The blood in his veins run cold.
"You..." Kageyama begins, but the words die in his throat.
Hinata, whom he wanted to kill. Hinata, who taught him what it means to enjoy. Hinata, who needs to kill Sire Noble.
Yachi never existed. He should have known. The striking resemblance should have sounded the warning bell in his mind.
He knows there's a switchblade in his pocket. He knows the one in front of him is trained, perhaps even more so than him.
Hinata grits out, "I should have known... The knives, the newspaper clippings, the coat... I can't believe I only made the connection when I got the milk candy."
Regrets, regrets. That's all it ever amounts to, huh?
Kageyama closes his eyes, takes a deep breath. When he reopens them again, they are cold and dull and resigned.
"Go on, then," the voice sounds monotonous, defeated. The gun pointing at him quivers.
"Shoot me already, stop wasting your time."
And Hinata looks about ready to crumble apart.
His family had issues. Mother looked at him, but she didn't see Kageyama Tobio. She saw the man who was there for her money and left when she bore his child.
His mother's husband, a business elite, didn't even look at him. Instead, he left a sum of money every month in Kageyama's bank account. The money was given to silence him.
Everyday, after school, he went for lessons in his tutor's private estate. That is also where he lived. His tutor was Oikawa Tooru, a man entrusted with the task of educating Kageyama. The man got on his nerves, even though he was but ten years old.
"What? You failed another test? We'll do more practice later," Oikawa told him as he ate his dinner.
When the man heard about his latest accomplishment in the volleyball club, he put on a sour face. "Tobio, exercise is important, but your results are too! I can't tell your mother that I've made her son into a brute."
Kageyama wanted to argue back that volleyball made him feel alive.
When he was fourteen, his mother withdrew his attendance from the school.
She said, "Teacher Oikawa thinks you'll be able to concentrate better without any outside distraction. He tells me your grades aren't good." Her eyes still looked through him. He showed her a plastic face.
When he saw Oikawa again, he grabbed the man by his collar. "Give volleyball back to me," he screamed, he shouted, he begged.
Oikawa made a deal with him. "Ace all my test and learn everything I teach you. If you satisfy my expectations, I'll let you go back to school and to your precious volleyball."
That was Kageyama's first taste of despair.
When he looks at Hinata, he sees a reflection of his past self. Kageyama wants to laugh. No wonder Oikawa liked to pick on me.
And then Hinata opens his mouth but the words are all wrong.
"...Why?" The sound is broken.
("Tobio, sweetheart, you were a mistake.")
"Why aren't you fighting back?"
("In exchange for money, you must stay invisible.")
The rage that enveloped Hinata just moments ago seems to have disappeared and he looks tired and sorrowful now. Kageyama feels his chest tighten from the sight. He ignores it.
Hinata exhales shakily, "Why am I even asking you to fight back? You're my target. I am supposed to kill you. Sire Noble. Serial killer. I am going to put an end to your crimes. I will pull this trigger and I will end your life."
His voice is hard but the words sound hollow. Kageyama knows that Hinata is not talking to him anymore. He waits for the other.
The second hand of the clock on the wall ticks lazily across.
Hinata meets his eyes at last,"Any last words?" His gaze is hard and determined.
"Not really," Kageyama answers, passive, as he accepts his fate.
This is the end, then.
(Goodbye, Shouyou.)
And then-
-Hinata looks away.
"I... can't."
The ginger chokes back a sob, but it's too late, the tears in his eyes overflow and before he can stop himself he's saying, "I can't do it, you- I- I can't."
"It's just- I love- and I, I-"
His mind is a mess and he feels like a train wreck-
He lowers the gun-
-and there's a blur in front of him and his hand is empty and he's on the ground and he can't move and there's something cool on his neck and oh it's a blade.
Kageyama is holding the switchblade in one hand. He pins Hinata down with the other, who goes very, very still. One wrong move equates to certain death and both of them knows this.
"Pity, you had your chance," Kageyama leers, eyes still dull and cold and looking at Hinata.
(Looking, but not seeing.)
"Love? Don't make me laugh."
(I am a mistake and no one can ever love me.)
"I'm a monster, you should have known better than to blow your chance."
(I don't want to hurt Hinata, he's all I have.)
"Y'know, I've wanted to kill you since the first day we met. Such a shame I didn't get to plan it out nicely. Could've made a masterpiece out of you," he announces, watching how Hinata's eyes widen in shock.
Oh, how the tables have turned.
Kageyama lifts up the switchblade and Hinata immediately struggles to get free. Their obvious difference in strength renders his efforts useless.
"Any last words?" Kageyama taunts, positioning it right above Hinata. The blade glints in the sunlight.
"I-"
The switchblade slams down with a sickening crunch.
Mornings like these are promises of a good day ahead.
The sun is too bright. The world is a blur. His ears are ringing. He can't breathe.
Kageyama forces his eyes to focus.
The blade, the blade is-
The blade is buried in the splintered wooden floorboards of his apartment, centimetres away from Hinata's neck.
"...Ka- Kageyama," Hinata chokes out.
Kageyama scrambles away from him. The room is spinning. His head is spinning. Hinata's hair is all the wrong orange and the light is too bright.
Monster, the mirror taunts him.
He has to get away from here but his feet refuse to obey. They feel like rubber. The glass door rattles dangerously as his shoulder slams into his bookshelf. He wheezes.
"Kageyama!" Hinata says again, urgent.
He can't breathe he can't breathe he can't breathe he can't breathe-
The back of his head knocks against the wall. Pain consumes his head. Vision becomes static for a moment. He has to get out of here but he can't see properly or move properly or breathe properly.
"Kageyama, don't-"
"STAY AWAY!" A scream tears its way out his throat. Raw. Feral.
That was his weapon and those were his hands. What had he tried to do? What had he wanted to do?
Monster, Monster, Monster, the mirror chants louder.
Kageyama feels his knees giving out under him. Shut up, he wants to tell the mirror, but his mind is no longer his. All that comes out is a strangled sob.
And then a strong wave of-
Nausea-
The next moment he's on the floor and gagging and heaving and the mirror is too loud, way too loud and nothing but fluid comes out of his mouth. Everything is so wrong. It shouldn't have to be like this.
And the room is still spinning like a nightmarish merry-go-round. Rough static clouds his eyes.
The mirror screams at him, Tobio, you were a mistake! And that doesn't sound like his voice anymore. He has to get away and get away and get away and get away-
His lungs hurt. His head hurt. Spinning, spinning the merry-go-round. Something sounds urgent, but he can't pinpoint what it is. Hinata, where are you?
Please stay away, you're not safe here.
And the room fades to black.
A/N: The format refuses to cooperate with me, so if you're hoping to read it in a better format then please visit ao3, sorry for the inconvenience!