Early the next morning Duo left his dorm room armed with Solo's old beat up Ganesa, a guitar he had saved up and paid a lot to get. It was just solid black, and was in a regular old guitar case that was plastered with worn stickers of various band, most Japanese. He found his way to the band rooms. Apparently they were holding auditions in a lecture room today due to lack of space, or so the sign Duo had hunted down last night said.

When he got there the room was filled with hopeful guitarist of every style and fashion. Duo wasn't sure if he should be impressed or freaked out. He pulled on the hood that hid his face, then taking a number from an annoyed looking Chinese boy he took a seat in the back.

"That kid looks interesting." Trowa commented to Wufei as the hooded figure walked past. "Look at the guitar case, that's got to mean something right, it's all worn out, but cared for."

Wufei turned and watched said person climb the stairs. The figure which Wufei would guess was a boy, was wearing worn our and ripped jean bondage pants that had tribal patterns draw up and down the legs, intersecting and crossing giving the appearance of one huge never ending image, and a huge oversized Full Metal Alchemist hoody that was ragged at the bottom from obvious use. The sleeves were pulled up to his elbows revealing a replica of the Gackt's spiky bracelet, a Glay wristband, a variety of other bands, and the cloudy wolf ring from FF VII. He walked with his head down and quietly found a seat in the back.

"He does seem interesting." Wufei muttered as a potential guitarist faked a cough to regain his attention. "Here."

The boy took the offered card and merged with the crowd.

"It could be a girl you know Wufei." Trowa smiled mockingly.

"I don't really care as long as they're of an appropriate age, can play exceptionally well, and wear cloths like that."

"Forming a crush already are we?"

"No, I mean it in the sense of them not being a fake."

"Sure." Trowa left Wufei to his work, making his way to the door where Hilde and Quatre stood.

"Hey Trowa."

"Hey, Wufei's almost out of cards you better close the doors so we can start soon."

The two complied, gently dividing the line of people who were in the process of coming in. There was some groaning from those who got divided into the side that couldn't come in. Then they quietly followed Trowa to the table that was currently occupied only by Heero, only to be joined shortly after by Wufei.

Heero looked around the room at the huge group of guitarist. He wasn't really looking forward to this but he had to get it over with. "Alright whoever has the number one can start."

A scrawy girl came sauntering down; she was wearing a sheer, low-cut tank top, and really short shorts. Heero was a little stunned and Wufei looked ready to puke that he had let her through the door.

"Hold up." Trowa raised a hand and the girl paused. "No one who dresses like a slut, whether or not they are one, can play in our band, NEXT!"

The girl swore loudly and stormed out of the room.

Duo watched horrified has the world's worst guitarist paraded through the auditions. They all sucked dreadfully, and the existing band was hardly paying attention after the first ten attempted to impress them with painful renditions of famous bands like Queen, Metallica, Led Zepplin, and various others that had recently regained popularity.

The small blonde that had been so formal yesterday was dropping in his seat and looked like he could kill the next person who even thought about doing Bohemian Rhapsody. Heero looked like he was dying slowly and painfully, the Chinese boy eyes were so narrow they were practically closed, and a fourth boy was watching the blonde with concern. Hilde was bitching out the girl in front of them who had decided of all the bloody things she could play, to play Brittney Spears I'm a Slave to you, or something along those lines.

Duo looked down at his card, which said in bold black letters 52; it almost made him want to cry. Though at the rate they were blowing through guitarist it probably wouldn't take too long. He hoped.

Roughly an hour after starting, Wufei was pounding his head on the table has some poor sap struggled with tuning his guitar, until finally he couldn't take it anymore.

"THAT'S ENOUGH. If you can't tune a guitar right then you can't be in a band. Goodbye. What number are we on now?" Wufei turned to Hilde who was keeping track.

"52." Hilde called out, then after a moment she frowned and screamed out, "52!"

Duo jumped as he heard the number, he had tuned out a little while ago and missed it the first time. Quickly getting up he made his way down to the front of the room which was set up with an amp, a microphone, and a stool.

"Play whatever you want." Wufei waved his hand but didn't move his head form the table.

Duo took our Solo's guitar, and noticed Heero perk up a little at the sight of the Ganesa, which Solo had adoringly named K. He plugged it in and pushed the seat back, he wasn't much of a sit and play guy.

Wufei sat up with such speed he almost fell over as the first note filled the air. It was instantly followed with a series of very familiar notes as the mysterious stranger proceeded to play Flora by the jrock band Baiser.

The four members of C.O.N. were transfixed by the swaying guitarist in front of them. He looked like he really wanted to bounce around but was staying put for whatever reason, he was hitting all the right notes, and they could just hear his voice as he whispered the song. They all let out various groans as he reached the end of the song.

"Could you play one more?" Quatre leaned forward hopeful.

"Sure." Was all he got out of the figure before them.

"Whatever you want to, but something different." Heero leaned back in his seat and the guitarist for any signs that the beautiful song was a fluke. All he got for a reply was a small nod.

Suddenly they were greeted with the roaring sound of Miyavi's Shindemo Boogie Woogie. The boy moved more this time as if he was slowly adjusting to playing in front of them.

Duo was surprisingly relaxed playing in front of so many people. Playing Miyavi helped it always made him want to laugh, and he couldn't really focus on anything around but the song. He kept picturing Miyavi prancing around with the scantly clad woman, and the other guy from the PV, it chased away all images of anything else.

He had been terrified playing the first time around, so he had picked something he knew really well and something that stand a chance of them not knowing when he made mistakes. He knew this only gave him so much leeway but none the less it was the opening he needed.

Wufei for one was stunned, there were people walking out, people who were perfectly willing to sit here through all the screaming and belittling and just plan anger were now walking out.

"Yuy! There is no way in hell this kid walks out of here without being a part of our band." Wufei didn't even looked at the Heero has he spoke he didn't expect an answer, but he meant what he said.

The person in front of them was amazing; he would even go as far as to say he was better the Nim, which was hard to do. No matter how much he hated Nim, he had to admit he was positive till this moment that no one was as good as him.

Duo let out a half sigh, half laugh when the song reached its end. He felt like bursting into giggles, but at the same time there was this panic creeping in as he again became aware as to where he was.

"You're really good kid." The tallest of the boys, with the weirdest bangs Duo had ever seen, claimed

Duo nodded slightly, but said nothing, though he knew what was coming, they would have to know who he was.

"You ever going to speak or is sure all we get for today?" The boy continued. "In case you don't know, I'm Trowa, to my right is Heero, then Wufei, then Hilde, and to my left is-"

"Quatre." Duo spoke for him, and Quatre coughed on tea that he had just chanced to pick up.

"You two have met?" Trowa looked a little baffled, and Quatre did too for a moment.

Then realization crossed Quatre's face and he smiled. "You came, I didn't think you would. I wanted to ask you what you meant yesterday, that comment about Nim?"

Duo shifted uncomfortable. "I was answering your question. It wasn't exactly the same it was partially my own idiocy, but it still hurt."

"You mind being a little more descriptive?" Quatre knew he was pushing it but if he could get Heero to hear this then maybe he wouldn't flip out when he found out who this guitarist was.

For a moment Duo was quiet. He thought he knew why Quatre was doing this, but it didn't make it any easier. "He was dating Solo, but I didn't know that, and we…he never gave any hints to either of us what was going on with the other."

His voice faded off, Quatre knew that was as far as Duo would go at least for now.

Heero was ridged beside Trowa, he wasn't sure how to react to the conversation that was taking place. Trowa shifted in his sit, not sure if he should stop Quatre from continuing or hold on the Heero incase he did something stupid. Wufei gawked at the person in front of him. He knew Nim, not only that but he knew what a horny asshole Nim was from experience. Hilde held on to her chair feeling slightly sick.

"That explains some things." Quatre smiled, and Duo knew what was coming next. "Thank you Duo."

Duo nodded and knelt putting away the guitar. He didn't expect them to want him after how he had acted yesterday, but he felt he needed to play today for Heero, and for himself.

"Duo?" Hilde stumbled over his name in disbelief that he was really there.

He didn't turn back to them, but he pulled the hood off revealing his long chestnut braid.

"You played, you came, but why?" Hilde was baffled, his reaction yesterday to even playing for her and Heero was that of outrage, anger, and yet here he was.

"Quatre came and talked to me." Duo whispered has he picked up Solo's guitar.

"That's it, me and Heero came down and talk to you and you throw a fit, he comes to see you and now your best friends?"

"He talked to me, you demanded of me. Believe it or not there's a big difference there." Duo sighed deeply; he wasn't getting out of here any time soon.

"I did not demand I begged."

"No you asked me, I said no and then you proceeded to yell at me."

"How did you meet Nim?" Heero finally spoke up.

Duo looked at him, but remained silent.

"I mean originally. How did you get introduced?"

"I wanted guitar lesson, Solo introduced me. I didn't know it then but they were going out, so he asked him to teach me. Only I learned a lot more then I wanted too." Duo looked Heero straight in the eyes as he spoke.

"How do I know you're telling me the truth?" Heero dared to say it even though he knew that it would anger Duo.

"Why in god's name would I lie about what happened? Johnny, that's how I knew him, was an ass, and did terrible things, I would never lie about that, I don't lie in general, except for certain situations, most of which tend to be out of my control. You don't believe me, that's your problem not mine. Now am I going or not?"

"Not." Heero leaned forward on the table. "Would you do us a favor?"

"Depends what do you want?"

"Vanilla."

Duo raised an eyebrow and then it hit him. Heero wanted him to play Vanilla like he had yesterday when they overheard him. "Okay."

Duo snapped the case open and hooked up the ganesa again. He pulled off the red hooded sweater revealing a skin tight black tank that had MYV ROCKS writing across the front. He strapped on the guitar, and took a step back.

A moment later the guitar filled the air with the familiar song, followed almost immediately by Duo's voice. This time he sang out loud, unlike Flora which was barely a whisper. He moved more this time as well, his eyes closed as he bounced doing the moves that Gackt's guitarist did in the live performance, well most anyway. The song caught everyone but Heero off guard, and about half way through the room emptied of the few guitarist that were still holding on to hope that they could be the next guitarist for C.O.N.

When Duo was done he was sweating just slightly. The group could see Nim's influence in him. The way he stood after playing was a little like Nimrod, but mostly Duo, they could also tell he was trying hard to not look anything like Nim.

Heero smiled. "We need a guitarist."

The others remained silent. They all knew that given a choice in the matter they wanted Duo to play for them, as long as he didn't end up have a huge attitude problem. It wasn't that they didn't have a say but they all knew when it came down to it, it was for the most part up to Heero, and they freely gave him that right.

"Does that mean you want me to play with you?"

"Yes."

"I need to know more about how you guys work, but…but I will."

"Good."

Oh my, this has to be like the longest thing I've ever written for fanfiction. I think anyway. I was just thining why the hell did it take me so long to write this one, but it's so much longer then the others. I'm surprised. Well now I have to sleep I have an early class, but enjoy this new chapter, I'm so loving this story right now, but I have to dedicate some time to Angel's Blood. For it too has gone for a while without anything new. Please review, and thank you for reading this.

Ris Night