A Life Without The Sun

Sudden Consternation

As soon as they walked onto the court, the crowd started to roar with excitement. All this attention instantly rushed to Tanaka and Nishinoya's tiny brains, and they proceeded to perform some sort of victory chant in front of TV camera.

Kageyama and Hinata both warmed up together. It was a ritual they had before a game, they thought that this was the best way to get truly in sync with eachother.

Sat down on the floor, they stretched out their legs into a near split position, and leaned themselves forward, elongating their spines. They then both gave eachother sports massages, loosening the knots that had formed in their backs and shoulders overnight.

As they were warming up, Kageyama stared at Hinata's already red face. In particular, he looked at his eyes. The golden quality of his iris's that usually glowed before a game like the sun seemed just a little dimmer today.
He narrowed his eyes slightly, and wondered why this was the case, but before he could get too into his thoughts, the referee blew his whistle twice, indicating that it was time for them to line up.

The Polish team were extremely intimidating. Not one of them was below 5'10 in height, and the definition in their muscles was striking. It was hard to believe they were indeed high schoolers like Karasuno.

But not once did Karasuno think to themselves that they would lose.

"Thank you for the game!" Both teams shouted in English, and being respectful towards the Japanese team, the Polish bowed towards them. This honestly filled them with delight, as they knew just from that action that they were a genuine team.

Daichi shook hands with the opposing teams captain, Eryk Korda, who gave him a warm smile and patted his back.

Both teams got into position, with Karasuno having the first serve. Kageyama was up to serve first. The whistle blew, and he took a couple of deep breaths before he threw the ball up in the air, determined to pull off a service ace right off the bat to intimidate them.

But just as he was about to hit the ball, his eyes drifted to Hinata who was stood just in front of him. In midair, he noticed how his small body was shaking slightly, and thought back to the hotel and how he had embraced him to stop it.

'Something is wrong with him.' He thought to himself, before finally hitting the ball. It just went over the net, and Poland's libero managed to receive it just in time, ready for their setter to prepare the ball for the spiker.

Up it went, and with a bang, the ball was slammed over to Japan's side. Daichi managed to receive it just in time, passing it over to Tanaka who then proceeded to toss it to Kageyama.

Ukai smiled to himself on the bench.
'That's right, let's shock them with our freak attack straight away.' He thought, tapping his finger on his knee with excitement.

Kageyama got under the ball and prepared to toss it to Hinata who he could hear was running up behind him. He focused on the sound of his footsteps to determine when to set it, and launched it behind his head with superhuman speed.

But the next thing he heard wasn't the whack of Hinata's palm hitting the volleyball, but rather a crash and then the ball bouncing away behind him.

He instantly turned to look at what caused it, and saw Hinata on his hands and knees.
His head was hanging, and his elbows were slightly shaking as he supported himself. Kageyama quickly slid next to him, placing a hand on his back. Immediately he noticed his t-shirt was already drenched with sweat, and they were literally one point into the game.

"Hinata what's wrong?" Kageyama gasped, lifting up a lock of Hinata's hair that was hanging over his eyes.
Ukai was stood up with his hands over his mouth, and the rest of the team kneeled down next to him apart from Tsukki and Yamaguchi who stood impatiently behind the group.

Letting out a parched cough, Hinata looked up into Kageyama's eyes.
"I...I...just slipped!!" He chortled, holding a hand to his ribs and slamming the floor with a fist. The rest of the team started laughing too, Asahi and Suga letting out a huge exhalation of pent-up breath.

"God Shoyo, don't do that!" Nishinoya laughed, patting him on the back and helping him back up.

But Kageyama bit the inside of his lip with worry. He knew that he didn't just slip. There was no way he would miss his first spike in any game, never mind the final of the Internationals!

"Hinata y-you look like you could do with a drink. Why don't you-"

"No, honestly I'm fine Kageyama!" He interrupted, bouncing up and down to prove he was now stable.

"But maybe if you just-"

"I said I'm fine alright?" His eyes were now squinting towards Kageyama, his fists clenched out of frustration. The setters eyes widened, and then the whistle blew again, breaking up the intense aura radiating from the two of them.

-

Japan had taken the first set, 25-23. They had a five minute break to catch their breath and discuss battle plans. Tsukishima was hunched on the bench with a towel around his neck, with Tadashi perched next to him, reassuring him how good he was doing with his blocking. The third years were huddled together, honestly just enjoying the moment as this would probably be their final game, and Nishinoya and Tanaka stood with the forgotten trio, gulping on their water bottles and chuckling at different moments.

While all of them were out of breath, Kageyama noticed that Hinata was unusually out of breath. Each inhale was a little unsteady and sounded a tad wheezy too. Yes, he had been running about a lot more thanks to Poland's impressive defence, but this was something the setter had never seen before.

"Hinata?"

The ginger haired boy glanced towards him, his nostrils flaring with every breath he took and his hands gripping the bench for dear life.

"Cut the crap. You're not okay are you?"

"I've told you I'm f-"

"Shoyo. I won't tell the coach if you just tell me. You seem to be functioning fine for now, just please tell me." He reached out his hand towards Hinata's and intertwined his fingers with his.

"I...honestly I'm not sure. I've felt a bit strange for a few weeks now. But like you said, it doesn't effect me much! I just go a little dizzy that's all! I'm probably just not eating enough iron or something." He beamed at Kageyama, his cheeks slightly blushing at the feeling of Kageyama's touch.

"Right. Well...if you get any worse during the game, I'll notice. Don't think I won't. And then I will be telling coach."

Not really knowing how to argue with him, he simply nodded his head slightly and then rolled his eyes.

"Okay! Let's win this se-"

Kageyama raised his eyebrow at Hinata's hesitation and watched as the boy who was just about to go back onto the court froze in the spot he was in. His head titled slightly but then his mouth opened in shock.

Hinata's eyes filled with tears as he ran out of the huge stadium, leaving behind a small puddle of urine next to Kageyama's feet.