Sensual Phrase Fan Fiction / Crossover Fan Fiction / Gravitation Fan Fiction ❯ Luck Phrase ❯ First Stanza ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: Gravitation is property of Maki Murakami, GENTOSHA, & TOKYOPOP. Sensual Phrase owned by Mayu Shinjo, Shogakukan & VIZ.

Luck Phrase
First Stanza

Aine covered the paths of the park in an almost methodical journey that always brought her back to the hexagonal fountain at the center. She liked this park. It was a place that brought back memories of her early childhood, back when she was sure her parents still knew she existed. It brought back the feeling of home, which she was sorely in need of at the moment.

Sakuya had been away for three days and would be gone for another seven. Seven more days would be an eternity and Aine wasn't sure she'd survive the wait. She wandered the park endlessly attempting to clear her loneliness through physical exercise and fresh air, pointedly avoiding thinking about writing any lyrics for the time being. She did not need to get stuck in "work mode" with Sakuya so far away.

When she'd had enough walking and the circuit had brought her back to the fountain she found a perch overlooking the artificial pond to the east. She sat and tried to think of nothing but the scenery. She had just reached a state of near-zen when a slight figure abrubtly sat on her.

The boy screeched and jumped up flapping his arms wildly. "Whaddya doin'," he demanded.

Aine wasn't entirely sure he was addressing her, but in the event that he was she apologized. "I'm sorry. I didn't know this seat was taken."

He screeched again. "Aaaah!" This time his windmilling arms knocked off a red baseball cap, revealing dyed red hair underneath.

Aine couldn't resist giggling at the girlish shriek, though she covered her mouth to try and hide the fact.

He gasped while holding his chest for a few moments. "Oh." He finally noticed her and pulled off his sunglasses. "You scared me!"

"Well, I'm not the one going around sitting on people," she replied sensibly.

His eyes narrowed. "Wait a minute. You're not a crazy-stalker fan?"

Crazy-stalker fan? "Should I be?" This was probably the strangest conversation Aine had ever participated in. Although she tended to avoid conversation with most people, this kid seemed almost impossible not to rib.

"Well," he thought for a moment, "Yeah. I mean, I'm not one to brag, but I am Shuichi Shindou of Bad Luck."

The name gave her nothing to go on. "Bad Luck? Is that a band?"

He actually froze solid, before melting into a image of mortification. He turned away, clawing at his hair, tears visable in his eyes. "'Is that a band?' she asks! Oh, the inhumanity! The injustice of the world! HOW CAN THIS BE?!?"

"I'm sorry!" Aine jumped to her feet and gently patted him on the back. "I'm sorry, but I'm a little inept with the whole rock music scene. The only band I really know is Lucifer."

"Lucifer?" he whined.

"And B'Z."

"B'Z?" he moaned but then, in a flash of a split second, Shuichi had flipped around and captured Aine's right hand in his own. A smile that any salesman would kill for graced his lips. "So, you are a fangirl. Could I possibly tempt you to swap loyalites?"

Okay, why did that sound so dirty? "Um..." Aine tried, momentairly at a loss for words. "That would be kind of difficult."

"I'm willing to share."

Now, it was definately dirty. Aine's face burned. "No..."

"C'mon, you can afford one little CD. I'll even lend you the money."

The subject change, if subject change it was, threw Aine. "Excuse me?"

He let her hand go. "I need to sell a million copies of my album. If you buy one, I'll only have nine-hundred-ninety-nine-thousand-nine-hundred-ninety-nine more to go. Give or take."

"You want me to buy a CD?"

"That's what I've been saying. C'mon. Help a guy in love out."

Aine couldn't seem to keep her brain on track or was it that Shuichi was really that confusing. "In love?"

"You see, if Bad Luck goes platinum, I get to go on a date with my one true love to Tokyo Disneyland with Mickey an' print club pictures an' roller coasters an' Mickey an' holdin' hands in public an' kissin' an' Mickey an' PRINT CLUB an'-"

The whole conversation finally fell into place and Aine giggled. "Okay! Okay, I get it!"

"Really?" Shuichi looked all happy grateful and teary big-eyed at the same time.

"Yes, really." She smiled at him. "But, this girl doesn't sound like the sort you'd want to keep, making you do something like that. She should love you for who you are." Aine meant it. If Lucifer never sold another album there's no way she'd dump Sakuya, even though both of their livelihoods depended on the sake Lucifer's sucess. How anyone could judge someone's worth on that basis- Aine stopped her thoughts cold. This was no time to be getting angry. "I'm sure-In fact, I know you can do better than that."

Shuichi slumped onto the fountain edge. "That's just it. I can't do better than Yuki. I could never love anyone as much as I love him. I don't even love myself as much as I love him. Everything I have, everything I am is his for the taking and though it's selfish the only thing I want in return is for him to say-" He balked for a panic-stricken moment and then shouted, "HER! I mean HER! YukiA, yeah, her name's Yukia. Silly me!" He slapped himself in the face. "Bad Dog!"

Aine backed up a step, more to give Shuichi room to calm down after his blunder than out of fear. She never had a sister but she imagined these mood swings would be similar to a specifically girly monthly ritual and was glad that was something she never had to deal with as an observer. After he had sobbed himself into silence, she spoke up. "Is this usual for you?"

"What?" he asked through spayed fingers.

"The PMS."

"Oh, yeah! Like breathing air!"

"How can you live with stress like that?"

"I think it's genetic."

"Oh."

"Ya."

The silence wore on, punctuated only by bird calls.

"So, this guy-I'm not judging-" she added hastily, when Shuichi gathered himself to errupt again. "This guy? You can't live without him?" He shook his head. "Have you told him?" This time a nod. "Does he have a problem with you being a guy?"

A pause, then, "The thing is he reeeally likes girls, but he doesn't mind me." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "But then he does mind me."

"It sounds like he doesn't know what he wants or what he's able to tolerate. How long have you known him?"

"One year, two months and ten days. I met him a few months before graduation."

Graduation? That meant, "You're older than me?" Aine had been thinking he was about fifteen. It was incredulous to think he was older than that.

"I'm nineteen, if that makes any difference. I said I was in a band. It would be really difficult to make a million copy selling record and still go to school. How old did you think I was, or don't you believe me still?"

She was going to lecture him on the wisdom of seeking love advice from a random sixteen year old he'd found in the park but her mouth betrayed her. "Sakuya manages it, even if he does miss quite a bit of school."

"Sakuya? Oh, yeah, that Lucifer guy." He gazed at her, for the first time in the conversation calmly, then smiled mischievously, "You really are a fangirl, you know?"

"I am not a fangirl. I work for Lucifer."

"Reeally?" still with that grin.

"Yes, really."

"What do you do?"

"I'm not at liberty to say."

"Ya don't say?"

"Now, you don't believe me?"

"I'll make you a deal." He waited for a response.

"Go on."

"You believe me that I'm in a very popular band and I'll believe you work for Lucifer, another very popular band." He held out his hand.

Aine knew that she wasn't lying, but this kid still didn't seem the rock star type. Drama queen, for sure. Rock star was a bit iffy.

"For someone so little you're one tough cookie. Okay, try this. You go to a music store, any music store, trust me on this, and look for Bad Luck and if my face is on the album cover you have to buy a copy. If it isn't, I'll buy every Lucifer record ever produced. How's that for fair?"

That actually did seem pretty fair as far as Shuichi being in Bad Luck was concerned. "Don't you want proof that I work for Lucifer?"

"Not really."

"Why not?"

"I just want to be one step closer to my platinum record and my print club with Yuki."

"What's your label?"

"Wha? Still skeptical?"

"Nope, just want to know if your label's bigger than Hades."

"N-G."

Pretty big label. "Meet me here tomorrow at noon and we'll go Bad Luck shopping."

"Okay, sure, but just one thing-"

"Yeah?"

"What's your name, Miss Lucifer Mystery Employee Number One?"

Aine laughed. "Yukimura. Aine Yukimura."