Disclaimer: I do not own K-on]

The way Yui's fingers danced over the frets of the guitar and the loud yet amazingly clear rush of notes that rang from the nearby amp gave Mio shivers as she followed up on the electric guitar riff with her own soothing bass melody.

She looked down, narrowing her eyes in concentration as beads of sweat starting to drip down the side of her face. The warm sunlight from outside the music room illuminated the metal of the various instruments that were once again filling Mio with one of the best feelings she could imagine.

The strange perfection she felt when they played together filled Mio with so much energy. Mio glanced over to her left and watched her fingers glide over and clamp each note with practiced accuracy, struggling against her excitement to make sure she kept in tempo with the others. She definitely wanted to start tapping her feet or swaying her body but

…it would be embarrassing, Ritsu would probably make fun of me…

She caught Ritsu's glance for a split second and smiled to herself, imagining how lacking their music would be if even one of them were missing. The crisp sharp hits of the snare and booming of the bass drum seemed to reach inside the very core of her being. She really had improved over the past year.

Yui started to playfully bounce on the tips of her toes, her excitement flowing out as she hopped left and right, sometimes swinging around wildly.

'She's definitely the cutest one out of us,' Mio thought with a smirk as she watched Yui rock out with her guitar. There's no way I could play bass like that.

They couldn't have a better person to be the lead and there was something adorable about the way Yui danced while playing guitar. Mio thought back to their first training camp and smiled to herself, remembering Yui's dancing form in front of a backdrop of fireworks.

"Hey, woah! Careful!" Azusa yelped as she barely stepped back out of range of Yui's guitar neck. "Ah!!" Yui missed her footing after jumping in surprise at Azusa's loud yell and accidentally tripped over one of the amp chords, pulling the chord from the amp and causing a loud painful ring to reverberate throughout the room.

There was a split second of silence before the room erupted into the yelling, complaining and out of place chatter that Mio had grown accustomed to.

"Yui! Be more careful! You're so clumsy!" Ritsu yelled while dashing past her drum set to tackle Yui onto the ground and grab her into a chokehold. "Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry," Yui apologized with tearful eyes and flushed cheeks as she tried to pry herself from Ritsu's grip.

"Shall we take a tea break?" Of course that was Mugi, and Mio found herself comforting a shaking Azusa who looked like she felt responsible for Yui's current predicament. Mio had to admit, it didn't look too good for Yui. Ritsu somehow went from a choke hold to an arm bar and Yui was slamming the ground with her free arm to indicate her submission and yelling loudly. Mio noticed that Mugi was laughing instead of having that dreamy expression that she usua….nope, wait, there it was.

"Its alright Azusa-chan, its not your fault," she said, turning to Azusa who leaned into her and wrapped her arms around Mio's waist. The bassist patted her head lightly while watching Yui and Ritsu's antics and felt a familiar flush spread through her face as Azusa unintentionally nuzzled one of her breasts with her nose.

For a moment, Azusa's warm breath spread through the thin fabric of her dress shirt and sports bra, tickling her skin. Mio clenched her eyes shut and tried to ignore the sensation but she felt her face flush.

Mio glanced down at Azusa's cute face and teary eyes. Azusa was oblivious to the effect she was having on her sensitive sempai and looked like she wanted to say something to Yui… but Ritsu was just breaking out into a loud and overly exaggerated victory laugh.

"Well as long as you learned your lesson Yui…Honestly, I'm sur...Mio? Why's your face so red?" Ritsu stopped mid sentence to glance over at Mio who was turning increasingly red at being called attention to. "Ah...this is..."

It was a pretty base strategy but changing the subject and pretending to be angry usually worked pretty well in situations like this.

"This isn't the time to be clowning around! We have another performance in less than two weeks!"

Distractions were good.

Yui used this opportunity to crawl away from Ritsu's iron arms. The defeated guitarist breathed a sigh of relief as she stood up and dusted herself off. Yui flashed Mio a quick heart sign by pressing her fingertips and thumbs and gave her a small wink from behind Ritsu.

Mio found herself fighting a smile to keep her stern look from breaking. Yui was so cute, her gentle eyes and innocent beauty. Mio had never met anyone with such a pure disposition.

Mio fought to turn her attention back on Ritsu, who would lose focus instantly if she realized Mio wasn't holding her ground.

Usually, embarrassing situations were a lose-lose situation for Mio but recently when Ritsu was involved, she found herself able to somehow find her composure through concentrating on the familiarity she had with her childhood friend. And they really did need to practice.

Her sensitive personality had bothered her for as long as she could remember and ever since Junior year started, she had been doubling her efforts to maintain her composure in all situations.

Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately in this case she always had plenty of embarrassing situations to practice with. Also, there was still a long way to go. Although watching that scary movie last summer might have been a little too much...

"Um…Sorry about everything. If we could please get back to practice?" Azusa spoke out timidly, taking into consideration Mio's warning that they had a live in less than two weeks…

I'm so glad you're here Azusa, you have no idea how much. Finally, someone who is dependable and eager to practice…in this war against laziness you are my only comrade!

Mio smiled brightly at Azusa, wondering if her feelings could somehow be conveyed through the facial expression alone. Azusa gave her a thumbs up and Mio felt warmth fill her chest. Azusa could be so cute too.

"I'm hungry, I don't want to practice right now," said Yui, suddenly flopping down on the couch and holding her stomach. "Its so hot in here and we're all sweaty…Ne, Mugi-chan. Can we eat that cake and iced tea now?"

"Cake? Iced tea? That's a great idea. Lets eat, lets eat!" Ritsu's eyes lit up.

…She's so shameless…

Mio sighed and glanced at Mugi desperately. Mugi caught her eye and gave Mio a reassuring smile. "If we practice for another twenty minutes," she said sweetly.

Yui and Ritsu jumped up and were back in position, ready to go in less than three seconds. It was like something out of a cartoon how ridiculous those two were.

Mugi is really amazing…thought Mio helplessly as she adjusted the strap on her bass guitar and looked over at Ritsu, waiting for the cue.

"1,2,3,4! 1, 2, 3!"

A/N: I don't really plan out my stories, they're pretty much free-styled/speed written and then revised later on. I do have some general idea of where this story is going though so don't worry too much. Enjoy!