Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed my first chapter! I apologize for minor spelling errors, since I don't have anyone beta-reading this.
Also, I wish this site would get a section for Amagami already… There's a Miya/Junichi incest fic in my head waiting to be written. :)
Warning: Mild nudity, though I'm sure you guys already expected that.
/
Recovery
Although it felt like an eternity to Yui, only ten minutes had progressed since Yui had flagged the taxi down near the gates of Sakura High School when they finally arrived at the Hirasawa residence.
Azusa's eyes were closed when Yui dared to look at her face; had the kouhai fallen asleep due to exhaustion and pain? The guitarist shook her head, feeling guilty once more about what had happened. Her tights were torn, her kneecaps were both bleeding from the gashes she sustained from the fall, but those wounds were the least of Yui's worries. The thing that scared Yui the most was how Azusa would feel afterwards.
Yui paid the taxi driver, hoisted her own and Azusa's schoolbags on her left shoulder, and she gently propped Azusa up, using her own body to support Azusa's dead weight. Azusa's eyes opened and they blearily surveyed her surroundings.
"Senpai, we're already here, huh…" breathed Azusa softly into Yui's right ear.
Ignoring the tingling feeling this induced in her, Yui nodded wordlessly, and continued to shuffle slowly towards the door, trying her hardest to support Azusa's weight when she finally reached the door and pressed the button triggering the doorbell.
"Coming!" shouted a muffled voice from the interior of the household.
Yui dropped both schoolbags on the mat in front of the door and slumped against the wall, with Azusa beside her when the door opened and there stood Hirasawa Ui, Yui's younger sister.
"Onee-chan, what happened to you and Azusa-chan?" asked Ui in an alarmed voice, noticing how Azusa was slumped against the wall beside her older sister and the profusely bleeding gashes on Yui's knees.
"I fell on top of her and Azu-nyan bruised her back," replied Yui shortly, exuding none of the cheerfulness she usually exhibited.
This caused Ui to raise her eyebrows in worry; anything that was enough to get her sister feeling down like this was a serious matter. Ui immediately relieved Yui of Azusa and went inside, leaving Yui alone momentarily with her own thoughts.
"I don't ever want to hurt Azu-nyan again. I should be more careful, and act like a real senpai from now on," thought the guitarist as she made to follow her sister and Azusa into the house.
/
"Azusa-chan, how is your back feeling?" asked Ui worriedly as she led Azusa to the dining table, while Yui wordlessly shuffled upstairs, bringing her and Azusa's schoolbags with her.
"It hurts like hell, but I think a quick shower with cold water and a cold compress will help. Mio-senpai also said I should take mefenamic acid and ibuprofen to ease the pain," muttered Azusa, slumped on the dining table.
"I think you should stay the night, Azusa-chan," offered Ui. "I'll call your parents to let them know, what do you say?"
Azusa nodded, and as Ui was about to make the call, she spoke,
"Tell them that it was just an accident. Nothing more, nothing less."
Ui nodded as she dialed the Nakano residence on the telephone.
"Onee-chan, can you take Azusa-chan upstairs to my room so she can get undressed for her shower? I'll have to cook dinner for the three of us, so please attend to Azusa-chan! You should also wash your wounds with soap and water, so I can take care of them later. Why don't you shower with Azusa-chan!" shouted Ui, loud enough that her sister could hear her from upstairs.
Azusa sat up suddenly and cringed in pain, deciding to protest,
"No Ui, it's okay, I've been here before, so I can handle my—"
Azusa was interrupted when her home's phone was picked up.
"Hello? This is Hirasawa Ui…"
/
Yui heard her sister's call from downstairs while sitting on her bed, pondering on how she could make it up to Azusa when what her sister was suggesting hit her like a ton of bricks.
"Me, shower with Azu-nyan?" thought the guitarist. "I think I'll just prepare her bath instead I don't think she'd like to shower with the person that injured her, in any case."
Despite Azusa's reassurances in the car, Yui still felt scared about the entire matter. Azusa was the first non-family member Yui could honestly say she loved, and she didn't want to lose that. She would do anything to keep what she had at this moment, and she felt scared at the thought that she could have possibly jeopardized that.
Glancing once at the keychains that hung from both her schoolbag and Azusa's, as well as the diploma sticking out of her own, she stood up and found an unused face towel in her messy closet, wiping the blood off her knees with it. Her tights that Ui had just bought for her had two huge holes right at the knees, and Yui felt doubly bad about the accident when she realized that her own sister spent hard-budgeted money that their parents had sent them from abroad on those tights. Sighing loudly, Yui dumped the face towel in the stack of dirty clothes that lay in a corner of her room and proceeded to go downstairs.
Upon getting there, she saw Ui just hang up on the phone and Azusa slumped on the dining table, one hand gingerly rubbing her back.
"Onee-chan, it's a go for Azusa-chan to stay over with us tonight. Why don't you both take a shower, so afterwards, I can tend to both your injuries," proposed Ui, the ever responsible younger sister.
"Um, Ui, I'm not sure if Azu-nyan would want to—"
"I think it's better that way, Yui-senpai," said Azusa, cutting Yui off. "It'll save you guys water, and I think it'll be easier on me if you, um, scrub my back for me."
The kouhai buried her face into the table embarrassedly, while Yui blushed all the same as Ui smiled at the situation.
"There might be a chance for me to make it up to Azu-nyan tonight," thought the guitarist with confidence.
"In that case, Azu-nyan, come with me," said Yui gently, more gentle than she had ever been with the kouhai.
She extended her hand to Azusa, who obliged and they began the slow trek upstairs due to the state of their injuries. As they ascended, the kouhai could sense her senpai's turmoil, but she wasn't sure how she could reassure the girl that she wasn't mad.
"I could never hate you for something as petty as this, Yui-senpai," thought Azusa.
She decided to go with the cryptic route, to save herself from saying anything embarrassing. Yui silently handed her a spare bath towel, turning away as they both began to undress. She laid out a change of clothes for Azusa before going to the bathroom, and while they were both headed there clad only in towels wrapped around their bodies, Azusa broke the silence.
"Please have faith in me, Yui-senpai," said Azusa gently, clapping a hand on Yui's back.
Surprise was etched across Yui's face, though it melted the stoic look off and shortly thereafter was replaced with a smile that reminded Azusa of the Yui-senpai she knew.
"Okay Azu-nyan, I trust you," said Yui gently, stepping towards Azusa as she opened the door and gently hugged her from behind. "I'll make sure to gently scrub your back, okay?"
Yui glanced at the staircase and then shouted,
"Ui, please prepare the cold compress so I can wrap it around Azu-nyan's body before we eat, okay? Also, her change of clothes… should she wear some of my clothes or some of yours? I already laid out some clothes for her!"
"Roger that, onee-chan! I think it'll be better if Azusa-chan uses your clothes!" shouted Ui in kind from the first floor, as the two girls entered the bathroom and locked the door. "Heh," chuckled Ui to herself as she stir-fried the mixed vegetables in the pan. "I can tease Azusa-chan with that."
/
In the Akiyama residence, Mio was on the phone talking to Ritsu while she was cleaning her room.
"I hope Yui and Azusa both got home okay," said Mio, holding the phone between her ear and shoulder while she dusted some of the shelves in her room. "Yui's demeanor earlier was so unlike her usual self, don't you think?"
"I think Yui's really worried that Azusa's going to be mad at her," came Ritsu's voice from the phone. "Knowing Azusa though, she'll feel annoyed for a while but eventually, she'll let it go since this is Yui we're talking about here."
"I wonder how things will work between those two; Yui really looked depressed," said Mio worriedly, now dusting the desk lamp on her table.
"In the end, I'm sure they'll be fine,"said Ritsu. "Those two are closer than they think they are."
"I guess you're right Ritsu; it was foolish of me to worry about those two," said Mio absentmindedly, lying down on her bed.
"Well, if that's all, I need to phone Sawa-chan now; I have a few things to discuss with her," said Ritsu. "Good night Mio; see you tomorrow."
"Later, Ritsu," said Mio as she hung up, staring blankly at her room's ceiling. "Don't ever change…"
/
"Alright Azu-nyan, make sure to step on the rubber mats in the shower room," said Yui, pointing at sheets of rubber that had been attached via suction cups to the bathroom floor. "I don't want you to slip, so please step there… good!"
As Azusa stepped into the shower room, Yui noticed that she still hadn't taken her towel off.
"Azu-nyan, we can't take our shower if you don't remove that towel. If they get wet, Ui will have a hard time washing and drying it," said Yui clearly.
Azusa turned away, her face reddening due to embarrassment.
"But… I'm embarrassed to let you see my naked body," mumbled Azusa softly. "My boobs… aren't big at all, not like Mio-senpai's…"
At that statement, Yui's laughter began to ring in the enclosed bathroom, the sheer cacophony nearly deafening Azusa, who closed her eyes and covered her ears. When the sound stopped, she opened her eyes, taking her hands away from her ears, only to find that Yui had already discarded her bath towel and was standing in front of her, stark naked.
Azusa began stuttering due to the sight that befell her eyes. Her beloved senpai, naked in front of her, and only her.
"Y-Y-Yui-senpai, you're…" Azusa's voice faltered.
"Don't worry about it, Azu-nyan!" chirped Yui happily. "See, look at my boobs! They're not big at all either."
Yui cupped her boobs but they were too small to have any noticeable effect when held in that manner.
"See? In fact, Ui has bigger boobs than me," said Yui in a carefree manner. "I remember Ricchan telling me that that was how Sawa-chan knew that Ui was filling in for me last year when I was sick. So Azu-nyan, please don't feel bad because…"
"…because it's Azu-nyan's body…" thought Yui but didn't say. "Waah, Sawa-chan's sex education classes!"
"Umm, Yui-senpai…?" tentatively asked the kouhai, completely oblivious to the sudden onset of turmoil that had entered her senpai's thoughts.
"No no no, I can't think about Azu-nyan like that; she'll hate me!"thought Yui, brushing the thoughts of indecency aside.
"…so um," said Yui, clearing her throat. "Let's get your towel off too, so we can have a nice cold shower to help your back feel better."
"…okay, Yui-senpai," said Azusa timidly, slowly unraveling her bath towel and when she had taken it off completely, she stepped out of the shower area and placed her towel beside Yui's.
Yui could only stare at her beloved kouhai's body while she slowly shuffled back to the shower room. She snapped out of her thoughts, said nothing, and slowly turned the shower on.
The two bathed in total silence, washing their hair thoroughly with both shampoo and conditioner, and later, after washing her face with facial scrub, Yui got a soft sponge and instructed Azusa to sit down on the small plastic stool that was located behind the rubber mats.
"Okay Azu-nyan, tell me when it hurts, okay?" asked the guitarist in a gentle and caring voice.
Azusa nodded, and when Yui's sponge took to her back, her muscles instinctively tensed due to the pain she was expecting to come.
To her surprise, Yui began to rub her back with the sponge so gently that it felt more relaxing than painful. Azusa's shoulders relaxed and she fell into a deep satisfaction at how her senpai was washing her back. If Yui could see Azusa's face, she would've seen a big cat smile on it.
"How does it feel, Azu-nyan?" asked Yui, continuing to gently scrub the kouhai's back with the soft sponge.
"It feels great, Yui-senpai," purred Azusa. "I feel like I'm the luckiest kitten in the world…"
"Oooh, interesting analogy Azu-nyan!" exclaimed Yui happily, rinsing the suds from Azusa's back with the shower head. "Okay, all done, now it's my turn to wash myself. Azu-nyan, if you want to get out already, go ahead, I left you some clothes on my bed."
"No!" exclaimed Azusa, surprising Yui, who hadn't seen Azusa feel this… emphatic about anything in a long time.
"Err, do you want to wait for me then?" asked Yui sheepishly, scrubbing her wounds with the soft sponge. "Ow, that stings…"
"I want to scrub your body, Yui-senpai," declared Azusa, who felt tremendously lucky that her red face wouldn't be noticeable in the shower room.
"Oh Azu-nyan, I'd like that so much!" exclaimed Yui happily, as she let Azusa take the sponge from her hands.
Azusa began to gently go over the wounds on Yui's knee with utmost care, realizing that Yui had been injured more severely than she was. Her bruise would go away in a few days, since it wasn't that large and black, not to mention that her back was feeling better due to the cold water already. Yui's gashes, on the other hand, would remain fresh for the next few days, and it would take a few more days after that for the wounds to form scabs. She noticed Yui's face scrunching up in pain, causing her to apply less force to scrubbing the wounds.
"Sorry about that, senpai… there, all done! Turn around so I can scrub your back."
Yui complied and Azusa started to scrub Yui's back firmly yet gently, trying her best to emulate how Yui had scrubbed her back earlier. She felt Yui's body tense while she was scrubbing, and without warning, she heard Yui sobbing.
"Senpai, what's wrong?" asked Azusa worriedly, adjusting herself so she could look at Yui's tear-streaked face.
"Y-You know Azu-nyan, I've been thinking how I've been a really bad senpai to you. You're the one looking after me all the time, I'm the one causing trouble for you all the time, and you're more mature than I am… I think it would be better if I was the kouhai instead of you," sniffed Yui, tears cascading down her wet face. "If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have gotten hurt tonight."
Azusa was shocked at Yui's breakdown; she never would've thought that her carefree and beloved senpai would lose what she loved the most about her: her ability to remain smiling no matter the circumstances. She set aside the sponge, and cupped Yui's face in both of her hands, startling her.
"Yui-senpai… I wouldn't have it any other way," said Azusa fervently, Yui's face in her hands. "What we have right now is something that won't be affected by time or distance. What we have right now… is something I wouldn't trade for anything in the world. What we have right now… is something I would do my best to treasure and protect. That's the way it has always been, and always will be for Hirasawa Yui-senpai and Nakano Azusa."
Azusa embraced Yui, both of them feeling the platonic intimacy that their close friendship over the past two years had spawned, and Yui let her arms wrap around the kouhai that she, though she didn't really know it yet at this point in time, loved.
"Don't ever change, Yui-senpai," whispered Azusa into Yui's right ear. "The way you are right now is great. Although it would help Ui if you became a little more responsible," chuckled Azusa.
They let go of each other and proceeded to rinse all the soap off their bodies. As they were toweling themselves dry, putting on their underwear, Yui said,
"That's exactly why I'm going to move out; so that I can become less dependent on Ui and so I can become more responsible. I'll spend this entire week after tomorrow's party training up on those things though, so when college begins the week after, I'll be ready… I hope."
Azusa chuckled and said, "Congratulations on graduating, Yui-senpai. Now, let's see what Ui cooked for the three of us."
/
"Thanks for driving me home tonight, Sawa-chan-sensei," said Mugi happily, as Sawako coasted along the dark streets. "I feel much safer when I'm with you, even safer than I feel when I'm in the limousine that the servants send for me when Father's not home."
Sawako's chest thumped at Mugi's words; never in her entire life did anyone tell her that they felt safe with her.
"Sawako, don't blush from such a simple doki-doki moment; you're being a highschool student all over again!" thought Sawako.
"Maybe it's because I'm your badass club adviser?" tried Sawako tentatively, trying not to push her ridiculous assumptions too far.
"Yes," nodded Mugi. "You've always helped us, and making Mio-chan dress up was one of the funniest things I've seen you do on a regular basis. By the way sensei, here are your eyeglasses."
Mugi took a pair of eyeglasses from her pocket and handed them to Sawako.
"Oh right, you took them off of my eyes when you massaged me earlier," said Sawako, absentmindedly, taking the eyeglasses from Mugi and placing them on her face.
Suddenly, the car jerked wildly to the right to avoid an incoming car that was traversing the wrong lane to overtake another car.
"Fucking speed demons," barked Sawako crassly. "Those motherfuckers would be better off dead; they're being a danger to society. Ah, excuse my language Mugi-chan."
Mugi chuckled as she looked at the stars in the night sky through her window.
"I think you sound cooler that way, Sawa-chan. You look like a really nice and sweet teacher, which you are, of course… But there's a different novelty to seeing your other side, the side that you were brave enough to show at your friend's wedding reception."
"Oh, that stunt Norimi made you guys pull," snorted Sawako. "Well, I fell for it, hook, line and sinker, but I couldn't let you girls just take on a genre out of your style and butcher it."
"In the end though, you became much more popular for that," remarked Mugi as the car stopped before a barrier signaling the presence of railroad tracks.
"I guess there're some fringe benefits to that, yeah," agreed Sawako. "Mugi-chan, why do you take the train to get to school? I mean, it would be easier for you if you were driven to school, right? Seeing as you live on the opposite site of the city as the school and all."
"Well, it's because I've wanted to try things that people do normally, things that people of my affluence would never bother with," said Mugi. "The novelty I find in working as a cashier at a McDonalds cannot be bought with money. There's something about it that appeals to me in a way I don't understand. Even my joining the Light Music Club was driven by the same concept. My father wanted me to join a piano club, or the equivalent, as I was trained to play classical music since I was a little girl."
"Your father's not a stage dad, is he?" asked Sawako uncertainly as she hit the gas when the barrier rose, signaling that it was safe to cross the railroad tracks.
"No, he isn't," said Mugi quietly, looking at the stop light that loomed before them. "I guess that's one of the reasons I've wanted to do things that people who aren't as affluent as I would normally do."
As the stop light changed from red to green, Sawako placed a hand on Mugi's head and ruffled her hair.
"Don't worry about things; I'll always be around to help you as an advisor, but more importantly, as a friend, Mugi-chan," said Sawako.
Mugi blushed, silently thanking the gods that it was too dark for her face to be seen in its current state.
"Sawa-chan, can we exchange phone numbers?" asked Mugi.
"Sure Mugi-chan, here, enter your number in mine," replied Sawako nonchalantly, tossing a red flip-phone towards Mugi, who caught it and began to enter her phone number in it.
"All done, Sawa-chan!" said Mugi, as they finally arrived at the massive gates to the Kotobuki mansion. "Here is enough; I can walk going in."
"Are you sure?" asked Sawako.
"Yeah," said Mugi, handing the phone back to Sawako. "I hope Ton-chan's doing fine in the clubroom…"
"Don't worry Mugi-chan, Azusa-chan and I will take good care of him," said Sawako. "Now, about your entry in my phonebook… 'Kotobuki Tsumugi-sama', yeah, that should work nicely."
"Sawa-chan!" exclaimed Mugi in embarrassment. "Just put 'Mugi-chan', pleaaaaaaaaaaase?"
Sawako looked over at Mugi and her puppy dog eyes and smirked.
"I was just kidding, Mugi-chan. Now, off you go, and good night to you."
Mugi opened the car door and stepped out, bowing to Sawako.
"Good night, Sawa-chan-sensei. See you tomorrow at Yui-chan's house!"
"See you too," said Sawako, as she shut the door and drove off, leaving Mugi standing in front of the gates, which suddenly parted to allow her entrance.
"Welcome home, Tsumugi-ojou-sama," said an old white haired butler, who came to take Mugi's things from her arms.
"Good evening, Klaus-kun," replied Mugi in kind. [1] "That ride home with Sawa-chan was great; wish I could do it again…"
/
"Hello?" spoke Sawako into her cell phone as she drove casually towards her home. "Oh, it's you Ritsu, what do you need?"
"Sawa-chan, I was thinking, why don't we spice up tomorrow's graduation party over at Yui's house? I've got a bottle of sake I can sneak out of the house," said Ritsu.
"No, absolutely not!" barked Sawako into her phone. "You know full well that you girls are underage!"
"Don't be a killjoy Sawa-chan, I mean, it's our graduation party after all. It's only for one night," pleaded Ritsu. "Besides, I heard from Norimi-san that back in the day, you'd turn to drinking to alleviate your depress—"
"ENOUGH!" shouted Sawako into her phone. "Just… don't remind me about that, okay? Fine, I'll let you bring a bottle of sake over, but just the one."
"Thanks, Sawa-chan! See ya tomorrow!" said Ritsu as she hung up.
As Sawako dropped her phone in the passenger seat, she sighed loudly.
"Oh, what have I dragged myself into?"
/
"Azusa-chan, where would you like to sleep tonight? In my room, or in onee-chan's room?" asked Ui, directing her arms towards the rooms in question.
It was 11 pm, and the three of them were already feeling sleepy due to the events that had transpired that day. Yui, especially, felt tired, since she had to hide Sawako's message from the class throughout the entire graduation ceremony, not to mention the jamming session that ensued after the four girls had performed for Azusa. Then there were the injuries both Yui and Azusa sustained; Azusa now had a cold compress tied around her back under the nightshirt she had borrowed from Yui, while Yui's knee wounds weren't covered in anything. Ui had called up Mio, who suggested not putting anything on Yui's wounds so as to facilitate quicker healing.
"I… I think I'll sleep in Yui-senpai's room tonight," said Azusa. "Good night Ui, thanks for the compress."
"No problem, Azusa-chan. Good night, onee-chan, Azusa-chan," said Ui, waving to them both as she entered her room and shut the door.
"Gimme a moment, Azu-nyan, let me lay out the futon for you," said Yui, who opened another closet in her room, dumping the futon out onto the space beside Yui's bed.
"Sorry that the floor's kind of messy," said Yui sheepishly, after unrolling the futon such that it lay parallel with her bed, amidst the discarded bed sheets and random articles of clothing strewn all over the floor.
"I didn't expect much from you to begin with, Yui-senpai," said Azusa, chuckling as she stepped into the room and sat down on the futon.
"Azu-nyan, you're so meaaaan," pouted Yui, as both she and Azusa settled into their beds. "Good night, Azu-nyaaaaaan," cooed Yui.
"Good night, Yui-senpai," said Azusa, who rolled over such that she could look at Yui's face from her position on the floor.
"You know what, Azu-nyan?" asked Yui softly, her eyes closed facing in the general direction as Azusa, extending her right hand towards Azusa.
"What is it, Yui-senpai?" asked Azusa softly, taking Yui's right hand in her left.
"I'm glad I touched an angel like you," whispered Yui with gentleness in her voice. [2]
Silence ensued as tears began to flow down Nakano Azusa's eyes at the words that her beloved senpai uttered.
/
[1] – Klaus from Hayate The Combat Butler!
[2] – The literal translation of Tenshi ni Fureta yo.
I know that we're lacking Mio/Ritsu this chapter, but trust me, that will be rectified in future chapters.
Oh yeah, I've got an exam on Saturday, so I'm not going to be able to update until next week.
Next time: HTT clean out the clubroom for real, except for Azusa's stuff and Ton-chan, as well as the graduation party at the Hirasawa residence… with alcohol! Will anything… interesting happen? Tune in to find out!