic doors slid open and in walked another child. Removing his hood, folding his umbrella, and shaking it over the welcome mat to discard all the excess water that was built up on the clear plastic hood revealed it to be none other than Haru. When Sila looks over and realizes it's him, all the candy drops from her arms and in a matter of seconds, she's launched herself around him yelling his name. "HARU-NII-CHAN.. HARU-NII-CHAN! I knew you would come for me. I knew it!", she gleamed. After finally realizing who it was, Haru lets his guard down, and narrows his eyes. "Sila, you're being too loud. I'm going to go deaf.", he states, but Sila doesn't let go. Instead, he begins to feel pressured quivering, and faint sobs fill his ears. "I'm only here on an errand for my mom.", he states again. No matter how blunt he's being, Sila does nothing but tighten her hold. With this, Haru sighs and brings his hand up to her head lightly. "What happened..?", he finally asks in a murmur.
"Home.", she replies meekly.
Alright, that's it for chapter one you guys!
Thanks for taking the time to read it.
I apologize if Haru wasn't involved enough in this chapter, but that's only because I made this more of an introduction chapter to Sila rather than a fastpass opening to the actual story. I also apologize if it was a bit short in length, but please look forward to upcoming chapters! I promise you all that not only will they be longer, but a lot more Haru will come with it as well.
It is the summer which means I'll have a lot more time to write and update this story, and I'm pretty excited! I hope you all are to.
Oh, and don't forget to leave me a review do you wish to! Constructive criticism would be much appreciated. I know this is my first story and I have a lot to work on, but I want to make the effort to perfect it to the best it can possibly be.
Much love,
K.