Disclaimer: I don't own La Corda D'Oro.

Summary: In life, there are always firsts – Len has firsts, even at age seven he still has firsts.

Firsts

Chapter 1: First Sight

As the car drove smoothly on the wet road, a young boy watched the moving background out of the window, his head slightly leaning to his right side. His mother kept talking about how he would enjoy his new boarding school and how many friends he would make during his stay there, hoping that somehow friends would fill in the times wherein she couldn't be there.

But, he knew too well that he wasn't the type to socialize – thus, he also knew he wouldn't make many friends, like the kids he saw playing in the park.

Len Tsukimori was a little 'off' for a seven-year old – he didn't like to play with other children, he didn't talk much, and he didn't laugh nor had tantrums. And, he wasn't the one to tell the difference between boys and girls.

Len once said, when asked if he had a crush on a girl by his mom, that girls were not that distinct compared to boys – both eat, sleep, and make noise (implying that both parties annoy him to bits). So he says why bother taking notice of girls?

And that's why he thought that transferring to a boarding school for boys and girls was a bad, bad idea.

At last, what he had been dreading the whole time has come and the car pulled over by black gates.

Len unlocked his door and jumped out of his seat after unbuckling his seatbelt, his violin case in his hand, and walked slowly to the tall bars that kept him out of the school. On the high, brick walls a gold plate was posted with the name 'Seisou Boarding School' embedded on it.

His mother, Misa, had already taken his hand and was flashing him a very kind smile as she tugged his hand, beckoning him to follow.

The guards pulled the gates open and the two walked along the way surrounded by trimmed grass and flowers.

It smelled like rain, Len thought, and the breeze was a bit frigid—as he expected, the heavy rain earlier didn't make things better, it just made portions of his socks wet and Len didn't like getting his clothes soggy.

The sky was still a gray hue and the sun couldn't get its rays past the thick layers of rain clouds and even if it did, the big building that stood before his two feet wouldn't allow him to bathe under the warm sunshine.

Outside the window, Len could hear music – scratch that – Len could hear noise coming from the classroom and Len could feel a huge frown tugging on his lips. But, he promised his mother he'd try to look at the positive side of things, and when he said it he tried his best not to sound sarcastic. But he did, and the ironic part was that Len wasn't actually the type of kid who used sarcasm as a route to freedom or to an easy win in a quarrel.

That just proves his theory that enrolling to Seisou Boarding School is a complete mistake.

Misa rang the doorbell, once, twice, and Len heard footsteps from beyond the wooden doors. And not long after, the doors made a creaking sound as they parted and a man who was thirty-something came out with a small smile on his face.

Pink hair tied into a ponytail, five o'clock shadow, an annoying smile, Len pointed out mentally. Definitely not the type of guy Len would trust, let alone like.

"Ah, so you must be Misa Hamane, and this must be your son, Len Tsukimori; we've been expecting your arrival. Please, come in; by the way, I'm Kanazawa."

Len scrubbed his shoes against the doormats and gave Kanazawa a dirty look which was pretty much like appreciating his trying to make an effort in welcoming them to the prestigious school when Len could read him like an open Learn Your ABCs book.

Misa and Kanazawa began talking about the facilities and the staff in the school, and the places and the kind of education they provided—and Len wanted to walkout and lock himself in the car when he heard that the school reached up to the tertiary level which meant he might have to stay until college or high school—and poor Len was left to entertain himself with his thoughts.

"I'm sorry, you must be bored," Kanazawa said. Thanks for noticing, Len thought. "Why don't you take a look-see? You can take a tour around the campus and we'll meet you back here, that is, if you can handle being by yourself." Misa had this bright and buoyant sparkle in her eyes as said that. She must be hoping that Len might finally cross over to the positive side and appreciate the school, not as thin foil, but us a 'fun-learning place' where all is friendly and jolly. What a load of lard.

Looking back at the words 'if you can handle being by yourself', Len reassessed his current standing. He was a seven-year old boy who was always left to take care of himself at home because his parents were too busy having concert tours and the only company he had during those times was his violin and this man with the grayish pink hair was annoying him and now his mom asks him if he can handle being alone. Gee, whatever shall he do?

He'll ditch them, of course, no question. "I can take care of myself, mother," he said, his voice icy and sharp. Wow, that was an accomplishment; he actually said seven words today with nine syllables. He'd have to make a note to mark this day.

Len began his mini-tour by turning to the hall at the left side of the lobby and Misa was left to look at his retreating back.

As he strode down the hall with doors at both sides, Len knew there wasn't anything interesting here. All he saw was 'Staff Room', 'Principal's Office', and 'Guidance Office' and the rest was all about classrooms that made noises.

Len came to a halt when he met another pair of doors; he then realized he had reached the end of the hall. Len just shrugged and pushed one door open after turning the golden knob.

The sun was already shining, fortunately, and he could finally breathe normally and hear the annoying birds chirp as they flew by.

Averting his attention from the sky to the path, he saw three ways: left, right, and straight ahead. Maybe if he went straight ahead he won't have to bother finding his way back again.

And thus, Len went straight because he didn't want to waste time on remembering where he was supposed to go. Besides, the building was much closer than the rest.

Len, after walking a few meters, went inside another building – and luckily, he didn't hear the awful music this time round.

As he strolled slowly into the corridor, he met pairs of eyes belonging to both male and female. But he didn't care, really. Was it that big a deal that he was a new face?

Len just continued walking, ignoring the faces that looked at him. And then he decided to go upstairs to continue his little walk.

When he reached the last step, he heard a faint voice—someone's singing to be specific. And indeed he thought it was way above the clamor he's been hearing all day from the classrooms. Curious, he went and followed the voice, idly taking his steps and his time.

At last, he reached a door, an open door, and he couldn't help but peek through the narrow gape and pry on whoever was inside. But he didn't see anyone so he assumed it was safe to go inside and take a quick look around.

Len opened the door, making a raspy ruckus that eventually drowned in the now louder singing.

He looked around, glancing from one corner to another, and he found two beds with pink and light purple bed sheets and big fluffy pillows. Two desks were sitting on either sides of the room and a pair of bookshelves standing next to each other on one side. The floor was a rich brown mahogany with a round, orange carpet adorning the center of it.

In one corner, there was another door left open and it seems like it's where the singing came from. And then the voice stopped for a while, a screech, and then a muffled 'Fuyuumi, can you please hand me the shampoo? The strawberry one!'

Len hissed and looked around only to lay his eyes on a red bottle with strawberry imprints on the cover, sitting on a wooden table in the lonely corner by the door.

He didn't hesitate and took the shampoo bottle in his hand, placed his violin case on the floor and walked straight into the room.

There was steam everywhere and the floor was quite wet, a lot of puddles surrounded his shoes. Before him draped a mint green shower curtain and from behind it, more yells came booming into his ears. Len just shrugged his shoulders, his lips pursed into a thin line, and pulled the curtains open without second thought.

A few sprinkles of hot water on his clothes, a pair of chocolate irises staring at him, and a sweet lilac—wait. Chocolate irises? Human irises?

Len didn't bother to take notice any further and just raised an eyebrow at the girl—the naked little girl—as he handed her the bottle of shampoo. "Here, it was outside," he said but the girl didn't budge and continued to stare at him blankly.

"I'm doing you a favor and would you stop staring please?" he ordered, tapping his foot.

SNAP!

The girl grabbed her towel, wrapping herself with it, and threw the first thing she could get her hands on at Len. Soap, big shampoo bottles, a rubber ducky—they all came flying at Len and he had to flee from the red-haired girl for his dear life.

He bolted out of the door with an exaggerated push on the door and looked for his violin. And in one corner he found it raced over to it without looking back.

He quickly grabbed his violin case and scrammed out of the door; hearing 'What are you doing in a girl's room?! Can't you read the sign, you pervert?!' he stopped dead on his tracks and read the sign on the wooden door. It said 'Hino Kahoko and Fuyuumi Shouko'.

And that made him realize—so that's a girl in the flesh, literally speaking? He wanted to take another look but he wouldn't want to stick around in a small bathroom with a girl with mad throwing abilities—the naked girl specifically.

Len dashed through the corridors, the stairs, ran past the bushes and back into the lobby, stopping just in front of his mom who had just come out of the staff room in a huff.

"So Len dear, did you have a great time?" asked Misa but Len couldn't reply—he was trying to catch his breath without getting noticed. "Alright then, I had your things taken to your room. They'll fix it up for you so that you can settle in and rest; I'm sure you had a tiring day. Kanazawa-sensei will help you get by; if you have any questions or problems just go to him. I'll come visit you soon."

"Right," he said and turned on his heel, toward Kanazawa. Misa gave him a big hug from behind, seeing that he won't bother facing her anymore, waved goodbye and left.

Kanazawa looked at the cobalt-haired lad and smiled, whereas Len was busy recalling what had happened a few minutes ago.

"So Len," Kanazawa began "do you have any questions so far?"

And then, when Len was about to turn and leave him hanging, he saw the same red-haired girl from the 'steamy bathroom incident' earlier on, her damp hair stuck to her bare neck and the portions of her shoulders that were left exposed by her spaghetti straps, her lips pursed into a thin line, eyes furious, looking at him.

He raised an eyebrow and muttered, "Yes, who's that girl?"

"Oh, hi Kahoko!"

—End

I'd like to thank the following for reviewing Tight Spots:

Nooboet, ButtonPinCollector, Xanie, reader713, Wings of Fidelity, aviane13, kenkao7rocks5forever, Shiro-angel, michellelhf, Sharon, Love Inc., Jiru-senpai, SilverFlourist, babyotaku2807, The Last Vampire 1982, IceDollSayaka, princessprada, animeaddict787, PurpleSkye, Pathetic Rainbow, AniManGa19930, Melodywind, 'sakura-syaoran forever', DemonicParanoia, twilightpath, eLeA mELeNdEz, '-MiNi-RAi-', starZdestiny, Clodcaberte, doublelily, yokosakura-wintrystarlight, and StarAngel02.

Thank you very much for reviewing my other fanfic; I hope you would continue supporting it and that you would enjoy this story. To those who read both my stories, thank you, too.

Wow, so that's how you give a 'thank you'. Don't worry, next time I'll try to personalize my thanks. I just don't have time right now.

I hope that you enjoyed this chapter; I'll try to update every few weeks or so. Drop a review? Please?