Disclaimer: Azumanga Daioh or it's characters aren't mine. But the story idea and original characters are. (Yay me!)

Sunday had come. Quickly. Kagura was walking to Kaiya's house, a small textbook in her hand. Her mother had offered her a ride, but she had decided that walking would be better. Kagura let her mind wander. Kaiya-san's been acting a bit weird lately. I wonder if she's alright. Kagura looked at her watch. It read 2:15. Damn, I'm late. Let's see...If I stay at Kaiya-san's for an hour, I can make it to the pool before it closes. Kagura thought it was unfair that the pool closed early on Sundays. Sunday was the only day she had off of school. The world's against me. I know it.

Kagura's foot caught on something and she tripped. A low whimper was followed as she hit the ground. She rolled over on her back, picked her head up, looked around, and froze in her place. Right in front of her was a giant white dog. "Uh..nice doggie?" If at all possible, Kagura became even more still as the dog began to sniff her pants. I'm gonna die. I'm too young! The dog pulled out an open box of strawberry Pocky from her pocket. "Um...those are mine." The dog looked up at her. "Y-y-you can have them, though. I-I was thinking of-uh-g-giving them to you."

As the dog began to eat, a small voice came up from behind Kagura. "Tadakichi-san! Tadakichi-san!" She tilted her to look behind her and saw a little girl with pig tails standing pointing at the dog. "I'm so sorry. I hope he didn't cause you much trouble."

Kagura shook her head. "Uh..."

"You're not supposed to eat those. Tadakichi-san, apologize." The dog barked and went to the little girl. "I'm sorry," she said as she bowed. And then she left.

"That was weird." Kagura picked herself up, grabbed the box on the floor, and examined what was left. "Aw, they're all full of dog drool. Man." She was about to leave when she realized her textbook was gone. She found it in the street, covered in a tire track. "What the...I didn't hear a car pass by." She picked it up and tried, with no luck, to rub the track out. "Well, that sucks."

zzZzz

It was 2:30 when Kagura looked at her watch again. "I was supposed to be here at two...I hope she isn't mad." As nice as Kaiya acted around her, Kagura knew she was famous around the school for her temper. Kagura timidly knocked on the door, which was immediately opened by a worried looking Kaiya. "Hi."

"What happened to you?"

"Huh?"

"You have scratches on you."

"Oh. It's nothing. Just some dog-"

Kaiya gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. "Did a dog attack you?!"

"No, no. I tripped over it, no big deal. Anyways, we should get started. I brought my textbook." Kagura proudly held up the book in her hand.

"What happened to it?"

Kagura looked it over and scratched her head. "Uh...it kind of got run over when I tripped."

Kaiya shook her head. "You need to be more careful." Kaiya disappeared behind the door and made a notion for Kagura to follow her.

"Sorry for the intrusion," Kagura shouted as walked in and took off her shoes.

"My parents aren't here, they're working. Come on to my room." Kaiya's room was in the back of the house, kind of secluded from everyone else that lived there. It was small, but it was a comfortable size. Kaiya sat at the desk that was in one of the corners of the room. "Alright, what book did you bring?"

"Oh my, uh," Kagura glanced at the inside, "my science book."

"I told you we were going to do math today."

"This is the only book I keep at my house." Kagura laughed to herself.

Kaiya sighed. "Lucky for you, I keep all my books here." Kaiya reached into her desk and pulled out a math textbook. "Looks like we're going to have to share."

zzZzz

An hour had passed and Kagura didn't seem to notice. A sense of pride arose in her mind at the fact that she was finally understanding one of her worse subjects. As she was working diligently, her face showing her concentration, Kaiya couldn't help but stare. Bothered by the sudden silence, Kagura looked up. "Are you ok?"

"Huh? Oh yeah. I'm fine. I was just thinking about how you can do anything you really try Kagura-san. You're really amazing."

Kagura smiled widely. "Thanks. But you're the one who's amazing. You're a great teacher, Kaiya-sensei." Kaiya was caught off guard by the title and let out a bright blush, which Kagura proceeded to laugh at. "You should see your face!" Kagura dodged a pencil thrown at her. "I'm going back to work."

As Kagura worked again, Kaiya found herself staring at her again. Kaiya found it amazing how Kagura came off as serious and mysterious to a lot of girls at school, but in reality she was playful and a bit, she thought, of a goofball. "Hey, Kagura-san?"

"Yeah?" Kagura didn't look up from her work.

"Do you have anyone you like?"

Kagura put her pencil down and thought about it for a few minutes before responding. "No, not really. I haven't really thought about it. I've been too busy with my athletics, I guess. What about you?"

Kaiya laughed nervously. "Uh...n-no. I'm too busy with school work, I guess." Kaiya couldn't answer the question truthfully with the response she got.

"Oh hey," Kagura said as she looked at her watch. "I have to go. For some reason they close the pool early on Sundays. Thanks for tutoring me. It really helped."

"No problem. So, you coming for tutoring again next week?"

"Of course. Science next time," Kagura asked while pointing at her tire track covered textbook.

"Yeah sure." Kaiya helped Kagura gather her things, and showed her out.

zzZzz

Kagura loved swimming. It was the only time in which she could think freely, with no worries about grades, or absent fathers, or anything that bothered her. It cleared her mind. But there was one thing she couldn't get out of her mind. She looked over at a group of boys who held the attention of a group of girls near them. She didn't understand what was so interesting about them. They weren't doing anything, just standing around in their swimsuits, they weren't even in the pool.

Kagura had no interest in boys. She had always figured it was because she went to an all girls school, and that as soon as she entered a co-ed school that would change. Either way, she would stare endlessly at some boys when she went to the arcade and try to find something to gawk at like the other girls. Even though the pool was a great place to stare at boys, she still found nothing.

Not that she had found much interest in girls either, but at least if she stared at them for a while, she noticed how nice their hair looked, something small like that. Kagura put her head under water. I don't have time for that sort of stuff anyways. She knew she was only thinking about this because Kaiya had asked her if she liked anyone.

When she poked her head out of the water to breathe, she heard the life guard saying it was closing time. She got out, dried herself, changed, and left for home. It was almost six when she arrived home. "I'm home."

"Oh Yu-chan. Guess what?" Her mother appeared from the hallway to the left of the door.

"What?"

"You're father called and said he came home early from his trip. He felt bad for not seeing you. So he bought you that game you've been wanting. You know the one with the people fighting...I can't remember the name for the life of me-"

"Mortal Kombat?"

"Yes, that one. He's dropping it off tomorrow afternoon. Of course, I'm working late tomorrow, so he said he's going to leave it in the mailbox."

"Oh. Ok."

"I'm so glad he got it for you. Because you deserve it, and I wish I could buy it, but I don't have the money." Kagura just smiled silently and went to her room. "Oh and don't forget to pick up Uehara from day-care tomorrow," her mother said as Kagura closed her door.

"I'll be surprised if it's actually there when I get home tomorrow." Her father had a history of saying he's going to do something, but never did. Or he delayed it for a really long time. Kagura laid down on her bed and thought about how her father was always trying to make up for his absence by buying her lots of games and sports equipment. Even when her parents were still married, she rarely saw her father. But he always had some sort of new item to give her.

Before she new it, she had fallen asleep. She woke up briefly to eat and brush her teeth. She was too tired to do much of anything else, so she settled on taking a shower in the morning. She was grateful that she had done the majority of her homework the day before during class, though she did it in such a hurry most of it was probably wrong. Now she could sleep without worrying about it.

Ok, so. I finally finished this. Sorry for the delay. Volunteering has got me busy. I really feel for Kagura in this chapter, because I kind of based her father on mine. (Awww...poor me) Anyways...this was another fun chapter for me to write. I hope you people had fun reading this.
One more thing. This story (at this time) takes place two years prior to the start of Azumanga Daioh, so I figured it's sometime in 1997. I have big mental block as to what games were "cool" then. (That makes me feel old...and I'm only 15) So I settled on Mortal Kombat, because it's always been and always will be cool. :D