A/N: Stuff has been made up here (e.g. Miyuki's family) and I'm no doctor, so work with me here (i.e. whatever medical stuff I typed, don't think too technical on it) lol :)
Chapter 7 - Why...
It had been a few weeks after winter break. Sawamura and Miyuki's relationship had changed for the better. Obviously, they didn't portray their relationship publically. Only Kuramochi knew their secret, and they wanted to keep it that way. Well, if they had it their way, Kuramochi wouldn't need to know either.
Miyuki was walking along the street market. A group of them decided to go to a baseball store to grab some new equipment, or just window shop. The catcher decided to break away from the group and go searching for a little something for his boyfriend.
"Hmmm...what can I get him..." Miyuki pondered out loud as he stared into a nearly empty wallet. He sighed as he continued his search, walking along the busy street market. And there it was, his eyes fell upon the perfect gift. It was a keychain pair of characters from a baseball anime. A catcher and pitcher pair, chained together by a metal loop. The catcher was squatting with his gloves held outwards, while the pitcher was halfway in motion of throwing the ball.
'This is perfect...it looks just like us too!' the catcher snickered to himself as he admired his find.
Miyuki quickly paid for the items and made his way back to the group, before anyone knew he was gone, but luck wouldn't let his journey go so smoothly.
"Arrgh..." Miyuki grunted has he grasped his abdomen. A surge of pain ran through is body. He stumbled a few feet backwards before his back met the cold masonry wall. He found himself at the entrance to an alleyway, where he slid down the wall and crouched with both arms wrapped around his waist. He was biting his bottom lips in attempt to suppress the pain he felt. Beads of cold sweat rolled down his face as shivers ran across his body. He felt as if a dagger had been plunged into his abdomen and then twisted. His breath became laboured as the pain overtook all strength within him.
And then it was gone. As fast as it came, it went away as quickly, but to the catcher, it felt as if tens of minutes had passed.
'What was that...' the heavily breathing teen pondered as he recollected himself and started to make his way back to his friends. He felt light headed. He slowly stumbled down the street, finally arriving back at the baseball shop. He recollected himself as he made his way through the entrance into the shop where he rejoined his friends.
A few days had passed since their baseball store excursion. Miyuki had given the keychain with a catcher figure to Sawamura, who babied it as if it were the first gift he had ever received. In part, that was the case, as it was the first gift Sawamura had gotten from Miyuki.
- Flashback -
"Eijunnn..." Miyuki whispered as he wrapped his arms around the sitting teen.
It was night and the two were back in their dorm rooms.
"Today's game was great! If I keep this up, we'll be on our way to the Koshien!" Sawamura shouted in enthusiasm as he held his left fist out in front of him.
"Oi oi...so you're the only one who's worth praise?" Miyuki said teasingly, which caused the pitcher to turn his head towards the catcher.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean..." but before the younger teen could finish, Miyuki planted a kiss, causing the new few words to come out muffled.
"I'm joking..." Miyuki said as he abruptly pulled away, causing a whimper to come from the pitcher as he leaned into air in attempt to capture the catcher's lips again. Instead, Sawamura's lips met something hard. The pitcher opened his eyes to see himself kissing a small figure.
"Whhaaa..." Sawamura exclaimed in confusion.
"I got this for you." Miyuki smiled as he held up the catcher figured keychain next to his face.
"K-k-kawaiiii..." Sawamura said as his eyes glittered up. He quickly grabbed the keychain from the catcher and looked at it closely.
"IT LOOKS LIKE YOU!" the younger teen shouted in surprise as he held the keychain next to Miyuki.
"And this looks like you!" Miyuki showed the pitcher figured keychain as he held it up.
"Whaaaa, you got both of us!" the pitcher's eyes drew close to the keychain Miyuki held.
"Well...I'm keeping this one." Miyuki told the pitcher as his hand clasped around the keychain.
"I like the catcher keychain better." Sawamura stuck his tongue out at his battery counterpart as he continued to admire what he deemed the mini-Miyuki.
"Keychain-chan..." Sawamura started to talk to the keychain.
"You look like..." the pitcher's gaze went back and forth between the keychain and Miyuki.
"You look like a Kazu-chan!" Sawamura said with triumph as he pressed the keychain against his cheeks.
"Eeeeehhh?" Miyuki said as he heard the nickname the pitcher had given to the inanimate object.
"What about me?" the catcher immediately asked.
"What about you? You're Kazuya..." Sawamura said in obliviousness to the meaning of the catcher's question.
"Oh yeah...then I'm gonna name this little guy here...Ei-chan." Miyuki said as he gave the pitcher figured keychain a kiss. Sawamura watched with a gaping mouth as his jealousy grew.
"That's not fair!" Sawamura said in protest.
"What do you mean?"
"The name!"
Miyuki feigned ignoring Sawamura and started talking to the keychain.
"Ei-chan...you're the best, you don't talk back and you don't get jealous, unlike another pitcher we know..." Miyuki then looked at Sawamura.
"...right? EI-JUN?..." the catcher finished with a smile on his face.
"Hmph...lets go to sleep Kazu-chan..." the pitcher got up, marched over to his bed and pulled the sheet over his head.
"Oi Eijun...I was joking..." the catcher quickly ran over to the pitcher.
"Thanks...Kazuya..." a whisper came from beneath the comforter as Miyuki approached the pitcher's bed. This made Miyuki feel all happy inside.
The catcher then quickly turned off the lights, lifted the pitcher's comforter and slipped in, where he wrapped his arms around the pitcher's waist.
"Whhhhhaaaaa" the pitcher shouted, but succumbed instantly into the warm embrace.
"You're welcome..."
- End of flashback -
*Riiiinnng* the bell marked the end of classes for the day. Miyuki and Kuramochi packed up their books and headed towards the club together. As they made their way down one of the lesser used stairwell, Miyuki suddenly got hit by another surge of pain.
"Arrrrrhhhh..." the catcher moaned as he grabbed his abdomen and seizing up in pain, causing him to lean forward, losing balance on the flight of stairs.
"HEY!" Kuramochi shouted as he quickly reached over to stop the catcher from tumbling down the stairs.
"What's wrong Miyuki?!" the shortstop asked in concern.
Miyuki sat on the step wincing in pain as he started shivering with sweat rolling down his face.
"Miyuki hold on, let me get help." Kuramochi said as he started to get up.
"Wait..." Miyuki whispered as his hand grabbed Kuramochi's arm.
Not a moment later, the pain subsided.
"What do you mean wait?!"
"I'm ok now..." the catcher said as his laboured breathing returned to normal.
"What the hell was that?!"
"I think it was just a cramp..." Miyuki said in attempt to wipe the worry off his friend's face.
Skeptical, but waiving it off as a one off thing, the shortstop helped the catcher up as they resumed their trek to the club grounds for a full evening of baseball practise.
The weekend approached fast. The frequency of the abdominal pain also grew for Miyuki.
It was early in the morning, the catcher woke up before dawn and snuck out of the dorms. He threw on a shirt, jeans and when to prep himself before leaving the school grounds. Catching the train, he made his way to the closest hospital.
The teen walked, registered and sat in the waiting room. Time ticked as patients walked in and out of the examination room. He had sat for a few hours in silence. Luckily for him, he had told everyone that he had family matters to take care of today, so his absence was not regarded out of norm.
"Miyuki-kun." a nurse called out as she waved at the teen to go into the room. By the time he was called, it was a bit past noon. The catcher hadn't eaten at all, nor did he have the appetite to do so.
Once in the semi-tiny room, the teen sat down on a chair in front of the doctor.
"Miyuki-kun, how are you feeling?" the doctor asked.
"I'm ok now, but sometimes I get a stabbing pain around my abdomen."
"Can you please lie down here?"
Miyuki climbed onto the examination table and laid there. The doctor pulled up his shirt and started to press the catcher's abdomen.
"How often does the pain come? When did it start?"
"I first felt it about a week ago, I would get it ever other day, but now it's being more frequent. Maybe once a day..."
"Feel any discomfort?" The doctor asked as he continued to press the abdomen lightly.
"Nope."
"I'm going to apply more pressure ok?"
"Ok..."
The doctor then started pressing deeper around the abdomen.
"Ouch." the catcher whispered.
The doctor started to press the area under the catcher's ribs after getting a response from the teen. After a couple minutes, the doctor stopped, pulled the teen's shirt back down and sat on the chair writing something into a pad of paper.
Miyuki got up and sat on the examination table.
"What's wrong doctor? It's nothing right?"
The doctor looked at the catcher with a serious face.
"I felt a lump around where your liver would be..."
"A...lump..." Miyuki whispered as his heart started to beat faster from anxiety.
"I can't be sure, but we're going to have to do some more tests. The nurse will take you for further examination." The doctor finished scribbling something onto the paper and handed it to the nurse.
"Don't worry, everything's going to be ok." the doctor gave a smile as he placed his hand on Miyuki's shoulder and gave a gentle reassuring squeeze.
The rest of the day went by as Miyuki went around the hospital for blood tests, scans and other examinations done by various doctors, all of which were very nice.
"Ok Miyuki-kun, it'll take a couple days to examine the results, but we'll contact you once we have it. Please come back immediately if the frequency of the abdomen pain increases or if you have any other symptoms."
The catcher thanked the doctor and left. He immediately went back to the school dorms.
He was restless, his heart was jumpy, his stomach was churning and he felt unease throughout his body.
'Kazuya...it's nothing...calm down...'
For the rest of the day and the following day, the catcher's mind was going in and out of reality, thinking of what could potentially be wrong. Every time he did so, he would look at the pitcher with longing eyes.
Sawamura of course detected a gloomy atmosphere around the catcher and he tried doing everything he could to comfort the catcher, but to no avail.
'I guess he's really anxious about making it to Koshein...I guess it can't be helped, he does have the whole team on his shoulders...' a dismayed pitcher thought as he stared back at the catcher in silence.
Finally, the day that the report was to come out dawned. It was Monday morning and everyone was in class, everyone but Miyuki. He had requested a day off school in anticipation that he would get a phone call from the hospital today, and so he did.
*Ring ring*
"Morning." Miyuki greeted the caller.
"Is this Miyuki-kun?" a female voice from the other end spoke.
"Yes it is."
"We have your report ready, can you please come in as soon as you can?" the female speaker said. Miyuki couldn't read the tone, it was neutral. He was hoping he could get a grasp of his situation and prepare himself for what was to come.
"Ummm, do you know what the report says?"
"I'm sorry, it's confidential, we need you to be here."
"Ok...I'll be there shortly." With that, Miyuki hung up and ran towards the hospital as fast as he could.
His journey took about half an hour. He quickly made his way in, registered at the front desk and sat in the waiting room. He was anxious, he felt like throwing up. He didn't know what to expect.
"Miyuki-kun, please come in."
Miyuki solemnly walked into the semi-tiny examination room where the doctor sat with a file in his hand.
"Miyuki-kun, how are you feeling?"
Miyuki just nodded his head up and down in response.
"Ummmm..." the doctor started, but was interrupted by Miyuki.
"Ummmm, doctor...is there something wrong?"
"Miyuki-kun, where's your family?"
"They couldn't make it with me today..." Miyuki lied, he hadn't told his family or friends anything yet.
"Maybe we should wait till your family comes..." the doctor tried to reason.
"It's ok...they're very busy, you can tell me." Miyuki stated.
"You should have someone here with you." the doctor tried to reason again.
"Is there something wrong with my report?...am I going to need surgery or something like that?" Miyuki looked at the doctor in the eyes. He could catch onto the subtle hints the doctor was giving.
"Miyuki-kun..." the doctor started in a grave voice.
"The lump I felt the other day was a tumour..." the doctor said.
"A...tumour...like cancer?..." Miyuki mumbled the words in shock.
"We don't know if its cancerous...we'd have to do a biopsy to find out, but..." the doctor responded.
"So I would need a surgery to remove it?" Miyuki's facade showed concern as it meant that this was potentially it for his final year of baseball in high school.
"In normal cases...yes..." the doctor said.
"Normal cases? What do you mean?" Miyuki's voice was filled with concern.
"Your liver is failing..." the doctor somberly said.
"I can take medicine for that right? And I would need to have a surgery to remove the tumour?" Miyuki was worried as his concerns subconsciously came out.
"No, it's too late for medicine. Your best hope would be a liver transplant, but the waiting list is long..."
"But I can wait right?"
The doctor shook his head, which caused Miyuki's heart to sink. Time suddenly ticked slow for the catcher. He could hear the second hand moving *tick...tock...tick...tock...* His breathing slowed down as the feeling of suddenly wanting to vomit pushed against the back of his throat.
"What...what do you mean no? How...how long...do I have?" the catcher stuttered in whispers.
"People can't survive without a liver. At the rate your liver is going at, you'd only have a few weeks."
Miyuki felt the nail hit his coffin, the last nail was done. The small room suddenly became smaller as he felt confined in almost a coffin like area. He sat there looking into nothingness trying to digest what he had heard.
"Miyuki-kun...we can do the transplant if you parents donate a part of their liver to you. You'll be ok, so bring your parents in immediately."
Miyuki sat there, he shook his head slowly indicating that it was not an option. The catcher was frozen in his seat, things that he would have never remembered rushed through his head.
"What do you mean no?" the doctor asked as he was getting worried as well.
The catcher lifted his head so that he could look the doctor in the eyes. The doctor could see the lifeless eyes of the catcher, as if all hope was lost.
"My mother's no longer here and my father's away from Japan...I don't have a way to contact him...he's been gone for a few months already...and besides, I don't think he cares..."
The doctor and nurse looked at each other with deep concern.
"Miyuki-kun...you have relatives? Friends?" the doctor started as he tried to search for a resolution to Miyuki's issue.
"Thank you doctor..." Miyuki got up and bowed.
"Wait! You need to get admitted into the hospital as soon as possible. If there's a donor available, you need to be here and ready."
"Let me wrap up some stuff at school first, I'll be back in a couple days." Miyuki said as he nodded his head.
"Ok. Please take care. Everything's going to be ok. Please try to contact your family or relatives." both the doctor and nurse encouraged and urged the catcher.
"Oh...ok, thanks..." Miyuki bowed as he exited the examination room.
"Please get someone to track his father down...he might not be able to get a donor for the transplant..." The doctor said after the catcher left the room. The nurse nodded and quickly left the room. They knew if they couldn't find Miyuki's father, there would be a very slim chance for a transplant to happen.
Miyuki had be outside the examination room door and had heard the doctor and nurse talking. His heart sank, hope vanished from his eyes and for a moment, time seemed to have been frozen for him. Miyuki snapped out of his daze as he heard the door being opened and he quickly ran off out of the hospital.
After leaving the hospital, the catcher walked aimlessly around town in attempt to clear his mind. Miyuki wandered around for a couple hours until dusk hit. He then stumbled upon an empty park where he took a seat on the swing. Moving back and forth slightly, as if his lifeless body was being pushed by the wind, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his pitcher figured keychain.
"Ei..." he paused as he looked at the figure.
"...jun..." he whispered as tears rolled out his eyes. The catcher clasped his hands on to his face and started crying. He couldn't hold it in any more, reality was hitting him, and hard. He felt alone under the night sky. He was scared, not for death, but out of what he could potentially miss. For the first time in his life, the catcher had found someone he wanted to be with, someone whom he loved, and all of that might just end in a blink of an eye.
"I-I-I'm sorry...Ei...jun..."
A/N: Thanks everyone for reading! Next chapter would be out maybe in 1-3 weeks.