[Warning] Genderbending, OCs, OOCness and minor swearing will be running rampant

Disclaimer: I don't own Haikyuu or any other familiar concepts, I can only claim my OC's (and only the names for most of them)~

Chapter 7

Quicks and Trust

Hinata's eyes trailed after Tsukishima was he prepared to serve, having no trouble guessing what he was saying despite his distance. The blond had made it more than obvious what he thought of her as a spiker, with her height and attitude it really wasn't that difficult to conclude that he thought she was just psyching herself to no avail. After all from an outer perspective it didn't matter how much athletic ability she had, it would never make up for the height she would never attain.

"You're wrong," she desperately wanted to tell him, wanted to shove a few choice magazine clippings in his face and make him acknowledge that a girl her height could put up a fight in an actual tournament, "I can fight with with this body too."

Tsukishima's serve clears the net without a hitch and Tanaka receives it with surprising poise.

"Toss it to me!" she cries and she knows there's almost no pointing in doing so, no matter how much inspiration Kageyama might have drawn from her previous reassurance it's obvious he still thinks she can't handle Tsukishima on her own.

Screw it, it doesn't matter at this point!

Without any indication from Kageyama she begins her run-up towards the net, not even bothering to call out to him before her feet have already left the ground. She's hyper-aware of his inner conflict as he deftly moves beneath the ball's dropping point, he's not going to toss to her without incentive, well she'll just have to rely on his instincts instead won't she?

"Tanaka-san─"

"Kageyama!"

His gaze lands on her for only a split-second, but it's enough.

"I'm here!"

His gaze locks on her instinctively, drawn to her movement and guided by the sound of her voice and his body follows accordingly. His footing changes, making it easier for him to send a toss to her directly and she gives a rather unladylike grunt as she feels the heft of the ball on her palm.

"Whoops that was a bit too much," she murmurs sheepishly, inwardly cringing as the ball just barely misses the corner of the court, on the outer side much to her dismay. With a noticeable cringe as she lands, she watches as Sawamura's body collides with the floor, just barely stopping himself from touching the ball. "It's out..."

"What was that for?" Kageyama demands loudly, looking harried and frazzled as Tsukishima snickers in the background, obviously trying to mask shock.

"But the ball came to me," she cries, beating down the blush spreading on her cheeks and forcing the confidence she usually has during matches out into the open. Kageyama stares in shock at her loud proclamation, but she plows on anyway, and thinks that maybe just maybe what's she's saying it for her own sake too. "Forget about junior high. I'll take any toss I can get. Gratefully!"

"I'll jump anywhere," she tells him, cringing at the eyes that are all specifically focused on her now that she's chosen to create a scene. Inwardly, a small, cynical part of her is laughing at the irony because two months ago she couldn't even manage to choke these very same words out when they were demanded of her, but now here she is spilling them out like the awkward, hormonal, teenage girl, which she is. "I'll hit any ball. So please, toss it to me!"

A beat of silence within the entire gym.

"Oi, you two know how to do quicks?" Tanaka demands loudly and abruptly, breaking the tense silence as if it's nothing. He storms towards her and Kageyama, his hands twitching with shock and the volume of his emotions.

"Not at all," Hinata decides, abruptly changing the course of her emotions like only a girl can as she glances between herself and Kageyama questioningly. "Or at least not together, I've done a couple in junior high, though."

"But you just did it," Tanaka says looking bewildered, using his hands for emphasis. Hinata furrows her eyebrows trying to comprehend what he's getting at before tilting her head to the side in confusion.

"Yeah, I guess. But it was purely instinctive," she tells him confused, before tucking her fist beneath her chin trying to think how she managed to do a quick with Kageyama in the first place, her mind flashing back to how she had brazenly started her run-up without thinking. Tanaka makes a slightly dejected sound and Hinata finds herself jumping to assure him out of habit. "But I'll spike any toss," wait she should assure Kageyama too shouldn't she? She turns towards the ill-tempered setter, an unconsciously fierce look making it into her eyes that nearly makes him take a step back, and causes tension to thrum in his veins, "I'll spike it, understood?"

"We've never gotten coordinated, a fast attack is impossible," he murmurs looking almost dejected of all things. That would've have been enough to make most others drop the topic since the King of the Court does not get dejected, but Hinata wouldn't have been one of them, in fact she would've grabbed him by his collar and smacked some sense into him. Now if only she wasn't reeling over the fact that Kageyama actually knew what the word impossible meant.

"Did he just say 'impossible?'" she screamed inwardly, feeling as is someone had struck her with a proverbial lightning bolt. 'Since when does this guy know the meaning of the world 'impossible?' It makes no sense at all!"

"There's something really weird about you!" she cried, pointing a finger at him accusingly. "Your weakness is giving me the creeps! Weird!"

"Shut up," he murmured, a familiar pissed off expression unfurling on his face as he stalked away. Hinata watched him go with her cheeks puffed in annoyance and arms crossed pensively.

"That's not like you, king," Tsukishima called after him, his tone light and teasing as if some serious business hadn't just gone down. Hinata looked up, not as if she could look any other way really, at the aloof blond with a glare, wondering just why he had to go and try and piss everyone off and beat down their morale.

"I'll spike it past you, wait and see!" she told him, trying to stay as calm as he was at the moment even though her voice came out on the shrill side and her fingers had long since curled into fist.

"There you go again, getting all psyched up," he told her, glancing down with a look of sarcastic pity. She felt a vein pop on her forehead as he continued, nearly biting off her tongue as she held back a scathing remark. "Just getting psyched up isn't going to make things right. Some people aren't cut out for certain things."

Hinata froze already able to go guess what he was going to say. She wanted to stop him, didn't want to hear the words that had plagued her during her first and second year of junior high, but she couldn't get her mouth to move. She was already bracing herself for the blow to her ego.

"Clearly, you're not cut out to be a spiker."

Dully she registered Tanaka getting ready to hit Tsukishima, and Sawamura grabbing his wrist with a look of long suffering before he pulled him back, she might have even laughed at the expression on their faces, but it seemed to be happening in another universe all together. All she could hear was the static in her ears, snippets of discouragement that she thought she'd long since put behind her finally floating to the surface of her thoughts after so long.

"Maybe another position would be better."

"I say she's in the wrong sport all together."

"Maybe you could try playing as a libero, Hina-chan?"

"You can barely clear the net as it is."

"Isn't it about time for you to give up?"

"But I didn't bow out," she murmurs quietly to herself, steeling her nerves as she glanced up at him, eyes defiant.

"It's true," she concedes proudly meeting Tsukishima's gaze, "back then I would jump and jump, but I kept getting blocked." She remembers her first match, the overwhelming height that the other girls had had on her, and flinches when she remembers the acidic jealousy that had mixed in the pit of her stomach along with her nerves. "Height is needed for volleyball, not matter how high I jump, I can't get past their overwhelming height, but..."

"That was an amazing spike, Shouyou!"

"I can't believe it..."

"Her jumps are amazing..."

"No worries Shou-chan, I'll keep sending that tosses to you."

"Hinata-senpai another round of spikes please!"

"We're in you care from now on, ace-san~"

"I learned how to battle with this body, with all my handicaps, just like he did!" she tells Tsukishima earnestly, putting a hand to her heart. Who would've guessed it? That it would be this rude, rude boy who got her to finally, finally state her claim as a spiker. "So I don't care if I'm cut out for it or not. I'm going to continue fighting with this body, win and win, and be on the court as long as I can."

"No, I never want to be defeated like that ever again.

"But you don't have what it takes in the long run, it isn't a matter of psychology," Tsukishima deadpanned, giving Hinata a look that questioned her intelligence, and set Kageyama's teeth on edge as the tall blond disregarded everything she had said up til then to dish out the facts. "Sure you may have been some hot topic junior high, but this is high school. Other players are going to start matching your skill level, most girls that go into volleyball as spikers and blockers will definitely surpass you in height, and you can't make up for it with feelings of all thing. If you could play libero, that would be a different matter."

Kageyama watched helpless as Tsukishima continued his derogatory speech, and silently marveled at how her expression stayed in the same stubborn scowl as the tall boy hurtled insult after insult. This was starting to get out of hand, why weren't the older club members doing something? Why were they just letting this bastard rip apart this girl's aspirations like they were nother at all? And who gave him the right to do it in the first place?

Tsukishima wasn't the one who had just spent the entire week on a nearly suicidal self-made, training regime with her, and he definitely hadn't been the one who had been forced to discreetly puke in a couple bushes far away from gym five because he didn't want his smaller, female, and definitely not more athletic training partner to find out about it. So really Tsukishima had no right to go judging her, especially after that bout of maturity that she had just displayed.

"Toss to me! Bring it on!"

Damn it, it was his turn to support her wasn't it?

"To break the wall in front of the spiker," he started calmly, addressing the two glaring at each other from both sides of the net, causing him to turn abruptly in his direction. Back straight, eyes boring forward and head held high he made his way forward, causing the small girl's eyes to widen drastically as he planted himself beside her purposefully. "That's the setter's job."

The entire gym started at his proclamation, their eyes widening as if they couldn't comprehend that he had just been the one to say all that, even Tsukishima didn't have a biting comeback for that. Unperturbed by their stares, he grabbed Hinata roughly by her shirt, dragging her unceremoniously towards the back of the court.

"Wh-What, Kageyama!?" she shrieked trying to pry herself away, but his hands stayed firm, using full forced as he pulled her back. Despite her resistance, Hinata's short stature and petite figure did very little deter the boy's full strength, especially since he was dragging her full force. "Ouch, let go. Let me go!"

"Oi, K-Kageyama you don't manhandle girls like that!" Tanaka called angrily behind them. Sharing a quick glance with a stunned looking Sawamura, the bald second year made his way over to them, frazzled by the turn of events. "Calm down, Kageyama!"

"What's the big idea─" she started to demand loudly, only to have him place a heavy hand on her head, immediately silencing her. Meanwhile Tanaka was standing in the background looking quite done with them.

"Listen," Kageyama told her urgently, pointing a finger for emphasis. "If you can't spike it, avoid it. Use very ounce of physical ability you have. Use your reflexes and spike my toss."

"Huh? That's how you explain a fast attack?" Tanaka demanded loudly, looking incredulous.

"I know what a fast attack is," she told him, puffing out her cheeks indignantly, but nodded her head all them. "Understood."

"Liar! You can't possible have a grip on the concept if you've never practiced with him before!" Tanaka cried, comically gesturing to the two of them. The idiocy of his stance completely overriding the, rarely seen, sense in his words.

"We'll do it anyway," the cried determinedly, looking back him with undeniably stupid looking defiant faces, or that's what Kageyama would wager they looked like at the very least.

"What's gotten int you all of a sudden?" Tanaka asked suddenly, eyes zeroing in on Kageyama's own unhinged expression. The second year's eyes were narrowed skeptically, as he pointed accusingly at Kageyama, closing the space between them. "You were sniveling like an introverted brat."

"I'm not introverted," Kageyama replied completely calm.

"Liar!" Tanaka cried at the very same moment Hinata burst into a fit of giggles, both boys turned to her questioningly as she held up a peace sign with her fingers.

"S-Strike t-two," she managed to get out in between giggles, waving her two fingers insistently; making it obvious she meant the number. Finally she managed to stifle her giggles, glancing at Kageyama with mirth dancing in her eyes. "T-That's strike two, Kageyama. Ruka-senpai called you introverted too, remember?"

"Hinata you idiot!" he cried loudly, for once passing up the opportunity to shake her as he made his was to his respective place on the court.

"The three of us make a surprisingly good team."

"I don't know how to time it at all," she nearly sobbed, flopping forward uselessly. That toss was way too freaking fast, she'd never truly struggled to hit a fast toss before, which was quite a feat since she had worked with her fair share of setters, but this one was proving to be in a league of its own. She was barely managing to hit a proper spike from it, averaging at about three times out of ten, but when she failed or she failed spectacularly. For the love of tamago kake gohan she had gotten herself stuck in the net that one time, and it had barely budged under her weight! How was that even physically possible?

"You've gotten is a couple times already, shouldn't you be able to copy it from that, after all the motions is basically like 'pah,' like 'gwah,'" Kageyama told her angrily, his fingers twitching as he tried to demonstrate, but Hinata was too caught up in his choice of words to really try and comprehend his overall meaning.

"The motions 'pah' and 'gwah' are completely different, which is it?" she demanded, getting just as fired up as she threw her hands up in the air in irritation, before bringing them back down as she bared her teeth at the fuming male. "Sort out your verbs before you correct me!"

"Are you sure you understand at all?" Tanaka butted it, finally getting exasperated with the exchange. Neither of the two answered, deciding to glare at each other angrily instead.

"Kageyama," Sugawara finally cut in, picking up a volleyball that was listlessly rolling on the court as he approached them. His usually soft features were set into an almost chastising expression as he talked directly to the other setter. "You're repeating what you did in junior high."

Stunned the two first years turned to him simultaneously, neither really getting what the third year setter meant.

"Um, well..." Sugawara tried to explain before trailing off awkwardly, allowing Kageyama to speak.

"Hinata has the reflexes, speed and jumping power," he said, pointing awkwardly towards her, the compliment immediately perking her up as she leaned forward to focus on the tall boy. "If she gets used to it, she can do fast attacks."

"And she is getting used to it, but Hinata's weapon, which is her speed," Sugawara started once more, taking a step forward for emphasis, "your toss is killing it, don't you think?"

Kageyama immediately straightened at that, and Hinata would have snickered at the sudden attentiveness that thrummed off him if it weren't for Sugawara's words capturing her own attention too.

"Hinata's not used to your setting pace, and her ability isn't as keenly developed as you own," Sugawara stated calmly, obviously not meaning to offend the small ginger, though the implications of his statement still made her hang her head solemnly. "But the potential she can contribute to your partnership is tops."

"Wh-What? Don't call me a genius or anything. That's an exaggeration," she said, ecstatic and flustered all at once as she halfheartedly tried to block out his would-be praise, turning away and rubbing her head sheepishly. Tanaka really didn't want to burst her bubble, especially with her adorable dimples showing, but couldn't see a good outcome if you inflated her head unnecessarily, so he decided to cut in.

"He never said that," he tried to correct, but couldn't find it in himself to repeat it when Hinata looked up at him with red dusting over her cheeks, so he decided to shut his mouth before he made it any worse.

"If you can do it," Sugawara continued, drawing her attention back to him as he struggled to find the words to explain it to Kageyama, twiddling his fingers in an attempt find the right terms. "You need to sync with Hinata's style, or her talent, or... Um..."

"Suga-san, fight!" Tanaka encouraged from the sidelines.

"You know, use them to your advantage!" he said finally managing to strike a chord within Kageyama. Hinata watched as he straightened, obviously pondering that piece of advice. To her surprise, Sugawara continued to speak, his tone becoming somewhat distant. "I'm a setter like you. I watched that match last year, and was intimidated. By your extraordinary talent, your ball control, and most of all..." Sugawara's gaze grew contemplative as his eyes soften, looking at something in his memories that they couldn't even fathom. "By your ability to calmly detect your opponent's movements, and your power to make quick decisions. I don't have any of those things."

"That's not true, Suga-san─!" Tanaka tried to interject, but Sawamura cut him off with a surprisingly soft-spoken warning.

"Tanaka. Listen to what he has to say.'

"You have technique. You have overwhelming drive to win," Sugawara continued, holding up the volleyball in Kageyama's direction in emphasis for his following words, "and you have an extraordinary awareness of your surroundings. So there's no way you can't see what your teammate is doing." To wrap up his speech, he tossed the ball into Kageyama's hands with an almost angry expression, the tell first year got caught the ball with a stunned look. Confused Hinata looked between the two of them, her brows furrowing at Kageyama's suddenly stricken express, so it made her straighten in fear as he turned to her abruptly. When Kageyama didn't speak a word she glanced back at Tanaka unsure if she needed to do something or not, only to have him shrug his shoulders with a perplexed expression.

"I," Kageyama started boldly, causing Hinata to jump and glance back at him wearily. He turned to her fully, his expression determined as he proudly proclaimed, "I envy your athletic reflexes."

"Huh?" she demanded not sure where any of this was coming from.

"But you don't use it to your full potential, and that infuriates me," he continued, looking away from her as if it emphasis is annoyance. Hinata let out another squawk of surprise, but Kageyama cut off her incoming question by pointing a finger right in her face and plowing on. "So I'm going to use all of your abilities."

"What?" Tanaka asked, perplexed in the background.

"That sounds kind of... weird," Yamaguchi murmured and a thin dusting of pink was spreading on his cheeks at the possible implication of that line, causing Tsukishima to bop him on the head gently, though there was a ticked off expression on the blond's face.

"Use your highest speed and your highest jump. I'll bring the ball to you," Kageyama told her seriously.

"Bring the ball...?" she murmured not quite following his line of thought. "What do you mean by that exactly?"

"Go to where there's no block at you max speed, and jump. Then spike with all you strength," Kageyama instructed her, still pointing directly at her. Hinata opened her mouth to ask question, but her cut her off almost immediately, "You don't have to watch my toss. You don't even have to sync with the ball."

"What?" she demanded, taken back by his unwavering, serious expression. How he could he say something like that after Sugawara had just clarified she wasn't a superhuman volleyball prodigy like him. "But if I don't watch the ball, I'll spike at air."

"Maybe so," he replied easily.

"Don't be so nonchalant about it!" she shrieked, registering in the background how Tsukishima commented that it was a wonder that she even knew a word like that. Resisting the urge to glare at the annoying,, glasses-wearing jerk she decided to focus her glare on Kageyama.

"But I want to try this," he continued after some thought, and something about his expression made Hinata freeze and reconsider, the determination in his voice being highly persuasive.

"All right," she concedes lightly with a slight nod.

"What's he going to try now?" Tsukishima asks tauntingly. "No one can spike the king's egocentric toss."

"No kidding," Yamaguchi concurs, taking on the same mocking aura as Tsukishima. Belatedly Hinata wonders if Yamaguchi is really like that or if she can pit it on Tsukishima's bad attitude rubbing off.

"I really hope this works."

Kageyama disregards the rest of the conversation as he closes his eyes, willing all of his focus to the game. He forgets about all the skeptical stares focused on his person and the commentary of players on the sidelines fade into the shadows, and he brings everything on the court into razor focus, letting out a restrained breath as he opens his eyes which remain narrowed with concentration.

"Watch," he commands inwardly himself, allowing his eyes to flicker to the ball and the players on his side of court as Sawamura's serve goes up. "Watch."

"Where are the blockers?"

"Where's the ball?"

"Where's the spiker?"

"How will they move? Where will they jump?"

"How high can she jump?"

"Now," he cries internally, the words nearly making there way out of his mouth in turn as he steps forward, directly under the ball. "This position. This timing, this angle."

Almost without his conscious consent the toss flies from his fingers with startling speed, flying directly into the range of Hinata's incoming spike. The blockers don't have time to react, the receivers can barely even move, heck he doesn't have time to drop his arms before the ball hits the court with all the psychological impact of a nuclear bomb.

"Good," Kageyama cries, making a fist of victory as he lands and Hinata freezes for the moment, watching the ball roll listlessly off the court before finally finding her voice.

"My hand," she murmurs, looking stunned as she stares at her hand with fervent fascination, before finally crying out ecstatically and drawing the attention of the entire court to her. "It hit my hand!"

"She's so over the top," Tsukishima murmurs blandly, but Kageyama is too stunned that it actually worked to even correct him.

"Oi," Sawamura's voice cuts in, the attention of everyone in the gym shifts once again, this time on their captain who's eyes seem to be permanently wide with shock as he chokes his words out. "Hinata's eyes were close just then."

"What?" is the simultaneously cry that goes up, jaws dropping in unison as they all turn to stare the short ginger who is still too lost in her euphoria to be bothered with them.

"Um.. what?" Tsukishima asks stunned, and Kageyama wants to ask the same, but Sawamura is already explaining.

"From the moment she jumped up until she spiked, Hinata had her eyes closed," Sawamura told them, his stunned expression never slackening as he continued with his explanation. "That means that Kageyama tossed it directly into Hinata's palm, when she wasn't even looking. He synced the toss to the moment she'd swing, with total accuracy."

"Hah?" Tsukishima murmured, leaning forward incredulously. Meanwhile Hinata was still riding out her high.

"Awesome! That was so awesome!" she cried, the euphoria not fading just yet as she held out her open palm to Kageyama, pink flushing over her cheeks. "Hey, what was that? Seriously I've never had a toss like that before! It hit my hand. Right then. Hey."

"Y-You!" Kageyama cried, finally breaking through his daze to point at her accusingly, effectively cutting off her happy rant. "Why did you have you eyes closed?"

"You told me not to watch the ball," she told him defensively, her smile fading as her hackles rose. Kageyama felt his shock seeping into his expression and she continued to try and clarify, stunning him with the sheer flexibility her instincts and trust seemed to have. "When my eyes are open, I can't help but watch the ball."

"I said that, but..." he trailed off, not entirely sure how to explain how otherworldly what she had done was. Hinata merely tilted her head in confusion, unsure what he was getting so worked up over.

"It worked though, right?" she asked him brightly. "What's wrong with that?"

The entire gym was watching the exchange with slack jaws.

"Sure, but who trusts anyone one hundred percent?" he demanded, not sure how he should react to such a bid of trust. No one had ever jumped with complete trust in him before, and he was sure very few setter could claim otherwise so this was just plain mind boggling. As expected from the girl who just couldn't follow expectation at all.

"Well, I have not choice but to trust you right now," she responded forcefully, as if no other solution could possibly make sense. The implication caught him off guard, her off all people, the girl he had insulted at every corner for the past week was acting as if trusting him were as natural as breathing.

For a moment he stared at her not really sure if he was hearing right at all.

"Her spring and mobility," he thought quietly to himself, watching with only mild concern as Tanaka began praising her, looking as if he was barely restraining himself from rubbing her head which in turn caused the small girl to stutter and blush, an excited smile unfolding on her lips. A natural smile tugged at his own lips at the sight, only encouraged by his current train of thought. "I can enhance them with my toss."

"All right. If Hinata's spike scores, the marks will even out," he aimed the comment at Tanaka and Hinata as he approached, the both of them looking up at him in mild shock as he spoke, which did very little to deter the dark haired setter. "Which makes it easier for Tanaka-san to spike too."

"All right!" the two admittedly simpleminded players replies in unison at his statement.

"I don't have any faith in us whatsoever," Kageyama continued dutifully, causing the two of them to deflate visibly. Ignoring that he focused his eyes on Hinata, trying to convey what a big deal this was. "But I'll keep bringing the ball to you. Just trust me, and jump."

Hinata's nod was all he needed to know they had was it would take to make it through this match with a win.

"It's just a matter of trying isn't it?"

"Gyah," she cried out in shock as the ball hit her squarely on the cheek again. Kageyama's tosses were forceful dammit, not to mention when they weren't accurate at hell they seemed to aim at her face by default. The throbbing pain originating from her the right side of her face helped mask the familiar ache of her back from her fall, and effectively dulled her senses since her mind was too occupied with the insistent pulses of pain. She didn't even both to acknowledge Kageyama's halfhearted apology.

Belated she realized that Ennoshita had made his way over to her and was offering a hand to help her up, one that she took gratefully since Tanaka seemed to scared to try and approach her, too busy panicking over her rapidly swelling cheek, and Kageyama who just seemed to off in his own little world. Clutching at her cheek she gratefully took the cleaning cloth Ennoshita offered, using it to wipe the place where she had fallen. She didn't really notice Shimizu approaching her til she had already squatted down at her level on the floor.

"Are you okay?" she asked kindly, Hinata nodded enthusiastically, hopefully keeping everyone's worry at bay. Coincidentally she glanced at Kageyama in that moment, at least hoping to see him with with a stricken and guilty expression, but was taken aback by the almost smile that had lit up his face. Anger was the unquestionably proper choice for that situation.

"What are you smiling at?" she demanded loudly, still clutching at her injured cheek as a vein pulsed on her forehead. "That's the second time it hit my face."

Deciding that that was enough theatrics for today, she decided to return the cloth to Ennoshita who took it with a reassuring nod when she apologized for disturbing, gradually registering that Shimizu had gone back to her place behind the referee. Unsure of what else to do since they couldn't continue the game just yet, seeing as Tsukishima and Sawamura were still mildly involved in a conversation she decided to round on Kageyama.

"Did you do that on purpose?" she asked him, her words coming out garbled do to the swelling. Was sarcasm that way t go with this or would he hit her? Well too late now she guessed. "Don't you know we have to win?"

"Of course I know that, dolt," he told her, storming away like the tsundere he was, causing her to narrow her eyes after him just a bit. Only to be pulled back by the insistent pain emanating from her cheek.

"We can't keep repeating this," she murmured wearily, trying to rub out the pain and silently prayed that the redness and swelling were going down. Unconsciously her gaze flickers down to her stinging palm, but this time the pain is welcomed, something she really had to find a way to thank Kageyama for without being too obvious.

"That sensation on my palm and the heft of the ball you feel on your hand," she thought fondly, feeling a smile curling on her lips and doesn't even bother to correct it as she let her fingers curl into a fist."I'm so glad I can truly appreciate the feeling once more. I want it to keep feeling like this, over and over."

Gingerly she gets into position as Yamaguchi prepares to serve, taking note of how ready Tanaka is to receive and the intense concentration that is rolling off Kageyama in waves. It's a flurry of movement as Tanaka receives, Kageyama following up by standing right beneath the ball's dropping point, belatedly she realizes that Tsukishima is saying something; probably another barbed, unnecessary remark, but takes little note of it as she speeds towards the front of the court, right in front of him.

"Yamaguchi, get over here!" the glasses wearing blond cries, obviously panicked by her sudden approach, but she doesn't pay him any heed, instead choosing to recall Kageyama's words from earlier.

"Listen if you can spike it," his words echo through her mind, and she finds herself finishing the sentence subconsciously as she pivots on her food, using it as leverage to dash towards the other side of the court. "Avoid it!"

"If I can't be as tall as other players," that's right, she'll always be handicapped in that department, but she had her speed and it was definitely nothing to sneeze at, "then by even one centimeter, one millimeter, or even one second faster."

She jumped with everything she had, metaphorically granted herself wings as she took up the position that she knew wouldn't fail her this time. This was it, this was going to be the spike that would officially signify her growth emotionally from junior high volleyball club. She would put Yukigaoka behind her and give her all to Karasuno and make it to the nationals, somehow, someway.

"I'll reach the summit," she thought, unsure of why her eyes were still screwed shut, but reveled in the feeling for just a little longer. "Then, in that very moment, I'll be at the highest place."

She opened her eyes and couldn't help but think it highly poetic and ironic how the light outside filtered through the window, giving everything an almost ethereal glow as the ball smacked down onto the court. That one focal moment filtering out Tsukishima who was almost directly in front of her, nearly reaching the ball and Sawamura who tried to receive it, but ended up sprawled on the floor instead..

"That's the view from the summit."

[A/N] Hey guys, it's finally here :)

Sorry for the late update, we've been having some problems at my house recently and coupled with my exams that just wrapped up, I kind of lost my motivation to write... Fortunately I finally found the inspiration I needed to tie up this chapter.

But enough with the melancholy~

I apologize in advance if any of you found this chapter too melodramatic, it seems my mood leaked into my writing quite bit, oh and of course for anything that seemed too OOC. On the good side you've got a decent scope of what Hinata's junior high days were like, at least enough to make an inference on prior events I suppose.

Ugh sorry I think I have so much more to say, but it's 3:00 am and I still need to proofread this so I guess I'll leave it at that for now..

[A/N (UPDATE)]

Whew, that previous author note was glooooooomy, sorry 'bout that guys exams tend to do that to me (+projects + school drama + squabbling younger cousins + pervy older cousins), but I don't want to take it down because I feel like it stands for something or other, something along those lines, the important thing is that my annoying optimism is back, so you guys will being getting updates faster.

Hm... As for chapter notes... Well this another one of those chapters that is highly based off the anime, but I how I added enough bonus scenes and insight to give it its own distinctive flare, I wanted to do one more of these chapters because soon we'll be diverging from canon in terms of presentation. This chapter was supposed to symbolize the beginning of Hinata's growth, the match to wipe the slate clean if you may and also heavily hints Hinata's early junior high experience. I tried to keep everyone as in character as possible, but I'd really appreciate if anyone pointed out anything that seemed too OOC.

Lastly, I want to thank everyone who's reviewed, favorited and followed, seriously thank you all so much and bless you all. Chapter 6 broke so many records for me that I practically cried when I saw the stats skyrocket. We overcame the 50 review barrier (I really want to apologize for not being able to reply directly to all of you, I feel like there a quite a few of you I've missed so again really sorry), trampled the 100 follows barrier and made it over 80 follows which I admit had me squealing like a schoolgirl, wait I think I am one... But anyway thanks so much again for all your support, I hope I can keep writing chapters that you'll all enjoy.

Please leave a review after reading, compliments and constructive criticism are greatly appreciated.

ps. I'm sorry for the crappy cover photo, it's self-made and done with my mediocre editing skills (the original image doesn't belong to btw)