Disclaimer: I don't own Haikyuu, all rights go to Haruichi Furudate.

To those all who read my first chapter, thanks so much!

Jungkookies: Thanks so much for helping me out! It really meant a lot, so thanks again!

Also, quick note. Eri isn't going to wear glasses anymore because I was editing some things and realized I didn't want her to wear glasses anymore. And while the first few chapters won't really have the Haikyuu characters, it's for the character development and she'll get very involved with those crazy Seijoh boys soon. Also the cover pic is Eri except Eri has ebony hair instead of gray hair.


The moment Eri got home, she darted up the stairs and fell face first onto her bed, snoozing away happily. It was a good, nice, looooooooooooong nap.

She was awoken later by Himiko, who was eating at their house that night.

"Eri-chan, Tatsu-san made dinner," Himiko's soft voice cracked through Eri's sleepy façade.

If there's one thing that can rival Eri's passion for naps, it's food. Eri sighed, then roused her body to leave its extremely warm and comfy bed. Trudging towards to smell of food downstairs, Eri remembered that homework she had. Oh well, she should be able to get it done quickly.

Mom greeted them at the dinner table. "It's soba noodles and sushi tonight."

Eri's eyes lit up, though her face stayed the sleepy, bored look it always was.

Gathering at the table, the four members of the Ichijo household plus Himiko began their dinner. They usually held pleasant conversations while eating.

Currently, Yama was excitedly telling his parents about the lovely paintings the Art Club was working on commemorating spring.

"Yeah, Himiko and I just need to find the right shade of light pink for the highlights of the petals," Yama explained, mostly to his mother.

"I'll show you two some color wheels I have after dinner, maybe you can find the right color in those," Mom smiled kindly.

Himiko smiled warmly. "Thank you Tatsu-san."

Tatsu scoffed lightly. "Oh Himiko, when are you ever going to call me auntie?"

It was a running thing that Tatsu and Ryuu practically considered Himiko part of the Ichijo family. Eri agreed, thinking about how much Himiko spent at their house in her own parent's absence. It wasn't that Himiko's parents didn't love her, it's just that since they were both police officers, they were busy with work a lot. Tatsu was always about concerned over Himiko spending so much time alone, and dragged Himiko over a lot. It resulted several years later that Himiko even had her own bedroom at Eri's house.

Himiko then turned to Eri. "Eri-chan, how was your day?"

Eri's left eye twitched, recalling Sadayuki and how he made her run to the principal's office.

"It was good. I met the volleyball team." Eri shrugged, it was another boring day. "I kind of want to get that manga project done."

Tatsu's eyes shone with mirth as she targeted her son. "Oh Yama! When are you going to propose to Himiko and make her officially part of the family?!"

Yama choked on his noodles and started hacking away while Himiko was trying to help Yama breathe with a wild crimson blush on her cheeks.

Ryuu laughed loudly. "Then we'd be a family full of artists!"

Eri wanted to be a manga artist, while Yama desired to pursue a career in drawing anime animation. Himiko wanted to go into graphic designing, so Ryuu's words true…and hilarious.

Yama finally stopped coughing and glared at his mom. "MOMMMM! Don't say things like that!"

Tatsu and Ryuu were still giggling like five year olds, not hearing a word their son was saying.

Eri sweat dropped at her parents usual antics. "I'll clean up tonight Yama-nii."

She got up and started clearing off the table. Tatsu finally recovered from her laughing fit and began assisting her daughter in cleaning the dinner table.

"Speaking of that, Eri, have you found yourself a good boyfriend yet?" Tatsu asked with a mischievous wink.

Eri sighed, why was her mother so quirky? Unfortunately, both her father and brother heard that statement, which triggered both of them.

"Not on my watch!" Yama snapped fiercely.

While Dad was a bit more laid back on the subject of dating, he still was protective of Eri. Yama had declared he would forever make sure Eri was treated right and no boy would ever look at her. Which was insanely impossible but Yama was extremely protective (and sometimes creepily possessive) of his baby sister.

Eri deadpanned. "No mom. I don't plan on dating anyone."

"Good!" Yama interjected strongly, making Himiko face palm behind him.

Tatsu chuckled. "Surely you've seen some eye candy?"

Tatsu's statements were making Ryuu and Yama squirm in their seats.

Eri really hadn't been paying attention and she didn't really want to. "No mom. I haven't."

Eri quickly finished the dishes and retreated upstairs, pulling out the project she had been tediously toiling over for the past few weeks. Ignoring the water for a while, she started to draw the bamboo pots near the bottom of the pond. She had been working on it for a few minutes when she heard her mother's soft footsteps entered her bedroom.

"Hey sweetie," Tatsu called softly and walked next to Eri's desk, where Eri was sitting and drawing. "I'm sorry if I made you upset earlier at dinner." Tatsu's motherly aspects were reviving themselves.

Eri nodded no. "No mom, it's ok. You didn't make me upset."

Tatsu smiled kindly and gently hugged her daughter. "I'm glad. You know you can come to me anytime you need to talk, right?"

"Yeah."

Tatsu then looked at the drawing Eri was struggling over. "What's the problem?"

Eri glanced at her mother for just a second then back at the drawing. "I can't make the water ripples realistic enough."

"Oh that, well here, let me show you how," Tatsu picked up the pencil and made several strokes onto the paper, creating a few good ripples.

Eri peered at the strokes her mom made and closely studied the paper. Those looked very realistic.

"Thanks Mom," Eri said, finally knowing how to draw the water ripples correctly.

Tatsu smiled softly. "I love you Eri dear." Tatsu kissed Eri's forehead and left the room, leaving Eri in complete silence.

Which she loved. But she also loved her mom, more than food or naps, more than silence or art. Because those things could easily be replaced (not exactly drawings but you know what she meant). They were just objects. Her mother was something no one could ever replace. Ever. Mom was one of a kind. And Eri loved her mother deeply.

While working on her project, she also pondered on her day's events. One, she was really annoyed at her cousin's whimsical demands. Two, she really wanted that ramen and would do anything to make sure she got it from her cousin. Three, the volleyball club was full of idiots. Case closed, time to take a shower and scramble through that homework and get it done as fast as possible.

She took a really long time on that shower, the warm water felt really nice against her skin like that.

Also, luckily for her, that night it was just review and really easy stuff. Not even bothering to have good penmanship, Eri breezed through her homework and even though it was only 9:26 pm at night, she was wiped. She finished putting on her uniform and crawled back into her lovely, lovely, and lovely bed. Just then, as she was falling asleep, she heard a meow through the darkness. That's right, she forgot to feed the cats, and they always came to her if she forgot.

All of her cats were female. Sora was a white with blue eyes, the vet said the eyes were a mutation. Riri was black with a white underbelly and paws and had brown eyes. Yuki was a Russian Blue cat, while Kyoto was a black cat with gold eyes. Finally, Miyah was a Himalayan Cat with electric blue eyes.

Eri sighed, then hauled herself out of her bed to feed the cats. They all trailed along behind her while meowing, their eyes shining with happiness because they saw her as the provider of food. Eri grabbed the cat food from the pantry and poured the food into the cat's respective food bowls.

And then her dogs came because they smelt the food. Kin was her male orange-tan colored Pomeranian while Gin was her female white Pomeranian. They both yapped and yipped happily, wanting to be feed.

"No Kin and Gin. I already fed you two." Eri said simply, but the dogs recognized her voice as the head authority and they wilted gloomily.

She petted her dogs lovingly, making them perk up again and squeal in delight.

Honestly…. Her dogs were simpletons, like a certain owl head ace of Fukurodani she knew. Poor Akaashi, having to deal with Bokuto-san.

Her cats slinked up sneakily under her hands, desiring to be pet as well. She sighed, she love her cats and dogs too much sometimes. Also they liked to sleep in her room on the floor instead of downstairs like they were supposed to. Her parents didn't care, and neither did Yama. Eri honestly didn't care either, she just had to be careful in the morning not to step on them. She returned to her room, all eight of her cherished pets following her obediently like baby ducks following the mama duck.

Bundling herself back into her bed, she felt her favorite cat (not like she would ever admit it), Yuki, stealthily clamber into the bed next her bed. Yuki softly purred, Eri being able to hear her cat's purring.

Good night finally.

When Eri woke up, she had 10 minutes till she had to leave for school like she always did. Sleepily, she trudged down the stairs, grabbing the bowl of breakfast her mother had left out for her. Quickly eating it, she regularly brushed her hair and teeth then pulled on her shoes, ready to leave.

Yama and Himiko, who slept over, were going to make her late unless they hurried up. After another 5 minutes of waiting, Eri huffed and walked to the door, leaving her brother and friend. And then she noticed the note on the door.

Heyyyyyyyyy Eri!

Himiko and I have already left, so go on without us.

We had to get to club really early, and didn't want to wake you up.

See you at school!

-Yama

No way.

Eri whipped her head towards the clock and found she had 7 minutes until school started. It was a ten minute walk to school.

Her bike was still getting fixed, so the only option left was to…run.

She was going to savagely murder her brother.

Yanking open the door, she rushed out and sprinted to school. Man, was she going to absolutely kill her brother. Running as fast as she could, she could feel her heart pounding against her chest and her legs and lungs were burning. She hadn't run this fast since that day.

Finally, she reached the school and darted into the classroom at the last minute, right before the teacher came in. Everyone looked at her with surprise, the girl who always slept in school came running into class. Eri slid into her seat and breathed heavily. This feeling of exhaustion, she hated it.

"You ok?" A voice interrupted her thoughts and she glanced at the person next to her.

A girl with beautiful ocean blue eyes and short coppery hair that fell onto her shoulder. She didn't look that tall, maybe 159 or 160 cm. She also wore thin black glasses. She had a soft smile on her face but Eri didn't think she'd peg her as the shy quiet type. Rather, Eri sensed a hidden determination and fierceness in the girl. She seemed pretty nice too.

Eri nodded then promptly fell asleep, already knowing all about English compound sentences.

It was quite a refreshing nap since she had to run 7 minutes straight to get to on time.

When she woke up, it was the period before lunch. She didn't exactly mean to miss History or Literature, which were her favorite subjects. Oh well, she could catch up easily by asking the teachers a simple question.

Currently though it was math, and she actually should try to take notes for this class. Just enough to pass. Then back to her nap.


Kunimi glanced to his left and was amused to see Ichijo sleeping again.

Although now Takara had her eyes on Ichijo, that made things more interesting. Also, he couldn't see the resemblance between her and Mizoguchi at all. Kunimi twitched and shuddered just slightly, remembering how Mizoguchi kept yelling at him to work harder. Kunimi wasn't one to work unless he got something out of it.

Sure, he enjoyed volleyball, and liked playing it with Kindaichi. He also highly respected his seniors and senpais in the club, such as Oikawa and Iwaizumi. And he did kind of want to beat Kageyama the King, which is probably the only reason he was glad Oikawa wanted that practice game with Karasuno, to crush the King of the Court.

Revenge would be sweet.

He probably sound petty but honestly Kageyama really irritated him back in Junior High.

He sighed, getting back to focusing on the History lecture Awashita-sensei was giving them. Something about how the Soviet Union was trying to invade Finland during the early stages of World War Two or something. He really did suck at History.


When lunch period began, Kindaichi returned to her classroom, and he spotted her as well.

"Oh! You're the girl from yesterday!" He exclaimed, sitting down next to Kunimi.

Eri raised an eyebrow. "May I help you?"

Something about her demeanor saying 'go away I don't want to talk to you' made Kindaichi rethink his actions and he returned to eating his lunch with Kunimi, the former talking in hushed voices.

Eri sighed. How troublesome.

"Um, you're Ichijo-san, right?" The girl from earlier asked Eri, making her turn her attention to her classmate.

"Yes, Ichijo Eri." Eri answered politely.

This was just another classmate, no one meaningful in her life.

"I'm Oikawa Takara!" The girl said cheerfully.

Eri blinked, Oikawa-san's younger sister? Well this was a surprise.

"Yeah, Tooru's my older brother." Takara sighed. "I love him and all, but sometimes he can be just plain annoying!" She glanced back at Eri. "Sorry, didn't mean to go off like that."

Eri nodded nonchalantly. "It's fine."

Takara laughed it off. "Oh good. By the way, thanks for dissing my brother yesterday. He's a total flirt so sometimes it's good if a person doesn't give him the expectation he wants. Also he keeps bothering me about being the manager for the volleyball team and I'm like 'no'. Can't he understand that?"

Eri nodded slowly, munching on her yummy bento her mother made for her. "I see. Glad to know I made you happy."

Takara smiled brightly. "Ne, can I call you Eri-chan?"

Eri's heart stopped. That was too familiar to her. Much too familiar. To be called that by a non-family member (Himiko didn't count) would imply that they were friends. Eri didn't know about that. She didn't have friends. Never did, never have, never will.

Except her….whispered a tiny part in the back of her mind.

Eri shook that thought. No, she had never had friends. And it would stay like that.

"I'd prefer if you didn't," Eri responded calmly.

Yet Takara heard it. The tiny amount of bitterness and anger in her voice. It was practically undetectable, but Takara had heard it.

She smiled kindly. "I'm sorry I asked, I'll call you Ichi-chan instead!"

Eri's breath hitched, was her bitterness that noticeable? If so, secrets could be revealed much faster than she wanted them too. But…Takara was nice, and seemed friendly. Plus she respected her wishes and was the one to approach her…..

"Eh, you can call me Eri-chan if you wish." Eri answered.

Takara lit up like fireworks during the New Year celebrations. "Really? Thanks friend!" Takara instantly hugged Eri, who stiffened because she hates hugs, and beamed happily. "Oh this makes me so happy! I don't have many friends, and the few friends I do have live in Tokyo or attend other schools."

Eri's eyes widened just a little. Sounds like herself except she didn't have any friends from other schools or Tokyo.

"Then I'm honored to be consider a friend of yours, Oikawa-chan." Eri said politely.

Takara rolled her eyes. "Please, call me Takara. Also you should smile more, I haven't seen smile ever since school started. You always have that bored, sleepy look on your face."

Eri raised an eyebrow. "I don't smile, Taka-chan."

Takara beamed with delight. "So what things do you like? I love soda candies, bubble tea, by the way, that stuff is really good, and I like reading."

Eri pursed her lips slightly. "I guess I like drawing manga, reading manga, watching anime, listening to music and peppermint chocolate."

"And sleeping." Takara grinned.

"And sleeping." Eri added.

Takara glanced at Eri curiously. "Y'know, for such a lazy person, you sure do like a lot of hobbies."

"If you notice, none of those activities are physical and I don't do all those things at once." Eri reminded Takara.

"….That's true."


Your brother and Toyosaki will be in club late every night now for some reason,

and your parents are working late tonight.

They don't want you walking home alone anymore so they want you to sit in

during the volleyball practice until it's over and I will drive you home.

-Sada-kun

Well…..

Eri groaned, their volleyball practices could take hours. She didn't want to sit through them! Though she wouldn't disobey her parents, she would have to modify things and bring some of her art supplies to the practice now.

Since school was over and everyone was heading for their clubs, Eri supposed she'd better as well. As an unofficial club member. Takara had to run some errands after school so she was out and busy, but Takara somehow stole Eri's number so now Takara could text her whenever she wanted.

Again, by the time she reached the club, she could hear them hard at work.

She sighed already in exasperation, knowing the reactions she'd get. Oh well, she'd just have to ignore them.

Pushing the door open, she called out in a clear, twinkling, feminine voice (note: that's what others thought, not her. She thought she was speaking normally). "Sada-kun, where do you want me to sit?"

Again, all heads turned towards her, she got looks of annoyance, surprise, and mostly, confusion.

Mizoguchi shrugged. "Wherever you want."

So Eri plopped herself onto the bench right next to Irihata.

The elder man smiled warmly and let her peacefully sit. He had to admit, in all of his years of knowing her, he didn't know she was such a talented artist.

Currently Eri was working on a random anime character, Edogawa, she liked from Bungou Stray Dogs. His cheerful expression was probably the hardest to work on. She sketched diligently, vaguely hearing boys shout and balls smack onto the ground hard.

She felt several pairs of eyes linger onto her for a second before they adverted away. Creepy.

She didn't mind this actually, just sitting here drawing to her heart's content. A while passed with her just drawing and sitting in during the volleyball practice. She was almost done with Edogawa's hat when she heard a loud shout.

"OI! LOOK OUT!"

Her head snapped up, and that was her mistake.

She was instantly hit in the face and head by a speeding volleyball.

The force was so great, she actually toppled off the bench backwards onto the ground, clutching her face in pain. And she hit her head hard on the ground when she fell, so that was an added injury.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Was the general yell from most of the team and coaches.

Eri's entire face stung like she had been stung by a million bees and her head was pounding.

She heard a lot of footsteps run up hurriedly to her and several extremely concerned faces in her own face. Although everything was really blurry so she couldn't see a thing clearly. But she could clearly recognize the voices. Ok, maybe not clearly recognize the voices.

"Hey, Ichijo, are you ok?" That one was Iwaizumi.

"Obviously not dumbass!" Hanamaki.

"OHMYGOSHISSHEBLEEDING!?" She definitely recognized Oikawa's shrill voice.

"Quick, get a towel or something!" Yahaba.

"She's gonna die!" That one was Kindaichi's panicked squeal.

"No, she won't die idiot, and she's not bleeding." Kunimi…?

"Should we help her up?" Matsukawa.

"Probably." Watari.

"No wait, we need to make sure she doesn't have a concussion," Iwaizumi again.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" Oikawa frantically yelped.

"Dumbass! That's not how you check for a concussion!" Iwaizumi shouted angrily.

"MOVE OVER!" That was, for certain, Sadayuki's panicked voice. "Ohmygosh Aunt Tatsu is going to kill, and Uncle Ryuu, and Mom, and Dad, and Yama-kun, and Himi-chan, and that weird cousin from Uncle Ryuu's side of the family…Ichijo Raku was it? Oh right, Eri, where are we?"

"Sada-kun, please don't speak so loud," Eri winced, his voice really loud to her.

"Kunimi, please help her sit up," Sadayuki asked one of the players. Although it was more like ordered.

Kunimi was the boy from her class, right? She felt him lift her up to a sitting position and she blinked dizzily. Also, her stomach was turning and she felt like throwing.

"Eri-chan. How do you feel, name everything that's wrong." Irihata asked worriedly.

Eri blinked again. "Um, my head really hurts, and all of you are really blurry, I'm kind of dizzy and I feel like I might throw up."

"Good Job Oikawa for sending that serve directly into her face." Hanamaki hissed dryly.

"HEY!" Oikawa's noise of protest was amusing.

"Oh damn," Sadayuki cursed. "That's definitely a concussion. You're going to have to go the infirmary."

Eri stood up suddenly to go but forgot she had a concussion and swayed on the spot. Luckily, someone caught her before she collapsed to the ground, and gently set her to the ground, again in a sitting position.

A snort came from…Yahaba? "Good catch Kunimi."

Kunimi, was it? She'd have to thank him later. Also her vision was still really blurry, and her head was still pounding and dizzy, but she didn't think she'd throw up now. She just wanted to go to sleep and never wake up again.

"You're in no condition to walk by yourself, Eri-chan." Irihata sighed in concern. "Kunimi, please take her to the infirmary, and be extremely careful and make sure she doesn't fall asleep. Oh and stay with her there to make sure she's ok."

She heard a sigh from said boy. "Why me…?" But she felt a hand under her knees and back and was lifted into the air. Wow, was this was it's like to be tall?

"Also Oikawa, laps around the school until you collapse." Irihata and Mizoguchi said in unison, and Iwaizumi cackled insanely in the background.

"WHAT?!" Oikawa shrieked in a really high pitched tone.

Eri hissed in pain, her head and ears ringing and she presses her hands to the sides of her head, attempting to make the throbbing stop. Unfortunately, it didn't help in the slightest.

"Senpai, don't yell that like, it makes her head hurt," Kunimi's lazy and bored voice drawled but Eri detected the tiniest sliver of concern.

"Just go take her already Kunimi," Watari sighed.

Eri wanted to go to sleep but Mizoguchi pinched her arm painfully.

"Don't go to sleep and die in a coma," he ordered.

Eri nodded but regretted it when her head exploded into bits of pain. She felt Kunimi walking away, the voices of her cousin and his team echoing faintly and painfully in the background. Through her still very blurry vision, she saw several people pass by but their faces were indecipherable. She felt her head drooping and her head leaned comfortably against Kunimi's shoulder. His entire body seemed to stiffen for a moment before he actually said something.

"Don't fall asleep on me now, or you fall into a coma and never wake up again," Kunimi calmly stated.

"I wouldn't mind that," Eri muttered lowly.

She heard Kunimi sigh. "Just don't fall asleep."

Eri couldn't really promise him anything but somehow she managed to keep her eyes open until they reached the nurse.

"Oh my, what happened?" The nurse gasped in shock. "Here put her over here and dim those lights!"

She felt Kunimi gently lay her down onto one of the infirmary's beds and the lights dimmed.

"Oikawa-senpai hit her in the head doing a serve." Kunimi's nonchalant voice responded.

To her, he sounded like he just wanted to go home and sleep. Which is also what she wanted to do as well. But knew she shouldn't.

"Oh that stupid boy," the nurse sighed, quite vexed. "You can go, I'll take it from here. Thank you for bringing her to me."

"I'm supposed to stay with her until she's released." Kunimi replied, sounding sleepy.

The nurse shrugged, and then proceeded to check Eri to see how bad her concussion was while Kunimi sat in the corner. Eri felt kind of bad since it was her fault he was stuck here. And Irihata's fault. After running several tests on Eri, the nurse wrote down some things on paper, probably writing down this medical case.

Thankfully, her headache had reduced some and her vision was becoming clearer.

"Well, it looks like a very minor concussion, no looking at electronics for a day and no writing and drawing for a day as well." The nurse ordered. "Come back to me in tomorrow afternoon to see how you're doing. You'll be ok to go to sleep in about an hour. You can go now."

Eri's heart sank, there went drawing for a while. She tentatively hopped off the infirmary's bed and carefully started walking back to the gymnasium. She heard Kunimi get up as well and walk behind her.

Eri couldn't believe how stupid she was not to notice the ball in the first place. Plus she made them stop their practice because of her, and hindered Kunimi from practicing. She was a hindrance and burden, and that's all she would ever be.

"Are you ok?" Kunimi inquired lazily.

"Yes, thank you for staying with me." Eri turned and bowed lightly.

Kunimi looked slightly uncomfortable from her actions but like her, didn't let his emotions show much. "Just doing what I was ordered."

Of course.

When they reached the gym, Eri was pounced upon by many of club members, with them frantically asking questions on her wellbeing. Too bad for her it only made her headache return. Kunimi seemed to notice her light distress and pulled her to the bench and made her sit down. She was grateful for that. She continued to watch the practice since she couldn't draw, and couldn't help but notice the third year setter wasn't around at that current moment.

What a day she was having.

Who knew it would be so crazy and painful, she certainly didn't.


So chapter two is finally complete, and now my brain and eyes and fingers are dead. I think I'll pull an Eri and go snooze for a while. I hope no one seemed to OOC or Eri was a Mary sue. Thanks all and again, many thanks to Jungkookies for telling me how to insert line breaks!