Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to these characters. Any use of the anime or manga in this story is not mine either. They belong to their original creators.

It was official, Lev was completely hopeless. Kenma groaned internally as he once again set the ball where he was certain was the perfect toss for the hyper first year—only for him to headbutt the ball over the net after he swung and missed. There was silence in the gym for a moment, until Yamamoto collapsed into hysterics. Kagome shook her head with a sigh as Lev passed off his spike failure off as his own personal time delay attack. None of the tosses were matching Lev at all—they were either too fast or too slow.

Kenma just wanted to throw in the towel and call it a day at that point. No matter what he did—nor how closely he watched and analyzed the titan—he just couldn't get the kid to connect with the ball. It also didn't help that Lev never seemed to approach the net in the same way twice. As the coaches called for practice to end that day, the team went through the motions of cleaning the gym before Kenma walked to the gate with Kuroo to meet Kagome. Kagome greeted Kenma with a sympathetic smile and handed over her now daily gift of a homemade mini apple pie—he honestly felt like he needed a room full of these tasty delights if he was going to survive the rest of the week. Come to think of it…that wasn't a bad idea. He would have to ask her about it later.

Heaving a tired sigh, Kenma walked with the couple as some of the players decided to go to the nearby convenience store for food. He had hesitated to go since he felt like he had had his fill of a particular rookie, but Kuroo wasn't going to take no for an answer this time. Deciding to pass on eating anything, Kenma settled himself on the long bench outside the store and continued to play his game as he waited for everyone to join him. Kagome and Kuroo were the first to exit with their ice creams and seated themselves next to the Setter.

"Still working on that game, Kenma?"

"Yeah, I think I'm getting a better feel for it."

Kagome shook her head slightly and smiled, "Souta is on the verge of getting grounded because he's so focused on that game. Mama was not pleased when she found out that he wasn't doing his homework before he started playing."

Kuroo chuckled as he wrapped an arm around their petite manager, "Higurashi-mama's wrath is not something I would ever want to challenge. Ne, Kenma? How are you handling working with Lev? It's gotta be rough."

Kenma heaved a sigh as he continued another round. "Yeah. I haven't dealt with him much ever since he joined."

Settling more into Kuroo's side, Kagome smiled in sympathy at her friend. "Well, the two of you are complete opposites. And while it can be difficult to imagine the both of you meshing together, it's not impossible. You just need to find a balance."

Slowly the other members trickled out and joined them on the bench, with Lev once again declaring that he was going to be ready to play by the team's next match. Yaku gave the silver haired teen a side eye, "Seriously, where the hell does your confidence come from?"

However, Inuoka took the titan's confidence as a challenge and announce that he would work even harder than ever to become a regular. Kagome chuckled as Lev stated that he was going to become the ace and not just a regular—triggering an adamant response from Yamamoto once more.

"You don't call someone who can't play any defense an 'ace!'"

"But if I work hard these next two weeks with Kenma-san, I could pull it off. Right, Kenma-san?"

Kenma groaned internally at being pulled into the duos near daily squabble, "It's hard to set the ball for you because you're so sloppy. It's not like I'm Karasuno's setter."

"Huh? Who's that?" Lev honestly couldn't imagine anyone being better than Kenma, but he was pretty new to volleyball.

Inuoka grinned widely at the taller rookie, "They're our eternal rivals. I mentioned them to you yesterday, the ones that we had the Battle of the Garbage Dump with."

"Ah, the team in Miyagi, right?"

Yaku grinned as he remembered the team in question, "They have some insane first years there. A middle-blocker shrimp that hits with his eyes closed and a setter that can perfectly match him. That shrimp doesn't have any of the basics down though."

"Ne, is he shrimpier than you, Yaku-san?"

Kagome shook her head at the boys as Yaku dealt out the punishment that Lev had just earned himself. "He may not know the basics yet, but he has the drive and determination to learn."

Lev rubbed his head where Yaku had just hit him, "But if that guy's a starter, then I can…"

Kenma decided then that Lev needed another dose of reality, "I think you suck more than he does, Lev."

"Huh?!"

Kagome laughed softly, "That's a bit harsh, Kenma."

"Hm? But it's true."

The next day at practice, he just longed for distance from the energetic teen. As Kenma entered the club room with Kuroo, there Lev was—and holding his gym shoes up for him as if he wouldn't be able to find them in his locker. While Kuroo quietly chuckled at the setter's misfortune, Kenma prayed for patience and plotted revenge against his childhood friend.

Lev was bound and determined to sync up with him, and Kenma just wanted to vanish into a hole. Even running wasn't a reprieve! As the team began their jog back to the gym from their stair master, Lev remained glued to Kenma's side despite him that he could run ahead with the others.

"Nah, I need to work harder to match you, Kenema-san. I have to become Nekoma's ace."

Kenma sighed in disappointment before the two boys slowed to a stop when they heard a cat crying out as it was trapped in a tree. He watched in curiosity as the younger boy walk down the slight hill and approach the tree that the scared feline was stuck in.

"Can you actually reach that high by jumping?"

Looking back at him, Lev gave a grin full of confidence. "Piece of cake. Leave it to me!"

The titan then jumped up in hopes of grabbing the frightened animal, and proceeded to scare the feline even more. However, Kenma was shocked to see the height that Lev could reach. It definitely brought to light some of the titan's capabilities. And unfortunately, it seemed that conversation that he had with Kuroo yesterday had some merit…

"Lev's pretty interesting, huh?"

Kenma glanced up from his game to glance in Kuroo's direction and raised a brow. "Well, you don't have to actually deal with him."

"He's got you there, Tetsu-kun." Kagome teased.

Kenma sighed as he ignored Kuroo's grin, "His timing when he jumps is different every time. So is his point of impact. I have no idea what kind of tosses to give him."

Kuroo pondered a bit since he really couldn't say much in that regards. Kagome leaned over and gave Kenma a sympathetic grin, "I'm sure you'll figure it out Kenma, you always do."

"Thanks, Kagome."

Looking down at the game in Kenma's hands, Kuroo raised a brow. "You still can't beat that enemy?"

"Hmm? Its attack is super strong and he takes me out instantly."

"But if you beat it, it's all over, so don't you get more fired up when it's an enemy you can't beat?"

Kenma frowned, "But it's no fun if you can't beat it, either." As he was killed once again, he groaned in frustration.

"Can't you just attack it before it attacks you? That thing's tail was glowing right before it attacked."

"What? No way.?"

"What? You didn't notice? I figured that you'd notice something like that. I guess even you can't see everything around you when you get worked up."

Shooting a scowl at his friend, he turned back to his game. "I'm not getting worked up."

"You are, though."

"Am not."

"You are."

"Am not."

"Yes, you are."

"Nope."

Kagome laughed at the squabbling pair as they continued on their way home…

Coming back to the situation at hand, Kenma refocus as the two contemplated how to help the distressed animal.

"What should we do Kenma-san? Maybe if you climb on my shoulders, we could reach the cat that way?"

This honestly sounded like both a plausible and horrible idea all in one. Holding his groan internally, Kenma climbed onto the first year's shoulders and felt more like a child instead of a teenager—the rookie was ridiculously tall. As he reached out to the frightened feline, he tried to coax it down into his outstretched hands. Unfortunately, the poor creature wanted nothing to do with either teen after the fright he had received earlier. Kenma frowned and dropped his hands.

"This is useless. I'm done."

Lev squawked in disbelief, "Huh? What are you talking about?!"

"I don't like most animals anyway. The only cats I get along with belong to Kagome-chan and Nekomata-sensei."

"Huh? But—"

"Just let me down."

"We can't just leave him up there! Oh, uh, sorry. I overstepped."

"You don't need to worry about stuff like that. Well, he doesn't want anything to do with us. We should just wait for Kagome-chan to make her way back. She could get him easily."

The wind suddenly blew with a vengeance as Kenma once again tried to get Lev to let him down, causing not only the teens to brace themselves, but the cat to fall off the limb he was trapped on. Kenma stared in shock before he quickly reached out to the feline, just barely missing his outstretched paw. His heart began to drop to his stomach as he watched his fall towards the ground—only to be caught in the extended hand of Lev.

Breathing sigh of relief, the duo gave a wide-eyed stare at the equally stunned tabby. Kenma couldn't believe the reach that Lev had, and as he contemplated this revelation, the poor cat shook off his shock and proceeded to attempt an escape. Lev in his hopes of calming the critter down—seemed to forget that Kenma was on his shoulders. Both boys went careening forward and faceplanted in the grass below, with Lev holding the cat safely above his head. Kenma slowly pushed himself up to scowl at the titan as the cat scurried off.

"Are you guys ok? What happened?" The teens turned the heads to see Kagome standing on the path with the said cat in her arms—purring away happily before she set him down and he ran off into the distance.

"Huh? Kagome-senpai?"

"Lev dropped me." Lev squawked as he saw the scowl on Kenma's face.

Kagome raised a brow as the rookie spouted loudly that it was an accident only to freeze as a trail of blood ran from his nose to his chin. Mere moments later the same happened to Kenma as well—causing the two to smirk and chuckle at the sight they made. She shook her head at the two as they climbed to their feet and made their way to her.

"The two of you are a mess. Come on, let's get to the gym and get you both cleaned up."

"Oi! We came back because you were taking so long—What happened to you two?!" The trio turned to see the team had backtracked to check on their remaining members. "Eh? Why the hell are you both bleeding?!"

"Lev did it."

Yamamoto squawked in outrage, "Huh?! You guys got into a fight?!"

Lev began to panic a bit at the looks some of his upperclassmen were giving him. "N-no-!"

"Don't go hurting our precious setter!" Yaku smacked the taller teen upside his head for his infraction.

Kagome chuckled as she began to heard the group back on track. "All right, all right boys. Let's get to the gym. We're running out of time that we can use it today."

The gym was alive with the boys training and watching Lev and Kenma try to match up. Lev had just leapt up and swung with all his might, only to just graze the underside of the ball. Huffing and puffing with his exertion, he was surprised to hear Kenma call out.

"Here's the next one."

The team watched and had to admire the rookie's determination as he got ready to spike once again, Kenma watched Lev closely and thought about what he learned and saw during their attempt to rescue the cat. He couldn't help but think that Lev reminded a bit of Hinata Shoyo. Tossing the ball high in the air, Lev jumped up and finally connected.

There was silence in the gym as everyone absorbed what was just accomplished. Kenma stared at the excited teen and called for another set. Lev celebrated and declared that he would as many as the setter wanted—only to just graze the ball once more.

Yamamoto laughed as the missed ball hit the net and bounced off of the first year's head. Inuoka took the brief moment of success as a challenge and began calling for Kenma to give him a toss. This created a cascade effect as Yamamoto and others followed suit.

Kenma groaned as he realized that he was going to have to work a lot more as the team bickered over who would get to spike the ball next.

Kagome and the coaches stood off to the side as they observed the team become more energetic. Naoi tried to rein the boys in by reminding them that their practice match was about to begin. However, Coach Nekomata watched the proceedings with a grin of satisfaction.

"Looks like there's some new blood moving, finally."

Looking at her uncle, Kagome smiled in agreement. "I believe you are right, Nekomata-sensei. And things will become more interesting from here."

Author's Note: I live! Sorry about the delay, but the last few months of the year are always a crazy time for me. And life got stupid again. Anyways! See you next time!