Hidden Beauty

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Basket Forty-Five: Unexpected Plans

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As it turns out, after their little 'discussion' and intervention, they did all end up having some fun. Mostly because Kuroi said that she didn't want to talk further on the subject of her most beloved sport...

Everyone had eventually cleared out, leaving Kuroi to be the last one to head home. She glanced at the time, seeing there was still time to get home before dinner.

Kise walked her to the driveway, grinning sheepishly. "Sorry, Yasuhirocchi, I'm too lazy to take you all the way home."

"It's fine. I live sort of far away, anyways." Kuroi shrugged. "Besides, I don't want my mom or dad getting the wrong idea." The purple eyed girl added, waving her hand in understanding.

"Hey, Yasuhirocchi,"

"Hmn?"

"What were you going to say before when I interrupted you?" Kise asked, staring at her curiously.

"Oh." Kuroi thought back to what she was going to say, but shook her head. "It's.. Nothing, Kise. Nevermind." She offered a goodbye and a wave before departing his residence to head back home.

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Kuroi stepped off the train, running a hand through her hair as she blew a few strands out of her eyes. The black haired girl stepped up the pace, seeing as it was beginning to get late. 'I wonder if I'll get in trouble...'

After five minutes she made it home in record time from the train station and entered through the door. She half expected her parents to be standing there, waiting with their arms crossed and a look of disapproval etched onto their faces, but, no one was there. She raised her eyebrow, feeling suspicious all of a sudden.

"Mom?" She called. She hummed when she didn't receive an answer and walked further inside. "Dad?" Still, no answer.

"Guess they aren't home." Kuroi muttered, a slight feeling of relief washing over her. She had been worried for nothing.

The crossdressing girl headed up the stairs and into her room where she tossed her bag onto her desk, knowing she should probably get started on her homework, not wanting to deal with it later on.

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Around an hour later, her father and mother returned home. "Welcome back." Kuroi said as they stepped into the house. She had just finished making toast to eat, since she was beginning to get hungry and was about to head back to her room when the couple made their entrance.

"We're home." Her mother had a huge smile on her face, while her father chuckled a little.

"Why do you look so happy?" Kuroi blinked, finding her mother's smile a tad bit contagious, despite her harsh words to her.

"No reason." Her mother hummed out, putting her purse down as she slipped her shoes off and went upstairs. Kuroi watched her go before turning back to her dad, giving him a curious look.

Mikoto raised his hands, "I'm sworn to secrecy." He said, following his wife's example to head up the stairs.
"Huh..." Kuroi felt that off feeling of suspicion rise up in her again as she ascended the stairs. She disappeared into her room only for her mother to come knocking five minutes later.

"Sorry we're late; dinner will be ready in twenty minutes." Kayate said, closing the door behind her with a soft click as she left. Kuroi only nodded, despite her mother not being there anymore.

The black haired girl continued to munch on her toast as she pondered what could possibly have her mother in such a good mood. 'She already kicked me off the team...' She thought sarcastically. 'So that couldn't be it. Maybe she started work? But, work isn't any fun... Hmm...' Kuroi concluded that she didn't understand grown up's.

She got back to doing her home work until she was summoned for dinner time. She walked down stairs and made a b-line for the kitchen, stomach growling as she smelled the scents of wonderful home cooked food. She sat at the table and intently stared at her plate full of food. "So, are you gonna tell me why you're in such a good mood, mom?" Kuroi asked, taking her fork shovel food in her mouth.

Normally she'd have good table manners, but now she was hungry, so she opted for no manners.

Her mother gave her a brief look of disapproval before the smile came back, just as bright. "Nope~ I can't tell you yet."

"Well, can I at least guess that it's good news?" Kuroi asked. Her mother nodded, confirming her suspicions. "Hmn." Kuroi glanced at her dad who was busy eating his food, minding his own business. "I don't suppose you'll tell me."

"As I said before, Kuroi, my lips are sealed."

"Fine, fine." Kuroi pouted as she took another bite of the delicious food. She'll find out sooner or later. Hopefully sooner, she mused.

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The next day came rather quickly, leaving Kuroi to start another boring and tiring, lazy filled day of school. She didn't know why she even bothered coming to school anymore (other for the reason that her mother will force her to go, if there was nothing wrong with her), seeing as she couldn't even attend practice.

As much as it killed her, she still felt like she could barely even talk to anyone from the team, much less look at them.

'Maybe I should resort to underground street basketball... Wait. Then it wouldn't be street... It'd be underground basketball...' She inwardly cursed her idiocy as she plopped down in her seat, shifting around until she got comfortable.

The boy's uniform pants were beginning to bug her. Kuroi paused, looking down to make sure her fly wasn't open again. Oh, how the stupid fly annoyed the heck out of her.

It liked to unzip itself at the weirdest moments, causing other girls to giggle and laugh and point at her. Kuroi would flush upon her will and immediately rush to fix it, while guys would just look at her with pity, because it has probably happened to them at least once in their life.

Kuroi finally tore her purple orbs away from her fly, not wanting to look like a creeper, and decided to see what Mikurei was doing. The silent girl was simply sketching something on a blank piece of paper, her arm covering whatever it was. Kuroi blinked, trying to peak at her drawing, but the teacher entered loudly, causing her to jump slightly. She figured she'll just have to wait to see what the blue haired girl was drawing until class was over and done with.

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Lunch rolled around and finally Kuroi turned to face her friend, a small smile on her face. "Ne, Rei-chan, what were you drawing earlier?" She asked, poking Mikurei's arm.

Mikurei cocked her head and shrugged. "Nothing really. Just doodling."

"Was it Kise?"

"... N- No..." She whispered, cheeks flushing.

"Aww. So cute." Kuroi teased, poking the girl's warm cheeks. "An-" Mikurei cut her off by grabbing her hand, a determined look on her face. "... What?" Kuroi was about to run, if there was going to be another intervention.

"I just... want you to have lunch with everyone..." Mikurei murmured, lightly tugging on her hand. "Please, Kuroi-.. Erm, Kuro-kun?" The golden eyed girl fixed her slip up easily as she tilted her head.

Kuroi gave her a long stare before sighing. "Using your girlish charms, are you?" She smirked slyly, amused at Mikurei's widened eyes.

"I don't have any charms..." She frowned slightly. Kuroi shook her head, reaching up to pat the top of Mikurei's head. "Sure you don't." She teased her again, chucking at the girl's expression.

Mikurei was quiet for a second, but took that as a moment to drag Kuroi along with her towards the gym, both their lunches in hand. Kuroi blinked, looking at her bento. 'How she managed to grab that without me noticing, I will never know...'

The two entered the gym, albeit Kuroi was hesitant about it at first. But, Mikurei, deciding to be stubborn, pulled Kuroi in with her.

"Yo..." Kuroi greeted the members who were there, wanting to ignore their stares of surprise.

"Ya- Yasuhirocchi! You really came!" Kise grinned, waving the two of them over. Kuroi nodded, crossing her arms as she stood there awkwardly. Her gaze shifted from member to member, until her eyes landed on Kasamatsu. "Can I sit?" She asked quietly, motioning to the empty space beside him.

He stared at her before raising his eyebrow. "Obviously, you-" He went quiet, shutting himself up.

"Were you going to say idiot?" Kuroi smirked, taking a second to thank Mikurei as the girl handed her her bento, as she sat down beside the Captain. Judging from the silent look she got from Kasamatsu, she knew she was right. "It's okay. It's automatic." She glanced to Kise, who was busy shoving various magazines' that featured him into Mikurei's hands. The poor flushed girl just accepted them all, but Kuroi knew she didn't really mind.

"So."

"So." The two stared at each other before cracking a smile. "Sorry." Kuroi apologized. She felt like she had been doing that a lot lately, but she also knew that it couldn't possibly be enough.

"Me too." Kasamatsu murmured, staring down at his lunch. Kuroi inspected her chopsticks, wondering why her mother even gave her them in the first place when she usually used a fork.

"Oi, Yasuhiro-kuuun." Kuroi turned, eyes widening.

"Kira!" She exclaimed, staring at the blond haired third year. "What are you doing here?" The crossdresser asked.

"Oh, just to tell you that we're going to hang out tomorrow."

"Wh-"

"It's the weekend."

"I kno-"

"We're going shopping."

"Bu-"

"Your little girlfriend is coming." Kira motioned to Mikurei, who gave her a dull glare, lips pursed in obvious displeasure at having the other female around. Kuroi looked from Kira to Mikurei, tilting her head in a silent way of asking if the third year was telling the truth.

Mikurei gave her a nod and Kuroi sighed. "Fine." She huffed. She watched the girl walk away, brushing her hair over her shoulder in victory. Kuroi childishly stuck her tongue out at Kira before giving Kasamatsu her attention.

She was about to speak up, but realized that Kasamatsu was giving his cellphone a glare. "Uh, sempai?" She poked the third year captain, causing him to break his glare and look at her.

"Sorry." He put the cellular device back inside his bag, giving the girl a small smile. Kuroi returned the smile and looked down at her food, opening it up. She should eat it, after all. Lunch won't last forever. "What are your plans for the weekend?" Kuroi asked, figuring she might as well ask what Kasamatsu was going to be doing, since he knew what she was going to do (although she didn't really want to hang out with Kira).

Kasamatsu looked up in thought, shrugging. "Nothing really. But I think the idiot wanted to drag me somewhere." He said a little too quickly, eating a piece of meat from his lunch.

"Hmnn." Kuroi nodded slowly. "Is that all?" She pressed, leaning closer to Kasamatsu, amused at how he tensed up and flushed slightly.

He nodded way too quickly, shoving another piece of meat into his mouth as if it would stop him from saying anything to revealing. "Well," Kuroi moved away, done with her fun. "If it's the idiot, then it might be somewhere weird." She looked back to the model, who was busy dripping mustard from his sandwich all over his uniform unknowingly. Kuroi bit her lip to keep from laughing and turned back to face Kasamatsu.

"Yeah..." Kasamatsu muttered dryly, also catching Kise making a mess all over himself. He sighed. "It might affect my health."

"You know you love him." Kuroi snickered at the face Kasamatsu made.

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I don't know what's happening anymore! Dx I was planning on this to be the last chapter, but I think I realized I couldn't squeeze what I wanted to happen all into one chapter... So. I think I lied. There might be a couple more chapters. TuT' (at least it isn't over... yet...)

~WinterAssassin~