Title. Downwards
Part. six
Part Title. Performing
Warnings and Disclaimers. Check the first part.
Notes. Sorry it took so long to get this part up. I've been really busy lately, not to mention
I've gone on a vacation recently. I'll
try to get more done. I want to be well
into the semester before I get back to school next month. I'll do my best, in between all the other
fics I have to write.
/ thoughts / [ dreams ] ( flashbacks )
::*~~*::
"Huh, not
that bad," Nuriko commented, leaning against the doorpost to Tasuki's
room. "I mean, it's not as disorganized
as I thought a guy's room would be..."
Tasuki fished underneath his
bed and pulled out his guitar case.
"Give me some time, my side will look like a bomb went off soon
enough. I hate clean rooms." He took his guitar out, standing up and
facing Nuriko.
"Do you not play your other
one as much?"
"My bass?" Tasuki shrugged. "Just better with the six-string, I guess. You can play more melodies on it, anyway. Now, where's the north side garden?"
"To the
north," she replied with a smirk.
"Really, smartass?" Tasuki
retorted in a sarcastic tone. "I
thought it would be more to the south by south-west."
"Shows what you know." Nuriko left the room, Tasuki close behind,
guitar slung over his shoulder. "How
long have you been playing?"
"The guitar or in general?"
"In general. What all can you play, anyway?"
"Well, when I was four,"
Tasuki began, "my dad got me started on the viola. He was a chamber orchestra member."
"Did he play the viola, too?"
"No, actually. He played the cello."
"He didn't want you to follow
in his footsteps?"
"No, I didn't want to
follow in 'is footsteps," the red-head corrected. "There were already so many cellos in the world, not to mention
double basses and violins, that I found it boring to play what everyone else
plays."
"Tasuki, this may be a dumb
question, but..."
"Wha'?"
"What exactly is a
viola?"
"Oh. Heh, well, that is a pretty dumb question." Nuriko stopped and turned around to glare at
him. "Hey, don't feel bad. A lot of people don't know what it is. It isn't that popular of an instrument."
"I never got into the
orchestra thing, is all," Nuriko weakly defended.
Tasuki smirked. "Too busy bein' peppy and starin' at guys?"
Nuriko flushed a little. "Something like that." She turned around and resumed walking
towards the outside.
"A viola," Tasuki started,
catching up and walking beside the violet-haired cheerleader, "is a mix of a
violin and a cello. You hold it like
you would a violin, only it's a tad bit bigger. It has the strings of a cello, meaning it has the low C-string,
instead of the high E-string like the violin and double bass."
"You know that means
absolutely nothing to me, right?"
Tasuki grinned mockingly. "It's like a violin, just a lower tone," he
simplified.
"Now, that, I understand,"
Nuriko admitted. "Was the guitar the
next thing you played?"
"I didn't start to play the
guitar 'til my dad died when I was nine," he answered, in a more mellow
tone. "Playin' was kind of my way of
grieving, you know?"
"I just cried when my father
died," Nuriko said with a sullen tint to her voice. "That, and became a cheerleader.
Bringing life to everyone at games just... made me feel better."
A short, comfortable silence
fell between them as they finally got to the double doors that led to the
outside.
"So, did you play anything
other than the viola before you were nine?"
"Yeah," Tasuki answered, his
voice already recovering its familiar tint of light-heartedness. "'Cause of all the connections my dad had to
the orchestra, I got to learn how to play any instrument I could get a hold
of. Violin, bass, cello, piano... They even had a harpsichord for a little
while that I got to play. The only
non-string instrument I played was the harmonica, and that was only 'cause it
was portable."
"Damn," Nuriko said in
astonishment. "You really are a
string-freak."
Tasuki shrugged. "It was somethin' to do. I wasn't fond of school, an' none of the art
things my mother did interested me. I
took after my dad an' perused music. 'E
was the only other guy in the house, so he was the only one I could relate to."
"Was it just you and your
parents?"
Tasuki shook his head. "I have five sisters. Dad died while mom was pregnant with the
twins."
"So you've been raised with
women your entire life?"
"Yup."
"Well, good thing you weren't
like your mom. You might've been a
feminine guy then."
Tasuki shuddered at the
thought. "Eh, I hate girls too much to
act like one."
Nuriko gave him a mock-hurt
look. "So you hate me?"
"Just in general. Though, you seem okay for a chick. For a cheerleader, for that matter."
"What's that supposed to
mean? 'For a cheerleader'?"
"I've had my fights with
cheerleaders before, is all."
Nuriko looked around at their
surroundings and then pointed. "That's
the north side garden over there. I
think I can even see Miaka..."
"Thanks for leadin' me." He flashed her a warm smile. "An' for bein' so hospitable to the new
kid."
Nuriko shrugged. "It's nothing." She smiled and hesitated before saying anything else. "...thanks for the sympathetic ear
yesterday."
"Anytime. Makin' people feel better is a pleasure of
mine."
The cheerleader nodded before
heading off into the garden. Upon
entering, Tasuki noticed a small audience of about five girls sitting in a
semicircle, Miaka and Yui at each end, talking to one another. A wide grin spread across the boy's
face. God, did he ever love an
audience.
Nuriko instantly sat down next
to Miaka, starting up a new conversation.
Tasuki took his seat in the space left open in the circle, placing his
guitar in his lap. He strummed a few
strings, checking to see that they were in tune.
"Hello, ladies," Tasuki
greeted with a grin. "Hope everyone had
a nice lunch." He himself hadn't gotten
to finish his: he was excited about playing for people and had rushed Nuriko
and he upstairs to get his guitar.
"Afternoon, Tasuki-kun," Miaka
chirped smiling sweetly. The rest of
the group(aside from Nuriko) followed with similar greetings.
Tasuki spent a few more
moments tuning the guitar until he was satisfied with its tone. He then looked
up to his waiting audience, asking, "Any requests?"
"Stairway to Heaven?" one of
the girls suggested.
"Can we try somethin' a bit
harder" Tasuki suggested back.
"But 'Stairway to Heaven' is a
classic and proves that you have at least some margin of skill," came a new
voice, too low to be from one of the girls.
Tasuki looked up to the new
arrival. It was a guy with long, blue
hair, tied in a braid that was slung over his shoulder. His blue eyes were friendly as he smirked
down at the new kid. Tasuki grinned.
"But, it's also pretty boring
and rather easy," he retorted. "I just
wanted to play somethin that was a bit more of a challenge."
"Tamahome-kun!" Miaka chirped
looking happily up at the new-comer.
"Hey, Miaka," he replied
coolly, smiling at her. He then nodded
his head towards the rest of the group.
"Afternoon, Nuriko, Yui, girls, new kid." He nodded his head in a greeting to them.
"His name's Tasuki,
Tama-chan," Nuriko corrected.
"Right," Tamahome acknowledged
half-heartedly. "And what's so special
about the new kid that's keeping you from studying, Miaka?"
"He's going to play something
for us, Tamahome," Miaka said with an energetic nod. "Sit down, it shouldn't take too long. Right, Tasuki?"
"If I get to play, yeah,"
Tasuki replied sarcastically.
Tamahome sat down cross-legged
behind Miaka, placing his head on his hand and stared at Tasuki intently. "Well, let's see what you can do, new kid."
Tasuki smirked and began to
play one of his own songs, not having much else in mind to play. The song he played had simple chords, but
the changes and patterns were slightly difficult. His favourite thing about music was writing his own. He loved creating new notes and chords. His family heritage showed through him
excellently.
He didn't play the song the
whole way through, because the song just didn't flow right without the lyrics
that would normally go with it. Once he
was done, he leaned back a little, slowly tilting his head from looking at the
guitar to looking at his audience.
They were silent for a moment,
before they started to clap loudly.
"Wow, that was so good!" Miaka
exclaimed. Other such compliments
followed from everyone, save for Nuriko and Tamahome: Nuriko just clapped
lightly, smirking at him, whereas Tamahome had his arms crossed, looking
impressed.
"Play something else!" one of
the girls demanded.
After three more songs, one
his own, two covers, the group dispersed, chatting about his playing with one
another as they left. Tamahome, Nuriko,
Miaka, and Yui were the only ones to stay behind with the guitarist.
"How long you been playing,
Tasuki-kun?" Tamahome asked.
"Seven years. You play anything?"
"Yeah," Tamahome commented,
sitting beside Tasuki. "I play the
guitar. I prefer to sing, though."
"And he has a really nice
voice, too!" Miaka informed, grinning.
Tamahome smirked at the hyper
girl. "Thanks, though it's nothing,
really." He turned back to Tasuki. "Play anything else?"
"Give me something that has
strings on it, I'll play it."
"Bass?"
"Got one in my room."
Tamahome grinned. "Want to join a band, then?"
Tasuki's orange eyes lit
up. "Fuck yeah. I was hopin' to either find one or
start. Who else is in it?"
"Just me an' Chichiri, so
far."
"Chichiri?" Nuriko asked. "Since when has he played any instruments?"
"He just doesn't like people
to know he plays, is all. Not a stage
person, surprisingly enough." Tamahome
shrugged. "He just doesn't want people
to ask him to perform."
"What's he play?" Tasuki
asked.
"Drums."
"Well, if you can play and
sing at the same time," Tasuki began, smiling big, "we've got a full band,
there. Name?"
"I guess we do, huh? That's good, 'cause I don't think there's many
other people that are willing to join a band that are good in this
school." He shrugged again. "As for a name... we don't have one yet."
Miaka looked her watch. "Oh, hey, it's getting late... Can we go, Tamahome?"
The blue-headed teen
nodded. "Yeah, sure. We'll talk later, okay, Tasuki?"
"All right. See ya."
He waved.
Miaka and Tamahome got up and
waved, giving their farewells to everyone, Yui joining them. Nuriko was now the only one left with the
guitarist.
"Pretty good for your first
two days," she commented, smirking.
"You've been blending in great, and you're even part of a band
already. Kudos to you." She clapped.
"Thanks, I'm just that
good." Tasuki ran his hand through his
hair arrogantly.
Nuriko snickered. "Come on, let's go find something to
do. I've heard you play enough for a
little while."
::*~~*::
The rest of
the afternoon went by without much incident.
In fact, it was rather dull.
Nuriko and he went back to his room after the performance in the garden,
only to find Kouji on his bed, frantically writing a paper for his history
class. They helped him out a bit, and
just sat around and talked once he was done.
Dinner finally came, along
with Tasuki's initiation. Eiken could
not keep the grin from his face as he told Genrou and the others at the
table(excluding Chichiri, because he had to sit with his fellow newspaper
editors for some reason or another) about the task to be performed.
"You want him to do want?"
Kouji asked in disbelief, while Tasuki just grinned, looking completely
unfazed.
"It's simple," Eiken started,
"there's two parts to it. First, he has
to piss of Nakago enough to get knocked out and sent to the nurse's
office. Then, he has to get one of the
syringes with... hmm... you know what it's called, right, Kouji?" Kouji nodded. "You take 'im to the nurse then, show 'im what I want."
"That's all?" Tasuki said
confidently.
"Yup, that's all."
Tasuki looked around the mess
hall. "Nakago's the one with really
long blonde hair, right?" Everyone at
the table nodded. "That shouldn't be
too hard, then." He stood up, taking
his tray with him. He scanned the
cafeteria for the jocks table, noticing in the back of his mind that Nuriko
wasn't at the cheerleader table when he looked over it.
When he spotted the captain of
the football team, he let out a sigh and gained all of his courage(as well as
stupidity) and approached the table.
"Pardon," he said politely
enough when he was just behind Nakago.
Everyone at the table looked
up at him. Tamahome was sitting across
from the blonde and cocked his eyebrow at the red-haired guitarist. Nakago merely glared at him. "What do you want, kid?" he asked coldly.
Tasuki took a nervous gulp
before spilling the contents of his tray on top of the jock, covering him in
potatoes and gravy, the steak with steak sauce on it clinging to his chest for
a moment before sliding off, leaving a trail behind.
Nakago looked at the mess on
his torso then up at Tasuki. Then back
at the mess. Then back at Tasuki. And then he stood up, towering over Tasuki,
glaring daggers into him.
/ Oh, shit, / Tasuki
thought.
Oh, what's going to
happen to our poor Tasuki? *snickers*
And you want to know something
frightening, at least to me? I've had
to explain what a viola is to adults before.
That just scares me.
Maybe it means nothing to you, but it does to me.
And I mean no offense to 'Stairway to
Heaven'. It is a hard song at first,
but I find it kind of boring. Everyone
learns how to play it. Plugh. How dull.