KageHina

"You can fly even higher."

- Kageyama to Hinata (season 4, episode 5)

KageHina is the slash ship between Tobio Kageyama and Shōyō Hinata from the Haikyu!! fandom.

Canon
Hinata and Kageyama are both first years and members of the Karasuno High School volleyball team (their jersey numbers being 10 and 9, respectively). In addition, Hinata's a middle blocker and Kageyama's the setter, making them have the spiker/setter relationship. While the two initially don’t get along due to being on opposing teams during junior high, the two eventually learn to cooperate with one another, and form a very powerful weapon against other teams, performing their signature quick attack.

Hinata and Kageyama first meet during the first round of a junior high volleyball tournament. Due to Hinata being the only one on his team who actually has a passion for the sport, Kageyama's team wins. Though Kageyama recognizes Hinata's talents and his jumping ability, he asks Hinata after the tournament what he has been doing for the past three years, which pushes Hinata to say that he will eventually defeat him. From then on, Hinata begins training hard in order to be able to defeat Kageyama.

Then the two wind up attending the same high school, Karasuno, and begin to argue immediately out of sheer confusion. At this point, Kageyama still doesn't consider Hinata worthy of being passed to. Because of their poor relationship, the two are forced to play a match as a pair to prove that they can be on the Karasuno team, and they gradually learn how to work together. After their signature "quick" attack is discovered for the first time during their match against fellow first years Tsukishima and Yamaguchi, they become two of Karasuno's most famous players as word of their attack spreads.

However, some talented schools (such as Nekoma High and Aoba Johsai) are able to recognize their attack and counter it, leading to Karasuno's loss to Aoba Johsai at the end of season one. This frustrates Kageyama, who apologizes to Hinata; however, this only angers Hinata and the two fight. However, after Takeda talks to them, they stop fighting and decide to continue working hard.

In season two, Kageyama and Hinata's relationship greatly develops. They have a huge fight in episode 5 due to neither of them being able to do a regular quick attack, as both realize that their special attack will not help them win every match - Kageyama throws Hinata to the ground and the two are quickly stopped by Tanaka after Yachi runs to get him. Soon after the fight, Hinata starts walking home with Yachi and the two talk about Kageyama, with Hinata saying, "It wasn't that he was the first friend I'd made. He was a partner." Hinata gets on his bike not long after and rides the rest of the way home. It is noted that as he does this, he is crying.

They then start training separately, with Kageyama trying to knock down water bottles with his tosses to make them more exact. He has a lot of trouble doing this, and gets frustrated - however, he thinks of Hinata being there to hit the serve and ends up being able to knock down the bottles.

They are first forced to interact during summer training camp, each realizing that the other is different - gradually, the two reconcile and are able to do the attack. When they succeed for the first time, the two share a split second of excitement together with no bounds before Kageyama starts yelling at Hinata again.

Despite the fact that the two were previously enemies, they learn to get along, learning to be more tolerant towards one another and becoming more comfortable with each other during High school.

In season 4, Kageyama was selected for the All Japan Youth Training Camp. Hinata was jealous and slightly alarmed that Kageyama had gotten ahead of him. As soon as Kageyama heard the news, he smirked at Hinata and said, "I'm going ahead, then." This stirred Hinata up and he started working even harder to turn into a better version of himself.

3 years later, after they graduated, they meet again for the MSBY Black Jackals vs Schweiden Adlers game, Japan's V-League Division 1. Now that Hinata's on the MSBY Black Jackals and Kageyama's on the Schweiden Adlers, playing volleyball professionally, they meet again as rivals since middle school. In a special match between the two teams, Hinata won against Kageyama by one point by playing as the decoy, a position Kageyama had given and taught him in Karasuno, and bringing him to love his title. ("Do you still think your position is uncool!?")

The two are back together after they had been scouted and selected for the Japan National Team. They are currently training and preparing for the Olympics that will happen in 2021. Since the national players can choose their jersey numbers, Kageyama went back to being number 9, and Hinata back to number 10, just like in high school. The final page shows the two standing side by side, their Japan National team jerseys showing 9 and 10. They have returned to each other's side, and they would never leave ever again.

Quotes
"In my first and last tournament back in middle school, Kageyama kicked my butt. I swore revenge but... instead, when I entered high school we ended up on the same team. He was a lot meaner than I expected so it was kinda hard at first. But once we started playing our matches, I felt like we understood each other. It wasn't that he was the first friend I'd made. He was a partner."

- Hinata to Yachi about Kageyama (season 2, episode 5)

"But he's not weak, so I think we'll be okay."

- Kageyama to Atsumu about Hinata (season 4, episode 13)

"This guy overwhelms me."

- Kageyama to himself about Hinata (season 1, episode 1)

Fanon
KageHina is the arguably most popular ship of Haikyuu!!, being loved by fans since the beginning of the manga. When the anime was released in 2014, the ship really started to take off with fans producing countless art and writing pieces for them. It's shipped by the majority of the fandom, however, some prefer them as friends over them being in a romantic relationship. It's regarded as a healthy ship and there hasn't been any controversy surrounding it.

In art and writing, they are both usually oblivious to each other's feelings. In many cases, they try to oppress these feelings as well, leading them to fight or distance themselves from the other one. Often other Karasuno members start to push them to make a move or have to give them very obvious hints that they are crushing on each other. There's generally a lot of angst in fanfictions with this ship, even though the ship itself is drawn and talked about as a very "soft" or "fluffy" ship. This is mostly due to a jealous Kageyama who makes his appearance when people like Atsuma Miya (Hinata's setter on the Jackles--"one day i'll set to you" (directed at hinata after Karasuno won against them in Nationals) and Tooru Oikawa (his former upper class-man and the guy who spends the most amount of time with Hinata in Brazil; oftentimes in fanfiction we see Kageyama getting jealous of the their iconic selfie). Their fics are generally set in the canon universe, either during the time they were young (first years-high school) or after they meet again in their iconic AdlerVSJackles match. Generally pining fics are set during the time Hinata was in Brazil and they lost contact. Atsuhina is perhaps the only ship that can truly rival Kagehina not due to its popularity but simply due to the close relationship and Atsumu's apparent "declaration."

That being said KageHina is the second most popular Haikyu!! ship on AO3, with currently more than 17,200 works. It is also the most popular ship for both Kageyama and Hinata.

Fandom

 * FAN FICTION
 * Shoyo/Tobio tag on FanFiction.net
 * Shoyo/Tobio tag on FanFiction.net


 * FAN ART


 * TUMBLR


 * TWITTER

Trivia

 * Their birthdays are a contrast to each other, Hinata's birthday being the 06/21, the longest day of the year and the summer solstice, and Kageyama's being the 12/22, the shortest day of the year and the winter solstice.
 * When their first names are combined (Shōyō + Tobio) you’ll get “hishō” (飛翔) which means “to fly”/"soaring". It was often used in official content of those two and in the manga to express the feeling of flying they are able to achieve together.
 * Hinata says Kageyama's name about 89 times in the series.
 * Hinata is the oldest first year on the team, while Kageyama is the youngest.
 * Kageyama said, "Like I remember everyone I played against," but when they met again in high school, he told Hinata, "I remember you very well."
 * Kageyama's grandfather told him, "Somebody even better will come and find you," which means that Hinata is Kageyama's 'somebody even better'.
 * In the English dub of season 1 episode 25 during their break, Ukai yelled "Break time's over, lovebirds" towards the two.
 * In the manga, chapter 4, Hinata called Kageyama and himself "the greatest teammates".
 * In a Shiseido Sea Breeze deodorant ad, their respective deodorant bottles that represented Kageyama (blue bottle) and Hinata (orange bottle) appeared to have kissed and exchanged caps. The two deodorant bottles even seemed to be advertised as a couple’s product.
 * They were stated to have been connected in a past life and are fated in official canon content. This information can be found on the posters put up in the train stations of Japan.
 * It was shown in an official illustration of Kageyama and Hinata both wearing matching headphones of "dogs".
 * In the Haikyuu Light Novel 8, Chapter 1 Kageyama felt "fluttery feelings at the bottom of his stomach" after Hinata texted him. 
 * In the Haikyuu Light Novel 1 part 2 Hinata was daydreaming about him and Kageyama eating under cherry blossom trees.
 * Natsu (Hinata's sister) calls Kageyama by his first name. It means that she knows him close enough. (In Japan people generally don't call one another by their first name. Doing so can be a mark of disrespect, unless you're very close to the other person and in the right sort of casual environment).
 * Two canon couples were paralleled to them: Tanaka and Kiyoko (the first meeting in High School, when Hinata/Kiyoko flies into the court room, and Kageyama/Tanaka gazes in astonishment), and Heitor and Nice (chapter 37 with Kageyama and Hinata making a promise to each other and chapter 377 Nice proposing to Heitor with similiar words used).

Variations

 * AtsuKageHina refers to the ship between the two and Atsumu Miya
 * KageHinaIwaOi refers to the ship between the two, Hajime Iwaizumi and Tōru Oikawa
 * KageHinaYachi refers to the ship between the two and Hitoka Yachi
 * KuroKenHinaKage refers to the ship between the two, Tetsurō Kuroo and Kenma Kozume
 * TsukkiYamaKageHina refers to the ship between the two, Kei Tsukishima and Tadashi Yamaguchi
 * YamaYamaHina refers to the ship between the two and Tadashi Yamaguchi

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