Note: Unedited. Grammar mistakes. Gen with the possibility of slash

Palm Strike

14:

Hinata was only slightly sorry as he was about to burst the Karasuno member's happiness over taking the second set. Only, he wasn't the one to have spoken first.

"Don't let your guard down." Kageyama somberly said. Everyone just looked at him in question. Even Jun looked at the other with his eyebrow raised. He did not say anything as he wanted to hear what this teen has to say. Maybe he could also feel that something isn't right with this match.

"What do you mean?" Tanaka-senpai asked. Kageyama's face looked serious. There wasn't a trace of happiness on his face now as opposed to before.

"I'm not entirely sure but... the setter over there probably isn't their regular," he answered.

"Ehh?!"

"You have sharp senses Kageyama," he gave a nod to the surprised teen and gave his attention to the rest of the Karasuno team. "I am pretty sure that Seijou has their own trump card." He looked at the other team and everyone followed his line of sight. "What do you think of their reaction?"

He waited as they all observed, ignoring how Seijou looked on at them in return, confusion evident on their faces seeing the entire attention of Karasuno on them. He watched as his fellow club members looked on with slight realization as they all turned back to look at him.

"They looked relaxed," Sawamura-senpai was the one to have first spoken, eyes narrowed in concentration as he looked at him. "They're not worried at all. Even earlier on the first set when our score was close to theirs."

"That's right," Hinata said, proud of them for being observant enough to pick up on that even if they did not voice anything about it earlier. "Like Kageyama said, maybe some of their members aren't regular. We don't really know about Seijou... or maybe that's only us first years?" he turned to look at the third year members for any more information. They shook their heads at once.

"We know that they have new teammates of course, but we don't know if any first years became regulars. Our knowledge is not really that current," Sawamura-senpai said.

"Besides, the regulars before were third years and are now graduates. Also, we weren't really that focused on the other's members. We had... problems those times," Sugawara-senpai added, his voice a touch sheepish and apologetic. Takeda-sensei, who had just been looking on at them, winced alongside the old members of the team.

"It's okay," he said, giving them a slight smile. He understands how problems could affect someone else in any part of their life. "I think we all know to be careful in this set. Do not be lax."

"Yes!"

"You are good at motivating them Hinata-kun," Takeda-sensei told him when the rest of the Karasuno members walked back to the court. In a soft voice, he added while giving him a smile. "I admire that," he then gave him a pat on his shoulder. Hinata fidgeted, confidence waning momentarily at the genuine appreciation he could feel from the teacher's voice, face flushed.

"Don't worry sensei, Shouyou will be a very good addition to the club," Jun stated in confidence while putting his arm around Hinata's shoulder.

He turned an even brighter red at that.

. . . . .

Hinata's attention was at the start of the match but he was soon taken off of it when Jun nudge him a bit from the side. "Hmm?"

"Someone new just came from the other side. He's wearing the Seijou's jersey." Jun told him in a soft voice.

"OIKAWA-SAAAAN!" came the shrieking voice of female spectators. Hinata flinched at the sudden and sharp sound and Jun whipped around to glare at the direction where the voices came from.

"Dammit!" he cursed. Hinata stared at his friend and Jun, apparently feeling his stare, gave him a look. "What? I hate fangirls. They deafen everyone's ear once they scream like a banshee," he grumbled. He resisted the urge to snicker as he carefully looked at his friend's face.

He had never really done this before as he was more focused on his friend's amazing personality but now that he had... Jun is a handsome man, he could admit that. His blue eyes are especially captivating considering he has shiny black hair. Hinata personally thinks that it was his eyes that capture everyone's attention. Even he was taken in by the eyes when he first saw him. It was too noticeable to not be spotted first. I'm pretty sure he had fangirls before. Speaking from experience? He carefully tried to stop his shoulders from shaking as he could not help laughing under his breath at that thought.

That would actually explain Jun's reaction now and some other times he had used him as a shield to other girls in school who would often go to them and have a small talk. He had been baffled by those times as Jun often do not let go of his hand while staring down at the girls with an almost hard eyes and grimace on his lips.

"What are you laughing at Shouyou?" Jun asked in his menacing voice. Hinata looked at him for a second and snorted. He could not help it as Jun looked to be constipated. He instantly froze upon realizing that he did it, and in front of Jun no less. His sixth sense is tingling, telling him that he just poked his friend's silent landmine. Jun does hold his grudge like any other women. Look at how he interacts with Karasuno members, always making them remember how they forced him to join them.

"Hinata..." Jun started saying, voice slow and deliberate. His eyes went wide. Ah, Jun reverted back to my last name...

Thankfully, both their attention were caught when the coach of Seijou shouted.

"Go warm up! And be more careful than you usually are!"

Hinata's eyes narrowed at that.

"Seems they're going to sub him in later," Jun said from beside him, voice now calm. Hinata was abruptly reminded of his friend's temper earlier and he looked at the other with his eyes wide again. Jun took a look at him and snorted before he ruffled his hair. For once, Hinata didn't mind. He was focused on what his friend's action implies. "Don't look so worried. We're fine," Hinata sighed at that and Jun ruffled his hair harder. He finally squawked in protest. "Your ducklings will be fine too." Hinata rolled his eyes at that term and huffed but decided not to say anything. Jun won't even bother to listen he was sure.

"I know they will be." They had potential to win this practice match even against one of the prefecture's best team after all. But in the event that they lose, they'll gain something more at the end of the day that it was like they still won.

. . . . .

As predicted, AobaJousai had a member change. Oikawa Tooru replaced Kunimi Akira. And as expected, he started targeting Tsukishima in his serve. It was actually good how precise he was on his serve, purposely directing his powerful serves towards the blonde who is admittedly a bad receiver. He is an excellent player and obviously observant. Though his cocky attitude leaves much to be desired.

This difficulty made him pay even more attention to this match, zeroing in on the members of both teams. Tsukishima continued to be targeted by the new player and the blonde is now becoming irritated at how much he is messing up his receives. Huh, this is the first time I've seen him this irritated, he thought to himself.

He felt his excitement rise slowly and surely as he saw the members of Karasuno seem to kick their own gear and move together to compensate for Tsukishima's bad receives. He did not care what others thought of his reactions as this was exactly what he was waiting and hoping for. Seeing even a glimpse of potential within the Karasuno team.

Sawamura-senpai (who is currently positioned at the center of the vanguard) moved a little bit closer to Tsukishima (who is now on the right side of the rear guard) while Ennoshita-senpai (positioned in the vanguard in front of Tsukishima) remained in the same position along with Kinoshita (who is standing on the left side of Sawamura-senpai). Tanaka-senpai (currently on the left side of the rear guard) looked on in irritation as he tried to encompass the slightly open areas at the back and Kageyama (now standing at the center of the rear guard) scowled as he readied himself for the next assault.

Oikawa once again did his serve, still in pinpoint accuracy towards Tsukishima. This time though, because of the way everyone moved to protect the blonde - who, he was sure was gritting his teeth as he was clearly in need of help. Tsukishima strikes him as someone who wanted to be the best at what he does and this difficulty left him vulnerable - the power was considerably lowered.

He managed to hit it and send the ball to the other side, but now it was a free ball.

"Over here, now we have a free ball," Oikawa started to say in a bored, uninterested voice. Hinata frowned when he heard it. There was really no need to rub it in as it was already obvious Tsukishima hit a free ball. At least he managed to hit it okay against that guy's serve. The serve may not be as powerful as before, but with how obvious it was the Oikawa was targeting him, Tsukishima would feel pressure and would disrupt his concentration. It was already a good job he did not make the ball flew out of the court.

"See, it's a yummy, yummy free ball," Oikawa continued. This time there was a lit on his voice that made him frown even harder. If that irritated him, he was sure the others felt irritated too. "Make sure you hit it guys."

This is a match score for Karasuno and he is so uninterested, he thought to himself, scowling at the utter lack of anything in the player's voice. He might be at times irritated at Tsukishima's boredom, but it was nothing on what he was feeling seeing that expression on the 'star' player of AobaJousai - who had the nerve to be late and just enter when everything is closer to done!

"What an asshole," Jun's voice was tinged with slight irritation. Hinata blinked as he saw Jun stood up from his seat.

"Kijima-kun, what are you doing?" Takeda-sensei asked worriedly. Uncharacteristically, Jun did not answer the inquiry. Instead, he barked.

"Kageyama!" Hinata blinked at that. What...?

As if he understood what Jun wanted him to do, - and how exactly did that happen? Did they develop telepathy somehow in these few days they saw each other? - he started moving forward. Now, the positions of everyone broke. Hinata thought Kageyama would try blocking the ball even though he was in the rear guard, but it was Tanaka-senpai who managed to one-touch the spike one of the members of AobaJousai gave, running in forward and jumping with a loud shout before he abruptly fell, his face on the floor. It was then Kinoshita-senpai who tossed the ball towards where Kageyama ran to.

There was a moment he thought He saw Kageyama looked straight on Oikawa - did they know each other? - before his hand blurred to spike towards the other side, ball streaking in almost closer on Oikawa's side and hitting the floor like lightning.

The entire thing was actually a surprise. It all happened so fast, and with how much Karasuno broke their positions, it seemed to have happened in a split-second. And Kinoshita-senpai knew how to toss? He did not know that!

But wait... that spike actually looked familiar...

"Hmm... I knew he'd be able to copy the spike you did before," Jun commented, voice tilting in satisfaction as he stared at the court. Hinata stared incredulously at his friend, at Kageyama and at the ball rolling on the floor at the other side of the court.

Copy...

"AH!" he shouted in realization. That was kinda like the one he did when he got angry at Tsukishima. And Kageyama did actually tried doing it on his own after all so it was no wonder he'd be able to do it even in pressure. He practiced it. Jun, who was sitting at his side rolled his eyes and once again ruffled his hair, pressing his fist harder on his head.

"Stop being so absent-minded Shouyou!" He was about to indignantly deny that accusation and take that hand off when they both noticed how their fellow bench mate looked on at them.

"Uhh..." Hinata did not know the reason why they were looking at the both of them like that. Takeda-sensei's eyes were even practically shining.

"You can spike like that Hinata-kun?" before he could say anything, Takeda-sensei continued speaking. "Why don't you-"

"Ah... sensei... I have to tell you something," came Sugawara-senpai's voice, cutting in their advisor before he could finish his sentence.

"B-but-"

"This is really important sensei..." he then took hold of the teacher's arm and started nudging him to stand up. Looking confused, he did and followed the third year vice-captain.

"Relax Shou," Jun held his shoulder and massaged it lightly. It was only then he realized that he was tensed and was only now relaxing. At the same time though he noticed that due to him having stayed in the bench during the entire match, he now needed the toilet rather badly. First thing's first... He gave his friend a quick hug and a bright grin before they both noticed the Karasuno members ran towards them with large grins on their faces. Hinata interrupted them when they started opening their mouths.

"Wait for Takeda-sensei. He has something to say to all of you. Aaand... I have to go to the bathroom!" he quickly said before running towards where he knew the toilet is.

Hmm... the timing of his need of bathroom is great. He did not want to be there when they are that enthusiastic.

. . . . .

Sawamura stared as Takeda-sensei shook hands with the coach of Seijou. He wondered if Seijou's coach knows that they have their own coach. Did Takeda-sensei tell him? He did not bother further with that thought though as his mind still mulling over the practice match they just had.

He remembered the inspiring words Takeda-sensei said and agreed with them. Change is coming for Karasuno. Still...

"Even though Takeda-sensei said what he did, when it comes to strengthening our perimeters, we're still weak." He saw at the corner of his eye how Koshi's face turned serious.

"Ooooh... As expected of the captain. You really understand the situation huh." That voice... he did not even have to look to see who owned it. That was clearly Oikawa.

"What the hell?! You want a piece of this, huh?!" Tanaka started saying, face contorted to intimidate. Sawamura sighed at this predictable attitude.

"Aww... Don't be so hard on me. I just came to say hello," Oikawa said with a smile. He did not say anything and just let the other say whatever it is he wanted to say.

"Be sure to improve your serve and receives next time," he started, looking directly at Tsukishima as he said those. The first year frowned but did not say anything. "Your attacks were good but if all your early receives were slow and hesitant, you'll reach your limit sooner, won't you?"

Even if he won't say anything, both of them as captains knew that it was the truth. That was exactly what he was talking about. They need to practice more. Their first year coach's training is now looking more and more attractive than it had been before.

This practice match's win was full of luck. Sure, they managed to make it to three sets and their score in the first set was closer to AobaJousai. But that was before Oikawa came. If he had been there since the start...

"Also, I am not the only one who hits intensely strong serves. There are other schools as well who have really strong teams," he continued in a matter-of-fact voice. "The interhigh preliminaries are coming up. Will you really be able to survive?" He gave them all a long look before the corner of his lips lifted up into a smile.

Seeing as how I want to crush my uselessly adorable kouhai in a regular game, fair and square as a setter, you better," he stated almost dramatically while pointing at Kageyama, eyes glinting in challenge.

"That was already arranged to happen, apparently by you. Isn't it too conceited of you to pass the blame onto us when an opportunity already presented itself? And you had the nerve to be late?" Sawamura blinked and turned to look behind him where he heard the voice. It was Kijima-kun who had spoken with Hinata-kun beside him, looking at Oikawa with a slight frown while he nodded his head.

Oikawa looked completely surprised and blindsided at the sudden input. He won't blame him. Every one of them looked like they've been unexpectedly hit by a powerful serve right on their head.

"Ahh... Are you also a member of the Karasuno team?"

"Obviously. Though I am Shouyou's manager."

"Huh?" Oikawa looked confused at that.

"Anyway, like I said, it wasn't our fault that your insecurities decided to rear its ugly head and you had to know who is a better setter of the two of you. You arranged a practice match to determine that. Unfortunately, you arrived just when we only needed one point to determine who wins. The fault is on you," Kijima-kun said, looking completely unconcerned at what he was saying. Hinata looked like he was struggling not to laugh.

"..."

"Come on Jun, let's go first," Hinata-kun took a hold of Kijima-kun's hand and dragged said guy towards their bus, not even looking at the direction of Seijou as they started walking away. Before they managed to walk out of their hearing range, they heard Hinata-kun speaking.

"Maybe Oikawa-san likes Kageyama? You know, like-like?" Everyone who heard that had their eyes opened wide. Oikawa had blinked rapidly at that as he stared at the duo. Kageyama himself turned bright red. Sawamura resisted the urge to laugh.

"Sorry about them," Koshi started, giving them all an apologetic smile, breaking the silence that surrounded them. It was the apparent trigger that made everyone who heard the statement laugh. Even the AobaJousai members who were there laughed, if only because of their captain's stunned look.

Oikawa sighed and ruffled his own hair. "You have really interesting members," he smiled as he looked at the direction of the two. "Anyway, blue eyes is right. It is my fault me and my kouhai could not settle this-"

"Don't lump me in with you," he heard Kageyama mutter and he was sure Oikawa did too. He did not say anything about that though aside from just smiling more widely.

"-so I have to request that you make sure to win until we meet formally in the court," he gave a short glance at Tsukishima before walking away. "After all, learning receives in a short amount of time is not easy. But I think captain-kun knows that well enough."

When he was already standing beside his fellow members, he looked back to look at them, a smile still plastered on that face. Only now, it kinda looked condescending and sincere at the same time. How did he even manage to do that at the same time?

"There isn't any time left until the tournament. I'll be looking forward to see what you will do."

Everyone by now had turned silent even when they were the only ones left there.

"D-don't let it get to you. He just likes to get people riled up," Kageyama started, stumbling over reassuring them. Sawamura could not help but chuckle at that.

This was actually the first time Kageyama was actively and positively tried to interact with the team without his trademark glares and scowls and blank look. It's actually really charming for the first year it made him tickle.

Also, did they really think they were the only one to have aces up their sleeves? Karasuno players aren't complete. When the rest of his members looked at him questioningly, he spoke.

"It's true that there is no time until the interhigh preliminaries. However, it's about time he returned.

"Ah!" The rest exclaimed, making all the newbies look at them in wonder.

"Karasuno's guardian deity is coming."

TBC.

A/N:

Another update! This is a treat because I have been a lousy author making you wait a long time. I'll try making another one but... class is starting again so it might take me some time again. Let's hope it won't be a year again.

You can motivate me by reviewing and suggesting some plot scenes!

P.S. Kijima Jun likes and had played basketball in middle school. He just stopped in high school. He knows one of the characters in KnB. You know him I'm sure. I'll make a scene with then in one chapter.

Anyway, review guys! I thought by now Haikyuu fans will come crawling all over the Haikyuu fanfic. It's a little disappointing there's not much fans. *cue the sigh*

Cya next chapter!

PPS. BY THE WAY! I have a Fantastic Beast fanfic. It can now be found here and other sites as opposed to originally only in my facebook page so visit my profile and read it. Lector Muses is my facebook page btw. Something In Me is the title.