Crows Like Shiny Things (Hinakage)

Harsh Words

The team gathered around Tsukishima, staring with gleaming eyes at the spirit not-spirit who was hiding her head within the blonde's chest.
"Can you all back off? She's just a kid." Tsukishima scoffed and Suga let out a soft laugh, trying to usher the others away a little.
"Tsukishima is right, let's not overwhelm her."

Tanaka finally managed to pick his jaw off the floor. Hadn't they just set a trap for a spirit yesterday noon? And now there was one just waltzing right into their gym.

Fuck where is Kiyoko now?!

She would have wanted to see that kid!

Tanaka stepped forward, opening and closing his mouth, unsure how to formulate his thoughts into words. Was it even his question to ask?
The decision was taken from him the moment he just blurted out what was on his mind.
"Hey you got black feathers!! Is there anybody with white feathers too?!"
Natsu whinced at the loud voice and Tanaka received an angry glare from everyone around him, causing him to back off with a nervous grin.
"S-sorry sorry...! I was just curious!!"
" That is the first question on your mind?" Daichi asked dumbfounded, facepalming with a smack that echoed through the entire hall.

Tsukishima frowned for a second before a somewhat smug grin crossed his lips.
"Well well well. Met a spirit recently, Tanaka?"
"Can't say I have but-" Tanaka caught himself just in time, slapping his hand onto his mouth.
"L-look guys it ain't my stuff to tell. Stop getting on my case."

"Tsukishima enough." Sugawara warned with a small look at him, then finally eased up a little. Well, there wasn't much they could change about this situation.
"Natsu, honey, are you cold?" he asked, eying the flimsy knit top and shorts she was wearing. It didn't exactly seem sturdy and the top itself split open at the base of her wings to make room for them. She shook her head, much to the surprise of everyone else.
"Nuh-uh! Feathers are good!"
Sugawara frowned, yet nodded along. He quietly counted the feathers on her body itself- Tsukishima seemed to have a hidden talent for carrying toddlers like her, else she would have complained about him squishing a feather of hers.

Here and there, soft little baby feathers were spread over Natsu's skin, and the most adorable feature of hers was the tiny black feather that covered the tip of her nose.

"Spit it out, why are you here?" Tsukishima interrupted Suga's thoughts, and all eyes fell back onto Natsu. She fidgeted a little, then slowly pulled a small round object from her pockets- it was wrapped in a small leaf, and tied together with one of the flexible twigs one could find in the forest.
"T-this is for you!!"
Tsukishima blinked twice. Huh. Well he hadn't quite expected that. He let her drop it into his hand as he held it up, examining it.
"What is that?"
"Candy!! Nishinoya's Tou-san made it!"
Tsukishima wrinkled his nose.
"...I'm not much for candy."

"...y-you don't like it...?"

Tsukishima paused for a moment, looking down in the tearful eyes of the toddler in his arms. Well, she did put in that extra effort to seek him out.
"...It's fine. I like it."
Immediately, Natsu's eyes began to sparkle with delight and Tsukishima shot warning glares at his teammates who seemed on the verge of awwing at Tsukishima.
"Yeah yeah. Now get going. People are gonna see you if you keep idling around here."
Tsukishima slowly let Natsu back down onto the ground, and the girl did not seem happy about that.
"But-!"
"Natsu, they banished Kageyama for talking to your people. I am not about to lose my academic career to this."

Natsu paused, then frowned a little.
"Banished...?"
"Tsukishima..." Daichi warned from the side but the blonde didn't let that stop him.
"Exiled, banned, chased off... Kageyama's no longer welcome here and his family abandoned him to die in the forest. Because of your race- because of your people."
Tsukishima pushed up his glasses a little, earning a gasp of outrage from his teammates. He did not just tell that to a toddler did he?!

"Why?"
Natsu didn't cry. Her face had become almost confused- she couldn't understand.
"You're spirits in the village's eyes. Bad omens, death and misfortune bringers- they are afraid, those cowards, and they united the village under the fear of deities around us."
Tsukishima's words were hard, and yet, the truth everyone was avoiding so well. Natsu faltered a little, before taking a step forward and hugging Tsukishima's leg.
"I-I like you Tsukishima!! I-I don't care what the elders say, I-I think humans are nice!! A-and Shouyou thinks so too!! I-I don't care, so nobody else should either!"

Yamaguchi watched the little girl with a sad smile. She was right, the entire team knew this.
And even when Tsukishima managed to usher Natsu back home, the entire team was oddly quiet during practice.

If defying the elders would be that easy...

***

"Kageyama?"
The boy looked up with a concentrated frown, his backpack loaded up with tons of fruit he had managed to collect with a few of the adults today. Currently, he was using the ropes that led from family nest to family nest to get to their small community tree house-

Hinata was between him and his goal, quietly sitting on a platform.
"I-I think I want you to call me Shouyou."
Kageyama immediately stopped dead in his tracks, clinging onto the rope on chest height for dear life.
There was no security net and the fall was deep- Kageyama was proud of his unwavering concentration.
"Are you sure?" he finally blurted out, and Hinata gave him a determined nod.
"Mh-hm! I want you to! Actually, I'd love it if you'd call me Shouyou."

Kageyama snorted and continued moving his feet across the rope, gripping with his hands the second one with each and every step.
"Sure boke."
"I-I said Shouyou!!"
"Boke."
"Watch it Tobio!"
Kageyama immediately clung to the rope for dear life, choking on his own saliva. Holy fucking shit. Slowly, his face turned bright red.
"Hinata...!"
"I said Shouyou you dumbass!"
"Shouyou for fuck's sake!!"
"Hey you got it!! Wasn't that difficult huh?!"

"If you're done with your lover's quarrel, we'd like to eat over here," Nishinoya called from the community platform with a huge grin across his lips, and both Kageyama and Hinata whipped their heads towards the nuisance.
"Shut up Nishinoya!!!"

Kageyama quickly made his way over to the small tree hut where most of the families were already sitting in tiny groups, and dropped the bag of fruit in the middle.
"Scavenging went well~" one of the adults whistled, and their children chirped along. One of them grabbed a peach before Kageyama raised his hand, hesitant.
"I-I have a question!!"
Immediately, all eyes were on him, and one of the elders raised their eyebrows.
"Speak your mind, human."
"My village has-..." Kageyama interrupted himself, the tiny sting in his heart all too real once more, yet forced himself continue, "...different methods to eat food."

"So?" one of the adults replied, feathers fluffing up a little. Kageyama had learned this was a clear sign he was offended. The birds fluffing up their feathers could only mean three things- either they were cold, embarrassed or pissed off at something. Backpedaling a little, Kageyama bowed his head to the ground, shouting "I-I want to make food for you tomorrow..!!!"

Everyone stared at Kageyama, a priceless expression on their faces. The annoyed adult slowly smoothed out his feathers again, and an elder woman gave a small approving nod.
"The nest looks forward to it."
"Yuu?"
Nishinoya looked up, teeth already sunken into a peach, chewing on the fruit.
"Hm?"
"Assist him, will you? Gathering food for the village is not too easy without help."
Nishinoya frowned, yet nodded. His annoyance vanished when he saw Kageyama's thankful look towards him- and even tho he had wanted to visit Asahi again, he couldn't exactly be mad at Kageyama for wanting to prove himself.

Oh well. Another adventure. Maybe they could use the time and actually get along with one a other. And Kageyama could tell him abour Asahi.