Title: Back-up Singer

Series: Gravitation

Rated: T for Teen

Started: 17-July-2006

Finished: 18-July-2006

Summary: Shuichi finds out Bad Luck has a back-up singer.

Why: Has anyone noticed that in all of the songs, there is a higher voice above Shuichi's? Has anyone also noticed that there is no back-up singer on stage with them? I thought it was weird, so I made my own fic.

Disclaimer: Kana-chan belongs to me. Other than that, I don't own Gravitation or the music that goes with it. I do however, have a few CDs, but that doesn't count.

A box of strawberry pocky was opened as Shuichi Shindo sat down in a swivel chair in the meeting room that belonged to Bad Luck. K-san had decided that the singing group had a lot of things to cover, and wanted to go over them as soon as possible; even if that meant that the band members and Sakano-san had to be at NG Records at seven thirty on a Friday morning.

"Ahhhh…so why are we here so early in the morning?" asked a tired Shuichi, stretching his arms over his head.

"We have a lot to talk about," responded K, with his eyes closed and his hands behind his back.

"I want to go back to sleep," complained the singer, and put his head down on the table.

Moments later, pedestrians outside the studio heard a series of gunshots. Some considered calling the police, but those that were around the studio enough knew that hearing gunfire coming from the recording company was normal, and it was no cause for alarm.

Shuichi sat up for the rest of the meeting, wide awake, and keeping his mouth shut. After being shot six times in the head and shoulder, he knew better than to try and fall asleep on K. It also helped that the American had his gun pointed at the pink-haired singer most of the time.

The time whittled away, slowly moving from seven thirty to nine o'clock. Hiro had pulled out his guitar to keep the boredom from killing him. Sakano was putting all the information K was spewing out into his organizer. Fujisaki, being the most responsible of the band members, was also writing everything down. He knew that Sakano would lose all the information. Finally, Shuichi had sat up, but began to draw pictures of him and Sakuma-san singing in a concert together. He was about to just stop listening, when K said something interesting.

"Okay…the last thing we need to do is set up a time with Kana-san to begin recording the harmony on the next album."

Shuichi's head perked up.

"Harmony? What harmony? We don't have harmony on our songs."

Everyone looked up from what they were doing to stare at Shuichi.

"Shuichi, are you pulling one of your stupid moments?" asked Hiro.

"I'm serious! Who is Kana-san, and why are we talking about harmony? I have never heard any other voice except mine in our songs before!"

Fujisaki shook his head, asked himself 'why me' and grabbed a copy of their CD off the shelf. He walked over to the stereo and placed the disc into the player. Taking the remote off the top of the system, he turned to the singer and gave him an irritated look.

"I don't know why I can't believe that you've never heard the harmony in our songs before. You are one of the dumbest people I know, and yet I thought you would be able to hear the other, distinct, FEMALE voice. I guess I was wrong."

"Shut up Fujisaki! Just because I can't hear it doesn't mean I'm stupid!"

"Yes it does. She's sung the back-up in all of our songs before," Hiro said with a smack to the singer's head. "Now shut up and listen."

Rubbing the back of his skull, Shuichi waited until "Spicy Marmalade" began to play. He waited for the introduction to finish, and when he began to sing, he listened for the other voice.

Spicy Marmalade jidai wa maru de

Ui himeta kao de madowaseru

As the song played, he began to hear a higher part over his own voice. When the line Spicy Marmalade hajiketa mama de was played, Shuichi's head perked up.

"I heard her."

"Only took you half of the song," mumbled Fujisaki to himself.

"But why haven't we met her? If she's been singing the back-up for us this entire time, you would think that I would've met her by now."

"That is a bit odd," added Hiro.

"See, that's the thing," began Sakano. "This is the first time she's ever sung back-up for someone, let alone on a CD or for a best selling band. She was very nervous."

"Really?" the best friends asked at the same time.

"Yes. We had put an announcement in the paper about needing a back-up singer, and she showed up the next day, shaking like a new born kitten. We could tell she was nervous when she was singing, but Sachou liked her enough that he hired her on the spot."

"That's awesome!" Shuichi paused for a moment and put a finger to his lips in thought. "But that doesn't explain why we haven't met her before."

"She doesn't want to meet any of you," the blonde answered.

"Why wouldn't she want to meet the wonderful, lovely, awesomely awesome band that is Bad Luck?" asked the pink-haired male with a twirl.

Sakano and K looked at each other.

"Well…"

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"This must be the place," stated Hiro as he looked upon a house with Shuichi and Fujisaki. It was sky blue, and had lilies in the front yard. A toy ball was near the doorstep, and the windows were wide open to let in the warm may breeze.

"This doesn't look like it belongs to a back-up singer, does it?" asked Shuichi.

"People that sing back-up are all totally different. Some are teenagers; some are people with a family and children. It all depends on how their voice blends with the singers," Fujisaki informed Shuichi.

"Oh…well, we aren't going to meet her by standing outside her house!" Shuichi gripped his forearm, and threw his right leg out in front of him. "Let's get in there and say hello!" screamed the singer at the top of his lungs, throwing his right fist in the air. Marching forward and leading his "troops" as Shuichi liked to call the other two, they went through the gate, and knocked on the white door.

A few moments later, a middle-aged woman with short black hair answered.

"Yes, what can I do for you three?"

"Hello ma'am. We are Bad Luck. Would you happen to be Kana-san, our back-up singer?" asked the pink-haired male.

The woman's mouth fell open for a few moments, before she finally pulled it up into a smile. "No I am not Kana-chan. She's here though. Would you like to meet her?"

"Very much so," said Hiro.

"One moment please," the woman said. She ushered them into the kitchen, and sat them down at the table. Serving them glasses of water, she ran to the bottom of the stairs, and shouted, "Kana-chan, there are some people here to see you!"

"'Kay!" the voice responded. A few moments later, a teenage girl with black hair pulled high into a pony tail, jeans ripped at the knee, and a black t-shirt that said "Bad Luck" in pink letters came down the stairs putting on a watch. "Okaa-san, who's here to see…uh…" was all the girl could manage before she saw the band.

The three boys stood up when she stopped on the stairs. "Hi Kana-san. We came to see you," said Shuichi.

Hiro thought the next few moments were some of the best reactions he had ever seen from a fan. At first, Kana stood still. Her eyes were wide, and kept shifting from Shuichi, to him, and then to Fujisaki. Then her mouth opened, and she tried to say something, but all that came out were jumbles of words. Finally, she started to smile, and her hand came up to cover her mouth. She looked over to her mom, who was smiling about as much as her daughter was, and looked back at them. She kept smiling, sometimes closing her eyes. When she did decide to say something, the words that came out were,

"Why are you guys here?"

"We came to visit you Kana-san. Why else?" asked Hiro.

"I-I mean, why would you want to v-visit me?"

Fujisaki smiled. "You're our back-up singer."

"Yeah Kana-san! You sing the harmony, and you make us sound even cooler! Why wouldn't we want to visit the girl that sings with us?" Shuichi said.

Kana blushed, and looked to the ground. "Um…I-I'm really honored that you decided to come see me…w-why are you here again?"

The three boys chuckled, and Shuichi walked over to the blushing girl. He stood next to her on the stairs and gave her a big smile. "We've been wondering for a while now who sings the harmony on our songs. You sing with us at every concert, and yet we never see you. So, we decided to find the girl with the pretty voice that sings with us." There was a pause, and Shuichi looked at Kana with a puzzled face. "How come we've never seen you before? Why don't you sing with us on stage?"

"Oh! Well…" she began, her hands coming up to her face. "Well, this is the f-first time I've ever sung back-up for someone, and…"

"And?" asked Shuichi, leaning closer to the girl with a huge grin.

"A-And I like you guys so much. I mean, you guys have got to be my favorite band ever." She looked up to the other two still standing in the kitchen. "Fujisaki-san, you make awesome arrangements, and I love how you play the keyboard so well. You sound so cool on Spicy Marmalade."

The green-haired boy smiled. "Thank you very much Kana-san."

"Nakano-san, your guitar playing is so cool. I've tried to play it before, but I can't do anything like you. My favorite solo of yours is in The Rage Beat."

Hiro grinned. "Why thank you."

Kana looked down to see that Shuichi was indeed still standing next to her on the steps, smiling like he always did. "S-Shindo-san…I love listening to you sing. When Seguchi-san played the r-recording of you he had at the tryouts, I knew that you were awesome. I like how you always sing so smoothly, and you c-carry the notes." The girl was looking at the carpet on the stairs at this point, and moving her hands together in nervousness. "My f-favorite song of yours is Smashing Blue. You sound so cool, a-and I really like the lyrics."

Shuichi's hands popped onto his hips. He cocked his head to the side, and smiled big. "Well, thank you very much Kana-san."

"That doesn't explain why we haven't seen you before, or why you don't sing on stage with us," said Hiro.

"I must admit it is a bit strange to have a back-up singer that you've never seen," added Fujisaki.

"Yeah, how come I don't get to see you when we record?" asked the hyper ball of energy.

"Oh! W-Well…I'm so embarrassed…I c-can't sing with you guys on stage," Kana said with a furious blush on her face. "I-I mean, I can't sing with my idols on stage…"

"Yes you can!" exclaimed Shuichi. "Every band that has back-up singers has them on stage, and it's about time that Bad Luck was seen with theirs. From now on Kana-san, you will be singing with us on stage. Got it?" he asked with one eye half-closed, and a finger pointing in the air.

Kana took a small step back, and looked at everyone. She looked at her mom who was still standing by the door.

"Go on sweetie."

"I promise it'll be a lot of fun! Please, please, please, please, please?" begged the pink-haired singer. His eyes got really big, and he began to pout.

Kana giggled, and put her hands behind her back.

"Okay Shindo-san. I will."

From then on, every time Bad Luck performed live, Kana was there. Shuichi taught her dance moves, which K quickly threw out the window. She got to dress up in all the fun outfits that they wore, and when they had an interview, Shuichi would sometimes pull her out of the back and make her say something. Kana had to admit though that her favorite part of singing with Bad Luck was all of the people that she got to meet. She saw Ryuichi Sakuma constantly, as he would show up back stage, and scream his lungs out for Shuichi. If he wasn't doing that, he was getting ready to sing on stage with him.

Her favorite person she saw all the time though was Eiri Yuki. He came to most of the performances, except for any that were on television. He would stand backstage, and lean against a wall, making sure that he could see Shuichi, and the hyper ball of energy could see him. He wouldn't clap when the songs were finished, but every time he made eye contact with the singer, a small smile would come to his face. When Kana finally got the chance to say hello to the famous writer, he looked her up and down and said,

"Not bad."

"What?"

"So you're the girl Shuichi's been talking about the last month."

"Shindo-san has talked about me?" asked the girl with a smile.

"He doesn't stop talking."

"Oi, Yuki!" shouted the singer. He ran over, and stopped next to the blonde man. "I see you've met Kana-chan. She's really nice, isn't she?"

"A bit slow as well."

"Huh?" asked Shuichi.

"What?" said Kana.

"Anyway, let's go home. I have to be up early tomorrow, and I don't want you to wake me up in the middle of the night coming home from one of your parties." Yuki left it at that, and began to walk away.

"Okay, well I gotta go. I'll see you on Thursday Kana-chan. Bye!" Shuichi gave a little wave, and ran to catch up to his lover. Fingers intertwined, and they walked out of the concert hall holding hands.

Kana waved back, even though Shuichi could no longer see her. She smiled, went to her dressing room, and changed out of her clothes. Placing them in the protective cover, she handed them to a stage hand, and walked outside to her car.

Her other favorite part of being a back up singer were the hugs she got. Sakano would hug her in relief that the show went so well. K would hug her because he was so excited that the fans were enjoying the concert. Fujisaki would hug her when she remembered something, and got Shuichi out of the mess he was in. Hiro would hug her when she got something right, and needed a bit of reassurance. And Shuichi? Well, just like tonight, he would run and tackle her when she was standing next to her car, thanking her for singing so well while squishing her against the metal. She would laugh and hug him back, thanking him for always being so nice to her while trying to push herself away from the car that was crushing her spine. After letting go, he would dash off to wherever it was he was headed to, and shout,

"I'll see you tomorrow Kana-chan!"

Maybe singing onstage wasn't so bad after all.

Fin.

Author's notes: Yeah, so that's that. What did you think? I thought it was weird when I would sing the harmony myself that there was never a back-up singer for them. So I talked with my sister about it, and I came up with the idea. Thanks go to my sister for telling me if my story sucks. Please review! It makes me happy when I open my e-mail and see all those nice and shiny reviews for me. Arigatou minna-san!

Until next time.

Tamababymiko-chan