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 boys were nervous as they entered the gym for practice. It had been a few days since the regulars had returned from the Miyagi Prefecture to play Karasuno. There had been no major changes to their conditioning so far but it felt like they were just waiting for the cover of their coffins to close on them—and the longer the wait, the worse the feeling became. As they began to work through their stretches, Kagome entered with her dreaded notebook in hand.

Kuroo glanced over at his petite girlfriend and stiffened when he saw the serene smile upon her face. Normally such a smile would not be a cause for concern—however, that smile was currently paired with a diabolical glint in her blue eyes.

"Shit!" The team looked at him in confusion to see the grimace on his face. "It's starting."

Turning towards their manager, the upperclassmen collectively winced in fear. As they finished stretching and jogged to the shrine, the boys all began speculate as to what terrors that the Tiny Tyrant would unleash upon them. Coming to a stop at the base of the mountain of stairs, Kagome drew their attention.

"Everyone! Starting today you will do eight rounds of the stair master, then head towards the Sports Center."

"EH?!"

Kagome merely smiled and raised a brow, "Would you prefer to do nine?" She giggled quietly at the collective cries and yelps over eight being just fine as they scrambled to form a line and begin. Watching them carefully, she nodded when she saw that they were pacing themselves and the rookies were struggling a bit. That was to be expected since they were relatively new to the routine, but they were hanging in there. Lev was fairly uncoordinated with his rounds as if he wasn't fully used to the length of his limbs—that would iron out with time and the more he practiced.

As the last of the groups reached the bottom of the stairs—while pulling off the ofudas that grandpa decorated them with—and the sets were complete, everyone made their way over to the sports center. Here once again Kagome notified them of the changes to their usual routine. Now instead of just playing practice matches, there would be penalties for both teams between each set. They would be running back and forth across the sand and the losing team would do double. "Oh, and if anyone falls during the laps, an extra lap will be added to the team."

With their souls shriveling in fright and despair, the team trudged to their teams and the first set commenced. This was going to be a very long and painful day.


That day was the first of many days where the team wept at the horrors that their petite manager had unleashed upon them. And from that moment Kagome had solidified her title of Tiny Tyrant not only amongst the second and third years, but with the newly joined first years as well. While the boys crawled out of the gym after practice, Kagome observed their progress with approval.

The first years were growing quickly, though they still had a ways to go to catch up to their upperclassmen. Her goal was to not only to help the team grow, but to bring the first years up to speed in their development. Doing this would allow Coach Nekomata and Coach Naoi more options in their strategies. With the Inter-High Preliminaries just around the corner, they didn't have time for her to 'baby' them.

After discussing the game plan with the coaches, it was agreed that she would adopt Sesshoumaru's stricter training regimen until the last two weeks before the tournament began. Those final weeks would then be dedicated to reviewing their opponents and developing strategies for the team to practice. Nekoma was on the rise, and last year many schools in their prefecture were made aware of the threat that they posed. To merely skate by and keep the status quo would be their downfall—and that was an unacceptable outcome for everyone.


Kagome sighed as she checked over her list for the tournament once more. The last few weeks just flew by and it was time to put all the hard work that the team has done to the test. They already got word from Kenma that Karasuno did not make it into nationals, and finished in the top sixteen. Her heart went out to them for their loss, but it is a valuable lesson for them to learn—if they take the time recognize that lesson that is. Only time will tell if Karasuno, like team Nekoma, will use the pain from their loss to propel themselves farther or if they will allow fear to hold them back.

She was well aware that Nekomata-sensei was making arrangements for Karasuno to come to Nekoma and train with the Fukurodani Academy group. That should hopefully give the crows something to look forward to and lift their spirits some. Competitive teams always love a good challenge, and from what Nekomata-sensei has said, it seems that Karasuno has been having some difficulties in arranging practice matches after the elder Ukai-sensei retired. Kagome was glad that her uncle wanted to assist in crows' growth. The true test will be how Karasuno responds to the challenges ahead of them.

Based on what she witnessed during the practice match over Golden Week, she had faith that Karasuno would spread their wings to soar even higher than they ever had before. Shaking her head, she refocused on her task. Thinking about Karasuno was not helping her make sure that she had all the water bottles and towels ready for her team. Today was one of the few days that they had left to go over strategies and ironing out combinations that they still felt shaky on. Overall, she had high hopes for Nekoma and knew that they would perform even better than their last outing in the tournaments.

The sound of the boys entering the gym and Yamamoto's very vocal declarations that Kenma and Yaku had better not be coming down with something snatched her attention and pulled her away from her list. With a frown, Kagome set down her clipboard and approached the boys.

"What's this about Kenma and Yaku coming down with something?"

The group just about jumped out of their skins and poor Kenma's eyes widened in fear. All the upper classmen remembered the horror of when Kagome had force fed Yamamoto tea when he started to become ill. The ace gave a small evil grin and proceeded to tell the petite manager all about how both Kenma and Yaku were complaining of feeling chills in the clubroom. He was determined that someone else needed to suffer the same awful concoction that he had last year.

Yaku gave a slight snarl at the loudmouth and scrambled to reassure the her that it didn't feel like 'illness' but more like someone had been talking about them or something. Kagome raised a brow and grabbed the two in question and gave them a once over—and boy did the two boys pray to every kami-sama that she would find nothing and believe them.

"Well, you two don't look like you are coming down with anything..." The duo breathed a sigh of relief for a brief moment, "but I'll bring in that tea tomorrow just to be on the safe side."

Yaku cringed as Kagome began to walk away and Yamamoto began to cackle quietly behind them. Kenma looked over at Kuroo and gave him a very pointed look before glancing over at the giggling ace. Kuroo was confused for a moment until a memory sparked.

Laughing quietly, he leaned over to Yaku and Kenma, "Can't promise it will distract her, but at least it'll be revenge for you two." He straightened up as the two boys grinned in satisfaction, "Hey Kago-chan? Did you know that according to Yamamoto, you don't count as a girl?"

An eerie silence descended over the gym as the team forgot to breathe as Kagome stopped and ever so slowly looked over her shoulder with a dark glint in her eye. "Is that so?"

In that moment the ace was able to briefly overcome his frozen lungs to let out a shrill and panicked cry, "I didn't mean it like that I swear!"

"Ne, Tora-kun. Why don't we discuss this over some extra conditioning? Then you can tell me all about what you actually meant."

The rest of the chuckled in slight apprehension as the terrified ace was dragged over to the center of the gym where all the resistance straps were waiting for the players to use—the newest addition to their workouts. And the team did not envy him one bit.

Sadly, for Kenma and Yaku, Kagome did not forget about the tea the next day. The entire gym seemed to watch them in trepidation—waiting for the reactions that they had witnessed or heard all about. However, the setter and libero took their doses with as much grace as possible and were surprised that while the tea wasn't the greatest tasting tea ever, it was nowhere near as bad as Yamamoto made it out to be. Looking at their manager in askance, she smiled serenely, "I added honey, it helps with the taste."

Outraged, the ace cried foul, "What?! Why didn't do that for me last year?!"

Kagome slid her eyes in his direction and grinned, "You didn't listen, so why should I be nice?"

Kuroo folded in half as he cackled like a hyena at the second year's stunned form.


As the various matches for the Inter-High Preliminaries began, it was fascinating for Kagome to watch how some of the schools had changed with their newer members and how they remained the same. Team Nekoma stood confident in their skills and abilities, and Kagome watched in satisfaction as the boys easily took their first win in the tournament. While their opponents were not considered a strong team by any means, the cats were careful to not underestimate them either. There was nothing worse than to get in your own way and cost yourself the match.

Slowly the matches progressed and Nekoma stood tall, winning consecutive sets and never allowing the matches to reach a third. As the teams were whittled down and the tournament reached the quarterfinals, her boys got ready for next match—and it was the worst pairing imaginable. Their opponent was last year's national champions, and their ace was number one in the nation. She could see the nerves rising in the boys, but what could she do? She was just as dismayed as the rest of them over the match up.

Regardless, the team put their best foot forward and played with everything that they had. Kenma used every strategy that he believed would be effective—and it did help some. But when it came down to it, the team's strategy and receiving skills just weren't quite enough. Team Nekoma were officially knocked out of the Inter-High Prelims, sitting in the top eight in the district.

Slowly the boys collected their gear and walked out of stadium—keeping their heads as high as they could. It was frustrating and her heart broke for her boys—especially for Kuroo. They all did so well and came so much farther this time than the last tournament. Once again, she found Kuroo sitting in a hallway by himself, elbows on his knees and his face in his hands. Heaving a sigh, Kagome slowly approached him and sat down at his side.

Leaning gently against his side as she rubbed his back, she tried to get his attention. "Testu-kun? It's about time to go."

Kuroo was silent for a moment before he turned his head towards her. "What is it going to take, Kago-chan? We've worked so hard and we still have nothing to show for it."

She frowned at the desolation in his gaze. "You know, being in the top eight in all of Tokyo isn't anything to turn your nose up at. With as many strong schools in our district, that is quite the accomplishment. Especially considering where we were last year at this time."

Seeing the blank stare and frown, she could see that right now was not the time to point out the silver linings. Kuroo and even Yaku were bound and determined to make it to nationals, and anything short of that was failure in their eyes. Kagome ran her hand over her face as she pondered how to address the situation.

"Honestly, Tetsu-kun? I'm not entirely sure. I firmly believe that the team would have gone farther if we hadn't been matched up against Itachimaya just now. But we are also at the disadvantage of having a district with some of the top aces in the country and national champions. We are on the right path. I have no doubt about that. However, what changes we need to make to progress beyond this point? I'm not entirely sure. All I can say is to keep training, have faith in the team, and believe that our coaches will help guide us further. You will play in the Spring Nationals, Tetsu-kun. Just keep having faith."

Kuroo sat up and leaned against the wall, "Sometimes I wonder if I'm the reason why we're not stronger. If I'm just too weak of a middle blocker—" Kagome quickly cut him off by flicking him on his forehead. "Ow! The hell, Kago-chan?!"

"You are not generally prone to saying stupid things, so don't start now. You are one of the best middle blockers in the district. And if everyone took the time to pay attention to middle blockers instead of just Aces, and Setters, then you would be listed pretty high in the nation. And no, I'm not just saying that because I'm your girlfriend."

Rubbing his forehead, he frowned briefly down at her before chuckling softly. "All right, Kago-chan, all right. You win."

Kagome grinned as she got up and stood in front of him. She cupped his face in her hands and gave him a quick peck on the lips before pulling back with a wink. "And don't you forget it. Now come on, the coaches are treating everyone to dinner as a job well done."

Kuroo let her pull him up off the bench and guide him down the hall. "I'm not sure I'm very hungry right now."

"You need to eat to regain your energy, Tetsu-kun. Besides, once the food is in front of you, your stomach will make itself known."

Laughing softly, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. "Thanks, Kago-chan."

She just smiled softly up at him and hugged him. There would be tears of frustration and disappointment as they all recovered from this devastating loss. But she knew that they would come back even stronger, and with a renewed sense of purpose and determination.

She had faith.


Author's Note: Ok this took longer than I thought. Sorry, life got stupid and weird, and I barely had any braincells or energy left to write this. Then I almost screwed up the timeline in this story—that was a fun moment of rewriting. Well, here's to hoping things calm down.

Until next time!