Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, and one day I will think of something funny to put here…
This is an InuKik AU with a musical theme. Yes, I know it's been done before, (Keys to Love, have you read it yet?) but, I wanted to give it a shot. And I wanted to post something, tomorrow's my birthday, and I hope I get to post it close to that date. So before I started, I am explored the wide range of possible titles and here the one I came up with and the story:
Tea Garden Scales
San Francisco - 1976
Two weeks ago, Inuyasha moved to San Francisco, his father, InuTaisho ran a large company in Japan, and he was sent overseas to manage the U.S branch. Inuyasha had everything he wanted, though he didn't want everything, and therefore was not the typical stereotype of the rich father's conceited son. He was arrogant, and we all know that very well. Too well.
His first day of school had turned downhill after the teachers asked him to take off his hat. Inuyasha had gotten back, later than everyone else, because the annoying, over helpful principal Totosai (don't ask) stopped him to try and chat him up. This obviously didn't go well. It went something like this:
Totosai: Hello, Inuyasha, how was your first day here?
Inuyasha: mutters something foul: Oh, great. (Sarcastically, of course)
( Totosai unluckily tries to question him about his teachers)
The principal who we soon discover is nutty: Inuyasha, how was your first day here?
Inuyasha curses loudly and storms out in frustration.
Totosai: …
As Inuyasha got out of the building, he was noticed by some seniors.
"Ruddy Japanese!"
The young boys followed the hanyou till he was far out of the principal's eye. Then they broke into a run, chasing him down, Inuyasha began to run as well, trying to ignore the jeering noises.
"Dog boy, want to get some tea?"
"Want to take a trip to store; you can buy me a few TV's?" They had heard of his father, it seemed.
Grinding his teeth in anger, Inuyasha sprinted down the unfamiliar roads, but his pursuers knew the landscape better than he did.
"Fetch!" They boys dropped rocks on the concrete, and the sound of their crashing made his heart plummet, were they going to throw rocks?
He recognized a building by its structure, a tea house. Or, looking at the sign, a tea garden. Deciding now was the time to visit the famous gardens, Inuyasha blindly pushed to the front of the line, shoved a wad of cash on the table, he started to run into the garden. Only after he reached the 3rd exhibit, he realized that the lousy kids wouldn't have enough money to get into the garden, he smirked at the thought.
"Hey this place is pretty nice, smells decent," he said surprised, he then added quietly "compared to the rest of the stinking city."
The sound of music rang though the gardens, it was a piano, the tone wasn't too smooth or too sharp but it was clear. Whoever it was playing a scale, was complicating it much, with chords and harmonizing .Forced into music lessons, he knew it was an F# scale.
Fancy, he thought.
Inuyasha followed the music, passing by a few waterfalls on the way to the sound. Soon he came to a fork with a sign on the right; this property has been donated by the Matsutoro Family, camera surveillance. Moving a solitary green branch out the way, for once trying not to make so much noise, he looked down the path. Inuyasha could here the gushing water, there was a mini-waterfall, but the piano was far away from it. A black circle lay amiss the tall rocks, the camera. There was a bench in front of the large basin in which the water came to. The first thing he wanted to look at was the piano, guessing it was a large, modern piano, but somehow his gaze traveled to the young girl sitting at the bench. She finished her first scale, her fingers hanged dainty over the keys, then she absent-mindly ran her hand on the keyboard. Inuyasha couldn't see her face, and he didn't dare move closer, add this to the number of things he would never admit, he wanted the girl to play again.
Almost to his wish, she began to play another scale, E. Inuyasha observed her carefully, she must have been Japanese, he though happily. Black, silky hair carried down to her shoulders, her small form arched over the bench. He really wanted to see her face now. She was wearing a school uniform, from his school. The pianist seemed to be his age. Inuyasha inhaled softly, trying to catch her scent. Another surprise, he couldn't catch the scent of perfume, it was just her scent. To him most normal human, who weren't bathed in perfume or smelling bad, just had a unique scent. This one though, smelled nice. He watched her finish the scale, and Inuyasha was quite pleased that she hadn't noticed her yet. Due to his enhanced senses, he could stand far away and perceive the scene perfectly. The gardens were empty, except for the occasional footsteps.
She put the music back into her folder, but made no motion to leave. The student started to play something more melodious and then to his extreme surprise again, she began to sing :
Here we are,
On top of the world.
Wondering how to get down.
So far we've climbed,
The mountain of life,
That we've forgot our first step.
Lost we are,
In this journey
Really are still learning!
One day we'll find,
Through the loss and the gain,
That where we first started makes the most of our da-
She hit a note that obviously wasn't intentional, and stopped. The mess up seemed quite smooth to him, almost not a messup at all. The pianist sang beautifully, seemed like she had taken lessons.
"Hnnn…" she said after the mishap, and she began to collect her things, giving him the slip to leave quietly. Still thinking of the strange girl, and not wanting to leave, he found a bench far of her path, and away from the site, and layed down. He still hadn't seen her hands behind his head, he gazed up at the cerulean sky, deciding he would go back in a few minutes to catch the scent again.
Picking up the music, she said out loud, knowing her stealthy intruder was far off,
" So he left?"
There was a sad tone in her voice, as though she expected him to greet her, as most normal boys were. Must have been shy .In a way it was refreshing, she didn't have to make polite, though un-needed, conservation with an over-eager male. She was pretty sure it was a 'he', she had caught a glace at his shoes, taking out a useless paper she scribbled a letter in between her names at the top. On purpose, there was a paper on the ground, It'd be nice for him to know my name.
Staring at the fancy script, he was sure she was Japanese now.
Kikyo Z. Matsutoro
!~!
I'm !~!
!~!
O !~!
L !~!
D !~!
!~!
Pocketing the paper, and finally taking one last sniff, Inuyasha headed towards the exit. The exit happened to be also the entrance, and he walked past the booth where he got his ticket in.
"Son!" the old Japenese man at the counter started in Japanese, he switched to English, " Here are some tickets from your change."
In his extend hand were four tickets, to the Tea Gardens, and without a word Inuyasha took them.
Guess I'm coming back, darn.
As night captured the fading blue sky, he walked home, taking out Kikyo's paper several times to look at the strangely legible handwriting. Inuyasha wondered what ' Z' could stand for, and pondering different names, he returned home.