Losing Nyamo

By Kamehameha

Disclaimer: I don't own Azumanga Daioh, so don't sue me!

Author Notes: It pained me to write something like this, I hate killing off such a cool character as Kurosawa-sensei, but it even pained me to write about Yukari feeling so upset and full of guilt. Perhaps I have over done it? At least I attempted to try an angst fic for a happy anime such as Azumanga Daioh. Let's see how this will turn out. It might be a little OOC though...

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Summary: Nyamo's death caused Yukari's life to be turned upside down. Yukari never thought that losing her best friend meant more than what she had ever thought. Shoujo-ai! Yukari/Nyamo!!

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Misery. Misery would be the kind of feeling one gets when grieving over a beloved pet, a relative or a friend. It chooses its victims randomly, not even thinking about if it causes grief and sorrow to the people close to them. Every person in this world have felt this pain whether they liked it or not, although who would have thought that everyone's favorite English teacher would have suddenly plunged into the darkest pits of despair.

Yukari kicked a random soda can out of her path while staring intently at the cold cement ground in which her hazel colored shoes stepped on. She came across a street that she recalled being her 2nd time encountering, however an overwhelming feeling of familiarity made her believe that she had been in this place for more like a decade. A silent tear left the orbs that were once filled with light.

Yukari knew it would hurt, but she didn't imagine that it would hurt this badly. With Nyamo gone nothing could relieve the grief struck soul. Reason being was that Nyamo was her ally, her good ol' buddy and her life long friend. The feeling of losing Nyamo seemed like a shell without the hermit crab, almost an utmost empty emotion consuming her.

She recognized one alley as she walked towards it. It had been one of those places in which it did not matter where the sun will be, the gloomy and dark place will not be affected with the bright light emitting from its source. The memories came flooding back to her as she closed her eyes, attempting to keep the tears from falling past her eyelids.

She wished that the horrible nightmare would disappear and leave her in peace. The dreaded thought of the problem caused the nightmare to cling permanently in the head of teacher. No matter what she tried, the horrifying dream would not leave her alone.

The two had returned from having supper at a new restaurant and found themselves on the unfamiliar sidewalks of Tokyo. Nyamo's car was in the repair shop and Yukari insisted on going out to dinner on the day it was getting fixed. Lucky for the two teachers, the new place wasn't too far from Nyamo's apartment so instead they roamed the evening streets. Yukari kicked at a soda can angrily, sending it far from the two of them.

"I can't believe a fancy restaurant like that would forbid alcoholic drinks! I'm not going back there again. Geez, it's such a waste of money and the food sucks!" Yukari complained, letting almost everyone in the area hear her statement.

Nyamo told her friend to shut up and sighed, breathing in the evening scent in the air. It was calm and refreshing on an autumn evening like this. It wasn't too warm; a light wind blew gentle against the bangs of the English teacher, cooling her disputing mind to a rest.

They walked along for a few minutes before coming across a few gleaming katakana and kanji characters emitting a bright light from the sign above the drug store doors.

"Wait a moment, will you?"

Not even receiving a nod from Yukari, the gym teacher dashed off towards the store. Yukari frowned at the reaction and muttered an incoherent response, "Stupid P.E. teachers…"

For Yukari, it was hard to stand in one place for more than a moment. She wandered off and found herself in a dark and desolate alley.

The place seemed dreary, and quiet. The only noise that could be heard was the sound of footsteps.

Yukari's footsteps.

At least she had hoped it was her own footsteps causing the rustling.

She felt sudden chill running down her spine as she stopped, hearing the usual footsteps fading away as well. Yukari held her breath after noticing a bizarre breathing noise near her.

Turning her head, she glanced towards the path she had walked to see nothing unusual.

"Nyamo?" She managed to choke out. Fearing that she would get an abnormal response, she quickly added, "I-I know you're a stupid P.E. teacher, but you don't have to play this little scaring game you know... Stop this right now…" Her voice trembled and stopped to listen to the reaction of whatever that was scaring her.

No response.

"Nyamo?" She took a few steps back and bumped into something.

Umph!

In fact, she bumped into someone. She turned and suddenly was thrusted against the brick wall of the alley. Her knees trembled and fell as she felt the force of the impact. After regaining control of herself, she met face to face with a tall mysterious man. In his hand, he held a weapon.

Yukari gulped as she noticed the deadly blade gleaming from the only source of light in the alley. She stared closely at the sharp tip that was pointed directly at her and lifted her eyes to meet the red blood-shot eyes of the stranger.

"Well, well. What do we have here?" The taunting voice asked. "Another trespasser in my territory? I don't believe I've seen you here before." The man edged closer to Yukari to get a better look at his victim. He lifted her chin up to face him, but released his grip as Yukari jerked her head to the side. He held the knife closer to her neck and smirked.

Yukari laughed nervously, "Well, sorry for barging into your territory like that. I should have known better. Now if you don't mind, I'd better be going now." She slowly got up but was quickly gestured to sit back down as the knife inched closer to her throat. Sweat began to trickle down Yukari's face.

"No one leaves here and gets away without paying a fee for trespassing." He used his weapon-free hand to grasped Yukari's small neck and lifted her up, causing her to stand face to face to the man.

The comment made Yukari's throat clench in fear. She couldn't move nor speak; afraid that it may cost her life if she were to upset or mock the man in any way. All she could do was continue to stare in the evil mesmerizing eyes of the stranger.


"Let's see…" He held the knife and gripped more firmly onto the weapon. "Shall I do this painfully or painlessly?" With a small force that pushed her against the wall caused Yukari to choke from the lack of air. His gripped tightened around Yukari's neck as felt herself being lifted from the ground.

All was lost for Yukari. If only she didn't insist on going to the restaurant. If only she would have stayed to wait for her friend. If only she would have listened to a damn thing Nyamo said and waited for her instead of wandering off like she usually did.

The thought of Nyamo eased Yukari's mind, even if she was on the brink of death.

Nyamo…

Yukari was almost on the line of losing consciousness when a sudden kick knocked the death grip of the tall stranger, causing him to be sent flying to the nearby trash cans in the dark.

She immediately fell to the ground, relieved that she was still alive, although tired from the lack of air she have gotten.

"Yukari! Are you all right?!?" A familiar voice asked. The blue eyes of the voice were shone brightly, despite the amount of light that the alley was getting.

Yukari glanced up to see her savior and best friend. "Nyamo!" She tried to get up, but her legs were too tired to support the weight of her body. Instead she replied, "Yeah, I'm okay. Just get me out of here."

Nyamo nodded and lent a helping hand to lift Yukari off her feet. She swung Yukari's arm over her shoulder and slowly walked towards the alley exit, making sure the injured woman could escape safely.

"Good thing I came just in time or who would have known what might have happened if I wasn't here." Nyamo's voice seemed concerned but relieved.

Yukari laughed, "Well, if you weren't such a stupid P.E. teacher, you won't be even be making a trip to the drug store and making me go through of this mess."

She regretted the last comment.

Nyamo swiftly pushed Yukari towards the alley exit. Before Yukari fell to the ground once again, she could hear a whirling rhythm followed by a stab. She sat up and turned around to see the man scamper away quickly.

Nyamo immediately fell limp and collapsed on the cold cement ground. Yukari turned to see the horror that was seen beneath her eyes. Her eyes widened and shook her friend, hoping that she was still alive.

The back of Nyamo's sweater was entirely drenched in blood. The weapon that was once held by the man was embedded in Nyamo's back. It seemed that the knife was attempting to withdraw blood from the knocked out Nyamo and deposited all the contents in a puddle that surrounded the two women.

Yukari pulled the knife that was stuck out from the back. It was struck deeply, more than an inch of the knife was planted into Nyamo. She carefully inspected the red liquid on the blade as it continued to trickle down to the base of the knife. She threw the knife to the side in rage and turned over the body to face her friend.

"Nyamo?"

Nyamo's eyes were dreary; it was hard for her to keep conscious. She looked into Yukari's concerned eyes and smiled, "I'm glad you're still okay..."

"You stupid P.E. teacher… I might be okay, but you're not! What the hell were you thinking?!" Yukari demanded, trying to sound upset yet extremely hurt. "You could have let me take the blow instead of acting so pathetically heroic."

The gym teacher tried to laugh, but choke instead, losing most of her remaining energy in the process.

"Yukari…"Nyamo's voice trembled. "There's… something… I have been meaning to tell you… for a while…"

"Tell me later! We have to get help!" The English teacher growled. She didn't feel like getting mad at a time like this, although the frustration of trying to save her life was pissing her off. She quickly swept Nyamo into her arms and lifted her up from the blood drenched ground. She quickly scurried out of the alley way and swiftly made a right turn.

"C'mon Nyamo, just hold on until I get there-" She was cut off when she tripped over the can that she kicked earlier. She fell to the ground, releasing Nyamo from her grasp as the gym teacher flew farther away from her. Yukari looked up from the ground as she saw Nyamo lying on the sidewalk a foot away.

"Shit! I can't do anything right today, can I!?" Yukari muttered to herself as she quickly scrambled to Nyamo's side.

Nyamo coughed a few times before she took deep breaths, with each exhausted breath, she was quickly slipping away from the current world.

"Hang in there!" Yukari yelled as she tried to pick up Nyamo once again. To her dismay, she was too tired from falling twice in one day and couldn't pull the other girl up. She started to panic and looked around nervously to seek help from any random bystanders that just happen to walk by the streets.

The streets at this time were empty at this time; in fact, the street was always abandoned during the evenings. Everyone would always be relaxing or watching TV and not even worrying around the next day until they finished their temporary recuperation.

She finally spotted a man walking by with a book. "HEY FOUR EYES! GET AN AMBULANCE! MY FRIEND'S FRICKEN' DYING!" The man turned to stare at the English teacher and quickly pulled out his cell phone and dialed the emergency number.

Yukari smirked in triumph as she stared down at Nyamo, her eyes half-open. She pulled the dying women from the ground and held her in her arms.

"Yukari…" Nyamo managed to get out. She was breathing heavily, but her breath was raspy and giving out soon. "I… I don't think… I can make it…"

She felt like slapping the gym teacher senseless, but restrained herself from doing so as the force of the impact could knock out Nyamo completely. That's the last thing she would want to do at a time like this. "Shut up! Don't say that! You'll live, you hear me!? You'll live!"

Another cough caused Nyamo's strength to weaken dramatically. "Y-You've been… a best friend to me… No matter what problems that lied ahead… you were always there-"

"I thought I clearly told you to shove it!" Yukari retorted. She held tightly Nyamo's red wet hand as she felt the warm liquid trickle down her palm.

"Even as we part now… T-there is one thing I've been meaning to get out to you… for all these years… " Nyamo gazed into the pain-torn brown orbs that were in front of her. "I-" She let out a loud cough and the red liquid continued to trickle down the side of her face as she was suddenly silenced by the body's reaction. Her eye lids fell and closed themselves from the other teacher's gaze.

"Nyamo?" She shook the unconscious teacher and turned pale with a shock expression on her face. "Nyamo! Don't scare me now!" She slapped the gym teacher a few times on the cheek, hoping it would awaken her. "Nyamo! This isn't funny! Get up now!"

She felt the hand that was growing cold and panicked. Yukari leaned over to Nyamo's chest and attempted to listen to her heart beat.

The muscle did not respond, neither did the gym teacher.

"Nyamo!"

Yukari drew her head back and looked at her former friend. She looked peacefully in her deep slumber state, almost angelic.

Though Yukari couldn't help but think that this wasn't her friend at all. It must have been some kind of look-a-like that imposed as her friend to scare her.

Hot tears poured out of the confused and shocked chocolate brown orbs. Her teeth clenched in fear and emitted a loud scream that seemed that it could be heard throughout the whole city.

"NYAMO!!!"

Yukari struck a fist against the wall in rage.

She hated the thought of being helpless at a time such as that. It angered her that the events that took place after that was realistic and not a figment of her imagination. It took her a while before she accepted the real truth, but she couldn't help but wonder why fate had chosen this for her life. Could it be that she had done something wrong that risked Nyamo to losing her life?

She withdrew her fist and glanced at it, it bruised slightly from the impact. Stuffing her hands in her pocket, she continued to scroll down the empty street of the city, keeping the memory still fresh in her head.

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To be continued… If time permits me to do so…

Well? What did you think? Perhaps I over done it… But feel free to write criticism in your comments and please provide me with more feedback on what you thought. T-T Poor Yukari-sensei… Anyways, thanks for reading this!

Kamehameha