Bloom and Scatter [Free! Zombie AU]

The Truth - Part 1

As it turned out, they had effectively barricaded themselves in one of the buildings of the Tottori University complex, which was a relief for Rin because they weren't particularly far away from Iwatobi city. Some cautious exploration had yielded the fact that several parts of the university had already been cordoned off by the previous tenants, and the implements and fortifications keeping the building secure were still very strong. Their own entry point must have been how the original survivors had escaped – and considering the environment and surprise caches of food and ammunition stored around the place, they could only surmise that Tottori had been experiencing a zombie rather than a fog infestation. Tachibana hadn't taken the news particularly well, but Rin was a grateful that that had been the case, particularly when he discovered additional magazines for his handgun and a generous amount of rounds for the sawed-off shotgun he'd made Tachibana take.

And so here they were.

"Come on! Hit me back!" Rin swung his bat into Tachibana's side, "God damn it, Ginchiyo."

"Ow," Tachibana rubbed his ribs mournfully, his own bat lowered to the ground, "You hit too hard."

"Have you never played baseball in your life? Ever?"

"Well..."

"Forget it," Rin scowled at him, "Look, you can't keep dodging me. I can evade you just fine, but you need to actually connect your fucking swing or you're going to screw up when you're actually faced with zombies."

"I just... I don't want to accidentally hurt you."

"Luckily, I don't feel the same way." Rin swung his bat against the back of Tachibana's knees.

"Ouch!" He crumpled to the ground, looking up at Rin with wide, pathetic eyes, "What was that for?"

"You can obviously get angry, so if that's what it takes, then get angry," Rin narrowed his eyes with a challenging smirk, "Ginchiyo."

"Stop calling me that," Tachibana grumbled as he made to stand. Just as he brushed the seat of his trousers, Rin kicked him firmly in the buttocks and he fell forward, "And stop doing that!"

"I will if you start hitting back."

"I don't want to hit you."

"You're going to have to hit something."

"Something that's not you."

"Tachibana," Rin began hotly, "Your targets are not going to be stationary. Sure, you can move fast, but eventually you're going to get cornered with no way out, and if you freeze up at the wrong moment or attack the wrong way, you're screwed. For the sake of survival, I don't mind getting banged up a bit. Look at you, I'm kicking your ass and you don't seem to mind, so it's only fair that you hit me back."

"Speak for yourself," Tachibana muttered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"I thought so," Rin eyed him, "Get on your feet and fight back."

"Could I just... Could we do something else?"

"Chyeah, you can't even handle this, what makes you think I'm going to give you the machete? You're just going to hurt yourself."

"I'm good at slicing vegetables," Tachibana suggested hopefully.

"Yeah, no, not the same thing."

Tachibana sighed and scratched the base of his neck, "Do I really have to do this?"