YEAR ONE 4/8 Trepidation & Shellback

***DISCLAIMER: This chapter contains graphic injury. Please be aware. ^.^

Difficult situations don't make you, they reveal who you really are. ~Rose Russell

Ryuunosuke Tanaka scowls as he takes another fiber tie from Noya and focuses on a section of the net that Asahi holds up in front of him. This was definitely not how he'd planned to spend his day.

Noya had gotten the bright idea yesterday to use the Volley net as a spring trap across the main path that led to the road into Sheru Bay behind the house. His target had been Kageyama, returning from a hunt in the foothills off the coast with food for their evening meal… but they'd somehow overlooked the fact that he hadn't gone alone.

The prank had worked with devastating success.

Kageyama had come zipping back along the trail with Daichi just off his shoulder and Noya had tripped the catch perfectly for the net to snap into place with almost no time for them to react. Coming in behind them, Yachi had yelped and tried to brake, but the full force of both crows colliding with the net at the same time had snapped the saplings they'd attached it to, and she'd been caught with the rebounding ends from behind.

It had been, in Ryuu's opinion, one of the funniest things in the last century… until Yachi had all out screeched in panic.

Her earsplitting cry had rapidly drawn everyone from the house on the beach a thousand feet away and he'd felt… just a touch guilty. The rest of the former Karasuno unit had realized what had happened almost instantly given how he and Noya were cackling away, but Bokuto and Kuroo had set on the net with a vengeance, determined to rescue their companions. It had only made it more funny to Ryuu, and he and Noya had all but collapsed in their hilarity.

They'd drawn a shaking Yachi from the net first, Kiyoko enveloping her in a protective embrace and tossing a most unimpressed look their way. Hinata had busied himself with helping Kageyama up and trying to salvage what they could of the meat. Suga and Akaashi had retrieved Yachi's basket with the fruit she'd collected, only half of it crushed in the fray.

It had still been funny when it had finally dawned on Kuroo and Bokuto what had just happened. It had stopped being funny when Daichi had taken the black cat's extended hand and picked himself up out of the net with a wry smile directed right at them. And Ryuu had felt his gut plummet.

It was that look…

Daichi had turned to where the streaked owl was picking up the net with a look of dawning horror creeping into his large golden eyes, and then the sentry leader had looked back at them, his expression unchanged.

And holy balls had they been fucked, because the net was a disaster. There were holes and cut strings everywhere, the fibers snagged and the squares out of alignment.

It was probably the saddest thing he'd seen in the last century. Ryuu could swear he'd felt his future shiver under Daichi's gaze.

"Is this the Volley Net?" He'd asked almost cordially and they'd gone rigid. If he'd been mentally functional, he'd have pointed out that it was all Noya's idea, but he could only nod jerkily alongside the short crow.

"Then I trust you two won't have any issues with fixing it."

Asahi and Lev had returned from their trip into Sheru Bay a half hour later to find them camped out on the porch, piecing the casualty of their poor decision making back together.

"Is that the Volley net? What happened?" Asahi had asked incredulously. Hinata had paused as he'd walked by.

"They got themselves banned from the house until they fix that. They'll probably be lucky to even get dinner tonight." He'd said with a smirk and Lev had let out a low whistle.

"Wow, Kiyoko, too? What did you guys do?"

So here they were, over a day later and still meticulously trying to salvage the net.

Asahi had taken pity on them and helped to keep it in line so they could see where the squares were supposed to line up, while the lanky grey cat had taken it upon himself to provide them with conversation. He idly contemplates hog-tying the feline with the ties in Noya's hands as he lines up two strings and threads them together, because they have a ridiculous amount of net left to fix and he doesn't know how long he'll be able to stomach the grey cat's verbal diarrhea.

Really, the only silver lining Ryuu could find amid the whole mess was that Tsukishima and Yamaguchi weren't there at the moment. The ibis would never have let them live this down— probably won't cut them slack when he finds out about it on their return. Still… there's been a nervous tension at the beach house since they left.

It's been three days; given the distance, it should have taken them about two to get there so they should have arrived yesterday. They were supposed to stay for a few days and return, so another three or so and the crow and ibis should be getting back. He can almost feel how everyone is holding their breath.

He'd be lying if he says he isn't worried— if for no one else, then for the families they'd left behind. He hopes Saeko and the others are okay. He was all for letting them know they were well and fine, but he was less willing to put them in the crosshairs of suspicion to do that. And for one of their own to assume the risk involved with getting that message through… he's sure everyone will breathe easier when they are back, even Kageyama who arguably experienced the greatest friction with the blond.

The avian heir took criticism from his former unit all the time— lately it was for the white tipping that had frosted the last few flight feathers on each wing. They had shown up around the time Ryuu and the others had joined them on the beach, and it had become a running joke that Kageyama was going prematurely grey from seeing his former unit again. But no matter how much flak they gave him, he seemed to take all of it gracefully next to the responses the ibis could pull from him.

But then… Tsukishima could get a rise out of most of them. Ryuu'd butted heads with him once or twice, and Bokuto was an easy target, too. The blond had even managed to snag the black cat in one or two good bantering runs. Heh, what with owls and cats, Ryuu had been far more wary of them over the ibis at first, but Kuroo was right; even if he seemed like a background character next to the rest of them on first meeting him, Tsukishima actually projected a far larger aura than expected and could take you off guard if you weren't paying attention. Ryuu's unsure if the blond even realizes he does it most days, but he's carved out a place here regardless, and it feels odd without him around to verbally abuse them.

He smirks slightly as he takes another tie from Noya who watches their progress with a sour pout. None of the beach crew were what he'd ever expected.

Kenma was quiet and usually always with either Kuroo or Hinata, but when he spoke, everyone generally sat up with attention because what he had to say was usually important. Kuroo had initially set him on edge— his pervasive presence had been unnerving and his one cloudy eye had only made it all the more eerie. But he'd quickly gained the bald crow's respect with the way he quietly supported and sheltered them all. Lev had taken some getting used to with his childish demeanor and occasional obliviously blunt remarks. Noya could get peeved when he wasn't getting something, but Ryuu had gotten used to the gangly cat and enjoyed his company for the most part.

Except perhaps not while he was fixing a net, he muses with a twitching eyebrow. Lev had been going on about stuffed rice balls for the last hour and Ryuu was freaking hungry. Where was Akaashi when you needed him? He was polite but forward, and had no qualms with pointing out when someone was being a jerk or unfair.

Kind of like Shimizu. She could put a stop to something with a look sometimes. But with how they'd freaked Yachi out yesterday, he doubts she will be inclined to step in. He did feel bad about that… the little bunting was as cute as Kiyoko was pretty and he'd been tempted on more than one occasion to try asking one of them out, but had refrained on the blunt advice of Hinata.

"Forget that. Neither swing for your side of the fence." He'd said.

Noya had tested the waters just to make sure and the bald crow had never laughed more at a facial handprint in his life.

The net slacks a bit in front of him and he finishes tying up the two strands he's working on and glances up with annoyance at Asahi. He's on the verge of scolding the crow for slipping in the job he volunteered for, but pauses when he notices where the other crow's gaze is trained down the open stretch of beach.

"Oi. What the heck is that?" He asks gruffly as he spots the figures in the sand, and Lev's babble ceases at his interjection.

"I think it's Bokuto and Akaashi, but they were just flying… and I think there was someone else on the ground, too." Asahi says with uncertainty.

Down on the sand, the rhythmic tapping of the ball being passed between Kageyama, Hinata, Suga, Daichi and Kenma pauses, and Kuroo sits up from where he'd been dozing in the beach grass. They all stare, baffled at the owls' odd behavior.

Really, what the fuck is going on?

But everyone jars when Kuroo scrambles to his feet with a rainbow of a curse, the words far more foul than any of Ryuu's pain induced tirades.

As the cat takes off down the beach toward them at an impressive clip, everyone scrambles to follow. The tie Ryuu has just taken from Noya drops from his hand, discarded alongside the pile the short crow already dumped from his own, and the net slides forgotten onto the deck from Asahi's grasp. All three crows and the grey cat split off the deck alongside the others streaking after Kuroo.

What a sight they must make, he wonders, with a half smirk. A slew of crows, one of them a former prince and another grounded, a thrush, a golden cat that looks short a vertebra and a gray cat that looks like he has a few too many— all chasing a black cat across the sand and heading for a pair of owls… and another cat?

Ryuu's got a clear view now and he can see a pair of russet ears on the extra body, but that's not where his focus draws to. The streaked owl is between the cat and Akaashi, his wings drooping uncharacteristically as the two support him beneath his arms.

Bokuto was one of the people he'd had the most misgiving about at first… probably because they were similar in a way. Both he and the streaked owl could be brash, and both were often loud— the difference between them was that while Bokuto was 'excited loud', Ryuu tended to be 'aggressive loud'. Both could be arrogant and cocky and there had been friction at first… but when he'd still been failing the 'flightless challenge' and was coming up on three months still stuck in ropes with no sign of escaping them, the owl had been the one to help him work his way out of it. Bokuto had been the one to give pointers on movement and had worked on fine motor control with him for hours.

Ryuu's mindset was pretty tough to shake where Volley was concerned, but he'll admit that after three months of struggling with not using his wings, he'd been frustrated. The owl stepping in, wanting to help him get better rather than leave him to his own devices had been inspiring at the very least, and truly eye opening if he was being honest. It hadn't mattered that they didn't always get along to the other avian— he'd wanted to see Ryuu succeed and be able to play with them.

Ryuu's opinion of him had done a full one-eighty, and despite his moments of occasional juvenile idiocy, the bald crow has nothing but respect for Bokuto. Which sets him all the more on edge at the way the streaked owl slumps between Akaashi and the tawny cat.

Two seconds later, he sees why and sucks in a gasp—because there's a fucking rod through the outside of the owl's chest.

It's maybe a couple feet long and a couple fingers wide, angled sharply through the soft tissue of his pectoral muscle and up out the trap across the top of his shoulder. While it looks like major organs like his lungs are all safe, the top of the bar is within nerve-wracking range of his wings that haphazardly flap out of sync. It's eerie, he thinks how there's almost no blood— just the smallest bit staining his shirt at the entry and exit points, the black look of the steel disrupting the natural contours of the owl's body.

For a long moment, there's silence broken only by the sharp intakes of breath as they all surround the injured and very pale owl.

"Shit."

The expletive sums up their collective horror and the black cat steps up in front of the impaled and dazed owl, eyeing the rod with a frown.

"Flaming hairballs, Bokuto." He murmurs and reaches for it. The tawny cat's hand snaps out and clamps down on his wrist.

"Don't touch that. Not until you are ready to deal with the blood." He says curtly and the black cat seems to notice him for the first time.

"Who are you?"

"Someone who wants to make sure he's alright." The russet cat says frostily and Ryuu realizes how short this guy really is— shorter than Kenma, but his snapping mocha eyes state he doesn't believe his height's a hindrance in any way.

The streaked owl's head lolls toward Akaashi who's looking frazzled as he supports him with a firm hand under his arm while being gingerly careful not to touch the rod.

"Akaashi, where are we going?" Bokuto asks, his large golden eyes glazed as he focuses on the other owl. Akaashi frowns darkly.

"Home, you moron. You're the one who just up and left." He grouches in a tight voice.

"What's wrong with him?" Hinata squeaks out and the russet cat's mocha eyes slide his way.

"Shock. He took one look at that and took off for the place he feels safest completely on instinct. It's finally overwhelming him now." He supplies and the owl's head rolls in his direction. The cat looks up at him and for a long moment, the streaked owl watches him with a hazy frown before turning back to Akaashi.

"Hey, Kaashi… when did we adopt another cat?" He asks in a strangely fatigued voice. The tawny cat's eyebrows rise quizzically and he finds Akaashi around the slumping owl.

"Is he a little daft?" He asks and Akaashi flashes him an annoyed scowl.

"Normally, yes. It's a bad day if he's not." He mutters distractedly and jerks slightly on Bokuto's arm.

"Koutarou, look at me." He barks and the streaked owl struggles to focus on him squarely. "Stay awake. Keep your eyes on me, alright?" He says, a note of desperation creeping into his voice.

"Kay." The streaked owl says, sounding like he's steadily growing weaker, and it seems to jar the black cat. He turns and picks out the nearest idle bodies.

"Noya, find Kiyoko. Asahi, Kageyama, get something we can use as an operating table. Hinata, we're going to need water and something for bandages."

The four react without needing to be told twice, zipping back toward the house. Kuroo turns to Kenma who watches him with wide golden eyes.

"We need to know what we have on hand in the herb box." He says and the small cat is gone almost before he's finished speaking, following the others.

Bokuto's face is frighteningly pale to where he almost matches the streaks in his hair, his head dropping against the other owl's shoulder.

"Akaashi… I'm pretty sure Kuroo's going to kill me." He murmurs, and Ryuu can tell he's pretty much out of it but the other owl answers him anyway.

"Yep, and I'll watch. Come one, we have to make it home." He says and the bald crow is sure he's just trying to keep him talking because as long as Bokuto is responding, he's still with them. The streaked owl nods once, making no move to follow through on the concurrence the motion conveys.

Instead, Ryuu sees it happen almost in slow motion.

The owl collapses completely, his legs buckling under him, his head sliding off Akaashi's shoulder, and his wings flopping until the tips hit the sand as all the muscles in his body go slack. Everyone reacts at once. Kuroo swears and reaches for his shoulders, Lev materializes behind him to grasp him by the wings, Daichi and Suga each support the arm over the cat, and Ryuu braces Akaashi as the other owl's full weight falls across him and the small feline.

"We need to get him back." Kuroo says and in a matter of moments, they've hoisted the unconscious owl up on their shoulders and are trekking back toward the house, three on each side.

His wings drift along limply, the ends dragging through the sand, and it feels so much like a rookery burial that he jerks his gaze upward. From his place behind Akaashi, he can just see the rod jutting from Bokuto's chest, black against a sky as orange as Hinata's hair, and he thinks once more how unsettling the rigid object embedded in the breathing, living, body they carry really is.

And then for the first time, he wonders how the hell Bokuto ended up with a metal rod through his chest.

"So what exactly happened that he wound up in this ridiculous state?" He mutters at Akaashi ahead of him. The owl tosses a distracted frown over his shoulder.

"I didn't really see it. I just heard a kind of crash and looked over and he was staring at it. I didn't get a chance to ask before he took off."

"He was unloading that small schooner and the boom wasn't secured right. One of the tidal wakes knocked it loose and he didn't see it over the boxes he was carrying. The beam swung around and shattered one of them which happened to be full of those rods. I'm surprised he didn't break something, actually… or end up swimming. It knocked him a good five or ten feet."

It's the tawny feline that offers the explanation and the bald crow's gaze cuts to him. The small cat had slipped out from underneath the owl when they lifted him and is keeping pace beside them, and maybe it's nerves, but Tanaka can't keep from targeting him.

"You seem to know a lot about what happened. You didn't happen to be on this boat, too, did ya?" He asks, his voice grating and unpleasant, but the cat simply turns a bland stare on him.

"I was on the one next to it with a perfect view as it happened. He got up, looked at the bar, and took off. I followed in case he needed help. I'm honestly impressed he made it this far. We must be what? A league from town?"

"Doesn't matter, what were you doing on that ship?" He drills and a tawny eyebrow creeps up the cat's forehead.

"I spent the last year on it. We just put in a couple days ago, not that it's any of your concern."

"You're a sea rat?" He asks incredulously and the cat's mocha eyes roll.

"Sea cat. If you are going to insult me, at least get the species right you uncultured moron."

"Oi, what was that?" He growls, but Kuroo barks at him and he falls silent.

It's just as well because they're covering the last few meters to the house. Noya flies out and quickly kicks the damaged net out of the way and holds the door wide for them.

But if he thought things would be better once they got inside, he was wrong. It's pandemonium. Asahi and Kageyama are still moving a table into the front room near the window for light while Hinata zips by carrying a pile of what looks suspiciously like a shredded set of sheets. Yachi steps into the doorway with a bowl of water and freezes, and Noya materializes with a bunch of towels. They gently set the unconscious owl down in time to hear the Tawny cat barking orders.

"No, no. You need to boil those first. All your tools have to be boiled." He says and Ryuu turns to see Hinata and Noya frozen under his fierce frown.

"We don't have time for—"

"That's right." Yachi's voice undercuts Kuroo's rebuff and everyone turns toward her. "It— I'm not sure what it does, but it's supposed to keep infections out." She says self-consciously.

"Then we'll do that." Kiyoko rounds the kitchen corner, her expression set into rigid neutrality. "Kuroo, Lev, start a hot fire and get a pot of water boiling."

They jump at her mandate, disappearing in a heartbeat.

"We'll need a skillet to be warm so we can dry the towels quickly. Kageyama."

The former prince silently obeys. The female crow's gaze drops to the new cat for a long moment.

"Who are you?" He stares back at her and the question of the day, one of the few people in the room at his eye level.

"A concerned bystander. What do you have for herbs?"

"Here."

Kenma rounds the corner behind her carrying said box, and the russet cat is immediately pouring over them beside him. Kiyoko watches him a moment more before shrugging mildly and looks back at the rest of them.

And her face goes pale, her expression stricken, as she takes in Bokuto.

It's odd, he thinks, because he's seen her take care of other injuries without batting an eye. She'd been right there when Yamaguchi had sprained an ankle, the tendrils of purple and yellow reaching halfway up his calf and all the way down to his toes, the same when Tsukishima had dislocated a finger. She'd also popped Kuroo's shoulder back in after a collision with Akaashi without so much as a flinch.

But she looks ready to hurl now. She swallows thickly and stiffly walks over to where the streaked owl lies on the table.

"I need scissors. And the needle."

Ryuu's head tilts, because she's completely faltered.

And as he glances around, he realizes she's not the only one. Kenma stares at the streaked owl, his eyes massive, his pupils dilated until they look black. There's a wide-eyed look on Noya's and Hinata's faces as well even if they don't look ready to vomit yet. Daichi, on the other hand, looks green around the gills and really, Kageyama had looked pale before he'd stepped into the other room, too.

Kiyoko's hand reaches out shakily before there's a flash of movement and it's caught up in a pair even smaller. Yachi keeps her eyes fixed on the bowl of water and rag she's placed on the table beside the owl when she speaks.

"I can get this. We still need food tonight." She says in the smallest voice, pleading and apologetic at the same time. Kiyoko lets out a heavy breath in relief and flees. There's a long moment of silence before Suga breaks it.

"Perhaps she could use some help, Daichi. Maybe bring Kenma with you." He says lightly and Ryuu knows he's not the only one keeping tabs on the others. As Daichi and the golden cat file out, the tawny newcomer spins in place, making Yachi jump. He holds out a slip of paper with a few things scrawled across it.

"We need these. Can someone get them?"

She hesitantly reaches for it, her eyes scanning what he'd written down.

"Birch leaves I get, but pineapple stems?" She asks with a frown. The russet cat nods.

"It speeds up healing post operation." He says.

"And yarrow powder?"

"Stops bleeding. We will need it. How fast can you get these?" The bunting looks around at them.

"Noya, can you fly for these?" She asks and the shortest crow nods.

"Okay, we need them yesterday." She says handing him the paper, and he disappears in an instant, his feet leaving the ground before he's even out the door, wings already propelling him into the air.

"Okay. I'll still need scissors and needles." The bunting says, her voice much more level than the female crow's had been. But she isn't as forward as Kiyoko had started out so Suga takes up directives once more.

"Hinata, scissors. Asahi, needles and thread. Tanaka." The bald crow snaps his gaze to the thrush, waiting for his order. "Get Yachi something to sit on in case this takes a while."

He immediately steps into the kitchen seeking a stool, and he's surprised to see Kuroo and Lev both stoking a fire to roaring levels, the pot above it already steaming. He absently notes that he hadn't even seen them return with the wood and water. Ryuu slips back out with the stool as the strange cat brings in the towels for steeping.

The little bunting carefully studies the rod, Akaashi's grey face hovering near Bokuto's head, and Ryuu is positive Suga hadn't asked him to leave with the others because the owl wouldn't have moved anyway. He's been fairly losing his mind since before Bokuto had fallen unconscious; the bald crow doubts separating him from the other owl will change that at all.

Hinata returns with the scissors and Yachi carefully cuts away his shirt until it's just his skin and the metal bar. It's disturbing how there's almost no blood, as if it weren't really as bad as it is. The thin little trickle that leaks from his chest around the rod is deceptively benign looking. Yachi analyzes the entry and exit points, tracing bones and muscles with a feather light touch before rocking back.

"Well, I don't think it hit anything major, and I'm not seeing swelling that would mean he's broken any bones. If we are lucky, we might just be able to slide it right back out." She says.

"What if we aren't lucky?" Ryuu asks, hating to bring it up, but unwilling to act with no backup plan.

"It's a good day, Tanaka." She murmurs, a frown on her face, and he lets it go and just hopes to any deity that will listen that she's right. By the time the towels have been boiled and steam dried against the skillet, Noya is stumbling back through the door, his chest heaving with exertion.

"Sorry! The apothecary was closed and I had to track down Miss Haruka at home!" He bursts out.

"Perfect timing. We're about to start." Kuroo says, walking back in with the rest of the towels freshly steamed followed by Kageyama.

Yachi carefully arranges them all with a specific task: Kuroo and Suga are ready with yarrow coated towels to place over the holes as soon as the rod is out, Kageyama, Hinata, Noya, and himself ready to stabilize the owl and prevent any movement as it's removed. The bunting looks up at Asahi imploringly and he takes a deep breath and lines up to grab the foreign object. Once everyone is set, the large crow takes hold of the metal bar and gives it one firm pull.

Just like that, it slides out with a sickening schulp. The sound alone is enough to drive Kageyama from the room, and he catches the redhead's flinch, too.

And then, skies above, there's blood.

The towels are over the holes as soon as the rod is free, but they are soaking through in almost no time at all. Yachi has them quickly adding another over top of the first ones while Asahi drops a blanket across him to preserve body heat with the amount of blood he's losing. Noya slips out, unable to handle it, and he's followed momentarily by Hinata. As the second towel layer starts darkening as well, Ryuu sees Kuroo lean slightly, his head dropping and his half cloudy gaze focusing resolutely on the floor.

The bald crow doesn't even pause to consider it, and just slides his hands into place over top of Kuroo's paling ones. The black cat looks up at him and Ryuu nods. The faintest shadow of a smile touches the corner of his mouth, and he releases a whisper of gratitude before escaping outside as well. Ryuu keeps his hands firmly in place over the towels as they soak completely, the blood leaking through and staining his fingers red.

He really hopes it's a good day like the bunting says, because he really wants Bokuto to stop losing all of his life's essence.

He glances around at the others to keep from watching the trickles as they make red lines across the backs of his hands. Asahi is adding a second blanket while Yachi periodically monitors the blood flow. Akaashi looks on the verge of passing out himself, but he still has a death grip on the unconscious owl's limp hand. Suga is focused blankly on keeping pressure on the chest hole and Ryuu has to wonder how he can be so unfazed by it all. He and Asahi seem totally fine along with the bunting. Tiny Yachi watches with a sharp gaze and mild frown, not batting an eye when she has them lift the towels just a moment to gauge the flow and apply more yarrow.

The scent of a plant he'd long considered a weed mixes with the metallic scent of blood, and Ryuu takes a deep breath and focuses on the wall across from him, trying not to think about how he can feel the liquid still dripping over his fingers. He doesn't know how much time passes, but it feels far too long to him. No one should bleed like this and survive.

Movement draws his attention, and he sees Asahi pull out their sole lantern and it's obvious to him now why they set up by the window— to save their sole source of artificial light. They would work by daylight as long as it filtered in for them and switch over as the sky fell dark. He hopes Yachi can work fast.

And finally, finally, she asks Suga to lift his towels. A thin stream of red slides down the streaked owl's chest, but it's nothing like the well of crimson that had rushed from him after they'd pulled the bar. He sincerely hopes that it's not that slow because the owl has so little blood left to lose.

Still, Ryuu stares, because there's one of the holes. It looks innocent from where he's at, a small slit that pulls open slightly with every breath Bokuto draws. It doesn't look like it's even capable of gushing forth enough blood to soak the towels like it did. Yachi places a bit more yarrow on it and settles on the stool with a threaded needle. She's moving to place the first stitch when a thump beside them makes her pause.

They all turn, and there's Akaashi, as out as the owl who'd been impaled less than a half hour before. Suga moves to help, but Ryuu shakes his head.

"I got it." He says and nods to Asahi who moves to take over keeping pressure on Bokuto's shoulder wound. If he's honest, the bald crow has wanted to step outside for a while now.

He rinses his hands in the bowl beside Yachi, the towels Suga set there having already tinted the water scarlet. Wiping his hands on his shirt, he gathers up the downed owl and drags him outside. Almost as soon as he's there, Daichi and Kuroo take Akaashi from him and lay him out on the porch, Hinata running for cool water at the black cat's bidding. The grey cat pulls the net out of the way and drapes it across the railing, the holes and tears in it seeming so much less an issue than they had been earlier.

"How's it going in there?" Kuroo asks, turning to him, and he feels as if he's back at the rookery, having been asked for a status report.

"She's stitching him up now. They are probably going to need the lantern soon." He says and the black cat nods and steps back inside with a grimace. Knowing both owls are in good hands, Ryuu breathes out a long sigh, the tension in his shoulders easing just a bit.

And then his body revolts.

He barely has a chance to spin and make it to the end of the porch before he's heaving. The railing collides with his gut as his stomach expels what remains of his lunch, the reflex continuing for several seconds after it's completely empty. The bile is bitter in his mouth and burns his throat, but he does feel better when he finally sucks in another breath and straightens.

And promptly jolts at the golden cat's silent appearance at his elbow.

"You did pretty well. I'm surprised. But then, I didn't think the blood would get to Shimizu like that either." He murmurs, his gaze straying to his stomach's rejection over the railing, and Ryuu wonders how much self-control he's pulling on to not wrinkle his nose; he knows the cats have stellar senses of smell.

"I'm fine." He says automatically and Kenma's golden eyes slide up to his face with a look that states, Really? You just desecrated the spike bush. But the cat doesn't argue.

"Shimizu made food if you're hungry." He says instead and Ryuu almost blanches at the thought. For how starved he was only an hour ago as he sullenly worked at fixing the net, he doesn't even want to think about food for the next week.

A groan catches their attention and he turns as Daichi helps Akaashi sit up, Hinata hovering with a glass of water. He nods to the cat beside him and heads back over to the dazed owl. Lightly smacking his shoulder, he drops beside him.

"You should let us know the next time you decide to take a head dive." He says with a grin. The owl looks up at him, and the bald crow can see his eyes creasing with panic in the light that suddenly spills out from the window as Kuroo lights the lamp inside.

"Koutarou?"

"Still kicking. Yachi's still working on him." Ryuu says easily, and catches up one of the scattered ties from when they were repairing the net earlier with a contemplative look.

"You'll be the first to know anything... so maybe catch your breath for a few minutes before heading back in." He says and hands it to him before picking up another one and settling in front of the net that hangs over the railing. There's a long pause as he threads two strings together in the hazy glow that reaches them from inside.

And then Akaashi is beside him, his shoulders still rigid and his expression blank as he mimics the bald crow's actions and pulls together another section. The corner of Ryuu's mouth tips slightly, and he reaches for another tie only to have one pressed into his hand. He glances to his other side and finds Noya, the small crow having collected the scattered ties for him, Hinata hovering just behind him.

By the time Kuroo has returned five minutes later, it's no longer just he and Akaashi mending the torn net. Beside him, Kageyama, Daichi and the strange cat have taken up the cause as well, all of them fed a constant supply of repair ties by Noya and the redhead, while Kenma and Lev make sure the strings all align correctly.

Everyone outside must have been slowly going insane, he realizes. While he'd been inside keeping pressure on bloody towels, they'd been relegated to waiting. They'd almost instantly gravitated toward he and Akaashi, and the bald crow instinctively knows it wasn't just in support of the stricken owl, but also to distract their own anxieties as well.

He'd initially only thought of diverting Akaashi, not realizing the others probably all needed it almost as badly. He doubts any of them would find sleep right now regardless of how the last bits of sunset are slipping from the sky and darkness is swiftly falling. But as they settle into the task of restoring the net, the tension eases just a little more and for an instant, he sees another silver lining of having destroyed it in the first place.

It's slow work, and many ties have to be redone multiple times to make sure it all sits right, but for everyone around him, Ryuu gets the feeling that somehow, it helps.

A/N: Long one this time… this one took a couple days, the detail and research time consuming. For the record… I can't deal with blood and injuries, so I'd have been Kiyoko or Akaashi, lol. I legitimately felt awful for Bokuto while i put this together; sorry my happy owl birby. :(
I gave him the joyful opening set with subtle universe/karma foreshadowing b/c I knew i was going to do this to him. I am a despicable human being, lol
I've noticed that as they each flesh out into their own person, I have sincerely grown to love all my characters, so Nyx is going off to a corner to contemplate ways to make up for harming one of them. And berate myself because he's only the first…
Have a fantastic evening guys :)