Level Horizon (Haikyuu!! WingedAU)

Year One 4/8; Trepidation & Shellback

  ***DISCLAIMER: This chapter contains graphic injury. Please be aware. ^.^  

Difficult situations don't make you, they reveal who you really are. ~Rose Russell

Ryuunosuke Tanaka scowls as he takes another fiber tie from Noya and focuses on a section of the net that Asahi holds up in front of him. This was definitely not how he'd planned to spend his day.

Noya had gotten the bright idea yesterday to use the Volley net as a spring trap across the main path that led to the road into Sheru Bay behind the house. His target had been Kageyama, returning from a hunt in the foothills off the coast with food for their evening meal... but they'd somehow overlooked the fact that he hadn't gone alone.

The prank had worked with devastating success.

Kageyama had come zipping back along the trail with Daichi just off his shoulder and Noya had tripped the catch perfectly for the net to snap into place with almost no time for them to react. Coming in behind them, Yachi had yelped and tried to brake, but the full force of both crows colliding with the net at the same time had snapped the saplings they'd attached it to, and she'd been caught with the rebounding ends from behind.

It had been, in Ryuu's opinion, one of the funniest things in the last century... until Yachi had all out screeched in panic.

Her earsplitting cry had rapidly drawn everyone from the house on the beach a thousand feet away and he'd felt... just a touch guilty. The rest of the former Karasuno unit had realized what had happened almost instantly given how he and Noya were cackling away, but Bokuto and Kuroo had set on the net with a vengeance, determined to rescue their companions. It had only made it more funny to Ryuu, and he and Noya had all but collapsed in their hilarity.

They'd drawn a shaking Yachi from the net first, Kiyoko enveloping her in a protective embrace and tossing a most unimpressed look their way. Hinata had busied himself with helping Kageyama up and trying to salvage what they could of the meat. Suga and Akaashi had retrieved Yachi's basket with the fruit she'd collected, only half of it crushed in the fray.

It had still been funny when it had finally dawned on Kuroo and Bokuto what had just happened. It had stopped being funny when Daichi had taken the black cat's extended hand and picked himself up out of the net with a wry smile directed right at them. And Ryuu had felt his gut plummet.

It was that look...

Daichi had turned to where the streaked owl was picking up the net with a look of dawning horror creeping into his large golden eyes, and then the sentry leader had looked back at them, his expression unchanged.

And holy balls had they been fucked, because the net was a disaster. There were holes and cut strings everywhere, the fibers snagged and the squares out of alignment.

It was probably the saddest thing he'd seen in the last century. Ryuu could swear he'd felt his future shiver under Daichi's gaze.

"Is this the Volley Net?" He'd asked almost cordially and they'd gone rigid. If he'd been mentally functional, he'd have pointed out that it was all Noya's idea, but he could only nod jerkily alongside the short crow.

"Then I trust you two won't have any issues with fixing it."

Asahi and Lev had returned from their trip into Sheru Bay a half hour later to find them camped out on the porch, piecing the casualty of their poor decision making back together.

"Is that the Volley net? What happened?" Asahi had asked incredulously. Hinata had paused as he'd walked by.

"They got themselves banned from the house until they fix that. They'll probably be lucky to even get dinner tonight." He'd said with a smirk and Lev had let out a low whistle.