YEAR FOUR.50 2/2 Metamorphic Revival
Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return. ~Leonardo Da Vinci
Hitoka Yachi is half asleep with Kiyoko, the two girls curled up with Natsu in the afternoon sunshine that spills across the porch. The days are still warm enough to enjoy a nap outside, a luxury they likely won't have in another week or so, and the blond idly runs her hand through the girl child's wild orange hair.
"Shimizu!"
The sound of the thrush's piercing call makes Yachi jump badly enough that she nearly tumbles Natsu off the bench. She and Kiyoko are on their feet before they see Suga come zipping around the corner, followed quickly by a blond streak that fluidly vaults the stream, easily keeping pace with the thrush.
Yachi's hair stands on end. The last time people were calling for them like this, Bokuto had a rod in his chest. Suga lands on the porch, his chest swelling and shrinking with his rapid breathing.
He literally just did an air sprint to get here, Yachi thinks, and mentally thanks the skies that his lung has long since healed from the arrow.
"It's Hinata." He says sharply around his gasps and Kenma stops at his elbow.
"There's blood." He says, his eyes wide and Yachi feels her heart stutter.
Oh, no.
Natsu pulls in a gasp and leaps from the porch before Kiyoko can stop her, her little legs speeding toward the net.
"Can you move him?" The female crow asks, turning back toward Suga.
"Not sure. But if there's blood, we should probably have everything ready. I'll head back and see what's going on, can you guys get stuff going?"
"Of course," Kiyoko says before turning to Kenma. "We don't have an herb box anymore… can you grab someone to fly for them and we will have a list by the time you're back?" She asks and they both turn and vacate the porch.
Yachi spins and dashes inside, Kiyoko right on her heels. As they struggle to pull the table in front of the window, the door bursts open and Lev and Kuroo are already hauling in firewood for the stove, Daichi following up with collecting a pot for water. Bokuto steps in and squeezes her shoulder and she quickly abandons the heavy table to the large owl and his leveler and runs in search of her needles and scissors. Yaku brushes by her with a large piece of white fabric and by the time she's returning with her small pack of medical supplies, Noya is crashing through the doorway.
"Where's the list?" He says, his eyes huge. Yachi jumps, having forgotten it in her haste to get things ready.
"Here." Kiyoko says, pressing a piece of paper into his hand, and the blond whispers her gratitude to the stars for the pretty crow's handle on the situation. Noya spins and disappears back out the door. When the bunting turns around, Kenma has filled a bowl with water and a rag, and she quietly marvels.
The chaos around her is methodical, like organized mayhem as everyone leaps to various tasks with urgent efficiency. From the outside, she's sure it looks like complete disarray, but in the span of time it takes before she hears commotion on the front porch, the table is prepped, a fire is roaring to life in the stove to boil water, and everything is set this time when the door opens.
Yachi has no idea what to expect, but Tanaka and a shirtless Kageyama sidle inside, Hinata's arms thrown over their shoulders. The redhead is pale and Yachi wonders if he's passed out… and she can't see any blood. For an instant, she wonders if this was a false alarm as everyone else crowds inside after them. But then the two crows move to lay him down on his stomach on the table, and Yachi's heart stutters.
Hinata's entire back is bloody, the red liquid staining his shirt and smearing across the skin. Kageyama doesn't have a shirt on because it's wrapped around something protruding from Hinata's ribs and her heart leaps in her throat as her intuition sparks. Even bloody and staining the avian prince's shirt, Yachi recognizes the features of a bald wing, and she pulls in a sharp breath.
Now more than ever, she laments the loss of Miss Haruka, because one of Hinata's wings has broken free.
Suga grabs a pillow and places it under the redhead's chest to make him more comfortable and his grunt as they lower him onto the table spurs her muscles to act and she pushes forward to get a better look. If that pained sound came from him, he was still lucid… which meant he was probably in a world of hurt.
As they release him, one of his hands latches onto Kageyama with a grip as white knuckled as Akaashi's had been on Bokuto, his breath coming in taught gasps as he struggles to control it. Feathers kneels in front of him, his cobalt eyes wide and fixed on his face, one hand burying itself into his hair as he presses his forehead to the small redhead's.
"It hurts!" Hinata whimpers, his voice straining.
"I know it does. It will be alright Shouyou. Hold onto me." Kageyama says fiercely and Yachi almost wants to weep, but she takes a deep breath and turns her attention back on the critical issue with resolve.
For a moment, she is grateful he happened to be wearing one of the low backed shirts they all favor, because if he had been wearing a normal one, it would be more precarious to remove without touching the damaged part of his back. But as she notices the sand that sticks in patches to his skin and the blood, her opinion changes. If he'd have been wearing a normal shirt, the free wing would have remained trapped against his body and probably have rubbed painfully against it, but it wouldn't be full of the irritating fine ocean grains.
This might be more painful; she can't just stitch everything back together without washing it all out really well which will be anything but pleasant.
The bunting grabs her scissors and carefully cuts through the back of the garment, distractedly musing that they seem to lose a lot of these. Why couldn't someone sustain an injury that didn't require the destruction of a perfectly good shirt?
She pushes the garment aside and cautiously unwraps Kageyama's shirt from around the freed wing, whispering an apology when it bumps the open break in Hinata's skin making him go rigid. She does note that the bald wing twitches at the motion, but doesn't make him tense.
Does that mean the wing itself isn't in pain?
She frowns as she pulls the shirt away, her eyes studying the limb that has freed itself of its skin encasement. It is still clamped tightly against itself, the long bones still nestled together and the corded muscles and tendons slack. Her head tilts for several long moments before she shakes it and turns her attention to Hinata's back.
The wing has ruptured the skin from his shoulder to his hip, the underlying muscle laid bare as the protective layer that had kept it safe folds back on itself. The striated lines of tissue that make up the lat aren't damaged and don't bleed themselves, but the torn skin does. When Kiyoko places a sterile pile of wraps and bandages beside the bowl for her use, Yachi cringes.
The water from the stream is ice cold, the water from the pot boiling. Nothing would feel good on this in any case, but lukewarm water would be ideal. She wants to frown. Unfortunately, there is probably very little about this situation that would be 'ideal'.
"Suga, can we try and temper the water in the bowl with some off the stove a little? It might be a little less uncomfortable that way." She murmurs and the thrush readily jumps to her request.
Her eyes fall to the other wing still safely encased in his back, her eyes comparing the ridges with the one that's free. It's strange, she thinks, that the one just looks like an alien skeletal growth and the other almost looks… like the fully formed limb of an infant, except much larger. She frowns.
All my diagrams were lost with the old house…
The bunting's eyes leap to grey cat's.
"Lev, can you bring me one of the grouse you caught this morning for dinner? Strip and pluck it completely?" She says.
The lanky feline nods and disappears, and she reaches for a rag as Suga adds warmer water to the bowl beside her. She dips the rag into the water feeling awful for how this is going to hurt even if the temperature has been mitigated somewhat. She drops a feathery touch on the redhead's shoulder.
"I'm so sorry, Hinata. This is going to sting." She says, her voice coming out mournful and she wants to kick herself. Nothing would freak someone out worse in this situation than hearing that tone— like she were lamenting someone's impending doom.
"Hold on." Akaashi says, pushing through the others in the room. He drops a hand on Natsu's head where she hangs anxiously off Yachi's elbow, and leans forward holding out a few leaves to Kageyama.
"Have him chew on these. They're bitter but they will help sedate him." Yachi's brows rise with surprise as Kageyama mutely does as he's told.
"Kratom? Where did you find that?"
"There's a tree that survived the tsunami just off the path behind the house. We found it when we were rebuilding." He answers, shredding the rest of the leaves in his hand. "And kava kava. It grows like a weed even with all the salt from the ocean. He's still conscious so it might help numb the pain."
Yachi almost doesn't keep herself from staring suspiciously at the smaller owl. She and Suga had grown pretty well versed in tending injuries for the last couple years before they'd lost Miss Haruka, but they hadn't had much chance to get deep into her knowledge on herbal remedies, yet. Her absence has certainly been felt in the last few months and Yachi has privately grieved over her death more than once. She and Suga had been left largely adrift in their medical studies, and the bunting can't help but feel the sting of losing all her knowledge. Still…
When the heck had Akaashi taken an interest in plants?
She must fail to keep her eyebrows level because he pauses when she looks at him. Remembering that she has a bleeding redhead in front of her, she shakes her head once and takes the leaves from him. Whispering another apology, she gently applies them around the edges of the torn skin as Noya returns.
"Got it." He says, handing his packet off to Kiyoko who immediately sets to work brewing what Yachi is positive will be an awful tasting tea that Hinata will automatically hate.
She picks up the rag once more and slowly begins cleaning the blood from the undamaged parts of Hinata's back, and slowly, the tension seeps from his muscles as the plants take effect. The redhead gradually goes listless from the kratom, the pain from his back dulling under the juice from the kava kava leaves.
And only when she sees Hinata's grasp on Kageyama loosen just a touch does she take a deep breath and start washing the open wound itself. He still tenses at the contact, but he remains silent and motionless and Yachi breaths a half sigh of relief.
They are really going to have to protect that kratom tree for when someone else does something stupid. They could really have used it when Asahi's wing was shattered.
The poor crow had had nothing for anesthetic aside from the tea Akaashi'd brewed for him— a poor substitute next to something like kratom or kava kava. But they'd kind of been in a bind at the time; there wasn't much to be had after the tsunami had destroyed everything. They'd depleted Takeda's minimal on hand stash in no time and had had to scour the countryside for more.
As the rag turns red from the blood that still leaks from the damaged tissues, she carefully cleans away all sand and bits of grass, and for a moment, she wonders if Hinata rolled on the ground after he ruptured the wing capsule—which is stupid, but she can think of no other reason why he'd have sand all over in it. She carefully takes hold of the flap of skin that had covered it, spreading it so that she can clean that as well.
When Lev brings her the plucked bird like she'd asked, she rinses her hands and takes it, Suga hovering right over her shoulder. She stretches one of the small creature's balded wings out and positions it just like Hinata's, her eyes skipping between the two. She knows it's a poor comparison; the grouse is many times smaller and the wing structure isn't quite the same, but…
"Look at these." Suga says with an almost hushed voice, his finger pointing to the end of the redhead's exposed limb.
And she sees what he means. The almost unnoticeable dots along Hinata's wing… the tiny dimples run its length.
"Follicles." She murmurs with awe. "That means…"
Her eyes lock with Suga's whose grey orbs are bright with restrained excitement. Her heart skips and she turns to the avian heir.
"Kageyama." She says quietly and nods to him when he looks up at her. The black-haired setter frowns slightly, but eases himself up from in front of Hinata who watches him lethargically, his hand not releasing his leveler's.
"It might be a little earlier than ideal, but… I think they're ready." She breathes softly. Kageyama blinks at her and then looks at Hinata's ruptured wing.
"What?" He says, and Yachi points to the dots all along the wing with a ghosting finger.
"This is skin, Kageyama. That means all the other structural components should be there. Kageyama, Hinata's wings are ready." She repeats and the setter stares at the loose bald wing, and sways slightly.
"Are you alright?" She asks automatically. His dazed blue eyes find hers.
"Shouyou's going to fly again?"
"Of course," Yachi says with a small smile. "It's just…" Those royal blue eyes sharpen on her and her shoulders come up a bit with nervous tension.
"Just what?" He asks, a slight urgency in his tone.
"Whatever we do to one…" She trails away helplessly, hating that they've been forced into this situation.
"If we just leave this one, they might develop at uneven rates when the other finally comes out." Suga supplies, and Yachi briefly glances at him gratefully. The avian heir looks between them with a furrowed brow.
"So, what are our options?" He asks, and the bunting lets out a breath in relief, because Kageyama understands the dilemma.
"If we leave it out, we should probably release the other, too. If we want to leave the other inside… I can probably put this one back in, but…" She says, her eyes slipping self-consciously away from the crow setter's intense gaze.
"It will happen again, won't it?" He finishes for her and she nods.
"It might not be next week or even next month, but, yes, they will rupture eventually and we will probably be right back here again. I know it's probably earlier than it should be, but I think it will be okay. And—" she looks up at Kageyama, debating for a moment whether to voice her thoughts before taking a breath and just speaking, "it might be better to release the other in a controlled environment like this so it doesn't have a chance to tear his skin like this one did. He's already here and half out of it, so I um… I think it would be better to go with the first option." She says, her nerves making her entire body tense as she voices her opinion.
The setter frowns and looks back at the redhead who still absently holds onto his hand. Kageyama moves back in front of him and drops down so they're face to face. Hinata focuses on him with a very murky pair of almond eyes and a muscle flicks across Kageyama's temple.
"Shouyou, can you hear me?" He says softly. Hinata doesn't move, his affirmative little more than a quiet hum from his lungs.
"Mm."
"Shouyou, we are going to free your wings. Yachi thinks it'll be okay." He murmurs, placing a hand on the redhead's face to try and ensure that he has his attention.
The bunting tries to stuff down the nervous skip her heart does at Kageyama's declaration, feeling the weight of the responsibility of this decision. For better or worse, they are trusting her judgement. Hazy almond eyes drift across the setter's face.
"Kay." Kageyama half flinches, but meets her gaze once more.
And Yachi is completely overwhelmed by the emotion in them. Fear, adoration, concern, dread, hope, guilt, and trust. There are so many things slipping through Kageyama's face that she is quietly astonished at the depth and range of emotions he feels with regard to the small spiker. Kageyama nods once before Hinata sluggishly moves just a touch and draws his immediate attention back away from her.
"Mm… you'll stay?" He murmurs clumsily, the kratom slurring the words. Kageyama huffs slightly and places a kiss against his forehead.
"I've come this far already, there's no way I'd leave you now, idiot." He says with a pained smile, and the bunting is abruptly fighting back tears.
Okay, so: no looking at those two while I do this or I might really mess something up, she mentally scolds herself.
She sets about treating the open muscle with a mild antiseptic from the herbs Noya retrieved and a hash of yarrow before she settles in to suture the skin back into place across his back. It is slow work and the row of stitches is chaotic because the skin didn't tear in a neat line, and Hinata flinches now and then when she apparently catches a more prevalent nerve. For the most part, he drifts in a half-lucid fog and Yachi almost marvels at the potency of that tree… she hadn't thought kratom could be this strong.
Even so, she has yet to see the small spiker lose his hold on his leveler. Kageyama remains in front of him, his eyes ever fixed on the redhead's blank expression. He periodically checks their progress, but mostly keeps himself occupied on other things; Yachi knows he doesn't do that well with open wounds, and she also knows he's trying to avoid another incident like when Akaashi had passed out.
When she does glance up from her work about halfway through, she notices that most of the others have fled the room. The only ones who remain are Suga, Tanaka, Asahi, and of course, Kageyama. A small hand finds her shirt with the least of tugs and she glances to her side with surprise.
Ah. And Natsu.
She'd been so quiet that no one apparently noticed her and Yachi has a moment to doubt the wisdom of letting her stay and watch; she really hopes Hinata's sister doesn't have nightmares from this. The little girl looks up at her imploringly, her large almond eyes that look so like the redhead's beneath her hands brimming slightly.
"Sho be okay?" She asks, her other hand landing on the redhead's back and Yachi almost jumps at how close it is to the sutures she's already set. She quickly closes a hand around hers with gentle firmness.
"Yes, he will be okay… but we probably don't want to touch right now, okay?" She says and Tanaka is already moving.
"Hey Munchkin, can you help me? We should go find him something to eat for when Yachi is finished." He says, scooping her up.
Natsu might be pretty mild most days, but the girl isn't stupid and she immediately knows the crow is trying to distract her. She pushes against him with a fierce frown, her lower lip trembling.
"Non. I stay!"
"We can't stay, kiddo. Yachi needs to finish."
"Non!" She says sharply, her voice rising and her tears spilling over. The bald crow's expression drops into a scowl, his discomfort clear, but as he starts walking away, his jaw sets with resolve.
And Natsu panics.
"Non! I stay! I do nothing! I stay!" She yelps making Yachi jump.
She pushes against Tanaka, her small feet kicking and wings snapping with agitation. The redhead on the table in front of her stirs and she sucks in a sharp breath. Kageyama immediately looks up, his eyes cracking with concern.
"Tanaka." He says, his tone level and weighted and the other crow freezes— and so does Natsu, hiccupping sobs racking her little chest through the abrupt tension.
"She can stay. If she comes and sits here with me." He says haltingly.
Natsu's large watery gaze falls on him, her mouth open, and Tanaka glances at him over her head. The bald crow's shoulders loosen just a bit and he taps her cheek lightly to get her attention.
"You heard Feathers. You can stay, but if you don't listen to him, I'll have to take you out, okay?" He says when she looks at him.
Her lower lip trembles, but she nods and he lets her down. She quickly scurries over to Kageyama who easily settles her into his lap, his attention already back on Hinata. Yachi takes a deep breath and starts again as the bald crow steps outside.
Asahi keeps the wound clear of blood so she can see it properly, Suga keeps her needles threaded for the next stitch. More than once, she has to reset a stitch or double one up in order to keep the shredded edges of skin pulled together. She hates how she's pulling it tight across his back, but she's forced to in order to make sure some of them hold. She knows they will probably induce bruising, but she has no choice. As she sets the final one she releases a sigh, her gaze sliding to the other wing that is still imprisoned.
And she is hit with a dilemma: she doesn't have a scalpel or surgical blade.
"Ano… I um…" She starts before one of their hunting knives slides onto the table beside her. She looks up in surprise to see the bald crow standing over her shoulder with a flat expression.
"I asked Kuroo to sharpen it, so it should cut clean. He almost vomited and Tsukishima and Daichi had to finish it." Yachi's head tilts in bafflement—and she's apparently not the only one.
"What?" Asahi asks and the crow looks away.
"I can't say I like the idea of using one of our gutting knives on one of our own either… but I don't know if we have anything else." He mutters with a fierce frown. Her mouth forms into a small 'o', the awful irony of that truth hitting her in the gut.
"Did you run it through the hot water?" She asks meekly.
"Bokuto did that. He wasn't happy either." He murmurs.
Everyone is stressed. She realizes. This little mass of sunshine being in pain sets them all on edge.
But it was a necessary pain, and one he wouldn't be able to escape. Whether he wanted them or not, was ready for them or not, Hinata's wings rupturing was a given at this point. The most they could do was ease that transition and alleviate the pain as much as possible.
Her jaw sets just a little and she picks up the knife, it's weight uncomfortable in her hand. It's no scalpel, it's blade far too large, and its size clumsy for the delicate precision that will be required. She's used it to help gut a kill herself before, never having considered that she might use it for a purpose like this. She never imagined she'd be using it to cut open Hinata's skin.
Her fingers ghost over the remaining ridge that runs down Hinata's back, and she looks up at Suga for input. The thrush frowns in thought before tracing a finger along its edge.
"If it is early, we wouldn't want to chance damaging the wing in the event that it is still slightly under developed." He murmurs.
Yachi nods and picks the knife up once more. Whispering another apology to the redhead and doing her damnedest do ignore that tension that has built into Kageyama's face or Natsu's wide-eyed horror, she gently presses the very tip into the skin near his hip.
Blood wells quickly around the blade, but she has to give the guys credit; it bites cleanly into the flesh, the sharp edge disappearing beneath the surface with very little pressure. Asahi is right there with a towel to place over the incision as she continues up the edge of the wing, her hand quivering only a touch. She really hopes she's getting deep enough; it is going to suck if she has to go over it a second time. She tries to keep a mental image of the blade tip in her head and match it up to how deep she'd placed the stitches on his other side, her bottom lip catching between her teeth anxiously.
The blade slides smoothly through his pale flesh and over his ribs, the red running right after it and she wants to weep for putting another scar on him. Hinata twitches, his muscles slowly tightening, but Yachi grits her teeth and keeps the knife moving. It cuts perfectly up to his wing base and the top of the ridge before she finally removes it from his skin and drops it on the table as if she's been shocked.
Her eyes meet Suga's and he nods with his jaw set. The thrush mimicking her movements, she gently pries the skin apart. Blood spills and she suppresses the urge to whimper. She can see the smooth lighter tissue beneath and one of her thumbs brushes against it as she finds and wedges her fingers under the edge of the skin layer. Following her lead, the thrush does the same, and they slowly pull the skin away from the appendage.
But the limb doesn't spring free.
It remains nestled in place against the lat muscle beneath it as more blood leaks from the incision that was plenty deep. She can see that she'd skimmed slightly into that muscle bed, the cut leaking blood more rapidly. She gently presses against the sealed limb only to meet resistance. She frowns and glances at the other one that sits free.
These are really wedged in here. He must have hit that one with a good amount of force to knock it loose and break it out. Her head tilts and she glances up at Asahi.
"Can you deliver a light blow from the other side against the bottom of it?"
Kageyama looks up with alarm, but the large crow swallows hard and nods. Stiffening his palm, he brings it up against the other side of the encased wing, his fingers glinting with a smear of blood from the towels. There's a quiet thud as the soft tissue of his palm collides with the ridge and Hinata twitches. She presses lightly against it again but it is still stuck fast.
"Once more?" She implores, and Asahi grimaces but repeats the motion with a little more force.
Hinata grunts as he connects, the air leaving his lungs, and his hand that still holds onto Kageyama jerks. The bunting cringes and places an apologetic hand on his shoulder until he stills again, feeling awful.
Yachi checks once more and this time, there's play in the limb when she prods it. Her fingers covered in blood, she slides them under the skin and hooks them across the top of the trapped wing. Slowly, carefully, she puts pressure on it to ease it forward and out of the incision.
"Ow." Hinata murmurs sluggishly, but aside from his shoulders tensing, he barely moves. Still, he is responding more to the pain; the kratom is probably starting to wear off.
"I'm so sorry Hinata." She says, not letting up, because the bottom has come free.
She works the limb out, the main joint still tightly clasping the wing shut, and desperately tries not to think about the blood that Asahi keeps mopping up. As it emerges, the tension in the wing base eases and mobility increases as it pulls away from the muscle and skin covering. And then it's loose and separate from Hinata's back, a perfect featherless infantile wing just like the other. She breathes out a sigh of relief.
Asahi takes up the task of cleaning the new limb while Suga starts threading her needles again. Stitching the knife's trail is much easier than the torn edges on Hinata's other side and it goes quicker, her hands moving almost without thought to pull the skin back together, and Suga almost can't keep up. Hinata is nearly all there again by the time she lays the last suture, his shoulders tensing despite the kava kava leaves she'd used to try and numb the area.
Suga gently wipes down the rest of his skin and they help him to sit up, a process that stretches the stitched skin all across his back. He hisses sharply, that hand going white knuckled around Kageyama's once more, and Yachi apologizes for what is probably the hundredth time as they carefully wrap his back and torso. When she ties the wrapping off over one of his shoulders, his head tilts at catching the motion out of the corner of his eye.
And then he catches sight of one freed wing and though still a little hazy, his almond orbs go wide. He stares at it, mesmerized, before a frown of concentration breaks his features.
The bunting recognizes that look and is torn between stopping Hinata and encouraging him. His mind still has the muscle memory, but these new wings have never been asked to do anything and will not share the remembered feeling. Still, Hinata is Hinata, and Hinata will try, no matter how fuzzy his mind might be from the remnants of the kratom in his system.
And slowly, the winglet spreads, stretching until it is almost completely extended. Yachi can't help the blinding smile that overtakes her face, her whole frame relaxing. If he can move it like that, everything really is all there and unharmed.
"You have your wings, Hinata." She says, and he turns that awed foggy gaze on her. "I'm… not sure when the feathers will come in, and they definitely have some growing to do, but they are out and complete and perfect." She murmurs.
"She did amazing. Now you get to start recovery." Tanaka says over her shoulder, handing a steaming glass to the redhead. "Kiyoko's orders." Hinata gingerly takes it from him, his nose wrinkling at the herbal scent.
"This is going to suck isn't it?" He mumbles.
"If you talk nice to Suga, he might sweeten it for you next time. Drink this one and it should knock you out for a bit." The bald crow says.
They carefully settle Kageyama in place so Hinata can sprawl on his stomach against him as the room fills with people once more. They all stare; and Yachi reminds herself that a majority of them have never seen Hinata with wings, so they are as new to them as the small spiker himself. The redhead is content enough against the crow setter that he starts glowing before he's even asleep, the light he throws much brighter than what the few feathers had produced before. As Hinata lets out a light sigh, she smiles and escapes outside for fresh air as Suga and Asahi finish cleaning up.
She plops down on the steps, her eyes drifting to the waves that are closer to her feet than they were last year.
Hinata has his wings. He will fly again.
A happy little smile blooms across her face, a streak of giddy joy leaping in her gut. It was only last month that Hinata had been complaining about how long it was taking.
"Seriously, it's a pair of wings and it's been years. Even an infant only takes one to develop—and there is a lot more involved in an entire baby than there are in a pair of wings."
"This is a little different I think, Hinata." She'd said with a wry smile.
"Moms can make an entire new little fledgling in a year while I can't seem to sprout new wings in over four times that."
"You aren't sprouting them at all, your leveler bond is. I don't think you can classify them the same." Suga had chimed in.
"Why not?" He'd muttered petulantly.
"Well, a mother creates life where a leveler bond can only preserve it for one. And the energy supply is constant for an infant where you only initiate 'binding' when you sleep for another. At the very least, if they acted the same energy wise, it would take a minimum of three times as long to completely regenerate functional wings. And that's assuming you actually sleep the normal eight hours, which I know you don't because you are always up well before the sun. Also, your wings are significantly larger than an infant's. It took you almost a millennium to get them as big as they were, so I imagine it would probably take significantly more energy to regenerate them even close to that size as opposed to a newborn's."
"Your logic isn't making me feel any better." Hinata had grumbled, and Yachi had laughed at the time… none of them had known that a month later— and almost four and a half years since he'd been grounded, he'd have new wings.
Someone drops beside her and she turns to find Akaashi. She blinks and reflexively takes the cup he holds out for her.
"Also per Kiyoko." He murmurs with a small smile. Her eyes drop to the cup to find a nice green tea that has a slightly altered scent and she finds Akaashi's eyes once more.
"She's drugging me, too?" She asks with a light smile and the owl's smirk widens.
"She said it was to take the edge off." He murmurs and she giggles slightly before taking a sip. The flavor is slightly skewed, but it is probably far better than Hinata's in any case. She looks up at the sky.
We did it.
The reality crashes across her shoulders and she's hit with a wave of fatigue as the tension in them unbinds. A lazy smile curls her mouth and she rests her chin on one hand, her mocha eyes finding the owl with curiosity as she remembers his contribution.
"What?" He asks, a brow rising inquisitively.
"Where did you learn about kratom and kava kava?" She asks curiously. It's not the owl beside her that answers, though.
"Well, at first, we were just after a way to get Lev talking easier because the other three are pretty tight lipped with most cat stuff… but it was like the knots thing. Akaashi finds plants and their uses fascinating." Bokuto says, dropping on her other side.
"I started looking more into it after he went and impaled himself." Akaashi corrects and Yachi blinks before a peal of laughter echoes up and out her throat. As it dies, the smile lingers on her face as she glances at the smaller owl.
"Well, thank you. That would have been brutal without it."
Bokuto bumps her shoulder with his and she looks up at him. The streaked owl doesn't look at her, his golden gaze watching the horizon and his mouth pulled into a wistful smirk.
"You have it backward. You took a grounded avian and gave us back a whole one. A little naked, maybe, but whole. I don't think any of us will ever balk at being in your care and we're all grateful to you. You deserve our thanks, Yachi." Her eyes sting and she blinks them rapidly.
You guys are going to make me cry, she thinks.
"I didn't' do anything, the leveler bond brought his wings back. I just put the stitches in—and as far as that goes, it was a group effort, you don't have to—"
"Kiyoko is making you some food since you probably haven't eaten since lunch. It will be ready whenever you are. You've more than earned it." Akaashi cuts her off with a light smile.
"Oh… I don't know if I'm hungry quite yet." She says with a laugh. Long arms snake around her gut, and she lets out a yelp as she's promptly hauled up off the step and tossed over a shoulder.
"Not an option." Lev says in her ear. "Kiyoko made ramen and even a spicy side batch for Suga. She also sent Noya into town for some fugashi." He remarks pointedly, knowing the bunting's weakness for the sweet.
She laughs lightly as the cat carries her back inside and into the kitchen, the glimpse she catches of Hinata and Kageyama on the way through nothing but precious. It's an image— brief and gone in a moment as she's pulled through the doorway— that she instantly knows will crystalize into her memory. Hinata is already sleeping, his new wings tucked up against his back across the wrappings, his leveler watching him tiredly with blatant adoration and awe. Yachi's smile grows sweet with the happiness that blooms in her chest at the sight as Lev deposits her in front of the female crow. Kiyoko's head tilts in that pretty way it does, her smile soft and proud, and the bunting's thoughts falter.
"You are amazing, Hitoka. I couldn't be more happy to be yours." She says softly and reaches out across the short distance between them. Yachi feels her cheeks pink as Kiyoko's hands clasp her face and draw her forward.
And when Shimizu's lips meet hers, the bunting's thoughts cease entirely, and she gives up all attempts to even try.
A/N: Well, here we are! It's been a LONG time coming. This one was another one of the very early chapters I finished. All the little notes about his development through each earlier chapter so you never forgot that they were there were maddening to try to remember to slip in all the time XD And from Yachi's POV! My brave little bunting does get to save the day this time ^.^
Woot! Only five chaps left... I set a demanding post schedule on this one and I'm actually relieved it's nearly finished XD Thank you all for taking the time to read and comment, you all make my day! Have a remarkable evening you guys!