Level Pair; Day Seven 2/3
There's a loneliness that only exists in one's mind. The loneliest moment in someone's life is when they are watching their whole world fall apart, and all they can do is stare blankly. ~F Scott Fitzgerald
Kageyama isn't sure what to think.
Hinata has pretty much gone into autopilot. The redhead had nearly scared him out of his wits and when he'd turned around, the other boy had tears just streaming down his face.
Kageyama had no idea what was going on at first and had been at a complete loss. He'd all but begged him to tell him what was wrong, but Hinata had ignored him and screeched again and again, a sound filled with as much determination as there was devastation. Kageyama had honestly wondered if he'd lost it. He'd thought he might've be in pain, but there'd been no serious tension in his body. Was he scared or angry? Why the tears?
The redhead's legs had gone out and Kageyama again thought he was hurt but when Shouyou had looked at him with that uneven smile and tears still leaking down his face, it had made him feel like the world was coming to an end. When he'd heard the wingbeats and saw the sentry, he'd finally understood what the screeches were for. But the peculiar smile and tears had continued, creating a desolate dystopian surge in Kageyama's gut.
And then the tortured look was gone as the sentry crow landed, Hinata's face smoothed out into neutral apathy. It's a look that Kageyama's never seen and he has no idea what to do with it. There's a small part of him that's annoyed… they've effectively just been rescued, shouldn't they be overjoyed? But it is totally overshadowed by his concern. Shouyou has never closed himself off like this before, and it makes Kageyama that much more worried about what's going through his head.
More sentries start showing up and pretty soon they have enough to carry both himself and Hinata back to the rookery. He protests as two of them move to pick him up, but he must really look like hell, because they insist. Two sentries grab each of them and Kageyama gets one glimpse of Shouyou's pale face before it's out of sight behind him. That blank, lost look is still firmly in place and Kageyama wants to struggle and make the sentries put them down until he can sort out what it's for.
It's maybe a ten-minute flight back to the main landing bar, but it seems forever. It's way too long and is allowing Kageyama's mind to frazzle because he can't see Hinata. As they get closer, other crows materialize out of nowhere and they have an escort at close to twenty by the time they land, and Kageyama couldn't care less because he needs to know how the redhead is doing.
He can hear the cry going out around them, spreading across the entire murder like wildfire, that he and Hinata are alive and have returned. He knows it will be a matter of minutes before his father hears the news. The end of this little ride can't come fast enough, and when their feet touch down, he's immediately twisting around with a seeking gaze. A blanket is placed around his shoulders, but he pulls it off immediately and beelines for the patch of orange hair that would stand out anywhere in their rookery.
His own wings are spread half aggressively as he shoves his way toward him, but he doesn't care, because the smaller boy is silent, his eyes trained on the ground. He barely looks up as Kageyama drops the blanket across him and pulls him to his side with an arm around his shoulders. There is no physical protection it could possible provide, but if there is any potential as a mental barrier to the pandemonium around them, Kageyama will take it.
A sentry takes his arm and he almost hisses at the man before he recognizes his father's game master. He blinks a moment before nodding in acknowledgement and allows the large crow to guide them in a direction that Kageyama immediately recognizes. They are headed to the infirmary.
Shouyou walks beside him silently, no resistance in his movement. There's no excitement or joy either. There's no loud excitement, no blunt insults, no stupid questions to scoff at, no idle chatter, no exuberant smile, no brilliance— everything that made the redhead who he is, is missing. There's nothing and it leaves Kageyama feeling somehow blind and agitated. It's as if Hinata has left and something else, dark and forsakenly grim wears his face instead. It makes Kageyama's skin crawl and his spine twinge like when Tanaka would drag his nails across a slate board… only a thousand times worse.
There is a hush among the sentry ranks, a sort of awed horror, and Kageyama notices it. For the first time, he becomes aware of the whispers around them, and finally gets an impression on Shouyou's mental shutdown.
Grounded. Flightless. Maimed.
He wants to tell them all to be quiet, that they both have functional hearing like everyone else. He wants to screech at them that Hinata lost his wings, not his ears, so please do shut the hell up. The infirmary can't come up fast enough; at least inside, they will have a little more peace. But they don't make it to the doorway before a shrill female cry echoes across the sentries.
"Shouyou!"
It jars Hinata beside him, and for the first time, the vacant look wavers.
"Shouyou!" The screech comes again. Hinata straightens just a bit.
"Mom…" He whispers, as if he can't believe it. And as Kageyama sees the crows around them start to shift, Hinata leaps toward the movement.
"Mom!" His voice breaches around them, it's scratchy lilt still present.
Kageyama tenses. Of all the people Hinata's close to, his adoptive mother isn't who he'd have pegged to be the first one to see him… although he's not that surprised. Momma Yu is a mother through and through, she has probably been waiting as anxiously as anyone for news of Hinata and himself. Still, he has no idea how Momma Yu will react when she sees Hinata sans his wings and it puts him slightly on edge. He has no time to consider it beyond tensing slightly.
She bursts through the crowd, her dark hair wild and her eyes frantic.
But if Kageyama was worried about her reception of Hinata, he needn't have. Her eyes hit her redheaded son and take him in, lack of wings and all, and she hesitates only a moment before gathering him into her arms, her own composure long broken. Hinata clings to her for long moments and Kageyama feels an acute tightness coil in his chest. Momma Yu's tearful eyes land on him and in a flash, she's captured his arm as well and pulled him right in with them.
"Shouyou, Kageyama. Boys… you are both back." She whimpers and Kageyama feels struck nearly stupid. This woman… considered him as she would Hinata? As she would another son? It's a bizarre thought that's completely out of the blue that he can't properly rationalize at the moment.
But the game master is beckoning to him and he has no chance to dissect it any further at the moment, and he squeezes Momma Yu's arm and gestures toward the infirmary. She nods and they head inside. Hinata still has a death grip on his mom and despite Kageyama's reluctance, he lets go of him and backs off to give them a more personal moment. He turns to speak to the game master instead, but is stopped by a tug on his shirt.
He glances back to find Hinata watching him with wide eyes.
"Are you leaving?"
The question is uttered with the slightest waver and Kageyama hates it. Turning back to the game master, he bows in apology before placing an arm around Hinata and guiding him to the bed that is waiting for him with his mother. There are a couple nurses prepared and they get Hinata set up in his own room, his mother alongside him. She has a constant hand on the redhead and Kageyama is grateful for it, knowing it will probably help calm Shouyou. Momma Yu is still weepy, but her face holds nothing but relief.
The game master pokes his head inside.
"Kageyama, your father has been reached. He will want to see you immediately."
Kageyama doesn't want to leave Hinata who's watching him with a nervous tension in his face.
"Thank you." Is all he says and the game master retreats back outside.
He doesn't want to go… but his father isn't a patient man. He looks over at Momma Yu.
"Will you stay?"
She reaches out and squeezes his arm in reassurance and nods. He won't be able to avoid the coming reunion, so it's best just to get it over with as quickly as possible.
"Thankyou." He murmurs and looks to Hinata and almost recoils at his anxious gaze. "I'll be back as soon as I can." He promises and gets up to leave. He pretends he doesn't see the way Hinata reaches out toward him as he steps through the door.
The game master leads him to another room where a nurse is waiting to evaluate him. He sits on the bed, staring at the wall as she catalogues his injuries, wondering how long before he can get back to the redhead. The fear in his face when he'd left him is a change from the barren listlessness of only a short while before, but he's not sure if it should be a welcome one. He absently watches the nurse inspect his wings and can't help but note that she's not as gentle as the redhead had been.
He's careful not to flinch when she runs over the sprain in his wing, but can't be sure that she missed it. Perhaps it is a side effect of being the heir apparent, but he has zero desire to have a significant injury be public knowledge, whether officially or otherwise. She asks questions and he dutifully answers in as few words as possible before she hands him a glass of water. He stares at it, wondering why he reflexively took it from her in the first place.
"Tobio."
Kageyama hates his name, hates when he hears his father say it. He blinks and looks over to the doorway, his gaze going bland. His father steps through the door, his dark eyes fairly dancing, his face set in an easy smile.
"You had us all worried." The Grand King says and Kageyama almost scoffs.
"Yes, you almost lost your heir." He murmurs, not quite able to keep the bite out of his voice.
There was a time where they got along, but it has been many centuries since they've been anything even related to close. They barely talk at all and most of that is restricted to a rigid working relationship. When his mother died, he'd truly been left alone in his home. Kageyama thanks the skies for Hinata and the others.
"Yes, I suppose that is a bonus, but you are my son, Tobio. I am genuinely glad that you returned. And in one piece, too."
The glass in Kageyama's hand shatters, making the nurse jump. He can't explain the reaction and he calls on all of his control not to get up swinging.
"Hinata didn't so I'd appreciate if you left cracks like that at the door." He growls, his voice carrying impressively icy candor. Tooru's head tilts, his smile never wavering.
"A week on your own and you come back with more fire than the last six hundred years of training has yielded. Perhaps there's some good that came of this."
Kageyama's eyes flash and he's on his feet, the demands of hierarchical respect be damned.
"What good is having one of my unit grounded?" He grates out through a tight jaw. Tooru places a hand on his shoulder and nods at the nurse who bows and leaves.
"You will grow out of this experience and learn from it, Tobio. That is the silver lining." He says amiably.
Kageyama shoves his hand off, hating the familiarity and the arrogant mentoring tone. This isn't some small trifle. Hinata is a person, a human being. His life and suffering is not insignificant. He glares at the Grand King, fighting to keep his control. There isn't a person in their rookery who is probably more estranged from himself than the man before him.
"Where is the rest of my unit?" He asks evenly, determinedly changing the subject.
"They are out looking for you, of course. Along with a fair number of other units. Although… Yu and Azumane should be getting back anytime. Sawamura, Ryunosuke, and the thrush were out on one of the remote scouting teams so they probably don't know yet." Tooru says genially and Kageyama can't help but feel relief if only for the fact that they are all still alive given what he and Hinata have been through. "They were all pretty concerned. We had to knock out Yu the second night with a sedative to get him to sleep."
I bet, Kageyama mentally grouches. That idiot is more level than Tanaka, but Hinata is Noya's brother for all practical purposes.
"I'm not so different you know. Everything I do is for your sake and nothing is outside of reason." He says and when Kageyama looks back up at him, there's an odd crease at the corners of his eyes, a mild sadness within. It completely takes Kageyama off guard.
"Tobio…" There is a curiously heavy lilt in his voice and Tooru places a light hand on his shoulder again, unusually gentle in the action. "Your hair and eyes are so like your mother's. I really was relieved when I heard you'd made it back."
There's the slightest squeeze and Kageyama is left reeling at the rather fatherly action and his, for once, seemingly transparent words. Tooru releases him and heads for the door and Kageyama wonders if he just imagines the slight twist in his face, the tightness of emotion around his eyes.
"Have the nurse finish evaluating and I'll have the game master bring you something to eat. Get some sleep, Tobio. We will debrief in the morning."