Disclaimer: I don't own anything except this story of mine. La Corda D'Oro, as we all know, rightfully belongs to Yuki Kure and to Koei.

Title: "Perfection Hides Secrets"

Author: tokiya-kun18

Fan-base: La Corda D'Oro

Pairing: None. 'Slightly' Kazuki Hihara/Kahoko Hino at the start.

I'd never thought this day would come. I always believed I knew everything about him, but now… it changed. A whole new person, who was supposedly my best friend, was standing in front of me.

This was absolutely awkward.

I could only gape at him; my body was frozen in place. My feet was glued to the ground, and they felt like a thousand tons. My hand was stuck on the doorknob, I couldn't pull it back. And the colours on my face… I knew I was as pale as a ghost with all of them drained. My face also felt cold with the beads of sweat trailing down from my forehead.

I wanted to escape.

I couldn't find my voice. I wanted to tell him something but I couldn't make out the words. It was that difficult to be in a situation like this.

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It all started this morning…

I was walking to the Academy with my trumpet case at hand—the usual. The weather was nice; it was sunny and the wind feels warm against my touch. A bright day, I thought, savouring the beauty of the surroundings. The trees were dancing as the wind blew, the sound of cicadas was like music ringing in my ear—it was near Summer, at last. I breathe in the fresh air and continued on walking. I smiled widely as I spotted the one person I wanted to see most: Kaho-chan.

I ran to her direction, waving my free hand in the air and said, "Good morning, Kaho-chan!"

She turned around to face me, a smile gracing her lips. I blushed slightly, at her gaze; she was really cute, "Good morning to you too, Hihara-senpai." How I'd wish she'd call me by my first name with that sweet, musical voice of hers.

"How have you been?" I asked, feeling extremely happy to be the first person she'd talk to; with the exemption of her family.

"Great!" she smiled innocently, my face felt hot; I guess my blush was in full force. "Throughout the weekend, I practised my violin. It sure felt good~. I had tons of fun!" I nodded, understanding the enjoyable feeling when I play my instrument. "How about you, senpai?"

"The same as yours," I grinned, crossing my arms behind my head. "I played my trumpet, most of the time. And I also went out with my brother to play Basketball. It was refreshing."

"Hm," she hummed as she nodded. We chatted some more as we made our way to school. I sighed contentedly, I wish this day would never end…

When we were finally at the Academy grounds, Kaho-chan and I went our separate ways. She headed to her department—the Gen Ed Department—with her friends, while I waited for my best friend at the school gate. I hummed out a tune as I leaned on the wall.

Finally, a black car pulled over a few feet away from me. The Chauffeur went to the other side of the car, opened the door and bowed his head to his young master. There revealed a long lilac-haired young man wearing a Music Student's uniform. A small black case was found at his hand. He was one of the greatest flautists in the Academy, and he was also known as my best friend, Azuma Yunoki.

As soon as he was out of the car, a group of girls had instantly engulfed him. They greeted him with pure happiness; some squealed when he turned to their direction, and some fainted at the charming smile. It sure was hard being Yunoki.

I detached myself from the wall and moved to his direction. I grinned, "Hey, Yunoki! Good morning!" I managed to get through the strong fortress made out of girls and tapped his shoulder. "Let's go to class now." He nodded, and I waited for him to finish 'apologising' to the girls. After that, we made our way to registration, but something was not right. Yunoki's face painted anxiousness and uneasiness. What did it mean?

.

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Time sure fled when your mind's occupied. I couldn't get rid of the image of Yunoki's expression this morning inside my head. It had bothered me ever since. But, what worried me most was when Yunoki excused himself from the class. He looked like he was in pain, and asked the teacher if he could go to the Nurse's Office. The teacher gave him the approval and so he left. Yet again, when my best friend came back, the pain was still quite clear on his face. It really worried me… so I decided to ask him later on.

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Lunch break. Yunoki and I were walking to the cafeteria. We were both silent; no one had spoken a word ever since the morning classes had finished. Well, not exactly… Yunoki had spoken to his fan-girls when they asked him to eat with them, which he kindly declined. And I invited him to eat our lunch at the cafeteria.

I was only nervous to what might happen to him. What if he suddenly faints? What is he… hurls? What if he— I shook my head to discard the thought. I didn't want to think of anything bad happening to him.

"Hihara? Hihara?" I came back to my senses. I glanced ahead, confused on seeing Yunoki a few steps away from me. I stared at his face which was full of concern, "Is something the matter?"

"Eh? Oh, it's nothing," I replied, giving out a nervous laugh. The concern on his face had never left, and he stared at me.

"Is that so?" I nodded, but he didn't look like he was buying it. "Then, let's get moving," he smiled but then froze at place when water suddenly soaked him. His eyes were wide with surprise and I suppose mine was, too. He glanced at his now-wet clothes in disbelief, and tried to look for the source where the water came from.

"Oh no!" a male student exclaimed. I turned to my side and spotted him immediately as he ran to our place. "I'm so sorry! It was my fault! I didn't mean to…!"

"It's OK. I'm fine," I heard Yunoki say those words. I looked at him from one of the corner of my eye; he was smiling. I was about to protest when he continued, "I'll just change into a set of new clothes…" He crossed his arms on his chest, hugging himself.

"I'll go and get some spare ones!" I said loudly, surprising him. "Yunoki… you head to the Nurse's Office. And you," I glanced at the Music Student responsible for making my best friend wet, "please go with him. I'll be there in a minute. All right, I'm counting on you!" I dashed out of the place, and the last thing I heard was Yunoki shouting.

"Hihara!"

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.

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I didn't have much trouble on getting spare uniforms, but… If Yunoki sees this, he'd kill me.

I ran as fast as I could to the Nurse's Office, the bag containing the fetched item was at hand. When I finally reached the destination, the thought of knocking on the door didn't occur to me when it was too late.

I slammed the door open and shouted, "Yunoki!" But what I found was not what I had expected. I blushed furiously, feeling embarrassed at my forgotten manners.

There I found Yunoki undressing. His uniform's top and other clothes he wore was resting on his arms. His body was half-turned to my direction, his bare skin was exposed. But that's not what shocked me… or rather, made me blush. What gave me that kind of feeling was when I saw him… wearing a bra.

We both stared at each other in complete silence. I didn't know what to say, nor did I want to speak. So many questions were running through my head. It was disturbing me… I needed an answer; I wanted to know what in the world was going on.

I opened my mouth, and closed it again. I repeatedly did those actions—it made me feel like a fish gasping for its life—until I managed to get three syllables out of my mouth. "Yu… no… ki…"

"I'm so sorry for not telling you, Hihara. I had to keep it a secret; for my family's sake." Yunoki said in an apologising manner. I all ready found my voice, but I couldn't say anything at the moment. I could only listen to him… or her speak.

"Wha-What…?" I asked, my breathing became hard.

She sighed and I shuddered, "Yes, the truth is that I'm… a girl."

"But why, Yunoki?" I mouthed, "Why did you conceal your real gender?"

"Like I said, it was for my family's sake," she averted her eyes from mine. She was staring at the floor… or so I thought. I realised that Yunoki's attention was on the bag I'm holding. It took me a while to register it in my brain before getting the idea. "I would explain it to you, but first… Could you please hand the spare uniform? I'm freezing."

"Oh," I approached my best friend oddly, and handed her the bag. I couldn't bring myself to look into those honey-coloured eyes without feeling uncomfortable.

"Thank you," she said and went behind to one of the curtains… and began changing. Seeing her silhouette, my face felt hotter than ever, and I immediately looked away.

After a couple of minutes or so, Yunoki came out with a grieving expression on her face. My eyes were twitching from the sight. She looked… whoa.

"Hihara," Yunoki said my surname with uneasiness and… uncertainty? I wasn't sure; I couldn't really tell. "What is the meaning of this?" she pointed to the uniform she was wearing.

It was still a Music Student's uniform… but not for boys. It was the uniform worn by girls… and she was wearing a skirt which exposed her smooth, delicate legs. I again felt the blush creeping on my face. I should really learn how to stop blushing with… this. "Um, I can explain, Yunoki!" I said defensively. "The… The school is currently, well, out of stock with uniforms… and the only one left was that! Well, isn't it better than having nothing to wear!" I said them very quickly, fidgeting from time to time. "That's… That's why!"

"It was like as if the school knew this was going to happen, huh?" she chuckled to herself. I couldn't keep myself from not blushing. "Anyways, I thank you for bringing this set of clothes for me."

"It's… It's no problem!" I sighed to calm myself down. "Um, are you going to… you know?"

"Yes," she sat down on one of the beds and looked at me intently. "Hm… How can I explain it to you properly?" she whispered to herself, but I still heard it. "Ah yes," she nodded. "It's kind of hard to absorb everything in but, I know you'd understand…," she continued, "The reason why I concealed my gender is because of our family's tradition. All the girls would have to dress up and act like a boy — which is what I've done over the past three years. As for the boys, it's also the same.

"We start doing this at the age of sixteen — explaining why Miyabi is still, well, a girl; meaning, it all begins when we go to Secondary School. This act ends after we graduated from University. But in those years, we had to do our best in hiding it and acting naturally.

"It was very hard at first. I mean, as a girl, I found it offensive to use the boys' water closet. I also found it hard to spend quality time with boys, be touched by them, and do what they do like play sports and such.

"I know it's horrible, but there's nothing we could do," she sighed. "And I'll understand it if you don't want to talk to me any more."

"Yunoki," I said after she finished talking, and sat on the vacant area of her side. "My views of you will never change… You are my best friend, and you always will be." I put one hand on her shoulder and gave it a light squeeze. "You can always count on me. Plus, as your best friend, I'll keep this a secret between you and me. So, don't worry, OK?"

"Thank you, Hihara." For some unknown reason, I felt that the smile she was giving me was sincere… and coming from the bottom of her heart. It was different from the usual smiles she had given me.

I smiled back, happy to finally know the truth. But something was still bugging me…

"Oh yeah, Yunoki?" my best friend muttered a 'hm' in response. "I was wondering… if your first name as a guy is 'Azuma', then what's your real one?"

"Azumi. My grandmother just changed the last letter on my name," she chuckled. "Any more questions?"

"Uh… I don't think— Oh wait; I know! I was really worried this morning because you were acting… strangely. What's wrong with you earlier on?"

"Oh, so you want to know?" she… SMIRKED! What the He— "I thought for sure you'd know by now; considering you heard the truth." She leaned closer to me, I could feel my heart thumping hard against my chest, and the blush resurfacing my face. Her lips brushed against my ear, her hot breath tickling me, and my blush darkened. "Have you ever heard of girls' 'monthly period'? Try to recall the lesson we learned a few years ago: 'the reproductive system'." She pulled away and winked at me playfully. Yunoki laughed softly as she studied my tomato-red face.

Maybe my views of her would change, after all.

X~D
Just a sudden struck of idea… When I first read the manga, I thought Yunoki was a 'she' and I went WTF when I knew it was a 'he'. lawlz. I thought when my mind was still thinking 'she' that Yunoki went better with Hihara as a girlfriend. But then… You don't want to know. :~P
Anyhow, I hope you liked this One-Shot! ^ ^ Uhm… Do you want me to turn it into a story of its own or not?