Hidden Beauty

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Basket Twenty-Five: Not my Day

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Kuroi had missed the train she usually caught after school, so she had to wait for the next one.

By the time she got off the train, rain started to poor, soaking her clothing and hair. She had stopped in the mall, as usual, changed, and managed to dry her hair before putting the wig back on.

When she arrived home, her mother was standing in the hall way five feet away from the door, arms crossed and a frown on her face. "Kuroi, what on earth took you so long?" She demanded.

Kuroi let a sigh out as she dropped her duffel bag on the ground, taking her sopping wet shoes off, and proceeding to strip her blazer off. Her skirt awkwardly stuck to her legs, and she moved her wet bangs of her wig out of her face. "Uhm, I was... Walking my friend home." She said. It was only half the truth, even though she did not, under any circumstances, consider Kira her friend.

"Oh, well. Just call me next time. Okay?"

"Yeah."

"You know, you missed your father."

"Huh?" Kuroi blinked stupidly, tilting her head to the side.

"He stopped by about an hour ago, and said he had to go on an urgent business trip, in America."

"America?" Kuroi raised her brow, unbuttoning her blouse as she walked up the stairs towards her room.

"Yeah, and he left about half an hour ago. He'll be back in five days."

"... Sorry." Kuroi said quietly, before entering her room. She locked the door behind her, and stripped the wig off. She was going to need to blow dry it later, or else it'd dry all awkward and poofy like.

"Crossdressing is hard." She mused to herself, getting ready to take a shower.

She felt bad; that she missed her dad's departing. 'Oh well, I could still call him and talk to him over the phone and the internet.' She smiled softly, closing the door to her bathroom.

OoOoO

The next day, Kuroi had woken up early to here birds chirping so loudly by her window. Any other time, she would have welcomed it, but for some reason, on this particular day, she despised it.

With a groan, Kuroi pushed herself out of bed. She was tired, as she had stayed up late last night, trying to finish homework and do the chores she was told to do. She changed and put her wig on and slowly walked down the stairs. As usual, her mother was already busying herself around in the kitchen, making breakfast, almost in a hurry.

"Morning, mom." Kuroi greeted, voice coming out in a tired whisper.

"Good morning." Her mother's warm smile made her feel better than before, and Kuroi gave her mom a smile back. "Breakfast is almost ready." Kayate said, grabbing two plates out of the cupboard. She placed them onto the table, and gently placed the cutlery beside the milky white plates.

"Ah... I'm probably going to have to walk my friend home again..." Kuroi said, a sudden annoyance filling her mind.

Kayate raised her eyebrows, disappearing in her bangs. "Isn't your friend capable of walking herself home?"

"Um. No... She gets lost easy... ?"

Lies upon lies... Upon lies. Kuroi knew she was always feeding her parents lies. But she had to do it. She already made up her mind, and nothing was going to stop her.

Not Kira, not anyone.

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Kuroi was walking towards the school at a medium-fast pace. She could see it clearly in sight, and she knew by now that she would have probably one or two minutes, once she walked through the front doors, to get to her class and sit in her desk and have everything ready just before the bell rang.

What she wasn't expecting was to see Kira standing by the gate, books in hand, hair pulled into a high ponytail. "Ah! Kuro-kun!" She greeted happily, a light blush dusting her cheeks. She skipped over, almost shyly, and held her hand out.

"Playing hard to get, dearie?" Kuroi muttered under her breath, awkwardly reaching her hand out to hold Kira's. Kira squeezed her hand, and Kuroi shut up, and played along with Kira.

Kira took her time walking to class, even taking the long way around, just to show off her new 'boyfriend'. Kuroi was sure that the rumors would spread before lunch. The bell had ringed nearly two minutes ago, and the two finally arrived at Kira's class. The blond stopped in order to mess her hair up, only confusing Kuroi.

Through the glass window, she could see Kasamatsu. He sat near the back, his chin in his palm, as he copied the notes from the board. Kira suddenly opened the door, and walked in with a shy and embarrassed smile.

"Akiyama-san, you're late."

"Sorry, sensei. But my boyfriend held me up..." She giggled, turning to smile as innocently as she could at Kuroi, before closing the door behind her.

Kuroi, felt her heart practically freeze over, as she noticed Kasamatsu turn in his chair to look, as if curious.

Their eyes met, and Kuroi immediately turned away from his shocked yet mildly confused and questioning look in his eyes, and quickly hurried off to her own class.

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The lunch bell rang, and Kuroi, dreading seeing Kira again, took her time with putting her books and binder back inside her desk.

The memory of her finding the note flashed in her head briefly, before she shook her head to rid of the images. Kuroi stood, and walked to the door, bento in her hand.

"Yasuhirocchi!" The voice startled her, and Kuroi looked up to see Kise standing there, hands on his hips.

"Kise..." She said weakly, nodding in greeting. "What are you doing here? I thought that we'd usually me-"

"Is there something you're not telling me?!"

'Yes.' "No..." Kuroi cleared her throat, as she began walking towards the doors. Lately, she has always been going outside to eat her lunch. In the end, Kise would always find her, and even drag the others along with him.

"Yasuhirocchi... The jig is up!" Kise exclaimed loudly, falling into step beside the crossdressing female.

"What jig? No one's jigging." She tried to insist, a million other thoughts rushing in her mind.

"I saw you and that girl who is in Kasamatsu-sempai's class walking hand in hand! You passed by my class. Then I heard one of the girls saying that you two were kissing!"

"Kissing!? Of course not!" Kuroi denied it loudly, causing other students attention to turn her way. She flushed, and lowered her voice. "I'm not dating her." She whispered harshly.

"What?" Kise leaned forward, straining his ears to hear Kuroi.

"Nothing! It's nothing, Kise." She insisted again, pushing past the model to get outside the door.

Kise frowned, and watched Kuroi go. 'I'll find out, Kuroi.' He thought, turning on his heel to head to Kasamatsu's class, keen on finding that girl.

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Kuroi exhaled loudly, her back hitting the tree. She half expected Kise to follow her out her, like he usually did, but he never showed.

She was kind of greatful, but then at the same time, she felt oddly lonely. Kuroi stared at her food her mother had made her the previous day. She took her fork, staring at the small heart decoration that sat on her rice. A small smile appeared on her face, and Kuroi found that she had to force herself to eat it, even though she was not hungry at all.

Kuroi remembered the last time she didn't touch her lunch, and it always came with some sort of consequence. Be it feeling faint, sick, or even getting scolded by Kasamatsu and her mother...

The odds were never in her favor.

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Lunch and her previous class had passed by as slow as it could, and the bell was just about to ring, as it was nearly the end of the school day.

It would be time for after school activities, and Kuroi was thankful that Kira had volleyball practice afterwards. For at least two hours, she wouldn't have to see the pale blond's devious face.

Kuroi watched the clock tick away, and finally, the bell rang. She collected her things, and grabbed her duffel as she always did. The black haired girl walked out of her classroom, bidding her classmates goodbye's as they did to her, and quickly made her way for the gym, being extra careful not to go by Kira's class and by the volleyball teams area.

Once she arrived, she went inside the girls changing room, and sat herself on the desk. She grumbled quietly to herself, as no one else was in there, and changed. Kuroi left her things in the locker, double checking it just to be sure it was safe from any prying eyes, and walked out into the gym, and onto the basketball court.

All the boys herded out of the changing room, and headed towards the center, where Kasamatsu was standing on part of the bleacher.

Kuroi accidentally caught his watching eyes, and quickly looked away, focusing on her shoes rather than what was going on around her.

Kasamatsu cleared his throat, "Alright, listen up, everyone!" Everyone went quite, their attention now focused on Kasamatsu.

"The Kanagawa Prefecture's Interhigh Preliminaries will be starting next week!" Kuroi jumped, hearing everyone's excited talk all of a sudden. She had to admit, the way Kasamatsu quieted them down with a menacing glare and a threat to hit them all was amusing and useful. Kuroi curled her fingers into a fist, as her heart beat sped up ever so slightly.

This is what she wanted. Soon, they would be going up against different teams, all competing to win the Interhigh. She could feel her stomach twist in excited knots, just thinking about it.

"We will be going up against Kaisei Gakuen and Musashi High in the first week! So be ready!"

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Oouuuu, Kira, what'cha gonna do, what'cha gonna do when-... uh, Kise comes for you?

Kuroi: That was a fail! *slaps*

Leave me alone! *runs away crying*

Kise:... Yasuhirocchi... Now who's gonna write the next chapter!?

Kuroi: I will!

Kise: I'm doomed! D:

~Love me or Hate me~