- Three Weeks Later -

Hinata was pretty sure he was starting to lose his mind, yet somehow remain sane at the same time. He didn't know how much time had passed since he was r.. He didn't want to think about it. After that had happened, he faded in and out for god knows how long. When he was finally coherent enough to move, he saw something on the floor. It was a bowl, of what looked like Miso soup. It wasn't meat buns, but the traumatized teen would take whatever he could get.

His stress only got worse though, when he realized why there was soup there, he was just out of his reach, no matter how hard he strained his arms out, he couldn't reach it. He wanted desperately just to feel the food on his tongue, let the flavor envelope his dry mouth. So, he threw his leg out, stretching as far as it could reach, and managing to hit it with his toe. He instantly froze, watching the liquid slosh, but was thankful when the bowl seemed to calm itself down.

After that, he awkwardly and painfully managed to pull his bowl closer, not without spilling some of it onto the dirty floor, then, he reached down and snatched the bowl, wincing at the heat against his fingers, the skin had peeled off the tips of all his fingers from clutching to the wall. He didn't care, he could deal with the pain, in the darkness of what beginning to be dubbed: his cage, he felt food for the first time in who knew how long, and it felt damn good.

Once again, time droned on, but whenever he heard a noise, he would freeze. Only three times he was visited, which drove him crazy, they never spoke to him, which Hinata honestly didn't mind at this point. He'd only been given food twice, always just some soup. Until that fateful day, though Hinata didn't know it, it was three weeks and four days into his isolation, when he finally got another chance.

The chains were gone, having vanished sometime when he was unconscious, apparently his captors believed he was too weak to move. The door has suddenly been slammed open, hitting the opposite wall, and causing the ex-highschooler to jump in terror. Were they angry? He didn't do anything! However, it took a few seconds, but Ichi stumbled into view, his crew was nowhere to be found. "Ah! Shouyou! Fun day, fun day~" He stuttered, his pupils dilated. Is he drunk? Probably.. I can smell it..

"You've been such a good boy lately, I guess out lesson... Really did well, didn't it? Maybe we'll give you another one soon.." He said, and Hinata's eyes widened, he shook his head, opening his mouth to speak, he found it suddenly stuffed with a bottle, Ichi's beer. He tried to pull his head back, but Ichi grabbed his hair and said,"This is a fucking reward, you will drink it all, and you will like it, under-fucking-stand?"

He tipped the glass up, and Hinata shuddered as the burning liquid managed to pass through his throat, he forced himself to chug it down, reminding himself that he had swallowed worse. He gulped down what he was given, despite the burning in the back of his throat and the slight buzz he was getting from the drink. He took a huge gulp of air when the bottle was roughly removed from his mouth, only to find himself forced into a slobbery, but quick kiss, then there was a pat on his head. "Good boy," Ichi said, in a demeaning manner.

"Mm, I wish I had time to play.. Very very busy, gon' leave soon. G'night" He stumbled away, making Hinata decide that drunk Ichi was much less scary than coherent Ichi. Hinata listened to the door slam, but he didn't hear the usual click of the lock, it made him tense up. No no.. That's too easy, he couldn't have forgotten to lock the door.. Hinata thought, but he needed to hope. This could be his chance. Slowly, he forced his malnourished body to stand up, leaning against the wall to combat the combination of the alcohol and starvation. He stumbled to the door, placing his hands against her, but not leaning too much of his weight on it.

He needed to be careful, he needed to escape. This might be his only chance. He pushed himself off the door, moving to the side of it. The door went into his cage when opened, he didn't want to risk hitting himself and causing himself to be heard. He took one pale, shaky hand, and closed it over the knob, it was usually too dark in the room to see the colors of anything, so he couldn't tell much about it, other than that it was metal.

And that it was unlocked

Hinata had turned the knob all the way without hearing the telltale clink, or getting to the point where the knob would stop all together. His vision faded in and out, his heart beating a million times a second. No way, this has to be a trick.. His mind exclaimed, instantly swarmed with doubt and suspicion. Surely his captors weren't dumb enough to leave the door unlocked.. This had to be some kind of sick joke.. Right?

He slowly let the door knob go back in place. I should wait.. He decided Wait a little while.. If nothing happens.. Then I'll go for it.. That's exactly what he did.

It was extremely hard for the teen, waiting, and sadly, he was expecting Ichi or one of the others to slam the door open, call him a pussy for not attempting to escape, or praising him for being a good boy. When that didn't happen, he didn't know what to think. He had been counting seconds in his head, and was well into the high numbers, yet nothing had happened. The waiting was getting to him, he knew if he waited too long this would all be for nothing.

He got up from his curled position in the corner, and slowly turned the knob all the way, before opening the door. Luckily it made no noise, but he was scared still. He'd never been outside of this room since his arrival, what was waiting for him out there? There's stairs, he remembers that much from his last escape attempt. Slowly, he ascends up the wooden stairs, keeping both hands firmly on the rail.

The door remained open, in case he had the slight chance of getting back in the basement before anyone noticed he had attempted to escape. His bare, scabbed feet felt pain on the splintered, wooden stairs, the fear of it creaking under his weight got worse with every step he took, until he got to the top, where he found another door. He slowly moved his hand, turning the knob first. His heart was pounding, what if they were right there? If he was caught, they would probably kill him.. Or worse. Part of him welcomed the thought of death, thinking it would be better if he were just to die. But a smaller part of him knew that it would destroy his friends and family when they found out. If they found out.

The door was as silent as the others, Hinata's chocolate eyes examined everything. The house was as dark as the basement was, he could barley see anything. But, he saw what he needed to see, and that was a door in between two covered windows. He moved forward, only to jump back in sudden shock at the soft feeling of carpet between his toes. It felt strange, but he knew he would have to get used to it fast. He moved forward again, ignoring the tickling sensation. He saw the outline of someone on what seemed like a couch. It looked like one of the other guys, whom he didn't care about at the moment.

He didn't seem to be awake though, so Hinata continued his move forward, tiptoeing and reaching the next door. He felt his hands shaking again, the anticipation was too much, freedom was right outside the door. He kept freezing up, looking back towards the sleeping figure then back at the door, panting even more. He was sending himself into panic, he was panicking about everything. His mind was going into overdrive, he couldn't think straight.

993.. 986.. 979...

He stumbled back suddenly, before launching himself forward, hand desperately opening the door and pushing it forward. He stumbled on the first step, before turning and looking up at the sky. He hadn't seen it since he had first woken up. His panic was quenched, and he just kept staring, the sight of the billions of stars, his dilated eyes taking in the sight of the open world once more. He could have just stood there forever..

"What the fuck!?" A sudden voice yelled, making the teen turn around. The person on the couch had awakened, and was staring at him with wide, angry eyes. Hinata's heart started to race again, as he stumbled backwards, only to tumble down the cement stairs. He cried out in pain, before forcing himself up. RUN! His mind yelled at him, and he did just that.

His weak legs stumbled the second he tried to take off like he usually did with his races with.. Kage..yama? But it didn't matter, as long as he could run he could try and get away. He turned his head, seeing three bodies heading after him. No, that wasn't right, where was the fourth? Were they planning something?! I have to get away! His panicked mind thought, before turning and running towards the lights. His eyes started to throb, his heart straining from the sudden force he was putting on his malnourished body.

The closer he got, the dizzier he was. "HELP ME!" He yelled out, his voice horse from disuse, cracking slightly, his legs burning. It seemed screaming was useless, there was no one around, but he did see shops up ahead. He was panting, sweat falling down his pale cheeks, baggy eyes filled with terror, before he took off running again.

He yelled again. "Please! HELP!" But yet again he received no answer from anyone. He felt his lungs banging painfully against his ribs, as if begging him to stop, give up, before he died from exhaustion. But he couldn't, not when freedom was only a few feet away.

He threw himself towards the nearest door to a shop, some type of clothing store, and started to frantically shake the door handle, trying to get someone, anyone's attention. "Please! Open the door! Someone!" He yelled even louder. The footsteps behind him got louder, and Hinata turned around, dirty hair flying with his movements, before he took off again, running back out onto the sidewalk. Why wasn't anyone outside?! Why couldn't there just be one passing car? Even jumping in front of a car and dying would be a better fate than what awaited him if he was caught!

A loud noise suddenly pierced his ears, he heard someone scream, and his face made contact with the cement. Only then did he realize that he was the one who was screaming. There was an intense throbbing in his right leg. They shot him! They SHOT HIM! His hands moved to his leg, clutching at it tightly, despite his body's continuous shaking. He felt the blood slipping from the wound and onto his calloused hands, and a small part of his mind registered the fact that blood didn't bother him as much as it used to.

The blood was pounding in his ears, he barley found enough strength to look up and see Ichi's face from inside his hood, brown eyebrows knitted in a scowl, and green eye piercing into Hinata's soul. He had a dangerous smile, and lifted his leg, before slamming it down on Hinata's leg, causing the teenager to scream from the sudden, unforgiving pain.

"You little fucker, thought you could get away, didn't ya? Yer a fuckin' fool," He hissed, before grabbing Hinata's arm, who weakly tugged the malnourished limb in an attempt to escape the bruising grasp. "You didn't give yourself fucking time either, bitch, we were gonna move soon anyways, now we jus' have to leave earlier than planned, thanks to you," He said, roughly yanked Hinata forward, dragging his bare chest against the cement. Hinata's heart sunk, his plan had failed once more.

Hinata whimpered as he was dragged forward yet again, as he saw there was finally a car on the road, a car he recognized too well, the one that took him in the first place. It seemed Ichi was able to see his terror, a smirk coming on his face again, as he yanked Hinata forcefully to his feet. Hinata whimpered before lifting up his injured leg, looking up as his captor in fear. "Aww! Do you remember the van? Boo fuckin' who!" He hissed in the teen's ear.

Then, he threw Hinata forward, toward the open back of the van, and Hinata could do nothing but release a huge gasp as his stomach slammed against the bumper. Ichi seemed to not care too much, as he grabbed Hinata's injured leg, ignoring the scream and throwing him his leg over his head, causing him to flip back over painfully. Then, he snapped his fingers. "Nii, tie him up, San, start to car, let's get moving," He called, and they moved to do what their leader said.

Hinata felt the tears beginning to come, for two reasons. The first was the obvious, he hadn't escaped, and now he was heading god knows where. The second reason was, they hadn't killed him. They were planning something worse for him, most likely. He couldn't try anything either, not only had he been shot, and was struggling to remain conscious, that Nii guy was still sitting across from him, even after they started to drive. They weren't taking any chances anymore, were they?

Here he was, tied with his arms behind his back, ankles tied one more, it was horribly nostalgic, and he hated it. But he lost his chance again, and he probably wasn't going to get another. Hinata shuddered once more, before lowering his head and letting a few tears slip from his eyes. He had a feeling they wouldn't kill him, they would have already if they wanted to, or had planned to, so the damaged teen lifted his tear stained face, and stared out of the tinted windows.

The sky was beautiful, the stars let him forget, even just for a second, what type of situation he was in. He wanted to take it all in as fast as he could, because he didn't know if he would ever be given the chance to see it again.

– – – – –

The next morning brought more surprises than the day before, not only for members of Karasuno, but for several other students in various schools. Three weeks ago, Hinata's disappearance had been released to the public, and so far there had been no leads.

The day after the news report, Daichi was more than surprised to receive frequent, panicked phone calls from several captains of various teams that they had previously played, all of them demanding to know what happened to Karasuno's little ball of sunshine. His questions on how any of them got his number were completely ignored, and so he had to explain.

Once again, to his surprise, all the captains and most of their teams were willing to help search, as long as Daichi promised to keep them updated on anything else they could find. The third year captain accepted, they needed all the help they could get. Things were bad at Karasuno, everyone on the team were getting more worried every day, and it showed.

Nishinoya and Tanaka weren't as loud anymore. Well, they still yelled a lot, but they would often have spells of silence, staring at nothing before going back to yelling again. Asahi was a little more talkative, trying to cover up the fact he was extremely worried, and sometimes missed the balls sent his way.

Tsukishima's harsh, brutal comments had started to dwindle. Daichi was glad to see that the blond actually did care for some of his teammates, but he didn't dare voice his thoughts out loud. Yamaguchi had become even more reserved it seemed, stuttering often. His pillar was Tsukishima, they managed to comfort each other.

Ennoshita, Narita, and Kinoshita had trouble keeping up with everyone else, and often could be found sitting alone before or after practice together. Which was not unusual, but the fact they weren't trying as hard worried Daichi.

Ukai and Takeda stayed the same, mostly, except for the fact they often showed up looking disheveled or with bags under their eyes. If Daichi took a guess, he would guess they were staying up late trying to search for clues, though he could be wrong.

Kiyoko's open, talking side that seemed to gain when Yachi joined her as a manager had almost vanished completely, as well as Yachi's shyness, it was still there, but she often seemed colder than before.

Sugawara smile seemed a lot more forced sometimes, and he would often be off in thought before one was shown. Daichi didn't like it, he hated to see his vice captain frown so much. He missed the genuine smile, he missed Hinata's fire that seemed to light up the gym, they all missed it.

But, Daichi didn't think there was anymore more effected by the issue than Kageyama. Despite what the team said, over and over again, they knew Kageyama blamed himself for Hinata's disappearance. He always looked more out of it, and in practice he always seemed to be messing up his sets, or serves. He got frustrated much easier, and often snapped at people for the smallest of things. It got to the point where, in his rage, he chucked a volleyball against the wall, and then stormed out of the gym, his dark eyes filled with rage.

Daichi had followed after him, expecting to see the first year long gone, but he was not. Kageyama was sitting on the stairs, his strong legs pulled up against his chest and sweaty arms wrapped around them and his chin on his shaking knees, black bangs barley covering his eyes, but Daichi saw the redness in them, Kageyama was trying not to cry.

"Kageyama-kun?" He asked, but received no response, so he sat down next to the younger teen, placing a hand on his shoulder, feeling the muscles tense up even more than they already were. "Are you alright?" He questioned. Kageyama still didn't speak, but just shook his head, eyes downcast.

They sat in silence for a moment, when Kageyama suddenly asked,"Why?" Daichi sent him a confused look, and he continued,"Why did something happen to Hinata? What did he do to deserve it? He should be here, with us, playing volleyball and annoying the shit out of me, not.. Not.. Missing!"

Daichi didn't know what to do, so he just firmly replied,"We'll find him, Kageyama-kun" Kageyama stared at him for a moment, before suddenly standing up, and whispering,"You don't know that" Then, he walked right back into the gym.

The third year sighed and rubbed his head, fingers sliding through his short hair. Despite his harsh words, Kageyama was right, he didn't know that. The police didn't either. They had no leads, no fingerprints, no video, no nothing. And the longer they took to find something, the more chance there was that Hinata was dead. He stared at the beautiful sunset for a few seconds more, before walking back in the gym as well.

Kageyama's words seemed to have done something, somehow. It seemed fate decided to show some mercy to them. It was early, 10am on Saturday, Daichi was awakened by the constant ringing of his phone. He groaned, reaching blindly across the dresser until he found it. He slid it open, and placed it to his ear. "Yeah?" He asked.

"Daichi!" Nishinoya's loud voice yelled, causing him to pull the phone away from his abused ear. "Turn on the news! Now now now!"

Daichi jerked up, hearing the frantic tone he turned on his television with the remote, and changing it to the news as fast as he could. Obviously, if it was enough to make Nishinoya have to call him, it was something important.

On the T.V., the prim and proper news lady was looking at her papers, saying,"This just in, police have found new evidence about the disappearance of Hinata Shoyo, whom went missing three weeks ago" Daichi's heart skipped several beats, before jumping up into his throat, and he turned his volume up, not caring about his neighboring apartments at the moment.

"Store clerks opened up their doors in Shichikashuku today, ready for business when they checked their security cameras, several shops found themselves with footage of the missing teen," The prim and proper newswoman said, before the camera switched to show the footage. It was the outside of a clothing store, showing the door and the sidewalk, as well as part of the road.

For a moment, nothing happened, but then the orange hair came into view, and Daichi's heart started beating even faster. Hinata had run to the door, Daichi could see everything. Like the fact he was only in shorts, that his back was covered in wounds, as well as his chest. He was skinnier, Daichi could see his ribs. His hair looked more brown than it did orange, which worried Daichi, since Hinata was like a girl when it came to his hair. He also saw the frantic look in his eyes, as the skinny hand tugged frantically on the metal knob, yelling at the door. There was no sound, but Daichi could read a word or two. He was calling for 'help'.

This lasted only a few seconds, as something off screen caught Hinata's attention, and he swiftly turned his head to the right of the sidewalk before taking off to the left, and out of sight of the camera, three hooded figures followed quickly. Then, the camera panned back to the woman. "Police are still investigating, but we have been told there was gunfire that night as well, around the same time. Once again, if you have any information please call your local police department or the number on screen," The woman said, with genuine worry, this would have surprised Daichi if he wasn't trying to wrap his head around what he had seen.

"DAICHI!" Nishinoya's panicked voice snapped him from his darkening thoughts. "What are we going to do?!" The second year yelled.

"There's not much we can do.." Daichi whispered,"If they found anything else, Hinata-san would have told us, I'm sure she call us soon.."

"But what about Hinata-kun?!" He snapped, drawling out the kun to make sure Daichi knew who he was talking about. "Does he have enough time for that?!"

"I don't know!" Daichi yelled into his phone, hearing something rustle behind him. He calmed himself, he didn't want to wake up Sugawara, he needed his sleep. "I don't know.. Okay? We just have to wait, I'll go see Hinata-san later today, will that make you feel better?" He asked. He heard an affirmative noise on the other side, a resigned one, but it was a yes either way.

Then, he hung up, and lied back down. Turning his head, he jumped a little, seeing Suga staring at him wearily. "What happened..? Have they found anything?" He was abruptly stopped from talking as Daichi pulled him into a hug, burying his face against Suga's shoulder, his own shoulders starting to shake with sobs. Suga blinked before rubbing Daichi's back the best he could. "It's okay.. It's okay Daichi-kun.. We'll find him..." He whispered.

"You don't know that.." Daichi whispered right back. Suga blinked in surprise, before he replied,"You're right, I don't. But I have a feeling. You can't give up hope Daichi, because if you give up, so will everyone else. Hinata-kun wouldn't want you to give up, would he?"

Daichi chuckled, he could see it, the image of Hinata yelled at them all, tackling Hinata, the image of Hinata saying that he didn't care if their team was shorter, or if the other team was supposedly stronger, they would win, Suga was right. They would find Hinata, no longer how long it took. "Thank you, Koshi.. Thank you so much.." He whispered.

Hinata, I'll find you, we'll find you. Just hang on, I won't give up, so you'd better not either. Please, don't give up, stay strong..

– – – – – –

Everything hurt..

That was the first thing that registered in Hinata's mind as he woke up. The second thing was that he wasn't in a bumpy car. The third thing was that he couldn't move his hands. Wearily blinking, he looked around, as his vision came into focus. He was on another grimy floor, but this was different.

He turned around, seeing his hands were handcuffed around a pole, and his legs were tied together tightly, forcing him to remain in a kneeling position. The noise around him finally registered, and he turned around, blinking in surprise was he saw groups of people. There was no emotion in their faces. Some looked younger, some looked older.

Where am I? He wanted to ask, but fear made him stop and look down, shuddering from the cold air. In his muddled state, he was able to register two pairs of footsteps, and he quickly lifted his head. In front of him, stood two blonde haired men, both of which were smirking. Their blue eyes seemed to stare into his soul. "Hinata Shoyo.." The one with glasses said,"It's good to finally meet the one I've heard so much about.."

Both of them spread their hands out dramatically, as if gesturing to where he was and all the people around him. A sadistic smirk came across their faces, making the teen shudder in terror. Then, they both spoke at the same time.

"Welcome.. To the Yakuza"