Without Me (kagehina)

Chapter 23

About an hour later and Yamaguchi had the proper form for spiking stuck in his head...he just had to perfectly replicate it on court. "I think I'm ready now. Since you're trying Kageyamas setting style, I'm sure we'll accomplish something."

Hinata nodded, handing Yamaguchi a ball "Alright, let's do this!"

Once more, Yamaguchi tossed the boss high above Hinata and made his approach, pressing his weight into the balls on his feet then swinging his arms up to gain momentum.

Hinata felt the ball fit nicely in his finger tips as he jumped up and eyed exactly where Yamaguchis hand would soon be. He carefully applied pressure and sent the ball flying towards yams, quickly hearing the satisfying sound of the volleyball being spiked onto the other side of the net. Immediately grinning, Hinata ran to Yamaguchi and sprang around with excitement "That was so awesome! And you had such good form!"

Yamaguchi smiled and laughed "Wow, I'm actually surprised we pulled that off on the first- well, second try..." he crossed his arms, a one sided grin appearing on his face "...maybe I was right about you being better than Kageyama at setting."

"I think...I think Kageyama is one the best setters there is. It'll be hard to find another with the talent and hard work he possesses, I truly think Kageyama is one of a kind..." he started off seriously, slowly going off into a daydream. Yamaguchi snickered "Aww Hinata! One of a kind, huh? You must really see him as someone special."

Hinata turned around flustered "L-let's keep practicing!" he stuttered softly. Yamaguchi only smiled and grabbed another ball.

•••

Yamaguchi flopped down to the floor and breathed heavily "I really...don't...understand how...you do this for entire matches.." he said through uneven breathes. Hinata stood confidently, tossing a ball up and down above his head. He was hardly tired from only setting the ball "I just have lots of stamina! And since I'm always running, my legs take a bit longer to get worn out."

Yamaguchi looked up at Hinata, who had barely broken a sweat in the hours of training they'd done, and noticed a small drop of liquid slowly sliding down hinatas leg. While his immediate reaction wasn't to freak out and ask what happened, he was rather confused "Hey Hinata...? What's on your leg?" he asked innocently. With Hinata's constant false happy attitude, yams' mind didn't immediately go to the worst.

Hinata's face went pale as he looked down and stared blankly at Yamaguchi "I-I'm gonna go to the bathroom real quick..." he said. "Alright" Yamaguchi nodded.

"Shit shit shit" Hinata cursed under his breath as he locked himself in the bathroom. He quickly got a paper towel wet and gently rubbed off the blood that trickled down his leg. He then hesitantly lifted up his shorts to look at his thigh. "Damn..." he realized two or three of his deeper wounds had opened during their practice.

He desperately hoped Yamaguchi didn't catch on but after all...it's painfully obvious when blood is running down someone's leg and, in Hinata's case, blood would instantly be a main factor to his self harm. He could only hope for the best and stressfully walked back to the gym. As of now, he didn't even have an excuse as to what was on his leg.

"You're back! You alright?" Yamaguchi asked. After thinking it over, he remembered Hinata had barely been sweating and dark liquid comes from none other than blood. He figured he would just let things play out instead of pressuring Hinata. That would only make things worse for the spiker.

"Oh yeah, it was actually blood running down my leg- and before you think something crazy, it was from some weird bump I had on my leg. Maybe a pimple or something..? I'm not sure what it was but it popped." Hinata lied, once again twisting the truth into a false, believable reality.