Feathers

Chapter 9 - Ill

HINATA POV:
I opened the door, and thank the Lord, he wasn't home. I could've started cheering right then and there. I didn't know where he was and I didn't care where he was.

My head was still throbbing ever since he threw it against the fridge, and I felt a bit ill so I decided to take a nap. After waking up though, I felt worse.

I didn't know what happened. I felt incredibly sick and my body hurt all over. I stumbled to get out of bed to check the time.

8:01 PM.

Gosh, how long did I sleep for?

"What's wrong?" Natsu said, startling me.

"I'm not feeling well. I'm gonna go run to the store and get some medicine for me." I told her, trying to keep my distance as I didn't want to get her sick.

"No! I wanna come with you! Don't leave me alone." She whined while flailing her arms around.

I initially told her no, but after she begged for 5 minutes straight, I ended up complying. I told her she had to keep a bit of distance and I wore a mask.

We went to the store together and while Natsu was skipping, I was wobbling. I felt like I was going to pass out at any moment. But I kept going.
When I arrived at the store, I immediately panicked.

Daichi and Suga were there! Why Lord? I just wanted to do this in peace.

Even though I wanted to head back to avoid them, I knew I needed the medicine. I walked inside, trying to avoid them.

"Hinata?" I heard, a few feet behind me. Turning around, I saw it was Daichi who spoke with Suga right next to him.

"Hello! I didn't notice you guys." I lied.

"Hey Hinata! Are you sick? What are you doing here?" Suga followed up.

"Yeah, I don't feel well. Came to buy some medicine but Natsu wanted to tag along."

"You should've gotten your father to grab it for you, I'm sure he wouldn't have minded. You don't look well." Daichi said, glancing at me up and down.

I became nervous but stayed composed as I felt their eyes observing me, waiting for me to crack. I believed that Suga suspected me and he probably told Daichi.

"He's asleep and I didn't want to bother him. Besides, I'm only grabbing it real quick and leaving." I looked for an opportunity to get away.

"Alright. Well, don't let us hold you back. You shouldn't go to school tomorrow, I'll tell the coach to excuse you from practice. Have a nice day Hinata!" They both waved and walked away.

Immediately, I sighed and walked away as well.
At the very least, I'm sick so I didn't have to act super hyper. It makes sense for me to look a bit worn out when you're sick.
When I got home, I took the medicine and sat in my bed.

Should I really not go? Is that okay?
I couldn't sit and ponder for very long before falling back asleep.

I woke up the next morning, a little frantic and still feeling horrible as I had no idea what time it was, before remembering what Daichi told me.
I poked my head downstairs, checking if he was home.

Nowhere to be seen. It began to worry me a little in a weird way. I brushed it off though.

Why should I be worried about him? He never worried about me.

At that moment, I decided I wouldn't go to school. Although I still had to take Natsu.

After dropping off Natsu, I began the walk back home but ran into Kageyama.

"Why aren't you in uniform? Are you sick?" He questioned, looking at my mask.

"Mhm. Was just dropping off my little sister to her school." I replied, trying to seem like I wasn't about to faint.

"Mkay, can't your dad do that? He should've let you stay home."

"He's busy. He's at work." Surprising myself with how blunt my words were. I guess I was getting annoyed about how everyone questioned things about my father.

"Don't talk to me like that." He said, sounding pissed off.

I got scared. It sounded like something my father would say, I took a step back and put my arm up, blocking him from me.

"Dude, I'm not gonna hit a sick person. What's with you? You need to rest." He turned around patting my head while walking away.

"Sorry.." I muttered before walking off as well.

Gosh, that was embarrassing! My guard was up so I totally reacted to that in a weird way. I need to be more careful. At least Kageyama is dumb as a rock, so he probably didn't catch on. If it was anyone else though, that would be a problem.

I slept for the whole day, not even using my phone and just resting. I felt horrible, but with some sleep and medicine, it helped a bit. Suddenly, I heard the door open and slam shut. I instantly stood up.

Did he come back?

"HINATA! ARE YOU HOME? WHY IS YOUR BAG HERE? COME DOWN, NOW." He didn't sound drunk, just angry. I didn't know if that was worse or better.

I went downstairs, trying to contain my tears. "Hello, father..." I took a quick look at him before looking down back at the ground.

"Why are you home?" He said, demanding an answer. "Do you not care about school? You do realize people will suspect something if you miss a day."

I stayed quiet.

"WELL?"

"I'm sick. I'm excused from school." I somewhat lied. I'm sure my teammates would tell the teacher about my sickness, and I wasn't worried about volleyball as I was already excused from that.

"So you think you can just miss school?" He walked towards me. "People notice things. You're dragging unnecessary attention towards you. Do you think I'm a horrible father?!"

I didn't know what to say, I mean yes, obviously, but I couldn't just say that.

"STOP IGNORING ME." He walked faster and slapped me across the face, making my knees drop to the ground. Right before he was about to hurt me more though, a knock put both of us to a halt.