YEAR ONE.30 1/3 Mortal Contention
I think that everyone has a choice in every difficult situation. The thing about anger is that it invades your thoughts in such a way that you forget you have those choices and your emotions take control. ~Jim Medlock
~One Month Later; Summer's End~
Koushi Sugawara hands a glass of water to Daichi where he sits beside the Volley net, sweat coating his brow.
"How's it going?" He asks with a grin and his leveler glances up at him.
"Excellent. Thank you, my beautiful silver star." He murmurs softly, his hand brushing across Koushi's fingers a little too long. The thrush's face heats and he knows he's blushing.
"Daichi, you're being embarrassing." He murmurs, but his mouth tugs in a sheepish smile all the same.
"How else am I supposed to get you to look like that?" The crow says with a smirk and Koushi's eyes widen. If he wasn't blazing red before, he is now.
"Daichi." He scolds. Daichi reaches for him and he ducks away with a laugh.
And then he stumbles at the sharp bark from Kageyama, and the thrush wants to both cringe and sigh. The two have been taking passive-aggressive shots at each other for over a month… since the last time they'd brought Hinata into Sheru Bay, to be precise. And they had planned another trip with the redhead today, but it sounds like Hinata has taken the same approach as last time and opted not to say anything until they are basically ready to go.
Koushi gets why the redhead has stooped to keeping his plans from the other setter until the last minute, but it makes him anxious with dread because Kageyama doesn't do surprises— unpleasant ones even less so.
For the first months after they'd joined the beach crew a year ago, things had been fine between the two in the wake of their leveler 'enlightenment'. But Hinata had slowly been losing his mind by the following spring, and that's when things had begun to unravel. With Kageyama stuck at the beach house while Hinata mitigated his sanity with human interaction, a tension had returned between them that had only built. By that third trip with the redhead, they were blatantly arguing over it which had done nothing but escalate over the next six months.
As the thrush hears the rise of Hinata's musical voice until it competes with Kageyama's, he laments at where they've come. It truly breaks his heart to see them fight; they are members of his unit and his friends— his family at this point.
But he and Daichi have never had this kind of problem and he has no idea what to do about it. He's tried reasoning with both Hinata and Kageyama to get them to mellow and has apparently hit a brick wall in both directions, because they are at it as hard today as they were last time— maybe more. And it's accelerating down that horrible spiral much faster this time.
"I can't stay here all the time, Kageyama! It's like going around a circular room searching for a corner." Hinata finally snaps at the setter, his patience gone and that heavy voice that betrays his fury lashes out at Kageyama.
Koushi sucks in a breath and turns to stare at them. He can't remember a time where the redhead has turned that tone against the black-haired setter, no matter how insufferable he could be. Daichi had told him that it did occasionally happen growing up, but it was quite uncommon. Apparently, it's as rare as he thinks it must be, given the way Kageyama stares back at the redhead. Finally, the crow setter's face smooths out.
"Then go. And maybe don't back, because I can't do this every time you want to take a field trip." He says flatly, his voice sounding horribly dead, and Hinata's face goes slack, as if the words were a capital sentence.
Before Koushi can even process the enormity of Kageyama's brittle remark, Noya is brushing by him, headed in their direction. It's odd, he thinks, because the shortest crow has been probably the least inclined to interfere in the past.
"Oi!" He barks at them, but neither even notice him. Instead, Hinata's face pulls down into a glare.
"Maybe I will." He says spitefully, but it doesn't seem to rattle the taller setter who readily fires back a retort.
"Good. While you're at it, try not to die. You hold the other end of my rope, so if you buy it, I'm done, too." The redhead steps backward almost as if the setter took a swing at him.
"Kageyama…" He says, his leaded voice wavering.
"Oi! You two brats—"
"This is what you want, isn't it? Freedom? It's yours. Go Hinata." Kageyama cuts the smallest crow off as he reaches them.
Noya hauls the redhead backward in an effort to put distance between the two, but neither falter in their face off.
"You're really being an ass." Hinata spits instead, his face furrowing with a massive frown. Hinata rarely swears let alone at his leveler, and Koushi knows he's really starting to lose all rationale.
"And you aren't listening, you freaking shrimp. Leave."
Noya freezes along with the rest of the Karasuno group. He turns to stare up at Kageyama beside a once more slack-jawed Hinata. Everyone outside has gone still. Lev, Kuroo, Tsukishima, Yamguchi, and the owls pause at the net while Tanaka and Asahi exchange a glance from where they are collecting items for trade, and Daichi finds Koushi's wrist in a crushing grip.
Even if the significance of the setter's barb is lost on the guys by the net, he and the other Karasuno unit members catch it. The Grand King was the first to call Hinata 'shrimp'. Plenty of others had regularly called him that, but never Kageyama. Coming from anyone else, it would simply be a word… but coming from the raven-haired setter, it's an epithet.
"That was un-fucking-called for!" Tanaka says and is quickly following the path Noya had cut across the beach to where he still has a hold on Hinata. The thrush jumps as the door slams open and Yaku bursts out, his expression narrowed with anger.
"Stop them." He barks, leaping down off the porch, his feet never touching any of the steps. Daichi beside him starts moving at the cat's command, but they are too late to stop the redhead's watery remark.
"Fine, be an egotistical tyrant king." Kageyama's gaze narrows and he takes a step forward.
"Go." The taller boy growls out.
"Dammit, stop them!" Yaku snaps, throwing his arms around Kageyama's waist and attempting to haul him backward. Tanaka joins Noya in pulling Hinata away while Daichi plants a hand against the crow setter's chest. Kuroo materializes out of nowhere and grabs Kageyama's shoulder. The setter allows himself to be forced backward, but Hinata rails at the hands holding him.
"Kageyama, you're such an idiot!" He bites out in a fractured voice.
"Get him out of here or we'll be burying them!" Yaku snarls at Noya and Tanaka who jump at his sharp command. Daichi finally finds his voice.
"Go. We'll cool Kageyama down." He says and Noya and Tanaka pick the redhead up entirely and haul him away.
Asahi and Lev join them when they finally put Hinata down and steer him toward town. Kageyama's gaze remains on them until they are out of sight, his cobalt eyes hollow while Koushi is frozen where he stands. Somewhere along the line, the girls and Kenma have come out to see what the commotion was and watch with wide eyes. Yamaguchi, Tsukishima and the owls all stare in tense silence, and all Koushi can process is horror.
Get him out of here or we'll be burying them!
Yaku's words ring in his ears as Kuroo and the russet cat slowly release the black-haired setter who simply stares at the bend in the beach where his leveler and the others disappeared.
Koushi's seen it before; any minute now, Kageyama's body will revolt on him and he will be emptying his stomach of this morning's breakfast. Daichi knows what's coming, too, and places a hand on his shoulder to steer him back toward the house. The setter looks at it before roughly shaking him off.
"Get off me." He mutters coldly before staggering toward the porch under his own power.
Koushi can see the sweat already coating his face as he wavers on his feet. Kuroo shadows him and Yachi tentatively reaches out to him before withdrawing her hand as he struggles up the steps, his eyes glazed.
A low whistle over his shoulder catches his attention and he turns to see Bokuto and Akaashi, their eyes enormous.
"That was crazy." The streaked owl says in a low voice.
"No, that was dangerous." Yaku mutters as Kageyama disappears inside.
"He took it too far this time." Daichi murmurs after the avian prince, but the russet cat shakes his head at him.
"Wrong. He was trying to stop that disaster by getting Hinata to leave."
"Eh?" Bokuto asks with confusion.
"Stop a fight in the middle and yeah, they both still stew with anger, but they don't have the chance to do more damage by loosing more of those destructive words. Kageyama was trying to control it— admittedly probably poorly— but he was trying to stop it."
Kuroo's hand finds its way to the back of his neck and he looks up at the sky with a brooding expression.
"This is getting worse. I'd have thought we'd be facing dangers from outside like that sentry a few months back, but our biggest threat is coming from within."
"Do you have any ideas for fixing it?" Daichi asks, his face looking tired. Kuroo shakes his head.
"I don't really—"
"Yaku!" Yachi squeals, her head poking out the door with a stricken expression and everyone looks at her. "Yaku, Kageyama's down!"
For the second time, Koushi feels like his feet root into place as he runs through the possibilities that could mean while trying to avoid the most likely of them. Yaku curses under his breath and zips up the steps. Daichi takes his arm and it's only after the other crow touches him that he can move again, and he joins the others as they all crowd into the house after the girls and Yaku.
Kageyama's crumpled form is sprawled across the floor, vomit pooled around his face as Yaku and Yachi kneel beside him.
"What do I do?" She asks frantically.
"He's just unconscious… no, don't roll him backward, keep him on his side." He instructs as Shimizu comes in with a rag and starts to wipe away his stomach's expulsion.
"If he throws up again, you don't want him to choke." He murmurs as he peels back an eyelid. Koushi shivers at the black stare in the middle of the cobalt iris.
"Damn, dilated eyes. His body's trying to detox."
"What do we do for him?" Yachi asks again and the cat huffs.
"This is breaking. It's the chemical reaction that levelers experience when they fight. The body releases a toxin that makes them physically sick and scalds the feathers. There's no antidote and it's not something you can just fix. He'll have to ride it out. About the only thing we can do is make sure he's comfortable and monitor him. If you believe in the gods, pray he'll be fine." He says with a dark frown. Kuroo and Bokuto move to pick him up while Akaashi pulls out a blanket to lay him on. Yaku looks up at Shimizu.
"Can we get a cool wet rag? He's still burning with fever. We'll probably need a light blanket, too, because he'll be flipping between sweating and chills."
"Ah! He's heaving again!" Yachi squeaks, attempting to catch any mess with a towel, but it's not nearly as much this time as his stomach is already empty. Yaku nods with a morose frown.
"Expect it off and on every half hour, give or take for a while." Another four or five contractions of Kageyama's gut and he goes still. And then his muscles start shaking, waves of shivers running the length of his spine and into his limbs.
"What's wrong with him?" Bokuto asks.
"Toxic shock. The muscles go weak and his body will chill after vomiting, so they shake. Another fifteen minutes and he'll be sweating as his body gears up for another round of heaving."
The door slams open and Noya pushes in.
"Shouyou's…" He pulls up short as everyone huddled around Kageyama turns to stare at him. The short crow's gaze drops to the unconscious setter.
"What—"
"Shouyou's what, Noya?" Yaku asks firmly. The crow's mocha eyes snap back to him.
"We got maybe halfway to Sheru Bay when he threw up, and he's really dizzy. He can't walk a straight line and Asahi's carrying him back right now."
"Perfect." He murmurs cynically. "Bring him inside when they get here. He could use the wakeup call, too."
Noya's eyes are still wide as he disappears back outside and in moments Asahi is following him back in cradling a pale redhead. His almond eyes lock onto his shivering leveler as the large crow deposits him on his shaky feet, the pupils dilating until Koushi can barely see the warm brown around them.
"Kageyama?" He whispers and stumbles forward two steps. "What happened to him?"
"You did." Yaku mutters with a touch of anger. Hinata shakes his head, his lower lip trembling.
"I… I'd never do something like this." Yaku eyes him incredulously.
"Did you think the 'breaking' thing was a myth? He's been getting sick after every fight and yet you repeat the process each time. You finally managed to render him unconscious. Pray he survives, because if he goes, so do you." Hinata's eyes blow wide.
"Kageyama's going to die?" He whispers.
"Hard to say... but I haven't seen many people come back from this level of toxicity. You'd best hope he wants to live; it might be the only thing that saves him because your leveler link won't help you this time. The 'binding' property can't fix leveler inflicted injuries." Hinata's jaw drops and his orange head shakes once. He backs up a step and shakes his head again.
"Kageyama…" He whimpers before he turns and stumbles back outside, his eyes glossing with tears. Noya moves to follow but Yaku shakes his head as Tanaka walks back in with a raised eyebrow.
"Let him be. He needs to realize how serious this is. He won't go far."
"There's something off. Why isn't Hinata affected?" Tsukishima says from beside the door and Koushi looks toward the russet cat, having wondered that himself.
"He is. He just threw up, too, but it's nothing like this. I've been trying to wrap my head around it and puzzle it out, but I don't have an answer, yet. I thought it might be something to do with being different species, but—"
"Wait, what?" Noya stops him. "Different species? What are you talking about?" Yaku blinks blandly at him.
"Hinata isn't a crow. His hair and voice are indicative of that."
"That's ridiculous. He's my brother. He is a crow." Noya says with a frown and Yaku points at Kageyama.
"He's a crow, but the redhead isn't. He might be your 'brother' for all practical purposes, but he doesn't share your blood. I think someone said he spoke another language when he came to the rookery, too?" Yaku asks glancing around for verification and Tanaka nods.
"He couldn't speak a word of ours at first."
"That's another good indicator. See crows have a unique speech pattern...it doesn't matter where you go, you will still be able to grasp what another crow is trying to say. The dialect and accent may make it difficult, but you can always generally get the gist of it even if you are on the other side of the world. The fact that your languages were completely separate means he didn't start out around crows."
"His wings were black, though." Asahi murmurs helplessly.
"Plenty of others have black wings. Ravens, stilts, certain flycatchers, and cormorants all have black wings. But his hair makes me think he's more a songbird, the foreign language, something exotic. I'd thought that could have something to do with it and Kageyama was somehow shouldering the majority of the effects, but…" The russet cat finds Koushi and he straightens. "You and Daichi aren't the same species either. Does the breaking thing affect you differently?"
Koushi meets his leveler's gaze. They've never had a fight like this; they wouldn't be able to offer a credible example.
"It doesn't." Daichi says to his surprise. "We had a minor argument early on that still affected us both. Suga wasn't exempt." One of Koushi's silver brows arches. That could hardly have been called an argument even if he still remembers how crappy he'd felt...
"Didn't think so. And Hinata glows every night, so there's no question that they are levelers..." The cat trails away in thought.
"What about the wings?" Kenma says softly drawing everyone's attention.
"What?"
"The difference between them as a level pair and say Daichi and Suga or Bokuto and Akaashi is that one of them is grounded. Shouyou doesn't have wings, and he doesn't feel the full force of 'breaking'. Maybe it's something to do with that?"
"I get it." Kuroo breaks in. "The toxin releases from glands in a cat's ears. Do you guys know where it releases from for avians?" Kuroo asks, glancing up at them but it's Tsukishima who answers with a flat expression.
"The feathers. Your princeling loses the burned-out feathers because they're ground zero of the toxin release point and get hit the hardest. Hinata doesn't have wings, just the few feathers around the base, so he doesn't have the glands that release it." Yaku eyes him with newfound respect.
"You're probably right."
"Is Kageyama really in danger?" Asahi asks quietly, breaking the brainstorm session.
"I'm not sure, but he'll probably pull through okay."
"But you said you haven't seen many people come out of this." Tanaka says with a scowl.
"That's because I haven't seen many people take it this far. But since Hinata escapes the physical effects of what this can do, the best way to make sure it doesn't happen again is to give him a memory he won't want to repeat. Real, gut-wrenching fear is one of the most effective tools for that. If he's legitimately terrified he might lose Kageyama, he will be that much more cautious in the future because he will remember this moment."
"That's a little harsh." Noya says with a frown.
"The alternative might be a double funeral." The cat mutters with a dark glance at the small crow. Koushi gets it… tough love in this case might save both their lives.
"I wish we had more information on all this. None of our parents ever told us anything beyond the stories as kids." Daichi says with a frown.
"They probably didn't know much more than that themselves." Yaku says mildly, taking the rag Shimizu holds out for him and runs it across the already beading skin of Kageyama's forehead as the female crow sets a bowl of water beside him and Noya edges closer.
"It's entirely possible to build an unbreakable bond with someone who isn't your leveler. Avians achieve this all the time given how many of them never find theirs. But therein lies the danger of knowing your leveler, and level pairs frequently take that tether for granted—for more than it is, never considering its true nature." Koushi's brow furrows in puzzlement.
"What do you mean?" He asks and Yaku glances at him briefly before wiping the rag across Kageyama's burning skin.
"Most people don't realize that the leveler connection is essentially an indicator, nothing more. It's like when you build a fire. The leveler link is the match that ignites the flames, but those flames will go out without more wood being added. A level pair will all too often rely solely on that connection as the foundation of their relationship, and they don't realize that it's like any other and requires work to sustain. There must be communication, empathy with the other half, the desire to understand each other without resentment, and the will to make it all happen. The leveler link provides the spark, but they must put in the effort to keep it going themselves. When they fail to do so, this is what happens." He says with a pointed look at the unconscious avian. "The difference for level pairs is that they can't weather fights like this without repercussion like anyone else… as I'm sure you can see."
"How do you know all this? I mean, you're a cat but you know about avians, too." Akaashi says, and Yaku shrugs.
"I've met my fair share of feline level pairs, but I also spent a decade as the reluctant 'guest' of an eccentric group of avians after I survived the boat I was on running aground on an atoll. They'd maintained a constant almost unnoticeable cut on the undersides of their wings until they found their leveler. They had a tendency toward sleep piles like you guys, so when someone started glowing, they'd figure out who they were linked to through the 'binding' effect. Very few ended up with someone who wasn't their leveler, and most of my avian knowledge comes from them."
"You're sure he's going to come through?" Kuroo asks heavily.
"Not one-hundred percent, but probably about seventy-five. I don't have much to go on here experience-wise; the avians I stayed with were good at mitigating arguments— sometimes several people would get involved to prevent something like this, so I rarely saw anything this crazy. If he makes it to tomorrow morning, I'll be a lot more comfortable in giving you a 'yes'."
Koushi swallows.
Odds are in their favor then, strictly speaking, but in the thrush's opinion, they aren't good odds. There's a one in four chance that Kageyama dies— and if he goes, so does Hinata. According to Yaku, there's a twenty-five percent likelihood that they will be burying two members in the morning. Never mind the ramifications this will have with the rookery if the avian prince dies, he doubts any of them can stomach that loss.
And his entire being trembles, because if they survive, it's a certainty that it will happen again. Hinata needs people and Kageyama can't risk exposure. They will always be stuck being forced to separate to preserve the redhead's sanity and for whatever reason, it's something Kageyama can't deal with. Koushi knows them too well; even if this incident leaves a lasting impression on them, they will still butt heads and argue again eventually. If they don't want a repeat, something has to change. There has to be an alternative to a road that will only lead them full circle and right back here.
Koushi's mind finally kicks into gear again after feeling like he's been under water since the first words of the younger level pair's confrontation had frozen his thoughts earlier. As Kageyama begins another round of heaving, Koushi's eyes narrow.
They have to find another way.
A/N: And so begins the slow torture of my characters. Nyx should not be allowed to write stories.
This was one of the very first ones I completed for Horizon; it's still pretty close to the original rough I wrote with very little change. I'm sure you all probably saw this coming; the plot device was pretty blatant. And now you have an answer as to how Yaku knows so much about avian levelers/levelers in general.
I hope this was interesting... I've been over it enough times that my mind is pretty fried, which means the full effect and emotion of the chapter has become a bit lost on me. I've been 'too close' to the story too long, so I can't tell if it is still legitimately intriguing. Eh. Have a spectacular evening you guys!