SakuAtsu

SakuAtsu is the slash ship between Kiyoomi Sakusa and Atsumu Miya from the Haikyu!! fandom.

Canon
Atsumu and Sakusa are both players for the Japan's V. League Division 1 team MSBY Black Jackals. Sakusa plays as a wing spiker and Atsumu plays as setter of the team. Before the timeskip, the only time they are seen together is at All-Japan training camp. The first interaction seen between the two is when Atsumu receives a ball Sakusa spikes at the training camp. Although it's known that they probably met each other at the inter-high finals when Inarizaki and Itachiyama faced each other.

After being introduced in the timeskip as Black Jackals members a few interactions have been seen between them. Before the Schweiden Adlers vs. MBSY Black Jackals match, Atsumu is met with plenty of people in the hallway in front of the bathroom, including Shōyō Hinata, Tobio Kageyama, Kōtarō Bokuto, Wakatoshi Ushijima and Kōrai Hoshiumi. Sakusa is about make an entrance when Atsumu pleads for him to not enter since it's already crowded enough as it is, leaving Sakusa confused. Sakusa talks with Ushijima but is interrupted by Hoshiumi, so Sakusa tells him to shut up. Atsumu calls Sakusa by the nickname "Omi-kun" and compares him to a sea urchin because of how prickly he is.

Later on, Atsumu and Hinata tried showing off to the crowd in an attempt to replicate Bokuto's grand entrance with cartwheels and backflips, but Sakusa promptly stops the two. Sakusa also reacts by saying "Ew." after Atsumu goes off when Hinata mentions how Kageyama beat him in the setter ranks. The players on the EJP Raijin team discuss Sakusa prickly personality. Atsumu's old teammate, Rintarō Suna, says that Atsumu is a jerk so he deserves to be on the same team as Sakusa. Atsumu is described as a big fat jerk while Sakusa is described as a too-blunt jerk.

Sakusa is revealed to have flexible wrists, and Atsumu calls it gross though he means it as a compliment. Sakusa takes offense to the comment since it sounds like an insult. Atsumu and Sakusa later compete for who will get the first service ace, and Atsumu changes Sakusa's nickname from "Omi-kun" to "Omi-Omi". Sakusa gives a smug look to Atsumu after making his second service ace of the BJ vs. Adlers game, showing how the two tease each other about their abilities.

Atsumu is frustrated over how he let himself get carried away, to which Sakusa comments that he is always like that.

Atsumu seems to hate Sakusa's bluntness, asking him if he could try not to be blunt for once in his life. Although the two seem to tease each other in every single interaction they have, there are times where Sakusa is seen listening to Atsumu talk. Atsumu was also the first known character to gave Sakusa a nickname, calling him Omi-kun and Omi-Omi. Not to mention, Sakusa is quite comfortable around Atsumu, even allowing him to grip his shoulders.

In Haikyū-bu!!, Sakusa begs Atsumu and Hoshiumi to help rid his room of bugs. Sakusa and Atsumu banter, preventing them from getting much work done.

Moments
Chapter 394
 * Atsumu is seen smiling when Sakusa digs.

Chapter 396
 * Atsumu sets to Sakusa.

Chapter 401
 * Sakusa nods in agreement when Atsumu talks about how Tetsurō Kuroo gives the vibes of a con man.

Chapter 402
 * Atsumu seems pleased when Sakusa digs Torū Oikawa's serve.

Quotes
"C'mon, Omi-kun! Do you always gotta be all prickly 'bout everything? What are you, a sea urchin?"

- Atsumu in Chapter 379

"Geez, Omi-kun! That was gross, just gross!"

- Atsumu's compliment on Sakusa's flexible wrists in Chapter 382

"Oh, shut yer mouth, Omi-Omi!"

- Atsumu changing Sakusa's nickname in Chapter 383

Fanon
SakuAtsu was born after manga readers saw them interacting as teammates on the MSBY Black Jackals team, though there were some people that shipped SakuAtsu before that simply because the two had appearances that looked good together. The ship gained much more popularity when fans found out Atsumu referred to Sakusa as Omi-kun. The nickname plus the attitude they have towards each other was enough to make them a popular ship among the manga readers.

The ship dynamics are mostly centered around Sakusa's germaphobia, his aversion towards touching other people and how Atsumu is usually the exception. Sometimes it's about Atsumu helping Sakusa overcome his fears, and other times Sakusa's aversion is portrayed as him being a tsundere. Fans seem to like the idea of Atsumu being the one who can bring out Sakusa's soft side.

Atsumu and Sakusa have only ever interacted in a few panels in the manga, so SakuAtsu started out as a rarepair. SakuAtsu gained traction around the time the manga ended and the anime went on hiatus, causing a surplus of fan content to be created. The ship grew to be one of the fandom's most popular ships, gaining plenty of fanart and over 10,500 works on AO3. SakuAtsu became the 4th most written ship within its fandom on AO3, coming behind only IwaOi, KageHina and BokuAka. SakuAtsu may have grown to be popular due to the lack of rivals, with the only rival ships being small ships like AtsuHina, AtsuKita and UshiSaku that could easily be overshadowed by ships like KageHina, AranKita and UshiTen.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

PIXIV
 * {{Pixiv/Tag|佐久侑}|Sakusa/Atsumu}}

TUMBLR

Variations

 * SakuAtsuHina refers to the ship between the two and Shōyō Hinata
 * SakuAtsuIwaOi refers to the ship between the two, Hajime Iwaizumi and Tōru Oikawa