My Accompanier
Kesshou Uryou

Sometimes she feels pushed aside, but when he accompanies her, she shines. That's when she's in control.

---

My hands found themselves clutched together in front of my dark blue dress. The eager faces surrounding us betrayed anticipation. I gave a soft smile. I was in the spotlight doing what I loved.

I turned to Eriol. He gave his nod, and I nodded back. The piano's notes started.

It was winter now, and the song matched the season. The rise and falling of the piano produced bittersweet sounds. I could almost picture the snow falling. He was an amazing player. I relished in every note he played.

I watched his hands run up, do a short trill, and then come back down. It was almost enough for me to forget where I was. He was always like that. He brought you out of where you were. He had the power to control you like that.

And sometimes I hated it.

I took a large breath, perfectly remembering where he was up to. I knew very well when to sing my first notes. I hid my smile as the people's stares shifted from Eriol's playing to my beautifully airborne produced notes. I let the air in my lungs out at a faster paced as my voice climbed up higher.

There was a part in the song where I enjoyed it being slower than it was written. As I let my pace fall, I could almost see Eriol smirking. He could match me note for note any time, and he slowed his playing as soon as I had.

He knew me too well. As I continued to adapt the song to my liking, he never slipped up. Came and went where I mentally added the notation of fortissimo to the music.

He dropped out where he knew to, letting me sing acapella. This was when everyone truly knew who was the one really running this song. I committed the moment to sweet memory.

The measures of my pure, raw solo faded away. Back Eriol came to aid my singing. But now there was no doubt in anyone's mind. This was about me.

He made us seem almost like equals to the audience, but I knew how to make them look my way. After all, he was just my accompanier.

His job was to make me look good. His job was not to outshine me. I was supposed to be the star. He kept my time; he followed what I did.

I felt vain up here, singing for them all, but I loved it. If I have to be flawed to finally be the one noticed, to finally be in control, I'd gladly do it.

Eriol was always the one controlling me, but now I can control him. I can be greedy and take full advantage of it for the moment. This never lasted long enough.

People didn't notice me other than right now when I'm out on the stage. I'm never pushed aside here. This was where I wanted to be. My singing controlled whether they would go home in a happy or depressed mood. My singing had that kind of control. It had that kind of power.

I always felt weak hiding behind it because although it may be apart of me, it wasn't entirely me. I shouldn't take full advantage of this one power of mine, but I do.

Because nothing made me feel better than knowing I have control over something. Even if it was just a couple of notes.

And I loved being in control of no one more than my accompanier.

---

Quick notes: Acapella- when one or more vocalist performs without an accompaniment
Fortissimo- very loud

Well, this is one of my few million (as it seems) plot bunnies. Glad to see I got this one done. Not all that sure where this falls under concerning genre. I mean, there's not any real romance going on here. Anyway, comments appreciated. Heh, I love putting characters under a different light. I tried my best to not use too many musical terms. I do play piano and sing so I had to keep reminding myself not to confuse those who don't. On a parting note, chapter eight of Then and Now is done. I just have to edit it first. The new version of Regularity is probably going to take a while here. I'm getting distracted with all these plot bunnies.