Note about this chapter: the Katie thing is a real idea my old PE teacher came up with when I did netball. We did it once-utterly hilarious.
-Contest-
Kahiro's house is big.
Tsuna doesn't quite know why he expected this-perhaps he thought so because his friend would be more comfortable in a spacious environment where she could run around?
He ponders this as she slips down from his back and fumbles with her keys, hopping about on one foot. She's almost recovered from her sprain and you can tell with how the energy she's kept pent up inside is slowly leaking out and she just can't stay still. Even when he was giving her a piggy-back she'd been fidgeting constantly, drumming out rhythms on his shoulders at one point as her legs swung in time.
They'd actually been heading round to the baseball centre Yamamoto adored (Kahiro could at least practice swinging a bat there and get some of that energy out of her) when she'd remembered she'd forgotten her money at home. Reborn had then made his sudden appearance again and offered-(in his place-to help her to her house and then to the baseball centre so it'd all go quicker.
It wasn't that he minded helping Kahiro out but for god's sake, Yamamoto was willing and stronger than him!
The door finally unlocked, Kahiro bursts in, practically kicking her shoes off and half walking, half hopping to the staircase. Tsuna follows but with less urgency, slipping his shoes off carefully and following after her when she gestured for him to do so. Scouring his eyes over the interior of the house, he spies a trophy on a table in the entrance, glinting a little. There's a medal hung over the stair post and his fingers brush the material which holds it up.
Kahiro, even with her injured ankle, limps up the stairs with practiced ease and speed, Tsuna making a noise of distress when she looked as though she were about to slip however. There's another small table at the top and, accompanying a vase of flowers, lies another trophy-this time it's made of glass and he sees Kahiro's name etched into it.
Before he can see what it says, Kahiro's already moving on and pushing open a door that could be to nothing but her bedroom. It's a blue that he supposes was meant to be calming but instead looks vibrant as it peeks out from the gaps between pictures and the couple of bookcases. There's a big open space in the middle of the room and to the side lies a small pile of presumably dirty clothes, practically embodying the scruffy side to Kahiro in amidst small flashes of elegance.
He sees more medals in here but they're dotted around. It's not as though they aren't cared for, instead looking as though they're kept in pristine condition, but they aren't in simply one area. Tsuna touches the metal of one, ghosting his fingers over the words that have been stamped onto it. Kahiro, having found her wallet in a trainer of all things, sees this and grins. "I got that a few years back for a basketball tournament! Oh I remember the captain of the team I was on was crazy as they come but, honestly, her insane plans always worked and it was great! There was this time where she suggested we all pretend our names were Katie and you should've seen our opponents' faces when we were all screaming 'Katie, to me' and 'Katie, over here'!"
Her eyes are bright with amusement and nostalgia and, almost light headed from the glint, Tsuna finds himself asking about a trophy on her desk.
"That one was for sports-girl of the year." She picks it up with care and fondness. "My old PE teacher and I knew each other really well with all my time spent in the department so he wrote over the year part before presenting it to me." Kahiro tilts it so Tsuna can look at the black marker pen reading 'universe'.
"You've got a lot of medals and trophies." He speaks softly, in complete awe.
She laughs. "I don't get so many now. People are getting specialised in the sports they love and, since I'm still club hopping, it means I'm getting overtaken. Natural talent doesn't beat hard work." She speaks with honesty and sheepishness. "Honestly, people tell me all the time I should settle down and do one thing but I just…"
"Why? Why is it you need to settle down?" He elaborates at the look of confusion in her eyes. He thinks about the medals and trophies littered around the place, loved dearly by her but not in some sort of trophy cabinet where most people would put them. Tsuna knows Kahiro doesn't do sport for the sake of reaching a goal-she doesn't do it for the mountains of praise accompanied by the medals and trophies. They're markers of achievement yes and she's utterly thrilled with them but she doesn't demand people to notice them. Instead, when they're noticed, she tells stories about the memories they conjure up for her.
She treats them like they're presents, gifts from a loved one, and has them around so she can look upon them with fondness at random points in the day.
Sport and athletics aren't contests for her. They aren't things she must be the best at, aren't things she must utterly thrash everyone else at. They're simply fun, simply things she does because she falls in love with the excitement they give her. Sure, winning is great too, but it isn't necessary for her to be happy.
The fact she has a natural affinity for such things is simply a bonus.
"You enjoy doing lots of things, right?"
Kahiro blinks. Then, after a pause, she smiles. "Well, when you put it that way…" Placing the trophy down, she laughs again. "That PE teacher did complain though. Said I'd be formidable if I just settled down but always muttered that they'd eat their hat if I did."
Tsuna can't help but smile at how right the teacher had been.