Holy moly did I get sick. I thought the worse was over with but boy was I wrong. Anyway since I started feeling more like a human being and less like a germ infested wadded up piece of tissue paper I finally managed to get this out.

Happy (belated) holidays and happy (early) New Years!

Seijuro had never been the type who shied away from things he wanted. Ever since he was a little boy he had been like that and, even when he was young, when he found something he wanted he pursued it with a relentlessness that was staggering. When he had found a specific toy he wanted he would figure out how to get it, whether it be skillfully convincing his parents to buy it for him or earning it himself through odd jobs and the like. When he was determined to beat a boss on a video game he was struggling with, he would sit for hours at a time, throwing himself again and again tenaciously at it until he succeeded. His mother called it persistence, which may have just been a nice way of saying unrelenting. Whatever you wanted to call it, Seijuro had always been that way. Maybe he had picked it up from his parents when he was a baby. Or maybe he had simply been born like that.

Then, when he was in elementary school, he discovered swimming. At first it had been nothing more than pure enjoyment. He was good at it, though not great, and at the beginning he treated it like a leisure activity that didn't deserve his full attention. Perhaps because at that time he hadn't wanted it. That relentless side of his personality, that pertinaciousness, only reared its head when Siejuro really wanted something.

It wasn't until his fist competition when he lost to a boy with dark hair, eyes the color of water, and a perpetually bored expression that he found he wanted to win. Watching him, even as he had been speeding ahead of Seijuro on the fifty meter turn, had almost been like an epiphany.

The fastest swimmer wins, he thought as he watched the gold colored disc placed around the other boy's neck. That's all.

After that day Seijuro had thrown himself into the sport like he had thrown himself into conquering his video games. He pursued it relentlessly, tuning his body and studying, learning new techniques and methods, adjusting his diet, adjusting his lifestyle. He poured himself into it because he wanted to win. And the fastest swimmer wins.

His hard work, his relentless pursuit, paid off. The wins kept coming, the records kept breaking. He never raced the dark haired boy again, whose name he had come to know by this point, but that wasn't important. Seijuro wasn't after feuds or personal vendettas or holding grudges when he lost. That really wasn't a part of his personality. If he lost, it was because he wasn't the fastest swimmer. That was all.

His hard work paid off again when he entered high school and he was accepted into Samezuka academy. That swimming powerhouse. It was his first time being in a school that was so centered on swimming and as such their swimming team was huge and utterly structured. And at the top presided the swim team captain, that constant head of leadership that called the shots and made the decisions. The one who was in charge. It didn't take long for Seijuro to decide that was the position he wanted to be in.

Like his relentlessness, Seijuro liked being in charge. He didn't want to have anyone else to answer to, didn't want someone else deciding how he would swim or why. He knew he could lead better than most. Maybe it was arrogance for his part thinking like that. Maybe it was selfish. Who knew. But like any other thing he had wanted it life, he had pushed and pushed until he had grasped it.

And once he had it, he took control of it completely. He rid himself of any teacher involvement and advocated for himself to be the sole one in charge. The school had allowed it. He had proven himself capable of it, which he knew he would be, and it gave the school one less thing to worry about while still being delivered superb wins and results.

Seijuro hates having to answer to other people and hates not being in charge. His mother called it independence and self-sufficiency. Seijuro tends to think of it more as self-indulgence. Maybe he's always been a little selfish.

Regardless, Seijuro wasn't used to being hesitant in going after the things he wanted or second guessing himself.

So…why was he second guessing himself now?

In the growing darkness of his hotel room, Seijuro frowned down at his phone and the dilemma he was currently faced with. The scrawling letters of the text he had been compiling glowed back at him. 'Text me when you get back'

The message wasn't what he was concerned about. Seijuro's current dilemma was this: Should he add a smiley face or not?

Should he add one? Girls liked smiley faces didn't they? Or would it come across as too 'cutesy'? Seijuro didn't want to come across as cutesy. He enjoyed sports and hanging out with his bros, he was a manly man. Cutesy was not a term he wanted to be associated with.

Maybe a winking face? No that might come across as perverted.

I am running out of options. It had to be a smiley face or none at all. Giving up, he pushed the send button and watched the little envelope travel across his screen. 'Message sent'.

Okay good. That was done.

But wait…What if that message came across as too brusque? What if she read it and thought of it as more of a command than a request? That would come off as totally rude. She might get offended by it.

Damnit. Hastily Seijuro went to send a smiley face after it but accidentally sent a frowney one instead.

"Shit!" Sighing, Seijuro tossed the phone onto the table. I am really terrible at this. He leaned back and rubbed his face. Whenever it came to texting Gou, he always made himself nervous and freaked out about what to say. He would make himself so nervous he only ended up psyching himself out and end up sending short message that only contained enough to answer her question.

He had never thought of himself as someone who was bad with girls, although in all honesty he had very little experience with them. Going to an all boy school sort of had that effect. Despite that, he didn't feel like he was someone who was bad with the opposite sex. In public he had caught more than a few stares on his person and a few unasked numbers slipped his way. When he did flirt, the few times he had, he had gotten pretty positive responses. So he wasn't bad with girls. It was just this girl that he seemed to turn into an unsure bag of useless jelly with.

He looked dejectedly at the silent phone. Purposely he had left the device in his room, an action that was unusual for him. His cell phone was his main form of communication with his swim team members while in this country so he was careful to keep it with him at all times just in case, but today all his swimming members had been at the pool. Due to that he had felt it was safe enough for him to leave it behind and, if he hadn't, he knew he would have only fiddled with it all day and distracted himself, something he couldn't afford in the short amount of practice time they got.

It was nearly past sunset. Gou should have been back by now. He had hoped there would be a message waiting for him but he had returned from his swimming to a blank amount of messages.

He leaned forward and placed his elbows on his knees, rubbing his face again. The situation couldn't be called infuriating but it was certainly frustrating. Just the fact that he had noticed he didn't have any messages and was disappointed by it was frustrating. It was only making him realize the truth of the matter.

And the truth of the matter was he was interested in Gou. There it was. It wasn't something that was exactly new. Ever since he had met her he had been interested in her. He was attracted to her in a physical sense, that much was obvious, and he had been interested in getting to know her since their first meeting. That night at the bar, their first night here, he had felt like maybe that attraction was mutual. Before then Gou had always been cordial and polite, but had shown nothing that had made it seem like she was interested in him in anything besides an acquaintance. He wouldn't even have gone so far to call her interest a friendship. Her approaching him about the joint practice had been because Iwatobi needed the pool and because Gou's brother was on his swim team. If it weren't for that, Gou would have never approached him.

But that night at the bar things had been different. It had seemed like she was interested, interested in him, and Seijuro had finally been making progress. Then he had gone and shot himself in his own foot.

Getting married. Getting married while drunk. So stupid and so foolish. He had been so panicked about the situation he had put himself in that any feelings he had towards Gou had gotten shoved to the background momentarily forgotten. But now, now that things had calmed down and they had reached a place of relative calm regarding their circumstances, those feelings were arising once again. There had been short instances where they had flared up and he had been unsure what to categorize them as, like when they had gone conch hunting and the dinner at Iwatobi's place. But those feelings had occurred more strongly at the shipwreck, and again at the zoo, and again that night when she had gone out with her friends. Strong enough he could recognize them for what they were.

He found himself missing her. Ever since the zoo he had barely seen her at all. She had been busy with her swim team and her friends. That was understandable and that wasn't the problem. The problem was he noticed how much little time he had gotten to spend with her the last few days. It was why he found himself making excuses to see her, like checking out the Iwatobi camp site – although he had genuinely been curious if the boys had been serious or not about that – and seeing her off when she went out this morning, or texting her now to let him know when she returned.

Seijuro went after things he wanted. The more time he was spending around Gou, the more he found he wanted.

Therein lay his dilemma. Gou wasn't like other things he had wanted and pursued in life. Those things had depended entirely on him and how much effort he put towards them. This time it involved another person with feelings and thoughts of their own. He couldn't pursue her relentlessly. That would only drive her away, especially with their current situation. Any progress he had made at the bar had been snuffed out by their accidental marriage. That wasn't entirely his fault, for Gou's name was on that paper too. Why she had gone along with it Seijuro wasn't sure and he wasn't about to ask her. More than likely she had been too drunk to be any sort of coherent. Maybe she herself didn't know why she had done it.

So what am I supposed to do?

For the first time in his life Seijuro really wasn't sure. There was no golden rule like the fastest swimmer always wins for him to follow this time. He had no experience in pursuing a relationship. He had been so focused on his swimming and leading the swim team he had never considered having one. Until Gou came stumbling and crashing into his life in pursuit of her brother that is. Funny to think if Matsuoka, scowly Matsuoka of all people, hadn't come to the school he would never have met Gou. To think it would be scowly Matsuoka's sister of all people that Seijuro would find himself allured by. If someone had told him that a year ago he would have laughed at it.

From the door there came a knock, disrupting Seijuro from his thoughts. It couldn't be Gou. She wouldn't come over without asking first. Which meant it had to be someone from his swim team. "Yes?"

"It's Nakagawa, Captain. You asked me to come over to look over the swimming events."

Nakagawa. He was Seijuro's sort of second-in-command, someone he relied upon and sometimes allowed to lead the other members when he needed a break. Seijuro had been so busy in his internal musing he had forgotten Nakagawa was going to come by to discuss what swimmers would be competing in which event. Good. He could use the distraction and it needed to be done anyway. "Come in."

Nakagawa was in the same year as Seijuro but a year younger. He had a youngish looking face that made him look younger than he truly was, with dark eyes and dark hair that had a tendency to be rather spiky at the top and smooth out at the bottom. "Here's the list." He handed him a chart with the different events and names underneath them. "I've arranged it by who wants to do what."

Seijuro looked it over. For the most part he tried to be as accommodating as possible when it came to letting his teammates participate in the events they wanted to. Occasionally he would move them around for performance reasons and to give precedence to older students, but he only tried to do that when absolutely necessary. The one major exception was the medley relay. The relay wasn't just about personal performance but group performance as well so for that one Seijuro had to be pickier with whom participated. They had to not only be good on their own but mesh well with the others, be able to pick up on certain cues from their teammates and listen to each other. For the relay Seijuro sent out only his absolute best.

"Matsuoka is requesting the 100m free?" asked Seijuro in some surprise.

"He is. He requested it the other day."

"That's the only event he requested?"

"That's right."

That was a bit odd. Matsuoka's strongest stroke tended to be the butterfly and he had good times with it. He was a good free swimmer as well but Seijuro would have expected him to request butterfly over free to give him a better chance at winning. Or at least request it along with free. For him to be focused strictly on the 100m free was unusual. Well, I'm sure he has his reasons.

"Alright, go ahead and keep him there. We'll move Nitori over to the 400m."

"Yes, Captain."

Nitori was likely to be disappointed, but in terms of endurance he had a slight advantage over Matsuoka and Matsuoka was faster. The 100m free suited him better than Nitori.

He went over the others with Nakagawa. They were permitted up to four swimmers in each event and one relay team. Seijuro planned to use that to his advantage. Having such a big swim team allowed him a better chance of placing at least one swimmer in the finals, and he planned to have all four in each of the eleven events in the finals if he could help it.

"Have you decided on anyone for the relay?"

Seijuro shook his head. "Not yet." They still had almost a month and a half before the first competition. He had sometime to decide. There were some good names on there; he'd have to think about it.

It was dark outside and well past sunset by the time Nakagawa and him were finished. "We'll go over it one more time before the competition and make any changes if we need to," said Seijuro. "I think the night before the competition will be good. I'll finalize the relay set before then."

"Sounds good. I'll let the guys know what they'll be doing." Nakagawa gathered his papers and as he did so he motioned to the window. "Looks like there's a bad storm brewing."

"A storm?" Seijuro could only barely make out the thunderheads in the darkness of the night through the window, but the trees swaying haphazardly were a dead giveaway for the wind. Rain was starting to splatter as well.

"Yeah. Ueda told me he heard that they can be bad around here this time of year. The authorities won't even go out in it."

Seijuro frowned. "I see."

Once the other boy had departed Seijuro reached for his phone. It had been troublesomely quiet and flipping it open revealed no missed calls or zero messages either. Seijuro frowned harder. Surely Gou must have returned by now. She had said they would be back by sunset at the latest and it was way past sunset now.

I'd best wait for a bit. Everything was likely fine and he was worrying too much. Gou and Hana might have stopped by the Iwatobi camp site on their way back and were just late. It wouldn't do to go raving over there all concerned and have Gou be alright. He'd only end looking like an over reactive, overprotective boyfriend or…Or husband. He shook his head with a slight frown. It wouldn't do to think like that.

So he forced himself to wait. He flicked on the TV but even if he had been able to understand the language, he wouldn't have been paying attention to it anyway. He tried to distract himself by going over which swim members would be doing what in his head again but that didn't take much time at all. He fiddled with his phone, looking through his old messages and missed calls. That reminded him he needed to call his mother soon. He hadn't spoken to her since the first day he had arrived and since then he had been purposely avoiding making that call. Trying to explain to her that he had gotten married while drunk was really not a conversation he wanted to have. He could call and try not to mention that but he was afraid of slipping up and accidentally saying something that would lead to him having to confess. So for now he had just been avoiding any contact. International calls were expensive anyway. If anyone asked, that was his excuse.

Seijuro looked to the window. The wind had picked up and rain was now lashing against the glass. It was looking pretty nasty out. The Iwatobi boys were going to have a rough night.

And still no response from Gou. Maybe she just hadn't checked her phone yet? If that was the case then…

Seijuro scrolled down to her name. He had never called her before. They had only texted. If she saw him calling she would know something was out of the ordinary and answer. He hit the call button and waited, finger tapping on his knee as he listened to the ringing, leg moving more rapidly as the ringing dragged on.

Voicemail.

He flipped the phone closed without leaving one. She wasn't avoiding him. Gou wasn't the type who would do such a thing and she had never failed to respond to his texts before. If she wasn't answering it was because she didn't have her phone with her.

Maybe she had fallen asleep? That didn't seem right. Maybe she was in the shower? For this long though?

He scrolled through his contacts but foolishly he had not thought to get any of the other Iwatobi members' phone numbers. It had never crossed his mind before. Since Gou and him lived together he had always just communicated through her. Now he was kicking himself for not having the foresight to get anyone else's number. Then again even if he had they likely wouldn't have their phones with them or turned on considering where they were currently staying. They're probably asleep by this point too.

He tapped his fingers against his knee some more. There was no helping it. Like the night Gou had gone out to the bar, he would not be able to settle until he knew everything was alright. He stood up and reached for his sandals. He may end up looking like a complete idiot, going over there and everything being alright, but he'd rather have that than something actually be wrong. If he was lucky it would just be something stupid like she had left her phone on vibrate and forgot to check it.

Outside the hotel the rain and wind was worse than he had thought. The cold rain was coming down in thick torrential sheets and the wind was buffeting. The sky was pitch black and there was a heavy atmosphere to the air. He hadn't brought an umbrella with him but thankfully Gou's hotel was not too far from his own.

Inside Gou's room it was dark. Knocking on the door brought no one and as he peered through the window he could see no one was there. All three women were absent, including the teacher that had come with them. Luckily Sasabe's room, which was next door to Gou's, did have lights on.

To Seijuro's slight surprise, it was Amakata who answered the door. She blinked. "Mikoshiba-san?"

"Sorry to disturb you." Behind the teacher Sasabe appeared, dressed in a Hawaiian shirt of too many bright colors. "Is Gou here?"

"Gou?" Amakata blinked some more. She looked up at Sasabe. "N-no, she isn't. W-we thought she was-"

"We thought she was with you," Sasabe finished for her.

Seijuro shook his head. "I haven't seen her since she left this morning. Did she not come back here?"

"She hasn't been back here," said Amakata. "She didn't have her phone with her so couldn't call her. We assumed since she hadn't come back here that she had gone off with you…"

Seijuro shook his head again. "She hasn't been with me." He turned towards the bay. They couldn't possibly still be out there, could they? Had something happened to them?

"Well, I'm sure it's fine," said Sasabe, calm and collected. Seijuro was glad for it. He was already on edge and Sasabe's lack of panic was somewhat reassuring. "Her and Hana are likely down at the Iwatobi camp. If they got caught there in the rain they'd wait for the weather to die down before heading back." He reached for his shoes by the door. "Still, we should go down and take a look just in case."

The two men headed down together. Amakata stayed behind. The teacher had wanted to come but Sasabe insisted there was no need for her to come and get soaked through too. "Don't worry, we'll be back shortly," Sasabe reassured her and reluctantly she had agreed.

"What time was Gou supposed to be back?" asked Sasabe as they went down the stairs.

"Sunset."

Sasabe's face twitched in consternation but when he spoke his voice was still calm. "I'm sure it's alright. Gou's a smart and responsible kid." He paused. "Well, most of the time she's a smart and responsible kid. I'm sure she just got sidetracked with the Iwatobi boys."

Seijuro hoped so.

They got down to the beach and to say the weather was nasty was an understatement. Seijuro had to shield his eyes from the rain being swept into his face and in front of him Sasabe's Hawaiian shirt was getting whipped about like a colorful sail. The sea was a frothing wild mess, the waves clashing violently against each other.

"This is one heck of a storm." Seijuro could scarcely hear Sasabe over the wind and rain. "I don't think I've seen one this bad in about ten years."

It was slow going along the beach. The wet sand made walking difficult and they were constantly being battered by sharp gusts of wind and cold sheets of rain. The lack of visibility didn't help either. Seijuro's clothes stuck to him like a second skin, thoroughly soaked.

Faintly ahead of them they could see the yellow of the tents. The yellow canvas was rippling greatly and the whole structure was jerking a bit but both tents were still holding firm. At least the Iwatobi boys were safe and sound. It would be bad if they got caught out in the storm.

"Both tents are still up." Sasabe nearly had to shout to be heard. "I bet they're there."

I hope so. Seijuro peered into the bay. It was so dark he could barely make out anything, not even the islands. And then suddenly something flashed. Out in the center of the bay, a pinprick of sudden light. It waved erratically and it almost looked like a…a

A flashlight.

"Sasabe!"

The coach turned. His mouth fell open. "Is that…"

Lightning flashed and for a moment it lit up the bay. There was a boat. A small familiar boat that was hardly the size of a bathtub getting tossed and pitched violently in the unruly waves. And two small figures clinging to it.

"Don't tell me they're in the bay!" Sasabe cried.

A large swollen wave rose above the boat. The craft tilted dangerously and spun, dragged full tilt into the trough of the wave. Then the wave came crashing down and, as it did so, the boat flipped, dumping its two occupants into the churning waters.

Seijuro started forward. He tore off his shirt and threw it to the sand; it would only cause drag and slow him down. He kicked off his shoes.

"Mikoshiba!"

"Go get the authorities!" Seijuro moved into the waves. The water wasn't cold but it rocked him almost as soon as he dove into it and he struggled to keep his footing in the shallow water.

"That's dangerous!" Sasabe tore off his Hawaiian shirt and was coming in after him. "You can't go in by yourself!"

They swam in the direction where they had seen the light come from. The waves kept smacking into Seijuro's face and they pushed him in different directions, dragging him with them.

"Swim beneath the surface!" Sasabe's voice came from slightly behind him. "It'll be calmer beneath there!"

He did as the othersaid. It did eliminate some of the push and pull, and the waves smacking into him, but it was harder to see where he was going and where the figures in the water might be. He kept below when he could but rose up frequently to check his direction.

The two figures had been driven apart. They bobbed in the waves, struggling to stay above the water as their bodies rose and fell with the swells.

Seijuro approached the closest one. "Gou!"

She turned slightly in his direction. It was her. "Miko-" The rest of his name was swallowed by the wave that smacked into her, ducking her under.

He dove beneath the surface to go after her and a moment later he snagged onto her jacket. Pulling her to him, he rose above the surface, fighting to keep them steady against the onslaught of the waves. "Are you alright?!"

"I-I'm fine." She coughed against his chest. "Where's Hana-chan?!"

He searched for the other girl and spotted her several meters from them. Sasabe had gone past him and was already quickly approaching Hana. "Sasabe's got her."

Quickly he surveyed their surroundings, seeking the dark forms of the islands. There was one to their left. It wasn't very close but it was the safest place to swim too, they would have to head there. He turned back to call out to Sasabe.

Just in time to see the large wave crash down on top of the other two.

"Sasabe!"

It swallowed them completely and desperately Seijuro's gaze roved over the waves. Did they…

A moment later he spotted them. Further away, washed quite far from him and Gou, Sasabe's hand was in the air waving to him, signaling they were alright. The coach began to swim in the direction of another island, Hana beside him. Those two were alright.

Now Seijuro had to take care of himself. And the girl in his arms.

Holding onto Gou, Seijuro started towards the island.

By the time they reached the island Seijuro was exhausted. He stumbled rather than walked out of the surf and once they were clear of the water, he collapsed into a sitting position, one leg splayed out before him and the other bent at the knee. Gou lay in his arms, her upper body against his chest and abdomen, her legs between his own.

He sat there for a bit catching his breath. Gou was shaking against him. Whether it was from cold or exhaustion he didn't know. Probably both. God knew how long they had been stuck in that boat battling that storm. She was soaked through and all she had on was her jacket and bathing suit. The rain had not abated either.

"Hana-chan," she said quietly. Still worried about her friend. Seijuro hadn't seen what had ultimately happened to the other two but they should be okay. Sasabe was a good swimmer and experienced besides. If Seijuro had made it with Gou, Sasabe should have been able to reach the other island with Hana.

What to do now?

Suddenly Seijuro remembered something. He had left his phone in his pocket. If it was still working he could call Nakagawa or one of the other members. They would be able to alert the local authorities for help. One phone call and they could be off this island in no time. If his phone still worked anyway. It was a long shot but…

He reached into his pocket. At the removal of his arm and his shifting Gou looked questionably up and she watched as he pulled out the phone.

"Shit." As expected it was dead. The salt water had taken care of that. The phone was pretty much nothing but a paper weight now. Well, that's out.

He looked about the island. Supposedly there were still buildings on the islands, he had heard Nagisa talking about it when he had come to look at their camp. Even if the buildings were abandoned and empty it would be better shelter than sitting out in the open under the rain.

He found one a moment later. A tall circular building on the far corner of the island. A lighthouse. Perfect.

"There's a lighthouse over there." He tilted his head in its direction. "Do you think you can walk to it?"

Gou stretched up to see where he indicated and nodded once she caught sight of it. Her teeth were chattering too hard for her to talk it seemed. Seijuro, in nothing but shorts, felt the cold as well, and while he didn't think it was cold enough for hypothermia to occur, he wasn't about to risk it. They had to get out of the rain and somewhere dry, and right now their best option was that lighthouse.

The lighthouse was on a tall cliff but luckily a path remained that was still relatively clear and smooth leading up to it.

"Lysandros." Seijuro read the name off the sign posted above the door.

"It's the western most island," said Gou. Her teeth were still chattering and she was hugging herself to try and keep warm. "I think this island was used more for monitoring maritime traffic in the bay than for tourism."

She would know something like that.

It was dark inside but even Gou didn't hesitate going in, her desire to get out of the rain stronger than any fear of the darkness. That didn't stop her from huddling rather close to Seijuro however, not that he was complaining about it. From the little he could see in the the dim light, the lighthouse was not too big. Just two small adjoining rooms and a nook to their left.

Gou pointed to a nearby wall. "A flashlight."

It was more of a lantern than a flashlight. It worked surprisingly enough, giving Seijuro the impression the lighthouse must have been abandoned only a few years ago. Or the authorities had placed the lantern there for people in emergencies like Gou and himself.

The glow of the lantern revealed he had been right in his earlier assessment. The lighthouse was composed of two small rooms, one being a mesh between dining and kitchen and the other a mix of bedroom and living room, and a little nook in the corner. There was an old looking fridge and stove, as well as a small table and some chairs. Two small beds had been built into the wall in the bedroom area against windows and across from them Seijuro could see winding stairs that lead up to what he could only assume was the top of the lighthouse and a slightly ajar door revealed a tiny bathroom.

Well, it's definitely better than nothing.

"It isn't bad," said Gou. "It's just like a little ca-cab-" Her face scrunched and she sneezed, followed by a huge sniffle. "Oh jeez."

That wasn't a good sign. She was still wrapped in her sodden jacket, likely too embarrassed to take it off with just her swimsuit underneath. He had to get her out of those wet clothes but wasn't about to demand that she do so.

Two small closets had been built into the wall by the beds and Seijuro headed there. If there was likely to be anything that could be used in place of Gou's jacket, it would be in there. And he was right. In the closets were two blankets. Old blankets that looked a little scratchy but blankets none the less.

"Here." Seijuro held one out to her. "Use this to warm up. You're likely to catch a cold in that jacket."

Sniffling, Gou took it from him. "Thanks."

He turned his back while she slipped her jacket off, making sure to keep his eyes on other things until she had wrapped the blanket about herself. Her bathing suit she left on but that was fine. It would dry quickly, unlike the jacket. She shuffled over to the chairs, wrapped up in the blanket like a cocoon, and draped her jacket over it to dry.

She looked over at the small kitchen area. "Do you think there's any water?" Her stomach growled and she grimaced, as though embarrassed.

Seijuro smiled a little. "Sounds like someone's hungry."

"You can't blame me," she said shrilly, as if she had to justify her hunger or something. "I haven't eaten since around early afternoon."

That was a long time ago. Come to think of it what time was it now? Honestly Seijuro didn't have a clue. It could have been eleven or close to the AM for all he knew. If his stupid phone worked he could have checked. If there's blankets and a lantern here there's bound to be some food too.

He moved into the kitchen to search, starting with the lower cabinets. Gou moved past him to check something herself but Seijuro didn't look up to see what she was aiming for. The lower cabinets were pretty much empty for a few bottles of cleaner. Not exactly a good thing to drink if they wanted to remain among the living.

"Seijuro," said Gou.

His first name? Seijuro paused in surprise. She's never called me by that before. She had always addressed him as Captain or Mikoshiba or a combination of both. But this time she had called him by his first name. Hearing her addressing him so familiarly suddenly, it made him feel exhilarated and his heart rate to speed up.

She stood in front of an open door that appeared to be the pantry and, when he looked over, she gestured up. On one the higher shelves there cames the gleam of the lantern light on cans. She was too short to reach them.

"Oh, good."He retrieved the cans and found that behind them were several bottles of water. Once he had brought them to the table they were able to see what the cans contained.

Pineapple and mackerel.

Gou's eyelids lowered to half mast. "You have got to be kidding me."

Seijuro did his best to suppress his laugh, although he didn't miss the glare Gou shot his way.

Her hunger must have been stronger than her annoyance for she still proceeded to eat the stuff. Together in fact. Seijuro's lip curled as he watched her place the wet pineapple slice over the top of the chunky fleshy looking fish.

"You're really going to eat those together?" How disgusting.

Gou shrugged as though it were completely normal. "It's similar to what I've been eating to begin with at the camp."

How a piece of canned mackerel and canned pineapple smeared across it was similar to pineapple pizza Seijuro had no clue. He managed to choke some of it down, enough that any flickering signs of hunger that were developing were quelled. Unlike Gou, who ate it without hesitation. Not that Seijuro was surprised. Being around the Iwatobi boys for so long she must have been exposed to some truly awful food stuffs.

When she had gotten her fill, she yawned and sniffled. "What do we do now?" She looked towards the window. "Looks like we're going to be here for the night."

She was right. It was still raining and even if it wasn't Seijuro wouldn't have felt comfortable making the swim back to the shore in the dark. While he wasn't afraid of the ocean he didn't have any strong desire to go swimming around in water where he wouldn't be able to see anything around him. "We should get some sleep." He turned to the beds. "Those don't look too bad."

They weren't. They were a little hard but not bad enough that sleeping would be next to impossible.

"It'll do," said Seijuro, sitting down and bouncing to test it. "Better than sleeping on the floor anyway."

He got up to allow Gou to get in. She crawled in and perched at the head of the bed. "It's not half bad. Kind of cozy. Almost like being on a window seat." She wrapped the blanket more tightly about herself. Her head lowered. "I hope Hana-chan and Goro are okay."

"I'm sure they're fine." Seijuro sat down on the edge of the bed. He chuckled. "I bet they're better off than we are now. You know Sasabe. He's tenacious. I wouldn't be surprised if they're back at the hotel already."

She laughed a little. "Yeah, you're probably right." She sobered. "Sorry about your phone."

"It's alright." It wasn't an expensive piece and he could easily replace it once they got back. Although having to get all his swim team members' phone numbers again…Now that was going to be a bit of a pain.

"H-How did you know we were out there?" Gou asked him.

He opened his mouth and then closed it. He wasn't sure how to answer that, not without saying all the thoughts that had been running through his head when he had been sitting in his hotel room.

"I thought something might be wrong when you hadn't shown back up," he said instead. "Sasabe and Amakata hadn't seen you either. Sasabe and I were actually on our way to check the Iwatobi camp site when we happened to catch sight of you in the bay."

"O-oh." She was silent for a moment. Then, quietly, "Thank you for saving me."

He smiled. She didn't need to thank him for that. At all. "You're welcome." He patted her knee and rose. "Get some sleep. We'll figure out a way back in the morning."

She took a deep breath and sniffled. "Okay." She squirmed and wiggled to lie down and get comfortable, coughing a tad.

Through the window of his own bed Seijuro could see the rain was starting to disperse a bit. There were even some breaks in the cloud cover and stars were peeking through. If they were lucky the storm would end shortly and be long over with it by the time the sun arose. Seijuro hoped so. Gou didn't sound so good and having her going out into the rain and getting soaked again would only cause her to get worse.

We'll deal with that in the morning. Seijuro lay back on the bed and tried to get some sleep.

Early morning found them standing on the beach overlooking the bay. The sky was clear and blue, the sun was shining bright, and the water was utterly calm, still to the point of being mirror like. If Seijuro hadn't known any better he would never have thought such a strong storm had occurred last night. There didn't seem to be any lingering evidence of such a storm having come through here.

Across from them stood the mainland and the hotels. It was still early. Most of Samezuka's swim team might be up but they would be doing other things. They likely wouldn't notice his absence for another hour or more. Stupid phone.

Further down the beach were the Iwatobi tents'. If any of the Iwatobi boys had been up and about Seijuro might have been able to wave to get their attention but so far he had not seen any sort of activity from there. The boys might have had trouble sleeping last night due to the storm and were now sleeping in late.

Slightly behind Seijuro Gou stood. She had traded in the blanket for her jacket once more, but despite having the jacket on and the warm sun beating down on her she was still shivering and sniffling. "I don't think I can swim that far," she said.

The distance between the island they were on and the mainland was a fair distance but not exceptionally far. Regardless, Seijuro wouldn't have asked her to swim, not in the condition she was in. On the other hand he should be able to easily. If he had been able to swim as far as he had yesterday in the midst of a storm then swimming this distance now under clear skies with calm waters shouldn't be a problem at all. Besides, he was supposed to be a competitive swimmer. If he couldn't manage this he was pathetic. Even if he was running strictly on the energy from canned mackerel and pineapple. Ugh. He hated thinking about that.

"It's alright. I'll go to the shore and bring back help." He stretched his arms over his head. "Wait here."

She was staring at his back for some odd reason. In fact she seemed to be utterly transfixed and her eyes had a strange sparkle to them. "Gou?"

She started. "Huh? What? Yes, I mean of course, great. I'll just…I'll just wait…over here." She coughed and shuffled away a few feet. Was she actually blushing or was that just the heat?

Seijuro started into the water. The temperate of the water was pleasant and it provided no resistance. It was easy swimming and he was making good time, but he could feel fatigue pulling at him. Last night had taken a lot out of him apparently.

He was a little over halfway to the mainland when he spotted the boat. It was leaving the shore and presently coming into the bay, and by the colors and designs on its hull, it had to be one of the local authorities. Seijuro stopped in the water and waved to it, gaining its attention shortly afterwards.

The authority guiding the boat didn't speak Japanese and Seijuro didn't speak the local language, but they each spoke enough English they could communicate well enough.

"So many out during a storm," commented the authority after Seijuro had told him about Gou and they had started heading in the direction of that island. "I picked up two others already." The authority clucked his tongue in reprimand.

Two others? Could that be… "Were the two others you picked up a young girl and an older man? He'd have a dark star in his hair?"

The man said a word that Seijuro recognized as yes. "I picked them up and brought them back already." He glanced back at him. "You know them?"

Seijuro nodded and the man shook his head. "Crazy foreigners. What were you doing out in the middle of a storm?"

Seijuro chuckled dryly. "Fishing."

Gou was still standing on the beach when the boat pulled up. Seijuro reached out a hand to help her in. The waves made the boat unsteady and Gou wasn't so steady herself due to her not feeling so well. The boat rocked and Gou stumbled into him. He steadied her and they sat down a little heavily, Gou's side nearly pressed against his own. It was just as well for, when the boat really started up, so did the wind. Gou shivered and huddled closer, her upper half leaning over his legs and near his chest. Using him to help block the wind. Well, Seijuro wasn't complaining. He'd be more than happy to help block the wind if she wanted him to.

They were halfway to the shore when the boat suddenly made a turn to head further into the bay. The man grumbled something in his own language, followed by, "Crazy foreigners."

Seijuro blinked. There were others out there? Besides Sasabe and Hana, and Gou and himself? He leaned back to look. Indeed there were. Four figures were in the middle of the bay, seemingly in the process of swimming from the middlemost island to the shore. One of them was using a kickboard and another one was swimming freestyle. Four of them and one swimming freestyle…

Gou looked up. "Is that…"

"Iwatobi." Seijuro finished for her.

And it was. A few minutes later the four had safely entered the boat and taken a seat, with Rei and Nagisa next to Gou and Haru and Makoto across from them. The four boys were puffing with exertion and looked absolutely exhausted but they were unhurt. For some reason the only one out of the four of them wearing proper swimming jammers was Rei.

"Gou." Makoto sounded just as surprised to find her there as she was at finding them, which Seijuro could only assume meant the Iwatobi Captain had been totally unaware of what had occurred. "What happened to you?"

"We had some boat trouble," Gou said simply. She had not moved from Seijuro's side and despite Iwatobi being there had not distanced the space between them either. "Why are you guys out here? What happened?"

The four boys looked hesitantly at each other, as though unsure about how to answer. Rei cleared his throat. "It was I. I was-"

"We were swimming," Haru interrupted him. Rei looked his way in surprise but Haru didn't glance back.

There was a second of silence. "Swimming?" Gou sounded like she couldn't believe it.

"Yes," said Haru.

"At night?"

"Yes."

"In the ocean?"

"Yes."

Gou stared at him for a long moment but Haru's stoic expression did not flicker in the slightest. Makoto was pursing his lips and Rei's mouth was strangely hanging open though. The Iwatobi boys could be really weird sometimes.

Gou shook her head and the next instant she voiced Seijuro's thought aloud. "You guys are so weird sometimes."

But for some reason all that did was make them laugh.

He was running along the beach, doing his early morning jog – because he's a swimmer and swimmer's like to stay in shape, damnit, despite Nitori complaining it was too early - when he saw it. The two tents. Just as Gou had said. He almost hadn't believed her when she had told him where the Iwatobi boys were staying, and it had been even less believable when she had told him where they were swimming. He couldn't fathom how Makoto would have agreed to such a thing, not with his fear of the ocean. A fear Rin understood all too well.

He wasn't jogging along the beach because of that though. Absolutely not. It just happened to be a good jogging path. That was all.

A noise drew his attention and he looked towards the bay. A boat was coming in, a boat that looked to belong to the local authorities, with several occupants aboard. From where Rin was standing he could see the blue haired boy known as Rei and Haru sitting in the boat though none of the others past them.

"What the heck are they doing?" Shaking his head, thinking some mysteries were better left as such, Rin continued his jog.

I did some research into how many competitors a swimming team can send into each swimming event but the only concrete evidence I could find said four so I decided to go with that. If anyone has any experience with this or knows for sure please let me know.

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favorited, or followed! Seriously you guys are way too kind considering how long this fic is taking. Hopefully now things will start to speed up.