Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad Fanfiction.

Chapter 28: Kotomi's Ordeal.

James left the flat feeling completely exhausted. He'd spent an hour and a half cleaning the front room during the night after the fight between his mother Victoria and the Twin's mother Chiyo Fujibayashi.

No one was entirely sure what had started the fight. Even Kyou who had watched over the two mothers wasn't entirely sure what started it and everyone hoped that the two mothers could meet again and hopefully get along but their reasons for not liking each other were understandable to a point.

Surprisingly Chiyo held no disliking towards James and hoped to see him again at some point.

At least that's what the twin's had told him over the phone whilst he was cleaning up.

He'd gone to bed feeling extremely tired but had failed to get a decent rest with all the heat making him uncomfortable to the point that he'd felt ill and wanted to vomit but somehow he'd slept albeit for a couple hours before waking up early in the morning having a shower getting changed and dressed and watched some more Doctor Who episodes until the time came that he would have to leave the flat and make his way to the school.

...

"Hey James!" Kappei shouted over to him as he walked nearer to the hill side.

"Oh hey Kappei" he greeted with a loud yawn struggling to keep his eye's open and focused.

"Hmmm-" Kappei murmured "You don't look too good" he mumbled worriedly.

"Yeah!" he scoffed "And I really don't wanna discuss it sorry!" rustling through his pocket's he hurriedly passed Kappei the handkerchief.

"There!" he exclaimed tiredly whilst hurrying to the walkway that lead to the school.

"S-See you later then!" Kappei mumbled feeling rather dumbfounded "I guess..."

"Oh hi Kappei!" a familiar voice called out to him.

Turning around and trying to see through the crowd of students he noticed the Fujibayashi twins walking towards him.

"Oh hi Ryou!" he greeted smiling.

...

James walked up the hill through the cherry blossom tree's and every step was a struggle.

He felt as if his legs were filled with lead he desperately tried to keep his eye's open and his body felt worn out as if to say "let me sleep! let me sleep!"

"I must go on!" he said to himself determined to make it to the top but the bright pink colours of the cherry blossoms and the crowds of students that he was trying desperately to avoid felt disorientating.

...

"James!" a voice cried out.

"Oh for god's sake what is it now?!" he grumbled after having reached the school. Turning around he saw Kotomi standing behind him.

"Oh it-it's you" he yawned rubbing his eye's.

"Who else were you expecting?" she asked curiously.

"Ugh never mind" he mumbled pulling at his fringe. "Anyway did you decide what your going to do regarding your classmates?

Glancing at the ground nervously she nodded "Yes! I gave it a lot of thought James and you're right I need to change what people think of me! I-I-" she sniffled desperately trying not to cry "I'll be a brave girl!"

Without a word of warning James kissed Kotomi on the forehead making her blush heavily "That right you need to be brave Kotomi!" he grasped her hand's tightly "Show any sign of weakness and those savages are going to tear you apart like the weak pathetic thing that they think you are!"

"T-thanks James!" she smiled whilst not being entirely sure if that last part about being weak and pathetic was what he thought of her as a person or if that was what her classmates thought of her.

"You really are a good friend!" she hugged him tightly for a few moments before heading to the school entrance.

"I'll see you later!" she shouted "I'll meet you in the art room at break!"

As James chuckled to himself and brushed himself off little did he know that Sekai had been near them drawing and had heard everything and hurried to her classroom to tell her friends of what had transpired.

...

Sekai stood up against a wall outside of Class-A talking to her friends Hana Nagami and Chiaki Mai. Both were slightly taller than Sekai. Hana had long flowing brown hair and sparkling green eyes and Chiaki had medium length raven hair with sparkling yellow eyes. Both were relatively fit for girls their age and would often bring in the attention of their male classmates with their looks much to their annoyance.

So is this James guy like her boyfriend or something?" Hana asked with genuine curiosity.

"No idea!" Sekai shrugged "But they do seem close"

"Well-" Chiaki spoke up "You probably wouldn't know anyway Sekai"

"Look!-" Sekai exclaimed pointing her finger at Chiaki "Just because I've never been in love doesn't mean I don't know when other people are!"

"Y-yeah!" she replied nervously "T-that's very true!"

"Hey you said that this James guy's an artist right? Hana exclaimed clicking her fingers loudly "How about we set you and him up?" she whispered in Sekai's ear gently massaging her shoulders "You'd probably make a great couple!"

"Ack!" Sekai choked blushing a violent shade of red her ears pouring with smoke her glasses fogging up "S-shut up!" she exclaimed "As if I'd date a complete amature loser like him!"

"O-oh ok!" the two girls chuckled slightly surprised by Sekai's sudden outburst.

"A-anyway!-" Sekai continued clearing her throat "Back to Ichinose!"

Hana and Chiaki both nodded giving a faint "mmhh "

"Since she's actually daring to come to class how about we make it a complete misery for her like before?" Sekai exclaimed "We'll do the usual stuff and if she keeps coming to lesson's we'll make her life a living hell!"

"Oh oh!" Hana cried out placing her arm in the air "If she pisses us off too much how about we drag her into the bathroom fill the sink up with water and dunk her head into it and then release her just before she drowns?"

Sekai took a faint step back feeling completely flabbergasted "T-that's a little-"

"Yeah that's going a bit far!" Chiaki shivered.

"Then how about we cut her hair so that she'll come to school with a really stupid style?" Hana suggested as all three girls laughed.

"S-shit she's coming!" Sekai whispered upon noticing Kotomi walking nearer to the classroom.

"Hope the bitch didn't hear us!" Hana thought anxiously biting her nails.

As Kotomi walked nearer to the door Sekai called out to her "Ichinose!" her voice echoing through the corridor.

A faint gasp could be heard from Kotomi as the pace of her walking increased. Before she could enter the classroom Sekai grabbed the back of her hair pulling her towards the three girls as she cried out in pain much to their amusement.

"S-sekai!" Kotomi cried out "Please stop it!"

When she was dragged close enough Sekai turned her around and pushed her against the wall.

"Well well well!" Sekai grinned "Little miss antisocial decided to actually show up for once!"

"I must be brave!" Kotomi thought trying not to burst into tears as all her emotions began to build up inside of her "I told James that I'd be a brave girl!"

"Just so you know-" Chiaki whispered to Kotomi grabbing her lightly by the chin "We're gonna make your life a living hell!"

Kotomi's eye's widened with horror as she began to feel Hana place her hand's onto her breasts and squeezing them hard "Aww your so damn lucky!" Hana cried out like a spoiled child whilst Sekai and Chiaki held onto Kotomi's arms as to not let her force her away. "I wish I had a pair like these!" she continued as she squeezed them with Kotomi whimpering waiting for someone anyone to come and help her out of this situation but all of her classmates and other students just walked past grinning and laughing under their breath.

"James!" Kotomi cried out in her thoughts "Please help me!"

...

"Ugh I hope Kotomi's doing ok!" James yawned entering the classroom hunched over like Quasimodo. "She's a sweet girl I'm sure she'll do allright!"

As he pulled out his seat sat down buried his arms onto the table and dunking his head in preparing to get a few minute's worth of sleep he felt a hand tug his shoulder.

"Oh get lost for a few minutes Okazaki!" James groaned in a muffled voice.

"I-it's me" Ryou whispered as James brought up his head.

"Oh well get lost Ryou" he yawned not entirely realizing what he'd just said.

"Oh-" Ryou murmured feeling slightly hurt "Look I-I can tell you're tired but do you wanna hang out at break?"

"I'm busy at break" he grumbled tiredly.

"Oh w-well c-can I join you?"

"Ugh fine!" James groaned looking at Ryou feeling half asleep "J-just meet me in the old art room after break!"

"O-ok!" Ryou nodded shaking slightly as she walked back over to her seat.

"Poor guy" she thought glancing at him "Yesterday must have really tired him out."

Bzzzzzz

James's phone vibrated inside of his pocket as he gave another tired groan searching for it.

"Ugh god what is it now?!"

He clicked the buttons and had a quick scan read of the text.

You have one message from Kyou

He gave a glance at the text before turning back his head into his arms trying to attempt to sleep.

"James!" the text read "Who the hell is this Kappei guy? Where does he come from?"

DING DONG DANG DONG

"Oh for f**k's sake!" James groaned upon hearing the sound of the bell signalling the lesson to start.

...

After the bell had rung Kotomi hurriedly stood up brushed herself off and prepared to leave the classroom.

She'd spent the whole lesson feeling an immense pain of anxiety worrying about others opinion's of her and the fact that Sekai and her friends would soon pick on her at the earliest opportunity.

As she started to run she suddenly fell head first onto the floor followed by the laughter of Sekai and her friends.

"Oooh sorry Ichinose!" Sekai snorted "You should really watch where you're going!"

She knew that Sekai had deliberately tripped her up and as she hurriedly grabbed her things that had fallen onto the floor she felt a kick to the stomach causing her to roll and collide with a chair hitting her head onto the thick metal with a loud clang.

"You know for a so-called-genius you really should have seen that one coming!" Hana chuckled.

"Yeah you're pretty stupid for a so called genius!" Chiaki agreed.

Sekai suddenly grabbed Kotomi by the back on the head pulling her painfully up towards them.

"Argh!" Kotomi cried out "S-sekai p-please stop!"

Signalling to the the others with her hand Chiaki rummaged through her pockets proceeding to bring out a sharp pair of scissors.

"Now how about we give your hair a little trim?" Sekai whispered in her hair.

Without a word of warning Kotomi punched Sekai in the stomach. As she let go Kotomi proceeded to remove Sekai's glasses placing them onto a table not wanting to break them but before she could run away Chiaki had already grabbed her.

"You're not going anywhere!" she grinned.

"H-help!" Sekai exclaimed "Seriously I'm blind without my glasses!"

Before Chiaki could pass the glasses back Kotomi broke herself free and ran as fast as she could outside of the classroom.

"She's gone!" Hana cried out pointing at the door.

"Ah well it was fun while it lasted!" Sekai murmured adjusting her glasses.

"Cant we go after her?" Chiaki spoke up.

"Nah" Sekai shrugged as she began to walk over to the exit "We'll most likely have another chance later!"

The other two nodded without a word as Sekai left the classroom.

...

After what felt like an agonizingly long period of time James stood up from his seat brushed himself off and prepared to leave the classroom.

Before he could signal to Ryou to follow him she was already surrounded by curious students wanting to know why she'd been away from school and to do the usual fortune telling.

"I'll join you in the art room soon!" Ryou shouted to him through the crowd as James hurriedly made his way to the art room.

"Hopefully Kotomi's alright" he said to himself.

...

He carefully knocked on the door and crept it open with a slight creek echoing through the corridors.

"Kotomi-" James murmured "are you here?"

He began to hear a faint familiar crying sound and walked further inside the room. There sitting by the table was poor Kotomi crying her eye's out. Her hand's covered her face but tears poured down like a flowing river.

"Kotomi!" James shouted rushing over to her.

"What happened?!" he exclaimed grasping her shoulders "What's wrong?!"

Kotomi removed her hand's from her face immediately revealing that they were terribly bloodshot and watery "Oh James-!" she cried as she hurriedly stood up from the chair and hugged him tightly.

Rather too tightly...

"Ugh!" James groaned as he felt his chest being crushed "K-kotomi!" he wheezed frantically tapping the table "I c-cant breath!"

"I-it was Sekai!" she whimpered while releasing her grip on James allowing him to take a few deep breaths "S-she and her friends-" the crying made worse as she continued to explain "T-they touched me and kicked me around and threatened to cut my hair!"

"What?!" he gasped shocked "Is this what usually happens when you come to class?!"

Kotomi have a slight whimpering sound as she nodded "Please James! I-I don't want to come to class anymore!"

"Oh my god!" he mumbled hugging her tightly "K-kotomi if-if I knew this would happen I would NEVER have asked you to attend class!"

"I'm sorry James!" she whimpered burying her head into his chest "I failed you! I couldn't even last an entire day in that classroom!"

The door suddenly creaked open and Sekai stepped into the room "Hey losers!" she exclaimed with a slight chuckle.

Like a scene from a horror movie James slowly turned his head looking into her direction "You!-" he growled his eyes glancing at Sekai with intense ferocity sending a chill up her spine.

"L-look I-I can expl-"

James sat Kotomi down and slowly walked over to Sekai with an intense silence filling the room to the point that you could hear a pin drop. He clung onto his right hand desperately trying not to flip out.

"Sekai!" he growled as her eye's widened.

"O-ok James you're starting to scare me!"

To be continued