Azumanga Daioh: Higher Education Secret Chapter Two, an azumanga daioh fanfic

Hello every-nyan, and welcome to the second special 'non-edit' chapter from Azumanga Daioh: Higher Education. As stated before, this chapter will consist of one of the two parts I wrote before I actually started this fanfiction. It has not been changed at all; it's completely original (or as original as I still have...), spelling errors and everything. It's hard to post this, because it's pretty bad, lol. But I just figured somebody in the world has to be interested in it. Get some insight into what started this great adventure we've all been on together. I'll also talk a little bit at the end about the chapter, and the ideas behind it. There's also a Fricken Awesome Questions section (this one has spoilers).

REALIZE BY THE WAY (IF YOU READ THE LAST NON-EDIT) THAT THIS NON-EDIT IS MUCH MUCH DIFFERENT FROM THE FINAL VERSION! So, without further ado, let's begin. Everything Azumanga Daioh belongs to it's respective owners. Happy Reading :)

Azumanga Daioh DX: ZaXo's Story

What if the story of Azumanga Daioh was different?

What if there was an extra person in the group of girls?

This is an alternate version of Azumanga written as if there was a boy in the mix... a boy named ZaXo Ken'Ichi. Even though this is not his real last name (he was born outside of Japan), he adopted it as to fit in a little better. Here is his story.

Chapter 19

Things were going good for ZaXo ever since he had went on the school trip. Everything just seemed to run smoothly, and everyone was in a good mood. Sakaki was even talking more, Osaka seemed a little brighter than normal, and Yomi had laid off getting angry at Tomo for the silly things she did. As he sat at lunch with everyone, he thought, overall it was a very nice time in his life.

"Hey Sakaki, do you wanna hang out after school?", ZaXo asked, really hoping for a yes.

"Oh, uh, sure. That would be great. Where should we meet?", asked

Sakaki shyly.

"Umm, how about we all just walk home together like normal, but

instead we go to either your house or mine."

"Ok, we can go to your house. But can I pick something up from mine first?", she asked even more shy than before.

"Yeah, of course. So I guess that's it then. I'll see you later.", said ZaXo, as he got up to head back for class.

The day seemed to pass by very slowly from that point on. ZaXo was really very excited to spend time with Sakaki. He always liked to, but he felt this time would be different. Partially because nobody else would be with them, which was rare, but there was another reason. He just didn't know what that was. Today just felt... different. When school finally got over, he rushed out as fast as he could, and waited for everyone right

outside.

They walked most of the way home just listening to Tomo talking about her grades, and her crazy plot to get them higher. Osaka joined in by making a plan to break into the school and change her grades.

Everyone laughed except for Chiyo, who clearly thought Osaka was

actually willing to try it, and Tomo who really did think it over before

deciding her plan was better. As usual, ZaXo gave Chiyo a piggyback ride all the way to her house.

"I'll be back in a second.", said Sakaki.

"Wait, what are you doing?", asked ZaXo curiously.

"Oh, i forgot to tell everyone. I am living at Chiyo's house right now, to take care of Maya. The thing I want to get is in her house."

"Ahh, ok. I'll be waiting here.", stated ZaXo.

Chiyo made sure ZaXo was out of earshot before asking, "Miss

Sakaki, what are you and ZaXo doing today?"

Sakaki blushed heavily, and replied, "Well, he wants to hang out

today, and I want to show him the things I am getting for Maya in that

magazine."

"Oh, ok. I wish I could come, but my parents said I have to stay home

today. They are leaving for two days, so I can't do anything.", Chiyo said, pouting a bit.

"Uhh, yeah, I wish you could come too.", Sakaki lied.

She quickly ran upstairs, and ran back out with Maya, and the

magazine in hand. Chiyo waved goodbye, and walked back inside the house.

Chapter 20

Sakaki and ZaXo began to walk to his house, a few blocks further up. They talked about how well things were going in school and such on the way there. When they finally arrived, they went to his room. Sakaki

proceeded to show him the things in the magazine. They looked at it for quite a while. At least two hours went by, but ZaXo didn't mind. He didn't know why, but he seemed to get into things Sakaki was into. If Osaka, or someone else would have shown him something like this, he would have gone crazy after ten minutes. But something about Sakaki

enjoying it, just made it... interesting. After that was done, they continued to talk about school and their friends. Life was interesting when you had friends like they did. Both Sakaki, and ZaXo thouroughly enjoyed talking this much. The conversations never hit any snags. All was perfect.

"Hey, look outside. It's getting dark out.", Sakaki said.

"Oh, are you wanting to go home now? I can walk you."

"No, I don't want to go home yet. But we should go sit outside.", she

replied.

"Yeah, sure. I have a nice outdoor couch in the backyard. We can go sit there. C'mon." ZaXo knew there were other seats back there, but by

suggesting the couch, he could sit closer to her. He felt calm when he was next to her.

They got outside to the couch, and both sat right next to eachother, just staring into the sky as the stars appeared. Sakaki leaned over and rested her head on ZaXo's shoulder. He then wrapped his arm around her shoulders. They sat in silence, just enjoying the bliss of having someone so close to them. They were there for about ten minutes, before Sakaki fell asleep. ZaXo looked at her, and smiled. But lazy blissfulness

enveloped him as well, and within a minute, he was sleeping too.

They slept through the night, and woke the next morning, just in time for school. They had eventually layed down, and Sakaki had her arms wrapped around him, her head on his chest. Maya was asleep in the yard. ZaXo was the first to wake. He rubbed his eyes, and tried to stretch. But before he could, he noticed Sakaki laying next to him, and fell off of the couch in shock.

"Whoa! Sakaki? What are you... oh, no.", he sait, realizing what had

happened.

"Huh, ZaXo, what are you doing in Chiyo's room this ear...ly" Sakaki slowed her speech when she saw where she was. "OH MY! We fell asleep here, and we've been here all night?"

"I guess so. We didn't do anything did we?", ZaXo asked, nerves getting the better of him.

"I don't remember anything."

Relaxing, ZaXo sighed, "Oh, yeah, neither do I. That's good. We just fell asleep."

"It's morning. What time is it, ZaXo?", Sakaki wondered aloud.

ZaXo looked at his watch and his eyes widened. "We have ten

minutes to get to school! Let's get going now!" The two got there things and ran. Sakaki stopped at Chiyo's house to drop off Maya, and then they

continued.

Chapter 21

They reached the classroom with five minutes before school started. Everyone was there... and they were all arguing. "Hey, sorry we're late. What's going on...", said ZaXo, but looking around he saw that Chiyo was missing. "Where's Chiyo?"

On that note, they all stopped and looked from him to Sakaki. "Oh, Sakaki, we thought something happened to you to. We're so glad you're ok!", cried Kagura, embracing Sakaki tightly.

The only one that didn't seem to look happy was Tomo, who was glaring furiously at ZaXo. "YOU BASTARD!", she yelled before lunging at him.

"What was that?", he yelled, breaking her grip on him, and holding back her arms, so she couldn't punch him.

"YOU TOOK CHIYO! YOU'RE IN ON IT, I JUST KNOW IT! YOU'RE THE ONLY GUY WHO HANGS OUT WITH HER! YOU JUST WANTED TO EARN HER TRUST SO THAT YOU COULD KIDNAP HER! WHY?"

, Tomo screamed at him.

"Wait, will someone tell me what is going on?", said ZaXo, worried now.

"YOU KNOW DAMN WELL WHAT'S GOI-"

"SHUT UP TOMO! I think he is serious.", interrupted Yomi, though she glared at ZaXo too, while Tomo let go of him.

"Ok, now what is happening here?", asked ZaXo.

"It's Chiyo, she never came to school today, and we thought you took her and Sakaki, so you could ransom 'em an kill 'em.", said Osaka, who was even angry at him.

"I can explain why Sakaki and I were late. We... uhh." ZaXo stopped, and wondered if he should tell the truth. Would they even believe him?

Probably not, so he lied instead. "Sakaki forgot something, um, a book at my house yesterday, and we got all the way here before we found that it was at my house. My house was locked up, so I had to go with her to get it."

"LIES!", yelled Tomo. "That would mean that Sakaki was at Chiyo's house when she dissapeared. You would have taken her too if that was the case. You must have chased her all the way here, and now you're

blackmailing her or something to act normal!"

"That's rediculous, Tomo. C'mon, you know I wouldn't do anything to hurt anyone here. I really care for Chiyo, and wouldn't make her

'dissapear'. Now what's actually going on?", ZaXo finished, starting to get annoyed, and afraid for Chiyo, along with himself.

"Well, just take a look at this note we found on her desk.", said Yomi, handing it to him.

"He's already seen it Yomi. After all, he wrote it, snuck in the school and put it on her desk!"

"TOMO, SHUT IT!", yelled Yomi again.

ZaXo's eyes widened as he read the note. 'Dear friends of Chiyo Mihama. You must be wondering where your always punctual friend is about now. I have taken her, and if you want her back, you have to do exactly what I say. Do not speak to anyone of authority. Instead, all of you need to come to the house at the address on the back of this note, and knock three times on the door to the house. I will explain what I want from that point on. Sincerely yours, ...'

"You... you all think I did this? How could I? I never...", ZaXo stopped, at a loss for words. It was almost enough to make him tear up. How could his friends of almost three years think he would take poor young

Chiyo-Chan like this? Whoever really did it was sick, he thought.

Just then, Sakaki spoke out. "He couldn't have done it. He lied. I... I was with him all night."

"WHAT?", they all said, including ZaXo.

"No, Sakaki, if you don't feel comfortable telling them, you don't have to defend me.", stated ZaXo.

"No, it's ok. It's unfair that they blame you. ZaXo did really ask me to hang out yesterday. But we accidentaly fell aleep on the couch in is

backyard... accidentaly. I was with him all night, and he didn't go

anywhere. Besides, I trust ZaXo. I know that he would never do anything like this. So then we rushed to get here. It is my fault that Chiyo is gone. If I had been there, this wouldn't have happened.", said Sakaki.

"Well, I still don't trust him, but we have more important matters to

attend to right now.", snarled Tomo.

"Ain't that right. We gotta go find Chiyo-Chan", stated Osaka.

"Ok, then lets all go find that house.", offered Kagura.

"I don't care if you all don't trust me. I am coming too. I need to help Chiyo.", ZaXo said, too worried to agree if they tried to tell him not to come with.

They all ran out of the classroom, just as the bell rang. They sprinted past Yukari, who didn't even notice who just went by her.

"Heh, silly kids ditching school. That's not how you do it. Your not

suppose to come to school at all. Eh, whatever.", she said to herself.

When they got outside, they looked at the address. It was a few blocks from Sakaki's house. They hurried on, but the whole time Tomo was stating why ZaXo was untrustworthy. She had some good points. He was the one who asked Sakaki to hang out, possibly so that she wasn't there while his lackies took Chiyo. It also happened when he knew Chiyo's parents would be gone, though, he defended himself by saying that he didn't know that until after they left Chiyo's house, because

Sakaki had told him then. Luckily, the others were done listening to her, and had decided to trust him.

Finally, they arrived at the house in question. It had a yard about the size of Chiyo's, but it was a considerably smaller home. They all stopped, and just stared at it for a bit. The gate was a giant swing gate connected to big brick walls surrounding the yard, but it was open. It was time to go, but ZaXo didn't feel right, just giving in to what the

kidnapper wanted. He decided that he was going to sneak in, and try to save Chiyo. But this was another point against him with Tomo.

"I bet you are just going to go in and talk with your little buddies about what you are going to do with Chiyo. You're just going to leave us all out here, and then set a trap on us too. Someone else needs to go in.", she said, clearly still angry with him.

"I don't care what you think, Tomo. I am going in whether you like it or not. I can't let anything happen to Chiyo!", he retorted, starting to get

angry himself.

Then a quiet voice behind him sounded. "I'll go with you." It was Sakaki.

"No Sakaki, I can't put you in danger like that."

"I'm going anyway ZaXo. I care about Chiyo too.", she explained.

"Yeah, ZaXo. She is going too, and you can't stop her.", Tomo shouted.

"Alright, but be careful Sakaki. All of you, wait here and be ready to run.", ZaXo said.

Chapter 22

ZaXo and Sakaki slowly approached the house. But instead of going to the front door, they crept low, up to a window at the side of the house.

ZaXo peeked inside, and saw nobody. There were stairs leading down, a hallway leading away from them, and a kitchen. But the house was too small to have anything else. It was more like half of a cabin, ZaXo thought to himself. On the table in the kitchen were some bats and other melee type weapons. He figured that Chiyo was probably downstairs, but most likely, so was the kidnapper. And judging by the amount of weapons, there were probably multiple people down there.

ZaXo slowly opened the window just enought to crawl through. The floor was wood, so he had to be careful not to make noise on it, but he still had to be quick. Being caught halfway through the window would not be a good thing. After he got in safely, he tiptoed over to grab a

weapon for him, and a weapon for Sakaki. By the time he got back over to her, she was through the window. They krept to the edge of the stairs.

"Ok, Sakaki. Chiyo is probably down here, so we need to get her. But most likely there are others downstairs. Hopefully, these weapons

upstairs are the only ones they have. Let's go.", wispered ZaXo as quietly as possible. She nodded and they began to go down the stairs. Since they were also made of wood, this proved quite difficult to do silently. But they managed.

When he was at the right section of stairs, ZaXo layed down and tried to peak down the stairs, under the ceiling of the basement. Nobody was in the room. It was all cement, and about as big as half of the

classroom at school. There was a single light in the middle of the room, over a table with a chair next to it, both wooden. It was powerful enough to light everything as if he was in the living room of a normal house... everything except for one corner, that was pitch black. But he could just make out a little cave type thing in the back wall, with bars on it, half gone because of the lack of light in the corner. He saw something moving and wimpering over in that cage structure. He got up quickly and looked at Sakaki.

"It's Chiyo. She is in a cage on the far wall. Let's go.", said ZaXo quietly, barely holding in his relief.

They snuck down the remaining stairs, set the bats down, and ran over to the cage. "Chiyo? Chiyo are you there?", asked Sakaki, staring

into the black, hoping that she could catch a glimpse of what was moving.

"M-Miss Sakaki? Is that you?", said a voice from inside the cage.

"Yes, Chiyo, come closer into the light. Are you ok?"

"Oh, Miss Sakaki! Thank you so much for rescuing me. I thought I was gone for sure. I have been so scared.", cried Chiyo. Then she noticed ZaXo next to Sakaki. "Oh, and ZaXo, I am SO glad to see you!" I knew you would come for me. I just knew it!"

Chiyo was covered in dirt, and her clothes were slightly ripped. It looked like they just threw her in here, and they clearly didn't clean where they decided to keep her. She was shaking, and tears were running down her cheeks.

"Ok, Chiyo, we're going to get you out of here. Do you know where the key to this cage is?", asked ZaXo, but he was about to find out without her answer.

There was a creaking on the stairs. Someone was coming down them! The feet appeared at the top of the ceiling. "Chiyo get back, and

Sakaki, lets get into the shadow!", said ZaXo as quietly as he could. But he wasn't quiet enough.

"Who's there?", a voice called from the body coming down into the room slowly. The man got down the stairs and turned to survey the room. He didn't notice the bats nestled by the stairs though, which was lucky, ZaXo thought. The man was balding, but what hair he did have was in a

combover, and was all a silverish grey. He looked like he was at least fifty years old, and was fairly thin, and very tall. He was dressed in black clothes, with black dress shoes on. "Who is down here? If you don't come out now, I'll end your precious friend Chiyo-Chan's life!"

ZaXo was not going to take that chance, but he didn't want Sakaki to be in danger either. He signaled for her to stay put, and walked out of the shadow. "What do you want with Chiyo, you BASTARD! What do you want with any of us?", ZaXo said through clenched teeth.

"Oh, why should I tell you that? You didn't do as I asked, now did you. If you don't keep your end of the bargain, why should I?", the man replied.

"BARGAIN? What bargain. We had no choice in the matter. So if I have to play your sick games, I'm NOT playing by your stupid rules."

"Ahh, so you must be trying to become the so called 'hero' of this story. Too bad you won't live to earn that title!", announced the man. Then he lunged at ZaXo.

ZaXo dodged him, and kicked him in the back. The man fell over, and dropped a key, and a good sized knife. ZaXo grabbed the key, but the kidnapper got the knife before ZaXo could do anything. He threw the key to Sakaki, and yelled for her to unlock the cage and run. Then

before the man could react to the shock of another person bieng in the room, ZaXo tackled him hard. Sakaki ran to the lock, and started

unlocking the cage, while ZaXo attempted to prevent the man from

attacking her or Chiyo. She got the cage unlocked and when Chiyo ran out, Sakaki picked her up.

Ending One (Just for fun)

"RUN SAKAKI!", ZaXo yelled, before losing his grip on the

man. Sakaki ran upstairs with Chiyo in her arms and ran outside, where the others were waiting. They surrounded the two, and hugged Chiyo. ZaXo meanwhile was thrown on his back by the kidnapper. The man swung the knife down at him in a stabbing motion, but ZaXo grabbed his hands stopping the knife, inches from his chest. The struggle to keep the knife from piercing ZaXo seemed to be even, but the man soon showed that he was much stronger. With an extra burst of strength, he won over ZaXo, and plunged the knife deep. As ZaXo screamed in agony, his shirt slowly became bloodsoaked where the knife had entered, right beside his heart.

The man pulled the knife out, and ZaXo screamed even louder. But as he was about to stab him again, ZaXo saw an opening. He lifted his knees and feet under the mans stomach, and launched him off. Now that the knife wound was open, blood was gushing out of the deep hole. He could feel that it went almost all the way through his body. But keeping his composure, he tried to stand up. Almost immediately the loss of blood, and searing pain caused him to stumble. The kidnapper who had hit his head on the cement floor was attempting to get up, but ZaXo kicked him in the face, and then the chest. Finally he stomped on his back, and the man gave out, hitting the floor one last time, right next to the cage in the wall Chiyo was in just seconds ago. The man was out cold, so ZaXo mustered up what little strength he had left to tie him to the bars of the cage with some rope laying on the floor. Who knows what he was going to use that for, ZaXo thought. Slowly, he began climbing the stairs, double vision setting in.

Back outside, all the girls were happy to see Chiyo safe. But Yomi was the only one to notice Sakaki looking back inside with fearful eyes.

"What's wrong Sakaki? Where's ZaXo?", she asked, ready for the worst.

"He is still inside. He was fighting the man who took Chiyo. I'm really worried. I want to go back inside and help him, but he told me to run, along with all of you."

Yomi hesitated before finally saying, "Well, I am sure he will be ok. He is a strong person."

This was the wrong thing to say. Just as they were about to turn and tell the others to run, Sakaki caught sight of ZaXo stumbling at the top of the stairs. He started walking towards the front door, but fell to his hands.

Sakaki gave a great gasp and ran up to him. He was trying to crawl on his hands and knees, his vision fading. He didn't even notice that she was next to him until she tried to pick him up and hoist his arm over her shoulder.

She and the others who had just turned to see what was happening all cried out at the at the sight of the blood covering the whole front of his shirt, and steadily dripping from the massive wound. Yomi stood frozen, but Kagura quickly helped hoist ZaXo outside. Once he was out she let go and said she would go get an ambulance. She sprinted away, and around the corner. Nobody had ever seen her run faster.

"Wh-what a day to not bring my cellphone.", Tomo wimpered.

"NOOO!", cried Chiyo, "ZaXo, you're hurt! Please don't die!"

Tears were now heavily streaming down her dirty face.

"It-, ugh, it's ok Ch-Chiyo.", said ZaXo. "Sakaki, let me g-go please. You all need to get, urgh, get out of here."

"No, I WON'T! I won't leave you here to die!", sobbed Sakaki.

"NO, you have to go N-NOW! There may be more people in the house! Just get to, hngh, safety!", ZaXo yelled. But then his voice dropped to a wisper so that only Sakaki could hear him. "I, I don't want Chiyo to see me... me... listen, just get out of here." His vision was almost completely gone, and he was very lightheaded. He felt himself slipping in and out of conciousness. "Go... n...o...w." ZaXo's breathing was getting heavier, but it was very staggered.

"Ok...", Sakaki wispered more to herself than anyone, trying to get the courage to leave him there. Then, just loud enough for him to hear her, she said softly, "I love you ZaXo. We all do." A tear dropped down his cheek. Not because of the pain, but because of Sakaki's words.

Sakaki got up and walked towards the others, not turning away from ZaXo. They all had tears in thier eyes as she said, "Let's go. ZaXo wants us to leave..."

Reluctantly they all started to walk away, all except for Chiyo. She began to run up to ZaXo, but was caught by Yomi, and dragged off with them.

"I'll take Chiyo home.", said Yomi quietly, as if all the happiness in her had gone forever.

"NOOOOO! I WANT TO GO SAVE ZAXO! WE HAVE TO!", Chiyo sobbed. But Yomi just continued to take her further away from where ZaXo still lay, barely concious.

They all went up the allyway that was straight across from the front of the house. They were just through it, when Sakaki stopped. "I can't just leave. I have to go back." Then Tomo, who had been silent the whole time finally spoke out. "No we can't. I don't want to see him die... We have to keep going."

"HE IS NOT GOING TO DIE!", Sakaki yelled fiercely. "I AM GOING BACK!" She turned and began to run back, but was caught by the arms by Osaka and Tomo.

"Yomi, you take Chiyo back home now, and try to calm her down. We will deal with Sakaki.", Tomo said, still holding Sakaki back.

"O-ok.", Yomi sobbed as she began to walk away, with Chiyo still

struggling to get away.

"I AM GOING BACK, AND I WILL CARRY HIM TO THE HOSPITAL IF I HAVE TO!", screamed Sakaki through endless tears.

Sakaki continued to try and pull away, the girls barely holding her back, when two more men walked up to the house. And out of the front door came the kidnapper. He said something to them, and they picked ZaXo up by the arms, all while sirens were getting louder in the distance.

They dragged him by the elbows back into the house, his legs

sliding on the ground. Sakaki saw his head lift up and look around before they closed the door behind them. She screamed out, broke free, and was sprinting down the alley as fast as she could. She was almost

halfway,when the ambulance and three police cars stopped in front of the house. Kagura jumped out of the back of the ambulance, and looked at where ZaXo was just a second ago. Sakaki heard her say, 'He was right there, but something must have happened.' The police ran and kicked the door in, guns raised, while the paramedics got things set up outside. They would have to wait for an ok before they were able to head in. Kagura glanced over and was suprised to see Sakaki running towards her, with Tomo and Osaka following further down the alley. She stopped Sakaki as she tried to run by.

"What happened? Where's ZaXo?", Kagura asked Sakaki urgently, but clearly confused.

"Two men showed up and took him back inside! I have to help him!"

"No, you can't. Let the police do it.", Kagura replied.

Sakaki finally gave up, and dropped to her knees crying. She rubbed her eyes, and looked up at the house. "This... This can't be

happening. It just can't be. I loved him! I LOVED HIM!", Sakaki said through the tears and heavy sobs.

"It's ok Sakaki. The cops are here. They will take care of everyone in there, and save ZaXo. Don't worry. Besides, I have to tell him that I'm sorry for not trusting him.", Tomo said, though she didn't sound like she believed anything she had just said.

"Yeah, ya don't need ta worry.", Osaka stated.

But that was the last they ever saw of ZaXo. When the police got downstairs, the men were gone, and ZaXo was on the floor. He had died right after his final look at the world, as he was bieng dragged into the house. A good friend was gone forever. The only solace that could be found for Sakaki was that he accomplished what he set out to do... saving Chiyo.

Ending Two (Just for fun)

"RUN SAKAKI!", ZaXo yelled, before losing his grip on the

Back outside, all the girls were happy to see Chiyo safe. But Yomi was the only one to notice Sakaki looking back inside with fearful eyes.

"What's wrong Sakaki? Where's ZaXo?", she asked, ready for the worst.

"He is still inside. He was fighting the man who took Chiyo. I'm really worried. I want to go back inside and help him, but he told me to run, along with all of you."

Yomi hesitated before finally saying, "Well, I am sure he will be ok. He is a strong person."

"I'll call the police to help!", said Tomo, pulling out her phone.

Everyone started to run away, Tomo talking to an officer over her cellphone, but Sakaki gave one last fleeting look at the house, before she turned the corner around the brick wall fencing in the yard. At that

moment, Sakaki caught sight of ZaXo covered in blood, clambering out of the front door. She gave a great gasp, and ran back too him. ZaXo slammed the door behind himself, grabbed her hand, and started to run, even though he was in immense pain. The others were about a block away, when they noticed Sakaki missing, and turned around to go back.

"Sakaki we need to get out of here. We need to go fast.", ZaXo breathed, trying to stay concious.

"What happened? Is, is that your blood?", asked Sakaki nervously.

"Yes. No time to explain that. There were two others upstairs that saw me. They came in through the back door, and went to grab weapons from the kitchen. They are bound to come after us. We need to move fa-"

Just as he was about to finish, he heard the two men bash the door down. "FASTER!", ZaXo yelled, using everything he could muster to keep running. He looked back to see the men turning the corner around the wall, and gaining fast. In front of ZaXo, the others were running back

towards them. He signaled for them to turn around, but just then Sakaki fell over. He stopped to help her up, but before he could, one of the men hit him over the head with the plastic pipe he had grabbed from the kitchen. ZaXo fell to the ground, stars sparkling in his head. He heard

Sakaki scream, but as he tried to get up, he passed out.

"I feel really relaxed right now. This is nice.", ZaXo thought. He

began to slowly open his eyes and sit up. But the searing pain in his chest that followed prevented him from going anywhere.

"HE'S AWAKE YOU GUYS!", ZaXo heard someone next to him yell. He heard others gasp, and looked around. Everything was too bright and blurry to see much, but that voice was unmistakenly Tomo's. He rubbed his eyes, and things became clear enough for him to see. He was in what looked like a room at the hospital, and all his friends were there... all

except Sakaki. He then remembered her screaming right before he passed out. Though it hurt him, he sat bolt upright.

"Where is Sakaki?", he asked hurriedly.

All the talk of him being ok stopped immediately at this question. Tomo's weak smile turned into tears very quickly, along with most of the others. "What is it? Where is she?", ZaXo asked urgently.

It took a couple seconds, but finally someone spoke up. It was Yomi.

"She... she is gone."

"You mean she is missing? Please mean that she's missing. If she is, we can still find her. Don't say she's dead. Please, no.", ZaXo pleaded with Yomi, though he looked at them all.

They all looked down, and Kagura let out a big sob. "NO! She can't be... gone. What happened?", asked ZaXo, tears beginning to plague him too.

More time went by before Yomi finally spoke up again. "Well, you know that when she fell, the first guy knocked you out. Then the other... he picked her up. They carried her back to the house, one of them saying to forget about the rest of us. We were going to go after them, but the

police showed up, and stopped us. They said it was too dangerous, and we should let them take care of it. When they checked the house... when they checked it..." Her voice trailed off and she put her face in her hands." "..No...NO...NOOOO! WHY SAKAKI? WHY HER? WHY NOT ME?", ZaXo yelled. He was so loud that the doctors came rushing in.

"What's wrong? Is he awake? Oh, I see you are doing fine.", one of the doctors said, before realizing that everyone was in tears. "Oh... so you found out about your friend. Well, I will come back in a while to check up on how you are doing. We'll leave you alone.", he said before walking out of the door, and closing it behind him.

"This... This can't be happening. It just can't be. I loved her! I LOVED HER!", ZaXo screamed at the top of his lungs. He didn't care that it made his chest sear with pain. He didn't care that the doctors and everyone else probably thought he was crazy for yelling so loud. He just didn't care

anymore. He loved Sakaki, and never even got to tell her. Nothing meant anything to him now. He just wanted to be with her again. But for the rest of his life, he would have to live with the burden of letting her go. Though her death wasn't actually his fault, he would forevermore believe it to be so...

Ending Three (The actual ending)

"RUN SAKAKI!", ZaXo yelled, before losing his grip on the

The man pulled the knife out, and ZaXo screamed even louder. But as he was about to stab him again, ZaXo saw an opening. He lifted his knees and feet under the mans stomach, and launched him off. Now that the knife wound was open, blood was gushing out of the deep hole. He could feel that it went almost all the way through his body. But keeping his mental composure, he tried to stand up. Almost immediately the loss of blood, and searing pain caused him to stumble. The kidnapper who had hit his head on the cement floor was attempting to get up, but ZaXo kicked him in the face, and then the chest. Finally he stomped on his back, and the man gave out, hitting the floor one last time, right next to the cage in the wall Chiyo was in just seconds ago. The man was out cold, so ZaXo mustered up what little strength he had left to tie him to the bars of the cage with some rope laying on the floor. Who knows what he was going to use that for, ZaXo thought. Slowly, he began climbing the stairs, double vision setting in.

Back outside, all the girls were happy to see Chiyo safe. But Yomi was the only one to notice Sakaki looking back inside with fearful eyes.

"What's wrong Sakaki? Where's ZaXo?", she asked, ready for the worst.

"He is still inside. He was fighting the man who took Chiyo. I'm really worried. I want to go back inside and help him, but he told me to run, along with all of you."

Yomi hesitated before finally saying, "Well, I am sure he will be ok. He is a strong person."

"I'll call the police to help!", said Tomo, pulling out her phone.

moment, Sakaki caught sight of ZaXo covered in blood, clambering out of the front door. She gave a great gasp, and ran back too him. ZaXo slammed the door behind himself, grabbed her hand, and started to run, even though he was in immense pain. The others were about a block away when they noticed Sakaki missing, and turned around to go back.

"Sakaki we need to get out of here. We need to go fast.", ZaXo breathed, trying to stay concious.

"What happened? Is, is that your blood?", asked Sakaki nervously.

Sakaki scream, but as he tried to get up, he passed out.

"I feel really relaxed right now. This is nice.", ZaXo thought. He

began to slowly open his eyes and sit up. But the searing pain in his chest that followed prevented him from going anywhere.

except Sakaki. He then remembered her screaming right before he passed out. Though it hurt him, he sat bolt upright.

"Where is Sakaki?", he asked hurriedly. ZaXo pretended he was prepared for the worst, though he knew he wasn't.

"Oh, she we-", started Osaka, but she was interrupted when the door to the room opened, and in walked Sakaki, carrying a tray of food.

"Oh.", Sakaki said, noticing ZaXo was awake, and beginning to blush. The others resumed talking with one another like they were a minute ago. "I just got everyone food. If I would have known you were going to wake while I was gone, I would have gotten you some."

"It's ok Sakaki. I'm not hungry. I'm just glad you're ok."

"I'm glad you're ok too. You've been asleep for about six hours.", she said, sitting next to him on the edge of the hospital bed.

"What happened after I was knocked out?" ZaXo asked, curiously.

"Well, when I fell, the other man ran up to me and tried to take me back towards the house. But Tomo saved me by throwing a rock. It hit him in the head, and he let go in pain. Right then, the police arrived and arrested the two, along with the leader that was still downstairs. Everything is fine now.", Sakaki finished.

Just then, Chiyo walked up and hugged ZaXo. He yelped in pain, and she quickly jumped away and apologized, clearly embarrased. "No don't worry, Chiyo. I can deal with the pain. I am just glad you're safe. Now give me another hug.", ZaXo said warmly.

"Oh, thank you so much Mr. ZaXo! I don't know what I would have done if something had happened to you. If it weren't for you, I would have been...", Chiyo stopped, and swallowed hard.

"I understand, and you're welcome, but I didn't do all the work. Everyone else helped too."

"Yes, they did. Thank you too Miss Sakaki.", Chiyo said, running over and giving her a big hug too.

"I am sorry for not trusting you ZaXo.", said someone in his ear. It was Tomo.

"No worries Tomo. I understand why you didn't want to trust me. I'm glad that I earned it though.", stated ZaXo, giving her a big smile.

"Everyone is safe, and those evil people are gone forever", ZaXo thought to himself. "It feels good to know that nothing happened to

anyone. I will make sure that nothing EVER happens to anyone here like that again." ZaXo smiled, and looked out of the window at the night sky. He then layed back down and enjoyed the company of his best friends for the rest of the night.

Azumanga Daioh DX: ZaXo's Story

What if the story of Azumanga Daioh was different?

What if there was an extra person in the group of girls?

Chapter 22

Three days had passed since the horrible incident with Chiyo. ZaXo had just gotten out of the hospital. It was almost dusk, and he decided that he wanted to walk home, instead of his parents giving him a ride, like they had planned on doing. He just wanted to be alone, and reflect on everything that happened. But at the same time, he wanted to be with his friends, acting like nothing had ever gone wrong. He just walked along the sidewalk thinking. He decided to take the long way through the park. After about five minutes, the sky began to glow with a slight

yellow. ZaXo was about halfway through, when he saw someone with long black hair leaning on the edge of the brick bridge over the stream. She was just watching the sky, petting a cat. Then he realized that it was Sakaki, and ran to go speak to her. She had visited him everyday in the hospital. She brought him the paper, which he was on front page in, along with his friends, and she also gave him his homework. His heart filled with elation as he approached, watching her hair wave in the gentle breeze.

"H-hey Sakaki. What are you doing out here?", he asked quietly before she realized he was there. She jumped slightly at his voice.

"Oh, ZaXo, you startled me."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. So what's up?", he inquired gently,

trying not to sound like he was prying, because indeed he wasn't.

"I'm just thinking. What happened was a lot to take in, and I still feel like it was just a dream.", she replied.

"Heh, I would too, if it wasn't for this very real injury.", ZaXo joked,

pointing at the body wrap on his chest.

"How is that? Are you feeling better? D-does it really hurt as much... as much as it looks like it does?", Sakaki stuttered, as if she was stumbling on a rough subject.

"Nah. I mean, yeah it hurts a ton, but compared to if it was an inch

lower... being hurt bad is better than being dead, I say.", he said, and they

began to laugh.

"Yeah, i'm really glad you're ok too. I don't know what I, uh, I mean, WE all would have done if you had...", started Sakaki, sounding really

nervous, and like she was trying to get up some courage to say something personal. "ZaXo... promise me that you won't die. We all... I care too much. Promise me you'll live forever."

"Sakaki, you know I can't do that. But I can promise that I'll live inside your memories forever. As long someone cares and remembers you, you can never really die.", stated ZaXo wisely.

"Yeah, your right. Have you seen the newspapers today?", Sakaki asked, changing subjects.

"No, I haven't, why?"

"Well," she started, "it says that you are getting all kinds of mail at the school from people telling you how much they look up to you. It's people from Japan, and America. You have been on the news channels in both countries.", she said, looking happy for him. Though ZaXo didn't like this news much. "What's wrong ZaXo, you should be happy."

"I am I guess. But it's just not fair. You guys did just as much as I did. It's not like I went in alone, and did everything singlehandedly. Actually, I wouldn't have been able to save her myself. You're the one who got her out of there. That's what I thought was odd about the paper yesterday too.", ZaXo told her.

"Actually... the press and police questioned me first. I told them that you did it. And everyone else said the same. We all really thought you

deserved it."

ZaXo's face grew shocked at what he had just heard. "You guys, you lied and said I did it all? But why? I didn't do it all. I don't want to be praised for something that I didn't do.", he said. Sakaki looked hurt when he said this.

"Well, I, I, um...", she tried to explain, tearing up. "We just, wanted you to have it all. Without you we couldn't have done anything. You were the glue because you led us all. You acted brave, and I thought you would be happy to get a little extra... extra that you deserve.", she said in an

appologetic tone.

"I do I guess, but that doesn't mean I don't feel bad for taking that from you. I felt like we were a team. I wasn't trying to lead, I just knew we had to get it done fast. Oh well. You guys said what you said, and your hearts were in the right place. Just next time, take the glory you deserve, because you yourself at least deserve half of it, if not more.", ZaXo finished, trying to make Sakaki feel better. They continued to talk, though the topic never went back to who deserved what. The sun slowly set in front of them, casting a beautiful glow on everything.

Sakaki turned to ZaXo, who was petting Maya, and she smiled. Something about that smile was just perfect. The glow, the smile, her beauty, and overall, the exact situation at that moment was the most

priceless scene he had ever seen. He wished he could just bottle it up and keep it forever. Had he been holding a camera, he would have taken a thousand pictures of it. Little did he know, she was thinking the same thing as he smiled at her, at that exact moment. They walked to Chiyo's house, where Sakaki was staying and she opened the gates.

When she began to walk in, dropping Maya, who ran into the yard, Chiyo came out of the front door. But she wasn't the only one. Chiyo's

parents also came out of the house. Come to think of it, ZaXo realized he had never seen Chiyo's parents. They were never really around when they were all at the house. They both came up and hugged ZaXo ubruptly. He became showered in thanks for saving Chiyo. Both of them had tears in thier eyes. But ZaXo had to tell them. If there were two

people in the world that HAD to know what really

happened, it was them. They deserved that.

So ZaXo began to talk about what had really went on. He told them that without Sakaki, Chiyo would not be here with them, and that all he

managed to do was get himself stabbed. It was hard for him to do.

Everytime he looked at Sakaki, she looked shattered. 'Maybe this was a mistake.', he thought. 'What if she had made me look like even more of a hero to them than to everyone else? How would they react to her lying about something like that, causing them to put so much false thanks into someone who didn't deserve it... me.', he said to himself. Would they think ZaXo told Sakaki to say that, and then assume he was a glory

hogging freak? But it was too late. He had to tell them everything.

Chapter 23

When ZaXo finished, he prepared for the worst. But it never came. Instead they thanked him for telling the truth, and commended him for giving the deserved glory to the others. This made him feel better about saying what he had. But then he glanced at Sakaki, and that changed completely. She was busy getting praise for being the one who really saved Chiyo. But she looked like she was torn in two, betrayed in the worst possible way. ZaXo didn't understand it. Sakaki soaked in all that they had to say to her, and waited until they left to break down.

"What's wrong Miss Sakaki?", Chiyo said, shocked at her behavior.

"Nothing. I don't really want to talk about it. Just leave me alone...",

Sakaki replied monotonously, and then she proceeded to run down the street, and back into the park.

"C'mon Chiyo, we have to follow her and fix this.", ZaXo told her.

"Wha-what's going on? I don't understand why she is so sad.", replied Chiyo.

"Neither do I really. I mean, I know WHAT she is sad about, but I don't know why. Let's go find out.", he said, and he grabbed her hand and they ran into the park. They looked and looked but couldn't find Sakaki

anywhere. They stopped on the path, and looked around. "Sakaki! Hey Sakaki, I really need to talk to you! Please come back!", ZaXo yelled out, but he got no response.

"Do you think she may have gotten hurt ZaXo?", Chiyo asked, starting to get very worried.

"I don't think so. I think she just really wants to be alone. But I have to talk to her now. If we wait, she could overthink this, and start to hate me. I really don't want that. C'mon, let's look over here.", ZaXo offered,

pointing to the left side of the path, which was a fully forrested area.

"Actually, i'm gonna go to the other side.", stated Chiyo before walking the opposite way into the trees on the other side.

"O-ok, just be careful. If anything happens, scream or something. I don't like the idea of you bieng alone. I really don't.", he confessed.

"Oh, don't worry ZaXo, it's a public park, so nothing will happen to me.", Chiyo said, putting on her innocent smile. It almost seemed like the

recent incident didn't make any new fears for her. So ZaXo decided to ask about it.

"Chiyo, aren't you scared that something else may happen to you? I know that I would be scared if something like that happened to me."

"No, I feel like that was the only time something like that will ever

happen. There's no use in basing my life on that fear. It's a slim chance that it'll ever happen again.", she smiled. There was no fear showing in her face, so ZaXo figured she was telling the truth, and decided not to push it futher.

"Well, don't go too far, because I'll worry.", he told her smiling back. He began to walk his way and she hers. ZaXo looked and looked, but couldn't find Sakaki at all. 'She must have ran all the way through the park', he thought to himself. So he decided to head back to the path, and find Chiyo. He knew she should be getting home anyway, as it was now almost completely dark. When he arrived back at the path, his most

recent and worst fear hit him in the face. As he looked around to see if Chiyo was back yet, he heard a scream. Immediatly he knew it was her, and he ran into the trees towards the voice.

Panic and fear spread through him. Everything had just been fixed fine, but he had to be an idiot and screw it all up by leaving her alone. He should have known better, and now it may just cause his worst nightmare to come true. ZaXo stopped to see if he could hear anything. There was what sounded like staggered movement not far ahead. He got out of the trees onto the path so that he could be quieter. But then he noticed the noise was actually coming from on the path, just around the bend of trees in front of him. He krept up slowly, and tried to glance around the bend to see what it was.

As he did this, someone grabbed him from behind. The arms swung around him and hit him hard in the chest. ZaXo gasped in pain from his wound, fearing the worst. The attacker brought him towards where the noises had come from. There stood a big man, all in black, and another person he recognized immediately. The silver haired kidnapper stood ten feet in front of ZaXo, holding Chiyo, whose mouth had been taped shut. Anger coursed through ZaXo, but it was nothing to what he was about to feel. Next to them, in the arms of the man in black, was Sakaki. Her head was hanging lifeless, as though she was dead. ZaXo's hurt and anger soared through the roof, so much that it caused his wound immense pain.

He couldn't tell if she was really dead, or if she had been knocked out. It was too dark to see if she was breathing.

Chapter 24

"NOOO, YOU FREAK! What are you doing here? How did you escape the police, and what did you do to Sakaki?", ZaXo yelled, unable to curb his anger.

"Ha ha ha. Why does it matter to you? You are dead soon anyway, but first you must do something for me.", the kidnapper said with a malicious grin, as he pointed at Sakaki. "She is alive, and will continue to be so for the time being. But only if you do exactly as I say.", he finished as his eyes narrowed.

"What the hell do you want from me? Spit it out!", ZaXo shouted, though he was relieved to hear that Sakaki was alive.

"Well, you see, you ruined my original plan. I applaud you for that.

However, I will not give up until I get what I want. I need you to go get your other friends. Get them and bring them here. But tell them nothing, or Chiyo and Sakaki are as good as gone. I will have my friend here, the one who is restraining you, on guard. He will be closely following you. The second he hears you saying anything about what I am doing, these two are over with.", the kidnapper replied.

"What do you want them for? Why is it so important to you?", ZaXo asked.

"Well, it won't hurt to tell you now that you know my terms. You see, I looked up the biggest money makers in the area, and your parents, Miss Sakaki's parents, and Chiyo's parents are all big business leaders. They have a lot of money. I WANT THAT MONEY!"

"What? Then why do you need the others. All you need is to hold us for ransom! Leave them out of this!"

"Oh, no my dear boy.", the man explained. "See now, if I get them as well I get double. How? Well, you are all best friends right? And your families know that. If the parents of your other friends can't pay up, I know the parents of you three can, heh heh heh."

"You... you are getting them involved for this... I will make you pay. I'm not going to just give them all to you. Screw off!", ZaXo said through clenched teeth.

"Ok, have it your way.", said the old man, and he pulled out a knife. It was the same knife from before. He held it to Chiyo's neck, and she began to tear up, attempting to struggle away. ZaXo couldn't stand to see this.

"OK, ok, I'll do it, but please don't hurt them. Just let me ask one more thing.", ZaXo pleaded.

"Alright, but hurry up, my patients is wearing thin, boy!", he yelled in

reply.

"How did you escape?", ZaXo asked. Immediately the mans eyes lit up.

"Ahh, that is a good question. You see, I actually had two other lackies at the house. They came in shortly after the others left. When they saw me downstairs unconcious, they inacted my escape. Hearing the

sirens they switched me with someone else. One of the two was hired for the purpose of getting me out of spots like this. He looks almost identical to me. Most wouldn't want to go to jail for a failed plan. However, he knew that if I was to go free, I could make another plot, get the money, and then break him out. Yes, I am that powerful, so now, get going, and don't you DARE underestimate me!", the man finished, done with

talking.

The man who was holding ZaXo let go, and followed him out to the end of the park... or so ZaXo thought. When he looked back, the man was gone, but ZaXo wasn't stupid enough to think for a second that he wasn't still being followed. ZaXo's fear started to rise. How was he going to get out of this? And more importantly, how was he going to get his friends out of this? He decided that for now, all he could do is what he was told to do. ZaXo one by one got his friends. Though it was late, they were happy to see him out of the hospital. When he told them that Sakaki, Chiyo and him had to talk to them about something important, they followed.

"Why didn't they just come with you to talk to us ZaXo?", asked Yomi while they were heading back to the park.

"Um, they just really felt like it would be easier to do in the park.", he lied, sounding immensly nervous.

"What do you mean by easier? What's this all about?", she said back.

"Uh, you'll see when we get there.", he said shakily. He couldn't grasp why he was selling out his friends. What if they decided to kill everyone anyway. But it was too late. If he did anything wrong, Chiyo and Sakaki were automatically going to die. It was unlikely that they would all find a way to escape when they got there. But there was no way that he could bring himself to sacrifice the other two for his life, and Tomo, Yomi,

Osaka, and Kagura. He would feel no different if any of them were in place of Chiyo and Sakaki, so this was the only way to go.

When they arrived at the park entrance, ZaXo's nerves were at their peak. It practically broke him inside to hear the others joking and

laughing behind him, when he was tricking them into what possibly could be their demise. "O-ok, c-c'mon.", ZaXo stuttered.

"ZaXo, what's wrong? Are you ok?", Kagura asked, looking worried.

"I-i'm just a little n-nervous..."

"The news is that juicy, eh?", said Tomo. ZaXo felt so numb at the
moment that he ignored her comment, and began to walk into the park. Everything was like a nightmare he wished he could wake from. All around him, time was going so slow. Though his destination was only five minutes away, it felt like it took years to get there, his mind ironically racing at the speed of light.

Chapter 25

They reached to the turn around the trees. Right around the corner was what ZaXo couldn't bare to face, but he had to. He didn't even feel like he was moving himself as they rounded the trees. None of the others were paying attention, so Tomo bumped into ZaXo as he stopped... once again, ten feet in front of him was the person he hated more than he could describe. And also in front of him were two people whos lives he cared for far more than his own.

The girls looked at ZaXo to see what the holdup was, and then

noticed what he was staring at, face as pale as a sheet of paper. "Oh no! Someone has Chiyo!", yelled Tomo.

"And that's Sakaki.", Osaka added.

"Ahh, allow me to introduce myself. I am the one who took your dear friend Chiyo not a few days ago. I do hope you remember that.", the

kidnapper said, shoving the fact in their faces.

"What how did you escape?", asked Tomo.

"I am tired of explaining that.", he sighed. "I already told your friend ZaXo all about it, last time he was here with us. I am sure that he will fill you in." All the girls looked at ZaXo in shock.

"Last time he was here? What are you talking about?", asked Yomi,

frightened.

"Oh, you see, I told ZaXo about my escape, so that in return he would bring you here... straight to me. Gya ha ha! GYA HA HA HA HA HA!", the man laughed insanely.

The looks of shock on the faces of his friends quickly turned to

hatred and disgust. "YOU BETRAYED US? WE TRUSTED YOU AND YOU SOLD US OUT? I WAS RIGHT ABOUT YOU FROM THE

BEGINNING!", screamed Tomo. She turned to run, but three of the old mans minions came out onto the path, along with an extra guy on the

opposite side, blocking any exit.

"H-how could you ZaXo?", Yomi asked as if he had just killed her best friend. Of course, as far as she could see, he just had... all five of them.

"I-I didn't mean it that way. He was going to hurt Sakaki and Chiyo if I didn't. I had no way out. I'm s-sorry. You don't know how bad I feel."

"I hope you feel worse than anyone can imagine. I can't believe that you would do this.", she replied. Her tone wasn't mean, but rather full of

immense dissapointment and feelings of betrayal. This made ZaXo want to just dissapear. How could he do this to them? 'How could I sell

everyone out.', he thought. Taking the chance of saving Sakaki and Chiyo along with the others was looking like a completely bad idea now.

Nobody saw any way out.

"Now that we have that out of the way, I will explain why you are all here.", said the old man, smiling. He explained what he had for ZaXo, and then told them that they were suppose to call there parents one by one, and tell them what was going on. Then they were suppose to explain to their family how they could get their kids safely back. ZaXo doubted they would all come safely back even if everything went according to the mans plan. He was too evil and insane to just let them go. Most likely they would all be killed anyway.

The minions escorted everyone to the bridge so that a police ambush from the forrested parts of the park was impossible. After Tomo and

Yomi called their parents using the mans phone, it was Osaka's turn. As she was calling home Sakaki began to wake up. The lacky set her down, and when she awoke fully, he told her to stand up, and pushed her into the middle of the circle with the rest. Same went for Chiyo, who took the tape off of her mouth, and wrapped herself around ZaXo, scared to death.

"Listen Chiyo. I'm sorry for all of this. It's my fault for letting you go off alone. I know nobody here will forgive me, but if I can, I will find you a way out of here.", ZaXo wispered.

"I forgive you. It's not your fault that these people are pure evil.", said Chiyo, shaking violently with fear.

"I forgive you too.", said Sakaki. "Not for this, because you did nothing wrong here. I forgive you for what happened earlier. I was bieng stupid, and didn't realize that you gave me credit because you cared about me. I was just really confused. A lot is going on. I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it Sakaki. I just wish I could get us out of here.", ZaXo started, but he was interrupted by Kagura, who was now in tears, giving Sakaki the phone. Sakaki called, and then gave the phone to Chiyo, and she called home too. When she was done, she handed it to the last

person... ZaXo.

As he dialed his number slowly, he got an idea. He could get

everyone out of here, if he caused a diversion with Tomo's phone.

He just prayed that she had it with her. "Tomo... Tomo, do you have your phone with you?", he wispered, pretending to still be dialing on the phone in his hand.

"Why, I'm not giving it to scum like you.", she hissed back.

"Please just trust me. I am going to try to get us out of here. Please...", he pleaded.

"Fine, it's not like the phone will matter soon anyway.", she said,

throwing it at him. Quickly, he put the number of the kidnappers phone, into Tomo's, and hid it. He called his parents, and did what he was

suppose to do with the old mans phone, but didn't hand it back to the him. Luckily he wasn't paying attention, and didn't realize that he hadn't gotten it back yet. To be safe, ZaXo waited a couple of minutes before

pulling out Tomo's phone again. ZaXo set up the phone to call everyone as unlisted. Slowly, he started to scroll down to the other phones number. When he had it ready, he turned to Chiyo.

"Chiyo. I need you to pass this message on to everyone, ok?", he

wispered.

"Okay, I will.", she wispered back.

"I am going to call his phone with Tomo's. I hope that he tells me to get up and give it to him. If and when that happens, I need you run behind Sakaki. Tell her and everyone else to attack the nearest guard, who should be distracted with me, and then all of you run into the trees. Don't stop for anything. If you need help, have Sakaki carry you. You got it? DON'T come back for me. If I get out, I get out.", he finished. She agreed and started wispering the plan to everyone. The guards were a little

distracted and didn't notice.

ZaXo didn't think this was a very good plan, but knew it was better than doing nothing. When Chiyo told him that everyone understood, he got ready. "ZaXo, be careful. I want to be able to see you tommorow.",

Sakaki told him.

"Don't worry about me, focus on yourself and Chiyo. I just want you all to be ALIVE tommorow.", he replied.

Chapter 26

ZaXo pressed the call button on Tomo's phone, and hid it as quickly as he could. The other phone began to ring "Huh, what was that?",

pondered the old man, looking at ZaXo.

"Oh, it's your phone. I was just about to give it back, and now someone is calling you. It says, uh, unlisted.", ZaXo said, trying to act as normal as possible.

"Well then. Bring it here, you idiot.", replied the kidnapper.

ZaXo got up, and walked over to the man. All of the girls were ready to go. Right as ZaXo handed the man the phone, he pushed as hard as he could. The man was at the edge of the bridge, and fell over the brick railing into the water ten feet below. It was deep enough that he went underwater, but he surfaced, just fine a couple of seconds later. But by that time, everything was underway. The guards had looked away from

everyone in shock, to see if their leader was alive. Then they turned to ZaXo, who jumped into the water as well.

In all the craziness, the girls took the opening, and ran up to the three guards, back towards the entrance they came from. Yomi, and

Sakaki each pushed the ones in front of them down before they could

react. Kagura and Tomo kicked and punched the single guard they had together, and Osaka gave hers a good strong headbutt. Then they all ran as fast as possible into the trees. Everything with them was good. It took the guards a couple of seconds to get up, and start chasing them. Just enough time to get a worthy lead. The girls only had to get to the outside of the park ,where most likely a crowd of police were just showing up. They even thought up themselves to spread out a bit, making them

harder to catch.

ZaXo on the other hand had to go much longer of a distance. And on his tail were the old man in the water, and the two other guards from that side of the circle. ZaXo was swimming as fast as he could, but he knew sooner or later he would have to get out of the water. The stream was much to long to swim all the way along without getting too tired.

ZaXo knew this, and decided his best bet was to go to the side the girls had, though the two guards on land had seperated to one on each side of the stream.

ZaXo swam over and got onto the land before the lacky could get over there. When he did, ZaXo was ready. He ran as fast as he could,

soaking wet, and hurt from the other day. He put all he could into a giant tackle and tossed the guy into the side of the bridge. The guard hit his head and was knocked out immediatly. The guard on the other side jumped in the water so that he could get to ZaXo. ZaXo grabbed a broken branch near him, and swung it as this guard tried to get out of the water. He hit him square in the head, and he went down. All that was left was the old man, who had just gotten onto the land as well. ZaXo knew he had to get the old man now, or he could escape again. The man picked up his own branch and started swinging it madly towards ZaXo. There was no way that he could get close enough to try anything.

Backing up so as to not get hit, ZaXo suddenly saw an opening and took it. He threw his branch as hard as he could, and it hit the old man across the upper arm, followed by the sickening crunch of a breaking bone. The man yelled in pain, and dropped the branch he had, which was in that arm. ZaXo did the same thing he did for the first guard, and tackled the old man against the tree behind him. He didn't hit his head, but ZaXo now had the upper hand. He struck the kidnapper in the face three times before the man was out.

ZaXo decided it was best to wait for help so that he could be sure that nobody got away. Five minutes later, a group of five SWAT type

officers came down the path, wielding automatic guns. They caught sight of ZaXo and the three people still unconcious. They handcuffed the three, and escorted them and ZaXo back to the entrance of the park. When he arrived, he was met with a giant group hug from all of his friends. He was so happy they were all safe. Tomo then pulled him aside. "I'm sorry about not trusting you again. I still don't like that you 'sold us out', but I understand why you did. I will always trust you from now on, I promise."

"Thanks. I am just glad it's over... I hope.", he said as everyone listened in. Just then an officer who had overheard him walked up.

"Yeah, you don't have to worry. We got all of the others as they ran out of the trees chasing your friends. We had just realized that the imposter we had in custody, was not actually the leader, when we got several calls from parents about what just happened. The imposter told us exactly how many people were in this little scheme, and we now have them all. You don't have to worry anymore. But we do have to do questioning. Sorry.", the officer finished.

By the time they had finished with the questioning, everyone was really tired. The sun was going to come up in an hour and a half. They had school as well, so they decided they would all just rest at Chiyo's house because it was closest. Everyone went to school the next day really tired, but also with a certain celebrity status. It was all over the news that there was a 'sequal' to what had happened earlier. ZaXo was just glad to blend in with the fame his friends were experiencing. He wasn't

portrayed as the only hero this time. And his friends modified the story so that ZaXo hadn't lead them to the old man. Luckily it worked because that part wasn't on the news.

ZaXo felt better knowing that everyone was once again safe,

trusting, and happy. Things were back to normal. He would always have a twinge of uncertainty to whether the imposter was truthful about who all was in on the scheme. 'Like Chiyo said though, there is no reason, or comfort in basing your life on your fear', he thought, as he fell asleep in class, like the rest of his friends.

"Said ZaXo, said Sakaki, snorted Tomo, laughed Yomi..." Gah, I can't believe I used to think having it backward like that was normal! It's supposed to be 'ZaXo said'! Lol, anyway; on to talking about this chapter. If you read the whole thing, you realize that the idea is largely the same (though it originally took place right after they went to Okinawa, and Maya showed up in Tokyo, in the actual series), but nearly everything else is different. I think my favorite thing about it is that the 'old man' actually gets free and attacks again (that old man ended up being Kouki Takeshi). That was just a pathetic attempt at continuing it (I was desperate to write something else that was emotionally strong) Truthfully, there are a few small ideas in this version that I would have loved to keep/update, but it just wasn't possible. The surrounding context wouldn't have held them up without it being silly. But they were mainly just little details and such. Nothing major.

Fricken Awesome Questions Part 2 (with some spoilers):

Q. Are you sure this isn't a self-insert?"

A. Yes...

Q. Then why do you seem so similar to ZaXo in certain ways (music, manga... pen name)?

A. Every writer writes what they know. Most (not all) all of my 'good guy' characters have the same basic layout as ZaXo; they're immovable when it comes to morals, and caring for others. They usually have a strong sense of justice, and don't like to give up on anything. ZaXo is different in that he has a 'nice guy' sense of humor (kind of like me, but his is more innocent), he flies off the handle when someone is in danger, he inherently likes people (I don't, though I don't inherently hate people either), and he's extremely trusting (most of my other characters are the opposite, which is much more like me. I don't trust anyone at first. You have to earn it).

Q. So then what are some of ZaXo's other similarities to you?

A. He has my love of music and manga. But I only put that in in case I needed it. If I needed ZaXo to talk about himself at any point, or make conversation, I could always fall back on manga or music... because I KNOW them both. If I'd chosen biology and history, I'd have had a much harder time writing about it, because they aren't my 'fields of expertise'. So if you consider him being about 50% me, and 50% original (from what you know anyway) as a self-insert, then so be it. Just realize that I'll disagree, because I know a little bit more about myself than you do, lol ;)

Q. Why didn't you make Kaorin actually 'like' Sakaki?

A. I never said that she didn't... but in my opinion, I don't think she ever really did. Regardless, as a whole, I didn't feel it fit in here. It felt strange in the plot I created, so I kept it out, instead just making Sakaki a HUGE role model for her.

Q. The prologue and epilogue make it seem like everyone is psychic. Is that true, making this a partial alternate-reality fic?

A. No. It's not supposed to be like that. I just wanted a good way to come back and close the whole thing nicely. It was supposed to be like an extended deja-vu experience that brings the whole story full circle. I was trying to emulate the way Harry Potter is written. Every book starts at the Dursley's, and ends with him on his way back to the Dursley's. That always made me feel warm and cozy inside, like I wanted to read it all again right away.

Q. What's with the use of some non-Japanese music at the parts with singing?

A. I don't know how to say or write a lot of Japanese artist's names or song names in Roman letters. Not to mention, finding and translating lyrics that worked would have been difficult.

Q. Did you write the song Yomi 'wrote', called Better Than Heaven?

A. Yes, and you can find it on my FictionPress account, as well as many of my other songs.

Q. Why didn't you do a Lucky Star cameo?

A. Never seen it. Been told to a thousand times, but I never have. Doesn't mean I don't want to though :)

Q. What's with all the dreams? There are a ton of them in this fic.

A. Since they were a small part of the main series, and since they made up the prologue, I figured showing the 'soul' of the character, while having some fun in New Years Dream chapters would be cool. It references the series, and helps flesh out what the characters are thinking; who they are.

Q. Why do Sakaki and ZaXo end up together?

A. I felt that they matched the best. I thought about Yomi for a bit, and even contemplated Chiyo. They are also both very compatible with him personality-wise. But in the end that just didn't work (particularly because Chiyo's four years younger than him, and ZaXo wouldn't roll that way, lol). But I at least wanted to touch on the possibility of him ending up with someone else, so I early on decided to add in a chapter about Yomi liking him. In order to work though, I had to put it after Sakaki and him got together, or there wouldn't be enough drama.

Q. ZaXo almost ended up with Chiyo? *raises eyebrow* Really? Why?

A. Hey, don't get ahead of yourself there. He didn't almost end up with her. I just thought about it. If you take a second to look at it, if she was his age, I actually think she would match him better than even Sakaki. They are both innocent and playful in nature.

Q. You never really mention why and how things get better between ZaXo and Yomi after she confesses her love for him. Why not?

A. Because in my experience, there's no easy 'happy' ending to that sort of thing. You really just sort of have to get over it slowly. I could've just gave it some cheesy ending, but that would have been both silly, and non-truthful when it comes to that sort of situation. It wouldn't have felt canon within the story, so I decided to leave it somewhat open. Falling out of love with someone who doesn't like you back isn't easy, and there really isn't any realistic way to make it instantly happen in a story striving for realistic drama. How do I know so much about that sort of thing? Wouldn't you like to know ;)

Q. Are you proud of what you've written?

A. Yes. Even though my fic, Delicate Balance says otherwise, Higher Education is the most complete, and most well written thing I've ever done. Throughout these two years, I've learned a lot about writing, and even more about myself. The thing is, I knew I could write the serious bits. So story-wise, I'm probably most proud of the comedy, because I figured that would fall flat; but it didn't. What I'm absolutely the most proud of though, is the fact that people are reading it. They're actually reading it! And enjoying it... simultaneously, lol. Just like many others do with their own stories, I've worked extremely hard at making my fic a complete, enjoyable experience. And I think I succeeded.

Q. Any regrets?

A. Not really. I wish I could have done everything in much greater detail (which could very well have ended up around 500k words, done the way I would want to). And I wish I could have gotten more, really descriptive reviews while I was writing it. Who knows; that could have changed the entire outcome of the story. Several of the reviews and PM's I DID get changed the story... or at the very least modified my writing style. But I don't really regret anything about what I've written. It's better than I imagined, simply because I actually completed it, and I was able to successfully fit in the two pieces I wrote in the beginning.

Final Thoughts:

First off, I would like to thank everyone who read this, and everyone who will. I'll be connected to this for quite a while, so don't be afraid to tell people to read it and review it (shameless plug, lol?). If enough time is put into a review, I'll probably PM you about it, and talk to you about the story, as well as what you may be writing. I like to be hands-on with the people who read my writing, because they are the only reason it's even worth posting. I would also like to thank the great Kiyohiko Azuma, for changing my life in it's entirety. I wouldn't be writing, or drawing manga without Azumanga Daioh, because I wouldn't have had enough drive to get better. I have an actual future now, and one day, I want to really thank him for that in person. I would also like to thank Brandon Payne for inspiring me to write an epically large fic of my own. Seriously... read Forevergreen, as well as his other stuff. They're great. I hope someday he might decided to read this whole fanfiction (without me having to shamelessly plug it in a PM, lol).

This has been an absolute joy to write, and I'm kind of sad that it's over. But it will live on forever as long as people keep finding it. Once again, check out my DeviantArt account (ZaXo-KenIchi) to find the picture taken at the end of the epilogue. I drawded it myself :D And if you want to know more about ZaXo, as well as find some cool little nods to this fic, check out the prequel on my FictionPress.

Oh, and one last thing... Anonymous reviewer... the one that submitted the first review to Higher Education... you almost crushed my spirit before I even got this fanfiction off the ground. If you so happen to be reading this, I just have one thing to say:

What now bizzatch? Lol.

Hope you liked :) Love you all :D