Hello all! Today I shall present you with this 3rd chapter of Violation. I'm sorry if I can't update this story as frequent as "Impossible Not to Love", as it requires more effort in writing. Though I'm going in a slower pace, I promise I'll get it done. So be patient and hang in there =)

This chapter was betaread by Nerizu as well =)

Disclaimer: I don't own La Corda d'Oro. KOEI and Kure Yuki do ^^


Chapter 3: Believe The Unbelievable

"Kei... ichi," Hino tried to call his name again with all the power she still had left. Her vision was blurring, her hands on Shimizu's arms slowly losing its grip.

And suddenly, everything felt so light. There was no heavy load pressed on her body, no hands around her neck. Air was coming back.

Hino chocked and coughed. She unconsciously grabbed her own neck, making sure she had broken free.

As she slowly opened her eyes, she realized there was no one else on the bed but her. She turned her head to her side, and saw Shimizu there, sitting on the floor, hugging his knees, and his whole body was shaking.

"Keiichi?" she whispered.

No response. The man was still shaking heavily on the floor.

Hino didn't know what to think. It was all too much for her mind. She only knew something was very wrong with her boyfriend, but she still couldn't place it.

She tried to stand up, but failed miserably, as her knees gave in to the weakness. She fell on her knees, then tried to crawl closer to the trembling Shimizu.

She raised her hand and touched Shimizu's head. He jolted in surprise at the touch.

Shimizu watched her with red, teary eyes. His body had not ceased to tremble.

"I... I...," he started. He tried to mutter something, but his jaw wouldn't move properly.

Hino tried to touch him again, but Shimizu crawled farther back from her to a corner.

"Keiichi? What's wrong?" she asked, taken aback at his reaction.

"Don't come near me. Please... I don't know what I might do next," he stated in a scared tone.

Hino just starred, dumbfounded, while Shimizu continued shaking in the corner, covering his face with his hands now. They remained silent for a while, each not knowing what to do nor say.

Suddenly Shimizu stood up and broke the ice. "I'm... going to get ready," he said in a low tone. But his eyes didn't meet hers. And he walked out the room to the bathroom, walking past Hino, who was still sitting dumbfounded on the floor.

After a while, Hino decided that she needed to get ready too. She stood up slowly, her knees still felt weak. But she mustered to get out of the room slowly nonetheless.


Hino started preparing breakfast, while her mind went back to the events from just now. She couldn't understand the sudden change of attitude of her boyfriend. What was all that? One moment he was still being a sleepyhead, and all of the sudden he sat on top of her, strangling her. And the next moment he was trembling on the floor.

It was just like last night, Hino thought. The changes were too abrupt. Unseen of. Incomprehensible. Should be impossible. It was as if there were two personalities residing in one body and each wanted to have an important role.

Double-personality? Personality disorder? Hino wild-guessed. But she shook the thoughts away immediately. If Keiichi had twisted personality, I'd have known it sooner, she thought. After all they've know each other since high school. And personality wasn't something that could be built and changed in a day or two. And that confused her.

I know Yunoki-senpai is kind of bipolar. But Keiichi couldn't possible be..., she thought.

Hino was alarmed as she felt arms wrapping her shoulders from behind. She instantly thought of the choking scene just a while ago. But she couldn't move her body out of surprise.

"I'm sorry, Kaho," she heard Shimizu whisper beside her ear. He had his cheek pressed to her head.

Hino sighed. This man was her ultimate weakness. There was nothing, absolutely nothing, that could make her mad at him. Not even now that he'd attempted to kill her. It was unbelievable and unforgivable, yes, but she wasn't angry. In fact, she felt sad for him.

Hino raised her hand and touched his. "Keiichi..." she started.

"Yes?"

"I can't say what you did just now was forgivable. But Keiichi, there was a reason why you behaved that way, right?" she murmured.

"I... don't know," he answered in a sad tone.

"If you're having problems, tell me. If I did something wrong, tell me too. That's why I'm here," she said, then patted Shimizu's hand.

"I know. Thank you, Kaho," Shimizu tightened his hug, then planted a kiss on her cheek.

Moments like those were the moments Hino treasured the most. Shimizu wasn't the hopeless romantic type who'd throw corny words or shower her with flowers and gifts. Nor would he repeat the word love ceaselessly. Only small gestures proved his love and affection toward her. And she liked it much better that way. A lover who was too romantic would make her sick, anyway.


"Hino... Hino...," a male voice startled her.

Hino snapped back to reality. She blushed at her carelessness, then positioned her violin back between her shoulder and chin while trying to hide her awkward face under her bangs.

"Hino, you're spacing out," said the voice again with an annoyed sigh while tapping the sheets on the stander in front of her with his bow.

Hino mustered a sheepish smile to the man beside her. "I'm sorry, Tsukimori-kun. Can we start again?"

Tsukimori took a deep breath, then positioned his own violin in place. "Alright. Let's start from the second verse again."

Among the former concourse members, Hino and Tsukimori were the only ones who pursued a musical career. Although Tsukimori studied in Austria and has been living there ever since, he was now in Japan due to a concert held by his parents, where Hino would be playing as a guest, performing a duet with him.

The other concourse members had chosen diverse majors in college upon graduating from Seisou, and were having a wide range of professions by now. Yunoki was now a psychologist, Hihara an elementary school teacher, Tsuchiura a pediatrician, Fuyuumi an interpreter and Shimizu an architect.

"Wrong. You're too loud. This is a decrescendo, see?" Tsukimori pointed his bow at the angle pointing rightward above the musical notes on the sheets.

"Ah, you're right. Sorry, I oversaw it" Hino laughed nervously.

By now Tsukimori was looking very annoyed. "Something's wrong with you today. You keep on making mistakes," he said in an accusing tone.

Tsukimori looked scary when he was annoyed. And that scared Hino too, to a certain point. And images of scary Shimizu flashed through her mind again.

"Don't forget that the concert is in a week. You can't keep on going like this," he continued.

"I'm sorry, Tsukimori-kun," was all she could muster to say on guilt.

"You're wasting my time," Tsukimori said coldly, eyeing her.

"By the way, have you been sleeping well?" he suddenly asked in an indifferent tone.

Hino was taken aback by the sudden randomness of his question, that she had to digest it first.

"Err... not really. Why?" Hino asked, perplexed.

"You have...," Tsukimori motioned his own eyes with his index finger, while still holding his bow, "...dark circles under your eyes."

"Oh," Hino responded, then touched her eyes.

"And what is that?" Tsukimori now pointed his bow to her red cheek, nearly touching it.

Hino shot her hand up to cover her cheek. That morning, when she was getting ready, she saw in her reflection in the mirror that her cheek was still red from the slap. She had desperately tried to cover the mark with make-up. She thought she had succeeded, though.

"Ah, this..." Hino said nervously, while searching for a possible excuse.

"Umm, it was a mosquito, I think. And I slapped myself too hard in my sleep," she continued with an awkward laugh, then cursed mentally that she had come up with such a stupid answer.

Tsukimori seemed to buy the excuse, though. Although he raised an eyebrow in wonder.

"You never change," he said with a sigh. "Let's get this piece done with already. I don't want to waste more time."

Hino nodded, then set her violin under her chin again.


Hino half-juggled between her handbag, violin case, and grocery bag from the supermarket as she fished for her keys in the bag while walking toward her apartment door.

As she introduced the key, she realized the door wasn't locked. It was still quite early, five pm. Is Keiichi already home? She wondered.

She opened the door and took off her shoes.

"I'm home!" she called out. "Keiichi? Are you there?"

She walked to the living slash dining room and put the things she had in her hands on the table.

"Keiichi?" she called again, looking around for any sign of life.

There was no answer, but she could faintly hear the sound of cello playing from the study. She smiled, took her violin case with her and walked towards the sound.

"Keiichi, I'm coming in," she said, then opened the door.

What she saw inside left her mouth hanging open. Papers, music sheets, crumpled sketches were all scattered around the room. On her desk, on his drawing desk, on the sofa, on the floor. Shimizu sat in the corner, playing his cello with his eyes closed. The way he played was weird as well. As if he had been in his own world alone, not minding the mess around him.

"Keiichi, what's all this?" she asked, confused while carefully walked in. She put her violin case on her desk, then looked at the scattered papers around her.

Suddenly the sound of cello stopped. Hino shot Shimizu a questioning look, but the response from him was nothing she had expected.

Shimizu shot his eyes open. Deep blue eyes starred at her with cold gaze. His mouth was curled downward in a frown, and his face was rigid. He stood slowly up and set his cello aside.

"You're late," he accused with an unfamiliar deep, icy voice.

"Keiichi?" Hino asked, perplexed, feeling her body hairs stood. What was with his voice? she thought. It's creepy.

"I had practice. I told you, remember? About the concert next week-"

"You're late!" Shimizu shouted with rage, then walked toward Hino's desk and grabbed her violin case.

"Keiichi, what are you doing?" Hino asked in surprise with eyes wide open.

Shimizu raised the violin case above his head, leaving Hino shocked. No! Not my violin!

"Keiichi, put it down! Please, not the violin!" she pleaded in panic.

"YOU ARE LATE!!!" Shimizu screamed, then swung the violin case toward Hino's body, aiming directly to her face. But Hino screamed out of panic and fear, instinctively raising her arm to cover her face, and the violin case stroke her shoulder instead.

Hard.


(to be continued...)


A/N: Thank you for reading again. Now... review! Review! Review! So I know that you reader are still there x)

Btw, I wanna take this opportunity to promote my collaboration with my friend Nerizu. We are writing together under the penname ThinErizu. Do read when you have time ;)