The Seiso contestants go on a trip to California to experience a different musical way of life: marching band. How will they interact with their host students and what sort of adventure lies ahead for them?

I'm not sure where this story takes place in the general storyline of La Corda d'Oro.

Disclaimer: I do not own La Corda d'Oro; I am just another crazy fan girl of Tsukimori Len!

Wild Chickens and Crazy Chicks

"So, have you guys ever seen a marching band?" Ian asked.

Len shook his head. "The closest I've ever come to seeing a marching band was watching the DVD performance of 'Blast'."

"I love 'Blast'!" Jen exclaimed.

The rest of the Seiso students shrugged.

"I've only read about them," Keiichi said, staring into the brownish depths of his drink. "Marching band seems to be … full of movement," he finished.

Kahoko saw Alexis' mouth open and braced herself for a laugh attack. She noticed Len grimace and clutch his drink with both hands.

"Oh my god!" Jennifer yelped. "Alexis! Look!" She pointed behind her. "It's Number 65!"

"WHAT?!" Alexis shouted excitedly. "Number 65? Where?" She glanced wildly all about her.

Alex gave Jennifer a high-five. "Nice save," he grinned.

"Number 65?" Azuma asked.

Scott sniggered. "It's her latest football player. Every year she picks a new number and is obsessed with the guy all year."

"Uh, what?" Ryo said, looking slightly confused.

"High school marching bands play at every varsity football game," Brandon explained. "Our school is no exception. Every Friday night we go to our football team's game and play for them from the stands."

"You have one this Friday night, right?" Kazuki asked excitedly. "I think Kanazawa mentioned going to one! I get to bring my trumpet and play with you guys! I'm so excited! Our school doesn't do anything like this!"

"Really?" Alex said. "What kind of stuff do you do with your school?"

"Well," Len said. "Our school is divided up into two sections: the general education section and the music section. The two sections rarely do anything together. In fact, we even have different uniforms. The music section is centered around music, while the general education section centers around the typical schoolwork and sports. Music students don't really have time for anything except music, which is how it should be."

He shot Ryo a glare, which Jennifer and Alexis did not fail to notice.

"You guys don't really like each other, do you?" Jennifer asked.

"I would say not," Alexis agreed.

The two girls met each other's eyes and sparks seemed to fly between them. They grasped hands and said together, "Operation Make Ryo and Len Into Bosom Buddies Has Now Officially Started!"

They broke their eye contact, fixed their stares on Len and Ryo, and let out an evil sounding chuckle.

Ryo leaned away from the girls. "Is that …normal for them? Should I be scared? Worried? What exactly are they going to do?"

Len gave him a frosty glare. "I do not know, but I would appreciate it if you didn't get so close to me."

By scooting away from the girls Ryo had unconsciously gotten closer to Len. He moved away from the disgruntled violinist.

Alexis smiled at Jennifer. "Look how easy it was to get them closer! By the time they leave they'll practically be brothers!"

Kahoko couldn't believe what these California girls were doing. She sniggered. This trip was going to be way much more fun then she had expected.

"Are you guys really close to the people who are in the same section as you?" Jen wanted to know. "I mean, we hang out together all the time. And even though Ian is our official section leader, Jennifer is our behind-the-scenes section leader. She makes us treat bags and writes us encouraging notes when we go to competitions and stuff."

"That sounds awesome!" Kazuki said. "But we don't do anything like that. I mean, I know the other trumpet players who are in the same groups as me, but we don't hang out or do stuff outside of music class."

Kahoko imagined Jennifer making her trumpet section treats. Yes, she could totally see that. Then she tried to imagine Len baking something for his fellow violin players and nearly choked on her blackberry Italian soda. First: it wasn't something Len would ever consider doing. Next: he would burn down his entire house trying to make something edible. And that was saying something (Len had a big house).

She could picture Kazuki doing something for his fellow trumpet players. She smiled. He would be so cute about it. She couldn't imagine any of the other musicians making treat bags.

"Next Sunday we're planning on going to the movies to see Speed Racer," Scott said.

"It's all Jennifer's idea," Alex explained. "She's madly in love with that Korean actor guy who's going to be in it."

"The rest of us are just going along to make sure she doesn't do something stupid," Ian said. "Like jump up and down and scream like a banshee when he makes his first appearance on screen."

"Or shout at him from her seat when everyone else is dead quiet."

"Or compare him in a loud voice to the guy who plays Speed Racer and get beaten up by Emile Hirsh fan girls."

Jennifer snorted at that one. "I could take 'em," she said confidently.

Through all the playful banter that went on between the Del Oro trumpets, Kahoko felt an incredible amount of love radiating from each of them. These people truly loved each other, and Kahoko sensed an unbreakable bond between them. She wondered if she would ever feel like that with her fellow music contestants. Maybe this trip will help us be more like them she thought wishfully. These guys looked like they had fun just being in each other's company.

"We were actually hoping you guys would come with us," Jen said. "Would you like to come see it with us on Sunday?"

Kahoko's heart leapt. "I would love to!" she exclaimed. She glanced at Shouko, who hadn't said a word since they had gotten to the shop. "Doesn't it sound like fun?"

Shouko gave a shy nod and sipped at her tea.

Ryo and Kazuki grinned. "Count me in!" they both said enthusiastically.

Azuma nodded. "I would be honored." He looked over at Keiichi, who still appeared to be fascinated by his drink.

Keiichi looked up. "Bouncy balls, race cars, Rain …sounds like an adventure."

Kahoko glanced over at Len.

He opened his mouth to speak. "I—" and was promptly cut off by Alexis.

"Awesome! I knew you'd want to come!" she said happily. "There was no way you'd pass up a treat bag made just for the occasion by our very own Jennifer!"

Kazuki looked like he was about to die of excitement. "We get treat bags too? No way! Really? Oh my gosh, I am so … so … " He face disappeared into a huge grin and he slurped his drink happily.

"I love this guy," Alexis said, scooting her chair closer to Kazuki's. "Let's be best buddies for this trip, okay?" She offered her hand and they did some kind of complicated handshake thing.

"So tomorrow you guys are just going to come with us to all our classes," Brandon explained. "Nothing super musical planned except for watching us practice in the morning."

"Kanazawa mentioned that," Azuma said. "You guys have a rehearsal every morning as a full ensemble?"

"Yes," Jen replied. "Our classes are divided into the block schedule: fall term we have the same four classes everyday, and then in the spring we have four new classes which we go to every day. Each class is about an hour and a half. Marching band students however, have five classes in the fall. Marching band is our class before classes officially start. Actually, it's zero and first block."

"We get to school by 6:50am everyday," Alex continued. "We're usually up at the football field by 7am. The rest of the school arrives for class at 7:50am. Since marching band is zero and first block, we practice every morning until around 9am. Then we pack up and bring all our stuff back to the band room. We have a break until 9:35am and then we go to second block."

"Was that overwhelming?" Jennifer asked. "Was that too much information to handle at one time?"

"No, I got it," Kahoko said, processing what had just being said. The other Seiso students nodded in agreement.

"So we get to watch your morning band practice and then go to your non-band classes with you?" Azuma clarified.

"That would be correct," Alex answered.

"So," Alexis said promptly, and Kahoko anticipated a major change in conversation topic, "who is going out with who?"

Ryo, who had just taken a sip of his drink, choked. Len's ears turned a bit pink on the edges and Kazuki's face turned bright red. Azuma let out an amused laugh. Kahoko felt her stomach do something weird.

Keiichi and Shouko appeared to be off in their own little worlds.

"I knew it," Alexis said triumphantly. "There's some love going on between some of you guys!"

Ryo tried to regain his composure. "What about you guys?" he asked, making an attempt to slightly change the subject.

"I have a girlfriend," Brandon offered. "She's in the pit, meaning she plays keyboards."

"My girlfriend is in color guard," Scott said, drinking his coffee.

"I'm going out with a flute player," Alex said.

"I just broke up with my girlfriend," Ian said. "So I'm going to stay low for a bit."

"I'm in love with Kazuki and Len," Alexis said seriously.

Everyone stared at her. Both of Len's ears turned completely pink and Kazuki's face turned even redder, which Kahoko didn't think was possible. She'd seen Kazuki blush before, but she'd never seen Len's ears turn colors. It was kind of fascinating.

Jen groaned. "I am so bored at school with all the guys! No one stands out! There's no one for me to crush on at all!"

"I'm in love with Ian," Jennifer said seriously.

Everyone stared at her, Del Oro and Seiso alike.

"Uh, what?" Scott asked.

Kahoko sensed some drama coming up.

Alexis rubbed at her ears. "Did I hear you right, or do I have liquid in my ears?"

Ian looked like a deer in the headlights.

Jennifer kept her sober expression up for a few seconds, and then lost it.

"You didn't actually think I was serious, did you?" she said, wiping tears of laughter form her eyes. "Me in love with Ian? Man that's a good one." She turned to Alex. "I win that round! For my prize I want another cherry Italian soda."

Alex groaned. "Dang it, I didn't think you'd actually manage to pull it off. Everyone actually believed you for those few seconds." He sniggered. "I am never going to forget the looks on their faces." Still laughing, he left to buy her another soda.

"What just happened?" Azuma asked.

"Alex and Jennifer will make all these crazy bets with each other and then try to pull them off on us." Ian groaned. "We should have seen that one coming. We were due for another one of their bets anyway."

"Ryo did a nice subject change," Alexis whispered to Kahoko. "But don't think we won't bring it up again!" she grinned.

Alex returned and plunked down another soda in front of Jennifer.

"Thanks Alex," she said sweetly.

Alex just rolled his eyes.

Back at Jennifer's house, the two girls got ready for bed.

"This is your bed," she told Kahoko, motioning to the bed on the far left. "Hope you like the Harry Potter bed sheets," she grinned.

Kahoko smiled. "They're cool."

"So," Jennifer said, plopping down on to her bed. "What's the deal between you and Len?"

"What?" Kahoko asked, slightly surprised. Where had that come from?

Jennifer laughed. "Oh come on! He always seems so cold, and then you talk and he glances at you and his whole demeanor softens. Don't tell me you haven't noticed," she said smiling. "What do you think of him?"

What do I think of him? Kahoko wondered. He was the first violin sound she had ever loved, and he had helped her so much (in his seemingly cold way) throughout the competition.

"Um," Kahoko began.

Jennifer stopped her. "Don't worry about trying to figure it out now. Just know that that guy has a crush the size of Texas on you." She smiled. "Len is so cute," she laughed. "He probably doesn't even realize he likes you."

Kahoko thought about that. "You're probably right," she agreed. "All he has on his mind is the violin. If anything else managed to get inside his head he probably wouldn't know what to do!"

"Kazuki is pretty adorable," Jennifer said. "He always seems so happy. I bet he's really fun to hang out with."

"He's very easy to hang out with," Kahoko replied. "And I think it's really funny how Alexis decided they're going to best friends for the course of this trip."

Jennifer laughed. "Alexis is so awesome. I love that kid."

"Kid?" Kahoko asked. Alexis seemed a bit too old to be called a kid.

Jennifer smiled. "I call all my trumpet friends kids. So do Ian and Alex, I think. It's a term of affection we use on everyone. We love each other so much. I'm really going to miss this family when the seniors graduate."

Kahoko didn't know what she was supposed to say to that.

"You guys are all so close. I'm sure you'll manage to keep in touch," she said.

Jennifer smiled. "I'm sure we will." Then she shook her head. "What am I doing? I don't want to talk about me! I want to talk about you! Well, I want you to talk to me about all those hot guys you came with! Give me some dirt on them … especially Len," she said with a fat grin.

Kahoko laughed and snuggled into her pillow. It was going to be a long night of girl talk!

So? How was it? Was it as good as the first chapter, or did you like it better? The next chapter is going to contain a lot of just the Seiso students because they're going to be watching the Del Oro students practice! Until next time!