Hidden Beauty

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Basket Twenty-Seven: A Gentle Hug

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The next day rolled around, and Kuroi was currently at home, wrapped up in her warm covers. She could hear her alarm clock blaring, but hardly paid any attention to it.

"Kuroi."

Kuroi only groaned in response, pulling one of her pillows over her head.

"Kuroi!"

"What?" She finally answered, throwing the pillow off the edge of the bed. She sighed and reached for the snooze button, hitting it harder than usually. She paused, quickly fixing her wig, before she opened her door. "What?" She repeated, huffing.

"Don't use that tone with me." Her mother hummed, running a hand through Kuroi's wig's unruly strands.

"Sorry."

"You're going to be late for school; you didn't even eat your breakfast." Kayate frowned. "Are you feeling okay?"

"M'fine. Just... tired. And upset." Kuroi answered, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she went to her bed, collapsing into the soft sheets again, wanting so much to go back to sleep.

"Are you depressed?" A worried look crossed Kayate's face.

"No. Upset, I said." Kuroi replied in a huff, blinking tiredly at her mother as she slowly shifted into a sitting position, knowing her mother was only going to nag her further until she finally got up.

"Oh, Kuroi." Her mother sighed softly. "Do we need to have the talk?" She asked after a moment.

"Whoa, what talk? Not the talk, right?"

"Of course not, we already had that talk, didn't we?" Her mother rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I was talking about the talk we had before. But on a larger scale."

"Uh, no. I'm good." Kuroi smiled. She stood, and stretched. "I'm getting ready." She said softly. Kayate nodded and left her daughter to change. Kuroi quickly put her uniform on and then went to gather her things.

She bid her mother goodbye, before leaving the house. "Now for another long day." She spoke sarcastically, feeling her stomach grumble in hunger.

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Kuroi had stayed in her class room for lunch. She sat, eating slowly, and silently mulling over her thoughts. She needed to find a way out of this, on her own. She didn't want any help. The bell rang, and she looked at the clock before beginning to clean up her little mess.

After school, she stood up hastily, and practically zoomed straight out of her class and down the hall, all the way towards Kira's classroom.

As anticipated, she spotted Kasamatsu putting his things away, unaware of her. Kuroi walked in, and grabbed Kira's wrist. "Kira, we need to talk!" Kuroi whispered, hoping Kasamatsu wouldn't be turning around anytime soon. Fortunately, he didn't, and Kuroi quickly dragged a confused looking Kira out of the classroom.

"Kuro-kun, don't you have practice?" She asked, smirking knowingly.

"Yeah, yeah. I just want to talk to you quickly." Kuroi huffed out. Kira gave her a look, but followed Kuroi out of the building and into the track field, behind the shed where they first met when this whole ordeal started.

"Okay, here's the deal-"

"Whatever are you talking about, Kuroi?" Kira scowled at the black haired girl as she crossed her arms.

"You can go ahead and tell everyone that I'm a girl, or whatever," Kuroi stopped, looking intently at Kira's faltered gaze. "But, if you do, then I'll just say that you're really a lesbian, and that you really just wanted to date me. Then, your "reputation" or whatever will be ruined." Kuroi smirked wickedly, hands on her hips.

Kira glared at her, "You're bluffing." She spat out.

"Try me." Kuroi replied, staring at Kira equally. Kira gave her a disinterested glance, before turning on her feet. "Fine!" She snapped, making Kuroi's shoulders slump in relief. "Just don't go crying to your mommy, Kuroi." Kira threatened, turning on her heel and stomping back towards the school, pale blond locks blowing fiercely in the wind as her cerulean blue eyes narrowed.

Kuroi watched Kira leave, and let a sigh out. She archer her head towards the sky, blinking at the clouds, before a small smile crossed her face. She quickly ran back inside the school, making her way towards the gym where practice was always held, her fingers curling tightly around her duffel strap.

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"Mou, Yasuhirocchi!" Kise whined loudly, slinging an arm around the girl. "You had me worried. Again!" He cried out, latching onto her arm. Kuroi rolled her eyes, fighting the smile away; as she gently pushed Kise off of her.

"I'm fine." She finally grinned, making Kise tilt his head at her, curious.

"What happened?"

"Nothing!" Kuroi practically sang, going into the changing room, so she could join the others for practice.

Once she finished changing, Kuroi came out, fixing her shirt, before walking up to join the group, whose attention was focused on Kasamatsu and the Coach. She stepped up beside Kise, giving him a glance, before focusing her attention on the two.

"Alright, so, our first match in the Interhigh Prelims will be starting on Monday!" Kasamatsu voiced, making everyone smile or grin, from the excitement. "Coach and I have decided the players we will be using for the first match, against Kaisei Gakuen," Kuroi clenched her fists, heart beating wildly in her chest. She hoped that she could at least play in one of the matches.

"Kise, Kobori, Hayakawa, Yasuhiro, and I will play in this first match!" Kasamatsu stated loudly. Kuroi could have sworn her heart nearly stopped, before she grinned widely. Kasamatsu turned and went to get things ready for their practice, but Kuroi quickly walked up to him, trying to hold her smile back.

"Kuroi?" Kasamatsu questioned, cocking his eyebrow at her. She chuckled, and swung her arms around the older boy, pulling him close in a hug.

"I won't let you down, Kasamatsu!" She whispered, a look of pride held on her features. Kasamatsu sputtered, his face going red.

"Wh- What do I do?" He asked quietly, remembering when Kuroi had vowed to him that she would help him get over his "fear" of women (even though he told her it wasn't a fear).

"Hug back." Kuroi stated simply. Her heart fluttered, feeling Kasamatsu slowly reach his arms around her waist, settling gently, as if afraid to hurt her in any way.

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Thank you to MusicofMadness for the idea! :D And no one worry, Kira's still not done with yet.

Also, for some reason, I went to watch the Kaijou vs Touou match, and then I felt the need to write more. Gah, I just wanna get to that match already! *spazz spazz* So many ideas. TuT But then, I don't want to rush things. Either way, I finished this chapter, listening to Takao sing "Catal Rhythm", on reply. *shot* Pretty sure I burst out singing along in English more than a few times, and my friend kept giving me weird looks... You say you wanna jump back up? You remember the catal rhythm, don't you?~

~Love me or Hate me~