KandaxFem!Allen…the first time I've written such a pair. I was encouraged by Iris Butterfly to finally write the fic idea I had going around in my head. The inspiration? Well, my violin teacher is pretty good looking too xD Although, it's my friends who tend to drool/ogle more. I play my violin and think nothing of him. But what if I did think something of him? And that is how this oneshot was born.
By the way, they're in Japan, so they're technically speaking Japanese anyway, that means I don't need to put in badly written romaji phrases xD (I suck at Japanese…). Also, the musical language is British, so feel free to Google them if you don't understand =)
Warnings: Attempted cliché 'shoujo-like' romance and major OOC-ness (but it's shoujo, so that can be forgiven, right?)
Summary: 'Allena has pressed her eyes shut at the impact, but then opened them minutely when she sensed a strange thing on her face. On her lips, to be exact.' The day turned into an event Allen could never forget. It was the beginning of her violin opus.
Disclaimer: I don't own D Gray man.
Per Amare il Violino
Allena skimmed her fingers over the rosewood violin. She took it out of the case gently, and treated it to a thorough polish, using a soft, downy cloth. Once every iota of dust had been banished, she carefully replaced it, and applied rosin on the dark bow for an extra ten minutes. Allena's childhood friend, Timcanpy, stared on in wonder at his younger charge. She seemed beside herself, as if there was an ill-wishing spirit possessing the college student every time the pine sap product swept across the horse-hairs. A few more minutes fleeted by like this, and Tim began to get concerned. He stopped leaning on the window sill, and nervously approached the girl.
"Allena-chan," Timcanpy started slowly, "Not to be rude, but what are you doing?"
That snapped her out of her dazed state immediately. Allena turned abruptly, and flushed a peculiar red.
"Can't you tell, Tim-kun?" she answered, feigning nonchalance, "I'm going to practise."
Tim rolled his eyes – 'practice' had begun fifteen minutes ago, when he had taken his position by the window. During that time, no progress had been made. Allena was due to being her violin lesson in half an hour and her teacher could sense a week's worth of no practice like a shark. If she sat around any longer, practically drooling at the instrument…Tim shuddered at the possible consequences.
"Allena-chan, I know you love the instrument, but that doesn't make it okay for you to slack off," the blonde haired man said gently.
The girl paid him no attention, and kept flicking through the teacher's notes that she was given. Her gray eyes were soft, seeming to trace the writing. Unable to contain his utmost curiosity, Timcanpy crept over to look over Allena's shoulder. He was surprised – Tim expected that the teacher, being a musical artist, would have cursive and neat. Instead, it was a lattice of spiky characters, looking like they may fall off the edge of the line if the full stop wasn't so fiercely scribbled in. It looked hideous, not fascinating. Allena still hadn't noticed her friend's presence.
He grinned mischievously, and whispered in her ear, "Or maybe, you love the teacher more than the instrument."
She jumped up in fright, her face reaching a new level of embarrassment. The notebook was instantly out of site, and she dropped down to fix the music stand. Tim smirked, and tapped his foot in mock impatience.
"I'm waiting for an answer," he said, feeling highly amused.
"N-no!" came the reply, "He's rude, crude and doesn't offer me food!"
Why would a teacher offer food? thought the blonde. And what was with the rhyming?
"If you want to know why I was looking in the book, I'll tell you," she said with a noticeably calmer voice, "I wanted to see which piece he wanted me to practice. It was 'Chanson de Matin'. If you paid attention in French, Timcanpy-kun, you'd know it meant 'Morning Song'."
The quip was to stall for time. Timcanpy shook his head, utterly bemused by the way that girl thought.
"Well, then, play it already," he said.
As if to make fun of him, Allena was already fishing out sheet music from her bloated bag. Tim was not musically inclined, so the printed dots were absolutely meaningless to him. His knowledge of the Italian language did aid in deciphering the musical code, however, he still could not make sense of it. But when the white haired girl drew the bow across the strings, the code transformed. Images of birds twittering whilst the sun cast its yellow and orange beams to the lightening sky floated through his mind. Ribbons of lush, green leaves caught a ride on the soft breeze. Even though Allena was stingy when it comes to practice, her raw talent substituted it. It ended unexpectedly, and Tim came crashing back to Earth. He saw the shorter girl hastily rustling her looses paper and packing her violin away. The clock's minute hand had reached the number 6 – she was late.
"You're late."
Allena had come bursting in through the door of her teacher, yelling apologies at the same time. But those apologies still didn't cushion the blow of those two words. She worked quickly, setting her case near the shoe stand, and then running over to her teacher, who was leaning against the door with a sour look. His dark eyes followed the girl's face, and she had to resist the urge to run out of the back door.
"I'm sorry I'm late, Kanda-sensei, I lost track of time whilst practicing," Allena said in a small voice, bowing politely.
Kanda said nothing, but at least stopped leaning. He gestured for her to follow him inside the house. She took the hint, took off her shoes, and grabbed her case. They entered through a traditional sliding door into a large room. Inside, a gleaming grand piano rested, with various music stands scattered around. In the far left hand corner, an ebony violin rested on blood red velvet. Allena had seen it so many times, but still could not hold in the gasp of wonder. The silver strings contrasted perfectly against the black wood, and small, golden kanji was inscribed on the neck. It read 'Mugen' – 'Infinity'.
"Are you going to unpack or not?" the tenor voice beside her snapped.
Allena broker her gaze away from the violin, and unpacked her own. After silently tuning in, and rubbing rosin on the bow, she sifted through her expanse of music. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Kanda tightening his bow with a scowl. He always looked like he was in a bad mood, and the white haired girl found it frustrating that his face wouldn't give away how well – or how badly – she had played. His long, raven hair rippled down in back, but it was tied with a red cord in the next second. He tugged at the skinny black tie around his tie, loosening its grip around the white shirt's collar. Once they had both become sufficiently prepared, Kanda sat at the piano and Allena raised the bow.
"There are two beats in a bar. Wait for four bars, then enter with the G," the teacher gave the sparse instructions, before playing.
She nodded, and frowned in concentration. She counted the number of beats in her head – 1, 2 – the piano sounded unbelievably romantic – 2, 2 – she sound see his handsome face reading the music – 3, 2 – her mind was becoming lost in the sound – 4, 2…wasn't there something she was supposed to be doing?
The piano stopped. "You didn't come in," he said.
A faint mist of pink ran across Allena's cheeks as she apologized profusely to him again. She readied herself again, determined not to get lost in his playing. And she succeeded – Allena ploughed through the piece with confidence. At that moment, she even forgot that someone was sitting there and playing an accompaniment. Lost in the music, she started rushing.
The piano stopped for a second time, this time followed by a small exasperated sigh. He grabbed his own violin and effectively pushed the smaller girl out of the way. Their eyes met – gray to blue – and he felt grudgingly obligated to offer an explanation.
"Don't rush, idiot," he said, "You need to play through the notes, even if the long ones get boring. That's how this piece works."
With a few seconds of a pause, Kanda started to draw the bow across the strings. It sounded so different to Allena's own playing – as rich as her sound was, his was even fuller. Kanda's fingers danced at the semiquavers, and emitted well sustained vibrato on the crochets. He drew the bow off neatly at the end, allowing the wavering note to echo through the room. She had been watching with intent, to soak up as much knowledge as she could…or so that was what she told herself. The real reason; when playing the violin, Kanda did not wear his usual stern expression. Instead, it softened slightly – his eyes transformed from an icy shard into a dark blue cloud. His whole torso moved to the music, as if he was dancing with the violin rather than playing it. Allena savoured the moments when his black eyelashes hooded his eyes, and the frowning muscles straightened to form determined lips.
"Oi, don't daydream, Moyashi," Kanda said sharply.
Her spacing out shattered for the fourth time in a day. What was happening? Normally, she was brilliant at paying attention. The word 'Moyashi' definitely piqued her.
"It's Allena, Sensei," she said shortly.
"Hmph, just play the damned piece," he retorted.
She defiantly took up her position, and finally got through the entire 'Chanson de Matin'. She beamed inside, and was secretly glad that she did listen to him. It was awkward having someone only three years older than her as a teacher – in this setting, Allena was careful to call him 'sensei' and not 'senpai'. The two didn't even get along that well outside lessons, but they formed a mutual truce when it came to music. Allena was okay with that; a truce made life easier, made life a bit more enjoyable, made life more romantic…what was she thinking?
"Sensei, did that go well?" she asked, to get away from her wandering thoughts.
Kanda strode from the piano again, and stood with arms folded. For a terrible second, he looked like he was about to shout at her, and from then on, only an argument can ensue. However, he just asked the girl a question.
"Play that first G on the E string."
Allena consented, and played the high note. To her surprise, he took her hand on the neck of the violin. The warmth from his larger hand spread onto hers, and she fought against her ridiculously fast heartbeat. His face rested on the left side of her, barely an inch from her cheek. The girl tried to shield her blush with her snowy bangs. He moved her first finger a tiny bit back on the E string, in slow motion according to Allena's brain.
She could feel his voice whisper to her ear, "You were a little sharp on that note. Take care."
He was still there, not moving as he continued, "You have talent, but sometimes you're such an idiot. You make stupid mistakes like that, and you don't even practice. Do I sense…a week without practice?"
Allena made a huge mistake – she turned. He was closer to her than she had calculated, and she found herself even more uncomfortable. It seemed that Kanda didn't expect their proximity either, as his eyes grew wide and his cheeks tinged red. He quickly pulled away, almost crashing into the piano. Allena also found herself stumbling, but that only made things worse. She tripped over the stand, and landed straight into Kanda. Instinctively, the teacher put his arms around her, cushioning the violin between them. The heat of his body was nothing compared to the heat Allena felt on her face. She looked up to apologize yet again, but then made the recurring mistake of looking in his eyes. Astonishment was clearly etched on his face, and the words died in the girl's mouth. He wasted no time in that position, and untangled himself from the other violinist.
Kanda walked to the other side of the room, feeling that it had suddenly grown smaller.
"Y-you're so clumsy, Moyashi," he stammered, quite out of character, "You better watch it, or that violin could've smashed."
He finally turned to face the bewildered girl. Allena felt like she had achieved some sort of super-sensitivity state – she was fully aware of her wide eyes, her slighted parted lips and her innocent expression. And she willed him to take it…no wait, she didn't! The only sound was the second hand of the wall clock, lazily ticking away the uneasy silence. Eventually, Kanda made a move for the door.
"The lesson has ended, go," he said.
Allena let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding in. She zipped up her case after placing the instrument inside. Thankfully, her heart rate had become almost normal, and the house didn't seem so suffocating anymore. They reached the front door in record time, and she sat down to tie her Converse. She could feel the teacher's presence, and the memories of a few minutes ago flooded her. At first, they felt mortifying – why oh why must such a shoujo moment happen to them? – Then afterwards, Allena felt something bloom in her. Was she really destined for a romance worthy of a manga? No, no, no, no, no! No more.
But the shoujo manga events were not over for Allena. Her absent-mindedness had distracted her from tying her laces properly, and Fate decided that there was no better cushion than Kanda Yuu. She promptly slammed into him, knocking the pair to the ground. They landed sprawled on the floor, with the younger violinist clutching Kanda's shoulders tightly. Allena had pressed her eyes shut at the impact, but then opened them minutely when she sensed a strange thing on her face.
On her lips, to be exact.
The gray eyes became comically wide, almost as wide as Kanda's own eyes.
Oh no, they hadn't.
Heat filled the girl's face as she realised that the strange thing on her face, on her lips, were Kanda's lips. It had happened – the accidental kiss. Neither moved for a few seconds; in the end, Kanda roughly pushed her off him and sat up. He swore colourfully, but Allena couldn't hear any of it. She just sat there, cool hands pressed against her sizzling face. A small portion of her brain was telling her that lessons were never going to be the same again. She stood up, snatched her case, and started bowing multiple times. She felt humiliated to bow to Kanda like this, but he was her senior and her teacher. And now, a victim of accident.
"I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry! I'll stop coming here! Oh God, I'm so stupid! I can't show my face here again!" Allena said, flustered.
Her eyes was targeting the floor, feeling too ashamed to look at him.
"I won't tell anyone! Why should I, I hated it! Eww, I kissed you? Blech!"
Her rant continued to the floor, and she didn't even notice him stand and approach her.
"Urgh, I hate you, Kanda-senpai! For God's sake, I can't believe this-!"
She was interrupted by a second kiss. Kanda had silently cupped her face and planted his lips on hers. This time, it wasn't an accident - and this time, it was longer. He did not let her go until they were out of breath. He brushed her bangs out of her eyes. There was still no trace of a smile – but his expression had softened again, like he was with the violin.
"Did you hate that, Moyashi?" he said softly.
"W-what?" she asked.
"I asked 'did you hate it?'" he repeated.
The girl fidgeted, finally saying, "Well, yes."
"Liar," he said.
"Am not!"
"Are too."
"Am not!"
"Am not."
"Are too…wait, what?"
"You're an idiot, Moyashi," he said with a smirk.
Allena crossed her arms. "My name is Allena. And okay, maybe I did like it, a bit."
"So I'll see you next week?" Kanda asked.
"You see me at college anyway," she responded, a little perplexed, "Why wait till next week?"
Kanda took her into his arms. Allena's breath hitched as his lips touched sensitive skin. He brought his mouth up to her ear.
"Because that's when we can be alone."
"So, how was the lesson?" Timcanpy asked, pouring tea for his charge that had just walked in.
Instead of the usual grumbles, there was utter silence. The blonde looked up from the tea to see Allena spread-eagled on the sofa, the violin case resting across her stomach. He came over, anxious about her unusual behaviour. He was greeted by a girl, dreamily smiling like she had just seen a unicorn. Not that Tim knew about that. She sluggishly grabbed him arm and pulled him down to her eye level.
"Tim-kun~" she sang, "Can love be hate at the same time?"
He didn't answer her, and looked at her in a confused manner. It then dawned on him.
"So, Kanda-kun finally got to you? Took him long enough," he said with a teasing smile.
Allena could never hide anything from him. She nodded weakly, and then smiled giddily.
"To love the violin, I must love the teacher," she said pensively, "He plays so beautifully, and he doesn't belittle me. Is this the start of a beautiful violin romance?"
"Per amare il violino, si deve versare il vostro cuore e l'anima in esso," Tim recited in Italian, "To love the violin, you have to pour your heart and soul into it. This is one way, Allena-chan."
She nodded briefly, smiled again, and nodded off to dreamland.
The next day, Allena wondered why she was on the sofa. She rubbed her eyes groggily, and clambered out of the blanket. Another weird thing – she was still wearing the clothes from yesterday. She didn't drink, so why did she feel so hung-over?
"Ahh, the love-bird awakes~" Timcanpy crooned as she walked into the kitchen.
Allena dropped onto a chair ungracefully, and began downing the miso soup.
"What are you on about, Tim-kun?" she asked between mouthfuls.
The blonde said nothing for a while; he just stood there, wiping a dish in a knowing manner. It was only when the girl gave him a stony glare did he spill the beans.
"Why, you don't remember experiencing 'your violin romance'?" he said enigmatically.
"Ehh, a violin romance?" Allena said to herself.
She spooned in another load of soup. In the midst of swallowing it, she stopped.
Violin romance…
Slosh! She performed a wonderful spit take as the meaning of the words smacked her.
Yesterday – the lesson, the stumble, the kiss, the beginning of such a shoujo romance.
She slumped onto the table.
"Save me, Tim-kun..." she moaned, her voice muffled in her arms.
He patted her white hair, and said in an amused voice words which did not make the girl feel any better.
"This is only the primo passo."
I didn't expect this to take so long…but then again, I suck at writing romance.
Allena turned into Hino Kahoko during this, I could feel it. Seriously, this whole thing feels like a weird 'La Corda d'Oro'. Oh well – Kanda was terribly OOC in this. I feel so ashamed O/o.
Well, reviews would be nice. I won't continue this, but you are free to imagine what happens between them now ^^
Best Wishes - Tsuki Yume x