━━━━━━━ ★ ━━━━━━━

“Oh baby-owl~” Koutarou gently woke (F/n) up from sleeping. It was around eight in the morning and it was also the day that (F/n) was going to have her cast removed.

“Hmm?” (F/n) stirred, still asleep.

Koutarou smiled and brushed her bangs out of the way of her forehead, “Baby-owl~”

(F/n) leaned into his touch and slowly came to. She opened her eyes and blinked a bit before rubbing one of them with her arm.

“Good morning sleepyhead,” Koutarou greeted her gently, “Guess what day it is?”

(F/n) moved to sit up, “Friday?”

Koutarou chuckled, “Well, yes,” he said, “But… it’s also the day your cast gets removed,”

(F/n) half-sleepy brain took more seconds than usual to process what he had said, but once her brain did process, she gasped, “Really?”

Koutarou smiled, “Yep! I’ll help you get ready so mom and dad can take you,”
(F/n) nodded eagerly and Koutarou picked her up to help her get ready for the day.

-

(F/n) was sitting on her dad’s lap while her arm was placed on the clinic bed. The doctor came into the room a couple of minutes later after the family got checked in and brought into the room.

“This is the tool we use to remove the cast,” the doctor showed the cast saw, “I know it looks scary, but trust me when I say it doesn’t cut skin,”

(F/n) stared at the saw and leaned back against her father, not believing the words of the doctor.

“Hey doc, why not show her,” Ronin joked, but also knew that (F/n) needed more reassurance other than words.

The doctor nodded and turned on the saw. He moved the plate to his arm and (F/n) watched as the saw didn’t pierce or cut his skin.

“See?” the doctor showed her his uninjured arm, “No harm done,”

(F/n) swallowed and nodded, which the doctor took as consent to cut the cast off her arm. The doctor settled down on a chair in front of (F/n) and her father and began to remove the cast. He cut through the middle of the cast and once he was through, he turned the saw off and gently cracked the cast open to reveal (F/n)’s arm. Some of the first layers of bandages were still attached to her skin, but the doctor wanted (F/n) to move her arm a bit before cleaning off those bandages.

“Alright, think you can move your arm a bit for me?” the doctor asked (F/n).

(F/n) took her arm, which felt insanely light now, and moved to around. It felt oddly sore, but not as bad as it was when she had originally broken. After a couple moments of moving it, her arm felt very tired, which the doctor picked up on.

“Your arm lost quite a bit of muscle and strength while it was in the cast,” the doctor explained, “You’re going to have to undergo some physical therapy and wear a brace before your arm is fully healed,”

(F/n) frowned at this information, “So no volleyball yet…?”

Hiromi chuckled and rubbed her daughter’s head, “Not yet sweetheart, you need to gain back your full strength before you can play volleyball again,”

The doctor cleaned off the bandages that were still stuck to her skin and placed on the brace that she was going to wear for another couple of weeks. The brace was a lot less restricting compared to the cast, but it still limited some movement control she had of her arm. Once her physical therapy schedule was situated, the family left the doctor’s office and ventured on home. (F/n) was still bummed out at the fact that she was still restricted from doing the things she wanted to do, but she was reassured that time would fly by and sooner or later, she’ll be able to learn volleyball again.

━━━━━━━ ★ ━━━━━━━

It was the evening now and (F/n) was in her room playing with her toys. She was getting used to playing with both hands now, but being that her other arm was still weak, it made for a lot of mishaps. When she tried stacking some of her wood blocks, her weak hand dropped a price that caused the entire structure to topple over. (F/n) stared at the now fallen mess and took a deep breath before trying again.

Koutarou had finished eating dinner late since he came home from practice later than normal. He walked past (F/n)’s bedroom and saw that she was playing with her toys. He decided to watch silently as his head peaked around the door frame so that (F/n) didn’t notice her right away. (F/n) got the new structure at a pretty good height before her weak hand dropped another block down too early, causing the whole thing to fall down again.

(F/n) stared at the fallen structure and felt her tears build up. She frustratedly pushed the blocks away and sniffled. Her hands went to her eyes and she cried queity. Koutarou frowned and immediately made his presence known. He walked into her room and bent down to where she was.

“Baby owl, what’s wrong?” Koutarou asked as he sat down in front of her.

“Stupid arm,” (F/n) sniffled, “Won’t work right,”

Koutarou gave her a sympathetic look, “Baby owl, you just got your cast off, it’s going to take more time for it to heal,”

(F/n) angrily wiped her tears, “Stupid,”

Koutarou chuckled at her anger, “I know it’s stupid, but you have to look at the bright side of things,”

(F/n) looked at him, waiting for him to tell her what the bright side was.

“You’re closer to learning volleyball than you were when you had your cast on,” Koutarou told her while he pulled her into his lap, “You’re a lot closer to doing the things you love, even if it feels like it’s taking longer,”

(F/n) stayed silent and traced the veins of her brother’s arms. Koutarou watched her with an amused smile before an idea popped into his head.

“Hey baby-owl, do you want to know what cheers me up whenever I’m down?” Koutarou asked.

“Kaashi-owl,” (F/n) answered his rhetorical question.

Koutarou stared at his little sister dumbfounded, “Well, yes,” he acknowledged that she wasn’t necessarily wrong, “But, there’s something else,”

(F/n) tilted her head, waiting for his answer.

“Ice cream,” Koutarou replied, “Do you want to get some with me?”

(F/n) thought about it before nodding.

“Alright!” Koutarou stood up, hoisting (F/n) in his arms, and ventured out of her room and into the kitchen to get some ice cream.

━━━━━━━ ★ ━━━━━━━

It was a Saturday which meant Koutarou had weekend practice. He was getting ready while (F/n) was in the dining room, eating her breakfast. (F/n) watched as her brother entered the kitchen to eat a small but filling breakfast before leaving to go to practice. Their mom handed him his tray and he took it to the table and sat next to (F/n).

“Practice?” (F/n) asked him.

Koutarou nodded, “That’s right baby owl,”

(F/n) pursed her lips in thought before she asked, “Can I come?”

Koutarou blinked and looked at her, “You want to come to practice?”

(F/n) nodded.

“Are you sure?” Koutarou asked, knowing how she didn’t want to go for a while because of the envy she felt due to her broken arm.

(F/n) nodded, “I miss Kaashi-owl…”

Koutarou smiled and ruffled her hair, “Just Kaashi-owl huh,” he looked towards their mom who was washing dishes, “Mom, can (F/n) come to practice today?”

Hiromi hummed, “If she’s asking to come, sure,” she turned her head, “As long as she doesn't come home with any other injury besides her arm,”

Koutarou nodded, “She’ll be in good shape when she returns.

-

As per routine, Koutarou and (F/n) walked to Akaashi’s street and waited for him to show up so they could go to the gym together. (F/n) was playing with the small patch of flowers that were growing beside the stop sign. Sooner or later, Akaashi was seen walking towards them.

“Kaashi-owl!” (F/n) yelled and waved her good arm at him.

Akaashi, slightly surprised at the scene, had wide eyes before he smiled gently, “Hey (F/n),”

Once Akaashi wasn’t too far, (F/n) made a run for it and ran up to him. She slowed down and hugged his legs, “I missed you!”

Akaashi breathed out a laugh, “I missed you too,” he rubbed her head.

(F/n) held her arms up, wanting to be carried by him. Akaashi complied and picked her up. (F/n) rested her head on his shoulder, wrapping her arms around his neck. He walked over to Koutarou who watched the scene unfold.

“Good morning, Bokuto-san,” Akaashi greeted.

“Good morning, Akaashi,” he greeted back.

They began their journey to the gym while (F/n) rested in Akaashi’s arms. She was borderline asleep and Koutarou pointed it out.

“Something about you makes her fall asleep every time she’s in your arms,” he pointed out.

Akaashi hummed, “I noticed. I’m not sure if it’s because I have a nurturing side, as I am the only child and never really had to take care of anyone younger than me,”

Koutarou thought about it, “You met her when she was still pretty young and she attached to you pretty quickly. Could that be why?”

Akaashi shrugged, “It could be,”

(F/n) stirred and picked her head up to yawn.

Akaashi turned her head to face her, “We’re almost to the gym,” he informed her.

She nodded absentmindedly and rested her head against his. Akaashi smiled a bit at the gesture.

━━━━━━━ ★ ━━━━━━━

“(F/n)’s back!” the team exclaimed as they saw the trio enter the room.
(F/n) waved at everyone with her good arm, “Good morning,”

Akaashi set (F/n) down and (F/n) went straight to Kaori and Yukie. The managers celebrated in happiness and greeted the girl with gentle hugs.

“She loves them more than us,” the team collectively stated.

“You don’t get to say anything Konoha after the stunt you pulled at training camp,” Yukie said while (F/n) was in Kaori’s arms.

“It was one time!” Konoha huffed and settled in the corner, ashamed at the reminder.

-

“Okay, try to hit the ball with your other hand,” Kaori told (F/n).

While Yukie was instructed with manager duties as the team was in a practice match, Kaori decided to fulfill a bit of satisfaction for (F/n) and teach her volleyball.

“But… my other hand sucks,” (F/n) said as she flailed the arm that wasn’t broken.

Kaori giggled, “That may be right, but it might be helpful if you learn how to hit the ball with your arm. So when you’re in a game and something happens, you have a backup plan,”

(F/n) took in what Kaori said and nodded. She then got her arm ready and when Kaori placed the ball in front of her, she hit it as hard as she could. The ball went in an entirely different direction than intended due to the lack of control (F/n) had with the arm, but she still hit it nonetheless.

“Good job!” Kaori praised, “That was a harder hit than anticipated,”

(F/n) smiled and Kaori placed another ball in front for her to hit. The scene repeated itself and (F/n) was so focused that she didn’t realize the team had finished their practice match and was watching her.

Once (F/n) was tired, Kaori wiped her sweat with a towel and handed her some water to drink. She then turned around and saw that all eyes were on her.

"Hey Hey Hey! Bokuto exclaimed, “That was so cool baby owl!” he ran up to her. The rest of the team followed in praise.

“You’re going to be a good volleyball player if you keep that up!”

“Only the best volleyball player!”

“You’ll be unstoppable!”

(F/n) beamed at the praise she was getting and for a good moment, she forgot all about the restriction of her other arm.

━━━━━━━ ★ ━━━━━━━

wrote this right before my class <3