Rain

Chapter Four

TW - cursing/slurs, mention of blood/abuse, bullying, rape

You know that moment in a volleyball game, when a player jumps up to spike the ball, the set having been perfect, and the other team's blockers misread the play, being only a half second too late to stop the ball from making its way over the net. A perfect opening for the player spiking the ball to score a point, with no way the other team's players would pick it up.

As the dark haired boy's hand traveled farther up the libero's chest, and the grips on his arms and legs slackened, giving their friend room to continue his attack on the smaller boy, Nishinoya saw an opportunity.

Jerking his leg up quickly, the libero delivered a sharp kick to the other boy's privates, all the while giving a shameless lick to the blond boy's hand. Howling in pain, the ravenhead fell to the side, rolling into the blond, who had removed his hand from Noya's face in disgust.

Noya wasted no time in shooting up and sprinting from the room, not even thinking of all the stuff he left behind.

He had made it maybe halfway down the hall before two of the boys caught up with him. One grabbed him by the back of his shirt, jerking him around to face him. He swiftly drew back his fist and landed a punch right to the boy's jaw.

Asahi got to school earlier than usual, allowing him to spend some time in the library working on some school projects and getting assignments done. Sometimes the amount of work they were assigned felt like a heavy weight on his shoulders, threatening to crush his lungs. Being able to sit in the silent, empty school building with no one around to disturb the peace of the early morning felt refreshing.

In this time, Asahi was able to finish more work in a shorter amount of time than ever before which was good because now his free blocks were filled with tutoring his tiny friend, not that the ace would ever complain about it though.

Nishinoya truly made the tall boy happy, helping him to make it through the day whether or not the libero was aware of it.

This is why it practically caused Asahi physical pain to see the dark bruises all across Nishinoya's body, poorly concealed by the baggie Karasuno Volleyball hoodie as he quietly made his way to their usual table.

As soon as the small boy took his seat, Asahi was on top of him, startling the libero with how fast he was at his side.

"What happened, Nishinoya?" The brunette practically gasped, gently pushing back his friend's hood, revealing an intensely bruised jaw, a black eye, and several scratches across the boy's face.

Asahi gently caressed the boy's face, tenderly taking his bruised cheeks in his hand. It truly was a good thing that they were in one of the back corners of the library, allowing Nishinoya some privacy while in his vulnerable state.

Still looking down, the normally eager boy stuttered out, "I-it's really nothing, I swear." The poor kid was absolutely shaking.

"What did your teachers say?" At this point, Asahi was either going to cry on behalf of his friend struggling to keep it together, or burn down the school in a fit of rage trying to find out who did this to his libero.

Tears were now escaping Nishinoya's hot chocolate eyes. "I never made it to any classes. They... they locked me in the storage closet for an hour and the janitor had to let me out. After that... I just kind of hid..." His voice was so quiet that Asahi, who was bent down right in front of him, could barely hear him.

"Who did?" The ace couldn't keep the look of disgust from his face as his gaze lingered upon each individual mark that was left uninvited on the younger boy's face.