Piano Prodigy

(A/N-Guys I like a slow and steady paced story, I really do. Childhood arks though... not as much. I find them kinda boring so I will include a lot of timeskips, but with important, interesting events in between. I ain't gonna suddenly jump from like 4 to 20, aight?)

-Back to Rei POV-

The piano arrived just under 3 hours and I have to say... I'm very impressed. Ryu went out of his way and found a black,concert Steinway grand piano. If I recall, the cheapest model is about a million Yen... and that's not even the concert model. It was delivered to my room- oh yeah, I got a huge room, roughly 5 by 6 metres, a bed on the left hand side corner from the door with a small desk right in front. Rest of the room is empty with the exception of a little bookshelf and bean bag, on the far right hand side corner of the room, where I keep mom's books(she was an author, and I read her work to feel a strange soothing connection when ever I'm feeling down and depressed).

The piano was placed in the middle of the room, and had a romantic look because of the light reflecting on it from the window.I made sure no one was in the room before I approached it, didn't really want to shock anyone-everyone knows I never touched a piano in my life. The moment my fingers touched the keys, I felt a flood of information making its way inside my head. I somehow then ended up playing around with the piano, from the blues to jazz and eventually classical music. *That... was amazing* was the first thought that crossed my mind, still surprised how I just turned the piano into my little toy.

Issei: "Rei! Come here for a moment please! I need to introduce you to your piano teacher!" My father shouted from the ground floor of our huge house.

I made my way downstairs and saw a smiling young woman, with short ash-brown coloured hair."Hello there little Rei! My name is Arima Saki, but I would prefer for you to call me just Saki. Nice to meet you." She spoke with a sweet sounding voice as she extended her hand towards me.

Rei: "Nice to meet you too Miss Saki." I said childishly as I shook her hand.

She shook my tiny hand and chuckled a little at my cute performance, before continuing. "Just Saki, ok? We start lessons tomorrow at my place, as I have a little baby boy to take care of. See you soon Rei." She then left the house, waved at me and my dad and eventually drove off.

Rei: *Damn, my dad managed to get one of the most well-known pianist in Japan as my piano teacher! Guess I heavily underestimated the influence and power of the yakuza huh...* Were my thoughts as I tried to suppress my surprise. I knew about 'Your lie in April', one of the most tragic anime there is. I really loved it and rewatched it a couple of times.... but can't say I'm too glad to be able to participate in the plot. *Can't lie about the fact that Kaori is beautiful though... hmm...maybe... just maybe* as I thought about the female lead of the anime. Her end was tragic, but I'll try to prevent it some way....

I spent the rest of the day playing the piano, ate dinner and made sure I had a good nights sleep. I knew Saki seemed kind, and she truly was, but when it came to the piano... well..'it means nothing unless you come in first' she would say.

I started the next day with a light breakfast, and as soon as I finished I was driven by Ryu in a black Mercedes to Saki's house. Her house was a two bedroom house, both on the second floor with a very large living to fit a grand piano in the centre.

Saki: "Ok Rei, I think we should start off with some scales, teach you how to read music sheets and progress little by little from there." She took out a beginners book with simple music.

Rei: "Sure miss Saki!" I replied excitedly.

Saki: "Just.Saki.Ok? Calling me 'Miss' makes me feel old." Those words came out quite snapped, she didn't really want to threaten me as I was still a 4 year old kid.

We spent the first hour with her teaching me about all of the scales and how to read music notes on sheets, and as I seemed a quick learner she introduced me to some songs. I tried to seem as new to the piano as possible, but the movement of my fingers was simply too fluid.

Saki: *This child is just too much?! What takes people to learn in a month, he mastered it in one hour!* her face was still straight as she hid her shock perfectly.*I must introduce him to the world of classical music! I'm sure he's guaranteed a bright future down this path!* her eyes glistening, as if she had already planned my fate.

Saki: "That's enough Rei. How about you try out this song, take it nice and slow, ok?" She takes out 'Pachbell-Canon in D' and places it on the piano stand.

I know that the song, though easy compared to other classical pieces, would be impossible for a beginner-even an amateur would take at least a month or two to be able to play it from start to finish. I decided to play it with what I thought would be beginner mistakes, but to a professional like Saki, the fact that those mistakes were purposefully made was quite obvious.

Saki: "Stop...Stop!...Don't continue!" She shouted and is now looking at me with a light glare. "Why did you do that? Are you afraid of me giving you harder pieces.... or failing to play the piece I'll give you, so you decided to purposefully make mistakes?!" She shouted, but not too loud. *sigh* she rubbed her temples and continued "I don't want you to be afraid of failure, after all, how are we supposed to improve without it?" Her gaze now changed so a softer one. "Show me what you can do Rei, I've seen plenty of geniuses in my time and I promise you that whatever you'll show me won't surprise me. Now start the piece again, any mistakes you make cannot be intentional...Ok?"

*Alright... guess that Saki is in for the surprise of her life...* I thought as I stretched my fingers. I looked at the piece, didn't even have to glance down at my fingers and played the piece note by note, perfectly, not a single pause. I have to say that her reaction was pretty priceless; she just stared into space a little with her mouth slightly open, before being jotted back to reality.

Saki: "Rei... are you perhaps interested in umm.... competing against other children with the piano? You do enjoy playing don't you?" So she's trying to rope me in pursuing a career in music... don't blame her, I mean you gain a lot of respect, admiration and the pay is quite dreamy as well.

Rei: "I don't know miss Saki... is it fun?" I ask with my head tiled, and eyes wide open.

Saki: "You've got no idea." I think she completely forgot this is my first time touching the piano.

Before she began to explain more details, we were interrupted by a loud cry coming from one of the bedrooms upstairs.

Saki: "I guess that Arima must be hungry" she says with a gentle smile on her face. "Come meet my little boy l, Rei, he should be around the same age as your brother, maybe a little older."

She leads me to a room with light blue walls and bright yellow stars painted on the ceiling.

I walk towards a wooden baby crib next to Saki, and she gently picks up the child.

Saki: "Do you want to hold him Rei?" She asks a little teasingly, extending the baby towards me.

I hold the baby with both of my small arms, putting his head on my shoulder. That was my first meeting with the future piano prodigy. *I'll try to lighten your future burdens a little Arima, but that also means I'll have to also become an unsurpassable mountain.*