A.N.: I don't own Azumanga Daioh. Thank you all so much for the reviews!
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For You
Chapter Two:
No matter how hard she tried, Chiyo just couldn't get her feet to move. Her legs seemed as though they had turned to jelly, and were wavering beneath her like a rope bridge in a storm. And the tempest drawing ever nearer was an SUV the color of a furious stormcloud, with orbs of hot, steady lightning glowing on its front and thunder rumbling beneath its hood.
Kaorin reached toward her, mind racing. She knew what needed to be done. If you're precious to Sakaki-san... She drew back her arm, the palm of her hand facing the prodigy's back. If that's the case, Chiyo-chan, then... then, I... Kaorin looked down at her small, petrified friend. Chiyo was staring helplessly at the great behemoth, captivated by the sight of what could be her approaching demise, when a hand touched her shoulder...
Then, I can't let anything happen to you!
...and powerfully thrust her forward, towards the sidewalk and Sakaki. Kaorin put everything she had into that single movement, willing every bit of strength she could muster down her arm, everything she had ever felt and ever would, as though her emotions were surrounding the child with an aura. She had to protect this fragile, innocent treasure of Sakaki's, no matter what the cost.
Sakaki's arms reached out to recieve Chiyo-chan who was, at the moment, flailing as though drowning; they pulled her out of the receding tides of the street, away from the oncoming tsunami. Chiyo-chan was soon safely enfolded in her sleeves, clinging fiercely to her uniform.
Sakaki's eyes flickered up to meet Kaorin's for a moment, full of so many emotions that they were unreadable. Kaorin gave her a fleeting smile; then, she found herself falling.
Pain, though from whence it came she couldn't exactly be sure.
Her arms pressed against cold, black pavement, the pain again, tires squealed behind her. Then, darkness.
oxoxoxoxoxoxox
oxoxoxoxoxoxox
"Kaorin..." A hand on her shoulder, shaking her gently, prompted Kaorin to return to consciousness. That, and an angelic voice calling her name. It had to be the voice of an angel, so beautiful and clear... Kaorin wondered if she had died. Did the car strike her? Kill her? "Nee... Kaorin..."
That was not the voice of a celestial being, but rather the familiar, soft murmur she knew belonged to a different sort of angel.
"Sa... Sakaki...san?" Kaorin forced her eyes open and blinked a few times to clear her blurred vision. She felt the rough concrete beneath her hands and glanced down at it, almost admiring it, solid and reassuring. "You're alive," the sidewalk told her.
Above her, the view was slightly more scenic. A pair of lavender-colored eyes stared down at her, half-closed by the relieved smile that had started to spread across Sakaki's face. Silky raven tresses hung close to Kaorin's face; they carried a soft, calming scent she couldn't place in her drowsy state.
"Are you all right?" Sakaki asked. Her voice was laden heavily with concern. Kaorin nodded slowly.
"I... I think so," Kaorin mumbled. "Is Chiyo-chan okay?"
"A little shaken up, but no injuries." She pointed toward the now-empty corner by the crosswalk. "The others took her home." Sakaki nodded her head in something like a bow. "I... can't thank you enough, for what you did," she said softly.
"It w-was n-n-no big deal," Kaorin stammered modestly, a furious blush spreading across her face. She'd only just realized that her head was resting on Sakaki's leg, and probably had been the entire time. "I, uhm..."
She sat up quickly and started to get to her feet, but Sakaki quickly touched her hand and motioned for her to sit down.
"Don't try to put any weight on your left leg, yet," she advised. Kaorin nodded slowly and sat down, not questioning the warning. "It looks like it may have swollen a little," Sakaki explained. Kaorin looked curiously at her ankle, which, admittedly, did look a little off.
"I... remember that I fell, but that's all... it's kind of a blur."
"After you pushed Chiyo-chan out of the way, that car almost hit you. I think it knocked you off balance when it passed." Sakaki curved her hand downward and extended two fingers to the sidewalk, like a pair of legs. "'This way." She curled one of the fingers up slightly, and the other twisted a bit in response. "Might be sprained."
"Maybe I should get it checked out," Kaorin mused. It was starting to worry her, and the worry had caused her ankle to seem even more swollen than before.
"Here." Sakaki hooked one arm under Kaorin's knees and put the other around her shoulders, carefully shifting the smaller girl into a comfortable position. Then, she slowly got to her feet. Kaorin yelped in surprise and put her arms around Sakaki's neck as her face turned an even brighter red.
"There's a small clinic nearby," Sakaki said plainly. Kaorin merely nodded and became very interested in the folds of her skirt, twisting a pleat in her hands and then smoothing it out repeatedly.
If it was serious enough, maybe she could miss a day of school. A day without Kimura-sensei would be heavenly... wait, school?
"Ah! My schoolbag!" Kaorin's head moved left and right as she looked over Sakaki's shoulder.
"Chihiro-san has it."
"Chihiro-chan?"
"Mm-hmm. She and Eri-san walked by here while you were unconscious. They seemed quite worried about you, but Chihiro said she had to go tell your mother that you would be late getting home..."
"I see." Kaorin nodded.
Eri and Chihiro had met at lunch a week earlier, when Kaorin was home with a fever. She wasn't sure exactly what happened, but when she returned, the two had become inseparable. That had long been the state of Chihiro and Kaorin's relationship, but as Astronomy Club activities began to grow more frequent, they had been seeing less and less of each other. And since Kaorin had been put in Kimura's homeroom, they barely saw one another in the mornings, either.
Hisakawa Eri was a little taller than Chihiro, and wore her hair in a pair of braids that hung down just past her shoulderblades. She was the type of girl that just faded into the background, especially with all the ruckus that went on in Yukari's class.
But, she seemed nice enough. And Kaorin was happy to see that Chihiro had found another good friend... another best friend. She was happy for Chihiro, of course... but, sometimes she worried that Chihiro felt bitter towards her for drifting away. They had been friends since elementary school, after all...
"We're here." Sakaki's soft voice shook Kaorin out of her reverie.
They were standing at the door to a small building nestled between two apartment complexes. The faded yellow paint on the outside was chipped and peeling in some places, likely from the summer heat. Periwinkle-blue curtains were visible through the windows, and the same color adorned the whole interior of the building. It was a charming little place that seemed to welcome them in with open arms, beckoning and calling like a mother would to her children.
"Matsuo-san?" Sakaki stepped inside, taking care to keep Kaorin's head from striking the doorframe as she entered. A man in his late twenties poked his head out of a doorway and smiled at the sight before him.
"Ah, Sakaki-san, good to see you. Any new bites? Scratches?"
"Not today, sir." Sakaki said this with a soft giggle. "I've got a friend who may have sprained her ankle. Could you take a look?" Matsuo looked at Kaorin, who smiled and gave a shy nod of her head in greeting.
"I most certainly can." He walked out and pointed to a small back room. "Bring her on in." As they walked, he struck up a friendly conversation with Sakaki; it seemed she visited the clinic often. "So who is this young lady you've brought with you?"
"A-Aida Kaori," Kaorin said quietly, staring at the floor. She had never been good with strangers.
"Nice to meet you, Aida-san," he said with a grin. Matsuo seemed like a very friendly man; and if he was a friend of Sakaki's, then Kaorin was sure she could trust him. "Here we are, just lie her down on this little table here."
They had walked into a small examining room that smelled strongly of peppermint and green tea. The counter next to the table was home to a stethoscope, a box of disposable latex gloves, and several boxes of band-aids arranged in an odd, misshapen little pyramid that held all the charm Matsuo and his building did and brought a smile to Kaorin's face. There were a number of small ruddy flowerpots scattered throughout the room, each with their own type of vegetation inside; Kaorin swore she saw peppermint candies sticking out of the soil in one. To top it all off, every surface of the room was covered in cats.
Stuffed cats and cat-themed knick-knacks inhabited the shelves and cabinets amidst prescriptions and rolls of gauze, some dressed as doctors holding bandages and others simply wrapped in them. There were paintings, photographs, and crayon drawings of cats plastered all over the walls, a paper barricade of soldiers that would not allow a single of catless paint to show, and even when they overlapped they never covered any part of any feline. The only spot on the wall that was not buried in pictures was home to a clock- and that, too, was shaped like a cat.
It was a soothing, sweet atmosphere, and Kaorin closed her eyes for a moment to savor the soft ticking of the cat-clock and the peppermint smell that seemed to come from everywhere at once.
"Ano, Matsuo-san..." Sakaki gingerly set down the stuffed cat whose long, tangled fur she had been attending to.
"Yes?" Matsuo looked up from rummaging in a drawer, where he had been fishing for a pair of scissors.
"I think Aida-san has fallen asleep," she said softly, looking over at the smaller girl with a tender smile. Matsuo looked as well, and laughed.
Sure enough, Kaorin was sound asleep, eyes closed and one hand resting on a stuffed kitten that had been keeping her company on the examining table.
"Should I just take her home?" asked Sakaki as she rearranged the bandage-box-pyramid.
"What kind of sprain is it?"
"I think it's a Grade II," Sakaki replied after studying it for a moment.
"Ahh, she looks like a heavy sleeper to me." Matsuo said with a smile. "Do you remember where the crutches are?"
"Closet three," Sakaki said with a bright smile as she walked out the door. Matsuo's examination room always made her feel better, even after the incident from earlier in the afternoon. It was paradise, heaven, in her eyes. As she walked back into the feline-filled room with the crutches in hand, she felt as though her heart would burst with joy.
Next stop, veterinary school! She thought to herself as she righted a fallen jar of tongue depressors.
oxoxoxoxoxoxox
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"You sure you're gonna be all right, Chiyo-chan?" Osaka asked as she stood on the front steps of Chiyo's house.
"Oh, yes, Osaka-san. I'm fine," Chiyo responded, beaming. "Thank you very much for walking me home."
"Sure thing. Well, if you're sure you'll be all right, then I guess I'll..." she stopped and looked upward, then let her eyes drift in a sort of arc to the left, not moving her head once. After a moment she blinked and sighed in frustration. "Darn it, they keep gettin' away from me."
"H-huh?" Chiyo stared at her friend, bewildered by this odd behavior. Although, "odd behavior" was certainly what she'd come to expect from the kansai girl over the years.
"Oh, I was chasin' the dust in my eyes, that's all. Well, g'night, Chiyo-chan!" Osaka spun on her heel and walked back to the sidewalk, where she paused to turn around and wave. Chiyo waved enthusiastically back before stepping inside and closing the door.
She ascended the stairs to her room with a sigh. It was only six in the afternoon, but already she was exhausted; today had been a very long and strange day for the young girl. Tadakichi-san was there to greet her at the door, sitting patiently as she approached.
Chiyo put her hand on the doorknob and hesitated for a moment; then, she went and sat down next to him instead. She wrapped her arms around his furry neck and held onto him, just taking a moment to sit and enjoy his company.
"You'll protect me if I get in trouble, won't you, Tadakichi-san?" she asked him quietly. He gave her a lick on the cheek in response. Giggling, Chiyo stood up and opened the door to her room. "Ready for bed?" she asked him. He cocked his head to the side and perked up his ears as if testing to see if he had heard her correctly. Then, he struggled up onto her bed and lay there, tail beating mercilessly against the blankets.
Once she had brushed her teeth and changed into her pajamas, Chiyo crawled up onto the bed beside him and snuggled under the sheets. It was too hot for the blankets, which were folded at the foot of the bed. Tadakichi-san sat proudly beside her, her own personal sentry standing guard at her side until she drifted off to sleep.
That night, her dreams were haunted by a great black beast with glowing yellow eyes that chased her down the endless, dark streets of her nightmares until morning.
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A.N.: Next chapter coming soon.
I've already added a lot to these first two chapters that wasn't there in the original story (i.e., another car coming down the road instead of the Yukarimobile striking Kaorin and Chiyo, more mentions of Chihiro, and quite added bit of character development) and while they may seem small and subtle now, they will become more prominent as time goes on.
A note: Eri Hisakawa isn't exactly an OC. There's a girl with braids often seen in the background during Azumanga Daioh, and she is yet unnamed to my knowlege. I saw a screenshot of her once and decided that I wanted to use her in something.
Matsuo-san, the doctor from the clinic, is entirely a work of my imagination, and will NOT be paired with anyone. ;D I'm sure this is splendid news to my OC-despising number-one fan. On the topic of OC's, veteran readers may notice another difference in this fanfic as later chapters are published...
Well, I hope you'll all leave plenty of praise and criticism when you finish reading this! It's thanks to all you readers and reviewers that I did my very best on this chapter. You guys rock!
'Till next time!
