A/N: So... I failed again... I won't make promises on when this gets finished... I can't keep them *sigh* Anyways. This chapter is REALLY short. The next one is pretty long, so I divided them up.

Chapter Twenty-Four

There was this awful silence. Katsurou looked dumbfounded as he jumped to his, looking around the room in confusion. "Wait, wait, wait! What do you mean, 'now I do'?"

"Are you that stupid?" Kaito, Hibiki, and surprising Ryunnosuke all said collectively.

"I don't understand; I'm allowed to not understand!" Katsurou snapped. "Explain to me."

"Katsurou, on my birth certificate, I was categorised as a female," Len said, trying to sound confident. If he weakened now, Katsurou would just end up being more confused. "I don't want to be female, so, I'm began to go through hormone treatment. Figuratively speaking, I haven't had the operation to change my sex, so I'm physically still a… female, but I'm not… do…do you get it?"

"Soooooo…" Katsurou said, moving his hands in a gesture to go on. "You're…not a guy?"

"I…I am, but according to my register, I still am a female because I still have… well… female parts."

"I…see…" he said, hesitating for a brief moment. "And… this bothers you why?"

"Why the hell do you think this bothers him?!" Hibiki snapped. "He wants to be a dude, if people saw him naked they wouldn't accept him a dude. Is that hard to understand?!"

"Well… women kinda have, you know, a top part." He groped his own chest as he made a statement.

"Did you not pay attention to anything Len just said," Kaito grumbled. "Len went through hormone treatment. He hasn't developed those because he's stopped his body from developing them."

"So… this is a problem because…?" Katsurou replied. "Why… would this bother me?"

"Stop hesitating while talking, it sounds like you do have a problem with it," Ryunnosuke replied.

"I'm allowed to hesitate. I don't wanna say something to piss anyone off."

"You already have," Kaito grumbled.

"What do you mean, I already have?! Because I don't get it? I am freaking allowed to not get shit," he replied hotly. "So what if Len was born a chick. Len is Len, so I'm not bothered, ok?!"

"Damn it, Katsurou; just say it a little louder why don't you?!" Kaito was on his feet, grumbling harshly. "It's not like the world needs to freaking know."

"Why is it a problem," Katsurou challenge, then looked Len dead in the face. "I'm not some fifty-year-old, fat, sexist bastard who sits on his ass and shouts that all women belong in the kitchen, I seriously don't care what you are. Man, woman, male, female, trans, it doesn't matter! It how you choose to define yourself. You have, from day one, defined yourself as a man, so you are a man, there's no ifs or buts about this stuff. If you tell someone and they can't accept it, it's their fucking loss. You are perfect with all the flaws that comes with being human. So what, you have a vagina, does that change you; I don't think it changes you. Why does it have to change you, why the hell does your sexual organs have to define you?"

Everyone was silent. Flabbergasted for sure.

Katsurou took a really long and deep breath. "What I'm trying to say is that, regardless of social norms, you are who you are. You're unique, you define yourself, you choose to stand out the crowd. If we were all the same, this world would be bloody boring."

Everyone was still silent until Len began to laugh. Tears welled in his eyes, and he wasn't quite sure if he was relieved, upset or happy.

"You okay?" Kaito's voice was quiet. Everyone had settled into bed, Katsurou had an early race so he needed sleep. Len wasn't sure if he had an answer. He'd hidden it from everyone that his hands were trembling fiercely. After Katsurou's outburst, Ryunnosuke finally told Len how he and Miku worked it out. It was so simple; it had been an incident just like Kaito's. He'd walked in while Len was changing for the culture festival. He had never alerted Len he had been there because he hadn't wanted to upset him. He had confined him Miku, who he trusted to keep it secret. They both came to the same conclusion; Len was precious to them. This wasn't going to change anything for them.

"I wish I knew," Len whispered back, rolling over to cuddle up into Kaito's chest. Kaito's warm arms wrapped around him, holding him close.

"You're trembling all over…"

"I know. Trust me, I know."

"…Did things work out the way you thought?"

"No, they didn't," Len admitted weakly. "I expected a confrontation… that Katsurou would say something nasty or… you know, try and embarrass me. I won't really know what happens until it happens… but Katsurou is popular… and he says stupid things from time to time, so I'm scared that he'll let it loose. I'm terrified that people will… react badly. To be honest, Katsurou's reaction was really bad… but wasn't if you get what I mean."

Kaito hesitated, probably thinking of what to say. "He's not the brightest light in the room, but he's pretty empathetic. I don't think he'd humiliate you… it's not in him."

Maybe… but Len still didn't know for sure if telling Katsurou was the right thing to do.

A/N: So the next chapter deals a lot with Katsurou... so look forward to that xDDDDDD