A/N: I watched a single episode of Haikyuu and now I'm hooked LOL. two season's worth of episodes killed in less than a week.

In the afternoon, the freestyle events were all that was left for the first day. Rin was trying to pass off his cool exterior, but Sakura knew that he was anxious for his race against Haruka. The Samezuka team was sitting outside beneath a tree, enjoying a nice picnic to commemorate their wins so far.

"You'll get 'em next year, Nitori-kun!" Momo was encouraging his saddened upperclassman, patting the boy on the back while enjoying a sandwich. "But we'll definitely destroy them tomorrow!"

Sakura's confidence was bursting, but she knew not to let it be her downfall. Trying to take a breather, she walked away from her team to wander the halls of the stadium. There was an assortment of differently colored track suits and Sakura thanked her lucky stars that her father was fashionable enough to choose a sleek black and red combo. Just looking at the orange and brown combo was enough to make her shudder at the fashion catastrophe. Seeing the familiar white/sky blue jacket and mop of light brown-hair, Sakura playfully shoved Makoto to congratulate his recent win.

The man put on a damn good show and Sakura was gladly surprised at how much passion he put into his backstroke. The only problem?

It was not Makoto.

She was greeted by surprised hazel eyes, instead of the familiar light green she was expecting. Sakura was dumbstruck. Now that she had a clear look at the man in front of her, it was obvious that this stranger's hair was an entirely different shade than her friend's. Not to mention his ends had a slight wave to them while Makoto's were clearly straightened.

He gave her a smile – a plastic one, she inwardly noted – and gave her a once over. "Not who you expected?"

"Sorry, it's just your jacket is very familiar to Iwatobi's." Sakura replied, offering her apology before trying to walk away. However, he was much faster and grabbed her elbow before she could get too far.

"Not so fast, I think you owe me a favor." He flirtatiously winked, but held her steadily in place. The rest of his team was around the corner and Sakura inwardly berated herself for getting trapped in this situation. This was obviously not Iwatobi. For one, this school had about five times more members and that really should have been her first warning.

Biting her lip to stop the growing grimace and possible insult, she asked, "What do you want?"

The stranger dropped her elbow to rest his hands at his sides. His eyes narrowed, slight enough that would usually go unnoticed, but Sakura could feel the gaze of his scrutiny. "Ready to fight, already?" He stated his observation, "Sorry, but a pink-haired girl just punched me and I would like to at least know her name."

Ashamed at her rudeness, Sakura looked down to the side and offered, "Sato Sakura."

"What a fitting name." He crossed his arms, smirking slightly. "I don't think a girl has ever disliked me this much this fast."

Sakura mustered up the fakest smile she could conceive, "Sorry, I don't deal well with players."

"No need to grace your face with such a look." He used his index fingers to turn her lips back to a frown, "I prefer a real sentiment, even if it's a frown."

Sakura fully turned to look at him, not quite fond of being under this stranger's inspection. She decided to direct his words back and responded, "Maybe you should apply that to yourself."

His smile was tight for a second before turning into a complete straight line, "How observant of you." He noted. A smaller hand rooted itself on his shoulder and a familiar face appeared, to Sakura's delight.

"Sorry, is Assykawa bothering you?" Hana asked, signaling that this was in fact the tracksuit colors of Aobajōsai high.

Sakura could not withhold the laugh and replied, "Your name is Assykawa?" She had to put a hand on her stomach, "I feel like I would remember seeing a name like that on the board."

He shrugged Hana off and sighed deeply, "No, it's Oikawa Toru. And I'm not a swimmer."

Hana only pushed him to the side, butting completely into the conversation, "We come from a powerhouse school so the sports teams like to support each other. Assykawa here is a volleyball something and they're going to some inter-high camp next week or some shit," She trailed off.

"Excuse you!" Oikawa held a hand to his chest, offended at his beloved sport being insulted. "I'm a very highly regarded setter."

"Oh really? How was nationals last year?" Hana asked through narrowed eyes.

Oikawa scoffed and crossed his arms, "I don't know. What's it like to not go to regionals during your third-year?"

Hana grit her teeth before putting her arms in a similar fashion, "I went to nationals last year. I didn't need to again." He continued in his look of derision and was about to say something until she beat him to it. "Anyway, how could you be hiding this girl from me, Assykawa? How do you two know even know each other?" Hana asked, causing Sakura to squirm at having to explain the awkward situation.

Toru to the rescue, ironically, and he interjected saying, "I saw her beat your ass in the water and wanted to get to know her."

Hana had an abashed look, but waved it off quickly to point at Sakura. "I'll see you four heats from now. You may be fast but no one has stamina like mine in the 200m."

"I'm not swimming any other butterfly events." Sakura commented in a low voice, gaining an astonished look from the girl and an amused one from the inferred asshole.

"Why not?"

"I swim free." Sakura gave a sheepish grin and noticed her first mentor walking in her direction, the literal moment she said that.

I should've known! Those three words basically summon the god of water, Haru.

"It looks like my friend is calling me, whoops." Sakura waved at the two and basically ran away from her current conversation, only offering a goodbye wave. She latched onto Haru's arm and steered him down the hall.

Hana and Toru watched her retreating figure, but the woman quickly changed her view to whip around at her underclassman. "I know that look, Assykawa."

"Like what?" He innocently asked, but knew what she was going to say.

"Like you're a starved lion and just saw a piece of meat walking by." Oikawa simply shrugged his shoulders and followed in Sakura's direction.

Hana stopped him with her words, "Don't you dare. She seems cool and I definitely like her. You have tons of girls fawning over you at school, go to one of them. Why her?"

"Because she isn't a fangirl." Oikawa stated as if it was plain as day.

Hana grabbed his wrist, almost angry. "This is not a challenge. You need to back-off, I won't let you break her heart."

Oikawa slowly closed and reopened his eyes, one could interpret as sarcastically, but Hana knew that was his signal of frustration. It was rare of the volleyball player to break face, he was always acting so cool. But now, he was already huffing and puffing.

"How are you so sure I will?" Oikawa threw over his shoulder before following after the girl.

Unbeknownst to Sakura, who was sneezing-up a storm, moved her grasp from Haru's elbow to his shoulders. She had yet to say a word and Haru already looked exasperated.

"Do I want to know?" The man asked, sighing at the possible upcoming story.

"Nah." Sakura replied, letting go as they turned the corner. "How about next time, we have a butterfly race?" Haru gave her the most stoic, apathetic look he could possibly compose. She laughed at the response, knowing the answer before the question was even voiced.

"Is it possible that Haru only swims free, since he doesn't know how to do the other strokes?" Sakura teased.

He shoved her to the other side of the hall.

XXXXXX

Seeing Makoto race against Haruka was almost heart-breaking, almost like watching your parents go through a divorce. Their faces displayed anything but happiness, which what everyone should have been feeling for moving onto regionals.

Sakura cringed at Makoto's use of full power, was he even pacing himself? He was already turning the corner with all the competition far behind. She knew of Makoto's pure heart and wondered if he had always been secretly holding back to make way for his best friend.

Rin voiced his own observation, but they both saw the slight slowing in Makoto's pace. Sakura wondered if he was truly getting tired or personally hindering himself from beating Haru. Sakura couldn't bring herself to look at the two and walked back to the changing rooms to calm her heart.

Women's 400m freestyle was after Rin's race, and no matter the outcome she was sure it would make her even more stressed. Rin and Haru were eons ahead of her in terms of both skill and strategy and seeing the two of them go faster than her limit would only churn her stomach.

By the time Sakura was donned only in bathing suit and cap, Haru and Rin's race had already began and the two were on their way back. The difference was only by a few milliseconds and Sakura inwardly berated herself for walking back so soon.

Her event was called after and Sakura was rooted to her place. The other competitors were already pushing past her to their designated places and Sakura could feel the edges of panic seep into her very core.

The light push on her back was enough for Sakura to gasp in surprise, already on edge. "What are you waiting for?" Sousuke asked with a smile. "You're more than ready." And, knowing this was not enough, Sousuke switched into his limited English to say, "Stop worrying, idiot."

This seemed to be the magic word to get Sakura back on track, causing her to smirk and reply saying, "You should spend less time with Rin, his lack of vocabulary is rubbing off on you."

Blushing at her accusation, Sousuke poked her face and then steered her in the direction of the pool. Halfway to her stand, Sakura turned around to yell, "I'm fine now you big doof, just let me go!" Sousuke allowed the loud, vocal berating, since it seemed to get Sakura out of her nervous stupor. She gave him a playful shove away and he continued back to his seat.

Rin was back in the stands, with Haru this time, and stopped his mutual praising to watch the exchange between the two Samezuka students. Why was Sousuke even with her?

Sakura examined her opponents, yet again, not a single person she could recognize.

She repeated this three more times throughout the day, placing well enough to go to regionals. But her most outstanding performance, that she was not at all being humble about, was her first place overall in the 100m.

She nearly climbed out of the water screaming, unbelieving that she accomplished such a feat. Her joyful shouts were, however, drowned out by the sheer loudness of the cheers from her schoolmates. The run to the changing room had never felt so right, but the butterflies in her stomach had transformed to ravaging wasps from her excitement.

The very moment she left the women's area, her team was awaiting her with their own, personal ways of praise. Sousuke enveloped her in a hug while Momo nearly tackled her, but none of these were as monumental as Rin's flicking her on the forehead. Sakura exclaimed immediately, why do you keep doing that, you masochist?!

Nagisa grabbed her, while on opposite teams, he offered her a plethora of compliments. Haru gave an acknowledging nod, but he still had a whisk of that all familiar smirk.

"Think I pose a challenge now, fishboy?"

Haru's smirk only deepened and replied with a Maybe. Makoto patted her back and before he could add anything, Momo intervened, "Too bad, she's ours." The group laughed as Momo grabbed Sakura to pull her away.

Rin only shook his head at their antics. His team, no matter how idiotic, was growing the closeness and absolute teamwork that he seemed to be wishing for at the beginning of the schoolyear. Sousuke grabbed Momo off her shoulder before Rin exacted his vengeance, not wanting to witness murder.

Seeing her now free bodice, Rin splayed a relaxed arm across Sakura's shoulders. Not letting him go easy, she decided it was time to tease him, "Since I am the best freestyle swimmer for women in the area," She started, "I think that means I'm better than you."

Rin ruffled her hair as the group walked towards their busing, "He beat me by milliseconds. You'll see tomorrow."

As they loaded the bus, it was then that Sakura realized she forgot something. She lightly pushed Rin's arm off to quickly run back and look for her belonging. The changing room was scattered with a few other stragglers, but the area she occupied earlier was empty.

Her phone was still in the locker, vibrating away from missed calls and messages. Sakura had way too much on her mind, keeping her cell-phone away for the entire day. The screen lit up and she scrolled down to the first message that she missed.

It was from her step-father.

To: Sakura

From: Crazy-man

9430

Wishing you all the luck today! Sorry I couldn't make it!

She dropped her phone instantly.

He was always reveling in her disappointments, always there for when she failed. He flew all the way from Japan to California to watch her cry on the sidelines, relishing in her utter failure. But the one day that Sakura could truly rejoice over her own skill, he did not even bother to show up. There were tons of pressures that were building up for today, one of the most prominent being her father. But it seemed like she worried for nothing. Fail or win, he was not there to witness it.

It was a defensive reflex, Sakura would defend. Whenever someone brought up her step-father in conversation, Sakura would always voice her assumption that he was constantly disappointed in her. It was only natural, since he did not seem to indicate otherwise. But now, it was fully proven.

He didn't give a damn about her.

She could not stop the tears that followed and how painful her stomach felt. Letting out a loud, exasperated cry, Sakura dropped to the floor. The boys wouldn't mind if she took a few minutes, but there was simply no reprieve from the onslaught of dark emotions.

The two other girls in the locker room gasped in horror and were unsure if to approach Sakura or keep going on their way. Both decided to get help for the stranger.

Before a minute could pass, arms were lifting her off the floor and into awaiting arms. "Are you hurt?" Her savior was unexpected, that flirty stranger from earlier in the day.

"How did you know I was here?"

Oikawa paused before using a light-hearted joke, "It sounded like you were getting stabbed from the outside." He gave a small smile before turning serious, "My schoolmate just ran out here basically screaming. There's only one girl from Samezuka, so it wasn't hard to go from there."

Sakura smiled at him before burying herself into his chest. He sat them on an empty bench and basically wrenched her arms away from her face. "I saw your team packing up. You don't want to worry them with your red face, right?" She understood his words and stopped rubbing.

"You probably don't want to talk about this with a stranger," He said and held her for a few more minutes before lifting her in the direction of the sinks. Dosing her face lightly with water and gently patting her dry, Oikawa smiled yet again at her natural beauty. "Here," he handed over the paper-towel, "You probably want a moment to yourself."

Oikawa walked back over to the lockers and picked up Sakura's phone. Putting his own number for future reference, he held it firmly until she was ready to leave. The only evidence of her previous tears was Oikawa personal memory of seeing her crestfallen face. Otherwise, she looked like a, albeit sopping wet, ordinary woman.

"Here you go." He handed the phone over, "Stay safe." He gave her a half-hug and left the room first.

Sakura had enough of her emotional health going haywire. In a matter of minutes she went from an emotional high to an extreme low. And it did not help that she enlisted the help of a mere stranger to comfort her. Placing an unsure hand on her forehead, Sakura looked down at her phone to see if she missed any other messages.

Not paying attention to her surroundings, Sakura left the changing room with her concentration focused on the object in her hands. Said object was snatched by her angry captain.

"Who the hell was that guy?"

Unsure of how much Rin saw, Sakura replied, "Toru Oikawa, he's a womanizer."

"And why was he in the girl's locker room?"

"I think I just answered your question." Sakura bit back, trying not to break Rin's gaze.

"Then why did he leave first? Why are you two the last ones left?" Rin did not skip a beat and instead switched their positions. Rin encased Sakura in his arms against the wall, nowhere to run away. "Don't lie to me. There was a very worried Aobajōsai student who was yelling about a crying pink-haired girl."

Knowing there was no other way to escape an explanation, Sakura lifted the hand that had commandeered her phone. While still in his tight grasp, she was able to open the text and show him the object of her tears.

She watched his eyes move with every word, his hand on the wall slipping to rest around her waist. "I'm sorry." He finally stated, holding her fully into a comforting hug. "But you should've came to me first. Stop showing other people your tears."

"Okay." Sakura conceded.

"Sousuke's my best friend, but not even him, okay?"

"Okay." She sniffled and tightly wound her arms around his neck. He allowed the action, keeping one hand frim on her waist while the other was scrolling through her messages from her father. The one Sakura showed him was just the first one, with lots of other missed messages from her father.

I'm watching you on tv, so awesome!

Good luck in your afternoon swims!

I never knew you swam so fast! I'm so proud of you!

Rin opted to not say anything about the other messages, she'll see them in time, he assumed. "Come on, everyone's waiting for us." He tugged at her hand. Sakura felt a blush oncoming, her boys hugged her all the time. But holding hands? Somehow that felt more intimate.

This did not go unnoticed by the other members of Samezuka, gaining a wolf-whistle from the back and a sly smirk from Sousuke. Momo silently pouted, but at this point Rin had all but peed all over her to mark Sakura as his. The couple sat together in the front, sitting in a comfortable silence throughout the journey back home with a habitual glance at one another.

Sakura rested her head against her – boyfriend? No. her something – and Rin, in response, placed his arm back around her waist. Her shirt rid-up a tiny bit, exposing a minimal amount of accidental skin. However, this skin-on-skin contact was enough to have the two blushing.

Her phone vibrated, signaling a text:

It's me, Oikawa! See you tomorrow, chibi-san.

Rin did not conceal his peering over her head and almost burst into flames from anger. "He has your phone number?" Sakura could not help but feel her heart swell, Rin was definitely the jealous type. But it showed how much he cared.

"So?" She tucked the phone away, not bothering to respond, "You have my heart."

She snuggled into his chest and he had no response for her. Simply basking in each other's presence, Rin could not help the growing smile.