Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to these characters.


Kuroo was feeling a bit twitchy about training. He was excited, and desperately wanted to practice against the other teams. Especially since Coach Naoi informed them on the bus this morning as they were leaving that he would be switching everyone frequently to give everyone time to play and so he could see how everyone played against the other schools. It made sense, the third years would be retiring from the club soon so the more chances that the soon to be new team would have to practice the better.

Last year he didn't get to participate much since the upperclassmen had seniority, so the only real practice he got was with Bokuto and whichever setter they could snag. Sometimes Kai and Yaku would join in and a few others, but once it because known that he and Bokuto would practice nonstop they all began to scatter. Not sure why.

So yes, he was thrilled to be training with the other teams, he was also nervous. Now he was feeling this for two reasons, but they all surrounded a certain blue-eyed petite manager. First issue he had, Kagome was gorgeous and he was not blind nor oblivious like she was to the looks that she received on a daily basis. That little fact has not changed now as he could see all the eyeballs that followed her in the gym, he would be addressing that momentarily.

The second and more pressing issue, is Kagome and her notebook. It's a new one, and he tried to take a peek at it on the bus ride here. There were tabs for every player, but only one tab just for the third years. He was certain that there were notes about every member's current status, but he couldn't read it! She wrote in some kind of code that made no sense! When she caught him trying to read over her shoulder, she gave him an evil smug smirk and turned back to her scribbles while giggling. So, either the notebook was a fake to confound him and the others if they tried reading her notes again, or it's real and she's being cruel. The jury is still out on that verdict.

Well, there's not much he can do about the now dubbed 'tiny tyrant' and her notebook of doom. He can however start letting some of the guys know that she's his tiny tyrant. And now that his warmup is complete, he plans to do just that. Walking up behind her he wrapped his arms around her small form and leaned down to rest his head on her shoulder to see that she had the dreaded notebook in hand.

"Kago-chan, tell me honestly. Do those scribbles even mean anything? Or are you just getting us back from when we swiped your notebook yesterday after practice and saw the horrors it contained?"

She released a delicate snort and he watched her roll her eyes at him. "Like I'm going to tell you anything."

"What? Why not?"

"Simple, I know you were the ringleader in that little heist yesterday, just like when you stole my lists during lunch. Also, I know you well enough to know that not knowing is bugging you more than anything."

He frowned at her as she reached up to muss up his already messy hair and smirked at him. "You are just cruel."

"Yup! Now go on and get ready. The practice matches will start soon. You all are up against Shinzen first."

He heaved a dramatic sigh and gave her a kiss on her cheek as he straightened up and turned back to the others. Hearing and seeing the looks of disappointment from the other boys made him smile as he walked over to Kenma and the others with a spring in his step. Bokuto's squawk of "What! No fair!" was just the icing on the cake for him.

"Are you done marking your territory, Kuroo?"

He grinned down at Yaku. "At the moment, yes."

Kenma shook his head at his friend. "You're lucky that Kagome is clueless to your antics. Otherwise she might be tempted to do something to your lunch. Then we would have to choose new captain."

The nearby Nekoma members perked up at this news. "Eh? Kagome is cooking lunch today?"

Turning his head towards Yamamoto, he nodded. "She's scheduled to help with lunch today and then breakfast."

The boys looked at each other and lowered their voices and huddled together as they conspired. "We need to get to the cafeteria first."

"We can't run there, that would be a huge sign to the others."

Kuroo grinned, "We'll just keep an eye on the clock, then casually start making our way over as soon as we can. Agreed?"

As the boys nodded in confirmation, a call for the practice matches to begin rang out.


Kagome stood by Coach Naoi taking notes on the team's progress as they played against Shinzen High. The starting lineup was essentially the same team made of the third years as when they played in the sand—and to her eyes they were playing just as poorly as when they went against the rookie team. Their receives were mostly on point, as expected with Nekoma, but there was very little passion in their plays.

It was like they were merely going through the motions and then frustrated when their plan of attack failed—in fact that was the most enthusiasm that they showed, irritation. Why weren't they watching their opponents more? While Shinzen was great with their combination plays, there were ways around those attacks if they would take the time to watch their movements. She glanced up at Naoi and saw the slight frown on his face as he called for a timeout. Giving the boys some pointers and telling them that while watching the ball is good, they needed to be aware of their opponents as well. They returned to the match after having some water and much to their dismay, the team on the court still failed to take the coach's words to heart.

"Well, I guess we'll be trying another lineup in the next match." Naoi glanced over to the warmup area and thought about the members that he would choose as the current set wrapped up. The score finished at 15 to 25 in Shinzen's favor, and the entire team proceeded to do their penalty lap around the large gym. As they waited for the team to finish their lap, Kagome and Naoi looked over the stats that she recorded from the set.

"There does seem to be slight improvement compared to their games against the rookies, but it's hard to really judge that against the other teams since we haven't seen the team play against them before."

"Yeah, that's where we are at a disadvantage. But if you are still noticing a small improvement in how they are playing, then I'll take it. Now we'll have to see how the rookies fair against Ubugawa High." Kagome nodded in agreement, she wanted to see how the boys played in this next set. They had been working so hard and growing into a promising team. Now it was time to put that work to the test and discover just where else they need to develop and improve.


Finally, it was their turn to play, Kuroo and the others were getting excited—well, Kenma didn't really care, but he was interested in the challenge that their new opponents would bring. As the boys lined up and got into position, they braced themselves for the strong serve that Ubugawa was known for. As the set progressed, the boys vaguely became aware that they felt steadier on their feet and their recovery from their receives were quicker.

"Looks like the torture that Kago-chan puts us through is paying off." He could feel the smug satisfaction radiating from where she stood on the sidelines.

It was a close game and both teams fought tooth and nail every step of the way. Soon they reached the match point in Ubugawa's favor with Nekoma trailing closely behind at 22 points. After an intense rally, the opposing team won the coveted final point and Nekoma had to pay the penalty lap once more. While the loss was disappointing, Kuroo felt proud that the team fought as well as they did. The 'rookie team' as they dubbed themselves, put up a better fight than the third-year team did and they still had room to grow.

Throughout the rest of the morning the teams played each other and Coach Naoi kept his promise to swap players frequently. Granted there were some difficulties with some of the rookies playing with the upperclassmen which was disappointing for the new coach to observe. He needed the entire team to work together as a cohesive unit—that would be the best way for them to succeed in the upcoming tournaments.

It seemed that after watching the rookie team play and be more successful in their match up, that the third years were feeling a bit threatened. From what he had observed, the upperclassmen operated under the assumption that they were the superior players. But the rookies had the benefit of practicing more each day, and from what he saw during the past few days, they put more effort into the conditioning than their older counterparts.

During the first half of the fourth set, some of the boys noticed that Kagome left the gym with Ubugawa's manager. Making eye contact with each other the rookies all nodded discretely as they began to keep an eye on the clock. Once the sets began to wrap up, and lunch was about to begin, the underclassmen of the team began the casual exit of the gym.

Unfortunately for Kuroo, Bokuto took notice that for once he wasn't hanging around longer as he normally would. Feeling curious at this sudden change he grabbed his team's new setter Akaashi Keiji.

"Bokuto-san, what are we doing?"

"Kuroo-kun never leaves practice early, so we are going to see what he and the other cats are up to!" He dragged Akaashi out of the gym, and as the exited the doors they were just in time to see the Nekoma crew start sprinting in the direction of the cafeteria. Bokuto's eyebrows shot up to his hairline as he shared a look of stunned confusion with Akaashi before they both darted after the sneaky felines.


Kagome was having fun laughing with Eri as they traded stories about their teams' antics. Eri just told her about the time when Goura-san was working on his serves and was startled by one of the other boys. He was apparently mid-swing when one of the others let out a loud shriek for reasons that she didn't see and it threw him off as he connected with the ball. It ricocheted off of the wall across from him and hit another team member in the back, knocking him over into the ball cart.

The two girls were giggling at the mayhem when all of a sudden, the doors of the cafeteria flew open. Blinking in surprise they leaned their heads over to see a group of red and black clad forms scrambling to grab a food tray.

Shaking her head at her team, Kagome began to start serving the food. "I thought that you boys would be too busy practicing to even think about food. Especially you, Tetsu-kun."

"Well we are growing boys, Kago-chan! We need fuel if we are going to practice at our best."

Kagome laughed and rolled her eyes as the rest of the boys nodded in agreement. Just as she was about to give a retort, the doors swung open again.

"Hey, hey, hey! So, this is where you ran off to, Kuroo-kun! Lunch must be something special, cause I've never seen you leave practice so quick!"

Kuroo released a groan as he looked over his shoulder to see a familiar loud Ace with a new player at his side. "Bokuto." The two new commers were introduced to everyone as they all gathered their food. As the majority of the group gave their appreciation to the two managers and headed off to a table, Kuroo brought up the rear with Bokuto and Akaashi.

"Bokuto-san, I've heard that you are one of the top Ace's in Japan. That's pretty impressive."

Bokuto perked up, gave a proud grin and laughed. "It is, isn't it!"

"Kago-chan, don't inflate his ego."

"It may be a bit late for that."

"Akaashi! What's that supposed to mean?"

Kagome smiled softly as she watched Kuroo and Bokuto bicker with Akaashi acting like he was an unwilling participant. 'Those three are going to be attached at the hip for practice, I think.' The new trio of friends wandered off to a table to eat their food as more players began to trickle into the room.

Sitting down near the rest of Nekoma, the boys began to dig into their food with gusto. Bokuto and Akaashi froze for a moment and stared at their food in awe. Both teens then narrowed their eyes in suspicion at the happily munching cats around them.

"So, this is why you all ran out of the gym when you did, eh Kuroo-kun? You wanted to get to the food before anyone else! How could you be so cruel and hide this from me!"

"Why would I tell you anything you annoying owl? Oi you bastard! Don't be stealing my food!"

"Well you weren't eating it."

"I hadn't gotten to it yet!"

"Oi! Kuroo! That was mine!"

A few seats away the Nekoma crew smirked into their food as they watched the battle in the corner of their eyes. 'Kagome would love to see this.' Akaashi merely blinked at the duo and then moved his tray over a bit to keep it out of the battle.


Practice continued through the afternoon and soon it was done for the day. The teams were given the freedom to practice on their own if they wished or take the rest of the evening off. Kenma slinked off somewhere before he could be caught by Kuroo for extra practice. Kagome was finishing up some of her notes and reviewing the scores with Naoi. After they discussed the team's progress and how they could move forward, Naoi was called to join the other coaches for dinner and drinks. Kagome on the other hand was quickly hijacked by a certain rooster head saying that she needed to help him practice with Bokuto and Akaashi.

She was a little nervous about how exactly she was expected to assist. If Kuroo thought that she was going to try to block or receive any of Bokuto's spikes, then he was sadly mistaken—she preferred to keep her arms attached, thank you very much! Yes, she knew that technically her arms wouldn't rip off, but she was well aware that her defensive skills were pitiful as Kuroo was so kind to point out.

"And just how exactly do you want me to help you three practice?"

"I need more practice in blocking, so you can spike with Bokuto. Then we can work a bit on receives again."

"I hate you…"

"Aww, don't say that little Kago-chan! It'll be fun!"

"I'm fine with the spiking. It's the receives and you know it you sadist!"

Kuroo cackled as he led her over to where Akaashi and Bokuto were waiting. The two teens looked on curiously as the couple approached. Kuroo proudly announced that Kagome would be practicing with them and she was a pretty good spiker. Hearing that caused Bokuto to gain a gleam of interest as he looked in Kagome's direction.

"Oi! Don't get any ideas you stupid owl, she's mine." Kuroo scowled at his friend as he tucked Kagome into his side. Kagome rolled her eyes and muttered 'rooster head' under her breath as Bokuto sputtered and pouted at Kuroo. Akaashi released a sigh as he and Kagome wrangled the squabbling pair into formation. For two players that were obsessed with practicing and playing volleyball, they sure got distracted easily.

The quartet practiced together for nearly an hour, and the Fukurodani members were impressed with Kagome's spiking abilities. Kuroo was able to block Bokuto and Kagome's spikes, much to their annoyance, especially after he would gloat at stopping them. When Kuroo declared that it was time to work a bit on receiving, Kagome let out a groan of misery. Thankfully, Bokuto and Akaashi where kind enough to lend a hand in helping her improve. While she had a long way to go still, she felt like she was on the right track. Glancing at the clock, Kagome let out a squeak that caught the boys' attention.

"We need to wrap this up! The cafeteria will close soon and if we don't get there before then, we won't get any dinner." Looking at her in horror at the idea of not getting any food, the group scrambled to race out the door.

All in all, it was a great day.