Title: Autumn's Raine

Chapter 10: A Little Help

Disclaimer: I don't own the Gravi characters. I do "own" Raine. o.o She's mine… yes, mine. ::nods:: I get something!

Warnings: Yaoi, a little AU, OC, and probably some OOCness.

Notes: Bah… I'm bad. ::lowers head in shame:: I'm sorry! It took me soooo long to finish this chapter. ::cries:: I tried, really! It's just that I couldn't get to where I wanted everyone to be and it was frustrating me! And then I was planning on giving you all two chapters for the long wait, but I don't think I am going to be able to finish the next chapter before I go on my little vacation Wednesday… so, I decided to just post this one, and if I finish the next one before I go I'll post it. I hope that's okay. o.o Mmm, what else was I going to say?... oh, and the one chapter I had finished got pushed back another chapter, I'm trying to go for detail. Trying. Heh. Oh well, on with the chapter! I know it's kinda short for the wait, but it's the best I could do.

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                Raine had woken up to the sound of someone yelling. She sat bolt up right, the blanket she had over her falling to the floor. She blinked the sleep from her eyes as she glanced around the living room. 'Who was that?...' She was just letting out a yawn when the voice was heard once more.

                "AHHHH!!! I'M LATE!" Raine's head snapped to the right. It was Shuichi yelling from the bedroom down the hall. She chuckled to herself and stretched trying to get the crick out of her neck. She had fallen asleep last night while watching something Shuichi had called 'Evangelion'. It had a couple other words before it, but that was the only thing she could remember. It had been interesting, if that was the right word, but she was so tired that she had been falling asleep during the third episode, it was then that Shuichi told her to go to sleep. She had agreed he to went to bed. Raine wondered what time Yuki had gone to bed, or if he had at all.

                She sat silently on the couch for a good while, not thinking of anything in particular, just sitting. Then suddenly Raine heard someone rushing down the hall and a second later Shuichi bounded into the living room at top speed.

                "Good morning Raine!" He said quickly as he ran around the living room, obviously looking for something.

                "Good morning." She smiled back, watching in amusement as the singer continued to rush about.

                "Oh, forget it! I don't have time to look for it!" Shuichi stopped, having only been looking for a second, huffing. He shook his head and then ran to the front door, Raine blinked. "BYE!" She blinked again when the door slammed.

                "Obviously in a hurry." She chuckled to herself, lying back down.

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                Shuichi ran out of the apartment building at top speed. "Late! Late! Late!" He mumbled to himself as he ran, dodging all of the people that were walking along the street and getting in his way. "Why am I always late!?" Shuichi clutched the bag he had grabbed on his way out to his chest; he hadn't even bothered to put it around his shoulder. "K is going to kill me! I know it! I'm too young to die!"

                Shuichi bounced from foot to foot when he was forced to stop, waiting for the walking sign to appear for him to cross the street. "Hurry, hurry, hurry!" As soon as it was safe to walk Shuichi pushed past the other people and continued to run. "Gotta hurry! Gotta hurry!"

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                Yuki lay on his back, staring at the ceiling. He growled softly. Now he couldn't sleep, the idiot had woken him up completely with his running around and yelling. Glancing over at the clock Yuki noted it was only nine. "Damn it." Sitting up once more Yuki sighed, he knew there was no way he could get back to sleep right now even if he really wanted too.

                'I guess I might as well get ready now… Shuichi will most likely call around one. He always calls around one.'

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                Raine found she couldn't stay lying down for too long, she was wide awake now. She was now sitting Indian style on the couch, the blanket lying across her lap. She let her eyes roam around the room she was beginning to get used to. As her eyes moved over the coffee table something caught her eyes, she slowly leaned forward and lifted the drawing she had done the day before.

                Holding the drawing up a little Raine looked over it before she placed it down once more and it was then she noticed something lying partially hidden underneath the coffee table. She frowned slightly, leaning forward and picked up Shuichi's notebook. 'I bet you this is what he seemed to be looking for this morning.' Raine laughed softly to herself; absent mindedly she began flipping through the pages. The first few pages had little doodles all over them. They were doodles of, Raine was sure, Yuki. She chuckled at one of the pages; it was a doodle of Shuichi and Yuki hugging. 'He's cute.' She shook her head, flipping through the pages some more before she stumbled on the last one with writing on it.

                Raine scanned over the scratchy kanji, trying to read it. It wasn't that she couldn't read kanji, in fact she could read, write and speak several languages, it was just Shuichi's writing was very sloppy. That and he had words crossed out all over the page.

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I break through the cordon and the siren sounds;

I won't go back; I won't look back at all...

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                'This must be that song he was working on yesterday. The one that kept making him growl over in frustration.'

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If the future says "No trespassing," I'll surely sneak into it.

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                'Hmm… That's all he has? No wonder he was getting frustrated. Maybe I can help him.' Raine looked around the coffee table, looking for a pen or a pencil. She didn't see one. 'I wonder if Yuki-san has some in his office… He's still asleep, maybe I can get one without him knowing…' She slowly stood up, walking as quietly as she could over to the office door, there she froze. 'I shouldn't go in… That would be very rude of me.' Raine clutched the notebook to her chest, staring at the slightly open office door.

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                Yuki had just pulled out his clothes for the day, a pair of black slacks and his deep violet button-up shirt. He was just about to head into the shower when he thought of something else. 'I guess I should check on Raine before I get ready. She probably went back to sleep after Shuichi stormed out.'

                He placed his clothes on the bed and then made his way out of the room. As soon as he stepped out into the hallway he caught sight of Raine. She was standing quietly in front of his office. 'What is she doing?' Turning towards the Sprite Yuki raised one slim eyebrow. "Raine?"

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                Raine continued to just stand in the hallway, staring at the door. She didn't even know how long she had been standing, probably ten minutes already.

                "Raine?"

                Raine blinked, turning quickly towards the voice. Yuki was standing a few feet from her down the hall. She hadn't heard him. "Ah… Yuki-san! I'm sorry."

                "For what?"

                "Oh, well… for not hearing you coming. I suppose."

                "Ah. What are you doing standing there?"

                "Oh… well… see…" Raine held up Shuichi's notebook, "Shuichi had been writing a new song… and seems to have taken a slow start and I wanted to help him. But then I couldn't find anything to write with. I was going to go in your office to see if I could find one, but then I thought that would be very rude of me… so… I just kinda ended up standing here. Like an idiot." She sighed the last part out.

                "I see." Yuki looked Raine over for a moment and then moved over to the door, opening it and stepping in. He moved over to his desk, picking up the half used pencil he had lying on it. He moved back over to Raine, who was still just standing there. "Here." He held out the pencil.

                "Oh…" She smiled softly, taking the pencil and looking up at Yuki. "Thank you, Yuki-san! I'm gonna help Shuichi with his song." Raine nodded and began heading towards the living room.

                "Raine." The Sprite blinked, turning towards Yuki. "Let me see what he as so far."

                "Oh, sure. I don't think Shuichi would mind you seeing it." She walked back over, holding out the notebook. She still had it turned to the page with the three lines scribbled on.

                Yuki looked over the three lines and frowned slightly, "You are planning to work with this?"

                Raine nodded enthusiastically, taking the notebook back as Yuki handed it over, "Yes. Well, I'm going to try anyway." She looked down at the paper, "Even if I have only been around Shuichi for the past two days I have a good understanding of his feelings towards you. And I also have a hunch that he was writing this song about you." She flipped to the page before this one, showing Yuki the doodle, "He really loves you. You know that?" She gave Yuki another smile, not waiting for his reply as she headed back towards the living room.

                'I know.' His mind whispered in reply, before he voiced out something else. He walked over to the living room, glancing over at Raine as she was now sitting on the couch. "Shuichi wants me to take you to NG at lunch, which for him is usually around one o'clock. I'm going to get ready now. After I'm done you can take a shower and get ready, I'm going to take you shopping." Yuki couldn't believe that last part had come out of his mouth, though in reality he knew it was a good idea.

                "Shopping?" Raine frowned slightly.

                "Yes. You need clothes. You can't keep wearing that same outfit Shuichi lent you on Saturday. And since we don't know how long you are staying, it seems only fitting that we get you some clothes of your own."

                She blinked and just stared at Yuki for a moment. Then she smiled once more, "Thank you, Yuki-san. That is very kind."

                Yuki just nodded before he disappeared back down the hall. Raine smiled as she watched him leave.

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                Shuichi, panting heavily, ran out of the elevator as it stopped and the doors opened. He made his way down the hallway, and he slid to a stop in front of the door to his band's normal rehearsing room. He blinked when he spotted a note on the door.

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 Shuichi,

The room is still being repaired; meet us down in the basement.

--Hiro

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                "Still!?" Shuichi huffed, "The accident happened last Wednesday. You would think they could repair the little bit of burn marks by now!" He suddenly giggled as he remembered the look on Fujisaki's face when the amps had exploded. Shuichi wouldn't admit it, not even to Hiro, but he was the one who had messed with the buttons. He stood there for another minute, remembering that incident, before he remembered he was already late. Quickly snatching the note from the door, Shuichi ran back to the elevator.

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                Hiro, Fujisaki, K and Sakano were all sitting in the basement in total silence. Hiro was the first to break the hour of silence by sighing rather loudly. He let his eyes scan the room that they were forced to be in. When the amps had blown last week they were forced to move rooms, and this was the only one that was open. Or at least that's what Tohma had told K, though Hiro and Fujisaki thought it was a form of punishment for their band burning the other room.

                The basement was cold, dark and dirty. Hiro didn't like it, but if this is the only place they could practice then that is where he would be. Or at least he would be practicing there if Shuichi would show up. Hiro began to wonder if the arrival of Shuichi's "cousin" was the cause of his tardiness, but then he remembered that Shuichi was always late. Visiting relatives or not.

                Taking a second to glance at the other people in the room, Hiro noticed Fujisaki was glaring hard at the wall ahead, Sakano was crying silently while shaking his head back and forth, and K was sitting in a chair polishing his gun. It was then that all four heard loud foot falls heading their way.

                "I'M HERE!!" The door above the short set of steps that lead down to the basement flew open and Shuichi came rushing down the stairs. "I'm sorry!! I forgot to set my alarm and then I woke up late and then I couldn't find my notebook with my new lyrics in them and and and…" He trailed off, having reached the end of the stairs and found himself at the wrong end of K's gun. "K…"

                "Over an hour late." K glared slightly, the gun not wavering.

                "K-san!" Sakano ran over to K, "Don't shoot him!" Shuichi nodded quickly in agreement.

                K continued to glare but the gun slowly lowered. "Over an hour late."

                "I know. I'm sorry." Shuichi laughed a little nervously, "I really need to remember to set my alarm clock."

                "Yes you do, Shindou-san." Fujisaki sighed loudly, "Can we get to rehearsing now."

                Hiro nodded, "Yeah, let's get to work."

                Shuichi nodded too, thankful to move on and get out of the hot seat. He dropped his bag next to the steps and moved further into the basement with a little disgust. He didn't like this room, it was too dirty, but it was his fault they were there so he wasn't going to say anything. At least not out loud.

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                Raine sat with her legs crossed underneath her, the notebook on her lap and pencil in her hand. She could faintly hear the shower running in the background, but she ignored it. 'Let's see…' Closing her eyes for a moment Raine let the three lines run through her head and then she opened her eyes and rewrote the lyrics in her own writing on a fresh page. She then frowned and erased the words, decided to start fresh and work the lines in later on.

                For a few moments she sat there, thinking over how to start the song off. It was going to be sung in Japanese, so wording would be different then if it were to be sung in English. After that was established in her mind she decided that she knew exactly how Shuichi felt about Yuki, just from feeling his emotions the days before, and thinking over the three lines again she knew exactly how to start.

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I want to go falling in love with you; even a furious brake won't stop this,

No matter who (tries to) stop me now.

Since it gets stronger every time I hit and am hit by the borders of common sense,

I'll climb over the wall and speed up; I can't stop lovin' you.

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                Raine smiled brightly and nodded, "A good start!"

===to be continued===

CCT: Well, there you have it! I'm going to try and finish the next chapter for you by Wednesday. ::prays she can do like she wants:: But, aside from the normal reviews I want (hehe), I have a question for those of you who have been reading since the beginning and have liked the story so far. (Especially the character Raine.) I wanted to know how you guys wanted me to deal with Raine's past that will be revealed in a few more chapters. I want to know now because I like to have my ideas down a head of time, so I have something to shoot for (even if it's not always what I actually go with). I have two ways of dealing with it: one I can write it with Raine just telling whoever (don't want to say who she tells it to yet) and that's all; or the other idea I had was having it done in a flashback where one entire chapter is just Raine's "story". So, please tell me what you think of this chapter, and also which way you want me to go for Raine's past. ^__^ Thanks a lot everyone! (oh, I have a new blog for my fanfics. figure I might as well plug it here: http://graspingat.pitas.com)