{kagehina} he smelled like oranges

Chapter 9.

"Hinata? Are you okay? Hinata, please say something to me," Kageyama begged. Hinata didn't respond. Kageyama looked around, the driver of the car had stepped out to see what he'd hit.

"You!" Kageyama yelled, "Call an ambulance!" The man fumbled nervously in his pockets but was able to pull out his phone and start dialing the number. Kageyama turned his attention back to Hinata, his eyes weren't open, but he was breathing at least. Kageyama picked Hinata up as gently as he could and brought him back to the sidewalk. Kageyama set him down and knelt over him. Hinata's hair was sticky with blood, and it was trickling down the side of his face. Kageyama wiped it off to keep it from getting in Hinata's eyes. Kageyama felt so helpless, he was right there, just watching Hinata bleed out, and there was nothing he could do about it. Kageyama began to sob, tears rolling down his cheeks, and taking in long shaking breaths.

"Kageyama?"

Hinata's voice was very small and full of pain, and that made Kageyama cry even more, but he took Hinata's hand in his, "I'm here for you."

Hinata looked into Kageyama's eyes for a moment, "I love you."

Kageyama wrapped his arms around Hinata, careful not to squeeze him too tight, "I love you too."

Kageyama didn't let go of Hinata until the ambulance arrived and the EMTs said he had to. They took Hinata into the ambulance on a stretcher, and Kageyama was allowed to ride along in it too. Everyone in the ambulance was focused on Hinata, so Kageyama just sat in corner and tried to force himself to stop crying, it wasn't helping anything, and he didn't want to cry in front of all these strangers. This didn't feel real, this wasn't how it was supposed to go. Him and Hinata were supposed to have gone back home and cuddled for a few hours. Now he didn't know if that would be possible anytime soon. It would be eventually though, right? It must be, those injuries were pretty bad, but not fatal. At least that's what Kageyama kept telling himself as the ambulance rushed toward the hospital. Then, he continued repeating it when he was told to sit in a waiting room while they treated Hinata. Over and over again, one thought on a loop in his brain, 'He's going to be okay. He has to be okay.'

He was still thinking that when a doctor called Kageyama into her office.

She shut the door and introduced herself, "I'm Dr. Sakai, I know that's not what you care about, you're worried for your friend. The good news is that he survived and he doesn't seem to have any broken bones or many injuries that will leave a lasting scar, the bad news is that did suffer fairly severe head trauma and he's fallen into a coma. We estimate that he'll wake up from it in a few days, but there's a real possibility that he won't."

"What do you mean he won't?" Kageyama questioned, "Do you mean it'll be a few weeks instead of a few days?"

"Not exactly," she responded, "He may not wake up at all." Kageyama couldn't breathe, he felt as if all the air had left his lungs.

"Would you like to go see him?" the doctor asked. Kageyama nodded, and allowed her to lead him out of the room and down a plain white hallway. All of the doors looked the same, but the doctor knew where she was going and pushed one open. Kageyama walked through the doorway and saw Hinata lying in the hospital bed. He wasn't moving, except for the slow rise and fall of his chest that showed he was breathing. Dr. Sakai showed Kageyama a chair he could sit in and then said, "I'll leave you alone with him, I'll be in my office for the next hour if you have any questions. Then, if you can't find me, just talk to the nurse at the front desk." With that, she shut the door behind her.

Kageyama dragged the chair as close to the bed as possible and sat down. He took Hinata's hand in his. Then he used his other hand to brush the hair out of Hinata's face. They had cleaned all the blood off, and Kageyama could see that Hinata was a lot paler than normal. He hated seeing Hinata like this. Hinata was usually full of energy and life, so seeing him laying still in this stark white hospital room, didn't feel right at all. Kageyama found his fingers tracing Hinata's jawline, then back up to his hair, where he kept them, petting Hinata's head while he stared at the nothingness in the corner of the room.

Kageyama still hadn't really processed what happened. He wanted to just go home and have a happy, awake, uninjured Hinata waiting for him, but he knew that wasn't possible. Kageyama felt even worse because he knew he should've gotten hit by that car, Hinata had pushed him out of the way, and that's why this had happened. Kageyama's eyes stung, it was all his fault, if he had just looked before crossing the road, none of this would be happening. He wished with all his heart he could go back and do things differently. At least there was still some hope, he might wake up in a few days and things could go back to normal. Kageyama took a couple deep breaths. Yeah, it would all be better in just a couple days. He could wait that long. It wouldn't be an enjoyable wait, but he could manage it, as long as he kept telling himself Hinata would be okay.

Kageyama wanted to sleep at the hospital that night, he didn't want to leave Hinata's side for a second. He kept having the mental image of Hinata waking up and being all alone, and the thought of it made Kageyama feel sick. The only issue was, he couldn't do that, he had to tell people what happened. He grudgingly released Hinata's hand and went to the front desk to get Hinata's personal belongings. He took out Hinata's phone, and found Kuroo in the contacts. He didn't know who else to turn to, he didn't have a car and the hospital was so far away from his house.

Kuroo picked up on the second ring, "What's up?" Kageyama began explaining the whole situation to him, he hated having to relive it, but if Kuroo was coming, he deserved to know why. When Kageyama finished, there was a pause before Kuroo spoke again, "Oh my god, I'm so sorry, of course I'll pick you up. I'll be there as soon as I can." Kageyama explained to Kuroo he'd be in the waiting room and Kuroo hung up.

Ten minutes passed before Kuroo came running in with Kenma right behind him. He ran up to Kageyama and pulled him into a tight hug. Kageyama hadn't realized how much he'd needed a hug until that moment, and the feeling of it almost made him cry again.

"I will do whatever I can to help you get through this," Kuroo said quietly.

Kageyama saw Kenma looking at him, "Can we see him?" he asked. Kageyama stepped away from Kuroo and lead them to Hinata's room. As expected, Hinata was still in the same position as before, unmoving. Kageyama stood back while Kuroo and Kenma went up to him.

Kuroo turned around to look at Kageyama, "I'm sure he'll be okay, how could he not be, he's Hinata."

Kageyama grimaced, "That's what I keep telling myself." Kageyama walked over to Hinata and gave him a kiss on the forehead.

"I'll be back soon, I promise," he whispered. Then, they all left the room.

They got in Kuroo's car and Kuroo turned to Kageyama, "Where do you want me to take you?" Kageyama hesitated, he could go back to Hinata's house to tell... Oh no... Natsu. Natsu would be devastated.

"I'll just go back home," Kageyama told Kuroo. Kageyama knew he'd have to tell Natsu at some point but he couldn't deal with that today. He'd just let Hinata's family assume he spent the night at Kageyama's for now. He did it almost every night so it wouldn't be out of the ordinary. He'd tell everyone tomorrow, he might be more up to it then, but he doubted that. Even so, he couldn't put it off forever. The car ride was a very quiet affair, except for Kageyama giving Kuroo directions to his house. When they got there, Kuroo gave Kageyama a hug goodbye and began to drive off.