Chapter 6
Beginnings
Twinkle, Twinkle little star…
One by one, the playful notes ran out of the ivory keys, a pair of tiny, pink fingers the source of the sound.
How I wonder what you are…
The child stared intently at the keys, her complete energy focused on remembering every note she had learned.
Up above the world so h—
"No! I was so close! Stupid star!" A young Akane crossed her arms sourly, refusing to look at the grand piano in front of her. She practiced everyday, and yet she still couldn't play the simplest of songs.
"What's wrong, Akane?" A familiar voice asked behind her, a hand, not too much bigger than her own now resting on her shoulder, She whirled her head to see her brother's smiling face, his perky aura creeping into her frustrated one.
"I'm no good, Tamaki! I'll never be close to you!" She cried, staring distraughtly at the pearl white keys. Though they were called by their full names by everyone else in France, they secretly called each other by their Japanese middle names, liking the foreign and different feel of it. Tamaki smiled, remembering how he had picked up the piano. He'd been somewhat of a natural, so it was hard to remember a time in his early stages when he struggled.
"Maybe piano's just not your thing, Akane," He suggested, turning her plump childish face to see his kind smile. "Close your eyes for one second, I'll be right back!" He ordered suddenly, dashing out of the room. A swelling excitement building inside of her, she quickly shut her eyes tight and covered them completely with her small hands. She shook ecstatically, knowing her brother would most definitely not disappoint her.
"Now hold out your hands, but keep your eyes closed," Tamaki instructed playfully, taking a large rectangular box shrouded in a velvet sheet from behind his back. He laid the package carefully in her arms, grinning crazily as he saw the anxiety on her face. He took a step back, enjoying every second of her excitement, knowing it would only make her initial reaction all the better. "Now…Open!"
Akane stared down at the velvet covered case in her hand, and quickly threw off the sheet onto the piano bench, its velvet wake revealing a black case. She looked quizzically at it, only taking a few seconds to look it over before setting it on the piano bench. Unfastening the snaps and zipper on the side, she lifted the lid. What lay before her was a small, dark red instrument; four strings, four turning pegs, and body in the shape of a figure eight.
"What is it?" Akane asked, carefully laying her delicate hand across the four strings. Her fingers gently ran across them, a soft pitch coming from each string.
"It's a violin. It was mom's when she was little," He answered, leaning over and picking up the wooden instrument like it was made of glass. "It's a lot different from the piano, so I though you might like it better."
"Can you play it, Tamaki?" Akane wondered, staring excitedly at the violin, its glossy red finish gleaming in the sunlight of the windows. Her brother smiled at her and nodded, reaching into the case to put on the shoulder rest. He flourished his sleeves and elegantly set the instrument under his chin. Giving the bow a few turns to tighten, he held it above the strings. Taking a deep breath, the bow graced the strings.
Mary had a little lamb
Little lamb
Little lamb Mary had a little—
The next note was completely off-key, and Akane couldn't help but break out into a fit of laughter. Tamaki's face grew extremely red, embarrassed his sister had caught his tiny lie. Turning his ashamed visage away, he stuck out the accursed instrument in front of her face.
"Fine, you play it then!" He demanded, hiding his reddened face form her sight. In the shining red wood, Akane saw her bright blue-green eyes staring back at her. She let a small smile slide onto her face, and tenderly reached out and took the violin from Tamaki. She snatched up the bow as well, and mimicking the way Tamaki had held it, she nestled it below her chin. She curved her fingers around the bow, lifting it onto the strings. Tamaki turned around, staring in amazement as his sister gently shut her eyes and played her first note, a bit of sunlight shining through the window and striking the girl and instrument at an enchanting note was true and clear, not hesitation or squeaking audible or in existence.
"René! Joséphine! Le dejeuner (lunch)!" Their mother called, breaking the magic of the moment. Obeying her mother, Akane set the instrument and bow carefully in the case, and snapped it shut. As Tamaki turned to go out the door to the kitchen, he felt a pair of small, thin arms grasp him above his waist.
"Merci beaucoup! I love it!" His younger sister said, squeezing him tightly. Tamaki turned around, and laying a warm hand on her blonde hair, grinned ecstatically at her.
"I knew you would! Maybe I'm physic or something!" Tamaki exclaimed, imagining himself in a turban and staring mystically into a crystal ball.
"Fine then, what am I thinking right now?" She laughed, closing her eyes tightly as if to strengthen her mental walls from the physic power. Tamaki pondered momentarily, before raising his finger in the air in victory.
"You are thinking that we having paté again for lunch!" He announced triumphantly, glowing in his own golden pride.
"Wrong!" Akane chimed happily, poking a finger at her brother's forehead. His wide violet eyes stared at her in surprise, blinking once or twice.
"I was thinking that one day, I'll be even better at violin than you are at piano!"
"Well then, we'll just see about that," He responded playfully, swiftly messing up her hair and running off to the kitchen. Akane looked angrily at her knotty locks and sprinted after him, all the while a smile pasted on her face that could be seen from halfway across the world.
Reminiscing on that first encounter with her instrument, Akane let a real smile work its way onto her face as she stepped through the doors of the first high school music room. Instantly, she was greeted by the familiar scent of fresh rosin, the off key cacophony of tuning strings, and the gentle rustle of sheet music. It felt like home to her, nothing was alien to her. She soaked in the sights and smells, remembering had much she had desperately longed to play for the long period she had been tied down and forced to heal. She had been sure, even if she had possessed her old violin at the time, that not one of the doctors would allow her to even sit up and pluck a few notes.
"Hey, you're that new girl! Tamaki-senpai's sister, ne?" A girl a little bit shorter than Akane squealed, her brown hair pulled into a glamorous looking ponytail that framed her energetic face. The girl's high pitch voice rang in Akane's ears, the blonde haired girl wanting more than anything to let out a loud "ouch!". Instead she turned to the shorter girl, threw on a plastic grin, and replied.
"Yes, that's me," She answered, causing the little girl to let out another squeal, this one higher pitched and even louder than the former. Akane skillfully refrained from letting the creeped out stare that wanted to fly onto her face from leaving its spot in her mind. A few of the short squeaky one's friends, all about the same size and voice frequency her, flocked over to Akane's sides, giggling all the while. The introductions flew by and before she could breathe, they began to bombard question after question on her.
"Wow, your hair really pretty!"
"Your foundation is flawless! Do you use that German kind?"
"Where'd you get those shoes? They're so cute!"
Okay, Akane thought, taking a deep breath and continuing to smile,
I hate my hair straightened, it looks like golden twigs and about as voluminous as them as well.
This foundation is threatening to strangle my skin.
I'm wearing the exact same shoes as you are!
No! Take your punishment! With one big mental slap she made her mouth spit out the words the girls wanted to hear.
"Thank you, but your hair has so much more volume. And I think it's from Australia actually. If you want, I'll get the name of it. Oh these shoes? I like them, but I think yours are cuter though," Akane replied all at once, keeping complete composure and adding an extra smile for each answer. Their faces all flew into happy awe, obviously delighted with the new girl's answers
"Ne, Akane-chan, would you like to come to my party this Friday? They'll be a bunch of really cool people there. You can probably make a lot of friends, being new and all," The original squeaky clone asked, all the girl's expectant eyes glued to Akane.
"Of course, I'd love to! Just tell me when and where," Akane answered merrily with no hesitation, knowing Sensei would be very pleased to hear she was invited to her first rich kid party on her first day. All the girls giggled in happiness, phone numbers were quickly exchanged and then the girls fluttered off to their seats. "Akane-chan is so cool!" "I'm so jealous! Both of the Suoh's are gorgeous!" "This party's going to be so awesome now!" She could hear their murmurs as they strolled off and Akane wondered how much longer she could possibly keep this act going. Some people, no matter how polite, as still annoying as hell. But she knew the answer to her own question. This charade would continue until she had repaid the Suoh family for the disgrace she had cast upon them, at least that's how the Chairwoman herself had put it.
The conductor called the class to order, the students taking their normal seats. Akane, realizing she didn't have a place to sit, quickly gazed down the 1st violin row. At the first stand, one boy sat alone and an empty chair right next to him. She quietly slipped into the chair, trying to keep a low profile for the moment. Of couse though, the conductor swiftly called her to stand.
"Akane Suoh, we're very glad to have you join us. My name is Mr. Kashikoi, and I'm the conductor of our great Ouran orchestra," He welcomed warmly, adjusting his thick glasses. The conductor was a spry looking geezer, thinning black hair crowning his head and a twinkle in his hazel eyes. His fingers were long and were covered in old, pale skin that seemed like saran wrap over his bones. Neck like an owl, he swung his head towards her and spoke in a youthful voice, as if there was a twenty year old man speaking instead of an elderly man.
"Also, this was dropped off for you," Mr. Kashikoi said, handing a violin case over to Akane. "I hope you can just jump in with our orchestra. We're in the middle of preparing for a concert. Mr. Nonaka, will you assist Mrs. Suoh for now?"
The boy next to Akane turned his head, revealing a handsome face with angled features that accented his near perfect complexion. His hair was a dark, cherry brown that hung carelessly off of his head, but was obviously cut and styled so that it lay glamorously over his ears.
"Of course, Kashikoi-sensei," He replied, his voice smooth and strong, but not overwhelming. The old man nodded and turned to the cello section. "Alright, let's take out that Bach we were working on last week, measure 56 if you please …with energy cellos!"
Nonaka turned to face Akane, his beautiful green-gray irises focused deeply on her. His hair caught a bit of wind, allowing the full force of his shaped features to shine.
"Hello, Suoh-san. Nice to finally meet the girl everyone in school's been talking about. And by the way, are you an interior decorator?" He asked, causing Akane to look strangely at him. Okay, this guy was pretty cute, yet slightly strange. Maybe that's why no one sat next to him, She thought to herself.
"Pleasure to meet you too, Nonaka-kun. And as far as I know, I'm not an interior decorator. Why do you ask?" She replied politely, keeping her best lady-like charms on, no matter how strange this guy was. Sensei had told her to keep the people she liked the least the closest, which almsot made sense at the moment.
"Because when I saw you, the room became beautiful,"
Akane couldn't help but blush just a little bit, even though the pick up line was lame and cheese filled on way too many levels. It was obvious he was already flirting with her ( in a horribly uncool way, but charming way, she thought), but Akane knew the rules Sensei had set said she couldn't be mean to any student. If one person didn't like her, it could spread faster than the black plague. Luckily, the little bit of blush that had appeared pretty much blended in with her already falsely rosy cheeks.
"How kind of you to say that…thank you," Akane managed to say, not knowing at all how to act on this subject. She'd need to ask Sensei about this kind of situation.
"By the way, I'm Kenjiro Nonaka, but you can call me Jiro-kun if you like," Kenjiro answered, offering an interested smile and a straight forward hand. Inside, Akane's instincts told her something was off about this guy, but the complement before had off balanced her intuition.
"Alright then, Jiro-kun," Akane mustered out, trying to sound as sane as possible. God, was she still blushing? There was a bit of tension still in her chest as they turned to face the conductor. Kenjiro swiftly set up the music and Akane reached to pull the violin case into her lap. She urged her fingers to move fast unlocking the snaps, not wanting to get anymore behind than she probably was at the moment.
Great, they probably got me some cheap piece of firewood to play on... She thought to herself, opening the lid quietly as the violas and second violins burst into the harmony. What stared back at her was most definitely not firewood. Instead, a violin the color of wild, light chestnut gleamed dully at her, with lighter wood for the pegs, chin rest, and tailpiece. It rivaled the look of a Stradivarius, but Akane knew even her Tamaki wouldn't be able to convince anyone to get that kind of instrument for her. With fluency that rivaled the sea, she removed the violin and placed the shoulder rest on. She tightened the bow, the pure white horse hair beaming as she brushed the rosin on. Brushing her finger lightly against the bow hairs, a cloud of pale powder billowed into the air and Akane nodded in approval.
"Okay, first violins! Pickup to Measure sixteen please!" Conductor Kashikoi bellowed, all the first violins assuming the ready position. Akane quickly looked over the measure and as the baton waved to the first beat, she let her hands take over.
POP!
"Waah!"
"Hunny-senpai, it's just a balloon! See?"
POP!
"Waah!!!"
"Mitsukuni,"
The wailing senior quieted momentarily, looking with tear-filled eyes at his tall, stoic friend.
"But Mori-kun, it's so loud!"
As all the other hosts began preparing for today's festivities, a lone host sat at the elegant wood table in the corner of the room. A large glass window let the radiant sunshine in, causing the teen to turn his laptop away from the interfering light. His fingers ran rampant across the keyboard, never hesitating and in an almost hypnotic rhythm. The fingers paused, pushing up their owner's sliding glasses. Kyouya Ootori's onyx gray eyes swept over the pages on the screen, his mind soaking up the important facts and filtering out any unnecessary information. Across the top of the screen, the words "Classified" were printed in large, bold black letters, so that even the blindest old man could read it.
It was amazing how well the Suoh's had covered up there new daughter's past. There was absolutely nothing he could bring up that wouldn't be common knowledge in less than a week. Kyouya's mind ran through all the information he had already collected;
Full Name: Joséphine Akane Christine Grantaine
Date of Birth: July 31
Height: 5 foot 8 inches
Blood Type: A
Childhood information: Born to a Sophie Grantaine in Paris, France. Lived in stable residence until her brother was taken away to Japan when she was thirteen. She and her mother disappeared soon after, living in an unknown apartment for the years to come, until Akane was mysteriously arrested and flown to Japan to join her brother. She was severely injured upon her arrival. Her mother's whereabouts are still unknown.
Basically, a whole lot of crap… The young prodigy sighed, closing his laptop. If he wanted to break into the French police database, he'd need to use a few different methods. Even if he did though, it was highly probable the Suoh's had forced the police to delete the file. Shutting the laptop closed, he picked it up swiftly and walked towards the others. It seemed he had a bit of research to do on his own, more inside work than he had expected. Why in the world would a teenage girl be arrested and sent to live with the family who had forsaken and hid her? What could she had possibly have done or even been involved in that would cause such a reaction? The young Ootori knew for a fact the elderly headmistress of the Suoh's hated this child more than Tamaki, so why would she permit such a thing? It couldn't have just been to take media attention away, could it? And if only, then what caused the attention?
Too many questions whirled around in Kyouya's head and the loud sound of popping elastic woke him from his inner thoughts, not that he let it show.
"Mother, look at how beautiful!" The twins chimed, sweeping their hands away to reveal the music room draped in colorful streamers, banners and signs, and a few balloons that were not lying in colorful shreds on the floor.
"This looks like a public school dance," Haruhi complained, a sigh escaping her lips. The twins, tweaked at her disapproval of their hard work, took a swelled-up balloon and popped it right next to her ear. She yelped in surprise and began arguing with them, the twins poking her and running away as she screamed insults at them.
"What do you think, Kyouya? Isn't it breath-taking?" Tamaki asled, the way he declared it being more of a concrete statement than a question to his best friend. His hands flourished to the decorations, magical sparkles adding flair to his presentation, though causing another balloon to pop. And then another ear splitting cry from Hunny-senpai.
"Hmm, it could use a few adjustments," Kyouya commented, putting down his laptop and elegantly clapping his hands twice. Immediately, planners and workers rushed through the doors, tearing down streamers and decorations. Tamaki's jaw fell to the floor, but Kyouya coolly pushed his glasses back up to their proper place.
"I knew you guys might need a little assistance, so I had help prepared. Don't fret too much, Tamaki. You can go boss them around if the decorators don't fit your need," The shadow king expounded, finishing with another one of his signature glasses-fixing motion. The king of the host club sprinted off to the party construction, directing the workers here and there, much to their displeasure.
I'll have to throw in a little extra, Kyouya mentally noted, picking up his folder and scribbling it down just to make sure he would remember. He swiftly brought up his left wrist and glanced at the time. In twenty minutes, the workers would be gone. In the five minutes that followed, the host club would open its doors to invited customers, and then shut them as the five minutes concluded. Then exactly four minutes after that, Akane Suoh would arrive at the door and the festivities would begin.
And then I'll have some work cut out for me…The shadow king smiled, giving his folder a crisp snap shut.
Wow guys, thank you SO much for all the fantastic reviews. They were truly wonderful to read and gave me so much incentive to finish this chapter. I love constructive criticism, so review as you please.
Anyway, for any of you who aren't orchestra dorks like I am, rosin is dried tree sap that when scratched and rubbed by bow hairs, it causes the hairs to stick and hold onto the strings on stringed instruments much better, making it easier to play. If there are any other questions, just ask! Thanks again :D!
New Note: I did not realize how many typo's I had in this chapter. ;; Apologies, I think I was in kind of a rush to get it out. I'm too lazy to read it over somtimes...