New Beginnings

Chapter 1: Yearning

Hinata Shoyo was born and raised in the Miyagi Prefecture, and he wouldn't change it for the world. He made many friends, mostly due to his charming personality and bubbly way of life. He was very close with all of his friends until one day, tragedy struck the Hinata family.

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Hinata shoyo sat on the edge of a small hospital bed. The blinding white sheets crumbled in his fists as he tried not to cry. His mother was laying in this very hospital bed, dying of an incurable illness. Why couldn't this have been me? Shoyo thought. Why couldn't he have been the one to get sick and let his mother live on the rest of her days carefree? Shoyo sat with his head aimed towards the floor, staring at his muddy white shoes that had most definitely seen better day.

"Shoyo, look at me." His mother croaked out, her voice was strained due to misuse and the additional weight of her illness. 

He slowly looked up towards his mother, her fading blue eyes full of sadness stared at his dark brown eyes, full of life. She smiled at Shoyo, and the boy had a strong urge to burst into tears. "Come here," his mother beckoned him over with a weak pat of her hand. He hesitantly scooted towards his mother, and when he got close enough, he finally broke and began sobbing, engulfing his poor mother into a hug filled with warmth and love.

The two sat in a hug for many moments, until they broke apart. Shoyo's mother grabbed his freckled cheek and held him. Her pale hand felt cold on his warm skin. She began to speak what Shoyo knew would be the last words he would ever hear her speak. "Shoyo, you re the bravest boy I know. You'll do great things in life, and I have no doubt about it. Please, take care of your sister. She needs you as much as you need her. I love you, son, and don't you every forget that," and with that her cold hand slowly melted off of the boys face. She layer back down into the abyss of the hospital bed and closed her eyes.

 A monitor to the right of Shoyo began to beep, and a nurse quickly escorted him out of the room. In a trance, he walked over to his sister and sat down next to her. The young girl was sitting reading a book, unaware of what was going on. She was too young to understand. Within a matter of time, a doctor walked out of his mother's hospital room, a look of sorrow on his face. He bared what might be the worst news Shoyo might ever hear in his entire life. His mother was dead, and there was nothing he could do to change that.

And so, for the second time that day, Shoyo broke down into tears. All of the pain and worry he had been feeling over the past few months had finally caught up to him. He sat on the ground, tears streaming down his face. Every memory he had of his mother's warm and gentle smile throughout his childhood raced through his mind. Every good memory and bad memory of her came too. Her kind congratulations after Shoyo got his very first perfect score on a test, the proud look on her face after he came home and told her that he made the Karasuno volleyball team, even the feeling of her cold and dying hand on Hinata's cheek just moments before came back to him. Everything hurt and his tear were the only way he could let his feelings out.

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For the next couple of days, Shoyo and his sister, Natsu, stayed with a distant relative. She welcomed both children into her home with open arms, and she didn't comment on Shoyo's muffled tears behind closed door. Hinata couldn't take it, he needed his mother, to support him and to guide him. He wanted to end it all. But suddenly his mother's words appeared in his mind. He needed to do something great in life, and he needed to be there for his sister through the good and the bad.

Sometime within the next few weeks, Shoyo's aunt told him that his father wanted him and his sister to stay with him in America. Shoyo didn't know much about his father, only that he was a successful businessman and that he separated with Shoyo's mother a few years ago due to having to work in a different country. Well, they weren't officially separated, they just never saw each other, and Shoyo didn't know if they ever communicated.