Beep….. Beep… Beep. BEEP. BEEEEEEE- Hibari smacked her phone to the ground, then groaned when that, as usual, did nothing to dull or stop the noise. Flopping an arm off the bed, she reached for where the phone probably was... but felt only carpet. Groaning even louder, she flipped over, her face smooshed into the mattress, arm straining as it felt around her room's floor in a semi-circular pattern. Finally, her fingers clasped around the familiar rectangle that was her phone. Pulling it up, she angrily swiped the alarm off and tossed it back to the ground.

Flipping onto her back, she stared angrily at the ceiling, as though demanding it answer for the indignities she had suffered. It remained as disrespectfully silent as ever. She sighed; nothing would make her happier right now than to go back to sleep… but she couldn't. Daily bathing was mandatory as far as she was concerned, and she couldn't shorten the experience very much while still maintaining its value. With a weary sigh, she pushed herself up and out of bed, taking care not to step on her phone on her way out of the room.

As she passed Kousaku's door in the hallway, she shot a glare its way. She'd dared to hope that he wouldn't be an idiot like most when it came to her gender, but of course she wouldn't be so lucky. At least he was easy to mess with. It wasn't much of a consolation prize, but it was something.

A loud, high-pitched scream tore through the air. Hibari smirked. They must've sent Seiji, the largest and most intimidating of the two family guards, to wake Kousaku up. She almost felt sorry for him. Sweet as he was, Seiji's face was not a pleasant sight to wake up to.

"Suga, stop… Daddy's probably already awake…"

Tsugumi's familiar voice whispered urgently, but audibly, from somewhere within her room. The door was partially ajar, but Hibari was kind enough not to peek. She even tapped it nearly closed, to help stifle any sounds. But then again, she didn't need to peek. She knew what was going on in there. Suga and Tsugumi had been flirting for… months, at least, if not years. Sugako was one of the two Yakuza guards that lived in-house with the Oozoras, to better insure the family's protection. She was younger than Seiji, still somewhere in her late 20s, Hibari was fairly sure. Generally, she was the more serious of the two guards, and certainly the most level-headed. Yet, unbeknownst to Hibari's father, Suga had been harboring a crush on his eldest daughter for a long time now. And, at some point, Tsugumi started returning the sentiment. Now the two of them awkwardly flirted day and night, barely managing to keep their obvious attraction to each other secret from Tsugumi's father, who would undoubtedly go into a fit of rage if he found out.

Honestly though, good for them, as far as Hibari was concerned. When she was younger, she certainly wouldn't have guessed that her older sister swung that way, but who was she to judge? It wasn't her thing, but if it made her sister happy, then that was great. But she couldn't help but feel like it was just a matter of time before her father found out and the whole situation blew up in their faces. Hibari had no idea what would happen after that, and she really wasn't eager to find out. Suga would almost certainly be out of a job, at the least… and losing a job when you worked for the Yakuza was typically a deadly affair.

Reaching the washroom, Hibari nearly walked right into her youngest sister, Suzume, who was sleepily brushing her teeth. In fact, now that Hibari was looking directly at her, it seemed like the redheaded girl might've actually fallen back asleep, her toothbrush still in her mouth. Smiling at her favorite sister, Hibari shook the young girl lightly, saying in a soft voice, "Suzume. Suzume. Wake up, silly."

Eyes flying open, Suzume stared at Hibari in the mirror, her toothpaste-covered mouth breaking out into a smile. "Big sis!" she shouted, spitting toothpaste everywhere.

Giggling, Hibari grabbed a hand towel and wiped her sister's face. "You fell asleep brushing your teeth! Did you go to bed late again?"

"Chie kept sending me funny videos!" Suzume explained, grinning wide.

Hibari shook her head, but smiled warmly. "You've really got to start telling her that's it late and you need to sleep. You gotta get your beauty sleep!"

With a comic gasp and shocked expression, Suzume said, "Are you saying I'm not beautiful!?"

That got a good laugh from Hibari, who immediately swept her little sister up in a hug. "I would never." Setting Suzume back down, she said, "Hey, could you pop out for a sec? Gotta strip down to go wash up."

Nodding happily, Suzume skipped out of the room, allowing Hibari her privacy. Tossing her nightgown off and into the clothing bin, Hibari grabbed a towel and opened the door to the furo.

Why couldn't her other sisters be like that? When Hibari had explained the whole 'trans' thing to Suzume, the girl had been instantly accepting, and had shown nothing but support since. But all Tsugumi did was try her hardest to avoid the topic altogether, and Tsubame was actively hostile about it - when she wasn't too tired to argue, at least. Hibari sighed. Whatever. Eventually they'd either have to accept it, or accept that Suzume was the only sister Hibari was ever going to visit after high school.

Sitting on a stool, Hibari groped lightly at her own breasts, trying to ascertain if they'd grown. She frowned; no such luck. Not that she had reason to be surprised - her older sisters weren't much better endowed, truth be told. Still, she couldn't help but wish hers would grow a little more. At least her butt still seemed to be growing, if the newfound tightness of practically all of her pants was anything to go by.

Mind wandering, Hibari started properly washing herself, paying little attention to her surroundings - at least until the door behind her slid open. Her head and torso swiveled around to help her identify the intruder: none other than a very red and wide-eyed Kousaku. His eyes briefly flicked down at her chest, though they flicked back up just as quickly. Hibari's eyes flicked down his entire naked body, then back to his still reddening face. Stuttering and stumbling, he backed up through the doorway, tossing the door closed as soon as he was able.

Well that had certainly been… unexpected. Wait, shit! Leaping to her feet and wrapping her body with a towel, Hibari ran after Kousaku as fast as her feet would carry her. Flinging the door open, she saw him disappearing into the hall, his clothes thrown on haphazardly. Throwing her whole body forward, she desperately stretched her arm toward him. Her fingers barely managed to wrap around his wrist, and as soon as they did, she yanked him backwards as hard as she could, easily forcing him back into the washroom. Tossing him behind her and slamming the door closed to cut off his escape, she rounded on him, standing tall over his crumpled form.

"You!" she cried, panting, finger pointing and chest heaving. He didn't respond, but at least he looked appropriately terrified. "You saw… them?" She gestured emphatically at her currently covered breasts.

Kousaku nodded, head shaking like a bobblehead toy.

"Dammit…" she said, putting a hand to her face. Glaring with all her might, she shouted, "Why the hell didn't you knock or something!?"

"I-I-I…." He swallowed the lump in his throat. "Tsubame said it was empty…"

Hibari felt her eye twitch. "She did, did she?"

"I-I mean, technically there was a 'probably' in there, so I still should have knocked…"

She bent down, leaning in so close that their noses almost touched. "You think!?" Rearing back to her full height, she looked away from him, mind whirring. How was she going to handle this… He seemed like an easily intimidated sort... Direct would probably do it. Fixing him with the steeliest gaze she could muster, she said, "I demand you keep your mouth shut about what you saw. Don't you say a word to anyone else in this house."

Despite his fear, confusion overtook Kousaku's face. "W-wait… keep it shut about what? That I saw you-?"

"About these!" she said, gesturing again at her chest. Seeing that this only confused him further, she rolled her eyes and let loose another sigh. "Look, you know… about me, right? About what most of my family says I am?"

His eyebrows raised. "O-oh, yeah…"

...Had he actually forgotten? Whatever, there was no time. "Well, that being the case, doesn't it seem odd to you that I have these?" Slowly, he nodded, as though he was unsure this was a question that she actually wanted him to answer. "Normally I wouldn't, but thanks to Suga, I've got a doctor prescribing me medication to make it happen." Kousaku's expression clearly indicated that he'd had no idea that was a thing that could happen. Which was hardly surprising… cis people were ignorant about a lot of things. "But the rest of my family doesn't know. Can't know, okay? Especially dad. So you need to keep your damn mouth shut, got it?"

"I will," he said, quicker and more firmly than she'd expected. Maybe he wasn't quite as bad as she'd thought.

"Well… well good," she said, her face softening. Extending a hand, she helped him back to his feet, taking note of the small portion of his chest peeking out from under his shirt. A devious thought came to her mind - one she couldn't help acting on. He had seen her breasts, afterall.

"I-I'll just leave you to it, then," he said, hurrying toward the door.

She smirked. "Sure. But before you go, I just wanted to say... Nice bod." Taken off guard, he looked back at her in shock. Perfect. She flicked her eyes downward, to his crotch, making sure he knew exactly what part of that 'bod' she was referring to. His face, which had lost most of its color, flushed bright red all over again, and he scampered out of the room without another word.

Though Hibari, Kousaku and Tsubame all walked to school together, the trip was mostly taken in silence. As they drew closer to the school building, Tsubame increased her pace, putting distance between them without explanation. Not that Hibari needed it - this was far from the first time. A glance Kousaku's way was enough to confirm that Tsubame's abandonment was not understood by the both of them, however.

"She's embarrassed to be seen around me," Hibari explained, leaning in toward Kousaku with her hands behind her back.

His eyebrows shot up. "Oh."

Not the sharpest knife in the drawer, was he? It was almost endearing.

Looking back at her, Kousaku said, "How… how are they, at school? About your whole... thing?"

The widest of grins crossed Hibari's face. "Oh, they don't know. Everyone at school sees me as the girl I am!"

"Hibari!" a soft voice shouted from somewhere behind them. Couldn't be far behind… that pitiful excuse for a yell couldn't have carried over much of a distance.

Swiveling around just as her Rie finished running up, Hibari smiled brightly at her shy friend. Rie was a pretty young woman with a sweet, round face and long dark hair. "Who's this?" she asked, looking to Kousaku and smiling nervously.

Draping an arm across Kousaku's shoulders, Hibari said, "Ah, this here's Kousaku Sakamoto. He's staying with my family now."

"N-nice to meet you," Rie said, bowing. "I'm Rie Kawai, Hibari's best friend."

"Best friend?" Hibari said, cocking an eyebrow.

Happy smile disintegrating to dust, Rie's expression quickly turned to absolute mortification. "A-are we not-? I thought you'd said- I-I'm so sorry!"

Laughing, Hibari tugged her arm away from Kousaku so she could pull Rie into a hug. "I'm joking, you dork. Of course you're my best friend!"

Aside from a few tears in her eyes, Rie looked incredibly relieved, if a little embarrassed.

The three of them continued into the school, Hibari and Rie chatting animatedly about nothing in particular. When she reached her locker, Hibari was unsurprised to find it stuffed to the brim with love letters. Again. With a small sigh, she pulled them all out, and dumped the lot of them into the garbage, where they belonged. She caught Kousaku staring at her in surprise, but the only explanation she offered him was a shrug.

A few minutes later, Hibari sat in her usual seat in homeroom, watching with mild disinterest as Iwasaki-sensei introduced Kousaku to the class.

"He's here with us now after his mother died of a mysterious illness," she explained, throwing an overly serious expression at the class.

"S-sensei. There was nothing mysterious-"

"And your father!" Iwasaki-sensei continued, wrenching her head toward Kousaku, long dark hair swishing along with the violent head motion. "What happened to him!?"

Looking intensely uncomfortable, Kousaku said, "I… I don't know? They divorced a long time ago-"

"Ah, so he was an adulterous scoundrel."

"W-what!?"

Giggling a little to herself, Hibari shook her head and pulled out her phone. This was far from the first time she'd been witness to one of Iwasaki-sensei's stories, and they always went a similar direction.

Oh, two new messages! One from Rie, and another from her classmate Shiina. Glancing his way, she was unsurprised to see him looking back at her, his eyebrows raising and lowering in acknowledgement. He was a tall, lanky guy with a long, pointed face, his dark hair cut short save for the messy pompadour hanging low over his eyebrows. Smiling softly, Hibari looked back at her phone. To her amusement and slight irritation, both messages were about Kousaku, and were asking the same basic question. Were Kousaku and Hibari a "thing"?

Fingers tapping quickly, Hibari sent her answers in short order. To Rie, "Hell no." To Shiina, "Maybe. Jealous? ;P"

Looking back Shiina's way, she grinned at the scowl he was suddenly wearing. Definitely jealous.

"And then he rounded on you, falsely accusing you of trying to strike him, and threatening to have you dragged off by the police!" Iwasaki-sensei said, continuing her absurd tale of Kousaku's apparently abusive father.

"S-sensei… that didn't…"

Completely ignoring him, she continued on, "That's when your mother knew that she had no choice but to divorce him. She'd allowed herself to suffer all this time, thinking it was what was best for the kids, but now she could see that you weren't safe from him either!"

Tuning out again, Hibari glanced back at her phone. No response from Rie, which wasn't surprising. Shiina, on the other hand, had responded as expected, by offering to take Hibari on a date. She replied with, "How much are you willing to spend? Exact yen amount, please." She didn't expect to hear back from him.

"Then he tried to sue for custody of your older brother, even though your brother was about to graduate from high school!"

"Sensei, I'm an only child!" Kousaku practically screamed. "The divorce happened when I was a little kid, and I'm pretty sure it was amicable!"

Hibari glanced about the room. Unsurprisingly, several students were taking the opportunity for a quick nap. Shiina was grimacing at his phone, sweating. Rie was somewhere behind Hibari, and… oh, there was Kaori, glaring at Hibari and looking away as soon as she made eye contact. A girl with long, dark, wavy hair, and bangs practically to her eyeballs, Kaori typically wore a notable amount of makeup and the most fashionable clothes she could find. And for some reason that Hibari didn't care enough to figure out, she hated Hibari. Fortunately, she was typically fairly harmless in expressing that hatred, which was perhaps the main reason Hibari didn't pay her much mind.

Finally having wrapped up her little melodrama, Iwasaki-sensei allowed Kousaku to go take a seat. To Hibari's surprise, as Kousaku walked down the aisle Kaori waved him over, whispered something to him, and then tossed a satisfied smirk Hibari's way when Kousaku left. ...The hell did she think she was doing?

Pulling her phone back out, she hurriedly typed out a message to Kousaku and practically slammed the 'send' button. "Kaori wanted to talk to you? What was _that_ about?"

His response came quickly. "She told me to 'be careful' around you. Redundant, tbh. I figured that out last night."

She couldn't help but giggle a bit at that. Maybe he could learn. Putting her phone away, she let herself relax. Nothing to worry about. ...Still… she couldn't help but feel like Kaori had stepped out of line with that one. Kousaku hadn't even been at school for a full hour, and already the girl was trying to draw him into her inane schemes? ...Hibari needed to talk to her.

A few hours later, at lunch, Hibari approached Kaori and her usual posse of friends. There were four particular girls that always seemed to hang around Kaori, and though Hibari didn't know their names, she'd seen them enough times to recognize them by sight. One had really short black hair, liked to wear headbands, and typically wore shirts that had some sort of saying on them. Today, it was 'Kiss Me', in English letters. Another had shoulder-length brown hair that she usually kept up in a ponytail, and bangs that were nearly as long as Kaori's, if less full. The third was a big girl, in both the height and weight departments, with poofy brown hair and a perpetual glare.

Ignoring all of them, Hibari went directly toward Kaori, arms crossed. The other girl stared at her in mild surprise. "Hey, Kaori. I know you've got your whole… thing with me. But lay off Kousaku. He just got here, and he's been through a lot. Don't drag him into anything, okay?" Hibari tried to maintain a firm, but not unkind tone as she talked, but the creeping grin on Kaori's face made it increasingly difficult.

"How dare you come up to her and-" started the big curly-haired girl, her voice falling away as Kaori casually raised a hand to stop her.

"It's fine, Kenko," Kaori said, her smirk gone and tone even. "If Hibari wants us to lay off the guy, then we will." Giving Hibari a short bow, she smiled pleasantly, no hint of malice or trickery in her face.

Returning the bow, Hibari still couldn't help but feel suspicious of the situation. It was probably the way Kaori looked at her now - a friendly smile, rather than her usual glare. Hibari would definitely need to keep an eye out for Kaori still, but hopefully there was no longer a need to worry about Kousaku.

There was definitely a need to worry about Kousaku.

Approaching him after school under the assumption that they'd be walking home together, she was shocked to hear him say that he couldn't. The reason? "Kaori asked me to meet her at this nearby café."

Instantly furious, Hibari did her best to hide that fact, managing to do a middling job of it. "Kousaku, she's… she's really untrustworthy! You shouldn't-"

"Like you're any better?" he said, glaring back at her. "No one at this school even knows what's actually going on with your gender, not even your supposed best friend, but you're gonna point fingers?"

That was different, and he damn well knew it. Or he should have, anyway. Fists clenching, Hibari said, "She's only going out with you to get at me! You've gotta see that, right?"

He shrugged. "So? I've still gotta give it a shot."

"Why!?"

Rolling his eyes, Kousaku said, "You wouldn't understand. Long story short, I've got a bet to win, and I haven't got a big window to do it."

Incredulous, Hibari found herself without an immediate response. How did one respond to something so blatantly idiotic? Before she could formulate anything, Kaori herself walked up, smiling wide.

"Oh, Hibari, how nice to see you!" she said, a glint in her eye. "Well, we'd better be off, huh, Kousaku?"

Nodding, the two started walking away, Kaori gleefully looping an arm around Kousaku's. All Hibari could do was silently stare, literally shaking in rage. Kaori had gone too far this time, dragging an innocent idiot like Kousaku into the middle of some stupid feud that Hibari still didn't understand. But she wouldn't get away with it. Hibari wouldn't allow it. One way or another, Hibari was going to put a stop to Kaori's plans. And more than that, she was going to make the girl wish she'd never picked a fight with Hibari Oozora.