I struggled with this chapter for some reason. I'm not completely satisfied (so I may end up editing this again), but I have big ideas for the chapters to come! Big thank you to those of you who have favorited or now follow this story! Glad there are some Project K fans out there! Let me know your thoughts, so please leave a review! There's nothing better than hearing what you guys think of this!

Chapter 2: Baseball

A yawn escaped Misaki's lips as he stretched his arms above his head before collapsing on the couch next to Tatara. "Finally, it's Saturday."

Shouhei tipped back on his barstool to grin cheekily back. "You still think you're up to pitching today?"

Kamamoto tried to disguise his laugh with a cough.

Misaki cracked an eye open to glare at him. "Of course, idiot. We all know you can't hit a fast pitch to save your life."

Kusanagi chuckled quietly as he busied himself behind the bar. Misaki could see the circles beneath his glasses and understood the man was just as tired as he was. He had fallen asleep what seemed like only a few hours ago, and felt as if he was dead on his feet.

He hadn't been sure if he had dreamt up all of last night until he had woken up to find Kusanagi sleeping on the couch in the bar's main room.

"Just for tonight," Kusanagi had said. "Until we can fix up a room for her."

"Doesn't she a place of her own to go?" Misaki had muttered, dreading having to share a room with another roommate.

"Honestly," Kusanagi had said quietly. "It doesn't look like she has much of anything to call her own."

Misaki yawned once more, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. A small cough caused his eyes to snap open, and everyone's attention shifted to the new arrival who appeared at Kusanagi's shoulder.

Her hair was still damp from her shower, leaving dark water spots on her plain red t-shirt, and she wore the same jeans that she had arrived in the night before. Misaki could see that her bag was slung across her shoulder, and she held it tightly against her side. She seemed smaller that she had the previous night. Her eyes were downcast, hidden by long, dark lashes, and she chewed her lower lip as if it were a nervous habit.

"Kusanagi-san," she said softly. "Arigato."

Kusanagi half-turned, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. "Eh? Mm, don't mention it," he replied.

"Oi! Who's the girl?" Chitose grinned in good humor, rising to his feet as if to shake her hand. He stopped short, however, as her eyes narrowed and locked on him, flashing in irritation.

Kusanagi glanced down at the slight girl, and could feel the tension radiating from her body. "Ah, Tachibana-san. These are the rest of the members of HOMRA. I believe you have met Misaki Yata and Tatara Totsuka," He gestured to the two on the couch who nodded at the sound of their names. "And over there is Rikio Kamamoto."

The large man gave a small wave of his hand and smiled. "Yo!"

"Masaomi Dewa and Kousuke Fujishima have left already, but these two over here are Saburouta Bandou and Shouhei Akagi,"

Shouhei smiled brightly, "Welcome!"

Kusanagi pointed to the frozen man in front of them. "And this here, " he grinned. "Is You Chitose."

Her eyes widened, and a faint blush spread across her cheeks as she ducked her head with a mumbled apology. Misaki couldn't contain a bark of laughter. He threw an arm around Chitose's shoulders, his smile widening even more at the perplexed look on his clansman's face.

"Ah, Chitose, already you're pissing off the new members." He smirked.

Chitose frowned at the floor, and grumbled, "Isn't that usually your job, Misaki?"

"Eh?!"

Within seconds Chitose was pinned underneath the teenager, who was swearing profusely and attempting to smash his comrade's face into the floor.

Tatara chuckled as he watched the two, his feet propped on the table in front of him.

"Say, Tachibana-san," he smiled brightly, his voice carrying over to her despite the noise the two on the floor were making. "We're heading to the ballpark up the block soon. You play ball? We'd love for you to join."

Misaki paused on the floor to glance up at her reaction, giving Chitose enough time to elbow himself out from underneath him.

Her face remained expressionless as she replied, "Mm, not today. I have to-"

She stopped speaking abruptly, as if her voice was caught in her throat. She stood frozen in place, staring wildly the steps leading to the second floor.

A chorus of "YO!" surrounded her as Mikoto leaned against the railing of the last step. He rolled his shoulders back, working out a small kink in his neck, before giving a small nod in greeting. However, it was the little girl clinging to his coat that Rin seemed fixated on.

"Ah, King, Anna. Ohayō."

The others made sounds of welcome, but Rin's lips merely twitched, as if she was shock. Misaki could see her legs were trembling from where he sat, and that her knuckles had turned white from her grip on the strap of her bag.

The King's eyes slid over to her, which seemed to shake her out of her reverie. "G-good morning. Thank you for welcoming me," Her voice shook, and when she glanced back at the little girl she said harshly, "Excuse me."

She turned sharply on her heel, her bag bouncing roughly against her hip, and pushed out the bar's doors without another word.

The silence was only broken by a soft voice. Anna had one of her red marbles clutched in her hand, and was staring intently at the doors of the bar.

"So sad…" She whispered.

Misaki's frown deepened, and he scratched the back of his head in confusion. He turned back around and could see Mikoto staring impassively at the entrance to the bar as well.

Shouhei coughed. "Well… We should we meet Dewa and Fujishima at the field."

Everyone murmured in agreement. Kamamoto offered a hand as Misaki began to push himself to his feet.

"She's a bit odd," he mumbled so only the two of them could hear. Misaki shrugged noncommittally, but Kamamoto continued nonetheless. "I'm not sure what to make of her yet, but…"

Misaki glanced up at his friend. It was one of those rare moments where Kamamoto felt like opening up about something.

"I just…I get the feeling that we're what she needs right now." He looked down at Misaki over the rim of his sunglasses for a second, his eyes serious. Then, after a moment, he pushed them back up the bridge of his nose and broke out into a smile, "Or she could just be fucking crazy."

"Oi, Yata-san. Go get the other balls on the other side of the fence."

"Eh?! Mikoto was the one who didn't use his handicap-"

"Ah, well, you were the one who insisted you could strike him out nonetheless…"

Misaki stalked off, grumbling to himself as he jogged around the outside of the fence in search of the baseballs that had sailed far behind the field. As much as he complained, there was nothing he enjoyed more than getting to spend a day with the rest of Homura. Everyone seemed to loosen up for a couple hours. Mikoto, especially, seemed to relax and enjoy himself for a few moments.

He spotted a flash of white in the tall grass, and hurried over to snatch the last of their balls. After tucking it into his sweatshirt pocket, he leaned against his baseball bat and looked out at the sea to his left. He groaned to himself, knowing they had lost more than a few baseballs to the salty water today.

"Misaki! Hurry up!"

He turned, and could make out Tatara waving him in. Mikoto's red hair shone brightly to his left, and he could make out the shape of Anna's dress in the King's shadow.

"Hai!" He called back. As he sprinted along the fence line, a small shape under the shade of one of the trees moved, causing him to skid to a halt.

Rin was leaning casually against the trunk of a tall pine. Her arms folded across her chest, and Misaki could see the bag that she carried with her everywhere was placed at her feet.

The setting sun was shining directly behind her, so he had to squint to see her silhouette. However, he could see her raise her arm in greeting.

"Ah! Tachibana-san!"

Misaki slung the bat across his shoulder, and strode over to her. He put a hand over his eyes to shade them from the sun trying to make out her face in the diminishing light.

As he came closer, he grinned. "You missed a hell of a game."

She made a sound of amusement. "I could see it fine from here."

"Eh? You didn't join in?" He was only a few feet from her now, close enough to see her blonde hair gleam as she tossed it over her shoulder.

"I wasn't feeling quite up to it today." She said as if she were sharing a private joke with herself.

The shadows that had hidden her face suddenly changed as Misaki closed the distance between them, and he could make out the abrasions and bruising on the right side of her face.

She tucked her right arm behind her back before he could glance at it, and let her hair fall forward to hide her face again. She cocked at eyebrow at him from beneath her bangs as if she were daring him to say a word about it.

"What the fuck?!" Misaki froze in place. He wasn't quite sure how to handle this situation. Part of him wanted to turn back or call the rest of Homura over, while a smaller part wanted to move closer to check her wounds.

"Shut up!" She gritted her teeth and rolled her eyes. "Baka…"

"What do you-? Where did-? Don't call me an idiot!" He spluttered as she pushed herself off from the tree, slinging her bag over her shoulder.

His fingers snaked out and grasped her wrist as she stalked past him, and he jerked her back around to face him, bringing her within inches of his face. He jerked back almost instantly, as if he had been burned, and his face flushed bright red at their proximity.

However, she leaned even closer. "Please, not a word, Misaki-san."

They could both hear a faint "Tachibana-san!", and Misaki glanced away from her to see Tatara waving in their direction. She raised her hand in hello, and Misaki caught a glimpse of the thin jagged cut running along her inner forearm.

He frowned and turned away. "Whatever."

Rin's lips quirked upwards, and then she took off jogging across the field. The others had already disappeared over the hill towards the bar, and she headed in the direction they had gone.

Misaki stayed still a moment longer, flexing his fingers in an attempt to get the memory of her delicate wrist in his palm out of his mind.

Author's Note: I don't speak Japanese, nor do I know much about honorifics so if I'm butchering the appropriate times they are used my apologies. I just try to use whatever honorifics the characters use in the manga and anime when they refer to each other.