March 14th

"So why can't I go back home?" Hikari asks once the two have finished their meal.

Scratching the back of his head, Atsumu avoids eye contact with her.

"You see, because of the storm a few days ago, the power surrounding the forest grows extremely more powerful. It makes it hard for those who are inside to get out. Especially if you aren't a guardian."

"So, you can't even get out, Atsumu-san?" Hikari asks.

"Yeah... big storms like these also weaken our abilities the further we get away from the center of the forest and I can't guide you out without those abilities because the forest changes its pathways."

"N-no way!" Hikari exclaims and pouts. "I don't want to worry anyone..."

Seeing her worried expression, Atsumu sighs.

"Don't worry. It usually takes five days for the power to subside and two days have already passed. In three days, I'll take you back home," he reassures.

"Really, Atsumu-san?" she asks as he nods. "Thank you so much! During my hardest times, you're always here to save me, huh?" she lightly chuckles.

Atsumu just stays silent. He didn't understand why he always happened to be there to save Hikari from her troubles either. It was probably because the day he heard her cries that one night, she had taken a part of his soul with her and now, he felt spiritually connected with her. That was his hypothesis, but now he was almost certain that was it. When he's near her, his powers blossom even more.

"Want to know something funny, Atsumu-san?" Hikari giggles to herself. Usually, she would be a nervous wreck around unfamiliar males, but when it came to Atsumu, all of those feelings disappeared.

"What's funny?"

"This might be random, but you were my first love!" Hikari sheepishly grins.

Blush covers his face but he isn't sure why.

"What's love?" he genuinely asks.

"Eh? You don't know?" Shyly, she scratches her cheek and turns away, "never mind then. It's kind of embarrassing! I was just a child!"

"You don't just say something and ignore it, Hikari-chan!" he pouts and lightly flicks her forehead.

"Ouch!" she yelps and rubs the injured area. "W-well..." she hesitates. "Love can have a different meaning to everyone. Some people are afraid of it and others feel happy about it." Her hands move to her hair and she plays with it. "I personally get excited and happy when I fall in love!" A smile grows on her face and Atsumu's fox ears turn pink. "I don't know how to accurately explain it, but love is the feeling of deep admiration and appreciation for someone or something. Ultimately, that something or someone should make you feel happy. Eventually, when your love grows for that person, you start to notice the little things that they do that they may not even realize. Whether it'd be playing with his fingers, his eyes sparkling and lighting up at the sight of food, or when he licks his lips when he's nervous." Without her even realizing, she starts listing the things Akaashi does. "Noticing those little things makes me happy and I start to appreciate him even more because I'll know what makes him happy... Also, everything about him eventually just becomes more adorable." As she's thinking about Akaashi, Hikari blushes and stops herself. "W-well, that's just an example!!"

Atsumu doesn't realize her flusteredness and nods. 'So that's what love is.'

"I guess you can say, you're my first love because you were the light who saved me when I needed someone the most! Even if you are a fox, I really appreciate you being there back then," Hikari explains and puts a hand over her chest. "And ever since that night I met you, I have never felt as cold as I had once before. I always feel so warm and I love it!" Hikari closes her eyes as she contently feels warmth radiate throughout her body.

Becoming embarrassed, Atsumu turns away to cover his face.

"I-it's nothing! You were just so loud; I wanted to see what was going on." 

Giggling, she rubs her neck. "Well, I was a crybaby back then."

Turning back around to take a few glances at her face, the corner of his lips curve. "I'm glad you love it," Atsumu whispers to himself and feels his heart rate increase. 

As the two appreciate the peaceful atmosphere for a while, a question pops into her head.

"I wonder what I'm going to do for the next few days if I can't go home right away," she worriedly thinks out loud.

Scratching his head, an idea pops in Atsumu's head.

"If you want, you can tag along with me as I do my duties," he suggests.

"Duties? You mean guardian duties?"

"Yeah. I usually just go around and help the forest in any way I can," he answers and looks at the clouds.

"R-really? That's amazing!" she exclaims. W-would I be a bother?"

He shakes his head. "I don't think you would be; it's usually really calming and pretty straight forward. I think you'd... really enjoy it." His ears turn pink.

A bigger smile grows on Hikari's face and a strong radiance of happiness hits her.

"I would really like that!"

Excitedly, Hikari rests on Atsumu's back as they both explore the forest together. The entire time, Hikari gasps and happily examines the animals and landscapes. A proud smile covers Atsumu's face as he hears her delightful noises. This was his home after all and it was indeed a blessing to live in such a peaceful area with pure nature. Immediately coming face to face to a peach tree that looked like it was struggling to bloom, Atsumu instantly heads towards it.

"Can I set you down right here, Hikari-chan?" He indicates towards the grass.

Understandingly, Hikari nods and is gently set on the soft grass.

Taking a breath, Atsumu focuses on the gloomy tree that probably got too much water from the storm. Holding out his hands towards the peach tree, his hands start to grow and the healing process begins. From where she is sitting, Hikari can feel the power Atsumu is projecting and her eyes won't move from him; he looked so peaceful and content. Beautifully, the tree starts to transform and protrude a new aroma of healthiness and growth.

When the presence of pink peaches form, Hikari lets out a small, "Wahhhh."

Once Atsumu is finished helping out the tree, he gently touches the tree trunk as if he were communicating with it and grabs two peaches. Heading towards Hikari, he bends down with a kind smile and holds a peach towards her.

"They're fresh; want one?" he asks, making Hikari blush.

"S-sure," she unknowingly stutters and takes the pink peach as their fingers brush against each other. 'Warm,' she thinks. After examining the fruit, Hikari takes a bite from the peach and her eyes once again sparkle. "It's so sweet and juicy," she delightfully comments.

Taking a bite from his own peach, Atsumu nods in agreement.

"A-Atsumu-san!" she calls, catching his attention. "Y-you're honestly so amazing! I can't believe you do this for a living!" she compliments, causing his cheeks to warm up.

"W-what's with the sudden compliments? It's really nothing much." He ignores her stares and embarrassedly plays with the peach.

Still, Hikari admires him and happily eats her peach; she didn't remember when was the last time she was this happy.

Continuing on with their adventure, Atsumu does more healing for plants as Hikari continues to admire his work of arts. Being the little gardener she was, she was absolutely euphoric but the admiration felt a bit deeper. Whenever she saw Atsumu use his powers and he would glow, Hikari would feel like a part of her spirit was also radiating a strong feeling of heat and passion. In simpler words, a part of her felt like she was home.

Eventually, night was finally coming over the forest and the chirps of birds faded away.

"A-Atsumu-san, where will we be resting?" she asks as they had just finished dinner.

Rubbing his chin, he closes his eyes to think.

"Why don't we just rest here?" he unknowingly suggests.

Hikari looked around and saw that he was just talking about the bed of grass under a large oak tree. Although she would usually question the suggestion, when it came out of his mouth, sleeping here didn't sound bad.

"Okay, that sounds good, Atsumu-san." She nods and runs her hand through the grass. Suddenly, a whiff of wind brushes against her body and Hikari shivers.

Still wearing the dirty dress, Hikari was not covered up well enough to be protected against the wind. Witnessing how she would slightly shiver, Atsumu unconsciously heads towards her and sits right besides her body. Without a word, a cloud of yellow dust bursts in the air and a large fox appears before her--Atsumu's true form. When their bodies come into contact, they both relax and rest against each other. Atsumu's body wraps around Hikari as she rests her back against his trunk. Tiredness eventually starts to overcome her but she contently plays with his golden fur.

"Atsumu-san," she calls.

Silently, he turns his head towards her as she continues to play with his fur with half lidded eyes.

"Thank you for making today so much fun," she tiredly whispers as Hikari's fingers slowly start to stop combing his fur. Soon enough, Hikari falls into dreamland against Atsumu's body with a smile on her face.

Blissfully, Atsumu smiles as he admires Hikari's face and he rests his head against the grass.

"Good night, Hikari-chan."

March 13th; the day after the storm

Rubbing his eyes, Akaashi grouchily wakes up and throws the blankets off of his body. For some reason, it was so difficult for him to sleep last night and he was definitely not feeling good today. Looking over to the opposite side of their king sized bed, Akaashi frowns when he sees the empty space besides him.

"I'll come home early to talk to her about it," he suggests to himself and gets prepared for the day.

Once he's done putting on his tie, Akaashi heads into the kitchen to make some toast for himself. Seeing that there were also leftovers of his favorite dishes, he gladly packs it up for lunch.

"I wonder what Hikari's going to make for dinner tonight," he thinks out loud then stops himself, "what if she's so mad at me that she doesn't even cook dinner?" Worriedly, he stuffs the toast into his mouth and heads out the door with his work bag and blazer. "No, Hikari's not petty like that," he confirms in his head and turns on the engine of his car.

Flashback

"Hey, hey, hey, Akaashi!!" Bokuto happily greeted the emotionless second year who nodded his head.

"Hello, Bokuto-san," he politely greeted back. As they quickly changed into their sportswear, they headed out into the gym where they saw a distressed Hikari kicking the air and stomping her feet around. Looking at her closely, her cheeks were puffed with air, her ears were red, and her brows were furrowed.

"Hey, hey, hey, Hikari-chan! What's wrong? Why are you abusing the air?" Bokuto teased.

Looking over, she saw Bokuto and Akaashi and she immediately blushed.

'They saw me? This is embarrassing,' she thought.

"Hey! Are you going to tell me, Hikari-chan?" Bokuto waved his hand in front of her face.

Backing up, Hikari started to nervously play with her fingers.

"W-well," she stuttered, "it was just that Kuroo was being annoying last night."

"Ehhh?! What did Kurobro do???" Bokuto asked as Akaashi headed over towards the two.

Making eye contact with Akaashi, she instantly looked away.

"H-he," Hikari was feeling embarrassed to confess the truth, but she decided it was alright to tell them. "W-we were all hanging out last night at my house and it turns out h-he... he ate the last ice cream cone I was saving to eat this morning on the way to school!"

Akaashi's eyes widen in shock at the confession and he felt the corners of his lips curving up. Before he could let out a laugh, Bokuto does it for him.

"BWHAHAHAHA! That's it, Hikari-chan?!" Bokuto laughed and slapped his knee. "I never knew you were someone who would get mad over something like that!"

As her face is entirely red, Hikari tried to defend herself as Bokuto continued to laugh and teased her. Watching the two bark back and forth, Akaashi tried his best to cover his smile and turned away to calm himself down. Once he's finally retrieved his composure, he turned back towards the two.

"Bokuto-san, you would go into emo mode and have a worse attitude if Kuroo-san did that to you; so you shouldn't be making fun of her," Akaashi retorted, sending an arrow through Bokuto's head.

"Agaashi!!! You're supposed to be on my side!" he whined as Akaashi disappointedly shook his head at his captain.

Suddenly, Hikari's phone rang and as she took out her phone to look at the caller id, a frown immediately covered her lips.

"Is it Kuroo-san?" Akaashi guessed as Hikari gave a small nod.

Swallowing up her anger and pride, Hikari answered the phone. "What is it, Tetsu?"

"Ariiiiiii, I'm sorrryyyyy!!" Kuroo whined through the phone; it was loud enough for the two owls to hear. "I didn't know you were saving it--really!!! Yuki already scolded me for the whole day about it!"

"Kurooo!! It's me!" Bokuto yelled towards the phone, almost causing Hikari to drop her own phone.

Akaashi immediately held Bokuto back and shook his head.

"Let Kuroo-san and Ai-san talk it out," Akaashi said as Bokuto whined.

Sighing, Hikari turned her attention back to the phone. "It's okay, Tetsu; I've already forgiven you, okay?" Hikari maturely accepts his apology. "How about to make up for it, we go buy some more ice cream after practice?" she suggested, instantly earning some cheers from the other side of the phone.

Watching the whole scene, Akaashi was shocked. Not too long ago, she was mad at Kuroo but now the anger was replaced with forgiveness and happiness. It was clear to Akaashi that Hikari was not the person to allow anger fill her heart when the situation can be easily settled. She was willing to give up her hurt in order for everyone to be happy. This new fact about Hikari was definitely something Akaashi admired about her--not like he was keeping a list of facts about her in his brain. Well, he unconsciously did without even knowing.

Noticing how quiet Akaashi had become and how his eyes were set on Hikari, Bokuto smirked and leaned towards his ear.

"Does someone have a crush on Hikari-chan?" he whispersed.

With a slight blush, Akaashi pushed Bokuto away.

"Of course not. I don't even know how you were brought to that conclusion," Akaashi retorted as Bokuto giggled.

"Hey, would you guys like to come get some ice cream with us after practice?" Hikari suddenly asked the two boys.

Gladly, Bokuto cheered and agreed as Akaashi gave a small nod.

'She really is a happy virus, spreading warmth everywhere,' Akaashi thoguht to himself before they start practice.

Present

Thinking about the little memory, a smile unconsciously grows on Akaashi's face as he parks in front of his work building.

"Yeah, that's just who Hikari is. A happy virus who gives up her hurt so everyone could be happy."

A/N:

Here's a lil drawing of Shirabu I did! Sunset hour with pretty setters! 🥰

Hope you all are having a great day today!!💗

Date: 16 October 2020