25

The moment Kageyama left the hospital room, the only thing going through his mind was on how he was gonna escape this place.

"Well it was definitely nice of Kageyama to stop by," the doctor said. "But like he said you are not going to play in the game tomorrow."

"And for gosh's sake," Nurse Hisakawa said."Stop standing, go lay down. You're going to get hurt."

Hinata stood as tall as he could. "Look at me, I'm fine."

"Like I said- stop lying to me," Dr. Sukodu said. "I can't believe I fell for it the first time. We have tried to let you go but there doesn't seem to be anything we can do. We're thinking of doing surgery in a week."

This was the first time Hinata saw the doctor genuinely angry. It was terrifying, but at this moment nothing was stopping him from wanting to leave. Trying to convince them definitely wasn't going to work.

He was going to have to use force.

The nurse turned to her colleague. "Yes, a few scientists are actually going to come on Friday to come check you out." She looked back at Hinata. "They're some of the brightest people I know, if anyone can figure out how to help you, it's them."

"Right," Hinata replied, half-heartedly. He searched for any way out.

"Alright go sit down kiddo," Sukodu muttered. He moved forward to guide Hinata back to his stretcher.

In that moment, he saw a box of scalpels (surgery knives) on the counter nearby. In a panicked motion he leaped towards it and tried to open it. His fingers were fumbling in a panic, and he couldn't get the box open.

"Hey, what are you doing!"

His plan was the least bit clear or detailed, but he was going to try it. He had no choice. He finally was able to figure out where to open it and he grabbed on of the sharp blades and held it to his neck.

The two medical professionals were at a loss of words. "Shouyou!"

"If you come near me I'm going to slit my throat." Hinata's voice shaked, and his heart raced quicker by the second.

"Calm down," Sukodu cautioned. "You don't know what you're doing."

"I sure as hell do! I'm sick of adults and everyone telling me what to do." Hinata wish he could sound confident but his voice came out weird and quiet.

The nurse took a small step towards him and Hinata could feel the adrenaline filling his entire body.

"Get away from me!" He held the knife closer to his throat.

"Put it down," Sudoku commanded. "It's just us, Hinata."

"If you come closer to me I will kill myself."

"Why would you want to do this?" Hisakawa breathed. "Hinata you have a future, you have so much potential. Think this through."

"I won't do it if you let me leave," Hinata urged on.

The nurse shook her head. "I can't allow that."

Hinata gripped the scalpel tighter and his breath quickened. At first he only wanted to threaten them so he could leave, but all the emotions rushing to him made him so so close to actually ending his life.

"Put down the knife." The doctor's tone was threatening and scaring the heck out of Hinata, but he wouldn't lose.

"No."

"Put down the fucking knife!" The exclaim made Hinata hold the blade closer and it touched his neck this time causing a bit of blood to drip out.

"Hinata!"

"Back off!" Hinata yelled. He stumbled a bit, but caught himself.

And finally after a moment of hesitation, the two moved back reluctantly. Without taking his eyes off of them he slowly opened the door and walked backwards. Only when he was a safe distance away did he turn and take off.

He was still in his hospital clothes so everyone turned to look at him in confusion, as he sprinted through the halls and out the door. He didn't let go of the scalpel, as he still had a use for them.

As well, the thought of ending his life was still in his mind.

His legs were well rested, but a lingering pain stayed with it. For a moment he was clueless. He had no clue on how he was going to get to Tokyo, or what he was going to do afterwards.

He looked down at the knife in his hand. He was going to have to threaten someone who cared enough about him.

And so he walked.

There was no other choice.

A step at a time he walked to his destination. He felt the stares on him, and he had to make sure no one was after him.

Step by step he reached the familiar house. He had to check again to be sure he was at the right place.

And he knocked, a bit too aggressively but he was exhausted. And in a moment the door swung open.

"Hinata!?"

"Hey Satou-san."

"Hinata you're bleeding!"

"Not that much, but I will be if you don't help me." And in a quick motion Hinata held the knife close to his throat as a demonstration.

Satou Noboru took a moment to take in the scene. He stared at Hinata's broken and battered stature. His face was messed up, and his eyes were pleading and filled with gloom and desperation.

A knife in one hand and the other in a clenched fist. He didn't even seem like he could stand up for any longer.

"What do you need me to do?"

☆☆☆

Satou helped retrieve Hinata's uniform and some clothes from his home. He fed him and cleaned his wound and patched him up. All the while, Hinata could barely stay awake, but he wouldn't let go of the scalpel.

After taking a shower (while still holding his knife, proving to be a difficult way to shower), Satou let him sleep in his bed, and he would sleep on the couch.

At first Hinata insisted that he wouldn't fall asleep because he claimed he knew Satou would take him back the moment he did. But eventually he couldn't help it as his eyelids drooped.

As he laid in bed, he looked up at Satou. "Why are you helping me, if you're not gonna turn me back in."

"Because there's no point, Shouyou-chan," Satou replied softly. "Nothing's gonna stop you from trying to do, because nothing stops you. It's what I always admired about you, but who knew it would go to this extent?"

Hinata felt tears threatening to leak out of his eyes. "I'm sorry, Satou-san."

"I care for you, and I want the best for you." Satou said.

"I still can't believe you're helping me... you're such a Mary Sue."

"I'll take it as a compliment," Satou said. "Doesn't it mean when a character is annoyingly perfect?"

Hinata nodded. "Yup."

Satou chuckled. "I think it's a term for females."

"No it can apply to guys too." Hinata replied, obviously exhausted.

"Sleep alright? I'll take you to Tokyo at dawn."

"Thanks Satou," Hinata felt the tears stream down his face. "Thank you so much..."

And in the moonlight, Hinata caught a glimpse of his friend's face. He was smiling, but tears were streaming down his face as well. Taking in a shaky breath, Satou looked at Hinata again. Hinata could tell he was giving his all to put on a brave smile, but tears were rolling down his cheeks non-stop. Despite all this, he was still handsome as ever.

"I want the sunshine I knew to come back."

Without another word, he walked out of the room. And Hinata was alone in the dark with his thoughts. It wasn't long before he fell asleep, and his grip was finally released from the knife.

At one point of the night he was half awoken by Satou as he felt the knife being taken away from his hand. And Hinata felt himself try to protest, but Satou hushed him and Hinata fell back into unconsciousness.

☆☆☆

As promised, Satou woke Hinata up, and they hopped on his car with everything he needed for a few days. Wordlessly, Satou drove to Tokyo.

The ride was peaceful but it felt a lot longer than the last time he went to Tokyo on someone else's car. But Tanaka's sister was really a crazy driver.

And as they reached the gymnasium, Hinata was in a state of disbelief. He couldn't believe he was here, but also wasn't sure how he was going to approach his team.

"One advice, ditch the knife," Satou coached. "It's not going to work on them."

"Why not?"

"Well it's also nationals and there's a lot of security guards so one of them is gonna tackle you. They also won't let you play, and send you off to a mental hospital."

"Right." He was at a loss of words again for Satou.

Might as well start off with gratitude. But Satou raised a hand to stop him.

"Hey don't mention it okay?"

Hinata wasn't satisified. "You went to such extents to do this for me though."

"You're not wrong, but I'd do it all over again for you."

"Why?" Hinata questioned.

For a second, Satou's expression crumbled. He looked lost, and cleared his throat. "Because it's you."

"That doesn't answer-"

"Head in, you're already late."

Hinata nodded and hurried in, but he felt the longing stare on his back as he walked into the gymnasium.

It took him a second to find the right court, and make his way there.

He came to see Nishinoya receiving a hard serve from the other team.

"Darn, sorry it's a bit long!"

Hinata watched in admiration as Kageyama set up the ball for Tsukishima to hit. Tsukishima hit it an unsually high point, and the other's team's blockers were useless.

Hinata couldn't help but wish he was that tall. The things he could do.

Eventually Takeda called for a time out, and the team strutted back.

"This is not the time to break down, it's fricking Nationals!" Sugawara yelled, with obvious built-up frustration. "You guys need to get it together, and not feel sorry for yourselves.

But Kageyama had noticed Hinata, and soon everyone looked to where Kageyama's attention was, and they all started at him.

"Seems you guys are having a bit of trouble without me," Hinata said nervously.

Coach Ukai looked angrier than ever, and most of the team was in disbelief.

"Please, I know you all must be irritated that I'm here," Hinata said. "But I'd rather die than let you all down."

"You're absurd!" Kageyama exclaimed.

"You know I am," Hinata scoffed. "And I'm going to keep fighting, and I'll until there's no breath left inside of me!"

"Why?" This was the only word that could come out of the angry coach's mouth.

"I didn't train my butt of, even going so far as to train with the girls team to lose right now to my own body. I went through too much for me to stop."

"Yeah but still-" Takeda said, still certain of his answer. But as he looked towards Ukai he was in disbelief. "You're not really considering on putting him in are you?"

"We have no choice senseii." Coach Ukai hesitated.

"Yes we do! We are the ones that get to choose."

"Are we?" Coach Ukai looked him in the eye, and Takeda looked back at Hinata.

And he knew there was no way he could deny the middle blocker.

A/N: I cried while writing this chapter.  But wow a quick update!