Ship: Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi Fandom: Haikyuu!! Major Tags: blood Other Tags: injuries, supernatural elements (youkai) Word Count: 513
***
Daichi hears the bird before he sees it. He's coming back from the village just before sundown when he hears the quiet chirping. The sound is out of place. The birds in the forest fall silent early this deep in the winter, and even his own footsteps are muffled by the fresh snow.
He looks around and nearly misses the small bird on the stone by his door. Its feathers blend in with the stone and the snow, and he would have missed it entirely if it hadn't hopped closer to him.
He's a hunter by training and by trade, and his eye is quick to pick out the injured animal. The simaenaga's wing trails behind it leaving bloody path in the snow. Birds are far from his specialty, but he can't ignore the creature's cries, and next thing he knows he's lifting it as gently as he can and carrying it inside. He leaves the bird on the table with his scarf as he rebuilds the fire from the buried coals.
When he turns back, he swears the bird is watching him expectantly, and he's not sure what to say. He's never been much of a conversationalist, and he suddenly feels decidedly out of his depth.
He looks to the bookcase in the corner. He doesn't need his grandmother's books to identify the bird for him, but she was a healer, and maybe he'll be lucky enough to find something useful in her notes.
"Just give me a few minutes, okay?" he asks his guest. "I'm going to see what I can do to help you."
A wave of nostalgia washes over him as he opens the volumes filled with his grandmother's tight hand. There's no magic answer in the pages unfortunately, but somehow even the suggestions he would have settled on himself are more comforting for imagining it's his grandmother directing him as he tends to the injured bird as best he can.
He sleeps by the fire that night with the bird tucked into a nest of old blankets near his head. He spends the next day inside feeding the bird from his hand and fretting that its wound will become infected. He spends that night the same way as the first.
On the third day, he's in his workroom cleaning when he hears a sudden clatter from behind him. He rushes through the door, but the simaenaga is gone. In it's place is something Daichi has never seen before. His new guest is tall, with white hair that fades to black near the ends. An ugly scab runs down one of his arms, and the impression of feathers seem to shimmer under his skin as he moves. He bows to Daichi before beckoning him to come closer with a long, clawed finger.
Daichi doesn't need his grandmother's notes to tell him he's accidentally brought a youkai into his home. He doesn't need her notes to tell him his life is about to get much more complicated either. The glint in the youkai's eye as he waits in warning enough.
FILL: Team Imaizumi Shunsuke/Kinjou Shingo, T
Fandom: Haikyuu!!
Major Tags: blood
Other Tags: injuries, supernatural elements (youkai)
Word Count: 513
***
Daichi hears the bird before he sees it. He's coming back from the village just before sundown when he hears the quiet chirping. The sound is out of place. The birds in the forest fall silent early this deep in the winter, and even his own footsteps are muffled by the fresh snow.
He looks around and nearly misses the small bird on the stone by his door. Its feathers blend in with the stone and the snow, and he would have missed it entirely if it hadn't hopped closer to him.
He's a hunter by training and by trade, and his eye is quick to pick out the injured animal. The simaenaga's wing trails behind it leaving bloody path in the snow. Birds are far from his specialty, but he can't ignore the creature's cries, and next thing he knows he's lifting it as gently as he can and carrying it inside. He leaves the bird on the table with his scarf as he rebuilds the fire from the buried coals.
When he turns back, he swears the bird is watching him expectantly, and he's not sure what to say. He's never been much of a conversationalist, and he suddenly feels decidedly out of his depth.
He looks to the bookcase in the corner. He doesn't need his grandmother's books to identify the bird for him, but she was a healer, and maybe he'll be lucky enough to find something useful in her notes.
"Just give me a few minutes, okay?" he asks his guest. "I'm going to see what I can do to help you."
A wave of nostalgia washes over him as he opens the volumes filled with his grandmother's tight hand. There's no magic answer in the pages unfortunately, but somehow even the suggestions he would have settled on himself are more comforting for imagining it's his grandmother directing him as he tends to the injured bird as best he can.
He sleeps by the fire that night with the bird tucked into a nest of old blankets near his head. He spends the next day inside feeding the bird from his hand and fretting that its wound will become infected. He spends that night the same way as the first.
On the third day, he's in his workroom cleaning when he hears a sudden clatter from behind him. He rushes through the door, but the simaenaga is gone. In it's place is something Daichi has never seen before. His new guest is tall, with white hair that fades to black near the ends. An ugly scab runs down one of his arms, and the impression of feathers seem to shimmer under his skin as he moves. He bows to Daichi before beckoning him to come closer with a long, clawed finger.
Daichi doesn't need his grandmother's notes to tell him he's accidentally brought a youkai into his home. He doesn't need her notes to tell him his life is about to get much more complicated either. The glint in the youkai's eye as he waits in warning enough.