Disclaimer: I do not own Free! - Iwatobi Swim Club.
I hope you enjoy the story. :) I was also thinking of making it a longer story, but I'm not sure yet.

Red Fish Scales

Rain was pouring from the gray cloud covered sky, the drops of water were small yet they pounded down on Haruka's black haired head as he stood watching the turbulent sea. Haruka knew that Makoto would not be happy with him at the moment. He would tell Haruka to take better care of his health and berate him about not using an umbrella. For that matter Makoto would question him about why he didn't just stay inside in the first place.

Haruka had longed for a source of water that was better than his bathtub. He wanted to fully submerge himself in water and he achieved that as he stood in the rain. It took a lot of imaginative skills but he somehow attained that sensation in the thickly falling rain.

It was as Haruka was watching the violent sea that he saw something odd. The object was far out in the sea and at first he thought it may be a piece of garbage that someone must have rudely thrown into his watery love. His blooming feeling of anger quickly dissipated however, when he noticed the object didn't look like someone's thrown trash.

The object rose higher out of the water and Haruka could see water drenched blond curls. The being's head was high enough out of the water that it allowed Haruka to see its profile. Haruka did not shout out to the figure nor did he dive into the ocean after the person. He couldn't help but feel like this person was okay in the wild water, almost like they were a part of the water. And Haruka had the feeling that if this person truly needed help then they would be moving their arms around in distress in an attempt to stay afloat and not get pulled under, perhaps even shout out for help. No, this being's head simply bobbed up and down as the waves washed over it.

Then the figure turned around as if they knew he was watching them. Haruka could not make out the face from this distance, but he could see two faded red almost pink circles that must have been the person's eyes. Their eyes met and when they did, the figure out in the sea seemed startled.

Lightning flashed across the sea causing Haruka to blink rapidly to recover from the blinding flash. The sound of booming thunder filled his ears as a tall wave descended down onto the blond figure. Haruka inhaled deeply allowing a slight look of surprise to penetrate his usually emotionless face.

As the figure disappeared into the wave, a red scaled fish's tail shined in the lightning and translucent tail fins reached upward toward the sky as the being dived downward into the water. The word mermaid surfaced into Haruka's mind as he stood under the pelting rain, silently pleading for the being to resurface.

When the being did not resurface and the storm whirled around him in demented fury. Haruka decided it was high time to get back inside. He reasoned that after a warm bath and a belly filled with mackerel he could ponder more over that mysterious fishy being.