Disclaimer: I don't own Azumanga Daioh or Tokyo, or the song that I was inspired by. I'm simply borrowing them without permission, which isn't stealing somehow. P.S. While I –should- look this up, I'm lazy, so all of the above go to their rightful owners.

Background about this story's creation: It's quite simple, really. After watching all but the last episode of Azumanga Daioh and reading countless fics on the topic, then listening to "It's Been a While" during a long car-ride home where the only thing to do was day-dream, I day-dreamed up this story. I was going to make it a song-fic, but then I remembered that Song-fics piss me off for some reason, and thus I wouldn't be good at writing one.

One last note: I will not claim to know the what the situation with homeless people is in Tokyo, nor will I be able to tell you how common out-door fires are, or how easy it is to cauterize a wound. In short, artistic liberties are awesome.

And as a final note, italics are Tomo's thoughts, and dotted lines mark the beginning and end of a flashback.

Yay! It's ready!

From Wildcat to Alleycat

A Tale of Tomo Takino

It was a frigid night in Tokyo, with strong gusts depositing layer upon layer of snow on every surface imaginable. The kind of night where even expensive reservations set months in advance would be blown off just to avoid the hassle of going outside. Of course, staying inside is not an option either when you lack a place to live, so Takino Tomo would have to make due with her layers of shabby, discarded clothing and a makeshift tent made of a discarded tarp and some conveniently shaped and sized branches. Tomo was a young girl, no older than twenty-three, but her homeless state, coupled with a more recent alcohol addiction, had definitely taken their toll on her. She was about 5' 3", not too short, but not too tall, either. Her hair, when not coated in mud and dirt, was a dark brown, and reached about down to the curve of her bottom. It was messy and tangled, as though it hadn't been washed or combed thoroughly in quite a while, since washing and combing her hair was usually the last thing on the girl's mind.

Her face was the cleanest part of her, skin tone usually a mildly tanned peach color, though the cold weather had changed it to a nearly cadaverous pale white. Her heavy, tan wool jacket, black sweatshirt, and thick, red wool gloves were all battered and worn, large tears and rips in them from catching on fences, as well as fights with dogs and other homeless people for food. She had lost her right ring finger to one such fight the previous winter, but was lucky enough to have found a fire and a piece of metal to heat and cauterize the wound, although she was completely smashed at the time and managed to give herself permanent burn wounds on the rest of her right hand and even one up near her left eye before she finally got it. Her pants were, in comparison to the rest of her clothes, new looking, still un-ripped, un-faded (tan like her jacket), and a bit too small for her, as were her shoes. They were black sneakers, now caked with mud and other, far less pleasant things, and had been her only pair of shoes for the two years since she became homeless.

Tomo sat quietly under her tent, her back to a brick wall; legs curled up against her chest and held there by her arms, her face pressed to her knees, shuddering from the freezing winds and gathering snow blowing in through the entrance to her "home". Her dinner, a half-eaten turkey sandwich, sat to her left, becoming steadily less visible under the gathering snow, and clutched in her left hand was a bottle of her favorite toxin, now almost empty. Her eyes were shut tight, rapidly chilling tears stinging her face as she reminisced about her childhood and her childhood friend in particular. She remembered when they had first met, long ago in elementary school.

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A small, slightly chubby girl with glasses and long, light brown hair was kneeling on the playground, sobbing loudly as three boys crowded around her, pointing and laughing as they yelled things about her weight and bespectacled state. A nine year old Tomo heard the comments and the sobbing as she ran by the crowd, chasing a stray ball. She stopped dead in her tracks as she absorbed the nearby sounds, turning and shuffling towards the source, her hands balled into fists. She smacked the boy closest to her in the cheek hard, sending him sprawling to the ground, a bit too shocked to cry immediately. The other two boys immediately took off running, shouting pleas for mercy. As soon as they were out of sight, Tomo sat next to the girl and nudged her.

"Hey! You can stop cryin' now, I scared 'em off! They won't bother ya anymore, not while I'm with ya" Tomo announced, grinning with self-satisfaction.

"Y… you scared them off? F… for me?" the girl replied as she turned her head to look at her savior, her voiced still choked with her un-used sobs.

"Yeah, of course! And from now on, you have me as your dedicated body guard, uhm… ehm… what's your name…?" Tomo could feel herself blushing softly, embarrassed. The bespectacled girl simply giggled softly, following it up with a smile.

"I'm Koyomi Mizuhara! And your name is…?" she asked, as she stood up, reaching her hand out for her new friend, who either didn't notice or didn't care.

"I'm Tomo! Pleased to meet…" she was cut off by a teacher dragging her away, the boy she had smacked following close behind.

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Takino chuckled to herself, her eyes opening just a bit as she murmured.

"Got suspended for three days cause of that, Yomi, so I sure hope you appreciated it…"

She sighed after and began to stand, her legs wobbling under her, her right hand moving to the wall to support her. Fresh tears began to sting her face as she stumbled out of her tent, and she began to whisper.

"Ahhh, Yomi… I'm so glad you're not here to see me like this. You're bodyguard's a bum now, eh? Wildcat Tomo's been de-clawed…" she sighed again and shoved her hand into her pocket as she walked, fishing out her long dead cell phone.

"Still, it'd be nice to hear your voice again, if only for a few moments… buuut what's done is done, can't go crawlin' back to ya now, not after so long, specially not after what I did…" she stopped to lean against to wall of her favorite, or at least her closest, liquor store, rummaging through her pockets for cash, which she was unsurprisingly lacking.

"Dammit, how could I run out now? Right when I need it most, it just slips away from me. Well, I suppose I'll have to find some quick cash…" she trailed off as her gaze wandered, finally landing on a woman about her own age heading towards her, though on the opposite side of the street.

"Well, I suppose nows as good a time as ever to try purse snatchin'…" she mumbled as she crossed the street, tailing her target from a few feet away. She laughed very quietly to herself as she got ready to spring, remembering her old dreams of working with Interpol.

And to think you wanted to be a cop. You certainly fucked that up, didn'tcha? Just like you fucked up college, and your friendships, and your first love. You're shit, Takino, and you need to make everyone around you feel like shit too.

As quick as it had started, it was over. The woman was on her ass in the snow, and Tomo was running at top speed from the scene, the purse flailing wildly behind her, tears streaming down her face again.

And what, now you're gonna go and do some dumb shit and dig yourself deeper into your little hell-hole. Just gonna run off with that woman's money and any other valuables she had in there, for what? A nice bottle of liver disease, yeah? Well, maybe that's not such a bad thing. The faster you die, the sooner everyone else around you'll stop suffering. I hope you rot, Takino, you worthless bitch.

She stopped. Her legs began to tremble underneath her, her arm wiping furiously at her eyes. She turned and began to run back, hoping the woman she'd robbed hadn't run too far away, which she hadn't. In fact, she'd stayed in the same spot, though she was standing now, explaining to a male police officer what had happened. Tomo called to the two as she approached and tossed the purse at the woman's feet. Moments later, Tomo was slammed face first into the snow as the officer cuffed her, and she put up no resistance as she was led into the back seat of a police car. The officer yelled some things at her, but she was too lost in her own thoughts to hear him. She relaxed as best she could and closed her eyes…

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The sun shone through her curtains as she woke up, though her body was that of a high-school girl now. She took in a deep breath and let it out in a happy sigh, a familiar feeling upon her. Her lover was still fast asleep, as her arm were still wrapped tight around Tomo's waist, so much wriggling was required to turn herself. She finally accomplished her mission, though, and planted a gentle kiss on the lips of her sleeping maiden.

"Yomi, you have no clue how cute you look when you sleep, do you?" she whispered, a warm, loving smile spreading across her face. Her lover stirred a bit and let out a soft "mrr", squeezing her captive gently, then yawning and opening one eye sleepily.

"Well, I have some idea, since you're constantly reminding me…" Yomi cuddled up closer to her love and smiled before yawning again. "But it's always nice to hear".

A few minutes passed both girls admiring each other, silent but blissful. Finally, Tomo broke the silence, first with another kiss, then with a simple statement.

"Y'know, Yomi… I dunno where I'd be without you…"

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Those words echoed through her mind, growing steadily fainter, until her older, much more cynical voice replaced it.

Yeah, just look where you are. A police station, and not as an officer, either. You called yourself a wildcat? You're just a pussy without Yomi, huh? Just a stray cat that's gulpin down anti-freeze. But hey, why listen to your best friend, huh? Go get a job, maybe? Help pay for yourself while you live with her, try to get back into college? But no, no, it's a much better idea to break a bottle over her head and yell at her about some shit you know isn't true, but you'll just go ahead and say it anyway cause you know it'll fuck up her night. That's a much better idea, yeah? Then you can go stormin' outta the house and never speak to her again. That's just as good, yeah? But hey, I should shut up now. This officer would probably appreciate it if you actually answered his questions.

"Hey, are you even listening to me!? What in the hell? Did you, or did you not steal that purse?"

"I… I did…" Tomo managed to sputter out, tears welling up in her eyes once more, her breath choking up with soft sobs. "I… I'm s… sorry, I didn't… I wasn't thinkin' straight or something I just…" she trailed off into louder sobs, burying her face in her arms.

"H… hey now, stop that. Stop crying, come on. Listen, hey, you gave it back, right? Well, this'll have to go on your record, but you'll probably only get community service, since you turned yourself in. In the meantime, you got someone you can call to come pick you up?"

Tomo shook her head, almost yelling at the man "Do I look like I have anyone?! Are you fucking blind or somethin'?!"

Oh, real bright idea there, Takino. Two birds with one stone, you can get the officer mad at you –and- ruin a good chance at makin' up with Yomi. I'm surprised you ended up like this with that brain in your head. Fuck, even Chiyo would be jealous.

She nodded a little, seeming to become far calmer, which confused the officer since she had just been almost raging, then asked him in her softest voice;

"A… actually, could I call Koyomi Mizuhara…?"