A/N: I hope you guys will enjoy this chapter and I'll try to update soon. As usual read, enjoy, review, follow and/or favourite!

Disclaimer: I do not own Free!

The sakura flowers floating in the pool looked pretty and bathed in the light of the setting sun lent it a dream-like quality. She'd been looking at Rin's face, waiting for his reaction at seeing the surprise his friends had planned for him. A multitude of emotions flashed across his face before he quickly turned away and lifted a hand to cover his face. Haru had explained to her earlier that when they were younger, Rin had told them that he wanted to swim in pool of sakura.

As the boys were goading Rin to swim despite the cold weather, it suddenly started drizzling and they all started running for cover. As it was, she ended up with Haru, Rin and Makoto while Gou, Nagisa and Rei were standing under the roof close to the exit.

"Have you thought about what you are going to do after graduation?" Rin asked.

"Nope, not really," Haru instantly replied.

"How can you not think about it?" Rin asked, frustration evident on his face.

Makoto laughed, trying to lighten the mood. "You are aiming to swim at international level right? You'll probably have to go to one of those prestigious swim school in Tokyo right?" It was obvious that Makoto was trying to divert talks of the future away from him and Haru back to Rin.

Rin nodded affirmatively and launched into his explanation but he was obviously determined to find out his friends' plans for the future. "So, what are the both of you going to do?"

Makoto smiled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. "I haven't really thought about it."

"What about you?" Rin suddenly shifted his attention to her. She'd been sitting down at the back, quietly listening to their conversation that it took her a few seconds to realized that he was talking to her.

"Mmm...I'm actually hoping to get into med school," she said, suddenly feeling a little embarrassed. The topic of where they were all going after high school had not really come up and this was the first time she had told anyone apart from her parents and her teacher.

Haru whipped his head around to look at her, an inscrutable expression on his face.

"That's amazing, Kyou. Your grades have always been very good anyway. What's your first choice?" Makoto asked.

"It's a long shot, I don't even know if I can get in but I'm aiming for the University of Tokyo."

"Heh, you're aiming really high but I think you're gonna get in otherwise you'd never put it as your first choice," Rin said, smirking.

Haru had kept quiet the entire time and she could feel his eyes burning holes into her. They had obviously not discussed what they were going to do after graduation. Whether they would still be together and give the whole long distance thing a try or would they call it quits. And to be honest, she didn't think Haru would care very much and she didn't dare bring it up.

"I agree with Rin. I think you'll definitely get in," Makoto smiled affably.

"I hope so. If I don't get in, I'll be in Kyoto University. It's almost equally as good. And it's closer to home too," she said, shrugging.

"I hope you'll be going to Tokyo as well. It'll be nice to have another familiar face in a new city," Rin said with a soft smile on his face.

She saw Haru's gaze sharpened instantly as he turned and tilted his head to look at Rin. Haru seemed to be mulling over something but as usual he kept quiet and didn't say much.

"Another familiar face?" Makoto looked confused.

"Oh, yeah, I have one or two friends who are in Tokyo and Shiori is considering furthering her studies in Tokyo as well."

"The rain has stop. Shall we go?" Haru suddenly interjected. He extended his hand to her, waiting for her to grab his hand. She quickly stood up and brushed the dirt off her skirt before taking his hands.

"See you soon, Rin. I hope you like the surprise even though you didn't get to swim," Makoto said, adjusting the strap of his bag.

Rin nodded, "Ahh... Thanks, Makoto. You too, Haru."

The following week was extremely hectic and they all barely had time to do anything other than practice and start working on their university application. Kyou could tell that Haru and Makoto were still undecided about their future and was under pressure to decide soon. Ever since the talk they had and Haru finding out about her future plans he had been even more pensive and withdrawn. She kept waiting for him to bring up the topic about her plans but so far he'd been keeping quiet. But between school and extracurricular activities, none of them had time to dwell on anything at all.

Because the weather is still slightly cold out, they'd been holding their practices at Iwatobi SC. Goro-san had been kind enough to let them use the pool. The Iwatobi SC had been bought over by Goro-san and had undergone major refurbishment during the past winter and it's finally ready to open it's door to the public.

As usual she had her textbook on her lap, studying and working on her homework while she waited for the rest to finish with their practice. She was so absorbed in reading her text she didn't realized that there was a big discussion going on until Nagisa called out to her.

"Hmmm? Sorry, I didn't catch what you said." She looked up from her textbook, surprised that most of them are out of the pool with the exception of Haru of course.

"Haven't you been listening? Goro-san is having a Splash Fest here as a way to promote the re opening of Iwatobi SC. We were just thinking of different kinds of events that we could do," Nagisa rattled on without pausing that she was worried he would pass out from the lack of oxygen.

"Ooh, that sounds fun. What have you guys came up with so far?" She put her books down and smiled indulgently at Nagisa.

"Hmmm, we have swimming competition for the kids with kick board, feudal era swimming competition with armors on-" Nagisa started.

"Let's not forget our Mr. Muscle competion," Gou interrupted enthusiastically.

Makoto frowned, "We'll need to promote the event to create awareness though. Maybe we can help with handing out and putting up flyers?"

Rei nodded, "That sounds good. We should get started as soon as possible."

"You guys let me know if you need my help with anything. As for right now, I really need to finish this," Kyou said pointing to her book.

After all the discussion had been done, they spent the weekend distributing the flyers and putting it up wherever they could and by the time they were done, it was almost evening. From the conversation around her, she figured it had something to do with not having any idea on what they should do for the main event yet. They bounced ideas back and forth and none was deemed good enough until Haru suddenly spoke up.

"We could showcase a relay race."

Everyone turned to look at Haru in shock before exploding in excitements.

"If we are going to do a relay then we would need opponent, wouldn't we?" Rei asked.

Nagisa and Gou exchanged knowing smiles. "Heh. Don't worry about that. Let's call Onii-chan," Gou said.

Gou took out her phone and put it on loud speaker as she dialled Rin's number. It rang 3 times before Rin finally picked up.

"Yea, hello?"

"Onii-chan! I've got a favour to ask from you," Gou started and that was all Kyou could catch because Gou started rambling and speaking really fast and she wondered if anybody apart from Nagisa understood what she said. It didn't help at all when Nagisa jumped into the conversation as well.

"Hah? Splash Fest? Slow down, I can't hear you," Rin said.

Kyou sighed and plucked the phone from Gou's hands. "Hey, Rin?"

"Kyou? What are they on about?"

She saw Nagisa opening his mouth and she lifted her hands up to stop him, motioning that she'll do the explaining. If she'd let Nagisa and Gou continued there would be no end to it.

"Yeah, you know Iwatobi SC is reopening right? As a way to promote the club, Goro-san is planning to hold a Splash Fest and there'll be many mini events on that day," she said evenly before continuing, "Anyway, for the main event Haru suggested that we do a relay showcase."

"And... We are hoping you'll be our opponent," Makoto finished her sentence.

She heard Rin sighed, "You guys..."

Nagisa and Gou immediately jumped in, "Pleaseeeeeeee..."

Rin sighed again, "I'll see what I can do. No promises though."

Gou cheered and Nagisa started whooping.

"Heh... You know you'll end up doing it for them anyway," she said teasing to Rin.

"Tch. Whatever. I'll let you guys know anyway. I'll talk to you all soon," Rin said before hanging up.

As expected, Rin agreed to participate in the relay and they had all agreed to meet at the Iwatobi SC in the morning. Makoto was uncharacteristically late and she and Haru was waiting for him to show up. About 10 minutes later, Makoto showed up, panting. Ran, his sister, was clinging on to his neck while Ren, his brother, was pulling him along.

"Sorry guys, these two decided to come along and they kept forgetting their things," Makoto said, out of breath.

"It's fine. Come on let's go," Haru said turning around.

"Kyou-chan! I want to hold your hands," Ren said, running towards her.

She smiled and extended her hand to him when she pulled back suddenly.

"No. I was holding her hands first," Haru said stoically before he looked away.

She laughed awkwardly, "Haru...," she admonished him.

"That's not fair, Haru-chan. You can hold her left hand and I'll hold her right hand," Ren pouted.

She laughed, ruffling Ren's hair and holding his hand, "Alright, come on or else we'll be late."

Haru bent slightly to look at Ren, "I'll allow you to do it this once."

"He can do it as often as he likes," Kyou turned to say to Haru. She laughed when he hmmphed and turned away sulkily.

"And I can be your boyfriend, Kyou-chan," Ren continued innocently as everyone laughed with the exception of Haru.

The rest of the group were congregated near the entrance when they arrived. Everyone was buzzing with excitement. Ran and Ren ran to greet the rest as they made their way to the group.

"These are yours," Gou said as she handed them the itinerary for the day.

"Looks like the turn out is quite good," Makoto commented looking at the crowd around him.

They all turned when they heard a commotion by the entrance. Rin walked in, an orange haired boy held in a head lock, making a ruckus as Nitori Aiichiro trailed behind.

Gou beamed and started waving and running towards her brother and Kyou saw the orange haired boy's eyes sparkled as he quieted down, his previous demeanor gone.

"Rin, thanks for coming," Makoto said as the rest nodded appreciatively.

"Y-you're really cuteee," the orange haired boy said, making googly eyes at Gou.

"Yo," Rin nodded at Kyou as she finally approached the group from the back.

She smiled, "Looks like you've got another guy to fend off from your sister," she said with a laugh.

At the sound of her voice, the orange haired boy's attention snapped to her. "Oh. You're pretty as well. I guess I'll forgive him for tricking me here. My name is Mikoshiba Momotarou. Nice to meet you, you can call me Momo," he said, pointing to Rin. Momo then immediately turned his attention back to Gou.

Rin tightened his chokehold on Momo. "That's my sister you're making googly eyes at."

"Sousuke-kun!" Gou suddenly said, running towards a tall, black haired boy. Shiori was walking next to him.

Kyou saw the black haired boy's gaze swept across all the guys before it rested on Haru. She couldn't decipher the look that flashed in his eyes before it disappeared. She couldn't help feeling a little uneasy at the look and she moved closer to Haru as she slipped her hands into his. She saw the guy's gaze turned to her and trailed down to her and Haru's hands.

"It's been such a long time since I saw all of you," Shiori tittered, glued to Rin's side.

"It's nice seeing you again, Shiori-san," Rei said politely and the rest murmured their assent.

"Anyway, I'll see you guys inside. I'll take this bunch to go change first," Rin said, dragging Momo who was enthusiastically introducing himself to Gou.

"Do you know him?" Kyou turned to Haru once the Samezuka group left.

"Yamazaki Sousuke? Not personally," Haru said.

"Oh, he looked at you as if he knows you," Kyou said, biting her lips.

"I wouldn't be surprised. Haru's one of the best when it comes to swimming, it's not a surprise if other swimmers know who he is," Makoto explained, shrugging.

"Kyou-chan, will you cheer for me?" Ren ran to her, arms around her waist.

Haru looked at him and Ren stuck his tongue out at Haru. Kyou laughed. The ever stoic Haru's composure were almost ruffled by a 9 years old boy.

She patted Ren's head. "Of course. I'll be sitting right here watching you and Ran."

"If I win, can I be your boyfriend?" Ren asked innocently.

Makoto laughed. "Do you even know what that means?"

Ren huffed. "O-of course. When you like someone, you ask to become their boyfriend. And you can play games together all the time."

"Hmmm. You'll have to ask Haru," Kyou said, pretending to be deep in thought.

"Haru-ch..."

"No," Haru cut him off.

"Fighting with a 9 years old over Kyou?" Rin asked, slinging his arm over Haru's shoulder.

Haru turned his face to the side and mumbled, "Not really, no."

As Rin turned to look at Kyou, his eyes slid down from her face to her shoulder and she saw his eyes hardened momentarily. She looked down her shoulders and saw the pinkish line of a scar on her shoulder. He must have still felt guilty.

"Wanna go get refreshments?" Gou asked.

Momo, Rei, Nagisa, Nitori and the kids went with Gou leaving only her, Haru, Rin, Sousuke and Shiori. They all shuffled around awkwardly before Makoto indicated that they should find a spot to sit. The awkward atmosphere probably came from Sousuke's presence. Even after being introduced, he was quiet and withdrawn, making it hard to start a conversation with him. The only person he spoke to was Rin.

"Are we still on for movies tonight?" Kyou overheard Shiori asking Rin.

"Yeah, 9 pm right? I'll come get you. It's dangerous for you to make the trek across campus at night," Rin shrugged.

Rin caught Kyou's eyes and she quickly turned away. It wasn't any of her business what they do together anyway.

"Rin-chan! Are you going on date tonight?" Nagisa teased, smiling slyly.

"Oi. What are you going on about? We are just hanging out," Rin said annoyed. She saw him looking at her again and she quickly ducked her head.

"Yea, hanging out just one boy and one girl. Do the math. It's a date, I tell you," Nagisa continued relentlessly.

"Tch. You're annoying," Rin said dismissively.

"I'm going to get a drink, you want anything?" Kyou turned to ask Haru.

"Yea. Just get me whatever that's available. Thanks," Haru said.

She turned around and asked if anybody else wanted anything and most of them wanted snacks.

As she got up, Rin got up as well. "I'll help you. There's too much stuff for you to carry alone."

"Thanks." She couldn't help but feel awkward around him. She was aware that he was scrutinizing her and she stared straight ahead, not wanting to make eye contact.

"How have you been?" he asked cautiously, as if testing the water.

"Good, good. Been busy with school work mostly." She kept her eyes so focused in front that it jolted her when she felt Rin's hands on her shoulder. "W-what?"

"The scar. Will it go away?" He asked softly. She felt jolts of electricity when his fingertips started tracing the diagonal line of her scars.

She quickly shrugged his hands off. "I'm not too sure. I'm sure it will go away with time."

He narrowed his eyes at her, "Is everything okay? You've been acting a little strange."

She snorted, "I am not acting strange."

"You are." He glared at her.

"Am not." She glared back at him.

Almost at the same time they both erupted in laughters.

"You're an idiot," he said.

"Am not."

"Really? Again? So what's wrong?"

"It really isn't anything. Just stressed about school and Haru has not mentioned what his plans for after graduation yet. So it kinda feels like limbo."

"Would his decision affect yours?"

"No, I don't think so. I don't know. It's just that it'll be nice to know if we are going to try the whole ldr thing or if we are going to call it quits."

"Ldr?" Rin looked confused.

"Long distance relationship," she said. "Who knows if we are even going to be together by graduation."

"Why wouldn't you be together with Haru?" His tone was serious.

Something in his voice made her look at him and she saw his eyes darkened. A swirl of emotions ran through her. She didn't want to put names to those emotions yet not when she wasn't even sure of what's happening. She kept quiet as they kept looking at each other.

"Is it just m-"

"Ah, onii-chan! Are you here to get snacks as well?" Gou suddenly called out, effectively cutting out what Rin was trying to say.

The moment was broken and she heaved a sigh of relief. She had no idea what Rin was going to say and to be honest, she wasn't entirely sure she wanted to know.

Too close. He had almost just started something he had no business starting. He glanced furtively at Haru, and was relieved to see he was somewhat preoccupied talking to Shiori. It wasn't his intention but the look in her eyes, it was almost as if she felt the same way and that was when he almost let loose the words Is it just me or do you feel this as well?

Rin lifted a hand to his face. It was cheesy as hell and he had almost propositioned his best friend's girlfriend. Something really needs to be done to stop all this. He had tried avoiding her and minimizing their contact with each other and obviously that didn't work out so well. He let out a string of curses, he knew that sooner or later something has got to give.

"You know, don't you?" A voice jolted Haru out of his reverie.

"What?" He said somewhat curtly.

Shiori nodded towards Kyou's and Rin's direction. She looked at him, studying his expression. When it was obvious that she wasn't going to get a response, she pressed on. "You know that Rin likes her, don't you?"

Haru kept quiet, his face a mask of stone. He refused to give her any reaction. It was obvious she was trying to get a rise out of him. And it wasn't like she was telling him something he don't already know. In fact, before she'd so rudely interrupted him, he was watching Kyou and Rin.

"Aren't you going to say anything?" She asked, clearly getting more and more frustrated. "It's because you're like this that she's going to end up leaving you," she said cruelly, sneering, when he still wouldn't look at her.

"What's in it for you? Let me guess. Rin?" He asked without so much as a look in her direction.

She looked taken aback. "It's not like that. I just don't want him hurt."

"So you're saying you don't like Rin at all in that way?"

She took time to consider before replying. "It doesn't matter how I feel. It's too late. I just don't want him to get hurt."

"And what do you think I should do? You're not being honest with yourself. If you didn't want Rin to get hurt, wouldn't you want Kyou to be with him then? But the fact that you're subtly trying to ask me to up my game just proves that you don't want Rin to be with Kyou."

"And are you okay with that? If Rin ends up with Kyou?" She shot back.

"Not that it's any of your business but all I can say is that I'd rather be alone than to keep someone who doesn't love me beside me. But as long as I know there's even a little bit of feelings for me, I'll fight for it till the end."

Shiori let out a bitter laugh. "I'm really almost jealous of her."

Haru turned away, signaling the end of their conversation. It was easy for him to say that but he really hoped that it wouldn't come down to that.