Red Winter - /Haikyuu/

8. Diamond in the Rough

Shapes swirled around Hinata's eyes, an unforgiving pain blooming in his body as he swung around. The sounds of Sergeant's rage filled muttering was muffled, the floor beneath him starting to seem oddly welcoming. He couldn't focus, not on what he was seeing, and not on his thoughts.

After a dizzying few minutes, he felt Sergeant drop him harshly on the floor of a small room, his head ringing as it made contact with the ground. Hinata spotted a camera propped on a table, but other than that, the room was barren. A horrible fear had its icy claws on his heart, squeezing and holding Hinata hostage. He stared up at Sergeant's looming figure, eyes catching on the evil smirk.

"What are you gonna do to me?" Hinata moaned in panic, squirming as much as he could. As he made a movement, the pain in his stomach only heightened, causing Hinata to stop moving around. Sergeant laughed, the sound stabbing and raucous. "What is the camera for?!"

"Well, you see..." Sergeant drawled our his syllables, accentuating the end of 'see'. "The camera is there so I can have this moment forever, and watch it back whenever I want." He explained in a tone of pure glee. Sergeant went to the camera and started to record, setting it back down before coming back over to Hinata. Hinata scrambled backwards, his head hitting the wall with a thud. There was nowhere he could run, nowhere he could hide. Sergeant's cruel face looked upon him as he drew closer.

Hinata closed his eyes, but quickly opened them as Sergeant roughly grabbed him by the neck and lifted him up, his feet kicking in the air hopelessly. He couldn't breathe. Sergeant made a fist, and delivered a harsh blow to Hinata's face. Hinata desperately scratched at Sergeant's hands, trying to pry them off of his neck.

"Don't worry, shorty, I don't want you to die yet. How could I let you miss out on all the fun we're going to have?" Sergeant laughed again, the sound harsh and crazy. Sergeant's grip on his neck loosened and before Hinata had the chance to take a big gulp of air, he threw Hinata back to the floor, before continuously kicking him in the stomach. Sergeant got on top of him and started pummeling his face. Sharp agony pierced every bone in his body as he lay there, defenseless against the beating.

"Please." Hinata groaned. "Please stop." He lifted his hands, trying to protect his face from the punches coming his way. Sergeant just wouldn't stop, and he got back up and lifted Hinata up with him. Sergeant held him up by the collar, before delivering the final blow to Hinata's face. Hinata felt his consciousness start to slip between his fingers, but he held on to it tightly as his vision started to shrink. He heard his pleas still pass through his mouth, and he heard Sergeant's sick-in-the-head laughter.

Sergeant dragged him by his hair out of the room and back to the hall of cells. He opened the door to the hallway and casually dragged Hinata's limp body along as if it were as trivial as a suitcase. Hinata's entire body was searing with pain that only worsened as Sergeant chucked him in his cell, his body colliding with the floor. He blinked slowly as Sergeant's footsteps faded and the door clanged, signaling he had left. Hinata could barely comprehend anything other than the stinging, tender feeling of pain.

"Hinata?" He heard what sounded like Kageyama.

"Oh, god." Sugawara.

"What? What's wrong?" Oikawa.

"What happened to him?" Iwaizumi.

"Grr." A red.

Hinata laughed deliriously at this. The reds sounded like dogs. His laughter quickly turned into heavy sobs, his body trembling with the effort to even breathe. His chest heaved as the tears dripped down his face and sobs racked his body with a ruthlessness. Hinata rolled onto his side, cheek scraping against the stone as he faced the other boys. A dull throbbing worked its way into his body, and he stayed as still as he could.