The Crow [HIATUS]

3

It's so unlike Kageyama to be absent. In all honesty, they didn't think that the volleyball-obsessed teen would even consider taking a day off from practice. All of them had assumed that Kageyama would rather die than skip a session. The team shared glances with each other while Hinata had run off to the cart that held the club's equipment.

The bright first-year shoved his hands into the cart, standing on the tips of his shoes so he could reach the bottom and fish out a volleyball. He tossed the ball into the air with a carefree smile on his face, his eyes not leaving the ball in the air as he called out to his teammates, "What're you guys standing there for?" as he caught the ball with both his hands, he gestured it towards Nishinoya, who could only stare at how Hinata could be so happy-go-lucky even without his partner in crime, "Nishinoya-san! I want you to help me practice with receives!" usually, the boy would whine and even go far as to insult the younger setter for not being here early in the morning but none. There seemed to be no comments from Hinata about it either which really put off the rest of the team.

The libero stayed silent for a minute before Tanaka nudged him with an elbow, his contracted eyes shifting back and forth from Hinata and to his best friend. Nishinoya snapped out from his own trance, flinching at the sudden contact. He looked at Tanaka, a worried look on his face before turning to the others behind him.

"Nishinoya-saaaannn~" Hinata called again, he ran up to the team this time. He had that same old bright smile on his face, it was like he radiated like the sun as he did it.

"Hinata," Sugawara was the one who spoke up, patting Sawamura's shoulder to reassure him before he walked up to Hinata. He crouched down to Hinata's eye level, hands on his knees as he gave him one of his own smiles, "Hinata, how about you take a break from today, we–" he was then cut off by none other than the decoy he was speaking with.

Hinata dropped the ball in surprise, making a loud thump! as it hit the ground. And it looks like his jaw followed along with it. His brown eyes were wide open in shock, "A break?!" he yelled, making Sugawara sigh and roll his eyes, "But we just got here! We have a few more minutes before classes start, don't we? And didn't Takeda-sensei mention that we'd be facing off Nekoma in another practice match in the next two weeks?" his words were fast, spitting out every word and topic he could think off right off the top of his head. Hinata looked so down when he was talking about Kageyama earlier but now it looked like he was frantically trying to change the topic and he couldn't just stay on just one.

Asahi shifted closer to Sawamura, his lips were pressed into a thin line and he had a worried look on his face. He whispered, "Wasn't Hinata all sad this morning? He sure bounces right back up after dropping such a... shocking announcement," he gives the captain another worried look, his eyebrows furrowing.

Tsukishima had walked up next to Sawamura with Yamaguchi trailing behind him, "Even with the king off the court, the shrimp's still in high spirits as he always is," he comments, putting an arm on his hip to which Yamaguchi pouts at his words, giving a nervous smile as he responded to Tsukishima, "But didn't Hinata seem sad when he broke the news to us?"

The blonde scoffed, adjusting the strap of his sports glasses as he gave another salty remark, "You know how he is, Yamaguchi. As if Hinata has anything besides volleyball on his mind. The king just probably had some sense knocked into him and decided to take a break," he shrugged his shoulders, eyes squinting at Sugawara still trying to talk to Hinata but got inevitably cut off again with another excuse from his fellow first year, "but who knows? Maybe he's finally snapped and didn't want to be shrimpy's partner anymore."

Yamaguchi sighs, dragging his attention to Hinata as well, "That's sorta mean, Tsukki," he says in an attempt to lighten up the damp mood the team was 'blessed' with. The phrase had become this sort of gag between them but it didn't bring any laughs or chuckles, just the sighs of the worried group of teens.

The attention is brought back to Hinata and Sugawara, where the younger is oh-so-desperately trying to convince the older to continue the morning practice, but of course, the, basically, mom of the group was not having any of Hinata's excuses.

"We can continue practising tomorrow morning, you know, when Kageyama is here,"

"But-!"

"No. Isn't it better to work and practice as a group? When Kageyama is here, we can all practice without worrying all day, alright, Hinata?"

When, when, when, when–
It's all 'when's and Hinata is starting to get sick of it. Hearing it so much makes it seem like it's not a word at all.

Slouching, Hinata decided to give up on persisting the setter to continue the practice. His arms were now dangling lazily under him in an exaggerated manner, swaying side to side as if he's a toddler recovering from a tantrum.

"I'll treat you to some pork buns at coach's, how about that?"

There goes another one of Sugawara's legendary smiles. Hinata couldn't say 'no' to him and who in their right mind would refuse free food? Pork buns at that!

And so, Hinata's mood immediately lit up after that, practically bouncing up in joy at hearing the idea of that warm treat in his hands. Though only he himself knows what he truly feels. The thought of just keeping human food in his mouth makes him want to gag. Well, this whole thing he's doing is a gag, a dumb one at that. But he can't suddenly break character now. He'd have himself killed before he actually could.

Hinata gave Sugawara a bright grin back, pushing down that gut feeling to just flat-out say 'no' to everyone's faces, "Really?! Aw, hell yeah! Pork buns!" he punched his fists up in the air, cheering 'pork buns! pork buns!' over and over again while stomping around in a circle. He may have looked like a fool but he has to.

Sugawara turned around to face a team who were watching from the sidelines, giving them an assured thumbs up with a look on his face that said 'success!' all over. Sawamura gives a thumb up as well, silently nodding to tell the setter that he did a great job.

Tsukishima kept staring at Hinata still rampaging around and screaming around the gym. He noticed that the bright kid's mood changes seemed a bit... forced. He sighs, catching Yamaguchi's attention.

"Tsukki, is something wrong?" the freckled teen asked, looking up to his taller friend. Tsukishima let out another scoff which made Yamaguchi give him a confused look as he responded.

"Nothing."

./\.

21:47 PM

He kept tossing and turning through the hours he 'slept' through. That image just can't get out of his head. The blood, the gore. Somehow he could still hear the sounds of grimy guts being torn and ripped apart. The gnashing of teeth and the muffled sounds of screams of the victim.

And now that he's thinking about it, those... screams didn't sound like Hinata's at all. Maybe it was just him panicking and assuming it was Hinata?

Kageyama was so sure that Hinata had gone into the same alleyway he followed 'him' into.

He closed his eyes shut and slung an arm over his forehead as he tried to sink himself into his mattress. He was still in his school uniform. The black gakuran was now all crumpled up and creased from all his moving. He sighed,

"What the fuck was that?"

_ _./\._ _

Welcome back. As y'all may have noticed it's been two- maybe three years but we're back baby. This chapter is more of a filler, as y'all can tell.
Do y'all like the new cover?

Updates will be slow but expect updates soon.

Thank, b.