Kimagure Orange Road Short Fic: The High Note

By Richard Beaubien 

[Spoiler Warning: This fic uses events and settings that take place after
the end of the TV series and movies. If you haven't seen all KOR yet and
are planning on watching it then you might not want to read this story as
it may spoil the final episodes/movies for you. 

You have been warned, so I want no flames coming at me if you do get
spoiled....:]

*****

It was around 1 PM on a warm spring Sunday afternoon and Ayukawa Madoka was
once again climbing her favorite tree. It was a regular occurrence to see
her climbing seem climbing the tree on Sunday, a ritual that the young
girl had started almost a month ago.

The tree itself was nothing special, a plain old Oak tree of moderate
height and only having a few branches and leaves. The district certainly
had more majestic tree's for young people to climb and explore, providing
breathtaking views of the city and it's inhabitants. But Madoka didn't
climb this tree because it was special or because it offered a postcard
view. She climbed the tree because it looked into the backyard of a house,
a plain looking old house. A yard that was only visible from the tree
because of the gate which surrounded it.

Madoka took a deep breath as she finished her climb, finding her seat to
from which she could look at the yard in full view. The yard itself
contained a small garden and small selection of tree's cut in the
traditional Banzai art. In the corner of the yard resting next to the gate
was a small bench which overlooked a patch of lily flowers. A big small
came over Madoka's face as she saw the bench was occupied by an old man
with a saxaphone, a saxaphone which he slowly placed to his lips and
started to play.

The notes rose towards Madoka's makeshift concert seat, the rythmn causing
her foot to tap. It was a mixture of mix band music with a hint of blues
thrown in though she really didn't care what the music was made off. For
it reminded her of him, the person who had came to save her a month ago.
The person that had stood up for her and had even given her a gift. She
wanted to do more to repay him for that gift, but she could only give him
one thing. Something from the heart. 

"Ahem!"

"Eh!?" Madoka exclaimed as she was shaken from her train of thought.

"Can I help you Young Lady?"

"Well....Not really."

"Oh...Then you've been hanging from my tree the last few Sunday's for no
reason then, eh?" the man asked in a chuckle as he lit a cigarette.

"Um...Ah," Madoka stuttered before composing herself and quickly replaying
with "I'm not hanging for your information Ji-san. I'm sitting."

The man puffed on his cigarette before he replied in a slight giggle,
"Well that you are Young Lady, but you still have explained why your
sitting there."

"Well Ji-san, I happen to..I happen to..likeyourmusic," Madoka mumbled
at once in a soft voice. 

"Nani? Could you repeat that again please?"

"I said I liked your music, and I climbed your tree to see who was playing
it."

A look of wonder crossed the old man's face as he took another puff of
smoke. "Really, you like my music? And here I thought I wasn't that
good."

"No, your music is really great," Madoka beamed as her face broke out into
a friendly smile, "It has a nice beat and a strength to it. A strength
that reminds me of someone..." Madoka trailed off as she finished the
sentence. 

"Oh, so you think it has a strength to it?"

"Hai Ji-san!!! It's rythmn has a lot of hidden strength to it"

"Well I don't know about rythmn and stuff like that. I just play the
music," the man sighed as he extinguished the cigarette on the ground. A
slight frown crossed over his face before he started to speak again, "I
play the music to remind me of someone too. And I guess she did have a
strength about her," the man chuckled as his frown gave way to a
reminiscing smile. "I'm amazed that you where able to feel that from the
music Young lady."

A blush crossed over Madoka's face before she started to replay in a
humble voice "Well it's just a feeling I got, I get a lot of feelings from
music that I listen too."

"Oh really, it sounds like you have a gift,. Have you ever tried to play
an instrument before Young lady."

The smile on Madoka's face quickly turned to a clearly visible frown. "Not
really. My parents wanted me to take some violin lessons once, but I don't
like the violin."

"Well you seem to like the saxaphone."

"I just like the music it plays, it's music is better than a violin. It's
more comforting..."

A hearty laugh came from the old man as he lit another cigarette and
placed it into his mouth. "If you say so, Young lady, if you say so." The
smile stayed on his face as a wisp of smoke reached his eyes. "Well
then, would you like to try the Saxaphone out Young Lady?"

"Really?"

"Really."

"Wai! Arigato Ji-san!" Madoka exclaimed as she leapt from her seat in the
tree towards the ground in the yard. Doing a small flip while falling, she
landed on both of her feet and ran over to the bench to pick up the
saxaphone from the old man. Placing a firm and natural looking grip over
it, she slowly placed her lips over the mouth piece and started to play
the song which had caused her to seek out her front row seat in the tree. 

"BLEEEE!!!!:" the saxaphone screamed as Madoka started to play it, causing
the local alley cat's to screech in accompaniment. Madoka's eyes suddenly
filled with tears as she started to hand the saxaphone back. "Ji-san, I
broke it!!"

A look of whimsy crossed the old man's face as he placed the saxaphone
back on his lap. "Nonsense, you just need to practice. If you work hard
enough I'm sure you'd be able to make great music."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Then can you teach me Ji-san?"

"No," the old man responded, "I'm not good enough to teach you. You need a
professional."

"But, But!!"

"No But's young lady," the man lectured as he started to lead Madoka
towards the gate. "Your talent is too good to be lead astray by a layman
like me."

"Ji-san!!" Madoka exclaimed as the gate slowly started to close behind
her, "Your a great player. It would be honor to learn under you!!!"

"Thanks for your praise, but I'm not worthy of it." the man smiled as he
closed the gate behind Madoka. Peering over the gate to look at her, he
slowly began to finish his replay, "You need to have a real teacher if you
want to play special music for someone special. And you do want to play
special music for him don't you?"

"Hai.."

"Then it's best if you learn from a sensei than someone like me. Well it
was a pleasure to meet you. Ja ne!!" The face disappeared from the top of
the gate, the wisps of smoke flying to the sky. As she turned away Madoka
heard a faint whisper come from the man, "She has the same talent you did
Yume-san. And I think she'll make as good music as you once did." The
music slowly started to play again, this time a different song. A slightly
sadder song but still full of strength, a song which she would someday
know as 'Melody no Kenji-san'

"Ji-san," Madoka cried before she started to slowly walk away. She took
one more look at the tree, a tree that she had climbed perhaps for the
last time in her life. It was an ending, but as the man's saxaphone music
filled her ears she felt it was also a beginning. A new path was open to
her, and she would soon be able to make special music for all of the
special people in her life, including....

****

Ayukawa groaned as the sunlight slowly filled her eyes. Slowly she rose
from the bed to see that it was empty except for her. A loud yawn came
from her as she started to stretch, and think about the dream she had last
night. A dream which she had seen 3 times over the last month, a dream
about one of the more important times in her life. When she first became
interested in the saxaphone, and more importantly in music. 

"Madoka, can you get me a towel please?" 

"Hai!! Hang on a second," Madoka responded as she picked up a bath towel.
Certainly there was nothing strange about her starting to play music, she
did come from a family full of musicians. But something else was bothering
her, something about the timing of when she started to play the saxaphone. 

"Arigato Madoka," Kasuga replied as he took the towel from Ayukawa's
hands. He started to close the bathroom door when he noticed that Ayukawa
was looking at him with a curious gaze. "Madoka, are you all right?"

"I'm fine," Ayukawa replied as her mind slowly realized what had happened
in the past. It was him, it had to be him. And with that her face became a
full smile as she placed a kiss on Kasuga's check "Arigato Kyousuke,
Arigato."

*Fin

Japanese Terms used in this fic(Some may be obvious to you, but might not
be to others...:)

Ji-san=Old Man
Hai=Yes
Arigato=Thank You
Ja ne=Good Bye
Wai= An expression for excitement. Think of a much cuter version of
cool..:)


Anyway, comments are always welcome....

Ja ne!!

Richard Beaubien
----------------
Matsunaga Mikage "Chemistry Forever!!!"

Fanfic homepage http://www.anime.usacomputers.net/~beaubird