My first new story in a while and it's a new genre fanfiction! I've always loved Ace of Diamonds and when trying to draw the doujinshi version of this didn't go so well, I decided I'd write it down. I've been working on it for a year now, but there's no better way to start off 2016. Enjoy!

One More Strike: We Will Not Forget

Chapter 1:Two Outs

SAWAMURA

"ONE OUT!" The crowd roared over and over, the floor vibrating with their cheers and noise.

Sawamura stared down the long channel to his opponent, eyes sharp. The man was a big guy, tough-looking, but had missed every one of his fastball pitches. He could hit his crossfire and his outside corner. He was the last one left.

Miyuki's eyes caught his, a faint smile on his lips as he crouched to the inside. Miyuki wasn't one to be over confident on the field, and just that inkling of a smile made Sawamura's own confidence sky rocket. "ONE OUTS!" He yelled, allowing the crowd to give a thundering response. The energy raced through the stadium and straight into him. Nothing could break the way he was feeling.

At the hush of the crowd, Sawamura rose on his leg, the ball buried in his glove.

The coach's words came back to him:

"Sawamura!" The Coach yelled just as the team was leaving the dugout. Sawamura turned and blinked. Coach held his palm outspread, five digits in line with his palm. 'That's how many pitches you get.' He said.

Sawamura stared at him, a grin pulling on his face. Nori-san had pitched the first two, and now they were on the seventh inning. Furuya was still on his one inning injury limit and would pitch the last and close the game. It was Sawamura's duty to make sure to pass on that baton. He wouldn't let him down.

'Yes, Boss!' Sawamura saluted and stormed onto the mound with a roaring heart as the responsibility sat on his shoulders.

Back on the mound, facing down the batter, stood so close to the batting box and grinning into stupor, Sawamura felt a tremor through his shoulders, reminding himself of that weight. There were two people on base. He would not let anyone score. He was going for a strike out and he would follow his first strike through.

His feelings rose in his chest and Sawamura felt his familiar mantra run through his head. His body began to move, the momentum building in his core as his body began to turn and his speed began to raise, his foot slamming against the dirt of the mound, his body twisting like a releasing coil, his arm coming like a whip over his shoulder, the ball leaving his fingertips.

The ball rushed through the air at his fastest speed yet, the batter smirked and swung but he swung too high, still unable to adjust to Sawamura's fastball. But at the same time, his bat wasn't high enough as it clipped the corner, the wood echoing with a solid crack at the force of the batter's swing, the ball ricocheting off the bat, flying straight north. Straight back towards the mound.

Sawamura's body pulled back just to see a flash of white before everything went dark.

MIYUKI

Sound became silence, everything went still and every person stared as Miyuki watched his pitcher crumble to the ground. The ball rolled towards the third base but nobody moved. Nobody dared. It felt as if ice water was doused over his head as he stared wide-eyed at the mute, unmoving uniform laid over the mound. Miyuki was sure his heart had stopped, sure his brain wouldn't work. Shock consumed him from head to toe, attacking every sense with a dull numbness that allowed the panic in his veins to surge undetected. It didn't remain that way for long.

"SAWAMURA!" Kuramochi roared, his body tearing across the field faster than light as he rushed straight towards him.

Miyuki found himself running before he even realised it. He shoved the batter aside, not wasting precious time going around him as his brain jerked to life. The last few seconds rushed through his mind on repeat.

He knew the trajectory of that ball the second it hit the bat, saw it in slow motion as it spun through the air and cracked against Sawamura's skull. Now it laid beside him, the main object in the game ignored.

Miyuki heard various shouts and whistles being blown around him but he didn't listen as he rushed to the pitcher's mound. He felt the presence of the Coach race up beside him as he skidded to a stop. Kuramochi leaned over Sawamura, and Haruichi hovering near.

"I'm fine." Sawamura grumbled in that annoying whiny voice and a huge relief hit Miyuki like a tidal wave.

Kuramochi leaned back on the balls of his feet, revealing Sawamura's brown eyes staring up at him. He blinked over and over, his eyes dilated slightly. Kuramochi frowned but as Miyuki saw the relief trickle into the short stop's face, his frown faded.

"MIYUKI!"

Miyuki spun at a loud roaring shout. He turned to the benches and saw all the seniors pressed against the bars their faces full of concern, question burning in their eyes.

"I'M FINE BEARD-SENPAI!" Sawamura answered back, waving his hand over his head, his body swaying with it.

Even from a distance, you could see his shoulders droop in relief. "STUPID SAWAMURA!" Jun yelled making Sawamura grumble.

Komachi helped Sawamura up from his ass and let him dust himself off. He looked up at his team mates in a circle around him, some watching him critically, others just plain staring. "You're okay?" Miyuki asked, looking at his pitcher.

Sawamura was eyeing his hat on the ground and after a minute hesitation, he reached down and picked it up in a smooth, slow motion before sitting it on his head. His trade-mark stupid grin came out on his face as the battery pair faced each other. "I'm A-okay!" Sawamura gave him a thumbs up before passing the same gesture to the rest of his team mates.

His teammates stood back a step in relief, allowing themselves to come out of the tension that had tied tight around them as soon as that ball had started its path.

Miyuki, however, didn't feel the same effects. That cord around his emotions loosened, but it wasn't completely gone. Miyuki felt his heart brush the edges of it, each beat reminding himself it was still there, restraining him from the full relief.

But why? Eijun was fine so why was he still concerned? It wouldn't be like him to hide an injury. He was trained by Chris-senpai for Christ's sake; he wouldn't lie; he knew not to. So what was that nagging feeling at the back of his mind?

"I didn't know you were so concerned about me, Miyuki?" Sawamura grinned, pulling Miyuki out of his thoughts with that stupid smug smile on his face.

Miyuki scowled, irritated by the mocking of his concern. "You're right." Miyuki grinned. "I was worried the ball may have knocked some smarts into you. Apparently not." With that, the catcher turned and walked away, leaving Sawamura to mumble his retorts in vain.

Half-way back, he overheard the coach debating whether or not to pull Sawamura back to the dug-out, and of course, Sawamura's protests were loud and clear. "There's only one pitch left!"

"I'll do it." Furuya clipped in, explaining the heightening of Eijun's next words.

"You're injured." Sawamura retorted, the smugness in his voice crystal clear. "Coach, I'm fine! The ball just grazed me and I fell dodging it. I was all swoosh and woosh" -whatever that meant- "like a ninja. See? I'm perfectly fine. I can pitch." Miyuki imagined Sawamura holding the Coach's gaze and when he heard the next sigh, he knew Sawamura had convinced him.

The coach didn't say anything else and stalked past Miyuki up to the umpire and began talking. Miyuki settled himself back behind the batting plate and crouched.

The umpire blew his whistle, calling the ball out as a foul, racking up the strike count to two outs. Only one more pitch and this inning was over.

Only one more.

Miyuki didn't understand where his anxiety was coming from. He wanted this inning over and he wanted it over now.

Unfortunately, life didn't work that way and Miyuki heard a second whistle blown.

SAWAMURA

One more.

His entire being was held up by that single thread of thought. Even as the pain at the side of his skull roared loud inside his mind. A constant ringing bounced back and forth through his skull. The red hot waves of throbbing not only affected his head, but rippled all across his entire body. His knees wanted to give out, his arms to fall, his back to collapse. Everything in him wanted to give up.

One more strike.

Who knows? Maybe Sawamura really was as simple minded as everyone made out. He sure as hell had to have been as stubborn as everyone made him out to be. There was no other explanation for how he was able to stand.

But maybe it wasn't the only thing, because as he stood on the mound; the very centre of every baseball game, the beginning of every inning, the end of every run; he felt a surge of power. That energy of the pitcher inside of him drawing strength from the ground beneath his feet, from his purpose. He was pitcher. He had a job to do.

The Coach's words flashed through his head again. He wouldn't let them down.

Just. One. More. Strike.

Sawamura didn't know how long he had been standing still, but a sense of silence overcame everything. His hand squeezed the ball beneath his fingers, his chin rising. He looked down the barrel of the batter, saw his eyes darken, his hands squeeze. Then he looked past, at the faint blur of Miyuki holding his unwavering glove on the inside. Fastball.

Clarity took hold of Sawamura's conciousness with the last inch of fight he had in him.

His leg rose high, his body coiling, arm winding back in his glove. He looked straight.

He fired.

He didn't remember moving, but he felt the brush of the ball leave his fingertips and the echoing sound of the catcher's glove.

"STRIKE! BATTER OUT!"

MIYUKI

The whistle blew and Miyuki's heart throbbed. That lasso of tension around his heart loosened that little bit more.

He can still pitch.

Miyuki sighed, shaking his head. A smirk played on his lips as he looked into the ball in his glove, that tingling of force echoing even deeper into his skin. Every bit of force was thrown into that ball, and now the team reaped the fruits.

"SAWAMURA! SAWAMURA!" The crowd yelled and whistled and hooted in cheer. Everyone from the field came running to the pitchers mound, tossing Eijun into hug after hug. They slapped his back, ruffled the top of his hat and plain hugged him as they began to change over at the second sound of the whistle.

It wasn't normal for everyone to be so excited about Sawamura closing the inning. He had shut out several innings in the past. But perhaps, it was just the left over tension from earlier.

Miyuki felt his heart do that little scrape of those wires constricting the muscle and stuttered in his walk to join the fielders heading to the dug out. He shook it off.

Sawamura's back came into vision as he jogged towards the dug out. The fielders behind him passed him easily with slaps on the back and shouted praise as they put distance between them.

Miyuki patted his shoulder as he passed.

Sawamura held his head down, his hands tight in a ball as he jogged. No doubt keeping the excitement in only to shout his head off as soon as they got to the dug out. Then again, he had been rather quiet since that hazard ball.

A murmur caught Miyuki's attention. When he realised it was from Sawamura, he hesitated to catch up with the rest of the team. His head turned over his shoulder, eyes staring at his pitcher's shadowed face. "Sawamura?"

"Sorry." He whispered.

"Sorry?" Miyuki's heart did that little jump in his chest, the lasso tightening. "Eijun?"

"I wanted..." His jog dropped down into a walk, as the whole world disappeared into white noise. Miyuki's head did a quick check to the dug out. He saw the Coach stood stiff as a board, his eyes locked on Sawamura. "to pitch...some more."

The Coach's eyes widen as he stormed one step from the dug out. Miyuki whipped around and froze.

Sawamura dropped to his knees. "Sor..." He didn't finish as his body fell forwards onto the grass.

He didn't move.

Miyuki felt that lasso force his heart to stop as he just stared at his unmoving figure. The whole stadium seemed to fall with silence just like before.

Except this time was far worse.

"SAWAMURA!"