Her arm was sore - more specifically her wrist. Frustration welled up inside of her, making her lips tremble in the effort it took not to snap or cry. She wasn't sure which urge was more prominent, honestly. It'd been a week and a half since she started physical therapy. The exercises for her wrist were so simple - basic stretches, nothing taxing… and yet, they hurt. Especially the first few days.

After a week passed, Niko's new doctor upped the regime a bit. More stretches and wrist exercises were added. When Dr. Shinto was demonstrating each of the exercises, they looked so simple. And they were… but her wrist ebbed with a dull ache the more that she did them. Logically speaking, she knew that was to be expected. Unluckily… logic wasn't a strong suit right at this moment for her. All she wanted to do was get back to practice.

Heaving a sigh, the blonde stretched her arm out in front of her and began bending her sore wrist back towards her slowly. "Good, good. You're probably sore, but this is much better than last week." Dr. Shinto hummed, sliding into the seat across from the libero quickly as she watched her closely. "Much more flexibility. I think… hmm…"

The black-haired woman trailed off for a moment, pursing her lips as she pondered something. After a long bout of silence, she finally nodded to herself with a small smile. "Let's see how you do at our next session on Friday, but after that… we might just be able to let you practice very light receives. And only that." With a pointed look at the girl when Niko visibly brightened, Dr. Shinto laughed. "You're doing great. Keep this up."

Heart fluttering in her chest at the prospect of actually being able to practice again spurred her forward. The discomfort and pain was a small price to pay for being able to use her wrist freely again. Now, she was close enough to practically taste it.

Rubbing a towel across his head, he panted heavily as practice finally drew to a close. The coach had positively tortured them this time around - back to back drills and then five on five practice matches, and then more drills. It was relentless.

Despite this, Kai wore a smile even as he struggled to calm his breathing. Spring High would be starting soon. They were going to kill it, and plow their way through all the way to the Nationals. Karasuno was going to make it, too. There was no doubt in his mind about it.

"Hey, Nobuyuki-sempai." Inuoka sidled up next to him, eyes wide with curiosity. Kai pulled the towel back from his eyes and glanced at the first year with mild intrigue, letting out a low 'hmmm?'. "Did you hear about those rumors that some girl got yanked off of the volleyball team like a month ago?"

"Yeah…. Why?" Frowning at the odd line of questioning, Kai slid the towel down to his shoulders. The rumors had been circulating for a while - a little over a month, actually. Apparently, some third year on the girls' volleyball team didn't just get suspended from the team - she was removed entirely and banned from rejoining. Some rumors said she'd slept with the coach, others said she beat up a girl on her team, and even more whispered that she flew into a rage and wrecked the locker room one day.

He wasn't usually one to listen to gossip, but everyone was talking about it - from third years down to first years. Every sports club, every class… it was huge. Which to be fair, wasn't surprising. It wasn't often someone got banned from participating in a club ever again.

"Apparently it's someone my friend Touka-chan knows. She said that the girl just snapped suddenly and like broke someone's arm." The wing spiker's eyes were huge. "Do you know her? You're friends with some of the girls' volleyball team, right?" By now, more of the team was trickling over, curiosity pulling them all in.

With a slight frown, Kai gave a single shake of his head. "No. I only know one of them. We don't talk much." Beyond that, he really didn't care much to find out about this girl. Whoever she was, he was somewhat glad he didn't know her. Whatever she'd done had to have been pretty severe, given the consequences.

"Ohoho, we're gossiping now?" With a roll of his eyes, Kai let his eyes slide to Kuroo as the captain slung an arm around Inuoka's shoulders. "Don't stop on my account." Judging by the mildly terrified, mildly confused look on the poor first year's face, it was clear that he wasn't entirely sure if Kuroo was joking.

Luckily, he didn't have to ponder for long. "Leave it alone. Whatever happened is none of our business. None of us know her." Yaku's voice scared them all straight - or at least Inuoka, anyway. The brunette straightened up and twisted around to face the libero faster than Kuroo could even pull his arm away. "Now finish cleaning up so we can leave."

His glare left no room for any commentary. "Fine, fine. Party pooper." Kuroo smirked, sidling away from the little group and towards the stationary setter, where he sat on the floor playing whatever his game of the week was. "Oi, Kenma, get up and help us clean."

With the air lightened again and everyone distracted, the team dispersed and continued with the progress they'd already made on cleaning up the gym. Despite that, for whatever reason Kai found himself mildly preoccupied with the subject Inuoka had brought up. He'd not thought much of it previously, but the last time he'd talked to his friend on the girls' team, she'd been pretty upset about something.

They weren't all that close, so Kai hadn't pressed her on the subject - but he remembered her rushing out of the room after one of their classmates made a comment about the girl who'd been kicked off of the team. He couldn't even remember what the comment was, much less the name of the girl. After a few minutes, he shrugged a bit and pushed the thought from his mind. No need to dwell on it.

Fate had a funny way of bringing things together. He realized this on his way home after practice. Kai had long since separated from the rest of his team and was nearly home when a familiar voice pulled his attention towards a bench resting along the edge of an asphalt basketball court.

Jirou Rika sat on the bench, knees pulled up to her chest. Her eyes met his and she repeated his name. "Hmm?" Kai pulled an ear bud from his ear and muted his music. "What's up, Jirou-chan?" She was a third year, and had gone to the same middle school as him. They both played volleyball and had become loose friends based around that. She was the very same girl that had been brought up in conversation earlier that day.

"This is gonna sound really dumb, but can you… just keep me company for a while?" Her dark eyes slid from his and she bit her lower lip. "You're always so level headed. I am a mess and just… need to be around that." She swallowed, still chewing on her lower lip as she refused to meet his gaze - probably expecting him to refuse.

Honestly, some part of him nearly did - he was exhausted and just wanted to go home and sleep. Then he shrugged and pulled the other earbud out and took a seat next to Jirou. It wouldn't hurt him to help her out for a bit.

For a long time, the two sat in silence. Jirou kept her legs pulled up, her chin resting on her knees as she stared out at the asphalt court. The cool air was soothing at first, but slowly made Kai a little chilly. Just as he was about to say he needed to leave, she started talking.

"I did a bad thing." Licking her lips, Jirou pulled a slow, deep breath. Kai's eyes slid to her, watching carefully but not pressing. "And someone got hurt because of me. Two people did, really." Her lower lip trembled, and she pulled it between her teeth quickly.

After a beat of silence, Kai spoke calmly. "How so?" A simple question - she could answer however in depth that she wanted to. Clearly, she needed to talk to someone about this, if it got her so shaken up.

"My best friend…" Jirou sucked in a deep breath and swiped her hand across her eyes as wetness gathered at the corners. "I'm not trying to brag, yeah? But I'm a great libero. Everyone tells me that. I'm not like. Super high ranked nationally or anything, but I do pretty well, yeah?" Slowly, Kai nodded. He wasn't sure where she was going with this. "Especially this year. I've been doing really well. Our team has done great."

Another slow nod. "And some representatives from Tokyo University came and watched like two of our games. They were there for the youth championships. Scouting. Y'know?" Briefly, Kai recalled being told something about one of the girls' team members being scouted for the youth championships possibly. He didn't pay much attention - too busy focusing on his own team. "Everyone thought they were there for me. Which like, in retrospect? Was dumb."

This time, Kai remained silent and didn't move. "But everyone said they were and I let myself get hyped and then… I didn't get an invitation. I pushed myself really hard to get that invitation, but I didn't get one. But my friend… she got invited. And I was happy for her." Jirou sucked in a deep breath, her lip trembling again. "But I was also upset I didn't get an invitation and I told her some stupid stuff because I was feeling really shitty, y'know?"

Of course. Everyone vented to their friends. "I told her I felt useless - like everything I'd worked for just went down the drain because they didn't recognize me. That all my practicing, all the work and effort and time… it was all for nothing. And I said some… mean things… about the girl who got invited when the announcements came out." At that, her voice broke a little and she squeezed her eyes shut. "I also said since I was clearly nothing compared to her, that I should just quit volleyball. It was stupid, and my emotions just getting out of control, but I said it to Nao one day and she just got so mad." Jirou sucked in a shaky breath.

"She yelled at me, telling me that I was worth more than some dumb invitation and we got into an argument because I was an ass. I told her that her opinion didn't count because she got an invitation. Which was stupid because obviously she did. She's a great wing spiker." Kai was realizing slowly that Jirou was just venting to him now. He was a silent sounding board, and she was opening up completely.

"And for a while, she and I didn't talk. But things got better between us - I apologized. Until two months ago. I got bad news from one of the universities I'd applied for. They didn't want to give me a volleyball scholarship and I just… I said some really hurtful things. To her, myself, and the girl who got the invitation to the youth team."

Jirou was crying now, and Kai wasn't really sure what to do other than press his hand to her back in soft support. "Nao left really angry, and had to go to practice for the youth team…. We didn't talk for two weeks, and then I heard from another girl on our team at school that Nao got kicked off of the youth team. She'd been benched on our team, too, and then less than a week later we were told by our coaches that she was being removed from the team permanently. That she'd never be allowed to play on an official team again."

Her voice cracked and she buried her face against her knees. "She broke the girl's wrist. On purpose, apparently. Nao broke a girl's wrist all because of stupid things I said and I can't stop thinking about how it's my fault. It's my fault that not only is Nao's career over - but more important, the other libero's could be too. Someone got hurt because of me and I don't know what to do."

That was when Jirou truly broke down. Kai continued to gently rub his thumb against her shoulder, unsure of how else he could comfort her. Motivating his teammates was fairly easy… dealing with an upset girl? Much more complicated. Especially given the circumstances.

After many long moments of silence, Kai finally opened his mouth. "It's not really your fault, though." He frowned, lifting a shoulder when she looked at him through her tears. "Yeah, you said some crappy things, but in the end, it was this Nao girl who took it too far. She acted of her own accord - it's not like you told her to go and break someone's wrist as revenge for you."

"No! Of course I didn't! I never meant for her to do that. I was just venting - about how useless I felt, and how stupid it was to put so much time and effort into a club when I wasn't getting anyhting out of it…. But those were lies! I love volleyball. I was just upset. And that's no excuse but-"

"Nao made her own decisions. You're not responsible for her actions." Something deep in his chest felt unsettled by all of this information. Like a slow, seeping sand in his lungs, the uneasiness slid through him. He had to take slow, deep breaths to counteract the feeling of heavy weights on his chest. "Maybe you should talk to Nao about it - and… honestly, probably one of the school counselors too."

For a while, he didn't know if she was even going to reply. Then, Jirou thanked him and quietly left with a promise that she'd do that. It wasn't until she was long gone that he put two and two together. Jirou's friend had broken someone's wrist, and she was on the youth championship team - or had been. Hinata had texted Kenma in a fit several weeks back - or had it been months? - about how the libero they'd met ages ago during golden week training camp was injured. The Aoba Johsai girl, Karasuno's Ace's soulmate, had had her wrist broken at youth team training.

Jirou's best friend was Nao, and Nao had broken Niko's wrist. And had been permanently removed from official volleyball teams because of it. Pressing his lips together in a thin line, Kai swallowed slowly as he stood up. When he'd heard about Niko's injury he'd been upset along the rest of the team. They weren't incredibly close to the girl, but they were good enough friends to be worried - and knew enough about her to know how devastating the injury was. Knowing the information he did now about her injury… it left him feeling restless. Like he could've done something about it.

Heaving a sigh, Kai stood up and rubbed the back of his neck. No, that was dumb. He didn't know the girl - hell, he barely knew Jirou. When he got home that night, he sent a text to the group chat - something that would sate his own unease for the night. Or so he hoped.

NobuKai

22:14

Has anyone heard anything about Kobayashi's recovery?

He was pretty positive that his sudden message would garner confusion, but honestly he didn't care all that much. In the end, it turned out he was right - everyone was a little confused that he'd brought it up.

Cat-ptain

22:18

Who is this and what have you done with my vice captain

ActuallyTheAce

22:19

rly tho

but also i'm curious 2

Puppu

22:20

Wrangler you still talk to her regularly, don't you?

I'd ask Hinata but he's prob asleep

Wrangler

22:22

We text regularly yeah

she's ok. cast came off the other week

has a lot of physical therapy, can't play yet

soon though - she said just the other day that within a week she should be able to start practicing again

ActuallyTheAce

22:25

is she gonna b able to play in spring high?

Pudding

22:26

probs depends on when she gets cleared

I think their spring high starts on the 25th

So if she gets ok'd before then *shrug*

Cat-ptain

22:28

why am i not surprised that yaku texts her regularly

got a crush we need to know about?

Wrangler

22:28

It's like you have a death wish

we're friends, obviously we text?

screw off

Cat-ptain

22:29

A little defensive there aren't we

Sorry to break it to u but she's kinda taken, yaku :/

Wrangler

22:30

Go die

we're just friends

anyway, why were you asking, kai?

Didn't think you talked to her that much

There for a while, Kai was sure they'd forget he was the one who asked. Wishful thinking. Settling into his bed, he rolled his eyes.

NobuKai

22:32

curiosity

He didn't really need them knowing everything. The stuff he'd been told by Jirou wasn't something he intended on sharing. It was a lot to unpack. So he'd keep it to himself. Powering his phone off before the text barrage could come through as he was sure it would, Kai tossed the device aside and pressed his face into his pillow.

Somehow, hearing about the why behind Niko's injury, and the who, made him more concerned about her healing. That… and part of him wanted to tell Jirou so she could get some sort of peace from the whole situation. Most of him said that was a bad idea, though, and not his business or hers. With a slow sigh, Kai closed his eyes and let himself drift into a mildly restless sleep

Nearly three weeks after getting her cast off, Niko had finally been given the go-ahead to practice things beyond just light serves and spikes. Most days, her wrist felt fine - her physical therapy exercises didn't hurt anymore, so Dr. Shinto had just given her the all clear to attend practice with the youth team as normal this weekend. It was exhilarating.

The buzzing of her nerves throughout her kept Niko on edge the whole way home. Tomorrow, she'd finally be able to practice with the youth team again. Beyond that, she'd be able to practice with her team at Aoba Johsai. Spring High was less than a week away. Although she'd been able to practice lightly for about a week… it felt like she was so far behind them.

The first year libero, Kisuke Kira, had been subbing in for her during practice matches and had blossomed a lot during that time - which she was proud of, but at the same time… it just proved how long she'd been off the court. Sucking in a quick breath, Niko straightened her back and nodded to herself. She was back now - that's all that mattered.

Shooting a quick text to her high school teammates that she had been cleared to practice regularly now, Niko stepped into her house and tossed her bag to the floor just beyond the door. Just as she closed the door, her ears picked up the low, but unmistakable voice of Asahi…. And Tōru?

With a confused frown taking root on her lips, she slipped her shoes off and headed deeper into her house. Soon, she could pick up the voices of more people - from her team, Tōru's, and Asahi's. Peeking into the living room, she was surprised to find about members of both Aoba Johsai teams and Karasuno's boys' team sprawled around.

"Eyyy! Here's the lady of the hour!" Tora, her captain, leapt up from where she'd been seated between their teammate, Michi, and Suga. As Niko opened her mouth to question the girl, she was picked up from behind and twirled around.

Laughing, Niko craned her head back to see Hitomu hugging her as she spun them both around. "What's going on?" She had to speak between small bouts of laughter, hands gripping Hitomu's arms lightly until her teammate set her down.

Hajime appeared next to her, brow lifted. "We all figured you'd finally be cleared to practice like normal - and we decided to celebrate. Your parents okayed it - as long as, in their words, we don't wreck the place like we did for your sixteenth birthday."

"Personally, I don't remember wrecking anything then." Tōru came out of the kitchen, pushing past Niko and the others with ease. "We were delightful guests." He smirked, flopping unceremoniously onto the couch next to Matsukawa.

After taking a moment to process that they were celebrating for - and with - her, the libero grinned brightly. "I mean… to be fair, you did break my mother's least favorite vase. Which she was grateful for, but still." Straightening up a bit as Hitomu released her, Niko was not subtle at all about looking for Asahi. It took her only moments to spot him, back to her as he helped one of her teammates finish putting up a sign that said 'CONGRATS!'. When he finished, Asahi turned towards her and smiled.

"Hi, there." With three long strides, he came to stop in front of her. "Congrats on being cleared, Niko." Leaning down, the brunette pressed a quick, soft kiss to her lips and straightened back up again. Her heart hammered in her chest.

"Hi. Thank you, Asahi." She grinned, sliding her hand into his. "And thank you all for doing all of this. I adore you all. I hope I don't have to do introductions between anyone by now…"

Hajime rolled his eyes, meandering to the table in the corner where snacks had been stocked. "Somehow we managed to introduce ourselves to one another without your assistance." With a laugh, Niko nodded quickly. A glance around the room told her that it was only the third years from both boys' teams present - and only two second years and the third years from her team.

When she questioned the reasoning for this, Tora shrugged and explained that she had invited everyone on their team, but some people already had plans. The three first years apparently had some big test coming up in one of their classes so were studying. Sakura and Nara had said they'd love to come, but both had family dinners to attend since their parents wanted to celebrate the upcoming Spring High.

Nonetheless, Niko was grateful for the people that were able to come - and understanding of the others. It meant so much to her that they wanted to be there, even if they couldn't come. Both boys' teams explained to her that it seemed much simpler to just invite the third years - knowing that with the second and first years, things were likely to get wild fast.

At some point during the night, Niko ended up on the couch in curled up against Asahi as they played some games on the television with everyone else. There was currently a heavy competition going on between Tōru and Tora, with both alternating between trying to score the most points and trying to sabotage the other. Daichi had declined to participate in said competition - stating it was between the setters, at which Suga had grinned and shook his own head with a shrug and a 'no it's clearly a captains' competition'.

While many of them had stayed among their own teammates at first, they all gradually spread out and began talking and interacting with the other teams just as easily. Tōru declared loudly at one point that although there was a truce tonight, they would not hold back during Spring High. Surprisingly, it was Asahi who had replied. "If you did, it wouldn't be much of a game. We'll still beat you." He'd quipped, grinning at the brunette setter as Niko burst into a fit of giggles.

Luckily, the rest of them had been quick to jump in and remind them both that tonight was 'safe grounds' - no competition talk. Tōru protested loudly at that until Tora distracted him with a bet - whoever could get the most points in the game she was putting in by the end of the night won. The loser had to do whatever the winner wanted them to for three days.

It reminded Niko of when she and Tōru had made a bet on who could win an impromptu 'marathon' of sorts. Hajime had been the judge - as they ran around a predetermined path to see who was fastest, then did an obstacle course (the children's playground), and finally had to climb to the top of a tree. Loser had to practice with the winner's team for a day - which is how she'd ended up practicing with the boys' team at the beginning of the year. She'd been so close to beating him… until Tōru had grabbed her leg as she was climbing and yanked her back down as she was scaling the tree.

Leaning into her soulmate, Niko gradually came to realize that the edge of panic that she'd been feeling for nearly two months now… it was slowly ebbing away. In their presence, she managed to forget about the pressures of her teams for a while. With a content sigh, the girl nuzzled her head under Asahi's chin. The low rumble of his laugh vibrated in his chest and he lifted a hand, pressing it to her head softly.

Things were good. They'd been getting better for a while, but tonight… it made her realize that she was surrounded by all the people she needed to be. Asahi pressed his lips to her temple gently, murmuring the same phrase he'd been repeating every day since she'd originally let it slip first. She smiled, pressing a kiss to his chin as he whispered in her ear.

"I love you."

A/N: Oh hi there. It's me, again! Two updates in one week(kinda)? Who am I, and what have I done with me? Seriously though, I have been getting back into the swing of writing and this chapter was really fun for me. I got to touch on the other side of the story - and show you all a little behind the 'why' of what Nao did (as well as some of the consequences of her actions). I know some people were really wanting to see how the boys handled Nao, but in all honesty, this felt more appropriate. Future chapters will touch on it a bit more. Thank you all for your continued support - it means the world to me! I look forward to reading your reviews! Next chapter brings us back into the volleyball life a little more!

koemia - Ahhh, I know right? It was a beast to write, with all of the emotions and everything involved haha. Thank you so much! Niko definitely is the more verbal of the two about affection :p again, thank you very much! I am so happy to hear that you enjoy the story (I'm only sobbing[happy tears] a little I promise). I'm going to try to get back into the habit of updating once a week for you all! I love and appreciate all of my readers

WinterEveOrchid - Thank you so much! I'm super glad to hear that you enjoy Niko and Marks of Life! It means a lot for you to say that. Thank you! I'm doing better now, so hopefully will be back on the writing train for a while!