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The crisp wind stings Natsu’s skin as she rides down the neighborhood mountain on her bicycle. It was a gift from Shouyou when he came to visit on her birthday during her first year in High School—they picked it out together, and it almost took them the entire afternoon to decide which bike would be the most convenient for her trips to school. They ended up being hungry after all the thinking, so Shouyou also bought meat buns for both of them.
Natsu keeps a very fond memory of this day—it’s one of the few times that her brother visited them with his busy professional volleyball player life. In Brazil, too.
Natsu thinks of volleyball as the sport that both separates them and connects them. She knows, though, that the connection will always persevere over the distance. No ocean, no timezone, and no hardship will ever come between their forever growing bond and passion. Especially since Natsu is riding her bicycle from her volleyball practice right now—the first one of the year, where she was appointed Captain of her team for her last year in High School.
Hinata Natsu, the new Captain of Niiyama High School’s Girls' Volleyball Team.
Hinata Shouyou, the opposite hitter of Asas São Paulo.
Volleyball is a passion that will always connect them.
And Natsu pedals faster at the thought of announcing her new title to her brother—she wants him to be the first person to know about it.
After riding down the neighborhood mountain, Natsu finally turns into the entrance of the Hinata family home and gets off from her bike to lean it on the side of the house. She runs her hand into her hair, already messed up by the wind, and now her own fingers. She catches her breath, brushing her other hand over her cheek. Then, she grabs her water bottle from her bag and takes a refreshing sip of water as she walks over to the front door.
“I’m home!” Natsu announces as she passes by the entrance.
She sees her mom peek from the kitchen, holding a wooden spatula.
“Did you have a good day at school?”
“It was alright,” Natsu answers as she drops her bag near the staircase, and walks to the kitchen to find her mom already making dinner. “The best part was volleyball practice!”
Natsu offers a grin to her mom before she grabs her phone from the pocket of her hoodie, ready to call her brother so she can share the amazing news with both her mother and her brother at once.
“Nat-chan.” Natsu looks up to stare at her mother’s glowing eyes—by her look, something’s definitely up. “He’s out there.”
She winks, then points at the sliding backdoor.
Natsu’s heart stops in her chest as her eyes move to the area her mother’s pointing at. She doesn’t need a name , she knows who her mom is referring to.
Who else?
Her heart pumps hard as she sets her phone back in her pocket. She scrambles to open the door, not bothering to close it in her hurry.
She spots her brother’s bright hair, his back facing her—it’s the perfect position for a surprise attack. Her legs carry her to him before her mind can even understand that it’s happening; in less than a second, she jumps on Shouyou’s back, her legs tightly circling his waist.
“Humpf—Natsu!” Shouyou chokes out a laugh as his back receives the impact of the hug. He slides his arms under Natsu’s thighs as she holds onto his body like a koala. “You can’t do this anymore! You’re not as tiny as you used to be!”
“What?” Natsu snickers. “Are you feeling rusty like an old man already, Nii-chan?”
“Careful, diabrete, my rusty old arms could drop you.” Shouyou releases one of his arms to poke the side of her cheek, she tightens her embrace. “And I wouldn’t even be sorry!”
“Whatever!” Natsu laughs to her heart’s content at the empty threat—her brother would never risk injuring her like that; as much as she teases him, she’d trust him with her life.
Natsu sets her freed foot down, then Shouyou releases her other one so she can do the same with it. Once she’s on stable ground again, her brother faces her—painfully slow, she wants to explode on the spot—but she doesn’t wait until he’s completely turned to throw herself into his arms.
Natsu will take all the hugs that she can get while she has her big brother in the flesh instead of in pixels. It’s warm, comforting, and as grounding as the memories that she carries in her heart. Shouyou—even though he pokes fun at her, just like he did when she was seven, trying to hit the rubber ball as she does with a volleyball now—has always been the pillar in her life. She trusts that Shouyou will always have her back.
Natsu tightens her arms around him; surrounded by this endless love, she feels untouchable. Ready to face the whole world; its greatest struggles, its greatest heights. Both in which she wants to share with her big brother.
“I’m Captain,” she blurts out with her lips twitching up.
The words are out, and her heart swirls with a mix of infinite emotions that Natsu can’t untangle just yet.
Shouyou’s breath gets stuck in his lungs, he leans away from her embrace, eyes finding hers like they’ve been pulled by this invisible force—Natsu can’t put her finger on what it is: pride, fondness, or just a mix of everything.
“You’re—what?” Shouyou exclaims, eyes growing wide.
“I’m the Captain of my team, they nominated me—”
“I know, I just wanted to hear it again.” He takes another step back, his features reflect pure happiness, a smile spreads so wide that his dimple settles at the corner of his lip. “Natsu, that’s—You did it! You’re Captain and I’m just so proud—”
He chokes on his words, his smile turning wobbly as his eyes slowly water. His feelings are on the verge of spilling, as always.
“Don’t cry now, Nii-chan! This is only the beginning! Don’t you remember the promise that we made to each other?”
Shouyou wipes his unfallen tears before he shakes his head, a smile growing over his face once more. He grabs the volleyball at his feet.
“I know! I know! We’ll meet on the top of the world, and win gold.”
“That’s right! You better be ready for me!”
Natsu pumps her fist to the sky, and Shouyou throws the volleyball that he’s holding to the sun, too. Natsu drops her hand, then gets under it, arms stretched, ready for the string of the impact as she receives it in a perfect loop, easy to toss. A smile lights up on her big brother’s face—it’s loud, it screams you’ve come so far and I’m always so proud of you.
But then it softens, and her brother takes a step toward her.
“I trust that you will make the Olympics one day, just like you became Captain today. Just—don’t grow up too fast, diabrete. ” Shouyou sets his palm on the top of Natsu’s head. “I don’t want to miss too much of it.”
His smile, despite being bright, is quiet. This time, it whispers, and it says I’ve already missed so much of it and you’re growing so fast that I can’t keep up.
Suddenly, it’s hard to swallow, it’s hard to breathe. Natsu’s throat is stuck—all the past, present, future emotions grow inside her chest.
“Don’t say stupid things, Nii-chan,” Natsu grumbles with a pout. “You’re always keeping up with me, you’re the best brother that the world could have given me!”
Her words float between them, and they actually hold a deeper meaning: you did what you needed to do and the distance will never erase us.
“I’m glad to hear that.”
His words drift too, and the wind turns them into: this is all that I needed to hear.
They stay quiet for a moment, then Shouyou grins before snatching the abandoned ball on the ground. He rolls it between his fingers, then raises an eyebrow as if he’s looking at Natsu for the first time, and realizes something that completely slipped past him.
“Is that my hoodie?”
Natsu looks down, tucking her hands inside the front pocket. She remembers exactly how she got this sweater—or, at least, how she conspired with Tobio so that he could steal it for her once Shouyou visited him. It’s one of Shouyou’s favorites, and Tobio surprisingly did an amazing job at stealing it without getting caught. Natsu takes note to thank him about it later.
“Caught red-handed, huh,” Shouyou laughs, eyes sparkling. “When did you even get your hands on this one? I’ve been looking for it everywhere in Brazil.”
Natsu shrugs, but she smiles with mischief. “I’m not revealing my secret!”
Her brother glares, making her smile grow bigger. “You’re terrible to me, truly the worst.” He sighs, resigned to his loss. “Alright, you can keep it. For now. ”
“I win!” She quickly taps her feet on the ground.
Shouyou snorts at her ridiculous happy little dance. “Alright, since I’m here, how about we practice a bit together? Let’s do the Ultimate Hinatas Passing Drill? ”
The Ultimate Hinatas Passing Drill was previously called the Ultimate Lonely Passing Drill by Shouyou when he was practicing volleyball all by himself. The name changed when Natsu first joined him in the backyard after she started playing volleyball, both of them polishing their skills together.
She doesn’t have to be told twice, Natsu dashes inside the house to grab her volleyball from her bag by the staircase. Once she’s out in the backyard again, her brother has started the drill already, so she watches him until she finds a spot in their drill that she can easily join in.
Tap, tap, tap.
The sound of their skin hitting against the ball is familiar, it’s grounding. Natsu could do this drill eyes closed—at least, she does it with muscle memory alone. Letting her mind drift away.
Then, the sound twists into something else entirely.
Captain, captain, captain.
The title echoes in her head.
It’s creeping inside her body, wrapping around her heart, and—
Is this how it feels to bleed from the inside?
Captain.
One word that is maybe too much.
It’s the foundation of a team. It’s the motivation, the cheering up. It’s about not cracking and breaking with the immense pressure. It’s the last hope when things go downhill.
But, overall, is it something that Natsu can be?
“You’re thinking out loud,” Shouyou states, interrupting her thoughts. “What’s up?”
Natsu catches her ball as she sits cross-legged, and brings it to her chest. Her fingers rub over the white material, staring at the grass between them. Shouyou gently bumps her chin up so that their eyes meet.
“Hey,” he whispers, softly, and he looks like Nii-chan—the brother who always held her in his arms when she hurt herself, taking care of her injuries.
Go away pain, he would say, almost summoning magic. And Natsu—at three years old—believed him. The pain always left as soon as her brother spoke the words.
“I’m wondering if I’ll be a good Captain.”
Her voice is shaking.
Shouyou’s head cocks to the side. “But, you are a good Captain.”
Natsu blinks, taken aback.
It’s not like Shouyou is lying; he believes these words wholeheartedly.
Still unpredictable as ever, her brother springs up from the ground, then runs inside the house, leaving her alone on the grass. Natsu frowns at the sliding backdoor that Shouyou forgot to close in his hurry, then stands up and walks to the wooden porch. As soon as Natsu flops down on top of it, Shouyou joins her with his acquired treasure.
He takes her volleyball from her hands, sets it aside, then holds an old volleyball out to her—it’s covered in scratches, and quite dirty, but Natsu recognizes the white, blue, and yellow lines from the ball that her brother used to carry around everywhere. The one ball used for Shououy’s multiple Ultimate Lonely passing drills.
“You kept this? Where did you even find this?” Natsu asks, taking the old—overused and damaged by time—volleyball.
“Actually,” Shouyou scratches the back of his head with a crooked smile, “I forgot that it was here until now.”
He drops his arm around Natsu’s shoulders, she takes this opportunity to rest her head on his shoulder.
“You once told me that I was getting along with the ball and that we became best friends,” Shouyou tells her, and she remembers the night when Shouyou achieved his goal to become one with the ball, it was also her first step towards her own path to trust—in her skills, in her team, but mostly in herself.
“It was also your first attempt with the passing drill, but look at you today—you’re also best friends with the ball.”
Natsu leans away from her brother’s shoulder to stare at his profile; he’s looking up at the sky with a tender smile curling up.
“What I mean is—You’re an amazing player Natsu, you have good control of the ball, and you have the passion for the game. Your team knows all of this better than anyone, they trust you just like you trust them in return. You have everything that you’ll ever need to be a good Captain.” He ruffles her hair. “I believe that you’re already the best.”
It’s during moments like these that—
“I miss you, Nii-chan.”
Shouyou drops his arm from her shoulder, and finally meets Natsu’s eyes.
“I miss you too, Captain.”
Her heart backflips uncountable times, the feelings stretch her lips into a smile.
“Are you going to tell Tobio about it?”
“I have a better idea,” Shouyou smirks before pulling out his phone to shake it in front of Natsu. “Why don’t we bother him a little and tell him together?”
Natsu shakes her head, fondness blooming inside her heart. She smiles.
“You just want to brag about it, huh? We won’t spare Tobio, but please spare your poor Brazilian team,” she chuckles, pushing his shoulder lightly.
Shouyou grins. “Can’t resist bragging about my little sister! Especially about her new cool, awesome and important title!”
“You’re an idiot.”
“Nah, I’m the best! You’ve said it yourself!”
“Idiot and annoying,”—Natsu laughs—“sounds about right.”
Shouyou opens his phone and taps on the app, his finger hovers over Tobio’s name—which is Bakageyama , so predictable, and gross. Before he can tap on it, Natsu quickly does, then she snatches the phone out of her brother’s hand. She runs around the backyard until Tobio’s face flashes on the screen.
“Tobio!”
Tobio stops mid-chew and finally looks up at his own screen.
“Nat-Natsu,” he says, eyes round. “I wasn’t expecting you.”
“I thought that you’d be happier to see me instead of that one guy who calls you all the time. Must be annoying.”
Natsu shoots him a mischievous grin, and Tobio’s lip twitches up.
“Gah! That guy is dating him! He can call him as much as he wants, you little menace!” Shouyou whines as he joins her, trying to take his phone back from her grip. She evades his attacks.
Tobio shakes his head, fondness shining in his blue eyes, even through the pixels on Shouyou’s phone screen; Natsu can’t decide if their love is gross, or the best thing she’s ever witnessed in her life. It’s probably both.
“And, I’m not even that bad!” Shouyou adds, most likely trying to convince himself. He’s obviously not going to fool Natsu, or Tobio for that matter.
“You want me to go through your call history for receipts?” Natsu asks, cocking her head to the side.
Shouyou groans before he sits back on the wooden porch. “Just—come here so he can see both of us on the screen, I want to see his reaction to the news.”
“What news?” Tobio asks after taking another bite of his pizza—his new culinary obsession since he moved to Rome.
“I’m going to take over as Captain this year!”
“That’s great, Natsu. I can’t wait to see you on the court as number one.” Tobio’s words fly to her heart, hugging it in a way that only his praises can. “It fits you.”
“She’ll be awesome!” Shouyou exclaims, hugging her sideways.
“One more reason for you guys to see me play soon.” Natsu swings her head left to right with a grin.
“We wouldn’t miss it,” Tobio says with fondness tinting his voice. “I won’t be waiting for that dumbass, I’ll come as soon as I have time.”
“What do you mean you won’t be waiting for me? I won’t be waiting for you, stupid! I’m the one who’s already here!”
Natsu laughs because they’re both idiots.
“The matches that either of you can attend are always my favorite ones,” she reveals with a grin. “But, we’ll conquer the Nationals so you both have more opportunities to come and watch our games. Then, I’m joining you both at the top of the world!”
“The world is not ready for you, Captain,” Shouyou announces.
Will the world ever be ready for Hinata Natsu?