#2- (# 24) Good Night
This is number 24 on the Sanjuu Kisu list, and the extremely late second vignette in my series. I'M SORRY. Please don't throw fruit at me, I've been legitimately busy with testing and finals and I didn't actually intend for this to be the second fic in the first place. It's also a lot longer than the first one. Plus, I should really be working on my music theory work, but instead I chose this. My sincerest apologies for my slacking, but I'm afraid you're going to find it rather commonplace from here on out. XD Yeah, yeah, I know: I fail at life.
Anyway! This particular story features quite heavily on music so I thought it would be prudent to give you the names of the songs crucial to the story.
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra's recordings of "Fantasia 2000" come in quite handy here: I was listening to my iPod on shuffle one day and Shostakovich's piano concerto number two began to play and as soon as it did this whole scenario played out with it. :D
Songs:
-Any music from "Fantasia 2000" is good, seeing as that is the focus of the larger whole of this fic. However, any other classical music would do well in its stead (I have a lot of the original "Fantasia" music in my playlist for this story and that works well too.)
-DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH'S PIANO CONCERTO NO. 2, OP. 102, FIRST MOVEMENT, PLAYS A HUGE ROLE IN THIS STORY. It is on the soundtrack for "Fantasia 2000", the music behind the clip of "The Steadfast Tin Soldier". I'm sure you can find it to listen to on imeem or radio blog if you do not have it, or purchase it on itunes. If none of those options are available to you, there are several videos on you tube of this section of the Disney film as well as performances by other orchestras (though I recommend the movie version because the recording is much cleaner.) Here's the link, take out the spaces: http:// www. Youtube .com /watch?v= Pof0WFlxA2o
-Other songs: "Firebird Suite" from "Fantasia 2000", "Pastoral Symphony no. 6" by Beethoven, "The Nutcracker Suite" by Tchaikovsky, "On a Clear Day" from "Kiki's Delivery Service", music from the album "Simple Gearle" by Stacey Earle, "Married Life" from the film "Up", and "No Air" the 'Glee' version….BUT MOSTLY SHOSTAKOVICH'S CONCERTO. :D
I live a ways away from Ravinia, the park mentioned here, on the outskirts of Chicagoland. Ravinia is a summer music festival of sorts with a few little stands selling food surrounding a large green lawn and a pavilion and stage where the musician's play as well as a few "Arts centers" in the back. Music at Ravinia isn't usually the kind of music I like, but I accompany my family and their friends occasionally and sit on the lawn. Aptly dubbed, the lawn is a huge picnic ground where people-watching is at its best: families bring food and lawn chairs and listen to live music being dispersed through large, black speakers. The rich and well-to-do bring candelabras and fine crystal to drink from as well as teakwood folding tables and ornate little folding chairs. In my opinion, if you really cared about the music being played you wouldn't sit on the lawn, you'd stand behind the pavilion and watch (that's what I usually do). Apparently they have a dance floor there now…
DISCLAIMER: I really don't know about the inner workings of Ravinia and its staff nor do I know jack crap about the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. All characters herein are purely fictional and in no way meant to resemble anyone involved with Ravinia and/or the CSO. And I don't own InuYasha or the music in this story. Except for "Mariner's Song" which is actually a composition of mine intended for this fanfic. If you would like to listen to "Mariner's Song", you can see a video here: http:// www. Youtube .com/ watch?v= 8yPPeb1FImU . It is the first song performed ,that is me playing, and I am not as young as I look, I promise. XD
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Rated: T for cussing
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Translations:
Ano- "Um"
Oba-Chan- Aunt; endearing
Hai- yes, formal
Nani- what?
Gambatte- good luck (technically)
Obaa-Chan- Grandma; endearing
Chotto matte- wait up/ hold on a minute!
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"…"- Spoken English.
'...'- Thoughts.
… - Spoken Japanese.
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Present day AU- youkai do not exist.
Sesshoumaru- Twenty seven-eight-ish.
Rin- Twenty five-six-ish.
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On with the show, and Happy New Year, all!
Good Night
"Teri, is the monitor up for backstage area three?"
"…"
"Teri?"
"…"
"TERI!!"
Teri Evans swished her long black bangs from her eyes and motioned to the tattooed man in front of her, with a sultry bat of her over-made-up eyes, to hold on for a moment.
"Teri?! Are you there?" The black walkie-talkie clipped to her belt crackled after each message. Teri rolled her eyes and removed it from its holster, bringing it to her face.
"Ya." She said in a rather Chicagoan monotone; "I'm right here".
"Where are you?" asked Lana on the other end with an over-exaggerated huff.
"Out by the pavilion." Teri muttered back, eying the boy in front of her as he sauntered away towards another girl with a wave.
"Why? You're supposed to be in here with me checking the monitors, it's like, five minutes 'til show time!"
"Aw, shit…" Teri sighed as the tattooed boy kissed another girl on the cheek and strolled away towards the lawn with his hand in the girl's tight, white capris' back pocket. Teri noted the lime green, lacey thong showing through the woman's pants.
"How attractive…" she drawled out.
"What? What the hell are you talking about?! Boss is gonna be here, like, any minute now and I can't fucking find you!!" Screeched Lana, her orange-tanned face shaking as she gripped the walkie-talkie.
"Chill. I'm on my way." Teri replied, moseying her way back through the shade and up the red brick path towards the building at the back of the park.
"You, like, better run, kid!" said Lana, her flustered, know-it-all voice whining through the speaker, "Cuz itsa be my head for you not being here, you're, like, my partner, and I don't want boss mad at-! Oh…" Lana stopped.
Teri listened for Lana's breathy, bratty voice to resume its tirade, but straightened immediately when a different voice sounded over the static.
"Teri, why aren't you in the security room with your partner?"
Teri swallowed and began formulating an answer to her boss's query, but did not have the time to reply.
"You have thirty seconds to get in here before I move you to grounds crew for the week, starting… now."
With the thought of spearheading trash for hours well into early morning flooding her head, Teri sprinted through the crowd, black platform flip-flops slapping loudly against the brick pavers, and threw open the door to the cultural center, weaving her way in and around several hallways until at last she collided with the electronically locked security room door. A buzz sounded and she pushed the doors open, falling into the room and sliding to a breathless halt.
Rin looked at her watch. "Thirty-four…"
Teri exhaled an enormous amount of air and slouched her shoulders in defeat, looking at her boss through her left eye, the only one not shaded by her short and unruly black hair. The room was silent.
"But I'll give it to you since the doors were locked." Said Rin, folding her arms across her chest and smiling gently at Teri.
"You…" Teri panted, noting Lana's obvious disapproval of their boss's decision, "are a saint, boss."
"Pfft! And don't call me boss." Said Rin, "Now go and check your cameras so that Ramon can take over."
The punk teen obliged. "Camera three is working properly, Rin." She said, vacating her post at the controls and giving it over to the security attendant, Ramon.
Rin watched the orchestra members begin to tune up. She found that there was something comforting in the sound of mismatching notes during warm-ups; perhaps it was the awaited moment in which all the notes would fall into place as one glorious C. She smiled as the conductor walked on from stage left to the cheers of the audience in the pavilion. He waved, nodded, and smiled, climbing up to his podium to take a bow in his crisp black tuxedo, blending with his musicians on the black and white screen of the monitor. He tapped the side of his music stand twice and brought his arms up loftily above his head. The orchestra responded with that solitary and unified C again and he quieted them with a slow flick of his wrist, bringing his arms down to his sides. He paused, turning his head ever so slowly towards each member of the orchestra before facing center once again. Then, he raised his arms in one fluid motion, and brought them down again, accompanied immediately by the smash of the timpani and a pair of cymbals and a striking blow from the brass. The concert had begun.
Rin sighed in relief as the music began to flow through its urgent crescendos and decrescendos and as the conductor writhed with it, directing its flow like the land directs a river down from the mountains. The musicians were all identical black and grey dots, but for one violinist. Rin spotted him and smiled: Nishi Sesshoumaru's long grey hair gave away his position as first chair of his section. Rin, still fascinated, pulled herself away from the performance reluctantly.
"C'mon," she motioned for the two teens to follow her, "It's back to the staff room with you two; you've got a lot of pamphlets to fold."
Rin took in another deep breath and shoved her weight against the piano; one more push and she'd have it in place. She inhaled again and grunted as she leaned her shoulder against the black Kawai grand, forcing it into a small space between several amplifiers and a cart of music stands.
"Phew," she said, wiping her brow with the back of her hand. She reached over to the stack of amps and pulled a dusty green sheet from the top of the lot. She hummed quietly to herself as she circled the piano, outfitting it in its large, custom-made cover. She swiveled around and smoothed the wrinkles across the top, bringing the elastic front down towards the keyboard. Rin stopped.
She looked sadly at the wooden cover hiding the keys and lamented the idea of pulling the sheet down to cover it. Rin glanced around quickly and trained her ears to the rest of the backstage area. She couldn't hear anyone, so she figured, 'why not'. She rolled the dusty sheet back behind the piano's music stand and gently slid the cover off of the keys, pushing it back up into the piano. She smiled fondly at the ivory keys, running her fingers along them softly, and sat down to play.
She took in a quiet breath. The melody began to flow with a melancholy yet comforting tone, simple and amiable for such long and delicate sounds. Rin shut her eyes and let her hands whisk along the keys, painting a picture of a ship on stormy seas, riding large, black waves in the key of d minor. She struck a b natural when reaching for b flat and winced, stopping immediately. She sighed, opening her eyes: the song didn't please her as much as it once had. She lifted her hands and began where she had left off.
The musty outdoor smell of the pavilion soothed her a little; let her feel the song had a purpose again. She thought of the ocean spray and again she closed her eyes. She threw her hands into the dramatic B section and plunked out the heavy chord progression for a melody that she could never quite get right. She let her left hand rumble all the way down to C1 and held the chords there, suspended in a nice resolve. Rin swayed, gyrating with invisible waves, eyes closed, as she finished the piece in a higher octave, bringing it to a simple, music-box style end. She removed her hands from the keys gently, bringing them slowly up to hang suspended and level with her chest, and she nodded approvingly at the ringing tone still pervading the dusty air until something caught her eye.
Irrational, though it may have been, Rin screamed, sliding to the farthest end of the piano bench. There, standing mere feet away in the stage left entrance was Sesshoumaru Nishi, in full tux and all, watching her. He flinched with her sudden outburst, and leaned back a ways. They watched each other in silence, Sesshoumaru with gently quirked silver eyebrows and Rin with her hands clasped firmly over her mouth.
Sesshoumaru spoke first.
"Is that all?"
Rin swallowed hard and cleared her throat with an awkward chuckle. "I'm sorry, I uh, didn't see you there- well yeah, that's all I have, really…"
"You wrote it?"
"Uh, yeah; yes I did." Rin said, a little flushed.
There was a pause.
"Does it have name?" Queried Sesshoumaru.
"Ano, I call it 'Mariner's Song'," Said Rin, suddenly quite embarrassed at the tune's title, "but uh, that sounds a little cheesy…"
Sesshoumaru said nothing. He cocked his head to the side and contemplated the piano and the woman before him. He then set his case on the floor and flipped open the latches one by one. Rin watched, utterly confused, as he removed the velvet cover from his violin and gently lifted the instrument from its case. Sesshoumaru undid the velvet straps keeping the bow in place, and lifted it up, nudging the case closed with his foot (as Rin wondered how many hundreds of dollars he had just put his shoeprint on) and looked calmly back at her.
"The chord progress." He said simply. Rin glanced around. Sesshoumaru slowly raised an eyebrow at her response, or lack thereof. Rin blinked.
"Oh! You mean for the song?" she asked, assuming he meant chord progression. He nodded.
"Oh! Well, it's in d minor and in ¾ time, if you needed to know that…" She trailed off, disconcerted under his cool gaze. "And the chords go from d minor, to B flat major, to C major, then G major and F major and then-."
Sesshoumaru cut her off. "Play it."
Rin turned back to the piano, wiped her sweaty palms on her skirt, took a deep breath and began the song again. She cycled through the melody and reached part b, stopping.
"Keep playing," said Sesshoumaru.
So she obliged, beginning the melody all over again. She jumped in her seat, swiveling to look at Sesshoumaru as he lifted the violin to his chin and began to play alongside her. He was following the melody in a string of melancholy tremolos and scales, as well as simple drawn out notes in keeping with the chord progression. As Rin began part B, Sesshoumaru swept into a melody that Rin tried to mentally record. It was exactly the melody she had been searching for and had been unable to spit out.
Rin watched him tentatively as he swayed gently to the music, eyes closed and brows furrowed pensively. Rin found herself grinning; this man had been the missing part of her song, this duet between violin and piano the solution to her problems. And of all people, she was having a jam session with Sesshoumaru Nishi…
She swept the melody up to the next octave and he followed in perfect sync, new waves of sound emulating from the wobbling strings of the beautiful violin. Rin could hear the melody softly singing from Sesshoumaru's violin, so she dropped into the root chords of the theme to accompany him. She relished the sound of her music on his instrument, catching his eye as he played through the measure. Sesshoumaru nodded to her and began to fall back into simple strands of notes, and Rin took up the melody when the measure ended, bringing it back home. She began to slow the tempo, and Sesshoumaru followed adeptly, joining her and bringing the piece to a slow and elegant ending pianissimo.
Silence followed. Rin looked warily over at Sesshoumaru, who was already looking at her with piercing golden eyes.
Rin couldn't help it. She broke into a wide grin and slowly began to laugh, face flushed with effort and pride at her performance. Sesshoumaru did not say a word.
"I'm sorry," she said, wiping a tear of laughter from her eye, "This is something I never imagined would happen. I mean, when I woke up this morning, I didn't exactly expect to be playing one of my old pieces with Nishi Sesshoumaru of all people." She said with a smile and an exasperated gesture.
A smirk twitched itself onto Sesshoumaru's face. "You know my name?" He said, slightly taken aback, though obviously proud. Rin grinned, blushing.
"Of course I do! You played your first symphony when you were four!" She said, a little flabbergasted, Sesshoumaru's eyebrow raised yet again, "My aunt is practically your biggest fan. She has every one of your solo albums, all of your original works, and practically every recording you've ever made with an ensemble or orchestra. She thinks you're Japan's best import." Sesshoumaru had both his eyebrows raised now. Rin just chuckled and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, embarrassed. A moment passed.
"Um, your violin is very beautiful," Rin said. Sesshoumaru nodded. "You have played long?" Sesshoumaru asked.
Rin blinked and smiled unwittingly. The man was very stern but she had to stifle the urge to giggle at his English in comparison to his expressions. "Yes, um, about sixteen years now." She answered with a few nods. When he did not respond, she continued. "I majored in music through Columbia, but I minored in business. Funny enough, business is the only thing that's really gotten me anywhere."
"What do you perform?" he asked.
"Like, what style?" Rin attempted to clarify. Sesshoumaru nodded.
"Oh! Well, everything: my teacher has me playing as many genres as I can get my hands on, but I love to play classical pieces the best. Y'know, Debussy, Chopin, Rachmaninoff…?" Rin replied.
"Have favorite piece?" Sesshoumaru queried, English faltering again.
"Uh…probably Dmitri Shostakovich's second piano concerto, opus 102, the first movement, specifically." She smiled, "I had to work on it for a year before I could play it the whole way through without one wrong note. But I can play it smoothly now." She nodded punctually and with a hint of pride.
Sesshoumaru opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the fizzle of the intercom. A woman's voice, tired and in desperate need of caffeine, echoed over the loudspeaker:
"Sesshoumaru Nishi, your party is ready to leave at the West Gate; Sesshoumaru Nishi, your party is ready to leave at the West Gate."
Sesshoumaru gritted his teeth and glared at the nearest speaker. "My ride," he told Rin venomously, jabbing his thumb at the speaker. Rin smiled at his embarrassment and tried to hide it behind her hand. Sesshoumaru packed up his violin and shut the case angrily, picking it up and striding off towards the exit. He paused at the door and turned on his heel. "What is your name?"
"Rin. Matsushida Rin." She answered with her family name first as a comfort and bowed her head politely.
"Hrn." Sesshoumaru grunted, face blank, turning and pushing the door open.
"Nice piece," escaped his lips before he even knew he'd thought it, floating into the backstage area as the door closed behind him. Rin smiled. "Thanks," she said to no one. She sat silently at the piano for a while, watching the space where he had stood. Then she rose and folded the cover down over the keys, pulling the sheet over the front and scooting the bench under the piano with her knee. She sighed, laughed disbelievingly, and pulled her cell phone from out of her jacket. She turned it on and speed-dialed quickly.
"Oba-Chan? Hai: it's Rin. You'll never guess who just played a song with me…"
"Who's on tonight?" Muttered Teri, reclining in a large office chair in the security room with a pamphlet draped across her face.
"Didn't you check before you came?" snapped Marcy the undergrad, burying her nose in a music history textbook. She scrunched her puffy bob of curly hair and glared at Teri over her oversized glasses and down her pointy pale nose; "You've got the program on your face."
"What if I don't care enough?" Teri said, crumpling the program into a ball and rocketing it into a trashcan across the room. "Oh! Three pointer!" she said, turning to Marcy and blowing a smug pink bubble with her gum. "So who's playing, Marce?"
"I told you not to call me that-!"
"And I'm still ignoring you!"
Marcy glared at Teri and turned back to her textbook. "The Chicago Symphony Orchestra."
"What? Them again, weren't they here like, yesterday?" Groaned Teri. "I hate classical music…"
"It hates you," Responded Marcy glibly, "And they were here last Thursday."
"Close enough to yesterday…" Sighed Teri.
"The Backstreet Boys wanted to have a concert here a few years back but Ravinia turned 'em down," said Lana, thumbing through the latest issue of 'Seventeen' magazine; "Why couldn't we like, have them perform, huh?"
"Because," said Rin, pushing open the doors and stepping into the room, "The Backstreet Boys are trashy, much as we love them, and this is a place for serious music."
"And the dude with the harmonica and the jaw harp last night was supposed to be serious?" Asked Teri with a few loud snaps from her gum. Rin smiled. "Well that was a bit rough, but tonight will be better." She said.
"Ugh, tonight's gonna be woooorse…" whined Teri, sinking further down in her seat. Lana nodded and heaved a rather dramatic sigh. Marcy lifted her head and turned to glare at them both.
"Oh come on now," said Laurel, The head of security and grounds keeping, "you've all seen 'Fantasia', right?"
At the sight of the big boss, the girls straightened and stood up. "Which one?" asked Teri and Lana at once. "Both of them," Replied Laurel, "The first half of the concert will be selections from the old 'Fantasia' and the second half will be selections from 'Fantasia 2000'."
The girls said nothing. "Well, what are you doing around here, I don't see you working…" said Laurel. The girls set down their various forms of entertainment and scampered around.
"Someone needs to sweep the floor in the hall, I need 'quiet' signs hefted out to the ushers, and I need someone to run out to Caroline at the Picnic Box and give her this note from the boss for me and don't read it!" said Rin. Marcy bolted into the closet and grabbed the broom and dustpan. Lana lifted as many signs as she could and stumbled towards the door. Teri took the note and opened the door for Lana and Marcy as they all filed out into the hall.
Laurel sighed. "Why in God's name did Dawn have to go and have a baby, and Neil get married and go on his honeymoon, and Anita fly to Greece to see her family, And Sharif have to move to Virginia and leave me with these little children and you?" She asked Rin. "Hey," Rin said, "you picked me, remember?"
"You, not them, dear…."
"Yeah, well they come with the package…"
"Ten minutes 'til curtain," said Ramon nearby.
At the same time, in the backstage area behind the pavilion, British conductor Andre Sinclair stepped onto a rehearsal block to make an announcement.
"Quiet, quiet!" He said over the din of one hundred people talking at once, "QUIET!!!"
The noise quieted quickly; making the man angry before a performance was not wise. Andre motioned with his hands that he wanted silence, and when he got it he spoke again.
"Everyone, there's been an accident. Clara Wagner was on her way here, biking, and she fell of and uh, rolled some feet down the road." Andre said. Mutters and whispers ascended from the crowd of musicians, including 'I told her not to take Sheridan through the ravines, but would she listen…?'
"Now, Clara's alright, she's just fine, but she broke her ankle-yeah, her right one- when she fell and she's at the hospital getting a cast put on. So," The crowd of musicians waited for the news they did not want to hear: "She can't go on tonight."
Groans and cuss words rose from the crowd, women folding their arms and shaking their heads, men massaging their temples gingerly. "So, needless to say, we need you, Jonathan, to play in her stead." Said Andre, pointing to a nervous looking thirty-year-old in the middle of the crowd. Jonathan pushed towards the conductor. "You look nervous Jon," said Andre, kneeling to face the man, "you play piano just as well as Clara…"
"Thanks sir, but that's not it: I can play through the first half of the concert, but…" said Jonathan, picking up where he left off after noting Andre's glare, "Sir, my sister's wedding is tonight, and I have warned you, sir, for the last four months that I'd be leaving early tonight, sir…." Andre looked at him pensively. "Sir," pleaded Jonathan, "I'm going to be late as it is, I might miss the ceremony if I stay one piece more!"
Andre inhaled stiffly through his nose and straightened with a crack from his knees. "Right, I forgot. Phin!" At the sound of his name a small young man with ashen blond hair crept dejectedly towards the conductor. "Phin," said Andre, "you're playing the second half." "Fine, good sir, but-." Said Phin. "But what?" asked Andre, a vein beginning to pulse openly in his forehead.
"I never learned Shostakovich's concerto… that was Jonathan's job." Said Phin.
Andre turned his attention to the ensemble. "Is there anyone who can play Shostakovich's piano concerto on the piano itself?!"
No one answered.
"Shit!!" Hissed Andre. He ran a hand through his balding gray hair. "Alright," he said after a deep breath, "we'll end with 'Rhapsody in Blue' instead."
"But sir," said a man in the front, "The concerto's MacArthur's favorite!"
"Yeah!" said someone else, "And it's his eightieth birthday celebration tonight!"
At the mention of the fickle orchestra sponsor seated in the pavilion, Andre comforted himself with idea that the man was still well enough within his old senses to not cancel funding for the orchestra because of one missed song… but he knew he was deluding himself.
"Does anybody have a BETTER plan?" he asked loudly with an eerie, false laugh. The orchestra was silent. "No? Of course not! Now, get your things backstage and set up quickly!"
The crowd began to move, muttering about the loss of their solo pianist and the impending loss of their largest sponsor. Sesshoumaru told the fifth chair for violin, who practically worshipped him, to take his things onstage and set up for him. The redheaded woman obliged, giggling as she trotted away from him. Sesshoumaru made his way towards Andre, who saw him and cringed away, groaning and holding his head.
"Oh, not now Nishi, I have more important things to worry about than whether your seat is to your liking or some odd shit…"
"What if this Sesshoumaru can help?"
Andre sighed in frustration; "You can't play the piano so you're useless to me right now, go find someone else to bloody piss off while you set up…"
"This Sesshoumaru knows someone who can play piece."
Andre threw down the clipboard he was making checks on and turned to face Sesshoumaru. "Look, how long have you been in America? What, like five, six years? Whenya gonna stop talking in third person? You sound like a bloody idiot standing there…." Andre paused. Sesshoumaru was staring at him intently.
"What did you just say?"
"I know someone who can play piece." Said Sesshoumaru smugly.
Andre looked at him disbelievingly and paused for a moment before biting out testily: "If this is someone you know in Japan, I'll bloody your nose…"
Sesshoumaru shook his head and looked at the conductor blankly. "She works here. She says she can play piece."
Andre stood silent for a moment. "You've never even heard her play it?"
"No-."
"Jesus Christ, Nishi-!"
"-But I have faith in her."
Sesshoumaru was shocked by his own statement, as was Andre.
"Since when do you even have faith in humanity?" Queried Andre cautiously. He shook his head. "I have no idea why I'm doing this- you: find her. Give her the spare music from my bag, you get her to practice and you check on her during intermission, got it?" Sesshoumaru nodded and moved off to find the music.
"Nishi!" called Andre, "I'll make a speech before the concerto, tell everyone about Clara! You go get her then!"
Sesshoumaru nodded, snatching the music from the bag and making his way to the gate. The lawn was quite filled up and every seat in the pavilion was taken. He winded his way up the path and towards a group of servicemen. They eyed him suspiciously, and Sesshoumaru remembered he was wearing a tuxedo.
"Do you know Rin?" He asked.
The men looked from one another back to Sesshoumaru and shook their heads. Sesshoumaru moved on. He crossed onto the lawn and approached one of the ushers. The boy had his back turned to him, so Sesshoumaru tapped him on the shoulder.
"Do you kno-."
"SHHHHHHH!!!!"
Sesshoumaru felt the spittle hit his face and he grimaced, wiping his cheek with his hand as the boy leaned up on tip-toe, white gloved finger pressed to his pursed lips, and shoved a large white sign in Sesshoumaru's face. Sesshoumaru had to lean back to read it: 'Quiet! No talking: Performance is about to begin!' He raised an eyebrow and turned away quickly, heading back the way he came. There were two teenage girls leaning against a tree.
"Do you know Rin?"
They blinked at him cautiously.
"Do you know Rin?" he repeated. "Erin?" said one of the girls. "No, Rin."
"Is that a name?"
"Yes: a woman, Rin. I need find her; you do not know her?"
"No… what's her last name?"
Sesshoumaru couldn't remember. "I do not know." He said.
"Rin Matsushida?"
Sesshoumaru turned to see Teri, blowing a large pink bubble before popping it with her finger.
"Yes," said Sesshoumaru, "That is her name."
Teri said nothing.
"I need find her," said Sesshoumaru.
"…"
"I need speak with her!"
"Like…now?" said Teri, bored.
"Yes, now. It is urgent." Said Sesshoumaru. Teri blew another bubble. "Alright. Follow me." Sesshoumaru did so, leaving the two girls behind and very confused.
He followed Teri closely up the path and towards the cultural center. He stepped on the back of her flip-flop he was following so closely.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Dude: Back up off my junk!" said Teri, turning to glare at him through her one visible eye. Sesshoumaru looked at her quizzically. "Back up," Teri said, "You are waaaay up in my bubble, man. This is my space so just step back and chill a lil' bit, 'kay?"
Sesshoumaru took a step back. She continued to glare at him. He took another step. "Good," said Teri. Sesshoumaru gritted his teeth. "I cannot 'chill', it is urgent." He hissed. Teri rolled her eyes and turned back towards the building. Sesshoumaru followed grudgingly, shadowing her testily as they traipsed through hall after hall and around corner after corner. When at last they reached a large pair of glass doors, they stopped. "Wait here," said Teri, sliding the card around her neck through a slot in the handle. The door buzzed and she walked through leaving Sesshoumaru irked and alone.
"Hey Rin?" She called as she walked in.
"Hn?" Rin answered, seated in front of one of the monitors, changing the video parameters to fit the whole stage on screen.
"There's some guy out here wants to see you," said Teri motioning to the door with her thumb. "Who is he?" asked Rin. "Dunno, he's pretty good looking, but he's kind of a brat," Teri responded. "Rin," said Laurel with a smirk, "I told you not to bring guys to work with you…" "What, like he's mine? Are you kidding? Tell him I'm busy, Teri." Said Rin. Teri nodded and disappeared around the corner.
The door buzzed open and Sesshoumaru glared at Teri angrily. "She's busy. Come back later." Teri said pulling the door closed, but it was stuck. Sesshoumaru pulled the handle back towards him and swept into the room, almost knocking Teri down. "HEY!!" said Teri quickly. Sesshoumaru stepped into the security room, finding Rin in a heartbeat.
"Teri, I said no guests: we're… busy." Said Laurel, recognizing Sesshoumaru and looking him up and down quizzically. "He put his foot in the door!" Teri spat, crossing her arms. Sesshoumaru ignored them. Rin turned to see what all the commotion was about.
"Sesshoumaru-Sama!-ow…" She said, surprised and face quite flushed, standing quickly and striking her knee on the desk. "Rin-san, I need speak with you." "Oh," said Rin, moving to face him in the center of the room, "okay…"
"Boss," said Lana, batting her eyes at Sesshoumaru and flipping her hair over her shoulder as she came to stand behind Rin, "introduce me to your friend…" "No," said Rin.
"Oh my God: you're Sesshoumaru Nishi!!" Said Marcy gleefully from the corner. She set down her book and looked at him with doe eyes, "Can I have your autograph please, sir?"
"Se-hoobajawhaty?" said Teri. "Sesshoumaru Nishi!" repeated Marcy. "Gesundheit," offered Lana, still staring at Sesshoumaru. "What?" asked Marcy. "Well you said somethin' really weird I thought you'd sneezed maybe…." Said Lana, beaming at Sesshoumaru. "Oh my God…" muttered Laurel, putting her head in her hands. Marcy looked at Lana with disgust. "That's his name, stupid!" "What is?" Questioned Lana. "Sesshoumaru Nishi!" said Laurel and Marcy at once. "Oh!" said Lana, turning back to look at Sesshoumaru flirtatiously, "I like it! What is it again?"
"Okay, everybody just SHUT UP." Said Laurel, standing and spreading her arms like a referee, "Let the man talk." Sesshoumaru faced Rin again.
"Clara Wagner was in accident, she is at the-." "WHAT? CLARA?!" screeched Marcy. The entire room was silent. Marcy edged closer, eyes watery, "Please Mr. Nishi, you have to tell me what happened; I'm her number one fan!!"
Sesshoumaru was silent for a moment. "She fell off her bike." "Is she okay?" whimpered Marcy. "Yes. She broke her right ankle, but is okay." "So she can't go on?" simpered Marcy. Sesshoumaru nodded. "Oh nooooo…." Marcy brought her hands to her mouth.
"Who the hell's Clara Wagner?" asked Teri. Several people opened their mouths to speak, but Marcy got there first. "She's only the greatest living pianist in the Western hemisphere!!" "Well, I wouldn't go that far, dear…" Laurel said. Marcy glared at her.
"Wait she broke her ankle, right?" said Lana. Sesshoumaru nodded. "So why can't she go on; you don't need your foot to play the piano!" Silence followed this comment. "You need it to play the pedal, dear…" said Laurel. "Piano's have pedals?" asked Lana. Everyone groaned. "Pedals like bikes, or petals like flowers?" Lana asked. "Okay, just stop: you get stupider every time you open your mouth." Said Teri. "Look who's talking," Lana fired back, "stupider isn't even a word…" "Shut up!" shouted Laurel and Rin.
"Who's going on for Clara, then?" Asked Marcy nervously. "We have two pianists that will play in her stead, but they can't play Shostakovich's concerto." said Sesshoumaru. "He used a contraction! Finally!" said Teri gleefully. Laurel smacked the back of her head. "Who's going to play the concerto?" Wheedled Marcy.
Sesshoumaru turned to Rin. "Rin is."
Everyone was quiet.
Rin chuckled nervously. "I'm sorry, it sounded like you said that I'm going on for Clara Wagner…" "You are." Replied Sesshoumaru. Rin looked at him incredulously, mouth wide open. "You're serious…?" "Quite. It is our sponsor's favorite piece and he is in the audience: we must play it."
"With all do respect Sesshoumaru-Sama, you've lost your mind! I can't go on for Clara Wagner-!"
"Yes you can: you know the concerto?"
"Well, yeah: by heart, but-!"
"Here is the music," Sesshoumaru shoved the booklet into Rin's arms. "You will practice. I will return at the break and you play for me. If you play well, which you will, I will retrieve you during Andre's speech before the concerto." Rin looked at him, completely speechless. He looked her up and down. "You will need something else to wear onstage." He said, turning to leave.
"Wait, Sesshoumaru-Sama this is crazy!" cried Rin, following him to the door, "I've never played with an orchestra!" "What is it you Americans say? 'First time for everything'?" "No, Sesshoumaru-Sama, please, I-!"
"You will play and you will play well." He said sternly. Rin shut her mouth. "Get ready," said Sesshoumaru, slipping out the door and back towards the stage.
No one said a thing.
"Alright troops, you heard the man, let's hop to it: Ramon!" Laurel said, turning to the poor man who'd been a silent witness to the whole fiasco, "man the booth. Lana!" "Yes boss?" replied Lana, saluting. Laurel took a key ring from the clump of keys around her neck and handed them to Lana: "The one with the blue tag unlocks the costume shop. We need dresses- black dresses-we need hair pins, we need make up, we need a hairbrush, we need jewelry, we need shoes-!" she looked at Rin's heels. "Okay maybe not shoes, but everything else, now go!" Lana nodded and scampered towards the door. "You two: I want this place and the staff room spick and span, I need you out to greet people for the meeting at 7:30 and then I want you back in here, got it?" Teri and Marcy nodded, beginning their clean up process. "You," said Laurel, grabbing Rin by shaky shoulders, "Are coming with me to the practice rooms. You need us we're in practice room 2B, got it?" The girl's nodded. "You hear that Lana?!" Laurel yelled down the hall as they left the room. "Yeah!" came the reply. "All right Rin," said Laurel, rubbing her shoulders, "Let's get you ready to perform."
Rin's fingers ached. She was shaking with nerves and, after playing through the entire piece five times, she was nitpicking the details to death. Laurel was knocking eagerly on the door, though she let herself in. Rin ran a hand through her hair shakily and let out a long, ragged breath. Laurel dumped a bundle of cloth in her lap and watched as Rin shook herself out of whatever reverie she was in….er, concerto, rather.
"C'mon kiddo," said Laurel, offering Rin her hand, "Time to get dressed: you're on in four songs."
In answer, Rin stood and made a small squeaking noise in utter panic. Laurel chuckled and led her off to the bathroom.
As Rin changed in the dressing stall, she ran over the chain events in her mind again and again, wondering how she'd gotten herself into such a mess. 'Course,' she thought to herself, 'wasn't really my choice to get into this mess, was it? This is really all his fault…'
"Hey Rin!!" Lana was shouting. Rin chose to ignore her over-tanned employee and continued pacing the stall trying to think of a way to get out of this mess.
"Rin!!" Lana's shrieks were aided by the unwelcome pounding of Teri's hands on the stall door, "We're about to crawl in there and get you!"
"Oh, alright! I'll…come out…" Rin tightened her hold on her old clothes and unlatched the door. Her cohorts were all standing there, waiting, and all a little too quiet for her comfort.
"Well…?" She asked them, holding her arms out to give them a better look at the long silken black dress.
"You're actually really pretty, boss!" said Lana cheerily. Teri whacked her in the back of the head, starting a fight for Laurel to break up and Marcy to giggle over. Rin buried her face in her hands, took a deep breath, and walked out of the restroom slowly. Her entourage followed her quickly, Laurel providing a hand on her shoulder.
Rin let out a long, nervous breath, and put her hands back at her sides. She looked around, comforted by the familiar halls of her workplace, and inhaled deeply, closing her eyes. When she reopened them, she saw something she didn't particularly want to.
Nishi Sesshoumaru made her breath catch in her throat as a mere side effect of his inability to be anything but dashing. His long silver hair was tied back and swishing behind him like a great tail and his impassive golden eyes were staring straight through her brown pair and right into her soul. She felt like he was trying to wrench it out of her.
"Whaddyou want with that…?" she muttered. "Hm?" Asked Laurel. Rin shook her head. The beautiful symbol of her destruction was coming closer and closer and Rin felt numb. She was awash with so many emotions, with fear, with frustration, with attraction for this stoic man, and with the amazingly strong fight-or-flight reflex that was pounding the need to flee into her brain. Nishi Sesshoumaru was almost to her now, reaching for her as he and Laurel exchanged words. Rin obeyed her para-sympathetic nervous system and turned away from the group, bolting back into the bathroom.
"Rin!!"
"Booooss!"
"Aw, C'mon-!"
Rin ignored them and headed for the first stall, bolting herself in. Through all the yelling and the sound of four pairs of feet pounding against the tile floor as they scuttled into the bathroom, Rin heard one pair waltz in quite slowly and stop outside her door. As the girls continued their barrage of encouraging phrases in an attempt to coax her out, the owner of the shiny black men's dress shoes in front of her was perfectly silent as he stood on tip-toe, snaked a long arm down into the stall, and slid the latch back. Rin was still in a state of shock that he had actually unlocked the door when Sesshoumaru swung it open, leaning on it rather smugly as though it were a fencepost. By the time Rin realized her mouth was open, Sesshoumaru had reached out to her, though she was backed up against the toilet as far as she could go, and grabbed her hand, pulling gently. Rin allowed herself to be led out seeing that there was no alternative, but she was still indignant about it.
"Just what do you think you're doing? What if I'd been taking a pee?!" She squawked as the whole group moved out into the hallway.
"You weren't," Sesshoumaru answered.
"-And you're not even allowed in the girl's bathroom, you-!"
"-And yet they always tell this Sesshoumaru my hair is- what's word? Girly…?" He interjected smoothly.
"Urgh!" Grunted Rin, shaking his hand off her wrist and standing stock still, indignant. The group procession stopped, Marcy biting her nails nervously, Lana and Teri popping gum bubbles inquisitively, and Laurel trying to smooth things over.
"C'mon, Rin, I've got the music right here…"
Rin shook her head and giggled nervously. "No, no: I can't do this."
"You have already agreed," Sesshoumaru reminded her coolly.
Her head shot up quickly. "No," she smirked, finally finding her way out, "no, I never agreed to anything! You just sorta put this on me and ran off, but I never agreed, I never said anything to the affirmative, nope!"
Rin was quite pleased with herself. "So you'll just have to go on without me."
"There is no going on without you…" said Sesshoumaru testily. Rin felt a bit of guilt eat away at the wall of her stomach.
"Look," she said calmly, "I'm sorry about this, but I don't even know if I'd play the piece well at all once I got out there: wouldn't it be better to drop the concerto, explain Clara's been in an accident, and move on to the finale instead of making me go out there and screw everything up for everybody?"
Everyone was quiet. "She has a point," said Teri. Marcy and Laurel elbowed her in the ribs in perfect synch.
"If this Sesshoumaru was…was…wunging-?"
"Winging," Rin corrected.
"-Winging this on someone who he thinks can't play, it wouldn't make sense." He said, trying to translate into English what he wished to make known. He looked at Rin intently as he continued to speak, eyes glued to hers.
"I think you can play piece, and play well, or I would not have chosen you: understand what I say?"
Rin couldn't fight the feeling that his eyes were boring into her soul again. She felt like melting and she was hopelessly aware that her cheeks were flushing under his gaze. She was losing the battle.
"You don't know anyone out there in audience: what is there to be nervous about?" He said quietly, coming closer and closer to her. Rin felt feverish.
"Well, actually," she sputtered, dropping her eyes to the floor so as to keep her sanity intact, "my grandma and my aunt are out there watching, y'know: the aunt who's obsessed with you?" She made the mistake of looking back up at him when he didn't respond quickly, which was a grave mistake. For a moment, the look on his placid face seemed almost humored and laced with some form of kindness, however bare and fleeting of a second it was. She melted again. "Then you should not be worried if they watch merely for this Sesshoumaru." Rin didn't know what it was about his speaking voice, however plagued with grammar and pronunciation mistakes it was, that made her quiver from the top of her head to the tips of her toes.
"Is this what butter feels like everyday…?" She whispered.
"Nani?" queried Sesshoumaru.
"N-nothing," Rin said, shaking her head vigorously. Sesshoumaru had to admit that she was even more attractive with the barest hint of makeup shadowing her face and an elegant black dress that nicely encased her curves. Not to mention how the combination accentuated the deep brown-black abyss of her large, beautiful eyes.
She broke him from his thoughts.
"I'm still not going out there."
She was trying his patience. He checked his watch: 14 minutes until Andre wanted to start. He had no time to lose.
He grabbed Rin's hand and started down the hall briskly.
"Hey! Hey!" Rin yelped as Sesshoumaru pretended not to hear her.
"HEY!!!"
This caught him off guard and he turned to face her. He could see utter fear in her eyes as she clawed his hand off of hers and backed towards her boss. He actually felt a little sorry for her.
"I won't do it, NO! I can't! I'm so nervous I could just… pass out!!" she said loudly. He moved to take her hand again.
"I said I'm not going! And I don't care how sickeningly handsome or talented you are, or how incredibly attracted to you I am, you're not making me go!" she said staunchly, standing as tall as she could, which wasn't very tall, even in heels.
She thought she'd made her point rather clear, but behind her she could hear soft laughter. She turned around to find her cohorts turning pink, hands clapped over their mouths to keep their laughter from exploding out of their lips. "What?" She said, not in the mood for their giggle fits. They practically burst, letting their loud hysterics fill the hall as the whole pack collapsed laughing, Laurel trying to hold everyone up though she was laughing loudly, too.
"Honey, I don't think you have any idea what you just said…!" she sputtered through chuckles as the threesome behind her tried to quiet themselves and stand up straight at the same time.
It was only then Rin was painfully aware of male laughter, quite faint, and closer to silent chuckles, but there was no mistaking it. She turned around to face Sesshoumaru who was regarding her with a very peculiar look she couldn't place and chuckling softly through a smug little smirk.
"So you are attracted to this 'sickeningly handsome' Sesshoumaru, Rin-san?"
Rin could feel all the blood in her face rising into her cheeks as she let her mouth hang open slightly. Sesshoumaru was staring her down with those piercing eyes of his; head held aloft, and smug smirk befitting him with loads of pride. Behind Rin, her coworkers had resumed laughing. She turned away from Sesshoumaru.
"I just have no filter at all…" She brought a hand to her mouth and shut her eyes, aware that her cheeks were so hot someone could fry eggs on them. In an effort to reclaim her dignity, she stood straight and turned to face Sesshoumaru again.
"I'm still not going." She said stubbornly.
"Oh?" said Sesshoumaru nonchalantly. Rin narrowed her eyebrows: this man was already too proud for his own good and she'd gone and made it worse.
"Yes," she said, "and there's nothing you can say or do that's gonna get me out on that stage."
"Really?" he asked smugly.
"Really." Said Rin tersely: he was starting to get on her nerves.
"Is that so?"
"It's so." Wipe that smirk off your face…
Nothing will make you play? Absolutely nothing? He said smoothly, switching to Japanese.
Absolutely nothing. Rin replied in Japanese.
("What're they saying?" Marcy whispered to Laurel. "No idea: now, quiet!")
That's too bad. said Sesshoumaru.
Yup, tragic. said Rin, folding her arms across her chest. She'd won.
…. So why was he still looking at her like that? She felt like a piece of meat as he cocked his head to the side and eyed her predatorily, taking a step forward.
"What are you doing?" said Rin, stepping back.
"Taking matters…" he flexed his fingers, "into my own hands."
Worrying over what he could possibly mean by that, Rin took another few steps back and turned to run back to the staff room, but Sesshoumaru had her by the shoulders. He spun her to face him again.
"Hey!" said Rin as he yanked her against him, "You can't just-!"
But Sesshoumaru cut her off, pushing his lips against hers.
"MMMRRM!!" Rin grunted angrily against him, glaring at his closed eyelids and trying to push him off of her. But the more she pushed, the tighter he held her, bringing a hand up to cradle the back of her head.
"Mmmmph!" She sputtered as Sesshoumaru's lips fluttered over hers and she felt his tongue holding back inside his mouth. He removed his mouth for a split second, only to bring it down on hers again. Rin continued to push on his shoulders until his tongue lazily flicked the tip of hers.
"Mm!! M…mmm….mmmmmm…" She loved the sensation, every second of it. Instantly she could see in her mind's eye a pat of butter melting on warm bread, and she followed suit, leaning into Sesshoumaru and bringing her arms up to wrap around his neck as she let her eyes flutter closed.
And they both seemingly forgot the all-female, four-person audience watching them in silence with mouths wide open.
Sesshoumaru drew back, pulling away from Rin gently. Rin opened her eyes and took a deep breath. He was staring into her soul again, and she sighed softly.
"Will you go on, Rin?" He asked her smugly.
Dazed and staring at him adoringly, Rin replied: "Whatever you say…"
Sesshoumaru smirked again, ever so slightly, and grabbed her hand. Turning, he marched down the hall quickly with Rin in tow, checking his watch: 10 minutes. Rin's employer and employees followed quickly, Teri spouting "WHAT THE CRAP?" every ten seconds or so.
As they reached the doors, Laurel shoved the sheet music at Rin, who took it gingerly, more than a little dazed. Sesshoumaru led her out the door and onto the sidewalk as Teri, Laurel, Lana, and Marcy voiced words of good luck and encouragement. And suddenly, Rin came back to Earth.
"Wh…What the hell did you just make me agree to?!" She asked Sesshoumaru as they sped towards the pavilion.
"This Sesshoumaru made you do nothing, he merely proved that there was something could make you do as I wish…" He reeked of pride.
"Oh, come on!!" said Rin as Sesshoumaru pulled her through the stage left door, "I didn't exactly know what I was saying, I mean you- you- you-!"
Sesshoumaru turned to her with a finger to his lips. Rin thought they were beautiful lips, flushed a little pinker than normal from kissing her, and oh how she would love to kiss them again…
Sesshoumaru looked at the woman in front of him. Her captivating eyes held a new light in them, shining as she looked at him. He'd gone and gotten some woman inconsolably infatuated with him, and the worst part of it? He enjoyed the way she was looking at him, and the way he made her feel, let alone the way she made him feel…
He looked away and sighed.
"Look," said Rin, "It's not-!" she stopped. Sesshoumaru had that long, slender finger at his lips again.
"It's not," she whispered, "Like I was really in any position to give a sensible answer, you snogged me senseless! And then you manipulated that reaction to get your way, so really I-!"
He had that finger pressed to her lips now, and his nose was inches from hers. Rin attempted to ignore her dramatic increase in heart rate and the heavy flush in her cheeks.
You, Sesshoumaru told her in the language he knew best, will do well. You will not make mistakes, you will play gracefully and you will play to the best of your ability.
Rin chewed her lip. But what if I do mess up? Or what if I slip up so bad we have to stop the entire song because I messed up everything for everybody, and then I'll start crying and-!
Sesshoumaru took her face in his hands, saying nothing. It was enough for Rin that he was encouraging her with his eyes. She nodded meekly. Sesshoumaru shook her shoulders gently.
I'm going on. He turned, straightened his coat, and walked towards the door. Rin sat, dejected, on a black foldout chair.
Andre will say your name, then you walk out to the piano, bow, and sit: got it? He queried. Rin looked, and felt, quite green. Sesshoumaru took her hand and, awkwardly, because he was completely unsure of what to do in this type of situation, gave her a pat on the head.
Gambatte. He said. Then he strode off around the back of the theatre, entering quietly from a door in the very back of the left side.
Rin clenched her hands together in her lap, leaving sweat stains on her sheet music. Sesshoumaru must've signaled to Andre, because the man was now explaining that she would be filling in for Clara, as he read her name off of a post-it on his podium.
Rin stood and walked ever so slowly towards the open doorway.
"Ladies and gentleman, she has been very gracious to help us in our hour of need; Ravinia's own Rin Matsushida!"
As the crowd, who was much larger when seen from onstage, applauded her entrance, Rin took a deep breath, steadied herself, and walked out onstage smiling.
In the audience, a middle-aged woman squinted through her glasses at the small, pretty Asian girl emerging from stage left to shake the conductor's hand. "What in all hell…" Amaiko Matsushida gaped openly as her niece awkwardly shook Andre Sinclair's hand, bowed to the audience, and scuttled off to the piano to take her seat and perform with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
"My Rin? What…?" Why would they choose Rin of all people?
Next to Amaiko, her mother was looking at Rin quizzically through a pair of opera glasses. "Ne, Amai-chan: since when does Rin-chan play piano?" she asked innocently.
As Rin sat and gave the audience one last shy, flushed wave, Teri let out a loud 'whoop' from the back and whistled shrilly, Lana cheering and clapping like the cheer captain she was, before Laurel smacked them both in the back of the head. "Shut Up!!" She hissed in a whisper, "You don't do that it this kind of concert, idiots!"
Onstage Rin felt as if the bright lights surrounding her were the heat of the sun, crushing her into white-hot oblivion. As she swallowed nervously and looked out at her aunt in the third row, who shrugged her shoulders at her niece and gawked cluelessly, Rin decided oblivion would be utterly welcome. She looked uncertainly at Maestro Sinclair, standing at his podium in front of her, and she tried desperately to wipe her dripping palms on the skirt of her dress. Andre nodded to her steadily, as though to give her a good gripping shake of the shoulders. Out of the corner of her eye she caught Sesshoumaru staring at her. He dipped his head in acknowledgement silently and winked (feeling quite ridiculous after doing so). Rin smiled, turned to face the keyboard, shook her hair back, and took a long, deep breath, eyes closed. When she reopened them she straightened her shoulders and looked up at Sinclair. He nodded at her and turned to face the orchestra. Raising his right arm, he caught the first bassoon's eye and brought the arm down again, signaling him to begin, followed shortly thereafter by the second bassoon, then Rin.
She inhaled as deeply as she could, hands shaking visibly, and began to play on his mark. She watched him over her music as he signaled for her to slow down just a bit: great, she was already going to fast. She shook her head and breathed deeply again, trying to calm her heartbeat in an attempt to calm her hands. Sesshoumaru watched intensely from his seat across the stage.
Rin felt much calmer as her right hand played alongside the two bassoons; so far, so good. Standing at the railing in the very back of the outdoor pavilion with the others, Teri remarked "Just one hand? That's not so bad..." "Ssssh!" hissed Laurel and Marcy.
Suddenly Rin's left hand sprang perkily into action accompanied by a snare drum, then the bassoons, and suddenly the string section, following her as she swept the melody up higher, separated her hands, and brought the volume up to a more dramatic mezzo forte. Her aunt and grandmother were squeezing each other's hands tightly, nervous for her. In the back, Teri said "Oh," and fell silent again.
Rin was enjoying herself now as the piece took a more complicated turn and the orchestra took over the melody for an instant. Then it swooped back down to her, Andre quieting everyone with expert care as Rin let her hands flow across the keys, occasionally glancing at Andre to make sure she was going the right speed. She swayed slightly as the soft moment progressed, listening to the sound of Sesshoumaru and the violin section playing as softly as possible alongside her. Then, elegantly and in perfect unison, they plucked the strings of their instruments and followed Rin down into a brief handful of measures meant to transition into the next portion of the piece.
Knowing full well that the most difficult section of the song was only a few bars away, Rin gathered her nerves, blew out some air, and willed herself to stop shaking. As she and the strings puttered along gently, she lashed out and struck out a new dangerous and threatening tune in the bass clef, the strings providing striking blows at perfectly timed intervals as the flutes emitted a harsh, haunting version of the melody over the deep sounds of the other instruments. Rin's hands took the melody again, in sink with the brass, and brought it into a higher octave before crashing left hand back down low again after a series of tedious scales followed by powerful chords. Rin could feel her fingers aching as she pounded the melody out briskly in the treble clef while her left hand thundered and boomed in the bass clef. Her foot was weak from pedaling in heels she wasn't accustomed to performing in and she swore her arms were going to tear off, but she was determined not to mess up.
In the back, Rin's entourage was silent, but for Marcy: "Wow…I didn't think she was that good…"
"This is the most difficult part of the piece for the pianist…" Laurel whispered, gripping the rail as though her life depended on it.
"Her hands…they're a freaking blur…!" said Teri quietly. Lana nodded and the conversation ended. In the third row, Amaiko and Sasuki Matsushida were cheering Rin on under their breath.
Rin went through another horrendous set of scales, even worse than the first, and continued up and down, up and down intensely for several bars consecutively. Then, the strings took the melody and her piano accompanied with a series of intricate and bold chords, changing key. Then it swept through another myriad of powerful phrases before again the woodwinds took the melody and Rin provided a slightly different, but no less haunting and compelling, accompaniment. Once again, she was rumbling through intense scales, steeling herself for the moment she brought her hands down to end them and would sweep into the electrically charged, sinister buildup to the piece's crescendo. When she reached it, the point she had always had the most trouble with in the entire piece, she pushed through it flawlessly and a smile immediately graced her face.
The sound of the grand, covered by two microphones to ensure it was heard alongside the orchestra, thundered dramatically, charging the air. Rin's friends and family held their breath as she struck the keys intensely, hands bouncing all across the keyboard.
'Here it comes, here it comes…' She chewed her lip nervously, anticipating the crescendo and praying to the merciful music gods to let her get everything just right. Her hands climbed quickly, attacking the keys as she and the string section dueled. Then came the chords and she burst through them, her hands an animate blur as she danced them across the keys with all her strength and as quick as humanly possible, making the sound as bold and loud as she could. She caught Andre's eye and he widened his arms just enough that she could tell exactly what tempo he wanted to take for this crucial moment. Rin's wrists felt ready to break and she eagerly struck the keys as deftly as she could and, like a waterfall after rapids, the piece flowed without constraint, the impending crescendo reached. The great swell of the music filled Rin's ears and she was practically deafened by it. In awe if the amazing feeling of playing alongside these great musicians and of being a part of such a magnificent sound, Rin couldn't help but smile as she threw herself into the keys, letting her hands rumble along the keyboard before bringing them up and cutting the sound off dramatically with the rest of the orchestra.
Andre turned to her, lifted his arms, and gently brought them down again as Rin picked up her solo adeptly, bringing the music out of the darkness and back into the light, skipping feeling of the beginning. Her part was far more complex than in the original part A, but it was the same familiar melody, telling her the worst was over. She grinned, letting her head shake a little as her hands danced along the keys pleasantly. The left hand took the melody from the right and Rin swayed along gracefully until she picked up volume and progressed along the keyboard as the woodwinds joined her, completing the picture. Her right hand glided effortlessly through tangles of runs as her left hand sounded out the melody loud and clear in the bass clef.
"Is she doing that- that fast part with one hand?!" Teri squawked incredulously from the back. Lana's gum bubble popped as a result of her gaping, awestruck mouth. Marcy nodded. "Yeah…she is…" "Oh my god," said Laurel, shaking her head: "She got through it!"
Rin was really enjoying herself now that she was out of the woods, elegantly bringing the melody back to her territory as the familiar snare drum and bassoon joined her. As she whisked into her favorite part, accompanying the bassoons, she couldn't help but grin when the string section took over for the bassoons, catching a glimpse of Sesshoumaru as he played. She felt a little giddy as she continued to play, wary of her speed and enthusiasm.
The song was coming to the end now and the orchestra had fallen back behind Rin, leaving the melody to her and, momentarily, the flutes. She wanted it to be a brilliant, vibrant ending, and plunged into it with all her heart. She whisked through it, on the edge of the piano bench, as she dove in and rolled out her last, beautiful string of powerful notes before the finale. Then the orchestra, proud and final, took up the melody, brought it up louder as each of the instrumental groups joined in sections, until at last Rin joined them and the sound of their final, triumphant chord soared over the heads of the audience members and exploded into the air as Andre cut his arms to the side in one stiff strike.
The audience was completely silent for a moment before applause broke loose. Andre turned to them and bowed as a few members stood for an ovation. Andre gestured, smiling, to the orchestra, who bowed their heads in response. Rin's heart was threatening to burst from her ribcage as she put her shaking hands in her lap, scooted her foot under the bench, and beamed proudly.
Andre turned to her and held out his arm. She looked at him blankly.
"Take a bow, stupid," he whispered gently.
Flustered and shocked, Rin stood on jelly legs and took a few steps away from the piano. Smiling and giggling uncontrollably, she bowed deeply. More people stood, and they were standing for her! She was baffled, barely controlling the urge to bring her hands to her face to hide her embarrassment. From the back she could hear Teri let out a loud 'whoop' and a cry of "YEAH RIIIIN!!" as Lana cheered and Marcy whistled freakishly loudly. She could see Laurel clapping and shaking her head.
In the third row, Amaiko had claimed bragging rights. "That's my niece!"
"Really? Oh how wonderful-!"
"Yeah!"
"Congratulations, you must be very proud…"
Onstage, several of the musicians were clapping as well. Rin felt like crying she was so happy. Andre had stepped down from the podium, reaching to shake her hand and she took it eagerly as he patted her on the back. "You did good, kid," he said. "Thank you so much for this, sir!" said Rin, ecstatic. Andre chuckled and moved back to the podium.
Rin turned to look at Sesshoumaru, who, much to her surprise, sat applauding with a small smile on his handsome face. Rin felt full of giddy butterflies seeing him smile, though the other violinists seemed frightened and revolted by the unexpected emotion, visibly cringing away from him.
Rin quickly scurried back to her piano bench as Andre thanked everyone for attending, wished MacArthur a happy birthday, and bid the audience goodbye. The lights dimmed except for the main electrics, and the orchestra members gathered their things and scuttled offstage. Rin followed suit.
As she set her music down on a nearby chair, she took in a shaky breath, laughing through it. Several musicians came and thanked her for her help, congratulating her on a job well done. Rin thanked them all for the opportunity to perform with such a wonderful group.
"Miss Matsushida?"
Rin turned towards Andre who had his hands stuffed in the pockets of his expensive black pants. Rin chewed her lip, nervous.
"Mr. Sinclair," she began shakily, "Let me just say sir that this has been an incredible experience and I want to thank you for giving me the privilege of performing with you all, sir, and that I apologize for taking the speed too fast at times and-!"
"Miss Matsushida?" He interrupted her.
"Er, yes…?" Rin said, anticipating the musical critique of the year.
"You did well, very well, actually: it was like a new animal with someone different at the piano. Like an adventure." Andre said with a smile.
"Good, thank you, sir," Said Rin, dipping her head out of habit.
"'Course," said Andre with a small smirk, "I can never look Nishi in the face again: God, he's going to rub this in for the rest of my life…." He massaged his brow, chuckling. When nothing more was said, Rin held out her sheet music to him. "Um, I believe this is yours," She said.
"Why, yes it is," Andre took the folder and stuck under his arm.
"Listen, Matsushida," he said, "what do you do, exactly?"
"Um," said Rin, "I'm assistant events coordinator here."
"And what do you do for the rest of the year?"
"Well, I teach piano-."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, K on through… and I also visit different pre-schools a few times a week with little percussion instruments for 'music time'…" Rin said, smiling at the thought of toddlers banging on drums.
"Hm," said Sinclair. "It's just that my kids have been taking piano from the same guy for about three years, but he moved away recently. My oldest, my son, has a new teacher, but my little girl is only four and not up for his caliber of teaching, right…"
Rin convinced herself that what was coming was not coming.
"So um, would you be interested in teaching her?"
Rin was silent.
"I pay well, promise, and we'll come to you…"
"Yeah," Rin said happily, "Sure, great! Yeah, definitely! Uh, I live in Evanston if that's not a problem…"
"Nah, we live in Wilmette, so it's fine…"
"Oh good!" Rin always loved getting new students, let alone when it was the conductor of the CSO's daughter. 'That's gonna be great for business…' she thought, wanting to bounce up and down gleefully.
"Well, here's my card: I'll let you know what Susie thinks about it, okay?" said Andre.
"Oh, sure! Um, let me give you my number…" said Rin. Andre handed her another card to scribble her number on. She handed the card and pen back with a smile.
"Thanks so much, Mr. Sinclair!" she said, "I think I may owe you my soul after tonight…" she said timidly. Andre laughed. "I've got plenty, thanks," he said, gesturing to the wings full of musicians. "I've got to go, but thank you again, Miss Matsushida," He said, shaking Rin's hand. "No sir," said Rin, "Thank you!" With that, they parted ways, and Rin rushed out into the open air, the smell of a fresh summer night enveloping her.
She made her way up the walk, excitement still clinging to her, and found herself on the walkway behind the seats of the pavilion. Coming into view as she emerged from the tree-lined path were her family and friends, chatting eagerly with one another. Lana spotted her first.
"Booooosss!!" She squealed, jumping up and down.
"What the crap?! When did you get so good, Rin?!" said Teri, amazed, "That was actually decent classical music thanks to you!"
Laurel embraced Rin and rocked her back and forth. "I'm so proud of you, kiddo!" she said, pulling back. "Seems like just yesterday you were a brace-faced teen taking tickets at the gate."
"Lemme through!" cried Amaiko as Laurel made way for her. Rin felt completely at home as her aunt showered her with compliments and acknowledgements of pride: being an orphan, Amaiko was the closest thing to a mother Rin had. "Thanks, Oba-chan, I'm so glad you could come!" said Rin, turning to bow to her grandmother, Sasuki. "Very nice, dear, very good," she said. "Thank you, Obaa-chan, I really appreciate it."
"Rin," said Amaiko, "I don't think you realize the gravity of the situation: you performed on the same stage as Nishi Sesshoumaru, you've practically been touched by the gods!" her eyes were filled with admiration for Sesshoumaru.
"Oba-chan…" Rin shook her head, laughing.
"'Touched' is a good word for it…" said Laurel slyly. Rin swiveled to glare at her, blushing headily again.
"Oh? What is that supposed to mean?" asked Amaiko.
Rin was just about to politely slap a hand over Laurel's mouth, but Sasuki spoke first.
"My, what a handsome young man…"
"Eeeek!!" said Lana, coming to grip Rin's arm: "it's him, boss!"
Rin burst into a grin as Sesshoumaru became visible, strolling past the curtain of small evergreens, sheet music in hand. His bow tie hung limply around his neck and his long hair was no longer tied back, whipping about freely. He was staring into her soul with a placid face and the barest hint of a smirk on his lips. Rin filled with glee at the sight of him. Behind her, Laurel was whispering something to Amaiko.
"-He did WHAT?!!" wailed Amaiko, shocked. "To get her onstage," Laurel affirmed.
Rin didn't hear them and she couldn't care less what they were saying. She started walking towards Sesshoumaru quickly.
"Did you see me? Did you?"
"Hai," he replied, shaking his head in slight disbelief as he walked towards her, "you did very well."
"I did it!" She said, jogging now.
"Hai, you did." He felt like smiling, which scared him a bit as he held his arms out to her.
I did it! I can't believe it, I did it, ha!! The words flew out in Japanese habitually, and before she even knew what she was doing she'd run straight into Sesshoumaru's arms, laughing joyously. He took her up and spun her round effortlessly, Rin giggling all he while as though it were a carnival ride.
When Sesshoumaru stopped spinning, they were both instantly aware of their position. Rin slid from his arms awkwardly, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear and blushing profusely. Sesshoumaru was still wearing a ghost of a smirk on his lips.
"Um, s-sorry…" said Rin, suddenly fascinated with a wrinkle in her skirt.
"Not at all," said Sesshoumaru quietly. Rin looked up and met his eyes briefly before turning into a lump of quivering goo.
"That's Nishi Sesshoumaru…" said Amaiko quietly.
"Yes it is," Laurel replied.
"Just making sure…"
After a few moments of awkward silence, Sesshoumaru shoved a folder of sheet music into Rin's hands. She looked it over. "This is for the concerto," she said, opening the folder. "Yes," said Sesshoumaru, "Andre signed it for you as a gift, wanted you to have it."
Sure enough, in blue ink on the inside of the cover, Andre Sinclair's signature was neatly scrawled with a footnote of "thanks a bunch, kiddo!"
"Wow…" said Rin, pleased beyond words, "Will you please thank him for me?" she asked Sesshoumaru. He nodded, a dangerous look in his eye, no doubt pondering ways to rub the situation in Andre's face. Rin smiled at the thought.
"This Sesshoumaru must pack up," he said after a moment. "Oh! Right, yeah…" said Rin. "Well, thank you Sesshoumaru-san, for everything," she smiled as she bowed her head politely. Sesshoumaru returned her bow.
"Oh, wait!" said Rin, "Before you go, I'm sure my aunt would love to meet you, if you wouldn't mind-." She stopped, looking at Amaiko over her shoulder.
The older woman was waving her arms and making frantic 'X' signs in the air with them. Rin looked at her, cocking her head to one side in confusion. "What? Don't you want to-."
"No!" Amaiko whispered loudly, trying to shoo Rin away.
"Uh, sorry," Rin said, turning back to Sesshoumaru, "I guess…not." She looked back at her aunt, shrugged, and made a confused face. Amaiko responded with more shooing motions, accompanied by Laurel and the girls, as well as Sasuki.
"Until next time," said Sesshoumaru, wincing at the cheesy sound of the line.
"Yeah, I'll um, be seeing you then." Said Rin. Sesshoumaru nodded as she thanked him again, turned and walked back towards the pavilion. When he was a yard away, Rin turned and raced towards her aunt.
"What the hell was that about?! You've wanted to meet him since he was six years old!!" Rin asked Amaiko, thoroughly confounded.
"Go after him!!" all six women said in unison.
Rin was taken aback. "What?"
"I was trying to get you to go after him!!" said Amaiko breathlessly, "It's not everyday you make-out in a hallway with a gorgeous, world-renowned violinist you know!!"
Rin flushed helplessly. "Laurel!" she cried accusingly.
"Hey," shrugged Laurel, "it was quite necessary to blab."
"Go get him, Boss," said Marcy.
"Yeah!" chorused Lana and Teri. "I think he likes you," said Sasuki benevolently, "and I'd rather him for you than some American boy, even if he does look a bit like a girl…"
"Oh my God…" Rin put her head in her hands.
"What're you doing, stupid?!" quipped Teri, "go get him already!!"
Rin looked at the group of determined matchmakers, bit her lip, and ground out a grunt of frustration before bolting down the walkway after Sesshoumaru. She could hear everyone cheering behind her.
Chotto matte, Sesshoumaru-san! She said, racing around the evergreen wall. He had heard her and was standing a few feet away, staring her down inquisitively. Rin swallowed hard, thousands of butterflies swarming in circles inside her stomach.
Ano… I just don't think that thanking you is really, uh, enough, you know and, ano, I just wanted to, well… She was stumbling hopelessly and she looked up to meet his eyes, one of his silver eyebrows cocked slightly. Looking down, she took a deep breath and tried to fight the feeling that she was an insignificant bug under the gaze of this man who easily towered over her.
I mean, I was just thinking that, y'know, it isn't enough for me to thank you: I should really show my appreciation somehow so… she gulped, I thought maybe I could buy you a cup of coffee or something the next time you were here to…um… pay you back… properly.
Rin winced. If that sounded as dumb as it had in her head, then she was sure she looked like a complete idiot. Sesshoumaru regarded her silently as Rin looked anywhere but at him. He huffed softly.
Are you… asking this Sesshoumaru out? He asked, perplexed.
Rin looked up at him, completely embarrassed. He was clearly quite amused.
I- I-…. yeah, yeah I am, said Rin quietly, bringing a hand to her bright red forehead.
Silence passed.
Look, I mean, I understand if you don't want to, we did just meet, and-.
I like cheeseburgers.
Rin blinked up at him. … Cheeseburgers?
He nodded.
You want me to take you out for a cheeseburger…? Rin asked hesitantly.
Yes. This Sesshoumaru would like to have a cheeseburger with you. The words were out of his mouth before he even knew he'd thought them. He blinked. Rin was staring at him.
Do you dislike cheeseburgers? He queried.
No, no! Of course not, I love cheeseburgers1 They're so cheesy and…and…burgery, stop babbling, Rin… she chided herself.
Sesshoumaru let out the barest huff of a chuckle. Are you busy tonight?
Rin practically glowed with happiness. No! Well, I mean, I have to pack up and get everything organized back in the staff room, and I have to change…
I will meet you at the West gate at 9:45 and call for a cab to take us…wherever. He was babbling: he, Sesshoumaru Nishi, was babbling…
Or you could meet me at the North gate: that's where my car is, said Rin with a shrug.
Oh, said Sesshoumaru, That would work.
O-okay, said Rin, grinning broadly, 9:45, North gate…I know a great place. Sesshoumaru nodded. Rin waved awkwardly and backed away, tripping on a tree root elegantly.
Ne, Rin-san? He called after her. She turned to listen.
To be fair, you owe me more than one cheeseburger for all I've done for you, so this will have to be a fairly common occurrence, I'm afraid.
Rin blinked at him shyly. Sesshoumaru smirked fiendishly. Rin felt warmth envelop her completely as she giggled happily. Sesshoumaru nodded to her slowly, 9:45, he said, walking towards the stage and out of Rin's line of sight.
When he was gone, she bounced in place and screamed silently. Then, slyly, she collected herself, hung her head, and emerged from behind the wall of bushes looking dour. At the top of the path, the others were worried she'd been crushed. Rin could see that they had moved closer to the evergreens in an attempt to hear what the two had said.
"Oh, he didn't…" said Laurel quietly.
"Oh no," squeaked Lana, bringing her hands to her mouth.
"What a douche," said Teri, "I'll rip him apart."
"I'll help," said Marcy staunchly. The group watched Rin trundle slowly and sadly towards them. Amaiko shook her head and sighed.
"Guess he was a ho," said Sasuki. Everyone looked at her in shock.
"Mother!!" said Amaiko. "Well, he loved her and left her, that's the makings of a ho," Sasuki replied sweetly.
Rin looked up to see everyone staring at her. She looked at them dourly, and chewed her lip, pausing. Unable to contain her joy any longer, she grinned giddily and began to dance in place, throwing up victory signs and pretending to play the air guitar.
"Why you little shit… !!" said Laurel in disbelief.
"Oh that's low, Rin, tricking us like that: who raised you?" Amaiko kidded. Sasuki applauded next to her and Marcy shook her head amiably.
"I hate you!!" said Lana and Teri at once as Rin came to join them, whirling about happily.
"I know," she said smugly, putting an arm around each one of them. They shrugged her off haughtily.
"What happened?" asked Laurel eagerly. "I am buying him a cheeseburger tonight at 9:45 and, he made sure to add, many more times to come because I owe him more than one cheeseburger for his kindness," She fought the urge to clap her hands like a small child with a sugar high.
"I hate you, too," said Amaiko as the group walked back towards the cultural center, "Young people have all the fun."
Rin smiled. "So far, I'm having a really good night."
Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed. Please review!