Guarded (Sugawara x OC)

Chapter 14

The next few days continued in a similar fashion. Machi kept to herself during most of the school hours, then disappeared to the gym in the afternoons. And similar to that first awful day, she continued to struggle. No matter how much she practiced, that stupid form kept giving her trouble. Even with a bandage wrapped around each ankle to provide extra support, Machi still found herself either stumbling through the jumps or missing the landing completely. The most frustrating part was of course these were kicks and jumps she was familiar with, and had successfully completed hundreds of times individually. But for whatever reason, in the context of maneuvering through this particular form, it was like she was a beginner again. And she hated it.

By the end of the week Machi had barely made any progress at all and had fallen on her ass more times than she cared to count. When the most recent attempt found her once again meeting face to mat, Machi gave an exasperated shout and threw her weapons across the room, watching through blurry eyes as they clanged loudly against each other before rolling away. After her humiliating breakdown only a few days prior, Machi had refused to let herself shed any more tears, but now that she was staring at yet another failure, it was becoming difficult to hold them back. An overwhelming sense of inferiority swept over her for the second time, and Machi slammed her head into the nearest punching bag to try and push away the unwanted emotions. Not surprising, it didn't work, but she didn't stop anyway, allowing the pain to try and override everything else.

That was how Suga found her when he walked past the gym door she had left slightly ajar. He had been wandering by every day on his way to meet Daichi and the others, hoping to catch a glimpse of the girl diligently training inside. There had been a few times when he had let his hand hover over the doorknob, considering if it would be wise to interrupt. Yet every time he would chicken out and keep walking. If he were being honest, Suga was having a hard time hiding how much it had hurt to see Machi actively avoiding him, again. He had gathered a bit of information from Yamaguchi about her sudden 180 in attitude, and it made sense; but that didn't stop the gaping hole she seemed to have left behind.

As Suga was taking his now familiar route past the gym however, the sound of someone shouting and a loud clang made him double back. Peeking through the window, the boy felt his gut wrench horribly. Her face scrunched in desperate frustration, Suga watched in horror as Machi began pounding her head against the heavy leather punching bags in obvious distress. All previous misgivings forgotten, Suga slunk quickly into the room and was calling out to her as he jogged across the mats, hoping to focus her attention away from the bags.

"You'll give yourself a headache if you keep that up, you know."

She didn't need to turn around to know who it was, she'd know that ridiculously positive tone anywhere. There was a tremble in her voice when she responded, and yet Machi still found a way to sound harsh. "Go away Suga. This isn't your problem." Slowly, Machi sunk to the ground, curling her knees up to her chest and hiding her head under her crossed arms, childishly believing this alone made her invisible.

Watching Machi curl into a protective ball on the ground, it all made sense to him now. She thought she had to do everything herself; a well-placed scowl and biting remarks were normally enough to keep anyone from trying to convince her otherwise. This time, however, her words had lost their edge and the tiny figure huddled in front of him looked so desperately in need of someone, the gray-haired vice captain ignored her false objections. All those times she brushed him off or ignored his concerned texts were forgotten, and he enveloped Machi in a warm embrace, his next words as soft as the hands that now held her.

"I'm not going anywhere."

Sniffling noisily, Machi shook her head and tried to push him away, but stiffened when she felt his surprisingly strong arms only pull her closer. "What kind of person would I be if I left now when you're crying?" Round, glassy doe eyes met strong, steady hazel ones and he brushed a stray tear away with his thumb. If Suga had known she'd been here, alone, and crying, he might have actually made more of an effort to see her sooner. "Don't think I could forgive myself if that happened."