Without Vocals

Chapter 1: Amethyst Eyed Stranger

Summary: The band Bad Luck has no lead singer, and the responsibility of finding him was placed into the hands of Yuki and the others. After a much needed break at a café, there he meets Shindou Shuichi.

Yuki was right in front of his table with his computer; he sat there taping the key. He had a deadline that he had to meet but he just couldn't find the time or inspiration to write the novel that he promised. He had dated his good share of women in his time but he still couldn't find that one element that got him writing that novel. He knew many fans were waiting for his novel to be published but to be honest, he didn't care at all. He checked the time: 3:00. He had to meet up with the two only band members in Bad Luck, along with K, Seguchi, Tatsuha and Ryuichi to help find a singer for Bad Luck. Bad Luck was a band that had been formed but they still had no lead singer, and without one, they couldn't start their singing career. Soon, a car came by right outside his building. Yuki came down, knowing that it was them.

The windows rolled down, revealing Tatsuha sporting some nice shades. "Need a ride?"

Yuki just hopped in the car, lucky for him that the car was so large otherwise there would not have been any chance of fitting. "Why don't you just get a van," Yuki said as he looked out the window. "It would be better than this pathetic excuse for a car. Cars are supposed to be small."

"Hey, don't you start insulting my car!" Tatsuha yelled as he drove. "This cost me a lot…even if it is used." Yuki turned to look out the window again. Tatsuha lit a cigarette and took a deep breath as he looked at the small mirror right in front of him; he saw Tohma's reflection. "So why don't you just go ahead and hire a famous singer of whom is interested in singing in a group? It'll be easier. A lot easier, actually."

"We just don't think it's a good idea to have a famous singer as our lead." Suguru answered from behind. "And Tohma agrees with us."

"Whatever," Tatsuha grumbled. "I still think that my idea is way better."

K took out his faithful gun and pointed it to Tatsuha's head. "We want to start fresh. That's why we prefer to look for one," he hissed with a glare. "It's a better idea, don't you think so?" Bad Luck would be a great band, K could feel it, and he knew getting a singer that was well known would just mess all his plans.

The driver was still and gulped. "Y-yes, it's a great idea..."

"Good!" K laughed as he put his gun back into his pocket, and sat back down.

Their quest to find the singer for Bad luck wasn't easy. They walked out of the car and walked the streets a bit to see if they could go and find him. They decided that the lead singer would be a guy because it was decided that Bad Luck would be a boy band, but if things got desperate, they would eagerly have a girl as lead singer.

After an hour of walking, Tatsuha fell onto the floor. "Can't we rest yet?" he puffed. He glanced back at the rest of the group; they weren't far behind. They soon got to where Tatsuha was sitting on the floor. "Look, we need some rest. We've been running for an hour all around town and I'm exhausted." Yuki raised an eyebrow. "Hey, like you said," Tatsuha said, noticing Yuki. "I was always the lazier one."

"Yeah, I guess we should get some tea or whatever at that café over there," Yuki pointed at the rather large café that was across the street. Everyone else, luckily for Tatsuha, finally gave in and thought a cup of coffee or tea sounded good right about now.

They crossed the road as soon as Tatsuha got up. The café looked quite packed from outside; they couldn't decide if they should go and look for another, less packed, smaller café. Suguru didn't think it was a good idea to go to a café that was so packed at the moment and soon, the other started to agree with him. Soon, they were ready to go look for another café. They started to leave, that is until Tatsuha fixed himself right next to the café, being the only one with the keys to the car, they all didn't have a choice but to go to that specific café. Yuki sighed and seeing that there was no way out of this one, opened the door to the café to check out the café.

It was packed.

"Dammit, who did he have to choose this one…?" Yuki mumbled, slightly annoyed. This was a huge café; someone was bound to notice Yuki in there. If he wasn't enough, Bad Luck and Nittle Grasper should be. "Look, there's no room here." Tatsuha looked a bit disappointed. The whole group couldn't find a single spot to sit. "Oh wait," Yuki pointed to a set of seats that was close by. "There's somewhere where we can sit."

They made their way through the huge crowd of people in the café, and then finally got to the seats just in time before someone else could even have a chance to take them. They breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that the seats were now theirs.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" asked a pink-haired boy with a really loud orange raincoat. Yuki swore that he was going to be blind if he continued to stare at the hideous jacket. But he looked at the seats and noticed that there was indeed, one seat left that was unused. "Fine," Yuki muttered, although he didn't like strangers sitting with him.

"So," Ryuichi asked with a smile. "What's your name? Mine is–"

"Ryuichi Sakuma!" the boy finished breathlessly as he stared at him. He couldn't believe it, The Ryuichi Sakuma was talking to him.

But Ryuichi frowned. "I wanted to say my name," he pouted, and then his eyes widened as he looked at the pink-haired boy. "Are you psycho? How did you know my name?"

"That's psychic," Suguru corrected Ryuichi with a sigh.

"No, I'm not psychic, Sakuma-san, but you're the lead singer of Nittle Grasper! Who doesn't know you?" the boy exclaimed, and then he remembered Ryuichi's question. "My-my name is Shindou Shuichi!" he said and then bowed.

"Hahaha! Looks like I did a better job at being the manager for Nittle Grasper than I thought!" K laughed, a bit proudly. "Oh well, I'm just as excited doing another new band! With some hope and with my help, maybe it'll do better than Nittle Grasper!" he continued to laugh.

They all tried to keep their identity a secret, that way, there wouldn't be any kind of uproar while they were all trying to relax. The worst thing so far was that all the girls in the café were noticing how cute they all looked. They were lucky enough that no one heard Shuichi squeal out Ryuichi's name.

"Yup! You're right! Hi, I'm Ryuichi!" he shouted to Shuichi. "And this is Kumagoro!" Ryuichi brought out his beloved pink stuffed animal. "Na no da!"

"Uh, Ryuichi," Tatsuha said with a forced smile. "I think he already knows who you are so you'd better keep quiet until we leave." He wasn't famous, but running away from all the fans with Ryuichi and being mistaken for Yuki more than just once did leave a scar behind.

"Oh..." Ryuichi paused. "This is Yuki, this is Tohma. This is K, this is Suguru, this is Tatsuha, this is Yuki and that's Hiro!" He pointed to all of them, giving Shuichi their names. Tatsuha, Yuki and Suguru looked like they were just about to strangle Ryuichi. "Oh, but Hiro and Suguru don't have many friends their age," he added.

"My name is Shindou Shuichi," Shuichi said, introducing himself to Hiro and Suguru. "Maybe if we meet again, we can hang out, Hiro-kun."

Hiro actually smiled. "Okay, sounds good to me."

by the end of the long table, next to Shuichi, Yuki sat there and took a look at the menu. He noticed that everything on the menu cost a fortune after seeing that the coffee alone cost enough for a nice steak at an expensive restaurant. It was clear that he was going to end of paying for all of them; no one ever bothered to bring their wallets when they all went searching for a singer, leaving him to be the sucker who ended up paying for everything.

"Me and Kumagoro ordered cake! What is Shuichi ordering?" Ryuichi asked him.

"Just some soda and a cookie," Shuichi replied with a grin. He leaned back even more and started to sing a Nittle Grasper song. Tohma, along with the rest of them, noticed his singing, how nice it sounded. "What is it?" Shuichi asked with a confused expression on his face. "Is something wrong?"

"You are the singer that we were all looking for all this time," Yuki sighed, a bit disappointed. "I just wish that he was going to be more mature than you."

"What are you talking about?" Shuichi asked everyone. "What's going on here?" He turned to face Tohma with a quizzical expression on his face. "Could you please tell me what is going on here?"

Tohma just relaxed deeper into his chair, bringing a mug of coffee to his face as he did, and then flashed a smile as soon as he sipped some from his cup. "You are being asked to become the lead singer for the band Bad Luck."