(Thanks, to Ryan Marshall, who recommended I write this. I have trouble with finding things to write about, so I appreciate any ideas or prompts, anything, thrown my way in a pm or review. I also wrote on ArchiveOfOurOwn (Ao3), so there my name is the same as here. If you want to read more of my stories, make sure to check out that profile.)
Title: As I Fly On, Perennial.
Hinata's POV
The redhead sighed as he walked along the path to school, spirits considerably brightened by the thought of the pending volleyball practice, but at the same time dampened from the sharp reminders of bruises that sliced through him every once and awhile, as well as the early time.
He ignored the first part though, blocking out the old - and new - injuries, as he was a costumed to by this point, having dealt with the same problem for the entire year, and even before that at his old school.
It didn't help that he was feeling slightly... uncomfortable, to say the least.
Maybe it was from lying to his mother the night before.
..."...'..."...'..."...'..."...
Hinata came home later than usual, spirits low, sopping wet and freezing in the cold winter air.
He called out softly as he entered the house, wanting nothing more than to bundle up in several sweatshirts and jackets and blankets and bury himself from the world, andhopefully warm his freezing, shivering self while he was at it.
However, it seemed it wouldn't end the way, as Hinata caught sight of his mother sitting quietly at the table as soon as he walked in, her eyes widening quickly as she took in the sight of her child, dripping wet with teeth chattering and body violently shivering, and immediately asking what had happened as she pushed her son towards his room to change out of his wet clothes and dry himself off and warm himself up.
"Nothing much, Kaa-san," Shouyou said, eyes drooping. "I feel on the way home is all. I was thinking about Kageyama and I's new quick, and didn't see that I was swerving." He said sleepily, the lie falling easily even in his tired stupor.
"Oh?" Hinata-san said quietly, running her hands through Shouyou's hair. "If that's all it is, then please try to be more careful, okay sweetie?" She said softly, not completely believing her son but wanting to let him sleep.
"Mmm." Shouyou mumbled, nearly asleep.
Hinata-san smiled worriedly at Shouyou before leaving, wondering what had really happened, and what she could do about it.
It wasn't happening again, was it?
."."."."."."."."."."."."."."."."."".".
Hinata shook his head, snapping out of the memory as he almost ran into another kid, apologizing before heading briskly off towards the club room to get ready for practice.
He didn't expect Kageyama to beat him there, and had only a split second to regain his bearing and launch into a tirade consisting mainly of "BAKAYAMA, YOU CHEATED."
Kageyama retaliated in kind, before other club members started trailing in, and before he knew it, Hinata was being swept along, and practice was soon over.
Kageyama called some thing out behind him as he walked away, leaving Hinata to walk to class alone, but Hinata didn't catch what it was, instead walking forward, slightly faster.
His anxiety was warranted, though, as exactly what he thought might happen, did.
He was just about to turn in to go get his inside shoes on when a rough hand grabbed his arm none-too-gently and dragged him away, around and back towards one of the gyms.
Hinata struggled in vain to pull his arm out of the guys grip, but of course, the strong grip on his arm didn't falter.
The next thing he knew, he was thrown on the ground, back to a wall, two tall guys in front of him.
What was the saying? Stuck between a rock and a hard place? Hinata was sure this wasn't the situation in which it was meant for, but thought that the words fit.
After all, he'd had quite a while of torment to make the connection. No way to back off, no way to run forward, no way to flee.
So, hearing the words fall from their mouths, and feeling the pain dealt from the hits and kicks, he found he just wished they would leave. Leave, so he could go play volleyball later with Kageyama and Daichi and Tanaka and Asahi and Noya and even that big jerk Tsukishima and his friend (the ultimately nicer one), Yamaguchi.
Too bad the world didn't seem to work that way.
As one of the two, Ochi-kun? Pulled his head up with a hand knitted in Hinata's hair, the redhead saw a familiar face behind them, the normally condescending expression turned shocked, and then angry, an expression that scared him just as much as the current situation. (Somehow, he didn't feel the fear for himself, though he couldn't trace the fear anywhere. Rather, he felt a sort of massive relief in the face if that person.)
Before the blonde could even attempt to save him, Hinata managed a small, weak, but genuine smile at Tsukishima, even as there came a splitting pain through his skull, before the darkness creeping at the edges of his vision took him under in one fell swoop, the last thing he heard being the shocked call of his name.
Tsukishima hadn't wanted to see this when he'd gone off in search of solitude. No, nit in any situation would he have expected this: Hinata, who could talk cheerfully to anyone and cheer anyone up in return, could warm up to anybody, Hinata who was loud and excitable, to be here, cornered by a bully and his accomplice, bruised and broken, dazed as he was pulled up by the hair by one of the two. It shocked him, but it also sent a wave of fury spreading through him, especially when Hinata gave him a weak smile right before. He was smashed, head-first, into the wall behind him, eyes falling shut.
He didn't realize he was moving until he was already upon them, the bastards who had the gall to hurt he teammate, his friend.
Unforgivable.
He hardly noticed when suddenly more friends were around him, Daichi holding him back, Tanaka staring in shock with Noya shaking slightly, wide-eyed, at his side. Asahi glaring, true anger in his eyes as he looked upon the people who had hurt Hinata, their friend.
Suga was fretting frantically over Hinata's still body, talking on the phone, voice sounding an edge away from panic.
Hinata wasn't supposed to be still like that. They all knew it, even he and Kageyama, whi were both staring blankly at the scene. Yachi was crying at the side, Shimizu trying her best to comfort her, but being equally upset at the violence.
Soon the ambulance arrived, and the whole team followed it to the hospital, Takeda calling Hinata's parents.
Nobody expected this.
Hinata, who was always talking and moving and shining, was undeniably still, and would be there for a while, if what they said was true. He had a concussion, but besides that it was evident that he hadn't been eating right, not to mention the bruises all over his body.
There was also the coma.
That which was keeping him down, as if chained in a quiet, unmovable state.
Which left Noya and Yachi crying together while Asahi, on the verge of tears himself, tried his best to calm them. Which left Daichi and Suga, along with Kiyoko, hovering over Hinata's bedside, with Suga occasionally bursting into tears before composing himself. Which left Tanaka standing stock-still and stone-faced as he tried to stay strong in spite of the conditions around him. Which left Tsukishima and Yamaguchi, along with Kageyama, huddled quietly in the corner, one shocked, one worried, and one guilty.
They didn't know how to fix this, so all they could do was wait and talk to Hinata's quiet form.
(during the whole things, spans maybe 4 weeks. (Or a month since 4 weeks = a month.)
Hinata was glad the pain was gone. The pain from the bruises, from the cuts and from the last... Something, before he was drug away.
But, replacing it was a different pain, a pain that squeezed his heart without restraint. With the pain came words, words that penetrated the deep dark black that had become his world in the past.
He couldn't get whole sentences at first, just scraps and pieces.
"...my... volleyball... Hinata... Suga..."
"Dai...only...but... why?"
Later, he could get whole sentences.
"It's quieter without him, isn't it?" A voice asked.
It's familiarity nagged persistently at Hinata, but he couldn't come up with a name, or even an image.
"Yeah. Noya and Tanaka are still down too."
"Daichi, do you think..."
"He'll be fine, Suga. He can fly, remember? Nobody who can fight as much as he does will succumb to something like this."
"You're right." The voice said. It sent a warm feeling through him, and he tryed his best to squeeze the hand wrapped around his, but couldn't even twitch a finger, to his frustration.
The month of Hinata's coma proved to be quiet, too quiet for Karasuno to practice to.
Instead, they opted to wait by Hinata's hospital, taking turns sitting in his room and talking to him, while the others absently practiced received and serves in the nearby park while they waited.
Sometimes, Hinata's mother and little sister would be there when they dropped by, dark circles under Hinata-san's eyes and Natsu peering curiously at her brother or sleeping on the bed with him.
It went in much like this for another month, the volleyball team increasingly worried and stressed for their shortest friend, and Hinata himself becoming more and more frustrated with himself in his silent prison.
Noya and Yachi sat silently inside Hinata's hospital room, Noya staring at his kouhai's face while Yachi slept beside him, her head resting on the edge of Hinata's bed.
"Yknow, practice isn't the same with you over here like this." He started out, voice steady and with a joking lilt to it. As he went on however, it becoming increasingly shakier and quiet. "Tsukishima has this constipated look on his face al the time, and Yama is always by his side no matter what. And Asahi hasn't spoken more than a few words outside of practice. A... And, and Tanaka isn't. He isn't himself, Yknow? And Yachi randomly bursts into t-tears during p-practice, and Kiyoko is try_... She's trying her b-best b-but it's just..."
He sniffs, taking on hand to wipe the tears now falling.
"And Suga doesn't talk mu... He doesn't talk much either. D-Daichi, he's not as loud or commanding as usual either. I... I can't really..."
Another long paused, filled only by Noya's shaky breaths.
"I'm pretty sure Kageyama blames himself." Noya says finally, voice still shaky and quiet, but with the stammers gone. "His sets are all off, and his blocks are late, and his serves are out, and sometimes he'll just stand there with a far-off look. Tsukishima too, honestly, but it's hard to tell."
"The point is... The point is, Hinata, we need you, yeah? Come back. And from now on forever, we'll protect you, cause we're your Senpai, right? It's... It's what we were supposed to do in the first place, but we failed, so now, don't think we're gonna let anyone touch you, Kay?" He says, voice solid. "I doubt Tsukishima's gonna let you out if his sight, but that's okay. Cause your our friend."
(He thought he felt a squeeze on his hand, but it was gone so fast that he figured it was wishful thinking.)
Hinata could feel the vice around his heart get tighter as Noya spoke, wanting nothing more than to sit up and hug him, as well as the rest of his team.
Even knowing it was a futile effort, Hinata tryed his best to tighten his hand on Noya's.
The feeling of movement after so long was like an explosion if elation in his chest, and he wanted to MOVE.
Thankfully, the darkness was getting lighter, and he was met with a faint dizziness, as though he'd just sat up too quickly after laying down for awhile.
The first thing he did when he opened his eyes was look around.
He was met with Yachi's eyes, and tipped his head to the side to look at her better from his laying down position.
"Mornin, Hinata..." She said sleepily, before bolting up, knocking Noya on the floor on her way up. "YOURE AWAKE!" She practically screamed, but Hinata just asked for water. He was itching to get up an move and talk and ask about what had happened and everything, but his throat was parched.
To say the least, the next few hours where filled with tears and hugs and physical contact, which Hinata loved.
(T/n: Because it's getting late, I'll end this here.)
Little surprise, Hinata was pretty much guarded for a week straight after getting over his concussion and getting a steady diet. Noya and Tanaka and Hinata were louder and happier then ever before, and Hinata was made to realize that it wasn't okay for people to hurt him like that.
Yachi became a touchy-feely person around Hinata (not that he minded or even noticed), and so did Asahi, to a certain extent.
(OKAY SO I HAVE LIKE NO TIME SO QUESTIONS GO TO THE COMMENTS)
