Disclaimer: I do not own Haikyuu or any of the themes and characters you see in the anime or manga; those are Furudate's brainchild. I only claim my OC's and their subsequent actions:)

Chapter 1: She Loves Her Friends More Than She Hates Oikawa

Inori Yuna stood arms crossed, leaning against the railing in the upper level of the volleyball gym, for once able to enjoy watching her best friend play without having to look at stupid Oikawa's smug, scheming face. Her best friend, Iwaizumi Hajime, vice-captain of the Seijoh volleyball club and full-time Oikawa wrangler, was in the middle of an intense practice match against Karasuno Highschool. Seijoh was already leading the first set by ten points, which wasn't surprising. In all honesty, Karasuno wasn't a horrible team. Actually, they might have been halfway decent, if it wasn't for the fact that the little redhead crow on the opposite side of the net was falling all over his team in the most spectacular fashion. He was fast, she would give him that; but his team yelled at him a lot -which was amusing- and when it came to making any basic plays, he was a complete amateur. She was sure Haruki and Kazuki as beginners were better than him.

Yuna's enjoyment was ruined, however, by the incessant chatter and snide remarks from The Oikawa Fanclub.

Yes, fan club. For one person. The single most annoying and infuriating person Yuna had had the displeasure of meeting.

How anyone could have the capacity to tolerate Oikawa Tooru, let alone be his fan, was completely beyond her. But those "fans" existed, male and female both, and they plagued her life constantly. Yuna had spent the last three years attempting to avoid them (or ignore them when they couldn't be avoided). Most days, she succeeded.

Today was not one of those days.

Despite all the precautions she took to evade the fan club on a daily basis, Yuna found herself less than ten feet in proximity to the potential screamers. Dummy Oikawa wasn't even here, let alone playing.

Yuna rolled her eyes as some twittering blonde snickered to her friend when the little redhead botched a serve and sent it careening into the back of his setter's head. Yuna winced (it really was a horrible serve), but even she had the decency to keep her critical thoughts to herself. With that point, Iwaizumi's team took the first set.

She focused on the dark-haired setter for a moment as he stalked over to the shrimpy kid. He looked familiar, but she just couldn't place him… Yuna caught Iwaizumi watching and wincing in time to the hits the setter made to the back of his own head as he chewed out his shaking teammate.

Oh.

Kageyama.

That was the setter's name.

Yuna remembered him vaguely from junior high; she'd only seen him a few times and never really talked to him, not in any sort of impactful way. This was the kid stupid Oikawa was constantly whining about wanting to beat? He didn't seem like much. He set decently to his spikers, even if that one jumpy blocker kid kept missing -though, that might be the blocker's fault, not Kageyama's- but he certainly didn't strike her as the "irritating genius" Oikawa despised.

The players returned to their positions and the game resumed. Karasuno seemed awake now, and they managed to actually put some points on the board.

And then it happened.

Yuna blinked rapidly as her brain tried to process exactly what it was that her eyes had just seen.

The kid. The one who had taken forever to shake off his nerves, the one who had just received the ball with his face. The little jumping tangerine.

He flew.

And then he'd smashed the ball into the court, smack dab in the middle of the defenders. No one had even moved.

Well now, Yuna thought. That's interesting.

Iwaizumi said something to his team, and they shook themselves, getting back into the game. The two teams traded points back and forth (Iwaizumi scored a good portion of those points for his team), but Karasuno held onto its slight lead. Eventually, they took the second set. Iwaizumi talked to his team, probably reassuring them and getting their spirits up again, as was his job as both ace and vice-captain. He clapped them on the shoulders or bumped their forearms, managing a small encouraging smile for each player. Yuna glanced over at the visiting team to see their captain doing much of the same.

And then the screams began.

Not the ominous, terrifying, "we're-all-about-get-murdered" type of screams, no. These were the insufferably incessant squeals that signaled the arrival of only one equally insufferable person: Oikawa Tooru.

He was here.

Dummy Oikawa waved to his adoring fans; his impossibly bright but terribly fake smile fixed in place. His scheming brown eyes scanned the faces unseeing until they caught onto the gaze of her own grey ones. His fake smile morphed into a very real smirk she'd wanted to slap on more than one occasion, and he winked, throwing up one last trademark peace sign to the rest of the girls. Yuna rolled her eyes. So dramatic.

While his team (and fangirls) were more than happy to see their star setter, Karasuno was looking rather subdued. They were watching idiot Oikawa with varying levels of curiosity and competitiveness. One guy actually looked ready to attack Oikawa. A sentiment Yuna shared enthusiastically.

Oikawa looked at the other team and smiled. He spoke to Kageyama, and Kageyama ignored him. But whatever he said made Karasuno look even more intense.

Yuna clenched her fists.

Loser Oikawa and his damned mind games.

Seijoh's coach sent the reckless setter to warm up, and the match resumed. Yuna cheered internally every time Iwaizumi scored. After making a particularly intimidating block, Iwaizumi glanced up at her, so she gave him a thumbs-up and a smile. He returned the smile and gave her a tiny nod. Despite the return of the captain, who was still warming up, and the strength of their ace, Seijoh was still down by a few points halfway into the 3rd set.

"Hey, aren't they going to send in Oikawa yet?" Yuna heard a fangirl ask from her left.

"You dummy, he'll get hurt if he doesn't warm up first!" Another one chastised.

"Oh no! That would be horrible!" A third chimed in.

Yuna had to suppress another eyeroll, lest she get a migraine. The selfish dork had already hurt himself (a minor sprain), and that's why he was late in the first place. It was Oikawa's own dumb fault for pushing himself harder than his body could handle. On more than one occasion Yuna had been recruited by Iwaizumi to help drag the stubborn captain out of the gym. Not because she particularly cared what happened to stupid Oikawa -but because Iwaizumi always worried about his childhood friend, and Yuna hated to see him that way. As the manager for her own sports team, Yuna also knew how detrimental overworking could be to an athlete and couldn't in good conscience let him burn himself out. Iwaizumi would be inconsolable.

So Yuna would help Iwaizumi. She would tease, and antagonize, and distract the big dummy while Iwaizumi gathered his friend's things. Then the two of them would bribe the stubborn setter out of the gym.

Shaking her head, Yuna brought her attention back to the game, where Karasuno had reached match-point. The onion-headed first year kid (Kindaichi? Was that his name?) managed to spike it right down the middle with a motivated shout. That brought the serve back to Seijoh.

Where Oikawa traded in as the pinch server.

Great.

Karasuno was going to get demolished.

Yuna watched as Oikawa raised his hand and pointed straight at the blonde beanpole blocker on Karasuno's court. He'd just targeted a weakness in their defense and was letting everyone know how powerless they were to stop him.

Cocky bastard.

But the stupid setter had a reason to be cocky when it came to his serve. The sheer power he put behind that one hit was like cannon-fire and was liable to take your arms off. Yuna shuddered to think what he could do with that arm strength if he ever picked up a baseball… Not that the obsessed dork would ever give up on his precious volleyball.

Oikawa fired his power-serve at the blonde in glasses, where it ricocheted off his arms and was sent careening towards Yuna. She yelped and ducked away quickly as the ball slammed into the railing where she'd been standing. Yuna glared at Oikawa for sending the ball to someone who clearly had no control, but he was too busy laughing at Specs, who was irritated from flubbing the receive.

His annoyance was understandable, especially when Oikawa opened up his stupid mouth and called out the first years on their lack of receiving ability.

Idiot Oikawa kept aiming for that glasses kid until there was only a single-point difference in the score. The shrimp must've realized how close they were to losing and started freaking out, yelling at Oikawa or his teammates -she couldn't tell. Whatever it was, it seemed to give Karasuno some focus, because the blonde managed to (barely) get up one of Oikawa's psycho serves, sending it right back to Oikawa. Onion-head spiked the ball again, only for the shorty to get a hand on it. And then it happened again.

One second he was landing on one side of the court from the block, the next he was on the other side of the court, ball in hand for a spike. He hit it and it sailed over the net, straight past Oikawa's head.

The look on his face was priceless.

They had lost.

Yuna had mixed feelings about it though, because since dumb Oikawa had lost, that meant Iwaizumi had too, and he'd been fighting the whole game.

Yuna went down to the court to wait for Iwaizumi to finish with his team so she could tell him good job. She waited by the doors as he finally returned from the club room, gym bag slung across his back.

"Good game," she greeted. "It was really close there in the end."

"Where's Oikawa?" Iwaizumi asked, looking around. Yuna sighed. Of course, that was the first thing he would ask about. He hadn't even acknowledged her comment on the game.

She raised an eyebrow and gave him a look. "Do I look like his keeper? I thought that was supposed to be your job."

Iwaizumi just folded his arms and gave her a look right back. Yuna sighed again. "Fine~ Bakakawa went to go talk to Karasuno again." She waved to where the visiting team had exited to head back towards their bus. "Probably going to antagonize the first years again," she grumbled.

"That damn idiot!" Iwaizumi growled. "I told him to wait for me, and to stay off his leg." Yuna grinned evilly. Oh, Oikawa was going to get it. No one chewed out the dumb setter better than his ace (especially if he was injured), and there was usually hitting involved, with Oikawa as the recipient, so Yuna was always thoroughly amused.

"Well," Yuna drawled, "if we leave now, we're sure to catch him before he catches Karasuno. One guy looked like he was ready to beat him up, which I wouldn't be mad about-" Iwaizumi sent her an annoyed look- "but I figured you might need him for your next match, and it would be best to keep him in one piece."

Rolling his eyes, but smiling just a little, Iwaizumi set off to find stupid Oikawa.

They did not, in fact, catch up to Oikawa. At least, not before he had done his damage. Stupid mind games.

"Oi! Shittykawa!"

Oikawa tensed at his best friend's tone but turned towards them with a cheeky smile. "Iwa-chan! You found me!" His smile dropped when he saw Yuna. "And Inoricchi. How delightful." His tone was anything but delighted.

"What do you think you're doing, Oikawa?" Iwaizumi asked.

"Why, I was just giving a little free advice to our opponents!" The smile and cheeky tone were back. "Now that Tobio-chan finally has someone who rises to his tyrant expectations, they might put up a good fight this spring."

"Such a crappy guy." Iwaizumi shook his head and Oikawa whined at his friend.

"Wait, Tobio-chan?" Yuna asked. "You mean Kageyama?" Iwaizumi nodded when stupid Oikawa ignored her. "He didn't seem all that amazing today, not like how Bakakawa has been whining about him for so long." Oikawa stuck out his tongue at the nickname and she stuck hers out right back.

"Enough," Iwaizumi said, shoving Oikawa. He turned back to Yuna. "He is that amazing, he was probably just adjusting to a new team. You saw how some of those guys were playing."

Yuna snorted. "I thought that short kid was going to wipe out his whole team in the first set. That last play of his was something else though. Who was he anyway?"

"Who, Chibi-chan?" Oikawa put in.

"Really with the nicknames, Bakakawa?"

"It's a gift, Inoricchi."

"Shut up, Crappykawa, leave Inori alone." To Yuna again he said, "If I remember their line-up correctly, the kid was Hinata Shoyo."

"Hinata Shoyo… Shoyo… Sho-kun!?" Yuna's eyes widened in surprise and recognition.

"You know him?" Oikawa asked incredulously.

"'Course I do!" Yuna said. "I babysat Natsu for Hinata-san when she worked late, though I haven't been to see them in a while." Oikawa looked mildly dumbfounded, and Iwaizumi just nodded.

"I can't believe I didn't recognize him; I have to go congratulate him!" She said trotting off to where Karasuno was loading onto their bus.

Iwaizumi called out and started to follow her, but Oikawa started hanging all over him in his usual annoying fashion, causing Iwaizumi to fend for himself.

The bus entered Yuna's line of sight, and Sho-kun was one of the last people to get on.

"Oi! Hinata!" She called. Sho-kun jumped when he heard his name called and looked around frantically for the source of the voice. "Sho-kun!" She called again and waved as he caught sight of her. She was still too far for him to recognize as he squinted to try and see better. His eyes widened in surprise when she finally made it to the bus.

"Gwaah~!" He shouted and jumped back a little, pointing at her. "Inori-neesan!?"

("Nee-san? Hinata has a sister?"

"Yeah, but I thought she was younger."

"And she goes to Aobajohsai? Huh."

"She's pretty though. Do you think she'd give me her number- ow!"

"Shut up, Tanaka.")

Sho-kun began to ramble. "What are you doing here? Do you go to Aobajohsai? How did you know I was here? Did you see my match? Did you see me jump? I was like fwoosh, and then I was like blam, and then we won!" He was bouncing on his toes, his eyes having gone from surprised to adoring and excited in seconds. He was just as energetic as ever.

"Calm down, Sho-kun!" She chuckled as the entire team had paused what they were doing to watch the interaction. "Yes, I go to school here. My friend is on the volleyball team, so yes, I saw your match. Your jumping was amazing. Might want to work on that serve, though." Yuna bumped his shoulder playfully as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "And anyway, I knew you were here because Iwaizumi told me."

"You know Iwaizumi-senpai?" A voice piped up from behind Sho-kun. It was Kageyama.

"Er, yes," Yuna replied. "He's my best friend."

Kageyama's face lit up a bit. "Then you're friends with Oikawa-senpai as well?" He asked eagerly. Yuna frowned.

"Well, not-"

"Gah!" Sho-kun yelled, startling Yuna. "You know the Grand King!?"

"Grand King?" Yuna's brows drew together in confusion, before she scoffed. "Drama King, maybe." One of the other Karasuno players snickered and Yuna grinned. "Anyway, enough about Bakakawa." More snickering. "I came to congratulate you on winning the match. And to wish you good luck." She nodded in acknowledgement to the other players, receiving a few nods in return.

"Will you come watch us play at the Interhigh?!" Sho-kun asked, still bouncing. "We get to play the Grand King, and we're going to win!" His excited bouncing was bringing him almost to eye level with Yuna (she was almost 10cm taller than him after all), and she laughed at his antics. Ruffling his hair, she grinned.

"I'll be there."

After all, she loves her friends more than she hates Oikawa.

Hello folks and welcome to the madness! If you're reading this, congratulations on making it to the end of the chapter! And thank you for reading this far.
I both do and do NOT have a plan for this story. There is no posting schedule, or even a plot really (that would require having a plan :D), but there is a smidgen of an idea for where I want this to go.
This story was written for a friend (yeah, you know who you are xD) as a *late* Christmas present, and has been rattling around in my head for about a week now.
I 100% accept critiques and constructive criticism. I mean, it could be un-constructive too, I won't be offended, this story is for you guys after all! If you have any suggestions for future interactions, I'd love to see it in the reviews, maybe I'll get some good inspiration.
See y'all later! -Peri