Chapter 2

Everyone got the occasional headache every now and then however for Kageyama; they were a constant thing since his last year of middle school. Voices were grating, his grades slipped and even his performance in volleyball, his favorite activity suffered. He became irate if his partner missed the ball or if his serve didn't hit his mark. Eventually the coach told him to sit out for a while. He didn't return to volleyball until high school. He still practiced when he could and soon after that, started taking painkillers. They only dulled the pain, but he was used to it. He wanted play under Oikawa and Iwaizumi, his senpais, again.

"Tobio-Chan! ~" Oikawa sang out each syllable as he trotted over to the raven haired teen entering the gym. "I didn't think you'd play anymore! Kindaichi-Chan said you quit volleyball! My Kouhai? I refused to believe it and here you are!" Kageyama could hear the sarcastic venom in his voice. He could even see the irritation burning in his chocolate eyes. The two never got along yet he still respected the other setter.

"Hey Shittykawa! Stop giving Kageyama grief!" A smirk formed on the first year's lips as Oikawa turned away from him with a huff to see the slightly shorter spiky dark haired man stalking up to him.

"Iwa-Chan I wasn't- Ouch!" The other man had swatted him up the backside of his head before leading Kageyama away to the other side of the gym.

"I'm sorry about Oikawa" He sighed with a scratch to the back of his head. "How are you? I know you used to get pretty nasty headaches every now and then…"

"Don't worry Iwaizumi-san I'm fine. Really I am." He wasn't. His painkillers were wearing down earlier than usual.

Iwaizumi saw easily through his lie. "Kageyama, don't lie to me. I know volleyball is important to you but please put your health before the sport. Have you even been to a doctor?"

"My parents think I'm lying."

The third-year snorted "no wonder why. You just lied to me barely even two minutes ago! Now go lay down in the storage room. I'm taking you to the hospital after practice. That Trashykawa wouldn't let me off early even if I gave him a kiss."

Kageyama did as he was told. He made himself comfortable on some mats in the dark storage room and tried to sleep. Sleep however, remained elusive due to his throbbing head. He tried rolling around the mats to tire himself out but that did nothing but aggravate his head further. He ended up just staring up at the ceiling until his vision began to swirl. That was when Iwaizumi returned.

"Well practice is over. How're you feeling?" His voice was as soft as he could manage. That was until he was by his side, hand resting on the younger's forehead. "Kageyama you're burning up! Come on I gotta get you out of here!" He sounded scared and that in turn freaked Kageyama out.

"N-no I'm fine!"

It was when Iwaizumi moved to pick him up that a loud crack reverberated throughout the storage room. Kageyama's navy widened impossibly as he stared up at the twisted image that had become Iwaizumi's arm. His fingers were bent at impossible angles while his forearm was broken in half threatening to break through skin as it hung freely. Iwaizumi didn't scream. He just followed the first-year's movement. Scared, Kageyama scooted away until was able to brace himself against the wall to stand. His head was throbbing unbearably at this point. Even his vision had become useless. Anything but his senior was shrouded in a thick fog. The dark haired boy couldn't help the tears that began pour down his face.

Iwaizumi seemingly didn't notice his broken arm as he took a step towards Kageyama. "K-Kageyama- Tobio… I want you to take a deep breath and calm down I'm not mad at you."

But Kageyama couldn't listen. He refused, cupping his ears with his hands as he tried to shrink away from the slowly encroaching Iwaizumi. With a pained cry, another crack filled the tense air followed by something large hitting the wooden floor. For a moment, Kageyama hoped it was his own body. But the dead coffee eyes that bore up into his own lapis ones told him otherwise.

"Iwa-Chan come on I wanna go home! Tobio-Chan'll be fine without y-you…" Oikawa stood in the doorway, the light of the gym on his back, nearly shadowing the look of horror on his face until he dove to Iwaizumi's side.

"Iwa-ch- Hajime?! Kageyama! Why isn't he breathing?" Kageyama just stared down at Oikawa as he cradled Iwaizumi's broken body, the body he broke. "You did this didn't you? You monster! You're a mutant! You killed Iwa-chan!"

His legs were barely cooperating but he ran out, ignoring the confused faces of the cleaning volleyball team. He didn't even notice that his headache had completely vanished for the first time since middle school.

-A-

"…And that's what pretty much happened." Kageyama honestly thought Kuroo would have fallen asleep through his story but he stayed awake the whole time.

"Wow and all that just happened only just a few hours ago?"

"Pretty much…"

Kuroo nodded "well how you feel now kid? Does your head hurt anymore?" He didn't receive an answer as the teen just stared back at him in confusion. "What do I have something on my face or something?"

"A-ah no" Kageyama stammered "it-it's just…"

"Save it kid I'm not gonna pass judgment and smite you. Like I said, I've done worse." Nothing was said for a while after that. The only sound that filled the apartment was the scraping of chopsticks against a bowl and Kuroo's fingers tapping on the table.

"So what did you do? I-I mean if you don't mind me asking Kuroo-san…" He watched the older man carefully as he rose and took his bowl to the sink once he finished.

"I guess this night's gonna be background heavy." He chuckled once he returned to his spot. "Well as I told you I am a mutant and I can do this." Reaching over to the TV, he grabbed a hold of a scratch less disk. "Now watch, nothing up my sleeves or in my pants." Setting the disk down, he trained his dark eyes on it. For a moment, Kageyama thought he saw them flash gold before the disk cracked down the middle. "I guess you can say I'm made of bad luck. Sounds stupid isn't it? But it's not. One time a client skipped out on payment and well he 'accidently' fell down a sewage grate."

"You saved my life. I-I don't think you-you're all bad luck. You're ni-ni-nice."

Kuroo's lip quirked upwards "I'm sensing you're not used to giving out compliments. But I'll take it kid. Well anyway, when I was maybe a bit older you when my mutation developed. They say the later it emerges, the harder it is to control at first; weird isn't it?" When he began to trail off, the teen wondered if he shouldn't have asked him anything until he started back up again. "It was Kenma's birthday. My folks and his were as close as I am to Kenma. We were on the freeway when I had a lapse in control. I ended up causing a massive pile up. Our parents died and so did many others. Kenma I think only survived because he was by my side…"

"I remember hearing about that. It was classified as an accident wasn't it?"

"Yeah and Kenma and me were classified as miracles for surviving. Neither of us actually felt like miracles. I ended up having to drop out of high school to support the both of us doing-"he clearly wanted to say more but he stopped the moment the two of them heard the door crack open.

"Kuroo the camp was cancelled. Are you home?" A quiet voice drifted in; bringing a smile of relief to the tall man's face.

"Yeah I'm here with a friend. There's food in the kitchen if you want anything Kenma." There was a muffled grunt followed a clunk and the sound porcelain hitting porcelain.

Even though Kuroo assured him there was no danger, Kageyama still shrunk in on himself.

"Your glare isn't exactly friendly." Kuroo yawned before Kenma finally emerged: he was shorter than Kuroo with dyed blonde hair, his dark roots were poking out which ended up reminding Kageyama of pudding. He was wearing a red and white tracksuit. His gold cat-like eyes were focused with on the slice of pie in his hand. "Kenma when I said food, I didn't mean apple pie. You need protein."

Kenma just shrugged as he sat down in between the two, revealing the side of his tracksuit to Kageyama which read 'Nekoma Volleyball'.

"Ugh Kenma this is Kageyama Tobio. He's going to be staying with us for a bit."

The dark haired teen would have been lying if he said he wasn't bothered by the man's cat-like eyes staring into him.

"Kuroo how many more people are you going to rescue from the Aoba Johsai?"

"He wasn't being held by those asses Kenma. I stopped him from killing himself."

When the two continued to bicker, Kageyama couldn't help but wish he was invisible. While they kept their voices down like they were having a peaceful conversation, their words were not.

"Aoba Johsai is dangerous. He could have escaped from them, putting a target on your head."

"Kenma I swear to God himself that he didn't. Look at his face. Does it even look like he even knows what we're talking about?" The blonde just glanced the other teen's way before letting off a huff.

"Things just keep getting worse… Can you blame me for worrying about you?" Kuroo shook his head before moving to his side to nuzzle the side of his head until his eyes began to droop. "You don't play fair…" He was asleep before Kuroo even got him tucked into his futon.

"I'm sorry about that Kageyama… Kenma he- "

"He really cares about you. It's fine but what is the Aoba Johsai? What makes them so dangerous?"

Kuroo didn't look him the eye as he scratched at his head "I'll tell you in the morning. It's been one long night." Kageyama couldn't argue with him on that matter.