A/N: Please note that this story contains character deaths. Also, this story has nothing to do with the actual Romeo and Juliet. You see the warning, you see the genre. If you still decide to read beyond this, then all risk is on you.
Happy reading.
There was always a time when people suddenly realized that an 'idol' was merely 'another human being'.
Sometimes people just couldn't help but thinking that an idol, be it a movie star, a singer, an athlete, or even just a regular upperclasman, was god-like; all about perfection and no flaw. An idol could do nothing wrong, the world just loved them, and they would live forever. Because that was what an idol for them; a figure to look up to for just anything and everything.
So when Hinata heard the tragedy of Kageyama Tobio, his incredible partner for a setter, who had to be hospitalized after getting into a traffic accident, he was forced to realize the nature of life that could be so mercilessly cruel.
When it came to Kageyama, actually Hinata had admitted quite long ago that he was an amazing volleyball player. If they were talking about skill, there really should be no one who had hi-spec techniques all in one package that could rival him. Of course, there were super aces from all over the country. But if somebody was bothered to put points on each skills, then they count it up for each player, Hinata was sure that Kageyama would come out first place.
Hinata might say Kageyama was his biggest rival, but the truth was he also looked up to the setter as an idol. He still hero-worshipped the 'small giant', but the image become less and less vivid in his mind. It was always Kageyama who shined so bright with every move in his vision, that gradually he felt the former Karasuno's ace was nothing more than a legend.
Small giant was in the past. Kageyama was his now and future.
It was at the beginning of their second year. After the third years graduated, the new captain position fell to Ennoshita-san. There had been a lot of dramatic tears from Tanaka-san, and even more dramatic scream of joy from Nishinoya-san. The vice captain, surprisingly enough, was given to Tsukishima as he was the only member with the oh-so-ever-present cool head and logic. He was adamantly refusing at first, but somehow Yamaguchi was able to convince him that he finally agree to take the position.
That day, they were supposed to meet their new members. Hinata came early, as always, and he felt something didn't quite right by the time he entered the school gymnasium for morning practice. It was when he took the balls from the storage room that he realized what was off.
Kageyama wasn't there.
It was strange. They were always competing on each day; who would come to the gym first, who would finish cleaning first, who would fail their grade first. Hinata would have never thought that Kageyama's presence had become an essential part to his life, until the moment he felt so unsettled when he found out Kageyama wasn't by his side.
The other members came, and Hinata was momentarily distracted when Ennoshita-san introduced the new first years. There were three people; a tall and slender, very feminine looking boy with long brown hair tied in high ponytail, Kitagaki Hagane, a boy with stylish undercut black hair, Iyase Minoru, and a bulky boy with sharp eyes, Shirosuna Junji. Kitagaki was setter, Iyase was wing spiker, and Shirosuna was middle-blocker. The three of them came from different junior school, but they had the same determination; to go to national and beat their arch-enemy, Nekoma High School.
When they were beginning to practice, Ennoshita-san was asking if everyone was present. Hinata remembered again that Kageyama was nowhere to be seen. The senior tried to call him, but the line didn't get through. They were about to ask his classmates, if Kageyama had called in sick, when Takeda-sensei suddenly burst into the gym, looking as pale as a blank sheet.
"Kageyama..." he said in a cracked voice. "Kageyama got into an accident."
Hinata stood frozen on his spot. Traffic accident. Kageyama Tobio got into a traffic accident. A part of his brain repeated it over, over, and over, as if he couldn't believe that Kageyama could get into something so common like a traffic accident. He was supposed to be a 'king', a genius, a boy with so much talent he was different than anybody else...
Then it hammered home.
Kageyama Tobio was no god. He was just an ordinary human being.
He snapped his attention back to Takeda-sensei who was explaining the situation. He was informed by the people who took Kageyama into a hospital that it happened so fast. It was early in the morning, so nobody expected that such fast moving car was running down the street.
They saw Kageyama was jogging by the sidewalk, then his ball bounced off to the road. One moment he was bending down to take the ball, and the next thing they knew, his was hit by a car. His body was slammed to the ground several yards away, his head hitting the pavement. The only good thing was that the driver stopped, quickly approaching the boy that was now bathing in a pool of his own blood, then called an ambulance. They took him to the nearest hospital, before they called to inform his parents and school.
As he heard the story, Hinata felt his body growing cold. Major concussion... need blood... broken bones... he only heard bits and pieces of information as Takeda-sensei explained further. He didn't want to believe it. He looked at the gymnasium door, hoping that Kageyama would appear, saying with obnoxious smirk of his that everything was a prank.
As expected, nobody came. Kageyama really was out of his game.
Hinata suddenly felt like he couldn't breath. There was a constricting sensation in his chest, like an invisible hand was squeezing his lungs. He didn't know why it was so painful to think that Kageyama wouldn't be able to play volleyball for quite some time. He would be sad. He always said that he wanted to stand longer on the court, both of them wanted to stand longer on the court.
Kageyama still had a lot of dream, they still had a lot of things to do. It was not the time to be hospitalized or anything. Hinata wanted to blame someone, only he didn't know who. Kageyama certainly didn't want this. He would be mad, knowing that Interhigh was close but he couldn't do practice. If he came back, that was it.
But... when would he come back? Would he... be able to come back? At all?
At that time, Hinata couldn't think anymore. All he could feel was pain in his chest, beads of scorching tears that was trickling down his face, and all he could hear was his own broken, choked sobs of mourn and anguish.
10 Days Later...
"Good evening, Hinata-kun. Thanks for coming."
Hinata smiled softly to the black haired lady that was Kageyama's mother. He was moved to the regular room after being in the ICU for five days. Since no visitor could enter the ICU, Hinata only came from the sixth day onwards. Every day after training, he would go to the hospital and visited Kageyama until the visiting time ended.
He just sat beside his friend's bed, with Mrs. Kageyama sitting at the other side. They would talk about how Kageyama was doing in class and club activities. Occasionally, Hinata slipped out a comment or two about how mean sometimes the setter was, but there was no reaction coming from Kageyama himself. Not a snort, or even just a roll of his eyes. Nothing.
Kageyama just lied there. The major concussion on his head had resulted in him being in a comma state. Breathing device and any other stuff attached to his body, connected to computers on the bedside table. The first time Hinata came, he brought a lot of fruit and yoghurt Kageyama liked the most, but his mother said Hinata didn't need to bother. Her son wouldn't be able to eat it.
When Hinata threw the parcel into a garbage outside of the hospital, he let out another silent cry.
17 Days Later...
"Today's practice was very funny. I told you before that our first year was girly looking, right? But his voice is really manly. So there was a member of football club who tried to hit on him. His face when Kitagaki spoke to him was priceless. If you had seen him, you would laugh too."
Hinata talked while his hands were rearranging the new flower on a vase by the window. Today he brought a tulip. Every three or four days, he would bring flowers to put some color to the white room. He also made it a habit to talk to Kageyama, even if all he got as a reply was soft beeping sound from the computer.
When Hinata came, Mrs. Kageyama usually used it to take a short nap on the couch. He would retell story from the day's school and practice. Most of it always involved Tanaka-san, Nishinoya-san, and the unsuspecting first years. There was always a dull ache he felt whenever he finished a particular funny story, but he could only hear his own laugh.
For the first time, Hinata wanted Kageyama to call him a dumbass.
26 Days Later...
"We have a practice match today with Aobajousai. It was the first time Kitagaki would be playing in Karasuno's official match. Since he was so tall, his short set was fast. Of course, you're still the best. At practice, we tried to do minus tempo, but we repeated the ball-to-face again. Tsukishima said that I was useless without you. He's so mean!"
What Tsukishima actually said was the minus tempo only possible because of Kageyama's top notch skill, a thing that Kitagaki didn't have. But to Hinata, the meaning was still the same. All he had as a weapon on court was his natural athleticism, but it was only useful when there was a skillful commander using it.
He didn't tell Kageyama that he was switched with Shirosuna at the end of the first set since he had so many misses on receives and serves. Without Kageyama, Hinata was just a slightly below average player. When it came to basic plays like serve, receive, and blocking, most player in their team would do a better job.
He promised not to cry today, so he just bit his lips in silence.
34 Days Letter...
"Interhigh will begin next week," Hinata informed the sleeping Kageyama. He threw the wilting rose in the garbage, and he changed it with big sunflowers. "Our first opponent is Kakugawa, the one with the 2 meters giant at Harukou last year, remember? Our plan is to make a really fast quick using combo of Kitagaki and Tsukishima, since they're the tallest member in our team now. Iyase is surprisingly good at receive so we'll be able to hold Kakugawa #9's spikes. Then Coach said..."
Hinata didn't say it right out, but his story was enough of explanation that he wasn't a regular anymore for the upcoming match. It wasn't like he did a poor job, the other was just simply better than him. He couldn't use his weapon when he was alone on the court. He would just get in the way if he was the one playing.
Mrs. Kageyama came from cafeteria downstairs, so Hinata got up and took his leave. She smiled as he told him to have better rest since he had a big tournament coming up. Hinata just beamed and said 'thanks for the concern, but I would do his best in games and taking care of Kageyama'. Mrs. Kageyama laughed at the boy's honest and earnest tone.
The redhead left the room with bright sunflower smile on his face. Once the door was closed, his expression changed into one that was very similar to the wilt rose he threw in the garbage.
45 Days Later...
Hinata walked to his class in a slow pace. Today there wasn't any morning practice, and he didn't feel like there was anything much he could do without Kageyama to assist him. He met his teammates along the way, exchanging greet and smiles, but he wasn't really paying attention to it. His mind was full of things that he could make a hurricane out of thoughts that was swirling in his head.
Karasuno lost in the semifinal, so they ended up at the best four. They lost to Datekou, whose iron wall was getting sturdier than ever. Without the power of Asahi-san and fast trick of minus tempo, they weren't able to win the game. Aone-san was looking at him that was sitting on a bench before he looked away and shook his head.
He thought that Aone-san was probably disappointed since Hinata couldn't play, but there was nothing he could do about it. They came to win, they would do anything to ensure it. By now, it was a common knowledge that the genius setter from Karasuno was hospitalized and in a comma state. He heard few words of sympathy coming from other teams, but none of it mattered. It was always the stronger who won.
Hinata sat on his desk, thinking about what would happen to his volleyball from now on. He wanted to play, he wanted to spike tons of balls, he wanted to see the view of the other side of the net. He still wanted to stand on the court. He didn't want to just sit and watch, he came to Karasuno exactly for that purpose. But the reason he was able to play had been wrenched out of his hand. It was Kageyama who made him could play. And now that Kageyama was caught in his deep slumber, he couldn't be used anymore.
He had promised Kageyama that he would always stand beside him, until they reached the top of the world. A bitter sigh escaped his lips as Hinata thought about how far that dream was to him now.
He rested his head on the table and closed his eyes. He was so tired. He suddenly realized about how much he missed Kageyama, and droplets of water were coming out of his eyes. Those furious insults sounded like sweet whispers now, compared to the biting silence he met whenever he visited the black haired boy. Hinata felt like a good portion of his soul was leaving him the moment he saw Kageyama's still body, and he had no idea if he could get it back.
He must have fallen asleep because he felt somebody was shaking him up quite harshly, all the while shouting right to his ear.
"HINATA, YOU DUMBASS!"
Hinata jolted awake at the familiar sound and insult. He looked around to see that he was alone in his classroom, everyone had left. Had he really been sleeping that long? But his musing was interrupted by a fist that connected solidly to his head.
"Are you going to sit there all day? It's time to practice, dumbass."
Slowly, Hinata turned his head at the source of the voice. There he was. Standing in a uniform with a sling bag in his shoulder, and a volleyball in his left hand, Kageyama Tobio was wearing a scowl that Ushijima Wakatoshi couldn't even match. Hinata tried to blink rapidly few times, as if he was expecting Kageyama to be dissipating into smoke. But he was still there, standing beside Hinata's desk, and looked angry enough to bash Hinata's skull into the nearest wall.
Hinata didn't care. He was all but launched himself to Kageyama, tackling him to the floor. He was just too happy to see Kageyama back in the flesh and healthy. He was currently screaming profanities to him because 'goddamnit Hinata that hurts!', but Hinata couldn't careless.
A screaming and kicking Kageyama was absolutely a thousand times better than a silent and still Kageyama.
"Get off, you moron!" Kageyama shoved Hinata from above him, making the redhead slid to the floor with pretty loud 'thud'. "What the hell was that for?"
"I'm just so happy that you're back here," Hinata beamed. "Now we can kick asses together again."
"Don't talk about kicking ass because it's your ass that needs kicking," Kageyama said as he stood up and dusted his uniform. "What's with this lost against Datekou, huh? We had beaten them once, there's no reason why we couldn't do it again."
"It's not my fault they didn't put me to play," Hinata pouted. He paused for a bit before continuing. "And it's not their fault either. There are better players than me on the team. There's no reason to keep me when you're not on the court."
Kageyama gave him a long and hard stare before he sighed. As much as he didn't like Hinata when he was being clumsy, he was still his partner that had been through a lot together at this path. He started to turn around as he spoke to Hinata.
"Alright, come on then. We'll start to practice now."
"Ah, Kageyama! Wait!"
Kageyama was walking ahead of him, so Hinata run to catch up after him. He was outside of his classroom when he saw Kageyama was walking to the right. Hinata frowned.
"Kageyama?"
"Hmm?"
"What are you going to do?"
"Playing volleyball, duh."
"Aren't you going the wrong way? Gymnasium is to the left."
Kageyama stopped walking, and after a while he turned around. Hinata thought that there was something different about Kageyama, but he couldn't exactly say what it was. The setter put his hands into his pocket as he shrugged.
"So what? We can play volleyball anywhere."
Again, something didn't feel quite right with this picture. Then Hinata remembered. He was too happy to think that he could play volleyball together with Kageyama, so he didn't realized it immediately. But now he needed to ask.
"Since when did you wake up?"
Kageyama looked confused at first, then he seemed to understand what Hinata meant. He answered rather nonchalantly.
"I woke up this morning. Since I felt good, I decided to go to school because I can't stand another day without volleyball."
Hinata knew there was supposed to be something wrong with this, but somehow he couldn't bring himself to care. Kageyama was here, he could play volleyball again, what more did he want? He took a step forward to approach Kageyama when he felt a slight tug on his stomach and he stopped.
Kageyama tilted his head to the side a little.
"What's wrong, Hinata? Don't you want to play volleyball?"
Yes. Wasn't it what he wanted all this time? To be able to play volleyball with Kageyama as much as he could. He wouldn't be strong on his own, so he needed a stronger person to stand beside him, to assist him. He needed Kageyama.
"Will I be able to play with you all the time?"
"Yeah."
"Forever?"
Kageyama looked at him with a different shine in his eyes. The corner of his mouth tilted upwards, forming a different gesture than his usual taunting smirk or condescending sneer. It was a true, genuine smile.
"Forever," he repeated. Kageyama turned to face him fully, before reaching his hand out. "Come with me, Hinata. Let's play volleyball together, forever."
Hearing those words, Hinata thought there was nothing other than Kageyama and volleyball in his mind right now. When Kageyama was unconscious, he felt like his world was torn apart, and his dream was wrecked down to the last bit. Now Kageyama was there and he had promise to play volleyball together with Hinata. Forever.
There really was nothing else that he wanted. So he reached out, to take Kageyama's offering palm in his hand.
*THUD!*
"Hinata?"
Tsukasa-sensei startled as he saw Hinata suddenly fell from his desk. That boy must have been falling asleep again. She was preparing a lecture when he woke up, but Hinata was laying still on the class floor. Whispers started to burst in the air as she quickly approaching the second year.
"Hinata? Wake up, young boy! It's not the time to sleep."
She tried to shake him a bit hardly, but no reaction came out from the short boy. She felt a dread started to churn at the pit of her stomach. She was a strong woman, so she decided to steel herself and turned Hinata's body to face upward.
There was a muffled scream right behind Tsukasa-sensei.
Hinata's face was so pale it was almost white. His eyes was opened, but it seemed to look at nothing in particular. In fact, it was empty. The hand that fell on her lap was also as cold as ice. Tsukasa-sensei felt her hands were shaking, but she raised it up to check on his pulse.
None.
At the same time, there was a loud screaming from Mrs. Kageyama in the hospital when the computer that was attached to Kageyama's body was showing a straight line. After a month and half since his comma, Kageyama Tobio was finally released from the hospital. Together with his partner, Hinata Shouyou.
1 Year Later...
"Here's the new member!" Yachi chirped while handing six pieces of paper to the bespectacled blond. "There are quite a lot this year, aren't they?"
"Yes. More members, more trouble for me," Tsukishima replied dryly.
Yamaguchi chuckled. "Aw, don't be like that, Captain."
"Don't call me that."
"Sorry, Tsukki."
"It was really a surprise when Tsukishima-kun agreed to be appointed as a captain," Yachi commented with a warm smile. Tsukishima fixed her a flat look.
"There was no other choice, wasn't there?"
Tension suddenly snapped up in the air between them. Even after a year, nobody in the school could really forget the tragedy that had befallen upon two of the students, especially volleyball club members. With Ennoshita-san and friends graduating, the seniors left on the team were only Tsukishima and Yamaguchi, so the pair was trusted with the position of captain and vice captain.
"I hope the new recruits are any good," Tsukishima said to change the topic. He wasn't exactly an emotional person, but even he felt uncomfortable when it came to this particular subject. "Not that I'm obsessed with winning or anything."
"Well, optimistic and realistic are always good," Yamaguchi smiled. Then he waved to the manager of Karasuno's volleyball team. "See you later."
They went to their respective classes, and after school ended, they went straight to the second gymnasium. The three second years and six first years already gathered there, so Tsukishima approached them quickly. With his long stride, he stood right in front of them in a less than two minutes to give his captain speech.
"...so you better train hard if you want to go to national, like what I did in my first year," Tsukishima said. He looked around to see if there was any slacking face already, but he found none, so he continued to explain the nature of their team.
"I had been a part of this team when they had lots of weirdos." A low snicker came from his left side. "But weirdos they might be, we made a pretty formidable team. Before, we used to be called as 'fallen champion, flightless crow'. Now we're different. Because of the tragedy that involved our two best weirdos last year, other teams refer to us as...
.
.
.
... Romeo and Juliet."
FIN