Disclaimer: As a matter of fact, La Corda D'Oro and all of its affiliates has come into my possession since my last posting.
Meep, will I get banned for that?
Okay, I don't own anything. Make love; not lawsuits.
Err…it appears I have used up all my wit and charm in the disclaimer. Read that if you seek amusement. (Or you could, you know, read the story. A novel idea, I know.)
Of Legends and Fireworks
-
…Ten
Oh, no…This couldn't be more unexpected
Sometimes, a moment is all it takes to turn your life upside down; even more so when such moments arrive insidiously in little snatches and peek-a-boos that tease and taunt, so that you barely have time to make sense of it when it finally culminates in a whirlwind and sweeps you off your feet. But then the earth-shattering moment comes along and draws you into its hypnotic embrace, and you willingly follow because it feels right, and if something feels so right, surely it can't be wrong.
But who's sure anymore nowadays? Even Hino Kahoko isn't really sure, a hundred percent, of Tsukimori Len's intention when he gave her that definitive moment which tilted her world by three hundred and sixty degrees. It was so simple that it was almost insignificant, but Kahoko knows as well as anyone and everyone that nothing is immaterial with Tsukimori Len when he is the one calling the shots. As a result, Kahoko has thrown all caution to the wind, pushed away the nagging voice in her mind that questions the events that have already transpired, and is focusing on the moment, the now, and the feelings that so conveniently come along the ride.
-
…Nine
Don't let it throw you off too far
'Cause I'll be running right behind you
I see the fireworks and explosions that come with falling in love.
"But it's true!" insisted Amou Nami as she waved her hands about in an effort to convince the unsuspecting first years. "Really, guys. Of course, there's the legend that says you have to kiss the person next to you on New Year's eve. And then the other more "expanded" version says that you get to spend the rest of your life with whoever you are with at that moment. Now, now, mostly it applies to families, y'know, stronger family ties, but I heard it can also be applied in the romantic sense—"
It was a little past eleven o'clock, and the twinkling lights from the trees that served like sentinels around the vast space that was the Fuyuumi family's villa garden added significantly to the warm, cheerful atmosphere. Tsukimori Len reached out to sweep hair off his forehead—a fluid motion that was so automatic he hardly thought about it. A blur of red caught his eye, and he almost smiled. They're on faulty ground; cracked ice, him and Hino. He kept his distance and seated himself on an impractically small chair as he heaved tiny sighs in measured increments.
He sat rooted to the spot for a bit, a catch in his breathing and something stirred in his stomach—right there in the middle of the dining room that's big enough to pass as a ballroom in some posh fancy hotel; and in those few seconds in which Len seemed to have ceased to function as a human being, everyone else—faceless extras, just like sheep –faded into the background, and the spotlight's on her and her alone, and Len can't take his eyes off her.
It's only when he got pushed by some out of line party-goer from the back that he was jolted from his brief reverie. Len instantly whipped around sharply and glared icy daggers at the offender; some girl whose eyes immediately widened when she recognized him, and before he knew it, the stupid brain-dead bimbo shrieked away like there's no freaking tomorrow.
'Oh, just shut up.'
It's her he's watching, a fiery outline shuffling through the crowd. He could hear her laugh at Kaji's seemingly funny remark—she's nearly drowned out by the music, and he strained to hear.
-
…Eight
When I'm around you I'm predictable
And the world is full of idiots.
"OI! TSUKIMORI!!"
"Hn."
New Year's eve—despite Kanazawa-sensei's strong sentiment against bringing musical instruments, Len had managed to smuggle his violin and scores, and, as usual, got away with it. The liquor counter (how pretentious) is jam-packed with students; how unattractive several of those people look, with their faces contorted into grotesque over-enthusiastic, too-wide smiles that don't really mean anything. Len mused that one should only smile when one truly means it; smiles are, after all, not for free.
At least, his aren't, and they'd never be.
It's one of those free-for-all things—someone throws a party for a few people, word gets round that there's a party somewhere, and sooner or later, these 'few people' quickly multiplied into practically the entire freaking school.
At least, that's how it feels like right now. Len can barely hear himself think, let alone listen to other people when they talk. And whoever is stupid enough to think that techno and dance "music" are real music should definitely do the world a huge favor and shoot themselves in the heads—now. The so-called music that's blasting like there's no tomorrow from the home entertainment system is giving him a throbbing headache, and he sighed for what seemed like the millionth time.
"TSUKIMORI!!!" called Hihara-senpai loudly from the garden as he waved his fireworks about. "YO!! WOULD YOU LIKE TO JOIN US!!!"
"No, thank you," he mouthed before turning back on his scores. He scowled—whatever gave the unbelievably loud trumpet player the idea that he would join childish games was beyond him.
"HUH?! WHADDYA SAY?! 'CAN'T HEAR YA!!"
Again, Len sighed. Things turned out to be quite a drag after all. He'd deliberated with himself over the issue of To Attend or Not to Attend—for one, parties are so not his type of thing as he really can't be bothered with ninety-nine-point-ninety-nine of the student population; for another, his favorite New Year's Eve activity is, like his favorite activity on all other days, practicing. Ordinarily, he would've been refining techniques by now, which is—Len glanced at the clock hanging from the wall—ten thirty in the evening. Thirty minutes have passed since he left his house, and he's made absolutely no progress.
"OI!!"
"He said, 'no, thank you, can't you see I'm busy working on my scores so stop bugging me and shut up, you idiot.'"
"HUH, HE COULDN'T HAVE SAID THAT IN ONE BREATH, EHH, TSUCHIURA?" he yelled, again, against the non-music, "BECAUSE THEN THAT'D BE INCREDI—"
"He actually said, 'No, thank you,'" Len heard Yunoki-senpai assure his friend, and the trumpet player wrestled a laughing Tsuchiura. Fuyuumi scrambled out of their way and bumped into Ousaki-senpai instead, while Kanazawa-sensei hummed loudly as he fanned and poked the barbecue on the grills outside.
All was right in the world…
"TSUKIMORI, ARE YOU SURE YOU DON'T WANT TO JOIN US?!"
"Seriously, senpai, do you want a hand getting untangled?"
"Neh, hehehe."
…Well, almost. For the world is full of idiots.
-
…Seven
You're in my arms, and all the world is calm
He lightly grasped her waist with one hand—he cursed mentally and wondered why he allowed himself to be urged to dance. 'I don't dance,' he thought gingerly, but his other hand is warm in hers, and thin fingers wrapped around her knuckles as he drew her to the left, the first of three steps. Left, back, right.
-
...Six
Could this be out of line?
To say you're the only one breaking me down like this
The heat of his palm penetrated her skin and a glimmering feeling resided on her stomach. His arms remained rigid around her torso, and she wondered where he learned to waltz. With his hand on the small of her back, she breathed soundlessly knowing he's so near. The tension is rising, the kind that bursts in her chest like urgent fireworks, and her eyes search frantically for Nami.
-
…Five
And there's still no one I'd rather be with than you
"…Haaa.."
"W-What are you g-going to wish for this year, S-Shimizu-kun?"
"…You don't…make wishes…at New Year…you make…resolutions…"
"S-same d-difference—"
"Hmmm."
"A-Anou…"
"Right now…I wish you'd…dance…with me…"
-
…Four
And I'm out of my league once again
"It's almost midnight," he said in a voice that was a little more than a whisper as the dance ended. He wondered how they ended up at the backyard, but he doesn't care, really, for it is finally quiet enough to talk without shouting at the top of one's lungs. "You should go back and join the others."
"Ehhh—" she paused, her eyes on the grass, and then her head snapped up like she just remembered something. "Tsukimori-kun, do you…do you believe in legends?"
Her cheeks flushed scarlet, and he wondered why.
"There's a reason why people call them legends, Hino."
"Oh."
"Do you?"
"Ehh?!"
"DAMNIT, HIHARA, WHY DID YOU THROW THE DAMN FIREWORK ON MY DIRECTION?!?!"
"GAAAAH, SO SORRY, KANAYAN! IT WAS AN—"
"—ACCIDENT?! YOU SHOULD'VE STUFFED IT INSIDE YOUR MOUTH, YOU LITTLE—"
"SEVEN MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT!" called Amou Nami loudly. "ENOUGH WITH THE DANCING, PEOPLE!! WHERE'RE YOU CONCOURS GUYS?! KAHO-CHAN!! TSUKIMORI-KUN!! YUNOKI-SENPAI!! COME ON HERE!! GARDEN!! FIREWORKS!!"
"—ah, um, let's head back together, Tsukimori-kun—"
He shook his head and shifted his eyes to the trees.
"But—"
"Go ahead."
There was a chill in the evening air, a shiver beneath the straps of her dress, and the silk lining of his suit coat brushed her shoulder blade. Slip.
And then—
"A-Alright."
-
…Three
Breathe in for luck, breathe in so deep
This air is blessed, you share with me
Left alone in the backyard, with nothing for company but the chill of the night, Len stared mutely at Hino's retreating back. Seconds later, he was swallowed up, once again, by the semi-darkness. A lost moment, but perhaps there shouldn't even be a moment to begin with. He stepped forward to follow her—his heartbeat picked up speed, and he can almost hear it amidst the quietness of the night, marred slightly only by snatches of the action that's going on at the garden, sporadically coming, going, drifting in and out of his mind.
'Tsukimori-kun, do you…do you believe in legends?'
He could leave and never turn back…but he realized, with his hands balled into fists, that he simply can't. For some strange reason that's still unknown to him, Len was convinced that he has to tie up those loose ends before the year is over. He can't leave everything to Tsuchiura, and it's the only way he can move on. So that he'd leave this year and face the new one with no regrets and no what ifs. It's time to tie up the loose ends, once and for all.
-
…Two
Oops, I did it again
"Well, well…who do we have here…my Kahoko."
The voice was sweet and seductive and totally drenched in evil. "So. You believe in legends, hmm?"
"Ehhh?"
The violet-haired beauty cupped her chin in his left hand, and Kahoko shivered. "I'll ride on with this for weirdness' sake. Well? Who do you want to be with when the clock strikes twelve?"
"TWO MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT!! OI, WHERE ON EARTH ARE YOU GUYS?!?"
"Y-Yunoki-senpai, they're looking for us—"
"It doesn't matter," he dismissed. "And you haven't dance with me—yet."
He stared at her face, clouded in confusion, and almost against himself he smirked. It was a common enough face, not exactly plain but evidently not distinctive enough to warrant the degree of absorption that it summoned from him.
"TEN—NINE—"
"Yunoki-senpai—"
He caught her arm, a quiet attempt as she whirled around.
"Stay."
"FIVE—FOUR—"
"But—"
"Stay. Please," he whispered, and he frowned lightly, for he had never meant that word to effect sincerity, but it did. It sounded strange even to his own ears, and he marveled at the realization that he really wanted her to stay. His lips almost cracked as the words tumbled, and her features melted as he moved even closer.
"Y-Y-Yunoki-senpai!—"
"Stop complaining."
"TWO—"
"But we should join—"
"BOOM!! HAPPY NEW YEAAAAARRRR!!!!!!!"
"HOOOOYY!! WHERE DID THAT BLOODY TRUMPET COME FROM?!!?!! YOU WANT ME TO GO DEAF!!!"
He let go of her then, and a smile graced his lips as he stared at her disgruntled expression.
"Happy New Year, Kahoko. I'll be looking forward to spending the rest of...my life with you."
-
…One
And every time that I try I get tongue-tied…
'Maybe,' thought Kahoko as she calmly walked away from Yunoki-senpai and towards the direction of the trees, 'Maybe I'm not meant to do this after all. Why does it matter so much that he knows? What's the point?'
Yes, there is no point. After all, Kahoko can't be absolutely sure that her words would not be met with crushing futility.
'There's a reason why people call them legends, Hino.'
True. She sighed and almost laughed at herself—serves her right for blindly believing Nami's stories—but perhaps she would indeed be seeing Yunoki-senpai quite a dealin the future, legend or no legend. And Tsukimori-kun is bound to leave soon, isn't he, that even if she wished real hard and had spent the moment with him, there was just no way that he would be with her and she would be with him and they would be together and she knows the reason why.
It just wasn't meant for her.
But there is no point, and so she sighed.
-
The words are hushed, let's not get busted
Just lay entwined here, undiscovered
She sighed, and his breathing was shallow as she stared at the sky and wrapped her arms around herself—a dream fixed behind his eyes.
"Tsukimori-kun?"
She turned around without warning, and he was taken off guard, for now she was a little more than five feet away from him. Closer now, he stared at her, frozen, for a moment, a lovely china doll with unblinking, marble eyes.
"Legends are legends and that's that, eh, Tsukimori-kun?"
Legends.
It's with the found-again realization that was temporarily lost along with the moment in the backyard when he came so close to telling the truth that Len opened his mouth to speak.
"But I'd like to hear you play again one day, Hino."
"Ehhh??"
Len moved forward then, and he leaned closer so she could see. He squinted in the semi-darkness, fiddled with the dial in his watch and turned the minute hand to the left ever so slightly. Her eyes widened in a curious mixture of confusion and surprise—hope, perhaps—and a small smile formed on his lips.
"Tsukimori-kun?"
"Legends are legends, but sometimes, we have to do something to make them true."
…Ten
BANG—
"HIHARA!! WHAT THE F—"
"GYAAHAHA!! WE LEFT THESE ONES OUT!!!"
"I ACTUALLY SAVED THEM FOR LATER, SENPAI—"
…Seven
I see the fireworks and explosions that come with falling in love.
…Six
…Five
The lights flickered dimly from the main house, and they cast brief shadows on her skin. His pulse raced, his heart on his throat, and he rocked like a metronome on his feet, unsure of his hands and his shirt and perhaps the tiny specks in his eyes.
…Four
I love you.
…Three
They were lost in their own world, him and Hino. The fireworks crackled merrily, seemingly in perfect timing with their little legend. Too late to run, and his hand closed around hers.
BANG—
"DAMMIT, HIHARA, THE FOOD—"
…One
"Happy new year, Tsukimori-kun."
The tide in her eyes rose, a daylight look for his nighttime lips. Wish. And—
"Happy new year, Hino."
---
Excuse the grammatical errors, please. I've edited this for, like, a hundred times already and I am proud to announce that I have the tendency to be blind. Magdalene Darling and I initially planned to do a collab and she gave me the idea of a New Year's Eve confession. Sadly, she's very busy with school right now, plus a couple of starfish issues. I am, too, but I am a nocturnal crocodile, that's why I have plenty of time to write. I didn't want to post this up, actually, because it's corny haha but the archive is awfully short of new stories, so the rest is chemistry. Er, history. Anyway, I credit her for the movement of the plot. Credit goes to Talbot-Stark, Annalisemarie99 and TuNGaW-GirL for looking over my drafts. Love ya guys. ^-^