Author's Note
We all know that in the end of Azumanga Daioh, the girls leave and head off to college. We also know that Kaorin thinks Sakaki is the coolest girls in the school. What was Kaorin's side of the story? She wasn't shown a lot during the anime, and here's my untold twisted version of Azumanga Daioh. Enjoy, it's my first attempt at a full length story! Another thing…you can find hidden names from other anime, like Fruits Basket or something…hehe!
1: Ideas for Better or Worse
It was year 3. It was the final school year of high school. It was too bad that Kaorin landed in Mr. Kimura's class, where she wasn't with Sakaki. Meanwhile, Sakaki was with her 5 other friends, being the quiet girl within her friends, and is secretly obsessed with cats and such. But, this is Kaorin's story. She was sitting in Mr. Kimura's class, listening to classical literature and whatnot he was talking about.
"KAORIN! KAORIN SHOULD BE OUR CLASS REPRESENTATIVE!" Mr. Kimura cried suddenly. Kaorin had not a clue what he was talking about, she knew that he had so much interest in her, and he's even got a wife, too, but she had not a clue why he liked her so much.
"Mr. Kimura, I don't think that's a good idea," she said.
"OF COURSE its A GOOD IDEA YOU'RE ONE OF THE SMARTEST GIRLS IN CLASS!" he fires back. It wasn't true, but something you would expect.
Kaorin sighed reluctantly. She couldn't do anything about it, so she accepted.
"Why is my life so miserable?" she thinks to herself, "Why can't I be with Miss Sakaki? She's just one of the prettiest and hottest and most beautiful girls in school. Oh! I know what to do!"
After her adjective ranting stopped, the bell finally rang and she went off to lunch with her supposedly brilliant idea.
2: Miss Sakimoto…?
Later that afternoon, during lunch, a small girl with red hair and bobbing pigtails came to Kaorin. It's a surprise to her that Chiyo-chan paid a visit to her after a while.
"Hiyas, Kaorin! Long time no see! So, what have you been up to lately?" Chiyo said with her happy and cheery voice.
"Hi, Chiyo chan! I've just been thinking…" Kaorin sighed. "I wonder…what she will say…" Kaorin finished.
"Who will say what?" Chiyo asked questioningly.
"Um, Miss Sak- I mean…Oh, well, never mind." Kaorin replied. If she told Chiyo she had a lot of feelings for Miss Sakaki, Chiyo would think Kaorin would be crazy out of her mind!
"If I'm not mistaken, Kaorin, are you talking about Miss Sakaki?" Chiyo asked.
"NO! I'm not talking about her…" Kaorin said scared and nervously.
"Then who are you talking about?"
"Um…Miss Sakimoto! Yeah that's it, Miss Sakimoto!" Kaorin said.
"And who is this Miss Sakimoto you speak of? I really want to know, please!" Chiyo said curiously.
"Miss Sakimoto…?" Kaorin said. She couldn't think of anything else besides food and Miss Sakaki, so she went with food. "Miss Sakimoto is my…sushi instructor! She teaches me about making sushi and such. I was just wondering what she'll say about the sushi I made at home, that's it! Hehe…"
3: I Thought You Hated Sushi!
"Sushi instructor…? I thought you hated sushi! In that case you like sushi now…try mine! It has red snapper, crab, cucumber and carrots! Go on try it! You might as well take a whole bite!" Chiyo said anxiously. She held up her tray of food, where the sushi was right in the corner of the tray.
Kaorin actually did hate sushi. She never liked the taste of seaweed. So paper-like, she thought. Kaorin didn't want to let Chiyo know that she liked Sakaki so much, so she took one of Chiyo's sushi. Kaorin took a grimacing look at it, then looked at a smiling Chiyo, and then grimaced at the sushi again. Reluctantly she slowly put the sushi right in front of her lips, and then bit half the sushi. She then ate the rest of it. Kaorin chewed the sushi as fast as she could, trying to not feel the paper taste of the seaweed again. The red snapper and crab tasted appealing to her, then the veggies gave her an, "eh, it's ok" kind of look, and then…the seaweed sank into her taste buds. On her face you could see her face with a big "x" replacing her eyes. She then said, after she swallowed loudly, "Tasty…"
"Oh, you think so, Kaorin! Thanks! Well, I'll see you around!" Chiyo happily said. She then skipped off to another table, where the rest of Sakaki's friends are.
Kaorin then almost fainted after Chiyo left. She then thought positive, then thought about Sakaki. "Ah, her long, black, silky hair…her height like a supermodel…and not to mention her huge chest…" she thought. After she ate all of her lunch, seaweed-free, she went out to the courtyard.
4: I Like You Very, Very Much
Miss Sakaki was out by a tree in the courtyard, her long black hair blowing in the breeze. She seemed to be looking for something, her head looking left and right. Kaorin gazed at her in awe, thinking of her as yet the coolest ever. She approached her, and began to open her mouth.
"M-Miss Sakaki," she said slowly. "Would you mind if we could w-well, u-um, see each other sometime later, like during the evening for dinner? Like as friends? I want to get to know you more."
"Oh, that's a great idea," she replied softly. She moved her head away from Kaorin and looked at the small brown cat that looked at her lovingly. "I finally got to see you today," she thought and blushed.
"Ahhh! Miss Sakaki is blushing at me! She must really like me!" Kaorin thought. It was great for Kaorin that she got Sakaki to go out with her on her supposed "date", but she had no clue what was in store for her 2 seconds later.
"But can I bring my friends with me? Yomi, Tomo, Chiyo, Osaka and Kagura?" Sakaki asked. "I wouldn't want to leave them behind letting them know you're inviting me to dinner."
In Kaorin's mind, she exploded with anger. But surprisingly, she said, "Um, what I meant was that you and me ALONE. You know one-on-one talk. To tell you the truth, Miss Sakaki, I really like you. I like you very, very, much."
Sakaki stared at her blankly for a bit, but soon realized that Kaorin…isn't like the others. She seemed…to tend to like girls more than guys…Sakaki isn't like that, but what would happen if she told her no? Kaorin would probably kill herself. She didn't want that…Sakaki thought of accepting the offer, but never to have a relationship of more than a friend. "Kaorin, I think going out to dinner with you would be nice."
"Yay! I think you'll have much fun eating at the Uchiwa Karaoke Bar! The food is great, and you'll have the time of your life at the karaoke contest! You like singing, don't you!"
"Um, yes, I guess…" Sakaki said.
"Yay! I'll come to your place at seven! Just give me your address!" Kaorin hugged Sakaki. The small problem is that she was shorter than Sakaki, so her cheeks landed on Sakaki's huge, soft, and not to mention HUGE chest. "I'm in heaven," she thought dreamily.
"Hey Sakaki!" yelled a familiar voice from not too far. "Are ya coming? The bell rang!" It was Kagura, from class.
Sakaki nodded. "Bye, Kaorin, I'll see you tonight. I live at 570 Sohma Road. Did you get all that?"
"570 Sohma Road. Got it!" Kaorin replied. She quickly got out a pen from her bag and wrote it on a piece of scrap paper. She put it in a small pocket of her bag shortly after that. "Bye Sakaki!"
Sakaki waved good bye and left to go with Kagura and the rest of her buddies.
"Aaaaahhhhhh!" Kaorin cried after she left. "I can't believe that she'll go out with me!"
5: Morning Glories
Sakaki was at home, getting ready for that date of hers. She couldn't decide what to wear. On second thought, she would wear something that wouldn't show all that cleavage of hers. She wore a loose royal blue t-shirt, and a pair of jeans. Nothing very special, just any other outfit.
All of a sudden she heard a knock on the door. It was her, she thought.
Ok, at the front door, Kaorin was holding a large bouquet of flowers behind her back. She thought that it would show her affection for her even more. She wasn't wearing anything fancy, either. Just a shirt and jeans, just like Sakaki. After a few minutes, Sakaki opened the door.
"Hi, Kaorin…,"Sakaki said shyly.
"Ahhh, hi…" Kaorin said, almost drooling. She loved the way she was looking, just like her! Nothing special! "Oh, these are for you!" She held out the flowers to Sakaki and grinned.
"Oh, they're beautiful! I'll put them right here!" Sakaki put the flowers right by a vase.
"I didn't know what kind of flowers to get you, so I bought those because they're very colorful and pretty!" Kaorin added.
"Oh, they're morning glories. They come in many colors. A very pretty flower, I must say." Sakaki said.
Kaorin had no idea what flower they were, she felt really embarrassed, then all of a sudden started to panic. "Oh! You're not so mad that I didn't know what kind of flower they are, are you? I mean, I'm not the latest on flowers, but I'll research about them so I know what kind of flower I'm getting next time!"
"Kaorin, calm down, I figured you didn't know the name of them, but that's fine. Don't panic." Sakaki replied. "Let's just go now. My parents aren't home for the time being, so they don't know that we're going out. Let's try to go home within a few hours. Ok?"
"Ok! We'll have fun and eat! Let's go!" Kaorin grabbed Sakaki by the arm and ran to the Uchiwa Karaoke Bar.
6: The Date
They ran to the bar, and Sakaki took a gander at the bar. It seemed very mellow, and a huge red and blue neon sign saying, "UCHIWA KARAOKE BAR: THE BEST FISH AND KARAOKE SONGS IN TOWN!"
"Wow, a nice place," Sakaki said.
They went inside, and there were an average amount of people there. In the back of the restaurant was a door that read, "Karaoke Room". "Welcome to the Uchiwa Karaoke Bar! I assume that you're Kaoin and Sakaki?" The man near the door said. He was holding a clipboard, and a pen. His name tag read, "Kyo: Don't bother me in a bad mood." The last part looked like he wrote that on the name tag.
"Yes, that's us!" Kaorin said happily. She was still holding on the Sakaki's arm, and Sakaki was trying to let go, but Kaorin was holding on to her so tightly. "Um, Kaorin, can you let go of my arm? You're kind of hurting me."
"Follow me, girls…" Kyo said. He led them to a separate room, where the doors say, "Private Parties". He opened one of the doors, and it was a room, with only a small table in the dead center of it. The table had lit candles, and a single rose in a vase as the centerpiece. In the corner, was a quartet. A violin, viola, cello, and bass were playing pieces such as Little Prayer and Raspberry Heaven.
"Oh my…" Sakaki said surprisingly. Kaorin probably spent all this money to get a private room for the two of us!
"After we're eating, we can go out and sing!" Kaorin said. "For now, we can just settle here and eat our dinner.
"Ok," Sakaki replied.
Kyo came back behind the two of them with menus. "We have the finest fish, sushi, and noodles. Feel free to order anything you would like…except for the alcohol, hehe. Something to drink?"
"I would like iced tea," Sakaki said.
"Ooh, me too!" Kaorin said anxiously.
Kyo looked at Kaorin with an eyebrow raised. He then wrote down the order of drinks, and then a few minutes later came back with the glasses of iced tea.
"Thank you," the two said.
"Yeah, you're welcome," Kyo said, annoyed with Kaorin's voice. "What would you like to order?"
"I would like to try your sushi and rice ball platter, and replace the snapper with tuna, please," Sakaki said nicely.
"You got it." With Kyo writing down her order, Kaorin shivered with the word, sushi. She then forgot about it, and was about to order, when all of a sudden…
"I'll be right back with your orders! Give me about 10 minutes!" Kyo said. He didn't bother to take Kaorin's order because he figured she was having the same thing.
"Kyo, wait!" Kaorin cried…but by the time she said that, Kyo walked out the door. "Damn, she's some weird girl…I hope the big boobed chick doesn't accept her as her girlfriend! Ew!" he thought.
"So…Miss Sakaki…" Kaorin started to say.
"No, you can call me Sakaki," Sakaki said politely.
"Oh! I'm so sorry! I didn't know you didn't want the miss at the front of your name! Please forgive me! Oh my god!"
"Kaorin, please calm down, there's nothing wrong with that. Kagura and the rest of my friends call me that." Sakaki said.
"Oh…ok. So anyway, I was just wondering, about your looks…which side of your parents to you get your looks from?" Kaorin said, finally calmly.
"My father," Sakaki answered. "I have his eyes, mouth, and face. What about you?"
"Oh, I look more like my mother," Kaorin replied. "She said she gave me all the looks of her, transferred to me!"
"Um, I've heard somewhere that boys look more like their mother, and girls look more like their father," Sakaki said randomly.
With that being said, Kaorin had a look of white ovals for her eyes and her hair almost standing up. "Um…ok."
The door suddenly burst open, with Kyo holding two sushi and rice ball platters. "Two platters of sushi and rice balls, tuna instead of red snapper is here!" he said.
Kaorin still had the look on her face, while Kyo set the platters on the table. "Enjoy! I hope the food is appealing to you, like you Kaorin, appeal to Sakaki's taste in food." He smiled, and left quietly, closing the doors behind him.
Kaorin stared at the food with the same grimacing look with Chiyo's sushi.
"Well," Sakaki started to say, "Let's eat. It's usually a sign of respect if you eat all of the food on your plate in a fancy restaurant like this." She smiled and began to eat.
Kaorin reached for a rice ball, and began to eat. She didn't want to stare at the sushi. She wanted Kyo to come back so she asked for a different order. That would be just disrespectful, she thought, but she didn't want to dissappoint Sakaki with disrepect, so she decided to do her best.
The "date" went on, Kaorin eating the rice balls first. Sakaki was almost done when Kaorin finished her rice ball part of the platter, but now…here comes the part of "death", she would call it.
She looked at the sushi, all nice and neat, with the fish and veggie filling. "I need to go to the bathroom," Sakaki suddenly said.
"Ok! I'll be here finishing my food!" Kaorin said happily. After Sakaki left, Kaorin felt relieved. She wanted to think of a plan, so she wouldn't gag of the seaweed flavor in her mouth. She went for the easiest way out: peeling the seaweed.
She started with the first piece of sushi. She peeled the green paper-like plant, and put it in her napkin. She peeled and peeled until the napkin was full of seaweed. She then ate the rest of the sushi, you know the rice and filling after she folded the napkin where you couldn't see the seaweed. She thought they were delicious without the nasty seaweed.
"I'm back," Sakaki said. "Did you finish eating your sushi?"
"Almost done," Kaorin said. She ate the last piece quickly so Sakaki won't see that she peeled it. She put it in her mouth, and almost fell off her chair gagging for air. The quartet, playing Fancy Hearing Cake, continued playing, but looking like they had one eye staring strangely at Kaorin.
"Are you all right?" Sakaki asked.
"Yes, I'm fine. I probably ate that one too fast!" Kaorin said sitting back up, slightly giggling.
It seems that when Kaorin ate it, she happened to taste the green paper-like plant. The filling, apparently, had tuna, celery, and a piece of seaweed in it. Fortunately, she recovered, and relaxed. A moment later Kyo came in with 2 fortune cookies and a bill.
7: Fortune Mishaps
Kaorin took the bill and one fortune cookie. She glanced at the total amount of money, and put the money on the tray that came with the bill. She had to be prepared, right? I mean, she is the one who took Sakaki on the date!
Sakaki took the remaining fortune cookie, and opened it. "You and your friends will continue to have a strong, healthy, and long-lasting relationship, even when you're apart," Sakaki said aloud, smiling. Kaorin had a weary look on her face (almost fainting), thinking that that fortune meant her. She didn't happen to pay attention to the plural at the end of "friend." Kaorin opened up hers, and almost fainted, again.
"Sometimes people will have to move on in your life, but don't cry. Everything should be all right, soon enough," she said aloud.
"Ah, nice fortune," Kyo said as he took the bill. "Hmph, I wonder if that fortune will come true!" he muttered as he went out the doors. When Kyo left, the quartet stopped playing, and the violinist made a loud cough.
"Um, are you ok, sir?" Kaorin asked.
"Kaorin, I think they would like a tip," Sakaki whispered in her ear. "They did play the whole time we were here, we should thank them for their wonderful music!"
Kaorin went up to the violinist, and gave him 450 yen. "You guys can split the money," she said. "The music was despised."
The quartet gave her the dirtiest look anyone can give someone. Sakaki went up to her and whispered, "I think you mean divine."
"Oh! I'm sorry, wrong choice of words. I meant the music was divine, not despised! Despised doesn't' even make sense!" Kaorin said, panicked.
The quartet still scowled at her, but the scowl faded. The violist said, "Thank you for the compliment. It was…nice…."
The two of them smiled. They then said thank you again, and walked out the door, to the karaoke room.8: Where Is Your Boy Tonight
The karaoke room looked nice and mellow, there was a black suede couch, a few living chairs, and then a stage, with a small TV, a microphone with a keypad, and a container of yen right in front of it.. On the stage, was a skinny old man with hair white as snow. "Welcome to our karaoke contest! Do we have any takers?" he said.
Sakaki raised her hand. The old man came down the stage and escorted her to the stage. "Now, here are the rules. I give the microphone to you, but before that, I put in a random number, and that will be the song code for the song you will sing. If the audience thinks its great, they will applaud and cheer for you, and I will give you the awarding money. If they think it's a flop, they won't cheer, let alone applaud, and you will get no yen. Got it?"
Sakaki nodded. The old man then punched in a few numbers, and gave the microphone to her. Sakaki then stared at the TV, and the title stated, "FOR FRUITS BASKET, BY RITSUKO OKAZUKI." There was a countdown from 5 before she sings, and Sakaki had an idea who Risuko was, but not very much. Kaorin was sitting on the couch with the rest of the audience, grinning and waiting for her to sing.
"Ooo oo ooh…." Sakaki started to sing. "I was so happy when you smiled, you smile breaks through the clouds of grey…" her voice was velvety, soft, and meaningful. The audience stared amazingly at Sakaki, with her outstanding voice.
2 minutes later, when she finished the song, the audience hooted, applauded, and threw extra yen at her. Kaorin jumped up and down screaming and cheering. Sakaki bowed, and the old man gave her 1,500 yen. He smiled at her, and said, "You were one of the better singers that came here. How about your little friend try too?" he said.
"Oh, I don't know if Kaorin wants to sing…" Sakaki said.
"Nonsense! Let her sing! Kaorin! Come up here and sing for us too!"
Kaorin quivered and came up to the stage, but she hugged Sakaki for being such a phenomenal signer. The old man then gave Kaorin the microphone, already having a code in it. The music started right away, and she began to sing, Grand Theft Autumn (Where Is Your Boy Tonight) by Fall Out Boy. "Where is your boy tonight I hope he is a gentleman…" Kaorin spat out off-key, out of tune, and scratchy.
After 3 minutes of torture, the audience was so quiet, you could her the tiniest fart or at least a pin drop. "Ok, you get no money. Thank you for singing though. You have good night," the old man said, weary.
Kaorin and Sakaki went out of the restaurant, and Kaorin walked Sakaki home.
9: The Dagger
"I had a really nice time," Sakaki said softly.
"I did too, um…Sakaki?" Kaorin said even softer.
"Yes?"
"Um…for a while now, I've liked you very much. I mean, more than a friend. I was just saying…I was wondering if you would like to be that 'more of a friend' tome." Kaorin said.
"Kaorin, you know I love you…" Sakaki began to say. Kaorin's eyes began to beam with light.
"….I love you as friend. I intend to keep it that way with you. Someday, you'll find the right person that will care for you much more than I do, and they will love you more than a best friend. For now, you should just keep me as a good friend of yours, ok?"
Kaorin didn't know what to say. She was speechless. Sakaki opened the front door, and waved goodbye. "Kaorin, you will always be my friend," she said. Before she got inside, Sakaki gave that Kaorin a peck on the cheek. "You can remember that for the rest of your life."
When Sakaki shut the door, Kaorin went home with a straight face of a broken-hearted, yet love struck person.
Sakaki went to her room, changed into her Pjs, and sat up in bed. Her parents weren't home yet, so she was ok. She thought of tonight. She thought it was a nice, decent, and quiet dinner. The singing, she thought, was great, except for Kaorin's turn. She couldn't believe that she did that do Kaorin. That small, itty-bitty peck made her think throughout the night, and soon enough, she went fast asleep, with her kitty pajamas, stuffed animals, and bed sheets.
10: The Next Day…
The next day at school, Sakaki came as happy as always to school. She found her 5 friends at the hallway right by Miss Yukari's classroom, for it wasn't open yet.
"Hey, Sakaki!" Yomi said happily. "How are ya?"
"Oh, I'm fine…" Sakaki replied.
"Hey Sakaki, did you catch Kaorin's face? She looks like a friggin' zombie all moaning and stuff like that!" Tomo said, worried.
"Oh, I wouldn't worry about her, she just probably had a rough night last night," Sakaki smiled.
"How would you know that she had a rough night?" Kagura suddenly asked. "Did you like, go on a date or something?"
"No, let's just say she invited me to dinner and she didn't have such a good time," Sakaki said.
"Did you reject her?" Chiyo asked.
"No, I went to dinner with her…we even sang at a karaoke bar! She probably just had too much last night," Sakaki laughed.
"Oh! I know what probably happened to Kaorin!" Osaka blurted. "She went on a date with Sakaki, and she had such a hard time eating, and she was affected when she sang, and when Sakaki took her home, she threw up!"
The gang stared at her, just like she was crazy as always.
Sakaki said, "That's…kind of what happened, but yeah she did kinda get sick, and the singing was really bad.
"Oh…" everyone said to Sakaki.
Miss Yukari came (finally), and unlocked the door. "Hey you guys!" she said. "I bet that Kaorin got dumped last night or something, she looks really bad! But nah, don't worry about her, she'll probably recover after Mr. Kimura talks her some kind of rubbish."
Sakaki smiled, but then the 6 of them went inside and talked about boys and zombies. The date of Sakaki and Kaorin was never spoken of again.