AN: This is alternate universe. DNAngel characters in the Gravitation world. Names are surname then given name.

Disclaimer: I don’t own anyting in here but the storyline, Rachiru, and this mysterious person. And then, only slightly. Please don’t put them in any of your own stories… I’ve worked hard to get them as real as (I hope) they are.

Hikari Satoshi sighed. He loved his girlfriend, but her synth skills…

“I’m so sorry! I’m so bad at this…” Rachiru fumbled. “I just have difficulty with all these switches! This one makes that sound like this-” she played a C chord with her left hand on the lower synth “- and this sound like that!” She played another C chord, this time with her right hand, and on the upper synth. The tuba of the lower synth sounded catastrophic with the kazoo of the upper. “But this switch-” she flipped a switch on the top of the synth “… makes it all right.” The tuba switched to a drum roll, and the kazoo morphed into a trumpet’s brassy call. “And when I move this dial, the key changes!” She lifted her hands, ending the sound. “I’m so hopeless…” She bowed her head. Satoshi would bet that her eyes were filling with tears. He knew her outbursts well…. She wanted to be perfect at everything, and felt like something was wrong with her when she couldn’t.

Satoshi walked over to her and lifted her head. Yep, she was crying. He smiled.

“Don’t worry, Chi-chan. Your vocals are amazing! We can always find a different synth player, but you and your voice are irreplaceable. You’re the heart of this band!”

He bent his head down to hers…

“MUSHINESS!”

Satoshi sweat dropped, and turned around. “Krad!” he said through clenched teeth.

“You guys should know better than to kiss in front of me, especially at rehearsal!” Satoshi’s blond cousin said.

Satoshi sighed (again). He, his cousin and his girlfriend were all in a band. Satoshi played guitar – all and any guitar – and Ysuom Krad played percussion (“Not drums!” he always insisted. “PERCUSSION! It’s more than banging on covered pots.”) Rachiru was their lead vocalist, occasionally sharing a duet with Satoshi, but usually on her own. She also attempted to play the synth, but, as she had just demonstrated, she wasn’t very good.

“I think you’ve got a good idea there, Sato.” Krad said. “We should maybe hold some auditions; see if we can find a genius someone to play the synthesizer. Rachiru-kun, you’re good, no doubt about it, but it’d be easier on you,” and us he thought “if we found a different… synth-ist.”

“Yeah. Krad-kun, you’re right! Maybe we could find a hot girl for you, ne?” Rachiru laughed when Krad blushed. She loved poking Krad… both mentally and physically.

Ima mo todokanu hikari no yukue…

“It’s my cell phone!” Rachiru cried. She started singing along.

Ni mau omoi o egakou michibiku kotoba koborete shimawanu you ni utsuru toki o

She opened her cell phone just in time. “Moshimoshi?” she said. “Oh! Yes. Thank-you anyways… thanks for phoning back. Oh… really? That’s… interesting. I’m glad to find out what… you think… I appreciate you telling me… WHAT? No you are not allowed to say that! You BLEEP!” She closed her cell phone with as much strength as she could without breaking it.

“What was all that about?” Satoshi asked, ignoring her use of the word bleep. That was just what Rachiru was like.

“That guy from that place that we played at last night. You know, that biker bar? He doesn’t want us back. He says that my synth skills suck, and that it’s a stupid instrument anyways. He says that you two should run away from me and… well, it wasn’t very nice.” She turned to them, tears in her eyes again. “You won’t leave me, right?”

“OF COURSE NOT!” the cousins yelled. “We need you!”

“Who else will bug us when we’re slacking off?”

“Or have us practice that 50 zillionth time to get it just right?”

“Or find my drumsticks when I’ve lost them again?”

Satoshi’s face grew serious. “Who else could I love as much as you?”

“MUSHINESS!” Krad yelled, his hands over his ears. Rachiru laughed.

“Sorry guys, I guess I’m a little emotional today.” Rachiru dried her tears, and smiled when she saw her watch. “We have just enough time to organize some auditions!” Satoshi and Krad groaned. She was killer with the organizing sort of thing…

--Half an hour later--

“Well, that should work! Krad, you’ll put these signs up around town, Satoshi, you’ll spread the word at the station, and I’ll tell everyone at the café!” Rachiru stood up and clapped her hands. “Rehearsal is now officially over!” She smiled and looked at Krad. “Do you know what that means?”

“Yes. That means that you guys are now allowed to gaze into each others eyes and be all mushy, aka time for me to leave.” Krad grabbed his drumsticks and left the garage that they had been renting out. Renting out a garage… he thought, and shook his head. They really needed a good gig soon. At least the lady who owned the garage was hard of hearing and would let them practice anytime from 3pm to… well, as long as they wanted. They practiced most nights from 3:30 to 8:30, with an hour break for dinner. They practiced later whenever they were arranging their own songs… which they never got to perform. Rachiru still had them practice them, though. “You never know!” she’d always say.

He glanced at the flyers they had made, advertising the auditions, and sighed. I’ll post these on the job tomorrow… that’ll help. And with Satoshi telling people who come by the police station, and Rachiru telling everyone at the café… hopefully we’ll get a good synthesizer player person.

He turned down an alleyway, a shortcut to the apartment that Satoshi, Rachiru and him currently shared. He was walking along, trying to figure out the drum roll pattern for a song Rachiru was writing. It was supposed to go like this, but what if it went like that…?

Suddenly, out of nowhere, someone crashed into him.

“Whoah!” Krad said, and grabbed the person by the shoulder and pushed them back, so he could see this mysterious person’s face.

This person was… beautiful. Bishie, if he might use the word. Or maybe a bishojo? The person was so… androgynous was the word that first came to mind.

Black, black hair, and a fair face. Eyes, a deep green, almost brown. This mysterious person was short, only coming up to Krad’s chest (then again, Krad was a very tall 6 feet). The black hair was cut choppily across the jawbone, just brushing the edges of chin and ears. The person had an ear piercing, but not in the lobe as most people had. No, this person was different. On this beautiful person, there was a small copper hoop, hugging the top of their left ear. Krad couldn’t tell how the person’s body was built, as ... ‘it’ had many random layers on… and why should I care? Krad angrily admonished himself. This person has nothing to do with me! I should just leave. And leave was what Krad made to do… until this mystery person fell on him. Krad had failed to notice one thing…

This person was drop-dead drunk.

“Huuuh?” the mystery person slurred. “Whosdare? I donwana donwaaannaaa…” and the person tipped over again. Krad caught the raven haired beauty – beauty? What am I thinking? – and stood them up.

“Where do you live?” Krad said clearly, trying to get the through the alcohol clouding this poor person’s mind. “Can I take you somewhere? Are you looking for someone?” But the person only responded “No. Not me…. No...” and passed out. Grreeeaaat… now what. Krad sighed, realizing what he had to do. He slung the ‘Mystery Person’over his shoulder, and continued home. This person would just have to stay the night. No way was Krad going to get anyone else into this. Krad kept to himself whenever he could, which meant no phoning the police… especially since his uncle (Satoshi’s dad) was the top dog at the station. No need for him to know anything about Krad’s life… meddling adults Krad thought, momentarily forgetting that at 21, he was technically an adult.

When Krad reached their band’s apartment door, he unlocked it with one hand, and opened it with the same one hand (who knew that such a skill would come in handy?). He entered the apartment.

It was small, with the door opening straight into the living room, which had a tiny corner kitchen. There were two rooms, on either side of a bathroom. There were two beds in one, and one in the other. Rachiru slept by herself in the smaller bedroom, and Krad and Satoshi shared the other. When they had first rented the apartment, Krad had made it clear that he was not going to allow Satoshi and Rachiru to sleep in the same room.

Krad dumped the mystery person on the couch in the living room. He stood up, and looked down at the person slumbering on the couch. I sure don’t envy your morning… what a hangover. Krad then had an idea. He grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil, and left a note beside the couch.

Hi! My name’s Krad, and this is my apartment you’re at. Well, my cousin and his girlfriend live here too, but whatever. When I was walking home last night, you sorta… well, you walked into me. You were really drunk and couldn’t tell me anything, so I thought the safest thing to do was to bring you here. There’s water in the tap, the glasses are in the cupboard above the sink. Same with the medicine. Krad drew a little smiley face next to that. I hope you get home all right! –Krad

There! Krad thought. That should do it. He placed the note beside the couch. He hesitated on his way up, and without thinking, bent over the sleeping person and kissed their cheek.

When he’s realized what he had done, he quickly stood up and stepped back. What am I doing? He thought frantically. I have no idea who this person is… hell, I don’t even know if it’s a boy or girl! Deciding that he’d had enough weirdness for one night (Satoshi finally admitting that they needed a different synth player, Rachiru agreeing, and now this weird person sleeping on their couch…), Krad left the main room to his and his cousins, determined to sleep well and not worry about tomorrow.

-i-a-m-a-l-i-n-e-b-r-e-a-k-e-r-

Satoshi and Rachiru were both laughing. They looovvveeed messing with Krad.

“He’s so immature!” Rachiru finally said.

“I can’t wait ‘till he has a girlfriend we can bug him about!” Satoshi laughed at the thought.

Eventually, the two stopped laughing.

“I guess we should bring everything back…” Rachiru said uncertainly.

“Not just yet…” Satoshi smiled and (finally) kissed her. He drew back, and saw that Rachiru had her eyes closed. “What’s wrong?” Satoshi asked, his normally bright mind stumped. Rachiru never just sat there with her eyes closed. She’d smile or cry, or show some emotion, but she never just… sat there.

“Nothing’s wrong,” she replied. “I’m just thinking… about how lucky I am.” She opened her eyes and smiled up at Satoshi. “I’m in a great band, I have such nice friends. I can sing! And, of course… I have you. My one true love, already. I’m so happy!” Then she made a face. “That was waaay too much ‘mushiness’, to quote our talented drummer.” Satoshi laughed quietly.

“That’s quite alright.” He kissed her again, and this time when he made to leave, she grabbed his head and kissed him back.

Eventually, though, they remembered that to keep living they had to breathe.

They reluctantly broke their kiss. “We should actually put everything away now.” Rachiru reluctantly said.

“Hai.”

They packed up the synth, Satoshi’s guitar (the amazing guitar… it had switches on the side like a synth… it just isn’t polite to ask how much something like that costs), the two small amps, and Rachiru’s microphone. They left the drum set there. They locked it up, but it still wasn’t that safe. They couldn’t really cart it back to the apartment all the time, though… so in the garage it had to stay.

When they reached the apartment, they went to the living room, where they usually put everything they brought from their ‘glorious rehearsal space’. But, when they reached the couch… they realized that their equipment would be on the floor that night.

Someone was sleeping on the couch.

The couple read Krad’s note silently, stifled their laughs so not to wake the sleeping person, and then carefully placed everything on the small floor space. They kissed one more time (as soon as Krad was up, they could barely hold hands without getting a glare from Satoshi’s cousin) then left to their bedrooms. They had (ugh) work the next day. Satoshi had his work at the police station, and Rachiru had her waitress job at Café Puk Puk. They also had to spread the word of their synth auditions.

The auditions…

i-a-m-a-n-o-t-h-e-r-l-i-n-e-b-r-e-a-k-e-r

Info on characters:

Ysuom Krad

Age: 21

Height: 6’1

Hair: Very long in the back, very light blond. Shorter around the front. Long hair in the back is usually in a ponytail.

Relationships: Satoshi’s cousin, older by two days. Single, and very happy that way. Ran away from his parents when he was young, so he’s on stressful terms with them.

Plays: Percussion in the same band as Satoshi and Rachiru.

Birthday: January 22

Sign: Aquarius

Other: A bit of a troubled guy, you could say. The ‘Tough Guy’ sort. He doesn’t like to talk about the time he ran away. Seems to hate romance, so he’s always yelling his catchphrase “mushiness” at Rachiru.

Hikari Satoshi

Age: 21

Height: 5’8

Hair: Short-ish, and blue. Hates being bugged about it. Has attempted to dye it, but has had some bad experiences with dye. So, he’s stuck with blue.

Relationships: Krad’s cousin, younger by two days. Rachiru’s boyfriend. Was raised by his adoptive father, who he doesn’t like. His mom died when he was very young, and he never met his father.

Plays: Guitar, and sings (tenor or baritone) in the same band as Krad and Rachiru.

Birthday: January 20

Sign: Capricorn

Other: Wears glasses as a habit. When he was young, everyone would bug him about his good looks and weird hair. His adoptive father wants him to be a police officer like him, but Satoshi just wants to play music. His father currently has him hired as an odd jobs (secretary) person at the police station, in hopes to convince Satoshi. Satoshi just wants the money, until they finally get contracted. His father gives him a very small amount of money each month, just enough for the apartment.

Rachiru

Age: 20

Height: 5’6

Hair: Bright orange, just past shoulder length. Slightly wavy, but HATES it. So, she attempts to straighten it.

Relationships:

Plays: She sings. Soprano to first alto. She can play piano, but not synth (at least, not very well). Lead vocalist in same band as Satoshi and Krad.

Birthday: July 7th

Sign: Cancer

Other: A bit of a perfectionist. She absolutely adores Satoshi, and will do pretty much whatever he asks. She’s the only girl in their band, and their biggest techno influence. Her favourite band is Nittle Grasper. She likes Bad Luck, too, but she thinks that they need to do something bigger before they’re as ‘awesomely awesome’ as Nittle Grasper. ‘Pokes’ Krad at his ‘little relationship complex’ quite a lot. She seems to transform when she’s singing, into someone full of confidence.

-h-e-r-e-i-a-m-a-n-o-t-h-e-r-l-i-n-e-b-r-e-a-k-e-r-w-h-o-o-t-

Bold Sleepless Beauty. (In Gravitation, it’s a famous Nittle Grasper song)

AN: So. How’d you like it? If anyone has ANY questions about ANYTING in this story, please, ask them! I want to make sure everyone understands everything. The chapters will get better; this is more of an introductory chapter. More Gravitation in the future, though this is centered mainly on DNAngel characters. Gravitation should come in around the third chapter or so. I hope to update every week or two weeks. Thanks so much to my ‘ed-itor’, princessemiko4. Thank you for suffering through this, Emward!

Yay for blue popsicles, -Bowleena