Yukine crosses his legs and leans back in the chair, like he's about to tell a very long, very involved story that Yato probably won't be able to understand.
"It all happened a few months ago, at the beginning of the term. Hiyori really wanted to try out for the Quidditch team, and she'd apparently done really well in her first lessons, but she was too busy last year with classes to make a go of it."
He pauses, shooting Yato a sharp glance.
"You know, Yato...Hiyori's muggle-born right?"
Yato's eyebrows go up.
"I didn't know," he admits. "Does that affect how good she is on a broomstick?"-then, wincing-
"Or how she keeps trying to jinx me every time we meet?"
"It doesn't!" Yukine says aggressively. "Just wondering if you knew."
Yato throws his hands up in mock defeat. "I didn't know! Sorry!"
Yukine narrows his eyes and leans back farther in his chair. Yato watches the front two legs leave the ground and briefly ponders kicking him over.
"Anyway, she wanted to try out," Yukine continues, "but some of the other players caught up with her while she was practicing and made fun of her. Called her…names. You know. Told her she would just humiliate herself and bring the team down. Two of them were from the Slytherin team. One was another Gryffindor."
Yato opens his mouth to ask a question, but stops himself when Yukine's voice gets quieter.
"I guess she stood up to them and said she was going to try out anyway. Then, they got pretty rough—forced her wand away then bewitched the broom she was on to zip itself out to the middle of the lake and left her there."
Yato stares. His mouth is suddenly very dry. Yukine chuckles humorlessly.
"Even though it ended up okay, obviously—she got spotted by Kiun when he was doing his night check and he got her safely to the hospital wing. She was frozen half-solid from clinging to her broom for hours. And now she won't go near one."
"A lake?" Yato cocks his head.
"No, Yato, a broom."
Yato doesn't pay attention to Yukine's irritated muttering, too deep in shock and disgust to be offended by it. It doesn't make sense to him. Iki doesn't seem like the type to be spooked off a broomstick for good.
"Is she scared of them now? Broomsticks?"
Yukine shrugs. "Dunno. Maybe."
Yato pauses, his forehead scrunching in thought.
"You found all this out just from her friend? Why haven't those three bullies been taught a lesson?!"
Yukine scratches his nose. "Hiyori wouldn't say who they were."
Yato rolls his eyes. Of course she wouldn't.
"Fine, but I don't see what that has to do with me. So I accidentally hit her with a broom. Big deal! I apologized!" Yato glances appealingly at Yukine, who raises an unsympathetic eyebrow. "I apologized…a lot?" he tries.
Still nothing. Yato growls.
"Not you too."
"She thinks you did it on purpose."
A shock jolts up Yato's spine. Yukine scratches his nose uncomfortably.
"Excuse me?"
"Well—what would you think, Yato? You're on the same team as two of those people!"
Yato sputters.
"Doesn't mean I go around shoving bludgers down people's trousers just to keep them off the pitch!"
Yukine snorts, then pushes himself up out of the hard-backed chair.
"I know that, Yato. Not everyone else does."
Making an annoyed noise in the back of his throat, Yato follows Yukine out of the empty classroom.
"Well—I'll just have to make her realize that."
Yukine sighs deeply, realizing that this will most likely result in more detention.
: : :
Several days later, Yato is trotting behind Kiun down to the creature pens, struggling to keep up with the gamekeeper's long strides.
"I get that Firebolts are expensive, and that crashing one into a wall was 'unforgivably careless of me,' and that I'm lucky you haven't packed me off on a train already...but would you at least tell me what my detention is going to be? Please?"
Kiun doesn't respond, nor does he slow down. Yato tries to pick up his own pace, laboriously unsticking his shoes from the January mud. He doesn't venture to look up from his own feet until Kiun rounds a clump of dense pine trees, bringing them in sight of a large clearing. At first, Yato thinks the clearing is empty.
Then, something silvery and huge emerges from between the trees.
Yato blinks. His mouth falls slightly open.
Once he manages to find his jaw again, the silvery creature has trotted towards them and is nuzzling Kiun's robe in search of something. Yato snaps his mouth shut again as Kiun produces a slab of dripping steak from his robes and tosses it straight into the beast's mouth.
"That's a..."
Yato swallows a bit nervously.
"This is Buckbeak," Kiun says contentedly when Yato trails off. "And you're going to be his first full-time caretaker."
: : :
Shoveling hippogriff manure into buckets to use for fertilizer was fine for the first few hours, but three consecutive days into the task Yato is starting to curse Kiun and his torturously utilitarian punishments.
"How much does a hippogriff shit anyway?" he grumbles, nearly breaking his spine trying to lift an especially towering shovelful of the stuff.
The long hours shoveling droppings has given him time to really think about what Yukine told him, and to stop fuming enough to give himself some distance.
Hiyori hates him. That's probably fair enough to say.
What he doesn't know is how to make her stop.
Yato heaves a huge sigh—which is extremely unpleasant, considering his current environment. He leans heavily on the shovel, and tries to think. He's smart, after all. Not Ravenclaw-smart, but…in his own way.
He can figure people out.
Most of the time.
Across the yard, the hippogriff—in whose droppings he's currently knee-deep—winks at him with one intelligent yellow eye.
"Stop gloating," Yato growls, and grunts while throwing another hefty shovelful. So far, Buckbeak has done not much else besides sleep, fly, eat, and…well...
Yato thumps the shovel upright into the ground and leans against it.
"If you were that Hiyori girl, what would you want me to do?" he asks Buckbeak.
The hippogriff just winks again. Yato halfheartedly flicks mud at him with the toe of his boot.
"Stop that."
Yato hears the bell ringing up at the school, signaling the end of today's detention. He digs himself free from the soggy ground, scraping the bottoms of the heavy workboots Kiun gave him with a rusty trowel, all the while steadily ignoring the magical beast on the other side of the pen.
Buckbeak gives an annoyed huff, as though tired of being ignored. Then he pushes up to his feet, ruffling his massive wings majestically.
Yato turns at the sound, watching as Buckbeak gathers his powerful hindquarters. Suddenly, those huge wings spread with a rush of air, and the creature breaks from the earth, tail as smooth and silver as a streaking comet.
Watching Buckbeak soar his way toward the lake, Yato breaks into a grin.
A peace offering-something with his own unique flair.
Something thrilling, and creative, and probably...probably a serious risk to life and limb.
: : :
Yama pokes Hiyori's elbow during breakfast.
"What is it?" Hiyori asks, peeling her eyes away from her History of Magic review parchment.
"You have to help me," Yama whines.
Hiyori grimaces.
"Do I?"
"Yeah. There's a boy following me around and I need you to hit him with some of your famous hexes until he stops."
Hiyori casts her friend a doubtful glance, then reaches over her for the butter.
"Is this a real boy?"
Yama pouts, slowly wilting forehead-first onto the wooden table.
"Of course he is! What, am I not cute enough to be stalked?!"
Hiyori resignedly pats Yama's back with one hand while stuffing the rest of the toast into her mouth with the other.
"You're definitely cute enough to be stalked." She sighs. "Fine, then. Who am I hexing?"
: : :
"Hey! Hey, over here!"
Yato starts waving his arms frantically as soon as he recognizes the small figure making its way down the hillside. He stops waving after a few seconds and waits for her to realize who he is. She does exactly this after about ten more steps, and stops short.
"Hi!" Yato calls cheerfully.
After a loaded second, Hiyori starts walking again.
Actually, she's running.
And she's furious. Yato feels his knees lock up.
"W-wait a min—"
"You're stalking my friends now?!" Hiyori bellows, aiming bright blue, rapid-fire jinxes at Yato's ankles that force him to vigorously tap-dance in place. "Nearly killing me wasn't quite enough for you? Are you trying to get yourself locked up-or get someone else hurt, again?!"
Yato's leg muscles convulse as Hiyori's spells force him into a rapid Irish jig.
"Stop-just let me talk!"
To his relief, Hiyori stops shooting jinxes at him. Instead, she takes two steps forward and socks him in the nose.
"Gah!"
Yato's head pops backwards, and his eyes seem to vibrate in their sockets. Stumbling backward, he holds up his arms to ward off his attacker. Slowly, the space between his ears stops ringing.
Holding his nose gingerly, he straightens his neck to look at Hiyori again. Her wandless arm is still cocked backward in a decidedly threatening pose, but she's waiting. Yato huffs through his mouth.
"I'm not following your friend, or anyone else. I only wanted to talk to you."
Hiyori's jaw twitches.
"Me?"
Yato snorts at the confusion in her voice, then hisses.
"Yes. Even though...I think you may have broken my nose."
"Why talk to me?"
"Oh, I'm sure my nose will get patched up perfectly. Thanks for your concern."
Hiyori ignores the acidic bite in his response, letting her arm drop back to her side.
"But...but Yama told me…"
"All that to get you here. Yes." Yato grimaces. "Though the 'stalking' bit was artistic license on her part."
He looks back up to find Hiyori glaring at him.
"Why should I believe you?" she says, gritting her teeth.
"Because I'm still trying to make conversation with you after you fractured my face."
And then, Yato catches it: the preliminary bubble of laughter that hiccups out of her. Hiyori sucks air between her lips, as though ashamed of the sound. She crosses her arms over her chest, forcing a skeptical frown back onto her face.
"Fair, I suppose. So, what is it you wanted to talk about?"
With the hand not holding his nose, Yato jerks a finger behind him.
"That."
Hiyori leans, peering around his body. Then she straightens again, glowering at him.
"Are you mocking me?"
Yato's calves sting from her jinxes, and his crooked nose gives a sharp throb.
"I wouldn't dare."
"It's an empty field," she says.
Yato smiles.
"Wrong!"
He takes out his wand with his free hand, flicking it to summon a hunk of something dark and squishy from a crate behind Kiun's cabin. The squishy hunk zooms toward both of them, then plops to the ground at Yato's feet. The thick, metallic smell of blood strikes both their nostrils, and Hiyori's nose wrinkles.
"Erm."
Yato puckers his lips, giving a shrill whistle that makes Hiyori flinch. The sound knifes, razorlike, through the cold air, and after it fades, there is another sound. The whoosh and thump of enormous wings.
"Wh-what..." Hiyori begins, then trails off to stare at the sky. Yato turns to follow her gaze.
A massive, storm-colored shadow wheels overhead, riding the wind down toward the earth as though catching the currents of a river. The hippogriff touches down almost silently, and canters toward them with his eyes fixed on the hunk of purpley-gray meat quivering next to Yato's boots.
"That's a-"
"Buckbeak!" Yato finishes proudly.
"-really big bird," Hiyori says, her jaw still hanging slightly open.
Buckbeak snorts loudly at what Yato can only imagine to be a rather insulting comment.
"She doesn't mean that." Yato pats Buckbeak's flank as he noses inquisitively at the meat. "You see, I've been assigned to care for him as part of my detention for...you know…"
"Destroying one of the most expensive pieces of school property?" Hiyori offers helpfully. "Risking your own neck for a thrill? Attempted homicide?"
Yato waves his hands at her, cringing.
"You're making yourself clear! All I was going to ask was-do you want to help me?"
For a moment, nothing can be heard but Buckbeak munching happily on the mystery meat.
"Do I want to...what?"
"Help me? With Buckbeak."
Hiyori looks from Yato, to the hippogriff, and back to Yato again. She stares at him with an expression implying he may have replaced his brain with gillyweed.
"No."
"…Come on."
"Absolutely. Not."
Yato pouts.
"You're not even going to give me a chance?"
Hiyori levels a withering stare at him.
"At least give him a chance." Yato waves at Buckbeak, whose snout is covered in purpley-gray blood.
"I want you to really think about what you're asking," Hiyori says. "Think hard."
Yato casually strokes Buckbeak's flank, feeling the warm feathers flatten under his hand. The animal, unconcerned, attacks again and again the slab of unidentifiable meatflesh.
"I think everything through."
The hippogriff's beak tears through the meat again with a revolting rrrip, and both humans wince.
"Well…maybe we should let him finish," Yato admits. As though doing his best to accommodate, Buckbeak tosses the remaining bloody hunk into the air and catches it in his mouth, throat convulsing as he swallows it whole. Hiyori quickly covers her mouth.
"Ha…okay…" Yato smiles weakly. He clears his throat, ignoring the sharp pangs in his crooked nose. "Well...ah. Erm. Now you just have to bow."
Hiyori graces him with another long, supremely doubtful gaze, then slowly bends at the waist toward the hippogriff.
"I can't believe I'm doing this," she mutters. The back of her neck is bright pink. Yato smirks.
The muscles in Buckbeak's neck stretch under Yato's hand as the huge creature lowers itself, matching Hiyori's bow.
"Welcome to our little team, Iki Hiyori," Yato says, grinning hugely as she straightens again. Something warm dribbles down over his lips.
"You two should make friends. I'm going to go to the hospital wing now."
