Fear, Anxiety, and Love

Ch. 2: Rescue

  The air had become unreasonably thick and made breathing quite hard. Hinata frantically looked around, seeing that he was basically cornered against the brick wall that was behind him.

The third years all advanced towards him, the tallest one, Dazai, slammed his fist into the bricks beside Hinata's frail head, making him jump and yell in fright. "Awe, look, he's scared".

The sinister way those words rolled off of the man's tongue caused the smaller to shake and cower where he stood.

"I-I-I....I-I'm....I'm sorry!!!" He barely stuttered out, squeezing his eyes shut and forced himself to keep his head down.

There was a shifting sound and unfamiliar breath was soon accustomed to Hinata's face. The stench fit perfectly with his personality; nasty and caused whatever in its path to shrink.

The bag that was held with shaking hands was pulled even closer to the tiny chest.

Every once in awhile, a squeak or two was heard from the spiker's lips, making it well aware that he was, indeed, terrified. It was like all of the energy and courage was sucked out of him as these intimidating teenagers towered over him.

"You're sorry? For what? Being useless? Ignorant? Just plain stupid? Come on, Hinata. Do you think people actually like you? You're too fucking annoying!!" Dazai's voice rose with every syllable, proving just how upset he truly was.

At each word, Hinata winced and shrunk back, trying his very hardest to pull himself into the darkness.

"G-gomen...." His own voice was barely audible, causing the face of the person he feared most to inch even closer.

Hinata just prayed that someone would come looking for him, noticing his absence from practice. But, for now, it was just him and the three bullies.

A large fist latched itself on his black uniform, lifting the small figure a good four feet off of the ground. The round, brown eyes shot wide open and became glazed over as tears welled up inside.

"Please...please...I'm sorry..." Hinata chocked out, begging for some miracle.

Dazai's face twisted into a frown as he brought his right fist up and connected with his soft cheek.

Dropping to the ground, the small boy screamed as hot, wet streaks trailed down his face and off of his chin. "Want another?...you piece of shit..."

The others, that were silently standing behind their leader, become more noticeable as one kicked Hinata in his stomach and one crotched down and pushed his body until it rolled onto the side.

"S-STOP IT!! DONT TOUCH HIM!!" A determined scream was heard from behind. All three boys froze, a smirk placing itself upon each of their smug faces. "Hello there. Would you like to join in?"

Yamaguchi stood tall with his fists clenched angrily at his sides. "I said....don't touch Hinata..."

He growled, the usual happy-go-lucky exterior replaced with a more brave one.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw a very scared Hinata get to his feet and reach for his bag; All the while watching his teammate carefully.

"RUN, HINATA!!!" The swamp-brown haired yelled, pointing towards the club room he was originally heading to. "RUN!!" The realization hit the boy, and he took off to find help, not exactly knowing that the freckled pinch server was sacrificing himself to the hunters.

'Hurry...' He thought, a single bead of sweat dripping down his neck. "Now, since you made us lose our toy, you'll replace him..."

A cry for help erupted from Yamaguchi's throat as the stronger third years grabbed his skinny body, holding him still so a certain someone could use it as he pleases.

Tears pooled out of Hinata's eyes as he ran faster, tripping and searching for his team to save his friend.