Sinking Deeper (KageHina)

Prequel

As a child, Kageyama had many close relationships. His parents loved him dearly and he had so many friends; especially since he had a passion for volleyball. That was, until he hit his first year of middle school. Kitagawa Daiichi was known for their strong volleyball team and Tobio was so excited to improve his skills. Walking into his first volleyball practice, he had no clue what was in store for him. Oikawa Tooru, the boy who was relentless with his torment of the young Tobio. Tobio looked up to Oikawa though. He was the stronger player of the two and he was his senpai; of course he would look up to him. However, Oikawa hated the kid. He would force Tobio to be his targets as he practiced his serves. Extra laps around the school was something that became familiar to Tobio. During the school day, Oikawa and Iwaizumi would shove him into lockers, steal his schoolwork, and verbally abuse him. Tobio would go home everyday with a new cut or new bruise somewhere on him, but he never told his parents the truth. He played volleyball, of course he would get injuries. Tobio waited and waited for things to get better, but things only got worse. Soon enough, the whole team was against him. It was nearly impossible for him to catch a break. At first the team only used verbal abuse on him, but the more Oikawa started physically harming him, the more everyone else did. They wouldn't even need a reason to hurt him. He could walk into the locker room to change for practice and someone would do something to him. The only person to never lay a hand on Tobio, was Kunimi Akira. Eventually, Tobio started getting to practice early and stick by the coach. He would leave when the coach would leave. Hardly any words were spoken by the young setter, since every word meant another beating by his teammates. The boy would flinch at every sound he heard. He would run far away when he saw any of his teammates in the halls. However, one event pushed Tobio over the edge.

It was a cold night and Tobio was shaking in fear during practice. Coach had to leave due to an emergency family issue. Practice still had another hour to go. Tobio was alone with the evil glares of his teammates.

"Tobio-Chan, coach isn't here to save you now," Oikawa smirked at the smaller boy. Tobio's eyes widened and he tried to run away but Iwaizumi and Kindaichi held him down.

"Oikawa-San, please, I'll do anything. Please don't hurt me an-," Tobio was cut off with a punch to the face. The crunch of his nose echoed throughout the gym. A warm liquid spewed out of Tobio's nose as tears streamed down his face. Laughs resonated between the players as each of them took a stab at the young male being held down. One punch to the left cheek, two to the right. Three to the jaw, two to the nose, and multiple more to all the other areas of his body. The abuse didn't let up for the rest of practice.

By the end of practice, Tobio was almost unrecognizable. Both of his eyes were swelled up, his nose was bent in an odd way, his lips had cuts all over them, and blood and bruises covered his body. The boy could barely see out of his eyes and he most certainly could not move. His breathing came out in struggled pants and it felt as though his lungs were on fire. What did he ever do to deserve this? All he wanted to do was play volleyball and the outcome was nearly lethal to him.

"Guys, I think we hurt him pretty bad," a voice rang out. Tobio couldn't think of who it was, and he could not see. His ears began ringing and a scream erupted from his chest. It was an agonizing scream that pierced the team right to their core. The boy was writhing in the ground in pain as his screams became louder and more agonizing.

"Tooru I think we need to take him to the hospital," Iwaizumi turned to his best friend, a terrorized look on his face. His blood ran cold as soon as he heard the scream Tobio let out. "We really went too far this time."

"No we didn't Iwa-Chan, he deserves every bruise and cut we gave him," Tooru whispered as he walked away from the boy screaming in pain.

"I-i-t hurts s-s-so bad," Tobio gasped out as a sharp pain split through his chest. "Help me. P-please. I promise I'll quit the t-t-team," Tobio cried out as his screaming erupted from his chest once again.

"You guys really went too far this time," Kunimi shook his head in disapproval as he took his phone out and dialed the number for an ambulance. Everyone was shook to the core at the beaten and bloodied first year. They knew he didn't deserve anything they did, he was an easy target.

"Iwaizumi-San, please," Tobio opened his eyes with all his might and locked eyes with the third year. Emotions poured out of his swimming blue orbs into Hajime's. It was in that instant that he knew just how much they had messed up this young boy's life.

"We need to help him. Everyone grab something to help the pain. I'll stay here with him," Iwaizumi ordered everyone and walked closer to Tobio. "Hey, help is on the way Kageyama. You're going to be okay."

"I want to die. Please let me die," Tobio cried out as the pain in his body became unbearable. "Why, I begged and begged. Why did you guys hurt me? Why Iwaizumi-San? Why does Oikawa-San hate me? Why do you all want me to feel pain? I swear I'll quit the team. Just please tell me." The team came back with ice packs and towels to help Tobio. Every single person felt guilty. They were all the reason he was in this position anyways.

"I can't answer that Tobio because we don't have any good reasons. I'm not even sure why Tooru hates you. You walked in one day and he automatically hated you," Hajime explained as the popped the ice packs and put them on Tobio's eyes. The towels kept his much needed blood in. Soon enough the ambulance was there and took Tobio to the hospital. Iwaizumi knew one thing, he couldn't let Kageyama quit the team.

Tobio didn't come back to school for weeks. Nobody heard a word about him. The only people who knew what really happened, was the volleyball team. Tobio was in the hospital for two weeks. He suffered from broken ribs, a broken jaw, a broken nose, a punctured lung, multiple cuts and bruises, and a minor concussion. Needless to say, Tobio has seen better days. The boy refused to tell anyone what really happened. All anyone knows is that he got seriously hurt at school. From that point on, Tobio fell deeper and deeper into the dark hole of depression. He got discharged from the hospital after two weeks and then took another week off. Then the week after, he didn't step foot in the gym for practice. Of course he wasn't healed, it would take at least another month.

Nights were the hardest for Tobio. That was when he was completely alone. That was when the voices would torment him into crying himself to sleep.

They all hate you.

There's a reason Oikawa hates you.

You deserve every hit and kick they give you.

Your own parents hate you.

You should have let the team kill you.

You should kill yourself

Tobio knew all of this, but he was too much of a coward to act on it. He just let the voices consume his head while on the outside, he had mental breakdown after mental breakdown. Iwaizumi convinced him to stay on the volleyball team, but nothing really changed. The team continued to abuse him, behind Iwaizumi and Kunimi's back. Most of the attacks were led by Oikawa. They got smarter with their assaults. They always hurt him in places that other people don't usually see. Tobio's torso was littered with bruises; everyday a new one added. However, Tobio began to improve in volleyball and started gaining respect from some of his teammates. But Kindaichi and Oikawa still continued to hurt him. Even though everyone stopped bullying him as the year progressed, Tobio sunk deeper and deeper into his depression. So much so, that he started doing things to himself.

He was feeling so low one night. The voices were getting louder and more powerful and he didn't know what to do to stop them. Instead of trying to beat them, he decided to join them. He went to his desk looking for the little green pencil sharpener in his drawer. He broke the plastic from around it, leaving only the razor part. He had read about people doing this to gain control of something in their lives, so he thought he would be able to control something too. He took the cold metal to his wrist and just sat there contemplating what he should do. With a bit more thought, he pushed down and dragged the cool metal across his wrist. Tobio flinched at the stinging pain, but as the beads of red sprung out of the wound, he felt relief. He could actually feel something again, and it was power. He added four more to his wrist and sat back with a smile on his face. This was the beginning of the downward spiral that the young Tobio Kageyama would take until he finally reached rock bottom.