CHAPTER FOURTEEN: VICE CAPTAIN
"I am a member of a team, and I rely on the team, I defer to it and sacrifice for it, because the team, not the individual, is the ultimate champion."
"Rin-chan!"
Rin grunted from the impact of the tall male flinging his arms around her body, her head was pressed up against his chest while he had his arms wove themselves around her head - immobilizing her. The male shook her back and forth, causing her expression to quickly fade from shock to annoyance. She could feel him raise a hand to ruffle her hair, causing her to finally decide it was time to wiggle free.
"Oi! Hana - Hanataro, let go!"
Rin pushed her hands against his chest and pushed away from him, quickly patting down her, now, messy hair. Hanataro took a step back, allowing Rin to get a good look at him. He was taller than before, standing a good 10 cm above her - making him around 190 cm tall.
Tsubaki Hanataro was the definition of tall and handsome. His blond hair stuck up messily in every direction - but seemed to look perfectly in place at the same time - two green clips rested parallel just above his pierced right ear. His eyes were a dark forest green, and the small beauty mark on his jaw was something all of the girls loved to talk about in middle school.
"It's been so long since I've seen you, Rin-chan!" Hana beamed, grabbing Rin by her shoulders and shaking her back and forth again and Rin's annoyance grew with every word that left his mouth, "I stayed up crying for days because my dear Captain just disappeared after our match! We went to see you but you were sleeping most of the time and eventually Dai-kun said you didn't want anyone visiting! Do you know how annoying everyone was without you keeping them in line?! It was horrible! And then that other shithead, Ko-kun took over as Captain and Aiko became Vice Captain! Do you know how obnoxious that was?! I missed my charming, sweet, smart, wolfish -"
Rin interrupted the blond by placing her palm on his face, pushing him away from her, "Shut up, Hana. Can't you be serious, for once?"
The childish grin from Hanataro's face faded into a sly smirk, his eyes narrowing slightly as he looked over Rin's shoulder to glance at the team that stood not too far behind her. He tilted his head, his tongue running across his lips before he spoke. He voice was low and smooth, but the threatening undertone was easy to detect, "Aaah, don't tell me you're from Nekoma High School, Rin-chan?"
Rin's brows furrowed in confusion before she glanced at the name stitched on Hanataro's jacket.
Kuzuryu High School Volleyball Team. Vice Captain.
"I'd hate to think that our reunion would be so unfortunate," Hanataro pouted, crossing his arms over his chest and letting his finger brush his lips. He looked Rin once over, his eyes - not so subtly - looking at Rin from head to toe, "It'd be a shame to lose, neh, manager?"
"It's only unfortunate for you, Hana. Honestly, Vice Captain? You seem a little lazy for that," Rin shrugged her shoulders, crossing her arms over her chest - her voice was challenging and she kept steady eye contact with the blond, "I never thought I'd see the day where you did something productive."
"Thats the Rin-chan I knew, sassy as always!" Hanataro grinned, unzipping his jacket and tossing it dramatically towards the bench where his teammates were watching.
Rin flinched when a cluster of feminine screams met her ears, and she immediately looked up to see a brigade of high school girls - all of them calling out various good lucks and other phrases toward 'Hana-kun'. Rin looked at the blond with a deadpanned expression as he waved at the girls happily, their serious moment gone and forgotten. Much to her disdain.
"You haven't changed one bit," Rin snorted, reaching up to pinch the end of Hanataro's ear, so she could tug him down to her level, "At least be serious while we're still talking, stupid!"
"Ow, ow, ow! Capta - "
Rin let go of Hanataro's ear after he stopped himself mid-sentence. Their faces both held looks of surprise, Hanataro's eyes widening and Rin's mouth parting. The two took a step back towards their respective teams as they slowly straightened up and changed the expressions on their faces. Rin wiped the shock off her face and replaced it with a sturdy look of determination, while Hanataro settled for a look that the others could only describe as conniving.
Both expressions were familiar to the old teammates.
"You know I love ya, Rin-chan," Hanataro began, running a hand through his hair while a coy smile made it's way onto his lips, "But I don't plan on losing here today."
Rin smiled, tilting her head to the right while taking a step back towards Nekoma, "Well I'm glad, that means you'll put up a good fight for my boys today then. But remember, Hana, I won't lose either. So that means Nekoma won't lose."
Hanataro snorted, adjusting the collar of his green and grey uniform while Rin turned around to walk to Nekoma's side of the court.
Her heart was pounding against her chest and her hand instinctively reached for the red fabric around Kuroo's wrist. The smile that had tugged on her lips never left and she could feel herself being to feel warm. The excitement and thrill of the Volleyball game that was about to happen was already eating at her insides - and she wasn't even playing. Her hand tightened around Kuroo's wrist and she had to clench her jaw to contain all the excitement she was bottling up. She was excited, and it felt like forever since she had felt anything remotely close to this.
"What was that?"
Rin chuckled lightly, letting go of Kuroo's sweater to look up at him. Her hand moved to the back of her neck, and the rest of Nekoma began to look at her curiously. They dropped their bags around the bench, while Rin tugged off the red Nekoma jacket.
"Hanataro use to be the Vice Captain of my old team for a little while," Rin smiled lightly, "He was way too lazy to preform any Vice Captain duties so eventually he gave the title up to someone else."
"He gave up being the Vice Captain?" Yaku tilted his head, "That doesn't make much sense."
Rin scratched her cheek, a sheepish smile playing at her lips, "He was really lazy. Getting him to practice was more of a workout than actual practice, and most of the time he would just lay on the floor using a Volleyball as a pillow so he could sleep. During games he'd whine half the time, starting a lot of arguments with another old wing spiker - who was the exact opposite, he was a ball of energy. Him and Hana butted heads so eventually the Vice Captain title was passed on to him."
"If he was so lazy he couldn't have changed that much!" Yamamoto stated, "So he isn't anything we should worry about, right, Rin-hime!?"
Rin's smile faltered and her hand fell from the back of her neck slowly, "I never said that."
Kuroo looked at Rin with furrowed brows, watching as she tilted her body to look over her shoulder at Kuzuryu High, "Hana is lazy, I don't doubt that's changed. He's also narcissistic and far too aloof for my liking. But there was a reason I originally asked him to be my vice captain."
Rin lifted her two hands in the air, "Hana's height is already an advantage, but as a wing spiker he's really great."
"Not as great as me! I'll be Nekoma's Ace!" Yamamoto interrupted, puffing out his chest and cheeks.
Rin gave the younger male a lopsided smile before Kuroo urged her to continue, "Hana is ambidextrous. He trained himself to switch hands mid air. So, when you think he's aiming to spike the ball to the right because he's raising his left hand, he'll switch it and use his right hand to hit the ball to the left or middle. It threw a lot of people off, and a lot of people saw it difficult to get use to. It is annoying to deal with, and even mildly frustrating - but it's not impossible to stop."
"Ambidextrous...?"
"It means he can use both of his hands equally, he's not right or left handed necessarily," Yaku explained to Yamamoto, "He can use both hands."
Rin crossed her arms over her chest, "His power levels are high, but his stamina is pretty low from what I remember - though, that might have changed in the past two years. But I don't doubt you guys can give -"
"Rin-chaaan!"
Rin flinched, slowly looking over her shoulder with an strained expression. Hana was waving both his arms above his head, a large mocking smile on his lips as he yelled across the court, "Are you talking about me, Rin-chan!?"
Rin's shoulders slumped and she only blinked in his direction. From afar she could see another player go up to Hanataro and drag his hands down, looking exasperated while doing so.
"Always so full oh himself," Rin muttered before turning to Nekoma, she placed her hands on her hips and a small smile was placed on her lips, "Don't make me look bad, alright? Don't lose."
Rin was tugged forward by the collar of her black shirt, and was dragged into the middle of the team's huddle by Kuroo. The team looked at her, everyone's face either holding a look of determination or a genuine bright smile.
"Let's not embarrass the princess," Kuroo grinned, "Alright?"
The team chorused loudly in agreement and Rin laughed softly, her cheeks flushing, "You need to come up with a better speech, Tetsu."
{AUTHORS CORNER: I love Hana tbh he's Okamiyasha's own Oikawa give or take a few things. I relate Hana to a snake, although both his first and last name mean flower. His character is meant to kind of come off as sketchy, and I don't expect everyone to like him considering a few things BUT I hope you liked the chapter. More of Rin's old team will be introduced and I will soon be getting into proper flashbacks. Thank you for the reviews/follows/favorites! Almost to 100 favorites, ah! Thanks so much! ALSO LOL SO MANY PEOPLE ASKING IF IT WAS BOKUTO I'M SORRY TO DISAPPOINT YOU.}
[SIDE NOTE: Kuzuryu means Nine-Headed Dragon. The Dragon is the reference to Hana's animal representation being a snake.]
(HEAD CANON ELEVEN: Rin's favorite food is chichi dango [which is usually served as a dessert].)
BONUS: 2 1/2 YEARS PRIOR
"Oi, Nekomata. Tsubaki-chan is sleeping under the bench again."
"Mei-chan, don't call me that~"
Rin glared in the direction of the two voices, halting her pen in the middle of the paper, "Will you two shut up? I'm trying to write notes."
Mei lifted a slender brow, running her hand through her short ashy gray hair while she rolled her dark eyes. The setter jutted her thumb towards Rin while she spoke to Hanataro, "Someone's grumpy."
Hanataro sat up from his position on the floor, a cocky grin making it's way onto his face, "She wasn't yesterday."
Rin didn't bother look up from her paper, but instead kept scribbling notes while she muttered out a 'shut the hell up, Hana'.
"Eh?" Mei cocked her hip, leaning over Hanataro, "What's that suppose to mean?"
"Hana, if you value your position as Vice Captain you will shut -"
"I gave Rin~chan her first kiss yesterday!"
"- up."
Mei blinked, looking between an grinning Hanataro and a brooding Rin, "Gross... I'm gonna tell the whole team."
"Mei, I will replace you as first string setter if you -"
"Oh?" Mei called out loudly, her voice still as monotonous as it always sounded, "Whats that, Nekomata? You and Tsubaki kissed? That's gross."
Rin pinched the bridge of her nose, watching as Mei walked towards where the other players were now filing in - a bunch of them already commenting on what she had just loudly announced. Rin turned her glare over to Hana, who only smiled innocently at her.
"Should I tell them it was your first kiss too?"
"EH?! That'll ruin my reputation with the ladies, Rin-chan, how mean!"