Hidden Beauty

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Basket Thirteen: Torturous Saturday

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The week had passed by quickly, and it was now Saturday. The day of her father's Company BBQ.

Kuroi was currently in her bathroom, fixing her wig. "I knew it. I friggin knew it." Kuroi cursed her feminine-nature as she exited the bathroom, scowl present on her face. "Stupid time of the month, Gawd-dam-"

"Kuroi!"
"Yes, mother?" Kuroi blinked, opening her door after she quickly made sure her wig was still on. She played with a few strands, staring at her mother curiously.

"Are you ready?" Kayate asked, giving her daughter a once over.

"Yes, as ready as I'll ever be." Kuroi replied, smiling. She closed the door behind her, and followed her mother downstairs and outside.

Mikoto was waiting inside the car, the engine rumbling quietly as he started it. "Okay, to work!" He called, pulling out of the driveway.

Kuroi nearly rolled her eyes from his excited nature, but couldn't stop the smile from spreading on her face.

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Once they arrived there, Kuroi practically hopped out of the car just as her dad had finished parking it, and ran out and over to a shorter girl.

"Yu-chan~!" Kuroi literally latched onto the short girl, who equally held onto her. "Kuro-chan~!" The girl replied, her eyes sparkling brightly in the bright sun.

"You made it!" Kuroi grinned, letting her friend go.

"I said I would! I mean, I haven't seen you since middle school!" Sayuri giggled, bouncing on her toes in excitement. "So, how's life?" She asked, pausing momentarily to wave to Kuroi's parents.

"Life's good, I suppose. I'm playing basketball, at least. That's one of the good things!" Kuroi smiled, walking away from her parents.

"I see, that's great! You always were a basketball-nut. Oh! Do your parents still think I'm bad for your health?" Sayuri blinked eagerly, taking another look at Kuroi's parents.

"Ah, yup. When I mentioned that you might be there, they started going crazy. But it's all good, because I still love you." Kuroi teased, sticking her tongue out at her rosy haired friend.

"Awww, Kuroi. I love you to." Sayuri joked, punching Kuroi's arm as she laughed along with her. She linked her arm with Kuroi's, and dragged her off.

"Which school did you transfer to, anyways? I don't think you've ever told me." Sayuri asked, changing the subject as they walked down a grassy path, that lead to the park beside the tall building, which was where the BBQ was being held.

Kuroi hummed in response, "I'm going to Kaijou." She replied quickly.

"Kaijou? Kaijou has a girls' basketball team?" Sayuri stopped, drifting into deep thought. Kuroi also stopped, turning to look at her friend. "Uhh, ye-"
"Oh my God!" Sayuri suddenly exploded, orange eyes widened.

"Wha- what?" Kuroi's widened in shock, wondering if her cover had been blown.

"Isn't that Kise? From middle school!?" Sayuri shook Kuroi, staring intently.

"Kise?... Wait, Kise Ryouta!?" Kuroi paled, digging her feet into the ground. "He- hey, let's go that way..."

"No! Let's go say hi! We haven't talked to him in forever! Wait, we never even talked to him before... Well, now we have a chance!" Kuroi listened to her friend babble on about the model, as she literally dragged her over.

'Why the hell is he here!? Last time I checked, no one under the name of 'Kise' worked here, so what the hec-'

"Hello, Kise-kun!" Sayuri chirped, pulling Kuroi from her racing thoughts. She looked in between her friend, and her team mate.

The blond turned, blinking curiously. "Oh, hello." He greeted, eyes scanning Sayuri, before drifting to Kuroi herself. She froze, and wanted to speak, but found that her mind couldn't process any words at the moment.

Kise's eyes widened, as he pointed at her in shock. "It's you! The girl from both those times!" Kise grinned, looking like he just won a million dollars.

"'both of those times?'" Sayuri quoted, raising a questioning eyebrow at Kuroi. Kuroi made a choked sound, only letting a little laugh out.
"U- uhh, yeah. It's me... heh..."

"Kuroi, why didn't you tell me you ran into Kise!"

"Kuroi? So that's your name!" Kise smiled pleasantly, finally learning her name. "It reminds me of my other friend, Kuro! He's on the basketball team with me. It's strange, though, he suddenly transfers in, and decides to join the club... Weird, right!" Kise chuckled as he continued to talk. Kuroi could only watch helplessly as Sayuri gave her a long hard stare. The kind that usually meant that she was in trouble...

"Ne, Kuroi-chan. We need to talk. Excuse us, Kise-kun." Sayuri smiled almost too nicely, as she dragged Kuroi away, off into a clearing by a small pond that was located in the middle of the park.

"Okay! What aren't you telling me!?" Sayuri huffed, dropping Kuroi's hand to cross her arms.

"... Am I busted?" Kuroi winced, playing with the edge of her sleeves almost sheepishly.

"With a capital B." Sayuri emphasized. "When were you going to tell me?" She glared, a pout on her face.

"Well, maybe la-... Okay, I wasn't planning on telling anyone. I swear. Not even my parents." Kuroi insisted, her purple eyes burning into Sayuri's orange ones.

Sayuri's burning glare lasted only a few seconds more, before she burst out laughing. Kuroi blinked in confusion.

"I- I'm sorry, I'm not mad! You should have told me, I would have even went guy shopping with you." Sayuri giggled, nudging Kuroi's arm. Kuroi sighed in relief, and smiled slightly, although she seemed a bit shaken up still.

"Geez, woman. You scared me." Kuroi shook her head, sitting on a bench.

"So, not even Kise knows, or the whole school, for that matter?" Sayuri asked, plopping herself beside Kuroi on the bench, staring at the ripples in the pond that came from the ducks.

"Mm, not a single one of them. But, a girl knows. Her name is Riko Aida. She goes to a different school, though. Seirin. I swear, she read my vary soul." Kuroi grunted, unable to hide the giggle that escaped her lips. "She is the only one who knows. Well, now you know. So, yeah." Kuroi nodded slowly, casting her gaze towards the sky.

"Now for a girly question." Sayuri suddenly said, standing up. Kuroi followed suit, walking after her friend. "What?" She asked, still deciding on whether she wanted to what the question was or not...

"Do you like anyone on the team?" Sayuri's orange eyes glinted rather evilly in the sunlight.

Kuroi blanched, and shook her head. "No, and I'm planning to keep it that way. It'd just get in the way of basketball and school." Kuroi shrugged. She looked around as they made their way towards everyone else.

"Maybe you should just date a basketball." Sayuri grinned.

"And dump you? No way." Kuroi laughed, finding her parents in the crowd.

"Oh, Kuroi. Good timing, actually. I was looking for you. I wanted you to meet someone! He just transferred to this company, he's a real good dentist, like me." Mikoto joked, his hand patting a shoulder in mock-comfort.

"Kuroi, this is Toshiaki Kasamatsu, and his wife, Asuka, and son, Yukio. This is my daughter, Kuroi."

Kuroi's eyes widened. 'Did my dad seriously just say Kasamatsu... as in- Kasamatsu... Holy shi-'

"Mikoto-san, you daughter is just so adorable." Kuroi's head turned to look at Asuka Kasamatsu. She blushed lightly, and looked at the ground.

'Kasamatsu looks like his mom...' Kuroi found herself looking directly at her team mate, who appeared to be half behind his dad, looking the other way. She studied him for a few more seconds, before turning to Sayuri.

"He's the captain." She whispered to her, frowning. Sayuri's eyes widened slightly, and she chuckled almost awkwardly.

"Well, would you look at the time! I think my mom is calling me. Goodbye, all." Sayuri said quickly, saluting them, trying to ignore Kuroi's 'take me with you' face.

"Sa- Sayuri-!..." Kuroi watched her friend bolt away, heading towards where her parents would be.

"Yukio, I think she's your age, you should try to talk to her." Kuroi twitched, turning back. 'But I can't talk to him, woman.' She thought, biting her lip as Kasamatsu turned to face her almost shyly.

"H- hi." He stuttered, nodding his head in greeting. Kuroi stared dumbfounded, only managing a little squeak.

'Does he not recognize me from that time I bumped into him while jogging?... Well, good, let's keep it that way.' "Hey..." Kuroi cleared her throat, offering the black haired boy a smile. "I'm, uh, Kuroi."

"Yukio..." He replied, gaze focused on the ground.

'The kicked puppy look does not suit him at all.' Kuroi decided, shaking her head. She awkwardly looked at her parents, who only smiled and turned to talk with Kasamatsu's parents. 'I hope they aren't plotting any play dates or anything.' Kuroi twitched. 'That'd be number one on my list of problems.' She mused silently.

"Sempaaiii!"

'Scratch that, it'd be the second one. And here comes the first.' Kuroi sighed.

"Sempai, I see you've met that girl I always talked about! Kuroi, right?" Kise's never ending grin appeared, making girls around him scream.

Kuroi watched as Kasamatsu reeled his fist back only to smash it into Kise's side, easily wiping the grin from his face. "Ouch, sempai! That hurt."
"Shut up, or I'll hit you!" Kasamatsu growled, a soft red tint on his cheeks.
"You already hit me..." Kise moaned in pain, rubbing his side.

"Good." Kasamatsu huffed in an annoyed tone, turning his head away from the blond.

She blinked, and turned to hide her smile. It was hard not to, since she saw basically the same thing happen every day at practice.

Kasamatsu would always get mad at something Kise did, or even didn't do. It would end painfully, for Kise that is.

She cleared her throat, getting the attention of both of them, "So, uh, Kise-san, what are you doing here?" Kuroi now knew why Kasamatsu was here, but she didn't understand why Kise happened to be here.

"Hn? Oh, Kasamatsu's dad said that he could invite someone along, so he brought me!" Kise's golden yellow eyes shined in the light. "What about you?"

"I see," Kuroi nodded slowly, before coming back out of her thoughts. "Me? My dad works here. He's a dentist. He actually just transferred here a couple years ago, I believe. He still works part time as a doctor, though." Kuroi shrugged nonchalantly, figuring that the information wouldn't hurt her current situation.

"S- so... What do you do here? This is my first time coming to t- this kind of thing." Kasamatsu asked quietly, almost in a squeak.

Kuroi smiled, "Not much, actually. The older kids are sometimes instructed to keep the younger kids entertained before they get the chance to break something. They play games and such, like hide and seek, kagome kagome, tag and other things." Kuroi supplied, looking around. She wondered where Sayuri had ran off to, but barely gave it any thought as her attention was pulled back to Kasamatsu.

He was shaking a little less, which was maybe a good thing. "That's... cool." Kasamatsu muttered, gaze fixed on the ground.

Kuroi hummed in response, looking at Kise, who seemed to be distracted as he surveyed the area. "Do any of the children play any sports here?"

"Unfortunately, there's only soccer, since there's room for it." Kuroi answered, following the blonds gaze. She watched a little girl kick a small black and white soccer ball away from a slightly taller boy, successfully dashing past him.

"Kuroi-chaaaan!" Kuroi felt arms wrap around her shoulders. She turned to stare at Sayuri, who seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

"You and your ninja-ness." Kuroi huffed, crossing her arms as she pulled out of Sayuri's grip. She looked at Kasamatsu out of the corner of her eye, noticing that he started shaking a bit.

"Sayuri, this is Kasamatsu Yukio and Kise Ryouta. Uhh, guys, this is my best friend, Sayuri Abe." Kuroi introduced, smiling at her shorter friend.

Sayuri waved childishly, grinning from ear to ear. "Oh, right, my dad told me that your dad told him to tell you that all the food is ready~"

"Wait, what?" Kuroi looked at her, confused. "Then why are you here?"

"My dad told me to tell you."

"Stop talking in riddles."

"But, it's fun..." Sayuri whined, latching onto Kuroi's arm. "Anyways. It's been nice seeing you again, Kise-kun~ Nice to meet you, Kasamatsu-kun!" Sayuri yelled happily, as she dragged Kuroi away from the two boys.

"Dude, isn't your whole girl-gone-boy-act at stake? You should be more careful! I just saved you from certain death, you know." Sayuri whined again, plopping down on the wooden seat.

"Yeah, after you left me with certain death." Kuroi pouted, sitting beside Sayuri on the picnic table, which was facing the large company building.

"Geez, just be careful." Sayuri nodded quite seriously, as her mother brought two plates filled with food up to them.

"Oh, thank you, Abe-san." Kuroi smiled sweetly up at her friend's mom.

"Aww, sweetie. I told you, just call me Ayako!" Ayako giggled, patting both girls' heads before heading back to her husband, Jirou.

"Right, Ayako-san..." Kuroi blinked. "Your mom is always telling me to call her that." She chuckled, reaching for the pair of chopsticks.

Sayuri nodded, as she pulled her chopsticks apart with a little snap. "Itadakimasu~!" She sang.

Kuroi stared, before looking down at her own plate, "Itadakimasu."

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Yey~! A chapter filled with awkwardness and friendshipness. xD

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