Sakaki smiled to herself slightly as she walked down the quiet street, her long black hair flowing down to the small of her back. 'I think this is the right spot,' she thought, looking around her. It was a good day so far, being out here after school and she wanted to look around for one of the neighborhood cats. 'There it is,' Sakaki smiled as she quickly followed the brown figure, coming around the corner only to stop in surprise. It wasn't a cat, it was something else. The front of it's furry body looked like a cat's but the back side looked like that of a rabbit. "Myah," the little creature said cheerfully. Sakaki knelt down, reaching out hesitantly towards it. It looked up at her curiously then her hand touched the warm fur. Sakaki jerked her hand back, expecting to be bitten but the cabbit just looked up at her hopefully. She curled her fingers around to scratch it and it purred happily, gently rubbing up against her hand. It slipped free then bounced away, stopping to look at her, "Myah!" the cabbit said commandingly. 'Why not,' Sakaki followed behind it, walking down the alley. It bounced around a corner and Sakaki ran a bit faster, going after it before stopping in surprise. The converted warehouse was a busy place, a line up of young women waiting to get in the front door. Above the door a neon sign glowed reading 'Arisugawa's Locket' with a locket opening up below to reveal a pretty girl. The bouncer didn't look surprised as the cabbit bounced on by her inside then she looked up to gaze at Sakaki curiously. "Ah, hello," Sakaki said, feeling foolish as she walked up to the door. "Go on in," Bones nodded, ignoring the waiting line, "if Ryo-Ohki thinks your fine, it should be all right." Before Sakaki could say anything Bones had opened the door for her. "Thank you," she decided not to argue with her, instead moving into the dark hallway. She walked on for a moment before seeing a figure kneeling before her. "Hello Ryo-Ohki," a young woman was saying cheerfully to the little cabbit, kneeling to pet it cheerfully. She looked up to see Sakaki and smiled, "Welcome to Arisugawa's Locket." "Hello," Sakaki answered. She pointed down at Ryo-Ohki who was happily rubbing against her leg, "What... is that?" Hitomi chuckled, pushing her short brown hair back, "It's a little hard to explain. I guess you could say that she's unique, more or less." "It's cute," Sakaki smiled a bit sadly. Hitomi studied her thoughtfully, "You're underage, aren't you? Well, you can always order fruit juice and soda, we stock plenty." "I didn't mean..." Sakaki started, "I just followed Ryo-Ohki inside..." "If you ended up here," Hitomi took her arm, "it was probably for a good reason." She turned and looked around before waving, "Hey Sasami!" "Coming," a voice came from the crowd. The blue haired that walked up to them girl looked Chiho's age, at best, and Sakaki gazed at her in surprise. Her clothes, hairstyle and even the look on her face, they were all just one thing. "Cute," Sakaki murmured, a blush on her cheeks. "Hi," Sasami beamed, "my name's Sasami." "Could you take her up to the bar?" Hitomi said as she saw more customers coming. "She was asking about Ryo-Ohki." "Myah," Ryo-Ohki bounded up onto Sasami's shoulder, making the girl giggle softly. "Come on," Sasami took Sakaki by the hand and tugged her forward, "I'll take you to go see Ryouko, she can explain." "Hai," Sakaki managed as she was pulled forward. The bar was busy all around them, women moving in groups, talking cheerfully or sitting around tables. There was a dance floor over to one side, girls swaying together and not far beyond that a kareoke stage. There was even a library set a little apart from the noise and bustle with comfortable chairs set up for reading. 'What sort of place is this?" Sakaki thought with a kind of gentle wonder. The crowd standing around the bar seemed to part for them instantly, revealing two young woman who seemed almost like mirror images slinging the drinks casually. Both of them had the same wild blue manes of hair and catlike eyes, similar faces that were only varied by the twin scars on the cheeks of the smiling one. "Made a new friend?" Minagi asked as she moved to serve them, smiling gently down at Sasami as Ryo-Ohki bounced onto the counter. "Sakaki," Sasami beamed, "I'd like you to meet Ryouko and Minagi." She dropped her voice as she added to Minagi, "Ryo-Ohki brought her in but she seems a bit lost." "Myah," Ryo-Ohki said proudly. "Ah," Minagi nodded wisely, scratching the cabbit absent mindedly. "Juice?" the unscarred twin asked. Ryouko was pouring the drink even as Sakaki agreed, setting a cup down in front of her. "First time here?" "Yes," Sakaki said quietly, her eyes drawn over to Minagi and Sasami. Both seemed lost in each other, a warm current of caring passing between them. "So cute," she sighed softly. "That they are," Ryouko agreed, smiling fondly. "I'll never be cute...." Sakaki didn't even finish the sentence, looking down and glumly taking a drink of her juice. "Myah?" Ryo-Ohki looked up at her worriedly. Ryouko had the oddest little smile on her face as she admitted, "I know what you mean." Sakaki looked up at her in surprise as Ryouko continued, "I spent a long time trying to be softer, gentler, more cute for someone I cared for." "So what happened?" Sakaki asked softly. Ryouko cleaned out a glass, "Someone eventually helped me understand that I had to be myself, not something I wasn't." Sakaki sighed softly. "So what am I?" she murmured, drinking. "You may not be cute," Sasami spoke up, "but you could be handsome." "Handsome?" Sakaki blinked, the oddest look on her face. "When you're in school," Minagi asked her with a little smile, "aren't there other students who look at you admiringly?" Sakaki felt a slight blush appear on her face, Kaorin's gentle face appearing in her mind's eyes. "You could be right," she said thoughtfully. Over at one of the corner tables a older woman glared at her companion. "Yukari," she said intensely, her short black falling into her eyes, "keep your head down." "You worry to much Nyamo," Yukari smiled back, her long brown hair flowing over her shoulders, "she's not going to notice us." Nyamo groaned softly. "Where did you get the idea to go to a lesbian bar in the first place?" she muttered under her breath. "Well, the drinks are cheap," then Yukari smirked adding, "and I can believe how many ladies have bought us drinks." Nyamo grit her teeth. "That's because they think we've available," she explained. "Oh," Yukari waved casually, "I've been telling them we're lovers." Nyamo nearly spat out her drink on hearing that. She was blushing furiously as she said, "You can't be serious!" Yukari tilted her head to the side, giving Nyamo a thoughtful look. "Well there was that one time we...." she mused. "You promised you'd never mention that again," Nyamo sighed. She took Yukari's hand and tugged her to her feet, "Let's dance." "I thought you'd never ask," Yukari smiled happily. To be continued.... The Staff: Bones is from , Hitomi is from Escaflowne and Minagi, Ryouko Ryo-Ohki and Sasami are from the series Tenchi Muyo. Our Cast This Episode: Sakaki, Nyamo, Yukari and Kaorin are all from the series Azumanga Daioh. Author's Note: I've only seen episodes 1-9 of Azumanga Daioh so far, but from what I've seen I really wanted to do a story on them. I'm not sure that Sakaki is actually a lesbian but she's certainly quite butch, as well as being the idol of most of the girl's at school. I tried to keep the dialog as close to the series style as I could, but if I got it wrong let me know.
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