Here's the next chapter. It's jam packed with goodies and gets good near the end. R&R please if you would. It's very much appreciated. All things Azumanga Daioh belong to their amazing and respective owners. Anyway, Happy Reading :)

Chapter 10: Some "Sports" Leave Marks

The trees on the way to the high school were slowly changing to autumn colors, as were most of the trees throughout the area. The group merrily strolled along the pathway that half of them used to take to school every morning when they were younger. Actually, it had only been five months since they started going to college, so the memories of this area were still fresh. Everyone was conversing loudly, excited to be able to go to the Sports Festival, whether they had went to school at Azumanga High or not. They had gotten permission from Nyamo to visit as a 'learning experience'. It wasn't actually that hard either, since she had a soft spot for most of them, and for anything exercise related.

"Hey Osaka, will you stop sucking Haru's face before you pass out from lack of breath?" Tomo said in a sarcastic tone. The two had only gotten closer as time went by, though they certainly hadn't gotten any better at kissing. It was quite an odd sight that often left passerby's staring. Somehow they could kiss with their eyes closed and still walk straight without hitting anything. Most of the others guessed that it was another one of Osaka's strange and rare talents. Osaka and Haru broke loose just long enough for the glossy eyed girl to respond.

"Oh, 'r you gettin' jealous Tomo? We can stop if that's the case," Osaka explained, no hint of challenge in her voice. Tomo took it as an insult however, her brow lowering in anger.

"What? I'm not jealous! I could get a guy anytime I want!" she shouted.

"You could? I didn't know that Tomo. Did you learn some magic spell to make yourself less annoying?" Yomi joked.

"I don't need magic to get a guy! Watch this!"

Tomo held back a bit, allowing Seijin and Chiyo to catch up to her. They were having a conversation about school, neither of them paying attention to what was going on in front of them. But the conversation was swiftly interrupted by Tomo's voice. "Hey Seijin, how would you like to go out with me?"

Seijin looked at her for a few seconds, perplexed and in shock. He shook it off as quickly as possible, and answered her bluntly. "Um, no thanks. You aren't really my type Tomo. But I'm sure you knew that."

"But I," Tomo started before realizing then that nothing she could try would work. The girl frantically looked around for any other guys she knew in the area. The only ones left were Haru, who was taken, and ZaXo. She decided that was all she had left, and took the chance. "Hey ZaXo, do you wanna-"

"No, we've already done this Tomo. It didn't work then, and I doubt it would work now," ZaXo stopped her, overhearing what had been going on behind him.

"Please? Please ZaXo?" Tomo asked again, batting her eyelashes at him. He was however, unaffected.

"Nope. I'm sorry, but I don't think so. And by the way, doesn't begging prove that you are jealous of Osaka?" he inquired, looking back at the couple, who were once again locked together.

"I am NOT jealous!" she pouted, Yomi smiling deviously.

"Hey you guys, chill out. We're here," Kagura announced to the whole group. Everyone, even Osaka and Haru looked up to find the high school in front of them.

"Yay, let's go everyone!" Chiyo cheered, skipping into the schoolyard.

"Man, this place still looks big," ZaXo commented. It'd been about two months since he had been here last, but nothing much other than the season had changed. This time however, there were many more people around. The grounds were packed with people; students, faculty, and observers. Everything seemed alive and exciting, pumping ZaXo up as well.

"Yeah, I guess it's big, but it's not as big as my high school," Emi told him, catching up. She had been talking to Kaorin before, who was now chatting nervously with Sakaki.

"Well, I'm still kind of blown away. We didn't even have any type of Sports Fest at my high school."

"Did you at least have a Culture Fest?" Emi wondered aloud.

"Nope, but that sounds like fun."

"It is fun and it's coming up. But I don't think Nyamo will let us take school off again so soon. Maybe we can go to the next one," Yomi agreed as she joined in the conversation.

"Well, I'm gonna go start helping out. I'll catch you guys later," Kagura said as she waved goodbye and jogged off toward the back of the school.

Everyone slowly followed in her steps, walking toward the track and sitting on the viewer's benches. Emi and Yomi explained to ZaXo what Culture Fests were while they waited for everything to start. Finally, after fifteen minutes the games began, the Three Legged Race being first. Osaka and Haru split apart long enough to pay attention. Haru quickly grew a bit bored, admitting that he was never good at sports, and didn't much care for them. As his girlfriend watched the games going on, he casually opened a manga he had brought with him, and started reading silently.

The others cheered as both people they did and didn't recognize competed. After the Three Legged Race, they started the different sprints. Sakaki perked up a bit as the one-hundred and four-hundred meter races took place. Kaorin commented on how Sakaki could beat all of them easily, which caused her to blush a bit. ZaXo figured that she must have done these races when she went to school here. He knew from what he'd seen that Sakaki could in fact beat those on the track, but he didn't voice this fact.

Next was the Tug-O-War, which was quite a funny sight. There seemed to be two small girls in the Freshman class competition that Chiyo knew, one of them on each side. Both of them tried as hard as they could to help the team, but couldn't do much to change anything. Nonetheless Chiyo cheered her friends on. "Hey, who are those two runts on the ends of the rope? They remind me of you Chiyo," Tomo announced, laughing at her own joke.

Chiyo made no notice of Tomo's jab and spoke up. "That's because they're my old friends Miruchi and Yuka, from before I met you… but I can't understand why they're here. They were in my grade, and I was five years younger than you guys."

"…You still are," Yomi said under her breath.

"Wait, so that means that they're supposed to be in, uhh," Tomo started, counting years on her fingers for nearly twenty seconds. "They're supposed to be in year seven right now?"

"No Tomo. It's year eight. You really should pay attention more in math," Chiyo corrected her.

"Well who asked you?" Tomo grunted, crossing her arms.

When the Tug-O-War was finally over for all the classes and years -Miruchi's class taking the win for her year-, it was time for a short break. Chiyo ran over to surprise her old friends. "Hey you guys! How have you been?" she said loudly, announcing her presence to them. They both smiled and ran up for a group hug.

"Wow Chiyo-Chan, what are you doing here?" Miruchi asked gleefully.

"I came to watch for fun. I never expected you two to be here. Did you skip some grades or something?"

"Yeah, we both tried really hard and were able to skip to high school. It's really fun here!" Yuka explained enthusiastically. The girls continued to converse until it was time for the next set of activities. Next up was boy's gymnastics, and then the infamous ball throwing game. Osaka was now completely entranced by the games, much to Haru's discontent. He didn't seem to like being unable to have her attention very much.

After the ball game was the Scavenger Hunt. Tomo had quickly forgotten all about how Chiyo outsmarted her earlier, and was once again talking to her. "Hey Chiyo, you never told me what you had to get for the scavenger hunt that one year when you used me to win. What were you supposed to find?"

Chiyo's face quickly went red and her eyes shrunk. She looked away in an attempt to talk to Sakaki as if she didn't hear Tomo. The energetic girl tried and tried again to get Chiyo to talk, but she refused, saying that she forgot what it was. When Tomo got up to go grab something to drink fifteen minutes later, ZaXo took the chance to ask about it. "Hey, did you really forget what the item was in the scavenger hunt? You seem pretty embarrassed by it," he whispered to his younger friend.

"Um, it was nothing important. It was really silly…" she stated simply.

"Wait, so that means you do remember. What was it? I won't tell Tomo, I promise," he continued his attempt at coaxing out a confession. Finally after a bit of thought, Chiyo caved in.

"It said that I had to get an... well, an idiot," she told him quietly before explaining herself hastily. "You see, I was confused as to what could represent that word. I walked up to the others in order to get a bit of help. Immediately I thought of Osaka, but then Tomo started to speak. She asked if I needed her shorts, and was about to take them off. I just decided right there that she would be a better match… so I used her to win."

ZaXo couldn't help but burst into laughter at Chiyo's explanation. It was absolutely hilarious to him, and seemed to make perfect sense. He didn't see Tomo as an idiot by any means, but she was a little dim at times. ZaXo dried his eyes when he noticed that Tomo was coming back up. He stifled his laughter as much as he could before she sat back down. "What's so funny?" Tomo asked while she took her seat.

"Oh, it's nothing," ZaXo choked, and they spoke no more of it. Next, were the cheer-leading sessions from each class. Miruchi and Yuka were both in the cheer groups for their classes. Chiyo-Chan couldn't help but smile at this sight, most likely remembering something from when she had went to school here.

Finally it came down to the last two events of the day. Osaka, who had barely blinked all day, smiled widely at the next game… the Bread Eating Competition. "You like this one Osaka?" ZaXo asked her curiously.

"Uh-huh. I'm kinda like a master at it. But ya probably don't know much about that do ya?" she responded slyly, winking and wiggling her finger in the air like a teacher explaining how naive a student was acting. It actually reminded him of Yukari a bit.

"So I bet you did really well when you went to school here huh? You probably got first place all three years right?"

"Well, we didn't have the contest here for my first an' second years," she stated monotonously.

"Oh. But did you get first on your third year?"

"Nah, I got last. I couldn't decide what bread to get. That's a very important decision in a bread eatin' contest ya see. Ya want the right one for the right moment, or it'll screw ya all up."

"Um, how many times have you done this contest other than that one year then?" ZaXo inquired, imagining Osaka in the park jumping at a taiyaki pastry tied to a tree.

"None really, though I did practice with Tomo for a minute once during class. I'm jus' glad they stopped using the old regulation fish hook ta hold the bread," Osaka told him, then noticing that the game was about to start. "Now, shhh. I'm tryin'a watch."

Her eyes were glued to the game from then on. She was yelling at the competitors about how they were going about it all wrong. At one point, she even looked like she was about to get up and show them 'how it's done', but Chiyo held her down nervously by her sleeve.

At last, the closing competition was about to start. More than ever, Sakaki looked intensely at the students on the starting line. The game was the Relay Race, the one game that was guaranteed to never change. And indeed, it never had since the school's inception, or so Chiyo explained. The Freshman and Juniors raced fairly un-spectacularly, Yuka's class getting first over Miruchi's. Finally, it was the Seniors' turn.

*BOOM!* The cap gun went off, starting the race. Each runner on the first leg took off like lightning, nobody getting a big edge on anyone else for a while. After the first half, a tall, darker skinned girl started to pull ahead. She had an extremely serious look on her face, as if she was on a very important mission.

The baton was then handed off to her first teammate, who continued widening the gap between her team and the others. She was slightly slower than the first runner, but was still too fast for the rest to stand any kind of chance. Sakaki's eyes were wide as she watched, whispering silent cheers under her breath. The race continued as the girl in front handed the baton off to her third companion, the next closest team an incredible fifteen feet behind her. This third runner was much slower than her first two teammates, as the other racers finally began catching up slowly.

Suddenly, she stumbled and dropped the baton. She nearly had to stop in order to pick it back up. Sakaki gasped loudly, a worried look on her face. By the time the girl got running again, the others were right on her. She still had a quarter of her leg to go before handing it off. She was second-to-last when the baton was finally handed to the team anchor.

This girl took off much quicker than anyone ZaXo had ever seen. She was already probably Olympic quality, and only in high school. It was astonishing to see the speed of her strides, catching and passing the other runners like it was nothing. Next to her, the rest of the racers seemed to be at a standstill. Finally at the finish, she won by at least four feet. Everyone who was paying attention was speechless for a couple of seconds before standing up and cheering very loudly. That class ended up winning the whole Sports Fest for their year. Miruchi's freshman class had barely beat Yuka's for second in the Freshman competition, another class getting first.

Chiyo went up to congratulate her old friends, while the rest of the group waited for her, chatting about the whole day so far. Sakaki was for once actually actively speaking, conversing with Kagura about the foot races. Osaka was telling Yomi all about her days as a 'Bread Eating Pro', Haru completely left out of the conversation. Seijin and ZaXo casually spoke of the entire thing, ZaXo wishing they had something like this at his old high school. Kaorin and Emi had to unfortunately leave for the school right after the last game ended however, needing to work on their latest clothing designs.

When Chiyo came back, they all turned to leave, right as the Folk Dance for the students and faculty began. The group began walking down the path back toward the park in front of Chiyo's house, chatting lively. They all needed to report to Nyamo and tell her how it went, in order to prove that they were really there. Nobody thought she seriously feared that they just wanted to skip school, but they didn't want to make her upset.

"Yo, Yomi. Do you have the homework for Yukari's class from yesterday?" Tomo blurted out as they walked along.

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, I didn't do it, and I was wondering if I could copy?" Tomo continued nonchalantly. Yomi must have known this was the reason her friend brought it up, as the statement didn't seem to affect her much.

"No, you can't. Maybe you should have done it yourself," she fired back.

"Please? I would have asked earlier, but I forgot. Yukari wants it handed in when we get back to the school. If I turn it in tomorrow, it'll be late. You don't want me to fail, do you?"

"I wouldn't be too sure of that," Yomi said under her breath. However, she thought about it again for a while, and decided to allow Tomo to copy. "Alright, just don't ruin it."

"Yes! I'll do it when we get to the school, but I want to look it over now so that I can copy it faster later," Tomo stated in relief.

Yomi casually opened up her bag that she'd brought with, and began rummaging through it for a specific folder. They entered the park, and began walking down the usual path. It was nearly empty today, save for a few people here and there. Everyone was still speaking to each other about the games, not really paying attention too much. Yomi continued to look in her bag as they walked, unable to find what she was looking for. "Sorry Tomo, but I can't find it," Yomi explained, hoisting her bag over her back, though it looked as if she might be lying.

"Hey Sakaki, can I copy from your homework then?" Tomo pleaded. Sakaki reluctantly accepted, and began rummaging through her own bag. After about two minutes, she discovered the paper and handed it to a delighted Tomo.

As Sakaki looked back down and zipped up her bag, she caught her foot on someone else's who was walking in the opposite direction. She fell to the ground, and quickly attempted to catch herself. Unfortunately, since her bag was still in her arms, she was unable to get one of her arms positioned right in time, and it buckled. ZaXo barely noticed this happening, but could do nothing about it even if he had. Sakaki yelped loudly as her wrist twisted, which caught the attention of everyone else in the group. They all stopped in their tracks to see exactly what had happened.

Sakaki rolled over and sat up to look at her wrist. It didn't appear to be broken, but when she moved it, she had to stifle a painful squeal. "Are you okay?" ZaXo asked urgently, while they all gathered a little closer to her.

"Yeah, but I think I sprained my wrist," she told them, surprisingly enough, choking back tears from the pain. The group looked to see who had tripped her, noticing that the culprit was still standing where it happened, just looking at them all blankly. "I'm sorry that I did that. Are you hurt?" Sakaki asked him.

"No, luckily I'm not hurt. And you should be sorry. Maybe next time you should watch where you're going," the boy responded coldly. Everyone's eyes widened at his response, not expecting someone could be so mean.

"I-I know. I'll watch out next time, I promise," Sakaki continued, the sensitive girl looking just as hurt on the inside now as she was outside.

"Yeah, you'd better. Why don't you learn how to walk so this doesn't happen again? I don't have time to deal with imbeciles like you," he continued, ice on his words.

Speech failed Sakaki as she broke down, tears beginning to run down her cheeks while she clutched her wrist, still sitting on the ground. ZaXo hadn't ever seen Sakaki this emotional, and it was about all he could stand. He lunged furiously at the man, grabbing him by the neck of his shirt, and shoving him against a nearby tree. Kagura had apparently been thinking the same thing, though ZaXo reacted first.

"What the hell do you mean, imbeciles like her?" he shot angrily at the guy. Now that ZaXo was closer, he felt he recognized the man as a student from HKU. He was sure he'd seen him around the halls occasionally.

"I meant exactly what I said. She's a clumsy waste of space. What are you gonna do about it?" the boy replied to his attacker.

ZaXo could feel the anger rising in himself, his arm cocked, ready for a punch. He wanted so much to just plow the fist into his enemy's face. 'How can anyone be so cruel?' he thought to himself furiously. Just then ZaXo felt someone grab his elbow and try to pull his arm down. It was Sakaki.

"P-please stop ZaXo," she pleaded in a stutter, her lips quivering, and tear stains falling down her pale cheeks. He noticed that everyone was looking at him in alarm; almost even in horror. They obviously hadn't expected ZaXo to act like this, and truthfully, he didn't expect it either.

Slowly, he let his arm down and released his opponent from his grip. The man adjusted his clothing before walking off without saying another word. Everyone looked at ZaXo as if he was a monster or something. Even Tomo, Osaka, and Kagura looked a bit frightened of him. He understood why, because he had acted a little harshly. But at the same time, ZaXo felt he had done the right thing. He couldn't just stand there and watch as someone unjustly insulted his close friend.

The group was silent as they walked the rest of the way to the school. ZaXo was in the back, alone by choice, while Sakaki was in the front, being tended to by Yomi and Chiyo-Chan. He tried to apologize a few times, but whenever he'd open his mouth, nothing would come out. He didn't know what exactly to apologize for.

When they got to the school, all of them other than ZaXo took Sakaki to the nurse's office and then went up to Nyamo's office without either of them. ZaXo stayed behind on a bench outside. He didn't want to go with the others to face Nyamo, but he didn't really feel like facing Sakaki either. He simply sat outside the school for a while, everything and nothing rushing through his mind all at once. ZaXo just wanted to be alone at the moment. He wasn't sure whether his friends would forgive him or not for his actions.

Alright, so that's that I guess. Tell me what you think. I haven't forgotten about some other things I started in other chapters by the way, so don't worry. I don't want everything to start and finish quickly -one after another-, or the story could get stale. Wish me luck with the next chapter. Hope you liked :)