"The Painter"
A normal day. Well, normal for everyone around. For Hiei it was the most annoying day of his life, and there would be countless more
after it. After being hauled in by the Spirit Detective, Yusuke Urameshi, a month before, the fire demon was now on probation in the
human world. Hiei still insisted his defeat at the hands of the rookie detective was a fluke or dumb luck. Really, REALLY, dumb luck. He
thought. He sat now, deep in the park at the edge of the city where he'd used to meet with Kurama and Goki (now deceased). That is,
before the detective had discovered them. He rested in a tree and below him was a view of a large rock pool. I was overgrown with trees
ferns and rolls of soft green moss covered the rocks and rises along the bank. The one thing Hiei liked about the human world, were the
places like this, quiet. And he admired the beauty of the nature here. In demon world, the trees were gnarled and dull. The forests held a
toxic air about them, not the peaceful, clear green that the human world had.
If it weren't for all these damn humans, I wouldn't mind living here. Hiei thought to himself, observing the view and letting it's natural
beauty roll over him. So much so that he didn't notice someone coming very quietly through the woods towards him. So quietly in fact,
that it wasn't until the person had sat down under the tree he was in, pulled a sketchbook and pencil from their bag and started to draw
the scene before them, that Hiei noticed he was not alone. He peered over the branches and looked down. Sitting on the grass just below
him, was a young woman; a girl about his age. She had straight dusty golden hair that fell past her shoulder blades. She wore it in a lose
braid and her bangs, parted down the middle framed her face. Her chocolate brown eyes reflected the deep green of the forest around
them.
She looked out at the scene of the rock pool and the surrounding forest, and started sketching it into her book. Hiei could see, from where
he was, her drawing was very accurate. He sat and watched the girl draw, not worried because he knew she hadn't noticed him. Such
was the limited awareness of humans. So oblivious to the potential danger that surrounded them. Even when he descended a few
branches to get a better look at her drawing, she took no notice and went on with her scribbles. After about half an hour, she set the
sketch aside and pulled out other things from her bag. A large rectangle tray with a cover that said "WATERCOLORS" on it in sharpie,
three different sized paint brushes, and a tall blue cup with paint stains on it.
Hiei watched as she stood up and walked to the edge of the pool to fill the cup with water and then she turned back to the tree. He kept
very still because she was facing his direction now and he didn't want her to see him. She stopped, suddenly and looked around. Her eyes
rested to where he was and he swore she was looking right at him, but she sighed and walked to her spot beneath his tree, then opened
the tray with watercolors, grabbed the medium brush, dipped it in the water, then paint and applied it to her sketch. She painted for a
good 2 and a half hours. She had paint splatters on her hands and some smears on her face. When she was seemingly done, she stood
up, tore the picture from the book and brought the paper to the edge of the pool. She set it against a rock and then trotted back to the
tree to look at her work from a distance.
Hiei looked too, and though it was an exact mirror of the scene. A perfect replica. The girl sighed, satisfied with her work. Then she
started putting her things away and back in her bag. She washed the brushes of in the cup and then poured the water from said cup at
the base of the tree. She cleaned off her hands and face then walked back to her things and picking up her bag, she started to leave. She
did not take the painting with her, instead leaving it up against the rock. Hiei wondered if maybe she'd forgotten it, but it didn't seem
likely. She'd spent so long on it, to just forget it against the rock didn't seem like what she would do. But then, why leave it? Hiei, having
waited in the tree and believing that she wasn't coming back, jumped down and headed over to the rock. He picked up the piece of paper
and noticed the painting was even more beautiful up close.
In the bottom, right-hand corner of the paper was her signature, written in black pen. He looked the painting over and couldn't stop
looking at it, it was amazing. But the more he looked the more he began to notice something. It looked like...words, but hardly visible.
Flipping over the paper he saw there was a short message written on the back. " For you: the Shadow in the tree. To remind you of the
beauty of this world." it read, in elegant italic handwriting. She knew I was here the entire time. Hiei figured. And another thought
occurred to him;
Perhaps not all humans, at least not that one, were as oblivious and ignorant as he'd originally thought.
And Hiei hoped that, maybe, he'd see The Painter again.
Only time would tell.
I really hope you all liked it! I had fun writing it. I'll write the second one tomorrow, it's called "The Name". The tilte, just like this one, has something to do with an occurance in the story. There will be I don't know exactly how many of these, I have ideas for around 27 so far. I might do more I might scrap some. But I can tell you I will be writing them fairly quikly, 1-4 a day becasue I'm on break. I have most of them in order from one to a cretain point and here they are:
"The Painter"
"The Name"
"The Run-In"
"The Conversation"
"The Coffe Shop"
"The Juice"
"The Story"
"The Meeting"
"The Glass"
"The Realization"
(this one isn't what you may think)
"The Rain"
"The Trust"
"The Tears"
"The Friend"
"The Danger"
"The Promise"
"The Tournament:Part 1"
"The Tournament:Part 2"
"The Tournament:Part 3"
"The Fight"
"The Passerby"
"The Reconciliation"
"The Sadness"
"The Love"
"The Trial"
"The Years"
"The End"