Hey, hey~ Thank you all soooooo much for your reviews, faves, and follows. :') They mean the absolute world to me. :'3

Get ready for the longest chapter yet; 8,655 words! I needed to write a timespan of a week 'cause the next chapter has some fluffeh MiyuSawa action in it! ^~^

Let's give a big ol' thank you to the beautiful anons, since I can't thank them personally. ;u;

KrakenJumper: Hngg-It almost hurts to see this type of Miyuki-But this is a pretty good story so far! Eijun's a sweetheart! Can't wait to read more.

I know, I know! It hurts me too. T_T Eijun really is a big sweetheart! Thank you so much! :D

greengrasslover: Oh! The feels! I was panicking hard core when Kazuya was staring at Eijuns butt- I kept expecting Kazuya to be like, ''hey, what's in your back pocket?" And then finding out... Great story so far, its an interesting idea to have Kazuya be the one that needs emotional support (all the stories I've read so far have had Eijun needing help) . Keep up the good work! Can't wait for the next chapter!

GGL, you just made me squeal like a little girl. xD Hehe, don't worry, Eijun had put the razor in one of his side pockets. ^-^ Thank you so much! :'D I wanted to be different and address more of twisted Kazuya personally than optimistic Eijun. I needed a character who'd nobody would think,"There's something with him, let's make him tell us." And I chose Kazuya. (I won't go into any more detail since it's a huge manga spoiler.) Thank you for your review! :D Now let me just hug the life outta you~ (I wish I could thank you personally. T_T)

Masayuki: MORE...omg miyuki's dad is a total bitch

Thanks~ You think he's a douche here, just wait until his "grand appearance" and you'll realize that he's much worse than how the flashback portrays him to be! :o

Remember to R&R, please~ :D

Chapter 4: Quality Time

~ Day 1: Saturday ~

Kazuya had been the first to wake up that morning. Groaning a bit from the sunlight that peaked its way in through the blinds, Kazuya sat up and rubbed his tired eyes. He was still tired from all the pillow fighting that he and Eijun had done up until four in the morning. Eijun had refused to give in, and Kazuya hated to lose, keeping them wide awake until coach Kataoka had paid them a visit. They didn't get yelled at like they had thought Kataoka would do; Kataoka had merely pointed out the time to them, reminding them that they were supposed to be sleeping.

The most challenging part of the morning was how he was going to wake Eijun up. The pitcher was out like a rock and didn't show signs of stirring awake any time soon. Loud snoring coming from the other bunk, a long strand of drool seeping out of Eijun's open mouth.

Kazuya shook the pitchers shoulder gently, trying to see if that would get any awakening signs out of the pitcher. Eijun sat up from the bed, eyes half open in a daze as he turned his head towards the catcher. To Kazuya's dismay, Eijun hadn't woken up...instead, he'd slapped the catchers right cheek harshly, falling back down onto his back and right back to sleep.

"That hurt, Eijun!" Kazuya whispered harshly, nursing his throbbing, red cheek. Eijun hadn't been kidding when he said he could slap like hell. It must be a family tradition.

The last thing he could think of was dragging Eijun out of bed. Standing up from his crouching position, Kazuya grabbed ahold of the pitchers wrists, tugging on them as gently as he possibly could until the pitchers face collided with the rough, carpeted floor.

Eijun sat up groggily, rubbing his sore face in the process. "What...?" Eijun had merely thought he'd fallen out of bed, but seeing the catcher snickering in front of him proved otherwise.

"Miyuki? What just happened?" Eijun asked groggily, unaware of what was going on around him. "Morning, Eijun. It's Saturday, so we have the big trip today, remember?" The pitcher blinked, unsure of what he was hearing.

"We do?"

"It's six in the morning...don't you remember anything?"

"No...it's too early." Eijun yawned loudly as he stretched his arms above his head; his white t-shirt rising up, giving the catcher a glimpse of the pitchers tan stomach.

"We have to get on the bus right about now, so get up."

Eijun nodded slowly, standing up from the bed, about to take off the t-shirt he'd slept in when Kazuya stopped him by grabbing his arms. "You don't have to change, just put on a pair of sweatpants and grab your bags." Eijun continued to yawn as he pulled his bags over his shoulders groggily.

Kazuya chuckled at the site of the pitchers tired face, finding it funny that Eijun wasn't a morning person.

"Hey, hey, come on now. You can sleep all you want on the bus ride over there."

That seemed to wake Eijun up a little.

As the two got on the bus, Kazuya couldn't help but snicker lightly to himself as he saw most of his teammates sound asleep in their seats.

The one he found the funniest was how Kuramochi was sleeping. Ryousuke had put in his earbuds, leaning his head against the shortstops shoulder sound asleep, while Kuramochi had his head resting against the back of the seat, mouth wide open, snoring rather loudly.

Kazuya wasn't going to miss a chance to get this on camera. He pulled out his phone from his sweatpants and snapped a few photos of the couple sitting behind them, before sending it to the shortstops phone. Kuramochi would kill him for this later when he saw them, but it was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Eijun had already drifted off to sleep in his spot, leaning his head against the cool window of the bus. Kazuya decided to take a picture of Eijun's sleeping face, figuring he could use it for possible future blackmail later on.

As he sat down next to the pitcher, he noticed how some of the couples on the bus were sleeping; Tetsu was reading a book while Jun had used his shoulder as a pillow; Haruichi and Furuya were leaning on each other, sleeping soundly, hands intertwined in one another's, and then...there was him.

Kazuya was extremely jealous of the other couples, but there was nothing he could do about it. He couldn't just drag Eijun into a relationship he wouldn't be happy with and, as far as he knew, Eijun was straight.

He didn't want to lose being close with Eijun by telling him how he really felt about him, so he kept it bottled up inside; if his father found out, he was terrified that he'd be taken far away from Eijun - the only person who made him feel better about himself - for good.

As Kazuya's thoughts swarmed in his mind anxiously, he hadn't noticed how his hands had started to shake in his lap. As if knowing there was something wrong with Kazuya, Eijun allowed himself to rest his head on the catchers shoulder. "Hmmn...don't worry so much, Miyuki. Just relax and go to sleep."

Kazuya smiled lightly at the pitchers words, nudging Eijun's arm gently as he asked soft,"Hey, Eijun?" The pitcher cracked open his eyes to look at the catcher sitting beside him. "Hmm?" Kazuya took a deep breath before asking,"Can we hold hands?" Eijun felt his cheeks heat up slightly, but closed his eyes while he took the catchers hand into his own, giving it a firm squeeze. "Fine...but only because you asked nicely."

Kazuya hadn't expected the pitcher to actually agree with his selfish request, but his nerves had settled and his thoughts were calm as he thought about the time he'd spent with Eijun up until now.

It was a one sided love, but he wasn't going to complain; holding the pitchers hand was good enough for him.

Eijun couldn't remember much of the bus ride, since he'd slept the whole way, but whatever he was holding onto was soft and it smelled really nice, like freshly washed laundry. All he wanted to do was snuggle his face deeper into whatever he was holding, but his stomach growled in protest of doing so.

Eijuns eyes slowly opened to reveal what he had been holding onto the whole time...'What the hell the am I doing clinging to Miyuki?' Kazuya's arms being wrapped tightly around the pitcher's waist didn't make the situation any less embarrassing.

As Eijun studied the catchers sleeping face, he couldn't help but admit to himself that Kazuya was something else. The catcher was far from perfect, but that's what Eijun admired about him the most.

Kazuya usually was a rough sleeper; always tossing and turning in his sleep, never quite comfortable in any sleeping position he ended up in. But here he was, sleeping soundly as if he were comfortable in the position he was in.

Eijun shook his thoughts away from his mind, disturbed that he could even think anything weird about the catcher. 'Stop it, Eijun! You're here to help him, not fall in love with him.'

As Eijun squirmed in the catchers arms trying to break free, he'd woken Kazuya up in the process. The catcher groaned something incomprehensible under his breath as the pitcher struggled in his arms to break free. "Stop moving..." Kazuya mumbled, tightening his hold. Eijun squirmed even more. "Let go of me and hold your pillow instead, asshole!" Kazuya's hold on him loosened a bit as he nuzzled his face into the crook of the pitchers neck. "I don't want to hold my pillow...I wanna hold you." Eijun stopped squirming, blushing at what he'd just been told. "W-Well, still..."

What the hell was he getting so worked up for?

"Just shut up and let me hold you a bit longer..." Eijun knew his face was probably the color of a tomato. What should he do? Let the catcher have his way and savor this moment while it lasted, or shove the catcher off of him and storm out of the room embarrassedly? He chose the former, still feeling rather sluggish due to the lack of sleep he'd gotten from all that childish pillow fighting with Kazuya.

While Eijun was grateful that Kataoka hadn't split them up, he had started to wonder if Kazuya was truly alright with them being together all the time. Eijun knew he had been rather clingy towards Kazuya lately and often followed him around; no matter where Kazuya would go, Eijun would follow him.

As Kazuya slept soundly, arms wrapped tightly around the pitchers waist once more, Eijun had begun to ponder over what they'd be doing while they were at the inn the whole week. 'No baseball for an entire week, huh? I guess it's nice to get away from practice every once and awhile, but did we really have to come all the way out here?'

Maybe this trip wouldn't be so bad after all.

~Day 2: Sunday ~

"Are you kidding me!? That's the fifth time you've won, Youichi!" Kazuya exclaimed, aggravated by the shortstop winning their fifth round of Two-ten-jack. There wasn't much they could do at the inn, since the internet and cable lines were down. They were out in the country side, so an electrician wouldn't be around to fix the wires for awhile.

The first and second years had tried to ease their boredom by playing card games with the three decks of cards Kuramochi and Kazuya had found in one of the closets while they'd snooped around. The only channels the old TV could even pick up were mostly boring soap operas, childrens cartoons, and the weather channel; nobody was having an ideal time watching those.

Kuramochi grinned mischievously as he shuffled the deck of cards in his hands. "Wanna play again, Kazuya? You might actually win this time." The catcher groaned, falling backwards onto his back, staring up at the stained ceiling. "Fuck no. You're just going to cheat again, Youichi." Kuramochi scanned the room and looked in the direction of the first years, grin never faltering. "Do any of you first years wanna try to beat me?"

They looked at Kuramochi for a split second, before deciding that their boring game of "guess the card" was far more interesting than playing Two-ten-jack with a cheating Kuramochi. They weren't really getting anywhere with the game, but at least it took their minds off the boredom of being in the inn.

"Kawakami, come play with me! You're the only one who hasn't played against me yet!" Kazuya felt a bit of sympathy for Kawakami as he was dragged into playing Two-ten-jack against Kuramochi, but he was the only one who hadn't played against the shortstop yet.

Kazuya decided to join the first years in their thought provoking game of "guess the card". Eijun was scowling at everyone, frustrated that he'd been standing up for the past five minutes and none of them had even guessed close to the card he was holding.

Kazuya laughed a bit, knowing full well what card the pitcher was holding. "I know what card it is." Every one of the first years turned their heads towards the catcher, staring at him intensely with their bright, wide eyes. "It's the ace of spades, right?" Eijun nodded, fed up with the fact that his fellow first years couldn't have guessed it. "Finally, somebody got it right!"

Haruichi and Furuya were amazed by the catcher getting the right answer. Exchanging looks of disbelief that they hadn't thought about the card Eijun had. "Miyuki-senpai, how exactly did you know what card Eijun-kun had?" Kazuya flashed them his infamous, classic grin. "It's Eijun's favorite card; it has the word ace in it." Eijun felt a blush creep up onto his face, embarrassed that the catcher had revealed the secret on why that card was his favorite.

"What the hell!? Kawakami just cheated me out!" Kuramochi's voice rang, causing everyone to turn their attention towards the two. Kuramochi had finally lost at Two-ten-jack, and he wasn't too pleased about that. Kawakami looked utterly terrified as the infuriated shortstop accused him of cheating.

"Cut it out Youichi, you're scaring him. If you're really such a sore loser, then keep playing against Nori until you win."

That seemed to spark something up in the shortstops mind. Flashing the poor sidearm pitcher an evil grin, Kuramochi bellowed,"I'm gonna make you regret beating me, Kawakami!"

Kazuya turned back to the first years, who were now building a house out of cards, and asked,"Have any of you fully explored the place yet?" Eijun shook his head, placing a card on top of the ones in the middle of the card house. "Nope. Boss told us that we aren't allowed to go fully exploring around the inn until the third years were done with their studying." No wonder everyone was bored; the only places that they weren't restricted access too were their rooms, the kitchen, bathrooms, and the lobby they were in.

"How many hours we been here exactly?" Eijun groaned, causing everyone to chuckle lightly to themselves. "At least five hours, Eijun-kun." Eijun grimaced, looking ready to shrivel up and die on the hard, cold, wooden floor at any given moment. "This is so boring! When will the third years get done studying!?"

That seemed to be everyones question. "Just be glad that we're first years, Eijun-kun." Haruichi remarked, delicately placing one of the cards on the very top of the card house. Eijun sighed deeply for the tenth time that day, falling forwards to lay on his stomach as he observed everyone busy in their activities. "I really wanna play baseball...even if it's just fielding practice."

With a laugh of triumph - Kuramochi finally winning his game against Kawakami - Kuramochi had decided that they should test something out that he'd been dying to know ever since head arrived at the inn. "Anybody wanna see if a pizza will actually deliver all the way out here?"

With a simple press of a button, they had ordered three large pizzas - one cheese, pepperoni, and sausage - to be delivered to them out in the middle of absolutely nowhere.

"Man, that pizza guy has a long drive ahead of him." Eijun remarked as he patted his belly happily, feeling quite content after his third slice of cheese pizza. Kazuya laughed as he imagined the scene unfolding out in his head, feeling a bit sleepy after eating two large slices of pepperoni pizza. "Well, at least he got paid; money is pretty much all that matters to them."

Everyone was feeling tired after their long day of traveling to the inn, playing cards against one another, and eating the pizza that they'd all pitched in and bought, that they decided to go to sleep earlier than they'd expected.

Eijun, Kazuya, and Kuramochi returned to the room they were sharing together to get ready for bed. "Ryou-san's gonna be pissed that we went to sleep already, but I'll deal with him later. I'm tired and not in the mood to wait for him to return."

Kazuya snickered into his hand, eyeing the shortstop interestedly. "You're just mad because you lost to Nori at Two-ten-jack." Kuramochi scowled at the catcher, picking up one of the nearby pillows, throwing it at the catchers smirking face. Leave it to Kazuya to piss him off once more tonight. "I lost once; unlike your five straight losses!" Kazuya pouted a bit, crossing his arms against his chest, glaring harshly at the shortstop standing in front of him. "That's because you cheated!"

A heated argument erupted in the room about who cheated and who was a sore loser, and Eijun didn't bother to try to break it up, instead, he just drowned out their shouting by using his headphones to listen to music on the highest volume that his iPod could go up too.

It wasn't until Kataoka had appeared in their doorway, unimpressed by how ridiculously loud they were being, that things finally quieted down. "You two do realize that your teammates are trying to study in the room down the hall, correct?" Kazuya and Kuramochi nodded hastily, both terrified of having to feel the wrath of Kataoka.

"Yes, sir." They said in unison, hoping Kataoka would leave them in peace. Both of them were shaking so hard out of fear that their teeth were starting to chatter inside their mouths. "If I hear any more noise from this room tonight, I will not hesitate to separate you two and leave Sawamura and Kominato here." Neither the catcher nor the shortstop liked that idea at all, so they hastily agreed to be quiet.

"Damn, I think my heart stopped right when he stared straight into our eyes. It felt like he was staring directly into our souls."

Kazuya let out a breath he'd been holding; he'd nearly forgotten how to breath when Kataoka had abruptly shone up in their room. "I seriously thought for a second that we were being demoted back down into the second string."

The sound of light snoring caught their attention. Looking down at Eijun, who'd already fallen asleep, Youichi piped a question that took Kazuya off guard. "You like Sawamura, don't you?

Kazuya adverted his eyes from the shortstops perceptive gaze. "It's just a hopeless crush. Whatever I feel towards Eijun is simply one-sided and I can't give him the kind of love that he'd expect me to give unconditionally."

Kuramochi had fallen silent, processing what the catcher had said. "I don't think Sawamura would care if you're not the best guy in the whole fucking world."

Kazuya shrugged it off, shaking his head slightly. "Eijun doesn't deserve to be with someone like me; I'm the most arrogant person on this team. He deserves to be happy with someone else."

Kuramochi opened his mouth to retort, but the door to their room opened up, ending their conversation. Kuramochi felt the corners of his lips turn up slightly into a small smile as Ryousuke entered the room, tossing his bag aside, and settling down on the futon next to the shortstops.

"I guess we'll call it a night, Youichi." Kazuya said as he stretched his arms above his head, removing his glasses and setting them aside as he proceeded to settle down on the futon next to the pitchers.

~ Day 3: Monday ~

"So, where should we start our exploration?" Kazuya asked, looking around the inn in great wonder. Eijun had been stuck with Kazuya - all the other first years had mysteriously partnered up overnight - and they were standing alone in one of the dimly lit hallways that connected to the main building.

Eijun shuddered a bit, feeling extraordinarily paranoid of going any further into the deepest, darkest part of the old inn. For whatever odd reason there was, the catcher seemed quite curious about the older section of the building and wanted to explore every inch of it thst he possibly could.

"Um...maybe we should go back?" Eijun suggested, not wanting to go any further than they already were. They were standing at the entranceway of the old inn; the door was wooden and rotted out in severely parts of it, seeming that if you just blew on it, then the whole damn thing would fall apart at any given second. "C'mon Eijun, let's start by exploring down here. I'll hold your hand if you're scared~"

The pitcher felt every hair on his body stand up as he followed the catcher down the dimly lit hallway; the dirty lights that hung low from the ceiling flickered on and off with slight buzzing noises emitting from them; the sounds of the floorboards creaking under their weight, and the fact that there weren't any windows in the hall were key essentials to every horror movie he'd ever seen.

As they explored every room, Eijun felt shivers going down his spine. The rooms were old, smelled terribly, and we're extremely dusty; they'd probably been unused since the day the newer part of the inn was built. A loud, rumbling sound was heard overhead and Eijun froze in his spot. "What was that?" Kazuya shrugged, still continuing his walk down the hall in search for another unexplored room. "Thunder, I think."

As the two ventured even further down the hallway, a loud clap of thunder echoed outside of the inn, causing the pitcher to jump out of fright. Eijun had never been a fan of thunder, or thunderstorms in general. Whenever there was a thunderstorm at Seido during the night, Eijun would pop his earphones in and crank up the volume on his iPod. But he'd left his iPod and earphones in his bag back in the room.

Before either Kazuya or Eijun could say anything, the lights went out, causing the hallway to become pitch black.

Eijun stood there frozen to his spot in complete silence, terrified that if he moved or uttered a single word, whatever was hiding in the darkness of the inn would come out and get him. He gulped a bit, feeling his heart start to race in his chest and the sweat that had started to trickle down his face. He knew that it was such a childish thing to fear the dark, though whenever he was alone in a dark room, he just couldn't help but imagine what was lurking in the shadows.

A faint light from a cellphone broke through the darkness and revealed Kazuya's worried face. "Eijun, there you are! I thought I'd lost you in here." Eijun wanted to be relieved that the catcher had found him, but he didn't want the catcher to see him in such a childish state.

"Eijun, what's-" before Kazuya could finish his question, Eijun had latched onto him, buried his face in the catchers shirt, and sobbed like a child.

Eijun had expected the catcher to shove him off or laugh at how childish he was being, but was surprised to find that none of that happened; the catcher stroked his hair gently, like how a mother would do as she tried to calm her child down.

"Shh, shh...it's okay, Eijun. I'm here, don't cry."

As the catcher held the sobbing pitcher in his arms, he decided that it was best that they head back and wait for the power to come back on. Eijun wasn't looking too good being here in the darkness while a thunderstorm was happening outside.

After Eijun had finally monster to calm down, Kazuya made sure to keep the pitcher close to him, resulting in them holding hands again, much to the pitchers disapproval.

Making their way back to the main building wasn't hard, getting back in from the outside was the problem. "It seems like we're stuck out here..." Kazuya grumbled, fiddling with the doorknob until it had come off in his hands.

The two stared at it, unsure of what they should do. "Hey Eijun, do you know how to pick a lock?" Eijun stared at the catcher in shock. "No, I thought that you would know how, because it seems that you can do anything you set your damn mind to!"

Kazuya scowled in frustration, rubbing his temples as he felt a headache start to form. "Now what are we gonna do? We're locked out of the inn...in the middle of a thunderstorm...just our luck." Eijun looked up at the windows on the second floor and noticed how there was one halfway open. "Maybe one of us can crawl in through the window and unlock the front door?" Kazuya looked up at the window and nodded in approval. "Sounds good. I'll give you a boost so you can get up there."

Before the pitcher could even react, he felt the catchers strong arms wrap around his waist as he was hoisted up from the ground and up near the roof. "Climb up there, go in, and unlock the front door."

Eijun carefully crawled up the roof, trying not to slip, as he very cautiously slide the window open a bit more as he climbed into the room. It was a storage closet of some type; a bunch of boxes were stacked neatly in the corner with a thick layer of dust covering them.

It was dark, but Eijun knew he had to overcome this fear to help the catcher out. As he trudged down the dark and empty hallway, he reminded himself over and over,'Relax, there's no such things as monsters...you'll be fine; it's just a little further.'

Eijun wanted to take his mind off of the darkness of the hallway, so he thought of the one thing scarier than the darkness...the time he'd made Kazuya angry. The catcher was terrifying when he was angry, and Eijun couldn't think of anything else scarier than that.

He finally reached the front door and unlocked it, allowing the soaked catcher to come inside.

"I guess everyone got caught in the dark and decided to make great use of it. While I was standing out there, the walls of the older part of building were creaking so badly that I thought they'd fall apart."

Eijun felt a blush creep up onto his face as he imagined what the catcher had just described. "Really...?" Kazuya yawned a bit, patting Eijun's head for all the good work he'd done. "I'm tired, so let's head to the bath and then call it a night."

Eijun had thought that he was used to being alone with Kazuya, but he was so flustered taking a bath with the catcher that he merely kept his eyes shamefully downcast; he didn't want to get caught staring at the catcher in an inappropriate manner.

As the two finished up their bath and got dressed for bed, the hall that connected to the rooms that the baseball team members were staying in was completely empty. The only other people who hadn't gone exploring were Chris and Tanba, busy studying in their room with a flashlight they'd found in one of the inn closets.

"Let's inform that we're back...or at least inform them that we're the only ones who bothered to return from "exploring"." Kazuya commented as he tapped the sliding door.

Chris answered the door and noticed that it was just Kazuya and Eijun. "Ah, Miyuki and Sawamura, what are you two up too?"

Kazuya pulled the pitcher closer towards him and smiled at the older male. "We're about to head off to bed, so we just dropped by to inform you that we're back."

After saying their goodnights to the other two, Kazuya pulled Eijun across the hall and over towards their room. The two collapsed onto one of the futons; Kazuya draping an arm across the pitchers stomach as he lay on his side observing the pitcher. "What should we do tomorrow to get back at everyone?" The catcher asked mischievously, a devious smile forming on his face.

Eijun yawned sleepily before quietly murmuring,"Twister." Kazuya let out a light chuckle, not wanting to disturb the pitcher as he closed his tired eyes."We don't have a spinner or a mat." Eijun had already drifted off to sleep, not having heard a single word the catcher had said.

"If you want to play Twister, then I'm all for seeing our teammates cringe in pain as they move around, hahaha."

~ Day 4: Tuesday ~

Kazuya had spent the whole night making the placement cards for their version of Twister, resulting in him hardly getting any sleep. He fought back yawns as he and Eijun sat at the breakfast table with the other members of the baseball team.

"Kazuya, don't sleep! You'll end up getting food on your face." Kuramochi snickered, obviously liking the fact that the catcher was too tired to argue back. If it weren't for Eijun being his perky, optimistic self, he'd assume that something had happened between them last night while they were alone.

"Shut it, Youichi. You'll get your payback in a minute." The catcher mumbled, resting his head in his hands as he tried not to drift off to sleep.

"Oh, I'm so scared." Kuramochi commented as a smirk formed on his face. Kazuya flashed a sinister grin at the shortstop. He'd noted the weird posture of Kuramochi's and decided to point it out. "You're sitting pretty strange, Youichi. Did someone have it a little too rough last night in one of the dark, empty rooms?"

Kuramochi's face flushed a deep red as he thought back to the events of what he and Ryousuke had been up to last night. "Shut up! Knowing you and Sawamura, you two did some kinky shit in there!" Eijun looked at the shortstop confused, blinking a bit as he innocently asked,"What do you mean by "kinky shit", Kuramochi-senpai?" Before the shortstop could explain, a sharp glare from the catcher shut him up.

There was no way in hell he'd let the shortstop ruin Eijun's innocence...at least not for now.

As they finished up their candlelight breakfast, Kazuya had them all follow him to the lobby where he had a very special surprise waiting for them.

To most of the first strings horror, Kazuya's surprise had been a handmade version of Twister.

"Eijun suggested it, so why not play it?" Kazuya asked, a smug look on his face. He was ready to see Eijun win this game; it wasn't because they were one of the few who'd actually used the nighttime to sleep, but mainly because of how flexible the pitcher was.

"Who wants to go up against Eijun?" Kazuya scanned the entire room until he found the perfect two candidates. "Jun-san, why don't you and Youichi show Eijun just how to play Twister?" As the two paled over a bit, reminiscing about the events of last night, Kazuya could only sit back and enjoy the moment while it lasted.

"Alright...Youichi, right foot on green." Kuramochi smirked to himself; this game would be easy. All he had to do was make sure he didn't have to bend over.

Kazuya couldn't help but grin maliciously as he called out the next move. "Jun-san, right hand on red." The shortstop and catcher wore identical grins as they watched the center fielder's face scrunch up in pain as he placed his right hand on the red, cutout circle.

It was Eijun's turn now. "Eijun, right hand on yellow."

As the catcher began to call out more moves, Kuramochi was already biting his lower lip to keep himself from letting out a hiss from the tremendous amount of pain he was in. He'd already made Jun fall, so all that's left is to make Eijun fall.

Kazuya called out the last move and that was it, Kuramochi had lost his balance and ended up falling onto his sore butt. The catcher couldn't help but burst out into manically laugher at the sight of the shortstop cringing in pain on the floor.

Kuramochi had the perfect payback for the catcher. He pulled Eijun close to him and whispered the scheme into his ear, making the pitcher a bit nervous. "B-But won't he get mad?" Kuramochi shrugged, not really caring if Kazuyanot mad or not. "It's you, so he probably won't stay mad for long."

Eijun gulped as he slowly walked over to the catcher. "Congrats, Eijun. I knew you'd win." Eijun felt a blush slowly creep up onto his face as he looked the catcher straight in the eyes, and then...

"What the fuck, Eijun!? Give me back my glasses!"

Eijun had swiftly taken the glasses off of the catchers face and then proceeded to run off down the hall to avoid having to feel Kazuya's wrath.

Kazuya had extremely terrible vision and so he often ran into things as he tried to pursue his chase after Eijun down the dark, blurry hallway.

As much as he hated to admit, he was actually having a blast as he spent more time being around the pitcher.

Now if only he could get his glasses back from Eijun.

~ Day 5: Wednesday ~

"What should we do today?" Kazuya mused, bored from the fact that they were already three days into their trip and the power still hadn't been fixed yet.

"Let's tell horror stories." Kuramochi said, a grin flashing on his face. They had the darkness of the inn and a flashlight to dimly light up the room, creating an eerie atmosphere. Kuramochi held the flashlight up to his face, a wide, sinister grin sprouting on his face, as he proceeded to tell the story of the Kuchisake-onna.

Eijun was quivering with fear, unsure of whether he could even move from his spot next to the catcher.

Their horror stories had ranged from Kuchisake-onna to Red Room. Eijun had found it difficult to come up with anything, so he decided to sit out and just listen.

As everyone headed back to their rooms, Eijun couldn't stop shaking even as he laid on the futon trying to fall asleep.

"Eijun, what's wrong? Why aren't you asleep?" He heard Kazuya whisper to him in the darkness of the room, trying not wake the other two in the room up.

"Nothing! Go back to sleep!" He mumbled as he turned over on to his side in order to face away from the catcher. Eijun didn't want to admit that he was scared of not only the dark, but ghost stories as well.

"You're scared from hearing all those ghost stories, huh?" Eijun felt his cheeks heat up, mortified the catcher had discovered another childish secret of his. "No, who would be scared of something as silly as that?" Eijun tried to deny, but found it harder to do when he was shaking in fear.

"Obviously you. Don't worry so much about it, they're just stories." He could feel the catcher move a bit closer to him, slowly rubbing small circles in his back soothingly. "If you're scared, you can cuddle with me." Eijun would've yelled at the catcher if it weren't for the fact that Kuramochi and Ryousuke were asleep.

"I'm fine." Kazuya chuckled at the pitchers embarrassment. Nuzzling his face against the pitchers back. "Think of something scarier; that should help you fall asleep." The catcher mumbled softly as he fell asleep next to the pitcher. 'Hmmm...what's more scarier then Kuchisake-onna?' He wondered to himself, as he started to drift off. 'That's right...Miyuki hating me is.'

~ Day 6: Thursday ~

"So...when is the power gonna be fixed? We've sat in nothing but darkness since Monday." Eijun complained, obviously frustrated with the fact that it's been four days and the power was still out.

"We could play a game?" Haruichi suggested as he placed a card down on the floor in front of him. "Your turn, Satoru-kun."

"Haven't we played every single game we know of?" Eijun mumbled as he placed one of his cards down on the floor face up.

"Miyuki-senpai isn't awake yet?" Furuya asked, eyeing the cards in his hands. Eijun scowled and shook his head."No! That damn, four eyed bastard decided to sleep in!"

Haruichi smiled at the pitchers answer, finding it to be rather adorable that Eijun often talked about Kazuya."Eijun-kun, you and Miyuki-senpai look good together." Eijun raised a brow at his friends comment, confused by what he meant. "What do you mean by that, Harucchi?"

"You two are dating, right?" Haruichi asked curiously, wondering if he was mistaken. Eijun didn't scrunch up his face in disgust, instead, he blinked dumbfounded as he tried to come up with an answer to the question. "No. Miyuki's just one big mystery after another."

Haruichi and Furuya glanced at each other confused. "How so, Eijun-kun?" Was there something going on between the catcher and pitcher that they didn't know about? "Well..." Eijun scanned the room to make it was only the three of them and shut the door tightly.

The two stared at Eijun, unsure of if they wanted to actually hear what the pitcher had to say. Eijun took a deep breath and whispered to them,"Miyuki...well...he has an addiction...it's self harming and Boss put me in charge over him to help him get through it, but it's just so damn hard when he's constantly spazzing out, teasing me, or gone off to God knows where."

Haruichi and Furuya exchanged looks of concern for Eijun as he told them everything. "Eijun-kun, how do you feel about being with Miyuki-senpai all the time?" Eijun was taken slightly aback by the question, unsure of how he should answer it.

"I guess it's rough at times, but...I don't hate it..."

Being with Kazuya all the time wasn't as bad as he thought it'd be. They had their ups and downs, but Kazuya seemed to be a bit more relaxed then how he used to be.

"Yo Eijun, I can't believe you're up before me!" The catcher remarked, as he stumbled into the room, still unsure of where Eijun had hidden his glasses.

"You freaking swatted my hand away, rolled over, and mumbled something about needing five more minutes! I just let you sleep in because it looked like you needed it."

Kazuya blinked a few times, rubbing his eyes to make sure that he was really looking at Eijun. "Are you really Sawamura Eijun? You're acting a bit too nice."

Eijun scowled at the catcher, turning his head away to face the clock on the wall. "Says the guy who can't find his glasses." Eijun hadn't hidden them out of sight for anyone with normal vision; Kazuya had terrible vision though, so it created a bit of a challenge.

"You know that I can't see without them, Eijun."

Eijun was enjoying every second of seeing Kazuya struggle to find his glasses. "They're in the most obvious spot."

"You enjoy tormenting your poor senpai, huh?" Kazuya muttered, thinking up ways that he'd get payback for Eijun hiding his glasses.

"Only if it's you." Eijun replied without hesitation as he rolled his eyes at the oblivious catcher.

"Oh how you wound me, Eijun." Kazuya joked, unaffected by the pitchers words.

In the end, Eijun decided to give the catcher his glasses back, fearing what the catcher would do to him in his sleep if he didn't.

~ Day 7: Friday ~

As the storms cleared off, the baseball team had decided to step out of the inn for a bit of fresh air. Staying cooped up in the inn all day hadn't done them any good; they were dying to go outside and get out of the stuffy inn.

"It's our last day here; what should we do?" Kuramochi asked as he scanned the blue sky for any dark, gray clouds to make sure they wouldn't have any more thunderstorms.

"Maybe we could hike up the mountain and back?" Haruichi suggested as he looked up towards the mountain trail. The mountain near the inn was about a twenty minute hike up and back down if you were cautious and followed the trial closely.

"Not a bad idea, Haruichi. We'll go in pairs of two." Ryousuke mused as he eyed the shortstop standing not too far from him. "You-i-chi~" The shortstop grinned, taking his spot next to his partner. "Kyehaha, whoever has the shortest time wins."

Kazuya felt a smirk form upon his face; there was no way in hell he'd lose to Kuramochi this time or he'd never hear the end of it from the shortstop.

As they headed up the mountain trail, Kazuya decided to strike up a conversation with the slow pitcher waking alongside him. "So Eijun, what are your old friends like?" Eijun felt a small smile form on his face as he thought of his old friends back in Nagano. They supported his decision in coming to Seido and there was no way he'd ever let them down. "They're great. They were really supportive in me coming to Seido and not joining them at their school." Even through the emotional goodbyes at the station as they wished Eijun good luck, Eijun knew that he'd made the right decision at coming to Seido.

Kazuya noticed how happy the pitcher seemed when he talked about his old friends that he'd left behind in Nagano. He couldn't help but wonder what exactly they were like in person. "So Miyuki, what are your old friends like?"

Kazuya paused in his movement, unsure of how he should address the question. He'd never made many friends or hung out with anyone outside of the baseball field; all but one person... "Well...Mei was really fun to be around both on and off the field, so we were pretty close friends until we separated to go to different high schools." Eijun frowned a bit; Narumiya Mei was the only person Kazuya was even bothering to tell him about...Kazuya obviously didn't get along too well with some of the people he'd went to middle school with.

"So Eijun, is Wakana really your girlfriend?" Kazuya already knew the answer; he just liked to see the pitcher get frustrated over it. Eijun felt his face heat up as he scowled at the catcher. "NO! How many times do I have to tell people that she isn't my girlfriend!? I don't even like her in that sort of way!"

Miyuki smirked, turning around swiftly to face Eijun. "What about Yoshikawa?" Eijun sighed in annoyance, rolling his eyes in the process. "Look...she's really pretty, nice, and she's also my friend, but we aren't together!"

As the catcher began to make him more frustrated, he suddenly had a epiphany as he thought of Wakana. "Miyuki, why do you think Kuramochi-senpai replies back to Wakana?"

Kazuya snickered lightly to himself as he continued his lead up the mountain trail. "Youichi is actually very thoughtful of others, believe it or not. He probably replies to her so she won't have to worry so much about your well being."

Eijun had never thought of it that way. He'd always thought that Kuramochi texted her back just to annoy him.

As they were nearing the top of the mountain, Eijun's right foot had ended up in a gopher hole, causing him to stumble and lose his footing, crashing down into the rough dirt face first. Kazuya instantly turned back around, startled by the sudden yelp Eijun had let out just before he had fallen. "Eijun, are you okay?" Eijun mumbled something incomprehensible under his breath as he carefully pulled his foot out of the hole. The intense, throbbing pain shot through his ankle like a needle. There was no way he'd be able to walk back down the mountain. "Are you hurt anywhere?" The catcher noticed how the pitcher was rubbing his right ankle a bit.

"I'm fine, but I hurt my ankle when I fell." He admitted as he tried to soothe the severe pain spreading through his right ankle. "Let's head back, you should let Rei-chan have a look at it."

Before Eijun could inform Kazuya that he couldn't walk, the catcher had wrapped his strong arms around his legs and lifted him up onto his back with ease, as if Eijun weighed nothing more than a simple feather. "I don't want you to damage your ankle more; you're a valuable asset to our team, remember?"

As they headed back down the mountain trail, it had started raining once again. Kazuya cursed slightly under his breath. The sky had been cloudless when they'd left, why did it have to rain now, of all the possible times? "Damn, I thought that we were done with rain." Eijun was getting soaked from his position on the catchers back, but he didn't mind it, just as long as they would be heading back to the inn.

"Do you see the inn yet, Eijun?" The pitcher raised his head up a little over the catchers mop of light brown hair, but there was still no sign of the inn; all he saw was a dirt road and a bunch of cornfields on either side of them.

"Not yet." He heard the catcher sigh as he continued to walk further down the road. Eijun wrapped his arms tighter around the catchers neck, fearing he'd fall off if Kazuya loosened his grip on his legs. "Am I too heavy for you?" Eijun mumbled quietly, feeling embarrassed that he was probably slowing the catcher down. "Not at all. Eijun, you're not slowing me down. It's just a bit difficult to walk with all this mud on the road."

As the rain bag begun to pour much harder, a faint light appeared in the distance, catching the pitchers attention. Squinting his eyes to see better, he could make out a few figures standing near the inn. "Miyuki, I think we're almost there."

As they found themselves closer to the light source, a loud voice rang out,"There they are!"

Kazuya had to admit, being with the pitcher brought about new surprises every day, but he wasn't complaining; being with Eijun was fun.

After Eijun had gotten his ankle checked out - thankfully it was only a sprain - he settled down the futon next to the catchers; his bandaged foot propped up on a pillow poking out from underneath the red blanket. Everyone else had gone to bed, but Kazuya had stayed up to talk to Eijun.

"Hey Eijun, guess what?" Eijun mumbled something under his breath as he turned over to face the catcher who was laying a bit too close to him. "What?" The catcher had a wide smile on his face as brought his hands up towards his mouth to muffle his laughter. "I had a lot of fun with you this week."

Eijun felt himself slowly smile as he thought of the events that had taken place during the week. He had to admit, he had fun being with Kazuya. "I'm glad that you had fun, Miyuki." Kazuya looked much healthier when he smiled; he wanted to see Kazuya happy more often.

"By the way, what happened to my razor?" Eijun felt his heart stop at that very second; he could very well break out into a cold sweat due to the horror he was facing. 'Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit...I'm so dead right now...'

"What razor?" He asked innocently, hoping the catcher wouldn't catch on to him. "The one that was in my toiletries bag." Kazuya wasn't going to give up so easily; Eijun would just have to force him to. "You had a razor in your toiletries bag?"

With a sigh, Kazuya gave up on trying to get an answer out of the pitcher, knowing full well that Eijun had probably hidden it somewhere in their dorm. "Never mind, sorry for asking."

Even though Eijun was that determined to make Kazuya give up on cutting, it was easier said than done.

And there we go! Chapter 4 is complete!

R&R please~ ^^

There will be a bit if MiyuSawa in the next chapter, so stay tuned~

Okie~ Let's address some things!

Two-ten-jack: a Japanese trick-taking card game for two players that takes its name from the three highest-scoring (and lowest-scoring) cards in the game: the 2, 10 and Jack in three different suits.

Kuchisake-onna: she appears as a tall woman in a trench-coat with long, black hair. Her most telling feature is the surgical mask covering the bottom half of her face.

Go look Kuchisake-onna up if you're curious about her.

Red Room: an interactive Adobe Flash horror animation, entirely in Japanese, about an urban legend called "the Red Room". The protagonist searches on the Internet for proof of its existence, only for the results to go horribly wrong.