Hidden Beauty

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Basket Twenty-Two: My Secret Un-Admirer

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Kuroi was having a nice dream. She knew that much. The black haired crossdresser was happily playing basketball with her father. But she was younger, before he had introduced the sport to her, which confused her a bit.

Either way, she was having the time of her life in her dream. That is, until she woke up from the shock of a sudden heavy weight land on her, shocking her from her sleep.

Kuroi's eyes snapped open, her heart beating wildly. Two things she noticed.

One, there was a grinning Jiro on top of her, probably the one who took flight and knocked the wind out of her, and two, was that Eiichi was currently snuggling into her side, arms wrapped tight around her waist.

"... You two have five seconds to move before I break something that is bone." Kuroi whispered, elbowing both males. Eiichi dazedly opened his eyes, and stared at her.

He quickly sprung up from the bed, and tripped over Kasamatsu, who was still sleeping, and then landed on Kise, who was only starting to wake up. "I- I'm sorry, Kuroi-chan! I-... I tend to sleep walk... and cuddle." He said lamely, waving his hands in an apology.

Jiro simply rolled off before Kuroi could knee his face in, and then slide onto his feet rather gracefully, sly grin on his pale face. "Or, you just wanted to feel her up in her sleep. Tell me, Kuroi, have any nice dre-" A pillow smacked into his face, making him shut up. Kuroi groaned, and fell back into Kise's soft bed, wishing that she was back asleep, or better, back in her own bed.

"It's not true! I seriously do sleep walk!" Eiichi whined, trying to avoid Kasamatsu and Kise's glares for waking them so harshly. "Sorry, Kasamatsu-sempai... I kinda stepped and tripped over you... And sorry, Kise. For falling on you. Even though you were a soft landing." Eiichi grinned sheepishly, staring at his fellow blond.

Kise only pouted, and looked at his blanket which had somehow ended up on Akio, who slept next to Kise. The red head rolled onto his side, accidentally hitting Keisuke's cheek as he did so. Keisuke woke up with a start, looking around confused. "I thought... I thought I was at the carnival." He muttered, wiping the sleep from his eyes.

"Yeah, carnival." Hideki groaned, shoving his head back under his pillow.

"Anyone know what time it is?" Kobori asked, trying to see the clock, which was hidden under one of Kise's pillows.

Jiro blinked, and looked up in thought. "Before I jumped on Kuroi and Eiichi, I checked the time. It was almost 2:00 AM." He smirked.
"God damn you and your automatic alarm clock!" Hideki growled, wiping his pillow at the flirt.

"Hey, you can't spend all day sleeping!" Jiro huffed, wrapping his arms around the pillow, holding it hostage from the black haired boy.

"Sure we can. We just don't want to." Hideki argued back.

"Besides, Kise told me to wake all you up!" Jiro stuck his tongue out. Kuroi blinked tiredly, and finally realized that it was indeed still in the middle of the night. With all the lights on, she had thought it was morning.

No wonder she was still as tired as-

"I did? Oh, I did!" Kise grinned, ignoring all the collective groans and whines and glares he received.

"Kise! What is the meaning of this!" Kasamatsu demanded, punching the model's side.

"Kasamatsu-sempai, even when you're dead tired, you still have a good punch." Kise coughed out, fingers gently poking at his side. "Anyways, I wanted to do something more fun! Since, you know, it's a sleepover. You aren't really supposed to sleep." Kise rolled his eyes, making everyone stare at him blankly.

Kuroi jolted at the sudden uproar in his room, and found herself thanking that his parents were away, otherwise they'd all get in deep trouble.

But then again, who's to say none of the maids or chef or butlers wouldn't tell his parents when they returned?

Kuroi was pulled from her thoughts when she noticed everyone slowly getting up, either complaining or- well, yeah. Mostly complaining.

"What... are we doing?" She asked, blinking when everyone started to get dressed.

"Kise said that we have to go into a forest." Kasamatsu supplied, startling Kuroi.

"Fo-... Forest? At two in the morning?"

"Actually, it's 2:30. He says it's only ten minutes away. Something about being there for the witching hour or whatever."

"... Forest... In the dark. At the witching hour! Are you crazy, Kise!" Kuroi whined, glaring at her so called friend.

"Aww, don't worry, Kuroi. There won't be any witches making any blood sacrifices or anything. 3:00 AM is for the Demons and Ghosts, and such." Hideki sang, grinning as he tugged his black sweater on.

"And such, he says." Kuroi muttered darkly, wanting nothing more than to go to sleep. "I saw Supernatural, okay?" She huffed, crossing her arms.

"Supernatural is just a TV show." Genji said, startling her. She stared at him, before frowning slightly.

"Yeah, I know. But, what if monsters really were real?" Kuroi asked, twitching at the thought. "I'd rather not be mauled by a werewolf or sucked dry by a vampire." She scowled, looking around for her bag. She found it, and ignored everyone's quiet whispers and quickly pulled her sweater on.

Kise bounced up to her, grin on his face. "Here ya go, Yasuhirocchi!" He sang, handing the girl a flashlight. She took it and gave it a long stare.

"Don't you have any... er, brighter ones?" She asked as she turned it on. The light was dull, and she could barely see far with it.

"Nope!" Kise said, skipping out of his bedroom. Kasamatsu smacked him upside the head, telling him to shut up as they all quietly made their way out of his house.

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'This isn't a good idea, this isn't a good idea.' Kuroi repeated the phrase over and over in her head, hands tightly clutching the offered flashlight.

She didn't know who it was, but one of the boys had stepped on a twig, making it snap loudly. She nearly jumped from her skin, and calmed her heart beat back to normal as she hurriedly walked beside Kasamatsu.

Kuroi glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, finding herself wondering how he was afraid of girls, but not dark creepy forests.

"BOO!" Kuroi felt the hot breath against her ear as well as the hands land on her hips, making her let out an ear-piercing scream. In the midst of the chaos, she had managed to elbow her attacker, and latch onto the closest person, that being Kasamatsu.

"Ow! Kuroi!" She could barely hear Keisuke's wail over the loud laughter that echoed in the enclosed forest.

"Ku- Kuroi..." She blinked and turned her gaze to Kasamatsu. Even partly in the dark, she could see the blush that bloomed on his cheeks.

"S- Sorry." She whispered, immediately dropping his arm from her hold. Her own face turned red, probably from the embarrassment of being laughed at.

"Ya- Yasuhirocchi- I never knew!" Kise said in between his giggles, his hand over his mouth in a poor attempt to shut himself up, for the sake of his safety.

"Shu-... Shut up." Kuroi huffed.

Luck was not on Kise's side, as not only Kuroi; but Kasamatsu as well, punched him. Kise crouched on the ground, eyes shut from the pain. "Itai~" He whined childishly, a pout on his face. "Sempai! You, too!?" He wailed, hugging himself.

Kuroi rolled her eyes at Kise, and shined her flashlight through the darkness of the forest.

A rustle and a shape moved ahead of her, making her freeze in her movements. "Ka- Kasamatsu... sempai..." She murmured quietly, her flashlight darting around, trying to find the figure. She knew it wasn't one of the others, because for one; they were all grouped together, and two; the shape was too small and animalistic to be human.

A shudder raked through her body, as she tensed when another rustle came from the right. She vaguely heard Kasamatsu's "what", but was otherwise too preoccupied by the thing hidden in the darkness.

"The- the- the..." Kuroi trailed off, flashlight in her hand shaking as she tried to follow the moving creature.

"The what?" Kasamatsu asked, tensing. By now, everyone was quiet; all trying to figure out what was scaring the poor girl.

"... The..." Her flashlight finally zoomed in on the creature, the bush it hid behind quivered. A blackish gray paw came out, and a loud growl made everyone jump.

"MONSTER!" Chitose yelled, taking off into the darkness. Due to his sudden scream, it caused everyone to all to run in different directions, all running away from the snarling beast.

Kuroi, of course, had quickly followed suit, and had accidentally dragged the nearest person, which happened to be Kasamatsu, along with her.

A few minutes of running passed, and she came to a stop, panting quietly. "K- Kuroi, what the hell?" Kasamatsu began, swallowing some much needed air.

"T- The monster..." Kuroi stuttered out, putting a hand over her heart.

"What monster?"

"You heard it, didn't you?"

"... Yeah, but I think it was just a dog..."

"A- A dog?"

"Yeah. Just a stray dog probably too freaked out by everyone's loudness. And your screams."

"... Thanks." Kuroi groaned, falling to her knees. "That makes me feel... awesome." She muttered.

"Yo-... You could let go of my hand now..."

Kuroi blinked, turning to see that she indeed had Kasamatsu's hand still tight in her grip. "I'm too scared to." She admitted after a moment, biting her lip.

Kasamatsu shrugged, looking around. "Well, let's just get back to Kise's." He said, dragging her back the way they came from.

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It was a good thing that Kuroi had dropped her flashlight, and Kasamatsu didn't. For one; they could actually see things, with the flashlight Kasamatsu still had, and two; well, Kuroi's flashlight served as a beacon, when they found where they had all left off, before the stray dog had scared them all away.

Kuroi bent down, picking her flashlight up off the ground. She shined it around, before looking at all the different tracks. "Now which way?" She asked, looking up at Kasamatsu.

He shrugged, but looked in the direction they had just come from. "I'm pretty sure it's this way." He said, pointing the opposite way. "I remember you running straight from where we came, which is that way." He nodded, pulling Kuroi along with him.

"Okay." Kuroi wasn't in any position to complain or argue. She just wanted to get back to Kise's, where it was safe and warm, and safe.

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By the time they found their way back to Kise's, it was well over four in the morning. Kuroi was as tired as hell. She was sure Kasamatsu well, too. By the looks of the bags under his eyes.

She yawned, and walked up to Kise's room. As soon as she entered, she saw that everyone was now inside, watching some sort of scary movie on the giant TV in his room.

"..." Kasamatsu and Kuroi shared a look, a sudden annoyed and irritated feeling filling their minds.

"Oh, hey! They're back!" Eiichi turned from the TV, smiling at them. "We thought you two died or something!"

"Aww, look, they are holding hands." Hideki commented, making everyone's attention drop to their hands. Kuroi quickly pulled her hand away from Kasamatsu's, blushing in the dim light of the room.

"Why'd it take you so long to get back?" Kise asked, running over to the two.

"That's because she decided it was a good idea to run in the opposite direction." Kasamatsu muttered, rubbing the back of his neck in minor embarrassment.

"Hey, I wouldn't have had to do that, if someone didn't drag us all the way out there in the first place." Kuroi huffed, glaring at Kise.

Kise chuckled awkwardly. "We- well... if someone hadn't thought of this sleepo-"

"It was your idea!" Kuroi groaned, oh so tempted to smack Kise into the next day. "I'm going to sleep." She muttered, walking over to Kise's bed.

"But! We were all going to watch some scary movies!"

"Nope." Kuroi sighed, lying in the soft warm comfort of Kise's bed. It wasn't before long, that sleep soon took her.

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When she woke, the sun was high in the sky, shining in through the windows, as trees rustled in the calming wind.

Kuroi yawned, and noticed that everyone else was also passed out, from obvious lack of sleep. She smiled lightly, happy that she got her rest. She looked at the clock, her smile dropping as she noticed the time.

"Freaking 6:47 PM." She hissed, climbing from under the warm blankets. She swung her legs off the side of the bed, and made to get to the bathroom, but tripped over someone.

She yelped and fell to the floor in a heap, accidentally kicking the person, who she now recognized as Genji. The brown haired boy's eyes snapped open, emerald green orbs flickering to her.

"S- Sorry, Genji-sempai." Kuroi murmured, rubbing her elbow. The third year slowly sat up, his hypnotic eyes still focused on her. She awkwardly looked around, before slowly standing up.
"Yeah... I'm just going to, uh, go to the bathroom..." She crept away, grabbing her bag, being careful of her steps now that she was more awake. Once she made it to Kise's bathroom, she turned, and looked at Genji, whose eyes were still focused on her, before closing the door quickly.

'Why's he being all creepy all of a sudden?' Kuroi felt a shiver rack through her body as she turned the tap on to splash cold water on her face. She shook her head and changed out of her pajamas.

Genji was now standing, fully dressed, and organizing his bag. Kuroi blinked at him, before slowly grabbing her own bag. She shoved her clothes inside and made sure that everything was there, before zipping it up.

"Oi," She called, crawling over the bed to poke at Kise, who lay on the other side. "Kise..."

"..."

"Kise!"

"..."

"KISE!"

"I'm awake!" He shouted, his hands springing up into the air. He looked around wildly, before his gaze landed on Kuroi. "Oh, Yasuhirocchi... What time is it?"

Kuroi took a moment to check the clock, before turning back to the blond, "its 6:54, in the evening." She said, sitting cross legged on his bed. "Anyways, I'm going to go home now, and I'm pretty sure Genji-sempai is, as well." She cocked her head at Genji, who was going through his duffel bag still.

"Okay, call me later!" Kise said, before lying back down tiredly.

Kuroi rolled her eyes, "What am I, five? But, whatever." She huffed, climbing off his bed, which she will miss, in the end, and walking from his room.

"I'll walk with you to the train station." Genji said, appearing from around the corner, nearly throwing Kuroi off balance.

"S- Sempai, you scared me!" She muttered, putting a hand over her heart. "After with what happened last night, er, this morning. I'm a little bit... jumpy." She confessed, her cheeks turning pink.

"If it makes you feel better, I ran into a tree." Genji offered, his voice monotone.

Kuroi grinned, but then dropped her smile, "Wait, seriously?" He nodded. "Oh, sorry...?" She smiled sheepishly.

"It's alright."

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The walk to the train station wasn't surprisingly long as Kuroi thought it would be. Genji, she learned, was actually pretty bad with directions. It seemed that all her friends at least had one little flaw... Not that it mattered. Because she, herself, was flawed.

Kuroi parted ways with the older boy, and got on the train as soon as it came. She sat in the corner, holding her duffel close to her as she stared out the window. Of course, she had her wig on. She had put it on as Genji and her walked to the train station, so she was ready to just get home.

Her mother and father were probably worried about her.

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The next day, Kuroi slowly walked onto the school grounds, yawning tiredly. She ran a hand through her hair, messing it up even more, before she began to make her way to class.

Her mom had made her finish her homework, and then made her help with chores and making dinner, as a punishment for being late and not calling. Plus, she had trouble getting to sleep, because of how late she had slept in the previous day.

Again, she reached up to rub at her eyes, mentally readying herself for the long day ahead of her.

Kuroi walked into her class and took her seat. She slumped into her chair, adjusting her pants before looking reaching for her text book. "Eh?" She blinked, realizing that it was not inside her desk. 'Where did I put it? I knew I put it in here...' She sat up, and reached inside her desk, before her fingers gripped paper. She pulled it out, staring curiously at it. "To Kuro Yasuhiro..." She read out loud. She studied the neatly folded up piece of paper, inspecting it before opening it slowly to read the contents.

'I know who you truly are. You are not Kuro Yasuhiro, you are not a boy; you are the daughter of Mikoto and Kayate, Kuroi Yasuhiro. If you wish not for your identity to be revealed in the worst ways possible, then please meet me out in the back of the school, by the shed near the track field, after school today.'

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Geh- I'm super-duper sorry for not updating in a while TnT; But, I did now? *runs away to start next chapter*

~Love me or Hate me~