Amarezza Dolce
- a fan fiction written by Meeko Melodie
Meeko: Wow, comments! Yay! Four is not bad for a first chapter, really. At least someone is interested. I'm glad! But life is stressful... my whole damn life damn sucks! Okay, I'm sure you're not interested in my miserable life story, so away we go!
Disclaimer: Need I say more?
Thank you to the following dudes and dudettes for their comments:
Wishingstahhz: My first reviewer! Thanks.
Lil' grass-stain07: I was hoping I'm a little bit descriptive this time around. :) Glad you like it!
Izumi Rules: Thank you.
Kouzumi 4eva: Sorry about the long update. And I'm sorry to say that I MIGHT not update Da Capo anymore just because since I'm rewriting Betrayal, I might as well rewrite Da Capo too. But thanks for the comment!
Chapter Two: Beginning of a Thoughtful Morning
The first buzz of the alarm radio woke her up, unwillingly, of course. And what was a girl to do? She pushed, or, really, slapped in a way that almost broke the poor clock, the snooze button and continued her tired slumbers, facing the other side of the room, the side facing the walls, not the sunshine filled windows.
The second ring of a different alarm clock woke her up after five minutes; this time, the sound rolled right beside her ear that she almost screamed and immediately sat up, her long blond locks twisting this way and that in a drooping manner; her eyes was still dulled with slight sleepiness as she looked around dazedly.
"You should be thankful that I didn't bring that bucket of cold water," the owner of the second alarm clock said, with a somewhat evil smirk on her aging face as she walked out of her daughter's room, leaving the morning privacy to her. She sat there motionlessly for another five whole minutes before she actually woke up and her senses started to creep back at her.
Izumi shook her head ferociously, her hair flying everywhere with the action, trying to shake out all the drowsiness still inside that body of hers. When she was finally truly awake, she dressed herself quickly in a simple sleeveless white t-shirt, matching pale summer yellow skirt for her lower half of the body, the swimming suit already inside and a pair of sandals to finish things up.
In record time, she tamed her hair with her trusty comb and throw in a few beach items into her backpack before she emerged from the bedroom and advance to the dining room, where her breakfast and parents awaited.
"Hitting the beach today?" the man sitting on the opposite end of the table inquired, while scanning the day's newspaper with his eyes.
"Yeah," she replied hurriedly, biting into her delicious egg and thinking how lucky she must be to have a mother who could cook like a pro. In her mind, however, she could almost guess what the next question her father was going to ask. And she was not psychic, either.
"With that boyfriend of yours?"
Bingo. See? Izumi didn't seem to understand why her father appeared to have something against Kouji, but ever since she told them about their little friends-and-maybe-more relationship, her mother had been embarrassingly hyper, as if she was the one who was starting the whole dating thing all over again, while her father was the sober one.
Every time she went out on a date, she was always questioned by her father like a suspect being question by a police officer. This might seem like a normal thing to do for a father, but it was definitely getting on Izumi's nerves. She tried to shake it off most of the times, but if her father kept doing this questioning thing before every date, Izumi simply could not imagine what would happen when she and Kouji got married.
Not that she was thinking about it. The marriage thing, she meant.
'Okay, let's not think about that now,' she thought, warmth creeping on her cheeks. After all, she was still pretty young to be already thinking about the unknown of the future.
"Him and a few other friends," she added. Her father nodded and the room was silent only with the remaining bacon sizzling in the fry pan which Mrs. Orimoto was trying to cook them to a tasty crisp.
She finished her last bits of toast and sips of tea and she tore out the door without further acknowledgement except for a "see you later" from herself, a "have fun, honey" from Mrs. Orimoto, and a grunt from a displeased Mr. Orimoto.
x – X – x
The salty breeze of the morning beach blew lightly around a figure leaning against the wall, which was looking as if he was waiting for someone. The invisible force danced slowly on his skin, trickling its warmth over his exposed arms and lower legs. Beyond the sidewalk, early families were wandering into the beach gradually by now; children's agitated laughter, parents' amusing scolding, together with the waves yonder the powder sand woven together and became one piece of unsteady melody that was floating into his ears.
He stared up at the almost blinding blue sky and the ever drifting clouds and he could not help but wonder back to a few days ago, when he was still in school for the last classes of the year.
x – X – x
"Kouji Minamoto," someone called to him from behind in the crowded hallway. He stopped momentarily and looked around, finally spotting the elder woman being literally squashed by the high school students rushing in the hallway, or the word 'highway' would be more appropriate. He had to push his way through the opposite flow of crowd to get to his teacher's side.
Kouji, as everyone might have already noticed, was not what people called a teacher's pet, nor did he do especially well in his studies, plus, he was not too fond of the all-knowing teachers themselves. He knew not all of the teachers were like that, but he couldn't help but keep that point of view for most of them. However, he could not say the same for old Mrs. Kamiah.
Without actual introduction, Mrs. Kamiah just looked like your average grandmother type of lady, who has a gentle and laid-back attitude most of the time, and a whole lot of patience, who also happened to have especially great vocal cords andvarious instrumentalskills.
"Yes, Mrs. Kamiah?" he inquired calmly. This smiling woman standing in front of the teenager was one of those few teachers who wasn't under the 'jerk' list in his head; he was actually quite fond of her, if truth be told.
"Follow me, would you, Kouji?" she asked and immediately moved in between the students, ducking this way and that. She was quite fast for a woman her age; Kouji couldn't stop himself from smiling a little. He shook his head mentally, thinking, 'Izumi's personality must be rubbing off on me.' Not that it wasn't a good thing or anything.
They continued with difficulty on the second floor halls and finally slipped themselves into the music room of the school ground; they sighed with relief. But already gaining his breathe, Kouji instantly noticed another presence in the same room, and that said presence was looking at them, or at him, really, with her soft sustaining gaze.
One hardened glance of his cold blue orbs drove her hazel eyes hastily towards another direction.
Mrs. Kamiah, who finally became aware of the two teens glancing suspiciously of each other, or it was only Kouji who was doing the 'glancing suspiciously' part, made a brief introduction, "Kouji, this is Keiko Kimura, she is one of the singers in my choir since she starts school here and Keiko, this is Kouji Minamoto, he is the piano player for the school band. I'm sure you must have met each other sometime during classes?" She looked between the two.
They nodded, as they were expected to.
Called this strange, but Kouji was, at the moment, having the most peculiar feeling of being introduced to his future date partner as usually presented by parents when their kids were getting old but were still, unfortunately single. Or maybe it was just the parents getting bored and needed something exciting and funny to fuss about later. Whichever it was, this was just... weird in Kouji's dictionary.
"The both of you must be wondering why I called you two together after school," she smiled with this mysterious glint, like something was behind it. As much as Kouji was sure that the 'something' behind that innocent smile was nothing of the evil sort, he still had that uneasy feeling brewing within. He waited for the explanation, as was the girl named Keiko now standing beside him.
"I have a suggestion here," she began, getting a bit business-like, "a competition caught my eyes last week and I thought this is a very interesting one. It's a partner project, needing a minimum of two people, one plays an instrument, any of them and one takes up the vocals."
"And you want us to enter that competition," he finished the request for her, and she gave him another of her infamous smiles.
"That's right," she continued, looking fondly of her two students, "Keiko, you're such a talented singer and I couldn't help wonder what effect this combination can create: a gentle singer and an angry pianist."
Kouji raised his eyebrows at the 'angry pianist' description of himself; the girl just gave out a small amused giggle.
"So, what do you say?" she placed the paper before them: the entry form.
"Well, how can I resist the invitation from my favorite teacher?" Keiko laughed softly, picking up the pen and wrote down her personal information.
"And you, Minamoto?"
He picked up the pen, sensing that it couldn't be that bad. Yet, the moment he looked at that paper, he felt strangely like he was signing some kind of contract, a binding one that locked you down. This was a very strange sentiment; it was as if his brain was telling him this was a bad omen.
And what did the former digi-destined do?
Wrote down his information, no problem.
A little bad omen had never stopped Kouji Minamoto before, now had it?
Besides, Kouji did not, what so ever, believe in this kind of bull.
x – X – x
"Kouji," his name echoed in his ears numbly. He still wasn't awoke properly yet. His brain was still on that day of the bad omen; he almost laughed sardonically.
"Kouji Minamoto, wake up!" A pull of his hand suddenly dragged him out of the trance and a pair of sparkling emerald irises swam before his view.
He grinned sheepishly at the familiar sight.
Meeko: Sorry. So long, so boring, right? Don't kill me yet! I promise there'll be little bit of Kouji Izumi fluffiness at the beginning of the next chapter, so people, hang in there!
And comments! Do not forget about the comments!