Normally I'd leave the accent in, but as the Kyoto dialect is supposed to be more proper than the Kanto one, and this story is only focused on people in the former, I'm going to leave the type without the normal edits I put for the accent.

The Baseball Detective

Shizuka sighed. Heiji had skipped school again, going far enough to have gotten on a bus and followed his father to work. He was far too interested in all the stories she had told him of his father. Maybe she had embellished them more than she should have, but Heiji was always so interested.

That didn't mean he could just skip school. She was open minded enough to let him do whatever it was he wanted in life, but that didn't mean that only some rules had to be followed.

He was so devoted to kendo and it's teachings that she couldn't understand how he'd wanted to skip that as well.

Having him sit across from her right now, she waited for some type of explanation to his actions. Even at ten, Heiji was a smart boy- too smart in some aspects. She knew he knew better, and the weak excuse of him wanting to see his father at work was not going to get him far.

"Heiji, you've never lied to me before. Please, just tell me what's wrong?"

Heiji shook his head and just stayed there, looking down at the floor. Normally that would have been enough for her after a time, but he showed no sense of guilt about the matter. There was a spark in his eyes, some defiance that he normally walked around with in any case.

"You're not a bad child, I know that. Even Kazuha-chan has asked about you. You used to play with her all the time. Your teachers and I are worried about you too. Don't you want to get good grades in school? And you know your sensei isn't happy that you missed one of his classes. "

"Not like he would have been happy anyway," she heard her son murmur under his breath. Sighing, Shizuka stood.

"You're going to stay there until you apologize for skipping your classes and, if you haven't done so by tonight, you'll go to bed without dinner as well."

Heiji nodded, though he still had not met her eyes. Shizuka didn't often have to punish him, and when she did it was usually over him breaking something that could easily be fixed. She left him there, knowing she was missing a part of the story from her son. If he refused to tell her though, that was his own purgative.

Later that night, when she went downstairs to check on him, she found he was gone. Going up to his bedroom, she discovered him curled under the blankets. She reached over his sleeping form, loosening the tight fists that had a strangle hold on the sheets.

Shizuka ran her fingers over Heiji's cheek, the dark skin such a contrast to her and her husband's that sometimes she wondered how genetics could have made such a thing possible. Even his eyes were neither of theirs, a green tint to them that she knew her own parents hadn't had. They likely came from his father's side. She was sure that was where Heiji got his dark, almost black, hair color.

"Heiji, what am I going to do with you? You're such a good boy most of the time. You should learn to talk to me."

Backing up, Shizuka left her son to his dreams. She'd personally make sure he got to school tomorrow. Good-natured or not, he couldn't slack off in his education or training.

…

…

Heiji tried not to meet anyone's eye when he took his seat in class the next day. They were all looking at him, most with fear, as if he were some type of monster. Maybe he was. At this point he didn't care. He felt like one.

The teacher came in and even she paused to see that he had joined the class, her stare seeming to take forever to shift to the class as a whole as she merrily went on to talk about the morning announcements and start their first class.

Heiji huffed and turned away, looking out the window. The sky was so bright today, the clouds flocking away from it so it could flaunt itself to their world. If the temperature had been a little cooler, maybe that would have been a good thing. As it was, Heiji was pulling at his collar, feeling sweat start to bead around his neck.

Kazuha normally would have sat with him, but he knew she was home with a summer cold. It was part of the reason he hadn't wanted to come back. As much as he yelled at them that it wasn't his fault, it only made them more scared of him. Kazuha would have been able to get things back to normal in a second.

The rest of the day passed slowly, one of the boys from class looking like he would come up and talk to him at lunch, only to have another drag him away.

"Don't talk to him. What if you get him mad? You might wind up in the hospital too."

Heiji knew he had better hearing than most but that wasn't whispered quietly at all. He was sure even the person next to him had caught what was said, since he saw her scoot a few inches away from him.

Clenching his fist and destroying the loaf of bread he had in his lunch, he ignored them, knowing he needed to finish his food, trying very hard to resist the urge to just leave class. It wasn't like any of them understood, and he felt bad enough as it was.

What choice had he had though? He had been on his way to school a few days ago and he'd seen a man running from the cops. Size-wise, Heiji knew he wasn't big enough to stand up to anyone, so he relied on his skill. He wanted to stop the man just like his dad always did. He'd grabbed the nearest object within reach, which had been a rake nearby. He hadn't meant to hit the guy so hard in the leg that he broke his shin. It wasn't all his fault. He'd done a good thing, the man had been running from a bank robbery. He hadn't meant to put him in the hospital.

Heiji sighed, sitting through several classes in the same manner, if not a different reaction from each teacher, getting up when the bell rang for the end of the school day hours later. He hadn't told his mom or his dad, worried that he'd gone about things the wrong way, even though his mind saw no other options. The police that had arrived hadn't identified him as he, and a few other kids that went to school here, had run off. As far as he knew, only the school could rat him out, and that would happen sooner or later.

Heiji took the long way home, walking along the fields that lined the school yard, going down even further past houses he'd never seen before. He'd never had any reason to go home this way. He knew he had time before he had to go to practice, and he'd rather be walking around than waiting to see what his mom could get out of him.

The man in pain and screaming bothered him. It echoed in his brain. He didn't want to think about that part, but when there was nothing to do but look at trees and put one foot in front of the other, it was hard. He'd been sworn, cursed at, and threatened, which put no real fear into him, since the man didn't know him. That didn't stop the words from repeating with the screams now and then.

Heiji was distracted enough that he hadn't noticed that he'd started walking too close to the river and, when a biker yelled from behind him to move out of the way, he slipped and fell into the water.

Sputtering, Heiji, pushed to the top of the low flowing river, feeling his feet grazing the bottom. He wiped his eyes, pushing his wet hair out of his face before swimming over to the grass and pulling himself back on dry land. He heard some kids laughing as they walked down the main path. If they didn't all look like they had a few years on him, he was sure he could take them. "Shut up."

That made the kids laugh louder and Heiji sauntered off as best he could, red faced and soaking wet as he was.

After a few minutes he heard footsteps behind him and some guy came up to him, clearly of high school age.

"Hold on, kid. It's warm out but you should take your shoes off and dry out your socks. You'll get blisters. Here." The guy went down on a knee and started wringing out his shirt. "I'm sure you're parents don't want their house all wet anyway."

Heiji eyed the guy. He had dark hair, glasses, and a cap on. Heiji was pretty sure he'd never seen him before. High schoolers didn't usually bother with primary students unless it was to tease them, so he was adamant about trusting him, and still a little ticked off still at that biker.

"I can take care of myself." Heiji pushed him off his clothes, taking a step back. If anything he needed to dry out his books in his pack, but not here in front of the world.

The other guy just smiled at him as Heiji walked away. "Are you really that weak that you can't even face me when I'm only trying to help you?"

Heiji ignored him, continuing on. That really ticked him off though. He wasn't weak. He might even be able to kick this guy's butt if he wanted.

It didn't take a genius to know the guy was still following him. He sped up, seeing the guy speed up, before just taking off. Heiji knew he was a fast runner. The fact that he was wet would be the only thing dragging him down, and for someone with longer legs, he knew that was a lost cause.

On the streets again he ran faster, taking turns that were getting him more lost than he'd ever been before. He wasn't afraid, sure he could find his way home. He ran until he couldn't run any longer, dropping his bag near the back fence of an apartment and breathing heavily. He looked back, smiling to himself when he noticed that, somehow, he'd lost the guy.

It didn't take him long to hear footsteps come around the corner where he was, watching the teenager hold onto the wall and breathing quickly as well.

Both kids caught their breath for the first minute, any words either wanted to say to each other lost to their lack of being able to coherently speak them.

"Why'd you follow me?" Heiji snapped, grabbing up his bag again. "Are you some kind of stalker?"

"So you're not foreign. I wasn't sure, but your Japanese is perfect. And I followed you because you're a kid. You're mostly dry now, sure, but it looked like you were being teased. As your elder," the teen said with the most self righteous attitude he'd ever heard. "It falls to me to make sure you're alright."

Heiji's lip turned up in a scowl. "I was not being teased, and I do not need your help so just leave me alone!"

Without thinking he reached down, picking up a stick and wielding it like his wooden sword. "If you don't think I can take care of myself than just try me!"

Heiji smirked when the teen just stood there, looking him over, before walking away. Satisfied he'd made his point, Heiji went to discard the stick when something hit him in the back of the head.

He turned, rubbing the area before seeing that the guy had come back with a handful of stones. He was able to see the next one coming this time as it was whipped at him, hitting him in the forehead.

"Ow, hey. Knock it off."

"I thought you said that you could defend yourself. What, these little pebbles hurt? And here I thought you were serious."

Heiji huffed, moving the stick in front of him like during practice. Even watching, it was near impossible to stop the next stone hitting him in the shoulder. Another hit him in the head again after, and one came really close to his left eye.

Worried, he took a step back, trying to get some distance to better defend himself. The guy didn't step forward so Heiji took that as consent in their weird kind of duel that it was okay.

Stone after stone hit him. He wasn't sure how the guy kept from hitting the stick itself at all, and cursed when a few hit his hand because he couldn't move quickly enough. Finally, either through luck or talent or both, he heard the tiny thunk of the stone meeting wood and then the patter as it fell to the floor.

Heiji grinned, knowing that this guy probably hadn't expected him to be able to defend against such tiny objects. Instead though, his grin was met with a steady look neither of approval nor disapproval, before more stones were thrown at him.

"Hey, come on. I blocked one already!"

"One," his tormentor replied. "How many more hit you?"

Heiji, not liking to concede to that, fell back in a defensive stance. Only half as many hit him this time before he was able to stop another one, and less so to block a third and forth as well.

Out of breath and bruised in more places than he could count, Heiji let out a relieved breath when the guy neither threw more stones or went to pick up any more.

Instead of looking defeated though, the teen walked over to him with a grin, putting a hand on his shoulder and leading the way.

"Say, you don't have anywhere you need to go right this second, do you?"

He did, but Heiji wasn't sure he wanted to admit to it. He was confused and more curious than a cat of what all of this was supposed to mean. He had thought the guy was hazing him or something, but the other half of the time he was cordial enough that he couldn't be sure.

The guy took his silence as a no and kept leading him back the way he had come. "Good. You know, you don't really seem the social type. What's your problem anyway? The only time you've talked to me is when you were yelling at me."

"That's your fault," Heiji defended. "I said I didn't need your help and then you wouldn't leave me alone."

"At least I'm not a snot nosed brat. The way you stand, you've been trained. That's pretty cool. I'm sure the primary school not having classes after school for that hasn't given you time to show off your skills to your friends. You're not half bad."

"What friends?" Heiji growled under his breath, not meaning to have said anything. "The only thing I'm good with is puzzles."

"Puzzles?"

Heiji shrugged. "Kind of. Most of the time it's more like written out ones. My Japanese teacher likes to give them to me. It's fun. I read a lot of books too, and with training and schoolwork, there's not much time to do anything else."

"Make time then. You're a kid. Jeez, you sound more like my dad. Lighten up. When you get to junior high I promise it'll get easier. High school is the best though."

Heiji bristled at the comment but couldn't find any words to defend himself with. He was only ten, what did the guy expect? That he was some wild hooligan running around town during his free time?

Once he started to hear the quiet murmuring of a lot of voices all at once, Heiji started to wonder where they were going. The buildings disappeared and they walked out onto a field, a baseball diamond in the distance with more than two-dozen people wandering around.

"We're short a few players because of a flu that's going around. Want to play?"

Heiji shook his head. He was good at sports in school, to the point where usually everyone wanted him on their team, but all the guys there looked even older than the one he'd been talking to.

"I can't. This looks like a high school baseball game. I heard those were really tough."

"They are, but a weak player is better than no player. You're fast so I'm sure that wont' be an issue. And you were getting pretty good at hitting those stones. Why not give it a try? Unless your scared."

Heiji didn't want to admit that he was, and this guy just coming and assuming he could play when everyone was so much older and taller than him was unfair to begin with.

"It's a practice game," the guy added on. "If you do badly, the team won't worry. Come on and meet the guys."

Heiji had no other option than to be led forward, the guy gripping his shoulder as he hesitated, his footsteps an uneven mess between the warring feelings of fear and wanting to prove himself.

The teen led him to one side of the field where all the players were wearing white uniforms with red sleeves. They were all laughing and at ease, two of them on the ground and playing what looked like a game of roshambo.

"Guys this is…" The black haired teen next to him looked down. "Jeez, I never got your name."

"Heiji," Heiji answered, not sure if he wanted to give his family name away. He'd been treated different on occasion because of it, most of the kids afraid he would get them arrested for any super small thing he saw because of his dad's position.

"Everyone, this Is Heiji. Since we're short a few players today, he's going to help us."

Heiji was pushed forward near another guy, much taller and looking like he was in his last year of high school. He bent down to his height and Heiji would have backed up if that first guy weren't still there.

"Hello, Hei-chan. I'm Umitake Norio. Nice to have you on board." The taller guy stood, tipping his head. "Takamichi, you haven't been scaring the kid, have you? He looks like he thinks I'm going to bite him. Listen, Hei-chan, if you don't want to play you don't have to. You're really young for something like this."

Heiji wasn't sure if he was angrier at the nickname or the fact that another person had said he was scared of doing something. Stomping his foot down he looked up to meet the guys eyes. "I'm not scared!"

"Good. Here." The teen behind him placed the hat he had been wearing on his head. It was slightly too big for him and Heiji had to move it so the brim was behind him and wasn't blinding him. "That's for when you're in the outfield. I have an extra one, you can keep it."

"Thanks… I guess." Heiji still didn't understand why they were so open to having him no their team. Practice or not, he was sure the outcome of a baseball game in high school was looked at by teams.

Taking off his shirt in the confines of a nearby area, Takamichi-niisan gave him a new shirt, one that matched the others, before the teen changed his own clothes and both of them headed back to the field.

Since all the other members just waved to him, greeting him by that new nickname he seemed to have picked up among them, he wasn't about to bow out because of his own fear.

Heiji watched the other team practice on the field first. Sure he'd played baseball a few times in class, but it had never played in these types of conditions. The pitches were so fast and there seemed to be a lot of strength needed to hit the ball. Looking at his own hands and arms, Heiji thought they looked small for all the hours he'd put into kendo. He wasn't sure for the dozenth time that this was such a good idea.

And then the team he seemed to be on went out to practice. Heiji stayed back, running after the balls when they were hit. It took him a while but, after watching the pitcher, batter, and catcher, he was able to have a fairly good guess at where the ball would be going fast enough to get ahead of it.

Takamichi-niisan, whatever his first name was, was always near him. Heiji didn't know why. He caught on that the other guy could get some of the balls that he'd never have a chance at. With a step in the right direction, Heiji could stay put and the other guy could catch the motion out of the corner of his eye and go after the pitches. It was kind of fun, like chess only a lot more active. Sometimes he was wrong though. Sometimes the wind caught it or he mistook where that bat would make contact.

Everyone stopped, switching places. Heiji had been worried about this part. If he couldn't hit the ball, what good was he?

"Don't worry so much." Takamichi-niisan switched his hat for a helmet. That didn't put him at ease at all. Pushed to the plate, Heiji messed with his hold on the bat for a while, seeing how the others had held it. It was surprisingly lighter than his sword.

Facing forward with a grip he thought he liked, Heiji nodded to the pitcher. He saw the pitch, saw the ball coming, and winced back.

"Ball. Haruka, remember, he's got a smaller strike zone!" Takamichi-niisan nodded from the side area. "Hei-chan, you're not afraid of the ball, are you? I guess for someone who's scared of some tiny stones, a baseball is bigger."

Heiji's hands tightened on the bat and he took up his position again. Why was everyone saying he was afraid? He was here, right? He hadn't run away. He was not scared.

Heiji swung at the next pitch, having a hard time judging the speed, since it was a lot faster than he was used to. Still, the sound of the ball ricocheting off the bat made him smile. He stepped aside, handing the bat to the Takamichi. "I told you I wasn't scared."

"You haven't chickened out yet," the teen conceded. To Heiji, it didn't feel like a win any more than when he'd hit the stone. He hadn't impressed the guy at all, and he was making it a point to show how unremarkable he was. It made his blood boil.

Heiji went and put the cap from earlier back on, squinting in the hot sun and realizing the rest of his clothes had completely dried and he was only now feeling how very warm out today was.

"Stop doing that." Takamichi-niisan came up to him as they went back to their area, an umpire and more than a few audience members trickling in to watch the game. Flipping the cap forward again, Heiji had to move it to get it out of his eyes.

"But I can't see with it this way."

"And you won't see anything coming with it the other way. Anyone ever tell you not to stare at the sun? Here, wait a minute." The guy went behind him, fixing the strap on the cap as well as he could. It was still slightly too big for him but much better than it had been by the time he was done. The teen flicked the brim down anyway though. "This is how you win games. You can wear it backwards when we're practicing, but that's it. Once the game starts you need it forward again."

"Okay, thanks." Heiji fixed the hat on his head better, grinning. It really was a lot easier to see with it forward.

When the game started, Heiji hung back. They were the first team at bat so there wasn't much he had to do. When one of the team members he hadn't been introduced to grabbed his arm and made him third at bat, he wasn't the only one who looked surprised.

"What is this, some kind of joke?" the opposing teams pitcher demanded.

Takamichi-niisan went over to the umpired and spoke to him for a few second before the man nodded to Heiji and the pitcher. "Play ball!"

The pitcher spit, eyeing Heiji like he was gum on the bottom of his shoe. That made Heiji really, really, mad. He was so sick of being teased today. Even this game felt like a real big joke and he had to agree with the attitude of the other team. If that distain weren't aimed at him, he likely would have agreed anyway.

Heiji wasn't focusing much when the first pitch was thrown, almost faster than he was able to see. He took the strike, getting ready for the second pitch. He wasn't sure if the pitcher would throw a different type of ball, or the same one because he didn't think Heiji could hit it. With the speed of the pitches, Heiji was left to guess.

And to more than his surprise, he guessed right. The sound of the ball hitting the bat and slight sting of the from the force behind it had him grinning. He took off, running to first base and he stayed where he was, crouched, defiant, waiting for the next batter to hit the ball, and very consciously trying to ignore how much the helmet was blocking his vision.

The game went on, slowly. Their team only scored one point, and it hadn't been by him. Heiji'd been tagged on his move to third base after the pitch was caught. Playing outfield, Heiji was much happier with the cap. The helmet couldn't be readjusted as much.

He'd noticed Takamichi-niisan took up a spot near him and he smiled, playing their little game from earlier. It was harder with more players and faster pitches, but Heiji could still usually tell where it was going to go. Playing, he was surprised how engrossed in the game he became. He wanted to win, and he wanted to win badly. He wanted to show his team, yes his team, and the opposing team, that they couldn't just count him out.

The opposing team didn't score that inning and Heiji felt relief, as he was able to rest before the next one. This game was longer and more challenging than he thought it could be. It wasn't nearly as strength-focused as kendo but… Kendo. Darn it, he skipped his class again. He could already hear his stomach growling. There was nothing to be done about it now. He'd just eat a big breakfast.

Inning after inning went by. Heiji was stuck out the next time he went to bat but, as he watched, so were a lot of the others. No one seemed mad at any of the others when they failed, and Heiji even got a few claps on the back and congratulated for trying.

On the field everything was different. Everyone was so serious and did everything they could to make sure that no more points were made. It was… strangely comforting. They could do their job, take the game seriously, but everyone was still nice about it. Sure it was probably because they didn't really know him, but it made him smile nonetheless.

Oh crud, Heiji thought the next time he was sitting on the sidelines, waiting to bat. Kazuha was going to wonder why he didn't come over again. She'd hounded him on the phone yesterday, even though she was sick, that he'd better come over after practice. This was kind of practice. Maybe that would count. But then, maybe his mom might tell her dad that he was grounded or something for ditching kendo.

"Head in the game." Takamichi lightly knocked him on the arm and Heiji turned towards him. "Even if we're not playing, you should always watch your opponents. You might notice quirks or pains that you wouldn't otherwise. If you're going to be in your head, at least get your head where it belongs. Right, baseball detective? I've seen you read the others. I'm sure you have a good gauge of your abilities too. You've got the strength, the speed, and that puzzling mind of yours all going for you. Put it to use."

Heiji nodded, looking back at the field. He couldn't be a cop yet, not like his dad, but how about a detective? That sounded a lot cooler. For now, he'd keep it to reading baseball games. Heiji grinned. He'd be the first baseball detective then, and he'd make sure no one could get the better of him. He'd play more, get used to it, or just watch games. Once dad noticed how good he was, maybe then he'd stop treating him like such a kid. Maybe he could find real cases for himself.

Heiji was completely absorbed in the game after that. As the innings went on, he was able to pass on which pitches the opponents pitcher was better at throwing, and how likely he'd be to throw one over the other. He was able to follow the ball, figure out what players were better at hitting what pitches, and tell them when to go to bat. He even organized the field positions when it was their turn in the outfield.

The game ended with a score of ten to eight and Heiji cheered with the rest of them, yelping when someone grabbed him from behind. He was lifted with the help of the others into the air and onto Takamichi-niisan's shoulders.

Heiji smiled, lifting his arms into the air before having to hold on again as the guys below him started nudging each other good-naturedly. It was a long while before he was put down and the other guys started to calm after their practice victory, most of them branching off into groups of two to talk about certain plays or ways they needed to improve.

It wasn't until he heard the footsteps right behind him that Heiji saw four guys from his class. He took a step back from them, not sure what they wanted, and trusting the high schoolers far more at this point.

"Hattori-kun that was so awesome! Why were you playing with the high school kids? Is one of them you're brother or something?"

"Hattori, man, you were amazing! I've never seen someone our age play with the high schoolers before! You're so good. I'm jealous! Teach me how to play too!"

A few other questions or congratulations were thrown his way and Heiji found himself going from confused to happy, quickly answering what he could, laughing, or joining in with any side conversations they started.

"Where'd you get this hat? I've never seen one like this before." One of the kids reached up to touch the cap and Heiji took it off. He'd never gotten a good look at it on Takamichi-niisan before. It looked like it had some team name he'd never heard of embroidered on it.

"It was a gift." Now that he didn't need the sun blocking his eyes, Heiji turned the hat around, grinning more. "So how about we play tomorrow? If we can get a bunch more people we can even make a team."

"That'd be awesome! I know my brother would like to play, but he's a little younger."

"Bring anyone," Heiji granted, nodding. "Age doesn't matter now, does it?"

…

Otaki watched from nearby. The chief had been worried about his son. Apparently he'd been skipping out on class and kendo practice, so he'd been ordered to follow him and see where he was going.

The officer shook his head and smiled, calling the chief. Seeing all these kids play baseball brought back some great memories.

Without meaning to, the officer picked up the name he'd heard the kids shouting after the chief's son had caught a fly ball. "Don't worry sir, Hei-chan is just fine."