Despite my own hatred of fanfics involving OC's of just about any kind, I decided to write one. Maybe I'm bored. Maybe my subconscious mind wants to know why people write all this stuff. Maybe I've gone to the dark side. Who knows?
And YES, I know that I should be devoting my time to more of "Chiyo-chan O Sagashite" or finishing "For You". But I want to give this a shot.
I'm going to make a fic that is, to the best of my ability, NOT a self-insert. I'm not going to put in some character that sweeps- oh, say, Sakaki-san- off her feet and rides off into the sunset with her now that she's magically been cured of her shyness and cat's don't bite her anymore. Yeah, none of that here. --;;
Well, okay, enough of my ranting. Here goes.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Tama!"
"Yosuke!"
"No, Tama!"
"No, Yosuke!"
"Why not somethin' like Cornflakes, or Fluffy? Yeah, somethin' exotic like that."
"Quiet, Osaka!"
"I don't think she heard you, Tomo."
"Yeah... Cornflakes..."
This scintillating conversation greeted Yomi as she entered the classroom.
"What are you two idiots arguing about?" She addressed Tomo and Kagura, the source of the noise.
"I found a turtle on the way to school!" Tomo bragged.
"You did not, I was the one who found Yosuke!"
"His name is Tama!"
"Yosuke!"
"Tama!"
"Fluffy?" Osaka suggested.
"No!" Shouted Tomo and Kagura.
"I like 'Fluffy'." Sakaki said softly, though she couldn't be heard over the bickering of her classmates.
"Well, we could take a vote." Chiyo suggested.
"No way! I found him, so I'm gonna call him Tama."
"No, I found him! And his name is Yosuke!"
"How do you know he doesn't belong to someone? You should find his owner." Yomi advised.
"He could be one of those breeds that got smuggled in from another country." Chiyo added.
"Ahh." Tomo and Kagura nodded. There was a pause, and then...
"Well, I'm still gonna name him Tama."
"Oh, that's it!" Kagura shouted as she rolled up the workbook she had in her hand. Tomo ducked as Kagura flung it in her direction; it missed, and Tomo gave a triumphant laugh. Unfortunately for her, the luck didn't last.
"Sit down already!" Yukari shouted, and a piece of chalk went spinning through the air. Tomo squawked and fell, lying dazed on the floor as a small bump formed on her forehead.
"Ha-ha, Yukari-sensei got you g- ack!" Kagura was immediately cut off as the second piece flew her way.
"Now, then, class..." Yukari sat at her desk as Kagura went back to her seat, rubbing the red mark on her forehead.
"Yukari-chan, you meanie..." Tomo whined as she pulled herself up off the floor.
"Oh, hush. You brought it on yourself." Yomi muttered.
"Quiet! Time to take attendance." She chimed, wearing her usual fake smile. "Let's see..." She scanned up and down the rows, checking off names on the list in front of her. "Hrm... Aida-san isn't here."
"Kaorin said she was having trouble with her alarm clock, sensei." Chihiro said, raising her hand.
"Ah. Well, let's see... " Yukari stared up at the ceiling, visibly thinking hard. "Well, considering the distance, she should get here about... ten minutes and twenty-nine seconds from now."
"So I bet you were late a lot when you were a student, Yukari-chan!"
"Yep! Hahahaha!" Yukari laughed. "But," She added, her tone icy, "I actually did homework when I was a student, Tomo-chan."
"Hey, I do work, Yukari-chan." Tomo protested. "I do, really- aack!" Another piece of chalk hit her.
"Attention, class. Lying and slacking off are now chalk-toss offenses! Got it?"
"Y-yes, sensei!" The class responded obediently. No one wanted to be the victim of one of Yukari's projectile attacks.
"But, Yukari-chan, you're a slacker, too, aren't you?" Tomo pointed out.
The entire class winced as a plastic ruler smacked Tomo in the face. Yomi sighed.
"You just don't learn, do you?" She muttered.
"Waugh." Tomo slumped down in her chair, covering her head. "Yukari-chan's a meanie."
-------------------------Eight minutes later----------------------
"Oooh, I'm so late!" Kaorin dashed up the stairs, nearly losing one of her school shoes in the process. "Why isn't my alarm clock working lately?" She rounded the corner and-
"Aah!" A voice yelped, and Kaorin and another girl tumbled to the floor.
"Oh! I'm so sorry!" Kaorin apologized, and helped the girl gather her things.
She was average height, with short black hair and bright brown eyes. Her uniform was a bit big for her, and Kaorin wondered for a moment if it was a hand-me-down.
"It's no problem. Don't worry about it." She said with a smile as she picked up the last of her spilled supplies. "Umm, I'm looking for Room 3... do you know where it is?"
"Oh, yeah- that's my class. Just watch out for the teacher." Kaorin advised as she helped the girl to her feet. "Yukari-sensei is a little... out there."
"Really? Oh, boy..." The girl laughed, a little nervous.
"Don't worry too much, though. We've got a couple of emptyheaded kids in our class, and they usually keep her attention off the rest of us."
"That's good." The girl nodded. "Oh, here it is. Room 3."
"Here." Kaorin reached out and opened the door, peeking through to be safe. "Yukari-sensei- eek!" She shut it quickly as an eraser hit the other side so hard, she was sure there must be a dent in the door. "All clear. She only has one eraser." Kaorin turned to the girl, who was frozen in terror. "Ah, don't worry." Kaorin took her gently by the wrist and pulled her into the classroom after her. "Yukari-sensei, gomen! I was-"
"She was helping me find the classroom, Sensei." The girl interrupted, having miraculously recovered from her initial shock. "I was lost on the first floor and we ah, bumped into each other on the way here."
"Oh, so you're the new kid. Well, okay, then." Yukari nodded, entirely convinced. "Good job, Aida-san."
"Hey, a new girl."
"I don't think I recognize her dialect..."
"She's pretty cute."
"Welcome to Room 3, leave your sanity at the door."
"Class, this is Kimiko Abe. She transfered here from Utatsu, and she'll be in our class for a while. So, Abe-san, your seat is right over there next to Aida-san."
"Okay." Kimiko flashed the class a bright smile and walked to her seat.
"Thanks for the save." Kaorin whispered.
"No problem." Kimiko said with a smile.
Class went by quickly, and the group gathered at their usual table in the lunchroom.
"Oi, come sit with us, Abe-san." Yomi gestured at an empty desk, and Kimiko agreed.
"So, are you gonna join any clubs?" Kagura asked, grinning.
"Probably not. I'm not very good at sports or anything like that." Kimiko said sheepishly. "I'm a klutz, really."
"Good! You can join the going-home club with us, then!" Tomo gave her a thumbs-up, and Kimiko awkwardly returned the gesture.
"So, do you have any pets, Abe-san?" Chiyo asked.
"Yes, I... have..." Her voice trailed off slightly. "W-wow." She stammered "You're so cute!" She squealed, and turned in her seat to face Chiyo.
"Abe-san, this is Chiyo Mihama." Yomi said, smiling proudly at Chiyo. "She's our adorable little child prodigy."
"Adorable is right! So, Mihama-san, how old are you?" Kimiko asked
"I'm eleven this year!" Chiyo announced proudly.
"Wow. You're pretty tall, for eleven." Kimiko said, ruffling Chiyo's hair a bit. "You'll be as tall as the rest of us pretty soon, at the rate you're going."
"D-do you really think so?" Chiyo asked.
"Yeah! When I was your age, I was really, really short. You're way tall!" Kimiko grinned. Beaming, Chiyo cheerily sat down to eat her lunch. "Oh! We were talking about pets, right?" Kimiko asked.
"Mm-hmm." Chiyo nodded. "Do you have any pets, Abe-san?"
"Uh-huh. I have two cats." She reached into her schoolbag. "I've got a picture in here, somewhere... ah!" She pulled out a photo and handed it to Chiyo.
"Is this you in the middle, Abe-san?"
"Yup. The photo is from two years ago, but the cats haven't changed a bit. This one," she began, pointing to a white cat on the left, "is Yuki. And this one here is Chie." She pointed to the black-and-white kitten on the right.
"Sakaki-san, do you want to see the picture?" Chiyo asked. "Ah, Sakaki-san?"
"Hmm?" Sakaki had been staring out the window for most of the lunch thus far. "Oh. Sure." Sakaki reached out and took the picture. "Ah..." She gasped. "They're so cute..."
"Do you like cats, Sakaki-san?"
"Mm...Mm-hmm..." Sakaki nodded slowly.
"Do you have any?"
"No..." Sakaki handed the photograph back to Kimiko. "My mother is terribly allergic to them."
"Ohh. That's too bad." Kimiko frowned. "Well, if you like, you could come play with mine sometimes."
"Really?"
"Oh, sure... ah!" Kimiko looked over at the lunchroom door and waved. "There's Aida-san. Over here!" She called. Kaorin walked slowly, almost cautiously to the table. "I was just showing Sakaki-san that picture of Yuki and Chie and I."
"Oh, r-really? Y-yeah, that picture's really cute..." Kaorin mumbled.
"Hmm?" Kimiko gave her a curious stare.
Kaorin's face was bright red, and it looked as though the handle of her lunchbox would snap if she clutched it any tighter. At the moment, her eyes were boring a hole in the floor.
"Well, I uh... Chihiro-chan is saving me a seat, so I'llbeoverthereifyouneedanythingbye!" Kaorin ended her jumble of words with a bow, and then she was gone.
"O...kay?" Kimiko stared at the empty space next to the table, then looked up at Sakaki, who was equally puzzled.
"Don't worry." Yomi said. "She gets like that sometimes. Shy."
"But, wait, she was the first person I met at this school. Why would she be shy?" Kimiko asked, confused. Yomi shook her head.
"That's not quite it... just wait. You'll see." Yomi said, and looked to the others at the table. Osaka, Tomo, and Kagura nodded. Kimiko looked over at the table where Kaorin had gone.
"I wonder what's up with her?" She thought to herself.
--
The rest of the day went by quickly, and the Going-Home Club was packing up.
"So, Abe-san, you moved here from Utatsu?" Chiyo asked.
"Yeah. I've got a picture of my old high school in here, somewhere." Kimiko went digging in her bag once again, and eventually produced another photo. "Here we go. Motoyoshi-hibiki. The girl on the left is my friend Wassa, and the ones on the right are Chiemi and Kuri-chan."
"Hey, an American!"
"Yeah, Kuri-chan was a transfer student. The guys at our school practically melted into the floor when she walked down the hall... they were all too shy to say anything. Well, except the one that ran into our homeroom, pointed to his chest, and shouted, 'AMERICAN BODY!', then ran away."
"But judging from this picture, she's uh... more 'japanese' than 'american'." Yomi said, and raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah... but it added to her appeal, in a way. We even had a girl on our Track team that had a crush on her. Haru-chan would get so flustered around her, always red-faced and stumbling over her words, things... like..." Her voice trailed off for the second time that day.
"Bingo." Yomi said with a nod.
"Aida-san..." Kimiko spoke quieter now. "She likes Sakaki-san?"
"Yeah... and everyone knows it except for Sakaki-san." Tomoadded.
"So, she hasn't told her yet?"
"Nope. She's jes' too dern shy." Osaka said, shaking her head.
"Huh." Kimiko watched as Kaorin dashed into the room, grabbed her schoolbag, and raced back out with one last quick, wistful glance at Sakaki.
"Poor girl should just speak up." Kagura sighed as she watched Kaorin go. "That, or we get her to join the track team and put Sakaki at the starting line." She joked, grinning. Osaka and Tomo joined her, and they began discussing ways to put Kaorin's tendency to run from Sakaki to use. They kept their voices low, but it didn't matter much; Sakaki had spotted a cat-shaped cloud, and it would take a lot more than their banter to pull her out of her reverie... or, a lot less, as Chiyo often showed.
"Are you ready to go, Sakaki-san?"The pigtailed prodigyasked, gently tugging on Sakaki's sleeve.
"Mm-hmm." Sakaki nodded and stood, and the two of them left discussing a new picture book they'd seen at the store.
"Oi, Abe-san, are you coming?" Yomi called from the doorway. She and the others were on their way out, but Kimiko was still standing at the window."Abe-san?"
"I wonder..." Kimiko mused, "if there's something I can do?"
----------------------
And there you have it. Chapter 1 is finished. I'll write more soon, don't worry. So, I accomplished one goal thus far- OC used in a nonromantic way, and not a projection of myself. Hope you enjoyed reading this so far.
