Kitsuna rushed out of class after school the next day, but not toward the gym. She wasn't headed to work earlier. She booked it out the gate, and slowed her approach when she reached a winding mountain road. Today, she was headed up the mountain for a secret mission. One in support of a teammate, but one that could very easily backfire. She stopped and waited at a specific point, until a bubbling redhead bounded toward her.

"Huh, where's Shoyo?," the little girl asked, looking around.

"Sorry. He's got practice and couldn't miss it, so I'm taking over today," Kitsuna explained. She pulled out her phone to show a message exchange between the two, to ease the kid's suspicions.

"Mom says it's not good to just follow strangers. Teachers too," the girl was good, and definitely smarter than her older brother. She had a good head on her shoulders, and only an elementary schooler too.

"Alright, I'll call the idiot and see if he answers," Kitsuna resorted to her final tactic. Hinata answered the phone with a stutter, but explained to his sister well enough. The girl let up, and led Kitsuna up the mountain to her and Hinata's house.

"He does this every day? Twice? And runs around like that still at practice?," Kitsuna groaned when they finally reached the house. She found a spot to sit down, while the girl got herself some snacks and brought Kitsuna a drink.

…

"Hey," Noya was looking at the door to the gym, during a break. Everyone was feeling uneasy during this afternoon practice, noting that two extra members were missing. Kageyama and Tsukishima were at specialized training camps, but two more were gone as well.

"Where're the two gingers?," Tanaka asked what was on all their minds.

"Has anyone heard from either of them?," Daichi asked the others. He had been trying to reach Kitsuna by phone, well aware of her schedule. Sure, there had been times that she was wrong or last minute stuff came up, but she almost always let him know. He was starting to worry now, and she had to know that. So what the hell was up?

"O-oh! Hinata said he had to babysit his sister today," Yachi offered an explanation for one of them.

"And Kitsuna?," Daichi glanced at Suga first, who shook his head. Daichi slapped his legs, pulling himself up and into business mode.

"Alright. Suga, try to call her. Noya, see if you can reach Hinata," Daichi gave his orders and the two called out followed them without hesitation. Noya wasn't having any luck, but on the second try Kitsuna answered Suga's call. Before Suga could give anything away, Daichi demanded the phone and it was passed over.

"...have work today. Sorry!," Kitsuna's explanation came through the speaker.

"Like hell you do, where are you?!," Daichi didn't offer a greeting or anything. Just got right to the point. On the other side, Kitsuna's face took a turn that Natsu thought was absolutely hilarious. And scary.

"U-uh! But! Okay," Kitsuna tried to wiggle out of it but ended up giving up and caving in. She hung up the phone and hung her head for a few minutes, before taking a deep breath and resetting herself.

"Alright, we're takin' a little trip. Sorry, but can you get ready to head out? I'll clean up here," Kitsuna stood up and started to straighten up the table. She put the used dishes in the sink and slid her jacket back on, then her shoes. Natsu joined her by the door, sliding on some boots and a beanie. She was so cute with her messy hair and big coat. Then they started the long trek down the mountain, Kitsuna putting the kid on her shoulders and jogging to speed things up. She was already dead meat, might as well get it over with as soon as possible.

…

"Oh, you made it. Huh?," Yamaguchi spotted the girl in the doorway first, with an even smaller redhead on her shoulders. Kitsuna was out of breath, but not completely winded as she slid off her outdoor shoes.

"Hm?," Suga helped the little girl down and tried to give an apologetic little smile.

"Wait, you have a sister?!," Noya rushed over with Tanaka, both excited and shocked. The child hid behind Kitsuna's legs, startled by the sudden attention.

"No," Daichi answered for her. He made his approach finally, wearing a smile that felt like a threat.

"H-hey, guys. Um," Kitsuna floundered hard. Natsu looked around at everyone's faces, trying to understand the situation. Her brother wasn't anywhere to be seen, raising more questions.

"I guess one of you was telling the truth. But where's that little shit at?," Daichi asked. Kitsuna's face tightened, and she covered Natsu's ears at the curse word.

"About that," the coach entered the gym, stepping around the latest arrivals. "Hinata's at Shiratorizawa."

"What?!"

Several people yelled out, with a range of shock and fury. Suga laughed a little but quieted down as soon as Daichi sent him a look. Keishin glanced at Kitsuna and her surprise guest, sighing with realization at the same time some of the others figured it out.

"We'll talk later. Get warmed up," Daichi growled out. Kitsuna apologized to Yachi and Kiyoko, having to shift responsibilities to them for Natsu, and got straight into the warmup routine. She practiced hard, taking extra penalties whenever she messed up.

"Aren't you being a little harsh, Daichi?," Suga asked the captain as they were taking another break.

"She's cleared to start playing again today. And she missed six weeks of practice. She's fine," he wasn't going to let up any time soon so it was dropped. He was being doubly harsh on her, partly out of anger. But this was another good way to show that one's actions will affect others, for her and for Hinata when he got back.

"Oh. Hey, Kitsuna! You got a visitor," Takeda called from the door. Kitsuna ran over, then bowed and went to get Natsu from the other side of the gym.

"Thanks for the note, I would have totally flipped out. Oh, but where's Shoyo?," an older woman asked as she collected Natsu. Everyone froze up, but Kitsuna answered quickly and with a relatively reasonable explanation.

"Sorry. He forgot about something else today that he couldn't quite get out of. So I agreed to help out and watch Natsu. She was pretty good."

"Right, thanks. I can't believe she just went with you, though," the woman glanced down at the child.

"Oh, no. It took some extra convincing from Sho-uh, Hinata. Sorry again for the confusion," Kitsuna bowed again. A rare sight, that she didn't even do when trying to assuage Daichi. The woman laughed it off and thanked her again.

"Alright, Natsu. Say goodbye for now," the woman pulled her child out from behind her.

"Thanks, um. Shoyo's girlfriend," the girl didn't remember Kitsuna's name so said the first thing she could think of. They left, and practice resumed, but Kitsuna didn't move from that spot until Daichi snapped at her again. She returned to the court for serve practice, and all of her serves were scary hard. Even with her left hand, making them stay surprisingly accurate. It saved her from too much teasing today, though Tsukishima was sure to make a dig somewhere if he heard about that. Just before practice concluded, Daichi pulled her aside and decided her fate.

After practice, she was quietly fuming all the way home. Suga wanted to say something, but wasn't even sure where to begin and just walked beside her.

"Tch. As if, that midget's annoying as hell. And a fuckin moron. Noya's way cooler. A bunch of the others, too. Why's everyone gotta try and set me up with one of you fuckers, anyway? Can't I just play a damn game without needing to be romantically attached to someone? What, just 'cause I hang out with a bunch of dudes? For real? So stupid," Kitsuna's thoughts were bleeding out through her mouth. Suga tried hard not to listen in, but she just kept going.

"Hey," Suga finally spoke up and broke her out of her trance. She looked over at him like she had completely forgotten he was even there.

"Is your heat fixed yet?," he asked. Her eyes widened for a minute, then she averted her eyes.

"No. They can't work on it til winter break. Gotta tear the whole place apart and replace a ton of stuff, so it's gotta be when I can be outta there for a while," she didn't try to lie about it, but she was definitely not happy about that.

"Oh. Well, Mom said you can stay over til it's fixed. So you don't get sick," Suga gave the same energy when he said that. He wasn't opposed to helping out a friend, but he didn't like delivering the message for his mom knowing she was up to something.

"Eh. Oh, well. Um thanks, but I can hold out a while. I've got a small heater for my room at least," she tried to cover for her reaction with that short explanation. She headed inside before there could be any argument. She said that, but damn if her house wasn't cold. The bathroom was the worst, especially after stepping out of a nice hot shower. She did it anyway, and dove into her blankets. She remembered something just then, that Daichi had said a while ago. About having a good chance or whatever, and her face heated up to an impossible level for the temperature in her room.