I don't own any of the characters… Though I wish I did… I'm just a fan who absolutely adores Kodocha, and the Sana/Hayama pairing. :) Now, onto the story!
It takes place sometime after Hayama's dad goes into the hospital and Sana-chan consoles him (awwww!!!).
///// The story…
The Forest Adventure
"Oh, no! I'm late again!"
Sana-chan bolted out of bed and rushed for the bathroom to brush her teeth. She passed a very groggy Rei-kun along the way. "Good morning, Rei-kun!" she chirped as she ran into the bathroom.
"Ah, Sana-chan. Good morning."
"Hurry, hurry, hurry, Rei-kun! I'm going to be late for school."
"Aa, hai, Sana-chan."
Following the typical morning car ride to school (which consisted of Rei-kun inching along slower than a crawling baby does), Sana-chan burst into her classroom out of breath. "So sorry I'm late!" she cried out, bowing low many times over. "So so-" She stopped in mid-sentence when she realized the classroom was empty save for Hayama.
"Eh? Hayama? Where did everybody go?"
Hayama was sitting on the back counter, eyes closed, arms crossed in a nonchalant devil-may-care manner. He opened his eyes when Sana-chan addressed him, in his trademark sullen stare. "They all went to the park for our assignment. I knew you were late, and you would forget." He closed his eyes again.
Am I that predictable? Sana-chan wondered to herself. Aloud, she replied, "Oh, no! I completely forgot! Quick, Hayama! Let's get out there now!" She grabbed his wrist and dragged him out into the park beside the school.
Mitsuya-sensei spotted them as they approached. "Sana-chan! Hayama-kun! The class has already gone into the woods and park. You two will have to be paired together."
"What?! I was hoping to go with Aya-chan or Hisae-chan or Mami-chan!!!" Sana-chan despaired. Shaking herself out of her disappointment, she grabbed hold of Hayama again (who had not moved a muscle) and proceeded to drag him into the woods. "Ne, ne, Hayama! Let's go find the animals!"
Hayama silently complied, mostly since Sana-chan was dragging him against his will anyway.
"Oh, look! There's a ladybug!" Sana-chan exclaimed excitedly. "This assignment is so much fun, ne, Hayama? Getting to look for all the different animals in the forest is neat! Ne, Hayama? Hayama?" Sana-chan turned around to look at him. "Hayama! I said isn't it fun?"
"Hmph." He glared off to the side, hands stuffed into pockets.
"Ha-ya-ma!!! You're so hopeless."
Hayama turned his glare on her.
Completely unfazed, Sana-chan pointed giddily at a bird sitting up on a branch. "Ooh, look! A robin! It's so pretty!"
"That's not a robin."
"Eh?" Sana-chan turned to Hayama, surprised that he had spoken suddenly. His glare had toned down to a moody stare. "What are you talking about? Of course it's a robin. I've seen them plenty of times," Sana-chan waved him off with her hand.
"It's not a robin," Hayama repeated.
"How would you know? Robins are happy birds, and this bird is definitely happy!"
Hayama felt like falling over, but somehow managed to keep himself upright. "It's a sparrow, stupid. Robins have red chests."
"Stu…pid… Who are you calling stupid, Stupid Hayama!" Sana-chan whipped out her mallet and bonked him over the head with it several times.
When she finally stopped, Hayama rose. "This is a total waste of time. I'm going home."
Sana-chan sprang up in a huff. "Hayama!" she began threateningly. "Stop being bad. This is a lot of fun. You get to be outdoors and looking at all the cute creatures-" As if on cue, a Maro-chan-like squirrel appeared. "-and you're not stuck in a stuffy classroom."
"Hmph," Hayama answered, turning away anyway.
"Class! … Class! It's time to come in again!" Mitsuya-sensei's voice wafted through the trees.
"Time to go back already?" Sana-chan began to head off towards school, but soon realized that Hayama was going in the opposite direction. "Oi, Hayama!" She grabbed the back of his shirt and began to haul him away. "Time to go back."
"But you just said the classroom was stuffy."
"Only when there's outdoor assignments like this!"
Hayama tripped over himself at Sana-chan's logic, but recovered quickly.
After school, Sana-chan raced to the car. "Rei-kun, Rei-kun! Hurry, hurry! It's time for Kodomo no Omocha!"
"So much energy today, Sana-chan," Rei-kun observed.
"We got to go outside today for a school project. We'll be going outside again tomorrow!"
///// At the shooting…
"Summer scent is in the air, Little birdies everywhere, Flitting, flying over trees, With the sound of bumblebees." Zenjirou grinned toothily at his students. "Can anyone think of a summer poem of their own?"
"Oi, oi, oi! Me, me, me!" Sana-chan waved her arms in the air madly.
"Aa, yes, Sana-chan? What's your poem?"
Sana-chan jumped up onto her desk, hands on hips with a pleased look. "Outdoors smells like trees! April winds bring many flowers! Projects are fun and my partner is Hayama!"
"That didn't even rhyme," Zenjirou mumbled. "I think you meant 'April showers bring May flowers'?" he asked more loudly. Recalling a past conversation, he asked, "Isn't Hayama that monkey boss?"
"Not anymore! He's stopped his evil ways and has become a lone wolf!" A picture of Lone Wolf Hayama flashed across the screen.
"I see. He doesn't cause anymore trouble then?"
"That's right!"
"I see, I see…. Now, does anyone else have summer poems to share?"
///// After the show…
"Rei-kun, Rei-kun! Did you like my poem?"
"Yes, Sana-chan. It didn't make much sense, but it was good."
"Many great poems don't make sense."
"But, Sana-chan, the poets were all sick or crazy…"
///// At home…
"Maaaa-ma!" Sana-chan called out. "Did you hear my poem?"
"Yes, I did. I'm sure Hayama liked it very much, as well."
"Hayama? What about him? He's a lone wolf. Do you like it, Mama?"
Mama snapped her fan open, hiding behind it. "To tell you the truth, Sana-chan," she began, sidling up to her daughter, "I didn't understand what you were saying."
A gust of wind blew across the silent room as Sana-chan processed what her mother had just said. Maro-chan peered out of the Eiffel Tower on Mama's head. Suddenly, "Waaaiii! Such a nice compliment! I'm going to be a successful poet."
"Poet?! Wh-What?!" Mama said, shocked.
Sana-chan danced off, singing to herself.
///// Next day…
"Hayama! Don't dawdle!" Sana-chan scolded. "Let's go find more animals." She grabbed his shirt and ran along into the forest, Hayama bouncing along behind. "Did you like my poem, Hayama? I'm going to be a poet and an actress at the same time!" Sana-chan said, after they'd wandered around for a bit. She bent over to peer into a bush.
"Poet? … Your poem was stupid."
Sana-chan straightened, shocked. "What?! Maybe you didn't hear it properly." She cleared her throat.
"I heard it fine," Hayama replied, not wanting to hear another rendition of her poem.
Sana-chan ignored him. "Trees smell like outdoors! Many flowers come in April! Summer is fun!"
Hayama's eye twitched. "That wasn't what you said yesterday…"
"Of course it was, silly. Oi," Sana-chan flopped onto her feet. "Let's go somewhere else. There're no animals around. Maybe you're scaring them all away with your bad aura…" Hayama dressed up as a hoodlum, surrounded by blackness, popped into her head. She romped away, humming to herself. Hayama stared after her for a moment before following.
///// Later…
"Hayama, I'm hungry. Why hasn't Mitsuya-sensei called yet?"
Hayama looked around. "I think you got us lost." A picture of Sana-chan towing Hayama through a broken-down 'No Trespassing' fence appeared in his mind.
"I did not! Why would I do something crazy like that?" Sana-chan collapsed onto the grass. "But if we're lost…" She stared up at the sky for a moment. "I'm going to starve!!"
"..."
"What are we going to do?"
"Look for the school, I guess."
"I can't! My legs are too weak from hunger! If I go on any longer, I'll faint!"
"We weren't out for that long." Hayama stared Sana-chan, but when she showed no signs of moving, he gave up and sat down to wait for her next boost of energy.
Seeing him sit down, Sana-chan sat up. She poked at her animal list. "I think we've seen most of the animals," she murmured to herself. "How's your family?" she asked suddenly.
Hayama glanced at her, startled by the suddenness of the question. He quickly regained his composure. "Fine, I guess. Father's come out of the hospital. Natsumi has to take care of him as well now."
"Poor Natsumi-chan. She works so hard. I wonder what it would be like if my family were like that." She stopped, trying to imagine her family in Hayama's situation. When silence ensued, Hayama looked at Sana-chan from the corner of his eye. She looked thoughtful. Staring back down at the grass, Hayama brooded to himself. It was truly nice what she'd done for him and his family. And she'd been there when his father had been in the hospital…
Without thinking, Hayama reached out and lightly grasped Sana-chan's shoulder. "Eh? Hayama? What's up? Did you figure out how to get back?" She blinked at the puzzling expression on his face. She'd never really seen him like this before.
Hayama looked down, still holding Sana-chan's shoulder. "I…"
"Hmm?" Sana-chan asked, completely clueless.
"I…" Giving up on his sudden speech impairment, Hayama took hold of Sana-chan's other shoulder and pulled her towards him. Sana-chan's eyes widened in shock as he brought his lips to hers in a kiss.
They parted, Sana-chan still in shock. Reacting quickly, she whipped out her mallet and raised it above her head, screeching, "HA-YA-MAAA-aaaaaaaa…" She suddenly started vibrating as the Buruccha turned on. "Rrrreeeiiii-kkkuuunnnn…"
Hayama stood up, hands in pockets. "They're looking for us. We should go." He turned abruptly and began walking towards the sound of their classmates' shouts, which could be heard faintly, had they not been occupied.
"Hayama…" Sana-chan watched Hayama's retreating back in confusion.
///// After a bit more wandering, and a lot more bonking...
"Sana-chan!" Rei-kun ran up to Sana-chan. "Are you okay? Were you hurt? Did you fall?"
"No, no, Rei-kun, don't worry." She patted him reassuringly on the arm. "We were just lost."
Mitsuya-sensei ran up. "Oh, I was so worried! I didn't know what to do, so I called your manager."
"I used the Buruccha. Did it work?" he asked, holding his up.
"It did, it did! Thanks for saving us Rei-kun!" Sana-chan answered, recalling the events that had taken place prior to that.
///// At home…
In her room, Sana-chan stared out the window, deep in contemplation. Why did Hayama kiss her again? Was he trying to tell her something? She recalled his words when she'd wanted to run away in humiliation. 'I don't hate you.' His father had said that when Hayama said 'don't hate', he meant 'love'…
Sana-chan shook her head. It was too much for one night's thinking.
"I'll think about it tomorrow," Sana-chan mumbled around yawns. Too tired to crawl into bed, she fell asleep at the sill.
/// The End…
That's it for now. Wow… I didn't think it would actually be that long. And to think I actually wrote it out by hand first. Too much babbling. I'll try to stop in later fics.