01 ~ When You Wish Upon a Tree
[Hayato Kamitani]

"Daydreams were dangerous, because they made her wish for things she could never have."

~~~~~✿~~~~~

This story takes place during the summer break for the high schoolers. More specifically this story takes place on July 7th, during the celebration of Tanabata Festival.

(A/N:  Tanabata is a festival that celebrates a pair of lovers reuniting with each other on July 7th, every year after being separated by the Milky Way.)

The whole school was preparing vigorously for the annual celebration that their school was hosting. All clubs and after school activities, were in their own ways, showing their enthusiasm for the small frivolous holiday. Even the Babysitters Club, who was actually in the middle of decorating there room, very early in the morning before school began.

Currently in the infamous daycare were the two main members of the club, Usaida Yoshihito and Kashima Ryuuichi. Both of which were hand making their decorations, due to Usaida's request. All was well, and soon the decorations would be done and up before all the children would arrive, but the sudden rush of footsteps ceased both male's actions.

Curious as to hear who was coming this early in the morning too, the two looked over to the door of the club, only to see a shadowy figure stand on the other side. The figure had long hair, and was small in stature, confining to the two that it was a girl; a female student to be more specific. And suddenly as the revelation was made, the door to the room was slammed open, causing all the inhabitants to jump slightly as the door ricocheted off the wall.

There on the other side of the now opened door stood an all to familiar person to the babysitter's club. Hoshi Sakura, the only female member of the newly reformed club, and the only one that was known for being late to every event. And there she stood, standing about 5'4" with no shoes on, long blonde hair cascading down her back in a rushed mess. Her bright dark purple eyes, wide and glimmering with mischief as they darted around the room taking in everything and everyone that was there. Out of breath from her obvious running, but her ever-so-present smile was still lingering on her face, making the boys smile in return at the infectious tendency that it always caused.

But today something was different, aside from the fact that she arrived on time to the morning activities--early even--but something was definitely off. And maybe it had something to do with the potted tree that she was dragging around behind her in a red wagon, and that sight was a real eyebrow raiser to the two.

"S-Sakura-san?" Ryuuichi muttered out a bit confused, taking in the bamboo treeling right away as he shifted from his spot on the ground next to the quiet Kotaro, to give her his full attention.

Sakura's eyes instinctively moved over to him at the sound of her name, and she meekly smiled as she tried to even her breath, glad to see the two after days of being off for summer break. She had gotten ill, after a very eventful trip to the beach with the gang, and ended up getting a high fever; that only ended a few days prior. Now feeling all well rested and quite frankly bored of staying another minute alone in her room in bed rest, Sakura was glad to be able to go hang out with her friends, even if it meant babysitting the kids as well. She'd take anything over doing nothing in bed.

"Hey guys sorry I'm late," Sakura called out as she let a small laugh finish her words, scratching her cheek a bit. A metal handle in her other hand, that was connected to the wagon jiggled a bit causing it to catch Kotoro's attention.

But you're early, Ryuuichi and Usaida thought simultaneously as they sweat dropped.

"Nee-chan," the soft mellowed tone of Kotaro's voice lowly filled their ears as thy all turned to look at the quiet child who was pointing over in Sakura's direction. "Tree," Kotaro stated his voice void of emotion, though the sparkle in his eye spoke a different story.

"Good eye Kotaro," Sakura smiled his way in praise, making the child blush in acknowledgment, "I brought a bamboo tree for our Tanzaku wishes."

(Tanzaku: a piece of paper wishers write their wishes on, then hang upon the tree)

"Uh?" Kotaro muttered confused as the idea of wishes brought a bit of interest to enter his world. He looked over to his brother in confusion, making Ryuuichi smile sheepishly at him as he began to explain the whole notion of the tree and the celebration of this day.

"Kotaro for Tanabata you are able to write a wish down that you want granted, as long as you place it on the bamboo tree," Ryuuichi explained as he watched his little brother's eyes glisten in awe as Sakura began to pull in the small red wagon that she borrowed from her little brother. Kotaro couldn't keep his eyes off the tree, looking at it as if it was gold to a pirate.

"Yup, I brought it here after visiting the shrine with my family earlier today. I even got it blessed by the gods, to make sure our wishes came true. I thought it could really liven up our room and decorations," Sakura explained as she set the slightly big tree in the far corner of the room, the only place that seemed unused and out of the way of the children.

"Well that was very kind of you Sakura," Usaida called out from his spot on the floor, his eyes the usual dopiness as he smiled at her, "I'll be sure to wish for money now that I know the gods are sure to guarantee it."

"Usaida-san," Ryuuichi dead panned in a slight scolding form, as he narrowed his eyes at the lazy caretaker's mindset.

Sakura just giggled at her superiors words, knowing Usaida was that way all the time, and was now use to it. Before anymore could be said in the matter, the door to the room opened once more, and revealed the next visitors of the club. Ones that Sakura seemed happy too see again, as her eyes sparkled over in joy, making the other two smile in a knowing way.

"Hm," the new comer at the door grunted in wonder as he glanced over the room, seeing all the decorations for a holiday he didn't even know was coming up. Hayato and Taka Kamitani both looked around the room, no idea about the celebration they were having, but their confusion didn't last long as they noticed a bright blonde girl practically beam at them.

"Taka!" The girl screamed, her tone making Usaida cringe as he dramatically covered his ear as he tried to sleep.

Hands flung in the air, Sakura moved swiftly across the room, her hair flying behind her as she smiled at her favorite boy in the room. Taka, who was now smiling after seeing his absent caretaker before him once again, clenched onto his brother's uniform as he looked at the girl going his way. Hayato, who's full attention was on the nearing girl, blinked as he titled his head to the side, internally glad to see her again too. Although he would never admit his thoughts out loud, and he didn't need to because Usaida knew exactly what he was thinking, which made him smile at the schemes he was planning for the two.

"I missed you so much," Sakura called out as she grabbed the bouncing Taka from Hayato's grip, and spinning him around in many circles. Causing the two to fall in a small pit of laughter, that brought the rest to a blissful state, aside from the one individual who didn't like the sight before him.

"Sakura stop babying him," Hayato muttered as he watched her squish her face up to his brother's, blowing kisses on his cheek, all while Taka giggled like a baby. Hayato hated when she did this, it made Taka act like a stupid child in his opinion, and he didn't want the kid to turn more into a crybaby than he already was.

"But Kamitani-kun he's too cute for words. I can't help but smother him," Sakura said as she stopped her twirling and just looked over to him with a closed eye smile. Taka also looked over at his brother as he stopped laughing, hoping he wouldn't result to violence like he always did when Sakura paid attention to him.

"Tch," Hayato clicked as he turned away from her and the ever growing happiness she always projected to him, and towards Ryuuichi and Usaida who were just watching the scene with bemused expressions.

"What's all this junk about," Hayato spoke as he eyed all the decoration, his eyes landing on the bamboo tree that he saw in randomly in the room.

"Oh, I was making decorations for Tanabata," Ryuuichi sheepishly said as he rubbed the back of his neck as he looked around at the large mass of items he managed to create, "And Sakura-san also brought a bamboo tree, from the shrine."

"Yeah she even got it blessed by the gods, so be sure to make a good wish that counts," Usaida spoke from his spot on the floor, waving around the tanzaku to showcase his point.

Hayato just hummed in acknowledgment as he turned to look at the girl he missed the past few days, and muttered out a forced, "Thank you."

Sakura just laughed at Hayato, as she placed Taka down onto the floor as he began kicking to be free from her clutch. As his feet met the floor, Taka ran over to Kotaro as they both began to admire the tree Sakura brought for them, smiling at the idea of free wishes.

"Ah, Kamitani-kun I see you're in your baseball uniform," Sakura spoke as she just then realized what the smitten boy was wearing, "Do you have practice today?"

Sakura found it quite odd, since she remembered Hayato telling her before break had started that there wouldn't be any practices during the starts of summer. Surely he had not lied to her, when he promised to spend time with her at the daycare more during break, but his uniform did seem to catch her off guard.

"Yeah. It's almost time for the summer competition. Coach thought it would be good to practice," Hayato admitted as he glanced down at his outfit before looking up at her as her expression soon changed to a frown.

"Ah come to think about it you play baseball, right?" Usaida spoke as if he just figured out his secret, though he already knew Hayato's real secret, but this was a revelation he just discovered.

"I haven't seen you in your uniform in a while so I forgot," Usaida said with a dry laugh as Sakura raised an eyebrow at his lack of attention he pays to them all.

"Usaida-san," Sakura playfully jeers as she shakes her head lightly at his unfazed look, as Hayato glares at him for forgetting.

"Wait Hayato does this mean you'll be gone for the rest of summer break?" Sakura asks as she turned to her tall friend, stepping forward a bit to be face-to-face. Hayato glanced down at her, seeing her frown deepen as he nodded lightly, thinking about all the training he will have to do before and after the tournament.

"Yeah," he simply responded, not noticing the crestfallen look she was throwing at him, as she scoffed a bit to herself.

"But I just got back so we could all hang out. Now you're ditching us?" Sakura accused in a miffed tone, as she raised her hands in wonder at him.

Hayato looked at her and scrunched up his eyebrows as he retorted, "I'm not ditching. I have a baseball tournament to attend."

That didn't seem to satisfy Sakura at all, even if she knew that baseball was important to him, she didn't like it. Not that she was angry at him for being taken away, she's more angry with herself for missing out on the days they could have hung out. So many planned activities they all extended to do, are now ruined by their sudden change in summer plans. It sucked, Sakura knew it, and so did Hayato.

The two friends just stared at each other, both contemplating what the other has to say on the sudden bump in the summer; but neither knew how to phrase their thoughts out verbally. That was probably the main fault in their relationship, well the main one Usaida always pointed on to all the onlookers who shipped their relationship.

"Eh, their first fight in the relationship?" Usaida questioned humorously to Ryuuichi, knowing the other two were too busy looking at each other to hear him.

"Usaida-san they're not even dating," Ryuuichi sweat dropped as he looked to Usaida, knowing he was probably imagining some odd fantasies about the two non-existence couple of the gang.

Laughing lightly to himself, Usaida knew he had to mend the bond between the two before it separated more, so as he raised the Tanzaku in the air as he spoke, "Sakura. Kamitani. Let's write our wishes now."

Looking away from Hayato's intense soul searching gaze, Sakura looked her shoulder to the playful adult before saying, "Oh yeah. I already have my wish in mind."

Stepping away from her friend, not wanting to think about him anymore, Sakura made her way over to Usaida, taking a paper from his outstretched hand and kneeling down next to him, were a variety of pencils lay. Hayato's eyes followed her movements, and as she sat next to Usaida, he contemplated following her before stopping knowing she would only nag at him, to him it looked like she was in that type of mood.

"Eh, Kamitani you want to make a wish too?" Usaida toyed with him in a teasing tone as he raised his hand to hand him one of the many festive sheets, "You can make any wish, like winning the preliminaries for your tournament, or wishing for luck in your future love life. You seem to need some luck in both departments."

Sakura froze at his words, the word love bringing some uncomfortable emotion stew within herself. So as the color rose in her cheeks softly, she made her hair fly onto her face, as she looked down at her paper, the idea of a wish suddenly becoming more complicated. Initially she intended to make her wish, to bring good fortune to the kids, but now as much as she hates to admit it she was feeling a bit selfish as her wish was beginning to change in her mind. Now she just wanted to wish for Hayato, and his happiness. It was selfish and shallow, she knew, but her mind couldn't stop contemplating that solution. 

"Ah? I don't need something like that," Hayato spit out in a bit of anger, as a vein made itself visible on his temple, and it took all the power of will within him not to clock Usaida on the head for even suggesting something like that.

All Usaida did was laugh at both of the reactions happening around him as Ryuuichi also cracked a smile.

"Hey!" Taka yelled out catching all their attention as him and Kotaro moved over to Usaida as they stared at the paper in his hand, "Is that the Taza? Me too!! Me too, I want it!"

"If you write your wish on the tanazaka, tanabata god will help us make our wishes come true!"

At the sound of a new voice, everyone turned to the door to see who else had arrived. And there, in her distinguishing double pigtails, stood Kirin the clubs only female toddler smiling brightly at them all. Behind her stood the mom's of the club, all along with the children in their arms, smiling brightly at them all.

"Kazuma and I haves wishes to write. I wants one too," Takuma said as he smiled and waved his arms around, resulting in Mamizuke to let her kids down onto the floor.

"Me too, I wants one too," Kazuma timidly added as he gripped his brother's hand and the bottom of his shirt, looking up at the adults with teary eyes.

"Then the mamas will be writing one too," Umi Mamizuke added seeing her sons' enthusiasm rubbing onto herself, "Just kidding."

"Good morning," Yayoi Kumatsuka said in her unusual monotoned voice as she nodded her greeting.

"Hi!" Yukari Sawatori bellowed put happily as her daughter that rested in her arms, also called out to them but in her usual baby gibberish.

Sakura smiled at the enthusiastic parents that came to drop off their kids, momentarily forgetting her worries as she waved at them also muttering her 'good mornings'.

"Everyone's spirits are maxed out so early this morning," Hayato muttered bitterly as he noticed he was swarmed in a pool of happy people, and that just didn't set well with him. He could handle Sakura for sure, and her daily happiness, but this was like ten Sakuras and he couldn't handle that.

"Killjoy," Sakura whispered to him as she gave him a small sneer, that didn't faze him, thinking she was just probably upset at something else beside him. What a fool he was to believe that.

"Well we should get going," Mamizuke said in her usual cheerful tone as she looked at the watch on her wrist, making the other mothers nod along with her in agreement as they all began to make their way out the door. The children all waving their goodbyes, along with Sakura and Ryuuichi.

"Well," Ryuuichi stared as the mom's closed the club room door behind them, "We should all start decorating the room now."

And so they did, Usaida and Sakura were in charge of putting the decorations along the tree, while Ryuuichi and Hayato were in charge of banner placing along the walls. The kids themselves were all seated around a small table they usually use to color, their pieces of paper for wishing before them, as they all worked on what they wanted to wish for.

"Usaida-chan! Usaida-chan!" Takuma called out as he and his brother moved away from the table and towards the two beside the almost finished tree, "Draw a dinosaur on ours of me and Kazuma."

Sakura smiled as the two presented their blank papers to the confused adult who smiled as he tilted his head and asked, "Do you want one, or do you want to become one?"

The wish would be quite odd if it was just a crude drawing of an extinct animal, but for the toddlers that was something they wanted, so Sakura couldn't judge so she just shook her head as she finished putting the colored paper string around the tree.

"Sakura-chan!" Taka called as he also ran over to them his own blank paper in hand as he asked her, "Why do we have to hang them up on the bamboo tree?"

"Oh, that's because the higher you hang them on the tree the the easier it is for the Tanabata god to see your wish," Sakura explained as she smiled at her favorite little boy who looked at his paper in wonder, the new information bringing great insight to him.

Taka just nodded lightly, quietly thanking Sakura for telling him this as he turned to look at his brother, who Sakura just noticed finished decorating and was now sitting on the floor with a tanzaku in his hand. Sakura blinked as she noticed that Hayato was also thinking about making a wish, the one thing he thought was stupid and he was doing it. She couldn't help but wonder what he so heavily desired, that made him participate in this sort of activity, knowing fully well it contradicted his character.

Hayato, who noticed his brother was staring at him hummed in confusion as he wondered what the brat wanted. Seeing the blank paper on his hand, and the fact that the kids were asking the others for help, Hayato imagined Taka needed something.

"What is it?" Kamitani asked in confusion as he raised an eyebrow, making Taka's eyes widen, "You want me to write it for you?"

Suddenly embarrassed to be caught Taka ran away from Hayato and towards Sakura as he yelled out after him, "I CAN'T TELL ANIKII WHAT I'M WISHING FOR! GO AWAY!!"

Taka hid behind Sakura's body, making her laugh as Hayato become annoyed with him once more. Taka just ignored his brother as he motioned for Sakura to bend down lower, so he could whisper something to her, which Sakura guessed was his wish so she could write it on the paper for him.

"Sakura-chan, I want.........." and that was pretty much all Hayato could pick up from his brother's whispers, as he leaned into Sakura telling her what he wanted. Hayato clicked his tongue in annoyance as he wondered what was so damn secretive that the brat had to only tell Sakura for. But whatever it was must have been good, because it made Sakura smile goofily at Taka as she swooned over his choice of words.

"Of course I'll write it for you," Sakura softly said as she scooped Taka in her arms before getting a random pencil and beginning to write the wish for the smiling boy on her lap.

Hayato sighed in defeat, choosing to not care anymore as he looked down at his paper, were he saw his own wish stare back at him. He couldn't believe he even wrote it, it was stupid, just like the unnecessary holiday. There in his decent hand writhing was Hayato's wish, Enter Koshien.

(A/N: Koshien is a baseball stadium.)

With a sudden slam of the pencil on the table before him, Hayato stood up abruptly, causing everyone to look his way. He glared down at the paper before him as he spoke out, "Come to think of it, if wishes were to come true because of these things. Then there is no need to work hard."

Looking up he was meet with surprised faces from both his friends and the kids, but it was Sakura's fallen look that mostly caught his attention. "Kamitani-kun?" Sakura muttered out lightly wondering what got into him. Hayato's second wish flashed through his mind once more, making him flinch and look down, his baseball hat covering up his emotions to the world. Having Sakura watch one of his games was his second wish, but it would be weird to write that, so he decided on the next big thing he wanted.

"I'll be leaving now ok?" Hayato responded as he walked over to the door, not waiting for a respond as he opened the door and looked over to Sakura as he added, "If I lose in the first game, I'll have time to spend here. Until then please take care of my family's idiot."

"Kamitani," Sakura muttered as a small smile played upon her face, glad to see Hayato was not upset.

"I'm not an idiot!" Taka yelled out after his brother's retreating figure as tears swelled up in his eyes.

~~~~

Hayato was right, wishes don't happen by themselves. But, maybe it was because of that year's clear sky on July 7th, that a miracle happened.

Sakura couldn't believe her eyes. There in her hands laid a newspaper article that the school liked to hand out to their students, and in this week's article front page was none other than Kamitani Hayato. Well the article read mostly about the underdog baseball team from their school concurring the last year regional champion team in the preliminaries. But there smack damn in the middle of the article was a giant picture that took anyone-who-reads-it attention. It was Hayato, in the middle of a big swing, maybe the game winning swing, a fierce look adoring his features making him look like the most badass player out there. Well in Sakura's eyes it did, that's why she was smiling widely at the image of him, as Ryuuichi sat next to her looking over her shoulder as they read the paper together before class started.

"Was our baseball team always this strong?" Ryuuichi asked bewildered as his eyes widen at Kamitani's cool newspaper picture, surely proud of his friend for winning, but is blind sided by the whole thing.

"I don't know," Sakura says truthfully, her eyes never leaving the picture as she sighed, "Kamitani-kun always says the team is weak. They couldn't be this strong could they?"

"No, we are very weak," A voice answers behind them, causing them to jump, as Sakura shrieked and covered the newspaper as if she was caught red handed doing something bad. Turning to look over their shoulder they found that the voice belonged to a very tired looking Hayato who was looking down at them slightly bemused.

"Kamitani," Sakura greeted slightly flustered as she hoped he hadn't seen her gawking at his picture.

"No, it wasn't because our team was strong that we won, it was because the other team's strongest player was food poisoned," Kamitani revealed as he took his seat, which was behind Sakura's desk, a seat he would never reveal that he stole from another classmate.

"What?!" Ryuuichi exclaimed as he turned from his desk next to Sakura to look at his friend in wonder, finding that a big bag of bad luck for the other team.

"So it was luck then?" a male classmate called from his seat in front of Ryuuichi, who was also friends with the guy, turned around to grind Hayato for news about the win. The random boy made it seem like it wasn't even possible to win without luck on the team's side, and it sounded very rude to Sakura.

"The newspaper said it too didn't you read it? You're so annoying a win is a win," Hayato said as he turned to look at Ryuuichi's class friend glaring at him with a sneer. Sakura and Ryuuichi both shared a concerned look, knowing this win was also beating up Hayato inside knowing he got it handed to him, something he didn't like.

"Whatever luck is also a skill for success," the boy said not liking Hayato's attitude as he rolled his eyes at the non important asset to the team.

"Wait!" The boy called out as he noticed something the other's hadn't, "Why do you have so many letters in your hand."

"Huh?" Hayato called out annoyed as he held up his hand that did indeed have multiple cards in it, "How am I suppose to know? I don't want them, but girls keep shoving them at me. If you want them you can have them."

"You can't give these things to other people!" The boy exclaimed dubiously as he looked at Hayato as if he was the biggest moron in the entire world.

Hayato just grumbled how annoying the boy was being as Ryuuichi had to hold him back from attacking Kamitani. Sakura however was at lost for words once again, as the big pile of love letters sat aimlessly on Hayato's desk, all sprawled out, containing secret confessions and the true emotions of all the girls she has to now compete with. And as of then, they were winning, because they had the guts to share their feelings to Hayato(even if it was in letter form), they still had the upper hand in winning his love and attention. And that fact alone brought a bad feeling in the depth of her stomach.

~~~~

"Wow, this is amazing," Usaida whistled out as Sakura showed him the newspaper she obtained while explaining to him what happened at Hayato's team during the preliminaries.

"What is it? Tanabata's blessing?" Usaida added bemused as he looked away from the paper and to Sakura before adding, "Aren't you glad you got the tree for Hayato? As expected of bamboo that was blessed from the shrine."

"Well I don't know about that," Sakura said sheepishly as she looked over at the tree as she said, "But since we got the chance, let's leave it up. Not that I believe in superstitions like that or something."

"Uh-huh," Usaida said not believing her as he knew she was also hoping that Hayato's team won even if it was pure luck.

"But if the tree is causing people food poison shouldn't we take it down?" Ryuuichi asked from his spot from playing with the kids, as he looked over at the two other members.

"Ah that's true we can't take it too far right?" Usaida said as he glanced at the tree covered in the club's wishes.

"Was Hayato-niichama's wish granted?" Kirin called out happily as she looked up to Ryuuichi as she asked, "I want to be a pwincess like my wish."

"Me and Kazuma want to be dinosaurs," Takuma said happily as he grabbed his brother's hand. Sakura just laughed at their wishes as she watched a flustered Ryuuichi try and explain to the gang that wishes take time to accomplish.

"Well, Koshien is still a far ways off," Usaida said calming the kids from expecting their wish to come true like Hayato's.

"My bwother won't lose," Taka called out angrily as he tried to stand up for his brother, Kotaro right behind him giving a nod to say he also believed in Hayato.

"Oh is that so? Then should we all go and cheer them on during the competition?" Usaida suggested to Taka as he looked at us for confirmation.

The kids all looked at him happily, shouting out excited responses as they all wanted to see Hayato at his prime. Sakura also thought it was a good idea as she smiled at the thought of seeing Hayato play in person in a real game. She has only been to a practice or two, but she would like to see him in action as well. She smiled at the thought of watching Hayato make a home run.

"He actually told me today that he didn't want us to come, apparently he's afraid one of the kids will get lost in the big crowds and it'll cause too big of a ruckus," Ryuuichi admitted with a frown also saddened with the fact that he won't be able to watch his friend during a real game.

"Oh, he doesn't want us there," Sakura repeated dejected by the news, as the kids also looked down about it. Ryuuichi and Usaida both looked at the girl, wondering what she was possibly thinking.

~~~~

Between the power of luck and your own abilities, once again we do not know whether the wish to Tanabata-sama was received or not, but the Mirnomiya Baseball Club kept on winning and was eventually placed in the top eight.

Today was the day of the championship and Sakura was nervous, even though she wasn't a player of the darn game. She was worried, her mind hectic with thoughts and worries about the game and how it will unfold. The luck that was granted to Hayato has seemed to keep going, a bit longer than expected, and that worried her because soon the magic would run out, and she didn't know what to do then. Sakura was so worried that she didn't get enough sleep the night before, but she hoped coming early to the club would clear her mind up from the lingering thoughts.

"Usaida-san I hope you don't mind me coming in early..." Sakura's voice trailed off into the air, her body freezing as she noticed who was in the room with her. Instead of her usually lazy mentor, it was actually the sole purpose of her sleepless nights, it was Hayato.

"Kamitani?" Sakura wondered as she saw that Hayato was squatting down near the bamboo tree. Turning around Hayato's stern gaze moved over to her, and his body froze as their eyes connected.

"Did you just click your tongue at me?" Sakura questioned at the noise he made when their eyes connected, making him glanced down briefly at the news that she heard him.

"You know if you want to laugh. Laugh," Hayato said, his voice quiet but it seemed to echo through her ears. Sakura saw that he was staring at his wish that was still hanging in the tree, the wish she put in the tree after he left suddenly that day. His wish, which seemed to be the only one that came true.

"I don't want to," Sakura answered back softly, stepping into the room and walking up to the still crouching baseball player.

Without looking back Kamitani nodded before saying, "I don't want to believe it's because I wrote it down or something. Rather than a lucky home run, I wanted to win with a point the senpais and I worked hard to get. I wanted to play a game where my opponents were at their best condition, not when they've got food poisoning."

"I think I know how you feel," Sakura admitted as she watched his consintrated face twitch ever so often, "Ok. Then win it."

Kamitani's fingers twitched slightly at her words, the encouragement she delivered storing slightly within him, making him wonder how she can say such ridiculous things with such childish confidence. There is no guarantee he could win anymore baseball games, no matter how good his team played, they have been blindly running on pure luck. And it felt to him, that they will run empty pretty soon, so to have her say this now, somehow gave him a boost of power. That maybe it could be possible no matter the odds. It made Hayato wonder why she always had that affect on him.

"But at this point whether it's because of luck or the Tanabata gods, I want to go as far as I can go, with the team I have right now. Is that so bad?" Hayato added to his previous statement, turning slightly to look at Sakura who gasped when she saw his face. His normal stoic face was now replaced wit a nervous one that held a slightly blush, and it was such a rare sight that it almost brought Sakura to tears. His emotions were finally for show, and Sakura found them soul crushingly beautiful.

"Kamitani," Sakura whispered out breathlessly as she reached out to touch him, comfort his troubles a bit, but before she could he grabbed her wrist startling her.

"Shit. What am I saying," Hayato mumbled out embarrassed for telling her his stupid thoughts, "I'm going to practice now. Sorry Sakura, but could you take that off?"

Without waiting for a response Hayato threw one last glance as his wish before he let her go and began walking towards the door, mentality cursing himself for admitting his feelings in a way.

"No," Sakura called out to his retreating figure as it stopped at the door entryway, "I'm gunna leave it there, because despite what everyone says about luck being your skill, I think they're wrong. So don't let them get you down and do your best for the game ok? Hayato-kun."

Hayato could not have been anymore shocked than he was at the moment, and he couldn't figure out if it was because she believed that he could win, or the fact that she just said his name. She had just called him by his first name, with an innocent smile to present it, something that totally caught him off guard. And suddenly a burst of confidence filled his veins, as he felt as if he was just a bit bigger, better in a way he wasn't a second ago.

"Shut up!" Hayato said the first thing that popped into his head, to embarrassed to think of anything else, "I wasn't even worried to begin with."

Sakura laughed at him, making him blush slightly at her happy demeanor that always got to him feeling odd. Clicking his tongue in slight annoyance of being embarrassed in front of her, Hayato turned quickly before sliding out of the room and slamming the door behind him. The muffled noise of Sakura's fading laughter buzzed in his ears, as he gripped the end of his baseball cap, adjusting it a bit on his head. A nervous habit he did when he was thinking, or mostly didn't know what to do with his hands to keep his mind occupied. Trying not to think of Sakura, or the wish, or the fact that he's late to practice; Hayato tried to calm his forming troubles with deep breath hoping everything would just turn out fine.

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Sakura believed that the wish written on the tanzuka, that everyone couldn't believe came true, was embedded with so much emotion that it found it's way past the sky and straight to the gods. She believed Hayato would truly get his wish, and he would be happy liked she wished.

But when the results came in, the final product was far from what was desired. They lost the game, 47 to 51, and now Hayato can not enter his desired arena.

Sakura couldn't understand why now, everything was going downhill from this morning when Hayato had confessed his desire with so much passion. Maybe it was just wasn't meant to be. Maybe the team was as bad as Kamitani proclaimed it to be.

Or maybe, wishes just don't come true that easily. Maybe Hayato was right maybe hard work is all you need to accomplish your dreams. But Sakura couldn't and wouldn't believe that, because if that were true than her wish wouldn't come true. And that saddened her.

"Hey, what are you doing here?"

Startled and caught slightly of guard, Sakura gasped spinning around only to meet Kamitani's piercing gaze. The clash of yellow and purple met, and for a second they saw something deeper than what was shown, emotions they both hid from the other.

"Hayato-kun," Sakura began with uneasy words, "I-I"

Fiddling with her fingers Sakura looked away from the heart clenching stare, turning instead to look at the front gate of the school, were between the bars the sunset pored in. Taking small glances to the uniformed Hayato, who had barely came back from his losing game, bandaid on his cheek to prove how hard he played.

"The game I heard-," Sakura stopped seeming to lose her way with words at the sight of him, but what's new, it was a common occurrence in her life.

"I'm sorry your wish didn't come true," Sakura finally finished as she met his gaze again, watching his pupil dilate at her words. There she went again, making his chest feel the same pain again.

"Wishes are for kids," Hayato plainly retorted, trying to not let it show that he actually got his hopes up and crushed.

"That's not true," Sakura slipped out in aspiration as she gawked openly at him.

"Wishes are just goals with out a plan. They can come true. They have to," Sakura admitted as she pointed an accusing finger at the boy, a slight tremor in her voice that caught Hayato of guard. He had heard that many times before with his little brother, and he wondered if she was about to start crying. Suddenly words that Sakura had said before flashed in his mind, and something became clear to him.

"I already have my wish in mind."

"What was your wish?" Hayato questioned, tilting his head at the only girl he ever acknowledged, wondering what was so important she had to rely on faith and wishes for it to come true. Was it to grand for her to accomplish herself?

Sakura just stared back, blank face and no emotions to give her wish away. She was torn, between getting what she wanted or just letting it slip between her fingers like she always let it happen.

"You," Sakura whispered out barely letting Hayato hear, "I wished for you."

Sakura wanted to stop, those weren't the words she choose to say, she wanted to make something and leave him alone. But she couldn't stop.

"You may find this hard to believe but I asked to be with you."

Stop.

"Because I like you. And I can't figure out why."

He can't know.

"I like you so much it's making it heard to breath right now."

Hayato just stood here, before the girl he desired, hearing her explain and say all the words he could never have the nerve to conjure up or say. It was like she spoke what he was thinking have the time,
and now that it's all in the open, he is left without words. There was nothing to say, nothing that could come out correctly and tell her how he felt. There were no good enough words for her, she was better than petty words.

So Hayato did the only thing he could think of.

He kissed her.

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A/N: uh yeah I am gunna leave you hanging there forever because that's the ending of this, and I will not tell you more about their relationship. This is just how it started. Crappy and anticlimactic right? Just like how I picture Hayato.

P.S. this is the only one-shot that's this long, I think