Kchan: Another story that's on the lighter side (mostly because Nina-chan kept insisting that I write a happier story. Love!). I've had a summary posted in my bio for a while. Well, here it is! Two girls who are trying to get published with a certain company, and the little twists and turns they have to go through to do it.:3 Yay! Just to let you know, the manga, people, and publishing companies don't really exist. So don't try and go look up a manga called Nataku. This is fiction folks! lol! Hope you all like it!

Warnings: I’ll be posting the warnings for each chapter instead of the overall story. Believe it or not, it’s more convenient for this story. Well! Warnings for this chapter are only really Umeki and her swearing. And the fact that she acts like a child. Enjoy!

Ah Manga-ka Idol!

Chapter 1
Intro to a Mad Woman

"Gah! No good!" a girl screeched, and crumpled up a piece of paper and threw it into a nearby waste bin. She, incidentally, is me. The one-and-only Ukemi Anoyo. Pretty plum-coloured hair (dyed!) in a jagged bob, blue eyes, talent for drawing, and... hehe... Ooops. Not trying to brag too much. The paper that I had deemed 'no good' had been a sketch I'd been working on, that wasn't going very well at all.

Another girl, called Chitose Amamiya, with long blonde hair and hazel eyes stared at me for a while, watching my antics with a kind of calm interest. She's always like that. Calm I mean; she never really gets worked up over anything. I, on the other hand, have a knack for over exaggerating every little problem (whether its a problem or not). I wish I could be like that sometimes, but I'm not, so why bother wishing right? Well you know what? Screw you! I can wish for whatever I want!

Chitose continued to eye me with a silent fascination before saying in her quiet voice, "Sometimes I wonder what goes through that head of yours". She got up from where she was sitting on the floor and walked over to the waste bin to pick up the horrible sketch to look at it carefully. I hate it when people do that; I get so embarrassed. So, I started straightening things around my room; fix a picture frame that really wasn't crooked, straighten the covers on the bed where I had been sitting, mess with the floor lamp. That kind of thing. I rather like my room, not to get off on a tangent. Its rather small, but I like it. Why? It had two huge windows on one side of the room. Ah! I love looking outside, especially at night. It serves for some major entertainment (we have some strange neighbors) and thus...inspiration.

Chitose finally looked up from my drawing and motioned for me to come closer. I did so hesitantly; it’s embarrassing to have people look through your stuff like this. She pointed a well-manicured nail at the sketch, a manga figure on the paper. It was supposed to be the profile of a guy, but the nose was very ... not right for lack of a better description. My blonde friend obviously caught onto the mistake as well, "His nose is crooked. And his hair is too close to his skull. You need to make it look fuller than this or it won't look natural" she commented dryly while attempting to flatten out the paper again. She handed it back to me and scolded, "Don't just throw something away because it didn't work out, you quitter. Learn from it"

I took the paper from her, looking down at the crumpled page with confusion. Learn from it? Like what? I looked back up at her for an explanation, but she wasn't going to offer me one. It was times like these that she called, "Umeki Thinks For Herself" moments. Basically, leave her alone while I work on my own problems. Harsh. I tossed the paper away and sat down on the bed again, pulling several blank sheets of paper towards me and a pencil to sketch again. Chitose sat on the floor again, picking up a set of lined paper and began writing like there was no tomorrow.

Now, you may be wondering, "What they Hell are those two girls doing?". Well, boys and girls... we are creating the world's greatest manga ever. Though the world might not know it yet, we are. But when I tell Chitose things like that, she rolls her eyes and tells me to practice drawing some more. I wonder why? Well anyways, you see a certain publishing company is running a thing where people can have a chance to publish their manga, and Chitose and I are trying for it. She's writing the script while I'll do all the drawing. Lovely, no? The only problem is, the contest ends pretty soon, and I haven't even finished the character sheets yet. Good thing its summer, or I'd never get this done!

I stared down at the blank page, not coming up with any ideas at the moment. Inspire me, dammit! I thought this same phrase over and over towards the paper, wishing that some sort of inspiration would pop out at me. When it didn't, I sighed and rolled off the bed intentionally, dropping ungracefully to the floor, and scrabbled around the mess on the ground. It took a while, but I finally found it: a little manga that was a title under the same publishing company that ran the contest. I eyed the cover and saw the unmistakable symbol that told me the manga was published under 'Hide Publishing Co'. That's pronounced 'Hee-deyh', just so you know. Sigh. It would be so neat to find a manga by Chitose and I on a shelf one day. Not for the fame or anything like that. Just to know that ...hey look! We did it! That kind of thing, if that makes any sense.

I flipped through the manga, skimming through the black-and-white pages with mild interest. What I wanted was at the back of the book with the advertisements. And there it was; Nataku, by Minako Minasae Right now, it really is the greatest manga ever. At least that's what I've heard; I haven't actually ever been able to buy it sadly. It’s all the rage right now, apparently, and it’s never in stock anywhere. Believe me, I would know. I've searched high and low for it, mall crawling through the bookstores and FYE to see if they have it on DVD. But NO! It’s nowhere to be found! I wonder what its about. From the stuff I've read, it’s a little bit of everything: humor, drama, romance, horror, fantasy, and a tiny bit of sci-fi. It has such a wide range of genres that it’s categorized as 'General Manga'. If you ask me, no manga should be allowed to have that many categories, but I don't make the rules.

"You slacker! I'm sitting here writing until my wrist hurts and you're reading manga!" Chitose suddenly yelled, startling me. She grabbed a nearby notebook and flung it in the general direction of my head, which only missed by a few inches. "Get back to work! If you want to win this damned contest so much you need to actually do something!"

While grumbling something darkly, I crawled back onto the bed and picked up my paper and pencil again. And back to the same problem; blank page. Where to start? I tapped the pencil on the paper, thinking. I started sketching a full figure this time. Whoops. I guess it’s a girl. My wrist kinda twitched and I gave my figure hips. Kind of jagged hips; I'll just go and fix that. I started to erase it, but the eraser caught on the paper, started to wrinkle it, and then crumpled it. I screamed in horror at this, shrinking away from the paper and eraser.

Chitose looked up at me from her place on the floor, then at the horrible sight of the ripped paper. She snickered at this and continued writing. Okay, exactly what was funny about me ruining a perfectly beautiful picture? Nothing! That's what. I stuck my lower lip out in a pout, tossed the paper away, and started anew once again. This sucks. I tried drawing the girl again, and did a bit better this time around. With a new energy, I cracked my knuckles and began to enthusiastically draw the rest of her as well as a few more characters.

.:--:.

I yawned, finally pushing aside a stack of papers that I'd created. After creating several character profiles, I'd read through part of what Chitose had written. It was... interesting to say the least. I rather liked it. But it kind of ended abruptly. When I asked her about this she simply shrugged and said it wasn't finished. I accepted that answer and lead her downstairs to take a break. We'd been working on that for ages, and desperately needed a break. Exercise or something! Just get me out of the house. We headed out the door and into the hot and humid air outside. It was actually a nice day, humidity aside. Mum usually doesn't let me walk around outside too much, because it really isn't a nice neighborhood. See, we live rather close to a shopping centre, so it attracts all kinds of people.

Chitose sighed, "You happy, Umeki? Can we go back to your house now?"

I shook my head vigorously. "No! I haven't walked enough yet!"

"You're just like a puppy or something" the blonde girl muttered, patting my dyed purple locks. She inspected my hair as we walked and asked, "What is your real hair colour anyways?"

I grinned broadly at this, "It’s originally an ugly dark brown, but I've almost always dyed it"

Chitose blinked at this. "Why?"

I only giggled as a response and skipped down the street, careful to not walk on the cracks in the street. Yes, I know I'm a little childish like that. Get over it. I was just happy to be outside today with this nice weather. Chitose on the other hand, never really got used to the whole humidity thing, and I suspected we'd have to head home soon or else she'd pass out or something. "Want to go home now?" I asked amiably.

She sighed, "I've been asking you that for ages, but yes. I'd like to go back now"

As we walked back, I caught sight of a person in the crowd. A guy, fairly tall and on the slender side, and pretty young (I'd say in his younger twenties), plus dark brown hair with dyed blond streaks. The thing is, I could have sworn I'd seen him somewhere. Maybe a teacher at our school or something? It is summer after all, and teachers always seemed to look different out of school. I accepted this explanation and kept walking home. The image of that guy burned in my brain still though. Strange, but I think I would have remembered a guy like that if he taught at our school... none of our teachers looked... ... well... that good.

Maybe it’s just something else then.

---

Kchan: Some things to keep track of. Don't worry, you'll hear about them all the time. This is just to clear things up in case anything seems confusing. Sorry that the chapter is so short, but I didn't want this chapter to go on for too long. The next will be much better, I promise! Thank you for reading and please R&R!

Umeki Anoyo: Main character. Name means 'plum tree'.

Chitose Amamiya: Umeki's best friend who usually has an additude problem. Her name means 'one thousand years'.

Hide Publishing Co: Big-name manga company that produces theacclaimed manga, Nataku

Kane Graphic Novels: A smaller manga publishing company that has lesser-known (but better quality) titles

Nataku: A best-selling manga that is comprised of just about every genre, written and drawn by Minako Minasae.

"Mystery Guy"- Guy Umeki saw on the street and swears she's seen him before. Who is he and how does she know him?

Until next time!

.:Kyande:.