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The next morning the obligatory "Good morning Sir." rang across the field and Coach Kunitomo made his way over towards the new first years, while the others stayed at the sides. He addressed them all at the same time. Making sure to keep an eye at the surprise, his players would have; when the reached towards this certain player/manager.
Maruse then spoke up, demanding every one of them to introduce themselves and state their goals for their time at Inashiro
One be one the first years started and when they reached her, Kunitomo and Maruse looked at the player with the most attention and alert. Although only some people who knew them well could tell.
"My name is Sawamura Eijun." She introduced herself, making everyone taken aback. "From Akagi Junior High,preferred position Pitcher," to the rest of the Inashiro Baseball Club on the first day of practice. Murmurs rang through the team, as they took a look at their very first female teammate, with interest. "My goal is to reach Koshien as a fully united team; Oh also i'm here to take Maruse place as well." That last remark got her some snickers here and there, where others only looked at her in obvious surprise for stating such a daring goal and claim.
After all this would be the first time a girl would be joining the baseball club and as a pitcher and manager.
XX
Inashiro was not a friendly place where girls could easily join the team; the team was harsher and more disciplined if anything, they had no time for girls to join if they couldn't make the commitment. Girls who weren't in sports club or any clubs tended to glare at her for being able to spend some time with the guys on the baseball team, while they were shooed away.
Sawamura couldn't help but roll her eyes at them, after all the only reason she was allowed near them was because she wasn't interested in dating any of them. Her goal was to enjoy baseball to the fullest, before she'd be forced to retire. After all it wasn't all fun and games for her at all. Being the first female team player AND manager, meant that half the time the team thought of her as a joke; and tended to treat her as such. Which made it hard for her to understand why the rest of her female species were so interested in them.
After all the team, to her, were all egotistic idiots.
How she befriended Tadano Itsuki; remained a complete mystery to her.
Perhaps, it was because of what he said to her, when they first met.
"Your a pitcher, right?" Tadano asked, trying to strike up a conversation of the only female pitcher. Glancing at him she nodded, "YEP! That me!' She exclaimed, before toning it down; when she realized she was about to draw attention to herself.
Tadano, smiled at her. "Pitch to me." He said. "I want to see how good you are."
Sawamura blinked, looking at him surprised and a bit uncertain. "You want me to pitch?" She asked, pointing at herself. Unable to keep the hopeful tone out of her voice.
He nodded.
"As a catcher I need to know a pitcher abilities; especially one that I want to form a battery with." Looking at him, she knew it wasn't just that. But she agreed anyway; whatever he was aiming at, she'll give him more than just a good pitcher.
After all, she was invited to Inashiro for a reason after all..
The first string, reserved their comments and remarks; in favor of watching her train, eyeing her progress to see if she would be worth anything. In fact it was because of their passive interest that one day.
"Better get started, before everyone wakes up." She muttered to herself, stretching. She wore grey yoga pants, and a large loose raceback tank top. Making sure her shoes were tied she headed towards the equipment shed to bring out a tire.
I'm so glad, that I brought this tire. She thought to herself, tying the rope around her waist. I'm even more glad I thought of this, after complaining about Ritsu's stamina. She ran laps around the baseball field, before official training began.
"Oi!" She jerked back out the voice. "First year!" She looked back to see a blond boy running behind her.
"H-hai?" She asked/said.
"I want you to catch for me." He said, arrgontly. Making her blink rather confused.
"Eh?" She rubbed her neck as she struggled to come up with something to say something. "I'm not a catcher though" The blond narrowed his blue eyes, making her fidget uncomfortably.
"Lies." He said, smirking. "As If I wouldn't remember Koi little league catcher, the one who bested Miyuki Kazuya and pushed him to play baseball, when he started to show interest."
She looked at him blankly. "Uhmm... Who?" He looked at her a bit surprised, before smirking, as if amused and planning something. "And how'd you know I was a catcher?" She asked. Making him twitch, before rolling his eyes and grudgely said. "I'm the pitcher you had that little ginger beat." Looking thoughtful, she looked back for the first time to her two years of little league baseball, before they kicked her out.
She snapped her fingers, in realization. "Oh, you were the kid who said Ren looked easy to beat and wasn't much of a challenge!" She said, pointing a finger at him. "You were also the kid I was about to slap, if it weren't for Shu-chan stopping me."
"Well... Uhm." He coughed at the memory. "Yes, but now that neither of them are here, so catch for me!" He demanded, still remembering the eyes of the catcher who catched for enemy pitchers.
Who made even more aggressive moves than Miyuki, and still come up on top. The very same catcher that made time seem like it had stopped.
A catcher, who he had admitted was wasted as a catcher, when they could be a better pitcher.
And that catcher was standing right in front of him as a pitcher.
"Ahaha." She rubbed her neck a bit sheepishly. "No."
"WHAT! WHY NOT?!" He explained, gaping at her. Who didn't want to catch for him? Him, Narumiya Mei! Inashiro ace pitcher since first year!
Sawamura just looked at him, her mind no longer in a pitchers state of mind but of a catcher. He's short, but from what i've seen in practice he's good. Has absolute control in his pitches too... But from all the running... His stamina either sucks right now or has improved beyond expectations. In all honest state Narumiya Mei, was an attractive pitcher. Like red roses attracting the eye of a person, but with every rose came a danger of thrones.
Her lips thinned into a line. "Alright." She said, in a slightly defeated voice. "I'll catch for you." Narumiya perked up before giving her a smug smile that said: of course you will. "But." She continued. "You have to show me the best places to buy baseball equipment around Tokyo."
He paused to the request. "Alright deal." He said, giving out a hand for her to shake.
She was halfway tempted to spit on her hand and then shake his hand, before deciding against it. Wouldn't do if you had the ace of the team despising you, cause then everyone else would follow the lead of the Ace. Especially this one.
Narumiya Mei, Sawamura decided. was dangerous and he didn't even know it.
Or probably did and just didn't give a damn.
XXX
"I can't believe you decided to take that thing in." Mei said looking at the object in her hand with disgust.
"What I find it cute! I mean look at it!" Sawamura said, holding a cute baby bunny next to her face, allowing him to see the beady red eyes staring back at him emotionless.
"It's creepy that what it is." He said.
"I always wanted a bunny, but since we already had animals in the farm and having a bunny could just cause trouble for the crops." Sawamura said, casually staring at the bunny who nuzzled her face affection it
"I would have rather you gotten that damn cat instead of that thing." Mei replied dryly. before a vein popped out knowing that Sawamura wasn't replying to him, due to ignoring him in favor of that damn bunny. He glared more heatedly at the thing, who stared smugly and emotionless at him.
"Now are you going to tell me why you believe I should start partnering up with Tadano, instead of you?"
"Because I already told you, I'm a pitcher not a catcher."
"But you have a good eye and strategical mind to be a catcher. Plus the reflexes." Mei retorted. "It be a shame to waste such potential and if Inashiro is known for one thing is to exploit every potential a player has. Practicing being a catcher, won't make them stop polishing your position as a pitcher. Instead it'll make them try to bring out every potential you have and polish it as brightly as the stars."
Sawamura frowned at him, before pausing to think about what he said carefully.
"I still don't know... "
"Well think about it, could be worse you could of gone to Seidou who would of forced you to give up the position you wanted just to be able to play a game."
Sawamura sighed silently wondering why she thought that it was a good idea to have Mei-senpai show her around Tokyo.
"Senpai, It's not good to have bitter feeling about seidou's catcher." She said quietly. "You'll get wrinkles." She smirked as she heard the squawking sounds from her senpai's and the flushing face Mei had.
So it was a good idea to replace Sano-sensei with Mei-senpai, he's very entertaining.
Now if only she could remembered where the name Miyuki Kazuya sounded familiar.
XXX
"Tadano." Sawamura whined, knowing exactly full well why he was ignoring her. "It's not my fault!" Staring at him with big puppy dog eyes. "Forgive me?"
"No." He replied not bothering to look up from the book he was reading.
"Dammit look at me when your rejecting me!" She stomp her foot on the ground crossing her arms pouting.
"Don't say it like that Baka." He said. still not looking at her. "People will get the wrong idea."
She sniffed. "Like what?" She said, looking at him with teary eyes.
He sighed, closing the book and sitting it down on the corner of his desk, he put his head in his awaiting hand, looking at her boredly, he said. "Thanks, but i'm not interested in dating you." Her face went red, flushing at the realization and now aware of the fact the their classmates were whispering around them.
"Tadano!" She whined. "You know that's not what I meant!" she put her head into her arms and settled in on his desk to hide her face from embarrassment. "You should at least be thankful." She said, her voice muffled. by the desk. He raised an eye brow at her. "I got Mei-senpai to agree on pitching to you, so you'll get used to his pitches during the fall."
His back suddenly straighten out before raising her head up with his hands. "You did what now?" He asked.
"Exactly what I said." She said, her face a bit squshed with his hands on her cheeks.
Tadano looked torn between thanking her and killing her on the spot. Thanking her for giving him the opportunity to be the main catcher for the fall and killing her for interfering without his permission. He decided to do a little bit of both by pulling her cheeks.
"Let go!" She complained, but did nothing to stop him.
XXX
Shirakawa was more of a complete and utter bastard, and a weirdo.
Or at least that was what Sawamura decided on, once he made her hit him. By making her focus on him and only on him, instead of looking at the catcher; It wasn't like she hasn't hit someone by accident, it just was that they never made her feel the pressure to focus on them,their intensity was nothing compared to the intensity Shirwakawa-senpai gave off.
What made things worse about hitting this senpai was the fact that Coach Kunitomono decided to pair them up together until she could handle such intense pressure. Between Shirakawa-Senpai and Narumiyu Mei she couldn't decide which of the two were unpleasant to be with, when they had the guts to tease her instead of the other way around.
Didn't help that Shirakawa made it his mission to completely and utterly humiliate her in front of her fellow first years by "improving" her batting skills. I mean who carries a bat with them when jogging! and then swinging them every now and then!
She refused to admit that it did somehow help her hit the balls when practicing, more when he made her go into her bunting position and and swing rather than bunt.
She refused to mention that his training was brutal and more than once had he carried her to her room bridal style and put her on her bed, before leaving. Because of this he made spare keys to the room allowing him entrance when she refused the fact waking up in the mornings, something which was rare since she always always woke up, before the sun raised. She denied that waking up next to him, (when he decided he couldn't handle his roommates and promptly decided to bunk with her) sent any butterfly feeling in her stomach.
He was a complete perfectionist. who loved to explot her weakness as much as he can. Observing her at every different angle and forcing her to clean the field with him, when some rotten player. Who she cursed at. left a mess and didn't pick up their mess.
Her traitorous bunny even liked him better than her.
Mei was right.
That bunny was scary and horrifying to look out, when it's beady eyes stared into your soul, without remorse and cuddled with you worst enemy; An enemy that enjoyed seeing you suffering and sent weird signals in being interested. She really just wanted the red head to tell her whats going on between them both or if it was all in her head. Something she highly doubted, after Tadano told her about some rumors going on, which made her go into a man hunt to who ever started the damn rumor.
She couldn't find that damn person, but when she got her hands on them for ruining any potential dates she could have had, she'd kill him on the spot.
But she knew why coach Kunitomono assigned him to her.
In Koshien such intensity would be her downfall. They wanted her to get used to such a thing so she wouldn't be fazed, after all coach Kuntimono had hinted on the fact that he might be willing to let her play in the summer. It would give her a chance to become known as Inashiro rising star and demolish the whispers of Seidou winning this year. Seidou, who were known to have a great batters currently this summer, as well and upcoming rookie monster, who was making quite a name for himself currently.
She couldn't help but smile widely as she pitched to Tadano.
XXX
Sawamura Eijun was not friends with many people at Inashiro. But she was okay with that, she had Tadano who helped her practice her pitching. Tadano who felt more comfortable around her then he did in the beginning showed her his rude side. He was like a brother who would scolded her when she over practiced or did something completely stupid.
She had Mei as her senpai despite his efforts to make her go into the position catcher as well.
She kind of had Shirakawa-senpai as a friend too, though that was different.
Back home she had lots of friends, mostly because she somehow became the idol of the school. Though Wakana was always there to protect her from the girls wrath. Her baseball team at Akagi were her true friends, they often protected her from facing harsh remarks despite her protest to let her handle them.
Though with them forcing her to go to a better school that offered her an invitation, therefore her deciding to come to Inashiro.
So she should have expected this to come sooner or later. Staring up to where the girls laughed, before looking around the lunch room, where laughter rang around the room. She should have went to the baseball team lunch room instead of the schools lunch room.
She looked down at her clothes and to where she was standing on.
She stood on a target, soaking wet with cold water and her food was on the ground. She winced when she realized she had ;left her backpack in the classroom, and with the water smelling like it had come from the pound. They must of thrown her backpack into the pound. Which meant...
Her only picture of her family together when she was born was probably ruined as well. She walked away silently, allowing them to all laugh.
She didn't tell anyone about the bullying.
In the end she didn't need to.
XXX
Tadano and Sawamura looked at the match between Seidou and Yukushi with unrestrained was the first time with them and the first string on the bleachers to look at a game. That wasn't Inashiro's which meant they couldn't help but be interested on seeing how another school plays.
Sawamura, eyed the batters from Yukashi with interest. Before looking at Seidou pitcher's.
"Seems like the favors are in Yukushi." Tadano muttered.
"Not really." She said, looking at the team. "Yaukushi seems to..." She trailed off unable to explain the words. "Too rash too impulsive. They haven't found the right... Tempo."
Mei snorted. "That putting it lightly, it seems like they have huge ego's to me."
Ignoring the senpai that was behind them she continued "Plus their ace..." She frowns a bit before looking away mad.
"What?" Tadano questioned.
"He's like me in a way." She say's annoyed.
"Huh?"
"Flexible joints." Mei said, as he stood up to stretch. "In a way he's like Ei-chan here only with a bit better control." Mei observes the pitcher, before scoffing. "He's got no stamina worthy of an ace though."
Sighing Mei looks at the scores with boredom. "Let's go." He ordered. "We've seen enough to know who's going to win."
They looked at him, before looking at the game. Torn between following their senpai and watching the game. In the end they followed their senpai out the stadium.
XXX
Inashiro and Sakurazawa, from the dugouts.
Sawamura face was grim, her face covered with her hat as she observed the battle between pitchers. A smirk made it's way on her face as she leaned towards Maruse and whispered something, which made him pause his writing and look at the battle before him, before nodding at her.
Tadano on the other hand refuses to look away and observes the signals that Harada gives Mei, and handles Mei when he's on the mound rather than watch with awe as he would have if he were in the stands.
Sawamura begins to pack up once she looks at the innings.
Sakurazawa had been defeated by them, despite their best efforts to win to succeed in the game. They were forced to admit defeat at the last inning. The coach waved at them to leave not allowing them to go on the line up just yet. Deciding that it was best to keep them a secret, still.
They glanced at each other from their corner of their eyes and nodded.
It would only be a matter of time until they played against Seidou.
They were not going to lose.
The same thoughts were running in the minds of Sediou's baseball team as the leave the stadium after watching Inashiro's game.
XXX
A few days later...
Mei was losing it.
Sawamura could only look at her Senpai with wide eyes, she had never seen him like this; was it just her or did his control seem to either get better or worse? She couldn't tell what was going on with Mei-senpai, he was usually more composed than this.
Poke.
She looked behind her to see Shirakawa-Senpai "Your up next, get in the bull pin."
Sawamura could feel her heart pounding in excitement and fear. She would be playing, if Mei couldn't get back to his grip. Tadano was her battery partner but he wasn't at the level to play just yet in the game so he would be an observer instead of her catcher if she was put on the mound. Sure she practiced with Harada-senpai but not to the extent to be able to build trust.
She looked at Tadano who gave her a signal.
She nodded.
If Mei wasn't going to pull himself up from his funk, then she would by reminding him. She was still here and waiting.
She pulled up her right leg up, going into position, before hiding her left arm and then released the ball once she set her leg down to the ground and whipped her arm from behind. Allowing a loud BAM to echo from the stadium.
From the corners of her eye's she could see Mei stiffen.
Before he turned around with a glare towards her as if to say: Go back to the dugout! Your not needed here! Back! Back!
She grinned at him, making him twitch before winding up again and ignored the whispers of the stadium as they pointed out she was a girl.
She would show them, why.
Why she was on the team in the first place.
Why they should be weary of her.
Why they should never ever look down on her.
Review!
Thank you for reading!
Disclaimer: I owe nothing but my oc's sadly I didn't put any here but meh.
A/N: I real was playing with the thought to send Fem Sawamura to Inashiro instead of Seidou. Before I decided I didn't know enough about the players in Inashiro just yet to put her there. Or the best creativity for it.