Scared out of his wits.

Sweaty, exhausted, and scared out of his wits is the best way to describe how Oikawa Tooru feels right now. It's nighttime and the only thing illuminating his vision is a street lamp off to the side, it's not very comforting to him a he can feel his own heart hammering in his chest, the stomach churning terror that he feels now was a slow build up, it started this morning when he woke up in the orphanage with a pit of anxiety in his stomach and a knot of worry stuck in his throat.

Oikawa woke up bright and early at the usual time, 8:00am. The peaceful morning light filtered through the window of the boys' shared room filled with several bunk beds, but Oikawa did not feel at peace.

Today was the day. He wasn't ready; of course he wasn't, how could he be?

Oikawa tried to pretend everything was normal for as long as he could, he really did, he ate breakfast with all the other children like usual but easily spotted how his own peers sat as far away from him as they could and whispered to each other, only stealing glances at him and never looking him directly in the eyes- at least, not on purpose. Oikawa pretended he didn't notice anyways and forced a smile on to his lips whenever he caught the eyes of one of his so called friends staring at him; he felt the heavy pit in his stomach grow deeper, so he ate his frosted cereal like nothing was wrong, the milk tasted sour and the cereal was anything but sweet, and he swallowed each torturous spoonful that felt like sandpaper going down his throat.

In the afternoon most of the children went outside to play, there were slides and monkey bars, nothing too incredibly fancy but it was still fun. The sun was baking his skin that day and he didn't fail to notice how not a single soul asked to play volleyball with him, even though any other day there would be enough kids wanting to play to form two teams. Oikawa stood there in the corner of the fenced play area away from everyone else and served the ball at the wall over and over, watching the sun bleached colors of the ball blend together as they spun; his lower lip quivered and he blinked back tears he refused to let fall.

He scratched at his irritated skin, there were far too many bugs out today for his liking, 'don't you dare cry,' he thought to himself in a harsh tone, he furrowed his eyebrows and blinked away the tears faster.

In the evening before the sun had even fully set he sat on the floor in the room him and the other boys shared; he was alone, all the boys that were there scurried off almost as soon as Oikawa entered, so he sat there on the cold and hard ground hyperventilating and trying to wipe away the constant stream of salty tears that dribbled down his cheeks. He was dreading every second passing by as he stared at the clock; it was only 7:50pm but he knew that at 8pm the nuns that ran the orphanage would be coming to kick him out.

So much for not crying.

He gripped the wrinkled piece of paper in his hand and felt hate, it wasn't fair. His parents dumped him on the doorstep of some orphanage and now the crumpled letter in his hand is the only thing he has of them, a letter explaining how he's cursed and that they can't bother to keep him. They abandoned him. Oikawa doesn't even know why he still has that stupid letter, he hates them but he could never seem to bring himself to throw away the damn thing.

It was yesterday that they told him that they would come to escort him out, using the excuse that they couldn't risk the strix going after any of the other children. He tried to argue back, but it was futile and he was forced to resign to their decision.

Those awful few remaining minutes crawled by and as it turned 8pm three nuns walked in just as they said they would.

"It's time to go, Oikawa." Spoke one of the nuns, her voice was hoarse, as if she used to smoke cigarettes a lot. Not one of them held remorse on their faces.

Oikawa's eyes widened and he shuffled backwards, "n-no, please don't leave me out there all alone," he hiccuped as more tears rolled down his face, "i-it's dark out there a-and I'm scared, I'm so scared." The nuns paid no mind to his pleas that got more desperate by the second as they roughly grabbed his arms and forced him out of the orphanage, he kicked and yelled but it was no use. Other children younger and older than him peaked out of rooms and watched as they threw him out and slammed the door shut in his face. Oikawa wasn't sure how long he sat there banging his fist on the door and begging them to let him back in, maybe an hour? Probably more.

When Oikawa finally realized that they held no sympathy towards him he drew his knees in towards his body and let his tears fall silently on the orphanage doorstep for a while. Soon, he'd cried himself all out, his limbs felt heavy and his eyes were puffy and sore, he would've liked nothing more than to just close them and sleep, but that wasn't an option anymore, he had no home, no bed. The thought made him realize that he actually did have more tears to spare, but he had done enough crying already, feeling sorry for himself wasn't going to help, so he pushed those thoughts away as hard as he could and took in a deep and shaky breath before standing up.

The letter that he had been left with as a baby stated there were two ways to ward off strix, there was no sure fire way of knowing if it was even true though. The only reason Oikawa even knew he was actually cursed was because of the strange symbol located on his forearm, for all he knew he could be the first one in his family to have this curse, and for all he knows, there may not be any way to ward off the strix; a strix is a very rare creature, actually seeing one's true form only happens once in a few lifetimes, and the chances of actually living after you'd encountered one? Practically non-existent.

However, at that moment, getting his hands on a Larimar stone was Oikawa's best shot, so that's what he did. He broke into a magic shop, threw a rock at the window and climbed inside by whispering a powerful incantation he'd read about in an old book, used to break charms like the one on the magic shop that prevented intruders. The book had said that it was a high level spell, but Oikawa mastered it within a few months, that's how Oikawa found out he had a lot of magical potential, but that's not very important to him right now.

Quickly, he crept into the shop, a rare stone like that wouldn't be out in the open on display; if the shop had any then it would be somewhere in the back away from the eyes of customers. The door knob was unlocked, well more accurately, the lock was broken, which was incredibly convenient for Oikawa.

He could hear his heart pounding in his ears as her opened the door, it was dark, and Oikawa squinted as he struggled to find where the stone might be kept. He needed to hurry, he was losing time, he looked through drawers and boxes until he found a particular box made of acacia wood with pretty designs carved into it, he opened it and found several things inside, but he was only interested in one particular item inside, a silver necklace with a Larimar stone attached to it, cut in the shape of a teardrop. He pulled the necklace over his head, once it rested securely on his sternum he fled.

Unfortunately, he accidentally tripped an unknown alert system when he opened the box made of acacia, because soon he heard the wailing of police sirens. It was extremely hard to get away from the cops that had been chasing him, and he almost got caught a few times too, but at least the adrenaline rush of escaping kept the suffocating anxiety of what was to come at bay for a few minutes.

After what felt like much to long for Oikawa's poor heaving lungs, he lost them, panting heavily from how much he exerted himself, he found an unoccupied and dirty alleyway with a single street lamp to light his vision and planted himself there against the outside wall of a dirty building. His hand accidentally touched some unidentifiable sticky black liquid and he was pretty sure he saw a freakishly large rat crawl into one of the many metal trash cans lining the opposite wall, that's how he ended up where he is now in this musky alleyway with not a friend in the whole world.

As Oikawa wipes away a tear pricking the corner of his eye and continues to try steadying his own breathing, he curses himself for having a horrible sense of time, 'why couldn't I have picked a better alley,' Oikawa bitterly thinks to himself as he accidentally dips his hand in the gross black liquid again. He's not sure what smells worse, the trash cans opposite of him or the graffitied dumpster to his right.

Oikawa takes in another shaky breath in a failed attempt to calm himself, he knows that by now it should be close to his dreaded 15th birthday, but the terrifying part is that it could have already turned 12am without him knowing it, and the strix is about to steal his soul right this moment.

Oikawa isn't sure how much times passes as his heart hammers in his chest with his rapid breathing loud on his own ears, his eyes frantically darting up and down the alleyway looking for any sign of danger whilst his knuckles turn white due to his grip on the silver necklace around his neck tightening further.

The noises of the city in the very back ground are Oikawa's only company in the chilling night and eventually, he feels a hair raising sensation from behind him, as if someone's just over his shoulder and breathing down his neck, even though he's been sitting against a wall this whole time. Oikawa follows his instincts anyways and scrambles away from the wall he was leaning against, when he looks back at the wall there's the shadow of a human figure, it looks like someone had been drawing the outline of a human during a bumpy car ride, causing it to look jagged and sharp. Oikawa just sits there, eyes wide and body paralyzed from fear as he stares at its eyes; they're completely white and soulless, just boring into his skull- what's in front of him is definitely a strix. The strix's pointed and shadowed hand reaches out from the wall to Oikawa, aiming for Oikawa's neck.

Oikawa can only hear the loud droning of static inside his mind. His eyes are fixed onto the shadowy hand slowly reaching out to him, maybe it won't hurt that badly?

But, as it's barely less than a millimeter away from Oikawa's skin a loud sizzling sound is heard and the strix flinches back, the necklace with the Larimar stone worked, so as long as Oikawa's wearing it the strix can't touch a single hair on Oikawa's pretty little head.

Oikawa feels the strongest feeling of relief he's ever felt in his life, like a grave weight has been lifted off his chest... the strix on the other hand seems very irritated by this development. It's shadowy form retracts back into the wall, and this time something much different than before comes out in its place; this time, the strix steps out of the wall in the form of a human, he looks pretty irritated. He's got coffee brown spiky hair and tanned skin with sharp dark brown eyes and he's wearing very basic clothes, light grey sweatpants and a dark blue hoodie with a plain white shirt underneath. He hardly looks older than Oikawa, he's maybe around 16?

The strix growls in annoyance, "stupid human."

Oikawa gasps at hearing the strix speak, "wait- a monster like you can talk?" Not only can he talk, but unbeknownst to Oikawa, the strix has a name too, it's Iwaizumi Hajime.

Oikawa's question irks Iwaizumi, "of course I can, you dumb human! Gah, I can't believe you actually have a Larimar necklace," angrily mutters the strix.

"Well it's not my fault some ugly ass monster wants my soul!" Yells Oikawa with a sound of indignation in his voice. The strix isn't actually ugly, but now isn't really the time to give out compliments.

Iwaizumi rolls his eyes, "look, your soul was up for grabs so I took the opportunity."

"You can't just offer up souls like your at some auction and just claim them for yourself!" Says Oikawa, outraged that the strix in front of him can be so casual about this when he had spent the whole day thinking he was going to have his soul ripped out of his body and die horribly.

"Too bad, because I already claimed your soul, and we don't get to come into this plane of existence very often, so I'm not going back to that shithole empty handed, you understand?" Says Iwa, his voice intimidating.

"People are dying all the time, j-just go nab someone's dying soul and leave me alone," the strix said he's not leaving empty handed, does that mean he'll try to kill Oikawa?

Iwaizumi growls in frustration, "it's not that simple, hundreds of souls are claimed all at once by one strix at a time the second they're doomed to die, I can't just reap someone else's soul, and can't leave until I get the one the I barely managed to claim in the first place." Iwaizumi can tell from the hidden fear in Oikawa's eyes and the tension in his shoulders that the human in front of him is scared he'll try to kill Oikawa somehow so he can get his soul, Iwaizumi lets out an exasperated sigh, "I'm not gonna kill you. If I wanted to I would've done it already, dumbass."

Oikawa visibly relaxes, "oh."

"This also means I'm tethered to your annoying ass until I can claim another soul."

Oikawa frowns, "rude."

"I have a right to be, I'm stuck here because of you."

"Okay that is so not my fault- you know what, just say as far away as you physically can from me."

"With pleasure."

The night progresses and Oikawa doesn't get a wink of sleep, cardboard boxes don't make the best mattress, so all he can do is stare up at the clouded night sky. Oikawa frowns, he can't even see a single star tonight because of the clouds and his back is stiff from laying on this poor excuse of a bed, he's using a ripped plastic bag as a blanket.

What is he supposed to do now?

He's not dead but he can't go back to the orphanage, they would never let him back in, so what can he do? Oikawa studies the dark clouds rolling by, 'my only real option is to try and make money somehow, I can't-' a loud metallic bang jolts him out of his thoughts, he sits upright and looks down the alley and sees the strix blankly staring at him, standing next to some trash cans that were previously upright.

Oikawa groans in annoyance, "can you keep it down?"

"Why? You didn't look very busy."

"I'm not supposed to look busy, I'm trying to sleep."

"Oh, right," Iwaizumi raises a brow, "but I thought humans needed to close their eyes first?"

"Asshole," mutters Oikawa, "just stop making noise and let me go to sleep, I didn't have a very good day and you aren't making anything better," he snaps before roughly laying back down, facing away from the strix.

Oikawa expected him to say something back, but he didn't, the strix was silent. He sighs and closes his eyes, laying there for probably around an hour before all the energy spent today finally begins taking its toll on him; the floor is hard and his whole body aches, but he starts drifting into an uneasy slumber.

The light sensation of something touching his cheek brings his waning consciousness back a little, but he ignores it. Again though, he feels it, and then again and again, until it finally clicks, Oikawa clenches his fists so tight his fingernails might break the skin of his own palm, it's raining. "Goddammit," Oikawa bites his tongue out of frustration and keeps his eyes screwed shut as the rain gets progressively stronger.

Oikawa almost feels like crying out of frustration but he has certainly had enough of crying, he has to stop biting his tongue though, or else it'll start bleeding. Oikawa want to kick something but at the same time he's just so tired, too tired to get up, he hates this so much, 'does this shitty curse also give me bad luck?' He asks himself angrily. He's practically soaking wet at this point but then the rain is abruptly cut off, there's not a drop touching him anymore, but he can clearly hear the rain continue to fall.

Oikawa opens his eyes, he's perplexed, what's sheltering him from the rain? He looks up, there's a huge, jagged, black, feathered wing shielding him from the rain.

That's certainly not what Oikawa was expecting. Oikawa's eyes follow up the wing and to its owner, it's like the jagged shadow of a crow, except much bigger than a crow should ever be allowed to grow. It has round eyes that are pure white, just looking at its eyes give him chills that he forces himself to repress even though it's not looking at him.

Looking at all those features, it clicks pretty quickly in Oikawa's mind, it's the actually strix...?

"My name is Iwaizumi Hajime," the voice comes from nowhere but Oikawa knows who it belongs to.

"I didn't know if you could have a name," remarks Oikawa, he hears Iwaizumi give an almost inaudible chuckle but it's clearly through telepathy magic, as Iwaizumi hasn't moved at all since taking this current form.

Oikawa hears Iwaizumi sigh through the telepathic link, "I'm sorry." Iwaizumi turns his head to look at Oikawa and the sudden movement after previously being as still as stone makes Oikawa jump a little.

It doesn't look to be intentional but Iwaizumi's white eyes make him shiver and Oikawa forces himself to keep eye contact, "me too," Oikawa gives him the tiniest of smiles, "my full name is Oikawa Tooru."

"Nice to meet you, Oikawa-san," the rain is falling harder but Iwa doesn't seem to care.

Oikawa lays back down and closes his eyes, "nice to meet you too, Iwa-chan."

Iwaizumi's surprised at the nickname but says nothing, by morning the rain has stopped and Oikawa wakes up with tired bones. He's thankful for the shelter last night but Iwaizumi's not in sight, Oikawa frowns and looks around the alley a bit, but he finds nothing.

"Are you looking for me?" Asks a voice from behind him, Oikawa turns and it's Iwa-chan in his human from now.

"What- no, pff," Oikawa's cheeks are dusted pink. Iwa raises a brow, "so uh, where were you?"

Iwaizumi waves it off, "just slumming through the shadows, why you ask?"

"Oh, I wanted to say thank you for last night."

"Which part?" Iwa snorts, "when I tried to steal your soul or when I was throwing trashcans?"

Oikawa chuckles, "definitely neither of those, I was thinking more of the part where you were actually nice."

"Yeah sorry, I was being an asshole."

Oikawa takes a deep breath, looking past Iwaizumi, "it's okay."
.•°.•°.•°.•°.•°
Whoop, I have had this idea in my head for like 5 months, so ya, check out the technical sequel to this fic, Humbling Magic, which is a Kuroken fanfic. ~ ♒