Disclaimer: I own neither Inuyasha nor Haikyuu! and make no money from these writings.

Volleyball Hearts

Chapter Twelve: Kentarou Kyoutani (aka: Mad Dog-chan)
Rating: K
Requested by: kagome midnight fox

After the loss in the Spring High preliminaries, after Oikawa and Iwaizumi and the rest of the third years had officially retired from the club, there had been a great deal of concern among the second and first years regarding Kyoutani, the team's volatile new ace. Strong, aggressive, and independent, he wasn't much for teamwork and didn't like taking orders. The only reason they'd been able to get by with him so far was because of the respect he'd held for Iwaizumi that kept him in line.

At least, it had been a concern.

It was only after the third years had retired that the club got an application for a manager. They hadn't had one previously, and since their coach and advisor thought it was a good idea, she'd been welcomed onto the team. While there had been a few reservations amongst the players, it hadn't taken long for first year Kagome Higurashi to endear herself to the team. But the most surprising reaction was from Kyoutani.

He'd avoided her for the first couple of weeks before finally settling for watching her carefully. Yahaba and Watari had worried about the intense way that Kyoutani's eyes followed the petite manager, but even that worry had been short-lived. The wing spiker's short fuse had been lit one day at practice, and it had looked like there was going to be a fight until Kyoutani caught sight of Kagome watching concerned from the sidelines. The Mad Dog deflated almost instantly before stalking off without another word.

That was how the weird little relationship between them went on for the better part of another month. Moody as he could be, Kyoutani was always much more subdued when Kagome was in the area. And aside from giving the rest of the team hope that they might just be able to work with him after all, it became something of a fun pastime to watch the two their ace dance around their manager. That became doubly true the day Kyoutani actually went up to Kagome to interact directly.

Kagome had been trying to move some boxes into the equipment storage room, but it appeared that she was having a little trouble with the heavy loads. Jaw tight and shoulders tense, Kyoutani had marched over to her and picked up two of the last three boxes. Kagome had seemed surprised since Kyoutani had yet to say a single word to her since she'd joined the club, but as she picked up the last remaining box and smiled up at the ace giving him her thanks, the onlooking club members could feel the jaws drop a little when Kyoutani actually blushed. He still didn't say anything to her, only offering a small grunt of acknowledgement, but Kagome took it as an invitation to begin speaking to him.

And things only got stranger - or cuter, depending on who you asked - from there. Kagome continued to talk to Kyoutani. She greeted him every day with a smile and he started nodding in reply. She would carry on slightly one-sided conversations with him during breaks, and while he replied, it was usually by way of little noises or one- to two-word answers. But despite not actually talking to her that much, he began to get oddly protective of the smaller girl. He tolerated other guys on the team talking to her, but they definitely got their fair share of glares. It was during the day, in the halls, that things got the funniest. He followed Kagome around like a very scary puppy and intimidated any other boy who approached her into leaving within seconds.

Things seemed to hit their climax on Valentine's Day. Kagome had come to the morning's practice with a bag filled with chocolates for the team, and all of the guys had been very happy and thankful, even those that didn't care for sweets. Then Kyoutani had showed up. The other second years watched as Kagome waved to him like she always did as he approached her, but when she began reaching into her bag to to fish out the chocolates she'd brought for Kyoutani, she was cut off.

"Here," Kyoutani mumbled as he thrust out a small box of chocolate towards Kagome and looked off to the side to avoid eye contact.

While Kagome stood shocked and a little confused, Yahaba leaned closer to Watari and asked, "He does know that Valentine's is when girls give chocolate to guys right?" Watari shrugged, honestly not knowing the answer.

It took her a moment to catch up to what was going on, but when Kagome looked from the small heart-shaped box up to Kyoutani's face, she saw his watching her out of the corner of his eye, a light blush creeping across his nose and cheeks. Taking the offered candy, Kagome couldn't help the bright smile that took over her face. "Thank you," she told him happily. When he nodded and started to walk away, she called out to stop him. "Hold on! Wait a minute." Reaching into her bag, Kagome pulled out the last little box of chocolate before extending it towards Kyoutani. "This is for you."

Kyoutani hesitated, looking between the chocolates and Kagome several times, before finally accepting them with a quiet "Thanks." The team members that had been watching tried not to laugh as he quickly headed towards the changing room with his face down to hide his burning cheeks.

After their morning practice was over and the guys were changing into their uniforms, several of the players noticed something. All of them had gotten very similar boxes of store bought chocolate, but it was very obvious that Kyoutani had gotten the only box of homemade chocolate. Whether or not Kyoutani realized this wasn't something that any of them were quite brave enough to ask.

There were questions from that day forward as to whether or not the ace and manager really liked each other, but they were all put to rest one month later on White day. Much like on Valentine's Day, Kyoutani managed to look both shy and stubborn as he offered Kagome a white hair ribbon. And this time it was Kagome's turn to surprise everyone as she gave Kyoutani a set of white wrist bands. It didn't escape the team's notice that they both showed up to the afternoon practice wearing their gifts, and that was the moment that Kunimi started taking bets on which one of them would actually confess first and when.