In Harmony
By: Karasu Kyra
i.
The crowd listened the ominous sounds coming from the two flutists before them. It was a haunting noise being drawn out of the instruments. One wielded the naturally higher-sounding piccolo, while the other used the basic flute. Twisting the two sounds together, they made a sound that touched people's souls.
As the music grew louder, drawing to its climax, the crowd watched breathlessly. Then, everything paused for a brief moment and then it all started to wind downward, drawing the breath from the audience and keeping them spellbound until the very end. As it drew to the end, as the final note was uttered, the two women playing the flute looked up.
A blond grinned wildly, loving the effect she had on the crowd, that now cheered. She knew she was good as she expertly held her piccolo in her hands. She'd been practicing since she was six years old, and twelve years later she had a certain confidence in her skills. She held no pretenses about her playing--she knew where her faults and her strengths were.
A raven-haired young woman smiled much more shyly than her blond counterpart. She, too, knew she was good, but she didn't quite flaunt her skills as her partner did. If her audience was happy, then she was happy, and it was their disapproval that she feared above all.
They exited to the back-stage, listening as their audience left. The blond turned to the dark-haired girl and smiled at her. "Good job out there, Hinata. I knew you wouldn't let me down."
"O-Of course n-not, T-Temari," said Hinata, smiling shyly and looking down.
The blue-eyed blond smiled wider and said, "Well, I'll see you tomorrow at school."
"Y-Yeah..."
ii.
"I want woodwinds together at measure forty-seven," the band director announced and raised his hand to the first position. He dropped it and the band began, following his hand to keep the beat.
The band continued until the band director shook his head. "No, no, no, no, no! I want emotion! You're playing the piece perfectly, but it's emotionless. You know what? We've practiced enough for today. You're dismissed."
The band sighed collectively and began caring for their instruments, cleaning them and putting them away. As that was going on, a crowd formed around once person—the blond from the night before.
"Temari, will you come to my party?"
"Temari, do you want to come hang out in my room?"
"There's a party this weekend, Temari, and I was wondering..."
All the words blurred together in Temari's mind. She was sick of it; sick of everyone hitting on her, trying to pick her up like she was some trophy. She growled to herself and looked past the immediate crowd of people and spotted Hinata, sitting quietly and cleaning her flute.
She finished putting her own instrument away and then pushed her way though the crowd to the dark-haired angel. "Hey, Hinata, how would you like to come back to my dorm with me—hang out?"
The other girl looked shocked and then smiled slightly. "S-Sure. Just-Just give me a-a second."
Hinata put her flute into its case and picked it up. "Alright...L-Let's go."
The two walked out of the band room, to the main building, overly-aware of the stares on their backs. Once they were outside on the campus, they both breathed easier, enjoying the warmth of the sunlight and the beauty of spring.
"Sorry about that. I just needed to get away from them," the blond said.
"That's f-fine. I don't m-mind." Hinata felt her chest tighten. Of course Temari didn't want her around. "I c-can...go...i-if you'd like..."
The dark-haired girl watched the blonde's eyes widen. "No! No, I didn't mean it like that! I want you here, Hinata! I like you."
"O-Oh." Hinata's chest tightened again, for an entirely different reason.
"Come on. This way." Temari disappeared into a door that was partially hidden by a bit of overgrown ivy and started up a flight of stairs.
Hinata followed her up the stairs. They were carpeted, unlike most of the stairs in the dorms. Hinata figured they must be the more expensive dorms; the one's reserved for those who not only pay for them, but also donate a lot of money to the school. Her family had money, but her father would never donate money without a cause, and his daughter going to that school wasn't cause enough.
They walked up another flight, and then down a few hallways before Temari opened a door. She moved aside so that the dark-haired woman could come in first.
Hinata gasped as she walked in. It was beautiful. Everything was white, and painted directly on the wall was a nude woman, with black wings wrapped around her. She was lying in a pool of blood and another woman was standing over her, with white wings, crying, blood-covered hands pulled together in mourning. Hinata wondered, was the white-winged woman the killer, or was she just trying to save the dark-winged woman?
"Did you paint this?" asked the dark-haired woman.
"Yes."
"What does it mean?"
"I lost someone I loved very much, not too long ago. She is the black-winged angel and I am the white-winged.
"She was raped and killed right in front of me and I could do nothing to help. I listened as her breathing slowed to a stop, listened as she told me not to be sorry, listened as she told me to love another. I still don't know if I can listen to her and I still think about her every day, but it's getting easier."
"...Why did you tell me that?"
"Dunno." The blond shrugged. "I'm comfortable around you, I guess."
"I-I was h-happy the director picked us to d-do the duet together. It g-gave me a ch-chance to get to know you."
The blond smiled. "I feel the same way."
They fell into an awkward silence and Hinata glanced at the clock. "I-I should be g-getting back."
"But you just got here."
"I need to go." Hinata left the building and ran down the stairs. She stood outside the building, feeling the suddenly-falling rain pour down on her. Her heart was pounding and she breathed deeply to rid herself of the suffocating feeling she had just felt in there. She glanced back at the building before walking across campus and to her dorm, where she slept, forgetting the moment that just occurred in favor of a dreamless night.
iii.
The next day she avoided Temari, and she wasn't even sure why in the first place. Something yesterday, had hit something within her and her instinctive reaction was to keep away—so she did. She skipped band practice that day, the one class she had with the blond.
She was sitting in her dorm room, reading a book when there was an abrupt knock on her door. She uncurled herself from her chair and opened it. As soon as it was opened, she was pushed back and an angry blond stood in her room.
"Why weren't you in school today?" asked Temari.
"I-I was..."
"Band practice?"
"I w-wasn't f-feeling well." It's true, she said to herself, she wasn't. She'd worried herself sick about seeing Temari again.
"I normally see you at lunch, too. Where were you then?"
"I-I had to study for-"
"Don't give me that! You ran out on me yesterday and now you're avoiding me. I want to know why! Because I told you I loved a woman?"
Hinata suddenly understood the extent of Temari's anger. "N-no! I-It's nothing to d-do with that! It's...W-Well, I'm n-not sure. I f-felt weird yester-d-day, in your d-dorm and it c-carried on to today."
"Well, don't. Just don't. Know you can talk to me about anything and I'll keep an open mind, kay?"
"Yeah..." But I just met you.
"And don't even think that just because you just met me that you can't trust me. Have I done anything to lose your trust? You've gotta trust me before you can lose your trust in me."
"Alright...I-I'll...stop avoiding you..."
Such an abrupt woman... Hinata thought as the blond left with a grin and a wave.
iv.
Hinata glanced over at Temari again and smiled. The blond smiled back at her. They were packing up early again. The band director was still upset about their lack of emotion in the piece.
"Stay after with me, will you? I want to practice something with you," asked Temari.
"Sure." The lavender-eyed girl looked down shyly.
After everyone disappeared, the two women stood across from each other. Hinata waited for an explanation. Her brow's creased when Temari pulled her flute to her lips and played an F.
Hinata put her own flute to her lips and returned with an F, a G, and a B flat.
Temari continued it, elongating it.
The two continued back and forth until they both kept playing, twining the notes together. They didn't know how it happened or where it came from. They just knew they liked the sound of what they were playing. It was fast moving and full of unspoken emotion, full of questions, and filled with no answers. It kept growing and growing, each concentrating on getting what they wanted out but only resulting in asking more questions.
Suddenly, Temari pulled a note that didn't fit quite properly and both quit angrily.
"I still don't get why you avoided me!" Temari shouted.
"Well, I don't understand your interest in me in the first place!" Hinata was only vaguely aware that she hadn't stuttered.
"Then why didn't you ask?!"
"And why can't you just drop it?" asked Hinata angrily.
"Because you're unique," Temari suddenly answered the first question.
"Because you make me feel things I've never felt for anybody."
"Because I'm afraid of your answer."
"Because you're special to me." Hinata's voice was but a whisper.
"I'm sorry I got so angry. I don't know why I did," Temari relented.
"Nor do I."
"I do know," a third voice added, "that I haven't seen nor heard anything like that in a while."
The band director stood off to the side, his arms crossed. "How did you play that?" he asked.
The girl shrugged and Temari said, "I'm not really sure. We were just...playing."
"Astounding. Could you do it again?"
Only Temari shrugged, and answered, "Dunno."
"Try for me. Try for gentle. Try for...the peace you just found after this fight."
Hinata started immediately, weaving a few notes into an opening. They were low, legato and smooth. The blond, caught off guard, went without a response for a few beats and then stumbled into it. Once they found a balance, a tune of happiness and peace rose from the flutists, into the air.
"Yes! Emotion! That is what I'm looking for!"
The peaceful tune filled the air as the two continued, reveling in the relief flooding their veins.
v.
Over the next few weeks, the girls worked with different sections of the band. They showed them emotion, showed them how to carry their feelings into the music.
Temari grinned at her 'students', the day before their biggest concert, to be played in front of the board of Julliard. "Listen—this is going to be the biggest concert of our lives thus far. How many of you want Julliard?"
The small group cheered.
"Alright, then. Everyone plays for a reason, you just have to find that reason."
"Why do you play, Temari?" someone in the back asked.
That brought a pause from Temari before she glanced over at Hinata, who briefly caught her eyes. "I play for two particular people. One, more so, than the other, nowadays."
"Who?"
Temari ignored that question in favor of closing her eyes and remembering tan skin under her hands, her faced pressed against auburn hair and the words, "Love someone else, my Temari. Be happy," whispered through her mind, so vivid, so true.
vi.
The concert in front of the board went astoundingly. They were praised as a band who knew each other well, and full of emotion.
"Where did you get such vivid emotion?" asked a woman from the board.
The band director smiled. "Two young women who aren't afraid of emotion. What were Hinata's words...? Ah, yes, 'We all play because we are passionate about something. It may not even be music—it may just be that music is our only way to express that. Either way, each and every one of us loves music. It's that simple."
vii.
Nine months later...
Temari smiled at Hinata, the two walking across campus. Snow was falling lightly and the two were discussing their future. Four months ago, they had both been accepted into Julliard.
They'd been dating for eight and a half months and they now they planned on getting a dorm together at Julliard.
"Temari..." the dark-haired girl said tentatively.
"What, love?"
"...I want to marry you."
"I want to marry you, too."
"I was thinking we should...before we enter Julliard."
The two stopped walking, shock settling on the blond.
"...We've talked about this. Our family's don't like it, so we're waiting until later."
"But if they're not going to accept us, we should just do it. Do it for us, not for those who wouldn't accept us either way."
Faced with that argument, she couldn't say no.
"For us, then."
viii.
Both were dressed in beautiful wedding gowns, one of black and one of white; ebony and Ivory—opposites that fit together.
They walked down the aisle, their friends around them. It was all for show. Everyone knew there were no legal documents involved. They did have an ordained priest to swear them together. It was a marriage to them and to their friends. It was only the government and those who opposed that didn't see it as a marriage.
Their friends cried and smiled, happy to see Temari and Hinata finally married. Everyone knew the two wanted to, only their family's stopping them, but here they were despite.
"...and I now pronounce you wife and wife. You may kiss the bride," said Naruto, their close friend and ordained priest.
Temari drew Hinata's soft lips against her own, their lipstick smearing together to create some new color. This was a special kiss, to be remembered forever--their first kiss as a married couple.
Now they were bound to each other in holy matrimony, and neither had any qualms.
--o--o--
AN: I hope you like it, Pheonix to Flame! I loooove it. A lot, a lot and my thanks goes to you for requesting it! Yeessss....Haha. Now review! *heart*