Level Pair; Day Eight 2/2
Only trust someone who can see these three things in you: the sorrow behind your smile, the love behind your anger, and the reason behind your silence. ~Anonymous
Kageyama sits silently in the middle of his father's destroyed study in probably the only space that isn't invaded by papers or broken splinters. He doesn't know how long he's been here, but he's sure it's almost evening already. He heard sentries making noon rounds earlier and then the three o'clock one came and went, too.
His nerves are frayed and his knuckles are busted. The maps and missives on his father's desk are scattered across the floor, the delicate quills for writing crushed. There isn't an upright piece of furniture in the room, and the elegant tapestries and drapes that adorned the walls only this morning lay in disarray on the floor. The books that lined his father's shelves are no longer neatly ordered, having been tossed across the room hard enough to lose pages. He'd thoroughly lost his mind for the first half hour and his father's study reflects it.
Kageyama couldn't care less.
He desperately wants to get back to the others, to Hinata. His leveler is probably wondering what the heck happened to him by now and it's a thought that makes his stomach sick. The kid had been so shell shocked yesterday when they'd first gotten back and Kageyama is still trying to reason out the odd reaction when Hinata had initially called to the sentries in the first place. He's obviously not okay and what's more, Kageyama is irritated at having not been able to curl up around the shrimp last night again because other people were there.
He can't help but feel like everything is falling apart. Hinata is all but exiled already, and no one else in his unit is necessarily safe, Noya the predominant concern at the moment. He idly wonders what the other short crow did in the last week to put him on a short rope with the Grand King, but brushes it aside.
It doesn't matter. They are all at risk. And it took him a while, but he realized why around noon. They are all connected to him. Anyone close enough to him can be used as leverage against him. If he weren't involved in this… they would all be safe, perhaps even Hinata, too. It's a moment of bleak clarity and he draws in a deep breath. Unfortunately, they are already tied to him and his father is all too aware of his attachment to them.
As long as he's locked in here, he can do nothing to protect Hinata or the others. But his father will have to come back eventually… he just hopes the shrimp will still be around by then.
When the door finally does open, Kageyama is tense but level. He turns and his blank stare is quickly replaced by surprise.
"Daichi!" He's on his feet in a hurry and flying toward the other crow. It feels almost off in some way to not see him with the thrush at his side, but he brushes the thought aside because it's Daichi, not his father or one of his other sentry larger crow looks at him with a bit of wonder, his eyes straying to Kageyama's wings.
"Kageyama."
He grips Daichi's arms with surprising force and releases a heavy breath.
"I'm glad to see you. It's been… crazy. After everything, I'm relieved you guys are all fine. It's just…" His words drop away because he feels like he's rambling.
Daichi draws him into a firm hug and for an instant, Kageyama is at a loss because this is uncharacteristic of their unit leader.
"Just that you aren't completely confident in what everyone tells you until you see for yourself?" Daichi asks quietly. Kageyama feels his chest tighten.
"Yeah." He croaks. "Tanaka and Suga? They are alright?"
Daichi nods. It doesn't have the same effect as when his father says it. When Daichi tells him they are fine, he finally fully believes it. His father is exceptional at telling half-truths or skirting the important details; Daichi is part of his unit and would never lie to one of them. It's a huge weight off his mind and he instantly feels lighter. Kageyama pulls back and hauls on the larger crow's arm toward the door he's just come through.
"Come on, let's go. I want to check on Hinata." He says but Daichi doesn't budge.
"They… aren't going to let you out."
Kageyama stops before straightening and turning back to the larger crow. Daichi looks uncomfortable, his gaze dropping with a frown, and unease settles in Kageyama's gut.
"My father sent you."
The larger crow nods.
"He didn't really explain much… just said I needed to talk to you about responsibility as a leader. Kageyama…" His face creases darkly as he meets Kageyama's eyes once more. "I think he intends to get rid of Hinata."
A cynical grin splits Kageyama's face and Daichi looks taken aback.
"You're quicker than I am." He says sourly. There is a long pause before Kageyama shakes his head.
"I have no intention of letting him win." He says bluntly. He intends for Hinata to stay… with the level of conviction the crow in front of him had had when he'd fought for Suga.
Daichi's eyes follow him critically as he turns and walks to the overturned table with its disarrayed maps and scattered sentry markers. Kageyama absently rights the table as well as he can; one of the legs is now broken and its stability is badly compromised.
"Daichi… how is everyone doing?"
"They are… doing alright, I guess..." He says warily and Kageyama frowns as he reaches for the maps and markers.
"Daichi." He says, a little more lead in his voice. "How is everyone doing?" He asks again before straightening to pin him with hard eyes. Daichi almost looks ready to say something but appears to think better of it.
"About as well as can be expected." He says finally, looking away. "Noya's a mess and Asahi, well he's not much better. Suga seems okay but he always hides his negative thoughts so I'm sure he's bottling everything. And Tanaka… didn't say a word. Of all of them, I think he's the one most likely to do something stupid."
Kageyama nods and starts placing the maps and markers back on the table.
"And Shouyou?" He asks, missing Daichi's sharp glance.
"Hinata is… easily the calmest of everyone." He says as if it baffles him. Kageyama doesn't know why, but that eases his nervous tension.
"Good… and you, Daichi."
The larger crow looks startled for a moment before walking over to where Kageyama is meticulously replacing all the markers on the map from where they were the split second before he'd flipped the table earlier. Again, Kageyama can't help but feel like this is an odd interaction without the quiet yet constant presence of the easygoing thrush… as if the other crow is somehow less than he normally would be. But that makes him no less intimidating. Daichi stops across from him, his looming form invasive when he leans forward.
"I want to know what the hell happened out there." He says, his voice low. Kageyama pauses.
"It was some monster with white wings. He was after me, hit me hard enough to knock me out and Hinata jumped on him. I woke and it was already too late." He says, the taste in his mouth as bitter as the memory. He absently wonders how many more times he will have to repeat this story. Daichi is silent as Kageyama slowly finishes aligning the markers in all their places, the barest wisp of a half formed impression that he can't really even identify distracting him from the very edge of his mental processing before his gaze narrows with focus.
"The Grand King intends to exile him, Daichi. Tooru views him as a… 'distraction'." Kageyama says finally, the last word uttered with venom.
"Exile? That's basically…"
"A death sentence." Kageyama finishes for him. "I'm not letting that happen. I'll go with him if I have to. If Hinata dies, then I intend to be beside him. He saved my life and it's because of me that he's under fire from Tooru now."
Daichi pins him with a searching look.
"What do you mean, it's because of you?"
"I challenged him and now Hinata's not safe. Daichi, I have to go with him."
"Don't you think you've done enough?"
There's a bit of sharp bite in the taller crow's voice and Kageyama steps back, the sting of that remark hitting much deeper than he'd have liked. He has nothing to say to that because he still feels guilty himself.
"Sorry." Daichi says and looks away. "Hinata's doing a stellar job of making sure no one blames you for this but when you came back with wings and he didn't... it's hard."
"You're right." Kageyama says hollowly. "You're right, Daichi. I came back fine and he came back broken. You don't have to tell me how messed up this is… and Shouyou is an idiot, because it is my fault. I wasn't there when he needed backup. Still…" Kageyama looks up with a sharp glance. "I'm his best chance."
"Noya would be the better option." He rebuttals, but Kageyama shakes his head.
"It has to be me."
"You should be thinking about what's best for him, not how to sooth you battered pride, you self-centered egotistical brat!" He barks and Kageyama straightens just a touch.
"Daichi." He says quietly, that incomplete thought clicking into place. "Why did you push so hard to let Suga join our unit?"
Daichi blinks at him, completely taken aback.
"What does that have to do with anything?" He says, but he glances away for a moment and Kageyama doesn't miss it. The niggling feeling he didn't realize he's even had for the last few years in the back of his head turns into a hunch.
"You threatened my dad to quit and banish yourself if he didn't let him in. You, the one individual in our unit that my dad probably has the greatest respect for. Your own family almost disowned you for being so brash and willing to throw away everything he'd set you up with. But you never cared. You were adamant that you would just leave it all with no regrets if Suga didn't get in. Why?"
"That has nothing to do with Hinata being grounded—"
"He's your leveler, isn't he?" Kageyama cuts him off, his voice low. Daichi goes still, his dark eyes locking onto him.
"Are you on something? Those stories aren't even real." He says, but his anger is completely compromised by an off note in his voice and Kageyama is almost positive beyond doubt that he's nailed it.
"You guys are a level pair." Kageyama states, the revelation both seeming obvious and shocking at the same time. He's sure the fact that levelers being a story probably has a lot to do with it, but he wonders who no one ever put two and two together with Daichi and Suga. He'd believed like the rest of them that it wasn't real, that it was nothing more than myth told to children to get them to sleep. Looking back, he wonders how often this actually does happen.
"Even if that stuff were true, there's no way we'd know." Daichi says and Kageyama has to give him credit for pulling that disinterested look onto his face when it was contorted with unease just a moment before.
"There is. If someone were to break his wing, and then left him in your care, we could find out easily." He says, his head tilting sideways.
Daichi's face darkens and he takes one step and swings. Kageyama is expecting the violent reaction and reflexively ducks like his six-hundred years of training has driven into him, and he quickly uses the larger crow's momentum to pin him up against the wall.
Daichi is one of the better well rounded people in their unit; for him to miss like that means that he is noticeably off balance mentally. Even though Kageyama's hard pressed to keep Daichi there and he's digging into the floor with his heels and shoving into the larger crow's back with a shoulder, he leans in behind him and speaks in a low voice he is sure Daichi will still hear.
"No one would be able to tell that you were a level pair until you initiated the binding connection. A simple touch or brush against each other isn't enough like the stories say. It must be nearly full body contact, usually occurring during sleep."
Daichi goes still and Kageyama lets his arm go and steps back from him. The larger crow turns to stare at him, his face a mask of shock. And there's a wary defensiveness that pulls his mouth down with tension.
"How—"
"It has to be me." Kageyama repeats evenly, cutting him off a second time.
Daichi stares at him, his mouth hanging open. This had never been part of the plan, but it somehow seems like the right choice at the moment. Kageyama holds his wide gaze pointedly before turning back to the table.
"I have an idea, but I can't be sure it will work to tie my father's hands. If it fails…" He says glancing at Daichi. The crow's mouth works a little mechanically and he fails to get anything out his first two tries.
"You are under guard right now. You need an out." He finally manages, his voice holding an odd half-strangled quality, as if it were hard to speak. His gaze is slightly half-startled still and tracks him with an uncomfortable focus. Kageyama nods once and looks to the map with its markers on the table before them.
"This is where sentries were posted today. Unless the status changes, they will still be sweeping the west forest tomorrow and the confluence area. I don't care how you do it, but we need the option." He says. Daichi blinks and glances down to the map. He takes in the sentry positions and peers back up at him.
"We will come up with something." He says, his brow furrowing. Kageyama frowns.
"Don't get yourselves caught in the crossfire. Hinata isn't the only one who isn't safe; you guys are my unit so you are at risk, too. And Hinata will be upset if one of you gets nailed because of him." Kageyama blinks at his own words, but Daichi meets his gaze steadily.
"I will make sure they are safe."
Kageyama nods and looks down to the table once more. With a determined shove, he tosses it along with the maps and markers once more. Daichi heads for the door with more than one glance thrown back at him that is tainted with a strange sort of wonder. Kageyama might still be a little blown away by this newfound connection he shares with his unit leader, too, but he can't help but hope the larger crow gets that under control in the next few seconds as he shadows him. When Daichi knocks to be let back out, a thought occurs to Kageyama. He catches the crow's arm as the door opens narrowly.
"Daichi. Hinata doesn't know." He says meaningfully, mindful of any prying ears beyond the doorway. Daichi nods, traces of surprise touching the corners of his eyes, but his expression is schooled back into neutral apathy, for which Kageyama is grateful.
"Try getting some sleep. Everything will work out." He says, and then he's gone.
Kageyama lets out a deep breath, relief and anxious anticipation jockeying for emotional control.
Out of idle curiosity, Kageyama tries the door once more. Yep still locked.
A/N: Not sure I like how the last chapter and this one turned out. I don't think I have Daichi down correctly and I feel like I failed on several levels at keeping Oikawa even remotely in character. I think I've totally turned him into an antagonist when he's not really supposed to be a bad person. I wasn't sure how to soften the projection of his character without altering the severity of the last two chapters and still make happen what I needed to, though. Oh, well... hope you enjoyed them anyway :)