A shorter chapter, but a lot less canon stuff, so that should make up for it. I'm going to keep the story platonic between Hinata and Kageyama, but I guess if you want, you can still pretend it's pre-Kagehina or just very subtle Kagehina, if you want to.

Disclaimer: I do not own Haikyuu!

~Nerves and a Libero~

He should have known. He should have seen the signs. It fit his character so perfectly and wasn't this exactly how he'd acted when they had first met back in Middle School? Kageyama really wanted to punch the shit out of Hinata. Where did all that nervousness even come from? The worst part of it was the fact that he didn't just get nervous right before the match, no! He was nervous a week, a whole week, before the goddamn match. And it was only a practice match for crying out loud! He didn't even want to imagine what it would be like if this had been an official match Normally, another player's nerves and feelings would even come close to bothering Kageyama, but the fact of the matter was: Hinata was his partner, whether he liked it or not.

In the beginning it hadn't really hit Kageyama just how bad it was, but a few days before the match he and Hinata had stayed for self-practice. Kageyama had very casually brought up their upcoming practice match, trying to prepare Hinata for facing off against Kindaichi, but what had meant to be good advice completely backfired. Kageyama had said something along the lines of: It's important that your jumps are at their best, cause he is quite tall, and Hinata just kind of... malfunctioned. He was supposed to run up to spike a toss, but he instantly tripped over his own feet and just slid across the floor face first. It would have been extremely funny, if it had just been that one time and it hadn't meant anything, but it did. Kageyama decided to give up practice as nothing was going well for them.

The next couple of days were just plain awful. If you took Hinata out of the equation, their team was actually doing pretty well in practice and the few mistakes they made were quickly corrected. It was just that Hinata found a way to screw up even the simplest things. Kageyama had very quickly noticed that Hinata wasn't constantly out of sorts, it was just whenever something that could relate to their upcoming match even in the slightest came up. Even small things like people saying that they were looking forward to playing would set Hinata off. At one point Tanaka had said something about looking forward to seeing the faces of Seijoh's players, when they used their special quick-strike and, only God could know how this happened, but Hinata had managed to jump directly into the net and, by some weird witchcraft, gotten himself stuck. It had taken three people and about ten minutes to get Hinata untangled, another ten minutes to calm him down and two people to prevent Kageyama from sending Hinata flying from one end of the gym to the other.

It was finally the day of the match and Kageyama was so mentally exhausted, because of Hinata that he had completely forgotten his own uneasiness, both of meeting his former teammates again and playing against Oikawa. He had silently hoped that Hinata would have used up all of his nervousness, but when Hinata threw up on Tanaka's lap, Kageyama had already accepted that nothing was going to go well.

Seijoh was big, probably about three or four times the size of Karasuno, and it was honestly a bit intimidating. Not that Kageyama would ever admit to something like that, it just crossed his mind that other people might feel that way.

Now, it hadn't been Kageyama's intention to walk with Tsukishima, Yamaguchi and Tanaka, it had just sort of happened. Maybe because he needed to get away from Hinata (who tended to avoid Tsukishima at all costs) and he knew none of them would start a conversation with him and he just felt like not interacting with anyone at the moment. Nonetheless, he was quite satisfied with his choice, when they came around a corner and were met with Kindaichi, whom Tanaka had caught down talking Karasuno. Tanaka had popped his head just around the corner and pulled his very creepy intimidation smile, while calmly threatening them:

"If you look down on us like that... We'll chew you up and spit you out!"

Kageyama had never seen Kindaichi look so frightened and Tanaka instantly jumped to favourite Senpai on Kageyama's non-existent list of Senpais. The king of trash talk, Tsukishima, added the icing on top of the cupcake, which made Kageyama feel like Tsukishima actually had a purpose that wasn't just height.

"You shouldn't intimidate them like that, Tanaka-san," Tsukishima falsely cheered, "Look, you've frightened those poor elites. I feel so sorry for them." Tsukishima was horrible person, when he was your enemy, but Kageyama would be lying if he said that he didn't enjoy having him as an ally, if only just a bit.

This was the only break which Kageyama got from Hinata's annoying behaviour. As soon as he entered the gymnasium, Hinata was there looking white as a sheet, mumbling something that sounded like a crazy chant of some sort. Kageyama was actually so distracted by Hinata that it he never even noticed that Oikawa was absent from the match until the end of the first set, when Seijoh's setter apologized to Iwaizumi for a low toss. Kageyama was about to mention this to his team, when it was time for Hinata to serve. He decided to tell them later.

So, everyone, who was not Hinata and Kageyama, probably thought that him getting hit in the head by a Volleyball was the funniest thing that could have ever happened that day. Kageyama, being the victim of this, did not exactly agree. It was not so much the fact that he'd actually taken a serve to the head, it was more the implication of it. It was almost like the universe was against Kageyama ever having a solid opinion of Hinata. Whenever he looked down on him, Hinata proved him wrong and exceed all expectations Kageyama could ever have of him. This would have been great if it wasn't because he also failed to meet any expectations, when Kageyama thought of him as a player with immense talent.

He was so fucking done with Hinata acting this way that yelling could no longer express his anger. Hinata was very quick to sense Kageyama's fury and back away from him until he literally hit a wall, which meant that there was no way for him to escape Kageyama. At this point his face was like that of a ghost.

A threatening pep-talk, some Tanaka wisdom and a two sets later, Karasuno had managed to turn everything around and win against Seijoh. Although, it had been a Seijoh without Oikawa, but Kageyama could overlook the minor details. The victory had been very important for Kageyama, because it had reminded him why he had chosen Hinata in the first place, even though the first set had been a complete disaster. The joy Kageyama felt when Hinata spiked his toss as his old team stood frozen, unable to do anything to stop him, was indescribable and Kageyama could hardly contain himself.

Kageyama was standing, lost in thought, when Sugawara came up to him.

"Kageyama, Hinata has been gone for awhile and we're leaving soon, do you think you could find him?"

Not really thinking nor knowing how to ever decline a request from Sugawara, who was a literal angel in human form (This was what Tanaka had once said, not Kageyama), Kageyama did as told and went off to find Hinata, having a good idea as to where he would have gone.

Hinata was heading back to the team, when he realized that he had gotten lost in the endless corridors of Seijoh. As he wandered about, he got increasingly scared that Kageyama would get mad at him again, if he was late and made everybody wait for him. Kageyama being mad at him could mean that he wouldn't practice with him and what was he to do with out his partner. No! Hinata couldn't have Kageyama being mad at him. At least not anymore as Kageyama had been plenty mad at him already. Hinata's only problem was that no matter how much he wanted to get out of this maze, willpower did not solve his problem and after a few minutes he got worried.

"Are you lost, Chibi-chan?"

"Yes," Hinata said relieved that someone had found him, but then he realized, "Who are you?"

The person standing in front of him was undoubtedly a High School student, but he was certainly not from Seijoh. His uniform was light grey with a green tie, which Hinata couldn't recognize. The boy himself was taller than Hinata, but still not tall like Tsukishima. He had light brown hair that almost reached his shoulders and curled slightly at the ends. He had soft green eyes and a gentle face, which could rival Sugawara's motherly smiles. He was probably the type who could make both girls and boys fall for him simply by existing.

"I'm a Volleyball player just like you," he said with a soft voice.

"Really! What position do you play?"

"I'm a Libero."

"Uwa! I've never played with a Libero!"

"Weren't you lost, Chibi-chan? Want me to show you out?"

"Ah, thanks! By the way, my name is Hinata Shoyou." Hinata said not really wanting to be nicknamed as Chibi-chan.

"Hinata Shoyou-chan... You're quite the jumper. It's amazing that you're a Middle Blocker with your height."

"You watched the match?"

"Yes, I came to watch my Kohai play. It was a good match."

"Your Kohai?"

"Yes. Kindaichi, Kunimi, Kageyama and I used to play together, when we went to Kitagawa Daiichi. I was quite worried, when I heard that Kageyama had chosen a school were he didn't know anyone. He's always had hard time making friends, but it seems like you get along quite well with him."

"I don't know if you could say we get along well... I don't think Kageyama likes me at all," Hinata countered, a little bit confused as to how this person could think that he and Kageyama got along well. Kageyama literally did nothing but yell at him.

"Kageyama is a bit awkward, but he definitely doesn't dislike you. If he did, he wouldn't make such a effort of supporting you," the boy chuckled lightly.

Hinata tilted his head, "Effort of supporting me?"

"Well, Hinata-chan, you definitely have talent, but your still pretty lousy over-all." Stab to the heart "If Kageyama didn't have your back, you'd be dragging your whole team down... Oh, it looks like we've made it outside. Do you think you can manage from here?"

"Ah, yes, thanks again," Hinata said starting to run off, but halting to ask: "What's your name?"

"Nanaba Takehiro."

As Hinata had somehow found his way back to the bus himself, Kageyama was the one who'd ended up being late. Since he couldn't blame Hinata for doing something right and not relying on Kageyama to find him, he just shrugged it of and apologized for being late. This was of course met by a few remarks by Tsukishima, but it was all soon forgotten, when everybody fell asleep on the ride back to Karasuno.

Deciding that they were both to tired to practice, Kageyama and Hinata both went home. Kageyama was almost home, when he got a message.

From: Nanaba Takehiro

Subject: Chibi-chan

Congrats on beating Seijoh. You really have come far since I last saw you. I think you and Chibi-chan make a good combo. Be careful not to scare him off ;P

P.s. How's your head?

Kageyama had to read the message a couple times until he was sure that he wasn't hallucinating. He had not heard from Takehiro since he had graduated from Middle School and after what had happened, he had never expected to hear from him again.

Kageyama had stopped walking and essentially just stopped working at this point. How was he supposed to reply. Should he pretend that that incident had never occurred and just answer him as he would normally have done? Should he apologize? Should he thank him for watching the match, which was quite obvious that he had done? Kageyama really didn't know what to think. Takehiro's text showed no anger, but texts could be very deceiving. In the end Kageyama decided that it would be rude to not reply and in order to avoid any topics about the past, he just wrote about Hinata.

To: Nanaba Takehiro

Subject: Headache

I don't know if you could call it a good combo, but his talent is too great to be wasted. Though he needs to get a grip on his serves, since I'm pretty sure I'm developing a headache.

Karasuno's guardian deity. That was what the Captain had called one of the missing members of Karasuno's Volleyball Club. At the time, Kageyama had not known what he had meant, but after spending just a few minutes with him, he understood. Nishinoya Yuu was a prodigy, when it came to defensive Volleyball and even though Kageyama had known his name for a couple of years due to the reputation of his great skills, he was still impressed. However, it wasn't just physical talent he possessed, Nishinoya also had the type of personality, which would never fail to raise the morale of his team. At the time Kageyama made this assumption, he didn't actually have anything to prove it, it was just that Nishinoya reminded him a lot of how Takehiro had been. They played the same position, had the same attitude and the same encouraging smile.

Kageyama already liked Nishinoya quite a lot.

I hope you liked the chapter despite the shortness of it. I'm not really used to putting OC's into my stories, so I'd like to know what you think of Nanaba so far? Again, he'd not going to play a major role, but he will have influence.

Please leave a review and I'll blow you a kiss ;)