Author's Note: Hey guys! It's still February, so I thought that I'd write a short, cheesy Valentine's Day story for my very first Fanfiction. I hope you like it!
Disclaimer: I don't own La Corda D'oro. I only own my OC.
"Azuma-Sama!"
"Look! It's Hihara-Sempai!"
"Kyaa! It's Shimizu-San! Doesn't he look rather ravishing today?"
The shouts and screams from the female students were heard from left and right, up to down, diagonally- whatever other direction you could name.
Girls were busy stuffing endless amounts letters into lockers, hiding behind the bushes and waiting for that perfect moment to give someone the chocolate that they worked "oh-so-hard" to make.
The cries from the women were enough, just enough, to drive the men to the edge of their wits.
But there was one person who hated Valentine's Day more than anyone else.
Her name was Hisame Kaede. She thought that Valentine's Day was just another average day in February. That there was nothing special about the number fourteen. That there was nothing unique about it, and that it should be treated like another weekday. She hated the sound of girls screaming. She had heard enough confessions, followed by rejections. She had heard enough of "I hope he likes these. I worked really hard to make them." She was going mad.
Even though she thought that the concept of Valentine's Day was pointless, that didn't mean that she didn't have a special someone on her mind.
She first encountered him during lunch. She was eating her lunch under a shady tree, with her long, brown hair tied in a ponytail, swaying with the soft breeze that blew by. As she put a piece of nigiri in her mouth, she heard the most beautiful melody she had ever heard.
The sound of a violin.
She gathered up her bento as quickly as she possibly could. Her eyes closed gently as she let her body be carried by the music.
She discovered herself in front of a music room window. She stood next to it, staying as close to the edge of the wall as possible to prevent being seen. She let her eyes close again as she savored the beautiful music.
Then the most indescribable, most inhumane thing happened.
The music stopped abruptly.
"Whoever is out there, please show yourself." The smooth, velvety voice said.
Kaede took a deep breath, quickly ate the remaining piece of nigiri in her mouth, and stepped out of her hiding spot.
"I recognize you. You're the piano player from class 2-B, correct?" He asked.
Her heart stopped for a millisecond when she saw his beautiful, golden eyes bore into hers. "Y-yeah. My name is Hisame Kaede. You're Tsukimori Len, right?"
"Yes. What business did you have with me to interrupt my playing?" He stated coldly as he cleaned his bow.
Kaede was speechless. She had heard rumors of Seiso's "Ice Prince." How he was ruthlessly cold to people, how he could turn you into a block of ice with his words, and how he could set you on fire with his glare. She had only heard negative rumors about him, and she was sure that he had heard the same rumors about himself as well. 'How awful he must have felt when he heard these about him.' She thought.
She had never actually seen him, except when he played during the concours. She only saw his tall stature dressed a dashing, black suit followed by his icy blue hair. He was finished performing, and he took the violin off his shoulder and bowed to the audience, meanwhile accidentally locking eyes with her. She would never forget that tingly feeling she got on the inside once she saw those gorgeous golden eyes lock with her plain hazel ones. She got the exact same feeling once again today.
"Are you just going to stand there like a post? I asked you a question."
She snapped out of her reverie and stared at him. "Oh, um… Not really. I was just eating lunch when I heard your playing. It's really beautiful. It gave me this warm feeling on the inside…" She said as she closed her eyes and put her hand on her heart. Her eyes snapped open as she realized what she said.
"W-wait! I'm sorry. That was stupid to say. I'm in no position to say that… I'll be on my way now. Sorry for interrupting you." She said as she turned to walk away.
"How funny."
Kaede turned around to find him smiling. Her heart literally stopped beating as her eyes widened.
"What's so funny?"
"She said almost the exact same thing that you just said."
She? "Who's 'she'?" She asked.
His eyes widened. "N-no one. Forget I said that. If you'll excuse me, Hisame-San, I must get going." He gently placed his golden violin into its case, secured the bow, and collected his sheet music.
"Yeah… See you around, Tsukimori-San!" She smiled. Kaede waved to him and jogged back to class.
From that very moment on, the only person on her mind was Tsukimori Len. He was the only one who could make her heart go into overdrive, the only one who could make her hands sweat, the only one who could turn her face into a tomato, the only one who could make her fumble her speech.
And today just happened to be the day where almost ninety-nine percent of the female population were practically throwing themselves at him. It made Kaede's blood boil, but she remembered that she couldn't do anything about it. It would contradict her beliefs about Valentine's freaking Day.
But ever since that magical day, the two of them had talked a lot more often. She would sit in that practice room with him and listen to him practice, and sometimes she even accompanied him while he played. He would listen to her play as well, and that's when she found out that he could the piano as well. They'd eat lunch together, occasionally, under the same shady tree.
But how was she supposed to face him today?! After doing almost a morning's worth of statistic thinking, she decided to just treat it like another day. Besides, she didn't even have anything prepared. (Not like she wanted to prepare something.)
However, she didn't forget what he said when they met.
"She said almost the exact same thing that you just said."
'Who was this 'she'?" Kaede thought. She twirled her pencil in her hand as she tried to concentrate on what the professor was saying.
Tried.
To no avail. No matter how wide she widened her eyes, and no matter how hard she gripped her pencil, she just couldn't think. The only thing that was on her mind was that stupid blue-haired boy.
But luck had always seemed to be on her side, as the bell rang for lunch. She angrily gathered her stuff, and walked out of that cursed classroom, with her face crunched up in thought.
'If I give him something, then I'll be contradicting myself. If I don't, today will be an insanely awkward day.'
She looked up, and sighed. She saw another girl talking to Tsukimori, but only this time, Kaede recognized her. She was that red-haired violinist in the concours. The one who's music was so filled with emotion, that it could make you cry. Kaede was positive that that red-haired girl, Hino, was about to confess to her man. Hers.
Kaede mentally smacked herself. 'He's not mine, he never was, baka.' Unfortunately, Kaede wasn't a dog. She didn't have super sonic hearing. But what she saw was even worse.
She nervously threw a box of chocolates at him while blushing furiously.
He stood there standing like an idiot.
She jumped on him, and gave him a giant bear hug.
Kaede's heart was breaking. Hino was the 'she' that he mentioned earlier.
Hino walked away, and left Tsukimori standing there like an idiot.
'If I don't do it now, I'm going to regret it for the rest of my life.'
She ran to the Home Ec's class, and requested that the teacher teach her how to make a small batch of last minute chocolates.
"For a special someone, miss?" The teacher winked.
"I wouldn't say special." 'I'd say stressful.'
Eventually, the bell rang, signaling the end of the day. Kaede sighed loudly and tried to slow her heart rate.
'Relax. I'm just giving him friendship chocolates. Nothing more, nothing less.'
Before she even knew it, her feet were guiding her the direction of the practice rooms.
Knock Knock. "Tsukimori-Kun? I'm coming inside." Kaede opened the door timidly, and peeked her head inside, just to find it empty.
'Where is he? First he made me go through the trouble of making him these stupid chocolates and now he ditches me?'
She walked into the room, to find a note on top of the piano.
"It was getting hard to breathe in this room, so I went outside for some fresh air. Under the tree.
-Tsukimori"
She put the note in her pocket and walked outside.
"Hisame-San. I didn't see you during lunch today. Did anything happen?" Tsukimori asked. They were sitting under the tree, Tsukimori was overlooking scores, and Kaede was sitting awkwardly next to him.
"Y-you could say that something happened…" "NOW. Do it NOW."
"What happened? Should I be worried?"
"Go go go go go." "No! Not at all! I just…" Kaede looked through her bag with shaking hands, to find the delicately white box, wrapped with a blue ribbon that had a card that said, "Happy Valentine's Tsukimori-San!" She grabbed it and secured it in her palm. She took a deep breath and looked over to him, to find him writing something on a score.
'Breathe in. Breathe out. It's not the end of the world. Breathe in. Breathe out.'
"Ano… T-Tsukimori-Kun…"
He looked up. "Yes?"
Kaede trusted the box into his hands. "Happy Valentines! I made dark chocolates… because I know… that you don't like… sweets…" She voice gradually continued to get quieter as she looked down at her lap and covered her face with her bangs.
Tsukimori stared at the box absentmindedly. He couldn't believe that Kaede, the girl that he knew hated Valentine's Day with all her heart, actually made him something. He opened it and stared at the chocolates inside. He carefully picked one up and popped it into his mouth.
"Oh my gosh. He's actually eating one. What if it's too sweet? What if it's not to his liking? WHAT IF-"
"They're delicious. Thank you, Hisame-San." He smiled.
She looked at him with wide eyes. He actually likes them. And he actually smiled at her.
"N-no problem." She went back to staring at her lap. After about two minutes of awkward silence between them, Kaede decided to start a conversation. She was going to go crazy if she had to go through even another minute of silence.
"What happened to all the chocolates that the other girls gave you?" She asked.
"I gave them to Hihara. I couldn't accept those chocolates. They only like me because of my looks, not because of who I really am. And besides, those chocolates were probably all a ticket on the diabetes express."
"I don't mean to be nosy, but what about the ones that Hino-San gave you?" She immediately regretted saying that.
"…You saw that?"
"I was coming out of class, and I saw her hand you a box of chocolates. Did you give those to Hihara-Senpai, too? Oh, dear. I'm being too nosy, aren't I? Sorry." 'And now you're babbling like an idiot.' Sigh.
"I gave them back to her at the end of lunch."
'What.'
"Why would you do that?!" Kaede exploded.
"What do you mean? I returned them to her, because I couldn't accept them. She practically shoved it in my hands, hugged me, and ran off." He reasoned out. "And besides, I don't feel the same way towards her. We're just friends. Nothing more. I couldn't accept them."
'So she did confess to him.' "Then, why did you accept mine?" 'Probably because I'm right here, and it wouldn't be manly to just throw them off…'
"…" He didn't answer her, and instead continued to make marks in his score.
She sighed. 'I knew it.'
Tsukimori looked over the score one more final time, and started to gather his papers together. He opened his violin case, and started to set up.
'What is he doing?'
He got up, and stood in front of her.
He smiled. "This is my gift to you."
A lovely melody came out of his violin. Kaede couldn't help but stare at him in awe as he swayed along with the gentle tune, his eyes closed in total peace.
She looked to her right, to the stack of papers that he was making marks on. She smiled as her eyes started to tear up. She looked back up at him as he came to the end of the piece.
He set down his violin from his shoulder. "Did you like it?"
Kaede couldn't do anything but look down at her lap. The tears kept coming nonstop. She didn't want him to see her at this state. She sniffed, and wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her uniform.
Tsukimori crouched down to Kaede. "Hisame-San? Why are you crying? Did you not-"
She wrapped her arms around his neck and placed her head in the crook of his neck, inhaling his minty scent.
"I loved it. Thank you so much, Len-Kun…"
He set his violin on the grass and wrapped his arms around her waist.
"I'm glad you love it, Kaede. I named it after you. Love's Confessional." He kissed the crown of her head and held her close to him, not even caring that his blazer is getting soaked with her tears.
Author's Notes: Finished! My very first story! I hope you liked it. Cheesy, I know, but we all need a little cheese in our lives every once in a while. Tsukimori might be OOC, but, who's ever sane when they're in love, right?