A Life Without The Sun

Sundown

It had been just over two weeks since the game. 16 days. In those 16 days, Hinata's health had declined dramatically.

Kageyama gazed in disbelief at the figure laying on the hospital bed in front of him. His skin was blotched on his arms and legs, and it seemed as though his lips were slowly turning a shade of greyish-blue. He had wasted away into skin and bones, all the muscle he had acquired from volleyball disintegrating. Whenever he was awake, his eyelids would move slowly over his eyes, as if even the mere act of doing that pained him.

The only thing that kept him sane was the beeping of the heart monitor, and the sound of the oxygen tank puffing whenever he took a breath in.
Kageyama had started to skip school most days, and spent all day watching over Hinata. He wouldn't have been able to bear it if something happened and no one was there. Hinata's mother had refused to go visit him anymore, saying she didn't want to put Natsu through it. And while Kageyama thought this was extremely selfish of her, as his eyes glanced up and down Hinata's shell, he genuinely couldn't blame her thought process.

Kageyama raised a hand to his eye and wiped away some sleep that had accumulated there. He refused to fall asleep in the hospital, even though he was there most of the time. Instead, he occupied his brain with volleyball magazines that he borrowed from Noya, or some sudoku. Sometimes he would hum a familiar tune to himself, both to comfort himself and Hinata if he was listening, though he doubted this.

Flicking through the latest addition to his magazine collection, he let out a huge sigh and launched it across the room. Placing his hands over his face, he let out a quiet sob.

After all this time, he still couldn't comprehend that this was happening to Hinata. His Hinata. No, he couldn't say that. He didn't have the right. Everytime someone had mentioned anything about him and Hinata being an item, he shunned them, denying it all. What kind of person does that? A pang of guilt rushed throughout his whole body, and caused his heart to skip a few beats. He didn't have the courage or willpower to admit it to Hinata himself, even if he was in this sorry state. Actually it was because he was in this sorry state that he couldn't admit it to him.

God, he wished that this would all disappear. That he'd wake up in a cold sweat in his bed, eyes widened and lungs bursting, and realise that it was all just an awful nightmare. But he knew that wouldn't happen.

He had begged to every single deity out there to take him instead of Hinata. He had done absolutely nothing wrong, and he was too pure to be taken out of this world in such a horrendous manner. Nobody deserved this. But if it meant that Hinata could live, he would gladly switch places with him in a heartbeat.

He reached out a hand to Hinata and wrapped his fingers around his cold palm. Bending his head in shame, he continued to cry, unable to stop himself. That was until he felt Hinata's skinny hand squeeze the soft flesh of his own.

Lifting up his head, he was met with the half open eyes of Hinata.
"I...really hope...you're n-not crying...over me."

He forced his eyelids open and a feeble smile appeared on his face, accompanied with the furrowing of his brow, reminding him that he was in fact in pain.

"Heh, of course not." Kageyama replied, casting him a warm smile as payback for the millions of times Hinata had gave him one, and wiping his sparkling tears away.

Moving his shaky hand to his head, he grimaced and asked Kageyama to pass him some painkillers. Doing as instructed, he picked up a couple of tablets from his ever-growing collection and placed them into his mouth.

"Thank you...Tobi."

"No problem."

"W-wow...no smart re-remark...eh?"

"Well Tobi is growing on me, I guess."

Hinata stared at Kageyama. In his heart, he knew that he loved him. With his whole being, he understood that his soulmate was sitting right next to him, watching him slowly die. They couldn't be together, at least not for long.
It seemed to him, that they were puzzle pieces that fitted together perfectly - the only issue was that they weren't pieces from the same puzzle. They were meant to be, but also, never meant to be. At least, he thought, they were both sat under the same sun, in the same room, with the same feelings he assumed.

"Come and...lie here with...me."

Kageyama raised one eyebrow in confusion, but didn't hesitate to gently clamber onto the bed next to him. He held him in the same position he had done all those months ago in Honolulu, before any of this madness had occurred. When life was normal.

He closed his eyes and memories flooded his brain. The first time they scored using their quick attack. The first time they met. When they started warming up together. He realised that Hinata was everything. He encapsulated his whole life.

Hinata's glow was fading. Fast.

"H-Hey Tobi...when you're older what...what...do you want to do?" Hinata whispered.

"I'm not sure. I'd love to continue playing volleyball. Playing in the Olympics would be the real dream I guess. But...I wouldn't do it if i wasn't with you." He couldn't help his voice cracking when he said that last sentence.

Hinata took a big breath in and simply said, "I see."

After lying there in silence for 10 minutes, Kageyama felt Hinata breathe out a huge sigh, but didn't feel him taking another breath in. He sat up quickly, and shook the pile of bones that lay next to him.
Hinata turned his head towards Kageyama with tears in his eyes.

"C-could you...sing me...me...that song you a-a-always...hum?"

A whine left Kageyama's throat, half out of pure relief and due to the request Hinata had just made. He placed a hand over his mouth, hiding his quivering bottom lip.
Kageyama nodded, and lay back down next to Hinata, pulling him close to his chest.

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.
You make me happy, when skies are grey.
You'll never know, dear, how much...I-I love you.
Please don't take my sunshine away."

Kageyama buried his face into the nook of Hinata's neck and quietly cried.

'He said it.'

Tears dropped from Hinata's eyes, a shuddering sigh escaping his lungs. He was beautiful. Everything about him, Hinata thought, was perfect.

"T-Tobi...I lo-"

The door swung open and in walked the green-eyed nurse with a couple of needles and a clipboard.

"Sorry fellas. I have to do Shoyo's bloods now. You should be getting home, dear, it's very late you know."

In a panic, he leapt off the bed and collected his things, ready to leave. Just as he was going out the door, he heard a delicate voice call his name.
He turned his head around to Hinata.

"You remind me of a sunset."