Another short chapter, it seems like it's becoming a thing. I'll try to make the next one shorter, this one just kind of reached its natural conclusion, I think.

Also, because I have loads of exams coming up, I will be on break next week, so there you'll have to wait a little longer for the next one. I hope you understand :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Haikyuu!

~The Defeated and the Weak~

It is like the horrible feeling of missing a step on the staircase. Your body and your mind thinks that you are done descending and you are ready to walk forwards. You take a step and then you go even further down. Sometimes you even fall, because you are so shocked, so disorientated and it takes a while before you are able to process what happened, but eventually you get up and continue walking. The problem here is that there is nowhere to go. They fell down, the path before them disappeared and Hinata felt like he was going to cry. For the first time in his life, he had won an official match, two in fact, but fate was cruel and it seemed that he was only allowed to go this far. The thing that hurt Hinata the most wasn't the loss in itself. It was the fact that they had been so close. They had been close to enough to see victory ahead of them and just as they had been about to grasp it, it was forcefully taken away from them, stolen by the Great King. This was the last match they would play in the Inter-High.

The realization hit Hinata like a wave. It towered over him, making feel small and powerless, and swallowed him up. Sounds became muffled and distant, his vision was blurred and he let his mind get drifted away without putting up much of a fight. He felt a light tuck on his shirt, but he didn't move. He felt it again, but he couldn't react. Something warm wrapped itself around his wrist and like the waves of the ocean, Hinata was swept away along with the rest of the team.

Someone was speaking, maybe the Coach, maybe Takeda-Sensei or maybe even the Captain, but it was like they were talking through a pillow. The words were soft and silent, never reaching his ears no matter how hard to concentrated on listening.

The team was dismissed and everyone went in their own direction, wanting to be alone. Hinata was the same.

He found Kageyama outside, drowning himself in a water fountain. Was he crying? Hinata couldn't tell. He didn't even know if he was crying himself. He might have been, because it felt like he was underwater. He didn't even mind the feeling. All emotions felt so distant at the moment, like the water around him was preventing anything to get to him. He wanted to join Kageyama under the fountain, he wanted to submerge himself in the water, to become one with this isolating feeling, but Kageyama's words pulled him out of the water. He could feel his head breaking the surface of the water and his body following soon after, as anger spread through his entire being and his breathing got faster and heavier.

"...Don't apologize! Don't make it sound like it sound like you shouldn't have tossed to me!" Hinata was furious to the point of tears. He grabbed Kageyama and pushed him to the ground, despite Kageyama being so much bigger than him and landed on top of him, gripping his shirt tight with his small fists. Kageyama looked taken aback by the action and grabbed Hinata's wrists as if to shove him off of him, but his grip was weak and there was no real power in Kageyama's attempt.

Hinata wanted to say more. He wanted to express every thought on his mind and convey all the feelings that were suddenly controlling his body, because Hinata knew that he was the one who had failed the team. It had been his spike that had determined the outcome of the match. Hinata knew that much and Kageyama apologizing was breaking his heart, because Kageyama was a stupid, hard-to-get-along-with idiot and sometimes he was really scary, but he was also so much more. He was strong, talented, passionate, he had all the things Hinata could only dream of and that apology had sounded like he was the one at fault. Like it wasn't Hinata's fault for not making the most of the ridiculously perfect toss, like Kageyama could have done better, when he was already perfect. Hinata was the one who was dragging him down and he wanted to say, scream, yell all of these things right up in Kageyama's face, but his trembling lips wouldn't allow another word to pass them, so instead he just glared at him. Never taking his eyes off Kageyama's, trying to convey all of the feelings currently filling his body.

Hinata wasn't sure whether or not Kageyama understood what he was trying to tell him, but he averted Hinata's eyes and despite Hinata's efforts, Kageyama refused to look back at him. But Hinata could still see it. He could still see Kageyama's dark blue eyes drowning in despair.

"The meeting's going to start, you know?" Takeda-Sensei's soft voice broke the silence and though Kageyama was still looking away, Hinata found the courage to look at the teacher, who smiled lovingly at them, like they'd done something wrong and he was telling them that it was no big deal. "You two did an incredible job today... Like always."

But we didn't! Don't lie Sensei! He didn't do an incredible job. Kageyama did. Everyone else did, but not him, not Hinata. "... But we still lost," was all Hinata could say as he looked back into the ground.

"That's true. But it was still a constructive match, wasn't it?"

...Silence...

"Is defeat proof that you are weak?" Takeda-Sensei asked. Both Hinata and Kageyama looked up. The strong would win and the weak would lose. Wasn't that how it was? "Isn't defeat more like a trial to overcome? A trial of whether you can stand up and walk again after falling to your knees. If you remain on your knees like that, then it would be a sign of weakness."

Hinata and Kageyama stood up.

The coach had cancelled practice the two days following the match with Seijoh. Kageyama had initially planned to show up in the gym both times anyway, but changed his mind at the last minute. Instead of going to the gym at the school grounds, he went to the gym, where, today, the finals of the Miyagi preliminaries of the Inter-High were being played. Aoba Jousai vs. Shiratorizawa. The Grand King (the nickname Hinata had given him had really stuck) vs. The Super Ace. Kageyama wasn't interested in the match itself. He was more interested in observing and studying Seijoh and, more importantly, Oikawa. He needed to close the gap between them, and the best way to surpass those stronger than you was to learn form them.

The match was intense to say the least. The teams had extremely different styles and used very different techniques. The best way to describe them would be team and individual. Where Seijoh operated as a unit, Shiratorizawa worked more like a beehive, with the workers all gathering around Ushijima, not to form a team, but to give him what he wanted. Though the match clearly showed that Shiratorizawa was the stronger of the two teams, Kageyama couldn't help but feel that that was wrong. Seijoh had better teamwork, better attacks, better defence and they had Oikawa. And still, they lost, without even taking a single set. Karasuno hadn't been able to defeat Seijoh, who in turn hadn't been able to defeat Shiratorizawa. They had a long way to go, if they wanted to reach nationals.

Kageyama was leaving the gymnasium, when he heard something that sounded like crying. He knew that he shouldn't, but curiosity got the better of him and he walked towards the sound. He was about to turn around a corner, when he stopped himself. He didn't have the right to just walk up to someone who was crying, but still curious, he peeked around the corner.

He had seen Oikawa cry before. Almost exactly three years ago, when Kitagawa Daiichi had been defeated by Shiratorizawa, but that time had been different. Oikawa had still been standing with a resolve to defeat Ushijima in High School and Kageyama remembered how much he'd looked up to him, how much he had respected him. This Oikawa was different. He was on his knees, head bowed to the ground and crying into his uniform, looking weak and defeated. There was no one else, but the two of them and Kageyama wanted to leave so badly, but he couldn't get his body to move and his eyes wouldn't leave the sight of Oikawa. Maybe seeing Oikawa like this, reminded Kageyama that he wasn't invincible and he could be defeated. Oikawa was only a high schooler after all and Kageyama felt a newfound confidence, but, at the same time, he also felt so sorry for him. Oikawa was a hard-working person. Kageyama had seen how hard he'd worked day after day, when they'd been in Middle School. Oikawa had given everything he had and if Kageyama wasn't the one going to nationals, then Oikawa should be the one to do so... But he wasn't.

There was another set of footsteps approaching, walking towards Oikawa and stopping right in front of him. Iwaizumi was looking down at Oikawa, but his face was hidden in shadows, making Kageyama unable to see what expression he was making. Oikawa didn't move nor did he show any sign that he'd noticed Iwaizumi at all and after a while, Iwaizumi crouched down to him, laid a hand on his shoulder and said something that Kageyama couldn't hear... And Oikawa looked up at him, smiled, wiped away his tears and nodded. He let Iwaizumi help him up and when they were both standing, they began walking away from Kageyama. Iwaizumi put a hand on Oikawa's back and the whisper of 'Thank you, Iwa-chan', hang loosely in the air long after they had disappeared from Kageyama's view.

It had taken some time, but on the third day, it seemed that Karasuno's Volleyball Team was back in business. They third years were staying to the Spring High and the determination to become stronger was unifying feeling that seemed to bring the team closer together. Takeda-Sensei announced the possibility of a Tokyo training camp and everything seemed to be back to where it was before the Inter-High had begun. But then again...

Kageyama looked towards Hinata, who seemed to notice his gaze and caught his eyes with his own. The two of them were partners on court, but as it was at the moment, they were too weak. They needed to change, the question was just: how?

Is it very easy to see that IwaOi is my Haikyuu! OTP? I hope not, but they have a very precious relationship, even in the platonic sense. The Oikawa scene may seem unimportant for now, but you'll see why it's there if you'll stick around long enough. Also next chapter is Tokyo! Yay!

Please Fave it you liked it or maybe even leave a little review :3