I promise, we are getting closer to the good stuff with each chapter xD Btw, if anyone's interested, got 24/30 on my test! Two more incoming the following two weekends xD Enjoy the reading!

Special shoutout to AmIValid2 for sending me TetsuHaru smut to encourage me to write some of that soon :D You spiced up my morning like crazy!

Chapter 20: The boys

"Look, there," Kuroo pointed out, clicking the remote. He had taken the gadget at the very beginning, being the one to set the pace of their match watching binge. He would stop the video, then rewind and show Haru, in slow motion if necessary, a particularly brilliant move. "He did a single person time delay on his spike and the setter accommodated." When the girl didn't reply, as she had been the whole time, Kuroo looked over to her on the couch. Haru had her head on the back of it, fast asleep.

Kuroo grinned, figuring that she had finally succumbed to the exhaustion from the whole day of school, practice and then work. Not to even mention the whole thing with her sister. He wasn't quite sure what was going on between the two, but he could see that it was bad. Haru didn't even retaliate, like he knew that she could.

Gently, Kuroo pulled her from the back of the couch, settling her onto the cushions to sleep more comfortably. She murmured something hazily, and snuggled her head closer to his thigh, breathing in deeply and then falling into a deeper sleep. Kuroo took a moment to carefully mess with her hair, patting it and entangling his fingers into it, separating the wild curls. Then, he refocused on the match, taking notes on his own. He made sure to jot down the time of the plays and moves which were important, so that Haru could go over them more easily later.

After about an hour, Kuroo got thirsty and stood from the couch, tiptoeing into the kitchen. He was surprised to find Chihiro, the elder Sakurano girl, still up and texting. He didn't greet her, but went to the fridge and made himself at home, pouring the juice which he'd come to love. Kuroo had been rather surprised, when he'd gone to Haru's earlier that day, ringing the doorbell and expecting the girl herself to open the door. But, instead, another woman had.

Chihiro looked rather similar to her sister. She had a lighter tone of dark skin and her eyes were clearly Japanese, more slanted than Haru's. They were somehow smaller, too. Her lips were also smaller than the ones he'd dreamed of kissing all too often. Her frame was trim, compact, everything about her smaller than her sister. She almost looked younger than Haru, despite there being quite a few years between them. Yet, even when she had greeted him with an open flirtation, Kuroo hadn't felt anything for the girl, instead brushing her off and going upstairs to look for the girl he'd come to see. He could tell that she hadn't been happy with that.

"Kuroo-kun, was it?" Chihiro asked, making him pause in his movements. Kuroo turned with a lazy smile, aiming to at least try and be polite.

"Yes?" He returned the juice to the fridge, drinking from his glass.

"How come Chiharu isn't being hospitable and pouring you that drink?" The girl was the crafty type. He could tell that much from just looking at her. With the carefully styled hair and very expensive clothes and makeup, she looked every bit the model she was. Besides, she carried herself with a kind of confidence he hadn't seen too often. She reminded him of someone, but he couldn't quite put his finger on who.

"She fell asleep," Kuroo laughed easily. "I suppose the day finally tired her out. It's alright, though, I know my way around the place."

"I see," Chihiro nodded, abandoning her phone and standing up, walking over behind the counter to join him. "Can I have a sip? I suddenly feel so parched." She didn't wait for his reply but took the glass from his hands, careful to brush her fingers against his. She looked straight into his eyes, unabashedly, as she drank from the same spot he'd been sipping from. Oh, she was sly, alright. Kuroo grinned right back.

"Keep it," he told her with a dismissive wave. "I have to finish up the club stuff anyways." But, the girl wouldn't be dissuaded. She followed after him into the living room, not sparing her sister a glance.

"So, you play volleyball?" Chihiro asked. "I've always found all volleyball player rather sexy, you know?"

"Oh," Kuroo gave her a small glance, noticing how she was standing in order to show off all of her good assets as she leaned on the edge of the couch. She was looking down at him, who had already sat down with the remote back in his hands, like he was the most delicious treat which she planned to taste. "Then, you must've dated quite a few of them?" First blow. "Back in your time, I mean." And the second perfect one.

"Only a few," she didn't sound fazed, but Kuroo could sense her irritation. "It wasn't that long ago when I was in high school. It was before my career had taken off nicely." He knew exactly what she wanted him to ask.

"You're a model, right?" He obliged and the girl nodded confidently. He knew the game well. Play into your opponent's web until you can completely mess it up. "Yeah, Haru told me you were quite famous, but… I haven't really seen any of your photoshoots in magazines recently?" Oh, she didn't like that jibe, either.

"I'm too busy with commercials these days," Chihiro seemed to recover quickly. "They told me that they might recruit me for a drama, as well, if I do good on the next set."

"Oh, I knew you looked familiar!" Kuroo thanked Akari for being so talkative and telling him a golden piece of information some time ago. "You were in that commercial with the chicken, right?" The look on the girl's face was absolutely priceless. She blushed profusely and looked away from him. Kuroo had learnt that Chihiro hated that commercial at the beginning of her success more than anything. "How did the song go again? I remember it was something quite catchy?" He could remember watching the commercial on YouTube after Akari had told him about it. It had been quite embarrassing, showing the beautiful girl in a chicken suit, singing a ridiculous but catchy tune about the franchise among plucked chickens which looked mortifyingly wrong around her pretty face.

"I don't quite remember," Chihiro shrugged. "It was the very beginning of my career. Nowadays I do makeup commercials."

"Right," Kuroo nodded, tapping his forehead. "Well, it looks good on you," she looked smug for a bare second. "I mean, you use quite a bit of makeup, right?" And with a homerun finish, he had her blushing in mortification again. Haru never wore makeup. He knew that. The girl was a natural beauty. Her sister, on the other hand, he could see the pigment difference between her neck and face. She wore more than a bit of it at all times.

"I won't bore you with the girlish stuff," Chihiro attempted to deflect. "I want to know more about you, though. What position do you play in volleyball?" The girl walked around the couch, settling herself on the armrest next to him. Kuroo decided that he'd had enough playtime with the young woman.

"The unavailable kind." He told her, staring up at her with a clear sign for her to get lost. Chihiro seemed offended, but she remained quite polite, despite the fact that he had moved his hand away when she'd attempted to sensually touch it.

"Well, you have yourself a good night," the model stood, sashaying away from the living room. "I'm going to bed." Kuroo breathed a sigh of relief when she was gone from his field of vision. He suddenly felt like he understood Haru a bit more. With her sister that way, confident and successful in selling it, he didn't doubt that it threw a cloud of self-doubt over the younger girl. The third-year brushed a lock of Haru's hair away from her face, which had fallen there when she'd turned on the couch. "You're a thousand times better than her," he whispered to her softly. "More beautiful, too." Then, he allowed himself a small moment of his iron self-control breaking and leaned down, pressing a butterfly kiss to those wild curls. When he rose from the cloud of her scent which made him feel all too warm in his own skin, he clicked play again, resuming the match.

"The plan?" Yaku grabbed Kai's hand, pulling him to the side in the corridor. Kuroo joined them with a knowing smirk in two strides. They all huddled together. "The plan?" Yaku repeated, turning to Kai.

"The plan?" Kai turned to Kuroo.

"The plan." Kuroo nodded sagely. The libero and the wing-spiker looked at him incredulously. "Alright, alright," their captain chuckled. "I asked Akari to sniff out if Chihiro is gone from the house. Unfortunately, looks like she will be staying for a while yet. We need a change of venue."

"Kenma's?" Kai suggested.

"I can ask…" Kuroo shrugged.

"It should be today after practice, if possible," Yaku told them. "If not, we will end up in the prep for the practice matches and the Inter-High and won't have the time for it." All three third years nodded to one another.

"If it comes down to it, we can do it at my place." Kuroo told them. "We just won't be able to be as loud or stay as long."

"Alright, let's do this." The group broke apart, each of the boys going to their own classrooms.

"Haru!" The girl turned around, stopping. Yaku was running to catch up with her from the boys' locker room. "You're fast." He bent over, catching his breath for a second and then gave the girl a wide grin. "Do you have work today?"

"No?" Haru tentatively replied. She didn't have work, but didn't really fancy going home either. For some reason, Chihiro had insisted on sticking around for a few days, constantly lingering around the house, sometimes with and sometimes without her boyfriend.

"Great!" Yaku practically glowed with joy. "We're all going to Kenma's later to play some games and maybe review some matches, you want to come with?" He saw the hesitation on her face and immediately cut off the negative reply he knew was coming. "We won't stay long and it will be casual, I promise. You can leave if you get bored." Haru laughed, nodding.

"Alright, Morisuke, you win," she smiled at the boy. "When should I be there? I would love to go home and take a shower."

"Well, I think most of us will go straight to Kenma's," Yaku told her, hesitating. "But, in an hour or so should work, right?" Haru took a second to think about it and then nodded.

"I'll make it."

"Great!" And Yaku was running back to the locker room. He didn't see Haru looking at him inquisitively, then shaking her head and leaving. Instead, the libero burst into the locker room, catching his breath once more. "It's on! She'll be at Kenma's in an hour, let's get a move on!" Then, the whole locker room became a mess, as if someone had dumped a bucket of hot potatoes on them.

Haru had taken more time choosing her outfit than showering. On one hand, she wanted to look good. On the other, she didn't want to seem as if she was trying too hard. In the end, she grabbed her jean shorts that showed off her legs nicely and she was just pulling on a T-shirt over her head when the door to her room opened.

"Where are you going?" Chihiro stood in the doorway, looking at her with a slight frown.

"A friend's place." Haru held in a sigh and decided to give Chihiro the least amount of information she could, without sounding rude.

"Someone you like gonna be there?" Haru inspected her sister in the reflection of the mirror. Chihiro, for once, didn't look smug or coy. She just seemed… bored.

"Maybe." For once, the second-year decided to be honest with her sister.

"Then, you can't wear that T-shirt." Chihiro vanished as Haru paused in fixing up her hair for a second. She continued fixing her hair, pulling half of it back in a lazy halfway bun. As she was fluffing out the rest of her curls, making sure that they fell down her back nicely, her sister reappeared. She tossed something at Haru, the girl barely managing to turn around and catch it. It was a red shirt with a print on the front. "Put that on." Chihiro told her and then left. Haru was left in her room, holding the shirt in confusion.

Kenma's doorbell rang, Inuoka rushing towards it. He motioned for all the boys to quiet down as he left the living room with the large TV and for once, they obeyed. Haru stood awkwardly on the other side of the door, with a bag of snacks. Her sister's red shirt was tight around her chest, but not uncomfortably so, and it had a low V-neck, allowing for a glimpse of Haru's black bra if she was careless. It wrapped nicely around her waist, though, so she had decided to wear it in the end.

"Hi, Haru!" Inuoka was a bit too loud in his greeting, grinning at the girl. "Come in, we're choosing games." The girl walked in, trailing after the boy after slipping off her flipflops next to the numerous sneakers and school shoes. They walked into the living room, which was oddly empty.

"Where is everyone?" Haru asked, turning to Inuoka. He had a weird smile on his face, but she didn't have the chance to question it.

"Surprise!" The boys from the team jumped out from all sides, yelling. Kai and Yaku popped out from under the back of the couch. Lev, Shibayama and Teshiro came from the kitchen, arms up wide. Kuroo was dragging Kenma from somewhere behind Haru. Yamamoto and Fukunaga had been hiding behind a sofa chair, running out and towards the girl.

"Eh, eh?" Haru asked as the boys started hugging her from all sides, some of them daring to place a kiss on her cheek or ruffle her hair. Yamamoto went for a smooch and then pulled back, face red, deciding to instead pat her on the shoulder instead. Kuroo was by far the most daring, his kiss lingering on her skin. "Guys, what is this about?" Haru asked, wriggling out of his hold.

"Congratulations on your pictures being in the magazine!" Lev gave her yet another tight hug, making her stay still for a second, in shock, and then finally tear up.

"Oh, this isn't fair!" Haru wiped at her eyes furiously and then opened the second bag next to the snacks. "I was just about to give you some stuff, too!" The boys quickly changed their tune, hoarding the girl and trying to get closer to see what was in the bag.

"Oi!" Yaku finally called for attention, kicking Lev who was closest to him. "Sit down, stop crowding Haru!" Begrudgingly, the boys obeyed. Even Kuroo listened, murmuring something along the lines of 'demon paisen' as he plopped down next to Kenma in the sofa chair, making the setter frown and try to wriggle to make some space on the small piece of furniture.

"Here you go," Haru started taking out the items from the bag, giving one to each of the boys who were eagerly watching her. Finally, she sat down, as well, in between Lev and Yamamoto.

"Oh, this is awesome!" Inuoka exclaimed from his seat on the floor, turning the item in his hands around and then began browsing through it. It was a calendar, with important match dates marked on all every copy in different colors. Haru had done her best to arrange the photos by their birth months, but a few had overlapped.

So, in the end, the pictures had ended up in the following order. On the cover, there was an image of the whole team, coaches and their manager included, which they had taken for school. They all stood, grinning, Yamamoto giving Yaku ears with two fingers. January featured a large image of Teshiro setting the ball during a game. He was wearing his uniform, sweaty, with a look of concentration on his face. He was mid-jump and had his hands raised, being the only thing in focus in the picture. His birthday was clearly marked in the calendar on the bottom part of the calendar. February belonged to Yamamoto in a much similar manner. Haru had managed to catch a shot of him spiking the ball strongly over the net. March was Haru's month, featuring a picture Satoshi had taken of her with her camera, clicking away. Kai held the featured image of April, half-crouched, receiving a tricky ball. Coach Nekomata shined from the May photo, in his red Nekoma sweats, holding a peace sign and his clipboard in the other hand, grinning, as usual. June was a group picture, all of the team members mid-jump. They had taken that one while goofing off for their team picture on the cover. Naoi looked stern while he was featured for July. Yaku held the title for August, diving to dig for a ball skillfully. September had Fukunaga spiking the ball over the net, the image taken from the side. October was shared by Kenma and Lev, the setter positioning the ball for the first-year to hit over the net at a rather enviable height. November was again, a shared month, Kuroo and Inuoka blocking with a lot of intensity, the picture taken from the front, both of the boys smiling. Though, the captain was more smirking while the young middle blocker just looked ecstatic. Finally, December showed Shibayama with a look of concentration, waiting for the ball in an overhanded position.

"Why do I have to share with Lev?" Kenma grumbled when he came to his month, interrupting the silence and making everyone break into laughter and teasing.

"These are amazing, Haru!" Lev told her from the side, giving her a hug with one arm and snuggling up to her. Kuroo's eyebrow twitched.

"You sly little-"

"Haru!" Yamamoto was crying tears of absolute happiness. "Thish ish amazhing!" The girl barely understood his words through his tears, but she got the gist of it. She hugged him, which made him cry even more. "I will treashure it until the day I die!" Haru laughed, again, getting numerous hugs and thanks from the team members. It took them half an hour to finally compose themselves and actually pick out a game to play.

"We're out of sports drinks." Haru said, walking into the gym during practice. Kuroo and Yaku were already there, helping each other stretch. Kenma sat on the bench, immersed in his game. Yamamoto dropped the balls he was holding, walking towards the manager, opening his mouth with unintelligible sounds coming out. Quickly, Kenma's leg shot forward, tripping the ace and successfully shutting him up as he faceplanted.

"Kuroo can take you to the local store," the setter spoke up in his usual monotone voice, gaining the attention of all the people in the room. His eyes never left the game, though.

"But, I usually-"

"Kuroo can show Haru exactly which one to get, she should know that for the future." Kenma successfully caused yet another complete silence of the whole gym, cutting the libero off. Kuroo looked up at the setter from his position behind Yaku, pushing the boy's back forward. Then, he glanced to the manager who was already ready to lock eyes with him with a raised eyebrow.

"Sure, I can do that," the captain slowly said. "I'm free after practice today, if you can go then, Haru?" The manager shook her head.

"It's Wednesday, I have work," she told him. "I need to leave practice early, too. But, I can meet you after? That's at eight." Kuroo nodded, ignoring Yaku's yelp of pain when he pushed him a bit too hard. The captain immediately eased off, still deaf to the third-year libero who started shouting insults at him. There was a stupid grin on Kuroo's face.

"Sure, if you text me the address, I can come pick you up?"

"No need, I'll just meet you where you need me to."

"And you should pick up some new towels, as well," Kenma added, interrupting their banter. His eyes were still on his game when the manager and the captain looked over.

"A-alright." Haru nodded. "The mall, then?"

"Sure, eight twenty?" Kuroo tilted his head to the side, thinking. "But, we'll have to go to that mall that works till ten." Haru nodded.

"Perfect, I know which one you mean, just a few stops from us?"

"Yeah."

Meet me at the mall at 8:15pm.

Akari paused her sewing and opened the message, frowning at it. Kenma wanted her to meet him at the mall that late? Then, it had to be the one that worked till ten.

Sure.

She replied curtly. When he answered just a quick confirmation, no explanation, Akari felt her heart speed up. Was he asking her out? Kenma wasn't the most elaborative type. His brain simply worked too fast, jumping from topic to topic, counting on the people around him to keep up most of the time. Akari had learnt that in the time she'd spent with the boy. But, she was still often left wondering where his mind had wandered off to.

"Akari, the seam!" Immediately, the girl took her foot of the pedal under the table, looking at the dress she'd been making while her brain was busy with Kenma. The seam was all crooked.

"Darn, I'll redo it." Akari sighed and started working on undoing the stitch.

Kenma stood awkwardly in front of the mall, trying to push himself into the wall and hopefully vanish into it. It was still not the hour he had set for the meeting, as he had come early. Perhaps, too early. He was nervous, which was an uncommon feeling for him. Yet, somehow, the fact that he would be meeting Akari, all on his own, put him on edge. He had even taken his time to pick his clothes. Dark baggy capris that came to his knees and a wide T-shirt had been a rather good choice, in his opinion.

"Kenma!" He raised his head, finding Akari with his gaze. She looked breathtaking. In that light pink dress with white lace, which wasn't too little nor too much. It was just, tastefully, enough. "Sorry, am I late?"

"No…" He looked down, hiding his blushing cheeks.

"Why did you want me to meet you here?" He hadn't told her? Had he forgotten to tell her?

"Kuroo and Haru are going on an errand here together," he said to the girl, which made a look of realization come onto her face.

"Let's tail them!" Akari took Kenma's hand, pulling him into the mall. She didn't stop leading him until they were on the second floor, standing by the railing with a nice view of the entrance. Kenma took a second to appreciate the softness of her delicate hand in his. He noticed something catching on the skin of his calloused palm. He was absent-mindedly listening to her chatter softly as he raised their connected hands, inspecting the place which bothered him.

"What happened?" There was a band aid on Akari's finger. She stopped chattering, looking at him with soft eyes.

"Nothing really, just stabbed myself." She waved his concern off.

"Stabbed yourself?"

"With a needle at the club," Akari laughed at his disbelief. "I wasn't paying attention while sewing and ended up with some more wounds from battle. It's not too bad this time." Kenma inspected the band aid for a second longer, his finger tracing it.

"Does it hurt?" Akari was smiling at him when he looked at her. It made his cheeks heat up.

"If you let me play with your hair, I'll tell you." Kenma immediately avoided eye contact, looking at his feet. He nodded mutely. Akari let go of his hand in glee, stepping behind him to start touching his hair. She had a weird infatuation with it. While he missed the loss of her gentle touch and heat on his palm, he preferred her fingers in his hair. The action of unknotting the tangles somehow calmed him. Kenma forced himself to pay attention to the lobby of the mall.

"They're here." He said after a few minutes, making Akari quickly tie his hair into a low bun and whisper to him that her finger doesn't hurt much anymore. She'd been pricked too many times for it to hurt. Then, gently taking his hand again, Akari whispered conspiratively.

"Let the tailing begin!" Kenma couldn't help but smile at that.

Is it wrong that I love writing KenAri? I can't help myself xD

Reviews:

Valen Goncalvez:
If you're looking for some more Kuroo being an awesome person, you got some right here ;)

Rosto'sGirl:
Thanks for the review :D
Chihiro is… weird… Like, I don't disagree that she's emotionally abusive, but I think that there might be reasons? More to come on the topic, I promise :D
Kuroo is like +++ yeas! He totally made up for the Megumi thing with Chihiro just now :P She does deserve a bit of rejection lol
Glad you enjoyed the reading, even if it brought you frustration :P
Best!

Guest:
Hello and thanks so much for the review!
I agree that Chihiro is a bit testy… but, maybe there are reasons? She is definitely the villain in Haru's eyes, so it's a tad biased :P
I promise that there will be more elaboration on the buzzing, as Kuroo is not really one to leave such a thing alone :D But, if you need clarification right now, it's mostly like that state where you just tune everything out and blank out, if you know what I mean? It's a typical coping mechanism for kids who have experienced this kind of behavior from their parents or siblings :)
Kuroo and Haru are so fluffy and sweet, they give me cavities every time I write them xD Though, I enjoy it! Glad that you like the pairing :D
Hope to hear from you again soon :)

AmIValid2:
Hiiii thanks for the review and the SMUT! Jesus, it's so good it's scary xD I'm awkward with smut lol xD
I'm sorry for killing you? :P
Chihiro is a troubled young woman, for sure. But, there are reasons for her behavior, as there always are. I promise to get to those soon enough :D She just takes 'bullying your younger sibling' to the extreme xD
I loved writing that scene with Kuroo and Haru! They're so cute together gosh xD He's so perfectly cheeky and brings her out of her comfort zone, it's hilarious xD I hope this chapter made you happy! It had all the good vibes while I was writing it :P
KenAri is life. Hope you liked the bits of them in this one :D No no no, you're the Goddess for reviewing and writing me SMUT! I can't deal xD
Hope you enjoyed the update!
Cheers!

Milo21:
Thank you so much! Glad that you're enjoying it :D

Omake:

Kuroo led Haru to the first store, pointing out the products which they would need. They picked them from the shelves as he listed how to maximize their use during practice.

"What should I have ready for food during matches?" Haru asked, following the tall third-year.

"Hmmm, bananas or granola bars," the captain told her. "Anything high in protein but not too hard on the stomach is good. We need to be able to eat and digest the food quickly," he explained. "An ideal stomach for a game is the one which is empty, yet not hungry. So, highly nutritious food which can be quickly processed in the body."

"Alright," Haru nodded, typing quickly on her phone. Kuroo glanced over at her, smirking.

"Are you taking notes?"

"Yes?"

"Oh, Gosh, you're adorable." Kuroo waited for her to step next to him, then gave her a side hug.

"Aren't you smooth, Mr. One-liner?" The third-year laughed, ruffling her hair.

"I'm always smooth," he replied confidently. "I mean, works on you."

"If you say so." Haru gave him a look from under her lashes that successfully stopped his heart, walking forward. "Shall we check out the granola bars next?" She left him behind, smugly swaying her hips as she went, driving him completely insane.

Urgh, there are too many ships here for me to handle