Hidden Beauty

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Basket Eight: Kaijou Vs. Seirin

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"Oh man, my heart." Kuro smiled impatiently, patting her chest.

"What's wrong?" Kise asked, blinking as he tilted his head to the side as he stared at her questioningly.

"I'm just so excited. For the game." She admitted, her heart thumping wildly. Kise grinned, bobbing his head in understanding.

"Me too, cause I get to play against Kurokocchi!" Kise flashed the disguised girl his 'model' grin, giving her a thumbs up. "Oh, I think we should start our one-on-one, before it gets to late, cause I still need to go greet them."

"Alright, let's do this." Kuro beamed, standing up from the ground. They walked onto the outside court, Kise idly dribbling the ball. They both got into position.

"Here, lady's first." Kise grinned teasingly, tossing the ball towards her.

"Agh-!" Kuro froze, letting the ball hit her stomach and bounce away.

"Haha! I was just joking!" Kise grabbed the ball, balancing it on the back of his hand as he smiled innocently. "Though your face was priceless when I said lady."

'That friggin scared me!... That bastard.' Kuro though angrily, catching the ball when he threw it to her. "Jerk." She muttered, darting forward when he was least expecting it.

As she passed him, she could see his muscles tense in that way, so she stopped and stepped to the right, dodging him. "So, how long are we playing for?" She questioned, dashing for the hoop, the thumps from the ball smacking against the ground echoing in her ears.

"I was thinking the first to reach twenty!" Kise replied, appearing right in front of her.

"Tch." She frowned, turning away and then into a full circle. Kuro sprung forward, shooting the ball towards the hoop. 'It was worth a try.' She thought, watching as Kise easily smacked it to the ground.

The blond caught the ball on the first bounce, and turned himself in the air and slung the ball into the basket. "That's two for me." He grinned childishly, taking a few steps back.

"Yes, yes," Kuro replied, catching the ball before it managed to hit the ground, and raced backwards, keen on going further back until she reached the three-point line.

"Eh! No way, you're going for a three pointer!?" Kise whined, rushing for her. He was too late, because she decided a formless shot would be better, and it was, because it landed on the rim, tipping into the basket.

She stuck her tongue out, sprinting forward. Kise scampered after the ball, catching it before it went out of bounds, and carelessly throwing it over the backside of the hoop. The ball bounced straight off the rim and inside the hoop.

"Ehh, you're no fun with your copies." Kuro whined, although the smile on her face said otherwise. Kise only grinned in response, jogging towards her.

She caught the ball, and dribbled while staring at the hoop. She glanced at Kise, who stood by the hoop, guarding it. 'Mmm, to go for another three-pointer, or not.' Making up her mind, she turned and raced for the three-point line, dribbling as she went. As predicted, Kise followed after her, devious smirk on his face.

Kuro turned and got into position, ready to jump, just as Kise swept forward, hand darting up as he tried to steal the ball from her grasp. She easily broke to the left, heading for the center of the court, laughing audibly at Kise's surprised groan. Kuro bolted towards the hoop, and jumped straight at it. She dunked the ball, fingers grazing against the cool metal of the orange hoop.

Nearly after thirty minutes, their one-on-one game ended. It was 20 - 17, with Kise as the winner. By the time they had finished, both were panting, wiping the sweat with their shirts.

"That was fun, plus a good warm up." Kuro commented, currently sitting in the grass.

"It was... Your really good! Also very unsuspecting at times, which confused me quite a lot." Kise tried to keep his pout, but it only turned into a smile. "What's your secret!" He huffed after a moment.

"Eh? It's not really a secret... But, my parents were really helpful. My father is a doctor, and he taught me a lot about the human body, mostly because he wants me to be become a doctor when I'm older... And my mother, she used to be a Dance instructor when I was a child. She used to take me to her classes a lot, if she could. I really learned a lot from watching everyone. And now, I guess, it pays off in basketball." Kuro shrugged, inspecting her sneakers. "I'm able to predict everyone's next moves with how they react, just by a simple muscle tense or by their body language. It works most of the time."

"Whoa," Kise drew out the word, staring at Kuro in awe. "So, you could like, see into the future!" He gushed, sparkles in his golden eyes.

"Eh?," Kuro blinked, waving her hands. "N- no, I wouldn't go that far..." She emphasized, lowering her hands, giving the model a blank stare. "W- well, what ever..." She muttered, turning away from Kise's unwavering gaze.

Kise paused, looking around. "Oh! I'm going to go check the time, and then go wait for Kurokocchi! I'll see you at the gym, Yasuhirocchi!" He exclaimed, pushing off the ground and breaking out into a light jog, heading towards the school.

"Ya- Yasuhirocchi!?" Kuro watched the small forward, shocked. She recovered a moment later, and slowly got up, collecting her things.

She began to head for the gym, deciding that she should get ready for the game, because their opponents would be here very soon.

OoOoO

Kuro had changed into her uniform, and was now entering the gym. She blinked, at the sight that greeted her. 'We're only play on a half court... ?' She frowned, walking past the guys who were still practicing and onto the empty side. She walked up to Kasamatsu and Hayakawa, arms crossed.

"Ne, why are we only playing on half?" She grumbled, staring up at Kasamatsu.

"Coach said that he doesn't want to waste any time and still wants the others to practice while we play." The captain explained, eyeing the half court.

"Geh-... that's sucks." Kuro pouted, putting her bag down where it wouldn't get in the way.

"Ah, they're here." Kasamatsu said, nodding his head towards the entrance. Kuro turned, staring at the bunch. Her eyes widened when they landed on a certain blue haired member. 'No way... Is that Kuroko?' She thought, staring at the short boy with no aura. She hummed, and turned away, looking at the other players.

She turned away after, giving the girl with short brown hair a longer look, and instead focused on stretching.

Feeling eyes on her, she turned to locate the source, and stared when she saw the brunette staring at her with wide, calculating eyes.

'SHE'S STARING AT ME!' Kuro thought, sharing the same look of shock along with the girl who must have been thinking the exact same thing.

'Holy crap- she must know, she keeps staring at me! Oh my God, I'm gonna die, she's gonna tell coach! Or worse, Kise-!' Kuro's thoughts raced, intently staring at the girl. She watched Coach walk away, and then Kise walk up to them with a frown. Kuro paid no attention to what they were discussing, and instead turned away with a sigh.

"Let the practice match between Seirin High and Kaijou High begin!"

'Ah...' Kuro slowly joined her sempai's in the line, hands behind her back. She looked at the, at the Coach, then at Kise.

None of them seemed to know, so she sighed in relie- wait, Kise's on the bench? She blinked, staring at him silently.

"Uhm, we're about to get started, so Seirin, please have your five line up." Kuro drifted away from her thoughts, and turned to stare at the guy. 'But they do have five...' She thought, looking at the blue haired member, feeling somewhat bad for him.

He had put his hand up, saying that there was five of them. She watched the guy jump back about a foot with an amused expression, and briefly wondered why all of them looked so shocked.

They soon began tip off, with Kobori hitting the ball to Kasamatsu.

Kuro ignored what Kasamatsu had said, and instead focused on the Seirin members. The only one she had recognized was Kuroko, and didn't know the rest. Her eyes lingered on Kuroko, staring. "Ah! Kasamatsu-semp-!" She didn't have enough time to react as Kuroko approached her captain, smacking the ball from his grasp.

The invisible boy ran towards the hoop, but Kasamatsu was quick on his feet, easily catching up. Kuroko swung the ball behind him, passing to a feisty red haired-looking boy.

Feisty boy dunked it in and landed on his feet. Kuro blinked, and stared at the now broken hoop in his hands. 'What an idiot...' She thought, twitching.

Kuro stood by, watching as arrangements were made for them to use the full court, and hide the smile on her face. 'That's what you get, coach.' She giggled quite demonically, stopping only when she saw Kise walk on court.

Walking towards him, she heard various cries from his fangirls, and rolled her eyes in annoyance as she approached him. "Happy your on?" She questioned, tilted her head up at the model.

He nodded, fixing his uniform before he went to wave to the girls with a large grin on his face. Kuro twitched, wanting to hit him.

She took a step back, Kasamatsu dashing past her only to dropkick the model. Kise stumbled forward, teary eyed.

She chuckled, watching Kasamatsu yell and scold Kise, before whispering to him. Curious and feeling nosy, she walked over, leaning in to listen. Happy she wasn't attacked or pushed away, she looked in between both males. She had missed the first part, but came in time for Kise's reply.

"Number ten?" Kuro blinked, watching as they both turned around to look at the feisty red haired boy. She leaned past Kasamatsu's shoulder, trying to look at him. "That's Kagami." Kise replied, turning back to their sempai.

Poor fe- Kagami... He looked confused at their staring. She tuned them out, and eventually turned away, getting back into position since they were starting. 'I'll leave them to their plotting.'

The first five minutes flew by in a blur, and everyone was sweating by the time Seirin had called for a time out.

Kuro plopped herself down, wiping the sweat away. She paused, and looked down her uniform, frowning at the bandages. 'I need to change these after...' she decided, half-listening to the coach yell at them.

She vaguely heard Kasamatsu ask about Kuroko, and decided to tune in at that moment, tilting her head to look at Kise's reaction.

The blond had a huge smile on his face, as he started talking about Kuroko, only to get punched in the gut by Kasamatsu.

"Why the hell are you so happy?" Kasamatsu glared, frown present on his face.

"It's okay," Kise replied, grabbing Kasamatsu's hand, making both Kasamatsu and Kuro stare. "The balance wil tip soon." Kise insisted, smirking.

"Awh~ How cute, Kise is holding Kasamatsu-sempai's hand." Kuro chuckled, chin resting in her palms.

Kasamatsu elbowed Kise, yanking his hand away with a huff. Kise continued on to explain about Kuroko's 'Misdirection', and soon enough, the game resumed.

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There was now an eight point difference by the time the second quarter began, but of course they started it off with a bang.

Points were taken from both teams, and Kuro was started to get annoyed. She had seen the coordination between Kagami and Kuroko, surprising Kise.

Again, they did it, and she was about to continue on, but froze when she saw that Kuroko passed the ball to her mark; number 4. She hadn't enough time to block his three-pointer (and it wasn't because she was short), and frowned as it passed through the hoop.

A few minutes had passed, and to say in the least, she was surprised when Kuroko had stopped in front of Kise. Kise came out of his shocked state, and easily by-passed the invisible player, only to get stopped by Kagami.

Kuro stared, and her eyes widened once she saw Kuroko come up from behind Kise, about to perform a back-tip.

"Kise!" She shouted, rushing forward. She was to late, because Kuroko successfully knocked the ball from his hold, sending it straight into number five's awaiting hands. Kuro came to a stop, watching as he scored.

She sighed, and wiped away the sweat from her brow, falling back. Not even a minute later, the referee called for a time out. Kuro blinked, and turned to see Kuroko on the ground. She looked at Kise, who's eyes were wide.

She felt queasy once she saw the blood dripping from Kuroko, and turned away, staring at the floor as she caught her breath.

Okay, surely it wasn't her shortness, but it was getting harder and harder to stop the glasses-guy's shots. Almost every single one of them went in.

The last two quarters went by quickly, and just like that, it ended. Kagami skillfully ended it with a buzzer beater, shocking everyone.

"Tch," Kuro huffed, tiredly wiping away the sweat from her brow. She had wanted to win, but it was still a practice match. Surely they would face off again, and next time, they would win.

She glanced at the electronic score board, they were only two points away. The game ended with 100 - 98, Seirin the winners.

Glancing at her team mates, she paused when she looked at Kise, pouting. "You're crying, big baby." She smiled, poking his back.

They all lined up, and bowed.

Kuro grabbed her bag, eager to get out of the wet bandages and head home. She was tired, after all. She slung the duffel bag over her shoulder, but paused when the female coach came to a stop in front of her.

She bit her lip, "Hey..." She nodded her head in greeting. The girl nodded her head, hands on her hips. "Hello, I'm Seirin's Coach, Aida Riko. Sorry to ask so soon, but do you think I could I talk to you for a moment?" She asked, motioning away from the large crowd.

"Sure." Kuro nodded, her grip tightening on her bag as she followed Riko away from the court.

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Heh, Kuro thinks Kagami looks feisty. Oh, as promised, that one page failure of a comic thingy... There's a link on my profile if you're interested. It's just about Riko and Kuro, when they first notice each other. lol

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