When the Sun Stops Shining

Chapter One: Redemption

"Shouyou! How could you not tell me?" The orange-haired man was looking over at the blonde Yachi Hitoka, the woman who was currently pacing around the living room in worry. She was clutching her head, looking as if she were about to throw up. "A criminal? How could you... we've been together five years. Five years."

"And I want to be with you for the rest of the years I've got left," Hinata assured her, rushing towards the still-panicking Hitoka. He took her hand, which had a golden band adorning it, and kissed it. "I love you, Hitoka. You know that."

"Then... why wouldn't you tell me?" Her brown eyes were watering, but she wasn't making any attempt to pull away from him. Hinata had just gotten home from court. He'd taken a plea deal of fifteen years for being an accomplice in an armed robbery and for being part of the notorious gang, Wakunan. The original charge had been twenty-four years. However... the robbery had happened ages ago. He never once thought that it would come back to haunt him all of a sudden. It had been back when he was in high school, dating the eccentric Takeru. They'd all been part of gangs then. Hinata and Takeru had been part of the Wakunan gang. Even though Hinata had left the gang during his university years, his crimes hadn't left him. He'd done a lot of bad things, but he'd never expected that they would catch up with him. Well, at least until the police pulled up outside of his suburban home and carted him out in handcuffs. Somehow, the handcuffs made him look more criminal than you'd expect.

"I... it was in the past, Hitoka."

"I told you everything about me! I even told you about the time I... I had a hair... growing from you-know-where!" Her face went bright red, but she didn't stop talking. "So... why? I thought we knew each other, Shouyou."

"We do! It's just stupid stuff in the past, okay? I was part of a gang. But... I've got nothing to do with that now."

"I've known you five years, Shouyou. Why would you join that gang? You've spent years and years working towards going pro, so why? You finally made it, so..." The tears were starting to fall down her cheeks, slick and salty. The sight was almost enough to bring the orange-haired ace to tears — but it didn't. He knew he had to stay strong, not only for himself, but for his beautiful fiancée, Hitoka.

"It... it was never meant to happen."

***

It was eight years ago when Hinata was fifteen. Annoyingly enough, as a twenty-three year old, he'd only grown two centimetres taller in the five years he'd spent playing volleyball at high school and university. It was also eight years ago when Hinata happened to go out volleyball shopping at night-time. He'd spiked a ball so hard that it'd gone flat. Since he couldn't wait until morning to get a new ball, he had decided to rush down to the store. It was then that he saw the leader of Wakunan, Takeru. Nakashima Takeru. And his clothes were covered in blood. He could see the scarlet red, glistening underneath the dim of the street lights.

"Woah! You're covered in juice!" The oblivious Hinata ran towards Takeru, who had emerged from a nearby alleyway. But when he reached the alleyway, he saw the dismembered body behind Takeru. "Woah! Is that a dummy! Cool!"

"Idiot," Takeru muttered, grabbing onto Hinata's arm. "Oi, Teppei! You can come out now, the idiot's dead."

"D...Dead?" Hinata pulled away from Takeru, looked at him once again. The scowl that lined his face, sharper than any spike Hinata had ever pulled off, his sharp vampire-like tooth and his pointed jaw. With his shaved head, he looked like the kind of guy that Hinata's parents would've warned him about. But... Hinata couldn't help but find him attractive.