Chapter 6
Kisame and Itachi taught her the basics and gave a few pointers on Deidara as a pitcher who was the best baseball player on the field.
Koratani nodded and looked to Deidara, who slid his forefingers and thumb along the rim of his cap, with a bright devious smile. Koratani grinned at her darker haired teammates, "I think I'll be fine."
They nodded and the game began.
It was Koratani's turn to bat, and she readied herself. Deidara grinned and made a number to the catcher whom was Sasori. What Koratani didn't know was, catcher's weren't there to catch balls, their job was solely to distract, piss of or even embarrass, the batters.
"So Kora, tonight, we should totally get together."
"What are you talking about?" Koratani asked not taking her eyes off the ball as she swung and missed.
"STRIKE ONE!" Sasori called out, "You know, since you slept with Tobi last night, I'd like to have a turn with you."
Kora growled, "We didn't do anything what are you talking about?"
"STRIKE TWO!"
Koratani grew agitated, but prepared herself once more.
"Oh come on, I know what you kids really did. And I want a turn to get down and dirty with you."
Koratani was embarrassed and pissed about the vulgar accusation, and spun on him hitting his arm with the bat. Which in turn the ball hit Sasori in the chest.
"Ow! Ow! Damn it! That hurt!" Sasori said in a hurt tone.
"Well then don't talk to me while I'm batting, you're making me lose my concentration."
"That's what I'm supposed to do!" Sasori exclaimed.
"What, cheat?" Koratani snapped.
"It's not cheating!"
Itachi and Deidara hurried over and pulled the two further apart before anyone got really hurt.
"What's going on?" Kakuzu asked.
"Sasori was cheating! He was talking to me in a vulgar way about 'getting down and dirty' with me, and so I got mad at him and since I struck out anyways, I hit him with the bat." Kora said.
"I was just doing what I usually do." Sasori explained.
Kakuzu massaged the bridge of his nose, "All vulgarity aside, he's right Kora. Whether vulgar or not, it is something the catcher does. Kora, have you ever played baseball?"
"I said before that I don't do sports." Kora explained.
"Koratani, there's a difference between not 'doing sports' and not 'playing sports'. Just because you don't do sports, doesn't mean you haven't tried, it just means you have played but don't care to do the participating in them." Pein explained.
"Oh…then no, I've never played a sport before."
By this time everyone had gathered in wonder of what was going on.
"What, you've never played a sport before?" Tobi asked amazed.
Kora nodded lightly, "Because of Dad's work, she didn't want me to get into the same thing so she homeschooled me and I never really played outside without her supervision."
"Can we say SHELTERED~." Kisame almost sang the last word.
Itachi glared at him, "Kisame, this isn't funny. Had Kora hit Sasori any harder, his bones would've broke."
"Right, sorry." Kisame said with a light shrug.
Koratani hung her head in shame and said, "Sorry Sasori." Then she turned tail and ran back to one of the vehicles, locking the door. She had never been so humiliated! How could she have known!? The game was so commonplace to them, so of course they would expect her to treat it as just crap in a game. She felt so alone. This was hardly a family feeling. How do you be a part of a family when you're so different? She just didn't fit in. Maybe it was a mistake to come here. If these situations kept up, her secret would be revealed. If that happened, she'd have to force herself to leave early. She cared about them sure, but a kid can only do so much when they are a black dot in the mass of white or vice versa. But this time…she felt like she was the grey in the overlap. She didn't fit in one way or the other. She was different, and alone. There was no way around it; there was no way for her to fit in. She'd have to leave sooner than later. That's all there was too it.
Sasori sighed, "I'll go talk to her. It's my fault after all."
The others agreed and he jogged over and knocked on the window of the door. She looked up at him and then hesitantly unlocked it as she sat in the backseat. He opened the door and slid in beside her, putting one arm on the head of the seat, his body turned to her, "Listen Kora, I'm sorry for embarrassing you. We all just assumed, when we should've asked you clearly. That was our bad. As for me, the least I could've done was not put sex into the matter to embarrass you. Honestly it's not something a kid like you should be thinking about, that was my own stupidity."
Koratani nodded as he spoke.
"What do you say Koratani, do you forgive me?"
Koratani gave a light smile, "Only if you forgive me for hitting you."
He chuckled, "Eh, I got what I had coming. We cool?"
Kora giggled and nodded, "Yeah, we're cool."
Sasori grinned warmly and opened himself to her, "C'mere."
She obliged and he hugged her to him and kissed her forehead, "Don't fret over the small stuff. And if anyone really does try to come onto you like I was doing earlier, come tell me and I'll beat 'em up for you."
Koratani smiled and nodded, "Thanks Sasori."
He nodded and gave her a kiss on the cheek, "You know, you really are too cute for your own good."
Koratani giggled, "Flattery will get you nowhere."
"Yeah, so I can tell. Come on."
"I still can't play though."
"That's why they call it trial by error."
"What do you mean Sasori?"