Itsuki woke up slowly, relishing the feel of his clean sheets against his skin. Opening his eyes, he laid on his side and watched the sun slowly creep up his wall. Before long, a telltale soreness set in. Just then, the events of the previous night came back to him. He stilled for a moment. He had had sex with Tokuchi, and had enjoyed it immensely. He laid in bed for a bit longer than usual, chewing over the events of the day before, and how it came to be that he and Tokuchi had finally moved past whatever had been keeping them from taking their apparent mutual attraction to its logical conclusion.

Pride, he figured. Pride and a bit of arrogance and embarrassment. At least on his behalf. Who knows if Tokuchi felt embarrassment or even shame for anything? Finally, he rolled out of bed, and walked over to the shower with all the grace he could muster. Tokuchi certainly hadn't taken it easy on him. He was lucky that it was just a practice day. If they had had a game that evening, he would be in for a tough time.

After finishing his morning routine, Itsuki arrived at the stadium for practice. As he walked through the inner corridor that was only used by the staff, he let his mind drift a bit. He wondered what Tokuchi thought of last night. He hoped he had had as much fun as he did. He might have to stop by his broom closet after a while. He didn't expect much, but he did hope that things wouldn't be too awkward from now on.

During practice, Itsuki found that despite walking a little funny, he was in top condition. His form was better than ever, and his swings were increasingly accurate. It seemed as though he had been in a slump without knowing it. Maybe spending the evening with Tokuchi had cured him. Itsuki snorted to himself. Nothing like some dick therapy to help with a slump. He would have to write that one down.

Finally, he was broken out of his thoughts when Kitaooji called out to him.

"Hey Takami," he cried "Coach wants you in the meeting room in fifteen minutes! Tokuchi's going to try another meeting!"

Takami blinked over at him, and then nodded. Guess he would be seeing Tokuchi sooner than he thought. He turned back to the pitching machine to do a few more practice swings before he would head down. He might as well get as much practice in as he could today. He wanted this good streak to last.

Later on, he sat with Amami and Kira while Tokuchi stood at the front of the meeting room. Tokuchi crossed his arms, and cocked his head a bit to the side as he gazed over the gathered players. If he was going for cool and confident, then he definitely made it.

"So," Tokuchi began. "I've been observing all of you for a while now, and there are a few trends I'm noticing". Tokuchi looked over them all pointedly. "First of all, you need to stop caring about the achievements and performance of others". At that, he seemed to be making a point of not looking at Brooklyn or Amami. "Sometimes it's beneficial to compete against your peers, but there are times when it becomes too much. Evidently, it has". Tokuchi uncrossed his arms and leaned forward, placing his hands on the table in front of him to look at them straight on. "To put it simply, the entire team has become a distraction to itself. Your individual goals, achievements, and downfalls have gotten tangled up, and with that, your team dynamic has been thrown into the gutter. You all need to ignore each other more. Stop looking for criticism. Focus on your individual performance without comparing yourself to your peers". Tokuchi looked as if he could go on, but he was interrupted when a hand shot into the air.

Watanabe, one of the new rookie players, stood up and addressed Tokuchi directly. "When you say that we shouldn't seek criticism, doesn't that pretty much go against everything it takes to get better?" he asked. "How are we supposed to know what we need to improve if we just rely on ourselves for feedback".

Tokuchi leaned back off the table and sighed. "I never said that you would stop receiving criticism," he said. "I only told you to stop seeking it out." With that, he looked over at the small group of coaches standing nearby. "You will obviously still receive instructions and guidance from the coaching staff, but the overall purpose of this is to stop being overly critical of each other. At this point it serves no purpose." With that, Watanabe sat down, not looking entirely satisfied. "Overall, most of the poor performance can be linked to your own individual inabilities to look past the actions and words of those around you" Tokuchi went on. "Basically what you need to do is only ask for criticism if you truly want it, and give it only when asked. It's very simple. Nobody should struggle with it."

Before anyone could interrupt, Tokuchi went on. "Speaking of goals, most of you seem to have lost track. It seems to me as if some of you have lost motivation to improve your own performance, and mainly focus on messing with your opponents. He made a point of not looking over at Itsuki.

That made him bristle a bit. He knew that he had lost track a bit last season, but it hadn't been that bad, had it? Tokuchi went on about goal chunking and focus on the self, but at that moment, Tokuchi turned to the side, and for a brief moment the ends of what were likely a couple of scratches became visible over the collar of his shirt. They were barely visible, and wouldn't be noticed easily unless someone knew what they were looking for. Itsuki gazed over at Tokuchi while he spoke, and ignored the occasional annoyed look he sent his way. Tokuchi probably didn't enjoy being looked at like a piece of meat in front of everybody, but he really couldn't help himself. It was gratifying to know Tokuchi could be marked by a normal person. The fact that he was able to mar his nearly perfect skin was all the more gratifying.

Finally, the meeting seemed to finish, as everybody began to file out of the room, some staying behind to talk to the few coaches that had gathered. Itsuki subtly shook himself and stood up. Tokuchi walked out past him, not bothering to make eye contact. Itsuki honestly wasn't surprised. He didn't really expect anything to change after the previous evening. Tokuchi was still Tokuchi, and one lay probably wouldn't change it. Itsuki watched him walk down the hall followed by an assistant coach. He would leave him alone, then. He didn't need to see him every day after all. They were just friends, and barely at that. Besides, why was he the one always seeking Tokuchi out? Let him come to Itsuki for once.

Over the next couple of hours, Itsuki finished his batting practice, met with a trainer, and bothered the massage therapist for a bit. Finally, he headed home. On the way, he slowly felt the high from the day melt away. He had had a good practice, and it was pretty obvious that he was improving, yet he still felt something missing. He tried not to think about that too much.

The next day, practice was mostly spent going over strategies for their upcoming games against the Bugaboos. They were of course focusing mostly on beating Johnson. Other than that, Coach Imawano didn't seem too worried. After a bit of batting practice, Itsuki to the weight room, feeling better than he did the previous day. He was keeping his uptick from the day before. All he had to do was keep it up, and the Bugaboos would be absolutely useless against them. Before he could think about grinding the opposing team into the dust more, someone broke him out of his thoughts.

"Hey, how are things going?" Amami asked, sitting on the bench beside him. Itsuki looked over at him and smiled.

"Really well," he replied.

"What's going well?" Amami asked yet again. "Your training, or things with Tokuchi?" At that, Itsuki nearly dropped his dumbbells.

"What do you mean?" he asked, trying to keep his cool. Amami looked over and him with a little smile.

"Don't act like half the team didn't see those scratches," he said lowly. "They just don't know who they came from".

"Well shit," Itsuki said. "That's alright then, isn't it? Besides, how do you know?"

Amami raised an eyebrow at him. "I know how you look at people when you have a thing for them. Other than that, you've practically been hanging off him lately. If you're trying to hide whatever relationship you may have, then you're not doing a very good job". Itsuki had to pause at that. He wasn't really trying to hide anything, was He? Pretty much everybody he was close with knew he went both ways, and he was close with a good number of people on his team. Then, the second half of Amami's statement sunk in.

"There isn't a relationship," he hissed. "Nothing emotional". Amami snorted at that.

"You've never been good at that," he said. "In my experience, you get emotionally involved really easily".

Itsuki looked away for a brief second, then met Amami's eyes once more. "This is different," he said. "I have more self-control now. Besides, you get emotionally attached pretty easily too from what I recall". Amami shrugged.

"So what?" he said. "At least I can acknowledge it". With that, Amami sighed. "I'm not going to start something over this," he said carefully. "I just don't want you to get hurt, or have whatever you call it between the two of you melt down and bring the team with it". Before Itsuki could interrupt, Amami continued. "You know it would," he said. "Forget Tokuchi. You keep the team together far more than you will ever know". After a few seconds of silence, Amami stood up and turned to walk away.

"Thanks for being concerned," Itsuki said before Amami could leave. "I'm not being sarcastic. I really mean it". Amami gave a slight wave, then went on his way. Itsuki sat there for a couple of minutes, replaying his conversation. Amami was right to be concerned, based on past experiences, but he was older now, and he really did have more self-control.

He really didn't feel like continuing his workout, so he placed the weights back on the rack, and walked aimlessly down the corridor. Finally, he found himself in front of Tokuchi's little office. That irked him a bit. He really could stay away if he wanted to. Before he could move on, the door swung open, knocking him off balance. Tokuchi honestly looked a bit thrown to see his there. That wasn't a good sign.

"Hey," he said, articulate as ever.

"What are you doing here?" Tokuchi asked, straight to the point as ever.

"I'm not quite sure," Itsuki said honestly. Tokuchi shrugged, and then stepped aside, inviting him in. Itsuki ducked inside, and stood there, awkwardly looking at Tokuchi but avoiding eye contact.

"It's fine, you know," Tokuchi said. When faced with Itsuki's incredulous look, he continued. "You don't have to have a reason every time you come here". Itsuki smiled a bit, then approached Tokuchi.

"So," he began quietly. "How's your back?" Tokuchi looked the slightest bit confused for a second before he got it.

"Oh, it's fine," he said. "It looks worse than it is. Itsuki flicked his eyes over the two that barely showed above his collar.

"Can I see them?" he asked in a low voice. He didn't know why he did it, but seeing something, anything mar Tokuchi s skin made him feels A Certain Way. Tokuchi narrowed his eyes at him, but nodded his assent. Turning around, Tokuchi closed and locked his door before unbuttoning his shirt. With each progressive button, his shirt slouched a bit more, revealing smooth pale skin adorned with eight angry looking scratches. Itsuki almost felt bad about it. But not quite.

Before Tokuchi could pull his shirt back up, Itsuki approached him, and gently ran the tips of his fingers down one row of scratches. As he did, he felt Tokuchi's back tense a bit. That could be either good or bad. The scratches were slight scabbed over, but Tokuchi was right. They did look worse than they were. Tokuchi had apparently indulged him enough, and he pulled his shirt back on, knocking Itsuki's hand away.

"Sorry," Itsuki said. "That doesn't look too comfortable.

"It's fine," Tokuchi said. "For some reason, I have a feeling that you're worse off than me right now". Itsuki sighed.

"Yeah," he said. "You're probably right there". They stood there awkwardly looking at each other for an uncomfortable amount of time before Itsuki broke the silence. "I should probably get going," he said quietly. "We both need to get ready to travel for the game tomorrow after all". They would be playing the Bugaboos for the first time that season. Johnson would be playing again, and he was honestly a bit worried.

"You're probably right," Tokuchi said slowly. "You'll probably have your work cut out for you". They walked out to the parking lot in silence.

"Do you have any idea of how to beat them," Itsuki asked.

"A couple," Tokuchi replied, not bothering to clarify.

"Would you care to share?" Itsuki asked, leering over at Tokuchi.

Tokuchi looked annoyed for a second, but replied anyway. "For Johnson, there is a way to beat him easily".

Itsuki's breath hitched when Tokuchi spoke. If they could beat Johnson, then the game would be a piece of cake. "What is it?" he asked quietly.

"What's the easiest way to stop somebody from running?" Tokuchi asked as they neared their cars. Itsuki thought for a second before he came to the logical conclusion.

"We're not breaking his legs, you asshole!" He cried. Tokuchi gave a short laugh at that.

"You asked me if I knew how to beat him," he replied. "I never said you'd like it".

Itsuki heaved a sigh. So this wouldn't be an easy win after all. He would live, though. It's not like he didn't appreciate a challenge after all.

"Just to clarify," Itsuki said. "We aren't going to break his legs".

"We totally are," Tokuchi said straight-faced. It was then that Itsuki realized that it's what passes for humor in his tiny mind. Itsuki snorted at him derisively before getting in his car and heading home. He had other things to do. He other things he could be doing than hanging out in a parking lot with Tokuchi. Not that he minded that, after all.

Happy birthday Toa you rat bastard.