Chapter Two

Draining Friendship

A comfortable silence lingered through the old chamber like room that seemed to contain many dust bunny demons underneath the large shelves that stared down mockingly at the shorter presences. Many searched a never-ending hunt for a distant dream of completing their assigned homework as others slept peacefully in the corners. The library may have appeared to be smaller than others but the student's minds were greatly intimidated by the continuous rows of hard covered encyclopedias, they needed a break so the quiet atmosphere just fit in perfectly with their rest patterns. Chiyo, who was not among the sleepers, searched hopelessly through the many authors that glared at her with their picture formed eyes. The young girl had been seen in the section with many massive books but now she rested within the aisle that contained English related stories. She had brought a few encyclopedias with her making her friends think that she may have thought that it would be useful to help understand the hard language. Fortunately the child was quite talented in that specific way of speech so she actually had a different idea of how to use the nauseating dictionaries.

"Ca-can't reach…"

Chiyo muttered, a hint of irritation flowing through the tone of her voice. She reached up as far as she could but since she found herself without a result she found her eyes gazing towards the six huge books to her left. She scurried towards the stack and picked up the books one by one and scrambled back to where she had been standing. She put them on top of the other until she ran out of stackable material. She placed her small hands on her hip as she proudly gloated to herself in front of her creation. She then slowly, with her little arm strength, began to lift her fragile body on to the top of the flat surface. After regaining her balance she stood up ever so slowly before she reached up to take hold of the scornful book.

"EH?!"

She screeched when she found that the book seemed to have somehow jumped to a few shelves higher. Those dust bunnies must have switched it when she wasn't looking. She pitied her short stature for a moment before she heard a familiar voice whisper to her.

"Do you need that?"

Sakaki murmured as she pulled the book out with ease after she realized which one had been taunting her child-friend. Chiyo gratefully seized the book and jumped down from her tower, almost making it collapse in the process. She then gloomed off into a corner leaving the tall Sakaki speechless and wondering if her good deed was actually the opposite.

"I want to grow up…"

The child sighed as she made her way through the maze towards a sturdy worktable in the middle of the room. There she spotted Yomi flipping through an old book, trying to concentrate even though Tomo was dancing behind her.

"Tomo?"

Chiyo called out quietly trying to grasp her friend's attention before she got beaten for the third time that day. Unfortunately the girl was to late, before Tomo had a chance to turn around to face Chiyo, she had already been hit over the head by Yomi's book.

"Why'd you do that?!"

Tomo exclaimed as tear filled eyes blinked towards her dear friend. Yomi stood tall with pride as reflection less glasses ridiculed the one in front of her.

"The book did it!"

She stated as she pointed towards the innocent manuscript. A twisted smile played across the girl's lips as she looked down at her tricked friend who stared in agony towards the bunch of papers that were held tightly within Yomi's hand.

"AH?! She believed you?!"

Chiyo stood there completely dumbfounded as Tomo bowed in apology towards the book . Osaka, a sleeper who had just walked in on the situation, tilted her head to the side as a question marked seemed to float around her head.

"Oh, Osaka! Did you find the bo- what are you doing?!"

Chiyo exclaimed in a questionable tone. She watched as the spaced out girl plopped down beside Tomo and then began to imitate her every movement, with a happier expression on her face though.

"Oh mighty boooooooook."

She murmured as her eyes trailed off to the windows.

"Oh! The sun's setting!"

She stated as she floated back up to the standing position.

"That reminds me, I love to ride horses…"

Her expressionless eyes gazed at the makeshift sky as brilliant colors penetrated the clouds. None were of the pink and purple color, as Tomo proudly pointed out but no one let her mindless nonsense, as well as Osaka's, ruin the beautiful scene before them. Surprisingly, Yomi was the first person to disturb the peace as she moved her chair backwards until she had enough space to stand up.

"Well, I think that's it for me for today…"

She stated as she calmly packed her bags after setting down the mighty book that had contributed to her delight. She let a low sigh escape from her lips as she headed for the door, she refused to turn around, afraid that Tomo might insist to join her on her walk home.

"See you guys tomorrow!"

She muttered somewhat disappointed at the fact that it wasn't the weekend quite yet. She quickly turned the corner as she thought hopelessly of her long walk home. Even if she started to run now it would take at least fifteen minutes to arrive at her destination.

"Maybe if I run I could loose some calories from today's lunch…"

She mumbled to herself as her pace became slightly faster as she jogged down the hallway letting her bag swing back and forth with her arms.

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"I'm home!"

Yomi yelled out as she entered her house, completely out of breath. She had thought about stopping every once in a while but fortunately a sort of chill ran down her spine at those moments. It was as if something was rushing her to her house.

"I'm going to take a shower so you can start eating without me if you want!"

She stated as her bag dropped to the floor while she pulled off her tight shoes. She had been concentrating so hard to pull the stupid things off that she didn't notice her mom coming up to her.

"Actually Yomi, you have a guest!"

The young girl's face paled considerably once her shoe popped off her foot. Her eyes lingered to the step besides her letting them catch hold of a pair of objects she did not want to see.

"Yo!"

The familiar voice burned her ears as she slowly stood up straight. There she could see a shorter girl with a huge smile plastered across her face, waving frantically to welcome her home.

"Tomo? I was just wondering, I left before you, I even JOGGED home and yet you still got here before me."

She stated as her glasses took over her complete vision as she glared furiously at her old time friend. Tomo returned a simple stare before she darted up the stairs towards Yomi's room.

"Last one there has to do my homework!"

She yelled as Yomi's mother retreated into a safe zone, meaning the kitchen.

"Hey! Wait a minute you brat!"

Yomi screamed as she charged up the stairs at full speed. Due to some miracle, Yomi caught up to Tomo with ease as she bashed the girl passed her room and then entered first, winning the race. Unfortunately Tomo was just fazed for a moment so Yomi didn't get the chance to lock her room door.

"Wow! I didn't know you were a sprinter! It was as if you were being chased by a diet!"

That was the wrong thing to say. Once Yomi had finished with her, Tomo was face first on the ground and wasn't moving all that much.

"So, why are you here?"

Yomi finally said as she sat down on the chair beside her desk and lovable radio. She calmly began to unpack her small school bag when she started to hear a few incoherent whines. She turned her head only slightly, not wanting to show her friend any sympathy.

"Igotatimeandplaceforourdrive-drivelessons!"

Her words quickly slid out of her mouth as if she was trying to speak gibberish. Yomi was forced to turn around and make Tomo repeat what she had just said. Of course nothing ever goes as planned when Tomo is involved.

"Igotatimeandplaceforourdrive-drivelessons!"

She repeated as if Yomi needed some sort of hearing aid. Of course Tomo's attitude slightly changed when she noticed that Yomi had some how got a hold of a very hard object, better known as a bat.

I got us- breath –a time and- breath –place for our- breath –DRIVE-DRIVE lessons!"

She squealed while flailing her arms in every direction. The blissfulness of the girl obliged Yomi's stomach to twist and turn as she thought about how good Tomo's 'drive-drive' skills were.

"Hey, wait a minute. When did you have time to get the appointments? And aren't we supposed to do a written test first?"

Yomi stated, somewhat confused at the facts that were drilling into her head.

"I called them when we were in school. Duh! And they said that this can be considered as practice before we do the test."

Tomo's energetic self finally collapsed itself onto the soft fuzzy floor known as the carpet. There she could keep the many dust demons company and talk to her friend. Speaking of Yomi, she seemed to be having a hard time believing the words that her friend told so easily. Unfortunately after the long day of school her mind did not feel the need to argue or pursue the conversation any further. Of course she welcomed the silence that followed afterwards but she just had something that just needed to be said.

"So Tomo, this epiphany of yours, what was it about?"

Tomo had been rolling along the soft furry floor but she soon found herself frozen and almost speechless. Almost…

"Oh! It was about Chiyo!"

She exclaimed as she pushed herself up and leaned against the side of the bed. Yomi's eyebrow arched, there might have been a possibility, as Yomi thought, that if Chiyo was in the dream/epiphany then maybe it was actually about something smart!

"Really? What happened in it?"

She questioned hoping to receive an educated answer.

"Yeah, but she was a little different. She wore a black top hat with a red tie but she was a little more orange than usual. And a bit more fuzzy… and fly-e…"

Tomo nodded as her thoughts were slowly being brought back to the squirrelfly, meaning Chiyo, and the stop sign. Of course as she was thinking, Yomi was getting more and more confused by the second.

"Fly-e? Is that even a word?"

She wondered carelessly but decided to leave the other girl to hunt through her own thoughts alone. At least this might keep her busy for the next few seconds.

"Fly-e? Maybe it's some type of new language?"

Another familiar voice appeared suddenly as Tomo and Yomi nearly jumped out of their seats from the shock. They were way to lazy to actually jump so they more or less just collapsed to the ground and edged away slowly.

"O-o-Osaka?!"

Tomo shouted once she regrouped her missing thoughts. Yomi was still on the floor speechless yet curious to the reason why people were gathering in her room.

"Why am I here?"

She repeated the question as she stared down at the two, her expression seemingly happy yet she didn't appear to be all there.

"Pop quiz?"

She questioned as she fell to the ground and rubbed her face in the carpet.

"I'm not very good with those kind of quizzes. Or tests, or homework, and especially not horseback riding."

She mumbled before she rolled onto her back and stared up at the two confused faces.

"Oh-no! how are you guys sitting upside down? AhhhhHhhhhH! You're making me dizzy…"

She whined as she covered her eyes with her hands and rolled back onto her stomach. Suddenly the complaining stopped as she jumped to her feet in one fast motion. Of course since Osaka had not been used to doing that soon became dizzy and fell to the ground again. Once the nauseating feeling subsided, she slowly got up and stood proudly in front of the two who seemed even more lost than when she had first arrived.

"Yomi!"

She exclaimed pointing her finger of doom towards the one who owned the name. Actually first she had pointed at Tomo since she had forgotten where they were sitting but she soon found her mistake and then corrected it.

"Let me copy your homework!"

Everything seemed to stop as Yomi clenched her fist and gritted her teeth. Osaka was pulling a Tomo and needed to be taught a lesson.

"I lied."

Osaka bluntly stated, her smile returning to her face.

"Then, then… Why are you here?"

Tomo asked as she inched away from Yomi who seemed to be cooling down after almost snapping.

"I thought this was my house."

Osaka laughed as she floated out of the room and down the stairs. A few minutes later, after hearing her struggling to put on her shoes, they heard the door slam and then all was quiet, for a bit.

"Were not letting her get her drivers license, right?"

Yomi asked as Tomo nodded her head in agreement.

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There! the second chapter is up and running, I hope you enjoy it! R&R Pretty please! 3