Chapter 3

Watch Out

She watched the boys swim from her perch, they moved gracefully through the water without any resistance and Yukirin smiled. Nagisa was enjoying showing off for her, as he swam back and forth in the water with vigor and often calling out to her on how he was doing.

"Wonderful Nagisa but try to use your legs more, it will increase your speed" she called back.

She titled her head slightly as she shifted wincing slightly as she did having moved a little to far. Gou noticed and walked over sitting next to her drawing her attention from the boys who'd stopped to discuss what training they'd do next, Rin insisting they try a mock relay. "Your dress is pretty" she tried first.

Yukirin blinked and smiled," Thank-you, my mother made it for me." she said.

"Really? Is she a designer or something"

"no she just likes to sew its a hobby, she taught me too. Though I'm no where as good as she is...your the manager of the club right?"

"Yes, and Rin's my older brother, he doesn't go to this school but he trains the swim team at Samezuka academy. "He came to join the others in training today and possibly get some tips from you."

"Nagisa mentioned something like that, and Samezuka? My father went there when he was young"

"Really? Cool"

They began to lapse into silence awkwardly, Gou because she didn't know Yukirin well, Yukirin because she didn't talk to many girls her age, she was used to being with only her siblings, or cousins. "So where do you live?" Gou asked now trying to find more to speak about. She looked Yukirin up and down, taking in her appearance. Yukirin was an odd looking one, she looked very little like Nagisa and she also didn't possess a natural looking hair colour instead it was pure white. Something she'd never seen before.

"Hamada, just outside the city near the sea"

"Ah really? That's a nice town not far from here."

"About a Five hour drive" Yukirin supplied.

"Oh so that's why it took so long for Nagisa's dad to get you."

"Ya its a ten hour drive back and forth" she nodded.

"Ne did you dye your hair that colour, isn't it against school regulations?"

"Ah, no its natural" she said glancing away quietly from Gou. "I don't go to school"

"What? But your only eighteen right? Shouldn't you be in high school, though I guess it is odd seeing as you came to visit in the middle of the year." Gou said looking at her, "Why don't you go to school" "My older sister is a teacher, she home schools me and my other siblings" "How many?" "15" "What! That's-.. how?" "Different mothers." she said, "My fathers first wife passed away young, and his second left him. Then he met my mother and they've been married ever since" she smiled, "Between my older siblings and I there is about a 10 year difference"

"Oh"

"It never gets lonely." she smiled and Gou blinked before smiling back, this Yukirin girl was infectious with her attitude, though not quite as crazy bubbly or energetic as Nagisa, she was positive and Gou couldn't help but smile back. "My Brother Rin tends to do his own thing alot more than not." Gou said feeling like she could share the information. "But he's gotten better with being around friends since he came back from Australia."

"Australia really?"

"Ya he was at the swimming school there in Sydney."

"My father's travelled there before, I've only ever been to China though and the United States for Worlds" Yukirin said, "Did he like being there in the swimming school." Gou noticed Yukirin's eyes, they were slowly loosing the positive expression she'd had this entire time, becoming more hazy and less clear in the progression of their talk about swimming schools. "Ah he doesn't really talk about it" she admitted. Gou had to admit the sudden change was rather astonishing.

"What about you...why did you decide to stop swimming?"

"..." Yukirin glanced at Gou slightly before turning her gaze back on the boys running a little exercise race with paddle boards. "It's complicated." she answered after a while, Gou didn't ask anymore however feeling in her gut if she were to ask it would just upset Yukirin.

It was about half an hour later that Gou came back to Yukirin, stopping however she took her in. Yukirin had leaned forward slightly her elbow resting on her knee and her palm cupping her delicate chin as she watched the boys intently, then she spoke. "Ah Makoto, when you start to increase your stroke at the end you tend to list slightly to the left...try keeping you kicks straight and evening the pace between both arms.". "Oh! You noticed that too? Will that really fix it?" Yukirin looked to Gou shifting to sit up and winced...though as quickly as she'd made the expression of discomfort it was gone and Gou wasn't entirely sure she'd seem it at all. "Ah, It's common to happen when your racing in a time trial...you want to conserve as much energy as you can in the first lap so that on the second you can use all your strength in the return for the exchange especially in relays." she explained and Gou sat down to listen intently...the boys had also come to the edge of the swimming pool to listen to the explanation to better understand what to avoid. "However in most cases when you swim, the first kick is the important part since it will give you the momentum...however if you use all your strength before the turn you end up becoming sluggish so you use all your arm strength to speed forward, Doing this and not being level with you kicks can sometimes force your body to shift and you end up turning however minimal it makes a difference because you end up with more water resistance." she smiled.

"Oh! Leave it to Yuki-chan! She's very smart." Nagisa smiled, "ah not really...It's just things I've noticed after swimming for so long that's all" she assured her cousin with a soft expression. "try it Mako-chan! Try" Nagisa said and urged his friend to use the advice.

"Sure"

Makoto then grasped the diving rails to hoist himself up, his feet planted firmly against the pool wall as he waited for Gou to give the signal. When he heard the whistle he pushed up and off arching his back into a graceful curve as he broke the water surface and began the backstroke. He pushed as if he were in an actual competition and paid attention to each feeling and noticed almost immediately that he did in fact feel a little burn from pushing so hard in the first leg of the swim. As he hit the wall he turned and began back towards the start and used his arms move but felt the familiar shift... 'ah..' he thought ,'This is what I have to correct' As he pulled back and tried to even out his strokes he ended up flipping completely onto his stomach as he lost momentum and sighed before laughing standing up he had been only a short ways from the end.

"Sorry I messed up" he smiled.

"How about a short break, you've been in the pool since the start of the club today." Gou suggested.

"Mhm a short rest will help, don't fatigue your muscles right away" Yukirin agreed as the boys began to climb from the pool. "I brought drinks" Gou said handing out the ice cold water.

"Ah arigato" Haru said as he accepted the water.

"Ne Haru want to race before the end of your club activities?" Rin smirked.

"...Not really"

"What! But Haru we haven't raced in a while!"

"I only swim fr-"

"Free! Yes I know, but a race here with no consequence is fine isn't it?"

"Ne Rin-chan! Why not race Yuki!"

"Nagisa I don-"

"Its fine! We can lend you one of our school swim suits" He said walking over to grab her hand.

"Nagisa that's not what I mea-" She waved her hands in front of her in a feeble attempt to deter him from following through with his plans. However stopping Nagisa was like stopping hurricanes. "It'll be fine!"

He caught her wrist and Yukirin panicked dropping her bottle of water Gou had gotten her as she felt Nagisa begin to pull her up. "Nagisa stop!"

"Why, Rin would benefit from racing you"

"Nagisa that's enough she said no" chimed in Mako beginning to stand up.

"Ah don't force her Nagisa-kun" Rei chan moved forward as well.

Yukirin was suddenly on her feet then "..Nagi-...ah" she flinched and her knee's buckled. "Yuki-chan stop fi-" "Nagisa let go! I don't want to!" He tugged and she gasped pain shot up her and suddenly she was falling...Nagisa's hand no longer gripping her...the bottle she'd dropped had flown into the air too from where her foot had stumbled upon it and the gravity of the world tugged her down.

"Ah Yuki-chan!" Mako reached to try and grab her.

"Yuki-san!"

"Watch OUT!"

SPLASH!

OxOxOxOxOxOxOxOxO

A/N: so I feel like I'm kind of kicking a dead horse here, I really would like some feed back on this story I want to know what people think and wonder if I should continue. Though I'm excited for the next chapter, its going to be a bit of an eye opener for little Nagisa perhaps Haru too. I really would like to focus on Haru in the next chapter for sure. PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!