Disclaimer: I do not own Haikyuu! or anything associated with it. I only own the OC's Akumu Yuki and Akumu Shiro. All rights go to Haruichi Furudate.
A/n: Last part of the match! Who's going to win? Leave a favorite and review! Lots of love snowflakes~
Kuroo served the ball again. This time, it flew to the far right where Yuki was guarding. She watched the ball and moved back to receive. As the ball hit her arms, she knew it was a bad receive and called out, "Too far! Shii! Cover!"
Shiro ran towards the net, following the ball with her eyes. She could see Kuroo running up as well out of her peripheral vision. Knowing it would come to a joust, she leaped with a little more forward force than usual and tried to push the ball over the net only to be met with a powerful opposing force.
Trying to keep her balance in the air, she continued to push the ball. Her eyes met Kuroo's who had a knowing smirk on his face. Shiro tried to give one last push but felt her body lose balance and start to fall backward. As she fell back to the ground, she tried to reach her arm out to the ball that was falling with her. It was in vain. As her feet hit the ground, so did the ball.
Yuki ran up to her sister and apologized, "Sorry. That was a bad receive."
"It's fine." Shiro told her sister. She glared at the ball. It wasn't her first joust, but it also wasn't the first time she lost one. Actually, she had lost every joust she attempted. Despite her powerful spikes, Shiro didn't have the ability to over power another player one-on-one.
"It's fine." Yuki repeated the words to her sister knowing exactly what she was thinking. "You're smaller than him, so it's only natural that he had the advantage."
"Chibi-chan, I thought you were strong. I barely had to try." Taunted Kuroo. He had a large smirk on his face. Kenma stood beside him not saying anything. He was staring at the siblings with a calculating look on his face.
"It's the spin, isn't it?" Kenma suddenly spoke up.
Shiro looked at him in surprise before averting her gaze. "Yeah."
Kuroo's smirk disappeared to give way to a confused expression, "What spin?"
Yuki sighed and explained, "I set the ball specifically for Shiro. Instead of a normal set, I put an extra spin to the ball that helps give her spike a little more power."
Shiro clenched her hands. It wasn't that she didn't appreciate the extra effort Yuki put in for her, but she wished she could spike that hard without help.
Instead of taunting her again, Kuroo simply looked at the girl still on the floor and shrugged, "That makes sense I guess. If you had hit that hard on your own, I would be terrified of you, Chibi-chan."
At the poke of teasing, Shiro started to get her fire back, "You should still be terrified of me, Bean Pole."
Letting out a chuckle, Kuroo started walking back to the serve line, "Then show me why."
The next rally was a long one. Neither side was willing to let the other win. Shiro dug most of the balls while Yuki attempted to mess with the other side with a few feint shouts and changing up the spin of the ball. Kuroo, however, was digging up as many balls as Shiro and Kenma was following suit in the setting trickery in attempt to confuse them. The rally finally came to an end when Kuroo hit the ball too hard and Yuki called the out letting the ball fly off the court.
"Nice call!" Shiro called to her sister who had run after the ball. She was a little disappointed that the impressive rally had ended in such an anticlimactic way.
They continued to play, each side stubbornly refused to the ball fall making each rally longer and longer. Soon the end of the game was nearing with the score at 11-13 to Kuroo and Kenma's advantage.
Yuki and Shiro panted, hands on their knees, trying to catch their breath. They both looked up when they heard a chuckle coming from the other side. Kuroo stood there out of breath yet laughing while Kenma went to fetch the ball for their serve.
"Two more points." He reminded them. "If you're too tired to continue, we can just call it quits now and you can bow down to your superior senpai."
"Or four." Yuki shot back with a glare. She no longer cared how pretty his face looked. He wasn't going to look so pretty when she was done with him.
Shiro just stood silently by her side eyeing the two boys. Her peridot eyes shined with excitement. After a few seconds of catching their breath, Shiro stood and walked over to Yuki.
"Hey, what are you two whispering over there?" Kuroo demanded as Kenma walked back to them with the ball. When neither answered, Kuroo snatched the ball from Kenma and tossed it towards them in hopes to interrupt whatever scheme they were planning.
*Catch* Shiro easily snagged the ball from the air and walked to serve as if nothing had happened. Yuki stood there for a couple more seconds with her eyes closed. Kuroo watched with fascination as she stood there. It looked like the whole world didn't exist to her anymore and she was only focused on her breathing.
Emerald eyes opened and locked onto his. The color was the same, but there was something underneath that Kuroo couldn't identify. He heard Kenma telling him to get into position in the background and slowly walked to the back of the court. For some reason, he felt like he couldn't tear his eyes from the shining emeralds that were boring into his eyes.
Smack!
The sound of the ball being served quickly brought his attention back to the game. He moved forward to receive the ball. Hitting it up into the air, he looked at the other side of the net to determine which side he should spike from.
Shiro was in the middle of the court heading up to the front of the net while Yuki was… moving backwards? Kuroo didn't have time to wonder what she could be doing. For the whole match, it was always a double block even if they read him wrong (which wasn't often since he was the only spiker). Deciding it didn't matter, Kuroo leapt into the air to spike the ball.
Bam!
Kuroo's smirk fell from his face when he realized his spike that had made it past Shiro was dug up by Yuki. Gritting his teeth, he moved backwards a little focusing his attention on the smaller white haired girl. She would probably spike the ball since it was close enough to the net and high enough.
Just as Shiro jumped, he and Kenma followed, blocking her spike options. Instead of the fear and frustration Kuroo usually saw on spikers' faces when met with a block, he saw a knowing smirk and watched in confusion as she set the ball to the far right of the court.
Bang!
The ball slammed into his court with a strong spike from Yuki. Kuroo looked in awe as the girl fell back to earth, her long white hair almost floating down with her. She can spike? He thought in confusion.
Kenma gave a rare chuckle. Looking at Shiro, he asked, "You planned this didn't you?"
Shiro responded with a shit-eating grin at her new friend before running up to her sister to give her a high five. Walking over to the setter/spiker, Kuroo gave an annoyed look, "You've been holding back that spike from me this whole time?"
Yuki looked up at him in surprise before giving him a smile, "Whatever do you mean? I never hold back." The intense emerald eyes were back.
"I'll be watching you." He warned before walking off to Kenma. "Do you have a plan?"
"Hmm… it'll be difficult to get used to worrying about two spikers this late in the game. By now, we're already too used to just targeting Shiro-san." Kenma hummed thoughtfully. His mind was clearly working overtime looking for the opening they needed to finish off their opponents. His brown eyes flickered between the two sisters who were huddled together whispering to each other. Looking at his friend, he deadpanned, "It's unlikely we'll win. Now that we know Shiro-san isn't the only spiker, we need to be wary of Yuki's spikes. Based on the play just now, it seems like Shiro-san isn't the best setter, so they'll likely only use it if Yuki gets first touch and can't set it. You should continue to mark Shiro-san, and I'll stop blocking with you. We have to also watch out for other surprises. I have a feeling this isn't their full repertoire of attacks."
"Well, you never said it was impossible to win." Kuroo just answered in determination as he processed the information. He wasn't about to lose to the shy kitten and her chibi Imouto.
Kuroo kept his eye on the ball as Shiro served again. The ball flew, barely making it over the net. Luckily her serves aren't that good. He thought gratefully.
Unfortunately, since it was so close to the net, Kenma had first touch. As the ball flew up, he ran up to try and spike only to see Yuki standing there waiting for him. Knowing Shiro was the better blocker, he decided to go for it anyway despite the risk.
Bam!
"One touch!" Yuki called to her sister. She had barely managed to brush the ball, but it was enough for it to go flying into the air. Shiro quickly followed up with a close receive before running to the far side of the net to get ready for the spike.
Since Shiro had first touch, they'll probably go with Shiro as spiker. Kuroo rationed. Marking the younger Akumu, he ran up getting ready to block.
Tip…
Kuroo looked over with horror on his face as he watched his childhood friend diving to the ground in attempt to pick up the setter dump Yuki had just pulled on them. The ball hit the ground once then bounced off to the end of the court.
"Nice kill." Shiro complimented her sister calmly before putting on a playfully annoyed expression. "Warn me next time though? I wasted so much energy on that run and jump."
"I tried to but you didn't look over." Yuki shrugged.
"Well, so-rry I didn't have time to look at you between serving, receiving, and going up for the spike." Shiro sassed. "That one-touch would've been out if it hadn't been for my amazingly fantastic receiving skills."
Normally, Kuroo would be amused at the banter between the sisters, but he was grimacing at the score. They were now tied up at 13-13. He didn't expect it to be this close. He had foolishly assumed they were average players just like all the others on the girls' volleyball team.
"Sorry." Kenma apologized to him, walking up with the ball in hand. "I thought Akumu-san might pull something, but I doubted myself when I saw Shiro-san jump."
"No, you did good Kenma." Kuroo reassured him. "I should be the one apologizing. I didn't expect them to have this many tricks."
"Hey! It's still my serve. Toss me the ball!" Shiro called out to them.
Kenma threw the ball to her before getting into position. Kuroo, too, got into position. He watched Yuki carefully, not even looking at Shiro. He knew he could get her serves easily, so he should watch the setter to make sure she didn't pull any funny setter tricks on them again.
Yuki felt Kuroo's eyes on her and turned to nod at her sister before looking up at the top of the net then back to the front. She must be going for the block then. I'll just run the opposite direction as her. Kenma will get the ball to me for sure, and based on this match, her reaction and speed isn't as good as Shiro's, so I'll be able to get by her. Kuroo thought to himself. He glanced at Kenma who seemed to have the same thought process as him. Kenma gave him a signal behind his back directing him which way to go.
Slam!
The serve was in the air. Kuroo finally looked up at the ball and dropped his mouth in shock. You've got to be kidding. He screamed in his mind.
Backing up, he positioned himself to receive the ball only to realize he was too close. He didn't have time to change position and ended up knocking the ball too low to the ground.
"Oi! Chibi-chan! Since when do you do float serves?" He demanded.
"10-90." Came the response. Shiro was staring at the spot the ball had flown over with a thoughtful expression on her face.
At Kuroo's questioning look, Kenma explained. "It means she only makes 10% of her float serves. That's probably why she hasn't been doing them until now."
"I believe that puts us at set point, Kuroo-san." Shiro smirked at him after she finished analyzing her serve in her head.
Yuki looked over at her sister disapprovingly. "Don't provoke them. I don't want to deal with a deuce right now."
Shiro pouted at her sister, "You're no fun."
Kuroo, for once, couldn't seem to come up with a response. Kenma looked at his best friend and sighed. He knew the match was already decided. Kuroo wasn't in the right headspace and he, himself, was too tired to do much.
Shiro threw the ball up and served it normally. Kuroo ran in for the receive, but he added too much upward swing causing the ball to fly too far right. Kenma ran to set the ball but only was able to get it to the middle of the court.
Leaping, Kuroo swung with all his might in hopes of breaking through the double block.
Boom!
Kuroo knew as soon as he had hit it that they had lost. The ball slammed back down into his court. The girls had won using a complete block (which was his move!).
Nevertheless, he was impressed. They definitely had more skill than he thought they did. "Good game." He admitted. He held out his hand to Yuki with a genuine smile. She truly was a great setter.
"Osu… good game, Kuroo-san." Came her quiet reply. She shook his hand timidly. Apparently the game adrenaline and excitement had left her leaving her a stumbling, blushing mess again. At least it wasn't nearly as bad as before.
Kuroo didn't mind. He continued to smile at the girl before spotting Shiro out of the corner of his eyes. "Oi! Chibi-chan! Those were some incredible spikes." He complimented her. "For a squirt like you, you can sure hit hard. Not to mention, your stupid left handed spike is so annoying!"
"You're not bad yourself, Kuroo-san. I see Kenma-san wasn't exaggerating when he said you were a good blocker." Shiro replied, ducking under his hand that was trying to ruffle her hair. Looking up at him with a neutral expression, she deadpanned, "You're the type of player I hate the most."
Kuroo sweatdropped. "Thank… you?"
"Oh, Kenma-san!" Shiro immediately perked up seeing her new friend. "You were pretty good at setting. You underestimate yourself. I can see your gaming mind at work during the game."
Kenma gave the girl a soft smile, "You were really good, too, Shiro-san. I can see that you plan out the whole game. It was smart to save your surprise moves for the end. We couldn't do anything about it at that point."
Shiro gave him a proud smile. Walking side by side with him, Shiro walked to their bags leaving Kuroo and Yuki behind once again.
Kuroo was just shaking his head in awe at seeing Kenma so open with someone else, and a girl at that! He didn't think Kenma knew the other sex existed.
"Let's go, Kuroo-san." Yuki called to him when he didn't move.
Kuroo looked down at the shorter girl and made a face, "Drop the -san."
"I'm sorry?" Yuki turned around with a confused expression.
"It makes me feel old when you address me so formally. You can just call me Kuroo."
Yuki blushed a little, but she was proud at how long she was making it in the conversation. "O-okay, Kuroo-sa. I mean, Kuroo." It felt weird saying his name without any honorifics but not in a bad way. "You can call me Akumu if you would like." She offered with a kind smile.
"Nah, I prefer calling you Kitten." Kuroo teased. Grabbing her wrist, he started to drag her off towards their companions, "Now, come on or they'll get lost. Kenma is terrible with directions and something tells me Chibi-chan isn't great either."
Yuki was too shook over her new nickname to do anything but allow herself to be dragged along.
Chapter 8 End
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Yuuki-Hime 2097: They're in middle school right now, but there will be a time skip soon. I'm glad you enjoy the fanfiction! Thank you for the support!