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


"Eh? Uncle Yasu, is that you?!"

Nekomata had a wide grin on his face seeing the stunned looks on everyone's faces. "Kagome-chan! Look at how you've grown!" Holding out his arms, she dove into his embrace with a cheer.

"Wait a minute! Hold it! Coach Nekomata is your Uncle?!"

Nekomata chuckled as he separated from the petite manager. "Actually, her grandfather and I are cousins. I just insisted that she and Souta call me their uncle when they were little. It was easier for them to understand."

Kuroo blinked a few dozen times as his brain tried to rapidly process the new information. He glanced at his elated girlfriend in confusion. "Why didn't you tell me that you were related to Coach Nekomata?"

Sheepishly, Kagome scratched her cheek and bit her lip. "I didn't realize he was the coach you all were talking about. I mean, I'm so used to calling him Uncle Yasu. So, I didn't really put two and two together."

He snorted and shook his head, "More proof of your issues with math."

"Hey!"

The gym filled with laughter as the coaches wrangled the team back into order. Nekomata, wanting to see the conditioning routines that the team went through, declared that he would be mostly observing today—so no hopes of being freed from the dreaded stair master for them. As the boys got ready to go on their run around to the shrine, both coaches and Kagome headed straight to the shrine steps.

Laughing to himself, the club's new head coach enjoyed watching the boys trek down the stairs covered in sutras and occasionally hearing the faint cries of "DEMON BEGONE!" from his cousin and the various shrieks from the players. "Hiroshi has not lost his volume nor aim in his old age."

Kagome snickered with glee, "The boys try to dodge him, but grandpa rarely misses."

Naoi chuckled as he looked up at the top of the stairs. "I almost wish we had a camera so we could watch the mayhem up there."

Nekomata let out a snort, "Eh? I would be surprised if Hiro wasn't recoding this."

The two coaches turned their attention to Kagome as she giggled. "Grandpa has been recording it. Souta helped him set it up. He re-watches the video to figure out how to improve his ambushing technique."

As they all looked at the boys and the top of the shrine stairs, Naoi grinned. "Think we could get a copy of those tapes?"

"Of course."

"We are hosting the Fukurodani Academy Group soon, right?" Naoi and Kagome turned to Coach Nekomata and nodded. "I think this would be a good morning routine for all the boys."

Kagome blinked rapidly before smirking, "I'll let grandpa know. He'll enjoy having new targets to practice on."

And with that, Naoi lost what little composure that he was holding on to—much to the concern and confusion of the team. That amount of glee from that particular trio is never a good sign.


The days flew by for the team, and it had been a whirl wind to be sure. With Coach Nekomata joining the ranks, they could see where else Kagome may have learned how to 'torture' them all with a smile. She had the ability to smile in a way that balanced between evil and innocent, while their coach's smile was unassuming and evil.

Also, much to their dismay, Nekomata loved their conditioning routines so much that he happily declared that they would continue and Kagome would remain as their unofficial conditioning coach. It was now official; they really needed to break the code and figure out how to read the notebook of doom—their very lives depended on it!

However, they couldn't focus too much on the horrors that notebook contained. It was time for their exams to be returned. Now they had to cross their fingers and hope that there wasn't a failing grade attached to them, because they did not want to find out what the Tiny Tyrant would do to them if they had to miss out on the training weekend.

Kuroo hadn't been too concerned about his test scores, but he was looking forward to see how he did on his report. He leaned back in his seat as he watched his classmates either breathe a sigh of relief, cheer, or hit their heads on the desks. As he collected his exam and report he saw that both received high marks—much to his elation. Now he would have to work on part two of the assignment series over the summer break, whereas his classmates who failed would have to scramble to redo part one during the few weeks remaining in the term.

Was it terrible of him to want to chuckle when he saw that Kitori was one of them? If it was, he could live with that. If anything, it was poetic justice for her being virtually a stalker. You would think that she would have backed off after he revealed that he had a girlfriend, but unfortunately that wasn't the case. It only slowed her down a bit, and he could still occasionally feel her beady eyes on him. Much to his displeasure.

The chime of the bell broke through his thoughts, as it signaled that it was finally the end of the day. Quickly, Kuroo gathered his things and used his long stride to make his exit out of the room before anyone could try to stop him. He headed to the club room and was met with the voices of his team. Everyone was gleefully chattering about how they managed to pass all their exams.

As a result, they collectively breathed a sigh of relief and joy. Even though some of the passing scores were by the skin of their teeth, a passing grade was a passing grade. Now they could focus on the weekend, and get ready to show the other teams what they were truly made of.

Beyond that, Kuroo needed to make sure that Kagome didn't stress herself out in worry over whether or not everything was ready for the other schools' arrival. The girl was going to work herself into an early grave at the rate she was going. He knows that she's been in contact with the other managers and got tips on how to prepare, and one would think that that would help her calm down.

Instead it just helped her add to her list and she just kept going over it again and again. He already had to steal her lists during lunch to force her to take a break—not that she fully appreciated the sacrifice that he made. Really inconsiderate if you asked him. Honestly, he deserves a medal at this rate!

As he entered the gym, there was the girl in question, once more reviewing her notes. 'Here we go again…' He approached her quietly and snatched the papers from her hands.

"Hey! Tetsu-kun! Give those back!"

He held the papers up high over his head and out of her reach while slightly frowning down at her. "You have looked over these papers a million times. You have everything planned and figured out, so stop panicking already."

"There are still things that need to be organized before everyone arrives tomorrow!" She scowled up at him and attempted to jump for the stolen items once more.

"No there aren't. You're just being overly paranoid, Pocket-chan."

The silence that descended upon the gym was stifling as anticipation grew once Kagome froze and stared up at the new captain. As her brow began to twitch, the rest of the team began to quickly place bets as to what the outcome of Kuroo once again mocking her height would be. There were no volleyballs within her reach so her usual response wasn't a possibility. Faster than they could blink, her hands darted up to Kuroo's face and grabbed onto his cheeks with a tight pinch.

Then she stretched his face out as far as his skin would go, causing him to let out a yelp and bring his hands down to dislodge her grip. Taking her chance, she let go of his face and snatched her precious papers out of his hand. Afterwards she darted across the gym before he could process what had happened. Blowing a raspberry in his direction while he scowled at her and rubbed his sore cheeks. He then turned his glare to the team when they all fell to the floor laughing at his misfortune. 'Talk about disrespectful!'

Before he could attempt to enact any sort of revenge, Naoi and Nekomata entered the gym and practice began. They kept practice short that evening so everyone could assist in setting up the selected classrooms for the teams to sleep in over the weekend. Once everything was complete, they all headed home for the evening with Kuroo complaining to Kagome about her abuse of his handsome face—not that he got a lot of sympathy. Kenma just smirked a bit at Kuroo's attempt while playing his new game, and Kagome smerely rolled her eyes.

"Call me Pocket sized again, and you won't have to worry about your 'handsome' face being stretched." Kuroo looked at her cautiously as she smiled innocently up at him. "I'll use you as target practice instead."

Flinching at his petite girlfriend, Kuroo decided it might be in his best interest to hold off on making fun of her height for a few days. While he enjoyed pushing buttons and riling people up, he was also a firm believer in self-preservation—mostly. Ok, so he hasn't been the best at that practice when it came to the resident Tiny Tyrant, but it was a lot of fun watching her face turn red as she scowled at him. "Um, noted."

Kenma snorted quietly, "And that's a mental note that'll be discarded."

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

"Exactly how it sounded."

"Whose side are you on, Kenma?"

"Kagome's."

Kuroo playfully scowled and grumbled under his breath over the unfairness of it all, while Kagome snickered happily.


Kagome arrived early on campus to make sure once more that things were organized and ready for the arrival of the rest of the Fukurodani Academy Group. Darting from floor to floor, room to room, she did a count of all futons and made sure that they were all stacked neatly and ready for use. After that she darted over to the cafeteria and checked that everything was in order, before running down to the gym to do the same.

She was certain that she had missed something, and it was driving her to distraction. Just as she was about to run off and check on things for what seemed to be the hundredth time, a pair of arms wrapped around her. Pulling her off of the ground, she was then tossed over a shoulder.

"W-w-what the—?!"

"Kago-chan, stop. Everything is fine."

"Put. Me. Down Rooster head!"

"Hm… let me think about that for a second… Nope. Not gonna do it."

She growled at his back and beat on it while demanding once more that he release her. "Hey, could you reach a little lower. Cause that feels awesome!"

"Arg! Tetsu-kun, put me down!"

"If I do, you'll just run around like a headless chicken again. So no, I'm not going to."

"I won't recheck things. I promise, so put me down!"

"…You have your fingers crossed, don't you?"

"…no…"

"Uh huh. Yeah, I think you're fine where you are."

"…I hate you…"

In the distance, Coach Nekomata and Naoi watched the duo and chuckled at the sight. "Hiro was right. He's a good match for her."

"You're ok with him dating your favorite niece?"

"For now. If he breaks her heart then I'm sure Hiro and I can think of some kind of horrible outcome for him." Naoi flinched a bit in concern for the young player in question. "However, I doubt that that will ever come to pass. They looked for each other for a longtime, and his promise helped in more ways than he knows."

"Sensei?"

Nekomata chuckled and waved Naoi's concerns off. "Come on, Naoi. Let's go save Kuroo-kun from Kagome-chan's wrath."

"Ah."


Soon all the other teams arrived, and all the boys piled into the gym to begin warming up for the day. The new captains were revealed and ready to show off their newly formed teams. Though Kuroo wasn't surprised, he was a bit annoyed that Bokuto was given the title of captain of Fukurodani—the annoying owl already had a big head as it was.

As their warmups neared an end, and playful taunts were exchanged, they all came to attention when Coach Nekomata called out to them. With a wide grin on his face he directed their focus, on the female member of Nekoma's team—and her teammates had an ominous feeling creep up their spines.

"Everyone, it's time for a quick run. Team Nekoma, since you know the way, please guide the others to the location. We will see you there!"

The others school teams all looked at Nekoma in concern as they collectively groaned in misery. Turning to head outside, they were peppered with questions about their response.

"Ne, Kuroo-kun. What's so bad about a run?"

"It's not the run you need to worry about. It's what is at the end of it."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Kuroo quickly checked over his shoulder to make sure Kagome was not within hearing range as they began to jog. "You all are about to learn and experience why we call Kago-chan the Tiny Tyrant."

"Wha—?!"

Call her cruel or sadistic, but there was a part of Kagome that would always enjoy the look of shock, terror, and awe on people's faces when they saw the shrine stairs. And she was not disappointed when all four teams arrived at the foot of them. Next to her, Nekomata chuckled before addressing the teams and informing them of their task.

It was agreed that they would only do three sets of the dreaded stair master since the other schools were not used to the exercise. 'That, and it's only fair since that's what Nekoma started with in the beginning.'

The boys all looked fearfully at the Nekoma team when they heard them exhale in relief when they were told how many sets they were to complete. Pairing up they began their dash up the stairs and those at the bottom looked at the top with concern when shouts and shrieks echoed down to them. The boys from Nekoma, however, snickered with glee as the other boys stumbled down baring the results of their arch nemesis. It was always nice to share the misery—Bokuto had many ofudas attached to his hair and forehead, much to Kuroo's satisfaction.

"Nice additions there, Bokuto. Starting a new fashion trend?"

Laughing and grumbling, Bokuto attempted to free himself from his new adornments. "How does an old man move that fast? I didn't know he was there until he shouted and I was covered."

Next to him Akaashi snorted in agreement, he was similarly covered and impressed with the elder. "He's tagged every player so far. He has to run out of ofudas at some point."

"I wouldn't count on that." Akaashi and Bokuto tiled their heads at Kuroo in concern. "We run this drill every day and I've never seen him run out. And I'm pretty sure that Higurashi-san made extra just for this weekend."

"W-w-wait… did you say 'Higurashi-san'?! As in related to Kagome-chan?!"

Kuroo grinned smugly at the owl, "Yup. You all just met Kago-chan's grandfather. What? Didn't you notice that the shrine is called the 'Higurashi Shrine'? That's pretty oblivious even for you."

"Oi!"

"I'm more unnerved by you saying that you all run this drill every day."

"Yeah, but this is a bit of a break for us. She upped our sets about a week ago."

"You guys think this is bad, you should see what else she makes us do!"

"Yamamoto, shut up."

"Hey, hey, hey! What else does she make you do?! Kuroo? Kuroo! Answer me!"

Kuroo ignored Bokuto's cries and Akaashi's paling form as he ran up the shrine steps to complete his sets for the morning. Why should he be the one to spoil the surprise? Plus, letting the annoying owl stew and squirm was just too much fun to pass up.