First chapter: Morning encounters

Every morning, no matter the weather, Hinata took his bike to go to school. And for the last two weeks, he saw her during every morning-ride.
She was tall, taller than he was, which was not hard, but she was taller than most of the girls he knew. She had long, dark hair, which was pulled into a ponytail. Her legs were long, too. And she was running.

Every day he took his bike – every day she took a run.

And on some part of his way to school, they came across each other. Whenever they came across each other close enough to actually call it "meeting"; Hinata greeted with a cheerful "Good Morning!" and got a short but polite nod in return. He had never heard her speak.
Coming to think of it, he had never seen her smile. She looked so concentrated during her run…

The girl was older than Hinata himself, at least a second year in middle school; considering her height she was probably a third year. Was she attending Karasuno? Was she running to school like he was riding his bike?

Still thinking about this morning's encounter, Hinata came to a stop next to the bicycle stands on the Karasuno campus. He locked his bike, took his school- and sports bags and walked toward the school building. Maybe he should ask Sugawara-senpai about the girl? Maybe he knew her because she was a third year, but Hinata had never seen her in school? Or should he ask Aya-chan, a girl attending has class, who was part of Karasuno's track-team? She would know for sure if a running-girl lived somewhere close to his home …

Unfortunately, Aya-chan was sick, so he had no chance to ask her that day. Or during the next. '
After that, he didn't see the running-girl for three mornings. On Friday, he decided that she was just a visitor of the neighbourhood and had to go home after a two week-stay. And after that, he had no time to think much of stuff that had not something to do with volleyball. He even met up with Kageyama and Yachi on Saturday and Sunday: First, they studied (thanks to Yachi) and after that they trained.

When Monday came around, Hinata was dead tired while riding his bike and he was already too late. Arriving at school he ran up to his classroom and fell in his seat- the teacher seemed to be late, too. Thank god. Also, this gave him a few seconds, maybe minutes, of blissful sleep, before he had to act like maths mattered more than volleyball. He closed his eyes and sighed…

"Stand up!" The class representative called loudly, waking Hinata from his slumber. He jumped up, stark and stiff, looked to the front of the classroom… and his moth fell open. The she was. There was the running girl! She stood next to the teacher, who took her time to look around the classroom.

"Good Morning, class! This is your new classmate, she moved here from the United Kingdom. Sakai-san, please introduce yourself."

"Yes! Hello, my name is Sadai Yona, and I just moved back to Japan after moving to the UK 13 years ago. I'm looking forward to spending this school year with you. I'll be in your care!" She bowed politely, ignoring the murmurs which started as soon as she finished her introduction.

Hinata couldn't help himself. A giddy "Ooooh, running girl!" escaped him, making Yachi and Kageyama face him abruptly.

"Running girl?", Kageyama asked.

"Is she the girl you saw in the morning?" Yachi looked back to their new classmate, who was walking towards the only empty seat – directly next to her. Geez, she was tall! Hinata was right. Suddenly, Yachi felt quite small.

The girl… Sadai-san! – Yachi corrected herself, sat down and opened her school bag. Yachi watched her fidgeting with the clasp. The bag must be new, the clasp not used very often. Suddenly, Sadai-san looked up. Their eyes met.
And while Yachi blushed in several shades of crimson at once, Sadai-San smiled. "Hello, nice to meet you. I`m Sadai Yona!", she whispered. After all, class had started already.

"Hi… Hitoka Yachi, nice to meet you!" Yachi whispered back, not looking up. When she was brave enough to raise her eyes again, Sadai-San was still smiling.
Blushing again, Yachi smiled back. The new girl was still tall, even in sitting position. But… She seemed nice.
When the teacher called them to attention, the girls looked to the front of the classroom. Kageyama watched the teacher, too, but Hinata couldn't help but observe the new classmate. The running girl sitting in his class… Maybe she could show him ways to raise his stamina? A runner needed to have lots of stamina. Maybe they should go for a run together? She could teach him new techniques, so that he could get stronger, and even faster, on court…?!

Whatever it was the teacher tried to teach the class that day, only a few of them could concentrate enough to listen to the subject. As soon as the teacher dismissed them and the break started, several classmates made their way to the new girl to introduce themselves.

Yachi, Kageyama and Hinata listened to the conversations.

"Why did you move here, Sadai-San?"

"My mother needed to travel for work, so I came back to Japan to live with my older brother." Sadai-San's answers were polite and short.

"How come your Japanese is that good? Are there language classes in England?"
"No, but my family speaks Japanese at home, I only spoke English in school and public in England."

"Will you join any clubs, Sadai-San?"
"No, I won't."

"What has happened to your hand, Sadai-San?"
"I was in an accident and it's broken. It will take some time to heal."

"Right", Yachi thought, "she had a brace on her right wrist. Probably, this was the reason why it took her some time to open her schoolbag. I will offer her some help; in case she needs it with that injury. After all, I'm her seatmate."

"Sadai-San, do you need someone to show you the school and the campus?" Another classmate asked. "I can show you!" "But I can show you, too!" "Me, too!" Yachi could see the discomfort the new girl had with all those offers. Maybe she should interrupt them? But interrupting a whole crowd of people…?

"Why don't we leave it to Yachi-chan to show Sadai-San around? After all, she sits next to her!" It was Hinata who interrupted the crowd. Yachi jumped to her feet and watched in horror as every single classmate turned towards her. Everyone was staring at her… Were they angry? Why had Hinata…?!

"That would be nice, Hitoka-San." The new girl bowed politely.

"O…of c..course, Sadai-San. I`ll show you the school after the lessons…" Yachi returned the bow… and sat down again when the next teacher entered the room. It was Takeda-Sensei and he dissolved the crowd around the new girl's table with a few words. Then, he introduced himself to their new arrival and after that, class started.

Yachi slumped in her seat.

Saved by the bell… err, teacher. Thank goodness.

Suddenly she could feel an aura… An excited, intensely staring aura… A short glance to the side confirmed it: It was Hinata, and he was almost vibrating with excitement.

What was he planning?!

Yachi sighed.

Hello everybody!
Thanks to everybody who read this chapter. English isn't me mother tongue, so I am sorry for any mistakes I made.
Well, I wanted to post this chapter weeks ago, but then there seemed some problems with this site and I decided to wait until everything was working again.

Back to the story: It's quite the slowburn- story, and yes, another OC-story, but I had the idea during spring and with the new season and all the hype, I just had to write it down. There will be some volleyball-action during the next chapters, and you will read about several beloved teams and Yona. I actually can't wait to write some scenes… :D

I'll try to update every week, at least every two weeks, depending on how much work kicks my behind during the week.
So, bye for now, until the next chapter!