His chest hurt.

His chest hurt a lot.

He didn't think that this kind of feeling even existed.

His whole body felt as though it was on fire.

He couldn't calm down at all.

He had shouted enough for a lifetime.

It was so uncomfortable and Hinata hated it.

Hinata flew into his house through the front door, popped off his shoes and clambered up the stairs without even bothering to say "I'm home". He flung open his bedroom door and slammed it shut, clicking the lock to prevent any nosy parent or sister from barging in. He jumped onto his bed and landed face-first into the soft duvet.

Hinata recalled the incident that had occurred just before he had run off.

He had yelled at Kageyama. And it wasn't the same as the typical fight or argument. That was the loudest Hinata had ever shouted or, at least that was certainly what it felt like. He had suddenly gotten all riled up and he didn't know why.

And that was the problem. He didn't know WHY.

Why was it that Kageyama had acted like that? Why was it that Hinata had acted like this?

Why? WHY?

All he remembered was a tight feeling in his chest that made him feel like he was suffocating. It was as though something had jammed in his throat, as though someone had just lit a fire in him. And it was fire fuelled with rage and not passion. No matter how hard he had tried to calm himself down, it hadn't worked. And as soon as Kageyama had said that line, he just couldn't control himself anymore.

That one line.

That single, seemingly meaningless line, had set him right off.

It was a line that seemed very 'Kageyama like' and Hinata should've been used to those by now. Yet he still reacted in a way he didn't even understand himself.

Hinata wriggled under the blankets, hoping that sleep would rid him of this bothersome feeling. But his thoughts refused to let him sleep. They tormented him continuously, that scene replaying endlessly through his mind, that one line stuck on replay.

"It's none of your business."

Kageyama had avoided eye contact. Turning away to face something, anything, as long as it wasn't Hinata.

"It's none of your business."

Kageyama had cut off the conversation abruptly and had tried to avoid the subject entirely.

"It's none of your business."

Hinata curled up into a ball beneath his duvet and tried to cover his ears with his small hands.

"Stop… stop please…" he murmured painfully until his own weariness drove him into a dreamless sleep.

The next day, Kageyama felt completely and utterly empty. He felt hollow. Like whatever made up his measly existence in the world had suddenly disappeared. Vanished without a trace. It took almost all his energy just to force himself to get out of bed, so how was he even going to last the entire school day?

But regardless of this fact, he told himself he still had to go, still had to return to volleyball. So he went through his daily morning preparation for school, a little more sluggishly than usual. He marked off his own lack of strength simply as a result of overtraining.

Kageyama managed to rush (not so quickly) to school early enough so that he wasn't all too late for morning volleyball practice. Although he was only just a little bit late, because he always arrived early, being late was something short of a miracle to his fellow volleyball players.

He was met with a few questioning comments from Sugawara and Daichi like "I didn't know you would ever be late for volleyball practice!" or "are you ok?" Tanaka had even changed from his normal 'delinquent-like' manner into a more concerned 'you're acting fucking retarded' sort of personality. Well arguably he was still acting like a delinquent. Nishinoya had laughed about how he shouldn't sweat about things that were related to volleyball because he had his back while Asahi, being the usual worrywart he was, started fretting about whether or not Kageyama was really fine. Tsukishima still didn't care very much for him and ignored the commotion. Yamaguchi tried to follow Tsukishima's example but it was clear to see that he was also worrying.

Mainly because of the overwhelming barrage of questions from his senpais but also because he hadn't anticipated this at all, Kageyama didn't quite know how to react. So he only mumbled a quick "osu" before shuffling onto the court to complete his own training.

The concerns of his team members gave Kageyama a bit of his strength back and he felt a bit fuzzy and warm inside. But it all fell to bits when he realised that the he couldn't feel the presence of the bubbly, orange haired shorty anywhere in the gym.

For the first time ever, Hinata hadn't shown up to volleyball practice.

Hinata was already in his classroom, waiting for class to start. He twiddled and spun the mechanical pencil in his hand and sighed with boredom. He realised that not playing volleyball made him extremely restless.

Hinata felt a bit like he had betrayed Karasuno by skipping out on volleyball training that morning. Sure he had already called in early saying that he felt too sick to play volleyball, but that didn't stop his guilt from rising up from the pit of his stomach. It didn't help when his team mates gathered round bombarding him with questions of worry, slightly more intense than the ones Kageyama would be getting later.

At least he hadn't seen Kageyama there. That was a huge relief.

Then he froze.

The sudden rigid freezing action made his pencil fly out of his hand and hit the poor student who was sitting beside Hinata.

Why was he relieved by the fact that he hadn't seen Kageyama?

Sure Kageyama scared the hell out of him, even more so when he got really angry. Like that one time where he had served into the back of Kageyama's head. Hinata shivered at the memories.

But despite Kageyama being a living horror in Hinata's life, he was also his mentor and guide. Although he was harsh and acted like an asshole a lot (almost all) of the time, it didn't change the fact that Hinata usually looked forward to being able to play volleyball by his side.

So what was this relieved feeling he had from being far away from the team mate he so enjoyed being with? This feeling that made his shoulders relax and his back slump?

Hinata didn't get it. He was so confused.

He was supposed to look forward to playing volleyball all the time, so much that he would show up to trainings even if it killed him. Yet Kageyama, just the thought that he would be there too, caused his enthusiasm to wither immediately.

It must've been what happened last night, Hinata thought to himself. It must be because he yelled like that.

Hinata felt his guilt beginning to rise again. Maybe he shouldn't've done that to Kageyama. Maybe he was in the wrong. Maybe he should go and apologize.

But although his conscience was telling him all these things, its voice seemed to drowned out by another part of him that screamed "Don't do it!" and "He deserved it!" or "Why should you say sorry when he was the one in the wrong?"

Hinata's inner conflict made his brows furrow and he clenched his fists. But soon enough, the larger part of his mind won the fight against his conscience and he settled back comfortably into his seat.

Afterschool volleyball practice soon came and the whole Karasuno team were busying themselves with their training. To an outsider, they appeared to be their normal determined selves. But to anyone within the team, there was a definite rigid and tense atmosphere in the gym.

Hinata still hadn't shown up to practice.

Kageyama clicked his teeth in annoyance and threw the ball high up into the air, preparing himself for a jump serve. His palm slammed hard into the ball, sending the ball sailing past the net, past the edge of the court and almost hit Coach Ukai right in the face.

"Oi!" Ukai-sensei growled. "What's wrong today!?"

Kageyama clicked his teeth again. He had been feeling on edge ever since morning practice when Hinata hadn't shown up. And now he hadn't shown up for afterschool practice either. Kageyama didn't even see him around school.

The rest of Karasuno were also a little awkward playing without a loud voice yelling around in the gym. Everything just felt too quiet with only the sound of the slapping of volleyballs and the squeaking of indoor shoes to be heard.

But no one took it as hard as Kageyama.

He hadn't been able to make even just one successful jump serve that day. His tosses were almost always off, resulting in a large number of combination misses.

It was as though he had reverted back into his junior high self, minus the arrogant attitude. His tosses had become clumsy and inconsistent, sometimes much too fast or slow, sometimes too high or too low. He had even tossed the ball into Tsukishima's face by accident, resulting in Tsukishima being showered in a torrent of apologies from Kageyama.

And Kageyama never apologized to Tsukishima. Never.

Eventually, the captain told him to retire early and go home and get a good night's sleep. Kageyama didn't argue and did as he was told. The rest of the team watched him bow and walk out of the gym, their faces plastered with anxiety.

Kageyama opened the door to the clubroom and sat down on the floor beside his school bag. He flung his towel over his face, hiding everything on his face except for his mouth. He grinned painfully, his slow breath echoing off the cold walls.

"Hinata," he whispered in a coarse voice, his sweat running down his cheek and off his chin.

"Where are you?"

Author's Note: GOD NO WHAT AM I DOING

I NEVER EXPECTED IT TO TURN OUT LIKE THIS

On a different not please review~~~

It's much appreciated XD