The Champion of the Generation
Title: The Champion of the Generation
Pairings: Hardly any. A moment of Fujigaya/Kawai if you want to think them as a couple. :D
Rating: PG
Summary: Gryffindor has won the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup two years in a row and Kitayama has decided they’re going to win this year as well. Unfortunately, apart from Kitayama himself the whole team graduated last spring, and now he has to train a new team of winners.
Notes: This fic was written for crazy_otaku911 in the Kis-My-Ft2 Fic Exchange 2012.
- - - October
”EVERYONE, BE QUIET!”
A bunch of teenagers went silent in a second and looked at the young man who had yelled at them.
“Thank you. I hate it when someone is talking over me,” he said and looked at the boys and girls standing in front of him.
“All right. My name is Kitayama Hiromitsu and as you know I’m the captain and the Seeker of Gryffindor Quidditch team. We used to have awesome players but unfortunately the rest of them graduated last spring so, as you know, we need new members.
“Gryffindor has won the Quidditch Cup two years in row already, and this is going to be the third time.That means the team which consists of me and six of you, is going to have freaking hard practice several times a week. Also, this is my last year in Hogwarts and I want to leave this school as a winner.
“I’m not a devil but I can turn into one if someone joins in just because they want the glory of being in the house team. There’s not much glory when you fly in a rainstorm where you can hardly see two feet ahead, remember that. I want my players to be passionate and sure of what they’re doing. Am I making myself clear enough?”
There was a buzz of agreeing voices and Kitayama nodded, satisfied.
“Soon I’ll tell you to get on your brooms-- not yet,” he hissed and a small brown-haired boy winced with a squeal when his friend grabbed his ankle before he managed to rise any higher.
“Those who want to be Chasers go to the left, those wanting to be Beaters go to the right. Keeper-candidates stay where you are.”
The students moved to the places they were ordered to and Kitayama took a glance at them.
Two Keepers; Kitayama’s classmate Yokoo Wataru and a short girl from the third year were standing in front of him. Yokoo had tried to get into the team last year too but that time there had been another boy who had been clearly better than him. The girl standing next to Yokoo didn’t look very confident and Kitayama was secretly hoping she would be as insecure in the air as she seemed to be on the ground. He knew his friend was a good player and he wanted Yokoo into the team.
On the right there were the two boys who had disturbed him earlier - according to his parchment with the names of the people wanting into the Quidditch team their names were Nikaido Takashi and Senga Kento, and they were from the fifth year.
He only had these two candidates for Beaters? Kitayama glanced at the sky, silently begging for patience.
There were seven people who wanted to become Chasers: Fujigaya Taisuke and Miyata Toshiya from the sixth year, two pretty girls from the fourth year, Tamamori Yuta from the fifth year, a tall boy from the third year and a tiny blonde girl from the second year.
Kitayama divided the young wizards and witches into two teams and from his whistle they started playing. Kitayama himself flew around the pitch, following the game with his eyes and thinking; mentally listing each player’s strengths and weaknesses.
Choosing the Keeper was as easy as he had hoped. Yokoo guarded the goal hoops well, preventing all the Chasers’ attempts to score, while the girl let the Quaffle through almost every time.
The Beater candidates, Nikaido and Senga, were batshit crazy. Both were skillful fliers but neither of them seemed to have a slightest trace of normal instinct of self-preservation and it seemed like a miracle that neither of them ever lost their balance or hurt themselves somehow. Especially Senga showed a serious need of learning some carefulness - it wasn’t only two or three times that the Bludger speeded by only a few inches from his head.
Despite their faults (and Kitayama’s earlier order to play in the opposing teams) the boys played perfectly together and on top of that they were having great fun. Kitayama was satisfied to realize that even if those two hadn’t been the only ones wanting to play as Beaters, he would probably have chosen them anyway.
It was rather easy to choose the Chasers, too. The boy from the third year had potential but he also needed to practice a lot more on his free time before he would be able to make it into the team. All the three girls were clearly beginners. Very pretty beginners, true, but Kitayama wanted a strong team and he didn’t think these girls were what he needed. That left over three boys.
Fujigaya from the sixth year was annoying and full of himself. He was a good team player when he wanted to but he tended to do things on his own too often. Yet Kitayama had to admit Fujigaya was the best Chaser he had seen after Takizawa had graduated two years ago. Yes, Fujigaya would definitely be part of the team.
Miyata, Fujigaya’s classmate, was rather average but at least he was better than the girls and the boy that Kitayama had already mentally disqualified. His moves were confident and reasoned, and he was a safe, trustworthy player. He obeyed every single instruction given and only resisted if he felt like he was being ordered to do something really stupid or unfair.
Tamamori from the fifth year was a bit of an airhead. He tended to immediately forget whatever he had been told to do and he didn’t look like he trusted himself too much. However, he was a fast and agile flier, good at catching and passing the Quaffle, and he had a good game eye which made up the fact he didn’t always follow the instructions given.
Tamamori and Miyata had earned their place in the team, as well as Yokoo, Fujigaya, Nikaido and Senga; Kitayama thought and narrowed his eyes, smiling to himself. They were definitely going to win the Quidditch Cup this year.
-
“You look awful,” Kawai pointed out when Fujigaya dragged himself into the Great Hall, and Fujigaya grimaced at the other boy. Hell, did Kawai really think he didn’t already know he was dripping wet and shivering of cold?
“It’s your entire fault,” he spit out and continued when Kawai raised his eyebrows questioningly, “Your new chasers. Kitayama is afraid they might actually be good and he insisted we’d have an extra training twice every week, never mind the awful weather. And today after the practice he told me to stay there and practice passing and scoring with Miyata and Tamamori.”
“You had better continue with those extra practices,” Kawai grinned confidently, “since, you know, my new Chasers are good. You wouldn’t think Hashimoto is only on the second year would you? Sanada and Nozawa are good too and together they make a great trio. Ravenclaw is so going to win the Quidditch Cup this year.”
“You wish,” Fujigaya snorted.
Further away, in the Gryffindor table, Kitayama glared at them darkly. How could he have forgotten that Fujigaya’s best friend was Kawai, the captain of the Ravenclaw team?
It wasn’t that Fujigaya would spill out their secret training methods or well-practiced figures. No, Fujigaya was way too competitive to give Kawai’s team such a victory. But being too close with an enemy might be dangerous - he didn’t want any kinds of weird friendships to affect their concentration.
“Where have you been, Tai-nii? You’re totally wet!”
Kitayama followed how Fujigaya and Kawai turned to look at the boy who stared at Fujigaya with round eyes.
“Quidditch practice,” Fujigaya said shortly, “go away, Ryosuke. And don’t tell Yusuke a word. He’ll definitely mention it to mum in his next letter and then I’ll have to cope with her owls and worried letters the whole next week when she thinks I’m going to get cold and die of influenza or something.”
Fujigaya’s little brother looked very understanding and nodded.
“You had better to go and change something dry on, then,” he said, “Yuu might come here soon and I’m not going to lie to save your skin.”
“Such a loyal brother I have...” Fujigaya snorted when Ryosuke went to sit in the Hufflepuff table with his friends and do his homework.
Kitayama chuckled quietly and concentrated on his Astrology homework for a while, before he glanced at the two boys again. They were whispering something and Kitayama couldn’t hear a word but their faces didn’t promise anything good, especially when Kawai’s expression turned allusive and Fujigaya’s eyes started shining in interest.
Oh dear. Kitayama didn’t even want to know what exactly was going on with those two.
However, as a captain of the Gryffindor team it was his duty to know what his teammates were up to, right? So when Fujigaya and Kawai got up at the same time and left the Great Hall together Kitayama collected his books, parchments and quills, and silently followed them.
Fujigaya and Kawai climbed two floors up and walked along so many corridors that Kitayama had a hard time to both follow them and stay unseen. Finally, the boys stopped in front of an ugly old statue of some wizard.
“Look! You just pinch his little toe and…” Kawai said in a low voice and pinched the toe. Kitayama was surprised to see that behind the statue, a narrow hole opened in the wall; just enough for a person to walk through if he just ducked his head a bit.
Damn, Kitayama had seriously thought he had known all the secret passageways of the castle! Not like he himself had had time to sneak around often enough to find them all, but Yokoo knew pretty much the whole castle, or at least more than an average student ever learned to know. Of course Yokoo had introduced all shortcuts and passageways to Kitayama, and both of them had always taken a good advantage of their knowledge. How could Kawai have found a new passageway in such a place?
Kitayama didn’t have time to wonder about it more for the opening in the wall started to close slowly and he had to hurry up so that he wouldn’t be left out.
The narrow tunnel was pitch-black and the other boys had lit up a small light in the ends of their wands. Kitayama didn’t dare to do the same as he didn’t want to get caught of sneaking. He just walked in the darkness, choosing his steps carefully, all the time listening to Fujigaya and Kawai’s voices so that he wouldn’t suddenly crash into them if they happened to put off the lights or stop suddenly.
“Here,” Kawai finally said, “this tunnel will end to a staircase which leads to the door of the Ravenclaw common room. But it’s still far away and I’m quite sure there aren’t many people who know about this place.”
Kitayama stood behind the corner and couldn’t see anything, but he did his best to hear everything the boys said. What on earth did they intend to do in this creepy place?
The boys started talking with a low voice that Kitayama couldn’t hear. He held his breathe to hear everything, and then, suddenly, he heard Fujigaya gasping loudly. On the same moment there was a clattering sound; the boy had clearly dropped his wand on the floor.
What was happening there? Had Fujigaya hurt himself? Kitayama swore he was going to strangle Kawai if Fujigaya had hurt himself in this stupid dark tunnel - it was only three weeks until the first Quidditch match against Slytherin, and Kitayama needed his best Chaser healthy!
Slowly, quietly he glanced around the corner, hoping that the light of the wands wouldn’t reach him.
The both wands were lying on the ground where they lit up a small area around them. Fujigaya was leaning against the wall, shivering and clearly trying to stay quiet. His eyes were closed and his hands were groping the wall for support. Kawai who was kneeling in front of him smiled slyly and… no.
Kitayama quickly withdrew back to the darkness, heart racing and his mouth dry. He turned around and rushed back, ignoring the quiet moaning that echoed behind him for all the time. A small tap with his wand and the wall opened enough that he could slip through.
It could not be true; he thought numbly when he walked upstairs towards the Gryffindor common room. Yes, he had just run into a well-managed Confundus charm. He had definitely not seen Kawai giving a blowjob to Fujigaya. No way. No.
Kitayama had to sit down for a while. He wanted to think about anything else but it was as if the image of Fujigaya gasping for breath was permanently burned on his mind.
“Um… excuse me? I heard Gryffindor Quidditch team had practice today, so… have you seen my brother? I need to talk with him.”
Kitayama looked up and for a second he felt his eyes widen and breathe catch before he got a grip on himself again. This was Yusuke, right. The middle one of Fujigaya brothers. The one that looked disturbingly much of his big brother.
“I… He…” Kitayama stammered, “I… guess he’s somewhere with Kawai. Try checking in your own common room, they left the great hall together but I don’t think they turned towards the Gryffindor Tower.”
“All right! Thank you,” the boy said with a nod and went away, leaving Kitayama to suffer of his mental images alone.
- - - November
It was the coldest November in years. The first snow came early and the whole Hogwarts castle was covered by white drifts. However, neither cold nor snow stopped the Gryffindor team from having their scheduled Quidditch practices.
The seven boys were standing in the corner of the Quidditch pitch and looking around the field. Last night there had been a huge snowstorm and the whole area was covered by thigh-high snow.
“Well it’s not like we need the pitch to be clean anyway,” Kitayama noted happily, “you don’t need the ground when you fly!”
Then he turned to look at his team.
“Now, as we all know, Ravenclaw’s new Chasers are good. Their beaters are more than good. They have a skillful Keeper and an extremely quick Seeker. I hate to say this but as a team they’re excellent. And we need to be better! I want us to practice until we’re stronger, quicker, and agiler. We must win them!”
The younger half of the team members glanced at each other silently, until Miyata coughed and managed a small, awkward smile.
“Um… Kitayama. It’s Slytherin we’re going to play against tomorrow. The Ravenclaw match will be in May.”
“Slytherin,” Kitayama snorted, “their team doesn’t stand a chance against us this year. Just practice to beat Ravenclaw and we’ll win the others even if we were flying my grandma’s old Cleansweep threes!”
Wordlessly, the other boys decided it was probably better to not object. They got on their brooms and started practicing. Even though they didn’t have the same never ending passion towards Quidditch they all still wanted to win the Quidditch Cup, and victory could only be reached by hard training.
-
The first hour of the practice went fine. The second hour had hardly started when nothing went fine anymore. In the team member tryouts Kitayama had thought his new Beaters were rather careless. During the weeks of training he had started to feel more at ease about the matter.
It wasn’t like him being worried would have saved anything anyway but he still couldn’t help blaming himself for the accident later.
Kitayama was flying around the pitch, seeking for the Snitch but also keeping an eye on how the others were playing, and occasionally shouting instructions or supportive cheers to the other boys. He was happy to see how far Senga could hit a Bludger with one beat. Even though the boy was in the other end of the pitch, from the force of his beat the Bludger flew far to the opposing team’s end.
“Good! Keep on doing that but remember to keep an eye on the others, okay?” he shouted to Senga who grinned widely and waved the bat in his hand.
“I will!” he shouted back. Kitayama smiled at him but in a second the smile turned into horrified cry.
“Senga! Watch out!”
The boy never managed to turn around and see what he was supposed to be careful of. Kitayama felt his heart skip a beat when another Bludger crashed into Senga who gasped in pain and fell of his broom.
“Kenpi!” Nikaido shrieked, and everyone froze as they heard his voice. Kitayama was staring at the falling boy, his mind completely blank.
Yokoo was the quickest one to react. He took out his wand and cast a spell that slowed Senga’s speed just before he thumped on the snow.
As if waken from a dream, Kitayama took a deep breath and forced himself to take action.
“Nikaido, wait,” he shouted to the boy who was already going to land, “We need you to keep the Bludgers away! Miyata, help him to catch them and put them back into their box!”
Very reluctantly, Nikaido obeyed. Kitayama knew how hard it was for him to do as he was told to, and he made a mental note of apologizing the boy later. Without a word, Fujigaya flew off the pitch, after Senga’s broom that had drifted away with no one managing it.
With Yokoo and Tamamori Kitayama landed into the snow and rushed to the boy who was lying on the snow.
-
“What do you mean I can’t play?!” Senga gasped. He was sitting on the edge of a Hospital Wing bed, the rest of the team gathered around him. They all looked at the nurse, as shocked as Senga was, but she just shook her head apologetically.
“I’m sorry but I can’t let you take part in tomorrow’s match,” she said, “I’ll have to keep you here overnight. There is a big fracture in the bone, and I need to be able to keep an eye on it while it’s healing. Young man’s bones heal quickly and they might easily heal into a wrong position. You don’t want such thing to happen, right?”
There wasn’t much room for complaining, and Senga had to bear the results of his bad luck.
Next day, he was only allowed to leave the Hospital Wing when the match had already started. When he walked through the hall, a bunch of Slytherin students rushed in with a teacher.
“What happened?” Senga asked, confused, and looked at the unconscious girl - the Keeper of the Slytherin Quidditch team - who was being carried towards the Hospital Wing.
“She got hit by a Bludger,” one of the students said shortly, “That other Beater of your team is totally crazy you know.”
“Where do you guys need two Beaters when he seems to be able to play both of your places alone? The whole game he’s just been flying around the pitch and violating the poor Bludgers as if he had something personal against them,” another Slytherin student said gloomily.
-
Gryffindor won the game with 270 points against Slytherin’s 80. The both teams landed and the Gryffindor players (including Senga who had been watching the end of the game standing at the door of the dressing room) rushed to each other, hugging and cheering each other.
Kitayama looked at his team and smiled. He was proud of them all and it was easy to smile - after all they had won the match even though they had been undermanned.
And yet he had seen how his team played and he knew they would have to work hard before they could beat Ravenclaw. The Ravenclaw team had been Gryffindor’s hardest enemy last year and Kitayama knew it was going to be the same situation this year.
- - - February
A bell rang as a sign of a goal and Kitayama bit his lip anxiously, so hard that it hurt. The Hufflepuff team played well. Too well. Their Keeper was an unbelievable talent; it looked like the Quaffle actually resisted the Hufflepuff goal hoops. Fujigaya, Tamamori and Miyata did their best but it didn’t seem to be enough.
Yokoo in turn had left the Quaffle through a few times already in the beginning of the game and Kitayama saw on his friend’s face how each new goal made him more nervous and frustrated.
“C’mon Wataru,” Kitayama murmured silently, “It’s okay. Concentrate!”
The game had already gone on for three hours. Everyone was tired and Kitayama cursed his bad luck. Where was the Snitch when he needed it? Neither he nor the Hufflepuff Seeker had seen the small golden ball after the game had started.
Suddenly, the Hufflepuff Keeper - their captain - gave his Beaters a weird sign. Kitayama, however, didn’t have time to look what was going on, for on the same second he saw something golden glimmering near the root of a Hufflepuff goal pole, and he rushed after the Snitch.
He heard screaming, and the game commentator boy going mad. He turned to glance up for a second which was a great mistake. He missed the Snitch and saw something he really hadn’t wanted to see.
Their goal hoops were unguarded and the Hufflepuff team scored again. Yokoo was landing, his broom trembling weirdly. When he looked again, he saw Yokoo’s broom was broken; it had almost been chopped in two. It was a miracle that the poor device could fly anymore. At the same moment the bells rang again to mark another goal for Hufflepuff.
“What happened?” Kitayama shouted to Nikaido who looked like he was boiling of anger.
“Those bastards hit the both Bludgers towards Yokoo! He evaded one but the other crashed into his broom and broke it, and the referee didn’t freeze the game until he gets a new broom because no rules were broken,” Nikaido shouted furiously back.
Kitayama stared in disbelief how the Hufflepuff Chasers managed to pass the Quaffle to each other quickly, without Fujigaya and Tamamori having any possibilities to get it, while Miyata concentrated on cover for Yokoo by guarding the Gryffindor goal hoops for a while.
No, this was a bad thing. Really bad.
Hufflepuff now had eighteen goals against Gryffindor’s four but Kitayama tried to be optimistic. They could still win if he just managed to find the Snitch before Hufflepuff got the next goal. A thin hope was better than no hope at all, right?
And soon - it was as if Kitayama’s silent pray had been heard. The Snitch was glimmering happily high above the Quidditch pitch. He couldn’t fail another time!
Kitayama quickly turned with his broom and made it speed up as fast as he could. He didn’t see the game anymore. He didn’t hear the audience or the commentator. He kept staring at the Snitch and forced his broom on its extreme limits.
“A bit more,” he thought desperately, “a little bit anymore!”
The Snitch didn’t get away from him another time, and Kitayama couldn’t help a triumphant cry when he felt the tiny ball shivering in his hand. He had done it! He had caught the Snitch!
However, when he looked down, people were shouting and the other players were still flying but neither of the teams seemed especially joyous when compared to the other. A quick glance to the score board made Kitayama groan in disbelief.
Hufflepuff had managed to score their last goal right before Kitayama had got the Snitch, and the game ended in a draw by 190 points for each team.
Despite the fact that no one actually won the match there was a party arranged in the Gryffindor Tower that night; after all the Gryffindor team had done their best, and on top of everything Kitayama had caught the Snitch, which was enough of a reason for all to celebrate.
Later, when they were lying in their own beds already, Kitayama heard Yokoo sigh deeply. Their roommates were sleeping already but Kitayama couldn’t sleep, and apparently Yokoo was having the same problem.
“Who knows how badly we would have lost if you hadn’t got it in time,” Yokoo suddenly said to Kitayama who heard a hint of bitterness in his friend’s voice.
Yokoo had a point. Indeed; who knew how many times he would have let the Quaffle through if the game had continued? Kitayama didn’t need to say it aloud - Yokoo knew it already anyway. He would just have to practice more, like they all had to.
“But we didn’t lose,” Kitayama finally answered with emphasis and turned to look at Yokoo who nodded, trying to smile.
“Hey, Wataru,” Kitayama said softly, “Don’t think about it too much. Today was just one day and you still are a great Keeper. Next time we’re really going to win.”
Yokoo let out a small agreeing noise. After that they fell in silence again but for a long time they both knew the other was still awake too.
- - - April
“Where are they - again?!” Kitayama growled and ran around the dressing room while the others looked at him silently. It was the second time that week when two of their Chasers were skipping the Quidditch training.
-
Miyata shivered as if he was cold, and looked at Tamamori.
“I have this weird feeling… Don’t you think we’ve forgotten something?” he asked, frowning, and Tamamori shrugged.
“Probably not; you’re always like that. Not like I really care.”
“Of course you don’t. You never do when the option for something else is hanging around with me,” Miyata said sheepishly and grinned, earning a slap on his head from the other boy.
“Stop saying such stupid things,” Tamamori hissed, his face bright red, and Miyata couldn’t help another happy grin.
-
Kitayama was desperate and furious. They weren’t nearly good enough and it was already late spring. They had a lot of work to do before they could even imagine winning Ravenclaw.
He had watched the Ravenclaw versus Hufflepuff match almost unblinking, making both mental and written notes about each Ravenclaw player’s style and paying extra attention to their weaknesses. They needed to know even the slightest things that might help them to choose the right tactics and win.
“Where the hell are they?” Kitayama thought as he watched how Fujigaya and Yokoo were throwing the Quaffle to each other. There wasn’t much else they could do, and while there were things those two could practice together, it was a cruel fact that both Tamamori and Miyata would have needed such practice way more than Fujigaya.
Afterwards, Kitayama was exhausted and grey of worrying and stress. His muscles were stiff and life sucked. When the others left the dressing room Kitayama stayed there, sitting on the bench alone and leaning his head on his hands.
“Hey, relax a bit, mate,” he suddenly heard Yokoo saying, and he jumped a bit when he felt the boy’s warm hands on his shoulders.
“Can’t help worrying,” Kitayama murmured but closed his eyes and leaned a bit back when Yokoo started to massage his aching muscles.
“Of course they shouldn’t have skipped training, you’re right. But worrying is not going to help the slightest bit.”
“But you can see it with your own eyes can’t you? We’re not nearly good enough. Nikaido and Senga play well together but they still forget to follow the game. Tamamori doesn’t trust himself at all and that’s why he fails all the time. Miyata’s too nice - he’d probably give the Quaffle to an enemy Chaser if they just asked him to. Fujigaya is awesome but he gets frustrated with Tamamori and Miyata way too often and starts playing on his own; doesn’t pass the Quaffle to them even though they were in a better place to score, for example. And you -”
“And me?” Yokoo repeated amusedly when Kitayama suddenly cut off his flow of words, “Just say it, okay? I can take it.”
“You… Well. You tend to get annoyed whenever you make a mistake. It disturbs your concentration and you make another mistake and then another one and so on,” Kitayama said apologetically and Yokoo chuckled.
“Yeah, I know. Bad temper and perfectionism are a bad combination, right? And the both of them are things that I should be able to control when playing.”
Kitayama nodded and they fell into silence again, the only sound being Kitayama’s muffled groans when Yokoo’s fingers found a particularly painful spot on his shoulders.
“What about you?” Yokoo asked after a while, “Can you receive critique of your faults.”
“Go ahead, shoot me,” Kitayama laughed.
“You stress way too much. When you’re overstressed you get angry faster and start yelling at us. Fujigaya doesn’t want to be treated like a child; you know he actually hates it. And a little more cheering wouldn’t hurt Tamamori - he notices most of his mistakes anyway, without you pointing them all out. The same goes with Miyata. Senga doesn’t mean to be ignorant; it’s just that he’s working really hard during school days already. He is tired during our practices and that’s why he doesn’t concentrate. He’s always better during the actual games. Nikaido is acting like a brat but he actually wishes we’d treat him as if he was a bit more adult. They just need more understanding.”
“I know,” Kitayama said and shook his head, “sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Yokoo said, “But you should know that they all - we all - try our best. You’re an awesome captain for this team, you know. The best captain Gryffindor has had in years. But as a captain it is your responsibility to remember that we ARE good players after all, and remind us of that fact whenever anyone of us forgets it.”
“I’ll try. Sorry. And thank you, really,” Kitayama said, making up a smile.
“No problem,” Yokoo grinned, “but now, captain. You’ll go and take a warm shower. Don’t be long, I’ll wait you here and then we have to hurry to get some dinner!”
- - -May
The morning of the year’s last Quidditch match was bright and warm. A cheerful buzz of students chattering and laughing during the breakfast was happy and excited; today they would finally see which team would win the Quidditch Cup.
This far, Hufflepuff was the one having the highest points but, as each student had counted many times, Gryffindor only needed three goals to reach Hufflepuffs’ points and one more goal to win them. Ravenclaw in turn needed both the Snitch and at least eight goals to go past Hufflepuff’s points but they all had a strong trust in their team, and everyone in the school knew both Gryffindor and Ravenclaw had good odds to win.
Kitayama stared at his food. He had done so for a good while already, and his teammates glanced at each other meaningfully.
“You should eat something,” Fujigaya finally said and pushed Kitayama’s plate closer to the boy, “we don’t want you to faint and drop off of your broom or something.”
“He’s right,” Yokoo said with a nod, “and you shouldn’t be afraid of the match.”
“I’m not afraid of it,” Kitayama snapped but shut his mouth when Yokoo looked at him with a serious look in his eyes.
“Yes you are.”
“You shouldn’t be,” Fujigaya chuckled and took a sip of his pumpkin juice before continuing, “since we’re going to win.”
“Yes!” Senga suddenly said with a wide smile, “We’ve been training very hard to win the Cup!”
“Do you really think we’d let Ravenclaw beat us? That’s not going to happen,” Nikaido said, grinning.
“I will do my best because everyone is doing the same,” Tamamori said and flashed an awkward smile, “I learn of my mistakes, you know.”
“We are a team, aren’t we? Win or lose, we’re together, right?” Miyata said with such a confidence that Kitayama had never heard or seen in him. He looked at his teammates who were all smiling and looking back at him, and suddenly he felt a warm mix of their happiness and confidence flowing inside of him as well.
“Thank you guys,” he said with a wide smile.
-
Both Gryffindor and Ravenclaw team where standing in a line, a teacher between them.
“All of you; play fair, play well. Good luck for the game,” the teacher greeted the players before he gave a sign and everyone was allowed to get on their brooms and get ready to start the game.
From the teacher’s whistle fourteen players rose in the air. Kitayama felt cool air waving his hair and he took a deep breathe, closing his eyes for a moment.
He loved flying; he was doing what he wanted to do the most. He trusted his team; they would definitely do their best.
Another whistle and the teacher threw the Quaffle up in the air. The Bludgers were already free. Kitayama saw his teammates’ excited faces and he grinned, enjoying the excitement that was like a burning flame inside of him.
They had a game to win.
- - -
Pairings: Hardly any. A moment of Fujigaya/Kawai if you want to think them as a couple. :D
Rating: PG
Summary: Gryffindor has won the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup two years in a row and Kitayama has decided they’re going to win this year as well. Unfortunately, apart from Kitayama himself the whole team graduated last spring, and now he has to train a new team of winners.
Notes: This fic was written for crazy_otaku911 in the Kis-My-Ft2 Fic Exchange 2012.
- - - October
”EVERYONE, BE QUIET!”
A bunch of teenagers went silent in a second and looked at the young man who had yelled at them.
“Thank you. I hate it when someone is talking over me,” he said and looked at the boys and girls standing in front of him.
“All right. My name is Kitayama Hiromitsu and as you know I’m the captain and the Seeker of Gryffindor Quidditch team. We used to have awesome players but unfortunately the rest of them graduated last spring so, as you know, we need new members.
“Gryffindor has won the Quidditch Cup two years in row already, and this is going to be the third time.That means the team which consists of me and six of you, is going to have freaking hard practice several times a week. Also, this is my last year in Hogwarts and I want to leave this school as a winner.
“I’m not a devil but I can turn into one if someone joins in just because they want the glory of being in the house team. There’s not much glory when you fly in a rainstorm where you can hardly see two feet ahead, remember that. I want my players to be passionate and sure of what they’re doing. Am I making myself clear enough?”
There was a buzz of agreeing voices and Kitayama nodded, satisfied.
“Soon I’ll tell you to get on your brooms-- not yet,” he hissed and a small brown-haired boy winced with a squeal when his friend grabbed his ankle before he managed to rise any higher.
“Those who want to be Chasers go to the left, those wanting to be Beaters go to the right. Keeper-candidates stay where you are.”
The students moved to the places they were ordered to and Kitayama took a glance at them.
Two Keepers; Kitayama’s classmate Yokoo Wataru and a short girl from the third year were standing in front of him. Yokoo had tried to get into the team last year too but that time there had been another boy who had been clearly better than him. The girl standing next to Yokoo didn’t look very confident and Kitayama was secretly hoping she would be as insecure in the air as she seemed to be on the ground. He knew his friend was a good player and he wanted Yokoo into the team.
On the right there were the two boys who had disturbed him earlier - according to his parchment with the names of the people wanting into the Quidditch team their names were Nikaido Takashi and Senga Kento, and they were from the fifth year.
He only had these two candidates for Beaters? Kitayama glanced at the sky, silently begging for patience.
There were seven people who wanted to become Chasers: Fujigaya Taisuke and Miyata Toshiya from the sixth year, two pretty girls from the fourth year, Tamamori Yuta from the fifth year, a tall boy from the third year and a tiny blonde girl from the second year.
Kitayama divided the young wizards and witches into two teams and from his whistle they started playing. Kitayama himself flew around the pitch, following the game with his eyes and thinking; mentally listing each player’s strengths and weaknesses.
Choosing the Keeper was as easy as he had hoped. Yokoo guarded the goal hoops well, preventing all the Chasers’ attempts to score, while the girl let the Quaffle through almost every time.
The Beater candidates, Nikaido and Senga, were batshit crazy. Both were skillful fliers but neither of them seemed to have a slightest trace of normal instinct of self-preservation and it seemed like a miracle that neither of them ever lost their balance or hurt themselves somehow. Especially Senga showed a serious need of learning some carefulness - it wasn’t only two or three times that the Bludger speeded by only a few inches from his head.
Despite their faults (and Kitayama’s earlier order to play in the opposing teams) the boys played perfectly together and on top of that they were having great fun. Kitayama was satisfied to realize that even if those two hadn’t been the only ones wanting to play as Beaters, he would probably have chosen them anyway.
It was rather easy to choose the Chasers, too. The boy from the third year had potential but he also needed to practice a lot more on his free time before he would be able to make it into the team. All the three girls were clearly beginners. Very pretty beginners, true, but Kitayama wanted a strong team and he didn’t think these girls were what he needed. That left over three boys.
Fujigaya from the sixth year was annoying and full of himself. He was a good team player when he wanted to but he tended to do things on his own too often. Yet Kitayama had to admit Fujigaya was the best Chaser he had seen after Takizawa had graduated two years ago. Yes, Fujigaya would definitely be part of the team.
Miyata, Fujigaya’s classmate, was rather average but at least he was better than the girls and the boy that Kitayama had already mentally disqualified. His moves were confident and reasoned, and he was a safe, trustworthy player. He obeyed every single instruction given and only resisted if he felt like he was being ordered to do something really stupid or unfair.
Tamamori from the fifth year was a bit of an airhead. He tended to immediately forget whatever he had been told to do and he didn’t look like he trusted himself too much. However, he was a fast and agile flier, good at catching and passing the Quaffle, and he had a good game eye which made up the fact he didn’t always follow the instructions given.
Tamamori and Miyata had earned their place in the team, as well as Yokoo, Fujigaya, Nikaido and Senga; Kitayama thought and narrowed his eyes, smiling to himself. They were definitely going to win the Quidditch Cup this year.
-
“You look awful,” Kawai pointed out when Fujigaya dragged himself into the Great Hall, and Fujigaya grimaced at the other boy. Hell, did Kawai really think he didn’t already know he was dripping wet and shivering of cold?
“It’s your entire fault,” he spit out and continued when Kawai raised his eyebrows questioningly, “Your new chasers. Kitayama is afraid they might actually be good and he insisted we’d have an extra training twice every week, never mind the awful weather. And today after the practice he told me to stay there and practice passing and scoring with Miyata and Tamamori.”
“You had better continue with those extra practices,” Kawai grinned confidently, “since, you know, my new Chasers are good. You wouldn’t think Hashimoto is only on the second year would you? Sanada and Nozawa are good too and together they make a great trio. Ravenclaw is so going to win the Quidditch Cup this year.”
“You wish,” Fujigaya snorted.
Further away, in the Gryffindor table, Kitayama glared at them darkly. How could he have forgotten that Fujigaya’s best friend was Kawai, the captain of the Ravenclaw team?
It wasn’t that Fujigaya would spill out their secret training methods or well-practiced figures. No, Fujigaya was way too competitive to give Kawai’s team such a victory. But being too close with an enemy might be dangerous - he didn’t want any kinds of weird friendships to affect their concentration.
“Where have you been, Tai-nii? You’re totally wet!”
Kitayama followed how Fujigaya and Kawai turned to look at the boy who stared at Fujigaya with round eyes.
“Quidditch practice,” Fujigaya said shortly, “go away, Ryosuke. And don’t tell Yusuke a word. He’ll definitely mention it to mum in his next letter and then I’ll have to cope with her owls and worried letters the whole next week when she thinks I’m going to get cold and die of influenza or something.”
Fujigaya’s little brother looked very understanding and nodded.
“You had better to go and change something dry on, then,” he said, “Yuu might come here soon and I’m not going to lie to save your skin.”
“Such a loyal brother I have...” Fujigaya snorted when Ryosuke went to sit in the Hufflepuff table with his friends and do his homework.
Kitayama chuckled quietly and concentrated on his Astrology homework for a while, before he glanced at the two boys again. They were whispering something and Kitayama couldn’t hear a word but their faces didn’t promise anything good, especially when Kawai’s expression turned allusive and Fujigaya’s eyes started shining in interest.
Oh dear. Kitayama didn’t even want to know what exactly was going on with those two.
However, as a captain of the Gryffindor team it was his duty to know what his teammates were up to, right? So when Fujigaya and Kawai got up at the same time and left the Great Hall together Kitayama collected his books, parchments and quills, and silently followed them.
Fujigaya and Kawai climbed two floors up and walked along so many corridors that Kitayama had a hard time to both follow them and stay unseen. Finally, the boys stopped in front of an ugly old statue of some wizard.
“Look! You just pinch his little toe and…” Kawai said in a low voice and pinched the toe. Kitayama was surprised to see that behind the statue, a narrow hole opened in the wall; just enough for a person to walk through if he just ducked his head a bit.
Damn, Kitayama had seriously thought he had known all the secret passageways of the castle! Not like he himself had had time to sneak around often enough to find them all, but Yokoo knew pretty much the whole castle, or at least more than an average student ever learned to know. Of course Yokoo had introduced all shortcuts and passageways to Kitayama, and both of them had always taken a good advantage of their knowledge. How could Kawai have found a new passageway in such a place?
Kitayama didn’t have time to wonder about it more for the opening in the wall started to close slowly and he had to hurry up so that he wouldn’t be left out.
The narrow tunnel was pitch-black and the other boys had lit up a small light in the ends of their wands. Kitayama didn’t dare to do the same as he didn’t want to get caught of sneaking. He just walked in the darkness, choosing his steps carefully, all the time listening to Fujigaya and Kawai’s voices so that he wouldn’t suddenly crash into them if they happened to put off the lights or stop suddenly.
“Here,” Kawai finally said, “this tunnel will end to a staircase which leads to the door of the Ravenclaw common room. But it’s still far away and I’m quite sure there aren’t many people who know about this place.”
Kitayama stood behind the corner and couldn’t see anything, but he did his best to hear everything the boys said. What on earth did they intend to do in this creepy place?
The boys started talking with a low voice that Kitayama couldn’t hear. He held his breathe to hear everything, and then, suddenly, he heard Fujigaya gasping loudly. On the same moment there was a clattering sound; the boy had clearly dropped his wand on the floor.
What was happening there? Had Fujigaya hurt himself? Kitayama swore he was going to strangle Kawai if Fujigaya had hurt himself in this stupid dark tunnel - it was only three weeks until the first Quidditch match against Slytherin, and Kitayama needed his best Chaser healthy!
Slowly, quietly he glanced around the corner, hoping that the light of the wands wouldn’t reach him.
The both wands were lying on the ground where they lit up a small area around them. Fujigaya was leaning against the wall, shivering and clearly trying to stay quiet. His eyes were closed and his hands were groping the wall for support. Kawai who was kneeling in front of him smiled slyly and… no.
Kitayama quickly withdrew back to the darkness, heart racing and his mouth dry. He turned around and rushed back, ignoring the quiet moaning that echoed behind him for all the time. A small tap with his wand and the wall opened enough that he could slip through.
It could not be true; he thought numbly when he walked upstairs towards the Gryffindor common room. Yes, he had just run into a well-managed Confundus charm. He had definitely not seen Kawai giving a blowjob to Fujigaya. No way. No.
Kitayama had to sit down for a while. He wanted to think about anything else but it was as if the image of Fujigaya gasping for breath was permanently burned on his mind.
“Um… excuse me? I heard Gryffindor Quidditch team had practice today, so… have you seen my brother? I need to talk with him.”
Kitayama looked up and for a second he felt his eyes widen and breathe catch before he got a grip on himself again. This was Yusuke, right. The middle one of Fujigaya brothers. The one that looked disturbingly much of his big brother.
“I… He…” Kitayama stammered, “I… guess he’s somewhere with Kawai. Try checking in your own common room, they left the great hall together but I don’t think they turned towards the Gryffindor Tower.”
“All right! Thank you,” the boy said with a nod and went away, leaving Kitayama to suffer of his mental images alone.
- - - November
It was the coldest November in years. The first snow came early and the whole Hogwarts castle was covered by white drifts. However, neither cold nor snow stopped the Gryffindor team from having their scheduled Quidditch practices.
The seven boys were standing in the corner of the Quidditch pitch and looking around the field. Last night there had been a huge snowstorm and the whole area was covered by thigh-high snow.
“Well it’s not like we need the pitch to be clean anyway,” Kitayama noted happily, “you don’t need the ground when you fly!”
Then he turned to look at his team.
“Now, as we all know, Ravenclaw’s new Chasers are good. Their beaters are more than good. They have a skillful Keeper and an extremely quick Seeker. I hate to say this but as a team they’re excellent. And we need to be better! I want us to practice until we’re stronger, quicker, and agiler. We must win them!”
The younger half of the team members glanced at each other silently, until Miyata coughed and managed a small, awkward smile.
“Um… Kitayama. It’s Slytherin we’re going to play against tomorrow. The Ravenclaw match will be in May.”
“Slytherin,” Kitayama snorted, “their team doesn’t stand a chance against us this year. Just practice to beat Ravenclaw and we’ll win the others even if we were flying my grandma’s old Cleansweep threes!”
Wordlessly, the other boys decided it was probably better to not object. They got on their brooms and started practicing. Even though they didn’t have the same never ending passion towards Quidditch they all still wanted to win the Quidditch Cup, and victory could only be reached by hard training.
-
The first hour of the practice went fine. The second hour had hardly started when nothing went fine anymore. In the team member tryouts Kitayama had thought his new Beaters were rather careless. During the weeks of training he had started to feel more at ease about the matter.
It wasn’t like him being worried would have saved anything anyway but he still couldn’t help blaming himself for the accident later.
Kitayama was flying around the pitch, seeking for the Snitch but also keeping an eye on how the others were playing, and occasionally shouting instructions or supportive cheers to the other boys. He was happy to see how far Senga could hit a Bludger with one beat. Even though the boy was in the other end of the pitch, from the force of his beat the Bludger flew far to the opposing team’s end.
“Good! Keep on doing that but remember to keep an eye on the others, okay?” he shouted to Senga who grinned widely and waved the bat in his hand.
“I will!” he shouted back. Kitayama smiled at him but in a second the smile turned into horrified cry.
“Senga! Watch out!”
The boy never managed to turn around and see what he was supposed to be careful of. Kitayama felt his heart skip a beat when another Bludger crashed into Senga who gasped in pain and fell of his broom.
“Kenpi!” Nikaido shrieked, and everyone froze as they heard his voice. Kitayama was staring at the falling boy, his mind completely blank.
Yokoo was the quickest one to react. He took out his wand and cast a spell that slowed Senga’s speed just before he thumped on the snow.
As if waken from a dream, Kitayama took a deep breath and forced himself to take action.
“Nikaido, wait,” he shouted to the boy who was already going to land, “We need you to keep the Bludgers away! Miyata, help him to catch them and put them back into their box!”
Very reluctantly, Nikaido obeyed. Kitayama knew how hard it was for him to do as he was told to, and he made a mental note of apologizing the boy later. Without a word, Fujigaya flew off the pitch, after Senga’s broom that had drifted away with no one managing it.
With Yokoo and Tamamori Kitayama landed into the snow and rushed to the boy who was lying on the snow.
-
“What do you mean I can’t play?!” Senga gasped. He was sitting on the edge of a Hospital Wing bed, the rest of the team gathered around him. They all looked at the nurse, as shocked as Senga was, but she just shook her head apologetically.
“I’m sorry but I can’t let you take part in tomorrow’s match,” she said, “I’ll have to keep you here overnight. There is a big fracture in the bone, and I need to be able to keep an eye on it while it’s healing. Young man’s bones heal quickly and they might easily heal into a wrong position. You don’t want such thing to happen, right?”
There wasn’t much room for complaining, and Senga had to bear the results of his bad luck.
Next day, he was only allowed to leave the Hospital Wing when the match had already started. When he walked through the hall, a bunch of Slytherin students rushed in with a teacher.
“What happened?” Senga asked, confused, and looked at the unconscious girl - the Keeper of the Slytherin Quidditch team - who was being carried towards the Hospital Wing.
“She got hit by a Bludger,” one of the students said shortly, “That other Beater of your team is totally crazy you know.”
“Where do you guys need two Beaters when he seems to be able to play both of your places alone? The whole game he’s just been flying around the pitch and violating the poor Bludgers as if he had something personal against them,” another Slytherin student said gloomily.
-
Gryffindor won the game with 270 points against Slytherin’s 80. The both teams landed and the Gryffindor players (including Senga who had been watching the end of the game standing at the door of the dressing room) rushed to each other, hugging and cheering each other.
Kitayama looked at his team and smiled. He was proud of them all and it was easy to smile - after all they had won the match even though they had been undermanned.
And yet he had seen how his team played and he knew they would have to work hard before they could beat Ravenclaw. The Ravenclaw team had been Gryffindor’s hardest enemy last year and Kitayama knew it was going to be the same situation this year.
- - - February
A bell rang as a sign of a goal and Kitayama bit his lip anxiously, so hard that it hurt. The Hufflepuff team played well. Too well. Their Keeper was an unbelievable talent; it looked like the Quaffle actually resisted the Hufflepuff goal hoops. Fujigaya, Tamamori and Miyata did their best but it didn’t seem to be enough.
Yokoo in turn had left the Quaffle through a few times already in the beginning of the game and Kitayama saw on his friend’s face how each new goal made him more nervous and frustrated.
“C’mon Wataru,” Kitayama murmured silently, “It’s okay. Concentrate!”
The game had already gone on for three hours. Everyone was tired and Kitayama cursed his bad luck. Where was the Snitch when he needed it? Neither he nor the Hufflepuff Seeker had seen the small golden ball after the game had started.
Suddenly, the Hufflepuff Keeper - their captain - gave his Beaters a weird sign. Kitayama, however, didn’t have time to look what was going on, for on the same second he saw something golden glimmering near the root of a Hufflepuff goal pole, and he rushed after the Snitch.
He heard screaming, and the game commentator boy going mad. He turned to glance up for a second which was a great mistake. He missed the Snitch and saw something he really hadn’t wanted to see.
Their goal hoops were unguarded and the Hufflepuff team scored again. Yokoo was landing, his broom trembling weirdly. When he looked again, he saw Yokoo’s broom was broken; it had almost been chopped in two. It was a miracle that the poor device could fly anymore. At the same moment the bells rang again to mark another goal for Hufflepuff.
“What happened?” Kitayama shouted to Nikaido who looked like he was boiling of anger.
“Those bastards hit the both Bludgers towards Yokoo! He evaded one but the other crashed into his broom and broke it, and the referee didn’t freeze the game until he gets a new broom because no rules were broken,” Nikaido shouted furiously back.
Kitayama stared in disbelief how the Hufflepuff Chasers managed to pass the Quaffle to each other quickly, without Fujigaya and Tamamori having any possibilities to get it, while Miyata concentrated on cover for Yokoo by guarding the Gryffindor goal hoops for a while.
No, this was a bad thing. Really bad.
Hufflepuff now had eighteen goals against Gryffindor’s four but Kitayama tried to be optimistic. They could still win if he just managed to find the Snitch before Hufflepuff got the next goal. A thin hope was better than no hope at all, right?
And soon - it was as if Kitayama’s silent pray had been heard. The Snitch was glimmering happily high above the Quidditch pitch. He couldn’t fail another time!
Kitayama quickly turned with his broom and made it speed up as fast as he could. He didn’t see the game anymore. He didn’t hear the audience or the commentator. He kept staring at the Snitch and forced his broom on its extreme limits.
“A bit more,” he thought desperately, “a little bit anymore!”
The Snitch didn’t get away from him another time, and Kitayama couldn’t help a triumphant cry when he felt the tiny ball shivering in his hand. He had done it! He had caught the Snitch!
However, when he looked down, people were shouting and the other players were still flying but neither of the teams seemed especially joyous when compared to the other. A quick glance to the score board made Kitayama groan in disbelief.
Hufflepuff had managed to score their last goal right before Kitayama had got the Snitch, and the game ended in a draw by 190 points for each team.
Despite the fact that no one actually won the match there was a party arranged in the Gryffindor Tower that night; after all the Gryffindor team had done their best, and on top of everything Kitayama had caught the Snitch, which was enough of a reason for all to celebrate.
Later, when they were lying in their own beds already, Kitayama heard Yokoo sigh deeply. Their roommates were sleeping already but Kitayama couldn’t sleep, and apparently Yokoo was having the same problem.
“Who knows how badly we would have lost if you hadn’t got it in time,” Yokoo suddenly said to Kitayama who heard a hint of bitterness in his friend’s voice.
Yokoo had a point. Indeed; who knew how many times he would have let the Quaffle through if the game had continued? Kitayama didn’t need to say it aloud - Yokoo knew it already anyway. He would just have to practice more, like they all had to.
“But we didn’t lose,” Kitayama finally answered with emphasis and turned to look at Yokoo who nodded, trying to smile.
“Hey, Wataru,” Kitayama said softly, “Don’t think about it too much. Today was just one day and you still are a great Keeper. Next time we’re really going to win.”
Yokoo let out a small agreeing noise. After that they fell in silence again but for a long time they both knew the other was still awake too.
- - - April
“Where are they - again?!” Kitayama growled and ran around the dressing room while the others looked at him silently. It was the second time that week when two of their Chasers were skipping the Quidditch training.
-
Miyata shivered as if he was cold, and looked at Tamamori.
“I have this weird feeling… Don’t you think we’ve forgotten something?” he asked, frowning, and Tamamori shrugged.
“Probably not; you’re always like that. Not like I really care.”
“Of course you don’t. You never do when the option for something else is hanging around with me,” Miyata said sheepishly and grinned, earning a slap on his head from the other boy.
“Stop saying such stupid things,” Tamamori hissed, his face bright red, and Miyata couldn’t help another happy grin.
-
Kitayama was desperate and furious. They weren’t nearly good enough and it was already late spring. They had a lot of work to do before they could even imagine winning Ravenclaw.
He had watched the Ravenclaw versus Hufflepuff match almost unblinking, making both mental and written notes about each Ravenclaw player’s style and paying extra attention to their weaknesses. They needed to know even the slightest things that might help them to choose the right tactics and win.
“Where the hell are they?” Kitayama thought as he watched how Fujigaya and Yokoo were throwing the Quaffle to each other. There wasn’t much else they could do, and while there were things those two could practice together, it was a cruel fact that both Tamamori and Miyata would have needed such practice way more than Fujigaya.
Afterwards, Kitayama was exhausted and grey of worrying and stress. His muscles were stiff and life sucked. When the others left the dressing room Kitayama stayed there, sitting on the bench alone and leaning his head on his hands.
“Hey, relax a bit, mate,” he suddenly heard Yokoo saying, and he jumped a bit when he felt the boy’s warm hands on his shoulders.
“Can’t help worrying,” Kitayama murmured but closed his eyes and leaned a bit back when Yokoo started to massage his aching muscles.
“Of course they shouldn’t have skipped training, you’re right. But worrying is not going to help the slightest bit.”
“But you can see it with your own eyes can’t you? We’re not nearly good enough. Nikaido and Senga play well together but they still forget to follow the game. Tamamori doesn’t trust himself at all and that’s why he fails all the time. Miyata’s too nice - he’d probably give the Quaffle to an enemy Chaser if they just asked him to. Fujigaya is awesome but he gets frustrated with Tamamori and Miyata way too often and starts playing on his own; doesn’t pass the Quaffle to them even though they were in a better place to score, for example. And you -”
“And me?” Yokoo repeated amusedly when Kitayama suddenly cut off his flow of words, “Just say it, okay? I can take it.”
“You… Well. You tend to get annoyed whenever you make a mistake. It disturbs your concentration and you make another mistake and then another one and so on,” Kitayama said apologetically and Yokoo chuckled.
“Yeah, I know. Bad temper and perfectionism are a bad combination, right? And the both of them are things that I should be able to control when playing.”
Kitayama nodded and they fell into silence again, the only sound being Kitayama’s muffled groans when Yokoo’s fingers found a particularly painful spot on his shoulders.
“What about you?” Yokoo asked after a while, “Can you receive critique of your faults.”
“Go ahead, shoot me,” Kitayama laughed.
“You stress way too much. When you’re overstressed you get angry faster and start yelling at us. Fujigaya doesn’t want to be treated like a child; you know he actually hates it. And a little more cheering wouldn’t hurt Tamamori - he notices most of his mistakes anyway, without you pointing them all out. The same goes with Miyata. Senga doesn’t mean to be ignorant; it’s just that he’s working really hard during school days already. He is tired during our practices and that’s why he doesn’t concentrate. He’s always better during the actual games. Nikaido is acting like a brat but he actually wishes we’d treat him as if he was a bit more adult. They just need more understanding.”
“I know,” Kitayama said and shook his head, “sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Yokoo said, “But you should know that they all - we all - try our best. You’re an awesome captain for this team, you know. The best captain Gryffindor has had in years. But as a captain it is your responsibility to remember that we ARE good players after all, and remind us of that fact whenever anyone of us forgets it.”
“I’ll try. Sorry. And thank you, really,” Kitayama said, making up a smile.
“No problem,” Yokoo grinned, “but now, captain. You’ll go and take a warm shower. Don’t be long, I’ll wait you here and then we have to hurry to get some dinner!”
- - -May
The morning of the year’s last Quidditch match was bright and warm. A cheerful buzz of students chattering and laughing during the breakfast was happy and excited; today they would finally see which team would win the Quidditch Cup.
This far, Hufflepuff was the one having the highest points but, as each student had counted many times, Gryffindor only needed three goals to reach Hufflepuffs’ points and one more goal to win them. Ravenclaw in turn needed both the Snitch and at least eight goals to go past Hufflepuff’s points but they all had a strong trust in their team, and everyone in the school knew both Gryffindor and Ravenclaw had good odds to win.
Kitayama stared at his food. He had done so for a good while already, and his teammates glanced at each other meaningfully.
“You should eat something,” Fujigaya finally said and pushed Kitayama’s plate closer to the boy, “we don’t want you to faint and drop off of your broom or something.”
“He’s right,” Yokoo said with a nod, “and you shouldn’t be afraid of the match.”
“I’m not afraid of it,” Kitayama snapped but shut his mouth when Yokoo looked at him with a serious look in his eyes.
“Yes you are.”
“You shouldn’t be,” Fujigaya chuckled and took a sip of his pumpkin juice before continuing, “since we’re going to win.”
“Yes!” Senga suddenly said with a wide smile, “We’ve been training very hard to win the Cup!”
“Do you really think we’d let Ravenclaw beat us? That’s not going to happen,” Nikaido said, grinning.
“I will do my best because everyone is doing the same,” Tamamori said and flashed an awkward smile, “I learn of my mistakes, you know.”
“We are a team, aren’t we? Win or lose, we’re together, right?” Miyata said with such a confidence that Kitayama had never heard or seen in him. He looked at his teammates who were all smiling and looking back at him, and suddenly he felt a warm mix of their happiness and confidence flowing inside of him as well.
“Thank you guys,” he said with a wide smile.
-
Both Gryffindor and Ravenclaw team where standing in a line, a teacher between them.
“All of you; play fair, play well. Good luck for the game,” the teacher greeted the players before he gave a sign and everyone was allowed to get on their brooms and get ready to start the game.
From the teacher’s whistle fourteen players rose in the air. Kitayama felt cool air waving his hair and he took a deep breathe, closing his eyes for a moment.
He loved flying; he was doing what he wanted to do the most. He trusted his team; they would definitely do their best.
Another whistle and the teacher threw the Quaffle up in the air. The Bludgers were already free. Kitayama saw his teammates’ excited faces and he grinned, enjoying the excitement that was like a burning flame inside of him.
They had a game to win.
- - -