Level Horizon (Haikyuu!! WingedAU)

Year Three 1/9; Dissolution & Moirai's Whisper

I don't believe in accidents. There are only encounters in history. There are no accidents. ~Pablo Picasso in History

The inhabitants of the beach house are just past year three at their coastal home when a message comes from Ukai, summoning Kuroo to town with all haste even as evening closes in.

The black cat returns with dire news. The shop owner has received a raven bearing an unsigned memo with two lines of urgent scrawl:

Five units dispatched on snake nest raid. Make yourselves scarce.

~ ~

Ryuunosuke Tanaka peruses the shelves laden with pretty little blown glass ornaments of a glass maker's stall in the small village market. The craftsman who made them is quite talented and it's rare to find a place like this in a small town so far off the beaten path and the coast; he absently wonders if there's one that his sister would like.

She wasn't really into flowers and cute girly things... she was far too cynical for those. She didn't wear much of what most people would term 'fine jewelry' and was picky about her earrings; she wouldn't wear any dangly type stuff. There really wasn't much that fit Saeko's particular style... but all the shiny little delicate trinkets and jewelry really were impressive.

Finally, one catches his eye and he bends down to get a better look at it. It's little more than a pin, but a moment of inspiration hits him when he remembers the way Saeko goes all out with her drum performances. The needlepoint itself is polished metal, but the simple glasswork piece affixed to its end is... almost perfect.

The graceful mitsudomoe insignia that was emblazoned across the face of her drums is captured perfectly in red dyed glass, underlined with smoky black. This small pin would be the perfect thing to keep her headwrap in place for performances. His hand absently reaches for it with quiet awe, but he pauses when his peripheral awareness stops him.

There's a second or two where he wonders if he's seeing things, because he could swear Hinata was over by a katsudon stand with Kageyama. He frowns and slowly turns his head toward the patch of orange hair beside him, utterly baffled at why the redhead would be interested in glass artwork. He catches his breath.

It's not Hinata.

But it could have been if he were a good couple centuries younger... and a girl.

It's like seeing a weird mirage, right down to the black wings that sprout from her shoulders that are flecked with white feathers on their undersides— exactly like Hinata's had been.

He takes in the kid beside him as she stares at the glass trinkets with her mouth set into a flat line but her eyes focused with an awed expression. She's a little thin, but on the verge of adolescence, her bright orange hair pulled into two unruly pigtails, her shirt coated with dust from the road.

And of everything about her, that last detail is what makes him frown, because she has wings. Most avians didn't traverse roads or earthen routes when they could fly. He glances back at her wings, but while they seem off somehow, he can see nothing obviously wrong with them.

So why would she be walking?

Was she injured?

Her eyes snap to him guardedly, suddenly aware of his critical focus, and he flinches. Almond eyes that could have been Hinata's watch him with sharp suspicion, her brows drawing down into a frown. They are creased with unease where Hinata's are often creased with laughter, but they are every bit as expressive.