Author's Note: Thought or Emphasis; Flashback; Thought or Emphasis in Flashback

I don't own K-ON!. I only own this sudden idea.

Read and review.


K-ON!: Hunters!

What If?: A Tuesday

Mio should have seen the signs.

"Ritsu..."

Since that battle against the blue oni, the fiery fist Ritsu took to her opponents had grown a little bit wilder each time she unsealed it, rock spiking and aura surging. So did her fighting—more aggressive, more reckless, and more jumping ahead of the other girls to strike first.

"You could have told me."

But she didn't, not when Mio asked why she seemed different lately. The brunette merely told her,


"There's nothing to worry about, Mio." She gave another of her face-eating grins. "I'm just taking your advice."

"What advice?"

"The thing you said about us always taking risks," she explained. "I mean, for all we know, I could die tomorrow, and not even from a fight either. Car accident, poisonous snake, falling sign, whatever!"

Mio didn't want to think about that, but Ritsu had a point—exaggerated though it was.

"So, I might as well cut loose every once in a while, right? I'm gonna live each day like it's my last! I'm moving forward with… uh… fire in my soul!" Amber eyes attempted to gaze heroically over the horizon.

Sadly, her girlfriend was not impressed. "That was kind of-"

"Corny, I know, but come on! You think up a speech like that on the fly!"

Mio couldn't resist a giggle. Something might have been different about her, but the same stupid Ritsu was still there somewhere.

"See? I'm still me." The bandaged brunette slid over to her on the other end of the bed, pulling her in close.

The noirette closed her eyes as she softened under Ritsu's embrace. Even under the seal, the arm around her waist was still warm, the softest pulse detected, like a second heartbeat.

"I'm not leaving you 'til my last breath." Her voice hardened, almost grimly, as her eyes looked beyond the room. "I promise."

Mio took a moment to think about it.

It's probably just… a simple power boost, right?

She had heard of such things happening to those with abilities, especially after near-death experiences. It was the best way either girl could describe that night's events, anyway.

If they could make it through that, then Ritsu wouldn't be going anywhere…

Right?


That talk was two weeks ago. The entire time in between, whenever she had the urge to tell her parents or the Tainakas about the situation, she always ended up giving in to Ritsu's answer.

She believed it.

Or did I just want to believe it?

The team brawler didn't tell her that the "power boost" was getting harder to control, that one reason for her aggression in combat was out of trying to burn off the yōkai energy biting back at the rest of her body and spirit.

She didn't tell her—not that even she knew—that time was running out...

The afterschool activity had started normally enough. A battle against a legion of tengu, obnoxious bird-like beings, started off difficult thanks to their agility in flight, but the girls still found ways to ground them; Yui's arrows and Ritsu's fireballs at a distance, and well-timed slashes from Mio and Azusa when they swooped in close, slowly felled the flock.

But the blazing brunette's attacks seemed a bit too random to Mio as the fight went on; her blasts missed even worse than usual, and when she finally got a hold of them, she struck downed opponents with a ruthlessness that drove a spike of worry into her girlfriend's heart all over again.

Ritsu had spooked her plenty of times when they were younger (and even now—she still had an embarrassing aversion to bugs), but those were just games, teasing. The ravenette had never been truly afraid of her.

What, then, was this feeling when Mio saw her now?

Her body was hunched, looking almost weary as her breath released itself in bursts of hot air. A red-orange aura engulfed her form, merging with the flame-arcs on her arm. As currents of the lava-like essence shifted under the surface, the curse began to spread, the rock-skin creeping over her bosom and up the neck.

Her eyes glowed white, eyes and pupils unseen. Unlike the serene light of the team healer's hands, this one seemed to barely restrain chaos, much like her headband, holding back the spiky strands of hair that tried to meet the sky. She twitched with the power moving through her, until she released it with a scream.

"GuuuhhhAAAAAAHHH!"

The wave of heat that resulted compelled the hunters to shield their faces—except Mio did not. She was still dumbstruck, still wondering why...

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Azusa made the call. "Sawako-sensei! Ritsu-senpai is changing!"


"I see it."

Back in the club room, brown eyes stared sternly at the whiteboard map, a single red spot appearing and vanishing.

She cursed herself for not keeping a better eye on her charges. From her years of hunting to this very day, the knowledge of a comrade's suffering was never an easy burden to bear. She would have pulled out of the business altogether, left it like her sister in all but blood asked her to, if she hadn't have felt there was something she could still do.

I guess tonight's proving me wrong, eh, Norimi?

An urgent question called her back to the present.

"What do we do, sensei?"

While the bespectacled brunette did have skills with paper as a tool, sealing wasn't her strong suit, and a fusion of powers like the one in Ritsu would be hard to hold down for any serious period. It would take hours to find and drop off someone else who could do it, like the one who crafted Ritsu's restraint in the first place.

There was another option, but still… attacking her own student? Just remembering Megumi's bleeding body being carted off school grounds was enough to make that a last resort.

Thus, she could only offer this advice for now:

"Do what you can," she swallowed, "...whatever you have to."

"What's going on?"

"Mugi-chan." Sawako bit her lip; she knew another person who would not take this well. "Ricchan's lost herself to her own power."

Tsumugi's hands covered her mouth in shock. "No!" The teacher was right; just the thought chilled the young healer to the bone. "I... I need to help!"

A blond streak exited the room. Sawako could have sworn that girl's speed was supernatural.

She'd need it to get there in time.


"Sawako-sensei left it to us." Azusa put away the talisman and looked to the de-facto leader. "Mio-senpai?"

Her hand hung dead, unwilling to approach her blade.

"Mio-senpai, I know this is hard, but we have to do something!"

Still no answer came, the swordswoman's face shadowed by both black hair and doubt.

The junior turned to the other teammate, desperate for an answer. "Yui-senpai?"

"Ricchan." Chocolate orbs were the first to spill tears. "No..." Yui's arms jerked as they strained to get into firing position. The arrow in her hand shook uncertainly against the bow. "I... I..."

Usually, the instinct within Yui's mind was manageable; it almost never surfaced around humans, only yōkai—specifically, as Sawako guessed, those with dark intentions, since it only read her favorite junior's emotions the first time they met. Even on practice targets, the only reason it awakened was from the combination of holding the archer's tools in her hands, and, as in the first time in archery club, a moment of intense focus. It took time (and an arduous weekend study session with Sawako) to learn to restart that feeling at will.

"I… c-c-can't."

Now, however, the instinct, a killer instinct, smashed against her consciousness like an angry elephant against a cage.

Ricchan's not a yōkai! Ricchan's not evil!

Ricchan is...

"I don't want to!"

While not knowing her for as long as the others did, Azusa still respected her senior, especially for her ability to adjust to a power she did not fully understand—just like the half-nekomata herself. To see her end up like this threatened to once more raise doubts about her other side...

But she blocked them out.

"Fine then!"

If the archer and swordswoman's moods right now were any indication, they needed her here.

"If neither of you will do anything, then I will!"

Moving past Mio, she stepped forth and tried to reach out. "Ritsu-senpai. It's me, Azu—um, Nakano." Maybe using a familiar name will help. "Can you hear me?"

Nothing responded, just a body still jittering with inhuman energy.

"You need to calm down. If you don't, you're going to hurt yourself! Or one of us!"

The glowing-eyed girl's right arm rose, awkwardly, slowly. The hand quaked.

"Yes, that's it. Just come back with us. Maybe we can-"

The arm stopped moving.

"Senpai?"

The hand closed.

So did Azusa's mouth.

The twin-tailed teen shifted into her half-cat form—

—and dodged a fist planting into the school campus' topsoil. The former ally ripped it out, disregarding the right hand's bleeding knuckles. "AAAAAHHHH!" A roar apparently expressed her frustration, shooting fear into the junior.

Still, she forced it down, claws at the ready. "I'm sorry, senpai, but you leave me no choice but to fight!"

"RAAAAHHH!"

They charged, Ritsu (or whatever was in control now) attacking first. Using her speed to avoid a left punch, Azusa swiped at the abdomen to leave a cut with her left, spinning to plant a right backhand slash, then left palm strike to the face.

The brunette stumbled back a few steps from the force, boosting her opponent's spirits.

Then her journey halted, her head lowering back to its proper place, but with even more blind madness in her glowing eyes, and even more rock moving past the chin.

No effect. I should have known—you've always lasted longer than me at hand-to-hand combat.

There was another forte Azusa needed to beware as well, as Ritsu demonstrated by opening her mouth and launching a burst of fire.

The kitten kōhai rolled out of the way, but could not take a breather yet—the scorching senpai repeated the action again and again. The former hopped, flipped, and rolled until the blasts stopped, dust and smoke clouds filling the air from the impacts.

"Azu…nyan…" The archer's hold on the bow tightened and slacked as her sides warred within and fractured her thoughts. "Gotta… do something, but… Ricchan…"

The smoke cleared to reveal a swath of green, brown, and black debris marring the earth. Azusa, patting out the flames on her jacket sleeve, knew this would only be the start if she didn't try something else.

If that won't work, then maybe…

"Here goes!"

With a moment of focus and a burst of black and blue energy, Azusa transformed once more. Thanks to her father's wisdom, she discovered that her other form, while not human, was still hers to take if she wished. In what he called her "true" form, a monster cat, her two tails tipped with blue flames, her garnet globes alight with stern strength, gathered herself to make her move.

Ritsu, meanwhile, had started making her way toward the rest of the group. She walked without rhythm, her mind seemingly not yet comprehending that there were new potential enemies before her.

One of them still did not ready her weapon.

The sight of the stalker reminded her of that day years ago, that beast that wanted to destroy her down to the last drop of blood.

After all this time, even after its death, it had managed to hurt her first friend, her first love…

And once again, Mio felt powerless to stop it.

"SENPAI!" Azusa roared, turning Mio's and everyone else's attention to the nekomata. "I'M GOING TO TRY SOMETHING!"

"RAAAAAAHHHH!" One creature reacted to the other, but at this point it was too late to attack.

The feline pooled energy within her maw, and willed her tails' ends to burn hotter. The blue and black neared white as all three sources centered on a single, girl-sized target.

I'm sorry, Ritsu-senpai.

She fired, watching the trinity rush forth before coalescing into one blazing blast. Making contact with the target, they exploded into a pillar shooting into the heavens, black and blue swirling in a deadly whirlwind. The seniors shielded their eyes from the light and heat once again.

"Has it really come to this?"

They opened their eyes, a familiar figure standing beside them, saddened yet awed by the results of Azusa's latest tactic.

Yui noticed her first, the distraction a needed relief from her own internal issue. "Mugi-chan!"

The blue-eyed bringer of life hated witnessing the despair painted on her teammates' faces. This wasn't an injury her touch could take away.

Still, she had to try. "I know I'm not suited to fight, but I still want to help, in any way I can." Tsumugi begged with all she had. Ritsu may have been in that fire, but if it meant bringing back a friend, she would even be willing to take that risk. "Please!"

"I don't know if you can, Mugi." Mio spoke listlessly, still trapped in a nightmare. "I don't even know if I can."

Azusa shifted back to normal, her power nearly drained. It took a while to figure out that technique, and a lot of energy to pull off; it was both an attack and a barrier that burned for hours due to its supernatural strength. She hoped it was enough to do some damage, or at least was enough to restrain her.

Maybe after she caught her breath, she could plead with Yui-senpai or Mio-senpai to snap out of it before Ritsu-senpai figured out a way to-

Then she saw it.

No.

The pillar changed color, black and blue over taken by a feral red-orange.

This soon?

A hand resembling magma burst out of the fire twister, misshapen and active. Then another hand, made of flesh, but marked with blood clawed through.

She's really that strong?

Both pushed at the opening they made, and with one inhuman grunt of effort, shattered the barrier...

…along with Azusa's hope.

"It can't—urk!"

Before Azusa's mind could even accept that outcome, a bloody human hand grabbed her neck, the vice grip about to break that too. Both the pain of the scalding touch and the lack of oxygen to her lungs trapped her instinctual scream for help.

Though darkness slowly inched its way over her vision like the magma over Ritsu's face, the nekomata could still see two things.

The first was that the burning brunette's left hand shifted its shape, fingers sharpening and imitating the claws of her soon to be vanquished quarry. The hand ignited, raised high to begin its fatal descent.

The second was something that astonished Azusa even more.

Ritsu-senpai… is she…?

Before she could carry the question with her to her grave, a flash momentarily blasted away the darkness, and a sound entered her ears.

POP.

"RAAAAAAH!"

Blown off balance, the bestial brawler dropped Azusa, the latter coughing as she clutched onto any breath she could. After her vision returned, she turned her head, finally spotting her.

"Yu-ak!"

It hurt to speak, but it was clear who her savior was.

The innocent archer's gaze was more focused on the world around her than usual, the rest of her face reflecting this awareness; a frown—a deep, true frown—replaced the normally either happy or placid countenance.

I've never seen Yui-senpai angry before…

Her voice was different as well, an unexpected chill draped over her words.

"Because of your seal and the energies we'd release in our fighting, I couldn't see it so clearly. Even now, I…" A little of the usual gentle girl slipped through. "I still don't wanna do this, Ricchan!" The inner hunter returned to the fore. "But if you hurt Azusa again…"

A surprised gasp slipped out, despite the pain. Yui-senpai's never called me that!

The hairclipped brunette readied another arrow.

"I will put the next one in your head."

Ritsu stood, staring blankly as her cursed hand regenerated yet again. Her shirt was shredded on that side, revealing the rocky torso. She tensed, her aura growing in ferocity—and burst forward.

Yui fired at the streak, resulting in an explosive crash of cerulean into crimson, but the creature formerly known as her classmate stepped right through, only this time walking, her flaming aura having destroyed Yui's shot prematurely.

While the shooting senior continued her attacks, Azusa slipped back to the side of the other two girls. The pain disappeared as Mugi healed her throat.

The moment the blonde ceased her power, a voice broke out. "Mio-senpai! Listen!"

She was silent. Her gray eyes blocked by her hair, no one could tell if she was watching the fight unfold, or simply sank into herself so she would not have to.

"When Ritsu-senpai grabbed me, I saw something."

Still no response.

"At the corners of her eyes, I saw some kind of liquid dissolving!" She told her conclusion. "I think she was crying!"

Mio's form flinched.

"I think she's trapped, or in pain, and she can't stop herself. Maybe Yui-senpai sees it too, and that's why she isn't hitting her in any vital spots." Indeed, her shots were not aimed with precision at the neck, heart, or other points, but the torso, shoulders, arms, and legs at a fraction of the usual power, which only stopped Ritsu momentarily before her walk continued. "She doesn't want to…" It almost hurt as much to say as the burn on her throat, "…to kill her."

Perhaps Yui had more control over herself in that state than the girls thought.

Still, her "Azu-nyan" worried for her. "But senpai's going to run out of arrows soon! I-"

"No, Azusa. You've done enough." Mio turned to her junior, eyes revealed to be steely yet soft. "You were really brave tonight, risking your life when we couldn't even pick up our weapons." A faint smile made its way to her face. "You'll make a great leader someday."

The smile dropped when she looked at her possessed partner. Her fingertips glanced over Elizabeth's handle.

"But this is my fight now."

Yui had increased the power in her shots, the blood, flesh, and magma fusing over the limbs that were struck. Still, each shot previous was nothing but a provocation for the monster's anger, the pace towards her increasing.

Now, there was one last arrow, one last try as her opponent rose up, shrugging off the blow to her right shoulder, charging at her all over again. The hunter within knew that her prey was just too strong, but the girl within knew she had to keep going.

"RAAAAAHHHH!"

She had to hope she would survive to see Azu-nyan again…

She had to halt as a blue wave of energy drove a trench between the friends-turned-enemies.

"Rrrrrgh…"

The mismatch of yōkai and human turned dazedly, tracing the swath back to Mio.

"I didn't understand why Ritsu was hurting us, or why I was… afraid of her." She relaxed her stance. "Now, I get it." She pointed her blade at her foe. "You… are not Ritsu. You're hurting her, making her body do these things…

"But I won't let you do this anymore."

Her body exuded a light-blue aura, her long hair beginning to float from the power.

"You are going…"

Elizabeth was coated in the energy, a tormented resonance between weapon and wielder.

Mio shocked the creature into awareness with a flare of her very soul, and a demand.

"…to GIVE HER BACK!"

"RAAAAAAHHH!"

Mio blasted off against the one who wasn't Ritsu, the one who attacked in turn. A fiery claw and a chilling blade set to meet in the middle.

The claw hit first, sinking deep into Mio's right shoulder—

—Or not, instead the shoulder of her afterimage. The creature instead caught a slash to her own right side from behind, the spilled blood burning the soil.

The damage disregarded, the not-Ritsu spun and spat out a fireball. Not ready for an attack so soon, Mio reflexively swung a glowing Elizabeth in its direction.

BOOM.

The others gasped as Mio fell back, recovering from the landing just in time to dodge a strike that would have ripped her into two melted pieces.

She sucked in tense breaths, knowing how close she was to death, but stood defiant. "That's not going to stop me!" Elizabeth pointed forward once again.

As if to respond, the creature's arm changed shape, the claws and hand fusing, lengthening, flattening…

Her eyes widened, before returning to a furious gaze. "So you're going to mimic me instead of Azusa now?" With a ripple in the air, four more imitators entered. "Fine! I'll just cut you again!"

As a burning broadsword repeatedly clashed with cold steel, Mugi watched and waited, as always, but this time voiced her thoughts. "Mio-chan's fighting… She really is trying to fight a yōkai, isn't she?"

"Her sword looks sad." Yui blurted, her second sight kicking in. "Mio-chan's sword is heavy with it."

She truly was, the grey-eyed girl's weapon biting rock and flesh with every slash, though not enough to fully shatter the not-Ritsu's arms, even the right one malformed from the dark influence ravaging her body. The heat was stifling, even though her enemy missed the more deadly blows and managed merely to tear her jacket and leave a few searing cuts. Even against five Mios for a small burst, she wildly cut through the doppelgangers until…

There it was.

How it had all slowed down, not even the swordswoman knew, but there it was, open for attack…

The heart.

The sword hand was already aimed to pass through her right eye, the other hand her kidney. She could back away right now, but she might not have another chance.

Or, she could outpace the hands with one last burst, one last move; human or yōkai, very few beings could endure a blow to that spot.

But that was exactly the point. What Mio would do would end up…

NO! I ca-

The sword stopped—for the slightest instant, it stopped.

Someone had made the choice for her.

She always was the brave one.

Mio stopped swinging…

… and thrust Elizabeth forward.

She penetrated with ease; the near-solid magma over the not-Ritsu's torso was nothing before the blade's soul-charged point. The monster froze, a foreign energy ripping through its body like the power that started the fight in the first place. Like a faucet being cut off from the tap, the body ceased pouring out the fiery red aura. The heat dissipated, the lava current died, and the rock turned a dull grey-black.

No sound passed between the beings, save for the slight crumbling of the deadened limb.

Mio held the sword inside, her own heart still shocked at what she did, wracked with something she could not place.

The shock, the despair, the fear, the anger, and now…?

She had no time to wonder, for words slipped from an unexpected source.

"I'm sorry, Mio."

Gray eyes widened.

"Ritsu!" Mio backed away ever so slightly, to see her again in any way she could.

"I thought I could handle it on my own." The rock slowly chipped off of Ritsu's cheek. The lively amber orbs that Mio loved had only slightly returned, quickly losing their luster. "I thought if I could figure it out, I wouldn't make you worry… or cry."

Sure enough, teardrops splashed onto the dried earth.

"Stupid Ritsu! You're making me cry anyway! You and your damn secrets almost… Stupid Ritsu! Don't you know I'd have helped anyway?" Her throat began to tighten. "Don't you know I'd cut off my own arm for you, if it meant you'd be okay?"

"Yeah… I'm an idiot." She eked out a soundless laugh that sounded more like a wheeze; it was getting harder for her to breathe, gasps slowing her speech. "I'm strong, but… without you, I'm just some… freak with a curse. I wish I… I wish I coulda remembered that before I-"

"DON'T TALK LIKE THAT!" Mio's hand held her face to try to keep her attention. "Mugi can fix you up!" She screamed the name out with an energy she didn't think she had left. "MUGI!"

"She can't fix this, Mio. We… both know it. I'm not like Azusa. I'm… way more yōkai than… human now." She found the strength to raise her only hand. "See?" It was faded, the youthful glow replaced with a pallor of ash—an ash that was beginning to scatter in the wind. "I'm not Yui either. I'm not… coming back from this one." As if to prove it, the girl's legs collapsed beneath her.

"NO!" Mio went down with her to break her fall.

Mugi reached them and attempted to heal, but after three tries, the glow still did not affect her fallen classmate. With tears of her own, she realized, "She's right, Mio-chan. I'm useless!"

"Don't feel bad, Mugi." A weary word of encouragement slipped from Ritsu's lips. "It's not… your fault anyway."

"Ricchan!" The threat gone, the archer's instinct no longer risked swaying her mind. Instead, she and Azusa, in her human form, tried to approach the beleaguered brunette.

"Yui… Hey again." She could not move her head, but had a feeling the junior arrived as well. "Azusa," she greeted her as an equal instead of with her last name, "I'm so… so sorry for hurting you, trying to... do what I did. I could see it all, but-"

"I know you didn't mean it, senpai." She and her senior stepped into Ritsu's quickly-vanishing field of vision.

"Yeah, Ricchan's not a yōkai!" She turned the once twin-tailed teen. "I knew it, Azu-nyan! I always knew!"

"Yes, you did."

"Guess I'm dying like one though." That was why she had one last request, to do one human thing. "Ne, Mio?"

"Yes, Ritsu?"

"Never got to kiss you tonight… after our victory. Do you think… I could have one more?" She had never asked before.

"Yes, Ritsu." She smiled too, despite the realization creeping toward the very core of her being. "One more."

Like always, there was a connection, the world fading away around them. It was still there, the feeling that they were always meant to have met like this. But the sense of completion died early, the sweet coating giving way to a taste of the bitter truth underneath.

They parted in this mixture of pleasure and pain.

"Thank you, Mio." Ritsu's lips upturned, the smallest smile Mio had ever seen on her face.

It was the final smile, not to be etched onto her visage for eternity, but to dissolve with the rest of her body.

"And… goodbye."

In seconds, Mio's hands held nothing but a pile of ash.

"Ritsu..."

Tears would be plentiful for the hours and days to come. In torrents and in trickles they would fall, from the girls, their friends, and their families, and their beloved teacher. Words would blurt out rage, and carry comfort. There would be clenched fists and open arms, even from the same person.

But none of those reactions would match the scream of Mio Akiyama that night. The pain of losing her closest, oldest friend who became more, and the piece of her heart that went with her, had to be let out.

And it was.

"RIIIIIIIIIITSUUUUUUUU!"

It was a Tuesday.

END


Hey, there folks. It's been about four months since the last piece, but this wouldn't go away, and so, here's a tragic ending to the story that is-for now, anyway-non-canon if you want it to be. Why did I make it, though? To test myself? To make you all sad? Heck if I know, but this here's the longest chapter I've ever written. Until next time, readers.