What if Natsu was Hinata's twin instead of his younger sister?
Chapter 3
Natsu exited the building with anticipation to tell Shōyō everything that she learned. When she reached their bikes, it dawned on her that Shōyō's playing volleyball and she's not so they wouldn't be riding home together.
That fact slightly saddened Natsu but she pushed it to the back of her head. They'd always biked home together ever since they were in elementary school so it was natural for her to be a little upset. But they were high schoolers now so they shouldn't just keep to themselves anymore. She checked her phone to see if her brother texted her. He did.
Shōyō: I'm staying after school for the volleyball club! :D tell Mom i'll be there in time for dinner
Natsu sent response.
Natsu: Kay :P
And with that Natsu unlocked her bike and rode her way home, alone.
The ride home felt unnervingly quiet. Without Shōyō talking, nothing broke the silence except for a few cars and crickets. Natsu didn't like this kind of silence. It made her feel uneasy and that something bad would happen Other than that, the ride home was uneventful.
"Mom! I'm home!" Natsu called out as she walked inside her home. The house was a small two story house with one bedroom on ground level and one upstairs.
When there was no response to Natsu's statement, she began to think the worst. That is, until she remembered her mother was working late. With the need of more money, their mother has to work longer hours which meant late night shifts.
Natsu checked her watch and noticed she had an hour and a half until her beach volleyball game started at a nearby court. Fighting the urge to procrastinate, she took out her homework are started working on Math first. When that was done, Natsu switched to working on English. She got around a quarter done before procrastination took over. An hour and seven minutes later, Natsu finally finished her English homework along with two episodes of anime and a chocolate bar she stored away a couple days earlier.
Natsu took another glance at the clock and noticed that she had twenty five minutes until her beach volleyball game started at a nearby court. It never hurt to be early, so Natsu took a drawstring bag and tossed a water bottle, a small towel, a few snacks, and her phone into it. She took the bag and walked outside, making sure the door was locked. Her bike was leaning against a tree, and the ginger hopped on to start riding towards the beach.
It was a nice beach with gentle waves and stunning sunsets. Not too busy or too vacant. Natsu played there on Mondays and Fridays usually. Occasionally she'd come on other days if there was a tournament or if she was bored, but not often.
The ride to the beach took about fifteen minutes. When Natsu got there, she saw another team playing a match on one of the courts and three other people wandering around. One was the referee, another was the man who organized all the games and teams, and the last person was her teammate.
Natsu put her bike away, secured it, and started walking over to her teammate. Her teammate, Chiba-chan, was a care-fee second year at a different high school. They've been playing together for approximately four months, and were one of the top teams at the local court.
Chiba had mousy-brown hair tied back in a ponytail with bangs and a smile. She was significantly taller than Natsu at 5'8" and the main spiker on their team of two. Her easy going personality was always a refresher to the ginger.
When Chiba noticed Natsu walking towards her, she smiled and raised an eyebrow. "Finally decide to show up?"
For the previous two weeks, Natsu couldn't make it to any of their games so Chiba had to find a temporary partner. Family had came to visit and the twin's mother insisted that they spend all their time getting to know their cousins and aunts they haven't seen in years. Shōyō somehow was able to escape their mother's grasp and practice volleyball in preparation for Karasuno so Natsu had to cover for him.
"Sorry, I was really busy." She sheepishly grinned.
"Mkay," Chiba said while tossing Natsu a volleyball. "I'm just serving right now." She held a different volleyball in one hand and served it over the net. Natsu jogged to the other side and served her ball so they'd serve to each other and there'd be no need to shag the balls. After a good amount of volleyballs were served, the two of them instinctively started peppering together.
About five minutes later the other team arrived. It was a male and a female. They seemed to be around their late twenties or early thirties. Both were lean but looked as though they haven't played volleyball in a while. The woman had glasses and her hair was tied up in a bun while the man had messy black hair. They walked onto the court and Natsu and Chiba stopped peppering.
"Hello," Chiba greeted. She put the volleyball on the sandy ground and bowed respectfully. "I'm Chiba."
Natsu copied her. The man and woman also introduced themselves and gave a small bow. It wasn't often that they met new people to the court. Usually the same players came and played while newcomers were few and far between.
After everyone was introduced to each other, Natsu and Chiba went to the one side of the court and their opponents stayed on their side. The referee, if you could even call him that, climbed up onto a small wooden platform, and waited until everyone was ready.
Chiba walked up to the net to decide who would get the ball the professional way. Rock, paper, scissors. The guy walked up.
After about three ties in rock, paper, scissors, the other team got to serve first. The woman took the ball from Chiba and dusted the sand from it while walking back.
She served a floater. It was heading towards Chiba so Natsu instinctively started moving closer to the net to bump-set it. Chiba spiked the ball and the guy dug it. The woman set it and the spike from the guy was hit out. The ref blew his whistle and the first point was given to Natsu and Chiba. They smiled at each other.
"Do you want to serve first?" Natsu asked her partner after grabbing the ball from outside the court. The ginger always asked this question as she didn't like serving first. Or at all.
"Sure," Chiba replied as usual. She took the ball from her teammate and prepared herself for a mini jump serve.
When Chiba served, the ball headed right between the two people of the other team. Both started moving towards where the ball would be, but then they pulled back, expecting each other to get it. The ball hit the sand exactly in the middle of the two.
The piercing whistle broke the second of silence after the volleyball hit the sand. An ace for Chiba. Natsu high fived her.
In the end, Natsu and Chiba won the first set. Twenty one to fourteen. The other team played better as the game went on but they still lost.
Natsu got her bag from her bike and sat on a large, flat rock not far from the court, pulled out her water bottle, and thirstily gulped it down. Chiba sat down next to Natsu and also rested with her water.
After a minute of silence and catching their breath, Chiba asked curiously, "So how was the first day of high school? You started today, right?"
Natsu sighed. "It was alright. I accidentally barged into the wrong homeroom because Shōyō made me almost late, but other than that, it was good."
"That's good," Chiba smiled. "Just a word of advice from your dearest senior by a year, don't get caught up in the drama of high school. It'll just make everything ten times more stressful."
"Okay, I won't."
After a few minutes of resting, it was time to play the second set. The other team looked ready and determined.
"Phweet!" The ref's whistle blew and he indicated for Natsu or Chiba to serve since the other team served first before. Chiba raised an eyebrow at Natsu and the ginger knew that her teammate was making her serve.
Natsu picked the ball up from the ground and begrudgingly served it.
When the guy bumped it up, she noticed that his bump wasn't very controlled. Despite that, the woman set it nice and high, a very controlled set, and the man jumped and spiked it over. His spikes were strong and fast, but like his bumps, weren't precise. It was as if he just swang without trying to aim anywhere. They were easy to predict and either Natsu or Chiba dug the ball effortlessly. They got the point.
Natsu prepared to serve again but this time, tried to hit the ball towards the man since his control was bad and his spikes were predictable. But alas, the ball sped towards the woman who expertly bumped it in a high, curved motion close to the net. When the guy set it, the ball was a little off but the woman still spiked it. The spike wasn't strong or even fast, but it was harder to predict. Sand flew up from where the volleyball hit the ground.
Natsu and Chiba stared at the ball. When the woman spiked it, the ball didn't go in a straight line. Instead, it appeared to almost deflect from the woman's palm and spin to the ground on the left, nearly parallel with*. Extremely hard to get if you couldn't read where the person was going to spike it, which was all the time. The ref's whistle blew and the other team got the point.
During the rest of the second set, the other team put up quite a fight. The woman, who didn't spike a lot during the first set, pulled all kind of tricks that Natsu couldn't adapt to quickly. They racked up a lot of points. Eventually, the other team won, twenty one to seventeen.
"We need to learn how to predict the spikes of the woman," Chiba said, nibbling on her snacks.
"Yeah," Natsu agreed while catching her breath worn out from running and the shining sun. "They'll just keep winning points and we'll lose." Then an idea popped into her mind. "Wait," She paused. "You know, it'd probably take too long to figure out the woman's style so what if we just try to get more points than them in other ways instead of focusing on her spikes?"
Chiba thought about what Natsu said. "That's true. We could do that, maybe even try some of their tricks against them. Since their digging isn't their biggest strength, we could earn a good amount of points from that."
Natsu grinned, "Let's do it."
Twenty to twenty. The final showdown. Game point for both teams**. Although the woman played old tricks and some new ones, Natsu and Chiba performed the same and collected a nice amount of points. Chiba served some aces, and Natsu saved the ball amazingly a few times.
She was serving. Natsu took a deep breath and told herself that the ball only needed to go over the net. That she shouldn't try any fancy jump serves or try to aim the ball at a specific spot. Just get it over, and with Chiba, they'll earn that last point.
It was over, to Natsu's relief. She had a bad tendency to serve worse when under pressure. The woman got the first touch. That meant she would spike it over, most likely with a ploy attached to it.
The time between the guy's set and the woman's spike seemed to slow down. Natsu could see everything clearly. The woman was already in the air when a feeling came over the ginger and impulse, she moved forward a few steps. It was a good thing she did.
The woman spiked the ball nearly straight down, but Natsu was ready. In a spectacular save, she dove and the ball went flying into the air, without touching the ground. Chiba had only a split second to gape at her partner's save before hurrying to bump the ball.
When Chiba bumped the ball, nice and high, Natsu felt as though this was her moment to shine. She got up quickly and ran back to get a running start to her jump. Right before that, a few year old memory flashed through her mind of Shōyō staring at a tv on the streets, excitedly pointing at his idol, The Small Giant. As the game went on and her twin obsessed over his idol, Natsu noticed the intricate detail in between every set, bump, and spike that occured. Small little movements that may seem like their nothing had secret messages hidden inside. One step could tell someone where that person was going to move, or even spike.
Natsu saw the exact same thing happening to the other team. The woman took a step forwards, indicating that she thought the ball would be spiked weakley and straight forward, not anywhere near the edges of the court. The man on the other hand moved a bit to the left, protecting the edges of his side and letting his partner take the center hits.
Natsu saw all of it occur, and then she jumped. A clear view of the top of the net greeted her as she drew her arm back and threw all of her strength into that one hit. That one hit that was heading to the right, where no one was defending. It was risky since it could easily go out, but with high risks comes high rewards.
Silence followed, until a clear cut voice rang through the air.
"Hinata-chan!" Chiba cried out. In happiness. The ball had landed in the court with no one there to dig it up.
Natsu turned her head and saw her partner sprinting at her before picking her up in a quick hug and squeezing her in glee before placing the ginger on the sandy ground below.
"You did it!" Chiba exclaimed. "I knew you had it in you! I wish someone recorded it, it was so awesome!"
Natsu bashfully grinned back, overjoyed with Chiba's praise and with herself. This was her first time earning the final point fair and square for a win. Chiba usually spiked it or the other team messed up so it was a big deal for her, especially after playing for four months.
Her eyes sparkled as they both went to applaud the other team for putting up a really good fight. The other team actually had a lot of sportsmanship and the woman smiled lightheartedly as she told Natsu that she was very good at keeping the ball alive.
"Not many people can dig my spikes," she said, "They're unpredictable and sneaky so congrats to you for getting even just a few of them."
A few minutes of talking to the other team and Natsu was ready to go home. She washed sand off her legs and arms in the ocean and put on her flip flops while the sun started to set which made the clouds a brilliant orange and yellow shade.
"Bye Hinata-chan!" Chiba beamed and waved. She was walking to the train station where she'd catch a ride to her town.
"Bye Chiba-chan!" Natsu called out as she got onto her bike with her bag in hand.
The ride home was peaceful. It was around six fifteen. Birds flew freely in the sky and fresh air blew in Natsu's face and hair. A few people were out and about. Some were talking in groups and others walking along the sidewalk.
Eventually Natsu arrived at her house. The lights were off so she knew Shōyō wasn't home yet. She wondered where he was probably volleyball practice. After putting away her bike and bag, Natsu decided to cook dinner. Noodles and rice were easy to make so she made those, not ready to branch off to other foods in fear of burning the house to the ground. It felt lonely and sad without her brother there to break the silence with his constant chattering about literally anything.
"Natsu!"
When Natsu heard her name being called, she finished setting the table and recognized Shōyō voice. He entered the kitchen and saw Natsu looking at him. She couldn't help but feel whole again now that he was there after most of the day spent apart.
"Natsu! You won't believe what happened today!" Shōyō exclaimed. Natsu, for the first time, welcomed his loudness. "I'll start from the beginning. Okay, so I'm walking into the volleyball gym and I see the King of the Court. I know right, the King of the Court!"
While Shōyō recalled his day, Natsu put food on the plates, continuing to listen to her brother. To be honest, it was a pretty interesting day. Toward the end of his talking, she kind of got lost in thought and missed part of his story but quickly tuned in again.
"I'm going to be practicing with Kageyama and Tanaka-san!" Shōyō finished proudly.
"Okay."
They ate dinner together and this time, Natsu was telling her day to Shōyō. About her volleyball game, how she won the game, and especially how she scored the final point with a sneaky spike.
"I'm so proud of you, my little sister," Shōyō grinned while ruffling Natsu's hair making it even messier than it was before.
Natsu annoyingly stared at him, although unable to hide a smile. "We're the same age."
They retired upstairs to bed at ten thirty after hanging out downstairs for a while. Natsu texted their mom saying goodnight and that they were going to bed.
"Natsu," Shōyō mumbled sleepily right after she turned out the light. She turned her head to her brother's silhouette. "Wake me up at four. I need to get ttoo scholll erlyy…" Shōyō voice faded as he fell asleep leaving Natsu with questions.
Why so early? Is he doing something? Something bad? Did he intentionally wait until he was about to fall asleep so she couldn't ask any questions? She was going to shake him awake and demand answers, but decided not to. He was already tired enough with volleyball all day. With that, Natsu fell into slumber with an alarm set for four.
*I'm not sure how to describe this spike. It's a spike that you swing through but at the last second you turn your hand so that your thumb is facing up and the ball spins to the side.
**Just an fyi to anybody saying "But you have to win by two points in volleyball, not one point." Beach volleyball has different rules than indoor volleyball. All games end at twenty one regardless of the scores
A/N: Hey everyone! I know it's "technically" the 27th of January (12 am), but at least I got it out mostly before the deadline. You might've noticed that I added more to the summary, which is basically just giving more information about this fanfiction. Also, thank you Rebornx3 for another one of your lovely reviews :) They always give me a happiness boost. I will try to keep it as close to canon as possible
A/N 2: VERY IMPORTANT! For any older readers, I'm just letting you know that I edited the Introduction to this story. I removed the Xs and replaced them with actual words. I thought it was weird and inconvenient that I'd have to slowly reveal the background (which isn't that relevant to the plot) so I decided to put it all there. The edits are the underlined words
I hope you enjoyed this chapter! :)
Words: 3147
Uploaded: 1/27/19
Next Update: Before the 20th of February