A Field of Dandelions (KageHina)

21: the beginning of the end

"Why'd you wanna meet here?" Kageyama asked Hinata, as he strolled up to the field the shorter boy was already at. He walked with his hands in his pockets as Shoyo looked like a spec of orange dust in the humongous field he was standing in. "And how'd your treatment go?" He walked over to the smaller boy, hugging him in his arms.

"It was so so, and I just wanted to see you." Hinata meekly smiled, clutching onto the back of Tobio's shirt.
The smaller boy's actions were odd. It was like he was keeping something from Kageyama, but the taller boy didn't notice it. "Anyways, come on!" He suddenly brightened up, even brightening the dark night, dragging Kageyama into the field.

They ran into the field like they did last time, and they both crashed onto the soft but prickly grass beneath them.
There was barely any light in the dark fields, but the moonlight gave them a pretty dim sight of the dandelions in front of them. They were both looking up at the twinkling stars above them, pointing out and connecting them.

"Hey Kageyama, can I ask you something?" Hinata turned his head, so he was facing the boy who was still looking up at the night sky. Tobio nodded, but he was still looking up. "What if I told you that I'm actually scared of dying?" He sighed, asking a question that made Kageyama's head jerk towards him.

"Well, are you?" Kageyama looked at Hinata with an expressive look on his face. He was wondering why the smaller boy would ask something like this but, he had a faint idea on why.

Hinata never had a fear of dying from his illness. Of course, he loved volleyball, he loved his friends, and he loved his family. So those were some things he'd miss of course. But for some reason, there was still some sort of emptiness within him. And all of those technical reasons for living didn't matter as much as it should've. He knew people would be hurt if he died. He knew that people would mourn his death.

But he didn't care.

Except...
Now there's someone who had subconsciously filled that emptiness. That void that couldn't be filled no matter how many people he surrounded himself with. Someone had just came and filled it like pouring concrete into a crack in the sidewalk.

Finding that person had both its positives and negatives.

On the positive side, he found someone that loved him. Someone who filled that emptiness.But that was also a downside to all of it.

Because now, he felt like his illness wasn't even there.
Kageyama gave the shorter boy a purpose to live...a distraction. A purpose that he might not even be able to fulfill. And what hurt the most, was the fact that he couldn't promise the taller boy the world. He couldn't promise to grow old with him. Or spend the rest of his life with him.

With that, the fear of dying grew irrational by the day, as he fought so hard to stay on this earth.

"It's because of you, Kageyama." Hinata sadly chuckled, looking deep into Tobio's eyes. "You're the reason I've become so weary of dying. Something I never thought I would ever feel." He raised his palm, placing it onto Kageyama's cheek.

A single tear.
A single tear traveled down Hinata's cheek.

"So you're telling me, you were perfectly fine with dying if I wasn't together with you right now?" Kageyama frowned, lifting his thumb to wipe away that single droplet of water on Hinata's face. Once again, this caused the shorter boy to laugh, despite feeling dread inside of himself.

"Yeah, totally would've." Hinata laughed, just lying there with both of their hands on each other's cheeks.
The tears wouldn't stop coming out of Shoyo's eyes, as he just laid there. It was a mix of being overwhelmed by happiness, and both sorrow. But all Kageyama had to do was dry the tears off of the smaller boy's face, and he felt like everything would be okay. 'I never want this to end.' He sadly smiled, looking at the boy who turned his gaze back up to the stars.

Every story has to end at some point, Hinata.

The next day...

The plans the two boys made was to visit a new cafe that was opening. Opposing the weather from yesterday, it was pouring down cats and dogs. Kageyama walked over to the cafe with his black coat, and umbrella in hand.
Hinata told him that he'd meet him there since there was something he had to do first.

"Welcome to Dream Cafe, where all your hopes and dreams come true!" The worker spoke out her cheesy line that was required from all of them. The exterior was a minimalist one, but the interior was on a whole nother level.

There were cotton clouds dangling from the ceiling, as it was the source of light from the fairylights that was attached inside the cotton. The counters, and the seats were an eggshell white, while the tables were made out of glass with small decals on it. It looked like the decals were stars, and clouds symbolizing the day and the night sky all in one.

People were filling in all of the seats in the cafe, seeing as their business was at their peak point. Kageyama decided to take a seat by the window, where he could see all of the pedestrians passing by.

"Is there anything I could get you?" The lady with the notepad asked, ready to jot down his order. Though, Kageyama was waiting for Hinata, he just ordered a milk latte. "That'll be right out!" She smiled, walking to the counter to give the barista Tobio's order.

After that, a few hours has passed. The sky was starting to get dark, and the smaller boy still hasn't arrived.
Kageyama thought of leaving around 2 hours ago but, he didn't want Shoyo to show up to an empty cafe. But, as he waited some more, it was already closing time and it looked like Hinata wasn't going to show up.

'I guess the thing he had to do went longer than he expected. I should call him.' Kageyama sighed, taking out his phone from his pocket. He scrolled down his contacts, finding that "Little Moron".

He was standing under his umbrella, hearing the patters of the rain slapping against the surface of it. The phone was dialing, as he stood in the cold weather, waiting for Shoyo to pick up.

But he didn't pick up.
His mother did.

And what she said drained all the color from Kageyama's face, as he dropped the umbrella to sprint over to the hospital.

"Tobio...he's asking for you."

END

AN:

This will be the last update for a few days (or however long it takes me to complete this story). I want to upload the last few chapters altogether.
And I am very indecisive about the ending so, I might make two different endings. But, there will only be one MAIN ending. ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ