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.
Hinata had a lot on his mind that morning as he made his way to the cafeteria for breakfast. He couldn't shake the idea that something wasn't right—that he was lacking. Of all his teammates, he was the least experienced, he knew that and he didn't deny it. However, that wasn't the only thing that bothered him. He just couldn't stop thinking about the last moment of their match against Seijoh—how the ball was behind him and the game was over before he even knew it.
If he was ever going to meet his goal of going to nationals, then something had to change. The more he thought about it, the more Kenma's words drifted through his mind.
"You could ask Kagome for training tips..."
"Kagome is one of the reasons why Nekoma went from a barely ranked team, to become one of the top 8 schools in the prefecture within a year…"
Hinata shook his head and narrowed his focus on his food. If he ever wanted to beat Ushiwaka and The Great King, he was going to have to do something because doing nothing was not an option. As more bodies dropped to the table and food was being shoveled into hungry mouths, Hinata was pulled out of his head and into a conversation with Inuoka.
There would be time to contemplate later, he had practice to focus on. He needed to show Lev that he would jump higher and faster than him.
The five teams completed their stretches for the morning, and proceeded to jog to the base of the shrine steps. The stunned looks on the faces of Kageyama and Hinata, were almost enough to distract the rest of the volleyball players from the knowledge that they were about to be plastered with ofudas. Daichi made sure to pull the highly competitive duo aside and stressed to them that they could not race down the stairs—in fact, they weren't allowed to go in the same group. With a slight pout, the crazy duo was pulled into different groups and readied themselves for their turn.
As more and more groups ran the gauntlet of stairs, the more anxious Hinata became. While he couldn't wait to run the stairs and show Kageyama how much better he was than him, he was nervous about the screams that he kept hearing. Turning to Kenma before it was their groups turn, he had to ask what was going on.
Kenma heaved a sigh at the situation, "This is Kagome's home. The screams are a result of her grandfather's entertainment. Come on, Shoyo. It's our turn."
Swallowing down his nerves, Hinata followed Kenma and the others up the stairs. His first instinct was to run full speed up the stairs, but Inuoka pulled him back a bit.
"Pace yourself Shoyo. We still have 3 reps to do after this!"
"Oh yeah. You guys do this every day?"
"Yes, though this is less than what we normally do."
Once the boys reached the top of the stairs, Hinata was confused as to why the others looked around warily. Before he could say anything, a low rumbling snarl surrounded them. As the shiver of terror crawled up his spine, a loud crack of a branch caused him to leap out of his skin and glomp onto Inuoka for safety.
Then in a matter of moments, his vision became obscured by paper as they all shrieked in horror.
Hinata stumbled of the bottom of the staircase as he stared listlessly out into space. His knees were knocking so bad that he was sure you hear them back in Miyagi.
"Wha-wha-what… what was th-that?"
Kenma sighed as a sympathetic Inuoka patted the shorter first year on the shoulder. Pulling off one of the many ofudas that they were covered in, he glanced in the red heads direction.
"That was Grandpa Higurashi."
"Bu-bu-but how?!"
"No one really knows, Shoyo. Just that no one has managed to dodge him yet."
Hinata could only hope that Kageyama was as badly covered as he was—the cries of horror brought him back to the present. Looking up, the small crow could only sigh in relief that the taciturn setter was just as terrorized and covered.
Kageyama definitely couldn't claim to have handled the situation better than he did now.
Hitoka anxiously watched the match between her team and Nekoma. She could feel that something was off—no that wasn't quite right—something had changed. The boys were so confident and determined during the practice match back home, but right now they seemed on edge. Hinata and Azumane colliding midair—was only the beginning of the tension. The final straw was when Hinata declared that he was going to start hitting the dubbed 'deviant fast attack,' with his eyes open and Kageyama shutting him down.
Looking to Kiyoko and having her concerns confirmed, only caused her nerves to increase. As she watched the match progress, she noticed Kagome watching the crows intently. The intensity of her focus was intimidating as it seemed that she was calculating every move that the boys made. Hitoka couldn't help but remember the conversation that she and Kiyoko had with the other managers.
Kiyoko noticed that Kagome was using a thicker notebook than the last time she saw her. "Kagome got a new notebook?"
Kaori looked over at the object in question, "Eh? More than likely. She's constantly taking notes of the players performances during practice matches. She even tracks the other teams."
Yukie smiled as she flipped through her magazine, "Well she has to if she wants to make improvements to Nekoma's conditioning."
Mai chuckled at the owl's managers, "Ne, are your players as worried as mine about the coaches adopting her conditioning routines?"
The girls laughed as Hitoka and Kiyoko shared a look of confusion, "Her conditioning routines?"
Eri giggled and leaned closer to the two, "Kagome-chan is known as the 'Tiny Tyrant' mostly because she's their conditioning coach."
"EH?!"
"Yup, her training may seem harsh, and the boys may whine about it. But they know that she pushes them in order to help them reach their potential."
"They push themselves. I just help give them the tools to do so." The girls turned to see Kagome closing the door behind her. "The team is constantly pushing themselves to grow and evolve. My role is merely to develop the foundation that they can build upon."
As the whistle blew, signifying the end of the set, Karasuno walked to the side of the gym to start their penalty lap once more. She listened as Takeda-sensei gave the boys a dose of reality followed by inspiration. The boys seemed to perk up a bit, which gave her hope that the lingering tension would only be temporary.
Kagome had gone outside for some fresh air when several of Karasuno's members stepped out to have a conversation.
"It wouldn't hurt to at least try. I mean he was able to do a normal quick on the fly in the last Nekoma match."
She knew that she probably shouldn't be listening in on this; however, hearing Sugawara making a case for Hinata gave her hope for Karasuno's development.
"At the time, there was a possibility the normal quick would work, and I thought that was the only chance we had."
Kagome's face slowly slipped from hopeful to sadly disappointed as the conversation continued. Hinata's voice as he described how the final match with Seijoh was over before he knew it and how he wanted to be able to fight on his own. It reminded her of when she was tired of being helpless and forced to watch as her friends fought to protect her before she decided to approach Sesshoumaru for training.
Kageyama's voice drifting to her ears snapped her back into the present, "With the Seijoh match, I understood, just a little bit, how the setter draws out 100% of the spikers' talents. That quick attack is your ultimate weapon. Even the smallest error in the timing of that quick attack becomes a fatal mistake. Your opinion is not necessary for that fast attack."
In that moment, it became very apparent to Kagome, that while the setter was highly talented, he was a fool.
"Sorry, Hinata. This time, I've got to agree with Kageyama."
Then any hope she had for the crows to see how they could grow on their own—died. The more she listened the more disappointed she became. They had so much potential and all they have done so far was squander every lesson they have been given. It was almost like their loss in the Inter High Prelims cause them to retreat into a shell—which was ironic cause they were supposed to be crows, not turtles.
After hearing Coach Ukai join the remaining crows and practically wave off Hinata's attempts to explain what he could see when he jumped for a spike, she decided that she had had enough. Stepping into view, she cleared her throat with a blank stare, causing the three to flinch in shock as she approached them.
"Hinata-kun, come here a moment." She waited until he stopped before her and looked her dead in the eye. Sharping her view on his eyes as she would on a target, caused him to instinctively do the same. "You have the eyes of an archer. That is a trait that will serve you well in your matches if you hone it."
With a nod to the first year, she silently walked past the other two and back into the gym. She truly hoped that Hinata would continue to foster his desire for improvement, regardless of what his teammates said.
Nekomata watched as Ukai pulled the tiny middle blocker off of the court. It seemed that his old friend's grandson was hiding behind defense instead of facing the potential evolution of his team head on. A common mistake of inexperienced coaches, but one that Karasuno cannot afford. Not if they wanted to have a chance to go to the Spring Nationals.
As the final sets finished, and the penalty laps were completed. The coaches did their rounds of giving words of encouragement and advice to the other teams. When it came time for him to say something to Karasuno, he paused. He looked over the boys and Ukai, saw that while they had an inkling of what they needed to do—they weren't quite ready to take that step on their own. Glancing at his niece, he thought about how had felt her disappointment all weekend—and then he knew who could give them the push that they desperately needed.
"Kagome-chan, I think you would be best to speak to our friends here." He grinned at the shocked and confused looks as he stepped aside.
Kagome gave him a brief perplexed look before turning to the crows with a frown. "Why are you here? Why did all of you come all this way to Tokyo?"
The boys looked at each other in confusion, "Um… we came to get stronger."
"And you think you'll become stronger by merely practicing against the schools in the Fukurodani Academy Group? That is only part of the equation. You are at a disadvantage in the sense that you are a new team. However, you have not grown since Golden Week. You've become settled as a team, which is good, but that's all you've done—settle. If settling is all you are willing to do, then you better give up any hope of reaching Nationals. If you think this all that it takes, then you'll go no further than you currently have, because you've already showed your hand. Every school here has seen your abilities and have already made adjustments to counter you."
She paused and looked each member in the eye. The boys' and their coach's eyes widened in shock as the realized the truth of her words.
"You all have potential to be stronger, but if you are not willing to put in the work and effort…" Kagome sighed and shook her head in disappointment. "Why are you so certain that this is all you are capable of? Why keep yourselves from growing and expanding your arsenal? Why are you so certain that 'ultimate weapons' are perfect as is and cannot be improved or built upon? Why are you allowing fear to hold you back?"
Giving the boys a moment to absorb her words, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Channeling Sesshoumaru for her expression and tone, Kagome delivered what she hoped would be the final kick in their asses to make them wake up, "If you are so comfortable with wallowing in your fear, then do us a favor and don't waste anymore of our time."
With that Kagome turned and walked away. Karasuno felt every word and question like a club beating them over their heads. And the part that hurt most, was that she was right. Ukai felt that more acutely than his team. Hadn't he just wondered if his move to become more defensive was the right one during their final set? Didn't he and some of his team members just tell Hinata that the crazy fast attack was good enough, though the smaller first year wanted to learn to hit that move with his own will—to be more than just a club? Hinata saw what they weren't willing to admit, and he said what they weren't willing to say.
They can't keep going like this.
Daichi sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. He could understand a bit more why all the teams here held Nekoma's manager in such high regard. Looking at his teammates, he could see that they were all in agreement. Hinata verbalized what they were all thinking. Kagome however, threw down a huge gauntlet, now they needed to put in the work to meet it. Daichi startled a bit when he saw Hinata dart after the manager in question.
"Kagome-senpai!" Hinata took a deep breath to swallow his nerves when the pretty second year turned to look at him. "Train me, please."
Silence descended upon the gym as multiple eyes widened in shock and fear. Karasuno's Small Fry was crazy!
Hinata began to squirm as Kagome stared into Hinata's eyes while she weighed the younger boy's sincerity and determination. "I'm sure that you've been warned that my training is not for the faint of heart, Hinata-kun. If you do this, you will have to fully commit. No excuses beyond injury, illness, and family emergencies will be acceptable. Failure to commit will bring dire consequences. Are you sure that this is the road you wish to take?"
Straightening his posture as he observed the seriousness in her eyes, he nodded, "Yes."
Kagome smiled softly as she opened her ever present notebook, and flipped to a page. She jotted down something on the top before tearing it out and handing it to him. "Here's your training regimen, and my phone number and email address. I expect reports from you as to your progress and if you have questions, let me know."
Hinata took the offered page and his eyes widen in fear at the long list of exercises that he saw. The fact that she already had this all written out was terrifying—but because she did already have it, made him think that she really did have faith in his abilities. With a determined nod he looked at her a grinned, "I won't let you down—sensei."
She smiled and began to walk away, "I have faith in you, Hinata-kun. I have faith."
Author's Note: I live! Sorry for the long wait, but while I had a good chunk of this chapter completed, I couldn't think of the rest of it. Anyways, a big thanks to everyone who has stuck with my crazy delusion. And thank you again to everyone who has taken the time to review. It's greatly appreciated!
