A/N: So, the plot is finally moving albeit a little slowly. This chapter contains quite an amount of fluff between Kyou and Haru so I hope all you Rin and Kyou shippers will bear with it :D Anyway, forgive me if there are any inconsistencies or mistakes. As usual, I hope all of you enjoy, read, review, favourite and/or follow this story! xxx

Disclaimer: I do not own Free!

Winter has almost ended with the beginning of Spring slowly showing. Kyou was relieved to say the least. Winter has never failed to put Haru in a sulky mood because the coldness deterred him from swimming. Now that spring break is over, a new term is beginning and all of them will be in their final year at school. To be honest she was quite eager for school to start, she had spend the entire break not doing much and not seeing most of everyone except for Makoto and Haru. Haru was contented soaking in the tub at his house and she could tell he'd rather be left alone to stew in his moodiness. She'd went out a few times with Makoto when both of them failed to drag Haru out with them.

"Good morning!"

She looked up, startled,"Oh, Makoto! Have you been waiting long?" Ever since she met Haru and Makoto, they had worked out a routine. If they were going anywhere together, she would walked to the steps leading to Haru's house and meet up with Makoto there, then together they would make their way to Haru's house to collect him.

He shook his head, "Nah, I just got here as well. We better hurry if we don't want to be late." Even though he said that, he was still petting the white stray cat that has been around since last Spring. Finally after what felt like hours, he reluctantly put the kitten down and trudged up the stairs to Haru's house.

As usual nobody answered when they knocked on the door. Kyou and Makoto exchanged a look.

"I'll take the kitchen. I'll start frying the mackerel. It'll save us some time," Kyou said.

Makoto nodded,"I'll get him out of the tub."

She took out the pan and the fish and started frying them with practiced motion. She'd done this countless times that it was like she was on auto pilot. As she was taking the fish out of the pan, she could hear the boys' footsteps approaching the kitchen.

"Morning," she turned around to greet Haru.

"Aah. Morning," Haru said solemnly.

"Your mackerel is done," she said, walking over to the table to place the fish on it. As she walked pass Haru, he grabbed her gently by the arm and pulled her close to plant a kiss on the crown on her hair before letting her go. She tilted her head to look at him and gave him a tiny smile.

Her heart was still fluttering in her chest as she watched Makoto rushing Haru. It had been weeks since Haru was in a good mood and it probably had something to do with them heading to Samezuka Academy and the fact that they had an indoor pool there. The thought of Samezuka Academy inadvertently brought her thoughts to Rin. She'd not seen him much over the break and the few times she had seen him he had been acting a little strange. He'd refused to look at her and when she spoke to him, he would give her the brush off albeit politely. The last time she'd seen him was almost 3 weeks ago. It was almost like he was trying avoid her. She wondered if she was thinking too much but she really couldn't get over the feeling that she was right. She sighed inwardly, maybe today she would be able to ask if him if everything's okay.

"Kyou-chan, stop day dreaming. We're running late. Let's go." Makoto's voice snapped her out of her reverie.

"I'm coming," she said, hurriedly grabbing her things and running to the door.

As they made their way to the train station, Haru slowed down to wait for her. He held her hands when she was near and resumed their walk. She saw a hint of a blush on his face as she looked at him. She snuggled closer to him, she had expected him to widened their distance but was surprised when he didn't do anything. She smiled thinking that it was a good beginning for spring.

When they arrived, they were taken in by the commotion. It was loud and noisy and she couldn't tell what was happening. She turned to Gou, who met them at Samszuka High, to asked if she knew what was going on.

"It's a tradition at Samezuka. He's supposed to swim 100 meters for 100 times until someone beats him."

She turned to look at Rin. He looked at little broader at the shoulders and he seemed taller to her.

"Ehhh! But that's not possible," Rei interjected.

"Aah, but the captain defies all logic," Rin shrugged.

At that moment, Captain Mikoshiba noticed them and made his way towards them. Somehow or other the boys got roped into racing Samezuka Academy in a 400 meters freestyle relay. It didn't take any convincing at all for Haru who just wanted to swim. In fact, before the captain even finished speaking, he was already stripping down his clothes.

Before the race started, she tried talking to Rin. He was standing at the side, observing his teammates swimming and she thought it was a good time to approach him.

"Hey," she said softly as she stood next to him.

She saw him glanced down at her before looking back at the pool. "Hey." He didn't say anything else after that and if she wasn't 100% sure he was trying to avoid her earlier, then she was now.

"Ummm... Is everything okay?" she asked hesitantly.

He sighed, impatient, "Nothing's wrong. I'm actually just really busy right now."

He turned to walk away and Kyou's hand shot out own it's own accord to tug on his sleeves. "Are you angry at me or something?"

He felt her tugging at his sleeves and when he saw the dejected expression on her face, he felt himself softened despite himself. Her fringe had grown longer since the last time he saw her. He clenched his hands, keeping them at his side as he resisted the urge to tuck that stray piece of fringe behind her ears. He heard her asking if he was angry at her. He wanted to laugh at the cruelty of the situation. How could he tell her that it was better he kept his distance from her because he thinks that he might like her in a non platonic way and that he enjoys her company a little too much? How would she react then? He entertained the thought of telling her the truth then maybe she would be so horrified that she would keep her distance from him.

"I'm not angry. I've just been busy," he said in a kinder tone.

"Oh. Yeah, okay," she tucked her hair behind her ears before continuing,"If there's anything, you know you can talk to me right? I know you're Haru's friend first but we are friends too, aren't we?"

He gave her a small nod and was about to lift his left hand up to ruffled her hair when he heard a voice yelling his name. "Rinnnnnnn!"

Before he could react appropriately, he saw a small form charging towards his direction and launched itself unto his body. He almost toppled over by the impact and his hands reflexively tightened around the person's body.

He looked down to identify the person clinging on to him, aware that they were garnering looks from people around them. He saw familiar muted green eyes looking up at him.

"Shiori?" Surprise evident in Rin's voice.

The girl retracted her hands from Rin's neck and stood in front if him. She was pretty. She wasn't very tall, just slightly taller than Kyou and she had very long black hair. Her eyes were wide and almond shaped, her nose was straight with a generous sensuous lips. Kyou was curious at the identity of the girl standing so boldly in front of Rin, even more so when she saw the awe and disbelief on Rin's face.

"What are you doing here?" Rin asked with a huge smile on his face.

"I transferred here on a student exchange program for my last year as a senior. I'm officially a student at the sister school of Samezuka," she said. "It's been a while," she continued shyly.

"Aah. It's good to see you again."

Kyou heard Shiori said student exchange program. That meant this girl would be someone Rin knew back in Australia. She pushed down the feeling of uneasiness that was slowly welling up in her and made to retreat, feeling a little like an intruder intruding on their reunion. But before she could escape back to the safety of her friends she heard Rin calling out to her.

"Where's my manners. This is Kagome Kyou. Kyou, this is Takahashi Shiori," Rin said, pushing Kyou forward.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you," Kyou said.

"Likewise," Shiori said, not making any further small talks.

Luckily Rin swooped in for the rescue,"Come on, I'll introduce you to the rest of my friends."

The ease in which Rin reached for Shiori's hands as he pulled her away to meet his friends from Samezuka and Iwatobi did not escape Kyou's eyes. More than once today she wondered what was Rin's relation to the girl. His body language seemed to indicate that they were very familiar with one another and the casual way that Rin and her kept touching each other suggested that they were probably closer than friends once upon a time.

She was so engrossed in her thought that she didn't notice Haru coming up next to her until he took her hands into his own.

"Oh, hey. Have you met Rin's friend?" she asked.

Haru nodded.

She decided to push all thoughts of Rin and his friend out of her mind and telling herself it was none of her business anyway. "Ready for your match?"

"Hmm," he nodded affirmatively before abruptly changing topic,"Do you want to come over to my place for dinner tonight?"

She was so surprised she could feel her jaw hitting the floor. In the months that they had dated, she had constantly felt that they dynamics of their relationship hadn't changed much from when they were friends. For Haru to take the initiative was completely unheard of. She nodded, swallowing thickly before replying,"I would love to!"

She sat through the race, cheering for her team as they swam while Shiori was making quite a spectacle of herself as she cheered for Rin when Samezuka won the relay. It really wasn't that Kyou didn't like Shiori, to begin with Kyou was never the type to warm up to people instantly. With that thought in her head, she justified her actions of not being as friendly as she probably should to the new girl.

She was helping the guys get their things together as Captain Mikoshiba was giving his retirement speech. The boys were busy drying off as she helped them put their googles in their respective bags and separated their wet swimming attires into a different bag.

She felt a pair of arms hugging her from behind, "Thank you, Kyou-chan! You're the best!" Nagisa said.

"Okay, okay, I got it. Now let go off me before you strangle me to death," she laughed.

"Oh, look! Rin-Rin is being appointed as captain by Captain Mikoshiba," Nagisa pointed out.

She continued her tasks of separating the boys' swimming attire as a debate broke out between Nagisa, Rei and Gou on whether Rin's a good a captain or not. When she was finally done with her task, most people were already trickling out of the indoor pool and she found Rin, Shiori and Nitori standing around talking with the boys from Iwatobi.

"Shall we go to a yakiniku restaurant since all of us are together and onii-chan's friend is here as well?" Gou suggested enthusiastically.

"Yay! I want to eat yakiniku as well," Nagisa eagerly agreed, "Rei-chan, you're coming as well!"

"I wasn't planning on declining the invitation anyway," Rei said, pushing his glasses up.

"Onii-chan?" Gou looked at her brother hopefully.

"I guess I'll come as well. Do you mind Shiori?" Rin asked.

She shook her head, smiling.

"In that case, if Rin-senpai is going then I'll come as well," Nitori said timidly.

"I'll come," Makoto said, smiling.

Then as a whole, almost everyone turned to look at her and Haru expectantly.

"Uhh... Well... The thing is," she started saying, fidgeting as she fumbled with her words.

"Sorry, we've already made plans for tonight." Haru interjected. She looked at him gratefully, thankful not having to decline the invitation on her own.

"Ehhh... Haru-chan! That's so unlike you. Where are you guys going? I want to come along too," Nagisa whined, latching himself to Haru's right arm. It was as if Haru's the de facto leader, everyone always wants to be around Haru even though he's so stoic.

"You can't. We are going to my place," Haru said in a deadpan manner.

She could feel the words sinking in as a few the faces in front of her turned red and in unison they all went, "Ehhhhhhhhh!"

Her own face coloring as well, she frantically waved her hands,"It's not like that. Geez, get your heads out of the gutter."

She saw from the corner of her eyes Rin turning to walk away as Shiori trailed after him, hands on his arms. She heard Makoto congratulating Haru and Nagisa shooting her knowing looks.

"You guys, leave Haruka-senpai and Kyou-senpai alone!" Rei said a few times before the commotion stopped.

"Anyway, we'll head home first. See you guys tomorrow," Haru said, as he slung his bags over his shoulders and pulled her along to the exit as she waved goodbye to everyone.

"I thought we are eating in?" Kyou was confused. They were 5 minutes away from home when he suddenly pulled her into a Chinese restaurant.

"I didn't think you would want to eat mackerel. We can order takeout here and eat at home," he said, his expression remained blank.

She smiled. She really had no idea why but Haru for once has been acting like her boyfriend instead of her friend. She quickly gave a silent prayer hoping his behavior would last.

When they got home, she started taking the plates and cutleries out from the cabinets and putting the food on the plates while Haru went to change. It's the first time in a while since they had been able to be alone like this. She felt her hands go sweaty from nervousness and her heart rate was going at a 100 miles an hour.

"Do you wanna bring the food out to the living room? We can watch a movie while eating," Haru suggested.

She nodded as she started bringing the plates to the living room.

They sat in silence eating as they watched some movie that Haru put on. Even when they were both done eating, Haru was still quiet, seemingly engrossed in the movie. She stood up to bring the dishes to the back so that she could wash them. Haru didn't seem to notice that she was gone from his side, she noted.

When she came out she saw Haru had moved to sitting on the couch, eyes still glued to the television. She made her way to him and sat next to him gingerly. When he did not react, she decided to leaned on him, hugging one of his arms. He didn't seem like he minded and Kyou settled in, making herself comfortable as she turned to watch the television as well.

She didn't know how long she had been watching the movie but she was watching on screen as the villain was revealed to be the protagonist's best friend when she felt Haru's stare on her.

"Are you okay?" she asked in confusion. Her face scrunched up in concern as she moved closer to him to feel his forehead.

He gently pushed her hands away, holding on to it. "I'm fine." Kyou felt her heart skipped a beat as his face drew closer and closer to her face. His eyes were looking at her and his face was still a mask of indifference when his face was finally an inch away from hers. She could see the tip of his ears was red even though the tone of his voice was indifferent when he said her name before pressing his lips to hers. The moment he captured her lips, she felt him pulling her closer into his lap. His lips are warm and soft as they worked around her lips. She felt his tongue licking at the seams of her lips as she opened her mouth to grant his tongue entrance. She felt her hands fisting the shirt at the front of his chest as she pulled him closer. They'd kissed before but never like this seeing as how cold Haru usually was. She was elated from the feel of his mouth on her and his hands around her waist. She was happy and for once she felt that maybe her relationship with Haru was working after all. Even that 1 millisecond of Rin's face flashing through her mind as Haru kissed her couldn't ruin the happy mood she was in. She had no idea what it meant and she wasn't going to dwell on it.