Um…Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. I had a busy summer and now that Uni has started back up I have stress that I need to vent via my writing. Please please please review, good or bad anything that will help my writing is much appreciated. If this chapter doesn't make a whole lot of sense I'm sorry but I've been piecing it together since May. Enjoy!

Chapter 12

Eight days filled of absolute nothing passed. It was only eight days but to Abe it seemed like a month. The birthday festivities had died down, school was out for break, and much to his surprise Abe had snapped out of depression about Mihashi. But now he was numb. The absence of his negative thoughts, as sad as they might be, had left a hole in Abe. The hole slowly melted any emotion Abe felt, like ice encircled by flame licking at any feeling both positive and negative leaving Abe nothing could hold on to. This absence, this void was worse than the depression. At least he was able to feel before.

The streets were all decked out for the festivities. Nondenominational wreathes of evergreen boughs tied with festive red ribbons hung from every downtown lamppost giving the town a glimmer of holiday spirit. Abe took in all of the pseudo-Christmas decorations, and when he heard his first Christmas music of the season he burst out in mirthless laughter at the fanatical mindset the community had adopted for the season. It seemed that nobody knew that when Christmas was over, the "winter wonderland" would transform into a winter wasteland.

Sakaeguchi had sent everyone a text message on their mobiles earlier in the week telling everyone to be there by five and included directions to his house. Abe was sure it would be a night of hanging out with everyone like their normal social events. But he had never seen Sakaeguchi's house and was inexplicably curious. He couldn't believe that the second baseman's room would be as dirty as Mihashi's or Tajima's. Maybe Sakaeguchi would turn out to be a neat freak. It would be in Sakaeguchi's personality. The second baseman had a few compulsions and quirks; granted it was nothing on the scale of Mihashi but maybe one of Sakaeguchi's peculiarities would be cleanliness.

The quartet of Hanai, Oki, Tajima, and Suyama were waiting at the CD shop for Abe. When questioned about it Hanai reluctantly muttered something about wanting to go as a team. Abe instantly read the situation: none of them wanted to show up early. The five teammates walked in silence to the second baseman's house, or however much silence can be had with Tajima in company.

The quintet had no trouble finding Sakaeguchi's house. The house was a quaint one dwarfed by the rather obscene manor-like homes dotting the cul-de-sac. The more Abe admired homestead the more liked it. The light Robin's Egg Blue siding admirably reflects Sakaeguchi's calm and easy going empathic manor. As he took in the scenery of both the house and the neighborhood Abe began to wonder what exactly Sakaeguchi's dad did for a living. The other houses on the block were very nice indeed and to even have a hovel of a house in the area must cost a good sum of money.

They didn't have to wait long for Sakaeguchi to answer the door after they knocked. After they took off their shoes he showed them into the living room where the rest of the team sat. Abe noted with mixed feelings of mortification and relief that Aizawa was not only present but seemed to be attached to Izumi's arm. Abe also observed that Hamada and Shinooka where in attendance as well as Hikari. It seemed that over the months and especially after Abe's birthday the two girls had become a part of the team just like Hamada had before.

When Abe eyed Mihashi the raven haired catcher's stomach preformed a miracle; it boiled with hot passion and froze with dread at the same time. This odd occurrence perplexed Abe and he did little to verify it spare cringe on the inside. He was completely positive of his feelings towards Mihashi and for that he was glad. The turmoil and chaos of his confusion towards his best friend had been a kind of hell. But now things had changed. Abe knew where Mihashi stood in his life and was in a deeper, sadder pit of hell because of it. At least when he was confused there was still the glimmer of hope sparkling like light breaking on a prism to keep himself orientated. Now the prism had become a prison, incarcerating and erasing any feeling that he could hold on to.

On the surface Abe showed nothing in recognition of his thoughts. The rest of the guests were scattered around the rest of the living room seated on the plush cream colored furniture. Abe stood in the corner near Suyama who was sitting on the fieldstone fireplace that looked like it hadn't been used in years. Hanai and Tajima sat next to the shortstop on the fireplace completing the circle.

As Abe looked around he felt as happy as the hole in his stomach would allow. Oki sat on the loveseat and started up a low conversation with Hikari; Izumi had his arm securely around Aizawa who shot the catcher a grin when she caught his eye. Over on the couch Shinooka, Nishihiro, and Mizutani where talking to someone that Abe guessed was Sakaeguchi's sister. She was very pretty, sharing Sakaeguchi's sand colored hair but wearing hers down her back. She looked to be around the same age as the rest of the team but Abe knew from past conversations with Sakaeguchi that she was a few years older.

"Do you guys want anything to drink?" Sakaeguchi asked the newcomers.

"Can I have a Coke?" Hanai asked.

"Me too!" Tajima sang.

"I'll have a glass of water if you don't mind Sakaeguchi," Abe replied.

"Sure but I'll need some help getting it," Sakaeguchi requested.

"Ok," Abe said, maneuvering around the furniture and following the second baseman into the kitchen.

The kitchen looked to be completely top of the line. Stained redwood cabinets hung from down from the ceiling and protruded from under the black granite countertops. Stainless steel professional looking equipment dotted the countertops culminating on one end of the room in a monstrous refrigerator that looked like it came from years in the future, and on the other end of the room was a stacked double oven with a range built into the countertop next to it. "Wow Sakaeguchi you dad must love to cook," Abe commented offhand.

The second baseman twisted his lips into a coy smile. "I would hope so. He's the executive chef at the Hilton on Ozaka Beach."

"Wow," Abe gasped. "Man I've never even been to a place as fancy as that. I wonder what it's like to eat at a four star restaurant."

Sakaeguchi chuckled. "It's not all that exciting. Mostly just overpriced food but some of the stuff there is pretty good."

Abe stood in the center of the kitchen admiring the room while Sakaeguchi ducked into a pantry for the beverages. When he came back Sakaeguchi's smile had disappeared only to be replaced by a look of concern. "Hey Sakaeguchi what's wrong?" The catcher asked.

The vice captain looked down at his feet, gathering his thoughts. "Hey Abe can we talk?" The second baseman's voice was rife with concern.

"Sure," Abe said tentatively. "What's wrong?"

Sakaeguchi looked up from the floor, eyes burning with concern and worry. "That's what I want to know. You've been acting differently since, well, since the Monday after your birthday. Is there anything you want to talk about?"

Abe tried locking his eyes with his friends. He met the second baseman's gaze for a moment but couldn't keep it. Instead he focused on the ovens. "No everything's fine."

"Abe, please don't lie to me. Everyone knows that something's bothering you. Even Mihashi has realized it. He's been depressed all week thinking that you're mad at him. You haven't seen it because you take off before everyone else after practice but he can't keep his mind straight. Every day that week after you left he would throw some of his stuff in his locker and leave too, but instead of going home he goes into an empty classroom and cries. He won't talk about it with anyone. All Tajima could get out of him was that your mad at him. So please if you don't want to talk to Mihashi about it please talk to me. Whatever Mihashi did I'm sure he's sorry for it."

Traitorous tears had formed in Abe's eyes. It was one thing for Abe to suffer. That was to be expected. But to have Mihashi crying over the catcher sent Abe into a downward spiral of hate and self loathing. He took a deep breath, trying in vain to calm himself so he took another and another. Finally after a few agonizingly long moments Abe had enough control to speak. "Sakaeguchi, I'm not mad at Mihashi. Quite the opposite actually. I'm pissed at myself because of Mihashi."

"What do you mean?"

The catcher took another deep breath for good measure before letting out a sigh. "It's been almost a year since we tried forming the battery and I've gotten nowhere."

"What do you mean?" Sakaeguchi repeated himself. "Mihashi adores you."

"On Saturday, after my birthday, Mihashi and I hung out during the day. We were down in the shopping district because he needed a new shirt. Well we stopped into one of the arcades and we ran into someone Mihashi knew from his old school."

"Oh." The sound was barely audible over the din coming from the living room.

"All the progress I had thought I made. All the early mornings and all of the time I put in trying to get to know Mihashi, trying to befriend him. I too thought it was impossible at first but during the summer tournament I had thought we really connected. But that one encounter. In less than a minute I realized that everything I had done was pointless. Mihashi took off running. Once I caught up to him, I realized that we had gotten nowhere. I don't think we can ever be more than catcher and pitcher."

Sakaeguchi was silent. Abe was embarrassed at saying so much and decided to let the silence linger. Any more and he wouldn't be able to keep himself together.

"Have you told Mihashi any of this?" Sakaeguchi said after a minute breaking the silence.

"No."

"Maybe you should."

"If he doesn't want to be friends with me then I won't make him."

"Why haven't you said anything about this before?" Sakaeguchi asked. "You know you're not alone here. All you have to do is ask."

"You…you wouldn't understand." Abe retorted.

"Abe, this isn't a personal crusade. We're all in this together. The eight of us, hell all of us here the girls and Hamada included, we're all your friends. I would hope you'd realize that and not try to be an island. Please, let us help you." With a quick stride Sakaeguchi closed the gap between himself and Abe and wrapped his arm around the taller boy's shoulders ensnaring him in a one armed hug. "Now come on, if we don't hurry Tajima and Hanai'll come in here looking for their pop&&&."

Abe nodded and when Sakaeguchi turned his back to the catcher he wiped the tears away from his eyes.

"Now," said Sakaeguchi with an upbeat tone as smooth as satin, "let's go join the others."

The pair walked back into the living room acting as if nothing had happened. "About time!" Tajima exclaimed. "I was dying of thirst. Any longer and we would've sent a search party."

"God Tajima, ungracious much?" Hanai scolded.

Abe handed Tajima his can of Coke and sad on the floor in his previous corner. He busied himself with the conversation he just had with Sakaeguchi. The conversation with Tajima had taken him completely by surprise, but the one with Sakaeguchi not so much. It made sense that the second baseman would notice something. He was the team's resident empath and while he was not the smartest or the best athlete he at could least identify when there was a problem. Yet having him on the team was a double edged sword. If Sakaeguchi read too far into Abe's troubles then he would figure out too much and discover his secret. At least with Tajima Abe could fight back. But he had nothing on Sakaeguchi and therefore no assurance that he would stay quiet.

Abe kept his cautionary thoughts swirling. He was paying only token interest to the conversation at hand and instead kept a sharp eye on Mihashi. True to his form the pitcher never sat still. Abe noticed that quite often the quirky teen would try to sneak a look at the catcher. The look never lasted more than a few seconds and if Abe was not doing the same he would never had suspected anything.

Tajima's stomach disrupted the many smaller conversations that were taking place. All eyes transfixed themselves on the third baseman who chuckled in response.

"God Tajima, can't you quiet that thing down? It's like a cement mixer over here," Hanai exclaimed moments before his own stomach let out a fierce growl.

"Look who's talking cap'in," Mizutani joshed before he to followed suit.

By now the room was wrought with laughter. "Why don't I just go order us some pizzas before Tajima and Hanai turn cannibalistic?"

"Oh oh oh get one with cheese and pineapple and pepperoni and mushrooms and crab and hotdogs and–"

"Tajima you idiot!" Hanai scolded as he playfully smacked the smallest teen on the head. "They don't even put hotdogs on pizza. Besides, that would taste nasty."

"What kinds should I get?" Sakaeguchi asked.

"Just go with Pepperoni and…" Suyama trailed off. "Is anyone here a vegetarian or not want pepperoni?"

"I-I'm a vegetarian," Hikari announced.

"Me too," Sakaeguchi's sister added.

"Ok so we'll all have pepperoni and Hikari-chan and Kagome-san will share a cheese. Does that sound good?"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"How many should we get?" Nishihiro asked.

"How about we get seven pepperoni and a cheese, and if we need more than we can get something else later," Oki proposed.

"Why so many?" Aizawa asked.

Oki grinned a sheepish smile. "Well for one thing we have those two," he pointed at Tajima who was rubbing his stomach and to Mihashi who was salivating at the thought of all the pizza. "And then we have the nine of us guys and then Shinooka-chan and you Aizawa-chan."

"Fair enough," Hanai said. "Let's see, about five bucks a pizza at eight pizzas plus tip makes it…"

"Forty seven dollars and some change, so about forty eight bucks," Nishihiro concluded. "Tip would put us at about fifty three bucks."

Hanai stood up. "Alright," he exclaimed, "that's four bucks a person. Sakaeguchi and Kagome-san don't have to pay because it's their house."

Everyone started shuffling through their pockets for the money. Abe watched as Mihashi fumbled around for his wallet with no success. Hanai walked around the circle collecting money. When he got to Abe the catcher pulled a ten out of his wallet and handed it to the right fielder. "That's for me and Mihashi," the catcher said casually. The corner of Hanai's mouth twitched into a slight smile as he comprehended the catcher's meaning.

When the captain got around to Mihashi the pitcher blushed. "S-sorry Hanai-kun, I-I don't have any m-money on me."

"Don't worry Mihashi. Abe paid for the two of you."

Mihashi turned to gaze at the catcher. Abe instantly busied himself with examining the stones in the fireplace. Despite his best efforts a blush crept across his cheeks as he felt Mihashi's eyes on him. Abe knew the pitcher wanted to say something to him, but he felt like he needed to apologize to Mihashi for ignoring him first and foremost before they could have any meaningful dialogue. Sakaeguchi's suggestion of simply talking to the pitcher about Abe's feeling seemed like the right thing to do, but having such a private talk at the party hardly seemed like the right thing to do. Abe would have to get Mihashi alone some other time and do it then.

With money in hand and the pizzas ordered the group of fifteen sat down and waited the half hour for their food to arrive. Abe continued his previous routine of acting like he was listening while subtly watching Mihashi.

"Abe…Abe…Hey Abe…" Someone was calling Abe's name, drawing him back to the conversation. "TAKAYA!"

The catcher snapped his head up and searched for whoever was calling his name. All eyes were on Abe as he came back to earth. "Huh? Sorry I was zoning out."

"So are you?" Kagome asked.

Abe looked from face to face, each intimately focused on the catcher. "Am I what?"

"Tch. Geeze Abe, you've been out of it lately," Hanai said rather curtly.

"Sorry, I just have some stuff on my mind. What was the question?"

"We're all going to the Ichinose shrine on New Year's day. Are you in?" Hamada asked.

Relieved that it was something trivial like the first shrine visit, Abe let out the breath he was holding. He had feared for a moment that they had caught him staring at Mihashi. "Uh, yeah sure. What time?" He asked.

"We're gonna meet up at nine at the CD store," Suyama answered. The conversation flowed around Abe. After the scare he had to abandon his previous activity and participate.

The pizza came right on time. Sakaeguchi with the accompaniment of Nishihiro answered the door and paid the delivery man. They returned with the multitude of pizzas the party had ordered. "I'm going to put these on the dining room table. You guys go ahead and help yourselves."

Tajima and Mihashi followed closely behind Oki and Sakaeguchi. Abe waited behind as the others lined up to grab their pizza. He waited and watched as the line formed and then whittled down. Most of the guys had plates stacked with pizza while Tajima and Mihashi both had half of a pizza box to use as their plate, each half containing half a pizza.

Once there where only a few people in line Abe decided to get up. He got in line behind Sakaeguchi's sister Kagome. Abe, not having taken part in much of the conversation, still felt like she was more or less a stranger and didn't really know anything about her. The only thing he knew about her was that she was in her third year of high school and was home for the break. But she had a relaxed smile and bright eyes that made him feel like the two had known each other for ages.

So he wasn't too startled when she turned to him and started talking. "So Abe-kun, you're the catcher on the team?"

"Yeah," he responded, inwardly smiling at the familiarity in her voice.

"Sak-chan says that you're some kind of baseball prodigy; that you're the one who comes up with the strategies and stuff."

Abe sniggered at Kagome's childhood nickname for her little brother. "Prodigy? I don't know about that, that would be Tajima. No I just look over the data on our opponents and come up with a plan that I think would work. With a pitcher like Mihashi it's not too hard."

By now they were the only two at the table. Kagome took a slice of cheese pizza while Abe piled three slices of pepperoni onto his plate.

"So Abe-kun, why didn't you bring your girlfriend tonight? I would love to meet her."

The raven haired catcher blanched at her off-hand comment. "I, I don't have a girlfriend."

"Really?" Kagome asked as she stepped around the table to grab a napkin. "I'm surprised a cute guy like you doesn't have one. I could have sworn that Sak-chan said something about you going out with someone…" She pursed her eyebrows as she struggled to remember the girl's name.

Abe thought fast. This was not exactly a conversation he felt comfortable having with his teammates let alone their good looking sister that he had just met. "No, you're probably thinking of Aizawa Mai-chan but she's going out with Izumi. We're just friends."

"Well you do like someone, don't you?" She interrogated.

"Um, well, yeah; there is a person that I do like."

"You should ask her out. I bet she'll say yes."

"Ah, um, yeah, you see, I–"

But a voice from the doorway cut him off. "K-chan stop pestering Abe. He likes someone else; you're not going to score him as a boyfriend."

"Aw Sak-chan you're no fun. I was just askin'," Kagome groaned as she walked by the two teens to rejoin everyone in the living room.

The two teammates sent each other looks; Abe's of pure gratitude over being saved from his friend's sister, and an apologetic one from Sakaeguchi. "Thanks man I owe you one."

"Hey man no problem. I'm sorry she can get like that," Sakaeguchi smiled at the catcher.

The conversation in the living room had died down. Tajima broke the silence by yelling, "Hey Sakaeguchi, can we get some music?"

"You're at someone else's house, say please damn it," Hanai hollered at the third baseman.

Before Abe and Sakaeguchi could reappear into the living room they heard Tajima exclaim "ow Hanai! Sakaeguchi, please?"

Abe sat back down on the fieldstone fireplace while Sakaeguchi turned on the radio. "Any suggestions?" He asked the group at large.

After a few seconds of bickering the group decided on a station. Bad Luck's No Style came blaring out of the speakers before the second baseman turned the volume down to suitable level for conversation.

The fifteen teenagers talked and bullshitted until nearly ten o'clock. They left the second baseman's house in twos and threes heading in the same general direction. Abe, Mihashi, and Nishihiro all stayed to help Sakaeguchi clean up the house. Sakaeguchi dismissed Abe and Mihashi saying that he, Kagome, and Nishihiro could take care of the rest. When Abe protested Sakaeguchi dismissed him saying that it was late and that since Nishihiro was spending the night he would help clean.

As he was closing the door Abe took one more look back inside. Sakaeguchi caught the catcher's eye, winked, and nodded once. With that Abe closed the door.

The pitcher-catcher duo walked in silence for a block. Abe had hoped that Mihashi would be the one to start up a conversation but the pitcher seemed to be lost in thought. As odd as it seemed for the pitcher to be concentrating hard on anything that didn't have to do with baseball, Abe decided to let it go. Now was a great time for Abe to talk to Mihashi about the taller teen's feelings but Abe didn't know what he wanted to say. He needed some more time to get his thoughts organized.

As if he were reading the catcher's mind, Mihashi spoke up. "A-Abe-kun, there's s-something I w-wanna talk to y-you about."

"Like what?" Abe asked. He really didn't want to have this conversation right now but he had to.

"W-well, a-Abe-kun, I w-want to ap-pologize." Mihashi sniffed back the tears that were formed at the corner of his eyes.

Abe tried to reassure his pitcher. "What for, Mihashi? You didn't do anything wrong."

Mihashi took a deep breath. "I-I thought y-you where m-mad at m-me."

"Is this because we haven't really talked much?" Abe guessed.

Mihashi nodded his head slowly.

Abe mimicked Mihashi and took a deep breath. He needed to clear his head and come up with a game plan. "No, Mihashi, it's me. I've been doing a lotta thinking and I've been confusing myself. You've done nothing wrong." Abe put all of his feelings for his pitcher into the warmest smile he could muster. When Mihashi blushed at Abe's smile the taller teen ruffled the pitcher's hair as a sign of friendship.

Mihashi reached up and grabbed Abe's hand in his. The catcher gasped at how cold Mihashi's hand was. The pitcher pulled Abe's hand from his head and stopped to turn and face his friend head on. Mihashi traced circles on the back of Abe's hand as he fought for strength. "A-Abe-kun…"

The two locked eyes. Abe was startled that Mihashi would do something like this. He never would have thought Mihashi would hold Abe's hand so tenderly, that he would put so much passion and feeling into his eyes. "Yes Mihashi?"

"I love you."

Sorry about the monetary units. I have no idea how much a large pizza costs in Japan so I went off of some of the US prices. And I couldn't resist throwing in a Gravitation reference, I just finished reading the manga online.

I hope you guys liked the little twist I threw in there. Please Review!!!

~ebob.