Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / Crossover Fan Fiction / Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Mad Season ❯ Could we Start Again, Please ( Chapter 8 )

(Author's Note: Ok…last chapter for me, GoE, for a while! If you liked my stuff…check out my other pieces at www.fictionpress.com/~ghostofeden or www.fanfiction.net/~ghostofeden - Anywho, enough of my shameful self-advertising - enjoy!)

 

 

Chapter VIII - Could We Start Again, Please

 

 

Lucca was awakened by a pillow being thrown at her face. “Good morning, Lucca!” Marle said happily. Lucca groaned, and merely turned over, using the pillow to cover her face. She was definitely not a morning person, and right now, her cheerful blonde friend was nothing more than a nuisance. The bunk beds inside the cabins weren't exactly the most comfortable, and the Frontline (A/N: Also known as “pit”) section leader hadn't fallen asleep until sometime around midnight.

 

“Lucca…” Marle nudged her purple-haired friend, calling her name in a sing-sung voice. “Lucca…” she crooned again. Lucca prompty hit the other girl's face with the pillow.

 

“Lucca, Lucca, Lucca, Lucca, Lucca, Lucca, Lucca, Lucca!!!” Marle poked her harder this time, ripping the blanket off of her friend. Lucca jolted upright, before realizing where she was -

 

WHACK!

 

“OWW!” Lucca rubbed the already swollen spot on her head where she'd hit the bottom of the top bunk. Marle was laughing hysterically. “Ahahahaha! …That's what you get when you don't listen to me!” She said, practically dancing out of the room.

 

Lucca moaned and fumbled for her glasses, squinting against the florescent light. It wasn't even sunrise yet - the window to the outside was still black. The skinny mallet player shivered, wearing nothing but a white tank top and sweatpants, and stumbled out of bed, still bleary-eyed.

 

After breakfast, the band had formed three lines, and were marking time, instruments in hand, waiting for instruction from Genkai. The freshmen were nervously trying to remember the proper way to mark time, glancing down at their feet occasionally. Genkai, however was inside the nearby wooden building, where the instrument cases and Frontline equipment was.

 

Lucca and the rest of her section were listening to Genkai give them instruction. “You are to practice for the next two to two-and-a-half hours - I want you to work on musicality and drama - If you don't sell it, nobody will buy it. Is that understood?” The section mumbled their affirmative. Genkai nodded, and went outside, closing the door behind her. Her muffled voice could be heard from outside.

 

“MARK! MARK TIME, MARK…” Faris, the tomboyish first bass marked time on her drum, setting the tempo, keeping pace for the band…And they were gone, off to the field to practice marching drill in addition to music.

Lucca inhaled deeply, turning around to face her section. Touya smiled at her from the second marimba, as did Rosa from the vibraphone. Nataku was staring intently at his music in front of the glockenspiel and chimes, and Aoshi was simply staring out the window, in place behind the timpanis. Shippou and Aki, the two new freshmen, had been placed on xylophone.

 

“Okay!” Lucca said, “Let's try some warm-ups…” She began teaching the new mallet players their warm-up exercises, while in actuality was really just stalling until Prometheus, the instructor arrived.

 

At last, the golden robot (A/N: …this is so weird. I love it!) entered the room, with a bundle of sheet music and mallets in his hands. “Greetings, Miss Lucca!” he said in an electronic, yet pleasant voice. “How was your morning?” She smiled. “Could have been better,” she said, rubbing the lump on her forehead. Prometheus had actually been repaired by Lucca, and she had programmed him to be a skilled percussionist.

 

He nodded, “Right then, let's get started! Will everyone please take out the first piece of music, `The Black Rider?'” The section complied, and soon everyone was ready to go.

 

“I want to take this slow…” Prometheus said, adjusting a small dial on his arm. Click! Click! Click! Click! The built-in metronome was annoyingly loud, and Lucca winced as she took her place behind the first marimba. “One…two…three…four-and!” Prometheus counted off.

 

What happened next was disastrous. A few off-beat tones rang out, and it was utter confusion for a few moments before everyone eventually gave up, and stared helplessly at Prometheus and Lucca. “Okay…maybe we should try this again…”

 

Meanwhile, on the marching field, tempers were rising with the temperature. It was a sweltering hot day, especially compared to the previous night and the frigid morning. The noonday sun beat down on the field, where sweaters and water bottles lay discarded on the sidelines.

 

“No,” Genkai said, “No, this is all wrong. Look at your set chart, Sango. Your section is supposed to make a straight line, not a curve…” Sango nodded, frustrated with Genkai, her section, and herself. She muttered under her breath, wiping sweat from her brow as she walked back to her section.

 

“Hey, sweetie,” Miroku said from behind her, placing his arms around her waist. “You're so cute when you're ang- OOMPH!” Sango backhanded him and continued walking, hoping she hadn't damaged her piccolo when she smacked Miroku. The trombone player rubbed what was quickly growing into a welt and smiled. `Ah, she loves me.' He thought to himself.

 

Some, however, were not so friendly with each other. Zell and Seifer were practically shouting at each other.

 

“Seifer, this is my set flag!” The blonde tuba player said angrily, motioning towards the small marker.

 

“Well, it's in my spot, chicken-wuss,” Seifer growled back.

 

“If I didn't have this tuba on, I'd deck you so hard right now,” Zell said, glaring, “I swear.” Seifer ignored him.

 

“You don't have the balls to do that, chicken-wuss.” Zell felt a rush of adrenaline.

 

“That's it, you asshole - you and me, tonight, behind the cabins - come alone!” Seifer smirked.

 

“Fine, I'll see you then, loser.” The two stormed away furiously.

 

Zell hated Seifer with a passion, and vice-versa. Ever since they were kids in elementary school, Seifer had tormented him. Although he'd never told anyone, it was because of Seifer that Zell had quit trumpet, and started playing the tuba. Something about Zell just pissed Seifer off all the time, and neither boy was going to stand for it anymore…

 

Genkai called the band to attention, ordering everyone to their places. Break time was over. Tifa stood with the rest of the drumline, although she was not yet an official member. She had to compete with the other snares and take one of their places. She was confident that she could do it, and narrowed her dark brown eyes, standing at attention, completely focused on the music. She watched Kefka wave his arms, signaling the band to begin playing.

 

“One-and-two-three-a-four-e…urgh…” she was desperately trying to keep up with the other snares, who were playing at a lightning quick tempo, and marching just as fast. The snare harness was pulling on her shoulders, and she could feel blisters forming on her tender skin. She gritted her teeth, and kept trying to stay in step, in formation, no longer concentrating fully on the music. She didn't even realize that her counting was throwing off the rest of the drumline.

 

She could feel Genkai's eyes on her, observing her, watching her every move, noting how badly she was doing. The band instructor leaned over and whispered in the ear of Dekar, the Drumline instructor, who nodded gravely. Tifa redoubled her efforts, but to no avail, she simply became more and more lost in the music. By the time the song was over, she was yards away from where she should have been, and hadn't played a correct beat since the third measure. She fought back tears of frustration, breathing heavily, and promising herself she would do better…She knew she would…

 

Lucca sighed. It had been almost two hours, and her section was not doing much better. `How can I turn this group into a Superior-level percussion section…?' she wondered. It seemed hopeless. Shippou was sleeping contently on the xylophone, and Aoshi was leaning on the timpanis.

 

“SHIPPOU!” Lucca cried, “Get OFF!” She prodded him with her yellow-tipped mallets, until he fell off on the ground. “Hey!” he said, upset with her, “You didn't have to do that!” She glared at Aoshi, who rolled his eyes, sighed, and stopped leaning on the drum heads. Nataku stood with his arms folded, looking out the window. `Probably wishing he was anywhere else…' Lucca thought, `Nobody cares about the Frontline...' Prometheus shrugged as Lucca shot him a desperate look.

 

Later that day, just an hour or so before the sun would begin to fall over the horizon, the band had grouped back together in front of the girls' cabins, in a large clearing. Lucca struggled with the marimba, pushing it through the dirt. She felt the eyes of the band on her, as they watched the lone section leader struggle to get the last mallet instrument into place. She breathed heavily, beads of sweat streaming down her face. As she passed by the Drumline, she heard whispers.

 

“Check out those glasses…”

 

“I heard she invented a robot to help her with her section…”

 

“They're not real percussionists.”

 

She turned bright red. She was used to comments like this, but what made it more embarrassing was that Serge, the tall, quiet quad player was watching her. He said nothing, remaining silent.

 

`At least he's not making fun of me…' She thought. She was very frustrated by the time she got the hefty marimba into place, still humiliated… `I hope it's not like this all season…'

 

That night, after dinner, the band members chatted comfortably with one another in the cafeteria. Music was playing, the lights were dimmed, there was good food - good times in general. Chaperones guarded the outside of the cafeteria making sure that no one was up to any mischief.

 

Zell and Seifer, however had other plans. The two boys had snuck out long ago, to keep their commitment.

 

Zell cracked his knuckles nervously in anticipation. “I'm going to kick his ass…” he muttered to himself. “I'm going to kick his ass…” He wasn't so confident though, and paced in circles, tugging anxiously on the top button of his black shirt. After what seemed like hours, Seifer emerged out of the darkness, wearing a white hoodie, and his usual black gloves. He didn't wear his usual smirk. Zell swallowed hard. He knew Seifer meant business.

 

“Let's settle this once and for all,” Sefier said coldly, his icy blue eyes narrowing, locking on to Zell's deep blue eyes. Zell didn't have a chance to respond - Seifer rushed him, delivering a sharp blow to Zell's jaw. Zell staggered back, momentarily disoriented. Seifer tried to strike again, but Zell quickly dodged, grabbing Seifer and hurling him to the ground. Seifer quickly staggered up, and punched Zell in the face. Zell felt his vision quickly blur, and become clouded with blood. His forehead was bleeding, a line of crimson running down the side of his face. Seifer took advantage of this, slamming Zell into a nearby tree trunk. Zell couldn't move. He moaned, too dazed to pull away.

 

Seifer's eyes flashed, burning with cold hatred. “You little shit,” he said, holding Zell's throat against the tree. He kept Zell pinned and forced the two boys' faces together. Zell's eyes went wide.

 

`What the hell?!' was the only thought Zell had time to think before Seifer's tongue forced it's way through his lips. Through the pain, Zell felt the slightest twinge of pleasure. He closed his eyes and allowed Seifer to abuse him for just a second before finding the strength to pull away.

 

“What the fuck do you think you're doing?!” he demanded, taking labored breaths. Seifer glared at him, but the fury had gone out of his eyes. “Do you know why I always pick on you, chicken-wuss?” Seifer said, almost angrily. Zell glared back, looking Seifer in the eye.

 

“Because you're an asshole?” Zell spat back.

 

“No,” Seifer said coldly, “Because…I love you.” He said it forcefully, as though it pained him to say the words.

 

Zell was absolutely stunned. His eyes darted back and forth, searching Seifer's expression.

 

“Are you joking?” Zell asked, “What the hell do you think you're playing at?!”

 

“Nothing!” Seifer bellowed at first, causing the shorter boy to jump. “…nothing,” he mumbled this time. Zell was silent once more, looking at the ground, still pinned up against the tree, rather uncomfortably.

 

“Look, if you tell anyone - anyone,” Seifer said, shoving Zell into the tree even harder, “I'll murder you. I swear it.” Zell placed his hand on Seifer's wrist, trying to pull away.

 

Seifer refused to let up, holding Zell to the tree.

 

“Wait,” he said. Zell felt humiliated, confused…everything, all at once.

 

“What do you want?” Zell asked, wanting to be anywhere else right now. He figured Seifer was just playing one of his stupid mind games.

 

“Do you…you know…” Seifer struggled to find the words, refusing to meet Zell's eyes.

 

Zell's heart skipped a beat. `He's not…pretending?' Zell thought to himself.

 

Seifer waited a moment as the other blonde said nothing. He sighed, and let Zell go. He turned away, walking back to the cabin, head down.

 

“Wait,” Zell said. He grabbed Seifer's hand, pulling him back. Seifer just looked at him. Zell had never seen this side of him before…his eyes were filled with tears, and almost pleaded with the other boy.

 

Seifer turned around to face Zell, who hadn't let go of his hand. Zell put his other hand, shaking nervously, around Seifer's waist, like a small child petting a ferocious animal. A single tear ran down Seifer's cheek, and he leaned down to kiss Zell once again. This time, his entry was not forced, and instead met by Zell's tongue. The two kissed and simply held each other in one another's arms for quite some time, until the sounds of the distant party faded away, and the last light in the cabin turned off.

 

“Well, I guess we should head back…” Zell said, looking back at the cabins. “Yeah…” Seifer said. The two walked in silence, still holding hands. “I guess I made a new friend,” Zell said, smiling at Seifer.

 

“That's boyfriend to you, chicken-wuss.”

 

 

 

 

Chapter title from Jesus Christ Superstar.