Red Winter - /Haikyuu/

15. Friendly Gaze

"I thought your orange hair looked familiar." The man continued to laugh as if their entire world wasn't going to absolute shit outside.

"Why the hell do you have my sister?!" Hinata hissed, a hand resting over where his gun was hiding.

"Relax, kid. We saved her." The man shrugged, his shoulders low and his posture friendly. Hinata didn't drop his hostile stance.

"W-What do you mean?" Although he hated it, Hinata's voice faltered.

"She was getting attacked by zombies, and we killed them all and brought her here." The man said calmly.

"Zombies don't exist." Iwaizumi narrowed his eyes, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

"Look around you, kid. If those aren't zombies then my whole life has been a lie." The man put on a peaceful smile, his posture still lax. Neither of them laughed. "Look, we aren't going to hurt you, my name's Nagisa, my group and I will help you. We found the others that you were with. Sugawara, was it? Yeah. He's here, out of harm's way. And so are the others."

"Where?" Hinata pressed, still not sure about this.

"Hinata! Oh, you're alright!" A familiar, soft voice drifted through the air. "I see they found you two as well." Hinata turned around, dumbfounded, as he saw Sugawara's face.

"Sugawara...?" Hinata whispered, confusion seeping into his tone.

"It's alright, Hinata, we can trust these guys." Sugawara smiled at him.

"Yeah, they helped us. They even have food." Oikawa stepped beside the gray haired setter.

"Food?" Hinata stuttered out, his mouth salivating as his stomach grumbled.

"Yes, we have food. Are you hungry?" Nagisa asked, and Hinata shifted his gaze from place to place.

"Uh... Yeah, actually." Hinata muttered shyly. Natsu took his hand in hers.

"It's alright, Shoyo." She comforted and he licked his lips. He looked around, and sure enough, the others were there, too. Iwaizumi still looked unsure, but Hinata was so hungry he really didn't care much.

"Oh, Shoyo!" A gruff voice said as a terribly familiar orange haired man stood beside Nagisa.

"Dad." Hinata glared harshly at his father, eyes burning intensely with a deep rooted anger. The man who called himself his father stared right back, with that intimidating glare Hinata had inherited from him harshly burrowing into Hinata's skin.

"Good to see you're alright." The man finally caved first, allowing Hinata to feel triumphant.

"So will you join us, or not?" Nagisa snapped impatiently, and Hinata let out a soft sigh.

"Yeah, whatever, I'll join you." Hinata exhaled deeply, his stomach feeling slightly queasy at his decision.

"Good. Well, now that we've had this fun family reunion, we need to send someone out on a run. Hmm... I choose," Nagisa's frightening eyes flashed to Hinata. "Natsu!" The man gleefully declared, a giddiness hidden in his actions. Hinata's jaw dropped.

"But- But- she's just a child! You can't send her out there alone!" Hinata exclaimed, eyes wild with shock.

"So? I can and I will. Everyone needs to earn their keep here. Plus, I've sent her out before and she was fine, a little shaken up but not even a single scratch on her." Nagisa glared down at Hinata, making the boy shrink back in fear. Hinata's father didn't even seem bothered at all.

"Well, then, I'm going with her!" Hinata shouted in reply, and held rough eye contact with Nagisa for a few moments.

"Fine, then. Go. I'm not giving you a weapon, though. Only her." Nagisa sighed, exasperated, as he tossed Natsu a gun. Hinata secretly thanked the gods above that he still had the gun.