Just remembered that I had this when I watched Nae Il's Cantabile. Well actually it's for Chiaki-senpai's birthday last February, but well, this procrastination keeps me away, sorry. Inspired by a very touching song sung by Caroline Costa ft Ulrik Munther entitled Je t'ai Menti (Kill for Lies). I've been listening to this song and find it suits Nodame and Chiaki well. So, here I am making this crappy fic. Better try listening to the song while reading this fic. Enjoy! (if you can. lol)
Je t'ai Menti
Ce matin, je me réveille de ce cauchemar qui me hante. Mais je sais que tout est pareil. Tu me manques, tu me manques
This morning, I wake up from this nightmare that haunts me. But I know everything's the same I miss you, I miss you.
'Shinichi no baka!'
Chiaki snapped from his sleep. It came again. The dream where he saw a giant mongoose crying and shouting at him. The strange thing was, they were in the middle of an orchestra with the mongoose standing near a piano. Chiaki massaged his temple, felt dizzy all of sudden.
"Nodame…" unconsciously the name came out of his mouth.
Flashback
"Senpai never care about Nodame! He only cares about his career! On orchestra! On music!" Nodame cried soppily.
Chiaki lifted his hand, tried reaching his self-claimed-fiancé-wanna-be.
Unexpectedly, she ignored the hand. "Nodame's tired! Nodame's sick of Senpai's swinging moods. Hoping senpai who'll never understand Nodame's feeling!" Silence swept them for a moment. Nodame held her breath before finally whispering, almost unheard, "Nodame wants to be alone. Chiaki-san, would you please leave her alone?"
deg. Chiaki's heart stung for hearing Nodame, his Nodame, called him by that unfamiliar cold name. And before he could say anything, Nodame pushed his back to the front door and slowly closed the door behind him, leaving Chiaki stood there frozen. After ten seconds trying to digest what was happening, Chiaki lift his hand, intended to knock the door and... asking for apologize, maybe. However, it never happened. His hand was only five centimeters from the door when suddenly his phone rang. Chiaki lowered his hand, opened the phone.
'Meet me right now at the park. Need to discuss something with you.'
Chiaki sighed silently. He glanced at the closed door then left the apartment in haste.
Mais que viens faire là, la morale Quand sans toi, si mal J'ai si mal...
But what are you doing here, morals? When without you, it hurts. It hurts so much
A week had passed since Nodame left her apartment without any words. A day, two days, three days, Chiaki still kept calm. He did trying to call her by phone like thousand times, but it seemed she inactivated it. So he decided to do nothing because he always believed that she would eventually come back. To this apartment. To him. She does it every single time, doesn't she? Like that moment when she disappeared for weeks after her successful piano concerto with Stressenman, then later she came back to the apartment by herself safely without any harm. Chiaki always suspected there was something bad hit her brain, though. But that was all. Nodame is Nodame. She was an unexpectable person. A kind of person who would surely surprise you with her random actions. Yet, no matter how random she was, Chiaki felt that she would always run to him in the end. Maybe it was just one of his prides, but aside from his ego, he never doubted Nodame.
We kill for lies, kill for lies
Murder our love to save our pride
It's been a week… since the last time someone barging in his apartment to ask for breakfast, since the last time he could hear piano playing crept from the room next door. Actually it was not that Chiaki did not care about Nodame's leaving without notice, he just thought that it was only a burden if he kept thinking about her. So there he was, starting his day with his usual routine; getting up at seven, taking a shower, preparing the material for rehearsal, then cooking for two. It was only then he realized that Nodame might not come to eat the breakfast at his apartment again like she always did. 'Look what you've done, baka pianist!' he thought sullenly. Not wanting to waste any food, Chiaki ended up eating that breakfast for two.
We kill for lies, kill for lies
Love poisons truth, love suicide
All of this chaos began last Saturday. Really the source of the problem was very typical; Chiaki could not make it to Nodame's recital in…. Well in fact, it was okay for Nodame if Chiaki could not come to that recital. It was not like he always came to her previous recitals across nations, anyway. And Nodame, despite her boldness, understood it more than well that Chiaki had a tight schedule regarding to his new-rising orchestra. Moreover, Stressenman kept asking him to conduct for his place when he had sudden urgent matters coming (eventhough what Stressenman identified as 'urgent' was actually more often unimportant than not). What made her very, well, super upset this time was that, Chiaki had promised her to come, yet he never did because he had a sudden meeting with the pianist he would perform with at his next performance. Yes. The problem is the Chinese pianist. Son Rui.
Cette nuit je ne dors pas. Tout tourne tellement dans ma tête. J'ai dis les mots qu'on ne dit pas. Qu'on regrette comme je regretted
Tonight I don't sleep. My head's a mess. I said words that we don't say. That we regret
Flashback
Knock knock. "Nodame, are you home?" Chiaki stood before Nodame's apartment the night after her recital. He planned to apologize to her for not coming and then treat her to a fancy restaurant she liked. He had been waited for five minutes, but no answer. Cannot hold his patience, he tried pulling the door. Voila. It was not even locked. 'Tsk. That woman, why is she so careless leaving the door unlocked?' Chiaki entered the apartment and sighed only to find familiar scenery of mountain of garbage.
"Oi, Nodame, where are you?" Still no answer. Chiaki roamed the room and saw a big bundle of human being near the piano. "Nodame?"
"Senpai…" she answered in a low voice.
"What are you doing here? What's with this garbage? Really. I came cleaning it two days ago and it's all messy now?" Chiaki rattled.
"Why don't you came to the recital, senpai?" Nodame ignored what Chiaki said.
"Ah, right. The recital," Chiaki looked Nodame's face changed. He continued, "I'm so sorry, Nodame. I got a message saying that the pianist I'll perform with is coming from Italy this morning, so I had to escort her to– "
"Her?" Nodame interrupted.
"Yes, her. It's Son Rui, actually. You know her, right? Her piano techniques' just get better since the last time I met her in Vienna," Chiaki paused then stared at Nodame, "Hey, Nodame, how's school? You do well, right?"
Nodame answered coldly, "Nodame do well. Not as well as that Son Rui, though."
Chiaki, not noticing Nodame's cold tone, continued, "You should work harder Nodame if you want to be in the Rui's position now as the best pianist in the world."
"Senpai, would you not talk about her now? And why does Nodame has to study to that extent? Nodame's dream is still to be a kindergarten teacher. Senpai should know that well."
"Nodame…" Chiaki sighed heavily before saying, "How could you be this persistent? For God's sake, Nodame, you have a great talent! You should not waste it by being a kindergarten teacher!" There, Chiaki said what bothered him these years. He waited Nodame's respond.
"Being a kindergarten teacher is a waste? How can you say that, Senpai?" Nodame shed a tear. "Senpai himself, you move too fast that I cannot keep up with you anymore, Senpai. You left me struggling alone all by myself," she sobbed, then continued in a low voice almost unheard by Chiaki, "You didn't even come to the recital to support me." She paused, "Senpai never care about Nodame! He only cares about his career! On orchestra! On music!"
Bien trop de fierté, de vanité. Et je sais que... je te perds, je te perds.
Too much pride, vanity. And I know that I'm losing you, I'm losing you
Not even finishing his double dishes, suddenly Chiaki heard a faint sound of Beethoven's Sonata no.8 Pathetique somewhere from his apartment. Nodame. Without realizing it, he had been running to find the source of the voice. And there it was... his phone ringing. Chiaki sighed in disappointment.
"What do you want, old man?" Chiaki shouted to the person across the phone.
"Bonjour, Monsieur Chiaki~ How are you? Doing fine? Ah, when will you accompany me again to One More Kiss Club again? The girls keep asking about you~" Stressenman's voice sounded cheerful as usual.
A vein popped up at Chiaki's temple. "Like hell I would, you ero jiji! Tell me what you want or I'll hang up the phone!"
"Wow wow, Chiaki. As mean as always, you are. I wonder how my Nodame-chan put up with that emotional temper. Oh, how is she? I tried calling her but I only found the answer machine. Was something happened between you two, like, a married couple's fight?"
"Huh, is that why you bothering me in the first thing?" Chiaki sighed, then continued, "I don't even know where she is now. She disappeared again. Without telling me. And no, we are not married." –yet. Added Chiaki. Only in his mind, though.
"Oh, is that so? Poor Nodame-chan. I wonder where she goes. Where she sleeps, what she eats. Oh, what if she is kidnapped and involved in human trafficking? Chiaki, what should we do? Maybe I should ask Elise to send a detective to track her down." Stressenman over-reacted in a panic voice.
"Calm down, old man. You know Nodame. None would do that to her," Chiaki told Stressenman in a faintly shaky voice. The thought of Nodame being kidnapped never came across his mind, but still, it scares him to imagine that.
"Chiaki," Stressenman's voice sounded very serious all of sudden. "What are you gonna do with Nodame-chan, actually? Do you ever intend to step to the next level of relationship?"
"What the hell are you–-", Chiaki was ready to deny Stressenman.
"Wait wait. Listen to me, Chiaki. Nodame is no pet, say, like Hachiko the dog who faithfully follow his master even until he died. Nodame, you see, despite all of, umm, her uniqueness, is also human being. Maybe you always take for granted her presence around you. I believe that you know it too well how her feeling's for you.
"I don't– " Chiaki interrupted with his denial again.
"There you go again. You know, Chiaki, Nodame wants to be loved, too. You may never declare it loudly, but your attention toward her says it all. Well I don't hope much, just show her little more affection, Chiaki," Stressenman paused, "She'll be happy with just that."
Oui j'ai menti, mon amour. Parfois le cœur Est bien trop lourd. Tu vois je pleure, Vers toi je cours! No...no…..
Yes I lied, my lover. Sometimes my heart is too heavy.You see, I'm crying No... No...
Chiaki was checking his food stock in the refrigerator when he found a pack of seemingly-rotten onigiri. Nodame must had sneaked in to his apartment when he was out and placed the onigiri there. He took out the pack from the refrigerator to see the note attached to it.
"Eat a lot this full of love onigiri, Senpai! Don't overwork yourself, Senpai got skinnier lately. Nodame's sorry for not able to accompany you having dinner lately. Don't miss me too much, Senpai." Your cute wife, Nodame.
Ah and I love you, Senpai!
Chiaki's eyed felt warm reading Nodame's note. Chiaki knew he was supposed to knock at her door that night. But he also knew his pride won't allow it. Chiaki grunted silently. "Damn this so-called pride!"
Peut-être qu'un jour mon âme. Retrouvera son calme. Un beau jour
Maybe someday, my soul will return to its calm. On a beautiful day
A month passed. Chiaki, feeling both furious and agitated with the fact that there was still no news whatsoever from Nodame, conducted the rehearsal with full formation like usual. However, he emitted that invisible 'killing aura' around him.
"Stop stop stop!" shouted Chiaki. "Why are you guys so sloppy? Franz! You played the whole key wrong! It should be nanana nana not na nanana na! Jean! Your string movement is sloppy! It makes the whole orchestra sounds wrong! We'll start over. From the first movement!"
The hall was full of noise all of sudden. They had been practicing for four hours non-stop, and now they had to go back to the first movement? 'Give me a break! Why is he in a very bad mood today? What's wrong with Chiaki?' several members protested in a low voice. It was not that Chiaki didn't feel tired at all; it was just that he needed something to channel his emotion to something; and unfortunately, that thing was conducting. Chiaki was ready to yell again when suddenly his phone rang. Sighing, he opened the message.
'Tanya, when will you come home from Conservatoire? Can I come over to have dinner? I've just been home after staying with Stressenman this entire month and found that I ran out of natto. Would you mind buying me some on the way home? Thanks. With love, Nodame.'
''Stressenman, that ero jiji, how dare he lied to me," a vein popped up on Chiaki's forehead. Then he sighed while smiling – his first smile in whole weeks –, ''That silly woman. How can she sent it to the wrong number."
Alors, je cours.
Then, I'm running.
Any further ado, Chiaki left his orchestra member in confusion and run to Nodame's apartment, which was actually only in the neighborhood. Trying to catch his breath, he rashly knocked the door.
''Tanya, why are you so noisy?" a lazy voice came from the room.
When the door was fully opened, Chiaki found an astonishing view. There, Nodame, with her hair all messy, her dress was even still the same with the one when Chiaki met her last time, and couple of flies engirdled around her (ok this is too much, lol). For a moment Chiaki drew in a deep thought while staring at a pair of brown eyes before him, trying to figure out whether what he intend to do was right.
''Eh? Senpai?" Nodame tilted her head, wondering how this lovely senpai knew she was there when actually she expected Tanya to appear. 'What is Senpai doing here? Nodame said that she doesn't want to see him," continued Nodame while pouting her lips.
''Stop that pout, dammit!" Chiaki sighed. In a jolt, he pulled the tiny woman and brought her to his embrace. He felt Nodame tensed for seconds before she gave in and hugged him back.
''Emm, senpai?" Nodame whispered confusedly, she couldn't help blushing toward his sudden affection, though.
''Shut up, Nodame," replied Chiaki. He just wanted to do this forever. He tightened his hug as if never to let go the pianist.
''Emm, senpai?"
''What is it, you hentai?!" Chiaki shouted, hugged her even tighter.
''Haunn, Senpai smells so good," the pianist grinned while sniffing his shirt.
Chiaki's brow twitched in annoyance. Yet his lips betrayed the brain and formed a smile. 'Shit, he thought, 'I even miss her weird habit.'
-fin-
There, I finished it! haha Chiaki-senpai you're still number one for me!