The Crow With Broken Wings

Fluttering Wings

"Shouyou? Are you awake?"

Half awake, I searched for the voice. My view finally becoming clear, I noticed the doctor standing beside my bed.

"Y-Yeah...I'm awake."

"Ah good. What would you like for breakfast this morning?"

Morning? Wait...I don't ever remember sleeping...what happened?

"Um, before I answer that, do you know what happened to me yesterday?"

My mum flinched.

The doctor looked over to my mum for some sort of permission. My mum nodded in compliance.

"Your friend, Kageyama, came to visit you."

"Kageyama?" Oh yeah, he did, didn't he?

"It seems you over exerted yourself and passed out. You were out cold for the whole night."

"I-Is that bad?"

The doctor smiled. "Don't worry, it's perfectly normal. Try not to over exert yourself too much in future though, okay?"

"Okay." I looked down at my hands that had clasped together inadvertently. "I...I think I'll just have some toast."

"Of course, I'll be back soon." And with that, the doctor left the room.

X

No one visited me. The day was nothing but lying around. When I tried to sleep, my body would flinch and wake me up again.
It was beginning to get late. My family had gone home as my condition was stable.

Or so the doctors said.

Out of nowhere, I started shaking again, uncontrollably. Sweat covered my body, making me feel excessively warm and feverish. My eyes darted helplessly around the room, searching for a source of comfort, but through my tears eyes all I could see were the blurs of balloons, cards and hospital equipment. My body was boiling all the while, my breathing getting more and more heavy. My head was foggy and aching: My whole body was aching.

I tried reaching for the button to call the nurses in, but my arm couldn't quite reach. But, out of nowhere...

"Hinata!" cried a worried voice as the door flew open. Turning to my side, I tried to figure out who it was but all I could see were one, no, two tall blurs.

I felt a coldness on my head, so I put my quivering hand on it, trying to identify it.
"Don't worry Hinata, it's just an ice pack. There's no need to panic. Kageyama pressed the button to notify the nurses."

"K-Kageyama? The nurses aren't here? Then...who are you?"

"It's Sugawara. Kageyama really wanted to see you. But don't worry about at right now."

My body started to shake a little more, but not because of the fever.

"But why d-did Kageyama want to see me?"

"You're speaking as if I'm not here, idiot." Kageyama seemed to be trying to sound annoyed but instead having a hint of worry in his voice.

"I'm sorry...I'm so sorry..." I started unintentionally crying. I couldn't stop.
The nurses rushed in with a cold blanket. Sugawara thrusted the hospital blanket off of me and the nurses replaced it with the cold one.

My body slowly stopped shaking and I began to return to normal temperature.
Once I finally gained composure, I looked around the room to fully understand what was happening.

Kageyama was avoiding eye contact with me and Sugawara was sitting on a chair beside me, reading some sort of leaflet. Upon noticing me waking up, he turned to me.

"Are you feeling better?" asked Sugawara with a gentle smile.

"Yeah, I think so." I stared at Kageyama for a moment, trying to figure out what to say. "Um, Kageyama?"

He looked at me. Barely.

"What is it?"

"I was just wondering," I hesitated for a moment then continued, "what did you come here to see me for? Didn't we...have a fight?"

He looked at me intently this time, somewhat fiercely as if I had touched on a sensitive issue.

"Idiot. We were...talking yesterday. But then you just passed out suddenly half way through. I tried waking you up because you seemed worried about something but you were out cold. I had to go get the nurses. They thought I'd hit you or something."

"Hit me? Why would they think that from passing out?"

"Haven't you noticed?" He looked at me slightly bewildered.

"Noticed what?"

What is he talking about?

"That bruise on your wrist. I grabbed your wrist when you grasped my collar to try and get you off of me. I don't think I would've done it hard enough to bruise you, though."

I sat their awestruck, unmoving. Sugawara looked at Kageyama with a concerned look. "You know we're supposed to be careful around him! Why would you do that?" He said this in a scolding yet polite manner.

"I told you, I didn't even grab his wrist with that much force. I barely touched him before he passed out," Kageyama exclaimed with a slightly raised but somewhat shaky voice.

I stared at my wrist in confusion. "There is a bruise. It's huge..."

Sugawara looked at it, carefully supporting my hand with his. "D-Does it hurt?"

"Um...I guess a little."

Kageyama stood up in rage. "I'm telling you, I didn't even hold it with that much pressure! Hinata must be a weakling or something."

With those words, something clicked in Sugawara's brain.

He pulled out a small leaflet, making sure to hide it from Kageyama, scanning it intensively.

"Hey, are you listening?"

Sugawara ignored Kageyama completely and, after finding what he was looking for, leant in to whisper something to me.

"Don't worry, apparently easy bruising is just a symptom."

Don't...worry? Just a symptom?

"I...I hate this." They both looked at me with very startled yet concerned expressions on their faces. "You guys, you're all suffering...because of me..."

Please...someone, anyone...

"I can't take this anymore."