Ganazu

C/By: Kenjaje

Edited/Revised by: raVen

Chapter 5: Solo To Duet

"That was the most fun I've had in a long time!" Lilo shouted as she charged through the front door.

"Eh-chuga." Agreed Stitch as he followed her in.

"Yeah…I guess so…" Angel muttered last, as she slowly stepped in and shut the door behind her.

"Aw come on Angel," Lilo said, stopping and putting an arm around her shoulder once she came by, "cheer up, Shaggy knows you didn't mean to hurt him. It was all just a misunderstanding." Stitch turned and patted her on the head in an attempt to liven her spirits as well.

"I know, I just feel bad about it. He wouldn't get near me for an hour…and I didn't even get a chance to apologize."

"Stitch said sorry for Angel before leaving, not worry." Stitch said.

"See? He got the message. Besides, you were the one that found the best spot with all that food for him, and you're the one that suggested the landfill in the first place-"

"Oh is that where you three were all day?" Nani interrupted coldly. The three turned their heads toward the stairs where she leaned against the wall, tapping her foot on the floor.

"Uh…" Lilo said, letting out a nervous laugh and uneasy grin. "Didn't we tell you? I could've sworn we did…" She lied, scratching the back of her head. "Great…in for it now. What did we do?"

"Oh, now you think to tell me. That would have been nice to know before I woke up and found the house empty. I thought I slept through another Gantu invasion or something."

"Didn't Jumba and Pleakley tell you?" She asked, trying to shift the blame toward them. "Lesson learned, can we go upstairs now?"

"They went to the store before I woke up. They told me because they left a note." Stitch let his ears down and gave Lilo a couple quick, light jabs to the shoulder, telling her to give up the fight.

"Alright," she said, defeated, "I'm sorry. I should've told you."

"I'm glad you understand your mistake. Under normal circumstances, I would punish you, but," Nani started to walk over, but then the reeking stench of garbage and rot bombarded her nostrils, "Ugh!" She yelled, backing away and putting her hands up to push the palpable odor away. "Don't tell me you went into the landfill!" She said with surprise.

"Uh…ok, we won't tell you then." Lilo shrugged. Though she had a feeling that even if she didn't, she was still in for it.

"Bath, now." Nani ordered, pleadingly more than demandingly. "And while you're at it, take two, and then bleach the tub!" She finished, gasping for air. Stitch sniffed his armpits.

"Gaba shijaka?" He asked to Lilo, lifting his hands in a shrug.

"I think we smell really, really bad." Lilo told him.

"I don't smell anything…" Angel commented, looking at her hands. "Are you sure?"

"I said now!" Nani yelled desperate for air as she ran behind them and pushed them toward the stairs. "Go, go, go." She said, trying not to inhale. After getting the drift they took off up the stairs and into the tower.

"You two wait here, I'll take my first one now, then give you yours, then take my second one." She said, while running to the closet to get her swimsuit. "Stitch, you're next, so be ready." She warned, as she lowered through the floor.

Ten minutes later, Lilo stepped onto the elevator again as it rose into her room. She was hastily dried; water still dripped from her hair and fingertips, and she left a trail of it as she walked. When she arrived at the top, she immediately noticed Stitch's absence. Angel was sitting on her bed, and she was reading something in her hands. At first, Lilo thought it was the letter she wrote, but then she remembered that it no longer existed as of that morning; it'd been in pieces for almost nine hours now.

"Alright, where is he?" Lilo asked, looking around the room a final time in case she spotted him hiding somewhere.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Angel asked, as she lifted her head from what she was reading.

"He knew he was next, so where did he go?" Lilo started to sound impatient, and Angel was getting more confused.

"I don't know where he went." She said truthfully.

"I'll bet." Lilo accused. "Where is he, or do I have 'ta force it out of ya?" She said with smile. Angel raised an eyebrow and straightened her ears.

"You think I'm lying?" She asked with realization.

"Well, yeah." Lilo replied matter-of-factly. "He obviously is hiding somewhere and he told you not to spill the beans. Well I warn you, I'm tough. Very tough." Lilo finished arrogantly.

"I'm telling the truth! I have no idea where he went. He said he was going downstairs to wait until you were done. I told him not to, because then Nani might get angry at him for stinking it up down there, but he went anyway." Angel explained.

"Hm…" Lilo thought, tapping her foot. "And how long ago was this, exactly?" She asked.

"Two, maybe three minutes ago." Angel replied with a shrug.

"All right…I'll trust you." Lilo finally said. "That is, if you help me hunt him down."

"Hunt him down? What'd he do?" Angel asked with surprise.

"He ran away from his bath…again. He hates taking them, so he runs and hides." Lilo explained. Angel's shoulders jerked up with a chuckle, and then she burst into a small laughing fit.

"Alright," she said, "I'll help you hunt him down."

"Good. I think I know where he is, come on." Lilo said, running to the elevator. Angel looked down at the papers in her hand, and back up at Lilo.

"Wait a minute, before we go, can you answer a question?" Lilo turned around, and saw Angel pointing at the piece of paper in her hands.

"Sure, I can try." She replied while returning to Angel. Angel handed her the paper, and she realized it was the music sheets Moses had given her earlier that morning.

"I get that these symbols," Angel began, pointing at the notes, "are some form of musical writing, but I can't figure it out." Lilo looked at the notes, and wanted to ask why Angel was so curious about them, but decided to answer the question first.

"These are notes," she replied, "they tell you how high or low to sing. And these lines here," she pointed at the staff, "are all the highs and lows."

"And then where each note is, that's the tone you sing in at that point?"

"Exactly." Lilo confirmed. "But, they can fall in the spaces sometimes, too." She pointed out.

"Then what's this note?" Angel asked, pointing to the first one, which rested below the long lines on a little tiny line of its own.

"That's 'Do'." Lilo stated.

"Oh…but I meant, what does it sound like? Can you let me hear it?"

"You want me to sing it?" She asked, somewhat surprised.

"Well, yeah, but you don't have to." Angel replied.

"You're right, I don't." Lilo said matter-of-factly. Angel gave a look at her, but she returned it with an understanding smile. "No, I don't mean I'm not going to show you what it sounds like," she explained, "I mean I can play it for you on the guitar." Lilo went toward the closet, and Angel followed, peering in as the item was searched for. Finally, with a triumphant "Aha!" she pulled the little guitar out from the closet, which brought forth an avalanche of other small things they'd packed away when they "cleaned" their room.

Lilo plopped on the floor and rested the guitar in her lap. She adjusted the knobs at the top to tune it as Angel sat on her bed, and then plucked one of the strings. Angel let the note ring in her ear; her mind worked to memorize it.

"Ok, this is Do." She plucked the string on the word "this", and the note ponged through the air. But when it hit Angel's ears, it was obscured by Lilo's voice.

"Could you play it again, silently, please?" She requested. Lilo looked at her for a second, then shrugged. This time the note was clear and sonorous as Angel let it ring in her ears. She mentally recorded the sound, and began thinking. Lilo looked back at Angel as the note stopped and smiled.

"Got it?" She asked, but Angel didn't respond. "…Angel?" Lilo tried to get her attention again. She was looking down at the music sheet, the shine on her eyes moving right to left as she read the notes. After another moment, Angel dropped the paper from her attention. "Why did you want to know what it sounded like?" Lilo asked.

"Because, I wanted to know what the song sounded like." She said bluntly, setting the sheet down by her side.

"Oh." She said slowly, setting the guitar aside. But then she paused. "Wait a minute," she started with disbelief, looking back at Angel, "are you saying you know what that entire song sounds like just by having me play that one note?"

"Yeah." Angel replied, matter-of-factly, and then she dawned a smug smile. "It sounds good, too." She commented.

"But…" Lilo started. "I thought you couldn't read that music…you didn't even know what the notes were!" She pointed out. Angel tilted her head, wondering why Lilo was so surprised. But then she realized, Lilo didn't really know.

"Well…let's just say it's one of my abilities." She explained. "It's kind of like Stitch being able to lift three-thousand times his own weight; I can figure out musical things very easily, as long as I know what's what." Lilo gave an intrigued smile. "But, as far as the words go…I'm at a loss. But hey, I'll get to hear them when you sing!" She said cheerfully. Lilo's smile dropped.

"Y…yeah. The solo…that's right…" Lilo remembered. She gripped the guitar tightly in her hands. Angel could see the aura of nervousness surrounding her.

"A little anxious are you?" She asked rhetorically with a laugh.

"I wish…" Lilo jeered, loosening her grip on the handle. "I sing horribly. The solo's gonna be a nightmare."

"That's not true!" Angel retorted. "You sing just fine."

"How do you know?"

"I heard you, remember, the space station?" Lilo thought back, the memory coming to her mind.

"That was…different. I had to, it helped him get back to normal."

"But still, you did, and I liked it. Personally, I can't wait to hear you sing." Angel complimented. But, despite the uplifting, Lilo didn't seem to be affected by it. She turned to the closet and put up the guitar.

"Sorry to disappoint you…but I think I'm going to tell Moses to take me out. I don't sing, I dance; the solo isn't gonna work." She stated conclusively. Angel snapped to a stand from the bed.

"No you're not." She protested, stomping over to Lilo. "You thought I could go into public this morning, despite what I said, and you encouraged me. Now it's my turn." As Lilo turned around, she was met with Angel's—almost motherly—scolding look. She flinched with surprise.

"Well, if you compare it to this morning than I should really drop out-" She said jokingly, but Angel interrupted her, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"That's not the point." She said. "The point is, I know this is something you can do. You're going to sing—I don't care what you say." Angel surprised even herself for being so snappy; she sounded more threatening than encouraging now, which would further Lilo's decision to back out, most likely. So she thought for a second, and then continued, this time with a friendly voice and smile. "Because I'm going to sing with you." Lilo stared at her for a moment, a little bit startled, but then she regained her composure.

"Nah, you don't have-" Lilo started to say.

"I know I don't. I want to." Angel said, releasing her hand from Lilo's shoulder. She gave a smile, and turned toward the elevator. "Now, let's go hunt down Stitch." She said, changing the subject. Just then, a horrible scratching sound erupted above their heads, like someone trying to hang on for dear life but slipping. Lilo and Angel ran to the window as they heard a loud scream, and both of them cringed as they heard the bone-crunching noise of the landing.

The girls opened the window to see Stitch, laying on his back, in the grass, three stories down, with a dazed look on his face. A second later, they heard the door below them open up, and they saw Nani's head poke out the house. She stared at Stitch, lying in his little impact-made crater, then up at the girls who looked down at her from the window.

"Ok…I'm not even going to try to understand this one." She said, dropping the situation. "Since you're all here I guess I'll save myself a trip up the stairs and tell you that dinner will be ready in about an hour. I want you three clean by then, got it?"

"Yes, Nani." Lilo replied, as her sister receded into the house.

"C'mon." Angel said, as thrilled as one of those nature guys Lilo saw on T.V. when they had just spotted something really neat. She jumped out the window and hooked onto the wall. "Let's get him before he gets away again!"