This is Ysabet's fault. She knows why.

• • •

Shades of Grey: Crossdressing, Shopping and Double-Crossing
by Icka! M. Chif

• • •

It was kind of amusing, Hakuba mused as he wandered through the autumn leaves that coated Ueno Park. Here he was, outside of Ekoda and yet there were two girls who looked exactly like Koizumi and Aoko dragging a reluctant third member of their party along. He didn't recognize the third girl, but idly noted that like her companions, was not lacking in the figure department.

Then the longhaired Koizumi look alike spotted him, did a double take, grinned and waved.

Bloody Hell, it -was- Koizumi.

The sorceress grabbed her mates and pulled them in his directions. Too late for a strategic retreat then. It wasn't that he minded the witch so much, it was just the situations he found himself whenever she was around. Suddenly everything had the potential to be embarrassing.

"Fancy meeting you here." He commented dryly as they approached.

"We're going shopping!" Aoko grinned at him, rosy cheeked in delight. The inspector's daughter was obviously having a -wonderful- time. She gave her friend, whom she was still holding by the arm a hard tug, forcing the third girl to stumble as she stepped closer.

Hakuba automatically held an arm out to stabilize her when he found himself looking into a pair of slightly embarrassed and very resigned blue-violet eyes instead.

Longer hair, makeup, skirt, blouse with proper curves and a jacket couldn't hide the fact this was undoubtedly: "Kuroba?"

"KuroMA." Aoko corrected, her grin growing wider. "Kuroma Maho. Akako-chan's cousin from out of the city."

Hakuba briefly wondered if the new name was really spelled the same as 'Black Horse' and which one of the girls had a hand in the name. And how obvious they were trying to make this. Giving Kuroba the first name of 'Magic' wasn't exactly subtle.

"Why do I have to be related to -her-?" Kuroba grumbled in a distinctly feminine voice, causing him to blink. He had momentarily forgotten about that mimicking ability.

"Because no one would ever believe that you had a cousin your age that you didn't talk about." Koizumi pointed out. Kuroba continued to look pained. Hakuba got the feeling it wasn't about the skirt either. Heavens knew that Kid cross-dressed enough.

"I would inquire, but deduct that any explanation would render myself devoid of logic for the next week or so." He gave them a slight bow. "So I shall take my leave and wish you good luck with your shopping."

He didn't get two steps away before arms intertwined with his, warm bodies brushing against his sides. Koizumi and Aoko. "You should join us." Koizumi said firmly.

"Yeah!" Aoko bounced, beaming at him. "It'll be fun!"

'Fun' did not even begin to cover it. He glanced at Kuroba for help. Kuroba shrugged back gamely. "If you have to suffer, so do I?" Hakuba asked mournfully.

"Speak English, talk loud, act like a tourist and it won't look so odd." Kuroba pointed out. In a softer voice he added "-And they probably won't make you wear a dress."

That was obviously said more for his benefit than Kuroba's. Bastard.

Koizumi grinned, her happy shark face. "So what do you say?"

He sighed. It was a good thing that he'd already finished his shopping in Akihabara before wandering to Ueno Park.

And it -had- been such a nice, quiet day.

Aoko and Koizumi could probably take over the world if they set their sights on it, there was just no way to say 'no' to either of them singularly and certianly not with the two of them together. "Where are we going?"

• • •

'Where' turned out to be a short trip down the street to a nearby Mos Burger, a hamburger chain unique to Japan, then back to the park. There they took over a few tree shaded benches overlooking the Shineobazu Pond with the Benzaiten Shrine sitting serenely in the middle of the rippling water. Laughing people in paddle boats and couples in row boats drifted by while ducks and turtles disappeared and reappeared like magic under the surface of the blue-green water as they begged for crumbs.

Talking in English and pretending not to have a very good Japanese vocabulary did work exceptionally well as a 'disguise' he was mildly pleased to find out. The two girls took great delight in practicing their English on him, laughing merrily at the 'language problem'. Kuroba acted as a fumbling translator, having a bit more practise talking English with him but still not entirely fluent either.

It was great fun up until the point that Koizumi abruptly straightened, commenting that she -knew- she had forgotten something.

And proceeded to quickly drag Aoko off before either of the boys could get a word out. Aoko, for her part, had simply smiled gamefully at them and somehow managed to wave good-bye and motion for them to stay in the same far flung gesture.

Both Kuroba and he sat back down from their half-way aborted attempts to stand up and follow them. It was a small comfort that Kuroba looked about as gobsmacked as he felt. "What could she have forgotten?" He inquired.

Kuroba shrugged, eyes as guileless and innocent as the feminine voice he used. "Lingerie?"

Well... the dark-haired boy -had- been shopping with the girls, he'd know best. And it was better than forgetting some small furry animal for some sort of strange mystical sacrifice.

But this also left just the two of them sitting next to each other on the bench. He was suddenly very -aware- of Kuroba's presence close to him. And the fact that if either of them moved, they'd touch. In fact, they had been for most of the conversation, but suddenly it was -different-.

They were by themselves. Without the comfortable buffer of other people around.

Awkward silence fell. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed that Kuroba was doing the same thing that he was, suddenly finding everything about their surroundings fascinating to look at.

This was stupid. It was tense. And uncomfortable. This was -Kuroba-. He hadn't been so self-conscious around the dark haired boy since the night in the cabin last year, if then.

"So, um..." He cleared his throat, both of them jumping slightly. "How did the girls rope you into this?"

Kuroba gave a small chuckle, a soft exhalation of breath, making an obvious conscious effort to relax. "Aoko's been dragging me shopping off and on for years now. We went everywhere together when we were little, before it became obvious that boys and girls didn't go certain places the other did. And since sometimes she doesn't feel safe going alone... enter one costume." A small smile accompanied the explanation, embarrassed and tender.

"And Koizumi?"

"If you can explain Koizumi, I'd love to hear it."

He had a point. Koizumi was a force of nature on her own, add some mischief to the mix and anything could happen. Not to mention that Koizumi's protectiveness towards the magician-thief was returned in near measure. Not that Kuroba would ever admit to it. The girls had him wound around their fingers.

He had just opened his mouth to reply when Kuroba's handbag began to vibrate, then sing. Kuroba jumped, quickly diving for the bag, grabbing a cell phone and flipping it open. "Moshi Moshi." Kuroba chirped.

Kuroba's eyes widened, then narrowed as the person on the other end chattered. Hakuba strained his ears to ear, but couldn't make anything out other than a cheerful buzz before the other person hung up.

Face and posture the epitome of dignity, Kuroba put the mobile away. "That was Aoko-chan." He said, the tones stiff in the feminine voice. Someone was going to die soon was the unspoken message.

"Bad news?"

"Koizumi-chan and Aoko-chan have some... urgent business to attend to away from Ueno Park."

Leaving Kuroba with Hakuba. "I see."

"The comment was that you could probably escort me home." Glaciers were warmer. Someone was going to die in a very painful and messy way. Preferably slowly.

"... I see..." Repetitive, yet a vaguely safe answer. He did not necessarily have a death wish. And despite the clothing, he was quite aware that going chivalrous on Kuroba would most likely be tantamount to a quick grave or simply the expedient removal of limbs.

"What she has failed to remember is that the clothing I left home in are at her house." Kuroba continued, anger floating close to the surface of the level voice. "Leaving me to explain to either her Father or my 'Kaasan the situation and why I am not with her."

"I doubt she has considered that."

"I agree." Visions of strangulation danced in Kuroba's eyes.

Hakuba had a different thought gnawing at his brain. Both girls had been highly insistent at Kuroba and himself becoming mates. Koizumi with something slightly more x-rated in mind half the time it appeared as well.

Therefore, it wouldn't be completely illogical of him to assume that both girls were probably somewhere nearby, keeping an eye on them to see if their plan would succeed.

Plans of recourse then: One, Kuroba and himself go their separate directions. Two, escort Kuroba home. Three, hang out with Kuroba some more and play with the girls minds.

All three options held the potential for teasing fodder on the girl's part. Especially if they were going to follow them like Hakuba suspected.

"So it is just us boys then." He commented. Kuroba's head jerked around, a sarcastic eyebrow inclining upwards as if to remind him that one of them was currently in a skirt. Hakuba ignored that point for the moment. "Do you have any other plans for the day?"

"No..." Kuroba was suspicious. "Why?"

Hakuba grinned back, refraining from cackling. "Care to play with the girls' minds?"

Suspicion was quickly placed by wary mischievousness. "How so?"

"Two things. How comfortable are you in that guise?"

A shrug. "Decent."

"Would you happen to be interested in that new horror movie that came out?" He'd been loosely planning on going to see it and it was a good place to evade the girls. Neither of them struck him as big horror fans. Although you never knew with Koizumi.

Blue-violet eyes widened slightly, then a grin that was pure wickedness spread across his face. "Sure."

"Great. Shall we go?" He gathered the remains of the lunches, rising from the bench. Kuroba followed, a strange secretive smile that seemed somewhat odd on his face. However, the magician didn't say anything as they deposited the trash in the correct receptacles and wandered out of the park, walking side by side.

Kuroba nudged him slightly as they wandered on to the streets. "So it's a date, huh?" Was the soft teasing whisper.

He felt his face heat red for a moment, belatedly realising that it could be taken in that context. That's probably what anyone who saw them would think, even if they kept up the 'tourist' act. A guy and a girl going into a dark theatre... And he'd heard of couples going to see horror movies for the excuse to hold on to each other. "I never said I was paying for your ticket." He shot back.

An amused chuckle was his answer and he relaxed again, easily walking along side Kuroba, the two of them bumping into each other with a sense of familiarity as they moved through the crowds.

After the movie, he was willing to bet that he could convince Kuroba over to his house to borrow a change of clothing before the magician headed home for the night. The idea of the two of them sprawled on the couch watching the telly, or playing a game of wits sans the secrecy that was required around the Kid was a pleasant one.

Who knew? Maybe this was a date.

Or it could just be two friends enjoying spending time together, abet in a rather odd fashion.

Either way, it was an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon.

-fin-

We went to Ueno Park twice in April 2003. ^^;; The second time we wandered from Ueno Park to the Akihabara JR Station on the search for Hot Chocolate from a vending machine. We didn't find any, but did find quite a few love Hotels. #^^#

• If memory serves, there's a Mos Burger on the west side of the park, opposite of the JR Ueno Station, and a Lotteria a few blocks down if you head towards Akihabara. I like the shrimp burgers at both places.

• Shineobazu Pond and Benzaiten Shrine are on the west side of the park. Part of the Pond is inaccessible except for via the Ueno Park Zoo. ^__^

The things that we wanted to mention but failed to fit in were the Music Hall (open on Sundays, which is when this was supposed to be taking place) and the Whale diving out of the trees. It's life size. ^________^

• • • OMAKE • • •

"Aoko-kun should wear short skirts more often." Hakuba commented idly, watching Aoko and Koizumi giggle and pull each other through the crowds.

"Bite your tongue." Kaito glared protectively at him. "That's my sister you're talking about."

"That doesn't make her any less of a lovely girl." Hakuba snickered. "I can still look. I'm repressed, not dead."

"Help help." Kaito grinned, mimicking a British accent. "I'm being repressed."

"I -knew- I shouldn't have introduced you to Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail."

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