Crows Like Shiny Things (Hinakage)

Replication Research

"Well that's peculiar."
Bokuto stared at through the window of his new friend, watching her with something akin to curiosity. Lots of paper, pens, weird symbols and books... and she was still awake. Huh. Last time he was here, she was asleep at this time of day.

Or rather, night.

Bokuto didn't care.

He knocked twice at the window, waving to her as she spun around in her chair, startled- only to beam with joy the moment she recognized him.
"Bokuto!"
Kiyoko opened the window and stepped aside, smiling from ear to ear.
"You have amazing timing. L-listen, I need your help."
Bokuto turned red to his ears and puffed out his feathers, grinning from ear to ear as well. Ain't that a compliment from a pretty human!
"Oya oya, I'm always ready to help~! What do you need?"

Bokuto was a little surprised she didn't shush him as usual or complained that anybody could have seen him, but at the end of the day, he couldn't care less.
"I may have found a way for our villages to be united without any bloodshed- and for you to be able to leave the forest."
Well that was a good start- sounded amazing, if he was being honest. But there had to be a catch. There always was.
"But... it involves this bracelet here. It's a blessing by the spirits... and it takes your wings if you wear it."
"Nu-uh. Absolutely not. Fuck no."
Bokuto threw up his hands, backing away to the window. Hell no was he giving up his wings!

"N-not forever! Only as long as you wear it. If you take it off, your wings return immediately. But... I need a way to make more of them, and I think I'm close. I figured out which of these runes makes your wings disappear completely... and if I leave it off of the copy, you might still have your wings afterall. They'll just be invisible. But I need to test that."
Kiyoko smiled at Bokuto, voice lowering to a soft plea.
"Pleaaaaase...?"
"I-I don't know Kiyoko, I ain't all fond of losing my wings. I'm very proud of 'em. Just look at the size!"
Bokuto energetically spread out his wings, knocking a few of Kiyoko's trophies off of her shelf, which cluttered to the ground.
"A-ah, sorry!"
"It's fine it's fine, I-"

"Kiyoko?! Why are you awake at this hour of the day?!"

The two of them whirled around, staring at the door. Kiyoko turned pale- that was the voice of her father. And he was currently in the process of coming up the stairs. And Bokuto was currently standing in the middle of her room, birdfolk, wings taking up half the space of her room.
"Bokuto put this on...!"
She tossed him a charm, and Bokuto evaded it instinctively, already protesting.
"I'm not putting this on Kiyoko...!!"
"Y-you will if you don't wanna end up in chains again...!!"
"It'll take my wings!"
"Just until you take it off!"

The footsteps ended right in front of Kiyoko's room- the girl panicked; jumping to Bokuto and pressing the charm into his hand, holding it shut. In the blink of an eye, these huge gray feathers vanished... just as Kiyoko's father opened the door, staring at his daughter holding hands with a boy her age.

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!"

For a moment, there was stunned silence. Kiyoko was clenching Bokuto's hand in hers- if she let go, he would have been even more screwed than she already was.
"F-father this is not what it looks like-!" she finally sputtered, the entire view of their situation finally sinking in.
"Well what does it look like?!" her father snapped, glaring daggers at Bokuto. For all he knew, there was a boy in his daughter's room, in the middle of the night.

"I'm... helping her with research...?" the boy finally managed to muster, just barely surpressing that tiny distressed thrill in his throat. Big scary man in a village that hated their kind, ain't that a way to go out? Bokuto's eyes drifted towards the window. There was a way.
It would leave Kiyoko on very bad turf to explain her situation, tho.

Bokuto was currently in progress of digesting that 1. his wings were gone and 2. he could not make a fuss about it or else it was over.
"Research."
"R-remember the charm I received by praying? It would be disrespectful to ask for any more than this gracious gift, so I thought of replicating it... t-to be able to purify the winged demons."
Kiyoko was staring into her father's eyes, hopeful that this was enough to convince him to leave them be. Or at least not fry Bokuto on a stick for being in his daughter's room, unannounced.
"...very well. You have always been a spiritually gifted child. But keep the noise down."

The man shot a warning glare at Bokuto before slowly closing the door, heavy steps indicating that he moved back downstairs. Bokuto immediately tore his hand from Kiyoko, letting out a breath he didn't remember holding when his wings reappeared on his back.
"W-what the hell."
Kiyoko took a step back, eying Bokuto from head to toe. His wings were back.
"It... it worked. I-it actually worked. Oh Bokuto, you know what that means?"
Said one let out a nervous thrill. Yeah, what did that mean? He hadn't felt any different touching this supposed charm crafted by Kiyoko, and yet he knew that his arms had been rid of his feathers.
"It means I can reproduce the charm. I can give every single one of your family and Hinata's family and all the others- I-I can make hundreds of them."

Kiyoko's smile turned tearful. She had finally done it.
"...Bokuto, y-you can finally be free. You can explore beyond your forest. Nobody will see your wings."
Bokuto didn't quite understand what was happening at this point, but seeing Kiyoko so excited lured a somewhat happy chirp from his mouth. Well, he could help at least!

***

Kageyama stood at the edge of the forest, waiting, nervously wringing his hands together. Hinata had just up and left him after this charm had taken his wings for a hot second, and the panic that ensued had been more than justified.
"...and this will basically make his wings just... invisible? Not take them away?"
Kiyoko nodded, smiling from ear to ear. She had a bucket under her arm, filled to the brim with carefully crafted leather bracelets, charms engraved into them. She had gotten the permission of the elders this very morning to seek an audience with the socalled spirits, to offer these charms as an act of purification.

To them, this was more than that. A chance for everyone to live amongst each other, in peace. Kageyama sighed.
"I had hoped I could convince everyone that the bird folk was kind... and not a threat. I failed, miserably."
He clenched his teeth. Admitting this to himself was hard, really hard.
"If you wouldn't have shown up yesterday with this... whatever it was, I'm sure they would have killed Hinata and gone out into the forest, torches blazing. I'm such a moron."
Kiyoko placed a hand onto his shoulder, trying to comfort him a little.
"I didn't quite understand what happened myself, to be honest... and all this... from a white feather."

Kageyama nodded, deep in thought. A white feather. Kiyoko's most prized possession. And she had offered it to the altar, receiving this charm in return. And she had not only replicated it, she had erased the rune that was responsible for actually taking their wings away.
Now they would just be invisible. Still there, and invisible. Kageyama figured the birdfolk would be far more comfortable with that anyway.
"What about the second colony?"
"Bokuto took some with him to spread amongst his own... I hope they'll accept it."
Kageyama opened his mouth, but it shut with an audible click the moment he heard the noise of wings flapping above him.