Hello people! This is my first Gravi fic, so HUZZAH! (Well, besides "When all else fails, blame the youngest", but that's a crossover, so yeah). Anyway, this is going to based more on the anime than the manga because while I've seen all of the anime, I've only read the first two manga :sweat drop: also, I don't think I wrote a single word of this chapter when I was fully awake so yeah...
Expect frequent switches between the names Suguru and Fujisaki.
"Shindou is laaaate..." Sakano said, stopping mid-spin to check his watch for the twelfth time that minute.
"Calm down Mr. Sakano. He did say that he had to pick up his little sister from the airport today. She's been studying overseas in America for three years you know." Hiro said lazily, tuning his guitar.
"He never said anything about that to me!" Sakano cried, completely panicking.
"Actually, he did. He told all of us yesterday when he asked Mr. K for a ride." Suguru said, equally as lazily as Hiro.
"Okay, well... that's not the only thing I'm worried about! Have you seen our latest reviews?" Sakano magically produced a stack of papers from his coat and started reading them aloud. "'Excellent, but still missing something' ... 'Bad Luck could be a lot better if it weren't for a certain, unnamable element that's missing' ... 'The music just doesn't seem complete.'" Hiro and Fujisaki exchanged nervous glances.
"Hi guys!" Shuichi shouted, bursting into the studio, K right behind him. A girl followed K, and then tried to hide behind Shuichi. "This is my sister, Aki." He said, stepping out of the way to reveal a girl that looked almost exactly like him, but with shoulder-length hair and blue-dyed bangs.
"Do they have guns too, big brother?" Aki asked Shuichi in a suspicious tone, eyeing Fujisaki and Sakano.
"Guns?" Sakano asked, confused.
"Erm, K sort of stuck his gun in her back to make her get in the van." Shuichi explained.
"Hey, she was refusing to get in, what else could I do?" K told them innocently. Well, as innocently as a man who had made a girl enter his van at gun point could.
"You could've let me talk to my brother instead of threatening to shoot me." Aki snarled.
"It's not like I would've shot you." K defended himself. Aki looked slightly relieved at that. "Not with that many witnesses anyway." He added quietly.
AWKWARD SILENCE!
"Hey Aki. Long time no see." Hiro piped up, breaking silent tension that had been building up. The girl looked at him and smiled shyly, a slight blush pinking her cheeks.
"Hiro. Hi." She said as her eyes shot down to look at her feet.
Crap, she still likes me. Hiro thought to himself while smiling at the girl. "Hey, you're a lot taller than I remember." He pointed out.
"Well Hiro, you wouldn't expect me to stay twelve forever." Aki said, putting her hands on her hips.
"I was at least expecting your hair to stay the same color." Hiro said, pointing at her bangs.
"My friend did it, okay?" She said defensively.
"Okay Aki, I didn't bring you here to argue with Hiro. I wanted to introduce you to Fujisaki and Mr. Sakano." Shuichi piped up, trying to stop a potential disaster. He knew how his sister could easily get carried away.
"Fine. So, who's who?" Aki sighed, crossing her arms.
"I'm Mr. Sakano, Bad Luck's producer." The bespectacled man told her.
"Hello." Aki said, bowing politely. "So, if you're Mr. Sakano, then that means that you're Fujisaki." she turned toward Suguru.
"Pleased to meet you." the teen said, bowing. Aki smiled and bowed back.
"Okay, that's enough." K said impatiently, catching the teens' attention. "Do you need a ride home, Aki?"
"Oh, well, I kind of would like to stay here and watch you guys rehearse. Well, if that's okay." she answered.
"Well of cour-" Shuichi started, but was promptly cut off by Hiro.
"No." he said flatly. Aki looked hurt.
"But why not?" she asked him.
"We don't want a girl polluting our air." He said.
"No, seriously Hiro, why?" She demanded putting her hands on her hips, her expression changing to angry.
"Because." He said simply.
"Because why Hiroshi?" She was starting to sound like his mother.
"Because no one's allowed to watch us practice, that's why."
"Actually Hiro, there was that one time when Miss Ayaka..." Shuichi started
"That was different." Hiro hissed, causing Shuichi to shut up.
"Well, if this Ayaka person was allowed to watch you guys practice, I don't see why I can't!" Aki was starting to lose her temper.
"Don't yell at me!" Hiro spat back.
"You're changing the subject!" Aki shouted.
"Okay fine! The answer is still no!"
"But why?"
"BECAUSE A BRAT LIKE YOU WOULD ONLY DISTRACT US!"
Aki snarled, and would've pounced on the man if Shuichi hadn't held her back.
"H-hey Aki, just calm down and breathe." Shuichi told her.
"I wanna go home now." she mumbled. Shuichi sighed in relief and let her go.
"Bye guys." He said, an exasperated smile on his face. He and K followed Aki out of the room and into a hallway.
"Annoying brat." Hiro mumbled once they had left. Fujisaki and Sakano stared at him. "What?" He asked innocently.
"I've never seen you act like that." Fujisaki said, an almost-but-not-quite scared look in his eyes.
"Yeah, you're usually the pacifist out of the rest of us." Sakano added
"What's wrong?" Suguru asked.
"Nothing. It's just... Aki and I, we..." He paused a moment and sighed. "Well, let's just say we have an interesting relationship." He looked up at the ceiling and remembered that day.
"Shuichi, Shuichi!" An eleven-year-old Aki slammed open the door to her house and ran inside, trying to find her brother. She walked through all the rooms, unable to find him-or anyone for that matter. She knew that she had outrun Maika, who had come to pick her up and escort her home. It wasn't safe for an elementary school kid to be running around by herself, after all. Not that it mattered to Aki that day, she was as excited as a sixth grader could get.
"Brother?" She peeked into Shuichi's room and found him sitting there with Hiroshi, his best friend. They were talking about their band.
"Oh, hi Aki." Shuichi said, smiling at his younger sister.
"Shuichi! You know how you said that I could join yours and Hiro's band if I could think of something to do in it? Well, I just thought of it today, I could be a drummer!" She told them, grinning ear to ear.
The boys exchanged looks. Truthfully, they had told her that so she would maybe spend a day or two thinking about it, then just give up the idea of joining altogether. The two had already planned it out. Shuichi would sing and do the synth and Hiro would play guitar. Sure, they hadn't even written their first song yet, but they knew that they would not need a drummer. Especially not Aki.
"I'm sorry but..." Shuichi started. He wanted to let her down gently.
"You can't join." Hiro finished. There was no remorse in his voice whatsoever.
"Wh-what?" Aki asked disbelievingly, tears stinging at her eyes.
"I'm sorry." Shuichi repeated. But Aki didn't hear him. Her eyes were fixed on Hiro. The man she loved had just told her no, simple and straight. She turned around and left silently.
That night, Hiro had been invited to stay for dinner. Halfway through, Aki announced that she wanted to go overseas for middle school. She said that she wasn't confident that she was going to pass the entrance exams and was, frankly, interested in America. Besides, a few years in the country would be better than any English class offered in Japan.
"You do know that Americans start middle school in sixth grade and enter high school in ninth, right?" Her mother reminded her.
"So? It's still the same grades." She pointed out. Apparently, Mr. and Mrs. Shindou approved of the idea and, although she had passed her exams with flying colors, Aki was off to America for three years.
Yeah... the first chapter. Let me know what you think.