Crows Like Shiny Things (Hinakage)

Caught in the Act

Nishinoya stopped midair, wings keeping him in place just well. He stared down at the passed out Asahi, fighting himself.

"Oh my fucking god you can't be serious..."

Asahi shot up from the ground, panting, dripping with cold sweat. It wasn't the same place he had been before... The ground was soft and somewhat moist. Grass.

He grasped the few bits of it inside his hands, trying to relax his body.

Asahi was still shaking.

He looked up, coming face to face with his own front door.

"What?" was all Asahi could blurt out.

All he remembered last was something giant in the sky. And... wings. Black, enticing wings. Dangerous wings that could crush him.

Asahi swallowed. And now he was here, in front of his house. How did he even get here?

There was only one possible answer and Asahi found he did not quite like it. That brought only more questions for him.

For now, all he could do, was to slowly pull himself up from the ground and unlock his front door with shaking hands. He could barely fit the key into the lock itself- Asahi felt like about to throw up.

But Asahi had done it.

He had looked, and he had seen.

His memory was trying to block out most of it on its own, but Asahi did remember those huge wings.

He was afraid they would block out his sun forever.

***

Kageyama strolled down his path through the forest, on his way to school. He was being extra slow today- there was something he had to show Hinata, and he was begging the orange head would be near.

"Hinata!!" he called out, hoping he would be heard.

And he was.

But this time, not from the sky.

"Kageyama, I'm here!" came the prompt reply from the forest, and the boy paused. What? Hinata was not assaulting him from above?
His head spun around and his breath hitched; Kageyama found himself staring back at a huge black mass with glowing eyes from the deep underroots of the forest.
"...no wonder there are legends of beasts surrounding his forest..." he mumbled to himself and turned to approach Hinata, somewhat smiling.
"Boke, I... have something for you."
"For me?"

The wild orange hair came into view and with that his features became clearer. Close up he was not as scary as further away.
Kageyama opened his hands to reveal a tiny charm. It was something his village passed around to ward off evil spirits of the forest- or in that case, Hinata- and Kageyama found it somewhat ironic, so he decided he would gift it to one of those "demonic evil spirits".
"Wow...!"
He snatched the charm from Kageyama and smiled at it with his bright brown eyes, and Kageyama found himself smiling along. Hinata was... cute. Adorable almost, for something that was taller than Kageyama himself if propped up onto his wings.

The soft scent of moss and leaves wafted around those two, and Kageyama found he enjoyed his time with Hinata almost more than his time at practice.
"I-I really like it. Thank you, Kageyama."
And Kageyama found himself wrapped in those fluffy wings, relaxing almost instantly. He almost... missed that.
He wrapped his arms around Hinata, pressing him against his body, nose nestled inside his wild hair that smelled of pine needles and tree sap-

and then he pulled away, startled with himself. Hinata didn't seem to notice.

The bird pulled one of his wings a little closer, quietly fixing the charm to one of his feathers.
"I think it'll stay on there... mhmmm... yeah... Yes! It fits! Thank you, Kageyama!"
Kageyama felt his face heating up as he muttered some sort of no problem and turned on his heel.

He had never wanted to be away from school as much as now.

***

"Tobio...!"

His mother was greeting him back home with a concerned frown, pulling him into her embrace. Kageyama was confused- why was his mother even home, she never was after school.
"Tobio, my boy, are you okay?"
"O-of course I am."
He pushed himself a little out of his mother's bearhug, a bit uncomfortable. She was acting weird.
"Tobio where is your charm?"
"I lost it."
"What do you mean, you lost it?! Heaven's beware, so it's true...!"

Kageyama was confused, worried, and slightly scared at this point.
"Tobio, my poor boy... Don't worry. We'll fix this. We'll get to the shrine, we'll pray to the gods, and we'll get the evil out of you. Leave your bag here."
She took Kageyama's schoolbag out of his hands and dropped it in the middle of the housefloor, then closed the door behind herself and Kageyama.
"E-evil? Mom, what are you talking about?"
"Tobio, do not play dumb on me. You've been with the spirits of the forest, don't lie. They tempt you with their evil, they are trying to corrupt you, but not with me, not with your mother Tobio."
She was grabbing his wrist so tight it was beginning to hurt at this point. Kageyama grimaced.
"Mom-"
"No, don't say anything. People have seen you, Tobio, and some giant... thing!"
Kageyama's mother shuddered and the boy himself turned just a shade paler.

The village had seen Hinata?

He wondered who it had been.

Who was the one who tattletaled on him?

The entire car ride to the shrine, Kageyama felt sick to his stomach. Was the village going to do anything? And what about Nishinoya, did anybody see him?

His mother dragged him out to the shrine, and Tobio was not praying. He acted like he did, but he did not. He wasn't going to. Hinata wasn't an evil being- he may be some forest creature that his village didn't quite understand, but Hinata certainly wasn't evil.

"Tobio."
Kageyama looked up, after hours of exhausting prayers and rituals to cleanse his body, and plastered with charms.
"Tobio promise me... Do not ever, and I mean ever, try to approach the evil spirits again."
Tired and not in the mood to argue, Kageyama just nodded.

It was past midnight when he was finally allowed to go to bed and yet, all he could think of, were those giant wings that gave him comfort and peace.
He hoped Hinata would visit him again tomorrow.