Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plot and any Oc's, this is for entertainment only.

On a completely unrelated note, timeline? What timeline? Ain't nobody got time for that. Aka I'm not going to bother with adjusting things so they match up with certain dates and times.

How it all started

Sugawara Koushi, age eight, was running around the park nearest his house. He had been allowed outside for today, and was, naturally, excited. The only thing that would make it better would be if he could play volleyball, but he was a mild-mannered child, and was satisfied with what he had.

When he had been outside for about an hour, and was beginning to tire out, Sugawara noticed a weird noise coming from the nearby bushes. It was a frantic, kind of rough and squeaky noise, plus the sound of something knocking against the bushes. It kind of sounded like one of the birds he had heard when it landed on his windowsill, but different. He was curious, so he scrambled over to the bush, not considering the potential danger. Such casual disregard for the consequences of an action, as only children can pull off.

At least Sugawara exhibited some caution while moving the leaves aside to find whatever had made the sound. He carefully pushed the leaves around, searching, and jumped in shock when the rustling came again, but from right beside him. Losing all wariness in his excitement, he quickly moved over to the leaves and pushed them aside, grinning when he stumbled across his target.

However, the grin quickly fell from his lips when he got a good look. It was a massive bird, with feathers a deep and glossy black that shimmered with blues and purples in the light. The beak and talons were a matching, though more dull, black, and gleamed almost menacingly. A shocking contrast to its coloring, the sharp eyes were a brilliant, glowing orange color. For a brief moment, Sugawara was entranced by those eyes, before his mothering instincts, already powerful even at his young age, kicked in and had him snapping out of his awe.

He wasn't an expert on birds, but it was pretty obvious from the awkward angle of its wing and the blood matting its feathers that the bird was hurt. With a better look at the situation, he recognized the sounds it was making as ones of pain. Not thinking of the damage it could do with those wicked talons and sharp beak, he reached out for the bird. It went silent, gaze focusing on him, and feathers puffing up slightly in fear. The attempt at intimidation was unfruitful however, as the boy still didn't hesitate.

At this time, an ordinary animal would lash out, probably leaving bloody furrows in the boy's arm. He was no ordinary animal, though. He was a total softie who couldn't stand the thought of hurting someone else, so even with the thought that he was about to be killed by this dangerous human circling through his head, he simply cowered.

Luckily, Sugawara recognized his body language as being similar to the frightened stray cats he had previously rescued.

The mothering instincts are strong in this one.

Anyways, seeing how frightened the bird was, he stopped reaching out, and instead held his hands up in clear view. Meeting the birds intense, almost hypnotizing gaze, he began to speak in a soothing voice.

"Hey, I promise I won't hurt you. It's just that you look really hurt, so I wanted to try and help. If you come over here, I'll just take you back home and see if I can find someone to help. I won't hurt you, promise. Well, sometimes it hurts when my scratches are getting fixed up, but it will help make it better. Momma always says the pain is to show its healing."

The silver-haired child was expecting to be at this for a while. With the cats he had rescued, it took a lot of talking in a soothing voice before they would relax and come to him. He was gearing up for a long, one-sided conversation, when the bird carefully stood and, on wobbly legs, shuffled over to him. Sugawara felt even more worried at its unsteady gait, and the blood dripping off its feathers to stain the grass red didn't help.

The bird, recognizing the words from the human language it was learning, understood only part of the sentence. It did know enough to understand he wanted to help. Far more trusting than most of its species, it immediately believed him.

Finally, it's limping shuffle-esque thing brought it close enough to the boy. Exhausted, the bird simply allowed itself to collapse into his arms, and looked up with trust-filled eyes.

Sugawara was glad it hadn't taken long, not bothering with thoughts about why it came to him so easily. Children rarely considered such things, simply accepting them as they were. Lifting the bird as he stood, he started to hurry back home, distractedly marvelling at the soft silkiness of the feathers. They felt even better than the softest, comfiest things he had touched. He expected the feathers to be stiff, what with how they looked and what he had heard about birds.

Meeting the parents

Sugawara's mother arched an eyebrow at the sight of her son with a strange, large bird in his arms. However upon noticing it was injured, she immediately went from suspicious to concerned. Koushi had to get his mothering instincts from somewhere, after all. Efficiently, and used to her son's tendency of bringing home injured animals, she grabbed her bag and led her son out. Grabbing a blanket on the way, she tossed it to her son.

Koushi was used to this routine, and wrapped the bird up as he climbed into the backseat of the family car. Soon enough, they were on the way to the vet, and his mother was nodding along as he told her in great detail how he had found the bird. Along with what he had been playing, how much fun he was having, and a few other non-essential details. He was a child, after all.

His mother hummed in thought, finally nodding. "It seems like he was a domesticated bird." At her son's confused look, she corrected herself. "I mean he lived with humans, so he's used to them. He probably got too big or taking care of him was more work than they expected."

Koushi looked shocked at the idea. "Why would someone do something like that? That's wrong!"

His mother sighed. "Koushi-chan, not everyone is a good person. People do mean things sometimes, just because they think it's easier, or even fun. It's a lot harder to do the right thing, Koushi. Personally though, I think it's worth it."

Angry Birds

Sugawara squirmed under the judging gaze of the bird sitting in front of him. Bandages wrapped around its wing, and a splint kept the broken bone in place. The vet's office had been, well, an experience.

"I told you it might hurt a little! But it's better now, which means you shouldn't be angry! You should be happy, right?"

The judging stare continued. Sugawara squirmed some more. Suddenly, after a few minutes of this tense atmosphere, the bird turned its orange gaze away and made a weird huffing noise. Sugawara blinked. The bird looked at his expression, and made the noise again. Slowly, a look of realization dawned upon his face. It was laughing. That bird was totally laughing at him! A red flush colored his face. He was being teased by that bird!

"Hey, quit laughing at me! Stop it! I helped you, you should act properly grateful, right!"

The bird composed itself, and staring at him, gave a low bow. Sugawara gaped some more. The bird started making the huffing sound again, turning its head to the side. His eyebrow twitched.

"Quit that!"

Little Giants

"Hey, bird. Look at that." The bird cocked its head, following his gaze to the TV. It chuffed slightly, shifting to get more comfortable, and watched with him.

"That's volleyball, bird. It's definitely the best sport you can play! There's no feeling quite like it." The bird watched curiously, seeing the humans running around on screen. The camera suddenly switched perspective, just in time to see the smallest human jump up and spike, scoring a point for the team. Even though a raven didn't have the facial muscles to display a range of emotions, Sugawara managed to recognize the sense of awe the bird got from that moment. He smirked in pride, happy to see the bird finally taking an interest.

"That right there, is the Little Giant. Usually, volleyball is a sport where height is su~per important. You have to be able to get over the net to both block and score, so you need to be tall. But that guy, the Little Giant, he doesn't need height. He can jump so high, and is so skilled at mid-air battles, that he doesn't need to be tall. He's even his team's ace!"

The bird eagerly soaked in every piece of information. So cool! A human who could fly, he'd bet the others hadn't seen anything like that before. Even though he had wings to soar with, he couldn't help but feel awed. After all, flying with a body meant for it, and flying when it's something you shouldn't be capable of are two very different things.

"You know, bird, someday I want to be on that team. I want to play volleyball with Karasuno, and I'll go to nationals with them!" The raven refocused on him upon hearing this, and upon seeing the determination held in his eyes, got an idea. He already owed him a life debt, after all. This would fulfill it.

Even if he was picked on for his tiny size in all of his forms, (while he seemed to be a massive bird, among the rest of his kind he was tiny), he could still fly without wings, like only a human could.

Farewell, my feathered friend

Over the months he had been healing, Sugawara and bird had grown really close. Despite being different species, it was hard to find one without the other. On a side note, bird now had an excellent grasp of the human Japanese language. Anyways, considering how close they were, it was only natural that Sugawara was crying pretty loudly as bird prepared to leave.

Over the last months, Sugawara had become abnormally good at figuring out bird's moods and feelings, though his parents thought he was just being imaginative. He knew that bird wasn't going to be coming back this time, thus, the crying. Bird made a chuffing noise, shuffling onto his shoulder and rubbing his face against Sugawara's cheek. Tears dripped onto his feathers, but the comfort at least managed to make Sugawara give a tremulous smile.

Seeing this, the bird whapped him across the head with one powerful wing. When he shouted in pain and turned to glare at bird, the creature used its other wing to point towards a photograph sitting on the mantle. It was one his mother had taken, with Sugawara grinning wide enough that his eyes closed, with birds massive wings spread wide behind the two from his place on Suga's shoulder.

Understanding the intention behind the action, Sugawara sucked up his tears and snot, and carried bird outside for one last time. Holding up an arm, bird hopped to the outstretched limb, and turned to meet grey eyes with orange. They shared one last look, before bird beat his wings once, twice, then three times, creating a rather strong breeze to blow into the others face. Sugawara squinted against the wind, but his eyes opened fully once again upon feeling the weight on his arm lifting off.

Wide eyes stared upwards, watching silently and gleaming with tears once again as bird circled around his head a few times, gave one last look, and flew away. Absently, he stretched a hand outward, up to the sky. Behind him, his mother smiled softly, looking at the newest picture on her camera.

In it, Sugawara was at the middle, arm reaching out towards bird, whose form was highlighted by the sun. There was oddly a sense of both wistfulness and anticipation about the picture. Truly, bird was one of the most majestic creatures she had ever seen. His glossy feathers naturally outshone even the most well cared-for birds she had ever seen, she had seen his intense orange eyes stop humans and animals alike in their tracks upon meeting them, and his powerful form could steal your breath away. He wasn't a pet, she had seen it from the start, and she couldn't explain his odd, un-birdlike tendencies. She hadn't let her Koushi-chan name him, because she could tell that it wouldn't be accepted.

She had the oddest feeling that someday, they would come to know bird's name anyways.

Five Flowers, One Soul

Delphinium, boldness. Freesia, spirited. Hydrangea, perseverance. Calla, regal. Finally, the largest flower on the top, Ranunculus, radiance. All in varying shades of purple, which represented royalty. They were wrapped around each other, and kept his hair tied in a high ponytail, as was his culture. His people wore their hair long, to symbolize remembrance and respect of what had been done for them in the past. While they were one of the most progressive species, they also believed you could not forget what had already been done, or you would be doomed to repeat your mistakes.

When the children turned five, they would immediately be taken to the most powerful Sight Magic user in their domain. There, they would have their strongest traits read. Five flowers would bloom in their soul to represent these traits, to be drawn out when they turned ten. The hair ties his people wore were actually these five flowers. In times of celebration or great emotion, the flowers would grow until they covered all of their hair in a blooming mass of bright colors and petals.

Hinata Shouyo

"Hinata!"

"It's Hinata, guys!"

"Look, he's back!"

The object of everyone's attention walked down the streets, jumping about, waving, and smiling at everyone with the force and warmth of the sun. He had bright orange, luxurious hair that fell to his ankles when untied, though in it's current high-ponytail, it was a bit higher.

Usually, his people had dark, dull hair colors, like black, brown, or grey. So people like himself and Sexual Harassment-sama, who had bright orange and gold hair respectively, drew a lot of attention.

Several people of both genders sighed dreamily upon seeing his smile. It was only natural, considering he was the most beautiful person in their entire domain, which included 30 million ravens.

Silky, bright hair. Entrancing orange eyes. Smooth skin and delicate bone structure. An attractive face and petite, well-proportioned body shape with the most amazing muscles. Wide, powerful wings with feathers a glossy black so deep it seemed to have blue and purple tints when the light hit them. The unusual purple flowers that represented royalty only added another layer of appeal, even if his family was no longer ruler of anything except the cooking world.

A beautiful, bright and friendly ex-royal who few people know much about. It's no wonder people were fawning over him. His female form was just as entrancing, though he was usually in a masculine mood, like right now.

Of course, no one actually pursued him, for two reasons. For the older generations, it was because he was only 23. That was barely out of infancy! He'd barely be the raven equivalent of human pre-teens when he hit 30, not an actual teen until 35, and adulthood was far away at age 60. Their people physically matured at the same rate as humans, until age 21 where their aging froze, but mentally they grew far slower. Sure they thought he was beautiful, but it was a feeling like that of a proud relative. Well, usually. Every society has their black sheep. Of course that wasn't a problem for the younger generation. What stopped them, was a someone.

Sexual Harassment-sama

"Alright guys, I'm off to talk to sexual harassment-sama!" These words, said in a cheerful tone, had the group of young pre-teens he was with paling. One chuckled nervously. "You know if anyone else called him that, they probably wouldn't get to see the next sunrise…" Hinata blinked in confusion.

"What are you talking about. Sure he can be annoying, but it's not like he's dangerous!"

'Not to you, maybe!' Was the shared thought of everyone listening.

After all, Hinata's "Sexual Harassment-sama" was more commonly known as the crown prince. Calm, cool, and intelligent, anything that annoyed or got in his way was quickly removed. However, he was fair, and while he would certainly terrorize someone who annoyed him, he wouldn't use his power maliciously without good cause.

The only discrepancy in his Ice Prince routine was when he was with Hinata, his childhood friend, who was also his only friend. And obsession. Though the politically correct term was crush. Around Hinata, he would actually smile, occasionally laugh, and sport a semi-permanent amused expression. Along with properly living up to the moniker Hinata gave him. It had been quite shocking to walk through the gardens and stumble across the scene of the prince trying and failing to kiss Hinata, who was oblivious to the reason and thought he was being made fun of.

It seemed the prince's tendency of teasing Hinata in their childhood had backfired on him. Because of how often Hinata had been picked on when he was just a shrimp who was ridiculously good at flying, he was now completely oblivious to matters of the heart. You would have to declare the intent to sex him up to his face, and even then he might somehow misinterpret it. The prince was both an object of respect and pity due to this. And jealousy, because Hinata. He got to spend nearly all his time with the number one most adored person among the ravens.

"Sexual Harassment-sama!" Dramatically slamming the doors open, Hinata bounced through the doorway. Prince Otsuki Yagami winced slightly at the name he couldn't seem to get rid of, and simultaneously gained a small smile considering who it was that arrived. He had fallen for Hinata back when he was still a shrimp whose personality (and hair) was so bright that even he didn't notice just how attractive his features were. He fell for him long before, the newly-realized attractiveness just made holding back a lot harder. It would be great if Hinata was a little more body shy, because at least then he wouldn't have gotten that terrible nickname.

He had been dealing with hormones at the time, okay!? Don't judge him!

"Hinata." He added a throaty purr to his voice, more out of habit than anything since he knew Hinata wouldn't actually notice. Ah, the days when he thought such things would actually work. Sure, Hinata had pretty bluntly said he thought Otsuki was good looking, but the orange-haired boy couldn't even comprehend the idea of someone else liking him or even considering him attractive. Those morons who teased the other about how no one would ever like someone like him had really screwed up his confidence in his appearance and personality. He couldn't even really do anything about it since he had been one of those morons. Hinata just thought he was making fun of him when he tried. If he could, he would tell his child self that teasing is a horrible, horrible way to make your crush like you.

"Hey, I need your help! Alright, so I've acquired a life debt, and to fulfill it, I'm going to pretend to be a human for a few years!" Otsuki blinked several times, thinking he had heard wrong.

"What."

"I need to go to school with little humans!"

The prince felt a headache oncoming. Bringing a hand up to massage the bridge of his nose, he heaved a sigh. "Start at the beginning."

Being human

"Man, sexual harassment-sama is really smart! I wouldn't have thought of this at all!"

It turned out that his hastily thrown together plan to show up and start attending school until he got into Karasuno and played volleyball with Sugawara-san wouldn't work. So sexual harassment-sama helped him plan things out a little better. He found a nearby family that would act as his guardians, sign him up for school, and give him the records and backstory to show he existed in the human world. It was pretty lucky that they even shared his last name, Hinata.

He had gotten some medical records and a birth certificate, along with other papers that he didn't really bother with learning about. All he knew was it would help him blend in with the humans.

Reaching the address he was assigned to, he flew in through the window, landing on the floor in his full-raven form. The kind-looking woman in front of him blinked briefly, and gave an admiring look that he didn't notice. Seeing how unsurprised she looked, he found that part of himself that let him change forms and pulled. Warm tides of his magic flooded his body, and in ten seconds he had completely changed forms. Well, almost. He glared slightly behind himself at the massive wings that were now proportionate to his human form's size, and pulled a little more, finally forcing them to disappear under his skin.

The woman in front of him giggled slightly, smiling at his actions. Seeing the look, rather than be offended he smiled back. After all, smiling people were the best, even if they weren't showing it properly, cause it meant they were happy. It was a pretty great feeling to know you made someone happy in any way.

Of course, when he went to take a step he promptly face-planted. It felt really weird for his limbs to be so much shorter than his head said they should be. Oh, on another note he now looked the same as he did when he was taken on the same appearance as the one he had when he was six years old. He was genuinely de-aged and would seem to be six years old no matter what you did to check, and the process wasn't reversible. He would grow as a normal human just like he did before. Well, he retained his mental maturity at least, which actually wasn't saying much considering he was still a child in terms of Raven maturity. Nine years until he was the equivalent of a pre-teen. Nine years until he got to Karasuno High and would play with Sugawara again.

"Are you Hinata Shouyou-kun?" The nice looking lady asked, still smiling. He blushed in embarrassment, and stuttered out an answer.

"Y-yes ma'am! Ah, Hinata Shouyou, six years old, will be seven in June, star sign is Gemini-Cancer cusp, my favorite food is Tamago Kake Gohan, I like volleyball and dislike being teased, and my dream is to fly without wings!" He panted slightly upon finishing, then flushed an even brighter red upon realising he had rambled. "S-sorry…"

Hinata-san just chuckled again, already feeling affectionate towards this funny, sweet child. "Alright, so we're going to be a family from now on. There's no need to be formal."

"F-family?" He blushed again. "S-so, Haha-ue?" She frowned slightly at the use of the formal manner of saying mother, but quickly smiled before the nervous boy could see it. She didn't want a misunderstanding to occur after all. "If that's what you're comfortable with, Shouyou-chan. I'd like it if you called me less formally though."

Hinata didn't hear the last part, having spaced out upon being given permission. A family, he had a family. A wonderful, kind, beautiful, gentle mother who could look at him without flinching.

"I promise, I won't be a burden to you, haha-ue!" Stating this in a cheerful manner, he didn't understand the look on her face. But she seemed to like him, so he didn't worry about it.

"I'll properly pay for my stay as soon as I'm able too, and I won't take up space in your house by making you keep me here, so you don't need to worry about that! I'm sorry that I'll be eating your food, but I'll help around the house to make up for it!" He seemed so joyous and excited that the woman didn't comprehend his words for several precious seconds. When the meaning finally hit her, she was horrified, but before she could rebuke his words he had taken her silence as an agreement, and turned to leap out the window, changing into his full-raven form in mid-air as he leapt out. She gave a small gasp, reaching a hand out towards him, but he was already gone.

Shouyou was someone whose pace you couldn't help but get caught up in, so each time he came over, she never succeeded in bringing up him staying with her, and that he didn't actually have to help out because she was happy to care for him, even if his cooking was divine. Somehow though, the hurricane that was his personality never let her even think of it, too busy smiling and laughing alongside him, only to remember long after he had left.

Well, at least he and Natsu got along like a house on fire. Even when she was an infant he was her favorite person, her first word was nii-san, and once she got a little older she was well on her way to developing a brother complex.

The woman who once held a place in the sun

Hinata Kagura, who never had a maiden name, was once the most beautiful woman among all the ravens. She held a kind and generous, yet strong personality, and people flocked to her in droves. She found joy in the simplest things, and held to the belief that while life can be hard, it's still worth living. In more difficult times, this became the thought that, I've made it this far, I won't give up now.

Even with how far she has now fallen, her refusal to give up is something that one can respect.

One day long ago, this lovely woman had been running her restaurant just as she usually was. It specialized in a variety of dishes, each kept fresh with magic, and was considered one of the best restaurants around. With every dish, she put all her love and joy for life in it, and served it with a smile. The atmosphere of the place was always bright, and no matter how terrible your day might have been, everything would seem just a little better as soon as you walked in the door.

On this particular day, Kagura didn't have many customers. It was very busy, and few people had any free time. She was cleaning the counter when the door swung open, and when she looked up her mouth went dry. A rather handsome man, around her age, with hair an orange so bright it felt like she was staring into a Winter Bonfire, stood silhouetted against the skyline. It wasn't his appearance that caught her attention so well, though. It was his magic.

It gave off a warm feeling, like faithfulness and warmth and burning passion all at once. On that day, Kagura fell in love.

Eventually, the stranger whose name was revealed to be Hinata Amagawa, which meant heaven's river, fell for her in return. He was a good man, it was true, and he had all those things that his magic said he did. But she was young, and they were foolish, so she always ignored that part of his magic she didn't like, the flower in his hair that meant beware, because flower meanings could be interpreted in different ways, and the bad feeling she got was just foolishness. He had another flower that meant fragile, and she thought it represented his delicate, gentle personality. Turns out it meant the fragility of his love for her. When fires burn bright, they also burn fast, until there's nothing left to burn.

Royalty, even if they are royal no longer, are often raised without a full comprehension of the repercussions of their actions. Things are given to them so easily that it is hard to teach them the true worth of things, the worth one can only understand when something is achieved through hard work. Kagura knew he was an ex-royal, knew he had been raised like that, but she thought it didn't matter because it didn't affect him anymore, didn't affect them.

Oh, she was wrong. So very wrong.

Because one day, he left. He had grown bored of her, and sure she was still beautiful, but he just wasn't interested any longer. He had found a pretty human woman, and she was pretty interesting too, so he was leaving. That's all the note he left said, because to him, the matter wasn't worth any more consideration. It had always been simple, always been shallow to him, and while he wasn't a bad guy, not mean or cruel or rude, he was shallow.

He didn't understand in the least just how deep Kagura had been.

She was in love, love, love with him, and thought he loved her back. Her love was deep, smoldering, and unwavering, that of someone who would remain forever faithful. His love was bright and passionate and fiery. It was genuine, he truly loved her while it lasted, but things that are hot, burn out faster. To someone like him, it was a simple matter to love and move on. If he had been more empathetic, had more sense, been less shallow, things might have turned out better. Because long-lasting love doesn't burn forever hot and bright. Love that lasts is the slow-burn of a hearth at home, not necessarily powerful or exciting, though sometimes it sparks and flares brighter before it dies back down to smoldering. Lasting love is peace and happiness and comfort in someone else's presence.

Kagura was looking for lasting love.

Amagawa was looking for excitement.

So he moved on and she didn't, and soon enough she had a child with all of her beauty, and his bright bright colors. And she named him Shouyou, flying heaven, because she wanted him to soar freely when she couldn't. He would never be a river, because rivers flow fast and hard and then they're gone, replaced with new water, but he would fly, and she wanted him to hold a piece of his father, even if it was just as the meaning in a name. She was a broken woman now, she knew, and she knew her ways of raising him weren't right, that they hurt her darling heaven. But she couldn't seem to do differently, not anymore.

Once upon a time, she had been strong. Now though, she was far, far too weak. She couldn't look at her own child without remembering orange locks fluttering wildly in the breeze while her beloved heaven's river spun her around, laughing loudly. She knew her desperation to keep him from becoming like his father hurt him terribly, but she couldn't seem to stop.

So she didn't let him sleep in the house, convincing herself this was so he could develop perseverance and determination. He had to work for every single thing he got, including his meals, and she told herself this was so he would value everything he was given. When she taught him how to cook like herself, praise was infrequent and impersonal when it did come, and cold words were the rule, not the exception. She had become so good at deluding herself by now, why not do it some more? So she told herself that her heart didn't hurt when her Shouyou gave her the same loving, adoring smile that he always had even through his harsh treatment at her hands. Shouyou had gotten the best from both of them. He loved both fiercely, and enduringly. A brilliant sun that wouldn't go out for millennia, and there was nothing that stood a chance at extinguishing it. No matter how harsh and cold and unforgiving, his love didn't even dim, stars were, after all, made to survive in those conditions.

She told herself that it was all for the best, as she continued to hurt him and he continued to love her, and whenever that honest part of her spoke up, she would deny it to her deathbed. Because it said that this was her petty sort of revenge on the man who she loved and who left her, her payback on his phantom that seemed to cling to his child with his same orange hair and bright smiles.

Kagura now ran a restaurant that carried the freshest foods and most delicious dishes, but every time you walked in you couldn't help but feel cold.

First day at school

"Hi! It's nice to meet you all, I hope we get along!" The words were said cheerfully and in a bright, friendly tone. Despite his happy tone, he was bracing himself, and was not mistaken to do so.

"What weird looking hair…"

"Man, his eyes are so creepy, that color isn't normal, and are they glowing?"

"Shrimp."

"What's with that cheery personality, he seems annoying…"

His supernaturally good hearing caught every word, and even though he had gone through this sort of thing before, he wished he couldn't hear them. But he smiled, and bore with it, because Sugawara was there at the end of the road, and even if his friend didn't know about him, he couldn't let him be disappointed.

So when someone stuck a leg out and he, naturally clumsy and unused to this body as he was, tripped over it, he just smiled and apologized. Because sometimes kindness was enough.

As he headed to his seat with the sound of laughter behind him, he smiled a slightly more genuine smile. Even if kindness wasn't enough for them, it was enough for him, and that was what mattered.

Little things

"Hey, hey, could you teach me please?" Pleading orange eyes blinked up at the man who towered over him. The adult volleyball player winced at the look, feeling the need to punch something to feel manly again after that amount of cuteness. He wouldn't be so easily swayed though, even though this had been going on for a while already. Maybe being a little harsher would scare him off.

"A tiny little thing like you? As if! Do you really think you can succeed in volleyball as anything but a libero?"

Those adorable eyes suddenly sharpened, pupils elongating into slits, and he glared up at the taller person. "Do you really think I care about whether or not it's possible? Sometimes, it's the little things that matter, after all." The adult looked slightly shocked, but soon enough he shrugged and gave a breezy sigh. It seemed as though he had lost this one.

"Alright then, little big thing. It seems you're pretty into this, but let's see if you can actually keep it up." Hinata blinked at the weird nickname, but shrugged since it didn't matter. He was learning volleyball, which meant he was finally going to fly like a human!

The adult grumbled to himself, and couldn't help but wonder why he agreed so easily. Usually a little bit of talking big wouldn't be nearly enough to get him to agree. There was something about this shrimp, that made it so you couldn't help but get caught up in his pace.

Whatever. He had a new student to teach, and after a few minutes of watching the kid fail miserably, he sighed and stepped forwards.

"You really weren't kidding about needing a teacher, huh, little big thing? Now watch, cause this is how you do it without falling on your face…"

Charisma

Normal influential people had charisma like a planet, with a gravitational pull that unconsciously dragged you in and didn't let you go, not that you'd want it to, because space was cold and lonely, and it was so much warmer here with them.

Hinata Shouyou meanwhile, had the charisma of a star. A pull so powerful that entire planets revolved around it, unable to escape. Most people built worlds with their charisma. Hinata built solar systems.

Looking at it that way, he was more like a black hole. But while it was true he drew people in and didn't ever let them go once they got past a certain point, he gave as well. The warmth he gave off was enough to brighten things up, and that comfortable heat wasn't something you wanted to miss.

So he was like a star. He held on, and gave out pieces of himself, and without him worlds would wither up and die.

Love comes in different forms

When Hinata started playing volleyball, he did it for Sugawara, who was his friend and had helped him lots. Yet somehow, he one day woke up, went to practice, and came across the realisation that he really truly loved it.

Now, when he got up early and stayed out late, it was because his head was filled with thoughts of, "just one more toss", "just one more minute", one more this, one more that, get up earlier so I have more time to practice, go to bed later so I have more time to practice. Run everywhere, jump whenever you can as much as you can, because you need strong muscles to fly. It wasn't long before his jumps had people gasping in awed astonishment, his speed left most people in the dust, and his stamina was downright monstrous.

He still tripped pretty frequently though.

Even though his athleticism was unnaturally good, he was still pretty clumsy, and his technique wasn't something you could look impressed about. His receives kind of sucked, and really the only thing he had going for him was his insane speed and the shock factor his ridiculous jumps provided. Yet the feeling of landing a solid spike after hours of misses was one that made it all worth it.

Annoying teacher guy had only been around a month before he had to go, but had managed to teach Hinata the basic techniques and rules before he left. Even though he failed a lot of the time, Hinata was still in love with volleyball.

Humans, and being one

Hinata grumbled as he reached under his wristband to adjust the device laying flush against his skin. He had only started being a human recently, and still wasn't completely used to it. The device served a very important purpose. It increased his bones density, so they didn't snap.

You see, his species of magical ravens were created based off how humans thought about birds. The usual human thought of birds extremely lightweight creatures who are good at flying and have hollow, delicate bones that are very fragile. Thus, Ravens had the physiology of a bird in human form.

Actually though, birds have extremely dense bones despite how thin they are, which meant they are very strong and heavy. However due to being formed from human beliefs on the matter, they didn't end up like that. Instead, they have extremely breakable bones, that are made worse in human form for some reason, probably due to the incompatibility with a human form. Usually, this was fine because he went around in his hybrid form, so while the bones were delicate they were strong enough that only a strong hit would break them.

However, he couldn't do that here, as a supposed-to-be-totally-human. Which meant his bones could be broken if someone were to casually grab a hold of his arm and squeeze. Thus, the device. It used magic to change his physiology closer to that of a human's, removing the extreme fragility of the bones to a more normal standard, and adjusting overall musculature to a more normal human one. He still had thin bones, a tiny frame, and lean body structure, but the bonuses he got from being a magical bird were removed. He was actually kind of glad for that, since it would be unfair unless he was on the level of humans.

The device was still kind of itchy, though.

Friends?

"So, uh…" Hinata muttered awkwardly, trying to think of something to say. Haha-ue wanted to hear about some friends, and this kid whose cat he rescued, and the other one whom he had helped out a few days ago seemed like a good place to start. If he could just figure out what to say, it would be even better.

"Er, ah, wanna play some volleyball?"

The two shared looks, then met those warm, hopeful eyes. Hinata was really nice, but he seemed kind of lonely too, and they liked him, so why not?

""Sure, sounds fun!""

Turns out, volleyball is even more fun when you play it with someone else, even if they don't love it as much as you do.

Thus, Hinata Shouyou, Koji Sekimukai, and Yukitaka Izumi became friends, without a question mark on the end.

Omake: first meetings of the crown prince and sunshine boy

"Hey, orange!" A pretty-boy with long golden hair called out to another pretty-boy, with orange hair. "Why'd you help me out back there? You aren't getting anything from it except more teasing."

"Eh, I was kind of bored, and you looked rea~lly uncomfortable, so I figured i might as well help."

A summary of the situation that sparked this conversation is as follows: the golden-haired princeling was being harassed because of his hair color, mostly the girls saying it was pretty and attempting to act on this, and the boys making fun of it. He was close to panicking when a loud noise signalled the local clutz, Hinata Shouyou, knocking something over on top of himself. When he looked over to see the boy, all he caught was a short wink before the smaller was completely surrounded by those who were previously bothering him.

"Besides, you're a pretty cool person. Really smart, really strong, and even good-looking, it's no wonder people are swarming you. You even have a good personality!" Hinata's eyes were closed, so he didn't see the other boy blushing. Even though lots of people complimented him, there was always a layer of deception that Otsuki could sense. Usually they hoped to get close and use him. Hinata though, was completely genuine, and when you lived in a world of lies, someone who simply said the truth was a rare prize.

"Hey orange! From now on, you belong to me!"

Well, just because he's gone through difficulties, doesn't mean the little princeling isn't a brat.

Finally, an orange eye peeled open. "Ba~ka, you can't have another person belong to you. Even if you're pretty cool, you're also a brat, huh."

"Hey!"

As they began to argue back and forth, two very different thoughts occupied their minds.

'He's a pretty funny guy. And annoying. Mostly funny though.'

'I think I'm in love. Now, if he would just quit annoying me it would be great!'

Well, maybe not quite so different after all.

A/N: What am I doing. I'm not sure. Hinata is totally going to have a harem, by the way, because he's worth it. Anyone who says otherwise, well, you probably shouldn't read this.

It's mostly just gonna be drabbles. Next chapter we'll have the debut of Karasuno, and Hinata will have a lot less scenes focused on his thoughts.