Virtuosi

Prelude

Vienna, Austria.

An interrupted performance where the soloist stops his or her performance midway is completely unforgivable - it earns the ire of the audience towards the soloist at large, and the impact is great. The damage is far worse than anyone can imagine. A musical experience was completely stripped away with a mere interruption, but the famed violinist Kaori Arima only garnered sympathy and even more expectation when she stopped midway at the third movement of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op. 64.

She was right there, a woman in white, the wife of the celebrated pianist Kousei Arima, playing the violin with much skill, but more importantly, with a sense of character that enamoured everyone who listened to her. There was a catch though, Kaori was pregnant, and she still wanted to put on a good show for her Vienna debut, and as soon as she reached midway the third movement, she stopped.

The orchestra stopped.

Water pooled between Kaori Arima's legs.

The conductor looked extremely pale, until Kaori shuddered, looking at him as she said something in hesitant German, having rehearsed that in the event of a casualty, and a female flautist ran to grab Kaori in case she was to fall down.

Gasps and babbles of German sentences and words erupted from the audience, and from where Takeshi Aiza sat, he felt Emi Igawa and Kousei Arima run to the stage immediately. He followed suit - he could see Kaori gasping for air like a fish out of water, but by the time he reached the stage, she was lowered comfortably down to the ground by the female members of the orchestra and the audience alike.

Takeshi saw Kousei next, pushing his way towards his terrified wife, and then he heard a myriad of voices.

Emi's voice. "Give her some room!"

"I'm her husband!" Kousei's voice. "Please, I need to see her!"

Everything else was a blur to him after he told Emi that he was going to get the car.

Four months later, Emi brings up the topic of Kaori's momentary sensation in a café while talking to Takeshi.

Austrian newspapers as well as Japanese newspapers announced the birth of Akira Arima, named after Takeshi's tutor, Akira Takayanagi. The baby boy immediately had acclaim in the musical world, and it wasn't surprising given his heritage. People wondered whether he'd become a violinist like his mother, or a pianist like his father, or both, and he might become a conductor.

They took Kaori Arima's interrupted Viennese concert as a blessing to the music world. Naturally, when they couldn't think of a good name for the baby (since Kousei was awful with names and Kaori was no better), Akira's parents turned to the prospect of naming their son after someone famous, or someone who had brought an impact to someone's life. An odd choice fell on Takayanagi-sensei, and the wiry, bespectacled man almost cried with dramatics and theatrics when they decided to name the boy after him.

"Takayanagi-sensei said that he'd die happy," Takeshi laughed. "I heard they're trying out for a daughter this time, Emi?"

Emi drank her tea and prodded at her cake. They were now back in Japan, perfectly at home and at peace. "We're 22, Takeshi. They married when they were 20, and now with Akira being born, if they get some luck with getting a daughter, they just might have her when we're 24."

"Woah, that's early," the blond pianist gawked. "That Kousei...I knew that he couldn't keep his hands off-"

"Not exactly," Emi corrected with a cat-like grin. "Kousei's a bundle of nerves. I think Kaori-chan was the one who made the moves during the honeymoon, and after."

"How many kids did Kaori want again?" he asked, quite unnerved.

"Enough boys and girls to fill a house," she said, word for word. "But I think Kousei will talk her out of it."

Takeshi noticed that Emi was especially perceptive when it comes to these sort of things- maybe because she can sympathize with Kaori more despite not even having a boyfriend, much less getting pregnant. Girl things. Beside the table were her purchases: baby bottles, some baby clothes and a tiny toy xylophone for Akira to play with. Granted, Akira may be a little too young for the xylophone, but at least it's something.

"And you?" he found himself asking, and that garnered a surprised reaction from the raven-haired pianist.

"Me? What about me?"

"How many kids would you like?" The words came out rather absentmindedly, and he realized it much too late.

What followed was something very Emi-like.

"W-What are you talking about, Takeshi?! I'm a single, i-independent woman and I'm currently not looking, thank you very much! W-What kind of question is that?! L-Look, if you run your mouth again...!"

Takeshi had his eyes shut extremely tightly.

"...a-and we're 22, Takeshi, fix your stupid hair already! Surely you're bored of it staying up all the time?! When we were in Vienna, people thought that you were a delinquent rocker and it was so embarrassing..."

"H-Hey, hey, Emi, that's kind of harsh," Takeshi stammered, and Emi glared.

"Listen, fix your hair."

"Ah..."

Emi's phone buzzed, and she took it from her bag easily enough, swiping the screen as she scrutinized the message that she received. After a moment's pause, Takeshi opened his eyes hesitantly, and blinked as Emi sighed.

"Who's it from?" he asked, and Emi called for the bill.

"No one," Emi replied, then got up and took the bag of baby supplies. "Let's take these to Akira-kun."

Emi Igawa had never thought of herself as a domestic person.

She looks at her gift for little Akira, wondering how the hell did she even think of purchasing them without experience with babies firsthand. Takeshi was driving as usual, cursing at random drivers and speeding through traffic lights, but Emi was too caught up in her thoughts to rebuke him as usual.

Babies.

A family.

Maybe that was what Kousei wanted all along: to love his wife, Kaori Miyazono, and to have their little miracle of a son together.

It's so odd- it seemed as if she was locked in time where all three of them were 14 years old, getting along like normal children with a passion for the piano. She didn't know about Kaori-chan until Kousei won the Eastern Japan Piano Competition and bolted right for the door to the hospital. Takeshi and Nagi followed, and she had to excuse herself to try and find out what was going on...

...and she saw Kaori Miyazono, completely unconscious in the intensive care unit.

But what mattered to Kousei was that she was alive.

Alive.

What a word.

NOTES:

I finished watching Shigatsu. I cried. Shigatsu was the biggest lie ever.

This is an AU where Kaori lives, marries Kousei (I personally think Kaori Arima sounds very nice) and they both have a baby son...but it's not focused on them, sorry. It's focused on Emi and Takeshi instead, and I intend to put more of a Nodame Cantabile type of setting, specifically the Paris-Hen atmosphere as well as the Finale atmosphere. The first season, in my opinion, was a bit too silly.