Prelude to Love

Disclaimer: I do own La Corda d'Oro or any of its characters so please do not sue me.

Author's Note: Hiya people! I bought La Corda d'Oro a few months ago and I didn't think too much about it because I became disappointed that Kahoko was paying more attention to Ryotaro, who I think does not suit her (Just my opinion so no one go biting my head off for saying this since I know quite a bit of people like Ryotaro, like my friend who got mad at me for saying it!), I'm more in favorite for Tsukimori or Hihara but then I saw the anime I ended up getting more into the story. This story idea came up in my mind and I decided to write it before I forget. The story takes place during the Tokugawa Era and I just want to let you guys know that I don't that much about this era, I'm reading about it so I will try to add as much true facts as I can but otherwise everything else is fiction. Oh yeah just a heads up the first two characters in this chapter are my own the next chapter will contain the La Corda's characters. Anyways enough with my explanation enjoy reading and leave me a review!

Prologue Kyoto 1615

The dirt pave streets of the fair Kyoto were jammed pack with many people buying or selling goods that came across the sea. Merchants would yell what they would have in loud voices trying to get customers but since all merchants did this it made hard to hear what exactly they were selling. A blue haired young man in his early twenties struggled to get through the crowd to see the latest product from the western world. The young man managed to squeeze himself between two men to see a new table being set up. What the merchant was setting up was something that fascinated him. The merchant put down a wooden shape object on the table. Coming closer to inspect the weird object the merchant noticed the way the young man looked at his product.

"This here is an instrument called the violin; it comes from Cremona, Italy. Here try it out, I'm sure you'll like it and buy it." The merchant said holding out the violin to the young man.

The young man gently took the violin from the merchant and inspected the strange instrument from all angles, he pluck at the strings timidly trying to recall a song he played on the Chinese guitar only to have the merchant laugh at him. He glanced up at the merchant to see what was so hilarious.

"You need to use this to play it; you can't play it like the Chinese guitar." The merchant chuckled holding out what appeared to be a stick with horse hair attached to it.

"I need this stick to play it?"

Another laugh came out from the merchant before he answered, "It's not called a stick it's called a bow and yes you need to use it."

Grabbing the stick with his right hand he slid the bow over the strings of the violin which he held against his chest. He stopped what he was doing when he heard yet again the merchant laughing, he angrily asked, "What's so funny? You said to use the bow didn't you?"

"Ha Ha, yes I did but you're not holding it right. You're suppose to place it on your left shoulder, tucking it between your chin and left shoulder while keeping your left elbow in close to your body."

The young man followed the merchant's instructions he glanced back at the merchant, waiting for the next step he did not wish to make another mistake again. "Now bring the bow over the strings and play."

The young man let the bow come across the strings slowly relishing the way each string vibrated against his fingers. The sound from each string echoed throughout the whole market place making each person turn to see where that sound came from. Feeling a bunch of stares in his direction, the young man put the bow down flushing red from embarrassment.

"So what did you think about the violin? It's different and new in this part of the region. Will you be the first to purchase it?" The merchant asked the young man.

The young man looked down at the violin trying to make up his mind whether to buy it or not. A feeling of warmth coursed up from the violin to him that made him decide to buy it. "Yes, I'll take it."

"Great. That'll be 5,000 yen please. You might also want to consider buying a case for it which I have right here." The merchant replied pulling out a black medium size case from under the table. The case is 1,000 yen."

The young man put his hand into his kimono to bring out his bag of money. He gave the merchant the 6,000 yen while the merchant gave him the case.

Someone walked up behind the young man saying, "Zero Tsukimori-san so this is where you went off to. I thought something bad might've happen to you when you did not show up."

Turning to face the person behind him, Zero grinned when he recognize his red haired friend standing behind him with his arms crossed looking rather annoyed.

"Ha sorry about that Hino-san, I just got distracted by this new interesting instrument."

"You know you don't have to call me Hino-san, you can call me Kyo." Kyo said. It's only been a couple of weeks since they met but Kyo and Zero became instant friends. Kyo always told Zero he could call him by his first name, it seemed Zero always forgot. Kyo glanced at the instrument Zero held and asked, "Is that a mini guitar or something?"

Zero chuckled," No, it's a violin; it's a new instrument from Italy."

Kyo looked at his friend in disbelief, "And you actually bought it? "

"Yes. What's wrong with that?"

"But you don't even know how to play it; it's a waste of your money."

"I know how to hold it properly, watch." Zero replied placing the violin between his chin and left shoulder. He brought the bow over the strings and played.

Bringing the bow down, Zero looked at his friend to see his expression. Kyo's face held a mixture of awe and incredulity, he said, "It sounds good but you need music to play it. Where are you going to get that?"

"Oh, yeah you're right! I didn't think about that!" Zero exclaimed. He looked at the merchant to see him smiling and holding a book.

"How much does it cost?"

"It's 1,000 yen."

"Fine I'll take it."

Zero took out his money again and paid for the book of music. The merchant gave him the book which he immediately grabbed after he handed his violin and bow to Kyo, who looked at the violin closely. Zero opened the book and to his disappointment all the words were in Italian, he flipped through the pages to seeing nothing but Italian, the music was foreign to him.

Closing the book he furiously asked the merchant, "Hey this entire book is in Italian, how am I suppose to play the violin?"

"Sorry but that is all I have. You'll have to have someone translate it for you." The merchant said.

"Aww man. It will take awhile before I can actually play it properly." Zero said sighing.

"Maybe not too long, I can read and speak Italian." Kyo informed Zero.

Zero's disappointment vanished instantly in its place grew excitement. "Really? Can you really read and speak Italian?"

Kyo nodded, "My parents made sure that I learned different languages because they wanted me to get a job as a translator."

"That's great then. Hey I know why don't you buy a violin as well so that way we both learn at the same time."

"Hmm, I guess it would be interesting to learn how to play the violin." Kyo said to Zero giving him his violin and bow back. Turning to the merchant he said, "Merchant, I will buy a violin."

000

Zero and Kyo practiced the violin for years together but then they started to have different opinions about how the violin should be played causing them to become rivals. Their playing made them rich and famous throughout Japan. They passed their skills onto their next generation and also their rivalry.

Author's Note: I know this is a rather short chapter and I did not really go into detail on how Zero and Kyo became rivals because I felt it would take too long. I suck at picking names so I picked the two that popped into my head. As I said before I don't know that much about the Tokugawa Era so I just made it that they use the yen. Anyways the next chapter really gets things going so bear with me. Look forward to the next chapter soon. Remember to submit a review!