Love's Green Thumb

24. The Day

Song: sleep thru ur alarm- Lontalius

Guess who decided to post a day early bc they're an impatient lil shit????

Through the pixelated image, Hinata stared at his sister. Her black jersey, speckled with splatter paint and the words 'Good luck!'

"I wish I was there." She pouted, pulling at her braids.

Hinata felt his lips twitch into a smile. "Next time, right?" From the side of his eye, he saw his teammates watching him from across the locker room.

"You're so lucky, getting a scholarship for volleyball next year... Definitely raised mom's standards for me, you little twerp."

Hinata chuckled softly-- got glared at for making so much noise in the locker room. He adjusted an earbud. "Yeah, but unlike me, you're smart."

She looked at him with disbelief, but shrugged, smiling. "Are you nervous?"

Hinata blinked one too many times in his answer. "No."

"Liar. You're basically green in the face, you know." She laughed evilly.

"Not helping."

"Sorry, sorry. You're going to do amazing. I know you, and you've worked so hard to get to this point." Then Natsu paused, looking worried and like she wanted to say something. "I... No, I shouldn't be saying this right now. I haven't told mom yet, and... I-I know this is the last time I should be saying this, especially with your game right now, but I'm scared that I might do something I'll regret and-"

From across the locker room, his team yelled at him to come out and practice. He nodded.

When Shouyou's eyes returned to the screen, Natsu was smiling again. Any trace of the worry on her face was gone.

"I have to leave to go practice soon, but what were you saying?"

Natsu smiled softly. "Oh, uh... Nothing important. I'll tell you later."

Hinata hesitated. Something was wrong, wasn't it? "Are you sure? Because I can-"

"No, no." She waved her hand, laughing nervously. "You go practice with your team. You have a game to win, after all!"

Hinata wished he could hug her. Instead, he kissed his fist and pressed it gently against his phone's camera. His sister did the same. "I'm so freaking nervous!"

When their hands were removed, Natsu smiled at him. Warm, gentle, and loving. "Of course you are. You're playing the nationals, man! Now go out there and win this game for us girls back at home, would you?"

Hinata laughed. "You know it, Natsu-lu-lu." He heard his name being called again, and his eyes looked at Natsu's homemade jersey, at her orange braids so similar to Hinata's color, at her pink-lipped smile. "I'll be home in two days, so then you can tell me all about whatever it was that you were talking about, okay?"

Natsu, for just the briefest moment, one that Hinata didn't even see, let her smile falter. But then it was back. And her words were loving, soft as she smiled. "Yeah, maybe later. Now go get 'em, sunshine."

"Tell mom I miss her. I love you."

Natsu smiled. "I love you, too. Oh, and don't forget me when you're famous, okay?"

After Hinata laughed and hung up, he thought briefly about what Natsu had wanted to say earlier, but by the time he tied his shoes and ran out onto the court, surrounded by bright lights and a roaring crowd, the thought was forgotten.

+++

23-23.

That had been the score when Hinata had been pulled out of the game.

He was sweaty. It glistened from his forehead, trailed down his back.

When the time out had been called, no one understood why. Things were going well. The team was playing better than they ever had before. This was nationals, they were going to win, and--

But then they'd called Hinata over.

He remembered being angry. He'd wanted to continue playing, to crush his opponent and make his family proud, to show people at nationals that his team was strong. He remembered how selfish he'd felt for so long after that for thinking that way.

Coach Ukai had told him the news. His eyes hadn't been able to look at Shouyou while he spoke, and only random strings of words had found their way to Hinata's brain past the first few sentences.

"I'm so sorry, Hinata... I..."

"What?" His voice-- angry, his body straining to get back out on the court.

When their eyes met, he suddenly felt it. That stomach dropping feeling, the one that seemingly proved every fear to be valid, and everything else melted away. The lights, the crowd-- now murmuring about themselves in confusion-- the announcers, his teammates' eyes burning into him.

"It's about your sister."

Natsu.

"What?" His voice was scared. He was scared-- fucking terrified. And then he thought back to what she'd said so oddly before he had to hang up--

I'm scared that I might do something I'll regret.

And somehow, he knew what Ukai was going to say before he said it.

"She's... Your mother found her body before the game started.

Natsu killed herself, Hinata."

The rest of his words, condolences of some sort, were lost.

How could... How could his little sister be dead?

He'd just talked to her an hour ago. Of course she was still alive! Of course she was! Of course she was. Of course she... Of course.

"Natsu isn't dead." He heard himself say, heard how entirely sure he sounded. "My sister isn't dead, I just talked to her." And then faster, more worried. "That's a sick joke, Ukai. I really need to get back to the game now." Faster. "She's not dead." Scared. "She's not dead, is she?" Faster. Faster. Faster. He hadn't realized he'd started crying.

"She's not dead. I just saw her! She's not, she's just pretending, she's..."

Ukai grabbed by the boy by his shoulders. He looked him in the eye, tears streaming down Ukai's face, and in three words, shattered any hope that Hinata had been clinging to.

"I'm so sorry."

A/n: I was thinking of changing the cover of this story... What do you think? (And if you know anyone who could make me a good cover, please tell me because I'm terrible at them)

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