Catch me if you can! [Aito]

[Deleted]

It seemed as though the young Burman was just incapable of having a normal day in his life, both in and out of school. Spring break had been over for the better part of a week, and upon his immediate return to the school campus he had been surrounded by students. Word had somehow gotten around the school about his St.Mungos visit and students had begun to use that as an excuse to approach him, much to his great annoyance. He rarely had any moments to himself any more his days consisting of schoolwork, quidditch practice, practicing for the final event of the tournament, and his N.E.W.T.s.

Whatever time he had left over, he made sure to dedicate to spending time with Aito -the only thing that he actually enjoyed besides quidditch- but even that was starting to get interrupted on a normal basis.

Today he had been content, taking a walk around the campus with Aito, hand in hand with his boyfriend talking and laughing about things that had happened in their week, and all of a sudden he had heard his name being called by someone that was not Aito. Figuring that it was another student seeking his attention, he had tried to ignore it at first only to grow more and more irritated when the calling persisted.

After a few more moments, Xayden's patience wore out and he spun around ready to tell off some poor soul when he saw a very flustered Edward running towards him with a worried expression on his face. That caused his mouth to shut immediately as he hurried over to his brother, concern evident on his features as he did so.

"Eddie, Ed. Breathe for a second. Calm down. What's wrong?"

There was a few moments of panting on his brother's part before he got a response.

"As you know today, the lesson for my class was on adult Kneazles for the younger students. Some bloody fourth year Ravenclaws thought it would be funny to scare them, and when they did the kneazles took off running towards the school grounds!" There was a small pause before he continued talking.
"I've managed to catch a few of them, but there are too many for me to round up on my own. I was hoping that you and your boyfriend would be willing to help me?"

Xayden had frowned slightly before glancing at Aito. "Do you mind if we help out Eddie for a bit love?" The words were asked in a calm tone despite Xayden being beyond pissed, not at his brother but at his fellow students. They had better hope that he never figured out who they were, he would send Noah after them if he did. Ah, the benefits of being friends with a prefect.

After receiving Aito's answer, and getting an explanation from Edward on how to handle the felines - something he really didn't need, felines seemed to like him for whatever strange reason- Edward left to go and find some of the others that had ran off in the direction of the castle. Xayden glanced at Aito for a moment after his brother left.

"Ready to go and round up some overgrown cats?"
[/color]

[Aito Satoshi]

This past week had begun to go down as one of the most aggrivating weeks of his school career. Not only had he managed to not have a decent length of sleep again, but everywhere he went there were people asking him about his relationship with Xayden. Things like, "So, are you two really together?" "How is he in bed?" and other such insensitive question, that he deflected with nothing more than a smile.

Finally, today, he was happy in just walking with Xayden and something simple as just holding his hand was doing enough to push away the bad days and his smile and laugh was enough to keep him feeling upbeat. But, when he heard the calling of Xayden's name again, he felt his jaw clenching. If people didn't start leaving his poor boyfriend alone, he was going to show them why Satoshi males were feared in some circles.

When he turned with Xay, and saw the panicked look on Professor Andrews' face, he relaxed slightly. And as he listened, he found a growing feeling of disappointment in his house. He would expect such from Slytherin house, but Ravenclaw? No.

When Xay asked him if he minded helping Edward, he immediately answered, "I don't mind at all, love. Don't worry, Professor, we'll find them." Granted, the idea of hearding cats to the classroom made him chuckle softly. "Hearding cats...well...now I can safely say I've done damn near everything there is to do in this school." He smiled and turned on his heel, looking toward the grounds. "If they're scared, they will likely be in the trees, not on the ground." Most cats liked heights, it made them feel safe.

"I'm ready." He grinned, looping an arm around his waist affectionately before heading with him toward the school again. They walked a good distance before he looked up suddenly. There, crouched and miserable, was a Kneazle in the limbs of the tree. "Got one...how do we get him down? Should I climb up and get him?"

[Deleted]

He wasn't going to lie, had he not been so pissed off he probably would have felt bad for the person calling his name. He saw the brief flash of annoyance, saw the way that his jaw clenched, and felt Aito's grip on his hand tighten. It seemed as though Aito was just as annoyed as he was at the interruption. He would have to find some way to make it up to Aito later when he got the chance. He knew that being his boyfriend had to be difficult on the younger male, there were always those people that liked to ask all sorts of personal questions.

He felt so bad for bringing him into the metaphorical spotlight, he really would have to do something very special for him later on.

After they had gotten their bit of information from Edward, he could see that Aito was disappointed in the behavior of their own house, and even Xayden had to admit that it was surprising to hear that a Ravenclaw had done something so reckless.

"I'm willing to bet you that those students were some snakes or lions that wore our clothes to keep themselves from getting into too much trouble while they screwed around in his class." There was no secret that the elder Andrews favored the Ravenclaw house over all the others, it was the house of his baby brother, and the house that he had been in when he had attended Hogwarts, therefore Ravens tended to get off easier then all of the other houses.

"It makes more sense than a raven pissing my brother off intentionally anyways. Most ravens like my brother just fine." He trailed off, listening to him as he spoke about herding the cats and he couldn't help but laugh.

"Can't argue with you there, though I have to say this is probably going to be a regular occurance now that you're dating me. We Andrews tend to get ourselves into some pretty interesting situations at times." He probably should have warned Aito about that sooner.

Oh well...

When they stumbled across the rather miserable looking feline that sat crouched upon the tree he couldn't help but frown. That poor little thing. It looked like it wanted to claw somebody's face off, and honestly Xayden couldn't blame it.

"It looks pretty upset right now. I'm worried that if you go up there that it will try and hurt you. Maybe we should see if we can try and coax it down, or at least get it to calm down a little bit first. If we can get it to calm down, then you can climb up. If it doesn't then I would rather go up there myself." He knew how dangerous Kneazles could be when upset, and he would rather place himself in danger than let Aito get hurt. Glancing up at the cat with soft eyes, he cooed to it gently, as if he was speaking to a newborn child.

"There There little one. Did some mean little bastards bother you? Why don't you come on down here so I can make sure that you're okay? Would you like to go back to your friends?" His voice was so sugary sweet that it was almost hard to believe that it was Xayden talking. Students stopped what they were doing and stared in disbelief, and that was enough to get his cheeks to flush from embarassment. It was embarassing enough to act like that in front of his boyfriend, never mind other people! But still Xayden continued on, holding out his arms for the cat to leap into should it choose to come down.

"Come on down little one. I promise all of the mean people are gone."

[Aito Satoshi]

He was right, now that he looked at the expression that was settling on the kneazles' face and saw the apparant aggitation, he was glad that he didn't just climb right up. That surely would have resulted in some sizeable scratches. But, as Xayden spoke to it, he could see the tension slowly fading from its features. It looked like it wanted to go back to the Care of Magical Creatures classroom and he took that as his cue. Quickly, he hoisted himself up into the tree, looking almost like a gymnast as his body moved in very controlled movements as to not startle the kneazle again. As he moved, he spoke in a similarly sweet voice, "Oh you poor baby, yes you were scared weren't you?" The kneazle looked at him with a miserable expression, almost as if to say, 'Yes, it was tragic! I need petted!'

Carefully, he got up to the limb where the reature sat and he looked at it a moment before another leapt down onto his lap from the limb above, blocked from sight by the snow. "OOF! Well, goodness, I don't know how I didn't see you, baby. Oh , yes, you're just purring away." Oh the tone he was using could have made him gag. He pet the kneazle as the other crawled from the limbs and into the safety of Xayden's extended arms. Aito looked up and leaned over to look up through the limbs of the tree in order to ensure that no other kneazles were hiding above him. "No more of your friends here? Well, lets get you down from here."

He held the kneazle in one arm and dropped the branch he held on to, slowly lowering himself from branch to branch until he made the slow drop to the ground, the kneazle purring loudly in his grasp. "Hmm, should we take these two up to Edward and then look for more, or bring them with us?" He smiled down at the kneazle as it looked thoughtfully up at him. "Or do you ant to help find your friends?" The creature considered him for a moment, then lay its head on his shoulder and shut its eyes. Ah, nope. It wanted to be a typical feline and go to sleep now.

[Deleted]

He was relieved when Aito chose to listen to him instead of climbing directly on up. That was something that he knew would not have turned out well. The more he spoke to the cat, the more that it seemed to calm down until it was almost literally purring towards them, it was then that he gave Aito an approving nod, telling him that it was safe to go on up there and retrieve the Kneazle if that was what he still wanted to do. It was a second later that Aito began to climb the tree, somehow managing to completely surprise the Burman as he did so.

Xayden was thoroughly impressed as he watched Aito scale the tree as though it required little to no effort in order to do so. On top of that, he moved in such a quick, controlled, and graceful way that it almost made his movements look as though they were completely natural, as though he were meant to climb trees as silly as that sounded.

He watched cautiously as Aito moved onto the branch of the tree that the creature sat on, ready to move up and help Aito should the creature start getting aggressive towards him. To his surprise the creature merely looked at Aito with that same miserable expression on his face, almost as if it was begging for attention, begging to be pitied. Then there was a sudden blur, and Xayden's wand was drawn ready to cast a protection charm on Aito before relaxing when he saw that it was another Kneazle that had come down from the branch above, sitting in Aito's lap as it purred contentedly.

He chuckled quietly as he heard Aito's tone as he spoke to the troubled Kneazle that rested on his lap. While he himself wasn't fond of the babying tone he had adopted while speaking to the felines, Aito almost appeared as though he would be sick."You okay up there love?" His voice had a sort of teasing tone to it as the Kneazle that he had been calling to made it's way down and into his arms where it purred happily as Xayden cradled it in his arms as though it were a newborn.

He watched as Aito searched above him, making sure that there were no more Kneazles up in the trees, before slowly starting to lower himself down from the tree using only one arm while the other one was wrapped securely around the cat. When he finally reached the ground, Xayden fell quiet thinking about how to answer Aito before looking down at the tired cat in his arms."I think we should go ahead and take these cats back to the classroom. It looks like they've had enough adventure for today. Besides, if someone acts stupid and angers one of them they'll either attack them and get Edward in trouble, or they'll run off and we'll have to catch them again."

With that said, they made their way to the classroom where they met Edward who had been returning with two Kneazles of his very own. After showing them where to place the animals - there were small little rooms in the back of the classroom that were reserved for the smaller animals that would be used in his lessons- and once the kneazles were placed gently on the soft cushions that were their beds, the three hurried out of the room, the door being shut behind them as they left.

They were told that there were ten kneazles that were still missing and with that said, Edward hurried off in the direction where he had last saw some of the others run in worried for both the safety of the students, and the creatures themselves.

Xayden watched his brother run off with an amused look in his eyes, before turning to Aito. "Shall we get back to work?"

[Aito Satoshi]

Ten more kneazles? Oh, boy. Thank goodness they had a tendency to warm up to Xayden or he would be in trouble! No doubt one would choose to take a swipe at him without him there to calm them.

He would have to do something special for him later.

"Ready and willing, Aisuru." He chirped happily at Xayden's question, smiling. After all, the sooner they found the Kneazles, the sooner they could get back to their walk and their time together. "Where should we look next?"

[Deleted]

Xayden fell quiet for a moment, his brows furrowed in concentration as he thought about where the other Kneazles might have run off to. Probably somewhere quiet that they would be undisturbed by the general student population at this time of day. His eyes moved across the general school grounds. Most of the students had chosen to stay inside to avoid the crisp winter air, and the troublesome walk through the snow that was still present on the ground. Thinking that the cats would probably prefer somewhere that was far away from the snow, so he immediately crossed off the courtyard, and the lawns.

His eyes landed on the material that made up part of the quidditch pitch, and his eyes immediately lit up. It would make a lot of sense if they had run off in that direction, it was far away from the students and the animals merely had to run up the stands to escape from the snow. With his mind made up, he glanced at Aito with a smile on his face.

"The Quidditch Pitch. It's quiet, it's safe from the snow and on top of it all they can get high enough up there to just bathe in the sun if that was what they wanted. I'm sure that there are at least a few of them hiding in the stands or in the locker rooms, if not both." Yes, he was absolutely sure that that was where they had chosen to hide out.

With that said the couple made their way to the pitch, entering it a few moments later. Xayden glanced at the stands, dark eyes scanning them to see if he could see any of them from where he stood before they had to make the journey up there.

" Do you see any of them Aito?"

[Aito Satoshi]

He listened as closely to the quiet as he was able to and heard a soft yowling sound from the seats, "Yes, I hear one. If you would like, I'll scour in here for others and you can check the locker room? I never would have thought of looking in here, you're positively brilliant, love." A smile flashed across his entire face before he went toward the center of the pitch and stooped down, making a low clicking noise with his tongue and speaking in a low, soothing tenor. "Kneazles? Where are you? There's nothing to be afraid of any longer. All those mean and awful people are gone and you can come out now. Professor Andrews is worried sick about you and so are we. Come on now, come out so we can take you back to your friends. They're already on their warm, soft beds. Doesn't that sound good?"

A kneazle came trotting up at the sound of the word bed and stretched up into his arms with a soft purr. "Yes, you want your comfy bed, don't you? How about some good food, any of your friends in here think that sounds good too?" Another kneazle perked at a promise of food and trotted down from the safety of the seats and rubbed against Aito's free hand. "You must be absolutely starving." He crooned softly, stroking the creature. "And so cold...I'll bet you just can't wait to get in the nice warm, can you?" The creature looked at him pitifully, as if suggesting that the warmth was all it could possibly want at the moment. Honestly, he could relate so some of the creature's basic needs to be near its friends and family.

He had been lucky to never be bullied as a younger man when he had arrived at the school. Honestly, people had been a little intimidated by him and the skill he had brought with him. Not to mention, his uncle Takumi had made sure that Hogwarts had remembered the Satoshi name with his stellar spell work and grace, and his fierce loyalty. The apples didn't fall far from the tree! Ren was the same, Sayuri (his mother) was the same, and so was he. He stood up for his housemates when the occasion called for it, and anyone who would attempt to hurt his love while he was near...well, they would rue the day.

Perhaps, the kneazles' instinct of flight rather than fight had been rightfully enstilled. They could be quite dangerous if they were pushed to such extremes. The creatures that lay in his arms, didn't want to fight. They wanted to sleep! If they were bullied, they would likely run, like a lot of people would. Kneazles had an almost human-like intelligence and he didn't envy them in the least. Poor things. He picked up the creatures with a low croon before moving into the locker room to find Xayden.

[Deleted]

Xayden had made his way to the locker rooms on Aito's suggestion, hands shoved in his pocket and a smile on his face, happy that he had been complimented by the one person who meant the most in his life. He would hurry to find the Kneazles so that he and Aito could continue their date together. When he reached the surprisingly warm locker rooms, a feeling of guilt settled in his stomach. He had the easier job, searching inside of the warm locker rooms while Aito was outside gathering the animals in the cold. He would have to hurry, he didn't want Aito to think that he was slacking off in here.

It was then that he began to carefully search the locker rooms, making sure that he did his best not to overlook anything. It had taken him a while of searching, but eventually he had found four of them curled up together underneath an abandoned towel in the showers. Again, it had taken him a while to get them to calm down, and it had taken him even longer to approach the felines - one in particular did not seem to take to him as quickly as the others did, something that he had found odd, - before he was allowed to touch them. He had picked up two of the laziest ones, and had managed to get the other two to follow him with promises of pets, food, treats, and a warm bed.

He was just leaving the locker room when he had almost bumped into Aito. It was obvious that he was pleased with himself as he gave Aito a big smile. "Six down, four to go! I bet Eddie's found all of the others by now too!"