CHAPTER TWO: TO BE OR NOT TO BE

"You can't win unless you learn how to lose."

Rin looked at herself in the mirror of the girls locker room. Since it was the end of the school day, and she knew she would stay for the boys Volleyball practice, she had decided that she would bring a change of clothes. As... cute as the uniform was, she really didn't want to be uncomfortable while sitting in the gym for so long. So, she stripped herself of her uniform and slipped on some stretchy form-fitting black athletic pants and a loose black tank top with her brother's school logo stamped on the front. She replaced her brown loafers with some black basketball shoes her brother sent her from America. Rin ran a hand through her shoulder length black hair and shook it around, if she thought about it she really did have a messy and choppy haircut - but she liked it. Honestly, even though Rin wasn't the girly girl type, she still thought she was somewhat attractive. Due to her having her fathers height and an athletic build, she had small breasts and a thin waist. But her long legs and arms seemed to make up for that. She had her mothers golden brown eyes instead of her fathers icy blues. But besides that, most of her features matched her fathers. Sharp cheek bones and an angular jaw, a thin pretty nose and a thin lips. She wasn't the type to wear make up - which she blamed living with only males for - she considered herself pretty enough to do without. She wasn't cocky, but she was confident.

Rin sighed, slumping her shoulders and walking towards the gym. Her sneakers squeaked as she stepped into the brightly lit gym and a small smile made it's way onto her face, looking up at the tall ceiling brought back memories. She inhaled, the smell of the gym polish reached her nose and she was sure that the smell of sweat would soon override that.

"Is that you, Rin?"

Rin tilted her head down and offered a small wave, walking towards the voice, "It's me, Jii-chan."

Her grandfather smiled as she plopped beside him, dropping her bag to the floor lazily. Her eyes were still gazing around the large gym with appreciation, before a small frown slipped it's way onto her face and she clenched her fists. Yasufumi noticed and sighed, setting a hand on her shoulder, "I'm glad you came."

Rin offered a weak smile, rubbing the back of her neck as she spoke, "Well, you are my ride home Jii-chan. And anyways, I know you wanted to show me your 'amazing' team. Even Daisuke was pushing me, you're both so annoying."

"I hope they live up to your standards."

Rin snorted, rolling her eyes and looking at the Volleyball net, "You act as if you need my approval."

Her grandfather offered her a closed eye smile, "Of course I need your approval, you're my pride and joy when it comes to Volleyball!"

Rin huffed, "I was - "

Her sentence was cut off when the gym door open and multiple sneakers squeaked against the nicely polished floor. Rin looked away from her grandfather and turned her attention to the team in front of her, immediately one of the boys let out a loud gasp and covered his mouth - his face turning as red as his practice shorts. She tilted her head in confusion and pulled a face. Most of the team was looking at her in confusion, while Kuroo was grinning in her direction and Kenma offered her a small nod.

Rin's grandfather stood, slapping his hands together and smiling at the team, "For those of who who haven't my beautiful, charming granddaughter, I'd like to introduce her to you."

Rin twitched, her eyes narrowing at her grandfather for adding so much sugarcoating to her introduction. She slowly moved her eyes back over to the team before turning her attention to their shoes, she forgot how bad she disliked meeting groups of people, "Uh, my name is Rin Nekomata. It's nice to meet you."

"U - u - untouchable!" The red faced teen cried, bringing up his forearm to cover his eyes.

Rin looked at him oddly and Kuroo simply pressed his hand tightly against the top of the boys head while speaking, "Oi, Yamamoto, stop crying and introduce yourself properly to our new manager."

"Hah?" Rin asked, standing and placing her hands on her hips, "I never agreed to that."

"Oh?"

Rin turned to look at her grandfather who began to look up at her with an all too sweet smile, "Maybe I should just tell Daisuke about how you refuse to -"

Rin snatched the clipboard from her grandfathers hands, her cheeks flushing with anger while she stormed back over to the bench muttering an 'I'll think about'.

"N - Nekomata-hime-sama!" Yamamoto cried, causing Rin to scowl, "I'm Yamamoto Taketora!"

"Oi. Don't call me that," She huffed, crossing her arms, "Just call me Rin."

"R-Rin-hime!"

Rin groaned, slapping the clip board lightly against her forehead.

"Alright, alright," her Grandfather waved his hands softly, "Why don't you go stretch while I talk to the new manager."

A chorus of agreement was heard, followed by the squeaking of shoes and Rin sighed, pulling the clip board away from her face and setting it down at her side. She watched as the team went over to stretch, and a familiar distaste filled her senses. She missed it and hated it all at the same time, a part of her just wanted to leave and walk back to the house without her grandfather, but she was still relatively new to the area and would most likely get lost. Rin sighed, pushing her hair away from her face as she hunched over on the bench - leaning her forearms on her thighs.

"Maybe it'll be good for you, Rin-chan," Her grandfather spoke up from his seat beside her. She shrugged her shoulders and he sighed, "I how you've been feeling - "

"Not really."

"Rin," Her grandfather scolded but continued on, "Daisuke wouldn't want you to be so angry towards something you love, your father wouldn't either."

"Don't bring either of them into this," She shot back, shooting him a glare. Her voice was low so the team wouldn't hear her, but her cheeks were flushed as they always seemed to be when she was angry, "Don't."

Yasufumi sighed, "Just try to be happy, I've missed the smile you use to wear while playing."

Rin snorted, "Yeah, well, I'm not playing so don't expect that smile so soon Jii-chan."

"I'm sure the team will impress you," The older Nekomata changed the subject after a moment of silence, just as the group of boys was finishing up with their stretches, "They're nothing like Okamiyasha was, but they have their own flow. They can only improve from here on out."

Rin tried not to flinch hearing the name of her old team. Instead she turned her attention to Nekoma as they began to practice. She watched her grandfather coach them, and Kuroo lead them as Captain. None of them seemed to stand out too much to Rin, no one really seemed like an ace. Though, as she watched them practice they did flow nicely together - working like a well oiled machine. She would lean over and ask her grandfather their names every once in a while, and then ask their position if she didn't already guess it. Kuroo definitely seemed Captain material, he was definitely the leader type and Rin could see it in the way he played and in the way he spoke to his team. Although aloof at times, he was encouraging.

"His form is weird," Rin muttered, watching Yamamoto give a weird war cry as he spiked the ball down.

"Why don't you tell him?"

Rin shook her head, making an 'x' with her two index fingers and turning towards her grandfather, "I told Kuroo that I, uh, don't play sports. Because I don't! I mean, I use to but I don't anymore so it would look weird if I tried to - "

"Watch out, Rin-hime!"

"Heads up!"

Rin's eyes snapped up, seeing the volleyball head straight for her.

Her reaction was automatic, but it was too fluid to be an the automatic reaction of someone who "didn't play sports". Especially for a girl, who the boys would assume would squeak and flail their arms. They were wrong. The team watched as she was quick to put her two hands together, her forearms outward and her head tilted up ever so slightly as she watched the ball. The familiar tingle and burn hit her skin at the same time the ball slapped against her forearms and she could feel herself want to smile, the ball bounced off her arms and back towards the boys but they all seemed a little too surprised to grab it. Rin eyes widened when she caught sight of Kuroo. She wanted to yell at him the second she saw the sly grin on his face, she knew that he had sent the ball her way and she cursed herself for being such a bad liar earlier. It was a test, he had tested her and she passed in his book and failed in her own. Now there was no doubt in his mind that she played Volleyball.

"I need some air," Rin growled, snatching her phone from her bag and stomping out the door of the gym - not waiting for any reactions. She walked a little bit around from the gym, avoiding the people still lingering around school. Rin stopped when she found a nice shaded spot against the back of the gym - near the boys lockers rooms - and sat down against the wall. She let out a deep breath and flipped her phone open, the tiny wolf charm dangling from it shook as she punched in her brothers phone number. Pressing the phone to her ear, she listened as it rang.

Once.

Twice.

Thrice.

"Yo~"

"Who are you saying 'yo' to, eh?" Rin rolled her eyes, tilting her head, "You didn't even video call me yesterday, stupid. And now you answer you're phone all smooth like 'yo'. Are your English friends next to you or are you trying to act cool again -"

"Oi, oi," Her brother spoke up in the middle of her rant, his voice coming off in a childish whine. Really, for a man as smart and big as him Rin tended to forget he was the biggest child she knew, "What's got you all riled up?"

Rin huffed, a pout forming on her lips, "Who else but that Volleyball obsessed old man?"

Her brother chuckled on the other line and she heard shuffling around, she tilted her head and asked him, "Did I wake you up from a nap or something?"

"Nope," Her brother quipped, "I was studying though, you interrupted that."

"Eh? You're not heading to basketball practice or something?" Rin asked, picking at the grass beside her legs.

"Today and yesterday were rest days," her brother answered, "One of the guys got hurt the other day, so the coach decided that we all deserved a break. But enough about me, how was your first official day at Nekoma? Did you make any friends? Join a sport, maybe?"

Rin sighed, a frown tugging at the corner of her lips as her brother spat questions her way, "First day was what I expected it to be, too long and annoying. I haven't made friends, but I guess I've made the acquaintance of two people and -"

"Saa! That's good!" Her brother exclaimed, happiness evident in his tone of voice, "I'm glad you're making friends. Are they girls? Wait, no. You never did get along well with girls so it's probably boys. Am I right? Oi! No boyfriends so soon! You just got -"

"Stupid," Rin groaned, leaning her head back to gently smack it against the wall, "I just said I made someone's acquaintance, I didn't sign a marriage license! No, it's not a girl. Yes, it's a boy. He's on Jii-chan's Volleyball team... He's the Captain and he showed me around school. He's nice enough, I think."

"Speaking of Volleyball," Her brother began. she heard rustling in the background and the sound of a can opening and then sizzling. Rin's eyes narrowed ahead of her and she glared at nothing.

"I didn't join," Rin snapped, "But Jii-chan is trying to get me to be Nekoma's manager, I really don't want to and -"

"Do it."

"Daisuke, I just said I don't want -"

"Saaa," Her brother stretched, "How's Ko doing? I don't have to bring him all the way over here 'cause you're mistreating him, right? That would be such a shame."

Rin growled, "You planned this didn't you?"

She couldn't see his face, but she was sure her brother was giving her a triumphant smirk, "Who knows?"

"Man," Rin puffed her cheeks out childishly, "When you head down here in a couple weeks the first thing I'm going to do is punch you in the gut."

Her brother guffawed, "I'm just doing what's best for my dearest sister."

"Shut up," Rin snapped, stomping back towards the gym, "I'm going back to tell Jii-chan that you're forcing me to become the teams manager because you're threatening to -"

"Have a good day at practice~," Her brother answered in a sing-song voice, "Bye bye!"

Rin shoved the door open to the gym, snapping her phone shut with a huff. The team was in the middle of a water break and they all glanced her way, her grandfather looking at her questioningly before he noticed the phone in her hand, a sly smile made it's way onto his face, "I take it you talked to your brother?"

Rin huffed, plopping down on the bench beside the stuttering first year who had called her 'Rin-hime', she didn't notice his face turn a beat red - but everyone else on the team did, and they tried their hardest to hide their snickers and giggles.

Rin turned to her grandfather, her expression hard, "So, what's a manager suppose to do?"

"Ah, so you're finally going to do manager duties?"

Rin turned her head to the side lazily to see Kuroo grinning at her, he had a small towel wrapped around his neck and a water bottle in his hands. He tilted his head at her, stilling grinning, "I knew you'd come around."

Rin rolled her eyes and went to say something, but her grandfather interrupted her.

"No," Her smiled, crossing his arms over his chest, "Rin will be a different kind of a manager. I entrust the regular manager duties to her, but she'll also help during your training."

Rin glowered at her grandfather, cursing both him and her brother in her head. There was no doubt in her mind that they had planned this out, and she was being forced to go along with it all. Her grandfather gave her a closed eye smile, and it was then that she realized why she found Kuroo's to be irking. That smile always meant they had something up their sleeve and Rin wasn't good at reading people out the court, so she was clueless as to what they were planning until the last second. Rin clenched her fists.

She was the boy's Volleyball teams new manager, and she wasn't happy about it.

Rin stepped into the house and removed her shoes, letting her bag plop to the floor with a loud thud. Practice was over and her grandfather didn't make her do much except regular manager duties - getting water, washing the towels, helping clean the gym. She had resorted to giving the old man the silent treatment, and only spoke a few words to the team before offering them a half-hearted goodbye. She stopped for a moment, a frown on her face.

Rin spun around and faced her grandfather, her hands shaking at her sides as her anger finally took over, "You and Daisuke planned this, didn't you?"

Her grandfather simply blinked at her, waiting for the girl to continue.

"You and Daisuke," Rin growled. Her anger had bubbled and simmered the more she thought about being the teams 'manager'. And then when her grandfather had added that she would help during training, it just seemed too perfect for them. It wasn't hard for her to figure out that they were practically shoving her back towards Volleyball, and she didn't appreciate it, "It's not that you couldn't home-school me, it's that you didn't want to. Because if you home schooled me then I wouldn't have become the manager of your team. And God knows that the two of you have been doing everything in your power just to get me to hold a Volleyball again!"

Rin was breathing heavily now, her shoulders shaking, "Why can't you two just leave me alone!? I hate it, I hate Volleyball. I don't ever want to see it again."

"Now we both know that's a lie," The older Nekomata answered simply, "I could see it from the moment you walked into the gym that you missed everything about that sport. And if you miss it, you still hold some emotion towards it. Somewhere deep down in your heart, you still love Volleyball. You never stopped, and never will."

Rin shook her head childishly balling her hands into fists and swinging them at her sides, "I don't love Volleyball anymore! It's stupid!"

"The way you watched Nekoma today and asked me questions and asked me their names, " Yasufumi sighed, looking at his granddaughter, "Spend enough time with the team and you'll care about them just as you cared about Okamiyasha. I can see it already, the way you began correcting Taketora's form, the way you watched Kenma toss, and watched Kuroo as well. You love Volleyball, you're a poor liar and everyone knows it."

Rin couldn't help but snort towards the end and she closed her eyes, dropping her head and shoulders, "It's unfair, Jii-chan."

"I know."

"I mean," Rin began, biting the inside of her cheek, "I love it and hate it. I can't go back like how I use to, I - I have to get use to it being on the sidelines and I'm not sure how long it'll take me to get use to that."

Yasufumi smiled, patting the top of Rin's head as he walked by, "Nekoma will wait, we do need a manager after all. And with your skill combined with my own, we'll rise to the top again."

Rin nodded slowly, rubbing her face as she walked towards her room. She opened the door and not even seconds after doing so she was thrown to the ground, landing with an 'oomf'. She giggled softly once she realized what had happened and wrapped her arms around the neck of the medium-size black dog that was attacking her face with kisses. Her grandfather peeked his head around the corner to see what the thump was and he rolled his eyes seeing the dog, "I still don't understand why you asked for such a thing. Why couldn't you get something smaller?"

Rin laughed, pulling the dog off of her and patting his head as she stood, "Because, I'm allergic to cats and small dogs aren't going to protect me when I go for a walk at night. At least Ko is smart and takes commands."

"He lies down when you tell him to roll over," Her grandfather shot back.

"I never said he was perfect!" Rin defended the hound, causing the old man to laugh. Rin stood and looked at the dog, his tongue rolled out of his mouth and tail wagging back and forth quickly.

"Actually, I think I'm going to take Ko for a walk," Rin answered, slipping her shoes back on and grabbing a thin jacket from her closet. She grabbed Ko's leash and clipped it onto his black collar, tugging the Kai Inu forward while wrapping the leash around her wrist, 'I'll be back in an hour or so!"

She heard her grandfather call back a 'be safe' as she exited the house and she hummed in agreement. She smiled, the night air was refreshing compared to the early afternoon heat. And the streets were calmer than they usually were during the day, only the quiet buzz of the street lamps could be heard. Rin walked slowly, taking in the environment as she walked. Ko kept up with her so she held the leash loosely. Ko was a good dog, although he was pretty dumb when it came to commands he was sure of one single command that Daisuke had taught him, and that was "bite." The second the dog heard the word "bite" he was growling at whoever was next to her until she consoled him. Her brother had given Ko to her two years ago and ever since then the dog was attached to her at the hip.

"Ko!" Rin hissed when the dog began to drag her forward, running with his tongue out as he chased something ahead of her, "Ko! No! Stop!"

"Rin?"

Rin snapped her head and blinked, tugging at the leash with two hands, "Kenma?"

The boy stepped forward, an orange cat in his arms. He eye'd Ko for a moment and Rin laughed nervously, turning to the dog. She tugged at the leash, pulling the dog to her side, "Ko! Paw!"

The dog's tongue rolled out of his mouth as he sat beside Rin obediently, she sighed and slumped her shoulders.

"You're out late."

Rin lifted her head towards Kenma before tilting up to the sky so she could look at the full moon above her as she spoke, shrugging her shoulders indifferently, "I guess so. I just felt the need to get out of the house for a bit."

"Is it because of what happened at practice?"

Rin looked at him, slightly surprised that he was even this talkative. She pressed her lips together and hummed, "I guess so."

"Kuroo told me that you said you didn't play any sports," Kenma spoke, his voice was quiet but Rin could still hear him clearly, "But it's obvious that you do. Not just because of the way you hit the ball, but because of the way you watched us practice."

Rin's eyes widened slightly and she stood straighter, blinking at the first year, "What?"

"I've seen girls come and watch," Kenma shifted on his feet as he spoke, his hand still petting the orange cat in his hands, "They mostly just ask questions and watch the 2nd and 3rd years while blushing. But you watched... actually watched us practice. I could tell you knew what we were doing right and wrong."

"My, my," Rin chuckled softly, "You're quite observant, Kenma, that's why you're such a good setter. You'll only get better, you know?"

Kenma turned away and Rin could see the light blush that spread on his cheeks. She smiled and looked back up at the moon, "I use to play, I don't anymore."

"From what I can see," Kenma began, turning to look up at Rin with a small smile, "I believe you'll help Nekoma rise back up."

It was Rin's turn to blush and she stuttered, taking a step back and waving her hands in front of her comically. Ko stared up at and Rin and jumped on her excitedly, nearly knocking her down as she stuttered out a response, "I mean - I - I don't even know - ugh!"

Rin was at a loss.

Now she wanted to to be Nekoma's manager.

[DISCLAIMER: I do not own Haikyuu! or any recognizable characters. The only characters I take claim over are Rin, Daisuke, and some students that I'm going to conjure.]

{AUTHORS CORNER: THIS CHAPTER IS SUPER LONG I'M NOT SORRY. I just have a lot of things to explain and then a lot of foreshadowing to do and then I finished reading the Haikyuu manga and gosh I honestly can't wait to write my own Summer Training Arc okay I'm really happy. I have a couple things to address though! But first, thank you for following and for the favorites! Please comment, it really does inspire me to get chapters out sooner.}

(RIN'S DOG - Rin's dog was bought by her brother shortly after her "accident". I named the dog Kougami because "Kou" stands for "merge" and "gami" was for "bite." The merge is for her and volleyball, and the bite is because - well - Rin is all bark and bite. Also, Ko is a Kai Inu which really looks like a wolf to me and since Haikyuu! is all about referencing animals, can you guess what I imagine when I think of Rin?)

(RIN'S OLD TEAM - Okamiyasha roughly, and I mean very roughly, translates to "Demon Wolf". More will be mentioned on her old team as the story progresses.)

(FF USER BERGLIOT - HI YES I JUST REALIZED I FOLLOW YOU ON TUMBLR AND I READ UR STORY AN D I'VE NEVER HAD ANYONE DRAW MY OC BEFORE SO I WOULD BE VERY FLATTERED. ALSO THAT YOU FOR COMMENTING.)

(TUMBLR - if you're on tumblr feel free to follow me as well. My personal tumblr is atlaswhy and my strictly anime tumblr is juujisho.)