* I created this story in 2012 during high school. I would skip class to come and write this and then one day, all of the inspiration that I had for this story disappeared. Lately I've been thinking about finishing it a lot and when I went to go back to read and pick up where I left off, I got a huge glimpse of how young and cringe my writing came off. So I will be revamping each chapter until I get to the point where I can begin writing the rest that everyone has been so seriously patient with wanting me to finish.

This story is heavily inspired by previous works that I've read all throughout middle and high school. I would skip lunch to sneak into the school library and type away every single day. Key authors being Holly Black and Melissa Marr. Some of the characters will act OOC to better meld into the story; all of these characters are of age—of course. Constructive criticism is very welcome. Enjoy.


Chapter One; AMU'S POV:

"Have you ever listened to a song so absolutely stunning that it hindered you incapable to focus on anything else?
Amu looked up from the book she held in her hands, scanning the park around her in intrigue. The real question here; where was it coming from? Of course, it wasn't entirely unnatural to hear someone practicing or performing in the park; but for it to be at this time? She checked the face on her wrist just to be sure. It was just about three in the morning. Way too early in the day for someone to be playing here, and way too late for her to be hanging out there on her own. The birds aren't even awake to sing yet. And maybe her parents weren't either. Maybe they'd already fallen asleep, bottle in hand.

She pulled out and shut off the reader's light attached to her book and stuffed it into her jacket pocket. Amu closed her book, gathered her bearings and kicked up her legs and catapulted her weight to jump smoothly off of the swing she'd sat on. She had reason herself to be out so early. Not wanting to fully rely on the trust that her parents were actually asleep, she held out the expectation that she'd return home to see that they would still be lively. Drunk as all hell, screaming at each other over small details and in turn making it her problem. Being the only child in a house full of addicts wasn't uncommon, but it was still a pain to put up with. If she wanted to keep her sanity, the park was one of few escape options that she took up to going to quite often. Shoving the paperback book under her armpit, she looked around curiously once again, trying to get a good sense of where the music that'd pull her out of her reading was coming from.

It wasn't too hard to pinpoint the source; the park was hardly even spacious enough to contain two parties worth of people. There were, however, two rows of neatly aligned pine trees that separated the park from the community soccer field. Amu did her best to step through them, doing her damnedest to keep from getting poked and prodded by the needles on the branches. Once passing through generally unscathed, she stopped and gazed out into the space that was in front of her. She felt a cold chill; and although her jacket was already zipped she felt the need to clutch it tighter around her torso.

"Some soccer field," she muttered under her breath. You'd think that the main point of a soccer field being a soccer field would be because of the flat area and nicely cut grass, and spacious enough to kick balls around without the risk of the ball flying into the streets or into a residential home. But this park looked as if it was rarely tended to. Not only was it small, but the grass grew to immeasurable lengths in some areas, and the ground was beyond uneven. There were small mounds, dips and large rocks in the ground. Two nets were carelessly tossed opposite of each other, vines weaving their way through the diamond-like netting. All in all, it looked a bit desolate and neglected. She had reason to believe that she was the only person to walk through here in months—and for good reason. Soccer field… She sighed and shifted her weight around before moving her book from under one arm to the other and continued to walk forward, paying extra attention in being careful not to catch her foot in the unruly grass and rocks. She'd barely moved four feet forward before she pinpointed the source of the music and halted her steps altogether.

Standing in the center of one of the hills, playing his beautiful music on a beautiful violin, there was an extremely beautiful- no, ethereal man.

The pinkette blinked a few times. To test whether or not she'd simply imagined him there, and partly because the sight of him being there hurt her eyes. It was as if she stared into a much cooler, less permanently damaging sun. The moon, if it were only bigger and brighter. She made attempts to move again, tightening her grip on her book, standing up straighter. An inside voice chided at her. You wanted to know who was playing that music so early; now you know. You can leave. Oh, how she loved her reasonable side. But of course, she was going to ignore it. She wasn't known for playing it safe and sound nor did she harbor any fears for much in general. And with that reasoning, Amu eased closer to the man, straightening her back and taking a breath. She wanted to make her presence come off as strong, confident, and intentional. She'd already been standing in the field eyeballing the man; why turn around and pretend she wasn't as if he didn't see her already?

She assessed him with her honeyed eyes, unabashedly taking in all aspects of him before the song her played ended. Part of her understood that what she was doing was both ridiculous and dangerous, but she couldn't stop. It was as if the music just drew her in the more she looked at him. A solution for that would be to look away, right? Impossible. His hair—like hers—was an unnatural shade. Compared to her bubblegum pink, his was an interesting mix of shades. The difference was that hers came from a box of N'raged, and his looked… Can hair look alive? It was silky, shiny, almost iridescent with the way the moon played off on it. The colors of silver, cobalt and yet a goldstone blue all at the same time. His skin was the color of caramel, and the contrast of his hair gracing his neck and forehead made him both striking and somewhat fictional to look at. Amu's eyes continued to catch onto aspects of this man. He was tall. Taller than her; about two heads taller. The other few things she took notice of was his clothing. They were... different. Odd and dated. Definitely not a fashion statement that someone in this city would think about making.

He wore a loose-fitted, long-sleeved black top with extra fabric that had been tied together at his wrists. Draped overtop was a flowing tunic with fabric that bunched up at the side of his waist before spilling down to his ankles. While the long sleeved top was the exact color of the night sky, the tunic on top of that was the color of the morning; the color of dawn that shifted in the wind. Rope was tied at his waist, pulling the cloth nice and snug all together in a cinch. A single earring shone under the beam of the moon.

The melody of his tune pitched high and the tempo of his song quickened into apex before they'd hit an abrupt pause. It was brief, but the moment of silence tore Amu away from observing his appearance to instead focus on the fact that he was playing a song so hauntingly beautiful. It was when the music picked back up, nice and so soothing that she felt herself fall into the music, not realizing the breath she held until her chest burned. Amu couldn't help but to look at him. His face. The way his lashes looked as though they were brushing against his cheeks. She took notice of the tall, refined nose he had all the way to the slight purse of his lips as he played. She blushed at the sensual expression he had. It was a look both peaceful and full of mysteries. She shook her head, as if shaking away the sudden intimate thoughts that were beginning to form. She had not heard nearly enough of his music and felt that it was too premature to leave, but decided it was best if she left for home before it got any weirder. She thought that was best, but when she turned and began to make her way back towards the pines was conveniently the moment the music stopped abruptly for the second time. Only this time, the music would not pick back up again and she heard a faint intake of breath along with the shifting of the violin behind her.

Another brief debate within herself told her that it wouldn't make any sense for her to pretend as though she wasn't just standing and watching him perform for such an extended amount of time. That she had so many questions about him that she really wanted to have answers to. However, he was a stranger after all. She didn't know him and therefore she needed to keep some sort of self-preservation about her. I'll just keep the conversation to a minimum and go about my business, she thought.

At the same moment she came to her resolve, she heard him ask, "what did you think about the performance?"

Amu turned around just in time to see him walk towards her with unabashed confidence in the rocks and snags in the ground. His walk looked as if he were floating across the ground, graceful and the mere thought of him tripping over anything while he did so was unthinkable. If she walked without watching her feet she was sure to fall over a good 10 times. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other and tucked her book back under her arm. She nodded towards him as he continued walking towards her and she couldn't help but to blurt, "do you know that it's almost 4am?"

The man stopped a few feet from her and tilted his head upwards in a nod back to her. Only, when he lifted his head and made eye contact with her, she felt the most overwhelming sense of emotions hit her in the gut. Her heart hit her stomach, and a soft inhale took the place of a gasp as she took an automatic step backward. Her heel caught on a small rock, but she kept her balance. His eyes... They were bluer than sapphire itself. Bluer than anything she'd ever seen before. She could see even the purplish flecks that surrounded the pupil, and it was then that she fell in love with them. Him, even. Love? In fact, the amount of love and warmth she felt just by looking at him this entire time was starting to cause her to grow anxious. Who was this man? And where did these feelings come from? The feeling of concern and worry mix it's way into the pot of emotions she was already working through and she desperately clung to them as they were the most rational ones. She wanted to feel his embrace, please him, know him. She wanted to build something, escape with him and learn what he loves and hates. And he looks like he wants the sam—.

Amu forced herself to rip her eyes away from his. She swallowed and cleared her throat. Her focus stayed to the grass, eyebrows pulled together in confusion. Those strong feelings that she felt just moments ago vanished just as quickly as they came, and she knew that something definitely wasn't normal with this person. She didn't just 'fall in love' with random 3 AM violin players; what is wrong with her? What is wrong with him?

"It's almost 4? I wasn't paying attention to the time," he responded, his voice ladled in amusement. His quick response was seemingly ignorant of her crisis which made her pray that he hadn't noticed it.

She managed to collect herself before replying with, "Well it's definitely way too early to be playing music. Noise ordinance and all that stuff. Getting people sent over to talk to you about being too loud is really annoying for everyone involved so I think that maybe you should be a little more mindf..." Her voice trailed off. She was beginning to ramble. Who was she? The noise police? Neighborhood watch? She could literally be talking about anything else and here she is being a stickler.

After the silence stretched to become clear that she wasn't going to finish her mini rant, he lifted his violin in the air and lowered it with a shrug. "Does it really matter? I don't think it's ever too early to enjoy a song," he said. She so desperately wanted to look at his face to see what emotions laid there, but she'd still needed a few moments to recoup from the heavy emotion.

Instead she simply said, "but no one would be around to listen and enjoy the music. I think music should be played at a certain time of day. Why play it so early in the morning when everyone will be asleep?" She shifted her weight to the right, and sighed, changing the subject. "Anyway, I did enjoy it. You play very well."

"What is your name?" He pressed suddenly.

Her brows pushed together again and while keeping her eyes on the grass she said without a beat of hesitation, "Amu."

"Amu?" She couldn't help but to look up to look at him when he said her name. His face was incomprehensible, and she bit her lip, those emotions beginning to bubble within.

She already told him what she thought she wouldn't tell any stranger. Eye candy or not, no one she most likely was never going to see again, needed to know her name. But still, he asked and she wanted him to know for whatever reason. "Hinamori Amu," she added after a pause. "Just call me Amu."

The man looked at her for a few more silent moments, and she couldn't help but to think that maybe he was a villain who landed her name and was now debating her doom. He flashed her a killer, brilliant smile instead. "Amu. Pretty name." He tilted his head to the side, the arm in which he held his violin shifting from his side to her, in a gesture. "Well, I'm glad that you enjoyed my music. It seems as though at least one person heard me play."

Amu transferred her eyes to his violin and shrugged. "I am just here to pass time and read. I wouldn't assume that you'd get at least one listener every single time you play. This is a coincidence." She moved the book from under her arm to crossing them, daring to look up at him. "Also, I think it's only fair that you tell me your name too." There was a new flirtatious lilt to her voice that she had no clue as to where the hell it came from.

His eyes gleamed and he gave a slow, sexy smile. "Does it really matter?"

Before she knew it, a blush was staining her cheeks and she felt ten degrees warmer. "It does!" She replied haughtily, her book slipping from her hands and falling onto the ground. She'd barely noticed it. In fact, the entirety of her surroundings seem to blur into something insignificant. "You asked for mine. That's how introductions work, you know."

His lips pursed together, and for the first time he seemed to have to think on how to reply to her. She could've sworn she saw a moment of confusion flash across his features before leaving an expression of seduction in it's wake. "That's merely because your name was important to me, Amu. And such a lovely name it is." He took a step forward and it immediately sent her heart into a race. This should really be the end of this conversation, she thought before he interrupted. "Have I said that, already? It fits you."

Amu's face was burning, and she exhaled with unnecessary force, the her recently lost rationale finally coming out of hiding. "I don't think the attractiveness of my name matters. I don't anticipate us talking to each other very often; if at all. Especially since you don't want to share your name."

The man smiled and took another step forward. "But it's not an absolute order, is it? I must give you my name?"

"Well... No." She stammered out finally. She'd seen too many guys dump and make fools of her friends and she wasn't about to go down that same, dramatic path. She preferred the guys that were considered 'nerds' in school. The guys that went unnoticed by everyone else. The guys who were easy to dump, if need be. Her friends disagreed with her methods, but she didn't care because it's kept her life simple and easy. Amu stood biting at the inside of her lip. Something was incredibly off about this guy. He had way too much sex appeal. Just the thought of him having any appeal struck her stupid. She had her dating preferences but she was never the type to just openly flirt and mess around either. She'd never thought about it and if this were a normal situation, she definitely wouldn't be entertaining and peer-pressuring a stranger in the middle of the night to give his name. The interest in this man, and sudden emotional tension that she'd been working with throughout the whole ordeal was out of character for someone who never really even thought about dating.

"Good," he said, breaking her train of thought. "If you want, I can play you another song." His smile was tender, and the warmth unfurled like a ribbon and wrapped around her stomach. He stepped forward, and held out his hand. "Come, and I can play as many songs as you would like."

Something about his hand threw her off and maybe she was just overcome with the lack of sleep, but it felt as if there was a ripple and pull in the air that made her want to step into his arms and relax. It made her want to be ready to be loved. If she held his hand, she would receive everything any human has ever wanted. To be loved. And with that thought, something snapped back into her brain as if breaking the spell that she swore she'd been drowning in. She stepped back immediately, shaking the strange thoughts out of her head and reached down to pick up her book.

"Oh, no.." she started, her voice cracking, "that's alright, thanks.." Standing upright, she shifted her body to lean more towards the direction she'd be walking in and after a pause she added, "it's getting to be dawn, and I haven't slept yet... School's in a few hours, so..." She picked up her book, the chilled jacket of the book cooling her warm, clammy hands. She spared the man one final gaze and balked at the expression he had. The mans' face was worth laughing at if it wasn't for the awkward situation. He was staring down at the hand he had reached out to her with as if it wasn't his own. As if it had betrayed him greatly, and was ready to be amputated.

"Excuse me, no name?" Amu pressed hesitantly, waving a hand in front of his face. Seeing him unhinged gave her unprecedented bravery to not just book it. She felt brave, but braced herself a little when he looked up. She should've just left. Why wasn't she leaving?

With a forced smile, he shook his head, transferring his violin to the other hand and clearing his throat. "Yes, yes. Have a good rest before your classes." He ignored the name jab, and also turned to walk in the direction opposite to her.

She felt a little miffed and looked towards him with suspicious as she began to take her first steps home. "You definitely know how to keep a person curious, you know."

He grinned in response. "Come back tomorrow and maybe I will explain."

Amu maintained her suspicious stare but ultimately relaxed. She sighed and fully turned and began walking without a word. Her book almost slipped from her hands yet again when her foot got caught in some tangled, tall grass. So much for a smooth exit.. she thought whimsically. Thankfully, she caught herself in time and dared not turn around to see if he caught her fumble. She didn't make a smooth exit, but she was at least making one.

"Come back tomorrow!" He called after her once again, his voice lost in the wind as she stepped back through the bushes and made her way out of the park, mulling over the idea of returning to see him again.


RR. I would appreciate it.