What would happen if reality ( the really harsh kind) reared it´s ugly head and bit AD in the behind?
This is one of the versions of AD that might pop up in that case.
This might actually be going somewhere :P
Disclaimer: I don´t own Azumanga Daioh
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The end of yet another day drew nearer on Tokyo as we gaze over the suburbian landscape. The blue sky is dotted by a few white clouds here and there, drifting westwards in the stirring breeze that´s been blowing all day. The sun is casting it´s last hourworth of light down over a schoolyard , cluttered with a few pieces of trash and rock.
As the schoolbell rings to announce the end of the schoolday the breeze blow a breadwrapper over the schoolyard. A dozen silent
seconds pass...and then the beginning of a spear of students force
itself out through the doors leading to freedom at breakneck speed.
The rush of springloaded youngsters is over almost before it begins, as only some part of the school´s attendants got the need and energy to get out so quickly.
A few minutes later the more easy-going students come walking out in small clusters of friends. We zoom in on one of these as they enter the schoolyard, some of them chatting happily.
It was the first day after the summer holiday so just about everybody had things they wanted share with their friends.
Chiyo was the one currently talking, chirping away about her trip to hawaii with her parents. She was the only one of the girls that´d been overseas. Osaka had been back in, well, Osaka , Sakaki had visited some family in Sendai and Yomi had been to Kyoto. Kagura had spent the entire summer ( except for that one slack trip to Chiyo´s summer home ) in hardcore training. And lastly Tomo didn´t seem to have done anything, but since she hadn´t spoken up all day the girls had been lost in their own stories.
"And then we went freediving in the co- ACK!" Chiyo cried out as Tomo whacked her over the head. Tomo struck a pose with her left hand on her hip and her right 45 degrees up, nearly twacking Sakaki in her face. "As you were fattening yourself and carelessly callousing around yours truly remained behind to protect and serve the community to which you´d all eventually return to."
Chiyo looked up at the grinning Wildcat, trying to come up with the words that would save her another whack over the head. "Ah..uhm...that´s very selfless of you Tomo-san, did anything dangerous happen here then?"
"You´re damn right something dangerous happened here! It just so happens that I was around to apprehend some delinquent kids that were smoking, rescue a cat from a tree, poor thing, and I even had to chase off some burglars!"
The last words of Tomo´s statement drew some gasps from some of the girls ( well, the one from Sakaki was probably due to Tomo saving a cat ), but others eyed her warily.
"Whose house were they trying to rob?!" Osaka gaped at her. Tomo waved her hand in a dissmissive gesture. "They weren´t breaking into a house, it was the local store! I was out patrolling when I heard a window break and then I saw these shadowy figures moving back and forth between the store and a small car. Hastily I thought up a plan and I called out to nobody in particular "Hey, it´s here! Lets go guys!". Then I started making a ruckus like a bunch people pushing aside garbage cans and whatnot. The fellons moved fast into their car and run over the parking lot lawn to run away."
"Ooooohhh!"
Yomi and Kagura were both eyeing Tomo suspiciously over the heads of Osaka and Chiyo praising and questioning Tomo. Tomo was happy that she´d finally regained everybodies attention, if at least for a short while.
The party soon went out of the schoolyard and headed left. As soon as they came to a crossing , though, Tomo went another way. "Seeya tomaz guys!" Posing in the midday sun Tomo grinned and flashed a peace-sign.
Before the girls got a word in she had crossed the street and were heading down towards the sun setting over the park.
Kagura thought Tomo had been acting odd all day, her taking off towards the park was also something unusual. ´Well´ she gave the thought a mental shrug ´none of my concern, I gotta get home so I can start on my afternoon run.´.
Thus the girls parted into even smaller clicks and eventually wound up at their respective houses.
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As she entered her home Kagura quickly tossed off her shoes, yelled a "Yo, I´m going on my afternoon run" and ran up the stairs to her room to change. Safely inside her room she threw off her clothes in a flurry, donned a brownishred sweatsuit and ran back down. As she was donning her shoes she heard her mother call from the living room. "Dinner will be ready in an hour."
"Ok, I´ll be here by then! Cya!" Kagura slammed the door after her, not intentionally , of course, but this happens when you´re strong and distracted. "Slam"
Kagura was out and running on the streets in a flash, a determined look on her face. ´Today I´ll make 10 miles before my hour´s up. I have to push myself!´
Setting off at a smooth, fast rythm Kagura knew was too fast in the long run, for her weak body that was. She wouldn´t give in this time.
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Tomo had spent the last hour watching the sun settle on the horizon from a bench overlooking a pond in the park. The breeze that had been blowing all day tugged at her hair and sent the occasional shiver through her body.
She looked down on the cigarette in her fingers in mock surprise before taking a long drag of it. She felt the smoke roll over her tongue and inhaled it as soon as she finished the drag. The smoke burned her throat as it traveled down towards her lungs, but she didn´t cough, it was almost soothing by now. She exhaled and the smoke billowed out between her lips in a concentrated cone. After a second or so she felt the sensation of the nicotine spread and her head swam for a few seconds.
With a sigh she finished the cigarette and leant forwards, hands between her legs and elbows on her knees, staring at the sun. " I don´t want to go home just yet..."
Kagura was panting and wheezing by the time she came to the park. Staggering, she made it to a bench and plopped down. When she regained her breath she hit her thigh, hard. "Damn! Why do I have to be so weak!? Some of the boys on the swimteam wouldn´t have a problem like this. There are even some of the girls I´ll be swimming against soon that´d think of this as a gentle stroll!." Feeling the tears threatening to gush forth Kagura suppressed a whimper. Somehow she managed to shut everything out, she couldn´t break down, not now. If she was going to cry she could do it at home, alone, where noone would see her weakness.
Standing up she prepared to jog through the park and what little remained to her house. The late summer breeze cooled her down somewhat as she set off again.
She didn´t have to run long before she saw Tomo sitting on a bench on top of a crest, slightly shadow by the setting sun. Then she raised her hand to her mouth and something glowed, Kagura was shocked as she saw the smoke come billowing out of Tomo´s mouth. Kagura took a glance at Tomo´s eyes and they seemed almost glazed over, like her mind was somewhere off in the distance.
Kagura decided that it´s about time someone taught the Wildcat a lesson she wouldn´t forget in some time. Stealthily she sneak up behind Tomo, moving on the grass behind the bench. Then she dug her fingers into the Wildcat´s sides and yelled "YO TOMO!". All in all it produced quite the satisfactory yelp, but that was all the fun she got.
Faster than she´d expect Tomo to be able to, Tomo spun around and hit Kagura right in the jaw with her fist, hard. Kagura was seeing spots and before she could recover Tomo had thrown her schoolbag at her gut, taken a step on the bench reached into a pocket and pounced upon her. Kagura landed heavily on the ground with Tomo on top of her. All the air got pushed out of her lungs and she heard a metallic "click". Kagura kept her eyes closed her eyes and gritted herself for another blow, but the followup never came.
"Oh, shit..." Kagura heard, then she looked up and saw Tomo wielding a switchblade, point downwards toward her in a fist. The last rays of the sun setting behind her hid her face in shadow. Kagura, still stunned, saw Tomo sheath her blade, leap off her and run at top speed towards the gate that lead to their respective neighbourhood.
Kagura looked after the Wildcat for a second before she decided that: "No way in Hell am I letting her get away by running from me!"
In a flash Kagura was up and running ( she even remembered Tomo´s schoolbag ).
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Kagura expected to catch up to Tomo during the first 100 metres , but it soon became evident that that wasn´t going to happen. Tomo had switched from her dead sprint into a run that surprised Kagura. There were no wasted movements and the rythmic movement of her legs wasn´t anything like the usual spastic way Tomo ran.
Her hopes of catching her fast faltered when Kagura realised that Tomo might´ve hidden her newfound athletism from her (and the others) for some time. To make matters worse Tomo suddenly jumped a chest-high fence and disappeared into a private garden.
Kagura cursed as she half-leaped, half-heaved, herself over the fence in a smooth motion. Feeling the round brick under her hands she barely spotted something blue disappear over the wall a dozen metres further up. The garden itself had a few half-naked trees spread out in no particular pattern. She heard a dog bark behind her as she sprinted across the garden and she heard a loud growl as she landed on the other side of the wall.
She didn´t have time to yell back at the dog at the moment though, since she almost missed Tomo dodging around a corner to her left. Before Kagura could round the corner herself she heard a lot of clutter and as she came round she saw Tomo running ahead of her. Five nudged over metal trashcans in her wake.
Kagura half-ran over the two first, one after the other. The last third , however, she leaped over in a Jackie Chan-esque move. She jumped forwards, then propelled her even more up and forwards by kicking off the wall.
If the situation had been any different there'd no question if she'd stop for a second or two to savour the moment with an: "...Awesome..."
Right now, however, catching Tomo was more important and she could hear an elderly woman´s voice cry out after her. Vague pastel coloured walls blurred past her as Kagura ran after the Wildcat, blue, purple, green and even pink eventually faded from her periphiral vision. After about five minutes of the high-speed chase Kagura felt her breathing starting grow laboured.
´Damn, not now! I won´t let this stand!´
Ahead of her Tomo kept up her seemingly never-tiring pace and Kagura realised she was getting further and further ahead of her. As Kagura watched Tomo preparing to leap yet another one of those tall fences her hopes faded since she wasn´t sure if she´d get out of the garden if there was another dog in there.
Still she managed to heave herself over the wall. She didn´t break her stride after her jump, but she gasped in relief and satisfaction when she saw Tomo´s foot not quite clearing the next edge. Tomo had mistaken one of those leaps by a few centimetres, but it was enough. Her foot caught and Tomo spun around, lost grasp of the edge, and landed badly on her foot on the other side of the barrier.
Kagura poured most of her remaining energy into the leap and heaved herself over the wall. Landing with a foot on either side of the prone Tomo Kagura stood above her sweating and panting like some forgotten goddess of the hunt. The wind rustled Kagura´s hair and her chest heaved and lowered as she tried to regain her breath. Tomo wasn´t panting quite as much as Kagura, but her breath was laboured as well.
After a little while Kagura tossed Tomo´s schoolbag to the pavement and crouched , back to the wall , tossed her head back and took a deep breath. Tomo saw Kagura´s face was flushed and dripping with sweat , some of which dripped off her nose and chin onto her chest.. After following the fall of the drops a few distracted seconds Tomo shook her head, then put clutched her foot in pain.
"Ouch, damnit, this here´s your fault."
Kagura only lifts an eyebrow and looks puzzled at Tomo, questions and guesses piling upon one another as she starts to think about what kind of situation Tomo could possibly be in.
"Oh, geez, looks like you´ll want an explanation..." Tomo waves her right arm dissmissively. " Feh, I guess I owe you one..."
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So, how was that? Please leave a review :D