Chapter 1

"Kuchiki Byakuya!" the headmaster cried, and a boy on fifth row raised his hand in acknowledgement. The headmaster looked in his direction.

"Good! You're in class MDM1-A. Kamiya Kaoru!" The headmaster continued to cry out names and classes, but only about half of the new students listened. Byakuya tried to ignore their stares, but it was quite difficult.

'Great,' he thought to himself. 'First day in senior high, and already they look at me like I'm Harry Potter or something…'

When the headmaster had held his speech and everyone followed their new homeroom teachers to their classrooms, Byakuya was secretly relieved to be out of that room.
Thankfully, MDM1-A proved to be a very small class, with only 15 pupils, and they didn't even share all subjects. The Drama and Music class were together in everything but the drama and music subjects, where they were divided. Rune was a music student, along with 8 other 16-year-old boys and girls.

He wanted to sink through the floor when he realized every single member of his class already knew him.

One of them, a tall, broad-built boy with long, unruly red hair in a wild ponytail, walked up to him and looked him up and down for a few seconds before smiling widely at him and grabbing his hand, shaking it with such force Byakuya was a little worried he'd hurt his hand.

"So ye're that child prodigy ev'ryone's talkin' 'bout, eh?" he asked. Byakuya only blushed and gave a small nod. The giant boy smiled even wider, showing all his teeth.

"Nice! I'm Abarai Renji. Ya can just call me Renji, though." Byakuya smiled. "Ya know, I never imagined ya'd be so shy. I mean, ye're FAMOUS, right? I've seen ya on TV. Ya play solo concerts for thousands of people! How can ya be shy?" Renji looked very curious, as did the rest of their fellow classmates. Byakuya blushed a little more, but since this was actually a question, it required an answer. He sighed.

"Well, Abarai-san, when playing, it's like the audience doesn't even exist. All that matters is the music. But while I may be good with music, I'm not so good with people. Not good at all, in fact…" he said quietly, looking at the floor.
He wanted so desperately to get away from all these people! He didn't mind people in general; just when they were this many at once and he didn't have any music to hide behind. Sadly, he had to go to school, even if he could already live from writing and playing music.

Byakuya was not a very social person.

Renji frowned as he noticed how uncomfortable his new friend was (Renji made friends very easily, and called mostly anyone he met his friends), and scooted him over to a desk in the backmost corner, sitting down beside him. Byakuya obligingly sat down on the chair there and quietly focused on his hands.
Renji sat down beside him, but the rest of the class pretty much ignored them, just thinking that Byakuya was either a real weirdo, or that being famous had gone to his head.

Renji followed Byakuya's gaze down to his hands, and was taken with their pale, fragile-looking beauty at once. Those were most definitely musician's hands. They looked like they'd never held anything heavier than a violin bow.

He looked up at his face again, and caught his breath. Byakuya was frowning slightly, and it made his brow furrow adorably. Renji knew he was gay, but he'd never believed in love at first sight, and had never imagined he'd fall in love the first day at the new school.

He realized immediately that there was no way he could tell him right away; hell, he didn't even know if Byakuya was into guys! But damn, was he a beauty, with his long, straight black hair, pale face and fine hands… And his eyes looked so…melancholic? Renji wasn't sure how to describe it, but he was absolutely captivated with the boy. He sighed inwardly.

Renji decided there and then that while he may not get to take him to bed any time soon, or even kiss him, he'd at least get that melancholic look away!

Two weeks later, Byakuya was the only one who still called Renji Abarai-san, and not just Renji. It both charmed and annoyed him that Byakuya was so formal, even after two whole weeks!

Byakuya seemed to talk as little as possible, and even in class, he only raised his hand to answer a question if it was clear nobody else was going to, and then only in the music classes. Oh, yeah, and sometimes math. Byakuya was far from INTERESTED in math, but he understood it very well.

After two weeks, it was almost time for the class' first house concert. It was just going to be an informal little thing, as the teachers wanted to gauge the level of skill and cooperation in the music class, and they had played together in groups where they had to play the instruments they had chosen as their main one when they started the school year, so Byakuya played violin in his group.

Byakuya's group otherwise included a shy girl singing soprano with a voice so thin and full of air that Byakuya literally had to bite his tongue not to start criticizing her for it (in which case she'd probably stop singing altogether and start to cry as Byakuya wasn't very mild in his criticism), a pretty good jazz pianist and a bassist who looked like he hadn't slept in weeks. He was decent enough on the bass, though.

They played Mozart's Lullaby, which was quite simple for everyone except the piano-girl, who just wasn't any good with classical music. Byakuya gave her a few quick instructions, however, and she managed herself. He almost made even her cry, though. Byakuya had already admitted to not being any good with people, and he was not a very patient teacher.

Renji felt sympathy for Byakuya; the boy was used to playing very advanced music with professional orchestras, and now he was forced to play with amateurs who, in some cases, had not had a single decent music lesson before now.

He knew that Byakuya had two more engagements for the house concert – he had agreed to accompany Renji on a song he was singing, so there he was playing piano, and then he was going to play a solo-piece himself, Violin Partita no. 2 by Bach, better known as "Chaconne".
It was a very difficult piece that they very rarely heard in high school (at least this school), but when Renji confronted him with this, asking him if he only did it to show off, Byakuya had looked mildly shocked at the suggestion.

"To 'show off'? Honestly, Abarai-san! I don't 'show off'! I just want to play at least ONE piece I can't sleep through!" was all he'd answered, looking like that was the most obvious thing in the world.

Renji realized then that Byakuya was, indeed, a little arrogant, but then again… He hadn't really been a part of the real world since he was about four years old… Renji was amazed that someone (Byakuya) could seem amazed and shocked that a normal 16-year-old wasn't able to play Rachmaninov's piano concerts by heart.

One day, during the lunch break, Renji went looking for Byakuya, thinking they should rehearse a little, if not for Byakuya's sake, then for his own, and he found him in the classroom, bent over his homework. Renji stepped closer and snapped the paper he was writing on, and frowned. Byakuya sighed and straightened.

"Ye're workin' on the English essay already?" Renji asked. Byakuya closed his eyes and nodded.

"Yes. Now, give it back. I have to hand it in before class." Renji frowned and looked down at the pale and annoyed face. God, Byakuya was cute when he was annoyed…

"But it ain't due till Tuesday! It's only Friday, Byakuya!" He really couldn't understand why he seemed so stressed about it.
"I'll bet most of the class won't finish till Monday night or Tuesday mornin'… Why the hurry?" Byakuya sighed - obviously trying to muster some patience – and massaged his temples.

"Yes, Abarai-san, but most of the class don't have concerts both Saturday and Sunday, nor do they have a string septet to finish till Monday – on top of their other homework!" towards the end of the sentence, Byakuya had raised his voice a little, sounding quite stressed and even slightly panicked by the time he stopped to breathe.

Renji only stared at him, eyes wide. He couldn't imagine how stressed Byakuya must be, with all that on top of school…

'Man!' he thought. 'I can't imagine livin' like he does… Does he even know how to relax?' He just watched as Byakuya bent over the English essay again, writing like mad to finish in time.