Chi no Inochi

Sanosuke sighed heavily. Man, this sucks. He was dressed in a white McDonald's polo shirt and black jeans, with his wild hair shoved into one of those paper hats. Yahiko stood next to him, dressed identically. Both of them shot the occasional death glance at the other, but around customers they were polite and kind. They needed this money.

It had been decided that they would get the band going once they got all the necessary equipment.

Flashback

"Alright, then! I've got it written out. Is this right, guys?" said Kenshin, pushing forward a piece of paper.

Kenshin – Guitar/Vocals

Sano – Guitar/Vocals

Aoshi – Bass/Vocals

Soujiro – Drums

"Looks good to me," said Soujiro. Yahiko looked it over, and then looked up indignantly.

"What about me?" said a highly pissed Yahiko.

"What about you? You don't play anything, do you?" shot Sano.

"Yeah, I play something! I play… uh…"

"Play what? Huh, huh?"

"I play the piano." Sano's jaw dropped.

"The piano?"

"I could get a proper keyboard and play! I swear, Tsubame's been teaching me!" shouted Yahiko. Sano ruffled the boy's hair.

"Awww… Young love!"

"Shut up!"

End Flashback

It was three hours until Sano was able to escape McDonalds and hang out with his friends and make plans. He immediately hopped on his skateboard and began the long and strenuous ride to Soujiro's house, where they agreed to meet.

Soujiro's room was, in the words of the authoress, 'slammin'. The walls were plastered heavily with posters of Dir en Grey, Malice Mizer, X Japan, Luna Sea, L'arcenciel, the Clash, The Back Horn, Plastic Tree, Kagrra, Led Zeppelin, ACDC, and various other rock groups. The floor was covered with junk, and his bed was a ratty futon with one black comforter bunched up on it.

Sano was the last one to arrive. Everyone was stretched out all over the place fooling with instruments or just listening to Malice Mizer, which was currently drowning all attempted conversation. Kenshin had brought his guitar, Aoshi's bass was being 'graffititized' with paint pens and stickers, Sano's guitar was waiting for him, and Soujiro's drum set was in the corner of his room. Yahiko was the only one without an instrument. Soujiro turned down the stereo.

"'Sup, guys?" said Sano as he grabbed his guitar and amp and started blasting out a few chords. Both Sano and Kenshin had Fender Stratocasters, Sano's was black with red lightning bolts streaking across it, and Kenshin's was a deep, deep blue. Aoshi's bass was just black, but with writing on it in red, blue, green, and purple paint pens all over it. Soujiro's set was unadorned with the maker's logo ("I painted over them and scratched them off" said Soujiro) and was painted a stark grey.

"Not a whole lot. We've just been lying around and listening to music for the last half hour. How was the ride over?" said Kenshin. Sano shook his head and strummed another chord.

"Long. I swear it must be about a four mile ride… And it took me…" Sano checked the clock on Soujiro's desk, "At least an hour. I'm pooped."

"Great. Alright, now that slowpoke's here, we can start. So, here's the first thing we need…"

Three and a half hours later, all the roadblocks and complications on the rocky road of forming a band were pushed out of the way. Yahiko was to buy a keyboard as soon as he had enough money, Kenshin was to check the paper for a studio for rent, and everyone else was to take as many odd jobs as possible and give the money to Soujiro, who would then put it into a band bank account.

"I have a question," asked Yahiko.

"What?" said Aoshi.

"We need a name for the band don't we? What will we name it?" A pause followed. Everyone was thinking of a decent name.

"How about… The Stoners?" suggested Sano. This was greeted with a definite no.

"Let's see. I like Rasenjo Seishin," said Aoshi.

"Spinning Soul? That sounds cool," said Kenshin.

"Chi no Inochi," whispered Soujiro.

"What?" said Yahiko, turning to Soujiro.

"The name of the band. How about it be Chi no Inochi?"

"Yeah!"

Brring… Brring… Kenshin picked up his phone. "Yo."

"How'd you know it was me?" asked a bewildered Sano. Kenshin rolled his eyes.

"Dude, Caller ID."

"Oh. Well anyway, me and the guys are goin' to the music shop to pick up some equipment. You coming?"

"Yeah. Be down there in a minute, I've gotta finish this last math problem…"

"Okay. See ya there." Sano hung up the phone, and Kenshin continued his math homework.

Twenty minutes later the members of Chi no Inochi were congregated at the music shop, checking out the keyboards. Yahiko was carefully considering each one, but was nowhere near picking one when Kenshin arrived. The ruckus soon caught the attention of the owner, and he came over to check out what was going on.

"Do you guys need help with anything?" The man was tall, dark hair hanging in his face. He was wearing a pair of baggy black jeans and a Rolling Stones t-shirt. On his shirt was a pin that said 'I can't sleep, the clowns will get me'. Yahiko was the first one to reply.

"Yeah. I'm looking for a keyboard… Do have any suggestions?" asked Yahiko. The owner's brow furrowed a bit, and he ran his finger along the boxes that contained the keyboards.

"Let's see… You'll want this one. You guys are a band, right?" Yahiko pulled the heavy box off of the shelf and hefted it so he could hold onto it. Aoshi nodded.

"Yeah. We just formed, but we've know each other for a while now," said Aoshi. The owner nodded.

"Hey, do you guys need a studio? We've got a list of people here who rent studios pretty cheap," said the owner. Everyone's ears perked.

"Yeah. Could you show us?" asked Soujiro. The owner nodded, and led them to the counter where he pointed to a clipboard and told them to flip through it and find one, the call the number if it looks good. He then rung up Yahiko's keyboard and Yahiko forked over the mula. Soon, the boys found a studio, and two hours later were hooked up with a studio weekdays 4:30-6:00pm and on weekends from 2:00pm-5:00pm. Chi no Inochi was set.