"Hinata.  Kageyama."

The cold ominous voice made the two slightly freeze up.  It was early in the morning, and the two had barely made their way to the shoe lockers when they heard the summons.  Hinata yelped.  "T-Tana- I mean, Misa-senpai?!"

The brunette's eyes were clouded over with a very ominous shadow, and did I mention her ominous smile?  "Where...is...Kaorucchi...?"

Hinata blinked.  "Ah, haven't seen her yet today.~"

Misa growled.  "A boy appeared on my doorsteps last night, and I kicked him out, but he said that Kaoru.  What is going on...?"

"She probably didn't know," Kageyama mused then said to Misa, "Ah, yesterday, Kaoru cut her ha-"

"Tobio, Shouyo, I'll explain later," Kaoru suddenly appeared from behind Kageyama and Hinata.

"Haa-ah?!" Misa stared intensely at Kaoru, then suddenly pointed accusingly at Kageyama and Hinata.  "Since when did you guys get so familiar with my Kaorucchi?!"  Then she took a double take at Kaoru.  "Y-You-You're ha-ha-..."

A ghoulish shriek rose from the school gates as Daichi - in his classroom - sighed.  "Your sister must've found out, Tanaka," he leaned back in his chair.

-

"Haah, today was just too long," a blonde was commenting as she turned around to face Kaoru.  The classroom was almost empty since everybody was leaving for club practice.  "Neh, Kaoru-chan, your haircut is nice," she smiled, "But...it's a tad short, don't you think?"

Kaoru just gave a ghost of a smile and stood, collecting her things, and walked out of the classroom.  "I have to go to club now."

"All right, see you around then," her classmate nodded.

Kaoru hefted her book bag onto her shoulder, rubbing her head a bit as she yawned.  Should I really have gotten so riled last night...?  No, it was the right thing to do.  After all, that-

"Oh!"

The exclamation made her pause, and she bumped into someone.  "I'm sorry," she quickly apologized, realizing that she had just run into her homeroom teacher.

However, the homeroom teacher just gave her a blank smile.  "Oh, ah, it's all right.  It was just an accident."

Kaoru stared in slight confusion then remembered.  Right, because of this haircut...my teachers couldn't even remember who I was...let alone I existed.  She sighed a bit, helping her sensei pick up his papers, then bowed, running off to go to the gym.

-

"Okay, break, guys," Coach Ukai called, and the guys clamored over each other to grab the water bottles.

"Haah, I'm feeling like I'm at my best for performing!" Tanaka swung his arm around, laughing loudly.  "Great serves like usual, Suga-san, Kageyama!"

Kageyama silently received the praise while Sugawara sheepishly rubbed his head.  However, it did occur to the raven-haired setter that he hadn't seen Sugawara's cousin all day, which was somewhat interesting.  He downed his waterbottle and stretched his shoulders a bit, looking around.

"What are you looking for, Kageyama?" Hinata piped up, noticing that the setter wasn't drinking like the others.

"Nothing," Kageyama closed his eyes, looking away from Hinata's curious gaze.

"Haah?!  Trying to pick a fight with me or something?" the blond shrimp growled, then blinked.  "Ah, perhaps...you're looking for...Kaoru-san?"

Kageyama whirled around, glaring since he had hit the mark.  However, before he could retort, a soft famliar voice broke in.  "Ah, I've been here since the beginning of practice."

"H-Hiee!!  K-Kaoru-san!" Hinata struck an awfully awkward pose in surprise as Kageyama merely nodded at her approach.  Then, noticing her short hair, he sighed a bit, remembering yesterday's fiasco.  "Hey, Kaoru-san, I'm sorry about yesterd-"

"You don't have to apologize about anything, Shouyo.  You didn't do anything, but..." Kaoru looked to the side to avoid meeting his worried gaze with a face rivaling that of Kageyama's, "But...Thank you for encouraging me to duel," she finally smiled a bit, looking back up.

"..." Hinata didn't have a quick enough reflex for such an attack to his heart, so his face suddenly flushed red as he waved his arms around wildly.  "I-It was n-n-nothing!!!  I-I was j-j-just try-ying to en-encourage you, t-that's all...!"

"Pfft, getting so flustered over something so simple," Tsukishima and Yamaguchi laughed in the background.

"Oi, korrah!" Hinata raised a fist.

"All right, guys, back to practice!" Coach Ukai barked.  "Stop messing around!  We want to beat Nekoma to a pulp, don't we?"

"Ossu!" the reply resonated through the gym.

"Hey, so Kaoru-san," Hinata jogged back onto the court alongside with the silver-haired girl.  "Why don't you go join the girls' team?  Weren't you lying when you said all their spots are full?"

Kaoru's grey eyes stared at the floor with disinterest as she slowed down.  "I did."

"Then...?"

"There's someone on the team who doesn't want me there," Kaoru looked forward.  "So I'm not joining.  Even if Misa-senpai tried to convince me to, I won't.  I mean, Michimiya Yui-senpai is a great captain, but her team's not dedicated, so," Kaoru tightened her wrist brace.  "I won't join."

"Haha, you're as hardheaded as Tsukki," Yamaguchi grinned, stretching.

"Shut up, Yamaguchi," Tsukishima growled.  "Get back to practice, you three."

"Hai, hai, Glasses," Hinata grumbled under his breath.

On the other side of the gym, the second and third years watched the freshmen banter and practice.  "That form..." Nishinoya commented as he watched Karou.  "Neh, Suga, did your cousin play libero in junior high?"

Sugawara glanced over after setting a ball for Asahi.  "Oh, well, yeah.  She played libero after her first year, but she didn't get to play her third year."

"Why's that?" Asahi jogged over, swiping away sweat from his forehead.

"She broke her arm, didn't she?" Daichi suddenly said, his arms crossed.

"Haah?  Oh, that's right, I told you before, right?" Sugawara rubbed the back of his head.  "Yeah, during practice at the beginning of the year, Kaoru's arm got crushed when she was trying to save a ball, and somebody tried to go after it at the same time."

"Is that why she's always wearing that brace?" Tanaka noted.

"Yeah."  Sugawara's gaze lingered over his cousin a second longer, then he sighed, rubbing his neck.  "I don't really know what she's thinking right now, but I think it's because her motivation and wish are all wrong right now.  I wish she'd like volleyball like she used to..."

"Like she used to, huh?" Daichi mused.  He suddenly strode over to the freshmen.  "Oi.  Kaoru."

She looked over in confusion, and the ball fell on top of her head.  "Itee...yes, captain?"

"Let's have the match right now."

---

"Oh, it's Misa," the captain of the girls' team was heading out of the gym.  She smiled a bit.  "Busy today?"

"Sorry about missing practice lately, Yui," the beautiful brunette shrugged a bit.  "But I'm pumped to practice now," Misa grinned a bit, smirking.  "I heard there's a nonofficial tournament coming up?"

Yui laughed a bit.  "Nothing misses your gaze, Strategist," she brought up Misa's old nickname.  "Why, you raving to beat some of your old teammates?"

"That, and other things," Misa waved, heading on her way.

"Oh, anyways, Misa, thank you," Yui stopped her quickly.  "For coming to morning practice even though nobody else does."

Misa blinked, then smiled brightly.  "Don't put on such a straight face, Yui-chan, it makes you look old~" she patted Yui's cheeks then ran off.

Yui sighed a reluctant smile, then began to walk off.  What a whimsical character...

---

"A mock tournament?"

"Yeah, against some schools nearby.  Look, Nekoma and Karasuno are going to be there again, Oikawa-senpai."

The brunette captain of the Aobajousai High volleyball team grinned a chesire smile, staring out the dark window.  "Hooh...?" He closed his eyes with thought.  "I look forward to it.

===

A/N:

>//< Summer's not like I want it to be!  So many things to update and so forth, yet no time because of classes and such!  I'm so sorry, minna!  I'll try to update again asap, all right?~  Thank you for all the feedback and etc. etc.  I'm feeling your love!~ XD

Aaaand, bonus picture!  It's...

Sugawara Kaoru!