Level Horizon (Haikyuu!! WingedAU)

Year Three 3/9; Staggering Convolution

As soon as there is love, there is danger. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Do you see it, Daichi?" The thrush asks softly with a pained lilt that catches Kuroo Tetsurou's attention.

Suga is watching the avian heir and two redheads with an almost mournful expression. Specifically, he watches the girl as Hinata shows which ridges in his back are which bones using an unusually patient Kageyama's wings. The girl almost reverently touches the crow setters long, sleek flight feathers, but Kuroo can't tell what has the thrush so fixated.

"I can." Tanaka says darkly. Daichi nods slightly and Kuroo frowns.

"What are you guys seeing?" The thrush turns to him apologetically, having not realized he and Kenma wouldn't follow.

"Almost all avian species have the same number of main flight feathers or 'primaries'. These are controlled by the small distal bones at the ends of the wing and are crucial for flight. The secondaries run along the next long bone and can vary widely between species, but the number of primaries is usually the same with little deviance." He says with a slight edge and Kuroo cocks a brow.

"So what's wrong with her 'primaries'?" He prompts.

"She's missing a few. Ordinarily, you could assume that she's just lost them and waiting for them to grow back in. But you don't see any holes in the lines of feathers and she's missing the same number on both wings." He says quietly, a shadowy frown creasing his features. But Kuroo is still not getting what he's trying to explain.

"Meaning?" He prods.

"She's been pinioned." Tanaka growls, his scowl approaching a level that indicates he's legitimately ticked. Kuroo wants to huff.

The mini redhead isn't the only one speaking another language here.

"Not following the avian lingo. In ignorant cat terms please." Kuroo says with a sigh.

"She's been clipped. And not just had her feathers hacked or pulled. Someone removed the distal bone in her wings. Remove a foundational part of the wing, the feathers don't grow either. It's called pinioning and it's done with the express purpose of preventing flight. Whoever did it was experienced, because she still has a majority of them and it's only noticeable if you're paying attention." Daichi answers in a level voice and Kenma's eyes flash beside him.

"She can't fly?"

"She can probably manage a haphazard fall— enough to slow the descent for a rough landing, but actually leave the ground without using a cliff? Unlikely. She can't generate the thrust it takes to do it without those missing feathers." Tanaka mutters.

"You mean, she's grounded, too?" He asks incredulously. Suga's disquieted expression lands on him squarely.

"It might be even worse than that. Depending on when that was done, Natsu may have never flown before or at least has no memory of it... and she has no leveler to fix it."

Kuroo's brow furrows in disquiet, a frown darkening his face. Finding the shrimp's kid sister is a complication, but a workable one. Finding her grounded in such a flighty state in this particular area, however, makes him uneasy.

Bringing the others into territory where fewer sentries patrolled had been a calculated risk that he was well aware of, but with the appearance of the smaller redhead, he has a gut feeling the stakes have just gotten much higher. Hinata and probably the rest of the former sentries will likely balk at leaving her behind; he can sympathize, but bringing her with may be far more difficult— and dangerous— than any of them realize.