Forbidden Protege

Ch. 11: Getting Serious (Part 6)

            Crouching behind the plate, Miyuki settled himself into his game mindset. Eyeing Kuramochi, he smirked as he could feel Alexia's intensity from the mound. This wasn't just casual practice; they had a good batter at the plate. Alexia's aura reminded him of a certain southpaw, but whereas his raw energy overflowed, her energy was sharp, precise, and held an unknown promise.

With no hesitation, he signaled for the first pitch. She nodded, smiling, and her eyes switched quickly to Kuramochi before locking back onto his mitt. She pulled back and lifted her leg, balancing perfectly on her right foot. In one fluid movement she stepped out towards the plate. Drawing her hips, torso, shoulders, and finally her arm forward, she snapped her wrist and delivered her pitch with exact precision. The ball cut through the air and carved out a section at Kuramochi's chest, just skimming over his hands as his bat kissed the air. As the smack sounded over the small group, Miyuki found himself happier than ever for his quick reflexes. The path had been much sharper than he was expecting and definitely more so than the last time he had caught her shootball.

Kuramochi growled, "Oi! Are you trying to hit me?"

"If I wanted to, I would have," Alexia shot back as her smile grew even bigger.

Kuramochi huffed but didn't reply. He didn't think it was a bluff, despite how close the ball had come. Tojo was slack-jawed, amazed at the seemingly effortless cut of the pitch and Kariba gulped. Maybe Miyuki hadn't been exaggerating. At the very least, her control was much better than he had thought.

Out of all of them however, the catcher was the only one who realized the weight behind the pitcher's statement. That pitch hadn't just been close, one centimeter would have been all it took it hit Kuramochi had he not swung. The briefest glance at the batter had told her how close to throw, because Miyuki was certain that the ball had flown perfectly. He was absolutely certain that she had not intention of hitting him, but also could have grazed him easily. And yet, despite having no doubts to that reality, a churning in his gut told him that there was more to that singular pitch than he realized. That it hadn't been as impossible simple as having inhuman control. There was something else.

"I'll smack the next one," Kuramochi declared, snapping Miyuki from his stunned, and though he would never admit it fearful, stupor.

He shook away the fog in his mind as he threw the ball back to Alexia. "Nice pitch. That had an excellent course," he praised her, earning an energetic nod. He crouched back into position. After such a sharp inside pitch, there was really only one option: a low and away fastball. Or better yet... He smirked and signaled. However it quickly faded to a frown as she shook her head and then melted to confusion as she flashed him a three twice.

"Trust me," she called, purple boring into caramel. "I think you can catch this. And I mean, might as well go all out." Miyuki let out a sigh. This sort of behavior would never fly on the mound, but he supposed he could chastise her later. Right now, his curiosity had the better of him.

"Alright, but it better be worth it."

"Kyahaha! Are you sure you can catch it after that first one?" Kuramochi prodded him.

"Not really honestly. But right now I'm more interested in seeing what she's capable of," Miyuki commented. Kuramochi side-eyed him but was silent about his lack of arrogance. Instead he focused his attention on the coming pitch, all the more determined to hit it.

Alexia exhaled slowly as she mentally thanked Miyuki for not scolding her bull-headedness. He wouldn't be out of line for ripping into her. But she couldn't help it. Ever since she arrived at Seido she had been starving for some serious pitching. Sure, she'd had practice games, but every time she took the mound the anxiety of having a different catcher ate at her. Nothing against them, but she had gotten so used to Fable's reliability that she could pitch without debating everything.

But Miyuki was different. The first time she had pitched to him he had succeeded in catching her pitches. And even when he failed, his face wasn't contorted with confusion, unacceptance, or displeasure. It was alight with excitement and child-like wonder. Though a quiver of fear lurked in his eyes, it was the same fear one would have while watching thousands of gallons of water cascading over sharp cliffs and forming a roaring pools hundreds of feet below one's own. It was fear formed by respect. But what snagged on her conscience every time a ball had slipped by him was his determination. While the light of excitement still revealed in his gaze, the hard lines of determination would form at his jaw and brow. A determination to do better. To match up to her.

And for her, who loved baseball more than anything, the only course of action was to respond in kind.

With that she pulled up in her stance, the ball firmly tucked into her hand, muscle memory adjusting the seams and grip strength. In one motion she stepped out and whipped the ball over the plate. It flew parallel to the ground as it approached the bottom middle of the zone.

Kuramochi dialed in on the pitch with his full attention. With that way Alexia and Miyuki had been talking, he had no doubt this pitch would be tricky. So when the pitch seemed to enter the bottom middle of the zone his brain faltered as his body reacted to the pitch. And when it drifted to the outside the ridiculously sharp shootball crossed his mind. Instinctively he reached out to the ball.

Which quit falling away.

His over correction caused the ball to pop straight up in the air. It was child's play for Miyuki to stand and wait for the ball to settle itself into his raised mitt. Alexia's happy laughter reached his ears as his mind caught up. The pitch hadn't cut anywhere nears as much as he previous one, which in turn had caused him to pop it up for an easy out. Suppressing his astonishment, he pointed at her with his bat. "You are an asshole," he declared, which only served to make her laughter louder.

Miyuki was speechless as he mentally thanked God that he had let her do as she wanted. It was a tactic he never would have thought to work in a million years. And yet she had done it. A relaxed slider following an insane shootball. And once again her pitch had landed with a precision that was impossible to fake. She had just as much control over the second pitch as she had the first. With this realization a thought, an impossible idea, took root in his mind.

Could she control the angle of the break as well as the placement?

As he watched her laugh more heartily than ever with tears collecting in the corners of her eyes, he couldn't quit his racing mind. All her boasting, her over-confident statements, if he was correct would be more than justified. If she could control every pitch as if it were dancing on a string, then Luke hadn't overestimated her abilities. He had underestimated them. His gut, his every instinct as a catcher were screaming on high alert. As he watched the girl on the mound, he couldn't help reflecting her child-like joy.

Catching for her was going to be the most difficult yet exciting thing he could ever remember.

As he threw the ball back to Alexia, the look that jumped between the two charged the air. Tojo and Kariba were silent, suffocated by awe. Kuramochi rolled his shoulders to shake off the shiver that traced his spine. It no longer felt like practice. The air was as tense and intoxicating as it was during a game. As mild fear of the battery sank in, he set his jaw, determined to get more than five good hits.

He refused to let her win.

~

"I'll take an iced tea."

"Coffee for me."

"You weren't part of the bet, you bastard!"

And this concludes Chapter 11! Thank you to all my readers and especially those that stuck with me through the long wait for this chapter. I apologize. Burn out is a bitch. I love you all. While updates will likely not be very reliable, I am going to try and put out something every month. Please bear with me, I have a lot going on in my life/mind right now.

For those of you who binge read my story until this point, go eat, sleep, shower, whatever it is that you need to do. Take care of yourselves. The next chapter has some big stuff so now is a good pausing point.