Yabai Koi Series

A/N: Come on, now. I'm not that cruel. But I'd like to try sometimes. Did it work? :3

#11: He wondered if she had ever seen him as a man.

Groaning, he arched his back, threw his fists into the air, and stretched with all his might. The sweet relief of having heard the popping sounds dribbling down his back sent shivers surging through his arms. They plopped back into place as he stifled a yawn. It was Saturday morning, no club practice like the usual weekend mornings since the Girls' volleyball club got to it first. So he decided he'd do some studying since his sister wasn't there to pester him about babysitting his nephew and niece. He loved the twins to bits, but he really needed some time for himself. Now that he had time for himself, he was left with virtually nothing to do. So yeah, he decided he'd study. Not because he was a model student and so it was a given he'd spend his free time studying (he wasn't that much of a good student anyway), but he had nothing else to do.

His eyelids were heavy. His shoulders were heavy. His brain was heavy. Everything weighed a ton, especially as he attempted to inspect this textbook that lay splayed on the table. He tapped the hardwood of the table top with his pen, and proceeded to take another sip of the Americano he put at the corner. His stuck out his tongue, not at all pleased to taste the drink, made tepid by the melted ice cubes. "Blegh."

With the light spring warmth bearing down on his shoulders, the brilliant sun grinning above, and the birds rejoicing in the sprouting trees, the Chemistry material was dismal. The golden rays that splashed across the table and the book made it look cheery but he knew better. It wasn't boring, but he wouldn't go as far as to say it was fun either. That thought though, didn't seem to hinder him from getting good grades. He snorted at the realization. No wonder Mattsun hated him for that.

"Sorry, bud. But I guess I'm just too much of a genius." He swiveled around in his chair and found a stray dart. Picking it up, he threw the dart just for it to embed itself a little ways off the bull's eye. Well, at least he was bad at something.

He was mindlessly turning around in his trusted chair, when his dark gaze found its mournful way to the pair of knee pads he used for practice. It was still relatively new, since he just received them. In fact the whole fifteen members of the club got a pair each, since it was a gift from their new club advisor.

Yachi-sensei. Age twenty-two, would be graduating in a year, stood at most five foot seven. A petite teacher with short light brown hair and big brown eyes. It had only been nine weeks since she began her work there and became the club advisor, and yet she had brought so much energy with her whenever she went. Her presence at the club was like a whirlwind, storming through the boys' life and deciding that they all were too good to be cooped up playing practice matches until the end of year. It was still surreal how their typical after-school club activities changed during her second week there. They were finally moving forward with practice matches. Not just mindless practice, but with the promise of finally, after how many years, a chance to join a major tournament. It had been a few more weeks after that when she suddenly lugged a huge bag and gave them new knee pads as a good luck gift.

He couldn't help the little kick in his lips when she had stumbled through the double doors, her face flushing of excitement. "I managed to snag a sponsor!" She had practically bounced around as she gave them the knee pads and took down their measurements for brand new jerseys with the sponsor's logo attached. The first years were ecstatic, Coach Mizoguchi had been as excited as her as well. Her enthusiasm and her energy had been infectious, and he found himself looking forward to the tournament. He found himself trying harder during practice.

She hadn't even been there for a long time and yet the students affectionately called her Yacchan-sensei. Whether she was aware of how popular she actually was among the students, he was sure she had no inkling about it. She wouldn't be the oblivious teacher she was if she knew.

She was cute that way.

He sighed heavily as he decided to lie down in his bed instead.

If he was honest with himself, she wasn't even his type of girl to begin with. Up until a few weeks ago his type had always been the daring girls, the ones who strutted around school all preened and pretty. The first day Yachi introduced herself as the replacement Chemistry Teacher and a trainee teacher, he immediately became uninterested in her. She had appeared to be the straight-laced type. Someone who was a stickler for rules. Plus, she was older than him. He didn't dig that.

But somehow along the days, she had proved to be more than just a boring woman. It was probably the fact that she loved arts and craft, but her classes were never boring. She was just a replacement teacher, a trainee, not even a real teacher, but seeing her trying her best in class and during club hours lit something in him. It made him realize that she was far different than his initial impression of her. She even became a little cuter in his eyes. But she was still far from being his type of woman.

It wasn't until one day he found her in a sports store staring through an assortment of sports shoes, clad in her pink Hello Kitty hoodie, looking way younger than her actual age. He hadn't expected to bump into her at the same outlet, and he hadn't expected at all to see her in such an outfit. But then again, he had only seen her in button down shirts and a pencil skirt. Actually there were times when he'd find her quite cute in her black and white pair of jersey and long pants.

She hadn't noticed him for the first few seconds, until she looked around to ask for some assistance for what she wanted. Her face had brightened up at the sight of him. He remembered her asking for his opinion on what would a college student like for a present, and she had gone on a long explanation about how her best friend wanted to buy a present for her boyfriend but couldn't find the time to do the shopping so she asked Yachi to help out.

He ended up helping her with that and somehow they exchanged numbers. Later at night she had texted him that the boyfriend really liked the shoes. He remembered smiling to himself, not because she thanked him or anything, but he was suddenly reminded of the pointy ears that stood up on her head when she had pulled her hood up to cover her head from the light drizzle on her way back to the train station. She looked adorable when she hugged her purchase close to her chest, fretting if her friend would like it. "But I believe that everything would be fine since Oikawa-kun helped me." The trusting smile she gave him at that moment was probably what made him start to really look at her.

He also remembered that minutes after she texted him about the shoes, she texted him again saying that she apologized for exchanging numbers without asking him about it first, and that she would delete his number since it was unprofessional of her as a teacher to keep a student's number.

He decided that he'd keep her number anyways.

"Are you serious, Trashykawa?"

His brow twitched at the tone Iwaizumi was taking on him, but he didn't deny his friend. "No, Iwa-chan. I'm just playing around here."

He was holding his niece and Iwaizumi was holding onto her twin brother, both asleep in their arms as they played Jenga. One moment they were focusing on the game, and the next suddenly they were talking about how Oikawa found Yachi-sensei to be kind-of sort-of cute.

"Hey man, we're talking about you having a crush on our teacher. How can that not be serious."

Oikawa had the tip of his tongue stuck out as he concentrated on pulling out a block, and sighed in relief when he managed to clear his round. "No one said it was a crush. I just find her interesting."

"Huh," his friend could help the little snort as he browsed for another block to take out before he continued, "As if I could believe you." He bit down on his bottom lip, and with trembling hands, managed to clear his round. "Your turn."

Silently, he watched the brown-haired setter carefully slide out a block, millimeter by millimeter. He was awfully serious for a simple game, but that was what made Oikawa a formidable opponent in everything. The guy was a little bit too talented, and Iwaizumi couldn't resist spoiling that talent. So he decided to drop a bomb when his friend least expected it. "Ya think she has a boyfriend?"

Oikawa was so caught off-guard he accidentally knocked over the blocks, earning himself a loss. He shot Iwaizumi a dirty look as his friend smugly took away his pudding as compensation. "That was low, Iwa-chan. Surprising me like that."

The reply he got was an eye roll. As he silently watched Iwaizumi eat the pudding, he decided he should tuck the kids to bed. As he tucked the blanket up to his nephew's chin, he thought about his affection to the ever-cheerful club advisor. He didn't know about love, but he was sure he had some sort of fondness for her. Like how his chest warmed up at her laughter, how his heart skipped a beat when she would come running to him excitedly to show her clipboard full of circles and his aversion to tease her whenever he could just to hear her stutter and see her cheeks blush.

He never really thought about someone else having the same fondness he had toward her. Or he just did not want to think of it.

He joined Iwaizumi at the living room, and plopped onto the couch. He was studying the veins on the ceiling when he finally answered. "Do you think she has one?"

"What?"

"A boyfriend. Or something like one."

He could imagine the smirk and the upturned brow on Iwaizumi's face. "I don't know about a boyfriend, but it's not weird if someone else also has an interest in her. I mean, you like her. So I guess there's probably another person out there that likes her even more than you do."

"Hm…"

"Oi, Shittykawa."

He rolled to his side, his back to his friend. "What?"

"Do you really like her? I mean, it's okay you know."

Confused, he turned around to look at a nonchalant-looking Iwaizumi picking at the bits of pudding. "Whaddya mean?"

"It's okay if you have a crush on a teacher. We're all teenagers, it's common for students to have a crush on a teacher or two. You'll think nothing about it when you find a nice girl your age."

For the first time since a long time, he could feel his ears warm up. "I don't know about that." He felt his friend squeeze his shoulder in a comforting gesture. "And why's that?" He scratched the back of his head as he quietly admitted it. "I don't know if I'll ever like another person like that. I mean, she wasn't even my type in the first place. And then suddenly she's…"

Iwaizumi could feel his black brows rise. "She's what?"

"Suddenly she's just there. I can only see her, it's kinda weird."

If that was weird, then Iwaizumi thought that his friend was even weirder. He had never seen his friend like this, and honestly he was kind of secretly enjoying it. "Look at you… that's not weird at all. You like someone, so your eyes follow her. Simple as that."

"I'm still eighteen. I don't know if this is even right anymore."

That got out a hearty laughter from his friend, and he rolled over to look irritably at Iwaizumi as he rolled around the floor. "Oi, I'm serious here." Snickers still bubbling from his mouth, he put up his hands. "Okay, sorry. Come on, man. I don't know how to say this but… I think you shouldn't think about this too much. You see, just because you're younger than her that doesn't mean you're not capable of feeling such things."

"I lost you there, Iwa-chan."

"I mean, it's not as if you're thinking of getting married to her or anything, right?"

It was sudden, but the mention of marriage triggered this image inside Oikawa's head. An image of Yachi-sensei in a white wedding dress, and her bright eyes looking up at him through her long lashes.

He reached for a cushion and used it to cover his face, feigning sleep.

"I hate you Iwa-chan."

She was entering her tenth week of training, and he could see the toll it was taking on her when she fell asleep in a corner of the gym. She had been reading some papers regarding their upcoming matches and probably didn't notice she had nodded off. No one really wanted to wake her up when they noticed the dark circles under her eyes, and so they left her to rest until the coach dismissed them for that morning. He had strolled to her spot, and sitting on his haunches, he silently watched the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed. A few strands of hair had fallen over her eyes, and he itched to tug them behind her ears and feel her smooth cheek on his knuckles, but he refrained. He looked behind him, wary of anyone catching him looking at her, and breathed out in relief that he wasn't caught. Caught doing what, he didn't know exactly, but he was trying not to look too interested in her. Just because.

Deciding that he should better wake her up already so she could prepare for classes, although he didn't want to, he gently tapped her shoulder. Instead of bolting upright, her head lolled to the side and bumped into his hand. He felt himself feel warm and fuzzy when she stirred a little, rubbing her face into the back of his hand. That was until he felt the heat she was giving off in waves.

"Sensei? Sensei, are you okay?" He then noticed the frown on her face, before her eyes fluttered open. Groggily, she grinned up at him. "Oh, I see an angel."

He could swear his ears burned, but he opted to clear his throat and get a hold of himself. Turning around to the others, he called out to the managers to tell them that Yachi-sensei had a fever and that they might need to help. He turned back to see her awake, but not fully coming around to it just yet. She frowned a little as she looked up into his face, and then belatedly noticing she had said something embarrassing, her cheeks flushed even harder. "I-I'm so-sorry…uhm." She tried to stand up, but her legs gave out.

"My legs feel like jelly…" she whined a little, her frown deepening and her eyes glazed with unshed tears. She looked like a little kid that moment.

"Come on, I'll help you up." He slung her arm over him shoulder, and attempted to help her stand up. She groaned a little when the headaches started, and instead of standing up, she was leaning into him. He swallowed at the feel of her soft body pressed against his, and after he inwardly reprimanded himself for thinking of lewd thoughts, he decided it was better if he gave her a piggy back instead. He could see the ghost of a smirk on Iwaizumi's face, and decided he ought to talk to him later about all this. Mizoguchi offered to help carry her, but Yachi was too tired and her body ached so much, so they didn't want to make her even more uncomfortable by jostling her around too much.

"I'll inform the staff room then. Okay boys, finish cleaning up as soon as possible and don't skip out on any of your classes, aite?"

"Yessir!"

The club members called out for Yachi-sensei to rest well, and as she disappeared from the gym, they started to clean the place like mad.

It didn't take them more than ten minutes to get to the infirmary, and as the managers helped settle Yachi into a bed, she still managed to thank Oikawa and apologize to the students for collapsing all of the sudden. He watched by the sidelines as the nurse gave her some pills and toweled her face with a cooled towel. The red flush on her cheeks suddenly looked even more obvious than it had been during morning practice. She fell asleep as soon as they pulled the drapes to cover her bed.

"She probably worked a little bit too hard, that Yachi. She's gonna be fine, Oikawa-kun. Though she might not be able to come to school for a day or two."

He would normally go to the cafeteria during lunch break, but instead he bought some bread and two boxes of milk, promptly going to the infirmary to check up on Yachi-sensei. The nurse had gone out for the moment so it was only the young teacher in the room. And him. He slowly made his way to the drapes, and called to her. She replied with a weak, "yes, I'm here." Before she pulled away the drapes surrounding her.

"Oh Oikawa-kun! Hello." Her pale lips turned up into a smile, as if she wasn't sick in bed at all. He half-smiled and took a seat next to her. "Geez, sensei. Learn to let up a little, you're not Iron Man or something. Bread?" Her tired eyes brightened up at the sight of food, and she embarrassedly accepted his offer of bread and milk. The half moons her eyes made decorated her otherwise exhausted face as she munched happily of the melon bread. She was slurping onto the milk, when she remembered to say something.

"Oh, but I prefer Wonder Woman."

He couldn't help but laugh at that. "Whatever, you're not a superhero. You got us worried back there ya know." She grinned guiltily and twiddled her thumbs. "Sorry for that. But I was so excited about the tournament, I almost forgot I was teaching three classes. I stayed up the last two days marking papers. Oh, Oikawa-kun, your grades increased again, did you know that?"

At that moment he didn't know what frustrated him more. The fact that she was disregarding her health, or the fact that it seemed as if she was brushing him off. She probably didn't mean it, but she could try to be a little conscious of him. Especially since they were both in close proximity.

Now that he thought about it, he had never been this close to her. He noticed that her hair was made up of different shades of brown, and how her small canine tooth peeked out whenever she bit her bottom lip. She licked the droplet of milk from her lips then, and was taking about something that went completely over his head. His eyes dropped to those pale lips, and he remembered them being pink and healthy the day before. The sudden urge to kiss her bubbled inside him, he had to think of something else to hold himself back.

"The periodic table." He blurted out. She tilted her head to look at him. "I'm sorry?"

He blinked, slowly at first. Then he realized he'd said that out loud. He grinned a little. "I suddenly thought about the periodic table." He was glad he was the type to quickly recover and excellent at cover-ups.

Yachi-sensei, being none the wiser, grinned back, albeit a little tiredly. "You're funny, Oikawa-kun."

'Boroncarbonnitrogenoxygenfluorineneonsodiummagnesiumaluminum,'

He gently poked her head, keeping that small grin on him when she blinked. "No I'm not. Come on, rest more." From a distance they heard the bell ring, signaling lunch break was over. She looked up at him. "You're not going to skip classes, right?"

'Siliconephosphorussulphurchlorineargon…'

"Oi oi. I'm supposed to be a model student, remember?" She giggled, as if it was that funny. It wasn't, really. But she was cute so he didn't mind.

'GODDAMNpotassium.'

"Okay. Thank you again, Oikawa-kun." He nodded at her, and she made herself comfortable in the bed. A few seconds later, she was dozing off, her soft-looking lips parted. He didn't miss her reddened cheeks, and gently he brushed his knuckles over them.

A heavy sigh escaped his lips as he watched her sleep without any inhibition. If anything, she looked comfortable enough having him there. Trusting him.

As if she forgot that he was also a man in his own right.

"You are so clueless, aren't you." His fingertips ghosted over her parted lips. Class was probably starting already, and he really ought to hurry back. But he didn't want to. Not when he could look at her acting like a child, for once.

She must have been dreaming about something bad when she suddenly stirred in her sleep. The frown marring her forehead getting deeper, beads of sweat started to gather as she continued to stir. It hadn't even been ten minutes and she was already having nightmares. He swallowed a little, and hesitated for a bit, before he used his fingertips to gently ease the furrow. Slowly the frown disappeared, and she let out a sigh as she settled back into sleep. He felt himself smile a little at her antics, and unthinkingly he kissed her on the lips. Gentle enough not to wake her, but firm enough to feel her soft lips against his own.

It had been a week since her collapse, and now Yachi-sensei was back in action. She was even vibrant than he remembered her to be. Not that he was complaining though.

That day they had another practice match with another school. If he was correct, Yachi-sensei graduated from the very same school. He heard about the players before, and knew that the guys were really good players. He also heard about their two coaches. Ukai was a well-known family name. It wasn't a surprise to see the grandson succeeding the old man. The other coach was also a former student at Karasuno. He was, in fact, part of the regular players and a former setter as well. Just like himself. Sugawara or something. The guy was a refreshing kind of guy, but he somehow had this suspicion that the young coach had this air about him that was cunning.

"I guess it's true, huh. Yachi-sensei sure looks like she knew Sugawara-san." He turned to look at Iwaizumi as the spiky-haired player stood next to him. "They look kinda close, huh." Oikawa bounced the ball in his hands to get the feel of it. He gave a noncommittal reply, not really interested and not really knowing why.

"So what if she knew him? They were schoolmates after all. Rather, can you help me for a bit? I need to get my timing down."

Iwaizumi raised a brow at Oikawa's sudden sullen air. He shrugged a little and proceeded to help his friend. After a few minutes warming up, they got ready to start the practice match. The first set went by smoothly. The visiting players were good, but they too have practiced a lot. Despite seeing how Yachi-sensei was visibly comfortable with Sugawara-san, his body felt really light. He could hear the cheers from the managers, and some of the girls from other classes, but above all, he could hear her voice from the sidelines. The wide smile and her flushed cheeks from all the excitement was contagious, and he managed to finish the first set with his serve alone.

He heard a whistle from Sugawara, and couldn't help but feel a tad bit smug at the impressed look the young coach gave him.

"Good serve, Oikawa-kun!" She was ecstatic at their progress, and he had the sudden urge to continue to do well if it meant hearing her call out to him like that.

He nodded at her, and her smile widened. All of a sudden her cheeks became flushed and she quickly looked down at her clipboard. The managers handed out the cooled towels, and he grumbled as one of them started to flirt with him. The guys could tease him about it, but he wasn't interested at all. Not if it wasn't Yachi-sensei.

That thought came in so suddenly, so he had no choice but to find a diversion to get his mind off it. Not until the match was over. His eyes landed on the other school's setter, and decided he'd talk about some of the blunders. The guy was more than eager to change some tips from him, and even called out to Sugawara-san for some added advice. Oikawa didn't really want to but he admitted that the young coach was really perceptive and observant. He wondered if the man noticed him looking over at Yachi.

The second set resumed, and just a few minutes into it, a guy from his team pulled a muscle when he tried to reach a ball and did a misstep. They brought in another guy, and all was dandy until suddenly they made some silly mistakes. After missing a few points Oikawa finally managed to bring them together, but suddenly he chanced upon Yachi-sensei massaging his underclassman's legs.

Up until then he never knew he could feel jealous.

He envied the boy, but he didn't want to risk himself getting injured either. 'Lucky guy, huh.'

He missed his next round of serve, even almost hitting Sugawara hadn't the coach dodge in time. His ears pricked when Mizoguchi's voice all but boomed over the whole gym.

"Oi, Oikawa? What was with that sloppy serve hah?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "I can't be scoring all the time, right? I kinda feel sorry for the other team." Apparently Mizoguchi bought that excuse just because he was Oikawa, but at the same time it earned him a noogie. He couldn't help the downturn in his lips at being treated like a kid.

Iwaizumi apparently saw where he had been looking, and smirked over at him. Just before their time-out ran out, he slung an arm over his friend's shoulder. "I know you're jealous, but keep it for next time, yeah."

The reply he got was a pout. Which was common.

"It's okay! You guys were doing well!" The guys thanked her from their positions, and he chanced a look towards her. When she gave that little fist pump and the silent encouragement, his stomach did a backflip right then and there.

She would probably be the death of him.

He yawned as he made his way back, deciding to stop by the convenience store. The next day would be a weekend and a rest day for their club, so he would be staying up watching some videos of previous matches that night. They had won today's match, just by a hair breadth, but it was still a win. His teammates were happy about that, and she was happy as well. That was a good enough start to get them all fired up for the coming spring tournament. He wouldn't be seeing her until Sunday, so he guessed he could use a little more time to think things through.

He finally came to terms with his feelings. So he liked her. Very much so.

But he wasn't sure where to continue after that. The usual course of action would be to ask her out on a date. But with her it was different. He couldn't just come out and ask her to go out with him. She was a teacher and he was her student. As much as he wanted her, he still had to think about it in her shoes. He scoffed at the mere thought of it. Him? Thinking about being in another person's shoes? He didn't know since when he had changed so much. He had never even thought of things seriously before, he never had the urge to think of others.

He looked up from the pavement just in time to see her dragging a huge bag filled with whatever, and it all became clear to him.

"Sensei?" He didn't realize he had called out to her until she turned to look at him with those big eyes of hers.

He noticed then that her hair had grown since the first time he saw her.

And that her hand must have hurt from holding up that goliath of a bag.

"I always stop here for some stuff. It's really weird, because I haven't seen you either. I live near here as well. At the apartment complex near the main street."

He hadn't known that. Well he shouldn't have known if he had never bumped into her. But it was nice knowing that. If they were to really go out then it'd make it easier for him to come and see her after school hours.

Okay, his train of thought was getting out of hand. He tried to think of something to talk about to get his mind off of trying to ask her out. He remembered Mizoguchi telling the guys to do their best since Yachi-sensei had pulled a lot of favor trying to get them into the tournament. So he asked her about that. Even the mention of the tournament was able to make her eyes brighten up and her face lit up by that smile of hers. She must have really wanted them all to play at least one game, huh.

"You practiced a lot for that tournament, didn't you? And the others too. I think it's a waste not to show what you're capable of."

She had no idea how much they were all thankful to her. They were crossing the road, and he used the opportunity to hold her hand in his, fully realizing for the first time how small they were. Just like her cheeks, her hand was soft he almost didn't want to let her go. She had fretted about the bag, even though he really didn't mind helping her. If he could see her blush and stammer so cutely then he'd be glad to help her.

Yachi-sensei was saying something about how she shouldn't be too close to the student, else they wouldn't respect her as one. So he decided to tell her what he thought. "So? I don't think it's a bad thing for teachers to be close to students."

In other words, he was saying that he wouldn't mind her letting her guard down around him. That he didn't mind her talking with him without the student-teacher barrier holding her back.

But she wouldn't understand that unless he told it straight to her face, now wouldn't she?

"You're fine just the way you are, Yachi-sensei." And he meant that.

"Well, thank you for that. You, too, are fine just the way you are."

He had grinned, but at that moment his insides turned and flipped. How could she just say that to him? Didn't she know what that meant to him?

He wondered if she had ever seen him as a man.

He wondered, and wondered if he would spend his entire life wondering.

His wondering stopped to a screeching halt a few seconds though.

"I like you."

He was sure he was hearing things. Or was he not?

"Eh?"

A/N: I know. you're probably DESPISING me. Muwahaha. Thanks for reading though. Please feel free to comment ^^