Sayonara Cello

by Umehiko

Rating: K+
Genre: Crack, romance of the HxS kind. Slight Hagi torture.
Summary: Why Hagi has a cello and not just any other instrument.
Disclaimer: Blood+ belongs to Production I.G.
Note: unbeta'ed, spoilers for, well, the anime up to 25, AU, and to top it off, OOC.

Also note that Hagi's thoughts are in italics.

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Hagi was playing the cello, as usual, with a seemingly inattentive Saya as his audience.

Saya…seems bored. And with this thought, it happened again. Hagi's mind wandered off to more… unrelated-to-cello topics.

"Hagi, wrong note." Saya said sharply. Hagi returned to Earth with his poker expression, which could mean just about anything, but for now we'll take it as "opps".

He raised his wrist to draw that familiar first note of the song, anticipating the beautiful, deep yet melodious sound which followed.

Which should have followed, given that Saya did not interrupt him. Which she did.

"Hey, Hagi, don't you think that song is getting a little old?"

Yeah, thought Hagi, since you are the one who made me practice it 50 times a day when 30 would have sufficed.

Her tone changed a little. It was silky and tinted with excitement. "Let's do something else, what do you think?"

His eyes may have widened, but it was hard to tell with Hagi. Well anyway, for the sake of this story, his eyes widened, and you can be sure that it was not caused by the feeling of novelty.

"Follow me." Saya rose from the wooden chair and took a few steps towards the door.

Er, wait… Isn't the bed just right next to you?

"Ha—gi! What are you waiting for? The next century?" Saya grumbled impatiently. Hagi gave her a very disappointed look and cast a longing glance at the four poster bed before stepping out of the room.

"What's with you? Are you lapsing into another of your silent moods again? Enough already, hurry up and grow out of that rebellious phase!"

"…"

"Really. I never knew seventeen year olds were so hard to handle. Geez."

Were you not a seventeen year old once too?

They arrived in front of a bulky thing. A bulky, wooden thing that seemed to exude grace. Odd.

"Now, lets have you play the piano" Saya smiled, with a satisfied look in her eyes.

Hagi started playing the bulky wooden graceful object known as the piano.

Correction. He did not start playing. He started randomly pressing keys.

Saya's face contorted, but she decided to be patient. After all, her Hagi was a prodigy. He probably just needed time.

Then he stepped on one of the three gold pedals beneath his feet. Wanting to produce a melodious sound like that of the cello to please the appalled looking Saya beside him, he banged several keys at once

An extremely loud, near-supersonic boom ensued.

"ARRRGH! WHAT IN HELL ARE YOU DOING!" Everyone who was present in the house yelled, and simultaneously grabbed their ears.

A loud wail could be heard from the abandoned castle nearby. Every blue rose in the vicinity instantly withered.

The terrible echo of the chord which Hagi invented bounced around the walls and the high ceiling which amplified the sound for quite a while, and gradually subsided.

Saya passed out.

70 years down the road

He was searching. Saya had awakened from her slumber, he was sure of it.

But first, why was he being stared at?

Am I that conspicuous?

(A/N: He had a grand piano slung on his back. What do you think?)

As he was lost in his thoughts (a bad habit that had plagued him since he was seventeen), he suddenly realized that he was walking towards someone's house…No, he was already in the lawn. And there was a skinny Austrian man waiting for him.

Uh-oh.

Surprisingly, the man greeted him with a warm smile. Hagi responded with his now-trademarked stare.

"You must be the delivery man! Good, good, you're right on time! But there's no need to carry it on your back! It must be tiring! Come in and have a cup of tea!"

Hagi lost count of the number of exclamation marks the man used. And even though he wasn't hungry, he followed the man into the house.

And at once, a little boy ran towards him, squealing "Piano! Piano!11!ONE"

Yes. It is a piano. Not God. And what's with this family and exclamation marks?

"This is my son, Mozart."

"PIANO!1111! PI-A-NO!"

"Yes, yes, my boy. Now, if you would please show him some basic notes and chords, I would be most grateful."

Hagi complied, sitting next to the squealing moron. Albeit a moron who would grow up to become one of the most celebrated composer in history, but at this point in time, he is nothing but a moron. End of discussion.

"This is a chord."

A near-supersonic boom ensued, followed by a long, screeching…

"HAGIIIIIIIIIIIIII!111!"

"Saya."

Present

It has been so long since Saya made him give up the cello. Another seventy years had passed since Austria, and it was once again near the time of Saya's awakening.

Amazingly, his piano skills did improve. And it had improved by leaps and bounds.

With a keytar slung over his back, and a oversized katana "keychain" attached to it, Hagi was the epitome of J-rock 1337.

"Evening, people. We are Arc de Janne."

Hagi had his poker face on to meet the fangirl screams of his name.

Then he heard something else. Something very oddly familiar.

"HAJII!" It wasn't a fangirl cry where his name was distorted into "Aaaaaaaaji!" It was clear, urgent and defined. That voice belonged to his beloved.

Hagi scanned the crowd. Spotting Saya, he leapt into the mosh-pit.

"Saya." He said, his voice barely audible above the noise.

He was, however, not at some heavy metal concert, and the spontaneous jump he made was not supported by many pairs of hands.

He collapsed into the midst of perverted females he should never go near. After all, the concert was in the middle of Ikebukuro.

"HAGIIIIIII!"

-owari-