A/N: Hey guys, sorry for all the weird updates. Unfortunately, I'm going to be in an area with no internet connection for a week, so I figured I'd post this chapter a bit early. Hope you enjoy!
Also, I LOVE REVIEWS. Please review, I love hearing readers' opinions, even if it's not positive. If there's something I could improve on, don't be afraid to point it out in constructive criticism.
Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran or Your Lie in April. (If I did it wouldn't have ended how it had ended! T^T) All credits go to their rightful owners.
Eventually, the three high-schoolers moved on to figuring out just what they wanted to do during this impromptu sleepover. Kaoru voted dress-up, Hikaru voted dress-up, but when Tsukiko blatantly refused and suggested that they try a new anime that she'd recently found, they discovered that her adorable requests to watch the apparently music-based show were too sweet to deny.
"It's called Your Lie in April and the reviews have been raving about how beautifully done it is. Plus, it's music-based but still deals with a lot of the slice-of-life that I know you guys secretly love, even if you deny it every time. Yes, Hikaru, you especially. I stumbled upon your secret stash of shojo manga behind the Rachmaninoff collection while I was taking into account all of the Level 10-and-above pieces you have," she smirked, and the older twin turned into a beautiful strawberry.
"What?! Hikaru, how did I not know about this?!" Kaoru exclaimed in amusement and outrage, which only served to cause him to fall off his perch on the edge of the bed in laughter.
The three of them had decided that an anime marathon could not be without sitting on an enormous bed with all things fluffy and soft, lots of blankets, and mountains of junk food and snacks.
"I never expected Tsukiko to agree to this," Hikaru commented as the said girl set up the first episode. She clicked play and leaned back, munching on a chocolate bar that she would probably drop out of her left hand any second now and fangirling slightly at the first scene. Cherry blossoms, oh, cherry blossoms and spring green.
"Well, it's been about three years? Four? A long time since I've had the chance to do this. All my spare time went into practice and if it wasn't music-related, it was a waste of time. So yeah. Plus, it's been a good year-and-a-half since I've had a candy bar. I forgot that it's normal to actually eat and at one point I passed out in the middle of a competition because I'd forgotten to eat breakfast and lunch that day," she giggled, remembering the stupidity of it all. Ah, it had been a long and strange journey. But as painful as it got, it had at least been fulfilling in some ways.
The twins were suddenly silent after that, and she even turned to glance at them both to see if they were okay, but they had their eyes glued to the screen and both wore expressions of blankness, which told her that they were probably upset with her.
Kaori was a violinist. Violin, competition, finger-breaking scores, hate.
She turned her attention back to the anime, but tore her eyes away from the screen not too long later, when she felt something on her right hand.
Kaoru, who was sitting to her right, had linked his left pinkie with hers. As if he could feel her gaze, he turned his head to give her a hard stare, and slipped his hand around hers, returning his attention to the anime. Her eyes widened, and she suddenly realized how much bigger his hand was than hers. Her hand seemed to fit in his like a letter enclosed in its envelope, and his long, slender fingers curled around her palm and the back of her hand completely.
It took her another minute to realize that her hand had been shaking, and that it still was. And this realization only caused it to shake harder, and Kaoru's response was to give her hand a quick squeeze, which, for some reason, made her heart skip a beat.
She kept her eyes on the screen. Kousei had just met Kaori. They were heading for the concert hall.
Concert hall. Dry dust. Cold air. All the nerves and all the tears.
Tsukiko's hand naturally gripped Kaoru's, and he began to caress the back of hers with his thumb, which almost made the girl laugh, because it was way more familiar of a gesture than she was used to experiencing. It had been a year since she'd even hugged anyone.
Wow, that was actually pretty sad.
At this point Kaori was in the middle of her performance, and Tsukiko had to smile at the girl's sheer guts. Playing with the nuances of personal musicality was one thing, but ignoring the score entirely was a separate case entirely. And she had to mentally applaud the girl, because as gutsy as Tsukiko could be with her defiance against the score, she'd never done anything like this. Hm, maybe it was worth a try sometime.
She hadn't noticed until the end of Kaori's performance that Kaoru had loosened his grip on her hand slightly and was now playing with her fingers a bit, which amused her even more. His hands brushed over her finger-tips, callused from all of her playing. And then they rubbed curiously over her too-short finger nails and moved on splay her fingers out against his, as if trying to show off how much bigger his hand was compared to hers.
Kousei was now thinking about his role as Friend A, and Tsukiko suddenly realized how stupid this main protagonist was. So dense it was hilarious.
Kaoru was still playing with her fingers, now intertwining his fingers with hers. She found herself smiling at the sight, oddly, and decided to play along a little. Kaoru's reaction was hilarious when she untangled her hand with his and began to compare the length of their fingers, laughing at how small her hands looked next to his. His pinkie was the length of her middle finger, and his index finger was longer than hers by at least an inch.
"Wow, flirty much?"
It was Hikaru who spoke, startling the his two companions to his right. He was smirking knowingly at the two, and glanced down at their intertwined hands. Kaoru turned red and began to pull his hand away, but Tsukiko tightened her grip, feeling especially bold that day.
"What, you jealous Hikaru?" she asked, quirking an eyebrow.
He laughed, alerting her to the fact that her plan had backfired. Badly, apparently.
"Are you kidding. I have shipped this," he held up his hands in a heart sign towards Tsukiko and Kaoru, "since day one. Haha, is it finally canon? Please tell me it's canon," he teased. Tsukiko slowly let go of Kaoru's hand, quietly scooting away from the younger twin and turning a beautiful shade of scarlet.
"Wow, that's amazing considering 'day one' was when we were, like, 8 or 9," she tried to argue, but Hikaru tsked at her in mock disappointment.
"I mean when you came back the other day. I could tell immediately that Kaoru was totally checking you out," Hikaru teased, now turning to jab at his flushed twin.
"I-I was not!" Kaoru protested, and Tsukiko buried herself in a pile of fluffy blankets, pillows, and the occasional chocolate bar.
"You guys~" she complained, covering her ears as Hikaru suggested a few things that turned both her and Kaoru turn a brilliate shade of crimson.
So he stopped to spare her her innocence and continued watching, Tsukiko keeping a safe barrier of blankets, pillows, plushies, and all things soft and fluffy between her and the twins. Kaoru was still a beet red, and she had only managed to calm her emotions slightly with the consumption of a fluffy chocolate marshmallow bar.
Next episode. More pink and green fluff covering up the underlying grey. And blue. So much blue. Wait, blue?
"Kousei's color is royal blue. Kaori's pink. Tsukiko's camellia pink. Watari's orange. Emi is red. Aiza is electric blue. All the characters are vibrant," she breathed, eyes entranced by the screen.
The twins "hm"ed lightly in perfect sync, already used to her strange sixth sense for people. She was always describing people with colors.
"Personally, I like Tsukiko as a strong female figure better than Kaori. The violinist seems rather typical as a main female lead. Cutesy, violent when necessary, amazing musician, all that jazz. No flaws, probably a crappy back story, and I can already see the ending of them living happily ever after, like any other slice-of-life anime," Hikaru critiqued, and Tsukiko giggled a little at his observation.
"You think? You'd be surprised what they have in store for this character. I may not have ever watched this anime, and no one in Europe has had the knowledge to spoil anything for me, but just from the first episode I can tell you it won't go as you expect," she put in slyly, annoying the older twin by saying a lot without sharing her theory.
"Agreed," Kaoru piped up, and the two-against-one theory fight began.
As they continued to watch the series, Tsukiko smiled at the fact that she'd been right. This girl is dying. She's a violent firework, and she's in the middle of her brightest flare, the one right before she fizzles out.
She was beautiful.
At least, that's what Kaoru had to think when he watched the girl beside him, wrapped up in all of her blankets and pillows, a fire in her eyes that he'd never seen before. It was unique, both tired and alive, both cold and burning, both determined and reluctant. It was so contradictory, but wasn't contradiction just individuality?
She looked so grown up and so strong.
That's what Hikaru had to think. The girl that he'd once regarded as a younger sister now looked like she'd lived so many more years than them. She must have seen so much that most hadn't, and shouldn't, see. She must have felt, hurt, cried so many tears.
Tsukiko was oblivious to the stares of the two hosts beside her and was falling asleep due to a sugar crash from all of the chocolate that she'd consumed, plus the fact that Kousei was currently playing a very rounded, spiraling Chopin Prelude, which she'd played three years ago. It had been the most boring Chopin number she'd ever had to play. But beautiful all the same, because, hey, Chopin was a genius.
Eventually, somewhere mid-way through the show, she fell asleep.
A/N: Again, please review! I love comments, positive or negative, as long as all criticism is constructive! I'll update as soon as I can, but it might take a while because I'll be gone for a while ... :(
Thanks so much for reading!