Chapter 32: Hope Is Just Frail, Not Dead!

                                    

                                          
"Hinata!? Hinata!? Hinata where are you!?..." Aizawa's concerned voice rang through the walls nearby. His footsteps drawing closer.
                          
"Sensei-!" Bakugo called out, but
                          
"Bakugo don't!" Hinata's hand grasped  Bakugo's shirt, dragged him down towards her.
                          
Bakugo gulped, silenced. Both felt each other's breaths on their faces. 
                          
"O-Oi... what the hell-" Bakugo distanced, slightly flushed, but felt pissed at the same time worried.
                          
"Please... hide me..." Hinata cried softly, her teeth bit her bottom lip inside, it shook, suppressing the emotions rushing, but the tears fell anyway, some drenched a portion of Bakugo's pants on his kneecaps as he knelt close at her front. Her stretched arm on the floor that kept her up had turned its knuckles white, clenched as it trembled along with her folded weak legs; her other hand still held on Bakugo's clothe, faintly leaning on his bosom.
                          
"Damn it, hide!?" Bakugo whispered angrily as Hinata seemed to wish to conceal the situation. He looked around and turned back at her. "You... in this state-!!" frustrated, was to yell at her but he paused, considering. 
                          
Hinata sniffed incessantly, Bakugo exhaled deeply to watch her making a pool of tears on the ground.
                          
"I'm taking you to Recovery Girl whether you damn like it or not!"  Bakugo insistently slipped his arms through Hinata's legs and got on his feet swiftly, carried Hinata off the ground, forced her to abruptly wrap her arms tight around Bakugo's neck. 
                          
"Katsuki please!!!" Hinata screamed voice muffled as her face sunk on his shoulder. "Just help me this once...!!"
                          
Bakugo froze in shock. The desperation in her voice scared him of something unknown. It had him speechless.
                          
"Please, Katsuki..." Hinata pleaded, with her soft voice still shaking. "If they see me like this... they'll take me away... for good... I'll disappear..."
                          
Bakugo's eyes widened. He faced Hinata and later noticed her nape changing color and texture, figuring more and more like into a process of crumbling off.
                          
"H-Hinata..." Bakugo stuttered jittery, "What the heck am I seeing-"
                          
Suddenly Hinata's weight dropped heavy... her hand, slipped off from Bakugo's neck.
                          
A dark visage covered Bakugo's anxious look. His body numbed in the thought of...
                          
"Hinata!?!" Aizawa's shout knocked Bakugo back to his senses. 
                          
Bakugo turned around to call for help but abruptly stopped as he witnessed Hinata's head slide like a lifeless body from his shoulder. The slow march of time, a terrorizing feeling, his eyes widened. "Aizawa Sen-!!"
                          
"If they see me like this... for good... I'll disappear..."
                          
Hinata's plea flashed in his memory.
                          
Bakugo gritted his teeth, bitterly chose to shut up. "Calm down! She's still breathing, damn it...!!" He thought. He gently led back Hinata's head to lean on him and carried her tighter and closer towards him. He sighed gratefully within, as he felt and heard Hinata's heart beating loud and alive. Bakugo immediately went away. 
                          
...
                          
"Hinata?" Aizawa arrived at where Hinata and Bakugo previously were, but the space was empty. Aizawa's forehead wrinkled. "Where are you, Hinata...? Are you okay? I hope your state didn't worsen as it seemed in the battlefield..." he whispered depressed, his fingers massaged his temple, stressed, and as his head was down, he saw the pool of tears left on the ground.