Forbidden Protege

Ch. 8: Reality (Part 3)

Miyuki watched intently as Alexia hit ball after ball from the batting tee. Anger pooled in his gut as he watched her work herself hard. She had played in a game today and was now covered in sweat again as she continued to practice. Based on how many balls littered the floor around her, he was certain she had started just after dinner. Behind the metal cage, the clock on the wall read 8:32.

Alexia paused, swinging the bat down by her feet and taking a few deep breaths as she used the hem of her shirt to wipe her brow again. Miyuki pushed himself off of the doorframe and made his way over to her. She didn't so much as glance in his direction and he approached. Just as he was within a few feet, she brought the bat up over her shoulder again, poised to hit another ball.

Before she had a chance to swing, Miyuki reached out and grabbed the barrel of the bat at the same time he spoke, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Fucking hell!" Alexia yelled, jumping back from Miyuki. Her eyes were wide and her breathing increased again. Quickly, she ran her gaze over the boy in front of her, taking a moment to process what just happened. She took a long, deep breath before giving Miyuki a light glare. "If you're going to walk up behind someone, tell them so you don't get your head taken off," she scolded him.

"You shouldn't be practicing right now," Miyuki said, opting to ignore her correct complaint. "You just had a game today."

Alexia sighed and ran her hand over her hair, looping her fingers around her ponytail and brushing it out. "Yeah, I know, but I have the next two days off so I'll rest then."

Miyuki scoffed. "So not only do you not respect your teammates, you don't care about taking care of yourself either." He spoke harshly, enunciating each point and underlining his words with a cold, sharp gaze.

Her eyebrows furrowed together. "What do you mean I don't respect my teammates? And like I said, I can recover later." Her eyes were clouded over as she took in how his jaw set itself and his grip on her bat tightened.

"I heard about the game. You made some of your own calls and didn't listen to what Ono was telling you. You ever dug your heels in until you got to throw that damn cutter. Which, in case you didn't know, was a foolish move." Anger seeped into his voice and Alexia visibly flinched back from him, but he didn't care. In the short time, he had known her, he had thought that she would be an excellent team player, not some sort of dictator with her team. "As a pitcher, you need to trust your teammates, especially your catcher."

Alexia was silent as she took in Miyuki's stance. His hands were balled into fists at his sides with his right hand still gripping the bat with white knuckles. His mouth was a thin line and his jaw was set. His eyebrows were cut in sharply and his eyes were intense, showing exactly how pissed off he was. She inhaled sharply. She would be lying if she hadn't been expecting him to be upset, but this was a much more intense reaction than she had been expecting.

Miyuki ran his gaze over Alexia as she stood analyzing him. She was covered in sweat and her hair was plastered against her forehead. Her right hand was still resting on her hair while her left was fiddling with the hem of her shorts. Her eyes were clouded over, lacking the usual glint, yet they still seemed sharp. She was taking him in and most likely measuring out her next step. Despite himself, he had to admit that she seemed calm and calculating, remaining in control of herself and the situation whereas Miyuki was letting his anger lead him. He would be lying if he said he didn't admire her efforts, but she was obviously in danger of overworking herself. When she spoke, she held his gaze and kept her voice even, surprising Miyuki.

"I played horribly today, you're right. I made some selfish calls and was a hypocrite," Alexia took a deep breath. "I made calls trusting my teammates, when they weren't my calls to make, and then didn't trust my teammates when they made calls, like with Ono. I just..." Her voice trailed off as she nibbled on her lower lip. Miyuki opened his mouth, but she quickly held up a hand. "No, please wait until I finish. I'm just looking for the right words." Miyuki closed his mouth and nodded, receiving a sigh from her. "I've been playing with the same team for five years. And I built up an incredible partnership with all of them. We could pull off stupidly reckless but well-thought out moves and just be able to trust that the others would have our back. Transitioning to a more traditional team who I don't know is harder than I thought and threw me for a loop in the game."

She held his gaze steady as she finished speaking, saying, "It's not an excuse, I know, and I promise you that I'm going to get better. I also owe Ono an apology, which I was going to give tomorrow. And as a pitcher to a catcher, I'm apologizing to you now. I'm sorry for my selfish calls and I swear I'm going to get much better."

Miyuki didn't reply right away, letting her words sinking. When he had heard about the game and then saw her acting casual at dinner, he had been more upset than he realized. Then when he caught her practicing after dinner, the last thing he had expected to hear was an apology. It was what he wanted, but he didn't expect her to offer it up so easily. He pursed his lips together. "If you want to survive here at Seido, you'll have to," he said bluntly.

Alexia smirked lightly at him. "I know."

Miyuki crossed his arms, still holding Alexia's bat. "Now explain to me why the hell you're practicing so hard after a game."

Alexia scoffed and rolled her eyes. "I'm not practicing that hard," she said as she crossed her own arms mimicking Miyuki's stance.

"Right, right. Because that's why you're covered in sweat and-," Miyuki scrunched up his nose, "you smell awful."

Alexia laughed, shooting him a lopsided smirk. "Like you're one to talk. You don't exactly smell like flowers after practice either."

"So you admit you're practicing hard?" Miyuki pointed out, feeling accomplished. His anger had ebbed away before he realized it and now only concern was left andhe was having fun teasing Alexia.

She huffed, letting her arms and gaze fall. When she lifted her head again, she gave him a sheepish grin. "I know this is stupid, but I can't sit still right now. I'm too worked up over the game and need to practice. I know I'll pay for it later, but I can take the next couple days to recuperate."

Miyuki sighed and shook his head. "You're an idiot."

"Not as bad as Eijun, at least."

"I'm beginning to wonder," he replied, chuckling. The look of horror on her face as she pressed a hand to her chest made his light chuckles turn into full laughter. Alexia found herself joining in, the awkward tension and anger that had plagued the air dissipating into nothing.

"So," Miyuki said, slinging the bat over his shoulder, "instead of batting, do you want to do some pitching?"

Alexia's eyes went wide as she heard his question. A smirk crept onto her face. "So now instead of scolding me, you're encouraging me?"

Miyuki snorted. "I have the feeling that you won't listen to me anyway."

"And you'd be right."

"So how about it? I'll catch a few of your pitches and then we both call it a day?" Miyuki asked, already walking over to the wall where some spare mitts were set.

"Sounds great," Alexia said, beaming. Her eyes had cleared and held a direct challenge to Miyuki even before she spoke. "I've been wanting to test out your abilities for a while. I want to see exactly how good Seido's starting catcher is." Her voice held an edge of smugness around her confidence which made Miyuki's heart speed up.

"Alright then, challenge accepted," he said, mimicking her tone of voice. "I've wanted to see if you can actually pitch or if you're all talk as well." He set her bat down and picked up a catchers mitt, squeezing it a few times to let in settle onto his hand.

"Grab some gear, too," Alexia said. Just as Miyuki was about to protest, she cut him off. "If you want to let your legs get beat up, that's fine, but I'm not going to pitch if you don't grab a mask and chest protector."

Miyuki rolled his eyes as he grabbed the spare gear. "Fine, Mom," he complained, smirking as he stretched out the last word. When he turned to look at Alexia, he found her face twisted in disgust.

"For the love of fucking god, please don't ever call me that again," she said, still looking like she was going to hurl. Miyuki broke out into laughter as he made his way over to the pitching area.

"Whatever, now let's see what you've got."