Happy New Years! It's 2016! I hope you all had a wonderful 2015, and if you didn't then may 2016 be your year! I will unfortunately be going on a break next week (yes, I know, I just had a break, hate me all you want). This will be the last break for a while though (unless I get sick or something), so look forward to more updates after this.

Disclaimer: I do not own Haikyuu!

~Pride~

"Childhood friends sure are nice," Yachi suddenly said, not even looking at him. Hinata was in the bathroom, so Kageyama and Yachi decided that now would be a good time to take a break. Kageyama didn't know why Yachi had said what she had, so he decided just to nod and agree, which she took as a sign to continue.

"I don't really have any childhood friends, so I get kinda jealous, when I see you and Hinata together." She finally looked at him and it took him a moment to process what she had said.

"Who told you that Hinata and I were childhood friends?" He said, a little perplexed.

"No one told me, but it's kinda easy to see by the way you act around each other. You fight a lot, but you always have each others backs, even of you don't say it out loud and every time one of you does something amazing, it's always the other person who looks all proud and stuff..." She trailed off and looked away from him again.

"But we're not." Kageyama said, extremely confused as to why Yachi thought what she did, because the reasons she had given were not true. Why would Kageyama be proud of Hinata, when there was nothing to be proud of? Sure, he admired him, but that was different.

"You're not what?" Yachi said, sounding just as confused as Kageyama felt he was.

"We're not childhood friends. We haven't even known each other for a year."

"What?! Oh my God! I'm so sorry! That was really awkward! Please don't hate me!" Yachi continued to ramble apologizes and kept bowing her head, making herself look smaller and smaller every time. Kageyama hopelessly tried to make her stop, but soon gave up, when she accidentally head bumped him.

Yachi was still apologizing, when Hinata came back in with a tray of tea, made by Yachi's mother, and she then turned to Hinata and apologized to him, making him question what the hell was going on.

Eventually she calmed down and they told him what had happened. And he started laughing... a lot.

"Wahahaha- You thought- Ahahaha- That- Ahaha-" Hinata was literally rolling on the floor, while laughing so hard that tears were forming in the corner of his eyes.

"Calm down, you dumbass!" Kageyama shouted at him to no effect. Kageyama just didn't get Hinata, why was it so funny?

Hinata, still lying on the floor, had finally stopped laughing, but was still smiling from ear to ear (not that that was unusual, since he always weirdly happy).

"I can understand though," Hinata finally said, earning him an odd look from Kageyama, because he certainly did not understand, "I mean, we're always together, because we're partners and all that, and even though Kageyama is an idiot, I kinda get him. It's like we're just kinda wham, if you know what I mean."

Neither Kageyama nor Yachi knew what he meant, but rather than saying that they remained silent and left the topic to go back to studying.

It was getting late and Kageyama and Hinata finally left Yachi's apartment, both of them feeling much more prepared for the upcoming tests.

It was normal for Hinata and Kageyama to either comfortably walk together in silence or for Hinata to ramble about something stupid and for Kageyama to only ever speak, when he wanted to either insult Hinata or give him Volleyball advise. This time was different. They weren't speaking, but it definitely was not a comfortable silence. At least for Kageyama, who's mind was racing with all sorts of weird thoughts, because, yes, he admired Hinata, he had already spend nights upon nights figuring this out and admitting it himself so many times that it became a natural thing to him. However, this was all there was. Admiration did not necessarily mean that you were close, in fact, most times it was the opposite. Kageyama admired Oikawa, but they were definitely not close. Kageyama did admire Houjou, but that was tied into the fact that she got him into Volleyball and she actually was a childhood friend. Hinata was nothing more than an admirable person.

The problem here was just that now that someone had pointed out how close they were, Kageyama could not help but think things through and the more he thought about it, the more he understood. He practically spend every free hour of his day with Hinata. They lived fairly close, so they walked to school together. They usually got to morning practice before anyone else to perfect their attacks. During practice they always paired up together, and Kageyama had noticed that the only other people who had the same partner every time were Tsukishima and Yamaguchi (and guess what, they were childhood friends). They were not in the same class, but they would meet up during lunch break, sometimes with people from Hinata's class as well, but they were still together. After school of practice they would stay to practice Kageyama's serve and Hinata's receives and then, when they got hungry and didn't have more food, they would walk home together, usually reviewing they practice, figuring out what they needed to work on and what new things they could try. Spending this much time with a person without getting close to them was probably impossible, so why the hell did Kageyama not think of Hinata as a friend?

Kageyama looked at the boy besides him, who seemed to be muttering English verbs to himself, probably revising what he'd learned from Yachi not long ago, and decided not to think too much about, because Hinata was odd, so being close to him was bound to be odd as well.

That's when Kageyama realized: "Hey, this place is near Shiratorizawa."

Hinata's face lit up and he forgot all about English: "By Shiratorizawa, you mean the one with Ushiwaka?"

"Do you have some business with me?"

At first neither Kageyama noticed the third voice suddenly addressing, but it soon dawned on them that something was not right and they both turned towards the voice. And right there was the one and only Ushijima Wakatoshi, seemingly out for a run.

"Japan!" Hinata exclaimed in English reverting back to one minute ago and seeming absolutely stunned at his presence. Kageyama on the other hand saw this as an opportunity.

"We're from Karasuno! Would you let us do some reconnaissance on Shiratorizawa?"

"Karasuno," Ushiwaka repeated slowly, "That team who uses a strange quick strike. Do what you want. No matter how capable you lot may be, you'll see that we never weaken." He turned away from them, "I'm returning to school. If you want to watch us, then follow me... If you can keep up that is."

Ushiwaka ran at a high pace, but both Kageyama and Hinata had no problem keeping up, however, Kageyama knew that if they had been running with him from the beginning of his workout, they would have worn out before him. Another thing that slightly bothered Kageyama was that Ushiwaka knew who they were. Karasuno did not have a great reputation anymore, so there wasn't really any reason for schools like Shiratorizawa to learn about them, but Ushiwaka knew about their quick strike. Kageyama wondered just how much he knew and if he'd seen them play.

They arrived at Shiratorizawa after the short run and the school was huge. At least twice the size of Seijoh and Hinata was so impressed that they both got distracted enough to lose track of Shiratorizawa. This resulted in ten minutes of franticly running around trying to find out where the Volleyball Club held their practises. It seemed that they were in the middle of a practice match, and with a college team on top of that. They really were impressive.

"It took you long enough," Ushiwaka's voice came from behind for the second time that day. Kageyama had been feeling underestimated the whole time and was quite frankly pretty tired of it, so he decided to let Ushiwaka know who he was and then work from there.

"I'm Karasuno High School's Kageyama. May I observe you in action?"

"Kageyama... From Kitagawa Daiichi, huh?" Kageyama wasn't sure how he should take Ushiwaka knowing who he was, because he did not like the reputation he had gotten from Kitagawa.

"Yes... I failed to get into this school." Kageyama regretted saying the last part as soon as it had escaped his mouth.

"I'll bet. I remember seeing how you played during Middle School. This school has no need of a Setter, who cannot devote himself to me, the Ace."

Kageyama felt kind of offended by that statement, but then again, he knew that his play in Middle School had not been optimal. Kageyama was also a little overwhelmed by Ushiwaka, who at one hand seemed extremely arrogant, but there was something about him that just made you believe his absolute strength. But while Kageyama was feeling tense, Hinata just started giggling:

"Yep, you definitely don't give off a feeling of devotion at all!" And though Hinata had said exactly the same thing as Ushiwaka, Kageyama was somehow a lot more offended now than before.

"The Grand King is the same way, though. Even though he's the strongest Setter in the prefecture." Hinata continued to ramble.

"Oikawa-san has got nothing to do with this," Kageyama retorted, not liking it, when people compared him to Oikawa, because always got the weird feeling of inferiority.

"Oikawa..." Ushiwaka said, making his presence known to them once again, as they had completely forgotten him in that short moment, "That guy is an excellent player. He should have here." Again, the feeling of inferiority stabbed Kageyama's heart, but he ignored it.

"You mean Oikawa-san would dedicate himself to the Ace?"

"Oikawa is a Setter who draws out the maximum potential of whatever team he's on. If the team's maximum potential is low, it won't amount to anything. If it's high, he'll only bring it higher. That is his talent." Kageyama had a hunch about where this was going and he didn't like it one bit, "An excellent seedling needs suitably excellent soil. It can't yield first-rate fruit on barren land."

"Barren land? What's that mean?" Hinata asked slowly, not seeming as confused as Kageyama would have suspected.

"It means that, aside from Oikawa, Aoba Jousai is weak."

"Weak..." Hinata repeated quietly and Kageyama could feel chills going through his body, "If Seijoh is barren land, that would make us something like concrete, wouldn't it?" Hinata looked up at Ushiwaka intensely and Kageyama knew if he'd been in Ushiwaka's shoes, he would have taken a step back.

"I apologize if I have offended you in some way," Ushiwaka replied and Kageyama wanted to punch him in the face for saying that, "but whatever those who lost to Aoba Jousai and couldn't continue on to the prefecture finals might say, I can't think if it any other way."

At this moment a stray ball came flying towards Ushiwaka, who immediately jumped to get it. But Hinata was faster. He jumped up and snatched the ball away from Ushiwaka, who, for the first time, looked surprised.

"I'm Hinata Shoyou and I sprouted from that concrete. We're going to knock you down and go to the nationals."

And just like that, Kageyama knew he'd been wrong, because in this moment, he felt nothing but sheer pride.

I hope you liked that chapter. It was my take on their meet with Ushiwaka, since I always really liked that moment. Once again, Happy New Years!