"The Better Life"

Disclaimer!: I don't own Azumanga Daioh, Azuma Kiyoshi-san does. If I did Kaorin would've been toned down and Chihiro, Ouyama, Mrs. Kimura, Michiru, Yuka, the braided-haired girl, and Kimura's daughter would be equals of Chiyo, Osaka, Yomi, Tomo, Sakaki and even Kagura who herself needs more love. Also the song is owned by the awesome 3 Doors Down.

Pairing: Read to see. After the first chapter it should be obvious. Also there will be some side yuri and the rating will go up. Also I know this isn't exactly how the Kimura introduction went but I'm not in the mood to find the episode again.

'I've gotta get better friends.' Ouyama's eyebrow twitched as he watched his friends Rai, Reizo, Saku, Botan, and Haru worship Kimura's courage. They had seemed to be normal until they got into his class and Tomo just had to ask why Kimura decided to become a teacher. "BECAUSE I LIKE HIGHSCHOOL GIRL'S THAT'S WHY!!!"

When with her friends she then asked, "Hey, so what was up with that Kimura guy huh?"

Yomi shook her head. "He had a lot of nerve saying something like that! Damn perverted pedophi—"

"NO!"

The five fan boys clenched their fists, surrounding the Daioh Dames, weeping tears of joy. "We were deeply moved by Mr. Kimura's honesty and courage to say how he really, truly feels!!!" Saku, a boy with short black hair in the same style as Ouyama's sobbed, biting his lower lip.

Reizo, a boy with brown hair and Ms. Kurosawa's haircut chimed in, "We've never had a teacher like him before!!!"

Yomi sweated a little, "Yah, no kidding."

Rai, another one of his dimwitted friends pointed dramatically at him. "Ouyama!!! Tell them!! Kimura-sensei is an honorable and admirable man!!!" He exclaimed. The boy frowned, sweating a little more than Yomi. "Uh, go Kimura?" He said hesitantly, raising his fist. "I dunno, I thought he was kind of a jerk for saying that—"

"See!? Kimura is a truly awesome and unique individual!!!" They all began sobbing again, the girls staring at Ouyama who held his hands up in defense. He laughed nervously, "Eheh, don't look at me I just follow 'em!"

Tomo whispered briskly into Yomi's ear. "I dunno, anyone who hangs out with those losers must be a Kimura fan too!" Yomi stared at Ouyama thoughtfully. "… No he just has no one else… come on, we have gym next period."

"YEAH!!! Hey, Kagura, I'll race ya!!!" With that the two fiery-spirited Numbnuts raced off for the pool. Yomi sighed and walked after them with Chiyo-chan, Sakaki, and Osaka, Kaorin swooning close behind.

Ouyama sighed, the last one in the room or so he thought, beginning to pack his books away. He accidentally elbowed his astrology book off his desk. "Ah, damn." He leaned over to retrieve it, an ivory hand reaching it first. "Huh?"

His glasses-adorned dark green eyes fell up and met with equally overshadowed student's blue eyes, Chihiro Inoue.

"Here," she said with a kind smile handing him the book, "I didn't know you were into this sort of thing, Masaashi-sempai."

He blushed in embarrassment, just because it had been awhile since she had spoken to him. "Uhm, yeah, I was gonna join the club but I never got around to it…" He wanted to tell her that he had told her this when they were friends in elementary but decided against it. If she had forgotten it would be his memory.

"Oh! Kaorin-chan and I are in that club with Kumiko-chan! We're friends with her so we could probably convince her to let you in if you want." She said with a slight hint of laughter in her voice. It was almost always there.

He blinked. Why was she being so nice? It wasn't her fault that they were never able to see each other anymore, but it seemed as though she had completely forgotten who he was. He smiled slightly, "It's been awhile since you've actually talked to me, Inoue-san, are you sure?" Chihiro frowned a little, rolling her eyes sadly. "I didn't mean to abandon what we had since elementary but… Kaorin-chan came back and she needed me and… those boys made you apart of you group…" she seemed on the verge of crying. She had really hoped that this would be her chance to restore there friendship since Kaorin seemed to care only about Sakaki nowadays. She would've had much more time since Kumiko on her part always worked on projects and trips for the Astronomy Club meaning Chihiro was all alone again. Also it wasn't like Ouyama seemed to like his new friends much anyway.

Ouyama frowned, feeling guilty. He hated to see her cry. "Hey, hey, don't cry. Look, I'll go to the astronomy club and…. Maybe afterward we can hang out at that place in the park? Like, I don't know, for old time's sake? Catch up and stuff." Chihiro perked up, "Re-Really? You mean it?" He cocked his head to the side with a smile, removing his glasses with his eyes closed. "Don't I always mean what I say?"

Chihiro gave a little jump for joy, "Ah! Thank you so much, Ouyama!" Without thinking she gave him a tiny peck on the cheek, causing his eyes to open again. "Well, I better be getting to P.E. Ms. Kurosawa's gonna make me run laps the whole time now!" With that she ran off after the 6 girl clique plus Kaorin.

He noticed vaguely that she had been blushing.

Shaking it off, he packed up and went to math with his idiot friends, thinking vaguely that this was the start of an upward spiral in his life.

A/N: Short but sweet beginning. But how long will the sweetness last? Let's find out! Also read RandomlyRandomness' fic "How They Met"! It just may be a prequel of my fic!!!