A/N: Sorry for not updating this story for a long time! So SORRY! Anyway, a bit late saying this - but I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and a happy New Year! :)
Prince of Tennis rightfully belongs to Takeshi Konomi. I don't own it, I only own my OC/s.
Thank you so much with all the support! Thank you for those who reviewed, favourited, and alerted this story! ^^
So here's Chapter 4 of Heart's Melody! Please enjoy! ^^
~Heart's Melody~
|Chapter 4|
-A Link Between the Two-
Sato Asuka eyed the music sheet as she drew her bow against the strings. Her forehead creased as she reached the third last bar. 'This is the part where I always stuff up,' She thought. Quickly she struck the D string and moved her bow to the A string, and pressed the strings to emit a vibrato and –
"Argh!"
Asuka glared at the sheet. "Darn it…" She whispered angrily, "Stuffed it again…" She ran her finger over the notes, and stabbed at the sharp ferociously.
The brunette girl heaved a sigh, and dropped herself onto the chair. "I give up on this," She groaned.
Blinking back tears, she stared at the violin in her hands. Her lips twitched into a smile. This was the same violin that she had ever since she entered middle school. It was a present from her parents. It was also the same year when she focused on perfection entirely.
"I…I wish I can…have fun at it again," Asuka sighed. Ever since she entered middle school, various music competitions opened up to her. And she had to win them. All of them. This wasn't like primary school where she can have fun playing. This was competition. There would only be one winner. The one who played the best. The one where all the notes are played accordingly. Perfection. Perfection. It was a battle of who can play the best. That's where all the pressure caved it. The other contestants weren't kind people with hearts of gold – they wanted to win too.
Asuka closed her eyes. She wanted to let go of all these stress and pressure. She just wanted…to have fun again.
"Asuka-chan. This is a violin."
An eight years old girl gaped at the beautiful instrument lying in its case. "Wow…" she breathed, "You mean it? I can stop playing the piano and play this…this violin? Really!?"
"Not stop playing the piano – but of course you can play the violin."
"Awesome!"
Asuka opened her eyes. Her shoulders slumped. "There's no point," she muttered, "Those days won't come back anymore."
Asuka glanced out the window from her maths worksheet. The sky was a clear blue, free of any clouds.
She sighed. She wished she was outside, free of any worries – or better yet, back at Seigaku – where she's free from Hyoutei – free of that dreaded, narcissist, Oreo – Cookie-san, and rich…rich idiots. She hated it. The best thing that probably happened for her in Hyoutei was meeting Choutarou. A kind boy, with a passion for the piano – even greater that hers with the violin. But it didn't really help much that Asuka was jealous of the boy – for his passion and skills.
Asuka resumed her attention back to her maths worksheet. Her forehead creased, as she stared hard at the problem. 'How…' She thought in despair, glancing at the textbook, '…Do you even work this out?'
Asuka trudged back to Music Room 11, clutching a range of maths worksheet. Her mind was filled with maths, maths and more maths. To calculate x, you must…
She quickly shook her head, driving the though away, last lesson of maths had ended, thankfully. One of the benefits of a music scholarship student is that you can use any of the music rooms anytime, without asking the teachers. Asuka pushed the door opened, and as usual there was no one inside.
She smiled slightly in satisfaction as she closed the door behind her, and place her violin case down. She breathed in deeply, closing her eyes, and her lips tweaked slowly into a smile.
"This room really reminds me of Seigaku…" She whispered. The room wasn't as fancy as Music Room 1, for example but it had a welcoming, homey charm. And Asuka liked it. Simple is nice and sweet.
She bent down, and unzipped her violin case. She pulled out the elegant string instrument and stared at it, running a finger down the smooth, polished wooden surface. I pulled out the bow, and tucked my chin in above the chin rest.
Time to warm up.
I played a few scales, my bow gliding across the strings smoothly, and my fingers pressed down on the string. I ignored the brown bangs that fell across my eye, and I continued to play, my bow rapidly moving to the G string.
Shishido dropped onto the cool grass, wiping sweat away from his forehead. As usual, he won against his opponents. He raised his water bottle to his lips and paused. He frowned, and turned his head.
"Is that sound…the violin?" He murmured, and craned his neck to stare at the music block.
His eyes widened in amazement. "It's…good…" He admitted, smiling slightly.
Asuka ended with a sharp vibrato. She heaved a sign, and stared at the music sheet. "It's been awhile since I last played this," she mumbled, "Maybe I should play the ones I haven't played for awhile as practice…"
She flicked through her music folder. "No…no…no…Canon? Too easy…" Asuka turned the page over, and her eyes gleamed, "Vivaldi's Four Seasons Violin Solo… Autumn in F Major." The brunette girl's lips twitched into a slight smile, "Took me forever to find this," She murmured, her eyes hungrily reading the notes, "Once I heard Autumn Violin Concerto performed by Sarah Chang, I had to play this."
Asuka lifted her violin to her shoulder again, and placed her chin on the chin rest. Her eyes were fixed determinedly on the notes, as she drew her bow across the strings.
Shishido ignored the sounds of running feet, tennis games being played, the noisy chatter from the courts – and focused entirely on the music he could hear.
The notes were rising and falling, and the violin made quick, strong sounds. Shishido was in awe. He didn't know much about music – and less of all, the violin. But he could tell, that this was amazing music. The notes rose perfectly, and it gradually shifted onto a slow, melodious sound, and it came to an abrupt stop. Shishido frowned. He could tell, that the music hasn't ended yet – so why did it stop? He wanted to hear more.
"Shishido-senpai!" Choutarou waved to the brunette boy. "Shishido-senpai! We have to practice on doubles! One of the courts are free now!"
Shishido glanced at his kouhai. "Coming, Choutarou! You go ahead!" He called, and resumed his attention back on the music block. His lips curved into a smile.
But he had a game to play. So he left.
Asuka glared at the music sheet, as she stabbed at the bar ferociously. "I played similar bits in the beginning! I can't believe I stuffed this up!" She heaved a sigh, and run a hand through her messy brown hair, "And I was so close to the ending too." She glance at her watch. "Shoot!" She gasped, "I promised Oishi and Eiji I would meet with them in…ten minutes!"
The brunette girl slapped her hand to her forehead, and hurriedly placed her violin in it's case, and shoved her music folder and loose sheets into her school bag.
She fumbled with her items as she stepped out of the room, and spared a glance back at the room, and closed the down behind her. Asuka placed her violin case's strap over shoulder and ran as fast as her short legs could take her.
She dashed pass the tennis courts, and cringed. She quickly averted her gaze away and immediately ran into someone.
"Oomph!" She flailed her arms around to regain her balance, as she felt her feet slide off the ground. The person grabbed her arm, and thanks to that, Asuka regain her balance.
Asuka brushed her brown bangs from her eyes, and looked up, smiling sheepishly. "Sorry about that" She apologised and was met with a boy with blue hair pass his shoulders, and slightly wide blue-violet eyes which sat behind round glasses.
"Ah. You're…one of the tennis regulars…" Asuka said dumbly, as he let of her arm, as she recalled from the time when she was carried ever so elegantly by Kabaji into the tennis courts, and meeting the…mole-guy who kept on calling her a commoner, Cookie-san.
"Oshitari Yuushi at your service," He smiled at her.
"Ah…Er…" Asuka fumbled with her words, her eye twitching strangely before jerking into a right angle bow, "Sorry for bumping to you, Oshitari-san," She apologised again, "I wasn't watching where I was going."
"It's alright," Oshitari smiled again. Asuka straightened up.
"Oshitari! Ore-sama demands you to hurry up! Your practice match is about to start!" An all too familiar voice demanded.
The blued-hair tensai sighed, and turned around. "Yes, Atobe."
"Arn? Is that the music scholarship commoner girl?" Atobe walked to the pair, and raised an eyebrow at the brunette girl, as if he was demanding an answer why she is with the blued-hair tensai of the Hyoutei boys tennis team.
Asuka blinked at the narcissistic captain. "It's Cookie-san," She stated, her eyes slightly wide. She then glanced at her watch. 'I'm going to be late!' She wailed mentally, and dashed off leaving the two behind.
Oshitari smirked and pushed his glasses to the brim of his nose. "I wonder if she ran away in fear due to your Cookie face, Atobe."
"Oshitari!" Atobe glared at the tensai, "That's ridiculous! And Ore-sama demands you to stop with the 'cookie'! Ore-sama has nothing to do with cookies! Ore-sama is an amazing, talented, brilliant man – "
Oshitari rolled his eyes. There goes Atobe's self praise speech again. The tensai assumed the speech was made to give Atobe a self boost after being scarred of being called "Cookie-san" by Sato Asuka.
"Eiji! Oishi!" Asuka panted as she ran to the Golden Pair, "I'm so sorry that I'm late!"
"Asuka!" Oishi whirled around and grabbed her by the shoulders, "Where have you been!? I was so worried! I thought you had been drugged, kidnapped, died!" His eyes were wide, with little tears seeping out at the corners, "You were gone – GONE! I thought that bad things happened to you! Like you could've been hit by a car! O-Or you could've slipped and hit your head and – and – "
Eiji slapped his hand over Oishi's mouth, laughing, "Don't worry about Oishi, Su-chibi-chan! Oishi just entered 'Mother Hen Mode' again, nya!"
Asuka giggled, her eyes warming. It's been awhile since she last saw them – and she did miss them – especially their 'craziness'. "So why did you message me about the outing today?" She asked, seeing that Oishi had calmed down.
"Since you made it into a prestigious school with the music scholarship, we decided to treat you to this new café," Oishi smiled. "Speaking of which, what's your school's name, Asuka?"
"It's – "
"This shop is famous for making delicious desserts, nya!" Eiji interrupted, his eyes sparkling with excitement. He eagerly bounded into the café.
Asuka smiled warmly. "Well, let's go!" She chirped brightly, forgetting about the earlier question. A light blush adorned her cheeks as she grinned, her eyes shining with happiness. She was touched by her friends' genuine kindness.
"Ooh!" Eiji gasped, his cerulean eyes wide as he stared at the cake display. "They look so good!"
"Ii data…"
Shivers rained down upon Asuka's shoulders, as she slowly turned her head. As she expected, she met the eerie face of Inui Sadaharu with his glasses evilly glinting as he scribbled down in his notebook.
"I-Inui…" Asuka stammered weakly, beads of sweat forming on her forehead. She couldn't help it. One person she is extremely scared of was Inui Sadaharu. After all, who oh earth at their first meeting who whip out a notebook, and starts declaring the person's facts to everyone present. Not to mention, those evil, vile things you call drinks… Asuka shuddered inwardly as she recalled the memories of Inui innocently handing her a cup of what she assumed to be juice. She remembered the taste of it plaguing her tastebuds... She couldn't help it if she was gullible.
"Ah, Asuka. It's been awhile," Inui nodded, smiling.
"Yea…" Asuka nodded.
"Inui!" Oishi exclaimed, looking surprised, "What are you doing here?"
Inui's glasses glinted, as he turned a few pages over. "Yesterday, I seen Eiji typing a message into his cell phone, looking quite excited. After doing some, ah…research…I assumed that Eiji and Oishi were organising some kind of celebration in congratulating Asuka on her scholarship to some…prestigious school which has strong connections to music competitions, companies..."
Eiji laughed, "That's call stalking, Inui!" Then he resumed his attention back to the cakes, "Mmm! The strawberry shortcake looks nice! Chocolate Madness seems yummy! Ooh! Mango Mousse!"
"89% that Eiji will choose the Strawberry Delight," Inui murmured. "And it's not stalking. It's data."
"Nya!? How did you know that I was having a mental fight in my head between the Strawberry Delight and Choc Trio!?"
"73% that Oishi will pick the Green Tea cake with the red bean topping."
"Inui! How did you know that!?"
"And Asuka… 100% that you will choose the Cookie Bliss."
"H-H-How did you know!? It's even 100%!"
"Ii Data."
"That was bliss…" Asuka sighed in content as she placed her fork down onto her empty plate.
Eiji grinned cheekily. "That's why it's called Cookie Bliss!" He took a bite from his second cake.
Oishi smiled at the brunette girl. "We're glad that you liked it."
Asuka grinned in reply. Her eyes fell upon a glass filled with orange liquid. "Oh, orange juice?" She took it and grinned, "Thank you!" She took a sip.
Eiji's eyes bulged. "Asuka!" He cried out, "That – "
Oishi clutched the sides of his head with his hands, his face an ashen white, "T-That's not orange juice!" He screeched, "Inui put it there!"
Inui's glasses glinted. "100% that she will mistaken it for orange juice and drink it. This will be good data, no one volunteered to drink it so I had resort…to this. Ii data…"
The glass of Inui Juice fell from Asuka's fingers, and spilt onto the table. Asuka's face flashed from several colours – Orange, green, purple, red then to white. Her head fell onto the table, and she remained motionless.
"INUIIIIIIIII!" Eiji screamed, "You killed her, nya!"
"Call the police!" Oishi yelled, running around the outdoor table, panicked, "No! Call the fire department! Argh! What am I saying!? CALL THE AMBULANCE!"
Inui's glasses glinted once again, as he scribbled madly in his notebook. "This is good data."
~Special~
|First Encounter|
~Tezuka Kunimitsu~
Sato Asuka's POV
It was the first day of Middle School. I sat on my seat, my heart thumping like a drum. I twitched my foot, and tightened my grip on my knees to prevent them from shaking.
This is what I really hate about first days. I get extremely nervous, and I stutter every time a word comes out of my mouth. I glanced at the floor, when my violin case lied. There sight of the black case gave me a small feeling of reassurance.
"I'm your homeroom teacher for the rest of this year," the teacher continued. I snapped my attention back towards her. The teacher smiled, her eyes twinkling, "You don't need to so tense, you guys seem so nervous," she teased, "I left my list in the staffroom – talk to your seatmates so you'll get to know one another better."
As the door shut behind her, I fumbled nervous with my blouse. I glanced around, and everyone is giving shaking smiles to their seatmates, introducing themselves. I glanced at the person sitting next to me. He had dark brown hair which parted on his left, with matching eyes which sat behind a pair of glasses.
"Um…" I spoke quietly, as I faced him. "N-Nice to meet you. M-My name is S-Sato Asuka," I stammered nervously, averting my eyes away from his.
"I'm Tezuka Kunimitsu," He replied back, "Nice to meet you."
I smiled awkwardly, and my eyes travelled to the tennis racket bag lying on the floor, beside his chair. "Do you play tennis?"
He nodded, and his eyes travelled to the violin case on the floor. "You play the violin."
I nodded, smiling. "Let's be good classmates for this year!"
Second year of Middle School
I glanced at the nearby bookshelves in the library. 'Where are all the good books these days?' I thought, as I turned right into the non-fiction section. I raised my eyes to see a person standing a few feet in front of me, scanning the shelf.
"Ah." My eyes widened, as the person in front of me turned to face me. My grip on the books that I had recently took from the shelves slackened. "T-Tezuka-san?"
He blinked. "Sato-san," He greeted.
I blinked. I haven't expected him to remember my name. The last time we talked was back in our first year – when we had cleaning duties together at the end of the year – which was a really long time ago. My eyes fell upon the tennis magazine in his hand.
My lips curved into a smile. "Congratulations on becoming the vice-captain of Seigaku, and your victory against Hyoutei Academy's captain in the Tokyo Prefectural Tournament."
"Thank you," He replied, "And congratulations on coming first place in the Tokyo Junior Music Competition."
My mouth fell open. Of all people, I never expected Tezuka Kunimitsu to remember my name – and least of all, that I won first place the recent Tokyo Junior Music Competition.
I giggled, and placed a hand over my mouth, as my shoulder shook slightly. Tezuka raised an eyebrow.
I waved my hand, and stopped giggling, but a wide smile was stretched onto my mouth. "Sorry – I haven't told the teachers about that yet, and I'm surprised that you even knew about it." He nodded.
I looked at the section he was scanning through. I raised an eyebrow. Auto-biographies? I pointed at a red covered book. "That's a good book. It's very inspirational. The author…"
As I explained to him about the book, I couldn't help but feel warm and grateful. I couldn't stop smiling as I spoke to Tezuka. I was happy that he remembered my name – after all, he was the first person I met in middle school.
A/N: End~
As I explained in the previous chapter, the First Encounter are short stories of Asuka's first meeting of Prince of Tennis's characters. In this one, it's Tezuka :) I didn't make him talk too much, because...isn't that his character? ^^;; Anyway, I hope the characters weren't OOC or anything...
Next, for First Encounter - I will do Echizen Ryoma - thanks to Momoko Suzuki for suggesting it! Thank you! :D
Anyway, I want to explain this chapter's name - A Link Between the Two.Near the beginning of the story, when Asuka was playing the violin, and Shishido happened to hear her play. Then there were short 'snippets' of Asuka and Shishido. This is like a "Link" between the two, and...if you want to, I guess you can call it the start of Shishido and Asuka's relationship (could be friendship lol /slap).
Also, the Seigaki regulars doesn't know what school Asuka goes to. They know that it's a prestigious school. Asuka didn't tell them because she was too focused on practising the violin and piano. And the regulars didn't want to give her any stress, so they didn't mention it much.
Vivaldi's Four Seasons - Autumn. I found it on Youtube, performed by Sarah Chang. It's really amazing, Sarah Chang plays it so well!
Thank you for all your support! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! ^^ Sorry if there are any mistakes in this.
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Lya The Crying Girl: Thank you so much for that! :D :D Haha, tennis hurts instead of tennis courts XDDD Thanks again! ;D
Yuki Mizuho: Really? Lololol, good on you! Show the arrogant rich people whose the smartest of them all! Thank you!~ :D
Guest: Yosh, here's Asuka's First Encounter with Tezuka XDD Hmm...I'm not sure - but Seigaku, Hyoutei and Asuka will definitely meet at the Kanto Tournament. I'm really sorry, but I don't plan for a cross-over with another manga/anime... Thank you so much for your support though! :)
Lady Syndra: Thank you so much! :) Er, the Seigaku or Hyoutei Regulars? xD If she does get it back, then her music will be so powerfully awesome that it'll cause everyone's eardrums to burst XDD Just kidding xD Thank you!~~ :D :D
Guest [2]: Thank you so much!~~ :D :D :D
Momoko Suzuki: Thank you so much!~~ :D :D Lol, well Shishido is a cool character XDD Yosh, Ryoma's next XDD Thank you!~ ;D
jenshim1518: I will try my best ;) Thank you!~~
Princesstheripperislove: Ahaha, thank you so much!~ ;D I will try my best to update as much and as soon as possible! :D I'm glad that you really enjoyed this ^^ Thank you!~~ :D :D
Solar Powered Pandas: Thank you so much! :D :D Really? o.o Thank you! ;D
Jem Juliette Jewels Jade: Sure will! ;D Thank you!~ :)