Archive of Our Own

It was like his life was torn from a page of a shoujo manga but with real life problems.

At first he'd been skeptical, Wakana could've just been screwing with him. It wasn't unheard of that girls tricked him (he didn't understand why though), but then one early morning he'd found pads lying in the middle of the room. Sawamura had just gone out for his morning job and Masuko was still snoring in his bed. Wakana appeared in Youichi's mind at that instant and he practically jumped off his bed to grab the pack of pads from the floor and hide it back in Sawamura's drawer before Masuko found out.

It nearly gave him a heart attack. Sawamura was a girl, Wakana wasn't screwing with him and she just left her pads for all the world to see. It was just something that idiot would do and it pissed him off. He sent a message to Wakana using his phone and when he saw Sawamura, he kicked her ass for nearly giving him a damn stroke.

He signed his fate that day, sending his message to Wakana.

Sawamura left her stupid pads on the floor. The idiot is a girl. What the hell.

I told you so.

What do I do?

Can you keep her secret?

He was a sucker for Wakana and if the team knew he chose the chick over them, Sawamura wouldn't be the only one getting screwed.

And so Youshi Kuramochi's life as a secret bodyguard for Sawamura's maidenhood began. Wakana told him it was better for her not to know that he knew or else Sawamura would start being lax, it was better off for her to think she had to be on her toes all the time. And Youichi found himself agreeing, since it wasn't so hard covering up for Sawamura when she was being careful.

The one hard part was in behaving the same way as though he didn't know she was a girl. He wrestled with her, kicked and punched her on a daily basis and forced her to run errands in the middle of the night. He also teased her endlessly and had at one point forced her to watch some porno with him (but thankfully Tetsuya had arrived just in time to stop them though Youichi was pissed at the time, now he was eternally grateful).

There were times when his body just moved on instinct and he'd tackle Sawamura or kick her but he always felt so guilty afterwards because he just hit a girl and that was low, even for him. Wakana told him that since Sawamura was so boyish it was fine and that the pitcher would actually start freaking out if he wasn't hurting her. Youichi didn't think it was even possible to fall more in love with his boss (it had started off as a joke).

Despite Wakana's assurances, Youichi's tackles had less power and he was more aware of their proximity. His hands wouldn't wander towards certain areas and he made sure to do more punching than kicking (though that wasn't really going anywhere at this point). He couldn't stop the others from hitting Sawamura, though and he realized he was partly to blame for that since he was the one who started it.

He tried making up for it in secret. By making sure Sawamura's bath time didn't get interrupted. He was always there to be the hawk and dragon guarding the bath, letting no one enter until he was sure Sawamura was done. Then he'd hastily run back to the room, play his video games and pretend he was there the whole time.

Then during one of his guard duties, Ryousuke has dragged him away. And since he didn't have any trouble in the last few days, he willing went, confident that Sawamura was going to be fine on her own. But then he came back to the room and found Sawamura pale as a sheet.

"Oi, are you all right?" He asked pretending to be not all that concerned as he climbed up to his bed.

"I'm... fine..."

Clearly the kid wasn't but Youichi let it slide. She must've just seen a bug or something and since he was feeling tired, he didn't give it much thought and went to sleep.

The following day, Sawamura was gone before he even woke up. Practice was cancelled because of the rain but he figured the idiot was already running out  in the rain like the idiot that she was. And so, thinking of Wakana, Youichi grabbed his shoes and went to find his troublesome underclassman.

He expected to find her running in the mud with a fierce look on her face. What he didn't expect was to see her rubbing her eyes on the ground with Miyuki crouched beside her. Even more so, he didn't expect for her to suddenly pounce on Miyuki and hug him. Dread filled his stomach and he took out his phone to send an e-mail.

We have a problem.

He wasn't sure if Miyuki knew Sawamura's secret. He had just assumed and Wakana told him not to do anything unless they had concrete evidence. She had asked Sawamura about it, but the pitcher hasn't been replying and Youichi couldn't force her to reply to Wakana or else it would be too obvious. So Youichi settled for spying on the two, which wouldn't be too hard since the other half was his classmate, or so he thought.

It turned out that they were hard to spy. Miyuki and Sawamura had been spending lunch together a lot more frequently and just were in each other's presence most of the time. Normally he wouldn't have minded but he didn't trust Miyuki to be a gentleman and keep Sawamura's secret for free.

I think he really knows.

You don't know that for sure. She might just have a crush on him.

Sometimes Youichi didn't want to understand how the female mind worked. Who on earth would have an actual crush on Miyuki? (He failed to remember all the catcher's cheering fans when he played)

No. Miyuki has a twisted personality. If he knew about it, he wouldn't keep it to himself. And since he is, he's obviously bribing her. He might even be forcing her to do things with him!

You've been reading too much manga. And if he was actually a threat, Ei-chan would've told me by now. She tells me all her problems, so we shouldn't jump  to conclusions just yet. Just keep an eye on them.

Youichi groaned, why didn't Wakana believe him? It was frustrating that she didn't but he didn't let her down, either. He kept his watch but even when he noticed that Miyuki had taken his position as the bath bodyguard, Wakana still gave Miyuki some room for doubt.

He really didn't understand women.

We have a problem.

He stared at Wakana's message with a scowl. Of course they had a problem, he knew it the moment it began but no one believed him. Now the damage had been done and whatever happened between Sawamura and Miyuki was showing itself in their game. Neither party spoke to each other, tensions were high and they also couldn't bear to look at each other.

Yeah, well they aren't talking to each other. It's the complete opposite to last week.

I know. Ei-chan told me Miyuki knows. And they had an argument because he saw you wrestling her. He told her that you were going to tell everyone if you knew.

Youichi glared at the catcher as their teacher drawled on about the lesson. Really? He was far more trustworthy than that!

I should just talk to him. Tell him that I know, it'll fix this and they don't have to screw up their battery.

I haven't told her you knew.

It's fine, Miyuki's our problem right now. The idiot will be fine once Miyuki starts catching for her again.

And so Youichi planned on talking to the catcher during lunch but as soon as the bell rang, Miyuki was gone and when Youichi finally caught up to him, it was to the sight of Miyuki carrying Sawamura over his shoulder.

He called Wakana for the first time, "we have a big problem."

Sawamura was crying the whole night and Youichi just did not know how to deal with it. He'd gotten her soda, a chocolate drink and even pilfered a cake from the kitchen but it just didn't stop. Even Wakana was busy trying to get Sawamura to talk via e-mails. He was definitely going to kill Miyuki for this later.

Eventually Sawamura answered Wakana's calls and cried. Youichi had left the room after that, giving them privacy but stood out the door just in case Masuko or Miyuki decided to pop in uninvited.

Miyuki did come, passing by from a meeting with the coach and Chris. Youichi glared at him but it seemed that Miyuki didn't notice or care.

"Is Sawamura in there?"

"Yeah," Youichi frowned. He suddenly felt a wave of protectiveness, like how Ryousuke usually felt when anyone was about to mess with Haruichi. "He's in the phone with Wakana, so."

"Oh. Okay."

Youichi watched as Miyuki walked away, glaring hard. 

It's fine.

That was all Wakana had as an explanation and it pissed him off. He deserved more than that after all he'd done the past few months.

He's not going to tell anyone, so it's fine. But he isn't going to be looking out for her.

Of course he wasn't, Youichi knew Miyuki would eventually pull off something like this. The catcher was terrible at committing to things, people and relationships especially.

Fine. I'll watch over her.

He would keep doing his job. Not just for Wakana though, Sawamura was practically his sister at this point and Miyuki pissed him off. He'd be damned if he let anyone else near Sawamura.

They lost against Inashiro and Sawamura was broken. Youichi and Wakana both tried to get her back on her feet but it was futile. It came to point where Youichi had to suck in all his pride and go to Miyuki. Whatever happened between them in the mound was their thing, Youichi knew nothing of it. He didn't want to go to the new captain, but he also knew there was no other way so he did.

Talking with Miyuki made him feel somewhat relieved. The new captain knew they needed Sawamura, knew they had to get her back. But at the same time, it left a bad feeling in the shortstop's gut. There was something he was missing but he couldn't figure it out.

He'd told Sawamura to take a hike, to move, to leave the damned room. He'd had enough of being gentle, he was going to do this his way since nothing seemed to work and Miyuki wasn't doing anything. So he kicked the pitcher out of their room, telling him not come back unless she got her thoughts sorted out.

He felt good for doing that. But it only lasted for about ten minutes before it ate at him and he ran out the room to find the pitcher. Unsurprisingly he found her minutes later with Miyuki.

"Do you still want to form a battery with me?"

What kind of self-righteous question was that? Youichi was half-way to tackling the captain when he heard Sawamura speak (and that was strange because it'd been a while since he last heard her).

"I... I do!"

"Then don't quit, Sawamura."

Youichi watched as Miyuki ruffled her hair, felt a growl about to form and when the captain handed his drink to her--

"Finish it, it's yours. And get some sleep, you look like a dead panda."

-- the look on Sawamura's face burned a fire inside him that made him freeze. Sawamura actually liked Miyuki-- what an idiot--and they were about to share an indirect kiss! Miyuki was going to break her heart, cold and callous that he was!

He had to stop him at all costs.

He should've been happy that things fell back naturally. Sawamura was pitching like she always had and she wasn't avoiding Miyuki--but the latter was precisely why Youichi was pissed. Didn't she see she was going to get her heart broken by the beast?

"You're spending too much time with Miyuki," he told the pitcher over a fighting game.

"He's my catcher so it's a given," was her stubborn reply.

He gave her a kick and scowled, "you're both disgusting."

"Oh, are you starting to get jealous, Kuramochi-senpai?"

He tackled her, forgetting what it was in the first place that he wanted to talk to her about.

When Miyuki had been taken to the hospital, everyone had worried. Even Youichi was worried, he was frustrated at the guy but that didn't mean he was going to enjoy his injury. It wasn't a surprise that Sawamura was pissed, ready to murder anyone who stood in her way and her feelings were ever so obvious on the mound.

He paid a visit at the hospital with Maezono and the coach while everyone else went home to rest and would visit the next day. Youichi was honestly worried for his teammate, Miyuki was a good player and it would be a shame to lose him here. Never mind the tournament, if it would end his career then that just fucked up.

He'd have empathized with the injured player had it not only been for the first thing he'd said to Youichi.

"How's Sawamura?"

A nerve was hit and he was about to cause further injury when Maezono answered, "he's on fire. His pitches were almost scary, it was like he was going to murder the batters."

Miyuki laughed weakly, pain medication in the works, "is he coming? Tell him to visit. I should congratulate him."

Weird. Youichi frowned and decided to test his newfound theory, "Furuya did good, too."

"He's always good but Sawamura is better."

Beside him, Maezono was trying hard not to laugh at how pathetic their captain was being while the coach and Rei were able to perfectly mask their emotions. Youichi however was burning inside. If it weren't for the pain medication, he would've slugged Miyuki, he wanted the captain to feel the pain for messing Sawamura up, making her fall for him and finally him falling for her.

He didn't approve of this one bit.

He's going to break her heart.

You don't know that.

He is.

He might have changed for her. You should just let nature take its course.

No way! Miyuki is the devil, he'll hurt her even though he thinks he won't. He'll hurt her one way or the other.

Kuramochi, are you actually in love with Ei-chan?

What? Where on earth did you get that idea?!

You've kept her secret all this time and you're very protective of her. You and Miyuki, for all intents and purposes, are close friends but you've been choosing Ei-chan over your friendship. If you like Ei-chan, I wouldn't mind but she doesn't like you. It's just going to hurt you.

Kuramochi couldn't believe it. After all this time and she didn't realize it? He was sure she did since she was smart, or hadn't he been obvious enough? Dammit. He called her for the second time.

"Kuramochi--"

"I don't love Sawamura. She's a loud-mouthed stupid brat. She's more like a sister, an annoying, idiot baby sister who just had to fall for the biggest bastard in history. Which pisses me off. But I don't love her. And I did this because you asked me to. I did this for you. Well, I'm doing this for her, too. Since Sawamura is wreck all by herself but I'm mostly doing this for you."

He ended the call, having said his piece and suddenly losing all his balls because he just confessed, didn't he? Dammit, he did and he probably scared her away because they barely knew each other and they've only been e-mailing and talking about Sawamura all this time!

"Kuramochi-senpai?" Gasping, Youichi looked up and saw Sawamura at the door, drenched from her run.

"S-Sawamura! You--"

"You knew?" Sawamura asked, the air between them thick and fragile.

Youichi nodded with a gulp, "I...I was replying to Wakana for you. And I accidentally found out that way."

"So it was Wakana's--"

"Don't blame her, she didn't mean to tell me. Besides, I didn't believe her until you left your freaking lady pads on the floor. And let me just say you're way too lax, you don't ever lock the bathroom when you're in there and you don't even check your sheets. Sometimes there's stains there and I had to ask Wakana how to get it off or else Masuko would find out!"

Sawamura flushed in embarrassment, "y-you what?"

"I cleaned your stains, you sick pervert--"

"Oi, how am I the pervert--"

"And Wakana made me keep tabs on your ovulation calendar. I never knew what the hell that was before this!"

Sawamura made a loud noise, a shriek and Youichi yelled back at her to shut up. It erupted into an all-out incoherent argument filled with yells and curses until they finally ran out of breath and settled for glaring at each other.

"How the hell did she think I'm in love with you?" Youichi scowled, "you're such a handful, I don't even know why M-- anyone would fall for you."

"What the hell does that mean?" Sawamura bared her teeth, "and what? Wakana thinks you like me? That's gross. She already has this stupid crush on you so I don't get--"

"What did you say?" Youichi snapped.

"Huh?"

"About Wakana, what did you just say? Repeat it, Sawamura!"

"She has a crush on you? I didn't know why or how until now, but if you've been e-mailing her all this time then you should know she obviously likes you."

Of all the--

Youichi cursed then yelled in triumph. Wakana fucking liked him.

"And I'll just leave you," Sawamura shook her head, trying to block out her upperclassman's loud cheers and grabbed some clothes from the closet. "I'm going to visit Miyuki, Maezono-sempai said he wanted me to visit and I'm still going to break his leg for lying to me--"

"Hold up!" Youichi snapped, grabbing the other's arm, "you're not going anywhere!"

"What?! Why?!"

"Run laps with me."

"I just ran thirty!"

"I don't care, run with me!"

"You insane--"

Youichi grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and dragged her out the room. They were going to run as many laps until they fainted because Wakana likes him and he wasn't going to let Miyuki have the satisfaction of seeing Sawamura.

"Furuya knows he was injured," he said intentionally and just as expected, Sawamura's anger flared.

They ran until they ended up crawling back to the room.

When Miyuki had him sent out from the hospital, Youichi was pissed that he sent Miyuki a photo of him and Sawamura doing stretches and added the message we're doing fine without you at the end. Miyuki never replied and Youichi felt the greatest since finding out Wakana liked him.

When Miyuki came back, Youichi was ready to send him back to the hospital but the sight of the twisted captain on his knees, bent before the coach and Rei to beg--

"Please! I need to make it up for Sawamura! This injury made me reflect my ways. I need to make it up to him. As the captain, I've done a poor job and as a catcher, even poorer!"

Where the hell did he get his theatrics? Youichi tried so hard not to laugh and shake too much as he took a video through the slightly parted door. This was rich, Miyuki begging on his knees like he should be. How the coach and Rei managed not to break down in tears and laughter was beyond him.

"Fine."

"What?" Rei stared at the coach.

"Have Sawamura move to Miyuki's room."

Wait. What.

The phone nearly fell off his hand as the coach's words echoed in Youichi's head. In front of him, Miyuki was singing his praise and if it wasn't so ridiculous and pride-shattering, Youichi wouldn't have believed it.

He stopped the recording and e-mailed Wakana.

Miyuki likes her.

Then he attached the video and grunted to himself. The cheating bastard-- going to the coach and Rei.

Omake

Aotsuki Wakana sighed as she began to remove her shoes at the entryway. She had a long day at the university and she just wanted to sink in her bed and sleep for the next twenty-four hours with no interruptions.

Coming to Tokyo had been a promise she made to Eijun after her friend didn't seem to entertain the idea of returning home after high school. Eijun wanted to stay in Tokyo, work on being a female baseball player and getting to see Miyuki every day. To Aotsuki, it wasn't a hard decision. Tokyo had better universities and she could also meet up with Youichi whenever she wanted to.

Well, that had been the initial plan. But Youichi was busy at practice and she had her studies. Their dates were rare and the most they spent with each other was to sleep or grab a couple of bites before falling asleep on each other.

Sighing, she stepped into the hall with the thought of calling Youichi before she slept when she heard a thud. Alarmed, she was about to run inside with the baseball bat lying beside her when she heard moaning.

"Kazuya!"

"Eijun!"

Dropping the bat like it was on fire, she ran back to the entrance and grabbed her shoes, not bothering to even put them on before leaving. She pressed her back to the door with a groan. She didn't know how it was possible for her friend and her boyfriend to find the spare energy to mess around when they'd been in practice the whole day.

She could still hear the faint moaning through the door and took out her phone to call Youichi.

"Tsuki?" In normal circumstances, she'd have blushed at his nickname for her but she could hear Kazuya telling her best friend to keep screaming.

"Are you at the apartment?"

"I'm half-way there, just grabbing some dinner. Something up?"

She sighed heavily, her feet were getting cold. "They're naked in the living room."

Youichi laughed, "you should just move in with me already."

"My parents won't ever agree."

"Just tell them you're staying with Sawamura. We're good at keeping at secrets."

"Idiot," she teased and slowly shoved on her shoes. Then, "um, Youichi."

"Yeah?"

"Are you free tomorrow?"

"Yeah, why? Wanna go on a date?"

"Help me pack my stuff. I'm moving in."