Hidden Beauty

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Basket Twenty-Six: On a Leash

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With the Interhigh Preliminaries coming up, Kuroi barely had time to take a little breather. She was busy. She had to 'attend' to Kira's 'needs and wants', do homework (or else she'll be pulled from after school activities, which she obviously can't have), do her chores, and practice even longer than expected with everyone else.

It wasn't only Kasamatsu who was busting her ass; it was Kira, her mother, and even her teachers. She was beginning to get fed up with all of them telling her that she needs to "pick up her slack, or else". It was getting tiring, and she only wanted to reply with "Shove it."

It was now Thursday, and she was currently at practice. "Hold it!" Kasamatsu's voice rang and flooded in her ears, and Kuroi could feel the sweat just dripping off her head and onto the grassy ground. The muscles in her arms stung painfully, and she could feel them getting weaker as seconds passed by.

The two were outside; the bright sunlight didn't bother them, as they were sitting under a tree, the shade keeping them company.

"Hold it." His voice was now like a whisper in her ear; ghostly, even. And for some reason, it made her blush. 'Great,' she thought, her arms practically shaking as she tried to hold her plank position. 'I think I'm going to die of heat stroke, or something.'

"Five, four, three, two, one-"

Kuroi let a choked noise out, out of relief, as she collapsed onto the ground. She lay there, silent, and staring at the rich green grass which tickled her cheek and body as the wind blew past. "I thought I was going to die." She admitted, albeit quietly.

Kasamatsu snorted. "It was only ten minutes."

"The longest ten minutes of my life." She replied, slowly sitting up. She groped at her arms, thinking of how she could practically hear her muscles crying and groaning in protest. Kuroi could feel Kasamatsu's intense gaze directed at her, but she pretended not to notice as she continued her stare off with the ground.

"Kuroi..." Kasamatsu started, but stopped himself, his voice trailing off into silence.

"Hm?" Kuroi hummed in response, after a few seconds. She still kept her gaze firmly on the ground, but spared a look and saw Kasamatsu looking at the ground, biting his lip, as if in deep thought.

Guilt filled her heart, seeing Kasamatsu's almost pained expression. She quickly looked away, and poked at her shoelaces awkwardly.

"Are you..." He finally spoke, making Kuroi stop momentarily. "Okay?" He finished. Again, Kuroi could feel his burning stare crash into her, and she found it almost too overwhelming to look up at him.

"... M'fine." She mumbled after wetting dry lips. "I'm fine." She repeated, pulling her legs close to her chest, hugging them for comfort. As badly as she wanted to believe it, she was not, by any means - fine.

A pale hand crossed her vision, making her flinch back for a moment, until she realized that Kasamatsu had reached forward to pull something from her hair. She expected his hand to pull away, or drop, or something. But, instead, he gently grasped her chin, and made her look up into his eyes.

"S- Sorry," He stuttered, face heating up. "There was a piece of grass in your hair..." He muttered. Kuroi could only nod dumbly, too amazed at his closeness. She felt the heat rise to her cheeks, noticing his eyes flick down to her parted lips. "Ka-"

"Sempai! Yasuhirocchi~!" Kise seemingly popped out of nowhere, slinging his arms around the two with a grin on his face, evidently tearing the two apart.

Kasamatsu sputtered in embarrassment, whilst Kuroi fell silent. "Kise, are you a ninja?" She asked after a moment.

"Only the good kind." Kise replied cheerily, pulling the two along with him, heading back towards the gym. "It's my job."
"I thought being a model was your job." Kuroi snorted, crossing her arms as she tried to pull out of the blonds hold. He wouldn't let go, and only grinned further.

"Speaking of which," He started, his eyes rising to look at the cloudless blue sky. "I have this one job on Saturday. That's okay, right, sempai?" He asked, sounding almost cheeky.

"Why wouldn't it be?" Kasamatsu finally spoke, elbowing the blond, slipping out of his grasp. Kise stopped to rub at his side, a pout on his face.

"But... I was just wondering if you two wanted to come along!" That made Kuroi stop, so she could stare curiously at Kise.

"Come to your modeling place?"

"Yup!"

"Interesting..." Kuroi wouldn't admit it, but she has always been wondering what kind of place Kise worked at. She has always been curious. Now, she supposed, was the perfect opportunity.

"O-" Just as she was about to agree, Kira came jogging up.

"Kuro-kun!" The pale locks of hair bounced and flew in the wind as she ran over, smile on her face.

'Awh, man...' "Kira..." Kuroi greeted the girl.

"Oh, hello, Kasamatsu-kun, Kise-kun."

"H- Hey..." Kasamatsu stuttered out, turning away.

"Yo." Kise practically growled out, surprising Kuroi and Kasamatsu. The two black haired teens shared a look, before looking at their golden blond friend.

"Kise..." Kuroi muttered, grabbing his wrist. "I need to talk to you." She said, pulling the glaring blond away Kira and Kasamatsu.

Once they were far enough away, Kuroi turned to Kise. "Kise, what did you do?"

"I didn't do anything!" Kise insisted, folding his arms across his chest, even though he still had a small frown on his face.

"You clearly did something. Just tell me."

"... I only talked to her."

"Well? What'd you say?"

"I told her to..."

"To?"

"To leave you alone..."

"..." Kuroi shook her head, looking at the ground. "You don't understand, Kise."

"Then make me understand!"

"I can't!" Kuroi said, stomach twisting painfully. "Just... please, don't say anything else to her." She said, before turning away from Kise. Kuroi made her way back towards where Kira and Kasamatsu were, and walked up to Kira.

"What do you want?" She asked, voice soft.

"I was wondering if you wanted to hang out on the weekend, you know, like, gir-" Kira blinked, staring at Kuroi's hand, which was now covering her mouth.

"Yeah, sure, just uh, still in practice." Kuroi stated, glaring at Kira. Kira smiled under her hand. She pushed Kuroi's hand away, looking smug.

"Alright, I'll call you then. Oh, and, practice is usually over now."

"We have the Interhigh Preliminaries coming up." Kuroi said, pushing Kira in the opposite direction.

"Alright, guess I'll just walk home by myself today." She huffed out, before leaving the three.

Silence set in, and Kuroi bit her lip. "Kuroi..."

"What?" She asked, turning to Kasamatsu. Kise blinked, looking in between the two. "I thought we were gonna go to my modeling job!"

"I can't. Not anymore."

"It seems like you're on a leash." Kasamatsu murmured, before turning away. "Anyways, you could go home now. She was right, practice is over." He stated quite coldly, before making his way back to the gym.

Kise frowned, and walked away, but not before giving Kuroi a desperate looking glance. She did nothing, but only stare at the grass.

Kise sighed, and followed after Kasamatsu.

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D'aww. Poor Kise, Kasamatsu, and Kuroi. But, the Kasamatsu and Kuroi moment was cute in this chapter. Lol. (*cough* KasaHiro *cough cough*)

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