A/N: This part is based off something I read about the Visual Novel: "Hinata had relationship problems with his family." A picture showed him standing aside as a lonely young boy watching his parents and older brother fawn over a little sister. Since we're in his hometown, it's time we delved a little deeper into his family. Just a little.

Enjoy!


[Chapter 13]: Older Brothers


They returned to the car after that. Much to Ayato's displeasure, Yuri awarded Hinata the keys after a little coaxing. She reminded Ayato that besides knowing him longer, it was only logical and not a big deal because Hinata knew the way to his own childhood house. Nevertheless, Ayato almost refused to get in the car. Key word being "almost."

"Alright—later, Naoi!" Hinata had said cheerfully, and started coasting down the road without him. Cursing and repeatedly calling him an idiot, Ayato had begrudgingly reclaimed his spot in the backseat once Yuri and Otonashi got Hinata to stop.

Hinata's old house was so close that they might very well have walked – if they didn't mind puzzling Shiina by leaving a strange car in front of her home. Lucky for Hinata, there was in fact another car outside when they got there.

When Hinata led the group up to his front door and did his trademark barrage of knocking, there was a commotion inside and the door swung open in seconds. Standing in the foyer was a man a little taller and older than Hinata, accompanied by a bright-eyed girl much shorter than him. They both had the same dark blue hair as Hinata, only the girl's eyes were grey-blue like Hinata's while the man's were a more navy color.

"Bro!" said the man, looking surprised. "Long time no see!"

"Hey Hideki!" The girl next to him scanned the crowd on the porch. "Didn't you bring Yui?"

"Geez, Chise. You could at least be happy to see me," said Hinata.

Chise clasped her hands in front of her pink sundress. "Sorry, big brother. You know how much I like having a sister."

"Yeah? Well I wanted a little brother, remember?" Hinata ruffled Chise's hair. Although she protested at first, they both laughed. "And in my defense, I did bring girls."

"But it looks like they're both taken." The man next to Chise tut-tutted in disappointment, grinning at Otonashi and Ayato.

Otonashi returned the friendly smile, but wrapped his arm around Kanade's shoulders while she hummed happily and nodded in confirmation. It was the other woman's reaction, or lack thereof, that surprised Ayato. Lifting an eyebrow, he peered over his shoulder at Yuri, but her expression remained stoic.

The man invited them inside, leading them into the kitchen while Chise disappeared up the stairs.

"Our parents are going to be glad to see you," he said, to which Hinata immediately snorted. "I know, but it's been that long. And speaking of which, aren't you going to introduce me to your friends?"

"Yes, Hideki, where are your manners?" said a woman with shoulder-length navy hair as she entered the room with her husband and daughter in tow.

Hinata barely veiled rolling his eyes.

"Hello to you too," he said, then turned to the group with a tired look. Ayato had a feeling he was witnessing the stretch of that tolerance Hinata was talking about. "These are my parents, of course. And you've met my little sister Chise and my brother Eichi."

"Older brother," Eichi said.

"That wasn't necessary," muttered Hinata.

Ayato himself had to suppress a scoff. Hayato had been born four minutes before Ayato; it was one of the many things he prided himself on. Some big brothers didn't like their younger ones to forget it… but this Eichi had to be in his mid-to-late twenties. Was that what Hayato would have been like, even at that age?

He never thought he'd find himself sympathizing with Hinata like this; this week just kept on surprising him.

Turning to his family, Hinata gestured to the group. "And this is Otonashi, his wife Kanade, Naoi, and Yurippe. They're old friends of mine."

"Old friends?" said Hinata's father. "Can't be that old if we've never met them before."

The group exchanged glances. See, this was what Ayato had been saying all along – their situation was far too complicated to explain. Or in this case, there was a very simple explanation that was also a little farfetched to outsiders. It wasn't like they could just say they'd met when they were dead.

"Yeah, well… They're not from around here," Hinata said, scratching his head. "We, ah…"

"We met at one of his high school baseball games," Ayato said, stepping forward. He couldn't believe he was saving the idiot from this potentially comedic train wreck, but an old memory had just come to mind. And it actually did include a baseball player with blue hair. "Kyuuya came to play against Akuma, the high school Yuri and I went to."

Hinata turned his head and gave Ayato an odd look. Kanade and Otonashi were staring at him too, but their expressions were more curious than scrutinizing.

"And this genius," Ayato pointed at Hinata, "hit a foul ball straight into the audience, where Yuri and I were sitting. I swear, he could have knocked her out cold—"

"Hey, wait a minute!" Chise said, wide-eyed and bouncing with energy. "I know about the Akuma incident! Hideki, I thought that was when you almost hit Yui in the face for the second time!"

"You almost hit this girl too?" said Eichi, laughing.

Hinata's father raised both his eyebrows, looking amused but critical. "How many foul balls did you hit that day, boy?"

"Just the one!" Hinata said defensively, crossing his arms. "And it did almost hit Yui! But then that one girl was sitting in front of her and saved her again. And need I remind you, that was the game I caught the—"

"—winning pop fly," Ayato finished for him, a little dumbfounded at what was happening just now.

"Y-yeah…" Hinata said slowly, otherwise speechless.

Ayato grinned. Speechless suited him.

"That pop fly was impressive, but before that, you sure did make an ass of yourself," he continued, secretly relishing in the way his surprised friends were trying to keep their cool in front of Hinata's family. "I believe Yui's exact words were, 'STOP TRYING TO BREAK MY FACE, YOU LOSER!'"

Hinata's and Yuri's eyes widened simultaneously—apparently the phrase did ring a few bells. Ayato nodded in her direction.

"Yuri, you remember, don't you?" he said, forcing himself not to get too hopeful. "A guillotine-style foul ball, perhaps?"

"I seem to recall a baseball flying towards my face," Yuri confirmed, sending Hinata a sideways glare.

Hinata grimaced. "It was flying toward Yui's face!"

"We were sitting in the same row; it still scared me half to death."

"And then all he said after that was, 'My bad!'" Ayato snorted. "I swear, when he almost hit Yuri, I wanted to use him as a baseball bat. But then Yuri calmed me down about it. And we met up with Hinata sometime after the game." Not entirely a lie. He, for one, considered seven years to be "some time."

Eichi, who'd been rubbing his chin the whole time, chuckled warmly at the end of the story.

"That's some first meeting," he said. "But it sounds like Hideki, all right. Bro, there are other ways to make friends than by hitting baseballs at them."

"I know that!" Hinata grouched. "I don't use baseball to solve all my problems."

"Oh, boys, be nice to each other," their mother tsked. She turned to Ayato and company. "However you met, it's very nice to meet all of you. I'm sorry my son's way of saying hello was hitting a baseball at your head, Yuri. Very nice name, by the way," she said with a wink.

Hinata groaned in disgust. "It's Yurippe…" he said with some desperation.

"So, Hideki, what brings you here all of a sudden?" Hinata's father asked. "We didn't even know you were in Kyuuya."

"We're here to visit another old friend," Hinata said with a shrug. "But she's not home, so we're gonna go play baseball at the high school's field."

"What happened to 'I don't use baseball to solve all my problems'?" Hinata's father teased.

Eichi laughed at the face his brother made.

"And why are you taking them to the school's baseball field?" he asked, moving toward the kitchen counter and getting himself a cup of coffee. "Why don't you take them to the cool one? The one near the pool and Shinjobou?"

"Because it's after noon on a Saturday and it's probably busy," said Hinata, his tone laced in strenuously subtle irritation.

Although he disguised it, Ayato was a little taken aback. Hinata's patience was shorter with his own older brother than it was with him. That had to be saying something.

"That's not the real reason," Chise chimed in. She clasped her hands together and pretended to swoon. "It's because the high school baseball field is the one where he and Yui fell in looooove!"

Hinata clutched his head in agony.

"I missed you guys so much," he muttered under his breath.

His mother tilted her head. "What was that?"

"Nothing," said Hinata, straightening up. He huffed a little, blowing the bangs out of his eyes. "Anyways, I wanted to come and borrow some of my old baseball stuff if that's okay with you."

"We put the boxes in your bedroom closet—" Chise started to say, but their mother interrupted her.

"Ah, so that's the real reason you decided to grace us with your presence," she said, her features sharpening ever so slightly. There was an odd edge to her tone, an underlying meaning to her smile.

Hinata's father snorted. "Yuri, honestly, what did you expect? Baseball always comes first with him."

Hinata tensed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means it'd be nice if you tried putting your family first once in a while," his mom replied curtly.

Otonashi, Kanade, Naoi, and Yuri exchanged awkward glances.

"Well, I'm sorry," Hinata said coolly. "I guess you guys never really taught me how to do that." And with that, he hastened out of the kitchen and into the hallway. They heard his heavy footsteps retreating up the stairs.

"Yikes," said Chise, while Eichi swiftly looked away and sipped his coffee.

Hinata's mother turned back to the remaining members of the Afterlife graduation group, shaking her head, and gave them an apologetic smile.

"Going back up into his room again, just like he did when he was a teenager," she said, putting a hand on her hip. "Only ever emerged for meals, school, Yui, and of course baseball. Sometimes I would forget I had two sons."

Ayato's heart dropped to his stomach.

"Well, we better go get him then," he said uncomfortably, and retreated from the kitchen. The others piled into the hallway after him.

Of course they found him ripping open the boxes in his closet. He was rifling through them with a heated determination, though Ayato was certain it wasn't the mitts that were riling him up.

He and Otonashi were standing over him for all of thirty seconds, watching him sift through his stuff aimlessly, before Ayato cleared his throat.

"So," he said, crossing his arms, "older brothers, huh?"

Hinata grunted something incoherent and continued sifting.

"Hey, we're not all bad," Otonashi said self-consciously.

"I'm sure you were a very good one, Otonashi," Ayato responded, patting him on the shoulder. "But I'm afraid this is one of the few things you wouldn't understand."

"Older brothers?"

"Being a younger brother." Shaking his head mournfully, he leaned against the wall next to the closet. "And he's got Middle Child Syndrome too. That's got to be a rough combination."

Hinata heaved a long, frustrated sigh. "Thanks for the pity, Naoi. It feels good."

"Actually, I think…" Yuri was studying Ayato intently when he turned to look at her. There was a curious little curve at the corner of her mouth and an arch of her eyebrows. "I think he's trying to be sympathetic with you."

"Wow, Yurippe. You really don't know him, do you?" Hinata said, but Ayato distinctly heard him chuckle. Satisfied, Ayato let loose a little smirk of his own.

Otonashi knelt and laid a hand on Hinata's shoulder, while Kanade closed one of the boxes and lifted it in her arms.

"So, you ready to get out of here and play some baseball?" he asked.

Hinata stood up. "You had me at 'get out of here,'" he said with an appreciative smile. And for a moment it looked to Ayato like it was partially directed at him.

After a brief goodbye to Hinata's family, they loaded the boxes into the trunk, then piled back into the car and drove off.


Short one! But I didn't want to make the previous or the next chapter too long. Plus I figure Hinata's family situation deserved a section on its own.

I'm enthused for the next two chapters. Fair warning though: Chapter 15 will be a mid-season finale of sorts (though Chapter 25 is the real season finale). Meaning I'll take a school hiatus for however many weeks so that this fic doesn't catch up with me. I don't want to leave anyone hanging.

See you next Saturday for the start of a very strange ball game!


Preview:

"That isn't a sport, potter."

"Our team would have beat your ass if Yui hadn't tackled Hinata!"

"That's your own fault."

"How much do you remember about her?"

"When you get a chance to escape, you don't just go back!"

"Just don't get obliterated."

[Chapter 14]: From the Stands.