Sorry this took so long to post! D: But I'm really happy so many people are liking it so far! :D
Disclaimer: I don't own Free!.
Akihiko was seated on one of the pool's starting blocks, the number 'one' labeled on its front. Beside her, standing, was Gou, holding up a piece of paper as she spoke with the members of Iwatobi's swim team, Lando seated on the third starting block.
Akihiko had her hands folded in her lap, looking up at the boys as if she were paying attention as their manager spoke, though her mind wandered to other things; her solo ensemble music; if Kairi was chewing up anything at home; I hope Kairi's not bothering Hime too much; then, finally, her thoughts drifted to Rin. She wondered if he'd be waiting for a walk when she returned home - she hoped not, for she wasn't ready to explain anything to Nagisa or her team yet, unsure if associating with a rival team was taboo, or if Rin wanted his old friends to even know.
She herself was still on the subject of Rin when Haruka blurred past her - the noirette jumping into the water against Gou's protests, droplets springing into the air and falling on Akihiko, obscuring her glasses with a few spots and dampening her green jacket, clean now so she'd no longer have to borrow her brother's as she had to do for Samezuka's joint practice.
"Could you listen to what I have to say first, Haruka-senpai?! Please, Haruka-senpai!"
Akihiko hesitated, watching the boy's graceful moves underwater from behind droplets, before turning back to the boys and removing her glasses, looking down at them as she vigorously moved her sleeve along them. She glanced back up when she heard Rei speaking, squinting slightly to make out the bluenette's shape, him being just a blob to her without her glasses.
"Aki, you okay?"
Pink eyes blinked, and she slid on her glasses before she turned to look at Lando, who had moved over to the second starting block.
"What? Yeah, I'm, um... Fine. Just thinking." she replied, though she looked up at the sky in favor of turning to Lando, the Sun glinting off a mark she'd missed on her glasses.
"You've been really quiet all day."
"I have? Sorry... I'll tell you later, alright?" There can't be any harm in telling her. Rin probably just... doesn't want Nagisa and everyone to know. Then they'd just want to question him, I guess...
Lando nodded at her friend, even though she had already looked away from her, eyes going back to Haruka, leaving Lando to watch the boys.
Akihiko had long ago abandoned her jacket, dropping it off in the changing room, in her brother's locker. She wore a gray cami, which was splattered with water from where Nagisa had once splashed her, her sweatpants rolled up with her feet in the pool, seated on the concrete above. From both sides of her, Makoto and Nagisa surfaced, her brother hugging at his sister's legs while Makoto climbed out beside her.
"I-it's so c-cold...!" shivered Nagisa against her leg, clutching at Akihiko's legs for dear life; she felt herself slipping, and was about to cry out when Makoto caught her underneath her shoulders, pulling her up to her feet on the side of the pool. She gave a hurried thanks, as well as a small smile, helping her brother out of the water when he called for a hand.
"Rei-chan, you're still stretching?!" he yelled over to the bluenette beside the fence; Akihiko hesitated, glancing over to him, watching as Makoto and Nagisa walked over to him. She felt slightly self-conscious for a moment, no Lando there at the moment to distract her, considering the girl had ran off to the bathroom, and, after a moment, she too approached them, though was still very choice about her hearing. It wasn't until Rei had mentioned something of embarrassing himself again that she looked up from Makoto's back, watching the boy step onto the starting block. She hesitated, stepping closer to her brother, watching the bluenette prepare to jump; His form is still really pretty.
She hesitated when she heard footsteps however, glancing away just as Rei jumped; she turned back at the splash, water droplets falling everywhere, and Lando gave a gasp, clutching her green jacket to her chest. They all stepped closer to the pool as Rei managed to break for air, Nagisa clasping his hands together behind his back.
"I think you need to start by learning how to swim!"
The day had not been a total failure - they had learned Rei had the ability to float, and Akihiko was reminded once again by watching Gou and Haruka talk out of the corner of her eye that she still had to ask someone why there was a sudden change in Rin's mood, too afraid to ask the shark-like boy herself. By the time she laid down in bed that night, hair still wet from her shower, leaning forward on her bed to plug in her phone to its charger, already having had her nightly hour-long talk with Lando on it, she was ready to pass out. She had practiced once she was home, skipping a walk with Kairi for that, and the black dog was currently curled up on her bed, in front of the window beside her mattress, Akihiko rolling around, curling against a stuffed dog, when there was a sound from outside her window.
She jumped at first at the sudden sound echoing throughout her once quiet room, and Kairi's head rose, a short bark leaving the dog. Akihiko reached a hand out, placing it atop the dog's head to calm her down, when the sound came again. This time Kairi jumped out, sniffing past the blinds and letting out one bark, then two, then three and four, until Akihiko had to lightly hit her upside her head so the dog wouldn't wake Nagisa.
"Calm down, Kairi, it's probably just the wind make a tree branch his the window..." she tried to comfort, though she jumped about three feet when the sound came again. Feeling for her glasses in the darkness, she knocked over a bottle of perfume before she grabbed them off her nightstand, fitting them on her face and she hesitantly pulled past blinds, prepared to meet Jeff the Killer on the branch of the tree outside her window. She blinked however when she saw nothing there, just leaves, and was prepared to settle back in bed with the thought of the if being a tree branch lodged in her mind when something hit the window once more, and she fell back in surprise, Kairi up and tail wagging. She sat up quickly, pushing aside the blinds again and glanced down at the yard; she blinked in surprise at the sight of Rin standing there, a hand wedged into the pocket of his jacket, while his other hand held another pebble, throwing it up to her window again and making her wince at the sound of the impact.
She unlocked her window, struggling to open it as Rin bent down to grab for another rock, his shape visible from the light on their back porch. "Rin!" she hissed, pushing Kairi back so the dog wouldn't jump from the two-story high window, "Rin, what are you doing here?! It's-" she glanced over her shoulder at her alarm clock, bright red numbers labeling it to be a little after eleven, "- eleven at night!"
The redhead hesitated at her, and stood up straight, shoving his other hand into his pocket, "Jesus, about time." he said simply, "Are you going to walk with me or not?"
She hesitated again, looking from the boy to her alarm clock, "... Rin, seriously, do you have any idea what time it is-"
"I'm waiting, Aki."
She blinked down at that commanding tone in shock, before giving a defeated sigh, muttering something she figured the boy couldn't hear about finding pants. She closed the window, making sure the blinds were blocking any view the boy had into her room before flicking on the light on her nightstand, crawling out of bed. She wore a black cami, though only had on underwear to cover her bottom half, unable to sleep with the feeling of clothe wound round her legs. She dug through a pile of clothes before deciding jeans were just too much of an effort at the moment, grabbing sweatpants that were labeled Iwatobi on the side of its left leg, pulling on mismatched socks before she slowly tiptoed downstairs - she past her brother's room, hearing the jingle of Hime's collar as the dog's head rose from Nagisa's bed, though after a quick, 'Shush!' from Akihiko, the old dog settled down, seeing it was just her owner. Kairi followed after the brunette, tail swaying from side-to-side, though she ordered the dog to stay inside once she got to to sliding glass doors leading to their backyard. Pushing aside the curtains to those, she carefully slid out of the doors after slipping on moccasins, her dog whining for a moment before Akihiko ordered her to lay down from the other side of the door.
She sighed, turning round, rubbing her arms self-consciously as she turned round, seeing Rin there, still waiting for her.
"Ready?" he asked, not waiting for an answer as he walked through the yard.
She hesitated, "Rin - how did you get in my backyard?" she asked, and the boy gave a shrug.
"I jumped your fence."
"Rin!"
"Calm down, sheesh. There's no other way back here besides going through your house, and I wasn't going to deal with Hime."
She sighed, rolling her eyes, "Well, come on, I'll take you back through the house so maybe then Kairi can at least meet you-"
Rin appeared to have no interest in meeting Kairi however, hauling himself over the fence once again before the girl was done talking. She panicked for a moment, opening the sliding door once again and pushing Kairi back, locking the glass doors behind her and hastily pulling the curtain back before walking to the front door, sliding around on her moccasins. She told Kairi to be good and quiet once more, and to keep watch on the house while she was gone, opening the door quickly and walking out. Rin stood there on the porch, beginning to walk down the steps once he saw she was there.
She gave a sigh, walking faster than him for a few paces before she caught up with him. "Is this going to be an everyday thing?" she said this as a joke, though when the boy nodded his head she hesitated, glancing over at him.
"What is it?" he asked once he noticed her eyes on him, and she sighed once more.
"Why so late?" she asked, and the boy shrugged.
"I feel like walking around this time." he responded with, and the girl nodded.
"... I most likely won't be able to do this once my mom comes back, Rin." she said, and he nodded, glancing over at her.
"I figured. Where is your mom?"
"She's still working over at the old hospital. She's staying at the old house now while they transfer everything over to the hospital in town. You know which one I'm talking about, right?" she asked, and Rin nodded - she noticed he however did not move to the subject of her father, and she was glad for that.
Rin gave a shrug as they continued on walking, a nonchalant remark, "I'm sure your mom wouldn't mind all that much if she knew you were walking with me, Aki. She did always like me the best."
Akihiko chuckled, rolling her eyes, "I know she did, though I'm not exactly sure why." she said, turning to look at the boy as they walked, "It's because you're both jerks."
It was Rin's turn to roll his eyes, "We weren't jerks, we were just really blunt." he said, and Akihiko laughed, causing the boy to turn to look at her, only to laugh as well.
"Aki - your hair..."
At that, the girl's laughter stopped, though Rin continued, little jerk-ish snickers. Akihiko's hands went up to her hair, then suddenly she swatted at Rin's shoulder, with a hiss of, "Don't talk about it!"
Rin gave an 'Ow!' at her swat, though it was more out of instinct then pain, and he rolled his eyes, though still chuckled, "Your hair most definitely was not like that when we were younger, or was it like that the last two times I've seen you, I would remember if it looked like that."
She attempted to pat down wild, wavy hair, that poofed up without being tamed down by a straightener. "It didn't get like this until eighth grade!" she cried, before swatting at his shoulder again, "It's called straightening, stupid!"
Rin however kept laughing, doing no good to soothe the girl, who continued running her hand along her hair as if that would calm down the lion's mane.
Once again, I'm sorry this took so long; I was just trying to finish up the last few chapters of my Sekaiichi Hatsukoi fic!
I'm really happy so many people like this, but, in all honesty, I don't understand. I guess I should just be happy, oh well~!
Yuki-chi-chan: Aww, thanks! :3
.Kittys: I'm glad you like Lando! :D And I tried to make Rin not all douchebaggy~ :3
Lord Nebula: Ah, thanks! :D I look forward to writing it! :3
Hope everybody likes the new chapter! :D How about some reviews?! :3