Hey, guys! So, uh, I'm sorry about yesterday's lame chapter. I got some sleep, I promise! Also sorry for not writing out absolutely everything about the first day, or much at all, but hopefully you'll all see how I'm trying to make this all progress. Anyway, I hope you at least kind of like the chapter! There's a pretty long note at the bottom of this chap! Read if you have the time!

Summary: —

Disclaimer: I don't own Free! Iwatobi Swim Club.

[CHAPTER EIGHT: "HOW THEY CLASHED."]

"I have to what?"

Haruka stared at the Prince incredulously, his eyebrows furrowed and his lips pulled together tightly. Had he heard him right?

Please tell me I didn't, He prayed, but the Prince's following smirk told him that— yes, he had.

"You heard me," Rin said, turning towards the servant boy. He stuck a hand on his hip, snickering. He'd expected this sort of reaction out of Haru— it was normal.

"You get to bathe me," The Prince said, emphasizing the first and last words of the sentence and thrusting his finger out at both Haruka and himself at the appropriate times. Haruka's frown deepened. "Is this really what a personal assistant does?" He asked. Rin nodded, grinning. "It is, but don't worry— you don't have to bathe all of me," He assured. That said, the Prince turned around, continuing down the corridor he'd lead Haruka to. Haru followed.

They were in the western wing of the palace— or at least, that's where Haruka thought they should be, with the turns they'd taken since leaving the throne room and et cetera. Rin had told him upon entering into the very corridor they were moving down currently that this wasn't just another part of the palace. "This is where my sister and I stay." Rin had said. This lead Haruka into assuming that they were in a section of the palace that was closed off to just anyone— reserved for the children of the royal family. How privileged, The blue-eyed boy thought to himself in regards to the Prince and Princess— Rin and... Gou, was it?

"So, that assistant of your's just goes around all day doing simple tasks for you?" Haruka asked, not knowing how else to ask. If the silver-haired boy was in charge of bathing the Prince, didn't that mean he was more of a servant than an assistant? What— did he hand feed the Prince at mealtime, too?

"Not quite," The Prince responded with a shake of his head, not looking back at Haru as he pushed a door at the end of the corridor open, stepping into the room on the other side. The reddish-purple haired male held the door open as Haruka followed through the doorway after him, then he let it shut once more. Rin then proceeded to walk forward, his newest acquaintance following after him. Haruka peered around.

They were inside of a room— obviously. It didn't appear to be just any room, however.

It was big, first and foremost. The walls were made of the same stones as the rest of the castle, but a large variety of different types of tarps hung from said walls, all ranging in size, color scheme, and basic design. The biggest of the tarps was orange and purple, outlined in gold and hanging just above a large, circular-shaped bed situated against the west wall of the room. The coverings of the bed were white, but the pillows located at the head of the bed were all different shapes, sizes, and colors. There had to be at least twenty of them, but none of them — Haruka noticed — were just quite dark enough to be on par with the dark purple curtains that lined the sides of the bed.

The curtains hanging around the bed, enclosing the piece of furniture in their rich purple grasp, were long and hanged from the ceiling. Upon allowing his blue hues to follow the purple decorations upward, Haruka found his eyebrows raising in a mix of both surprise and delight. A window— there was an open window built into the high ceiling of the room.

That explains why none of the torches are lit, The boy thought to himself, glancing around at all the dead torches in the room that were positioned on stand-by, ready to be lit only when the sun set and they were needed. This was the first room Haruka had seen that didn't always need lit torches; the first room that wasn't filled with a smoky, musky smell from the burning objects, but rather an exotic scent that he couldn't name.

Smells funny, Haru thought, wrinkling his nose as the new smell invaded his nostrils. The smell was new and strange, but just because he was wrinkling his nose didn't mean he didn't find himself liking it. The scent was just... strong.

"Oi, quit standing there and come on— you'll have more time to look around later," Rin called after Haruka, catching the boy's attention. He looked to find the Prince standing just beside a tall, burgundy colored vase, an open door posed in front of him that lead into another room. The taller male's lips were pulled together, one of his eyebrows raised— he looked like he was growing slightly impatient. Haruka took that as his cue to hurry up.

"Ah, right," Haru mumbled as he moved to follow the Prince, turning and entering into the other room, moving at his own pace. As he stepped inside he grunted, finding that the floor of this room was covered in stones, which he didn't find very pleasant. As the sound of his grunt, Rin raised an eyebrow, glancing back at the boy. "Oi— what's wrong?" He asked. Haruka grunted again, shifting his feet. Rin cast his red hues downwards.

"Oh," The Prince mumbled, catching sight of Haruka's bare feet, dirty and slightly bruised. Haruka nodded, glad the Prince had come to understand so easily, and Rin frowned, pulling his eyes back up towards Haruka's face.

"Hang on a second," The Prince said with a concerned edge to his tone before continuing forward, approaching a darkly-colored tub in the center of the room. He went around to the back of the tub and opened what appeared to be a small chest, reaching inside and pulling out a pair of small, off-white pieces of material. He then moved back around to the other side of the tub, Haruka following his movements and frowning.

"And these are...?" Haru asked as the Prince held the pair of what-cha-ma-jigs out to him, taking them and examining them, his frown rooting ever-deeper into his face. Rin laughed at Haru's confused, slightly worried look. "They're slippers, but special ones," Rin said, holding up an index finger as his eyes shut and he proudly stated, "One of my mother's creations— one size fits all. They just stretch to cover your feet. Try them on."

Slowly taking in the Prince's words, Haruka nodded. He slipped out of the supposed "slippers" into his pocket temporarily, using his thumbs to begin to stretch out the other. Raising his right foot, Haru slipped the first slipper on, adjusting it slightly on his foot before lowering his leg back down. He wiggled his toes inside the slipper, blue hues staring in wonder down at the once small-but-now-much-bigger piece of material. "Comfy..." He mused quietly.

Rin laughed, turning away from the boy. "And perfect for walking on these stones, believe it or not. You can keep them. Now, hurry up and put the other one on. You do have to run my bath," Rin said and Haruka grunted, glaring ever so slightly at the Prince's back as he retreated, moving back over to the other side of the tub and beginning to strip. The black-haired "assistant" pulled his eyes away from the Prince as the white robe he'd been casually wearing over his torso slipped off his shoulders, falling to the ground.

I should've known there'd be a catch like this by how he was dressed, Haru thought as he took the second slipper out of his pocket, slipping it onto his left foot and, like the first, fixing it to his liking. What royal would walk around like that all day? He questioned, though really he didn't know anything about royalty. Except that a slice of all of their personalities could simply be defined as "spoiled" apparently. Maybe "bossy" too.

Making his way over towards the bath, Haruka glanced around briefly before coming to understand what he was supposed to do. There was a small string hanging down from the ceiling, which Haru noted was significantly lower than the ceiling of what he would assume was the Prince's neighboring bedroom. There was also a tunnel very similiar to the ones running through the various walls of the palace, except bigger and outside of the wall, running down into the bath, hovering just above the tub's outer rim, barely peeking over it. Once he pulled the string, water would come sliding down into the bath via the tunnel. Or at least... that's what he was assuming.

And he was right. Haru pulled the string and out came the water, gushing down the tunnelway from an unknown source which, as the water flowed, Haruka found himself looking around for. When he couldn't find the source of the water, he sighed, disappointed. This palace makes no sense.

"Good— you've got some common sense," Rin smirked upon seeing that Haruka had the right idea about how to fill up the bath, grinning as he slowly stepped into the water. He sat, sinking down into the quickly filling tub, and Haru found himself glad to be able to look at the Prince once more. He wasn't sure if servants were supposed to stare at the royal Prince's dangly bits or what. The Prince himself sure didn't seem to mind putting it out there in front of just anybody, however.

"There's some shampoo and soap in that little chest I got the slippers from," The Prince said as he relaxed in the tub, laying back against it's edge and spreading out his arms, letting them line the bath's outer perimeter. Haruka glanced at the darkly colored chest in question, taking in the delicate decorations carved into it, before nodding. He flipped the top of the chest up, opening the small storage space successfully, and reached inside, pulling out a small bottle that was labelled "SHAM" and another labelled "SOAP." He carefully shut the chest back, opting to sit atop it's closed lid, as the chest was located directly behind the Prince.

Haru looked down at the back of the Prince's head, trying to recall the last time he'd washed his hair with actual shampoo and not just water as he took the bottle labelled "SHAM" in hand. Well, here goes nothing, He thought.

But oh, there went everything. There went the shampoo everywhere— in the Prince's hair, in his eyes and at one point even inside his ears. Rin grunted as some of the shampoo slid into his eyes, causing them to sting and burn, and he cursed. "The hell?!"

Then there was the soap deal— Haru did an alright job with the Prince's upper half, but later went on to attempt to clean his lower half, causing Rin to freak out, then, too. "I said before that you didn't have to bathe all of me! I can handle the rest from here!" He insisted, snatching the bottle of soap out of Haruka's hands, his face tinted red.

Needless to say, the Prince's bath didn't go over smashingly— Rin was annoyed afterwards and Haruka felt underappreciated. Hey— he was trying. Kind of.

"I think I'm going blind," Rin muttered as he moved back into his room, a towel wrapped around his waist and Haru following behind him. He rubbed at his eyes and behind him Haru scowled. "I didn't know what I was doing. When do you think the last time I had a proper bath was?" The slightly agitated servant asked, causing Rin to cast a scrunched up face his way. "Ew."

—

Next came breakfast.

"Nitori wrote down what I usually eat for breakfast here," The Prince said some time later, officially dressed for the day. Haruka blinked, looking down at the small wooden tablet Rin was holding out and taking it from the Prince as it was offered to him. He looked it over, reading through the small message at the very top of the paper pinned into the wood, skimming over the section labelled "Breakfast."

"Okay," Haru muttered, proceeding to look over the rest of the messages on the tablet just briefly before glancing back up at the Prince. "Are you not coming?" He asked. Rin shook his head, grinning. "Nah. I hate to say it, but our family doesn't eat together, except for my parents. We don't even have a dining hall," The Prince stated, shrugging his shoulders like it was no big deal. Haruka raised an eyebrow before quietly muttering, "Oh."

"Yeah, it's whatever. Oh, but hey— here." Haruka watched as the Prince turned, moving over towards a small desk located on the far side of the room. He picked something up from atop the wooden surface, turning and offering it to Haruka. The servant grunted, moving across the room to approach the Prince. Once in front of the taller male, he reached out, taking the small slip of paper and looking over it, as well.

"It's blank," Haruka said, not at all sounding amused, but Rin laughed. "It's okay. I've already had a message sent out telling everyone that Nitori is on holiday and that someone new will be taking his place for a few days, but this is in case they forgot and decide to give you trouble."

Rin reached out, pointing at the top, right hand corner of the slip he'd handed Haruka. There was a red "R" stamped there, followed by some handwritten scribble. Haruka frowned, not sure what he was supposed to make of this. "What is it?" He asked, not liking the feeling of being so... out of the loop.

"It's special stationary only I have. Show anyone who tries to bother you or doubts that you're working for me this and they'll let you off the hook. Also, feel free to ask for some breakfast for yourself, too. You haven't eaten yet, have you?" Rin asked, smiling down at the boy. Haruka shook his head, inviting Rin's smile to widen, the expression spreading across his face like wildfire. He'd already forgotten Haru's bad-bathing mishaps from before, it seemed. Must be that sort of guy, Haruka thought. Forgiving. Or maybe just careless.

"So get yourself some grub. I won't mind," Rin said, only to be immediately rejected in his kindness, his offer turned down. "Not hungry," Haru said dully. Rin flinched, his eyebrow twitching ever so slightly.

—

"Okay, Haru. Our big thing for the day is seeing off the girls that came for the bridal selection yesterday, okay? It was actually supposed to be a big day to celebrate my choosing of a bride, but... Well, shit happens, yeah?"

Haruka nodded, watching as the Prince laughed like his whole nearly drowning — or at the very least getting her angry — a Princess the day before was nothing if not funny.

Rin nodded, quieting himself and his laughter as he grinned, pointing at the tablet he'd given Haru earlier, which the boy had done right to have not let go of yet. "I want you to take notes. You're filling in for Nitori during a crucial time, what with a bridal selection having just taken place, and now that they're planning to throw me another one in the future, so I want there to be thorough notes on the subject. So take plenty of them, okay?"

"Okay," Haruka nodded. The Prince smiled.

—

"Haru! These aren't notes!" Rin exclaimed some hours later, after they had seen the brides off, he'd joked around with his sister for a while, and they'd had lunch. Actually, they were in the middle of dinner already, sitting in Rin's bedroom at a small table used only for meals, it seemed.

"What the hell is this?" Rin asked, frowning as he held up the tablet Haru was supposed to have been taking notes on earlier when they saw off the girls brought in to possibly be chosen as his bride the day before. The blue-eyed servant turned away from his bowl of rice, looking at what was being held out before him.

On the tablet was a picture he had drawn earlier in the day when he was supposed to be "taking notes." It was a rather detailed drawing of the Bahr, which he could remember very crisply in his mind and had found much more fascinating than the girls from the day before.

"The Bahr," Haru answered simply after taking a moment to look over his work, nodding his head in approval. He'd done well. Rin groaned, dropping the tablet down onto the table between them.

"I know it's the Bahr!" The Prince said, causing Haruka to frown. "Then why did you ask?" He questioned. Rin grunted and sighed, sitting back as he covered his face.

"Nevermind why I asked," The Prince mumbled, moving his hand away from his eyes so he could glance over at Haru. "Why didn't you do as I asked?" He questioned, frowning. Haruka took a moment to consider the answer to this, chopsticks already pinching at another clump of rice from his bowl, before he shrugged, raising the white bits to his mouth. Rin scowled.

"You're my assistant for the next few days— you're supposed to do what I say!" The Prince scolded Haruka, feeling rather insulted for having not been listened to. Everyone always did as he asked— always. Haruka shrugged again, not seeing why the cerise haired male was having a fit, and Rin groaned, resting his elbow against the table as he looked over towards a tarp hanging on the wall. "Nitori would've done it," He mumbled under his breath.

And at another end of the palace, sitting in his own room and trying to figure out what he was supposed to do with his life the next couple of days, Rin's silver-haired former assistant sneezed.

"Bless me!"

[CHAPTER EIGHT: "HOW THEY CLASHED." END]

Okay, so it still wasn't all that groovy, but hopefully it was better than last chapter! And speaking of: seven, eight... This fic has been going a couple of weeks now and I kind of feel like I need to get to know you guys; hopefully we'll be together a long while. So, actually, I have a few questions! Don't worry; nothing hard. Just standard questions asked out of curiosity. I'll answer them, too, naturally.

One and Two, too: Who is your favorite character in the anime? Who's your favorite character in this? I'm asking because, aside from genuine curiosity, I realized earlier that, while my favorite in the anime is Rin, I like Haruka the most in this fic. I know the second question might be kind of hard because a lot of characters haven't gotten a lot of time to shine, but I'm hoping someone at least has taken a particular shine to Rei or Nagisa or Gou or whoever. Anyway, that was that.

Number Three: What did you guys think about Episode 5? Is there anything you want out of next episode in particular? To be honest... Um... Well...

I don't have any not-typical things to say about the episode, but I do have something I want from the next one. If you look when Rei goes out to sea by himself and when he's drowning and all, you'll see a lot of lights towards the lodges are still on. This leads me to think a lot of people are still up. And I hope next episode — with all my heart — that at some point they jump to, let's say, Rin and Nitori wherever they're staying.

And Nitori is looking out the window and says something like, I don't know, "Wow, it looks like a bad storm, huh, Matsuoka-senpai?" And Rin can respond however. Like, he agrees or looks out the window at the beach or starts to worry/hope the others stopped swimming early because, hey— at this point he's probably assuming that, since Gou is staying in a lodge, they are too, but they aren't. They'll be in danger and he won't even know.

...I'm sorry. Lol I love angst and shit. Bye-bye now!