Outsider

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Warnings: Language, Spoilers

Eijun Sawamura looked on as Seidou beat Yakushi high school. He stood in the shadows of the dugout, while everyone from the team ran to surround Furuya. Eijun narrowed his eyes a little. He had to admit it. He was pissed off, and also jealous. He done his best for Seidou, pulled them through to give them a fighting chance. But there was Furuya, getting all of the credit, when he'd only pitched one lousy inning.

"Tch." Eijun walked out, back to the area where the lockers were. A passing cleaner stopped him. "Hey, shouldn't you be out with your team? You guys won!" The cleaner said, smiling and Eijun shook his head. "I don't feel like celebrating." Eijun replied, and continued walking away, into the locker room. Yeah, right. He couldn't stand watching the 'Furuya show' for 1 second longer. He opened his locker, and began pulling off his sweaty cloathes. He had a shower, taking his time. As the water washed over his body, he hoped it would also wash away all his misery.

Seidou was basking in the moment, that at first no one noticed that Eijun wasn't there. Finally, Kawakami noticed the southpaw was no where to be seen. "Have you seen Eijun?" Kawakami whispered to Miyuki, who had Furuya in a headlock, and was ruffling his hair with a diabolical look on his face.

"Hm?" Miyuki looked around, and noticed too, that Eijun wasn't with the rest of the team. "Where is he?" Miyuki mumbled, and looked over to the dugout, but he wasn't there either. The coach also could see no sign of him. "Maybe he's on the toilet." Furuya said, with a shrug of his shoulders.

Eijun wasn't in the toilet. He wasn't even in the stadium. He was on a bus, headed back to Seidou. He knew his actions would bring him some form of punishment, but he just didn't care. He needed to sort out some things, and being around the team, and especially Furuya, wouldn't help him any. The bus driver pulled over when they reached Seidou. Word must have already reached the school, because students had all ran out to the bus. Two girls pushed their way to the front of the crowd, and everyone waited in anticipation.

When only Eijun stepped out, there was an audible sigh of dsappointment. Eijun ignored them, and walked into the school grounds, headed for the dorms. One of the girls grabbed Eijun's arm, forcing him to turn around. "Where's Furuya-kun? Did he take a seperate bus?" She asked, and Eijun shrugged, and continued walking.

"This sucks, I was hoping to see Furuya-kun!" The girl groaned in dismay. "I know, right. He won the game for Seidou, I was looking forward to greeting him." The other girl joined in, causing Eijun to stop in his tracks. He spun around, and faced them, anger evident in his glare. "What a joke. As if he's the only player." Eijun said, and began walking away again. "Oh, and he only pitched one single inning, so stop talking as if he won the game single handedly. Dumb bitches." He added, causing the girls to gasp in shock.

The rest of the team were on a bus, also headed back to Seidou. The coach's mobile started to ring, and he answered it. "Kataoka here. Uh-huh. Yeah, we were wondering where he went." The coach spoke into the phone. His eyes widened dramatically. "He said what!?" He shouted into the phone, and clicked it off, shaking his head. "Coach? Is something wrong?" Miyuki spoke, from behind the coach's seat.

"Sawamura's back at Seido. There was an incident." Was the coach's response. Miyuki saw from his expression that he was to drop it, so he let it go and sat back in his seat as the journey back home came to its end. Outside of the school, students cheered loudly as the bus pulled up. The team all exited the bus, and were congratulated by everyone. All of the girls surrounded Furuya screaming 'Kyaaaaa, Furuya-kuuuuun' and even Miyuki wasn't spared, as some girls latched themselves onto his arm.

He shook them free, and walked beside Coach Kataoka. "Is there something wrong?" He asked and the coach sighed. "There could be. I'll tell you more in my office." Kataoka replied, and Miyuki didn't like the tone of his voice at all.

It was dark, and Eijun laid on the field, staring up at the night sky. He was counting the stars, when a figure loomed over him. "Sawamura. We need to talk." It was Miyuki. Of course it was. Eijun frowned and continued to count stars. "There's nothing to talk about." The southpaw replied, curtly.

"The hell there isn't!" Miyuki shouted, and grabbed Eijun by the front of his shirt, hauling him to his feet. "Sempai, what the hell-" Eijun glared, and Miyuki glared right back. "Why did you disappear on us like that?" Miyuki asked, the look in his eyes a serious one. "Hm? I didn't think it would matter if I was there or not." Eijun replied, and he tore the older boy's hands from clutching at the front of his shirt.

"You didn't think it would matter!?" Miyuki repeated, incredulously. He couldn't believe the words coming from the southpaw pitcher. "Sawamura. You're part of a team, and-" Miyuki was cut off by Eijun's bitter laughter. "A team? You're kidding me, right?" Eijun said, and chuckled. Before Miyuki could say anything else, Eijun held up a hand. "Let me finish."

Miyuki sighed, and nodded his head, and Eijun let out a sigh. "I'm glad we won. I am, really. It's just... I'm tired of it. I'm tired of being passed over in favor of him." Eijun said, as he fought tears. "Him? Him who?" Miyuki asked, and Eijun let out an angry shout. "Who the fuck do you think!? Furuya!" Eijun shouted, and he cleanched his fists at his side.

"Before, I was thinking 'Sure, I can do this. I can be the shadow, the nobody'. But I can't. I realized today, that... no matter what I do, I'll always second place if that bastard's here." Eijun said, and Miyuki placed a hand on the younger's shoulder. "It's not about second place. It's about who the coach thinks is best for the ace position right now." Miyuki said, trying in his own way, to comfort the angry southpaw.

"Miyuki-sempai...do you seriously think that Furuya deserved the position of ace?" Eijun asked and Miyuki sighed. "To be honest, yes. He's consistent, has talent, and technique-" Eijun cut him off with a harsh laugh. "And I don't have those things!?" Eijun shouted, his voice full of emotion. "Th..That isn't what I meant. Eijun-kun..." Miyuki said, and put a hand on Eijun's shoulder, but Eijun pulled away.

"Fuck you!" Eijun swore, and Miyuki was taken aback. Never before had Sawamura spoken to him like that. "You don't give a fuck about me. All you and Coach Kataoka care about is making sure that Furuya makes it to the top, and you don't care who you step on to do it!" Eijun continued, and placed his hands on his hips. "Oh, yeah. I know about the 'plan' of using me as a stepping stone for Furuya's advancement!" Eijun added, and Miyuki's eyes widened. 'He...He knew'? Miyuki thought, and grabbed hold of Eijun's shoulders.

"It's not like that! Sawamura! It really isn't. Maybe it was like that at the start, but Coach Kataoka really cares about you! And I...I..." Miyuki trailed off. "You can stop with the lies, Miyuki." Eijun said softly, and pulled away from the catcher. "I'll admit it. When I found out, I was hurt by it. A lot. But you know what hurt me more?" Eijun said, and Miyuki felt his heart drop at the sight of Eijun's face. It was blank, emotionless, empty.

"What did me in was winning against Yakushi. I did my best for Seidou, I gave it my all, and created a miracle for us. But... when we won... not one person said 'Good job, Sawamura', 'Thank you Sawamura'. All people were interested in was Furuya. I felt like an outsider. And then I knew..." Eijun trailed off, looking at the ground. "You knew what?" Miyuki asked, as his stomach started churning.

"I knew..."

There were no sounds other than crickets in the background. Those sounds were suddenly broken by one sentence.

"...I knew there's no place for me at Seidou..."

AN: The end? I don't know if I want there to be any more chapters. I just not long finished watching season 2, and my emotions are running high with this. I really feel for Eijun. I'm an Eijun fan all the way, and how everyone sort of crowded around Furuya at the end, that really broke my spirit. And this was sort of my take on what could have happened, like an alternate ending of sorts.

AN: I just realised that I had misspelled Miyuki's name, and had called him 'Mizuki'. For some reason, I've had the name Mizuki on the brain. Hmm, anyway it's been edited. :)