Words written in italics are thoughts.
Words written in "Italics with quotations" are memories taken directly from the anime/manga.
Brothers
Still feeling aggravated, Kuramochi made his way to the dorms.
Why do I bother worrying about that jerk!
It was a rhetorical question. The truth is the shortstop had always been protective when it came to his friends. It's why he got into so much trouble in his old town and had his first-choice high school acceptance withdrawn.
His mates had shown him injuries and crocodile tears and he'd gotten into a fight because of it. Only later did he find out they had been the instigators, not the victims, and that they'd used him to do their dirty work.
The experience taught him something very important: people who get beat up on a daily basis don't talk about it.
They just take it.
He and Miyuki hadn't been very close as first years. As part of the starting team Miyuki had quickly been placed a different training schedule than his peers. But as second years, they were thrown together a lot, both in the team and in class. Like most of the players, Yoichi had been worried about how the team was lacking a decent pitcher. Tanba was just coming back from an injury and hadn't been playing well. And as if that wasn't bad enough their Ace didn't seem to care about the catcher. He'd said as much.
"Are you going to be okay? As far as I can tell, Tanba doesn't like you. He's stubborn, and you're way too forthright for an underclassman.
He recalled how Miyuki had observed him a bit, before replying.
"It's unavoidable. A battery consists of both the pitcher and the catcher. It doesn't matter who's older. If it means making the pitcher shine, I'll do whatever it takes. I'll lie if I have to, and make myself hated if I have to."
And as if to prove his point, he immediately made fun of Furuya and Sawamura for the number of runs they gave up that day.
"You don't have any friends, do you?"
Yoichi had muttered at the laughing catcher.
But he never forgot his first glimpse of a naked Miyuki, freely showing his true colors; behind the sarcasm and veil of cockiness. Kuramochi had been taken aback by his resoluteness.
The second was how he immediately jumped into thinking how to make the team better after they lost the seniors.
At that moment Yoichi knew Miyuki had what it took to lead the team.
But at the same time, the shortstop worried that one day, Miyuki's determination would go too far.
He had been as dismayed as everyone by their Captain's words to Watanabe.
"I have no right to stop someone who genuinely wants to quit."
Even more shocking was what he'd said after the burly co-captain, Maezono, had berated him for his stance on the situation.
"What was I supposed to say? We came to this school to play baseball. We're not here to play house and be best buddies."
The way he'd said it, in a hard, almost cruel tone that left no room for objection, had only increased Maezono's rage.
Damn, Miyuki. Not only do you not have friends, you certainly have no problem making enemies, either… Yoichi had thought.
Miyuki had then said.
"We can't all hold hands and walk together forever. Even the third-years have started going their separate ways.
It was then that Kuramochi realized that, despite how quickly Miyuki seemed to have gotten over their previous summer's defeat, perhaps he, more than anyone else, had been the person most affected by it. Part of his obsession with winning might be because he wanted to keep playing with the team.
"Will we part ways today or maybe later? Isn't that the difference?"
Kuramochi could understand Miyuki's point of view, having previously been privy to how far he was willing to go to win.
But Zono had no such understanding. He was livid.
"Don't make it sound like they're going to quit. They haven't said anything about quitting. If they wanted to actually quit, they wouldn't have approached you! They wanted to talk to you about something. Don't force your world view on everyone else!"
Kuramochi couldn't help but interject. He wanted Miyuki to understand why Zono was so upset.
He had to know, for his sake.
"Miyuki, I can see where you're coming from,"
In fact, maybe he was the only one who could.
"but if he actually wanted to quit, he would've done a sloppier job at watching the game."
A barely discernible twist of Miyuki's mouth, let Yoichi know that his words had hit their mark.
Ono then added that all the players had fears and worries, but that didn't mean they would quit easily.
Miyuki just listened silently, before Zono continued.
"You've been starting since your first year, and you've always had your eyes on winning, so you probably can't sympathize with us. But isn't it the captain's job to lead everyone through their fears and worries?"
Kuramochi knew that that ideology differed greatly from Miyuki's general hands-off approach. Someone like him, who was so incredibly self-motivated, couldn't possibly understand the doubts of others. In retrospect, the fight was inevitable.
"If that's not how you see it and you want each one of us to play individually, then forget it. I'm not acknowledging you as our captain!"
And yet, the shortstop felt that Zono's rage, while justified, had been more emotional than it had been helpful. The threat had been unnecessary, and undermining to the team. Especially the night before a game.
And for all his stubbornness and bravado, Miyuki was no-where near as cold as he liked everyone to believe.
He'd play the devil if he had to.
And he'd do it with a smile on his face.
But with a crack in his heart.
Kuramochi would never forget Miyuki's forlorn figure, sitting alone in the cafeteria after the rest of the team all left. Shirasu must have been concerned as well. He had stayed back a bit, with Kuramochi, obviously worried about their captain, who had remained sitting in his chair, awkwardly scratching his head with a singularly uncharacteristic pout on his face.
They'd eventually left him there.
But that evening a disturbing discovery revealed itself to Yoichi.
Miyuki hadn't reacted to Zono's violence.
He hadn't fought back.
He hadn't even tried to defend himself.
It might have been that he simply hadn't wanted the fight to escalate, but Yoichi couldn't settle on that conclusion. He remembered how he'd gotten pissed at Miyuki, first time they met, and how he, too, had raised his fist at the catcher. Miyuki hadn't batted an eye then, either.
He just laughed.
It didn't set well with Yoichi.
Not at all.
It's almost like he's used to getting hit.
The idea turned on all his protective instincts to the max.
It was ironic. Whoever would have thought that their smart mouthed genius captain would ever need protection?
Well, it would probably mostly be from himself though. Kuramochi thought, remembering the injury their captain had sustained the previous year.
Damn, he keeps me busy…
By now Yoichi had reached Miyuki's room. It was late so he didn't bother knocking the door. Instead, he let himself in quietly so as not to wake up the roommates.
Using the light from his phone, Yoichi rummaged softly around the catcher's closet, pulling out sweatpants and a t-shirt. He stood for a while contemplating the clothes in his hands.
"How's the Captain?" a whisper behind his ear asked.
Yoichi jumped and looked behind him.
He barely made out Okumura's face in the dark.
"Crap! You scared me!" He hissed, turning his light towards the first year. The younger boy was looking at him intently, waiting for an answer.
"He's in the shower. I just came for his clothes," Kuramochi informed the younger player. "Thanks for letting me know he was still at, by the way," he added, turning back to the closet.
"He keeps his boxers in the drawer," Okumura said, trying to be helpful.
"No way I'm touching another man's underwear. He can go commando for all I care."
"Then what do you need? You've been staring at his clothes for a while now."
"Just wondering if a t-shirt is enough."
"Usually he sleeps in a sweatshirt," Koshu informed him.
"Good to know," the shorter man replied, pulling one out before looking at Okumura with interest. "You're still awake."
They were whispering so as not to wake up the sleeping second year.
"Kimura-senpai said Miyuki-senpai being late was nothing new. I mean, I knew that. But tonight, just seemed a bit…"
Kuramochi smiled a bit.
"You were worried."
The nicknamed wolf-boy bristled.
"He's fine. Just overdid it a bit with practice."
The blond looked skeptical.
"You can go to sleep. He'll be back in a bit."
For someone so exhausted, Miyuki sure was taking his sweet time bathing.
Yoichi had been waiting with Miyuki's clothes in the changing room for 45 minutes.
He killed the time by going through his line messages and reading some baseball news, when a thought suddenly made his blood run cold.
As tired as he was, he couldn't have…
"Shit!"
The shortstop burst into the bath.
As he suspected, Miyuki had fallen asleep in the large tub.
Thankfully, though, he had had enough sense to drape his arms over the edge of the bath so that he wouldn't drown.
Panting with residual panic, Kuramochi stood over the sleeping figure.
"Oi," he said poking his arm, "Miyuki wake up."
No answer. He didn't even stir.
Unbelievable.
He took out his phone from his pocket.
"Yo, Zono. Did I wake you? Crap, sorry man. Look, come to the bath, would ya? Our captain fell asleep. I need a hand getting him to his room."
Kuramochi moved the phone away from his ear as Maezono's voice got louder on the other end.
"I know, right? You can yell at him tomorrow," he said, before hanging up.
"Pain in the ass. You woke poor Zono up."
Despite his griping Kuramochi couldn't help but smile at the picture Miyuki painted.
A defenseless Miyuki was a rare sight indeed. He'd only ever seen it once before when he'd broken down after they'd won the spring tournament. But at the time the experience had been marred from the pain he knew Miyuki had been feeling.
At least this time, his face looks relaxed.
It was also a great improvement to his earlier strange moodiness.
Putting his phone in his pocket, Kuramochi grabbed Miyuki's towel. Grabbing the captain under his armpits, he pulled him out of the tub.
"Rest up, Captain," he said, as he wrapped him with the bath sheet, "We're all depending on you to lead us to victory tomorrow," he said fondly, his voice echoing quietly in the empty bathroom.
Authors note:
I dedicate this fic to everyone who loves all the bromance and friendship in this show and are as happy as I am to celebrate it.
Miyuki is my absolute favorite character. If he were a real person, I probably wouldn't like him much at all though, because unlike in the manga, I'd never know what he's thinking. The author has said just as much through other characters like Sawamura and Kuramochi. The captain's "twisted" personality has created some tension in the manga, even if that tension is at times completely unintentional on his part. But the fact that he's perfectly aware of his limitations, and is trying to overcome them for the both the benefit of his team, and his own growth has been fascinating to see. Seeing him struggle to grow and reconcile the gap between how he actually feels and how his peers see him is both funny and sad.
He's such an intricate character.
Kuramochi is what my daughter calls "best boy" and I agree. I don't think a Miyuki-angst fic can exist without him. He's such a great friend, and I think part of it is because he's good at reading people. He probably knows Miyuki best because of that.
I also love Kawakami and appreciate the attention the author has been giving him. He comes across as a bit of a jerk here, but I just wanted to highlight what I think would have been his natural reaction in this situation. The author doesn't shy away from having characters face even the worst part of their personalities (i.e. Kanemaru and Maezono's jealousy, of Sawamura and Miyuki, respectively) so I didn't either. After all, the characters have so much more going for them than just their unappealing traits which is what makes them so likable. They're real.
Finally, I think Kawakami's injury will be key in motivating the players to continue winning.
As for Rei, I ship her with Miyuki with all my heart and am having a lot of fun coming up with all sorts of (hopefully believable, definitely legal) scenarios (PG rated) for her and Miyuki. I'll post them as soon as I'm satisfied with them. Peace.