Alright, Chapter 1's finally up! :) I'm really surprised by the number of readers and reviews. And I'd really really like to thank you guys for the story/author alerts/favorites and reviews. Each and everyone of them made my day, really. To be honest, I had Chapter 1 done about a week ago already, but... I've been busy so I never had the time to upload it. Chapter 2 and 3's done already too. All that's left is beta-reading. Again, thank you for reading, enjoy and review! :D

"Alright, that's all for today, pack up, guys. Remember to go home and practice! I don't want you to come back on Monday all sloppy and forgetting your routines!" Gil Graham clapped his hands, announcing the end of rehearsal.

Sitting on a bench near the stage watching a recorded video of her rehearsal, a brunette with her hair tied to a side-bun wiped off the sweat blurring her view, as she took another sip to quench her thirst.

Earphones in her ears, she listened intently to follow every count. Sapphire eyes were glued to the video camera's screen as it replayed her performance of the day, making sure she never made a single mistake.

Too engrossed in the video, she didn't notice an old man walking behind her, jumping when she felt a rough hand patting her shoulder. She turned around, to see her principal, and blushed at her rude reaction.

"Thank you for your hard work. You're improving at a really fast rate, I can tell! Today was really well done. You seem really tense, want to talk about it?"

Blushing at the compliment, Nanoha laughed, "Nyahaha, I'm just a little tired. I've been under a lot of pressure lately. That's all." Glancing at the big clock at the back of the rehearsal hall, Nanoha hurriedly packed her stuff and ran out of the hall. "Thank you for today too, Graham-sensei!"

Just as she left the hall, Graham replied, "Oh, Nanoha. It might hurt you to tell you this, but I'd really hope you can improve from it; your dancing lacks... Life."

Stunned, the brunette stood by the door at a loss of words. Eyes on the ground, her bun fell to her side-ponytail. A thousand thoughts ran through her mind.

It was March already and her recital was the coming June. And she wasn't good enough. Not. Good. Enough. Need. To. Improve. More. How can she improve? She was already the top student of St. Hilde Academy of Arts, was she not good enough? Who could help her? Graham said her dancing needed life. What did he mean by that? What is life, anyways? All these thoughts raced on and on as if on track, running in circles, leading her nowhere. Lost, without any solutions, stuck in square one.

It wasn't until drops of water fell onto her that Nanoha snapped out of her thoughts. Looking around, she realized she wasn't on her usual route home, but somewhere isolated. "I must've made a wrong turn somewhere… Now where am I? Mou, what a bad day…" She pouted as she ran to a shelter.

Fishing out her phone to check her exact location, she heard applause and a lot of splashing noises. Curious, she left her phone in her pocket and noticed a crowd. Digging her way to the front of her crowd, she tripped over a foot and fell to the ground. Looking up, the sight that greeted her left her speechless.

There, before her, stood an angel, dancing in the rain.

This girl... What is she doing? What kind of dance is this? Popping? Locking? Breakdancing? No, it seems to be a mixture of everything. She's free styling. How could someone free style, without any routine, dance with so much grace? Nanoha thought.

Every move seemed to kill the music, hitting the beat accurately. The way she spun in the air and landed in a split, bouncing back up to spin into a pose. How she fell to the ground, flipping herself and pushing herself into a one-handed handstand before kissing the crowd as she spun on it; and how she flipped herself back onto her feet exactly when the music ended and took a bow.

Everything seemed so perfect. It was as if the music was played to follow her movements. The rain stopped, and the crowd dispersed. Nanoha realized she was the only one left and the angel before her was already packing up to leave. Despite the performance ending, Nanoha couldn't help but stay to watch the angel pack her stuff.

As she turned around, her eyes were immediately captured by that pair of beautiful burgundy eyes. Those wine-red eyes that shone so brightly yet looked so dull. It was as if looking at a pretty zombie. Her long blonde hair glistened in the streetlights. Truly, a piece of art made by god, a beauty.

But why? Why does she look so… dead, so sad? She was dancing with so much emotion, so much life. And now, it's like a switch in her turned off her heart and she's totally , maybe THAT's what Graham-sensei meant by life!

"Uhmm… Can I help you, miss? I haven't seen you around before; you're probably not from around here, are you? What's a pretty princess like you doing all the way here in the slums?" The blonde's melodic voice snapped her out of her reveries.

"Etto…" Nanoha blushed at the compliment.

"Oh come on, don't be shy!" The blonde smiled, and spread her arms out after picking up her bag, to show that she was a safe person.

"I'm... Lost." Nanoha's face was as red as a tomato now. Embarrassed by her confession, she shut her eyes tightly, faced the ground and shuffled her feet, expecting the blonde to laugh.

After a moment of silence, the brunette slowly opened her eyes to peek at the blonde. There she stood, just waiting. "Well, let's take you home then, princess. Where do you live?" She smiled.

Why, is it that even when you're smiling, you still look so dead? Nanoha pondered.

After telling the blonde her address, the blonde decided to walk her home. Coincidentally, she lived nearby, about a 10 minute's walk away. The two of them walked side by side in an awkward silence… Or at least to Nanoha, it was. The blonde seemed to be enjoying the silence, until someone broke it.

"I was watching you just now. You were beautiful." Nanoha confessed, all blood rushing to her head again.

The blonde turned to look at the brunette, unable to respond to the compliment, she turned to watch her feet to cover her eyes as she walked and whispered, "Thank you."

"Dance for me?"