There was a cool breeze when Chiyo stepped out of Nyamo's car. The weather was slightly cooler since the girls had taken the usual beach trip a little earlier in case they were studying for finals over summer break. "WOAH! IT'S THE OCEAN! THE BEACH! THE OCEAN!" Shouted Tomo, breaking the silence of the summer air. "Let's see how this year's 'victims' did…" Yomi mumbled, peering through the car window. Tomo seemed to think the ride had been fun. Chihiro…not so much. And Kagura was somewhere in between. "How was the ride?" She asked. "HORRIBLE" Chihiro moaned, slumping over the car. Kagura looked down at the exausted Chihiro. "I-it could have been ok if we hadn't gone over so many cliffs…" She trailed off into silence. Tomo simply shouted, "IT WAS AWSOME!!" and ran off to put things in house. Yomi sighed. She just didn't understand Tomo at all…
After the girls put their bags away, Chihiro snapped out of her freaked out mode and realized Kaorin wasn't there. "Didn't Kaorin come this year?"she asked. "Ah! Kaorin had to take a trip with her family" Chiyo replied. Chihiro thought over this. Why her best friend was always absent, she would never know…
"WAI! WAI! SUIKA! SUIKA!!"
Tomo sprinted across the beach, watermelon in tow. "Ah! Tomo-chan! Don't forget the bat!" Chiyo called. "And why might I need that" Tomo said setting the watermelon on the sand. "Watch this, guys! I shall break this hated watermelon in half with my deadly right hand!" She raised her hand in the air and gave Kagura a hard stare. "Uh…what?" stammered Kagura. "Don't break the watermelon! I wanna do it!" Tomo shouted. "You still haven't forgiven me yet for that, eh?" Kagura muttered. "Ok, here I go!" shouted Tomo. Her 'deadly right hand' slammed down on the watermelon with a dong.
"Uh…"
Tomo blinked. Then, "OW OW OW OW AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" cried Tomo. "And THAT is why you have to use a bat" Yomi grumbled. She dragged Tomo to the umbrella for some ice.
"It's actually kind of a good thing that we took this trip early…"mumbled Kagura blankly. "We'll have time to study for exams in the summer…"
"Souda, souda, but you'll still fail if you study all summer." Yukari said, while floating past Kagura on her inflatable shark. "Uh…Really?" Kagura responded.
"Sakaki, don't ya wanna play volleyball with us?" Osaka asked Sakaki. "Ah…sure." Sakaki mumbled. Her mind was off somewhere else. She was daydreaming about riding dolphins in the ocean.
"Hey Nyamo" Yukari said. "Yeah?" Nyamo mumbled. "What would you say is better… Kurobata pork or Matsuzaka beef?" Yukari wondered aloud. "…Either one is fine." replied Nyamo. "Oh, you're right! Then snow crab beats both" Yukari made mental note of this.
"Everyone! Come over here! Let's play some volleyball!" Chiyo called.
"Haiii!!" everyone replied, and they ran off to set up the volleyball net.
Chiyo sighed at this memory. Kagura had been right. It had been a good thing to take the trip early. She was drowning in homework and studies, hardly ever finding any time to play with her friends or walk Tadakichi-san. It was time to come back to reality after the Marine Day weekend trip. She sat down in Yukari's classroom, anticipating another boatload of homework. She had just unpacked her backpack when Tomo sprinted in. Like all years before, she was carrying a package of photos.
"Oy, Yomi! I got the pictures!" She called.
Yomi stood up and walked over to her friend, who decided to play keep-away before handing her the package. "Ne, ne, Yomi! How are the ones I took?" Tomo asked. She yanked a few photos out and forced them in Yomi's face. "Get those out of my face. I can't see them properly." mumbled Yomi, annoyed. Tomo spread them out on her desk. Yomi's face dropped a bit. There was a picture of her snoring...a picture of Sakaki for Kaorin with Sakaki's head cut off...Osaka waggling a sea cucumber in Chiyo's face...and a picture of Kagura and Sakaki kissing. "Uh...Tomo? Where'd you get this one?" Yomi asked, holding up the photo. Tomo looked up at her blankly. "Which one?" Tomo replied. "That one"
"Oh, THIS one! Sakaki was half asleep, and I guess Kagura bumped ino her. But don't show either of them, 'cause Sakaki will be mortified and Kagura will kill me." Tomo grinned. Yomi sweatdropped. "My god, Tomo, how do you expect me to show them without showing them these?" "Easy" replied Tomo. "You just don't show them the photos"
"TOMO! ITS NOT THAT EASY" Yomi shouted. "It is if you aren't an idiot such as you." Tomo smirked. "WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Yomi snapped. "Yomi is ba-ka! ba-ka! ba-!" chanted Tomo, only to be cut off by Yomi stretching her face out. Osaka picked up the pictures and started leafing through them. "Oeh? It's our vacation pictures..." She mumbled. "Can I see them?" said Chiyo. "I want to!" shouted Chihiro. "Yeah! Me too!" Kagura added. "Oh?" Sakaki wondered. "I want to see, too."
"CHIE?!" shouted Tomo, anticipating the onslaught of her death. "Nooooooooooo!" She cried, making a dive for the photos and missing completely. There was a crash, just as Kaorin walked into the room. "Uh...Tomo-chan, are you alright?" She asked quickly. "Never better...You want to see the photos?" Tomo replied, snatching the package out of Sakaki's hands. "Sure!" Kaorin smiled, and Tomo searched through the pictures to pull out the embarrassing ones. She then handed the package to a perplexed Kaorin.
"Aww, I wish I could have gone..." Kaorin sighed, "But when its not Astronomy club, it's my parents." She continued looking through the photos, and then stopped. She was looking at a picture of Kagura and Sakaki, Sakaki with a yamamaya stuffed animal on her head, and a kamineko doll on Kagura's. "There are a lot of pictures of Kagura-san and Miss Sakaki in here." She observed quietly. "Really? I thought most of them were of me and Yomi." Tomo asked. "Huh. I'm probably wrong..."Kaorin trailed off into silence. "This picture... the two of them really do remind me of neko."
"Neko?" asked Tomo. Kaorin blushed. After a short silence, she said, "Of panthers and kittens..." "Panther? Kitten? What does that mean?" Tomo questioned. "Oh, nothing..." Kaorin continued to look at the pictures. "Anyway, I wish I could have gone. It look lie you-" Kaorin stopped, staring in horror. "Ah--NOOOOOOOOOOO!" She screamed. "Whoa, calm down! What's the matter?" Tomo said. "Th-th-th-this..." Kaorin stuttered. She dropped the photo, marched over to Kagura, and dragged her out the door, slamming he door behind her. There was a stillness. Then, from the hall, came a slapping noise, followed by a thump. When the two girls came back in, Kaorin had a black eye, and Kagura had a slap mark. Kaorin quickly said goodbye and left to go back to her classroom.
"What was that about, Kagura?" asked Yomi. "I don't really know...she was talking too fast. Something about she had known something would happen and I'm a threat to Sakaki?" Kagura replied. Yomi sweatdropped. Kagura was definitely oblivious to Kaorin's affections for Sakaki. Kaorin had seen that photo, she was sure of it. Kaorin had always held a little grudge against Kagura since Kagura had joined Yukari's class because she became friends with Sakaki very quickly. Yomi thought Kagura needed to know this, so she nudged Chihiro, who took a breath and then started to talk.
"Kagura, umm...you know that Kaorin likes Sakaki, right?" Chihiro asked. "Hmm? Well, yeah I know that. Don't we all like her?" Kagura replied. "No, I mean she likes her...more than as a friend." Chihiro said. "Huh? So they're best friends, then?" asked Kagura. Chihiro sighed. Her friend just didn't get it...
And so this concludes the first chapter of Four-way Triangle.
I do not own Azumanga Daioh.
"Of Panthers and Kittens" is a reference to Kanna-Ophelia's Panthers and Kittens.
Please Read, Rate, + Review!
