Niko lay, curled up in Asahi's lap, fighting a losing battle with her medicine now that she was comfortable. Her eyes felt like there was lead attached to her lids - they kept drooping, threatening to stay shut and then she'd jerk awake again. Asahi sat cross-legged in the bed, leaning against the wall with one hand splayed across her back to prevent her from falling and the other soothingly rubbing her hair.

"Go to sleep, you need to rest, Niko." He murmured in her ear, for the fifth time now. Previously, Niko verbally disagreed but now all she could manage was a low groaning sound as her eyes slid shut again. Finally, she sagged against him a little more, injured arm resting on pillows next to them and before long her breathing shallowed out.

"Finally. She's been forcing herself to stay awake since we boarded the train." Matsumoto Kasumi sighed, flopping back into the chair she'd commandeered the moment they stepped into Niko's bedroom.

A few feet away, Oikawa laughed obnoxiously loudly. "The goblin queen is stubborn, if nothing else." He'd barely gotten that out when Iwaizumi swung his foot down from his perch on the bed and kicked the setter square in the chest.

"Shut up, trashykawa, she only just fell asleep." He hissed, eyes narrowed in a near-demonic glare directed at the now-whining Oikawa. After a brief, much lower-volume, argument between the two they finally calmed down and looked at Matsumoto. The girl had both brows lifted, staring in bemusement at the two.

A beat later, the smile was slipping from her lips and dipping into a frown. She drew in a deep breath, licking her lips. "I guess now it's time to lay it all out." Matsumoto didn't need to even look at the other three to know they were tensing up, ready to hear it all. "I… I want to apologize first, though. I had an inkling that Nao had been still giving Niko shit… but I assumed that Niko was handling it."

She sighed, eyes falling to her hands as they rested in her lap. "I should've realized that wasn't the case - and I should've gone to the coach when it first started, instead of brushing it off because Niko didn't seem affected by it. It never would- It wouldn't have gone this far if I had done that. I'm sorry I failed her, and in turn you all." Matsumoto pressed her lips together in a fine line, hands clenching into fists.

"Niko's a moron." Iwaizumi let out a grunt, glaring at the sleeping libero. "She would've kept quiet about the bullying to you all, because she didn't want to burden you all - didn't want to pull the team apart," He held up a hand as Matsumoto opened her mouth to interject, "which I know is stupid. Something tells me she knows that, too, deep down. So it's not your fault, or anyone else's outside of Nao's."

Matsumoto bit out a harsh laugh, nodding slowly. It wasn't like… She couldn't really deny what he said. Yes, Niko was an idiot who thought she was going to hurt the team… but that didn't make the wing spiker feel any better about it. There were many times when she considered going and talking to the coaches about Nao's behavior, but never did. She always pushed that thought away, telling herself that if Niko was really bothered by it then she would discuss it with them.

Even knowing that Nao was bringing down the rest of the team…. She never spoke up. Everyone could tell that the girl had been targeting Niko at practice every day. No one enjoyed being on Nao's team - they hated seeing her push the libero around, and despised the way she played so roughly against the girl, too. Yet none of them ever spoke up about it - each of them too concerned with bettering themselves, too worried about overstepping some dumb line.

If only one of them had stepped forward… Niko wouldn't be in this position now. "You'll stop blaming yourself eventually but right now there's nothing else to be done about it. Niko will forgive- actually, no, she'll insist that there's nothing for her to forgive you for. She'll probably ask you to forgive her." Iwaizumi spoke up again, and when Matsumoto looked up, his gaze was boring into hers.

In the face of that, all she could do was nod slowly. "I… Yeah. I'm sorry nonetheless. But… let's just get straight to the point." Lifting a hand, she rubbed it across her face. "We were practicing today, like we always do. Playing five on five. Nao and Niko were on the same team. Everything- Everything was fine." A lie, she realized.

"Or it seemed like it was. We were all giving it our all, like always. Nao had pushed Niko around a couple times, made her fumble, miss balls. None of us liked seeing it, but Niko kept brushing it off. She'd just get up and go after the next one. She wasn't thinking anything of it - and we all grew complacent and did the same. I should've known." Matsumoto bit her lip.

Again, she rubbed a hand across her face, shaking her head. "I should've realized that Nao was just a ticking time bomb. This morning, Niko confronted her and it turned physical - Nao threw Niko against the lockers. Or would've, if Yumi- ah one of our teammates - hadn't been able to catch her."

Matsumoto missed the way Asahi, Iwaizumi, and Oikawa all tensed up. "I threatened to tell the coaches then and there - but Niko told me she'd talk to them after practice and I…. I let it go." Her eyes were burning, and she screwed them shut. Waves of guilt came crashing over her. If only, if only - "If only I'd just done what I said I would and gone to the coaches immediately. But I didn't, and we played and Nao just kept getting rougher and meaner and angrier - we could all tell, but we didn't-"

Halting, she sucked in a breath and rubbed her palms against her eyes harshly. "Niko dived forward to- to receive- to receive a ball I'd feinted and she got the damn receive and then Nao- fucking Nao." Her breath stuttered out, and the tall girl seemed to shrink in on herself. "I couldn't move - just watch from the other side, it all happened so fast. Nao just looked so damn angry. She had this fucking glare and she was watching Niko so intensely. She stepped forward as Niko slid up towards the net, and followed her hand with her foot-"

Tears slipped from her eyes and she buried her face in her hands as she choked out the rest. "And just as Niko stopped, she just fucking stomped on her wrist. I didn't realize how bad it was at first - I was just seeing red. And then the medic came out, and he said it was broken and they were taking her to the infirmary and- I should've realized that Nao was going to do that. I shouldn't have feinted, it was my fault Niko was up by Nao. If I hadn't, then-"

For all the toughness she showed to the rest of the world, Matsumoto took things to heart when it came to her friends. Niko was such a ball of sunshine, so happy, a bright unyielding force of positivity and she'd been… complacent. She never stepped forward, never put herself between Nao and Niko, never did enough to try to stop it all. She failed her friend, and that feeling was the worst in the world.

A hand on her knee pulled Matsumoto's mind from the dark, crashing waves in her mind. "You were playing like you always do." Surprisingly, it was Oikawa who was knelt in front of her. His brown, piercing eyes incredibly serious. "It's not like you were expecting that to happen." Something in the way he seemed to grind the words out… she couldn't tell if he was angry with her, or-

"Nao's the one to blame here, for all of it. She's what caused this - all of it." His hand slid away from her knee, and Oikawa stood up, hands clenched into fists at his sides. His entire body was vibrating with his effort to keep his emotions in check.

There was a long pause, silence enveloping the room. No one knew what else they could say. There wasn't much else to be said. Each of them was steeping in their own regrets, anger, and disappointment. Even Asahi, as he held onto Niko's small form was tensing and relaxing repeatedly, as if trying to calm himself from the torrent of emotions within him.

Matsumoto sat in her chair, fists clenched at her knees. Beside her, Oikawa cursed and then suddenly turned and stormed from the room. Iwaizumi shook his head as she glanced in his direction. A moment later, he stood up and left her alone with Asahi and the sleeping libero. Her gaze found the two of them again, lips curling down in a deeper frown.

"I'm sorry." The words came out suddenly, softly. Matsumoto knew she didn't need to apologize… but it would have felt wrong if she hadn't. "I... " She trailed off, tongue darting across her lips in apprehension. "I will make it up to her. I don't… I know I don't need to, but-" Again, she paused. This time, to take a deep breath and steel herself. "We all owe it to her. She's important to the team. However we can help, we all will."

Asahi opened his mouth, but Matsumoto shook her head. "It's okay. I know. I'm… I'm gonna head out. If you guys need anything, she has my number." She stood up, inhaling deeply. "Hopefully next time we see each other, it's under better circumstances." Rubbing her hand across the back of her neck, the wing spiker dipped her head and then backed out of the room as Asahi was agreeing.

Downstairs, she found Niko's parents in the hallway, waiting. "The boys filled us in. Thank you for taking care of our daughter." Even though she wanted to protest, Matsumoto didn't get the chance to before the two were hugging her. "Iwaizumi and Oikawa are outside, they'll walk you back to the train station. We'll update your coach regularly - and I'm sure Niko will be in contact with you all soon too."

Just as her parents said, Oikawa and Iwaizumi were outside waiting for her when Matsumoto made her way out of the house. For a moment, she contemplated saying something… then decided against it. Instead, she straightened her back and gave them both a short nod and the trio started off in the direction of the train station. They were silent for the majority of the trip.

Disappointment, rage, grief, determination, hope… it all swirled inside of her, with nowhere to go. That night, she didn't go home. Instead, she took an extra hour trip to go to the home of the one person who could work through it with her. The one who'd been her entire support system for so long.

Less than a week later, the coaches sent an email update to the entire team. Tanaka Nao had been dismissed from the team - permanently. A new wing spiker from a Miyagi prefecture school replaced her, Setsuna Ichika. Another libero had been recruited as well, from Kamomedai - a girl named Minato Yua.

The first practice without Niko was… unsettling. Mistakes piled up, nerves were on edge the entire time. Barely an hour in, the coaches cut five on five practice short and had everyone go back to drills. It was frustrating. No one could calm down. It felt like… Betrayal. Pure and simple.

Four weeks. It was hell. Four weeks in a cast, unable to practice at all. She wasn't even allowed to practice light one-handed receives. The first week wasn't so bad - it was buffered by a lot of pain killers and attention from Asahi, her best friends, and everyone's teams visiting and lifting her spirits. The second week had them regretfully backing off - as much as they wanted to dote on the libero, no one could feasibly do so. Niko understood, and encouraged them to get back to their practice.

The third week was the roughest. She went back to practice with her high school team for the first time. Even though she was only allowed to do stretches and light runs with them it was enough… for the first day. Sitting on the sidelines just watching them play… that had been awful.

That feeling had only been exasperated when the weekend came around… which meant it was time to go to the JWC-Y practice. Everyone had showered her in affection and encouragement, and she couldn't deny that it was flattering and made her choke up a little. Unfortunately, that feeling was short lived. After going for a run with the team and stretching with them… she was once again relegated to the bench. Sitting alongside the coaches, watching them play.

At first, she'd thought she could do it. Watching from the sidelines wouldn't be so bad, because then she could see them in action and that would help her help them….. Except it wasn't like that. The ice cold hand that gripped her hand from the first toss until halfway through the game when the anger, grief, and sadness welled up again - it was too much. She'd had to excuse herself to the bathroom, where she let herself cry for two minutes.

Later, her replacement- Niko had to shake that thought away. Minato Yua approached her when practice ended. To her surprise, the girl had bowed to her - deeply. "I will not apologize to you - for what happened to you or for taking your spot on this team." She'd straightened up, pinning the surprised Niko with an even stare. "You'll be back on the court before long, and you're going to swipe it right back from me. I was invited here temporarily, but that doesn't mean I won't strive to prove my worth so they'll keep me on at least as your backup."

Niko couldn't help but laugh, then. It was the first time that she'd felt somewhat normal after the incident. The competitiveness, yet complete support from her fellow libero was refreshing. For a few days after, she rode that high. Things were… decent.

Then it came time to take her cast off. Four long weeks. Appointments with her doctor, her physical therapist, a psychiatrist, her coaches from both teams… on one hand, it was overwhelming. On the other, it made the process somewhat easier. Everyone was incredibly supportive, and always laid everything out for her without sugar-coating it.

Asahi accompanied her to the doctor. Oikawa and Iwaizumi had offered as well, but she'd insisted that she'd be fine and that she wanted them to focus on their practice. It'd taken a lot of convincing, but she did eventually manage to get them both to stay back.

The entire appointment flew by in a blur, up until the cast was freed from her arm. Asahi had been holding her hand the entire time, murmuring encouragement into her ear every now and then. She could tell he was nervous, but he kept holding it together for her. Never once did he falter, even as Dr. Ichibata was explaining risks.

When the cast was freed from her arm, it was like a dam breaking. All of the frustration, sadness, anger, disappointment…. Hope, eagerness, delight - it all came rushing forward at once. She cried again, with Asahi holding her securely against him and her doctor waiting patiently for her to get it all out.

As she sniffled and wiped away the last of her tears, Dr. Ichibata gave her a slight smile. "Don't apologize, it's totally normal." Fortunately, the man was very good at his job. He understood the reason for her tears, and never once told her to get over it. He just let her cry it out. It was a relief, even if mildly embarrassing to cry in front of her doctor. "Now, let's talk about physical therapy."

Straightening up a little, Niko nodded and squeezed Asahi's hand softly. "For the next four weeks, you are going to meet three times a week with Dr. Shinto Benimon. She is an old colleague who runs her own physical therapy center about half an hour away from where you live. You'll abide by everything that she tells you, okay? And then one the weekends, once a week, you'll come here and meet with me so I can see how things are going."

"Okay." Niko murmured softly, pulling her lower lip through her teeth lightly. She was in the home stretch. She'd be able to play again soon. Without the cast, she could do light receives and tosses-

"For the first week at the very least, no volleyball. At all. No tosses, receives, spikes - nothing that will put any kind of strain on your wrist." Unfortunately, the man was very good at his job. He understood that working with athletes like her meant he needed to set clear boundaries and guidelines… Honestly, Niko couldn't fault him for it. The twinkle in his eye gave away the fact that he probably knew exactly what she was thinking. "After that, we'll discuss how things are and if you can handle some light activities. Deal?"

Wetting her lips, Niko pursed them and nodded slowly. "Deal. No volleyball for a week." He lifted a brow at her and she glanced away. "...At minimum. When is my first appointment with Dr. Shinto?"

"At five today. Which is in…" He glanced at his watch, then looked back up at her with a smile. "About six hours. Plenty of time for you to get home and relax for a bit before heading over. I wanted you to get started on physical therapy as soon as possible. I could send you home with a regime, but I thought it would be best for her to go over it all instead since she's going to be your main resource for PT. Is that alright with you?"

Honestly, he should've known that asking made no difference - although Niko was exhausted already she was determined to get back to volleyball as soon as possible… which meant doing anything and everything she needed to. Nodding quickly, she confirmed what she was sure he already suspected. "I'm fine with that."

"Perfect." Standing up, Dr. Ichibata walked over to the counter and picked up a file folder he'd set there at the beginning of the appointment. Bringing it over to Niko and Asahi, he held it out for them. "This is all of the information we went over today, including Dr. Shinto's business address and telephone number. No need to bring anything with you - I've taken the liberty of transferring your medical files over already so you didn't have to go through any hassle. You can be on your way. Thank you for always being a stellar patient."

As Niko took the files, he held out his hand for her to shake - which she took in her newly-freed hand gingerly. "Thank you for everything, Dr. Ichibata. I'll be sure to do everything Dr. Shinto tells me. And I'll see you next weekend."

By the time Niko and Asahi got out of the medical building and were walking back to the station, the blonde had marveled over her cast-free wrist several times over. Several times, she'd start bending and twisting it - only for Asahi to gently chide her and remind her not to do anything until she met with the new doctor. She'd blush and laugh, saying that she just couldn't get over the feeling of being able to move it around again. Each time, he'd chuckle and pulled her hand up to press a soft kiss to the inside of her wrist. It was a pretty good distraction, she admitted to herself.

The train ride back home lulled her to sleep within an hour, and she spent the next three cuddled against Asahi's side as he wrapped an arm protectively around her. When he gently nudged her awake as they approached their station, she blearily yawned and stretched. "Mm, thank you for letting me nap." Niko's lips curled up in a grin and she leaned up to peck Asahi on the lips. It still delighted her that he blushed whenever she kissed him. Granted, it'd lessened quite a bit since the first time she'd done it… but there was always a little hint of red of his cheeks when she pulled back.

"You were tired." He shrugged one shoulder, smiling as they stood up. That was another thing she reveled in - he'd become more confident in himself, and in them as a couple, and she adored it. He rarely ever stuttered over himself around her anymore… but even when he did, she thought it was adorable.

Asahi's never ending support, his steadiness during her turbulence, the small acts of kindness and things to show he cared… Random visits with chocolates, or movies, or the one time he brought a load of volleyball matches that had been recorded of upcoming opponents that they spent four hours watching… His eyes lit up every time he saw her, and he never grew tired of hearing her babble and never pushed her to talk when she wasn't feeling it. All of it, and so, so much more. It made the weights in her chest lighten and butterflies form in her stomach. It was always so natural, talking to him, being with him. Like breathing.

It was then, on the walk home, that Niko realized for the first time that she was - without a single doubt in her mind - in love with him. And that realization made her heart soar. She stopped him, outside of the gates of her home. Tugged on his hand and pulled him around to face her. For a moment, all she did was watch him - drinking in all of him. Then, Niko smiled and reached up for him. He met her halfway and they kissed. This time, when she pulled back she stayed close.

With her arms around his neck and her mother opening the front door of their home, Niko let the world slip away and told him matter-of-factly -

"I love you."

A/N: Yes hi hello. It is me. Back from the land of... well, to be blunt - terrible mental health, writing blocks, new job, and a whole lot of other crap. Sorry to have abandoned you all for so long - I hope you can forgive me! I am back... but I can't promise any regular schedule right now. I'll try to get more chapters to you as I can though. Thank you all for your never-ending support 3 I love you!