"Ahh!" Suga cried out, randomly in the middle of serving practice as he missed his serve recoiling as he stared at his forearm. He hissed that had hurt.

Daichi narrowed his gaze at his grey haired teammate who jogged over to his bag pulling out his phone, typing into it quickly before putting it away again, and rejoining the serving practice. Every once in a while Suga would hiss and shake his hand or rub his forearm.

She hissed her forearms stinging as she rolled and popping up from her place on the ground. "Tendo!" She called as the ball arched up from behind him as he landed.

Not even 10 minutes ago she had just been walking through the gym at her new school when in the act of deflecting a wayward volleyball she'd dropped her bag causing her volleyball shoes to spill out. At that moment a tall redhead, a good half foot taller than her popped up in front of her, "You wanna play?" he asked. Her heart rate shot through the roof as she braced to bolt.

"Oy Tendo stop being creepy, that's not how you ask someone to join." a sandy haired team member yelled at him perfectly aiming a ball into the red head's back, he was only a few inches taller than her. She'd quickly learn he was called Eita, "Sorry about that, we are down a player and we wanted to play a 4 on 4 game but we need one more person. Would you like to join us?" she thought about it for a moment before she smiled, volleyball on a court, she could do that.

"Sure, my brother isn't done with his practice for a bit." She picked up her phone typing a quick message to Koshi to get her from the gym when he arrived.

"What position do you play?" Tendo asked taking lanky steps around her trying to size up the girl with flowing waves of thick light grey hair and piercing hazel eyes. He couldn't get a read, did she know what she'd just stepped into?

"Setter." She answered, her eyes soft focusing on the events around her, a tall broad shouldered man was peppering with a hyper focused boy with a black bowl cut, the sandy haired boy setting between them. The kid with a bowl cut was trying his hardest to keep up with what looked like maybe a 50% hit from the tall olive brown haired man.

"Why haven't we seen you here before miss Setter."

"It's Sugawara Mizuki, but my teammates normally call me Zuki. I just moved back last month. I've been living in America for the last 7 years."

"Ohhh?" Tendo circled her as she tamed her hair into a high ponytail, her long hair still brushing the top of her shoulders even with it being pulled to the highest point on the back of her head.

Two libero's stayed warm while what looked to her like a middle spiked at them, alternating the passer each time his feet adjusting so he could aim directly where he wanted. She plugged in her headphones ignoring the redhead's constant questioning, much to his annoyance, as she stripped down to her shorts not bothering with knee pads, it had been years since she'd used them, years of playing on the beach had taught her they only got in the way. She jogged around the gym a few times, each time faster than the previous. She felt a steely gaze on her, she turned her hazel eyes locking with olive, her eyebrow quirking upwards in mild interest before she broke eye contact and grabbed a ball. She got in a few touches, it really hadn't been that long since she'd touched a ball. She watched the others practice through her soft focus though having positioned herself in the back corner to judge the depth and placements of the boys she was about to play with. She stepped to the attack line crouching down to watch the approaches of each of the players. Analyzing them, the tall boy with burnt orange hair prefered 6,3,2. The olive haired man was a lefty and thus could hit a true 9,3,2. The weird red head was strange and hit his best on a 7,3,1. The black haired child was quite remarkable where any thing in the 1,2-1,4 and 2,2-2,3 range he could hit as long as it was below a 4 at the end but his favorite place she could tell was a hanging set that rested in the middle of the 1's place on the 3.5, 2 marks. She even watched the liberos the older of the two loved a classic 6,5,5 while the other prefered a 6,7,6. She was ready.

She ended up on the team with Tendo Satori who was functioning as their middle, the black haired kid with the bowl cut, Tsutomu Goshiki their outside, and the current team's Libero, Hayato Yamagata.

Across the net stood the imposing form of who she know knew to be Ushijima Wakatoshi a crushing outside or opposite hitter, Eita Semi the sandy haired boy who'd yelled at Tendo for her, Taichi Kawanishi who she'd been correct in her guess that he was a middle, and Kai Akakura the first year libero.

This should be interesting. "Any house rules I should know about?" She asked Eita.

He looked at her confused. "House rules?"

"Some places have specific four on four rules, no dinks, setter's are back row, no short serves, short court… any of those apply?" She asked, using the heel of her hand to crack her knuckles, which in turn cracked loudly. Tendo watched her, his head tilted back and to the side as he observed her with interest.

"No we don't have any of those rules, everything goes, and everyone goes hard. We'll go easy on you though don't worry." Eita smiled, she knew he meant well, but she couldn't help the glee she suddenly felt knowing he was underestimating her.

"Speak for yourself Eita." A deep voice cut through. "This was your idea, I'm not holding back."

All the eyes turned on the olive haired man. "Wakatoshi-kun" Eita started to try and talk the Ace down.

A scoff interrupted him "Whatever Hotshot," Mizuki rolled her eyes, cracking her shoulders and neck. Tsutomu gulped feeling the tension in the air thicken palpably at her words. She had stepped into his court and he wasn't going to underestimate her, smart.

Tsutomu was the first up to serve, he had to serve then book it to the net, they had decided Mizuki was better suited on defense than for blocking. She had shrugged noncommittally going along with it, but wanted to try blocking at some point, 'yea maybe when Ushijima wasn't hitting' Tsutomu thought. They watched her, still not sure how to treat her, they had yet to see her pass, set, hit, block or serve, but she seemed confident in an eerily calm way. The first year really wasn't sure what was about to happen but he served anyway. First team to 25 was the winner. And he was sure that that probably wasn't going to be them. He lifted the ball into the air aiming for the gap between Taichi and Kai. Ushijima was on the outside since Eita was occupying the right front of the court. He contacted the ball, a perfect float. It had just enough speed on it that it didn't start moving til it crossed the net. He was running to the net, when he was caught off guard his perfect aim for the seam was intercepted by Wakatoshi's hands in a set to Eita. He really wasn't going to take it easy at all, and Tsutomu was already late for the block. He raced toward the net but the set was already in the air, and Tsutomu was late, half a second late, Wakatoshi had a perfect shot straight down the line and at a terrifying angle, an angle everyone on the court knew he could hit, and hit with force. Yamagata gulped, preparing to dive in whatever general direction it looked like Ushijima might hit. Eita had given him a perfect toss and he was cranking hard, at 90% of his full power.

What happened next stunned everyone on the court except for Mizuki. Grey flashed forward, hands and forearms above her head. The ball flew down towards her, she watched it contact with her forearms, as she dropped back to control the sheer force, her upper body arching backward over her heels as her shoulder blades hit the floor, her legs planted wide allowing for the overhead receive. Pain ripped up her forearms, but it truly wasn't anything new to the girl. She hissed her forearms stinging as she rolled and popping up from her place on the ground. "Tendo!" She called as the ball arched up from behind him as he landed. She darted towards the outside across the court from him. He set her the ball, a high generic outside, 1,3,3 at a 3rd tempo. Damn kid wanted her to get blocked. She could jump, but speed was her advantage and with a 3rd tempo, she suddenly had 4 hands in front of her. No other choice, she was facing the line, Eita was right there and Akakura was covering the seam and with her short height and that set their court was almost completely covered, almost. She twisted her elbow, her thumb dropping as she cranked her body away from the ball, her fingers snapping to her wrist. The ball turned sharply whistling down the net on the other side landing cleanly in just 2 feet in the court and 2 feet off the net. She landed and rolled her eyes at the tall olive brown haired boy, walking away from the net "Kiraly hits harder than you." He hadn't been interested before. But in less than 5 seconds he suddenly wanted to know everything about the grey haired girl in front of him.

They all stood stunned staring at her as she jogged back to her starting point but she was at the net this time not at the attack line, "Miz?" Tendo asked.

"Hmm?"

"What was that?"

She just smiled, as a beeping phone went off in her bag. Ahh he'd felt it too. "I've played before." She shrugged. "Serve it up Tsutomu, I'll take the block, for the first one." She said, stepping up to the net, already adjusting to the weakness that had led to her cut shot and save. "Tendo." He looked at her as the kid behind them served "Never give me a tempo 3 again." Ushijima smiled, she was a force to be reckoned with. What she lacked in height she made up for in her intelligence. He suddenly realized he was going up against a very difficult opponent. A voice rang in the back of his head. 'You can hit it as hard as you want, but if there is something between the ball and the floor it will never go down.' All of a sudden having her and Tendo on the same team didn't seem very fair.

21-25 was the final score. She'd tooled him, as they landed he stared down at her as she smirked up at him. Tendo had sent the ball way too close to the net. He had her completely shut down, until she'd smiled, in that instance he knew he had to yank his hands back but it was to late, he'd committed, he couldn't get them back in time and she used that to her full advantage, she pressed the ball into his arms and then with the flick of her wrist had thrown the ball off his hand into the attena, the ball was out before he could react. He held out his hand under the net "Ushijima Wakatoshi." She took it.

"Sugawara Mizuki." She responded.

"What did you mean earlier? About Kiraly?"

"Exactly what you're thinking it meant."

"Karch Kiraly?" He asked, needing to be certain.

She smiled and nodded. "I played with him on the beaches in California, and at National camps in the States. Him and Dalhausser would never ease up when we played."

"Hmm" he nodded his head once. It explained her attitude at the beginning of the game when his declaration hadn't even phased her. She was used to that. The others watched their interaction completely miffed, they had never seen Ushijima actually try to carry a conversation with anyone of the opposite sex so this was new to them. Even girls he'd been interested in he never talked to. "Would you set a few for me?" He asked. She nodded stepping under the net so she was next to him, her arm brushing against his as she walked to the target. He stood still for a moment, her skin was damp with moisture but still soft he felt his arm tingle where her skin had met his.

"Want us to block?" Tendo asked Ushijima just nodded, Taichi joined Tendo. Eita stepped to the other side as Yamagata stepped under. Eita, and Tsutomu took turns serving at the two Liberos while she set, after each one she watched closely analyzing.

Suddenly her head tilted and she put a hand up telling the servers to stop, she beckoned Ushijima over. "You know my brother told me about this weird quick his team has, and I kinda want to try it out." Ushijima raised an eyebrow at her smile, it sent chills down his spine, she was smart, powerful, agile and just insane enough to make it all work. She was a terrifying combination.

He couldn't help but agree a little bit with Tendo's grumbled from the other side of the net when he'd get over both blockers or fake Tendo out "Damned Mad-Scientist", "Troublesome Evil-Genius", "Annoying Freak-Setter". Tendo was smart enough to know a fair amount of his play was influenced by her sets at the moment, but they were also some of the easiest to hit sets he'd ever gotten.

"Ok," he said.

"I need you to do one thing first." He nodded looking down at her. "I need you to approach and jump at 100%. Once without the ball though. I need to know the coordinate." He nodded again, still not saying anything.

"Umm Miz?" Goshiki asked, she turned to face him. "What do you mean by coordinates?"

"Every spike has a coordinate. And everyone has coordinates they like to hit best from, it's a simple grid system that is set above every net. Like you, your favorite coordinate from what I can tell is 1.5,3.5,2 she called him to the other side "go ahead and hit this one." Ushijima watched as the young outside trotted over. She called for Eita to serve. And then she set him and suddenly he got it. It was exactly where he naturally wanted to approach on the outside two feet off and the ball was in the perfect spot for him to hit. He landed the ball slamming into the floor, it had felt better than any spike he'd ever done before. All eyes slowly turned to her.

"Still playing?" A voice called from across the gym, everyone turned to see Mizuki's male doppelgänger standing in the door wearing a black jacket and black sweatpants.

"Hey Kōshi," She smiled, "Ok two more then I'm out." She said turning to watch the Ace leap uninhibited to where he ideally would love to hit from everytime. She had been right; he could jump much higher when he wasn't worried about the setter. She smiled as he landed, "Got it. Take off right after the libero passes. Kai, Yamagata pass at a 1st tempo." She instructed. Kōshi had sat down next to her bag packing it up a bit while he waited. He always loved watching his twin set, she really was a phenom, he'd gotten most of his training from her, he was nowhere near her level but he loved watching her work and instructing and damn could she set. He watched the blonde serve, and just as she had called as soon as the passer was passing Ushijima was approaching and with incredible power, she had gotten exactly what she wanted: a 1st tempo pass and a spiker already in the air waiting. 9.25,4.25,2.5. He was mid swing when his hand connected with the ball, over the blockers crushing it into the ground with incredible force, the ball bouncing up nearly to the ceiling. The whole gym went dead quiet. Koshi's eyes were wide, she'd managed to, from just his description, recreate the freak quick his team had in their arsenal.

"Dang Toshi, no need to use 100% of your force," Tendo laughed.

"It wasn't" Ushijima and Mizuki said at the same time.

"Ehhh?" Tendo cried out saying exactly what everyone else was thinking.

"It was just the perfect set." Ushijima said, staring at the light grey haired girl.

"Ok one more. Regular 1st tempo?" Miz looked back at him, he nodded, he was really enjoying these sets, she had his number dialed in, she was actively trying to set him to his advantage, they were different than any other sets he's ever come across. This one he cranked up the power, what was possible with this set and his maximum power? The serve came over he waited to be in line with the ball, just chasing it to her hands, and he leapt, again the ball was in his hand perfectly. The ball slammed into the ground before fleeing into the rafters of the tall gym, getting stuck in the bleachers of the second level. Tendo must have realized what he was about to do because when he landed he noticed Tendo had his hand on the back of Taichi's shirt, holding him down stopping him from jumping. It probably was the safe bet, his last spike at 70% had looked like a 100%, this one was harder than he'd ever hit before.

"Thank you." He said inclining his head to Mizuki.

"Not a problem. Let me know if you ever want to do it again." She smiled, walking over to her brother ruffling his hair. He stood up grabbing her wrist and turning it to look at the spot where she'd received his spike earlier. He weirdly looked familiar, she slipped off her court shoes when he said something that made her laugh as she shoved him, pulling her track pants back on her leg was half way in the second leg when he bumped her causing her to start hopping to stay upright, she retaliated by throwing one of her slides at him. Before putting her foot in the other.

"What's the best way to contact you?" Ushijima asked, every other third year groaned behind him putting a hand over their faces, of course the blunt bastard had no idea how to smoothly ask for a girls number.

She laughed. "I'm sure you'll see me around." She said with a smile and left. She wasn't ready for that yet, she still had a lot of things to sort out. It was why she'd moved back. At the moment she couldn't do plans.

He watched as she chatted with her brother as she left both of them animated and laughing. He felt self conscious all of a sudden, like he didn't know what to do with his limbs and his heart was beating unusually quick. All of a sudden the grey hair boy brandished the flat she'd thrown at him and took off out of the gym, she raced out after him chasing him down not seeming to care that she only had one shoe on.

"Ohhh?" Tendō popped up in front of him as they watched Mizuki leave "Could it be Toshi?" The other stared at the red head. "Do you finally find a girl interesting?" Was that this feeling? He looked down where she'd brushed against him, the slight tingle flickered across his skin at the memory.

"She's intriguing."

A/N: Hey I'm trying out a new story, this one honestly interests me a ton, as a volleyball player, coach and as a setter. So I decided to have some fun and start a story in the Haikyuu universe since it is a game I understand so well (which also makes the Anime/Manga frustrating since they, don't play with the correct rules in some cases.) Also if you have any questions about what things are or how the game is played let me know I'm happy to help.