Disclaimer: I own nothing but the randomness in this plot. All credit goes to whoever it should go to.
Summary: Akashi looks for a fresh new talent and finds it in a certain young and captivating teal-head.
Guitar Hero
Akashi took a quick glance at his wristwatch. "Great," he thought frustratedly as his pair of mismatched eyes drifted back to the plump woman in front of him. She was singing her creative rendition of the familiar Adele song of Rolling in the Deep. Eyes shut tight, one hand gripping the microphone for dear life and the other hand waving about in the air, the woman was definitely internalizing the song. The red-head had forced himself to listen through several similar performances and really, he was getting tired of hearing the same song being sung over and over again. For the past 2 hours of grueling auditions, Akashi had only managed to find 10 out of the 30something auditionees and even with those 10, there wasn't really one who he'd consider as an extraordinary performer with immense potential in the music industry.
"Buuut yooooooouuuu plaaaayed iiiit! You plaaaaaayed it... You played it to the beeeaat. Oooh yeah..." After some more ooohhs, the redhead stood up from his seat and approached the girl who was looking at him expectantly with a crazed smile. Though it was not one of the best performances, Akashi had to admit that he was impressed with how she was able to sing like that in front of him. Then again, she was not the first auditionee to show the authoritative redhead that there were people with confidence levels higher than Mt. Everest. He shook her hand as he discreetly observed her for one last time with his quick and observant eyes, one bright crimson and the other clear amber. He easily inferred that she was convinced she had given a memorable song number. Of course, that wasn't all false; indeed, he was going to remember this, just not for the reasons she thinks.
"You sing ... passionately," he stated plainly after deciding that he was not in the mood to handle any more hurt feelings, "You will be notified when the results of the auditions come in. Thank you." She squeezed and shook his hand for a few more seconds, wide eyed and feeling like a million bucks, repeatedly saying "Thank you, Akashi-sama," before finally exiting the room.
Three more auditionees not much better than the earlier one came in before the day ended. It was half past five when Akashi finished sorting out the papers of the people who auditioned. He browsed through them again, recalling the performances that came along with the faces and the names on the sheets of papers. His lips pulled into one straight line. The new talent he was looking for was someone unique and unexpected.
"How did the auditions go?" asked Midorima as he entered the room and closed the door behind him. "As expected," Akashi replied matter-of-factly as he handed the papers to the taller man. "And I'm guessing you're disappointed?" Midorima asked as he adjusted his glasses and pulled out a small pink plush toy out of his pocket. "Maybe if you had let me join you then my lucky item would have helped us in getting better auditionees," he added. Akashi momentarily eyed the plush toy, a small pink stuffed bunny, and unnoticeably raised an eyebrow. Anyone who didn't know better would say Midorima was kiddish and just plain weird. "It was not necessary. I was right. This wasn't the best way to look for new talent," he answered coolly. "What do you have in mind?" Midorima asked as he read Akashi's neatly written comments on each auditionee's paper. "Come with me," he said plainly though the greenhead knew it was more of an order than just a request.
The two of them stopped in front of a bar with a cheap neon sign. Shots Down. Midorima observed that the people coming in were a little younger than the patrons of neighboring bars. "We're going to find talent here?" he asked, hearing sounds of plucked guitar strings from inside. "Yes," was Akashi's plain reply before the two of them entered the establishment. Inside, they were greeted by a rather cozy bar, with faint blue lighting and circular tables arranged around a small stage at the far end of the room. To the right side was the bar where a petite lady with mid-length hazel hair and round chestnut eyes was preparing drinks for the few customers. Akashi and Midorima contented themselves with the seats at the end of the bar as they watched a young band prepare for the night's performance.
Akashi was sipping his dry martini when he caught sight of streaks of teal whirling about with every graceful movement of the petite band member. The girl, who he had determined to be at around 22 to 24 years of age, had bright light blue hair up to her shoulders, messily tied into a bun, and aquamarine eyes, clear and blank. The intimidating pair of mismatched eyes fixated on the girl who stood at the center of the stage as she tuned her electric guitar. "Hmm.." The redhead analyzed the loose white t-shirt, pants and boot wearing tealhead carefully, observing every detail about her, even to the point that he had determined the pattern of the rising and falling of her chest.
"The girl.. do you find her particularly interesting?" Midorima asked before taking another sip of his own martini. Not bothering to take off his eyes on the petite young lady, the redhead replied in his usual cool tone, "I guess we'll have to wait and see."
"We're the Shadows! Heck yeah!" yelled out a tall member of the band, the drummer with fiery hair, split brows and equally red eyes, as the group opened the song number with a famous guitar riff. Akashi watched as her delicate fingers danced on the fretboard, pressing each string with precision as her teal orbs looked straight ahead. "He's got a smile and it seems to me..." she began to sing, and Akashi found himself more and more addicted to her smooth and powerful voice. She sang effortlessly and yet delivered the song exquisitely. "He takes me away to that special place..." Oh how she had taken the feared and respected redhead to some other dimension where nothing else existed but her and her unbelievably beautiful singing voice. watching her made the redhead's thin pale lips contort into a small satisfied smile.
The next morning, Akashi made his way to a local cafe shop where he was supposed to meet up with an acquaintance. Vividly, he remembered watching her sing and play the guitar incredibly well. It wasn't enough that she had the singing capacity of a professional artist; her aquamarine eyes were completely captivating and mesmerizing as well. All in all, Akashi was just completely hooked.
He met a pleasant surprise upon seeing teal yet again, behind the counter, making iced coffee. How she was able to make him smile without really doing anything was beyond any other person who hadn't known the redhead much. He may have just found what he was looking for.
AN: I've finally graduated high school after some 4 grueling years of sleepless nights, hectic and stressful days, and mountain heaps of projects and assignments. To celebrate, I'm trying my luck with an Akakuro multichapter fic which is in no way at all connected with graduation. Hehe. Not really sure about how well this first chapter went though. I'll have to apologize for some oocness and the unengaging plot so far. I promise I'll work on that and with your help, I can really still improve. Please leave a review and tell me how this one was and maybe some few suggestions on how the story can still be improved. I think it was necessary to include some of the song lyrics in the text. So uhm Rolling in the Deep is Adele's and Sweet Child Of Mine is a song of Guns N' Roses. Ok that's all. Thank you so much for reading this and an extra thank you if you're about to click that Review button. :D