I do not own Diamond no Ace just Ha-chan.

Haru.

If there was one thing that she hated the most, it had to be packing. She just did not know what she should bring to the dorms and it annoyed her. She did not understand why her, a girl, should even move at a dorms only consisting of a male population. Was that not very distracting and dangerous to put an "innocent" lamb among those wolves? She wondered with who she was going to end up with. If she understood clearly, she was going to be an underclassman and an upperclassman. Sawamura was with Kuramochi and Masuko-senpai for example.

She went downstairs with a backpack and a duffel bag.

"Shi-yuu, you have someone who came to help you out," said her caretaker.

At first, she was thankful, and then she was annoyed.

"I'm seeing you way too often, Kazuya." She stared at him.

He laughed as he took her duffel bag. "You'll have to get used to it, since I'm your roommate."

The news was not well received. First of all, Miyuki was a second year just like her. Second of all, she wanted to meet new people or move in with Rei-san. Last of all, Miyuki was annoying. He had this horrible personality that she wanted to smack out of him every time it became unbearable.

Her sour expression made her new roommate laughed. "We're gonna be great partners."

"Nope, just teammates. I'm no pitcher," she said with a smile.

"We can train you as one and add to your many talents, Shinobu." He grinned.

She did not comment and went to say goodbye to her family. It was sad that the eldest was not around. She would just send him a message later.

They arrived at the dorms an hour later. Miyuki would give her the heads up on the rumors, the rules and unnecessary details he had gathered. Since camp would start the following day, she had only this chance to unpack and familiarize with the area. Miyuki left her, because he had to help out Chris-senpai and the others light train with the first years. She did not mind. She actually took it very well to be abandoned like this since it meant less time with the annoying catcher.

She managed to find her room, and dragged her bags inside. She threw her backpack on a vacant bed, placed her training bag at a corner, and opened up her duffel bag. It seemed that Miyuki had been staying on his own in this room. Perhaps, the other two players had quit. It would have been understandable for a 3rd year to have retired if he was on the second string.

"It must have been lonely," she whispered. Then again, aside from Kuramochi, she had often seen Miyuki on his own at school with what she believed to be a game scorebook. It was on those occasion that she saw a more bearable facet of the catcher his serious side.

She finished unpacking, making her bed, giving her personal space her own touch and changing in an hour. All she wanted to do now was batting; however, it was raining. She could have joined the others who were training in the indoor grounds, but, surprisingly enough, she was shy. Haru ended up falling asleep on her bed while listening to music. It was a good idea considering that she would no longer have this luxury for the week to come. According to Miyuki, the camp was hellish. The 3rd years often made the underclassmen suffer miserably. Considering that she was a girl, none was going to show her any mercy. They will make sure that she was worth every ounce of sweat.

She woke up an hour before curfew and had missed supper. Thankfully, she had her own food storage, so she was safe. She ate lightly. She, also, noticed that the rain had stopped, so she could actually practice her swinging for a couple of minutes.

From a distance, Haru could hear "senpai" being called louder and louder. It made her smile.

"Where do yo come from, kouhai?" she greeted Sawamura.

He was so happy to be acknowledged. Right behind him was a silent Furuya.

"Practicing your batting skills?" Sawamura dumbly asked.

It was so obvious, but she let it slide with a nod. Along with Furuya that she did the best not make him feel like a third wheel, they practiced their swinging for some time. With a sigh, Haru concluded that Sawamura was probably due for a pitching and butting career.

She called it a day around twenty minutes before their "curfew". She needed to go at the other side of the school's property just to wash up considering that she was a girl. It sucked, but it did not much matter. It was nothing next to a place in the first string. As she came back to the dorms, a few teammates from the second string were waiting for her. She did not like the atmosphere.

"Hime-sama, how was your first day among us?" one of them asked.

"Why did you snob us during supper? We aren't good enough for your grace?" another added.

She took a few steps back, but was stopped by someone who sneaked up on her.

"We just want to spend some quality time with the team's fairy," a guy said.

Haru grasped on her toiletries and dirty clothes in her hands. She felt threatened. Akaihime could resurface at any given time and her career in baseball would be over. After all she went through in the past weeks, she could not afford this loss. She did not even get to enjoy high school elite baseball yet.

"Oy, boys, I doubt you want to be expelled from the baseball team and Seidou, right?" a familiar annoying yet soothing voice of a savior resonated into her head. "I doubt any other given team unless in the lesser school will let you join their rank if they read 'intimidation' in your files."

"Miyuki, what are you doing there?" a guy asked.

"Came to check on my little roommate. Tomorrow we have camp, and I want her to be at her best," he grinned. He took a few steps closer and menacingly coldly he told the possible leader "I don't know how you'll explain to Coach Kataoka that his new right fielder no longer exist."

The bullies panicked a little and disappeared quickly.

Miyuki turned to Haru with a dark look adorning his face. It was rare, and it actually scared a her a quite a bit.

"Fuyu Shinobu, don't roam around the dorms on your own. You should not trust the entire baseball team especially if you are a girl," he berated.

Haru was a little astonish from his reaction. He was right though.

He suddenly grinned. "You were scared, weren't ya?" Haru stared away while Miyuki listed the expressions that were drawn on her face during the incident.

She felt watched.

And annoyed, because of that sudden change of expression.

"Seriously, you have to be careful." Miyuki told her walking back to their room.

"I understood the first time." She sighed.

She went to bed for a good night sleep when people barged into the room like if they owned the place. It made her jump and glare at the newcomers. When she noticed a bunch of upperclassmen, she bit her lower lip and looked away.

"Miyuki, let's play Shogi," Tetsu demanded while setting the game.

"Miyuki, massage," Jun ordered.

Kuramochi installed himself in front the television and began to play some video game. Snoring, Masako fell asleep on Miyuki's bed. Older Kominato was just there watching something.

With all this ruckus, Haru could not fall asleep.

"Oh, Haru, you're here too," said Kuramochi. "Haru, come play with me."

She turned to him and answered him with a glare. No.

"Ha-chan's been intimidated that's why she's tired." Miyuki smiled deviously.

Her expression darkened.

The news caught everyone's attention. In the commotion, Miyuki managed to slip away for a bit. Haru was going to crush him when he got back. Because of him, she had to narrate the story, then get some berating and advice from her upperclassmen ̶ Jun told her that he was going to make the fools pay, and, by the look, she knew that it meant no good.

The commuters left awfully late, and Miyuki came back right after. She glared at him for making her take care of the guest.

"It's not bad to enjoy the company of those who share the field with you," he tried.

She threw him one of her pillows. He could have enjoy their company as well. On this note, she went straight to sleep. Hell was about to open its gates through the training camp.

She closed her eyes thinking that she was where she belong and all that she needed was that she had to prove it. She knew that everything was not going to go smoothly for her. Haru feared already the meddling of her family once they would hear from her. She feared already how the boys where going to treat her. She knew that she would have the labels of 'weak', 'eyesore' or, even, 'burden' plastered on her head. Yet, in her fright, she was happy. She had a chance. She had people she could rely on.

Tomorrow.

Tomorrow is truly the beginning.

The birth of a new era for myself, my team and high school baseball.

A/N: Hi everyone!

I would like to apologize for two things. Uno, I've reread myself and...the amount of mistakes I make...I'm very sorry (I should get a beta reader, right?). Secundo, I am very slow in updating. College restarted for me. I'm going to try hard to be more productive with the chapters.

Aside from that ( ; n ; ) thank you for reviewing, commenting and following this fanfiction. It is so touching.

Also, things should pick up from here. This could be considered a "filler" chapter, but I just wanted to be realistic, because let's be real a girl receiving a ticket to the first string it was bound that she get some shit out of it.

So yeah, I love you and thank you for the support.

-Ema

P.S.: Sorry again for the mistakes. I'm sure you guys get confused sometimes, because of them.