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Anime4us

Chapter 21

"No, seriously, Kazuya will kill me, so go take a shower and go straight back to the room. Not even a pit stop near the field. Do you hear me?" Kuramochi said as he grabbed his bag.

"I heard you the first sixty times." Sawamura said as he set the controller on the ground.

"I have to repeat it or you'll tell me I never told you anything then I'll have to deal with a demon in the form of a catcher." Kuramochi said before sighing heavily.

"Alright! I get it!" Sawamura said as he stood up.

At least he looks way better than he did this morning. His skin doesn't have that grey tint to it… Not the mention the dead fish look is gone.

"Good, I'll grab you something to eat on the way back from practice." Kuramochi said before opening the door and pulling it shut behind him.

0_0_0_0

"Looks like I'm working with you today monster rookie." Miyuki declared with his ever present smirk as he walked towards his juniors.

Haruichi and Furuya were tossing the ball back and forth. It wasn't hard for Miyuki to pick up on the effort Furuya was putting into not throwing with too much force. Haruichi smiled before heading towards Toujou and Kanemaru, saying something about batting practice.

"Alrighty, let's go furuya." Miyuki said as he made his way towards the dugout.

"How is he feeling?"

Miyuki glanced over at his junior's face with a raised brow.

"Better, I made him eat something, so he's a little more energetic." The catcher said as he dropped his bag on the bench.

Furuya merely nodded before sitting in the shade of the dugout as Miyuki put his shin pads on.

0_0_0_0

Sawamura lay on his bed, staring up at the ceiling out of pure boredom. The hot shower had both helped him and made him feel a little nauseous at the same time. Now he was cooling off in a pair of shorts and loose shirt with the fan turned on and pointed in his direction. The artificial breeze pushed through his brown hair as he counted the dots on the ceiling.

"I'm so bored!" He cried out before pouting unhappily. "Being sick sucks." He grumbled before flopping over onto his stomach.

0_0_0_0

Kuramochi's brow twitched with annoyance.

He's totally avoiding me.

Every time he even set his mind on suggesting that both he and Haruichi practice together, the pinklet would somehow sense it coming and busy himself with someone else. Whether it be batting practice with Toujou or bunt practice with Kanemaru. The shortstop's fuse was about to run out.

He caught Haruichi heading into the dugout out of the corner of his eye, probably to grab water.

Damn it, you're not running away this time.

Kuramochi followed after Haruichi, stepping into the dugout a mere minute after the pinklet.

"How's practice going?" He asked as he rummaged through his bag.

He rose his brow as Haruihci tensed.

"Fine." Came the terse reply.

"Were you planning on working with me today? Do some infield drills?" The shortstop asked as he pulled his water bottle from his bag.

"I'm actually really busy with other practice today." Haruichi said with a shrug as he set his bottle back in his bag, making his way towards the exit.

"So you're gonna avoid me the whole night then?" Kuramochi asked, his annoyance leaking into his voice.

Haruichi paused mid step before looking behind him.

"I'm sorry, I don't remember signing a form stating that my life revolved around you Yoichi." Haruichi said, his eyes holding a certain fierceness to them.

Kuramochi's eyes widened somewhat at his partner's harsh words.

"I don't need your life to revolve around me, I need you to work towards our infield. We need to synchronize." Kuramochi bit out, ignoring the pain that blossomed from Haruichi's words.

"We practice all the time, I need to focus on myself sometimes." Haruichi stated unhappily.

"I really think that we should at least try to perfect our synchronicity…" Kuramochi said, leading off somewhat.

"And I really think you should leave me be." Haruichi said harshly.

"I don't get why you're so bloody angry." Kuramochi snapped.

"Of course you don't." Haruichi said before chuckling bitterly.

"How can I know if you don't tell me?!"

"I'm not here to translate everything for you Yoichi."

"Would you take a step back, I don't even know who you are right now." Kuramochi said as he sat on the bench. "I'm not a supercomputer. I can't understand everything with a snap of your fingers Haruichi."

Haruichi chuckled bemusedly.

"What happened to the boy that had nothing but sweet words for me earlier today?" The pinklet asked.

"He left, along with the boy he offered those words to." Kuramochi said before standing and leaving Haruichi in the dugout, wide eyed.

0_0_0_0

The pinklet stood in shock as his shortstop passed right by him. He wanted to reach out towards him, grab his arm, pull him back, tell him that his words were nothing but that; just empty words. He'd been upset, he had let jealousy cloud his mind.

Tears pricked at the short boy's eyes as his veins became thick with ice.

Was that a break up?... Did he just break up with me?...

A hand raised to the small boy's mouth as a sob passed through his lips. Kuramochi's words had slapped him right across the face. He felt his fingers shaking as the whole situation caught up with him.

Haruichi let his back hit the dugout wall and slid until he was sitting in the dirt. His eyes were wide, unshed tears pooling behind his eyes.

What just happened?... I take it back… Make it go away… Turn time back! It hurts… I didn't mean it…

Haruichi bit into his cheek to stop the agonizing noise that threatened to claw its way up and out of his throat. He focused on forcing his breathing to normal and blinking the tears away. Of course, fate was against him and the familiar ring tone from his phone was screeching at him from inside his baseball bag.

He glanced around before pushing himself upright and making his way towards the ringing. He pulled it out and sighed at the caller ID before hitting the answer button.

"Aren't you supposed to be practicing?" Came his brother's bemused voice.

"If you know that, then why are you calling?" Haruichi asked.

There was a pause in which both of them didn't speak, leading Haruichi to wonder if his brother had hung up on him. He was about the hand the phone up himself when he heard an audible sigh.

"What happened?" Ryosuke asked.

Haruichi's eyes widened, too stunned to give his brother an answer.

"Your lack of an answer proves to me that there's a problem." Ryosuke drawled.

Haruichi cleared his throat before speaking.

"N-Nothing's wrong." He said before silently face palming himself for stuttering.

"Where are you?" Ryosuke asked calmly.

"You know I'm at practice."

"And yet you're not practicing. Tell the coach you don't feel well and head to the dorms. I'll be there in a few minutes."

Haruichi heard the familiar tone of Ryosuke hanging up before he sighed and pocketed his own phone. He did as his brother told him, feeling guilty the entire time he told the coach he wasn't feeling well.

As he made his way back to the dorms he couldn't help but feel at least a little nauseous. Kuramochi's words played on repeat as he walked. A frown plastered itself to his features as he thought of all the words he'd said make Kuramochi so upset.

"I thought so."

The voice startled him. His head snapped up and he saw his brother leaning against his dorm room door.

He promised himself that he would keep it together, but as the familiarity of his brother came into focus, he felt the familiar sting of tears once again.

"Let's go inside." Ryosuke said, putting his hand out for the key.

Haruichi readily relinquished his key to his brother, looking up as he desperately tried to stop the tears that would inevitably fall.

"What did he say?" Ryosuke asked as he sat on the bed.

Haruichi dropped his bag before sitting next to his brother. His hands were clasped tightly on his lap, tears finally falling and landing on them. He felt Ryosuke tense up.

"I'm gonna kill him." The shorter of the two stated, making way to stand.

"No… it was my fault." Haruichi said after taking a shuddered breath.

"It's your fault that you're crying?" Ryosuke demanded impatiently.

"I wasn't being fair… I was being… Stupid." Haruichi rubbed at his eyes though the tears didn't seem to stop. "I think… I think he b-broke up with me…" The pinklet finished the sentence before biting into his lower lip.

Ryosuke took a sharp breath.

"Why?" The older of the two asked.

"I said… Such hurtful things." Haruichi continued to rub at his eyes to no avail.

Ryosuke walked back over to the bed, sitting next to his brother with an uneasy frown. He slowly raised his hand to rub small circles into his baby brother's back.

"Yoichi's… Not the type of person to jump to such drastic measures… I.. Don't think… Maybe you should…" Ryosuke took a breath as he tried to formulate a thought. "Just talk to him… after you've collected yourself… I don't think he hates you.."

"I think… That I should maybe… Do that." Haruichi said as his tears finally stopped falling and he was able to stop rubbing at his irritated cheeks.

0_0_0_0

"I brought you dinner." Came Kuramochi's voice before he chucked a packaged burger at the southpaw, scaring him out of his nap.

"What?! I'm alive!" Sawamura stated, sitting up too quickly and hitting his head on the bunk.

He cried out before rubbing at the top of his head, not noticing the burger until he felt something warm hit his legs.

"Oh, food." He said with an inclination of his head.

"Yea, you're welcome." Kuramochi said before rolling his eyes.

Sawamura looked up before narrowing his eyes.

"What? Something on my face?" Kuramochi asked.

"No. Something wrong?" Sawamura asked.

"Wha- No. I'm fine." Kuramochi said much too quickly.

"If… you say so…" Sawamura said before opening his burger and taking a bite.

"I do say so." Kuramochi said before huffing.

"Did you figure things out with Haruichi?" The southpaw asked innocently.

Kuramochi tensed, clearly unwilling to answer.

"Furuya's gonna be starting tomorrow." The shortstop said, deliberately changing the subject.

"What?! Why?!" Sawamura demanded.

"Probably because he's the ace." Kuramochi stated before raising a brow.

"I will be ace Kuramochi! You watch! I will be wearing that one very soon!" Sawamura said before taking another bite.

"Stop yelling! You're gonna choke on your burger!" Kuramochi hissed, before hitting the power button on his gaming system.

Sawamura continued his rants about being ace while Kuramochi ignored him in favor of kicking the crap out of the characters on his screen.