Forbidden Protege

Ch. 6: Family Chaos (Part 2)

The four boys froze as they turned to see a man standing in the archway. He had messy blonde hair and sharp green eyes that took in the scene before him. Miyuki guessed him to be over six feet tall and he was muscular. His plain red shirt was pulled tight over his biceps and dark washed jeans were tucked into grey boots. He didn't seem upset, just surprised, but Miyuki held his breath. He knew that this wasn't the best situation to say the least.

Miyuki was holding down his daughter's legs by wrapping his arms around them, hugging them to his chest. His hands gripped her ankle and calf muscle and she had been trying to break loose. Kuramochi was holding her between his legs and against his chest with one hand pinning her arms behind her and the other draped across her chest with his hand roughly gripping her waist. Ryosuke was sitting back on the couch with one foot brushing her bare skin on her side. During the scuffle, her shirt had slid partway up and exposed about half of her stomach. Haruichi was gripping her chin and forcing her to look away from him as he held a cotton ball soaked in disinfectant with the first aid kit beside him. His daughter had been squirming away from her captors and had a large bruise on the left side of her face. To say this looked bad would be an understatement.

Miyuki gulped, trying to think of an answer when Alexia spoke up. "Supposedly, but this asshole won't stop tickling me," she said as she jerked her head towards Ryosuke. The said boy tensed up and opened his mouth to apologize but Alexia's father beat him to it.

"Alright then. Continue," he said as he started tugging off his boots, using the archway as support.

Alexia's jaw dropped. "Hey! Aren't you supposed to help me?"

"Whatever you did, you probably deserve this," he said, smirking at her. He swept his hand towards the group. "Well, don't just sit there, carry on." He turned to put his shoes down by the door and Alexia glared at his back.

"You traitor! Get back here and – EEEK!" Alexia said, yelping again as Ryosuke brushed his foot along her side. "God damn it! Stop! I yield!" she sputtered out. Kuramochi tightened his grip as she started to squirm again and Miyuki did the same.

"This doesn't end until Haruichi finishes," Ryosuke said, causing Haruichi to continue with his work. Alexia tilted her head back laughing as tears fell out of her eyes. She muttered curse words under her breath as she tried to keep from moving.

"Glad to see you're still fluent in both English and Japanese," her father said as he leaned against the couch and watched the spectacle. He sipped some water from a cup as amusement danced in his eyes. "Haven't had a show this good in a while."

Alexia glared up at him from over Kuramochi's shoulder. "I hate you! You're supposed to defend your daughter!" Alexia said, fighting through her laughs.

"Says who?"

"There, I'm done," Haruichi said quickly as he back away from Alexia. Miyuki let go of her legs and Kuramochi did the same, leaning back to give her some room. Rysouke pulled his foot back up to the couch as Alexia sat up. She glared at the older boy who smirked in return before turning and thanking Haruichi.

"Let me put this back," Alexia said, grabbing the case from Haruichi as she stood up.

"I'll take care of it," her father said, taking it from her hands. He held his hand out to take the cotton ball from Haruichi who hesitantly handed it over. As quickly as he had appeared, he ducked out and back into the main hall, leaving the kids in the living room.

"So, your dad's cool?" Kuramochi said, more of a question than a statement. He remained sitting on the ground with his arms draped over his knees. Haruichi stood next to him, fidgeting and Ryosuke was still sitting on the couch and Miyuki was leaning on the arm.

Alexia crossed her arms as she spoke. "I told you he'd be fine with you guys. Although I'm a bit pissed he didn't help me."

"Like he said, you deserved it," Ryosuke quipped as the man made his way back into the living room, taking another drink of his water.

He smiled lightly at the boys before nodding at his daughter. "Mind introducing me to these young men?"

Alexia nodded. "The devil there is Kominato Ryosuke. He's a third year and the starting second baseman for the team. This is his younger brother Haruichi. He's a first year and on the second-string team. He's Kuramochi Youichi and he's the one I told you who made a big deal out of my paper cut. He's in my class and is the starting shortstop. And that guy is Miyuki Kazuya. He's also in my class and is the starting catcher." Alexia gave a quick introduction of each of the boys before turning and gesturing at her father. "And if you guys didn't piece it together already, this is my dad. His name's Narumiya Keiji."

Kuramochi stood up quickly and Miyuki turned to the man, bowing. "It's a pleasure to meet you, sir. Sorry about, that," Miyuki said as he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

Keiji chuckled. "Please, you all can call me Keiji. I'm not one for formalities and it's great to see that Alexia has made some good friends on the team already. Like I said, she probably deserved it anyway."

"Dad," Alexia groaned again.

"Am I wrong," he asked as he cocked an eyebrow at her. He took another sip of water as Alexia pursed her lips together. "By the way, it's weird for you to agree to go shopping. How'd they convince you?"

Alexia rolled her eyes. "I had to pick some things up. Including a new pair of batting gloves." He father nodded at that and then turned to Kuramochi who was as stiff as a board.

"Is that the only reason why she went shopping with you?"

Kuramochi stuttered, "W-well, not exactly." Alexia sighed and put her head in her hands. She mumbled for him to just say it and Kuramochi cleared his throat. "She cussed Ryo-san out and so he made her come to carry the bags."

Keiji choked on his water and started laughing. His eyes gleamed with interest as he grinned at his daughter. "I knew you deserved it." He shook his head as he continued chuckling.

Miyuki looked between the family a couple times. Keiji was tall and Miyuki assumed Alexia got her height at least in part from him. His blonde hair contrasted sharply with her pitch black hair, but his eyes looked identical to hers. Both had sharp and refined eyes with thick lashes and both had intense shades of color. He hadn't realized it before either, but both Alexia and her dad seemed to have a perpetual glint in their eyes, as if they were seeing something no one else could. It gave them an air of confidence, one that Miyuki realized made Alexia's bold claims believable. Earlier, she had said no other catcher could routinely catch her pitches and Miyuki hadn't batted an eye because he hadn't doubted her. Apparently, she had inherited her strong, unquestionable confidence from her father.

Both of them also held themselves proudly. Keiji, despite leaning casually on the wall, seemed to command control subtly. His presence wasn't overpowering, but you couldn't deny it either. Alexia had had that same feeling from the moment Miyuki had met her. She had seamlessly formed herself into their group with sarcastic comments, friendliness, and openness. She hadn't forced herself in; she had made them welcome her warmly as if they had known each other for much longer than three days. Miyuki found himself smiling as he realized that she had the innate leadership ability of a team captain.