A/N: *scream* AH! I've wanted to do this for so so so long now! I'm so freaking excited. I've had this at the back of my mind for so so long. And it's finally come true! Tibidabo. A strange pairing. A pairing even stranger than my OTP RidoxYagari. Well the truth is my darlings that I just LOVE Yagari(no frigging duh) he is without a doubt the best character that I know of. And this one…this little piece of mine, this is another pairing with him. I reveal unto you dear readers HarukaxYagari. It's never been done, it's new, it's fresh and good Lord is it ever hot! All the spellings for something yours truly should have a piece of. I love the Kuran family, I love Yagari. So there. For this the inspiration is the Phantom of the Opera and a manga called Gorgeous Karat. One is a fantastic musical and novel…the other a less than satisfactory shonen ai. I hope this is good though I truthfully have no idea what you all will think of this pairing it's so exotic…well isn't that what I'm known for and it's called AU for a reason. One last thing…well two. Tibidabo is Latin. It is the words that Satan used to try to tempt Christ. It means "To thee I shall give…" For this story and this chapter please listen to as you read : Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven, Pathitique by Beethoven, anything at all from the Phantom Of The Opera, Canterella by KAITO, Cendrillion by Miku and Kaito and World Is Mine by Miku. Now go…go forth and READ! …and review too please…
Disclaimer: Does anyone at all actually believe I own Vampire Knight or Phantom or Gorgeous Karat or any of the beautiful scores by Beethoven or those songs or anything really? I can't believe I still have to do this. I own nunca!
Warning: This is rated M as you can clearly see. Says so right at the top of the screen. Then again, is anything I write really not? This is yaoi but I don't really think this shall actually be an mpreg or at least…not until WAAAY later on. With that said please enjoy it! *bows*
Chapter 1
"But Christine, fear can turn to love
You'll learn to see to find the man behind the monster
This repulsive carcass who seems a beast but secretly,secretly
Dreams of beauty secretly,secretly."
–Stranger Than You Dreamt It, Phantom Of The Opera
As he sat at the baby grand breathing in the dust it gave off he couldn't help but admire it. An original Bechstien from 1857. A beautiful instrument in both looks and tone. Such lovely, lovely well preserved ivory keys were rare on pianos of the age of this one. A magnificent collector's item indeed, it shouldn't be allowed to waste away and collect dust here in this shop. A pianos real value was determined by how often and how well it was played. And Toga Yagari knew he could do at least that, give it back its former glory. And with that he decided he had to have it. He wanted it so of course he would get it. Sure it might be a little out of tune but nothing that couldn't be easily fixed. Every piano deserves a player, especially one as lovely as this one. All that was left was to give it a quick test…
" Do you mind if I play it?" he asked the shop owner whose eyes grew wide at the prospect of a sale. A short bald man with squinty eyes, a common trait among shop owners at the time. He was a nervous looking fidgety man. The kind who didn't welcome children into his shop and didn't and wouldn't ever most likely have any of his own. But if he did..god help them. He was married probably but it was strained because he was a workaholic despite knowing absolutely nothing about pianos or …really any other of the instruments in his shop. His wife resented him for caring about nothing other than money, he resented her for having some affair or other with her boss or one of his friends or someone of the like. Why did all piano salesmen have to be like that? There was no passion in them whatsoever. Oh well it was easier than dealing with the manufacturer.
" Be my guest sir but I warn you it's a bit out of tune. Nothing a bit of time with an expert wouldn't fix. Sadly, we don't have access to such an expert so I'm afraid she won't produce a very good sound." The owner replied lying just a bit…well actually a great deal. This piano would require more than a bit of time and far more money than he had or was willing to spend to fix.
Toga Yagari wasn't listening nor did he really care to hear what some fat squinty man had to say to him. Especially someone who knew nothing about pianos. Those were the worst type of people. After he'd said he could Yagari hadn't gotten a word. His fingers itched in anticipationthe way they always did before he played. He removed crisp cotton gloves setting them neatly down beside him on the bench as always. He set his fingers upon the keys at first testing the durability of the ivory beneath. You touched a piano tenderly lovingly, the way some people might touch a woman. The dearest woman in the world to you. And you played…like you were making love. A passionate declaration to both the piano and the music becoming one with both. It wasn't something that took effort. It was as natural as breathing. When you played a song with your eyes closed , that was when you were playing it right. This piano's condition was suitable for just that, old perhaps, but the quality with which it was made…that was truly a marvel. There weren't too many pianos like this one anymore. Had he seen love before that moment right now. He HAD to have it. The lust for it was so great he couldn't stand it.
"Will you be requiring any music sir?"
Ice blue eyes snapped to the fat ,short, squinty, bald shopkeeper freezing him solid with one glare. "What?" Yagari murmured in genuine annoyance. That was…rather insulting. Not only was this man woefully unknowledgeable in the products he was actually attempting to sell it seemed he was clueless when it came to his customers too. Really, how was this store even still open? Did someone really just ask him that question? Did he need sheet music? Why…why that was like asking the canal if it needed water or a proper gondolier if he owned a gondola. Did Toga Yagari need sheet music? The piano prodigy? In his seventeen years he'd only needed sheet music maybe once perhaps twice. He'd memorized everything of importance. He knew all the classics and this fat store owner had the audacity to…no. No. That's not what mattered right now. All that mattered was his fingers upon the keys.
"Will you be needing sheet music sir? To test the quality of the sound."
"No." he answered already in another world. Already playing this piano-his piano. What piece would he play? Of course, he knew nearly everything there was no limitation there. It all depended on what would suit a Bechstein best. He knew they were durable…built for fast happy songs. In a case like that he would use Chopin, probably Ode to Small Dog… Chopin did suit every piano well but wasn't quite perfect for this one. Definitely not Mozart or Bach. Paschal maybe…or Hershel…or perhaps one of his own compositions. No. He would use a piece from his favorite and best (in his opinion) of all composers. Beethoven. The darkness of the piece was just made for this piano…as it was made for him. Moonlight Sonata…it was perfect. And so he played.
As he began to play he slowly forgot where he was; Venice and all its hustle and bustle and people melted away. He became lost in the notes. He always played this song with his eyes closed, that way he could see the dark lake Beethoven envisioned while composing it, the moonlight gently reflecting gently casting strange dark shadows. There was no reason for him to keep his eyes open; he had long since memorized this sonata; it was his very favorite thing to play . He loved how it made the world seem to melt. Ever since he had first felt that he had sought that feeling, longing for it as if it were a drug. Other songs did that as well but none was quite as potent. No Beethoven was truly the master. One note and he was gone. Yagari found himself alone in a world completely silent with one exception… music. Music echoed softly yet loud but entirely pleasant surrounding everything in sound so sweet it made him nearly cry. This magic spell that gave you such illusions…all too quickly it was broken…and the song was over.
Suddenly the store was so much more crowded. People had been drawn to the haunting melancholic melodies that Touga spun like a moth to a flame. In shops like this in the upper class section of Burano he knew the audience without even looking. Burano, mostly being a neighborhood offered the same type of people. Rich old woman, half of them fat the others woefully unattractive but so wrapped in furs and fine cloths and silk you could barely see them let alone their faces under their ostentatious hats covered with just about any feather you could name sticking from them. A group of giggly trendily dressed young housewives in light pastels with rich stones hanging from their ears and broochs displayed prominently on their rather disappointing cleavage, their hair high in curls, wearing white lace up boots and wielding functionless lace parasols smelling so strongly of perfume it stung your nose and with some sort of dog on a leash, frequently a poodle. They did not know eachother but somehow they always congregated into a giggling blushing sickly sweet smelling mass in the corner far less impressed by the music than Toga Yagari himself who for his age looked and acted maturely. There was a group of smartly dressed children, the girls ringlets in their hair, gloves upon their hands and a dress dripping with oodles of lace and ribbons already carrying fans or a small parasol, tiny mirror images of their mothers and grandmothers(possibly the housewives or fur clad ladies) , the boys no matter how high class unable to escape the general grubbiness of boys of that age, stuffed into miniature versions of their fathers' suits and they certainly did not appear happy about it, generally they looked sweaty, red faced and grim as a little boy could be as they begged their sister( who looking at Toga Yagari was just beginning to show interests in handsome men) or their shamelessly giggling mothers or sweating even more profusely than them under the many pelts grandmothers. They too congregated together this time in a heap of dirt and skinned knees and bruises and scrapes. Here and there were old men looking confused as to why they had been drug here by their fur clad wives and some businessman on an afternoon walk with their families nervously checking silver and gold pocket watches desperate to scurry back to here or there or wherever they thought they needed to be. It was the same every day here and Touga thought with a sigh that perhaps it always would be. And that was when he saw him. And he didn't belong anywhere in Borano or anywhere else he could think of. This was someone he was certain he had never seen, a man in a mask. A man in a mask with a cope nonetheless. But just as soon as he saw him, he was gone.
Touga blinked. Besides pianos that man had to be the most interesting thing he had seen all day. A man dressed in all black with a mask AND a cape in Borano? Surely he was mistaken. That was ridiculous. Borano was a peaceful even sleepy neighborhood of brightly colored houses. There weren't any theatres around here either…he must have been mistaken that was the only solution. A man in a cape and a mask? What a joke! He must be going mad he decided as he payed for the piano and told the shopkeeper to bring it to the family mansion and he didn't care how. As he left the store he wondered how upset with him his mother would be seeing that he had brought home yet ANOTHER piano. Perhaps she'd even call for her smelling salts. He smiled a twisted little satisfied smile. That would show her. He would spend all his time breaking in his newest piano and not pay any attention to her or his father or Natsuki the dreadful girl she decided he was to marry. What a joke that was, even funnier than the caped masked man. Natsuki was beautiful yes but she was dreadfully stupid though that was fine, all beautiful girls at the time were. Her fault, a fault he could never ever forgive her for was the stupid girl had no appreciation for piano music. More than that the idiotic little thing hated it. Well…what more could you expect from a girl with the intelligence and culture of a fruit fly? It was literally almost exactly like talking to a wall! He was thinking of how many ways he could stun Natsuki into silience by using a word more than 8 letter s long when he ran into someone. Someone standing almost directly in the middle of the street(one of the few Venice had) despite the midday traffic, Despite the fact a carriage was headed straight toward them! It was going so fast there was no way it could possibly stop in time. He quickly pulled the person to the side of the road so the carriage passed by them safely. He looked down at the person he had just risked his life for and somehow ended up on top of after the fall. " Are you completely mad?" he screamed at the person. It was a man. A masked man in all black with a cape. THE masked man in a cape.
The man smiled up at him flashing white teeth that contrasted with the deep black mask greatly. He let out a throaty yet pleasant chuckle. "Thank you." And with another smile and a swish of his cape he was gone leaving behind him a single blood red rose.
A/N: Thank you thank you my dearies. I'm finally done and I must say I am very proud of this chapter. A good strong start this is bound to be a great story. And yes I'm aware this sounds like Tuxedo Mask and no it is not Tuxedo Mask nor was he based after Tuxedo mask in any way shape or form. If anything he is based after Kaito from Cantarella. Reviews are loved. If you haven't checked out Jigaii please do so, it just got updated. Two updates in one day! This + Jigaii! I feel so diligent! YAYYAYAY! Oh and also those of you who like And Nothing Will Ever Be The Same please don't give up! The next update is coming I swear. It's just taken some time. Those of you who read Jigaiis most recent chapter saw in the ending author's note saw I was severely discouraged in myself and was having some MAJOR writers block. But this story kicked that to the curb baby! I'm so pumped! *does a few fist pumps* I'll have that update up ASAP but for now…goodbye darlings. I must nap or I fear I shall surely perish.
Much love as always,
Kokoro