Random Anime One-Shots

Strange (Free! Makoto Tachibana)

Such a nice day, I thought as walked past a park. The sun was shining and it was early summer, before the really hot weather had really started.

Suddenly, the sound of laughter drew my attention. "Come on, you can do better than that!" a playful voice said. After a quick scan of the area, I didn't see the source of the voice. I did, however, notice a group of kids standing next to a couple of trees that were quite close together.

"You move too fast!"

"I'll get you this time, Sis!"

"Aw, man! I missed!"

Each child standing under the tree was holding a small object in their hands; my guess was that it was a ping pong ball or at least something of a similar size. They all were looking up at something in one of the trees. Or more accurately, someone.

Standing there on a branch was a girl who looked about the same age as Rei and Nagisa. She wore just a plain gray t-shirt and some old, well-worn jeans. In a way, it almost looked like she'd dressed just to come out here and play around in the trees.

"Don't tell me you're going to give up already?" the girl said, standing up on one of the branches. She wasn't holding on to anything, so I was a little worried she'd fall. "You guys have improved a lot since the last time." Last time? This must be a game for all of them.

"No way!" a little boy shouted out, throwing the ball in his hand at the girl in the tree. The mysterious girl effortlessly jumped to another branch, just barely dodging his throw.

The girl laughed. "Nice one, Akito!" With another seemingly effortless move, she was hanging upside down from the branch she'd jumped to. "Kyo, Seiji, Kanna? You care to take one more shot today?"

When the other three children nodded, the girl stood back up on the tree branch. After dodging two of the throws, she finally noticed me watching. She stared at me, forgetting about the children under the tree. While she was looking at me, the last child's ball hit her right on the forehead.

Caught off guard, she lost her balance and started to fall.

(Girl's POV)

I'd been shocked to see someone watching our little game. It was even more shocking when one of the kids actually managed to hit me. Before I knew it, I'd fallen out of my tree. All I could do was wait for the pain of hitting the ground. But that feeling never came.

Instead, I'd landed on something soft, almost like... a person.

Opening my eyes, I found myself face to face with the boy I'd seen watching me. I didn't move, just stared at the wide-eyed expression he had. That was when I noticed it; when I'd fallen on him, my jaw collided with his, with our lips meeting in a kiss.

Finally regaining my senses, I leaped off of him. "I'm so sorry!" I said, apologizing over and over as his face tinted pink. The boy opened his mouth to speak, but a voice behind him spoke first.

"Way to go Mako-chan!" An energetic blonde boy stood next to a tall boy with glasses. My guess was that the three were friends. But I had no clue why the blonde boy was cheering; I'd just fallen on top of his friend.

"Nagisa, I think that was just an accident," the glasses boy stated. He seemed to be one of those intellectual types. Seeing him pushing up his glasses only supported that theory. "If that kiss had been intentional, she would not have apologized."

"No fun, Rei-chan," the one named Nagisa pouted. Now that I thought about it, weren't Nagisa and Rei usually girls' names?

As I watched the two boys with girly names, I couldn't help but laugh. Turning to the boy I'd landed on, I noticed his face was still red and he hadn't moved. "Well, since you made me lose the game, I think you should apologize," I giggled, offering to help him up. "My name's Kaoru."

"Makoto Tachibana," he told me, his face quickly going back to its normal color. "I'm very sorry for interrupting your game."

As he bowed slightly in apology, I laughed again. "I was joking about apologizing." With a giggle, I leaned up and planted a kiss on his cheek, making his face go red again. "You're forgiven, Mako-chan," I giggled before running off. Makoto Tachibana... I'll definitely remember you, and I hope you remember me the next time our paths cross.