Sleepover

Disclaimer: I do not own Azumanga Daioh or any of its characters. They are the sole property of Kiyohiko Azuma, and this fan fiction is not written for profit, merely for sheer entertainment purposes only.

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Tomo was infuriating.

It seemed as though no matter what Yomi tried to do, no matter how much she tried to avoid her, Tomo always got under her skin. It was as though the teenager could pick out Yomi's every weak point, and pressure them to no end, ruthlessly, without any concern for her feelings whatsoever, for her own amusement. And when Yomi addressed it, she simply grinned her stupid wildcat grin at her.

Come on, Yomi! Lighten up!

Lighten up, Yomi. Get a sense of humor, Yomi. That was all she ever heard from her friends. Well, mostly Tomo and Kagura, though a few teachers had expressed that opinion too. They said she needed to loosen up, get a more exciting personality.

Okay, sure. But you're not telling me how!

That was the plain reality of it. Yomi was boring. A plain, ordinary, boring girl, without the slightest sense of fun.

That is...until the sleepover.

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“You freakin' idiot! I can't believe you said that!”

It was a warm Autumn night, in the heart of Tokyo. Two best friends were currently sitting on one Koyomi Mizuhara's bed. The other, Tomo Takino, was giving Yomi a wide, un-concerned grin, while the other fumed, pacing her room and grinding a fist in one of her palms.

“Yomi, calm...”

“I will not calm down!” Yomi thundered, and Tomo raised an eyebrow. She was used to Yomi yelling at her by now, over the littlest things. She usually felt better after she let off her steam, and so was not concerned with Yomi's pacing.

Yomi was breathing hard, her voluptuous chest heaving. She glared at Tomo, who continued to look back at her innocently.

“I can't believe you. I can't believe you actually said we'd had sex before! When everyone was listening! I'll bet you just wanted to show off, being an asshole, as usual.”

The insults seemed to bounce off Tomo like an egg of silly putty. She grinned even wider and rolled her eyes. “Yomi, babe...you know I was only joking...”

“I DON'T CARE!” Yomi hurled at her. The scream seemed to reverberate around the room, and Tomo frowned a bit, moving away from Yomi as far as she could with the wall behind her. “I don't care if you were joking! Telling lies like that to Kagura to boost your reputation! I don't even know how we stayed friends if you're going to say things like that about me!”

There was an awkward silence in which neither of them spoke, and the only sounds heard were Yomi's huffs and loud, deep breathing. Tomo was the one who broke the tension, however, and her voice sounded slightly higher than usual.

“Yomi...you don't mean that...”

“Yes I do!” Yomi yelled. “If you're going to continue treating me like this, maybe we shouldn't be friends anymore.”

Another tense, sickening silence, in which Tomo stared at Yomi in horror. It was the first time since that afternoon that Tomo started to think that maybe her little “joke” had been going too far. She knew that Yomi would probably rage and scream at her for it, sure. But she had never thought she would actually feel bad about it, or that Yomi would actually consider not being her friend anymore.

They stared at each other for another minute, or maybe another hour, and Tomo closed her eyes and stood up from the bed. Yomi continued to watch her, though the fight seemed to be seeping out of her. “Tomo...?”

“Fine,” Tomo said, and her voice was hard and expression-less. Yomi had never heard Tomo's voice sounding so serious in living memory. “Fine. I'll just go then.”

She actually had her school bag in her hand, and was moving toward the window she usually entered Yomi's room through, before Yomi walked over to her, grabbing her wrist. It seemed to be a good sign that Tomo didn't throw it off, but continued to face the window. Yomi sighed.

“I-I'm sorry...” she muttered. “You...you're right. I should have realized you were only joking. I shouldn't have yelled...”

“Don't,” Tomo replied, still not looking at her. Apparently, she was not used to Yomi apologizing. “Don't apologize. It's my fault. I should have thought about your feelings, I should have just kept my mouth shut. You'd probably be better off without a friend like me.”

They both paused, then Yomi spoke again, and all of her anger seemed to have melted away at the thought of her best friend actually leaving her. “T-Tomo...I need you, you know that. You've been my best friend since grade school. You know I didn't mean what I said...I was just...angry.”

Tomo nodded, and found that her eyes were stinging with tears. Looking back up, she saw that Yomi's eyes were sparkling with tears of her own, shining behind her square, rounded glasses. Until now, she had never really appreciated how beautiful Yomi was. She had this odd urge to kiss her, but decided against it. Now wasn't the time.

Instead, she moved close to her and hugged her, Tomo's arms wrapped around Yomi's curvy waist. Yomi's lip quivered lightly, and she wrapped her own arms around her, hugging her gently against her chest. Tomo closed her eyes, running her fingers through Yomi's copper hair. They stayed that way for a long time, it seemed, before finally pulling away from each other, looking awkward.

“W-well...that's that, then,” Yomi said, trying to bring them back to reality. Tomo seemed slightly embarrassed, though her wild nature prevented her from feeling awkwardness like Yomi.

“Yeah...” Tomo replied, sounding distracted and distant. She was still thinking about how her arms had felt, wrapped around Yomi's waist, her cheek against her springy breasts. Her chest started to feel painful, and it was becoming hard to swallow.

Yomi seemed to register that Tomo was beginning to get distracted, because she coughed. “Well, what do you wanna do now? We've got the entire rest of the night.”

Tomo suddenly had a million naughty thoughts whirring around her head, and she had to look away to hide her reddening face. “We should take a shower before we head to bed...” she replied, and her mouth spread into a sly grin.

It seemed as though Yomi was trying to figure out what she had meant, her head was slightly tilted to the side as she examined Tomo's expression. Then her face started to grow red as well.

“Y-you mean...together...?”

Tomo shrugged, raising an eyebrow at her as she continued to grin. “It'd save time and the environment, wouldn't it?”

She grinned when she noticed Yomi's face growing a very dark red at her suggestion. She knew she wasn't alone as she thought about the many things they could get away with. After a few seconds, Yomi nodded. Tomo continued to grin, now bursting with triumph, and went off to her bag to pull out her pajamas.

The bathroom was a few doors to the right of Yomi's room. With pajamas and towels in their arms, they entered. It was a typical Japanese-style bathroom, the bathtub built into the floor, the shower across from it on the other side of the room. A few of the cabinets held different shampoos and body wash.

Tomo pulled open the Shoji screen door that concealed the large shower, and turned on the showerhead. The bathroom slowly filled with steam, and she started to strip off. She could see Yomi doing the same, and couldn't help but watch out of the corner of her eye. Then again, she had the feeling that Yomi was doing the same to her.

She entered the shower before Yomi, seeing as Yomi had gone over to the mirror to see if she had lost any weight. Tomo rolled her eyes, if Yomi was sensitive about anything, it was her weight.

“Honestly Yomi, you're not even fat,” she said, her voice sounding a bit distant under the flowing, hot water coming from the shower head. Yomi muttered something back, but Tomo pretended not to hear her as she poured shampoo in her hair. A few minutes later, she noticed Yomi move into the shower next to her, though was sure to keep a few inches between them as she did so, apparently not wanting to give her the opportunity to touch her.

They were silent for a few minutes, simply washing their hair under the water, the unsaid things that they were keeping hidden seeming to float in front of them, tantalizing. Suddenly, Yomi spoke through the flowing water.

“Hey, Tomo?”

“Yeah?”

Yomi had looked a bit awkward when she said it. She was staring at Tomo, and Tomo stared back, waiting for her reply. Finally, after a few awkward moments, Yomi spoke.

“Can you...can you wash my back for me?”

Tomo's eyebrows were raised so high at this point, that they seemed in danger of disappearing into her hair, which now stuck to her neck and the sides of her face. Grinning, she took one of the scrubbers from around the showerhead and started to wash Yomi's back, slowly letting it brush against her skin. Yomi seemed to be relaxing now, her eyes were closed, her head tilted back. There was a silence in the room for a long time, before Tomo spoke again.

“Yomi?”

“Hm?” Yomi replied, her voice sounding calm and relaxed under Tomo's scrubbing. Tomo casually let one of her fingers trail against Yomi's spine, feeling the goosebumps that erupted on her skin.

“Why do you put up with me?” she asked, a frown on her face. “I mean...I obviously annoy you to no end. Why don't you just tell me to screw off?”

Yomi seemed to be thinking hard about what she had said, and after a moment or two, she turned around to face her, placing her hands on Tomo's bare shoulders. The smaller girl took in a long, deep breath, her heart hammering in her chest as they moved closer, though not close enough to touch. Yomi was smiling slightly.

“Tomo, you're my best friend. We've been fighting nearly every day since we've known each other. I've gotten used to it, you know.”

They stared at each other, for what felt like hours, maybe days, letting the hot shower water trickle down their skin, the steam making both faces appear flushed. Breathing started to become very difficult as they stared into each others eyes, taking in each others faces. And as though invisible magnets were manipulating their actions, they both moved together at the same time, and they were kissing passionately, Yomi's fingers moving through Tomo's wet hair, one of Tomo's hands moving to cup her breast. The bathroom was filled with their moans and sighs of delight, the lust hanging in the air, almost tangible.

And almost as suddenly as it started, it stopped, leaving both girls panting, hot and wet, staring at each other, and quite unable to believe what had just happened. An echoing, sickening silence proceeded.

“Um...” seemed to be the first thing that punctured Tomo's brain, and she she shook her head, looking away from Yomi.

“I can't believe we just...I mean...”

Tomo couldn't form words properly. Her mind was still concentrating on how Yomi's lips had felt against her's, how her hands slipped against her soft, wet skin, and the many sensations that seemed to be ebbing through her like the water that was still showering down on them. She could tell that Yomi was having the same feelings, and she looked down at her feet.

“I'm...sorry,” she said, breathless and embarrassed. “I...I don't know what came over me...”

“Neither do I, to tell you the truth,” Yomi grinned. “But, you know...you're a really great kisser, Tomo.”

Tomo grinned her usual wildcat grin, obviously very pleased with herself, her heart blazing in triumph. “I've been summoning up the courage to do that for years. Now turn around, I'm not done washing you yet.”

Yomi rolled her eyes, though that didn't stop the grin that had formed on her face, and she muttered “You're such a pain in the ass, Tomo...” before turning around, so that Tomo could continue washing her back, as though nothing happened.