11/17: I'm kind of sad yet glad that I made Teiko different that it actually is. As far as I know, Teiko is actually a pretty average school. It's just the basketball club that's fairly well known. Well, it's too late to change it now, and I can still use the idea for other stuff I have planned, so I'm just going to keep rolling.

Chapter 1: Stupid Rain

It was late March when Shouyou said his final goodbyes to everyone he ever knew. His worn-out sneakers splashed in the puddles on the damp pavement as the brilliant sunlight reflected off the water droplets on the budding branches and the black metal of their rented car. Why was it shining so brightly on such a sad day?

He looked at his dear friends from elementary school all giving him big grins, the old couple down the road that always gave him sweets to eat, and his aging teachers whom had put up with all his spastic antics for the past six years. His mother walked over and patted his head. "Come on, Shouyou. It's time."

He could feel the tears pricking the back of his eyes, but he refused to give in. He forced his face into a big smile and stood up straight with the box of homemade sweets that the old couple gave him in a tight grip, determined not to show his true emotions because then he'd look weak. He was almost thirteen now. He was old enough to handle this.

His little sister, Natsu, on the other hand, was only about seven years old. He knew she tried to be like him, tried to act tough for everyone, but she was smart. She knew they were leaving and that she wouldn't be able to see any of her friends for a long time. She knew, and as a little kid, she couldn't handle the emotional stress. Her tears and sobs drowned out the pretty sounds of the birds chirping above.

The delicate crystal cup that held Shouyou's near-overflowing emotions and tears clinked against hers, knowing exactly how she felt. And then, it shattered. It broke so easily and so quickly that Shouyou didn't know why he even bothered to spend all those months building it in the first place. The tears escaped first, trickling down his cheeks as his lips trembled. A shard flew away and cracked another cup, then that cup fell and cracked another, and again, and again, and again.

Like dominoes, one by one, all his friends hung their heads and started crying their eyes out just like the six-year-olds next to them. Shouyou wasn't any better. In fact, he was the worst. He wondered why the sun was still shining and wished for the rain to come back. At least then he'd have an excuse.

He felt his mother run her fingers through his wild orange hair soothingly. She didn't say anything, and Shouyou was kind of glad that she didn't. He was sure that he would revert back to a baby if she said anything. He didn't want to embarrass himself even more.

He heard the window of the car scroll down, and he knew his dad was signaling his mom to get him and Natsu to go already because, geez, he looked like a real idiot standing on the side of the road crying like he had just broken all his favorite toys. Move, legs, move! It's time to go! He really wished it would start raining. Maybe then his legs would move if only to prevent him from getting sick.

He had known they were going to be moving for months now. He'd even gotten an extra week due to some mix-up that happened. He'd prepared several days ahead, too. It had been the first time he had ever prepared for anything that wasn't on the day before.

But his legs didn't listen to him. They refused. He knew why. His brain was all ready to move on to the big city, but his heart wasn't. After months of denial, he finally admitted it.

He wasn't ready to move on.

A few weeks later, it was early April, when all the cherry blossoms were in full bloom and students overran the streets in preparation for the start of the new school year. One particular head of orange could be seen standing just outside the gates of his new school, Teiko Junior High. He tugged at his tie and light blue collar under the stark white suit.

Honestly, he didn't like how uptight this school seemed. When he put on his new favorite hoodie under the white suit top instead of wearing the required blue dress shirt that morning, his mother blew a gasket. Apparently, the dress code was strictly enforced here. Hinata sighed. Hopefully it was just the uniforms.

He shifted his bag up onto his shoulder again—the handles really weren't good at their job—and looked around. There were a lot of tables set up for the clubs, some with posters, but most of them just had piles of paper on them. He glanced at a few posters, but nothing caught his interest (he didn't just look at the pictures… honest!). He passed by a large group of girls giggling and blushing. It irked him a bit (a lot!) to find out that he was barely taller than the girls here.

As he continued on, he spotted a few groups wearing different jackets and deduced that they were the sports clubs at this school. A pang went through his heart when he remembered Izumi and Kouji and their daily squabbles over which sport was better and which team Hinata should join in junior high.

Maybe he should try soccer to figure out what Kouji was always talking about. He'll try basketball too of course, for Izumi. And maybe some other sports. He'd never had a preference for any particular sport. He just wanted to move and exert himself, to feel the adrenaline rush through his body, and to push himself to his limits and beyond. He couldn't sit in one spot for so long; his body couldn't handle the idleness. That was the main reason why he had such terrible grades.

He walked by all the sports tables, grabbing a sheet from each and signing himself up with a note saying "test" on all of them. In hindsight, he should've put down something more like "trial" so that the people who read his applications didn't all tilt their heads in confusion. But, Hinata Shouyou was a creature of instincts and abysmal grades. It wasn't likely he even knew the word.

When he approached the volleyball table, he saw something that amazed him and annoyed him to no end. Surrounded by members from various sports clubs and a head taller than them all was a guy with lavender hair that could only be described as giant. Oh, how Hinata wished he were that tall. It must feel amazing to be able to look down on other people instead of up. Down here, he always had to watch out for other people or else he'd get knocked down and trampled.

The giant looked at all the sports club members with a bored expression. His eyes caught onto the bright dot of orange that was Hinata's hair, and Hinata had to suppress a shiver. As much as he admired tall people, they scared him, too. He ducked behind the crowd of people to avoid the tall boy's gaze and quickly went on his way with his bag gripped in his shivering hands. He can sign up for volleyball later.

After he made sure the giant behind him wasn't looking for him, Hinata redirected his eyes to see where he was walking. The first thing he saw was the Teiko emblem on someone's uniform. The next thing to happen was a blur even to him. His body spun and twisted to avoid collision, and he somehow ended up behind the person with his bag falling from the sky and into his hands. It took a moment for his mind to catch up with his body, but he eventually regained enough sense to splutter an apology to the cat-eyed redhead he nearly bumped into. The taller boy raised his hand to stop Hinata's blabbering. "I'm fine, really."

"Y-you sure? I didn't hit you by mistake or anything, right? Maybe you just can't feel it right now?"

Before the redhead could respond, Hinata jumped. "Oh no! I totally forgot I was supposed to go see the teacher before class!"

He apologized again before running off, never giving the other boy a chance to ask his name.

He found the administrative office easy enough, but his teacher wasn't there, so he went on a wild goose chase for a while looking for her. Once he found her, she told him that he had to go back to the administrative office to get his schedule. Hinata grabbed his head. Why hadn't he thought to ask first?

He ran back to the office and got his schedule with a brief scolding from a balding teacher about running in the school. He knew he was close to running late now since there wasn't anyone in the hallways anymore. Class 1-5. That had to be the first floor, right? Dang it, this was confusing! His elementary school only had one floor.

Despite the teacher's warning, Hinata ran to his classroom, skidded past it, ran back, and then jumped through the door just as the bell rang. He swiped his arms in front of him. "Safe!"

"Eh-hem."

Hinata stilled at the voice behind him. He shakily cranked his head to see his teacher tapping her clipboard on her shoulder, clearly unamused. She stared down at him, "You're supposed to be in your seat when the bell rings."

Hinata's heart was slowly sinking.

"But, technically, you're not late."

Hinata's face lit up.

"Go take a seat so that I can start class."

"Yes, ma'am!" Hinata saluted her, earning a few chuckles from his new classmates, and turned to find a seat. Immediately, he noticed the purple-haired giant from earlier sitting in the farthest window seat and, much more sadly, the only empty seat left next to him. Hinata hesitated, but a stern verbal shove from the teacher got him going. Still, he cautiously approached the giant, using the other row of desks like a wall as he shimmied to his seat. His eyes never left that head of purple, not even when he sat down.

He was sure the giant knew he was being stared at, and he was right because the taller boy locked his violet eyes with Hinata's big brown ones. A shiver ran through Hinata's body, and he hurriedly looked for the closest person he could hide behind, but they were in class, everyone in their seats, so he had no one he could use. Instead, he nervously raised his hand in a shaky wave. "H-hey."

The giant blinked, slow and jaded, and then he redirected his attention to the teacher, who had just begun roll call. Hinata put his hand down with the tiniest bit of annoyance. As scared as he was of tall people, he hated being ignored even more.

Class started. Hinata tried to concentrate and take notes like a good student. Honestly, he did. He really tried. But, he just wasn't born to sit still for long periods of time unless it involved sleeping. He needed something to do. It started with shaking his leg, then twirling his pencil, and then tapping his fingers on the desk. He settled with doodling in his notebook, foregoing grades because he just couldn't concentrate even if he tried. Maybe later in the year, but not now.

At some point, Giant-san took out a bag of potato chips and started munching on them during class. It didn't look like the teacher cared too much, though she did send a hard glare his way at a particularly loud crunch. For Hinata, the sounds were unbearable. He had finally managed to control his insatiable desire to move, but the crunches and crackles of the chips and plastic bag were really getting on his nerve. He couldn't even go to sleep. Finally, Hinata snapped.

He slammed his hands onto his desk and stood up. "Would you stop that?! I already can't concentrate, and you're just making it worse! I can't even sleep! And I finally found a good spot, too! Why are you even eating in class anyway?!"

"Eh-hem!"

Hinata stopped his shouts.

"Hinata, hallway."

"Eh?! But what about him?!"

"Hinata. Hall. Way."

"Yes, ma'am," Hinata sighed dejectedly and left the room.

"I can't believe I got in trouble on the first day," Hinata muttered and changed his grip on the buckets he was holding. He was surprised a high-end school like Teiko still did the bucket punishment. He pouted. "This is all his fault. Stupid giant."

As Hinata was muttering to himself, a tall blunet with nicely tanned skin walked by, sipping on a juice box. The tall boy looked at the orange-haired shrimp grumbling to himself while holding two buckets filled with water. He blinked at the odd sight, and when Shrimpy look up at him with big chocolate-brown eyes, he spat his banana milk in his face and laughed. "Woah! You managed to get in trouble before me! HA! You must be a real idiot!"

"Hey! Don't call me an idiot, idiot!"

"An idiot who can't use anything but idiot as an insult! So this is a true idiot!"

"What does that say about you?!"

"HAHAHAHAHA! Seriously! It isn't even lunch break yet!"

"Shut up! It's that stupid giant's fault! And you got my uniform dirty!"

The tanned boy continued to laugh while Hinata gritted his teeth and growled at him. The door to the classroom slammed open, making Hinata stand rigid in fear. The taller boy in front of him continued laughing obnoxiously loud. Hinata hissed for him to stop, but it was too late. His teacher stood at the open door with a menacing aura and a haunting glare that made Hinata shrink behind his offender.

"You two!"

The two boys jumped in their skins.

"Since you're having such a good time together, you can serve your punishment together, too."

She left them both standing in the hallway next to Class 1-5, each holding two buckets filled to the brim with newly-added clean water. "Spill one drop and I'm extending your time."

Hinata could feel the burn in his arms now. He had already been holding half-filled buckets for about half an hour before that blue-haired idiot came by. He really didn't need any more of this. Said idiot noticed the subtle shaking of Hinata's arms and smirked. "So the idiot's not only stupid but weak too."

Hinata jerked in his spot, really wanting to give a good punch to the jerk's sneering face, but then he remembered the extra amount of water he was carrying. He quietly seethed in his spot, but he decided to give the bluenet a grin along with a mean look, hoping that the other boy could sense all the irritation Hinata was sending him. "I've been doing this longer than you, jerk, so I already won."

He saw the taller boy's eye twitch. "This doesn't count at all. No way a shrimp like you could beat me in anything."

Hinata shifted to face him with a tic mark on his forehead. "Don't call me a shrimp!"

"Would you prefer squirt, midget, bug? Oh, how about Chibi-chan?"

"Stop giving me weird names, ganguro!"

"Ganguro?! At least I'm not as pale as a baby! You even have the baby face to go with it!"

"I'm not pale at all! Get your eyes checked, you stupid-"

The door slammed open. The teacher poked her head out to look at them, her pretty face marred with straining veins. "Don't make me keep you after lunch break, too!"

She slammed the door shut with even more force, causing the two boys to flinch slightly. They didn't say anything for a while, making sure the teacher wouldn't suddenly come back to check on them unsuspectingly. When they deemed it safe, they returned to glaring at each other. The bluenet frowned at the shorter boy. "This is your fault."

"Hah?!"

He brought his face down and hissed, "Ssssshh! Quiet!"

Hinata immediately shut his mouth. They glanced toward the door and waited. After heart-wrenching minutes of staring at the closed door with held breaths, they both sighed in relief when the door stayed closed. Hinata huffed. "This is your fault. You ruined my uniform. You owe me."

"Huh? No way."

"You do!" Hinata hissed.

"Do not."

"Yes, you do!"

"I do not. Just go home and wash it."

"If I go home with this, my mom will freak."

"Well, she's your mom. I have nothing to do with it."

"You ruined it in the first place!"

The bell signaling the lunch hour rang. Students scurried out of the classrooms to explore or look for their friends. The tanned boy put down the buckets and started walking away, but Hinata wasn't done with their conversation just yet. "Hey!"

The boy turned. Hinata put down his buckets too, ignoring the stares of the few students passing by who turned their heads at his shout. He locked his brown eyes with deep blue ones. "You're going to pay me back for ruining my uniform."

Something shined in those blue depths as their owner grinned a feral grin. "Is that a challenge?"

Hinata smirked and pointed at him with his eyes glowing with determination. "I'm going to win."

The grin broadened. "Bring it!"

The teacher stepped in then. She crossed her arms, but she didn't look too mad at them this time. "Yes, yes. You boys can settle whatever this is after school. Aomine, I already informed your homeroom teacher about this recent mishap, so you can go back to your classroom now. Don't let me catch you making trouble again."

Aomine bowed with a quick thank you before he hurriedly walked back to his classroom. The teacher turned to Hinata next. She nudged her glasses up a bit "Hinata, I'm sure your mother discussed with you how rigorous this school is. We do not stand for failure."

"Y-yes, ma'am!"

"I understand that you just recently moved here from the Miyagi prefecture, so you might not be used to how things work here in Tokyo just yet. However, I shouldn't need to remind you that if you fail to meet our standards, dire consequences will follow."

"Yes, ma'am."

"If you fail to pass the aptitude test next week with a reasonable score in each subject, you will be taken off any clubs you have joined. That includes sports clubs."

Hearing that part made Hinata's heart take a ten-story skydive...

"We make no exceptions for first-years. If you fail the first test, supplementary courses will be added to your schedule for one month. A letter will also be sent home to inform your parents."

...with no parachute…

"At the end of that month, you will be given a test on whichever subjects you didn't get a passing score on."

...head-first…

"Failure to comply will result in your expulsion from Teiko."

"...yes, ma'am." Aaaaand touchdown. He was officially dead. Hinata stared at the ground right before her glossy heels because he couldn't even look at her feet let alone her face. He really should have read the packet Teiko had sent him no matter how big it was.

"I'll expect more from you from now on. You can find me later for the notes you missed."

The shoes disappeared from the top of his view and clicked away with steady footsteps. Hinata stood there for a while longer, ignoring the few students who yelled at him to get out of the middle of the hallway and the others who looked at him with pity in their eyes. He stood there with his fists clenched, thinking back and vainly asking himself why. Why did he have to get lectured? Why did he have to come to Teiko? Why did he have to leave Miyagi?

The second half of class went by without any trouble. Hinata, for once in his life, sat in his seat without feeling the need to run around or jump or sleep or anything. The tip of the mechanical pencil in his slack hand rested against a half-filled page in his notebook, but Hinata had stopped listening to the lesson a while ago.

He kept thinking about his old home and everything he had left behind. He kept reminiscing those good times he had with all his friends, especially his two best friends. They had even wanted to go to the same junior high. He remembered all the goals he had back then upon entering junior high and the plans he had made with Kouji and Izumi. He had hoped that if he joined the basketball and soccer clubs, he'd be able to meet them again. Now, those hopes seemed empty.

He tightened his grip on his pencil. No. What he was doing now was giving up. He couldn't give up. What would they think of him if they saw him now? He just needed to pass this test, right? Right! Couldn't be too difficult. He'll just study a lot, and then he can play on the sports teams and reunite with Izumi and Kouji! He banged his fists onto his desk with renewed spirit. "Right!"

"Eh-hem."

Hinata was suddenly reminded just where he was. He grinned sheepishly at the teacher, thanking the heavens that she didn't do anything but humph at him. He quietly went back to taking notes, resolving to get the ones he missed from his classmates later.

Once the school bell rang to announce the end of the school day, Hinata bolted out of the classroom, too excited to try out for the teams to dawdle in the classroom. Which one should he try first? Maybe soccer. Kouji was always going on and on about all the cool moves he saw on television and how he was practicing hard to do it just like the pros. Although, Hinata wasn't too keen on a sport that banned the use of his hands.

While he was changing his shoes, the cat-eyed redhead he nearly ran into that morning approached him. "Excuse me."

Hinata looked up. Despite the fact that the redhead was shorter than the others around them, Hinata was even shorter than him by a few inches. The boy smiled. "My name is Akashi Seijuro. We met briefly this morning."

"Hinata Shouyou," Hinata bowed slightly. This person had that kind of aura that demanded respect. It wasn't like his teacher, who always became extremely scary and frightened Hinata into listening to her, though he would have listened to her regardless because she was his teacher. Akashi's aura didn't induce that feeling of fear. It was more like… reverence.

"Hinata-san—"

"Oh! Just Hinata is fine."

"Hinata, then," Akashi started again. "What club do you plan to join?"

"Sports!" Hinata answered immediately. "Mostly soccer and basketball! But I wanna try the others, too!"

Akashi blinked. He had expected to hear basketball, considering their run-in that morning, and maybe even American football. He certainly hadn't expected the boy to say every sports club offered at Teiko. He supposed that was okay since Teiko allowed one to join multiple clubs so long as they did well in all of them and kept up their studies. "I see. Do you want to walk to the gym together? I'm planning to try out for the basketball team."

"Sure!" Hinata jumped at the opportunity. He had spent his entire lunch period sulking and barely ate a thing, so he hadn't had the chance to make any friends yet. Normally, he was the one who approached people. It was kind of nice being the one to be asked this time.

"So Akashi-san, what class are you in?" Hinata walked out the door with a little skip to his step.

Akashi followed at a more moderate pace, "Class 1-1."

"Eh?! But, that's the really advanced class, isn't it? You must be really smart!" The class divisions had been on the first page of the packet. Never let it be said that Hinata never tried.

"Hmm, I guess."

"Wow. I'm in Class 1-5. I sit next to this really tall guy. He's, like, six feet tall! Totally huuuuge! And this is middle school! Insane, right?!"

Akashi just smiled and nodded, but he kept his eyes on Hinata to show that he was paying attention. Hinata continued, "He kept eating during class. I didn't even know half the stuff he brought out, but they were all snacks. Even for lunch he had a bunch of plastic bags and wrappers all over his desk. Thinking about it now makes me hungry. I didn't eat much of my lunch today."

"Why not?"

"Ehhh…" Hinata hesitated. "I, uh, wasn't in the mood."

Akashi just hummed, though it didn't look like he believed him at all. He changed the topic. "What happened to your uniform?"

"Ah! Is it that noticeable?!" Hinata pulled at his white jacket, trying to find the faint yellow stains.

"Stupid ganguro," Hinata muttered. Akashi heard the comment but didn't say anything. He opened the door to the gym. There were only a few people warming up since they were fairly early. Once they checked in with the coach, they headed for the locker rooms. When they walked in, Hinata stopped suddenly. He jutted his pointer finger at a tall tanned boy, who had just finished changing his shirt, and screamed, "It's you!"

Said boy looked up and went through the same motions Hinata just did. "Ah! It's Chibi-chan!"

Hinata had always been self-conscious of his height. That was why he spent all his free time improving his leg muscles to accommodate for it. So now, he had a comeback ready, and if he decided to join basketball or any other sport that focused a lot on height, his opponents and his teammates would do well to remember it. "I may be small, but I can jump!"

"You can jump, huh?" The blunet didn't look the least impressed, but his eyes lit up at the prospect of a challenge even if his opponent was small, "I got worried when I realized you didn't say what you challenged me to. I didn't expect you to join the basketball club, but it all worked out."

"I've only played basketball a few times before, but that's more than enough to take you down."

Aomine gave him a small wave as he walked by. "Hah! I look forward to seeing you try. See you on the court, squirt."

On the basketball court, Hinata gaped at the amount of people that came to try out. Sadly, he was still the shortest, but at least he didn't look as short when he stood next to Akashi. Akashi saw his wide eyes and explained, "Teiko is known as an all-around good school, but it's basketball club is the best of the best."

"That's awesome! Just look at all the people!" Hinata scanned the mass of people. This was one of those times when he wished he was taller so that he could see just how many people were really there. Speaking of tall people, he spotted Giant-san on the other side of the court. He couldn't mistake that huge body and purple hair anywhere.

"Yo, Chibi-chan!"

"Stop calling me that!"

Aomine just laughed. "Hey, I heard that no one gets onto the first string when they first try out, so how about it? Whoever gets onto the first string first, wins."

Hinata grinned. "You're on! But first, I wanna know your name."

"Oh, that's right. We didn't do that yet, huh? My name's Aomine Daiki. You?"

"Hinata Shouyou."

"Hinata," Aomine muttered. He started laughing suddenly. "It totally fits your hair!"

"Hey! That's an insult, isn't it?! You just insulted me!"

Before he could really start ranting, the coach blew his whistle. After a quick introduction and some formalities, the coaches divided all the students into groups and then directed them to doing several drills to test their abilities. First up was shooting practice. Each of them were to take five shots from five specific spots on the court.

Hinata had played basketball only during gym class or when Izumi needed someone to practice with. Other than that, he didn't have much experience at all, so it really didn't surprise him when all his shots missed or rebounded. He was still annoyed though.

Akashi went after him. Hinata watched the ball leave the redhead's hands and make a clean swish into the hoop. Akashi did it with such ease, too. Hinata watched the other four shots land in the hoop one after the other, a nice swish with every one. Two of the balls hit the rim, but they still went in. When Akashi was done, Hinata bounded over to him. "That was awesome! They all went woosh, and then fooph or bam! Hey, hey, can you teach me how to do that?"

Akashi gave him a small smile just to be nice. "I'm sure you can do it without my help."

Aomine walked over when he was done with his round―he missed the last one from the 3-point line―with his unnecessary but totally necessary comment, "A guy like him isn't going to help a dunce like you. You missed all five shots."

"Shut up! I'll get better! You'll see!"

"Sure, sure. I still win this round!"

"What?! We weren't even competing!"

Why couldn't they have been farther apart when the coaches assigned groups?

The next drill was a stamina test. Hinata and Aomine deliberately picked spots next to each other to make sure that neither of them cheated. They did jumping jacks, push-ups, stretches, and much more. Aomine's breathing started getting labored on their fifth set of jumping jacks, but Hinata was just getting started. At the end, Aomine had a noticeable layer of sweat on his forehead, but Hinata was still bouncing with energy.

Hinata smiled at him. "I win this time."

Aomine just growled a bit.

Next up: running laps. Basically, how many laps around the gym can you run in five minutes?

Hinata had a rough start with this one, being pushed around at the starting line―darn his short stature―but he caught up to Aomine, who was the leader of the pack, soon enough. The two shared a look and increased their speed. Everything around them became a blur. The only thing that mattered to them was beating the other. The other students had to run against the walls lest they be mowed down by the crazy duo constantly passing them. By the time the coach blew the whistle, Aomine and Hinata were both dripping with sweat and panting like hyenas.

"A… tie…!" Aomine gasped out between taking big breaths. Hinata grunted and nodded his agreement, also having trouble getting enough air into his lungs.

The rest of the tests continued in this pattern. Aomine would win one, Hinata would win the next one, and then they would tie on the third one. Unfortunately for them, the number of trials was divisible by three.

It was finally time to announce their placements. The third string members were all grouped together by the third string coach. The second string members went to stand by the coach calling their placements. It made Hinata kind of nervous when he didn't hear his name. There were still a lot of people left.

"I will now announce the first string."

Hinata straightened his back and tensed even more as the names were being called.

"Number 8, Aomine Daiki." The tanned jerk sent a mocking smirk at Hinata as he walked over to the coach.

"Number 11, Midorima Shintaro; Number 23, Murasakibara Atsushi." Ah, it's that tall guy in his class!

"Number 29, Akashi Seijuro." Hinata brightened and sent Akashi an excited smile, and then…

"Number 30, Hinata Shouyou."

Hinata couldn't believe his ears. The coach continued to say a few words, but Hinata wasn't listening anymore. He vaguely heard Aomine's voice shouting that he had won their competition, but it wasn't until he heard Akashi congratulating him that he realized he actually did it. He made it onto the first string! That meant he could play in games. He was one step closer to reuniting with his friends from Miyagi. And then, Aomine ruined his good mood, "I win! I got onto the first string first!"

A tic appeared on Hinata's forehead. "Hey! I made it, too!"

"But my name was called first, so I win."

"I don't accept that!" Hinata's stomach growled then. He crumbled to the floor holding his stomach. "I'm so hungry. I really should've eaten my lunch."

Past the loud voices of the crowd, Hinata's ears picked up a noise he became very familiar with over the school day. His head shot up and looked around for a tall head of purple hair. Lo and behold, the purple-haired member of the first string stood towering over Hinata's small form, eating from a bag of flavored pretzel sticks.

Murasakibara caught Hinata's sparkling eyes staring at his pretzel sticks and looked between the two. He thought Hinata's staring was a bit creepy. It made him want to crush Hinata's tiny head, but the longer he looked at him, the more he thought the small ginger looked like a tiny gerbil begging for food. As much as he loved his snacks, Murasakibara felt inclined to feed him. He picked up the next stick by the tip, crouched down and held it out. Hinata took the bait and bit it without even taking it from his hands.

Aomine snickered next to them. "Are you a dog? Nah, you look more like a tiny rabbit."

The coach with the sunken cheeks clapped his hands to get their attention. "Maybe you've already heard, but we don't usually pick first string players from this test. So, consider yourselves special. I have high hopes for all of you."

In the locker rooms after a briefing from the coach, Hinata once again challenged Aomine, saying that their competition wasn't over yet. He also went around greeting the other two new first string members.

The carrot top named Midorima gave him a bottle of hand cream after he asked Hinata when his birthday was. He also said something about one day off and being last in luck, but Hinata didn't understand any of that. After that, Midorima left. Akashi followed suit, saying something about family business. Shame; Hinata wanted to walk home with him.

The other one was Murasakibara. Hinata had trouble saying his name, or actually he just thought it was too long and too much of a bother to say all the time. When he thanked Murasakibara for the food, the ginger was only stared at by bored violet eyes. Hinata instinctively hide behind the closest person, who happened to be Aomine, and shakily challenged the giant's stare. "Y-you wanna fight?"

Murasakibara stood up, making Hinata duck behind Aomine. Considering the difference in height, it was no wonder Hinata was cowering in fear. Even Aomine was a little intimidated. "Hey, hey. He was just kidding. Tell him, Chibi."

"Y-yeah!" Hinata nervously peeked his head out to look at Murasakibara's looming figure. He expected to be punched, kicked, and just plain beat up because it had to be so easy for those big hands to crush his small body like an it was an ant, and he silently apologized to Aomine for getting him involved. The last thing he expected was to be poked in the cheek. "Huh?"

He swatted the finger away when it continuously prodded his cheek. "What are you doing? Stop that."

Murasakibara ignored him and continued his annoying… whatever he was doing. Aomine stood by and watched the scene with a hand over his mouth, making it seem like he was trying to hide his mocking laughter when he really wasn't.

"Shut up, ganguro!" Hinata yelled. He tried to bite Murasakibara's finger the next time it tried to poke him, which ended up making Aomine laugh harder. Instead of going for another poke, Murasakibara put his hand on top of Hinata's head and ruffled his already messy hair. The small ginger was only stopped from jumping onto the giant in rage by someone's shout, "Hey, it's raining!"

Hinata, as well as everyone else in the locker room, looked out the windows to see the glass already covered in water droplets. There hadn't been any sign that a storm was coming, so a lot of people didn't have an umbrella or anything. Those unfortunate students looked up at the already grey sky with disdain. Hinata, thankfully, was not one of them. He took out the pink umbrella his mother thoughtfully packed for him, though he would've liked it in a different color.

Aomine refused to share Hinata's umbrella, stating that it would've felt like he'd lost if he'd accepted, so he ran out into the pouring rain with his bag over his head. That left Hinata standing next to Murasakibara in the doorway. Should he offer? He probably should, but his mind kept picturing himself next to an exaggerated Murasakibara holding a leaf-like umbrella.

'Totoro?!' He was broken out of his thoughts when he heard a sigh next to him. Murasakibara grunted at the rain, and then he looked at Hinata holding the unopened umbrella in his small hands. Hinata followed his gaze and opened the umbrella, saying to him, "Do you wanna walk home together? Oh, you'll have to hold the umbrella, though. And, uh, I don't know where you live, so we'll probably have to—huh?"

He stopped talking when he was suddenly lifted up by his waist. He almost dropped the umbrella in his surprise when he noticed the ground getting farther away. He did flail a little when he realized how easily he was picked up. Murasakibara ignored his thrashing and placed him on his shoulders. "There. Now, you can hold it, and I can eat my snacks without them getting wet."

He said it so simply that it almost made Hinata want to hit him, and it was totally possible since Hinata had Murasakibara's head against his stomach, but Hinata was too caught up in the sights to care. The view was amazing, if a little scary. He was at least seven feet above the ground now. It almost felt like he was flying, but he knew he could very easily fall. It startled him when Murasakibara took the first step.

"Woah! Wait! Hold on!" Hinata flailed his arms and grabbed onto the only thing he could with his free hand: Murasakibara's hair. The giant stopped when Hinata pulled to regain his balance. He directed his eyes to look at Hinata, even though he couldn't really see him behind his head, and said, "Don't pull my hair. That hurt."

"Sorry! I'm really sorry!" Hinata bowed his head as best he could, but he highly doubted Murasakibara could see him. Still, he continued. He only stopped when Murasakibara told him to. "Stop moving. If you fall, my chips will get wet."

The ginger apologized again. He steadied himself by putting most of his weight onto Murasakibara's head. "Okay, good to go."

No matter how long they walked, Hinata never got used to the new view. It was a wondrous experience for him seeing things from a different perspective. The pavement was so far away now, and the walls in the neighborhood they were walking through seemed so short compared to this morning. He had never wondered what the top of those walls looked like before, but he was glad he got this chance to see it. It was plain; just a thick white line with pots of flowers on top or other items in some spots, but it made Hinata's heart shiver with excitement. "This is so cool! So this is what tall people see all the time?"

When he didn't get a response, he looked down. "Hey, you're really lucky, you know? I've only just passed 150 centimeters, so I'm always looking up at people, especially at school, but you don't have that problem. Must be nice."

Murasakibara just grunted and continued to eat. Hinata continued his one-sided conversation, "Anyway, I'm glad we live close to each other. I'm just assuming that because you're walking the same way I came to school. Oh, but I live farther up that hill, so maybe we don't live that close after all. I take a left here, or was it a right?"

Murasakibara took a right turn. Hinata looked around. "I don't remember this place. Maybe it was left after all. Hey, can you go back?"

Murasakibara kept walking.

"Hey!" Hinata pouted a bit at being ignored. Murasakibara took out a box of pocky from his bag before he said something, "My house is this way."

"Oh. Yeah, I guess it would be better if we went to your house first since this is my umbrella."

So, that's what they did. When they got there, however, instead of setting Hinata down on the ground outside, Murasakibara carried him into the house with him. Hinata was too busy trying to figure out what the giant was doing to really struggle against him, not like he could've broken out of his hold if he tried. Not fair, he absently thought, the guy was tall and strong.

And then, Murasakibara held him out to who Hinata assumed was his mother and said, "Can we keep him?"

"HAH?!" Hinata and Murasakibara's mother both screamed.

"H-hold on, Atsushi. You can't just pick up a child and bring him home. His parents must be looking for him."

"U-um," Hinata raised his hand, "Actually, I'm a first-year in middle school. We're in the same class. Also, can you put me down, Murasakibara? My ribs are starting to hurt."

"You're in middle school?! I'm so sorry. You're just so small."

Hinata looked away sadly. He wasn't that small, was he? This was just a family of monsters, honestly! Even Murasakibara's mother was freakishly tall. She nearly passed her son in height. "Atsushi! Put the poor kid down."

"Ehh? But I wanna keep it."

"What am I, a lost pet?!"

After a short argument between Murasakibara—with Hinata still in his clutches—and his mother, Hinata was allowed to leave when his classmate was sent to his room.

Hinata walked through the downpour feeling immensely tired, too tired for it to just be the first day of school. "I'm way too tired. I didn't even walk all the way here and I'm so tired. Too much happened today… But, it wasn't bad."

He tilted the umbrella just a little bit so that he could look at the darkening sky. The rain slammed against the pavement in sheets, soaking Hinata's shoes with their stray droplets. He was reminded of the day he had left his home in the Miyagi prefecture, when he had desperately wished it had rained so that their move was delayed even if by only a day. He remembered being immensely sad that day. Rain would have been perfect.

Now, though, there was no reason for it to rain. Hinata was actually pretty happy with how the day went, despite its poor start. The latter half of the day made up for it, in his opinion. He got to meet a bunch of new people—his new teammates, he thought excitedly. It was a great start to his new life, and he was skittish for tomorrow. Maybe living here wouldn't be so bad.

Thunder roared through the air as the clouds decided they wanted to drown him with pellets of rain. Hinata ran for cover under the hanger of someone's doorway. That was scary. It was almost like the weather responded to his thoughts. Nah, he was just overthinking. Kouji had always told him that he shouldn't overthink things because that'd just fry his brain. But if, perhaps, it really did respond to him, why did the weather make it seem like he had just signed his own death warrant?

When the rain was a little lighter, Hinata bolted from his cover, though it was a little tough with an open umbrella. He floored it, wanting to get home before the storm decided to read his mind again and come back full force.

As he ran, he couldn't stop himself from smiling. He didn't understand why, but he was really happy for some reason. At last, he arrived home in one piece. Before he went in, he turned and took one last look at the dull, grey scenery that was the storm's way of trying to dampen his mood. He snickered at the unintended pun. "Stupid rain."

"Shouyou! What happened to your uniform?!"

"Ack!"

Here's my trashcan of ideas that somehow became a somewhat coherent story. 7.5k words for chapter one. Ew.

I'll admit right now that I don't know much about KnB, so the characters will be slightly off. My excuse is that they're all in their first year of middle school, aka 12-13 years old (Japanese schooling system), so they're still children.

There will be absolutely no pairings of a romantic sense in this story. You are free to your interpretations though, and nothing explicit will be said to deny or confirm anything.