Hidden Beauty

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Basket Forty-Two: Kaijou vs Touou

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"Ahh, it's so crowded here..."

"... You said it wouldn't be." Mikurei mumbled, almost inaudibly, as she stared intently at the ground, feeling awkward standing in a group of girls.

Kuroi laughed sheepishly, "I didn't know this match was as important to other people as it is to me..." She replied, rubbing the back of her neck. Kuroi glanced at Kira, who was glaring at Mikurei.

Mikurei seemingly noticed the glare, and glared back, both with frowns on their face. "Uh, guy's-"

"Kuro-sempai!"

"Kuro-kun!" Kuroi turned, brushing strands of black hair from her eyes as she watched Kyoko and Misaki run up, both panting. "We- We brought reinforcements!" Misaki stuttered out, motioning behind her.

"R- Reinfor-... Ehh!" Kuroi, shocked, saw tons of girls running up. There had to be at least over twenty there. "Th- This is... insane."

"We're all part of the Yasuhiro Kuro fanclub!"

"I take it they don't know your deep dark secret." Kira snickered, crossing her arms over her chest as she began to walk towards the building where the match was being held.

"Eh?"

"What secret?"

"Kuro-kun's?"

"Tell us!"

"Yeah!"

Kuroi twitched, a whirlwind of girls' cries for her cursed secret filling her ears. "Ixnay on the ecretsay." The disguised girl hissed, tempted to elbow Kira.

Kira only shrugged as a smirk made its way onto her face. "Let's just go get our tickets." She said, laughing. Kuroi grumbled and followed the older teen into the stadium.

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Kuroi stared down at her ticket, stuffing it inside her pocket. She turned to the others after looking around her surroundings. "Hey, you guys go get the seats, I'll be right back."

"Aww, going to find your little boyfriend?" Kira teased.

"N-... No... and he's not that little!" Kuroi spat out, stomping off to indeed go find her 'little boyfriend', as well as the rest of the team. She already knew where they would be, in the locker room, but all she needed to do was find said locker room.

After a while of searching, Kuroi finally spotted the locker rooms she was hopefully looking for. She stepped closer, and read the small white card that hung from the door. It read "Kaijou".

"Finally." She muttered, without bothering to knock, she opened the door after giving the area a quick once-over and entered. Kuroi received surprised looks and faces as she shut the loud a tad bit on the loud side.

"Yasuhirocchi!" Kise beamed, about to pull the girl into a hug, if it wasn't for her dodging last second. The blond stumbled into the wall, whining in pain.

"K- Kuroi, what are you doing here?" Kasamatsu stared, standing up a little too quickly.

"To wish you all good luck, silly." Kuroi grinned, lightly punching Kasamatsu's arm.

"Hmmm, I want a cute crossdresser to wish me luck." Jirou pouted, leaning against one of the lockers in mock-sadness.

"Okay, good luck cheering from the bench." Kuroi smirked, crossing her arms over her chest in minor victory from the pout-scowl she received from Jirou.

"Burn." Hideki laughed, patting Jirou quite roughly on the shoulder, grin in place. Hayakawa then chose that moment to burst out, yelling about how he'll do his best in the game, waving his arms around. Kuroi barely made sense of his sputtering and shouting, his letters and words becoming jumbled.

"Hah? What did you say?" Kasamatsu asked him, giving him a blank yet annoyed stare. And again, the black haired girl watched Hayakawa continue to shout things, getting up close and personal with Kasamatsu, only to be pushed away rather hard, and ending with the brown spiky haired teen being called an idiot.

She watched Kasamatsu get mad at nearly everyone, until Kise came back, bag in hand. Kuroi blinked, wondering exactly when he left and how he managed to sneak in unnoticed.

"Sempai,"

"What is it now?!" Kasamatsu growled out, glare intensifying.

"A fan of mine gave me this; it's okay to eat it, right?" Kise asked, motioning to the bag he had in his hands, a smile on his face. "I mean, if there's anything in it, I- nnghk!" Kuroi bit her lip, trying to keep herself from erupting into giggles as she watched Kise fly to the ground, the ball bouncing from his face.

"I can't believe all of you! Just let me focus, already!" Kasamatsu was twitching, raging, even. Kuroi stared at him, feeling bad, because he has so much on his plate to deal with.

The joys of being a Captain, she thought. Just then, the door opened, Kaijou's coach, Takeuchi, walking on in. 'The heck...' She blinked, eyes immediately drawn to the clean-shaven round faced coach. Kuroi could hear the snickers and giggles, and she herself tried not to laugh.

The coach gave her a look of odd nonchalance before proceeding to tell them all to do their best out there. Kasamatsu stood, telling Kise to come get him five minutes prior to starting time.

Kise nodded, and the two of them watched the black haired captain leave the locker room. "Even sempai gets nervous..." Kise mumbled, eyes still glued to the door.

"That's not all that it is." Takeuchi countered, turning back to face them.

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It wasn't all that hard for Kuroi to find where her little group of 'cheerers' were sitting, seeing as she recognized Mikurei and Kira easily, along with Kyoko and Misaki and some of her other fanclub members.

She scooted past people, taking the empty seat in between Kira and Mikurei. "Don't you guys wanna sit beside each other?" Kuroi asked, looking at the two of them weirdly.

Mikurei and Kira didn't answer her, eyes focused on the Kaijou members which came onto the court. "Ah..."

The game started, starting whistle blowing loudly, echoing in the large courts. "They got the ball!" Kuroi jumped, turning to see one of her fans shouting, waving her arms around wildly. She turned back around, watching as Kasamatsu then passed to Kise. Right off the bat, Aomine was in front of Kise, the two seemingly having a stare off, before Kise broke past Aomine.

The blue haired teen easily intercepted the ball, knocking it out of the blond's hands. Touou's captain took the ball, passing it to a guy with pale blond hair wearing the number 6 jersey. Number 6 bounce passed it to a shorter male with brown hair, who whore the number 9 jersey. Kuroi blinked, seeing his lips move, but she couldn't exactly hear what he was saying, due to the many people talking and whispering about the game.

She even felt a little bit of embarrassment when she watched Hayakawa run and jump, as if going for a rebound, but failing, in the end.

Again, Kise received the ball, Aomine just barely stopping him from getting Kaijou 3 points. Luckily, Kasamatsu stole the ball from Touou's captain, quickly tying the score.

The ball was thrown to Aomine, who stood in front of Kise, ready for another one-on-one. Only a few seconds later, the tanned teenager breezed past Kise only to be stopped once more. Aomine took a step backwards, throwing the ball randomly, in a formless shot, which Kise had managed to stop.

Kuroi released a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding, closing her eyes briefly before giving the match her full attention.

Kuroi clenched his fists, gripping her pants tightly in her hands. 'Please... Do your best, everyone.'

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One of the awesome matches~ Although Kuroi not being able to participate makes me sad TuT;

~WinterAssassin~