Chapter Text
Pebbles dislodge from the crevices of the paved sidewalk under the desperation of dirtied sneakers, bouncing lightly behind into the vacant street. The pounding alarms sounding out drown the thunderous footsteps below, barely distinguishable from the generalized panic weighing in the atmosphere. Running is one of the many activities Hinata willingly engages in, never turning down the opportunity to race Kageyama. Running drills, admittedly less fun, still kept Hinata on his toes, across the court, around the campus, running all the time. If he wasn't sitting still or biking over that dreaded hill to and from school, the go-to was cardio, constantly running to expel his infinite amounts of energy.
He's never run so fast in his life until tonight, he decides.
Things have never looked so dark to Hinata before. The sun always shone down on him, the days were kind to him, and people smiled because of him - now he can't help but wonder if it was enough. What more was he to give, so that he might make the universe happy and forgiving, too?
He doesn't know where he is or what street he just turned onto. There are only a few things he knows for sure - it's nighttime, he's alone, but alive, only he's not in Karumai anymore.
With the constant tap of his shoes against the pavement, he bolts across, and a growing bout of anxiety continues to make its way up his throat as he runs. Soon, he won't be able to run, but he refuses to let go anywhere in the near vicinity of them, so he pushes through more streets he still doesn't recognize.
-
With the fated Spring Tournament nearing closer by the day, the Shiratorizawa volleyball team worked tirelessly to perfect their plays, bringing their 100 percent with everything from the serves to the spikes. The preliminaries were the first hurdles to overcome, and with their track record, scoring against their opponents wouldn't be a concern.
For the first time in a long time, practice had been cancelled for the night by the coach, vague about the reasoning other than for personal business. A rare opportunity in itself, Tendou thought a night out would do them some good for once, one away from volleyball and looming exams for the third-year students. Ushijima, of course, tagged along because Tendou made him, and Semi came along with a recommendation in mind.
Downtown Sendai was peaceful at such a late hour, save for the occasional passerby walking through the streets. Ushijima could appreciate the subtle nature of the environment, feeling more comfortable there than in most of his classes. He was hard to approach; he knew this as well as the why of it, but that was just his personality. The volleyball club understood him enough, and that was all he needed.
The day Hinata and Kageyama had run into him coincidentally had been a little over two weeks from now. Ushijima doesn't normally remember the people he bests - or plans to best - in volleyball too often, and rarely does he think about it often enough to recall the day of the event.
Healthily, the encounter had run through his mind just as it had each day since then. The odd fixation drove Ushijima to become his best for the day that Shiratorizawa might get to play Karasuno, assuming they could beat Aoba Johsai, of course.
"Wakatoshi-kun, you've hardly eaten!" Tendou comments, sitting next to Semi in the booth across from him. Looking down, he notices the abundance of food adorning his plate, no longer emitting hot steam from sitting so long.
"Right, sorry," is all Ushijima replies, picking his chopsticks up to make up for the lost time. Tendou snorts at his best friend and shakes his head, leaning into Semi's space to whisper something to the silver-haired setter. The two of them smile at the captain for a moment, curious about Wakatoshi's space-out sessions.
"Anyway, like I was saying, Wakatoshi-kun," Tendou resumes when he knows Ushijima is listening, "we should stop by that bookshop on the way back, the new Shōnen Jump was released yesterday. I've been dying to pick it up, might as well while we're off campus!"
"Just make it quick if you do, I don't want to be in there forever," Semi pleads to both of them. He shared little interest in manga, unlike most of them, favoring animated adaptations instead of the reading material. Tendou feigned a small pout and sighed longingly, and Semi just rolled his eyes at the redhead.
The three of them enjoyed the rest of their meals together, Tendou sparking most of their conversations for the night. Paying their bills, they stopped by the bookshop momentarily to pick up the new issue of Shōnen Jump before calling it a night.
Walking out of the store empty-handed, anticipating borrowing the redhead's copy, Ushijima paid no mind to his surroundings as he fumbled with the key to his car until he heard a comment from Tendou.
Semi and Tendou both look over at the brick wall across the street. "Who in their right mind decides to run this late at night?" Looking up from the car door, Ushijima pivots his head enough to see the topic at hand purely to observe before responding, knowing there are plenty of night runners out there, more than Tendou seemed to think. He doesn't reply, however, letting Tendou's words fall away in favor of the orange-haired male across the way.
To his utmost surprise, he knows who the runner is, standing across the street, holding himself up against the brick wall under a ray of light emitted from the post lamp above him. Something doesn't sit right with Ushijima as he analyzes the rivaling volleyball player; while he knows little to nothing about his rival, he does know that his school isn't very close. Why he's this far away from home is already a red flag in Ushijima's mind, not to mention he looks winded and out of breath, shaky and fragile compared to their fated meeting. To be blunt, he looked awful.
"Hinata Shoyo," Ushijima says to himself experimentally, as if he wasn't already convinced it was the first-year player, concern quickly growing, and adds, "he shouldn't be here this late."
"Wakatoshi-kun, you know him?" Semi asks reluctantly, but Ushijima pays his question no mind, removing the key from the door and walking across the street to greet the player civilly.
Directed at Hinata this time, Ushijima calls his name again. He doesn't respond in any form, blankly holding himself up against the wall. The captain doesn't have to finish crossing the street to confirm his skepticism, weary eyes tracing every unsightly detail as he jogs to close the distance quicker.
When Ushijima's gaze slowly finds Hinata's face, something in his gut drops hard, and so does his calm composure.
"Hinata! What the hell happened?" Ushijima exclaims with worry, trying to get anything out of the first-year student in front of him. His teammates run across the street at the outlandish outburst, nervous about the whole encounter.
Hinata's entire body shakes, and his breathing comes heavy and ragged. At first glance, the symptoms are likely from running, but Ushijima has more sense than that. The clothes Hinata wears are covered with dirt spots, and in some vital areas, darker stains clash with the off-white Karasuno long sleeve. His calves have various bruises, a few cuts spread out along his fair skin.
"Wakatoshi, what's going on? What's wrong?" The other third-years make haste away from the car and across the street, alarmed by the wounded tone in Ushijima's voice. Tendou's lighthearted, airy antics are replaced with an expression of concern akin to the one his best friend sports. As much as humor often helped ease uncomfortable tensions, he knew well enough this was not one of those times.
He's never seen Ushijima look so frantic at anything, so it wasn't hard to figure out that whoever this was made some impact on Ushijima at some point without Tendou knowing. The middle blocker has a similar reaction once looking the boy over, "Holy shit, what happened to him?!"
"Should I call an ambulance?" The silver-haired setter looks between Ushijima and Hinata, ready to reach into his pocket, moments away from getting emergency responders on speed dial. The sound of a fourth voice entering the fray makes him freeze up, looking down at the boy.
"No, please... d-don't," the plea is so faint and rough that they almost miss it, but Semi hears it and hesitates mid-reach for his phone, "I just need- to get home. I'll be okay." Hinata chokes out, tears threatening to spill over.
Hinata's disturbed equilibrium doesn't escape Ushijima's attention; he throws his hands out on instinct to keep the crow safe and upright when Hinata loses his footing. Ushijima flinches when Hinata freaks out at the innocent gesture, shoving it away from him with haste. Looking up, Hinata can't make out who is who, or if he even recognizes any of them. "Don't touch me, d-don't!" his voice is firm this time, filled with a little more life and a lot more alertness.
The three of them collectively wince at Hinata, rooted in place as they observe him. Hinata continues to shake and cry silently under the illumination of the street light, feeling overly exposed and hopeless. Ushijima's only met Hinata once, but he couldn't forget how bright he shone that day. His very being was larger than life, and for a moment, larger than Ushijima, regardless of height or stature. Hinata spoke from his core and delivered a challenging promise that enticed the captain, unusually excited for an encounter with someone he'd never even heard of before that day.
And his eyes - the sedona brown orbs that stared at him now, they were devoid of any light, stripped of their warm tones that Ushijima knew before, disturbed by how significant a change this was. That warmth was a part of Hinata and the personality Ushijima was met with; it only made sense that the captain found disappointment in the lack of luminosity.
"We should get you to a hospital, Hinata," Ushijima tries again verbally, careful not to overdo it with the boy. He just shakes his head back and forth with a pained expression.
"I can't, p-please," Hinata repeats himself. If he has to, he'll run again; he won't be taken again.
"Okay, then what can we do for you right now?" Semi offers cautiously, exchanging looks with his friends. This situation turned dire faster than they could've seen it coming.
Hinata stands there for a minute, thinking about the offer. "I don't k-know where I am," Hinata laughs subconsciously, though it comes out more as a huff for air, "how do I get b-back to Karumai from here?"
Tendou gasps, alarmed at the reveal of his hometown, "That is way too far for you right now, Hinata-kun, it'd take you all night to get back in your condition!" Ushijima and Semi frown, but nod in agreement.
"I'm used to r-running, I can make it," Hinata breathes out and pushes himself completely upright, reluctantly removing his arm from the wall. His body is screaming at him, his legs and arms on fire from the running and the pain that shoots up and down, but he does his best to remain intact in front of the three blurry figures.
"You sure? Cause you're in Sendai right now, and it's night. I don't think any of us would make it without some repercussions," Tendou challenges, and Hinata deflates when he remembers what's in Sendai.
"Oh," he mumbles, beginning to feel his systems shut down. His mind is frayed, panicked, but his body won't respond, "Shiratorizawa is in S-Sendai, isn't it?"
"Does he not realize who you are, Wakatoshi-kun?" Semi asks, beginning to connect some unpleasant dots as the event unfolds. The captain remains there, completely focused on the boy in front of him, and Semi assumes the boy doesn't.
"I'm s-sorry, you're a b-bit blurry right now," Hinata confesses, "but that name sounds... familiar-" before he can finish his statement, Hinata's legs give in, and Ushijima's sharp focus pays off again when he catches the newly unconscious first-year before he hits the ground.
"Shit!" Semi and Tendou swear in unison, doing what they can to support the two of them. "This is bad, Wakatoshi-kun. What do we do?!" Semi cries, trying to be gentle with the boy.
"He wouldn't refuse the hospital unless there was a good reason to do so," is what Ushijima hopes is the case, but still claims as much to his teammates. Hoisting Hinata and his dead weight up into his arms, he hands Tendou the keys. "However, we are taking him to the hospital."
Semi looks baffled, never once anticipating this was how he'd spend his night out. While Tendou gets the car ready for the four of them, Semi racks his brain for more ideas as they approach the car. Without much information, they had nothing available to contact his family with. "Wakatoshi-kun, is there a way to call one of his teammates?"
"There's nothing they'll be able to do about it at this hour. We don't have any of their numbers either, so there are no other options. Once we get him into the right hands, someone will be able to help him." Ushijima isn't about to back down after seeing Hinata in such a state. He knows the boy didn't just trip, fall, or scrape his knee. Someone did this to him, and the thought disgusts Ushijima.
Semi knows better than to challenge Ushijima's judgment and follows him to the car, opening the door for him to gently place Hinata in the backseat. Semi sat in the back with Hinata, resting his head full of orange curls in his lap while keeping an eye on him the entire way to the hospital.
Ushijima is a careful driver, more often than not following all traffic laws down to the t. But this once, he felt the urgency to pick up the pace, a terrible feeling clouding over him each moment he knew that Hinata was not okay. The drive of what should have been close to twenty minutes was cut in half, arriving within minutes of picking the boy up.
"Stay with him." Ushijima is already out of the car by the time Tendou and Semi pay mind to anything other than Hinata, checking for the subtle rise and fall of his chest. Time moves quickly thanks to the adrenaline rush, refusing to ease the worry weighing on all of their shoulders. It isn't long before Ushijima comes running back, opening the rear passenger side door, opposite to where Semi sat with the boy's mess of orange curls in his lap.
Carefully leaning into the car, he scoops Hinata up from under the knees and around the shoulders, briefly brushing against the setter as he picks him up from the seat. Planting himself firmly, Ushijima adjusts his hold on Hinata once out of the car, securing the boy in his arms protectively.
Shutting the engine off, Tendou locks up the car and jogs his way towards the entrance of the hospital, where Semi and Ushijima wait inside. The middle blocker arrives just in time to see the captain assist the medical personnel in placing the boy on a mobile hospital bed before being wheeled behind steel doors.
Despite avoiding volleyball for the night, the boys were just as out of breath as usual, heavy and pulling in as much oxygen as their lungs could. One of the receptionists has to gently suggest they take a seat in the waiting room, offering sincere sympathy for the boy and the three who had to bring him in like that.
Ushijima drops into the hard cushion, staring down at the hand adorned with a dried streak of blood on the skin between his thumb and index finger, where he had picked Hinata up under the knees. Sat in between his teammates, their conversation is lost to the static in his ears, silencing any attention directed his way. No one could ever anticipate such a devastating affair - certainly not Ushijima. Eyes stuck on the dirtied skin of his hands, he's torn between succumbing to his curiosity and imagination, or running from the problem as long as he could, afraid to confront his worst fears.
Spotting a bathroom further into the waiting room, Ushijiima wordlessly gets up and treks away from his confounded teammates, shutting himself behind the men's door with an audible click.
Tendou couldn't help but worry about his two best friends. This would undoubtedly put a strain on practice tomorrow, not to mention their usual carefree routine during school. Whoever Hinata was to Ushijima, Tendou didn't envy how his captain must have felt about everything.
"Do you think he'll be alright?" Semi asks lowly, leaning into Tendou's space for discretion.
Tendou frowns at the vague question. "Who? Wakatoshi, or the kid?"
"Well... Both, I suppose. But I meant Hinata-kun."
A deep sigh falls from Tendou's lips, uncertain of the severity of his ailments. "Better to stay positive than to assume the worst, right?" There were an awful lot of cuts and blood for it to have been a casual accident; anyone with common sense could see that. The kid's plea to keep him away from the hospital came full circle, wondering how the boy would react upon waking up in the hospital.
Wincing, Tendou can only reassure himself in thought. It was for his own good.
-
Ushijima has yet to do anything about the blood stain on his left hand. Gripping the sink in both hands, Ushijima stares at himself in the mirror. An unsettling emotion bubbles within, derailing his train of thought, wrecking his usual composure.
Why tonight of all nights? Why at all? There were so many questions swimming in his head, and it showed on the perplexed expression staring back at him. All he could focus on was the remnants of blood on his hand.
He would have preferred the blood belonged to whoever did this to Hinata, rather than the grim truth he was faced with.
In all actuality, Ushijima had no obligation to stay or keep an interest in the well-being of his rival. He could round up the other two and call it a night, driving them back to the dorm for what little sleep they might get before doing it all over again, this time replacing any heart-wrenching incidents with more volleyball.
He shows a great amount of self restraint when he doesn't damage his hands or any public property while in the confines of the restroom, instead choosing to take a deep breath, thoroughly rinse and soak his hand free of blood until the skin becomes unusually sensitive to the hot water running over the same spot.
Ushijima comes back in one piece, thoughts collected and composure reinstated. Displaying a calm mannerism, he insists they take his car back to the school with little room for argument. Someone had to stick around when any news emerged, and it only made sense that it was him.
With skepticism and resistance, they agree on the condition that Ushijima hail a cab back in time to get some sleep before practice. There was no guarantee, but to satisfy them for the time being, he agreed, handing over the key for them to take leave.
"Wakatoshi-kun," Semi brings his attention back to him, "we'll need to get someone's number tomorrow. He might miss practice and school, and I'm sure his family's gonna be worried sick if they aren't already," the captain nods with a frown, planning to ask the coach for Karasuno's contact information if the care team runs into a dead end before Hinata wakes up.
"What matters now is he's safe. Let's start with that," Ushijima reassures the setter. Semi does his best to get over his nerves, but it's still a lot to handle, and Ushijima understands.
"Don't worry, Semi-Semi, Wakatoshi-kun'll watch after the kid," Tendou chirps, doing his part to lighten the mood for all of them. If the comment hadn't made Semi feel just slightly better, he would've scolded Tendou for the ridiculous nickname.
Saying their goodbyes, Ushijima ushers them outside, reassuring their concerns for the last time. There was no telling what direction his night would head, and if necessary, their coach would have to excuse his tardiness if that's what it came down to.
Missing one practice wouldn't change the result of the tournament, but for Hinata's sake, it might make all the difference.
-
