Yamamoto Takeshi stared at the sheet that, should he write his name, would cause him to officially become a member of Namimori High School's baseball club, something he had planned on doing, if only subconsciously, ever since he'd learned what baseball was, and he'd known what baseball was for as long as he could remember. For the longest time baseball had been Yamamoto's entire life, everyday he's spend any and all possible free time playing and practicing baseball, and even when he wasn't playing it was always at the forefront of his mind. He'd been so incredibly devoted to baseball that he'd even been willing to jump off a roof because he'd believed he had lost his talent for it. That all changed in middle school, a great deal because of his suicide attempt, which led to his first real friends. Before while he'd always had the baseball team and his classmates, they really were nothing more than his baseball team and classmates. Sure he laughed and joked with them at times but they were never close enough to really be called friends. He hadn't realized until that fateful day on the roof, when the only one who tried to stop him was the quite dame-classmate he'd barely ever spoken to, how truly lonely he was. His entire life had consisted of practicing and playing baseball, and as he stood there on that roof, truly considering ending his life, while a small, scared brunette classmate begged him to come down, he realized he wanted more than just baseball, and that more became the Vongola.
Ever since he'd befriended Tsuna and Gokudera, and the others who came later, baseball, for the first time in his life, hadn't been his life, it still came pretty damn close, however. At first he hadn't realized the truth of what the Vongola, or the mafia in general, really was; hey, he'd never claimed to be the sharpest tool in the shed, he'd leave that to the likes of Gokudera, Shoichi, Spanner and Giannini. Even after Reborn had given him his first sword he'd still considered it a game, and second to his beloved baseball. Throughout all the fights he'd been in, even learning how to harness Deathperation flames, baseball had always been there for him to return to once things were said and done.
It was now, he realized, that things weren't said and done, they would never be said and done, this was becoming his life, not, it was his life, and in this life there was no room for baseball, there was a reason Mafioso looked down on athletes. Despite all this Yamamoto had spent middle school determined to stick with the game he loved, baseball had been his life for so long that even with Tsuna and the Vongola he couldn't just forget about it. It was in their third year the Yamamoto had realized that he really couldn't have it both ways. Which was ironic considering everything that had happened in their first and second years, it was that third year of, relative, quite, in comparison, that he'd truly come to appreciate what it meant to be the Vongola Rain Guardian.
After the events of the Arcobaleno battles the 9th had decided that it was time for Tsuna to start taking part in the duties of the boss of the Vongola Family. He'd been given the rest of his second year of middle school to relax, as much as that could be possible with a tutor like Reborn, but their third year he'd begun to be given real work, albeit a light load for his first year. Even so Tsuna had begun to become quite busy, he no longer had the time to just be a regular kid like before, and with that newly occupied time meant he hadn't been able to spend as much time with Yamamoto.
Several of Tsuna's new duties now intercrossed with Yamamoto's baseball schedule, there had been times where Tsuna had to attend meetings with allied Families during Yamamoto's baseball games. There were times when Tsuna and Gokudera and the others would discuss business that Yamamoto should be a part of but wasn't because he'd been too busy with baseball, which little by little was becoming something to be ashamed of. Even Kyoko, Haru, I-Pin and Lambo seemed to know more than he did, hell Kyoko's friend Hana did too and she'd only really become a part of the group during that relaxation time in their second year. Yamamoto knew something was wrong when Hibari and Mukuro were a bigger part of the Family than he was.
This left him where he was now, a first year high school student, staring at a sign-up sheet, trying to figure out, for the first time in his life, whether or not he should join the baseball team. Yamamoto was reminded of when he'd gone to the future and Squalo had told him as they'd sat around a campfire that he had to choose between his sword and baseball, something his future self had never done.
"If you really want to become strong, there's just one thing you have to do! You have to choose one. Baseball or the blade."
Now he was faced with the same choice, and as he sat there, staring at that paper, he knew what his choice had to be, it was just one step more onto a path that caused him to differ from his self of the alternate future he'd visited, and he was content with that decision.
That year Namimori High School's baseball team was surprised to note that one Yamamoto Takeshi would not be joining them that year, when asked why he'd chosen to forgo the sport he loved so much he'd smile, secrets in his eyes and reply with a riddle, or so it seemed.
"The Rain needed to truly become part of its Sky, both for the Clam and himself so that he could become a blessed shower and properly settle conflict and wash everything away."