(Hello, DDR fanfc reader(s)! Yes, this fanfic uses and only uses the little dancing backgroundcharacters. I just chose my favorites, so I apologize if your character either didn't appear or said nothing. Again, this focuses mostly on Devil Zukin. I'd prefer "Evil" Zukin but meh, more people call her by her real name, so... anyway, when I read that Evil Zukin likes watching people, I sooo wanted to make something out of that.)

(Mmm... let's see... I do like Zukin/Kosento and all... but amazingly, no robot characters are in this fic. The purpose of the surprise pairing is to disturb you, interest you, make you consider it, or be a cure for boredom. Whichever you choose. Maybe more than one. Read away, if you want to!)

Somewhere in Japan, in some large building, several people had gathered and danced. People you may know of, actually. After about two hours of hyper music from the game you know well enough, Izam, who was told (or you could say forced) to be the DJ, was searching for slower songs. Which was very hard, seeing as Dance Dance Revolution doesn't seem to have many...

On the floor, they tried to pair up and slow dance. Emi was with Rage, and Yuni was nice enough to let Akira dance with Alice, who had been leaning against the wall alone for two songs. Others decided to slow dance, too, but sadly, they don't play much of a role in this story...

Yep, that made everyone happy... everyone who was in there, anyway.

The roof was made of windows that someone could look through and see everyone dance. Devil Zukin would be that someone. Her strange hobby and curiosity got to her that night and there she was, mysteriously scrunched up on her hands and feet. Her wings were held up to block the wind. It really wasn't cold, at least not up until the wind blew.

While her dark outfit was hard to see, eventually, someone would notice a face looking over the top of the building. And that other someone would be Maid Zukin.

"Did you see me coming?" Maid Zukin asked, as her friend continued to stare down.

"Kinda," Devil Zukin replied. "That, or it looked like you were gonna leave or something."

"What are you doing up here? Everyone's down there. And I wasn't prepared to leave yet."

"Eh... you know slow dancing's gonna come up eventually at all dances. Figure I'd just avoid it, you know?"

"Not really." The cat-like girl thought for a moment, then grinned. "Oh, I get it."

"You do?"

"Yeah." Maid Zukin smiled. "Deep down, you want a guy to dance with, too, don't you?"

"Whaaa...! Why would I want one?"

"Come on... you're still a girl. It's natural."

Devil Zukin's ear twitched. "So?" She hated being told she had a deep feminine side. At least Maid Zukin wasn't convincing her she liked the color pink. "We're not normal anyway. Zukins were made to dance..."

Actually, Maid Zukin thought, I was made to clean things... "And now that we've been around a while and made some friends, we're more lifelike. I mean, I'd like one, too, but..."

"Too? By saying 'too' that's implying that I want one first! I..." She pointed up as if to make a statement, but slowly brought her hand down. "Gah. You caught me. It'd be great if there was a guy for me. I'm, well..." Devil Zukin was horrible at saying what she was feeling, but Maid Zukin was a good friend of hers. "... having a hard time accepting that there isn't." She put a hand behind her neck, showing her nervousness. Seconds later she brought it down slowly, crossed her arms, and resumed looking through the wondows.

At one point or another, each Zukin wondered what they were exactly. They came to the conclusion that they were similar to robots... and robots would live forever, unlike a human. Which is what would make it impossible for one to love someone... and just as impossible for Maid Zukin to say Devil Zukin was wrong. There was still the chance that they did age like anyone else, but they weren't around long enough to know for sure. At that moment, they looked around age 16, and they wouldn't really know much of a difference for a while.

"That... doesn't mean that you can't try to enjoy opportunities in life while they last. Look at Alice, she knows Akira belongs to Yuni, but she tried to have a good time anyway." Maid Zukin wondered what would cheer her friend up, despite that the bat-looking creaturewasn't normally too happy. As she came up with an idea, her expression lit up. "I've got it! I'll see if Emi will do the same with Rage for you!"

Devil Zukin's ears twitched, and she was shocked to hear that name. No, not Emi, Rage. "... really?" she asked, and then mentally cursed herself for sounding so hopeful.

The other thing that brought her down that night was Rage and Emi. As she was becoming friends with everyone, she did sort of have a feeling for Rage. Before she realized it, Emi was the one who managed to date him, and they really did end up being a fitting couple. She never really hated Emi for it, because she felt more like it was her fault for not doing anything. A shame, as she kind of admired his strong personality. But if Emi made him nicer, then... she was more right for him...

Devil Zukin shook her head as if it'd help her forget before her head wandered too much. "Sure!" Maid Zukin replied. She grabbed her arm and started pulling her down the stairs by the side of the building and into the large room. The two slowed down and made their way to Rage and Emi.

The two were in the back and close to the left wall. They were so close and ignoring everything else except the slow beat of the music. Or so they were, until Maid Zukin lightly tapped Emi on the shoulder, that not only caused her to jump, but then made Rage yell in surprise.

"Chain reaction," Devil Zukin said just loud enough for nearby people to hear. "Nice."

Maid Zukin chuckled nervously, "Um... sorry for completely ruining that, but... now that it is over... would you mind letting Rage dance with someone else?"

"After wrecking that," Rage started a little angrily, "you want me to dance with you?"

Devil Zukin had been slowly backing away, hoping no one would notice. "Not me," Maid Zukin replied. She pulled her friend over by her shoulder. "Her."

"Um... yeah. What... cat-girl's saying."

Where has she been all night? Emi thought. I don't think I've seen her anywhere... maybe she's been hiding? "Oh, this all right with me!" she said, smiling at the Zukins. "I've been dancing this whole time, I'll be just fine."

"Wha..." Rage began, "hold on, I never agreed to..." he looked at Devil Zukin. Her large ears started to fall just a little and she started to stare off in another direction. "Well... I'm agreeing now, then." First her eyes turned back to him, then the rest of her head.

Remember You began to play. One of the few songs that really did work well for a slow dance. You'd almost wonder how it became a DDR song...

"All right," Devil Zukin said, trying to hide her huge smile. She couldn't help but grin a little. She walked up to Rage at a moderate pace, not pretending to be too reluctant but not as excited as she really was.

Her arms went around his shoulders a little, and his arms went around her waist. This was awkward for both of them for multiple reasons, one of them being that by pure coincidence her waist was one of the very few body parts that her outfit didn't quite cover.

Maid Zukin had been right. Even if it wouldn't last long, she liked feeling this while it lasted, friendship or whatever.Hoping all would go well, she pulled Rage into a hug.

He looked over at Emi, wondering what she'd think. Fortunately, she and Maid Zukin weren't looking. They were trying to be funny by messing around with random slow dance routines, partially to make partner-less Yuni laugh.

Rage wasn't normally a big mushy person, not unless it was with Emi. But he could tell the bat girl liked this dance, and was a little nervous. So he sort of hugged her back, just a enough to calm her down.

The song ended, and it took a second for Devil Zukin to notice Rage stopped dancing. She didn't know until Rage's arms began to return to his side, and the second she realized that, she pulled away as well, again, trying to act as casual as possible.

That failed soon, though. Again, her hand found its way behind her neck, and she started mumbling. "Well, I... I mean, you know... that was kinda... nice of you, yanno? And I kinda, well..."

Maid Zukin pushed her friend away a little. "I'm gonna guess that translates to 'thank you.'"

"Yeah."

"Eh, no problem, really," Rage replied. "Just... doing a friend a favor, right?"

Emi glomp-hugged him from behind. "Aww, Rage... You can really be soft."

Rage just laughed a little, causing both Zukins to smile, too.

Everyone was ready to start actually dancing again, so Izam decided to play Boom Boom Dollar.

"Now, this I know I can do," Devil Zukin said, grinning. Everyone went back to being one big group of friends, dancing at once. Devil Zukin had the most energy out of everyone, and her hyper moves drew some attention.

The last song to play was Graduation, as it seemed like a good ending song. Emi and Rage paired back up, as well as Yuni and Akira. Not like a slow dance, just standing in front of their partner. Maid Zukin tried to dance with Alice like she did with Emi earlier. Devil Zukin, not liking cute songs, resumed watching everyone, but this time she just sat down in a chair.

After the song ended, everyone left. Emi gave Devil Zukin a goodbye hug like she did for everyone, except Rage who walked home with her. Maid Zukin was the last to see the bat girl.

"So did you have fun?" she asked.

"Yep," she answered, "Finally, instead of watching something... I lived it."

(Love them! I command you! Ha... nah, really, at first it was just gonna be all coincidence but then I thought maybe Devil Zukin'd be the type to like Rage. Don't worry, as you can see, I'm still for Emi/Rage and stuffs. And also... Izam was chosen out of total randomness. He was just a character I hadn't used and didn't really want to, to be honest... just not... close to my favorites list...)

(Back to the pairing... while Babelfish-(or badly) translating the 4th mix profiles, I could be off, but I think it said that Devil Zukin "aims for the opening of heart." It sounded like she wanted to be normal, fele emotions, or be accepted or something. Even if Maid Zukin's the one who really hates being alone... eh both ways, I found it so... cute in a sad way, or something. And then... Rage is tied with all the robots for my favorite guy character. I based his personality off some other fanfics and random things I made up... I figure he's kinda a strong guy... energetic... doesn't look like he wants to take things too seriously, partially because he desn't like working, for one thing...)

(Hope you liked it! Because if you don't, I will be in a giant sulking point under a hailing raincloud!)

(... for like... a second, so it's nothing. 'Sides, nobody likes hearing their fanfiction was bad, right?Honestly, though, this was half a test fanfic, because we all know it's really hard to know what everyone expects out of DDR characters because, well, they never say anything and it's near impossible to tell what they're really like! So for this story expecially,if you've got other ideas, corrections, complaints,if I'm luckythen compliments,whatever, please let me know, and I'llthink aboutthem, cause I was alsoconsidering putting most of these guys in another one shot, and however this is going, I don't wanna screw the next one up...)