A/N: This is the first ficlet in a music AU I have created called "Il Suono di Cuore". The PoT characters are music students enrolled in one of two performing arts high schools, or in one of several local private schools with a strong music program.
I will continue to post all my writing for this AU in this "story"--be warned that they are set in the same universe, but I'm probably going to jump around between times and characters. I'll state at the beginning of each story which characters are in it and at what time it occurs.
Title: First Notes of Insanity
Characters: Yuuta, Saeki, Fuji (Syuusuke), and a few others
Time: Year 2 (canon 3rd years are in their second year of high school)
Summary: Yuuta has two questions he hates more than anything: "Are you related to Fuji Yumiko and Fuji Syuusuke?" and "Then why don't you play the flute like them?" But ready or not, he has arrived for his first day at the Tokyo School for the Arts.
Fuji Yuuta swallowed hard as he stared up at the gleaming double doors marked with an ornate bronze plaque reading: TOKYO SCHOOL FOR THE ARTS (MUSIC DIVISION). He held his clarinet case tightly in one hand. A large, battered suitcase containing most of his earthly possessions wobbled beside him, apparently as nervous as he was.
He checked his watch again. Either Syuusuke or Yumiko had been supposed to meet him at the front door ten minutes ago. Really, he should just take his things and go inside. He was being a coward.
The truth was, he had serious doubts about attending TSA, or any performing arts high school. And he was probably crazy for agreeing to go to the school where his mother and sister worked and his older brother attended. He was probably going to hate it. He had no idea why he had gotten in—he wasn't some sort of prodigy, like his siblings were.
The doors swung open with a groan, and a completely unfamiliar boy stood there at the top of the steps, smiling down at him cheerfully. "You must be Yuuta," he said.
Yuuta could imagine what must be running through his head—how ordinary looking he was, not handsome, not fine-boned and delicate, nothing like a Fuji.
"Fuji-kun asked me to come and get you," the boy said. "He's busy right now, so he couldn't come himself. I'm Saeki by the way. Saeki Kojirou."
"Yeah," Yuuta mumbled. "Thanks. Nice to meet you, Saeki-san."
Saeki eyed his suitcase. "Need any help with that?"
"I'm fine," Yuuta said, tugging at its handle. It refused to budge. He kicked at it.
"Here," Saeki said, grabbing the other end.
"Thanks," Yuuta said again. With Saeki's help, he wrestled the suitcase up the steps and through the door.
"Sure," Saeki said. "Let's just get you registered and checked in, and then we can come back for this monster. Maybe with reinforcements—wouldn't be good if one of us broke a wrist, after all."
"OK."
Yuuta followed Saeki down the tiled hall. It seemed oddly quiet and empty.
"Where is everyone?" he asked.
"Oh, probably at the cafeteria. It's lunch time," Saeki said. "I'll take you there first. You must be hungry."
Yuuta nodded.
"So, what do you play?" he asked a minute later, in an attempt to be friendly.
"Flute," Saeki said with a grin. "I'm one of Yumiko-sensei's students. But it looks like you aren't following in the family tradition."
Yuuta flushed. It was one of his least favorite questions. Just because Syuusuke and Yumiko were both stellar flutists didn't mean that he had to play the same instrument as them!
"Eh, sorry," Saeki said, seeing his expression. "I'm sure you're a great clarinet player—you are a Fuji, after all."
Yuuta forced a smile. That was another of his least favorite things to hear, but Saeki was making an effort to be nice to him.
"Here's the cafeteria!" Saeki announced at last, showing Yuuta into an enormous room crowded with tables and tables of chattering teenagers. Most of them were wearing TSA's black uniform with a blue tie, but mixed in among them were students wearing various other uniforms. "Not all schools have started yet, so there are a lot of visitors today. Fuji-kun should be around somewhere. Oh, I wonder what that crowd is doing." He dragged Yuuta over to a corner of the cafeteria, where dozens of students were forming a circle around something.
Saeki gave an involuntary exclamation, and as soon as Yuuta realized why, he was seized by a powerful need to flee.
It was Syuusuke. The crowd was staring at Syuusuke, and a brown haired, bespectacled boy who was currently kneeling at his feet. Yuuta saw that he was wearing the uniform of another school—a white one.
"Oh," Saeki muttered. "That's just cruel."
"What are they doing?" Yuuta hissed, still prepared to make a hasty escape. "Who is that?"
"Tezuka Kunimitsu," Saeki whispered back.
The name sounded familiar somehow, but it took Yuuta a minute to place it.
"The cellist?" he demanded. "One of the Four Lords?" The "Four Lords" was the nickname for the principal string players of the Tokyo Youth Symphony (supposedly the best in the country)—Yukimura, the concertmaster. Atobe, assistant concertmaster. Sanada, principal viola. Tezuka, principal cello. All going into their second year of high school. All brilliant.
"Yes," Saeki said. "You didn't know? He's been after your brother for almost an entire year. Now be quiet, I want to know what's happening."
Syuusuke smiled that irritating smile of his, the one that drove Yuuta into a fury every time he saw it. It managed to be smug and self-satisfied, while preserving a note of sweetness and innocence (entirely fake).
"All right," he said, extending a hand to Tezuka, who stared up at him. "We can discuss this later."
The crowd let out a sigh of disappointment, and began to disperse. Saeki grabbed hold of a tall student with spiky black hair and thick glasses.
"Inui," he said. "What just happened?"
Inui gave a smile that showed entirely too many teeth.
"Tezuka came in and actually asked Fuji out, and Fuji said 'I'll go out with you if you kneel on the floor and bow to me'. I don't think he expected Tezuka to actually do it. Tezuka is terribly proud, after all."
"Yuuta!" Syuusuke trotted over to him wearing a beatific smile, and seized his hands. "Yuuta, I'm so glad you decided to come!"
Yuuta scowled and broke free.
"Just in time to see you make a spectacle of yourself, Aniki."
Syuusuke blinked innocently.
"Why, Yuuta, I have no idea what you are talking about. It isn't anything unusual."
Yuuta slapped a hand to his forehead. "Great," he said. "Talk to you later." He turned to Saeki. "Saeki-san, would you mind showing me where the dorms are? I'm in room 25."
"Sure," Saeki said, giving him an odd look.
"Wait," Inui said. "So you're Fuji and Yumiko-sensei's younger brother? And Fuji-sensei's son? I'm one of her piano students," he added.
"Yeah," Yuuta said, trying to indicate to Saeki with gestures of his head that they should leave.
"Hmm," Inui said, pushing his glasses up his nose and eying Yuuta's clarinet case. "But you don't play flute?"
"No!" Yuuta practically shouted. "Sorry, I have to go." He knew that he was being rude, but he didn't think his brain could stand being in this pit of insanity for a moment longer. Only fifteen minutes at his new school, and he was going to snap. Three years to go…
"Bye, Yuuta!" Syuusuke called with a cheery wave. "I'll let Yumiko know you're here right away. And Mother, of course."
Saeki gave him another strange look out of the corner of his eye as they headed for the dorms.
"You didn't know your brother was, um…" he began awkwardly.
"Popular?" Yuuta snapped. "Being pursued by one of the Four Lords? No, nobody exactly tells me these things."
"Well," Saeki said. "He's the best high school flutist in Tokyo, at least…and good looking…There aren't too many people who would turn him down. Although he isn't the one who usually does the asking. He's gone out with loads of people, but it never lasts for more than a few days. We dated, actually. One day, five hours, and thirty-three minutes."
"Oh," Yuuta said faintly, feeling a headache coming on.
"But who knows what might happen with Tezuka," Saeki said, shrugging his shoulders. "He's not the type to do this sort of thing casually."
"I'd rather not think about it," Yuuta said with a weak (and insincere) smile.
They had reached a long hallway lined with numbered doors.
"Here are the freshman rooms," Saeki said. "25 is all the way at the end. Do you want me to help bring your suitcase up here?"
"Thank you for all your help," Yuuta said, meaning it this time. "I'll get it myself. You've done a lot already."
"Ok!" Saeki said. "See you at the opening ceremony. It's in about half an hour, I think."
Yuuta pushed open the door to his new room.
It was pretty much what he had expected of a dorm room—tile floor, white walls, a closet, two desks, a bunk bed, and a single bed. On the bottom of the bunk bed sat a very tall boy with silver hair and large brown eyes. He gave Yuuta a polite smile, and stood up.
"Hello," he said, bowing. "I'm Ohtori Choutarou. Are you rooming in here?"
"Yes," Yuuta said. "I'm Yuuta. Fuji Yuuta, I mean. Nice to…" he trailed off, as Ohtori's face assumed a familiar look of surprise.
"Fuji?" he asked. "Are you related to Fuji Yumiko-sensei? She's going to be my teacher here!"
Yuuta nodded wearily. Another flute player. Why did there have to be so many?
"She's my older sister. Fuji Syuusuke is my older brother. My mother teaches piano."
"Wow," Ohtori said. "That's incredible. Your whole family is here. I guess you won't be homesick at all. So, do you play flute as well?"
Yuuta pointed to his clarinet case.
"Oh," Ohtori said. "The clarinet is a very nice instrument too. Actually, I've never really focused on flute before—piano was my main instrument. But when I got offered a scholarship to come here and study with your sister, I decided I couldn't turn down such an opportunity."
"So," Yuuta said, to change the subject. "Do we have another roommate, or is that an extra bed."
Ohtori laughed nervously. "Yes, we do, but he's a little frightening."
"Frightening?" Yuuta asked. "How?"
Just then, the door swung open, and another boy walked in. His hair was covered by a green bandanna, and he wore a threatening scowl.
"Hello, Kaidoh-kun," Ohtori said. "This is our other roommate, Fuji-kun."
"You can just call me Yuuta," Yuuta interrupted.
Kaidoh gave him a glare, hissed—there was no other word for it—and retreated to the single bed in the corner.
"All right," Yuuta said, putting his clarinet case on top of the upper bunk. "I guess I'm sleeping here." Kaidoh was indeed somewhat frightening, but he was the first person who hadn't made any comments about Yuuta's family, which was a relief. Even if he hadn't talked, period.
There was a knock on the door.
"Yuuta!" Syuusuke's voice called. "Yuuta, are you in there? Mother and Yumiko want to see you!"
"Sorry," Yuuta yelled back, without opening the door. "I have freshman orientation, and the opening ceremony. I'll see them some other time. Good-bye!"
It was going to be a very interesting year. Well, damn it, Yuuta was going to prove that he was a musician (a clarinetist) in his own right, and not just some member of the Fuji family. No way was he going to spend he next three years in Syuusuke's shadow! He hadn't come here because of his family, after all. He had come in order to follow his own dreams. Or at least, he decided, to figure out what they were.