Painted Stones
Shigure's POV
A/N: POOR SHIGURE! I want to give him a nice big hug now ^_^; You can guess who my favorite FB character is, ne? ^_^; Enjoy.
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The wind was billowing all through the woods, disturbing windchimes and harassing leaves and dancing through the dark gray hair of a silent man sitting thoughtfully on his porch. Eyes the colour of a slate gray winter sky wandered idly, scanning the surrounding birch trees with cloaked acuteness. He rested his head against his knuckles and sighed with the dusty twilight breeze. He mumbled under his breath, dark and mindless muttering, and nothing more than that.
Absentmindedly trembling fingers brought a cigarette up to meet the tense lips. A flame, a tiny glow in the thick night air. The cigarette smoldered. Gray smoke kissed the opaque blue sky.
"Bloody dog..." he whispered viciously, harshly dragging his nails down his forearm for a moment, before stopping as he realized what he was doing. There was blood under his white fingernails.
He stared at his hands for a moment; a dog's hands, in a way, before averting his eyes to something, anything.
His eye was caught by the stone Jyuunichi figurines he'd painted several months ago which sat forgotten in a corner. Still rather pleased with the resulting figures, he let his eyes wander over them. Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster. Dog...
Gusting winds broke the straight line of the rising cigarette smoke and trailed it far away, directing it to the woods.
He painted stones. At first, they had been gray, depressing, plain. They had been ugly, and no one would have ever really noticed them. He wanted to make them noticeable, and so he painted over the depressing grayness with bright colours and pretty shapes. He made them stand out. He made them something they weren't.
He was a stone, he was only painting over himself. Just like the stones, now and then a piece of paint would chip off, exposing the grayness beneath, but he would just paint over it again so it didn't show. It was just an endless cycle of painting, chipping, and painting again. He was being painted over and over with so many layers that his true self had somewhere, sometime gotten lost inside all those shining colours that lacked truth.
"Oi, baka inu!" Kyo's voice ran loudly out from inside the house, but Shigure hardly reacted to his exclamation. "Dinner's ready."
After a pause, the dog spirit stood slowly up, back facing the house. He painted over himself, again. This time, the paint wouldn't chip. This time, he wouldn't let it.
He flung the glowing cigarette off into the path, somehow mustering a smile and putting it on.
The paint would never chip.
Never.
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A/N: I don't know what possessed me to write that.
Shigure's POV
A/N: POOR SHIGURE! I want to give him a nice big hug now ^_^; You can guess who my favorite FB character is, ne? ^_^; Enjoy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The wind was billowing all through the woods, disturbing windchimes and harassing leaves and dancing through the dark gray hair of a silent man sitting thoughtfully on his porch. Eyes the colour of a slate gray winter sky wandered idly, scanning the surrounding birch trees with cloaked acuteness. He rested his head against his knuckles and sighed with the dusty twilight breeze. He mumbled under his breath, dark and mindless muttering, and nothing more than that.
Absentmindedly trembling fingers brought a cigarette up to meet the tense lips. A flame, a tiny glow in the thick night air. The cigarette smoldered. Gray smoke kissed the opaque blue sky.
"Bloody dog..." he whispered viciously, harshly dragging his nails down his forearm for a moment, before stopping as he realized what he was doing. There was blood under his white fingernails.
He stared at his hands for a moment; a dog's hands, in a way, before averting his eyes to something, anything.
His eye was caught by the stone Jyuunichi figurines he'd painted several months ago which sat forgotten in a corner. Still rather pleased with the resulting figures, he let his eyes wander over them. Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster. Dog...
Gusting winds broke the straight line of the rising cigarette smoke and trailed it far away, directing it to the woods.
He painted stones. At first, they had been gray, depressing, plain. They had been ugly, and no one would have ever really noticed them. He wanted to make them noticeable, and so he painted over the depressing grayness with bright colours and pretty shapes. He made them stand out. He made them something they weren't.
He was a stone, he was only painting over himself. Just like the stones, now and then a piece of paint would chip off, exposing the grayness beneath, but he would just paint over it again so it didn't show. It was just an endless cycle of painting, chipping, and painting again. He was being painted over and over with so many layers that his true self had somewhere, sometime gotten lost inside all those shining colours that lacked truth.
"Oi, baka inu!" Kyo's voice ran loudly out from inside the house, but Shigure hardly reacted to his exclamation. "Dinner's ready."
After a pause, the dog spirit stood slowly up, back facing the house. He painted over himself, again. This time, the paint wouldn't chip. This time, he wouldn't let it.
He flung the glowing cigarette off into the path, somehow mustering a smile and putting it on.
The paint would never chip.
Never.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N: I don't know what possessed me to write that.