"Where is Shoyo?"
Suga knew something was wrong. The moment that man had walked into their gym, Suga just knew. The whole energy surrounding this guy was unsettling.
Daichi clearly had the same feeling as Suga – the two thirds years were almost always on the same page. The captain took a few steps forward, his posture defensive. He was ready to protect his team if needed.
Suga needed a few seconds to comprehend as to why this man had decided to disrupt their training. He was looking for their teammate – and yes, Suga still thought of Hinata as their teammate, regardless of him quitting the club or not. But what would this man need from Hinata?
The man stumbled a few steps forward, clearly drunk. "I need to know where Shoyo is."
Suga studied the man from top to toe, trying to figure out the relationship between this man and Hinata. Was it family? He did have the same orange hair and was relatively small for a grown-up. Could this be Hinata's dad? No, right? His whole energy was so different from Hinata's.
Suga could feel a knot forming in his stomach. He didn't like this situation at all. Suga couldn't imagine a man this unkempt being able to take care of two children. It wasn't even 9 am yet, and he reeked of beer.
Sadness flooded Suga. If this theory was true, Hinata had to first deal with a sick and dying mother and then a deadbeat of a father. No wonder that Hinata had been acting so different lately.
"Where is he?" This time the man focused on Kageyama, stepping forward in his direction. The whole team instinctively moved closer to the young setter. Everyone could feel something was wrong.
Kageyama looked deathly pale. Suga wondered whether the teen knew more about this.
His eyes were burning, fury written all over his face. Suga had to suppress a shiver. Seeing Kageyama this way was unsettling.
Daichi stepped forward. "I need you to leave." He tried to sound like he meant business, his voice clear and stern. To most people, he would have sounded that way. Not to Suga. Suga heard the quiver beneath those words. He stepped closer to the captain. Daichi would not have to handle this alone.
"I don't care, you… you…" The man pointed toward Kageyama. Tsukishima took a step closer to Kageyama. If this were any other day, Suga might have smiled at this action. Tsukishima… protective… who would have thought?
But this wasn't any other day, and Suga didn't smile.
The man continued speaking toward Kageyama. "You took my son from me. Where is he? You know where he is."
So Suga was right. This was Hinata's father. None of this seemed right.
"He is my son. I have a right to know where he is," the man yelled.
A fire lit under Kageyama's eyes. If the rest of the team hadn't stood in between the two, the young setter might have even attacked Hinata's father.
"A right to know where he is? You really think you have a right to know after… after…" A small tear ran down Kageyama's cheek, he quickly wiped it away with his hand. "You hit him, you have hurt him."
Kageyama recomposed himself, sadness being replaced by defiance and clarity. "I will make sure that you never see him again. He quit volleyball because of you."
Suga's stomach dropped. No. This could not be true. Please, no.
Just like that, it all fit into place. Suga remembered sitting in front of Hinata, wanting to check him out, for Hinata only to respond with panic. As the young teen was sitting bent over, with his hands hugging his stomach, he had promised Suga that nothing was going on. Suga knew that Hinata was acting weird, he had suspected something was going on.
And now Suga knew the truth. This was why Hinata had been so distant lately. Why he had skipped practice and school so many times in the past few weeks.
How could he have not seen this? Suga's eyes wandered trough the gym, quickly locking with Daichi's. One look at his friend and Suga knew that Daichi was thinking the same thing as him. A mixture of disgust and anger plastered all over the captain's face.
Hinata was being abused.
Happy, over-energetic Hinata was being abused.
"He deserved it," the man said.
The complete silence was replaced by an explosion of noise. Tanaka made a growl-sounding noise and was clearly ready to jump Hinata's father. Ennoshita was holding him back.
Nishinoya seemed just as ready to attack him, and Asahi was the one holding him back. The normally overly soft and friendly third-year had a look of immense anger and sadness on his face. Suga had never seen his friend like that. It was unsettling.
Daichi stepped forward before anyone could actually attack the man. "I need you to leave. Now. Otherwise, I will call the police." He held his phone up.
Hinata's father scoffed.
"Whatever, Shoyo is not worth this kind of trouble." He walked away, almost falling over his feet. Normally, Suga would find it irresponsible to let anyone leave on their own in that kind of state.
He couldn't find it in himself to care now, though.
There was again a moment of silence, as if everyone needed a moment to digest what had just happened. The silence was broken by Yachi, who fell down to her knees, tears rolling down her cheeks. Kiyoko was standing next to her and threw an arm around the younger girl.
And just like that, the whole team started to react.
"Oh, Hinata," Yamaguchi whispered softly. Suga could only hear it because he was standing so close to him.
"It is not true… no, it cannot be true. It is not true," Nishinoya's voice, normally full of energy, sounded defeated.
Tanaka didn't say anything. Tears streamed down his face. He looked ready to run after Hinata's father. Ennoshita was still holding on to him. His grip only tightening.
Even Tsukishima seemed distraught.
It was clear that the whole team understood what had just happened. What had been happening the past few weeks to their teammate.
How long had this been going on? How long had they not noticed?
"Kageyama, is it true? Please tell me it is not true," Nishinoya kept asking the same question over and over again.
Kageyama's silence spoke a thousand words.
Suga knew he was supposed to step up. He was the vice-captain of this team. A team that was clearly falling apart at this moment. He just didn't know what to do.
He always praised himself for knowing the right words for the right time. He liked that he was good at consoling people. He liked that people trusted him with their feelings and easily opened up to him. Suga normally knew exactly what to say when things were difficult.
Now, he was stripped of all words.
Luckily for Suga, he didn't have to do anything. Takeda-sensei walked into the gym, unaware of what had just occurred. One look at the teens before him, and the teacher knew that something was wrong.
"He was here," Kageyama said. Takeda seemed to know who Kageyama was talking about within a second.
That was good. That meant Takeda probably knew what was going on. At least one adult knew. Takeda would make sure that Hinata was safe.
The teacher grabbed Kageyama softly by his shoulder. "What, he was here? Are you alright? Did he do anything?" Takeda then turned towards the rest of the team. "Is everyone okay?"
"He didn't do anything to us. He was looking for Hinata. When we said that he wasn't here, he left," Suga said. "Takeda-san, you don't need to tell us what is going on. This is Hinata's story, and I understand that he has a right to his privacy. We just need to know, is he safe? Is he okay?"
The teacher looked at Kageyama, probably trying to figure out how much the rest of the team knew of the story. Kageyama didn't look him in the eye. The setter almost looked… ashamed? Did he feel guilty about letting the team in on Hinata's secret?
"Did that man really hurt Shoyo?" Nishinoya blurted out. "Why would anyone do that?"
Takeda sighed, figuring out that the team seemed to know the main part of the story.
"I think it is safe to say that you guys understand that Hinata does not have a good situation going on at home right now. Ukai and I are working on it. He is safe and okay for the time being. We will not let anything else happen to him."
Tanaka opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Takeda held his hand up to him, showing him that he was not ready to continue speaking. "I am sorry that your training got disrupted this way, and I am sorry that I can't tell you guys more about this. Suga is right, this is Hinata's story. It is not mine to tell."
"Can we go see him?" Yachi asked.
"To be fair, I don't think he is really up for a lot of visitors at the moment, but I will ask him and let you guys know. For now, however, school is about to start in 15 minutes. I know that that is the last thing on your minds at the moment, but there is not much else you can do for Hinata right now. Know that you can always drop by my desk if you need anything. Now, if you guys will give me five minutes, I do have to call Ukai about all of this. I will be right back." With that, Takeda walked out of the gym, clearly intending to make this call in private, leaving the team speechless and to digest the new information on their own.
- Haikyuu -
Hinata couldn't sleep much. He felt exhausted, but his body just didn't want to go to sleep. He couldn't even remember the last time he had a good night's sleep. His father made it a habit to come into his room in the middle of the night, demanding whatever it was that he needed at that time. If Hinata wasn't ready at the second, his father would get angry.
So Hinata adjusted, his mind never falling into a deep sleep, just in case he needed to be ready. It had made him feel run-down, but it was better than disappointing his dad and the wrath that came after.
And now Hinata was finally at a place where he could get a full night's sleep, but his body just didn't want to.
His thoughts were confusing him. On one side, he felt guilty for leaving his father. By just staying here for one night, Hinata was being disrespectful of all the things his father had done for him. On the other side, it just felt so good to be here.
Laying in the futon, staring at the ceiling, he tried to get his thoughts sorted out. The thing was though, thinking about it only seemed to make everything much worse. Hinata missed the days when his thoughts weren't as confusing. When he was just sure of things. He used to be sure of a lot of things, like playing volleyball. Now he was just confused all the time.
Even his body was confused. It just stayed in this constant fight or flight reaction, adrenaline rushing through his veins. It was ready for something to happen.
But nothing was going to happen. His father wasn't going to walk into this room; he wasn't going to demand some random thing from him. Hinata knew that it was safe to go to sleep now; he didn't need to be able to wake up at a moment's notice. Ukai had promised him that he was safe here.
Yet, it was like his body couldn't believe him.
So Hinata wasn't able to fall asleep.
His thoughts raced over the events of the day. Kageyama had not just been angry, he had been furious. He had never seen him that way, not even when they just lost a match in volleyball. All of that anger had been focused on Hinata's father, who Kageyama was so sure to be the bad guy. Ukai thought so as well. They just didn't seem to understand the truth.
"Don't worry, it will be fine," Kageyama had said those words to Hinata while pulling him out of his house, away from his father.
Would it all be fine? Hinata couldn't see that happen right now.
But Kageyama had said so. Kageyama was a pretty forward guy, never bothering to lie about things. He just said things the way he truly believed they were.
If Kageyama had said that it was going to be fine, it was because the setter truly believed everything was going to be fine.
So maybe it would be?
If Kageyama said it was going to be fine, it was all going to be fine. Hinata repeated that to himself like a mantra through the night. He repeated it so many times that it started to sound like something that could be true.
It still didn't calm his body down. It stayed in a high-alert kind of state and he just didn't know how to get out of it.
He could call Kageyama? The teen had told him that he could call whenever he needed anything.
But Hinata had bothered Kageyama enough for one day. He didn't want to trouble the setter anymore.
To Hinata's surprise, Kageyama seemed to actually care about him. It wasn't like Kageyama had always been uninterested in Hinata. Their relationship was just always strictly focused on volleyball. Kageyama cared about Hinata because he needed him on the court. But that wasn't the case anymore because Hinata had quit the volleyball club.
Yet today, Kageyama had shown that he cared about Hinata. Not just as a volleyball player, but as a person.
At what point did they stop being just teammates and start becoming friends? It did make Hinata feel a little warm inside, a feeling that he wasn't used to anymore.
It wasn't only Kageyama. It was the whole team. They had all become good friends, showing on multiple occasions that they cared about him.
Even maybe Tsukishima. A little bit.
Hinata felt a stab in his heart. He didn't just miss playing volleyball. He missed playing volleyball with them.
He missed messing around with Tanaka or Nishinoya. He even missed getting yelled at by their captain afterward. He missed jumping around the gym, knowing that wherever he would jump, Kageyama would find a way to set the ball to him. He missed the reassuring presence of the third years, 'cause whoever it was – Daichi, Asahi, or Suga – they would always have his back. He missed walking into the stinky changing room in the morning, when everyone was still half asleep and getting ready for yet another exciting and fun training. He missed eating dinner together after a long training. He missed it all so much.
Would he ever get that back?
At this moment, nothing felt sure. Hinata wasn't sure if he would ever play volleyball again. He wasn't sure how he felt about his dad. He wasn't sure whether he should feel guilt or relief that he was staying at Ukai's at the moment. He wasn't sure what Ukai was going to do – or what his dad was going to do.
Hinata wasn't even sure what the real truth was at the moment.
But it was all gonna be fine. Kageyama had said so. With that mantra in his head, Hinata did manage to nod off for a little bit at the end of the night.
He still felt exhausted when he was sitting at Ukai's table in the morning. The couple of hours of sleep had done nothing against that.
The coach was making pancakes, again (Natsu had demanded them and it was very clear that the coach was unable to deny her anything of what she wanted).
Outside of demanding pancakes, Natsu was very quiet. She was glued to Hinata's side, making clear that wherever he would go, she would accompany him. Her eyes sometimes suspiciously looking at Ukai, only to quickly look away when the coach turned towards her. It seemed as if Ukai tried to keep a lighter atmosphere, cracking a few short jokes and dropping some nice comments. It didn't really work.
After a short while, a silence fell in between them. Hinata didn't know what to say. He used to be a person that always knew what to say. A little while ago, he would have just started talking, and words would automatically roll out of his mouth, it didn't matter who he was talking to.
He missed that version of himself.
Hinata's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Ukai's phone. The coach quickly put some pancakes on three plates and put two of them in front of the two kids. "Eat up, if you guys need more afterwards I can always make some extra! I need to get this, but I will be right back." Ukai mumbled before grabbing the phone.
"Ahhh Takeda, wha…. " was all Hinata could hear before the coach had walked away, shutting the doors between them. Next to him, Natsu started eating.
"I think I like it here. The pancakes are good." She mumbled to him. "Are we going to stay here now?" Her big brown eyes locked in with his. Hinata couldn't help but smile at her, but didn't answer.
His thoughts still occupied with Ukai's sudden phone call. What were the two discussing? Hinata had no doubt that it was about his situation.
"I need to use the bathroom." Hinata lied and carefully peeked into the hallway. It seemed that Ukai had disappeared into his own bedroom. Which meant that Hinata probably wasn't supposed to hear what they were talking about.
He knew that listening into private conversations wasn't a decent thing to do. Especially after how Ukai had welcomed him and his sister into his own home. Hinata also knew that the two adults were talking about him right now, and he didn't like not knowing what they were discussing. So he tiptoed to the door and carefully laid his ear on the door. It wasn't hard to hear what Ukai was saying; their coach had a loud voice after all.
"….was at the gym? Is everyone alright?" Ukai said on the phone. Hinata froze. He hoped with every cell in his body that they weren't talking about his father. That would be the worst-case scenario at this moment.
"Okay, that is good…hmm…yeah…..hmmm…well, the man doesn't know that the two of them are here at the moment, so that is good. But we can't have him go looking for them like that. What if he would have hurt Kageyama, or anyone else on the team?"
Well, that answered the question. They were definitely talking about his father. Who apparently went looking for him. A ping of guilt shot through his body. Now the rest of the team was also involved. All because Hinata did not go back to his father yesterday evening. He knew it was a mistake staying here.
It was quiet on the other side of the door for a little bit, probably Takeda speaking on the other side of the phone.
"You are right, it is time to involve the authorities….." Ukai kept talking for a bit after that, but Hinata wasn't listening anymore.
No.
What did they mean with the authorities? Did they want to call the police for his father?
No.
Ukai had promised him. Why did they not seem to understand that his father wasn't the bad guy here? He was just grieving. He didn't deserve the cops being called on him.
Hinata had to do something about this. He had to warn him. He was responsible for this whole mess. If he had just sent Kageyama on his way yesterday, none of this would have happened. They wouldn't have known anything about this and their lives could just continue to go on.
Hinata needed to fix it, and he needed to fix it now.
Without wasting another second to really think things through, he turned around and walked out of the hallway towards the kitchen and then the front door. He needed to be gone before Ukai was done with his phone call. The coach wouldn't let him go like that; he wouldn't understand.
"Shoyo?" His little sister asked, still eating her pancake. Hinata couldn't take her with him, not after she had said that she liked it here. She was safe here for now. Ukai would take care of her. He would figure out how to come back for her at a later time.
He needed to warn his father.
-Haikyuu-
Kageyama tried to focus; he really, really did. He just couldn't.
To be fair, under normal circumstances, he had enough trouble focusing in class. His thoughts were always occupied by something related to volleyball.
Now his thoughts were occupied by something completely different… Hinata.
Since the events of yesterday, there was a feeling in his chest that just didn't seem to go away. He wasn't even sure how to place those feelings. He wasn't really used to it.
After a little while, he had decided it was worry.
Kageyama was worried about Hinata. And because of that worry, he wasn't able to focus in class, or even worse, during volleyball training.
And then Hinata's father decided to show up in the gym, drunk and stammering, and had made matters worse. Just looking at the guy made Kageyama's blood boil.
The setter would describe himself as pretty level-headed in stressful situations. Give him a difficult opponent, and he would function better. It was probably the whole reason he was such a good setter.
But he completely lost himself when that man walked into their gym, looking for Hinata.
He was the whole reason that Hinata had quit volleyball. Kageyama liked playing volleyball with Hinata – not something he would quickly admit to anyone, but it was true. Until now, Hinata had always seemed to like it just as much as he did.
And that drunk man had taken that away.
To make matters worse, Kageyama had spilled Hinata's secrets to the rest of the team. Something he was sure the ginger-haired teen was not going to appreciate, looking at the trouble Hinata had gone through to keep all of it a secret in the first place.
Kageyama would take it back if he could, but he couldn't. The team knew, all because of him. Now Kageyama didn't just feel worried; he also felt guilty.
And maybe a little bit irritated, because that dumb-ass Hinata had made his life a lot more complicated.
Not that it was Hinata's fault at all. The teen was innocent in all of it.
Then why did all of this happen to Hinata? The unfairness of the whole situation troubled him the most.
Kageyama needed to make things right with Hinata. Oh, and he needed to apologize to him as well.
So Kageyama couldn't care less about class right now. The sooner he made things right, the sooner Hinata would be better, and they could all be playing volleyball together again.
But what would make Hinata feel better right now?
Kageyama remembered the spare room of Ukai's apartment. The only thing in there were two futons. No extra clothes, no stuff, nothing.
Kageyama perked up in his seat. That was something he could do. He could sneak into Hinata's house and get some of his stuff.
And while he was there, he might as well get some of Hinata's sister as well.
It was almost first break; he could sneak out then. He probably would have to avoid running into Takeda. The teacher was definitaly going to keep an extra eye out for him after what had happened this morning.
But he shouldn't do this alone; he wasn't completely stupid. Who would be the best person for the task?
The third years were reliable to have as back-up, but they might deem this unwise and tell Takeda.
No, Kageyama knew exactly who he should ask for the job. They were crazy enough to not even give this a second thought.
Only 15 minutes later, Kageyama, Nishinoya, and Tanaka sneaked out of the schoolyard and went straight to Hinata's residence.
-Haikyuu-
So I guess I am back?
Sorry for this very very long hiatus. Life just happened hahaha. I actually got sick a few weeks ago and rewatched Haikyuu because of it and then I decided to re-read this fanfiction (which made me cringe at the amount of spelling/grammar mistakes and typo's), and I remembered how enthusiastic I used to be about it. I felt like I owed to teen-me to finish this.
I am not sure if there are any followers left, but if there are, thank you very much for reading this!
I am sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes in this one, English is still not my first language. I actually use it a lot less now then when I was younger, so their might even be more mistakes.
Well I will try to update soon.
-xxx-
Meredith