Disclaimer: I don't own Haikyuu!. Do we need to do this every chapter? I'm seriously asking.

Chapter 2: A Libero's Awesomeness

If there were an "ultimate play" in volleyball, it would involve scoring all 25 points with only serves. Not even giving your opponent the chance to attack, that's what it means to hit a service ace. ~Shimada Makoto

Taiga

My job is to change the momentum of the game.

In the last parts of a set, when everyone is drained physically and mentally, the player they rely on is I, the pinch server; like the hero who comes out at the eleventh hour. And my weapon is serve, the ultimate form of attack, which won't be caught by the human wall that known as block.

Some say, in volleyball, where it's important to connect with your teammates, serve is the only solitary play where you can score on your own. But I don't agree with that. You can only come out on the court if your teammates earn you the right of serving. Moreover, when you serve, you hit the ball for your teammates.

That's why I never forget those lines. Those extremely calming words, uttered to me many times by my best friends and rival, just before I do my serve toss.

"Don't worry. You just get it over the net. If they receive it and an attack comes, I will definitely save it."

''Moshi moshi. Hi mom. Yeah, I'm fine. How are you?"

As Taiga answered her mom, she wanted to roll her eyes at her own pointless answer. The word 'fine' was rarely used honestly, after all. It was just a stereotyped lie, because hiding the truth was easier and usually both sides knew this but they pretended.

Like current situation; because Taiga knew her mother didn't believe that she was fine, not even one bit. That's why the older woman kept calling her two times a day, spoke with her psychiatrists and followed her therapy sessions way too closely, asked to be reported of little details. If her mother had really believed Taiga was really fine, she wouldn't be so anxiously trying to keep tabs on the young girl.

And apparently, the woman had no idea that she was actually making it worse for her daughter; the reason Taiga wanted to live with her grandparents' in Miyagi, rather than with her parents in Tokyo.

As Taiga listened her mother go on, she kept looking around her room for a clean pair of socks. She went through sprawled clothes and books on the floor, picked up Guyton's Physiology and placed it on the bookshelf while she was at it, and finally managed to find a matching, clean pair under some of her magazines.

"Sure, my room is perfectly organized." she answered and completed the sentence inwardly 'in its own way'.

It isn't like she was lying to her mother. It was just easier to use her room like this for Taiga, so the girl didn't bother to make it neat and tidy. She also liked the game of 'trying to move around without stepping on anything'.

After Taiga somehow managed to get dressed, she went to kitchen for cartoon milk and a leftover toast from yesterday morning and it proved difficult to talk on the phone and eat at the same time.

"Mom, I'm getting late. I will call you after I got out from 's. Bye."

She hung up.

At 11 o'clock, she was outside of her doctor's office and had two hours to go to dojo. Their session was... well, not bad, maybe.

After small talk, Dr. Nox had asked about the school Taiga enrolled for the second year of high school. Transfer process was done and she was going to start at Monday. If there was one thing she looked forward to about her new school, it was the uniforms. Taiga liked them, much better than the sailor fuku* she wore in junior high. Boys' uniforms were much cooler, though; black gakuran. Gakurans were so cool; male students were lucky to be able to wear it.

After school stuff and a bunch of other things about getting accustomed to her new environment after approximately one month, Doctor Nox had advised that she kept practicing martial arts; because it helped with her anger management, exercising regularly had a lot of mental and physical benefits etc. Taiga didn't intend to quit anyways; it was one thing that helped her stay sane, after all.

Doctor had also asked Taiga about the pain in her shoulders. When the girl answered that they were still persistent, he had so kindly repeated a bunch of suggestions from before. Well, guess what? She had already done all of those. She had done them, but the damn pain was still there, creeping up on her in most convenient times to remind her that she was crazy. That was why the pain was persistent, genius.

"Are you really trying to come to terms with that incident two years ago, Taiga? Can you say with confidence that you're genuinely trying to let it go? Don't put up mental barriers. The only reason your shoulders hurt, is you"

And with that, Dr. Nox had finished their session after two unproductive hours that left a bad taste in her mouth. Brunette girl stood outside of his office, too washed-up to call her mom like promised, she decided to take a stop at the park near, before heading to practice.

And she met trouble.

More correctly, she saw trouble and walked right into it.

But come on, there was no way she could just go on her way like nothing was wrong when a group of dangerous looking, hoodlum-like young men were bullying four-five-six, six poor children.

The kids were obviously scared but they were trying to fight back, saying "But we came here first and we waited all morning just to use the volley court."

And scumbags were making fun of them, "So what? It isn't like you shrimps can practice for real. Why don't you guys just make way for your senpai, huh?"

Scumbag no.1. Taiga named him.

Bleached hair. He bullies kids and thinks he has right on something because he is a senpai. Reminds me of the jerk I encountered at the shopping center the other day.

And in the next second, Taiga moved in front of the taller boy and snatched volleyball from his hands, effectively surprising him.

"Huh? Where did you sprout from, brat?"

Oh seriously, why did everyone in Miyagi think she was a brat? Was it because she wore a hoody two sizes big, or because she was 1.58 cm tall, which, by the way was perfectly on average?

"You," Taiga spoke in a low voice to threaten him in the scariest way possible, but as she continued, her voice got lost in a male's roar that came out of nowhere.

"You guys dare to cause problems for little children, huh?"

"Guess we will have to teach you guys a lesson."

Taiga turned back to look for the source of voice and saw the familiar but unpleasant face of a short, dark brown spiky haired boy, along with a bald companion.

Nishinoya hadn't been expecting his weekend morning to take a shape like this when he had gone to Ryuu's place, so he could chat some and learn about one week he had been suspended; he was returning to school in two days, after all.

Boys decided not to pass their time at home on a nice spring morning so they went out for a stroll in the park. They even brought a volleyball with them, in case they wanted to play around a bit. Just when they were heading back, Ryuu saw the scene first and nudged his short friend lightly. It seemed like some guys were causing trouble for a group of kids.

Without much words exchanged, both boys entered their 'cool and brave senpai' mode and made their way towards the battlefield.

"You guys dare to cause problems for little children, huh?" Ryuu said.

And Nishinoya added.

"Guess we will have to teach you guys a lesson."

Then he saw her. "Oh, you are from that time!"

How great was this, Taiga thought. Mother Nature was finally recognizing the hardships she endured and giving her not only the chance of putting a group of scumbags to their place, but also opportunity to get revenge on that jerk from the shopping store.

However, scumbags came first in this situation. So, for the time being, Taiga settled with giving him the nastiest glare she could muster. To her chagrin, he didn't even flinch; on the contrary he looked like he actually enjoyed the situation.

"Yo! We met again." He greeted her, and then he directed his eyes to the dangerous looking group behind her "Are you in trouble?"

"You're the one who is in trouble." Taiga answered narrowing her yes, "You're not running away this time. I will definitely beat you for the other day after I deal with these guys."

Nishinoya couldn't help but snorted; this girl was so funny, talking about beating guys and all. He was someone who appreciated braveness and while her behavior was commendable, he couldn't let a girl like her take part in what was sure to give way to a punch up.

"OK, I will listen to what you have to say after Ryuu and I deal with those guys, so why don't you step aside for now? He said to her.

''Huh? Why the hell would I step aside?'' Taiga asked, frowning.

''Isn't it obvious? Because you are a girl.''

"Look, I'm not stepping aside so you better not get in my way."

''Haah? More like you don't get in our way!''

Before Taiga could talk back to that, however, Scumbag no.1 spoke up "Hey now. You heard, guys? These two midgets say something about dealing with us."

As Taiga took a break from the squabble and immediately turned to the guy, she realized the boy did the same, brows furrowed and several veins popping on his head, the same way as her. Simultaneously, they shouted:

"Huh? You wanna fight, bastard?"

Poor children were long forgotten at this point by both parties, and they were watching from a bit away, with terrified expressions on their faces.

Scumbag No.1 came up with a suggestion, then. "Hey now, why don't we settle this with a little volleyball, huh? Three-on-three."

No way.

There was no way Taiga could play volleyball. Not when just hearing the offer made her shoulders ache suddenly and made her body go rigid. Just thinking about playing volleyball again, made a lot of flashbacks surface in her mind and keeping her face from contorting with panic became a difficult task.

No, she would just beat all scumbags; her martial arts training would come in handy, and that would be way easier.

"We accept, let's do it."

"Yosh! Bring it on."

Well, apparently, boys were thinking otherwise.

She turned to the short boy as she asked through gritted teeth.

"Why do you accept without asking me? Don't be ridiculous, idiot. I don't even play volleyball in the first place."

"Huh? Then why do you have volleyball shoes?" The boy pointed the white and black shoes dangling from her backpack, a well-known brand too.

They were definitely volleyball shoes, her old volleyball shoes, but Taiga was just using them in the martial arts practice because she was still lacking a new damn pair.

"I haven't played for a long time." She explained, her voice lowering without her realizing and her eyes looking away. "I quitted volleyball some time ago."

"Is that so?" the boy seemed a bit surprised to hear that but shook it off and continued nonchalantly, "Well, then you might be a bit out of shape but that's fine as long as you can do the basics."

He was bumping the volleyball up and down all the while talking to her; effortlessly, like the ball was an extension of his arms. Taiga felt her patience running dangerously low.

"Hey, you just don't understand. I can't pla-"

"Don't worry." he cut her off with a smirk. "As long as I'm here, ball will not drop on our side. By the way my name is Nishinoya. I play libero."

Taiga stood there, jaw dropped, eyes slightly wide as the boy, Nishinoya, kept talking, introducing his friend to her

"And this is my friend Ryuu. He is also a first class player, right Ryuu?"

She distantly wondered if he knew how crazy it sounded.

Going over the facts -you know, just to be sure-, they were three people. Nishinoya and this Ryuu person seemed to be close friends, and Taiga was a complete stranger who was cross with the former. It was funny, if not crazy, to think that they could play volleyball together. You know, a game that is all about connecting.

But Nishinoya was…

Was he really?

He was reliable.

Somehow.

Thinking about it, this boy was probably a good player; considering all the bruises on his arms and legs, his agility, his perfect dive at the shopping center the other day, his ball handling and most importantly the way his eyes sparkled with pride when he declared he was a libero.

That specific spark reminded Taiga of an old memory, old but still painfully clear somewhere in her mind.

And the other boy -was his name Ryuu?-, had a fairly good physical build. He would be a wing spiker, if Taiga were to guess.

So she guessed, Nishinoya wasn't completely crazy. It wasn't impossible, was it? She hadn't even touched a volleyball for two years but before that, she had been an over-all good player in a powerful team.

She still wanted to get back at the annoying libero for that t-shirt incident but currently she hated Scumbags more, so why not?

"Hey, say something. Or are you too scared?" Nishinoya taunted.

Then a swift kick to his legs made him wail "Ouch! Hey!"

It was just an instinct for Taiga, really. When she was cornered, she would attack. Simple. And this boy had put his finger on a delicate matter for the girl; probably without realizing and as a provocation more than anything but still. She was scared.

All memories, good and bad, were rushing at her, after two years, in which she had steadily pushed those memories into the back of her mind. This was scaring her, terrifying her, making her shoulders throb with mental fears but at the same time, she found herself wanting to try playing for once, in a weird paradoxical way.

"That was for provoking me" Taiga explained the kick matter-of-factly. "And I have a name, Kawanishi Taiga. If we are going to deal with those guys, I can make a temporary truce. Only temporary, though." She emphasized the last part.

His trademark grin appearing on his face, Nishinoya said, "Yoroshku.*"

Then she turned to the other boy, Ryuu, and both sides gave each other a tentative nod.

Well, Taiga kind of had been threatening his friend all the time, so she perfectly understood baldy's mistrust. Willing to clear up a part of that, mainly because they were about to play a sport all about connecting with teammates, she tried to be nice.

"I'm looking forward to play with you."

"Yeah, same here. By the way, name is Tanaka Ryuunosuke." Tanaka answered.

It was expectedly awkward. Not that Tanaka was a bad guy; on the contrary he seemed like a good person but Taiga was not the friendliest person around.

She was bad-tempered and often stiffened around people. Also, suffering from psychosomatic shoulders and receiving psychiatric treatment for the last two years –hating every second of it with passion-, helped a lot.

So, when Nishinoya intervened, saying something about warming up, she felt grateful. But at the same time, as the pain in her right shoulder flared, she felt like she had bit more than she could chew.

"Nice kill!" both Nishinoya and Taiga exclaimed as Tanaka got a second block-wipe from the other team. Taiga gave another small but relieved sigh. It was going better than she expected. Much better. The aching in her shoulders was bearable since she had the opportunity to pop up two pills without no one realizing, before they had started the match.

Their opponents were below average, to be frank. And both Nishinoya and Tanaka were playing quite skillfully, she noted. In the short warm-up right before the match, she was assigned the role of setting –she had played setter in her former team, anyways-, and they had practiced a bit with Tanaka. Of course they were not perfect, but as long as she refrained from extreme tosses –not that she could give a toss like that right after two years without practice- and went with average, textbook plays they would be fine; since Tanaka handled the blockers well.

Next, she made a successful dump attack, increasing their lead. "Nice, Kawanishi-san!" Tanaka complimented.

"Thanks." she answered.

It was much simpler to communicate with people like this, through something common. Speaking was not vexing like it would be in daily life when she shouted; "Nice receive!" to Nishinoya. And smiling was actually possible as she lifted the toss for Tanaka.

Their next offense got blocked. Well, that was expected. There was no way to thwart opponents' block after all; since the main offensive force was Tanaka, they were focusing their blocks around him.

Nishinoya was obviously out of question and Taiga… Well, she could hit spikes too, theoretically but she was unlikely to be successful against blocks with her height and unimpressive jump.
She always hated blocks, anyways. Certainly, there were many ways to fight with blocks even if you were short but Taiga never even thought of that option when there was another form of attack, a powerful one that won't be caught by the wall known as block; one of the reasons she chose to be a pinch server.

Though, that had nothing to do with the current situation. Taiga wasn't able to hit those serves anymore and that was nothing but a painful history for her now.

So they needed to find a way to overcome blocks. Maybe they could try using quick attacks after a few more points, it was risky but worth a shot.

Taiga said, "Nice receive!" again as Nishinoya lifted the ball perfectly above her head; she tossed to Tanaka who scored again.

"It's your serve now Kawanishi-san."

The real problem was here though.

Taiga caught the ball with a wince, turned her back to hide her face from boys and started walking towards the back line.

It will be OK. You already played volleyball. You can serve normally too. Just a normal serve, no aim, no jump, nothing.

She stood just before the back line, faced the net, made her serve toss.

Don't think about that time. Don't think about that time. Not that time!

Just as she swung her right arm, the pain in her shoulder intensified momentarily and all her strength withdrew from her arm in the moment her hand hit the ball. She couldn't help a whine escaping from her lips and the ball didn't even go till the net, it fell two meters before the girl, everyone looking at her with raised brows. That would be the world's most miserable serve miss.

"Are you OK, Kawanishi-san?"

No.

"Yes, I'm fine. I'm sorry."

"No problem." Tanaka said, giving her a thumbs-up, and Nishinoya added loudly "Next, next!"

They seemed to mean it sincerely and Taiga was grateful for that. However…

She missed her next serve. And another. And another. After her fifth missed-serve, Tanaka and Nishinoya asked for a time-out.

Taiga followed after them, her eyes downcast and brows furrowed. Damn it! What would she do now? In times like this, she was reminded that a serve was, in fact, a solitary play; in times like this, when she was the one who dragged the others back.

She started bowing deeply, apologizing and telling them she would do something about her serves, or something along those lines. In reality she didn't know what went out from her lips, as she was absolutely anxious and feeling pain in her shoulders. She wasn't looking at their faces, well, if she did, maybe she would realize the fact that Nishinoya was actually not in front of her but right behind, before he held her shoulders.

But no, she just felt someone grabbing her shoulders, as if to make her relax and she jumped up and away from that someone, stood with her eyes wide and mouth open.

''Your shoulders are so hard; there is too much power around them. That's why you miss consecutively.'' Nishinoya explained nonchalantly, inspecting the girl's body posture for other errors to correct all the while.

This guy had just massaged a complete stranger's shoulders like he was massaging a couch or a table, not to mention a girl's. Taiga was contemplating on where to start explaining as libero continued his lecture.

"Why are you freaking out so much? It isn't like we expected you to be a great player when we accepted the match. You don't have to get a service ace. You just get it over the net. When they receive and an attack comes, I will definitely save it."

"Y-you… Those lines-"

Libero grinned, oblivious to her inner turmoil.

"Awesome, right?"

He is just so impossible.

"He is right Kawanishi-san" Tanaka agreed, scratching the back of his head awkwardly while trying to find the right words to comfort the girl "I always say this to everyone on our team so you listen well too. In volleyball, everyone on this side of the net is your ally! So now that we are in the same side, obviously everyone will cover for the other's misses."

"Everyone on this side…" she repeated.

Tanaka nodded.

"…Is my allies?"

"Yeah." Tanaka nodded again, with a touch of a sage bravado.

This time, looking at the both, Taiga scratched the back of her head, mumbling in a low voice, "That's right. Thanks, both of you."

And, when Nishinoya and Tanaka walked in front of her towards the court, and she looked at their backs, a single tear trickled from her eye with a small, hidden smile. Her shoulders felt much better now.

Kawanishi Taiga was sure an interesting person. She was quite unusual.

For starters, not many people were athletic enough to make a sudden somersault turn on the spot reflexively. Secondly, there were not many girls who went and picked fights with a group of bleached-haired delinquents for some children she didn't even know. And people usually didn't kick Nishinoya at all; well, libero strongly believed that despite being short, he had a pretty strong presence that scared people.

There were other things too, Nishinoya couldn't really name it, but there was a different air around her. He was sure there was more to this girl than met the eye.

But the most surprising of all, was her change after the time-out, more correctly, the change in her serves. She had gone from missed-serve to a jumping service ace.

Jumping service ace. Both Nishinoya and Tanaka and other team looked at her, surprised.

"Oi, how did that mini-girl did a jump-serve just now?"

"It must be luck, chance gears."

But Nishinoya knew it wasn't luck. He watched the small girl toss the ball, accelerate to jump and hit it with great form for the second time. She had no wasted movements; from her serve toss that made the ball be located at the highest point of her jump in the right time, to the way she hit without bending her elbow. Everything she did was optimal and she had a pretty mean serve, he had to say, unexpected of her small build.

Not to mention, she was supposed to have quitted volleyball, didn't she? Then how could she take 2 service aces in a row?

That wasn't all though. After the third jump-serve, she changed it to a jump floater.

When Nishinoya had asked her how did she do something like that and why didn't she do it from the very start, it turned out that she actually used to be a pinch server and since she hadn't been practicing for a long time she was out of shape and got anxious at first time.

"Didn't I tell you that I was a pinch server?"

"NO, YOU DIDN'T!" Nishinoya answered.

"Don't shout, geez."

Taiga said, as she bounced the ball on the floor for her next service.

In the end, their team ended up winning straight.

"Woo!"

Next thing Taiga knew, Tanaka and Nishinoya was jumping at her. Later, after she dodged Tanaka and punched Nishinoya reflexively, she learned that it was their way of doing high-fives.

Then boys went to do high-fives with children as Taiga stood next to net, looking down at her open palm. She couldn't believe she played volleyball after two years. It should've been a distant memory to her and yet after she had touched the ball, the feeling of ball's surface in her palm had come back to her, allowing her to be able to play rather fine. Maybe it was her body, her reflexes that were dormant and waking up; she didn't really understand either, but it felt nice.

She looked up to see Nishinoya and Tanaka conversing very happily with kids. Children were looking at them with sparkling eyes and treating them like heroes, which in turn made young men spark even brighter. Who are children and who are senpai, I wonder?

"Give me a break! Like I will give up on the court because of this!"

Taiga would be lying if she said she hadn't been expecting this.

What a sore-loser.

It seemed like scumbags were not going to let it go easily. And Taiga really didn't want to deal with anymore of this but when did life actually go to her liking anyways?

"Hey, back off!" Taiga warned and she stood in front of the guy as he tried to walk towards children. "We won fair and square. And you guys lost. Kids will use the court now."

Leader of the gang raised a laugh, making the girl want to kick him.

"Like I care about that, idiot. Now you step aside or you will get hurt, little girl."

As Taiga refused to comply and kept looking menacingly at him, he frowned and made a move to grab at her shoulder. At that moment, as the bleached haired guy reached for her, both Nishinoya and Tanaka dashed forward. However, it was over before they could reach the girl.

Brunette girl had taken a hold of her attacker's arm, twisted it and tripped the guy so he face planted on the floor. She had her knee pressing on his back with his right arm twisted painfully and his cheek brushing the asphalt, as Nishinoya and Tanaka stopped dead in their tracks.

"What the hell, you bitch?"

"Hey, now, don't try moving, you will hurt yourself." Taiga said as the guy trashed under her. "Now, listen to me well, you prick. If you don't get your sorry-ass out of here the moment I release you, this time I will seriously beat the daylights out of you." She twisted his arm harder for emphasis, earning a groan. "And don't doubt me, I'll do it."

Meanwhile, Nishinoya watched in shock and thought he was lucky to be alive after that shopping center incident.

After a few more threats, warnings and a bit more violence on Taiga's part, the gang finally left the court. Judging from the way they walk away fast without looking back, they really wanted to get away from the girl.

"Kawanishi-san, that was awesome! How did you do something like that?" Tanaka exclaimed.

"Thanks, Tanaka-san." She huffed, "Well, I practice hand-to-hand combat."

"Woaah, like in the animes?"

"Well, maybe not entirely like ani-Crap!" Taiga looked at her phone's screen, digital numbers telling her that she had only 10 minutes left for her to go to dojo.

"Uh, sorry I'm late." And why does she even bother to explain, she thought as she spoke. It wasn't like she would see them again. She quickly stuffed her phone to her pocket, grabbed her hoody and said, "It was a good match, thanks."

Then, just before she turned to leave, she captured Nishinoya's eyes and smirked like him, "And just so you know, if I see you again, I'm definitely beating you."

And she pulled her hood over, running away to catch whatever she was late to. Nishinoya never understood how could anyone wear a hoody in this late march.

Really, what an interesting girl was Kawanishi Taiga.

Preview

Nishinoya comes into scene, wearing his school uniform, bumping the ball with his arms, then catching it and looking at the audience with a wide smile.
"Hey guys! How are you doing? I came here to give you the preview. Um, let's see..." Nishinoya starts going through MysteryEarth's notes.
"Oh, Noya-san. I'm here, too." Tanaka comes into scene, wearing his Karasuno jersey, looking around.
"Hey, Ryuu! You were told to come here and give everyone hints too?" Noya jumps.
"Yeah." Ryuu nods and turns to audience, "Next time will be in Karasuno and Noya-san returns to school."
Everyone applauds. Tanaka turns to Noya, "But Noya-san, I heard that you are knocking the vice principle again in next chapter, are you going to be OK?"
Nishinoya frowns and holds up his hand dramatically, "It can't be helped, Ryuu. A man shouldn't be afraid of what comes in future!"
Tanaka's eyes glow, "Noya-san, you're so cool!"

"How's that cool? Are you guys stupid? That's just being idiotic." Someone speaks behind boys.

Tanaka and Nishinoya turn to newcomer. Taiga looks around with an indifferent face then turns to boys, who are looking at her their mouths agape and with shock.
"Eh, Kawanishi-san, why are you here?" Tanaka asks.
Taiga raises a brow, "Like you, I'm also here to tell everyone about how the story will go."
"Story? What story?" Nishinoya asks, confused.
"Also, Kawanishi-san, next time, we are returning to school. I mean, not to be rude or something but your part of the story is already over." Of course, Tanaka and Nishinoya fail to notice she also wears Karasuno's girl uniform.
Taiga looks at boys, says, "Never mind." and turns to audience, "Hey everyone, don't forget to 'follow' before you go because next time there will be a lot of important things concerning our heroine's and libero's life."
"Heroine?" Tanaka asks.
"She must be talking about Kiyoko-san, Ryuu!"
Nishinoya starts sparkling and his face starts glowing with happiness, while Tanaka starts screaming and tearing up, "But just Noya-san? That's not fair."

Ignoring their screams, Taiga addresses the audience, "Next time on Of Redemption and Affection, Chemical Change of Encounters."

And scene goes blank.

A/N:

*: Sailor fuku, sailor outfit, is a common uniform style worn by female students in Japan as you probably already know :)

So, how was it? *smirks like Nishinoya*
I appreciate feedback about any little detail, or anything. Just tell me your thoughts.