The Queen of the Crows {Haikyuu!!}

45

"We brought nourishment for the sickly and the caretaker," Tanaka grins as he knocks on the ajar door. He sets a bowl of noodles by my bed for the lunch the next day. More and more Karasuno players file into the small dorm room carrying a meal of their own. 

"You didn't have to do this," I smile weakly. I set the washcloth on the desk and slowly pull my sore body upright. Sugawara hands me the bowl of noodle and I take a bite. It tastes great except for the nasty aftertaste most likely from being sick. 

They sit around the room and talk with each other. "How ya feeling?" Daichi asks between bites.

"Honestly? I feel like I've been been though a wood chipper one too many times," he nearly chokes on the broth. 

"At least she's being honest," Hinata chimes.

When I finish my noodles, I rest my head on the wall. "How did practice go?" I ask.

"Everyone was totally off their game, especially Daichi,"Nishinoya slurps a noodle.

"Hey!" Daichi turns to him quickly. "You were too!" He crosses arms.

"By the way, we got the video Sugawara sent Daichi," Hinata smirks. I raise an eyebrow and look at Sugawara.

"Remember that video of you calling me pretty?"

My face heats up, "N-No?" The team looks around at each other as Daichi pulls out his phone and plays the video.

"He could crush a watermelon with those arms!" I sink down into the covers, my face aflame. Boisterous laughter ensues at my expense. "I said those things?"

"You must've been delirious or something," Sugawara offers.

~~~

Third POV

The sick girl lays her elbow on her pillow and leans her face on her hand. She blinks slowly as she listens to the conversation. "Chihiro I just noticed your bed head and I love it," she raises an eyebrow at Yamaguchi's comment.

"I kinda want to touch it. It looks soft," Hinata mutters.

She sets her hands on her pillow and rests her chin on them. She turns over onto her stomach. "Go for it. I don't mind," she hums. Hinata scoots closer to her bedside and places a hand on her head. His eyes light up like a Christmas tree when he runs his fingers through it.

"Uwah! It's so soft!" he beams.

"Really? I wanna feel!" Nishinoya joins Hinata and she feels another hand placed atop her head. "It is!" More and more of the team approaches out of curiosity. She closes her eyes and enjoys the feeling of gentle hands playing with her hair a few at a time. Soon, she begins resting her eyes briefly. Then she falls fast asleep with her cheek mushed against the pillow.

When Daichi and Asahi get their turn, she's asleep. "Guess she likes it when people play with her hair 'cause she's out like a light," Sugawara notes.

Daichi nods, "Yeah, guess so," he withdraws his hand almost reluctantly as watches her now steady breathing.

"Guess we'll be leaving," Nishinoya says as the other team members stand up and meander out the door with their empty bowls or plates in hand. Everyone but the three third years leave the room, leaving a perpetual silence. Until Sugawara speaks up.

"She looks so vulnerable when she's asleep." There is a silent agreement. They just stand beside Chihiro's bed motionlessly before moving all at once out the door.

~~~

"Have we been able to reach her cousin?" Ukai takes a long drag from his cigarette.

"We have but she's stuck in a broken down subway in Tokyo. Said she was out on a job," Takeda answers. Ukai drops his head back and groans.

"Guess we'll need to keep a sick Chihiro."

~~~

Without the careful watch of neither Sugawara nor Daichi, Chihiro got ballsy. Clad in an over-sized t-shirt, shorts and space socks, she leaves her room and searches for something do to. Being sick got old really quick. She could only wallow in sickness for so long.

She walks around the dorm complex. It much bigger than she thought. She found a library, a lounge, a conference room, and a communal kitchen. Her eyes glisten with mischievous plans, for in that kitchen sits a coffee maker perfectly untouched.

She looks around a few times before getting to work. She makes at least two pots of coffee and pours them into the largest container possible. A Tupperware container. She takes disposable creamers and sugar and puts them into a Styrofoam cup before retreating back to her room before anyone saw her.

The coffee sloshes back and forth as she scales the steps as fast as she can. She can only imagine how weird this must look at the moment. A girl running upstairs with a giant container, made for food mind you, filled with black coffee. She knew she was going to regret this later.

~~~

She literally vibrates around the dorms after drinking two pots of coffee. She slips into the library and learns how to speak basic Gaelic and about quantum mechanics and re shelves books strewn about via dewy decimal. There was a librarian there but she seemed anything but bothered by the caffeinated girl.

She finally ends her not-so-terrible-reign-of-terror in the library just in time to nearly cross paths with Ushijima. 'They must be here for dinner' she thinks. She slinks back to her room dodging anyone and everyone. Despite these efforts, she opened the door to a displeased Daichi. She smiles sheepishly and scoots around the outer border of the room and onto the bed.

"Now what's your excuse?" he crosses his arms.

"Knowledge calls."

"And why does your room smell like coffee?"

"Air freshener?" He raises his eyebrows and she shrinks into her shoulders. "Definitely not because I drank two pots of coffee."

"Two pots!?"

"I got bored Daichi what did you expect me to do?"

"I don't know! Maybe discover the secrets to the universe?"

"Well I did learn quantum mechanics does that count?" He pauses for a moment, taking in what he is hearing. "And Gaelic."

"Chihiro"

"Brón orm*?"

"I can't believe you right now."

"Ar a laghad tá mé macánta*."

"You're sick! Act like it!" he hides his smile.

"I cannot be what I am not, Daichi," she returns quickly. He sighs and tosses his head back.

"I'm telling Suga." A brief moment of fear washes across her face before it is replaced with an even larger smirk.

"Your threats are futile," she says like a video game antagonist. She holds her hand out in front of her and makes a fist dramatically. 

"Good thing it's a promise then."

"You got me there."

~~~

*Sorry

*At least I'm honest

haha I know I haven't updated in a hot minute. Here's yer lunch ya heathens. Go wild.

~UmbrellaChild