Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis or any characters
Alex's POV
I laid on my bed Wednesday night, just staring at my ceiling. I still couldn't believe that I had told Oishi about the whole accident. When I went to school today, I had finally felt at ease around everyone, including Leon. It was a strange feeling, and every time I thought about it I couldn't help but to smile. Every time Oishi came around I also had the feeling that things were going to be alright and I got comfortable whenever he was near me.
"You look different." Said a voice in my doorway, I was startled that Ryoma was there.
"Don't scare me like that." I laughed.
"What's different about you?" He asked, studying me. I laughed at the serious look he had on his face.
"I don't know?" I shrugged, even though I had a vague idea.
"Mom says dinner is ready." He shrugged it off and walked away. Smiling to myself, I got up and headed to the kitchen to eat some dinner.
The next day at school, I was puzzled when I didn't see anyone at the wall. Realizing that it was super cold out, I went in and found the guys all in the main doorway to the school.
"What's everyone doing here?" I asked absently dumping my beg by Oishi.
"In case you haven't noticed, the first snow has finally fallen." Kiryu laughed.
"Really?" I said, thinking about it. In my happy state, I hadn't really been thinking about the weather but now I noticed that it was cold on my way walking here.
"Yeah and we're supposed to get some snow this weekend." Leon told me.
"That reminds me of the winters back in the states." I said, smiling at Leon.
"Back in the states?" He asked, obviously caught off guard.
"Yeah. Like when we would have snowball fights and that one year we had snowman building contest." I laughed and Leon seemed kind of hesitant to laugh along with me. The bell rang and I stooped to pick up all my things.
"What's wrong with you?" Leon whispered to me as I started to my locker.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Well, since the other day you just seem different." He said carefully.
"Different how so?" I wanted to know, I felt different but I wanted to know what I looked like to other people on the outside.
"I don't know. What happened between you and Shuichiro?" He asked, turning on me quickly. I had to give him some credit here, he knew me so well.
"What do you mean 'what happened?" I asked, already a smile creeping on my face and giving me away.
"What happened?" He asked me more seriously now that he saw that smile.
"Do you want to play with me tonight?" I asked even before I knew what I was saying myself.
"What?" He asked me. "Where the hell did that come from?"
"No need to yell at me." I said, my feelings a little hurt. "If you don't want to play with me then all you had to say was no."
"I do want to play with you, but…" He couldn't finish his sentence entirely.
"I'll give you the address at lunch." I smiled at him. "I've got the perfect place." And I left him there gaping at me while I headed to class.
The only reason I really left it alone was because I really didn't know why I had said that either. It had just come out and he was the perfect one to ask. I smiled to myself when the fact finally hit home that this was beginning of me starting to play and up to the time of lunch, I had an internal battle raging inside me as to whether I should play tennis or play the piano. I couldn't make up my mind and I found myself wanting to talk to no one else but Ryoma. I pushed the momentary sadness away as I caught sight of Oishi.
I waited till he caught my eye and I smiled and waved at him hesitantly. He nodded and turned to say a few things to the people who were around him and came to see me.
"Can I ask you something?" I almost whispered.
"Yeah, of course. Anything." He smiled.
"I'm going to play the piano with Leon today. Do you want to come with?" He looked taken aback for a minute and seemed to be really thinking about it.
"Yes. But about Eiji…" He trailed off. Instantly my heart grew heavy and I didn't want to think about it.
"I'll eventually fix things with him. But please, I need your help right now." I looked at his face and waited for him to look at me in the eyes.
"I still don't understand." He sighed, after staring into my eyes for a minute. "Why me? Why did you tell me everything? You have Leon and Ryoma and your probably closer to some of the other guys then you were with me. So why did you tell me?"
I looked away from him. I didn't know the answer to that.
"I can't really tell you." I told him honestly. "There are people who I would choose to tell before you, but the other day it just seemed like you were the perfect person. Sure, Leon and Ryoma were there and they both know me like the back of their own hands but maybe that's why I could tell you and not them. Maybe I needed someone to tell that wasn't there, that doesn't know me half as well. Maybe the reason I could tell you was that you won't judge me like they will." I blinked tears away quickly and smiled at him.
"I'm glad that I could help." He said, smiling back. "I'll be there to hear you play today."
"Thanks." I let out a pent up sigh of breathe and dug in my back pack. "This is the address. Try to be there around 6:30. I'm going to run home and get Ryoma."
"Sounds good. Now let's get to lunch, I'm starving." I laughed and we both headed to the lunch room. Once we got there, Shuichiro sat on one end and I sat on the other end with Leon and Kiryu.
"You and Oishi seem to be getting along well." Kiryu whispered out of the side of his mouth.
"What do you mean?" I asked, trying not to attract attention to us.
"I seen you 2 exchange something a minute ago. What are you guys, going out now?" He said through a bite of food.
"No." I scoffed.
"You can't fool me." Kiryu snorted. "Whatever happened that day that you 2 skipped school together changed the way you both look at each other. He never used to pay so much attention to you before but now every few seconds he tends to look your way, like he's waiting for you to look back at him or something." Involuntarily I looked up and sure enough he was looking at me but as quickly as he looked at me he also looked away.
"It's not like that." I whispered back.
"Then how is it?" He asked, now looking at me. "Cause to someone on the outside, that's sure as hell how it seems." I was taken aback by his anger for a minute and I didn't really understand why he was acting the way he was. I looked down at my food, not able to come with a reason that sounded right when I would say it out loud.
"I don't know how to explain it." I finally told him. He just shook his head and didn't say anymore on the subject. Shaking off the uneasiness I felt from Kiryu and turned to Leon. "How is Aurore?" I asked.
"She's doing well." He laughed. "She wished I would come home so that dad would quit paying so much attention what she's doing." I laughed along with him and we passed the rest of the time by with small stories about Aurore and him when he was still in France.
When the bell rang, I quickly wrote down the address to the music store and gave it to Leon.
"Be there around 6:30." I whispered to him and headed off to class. With half the day gone, it seemed that the second half seemed to fly by in the wind of an eye. At the end of the day I didn't stick around to talk but headed straight home to hurry and find Ryoma.
When he got home an hour and half later, all the jitters of finally deciding to play were getting to me and I couldn't sit still.
"Hey." I practically yelled when he walked in the front door. "I need you to come with me."
"For what?" He asked incredulously.
"Me and Leon are going to play." I smiled at him. When he continued to stare at me in disbelief, I had to laugh at the look on his face.
"You and Leon?" He asked, confused.
"Yeah." I laughed even harder. "C'mon." He shook of his momentary lapse of confusion and smiled.
"Alright. Let me shower up then." And with the biggest smile ever, he quickly showered and we went on our way to the music store.
RYOMA'S POV
"Are you sure about this?" I asked Alex as we waited outside the music store for Leon.
"Yes." She said, blowing into her hands to keep them warm. Light snow was falling and there was already a light blanket covering the ground.
"What happened that you just suddenly decided now?" I had to ask. I had wanted to ask since the other day but I couldn't bring myself to ask, not wanting to ruin her happiness.
"It's a long story." She breathed, which wasn't really the answer I was looking for. I went to open my mouth to ask in a more specific manner when she smiled and waved. For a moment I had thought that Leon had finally arrived and I checked my watch. It was 6:25 and when I looked up my words got stuck in my mouth as I seen Shuichiro smiling at Alex.
"Hey Ryoma." He said, waving back. "Long time no see."
"Indeed." Was all I could manage to squeeze out.
"I can't wait to hear you play again." Shuichiro said, standing next to Alex and smiling like Christmas had come early.
"You've heard her play?" I asked taken aback.
"From afar." He laughed. I stared at Alex but she was too busy smiling at Shuichiro. I couldn't believe what I was seeing here.
"Are you 2 dating?" I asked them before I could stop myself.
"What?" Alex asked, finally looking at me.
"Of course not." Shuichiro said, the smile dropping from his face instantly. "Is that how it looks?" He asked.
"Yes." I told them truthfully. "Why do you think I asked?" Alex was looking at the ground now and Shuichiro was looking away down the road like he was expecting someone else to show up. I had to wonder if they were lying to me.
"Hey." Said a voice from behind me and I nearly jumped out of my socks.
"Sorry I'm late." Leon said. "Aurore called and wouldn't let me go."
"It's no problem." Alex laughed. "Are you ready?"
"Yeah." Leon said, letting out a pent up breath. We headed into the store and a very old guy greeted us.
"Nice to see you again." He smiled at Alex. The surprises just kept on coming.
"You've played here before?" I asked. Alex made a small nod and turned to the old guy.
"May we use a practice room?" Alex asked, taking out her wallet to pay for some time.
"I'll tell you what." The old man said, his eyes twinkling. "It's almost closing time, so if you're going to play, why don't you play on that grand that you love so much?" Alex made the smallest of nods and we followed her to the back where there were some pianos. Alex sat down at one and instantly there was something different about her. It wasn't something that I could even describe, but it took my breath away even before she started to play.
Leon took his Violin out of the case and tuned it while Alex stared at the keys, running her fingers across the top ones lightly.
"Any preference?" Leon asked when he was all done messing with his Violin. Alex smiled and there was something that passed between the 2 of them. Without another word, Alex started to play.
The piano part started out the song and Leon just watched her for a second and joined in at the perfect spot. The way those 2 played together was amazing, there sound going so smoothly together that it was as natural as water running over smooth rocks.
I was captivated by both of them, trying to look at them both at the same time but not being able to. I watched Leon first, his posture was so straight and natural it made me jealous. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the rate of play.
I glanced at Alex and was taken aback. She also had her eyes closed but it seemed to me that she was in a peaceful state of mind and I instantly knew what Leon was talking about when he said that she was born to play. I closed my eyes and listened, breathing through my nose letting the music sink in. When I looked at her again, I smiled.
She was smiling a smile that I hadn't seen in almost a year and half and it brought tears to my eyes. There was a very small piano solo and Leon stared at her, probably mesmerized like I was. He waited for the right time to join back in and when he did the music never missed a step.
The piano part ended and the violin had the last few bars, but when it ended I felt as if the world was never going to be the same again.
"What was that piece called?" I whispered, not wanting to ruin the memory of that music.
"A River Flow in You." Alex said, smiling at Leon.
"Let's do another one." Leon smiled excitedly and Alex started out with Canon. It was a universal enough piece and I was very interested to see how the Violin would sound with it. I had only ever heard it played just piano style.
Once again I was blown away by both their technique. Alex started out slow and when it was time for Leon to join, he jumped at the right moment. They both made look as easy as breathing.
I was able to just sit back and watch both of them this time but more or so taking in my fill of Alex. It was like there had been no misery in the last year. Like these moments were making up for all that time.
I was sad when the song came to end and found that I liked the version with the added violin more then I liked just piano one.
"That was the most beautiful sound to my ears." The old man said, leaning on a piano nearby. "And I've been around for quite a long time." We all laughed and I wiped the moisture from my eyes.
"We should enter a contest together." Leon said, getting ahead of himself. "There's one coming up next week that I'm in but I could easily talk to the director and have in you in on the list.."
"No." Alex said quietly, her hands still on the piano.
"What?" Leon asked. "Why not?"
"I just don't want to quite yet." She said looking down at the ground.
"C'mon Alex." Leon pushed.
"No." Alex said more forcibly this time.
"Why won't you play?" Leon almost shouted. "This is something you were born to do."
"And why can't you give this a rest." She shouted back. Neither me nor the old man or Shuichiro could talk, all of us knowing that something was going on.
"Why are you so focused on being normal?" Leon shouted. "News flash, normal is a little over-rated."
"And why do you want me to play when it hurts so much to do it?" Alex shouted. "Do you just enjoy seeing me in pain?"
"If you would play more often than maybe the pain would slowly go away."
"How would you know?" She said, finally coming to tears. "It wasn't your brother, your mother, or your twin sister that died. So tell me, how would you know?"
"Brian was my best friend." Leon shouted. "So why don't you for one second stop thinking that you were the only one hurt when that car crash happened. Do you think that me and Ryoma don't feel like crying every time with think about it. Or Rinko doesn't look at your mom's photo and cry. Or Nanjiro doesn't feel regret when he thinks about your dad?" Now Leon had stepped over the line.
"Stop." I said, standing up. "Leon, I told you long ago not push this."
"Shut up Ryoma." Leon shouted not looking at me. "We were all affected too you know. So why don't you try letting us in to help you."
"Fine." Alex shouted. "Brian was your best friend, but half of me died that day. Me and Alice were once one. We were meant to be one. Tell me how you can get over something like that and I'll let you in." Leon looked like he was at a loss for words
"That's right." Alex said, icily. "You will never know what it's like to lose the other half of you." She grabbed her jacket and stormed out of the Music Store.
"I told you not to push it with her." I shouted at Leon.
"She needs to come to terms with what happened and nobody but me wants to push her in that direction." I took 2 giant strides towards him and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt shoving him until he slammed into another piano.
"Don't you dare think that none of us want to see her do the things she loves." I growled, more angry that he didn't trust me with Alex's well-being then anything. "You care so much for your music career that you can't see that she was making progress."
"I'm giving her a good push in the right direction." He spat. "What are you doing? Nothing but coddling her. She's strong enough for this but you just won't push her."
"No wonder Brian didn't ask you to take care of her," I said darkly. "Because he knew that you were never good enough for the job." I gave him another hard shove and grabbed my jacket to follow after Alex. The snow falling outside made it easy for me to follow her and the whole time I cursed at Leon until I noticed that the footprints weren't following the normal path home. I looked up to see where the prints were going and cursed some more in general when I saw the busiest street in all of Tokyo ahead of me. I ran to the edge of the street but it was obvious that I wasn't going to find Alex.
In an angry huff, I headed home. It was the only thing I could do. Once at home, I went to my room and locked the door behind me. I plopped down on my bed and laid on my stomach, trying to calm the anger that was pulsing through my veins. Maybe I was a little harsh on Leon just then but I didn't understand how he could push her so hard. Of course I never thought of Alex as weak but this was an entirely different matter. I closed my eyes and thought about that day in the hospital when Brian had out his faith me.
"Mr. Cross would like to see you." A beautiful nurse was saying to me. I was still in a state of shock and it took me a minute to find my voice.
"Me?" I asked huskily.
"Yes." The nurse nodded. "He's awake and he says he won't see anyone until he sees you." I looked across the room at Alex and she was still in same position as she was yesterday, hugging her legs and her face resting on her knee's staring at the floor. I felt guilty that he was seeing me before he was seeing her.
I got up and followed the nurse down the hall and it felt like the longest walk of my life. Everything and everybody that was passing seemed like it was going in slow motion. It could've taken me 10 years to walk down the hall or 10 seconds, I'll never remember.
The nurse held open the door for me and when I walked in, I thought he had gone back to sleep. I stared at him, the figure before me couldn't possibly be Brian it was so broken and torn. I swallowed over the lump in my throat as I took in the IV hooked up to his arm, the bloody bandage that was covering all if his left arm, the black and blue bruise on right side of his face, and last but not least the broken fingers on his right hand that was now a cast.
"Took you long enough to get here." Brian said in a rough voice. "I could've gone back to sleep for another 8 years." He opened his eyes and smiled and then winced.
"Hey man." I whispered. "You look good." I lied.
"I sure as hell hope so cause I feel like shit." He laughed and then winced again. I went and sat down on the chair next to his bedside, unsure what to say or do.
"I need you to promise me something." Brian said. When I looked at him, I saw the fire in his eyes that I had only seen once in my entire life.
"Anything man." I whispered, staring into his eyes.
"Take care of Alex for me." He said. For a second I was confused and when I took his full meaning, my eyes started to water.
"You're going to be alright." I told him. "There's no lasting damage." I willed myself to believe that and for a few seconds, I did.
"Didn't your mom ever tell you that's it's not nice to lie?" He laughed. I couldn't bring myself to laugh with him. Not this time, this time it didn't count.
"You're going to pull through this." I told him forcibly.
"Just promise me." He begged. I finally saw how torn he was on the inside. Brian who was never afraid of anything was asking me to take care of his baby sister.
"If you just pull through this and fight, I won't have to make this promise." I told him and finally, the tears that I couldn't hold back anymore flooded over.
"I can't go to sleep know that I left her here." Brian said, looking away and up at the ceiling. "She'll never forgive me I know that. But at least I left her in capable hands." He smiled at like the whole world was going to be alright.
"I can't." I told him. "I'm not you."
"You just wish you were." He smiled. I was caught between a laugh and a sob when he said that I put my face in my hands for a second. How could he be so cool about what he knew was coming.
"Are you afraid?" I asked, not looking at him.
"I'm afraid of leaving Alex alone." He told me. "But as long as she's in your care, I know she'll be alright." Finally coming to a decision, I nodded.
"I'll take care of her." Brian nodded once and closed his eyes, his breathing a little irregular. I cried right there beside Brian more then I will probably cry in my lifetime and when he passed away 4 hours later, I vowed that I wouldn't let him down.
I wiped the one tear that slid down my cheek away and covered my head with the pillow. I had to figure out something to do and quick before it was all too late.
But right then and there, my mind was completely blank of ideas.
A/N: So for Alex and Leon's duet, go to youtube and type in 'river flows in you piano/duet' and click on the first video. For the Canon one type in 'canon duet piano and violin' It will be the 5th one down, the sheet music one. It's kind of slow but it was the best quality I could find. Enjoy =)