Hiya, everyone~ ^-^

I'm reaaallly sorry that this chapter took forever to come up, but I had family issues come up and a bunch of other bullshit. .

To make it up to you for not updating in about a month, this is a long ass chapter. (11,125 words, wow.)

I couldn't decide on whether I wanted some super duper ugly ass feels or a glimpse into Kazuya's past, so I chose the later. :P

Oooooh, thank you to all the people who've reviewed, followed, and faved~ :D

This is a flashback chapter and I was soooo tempted to name this "A Moment in The Life Of Kazuya" xD

But I didn't...

Anywho, enjoy~ and remember to read, review, fave, and follow~

Chapter 10: Reminisce

Kazuya woke up with a bolt, clutching the front side of the sweat drenched shirt he that stuck to his body like an extra skin. Sweat dripped down his face, trailing down his chin, and then dropping down on the top of his hand that tightly clenched on to the blanket like a lifeline. The nightmare he had awoken from had been far too realistic for his liking, making it seem like it all had actually happened...that he and Eijun had been split apart by his cruel father.

Turning his blurry, tired gaze down towards the snoring brunet asleep beside him, Kazuya let out a low sigh of relief. Everything was alright; Eijun was still here, sleeping soundly right beside him. Running his fingers through his messy light brown hair, Kazuya tried to think of a remedy to help him fall back into the blissful slumber that he needed. Gazing over at the clock that sat on the desk, Kazuya squinted his eyes, somewhat able to make out the neon red numbers on it: 3:30 AM. With a low groan, Kazuya allowed his body to fall backwards on to the warm sheets.

Getting sleep was tough for him; the nightmares, the flashbacks, and the taunting voices from deep inside of his memory drove him crazy, keeping him up for hours at a time. Kazuya folded his arms behind his head, staring up at the empty bunk above his own, blearily. Kazuya had almost mistake the tiny whimper for a wild animal outside of the dorms making noise, but it wasn't. The sound was far too familiar to have been that of a wild animal scurrying around in the darkness of the early morning hours.

"Hnngg...no..." Eijun whimpered softly in his sleep, tears starting to pour out of his closed eyes, wetting his cheeks as they rolled down them, making splotches of all sizes on the bed sheets.

"No...no, stop!" Eijun cried out in his sleep, fighting off something that only he could see. Eijun's body had, somehow, become tangled up in the white blanket, causing him to thrash around violently in his sleep as he tried to fend off something that only he could see. Kazuya gently shook the pitcher's shoulders, trying to wake him up from the nightmare he was having. Eijun would have bad dreams, yes, but they'd never gotten that bad before. Kazuya continued to shake the pitcher as gently as he could without hurting the pitcher. Teary, golden eyes met with his own soft, light brown ones.

"Hi there," Kazuya said softly, watching how Eijun sat up to rub his eyes of sleep and salty tears. Turning his attention towards the catcher sitting up beside him, Eijun yawned as he replied back with,"Mornin', Miyuki." Kazuya chuckled as he smoothed down the pitchers wild, brown locks. Eijun was surprisingly quiet; that was never a good sign. Kazuya wrapped an arm around the pitchers body and pulled him closer towards him, burrowing his face in the soft, dark hair.

"Bad dream?" Kazuya asked as he nuzzled the pitcher's neck, affectionately. Eijun sighed as he rested his own head on the catchers. Eijun knew he couldn't lie to Kazuya; the catcher worried about him more than he needed too. With a quick nod of his head, Eijun mumbled a soft,"Yeah..." as his gaze lingered over at the clock on the desk.

"What about you? You're up pretty early, Miyuki." Eijun pondered as he turned back to look at the catcher, who still had his head resting in the crook of his neck. Kazuya's warmth spread throughout his body, warming him up from every inch and part; it was as if Kazuya was his own personal body heater. Kazuya sighed softly as he removed his head from Eijun's neck. With a forced, yet tired, smile on his face, Kazuya looked into his eyes with a serious look, leading Eijun to believe the catcher was going to tell him what he was doing up at this hour.

"Go get me some water."

Eijun was taken aback by the catchers demand, but he wasn't going to go against his boyfriend. Kazuya did far than enough work when it came to him; Eijun wasn't going to go against his captain, fearing he'd be in trouble if he didn't give in.

"Okay, I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere!" Eijun ordered as he scurried over the catchers long, outstretched legs and off the bunk, mumbling a,"Be back soon" as he exited the room to go on a journey to get water for Kazuya. While he was a bit weary to leave the catcher alone in the room all by himself, he didn't want to go against an order from his captain.

Kazuya let out the breath he'd been holding as soon as Eijun had stepped out of the room. Raising up the sleeves of his red and white shirt, Kazuya grimaced at the hideous scars that loitered his arms and wrists. Before Eijun had come along, cutting had been the only mechanism Kazuya used to distract himself and escape from the hardships of life. After Eijun had entered his personal life, the urges had slowly started to die off, but the atrocious scars still remained.

The urge to scratch had become much stronger ever since he'd been made captain, after Tetsuya and the other third years retired. Being captain was stressful; even though Kuramochi and Zono were there to help ease the burden of supporting the entire team off of his shoulders, he couldn't help but feel that it was still his responsibility to look out for everyone on the team, and if it meant that he would have to look out for the others before himself, then that was what he would do.

Eijun was the amazing plot twist in his dull, empty life.

FLASHBACK: Five Years Ago~

Kazuya could remember the very day when his middle school teammates had decided that he was just too annoying and too cocky for his own good, and they had planned to teach him a lesson. They had invited him to walk home with them, saying it was to discuss baseball strategies and tactics. Kazuya had agreed, thinking they had finally gotten into the spirit of thinking about baseball on a more serious level.

Kazuya had fallen directly into their trap, unable to break free from their clutches. When he had arrived at their designated meeting spot, they were waiting with wide, cruel smirks on their faces, arms crossed or hidden behind their backs, as he neared them, clueless about what they were about to do to him.

Kazuya grinned at them as he neared them, twisting his hat on the side as he stepped closer. With every step he took, they were already further ahead of him in the plan.

"Miyuki, nice of you to join us." The smirk on the biggest one's face grew larger as he took a step forward towards the small catcher, arms unfolding from his chest as he inched closer towards Kazuya. He towered over the catcher like a giant

Kazuya gulped as he noticed the dark look in the taller boys eyes, causing him to step backwards a bit. "What do you want?" Kazuya's tone was firm, yet lingering with anxiousness. He didn't want any trouble from them; maybe if he kept his guard up, there wouldn't be any difficulties.

There was a loud popping noise that rung in Kazuya's ears as the older boys fist collided with his cheek, sending the smaller boy toppling to the ground within seconds after the collision. 'Don't cry, Kazuya. Don't cry!' His mind reprimanded him, but the pain that they kept inflicting on him, one after the other, made his vision blurry, not from losing his glasses, but from the hot tears that flowed freely down his bruised and scratched up face as he tried to protect himself from their attacks by curing up into the fetal position.

"He really is a little faggot, after all." With one last, harsh kick to his already sore and hideously bruised side, the bullies had had their fun, turning their backs away from their victim to start walking down the long road that lead to their homes. Kazuya's small voice croaked out in-between sobs as he struggled to sit up without the intense pain overpowering him. "Just...just you wait...one day...I'll be big enough so you can't hit me."

They had laughed it off as nothing more than a mere joke and simply continued on their way back to their homes, leaving Kazuya curled up on the hard ground, bloody and bruised, crying silently to himself as the rain started to drip down from the sky, wetting his face once more with droplets of rain instead of salty tears.

Kazuya had hardly any energy to move that morning, having walked home in the rain a bloody mess. He'd been feeling feverish all morning long, but his father wasn't going to allow him to stay home from school because he wasn't feeling up too it. Unless he wanted his father to schedule an appointment to see the doctor, he was going to drag his ass school. Kazuya hated anything to do with doctors; they always reminded him of why his mother was no longer around.

Kazuya hadn't bothered to attend practice; he wasn't able to concentrate very well and was still awfully sore from the attacks. Coach was busy trying to sort out things dealing with a new member wanting to join the baseball team, so Kazuya would just tell him that he wasn't feeling too good and was going to go home to rest.

"Ah, Miyuki, good timing!" The coach exclaimed, skimming over piles of papers that sat on his desk in nothing but a massive heap. Kazuya blinked, unsure of why coach had said he had good timing. "We just got a new addition to the team and, since he's a pitcher, I thought that it would be good if you two got to know one another; you are the team's main catcher, after all."

Kazuya sighed as he rubbed his hot, aching head, unable to say no to the coach. A pitcher, huh? Will he be like the last one and obey every sign given; never once shaking them off? The last pitcher moved away a few weeks ago, due to his father getting a new job opportunity in another prefecture, leaving the pitcher's spot on the team vacant.

"I was actually coming to tell you that I'm just gonna head on home. I don't feel too good today." Kazuya confided, an apologetic smile forming upon his lips as he tried to ease his way out of the conversation. Coach wasn't buying his excuse at getting out of their conversation, though.

"Oh? That's too bad, Narumiya really wanted to meet you, Miyuki." Coach mused as he motioned with his hand over towards the door where a lone blond stood, peering into the office nervously; his big blue eyes full of curiosity and wonder as he observed the catcher from his rooted spot in the office doorway.

This must be Narumiya.

"Come in, Narumiya. I want to introduce you two." The blond shuffled his tiny feet from the doorway, slowly making his way over towards the coach and Kazuya, hesitantly. Once they were standing only an arm's length away from one another, Kazuya resisted the urge to laugh; he was taller than the blond by a couple of inches. He had almost found it hard to believe that there could be another player smaller than him.

"Introduce yourselves." Coach ordered as he nudged the blond a bit closer to Kazuya - who was, not-so-secretly, examining Narumiya with his ever observant, light brown eyes. The blond squirmed under Kazuya's intense gaze a bit embarrassed, refusing to look up meet Kazuya's eyes. Instead, Narumiya chose to direct his full attention down towards the faded out white cleats he was wearing as Kazuya finished up with his thorough examination.

Kazuya pulled on his most friendliest smile as he grabbed a hold of the blonds small, pale hand in a quick handshake, earning a small squeak from him in surprise from being touched by Kazuya. "Miyuki Kazuya, catcher!" The blond looked up at him for a slight moment before reverting his gaze back down towards his cleats.

"Narumiya Mei...pitcher." The high-pitched, squeaky voice that came from the blond's mouth reminded Kazuya of a mouse. While he found it rather amusing, he also found it rather...cute.

"Well, now that you two know each others names, maybe you two should get to know one another better?"

Kazuya shot a grin at the fidgeting blond, making him freeze up like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car. Kazuya was determined to make at least one person on the team like him, so if he had to break the blond out of his comfort zone, then he would do so.

"Narumiya, want to come over my house?"

It had taken Kazuya a few weeks to get Narumiya to finally agree to come over; the catchers persistence finally caused the blond to give in and say yes. Kazuya's father was gonna be out of the house for the rest of the night, so Kazuya had invited Narumiya to spend the night with him at his house. Kazuya couldn't explain why, but there was a really different atmosphere when he was around Narumiya. While Kazuya usually found himself doing most of the talking - Narumiya merely nodding his head or saying simple words in response to whatever Kazuya had said - he still enjoyed the company that the blond had to offer.

Kazuya liked the company Narumiya provided; he hadn't grown up with any siblings around, so the house was rather lonesome; his father was working all the darn time and, well, not having a mother to greet him when he got home from school or baseball practice was rather lonely as well. Having someone to talk too about random things and actually listen to him was a rather nice change; it was better than the awful silence that greeted him when he got home from baseball practice, or the blaring sounds of the TV that he'd turned up on full volume to make it seem less lonesome.

When night-time fell, Kazuya pulled Narumiya into his bedroom, and made the blond get up into the bed with him as he popped in a scary movie into the DVD player and sat huddled up under the covers next to Narumiya as they tried to watch the movie without freaking out over the extremely violent scenes.

The credits had just started to roll on the screen when Kazuya had awoken, head laying on Narumiya's stomach, as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Reaching for the remote, Kazuya turned the TV off, settling back down on his comfy, human pillow as he allowed himself to drift off to sleep once more.

Kazuya had grown closer to Mei over the past few months that they had gotten to know each other through baseball practice and just casual get together at one another's place. As he was putting away the last of the baseballs, the same group of bullies had approached him, vicious smirks plastered on their faces. "Hey, fag. You missed some." One of the bullies snickered as he kicked the bucket that held all the baseballs Kazuya had just finished picking up.

Kazuya knew it was useless trying to fight with them, so as he bent down to pick up the stray balls that had started to roll away, a pale hand picked it up for him. Mei smiled at him as he helped Kazuya collect the stray balls. After they had finished picking up the very last ones, Mei sat down on the dirt ground beside him, gazing upwards towards the evening sky that had started to turn orange in color as the sun began to set in the horizon.

"Kazu-chan, why do you let them bully you?" Mei asked softly, his long, pale fingers gently grazing over the nasty, blackish blue bruise on the catchers right cheek. Kazuya flinched at the touch of the bruise, still finding it painful to touch, even though it had happened a week ago.

"If I don't, then they'll hurt you."

If there was one team that Kazuya's just couldn't beat, it would be Marugame Senior League. The pitcher and catcher battery was unbreakable; the pitcher had put his absolute, full trust in the catcher. Chris could catch whatever wild, blazing pitch was thrown from any pitcher.

As Mei and Kazuya warmed up, Kazuya could feel the gazes of Chris and the pitcher, whom he had learned was named Zaizen, as he caught Mei's fastball.

"Southpaw, huh? Wonder what this kid's made of." The pitcher commented, nudging Chris in his side with his elbow. Chris merely smiled as he strapped on his catchers gear. "Hopefully, not like you." Chris chuckled as he placed his helmet on his head.

This would be their last time trying to defeat the team that Chris was on; Chris was a third year in middle school, while Kazuya was still a second year. One last chance to prove that they were the stronger team; one last chance to prove that their practice hadn't gone to waste, but mostly, one last chance to show Chris just how much time and devotion he had put into forming the perfect battery with Mei.

Lately, Kazuya had had some issues with Mei. Mei would agree on the type of pitch that would be thrown, but instead of a fastball, he'd received a slider. When he'd question Mei about it, he'd received a shrug of the shoulders from the blond and a bored expression.

Ever since he had been granted the ace title, Mei's arrogance grew more each day. Often ignoring the signs Kazuya had specifically asked him not to brush off, and throwing something he was still improving on. While it angered Kazuya to no end, he knew that there was hardly anything he could do; if coach couldn't do anything about Mei's behavior, Kazuya wasn't so sure that he could, either.

They'd lost...a bitter, angry feeling tumbled around in Kazuya's stomach as he saw the other team whooping and cheering over their win. Kazuya took off his helmet, throwing it to the ground as he stormed over towards the nonchalant blond, who was still standing on the mound. "Mei, what the hell!? I wanted a fastball to the inside corner, not a fucking slider! Why did you brush off my sign!?" Kazuya lashed out, bitterly. He hated fighting with Mei over simple things, but it was always Mei's selfishness that got to him.

"I'm the ace, Kazuya. Aren't I allowed to be selfish?" Mei asked monotonously with a slight roll of the eyes. Kazuya had just about had it with Mei and his selfishness; baseball wasn't just a sport that they played by themselves; baseball was a team sport.

"You make no sense half the time, Mei. You know that baseball's a team effort; we don't win with just a single player...it takes the whole entire team to win!" Kazuya snapped, finding it hard to sustain his boiling rage from the words Mei had uttered, whether he truly meant them, Kazuya didn't care, he was still angry from their loss. It could have been a win, if it weren't for Mei's selfish pitching. All he wanted to do was bang his head into the nearest wall and see if he could erase this hateful feeling that bubbled up inside of him.

The bus ride home was full of silence; Mei was pouting and close to tears, while Kazuya huffed and turned his body away from Mei to look out the window of the bus. Everyone else was entirely flabbergasted; the two usually chatted up a storm as they discussed tactics, what they needed to work on more with Mei's pitching, and things non-related to baseball; whose house they were going to crash at that night, what they would be having for dinner, and homework. But lately, there had been tension between the two of them; the two bickered all the way back to the bus where they would curl up in their seat, refusing to acknowledge the others existence for the time being.

Hating your best friend is a very painful thing when you're both to blame for the others mistakes...

During his third year in middle school, Kazuya had been sitting in his last class of the day, reading a sports magazine that he'd bought with his own allowance the night before. The snickering coming from his male classmates sitting a few seats away from his caught his attention, but he'd always preferred to just sit back and listen rather than join in their conversations.

The main topic of today's discussion: sexuality.

Apparently, one of the boys had snuck in a couple of his older brother's magazines; the ones with the very scandalous looking women on the cover, clad in nothing but underwear - and sometimes nothing at all - and pulled them out from his school bag for all the boys to see. Noticing Kazuya sitting alone, they had invited him over, only to find that he wasn't at all affected by the magazines; he simply scrunched up his face in utter revolt and just walked away, leaving them dumbfounded.

Kazuya couldn't understand why girls didn't seem to appeal to him; many in his class had a crush on him and many weren't too secretive about it either. Kazuya just couldn't understand why he felt so awkward being around other guys; whether it was just walking home with Mei or accidentally bumping into a fellow male classmate in the hallway during class transitions, the hot, burning feeling just erupted inside of him, just like a volcano getting to erupt and spew lava everywhere.

What was it exactly? Admiration? No, boys his age didn't seem to think about other boys like that. Maybe...it was something else?

As he sat at the rectangular dinner table with his father, he'd asked a simple question, trying not to sound suspicious at all. "Hey Dad, what would you do if you had a gay son?" Kazuya cast his gaze downwards, staring at his distorted reflection in the glass of water that was sitting in front of him. Kazuya's father had nearly ripped the newspaper that he'd been reading in half, giving Kazuya a cold, stern stare. "Listen up, Kazuya. No son of mine will ever be gay. It's a sin. Do you want to go to hell? Answer me, Kazuya!" His father's hateful voice boomed across the room, causing Kazuya to shrink further down into his chair. He felt trapped being here; there was no support from his father. He would just have to keep his sexuality a secret.

"No, sir..."

After finishing up dinner in silence, Kazuya asked his father if he could go over Mei's house. His father had agreed, assuming that Mei was a girl he knew. Kazuya walked the long distance that separated his apartment complex from Mei's house, lost in thought about how he should tell his best friend that he was gay. 'Calm down, Kazuya. Mei's your best friend, he won't be disgusted by you...at least, I hope he won't.'

Upon arriving at the white, two-story house, Kazuya didn't bother knocking on the door, he simply just followed the paved trail that lead to the backyard. Kazuya spotted the blond pitcher throwing a few pitches into the baseball net. Mei turned his head at the sound of Kazuya stepping on the crunchy leaves, and waved, once he saw that it was just Kazuya. "Hey Kazuya, what brings you out here?" Mei asked with a wide smile, quickly swiping away the beads of sweat that had formed on his brow with his arm.

Kazuya shrugged, leaning against the fence a bit. "Um...I need to tell you something." Mei's grin fell into a worried frown at the seriousness of Kazuya's tone. Tossing the ball over his shoulder, Mei trudged over to where Kazuya was standing by the wooden fence. "So...what's wrong?" Kazuya looked down at his dirty sneakers, refusing to make eye contact with the blond. "If...If I told you that I was gay, how would you react?" There wasn't any laughter or even the slightest peep from the blond.

After a moment of utter silence, Mei finally spoke up. "Personally, I'd be alright with it. You're still Kazuya; my catcher, and my best friend. Even if you're gay, then so what? You're still my favorite catcher." The goofy smile on Mei's face was contagious; Kazuya felt himself start to smile as well. He had finally found the support that he had needed. As the two slumped to the hard ground, watching as the stars came out in the darkening sky, Mei piped a question,"Kazuya, will you go to Inashiro with me?" Kazuya hadn't thought about high school that much, but he had decided when he was still a first year where he wanted to go. Though, that had been two years ago since she had tried to scout him...maybe he didn't want to go there anymore? Inashiro had everything; a great education status, a great baseball team, and had been to Koshien many times.

"I'll...think about it, Mei."

March was slowly creeping up on them; it was early the end of February, and middle school would be ending for Kazuya in just a matter of weeks. Mei had invited him on an outing for that Saturday in the park, saying to look his absolute best, but nothing more. Whatever Mei wanted, he had seemed to be implying that he wanted to discuss Kazuya's choice of high school. Kazuya had promised Mei that he'd give him his final decision once he had made up his mind.

Kazuya had arrived at the park a few minutes late, regretting having slept in a few hours longer than he was supposed to. Upon arrival at the meeting spot on the stairs, Kazuya noticed that they had company. Mei hadn't specifically said anything about it being just the two of them...though, he also hadn't said that they would be joined by any others.

"Well, well..." Kazuya murmured, putting names to the faces of the guys that overlooked him from their spots on the stairs. They weren't just regular guys; on the contrary, these guys were all-star players, just like him and Mei. Some they had played before; some they hadn't, but that didn't mean Mei didn't know about them. Mei and Kazuya used to sneak off during practice to go see another school's game; whether it was just a practice or an official match, they were both blown away by the abilities of each teams star players. If his gut feeling was right, then this meeting was about Mei wanting him to join him at Inashiro, with the rest of the all-stars that he'd recruited.

"What's with the gathering of the all-stars?" Kazuya commented, directing his gaze from each one as he thought of their name and the school they attended. The first one was the dark-skinned, foreign guy with the slicked back, black hair, wearing a light blue button up shirt; a black undershirt peeking out from underneath it. "Carlos from Jonan Senior League." They hadn't played against Carlos' school, but Mei had wanted to watch the game anyways, even though the both of them were sick as dogs. The two had bundled up in their warmest, thickest clothes and had gone to watch the game together. Huddled up closely on the bleachers that over looked the baseball field, the two had been impressed by Carlos' cheetah-like speed. He still remembered how their jaws dropped and eyes widened as they watched him sprint from home base to second base with ease.

The next one was a surprisingly familiar face from his first year of middle school. He knew that bangs-cover-the-left-eye hairstyle and cold expression anywhere. "Shirakawa from Marugame Senior League." They'd played against Marugame multiple times; but the team had Chris on it at the time. Chris had been the star player everyone had come to see and wanted to scout to be the catcher for their high school baseball team. Though, Shirakawa was a perfectionist seeking certainty.

The next two weren't all too familiar, but they had played before once or twice. One wore a brown jacket over a dark blue t-shirt, and had the strangest looking side burns on his face. The other, had a buzz cut hairstyle, wearing a dark gray t-shirt, with an even lighter gray, long-sleeved shirt underneath it, and a wide smirk, showing off his teeth. "Yamaoka and Yabe from Takahira Senior League." He couldn't quite recall what positions they played, having stayed home sick the day that the team had played, only having watched it from the DVD Mei had loaned him.

Looking up at the grinning blond that sat on the concrete stairs in a black and red jacket, Kazuya had a hunch that his gut feeling was right. "Did you call them all here, Mei?" Mei's grin grew wider, confirming Kazuya's question.

"Yeah. And you, Kazuya. If you come with me, I can form my ultimate team." Mei chirped, never taking his eyes off the brunet standing in front of him. Kazuya could feel the sweat start to trickle down his cheek as he let out a nervous laugh. 'Oh shit...I should have told him earlier...this is going to ruin our friendship.' Kazuya had rehearsed different ways he was going to tell Mei, but they had all seemed a bit too much; either too sugarcoated or too rude. Mei was his best friend; his only friend, really. The one who could embarrass him by simply blurting out his secret in front of the all-stars. As Kazuya thought over the way he was going to tell Mei, Shirakawa's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"I don't really care if you're not the catcher. But, Narumiya wants you." Of course Mei wanted him. They had been inseparable the three years that they'd been friends. Mei was his pitcher, and he was Mei's catcher. That was how their battery worked.

"Inashiro invited you, too. Right, Kazuya? So, why don't we make the ultimate team together? If we all get on the same team, we could make it to Koshien." Leave it to Mei to make him feel bad. When he had gotten the invitation in the mail, he had shown it to Mei, who had also been invited. The blond was rather gleeful about the letter, saying they'd still have their perfect battery.

"Inashiro's coach has a lot of experience under his belt, and they have the best equipment in Tokyo. It's a great environment, too." Carlos added in. Shirakawa eyed Kazuya suspiciously, sensing that he was hiding something from them. "Not to mention, you won't have to play against Narumiya. You're in, too. Right, Miyuki Kazuya?"

As Kazuya stood there, he knew that the one crucial detail he'd kept a secret, other than his sexuality, of course, was going to have to be spilled one way or another. Rubbing the back of his neck, turning his attention away from the group, Kazuya finally found his voice. "I'm sorry, but I already got an invite from Seido a while ago. I can't join you guys."

The first to speak up in shock was Yabe. "Huh? Are you being serious right now?" As the group, besides Mei, who was still thinking over Kazuya's answer, gave him outraged looks, Kazuya could only imagine their faces if he had told them his other secret. Mei had mumbled something like,"Seido, huh?" as he slowly stood up. "They've only gone to Koshien once since their old coach quit. Compared to what coach Kunitomo has achieved, coach Kataoka is just way too green."

Kazuya shrugged, still unable to look Mei in the eye as he scratched at his neck. "Well, it's not really about that. Inashiro's a team with a bunch of all-stars like you guys, right? So...I want to face you as an opponent." Kazuya explained, looking directly into Mei's eyes. His response shocked the others, making their eyes widen and mouths go agape. Kazuya had expected Mei to oppose of his decision of going to Seido, but, to his surprise, Mei merely smirked at him. "Kazuya, I'm gonna ask you one last time."

Kazuya shook his head. "Sorry. No."

Kazuya remembered how his first day at Seido was. He'd be cursed with an overweight, rude, and arrogant roommate named Azuma. The day he arrived at the dorm, he partially regretted not staying home; sure, it was quiet and lonesome, but at least his father worked late. Azuma berated him endlessly, making him run out in the dead of night to go get food or drink for him.

On his first day, he was late; Azuma hadn't bothered to wake him up. Running around the grounds with another player named Kuramochi served as enough embarrassment to them both when Kazuya had inadvertently tripped over a rock, pulling Kuramochi down as well. Kazuya couldn't hide the mortification when he'd landed on top of a seething, red-faced Kuramochi, causing the rest of the team to laugh at them.

Whenever he tried to talk to Chris, the catcher refused to look him in the eye, or even make any sort of small talk with him. Kazuya persisted, which caused Chris to become much more aggravated with him. When he had first learned of Chris' injury, part of him died inside. The one person he had admired the most no longer shone on the field. Chris had been taken off the first string, unable to take part in baseball any longer due to his injury making him unable to throw the ball. Chris started to leave practice early to go to physical therapy, trying to get his shoulder back into shape.

Taking Chris spot was what he'd dreaded, but with Chris gone for the rest of the season, the first string was down a catcher who was able to fill in the shoes that Chris had left. The only suitable pick was Kazuya. Being the only other freshman on the team - besides Kuramochi - was rather difficult. The senpai's weren't mean, but they were rather bossy. Kuramochi seemed to hate his guts, always scowling and huffing when Kazuya had to sit next to him on the bus or in the cafeteria. It wasn't like he had wanted to sit next to Kuramochi; on the contrary, the catcher would've preferred to sit next to Chris. But since Chris was no longer on the first-string, he'd have to try to make Kuramochi like him.

Kazuya plunked his tray down on the table next to Kawakami, flashing him his brightest, friendliest smile. "Hey Nori, mind if I sit here?" Kawakami broke out in a cold sweat, unused to the catcher being so friendly. Scooting his chair bit further from the catcher, Kawakami had no courage to even muster up a smile of his own.

Kazuya couldn't stand the loneliness. He'd been at Seido for three weeks and still hadn't made any new friends. The only friend he had was the razor; the razor that created such ugly marks on his beautiful skin. The only thing that took away the pain for such a short awhile. He had gotten used to wearing long-sleeved shirts to cover up the scars. Kazuya had never let his scars heal up; he always scratched at the annoying itch or gave into the urge to cut with either the razor or the blade to the small, green handheld pencil-sharpener he owned.

Kazuya had been siting in art class - his worst subject - when the teacher had assigned the project. "Draw a picture of a friend." Kazuya accidentally dropped the pencil he had been holding, a bit shocked the teacher had even said those words. A friend? Where the hell was he going to find one of those? A slight tap on his shoulder broke him out of his thoughts, turning his head to see who it was, Kazuya's went went agape for a slight second. "Hey...you dropped this." Kuramochi muttered, holding the pencil out for the catcher to take.

Kazuya's eyes wandered from the shortstop's outstretched hand with the pencil in it, to his face to see if he could read the emotions in the shortstop's eyes. Kuramochi was...different. Kuramochi had pretty rough features, and talked rather funny at times, but Kazuya was determined to befriend Kuramochi, even if it was just for this project.

"Thank you..." Kazuya murmured, taking his pencil back from the shortstop's grasp. "So, about that project...do you...maybe...want to work together?" Kuramochi mumbled, turning his gaze away from the catcher to stare out the window. Kazuya almost didn't believe it until the shortstop pulled up an empty chair next to his desk. "I'm a terrible artist, Kuramochi." Kuramochi shrugged, pulling out a piece of plain white paper from his bag. "However bad you may be at art, just know that I'm probably worse. I can't even draw stick figures correctly..." Holding back an amused chuckle, Kazuya took out his own paper to sketch the shortstop's features. This wasn't going to be a masterpiece, but at least he'd found someone to talk to.

Kuramochi hadn't lied when he said he was worse than Kazuya when it came to drawing. The proportions of Kazuya's features were all wrong; one eye was bigger than the other; his bangs were far too short and only half drawn. At least his glasses looked somewhat decent enough, unlike the rest of Kuramochi's drawing. While Kazuya had the right proportions for Kuramochi's face down, he just couldn't draw the shortstop's spiked up hairstyle worth life.

As embarrassing as it was to have to turn in their drawings to the teacher - who looked extremely baffled at their pictures - they were only growing closer to one another. As the two walked down the hallway, Kuramochi would pop a question now and then, receiving a short reply from the catcher. "So...do you like anyone?" Kazuya shook his head. While there were guys at Seido that he thought were nice looking, he couldn't say they were his type.

"Uh...no. I'm not really into girls..." Kuramochi didn't seem phased by his answer. Receiving a simple nod from the shortstop, Kazuya decided to ask Kuramochi the same question. "Do you like anyone?" The shortstop's face turned slightly red as he tried to keep his answer was simple as possible. "Ryou-san..." Kominato Ryousuke, huh? The short, pinked haired second baseman, who, at first glance, seemed harmless, but had a very sharp tongue hidden behind his gentle-looking features.

"Have you told him yet?" The shortstop shook his head, too embarrassed to answer the question. While Kuramochi seemed fearless in every aspect, he was actually quite shy when it came to talking to Ryousuke outside of baseball.

"So, when are you gonna find someone?" it was Kazuya's turn to shrug. Even if he did fall in love, there was that looming chance that his father would find out about it, and would probably disown him if he found out that Kazuya had zero interest in girls. While there were girls who'd thought that he was cute and had asked him out, he would always turned them down. It didn't matter how beautiful she was, or how great her personality was, he just never found himself attracted to them. However, when he was around other guys, the weird feelings would bubble up inside of his chest, making it difficult to breath.

Would he ever find somebody who he could truly love?

When the loudmouthed country kid showed up from out of the blue, Kazuya had felt something spark up inside of him.

"He's gonna play pro ball with a body like that? Impossible!"

Looking up from where he was sitting, his eyes scanned across the field, landing a tanned skin boy with a mop of dark brown hair and fierce golden eyes, wear a yellow sweatshirt, jeans, and sneakers that had seen better days. He was standing next to Takashima - who had probably scouted him - hands cupped around his mouth. What was he going to do?

"Look at his belly! He looks like an old man!" The boy proceeded to pat his stomach, imitating how Azuma was clearly overweight, while Takashima tried to stop whatever catastrophe he was starting. "I bet he's at least forty years old! There's no way he's in high school!"

Kazuya blinked in shock, his mouth dropping open a bit. Did some loudmouth kid really just insult Azuma? Ever since he had come to Seido, he'd never heard anyone insult Azuma, ever...not unless they wanted a pounding. Oh, that poor kid was in for it now. Out off all the players he had to mess with, it just had to be Azuma. Either the guy had balls made of steels, or he was just plain stupid. Kazuya held back the snickers as he watched the kid make fun of Azuma some more, until Takashima had proposed that the two solve their differences out on the filed.

Spinning the baseball on his finger, Kazuya couldn't hold back his enthusiasm any longer. "This sounds like fun~ Rei-chan, can I catch his pitch?" He asked, drawing everyone's attention away from the two and over towards him. Azuma glared over at him, shouting,"Miyuki, you're only a first year. Don't get so cocky!" Kazuya couldn't deny it and simply laughed it off. "Well, excuse me, but, Azuma-san, you've been on a high horse lately. You should play with us kids and go back to basics."

That seemed to have struck one of Azuma's nerves. "Who's on a high horse!?" That glare and tone from Azuma could only mean one thing; Kazuya definitely wasn't going to be sleeping in the dorm tonight. That didn't matter, he could always just sleepover in either Kuramochi or Zono's rooms.

Standing up from off the hard ground, Kazuya begun to dust the dirt from off of his behind. A few of the other first years looked at him nervously. "Kazuya, be careful what you say!" Another one added in,"He's gonna jump you!" Kazuya didn't care, the golden eyes from the boy standing across from him were just so...entrancing. Kazuya had to admit to himself, the kid was pretty cute.

Takashima sent the boy away to the locker room to go get changed into a spare uniform, ignoring his loud protests. As Kazuya strapped on his leg guards, Takashima approached him, looking out at the field where Azuma was waiting for the pitcher. "Miyuki-kun, I'm glad you volunteered." Kazuya looked up at her, a bit perplexed by her saying. "His pitches are a bit peculiar." Cocking his head to the side, Kazuya raised a brow. "Eh?" He looked like any other pitcher he had caught for. Maybe a bit younger and naïve, but he was still unsure of why she would say something like that.

With a smile on her lips, Takashima looked out towards the field where the pitcher - who had just finished up changing not too long ago - was stretching. "He himself doesn't even know what he has. Think you can draw out his full potential?" Could he draw out the young pitcher's full potential? Of course he could, he wasn't on the first-string just because they were down a catcher. With a wide grin, Kazuya looked up at Takashima, ready to start when he could. "Wow, big praise. You must have high hopes for this kid."

Kazuya let his eyes wander over the pitchers body as he stretched, licking his dry lips as he thoroughly examined him from afar. The pitcher was built fairly well for his age, wasn't bad-looking, and had a pretty nice ass that the tight, white pants defined all too well. "Rei-chan, whats his name again?" Kazuya asked as he tried to pry his eyes off of the stretching pitcher. Takashima merely smiled at him, shaking her head slightly. "If you want to know so badly, go ask him yourself."

Kazuya had been told by Takashima that he had to warm the pitcher up so he wouldn't feel so stiff. That meant he'd have to go over there and communicate with the boy. Taking in a deep breath, Kazuya found himself slowly edging forwards towards the nervous pitcher. The boy was still stretching his left arm; Kazuya merely presumed to himself that the kid was a southpaw, since he'd seen Mei stretch nearly the same way when they were in middle school. Leave it to him to get stuck catching for yet another southpaw.

It seemed like the southpaw hadn't noticed Kazuya's arrival, so the catcher decided to have some fun. With a smirk on his face, Kazuya inched closer towards the southpaw's ear and with his most deepest, huskiest voice he could muster up, he whispered,"Are you ready, kid?" a high-pitched scream came from the southpaw's mouth as he stumbled over his feet, nearly falling down in the process. Knowing Takashima would indeed get on his case if he let anything happen the southpaw, Kazuya instinctively grabbed a hold of one of the pitcher's hands before he fell. "Woah, woah, easy there~" steadying the southpaw on his feet, Kazuya could only smile at the blush that spread from the pitcher's tanned cheeks up to his ears. Adorable was probably the word he was looking for.

"Um...thank you, uh..." the southpaw began, unsure of how to finish his sentence off, due to forgetting the catcher's name so quickly. Kazuya grinned as he patted the pitcher's shoulder. "Miyuki, Miyuki Kazuya~"

Kazuya had regretted not asking the pitcher his name. Oh well, he'd have to ask later.

"Come on, we have to get your arm warmed up~"

Kazuya noticed that there something was off about the pitcher. While he was indeed certain that he hadn't threw the ball that hard, the pitcher still let out a small whine. "Ow." the southpaw stared at the ball in his black glove with a surprised look on his face. Kazuya raised a brow as he looked at the southpaw standing across from him. "Wait, is this your first time with the hardball?" the southpaw blinked a bit, taking the ball out of his mitt to examine it. Kazuya could only come to the conclusion that the pitcher hadn't the least bit idea about the difference between a rubber-ball and a hardball.

"Hey kid," Azuma started, impatiently tapping his metal bat against his shoulder. The southpaw turned his head to look over at Azuma, a bit startled that Azuma was addressing him. "If you're gonna apologize, you better do it now. Once you get up to the mound, there's no place for you to run." Azuma was trying to intimidate the poor kid with his words.

The southpaw didn't seem to be a coward, though. "Who do you think you are anyway? You're the one who'll be begging to run way." Kazuya felt a smirk form on his lips. Leave it to the southpaw brat to stand up to Azuma. The southpaw raised up the ball that was held in between the pitcher's thumb, pointer and middle fingers. "In fact...no hard feelings even if I happen to hit you!" the southpaw bellowed the last part, causing it to echo throughout the field. Azuma broke out in a cold sweat, taking a step back from the crazed pitcher.

Kazuya couldn't help but laugh at the pitcher's statement. Clutching his sides, Kazuya found it difficult to stop laughing. "Oh, man! This guy's hilarious!" Azuma didn't seem to think that it was funny, though. "Hey, Miyuki! Nothing's funny here! You wanna get hurt!?" Kazuya managed to calm down, but a few snickers still slipped out. "Oh, I'm sorry."

The southpaw had walked up to the mound, probably feeling nervous with all the members of the baseball team gathered around to watch the match. Kazuya could recognize a few of his first-string teammates. Tetsuya, holding his helmet on the outside and Ryousuke, who was holding his tiny one with a single hand on the inside. Tanba, Masuko, and Kuramochi weren't too far away. Everyone was anxiously awaiting to see what would happen next.

Azuma stomped on the ground twice, glaring ferociously up at the pitcher on the mound. The southpaw looked past the monster hitter to see the catcher grinning at him from his crouched position. Kazuya pulled down the mask to cover his face, flashing the pitcher a smirk. Kazuya spread out his arms, before punching his fist into his mitt, signalling the southpaw that he could throw whatever pitch he wanted, as he positioned the mitt, ready to catch whatever the pitcher threw.

The first pitch the southpaw had thrown, Azuma hadn't even bothered to swing. "Hahaha, you're so scared that your arm's not swinging through. If you're so afraid to pitch, just say so!" Kazuya was certain that wasn't the case. If the kid was indeed scared, he wouldn't have even bothered to get up on the mound. 'That's not it. He changed his aim the moment he let go.' Kazuya stood up, removing his face guard as he called for a time out. He hand't even waited for Azuma's reply as he took off in a sprint towards the mound. "What? If you needed a plan, you should've said something before we started!"

Covering his mouth with his glove, Kazuya questioned the southpaw about the pitch he had just thrown. "You threw that one into the ground on purpose. Why?" the southpaw finished wiping his face off, a more serious look now etched out on his face. "I felt like he would've hit if I threw it there." Kazuya was taken aback by the kid's sharp answer. A smirk soon formed as he eyed the shorter pitcher in front of him carefully. "Interesting~ Let me get this straight, you'd rather throw a ball than have him hit it?" Embarrassed, the pitcher retorted with,"You got a problem?"

"Hahahaha, you're absolutely right!" Leaning his face closer towards the pitcher's, Kazuya decided to let the pitcher in on a secret. "You see, that was actually Azuma-san's favorite location." Fighting back fits of laughter after seeing the pitcher's horrified reaction, Kazuya patted the southpaw's left arm, gently. "You were so stiff, so I thought you'd loosen up if you got obliterated once. If you had thrown there, he definitely would've hit it."

The southpaw paled over, nerves getting the best of him as he tried to think of a logical answer. "I like you, kid. Let's slay that monster together from here on out." Kazuya explained with a wink as he jabbed his thumb over his shoulder over in the direction of where Azuma was standing. The southpaw didn't seem to want to cooperate with him. "Together? Yeah, right! I bet you're on his side!" Placing a hand on the pitcher's left shoulder, Kazuya merely smiled at him. "Learn to accept the good will of others." The southpaw pulled away from Kazuya in disbelief. "Shut up! Don't touch me!"

Kazuya ignored the pitcher, instead, throwing an arm around his shoulders and pulling him in, closer towards his own body. "Anyway, what can you throw?" The pitcher stopped squirming, casting the catcher a questionable look. "Huh? I pitch fastballs for life!" Oh great, he'd heard that from a certain blond many times before. This shouldn't be too hard at all, considering the fact that he'd trained with a southpaw during his middle school years. "Seriously? This is great! I'm even more motivated now, hahahaha!"

"Damn it! You're making fun of me!" Kazuya was going to have some fun with this battle. "Just leave it to me~ I know his batting habits well." the southpaw squirmed once more in his grip, trying to break free from the catcher. "It's got nothing to do with you!" the pitcher grabbed a hold of his arm, trying to make it budge from his shoulders. "This is between me and him!" Kazuya tightened his hold around the pitcher's shoulders. "What? Is that how you see it? Then...do you plan to play baseball by yourself?" Kazuya whispered into the pitcher's ear. The pitcher seemed to rethink what he'd just said as he thought back to what he'd said to Azuma. "I don't know what kind of baseball you've been playing, but the best pitches are works of art produced by the pitcher and the catcher working as one."

"Works of art?" Pulling his arm off from around the pitcher's shoulders, Kazuya placed a hand on the pitcher's left shoulder once more. "I'll draw out your full potential. You just need to trust my mitt and throw your best pitches. It's that simple. We'll be great partners." Kazuya tapped the pitcher's chest with his glove, ready to begin the long awaited battle. "It's nice to meet you, partner~"

"O-Okay..."

"Thanks for waiting~" Kazuya's voice was too cheery for his own good. He'd never used that kind of tone when he talked to Azuma, ever. "That took forever! I was falling asleep!"

Kazuya pulled his face mask down once more, mitt in place, awaiting one of the southpaw's wild pitches. The pitcher raised his right leg in the air, taking one step forward as he threw the ball in his left hand with all his might. The sound of it hitting Kazuya's mitt and Azuma's shocked face made him feel a bit elated. "That's a strike...right?" Azuma seemed confused by what had just happened, glancing at the ball in Kazuya's mitt and back at his bat. "Nice ball! Batter couldn't even move!"

"Stupid! I'm just making sure he can throw strikes!" Azuma retorted as Kazuya threw the ball back towards the pitcher. While it didn't have much speed, that was something the two of them could work on in the future. 'We can work on his speed in the future, but it's a pretty good pitch with little deceleration. Alright, give me one here.' The pitcher almost agreed but stopped when he fully grasped the meaning of the sign. "Wait! There?" the southpaw reluctantly agreed, throwing the ball once more towards the direction of the mitt.

"The same pitch!?" Azuma swung without hesitation, but not enough to get it over the fence. "Woah, that was close!" the southpaw could only stare in horror as he watched where the ball landed. 'Nice control. That pitch was only going to be hit foul, at best.' Azuma clearly underestimated the kid. Azuma couldn't seem to hit them; they always fouled. "Your control sucks. How do you expect me to hit pitches like that?" Azuma was getting more annoyed as he fouled each time the ball made contact with his bat.

'Keep it up, Azuma-san. Lose your cool. But something's odd about his pitches. Is it getting faster the more he throws? No...rather, it's decelerating less.' Kazuya know understood what Takashima had meant when she said that his pitches were peculiar. 'I see. His shoulder's flexible, and his arm is supple like a whip. His flexible wrist allows him to put a lot of spin on the ball at the point of release.'

Catching the ball that the southpaw had thrown, Kazuya looked up at Azuma with the same cocky expression he got whenever he caught one the pitcher's balls. "That was a ball."

'Fastballs for life? Yeah, right. I'm sure he doesn't realize it, but his pitch moves at the plate.'

Kazuya was having a hard time trying to catch the ball when he had no idea where it was going. He had to admit, he was having fun catching for the southpaw. Positioning the mitt in the middle, Kazuya was determined to not let it get past him. He'd make sure to catch it with everything that he had.

The southpaw grinned, having no doubts that the catcher wouldn't catch it. He had to simply trust the mitt. Raising his right leg up as high as it would go, the southpaw slide his foot, allowing the cleats to dig into the dirt mound, as he threw his left arm back and then snapping it forward, releasing the ball from his grip. Azuma had swung, bellowing that he'd hit it out of the park, but the ball had moved to the side, passing the bat up, flying straight into the catcher's mitt with a satisfying smack.

The field went silent; nobody could believe that a loud-mouthed country kid could shut-out a powerhouse hitter like Azuma. Kazuya found himself smiling, even though his hand stung from catching the southpaw's best pitch, he managed to ignore it. This was all just part of being a catcher.

"Nice pitch."

Kazuya hated to admit, but watching the southpaw come back to thank him in his regular clothing saddened him a bit. "Oh, whats your name, kid?" Kazuya asked as he studied the pitcher for the last time. "Sawamura Eijun." Eijun, huh? Kazuya couldn't help but blurt out the first thing that came to his mind,"Nice name." Eijun's cheeks flushed bright red as he fumbled with words to thank the catcher.

"Miyuki...?" Eijun whispered, golden eyes looking upwards into Kazuya's light brown ones. God, Eijun was just too cute. Kazuya could feel his heart pounding in his chest. Acting upon instinct, Kazuya had pulled Eijun closer towards him, wrapping his arms around Eijun's waist as he inhaled his unique scent; it was a mixture of sweat and nature, but it smelled rather nice. Kazuya was about to let Eijun go, but when he felt the smaller arms wrap around his back, he found it impossible to let Eijun go. Kazuya couldn't understand why Eijun made him feel all warm and cheery, but he liked it. It was better than being depressed and antisocial. Kazuya didn't know how long the two of them stayed in the hug, but it was obvious that Eijun must have felt the same way; he didn't want to let go of Kazuya and possibly lose him forever.

"Ahem..boys, I hate to interrupt, but Sawamura-kun has to be home soon." Kazuya broke the hug, allowing full view of Eijun's reddened face. Their faces weren't too far apart, and the way Eijun was looking at him was almost as if he were expecting something. "Do you mind?" Kazuya asked as he took hold of Eijun's hand. Eijun shook his head, shyly peering up at the catcher. Kazuya brought the hand up towards his lips, placing them upon the top of it. "If you decide to come to Seido, I'll be waiting for you."

Eijun looked pained; it was as if he wanted to say yes, but part of him was still saying no. Eijun gulped, trying his hardest to fight off tears that had started to form. "I'll...think about it."

Kazuya could only smile sadly as he patted the top of Eijun's head. "It's fine if you don't want to come, but...I'd really like to form another battery with you."

It would be another six months before the two of them would meet each other again behind that storage shed; Eijun being late on his first day and Kazuya having overslept from staying up late into the night to watch a movie Kuramochi had lent him.

Eijun regretted saying yes to going out to get the catcher a bottle of water so early in the morning. It was cold and dark outside; not a soul to be seen in sight. Eijun shuddered to himself slightly, feeling a bit spooked. Hastily making his way up the stairs, Eijun tripped, letting out a loud yelp as he landed face first on the concrete passageway. Eijun heard the sound a door open and a familiar voice call out,"Eijun? What happened?" Eijun looked up to see Kazuya's worried face staring back down at him. "I tripped and I fell..." Kazuya helped him sit up, fingers darting all over his face to check for any signs of damage. "You're just a bit scrapped up; nothing that I can't fix with some peroxide and bandages." Eijun had to hold back a retort as Kazuya picked him up in his strong arms.

"Miyuki, I'm not a baby..." Eijun mumbled as Kazuya sat him down on the chair. "Correction, you're my baby, Eijun." Kazuya replied with a cheeky smile on his face. Eijun felt his stomach churn as he watched Kazuya apply peroxide to a tissue. How many times had Kazuya done this same ritual for himself. "This is gonna sting a bit." Kazuya dabbed the tissue on one of the scars on Eijun's cheek, causing the pitcher to let out a small hiss. "Sorry, sorry." Kazuya had finished up with disinfecting the cuts, and applied a couple of bandages to Eijun's face.

"There we go, all better." Kazuya said as he threw away the tissue and bandage wrappers. Eijun couldn't think properly. While he was thankful Kazuya had patched him up, he was still feeling a bit sick to his stomach knowing that Kazuya had done this many times to cover up the scars that loitered his wrists and arms. "What's with the long face, Eijun?" Eijun didn't know what had come over him, but he found himself wrapping his arms around Kazuya's neck tightly, as if letting go would cause the catcher to fly away from him.

"Please...don't hurt yourself anymore..." Eijun murmured to Kazuya as he felt the tears well up in his eyes once again. If he lost Kazuya, what would happen? Would he ever be the same? His grandma had died when he was still too young to recall what she was like, so he had no clue on what he would do if he lost Kazuya - his boyfriend - no, his world. Being with Kazuya opened up a new side of Eijun's world that he'd never once thought about. The saddest of people always seem to smile the brightest. The most happiest of people seem to be hurting inside, but nobody ever seems to see the tears that they cry.

Eijun couldn't hold back the sobs that wrecked his body as he clung to Kazuya. Kazuya was the reason he was at Seido today; the reason he was closer to Koshien than he'd ever been before; the one who helped him pick up the pieces when body else could. There was no way he could imagine that to someday disappear from out of his life forever.

Kazuya wrapped his arms around Eijun's back, holding him closer to him as the pitcher slowly wore himself out. Kazuya hated seeing Eijun cry, it just never suited such a perfect face. When Eijun had finally fallen asleep, Kazuya gently placed him on the bed, kissing his forehead as he dried the pitchers tear streaked face off with a nearby tissue.

"You have no idea how much I love babying you, Eijun."

AAAAAAAND...chapter 10 is fucking complete! :'D

It took a month to write this shit and I'm satisfied with the result, so I hope you enjoyed.

Also, be on the lookout for a one-shot from me in celebration of Kazuya's 17th birthday. :D

Until next time~ Remember to: Read, Review, Follow, and Fave~

And if you have any questions, just send me a pm and I'll get back to you ASAP~ ^-^