Let's not talk about how many rewrites this went through (so, so many...)

Anyway, it's finally, finally done! *lies down forever*

Seijuro had never, and didn't believe he would ever, call himself a kind-hearted person. He didn't think he was cruel or mean-spirited — he had never gone out of his way to hurt anyone and there was no one he actively disliked – but he did not consider himself a particularly kind individual either.

There were times, for example, when he didn't mince words. There were times when he didn't spare feelings. Sometimes he could be so straight forward it could almost be considered cruel.

Seijuro didn't believe in handling everything with kid gloves and sometimes, he had come to learn, people wouldn't accept a situation until they were told the harsh truth.

When Matsuoka, after Seijuro had finally managed to pull him aside upon the boy's late return from wherever it is he had stepped out to, demanded to know why Seijuro had decided to remove him from the relay, Seijuro told him the truth.

"You haven't paid any attention to your own relay team." He turned to look at the other boy directly. "You're focused on something else."

By the look on Matsuoka's face and the stunned silence that followed, it was a truth that maybe he himself hadn't even known. People will often forget or simply fail to realize what they do in fact have when they become so utterly fixated on one thing. That is until they lose whatever it is they do have. Maybe Matsuoka was starting to realize that as well.

"I'm sending our best members out there," Seijuro said without waiting for a response. "That's what a team should do." He straightened from leaning against the wall. "Right now you…you are not at your best condition."

It was a harsh truth. It was a very harsh truth, but it was one Matsuoka needed to hear.

"You can focus on the 100m free tomorrow." That race Seijuro couldn't remove him from. Matsuoka would have to compete no matter what. Even if his heart was no longer in it.

"You can't," Matsuoka began, words barely audible, but he stopped there.

It seemed that despite everything Matsuoka still wasn't quite daring or foolish enough to challenge his authority. That part, at least, was good. It would make things a lot easier. The last thing Seijuro needed was to get into an altercation with the brother of the girl he liked. Even if she didn't like him.

"I'll see you in the morning." He left for his own room without waiting for the other to find his voice. There was nothing left to talk about anyway. Seijuro had made his decision. Matsuoka was no longer capable of winning and Seijuro wasn't about to let him drag down the rest of the team as well.

Because winning was what was most important.

Seijuro planned to do just that.

The stadium was packed the next morning. So packed that, despite the stadium's massive size, seating was becoming a scarce commodity. By the time everyone sat down there was likely not going to be an empty seat in the house.

So many people. Gou stood on her tip toes to survey the area around her. Hopefully they would be able to find some seats, otherwise they were going to be stuck standing the whole time. And hopefully the boys' don't get stage fright. She had expected more people would show up for this event than the last one, of course, but not this many people. It was like the whole town had shown up to watch.

Not seeing any seats in sight, she looked back over her shoulder. The boys had not shown up yet, not that she and the others had arrived much earlier either. Getting motivated this morning had been hard, especially for Gou and Hana. They had stayed up late last night to take care of some crucial things.

Like the new banner for instance! Since it was the boys' last big competition before they headed home it deserved some extra effort and so Gou had gone the extra mile to make a new one. They had better appreciate this one! She had made this one less colorful and also left out any of Haru's drawings so he wouldn't act like he was being personally oppressed. She had attempted to draw her own Iwatobi-chan instead, although Hana's less than flattering comment about Gou's art skills had been a little disparaging. Clearly Hana has no idea how to appreciate good craftsmanship. She had been buying those awful dolls for example.

Then the other reason they had stayed up late…

She glanced over to where the Samezuka team had taken their seats. The swim team must have arrived early to get all those seats together for they took up almost an entire section alone. Seijuro hadn't made an appearance in the stands but it was likely he had already gone below to prepare for the preliminary ceremonies. He wouldn't come up to join the rest of his swim team until the free races began.

I still have some time yet. She tightened her hands. It would be after that, after the free races and before the relay competition started, that she would put her plan into motion. She shook her head with a grimace. Thinking about it now was only going to give her stomach cramps. There was still a while before that happened and there were other things in the mean time she had to focus on.

Like the free race! Her brother was competing after all! There was no way she was going to miss that.

Even if he has been a real pill lately. Last night, when he had texted her suddenly out of the blue saying there was something he needed to ask her, she had thought that he must have become remorseful and was going to apologize. The guilt had finally got to him and he had been unable to sleep because of it clearly, and he had finally built up enough nerve to text her about it. If there was one thing Rin hated to do it was admit when he was wrong, but he always did eventually. So Gou had waited on pins and needles for the forthcoming apology text to come. When her phone had finally dinged its ugly little sound, she had hit the read button with the conviction of a mad man.

'Can you give me Rei's number'.

That little…She had resisted the urge, barely, to smash her phone against the wall.

Regardless she had still provided Rin with the number. Why he wanted to talk to Rei of all people she had no idea. The two had hardly ever had any interaction with each other as far as she was aware, much less one-on-one interaction, but she knew better than to ask about it. Prying into whatever it was Rin was trying to do with Rei would only cause him to back out of it completely, and even if Rei seemed like an unlikely candidate for him to open up to at least he was talking to someone. Maybe Rei would be able to help him in someway. She had no idea how but maybe…

"Oh, good," said Goro next to her, jerking Gou back into reality, "there they are."

Almost as if on queue the boys had appeared at the top of the steps. They had finally shown up. Not that that they had minds or eyes for anything but the giant pool spread out before them. The whole lot of them were standing there with their mouths wide open.

Gou went over to break them out of their H2O stupor. "Good morning!"

"Morning!" The greeting was returned by Nagisa, Makoto and Rei. Haru was far too busy peering around himself to acknowledge her properly. He had to be looking for Rin. He's going to be looking for a while then. She hadn't seen her brother at all. He must have gone below with the other Samezuka competitors.

"It's about time you arrived," Goro scolded. "The opening preliminaries will be starting soon, you know. You're late."

"Sorry, Goro-chan! We…stayed up a little too late last night, you see!" Nagisa's laugh was a little strained.

"That is not something I need to know about," Goro decreed.

"We weren't doing that, Goro-chan!"

As the two were distracted bickering with one another, Gou leaned in close to Rei. "Did something happen with my brother last night?" she whispered behind a hand.

He straightened, as if surprised she knew about it. Rin must not have told him how he managed to get a hold of his number. Figures.

"Uhhh, no." He glanced away. "We just agreed to both do our best today."

She was about to ask what that meant – there was no way Rin would bother both him and her in the middle of the night for something as miniscule as that – when Hana walked up. "We found seats for everyone!"

Oh, good. Now they wouldn't have to stand the entire time.

"Let's get going then!" Goro turned to head down to their aforementioned seats. "We don't have much time before the free races start!"

The free races. Time was ticking by faster than Gou would have liked. It wouldn't be long now. Then she would have to confront Seijuro. She clutched the schedule in her hand.

Next to her – too caught up in her own emotional dilemma to pay much attention – she vaguely heard Makoto say, "If we win today, we head to nationals."

"Can we win?" followed Nagisa's equally as quiet response.

"Hey!" Goro's sudden exclamation made them all jump. He was even using one of those paper megaphones meant for birthday parties to amplify his voice. Amakata had bought them so they could cheer on the boys with. "Don't wuss out now!" he bellowed. "Stop worrying about the outcome!"

He was talking to the boys, and while Gou was well aware of this, she couldn't help but pretend he was talking about her and her current situation. Don't worry about the outcome, huh? She nodded sagely to herself. If she worried too much about the outcome she wouldn't be able to even get to it. Whatever happened happened and she would deal with it once she got to it. The important part right now was simply getting to it.

"Just be free!"

She wasn't entirely certain how that applied to her current situation but it sure sounded like good advice!

"Swim to your hearts' content! Swim so you have no regrets!"

Yes, yes! Gou fisted her hands. Goro was right! Well, not about the swimming, at least not for her, but making sure she had no regrets. Even if Seijuro ended up rejecting her…well, at least she had tried! It would hurt but if she didn't say anything to him then she would really regret it. Trying and failing was better than never having tried at all!

The boys seemed to agree with her, as they chorused out, "Yes!" to Goro's speech. It had apparently inspired them too. They no longer looked nervous and overwhelmed but determined and excited.

Gou still ended up standing along the railing with Hana, Yuko, and Yuka despite Hana having found seats for them. Sitting made it almost impossible for them to see the entirety of the swimmers for the opening ceremonies whilst they stood at the front of the pool and Gou was too ramped up to sit properly anyway. Her antsy constantly moving legs would have only annoyed everyone.

All the competitive swimmers lined up together at the front of the pool, as overhead the speakers crackled into life, a speech following from some official or other about the race. Seeing all the competing schools standing lined up together sure made Iwatobi seem so small and insignificant though. Their small amount of members standing there in the sea of other much larger schools made it look like they were just lucky to be there. Other schools had numbers of competing members nearly in the twenties.

Like the German school. Gou recognized a face or two among the sea of blue jerseys they stood in. There were so many of them it was almost like they were hosting a competition simply amongst themselves. She had never realized they were that good. Must be because of the training camp. She gave herself a mental pat on the back for that one.

It didn't take long for her to spot the other swim team she was looking for. They were easily recognizable by their telltale black jersey with its red and white accents and how they stood in the very center of the large swimmer group like this show was all about them.

"There's Mikoshiba-san." Hana pointed.

Gou had already caught sight of him. Standing at the very front of the Samezuka group, he was easy to spot by his flaming red hair and height, and just seeing him alone made Gou's heart attempt to do a reenactment of a mariachi band inside her chest. It hadn't been very long at all since she had last seen or spoken to him, but seeing him once more now made her realize how much she had missed him. She had grown so used to seeing and speaking with him every day.

Still, regardless of her own happy feelings, there seemed to be something off about him and after a moment she realized. There was no expression on his face. His visage was blank, severe almost in its stiffness. It was a far cry from his usual countenance, and an even further one from the happy exuberance he had displayed at the first round of competition when he had yelled out her name.

"Where's your brother?"

Gou started at Hana's words. She had been so caught up in looking at Seijuro she hadn't thought to look for her brother yet. "O-oh. He's uhh—" She stopped.

If Seijuro was expressionless and stiff, then Rin was simply downtrodden. Being as far away as she was even Gou could recognize that. His eyes looked blankly ahead and down, and while he wasn't exactly frowning, he definitely wasn't smiling either. Seeing him like he was, Gou might have thought he had already raced and lost if she didn't know any better. Normally nothing ever got Rin as fired up as racing did, but for some reason today he just looked like he didn't want to be there at all. What the heck is going on?

The opening preliminaries didn't last too long and the swim teams soon dispersed for the free races to commence. The Samezuka members filed into their seats amongst the stands and among them was Seijuro. He took a seat at the end of a row near the back.

Good. Everything was going according to plan. Gou and the other girls would watch Rin race and then after that, before the relay started, she and the other girls would pull Seijuro out of the Samezuka crowd. Gou had it all planned out perfectly. Yuka or Yuko, preferably Yuka as she hadn't made any comments about Seijuro's good looks, would be the one to retrieve him. Because, while Rin didn't know Yuko or Yuka, Seijuro did. Even if her brother came up to the stands right after his race there was no reason for him to suspect anything if one of those two girls pulled Seijuro aside. With a bit of luck Seijuro would follow without questioning and Gou would be able to talk to him in private.

A bit of luck. She tensed her hands. In retrospect she might need a lot of it.

Rin's race wasn't until the third heat of the free event. Gou remained standing with the other girls for a better view, allowing the boys to take her seat as she watched the first and second heat with mild interest. Finally the third heat rolled around.

"It's Rin-chan's turn!" Nagisa pointed.

"Yes," Haru agreed. His tone was unusually upbeat, like he was looking forward to seeing Rin race as well.

Under different circumstances Gou might have paid more attention to it, but she was too preoccupied yelling out her own encouragement. "You can do it, big brother!"

The swimmers lined up along their starting blocks. "Set!" said the loudspeakers. The whistle sounded. The swimmers dove in.

"He had a late start?!"

Makoto's voice came from behind Gou and for a second she had no idea what he was talking about until all the swimmers were underneath the water. Rin had started out late. Only a few seconds but he was already behind.

"He'll make up for it on the turn," said Haru, still upbeat like he expected the best out of Rin.

Across the way Samezuka was chanting their cheer. They were using the same megaphones as Iwatobi. Only red, like their school colors. Nitori was cheering notably louder than the others.

The swimmers made the turn, passing onto the second and final leg of the race. Yet Rin didn't close the gap. Not even close. If anything it had only widened further.

"Rin…" Haru's voice was much quieter now.

"Is something wrong with him?" asked Makoto.

There is definitely something wrong. Gou clutched the edge of the railing tighter. To her right Samezuka was still cheering, "Last spurt, last spurt, last spurt!" She glanced over to the bobbing red megaphones. Seijuro wasn't using one. He wasn't cheering either. He sat in silence, his expression solemn, like he had expected this.

The race came to a floundering end. Rin was so far behind some of the swimmers were already climbing out before he touched the wall. He surfaced panting and wheezing, as if the race had drained the very last out of him.

"What exactly happened to Rin?" asked Goro. "That doesn't seem like him."

"Brother…"From this distance Gou was unable to discern if the sounds coming from Rin were coughing or sobbing. Maybe a bit of both.

This was not the swimmer from the last competition. Not the swimmer who had beaten Haru and oozed triumph, the one with his shark-tooth rip-current smile and salt water temperament. This swimmer wasn't triumphant nor smiling. This swimmer couldn't even lift himself out of the pool without falling in several times.

Haru suddenly shot to his feet. Without a word to anyone he made a running beeline for the exit.

"Haru!" It didn't take long for Makoto to follow after him and within a second Nagisa and Rei had joined him. "We're coming too!"

"Where do you suppose they're going?" Yuka asked of the four running off boys.

"The bathroom?" suggested Yuko.

That's not right. If they were going anywhere they were going after her brother. After what had happened in the race… Gou had never seen Haru run with such urgency before.

"Looks like Mikoshiba-san is leaving too," said Yuka suddenly and Gou quickly jerked in that direction. Several Samezuka members were heading for the exit to head down below. One of them was Seijuro.

What the…What was he doing heading down below already? His race wasn't for a long while yet. She knew because she had formulated her plan around that. Was he going down just to make sure everything was in order and offer encouragement?

Damnit! If Seijuro stayed down below for too long her whole plan would fall apart. He's going to ruin everything!

"Gou! Look at this!" Hana thrust a piece of paper at her, pointing a finger repeatedly at one spot. It was the pamphlet for today's races. Gou had looked over it briefly upon arrival but hadn't paid too much attention to it. She already knew when all the races were and who would be competing in them.

Why was Hana bringing this up now? Couldn't she see they were in a crisis?

"What does this have to do with anyth—" She stopped. She squinted at the place Hana indicated.

The relay line ups. They had been changed. Or more pointedly Samezuka's line up had been changed. Her brother's name had been removed. And in its place was…

Seijuro's.

For a moment she could hardly breathe. Seijuro had removed her brother. He had removed her brother and entered himself instead.

She raised her head to look at the exit Seijuro had disappeared through. He must have made the change last night. Maybe even as late as after her brother had texted her. Otherwise she would have heard about it in some form or another. Of all the people competing against her swim team, it was going to be him.

"Who do you want to go after?" asked Hana.

Gou turned to look at her.

"Your brother?"

That was right. Gou's initial plan was no good now. With Seijuro sswimming in the relay she would only have time to go after one of the two boys before the race started.

In that case… She crumpled the paper with its declaration of relay names in her hand."Brother will be fine. Haruka-senpai and the others will take care of him." Out of everyone they would be the best at knowing how to handle her brother and his situation. She had always believed that. Nothing had changed that.

And besides, right now she had more important things to deal with.

"We're going after Seijuro."

They made their way down to the locker rooms. It was easy to find by the multitude of other swimmers making their way there as well and so they mostly just followed the crowd of jerseys through the halls. They searched for Seijuro as they went but no one saw him nor a single other Samezuka jersey.

"Did they go below already?" asked Hana.

They must have. Gou arched on her toes to see over the crowd, searching for Seijuro's tall frame, but she saw no one that matched his description. He must have been walking fast. With his long legs he already did have quite a fast pace but this was ridiculous.

They made it all the way to the entrance of the locker rooms without seeing him. "Are we going to go down there?" Yuka sounded more excited than wary as she gestured down the stairs.

"We have to!" compelled Hana. "Mikoshiba-san might leave otherwise!"

"But boys get naked in the locker room." Yuko whispered the protest like it were some sort of secret. "We can't go down there!"

"We have to," said Gou. Naked boys or not, she wasn't about to let something like this stop her. They would have to go into the locker room. Taking a deep breath she took a step forward.

"Miss, miss!" Three men dressed in some sort of uniform immediately came over to block her path. By the looks of the handcuffs and flashlight on their belts they had to be some sort of security guard. "I'm sorry, miss," said one of them, "but I'm afraid you can't go down there."

Gou had never anticipated security actually guarding the locker room. What were they possibly guarding against, crazed fangirls? Then again here she was trying to go down there where boys got naked to harass one of them…

"I—I just need to talk to somebody real quick. It'll only take a second."

The guards didn't budge. "I'm sorry, miss, but it is a restricted area."

"Ah, come on!" Hana stepped up next to Gou. "We just need to talk to one of the swimmers really quickly. Can't you make an exception?"

"It's a bit of an emergency, you see!" chimed in Yuka.

"I'm sorry, but I cannot allow you to go down there."

"Why the heck not?! We just need to talk to him!"

"It'll only be a moment!"

"I have money!" blurted Yuko.

As the girls argued with the three men, Gou leaned to peer around them. Down the hall she couldn't see Seijuro at all. He had already gone far below. Very shortly he would be at the pool. Then she would never be able to get close to him.

She fisted her hands. This was her only chance! She wasn't about to let something superficial like the law stand in her way.

"That's my husband down there, damnit!" She shoved the guard in front of her. "Now get the hell out of my way!"

"Man, I wonder what happened with Matsuoka." Noro stretched his arms above his head, tilting first one way than the one to loosen his back muscles in front of the changing lockers. He had forgotten to put his swim suit on. "I knew he was having a hard time but not that bad. That was pretty painful to watch. I wonder what happened."

Seijuro grunted in response. Removing Matsuoka had definitely been the smart and the right thing to do. He could see that for certain now, not that it made him feel any better about it. He frowned at the blue lockers in front of him.

"But man, am I excited!" exclaimed Noro. Poor word choice for someone who was currently fully nude. "We're going to be swimming in a relay together! That's so awesome!" He looked at Seijuro with such delight he sort of resembled a My Little Pony character Seijuro had caught his sister watching once or twice. "I can't believe I get to swim with you, captain! I'm so…so, so happy…" He dissolved into sniffles.

"Don't cry, Noro," said Ueda. "And for the love of God put some pants on. We're racing, not going to an onsen."

"I-I'm not crying!" Noro wiped a hand across his nose. "A-anyway I'm sort of surprised you would enter the relay, captain," he continued in a more normal tone. "You never seemed interested in participating before."

That was true. Solo races had always been more Seijuro's style. Normally he was happy to leave the relay race to the other talented team members of Samezuka but now, against someone like Haru and Iwatobi who they had already lost once to, what choice did he have? "I am only hoping to insure a victory," he said. "That's all."

The simple response brought a laugh from Noro and Ueda an approving smirk. "I wouldn't expect anything less from our captain," said Ueda, tossing his goggles over his shoulder and heading off along with Kawamura to the pool.

Indeed. That was what being a captain was all about. Delivering victories. Anything else was strictly secondary.

A group of swimmers walked by, chattering in a language he vaguely recognized. He glanced up. The German swimmers who had joined in on the training camp. They were competing in the relay too apparently. Gou's little adopted team.

The thought of the Iwatobi manager made him cringe. It wouldn't be long now before she found out what he had done, if she didn't know already. Although he hadn't received any angry text messages from her nor had she tracked him down demanding to know why he had done it. She must not know yet.

Well, she'll know soon enough. If Seijuro was truly lucky he'd be able to escape before she had a chance to hunt him down and yell at him.

Noro finally managed to get dressed and together they moved down the hall to head to the pool. "I sure hope they're filming this." Noro picked at a knot in his goggle straps. "I bet it's going to be one heck of a race."

Seijuro thought of Haru and the rest of the Iwatobi swimmers. "It will be," he agreed, "but so long as we stay focused we'll definitely win for sure and then—"

"Seijuro!"

He froze. His eyes widened. Oh, no. He had heard that voice before. Many, many times before. Everyday for the past three months he had heard that voice. I'm a dead man. Slowly he glanced over his shoulder.

Gou. She stood on the path that lead down to the lockers. Her hair was wild and frazzled, like she had been running through the woods or fighting or something, and she was looking animatedly around herself, searching the crowd of swimmers in the hall. Behind her stood Hana and the two other debate team girls, and for some reason a couple of aggravated looking security guards.

Shit. Guess he wasn't so lucky after all. She had come all the way down here to yell at him? And she had brought reinforcements too? She had to be really, really mad.

He turned to flee. "T-time to go."

"Huh?!" Noro gaped between him and Gou. "B—but isn't that, uhhhh—"

"Seijuro!" Gou's yell came more imploring this time. She must have caught sight of him. "Seijuro, wait!"

Hell no. He swallowed. He could feel himself starting to sweat. She was going to kill him.

"Damnit!" he heard her curse behind him.

Good. Hopefully she wouldn't be able to catch him. He had much longer legs than her and he should be able to outrun her. Once he got to the pool he would be safe and—

Something hard smacked into the back of his head. "Ow!" He blinked rapidly, hissing at the pain. What the hell had that been? He glanced downwards to the missile. A shoe. A girl's shoe. Gou's shoe to be exact. He turned accusingly. "What the hell?!"

"I said wait, you ass!"

"First you throw your shoe at me and then you insult me?!"

"Well, it got you to stop didn't it?!" She hobbled over to him.

He still bent down handed her back her missile shoe. "What the hell are you even trying to do?"

Across her face flickered something he wasn't sure how to describe. For a moment she hesitated then she opened her mouth, but before she had a chance to answer one of the security guards suddenly came over to them. "Sir, are you this woman's husband?"

For a moment Seijuro didn't know how to respond to that. "Uhhh…" There was no way the guard would know something like their marriage offhand. Which meant Gou had actually told him about it?

His gaze slid over to her. She was giving him a pleading look, still clutching onto her shoe like it were a favorite teddy bear of her's rather than a dirty piece of footwear.

"H—husband?" Noro squeaked.

Shit. Seijuro had forgotten the other boy was there. And now he had heard about the marriage. But then…Gou didn't seem very concerned whatsoever about the other boy's presence. She hadn't glanced Noro's way at all.

Seijuro brought his attention back to the guard. "Yes, I'm her husband."

The guard didn't seem convinced by this. Not that Seijuro could blame him. What kind of idiot made up a story about two teenagers who were virtual strangers marrying each other? No one would believe that.

Something caught his eye and he snatched Gou's wrist. He held up her left hand. The ring sparkled from around her ring finger. "See?"

The guard still didn't look convinced. "Where's your ring then?"

"I don't wear it when I compete." That was…sort of true. He didn't have a ring so of course he wouldn't wear it while he raced.

The guard frowned. "Alright," he conceded after a moment. "But don't take too long! Non-competitors aren't supposed to be down here."

"Of course."

The guards departed to wait at the entrance and Seijuro took Gou aside, leaving a very befuddled Noro in the hands of Hana and the other girls to distract. He was pretty sure Noro wouldn't mind that.

"What the hell are you doing?" he hissed once he got Gou to the side. "You could have gotten arrested for that!"

"I know that, damn it!" She blew air through her teeth. "B—but it couldn't wait! I had to tell you something!"

He raised an eyebrow. "You invaded a boys' locker room in the midst of a huge competition and risked possible imprisonment just to tell me something?"

His tone must have bugged her, for she shot him a dark glare. "Yes! It's important, damn it! Don't be an ass!"

"I'm not! But what would you have done if you had gone to jail, huh?"

"Joined a gang?" she suggested. "I don't know! Who cares, that isn't what's important!"

Seijuro had a hard time believing that wasn't important but well, if she insisted. "Fine. What is it then?" If she told him something like 'I left the stove on' or 'I lost my key, can I borrow yours' he was going to walk away, jump in the pool, and just sit there for a while.

She straightened. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, struggling it seemed to get the words out. Across her face red was starting to bloom. "It—It isn't so bad."

Seijuro tilted his head. "Huh?"

"I—I mean being married to you," she clarified. Her face was red as a tomato. Her gaze darted all around the room, looking anywhere than directly at him. "It isn't so bad."

Seijuro stared at her.

"I—I mean the situation was horrible," she continued when he didn't respond right away. "At times it was. Because of my brother and everything, I mean, and it wasn't like we had exactly planned any of this. Waking up one morning to find out you had gotten drunk and married someone you barely know…I mean who does that, right?" She laughed awkwardly.

Seijuro didn't laugh with her. He stared at her like she was speaking in a language he didn't recognize.

"A—anyway, even though we ended up creating a pretty horrible situation, not just for ourselves but for everyone else as well, despite all that, you...being with you that is." She coughed like something were clogged in her throat. "That was never horrible."

Seijuro's brain was having a hard time functioning. "But you—" What was she trying to say here exactly? He had no idea what was going on. "I thought you wanted to forget everything? Isn't that what you wanted? You wanted to pretend like it never happened."

She made an exasperated noise, eyes rolling to the ceiling as if reminded about something stupid she had done. "I didn't mean it like that when I said it! I meant forget about my stupid drunken mistake and all the chaos it caused. I didn't mean forget about you! How could I? Why would I?" She finally looked at him directly. "You've been the best part about this whole thing."

For a long moment Seijuro couldn't bring himself to respond to this. His thought processes seemed to be short circuiting. "Are you saying that…" He couldn't finish the thought.

Somehow Gou seemed to pick up on what he was getting at regardless. "I just don't want our relationship to be defined by a piece of paper," she said. "I want us to be together because we want to be, not because we have to be. I don't want our relationship to be based off one mistake."

Relationship. That word rushed in like a current and he felt a sudden urgency. The same sort of feeling he got when he was about to win a race he hadn't thought he would be able to. Do something, idiot! If he didn't do something now he might miss an opportunity that he may never get again. "It doesn't have to be," he said. "We can make it whatever we want it to be."

Gou smiled. For some reason she looked relieved at hearing him say that.

"What we did at the beginning, that may have been a mistake," he continued, "but I don't think anything else afterwards was. Everything that happened afterwards was because I wanted to be with you, not because I felt like I had to be. I never felt like that, and whether we decide to get divorced or stay married or…or whatever, I don't care. I mean so long as I get to be with you that is. That's all I want. I was always glad to be with you and I…" He worked his jaw. The words were getting stuck in his throat. He had been waiting to say them for so long and now that the moment was here he was getting tongue tied. His face was starting to heat up. He forced himself to speak, heartbeat drumming in his ears. "I want to continue being with you. Even after we leave here. Even when we get back home. I don't want to pretend like nothing ever happened."

Fuck, that sounded lame. She was probably going to laugh at him again. But Gou didn't laugh. Instead she bit her lip. No response was forth coming.

Had he said too much? Maybe he had been completely wrong and totally misread the signs, and she was trying to think of a way to let him down gently.

It was only until a second later that he noticed she was biting her lip in an effort to fight the smile that threatened to encompass her whole face.

"I don't want to pretend like nothing ever happened either." Her hands clutched self-consciously at her hair. "Even if the marriage did start out a mistake, what happened afterwards – what became from it - that wasn't. In the end I think that's what truly matters and when I think about it that way, I'm really…glad it happened."

Really glad it happened.

Seijuro closed his eyes. He made a soft sound of amusement, a smile creeping up on him as well.

This was the last thing he had expected. The very last thing. He had given up, truthfully, but now…

Maybe rather than finding a pearl they had managed to somehow create one instead. All pearls only start out as one tiny annoying little grain of sand after all. It was what happened afterwards that truly made them truly magical.

"Captain!"

The sudden distressed calling of Noro made Seijuro turn. Maybe the girls were trying to remove his swimsuit or maybe he was trying to get them to.

Noro pointed frantically down the hall. "The relay race!"

Shit. The relay race! He had nearly forgotten about it. It was starting. He turned back to Gou. "We'll talk more later," he promised her.

She nodded. "Okay," she said. "Good luck."

The words made Seijuro stiffen. Out of all the things she could have said she had to say that. Damnit. He had to tell her now. And truthfully he wanted to tell her. The truth that is. The whole truth. All the time even if she would get mad about it.

"I removed your brother from the relay team."

She blinked. "Huh?"

"The relay team," he repeated. "I removed Rin from it. It was me." He grimaced, waiting for her sure to be less than approving response.

"Oh," said Gou. "I already know about that."

That…was not the reaction he had anticipated. "You're not…mad about it?"

"Well, I'm not happy about it," she admitted. She shrugged. "But I understand. You have to do what's best for your swim team. No one can blame you for that. Winning is what's most important."

"Ah," said Seijuro. Boy, that was a relief. He wasn't going to get dumped after two whole seconds of being with her and he wasn't going to get smacked either. Although the way Gou said that last part, it sounded almost sad.

The security guards approached intent on escorting the girls back upstairs. It was time to go. "I'll see you later," said Gou.

"Alright." He lingered to watch them go and as Hana passed him she shot him a grin and a thumbs up, making Gou turn bright red and scold her for it. The two other girls scuttled past, giggling behind their hands and unable to meet his eyes.

"Captain." Noro appeared next to him, positively frazzled. "Captain, what the heck is going on?" He gestured up the stairs. "Who was that?"

With the girls now headed up the stairs, Seijuro turned to head towards the pool and the race that awaited him. He smiled.

"My wife."

Yay! It finally happened! *throws confetti* This was so hard to write, good lord, but hopefully it turned out alright considering how long it's taken!

Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed, Favorited, and followed, and especially to those who have stuck around since the beginning! It really means a lot to me that anyone has taken an interest in this fic, with it being so long, the long time between updates sometimes, and it being word vomit. The kind words and encouragement really mean a lot to me and I appreciate everyone sticking around for this ungodly long fic! Thank you so much!

I am guesstimating 3-4 chapters left, but I am horrible at guessing so this is probably wrong haha.