Captains: Kuroo Tetsurou × OC

Chapter 10: Training camp

As another week passed by, the long-anticipated school break had come.

So had the training camp that had the volleyball teams were very excited for.

Kuroo and Taiji both decided to come earlier to help set up the rooms and the courts.

"I still don't know why you insisted that we could do this on our own," Taiji complained to Kuroo as she mopped one of the classrooms that one team would be staying in.

"Do you really think that our teammates would have been any help?" Kuroo raised his eyebrow while he stacked some chairs in a corner, "They would have caused a mess."

"What about the other third years? They would have made the process much quicker!"

The female captain got no response from the bedhead.

The truth was, Kuroo didn't really think too much about asking for help. He really just wanted to spend some alone time with Taiji, for some apparent reason.

Ever since the kabedon incident, things had gotten even more awkward with the two. The two captains started to avoid and flinch at any sudden contact with each other. Both of their teammates had noticed the tension and were definitely planning something again.

After finishing up with the first classroom, Taiji quickly made calls to her fellow third years, who solemnly made their way after an hour.

"It's 7:30 in the morning, how are you up so early in the morning?" Yuko groaned as she made her way into school.

Not too far behind her was Yui and Hina being dragged by Yaku and Kai into school.

"Where do we start?" Kai was the first to break the silence,

"Um, Yuko and Hina, you're in charge of mopping." Taiji started to delegate the tasks, "Yaku, Kuroo, move the desk and chairs to the side."

"Yui can start with prepping the courts, Taiji pointed, "Kai can help me with the futons in the storerooms,"

The third-years smiled as they went to their own tasks. Taiji was already a leader with questions, and she did it without thinking.

~~~

As Kai helped Taiji bring the futons to the room, he decided to point out the tension between the captains.

"What's going on with you and Kuroo?" The golden question that everyone had been asking her over and over again.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Taiji put down the futons she was holding into one of the rooms.

Kai had a wild guess, and he was pretty sure that it was correct. Taiji grabbed another stack of futons from Kai and put it into the room following.

"Kai," Taiji stopped mid-step. She turned around with a pained look on her face,

"I think I like Kuroo,"

Kai gave a knowing smile, his suspicions were correct. "I'm not surprised,"

Taiji's eyes widened. Was she that obvious? She only realized a few days ago, how could he already know?

Kai noticed her expression, and laughed, "Everyone has been making bets on it,"

Taiji rolled her eyes, of course they would do something like that. She dumped the final stack of futons into the last room and they made their way to the rest of the third years.

~~~

Tai was starting to wonder if telling Kai was a bad idea.

Most of Nekoma's teammates had arrived by noon, along with the rest of the teams from Fukurodani, Karasuno, Ubugawa, and Shinzen.

Kuroo leaned over to Taiji and pointed to a boy with horned shaped hair and a messy-haired boy, "That's Bokuto and Akaashi,"

Taiji burst out into a small laugh as she remembered the photos that Kuroo had shown her before.

Another round of glee looks from Nekoma's teams.

Taiji started to back off as she realized that she was too close to Kuroo. A blush formed on her face as she looked away, trying to avoid his eyes.

Kuroo went to talk with Karasuno's captain, Daichi. As that happened, she was swarmed by Fukurodani and Karasuno.

"HEY HEY HEYY," Bokuto greeted, "You're Taiji, right?"

"The one and only!" Taiji raised an arm to him, "Nice to meet you, Bokuto."

The two shook hands and started to talk about volleyball. Bokuto introduced Akaashi and the rest of his team, as Taiji did the same for her team.

All eyes had turned to the two captains. Their presence had definitely taken over the court, without them trying.

Kuroo watched as his two good friends were laughing with each other. He felt his heartache slightly as he watched Taiji smile.

"Slap me if I'm wrong," Daichi nudged Kuroo's stomach, "You like her right?"

The bedhead let out a defeated sigh, "Is it really that obvious?"

"Yeap, it is," Sugawara, who was standing next to let out a slight chuckle.

"By the way, what happened to Shrimpy and Kageyama?," Kuroo turned the attention away from himself, "Did they get into a fight?"

Daichi let out a nervous chuckle, "Well you see, they're going through something right now,"

Kuroo gave Daichi an understanding smile. The first years are never easy to handle and he understood, he was a handful as a first-year too.

"They'll get through it," Kuroo assured,

~~~

The day passed as they played matches together. Taiji noticed that Karasuno lost almost all their matches, even though they weren't easy to beat.

"Kuroo," Taiji whispered to her friend as she watched Karasuno do another round of diving drills, "They don't usually play like this, right?"

Kuroo was surprised at her observation, and the fact she was right, "They're going through something,"

The female captain nodded her head with a smile and went back to her team. She knew what it was like, her team had experienced it firsthand too.

As the day came to an end, the matches for the day finished up too. Some players stayed back for practice while the others went for dinner.

Kuroo was trying to help Lev with his receives, while Taiji was on the other court trying to teach Sora how to do an overhand pass.

"Kuroo," Lev called out to his captain while lying on the floor, "You really like Taiji-senpai, right?"

Kuroo raised an eyebrow at the silver-haired boy, "What about it?"

"You should ask her to be your girlfriend!"

Another ball smacked the boy on the floor.

"Stop slacking!" Yaku was the one who threw the ball.

Kuroo laughed at the poor boy and turned his attention back to the female captain. The half Russian wasn't entirely wrong.

Taiji, who noticed Kuroo watching, sent him a smile and wave. Sora, who was a first-year libero, watched her senpai with a knowing smile.

"Senpai," Sora nudged Taiji, "When are you going to start dating Kuroo-san?"

Taiji was flustered at the question, telling Kai really was a bad idea. She put a hand on Sora's shoulder and squeezed it gently.

"That's not important right now," Taiji picked up another ball, "I'm not sure it will happen though,"

"Why not?"

"It's complicated, Sora,"

Taiji sensed that the atmosphere was getting heavy, she excused herself from Sora and left the court.

Unknown to her, Kuroo had noticed the change of aura around Taiji.