Chapter Text
Hinata was content.
Well, there was Kageyama, but otherwise, things were good.
He had joined the Soaring Crow guild along with his friends and he enjoyed spending time at the boisterous guild hall to grab a bite to eat or gaze in wonder at the older mages. He had only joined a couple weeks earlier, but the guild welcomed him into their family with open arms. The exception was Kageyama. Hinata felt as if he was his exception to everything: his friendly demeanor, his ability to become friends with anyone, and his happy-go-lucky attitude. None of those were any match for Kageyama. He had joined the guild one week ago and things had been sour between them right from the beginning.
He frowned as he took a bite out of his sandwich. After he finished eating he continued his grimace until he felt a sudden pressure on his cheek. He turned to his right to see that Kenma had taken a seat next to him and poked him.
“What’s wrong, Shouyou?” Kenma asked.
“Huh?” Hinata blurted unintelligibly.
“You’ve got that look on your face. You know, the one you get when you think really hard.”
Kenma was probably the person whom Hinata most often went to for advice. They had known each other for a long time, since before they joined the guild, so they were close and placed a lot of trust in each other. Hinata thought he would tell Kenma what was worrying him. He knew that despite Kenma’s relatively small social circle and lack of outgoing personality he had a great understanding of others.
“It’s stupid Kageyama! I don’t understand him!” Hinata gripped his hair in frustration. “Why does he have to be such a jerk all the time?!”
Kenma glanced over to the other side of the guild hall. Hinata followed his gaze to see Kageyama being called to the guild master’s office.
“I think he just doesn’t know how to make friends,” Kenma said as they watched Kageyama disappear down the hall with Ukai Senior. “Maybe he has a dark and mysterious past? Or a tragic backstory,” he said sarcastically.
“E-eh? You think so?!” Hinata exclaimed.
“Well, why don’t you find out for yourself?” Kenma said gesturing behind him. Hinata turned around to see Ukai Senior walking up to him.
“Hinata, right? I’m going to need to see you in my office too,” he said. Hinata gulped nervously and sprung out of his seat.
“Yes, Master Ukai!”
Hinata hadn’t spoken to the Guild Master until now so he was immediately intimidated and frightened by the man. Ikkei Ukai was a seasoned mage known across the kingdom and beyond for his abilities. That was what it took to be Guild Master.
As Hinata followed Ukai Senior to his office, they passed by a familiar silver-haired mage.
“Hi, Sugawara-san!” Hinata waved cheerfully at Suga as he passed by. Suga returned the gesture with a wide grin. Daichi returned to their table and noticed Suga’s expression.
“Hey, Suga, did you have something to do with why the Master wanted to see those two new guys? You’re not planning anything, are you?” he said with a gruffness that meant he already knew the answer regardless of how Suga replied.
“It’s fine, Daichi! I’m just giving our new guild mates a push in the right direction! They’ll thank me later,” Suga said. His grin remained. Daichi sighed.
Hinata followed Ukai through his office door and closed it behind him. Ukai walked to the chair behind his desk and sat down. Hinata noticed Kageyama sitting in a chair in front of the desk. His posture was stiff and his expression serious and focused. Hinata took notice of the empty seat next to him and promptly sat down. There were several inches between the two young mages’ chairs and Hinata couldn’t help but think that he and Kageyama were only ever this close in proximity to each other when they were arguing, gripping each other’s collars, Hinata’s expression furious, Kageyama’s somehow both hostile and bewildered, as if he didn’t understand Hinata’s anger.
“It has come to my attention that Kageyama here uses a particular support-type of magic. The kind of magic best used to provide others with strength on the battlefield,” Ukai said.
Hinata’s eyes widened. He never would have guessed that Kageyama of all people would use such a magic. Ukai looked at Hinata.
“He joined on his own. He didn’t come with his friends like you did. In other words, He isn’t able to put his magic to good use without a partner. That’s where you come in, shrimpy.”
Hinata and Kageyama both exchanged baffled looks.
“I said I wanted someone to work with, but I never asked for it to be this weak-looking guy. Even if I use it on him, my magic still won’t be put to good use, Master!”
Hinata clenched his fists and stood up abruptly. He turned to Kageyama and grabbed him by the collar, just as he had many times before.
“Who the hell are you calling weak-looking?! Is it because I’m short?! Let’s fight right now, I’ll defeat you!” His brown eyes were filled with fury and looking directly into Kageyama’s. Kageyama glared right back and stood up as well. He never backed down.
“Do I need to put both of you in your places right here in the guild hall? Huh? Would you two be able to pay for the damages?” Kageyama and Hinata both turned to slowly look back at their guild master and froze when they saw how furious he was. Hinata shook his head quickly and saw Kageyama do the same out of the corner of his eye. “That’s what I thought. So how about you sit your damn asses back down!!”
They immediately did so and Hinata gulped nervously.
“I’m not asking you to get married, just give this job a try and see how your abilities work together. It’ll be good work experience for the both of you.” Ukai looked at the two boys and saw that they still looked unsure. He was beginning to lose his patience. “You!” He focused his glare on Kageyama, who tensed up even more as he did so. “You complain about having to work with Hinata, but what veteran mage is going to want to waste their time with a brat that lacks manners and common decency?!”
Kageyama’s eyes widened and he seemed like he wanted to retort but he held himself back, unable to find words that would be appropriate.
“Hinata.” Ukai directed his gaze to the orange-haired boy next.
“Y-yes, Master?!”
“If you want any chance at becoming s-class, you need to be the best of the best. The toughest of the tough.”
Hinata was taken aback. The skill it took to be promoted to an s-class level mage…It was his dream to acquire that level of skill. He dreamt of becoming s-class since he was a toddler looking up to the mages in town in total awe and admiration.
Working as a mage in a guild was a job working for the people. Helping people with their problems, protecting them, being a shining beacon of hope for the townspeople, these were all part of a mage’s job description as far as Hinata was concerned, but all of that was amplified for s-class mages. The jobs that truly mattered and made a difference were s-class level. If you really wanted to leave your mark on the world and do something good, becoming s-class was necessary. In order to do so, one needs to pass a test. The test differs from guild to guild and from year to year, but one thing about it was certain: it was an annual test of strength, skill and intelligence. Guild Masters used the test to handpick s-class mages. At most, one or two mages would pass the test per year, per guild, making the s-class title one of prestige that was greatly respected by the general populace. Respected, and also feared. S-class mages are the most powerful and reliable in any given guild.
For Hinata, being thin and a whopping five feet and four inches, the fear and respect of others was a distant fantasy. But he didn’t let that discourage him. If people didn’t believe in him or his abilities all he had to do was prove them wrong.
“The reason I called you in to work with Kageyama is because Sugawara recommended you,” Ukai stated.
“W-what? Sugawara-san did?!” Hinata said in disbelief. Kageyama looked surprised as well.
“Yeah. He seemed pretty confident about you, so I decided to trust his judgement,” Ukai replied.
Hinata’s thoughts were a mess, but he tried to get a grasp on the situation.
Kageyama had asked Master Ukai for a partner. Master Ukai then, at some point, mentioned this to Sugawara who thought it would be a good idea to recommend Hinata for some reason. Hinata was immensely confused.
Suga was one of the first people Hinata met when he joined the guild. He may not go out on jobs very often, preferring to stay at the guild and care for his guild mates in a very mother hen-like way, but Suga was one of Soaring Crow’s ten s-class mages and Hinata was justifiably terrified of him at first. However, Suga’s kind and friendly nature dispelled that fear almost immediately.
Hinata remembered when Suga came across him training once and gave him pointers. He helped him practice proper form in his fighting and defensive stance and praised his magic ability as well. Perhaps he thought Hinata's magical power made him a suitable partner for Kageyama..?
‘No, no, this still doesn’t make any sense,’ Hinata thought. He was certain he had complained about Kageyama to Suga before. ‘Why would he suggest we work together if he already knew we don’t get along?!’
“Listen Hinata, working with Kageyama’s magic will be a great experience for you to grow as a mage. I’m sure Sugawara recommended you because he sees that you have s-class potential,” Ukai said.
“S-class potential?!” Hinata felt like running back out into the hall and tackling Suga into a hug. “…So then this is like a test! Not like an actual s-class test, but like a pretest! …Right?” Hinata exclaimed excitedly.
“I don’t know about calling it a pretest or whatever, but it’s definitely a head start towards being s-class,” Ukai answered. Hinata’s energy already seemed to wear him out.
“Alright, it’s decided then,” Hinata stated. “Kageyama, just put up with me for now so we can do this.”
Kageyama glared at him but didn’t protest.
“Now then, I’ll explain the job to you both. I’m sure you’ve heard of the dark guild Siren Song, right?” Ukai said. Hinata gasped.
“We’re taking down a dark guild?!” Hinata blurted.
Just as there were mages who lived to help people, there were mages who lived to terrorize people. Hinata often thought that a lot of mages who worked for dark guilds could just been down on their luck, but if he ever uttered such a thought out loud around his mother, she always reminded him not to be naïve concerning dark guilds.
There exists three classifications of mages’ guilds. Legal guilds, like Soaring Crow, are guilds that had been approved by the magic council. Independent guilds existed outside the magic council approval, but also weren’t considered a threat. Dark guilds however, are unapproved by the magic council and are a threat. They take illegal jobs, such as thieving and even assassination, and are a general threat to society. The magic council and legal guilds constantly work to shut down and dissolve dark guilds. Guild masters often organized meetings with each other and the magic council to plan courses of action to take concerning dark guilds.
Other than mages, there are all kinds of other guilds, like mercenary, merchant or treasure hunting guilds. Siren Song is a dark guild that claims to be a treasure hunter’s guild, and while they do in fact hunt treasure, they go to extremes to do so, acting outside of the law to acquire their precious artifacts without any concern for the safety of other people. They’ve left unsurmountable damage in their wake.
“No! Of course not! I’m not stupid enough to send two newbie mages off to fight one of the biggest threats on this side of the kingdom! It’s a small group of thieves from the guild, about three or four of them. They were spotted camping out in the forest west of here. I have the area marked out on a map for you. I’ll give it to you when you leave tonight.”
“We’re carrying out the mission at night? Won’t that be even more dangerous?” Kageyama asked.
“That’s true, but they’ll be on the move during the daytime. They’ll be near impossible to find,” Ukai replied.
“But Master Ukai, how do you know that? What if they move at night?” Hinata wondered.
“What I thought is that during the day there’s more of a chance of them running into someone. Less people wander off into the woods at night than during the day, and they’ll want to avoid being spotted as much as possible. If they camp out during daytime, that’ll make them stationary at the time of day when they’re most likely to be found,” Ukai stated.
Hinata’s jaw almost dropped.
“How are you so smart, Master Ukai?!” he asked excitedly.
“It’s just the wisdom that comes from age and experience, small fry. Anyway, you have a few more hours until sunset. I suggest the two of you come up with some sort of strategy and mentally prepare yourselves for any scenario.”
“Yes Master!” Kageyama and Hinata said in unison.
They left Ukai Senior’s office and as they walked down the guild hall Hinata spotted Kenma, Lev and Yachi who had apparently hung around waiting for him. He ran up to them and relayed everything Ukai said.
“Whoa, this job sounds like a big deal!” Lev exclaimed.
“Good luck Hinata-kun! Though, I’m sure you’ll be just fine.” Yachi gave a reassuring smile.
“I agree, but be careful all the same, Shouyou,” Kenma said.
“Of course!” Hinata beamed at his friends. Up until now, he had only gone out on jobs with those three, and now… He turned to see Kageyama already leaving the building. “Kageyama! Wait!!”
“Hurry up, idiot. We need to come up with a plan and we don’t have much time,” Kageyama glared at him. There was a blur for a split second and when Kageyama’s eyes adjusted, Hinata was in front of him. Kageyama stood speechless.
“Well, are you coming or what, Bakayama?” Hinata smirked smugly as he headed through the doors.
‘That was speed magic. There’s no mistaking it,’ Kageyama thought as he followed Hinata outside. 'Maybe this could actually work…’