The Twelfth Lane

A/N: Thank you for those of you who took the time to send me comments about my updates! I'm honestly writing the story mostly for myself, so having a few notes of encouragement is just the cherry on top of it all :)

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Chapter Eleven

Gou stood by the gates of the school anxiously bouncing on the balls of her feet. Rin had texted her when he landed in Japan to let her know his schedule. He was going to visit Samezuka at 10 then, when he was done, he'd give her a call so they could meet up for dinner or something. She hadn't responded—what would she even say? It didn't seem right for her to explain everything over the phone—he would hunt her down for more answers, she was sure. And she couldn't just ignore him and act like nothing was happening. Too many people knew her name and would immediately recognize Rin as her sibling. The truth was bound to get out. It was best if she just tackled the problem head on. By jumping him the moment he arrived before anyone else could talk to him.

She waited outside the gates for fifteen minutes before a familiar pop of red hair separated from the exiting crowd of train goers. He was dressed in an old summer school uniform, probably to give the school a good first impression, with his hands in his pockets and headphones looped over his head. She hadn't seen her brother in over a year, but aside from being a little tanner and a little taller, he looked exactly the way she remembered him. A flood of familial love washed over her and she lifted her hand.

"Rin!"

He didn't look up. She called his name again. Still, he continued forward casually. She frowned and marched toward him.

"Onii-chan!"

Rin startled back, glaring, before recognition kicked in. He slowly pulled off his headphones in disbelief.

"What the fuck-? Gou?" She nodded. He stared wide-eyed as he looked at her. "What the hell are you—what are you doing here? What are you wearing?" His expression grew dark and he leaned in closer. "Are you in trouble? Is someone after you?"

"What the—no!" Gou stuttered. "Why would someone be after me?"

"Why else would you change your look so dramatically?" He responded, looking around suspiciously. "Is it the Yakuza?"

"The Yakuza?" Gou glared at her brother. "What are you even talking about? I'm not in trouble with anybody! I'm just dressed like a boy!"

"A boy-?" Rin paused and fully looked at Gou, taking in her baggy t-shirt, basketball shorts and short hair. "Wait… Why are you at Samezuka?"

Gou sighed in relief that he finally caught on. But, before she could begin her long-winded explanation, she heard her name called somewhere behind her. Panic flew to her throat like bile and she whipped around to see Ryuu with Takeshi, waving at her as they finished their morning jog. She turned back on Rin and gave him a pleading look.

"Look, everyone here thinks I'm a boy," she hissed. "I promise I'll explain why later. Just please, please, play along!" Rin frowned, but said nothing as her friends came closer. Gou spun around and forced a smile on her face, hoping she didn't look too nervous. "Hey guys—what are you doing out here?"

"Obviously warming up for practice today." Ryuu stood with his hands on his waist as he caught his breath and looked between the two of them. "Who's this?"

"This is my older brother, Rin." Gou gave her brother a wide, fake smile and pleaded with her eyes again for him to play along. "He's currently studying abroad in Australia and planning on transferring to Samezuka later this year."

"Oh, so this is the mysterious brother," Ryuu said, nodding in recognition. "Gotta say. You guys really do look a lot alike. Except, y'know, he looks like a man and you look like a twig. How exactly did you end up with the manlier name, again?"

"Our parents have a bad sense of humor, I guess…" Gou gave a half-laugh, nervously glancing at her brother. She might have been quick to the draw to correct people about her manly name, but Rin was more prone to clocking someone in the jaw for even remotely suggesting that his name was girly. Already, she could see his annoyance beginning to show.

"Clearly," Ryuu laughed. "I guess you just got the short end of the stick, yet again, Matsuoka!" He snatched her around the neck and drove his knuckles into her skull. She fought against him for a moment before she was unceremoniously ripped away. She breathed shortly in confusion as Rin gripped her shoulder and glared at Ryuu.

"Don't touch him like that."

An unintentional smile lifted at Gou's lips at Rin's defense. She knew he'd come around, but it was nice to know he had her back again. Man, she had really missed him. But, familial love or not, he was being an overprotective jerk. She jerked an elbow into his gut and gave him a disappointed look as he looked at her questioningly, rubbing his ribs.

"Be nice," she hissed. "He's a friend."

Rin rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

Gou gave him one last glare before turning back to her friends and smiling hesitantly. "Sorry. He doesn't know how to act like a normal human."

Rin gave Ryuu a toothy smile, exposing his sharp teeth, and the other boy took a step back. "Right, well, I just wanted to let you know that they moved practice up an hour today. Something about giving the seniors a chance to relax tonight before their tests Monday."

"Okay, thanks for the update," Gou said.

Ryuu nodded, hesitantly eyeing Rin as he backed away. Takeshi said nothing as he gave her a long look and followed. From a distance, Gou could hear Ryuu mutter under his breath about a "brother complex" before they disappeared into campus. Gou sighed and looked at Rin again. He stared at her expectantly.

"Practice?"

She sighed again as the bell tower on campus tolled the top of the hour. "C'mon. Let me show you to the office. I'll explain along the way."

After a short walk and a longer whirlwind of convoluted explanations, Gou stood outside the front office nervously looking at her brother. He had his fingers pinched on the bridge of his nose as he struggled to catch up.

"So, let me get this straight," he said. "Your swim team was cut at Iwatobi and the best thing you could think of was to cross-dress, sneak onto a rival team and then reveal what you did after you beat your old school in a relay at the end of the summer?"

Gou gave him a sheepish smile. "That about sums it up."

Rin ran a frustrated hand through his hair as he took a deep breath. "Gou… You are really dumb."

The doors beside them burst open as a pair of giggling girls exited the office. They quieted a little when they saw the two of them standing there. They gave a shy wave toward Gou while keeping their eyes on Rin. Gou awkwardly waved back before they ran off and gave a heavy, stressed out sigh. How many interruptions were going to happen right as she was talking about her most secret secret?

"Look," Gou hissed lowly at her brother. "The principal wasn't going to let me join the boy's team. What else was I supposed to do?"

"Get over it like any normal person would do?" Rin responded.

Gou threw her hands in the air in frustration. "Well that ship has already sailed."

Rin sighed and looked out at campus as he thought. The sun had already risen partway through the sky and the heat of the summer afternoon was starting to crawl up from the concrete. Sweat beaded along Gou's brow as somewhere in the distance, a cicada sounded off and the wind tossed the tops of the trees. Eventually, Rin's expression twisted and he gave a louder sigh.

"Are you safe?"

"Yes," she responded quickly.

"And nobody's found out?"

She hesitated a moment. "I mean, one person has. But he's the captain! And he's supportive. So it's okay."

Rin gave a strained sound. "The captain knows? And he didn't kick you off the team?"

Gou puffed her chest and raised her shoulders. "It's kinda hard to kick the record holder of the fastest butterfly off the team."

Rin stared at her. "Record holder."

She nodded.

"Of the butterfly."

She nodded again.

"How fast?"

"Fifty-seven seconds," she responded. "And I even beat the previous record holder when I got the time."

There was a beat of silence as Gou studied her brother's face. She hoped that appealing to his competitive nature would be enough to get him on her side. And sure enough, a proud grin slowly lifted at his lips and reached out to ruffle her hair.

"That'a girl."

A burst of pride exploded in her chest at her brother's compliment. She might have been risking everything by sneaking into Samezuka as a boy but the praise alone was enough to justify every decision she had made. She half-heartedly pushed his hand away from her head and smiled at him. He dropped his hand and leveled a stern look at her.

"Don't get me wrong. I still think you're being really stupid. But I gotta admit, that's pretty cool."

Her grin brightened. "Just don't come break my record right away when you get here at the end of the summer. I gotta have some time to enjoy it before you smash it to pieces."

"I dunno, Gou," Rin laughed. "A time like that is a little too tempting not to challenge." He walked past her to the doors of the office. "I'll text you when I'm done with this. I have to see this run in person."

Gou waved at him. "Okay, see you then."

Rin gave a small wave in return before disappearing behind the doors. In his wake, Gou groaned. While she loved seeing him again, getting him on her side was frustratingly annoying. Why did he have to be such a pain? It was one thing to hide herself, but another to curb Rin's suspicious looks and pointed glares. She almost wished Rin didn't care so much about her. It would have been easier to hide, that's for sure.

But Rin was Rin, and subtilty was never something he was really good at. Probably a side effect of being a bipedal shark person with bright red hair. She knew that he wasn't likely to stay on the sidelines at swim practice that afternoon, no matter how interested he was in seeing Gou swim her record. And with how overprotective he was? Gou could only hope that she got through the day alive. Or, more likely, her teammates made it through the day alive.

Two hours and a quick lunch later, Rin followed her to the indoor pool as she casually pointed out the buildings to him. In her time away from him, she quickly ran back to her dorm to slip into her swimsuit so that he wasn't left on campus by himself. Not that she didn't trust him. She was just afraid that somebody would recognize their similarities and let something slip to him that she didn't want to say. After all, she might have been acting like a boy, but there were still secrets she wanted to keep for herself.

Namely, her growing attraction for her captain. It was already bad enough that Rin knew that Seijuurou was aware that she was a girl. She didn't need him figuring out that they shared a dorm room and she had a giant crush on him. That was like signing Seijuurou's name to death row. Poor guy didn't even know what kind of danger he was in. With that in mind, she decided it was best to just avoid him. Rin wasn't there for many more hours. It couldn't be that hard to stay away from Seijuurou, could it?

"Gou-kun!"

Instantly her heart was in her throat. Apparently it was. Just the sound of Seijuurou's voice was enough for her cheeks to go red and her heart to flutter. She quickly spun on her heel before her brother could notice and gave Seijuurou a tense smile.

"Captain!"

Seijuurou raised an eyebrow at the awkward formality that burst from her lips and slowed to an uncertain stop before them. He looked between the two of them. "What's going on?"

"Nothing!" she said quickly. "I'm just showing my brother around campus."

"Brother, huh?" Seijuurou said. He stood a little taller and held a hand out toward Rin with a friendly smile. "I'm Seijuurou Mikoshiba. Swim captain and Gou's roommate. But I'm sure she already told you that."

Rin's expression grew tight as all of Gou's secrets unabashedly slipped from Seijuurou's lips. Gou groaned internally, wishing she could just throw herself off the bell tower. Could her day get any worse? Rin eyed her pointedly. She avoided the daggers being sent her way.

"No, she failed to mention that," he said sharply.

"Oh."

Seijuurou looked at her again, confused. Embarrassment flooded over her cheeks. The last thing she wanted Seijuurou to think was that she didn't want to tell her brother about him because she was embarrassed about him or something. She just didn't want Rin to know about her crush on him. Nor did she want Seijuurou to know either. She had to remedy this. Fast.

"Oh yeah!" she interjected. "Seijuurou-kun, Rin wants to join the swim team when he transfers to Samezuka next month. I'm sure he'd be a great asset to the team. He swims even better than I do!"

Seijuurou's eyes lit up with interest as Rin narrowed his eyes on her, repeating her casual use of Seijuurou's name under his breath.

"Yeah?" the taller red head asked, looking fully at Rin. He stood a little taller with his hands on his hips as he gave her brother a once-over. Rin squared up to his scrutiny, meeting the other boy's eyes straight on. "You really must be something if she's saying that you're better than her."

"Yeah, well, I taught her everything she knows," Rin responded.

Seijuurou let an edge of his lip lift up. "Not everything."

Gou could practically see sparks igniting between them. She quickly inserted herself between them, pushing them both away by the chest. "Okay, okay! That's enough of that. We better get going before we're late for practice. Right, captain?"

She gave Seijuurou a pointed look and he returned the look with a smile.

"Yeah, Gou-kun's right. We better get going," he agreed. "After all, how else are we going to prove that you can swim well?"

Rin's face burst into a toothy grin. "Lend me a suit and you're on."

"What? No!" Gou exclaimed as both boys headed for the pool, leaving her behind. She groaned loud and dramatically dragged her hands over her face. What the heck was even happening?

By the time Gou managed to get to the pool, a crowd had already begun to form by the locker room doors. Rin exited a moment later dressed in a Samezuka standard knee-length suit and a pair of borrowed goggles around his neck. Gou looked on in horror as Seijuurou matched her brother's pace to the edge of the pool.

"Gou-kun!"

Gou glanced stiffly to the side as Nitorii jogged up to her side.

"What's going on? Why does that guy look exactly like you?" he asked breathlessly.

"Because," she said, letting her shoulders slump in defeat. "He's my brother."

Someone blew a whistle and both boys launched themselves from the starting block and into the water. Seconds later, there was a flurry of splashing as they raced in freestyle down the lanes, streaking through the water like knives. Gou peeked between her embarrassed hands to watch them go. Seijuurou was still just as powerful and impressive as he was the last time she saw him swim. Even from her spot on the sideline, she could pick out his excited grin. Rin, on the other hand, looked… different. She hadn't seen him swim so tightly in a very long time. He sliced down the lane with laser-focused precision, making the turns at the end with practiced accuracy. It was clear that his time in Australia had really honed his craft. And this was only the freestyle. She silently relented that there was no way her fly record would stay mounted on the wall long after he transferred in.

"Wow, is he really your brother?" Nitorii asked. He practically had stars in his eyes as he watched the two of them swim. "He's really amazing!"

Gou gave a half-smile that curled into something more genuine as they finished their race with Seijuurou winning by just a hair. They popped their heads out of the water, but both boys had a grin crossing their faces. They talked jubilantly, moving their hands about in the air between them. Other members of the team shouted praise from the sideline, and Rin turned a gleeful look their way too. A place in Gou's heart warmed. At least she didn't have to worry about Rin not fitting in when he transferred. It seemed like he already won the hearts of those that mattered.

"Yeah," agreed with Nitorii after a short moment. "He's pretty cool."

Three more offhand races, a handful of teasing, and an exhibition of her fly speed later, Gou sighed in happiness as she waited outside the swim facility for Rin to finish changing back into his clothes. There were few things that made her happier than swimming, getting praise for doing well in swimming, and getting praise from her brother for doing well in swimming. But hanging out with the Samezuka swim team while her brother swam with her was a pretty close second. She had worried that Rin's unexpected arrival would cause problems, but more than anything else, it just healed her somewhat lonely heart. A bump against her shoulder pulled her out of her reverie, and her heart gave a nervous flutter when she saw Seijuurou leaning up against the wall next to her.

"So… Your brother," he drew out.

She laughed a little. "I know. He's a lot."

"He's cool," Seijuurou responded. "And it's obvious that he cares about you."

"Yeah," she said, smiling fondly out at the sun slowly setting behind the buildings surrounding campus. "He used to beat up all the boys that would even look at me funny back in elementary school. I don't even think a guy spoke to me once until junior high."

Seijuurou laughed. "Well, he does look a little intimidating. I thought my heart was going to stop when he glared at me."

Gou sighed, leaning her head back against the wall. "All things considered, I think he actually likes you."

Seijuurou looked at her hopefully. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," she responded returning his look. The warmth in his gold eyes was enough to warm her own heart. "It helps when you beat him in a race. He's a really competitive person, so he's always respectful to those better than him. Mostly because he wants to continuously challenge them until he can win, but for the time being, he likes you."

Seijuurou gave an uncertain chuckle. "Rough standards."

Gou shrugged. "You should have seen him when he was thirteen. I couldn't do anything without him challenging me to a race first. It was obnoxious."

The door to the swim facility slammed closed beside her and Rin gave her a sharp look. "Talking about me?"

"Only because you're the best brother ever," Gou responded with as charming of a smile as she could muster.

Rin narrowed his eyes. "You only say that when you're hiding something."

Gou's smile turned a little sheepish. "When am I not hiding something?"

Rin's lips pressed together and he looked between the two of them. After a moment, he released a dramatic sigh and folded his arms over his chest. "Mikoshiba."

Seijuurou perked up just slightly at the sound of his name.

"Listen up, cause I'm only going to say this once." Rin leveled a sharp look at the swim captain. Seijuurou, to his defense, made a good show of not being intimidated. "I don't like you. I don't like that you share a room with Gou or that you somehow found out the truth about her. If I had a choice, I'd kick your ass from here to Australia." Gou made a sound of protest, glaring at her brother. "But, you don't seem like a bad guy. And you've supported Gou so far, so I can't hate all of you. So… I guess what I'm trying to say is thank you. For being there when she needed a friend."

It was an oddly sentimental thing for Rin to say, and all further protests died on Gou's tongue. Who knew he could be so nice?

"But," Rin continued, because of course he would, "mark my words. If you betray Gou's confidence, even once, I'll hunt you down, skin you alive and feed you to the dingoes."

Gou rolled her eyes. "Rin—"

"That's fair."

Gou looked at Seijuurou in surprise. He had a confident smile on his face as he faced her brother.

"I won't lie," he said. "If I hadn't seen her conviction with my own eyes, I probably would have turned her in. But now…" He gave her a short glance, certainty dancing in his gold eyes. "It'd be stupid of me to hold her back without getting the chance to see it all through. If it's Gou-kun, then I know she can do it."

Pride warmed Gou's heart. How was it that Samezuka had such an amazing person leading their swim team? She saw a similar look filter over Rin's face before he shook his head with a small chuckle.

"You have no sense of self-preservation, do you?" he asked off-handedly. He turned over his shoulder and lifted a hand in parting. "Take care of my sister."

Seijuurou smiled in response. "I will."

Gou sent a grateful look Seijuurou's way. He smiled back at her before gesturing for her to follow after Rin. She mouthed a thank you as she turned and jogged to catch up with Rin. She happily fell in step with her Brother as they headed for the gates, light-heartedly skimming her feet along the sidewalk. A small smile lifted at Rin's lips.

"You're lucky," he said. "This could have gone really bad and got you in a lot of trouble. But you've got good support. The captain is a good guy."

"Yeah," Gou said with a genuine smile. "He really is."

Rin watched her from the corner of his eye. "I can see why you like him."

Her face flushed instantly. "I don't-!"

Rin grinned at her and dodged the punch thrown his way. "Don't even lie to me, Gou. It's written all over your face."

She pouted in embarrassment and pressed her hands against her burning cheeks. How obvious was she? Rin was the second person to point out how easily they could see how much she liked Seijuurou. Did Seijuurou know too? She really hoped not. They approached the gates to Samezuka and Rin drew to a stop. He turned toward her but let his eyes linger back at the school.

"I don't think I would have ever expected you to do something as crazy as this," he said. His eyes slid over to meet hers. "But here you are. Kicking ass and taking names." He shook his head in mock disbelief. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but somehow, my little sister turned into someone pretty cool."

Gou gave him a sly grin. "You're just saying that because I'm actually a competent swimmer now."

Rin shrugged and grinned. "Don't get comfortable. As soon as this is all over and I'm back in Japan, we're going to race to see who really is the best Mastuoka."

Gou returned the look. "Just don't get butt hurt when I kick your ass."

"Oh ho! Look who thinks they're tough shit!"

"Which one of us actually holds a speed record again? Hmm?"

"You only have it because you weren't swimming against me."

"And you're only confident because you haven't swam against me!"

They stared at each other for a long minute before bursting out into laughs. Gou doubled over, holding her stomach. She wiped a tear from her eye, looked up at her brother and launched at him for a hug. She squeezed him tight.

"I miss you, Rin," she admitted softly.

"Yeah, yeah," he said, awkwardly patting her back. "I know you do."

She pulled back and gave him some space. "Stay safe in Australia."

Rin chuckled and rubbed her head. "And you kick Iwatobi's ass."

She batted him away as he headed down the sidewalk toward the train station again.

"I'll show you the trophy when you get back!" she shouted at him.

He lifted his hand in parting, and Gou watched him go, a piece of her heart following after him.