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Back when he was a kid, Inuyasha couldn’t understand why his mother wanted him to play the piano so much. He didn’t think he was hot shit, not by a long shot, but his mother made it seem like he was the best player in the world. Plus, his playing always seemed to brighten her day. So play away he did, if only for her, up until the day before she passed away. There were times when he wished he’d been able to play for her that last day, but he wasn’t sure how he could have pulled it off in the first place. She had asked him to sign up for one more competition, for one more chance to hear him play on stage. How could he say no to that?
Now here he was, playing the piano only when he was asked or told; never just for the enjoyment anymore. What was there to enjoy about it anyway? His love for the instrument, as well as his drive to play, seemed to have left him when his mother left him; when she was no longer of this world. He almost always felt like playing as soon as he got back from classes, but as soon as he would sit down on the piano bench, he would remember his mother, and with a whoosh, the feeling to play would be gone once again.
He guessed that he didn’t mind not playing as much as he used to. It meant he had more time for ramen cups and bothering his friends Miroku and Sango about their gig for the talent competition coming soon. Their music wasn’t quite his cup of tea, with the crazy drums and unintelligible lyrics, but they both seemed into it, so he just tuned it out whenever they practiced. Some times, when they’d call him for ignoring them, he would put in a little effort to actually give them pointers on what needed tweaking or more work.
Which was probably why he was surprised when said friends came up to him, huge grins plastered on their faces, extending a single sheet of paper that said…
“You’ve gotta be shitting me! Why’d you guys sign me up for this shit?!” He glared heatedly at them both, but they didn’t seem phased at all.
“Now, now, ‘Yash, there’s no need to be acting like this.” Miroku stuck his hands in his pockets, reprimanding him as if he was his father.
“Miroku is right, Inuyasha,” Sango placed a hand on his shoulder, but Inuyasha shrugged it off. “We both know how much you miss playing in competitions.”
“Keh, as if! Besides, I haven’t played in one since-“
“Since your mother passed, we know. But,” Sango sighed, looking to Miroku for help. “I think what Sango is trying to say is we can see how lifeless you seem when you don’t play.” Inuyasha huffed, crossing his arms as his ears flattened on his head a bit in sorrow. Even though it had been five years, the grief that came with losing his mother still felt fresh, and he didn’t like talking about it. Heh, Miroku and Sango must really feel like this would be good for me. ‘Damnit, I hate when they get like this. Cause as soon as they know they’re right, they get all smug and shit.’
Sighing, Inuyasha closed his eyes, hoping he didn’t regret what he was about to say.
“What do I even play for this damn thing?”
*
The day of the competition approached quickly, but Inuyasha still felt pretty confident in his ability to play his piece. He didn’t feel too nervous, but he was silently wondering if he would be able to play it at all. It was his mother’s favourite piece, after all, and he hadn’t actually played it in its entirety when he’d practiced.
Miroku and Sango had already gone backstage to set up their gear, leaving him alone in the hallway save for one other contestant: A small lithe girl who looked close to his age. She sat a ways away from him and wore brightly coloured headphones over her ears. Her arms were outstretched in front of her, one arm remaining static while the other seemingly glided across the surface of the imaginary instrument in her hands. Judging by the way she held herself, how far her arms were in front of her, and the bowing motions she did with her right arm, Inuyasha guessed that she was practicing violin or viola- just without the instrument. He couldn’t be too sure, though. After all, his realm of “expertise” (if you could call it that) was in piano, not orchestra. Her eyes were closed, the hood of her jacket looked like it was pulled up as far as it would go. Despite this, he could see hints of raven black hair tucked behind the band of her headphones, framing her face ever so slightly before the rest of her tresses were lost in the darkness of her hood.
Inuyasha felt mesmerised, almost as if he had a connection with this person that he didn’t even know. He hardly noticed the backstage door open or the staff member’s head that poked out behind it until a voice spoke out to him.
“Great, you’re both here. I have some bad news.”
Inuyasha continued to stare for just a second more, before finally turning to acknowledge the voice. He was sad to take his eyes off the mysterious girl. The staff member seemed a bit frazzled even though the competition had just started. “We unfortunately won’t have time for both of you to play separately. One of the judges just got hit with news of a family emergency, and according to our rules no adjudicating can place if not all the judges are present. There’s really no time to just cancel the competition, so since you’re both playing the same song, the judges were wondering if you two would mind maybe playing together.”
Inuyasha wasn’t sure if he should feel angry for the lack of a solid back up plan or be surprised at the fact that they weren’t just cancelling this category’s section of the competition. Most of the time in performance competitions like this, you’d stay fixed in the category you signed up for. Each category had a specific rubric and set of guidelines it followed. Furthermore, the judges in each category were specifically placed based on their credentials, area of expertise, or combination of the two. The categories themselves ranged from Solo Lyrical and Solo Technical sections specific to each instrument competing to Duet, Trio, and Chamber Ensemble categories.
‘But maybe things have changed. After all, it has been five years…’
“Keh, whatever. I guess if I have to. You might want to try asking her again though.” Inuyasha pointed his thumb to the girl who was now practicing some odd looking dance moves with her arms still out to hold her imaginary instrument. The overburdened stage hand sighed exasperatedly before squaring their shoulders and going over to the girl to grab her attention. As much as Inuyasha wanted to see what she looked like, his annoyance at the ever-developing situation held all of his attention.
Inuyasha looked at the music folder in his hands, eyes scanning over its worn edges and bent corners. His mother’s elegant script had written the piece’s title on the folder’s label, the ink faded from the amount of times it had been opened and reopened. A swell of emotion Inuyasha refused to acknowledge began to build up inside him, growing and gnawing at him to the point that he felt like he’d burst at the seams. He’d already been having doubts about playing this piece in its entirety, and now this? A new wave of emotions, of anger, frustration, and unfathomable sadness, traveled through him, making him clench and unclench his empty hand, his nails poking into his palms with more and more force each time.
Small, warm, and calloused fingers gently took his hand, uncurling his fingers from his palm. On instinct, he jerked his hand back and out of their grip before taking a step back to further his distance.. Inuyasha looked back at the offender, eyes wild and mouth open to let the curses fly, but it died on his lips.
Standing where he’d been just moments before was the girl. Her headphones now hung around her neck while her hood was pushed down to reveal wavy, raven black locks. Her deep, chocolate brown eyes were wide in surprise, her hands splayed out in front of her as if to convey that she meant no harm. She watched as Inuyasha seemed to calm down, her gaze going back to his hand.
“You need to be careful with those hands of yours. Imagine how hard it would be to play with bandages on your fingers.” Her sweet, pleasant voice carried over to him as her face lit up with a small smile, her eyes slowly flashing with recognition. “Hey, aren’t you…?”
Inuyasha cut her off with a “Keh!” as he straightened up, turning his hand away from her so that she wouldn’t see him running his thumb along his palm to check for injury. A soft sigh of relief escaped his lips when he felt no irregularities in his hand. He figured people might recognise him even though it had been five years, but he didn’t think this girl would. She didn’t seem like the type to know classically trained artists, if the way she was dressed had anything to say about it anyway.
“So what if I am who you think I am? That doesn’t change the fact that we have to play together. Unless you don’t want to play with me at all. Either or is fine by me.”
Her mouth snapped shut while her brows dipped with a frown, her eyes hardened like steel. The boy before her gazed at her warily. It was almost as if he was challenging her to say something. She wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction. With her glare unrelenting, she settled with a huff of annoyance before finally walking away.
‘Ugh! What’s that guy’s deal?!’ Kagome thought angrily to herself, totally stunned that he seemed so different from the way he’d been acting just moments before. She had seen him come in with two of the other contestants, complaining that the piano for the competition wasn’t a Steinway like he was used to. ‘Not that it should matter.’
However, she couldn’t help but admire the sound of his voice when he spoke and wonder about how he just didn’t seem like the type to play piano. To top it all off, he had adorable white dog ears that flitted around at sounds she probably couldn’t hear herself. So, she had shamelessly listened to him with her headphones on but not playing anything until his friends left to get their equipment ready. Once they’d left, she’d tried to focus on her routine, occasionally practicing the few spins and twirls that didn’t feel as solid as she wanted them to. She honestly didn’t know what had made her think to go to him after the stage hand had talked to her.
‘Yes you do, liar.’ Kagome huffed at herself, pulling her headphones over her ears again before hitting play on her phone.
When her eyes had left her phone’s screen that first time she’d found that she just couldn’t help but be drawn to the pain that seemed to rest on his shoulders. His ears had looked slightly wilted and the look of utter loss he’d worn on his face had her feet moving before her thoughts could catch up to her. She’d been so lost in thought that she almost bumped into the stagehand heading towards where they were backstage. And then he just had to open his mouth and make it seem like she was the one in the wrong! All she had done was try and get him to stop clenching his fist!
“Well, sorry for trying to get you to take better care of your hand.” She muttered under her breath, taking a deep breath before working on her routine again.
*
It wasn’t long after arguing with that girl that another stage hand peeked their head out into the hallway to say they had five minutes before they were up. Inuyasha had taken a seat against the wall with his head in his hands, trying to pump himself up to play with the damn girl. What he really wanted to do was book it out of there, hide out in his car, and wait until Miroku and Sango were ready to leave. He could deal with them being upset later, and possibly even pay for their dinner if it meant they’d be pacified.
Suddenly, he felt something hollow tap his head.
Inuyasha slowly looked up as he rubbed his head. It hadn’t really hurt, but a scowl was already forming on his face. When his eyes finally met with the culprit, he felt his jaw go slack as a light flush warmed his cheeks. He quickly looked away to “cough” in his hand in an attempt to save face.
“What d’ya want? Come over to say you’ve dropped out of the competition?”
The girl violinist had changed into a simple emerald green knee-length dress that accentuated her lithe figure. Her hair was pulled up in a simple ponytail while her bangs had been fluffed a bit to make them look more full. Inuyasha suddenly felt under-dressed in comparison, wearing only his black slacks and red button down shirt whose sleeves were now wrinkled from being pushed past his elbows. Inuyasha’s brief bout of self-consciousness quickly came to an end, however, when he noticed that she looked like she was trying her damnedest to remain calm. A smirk soon replaced his awestruck gaze, feeling somewhat proud that he had struck a nerve in her so fast.
Kagome inhaled and exhaled deeply before replying. “Actually, I was going to ask if you wanted the melody or would prefer that I play it, but if you’re going to be a jerk I’ll just play whatever I want.” She then turned around, shrugged her shoulders, and was about to walk away when-
“Hey, wait.”
She turned back to him, gaze wary. Inuyasha sighed, unsure of what he was about to suggest, but feeling in his gut it was the smart thing to do. “How about we alternate? That way we each get to show off to those tightwad judges.”
The girl blinked at him in surprise, tapping her bow against her chin as she contemplated his suggestion. After a few moments, she looked back at him and nodded, a small smile gracing her lips.
‘Maybe this guy isn’t as rude as he seems.’
*
“And now for our final contestants of the day: Kagome Higurashi and Inuyasha Taisho, playing a duet arrangement of Debussy’s Clair de Lune. As always, please hold your applause until the end of the performance.”
Inuyasha could see the audience perk up at the mention of his name from his place backstage. Some looked surprised while others seemed apprehensive.
'I suppose that’s to to be expected, since I left halfway through my last performance…’
That day would always be ingrained in his memory, forever branded on his soul. Inuyasha couldn’t dwell on that part of the past right now though. Today was a whole new battleground, and he was hoping to whatever higher power there was that it would go without a hitch. His gaze went from the view of the audience he had from backstage to the girl standing right beside him, her violin tucked under her arm as she continued to stare out in front of her. Though she appeared calm and collected on the surface, the slight shake of her grip on the bow suggested otherwise.
‘Huh, so the kid’s name is Kagome. She better know how to play the damn thing now that it’s actually in her hands.’
Inuyasha took in her nervous expression, noticing how she worried her bottom lip as she absentmindedly clenched and unclenched her free hand. Inuyasha could even hear her whispering “It’s just a small group of people, and you won’t be able to see them cause it’s dark” over and over to herself, as if it was going to help reassure her.
‘Looks like this might be her first performance in front of a crowd. Wonderful.’
He sighed in exasperation, lightly scratching the tip of his nose as he contemplated what he was about to do. In all honesty, he wasn’t sure he wanted to share his mother’s favorite piece with someone, especially someone he barely knew. However, something in his gut told him that this was something he needed to do. In the time it took for him to say to hell with it and just go for it, Kagome had started shaking, her bow visibly moving as she struggled to maintain her grip of it. Some of her hair had even fallen from her ponytail to frame her face on either side, causing Inuyasha to roll his eyes before silently releasing a breath.
'Well, guess I won’t have to ruin her hairstyle.'
Kagome was counting down from a hundred when something, or rather someone, stood in front of her, effectively obstructing her view of the audience and lightly tugged on the hair that she hadn’t realised escaped her hair tie. She sucked in a breath of surprise when she realised it was Inuyasha. She still couldn’t believe it was the Inuyasha Taisho, the one that, five years ago, was set to become the youngest pianist to be asked to join the Tokyo Symphony. But, that was before his mother, Izayoi Taisho, passed away. He had pretty much fallen off the face of the musical planet afterwards.
She couldn’t blame him for leaving the competition circuit, though, or for going to less and less auditions. She also couldn’t even blame him when he stopped participating in the music scene all-together after his mom was hospitalised. Thinking back now, she did remember his name popping up one last time. It was the day his mother passed away.
Kagome knew if she had been in his shoes, she probably would have done the same thing. Her mother was her world, and she couldn’t even begin to imagine what life would be like without her. But, she was sad when she’d started seeing Inuyasha less and less. He was the reason she wanted to play music in the first place after all. She could still remember her first time seeing him play, which coincidentally, was also his last competition.
It was like he became a completely different person as soon as he sat on the piano bench. Something seemed to just click, and as soon as he started playing his proverbial walls would come crashing down around him and soothe the audience with the sounds of the piano in front of him. So much emotion was poured into those black and ivory keys, like they needed to be released or he’d go insane. Her heart had stopped beating, and tears welled up in her eyes as her throat tightened with emotion. His playing painted a picture right before her tear filled eyes, like the audience was witnessing his final goodbye to his mother. And then, right in the middle of his piece, he stood up, the bench scraping loudly against the stage floor, and he took off.
After that, the audience seemed to snap out of their trance and just sit there, caught between expressing their surprise at his departure and wanting him to come back and finish playing. Kagome surmised that he somehow knew his mother had passed, at least if the emotion she felt while he was playing was any indication. She’d left the auditorium in a daze, her friends asking her if she was feeling alright. At the time, she’d told them she was fine, but she knew then and there that she wanted to be able to play with the same amount of emotion he did.
So, she’d begged her mother to buy her a violin, and as soon as she got one, she’d spent every single day practicing for hours. Her mother had asked her countless times why she wanted to play a violin when Inuyasha played the piano; and her reply, every time, was that she couldn’t play with him when he was on piano, but she could accompany him on a violin.
Kagome worked hard to build up her fundamentals. She’d made sure to create a solid foundation when learning how to properly hold the violin and the bow so that the risk of injury that was likely to accrue the longer she played on grew less and less. She’d learned all her scales, major, minor, and otherwise, until they became almost second nature. With each new piece she learned, she’d practice them front to back, memorising them to the point that she didn’t need the sheet music in front of her so that she could worry less about the notes on the page and more about the music she was trying to make. She played until her fingers were raw and red, until the notes rang out as clear as crystal. She’d grow frustrated when her arms, hands, and fingers would demand time to rest. But she’d listen to the demands of her body, knowing that if she pushed it she’d make the healing process take longer and the amount of time she got to play shorter.
Eventually, those five years of hard work and dedication had paid off. She had been accepted into a prestigious music school in the heart of Tokyo, and the competitions she participated in every few months brought her closer and closer to the circle he was in, the circle he would be in should he ever decide to come back.
Just when she had begun to give up hope of his return, it happened. She had almost decided against signing up for this one, but when she heard the rumours about an Inuyasha Taisho signing up late, she immediately followed suit.
She still couldn’t believe that he was here, really here. She couldn’t believe he was right in front of her either, about to go on that stage to play with her. It almost felt like a dream, but she knew she’d felt that tug on her hair. Immediately broken from her reverie, she quickly blinked as her thoughts caught up to her eyes. He was giving her an odd look, one she couldn’t quite place.
“Wha…what was that for?” Kagome blinked in surprise, a flush colouring her cheeks once she realised she had spoken aloud. Inuyasha looked away with a “Keh!,” his own cheeks looking a bit darker before he sighed.
“My mom used to say ‘A 1, 2, tug on either side keeps the luck inside’ before every competition or audition. I don’t know if it ever helped, but it always made me feel a little bit better before going on stage.” Inuyasha then turned away, shrugging a shoulder.
Kagome felt her heart swell at the mention of his mother and the small part of her that he was sharing now. She smiled, and before she lost her nerve, went to him and did the same thing, whispering, “A 1, 2, tug on either side keeps the luck inside” as she tugged lightly on his hair before taking a step away, her attention going to the stage hand that was now motioning to them.
“You guys are good to go on stage.”
Kagome stole one more glance at a shocked looking Inuyasha before squaring her shoulders and stepping into the light.
*
A heavy silence seemed to come over the audience as Inuyasha and Kagome walked on stage, their footfalls the only sound echoing off the walls of the concert hall. Kagome’s heart was pounding erratically in her chest and she was suddenly very glad that she couldn’t see much of the audience. Taking a quick breath to calm her nerves, she focused on putting one foot in front of the other, stopping when she was over the black line of tape close to the piano. Taking another breath, she quickly centered herself and checked for any tension in her body. She rolled her shoulders back and held her chin up. She made sure to keep her knees unlocked as she put her feet shoulder-width apart. She didn’t feel confident enough to look out into the crowd, not yet, so she watched as Inuyasha moved to sit on the bench and waited to make sure she’d still be able to see him out of her peripheral once he was seated. He moved like it was all second nature to him; slightly adjusting the height of the bench, settling down in the center, positioning his feet just above the pedals, his hands…
His hands were resting in his lap like he was waiting for something. She looked up into his face, slight confusion marring her features as her grip tightened on her violin. Inuyasha’s gaze bore into her as he mouthed, “On three?”
Kagome closed her eyes briefly before she nodded. When she opened them again, she got her violin into position, making sure the violin rested just right under her chin and that her bow was at the ready. The cool wood of the violin’s body and the soft but firm material of the chin rest helped calm her remaining nerves. She blew out one final breath slowly, letting the familiar motions of her adjustments ground her and settle her mind. She turned to Inuyasha slightly, bow poised over the strings, watching intently as his hands rose and his fingers settled on the keys. His worn folder was open, sheet music out and ready. Sharing one last look, Kagome breathed to prep her entrance and watched as Inuyasha mirrored her, hands moving almost at the same time as they began their dance.
The first notes rang out, soft, clear, almost tentative before the music overcame them. Kagome kept herself from being startled as a wave of emotions washed over her. From the way he was playing, it almost sounded like he was just as nervous and unsure about their playing together as she was. But underneath that apprehension was curiosity: curiosity to see how they would sound together. With that realization in mind, Kagome felt confidence well up inside her, filling her to the brim before it came crashing from her body and demonstrated in her playing.
She closed her eyes, focusing on putting her heart and soul into each note, praying to whatever higher power there was to hear her pleas to make this work. She wanted her music to not only reach the audience but to reach him. The music she made flew from her like a bird whose wings knew no bounds, flying through her as the notes rang through the concert hall and out into the audience. The crescendos grew like a phoenix out of the ashes, the flames of its wings spreading excitedly until the decrescendos that followed came to turn those burning flames into calm embers. The music enveloped her body in a feeling that could only be described as warmth, the notes flying away as she flew across the stage like a bird against the clear, blue sky. Inuyasha was her sky: dynamic yet also constant. The sky never went where she couldn’t follow, and so they stayed together, existed together.
Inuyasha could only remember a handful of times when his hands felt so in sync with the keys. He remembered the music like it was yesterday, each phrase eliciting a memory of his mother’s love and praise while also creating visions of hope for the future. Now, the sky didn’t seem so gray. If anything, it gradually became bluer, clearer, brighter, as if a fog was lifting from his eyes to show him that this was exactly what he’d been waiting for: to play this piece with Kagome. He didn’t feel any unease or overwhelming sadness as he played, only the utter joy that seemed to emanate off of Kagome as she played. Whether she knew it or not, her music was reaching him, and soon enough without his realizing he’d stopped looking at the sheet music altogether.
As the final notes rang through the hall, resonated, and slowly dissipated, the two musicians came back to reality and moved to stand closer together to take a bow. However, there was no applause, no recognition or acknowledgement. Just uncomfortable silence. The duo quickly shared nervous glances before taking an awkward bow together. Not quite sure of what else to do, Kagome stood there awkwardly until she felt Inuyasha’s hand lightly rest on her back and steer her back the way they had come on stage. She was confused though; wasn’t the stage hand or announcer supposed to have said something?
The spell they had cast over the audience seemed to snap right as they were opening the stage door. Inuyasha was just about to walk through, Kagome close behind him, when he turned at the sound of soft clapping and murmuring. The pair exchanged a look as the applause built in volume, the announcer and audience finally snapping out of whatever stupor they were in.
“Would the last contestants please return to the stage?”
A little surprised but not about to just walk out, Inuyasha closed the door with a shrug before leading the way back on stage. Kagome gasped loudly behind him as the auditorium lights turned on and the entire crowd rose to their feet. Some were wiping tears from their eyes while others still seemed to be in shock, their hands only clapping because everyone else around them were. At the back of the room, Inuyasha could just make out the cheers and cries of happiness coming from Miroku and Sango their flailing arms and jumping bringing a smirk to his face.
Kagome had never seen anything like it. Sure, she had been in competitions before where the audience gave a standing ovation, but she had never been the one receiving a standing ovation herself. She could feel the heat from performing earlier rush back to her cheeks as she turned her face away shyly while the crowd continued to cheer and applaud for them. Kagome stole a look at her duet partner, his hands in his pockets like this was a normal thing, and couldn’t help but admire the way this newfound side of him changed her perspective on him entirely.
‘I hope my feelings reached him.’
The man in question was having trouble keeping his own eyes off his partner as well. He’d felt all of her emotions as they played together, surprising himself when they’d finished playing that he had felt anything at all. It had been years since he had felt so connected to his playing, and he felt, no... knew, that it was because of Kagome. Who would have thought playing with some random girl would make him feel so alive again?
At the very back of the auditorium, Miroku and Sango exchanged a knowing look, twin smiles blooming on their faces as they noticed what the rest of the audience didn’t. Miroku wrapped an arm around Sango’s shoulders, hugging her close. “So, my dear Sango, how long do you think before they realise what just happened?” Sango wrapped her arms around Miroku’s waist, a soft chuckle leaving her lips before she replied. “Well, that depends; do you think they’ll talk to each other as well as they play together?”