Hey guys, it's Anya! Today's chapter of Washed Away with the Rain was brought to you by the letter 'F.' This letter is awesome! It's even the first letter of my favorite word. Can you guess? It starts with 'F' and ends in 'uck.' That's right, you guessed it: Firetruck!

Any who, here's a disdisclaimer (in other words I'm claiming this):
I mention a band in this chapter called DEMNO. DEMNO is 100% mine! The band members, their songs, their image, everything is mine! Don't steal DEMNO! It's a band from an original, future series that I'm writing, so no stealing! :[

Anyways, enjoy this upcoming chapter! And:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TADASE-KUN!

Chapter Fifteen

Over the past seven years, I only let myself slip up smiles when I saw that the weather forecast declared rain. It was a silly thing to hang on to, but it made me feel like I was somehow connected to the happier times of my past. The ritual made me feel like it was the same day that my mother had died along with my little sister, except that instead of my mother and little sister passing away, they would both live. Then, probably in a few days or so, we would all go home together and live a happy life. Yet despite my wishful thinking, I knew that it was never going to happen.

However, over the past three months, things have dramatically changed. My smiles were surfacing more and more often. If my cheeks hadn't adjusted so quickly I'm sure I would end up having a sore mouth every day. My life had never been better. I had friends and my heart was not feeling any hurt at all. Slowly, my heart was finding its limitations. Constantly I found myself challenging my heart to see how far it would go, though I never strayed out of friendship. As I stated before, friends are the exception. Friends are the one and only exception.

I had two people to thank for my happiness. One of them was definitely Kuukai. Kuukai reached out to me when no one else would, and he even helped me forget my worries for a moment. When I was next to Kuukai it felt like we could do anything together. Heck, if Kuukai asked me to, I would break the law with him. The outgoing, sporty, constantly laughing Kuukai was probably my best friend… ever.

The other person to thank for my happiness was someone I hadn't really expected to thank. After a long night of thinking, I realized that I truly had to thank him. Ikuto had played a big part in my happiness, although he didn't have a big part directly. Without knowing, Ikuto helped me meet my best friend. If it weren't for Saaya taking that picture of Ikuto and me, I never would have met Kuukai.

Okay, I guess that I have to thank Saaya, too. Although she hurt me and bullied me, if it weren't for her getting a hold of the picture and posting it up in the school and its website, I never would've spoken to Kuukai. So I guess I needed to thank three people for my happiness. One person helped directly, while the other two helped indirectly. Not a bad trade, if you ask me.

As I walked to the student council room, I found myself actually looking forward to lunch that day. Ever since that day that Kuukai and I took a walk in the rain, I had washed away some of my past emotions. Now at least once or twice a week I would eat lunch with Kuukai and the rest of the student council in the student council room. Thanks to Kuukai, I was now friends with Nagihiko, Yaya, Rima, and Tadase. Everyone had been so nice to me, and I felt so secure when I was with them. My heart could not have been ever more content.

"It's so hot!" I could hear Yaya complain as I entered the student council room. Yaya was lying back in her chair as if she were dead. Tadase was at the computer typing away busily, not taking too much notice. Nagihiko was making iced tea, fit for the hot season, and Rima was reading some manga in the seat opposite of Yaya. Kuukai was sitting next to Rima, his chin resting on the table.

Kuukai greeted me the minute I closed the sliding door behind me, "Yo, Hinamori!"

Everyone else seemed to take notice, too. "Hello, Amu-chan, would you like some iced tea?" Nagihiko asked as he poured the iced tea into some glasses. I nodded my head in reply and he smiled at me.

"Amu-chi, what's up?" Yaya was now sitting up-right; her usual grin was plastered onto her face.

From both Rima and Tadase, all I got was a quick, "Hello."

Tadase was probably busy finalizing some requests and making sure that everything was in place. Out of all of the times I had eaten in the student council room, Tadase had only taken a break probably once or twice. Rima, on the other hand, was just a poor speaker. She never really spoke much to anyone.

"It's really hot today." Yaya now had her chin resting on the table; my appearance had probably made her forget the heat for a moment. "Is it summer break yet?"

I took my seat besides Yaya while Nagihiko started passing out glasses of iced tea. He said with a warming smile, "We only have a few more days left, Yaya, be patient."

The date was currently Thursday, July 16th, 2009. Summer break officially started once school was over the upcoming Saturday. Afterwards we would have a peaceful six weeks without any school. However, we still had packets upon packets of summer homework. I was part of the smart portion; I did my summer homework once summer break began. However, the procrastinating portion of the student body would wait until the last day of break to do their homework, when what was really a small amount of homework would seem like loads.

"But it's so hot!" Yaya retorted. "Even the summer uniform isn't helping!"

In the middle May we changed into our summer uniforms. There wasn't too much of a difference. Boys would wear green plaid shorts and wear a short-sleeve white dress shirt while the girls would only change into a short-sleeve white dress shirt. Although it was refreshing to wear a little less clothing on the upper half of our bodies, we girls felt like we were getting the short end of the stick. Our skirts stayed the same length and we kept everything else pretty much the same.

"You can say that again!" Kuukai agreed with Yaya. I learned that Kuukai and Yaya were both rather childish, although Kuukai tended to keep his brotherly character intact while Yaya resorted to a babyish character.

Nagihiko took a seat at the head of the table where I had sat during my first visit at the student council room. I learned a lot about everyone during my visits to the student council room. Kuukai was what I thought he was: outgoing, sporty, brotherly, and insanely nice. Nagihiko was really nice, a great cook, and he normally had an optimistic personality, but sometimes Nagihiko could be quite fierce. Yaya was childish, baby-like, and overly hyper, but she was still a good friend and cared for everyone. Rima was the quiet one of the group. She preferred not to talk if she could help it. If anything, Rima was probably the one who wanted to speak her mind but refused to do so. Last but not least, Tadase was a very kind and strong person. He was always busy with student council work, but when he had his undivided attention in focus he was always very friendly and gentle with whomever he spoke to.

"Complaining won't help." Rima pointed out, using what was probably going to be one of her last sentences of the day.

"Rima-tan, doesn't the heat bother you at all?" Yaya asked, almost whining.

"A girl should not let the heat affect her." Rima stated while sipping the iced tea.

Nagihiko and I laughed half-heartedly. Rima was always so matter-of-factly and down to earth. Sometimes it was quite scary how much she resembled Ryuu-san. The way she talked about manners and the way a young lady should act almost mirrored Ryuu-san.

"Oh yeah, I have something to ask all of you." Nagihiko remembered after taking a sip of tea. We all looked over at him, including Tadase, to hear what he had to say. "Awhile back I entered a raffle for free tickets to a concert and I won. I was wondering if you all wanted to go on Saturday night."

Yaya echoed his statement, "A concert?" She was standing up now with her hands placed firmly on the table, energy waves were pouring out of her. "Who's playing?"

He replied, "Some new band called DEMNO. They're doing a world tour, so they'll be in town on Saturday night."

"DEMNO, who are they?" I found myself asking. I had never heard of the band before. Actually, I wasn't too up-to-date on music or celebrities or movies. In fact, I could care less about that kind of stuff.

Everyone turned heads this time. "You've never heard of DEMNO before?" Yaya gasped.

"They're at the top of the charts!" Kuukai added on.

"They've already released a CD, and it was a hit." Rima stated matter-of-factly. Wow, even Rima knew about DEMNO.

"Didn't their CD sell over a million copies?" Tadase added on, completely unfocused towards his work.

I gulped, "Are they really that famous?"

Yaya went over to the computer where Tadase was sitting and started typing in rapidly. She turned around the monitor and pointed at a picture. The picture, from what I could see, was a blur of maroon and black. I walked up to the computer screen to get a closer look.

"Look, this is DEMNO!" Yaya pointed at the picture. The picture had five columns. In the first two columns there were pictures of a boy and a girl, in the third column the band's name was written vertically, and in the last two columns there were pictures of another boy and girl. "This is Ren, Ali, Hally, and Nate."

I looked at the picture a little more. The first column was of Ren, a strong looking man about twenty-one years of age or so. He had short, spiky brown hair and medium brown eyes. In the next column was Ali, a girl with long, wavy blonde hair and hazel eyes. In the fourth column was Hally, a girl with long black hair and sparkling aqua eyes. Last but probably not least, was Nate, a boy with black hair cropped into many layers and brown eyes so dark that they were almost black. Only part of each person was shown, their face and their torso. Hally was wearing a black tank top with lace around its edges while Nate was wearing a black T-shirt with the bands logo on it in maroon. Ali and Ren wore the same thing, except that their tops were in a maroon color.

"How cool…" I mumbled, mainly to myself. The band members truly did look cool. In fact, they looked indescribable. They all wore such serious expressions and the colors of the picture seemed to mellow everything down. Plus, they were all insanely good-looking.

"Uh… Yaya…" Tadase smiled awkwardly. He had been working and he needed the computer back. Yaya looked over to Tadase and, with her cheeks blushing, she turned the computer around.

Mellowing down immediately she said, "S-sorry, Tadase…"

I raised an eyebrow. Yaya stuttered? Better yet, Yaya was blushing? I watched as she walked back to her seat next to me. I knew that Yaya was childish, so maybe she was just embarrassed? No… little kids don't get embarrassed easily. So maybe Yaya… I shook my head to dismiss the thought; there was no way, right?

"Anyways," Nagihiko cleared his throat, trying to change the subject. "It's this Saturday and I got enough tickets for everyone to go. Are you guys interested?"

"Yaya definitely wants to go!" Yaya punched a fist into the air, obviously trying to forget her previous encounter with Tadase.

Kuukai's head was still resting on the table as he replied, "I'm up for it."

Rima answered, "My parents wouldn't allow it."

Tadase was busily typing at the computer while he said, "I'd be glad to go."

I realized that I was the only person left. The answer that Ryuu-san would give me was still completely unknown, since I had never asked her to go to one of these things. Normally she would butt out of my business, but who knows? Maybe Ryuu-san will tell me that a young girl shouldn't be surrounded by a bunch of strangers in a crowded, sweaty room.

"I'll have to ask." I replied curtly.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"I don't have a problem with it." Ryuu-san's reply took me completely off guard.

Ryuu-san and I were sitting in her car while she drove me to school. Since Ryuu-san's hours were getting busier and busier, I had been seeing less and less of her. The only time I saw her was during the mornings when she dropped me off at school. I decided to ask her in the car, since that way I could have a direct response. Besides, I thought that Ryuu-san would respect me a little more if I confronted her in person.

"Thanks." I replied curtly, trying not to show too much happiness. I don't know why, but I was always reserved around Ryuu-san. My outer shell was put up when I was around her for some reason.

On the inside, however, I was jumping up and down. I was going to my first concert! Plus, I was going with Kuukai, Nagihiko, Tadase, and Yaya! It was going to be so much fun! My heart was fluttering as I stared out the window at blurry figures passing by. Lately, I found myself becoming happier. Perhaps life was actually looking up for once.

Amu can go to the concert! Yay! Is life really looking up for Hinamori Amu? Be sure to watch out for the newest chapter: Win vs. Fail. Until next time!

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