In Love With a Curse
He admired the beautiful portrait of the woman… He stared into her eyes, imagining them like swirls of everlasting falling. Her long black hair spilled down her back and spread out across the cold stone of the balcony. She sat under the shining moon, with her legs falling out over the balcony between the gates. The stars shone brightly and the dragons and fairies flew through the night sky. She was mesmerizing. All the man wanted to do was stand in front of the portrait and stare. Stare at her eyes, the eyes that he'd fallen into. Her eyes, that showed pain and longing, beauty and hurt, wonder and awe. Every detail of the portrait was paid intense attention too. The white fabric of the nightgown, the fine printing of its design, every strand of the hair splayed across it, but nothing caught his attention more than her eyes. It was difficult to distinguish their color. The man would stare at it one way, and see brown. He would stare at it another and see red. Few times, he would see black and become ensnared by her beauty once again.
The trance broke, however, when he realized that he was beginning to get dizzy from loss of blood. The man looked down and he realized that he had just come back from a near-unsuccessful mission and had only stopped by at a bookstore to pick up a certain orange novel. The portrait was new, and the owner decided to hang it up on the section across from his desk to stare at it too. Hurrying up, the man took down the portrait and walked over to the owner. The owner was a bit reluctant, but it was his obligation to sell whatever he displayed in his store. The man took his belongings and hurried home.
After treating his cuts, the man took out the portrait and attempted to find a new space on his wall for it. He could find none. No place seemed right to become the portrait's new host. So, he posted it above his futon on the ceiling. He spent the rest of the day leaning on his futon, with his arms behind his head. He stared at the portrait, and pondered questions about the girl. Who she was… Where she was… and most importantly, why she was troubled.
Night came eventually, as the man fell into a sleep colored only by the girl in the portrait's beauty.
The man woke up in the middle of the night. He heard soft singing outside of his room, probably coming from just outside his window. Except… this wasn't his familiar room. He wasn't in his bed. The man was a little worried. He got up from the large bed he was on and walked toward the door of the balcony. The voice of the singer was soothing, but spoken in an entirely new language. In fact, the man couldn't be sure if the language really existed. And yet, the way the song was sung, the man was sure he knew what she was singing. The emotion in her voice gave away every definition of the song.
Quietly, the man walked onto the balcony, and was shocked to find the very scene from the portrait… in reality. The girl from the portrait turned and stared into the man's eyes. Feeling almost paralyzed under her gaze, the man decided to just stare back deeply into her swirls for eyes. Again, the same effect from the portrait. He couldn't tell what color her eyes were. She opened her lips and spoke words that the man could understand.
"Who are you?" The man could only answer.
"Hatake Kakashi."
"Where are you?" Kakashi sat.
"In… a dream?" The girl simply nodded.
"Why are you troubled?"
"I… I've lost all of them. I've made mistakes that cost lives. Even now, I'm being selfish by praying every night for someone to come back to me, and if they can't, then I still pray for someone to understand."
"I understand. Do you know… why you are here?"
"No. But I'd like to believe this is real, and not just a dream." The girl looked down.
"It's not a dream. It's not even real. It's just a curse." Kakashi looked at her.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that I am a curse. I am visited by many people, every night while they sleep. Only those who are troubled in life… Only those who are lost on the path of life… Those who cannot find their way are sent to me. I am the one who you would call a "Guardian Angel." However, this is still a curse."
"Could you explain to me why?" Kakashi was a bit unsure, and perhaps not knowing was making him nervous. The girl sighed, and small puffs of steam escaped her lips.
"You will understand by the end of tonight. And then you will know how much of a curse this is. Both to you and I in different ways."
"Alright. What were you singing before?"
"It's a song from a secret language. Actually, you could probably understand what it was saying, right?"
"Yes. It was like the words were embodiments of their representations."
"That's exactly what it is. Natural things, things like life and stars and moon and love; they never required words to be described. If anything, words only complicated the way of describing things. I'm going to sing again. And then my purpose in your life will end; another person shall enter my world, and you will awaken renewed." Kakashi nodded.
"Sinka puthai nu nami na leii rah eieh dashi eri. Certke shi tanio gana gani rey oh gon lon thaipun tei oh nae. Entho yu ouo ferr anni lon, ai nne shunam wen kem. Cantani la reok omp shunam wen kem." The girl smiled once, and held Kakashi's hands.
"Shunam… wen kem. You have my only smile to assure you of it. My only smile. Do you understand, Kakashi?"
"Yes, and thank you." Kakashi's emotions seemed to cheer at the sight of the young girl's smile.
'Shunam wen kem… Someone will come.'
The next morning, Kakashi woke up and found that the girl from the portrait was next to him. Checking his surroundings, he saw that he was in his room, and that the girl was the one out of place this time. Glancing up at the ceiling, Kakashi noticed that the girl had disappeared from the portrait. Kakashi stared in disbelief at the girl who was sleeping in his futon. A moment later, she woke up and looked at the man.
"I told you… Someone will come. I didn't expect this either… But this is the curse."
"I… You mean, you're the one I've prayed for… And because of the curse, you're here for me?"
"Yes. I suppose I do understand you. The look in my eyes, its because I've lost those dear to me. It's because I've made stupid mistakes and they were paid with the lives of my friends, and not my own. Once, long ago, I fell in love. That was a mistake. That man, was the human incarnate of a demon. My friends.. My family… they all saw him for what he was. And I chose not to listen. He killed them all, and spared me to live in regret. After that, I made yet another mistake. I couldn't live with myself, so I offered to live for others. That's how I came to be in your sleep last night. But the pain… When you listen to stories of people who have lost all. Their sanity, their love, their hearts. Then slowly, you begin to feel like them, too. And because of that, even barely close people… Even they died before my eyes. I became immortal. They were… just human. And I could do nothing but watch them suffer. This is a curse, but one that We must live with."
Kakashi watched the girl and gathered her in his arms.
"From now on, I'll be your Guardian Angel." The girl's eyes leaked tears for the first time in years.
"But…Why?" He broke her heart's ice. The girl's body began to live; her heart began to beat. She was becoming human, leaving off right before she became immortal. She held onto him tighter, feeling his comfort now that the cold was gone.
"I suppose you could say, I'm in love with a curse."