It was your typical morning at NG studios. Hiro was tuning his guitar, Shuichi was practicing a particular key he couldn't seem to get right, and Suguru was practicing a beat with the newest member of Bad Luck; Aki Shindou. This went on peacefully until Mr. Sakano burst in the doors with K behind him. Sakano ran into the room and grabbed Aki by her shirt collar. "Can you keep up with it?" He asked worried.

"Wha-what?" Aki said raising a brow.

"With the fan boys! They're outside the studio right now!" Sakano yelled looking out the window.

"This I gotta see," Hiroshi said doubtfully looking out the window with the rest of the band. Surely enough, a crowd of fan boys--- and girls holding up signs like, "We love you," and "Marry me!"

"Well I'll be damned," Hiro smirked.

"Looks like my little sister's a big hit!" Shuichi grinned, "Why are you so worried Mr. Sakano?"

"Because... They want you to go... solo." Sakano said pulling his face down. Then he mimicked the popular painting, "Scream," and wiggled, spinning around.

"They can want it all they want," Aki spat, "I'm staying right where I am." She glanced over to Fujisaki and quickly smiled, before turning away blushing. "Besides, I can't sing for beans!" Aki smiled. The silence in the room made her smack herself in the head. "Sorry, old habits die hard; I'll refrain from being an American..."

"I hope you try not to hold back so much," A voice said from the doorway, eyes turned towards a girl who was stepping out from behind K. "I don't want to feel so left out."

"Can it be?" Aki asked smiling. She stepped out towards her.

"Long time no see Aki!" Aurora smiled embracing her in a hug. They broke away, enthusiastically jumping up and down. "I can't believe it's you, Aurora!" Aurora stopped jumping and glared at Aki. "Don't call me that." She growled.

"Wh-what?" Aki asked tilting her head.

"Just call me Aaron." Aurora smiled, "I really despise that name of mine." She laughed. Aki joined in nervously. The rest of the band members just stared.

"Everyone, this is my niece, Aaron." K said pointing at her, "She was rejected from her exchange student program to go to Japan so I allowed her to come and visit me for the summer."

"Thank you so much uncle K!" Aaron said hugging her uncle enthusiastically. She broke away and stared at the rest of the band, who all stared at her confused. Aaron smiled shyly and stepped behind K. K glared at the band. "Well aren't you going to introduce yourselves?" K asked, or more of, ordered.

"Oh right!" Hiroshi laughed nervously, "I'm Hiroshi Nakano!" Hiro introduced shaking Aaron's hand vigorously. He smiled at K, who nodded in acceptance.

"I'm Shuichi Shindou!" Shuichi smiled giving her a wave.

"Fujisaki," said Suguru uninterested.

"It's nice to meet you all," Aaron said blushing. The band went back to doing what they were originally doing, ignoring their new guest. Aaron felt a little neglected as even her childhood friend seemed to fade away from her. Just as she was about to sit across the room in a depressive cycle, she noticed a white guitar being tuned by Hiroshi. "Ohmigod! That guitar is beautiful!" Aaron asked running to Hiro's side.

"Do you like guitars?" Hiro asked, proudly polishing his prized possession. "May I hold it?" Aaron said with sparkling eyes.

"If your careful, I don't see why no---" Hiro said but was interrupted by the swift movement of Aaron grabbing the guitar out of Hiro's hands and strapping it on herself. "You're so lucky! This must've cost a fortune!"

"Yeah, but I convinced my parents for the sake of music to buy me one." Hiro explained.
"Awe... I so envy you..." Aaron said stroking the six strings. "I'd love to see it in action."

"Then you can come watch us practice." Hiroshi invited Aaron with a smile.

"That would be too cool!" Aaron exclaimed playing a G power cord.
Aki looked up from the duet she was playing with Fujisaki and stared at Hiro hurt. Of course, Hiroshi, still deep in a conversation about guitars, paid no interest.
The whole scenario was interrupted by the phone ringing. "Oh I guess I'll get that." Sakano mumbled stepping towards the phone. "Hello?" He answered.
"Oh, Mr. Yuki? Do you want Shuichi?"
"..."
"What? You want Hiroshi!" Mr. Sakano practically yelled. The room looked at him. Sakano put a hand over the talk-in end of the receiver. "It's for you..." Sakano said handing Hiroshi the phone. "Hello?" Hiro asked confused. Everyone leaned in to catch a word of the conversation, Aaron just stared.

Hiro listened intently to the receiver.
"Nakano, I thought you'd want to know..."
"What?"
"I heard from Tatsuha, that there was a bus accident near Kyoto, the number nine bus crashed on its way to Tokyo. As he told me, Ayaka was on it." Hiro's eyes widened. "She was supposedly visiting you. I don't have much information on her state right now, but I guess I might call you if worst comes to worse..." Eiri scowled, Hiro knew he probably didn't want to do this, but he was, which was good for even Eiri. "Uhm... Thank you." Hiro said earnestly.
"Yeah..." Yuki murmured before hanging up the phone. There was a background sound of the typing of keys.
Hiroshi hung up the phone. Still in shock.

"What was that about Hiro?" Shuichi asked.

"Ayaka... got into an accident." Hiro said softly. The room went silent. The concern in everyone's eyes' clashed with the smirk forming on Aki's lips. Heh, serves her right.

"Who's Ayaka?" Aaron asked as the rooms attention stared now at her.

"Hiro's girlfriend." Aki snarled. Fujisaki scooted a bit away from her.

"Is she okay?" Shuichi asked, his eye's scolding his little sister.

"I don't know..." Hiro said getting up, "I'm going to get some fresh air." With that, Hiro walked out of the room.

Shuichi looked at Aaron who was obviously very confused at the moment. She set down the guitar and looked around the room. "Uhm... Ayaka and Hiroshi are in love." Shuichi said, "But Ayaka lives in Kyoto so it's some trouble for her to get here." Shuichi looked at her as she seemed to focus intensely. "But, don't worry; I'm sure everything will be fine." Shuichi smiled, pathetically trying to lift the mood. Of course this attempt failed. "You're his best friend, why don't you try and... you know... 'comfort' him," Aki suggested to Shuichi.

"O-okay." Shuichi said sliding off the table he was sitting on and headed towards the door.

"Looks like we're not going too get much practice in today." Fujisaki shrugged.

Hiro was sitting on a bench in the park breathing in the humid air. "Hiro..." Shuichi emerged behind a bush and sat next to him. "Don't worry about Ayaka, she'll be fine, I know she will." Hiro looked at him.

"But you don't know that for sure... I don't know anything about this situation!" Hiro looked forward again, holding his head in hands. Shuichi tried to think of something to comfort Hiro, but drew a blank. So Hiro and Shuichi just sat next to each other, silent. They stayed like this for a few hours.

"Ms. Shindou!" Sakano said putting a hand on her shoulder. "This latest review says that you don't have a place in Bad Luck. One female in an all-male pop band... playing drums. They say it doesn't quite fit."

"Well fuck the reviews," Aki said angry, but somewhere deep in her heart she felt a bit hurt.

"These things pass over, reviews where negative when I joined..." Fujisaki said. "Then they saw my value as a member, with my fantastic skills as a keyboarder."
In all of this Aaron stared. "J Pop?" She asked, "I thought with a guitar it would be a rock band." Aki and Suguru shrugged.
"In America, like... every band with a guitar is a rock band."

"But then their voices sound like crap!" Shuichi exclaimed bursting through the door. Everyone leaned to see if Hiro was behind him.

"What?" Hiro growled, embarrassed by the room's attention. They all looked away. Suguru and Aki went back to the drum set and keyboard. Aaron stared as Shuichi went over to his spot in the room. Hiroshi slowly walked to where he was sitting and Aaron meekly handed him the guitar. Sakano spun inside the room. "Akiiii!" He yelled. His nervous tone actually seemed to be filled with somewhat relief. "In the weekly music edition of 'What's Hot,' there was an article that said after our next record you were going to get kicked out of the band!" Everyone seemed to just stare.

"That's horrible!" Aaron cried.

"But it's not true..." Fujisaki whimpered--- or at least it sounded like it, "I haven't heard anything."

"Then the people out there just want her to go solo after she gets kicked out." K muttered.

"I'm never going to be one of them anorexic, porn stars." Aki murmured.

"But who would want to sabotage Bad Luck?" Shuichi asked a bit frightened.

"I don't knooooooow!" Sakano cried, "The author of the column is anonymous. That review is probably by the same person." Sakano started spinning and screaming, "What am I going to dooooo?"

"We have a bigger problem don't we?" Hiro asked pointing out the window to the protesting fans. Sakano stopped spinning and everyone stared out the window.

"Grr… fine I'll settle this." Aki said controlling her obvious anger with a homicidal face. She stuck her head out the window and smiled at the cheering crowd. She grabbed Shuichi's practicing microphone and yelled into it. "Fans of me!" A cheer came from the crowd. "You have been cheated and lied to!" She screamed, rather pleasantly. The crowd went silent. "I'm not leaving or getting kicked out of Bad Luck, okay?" The crowd cheered and not another word was said. Hiro crossed his arms, exhaling air. Shuichi grinned, while Aaron smirked saying, "Nicely handled." Suguru sighed in somewhat relief, though nobody could tell. Sakano was a bit relieved as the crowd dissipated. "I still think would should talk to this Anonymous person." Shuichi said.

"What are we supposed to do… the person's anonymous." Hiroshi said.

"Well if they wanted to spread a rumor like this, I'm sure that they will speak again, then we can take action." Fujisaki said worried. Aki looked at him appreciatively.

Aaron stared a bit. "Maybe what you need… is a bodyguard!" She smiled and looked at K, who just shook his head.

"That article wasn't threatening, we shouldn't take severe actions quite yet." He said leaning on the wall.

"I just don't want Aki getting hurt… maybe I could protect her? Please uncle K?" She looked at him with sparkly eyes.

"Fine, It'll save us money." K murmured. Aaron smiled and looked at Aki, who smiled nervous.

Would that person really try to hurt me? Aki thought sadly. She stared at Fujisaki sadly. He return a quick sympathy glance, before looking away, as to not rise suspicions. Aaron sat next to Aki and comforted her for a while, while the rest of the band practiced, Aki didn't get much practice in, she was worried if she was in danger… or worse, her being in danger made the band in danger. Fujisaki… she thought staring at him. He looked up from the keyboard, as if sensing her stare and looked back at her smiling.

"Okay, that'll do it for practice today." K said disappointed at Aki's poor participation. "But remember, we have to get in top shape for our concert on Saturday, all of the critics will be there, this review will be published for This Years Hottest Bands in What's Hot."

Stares came from the band, unsure. "Don't worry, the reviews of the many will outweigh the reviews of the few, but this is exactly why we have to do our best."

Aaron put a hand on Aki's shoulder. "It's okay, I'm sure a low-life like that can't even get into Bad Luck's concert." Aaron smiled and walked over to K.

Aki got up and stood next to Fujisaki, helping him pack up. When they were done, everyone had left. Aki turned to Suguru and asked him, "Wanna talk a walk?" He nodded and they both walked out a soft summer breeze blew over the awkward couple. Aki reached to her now growling stomach. "Hm… I'm getting hungry, want to grab a bite to eat?"

"Sure." Suguru smiled. They both walked side to side talking about this and that before reaching a cafe. They sat down at the table waiting to order.

Aaron sat the passenger's seat of K's vehicle. The drive to his apartment was silent for the most part before Aaron yelled, "STOP!" K hit the brakes freaking out.

"What is it?" He asked running a hand over his hair.

"R-Ryuichi!" Aaron yelled running out of the car up to him. Stares drew to the two as people gazed at Ryuichi's face to see if it was really him. "Aaron-san? Is that you?" He looked down at her, "You've grown up! Me and Kumagoro remember when you were only this tall!" Ryuichi motioned as Aaron blushed. K parked the car and got out aggravated.

"So you left America to work in Tokyo?" Aaron asked, well aware, the people around her seemed suspicious.

"Yes, yes! Me and Kumagoro like it here very much! We made many new friends!" Aaron smiled at him. "But we missed you, Aaron. What are you doing here?"

"I asked K if I could spend the summer with him." Aaron said, "I was really excited to go to Tokyo." It dawned on Aaron she forgot about her stranded uncle.

"And now I have my old friend back again! Like they say in America," Ryuichi sang, "Make new friends but keep the o-old, one is silver but the other's gold!" The beautiful singing voice stunned Aaron for a moment. A person nearby began getting out a camera-cell phone and aimed at Ryuichi.

"I think I need to go." Aaron said looking at K, who, despite his normal stance looked a bit angry.

"Okay! Say bye-bye Mr. Bear!" Ryuichi said waving Kumagoro's paw for him. Aaron waved back and reached the car. "Sorry uncle K…" She said remorsefully.

"Yeah, yeah." He growled, "Get in." Aaron got in the car. She laughed quietly as she saw Ryuichi trying to escape the crowd of girls, with some assistance of an incredibly cute blond-haired man that Aaron hadn't seen before. Ryuichi… Aaron thought. You haven't changed a bit. Aaron wiped her eyes, which were beginning to tear up.

A younger Aaron, of age 10 sadly looked at Ryuichi in the airport. "Ryuichi…" Aaron cried, "I'm really going to miss you… I-i…" Aaron couldn't bring herself to confess her true feelings. Ryuichi put a hand on her shoulder. "It's going to be okay Aaron, I'll draw you pictures! We can be pen pals! This doesn't have to be good-bye." He looked for a response. Aaron nodded with a hollow smile, she felt numb. He stood up fully. "It was nice working with you Mr. K, bye-bye now."

"Wait! Ryuichi!" Aaron said, not ready to finish her goodbye. It was too late, Ryuichi waved in the distance as he was led to his private jet.

"No…" Aaron whispered. She was tooken away, she held in her emotions, wiped away her tears. When she went to her own home she ran to her room and cried into a pillow. Her room was adorned with Ryuichi posters and other items with his face plastered on it.

Aaron shook her head. It's just a childhood crush. She scolded. Still she had gotten the opportunity to know the real Ryuichi, unlike many of the other fan-girls. Even worse, her best friend Aki left right after Ryuichi, she had kind of taken her for granted after spending all that time with Ryuichi, but she realized how much she missed her when she was gone.