My first KHR fic! Spoilers for the TLY arc. TLY!verse. Yamamoto confuses baseball with the events leading to the Tenth's death.

Batter Out

XX

Yamamoto does not usually drink, not in excess anyway. He will make an exception for tonight. Tonight he will drink like a fish, tonight he will drink as much as he wants and for as long as he wants. Tonight is special. Tonight is the beer-topped grand finale of the Tenth's funeral.

'Magnificent in life, magnificent in death,' he remembers one of the mourners saying and yes, the funeral had been magnificent. Though it was a quiet affair, the entire Family trembled under the implications of their loss, their friends wept while their enemies celebrated. and as soon as the sun began to sink they engaged in a frenzied collective drive toward a hazy, alcohol-induced oblivion.

Unlike the cursing Gokudera, or the seething Hibari - whose one moment of cooperation with Mukuro was to disappear for a few days and kill as many people as possible - Yamamoto is the pensive kind of drinker. Alcohol sends his mind spinning back to past memories - real or fake - and idle thoughts.

Right now, he is thinking about baseball.

Strange. The Tenth is gone - Tsuna is gone - they are on the verge of being overrun by Millefiore, and all he can think about is how much he misses his old high school baseball team.

They would have made one heck of a team too - Tsuna and his fellow guardians. Heck, Yamamoto reckons that they could have even gone pro with their line-up.

Tsuna would have been the star player though, he admits. Even if he could not hit a ball or run around the bases without losing his breath, Tsuna would still have been their star, drawing out the best in everyone, giving them the hope and encouragement that they needed just as he had done with the Vongola.

Yes, Tsuna was the star. In a moment of desperation when the odds were against them and the bases were loaded he would step up to the pitch with a smile on his face and pull off a perfect home run. What was a hopeless situation was only a slight chance to him. He could beat Mukuro, he could beat the Varia, he could beat each and every Family that challenged him, he could beat -

He could beat -

Yamamoto cannot remember what he has been thinking about.

Baseball, that was right.

The girls would be cheer leading. Kyoko, Haru, I-pin, maybe even Chrome if Mukuro was standing in for her. To the backdrop of their cheers and desperate shouts they managed to pull through all the way to the ninth inning; they had almost made it too. It was the end of the season, their last game. Just beat this opponent and you can take home the cup they all believed. Just beat them, beat team Byakuran. They had almost made it.

The ninth inning; the odds were not in their favour. A good start had quickly been lost due to the destruction of their rings, Gokudera was on the last base and Ryohei had only just started. Ah, but Tsuna was stepping onto the pitch. It was alright. Tsuna could do it. If anyone could turn the tide it was him - give them a perfect home run.

Strike One

They asked him to go to them alone, weapon less, entreated him all in the name of friendly negotiations. They let him go.

His guardians, who were supposed to support him let him go because, despite their protests, despite their misgivings, it was what Tsuna wanted. It was what he insisted. He wanted to try to talk peacefully. Alone. Weapon less. What was a batter without his bat?

Strike Two

Even the prodigal coach Reborn had not predicted it. Even their pinch hitter, Hibari, could not overturn the massive tide. When Byakuran stepped up to the plate and drew back his good arm, when the guns were raised and the horns blared too early, injured and worn, they could do nothing but stare in horror from the bench.

Strike Three

And that was it, wasn't it?

Batter Out

The ninth inning ended to the applause of gun fire.