Disclaimer: I don't own the Takumi-kun series and I never will. I just like writing fanfiction for it.
Takumi looked up from his curled position on the window seat when he heard the knock on his door. The door opened after a moments pause to reveal Gii standing there.
"Am I coming in at a bad time?" Gii asked softly, seeing that Takumi was slightly tense. "I just wanted to check on you this morning and see how you were settling in."
The Saki Prince didn't move from the door, not wanting to cause Takumi to tense up any further.
"I'm fine," Takumi replied quietly, remaining where he was on the window seat. "I-is there anything expected of me today?"
"Nothing for the next few days, except for you to get used to the home and learning the layout. I can give you a tour of the grounds if you'd like? Or I can just leave you alone for the day if you'd rather just stay here. I can even tell the servants not to come bother you except for meal summons and have them clean while you're eating."
Takumi bit his lip and thought for a moment. While it would be nice to just be left alone to mope in his room, he did still need to start getting familiar with his new home. At some point, he'd be expected to do things other than just hide away and now was probably as good a time as any to start exploring and learning.
He slipped off the window seat and then froze for a moment as he realized he was still in pajamas. While that'd probably been fine for breakfast, he figured he should change – although Gii seemed to still be in pajamas himself.
The Saki Prince seemed to pick up on the discomfort and what Takumi was thinking about.
"You want me to step out?" he asked. "Then you change in privacy. It's totally fine to walk around in pajamas though." He grinned at the other Prince. "No one minds. There's no one here we have to impress today. The halls do get a bit chilly though so I'm not sure if pajamas would be warm enough for you?"
"I-I'll get changed," the Hayama Prince replied and Gii nodded, stepping out of the room. He would just wait outside for Takumi to join him.
The halls were lit by magic lamps, but also by copious amounts of sunshine that came through the large windows.
"We like to use sunlight as much as possible," Gii explained as he led Takumi down one rather well-lit hall. "The magic lamps are nice but why waste magic when there's perfectly good sunlight? Letting in all the sunlight helps too with some of the temperature differences, though the lower down you go, the cooler it gets. You'll see that in the warmer months we leave a lot of the doors and windows open too. We like being accessible to the people and the sea breeze comes in at certain points of the day and helps refresh everything."
Takumi just nodded, looking at the towering windows with their clear panes and curtains pulled to the sides. This place was so much warmer and open than his old home – although back home they pretty much just had the one season of winter. Winter wasn't exactly the best time to be throwing open doors or windows for breezes.
"You'll find that our clothing is made of lighter materials during the warm seasons too and tailored to keep us from overheating. If you want to stick with long sleeves we should have fabrics light enough."
Gii had clearly noticed that Takumi had ignored any of the short-sleeved items that had been placed in his dressers and gone for something that kept him mostly covered up.
They continued walking, Gii pointing out different paintings on the walls and gesturing out windows to points outside.
Takumi didn't say much as he was led around the castle, just quietly absorbing the information that Gii was giving to him. They ended up in a large circular room, with a piano in the center and various other instruments scattered around.
"Ah, this room I like to refer to as the Bain of Mother's Existence," Gii said with a playful grin. "She had high hopes I'd pick up some kind of musical talent – apparently, that's a thing nobles should have – and so far, I've dashed her dreams of having a musically gifted child to bits. She hasn't approached me about it in a long time so I think she's finally given up. I'm not sure why we keep this room to be honest. It probably should be converted into something else."
Takumi left Gii's side and wandered over to the piano. It had been a long time since he'd seen one. He lightly ran his fingers over the ivory keys, noting that while the room was very much unused, everything seemed to be in wonderful condition.
"Do you play, Takumi?" Gii asked, watching the other seem lost in thought at the grand piano.
"I used to," Takumi replied hesitantly. "Some piano, but mostly violin."
A lightbulb went off in Gii's head at this – so that's where those strange callouses on Takumi's hands had come from.
"You don't play anymore?" the Saki Prince questioned. "I'm sure we have a violin around here somewhere if you'd like to pick it up again. Or if not we can get you one."
Takumi hadn't played since his brother's death.
"I wouldn't want to trouble you," Takumi said, glancing over at the other Prince. "It's been a long time and I wasn't very good anyway."
"But if it was something you enjoyed, then I don't see why you wouldn't start up again," Gii prompted gently. "Unless you had an injury that makes playing too difficult now? And I'm sure you were a wonderful player. Someone with little talent probably wouldn't have the hands that you do."
At this, Takumi looked a bit confused. What did Gii mean by that?
"You've got some interesting calluses on your hands," the Saki heir explained. "I was trying to figure out what had caused them but when you mentioned the violin it clicked. I don't think if you were really that bad you would have played long enough to get calluses like that, right?"
Takumi wondered how Gii could read him like an open book so easily. He just nodded, unsure of what to say.
Gii walked around the room, looking to see if they had a violin. He grinned when he spotted what he thought might be a case for one and carefully opened it up.
"I think this is still in good shape," he commented, bringing it over to Takumi and setting it down on the piano bench. "It's yours if you'd like. If it's something that made you happy I'd like for it to do so again. Will you try it?"
Takumi hesitated but eventually lifted the violin carefully from its resting place. He picked up the bow and after getting into position to play, drew it across the strings to see how it was.
Finding the sound to his liking he closed his eyes and tried to remember the happy feelings he'd had when he used to play. An old familiar tune arose to his mind and he began to play.
Gii's mouth dropped open as he watched the other Prince become lost in a sea of beautiful – and somewhat haunting – notes. He couldn't believe the other had said that he was probably a bad player.
Takumi was playing the most beautiful thing he'd ever heard.
A/N: Hope people continue to enjoy. I've got many chapters written out for this so it's just a matter of posting them up on occasion...