Without Me (kagehina)

Chapter 1

Edit- If you're just starting, I'd like to let you know that the chapters get longer after the first two. I do a minimum of 2000 words per chapter now ;) And the pov has changed completely to third person (around chapter 4), along with being better-written. Enjoy ~

Hinata

I sat up from my bed, yawning, tired from another restless night. Sleep was scarce for me lately. I stumbled to the bathroom with a change of clothes and a towel, prepared to get ready for school. After a shower and brushing my teeth, I made my way to the kitchen for breakfast. As per usual, Natsu was sat at the table patiently waiting for mom to finish cooking. "Morning!" the bright boy greeted. "Good morning" Natsu and their mom said at the same time. I had an early practice today so I didn't have time to sit and eat with them. Instead, I grabbed a leftover meat bun from the night before and made my way out the door.

I walked down the street noticing myself limping a bit. 'Must be from last night' he thought. Hinata made sure to walk as best he could before meeting up with his setter, Kageyama, for their daily race to school. He didn't want to get scolded for having an injured leg. After all, Nationals were coming up in less than a month.

Kageyama

I'd been waiting for almost 15 minutes and was about to leave before I saw him. Hinata, bright as ever, walking towards me with a huge smile while waving. "You're late." he stated bluntly. Kageyama was more stern and easily bothered lately. Nationals were coming up and he was stressed out of his mind, trying to improve and perfect his playing each day. "Sorry! My uh- legs were sore from practice yesterday so I was walking a little slower than usual." Hinata exclaimed defensively. "Whatever. Let's go. And don't be late tomorrow or you're walking by yourself." Hinata gave a light smile in return while nervously putting a hand behind his head.

Kageyama quickly looked away from the smiling boy, pretending to fix his jacket. That smile..never failed to make him blush. He knew the feelings he had for Hinata were more than those you have for a friend. He didn't understand it but chose to ignore these feelings...at least until after Nationals. Screwing things up with his spiker right now would set them up for defeat.

•••

The two boys breathed heavily trying to keep themselves standing. "That's 35 *breath* wins for *breath* you and 36 losses *breath* for me" Hinata struggled to speak. After he caught his breath Kageyama stated "Oi! That's the second day in a row you've lost, you better not be getter slower." Hinata thought about the pain in his leg and was quick to make an excuse, "Just trying to save some energy for practice" he added a reassuring smile to seal the lie. Kageyama glared back, half-believing him but not thinking much of it.

About five minutes later, Suga and Daichi showed up. They opened the gym and had Hinata and Kageyama set up the net and get the volleyballs out. Soon after that, the rest of the team gradually started to show up. "I hope you're all ready. Today's practice will be more intense than yesterday's, Nationals are just around the corner and our goal is to win! And to win, we need to keep the ball from touching the ground and stay on the court the longest. We'll be focusing mainly on exercise to improve our stamina today, so 25 laps around the gym, go!" Daichi sure had a way of getting everyone riled up for practice, but hey, that's the captain for ya. Without him, the team would surely be lost.

Hinata

Just what I need; running. My leg hurts enough as it is but I'll just have to endure it. I ran the 25 laps with my teammates, ignoring the pain as much as I could. "Here" he heard Kageyama say, offering him a water bottle. "Thanks" he breathed back while taking the bottle from the tall boy. "Our quick attack is good for right now but you need to work on your receives, they still suck" Hinata, slightly bothered the comment replied "I'm getting better! So, did you wanna serve and have me practice receiving them?" The setter nodded. 'Okay, this won't be too bad' Hinata thought.

Kageyama

I noticed Hinata was a little off today so I started with a weaker serve than usual. To my surprise, the tangerine got it with near-perfect form. I decided to stay quiet and get another ball, giving compliments doesn't come easy to me. This time, I decided on a jump serve. I need to make sure Hinata can receive any ball that comes his way. Aiming for a space far away from the little spiker, Kageyama served a powerful ball that was too fast to see when being observed from the sidelines. Before he even had time to look, Hinata was already in the direction of the ball...almost. I glared at Hinata with an intense gaze while he gripped his side, guess I was wrong for thinking he could handle it. "S-sorry, I'll get the next one!" he heard the boy yell out.

We continued this until the tangerine was consistently receiving every ball that came his way. It's not as good as it needs to be but it's enough for now. I decided to practice serves on my own; Hinata told me he needed to use the restroom and would be back soon.

Hinata

It hurts! It hurts so damn bad! I could feel it through my shirt while gripping my side. I was bleeding. Thank god I decided to wear black today. After Kageyama was satisfied with my receives, I told him I was heading to the bathroom. That was a lie, I'm going to the clubroom for the first-aid kit.

•••

"Tsukishima! Would you mind heading up to the clubroom and grabbing some towels?" Daichi asked. The team was sweaty and needed to clean up a bit. "Sure." Tsukki blankly answered.

Hinata fumbled around trying to find the first-aid kit. 'There!' He saw it up high on a shelf he wasn't able to reach. 'Guess I'm using a towel' he thought to himself. He took off his shirt and looked in the mirror (this clubroom has a mirror for unknown reasons) studying the cuts lining his stomach. They spanned from arm to arm along his entire front side, randomly placed. The boy started to lightly dab at the wounds that had been opened back up from being hit with a high-speed volleyball. Just when he was about done, holding a blood soaked towel, he heard the door to the clubroom start to open.