Name of Story: Louder
Written By: Iced Hearts
Pairing(s) & Character(s): ChoutarouxOC. There's a good deal of Hyotei tennis regulars thrown in for good measure.
Genre & Rating: Romance/Friendship. Rated T for minor swearing.
Full Summary: He's tall, sensitive and respectful to all. She's vertically-challenged and feisty. They're worlds apart, but have one thing in common: Their love for the piano and sensibility. Will this love bring them close and let their hearts beat louder than their heads? ChoutarouxOC.
Official Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis © Konomi Takeshi; Tsutano Hikari © Iced Hearts.
Author's Notes: Just so you know, this isn't my first story (more info on my profile). You may find this chapter a tad boring, since it's just an introduction. I didn't want to just throw the OC in there and have "Love At First Sight" with Ootori, since that is a sure sign of a Mary-Sue. Hence, there isn't much interaction between Ootori and my OC in this chapter.
Chapter 1 – Feel That Rhythm
"Oshitari-sama, the way you play tennis is like, sugoi!"
"Atobe-sama, we love you!"
"Ootori-sama is soooo kawaii!"
Tsutano Hikari twitched in mild annoyance as her ultra-sensitive hearing picked up the loud shrieks of tennis regulars' fangirls from where she was – the front gates of Hyotei Academy.
Why are all fangirls blessed with iron lungs? She wondered, unconsciously tightening her grip on the straps of her dark-blue backpack as she walked.
The hallways were filled with blissful silence, if you don't count the pitter-patter of Tsutano's brown shoes and the distant pok-pok-pok of tennis balls from the courts. The lack of students barely perturbed her, since she came to school at least an hour before school began.
She slowed in her tracks as she approached an oak door labelled "MUSIC ROOM" in large, cursive letters on a gold plaque. She gently turned the equally-golden doorknob and entered the room, the automatic lights and fans switching on upon doing so.
Her dark-blue eyes slowly skimmed across the Music Room. Despite its impressive size, it was almost bare, since the music students brought their instruments around everywhere, for fear of theft (as well as to show-off to peers). Standing proudly in its corner next to the mini-stage was the Grand Piano, and she knew that there were a few sets of drums somewhere backstage.
Tsutano set her backpack against the wall and bent down to retrieve a music sheet, before stalking over towards the sleek, black piano. Perched on the cushioned seat, she set the music sheet down carefully, and began to play.
In Court C, Oshitari Yuushi was in the middle of breaking up that morning's Argument Number 2 between his doubles partner Mukahi Gakuto and his teammate Hiyoshi Wakashi when he heard the distant sound of music.
He paused. "Hm… Gakuto, Hiyoshi, do you hear that?"
The two boys temporarily stopped fighting for a moment, blinking at his sudden question. They stayed that way, quietly straining their ears.
"…I don't hear nothing." Mukahi shrugged.
Hiyoshi rolled his eyes, muttering, "It's 'I don't hear anything', baka. Did you fail both your Japanese and your hearing test or something?"
"Why you –" And just like that, Argument Number 3 broke out.
However, this time Oshitari did not attempt to stop them. Over the loud bickering of his teammates, the blunette picked out the music, tilting his head ever so slightly, before deducing that someone playing the piano… and that someone was pretty good at it, too.
Meanwhile, in Court B, Ootori Choutarou's sensitive ears picked up on the music. His already-round brown eyes grew rounder. "Shishido-sempai, listen!"
"…what?" Shishido Ryou was confused and somewhat disorientated by Ootori's sudden exclamation. He remained silent for a second. "Are you talking about that weird sound?"
"Shishido-sempai!" Ootori cried, frowning slightly at the blue-capped boy. "It's the piano!"
"…oh yeah… I kinda forgot…"
The taller boy was horrified. "How could you forget the piano, Shishido-sempai?"
"Ne, you know I'm not a talented musician like you…"
"S-Shishido-sempai!" Ootori blushed under his doubles partner's praise.
In Court A, Atobe Keigo's tennis racket paused mid-swing. "…Kabaji, do you hear that?"
"…usu." Kabaji Munehiro replied as he fixed up his untied shoelace.
"It's the piano, isn't it? Some peasant's playing Ore-sama's favourite musical instrument."
"Usu."
He spared a thoughtful glance at the Music Room, making the fangirls watching him swoon. "The pianist is fairly good, ne Kabaji? Even though he or she is obviously not up to Ore-sama's standards."
"Usu."
"We should continue practicing our swings, ne Kabaji?"
"…usu."
Under a sakura tree near the courts, Akutagawa Jirou shifted in his sleep, muttering incoherently. The music floated past his ears, soothing him, leaving him with a peaceful smile on his face.
Tsutano sneezed several times in a row while playing. Hm… The Music Room must be really dusty…
The piece she played was a fast-paced, dizzying joyride of sound. It was a beautiful, winding, whirling piece of music about life.
The girl stopped abruptly at the last bar she had scribbled on her music sheet. She hummed a few bars in continuation to the piece, then paused. She hummed the same tune once again, before trying it out on the piano. That could work… She dug out a pencil out from her skirt pocket and scribbled a few messy notes on her music sheet.
"…eh? The music stopped…" Ootori murmured under his breath.
"Did you say something, Choutarou?" Shishido asked, adjusting the blue cap on his head.
The silver-haired boy shook his head. "It's nothing, Shishido-sempai…"
"Oi! Could the two of you stop yapping and get on with the game already?" Mukahi shouted from the other side of Court B, glaring at them.
"Now, now, Gakuto…" Oshitari sounded disapproving. "You should learn to be more patient, ne? It's just a practice match, after all."
The redhead rolled his eyes. "Whatever. We have this one in the bag, anyway." He smirked.
Shishido overheard him and scowled. "Let's see about that…"
"Best of one set match, Oshitari-Mukahi pair service play!" An unnamed 2nd year non-regular acting as the umpire called out to them.
…
A while later, the four tennis regulars found themselves seated heavily on a long bench with perspiration sliding off their bodies, totally drained out.
"You were saying, Gakuto?" Oshitari drawled, his eyes flashing as he cleaned his round spectacles with his shirt.
His doubles partner scowled, using a small fluffy towel to dab at his sweat. "Alright, alright! I did get a little cocky –"
"But we still beat you, 7-5. "Shishido interrupted, grinning triumphantly. "'You had this one in the bag', ne?"
"...whatever!"
"…and it's done…" Tsutano muttered to herself, a tiny smirk tugging on her lips as she stared at her music sheet. A thoughtful look flittered across her face, before her expression cleared and the words "Feel That Rhythm" was scrawled in large lettering at the top of the piece.
Riiiiiing…
She looked up, albeit startled. One hour's already up? A quick glance at her watch confirmed it. Well, that was certainly fast… And I wanted to try out the whole thing, too… She sighed.
With her backpack slung over her shoulders and her music sheet tucked safely inside it, the girl hurried out of the Music Room and headed towards the direction of Classroom 2F.
"Ohaiyo, Hiyoshi-kun." Tsutano's voice sounded flat as she slid into her chair next to her seatmate.
Hiyoshi, with his freshly-showered hair stuck to his forehead and covering his eyes, glanced over. Catching sight of the brown tie, he knew who it was instantly. "Oh… Ohaiyo, Tsutano-chan."
She dropped her backpack onto the table and rested her head on it lightly. "How was tennis practice this morning?"
"It was… alright, I guess." He shrugged carelessly, brushing his wet bangs away from his eyes. "At least Atobe-buchou didn't take out his PMS-induced mood swings on us and make us run extra laps today. I think he didn't wanna look bad in front of his squealing fangirls just now."
"…ah." The girl hid a smirk at his attempted joke, before re-directing her attention to the front. Their teacher, Natsumi-sensei, had just arrived, and was starting on their lesson on Quadratic Equations.
Having sat next to each other since they were 1st-years, Hiyoshi and Tsutano were somewhat comfortable chatting together. Despite his rather sullen attitude towards anything below his standards, he was always nice to her, and he appreciated silence as much as she did. That last point was probably his best quality, as many other students talked so much that her ears hurt.
Fifteen minutes into the lesson, Tsutano gave up on listening to Natsumi-sensei and tuned her out, tugging at her long fringe in boredom. At least Maths is still tolerable… She mused. But Biology on the other hand… She shuddered slightly at the thought of that dreaded subject. If they make me dissect a frog one more time, I'm gonna throw all the dissecting equipment out of the window!
She tuned herself back to reality when she felt a poke on her arm. "…hn?"
"Have you finally succumbed to Atobe-buchou's charms and was thinking about him?" Hiyoshi asked, amused.
Tsutano's face was still blank, but her dark-blue eyes showed just how horrified she felt about that question. "If that ever happens, slap me in the face. Please." She deadpanned. "I do not want that pompous ass anywhere near me, let alone get stuck in my brain."
Hiyoshi was even more amused now. "Surely you know that I don't hit girls, Tsutano-chan, no matter how boyish they act most of the time. And I swear that you're one of the very, very scarce few students who call Atobe-buchou an ass… other than Oshitari-sempai, Mukahi-sempai and Shishido-sempai, of course." He smirked.
The girl rolled her eyes. "Oh please. As if I would fall for an ego-fied baka like him. I seriously doubt the Hyotei student body's taste in guys sometimes." She wrinkled her nose in distain.
Her seatmate's smirk grew wider, and was about to reply when their Mathematics teacher cut him off. "Hiyoshi-kun, Tsutano-chan! What, may I ask, is so amusing about today's lesson?" Her shrill voice grated into Tsutano's ears, making her wince. Hiyoshi was expressionless.
"Nothing, Natsumi-sensei." They chorused.
Natsumi-sensei folded her arms. "If that's the case, what's the answer to this Quadratic Equation, Tsutano-chan?"
The previously-mentioned girl eyed the question on the whiteboard warily.
x (2x+5) – 3 (2x+5) = 0
"…the answer is x = -2.5 or x = 3." She muttered after a moment of terse silence. Thank goodness for Eiji-nii's Maths tutoring…
Natsumi-sensei was vaguely surprised. Tsutano had never been good at Maths, and she often made careless mistakes in calculation. "Well… That's correct. No more talking from the both of you, understand?"
The two seatmates exchanged glances, but sighed. "Hai, sensei."
Author's Notes: Hope you enjoyed the story so far. Let me know if you find any mistakes, or if you find anyone OOC or if Hikari has some traits that need to be fixed.
In case anyone's wondering about the OC's name… In Japanese, Tsutano means "Ivy Field", while "Hikari" means "Light".
Reviews are welcome. If you don't know any of the Japanese honorifics or phrases I've used, just ask me in a review. Thank you.
.:Iced Hearts:.
Published: 7th August 2011.
Edited: 8th August 2011.