Disclaimer: I owned nothing

For Misawa Week Day 5
Prompt: Road trip

AN: Idea from an anon in tumblr! Thanks so, so much for the idea and hope you like this story!

Now then, enjoy! :)

Where a Promise Leads Us

The first time they met was pure coincidence.

He was only seven years old at that time, where he and his father had gotten lost in the streets of America when they were on a vacation they had won from a street fukubiki*.

As they were in a rush to get back to their hotel (before his mother got very worried), his father decided to resort to hitchhiking, hoping they could find some kind souls to take them to their destination. But without any decent knowledge in English, communications were rather difficult with the American drivers and trusts were not easily established for his father to accept any ride despite him being the one calling for one.

However, lady luck seemed to be smiling on them when they managed to finally find a driver they could communicate with because the driver himself was also a Japanese, on a business trip and vacation with his son.

And that was where Eijun first met an eight-year-old Kazuya.

Interest immediately sparked in Eijun when he saw Kazuya silently sitting at the passenger seat behind his father, holding on to a baseball. As he entered the car, the energetic Eijun quickly asked to play baseball with Kazuya even though they only just met.

And of course, since they weren't allowed to play baseball in the car, Eijun began to talk to Kazuya about themselves and baseball. Although it really took some time for Kazuya to stop being awkward and open up to Eijun, Kazuya soon found himself enjoying the conversation and was finally able to talk and laugh with Eijun, with Eijun's father laughing and smiling and occasionally joining in the conversation while Kazuya's father concentrated on the road.

"Daddy, Daddy! Guess what!" an excited Eijun quickly hugged his father as he cheered. "Kazuya said he's a catcher! And he's going to catch for me when he's back in Japan!"

"Really?" Eijun's father grinned widely upon seeing the ecstatic face of his son and ruffled his hair. "That's great! So, Kazuya, when will you and your father be back in Japan?"

However, upon that question, Kazuya immediately frowned and then took a quick glance towards his father driving in front of him.

"I…don't know. Father said we would be here for quite a while, so…"

"A while?" Eijun asked as he confusedly looked at Kazuya. "You mean it's going to be very long?"

"…Yeah…" Kazuya murmured as he lowered his head to look at the hands on his lap, unable to meet Eijun's eyes and quickly regretted making that promise to Eijun to catch his pitches.

"But you will be back home sooner or later right?"

"…Yeah, I guess…"

"Then it's okay!" Eijun cheered loudly again, surprising Kazuya with his big smile on his face. "We'll play when you're back in Japan, no matter how late you will be! I'll wait for Kazuya then!"

Kazuya widened his eyes upon hearing those words, watching silently as Eijun hopped down from his father's lap and went to sit beside Kazuya.

"So come find me when you're back in Japan and I'll play baseball with you anytime! So catch for me, Kazuya!"

And Kazuya was dumbfounded again by those words and wide smile on Eijun's face, to the point that he didn't realize that Eijun had already raised his pinky finger in front of him.

"It's a promise okay, Kazuya?"

And before he even realized what he was doing, Kazuya had joined his pinky fingers with the seven-year-old boy.

"It's a promise!"

**LINE BREAK**

"Going pro with that body? You can't be serious!"

Miyuki jerked as he woke up, mentally cursing to himself for falling asleep during practice. Oh well, it seems that no one has realized it…

"Look at that belly! Is he an old man? Dahahahahaha!"

Although it seemed that Miyuki needed to thank whoever that loud-mouthed was for waking him up before he was caught.

"No matter how I see he's at least forty years old right! Is he really a high school student?"

Picking a fight with Azuma-senpai? Someone's got a death wish huh… Out of curiosity, Miyuki decided to take a look at the loud-mouthed culprit that woke him up.

"You can't play baseball by yourself."

And Miyuki swore that his eyes were about to bulge out when he saw who that person was.

"Has this prestigious school made you forget something this important?!"

"It's a promise!"

Once again, before he even realized what he was doing, a smile was adorned on Miyuki's face as he spun the baseball he had in his hand on his fingertips.

"Well this is interesting," there was no way Miyuki was missing out on this. "Rei-chan, is it okay if I catch his pitches?"

And Miyuki smirked upon the surprise expression from Sawamura. He then soon found out that Sawamura didn't seem to recognize him when he heard the pitcher asking the assistant director about his identity.

But that didn't seem to dampen his spirit at all. In fact, that seemed to fire up Miyuki even more and the grin on his face continued to widen.

Time to fulfill that promise, Eijun.

The End

*Fukubiki – A Japanese game of luck where an attendant turns the handle on the octagonal fukubiki box, which spins around the various colored balls within until one of them pops out through a hole at the side of the box.
(Warning: Don't google search this word – gives you weird and unpleasant search results which I STRONGLY encourage not to see.)

And that's for Misawa Week day 5!

Reviews will be very much appreciated! :D

Happy Misawa Week!

Regards,
Ink-chan