Reclaim (Haikyuu Kingdoms!AU)

Strength

Hinata blushed. He's never gotten that sort of compliment from anyone! And this grumpy, cold, antisocial king just told him that he was "unbelievable."

"Are you serious?" he asked, eyes lighting up. Kageyama nodded as Hinata dropped his weapon. 

"Your speed is incomprehensible, but you're lacking strength."

"In... incompre... what does that mean?"

Kageyama sighed in annoyance. "It means not being able to understand something, moron."

"Hey! I'm not a moron! You're just too smart." Hinata pouted and crossed his arms.

"I was joking." 

"Well I can't tell when you're joking or not! Your humor is weird. Actually, I never knew you had a sense of humor." Kageyama grabbed Hinata's head and started to squeeze. As Hinata yelled for him to stop, Kageyama felt a grin cross his face. Maybe stand-up comedy was a future side-gig along with being the king.

He released Hinata's head and unsheathed his weapon, which he had taken from Hinata's room after leaving it in his room. "Shall we work on your strength?"

Hinata frowned. "I was talking with Asahi about my strength, and he said that I can't grow as much muscle as him because of my size."

Kageyama hummed. "Do you know if you're going to keep growing?"

Hinata shrugged. "There's no doctors around, so I have no idea."

"I'm guess not," Kageyama said, turning his back on the shrimp and picked up a giant stick from the base of the thick tree. "Oh, damn. I forgot my real sword at your place. I want you to break this stick with your bare hands before I get back." 

Kageyama disappeared into the wood, the rustling of bushes fading away. Hinata looked down at the stick and picked it up. It was heavier than it looked. He placed another hand on it with a smile. "Time to prove that idiot wrong!"

He applied as much pressure as he could on it, but it didn't budge. He was about to snap it in half with his knee, but Kageyama's words echoed through his mind : I want you to break that stick with your bare hands.

"Damn king," he scoffed as his hands started to tremble from the pressure. 

"Who are you damming now?" Hinata spun around to see Kageyama brush a few leaves out of his face as he reentered the clearing. The orange-haired boy threw down his stick with a grunt. 

"You! I can't break this with my bare hands!" he yelled. Kageyama picked it up and snapped it like a dry twig. 

"Weak." Hinata punched him in the stomach. Kageyama returned the punch with two times the force. Hinata doubled over, clutching his stomach as the former king sighed. "It seems that Asahi was right. Let's just work on speed for now."

"Speaking of speed, how did you return so fast?"

"I sprinted. I don't know if you can beat me, though," he replied with a competitive smirk. 

"You're on! I bet I'll get there in half the time you get there!" he yelled. Kageyama put a hand on his hip. 

"Let's just get on with the lesson." He thrust his blade, and Hinata parried it with ease. "I'll go quicker."

He thrust at full speed, and Hinata deflected it. Kageyama's eyes widened and a grin spread across his face. "No one can parry that."

"Well I can," he laughed. "Is that as fast as you can go?"

"I guess I gotta train my speed," Kageyama replied.

"By the way, you're scary when you smile."

With full speed and force, Kageyama tried to impale the small boy. 

"Wow, you two became close!" Suga commented to the freak duo as he finished his sandwich. Kageyama and Hinata exchanged glances. A large cloth was taped onto Hinata's face where Kageyama's sword grazed him, and Kageyama's neck was red from the multiple times Hinata held the blade to his throat.

"I never thought the cold king would make a friend," Daichi said. "Nice job, Hinata!"

"Who would want to be friends with an ice cube?" Tsukki snickered. Yamaguchi smiled at his boyfriend's comment as he finished his small sandwich. 

"So... tell me why you're in our house?" Ukai asked, lying on his bed. Tadeka handed him some water in a small cup. 

"More importantly, did you just say king, Daichi?"

Kageyama tilted his head forward slightly. "I'm king Kageyama of the former Kitagawa Kingdom. Nice to meet you."

Tadeka dropped his tray. "You said your name was Bob, your majesty!"

"Call me 'Kageyama' until I reclaim the throne. These people- my fund- friends- are helping me." Tsukki and Yamaguchi broke out laughing. Suga shut them up with a glare. 

"To answer your question, Mr. Ukai, it's raining. We were going to go to the club building, but it floods easily. Your house doesn't."

"You payin'?" Ukai grunted, raising an eyebrow. Tadeka smacked him with the empty tray. 

"They don't have to pay! They're just kids!"

"And somehow, kids are running their own kingdoms."

"It's working so that's all that matters. They're smarter than us," Tadeka replied. "Now, would anyone like more water? It's fresh rainwater today!" 

Everybody mumbled their own variations of "no." Tadeka set his tray down with a pleasant smile. 

"So what are all planning to do?" he asked. "Do you have a game plan? Some sort of strategy?" 

"Thanks to this guy, we do!" Tanaka clapped Kageyama on the back, whose face went right into his water. 

"Ow. Yes, we do. We're setting out to gain allies and using their power against Aoba Johsai- not just Kageyama and his personal guard or lover. Whatever those two are by now," Kageyama explained with a straight face. 

Tadeka's eyes sparkled. "Who are you planning to get first?"

"We're thinking the Nekoma Kingdom first. Actually, we now have an appointment thanks to the new friends," Daichi said. 

"You know, it takes about days to get there. You should probably head there now."

"On foot, it takes, like forever. We need to take a good wagon or something from the Inner City."

"But how? Us outsiders can't go into the Inner City! We have to look like we're transporting goods or something!"

The gears in Kageyama's mind started to churn. "Takeda, you have farmland, correct?"

Takeda nodded. "Then can you help us?"

The man quickly caught on. "Of course! I'd be happy to help."

"Help? Help with what?" Hinata asked innocently. A scary smile crossed Kageyama's face. 

"We're going to break in."