On the Pitcher's Mound

By: RisuBento

Chapter 3: Practicing Woes

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From the Diary of Kagome Higurashi: July 16th, 2005

Okay. Inuyasha had his baseball game and they won----of course. The High School Nationals are coming up in about a month. Yay. The idiot was so cocky and arrogant during the last baseball game that he threw his arm out pitching the game! Which in other words means that he really overused his arm.

So now I'm stuck with his pissing and moaning about how he's not able to eat his ramen properly. I have to supply his ice packs and exercise his arm.

Big baby.

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"Oi! Wench! Make me some ramen!" Came a gruff yell from the living room.

Kagome put down her book with a frustrated groan. "Do it yourself!"

"I can't! I'm crippled!" Came his retort.

Kagome let out a frustrated cry and threw her book against the wall. Stomping out to the kitchen, she angrily yanked the pantry door open and grabbed an instant ramen cup from the specifically labeled "RAMEN" shelf.

"I hope you know that I'm only doing this because you need to rest your arm…" She grumbled, heating up some water on the stove.

"Keh…you love me. You know you do." He smirked, not turning his gaze away from the television screen. Kagome rolled her eyes.

'You've got to be kidding me!' Huffing and crossing her arms, she leaned against the counter when she remembered something. Moving over to the freezer she opened it and extracted a freshly frozen ice pack.

"We need to change your ice pack." Was all she said, when she stomped out the living room.

Inuyasha didn't say anything----he didn't even acknowledge that she was there. He just grunted and twitched his hand.

Kagome sighed and unwrapped the gauze holding the melted ice pack to his arm and replaced it with the new one. Inuyasha hissed and growled.

"Watch it wench! I don't think people will be very happy with you if you mess my arm up even further before the Nationals." He grumbled.

Kagome rolled her eyes and went back into the kitchen. The water was now boiling and she sighed before dumping in the instant noodles.

'Inuyasha can be such a jerk…he doesn't even appreciate all that I do for him…' She thought, as she scooped the noodles into a bowl and grabbed some chopsticks.

Walking back out to the living room, she held the bowl in front of his face----making him go cross-eyed. "Keh." Was all he said before taking hold of the bowl with his good hand. Setting it onto his lap, he was attempting to sit up, but not before the bowl began to tip.

"Watch it!" Kagome gasped, jerking forward and grabbing it before the contents spilled and burned him for all eternity.

"Keh. Just hold onto it then." He shrugged, clicking his chopsticks dangerously close to her nose.

"Fine." She said as she sat down next to him, holding the bowl close enough so he could eat without dribbling.

'I want to go home…a year ago I wasn't even aware I would BE in this situation…now look at me! Inuyasha is such a jerk…! A VERY 'VERY' sexy jerk. I can't deny it any more. He 'is' quite nice to look at----that is until he catches me looking at him and snaps at me for being nosy, sneaky wench!' She thought, gripping the bowl tightly.

"Your mom called earlier, when you were in the shower." She said, suddenly remembering the nerve-racking phone call.

"Yeah? What'd she want now?" He grumbled, slurping up some noodles.

"She wants us to join them on a trip to your summer house at the beach next week." Kagome yawned.

"Keh. Just what I need." He grumbled in dismay.

"Hey…it won't be 'that' bad will it? I mean…seeing as how you're "crippled" it should be nice to relax your arm even more right?" She brought, turning her head to look at him.

He tilted his head towards hers and was also looking at her. His amber eyes seemed to glow into hers----warming her. 'His eyes are so…mesmerizing. I want to…' She thought. Unconsciously, she began to move her head towards him---he, doing the same.

"Inuyasha…" She said quietly. Inuyasha was staring down at her lips; transfixed.

"What?" He answered, moving even closer.

"I—"

"MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!" Came a loud bang and then a shout. Kagome gasped and pulled away from Inuyasha, her face bright red, and turned towards the intruder---or should I say, 'intrudERS.'

But Inuyasha beat her to it. "MIROKU! Haven't you ever heard of knocking you idiot! And you don't even celebrate Christmas! Especially when it fuckin' 90 degrees out!" He yelled, wincing slightly at the twinge in his arm.

"Bah! I practically live here! There's no need to knock!" Miroku said, entering the kitchen and rummage through the fridge; shrugging off the Christmas part. Sango, who had entered behind Miroku, shook her head and sighed, heading over to a reclining chair next to the couch.

"So! What're you two doing today?" She asked, opening her purse and rummaging through it.

"Right now, you mean? Nothing." Kagome said, shrugging and yawning.

"GOOD! Then you two can come down to the school baseball fields and practice with us for a bit!" Miroku said, removing mayonnaise, a tomato, turkey, lettuce…etc. from the fridge.

"Practice? Why do 'I' have to go? I don't even like baseball…" Kagome grumbled.

"Don't I have a say in this?" Inuyasha grumbled, shifting his 'crippled' arm.

"Then speak, your majesty." Kagome snapped, crossing her arms and slouching into the couch.

"We're going." He said.

Kagome jumped up and whacked him with a pillow. "UGH! You inconsiderate pig! You won't do 'ANYTHING' around the house except piss and moan, but when it comes to baseball---you're suddenly and miraculously healed! Remind me to 'never' bother worrying over your arm again!" She yelled, continuously whacking him.

"Oi! Knock it off! What're you----WAIT! You…you were worried about me?" He asked, snatching the pillow before pausing.

"Not you! Your arm!" Kagome lamely retorted.

"Well…sorry to break it to you, hun…but his arm is apart of him." Sango said, clipping her overly long finger nails.

"C'mon Kagome. It'll be fun! You don't even have to practice with us. You can just sit on the bleachers and do…whatever it is that you do when sitting in the sun." Miroku said, completing his masterpiece of a sandwich.

"Please…?" Sango and Inuyasha both pleaded.

"NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT! YOU CAN'T MAKE ME! NO! NO! NO!" Kagome yelled, stomping her feet and flailing her arms around.

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"I hate you…I hate you all." Grumbled an angry, pouting Kagome from the back seat of Miroku's convertible.

"You love us." Miroku smirked at her in his rear view mirror.

"Don't flatter yourself Miroku…" Kagome grumbled.

The drive to the high school didn't take long at all---around 15 minutes. When Sango, Miroku, Inuyasha all began going through base running, and fly balls, Kagome sat down on the bleachers and opened her book.

It was so infuriating to find herself, glancing up every now and then at Inuyasha. He was too devilishly handsome for his own good. He'll be the death of her.

It wasn't that she was attracted to him…oh no. Not even in the slightest. Nope. No siree!

But…she 'did' have to admit that he was an okay guy. Stupid…but okay.

Looking back down at her book, she was taken aback when the name of the main character twisted from 'Isaiah' to 'Inuyasha'.

Gasping she snapped her book shut and tossed it onto the bench next to her. 'I'm freakin' going insane!'

"Oi! Wench! Get out her so I can pitch a few balls!" Inuyasha yelled. Looking over at the infuriating moron she noted, with much dismay, that Sango and Miroku were both leaving.

"Where they going?" She called, nodding towards the two denying love birds.

"To get some chow! Now get out here and get ready!" He yelled.

Kagome swallowed and stood with her hands on her hips for a few moments. 'You can do this Kagome…everything will be all right…it won't bring back any bad memories…' She chanted to herself.

"OI!" Came Inuyasha's impatient yell.

Snapping from her chanting, she jumped and fumbled with the gate latch.

"What exactly do you want me to do?" She asked, picking up Miroku's discarded catcher's mitt.

"You're just gonna catch some of my pitches for me. I need to get my arm in shape again." He said, swinging his arm in a stretching circular motion.

"Y-you mean…catch…the ball?" She stuttered, suddenly wanting to run away.

"No! I want you dance the hula and chant about trolls with diamonds for bellybuttons! OF COURSE CATCH THE DAMN BALLS! Geez, wench!" He yelled, growing irritated.

"Well soooorreeee!" Kagome yelled back, slipping Miroku's sweaty glove on. She grimaced at the feeling. 'Oh…oh my god! There's old sunflower seeds in here!'

"You ready?" He asked, spitting in his hand and get his 'feel' of the ball in his hand. She nodded, albeit reluctantly.

Squatting down behind home plate like a catcher's supposed to do, she took a moment to take a deep breath before holding up her glove to catch.

She watched in a strange and somewhat twisted fascination, as Inuyasha paused and held the ball in his glove. His body was turned sideways, but he was looking at her. Concentrating… It looked almost as if he was trying to find something in her to help him.

'He must be picturing a batter in front of me…that's it. He's probably imagining them with in their batting stance and the sunflowers seeds in their mouths… He's "FEELING" the game. Like it has an aura…' Kagome realized as she watched him fumbled discreetly with the ball in his glove.

She watched him nod upwards once, and slowly reel back; so one of his legs was raised and his other was bent slightly. She watched it all in a strange slow motion---how his face contorted into a grimace as he leaned forward---how his arm bent and his muscles rippled in the motion---how the ball rolled and left his fingers-----

Then it was all fast motion---the ball flying and slamming into her glove---a sharp shocking pain shot up her arm and she gasped.

Then the stinging and burning came.

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Here's the Phrase of the Day:

"I-ga kiri-kiri itai."

Translation: "I have a sharp pain in my stomach."

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There we go! Please REVIEW and tell me what you think!

Please come and check out my other stories as well!

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Thanks to my ever-faithful reviewers:

Shippo's Psychotic Girl

Kagome M.K

BECCA

crazyperson

Jake Burnhal

forsaken 13

EvilLilPrincess

Stephanie

Eternalhappiness

lyn

Ditke

mankitten

jessy8a10

Maggie

THANK YOU ALL!

RisuBento

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