chapter six

The spring tournament was coming up, and Aiko was beyond stressed. Now it may seem like she was always cheerful, but Aiko was extremely competitive. And to make matters worse, as a second-year Captain, she felt the need to prove herself worthy to the remaining third years, to have the respect she needed.

"Aiko practice is over, you should go home!" The coach had been pestering Aiko to go home now for a while, "the sun is setting, and I don't want you to be here alone at night!"

The young captain simply stopped dribbling the ball and stared at her coach. Her teal eyes bore into the Coaches' chocolate brown ones.

"Then I will ask someone from the volleyball team to walk with me, they have late practice today." the sharpness in her tone was clear, but she quickly straightened her back and wished their coach goodnight. What a strange girl...

[AN: if I write in italics, it means that its someone's thoughts,]

By this time, the sun had gone down, and Aiko had only the sports field lights to help her see.

She ran around cones, and then after the last one, she swiftly kicked the ball into the corner of the net. Aiko did this several times before being satisfied, then she rearranged the cones for a new drill.

She would dribble the ball, while delicately weaving around the spaced-out cones. It was around 7:00 pm now, and she knew her grandfather was staying late with a few Volleyball boys to work on moves.

"Aiko! What are you doing here so late?!" It was her grandfather. She ignored him and kept slamming the ball into the back of the net. She had arranged a line on soccer balls around a quarter down the field, and she was just going down the line. One by one each ball was elegantly kicked into the top corners of the goal.

Kuroo, Kenma, and Lev were with their coach at the time. They watched as the old man fumed at the sight of her ignoring him like that. All three boys stepped back words, silently afraid he might explode, "Aiko Nekomata! You better get over here right now or else!" but the Teal eyes that shifted towards him nocked him back a step.

She had eyes like a cat, analyzing everything, but at this moment there was no sparkle. It could have been the lack of light, but he knew better. She was just very focused.

The boys behind him were taken back by the stillness in the air. No one moved, Kuroo wasn't even sure if he was even breathing, what the heck? What's with that stare?!

Kenma had stopped playing his game. for some reason this girl, the one everybody adored, had made even him freeze in his place.

"I have to keep practicing though. I can walk home on my own," Aiko broke the stare and looked at her feet, I won't lose! I will be the best, we will be the best! I can't lose...

"Kuroo, do you mind watching her for a little while? I have a faculty meeting. And i.. Don't want her to get hurt," the last part was barely audible, but it was enough to leave all three of the boys shocked.

Their coach had never backed down, ever, and now... he was just going to walk away? Nekomata's eyes shifted to the ground, and he walked back to the school building.

Lev had been surprisingly quiet the whole time, but this was because he admired his upperclassman so much. He was always amazed by Aiko, so he did not want to upset her.

[TIME SKIP]

Lev had walked home shortly after their coach left, and Kenma had decided to stay with Kuroo. Kenma had a game he was playing while Kuroo was mostly just watching the girl play.

"Aiko! I think it's time to head home!" Kuroo stood up and grabbed his bag, it was now almost 8:00 and it was pitch black outside because it was spring.

She had been running laps around the field for a while now, maybe six or seven laps?

Aiko tripped at the sound of his voice, she had forgotten they were there and ended up twisting her ankle in the process.

She wanted to keep going, but in the pain, her foot was feeling, she didn't think she could.

"Alright, I will be right there!" Her voice lacked her usual glee, and Kenma had noticed the strained voice she had used.

After getting her changed in the locker room, she limped out to where the two boys were waiting.

"Thanks for walking me home!" Aiko tried very hard to smile but the throbbing in her foot made it very difficult. She walked a bit toward the doorstep of her grandfather's house before Kuroo commented,

"Well, I had fun watching you practice. you fell a bit at the end there, you okay?" She tensed at the mention of the fall, and turned to Kuroo and responded with,

"Of course I'm ok! I fall all the time you know? Suzuki-chan always tells me that I'm clumsy!" she laughed a bit to cover up the obvious pain she was in.

The young girl turned and waved again before stumbling inside.

"She is in pain," Kenma whispered before drifting his eyes back to his game.

[time skip! Next day at school]

When Aiko woke up, there was the nostalgic sound of pittering rain, coming from her window. Slowly she sat up, yawned, and reached for the curtain hanging over the large window on the wall above her bed.

The rain was very one of Aiko's favorite things, when she was a child, she would run outside a sit down in puddles. She would play in the rain until her mother would have to come to take her inside and plop her in a warm bath. Mom, I miss you...

Aiko had worn knee-high socks to school today. After she had gotten home last night, there was a huge bruise resting on her ankle, she tried to cover it with makeup, but she was just going to have to deal with the itchy socks for the day.

"Aiko-san, why are you wearing socks? You never were those," Her classmate asked, tilting her head a bit, "oh! I finally found some comfortable ones!" Aiko stumbled to find an excuse, she really had not thought this through. Oops. She would often complain to her classmates about the uncomfortable uniform.

Multiple times during the day, Aiko would limp, and trip. After lunch, she had taken a hard tumble down the stairs and landed painfully on her foot.

"Aiko! Are you ok?" Suzuki asked, staring in horror at her best friend's twisted face.

"...Y-yep I'm fine!" The bell wrang symbolizing the end of their lunch break, and after helping her friend to her feet, Suzuki left her crippled friend to find her class.

"Jeez... this sucks," Aiko muttered, slowly limped to the nurse's office for some ice.

The nurse had made me show her my ankle and she had visibly cringed at the black, green, and purple splotches painting the skin.

"Oh dear, what happened?" The kind old woman set to work, gathering her bandages and an ice pack,

"I overworked myself again" a long sigh escaped the nurses' lips, Aiko had known the woman for a long time, she was great friends with her grandfather and would come to visit often.

"Oh dear," another sigh, "this one looks bad Aiko! If you do this again, it could ruin your carrier! You are lucky it wasn't as bad as it could have been!"

[AN: supper sorry I had to cut this short! I had some family issues this week and was feeling a little down, SUPER sorry I didn't update when I said I would! I hope you enjoyed it!]

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-Jinx