I published this Story on AO3 a while ago, and I finished it recently. So I wanted to put it here too because I've left this place soo abandoned. Hope you Enjoy
One more time One more time
Each day I will be rolling one more time
So he says, So he says
As he plays the meaning of it to his spoken words
Are you ready yet? Not even close.
The future is still so far away to me
So I'm holding my breath, just now
He always stares up, to an endless void of blue. He has learned with the slow pass of time, that it changes colors when the sun moves in its eternal waltz around him. Rolling, Rolling, Rolling, Rolling as he does every day since he can remember.
People stare, people side-glance at him, people gawk, people have pity in their eyes, people judge him, people are disgusting.
This world has varieties of his kin. The world is infested with his kin. Tall, small, strong, weak, thin, chubby, fat, white, black, boys, girls. It doesn't matter the complex, it doesn't matter where you're from, it doesn't matter what you are. The only thing that matters is the big bundle of weight in your back.
You can see them all the time, the void of blue is infested with them at certain parts of the color-changing-waltz. His small frail body throbs, aches with grief, with longing, with wanting. He wishes he was able to be up there.
"Shouyou!"
The back of his neck hurts a little when he faces the direction where the voice came from, his bare feet are buried on the sticky goo that was a bunch of strawberries a while ago. His knees are tainted in red, and his hands grasp tightly the hard wood of the container.
"Shouyou, are you done?"
His mother enters the fence that separates their home from the wild strawberry garden. Even thought that she's covered in sweat, her arms are a little red and a pink tint adorns her cheeks, she looks radiant. Her white wings are a little small, compared to his father's, with gray blotches and silver tips at the end.
"Just finished actually. My feet ended more sticky than last time, I'm sure we can make really good Jam with this tub" he says with a smile
The smile on her face was a bit tired, but grateful at the same time. She goes for a stool that's near the house door, and goes back with him.
Hinata Shouyou has been smashing, dancing and stepping over strawberries since he has memory. Since so long that he recently is getting tired of the smell. He wishes he could do something else with his weekends, like go for a long walk or play with other children.
But he can't because he has no wings.
Because from the very start of his life, it was either survive or die. Ala Ianis. The cause of his silent suffering since he can reason and understand the looks from people. Fragile and malformed wing muscles that weren't supposed to grow until he had 5. A deadly disease that only 1 of 100 babies could develop. Turned out he was the lucky number 1 of the bunch. To annihilate it you had to remove the source, you had to kill the core of the virus.
Sometimes you have to make sacrifices in your life.
He grew out healthy, learned to walk, crawl, talk, run, jump. To smash, dance and laugh while stepping over strawberries at the age of 4. He learned how to make a proper Jar of Jam at age 6.
Yet, it was very difficult, very hard to make a friend.
You're tiny
You're very weak
Your hair is ugly
You have no wings
Where are your wings?
Freak
Freak
Freak
Freak
Freak
He knows people are disgusting, their minds turn cogs and weird things that end up getting the wrong side of the picture, they never have in mind to turn another angle and admire the view, they just assume and get an instant picture of how one truly is without consent. But children, children are terrifying, children just look at you, examine you, and they can determine if you are friend or foe. They are righteous, and very sincere. But they don't like it at all if you're different from what they are normally accustomed at seeing.
Of a giant apple tree with red apples, he's the only one who turns out green.
He sometimes wishes he could quit smashing strawberries and keep trying until he made a friend. But other times, he just wishes for everyone to disappear and drown in a container of the most fat and strong strawberries.
Before he realizes it, his mother has finished cleaning his feet. And he's walking with her to the storage room.
"We just get all the stuff out, and then you can rest" says his mother with a gentle smile "Thanks for helping me"
He smiles back, and grabs the other big wooden spoon that's being offered to him.
His life consisted in Rolling, after finishing with all the bottles of Jam—which always varied from 78 to 92—his next job was selling and delivering each one of them until the garden grew full again in two weeks. He had two pairs of Roller Skates, protection and a cushioned bag in case an accident happened, also a frying pan if someone decided to assault him. His job as delivery boy started after he turned 8 when his mom got pregnant. His dad helped with all the equipment and accompanied him the first two weeks on the rounds around town and over it. They had a list of their clients, and it was a matter of one month when he remembered them all.
He never joined a Club when he was on Middle School, it wasn't obligatory, but he had a job to do, he had to do his rounds of the day and get back home to try to do his homework. Also, it wasn't as if somebody would want him to join a club.
He played tho, with his dad when it was summer, or when he did his deliveries very quickly. He was fast, very flexible and had one hell of a lot of stamina. His ol' man's face always ended a little red and very nasty. His short ponytail always falling, leaving a mess of orange curls. His brown wings were huge, and rustled from all that moving when ever they went out.
It varied sometimes, from a race across the field of rice that was near their home, to a skating competition. He also learned to play some ball sports, basketball was really fun, their one-on-one matches ending in a tie or either of them winning. Squash was more about reacting fast enough to his again the ball with the racket. The other one he liked was Volleyball, they once had a court for themselves and his dad taught him the basics. But unlike basketball, this game could not be played one against one. All he could do was get receives, spike and Volley the ball until his forearms hurt.
His Middle School Summer's were spent Rolling around town and other parts, playing basketball and volleyball with his dad, smashing more strawberries that grew more richer and juicy, and lying down on the tree near his home where the sunset view over the hill was amazing.
High School started in a blink of an eye, his dad in a ritual of celebration pierced his right ear and decorated it with small black earrings, it hurt at the beginning, but after seeing the final result and comparing it with his dad's left ear, he smiled wild.
His school of choice was Miyagi's Prefecture Karasuno. It was 20 minutes from home, and mornings were very chilly, but the wide range of his deliveries were very close the school and the nearest sweet shop was there too.
He thanked the heaven's that he owned a bicycle, two bags of luggage would've been a toll on his back.
Everything was turning out just great, he arrived in time, found quickly one of the heads of the school and told them of his package, they were really happy to help him with guarding the bag full of Jam Jars while he was on classes. On the opening ceremony nobody batted an eye on his direction, and he was glad for it. He felt at ease for a long amount of time, his hopes on making a friend started to show again. Hopefully, hopefully, this was going to be his year. Definitely.
It all went crumbling down when he entered the classroom and everything went quiet. Even thought there were like, 14 out of the 30 something of people, he could definitely feel them. Stares, judging stares, 14 sets of eyes looking at him with different things written on them.
Horror
Shock
Pity
Disgust
Nothing
Freak
Freak
Freak
Freak
FREAK
Class starts, schedules are passed, announcements are made, introductions then come and its his turn.
"My name is Hinata Shouyou, I'm 15..." I want to make friends, please don't look at me like an anomaly, I'm not what you think "I like summer—" please give me a chance "—and I hate being Hated"
He drops to his seat and he can feel it, remorse circling around, some eyes going down with the silence that he planned on causing but was slowly regretting.
He was pretty sure that all his High School life would pass quickly as his Middle School one.
His week passes so slowly that he feels tortured, classes are boring, he didn't expect Biology and English to be so simple, neither for Math or History to be so confusing, each time work pairs were obligatory on a subject, he was left alone at the end, fake smiles and dark smirks on each face his eyes met when looking for someone to work with.
He spent brakes alone, sitting on the rooftop or on the hill near the Gym number 2. He hears the wind blowing and feels the grass with his hands, his brown eyes move up to the sky and count the small amount of clouds that pass slowly through his blue void. The wind blows again and the leaves of the Tree behind him rustle in a calm way.
He closes his eyes and listens.
His mind drifts slowly and his mind is filled with clouds, leaves and nothing else but him flying on his void, the currents of air flow smoothly through his arms and his hair rustles like the leaves, everything is cool and calm, he wishes for this to never end.
"HEY!"
Startled, he jumps slightly, his heart keeps beating fast and his eyes search for the source of disrupter.
There's a tall boy in front of him with a nasty scowl, his arms are crossed and he's probably annoyed.
"Ah... you need something?" oh great
Tall guy changes his looks for a brief minute, and turns his head to his left while his eyes narrow slightly.
"You dropped this on the morning" his right arm stretches, and on his hand are a pair of brown aerial goggles
Hinata stares at them for a moment, and his hands instantly move to his left pocket. He was positive he pocketed them after locking his bike near a changing rooms building.
"Thanks, I've would have gone mad If I didn't find them" he takes the goggles and offers a smile, next he proceeds to inspect and clean them.
"Why'd you need those anyways?" Hinata hears another ruffling sound, and he's sure its not from the tree
"Sometimes dust and dirt are in the air and slow me down on my job, I don't want my eyes to itch"
He stands up and walks down the hill, his hands occupied with the cleaning of the lens. Brake bell rings. And the sound of rushing footsteps reach his ears.
"Kageyama"
Hinata's head snaps back at the boy. And now he looks at him for a second time. He's taller than him, his raven hair matches his humongous black wings, his narrowed eyes shine blue and he's looking at him intensely.
"Ha?"
Hinata was sure there was a vain popping out from the right side of his forehead
"My name is Kageyama Tobio" he says again, with more determination
"Why are you telling me your name?"
That was probably one of the most stupid questions he has ever asked in his life. He has never got past the point of waving at someone since people just stare, assume and walk away. He never thought the day would come that another person—outside from his family—would decide to exchange words with him.
"Because it's the proper thing to do dumbass" his blue eyes never left from him "You also owe me a favor" he finished with a smirk
"What? Why?" he asked a little lost
"Because if it weren't for me, you would have lost those things"
"But I didn't ask you to do it" he said crossing his arms "I don't get why I would owe you a favor, you did a kind act and that's it, there's no reason for me to repay you" his eyes squint slowly at the other boy
"What if I need something when I have a problem, would you help me?"
"I could, maybe"
The sound of chattering started to resonate on the distance, moving masses of bodies and sounds of footsteps heading to a direction filled the atmosphere. Hinata stares for another moment and turns around to follow the flow of the mass current of people that headed to classes.
"Then I have a problem" said Kageyama following him
"What is it?"
"I don't know your name"
Hinata stopped abruptly. This was a chance right? This had to be his chance. Someone was talking to him normally, from the small eye contact that he had with this tall boy he never saw the emotions that people displayed when ever they had eye-hold on him. There was no Disgust, no Pity, no Arrogance, no Superiority. Just nothing else than awkwardness and curiosity.
This can be, this can be, this can be you chance.
"I..." but wait. What if he was faking it? What if everything of this was a lie? What if all of this was some sort of bet? What if in reality, at the final moment, he is left alone again? He knew of back stabbing friends from his father's books, he knew friends at the end would betray you just to play with your head. At the end everything would go wrong, he would be ridiculed, he would be made fun of, he would be alone again. "I said I could help you, but I never said that I would do it"
He made his decision, he would rather be alone than left alone. He walked forward and disappeared from Kageyama Tobio's field of view.
Next week passed, and he was glad that he wasn't caught or spotted by Kageyama. He probably forgot about it already. It was really bad and stupid of him to have answered like that, he was turning kind of dramatic and it was not like he had a lot of verbal contact with people, he was probably going to get his head cracked with more smartass phrases next time he had to answer a basic question or request.
He wanted to do something about it, but what was done was done, he really didn't want for more situations like that to happen, he just wished he had a proper social life and somebody out of his house to trust. And he needed to focus on the trip back to school from his delivery service. His bike and belongings were stored on the area near Gym 2. His bike was on the same place, that was a relief, but his bag was locked inside the changing room he left it on the afternoon. The sun was setting and twilight was scattering over the void. Hinata was panicking inside, the school was closed and he was left alone with a secured bicycle and backpack with the key to the chain.
His pulse slowed a bit when he heard noise inside the gym, someone was playing at this hour, and maybe someone could help him to look for his bag. He skated to the door that was mid-open and poked his head to watch.
There was a Volleyball match playing, older people against the school's team. The Marker read 20-16 Elders in favor. The ball bounced back and forward between the net. His eyes focused on the nice blocking of a thundering spike a tall guy made.
"Can I help you?"
His eyes darted from the court to the man that greeted him at the door.
"Ah yeah, excuse me, is there a head teacher or someone who can help me? I left some belongings on a locker room but it's already closed and I really need to go home"
"Didn't your club end hours ago?"
"I don't go at any club sir, I work around town, and I have permission to leave my belongings here before I go to make my rounds"
The man stared at him for a moment. And Hinata was sure that he didn't give a good first impression, a messy haired ginger wearing a black vested-hoodie with ragged shorts, Goggles hanging on his neck and some sweat on his brow. He surely looked tired and kind of gross.
"See that man there? The one with the glasses?" he asked pointing at said person, Hinata nodded "He's the Sensei at charge of closing the gym, tell him about it maybe he can open the locker for you"
"Thanks!" he said with relief
He untied his Skates and entered barefooted at the place "Sorry for intruding" he said at the man
"No problem"
The match escalated its pace quickly as the School team recovered lost points, he made his way to the other side where the small bespectacled Sensei was watching the game. Hinata was glad that he didn't caught too much attention.
"Um, excuse me"
"Yes? You need something?"
Hinata had chills running down his spine the moment Sensei's eyes caught a hold of him. He was scared of finding some of the familiar emotions in them.
"Ah, well I-I left my Bag with my belongings on a locker room outside, but it's locked and I would like to know if you could help me" he said nervously
The Sensei eyed him for a moment, and realization was what lit his eyes "You're Hinata-kun right?"
Hinata nodded a little baffled when there was no negative emotion in his face
"Yes, the Vice Principal told me about it, I was expecting you to be a little more early to recollect your things"
"I had to do another round for Jar-Refill Picking" he said scratching the back of his head
"It's alright" he said with a broad smile "I had the time to bring your bag here, just wait a little, let me go get it"
Hinata was startled, this was one of the fewer people who had been kind to him without jumping to assumptions or judged him for what he was and not who he was. He sighed in relief and decided to watch the remaining part of the game. 23-22 Elders still in favor. His eyes never darted away from the ball, bouncing around the court and slamming against the floor when a point was taken.
Match point arrived so quickly, and the Elders team held the serving time. The guy was tall, and there was a tense mood on the atmosphere, when he jumped and hit the ball, too many things happened in that small amount of time. Something fell from the opposite side of the court, a quiet curse was barely heard, as screams of warning for "Takeda-Sensei!" rang around the gym.
The ball went speeding down where Sensei was crouched picking whatever it was that fell from his hands. He didn't had enough time to move, and Hinata did what his instinct told him to.
It all went in a blur, one moment he was on one side of the court, and in the other, his fore arms connected with the ball with a quiet 'Bump'. His bare feet were a bit hot, his breathing slowed down for a moment, and his eyes darted where the ball landed safely on a Pepper haired guy's hands.
He turned around immediately
"Sensei are you alright?" he asked panicked
Takeda Ittetsu was gaping at him, his eyes wide in disbelief. "Where did you come from?"
"Ha? I was standing where you left me Sensei"
"How did you get here?"
"I ran" he said it with his 'obviously' voice
Hinata was getting uncomfortable the moment he realized the gym was so silent for his likings.
"Oi brat!"
Hinata's head snapped instantly at the direction of the wild-haired man
"Where did you learn that?" he asked with a serious tone that Hinata didn't like at all
"Someone taught me" was one of his caution answers
"As If I'd believe that, are you aware of what you did?"
Hinata frowned "I stopped the ball"
"You just did a Perfect Serve Receive Brat, those are really hard to manage and learn for one person, but then you just come out of nowhere and do it like it's nothing, so I'm going to ask you again, where did you learn that?"
"I already told you Sir, someone taught me, why is it so hard to believe?"
Oh no, He was sure he said something wrong because the man was now glaring at him, and he had a bunch of people staring at him, and Sensei was behind him a little bit disorientated. He could feel the small hairs in his arms and neck stand up, his arm and knee pads felt hot suddenly and he felt that he was probably sweating.
"Hold it, I know where I've seen you" said the man that greeted him at the door, his face showed excitement "Are you related to Hinata Minato?"
The Wild-haired man who Hinata assumed was the Coach, and several others, snapped their heads at the direction of the other man
"You know my dad?"
"Dad?" said the Coach with his eyes looking back at him, barely gouging out of his skull
The man face split in two with his wild Grin "Oh yes I do, who cannot forget Ookamiori's 'Minato All-Trades'? Just remembering that orange mop you can make the connection, he taught you how to receive didn't he?"
"Ah, yeah... we spent some time in the summer practicing" he said very nervous
"Who's 'Minato All-Trades'?" asked a freckled boy
The coach now looked scandalized as did some members of the elder team. "Iwate Prefecture's one and only Hinata Minato, Fire Ball of Hell. He started playing as a Libero in Middle School and rose from the floor to play each position in Volleyball, joined Ookamiori's Volleyball team and went too to Basketball practices" said the bespectacled man on the other side of the court
"And now turns out this Pipsqueak is the son of a prodigy" said the Coach grunting
Hinata shrugged his shoulders and helped Sensei to stand up, small muttering could be heard around the gym, in the process he also grabbed his bag and went toward the exit door.
"If you excuse me..." he said quietly
He was blocked by a tall looming wall, goosebumps ran all over him and he now felt desperation cover his whole body in a blink of an eye.
"Where do you think you're going?" asked the dead serious voice of Kageyama Tobio
Great, just what he needed. He looked up and held contact with glaring eyes
"I'm trying to go home Kageyama-san"
"You're not going anywhere, you made us lose that last point, and you are going to mend it"
"I didn't make you lose anything, it was decided even before you knew it, and it was either saving Sensei or let him be hit by the ball" he said with balled fists "I don't have to mend anything, even if I had to I wouldn't help you at all"
"I think you could"
"Well keep thinking it, please let me leave"
"Join the Volleyball Club"
Hinata was sure he heard someone splutter something incoherent and some gasps behind him, he stared up with wide eyes at Kageyama who had again that serious stare.
"What?" he asked hoarsely
"You just heard me, join the Team, you have the reflexes and speed and I'm pretty sure you could do more, that receive has already given you some credit and let's not mention that you are the son of a prodigy"
"What makes you think I would do it, huh?" he asked with one of his nastier glares
Kageyama smirked "Because you owe me a favor"
Hinata gripped his hair "I already told you that I don't owe you anything!"
"You owe me that and your name"
"Like hell I'm telling you, I'm not joining, please Kageyama-san Let. Me. Leave."
Kageyama crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes, his smug smirk didn't leave "Make me"
"Fine"
It all went faster than he expected, he punched the guy on the stomach leaving him with no air and jumped over him to get out, the landing hurt a little, but he was going to survive. Everything he did was done at a marveling speed, he grabbed his Skaters, and ran for his bicycle, his hands searching frantically for the pocket that had the Key to the chain. Stuffing his bag and skaters on the back-basket of the bicycle he mounted the thing barefoot and pedaled like mad out of the place. His bare feet took him to the nearest safe place where he could put some decent footing to keep up with the road home.
He felt really bad, he was sure this was probably going to bite him back at some point. He was glad Golden Week started the next day.
Sweet school break could only be spent going to town and selling how many jars he could, on Friday he had a free day and on Saturday recounting began. With the amount of money they had, some went to the savings and the other small amount was going to be spent on ingredients and one or two on some personal things.
He was left alone with Natsu on Sunday when his parents went to buy the things, this week they were starting the whole process of making their product and that meant that he had to smash the eight baskets of strawberries the whole day to get the first phase done.
Hinata set the container in the middle of their huge back yard, the boxes of strawberries were in line near the tree that had the shower hose in case he got really filthy with red goo. The wooden spoon was on the far corner of the fence and Natsu was making mud castles near their rose bushes. Equipped with a swimming trouser and a cleaning equipment, he went to grab the first box and emptied it inside the wooden tub.
He spent the past two hours smashing his feet on red sticky goo. Natsu helped him with getting the remaining boxes inside the tub. The content was slowly rising until it arrived to his shins. He sinked his arms inside the red puddle beneath him, and started to stir them around, grabbing some pieces that weren't smashed properly and crushing them on his hands.
The sun was burning his bare back, and small droplets of sweat started to accumulate on his brow. Just two more baskets and then he could shower and rest. Grabbing the seventh one, the berries fell to the sticky substance and Hinata began yet again to step over them. He was glad that his mom and Natsu cleaned them completely, he didn't want to have greens sticking on his feet and shins.
"Nii-san, there's someone scary at the door" said Natsu from the white fence door, her head sticking closely to where he assumed was the peeping hole.
"Get away from there Natsu, mom said you shouldn't be poking your eyes wherever you can" he said a little annoyed, he hoped it wasn't another angry old farmer, he had enough of those and their complaints of water property stealing.
"But he looks creepy, and he's looking back at me"
Damn, just what he needed. "Get away from the door, I'll go see"
His hair sticked on his forehead, and he felt really hot and tired. He licked his sticky hand and grimaced at the sour-sweet taste. Sighing he got out of the tub, and headed straight to the door, sandals be damned, he wanted to get the job done quickly and he also wanted a quick shower. He arrived at the door and sighed while he unlocked it.
"Look, I'm pretty sure mom already told you Sir—" he started saying with his eyes closed in annoyance, pushing his hair back with a dirty red hand, probably staining himself with strawberry leftovers "—we're not stealing your damn water, and it's spread among the block in equal measures, and we pay for it, so if you are going to yammer yet aga—"
Of all the people he was expecting in the backyard door, he was not prepared to see a blank faced Kageyama Tobio on the back side entrance of the garden. Hinata stared just for a moment, trying to find the reason for this idiot to be here and not in other part of the Prefecture, wasn't the Volleyball team having an Training Camp or something? Where the hell did this guy came from? How did he knew where he lived? Was he some kind of stalker or something? He was not ready to start hearing things about favors or complains and he started to speculate that maybe he wanted revenge for that air-sucking punch he gave him the other day.
"What are you doing here?" was his brilliant and intelligent question
Life came back to Kageyama's face, he opened and closed his mouth three times and blushed slightly "I—I got lost"
Hinata squinted suspiciously his eyes "You got lost?"
Kageyama nodded, completely embarrassed
"Could you be so kind to tell me how in heck did you managed to get lost in the far side of the town?"
"Afternoon run, I lost the team and turned the wrong direction after tying my shoes"
Okay, Hinata now stared for a longer period of time, unbelievable. He sighed, a really long one, and held into the door for a little more.
"Come inside, you would at least want some rest right?" Kageyama looked at him with surprise
"I wouldn't want to intrude—"
"You are not, now get inside before I leave you out"
Kageyama did so immediately. Hinata closed the door and turned at the direction of the container to get the small recipient that lay next to the stool. "Hey Natsu, go get some water, we have a guest"
The little girl eyed the stranger for a brief moment, before running inside the house.
Hinata turned in direction of the tree to get a quick rinse and resume his task.
"So, afternoon run huh? I thought one had to take those on the morning to warm up" he started awkwardly the conversation, his left hand turning on the water.
"We did take one, we've been following the same schedule since Wednesday, Coach decided to make some kind of drill today"
The cold water felt wonderful against his skin, he started to wash up immediately and clean all the red stuff from his hands and feet.
"Hmm, that's nice, when does your training end?" his hands grabbed the recipient and filled it with water before he closed the faucet
"Tomorrow, we have a match against Nekoma High"
"Nekoma? As in 'The Cats'?"
He could feel Kageyama eyeing every movement he made, his hands washed his feet again and in a quick action he stood over the stool
"What do you know?" asked suspiciously the raven haired boy
"Well, dad told me that in the past they were great!" he jumped inside the container, earning a nasty 'Squish' sound, and began to steer the goo "Thought opponents, really nice offense/defense play and members with the passing of the years. Made it to the finals in the Nationals, but lost them if my memory doesn't fail me"
Kageyama nodded
"Nii-san, here's the water" said little Natsu from the kitchen entrance with two glasses of water on her hands.
Kageyama took one and Hinata the other, finishing it in one swallow.
"Go get me the last box, I really want to finish this"
"Won't mom say something if she finds out? She says you have to squish box by box"
Hinata smiled devilishly and winked at her "Mom doesn't have to know, also Who do you think I am? You'll see I'll pulperise each one of them!"
"Okay!" she said with a big smile before running to get the box
"Exactly, what are you doing?" asked Kageyama with a frown
"Killing masses of strawberries because I'm the ultimate Garden Lord, harvest this week was so kind that we were gifted with the most fat and juicy of the entire land, It is—per se— my job and duty to execute them all so the whole world can survive another day with the blessings of Jam"
He heard a snort, and proceeded with his smashing. Natsu arrived with the box and with the help of Kageyama the two emptied its contents inside the tub.
"Does this has something to do with your mysterious work, mister Garden Lord?" asked Kageyama with a teasing voice
"Yeah, stuff can't sell itself without being made, I'm stuck also with the tiring job" he answered with gritted teeth, his feet pushing up and down the mixture of solid and slimy. "I smash this, and then mom prepares it, and over the week we have our ware, she plants them again, and while we wait for another two weeks I sell the product"
"Don't strawberries take a long time to grow?"
"Processed manure and other weird stuff from the Alchemical department help this babies grow much faster" he said when he dived his arms inside "It's nothing to worry about, dad says its safe to use, consumers don't suffer from deceases or other side effects"
"Your dad's an Alchemist?"
"With a Degree in Botanic too" he added
Hinata kept stepping and smashing the fruit for another hour before finishing with his final product. Leaning over the side of the container, his hands grasped the edges, and his head turned skyward, leaving a sigh escape from his mouth. He closed his eyes and felt the sun bath him with warmth, his legs throbbed and his feet itched. He waited a little longer, gaining some strength that got lost in his squashing task.
He felt he was being watched, but he made no movement, Kageyama was sitting on the stairs of the veranda. He was so quiet for his likes.
"So... sorry If I sound rude, but don't you plan on going back to your Camp? It's been like one or two hours and the fact that you haven't shown up might make them worried"
"I told you that I'm lost" said Kageyama with a grumpy voice
"That doesn't change the fact that you have wings and you could fly back"
"Well... I can't"
Hinata's neck did a 'Snap'sound when his eyes landed on Kageyama "Do you have a flying restriction or something? I'm pretty sure you can glide on the marked altitude limit"
Kageyama's head averted in complete embarrassment, his eyes glaring at the floor "It's not that..."
Hinata looked at him for another amount of time. His hands were gripping the edges of the stair he was sitting upon, his nails probably digging the wood. His whole body was tense and his black wings were still and prepared, as if ready for some kind of strike, fore something that could hurt. And his averted pink face and glare made his image an art work of pure shame.
It clicked, and Hinatas eyes opened wide, he understood, he completely understood. "You don't know how... right?" his voice was quiet, it held no emotion, because there was nothing to feel about it when he knew that feeling too.
The humongous wings started to bristle, and Kageyama's eyes were now on fire, glaring with so much force at him "And what if I don't? What are you going to do? Laugh at me? Tell me how pathetic I am? How worthless I am?" he spat, with force, with fear, with anger.
Hinata stared back blankly at him, his empty brown eyes looking back at those enraged blue ones. This staring contest felt like it was lasting forever, no one said a word. But Hinata decided to do something, he turned around, and hugged his sides.
"Tell me... what do you see?"
He knew what the other boy saw, he could feel how the power of his glare died the moment his back was exposed. No noise came from the other party, and Hinata was suddenly the one gaining the anger Kageyama had just moments ago.
"What are you waiting for? Tell me what you see!"
There was a pause. "Scars..."
"These, these scars you see? They came with a price. I had to do an exchange, a very nasty and mortal exchange" he turned back and leaned on the edges before him, gripping them with force "The bargain of a life time, literally. I traded what makes you a normal person in the eyes of others for the right to live, to survive."
Kageyama was turning pale each second, his eyes now filled with fright.
Hinata laughed "And there it is! Took you long enough to look at me like that huh? I have to live up with those kind of stares my whole life. Fear, Disgust, Pity, Sadness, Arrogance, Superiority. I knew soon enough you would join the bunch. You're feeling embarrassed or worthless? You are an Idiot, you could learn how to fly in no time, you can ask someone to teach you, even if you are socially awkward or whatever. You have a chance. Even if one of your wings is a bit shorter than the other, it wouldn't matter because you could figure it out, you could make it work"
The silence was deafening, it ached, hurt, prickled on his skin, and his heart was hammering on his ribcage, he felt like crying and the only thing he could do about it was glare at the raven boy.
"Never come and spat me on the face your stupid things about being worthless and pathetic. You know nothing. You know absolutely nothing how that truly feels"
"But you're not"
That startled Hinata, it felt like a quick slap on the face
"Excuse me?"
"You are not pathetic, you... you have a lot of potential in everything. You're fast, flexible, your jumping prowess is on another level. You have determination, you are clever, and nice. You have a chance too, I may not know you very well, but I would like to. You intrigue me because I cant understand you, why would you keep working in something that is so tiring? Where do you get the energy to keep going on? Why are you so nice that you are not asking for favors in return? I don't understand that. You could do anything, yet you are the reason you can't accept what you can do"
That was it
"I know the things I'm capable of, I really try like you have no Idea. But it's not me the thing that's preventing me. You want to know the real reason is?" he asked with a dark voice. Kageyama stared back with narrowed eyes, waiting for the answer "People, people are the reason why I can't step forward. People are the reason why I feel worthless and pathetic. Every time I move, they push me back, because I'm a thing that they're not familiar with seeing. 'Has no wings?' out cast it, lock their potential, nobody wants to see an anomaly taking the spot light or simply walking down the road. Since I can remember I've only been judged for what I am, and not truly who I am. You know what I have learned? That people are disgusting. An I've learned to Roll with it, Rolling is the only thing I can do to go unnoticed and avoid the judgment of Society. If there is nobody out there that can see past Different, then I'm totally stuck forever with the Rolling"
That was the moment Natsu decided to open the door "Nii-san, Mama and Papa will arrive soon, I saw their silhouettes a moment ago"
Hinata Sighed and stepped out of the Container, and made his route back to the Tree. "Tell mom that I finished with Tub, will you Princess? I'm going to get Kageyama-san back to his home"
Nastu nodded enthusiastically her unruly head and chirped "'Kay"
Water rushed down, and Hinata cleaned himself very quickly, he grabbed the towel that was hanging on the fence and dried himself, taking off his swimming trouser on the process and wrapping the towel on his waist.
"Wait for me here, I won't take long" he said to Kageyama before entering the house.
He now Knew why he—would—never took the trip to school on Roller Skates, damn climbs were a nightmare. He was relieved Kageyama knew how to skate—"Please tell me you know how to use them" he said with quite the face—but that didn't help the fact that from the 20 minutes he made on bicycle it doubled to 40 with this climbs.
Kageyama led the rest of the way to the Cabin, when they arrived he checked if someone was inside, a pretty girl came from inside and chided Kageyama with a calm tone.
"Thanks for bringing him back" she said with a long bow
"It was no problem, really!" he said with a pink blush
She turned back at Kageyama's direction "The team is on Gym 3, Takeda-sensei assumed you got back to your home or something, you will have to justify your absence. I'm pretty sure the Coach will go hard on you Kageyama-kun"
Kageyama nodded, and the pretty girl went inside again, not before saying goodbye to Hinata.
The ginger sighed, reached for his backpack and gave Kageyama his shoes.
"Good Luck tomorrow... I'm pretty sure it's going to be a difficult match" he started a little awkwardly
Kageyama gave him back his Skates, accepting his shoes "Thanks... we'll work hard"
"You'd better be" said the small boy earning a little glare from the raven
"Thanks... for helping me I mean..." he avoided his eyes and turned his body slightly to the right, his hand rubbed his neck
Hinata giggled "As I said, it wasn't anything. Also... I—I wanted to apologize... for the punch the other day, I was panicked that I overacted"
Kageyama eyed him surprised "It's... alright..."
They stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do next. Hinata turned his body in the other direction. His hands shoving the pair of Skates inside his bag. "Well... Goodbye..."
He started to skate slowly, ready for his trip back.
"Wait!"
He stopped
"Can... can Ibecome a someone?" Hinata looked incredulously at him. Kageyama turned red "I mean, the nobody that can see beyond the Different. Can I change that to someone?"
The ginger's eyes went very wide in surprise and disbelief, his heart hammered on his ribcage "I... I don't know, can you? Are you willing to?"
Kageyama's face was now serious with determination. "Yes"
He never though that a small word, a simple answer like that, could mean so much to him. Kageyama turned around, his back broad and straight, determined along with his footsteps.
"Hinata"
Kageyama stopped, and turned back to look in disbelief at him.
"My name is Hinata Shouyou" he finished with a bright grin
The raven's eyes went into a mixture of emotions, Hinata laughed and skated back to his home.