Pool Problems
"Aidios." Machias breathed quietly in a moan. "This isn't fair."
"Don't know what you're talking about buddy, everything seems pretty damn perfect from where I'm standing." Crow snickered. At least he did before he received an elbow to the gut.
"Behave." Jusis muttered, lowering his arm back to his side with a tut of disapproval. Of course he threw a glare at Machias too. "Both of you."
Rean could only sigh beside them all while Machias and Jusis began to bicker, though he silently agreed with Machias on the matter.
The boys, along with the rest of Class VII, were loitering around the edges of Thors' swimming pool. Though related, the issue that had started the latest bout between Jusis and Machias wasn't so much in their attire for the swimming lesson as something else … aesthetical. They were all clad in their school issue swim wear, which left no one out where personal finance or taste was concerned.
No, the problem very much lay in the fact that it was both the boys and the girls of Class VII that were taking this lesson together.
If Rean looked one way, he'd find Laura's toned, athletic torso. In another direction lay Emma's generous curves, and yet another had Alisa's sleek physique.
It was cruel. It was unfair. It was torture.
At least it seemed that everyone else was having the same issues that Rean was having. He noticed that the other boys bashfully yet steadfastly refused to look at the girls at all unless they were addressed directly. Well, all the boys but Crow of course, though Jusis and Gaius were doing their very best to keep him in line. Machias and Elliott were too preoccupied trying to keep their own gazes honest and pure to notice anyone else's predicament it seemed.
Though when Rean did happen to glance the girls' way, he found that they too had all simultaneously found a sudden, intense interest in the light fixtures or what was going on outside the windows.
Like the others, Rean did his very best to keep his eyes directed at nothing in particular. It was going about as well as he could have hoped for – he'd counted out the number of tiles that lined the pool's edge at least twice – that is, until a certain Instructor crept into his field of view.
"Alright, we all ready to get wet, kiddos?" Sara smirked, hands on her hips and that familiar twinkle of mischievousness in her eyes.
Rean couldn't help but blink multiple times in near disbelief. He was well aware of how, ahem, 'well formed' his Instructor was, but seeing her in a skin tight swimming suit was something else entirely. It left very little to the imagination. The curve leading up from her hips up through her stomach and into her bust was just exquisite …
"Urgh, do you have to phrase it like that?" Jusis complained with a scowl.
"What? Don't be such a sourpuss, Albarea. Do you want that frown to end up glued to your face your whole life?" Sara smirked. "Besides, we're all adults here."
"We're seventeen." Elliott corrected her in a wavering voice. Rean was surprised he'd even mustered the courage to speak at all from behind his hands.
"Eh, close enough." Sara shrugged. "Besides, you'll be going out into to the big, wide world on your own soon enough. You'll need to be able to cope with a few harmless little innuendos here and there. It's good to expose you all good and early."
"Is that … Is that really something we need to be taught about?" Laura asked with a dubiously raised eyebrow.
"It is in my class." Sara clapped her hands together. "Now, less yapping, more swimming!"
Sara ordered them all to take it in turns getting into the pool and racing each other. Everyone was paired off according to Sara's approximations of their abilities. Rean had to hand it to her, her assessments were pretty much spot on, every single race was a pretty close run. As his classmates went through their drills two by two however, Rean noticed a problem. There were eleven students in Class VII, not enough or too many to make even pairs. The longer the session went on, the more Rean realised that he was fast becoming one of the last to be picked.
"Hmm." Sara rubbed at her chin in intense thought when it was down to Rean, Laura and Gaius as the only ones left to race. The rest of Class VII had already done their lengths and were trying to recover their breaths at the far side of the pool. "It hardly seems fair putting our champion swimmer with anyone really," Sara smirked, "but how about Laura and … Gaius."
Laura nodded. "I'm fine with that if you are Gaius?"
The Nord looked a tad uneasy. "Sure thing, just- go easy on me, ok?"
The swordswoman merely laughed and turned to go to her starting block.
Gaius sent Rean a 'help me' look as he passed him by.
Rean would have chuckled more at his friend's plight, but he had a sneaking suspicion that he wasn't out of the woods himself.
"Erm, Instructor?" Rean asked carefully as he approached Sara.
"Yes Rean?" Sara answered as she smirked at a somewhat nervy looking Gaius getting into place beside the ever cool and confident Laura.
"There, err, there's no one else left but me. Am I not swimming today then?" If he'd have known, then he wouldn't have bothered to get changed at all.
A light chuckle. "Oh Rean, you don't think I've forgotten about you, do you?" She gave him a look that was simultaneously delightful yet terrifying. "You'll be racing me, of course."
"Wha- You?"
"Uh huh." Sara nodded. "I am, in fact, me."
"But I- But you-" Rean stuttered fast to nowhere.
Sara flashed him a suspiciously innocent pouting look. "What's the matter? You're not afraid of taking little old me on, are you Rean?"
"I- Instructor, you're- you're a bracer." Rean reminded her.
"I was a bracer." Sara corrected him. "I'm your most beloved and gifted Instructor now."
"You know what I mean. I- I don't have a chance against the Purple Lightning." He stressed her nickname slightly to emphasise his point.
Sara eyed him carefully over her smirking. "You know it doesn't really matter if you win or lose, Rean. What matters most is that you give me your all." Then Sara's expression became more serious. "And you're so much more capable than you think you are. Just get in that pool with me, and show me what you can really do."
Try as he might, Rean knew that he couldn't deny her anything. He sighed to his feet, before lifting his head up and setting his shoulders. "Alright, I'll do my best to do you proud, Instructor."
"Atta boy." Sara gave him a wink. "You never know, with a bit more confidence like that, you might even beat me."
xxx
In the end, it wasn't even close.
Rean had tried, he really did, but Sara was just too damn fast for him. Lightning by name, lightning by nature she was. He was just thankful that she hadn't electrocuted him. He wouldn't have put it past her if she could actually do that. She also had unreal stamina, beyond what any normal human ought to have. She'd gone for a couple of extra lengths on her own just so she could, quote: 'show all you kiddos how it's done'.
Rean meanwhile was left clinging to the tiles at the pool's edge just so that he didn't go under. He didn't think he had the strength left in him to swim back to the surface if he did.
"Hard luck, Rean." Gaius gave Rean a commiserating smile as he knelt down at the pool's edge. "I reckon you did better than the rest of us at least."
"Well, maybe not any better than Laura anyway." Fie smirked to Gaius' side, giving him an elbow to the ribs. "She's practically a fish that one. She thrashed you almost as bad as Sara did Rean."
Gaius scowled at the white haired girl a little but clearly opted to ignore her. "You need a hand getting out?" Gaius offered kindly.
"Nah … I'm good." Rean did his best to hide his panting. "Just … need a minute. Go on without me."
"You sure?"
"Yeah …" Rean nodded. He didn't much fancy getting out of the water just for his legs to collapse out from beneath him on land. "Go on. I'll catch up."
Gaius and Fie wandered back to the changing rooms to join the others.
Just as Rean was finally getting his breath back, the waters around him shifted and shimmered.
"You ok, Rean?"
Rean turned to find Sara smiling at him a little bashfully as she drifted through the waters to join him at the side of the pool. The damn woman was hardly panting at all!
"Yeah, course I- course I am." Rean offered a weary smile back, trying his hardest to keep his panting as shallow and as minimal as humanly possible.
Something was clearly bothering Sara still. "Please don't feel down, Rean. There's not many people in all of Zemuria who can beat me in a race."
"Yeah, I could tell." Rean smiled. He shook his head softly. "I don't know how you get so fast."
Sara smirked at him as she leaned back against the tiled wall, her legs kicking softly in the waters below. "Honestly, I'm not all that sure myself. Sure, a lot of it comes down to good old fashioned practice, but I've always been faster than most people. It's just one of my many talents." She threw him a wink.
Rean chuckled just a little.
"Just remember, you're still young, Rean. You've got your whole life ahead of you to get stronger, and faster, and better at pretty much everything. It just won't happen overnight, you know? You've got to practice and work hard at it."
"I know." Ren nodded. He breathed a chuckle. "You almost sound like Master Yun Ka-Fai. I'm pretty sure he said the same thing to me once, almost word for word too."
Sara sighed. "Sorry, I don't mean to lecture you all the time."
"Well, you are my Instructor." Rean offered with a small smirk. "It would be weird if you didn't."
Rean laughed when Sara splashed some water in his face.
"Alright smarty pants." Sara smirked. "You better be prepared for a lot more lectures coming your way in future then."
"I'll look forward to it." Rean found himself smirking back.
"Good boy." Sara winked at him again. Then her smile became so much more sincere somehow. "You'll get there. If you apply yourself like I know you will, then one day you'll be pretty much unstoppable, Rean."
Rean blinked. He had no idea what to say.
Then, Sara grimaced and reached up to feel at her neck.
"Instructor? You alright?" Rean asked, concerned.
"Yeah, yeah. Just think I pulled something a little." Sara moaned as she rolled her head around. "Probably didn't warm up as well as I should have. See? Even experts like me can make mistakes."
The Purple Lightning suddenly pulled her arms up and out of the water to stretch. Unfortunately for Rean, that also had the effect of further highlighting her athletic torso and impressive bust more than usual.
Rean knew he shouldn't, he knew he was crossing all sorts of lines, but he just couldn't help but look. The waterproof fabric clung to her body possessively, leaving absolutely no need for imagination. Every contour of muscle and supple flesh was highlighted in exquisite detail. Rean's eyes followed every motion of Sara's chest heaving delightfully as she sighed in bliss.
Then, she turned to look at him. Rean's heart froze in his chest. That look, that damn irresistible sparkle of mischief in her eyes was, was …
"Rean? You ok there buddy?" Sara smiled.
"Y- Yeah, I'm just" – his mind latched onto the first word he could think of, which incidentally was also the last word he'd thought of – "perfect."
"Oh, is that so?" Sara's smirk lit up in mischief. "Then I reckon you're up for one last race or two, aren't you Schwarzer?"
Oh no.
"Well, actually, I am still feeling pretty tired, Instructor." Rean grimaced out a smile. "And it wouldn't be fair to the others-"
"Oh no, you're not getting out of it that easily, Rean." Sara's smirk was evil as she grabbed his wrist and dragged him off towards the start line. "Come on, we're going again! Another length or two won't kill you."
"Sara, please!" Rean tried to resist, but he was a mere blade of grass fighting against a typhoon.
"Come on!" Sara sang with a cackle. "Hey, if you beat me this time, I'll let you off your homework for a whole month!"
Naturally, Rean didn't get the chance to even dream of such a prize. Sara demolished him by even greater strides the second time round.
Still, Sara was right though, another couple of lengths didn't actually kill him. Though by the end of it, Rean was so exhausted that he almost wished they had.