A/N: HEY!!! Sorry for such a long wait but here I am and with another part of my series. Okay, I just want to make something clear, this particular theme is going to be about THREE PARTS. I want to break it down into three cause I think it'll make things easier(for me anyway). So this is part one of three for this theme, Rhythm. R&R!
Rhythm
History had a variety of famous love stories. This was theirs.
She was born into a high-class, strict, time-honored family and she was raised to understand that the art of traditional dancing was the clan's pride. She was a natural at the art, however, and she always pleased the guests and clients. She hardly ever made blunders but that didn't stop her from dancing till she dropped. She had grown up always knowing that'd dance would be her greatest accomplishment – or her greatest failure.
He too, like her, was born into a high-class, strict, time-honored family. However, unlike her, his clan's pride did not come from dancing; rather, it came from producing the music that aided in dancing. His family – mostly the men – consisted of Taiko masters. The art of drumming was his family's specialty and his skill was by far, the best. Yet, that didn't stop him from staying up till late in the night practicing and practicing. He had grownup always knowing that the taiko would be his greatest accomplishment – or his greatest failure.
But for both, that was not the case.
History had a variety of love stories. This was theirs.
Their greatest accomplishment was in meeting each other.
It had been a somewhat warm winter evening. Fall had just ended and the air was only beginning to chill. They met on his estate in the Eastern garden, beneath the bare blossom tree. She and her family had been invited to a small gathering at the Uchiha Estate. The clan head, Fugaku-sama, was considering a collaboration performance with her family for the New Year festival and he needed dancers - skilled performers who could stun the crowd into silence and bring the best out of the Uchiha Clan's music.
She was one of those dancers, perhaps, the only one.
While her father and mother discussed the topic with Fugaku-sama and his wife, Mikoto-sama, she decided that it'd be acceptable to excuse herself and take a walk in the garden. She simply wanted fresh air. The atmosphere in the room was overbearing – the Harunos and the Uchihas never got along very well before.
She had not expected to hear the beats of a taiko.
She stilled, her ears perked at the sound. It was a string of steady beats which slowly grew into a rhythm and then into a song. It was strong and pleasing to the ear but there was something about it that was missing. Though the song was beautiful as a piece itself, it was not rich – it was hollow. Empty.
Her feet began to move on its own accord as if each beat of the song pulled at the invisible thread of her soul. When she finally reached her destination she was face to face with the most beautiful man she had ever seen.
A stranger was listening to him play. In that instant her felt naked, like some sort of animal placed on the dissection table but he ignore the irritating sensation and continued with his practice. He was frustrated. He knew that to the untrained ear the song was perfection but it did not satisfy him. The piece lacked something and he knew the something that was lacking had to come from him, but he did not know what it was.
He hit the drum with more fervor hoping that perhaps being louder would sound better but he knew, more than anyone, that that was pointless. He ended the song with a particularly loud thump and it echoed all around him, the rhythm vibrating in his body and down to his soul.
He looked up, only to find himself drowning in eyes the color of pools of jade.
He was struck speechless but as soon as it came it went and he opened his mouth to ask her snidely who she was and why she was there. To which she replied, "Who I am and why I'm here is of no importance, rather, you should try and figure out why you're playing is so off. The song you just performed was missing something."
He blinked, again shock overwhelmed him then it was replaced completely by anger.
"And who are you to criticize me?"
She tilted her head to the side, her jade eyes glimmering.
"If I'm going to dance to music it had better be the best the Uchiha Clan has to offer, but if this is it, then it truly has served to be a disappointment." She turned then and walked away and he stood there glaring at her back and seething.
No wonder she was so infuriating.
She was a Haruno.
Yes he was beautiful. But he was also easy to anger and arrogant: a true Uchiha.
She smiled.
