The Queen of the Crows {Haikyuu!!}

44

The girl with the dark circles under her eyes lay asleep, motionless in her bed. Karasuno players come in and out to check on her. Takeda-sensei sits with Sugawara and Daichi in chairs or on the dorm room desk. Sugawara pinches the bridge of his nose, "I just don't understand how she can so blatantly disregard their own health,"

Takeda sits up, "I actually read an article about how people who are geniuses and have a really high IQ have a hard time caring for themselves because they'll simply forget to. They'll forget to eat or sleep sometimes,"

"That's still no excuse," Sugawara grumbles. He swings his legs back and forth from the desk that he sits on. The blanket covering Chihiro shifts and there is a groan. All of the room's occupants whip their heads around.

"Geez, what century am I in?" she pushes herself up with her hand.

"Welcome back to the realm of the living. We're still in the 21st," Daichi jokes, gently coaxing her to lay back down.

Her head lolls to the side in confusion, "Hah?" Her eyes drink in their presence. "Why are you here? What happened?" Chihiro slurs.

"When we were eating dinner after capture the flag, Hinata pointed out that you weren't there. So the Date Tech manager went up to check on you to which she found you in a cold sweat, throwing up stomach acid," Daichi crosses his arms, not amused.

She pulls the covers over her face in shame. He gently tugs them back down to let her see their worried expressions. "I-I'm sorry if I caused trouble for y-you,"  she avoids their gazes.

Sugawara sighs and brushes a stray piece of hair out of her face. "Anyway, how are you feeling now?"

"Like I have a hangover," They shoot her a glare. "...which I do not know from experience," she recoils with a sheepish smile. "Anyway, shouldn't you be in the gym practicing?"

Daichi and Sugawara look at each other and look back at me. "She's right. Daichi and Takeda-sensei, you can both go back to the gym. I'll take care of her,"

Chihiro shakes her head, "N-no you need don't need to," she pulls herself up right. "I'm fine. In fact, I'll come with you all. Just let me get a mask-" She stands up, but her knees buckle and her legs give in. Daichi quickly catches her by under her arms and hoists her back up. He pushes her lightly into the twin sized bed.

"Chihiro," she looks up at him. She's never heard him call say her name like that. So serious. "Let us take care of you," his expression is calmly serious. She sees this and backs down. She lays back down.

Daichi stands up with Takeda-sensei and turns over his shoulder to Sugawara. "Take good care of her,"

"Naturally," the setter smiles back. The two leave the room and shut it behind them quietly. Sugawara turns back to the girl with unruly hair with a sigh. She sinks farther into the blanket and mumbles incoherently. "I'll go get a cold towel," he stands up and pads over to the bathroom.

He comes back with damp towel and a cup of lukewarm water. "Let me see your forehead," he asks. She pulls the covers down and he places a hand on her forehead. He clicks his tongue and draws back his hand quickly. "You're burning up," He folds the towel and places it on her forehead after pushing back the rest of her hair. Her cheeks were blush from the fever and her eyes are heavy lidded.

Sugawara leans back in the chair beside her bed and lets out a breath. Chihiro has a labored breath, like she's forcing herself to breathe. "I'm sorry. You don't have to stay with me," Chihiro says slack jawed.

"I know. But I want to," he says simply. Her eyes widen a fraction. That is before she puffs her cheeks out and grumbles.

"Why?" she pouts. "I don't get you people,"

He chuckles aloud. "When I see people I care about get hurt or sick, I want to take care of them," 

"I get that, but why do you care about me?" she asks bluntly. "I'm not special or anything. I'm not pretty like Kiyoko or cute like Yachi. I'm just...there," she rambles out. Sugawara notes her odd behavior and credits it to her being sick. 

"Let's see. Well, you're way more than you think you are for one. And two, I don't really know. I don't really care for people because I want something out of it," He pauses for a moment. "This conversation seems oddly familiar,"

~~~

Meanwhile, Karasuno is off their game today and everyone can tell. "Get your head in the game!" Ukai hollers at his team. Oikawa sets the ball to his ace, Iwaizumi, who slams the ball to the other side of the court. Instead of hitting the ground, it hits Daichi in his forehead. The confused setter sets the face receive to Asahi who scores a point.

"Daichi are you okay?!" Asahi yells. The captain blinks a few times and shakes out of his daze.

"Yeah, I'm fine," He's really off his game. His teammates notice this and eyebrows are raised.

"Daichi, what's up with you today? You seem distracted," Tanaka asks carefully.

"I-It's nothing. I'm good,"

This time Nishinoya speaks up. "I know you're worried about Chihiro-chan right now, we all are. But we can't let it affect our game," Daichi is speechless for a solid 30 seconds before speaking again.

"You're right. Let's finish this up,"

~~~

"Why are you so pretty? I don't get it? I'm a girl so shouldn't I be the pretty one?" Chihiro stares at the ceiling making hand gestures while Sugawara is barely containing himself. His phone camera shakes with his suppressed laughter.

"It's not fair!" she pounds her fist on the mattress. "But not only that but the rest of the team look like models too. Like do you see how great Asahi's hair is? Same with Hinata! It's so voluminous.  And they're all so tall I mean you see how lanky Tsukishima is!" Sugawara refuses to interrupt her rant.

"And are we even going to talk about how great Daichi's biceps are? I can't be the only one who thinks this. He could crush a watermelon with those suckers. And they all have great legs! It doesn't fail that every volleyball player has legs sculpted by the gods," He zooms in on her pink cheeks and her pouting.

She tears her eyes away from the ceiling and looks at Sugawara. "W-wait! Don't record this!" she reaches for his phone.

"Nope! I got this all of video and I'm keeping it forever," He dodges her feeble attacks while laughing.

~~~

"Sugawara sent me a video and told me to watch it with you all. So get over here," Daichi says during a 20 minute break. The team of sweaty boys crowd together to watch whatever Sugawara sent them.

He hit play and doesn't regret it. Nobody can even stand after they finish the video because they are on the ground, dying to laughter. "She ACTUALLY said that!"

"I have nice hair?" 

Daichi was a stuttering, blushing mess after watching it. His nickname is 'Melon Crusher' for the rest of the practice. A term coined by Tsukishima himself.

~~~

Forgive me I am having way too much fun with sick Chihiro

~UmbrellaChild