.CHAPTER :I: HOME.
This is the first fanfiction I have ever written. I apologise if it's atrocious. Hopefully, you'll enjoy it!
Azumanga Daioh belongs to Kiyohiko Azuma. Yay for him!
"Miss Sakaki!" cried Kaori, slamming the front door behind her. "Sakaki, darling, I'm home!"
There was no response from Sakaki. Kaori stomped round the lower floor of the house, going from room to room, trying to find her. She paused in the living room for a moment to pick up a framed picture of her beloved from the mantlepiece. Stroking the seventeen year old Sakaki's cheek, forever immortalised in the photograph (which was starting to discolour due to being in the sunlight for so many years), she cried out once more. "Sakaki, sweetheart! I'm home! Where are you?"
She gasped as she heard a THUD! from the bedroom up above. "Oh!" she murmured, smiling knowingly. "That's where you're hiding."
Kaori leapt up the stairs two at a time and turned to the bedroom door. She clicked the door open and slowly peered inside.
Sakaki was stretched out across the bed. She looked half-asleep, but still very elegant. Very beautiful indeed.
Kaori walked over to where she lay, and stroked her head. "Wake up, sleepy," she whispered. "I'm home now."
Sakaki's eyes opened and she purred loudly, happy to see her friend. She got up on her paws and walked around the bed a few times, before settling on Kaori's lap.
"Hey, kitty," Kaori murmured softly, stroking the cat's silky fur. Sakaki meowed.
Ayumu Kasuga had walked around the airport gift shop five times. The first time she bought a teddy bear holding a banner saying 'Welcome Home'. The second time she bought a newspaper. The third time she bought a pen to do the sudoku in the newspaper. The fourth time she bought a sandwich. The fifth time she wandered around trying to see if they had brought in any new stock since the fourth time.
It had been seven years since she last saw Chiyo Mihama. Her little pig-tailed companion had been in America, at university. They had kept in touch by email over the years, and now, for the first time in so long, Chiyo was coming home.
"I hope you recognise me!" Chiyo had written in her last email. "I'm a little taller now. And I don't wear pigtails anymore!"
"I'll recognise you, Chiyo," replied Ayumu. "How could I ever forget what you look like! But still, maybe it would be for the best if you wore your hair in pigtails... just in case."
Thinking she heard someone call her name, she looked up expectantly. But she was disappointed. She turned back to her sudoku. She was normally good at them, but this time she just couldn't do it. Where was Chiyo? Was she at the right airport? Was the flight delayed? Had the plane crashed? Oh god. Chiyo's dead. Chiyo's dead Chiyo's dead Chiyo's dead Chiyo's
"OSAKA!"
Ayumu hadn't been called that in years. She had lost touch with almost everyone from school. Apart from the occasional email from Chiyo, she had no contact with anyone from her school days. They had all moved away and lost touch.
"CHIYO?"
Their eyes met over the crowd.
"CHIYO!"
She did look different. She was definitely taller. Her face had aged - she was eighteen now, roughly the age that Ayumu was when they had last seen each other. Her clothes were business like - she wore a casual suit and a dark red beret. However, underneath that beret were a pair of long, orange pigtails.
The two young women fought their way through the crowds until they reached each other. Ayumu flung her arms around her friend. "I've missed ya so much, Chiyo!"
"I'm home now, Osaka!" cried Chiyo. She was smiling so much she thought her face would crack in two. "Home to stay!"