𝐁𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐡 | Miyuki Kazuya

Chapter 16: Rumor Has It

| Haruka Inejiro |

Haruka's chest heaved as he woke up from his first nightmare in weeks. In an immediate panic, he shoves away the sheets tangled in between his legs and runs a hand through a mess of untidy curls. He couldn't shake the feeling of hands crawling all over his body. The hands of his past dig into his skin and taunting words echo in his ears; accompanying the vivid nightmare. His breathing picks up again. He can't help the trapped feeling that suffocates him. Not even the slow breathing of his teammates could quell the tight panic.

With sweat plastering both his curls and shirt to his skin, Haruka moves on autopilot. His mind is faraway, stuck in the past. It feels as if he is trapped in a never ending daze, even as he crawls out of bed and searches for a change of clothes. What he doesn't notice is that the catcher sleeping below, watches him leave with tired eyes.

Almost tripping over his own feet in an attempt to get into the showers, he turns on the water and steps inside. In his daze, he had completely forgotten to change out of his clothes. Upon the slow realization, he strips off the wet material and let's the scalding hot water sear into his skin. He wants to burn away all of the memories; the memories of his near past. He was comfortable and happy with Seidou. So why did they constantly plague his mind? How could he rid himself of the torture that was his mind?

As his fingers trail over the black and blue bruises on his body and the busted skin around his knuckles, he can't help but wonder how he had accumulated the damage. He couldn't remember most of what happened after the game. He remembers bits of the confrontation afterwards and then nothing. Haruka presses the palm of his hands into burning eyes and hopes that it will come back to him.

He liked to believe that he was a good person, but if good people only did terrible things, how good were they really? He remembered seeing a red haze glaze over his vision. Briefly, Haruka wondered why he had slept in his own bed. Maybe it was something he had said or done yesterday.

—A brief memory of panicked amber orbs pushed into the forefront of his mind. He pushed back his curls and placed a hand on his throbbing forehead.

Maybe he had finally scared him away.

Maybe Kazuya had finally realized that Haruka just wasn't worth the effort.

Haru tried to choke back the sobs that bust from his chest. His heart hurt, why did the mere thought hurt so much? He hoped that the shower drowned out his cries as he sank to the ground. It was overwhelming, every one of his fragile thoughts and feelings were hitting him at once. The water beat down on him mercilessly, blending in with the stream of tears. And when he finally turned off the water, the only thing reminiscent of his crying was the red rimmed around emerald eyes.

When Haruka returned to the room once more, he glanced at the time. Twenty minutes until his seniors would awaken. He glanced tentatively at Jun-senpai's bed before rummaging through his drawers for his medication.

Easily, he slipped the one for his anxiety down his throat. He winced at the twinge pain from the dry pill, but he was grateful when the anxiety in his chest slowly dissipated. When he finally wraps his fingers around a secondary pill bottle; the one for his temperament issue, he realizes that it's unnaturally light. He gives the bottle a tentative shake, eyes widening in panic when he realizes that it's empty. That's right, it was empty yesterday too. He wants to facepalm once he realizes that his harsh words and quick irritation—from what he could remember of yesterday, had initially been because he ran out of medication. Tugging on his bottom lip with his teeth, he pulls out his phone and makes a note.