THE THINGS WE DO FOR LOVE
Chapter 7: "Home Run"
By Bill K.
It was nearing midnight outside the Tokyo Dome. All the attendees of the night's game between the Yomiuri Giants and the Chunichi Dragons had long since dispersed - - except a few. They were the player's wives and girlfriends who had attended the game, as well as some friends and a few dogged autograph hounds. Some of the stadium personnel were exiting. There was a player or two among them and they were immediately set upon by the autograph seekers.
Standing off to the side was Rei Hino. She was waiting for Derek Johnson. She'd been to the game - - she'd actually been to the game, something that six weeks ago she would have classified as unnatural behavior for her. Content to wait, Rei stood to the side of the entrance, away from the other wives and girlfriends and imagined being on Derek's arm again.
Or in his arms. She smiled to herself at that. That was another thing she'd would have classified as unnatural behavior for her six weeks ago. To fall in love with any man was something she'd assumed she'd never do. To fall in love with a gaijan was beyond her ken.
"Oh, Grandpa would be chuckling at me," Rei mused to herself.
"You're new here," a petite Japanese woman said to Rei. She was in her late twenties, with short hair and a muted but modern fashion sense. Rei instantly read the woman was curious, but benign. "Which one are you waiting for?"
"Does it show?" Rei asked.
"Well, a pretty girl like you probably isn't waiting to get an autograph," the woman observed, "and I know you're not part of the staff. Welcome to the club. I'm Nanako Konoharu. My husband is Go Konoharu, the third baseman."
"Pleased to meet you," Rei said, bowing politely. "I'm Rei Hino. I'm waiting for Derek Johnson."
"D-Derek?" the woman sputtered. "Oh. Well, I-I hope you two are happy together. Excuse me."
And she hurried off. Perhaps someone else would assume it was because she'd spotted her husband coming out of the stadium exit. But Rei knew better. She'd "seen" the flash of distaste in the woman's thoughts, her unease at the thought of a Japanese woman mixing with another race. Maybe it was just an unconscious reaction on the woman's part and not a deep seeded belief. Rei couldn't really criticize her. She'd felt the same way six weeks ago.
Funny how ethnic purity didn't seem to matter when Derek looked into her eyes.
"Hi, Sensei," Derek leaned in and whispered into her ear. Rei jumped, amazingly caught by surprise by him. Her surprise cooling, Rei reached up, caught Derek around the neck as he bent down to her, and the pair kissed.
"And what have I told you about calling me 'sensei' when I'm in street clothes?" Rei said with mock anger, jabbing her finger into Derek's solid chest. "That's an honorific, not a nickname. I'm not a priest when we're out together, I'm a woman."
"I'm just teasing," he grinned. His arm slipped around her torso, finding a position that by now had come to feel natural. Together they meandered off toward Derek's car.
"I saw you play tonight," Rei told him proudly. "I was so thrilled when you scored that goal from third."
"Run," he corrected. "Scored a run." Then he glanced down and saw the malicious smirk on Rei's face. "Oh, I get it. I'm not allowed to tease you, but you're allowed to tease me."
"Of course," Rei said, her smirk taking on saucy overtones. Derek's free hand came down and began tickling along Rei's ribs. She cringed and giggled.
"So what was bothering you?" Derek asked. Rei looked up at him, startled that she'd been caught. Then she looked away. The couple paused at his car. "You want to talk about it? We can get a late dinner."
"I had some stuff in the stadium," Rei replied. "Their grilled fish sticks aren't bad. But we can go if you're hungry."
"I'm all right. I hit the post-game buffet." His thumb traced lovingly, gently, down her spine. "So would you rather take a walk?"
"OK," Rei nodded. The thought did appeal to her.
After a while, the couple found themselves strolling along the oceanfront near the harbor district. Rei paused and looked out onto the deep, dark blue of the sky over the deeper, darker blue of the Pacific.
"I have to admit, I have run into that attitude a few times," Derek confessed. "You Japanese folks love us American import players as long as we bust ass on the field and keep our hands off of your women off the field. And it's not just that. I've heard the stories of what Randy Bass went through."
"Who's Randy Bass?" Rei asked.
"American import about twenty years ago. He was hitting home runs on a spectacular pace and the crowds were loving him, home and away. He was an instant sensation - - until he got close to Sadaharu Oh's single season record. He wasn't too popular then. Folks couldn't stand the thought of a gaijan breaking the record of one of their own."
"Things shouldn't be like that. He was just trying his best," Rei scowled.
"It's human nature," Derek shrugged. "It's the same way back in the States. I had a buddy of mine - - we played with the Fresno Giants one year. He was dating a white woman at the time, and he used to tell me about the looks they got from other white folks." Derek chuckled. "And that wasn't nearly as bad as the looks they got from black folks."
"Really?"
"Jim told me once about seeing three black women in a restaurant when he and Cathy were there. He said if those women had done what they were clearly thinking, Cathy would be cut up into hamburger and they'd have probably cut his hands off just for touching her." Derek shrugged. "It's like my mom says: All you can do is forgive them, because if you let it get to you, you could end up as mean and as petty as them."
"That sounds like something a friend of mine would say," Rei murmured. Then she reached out and grasped Derek's hand. Bringing it up to her mouth, she kissed the palm.
"This has really got you bugged," Derek observed.
"I used to think the way that woman does - - like a lot of Japanese do," Rei said meekly. "Maybe I still do. Maybe I'm just blinded to it by the euphoria I feel whenever I'm next to you, and it'll jump out when I'm not expecting it," and she looked down, "and hurt you. I seem to have a talent for hurting people when I don't intend to."
"Yeah, I remember your sharp claws when we first met," Derek smiled.
"I shouldn't be that way!" Rei fumed. "I'm a priest! We're supposed to be - - well, better than that."
"Rei, you're still human," Derek told her. "You're allowed to have faults. Nobody expects you to be perfect."
"One person does," Rei murmured.
"Well, then she needs to cut you some slack," Derek said, gathering Rei up in his arms. Rei molded herself to his strong body and clung to it. "Besides, you're already pretty close to perfect now. I don't know what she expects."
The pair just stood there in each others arms for a while. Finally Rei eased back and looked up.
"Thanks, Derek," she said, her voice still tinged with melancholy. "That really helped. Maybe I better be getting back, though. I've got to get the shrine ready early tomorrow."
"Sure," Derek told her. "But either you have to start sleeping in or the Giants have to start playing more day games, because our conflicting schedules are really infringing on our time together."
"I know what you mean," Rei smirked.
In the car, Rei looked out the window while Derek drove.
"What was your mother like?" she asked suddenly.
"Strong," Derek replied at last. "She had to be. Dad was gone six months out of the year playing ball. She had to be both parents for us when he was gone."
"Why didn't you travel with him?"
"Mom didn't want that. She wanted a permanent home for me and my brothers. She said being in a new school every year was no life for kids."
"Was she a kind parent?"
"Yeah. She was always trying to steer us right and show us how wonderful life could be if we just looked in the right places. Oh, but she could put the fear of God in you if you did wrong. She wasn't going to raise hoodlums. My mom would kill you on the spot rather than see you grown up to be bad." He grinned sentimentally and glanced at Rei. "At least that's what my brothers and I thought."
Rei smiled with satisfaction. "Do you keep in touch?"
"I call her once a week. And if I forget, she calls me. So how about your mom? I remember you telling me she was a shrine maiden. How was she as a mom?"
"Wonderful," Rei sighed. "Very kind and very knowledgeable. She taught me a lot about life and about my heritage, and she tried to teach me about the - - um, demands of a person's unique talents. She was a big part of my life."
"How long has she been gone?"
"Too long," Rei said, misting up. "Not having her made for a very - - solitary childhood. That and being the granddaughter of a priest and all the, well, family demands and obligations I had. I'm not saying I resent it. But it would have been easier if she had been there."
Derek's car pulled up to an empty spot in front of the looming steps leading from street level to Hikawa Shrine. Being one in the morning, there was ample parking space. Derek and Rei got out and embraced at the foot of the steps. But Rei lingered in his arms.
"Rei?" Derek asked.
"Derek," Rei began, her voice trembling slightly, "would . . . would you like to come up?"
Derek stared down at her, but Rei refused to look at him.
"Because," she continued, "I really don't want to be alone right now."
She felt Derek's hand caress her back gently.
"I'd love to," he whispered. Rei looked up gratefully to him.
Usagi scampered up the steps to Hikawa Shrine - - at least the first fifteen. Her pace slowed considerably as she continued to mount the steps. She noticed herself breathing hard, too.
"I'm not out of shape! I'm not out of shape!" she thought to herself. Usagi climbed another step and she felt the burn in her thighs. "Yes, I am! Yes, I am! Oh, why can't Rei install an escalator?"
On her way up, in the midst of wiping sweat from her brow because, she thought, the August morning was already unbearably hot, Usagi met Derek Johnson coming down the steps. Their eyes met and for just a moment he seemed to be embarrassed. Then his athlete's confidence surged and he smiled and nodded at her. Usagi followed him down the steps with her gaze and nearly tripped on the step. Then she hurried up the rest of the way.
The door knocker sounded loudly against the door. Rei was finishing with the sash on her robes and moved to the door. It sounded again. Before that might have brought an angry outburst from the priest. But she only continued to the door this time.
She did grimace with some frustration at the third knock.
"Usagi? What are you doing here? Is something wrong?" Rei asked.
"No," Usagi murmured. She seemed very intent on Rei - - uncomfortably so.
"Then what did you want?" the priest asked. "Or are you just looking for some excuse not to make your deadlines?"
"Don't change the subject," Usagi insisted.
"We haven't established a subject," Rei eyed her warily. "What do you want, birdbrain?"
"How are things going with Derek?" Usagi leered.
"You could have asked that on the phone!"
"You can lie on the phone," Usagi persisted. Rei gave her a look of outrage. Usagi invited herself in, oblivious to Rei's look. "I saw Derek on the steps."
"Did you?" Rei replied. Usagi watched the priest as she calmly closed the door and walked into the kitchen of the shrine's living quarters.
"Well?" Usagi demanded.
"Well what?" Rei smiled.
"Rei! Don't hold out on me!"
"And if I said it was none of your business?"
"You two have been going out nearly every night for weeks! You practically sing when anybody talks to you anymore! AND I saw him leaving here in the morning! I can add two and two," Usagi said. Then she added, "And none of your cracks!"
Despite herself, Rei couldn't keep the smile off her face.
"OK," she sighed. "He spent the night." Her gaze lowered and, to Usagi, she almost seemed to be trembling. "It was the first time."
"How was it?" Usagi asked gently.
"Scary," Rei responded with a quaver in her voice. "Because Derek's so big, and he's - - well, when I'm in his arms, sometimes I think he could break me in half if he wanted. But he's got such a gentle side. He needs a woman in his life and he knows that. And he knows what it takes to keep a woman's respect. He's not one of these macho babies like so many guys are, out to prove how good they are. He knows how good he is. And he knows what he wants."
"And does he want you?" Usagi asked.
Rei's proud smile was all the answer Usagi needed.
"Rei, I'm so happy for you!" Usagi said, leaning in and hugging her friend. "It's just wonderful that you've found someone you can share your life with. And it's made such a difference in you." Rei looked at her sharply. "You're not as lonely as you were."
The priest gave an embarrassed grin.
"Yeah," she whispered. "I guess I have gone through life expecting the worst. Between being 'the spooky psychic chick' and that little thing my father arranged, I have been a lone wolf for a long time. Maybe I am a little gun shy around people. Usagi, it feels so different with Derek in my life! I think this is what I've been looking for. And to think, if he hadn't pursued me, I would have just let him walk away because he didn't fit my preconceived notion of what the ideal man was. I'm so stupid!"
Usagi took her hands. "Rei, it worked out. And it's going to work out. And you're going to live happily ever after!"
"Promise?" Rei grinned meekly.
"Cross my heart," Usagi smiled back.
The door buzzed. Makoto eased herself off of the stool in the kitchen and waddled into the next room to answer it. Sanjuro had been off to work for an hour now and the kitchen was clean. As she walked, Makoto glanced into the living room. Akiko was mesmerized by the DVD of Hamtaro that she was currently obsessing on. Chuckling to herself, Makoto peered through the peep hole. When she saw who it was, she opened the door.
"Hi, Ames," the woman said warmly, brushing back some of her brown hair. "Have any trouble getting here?"
"No, traffic has died down for the morning," Ami smiled. She was dressed casually in blue twill slacks and a sleeveless white top as a concession to the summer heat. Makoto noticed that Ami's body language indicated she was still uncomfortable with exposing her arms and neck in public, despite the heat.
"Had breakfast?" Makoto asked as they headed for the kitchen.
"I did," Ami replied. Just then, thunderous feet approached.
"Hi, Auntie Ami!" Akiko proclaimed loudly.
"Hello, Akiko-chan," Ami smiled, kneeling to the girl. Akiko flung her arms around Ami's neck and Ami returned the hug. "My, but you're growing up to be a BIG girl!"
"Daddy says I'm going to be as big as him and then I can help him on the docks!" Akiko beamed. "Then Mommy said that Daddy was a goose!"
"No, I said he was a 'silly goose'," Makoto corrected her. "There's a difference."
"Do you want to watch Hamtaro?" Akiko asked excitedly.
"Some other time, Akiko," Ami replied gently. "I'm here to be your Mommy's doctor today."
"Oh. OK," the child nodded. She went back to the television.
"I wonder if she really understands," Makoto mused. "Sometimes I don't think I give her enough credit for being smart."
"She does seem to grasp things quickly," Ami agreed. "Perhaps I can give her an IQ test when she's older. Now, how about you? Anything unusual happen since I saw you last as far as your health is concerned?"
"Well, it's getting harder to move around," Makoto chuckled, "but I know from experience that's normal. You're sure this isn't inconveniencing you, is it?"
"No, Makoto, I'm off today," Ami assured her. "Does it feel like you're carrying heavy again?" She probed Makoto's abdomen after the woman sat down on a kitchen chair.
"Actually, he's not as heavy as Akiko was," Makoto responded. "Which is weird, since it's a boy this time. With Akiko, it felt like I was carrying a cannon ball."
"Makoto," Ami sighed, "the sex has not . . ."
"Ah, ah," Makoto waved her finger. "It's a boy."
Ami shook her head and continued her examination.
"So, any progress at the hospital on the murders?" Makoto asked.
"The police interviewed a great deal of the staff," Ami murmured as she examined her patient, "but don't seem to have achieved any results."
"How about you?"
"I've found some curious facts in my probing," Ami related. "There were a series of unexplained murders in America four years ago, specifically in Chicago. Four women were slashed to death in a period of thirteen months. Then the murders ceased. The case remains unsolved." Ami frowned. "Dr. Mugashi was studying at Northwestern University in Chicago at the time."
"Interesting," Makoto nodded. "Does that make him your chief suspect?"
"It certainly warrants more investigation," Ami agreed. Then she seemed to grimace. Makoto picked up on it immediately.
"Is something wrong?" she asked, concerned.
"Hmm? Oh, not with you," Ami reassured her. "You and your baby are progressing fine, although I think your meals should be a little more nutritious. You seem just a bit iron deficient. No, I was thinking about something else I found concerning the case."
"Bad news?"
"Possibly. Rei's new boyfriend - - the ballplayer Derek Johnson," Ami related with some reluctance, "was playing in Chicago during the period of the murders." Makoto went pale. "When he shifted to Seattle that winter, the killings in Chicago stopped."
Continued in Chapter 8