The Black Cat

An Azumanga Daioh fanfic

By:

Chison

Being scarred stiff, the shadow did not pass and hovered over him. A bead of sweat dripped from his face as he turned around to see a girl with black hair and dark eyes standing over him. Her expression was like she had seen a miracle: her mouth and eyes were wide open, as if absorbing the scene in front of her, "did you help Chiyo-Chan?" she finally asked after about another minute of starring at Bironu, which made him even more uncomfortable, and hearing her question, he nodded his head, "yes…I did." Trying to change the subject he pointed to her and said, "Your…Osaka right?" however, she simply wrapped her arms around him, with her hands locking into each other. Osaka's grip was like a clamp, "Osaka…I…" Bironu started, but she squeezed him even harder, "Osaka…I can't…breathe…" he wheezed, trying to loosen her grip, but it was no avail, she held him tight, "I wanna thank you for helpin' Chiyo-Chan." Finally, she loosened her hold on him, and he slumped forward, and gasped for air, holding himself up by the table.

"Next time Osaka…just a 'thanks' will work…" he breathed, but she shook her head, "Chiyo-Chan is one of my best friends, so just a simple thanks wouldn't work." Osaka said firmly as she wandered away, looking for her lunch and the rest of her peers. Bironu sighed, "I'm glad it was only Osaka…" Putting his attention back to his lunch, he saw that he had rice, along with some octopus balls already made for him. He licked his lips and took out a pair of chopsticks and started to eat his food.

The rest of his classes were uneventful, resulting in a boring day, but after the last bell rang for the day, "Hey Bironu!" he suddenly heard a voice shout to him, "can you take my shift for cleaning duty today?" she asked, he turned to see where the voice was coming from, and saw that she had black hair and dark hazel eyes. She giggled and put out a hand, "sorry, I asked you something and you don't even know who I am, anyway I'm Kaorin." He shook her hand, he looked at her, "how did you know my name?" She gave him an odd look then giggled again, "Oh right, you don't know how information travels around here… Well first Osaka tells Tomo, and Yomi hears about it, and it gets relayed from there to everyone else…" Bironu stood in silence, then nodded his head, "sure that wont be a problem to take your shift today." Kaorin smiled, "thanks Bironu, see you tomorrow!" With that, she hastily made her way out the door.

"What exactly am I supposed to do?" he thought to himself, but he heard a voice to his left, "Kaorin traded her spot again? Sometimes I think she stalks Ms. Sakaki…" He turned his head to see who was speaking, and saw a girl with light brown hair along with brown eyes, behind a pair of glasses. "Your new here Bironu right?" She smiled, "my name is Yomi, since your staying after, you can clean the dust board erasers." Bironu tilted his head to the right, "uh…how do I do that?" Yomi grabbed the two erasers and stood and held them outside the window, and banged them together, "like that." She said, handing them to him, "now its your turn." Bironu nodded, and started banging the items together, resulting in a white cloud to form on the wind. After a good half hour of cleaning the erasers, he set them back on the shelf, "is there anything else to do Yomi?" he asked, she put a hand to her chin, "Nope…I don't think there is anything else…" With that, Bironu grabbed his book bag, which was left at the door, and walked out of the school and towards the gates towards his home.

Wandering down the street, he didn't pay much attention to his surroundings, but he kept on walking when he suddenly head a meow coming form his right. He stopped instantly and turned to look, it was a black cat with a pair of dark eyes; he lifted a hand to the cat. Bironu was petting the cat, and it purred once, then it's ears twitched and turned to look to his left; he turned to see who it was. Ms. Sakaki was standing just four feet away, with her mouth agape, she took a few steps closer, "every time I try to pet that cat it always bites me" Bironu looked at the cat, then back to Ms. Sakaki, "I just petted the cat…I don't do anything special…" he took a few steps away from the cat, and motioned Sakaki to pet the cat for herself, she was hesitant at first, but she made her way to the cat, and slowly put out her hand, but retracted it. "I know it will bite me again…" Bironu looked into her eyes, "you have to show the cat your not afraid…" he took her hand into his, and they slowly reached for the cat…