*Author's Note: I'm sorry for the extremely late update. I was on a summer vacation and after that I lost a lot of motivation for writing. So if you are still reading this, thank you for being so patient and enjoy XD!

Chapter 11 –Csárdás

The night before…

The house was pitch dark yet the sounds coming from the piano were perfect, Piano Sonata No. 14 Op. 27, Moonlight Sonata First Movement by Beethoven. Not one missed note when you couldn't see your hand in front of you. There's no mistaking who was playing to Nash as he walked in. He listened, although the clouds were covering the sky Shusui's playing made moonlight pour out of the clouds; enough to diffuse the inky blackness of the night but not so bright as to dull the stars. It was to say the least…breathtakingly beautiful music.

"Could you not play such depressing music? It makes you seem like a ghost in this dark house," said Nash as he turned on the light and sat down on the other piano across from Shusui. "You should make it sound something like this…" The melody and rhythm of Moonlight changes and rather than a calm beautiful moonlit night the scenery changes to a festival celebrating the start of a new year.

"Would you like to tell me why you're in my house Nash?"

"Just checking in, seeing how my good old buddy is doing."

"I'm fine, now if you don't mind I need to practice for the competition tomorrow."

"Oh no," Nash grinned mischievously as he slammed his hand on Shusui's piano to stop him from playing, "I need to make sure you're okay."

Shusui sighed. "Your desire to get your ass kicked again is always surprising."

"One day I'm going to make you eat those words," said Nash as he laughed. He sat down and both pianists took a deep breath. There was a moment of silence, the calm before the storm, and then they began their battle.

"Aika!"

The white haired girl turned around as she heard her name. "Ah Aurora! What are you doing here?"

"I'm here for the competition tomorrow."

"Eh? I didn't think you would come all the way from Italy, especially since your tour around Europe was going to start soon."

"Well I was looking for a pianist to accompany me through it and I think I found a pretty good candidate. This trip is more about convincing him to join me rather than the competition."

"Is it Arima Kousei? Shusui has seems to have taken an interest in him after hearing him play."

"Yup, that's my target. Even though I much rather have Shusui, I'll control myself for you."

"Aurora!" said Aika as she blushed at the comment.

"By the way did you make any progress yet?" whispered Aurora as she leaned in and covered her mouth with one hand.

"No…we've been focusing on the competition," said Aika as she looked down

"Aww it's okay Aika," said Aurora as she gave her friend an one armed hug. "It's a shame Shusui is blind, you've 'grown' quite nicely."

"Eh?" Aika was confused by the comment until she realized Aurora was staring at her chest. Her face turned bright red and she clenched her fist as she began chasing Aurora. "I'm going to kill you!"

"So this makes it my 49th win to your 0."

"I'm home!" said Aika as she walked in. "Ah Nash leaving already?"

"Yeah, I did what I came here to do," said Nash quietly as he walked out. 'Complete defeat...once again. To think he could replay my songs by just listening to it once...and even improving it.'

"What happened?" asked Aika.

"We had a little competition and I won," said Shusui matter-of-factly.

"I see...you don't seem that happy about winning," said Aika with a small laugh.

"What's there to be happy about?"

"E-eh? But you just..."

"Hmm?"

"Never mind..."

"Hmm Yukihira...Sawabe...Arima! Finally found it!" exclaimed Aurora. The sound of the piano and violin flowed out of the house and put a smile on her face. 'What a pure and innocent sound. Shusui is going to be quite disappointed.'

Then the music suddenly stopped and she heard voices coming out of the house. "AHH Kaori you just did another 17 line skip!"

"Yeah, don't you think it has much more impact that way?"

"You know how hard it is to accompany you when you do those random lines skips..."

"Deal with it!" At that Aurora burst out laughing, this startled the couple inside.

"Did you hear something?" A blonde haired girl's head popped out of the window but Aurora hid behind a lamp post just in time.

"No, geez Kaori you're starting to hear things. You need to rest, go home." The front door opened up and Aurora risked a peek at the two that were standing at the door.

"I can't sleep over?" asked Kaori.

"I had to put up with your dad's wrath the last time you did, I rather not go through that again," said the black haired boy. So that's Arima Kousei.

The two stood there and stared at each other for a moment. Letting the silence settle in and the cloak of the night hide them. As they both took a step forward Aurora turned away, letting the stars be the only witness to the kiss.

"I'll see you tomorrow!" Kousei smiled and waved back at her. Feeling energized from what just happened he decided to practice for a bit longer.

Aurora got out of her hiding spot and listened as the music began again. Paderewski: Nocturne in B-Flat Major Op. 16 No.4, it was a song of first love and how naïve it made Kousei seem. Yet the picture he painted was a beautiful one, a starlit night, a figure stands alone on top of a hill looking at the horizon. The song is slow and every single note, every single rest was dedicated to that figure. The ending nears and the crimson rays bursts through the edge of the world and causes one of the stars to fall.

Before Aurora realized it, her cheeks were completely red and her heart was racing. The music captured her and she was now sure that the pianist she was looking for was Arima Kousei. At that moment she decided to do something crazy, she hopped over the gate and climb to the window which was opened. Peeking inside she saw the black haired boy on the edge of falling asleep.

She took out her jet black violin and sat on the window frame. "Un grazie per la splendid prestazione." A magical lullaby which put Kousei into a deep slumber, one which he did not awake from when she put him to bed and one which will not let him remember the jet black violin.

The clock's hand moved steadily as Kousei sat there using every last drop of concentration he had to go over every detail of the piece he was about to perform. Between all his new rivals, Kaori and he were the first ones to go. He wanted to show all of them what they were capable of and prove Shusui wrong. While thinking about all of this he didn't realize that Kaori was standing in front of him asking him whether or not her dress looked good on her.

"AY!" yelled Kaori as she grabbed Kousei's cheeks and made him snap out of his zone and focus on her. "I asked you a question."

"H-h-huh?" asked a confused Kousei as he began to sweat a little. What did she ask him again?

"I asked you whether this dress looked good or not," asked Kaori as she did a little twirl. She was wearing a simple strapless black dress with a flower design over her heart. The color of the flower petals contrasted the dress well and the darkness of the dress only enhanced her golden locks. To put it simply, she was gorgeous and for a second Kousei felt a little pride and at the same time felt a little undeserving of her.

"Do you really even need to ask?"

"Entertain me?"

"You look amazing Kaori,' said Kousei simply. He was now examining his own attire, it's the same blue suit that he always wore…he really needed to get a new suit. As his thoughts were going through what color his new suit would be it was immediately dragged back as the staff informed them that they were going soon.

Nerves began to act up; thoughts of messing up were starting to cloud his head. He looked over at Kaori and knew that she was battling the same fear. 'That's the price we musicians pay.' As the previous performers stepped off the stage, Kousei reached out his hand and squeezed Kaori's one last time before they walked out to meet the audience. Both gave a small bow and quickly scanned the room to find any friends or rivals. Tsubaki and Watari were waving their hands and his teacher had a smile on her face. He smiled back and took his seat.

Kaori raised up her violin and he positioned his hand over the keys, she looked back, and they exchanged a final look. 'No backing out now.'

"Elohim, Essaim…Elohim, Essaim…I implore you…" whispered the two.

"Quite early to be selling your souls to the devil," laughed Aurora as she caught what they were saying.

It's the piano that begins, low and slow chords, the audience is sent to a hospital. The violin follows, the sky is grey and there is a vacant bed. The sound is beautiful yet holds so much sadness. Csárdás by Vittorio Monti.

'That's weird,' thought Takeshi and Emi, 'to think they would try to compete with a sad song.' It was not the style the duo was known for and this beginning certainly surprised a lot of people in the audience.

"Sounds like a song about loss," said Aika to Shusui.

"Yes," responded Shusui. "The sadness feels very real; perhaps Arima is going to share something personal."

"It has to be the death of a loved one, they even dressed according to a funeral," said Aika analyzing Kaori's dress. 'But what is that flower bud for?'

Kaori gave a quick glance behind her and met Kousei's eyes. He knew what that meant, and his mouth broke into a smile. The rhythm completely changes and the low and slow notes rise to high and quick ones. As if woken up from a bad dream the scenery changes to a high spirited spring day. The flower bud design on Kaori's dress begins to bloom as the rhythm gets faster and faster. The sound changes once more, keeping the same melody it switches to a different key and pace. The climax hits and the flower blooms fully revealing a beautiful pink petal flower with a golden center, a peony.

"These two are insane!" laughed Nash.

The audience is entranced and is amazed as if they were watching a magic show unfold before them. Among them was Aika, a slight rose painted her cheeks as she looked at the two performers. 'Peonies a symbol of happy marriages and romance…' Then a slight feeling of envy overtook her for a second and she stole a glance at Shusui realizing that they would most likely never play anything like this.

The song gets quieter and the notes get higher and slower. The flower starts to close up again. The violin finally gets to a place where it can no longer go any higher and reaches a silence. The audience gets ready to applaud. "Oh c'mon is there any way these two are going to end off like that?" said Watari with a smile as he looked over at Tsubaki.

"I think I know where this is going," said Tsubaki with a smile of her own now.

There was no need for eye contact this time; the two were in perfect synch. The high spirited tune comes back and the two plays it faster than they've ever played it. The flower blooms once more and the duo finishes. There were no doubts this time, the audience all give a standing ovation and shouts of praise come out.

"BRAVO!"

"AMAZING!" Kaori and Kousei both stand and give a bow to the audience. "PHEW! It's OVER!" yelled Kaori as soon as they were hidden by the curtains and out of hearing.

"You played that last part way too fast," said Kousei, he was breathing heavily and was sweating as if he had just finished a race.

"That was the best part!" The two laughed at each other and both of them collapsed against the closest wall. Kaori leaned her head against Kousei shoulder and closed her eyes; bad hygiene wasn't going to affect their high right now.

"Oh I have something for you," said Kousei as he reached into his suit pocket.

"What is it?" asked Kaori confused by why Kousei was taking off the peony that she had on her dress.

"Let me take that and give you this." He pulled out a yellow dahlia and placed it where the peony was. Kaori tilted her head even more confused than before now.

"What is this suppose to mean?"

Kousei laughed slightly. "It's nothing."

*Author's Note: Late? Yes. Short? Yes. Guilty? Yes. PLEASE FORGIVE ME! Anyway I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I did a fair amount research and got really lucky when trying to find a song for those two. I know in previous chapter I said they were going to do "Love Story" but "Csárdás" was almost too perfect so I had to pick it. If you want to know what it sounds like just search it up on YouTube, I based mine off of The Webb Family's version. I very highly recommend doing this! If you enjoyed this chapter and you are still reading this story please leave a review to tell me what you thought of this chapter!

Aiyoukhyra: Thank you so much for the constant support, I hope you are still here…XD

Mermaid Monster: You too man, you always leave such encouraging and awesome reviews. I hope my slowness in update didn't lose you…Also, here is how Aurora got into Kousei's house XD bankai117: To be completely honest I felt like last chapter was a bit rushed as well after re-reading it but when I was writing it felt completely different. Thank you for your criticism and I hope that this chapter was a bit better.

TheLaughingStalk: Thanks for the continuous support man (or grill I don't discriminate)!

TylerBytez: NOO don't expect the three way fight for Kousei! I'm sorry you might be a little disappointed about that but I hope you continue to enjoy the stories and the back stories of these OCs. Thank you for the encouraging review and your support!

rex4487: LOL why is everyone wondering how Aurora got into Kousei's room? This is anime world, logic does not apply! Thank you for the support!

DeltaOp1: Oh man, you've been kept waiting for far too long…

The Flame of a Raindrop: NOOO! COMPETITION! archery713: AYY you listened to Love Story…too bad I didn't get to use it…But I hope that you would give Csárdás a try as well! Thank you for the support!

ThePizziaMan: Thank you for taking time out of your day to leave a review! RoyalRedcoat: YES!

Vangran: I'm not going to lie, your review is what motivated me to keep writing. The way you expressed your view of the OCs really encouraged me. So thank you!