Crows Like Shiny Things (Hinakage)

Tanaka vs Forest and New Parents

Tanaka stood in midst of the sandy path leading from his school to the quiet village he resided in, staring off into the distance.
Behind him were fields, worked on by the village's men and women to bring food to their people and in front of him was the forest.

For a while, Tanaka stood there, quiet. It was unusual for the loud wing spiker, and yet, he couldn't just bury his curiosity. Asahi had come to school today, yet he was unfocused and seemed frustrated with himself. And god beware, he did not want to spill the tea on what was bothering him, no matter how much they harrassed him.
Tanaka was sure, it had to do with the forest and its spirits.

He was dying know, dying to see what on god's earth was in that forest. Tanaka could feel it calling him, waiting for him, but who was he to just give in to some irrational nonsense?

Right. He was Tanaka.

And into the forest he went, gladly searching for the irrational nonsense his common sense was screaming at him to avoid. Within his thoughts, Tanaka could hear Suga and Daichi frantically screaming at him to turn back, and it only made him chuckle.

"Welp, they ain't here now. And gosh darnit if those spirits dare touch Kiyoko-sama I will raise hell and beyond...!!"

Confidence shining in his appearance, Tanaka picked off a wooden stick from the ground that looked somewhat sturdy and grinned to himself.

"Perfect weapon."

And on he went, shouting every few meters, every few steps he took.

"Come and get me, you fucking bastards!! Ain't nobody freakin' out our volleyball ace NOR stealing our new setter!! Come out and face me!!"

***

Kageyama stared face to face into the eyes of a man a little smaller than him, yet wings even bigger than Hinata's. He didn't have Hinata's eyes, yet he did have Hinata's hair- and damn, if those eyes weren't cold and distrusting, he did not know what was.
It was tense; Hinata sat next to Kageyama with his head lowered, left wing protectively wrapped around Kageyama's shoulders to shield him from any possible harm.

Finally, the voice of a young girl broke the silence as she shouted at Kageyama.

"Puuuuhhh you stink!!"

All three of them turned to face the small winged child sitting on her mother's lap, baby-wings fluffed up a little and her nose scrunched up in disgust. While Kageyama's expression turned into surprise, Hinata couldn't contain himself and bursted into laughter.
"N-Natsu that's not nice!!"
"Shouyou!!" his father snarled from the side and Hinata immediately silenced, lowering his head back down again.

"How could you, Shouyou. How could you bring a human here?! Into our village?! Do you know how dangerous that is?!"
"Tou-san, I-"
"Silence when I'm talking!! And you-!"
Kageyama raised his hand and the man backed away with a small flinch. A little surprised about the skittishness, Kageyama proceeded to lower it again.

"I-I apologize for the intrusion. H-Hinata said I could s-stay... f-for a bit." Kageyama finally blurted out, hands clenched into fists. He avoided his eyes by now.
Hinata-san stared the strange human in front of him down, then exchanged a glance with his wife.
"...Shouyou, I just don't understand. We didn't raise you to break our oldest and most valued rules, I-"
The man cut himself off and let out a soft distressed chirp, resorting his wife to extend a wing to touch his gently in attempt to calm him down.

"T-tou-san, let me explain at least!"
Silence. And while he could see his father was still furious, he did see that as his permission to continue.
"K-Kageyama and I are... friends. Good friends."
A small glance over to Kageyama, who gave a slight nod of agreement in return- Hinata would have burst into tears of joy about that acceptance if it hadn't been for the situation.
"And... t-the humans saw us playing at the edge of the forest. They sent him here."
"They did what?!" Hinata's father interrupted him loudly, voice a pitch higher.
"N-not to spy!! I swear!!"

Kageyama took a deep breath, feeling this argument might get nowhere. He gathered his courage, then spoke up again.
"They said I'm... tainted. Cursed. That Hinata's a forest spirit, and t-that I belong to the forest spirits now... T-they told me to never come back. To stay in the forest."
His voice was dry. Kageyama felt it all coming up again, the cold voice of his mother, all the elder's icy and merciless glares that had banished him deep into the woods, and now that he was here, without anything to his name, without his career as a volleyball player, he found it was hard to breathe.

"...forest spirit?" The man finally replied, a little settled down. At a good glance, that human did seem like one of their young. Kageyama shrugged his shoulders in return.
"Mhm. Bad omen... misfortune bringers. I-I don't believe that. Hinata's been nice. He's a dumbass-" "HEY!!" "-but no evil spirit. And neither are you. Or Nishinoya. I don't believe it."
Hinata puffed his cheeks a little, clearly sulking about that unnecessary remark, and even more so when his little sister Natsu started giggling.

"Shouyou's a dumbass! Shouyou's a dumbass!"
"Natsu!" her mother finally shushed her, then looked up at her husband.
"Look at that poor human, he has nowhere to go. And their nearest human village is more than a day's trip away- and he can't even fly."
Hinata's father proceeded to stare Kageyama down for a few more seconds, then finally deflated with a small sigh; fluffed up feathers slinking down a little as he relaxed.
"You didn't bring him here just on a whim, I guess... If his village banished him, then he does have nowhere to go. How can they just leave their young like this, I don't understand..."

He drove a hand through his messy orange hair, the same way Hinata always did. It almost made Kageyama smile.
"I don't think there is much of a choice... We would defy our traditions to abandon nature's young, even if they are human. Fine."
Finally looking back down at Kageyama, he nodded to himself as if to settle his own argument.
"You may stay."

Hinata let out a squeal and jerked his wings close- with that a very surprised Kageyama over his lap, who let out a squeak in return.
"O-oi pay attention boke!!"
"-But-"
Immediately all anger vaporized inside Kageyama's face and both looked up at him again.
"You're responsible for your own nest, you're not sleeping in ours. Not that we don't want you-"

"You stink like human!!" Natsu screeched happily, bouncing up and down on her mother's lap, who turned bright red and covered her mouth. Kageyama flushed red as well, fumbling with his fingers, not quite sure what to answer. Humans stink to those birds?? That was a new information to Kageyama.
"Natsu you're being rude! Apologize to our guest."
Natsu looked up at her mother, then at Kageyama, before mumbling a quiet ashamed apology. Kageyama waved it off- god beware he would let the insults of a small toddler get to his head.
"-and you're helping around the village. We'll let the others know about your arrival tomorrow. For now, I think you should focus on getting a nest ready for yourself."

Hinata gasped and took Kageyama's hands into his, ignoring the bubbling feeling inside his stomach.
"Ah! We'll do that together! I'll help you!! I'll make you a real-cozy nest, I swear!!"
Kageyama looked down at his hands in Hinata's and found himself oddly pleased. Why not?