Free!Dom (Free! Fanfic/ONC Entry)

Irritating...

He honestly hated Nanase Haruna.

Thinking of how she treated Haru left Rin with an unpleasant feeling in the pit of his gut. Deep down he knew Makoto was right in saying Haru didn't care and yet Rin found himself caring. He hated how Haru always did what Haruna wanted him to regardless of the end results, but he also hated how Haruna disappearing made Haru fall to pieces.

Of course, Rin couldn't erase from his brain the resurgence of the memory of Haru dressing up as Haruna's twin sister back during their elementary school days.

"What's going on?"

Rin found himself staring at his sister whose maroon eyes were now inches from his. He'd walked into the Matsuoka family home thinking about one of his worst childhood nightmares and not remembered the others were there. While he welcomed the distraction from thinking about the memory, he also couldn't disclose anything. "Nothing."

"Come on!"

"I told you, nothing." Rin flicked his sister in the forehead and switched to speaking in English and said, "none of your business."

He was glad when everyone went home, and yet found himself relieved when he headed back to his dorm room at the Samezuka Academy as Gou hung over his shoulder pestering him about Haru. Getting back into the routine made him forget about the situation back home, and yet somehow it remained in the back of his mind. The fact Gou kept messaging him about what the nothing was didn't help.

"You're distracted."

Rin attempted blowing a semi-wet strand of hair from in front of his eyes. The last thing he needed was for the captain of the Samezuka Academy to get on his case. "No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are. You've been distracted ever since you returned. I thought you were looking forward to seeing your sister and your friends from the Iwatobi swim team?"

"It's nothing." Rin closed the locker in which he stored his swim gear and started walking out of the locker room. Mikoshiba Seijuro followed close behind.

"It's not nothing. Your starts are off slightly."

Rin swung his bag over his shoulder as they headed towards the cafeteria with the rest of the swim team so they could get something to eat. "I won't deny something happened this weekend."

"Is Gou-kun okay?"

"My sister is her usual annoying self." Rin let out a sigh and closed his eyes. "Speaking of which..." Rin reached into his bag as they entered the cafeteria and felt for his phone and pulled out the device; he could check back on Gou and her overzealous text now that the regular school day was done.

Seijuro narrowed his gold-colored eyes. "You aren't the type to normally check your phone?"

"As I said. Kou's been..." Rin stopped saying his sister was a major pest as he read her latest message.

"Haruka senpai took off for Tokyo to look for that Haru-chan pop idol. Makoto senpai and I are going after him. Don't worry about us missing class as the teacher knows we're going after him. Makoto senpai also has a program on his phone so we can track Haruka senpai down."

"Okay..." Seijuro reached for Rin's phone and plucked it from his hands. "You're jaw is hanging, so..." Seijuro's golden eyes took in the message. "Okay. Now I'm distracted. What is going on?"

"How the hell should I know?" Rin's voice strained. "I honestly have no idea what goes through Haru's mind sometimes."

Seijuro glanced at the phone. "Wait. Does Gou-kun actually mean that pop idol who went missing?"

Another member of the team and Rin's roommate stopped short upon hearing their captain speak up. Rin didn't pay any attention. "I really hate her."

"Gou-kun?" Seijuro looked at Rin in surprise. "She's your sister."

"Not her."

"How can you not like Haru-chan? She's sweet and pretty."

"She's evil." Rin also could erase from his mind that Haruna was a female Haru. That, and she got Haru to dress up as...

"Why are we having a conversation about that missing pop idol?" Aiichiro's mouth twisted in confusion.

"I don't know. Apparently, Nanase Haruka went looking for her and... yeah. Rin likely knows more than I do."

"Not really." Rin took his phone back. "Look. I'm going to step outside and call my sister and see if I can't figure out what's going on." He stepped out of the cafeteria and pushed the button which would allow him to speak with his sister. "Kou..." What he heard from the other side was incoherent babbling. "Kou. Slow down. I can't understand what you're saying."

"I hate Haru!" Gou said before shutting off her own cell phone.

"What?" Rin shook his head and decided he would call Makoto and see if he had anything to say. Rin heard the ring in his ear, but Makoto didn't pick up. He let out a sound of annoyance before going back in. He got his food and proceeded to the table where the rest of the swim team sat. "Captain. You have a younger sister, right?"

Seijuro looked up in amusement. "Yeah. That doesn't make me an expert on them."

Aiichiro brushed a few locks of grey hair away from his blue eyes. "Did she say anything?"

"I didn't get the first part, but the last was that she for some reason hates Haru." Rin poked his food. "Right now, I just want to eat my food."

Eating helped him calm down before heading back to the dorm rooms. On the way, his phone rang, and he answered. "Hello?"

"Sorry I didn't call back earlier. I'm in the hospital and had my phone off."

"What are you doing at the hospital?"

"So..." Aiichiro shoved his hands into his pockets while Seijuro shook his head. "Haru is in the hospital? No wonder your sister's mad at him."

"No, no. They found Haruna."

"Okay. So, the reason she's mad at him is because he took off?" Rin watched his fellow teammates look at each other in confusion.

"Um, no. She wasn't upset until after we got to the hospital."

Rin felt his eyebrows go up. "So, she's upset because Haruna's in the hospital."

"No. She thinks Haru and Haruna are dating."

Rin started to laugh at the absurdity and then realized the implications of the absurdity. "That's disgusting."

"She doesn't know that they're siblings."

"Yeah, well I wouldn't put it past Haruna, okay? I mean, look at the things she's done to Haru in the past." Rin noticed the confusion on his teammates faces change to curiosity.

For a few minutes, Makoto went silent. "No. She wouldn't. More importantly..."

"What is more important than Haruna manipulating Haru into..."

"First, that's not what is going on, though..." Makoto cleared his voice. "You're still missing the fact Kou is upset because she thinks they're dating."

"So? I don't get why Kou would be upset about that."

Makoto let out a sigh. "Because she has a crush on Haru."

Rin burst into laughter. "Um. No. No way. No way she..." He took a deep breath. "Thank you, Makoto for the laugh. I'll certainly sleep well tonight."

He clicked the phone off. Seijuro let an eyebrow go up in curiosity yet didn't push the issue, but gave Aiichiro a look indicating he shouldn't pry either.