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.

The air was crisp as Hinata jogged through town early that morning. The weights on his arms and legs made him feel like he was moving through molasses. With a steadying breath, he chuckled to himself as he thought of the conversation that he had with his new sensei when he called her about her instructions.

"Ano, Kagome-sensei?"

"Hai?"

"Why do I need weights? And why I do I need to wear them all day?"

A soft chuckle drifted through the device and into his ears, "The goal is to build your stamina, Hinata-kun. You are shorter than most players, which means you have more ground to cover and use more energy to do so. You need to be able to outlast your opponents, and we have only a little time to build up your reserves more. So, once you're able to move easily with the weights, you will need to increase them."

Hinata cringed for a moment before he nodded his head in determination. The bar is set, now he needed to grab it.

She was right about him moving around more than most. He was constantly running and jumping, either for a spike or a block—and he was a decoy. While he had more energy than most of his teammates, he could remember just how tired and exhausted he felt after playing two games in a day, and then a full set against Seijoh. As Kagome had said, adrenalin would only carry him so far, he would need a lot of energy to carry him through the matches ahead of him.

He chuckled to himself as he remembered how the elder Ukai was confused at first as to why he wasn't jumping as high during their training sessions. When the old coach noticed the weights on the small crow's limbs, he then became curious as to the reasoning for them. Hinata explained that he had asked Nekoma's manager for training and showed the regimen that he was given to follow. Needless to say, the former head crow was impressed and marveled at how a high school student had developed such a well-planned conditioning schedule. In fact, Hinata was fairly certain that the old coach was wishing that he had this sort of list at his disposal years ago—

"Well, lookie who we have here!"

Hinata froze and slowly looked up just to nearly jump out of his skin. "S-S-S-Seijoh's ace! And the G-G-Great King!"

Iwaizumi took a deep breath to calm himself as he listened to Oikawa gloat about Kageyama begging him for advice—for the third time. Honestly, he didn't get why his friend constantly felt the need carry on about these sorts of things. If anything, he should be focusing on the Spring Tournament and defeating Shiratorizawa.

"Tobio looked so pathetic! It was beau—"

"Oi, trashykawa. If we want to discuss pathetic, how about we reminisce about that pretty girl that didn't give you the time of day during Golden Week?"

Oikawa flinched in misery as that day played through his mind like some kind horror movie. "You're so cruel, Iwa-chan! How could you poke at that open wound!"

Grinning a bit at his childhood friend's 'pain,' he was about to needle the teen some more when movement down the street caught his eye. Turning his head to look, his blinked in surprise when he recognized the short red head heading their way. "Hey isn't that Karasuno's Small Fry?"

"Eh?" Oikawa turned and saw the hyperactive first year jogging towards him and grinned maliciously before calling out, "Well, lookie who we have here!"

Both seniors watched as the younger player froze. "Ne, Iwa-chan. It's the little Small Fry! What's a little lost crow like you doing waaay over here?"

"Ease up, shittykawa. No need to give the kid a heart attack."

"Don't go ruining my fun, Iwa-chan!"

Poor Hinata was panicking. Here were two players that he respected and feared, right before him and he didn't know what to do. Right as he felt like his very skin was going to crawl away and leave him behind, the chime on this phone knocked him out of his frenzied daze. Whipping out the device he saw that it was a text from Kenma asking how his training was going. Now he had a new fear, because the very thought of not completing all his tasks and Kagome somehow finding out terrified him more than the two highly skilled players in front of him.

"Sorry, but I need to go!"

"Oi! Where do you think you're going?!"

"Normally, I would smack this idiot, but I'm curious as well—Wait, are you wearing weights?!"

"I'm receiving training from Nekoma's manager, Kagome-sensei. And if I don't do everything assigned, she'll go all Tiny Tyrant on me!"

Oikawa tapped his chin in thought—he could swear that that school's name sounded familiar. While his friend was momentarily sidetracked over who knows what, Iwaizumi frowned in confusion, "What exactly does that mean?"

Shaking his head frantically, Hinata quickly babbled, "I don't know, but I really, really don't want to find out!"

Oikawa came back into the conversation with a snap of his fingers, "Nekoma? Isn't that the name that was on those kids' jackets during Golden Week?"

Iwaizumi's eyes widened briefly before a smirk stretched across his face, "Yeah, meaning his sensei is the same girl that had no interest in you whatsoever."

"Shut-up, Iwa-chan!"

"Oh yeah, we hear about that." Hinata quickly shook off the memory and darted passed the two teens, "Sorry, but I really need to go! See you guys at the Spring Tournament!"

"Oi!" Oikawa pouted as his 'victim' ran off and Iwaizumi continued to laugh at his misfortune with the pretty manager. And his day had started on such a high note, too.

Kagome frowned as she felt a bout of shivers travel up and down her spine after several rounds of sneezes.

"Oi, Kago-chan! You're not getting sick, are you?" Kuroo walked over to her and placed his hand on her forehead.

"I don't think so."

Kuroo considered her for a bit before he lowered his hand and draped it around her shoulders. "Well, you don't feel like you have a fever."

"Probably someone talking about me or something. I'll start drinking that herbal tea as a precaution."

"Good idea, we can't have our Pocket-Sized-Terror getting sick."

With a flat stare Kagome promptly jabbed her hand into the taller teen's side, causing him to flinch and jump away with a yelp. "And there you go, once again ruining the moment."

Laughing a bit, Kuroo pulled her back into a hug. "Seriously, you're not overworking yourself again, are you?"

Kagome sighed and leaned into the embrace, "I'm fine, Tetsu-kun. Promise. You've finished your part of the paperwork that you needed to fill out, right?"

He guided her towards the rest of the team with a nod, "Yup, all forms were signed and given to Coach Nekomata. And it sounds like all the permission slips have already been returned. So, we should be all set for the summer training camp at Shinzen."

"Excellent."

"Hey, Kago-chan? How's your protégé doing?"

"Hinata-kun? I've been getting reports from him about his progress. He's been diligent in following my directions so far, and he's gotten additional help for his technical skills."

"Oh?"

"It seems Coach Ukai, introduced Hinata-kun to the elder Coach Ukai."

"Wasn't Coach Nekomata on the phone with him not to long ago?"

Kagome giggled, "Yeah, he finally got his chance to brag and needle his old rival. I think they're planning a reunion of sorts."

"Well, that should be fun for him." The couple reached the rest of the team as everyone began to get ready to clean up the gym. "So, when is he planning to take off?"

"Oh, not until after the training camp. Probably when Sesshoumaru-sensei comes for your training day with him."

"NANI?!"

Kagome raised a brow at the terrified players, "You honestly didn't think I would forget about that incentive, did you? Oh, and the deal remains the same for during the summer training camp."

Kuroo dropped his head back and verbalized what the whole team was thinking, "Ah hell."

"Oh relax, he didn't kill any of you last time."

"It was a near thing." Yamamoto whimpered.

Kagome rolled her eyes softly as the boys began to clean the gym. Honestly, they had no idea how easy Sesshoumaru went on them last time—he didn't even make them practice while he threw daggers at them!

Author's Note: Well, I tried to figure out how to maybe expand on this chapter, but it just feels complete. So here we are. Next chapter will be the summer training camp at Shinzen. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and see you next time!