Auth Notes:
Could not for the life of me remember the name of Eijun's family so I just made them up.
I apologise for the lack of actual action in this chapter I promise I'll get to high school relatively promptly.
It was a sunny day in Nagano Prefecture, possibly a bit too sunny, even for the residents of the small rural village in which Sawamura Eijun resided. It was a quiet place with more than enough people to walk down the road and see a stranger but not expansive enough to be a town.
As many young children will find living in these places, bar video games and playground sports there wasn't much to do, well besides maybe school but needless to say the young brown haired boy who sat on his families back porch was not all to interested.
Sawamura sat, head resting on his palms – arms resting on his knees, in a rare state of tranquillity. His hazel eyes were locked forward as the hollow, repetitive sound of a baseball bat being swung though the air. Enji Sawamura stood in the middle of the backyard drenched in sweat which was now seeping through his white t-shirt.
The tall man wiped his face before turning towards the sound of a sliding door opening.
"Oi Enji, here's some water" Enji's older brother called before lobbing a water bottle at him.
Said water bottle made contact with Enji's forehead as he seemed to not be able to decide whether to catch the bottle or hold his bat, in the end doing neither and letting the bottle and bat alike ceremoniously land on the ground, Enji himself following shortly after letting out an embarrassing squawking sound.
This had quickly broken Eijun out of his trance, soliciting a chorus of high pitched laughter from they young boy, this somewhat served to cool the slight bump on Enji's forehead.
Enji and his older brother Eijirou though starkly different aesthetically were very similar, though Eijirou's pompadour and Enji's short, almost buzzed hair would not lead one to think so.
Enji Sawamura was a 27 year old professional baseball player, at least he was, as he had gotten older injuries had caught up to him and had meant his retirement just the past season, ending a relatively short NBL Career with the Yomiuri Giants. He was generally a goofy guy who couldn't focus to save his life, except on a baseball field.
Eijirou on the other hand was already in his early 30s had a delivery driving job, a wife and kid to boot, it would seem an average if not for his constant Americana get-up and attempt at a music career, which their father often ridiculed him for.
Sawamura Eijun hadn't done much of anything yet, being a measly 6 years old, though he seemed to share in the last generation's Sawamura brand obnoxiousness.
After Enji's retirement he had moved back to Nagano. The atmosphere of had made adjusting to his newly non-baseball focused life, still he'd not been able to stay away from it entirely bar activities that would risk aggravating his injury. He'd found himself swinging his bat for many hours in the week he'd been back home.
It was sure preferable to sitting around and listening to his retired father all day, Eijun's frequent company had also been welcomed, they young boy would often be seated on the porch as his uncle swung his bat.
Settling himself on the porch next to his son Eijirou smiled at his brother.
"Y'know I don't think I've seen this hand full so quiet since – well ever!" Eijirou proclaimed, following the statement with boisterous laughter.
"HEY, I'm not a hand full!" Came an outraged reply from Eijun beside him. "I'm much bigger than a hand full!" he followed up, a proud smile on his upturned face as he puffed out his chest.
The older Sawamura's barely attempted to stifle their laughter leaving the 6 year old looking between them, one eyebrow raised and a quizzical look in his eye.
"I have to agree with Eijun, Eijirou – he's much bigger than a hand full now." Enji agreed.
"Maybe if you hadn't turned into a city boy you'd have seen him more." a quick retort jabbed Enji back.
"Hey! I'm not a city boy!" Enji childishly wined through a comically twisted expression before it quickly faded. "But, you're right." Enji acknowledged before following it with a sigh.
Eijirou seemed momentarily taken aback, before replying with a sigh of his own. A short comfortable silence filled the garden, though silence never lasted long in the Sawamura residence, as their neighbours often maligned.
"Uncle Enji, you're not going back, right? You're staying here, right?"
Enji stared at his nephew's puppy dog eyes and felt relived he hadn't made any plans to leave, he'd surely have had to cancel them.
"No Eijun, I'm not going anywhere."
Enji felt a small fond smile creep onto his face as Eijun seemed to shine with excitement. Quickly, the boy launched his small frame from the porch and at his heavily muscled uncle, Enji bent down, setting his water bottle down before hoisting Eijun's small frame into the air.
"If you're staying can you teach me how to swing a bat like you?" Eijun questioned from his position in his uncle's arms.
Enji at first contemplated explaining to the boy that he was just to small to be able to swing like he did, even with a reasonably proportioned bat, however something about the way his nephew's eyes shined told him that wouldn't work.
Instead looking over at his brother, he hoped Eijirou's parenting experience could get him out of this pinch.
But alas –
"Why not, it'd give you something to do?" was the only response he received.
Looking back in his arms it felt like Eijun's excitement had only grown in his few seconds of hesitancy.
So he relented.
Enji had never known a train journey could be so stressful.
After agreeing to teach Eijun about baseball he had decided to take a trip into town to see if he could find any sporting equipment for him to use, however he hadn't expected how terribly difficult it was to keep Sawamura Eijun in one – damn – spot.
When they had first boarded the train his nephew seemed content watching the countryside pass by, as had he – thoroughly enjoying the sight, a quiet calming train ride was something he missed while living in Tokyo.
The peace had not lasted long as Enji had been snapped out of his focus on the view and to the now empty seat in front of him, luckily Eijun had not wandered too far he had found him only a few seats down bothering a stranger about something or other.
Needless to say Enji spent the rest of the train ride trying to keep Eijun in his seat.
By the time they reached town the former professional athlete felt sucked of his energy, now understanding his brother's comments the day before. Nonetheless the Sawamura duo continued their march to a small Sporting Equipment store.
The store itself was in a quieter part of town, not run down but not exactly spotless either. A large sign reading Kurosawa Sporting Goods hung above the entrance.
On entering the store Eijun expertly slipped from his uncles grip and begun to run around the store, spreading his amazement between a variety of different sections of the store seemingly at random. Enji didn't make any attempt to corral the young boy given they seemed to be the only customers, instead walking over to the baseball section and calling the boy over.
"Eijun! The baseball stuffs over here."
"Coming!" Was the response followed by the sound of rapid, small footsteps.
When Eijun arrived besides his uncle he launched into ogling at the various equipment. Wowing at the gloves, the bats and even the pointy metal shoes he couldn't quite figure out the purpose for, which – when it came to 6 year old Sawamura Eijun – meant it was time for jumping to wild conclusions.
"Uncle Enji, I'm not sure I want to play baseball any more."
The older man froze, had all his work getting the unruly child here really all been for naught?
"Why's that Eijun?" Enji questioned, barely hiding the nervousness in his voice.
"I don't want to get kicked with those shoes! No wonder grandpa said baseball wasn't as popular as other sports any more!" Eijun responded as he turned to his uncle behind him with watering eyes.
Enji stared at him for a second, face expressionless, before barely holding in a bout of laughter, not wanting to antagonize his nephew.
"Don't worry Eijun." He said, picking a pair of cleats from their display. "The metal spikes are just to help you grip the ground better." he explained with a small chuckle.
Eijun's demeanour quickly reverted to his previously ecstatic and wondrous state making Enji somewhat jealous of his childish enamorance with the world.
"What about the bat? what do you use that for?"
Eijun continued to pester his uncle till they left for home, luckily not having a repeat of their first journey as Eijun had luckily fallen asleep, arms clutching the adorably sized glove and bat that Enji had bought for him. Enji was almost surprised there was a limit to the boy's seemingly boundless energy, only now realising now how much of a hand full he would have to deal with in the future.
Not that he minded.