A Heart Piercing Melody – A La Corda d'Oro One-shot Fanfiction
Hello. This is my first time to write about La Corda D'Oro so forgive me if I don't write the characters with their correct characteristic. (sigh) I do hope you leave reviews and constructive critisicm. I would understand it especially if it's involving grammar and spelling. I know the plot has been used several times already. But I would be glad if you give me a chance in having the plot as my own in this story.
Anime: Kiniro No Corda or La Corda D'Oro
Pairing: Hino Kahoko and Tsukimori Len
Summary: His mother, Hamai Misa, asked him to do an something for her. Is it to play the piece he composed himself in front of his parents and Hino Kahoko, the only person who can make him, The Tsukimori Len, to go uneasy?
Disclaimer: I do not own Kiniro No Corda. Kure Yuki-sama owns it and the characters as well! :)
"Hino, I would rather go nowhere than to be apart from you once again. You don't know how many agonizing weeks passed since I came back. You don't know that the two years we were apart, I was worried that someone else would sweep you off your feet. I needed to see you. Believe me, it would hurt me when I go away again for Europe. But that's what we can't stop. I'm sorry."
- Tsukimori Len
A Heart Piercing Melody
Tsukimori Len is looking at an unfinished musical piece with his golden violin on his hand. He had been sitting all day inside his room, holding out his violin as he played what was on the piece of paper he had been looking at.
"It isn't good enough." Len whispered to himself.
Len looked again at the paper in frustration. He wasn't even in the middle of finishing the writing, and yet, he was thinking of giving up?
"No. I have a pride to keep. My reputation. I started this and I will finish this as well." Len started playing his violin, passion and pride visible in his performance.
Not knowing that emotions took over his own body, he played a part of the piece that wasn't written in the paper but sounded magnificent. With that, Tsukimori Len knew that the first half of the piece he was composing is completed and yet again, another splash of pride was beside him.
Unfortunately, his concentration was distracted by a phone call that made Len curse the caller, or he would rather say 'pest that ruined his practice and wasn't worth his valuable time', under his breath.
Hino Kahoko.
The caller ID said that it was her. He tried to be unemotionless as he can, but he can't help his eyes when it went wide. He didn't know why she did this to him. But he decided to answer it.
"This better be important, Hino." Tsukimori's cold voice said, doing his best to glare at the wall in front of him.
"I just wanted to ask Tsukimori-kun a favor. But it seems that you're busy since you just got back from Europe and all. So, I won't disturb your practice any–" She was cut off by his ever-so stern voice, making her whole body freeze of fright.
"I have time. I'll meet you the day after tomorrow at a music studio near Seiso Academy where there are soundproof rooms for you to practice." Len sighed.
"O-Okay! Arigatou gozaimasu, Tsukimori-kun! Chotto matte, W-What time, Tsukimori-kun?" It was obvious in her voice that she was frightened by the straightforwardness of the Tsukimori, but at the same time her voice held gratitude.
"Around one in the afternoon. I'm booked in the morning. Is that fine with you?" He said, sounding almost uninterested about the said meeting of him and Hino Kahoko tomorrow.
"That's fine with me, Tsukimori-kun! Arigatou! Ja ne!" But Kahoko was sounding the opposite of Len.
"Ja." Len hung up.
Len, then, looked at the moon that was lighting the darkness of the night. His thoughts suddenly landed on Hino. He and Hino haven't seen each other since a year ago, when she graduated from Seiso Gakuen.
He heard so much about her. He knew she entered Seiso University and had taken up music as a major and of course having the violin as her instrument. What didn't come pass the blue-haired man's ears was that she entered Seiso University with none other than Ryotaro Tsuchiura, the pianist who also intends to take Hino as his girlfriend.
Surely Len wouldn't allow such thing to happen. Not after he admitted to himself that he likes the red-head. Not after he admitted to her that she perturbed his heart. No, not after everything they went through while they were together two years ago.
"Len, dear!" The voice of Hamai Misa, the mother of Tsukimori Len, was heard from the other side of the door, calling out her son using her motherly tone of voice. "Can you go out for awhile? Your father and I have something important to ask you."
"I'll be out." Was the youngest Tsukimori's reply to his mother.
Len sighed once again, setting his violin down along with the paper where he wrote his first and new composition.
With that, he left his room and went downstairs where his parents awaits inside the living room, seated on one couch. They were talking when Len reached the living room.
"Mother, Father." Len said when he entered the room.
"Oh, Len! Your father and I wanted to know if you can play to us the piece you were just playing awhile ago the day after tomorrow? Around lunch, maybe? Because there will be some friends of ours who wants to hear you play and the piece you played, that was an original composition right?" His mother started, talking non-stop.
Len nodded.
"Yes, that one, the piece you made was marvelous! I want everyone to hear it." Misa smiled widely at her son, her attitude like this was what Len hated the most. His mom would talk non-stop, babble about random stuff.
He was about to say yes when he remembered that he promised Kahoko that he will help her with the violin. And truth be told, he has been wanting to see her for awhile now.
"I can't. Hino Kahoko, if you still remember her, asked me to help her with her violin." Len answered, looking away from his parents.
"Ah! Great then! You can tell her to come with us. Hino-san and I are in very good terms since we meet whenever I go home from my out of the country trips." Misa smiled mischievously at her son.
"Mother, please stop smiling like that." Len rubbed his forehead, trying to calm himself as his father chuckled lowly.
"It's decided then, Len. You will invite Hino-san the day after tomorrow to have lunch with us, then you can start your tutoring. But, do not forget to play the piece we just heard." Len's father, Tsukimori Dan, smiled at his son, nodding his head before allowing him to go back to his room.
Len sighed once again for the umpteenth time this day before walking off to his room to finish the sonata he started composing a few weeks before he went back to Japan from Europe.
"I have to tell her about the change of plans first." Len whispered to himself, grabbing his mobile phone from the desk where his violin and a few sheets of paper laid.
He looked for Kahoko's number in his contact list, and when the letter 'G' passed, he immediately saw the name of Hino Kahoko and he pressed the green button meaning to call her.
He waited for her to answer and after a few minutes, he did.
"Tsukimori-kun?" A tired voice surprised the blue-headed guy.
"Sorry, did I wake you or disturbed you?"
"E-Eh? No. It's okay. Tsukimori-kun didn't disturb me or something."
"I want to talk to you about the tutoring on violin we will have on Tuesday."
"Oh. So, you're busy and you can't come?"
"No. My parents insisted that you go to lunch with us and a few family friends. They want me to play an original piece I've been working on for sometime now. So, would you mind going with us then we head to the music studio?"
"Oh, I would love to hear Tsukimori-kun play. I mean, I haven't heard you personally play the violin and an original piece would make you more outstanding than you already are. I would love to be one of the first few people to hear Tsukimori-kun play something original."
Somehow, Len knew she was smiling. Her voice sound excited, and the pitch of her voice was getting higher by the minute.
"Okay. I'll pick you up an hour and a half before lunch."
"Hai! Ja, Tsukimori-kun. Good night!"
"Good night, Hino."
Len hung up. Again, looking at the paper, he knew exactly what to add to the sonata until the end of it. He knew exactly that what he was currently feeling towards the red-head could possibly be expressed by the sonata. That is if Kahoko wasn't dense. But almost everyone knows that she is.
Tuesday, the day of meeting, eleven-thirty in the morning
Tsukimori Len was standing outside the Hino residence, wearing a white short-sleeved button-up polo and a beige jacket to top it off. He was trying to decide if he should knock on the door or just wait for her to come out.
He decided the latter was out of the question. He came near to the door, knocking on it and waiting for whoever to open the door.
The door was soon opened by a familiar red-headed woman wearing a lime green, one-shoulder cocktail dress that was reaching her mid-thighs. Her red hair was tied up into a messy bun, making her look outstanding. Len soon realized that he was face-to-face with Kahoko who has her cheeks painted as red as her hair.
"Hino."
"T-Tsukimori-kun. You look more handsome than ever."
"Arigato. You look... beautiful."
Len was out of words. He was taken breathless by her. For him, he has never seen anyone so remarkably beautiful as her. No one, he swore.
"Let's get going?"
"Hn."
The two started to walk towards the corner of a street where Len expected a car that was asked by his mother to bring along with a driver, waiting for them.
"Mother told me we should be picked up by a car so we wouldn't have to ruin our attires. And with what you're wearing, I agree with mother." A slight smirk visible on his lips as Kahoko blushed lightly.
"I s-should h-have w-worn something else." Kahoko whispered but was caught by Len.
"You picked out a nice one. I told you earlier you looked beautiful." Len said, holding out the door open for her to find the seats present and Len's violin which was inside it's case of course, sitting on the floor of the car.
"Thank you." Kahoko said, going inside the car and sitting before Len did the same.
The ride was silent, though short. No one talked. Kahoko was fiddling with her fingers, her nervousness showing to Len. And for Len, he was amused at Kahoko though he did not show such actions telling he is.
"Tsukimori-kun?"
"Hn?"
"Why did your parents wanted me to go with you to your lunch? I mean, we could have moved the time of the tutor and all. I would disturb your lunch, if you were to ask me."
"You won't cause any disturbances. My parents insisted you to go so that there won't be difficulties after lunch when we meet." Len said, and continued his voice lower than earlier. "And she wanted you to hear the piece I composed by myself."
"The piece Tsukimori-kun composed? Me? T-To h-hear it?" Kahoko blushed once again.
"Yes. Now, we're here." Len replied, opening the door in the process and stepping out of the car, reaching his hand out to help the red-headed lady get off the car.
"Oh, they are here already." Len and Kahoko heard Hamai Misa's voice, all jubilant and her face smiling.
"Mother, Father." Len looked at his parents, and looked at the man and woman standing beside his parents and bowed, "And I assume you are Takahashi-san and Koizumi-san. I'm glad to join you today."
"We're glad too, Len-san. We have heard so much of your greatness from playing the violin from the people who listened your performances." Takahashi said, a woman in her mid-thirties and had black hair that reached her shoulders.
"And who you might be?" A question asked by Koizumi, a male who has attracting brown hair, to Kahoko. Kahoko guessed that he was about the same age as Takahashi or a little more older.
"H-Hino K-Kahoko, sir." Kahoko stammered, bowing, and afraid to make mistakes in front of the people present.
"Ah, very attracting bishōjo. Are you the girlfriend of Len Tsukimori-san over here?" Koizumi replied, a grin on his face.
Both of them blushed, and couldn't say a thing. Even Len has lost his composure in front of his parents and the friends of their family.
"No, we were from the same school, Seiso Gakuen, before I left for Europe." Len fortunately got his cool back, replying. "Shall we now go inside to have that lunch we were supposed to have?"
"Of course, dear." Hamai Misa and her husband, Tsukimori Dan, entered the high-class restaurant, followed by Takahashi and Koizumi, and lastly, Kahoko together with the youngest Tsukimori present.
"Sorry for dragging you in this." Len whispered as soon as they sat on a table for six people.
"It's okay, Tsukimori-kun. I bet I will have fun, anyways." Kahoko said, putting her hand on top of his that is seated on his lap.
Len's eyes widened, and so did Kahoko's upon realizing what she had done. Kahoko's face were bright red, and immediately she removed the hand.
"Len? Len, dear." Hamai Misa called out her son who was looking at Kahoko, eye-to-eye.
"Y-Yes?" Len replied.
"You can play us the piece now, dear. I'm sure Hino-san would be glad to hear it." Misa looked at Kahoko who was blushing more furiously now out of embarrassment.
Len got up, with his violin along. Standing at the stage-like platform in front of the table where they were seated. With that, he started to play a sonata he originally composed.
To say that Kahoko is shock will be a total understatement. She was beyond shock. What she was feeling when Len started to play was unexplainable. She could see the passion he was bringing out by just playing.
'It's as if everytime Tsukimori-kun performs, the world would stop and everything will be completely focused on him. It's like what happened in the second selection. This somehow captures my heart. It's a heart piercing sonata. A heart piercing melody.' Kahoko thought, 'the sonata brings out the emotion of an individual. An emotion of love, specifically. I wonder.. to whom did Tsukimori-kun compose this for?'
"It's beautiful, isn't it Hino-san?" Tsukimori Dan, the father of Len, asked.
"Yes, it certainly is."
"Hino-san, you have changed our son. That, we are sure of." Dan said, looking at her with a smile.
"W-What do you mean, Tsukimori-san?"
"You will understand, Hino-san. I know he won't let this go. He will make you understand." Dan said.
The performance of Len ended wonderfully. The ones who were listening clapped their hands for the outstanding performance of Tsukimori Len. They praised him for doing a wonderful job in composing something passionate and playing it more than the people expected.
"Your piece, Len. It shows the emotion of love. To whom do you dedicate the song you wrote?" Koizumi asked, almost mischievously.
Len, who was drinking a glass of water, almost choked it, if not for Kahoko to help him recover.
"It's.. for someone."
"So, there is a someone!" Takahashi replied, all giddy that he was showing signs of affection.
Kahoko felt a pang of jealousy hit her heart. She knew that he wrote it for someone. But somehow, she was hurt that the piece was written for someone else and not.. her.
'What are you thinking, Kahoko! You shouldn't think like that! Tsukimori-kun will never compose a musical piece for you.' Kahoko shook her head, shaking off the thoughts of her being jealous.
Around two o'clock in the afternoon, at the music studio for Hino's tutoring
Kahoko and Len took a break from practicing and they were both seated on the floor of the music room, eating a sandwich that they bought earlier before going inside the studio.
"Tsukimori-kun? Can you tell me something?"
"If it's related to what we're currently practicing, I guess you could. But if it's for other reasons, don't expect me to answer."
"It's not about what we're practicing. It's about the piece you played earlier. It was an original, right?"
"Yes."
"Do you mind me asking who you wrote it for?"
You. Len's mind wanted to say. But he couldn't, now could he?
"It's none of your concern, Hino."
"But I just want to know."
"Why?"
Kahoko shook her head, her fists curled into a ball and part of her bangs covering her eyes.
"I don't really know."
"Then you don't have to ask."
Len turned to look at her coldly, only to see her hands on her dress, tightening the grip even more. With that, Len sighed and took Kahoko by her head and pulled her to him, into his arms and hugged her tightly.
"It's for you."
No one would ever think that Len Tsukimori would be doing this. Confessing to girl. A woman, perhaps. Giving her a hug and followed it by a kiss on her forehead.
"T-Tsukimori-kun." Kahoko was lost for words. She couldn't say anything, she just brought her arms to his back to return the hug.
"I love you, Hino Kahoko. Would you be my girlfriend?
"I love you too, Tsukimori Len-kun. And of course." Len brought their heads together, locking their lips into a passionate kiss.
A few minutes after the confession of their feelings to each other, the two decided to return to their true intentions in coming to the music studio. And that is to practice. Even though they were practically a couple now, Len didn't go easy on her when she made mistakes while playing the violin.
"Tsukimori-kun? Would you leave again?" Kahoko suddenly asked in sadness as they were now walking towards Kahoko's home.
"It hasn't been decided yet. But by the end of April or the first week of May, I'll probably be back in Europe." Len answered, intertwining their fingers.
"Oh."
"Hino, I would rather go nowhere than to be apart from you once again. You don't know how many agonizing weeks passed since I came back. You don't know that the two years we were apart, I was worried that someone else would sweep you off your feet. I needed to see you. Believe me, it would hurt me when I go away again for Europe. But that's what we can't stop. I'm sorry."
"You don't have to say sorry, Tsukimori-kun. You know I would wait for you. Always." Kahoko replied, stopping on their tracks as she pulled Len to another kiss.
End of the Story
Author's Notes:
1st Note: Thank you so much for reading! :) I am so honored that you read this. Oh, and I hope I did well to satisfy you, readers. ;) Thank you so much again. I love ya all! Please do review! ;) I really need your reviews! :D :D And by the way, I'm guessing this is the longest one-shot I've written. If you want me to have more Kiniro No Corda Stories, just leave me a PM or a review, okay? :D Thank you!
2nd Note: And by the way, for those who read Standing at the Beginning with You from the anime Ghost Hunt, I would like to announce that I am starting now the sequel. I do hope you support that story as well. I really do have faith in everyone, since I got almost a hundred or a hundred reviews in that story! :D Please do try to read my other stories. It would mean so much to me. Trust me, I need your supports to keep going. *chuckles*
* MIHARU-CHAN! xx
