Note: Oh gosh, I'm actually putting up a note on here for once. Anyways, thank you all so much for leaving a review with me Q.Q like serious IT MAKES MY DAY WHEN I SEE THOSE THINGS! I'm glad you all like Hana so far and I hope Kyoutani doesn't seem too out of character. So um... this chapter isn't going to have much talk on Kyoutani's side and it's story time for Hana so...it's a bit longer than I intended, but whatever xD I should also mention that this story will be ending soon! The official ending is in two chapters, but i'll be adding an extra chapter that will contain the lemon because I'm terrible OTL I already have everything planned for the next two chapters too, but I'm not sure how quickly I'll be getting those up since I've only written the outline for those right now. Anyways, enjoy the latest chapter! Oh yeah, one more thing, I want to give a special thanks to DreamingOfReading and Chibi-No-Baka for leaving multiple reviews Q.Q

Chapter IX: It's More Than That

"Ah, Oikawa-san….your serves really hurt," Hana said while slumping back into her seat and pressing her arms against the cool material of the booth.

"You're both idiots. Who the hell told you to go all out on a girl anyways?" Iwaizumi spoke up sending a glare toward Kyoutani and Oikawa. Kyoutani muttered a quiet apology toward the older male before lowering his annoyed gaze toward the smaller female at his side who seemed to be sinking further into her seat. Oikawa on the other hand only smiled widely before bringing his drink to his lips which only annoyed the vice-captain more.

"What the hell do women even see in you?" Yukari spoke up from her spot between Iwaizumi and Oikawa the later male almost chocked on his drink when he heard Yukari speak.

"Yukari-chan! That's really mean! I thought you liked me!" Oikawa spoke up while looking toward the woman with a fake hurt in his eyes. Yukari could feel her eye twitch in annoyance and she lifted a hand to punch the male at the top of his head. Iwaizumi beside her laughed a bit at her actions before thanking her for doing it since he himself couldn't reach. Hana stifled a yawn as she watched the antics of her friends before she leaned herself against Kyoutani and rested her head on his shoulder.

"So…tired…" she whispered quietly before raising a hand to gently rub at her tired eyes. It was hard work waking up at nine am and then going out to practice Volleyball with some powerful players. Kyoutani quickly stiffened under her touch before looking down at her with an expression that was somewhere crossed between 'I like this' and 'What the fuck are you doing?' The two of them were hardly aware of Oikawa and Yukari raising their phones to quickly snap a photo of them.

"So cute Hanachi! I wish you would cuddle like that with me sometimes," Yukari spoke up while pouting lightly, but her teasing words had little effect on the small libero whom only raised a hand and motioned for her to go away. Hana pushed further into the blond winged spiker as she buried her face into his jacket. She didn't see the waitress approach their table because of this. "Hanachi, come on, you need to order," Yukari spoke up smiling widely with Oikawa as they watched the waitress smile at their two friends. It was too cute not to look at. A little brunette, no taller than 162 centimeters, clinging to a man that clearly had at least a head on her, with the cutest blush on his face; of course, his eyes were still pretty scary, but the waitress hardly seemed to care. "I'm going to order for you if you don't get out of Kyoutani's shoulder right now," Yukari spoke, but her threat did little to get the small girl to move. "Alright fine, a salad then?" Yukari asked and watched as Hana raised a hand and gave her a thumbs down as if to say no. "Salmon?" Yukari continued to try and guess what the girl wanted, but this time she was once more received with a thumbs down. She could feel her annoyance as she glared over at the little libero. "Cheeseburger?" Yukari continued; however, this time her voice was a bit more strained and she could feel herself losing her patience. This time Hana gave her a thumbs up though and then quickly dropped her hand back to her side. Yukari gave a small sigh at her friend's childish antics once more before ordering her own food and then waiting for everyone else to do the same.

It was fun eating together with everyone. Hana couldn't help but feel like she was slowly growing closer with this group…especially Kyoutani. She was pretty sure there was something about him, but to be honest…she couldn't quite place her feelings for him. It was different being with him or at least it was different from when she hung out with other boys like Oikawa or Iwaizumi. At first, she had told herself that it was nothing more than admiration for his risky play style and simple minded thinking; however, recently the fact that she might actually want more than just a friend or teammate out of him has been nagging in the back of her head. It wasn't as if she would have minded having a crush on a the intimidating player, but…she really wanted to hurry up and get her feelings in order especially now that she knew the team had a game on Friday. The first game of the inter-high. She couldn't have her feelings weighing her down when she had a duty to the team; so, the sooner she got her shit together the sooner she'd be able to focus on what was important.

"Eh? Kyoutani-san…are you coming over tonight again?" Hana asked when she noticed the boy following her up the steps to the floor she lived on. Kyoutani shrugged his shoulders a bit not bothering with an answer, but that was more than enough for her to know that he did intend to come over. "Oh? Is someone trying to get free food out of me…again?" she asked in a joking manner laughing a bit when she felt his glare on her back. "Its' fine, it's fine! I totally don't mind…feeding-" Hana said, but stopped mid-sentence when her eyes fell on the door to her place. She felt her brown eyes quickly grow wide at the sight of a woman standing before her door…. 'Oh no…please don't be…' Hana thought to herself as the woman slowly turned her attention to Hana and Kyoutani. "…Mom?" Hana spoke up as the woman took in the site of her daughter.

Volleyball jacket and shorts hugged her daughters form.

Bruises littered her arms from all the receives she had made.

A volleyball rested between her right arm and hip.

A tall and pretty intimidating male stood behind her, but Hana's mother hardly cared about that at the moment right now…right now, all she could think about was how her daughter was playing Volleyball again.

"Hana, what are you-" the older woman spoke up, but was interrupted by her daughter's loud voice.

"Actually, Kyoutani-kun! I was thinking we could go hang out at your place, huh? Like now….Now!" Hana yelled out louder than she had intended as she quickly turned on her heel, grabbed the boy's hand, and carefully, but quickly, dragged him back down the stairs behind her. She was barely aware of her mother shouting after her, but both girls knew that she'd never catch her daughter in those heels of hers. Hana wasn't exactly sure where she was going, but after having passed three different buildings in her apartment complex she started slowing down. Her grip on Kyoutani's hand remained the same though…if anything it only grew tighter and he could feel her lightly trembling. He glared slightly at her back, not because he was upset, but rather…he didn't want to take her to his place. That was hardly a side of him he wanted her, out of everyone on this planet, to see; however, he also knew he couldn't send her back to her house. She was trembling and…she was eerily quiet. Was that woman really her mom? And if it was shouldn't the greeting have been…more enthusiastic? He didn't want to pry into her life or anything, but as he recalled her parents lived quite a distance away and he doubted they saw each other very often. He gave a frustrated sigh while pushing a hand through his blond locks before finally returning Hana's grip and then stepping in front of her to take the lead. She looked up toward the back of his head with a bit of confusion.

"My place, right? You're not allowed to say shit when we get there, understand?" he spoke up gently tugging her behind him as he led her to his apartment.

"Y-Yes! I promise I won't broke a bowl like you did this morning either!" she said laughing a bit when he sent her something of a glare. The embarrassment was showing on his cheeks though and that was all she needed to see for her laughter to increase.

The laughs didn't last long though especially when the boy opened the door to his apartment. 'Oh god…it smells like alcohol in here…' she thought to herself, but none the less she kept her word and didn't make a complaint as she slowly took off her shoes at the entrance. She took notice to the fact that Kyoutani did not do the same and instead walked straight into his home with his shoes on. She hurried to follow after him, but stopped short when she caught site of a man sleeping on the couch. He was topless and sleeping in a pair of gray sweats…more than a few cans of beer littered the coffee table. Kyoutani wasted no time in kicking the black haired male against his calf until he woke up. Hana could only stare wide eyed as the man woke up yelling more than just a few slurs.

"What the fuck are you waking me up for? Where the hell have you been anyways? Haven't I told you to fucking text…" he trailed off when his eyes met with Hana's whom quickly blushed a bright red color and bowed to him. He slowly turned his attention back to his son before slinging an arm around Kyoutani's shoulders and dragging him forward a bit with their backs turned toward Hana. "Who the hell is she? She's pretty cute. Did you kidnap her?" he asked and watched as his son only glared at him in annoyance; more than a few irk marks forming at the top of his head. He was going to hit him. Hana here or not he swore to god he was going to smack his old man.

"Um…excuse me?" Hana spoke up interrupting the two of them. She jumped at how quickly the older man turned back to her though.

"I'm sorry for my son kidnapping you. I swear he's been doing stupider shit ever since my wife left. You're free to go and if you could find it in your heart not to call the cops on him that would be great," he spoke quickly while wrapping an arm around her shoulders much like he had done with Kyoutani and began ushering her towards the door.

"Huh? Um…what? Kidnapping?" Hana asked while looking back toward Kyoutani for some kind of help. The boy seemed to be getting more pissed by the second, but the panicked look Hana sent back to him quickly put the last nail in the coffin and in the next second he was tackling his old man whom went comically flying into his front door.

"You shitty old man! Stop talking fucking nonsense!" Kyoutani shouted toward the older male while Hana could only stand there…confused.

"Uh…um…Ah! I'm Hungry Kyoutani-san! Do you – Do you have something to eat?" Hana asked trying to dispel some of the awkward tension she was feeling in the air. She wasn't actually all the hungry, but if it stopped this, she supposed fight, from escalating too far then she'd eat just about anything. The older man peeled himself off of the front door when he heard Hana speak up.

"Oh? So, you're actually here willingly with my son…interesting," the man spoke up while rubbing slightly at the five 'o clock shadow that had formed around his face.

"Oi, what the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Kyoutani asked his intense stare never leaving his father until Hana wedged herself in front of him.

"So….it's a pleasure to meet you, sir! I'm Sato, Hana, a manager on your sons Volleyball team. May I please use your kitchen?" Hana asked while bowing her head slightly toward the older male once more. She ignored the way Kyoutani seemed to grumble in annoyance behind her.

"What a cute manager your team has, eh Kentaro? You can go ahead and make yourself at home, alright?" the man spoke up watching the girl with curious eyes as she took a step to the right at the same time Kyoutani had in an attempt to get around her and strangle his old man. He almost laughed at the way his son continued to grumble in annoyance, but eventually gave up before taking a seat on the couch eyes still narrowed though.

Hana gave a small sigh when she noticed Kyoutani go to sit on the couch before allowing herself to turn her attention toward the kitchen. She gave a final smile toward Kyoutani's father before making her way into the kitchen which she had to admit wasn't the cleanest thing around. She narrowed her eyes slightly at the dishes stacked in the sink and along the counter. The garbage also seemed to be piling up and she wondered when the last time they cleaned the stove was.

"It's okay…this is fine…." She pepped talked herself as she opened the fridge and freezer to look over what they had. She noted their lack of ingredients, but at least they had chicken so she silently thanked whatever god was out there before shoving the frozen pack into the microwave to defrost. Once that was done she quickly set off to clean the kitchen itself. Hana wasn't the cleanest girl around if her room was to be any hint to that, but she honestly couldn't stand cooking in a dirty environment; besides, she was pretty sure most of their kitchenware was currently sitting dirty in the sink. The two males, who now both sat on the couch, kept sending her occasional glances clearly wanting to ask what she was doing, but every time they looked at her they were met with something of a heated glare. They couldn't bring themselves to speak up whenever they looked over to her. Kyoutani had tried to come in at one point and give her a hand, but he quickly found out that wasn't good for his health since she sent him a look that rivaled Iwaizumi's…while holding a knife in her soapy hands. It was when they weren't looking at her that she smiled softly and silently thanked the two on the coach for letting her come over instead of kicking her out to deal with her mom. She knew the woman was probably blowing up her phone, but she couldn't bring herself to care about that right now.

"Okay, there's some leftover Oyakodon in the fridge you and your dad can take for lunch or something tomorrow, okay? And if that house is dirty the next time I come over I'll hang the both of you, understood?" she spoke up while glancing toward Kyoutani and then his father who appeared to be trying to slip away into his room. The older man visibly stiffened before adding a bit more pep in his step and retreating to his room. Hana smiled slightly and made a mental note to start coming over at least on a weekly basis to help out the two of them. It was clear the apartment was lacking a more feminine touch and even if hers wasn't the…cleanest it was still better than what they had right now. She prepared herself to say goodbye to her friend and go home to where she was positive her mother was waiting for her…angry.

"What's up with you and your mom?" the words left Kyoutani's mouth before he could stop himself. He mentally cursed at himself for asking having avoided the topic all night since he didn't want to upset her. He watched as she visibly stiffened at his words before taking a small breath. 'Crap…I just put on my shoes too,' she thought to herself before slowly removing her shoes while ignoring the way Kyoutani seemed to raise a visible brow at her.

"That's a little bit of a story. Let's um…go sit down again," she muttered quietly before placing her things on the ground once more and then making her way over to the couch. Jeez….she hadn't spoken about this in quite some time, but maybe it wouldn't be so bad to tell him? She felt the couch shift lightly beside her signaling to her that he had sat beside her and she quickly began wracking her brain for where exactly she wanted to start this at. She eyed the bruises along her arms for a moment as if it would give her some kind of encouragement, but when she found none she softly closed her eyes. "You know….I've always liked sports, especially Volleyball?" Hana found herself speaking up as she recalled all the times she had run around as a child playing with her brother's friends. "My mother hated that though," she continued softly which answered his silent question on whether or not he was supposed to answer her previous question. "She named me Hana with the belief that I would grow up to be as delicate and beautiful as a flower, but then I….turned out to be this little wild child of a thing," Hana spoke up softly. The corners of her lips pulled slightly into something of a sad smile and she could feel tears form at the corners of her eyes. At this point, Kyoutani was wondering what the hell he was supposed to do. He wasn't like Oikawa where he knew how to comfort a girl when she was crying…should he even say anything to begin with? Should he tell her she did turn out as a beautiful as a flower? Who cared if she wasn't delicate? He sure didn't give a damn if she wasn't as delicate as one of the girls chasing Oikawa around. He preferred her the way she was, chasing after a volleyball before it touched the ground, jumping onto a hard floor to save her team without thinking about if it might hurt, smiling later about her bruises and showing them off to him or Yukari, really what kind of girl proudly went around showing off her bruises?

"Well, when middle school came I tried out to Volleyball and my mother supported me at first, but then the bruises started and a few kids got injured," Hana said still speaking in a soft voice, but now she was gently gripping to the hem of her shirt. "We got into a lot of fights and she never bothered coming to any of my games and then at my last game in the eighth grade she showed up. I was so happy to see her there that I ended up wanting to impress her more than anything. I made a stupid play and rammed into Yukari on the court…" Hana continued speaking before taking a small, shaky breath, but at this point it hardly seemed to matter since the girl was already in tears. "I don't know how it happened…I just remember the pain I felt, but compared to what happened to Yukari my pain was barely anything. Yukari dislocated her knee…" Hana said slowly while her right hand moved to gently touch her own knee. She didn't need to go into further detail on the injury since almost every athlete knew how serious an injury that could be and even with reconstructive surgery it wasn't always a guarantee that they could get back into doing what they loved. It was apparent even to him that Yukari wasn't one of the lucky few; otherwise, she'd have been playing on the girls' volleyball team with Hana and not managing the boys. "In the end, my mother told me that it could have been me and gave me a lecture on how I should quit. I promised not to play until Yukari could play again, but then she became the manager for the boys team and Oikawa and Iwaizumi and you…and just…just….thank you so much!" Hana spoke up a little bit louder than intended as she quickly brought her hands up to wipe away the tears on her cheeks, but it did little since they kept coming back. "If it wasn't for you all…I probably never would have played again," she said slowly before chancing a glance over toward the blond that sat beside her. She gave him a small smile, but the look quickly changed to that of shock when she saw the boy close in on her and place a light kiss to her lips. She blinked a few times in pure surprise wondering why he would do something like that, but she didn't question it for too long. She slowly let her eyes close and gently returned the kiss taking note to the fact that she rather enjoyed the feeling.

Extra:

'Oh shit. Oh fuck. She's crying…she's crying! What the fuck do I do? What would that shitty captain do? Should I call him!? He'd know what to do, right?!' Kyoutani thought as he watched the short haired brunette beside him begin spilling her story and tears out to him. God, why him?! He wasn't someone most girls opened up to and he definitely wasn't someone who knew how to handle this situation. He glanced toward his phone when she wasn't looking and seriously considered calling the trashcan to see if he could help, but that would probably upset her too, right? He slowly turned his attention back toward her, but quickly regretted it when he saw her smiling slightly at him. 'What the fuck?!' he thought to himself in something of a panic. Were all girls supposed to look that cute when they were crying?! Sure, her eyes were red and her cheeks were stained, but something about that smile and her red cheeks just made him want to kiss her and hold her and tell her everything was alright. What no?! He couldn't be serious with that….he had never once felt the impulse to do anything like that; scratch that he had never felt this way with any girl in general. Shit….he could feel his cheeks heating up. He needed to get the fuck out of her before he did something stupid that would earn her hate for the rest of his life, but if he just left in a rush like that she'd probably end up hating him even more. Shit….he was screwed two ways to Sunday. And then her smile seemed to grow a little wider as she thanked him and he just knew that her thanks; despite her mentioning the other, was mainly for him. This girl was an idiot, but despite thinking that he couldn't stop himself from closing the distance between them and lightly kissing her. He swore she was going to push him away and probably beat the crap out of him, but once more he was reminded at how much of an idiot this girl was when she tentatively returned his kiss. Seriously, what the hell….he'd never thought he'd meet a girl like her.