YEAR THREE 4/9 Deviation
Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it. ~Michael Jordan
A raven comes for Kuroo the following morning bearing two words.
"Tavern and Nightfall? What's that mean?" Ryuunosuke Tanaka grumbles with a scowl.
"An informant. His information is reliable and will be invaluable if we want to get a clear picture of what we might be up against."
Somehow, Ryuu isn't surprised that the black cat has such connections or that he's been contacting them. Actually, he's grateful for the cat's networking skills; the bald crow has become more and more invested in rescuing Hinata's sister from whatever mess she's caught up in. The kid was, frankly, adorable. If you could get her over her initial misgivings and nervousness, the girl turned into this bubbly, happy child on the border of adolescence with expressive almond eyes that light up with excitement and fire.
Ryuu couldn't help but think she was even more colorful than Hinata with how she could get aggressively stubborn, and could go on a full offensive where his former unit mate was usually more confrontation averse. If Hinata was the sun, warm and shining, Natsu was fire itself, blazing and brilliant. Being around Hinata felt like coming home; being around Natsu felt like the journey there.
So many of her antics were hilarious and cute at the same time that Ryuu sorely wishes Noya were here; they'd have had so much fun with this kid.
She'd woken last night after a good half hour in Kuroo's arms and launched herself out of his lap and tackled Hinata across the table. He distinctly remembers Daichi swiftly snatching up his and Suga's cups out of her way in her rush to get to her brother, where she sat for several moments attempting a conspiracy with him in their goofy foreign language that sounded like they had honey in their mouths. Hinata had had to try several different words, much to her amusement, before they had both turned and vaulted back over the table and set upon Ryuu with enough force that he was knocked to the floor.
"Oi, what the—"
"Language, Tanaka." Suga had said with a grin even as he'd allowed himself to be manhandled by Hinata just to be sure that he wouldn't accidently whack the other child who'd attacked him.
When Hinata had him pinned to the floor on his stomach, Natsu had sprawled across his shoulders and reached for his head. When he'd felt little hands run over the fuzz that was starting to grow back in followed by a shrill giggle, he'd scowled.
"Oi. This ain't a petting zoo, you brats." He'd groused and everyone had laughed— even Kageyama's deep chuckle had joined Hinata's chiming cackle.
The tittering coming from the little girl on his back had tugged his grimace into a grin and he'd rolled to the side and promptly reversed the power standing and snagged both Hinata's arms in one of his so he could grab at the wiry little girl. She'd squealed and leapt out of range only to run right into Kageyama who'd caught her up and promptly suspended her upside down by one foot with a devious smirk.
The normally reserved crow joining in had been a pleasant surprise, and Ryuu had grinned wolfishly as the black-haired setter had held her out within easy reach, her little wings beating madly and her hysterical screeches filling the room. Ryuu had deftly evaded her thrashing wings and arms to run fingers across her belly, laughing as she'd scrunched herself up and squirmed helplessly.
"Oi, Sawamura." Kageyama had murmured drawing Daichi's attention where he was just standing with a drink in hand.
The black-haired crow had adeptly tossed the girl toward him and he'd scrambled to get rid of the glass and stretch his arms out to catch a very discombobulated little redhead who still laughed nonstop, earning a sharp gasp from Suga.
"Kageyama! You don't throw children!"
"She ain't a child, Sugamomma, she's a kid. They bounce pretty good." Kuroo had said with a chuckle and Hinata had collapsed in bright peals of hilarity making his leveler smile.
She'd stayed quite some time— longer than she had any other day so far, and Natsu had nearly worn herself out again by the time she'd gone home for the night. When she returns today, she's just as buoyant and bouncy as ever. They've wound up back at the glass maker's shop, Natsu sitting comfortably up on his shoulders.
It hadn't been Ryuu's plan since he'd already picked up the mitsudomoe pin for his sister and an extra piece for the girl on his shoulders, but Hinata had drawn back to it this time, musing on a gift for Momma Yu. As they peruse the glass maker's shelves, Natsu takes a swing at the black head of hair right next to him, but Kageyama is as alert as ever; he dodges and Ryuu's own head is jerked sideways as she grabs on to maintain her balance.
He understands now why everyone else had turned her down for the shoulder ride: anyone with hair would likely have a bald patch or five after this game. He latches onto one of her ankles to steady her and turns to eye her over his shoulder with a scowl.
"Easy on the neck, Munchkin. I have to use that yet." He grumbles, Kuroo's nickname having already gained traction.
"Baldy?" She says brightly and Tanaka's frigid glare cuts to the damn black cat where he smirks at the corner of the stall, knowing exactly where she picked up that name, too.
Stupid feline.
"What?" He mutters sullenly.
"What's munchkin?"
Ah, here we go.
"It's what you are." He says.
"Am not."
"You are."
"No, am not."
"You are, you are, you are." He says, his mouth pulling back into a grin.
"No, you are."
"I'm too big to be a munchkin. And I don't have orange hair. Or pigtails." He says.
"What do you think you are doing, kid?" A voice breaks across them and Natsu goes rigid on his shoulders.
As they turn as one to find the speaker, the little girl jolts and promptly scrambles off of him as if he'd just zapped her. It alarms him for a moment and he reaches out to catch her arm and make sure she doesn't overbalance and hurt herself on the drop down. As soon as she's on the ground, she's pulling out of his grasp frantically and Ryuu finally looks up to see the new face.
His blood chills as he realizes what the person in front of him is.
His nose lacks prominence and his ears are almost flush against his skull, but for the most part he'd seem completely normal… if it weren't for his eyes. Vertical slit pupils split golden irises in very circular sockets and Ryuu knows without a doubt what this man is: snake.
Natsu nervously says something to the man as she pads quickly toward him; the bald crow thinks it sounds like a groveling apology. The snake glances up at them with a genial smile that makes Ryuu's feathers prickle.
"We've been wondering what's been keeping her in the afternoons. My apologies for the hassle she's caused." He says and Ryuu has to give Daichi mad props for his casual composure when he answers as naturally as if he saw this guy every day.
"Not at all. She's an excellent kid with impeccable manners." He says with a smile. The snake grins.
"That she is, but she also knows better."
Ryuu finds Natsu hunched behind the snake, her gaze fixed on the ground and her expression frozen. The man holds a hand out to her.
"Come on pipsqueak. Time to go home." The little girl automatically reaches up and takes the hand without hesitation and Ryuu wants to argue, but Hinata beats him to it.
"Her name's Natsu." He says flatly, his gaze snapping with intense focus. The snake turns back to look at him.
"Not when she's in trouble, it's not. She knows not to talk to strangers. You might all be upstanding people, but not everyone will be so benign." He says with a hard edge— a touch of warning despite that smile that is still firmly fixed in place. Natsu watches them with wide eyes and sucks in a breath when Hinata takes a bold step forward.
"She's m—"
"Non!" She yelps and Hinata freezes. They've been around her enough the last few days that even Ryuu knows what that means.
"Yo ap fè ou mal! Mouri!" She rattles off, and though he doesn't catch any of the first part, he remembers that last word as one of the first from their initial meeting.
"Ou pral mouri!"
"Cripes, kid, what's your deal?" The snake scolds and she jumps. Ryuu glances at the others.
Daichi and Suga watch her with surprise, Kageyama with zero expression, Kuroo with an unreadable look and Kenma just behind him with wide eyes. But the one that gets Ryuu is Hinata. The older redhead sibling stares at her, his mouth still open and too late, Ryuu realizes his reaction is too unusual, and the snake notices as well.
"Wait…" He says curiously, taking a step back in their direction. "Can you guys understand her?" Hinata jolts, but it's Ryuu who leaps for the reins on this one. They need to keep this encounter as short as possible so they can find a chance to regroup.
"No, we've been wondering about that ourselves. What language is that?" He asks and he catches Hinata look askance at him.
Be chill, you little shit. He wants to growl as the snake shrugs.
"Beats me. We've been trying to figure that out for centuries."
"Bummer. Well, take care. We will see you round Munchkin." He says, finding her large frightened almond eyes with his trademark grimacing grin. "Promise."
The snake nods with a smirk and turns away with Natsu's wrist still firmly wrapped in his hand, the little girl putting up no fuss as he leads her away. But every time she glances back at them, her wide-eyed expression tugs at Ryuu's gut and it's all he can do to keep his feet rooted to the ground and not follow.
But that's too tall an order for her brother. The snake and small avian songbird are nearly to the edge of town when the redhead stalks past him, his steps stiff.
"Hinata—" His leveler says, but a large hand that isn't Kageyama's closes on his collar and roughly drags him backward. Hinata turns blazing eyes up at Kuroo as he tugs him along by his shirt.
"Let me go."
"No." Kuroo says bluntly, his strides never faltering as he in no uncertain terms, ushers the redhead between a couple buildings. And it's strange for the cat to be so short; given the circumstance, he seems the most level and everyone drifts after them.
"Fucking cat, I said let me go." Hinata growls and Ryuu knows by the profanity that he's irate even as he follows the pull of his shirt with deceptive calmness.
The cat yanks on him and pins him up against a wall, his face its own mask of fury. Kageyama moves ahead of him, reaching for Kuroo, but Daichi catches his sleeve with a shake of his head.
"And I said no." Kuroo says lowly. Hinata's feet are off the ground, his hands gripping Kuroo's arm, but his blazing almond gaze never leaves the cat's uneven gold one.
"That's my sister." Kuroo scoffs in the face of the Hinata's impressively manic expression that would make any of the rest of them uneasy.
"Listen, Shrimp, and listen well. I protect me and mine. You are mine. Your sister is yours." He says. Hinata's mouth opens to say something, but Kuroo jerks a finger sharply in front of Hinata's face.
"She's yours. That makes her mine, too. I never intended to leave without her." He growls. Hinata's brow twitches, and then he blinks as it registers and his forehead smooths with surprise.
"You didn't?"
"No. Now I need you to use your head. These guys are awful people. They will do to you feathered bastards what his father did to my clan." He says, pointing to Kageyama without even looking at the crow setter.
"You'll be an exception though; your red hair marks you as something foreign. If they capture you, they'll enslave you, and ship you overseas to sell to the highest bidder. You probably won't make the boat trip though, because him?"
Another jab in Kageyama's direction.
"He's a crow. They are a nothing special around here and once they are done torturing him, they will kill him, which means you die, too. Not enough of a picture for you? How about your sister." He murmurs, dropping the redhead back to the ground so he's on his own two feet once more, but Kuroo's hand stays firmly fisted in his shirt, insurance in case he decides to do something stupid.
"She was grounded in such a way as to still appear like she wasn't. That means she's more valuable to them the more 'complete' she is, otherwise they'd have hacked her wings at the main joint. They want her to maintain the appearance of an 'unspoiled' and perfect avian while still having a way to control her. If you still have trouble figuring out why, let me spell it out for you. They've been 'taking care' of her for centuries until she's old enough to sell as an exotic to some harem house or lordling. That is how snakes operate. You're actually quite lucky she's still here after all this time." He says in a frosty monotone voice.
Ryuu feels his own gut drop as he listens to Kuroo speak. There's no banter or levity in his tone, his even drawl more than enough to tell them all that these aren't just stories, but straight and brutal facts. But the black cat is continuing before anyone can offer any input.
"All that aside, I will remind you that they are snakes. They do not need to see or hear you in order to know you're there, you just need to be close enough. You can't just blindly rush in here without a good plan; that will get us all killed. The only way to take a snake nest is with surprise and numbers. We might have surprise, but we don't have numbers, so you better have a damn good plan if you want us all to survive." He says finally releasing the wide-eyed redhead.
"So tell me Shrimp, how exactly were you thinking of rescuing your sister? And if you say you were going to 'wing it', your leveler will have full license to hit me, because I'm going to clock you." He finishes with a scowl.
Hinata stares up at him for a long moment, his jaw hanging loosely before his almond eyes find the ground self-consciously.
"I… I didn't have one." Kuroo scoffs, his hand sliding up around the back of his neck.
"Didn't think so." The cat's dark tone makes Ryuu think he's seriously trying to keep taking that swing.
"So what do we do?" Hinata asks subdued.
"We were the targets in their game. Natsu was just bait." The cat says sullenly.
"Then this is the trap." Daichi says with surprise and Kuroo's head lolls in his direction.
"Very good, Sawamura. Their end goal would be to get us to follow Natsu to a set location so they can surround us. But, I have no intention of playing into their hands."
"We can all fight, so what's the issue?" Ryuu asks with a frown, drawing the black cat's salty gaze.
"The issue is that we are on top of one the biggest snake nests in the northern provinces. I haven't been able to get a reliable fix on their numbers; I've heard anywhere from three to four hundred snakes are holed up there. Unless you all have it in you to take out between thirty to fifty guys, that's a massive hurdle."
Oh. I suppose that complicates things just a bit.
"What about Natsu?" The thrush asks uncertainly.
"Like I said before, she's valuable to them. They won't irrevocably harm an asset unless backed into a corner, so she will be fine for the moment. The greater worry would be that they move her and we lose track of her, but I don't think that will happen either. The snake was far too confident which means they don't see us as a threat."
"So we are just going to leave her there?" Hinata asks with a hard set to his jaw.
"No, we'll get her out. It's just not going to be on their terms."
"You have a plan then?" Ryuu asks.
"I have an idea, but it's going to take patience from you," Kuroo says with a pointed look at Hinata, "and a lot of faith from everyone else that I know what I'm doing. I've dealt with snakes before."
"So what do we need to do?" Daichi asks.
"Right now, we are flying blind; we won't have a chance without some solid information. First thing is to connect with my contact at the tavern tonight. If we're lucky, he'll show up."
A/N: So, Natsu has been disobedient, and Hinata is impulsive. It's a weekend and I'm late tonight, sorry guys. I wasn't home from 7 till 7 today and this is still pretty rough, so I apologize if there are errors. Instead of working on finishing this series, I spent my day avoiding gaggles of chaotic kids on the slopes and then got stuck in traffic on the way back home.
Thank you for reading, and have a stellar evening, ya'll!