"Can I ask a favor from you Kagura-san?"
Kagura walked down the hallway next to the eccentric Osaka, with a bit of confusion as she spoke to her. They did not speak much day by day so this was a bit of an odd encounter.
"What favor?"
"Can you teach me how t' be as good a swimmer as you."
Kagura thought about it for a minute. She did not have a large amount of practice this time of year and if she asked Kurosawa-sensei first she was sure they would be able to use the pool after school. Still, this seemed like an odd thing for Osaka to ask. She had shown very little interest in sports in the time they have known each other and considering all major swimming events were done for the year,she had no real reason to start showing intrest now instead of during summer a few months from now. Then again, it would be awfully rude of her to refuse and more practice would not do her any harm.
"I guess we can go to the pool a few days a week,"
Osaka burst into a wide smile. "Thanks Kagura-San! I promise I'll do my best! I'll listen t' evr'ythin' you say! And practice real hard! And-"
"Hey Osaka," Kagura interjected "No offense but you're kinda causing a scene."
Osaka turned and noticed that she had indeed attracted a few perplexed looks from passersby.
"oops."
Kagura gave a small giggle. She probably found Osaka to be more amusing then many of her peers did. The way her mind worked never failed to be interesting of course , but many of her sillier antics could always bring a smile to Kagura's proceeded to arrange to meet that Friday .
"I ain't gonna burden you ,"Osaka asked "will I Kagura-san?"
"Nah," Kagura responded while giving her a friendly slap on the back, "It's nothing!"
With those final words from Kagura they said farewell and began to part ways. As Osaka walked off, Kagura couldn't help but stare at her as she walked away, feeling as though she wanted to keep talking. More importanty she wanted to hear more from Osaka. She decided to call out to her,suddenly remembering to tell her something.
"Hey Osaka!' she called. Her friend turned around to see Kagura approaching her yet again .
"You don't need to call me san. You can call me what ever you want! We're friends after all!'
Osaka gave a confused look towards her athletic peer. Though it was a different kind of confused ,then the type Osaka usually gave. This one seemed more welcoming and pleasant.
"We're...friends..." What she said should have came off as a question but were said as though it were a statement. Almost as though she were repeating Kagura's previous statement in an efort to convinve herself that the words were truly said.
"Sure we are!"Kagura said as she wrapped a reassuring arm around her shoulder in what she presumed to be an effective way to cheer her up . Osaka then gave a tiny blush before she spoke again.
"Alright then Kagura-s-," she suddenly stopped, remembering what was just said to her.
"Alright Kagura," She gave a proud smile because of her successful attempt at memorization much to te amusement of Kagura.
"So I'll see you tomorrow Kagura ," Osaka said.
"Kay! " Kagura replied as she began to walk away ,giving a hearty wave. "I'll catch you later!"
Much to her own surprise, Kagura found herself greatly looking forward to the coming Friday. Thankfully, her wait was an easy one, thanks in no small part to her more frequent conversations with Osaka. They took great joy in discussing sports, school, food, giant monsters bent on apocalyptic destruction and whatever other subjects caught their fancy during each day.
It was during this time that Kagura realized how much she enjoyed Osaka's company. She was always so invested in what she talked about ,so much so that she had an accidental sort of wit that amused Kagura to no end. She was also a very kind and considerate person who cared about others. In fact, Osaka appeared to find Kagura as interesting as she found her to be and would happily listen to every word she said. Their conversations were so engaging that had it not been for the reminder of her teacher ,the date of their meeting would have slipped from her mind entirely.
They proceeded with their business as usual that day, though they carried with them an air of intense excitement that shone through in whatever they did. They giddily went to the school locker room when te day finally let out. Most of their pupils had other plans and they were soon left to change in solitude, save for each others company.
As the two undressed, Kagura couldn't help but sneak a look at Osaka as she changed . Though even when fully clothed Osaka's 'features' were ,by her own admission, far from exceptional Kagura was entranced by her flawless skin and her fascinatingly slender body. She also noticed how lovely her hair and facial features were, which gave her a special kind of radience.
When she noticed Osaka beginning to undo her undergarments Kagura swiftly looked away, scolding herself for staring. They then finished changing in silence, with Kagura making sure not to turn and look at her again.
As they began to leave the building for the pool, Kagura noticed that Osaka was staring as her.
"You're amazin' ," She stated " you got a nice muscular body even though you ain't one centimeter taller then me."
A comment like this should have bothered or embarrassed Kagura, but Osaka had a habit of giving such compliments to her female companions and those who knew her were aware that she did not mean for the comment to come across as strange. Besides, Kagura did feel it was rather flattering to hear a comment like that from her so she gave her a small response showing her gratitude as they continued on their way.
When they reached outside, Osaka began to carefully go into the pool putting a small toe in before she slid the rest of herself in. She was unaware as she began to settle that Kagura had just given a great leap in the air as she prepared to do a cannonball into the pool. She was not supposed to according to the rules, but with the absence of any one to monitor her behavior she could not resist the urge, especially since the size of the pool eliminated much of the risk of self injury. In doing so she inadvertently drenched Osaka in a mighty splash, much to their mutual amusement.
After a quick apology Kagura was struck with an idea.
"Hey Osaka," She said "Why don't we kick things off with a little race?"
"But there ain't no way I can beat you though," she responded.
"C'mon! You need to know where you're starting before you go further! I think some wise dude said that."
Grinning, Osaka agreed. "Alright then!"
They got to the edge of the pool and began two countdown in sync with one another.
"READY!
SET!
GO!"
They burst off as fast as they could and raced towards the end of the field. Obviously with her years of experience at her side she easily defeated Osaka, but her skill surprised Kagura greatly considering her lack of knowledge or talent in sports. Even though it would not have been hard to notice that she had been defeated she diligently swam on ,and on, and on and
SMACK!
hit the wall of the other side headfirst.
Kagura hurried to drag her onto the surface, terrified that she might be hurt. Thankfully upon closer inspection she was conscious and bore no more than a slight bump.
"Are you alright?" Kagura asked,
"I think so... Shoot. I musta forgot to look where I was goin'," She responded.
For a moment there was silence as they solemnly looked each other in the then simultaneously proceded to burst into loud rancorous laughter which continued for a considerable amount of time before it finally died down. Then with a sigh Osaka stood up and spoke.
"Guess I still got a long way to go..."
"Aw don't feel bad! I think you did pretty good all things considered!"
"But I still din't do like I said I would yet. I still can't do anythin' as good as you."
Kagura was surprised. She had not expected this kind of emotion to be her driving motive. Even so, she still felt that she had to extend an encouraging hand to the poor girl.
"So? who cares? Sure I can swim pretty good and guys think I look nice ,but you don't need to do anything I do to be as good as me. To be honest you're much better then me. You're such an interesting and charismatic girl. I can't help but wanna talk to you and I'm sure lot's of other people do too. And.. ," Kagura began to blush a bit at the thought of her next words " If you don't mind me saying, I think you are pretty... cute."
Osaka gazed at her in astonishment.
"Do you mean it?" She asked.
"Every word." Kagura responded with a gentle smile.
"So I guess now," Osaka looked up to the sky and then straight on towards Kagura. "I can fulfill my promise... Hard to believe... you, the most amazin' girl in the world, thinks I'm worth somethin'"
Osaka reached Kagura and took her hand.
"Thank you. Thank you for givin' me confidence to tell you."
Not rejecting her hand, Kagura spoke "tell me what?"
"That I like you. A lot."
Despite er expecting it,when the words hit her ears she nearly fell over in shock. Most of it was due to the news and part of it was because she did not want to reject her. She wanted to embrace her.
"I don't know how exactly to tell you this but... I like you a lot too"
She saw in Osaka's face the same mix of shock and acceptance, this time with a healthy amount of elation. They tookeach others fingers and intertwined them together unconsciously.
"I'm sorry I din't tell you 'fore now," Osaka stated. " I was just so-"
"Scared?" Kagura said as she suddenly interrupted her. It's all right. I was to. I still am actually. But after all you did to tell me this, I think I can give it a shot."
They moved closer towards each other with their hands still held, their eyes transfixed on each other's gaze.
"Do you wanna get back to the swimin' lesson?" Osaka asked.
"Soon," Kagura replied as she took hold of Osaka's waist. "I got something I wanna finish up here first."
She then pulled Osaka's lips to hers, shocking her at first , but soon she feel into the moment and the two shared their first kiss. At that moment they had no idea what the future held or where it would take them. All that mattered was that they were there, together, in bliss.
AN:
I blame any mistakes found in this story on the lack of sleep so if you notice any, point them out and I'll fix it as soon as I am not a sleepy little kitten.
Something about this particular story seemed different then normal stories I've written. It seemed really boring after writing it initially while I was bored in a long and particularly stupid class,but once I sat down and typed it (and when I type things I tend to make several changes from the original) I found a way to give it a small bit of punch. I still don't plan on writing something quite like this again anytime soon. There is usually going to be some kind of concept behind it that drives the story. This didn't really have that. All it had was a love story which turned out well but I'm not sure if I wanna it repeat over and over again. Both reader and writer would bore of that cycle.
I'm not to sure if y'all will believe me but Osaka and Kagura are indeed the same height. The omnibus I have of Azumanga Daioh lists them both as being 156 centimeters (5 foot 1). That was a bit of a shock.
Thank you for reading my story and I hope you enjoyed it.
-Bye'cha!
A few weeks later
Jeezalo I made a bunch of mistakes in the first version of this! It was as though I wrote it while I was drunk (odd considering I choose to avoid alchohol like a little stick in the mud :3). Fixed all of them I hope. So once again...
-Bye'cha!