Hey peoples!! This is Kohiro here! The third chapter is up! I bet all of you were wondering if it ever would....
Anyway, as usual, each author typed great entries and we also have a new character that you will meet later!
We all hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: The Gravitation Kids was mostly developed by the creative minds of Koori's writer and Bakani's
writer. The rest of us went along for the ride. The original characters of Gravitation used in this story belong to
their brilliant Author and not us.
Bakani-
-nervously, he takes a deep breath to steady his nerves. It's a dangerous challenge but he's determined
to give it a shot-
I approached Ame in the hallway in the brake between classes. Her friends noticed my presence with
dirty looks and snickering whispers to each other.
-the obstacles loom forbiddingly in his path. Undaunted, he charges forward-
"Ame?"
"What is it Bakani?" She said impatiently. I looked down at my feet, embarrassed.
"Could you…could you tutor me after school?" I could feel the girls staring at me. They giggled at me,
I was so stupid I needed tutoring.
"Bakani…can't you just have Kohiro help you like he usually does? I really don't have the time to
waste on it, I got loads of work form my honors courses." Point blank rejection.
-and he trips over his own feet! This is looking bad folks…-
"Kohiro's at the auditions after school. And I'm really not doing well in Trig…please, Ame? I have a
huge test tomorrow."
-oh, wait, wait…and yes he's back on his feet. What a recovery!-
"Well…"
"C'mon Ame. It won't take long. Besides do you have anything else to do?"
-the finish line is in sight…-
"No…" She admitted grudgingly.
-he's closer, closer…-
"So can you tutor me?"
"Fine. You can come over my house after school."
-GOAL!! Yes, this is unbelievable! It was looking pretty bad for a bit back there, but our champion
stuck it through all the way to the finish. Just look at his face, practically glowing with the light of victory-
"Thank you!!!!" My smile was so big it felt like my face might split in half. "See you after school Ame!"
The bell was ringing to go back to class.
"Yeah, see you." There was a notable lack of enthusiasm in her voice.
School ended and I met up with Ame. She was rather cold, just saying "come on" and heading off
down the street without a backward look. I hurried to follow. Both my house and Ame's are walking distance
from the school, but in opposite directions. Once we arrived at her house she moodily slung her backpack off
her shoulders and threw it onto the couch.
"What are you so mad about?" I questioned. A simple and innocent question that really didn't deserve
the glare it got from her.
"I'm not mad." She snapped. Wow, so convincing - . –
"So she says while grinding her teeth and with her hands curled into fists." I responded raising an eyebrow.
"Shut up, baka."
"Me? You want cute, little innocent me to 'shut up'?" I grinned ridiculously at her. With how stupid I
looked how could she not laugh? ^_^
She just looked at me and shook her head in irritation.
"This is why I can't stand you…you're such a child." Ouch. Okay, that's how she could not laugh.
"I just wanted to cheer you up…sheesh, some people." I muttered.
"Do you want me to tutor you or not?"
"Yes! I'll behave, I promise!" I really did need her help.
Ame is sooo smart. We got to work on my Trig and bit by bit her coldness faded. With utter confidence she
helped me pick out the spots I was having problems with and explained them. She was sweet and encouraging
as she guided me though it. I wanted to stay in this moment forever: The Ame I had always known had come
back.
But, all too soon, it was over. She went and got some of her own homework and brought it to the
table. Now that I was ready for the test, I had nothing else to do. So I looked at Ame. Sighing, I watched her
as she worked, noticing the gleam of the sunlight from the window on her dark hair. Her lips moved ever so
slightly as she read, her deep, knowing eyes scanning the page in front of her. She was so beautiful.
Suddenly she looked up at me sharply.
"Bakani, stop looking at me." She commanded accusingly.
"Uh…hai…"I said weakly, my face flushing in embarrassment.
To distract myself I dug through my backpack and pulled out a box of Pocky. ^_^ Opening the box I began to
munch.
*crunch, crunch*
Ame twitched a little and looked up.
"Want some?" I offered. She shook her head and went back to her work. Oh well, her loss…
*crunch, crunch*
mmm, Pocky ^_^
*crunch, crunch*
"Bakani!" …uh-oh…timidly I glanced at her. For a moment she was about to explode, but then she
just sighed.
"n?" I asked.
"Don't you have someplace else you could go?"
"Nope, *crunch, crunch* Kohiro's at the auditions, and Koori's in the park with Aki (he doesn't like
me tagging along). That just leaves you." I smiled at her cheerfully, a Pocky stick protruding from my mouth.
"Well, what about your other friends. Why not hang out with one of them?"
I blinked, then thought for a second.
"Ame, I don't have any other friends." I pointed out. Her eyes widened. She looked truly shocked
and also kind of sad.
"Bakani…" I was rather surprised by how shaken she was. But, I just shrugged and went back to my
Pocky. Contentedly I munched away, savoring the chocolate. I was happy with my life, I mean: quality over
quantity. I loved the friends I had.
*crunch, crunch*
I snuck a peek at Ame. She was working again. But every once in a while she'd glance up at me. And she
didn't seem to be annoyed by my crunching anymore…
Koori-
I glared at Aki. Aki glared back. I handed her a piece of paper with a face akin to a captain
surrendering their ship. Aki promptly glanced down, glared at me, then fell over laughing.
I sighed and only felt slightly better when Aki complained about hurting her brain on the pavement. I
turned away from Aki and pulled my snake out of my shirt. The poor thing was shivering. I should stay home
tomorrow to take care of him. My snake is officially a him now. The snake slithered up my arm and bit me on
the inside of my elbow, I winced.
"I know I deserved that Neko-chan…but it hurt." I muttered at my sleeve.
"Neko-chan?" Aki asked laughing. I nodded sagely at her. I had just come up with it myself. Aki
covered her mouth like she was trying to hold in more laughter.
"What's so funny?" I complained. Aki raised an eyebrow
"You wanted to show me this? It's hardly your best work, in fact, it down-right sucks. Looks like you
drew it in the dark." I winced at that.
"I did." I murmured coldly. I had drawn the sketch early in the morning after a nightmare I didn't
remember. Aki rolled her eyes, "That explains a lot about the quality. I can't believe you find some mediocre
drawing so important. Even I've never done something that dumb, and I PMS, not you." Aki looked me over.
"What's got you so…emotional?" She asked. I shrugged and turned away. My best friend was right.
It had taken me three days of 'forgetting' to work up the nerve to bring in that sketch. And it sucked. The
more I tried to fix it the worse my sketch had gotten. I just lost the feeling.
I turned around quickly and reached for my drawing angrily. Aki didn't understand and there was
nothing I could do to change her mind. Just then a gust of wind blew the paper out of my grasp. This in itself
was not unusual, God enjoyed ruining my life.
What was unusual was someone had stopped to pick up my sketch. Not just any someone, mind you.
The someone of the hour, a young man identical to the one in my sketch. Though the real version was much
cuter then my sketch. I shook my head in an attempt to clear that thought.
'Not a good time to be checking out the locals, Koori' I thought.
Aki looked from my dead-fish impression to the other bishonen's morbidly sarcastic grin. I gulped.
'Please, if there is a God…'
"Koori! I didn't know you had a stalker fetish!"
'keep Aki from…oh, nevermind' No more organized religion for me. I tried to salvage…something.
"Come now, even I have better taste then to stalk this…" I eyed the bishounen up and down for good
measure. Yum.
"…thing." I finished in my best "bastard" tone. That went well. The young mean glared at me.
"It's not my fault you can't draw. I bet a kindergartener would have drawn a closer likeness." The
young man scoffed. I winced. 'note to self; never piss off random people in the park unless you want to get
burnt.'
'wait…did he just call my work kindergarten-level?' Something clicked. The park, the freak gust of
wind, the insult…
I jumped off the park bench, snatched back my sketch and….cracked.
"OH NO YOU DON'T! I'M NOT GONNA FALL FOR THAT ONE!" I screamed, and Aki
backed away. The young man didn't he advanced and glared right back at me.
"When I said you had zero talent, I mean it," He said again, slightly amused. I twitched.
"No, you don't understand. I've been hearing this story before bed since I could understand
Japanese!" I said intensely. The young man raised an eyebrow. I shook my head.
"Honestly. Now you've gone and done it. We too will be drawn together by some inexplicable force.
It'll be romantic, for fuck's sake!" I shuddered. I wasn't going to even explain the elevator.
"And the costumes…banana, battery, and puppy costumes! And eventually one of us will end up
cro-"I stopped and shut my mouth quickly. Aki looked confused.
"Just like my parents…" I added. Now Aki looked plain scared. The sickeningly kawaii
circumstances were something I avoided thinking about, so naturally Aki had never heard about them.
My brain finally realized what my mouth had dome in it's absence.
'Oh dear…' There was only one thing to do. I ran.
Aki caught up with me outside my neighborhood.
"You do realize that was our new transfer student Koori-kun…" She said after she caught her breath.
I buried my face in my hands. "I will be home sick tomorrow." I told Aki, then ran home and got a
good solid oak door between myself and my best friend. Tou-san glanced around the hallway corner.
"You don't want to know." I muttered.
Kohiro-
Well, the first day of auditions were over with and they went better then I thought they would. I walked
out of the school with no real destination in mind. Bakani was with Ame, for once, getting help with his trig. I
was really surprised when Ame agreed to tutor him….. (sweat drop) hopefully her patience would cut him
some slack…
I didn't really feel like going home to an empty house, so I decided to visit my dad at work. I walked
in the large building of N. G. Corporation and waved to the receptionist at the front. She knew who I was
from earlier visits (and that I look a lot like my dad…). She warned me that Bad Luck was still doing some last
minute recordings and that things might be a little hectic up there (as if it never is…). I had just stepped out of
the elevator of the floor that Bad Luck worked on, when the sound of a gunshot echoed off the walls. If there
were other people on the floor that heard it, they gave no indication….or it could be the fact that it was daily
occurrence and they were use to by now. I was having second thoughts about going in there now; I wasn't too
thrilled about the possibly of being target practice for K. I went in anyways, and witnessed Shindou-san being
strangled by Fujisaki-san. Fujisaki stopped when I walked in (probably thought I was Seguchi-san or
something…) and relaxed when he saw that it was just me. Shindou-san greeted me with a big welcoming
smile, happy to have an excuse to get away from Fujisaki's dangerous hands. He answered my questioning
look and told me that my dad was still in the recording room with Sakano-san and K. With perfect timing, my
dad walked into the room with his guitar. He gave a smile when he saw me, "So, how'd the auditions go?"
"Not bad. I tried to convince Baka to come and tryout, but he wanted to be with Ame."
The room suddenly became silent………….then I realized the BIG mistake I made.
(sweat drop) foot-insert-mouth
Fujisaki-san did a very scary impression of calmed interest, "Bakani is with…Ame?"
(additional sweat drops) I waved my hands out at him "No, no, no, it's not like that! She's helping him
with his trig!"
………………………….
The room stayed silent for a while.
"So. You're trying out for the play Kohiro-kun?" Shindou-san's attempt to break the silence.
"Yeah. It seemed like fun so I thought I'd give it a try."
K and Sakano-san came in the room around that time.
Sakano then spoke up, "What kind of play is this, Nakano-kun?"
"More of a classical Horror play then anything else."
K raised an eyebrow, "Horror? I didn't know they allowed that at school."
I shrugged my shoulders "I guess"
After that I got to listen to what the group had recorded so far and they were pleased to receive a favorable
response from me. Even Fujisaki-san's mood seem to get better as they played.
I then looked up at the clock and realized I had been there for two hours and needed to be home soon so I
could greet the twins when they came home. I waved goodbye to all of them and then headed home.
Kioku-
Needless to say, that was BY FAR the most awkward situation of my life. All I did was state the guy's
art sucked (and believe me, it sucked…the suckiness cannot be described by words alone), and he suddenly
starts ranting about a romantic relationship between us, involving the most unusual circumstances I had ever
heard of. I had to stand in the middle of the park for a good 5 minutes to let it all sink in. Then I laughed. I
think I laughed harder then than any other moment of my life, and probably more than I had any right to. The
look of sheer terror on the boy's face was just so…amusing. Tears began rolling down my cheeks, and I felt
short of breath. I bit down on my tongue for a minute and calmed myself.
It was getting late, and I needed to get home. Not that my "parents" would care. They never do. But I
had better things to do than stand in the middle of a park and laugh my ass off.
I took a decent stride during the walk home. I wasn't in a particular rush, but I had a habit of speed
walking. Nothing to see on these streets that I haven't seen before, considering I take these walks every day. I
began to whistle the first song that popped into my head. "Ryu's Theme" from Street Fighter 2. That works.
I came to the doorstep of my house and pulled my key ring from my pocket. After fumbling through my
keys in the dark for a minute, I finally found the right one. I unlocked the door and stepped inside.
"I'm home!" I yelled, but with no response.
My "parents" were out, of course. Probably wouldn't see them until morning, if I see them tomorrow at all. Of
course, they aren't my real parents. I have been tossed from foster family to foster family from as far back as I
can remember. I climbed up the flight of stairs in front of my and stepped into my room. Without even
bothering to turn on the light, I merely sat down at my desk and turned my computer on.
I've never had anyone I can call a friend, so I've taken to electronics to pass my time. Games,
message boards, flash animation sites. Anything to keep life from seeming like a complete waste. Windows
booted up, and I saw a few names appear in my AIM window. I may not be popular with people personally,
but I have many friends from around the world in cyberspace.
Some people say meeting your best friends on the internet is a pathetic way to live. I say that they're
people too, and can understand someone as well as anyone else. I clicked on a name. Maybe he would find
today's misadventures humorous.
Kio-kun: j0. You won't believe what happened to me today
Ame-No friends? The thought kept popping up in my mind. It never occurred to me that we were
Bakani's only friends. I looked at Bakani in a sideways glance. *crunch, crunch* He was going over the
notes that he took while I was helping him and crunching on pocky. Bakani looked up at me. I quickly turned
my head back down towards the work I was doing so that he didn't see me looking at him.
"Ame?" he asked timidly "I know you already explained this problem to me, but, uh…..um, could,
could you show me just one more time?
I stared at him. "Again! Baka! This is like, the third or fourth time! How hard can it be to grasp this
concept?" I sighed "Right. I always forget that you and your dad are um……..that school never came easily to
you guys." Once again, I showed Bakani how to do the math problem.
"Thanks Ame." He looked really grateful.
We both went back to our own homework, but I couldn't concentrate. As usual, I found myself
thinking about Bakani. Yes, as usual. Not because he was sitting diagonally from me. Sigh. I know how much
trouble Bakani has when it comes to school. He does try really hard……Maybe I should offer to help him
more often………
"Ame?"
"Huh?! I mean what. I mean yes. Yes. What do you want?"
"Why were you staring at me?" NANI?!
"Huh? Oh, I was, uh, just thinking. I'm sorry. I didn't realize that I was looking in your direction
Bakani." Whew. Nice recovery. That could have turned ugly.
"Oh, okay." Bakani went back to his crunching. Boy am I glad that Bakani's not that observant.
Most of the time, that is.
I turned back to my work and tried desperately to concentrate on my English. It didn't work. All right.
Time to switch subjects. Ah, physics. Equations…………laws…………Bakani…………
BAKANI?!?!?!?!?!?! I slapped my forehead.
"What's wrong Ame?" No. This isn't happening to me.
"Nothing. Nothings wrong with me Bakani. I just realized something I needed to do today that I forgot
to do. That's all." Bakani didn't look as convinced as before, but he shrugged his shoulders and went back to
the pocky while I went back to my physics and actually was able to concentrate on it.
However, about half and hour later, I once again found myself looking at Bakani. He really wasn't that
bad looking. I mean, he certainly didn't look gay to me. Dark brown hair that kinda falls were it wants to.
Looks pretty soft as well. Great smile too. And his brilliant blue eyes…. He's actually pretty cute. Huh. I
wonder why never realized that until just now……..?
Just than Bakani looked up. For some reason, I could only stare at him. We looked at each other,
leaning in closer and closer until our lips finally met. So soft……so sweet……so…
"Ame? Ame!"
"HUH!?" What the…….?
"Ame, are you all right?" Bakani looked genuinely concerned. "You were staring at me again. Pretty
intensely too"
"I….uh….I….um….BAKANI! GO HOME!!!" I slammed my hands on the table and got up so fast
the chair almost fell over. Bakani looked at me in surprise.
I blinked and stared at him. I looked into his eyes and I saw worry and concern. For me. Oh man. I
just sat down and put my head in my arms. I didn't want him to see how red my face was.
"Sorry." My voice was barely audible, but Bakani heard me just the same.
"Are you feeling okay?" His voice was full of concern.
"I'm fine. Just, tired, I guess."
Bakani didn't believe me. "Are you sure?" Bakani got up and came around to my side. He felt my
for-head. I was so startled that I jerked my head up and looked at him in shock. Bakani just looked back at
me. He brought his face close to mine. Really close. We were inches apart. My heart was pounding like
never before. Then…….he put his cheek up against my for-head.
"Tou-chan does this when he thinks that Koori or I have a fever."
I blinked.
"Ame-chan! I'm—" Dad stopped in mid sentence and just stared at the scene in front of him. In all of
the very recent events, I never heard the front door open. Oh Boy.
Bakani backed away.
"Dad, trust me, it's not what you think."
"Uh…..Ame-chan? What is….uh…….Shindou-kun still doing here ?" I could tell that Dad was trying
really hard to stay calm. His hand was twitching.
"Konichiwa Fujisaki-san" Bakani cheerfully said while rubbing the back of his head.
"Dad, Bakani was just leaving. Weren't you Bakani? Of course you were." With that said led, okay, more like
pushed, Bakani out of the kitchen and to the door.
"Bye Bakani. Go home."
"Bye Ame. Thanks again."
"Yeah. Bye." With that said, I closed the door.
"So, did you and Shindou-kun have fun?" Dad had trouble getting the last part of that sentence out.
Unfortunately for me, his facial expression was unreadable. What the hell was I suppose to say to him?
"Fun? I spent most of my afternoon with Baka. How could that be fun?" With that said, I grabbed my
books off the table, turned, and walked up to my room. Did I have 'fun?' What kind of question is that? He
crunched his stupid Pocky all afternoon, he kept forgetting everything I showed him, he was
himself…………Of course I had fun. I'd actually forgotten what it felt like to just hang out with Bakani. I
actually really missed it. I feel really bad though that I've been so mean to Bakani lately. I'll actually try to
spend more time with Bakani from now on. Okay, this is going to take a lot of work…
*************************
"Good morning Ame!" Sasha's voice could be heard all the way at the other end of the school grounds
it was so loud.
"Good morning Sasha. You look bright and cheerful this morning. Did something good happen to you
in the last 24 hours?"
"Oh Ame" Sasha waved a hand at me. "You're a riot. No, seriously. There's a new girl here in school
and she's like, way, way cool. We've been telling her all about you of course and everything she'll need to
know for going to this school like how to wear the uniforms so that they look chic on us and when the best
times for group clustering is and who to avoid—"
"Sasha! Breathing is always a good thing to do." I had the urge to almost roll my eyes at her. Huh.
Never had the desire to do that before. "Who's this new girl?"
"Morning Ame! Guess what. Oh, you'll like, never guess so I'll tell you. There's a—"
"New girl at school."
"How did you know?" *sigh* Karena can be just a bit dense, especially considering that she's standing
right next to Sasha The Gossiper.
"Sasha told me just a few seconds ago."
"Oh." Karena turned to face Sasha and laughed. "Well, I guess the early bird got the worm, right
Sasha?"
"Oh like, definitely. Well Ame, come on. You have to meet Mykari. She's like, soooooo awesome,
and she's dying to meet you."
"Okay" I let two of my friends drag me away and over to the little cluster of more friends.
"Morning Ame. How are you?"
"Morning Kiki. I'm fine, how about you? Is your cough better?"
"Yeah. In fact it's pretty much gone."
"That's good to hear."
"Good morning Ame!" I turned around to see Rika coming up to our small group. Rika and I have
known each other since we were babies. We're ultra close. Like me, she also gets slightly annoyed with our
little group of friends at times. But unlike any of these friends of ours, Rika is the only one who doesn't go
goo-goo gaa-gaa over Kohiro and doesn't really have a problem with Bakani. She's better then I am. She
can actually stand to be around him for long periods of time. Funny that they're not really friends.
"Ame, I want you and Rika to meet Mykari. She just moved here recently." Kiki always had a
problem when she wasn't the center of attention.
"Hi. You must be the famous genius Ame that I've heard so much about in the last 5 minutes or so."
"Hi. It's nice to meet you. Yeah, I'm Ame and this is Rika."
Just then the bells sounded for school.
"Thanks Sasha. You spent so much time taking to me this morning that we totally missed out on being
with the group!" We all had a good laugh at that one as we made our way into the school. This day is already
going great. Hopefully it will just keep getting better.