Thunk.

She groaned in frustration as the arrow hit the side of the target. "Not good enough." She mumbled, recording the score down on a notebook and snapping it shut.

"And this, young crows is a wild cat who's not satisfied with anything she does even after she's been training for 3 hours straight, since 4am."

She whipped her head around to see Kuroo and a group of boys in black jackets standing at the entrance to the archery range. "Kuroo-san!" She smiled gleefully, earning a ruffle of her hair from Kuroo. "These boys are… Karasuno right?" Extending her right hand, she bowed her head to the one she presumed was the captain, a tall, black-haired and toned body boy who led the group.

Shaking it, he bowed back. Daichi smiled warmly at her. "Nice to meet you."

"Wow! She's so hot!" Tanaka and Nishinoya leapt at her.

"Kuroo, you still haven't told us why we're here." He whispered to Nekoma's captain as Tanaka and Nishinoya's attacks were quickly dodged by the swift girl.

"Right…This archer you see over here is our new manager." Kuroo smirked. "Real pretty, huh?"

"Oi." Kitsune huffed.

"EH?!"

"How would an archer know anything about volleyball though?" An orange-haired player, shorter than her by a little bit, piped up, earning a karate chop on his head from a familiar raven-haired setter. "Oi, boke. Don't be rude!" He scolded loudly.

"Kageyama Tobio." She tested his name on her tongue, her smile beaming sunshine and rainbows. "I remember you, how's your sister doing?"

"Eh? Kitsune-san. It's been a while." He tilted his head, somewhat happily. "I haven't seen you since Kitagawa Daiichi. Miwa is doing fine; she still refuses to be in volleyball though."

"Don't push her, she can get a little catty." Kitsune laughed.

"You're still friends with Oikawa-senpai and Iwaizumi-senpai I presume?"

"I still…" She looked a little guilty. "I still talk to them."

"Last time I saw all 3 of you together, he was trying to get you to date him, how did that go?"

"We dated for about ten months but uh- we broke up about a week ago."

Kitsune watched as guilt flashed through Kageyama's eyes. "Ah." He averted his gaze away from her.

"Don't worry about it though…" She pet his back reassuringly. "My god you've gotten tall."

He snickered. "Or you shrunk."

"Haha very funny."

He retreated to his place next to Hinata, smiling at her. "Now where is my Yachi-chan?" She tossed her bow to Kuroo, who caught it swiftly in one hand. Closing her eyes, she spread her arms wide open and braced for impact.

A tiny blonde girl ran from behind Kiyoko and leapt into her arms with a jump none of the Karasuno team members had ever seen from her. She gleefully wrapped her arms around Kitsune's neck, Kitsune hugging her back. "Good god I've missed you." Kitsune sighed. Beaming, Yachi buried her face into the older girl's red turtleneck. Kitsune slowly let her back down onto solid ground.

"C'mon, let's get going. Coach Nekomata would be so pissed if we were late to the trash can battle." She smiled, slipping her chest guard off and donning her red Nekoma jacket, which matched her hazel eyes wonderfully, in Yachi's opinion.

"Kuroo, bow." The Nekoma captain tossed her her black bow back, which she also caught in one hand. With a flick of her wrist, it collapsed into itself, folding to a smaller size. She placed it into her backpack, waving goodbye to the staff in the range who had grown accustomed to her being there daily.

"Follow us." She walked next to Kuroo, the tall middle blocker trying to avoid looking at her happy gaze, it would make him smile way too widely for Yachi to feel safe. He admired her silky black hair bundled in a high ponytail, the way her hazel eyes glimmered in the early morning sun, her loving and optimistic personality. Yachi was right next to her, chatting with the older girl, the most comfortable he'd seen her ever.

Suga nudged Daichi in the ribs. "Babe, don't they look cute together?" He whispered softly, gesturing to Kitsune and Kuroo. "Suga…" He muttered in a warning tone. "Loosen up, Daichi." Suga moved in closer to him.

Wrapping his arm around Suga's torso, he shook his head. "It's not our place to tell them."

"It's gross, what you're referring to." Tsukishima snickered, Yamaguchi laughing softly with him.

"Oi, shut up, you walking blonde lamp post." Tanaka hit him hard on his shoulder.

"Asahi-san, hurry up!" Nishinoya pulled Asahi, who was lagging behind, forward. "Noya…" He muttered as he ran to catch up.

- Meanwhile in Fukurodani -

"Shittykawa, hurry up!"

"Iwa-chan~"

"No, I won't help you. Do it yourself."

"So mean, Iwa-chan~" Oikawa grumbled as he pulled his overnight bag out of the bus.

"You're really good at hiding feelings, huh?" Iwaizumi shook his head as he watched Oikawa struggle to carry his bag.

"What do you mean?"

"Ever since Kitsune declined your invitation as a tour guide, I know you've been crying even worse than you did when you two first broke up." Iwaizumi raised an eyebrow as Oikawa finally managed to hop out of the bus.

"How would you know?"

"I can hear your loud wails from across the street, Jerkawa. And they've only gotten louder ever since I called her for you." Iwaizumi shook his head in exasperation. "You look terrible now."

"I do not, I always look fabulous." Oikawa huffed.

"You have got to get over her. She's clearly still scared of your fangirls attacking her family and she won't feel any better, even if you reassure her. She'd probably Katniss Everdeen your head if you get too close." He scoffed.

"I only know ET."

"My god…"

"YOU TWO, HURRY UP!" Their Coach sighed in annoyance. "We have to greet Fukurodani, and we can't do that without the captain and ace!"

Iwaizumi smacked Oikawa over the head. "What was that for?!" Oikawa shrieked.

"Get yourself together, and try not to cry too loudly in the bathroom tonight. Oh and be prepared to face Akaashi. You remember how protective he is of her."

"Second only to Bokuto." Oikawa remembered, a chill running up his spine. He mumbled a quick prayer and ran up the stairs.

- Nekoma High School -

"Kenma!"

"Hi Shouyou." He mumbled as his orange-haired friend tackled him.

"Shrimpy!" Lev walked up to Hinata, towering above him. Kitsune grunted, jumping and smacking Lev in the head. "Oi, don't try to intimidate these poor children. You might be tall, but his skills are better than yours so don't try to bully him like that!" She lectured him sternly. Yaku nodded in agreement and approval.

"But he's so short, like Yaku-senpai- "This time, Yaku punched him in the stomach. "OI! SAY THAT AGAIN I DARE YOU!" And so began the chase around the gymnasium. Hinata laughed heartily, Kenma letting in a snort of contempt.

"Kyuubi-chan, don't tease him too much." Kuroo sauntered over in training gear, kneepads and all. He rested his chin on her head from behind, grinning like the Cheshire Cat as he sniffed it. Wow, it smelt like oranges and flowers, along with a hint of sweat from her earlier training session. Kenma looked over at them, raising his eyebrow before turning back to chatting minimally with Hinata.

"Hey, I'm not that short." She pouted. "Alright you tall excuse for a kitten, I need to fill your water bottles now. Get ready for a tough day." With that, she scratched behind his ear as if he were an actual cat. Picking up the crate with the empty water bottles, she sighed a little as she walked out of the gym, leaving Kuroo ever so smitten.

"Snap out of it, she's right. It's gonna be a tough day." Kenma snapped his fingers in front of Kuroo's face to wake him up from his daydream.

"Kitsune-niisan!"

The archer turned around and watched as the tiny blonde girl ran up to her. "Let me help you with that!" She grabbed 3 of the water bottles with the crate, walking alongside her.

"Thank you, Yachi-chan." She smiled as they walked towards the water cooler.

"Do you two need help?" Kiyoko walked out of the gym, running to catch up. She nestled 4 water bottles in her arms, smiling at Kitsune.

"Thank you for the help, Kiyoko-san." Kitsune bowed slightly to the older bluenette. Kiyoko merely gave her a slight grin.

"So…How are you two so close?" Kiyoko asked, curious. Since never had she ever seen Yachi so comfortable with someone who was supposed to be a stranger.

"Ah, I'm Yachi's stepsister. We've been close for a large amount of our lives." Kitsune turned on the tap that ran clear spring water into the plastic bottles.

"She taught me everything I know about archery and gymnastics and a whole bunch of other stuff too!" Yachi explained, half shy and half Hinata-level enthusiastic.

"Yachi, you can use a bow and arrow?" Kiyoko giggled. "I would not have expected that in a million years."

"It's been a while." Yachi admitted as she grinned, somewhat embarrassed.

"Wow, and gymnastics too? What else have you not told me?" Kiyoko ruffled her hair teasingly.

"She's real good at that one. Much better than me, but you haven't been practicing in a long time, have you?" Kitsune loaded the last water bottle into the crate and picked it up.

"Not really, not since I was 10." Yachi tilted her head, embarrassed.

"Oh well."

The three managers entered the gymnasium together, Yachi holding the towels for both teams, Kiyoko holding the crate of water bottles for Karasuno and Kitsune lifting the Nekoma crate. She heaved a sigh of exhaustion as she placed them on the floor.

"Kitsune, can you move those chairs here? I need somewhere to sit." Coach Nekomata nodded to a set of plastic chairs across the court.

"No problem, Coach!" She replied, her positive energy surfacing. She ran over and lifted two chairs up, running back hurriedly.

"Stray ball! Yachi-kun! Watch out!"

A player's distressed warning rang out across the court. Kitsune didn't care to find out who's it was, because she could see the ball headed towards her best friend and stepsister. "Not on my watch." She hissed. Call her overprotective, but if that ball touched a hair on Yachi's head, she would stab the person who let it out of the court with one of her own arrows.

She swiftly dropped the chairs, running across half the court as fast as she could. NOT ON MY LAST LIFE. She launched herself into the air in front of Yachi like a cat, body out stretched. As the ball seemingly floated into her arms, she held her breath as she dived forward.

She felt her ponytail swing as it if it were alive, as she held the ball under her chin and pressed to her chest. She landed with a forward roll, ball still tucked between her chin and chest, and ended it in a one-legged kneeling position, her right leg keeping the ball in place and the left leg steadying herself as she hugged onto the ball.

Her eyes seemed to glow dangerously as she stood up, totally uninjured but absolutely pissed off. "I'd like to know who let the ball fly out of the court and almost hit my little sister?" Her voice was slowly descending into a violent hiss. Her pointy teeth were in full view, glistening dangerously. The impressed and astonished looks the players had as they watched her dive for the ball morphed almost instantly into a chilling fear.

"I'm really sorry, Yachi-chan." Lev bowed deeply to the blonde manager of Karasuno, who shook her head. "No, no, I'm fine." She shook her head. "I'm completely fine. Kitsune-niisan, are you okay?" She touched Kitsune's arm lightly.

"I'm okay." She reassured the little girl. "But just as a reminder- "

She tossed the ball into the air, and ran forward, jumping high into the air. Her dangerous aim was in clear demonstration for all of them as she performed a flying jump serve into the court, that narrowly missed Lev. It was too narrow of a miss for it to have been an unintentional miss. Her growl of satisfaction was all too horrifying for almost all the players.

Coach Nekomata high-fived her as she walked past him to grab the chairs she had dropped in her haste to save Yachi from that stray ball. "Thank you very much, Kitsune-niisan." Yachi followed her to the chairs, insisting on helping her.

"Be more careful next time. I won't be able to save you all the time, as much as I want to." She smiled at her.

"Kuroo. Stop staring. We're starting the game." Yaku kicked him in the ass.

"OI!" He glared at the short libero.

Kuroo turned away reluctantly, Yaku facepalming. Just tease her or something already, you're a hopeless case. He stared at his captain in exasperation. It's so obvious.

- Fukurodani Academy -

"What?" Akaashi's voice was full of venom. "And you're telling me you didn't step in?"

"We confronted the fangirl the next time we saw her… But she transferred to another school around here by that point and- "Oikawa tried to explain.

"No excuses. You two are absolutely fucking dead." Akaashi glared in the angriest expression Iwaizumi had ever seen him in. "I'm going to call her and make sure she's okay. She did not deserve a playboy scumbag like you in her life." He growled as he stormed off.

"Agashi~" Bokuto tried to catch up to him, but was silenced by Akaashi's glare. The three of them stood frozen on the court as Akaashi hurried off to call his friend.

"Kitsune-kun."

"Huh? Akaashi! I've missed you!" Her cheery voice came through loud and clear.

He narrowed his eyes, though she couldn't see it through the phone, obviously.

"I heard about you and Oikawa. Are you doing okay?" He asked directly.

"Aka, I'm doing fine. In fact, I made lots of new friends. Karasuno is over here at the moment, so I can't talk too much now."

"Karasuno? Wait are you in Nekoma now? And do you happen to be with the volleyball club?"

"Should have known you'd guess. Yeah, I am. And yes, I joined the club a couple days ago and they've been nothing but nice. Don't worry about me Aka-chan!"

"Alright, love you. I'll come over after this stupid game with Aoba Johsai."

"Okay! Love you too!"

He quickly hung up and turned back to the court, still seething with rage at Oikawa.

"After this game, I need to go do something. If I catch any of you following me, I'll make sure Kitsune gets an arrow into each of your brains." He hissed at the Aoba Johsai players, particularly Oikawa.

"Shittykawa, I think there's at least one player you pissed off in every team at this point." Iwaizumi shook his head in disappointment.

"Shut up, Iwa-chan." Oikawa buried his face in his hands.

- Nekoma High School -

She looked at her phone, sighing in discontentment. "Friend of yours?" Kuroo stepped outside and joined her.

"Kuroo-san. Weren't you in the middle of a game?" She looked inside the gymnasium, to find everyone resting, drinking water and wiping off their sweat.

"Having a timeout." He sat down on the steps next to her.

"My friend from Fukurodani is coming over in a bit. He heard about me and Oikawa." She explained.

"Hmm."

"What?"

"You have friends from almost every team, it seems. That's all." He rested his arm on her head.

"I met a lot of people at Tooru's games." She grunted at the weight of his arm. "Jesus, did you put weights into your arms or something? It's goddamn heavy."

"You really aren't that strong, are you?" He pretended he wasn't concentrating all his weight onto her head.

"Hey!" She tried moving his arm off unsuccessfully. Smirking, he placed his head in her lap. "You really are a cat, aren't you?" She massaged the back of his neck lightly, to which he could've let out a weird noise but bit his lip as to not make things awkward.

"Should I bring some catnip?" She joked.

"Hey, the only catnip around here is you." He winked, looking up at her from her lap.

"Hilarious." She scratched the back of his ear again.

"Hey, you love me."

"Do I?" She raised an eyebrow, tickling under his arm. He shrieked in laughter, immediately returning to a sitting position.

"That was a low blow." He complained, rubbing his side.

"Get back to the game, Rooster head." She shoved him in the side.

"Only if you watch me, Kyuubi-chan." He stubbornly retaliated.

"Now you're acting like a spoilt brat." She got up and walked in, Kuroo trailing behind.

Yaku shook his head. Finally. Fucking finally. He gestured to Kenma, who also got the memo. "Kuroo, we're playing again." Kenma approached him.

"Cheer me on, Kyuubi!" He ruffled her hair again as he raced back to the court.

"As if." She huffed.