Hidden Beauty

Basket Three: Welcome to the Team

Kuro tore her gaze away from Kise, focusing on the captain instead. He currently stood off the court, standing next to the bench as he studied everyone. 'Ahh… I wonder why he's not playing in the game. Maybe he's going to be watching how I perform and stuff... Great, now I feel self-conscious. Oh God– What if he finds out about me not really being a BOY? What if-'

"Tip off!"

'EH?!' Kuro hastily looked up, watching as two people jumped for the orange basketball that soared above their heads. 'It's ours.' She thought, watching seconds before a boy with a red vest knocked it onto their side. Her eyes followed the ball which landed in her teammate's hand.

He charged forward, but her gaze never broke away from his form, watching as he ran towards the hoop while dribbling the ball. Kuro stood still for a moment before darting forward. Kise, with ease, knocked the ball from his hands, smiling innocently as he ran for the opposite hoop.

Kuro stopped in front of him, her eyes staring into his. She smirked, taking a couple steps back from him, watching as his muscles tensed. 'Left.' Her right hand swept out just as the blond was about to pass, easily smacking the ball from his grasp. Using her speed, she easily twirled around his back, taking the ball.

She charged forward, ball dribbling loudly against the floor. Kuro came to a stop and threw the ball to the painted corner of the backboard, only for it to be slapped away by a peach-skinned guy with chestnut-brown hair.

"Tch. I almost got it." Kuro frowned, her hands on her knees as she watched the ball bounce out of bounds. The purple eyed girl watched her fellow teammate throw it in and smiled once another on her team caught it. Standing straight, she jogged lazily towards him and put her hands up, silently asking for the ball.

The ball bounced from the ground with a resounding smack, Kuro easily taking it. She dribbled it, eyes scanning the court. Not even a moment later, Kise was in front of her just as she was about to charge forward, successfully stealing the ball from her.

"Awh-" Kuro pouted, watching the blond model pass the members of the red team without much difficulty and score another point for the blues with a simple lay-up. She chuckled sheepishly, hands on her hips as her teammates took a second to retrieve the ball. 'Damn, didn't expect him to get to me that quickly. Oh well.' To into her thoughts, Kuro nearly missed the ball hurling towards her but managed to wrap her hand around the backside of the ball and bounce it on the ground. She watched Kise dart forward. Kuro looked away from him and instead focused her gaze ahead of her. Frowning, she quickly threw an overhead pass to her teammate who happened to be by the hoop.

She noticed his muscles tense up as he caught the ball, and turned immediately to perform a lay-up as he managed to barely pass by the blue's power forward. 'He was so close.' The raven haired teen cringed, watching as the power forward easily caught up in that quick couple seconds, taking the ball away from her teammate.

The power forward threw an overhead pass to Kise, who was already on the other side of the court again. He easily broke past the defense, dunking the ball.

Kuro looked at the score board, pursing her lips together. 'Four – Zero. Blue obviously in the lead.' She thought, shaking her head to focus on the game. 'I believe that captain said we'd only be playing for twenty minutes. And it's only been six minutes.'

Kuro stood back for a moment to observe her fellow reds, watching their every movement with her calculating purple eyes. 'Power forward's going to go for a steal.' She thought with a sigh. 'Do I try to stop him...? Or should I wait? He's clearly going to pass to Kise, so maybe I'll try for a three-pointer.' A small smirk spread on her face as her prediction came true. She waited until Kise successfully got the ball and dashed forward with great speed. Kuro got behind Kise and then stole the ball mid-dribble from the model. Kuro glanced to her teammate beside her and smiled as she pulled a behind-the-back pass, taking a few steps back while doing the necessary calculations in her head.

Her teammate seemed to understand and went in for a jump pass. It appeared as if he was going to shoot, but at the last second he sent it flying back to Kuro. She caught the bounce and lifted the ball with her finger tips, hand steadily on the side as she bent her knees for the jump. She let the ball go, and looked back at the defenders.

'It's too high of an arc to go in smoothly, but...' She told herself, watching as the ball soared through the air, bouncing off the back board and into the hoop. 'That's three points.' She spun around, moving away from the enemy's hoop in order to return to her side.

Kuro stopped, sensing someone staring at her intently. She turned to stare at Kise, who seemed to be staring her down in a calculating fashion. 'I wonder if he copied that.' She was vaguely curious, sending the blond a smile before turning away to focus back on the game.

In the end, she lost. Obviously. The blue team had won, with 48 points to the red teams 13 points.

Kuro walked calmly over to Kasamatsu after she noticed him beckoning her forward. She nodded her head, wiping the sweat from her brow with an easy grin. "How was that?" She grinned, freezing a second later. Kuro cleared her throat, as she forgot to deepen her voice. "I- I mean, how was that?" She asked again, voice this time more boyish-sounding.

Kasamatsu gave her a weird but calculating gaze, and nodded slowly. "You may join my team. I think you have quite a lot of potential as a player and it's something that we can work on more. You performed well against Kise and the others." Kasamatsu cracked a little smile, patting Kuro's shoulder.

"Welcome to the Team." He added with a smug looking smirk. "Now go run twenty laps or I'll hit you." He added, pointing to the doors which lead outside.

"Wait…" Kuro blinked in disbelief. "I did it..." She sighed happily, shoulders relaxing. 'And did he just say he'll hit me...?' She shrugged and did as she was told, unable to stop the growing smile as she began to run her laps.

Two hours' worth of practice later, Kuro excused herself from her fellow teammates and upperclassmen, taking her duffel bag and leaving the gym. She began her trek home, knowing it would take a little while. More specifically, two train rides and then a decent amount of walking.

Kuro got on the train and made another transfer after that one. She soon came to her stop, walking past other people, trying not to bump her duffel bag into anyone as she passed by. Kuro arrived at a mall that was close to where she lived. The raven head walked inside and headed for the public washrooms. She looked around; making sure that no one was paying her any attention before quickly running inside the women's washroom.

She quickly hid inside a stall, thankful that no one was inside, and took the wig from her duffel bag, securing it on her head. The wig looked just like how her hair used to be: long, black, straight, and silky.

Kuro brushed the knots out of it and fixed it so it looked actually quite real. Once she finished with that, she stripped out of her shorts and pulled on the grey skirt that was the girls uniform at Kaijou. She lifted her shirt off as well, staring down at her chest with distaste. "Maybe I should be thankful I'm so flat." She muttered dryly, peeling the bandages off, revealing a purple bra. She quickly pulled the white blouse on, buttoning it up before pulling her blazer from her bag and slipping it on. The first year reached for the red tie this time, securing it around her neck.

'There, now I look like old me again.' Kuro thought with a smile, shoving her street clothes back into her bag. She came out and walked in front of the mirror, staring at her reflection. 'I miss having long hair.' She smiled sadly at her reflection.

'Still, I wonder how I'm going to tell my parents when they find out... I'll worry about that later. It couldn't hurt them that much.' She stepped out from the women's washroom and made her way out of the mall. 'Now I'm back to my old self... Yasuhiro Kuroi-chan – the only daughter of the Yasuhiro's, the one who happened to fall in love with basketball. That's me.' Kuroi thought, a pained expression crossing her face. "At least I didn't have to change my name that much," She added, "Kuroi to Kuro. Kuro to Kuroi."

Kuroi continued with her walk back home, seeing the familiar house just down the street from where she current was. Kuroi picked up her pace and soon enough she was walking up the steps that lead to the front door.

The first year opened the door and kicked her shoes off to the side once she entered. "I'm home!" She called out, taking her duffel bag off her shoulder to put it to the side.

"Welcome home, Kuroi." Her father greeted her, patting her head. She tensed, but relaxed a second later when his hand retreated from her head. "How was your first day? Did you join the basketball club? How did your practice go? Did you make any friends?" Kuroi was bombarded with questions as her father pulled her into the kitchen, where her mother was humming a tune while setting up the table.

Kuroi wasn't sure of where to start, but just took a moment to think as she breathed in the scent of her mother's delicious cooking. "Well, school was boring, but alright. The whole school is really big and pretty. And yeah, I joined – practice was perfect, I even played a practice match with the other gu- girls." No matter how much she hated lying, it never got any easier for her to do it, especially in front of her parents. She hated it, but she needed to do it.

"Also, I didn't really make any friends… But my teammates said I played great." Kuroi shrugged as she plopped herself down in her usual seat.

"That's good, honey. I made your favorite, in celebration for your first day at a new school." Her mother smiled sweetly, serving out the portions for the three of them. "I also expect you to do your homework, you hear? And make sure to shower before you go to sleep." Kayate nodded sternly, putting her daughter's plate in front of her.

"Okay, mother." Kuroi responded, as she grabbed her chopsticks. "I'll do it once I'm done eating." She said moments before she shoved the delicious food in her mouth, finding that after running a bunch of laps and playing a short match, she was quite hungry.

Omg, please forgive me. |OTL I suck at writing anything sporty/action related. As you could see lol. So don't be too harsh on me. I tried and even studied more about the sport ; u;

~WinterAssassin~