Hidden Beauty

OoOoO

Basket Nineteen: Hell Hath no Fury (Like a Women Scorned)

OoOoO

Kuroi leaned against the tree, crossing her arms. She checked the time, realizing that it was almost 7:00 pm.

Kise stood beside her, smiling happily as he rubbed his bruised cheek.

"Yasuhirocchi, you hit hard for a girl." He said after a moment of thinking back to the previous day.

"Thanks." Kuroi replied, smiling cheekily.

The Kaijou basketball team members were currently waiting for the mega-awesome-expensive-looking-bus-borrowed-from-K ise's-parents to arrive.

"At least you aren't afraid of me." Kuroi said suddenly, looking up at Kise, who only laughed.

"You can be scary sometimes, Yasuhirocchi!" Kise offered her a comforting pat on the head, ruffling her short bed-headed hair.

"Thanks." She repeated, nodding slowly. 'Good to know...' Kuroi thought, chuckling evilly.

"... Yasuhirocchi, this is one of those weird moments where you start laughing creepily..."

"Yup."

The bus finally pulled up, that old butler dude taking their bags again. They all shuffled inside the mega-awesome bus, and took their seats.

OoOoO

After the long ride, they were all dropped off at the school. Either parents came to pick up their boys, or you had to walk home. In the dark.

This was one of those times when Kuroi knew she had to walk home. Well, bus it home. Then walk... Yeah. She slung her duffel bag over her shoulder and said her goodbyes before departing from her school to make it to the train station.

Since today was Monday, and the extended weekend was over, they had school tomorrow. Which sucked. Because after tomorrow, and tomorrow's tomorrow- tomorrow, was Friday. That was the day that Kaijou would go up against Seika High.

Kuroi grasped her head, her thoughts getting all jumbled up. She sighed, and realized that she was at the train station, and luckily, the train pulled up just on time. She entered, and sat in the corner, hugging her duffel bag close to her body.

Even in the warm train, she could still feel the cool night air seep in through the opened windows, chilling her skin. She stifled a yawn, rubbing her eyes tiredly.

Oddly enough, she was kind of looking forward to tomorrow, but only because of her agreement with Kasamatsu. The memory made her smirk, as a dark giggle escaped her lips.

She only stopped giggling when a woman looked at her weirdly.

Kuroi coughed and cleared her throat, turning to look out the window at the darkening sky.

'Tomorrow will be fun.' She smiled as she changed her mind for the third time.

OoOoO

It was now Tuesday, and Kuroi had left for school, catching the train just on time, and jogging the rest of the way to Kaijou.

She had run into Kise in the hallway, and nodded her greeting before disappearing without a word into her classroom.

Kuroi spent most of her first period plotting, going over various moves and exercises. She didn't get caught once by the teacher, but she suspected that the teacher was slightly hung-over to do anything properly.

Her classes and lunch time had flown by in a breeze, and the last bell rang, school was now over.

Kuroi couldn't help but smirk as she made her way to the gym, eager to begin practice as she hugged her duffel bag and notebook close to her, slipping by students who wanted to get home or get to their after school activities just as quickly as she wanted to get to hers.

As soon as she entered the gym, she immediately went towards the locker room. Her smile dropped and her mind went blank the second she entered.

"I'm sorry, I forgo- Imma just... just go into the girls... locker rooms. Yeah." Kuroi coughed awkwardly. She had totally forgotten about them knowing that she was a girl, and had walked right into the boy's locker room by accident.

Since they knew, there was no reason for her to be in there anymore. She just had to be careful when she went into the girl's changing room.

Kuroi poked her head in said changing room, clearing her throat before speaking up. "Hello, any bo- er, girl in here?"
She received no answer, and shrugged, before taking her things inside with her. She was about to change in peace, without no fear of being found out, but paused when she took her white-button up shirt off. Kuroi stared curiously at her bandaged chest, wondering if she really needed to wear it during practice.

It would be a great relief if she didn't, and since they all knew she was a girl (except for Takeuchi-sensei) she figured it would be okay, and it would help her in telling Coach.

Kuroi unraveled the bandaged, watching them fall to the floor and curl slightly. She stared at pale white bandages in deep thought as she finished changing and tying her shoes.

She walked out, stretching her arms as she headed towards the blond. "Neeeee, Kise. Help me tell Coach about my... being a girl problem."

"Problem?" Kise chuckled, ruffling Kuroi's hair just as he had the day before. "I will, but I don't think it's much of a problem." He blinked innocently.

"Sure, you say that now..." Kuroi rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. She was beginning to feel a tad self-conscious all of a sudden, the stares of her team mates getting to her. "Jeez, let's just get this over with." She whispered, walking up towards where their Coach would be.

"Coach Takeuchi," Kuroi cleared her throat, stopping in front of the middle aged man.

"Hn?" He blinked, eyes focusing on her for a moment before he turned to yell at one of the first years who were goofing off. "What is it-... Yasu..."
"U- uhh, Yasuhiro Kuro-i..." Kuroi added slowly, her gaze pointed to the ground.

"What is it, Yasuhiro- Wait, what?" She glanced up and noticed the Coach's confused look, as he glanced down at his clipboard, flipping past a couple pages.

"Heh, yeah, funny thing is... I'm a girl." Kuroi whispered, adding an awkward sounding chuckle as she scratched the back of her head.
"That's impossible."

"Nope! Yasuhirocchi really is a girl!" Kise butted in, his grin faltering when Coach Takeuchi looked like he was about to faint. "Coach?" Kise blinked, poking the older man's shoulder unknowingly.

"I- I'm fine... But, you're really a girl?"

"Yes... I'm sorry."

"Do you understand what this means?" He asked, narrowing his eyes as he stroked his stubble on his round chin.

"... I'm off the team?" Kuroi winced, her heart beating like crazy inside her chest.

"No, that not all girls are sucky players."

"... Thanks." Kuroi twitched, laughing darkly. Why did all men half to be w-

"I assume you talked to Kasamatsu about it, along with the difficulties and what trouble we could get in if anyone else found out?"
"Yes, I understand." Kuroi bowed politely, before pulling Kise away with her. She sighed loudly, leaning against the wall. "Glad that's over and done with." Kuroi huffed, closing her eyes.

Kise simple smiled as he gave a short nod. "So, Kasamatsu-sempai said you had a surprise for all of us! What is it?"
"What is it... Ohh, hehehe. Yes, uh- surprise." Kuroi's smile melted into a grin as she pushed herself off the wall, taking a couple steps towards Kise.

"... Yasuhirocchi, I'm scared." Kise mumbled, taking a step back. He nearly bumped into Kasamatsu, who had his arms crossed and class frown in place. Kise jumped, suddenly feeling cornered.

"Nakamura-sempai! Help me!" Kise yelped, running up to the second year shooting guard. Kuroi narrowed her eyes, hands on her hips. "You can't run forever, Kise." She said darkly, making the blond hide further behind their blond team mate.

"All right, everyone gather around!" Kasamatsu hollered, waving for everyone to come forward. They all stopped what they were doing, and eventually in a minute everyone was gathered.

"Ku- Kuroi.. and I have uh- something planned for you all. By request, she has asked to... well, personally, help with the training regimen for today."

Various gulps were heard in the now quiet gym, as all the boys shared worried looks with each other.

"Thi... This isn't revenge for what happened at the onsen, is it?" One second year fearfully asked, him being one at the hot springs when the incident had happened.

"Now, now. Why would you ask such a thing?" Kuroi said sweetly, tilting her head to the side appearing innocent. The boy shrugged, taking a couple steps to hide behind Kobori.

"Hey, it was just a stupid mistake. It's not like some of us meant to see you naked! It was only Moriyama planning it." Another said. Not even a second later, Moriyama was there to smack him upside the head, glaring.

"Ahaha, that's not true. It was actually Kise!" Moriyama turned to glare at the blond, who put his hands up.

"Sempai! I was trying to stop you!"

"Yet it was your fault that the wall got knocked down in the first place."
"Yours too!" Kise cried, pouting.

"If you'll all kindly shut up," Kuroi interrupted rudely, clearing her throat. She licked her hips, and pulled a crinkled piece of notebook paper out of her pocket. She smiled, reading it over. "Okay. So, today, we'll be doing various activities." Kuroi nodded, handing the paper to Kasamatsu, who took it slowly.

The boys could only watch helplessly as their Captain's face paled as he read it over. He silently handed it back to Kuroi, who put it back in her pocket.

"First five minutes shall be stretching. After that, we shall all do ten minutes of non-stop jump rope, followed by fifteen minutes of weight lifting, then the next half an hour doing laps in the field outside. There will be a five minute break after that, to use the bathroom or get a drink. After our little break, we'll spend the next forty-five minutes doing various exercises, consisting of push-ups, sit-ups, planks, lunges, and squats. The last ten minutes will be for stretching and cooling down." Kuroi sighed, taking a slow breath in. All she could think about was the horrified gazes that were focused on her.

"Well, what are you waiting for?! Start stretching!" She barked, crossing her arms in a threatening manner, enjoying how they all practically dropped to the floor and started with their stretches. 'Life is good.' Kuroi thought happily as she sunk to the floor, to begin with her stretches.

About half an hour into their activates, they were all now located in the weights room, which happened to be next to the gym.

Kasamatsu had managed to shuffle his way past everyone's weight lifting and up to Kuroi as he balanced a twenty-five pound dumbbells in each hand. He studied her for a moment, face going blank as Kuroi struggled to bench press.

"U- uhh, maybe you should try easier ones, maybe try the bal-"

"Hah?" Kuroi sneered, turning her head to glare at the Captain. "Look, I don't need your help or anything. I can handle it myself." Kuroi huffed, struggling to put the weight back on the hooks. She did it eventually, but only because Kasamatsu had put the dumbbells on the floor to help her. She coughed, and pushed his hands away.

"Li- listen; I just don't want you to hurt yourself. You should only lift lighter ones if you can't han-"

"Kasamatsu-sempai! Seriously?" Kuroi frowned, standing up from the bench. She wiped the sweat away from her forehead, as she took a drink from her water bottle. "Are you really planning to be all sexist on me, just because now you learned that I'm a girl?"

"Wha- n- no! I-"

"I don't want to be treated differently just because of my sex, I want you to treat me how you always had! I didn't have a problem with your training before, sure it was harsh at first, but it was also fun. Even with all the punching and hitting, I had no problem with it. Why? Because it was fun. In a way."

"I'm trying not to!" Kasamatsu frowned, his own deep blue-grey eyes narrowing.

"Are you sure? Because you started treating me way different ever since you found me out!"

"I just said I'm not trying to! You don't think that I want to treat you the same!?"
"Then don't be a stupid wuss about it!"
"What'd you call me!?"
"You heard me! Be a freakin' man!" Kuroi growled, stomping her foot on the ground rather childishly.

"I just don't want you to hurt yourself! I want you to be careful!" Kasamatsu spat back, sneer in place.

"God! I don't- ugh!" Kuroi yelled, fists clenching and un-clenching as her anger flowed freely in her body. She turned and stomped out of the room, unaware to all of the silent stares of the boys.

"Fine! GO. See if I care." Kasamatsu shouted, kicking the bench as he turned and stomped out of the other door.

There was silence in the weight room as everything slowly sunk in.

"I hope Kasamatsu-sempai knows he went in the direction of the girls changing room..."

OoOoO

Yey, finally, a longer chapter. :Db Congratulate me, do it. Do it! Jk. ;P

Anyways! Thank you to OMGIt'sKawaii3 and Reimei-Jennoir for your awesome ideas! They worked perfectly together xD Any suggestions/ideas are welcome, so don't be afraid to suggest. Or.. idealate. Lol xD

Also, I dunno why, but Kise weirdly reminds me of Kikumaru Eiji sometimes... Weird.

~Love me or Hate me~