(Eijun's Plan)

Eijun could only see darkness around him and for a while that's all he cared about. As much as he wanted to help his sister, he didn't feel as if he was needed. His entire life was a mess and she deserved the happiness she was finding with Kazuya. Without his mother's death hanging over him any longer, he would smile and laugh more… even if he still had a twisted sense of humor.

"You're an odd one…" someone giggled. Looking up, Eijun saw a small woman floating towards him… almost like a fairy. "I'm not a fairy… Let's just say that if I get any bigger, your sister's body won't last long."

Eijun turned his back on her… but the fairy simply teleported in front of him. 'When you mentally shut down, you really go all out. It's not one of your better qualities, nor will it help your sister."

"She has Kazuya."

"Those two are at a disadvantage without you… Eijun, I need you to come with me for a moment."

"Why?"

"Just shut up and do as you're told," she insisted. Eijun didn't have a choice. In the blink of an eye, they were back at the river, hovering over Erin and himself. They were playing. His sister had taken with the idea of becoming a pitcher, even though she wasn't as talented as he was. Wanting to help her, he had picked up a mitt and was letting her throw… even if all of them went way off the mark.

Neither one of them saw the man standing at a distance, stroking his nasty goatee and sneering at Eijun the entire time. He didn't really care about Erin. "You keep insisting that you're not necessary, but have you ever thought about what would have happened if you had both died…" Time shifted and the body count for dead baseball players skyrocketed. It didn't stop with Seidou… even Narumiya Mei had become a victim.

"When Ochiai came to Seidou, he saw and recognized you right away, but seeing the shattered look in your eyes… All he could feel was glee and that was probably the only thing that stopped him from killing you right away. With you unable to throw to the inside… or with a batter on base… you weren't worth his time or effort. He took great pleasure in tormenting you, so much so that he was no longer focused on any of the other pitchers or players on the team."

"Are you saying he stopped targeting people because I was a broken idiot?"

"Essentially, but when you started to recover… that enraged him. He wasn't even expecting you to learn the change up, or that your grip decided the type of pitch you could throw. In a single off-season, you learned how to throw eleven new pitches… and before Koshien… seventeen. That's an impossible number for a normal child and his hatred for you is limitless. To top it off, Kataoka gave you the ACE number… Kataoak's dreams… the future that had been taken from him… he found all of that through you."

The woman brought him back to the present, her wings glowing as they fluttered back and forth. "I'm going to offer you an incentive… You can choose to do what you want, but… with Kazuya alone, you've already changed the future. If you can stop Ochiai at Yakushi, the two of you will regain your separate bodies and any restrictions that the two of you had will no longer apply."

"What does that mean?"

"This is a new path that the three of you have carved out and… as much as I frown on telling people this… Ochiai must be stopped. Outside interference is forbidden and even this is stretching the rules a bit, but we have no choice. The two of them will need you… so… enjoy your second chance. And let your sister know that the two of you can tell Kazuya the rest of the story."

The light flashed around him, causing him to mentally cover his eyes, but when it faded, he found himself hovering in the air and then dropping to the futon and right on top of his sister and Kazuya. Serves the bastard right for sleeping with his sister again.

Waking up with a start, Kazuya lashed out with his foot and sent Eijun flying and that's when he noticed he was completely naked. His sister was wearing all the clothes and he quickly tried to cover himself. Jumping between them, Kazuya started to throw something else at Eijun when Erin suddenly wrapped her arms around Eijun.

"Erin, are you crazy?!" Kazuya shouted. "He…"

"Nice to meet you, Kazuya Miyuki."

"How the hell do you know who I am? Why are you in our apartment? And where the hell are your clothes?!"

"This is so awkward…" He sighed. A heavy pounding on the door startled all three of them and Eijun ran into the bathroom, reaching for a towel. Eijun had no idea where he was or how long he had been hiding in the back of his sister's mind. This wasn't the same apartment… He rubbed at his forehead and the pounding on the bathroom door only intensified that feeling. Looking at the window, he smirked. It was just big enough for him to crawl through and just like that, he was gone.

Sirens flashed and he ducked behind a garbage can, similar to how he used to before he ran into Kazuya. Maybe he could go back on the road again, but that wasn't going to help his sister. Turning down another alley, the last person he ever expected to run into was his sister's killer. "You…" he growled. The man reached for him, but Eijun threw the towel over his face and went into a scissor hold, bringing the heavy man crashing down to the ground. Eijun would have broken his arm, but he saw a flash of metal and lashed out with his foot, the bullet landing not far from his head.

Police whistles sounded and Eijun continued to fight for his life. With another twist, he felt Ochiai's arm shatter and with a scream, he knocked Eijun hard against the side of his head and ran, leaving the gun on the ground. Grabbing the towel, Eijun covered himself back up, wincing at the bruises covering his body. At least he had a plausible story when the cops found him. There was a gash on his forehead… Kazuya's father was looming over him, kneeling and telling him not to move. "You have no idea how lucky you are, kid…"

Touching the wound, he flinched. Maybe Ochiai had been luckier with his aim that he realized? Damn it that hurt. Erin and Kazuya came running up… "You said this was your brother?" Erin nodded, kneeling and staring at the blood coating Eijun's head and shoulder. There was a hole in the wall, still smoking from where the bullet had slammed into it.

"Son of a bitch…" Eijun snarled, struggling to stand, but he collapsed. He wanted to know why Ochiai had been here and as he looked around, he noticed that they were close to the river and not far from a low hanging bridge. Beneath it, hovered around a single fire barrel, were several homeless people. There were blankets on the ground… "Sanada…"

Eijun had a feeling that's why he had been brought back. Ochiai had been moving in on Sanada. Another surge of fury overwhelmed him, but he didn't have the energy to go after him, not that the cops would have let him.

I have one stipulation, he heard the woman say to him. You will continue to hunt down Ochiai until he's stopped.

I'll gladly take that deal…

Eijun, there's one more thing you should know. You were born to hunt him…

I thought we had to stop Ochiai before we could separate?

You've done what was asked of you… as long as you hold up your end of the deal and continue hunting him down, the two of you can live your lives over again.

Eijun gratefully took the jacket that was wrapped around his shivering body. Damn if it wasn't cold. He had no idea what to say or do as they took him to the hospital. He couldn't just say he magically appeared out of thin air… although Kazuya might believe it after the way he had landed on top of them.

The following morning, Eijun was sitting in a hospital bed, doctors coming and going, but he had yet to say anything. At the moment, he was staring out the window of his hospital room, wondering what he was supposed to do and how? His father wasn't far away, but when his mother and grandpa appeared, he had nothing good to say and continued to remain silent.

While Erin was under someone else's custody, Eijun was another story. Hours passed and just as his parents started to argue about getting him released, Kazuya's dad entered the room, a doctor and child psychologist beside him. "Eijun, how do you feel?" the doctor asked.

He didn't answer… It was kind of a stupid question. Not once, but twice, he had been shot. Eijun could say that it was Ochiai, but that would prevent the investigation team from connecting the bastard to Kazuya's mother and all thirty kids he had murdered over the past two decades. He'd talk to the chief later…

"Doctor…" his father asked.

"The gun wound needed a couple of stitches, but there's another one on his side, a recent one from the looks of it. He has several bruised rib cages and rope burns on his left wrist." Eijun remembered that Ochiai had tried to cut his hand off prior to shooting and dropping him into the Tokyo Bay, but Eijun had managed to jump. That's when the bullet had pierced his side, leaving him floating in the water… sinking… sharks circling over him.

He covered his face… Eijun hated seeing that image… Just like his sister hated going near the river, he hated the ocean now. His mother started to reach for him, but he slapped her hand away, his golden eyes filled with hate and anger. "Don't touch me," he hissed.

"Eijun," his grandfather warned, but his father stepped between them.

"Do you want them to leave," the chief asked. Eijun nodded and despite their protests, they were escorted out of the room, leaving only his father.

He was allowed to talk about what happened now, but what could he really tell them? A lot of his past was in their future. "Eijun…" he glanced at the psychologist… That's all he needed was a shrink trying to understand him. What the fuck could this idiot possibly understand what he was dealing with? How could he go back and erase how stupid he had been? How could he make forgetting his sister okay? He had failed so many people and saying that he was sorry wasn't good enough.

The chief saw rage, pain, regret, hate, guilt… there were so many emotions in those golden eyes that it was shocking. One act of violence had done this to him, but he had felt there was more than just being shot that was bothering Eijun. "I won't go home… ever."

"Is that because of your grandfather?"

Eijun nodded, leaning back. He was so tired… not physically either. "I really don't want to talk to anyone right now."

"Eijun… eventually you're going to have to talk about this…"

"What do you want me to tell you?!" he roared. No one said anything… The chief motioned for his father to remain back and not reach out to the boy. Eijun was agitated, but at the moment he was responding and that's exactly what they needed and wanted him to do. "He shot me! Not once, but twice! I had to lie at the bottom of the Tokyo Bay, watching the sharks hovering over my body, hungry for my blood! He tried to cut my hand off with a saw! What the hell do you want me to say?! My grandfather blamed my disappearance on Erin… beating her… He did it long before I disappeared and he'll do it again given half a chance. He hates her! Every time I tried to help her, I got it worse than she did and my mother never did a damn thing to stop him! Kids are seen, but not heard… That's what he told us! Girls have to deal with abusive dad's or husbands… that's the way it is here in Japan… That's what she said!"

"How did you get away from him, Eijun?"

"Honestly, I don't remember much after being shot. Aside from being linked to Erin, everything was dark and lonely." That much was true. He had completely withdrawn to the back of her mind, barely interacting with her or the case the cops were investigating. Now he was back and even though he wanted more than anything to run away, he couldn't. He had promised to make things right and while no one would know what he had done, it would stay with him for the rest of his life. "I need to go away for awhile… away from here, away from my mom and grandpa…" And away from Kazuya. The last thought he kept to himself, but the feeling was so strong that all he could do was sink into his bed and turn his back on them and the world.

Eijun had no choice but to continue hunting Ochiai, but he would do it on his own and that meant he would have to leave Erin and Kazuya for a while. They weren't safe with him around and if they had a chance to catch Ochiai, then showing up to Yakushi wasn't the best idea.

The chief had everyone withdraw and the psychologist took a moment to address both him and the boy's father. "I think time away from Nagano is a good idea."

"Where would I take him?" Eijun's dad asked. "I've never seen him like this before… it's like I'm dealing with a different kid."

Eijun was listening from the doorway… He couldn't stay, not when everyone thought he was at risk of killing himself. While the thought had occurred to him… he couldn't do that to his sister. Once everyone had gone home for the night, he quickly got dressed, and left a note on the bed. Shaking the detective outside his door was easy… With his eyes closed, snoring so loud that he was more than likely disturbing the patients, Eijun walked straight past and out the emergency exit, down the stairs and outside.

The message he had left his sister was clear… He was going to continue his fight with Ochiai alone and one day they'd meet up… just as they had promised. Eijun wanted his sister to learn how to play baseball, but without his help, to find her own way of doing things and to live life like a normal, teenage girl. He trusted Kazuya to take care of her and if he didn't… he would personally hold him accountable.

When Erin read the message, she broke down. He was gone… This was worse than dying… worse than being between life and death… Ochiai was no longer at Yakushi Middle School and with the police now after him, he was trying to remain hidden. Without his real name, all they could do was put up wanted pictures all over Japan.

Eijun had no idea why he had come back here… It was the source of so much sorrow, but there had been a lot of good here too. Walking around the vacant fields, most of the players in class, all he could do was soak it all in. Spotting a ball on the ground, he picked it up, letting the familiar weight comfort him. He could never stay away from the mound for long, not even in a case like this.

Perhaps he was being a bit of a coward, but Erin needed to live her own life and with the way he was now, he couldn't support her. He was an emotional mess and a lot of that had to do with Kazuya. He had lied to his sister… Kazuya had meant everything to him… but this wasn't the same boy he had fallen in love with and it hurt when he was around him… hurt when he made out with his sister and that wasn't something he could blame them for.

He loved Kazuya so much that he wanted his happiness before his own and his sister could give that to him. His dad had opened up another bank account for him, but he rarely touched it. Aside from the few clothes he had in his bag, a glove and baseball, he lived off the streets, just like he had done in Nagano. He knew how to fish, gut, clean, and cook. What more did he need?

His online education was a joke and in a matter of weeks he managed to finish the first two years and still have time to spare for his third. Sometimes being smart wasn't an advantage and the idea of going to high school at thirteen or fourteen was hilarious. Every now and then he would check up on Erin. Kazuya and Erin had gone back to his original team and they were progressing through the summer finals.

Her four-seam was definitely a lot stronger and Kazuya was in the process of teaching her the circle-change up. Eijun remembered the early days when he was learning and he was proud of her… proud that she was living… proud that she was so damn strong. Kazuya was still a smart ass, but with her, he was unusually kind and patient. Unless of course you tried to hit on her… He wasn't so nice then.

Maybe that's why he had come back here. A week before Kazuya's game against Chris, Eijun had no idea where he needed to go or what to do with his life. He seldom talked to his father, but when he did, it was to let him know that he was alive.

Ochiai was still missing and it was probably going to be awhile before he made his next move. Killers like him couldn't stay quiet for long and all they had to do was watch for kids like Eijun. Maybe that was the answer. If he made a name for himself, Ochiai was going to show himself.

Tesshin was walking around when he spotted the child. He was probably fourteen, his golden eyes almost lifeless. In the palm of his hand was a baseball, but he seemed lost, not in a physical sense, but emotionally. Something had zapped all of the life out of him, leaving only a shell in his place. There had been a point in his life when he had felt the same, after the accident that had ended his professional baseball career.

He never thought he'd come back as a coach, especially to the school where his time on the field had ended. Takashima, a bundle of energy, was coming up to say something, but he motioned for her to stay quiet, his eyes never leaving the kid. He wanted to know what he was going to do.

Eijun almost dropped the ball, but the mound… it was calling to him. Denied a second chance for Koshien, left to die in Tokyo Bay, he couldn't help but wonder if he could try again? Could he take Seidou with him? He wanted to save Chris and he wanted to keep Kataoka from retiring… He didn't have a catcher in front of him, but he didn't need one. Spotting a single water bottle next to the strike zone, Eijun lifted his leg. It was strong… as if he had never lost any of his flexibility. The one pitch he had never been able to show Kazuya… the surprise he had been working on… the hybrid crossfire.

"What on Earth?" Rei gasped, but Tesshin waved her to silence. His eyes were wide with awe… That form… it was one that he had developed… How did the kid know it? And then the ball flew from his hand, sliding from his fingertips and smashing against the water ball. There was no saving it either… As soon as the ball connected to the plastic, it shattered, water arcing and then falling towards the ground.

Eijun started to shake, kneeling and trying to hide his face. He missed it… the feel of the game… the sound of the fans cheering or booing at them. Eijun couldn't contain the overwhelming sadness inside of himself and started to cry. Eijun did this a lot lately, but the friends he had had at Seidou… he wanted to see them, to feel Yoichi kicking or choking him out…

The reason he couldn't go back home was because it wasn't that to him any longer. Seido had been that place for him and as much as he had pissed everyone off, his teammates had been like family to him.

Kataoka was moving before he could stop himself, pausing for only a moment before kneeling at the boy's side. Eijun stumbled and fell when Kataoka touched his shoulder, scooting back, but before he could run off, a strong grip wrapped around his wrist and stopped him.

The boy briefly struggled… He was panicking, that much was obvious, almost to the point he was clawing to get away. For his age, he was amazingly strong, but Kataoka was stronger. Turning him around, he lifted and crushed him in an unbreakable hold. Eijun went wild at that point. He didn't want compassion… didn't deserve it… Everything that had happened was his fault… his sister's death… not going to Koshien… Kataoka almost getting fired…

His only task was to find and stop Ochiai… There was no reason for him to come back here… Kataoka could see himself in this boy's eyes and with a rare show of compassion and kindness, he held the boy close. Eijun broke, all of the fight draining away and he held on and started to sob his heart out. Kataoka had done something like this once before, right after he had made a critical error with Furuya. His hand had felt warm and kind on his head, the man apologizing to him for his mistake.

In a way… Kataoka was like a parental figure to Eijun, more so than his parents had ever been. His father had more of a role in his life now than the first time, but the past was a huge influence to Eijun. An hour later, Eijun was fast asleep in their office, a light blanket covering him.

"I remember this boy," Coach Sakaki told them.

"Sir?" they asked.

"I met him almost a year ago, during the summer camp I always hosted." The old man sighed, not sure if he wanted to tell Kataoka the rest or not. He was aware of the huge man hunt for Ochiai at the moment, something he would have had to tell Tesshin about before he left in a few days. He hadn't even been aware that he had hired the man. Now there was a warrant out for Ochiai's arrest and a nationwide search for this kid. Making a phone call, he waited and sat behind his desk.

An hour later, the chief in charge of Ochiai's manhunt arrived and took one look at the boy, worn out from fighting Kataoka. "This boy is such a handful," he sighed.

"Is he in trouble?" Tesshin asked.

"Criminally… no. Thank you for calling me…" He started to reach for Eijun, but Kataoka stopped him.

"No offense, but if he ran away from you guys once, he'll do it again. If he's not in trouble, then why are you trying to take him? Why can't we call his parents?"

"This has nothing to do with you," the chief said. Again he reached for the boy, but Tesshin wouldn't let the chief near him.

"Coach Sakaki called you, but he's not in charge of this team anymore… I am. He was so desperate to run away earlier… What is he afraid of and how did Coach Sakai know to call you?"

"Sir, this boy is part of a major investigation and if something happens to him… every connection they have to the man they're after we'll die with him."

"Again… if he ran away once, he'll do it again."

"We have ways to detain him," the chief said.

"So you'll take his freedom away? Is that really a solution?"

"Look, I don't have time for this. That boy's freedom doesn't mean a damn thing if we lose all the evidence connected to him."

Eijun woke up, staring at Kataoka and Kazuya's dad… Was the head coach trying to fight for him? Why?! Eijun instinctively moved behind the man, clutching at the back of his shirt and holding on. Kataoka was always someone he could rely on… someone strong and terrifying against his opponents. The chief hesitated. Eijun's reaction to the head coach wasn't lost on anyone in the room, especially Sakaki.

"How would he know where I am?" Eijun asked, looking at the chief. "I've been on the run for almost a year now."

"He doesn't know, but he's been sighted in Nagano and your sister was almost kidnapped twice. We've tightened security on her, but my guess… you're the one he wants and your sister is a way to draw you out."

"I left so he'd leave her alone!"

"Eijun… It's not that simple. You're dealing with a serial killer… a very dangerous one and now that we're on to him, he'll do everything in his power to kill you. It has nothing to do with baseball anymore… you're the boy that got away... the boy that survived. Twenty years… thirty dead baseball players…"

"And locking me away will catch him?! Are you stupid? That will just push him into hiding until you give up. Or… he'll move to another country and start over. No… I've got a better idea. I was already thinking about it before I had my mental breakdown earlier. I'm not going to run anymore, but I refuse to go home. He hates southpaws… and everything started with Coach Kataoka… If I'm right about this… nothing will piss him off more than if I ask this man to train me."

"What?!" Everyone shouted at the same time.

"I still have a lot to learn, but he was one of the best southpaws this country's ever seen and Ochiai still hates him."

"What's he talking about?" Kataoka demanded. Sakaki sighed… This was going to take awhile and he motioned for Rei to shut the door.

Kataoka sat in stunned silence, staring at the boy in front of him. His entire life had been altered because of Ochiai and now the man was back in his life again. "He's killed thirty kids?" The chief and Eijun nodded. To prove his point, Eijun showed him the bullet wound on his side, as well as the scar beneath his bangs.

"He started targeting prodigies like you," the chief said. "There were a few right handed pitchers that he went after, but most of them were southpaws. Eijun is the one that pieced most of this case together and now it's a game of cat and mouse between them. My wife is also a victim… she started to close in on him and was murdered two years ago. Her death was ruled as a suicide, just like most of the dead kids were labeled as 'accidents.'"

"Eijun, why do you think he'll come after me again?"

"You gave up on baseball for awhile; didn't you?" Eijun knew it was a fact and Kataoka didn't bother trying to deny it. "You were his first victim, but because you didn't have a future in baseball anymore, he didn't feel that it was necessary to pursue you. You went to college, became a modern literature professor and suddenly you were presented with being a coach for Seidou."

"How…" Even the chief was a bit astounded at Eijun's knowledge and foresight. He was already piecing together a possible target for Ochiai and if he was right, they could end this case soon.

"I've been on the run for a year… Do you really think that I spent all that time on school work? If I do any more, I'll graduate in the next month and that thought really bores me." He showed him his progress report and he had perfect grades and two years of middle school out of the way already. If he wanted, he could take high school entrance exams now, but at the moment, he was focused on other things. "Can I borrow your computer," he asked Kataoka.

He could only nodd. In a matter of seconds, Eijun had access to the national criminal database, birth records, death records, and every connection the dead baseball players had. Eijun started drawing stuff on the white board and the chief couldn't believe what he was witnessing. This kid was so damn smart that he could put all of his lead detectives out of work if they hired him… and he hadn't even turned fourteen yet.

"Ochiai has a consistent habit of working at a school for a few weeks before he strikes. With a target insight, he first tries to mentally break them down first. If they quit… he doesn't have to do anything else, but the ones that don't quit… the ones that don't turn their back on baseball… Those are the ones that he wants."

Eijun started to make another list, mixed with numbers and percentage rates. "These are all the kids that dropped out of baseball while he was a coach at their schools. I talked to a few of them… Some were bullied… others were humiliated during a game… He loves mind games and not a single one of these kids want to pick up another baseball for the rest of their lives. One more fact about these kids… every one of them were potential recruits for high school baseball… they could pitch… and they had a decent ranking in middle school."

"What does this have to do with Kataoka? You're certain that he's going to come after him; why?"

"As far as Ochiai is concerned, Kataoka is the reason he never made it to nationals. Now that he's back in baseball, even if it's as a coach, he'll do everything in his power to bring him down. He'll work through the shadows… it's a thing for him. My guess is that he'll start with the people that want him to get Seidou back to Koshien. Add in the fact that I'm here… it's like icing on the cake. Flaunt me in front of the world and he'll circle like those damn sharks were when I was bleeding to death in Tokyo Bay. Anymore questions?"

"Are you sure he's only thirteen?" Rei asked.

"Do you want a birth certificate," Eijun snapped. "Yeah I'm smart. So what? All I've gotten out of it is a couple of gunshot wounds, a swim in the river and Tokyo Bay, and a guy that won't stop until one of us is dead. Honestly, I didn't mean to come here, but everything started with Seidou and I have a feeling it will end here as well."

"What do you have in mind Eijun?"

Eijun pulled up the game between Kazuya's game and Chris's. "Is it possible to get me in this game? Their pitcher was recently hospitalized with pneumonia and because I'm not tied to a public school, I'm not breaking any rules if I join their league. Also, their roster is small so they're also not in violation of the federation if I get added in at the last second."

"Why do you want this game in particular?"

"This catcher…" he pointed at Chris… "He's ranked number one in the nation… Several scouts are already looking at him and one game is enough to get Ochiai's attention. Put out a press release that I'll attend Seidou High and I have a strong feeling he'll take the bait."

"You want to attend Seidou High next year?" Rei asked him. He nodded, giving her a cunning smile. Eijun handed them a time frame for when he'd finish his classes, giving him enough wiggle room to complete high school entrance exams. "Watch me play," he challenged, his eyes blazing with a rare fire. "With the way I am now… Takigawa is probably the only catcher right now that can catch my pitches."

Sakaki had seen the talent for himself… The boy was picking up techniques after only seeing them once. The chief honestly didn't care. If it would get them Ochiai, he would do what he had to, even if it meant inserting him to a game a week before finals in a summer tournament. If Chris was as good as everyone claimed, he could work with Eijun at the last possible second. The kid seemed confident and that feeling that there was more to him than they realized wouldn't let up.

The boy knew things… stuff that he shouldn't, but if he asked, Eijun probably wouldn't answer him.