Big Hero 6: The Art Thieves

Chapter 23: One, Two, Three, Baseball, Love and Strike Out

I'm up and out of bed with the rising sun. I quickly make my bed and get ready for the day. I head downstairs and see Aunt Cass drinking coffee. She looks up at me and smiles.

"Good morning, Sakura," She greets me. "Care to help me bake today?"

I nod as I tie my hair up while she watches me.

"I didn't know that you could braid your hair like that." She said, surprise evident in her voice.

"Yep," I replied, with a small smile. "I learned it from my mom."

We begin working in compatible silence, but after a while I can't help but ask a question.

"So," I ask. "What kind of hat does Tadashi have on?"

"Oh," She replies looking up from what she's doing. "That's the local baseball team. Tadashi loves baseball. When he was a kid, he would play it all the time and he still does form time to time. He was even on the local team when he was little."

I let out a giggle as I put the cookies in the oven. As I begin to clean up, I can feel her gaze on me so I turn to look at her to find her watching me with a smile.

"You need to go to a game one day." she said.

"Yeah, I will," I reply with a nod. "Once my cousin gets over here. He got drafted by the team, which is why my parents had to go back home. They have some papers they had to fill out."

Aunt Cass nods as she walks past me and takes her batch of cookies out of the oven. A few moments later, I'm getting my own batch ready. As I'm doing so, the boys come down and Hiro grabs a cookie, not realising just how hot they were. I simply smirk as I watch him.

"Don't say anything, sis." He glares at me.

I just roll my eyes at him. "So do you guys have classes today?" I ask.

Tadashi nods, "Yea, but not until later. So that means I can catch the game this afternoon."

I nod and grab a cool cookie and bite into it.

"Sakura," Tadashi suddenly said looking at me. "Would you like to watch it with me?"

I nod as I eat my cookie. By the time I am finished, Tadashi has turned the game on.

"So is this baseball love with you too?" Aunt Cass asks.

I blush and shake my head.

"Nope," I answer. "It's not just a friendly game."

I take a deep breath and walk over to wear Tadashi is sitting and sit down beside him.

"So, since you are new to the game, I will teach you all the basics," He said, glancing at me.

I nod and he teaches me the basics of the game. I catch sight of the clock sometime later and quickly turn to Tadashi.

"Tadashi, you said you have classes. You better get ready," I inform him.

He looks at the clock before turning to me. "I can watch one more inning then I will."

I shake my head as we continue to watch the game.

"You better go," I tell him as the clock chimes. "The game will be here when you come back."

He rolls his eyes, "You just want to watch it by yourself."

"I have to help Aunt Cass." I shake my head, before patting his shoulder. "Maybe we can watch it when you get back?"

He nods and as I stand from where I was sitting he lets out a sigh. "Can I be in too deep?" He mutters. "No, this is not like me. I'm not going to let her win yet."

As I take some orders, I see an older lady come in wearing a hot pink and blue workout outfit enter.

"Aunt Cass," I call over my shoulder. "Who is that?"

She looks up, looking at who I was pointing at she says, "That is Mrs Matsuta. She is sweet, but just be careful; she's a wild card."

I nod before walking over and taking her order.

"She is sweet," I said walking back over to Aunt Cass. "But too much perfume, I mean did the bottle break all over her?"

Aunt Cass giggles before handing me the ladies food, which I take over to her.

"Hope you like it. Enjoy!" I said with a smile.

She looks at me and smiles back. "Thanks so much, dearest. You are just so sweet." She pats my hand before she sips her tea.

I blush as I head back to Aunt Cass. We finish up and I help close up the café. Tadashi comes back not long after and he moves to watch the rest of the game, without so much as a hello and Aunt Cass shakes her head and looks at me.

"Don't worry, I will talk to him." She said.

I nod and clean the tables with tears in my eyes. One slides down my face and lands on the table, which I quickly wipe away.

"Tadashi," I hear Aunt Cass scold him. "That wasn't very nice, not to say hi to us."

"I have seen her all week! Not saying one little 'hi' won't kill her," I hear Tadashi reply and from the squeak that follows, I know Aunt Cass has just grabbed his ear.

"Now, young man," She continues to scold him. "You've got some nerve! This is not like you."

As I start washing some dishes, Hiro comes up to me.

"Sakura, are you ok?" He asks. "You're not cheerful like this morning."

"I'm fine," I reply. "Just tired. Today was wild."

As I dry a cup, Hiro looks up towards the living room, where we can quite clearly hear Tadashi getting in trouble. He runs to the top of the stairs, in order to eavesdrop better, and is shocked by what he hears has happened.

I continue to wipe away tears as I finish up.

"Guess he doesn't like me after all." I say to myself.

I'm heading up to my room when Tadashi comes up to me and grabs my wrist, hard, causing me to wince slightly.

"Would you like to watch the game with me?" He asks.

I shake my head and his grip gets tighter, causing me to wince again. My other hand reaches out and grabs hold of the stair rail as tears begin to well up in my eyes again.

"Let go of me!" I said. "You're hurting me!"

I try to pull away, but his grip is too tight.

"Let go of me!" I demand.

His grip tightens again and I let out a yelp. Aunt Cass comes rushing over after hearing yelp and grabs Tadashi's ear, giving it a hard yank.

"Tadashi!" She exclaims. "Let her go now! That's how you hold a bat, not her wrist!"

He lets go of me and I turn and rush up to my room. Aunt Cass shakes her head in disappointment at Tadashi.

"What has gotten into you?" She asks.

Tadashi snaps out of it.

"Oh no," He gasps, horrified at what he's done. "What did I do?"

Aunt Cass shakes her head, "I don't know, but if she talks to you after this I will be surprised!"

Tadashi walks to his room and sits down on his bed.

"What got into me?" He asks himself.

Hiro looks over at him with a displeased look and gives him the cold shoulder. Tadashi just shakes his head. "I get it, bro," He said. "You're mad as well."

Hiro spins around and stares at Tadashi.

"I don't know what to say," Hiro said. "I've never seen you like that before. There is no need to be rude, that is not how we treat Ohana at all."

Tadashi winces at the comment. "I don't know what came over me," He sighs. "I just messed up."

*page break*

I lay on my bed and look at my wrist, which had a bright red mark around it in the shape of a handprint.

"What got into him?" I whisper to myself. "I didn't do anything to him… If he wanted to watch the game, then fine! But he didn't have to hurt me."

I wipe tears away as I see the bruise forming.

"He has a really strong grip," I mutter, wincing.

Tadashi lays on his bed and puts his hat over his eyes.

"She probably hates me now," He said to himself. "And I can't blame her, I hate me too."

Hiro rolls his eyes upon hearing Tadashi speak.

"You better," He said. "All this week she has been so kind and you messed it up."

Tadashi nods and gets into bed.

"Yea, I messed it up," He agrees. "And I'm going to pay for it."

Hiro nods, "You looked like you were in extra innings and the game was on the line."

Tadashi nods.

"I know," He sighs. "Don't rub it in."