I'll try it again...

Should I? I haven't done it since last year... not after that happened to Xem...

That was what Hitame was thinking. She was debating whether or not she should sing again. She had been so depressed from what happened to Xemnas the year before, that she had basically given up on singing. She thought it was too happy a thing to do, and that it would only make her feel worse. Her sister, Naomi, had tried to get her to sing again. But nothing had worked.

Naomi had found the music classroom in Hogwarts, and she thought it was the perfect place to bring Hitame's singing mood back. So she had divised a plan to bring her there without her knowing where Naomi was taking her, since she knew that if Hitame was told where they were going, she would refuse to go. She finally convince Hitame to go with her, after a long time of thinking of places that Hitame would still want to go.

When she finally figured out where they were going it was too late for Hitame to turn back. Naomi had been smart and made her promise that even if she didn't like what they were going to do, she wouldn't leave. And Hitame wasn't one to break promises. "Why'd you bring me here for?!" Hitame shouted, clearly angry with Naomi. "Because I want to hear you sing again. I want you to go back to normal." Naomi said to her, close to tears from her sister's shouting. "It won't work Naomi. I don't want to sing anymore." she said, a little calmer. "Please? Just try." Naomi begged her.

After a moment of thinking Hitame nodded. "Fine. I'll try it again." Hitame said. Naomi immediately perked up and she pulled out a paper with a song that she had been carrying around in her pocket, just for Hitame to sing. "Here. Sing this." Naomi said, handing the paper to Hitame. She took it from her little sister and looked it over. "Mundo de Caramelo..." Hitame said softly. "This is the song I was writing, before everything happened..." she added. Naomi nodded and Hitame began to try and sing it. But it didn't go very well. In the middle of the song Hitame stopped abruptly. "I can't do it Naomi." she said. "I'm sorry." she apologized.



^^ This is the song Hitame tried to sing.

Alice was walking along, her guitar strapped to her back, heading off to the music classroom- she spent the majority of her time there. She wanted to get her hands on the piano, but just in case her brain did not want her to be a pianist today, she had decided to bring her guitar. There was also a bunch of other instruments so she had been gradually learning the others as well.

As she drew closer, however, she heard singing- it was timid, unsure, and not something she recognized. Alice was a detective- had she had her things, she would have donned her trenchcoat and bubble pipe right there and tried to figure out the mystery. However, there was a much more direct route to solving this particular mystery.

She pressed her ear against the door and suddenly the signing stopped. She leaned in more and the door slipped open, and Alice was sent tumbling in. She quickly caught herself and looked up, grimacing. Two girls stared at her. "Sorry. I was coming to play and I overheard you... Why can't you sing?"

As soon as Hitame heard the door open, she turned her head quickly and stared at the girl who had fallen in. Naomi had jumped up and hidden behind Hitame, out of fright. "It's alright Naomi. Don't be scared of her." she said a little unsure that she was right. She stood in a defensive position, her hand on her wand. She was still having some major trust issues with anyone who wasn't Sophia. Naomi felt Hitame's body tense, and she put her hand on her sister's shoulder. Hitame relaxed a little, but she was still on the defensive.

When the girl started to talk, Hitame relaxed completely and Naomi stepped out from behind her. "I haven't sang since my fri-" she stopped abruptly again, and thought for a moment. "My brother had an accident last year." she said. "I just couldn't bring myself to sing anymore. It felt too... happy for me." she added. Naomi sighed heavily. "You were doing fine, though. Why did you stop?" she asked a little irritated.

"I don't know. I just thought about Xem... and I stopped." she said softly. As Xemnas came back up in her thoughts she felt something form in her throat. So she cleared her throat quickly and pushed him into the back of her mind. "Uhh... my name is Hitame Higurashi." she introduced herself. "And this is my sister Naomi Higurashi." she said softly. "What's your name?" she asked, a hint of a smile forming on her mouth.

Alice blinked and watched as the younger of the girls lept behind the other one, and both looked terrified of her. She turned and glanced behind her, pointing a thumb behind her but seeing no more than the empty doorway. She turned back and saw the girls' eyes were still trained on her, not anyone else. There surprise and mild fear was directed at Alice and Alice only.

Weeeeird.

They finally relaxed and began speaking and Alice nodded, listening carefully as she turned and closed the door behind her before moving towards the piano, unslinging her guitar. She listened to the girls speak and then sat at the piano bench, turning around to face them. "I'm Alice Longbottom," she said in a simple voice, small dimples forming at the corners of her mouth.

She turned back around and gestured towards the front of the piano, indicating Hitame should stand there, and she began to do simple runs on the piano, ones that a human voice could easily mimick and easily build off of. "It's about the music taking care of things. About making it so that the only thing you can do is sing." She closed her eyes and followed one of the runs with her own voice, just vocalizing. She opened her eyes and glanced up at Hitame, telling her that if she felt the music, to go with it. She glanced down at her fingers and watched herself play, taking pressure off of the girl.

Hitame watched Alice as she went over to the piano and sat down on the bench. She slowly walked over to the piano and stood where Alice had indicated. She listened to the runs that Alice made on the piano and looked at the floor. Her eyes wandered up from the floor to look at Alice, and she opened her mouth as if to say something, or to sing. But she quickly closed it, reluctant to sing for a moment.

She glanced over at Naomi, who had a hopeful look on her face, urging Hitame to sing. She bit her lower lip and thought that maybe if she sang, she wouldn't feel so depressed anymore. So she opened her mouth and followed one of the runs that Alice was playing. As she vocalized, she looked at Naomi, and saw that her singing made Naomi happy. But why? Maybe it was because she hadn't heard her sister sing in about year? No, that wasn't it. She was always this happy whenever Hitame sang.

As the run went on, Hitame's voice became softer and softer, until it faded completely. She closed her mouth and the hint of a smile she had, turned into a wide grin. "Maybe I shouldn't have given up on singing because of his accident." she said, her words directed at Naomi. Her sister shook her head, agreeing with her that she shouldn't have given up the thing she loved to do the most, because of an accident.

Alice focused on the runs, her light, ghostlike fingers dancing across them expertly, even though she did not consider piano her main instrument. She and her brother played a ton of instruments, but she had continued on with art. He had stepped more towards dealing with people. She would rather deal with her guitar, her piano, her fiddle, french horn, the accordian she was trying to master...

And finally, she heard the girl's voice join the sound of the piano. Alice had planned the runs perfectly, to be beautiful but simple. Something that reached a normal person's range, gradually broadening it as Hitame joined in with the music, letting her explore with her voice. She put accents and Hitame's voice followed, as a seasoned singer would.

Hitame's voice began to fade out and Alice slowly raised her head, watching her blankly as the girl's voice began to soften. Alice allowed the music to do the same, fading out. She smiled lightly at Hitame's reaction and her words. "Good. You're feeling it, aren't you? Keep going?" She started the runs up again, making them a tad more complex.

Hitame glanced over at Naomi again, and saw that her sister had her sketch pad out already. Naomi had found something to inspire a drawing to come out of her. She was always able to find something, no matter how small to inspire her. But Hitame didn't know that her singing was what inspired Naomi, or that the drawing was her singing and Alice playing the piano. Naomi wanted to remember this moment, when her big sister started singing again, and the best thing to do to always remember it was to draw it. Or at least in Naomi's eyes it was.

When Alice began to talk, Hitame's head turned back to her and she nodded. "Yeah, I was feeling it." she said. "I never realized how much I loved to sing. Or how much I missed it." she said, feeling a little silly for say that. But what she had said was true, she had never fully realized how much she missed singing. How much singing was actually a part of her. But apparently Naomi had when she didn't, and that was why she had tried so hard to get Hitame to sing again.

Alice started the runs again and this time Hitame didn't hesitate as much to start singing. She cleared her throat and listened to the runs a little before she started singing, so she could do them properly. And before she knew it her voice was, once again, following the runs that Alice was creating on the piano.

The little girl, Naomi, had begun drawing, and Alice found herself intrigued by these two girls. Alice, herself, was also a painter. Anything to do with any forms of art, Alice had her hands in. She could not help that, as she wanted to have a fully artistically experienced life on all sides of art. She would not ignore any one form. Except dancing... but she had her reasons...

Alice smiled slightly at Hitame's words. She reached up and brushed a hand lightly over her short blonde pixie hair. "Well that's the funny thing. Sometimes you only hear music in it's absence." She smiled lightly and continued with her piano playing, and Hitame began to follow, stronger this time. Alice added her voice, only as a low undertone of harmony, to support Hitame's voice.