Coming Into My Own
It was weird changing up his personality. Horio was usually so loud and confident but once he was dressed as "Sakuno" he completely changed. It all started when he was 6 years old. His family went to visit his cousins for a large family reunion. His cousins were all girls older than him and needed a new doll.
All the adults were busy catching up with each other that they failed to notice the only younger boy being dragged back into the house.
They all ended up in his cousin Mei's room crowded around the bed.
"You sit here, Satoshi," said Mei happily, "Ayame, make sure he stays put," called out the girl as she bounced out of the room.
Horio started to realize that this wasn't really fun. "What's going on?" he squawked loudly at his other cousins.
"We're just having some fun. Relax," said his other cousin Kaori. He could hear Kiko and Hanan giggling in the corner.
"Okay, I got everything!" announced Mei as she came in the room with stacks of things in her arm.
"Oof," she said as she let everything fall on the bed. "Alright, let's decide what works best!"
The other girls cheered as they started grabbing at the things Mei brought.
Horio, upon seeing some of the things, started filling with dread. 'Oh no,' he thought to himself as he tried to sneak away.
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Sneaking away failed and so Horio was subjected to his cousins' whims.
After an hour they finally let him see himself in the mirror. The person staring back at him did not look like him at all. Sure they couldn't completely cover up his eyebrow but they did their best. He was dressed in a pretty dress with strappy sandals. He could see that his toenails were painted pink and his fingernails were painted a light blue. Atop of his head was a wig of long reddish brown hair. It was so long the girls started braiding it into pigtails. Horio wasn't really sure where the wig came from but assumed it was from his Aunt's room. Upon closer inspection he realized that they didn't mess with his face too much. He could see some color over his eyes and his mouth was painted with some sticky clear liquid that smelled like cherries. It made his lips look like he had just licked them.
Horio knew inside that he was supposed to be angry at his cousins for forcing him to dress like a girl but the more he looked at himself in the mirror the more he started getting comfortable with the idea of dressing up and having long hair.
All his cousins' tittering came to an end when they heard a shout of "Meeeiii~ Where did you and the girls run off to?"
Horio's face blossomed red as he tried to get everything off him. Kiko and Hanan were nervously looking out the door while Kaori, Ayame, and Mei gathered everything they could and hid it under the bed in a whirlwind of activity. Standing lost and scared in the middle of the room was Horio. He quickly shed the dress he was wearing (thankfully they had let him keep his original clothes on) and kicked off the sandals to the corner of the room.
He heard Kiko and Hanan squeak in fright as they dashed away from the door.
"Everyone act natural!" hissed Mei as she dragged the other girls onto her bed.
"Satoshi, your hair!" whispered Ayame as she looked at him nervously. They could all hear footsteps getting closer.
Without thinking Horio gripped the wig off his head and shoved it down his pants, fluffing down his shirt to hide the new bulge.
The girls looked at him; some in mild disgust and others in high amusement.
The door opened and Mei's mother walked in.
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"Did you have fun, Satoshi-kun?" asked his mother once they were driving back home.
"Yes I had fun," answered Horio shyly as he held onto the wig that was still in his pants.
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Once back home he rushed to his room. He was glad that his mother and father hadn't seen the nail polish on his fingernails. After closing the door he let out a large sigh.
Horio took the wig out of his pants and started combing the hair absently with his fingers. It felt nice. Without much thought he placed the wig back on his head. The braids his cousins' made had mostly fallen apart right now but the shape was still set. He looked at himself in the mirror and noticed his lips were still shiny. He ran his tongue over them and noticed they still tasted sweet.
He took the wig off his head slowly and hid it in the back of his closet underneath some toys. He sneaked out of his room toward the bathroom.
After taking off the nail polish he hid the acetone under his bed and forced himself to sleep. The strong chemical smell kept him up longer, but the cherry smell under his nose eventually lulled him to sleep.
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Several years passed since then. Every day he would take out the hidden wig and brush its' hair. Over the year he learned new things about being a girl. He learned how to braid hair properly, he learned how it feels to wear a skirt with girl panties underneath, and lastly he learned how to lower his voice that sometimes it came as a mere whisper. It was different when he dressed as a girl. He felt shier, calmer, and everything around him seemed different. He found himself looking at his shoes more, and looking at boys.
When he started playing tennis 2 years ago he envied the girls. He wished he could be on the court with the cute white skirt and a headband holding back his hair. Instead he was wearing shorts and an outlandish shirt. Tennis was hard but after a while he got used to playing as a boy. His grandmother was really good friends with a tennis coach at a school not too far from his house so he would go over and learn tips.
By accident his grandmother found out his secret. He thought he was home alone one afternoon when his grandmother walked in on him changing into the new clothes he had bought with his allowance money.
His grandmother was a bit of a gossip and so her friend found out his secret too. Thankfully both ladies thought nothing of it aside from their initial questions, but they accepted him wholeheartedly. His grandmother had the foresight not to tell his parents.
Soon middle school rolled around and Horio knew who he was. He was the loudmouth, tennis playing boy, and the shy and sweet girl. After some planning and talking he decided to attend Seigaku. His grandmother's friend, Ryuzaki Sumire, was a teacher at the school as well as the boys' tennis coach. She agreed to hold his secret and even let him adopt her last name and family.
He knew it was going to be exhausting going to school as both a boy and a girl but he was adamant at not losing a piece of himself.
It was a few days before he was to start middle school. Ryuzaki-san, whom had asked him to call her 'grandmother' as well, invited him to go and see a tennis tournament. It was one of the few rare days that he could dress as a girl and so he took advantage of it.
He was on the train when some rowdy tennis players started swinging their rackets a little too close to his face. He was nervous since they were older and he didn't know what to do. Suddenly a soft but strong voice cut in.
"Hey, can you keep it down?"
Sprawled across from his was a boy wearing a cap. Upon closer inspection the boy also had a tennis bag in the seat next to him. His golden eyes and dark hair sent a jolt through Horio. His heart pounded, but this time not in fright.
The boy was cute!
He could feel his own face heat up at the thought, but soon his attention was diverted back to the other people on the train.
Once Horio exited the train, the other boy went up and asked him for directions. It really wasn't something his was good at but thought that he had given them right. He noticed that the boys' name was 'Ryoma' as it was written on his tennis bag.
Later he met up with his 'grandmother' and they drove to the tennis courts. He was anxious after giving the strange boy wrong directions.
Once at the courts Horio ran off in search of the mysterious boy. He found him lying on a lawn with a cap on his face. After apologizing and getting a drink from the vending machine they were confronted by the same teens that were on the train.
Somehow the tall guy and the cute stranger were now playing a tennis match. Horio gripped the iron fence anxiously as the match progressed.
Soon Ryuzaki-san arrived. "So this is where you've been this whole time, Sakuno." Horio could only nod. "Ryoma is the four-time American Junior Champion," confessed Ryuzaki-san as she smugly looked at the match. Horio could see that Ryoma was definitely champion material.
Horio could feel his heart beating faster.
Ryoma-kun…..
THE END
A/N: I blame Solosorca on tumblr for this. Cross-posted on AO3