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Chapter 2 : Silent Portrait
Hiei's stomach growled. He growled back at it, scowling. I didn't eat breakfast or lunch today ... It was already six, therefore it meant he would have to pack up soon before his sister became worried again. Hastily scribbling a signature of sorts at the bottom of some documents, he tossed the load aside without bothering to clear up. Hiei was still puzzled over the events of the afternoon. Who could have entered the office and made a mess of the office? He or she must know the security code first though, before they could enter the main office entrance.
He wondered if he should put up another security code at the entrance of his office. Sighing, he packed whatever was needed into his briefcase, and left the office, nodding his head curty to people who bade him goodbye.
He stopped outside the building and breathed in the evening air, closing his eyes tiredly. Only then did his ruby eyes snap back open to the realization that he had so hurriedly left without thanking the kind man who had taken him in when he collapsed on the streets. Mentally making a note to repay his kindness someday, he walked back home, eager to taste Yukina's cooking he had missed the night before, and to be fussed over by the only person he ever loved.
Passing by a newspaper stand, and noticing a certain magazine, he snorted as he remembered one day his picture had made front page on that same magazine. Yusuke had barged in one morning with a copy of that same magazine months earlier and had laughed gleefully while shouting, "Sexiest Bachelor! Oh my God, Hiei, Sexiest Bachelor!!" while Hiei nursed a headache and a strong desire to burn all copies of that magazine, who had dubbed him "Sexiest Bachelor in Tokyo (and not to mention richest too)".
So what if he was a bachelor? Who needed love? It bogged you down and hurt you and made you confused and stupid. No, he didn't need it. At least not now, when he was barely getting through with his work.
Yusuke was the only person alive in his office who ever dared to call him by his first name, other than Jaganshi-san (or even Jaganshi-sama). As impolite as it was, Hiei had long since learnt to ignore his incessant ramblings and considered that Yusuke was just trying to be friendly.
After all, who can be friends with someone they fear? Sometimes he was glad of his ever boisterous though annoying assistant. Who did fear him, but only when he was in one of his moods.
Entering the lift in his apartment, he leaned casually against the wall, stomach growling with hunger. A scent permeated in that small space of metal, a scent Hiei recognised but couldn't place...
A scent of roses.
It smelled pleasant, he decided, wondering where it came from.
Kurama heaved a deep sigh after packing his stuff up. After all the paintings he had so meticulously drawn, after putting in all his effort, his paintings were still not selling. People liked to stop and watch him paint, but they would not buy those paintings. He only managed to sell one painting today, to a sweet lady who praised him for his work and told him it was very beautiful and not to give up.
He almost teared at the words of that kind lady, who seemed to see his suffering.
I know I have the talent, thought Kurama exasperatedly, but why can't I sell these?
As he walked back to his shabby rented place, he passed by a florist shop. "Vacancy - Walk-In Interview" was pasted on the window. Without hesitating, he walked in.
Perhaps I cannot focus solely on my paintings to help me earn some money. But will they let me work? After all ..
I am not normal, as they so loved to put it...
"What is it? We're closing shortly," said the lady, smoking a cigarette, raising an eyebrow at him. Kurama pointed to the notice on the window.
"Yes, we have a vacancy. Are you here to apply for it?'
Kurama nodded.
"What's the matter, you can't speak?"
Kurama nodded, mouthing the words 'Accident' and pointing to his throat. He hoped and prayed they wouldn't turn him down like the previous uncountable ones when he tried to apply for a job. The lady looked him once-over, nodded and took out a piece of paper. 2
"Any experience in handling flowers?" she asked brusquely, thrusting a pen into his hand. Kurama smiled, then wrote, 'I do. I learnt flower arrangements before.'
"That's good," she nodded, but was not very impressed. She took in the state of his clothes and the rolled up canvas with a worn out backpack, then decided the guy could use the money. After all, if he sucked, they could just boot him out. And she hated giving interviews. It was just a florist shop after all. You didn't need a PHD or Master's degree to work in it.
"Okay, I'll pay you by the hour, all right? 500 yen per hour." 1
Kurama smiled, and nodded. He was happy to take it, even though it wasn't very high. He wrote on the paper, 'I'll come in tomorrow, in the afternoon after lunch.'
"Don't be late," warned Shizuru.
The redhead stepped out from the shop and breathed in the scent of the late evening, and mouthed a silent thank you to nobody in particular. What a beautiful evening it was.
He would go home and paint again.
"I'm home," said Hiei wearily as he entered his apartment, kicking off his shoes. His apartment was big and spacious, naturally, as having lots of money came in handy. However it was just the two of them, as Hiei rarely invited guests home. Neither did Yukina. Their rooms were designed by themselves, and they each had plenty of space.
A black kitten greeted him, pawing at his foot. Gently pushing it aside without hurting it, he strode to the kitchen where Yukina was busy cooking.
"Ah, Oniisan!" said Yukina, smiling as her face brightened. "Go and take a bath first, I'm almost done," she said sweetly. He nodded and went to his room, dumping the briefcase on the floor and undressing, eager for a relaxing bath to work out the stiffness in his back as he scrubbed. This is what I get for sitting all day in my office, he thought moodily. And my work isn't even halfway done yet. He closed his eyes and sank deeper into the tub, resting his arms on either side of the tub.
After deciding her brother had rested enough, she set the table and fed their black kitten, Oki. Oki was a present to her from Hiei, as she was lonely most of the time in their apartment when he was away working. She loved the little kitten very much, though for some reason it liked to enter Hiei's room and curl up on his lap when he was back.
"Oniisan," she called, knocking on his bathroom door. "Dinner's ready."
"Hai," he called back, getting out of the tub. Dressing in a T-shirt and pants, he joined her for dinner at the dining table, almost weak with hunger.
"So what happened yesterday, Oniisan?" asked Yukina.
"I fainted on the streets... I guess I was too tired," he said, shrugging. No, he would never admit to his office staff that he had fainted and some unknown stranger had helped him. He'd be the laughing stock, and he didn't want that.
"Too tired? Oniisan, you work too hard," admonished Yukina gently, ladling some soup into his bowl. He accepted it gratefully.
"Some guy took me in. I woke up in his bed. It was half past one by the time I woke up... so I ran back to the office..."
"You left without thanking him?!"
"Yeah. I didn't mean to," said Hiei hastily, as Yukina stared reproachfully at him.
"That's not nice... You have to go back and thank him properly," she said sternly.
Hiei sighed, giving in. Of course he had to, it just meant it was going to take up some of his precious time. Looking away from his sister, he proceeded to pick at his food moodily. Then something caught his eye, something directly in front of him. He raised his head to get a better look.
"I bought it this afternoon," said Yukina, looking proudly at it. "Isn't it beautiful? The way the artist painted the scenery...?"
Hiei nodded, but he wasn't paying attention to the scenery. It was a man sitting on his chair gazing out into the window, fixed on the mountains before him. Hiei couldn't help but notice how it was the windows who jumped out at him, not the scenery. Then he looked at the man. Half of his body was hidden by the chair, but the few random spikes of hair on his head made him feel uncomfortable.
That man looks like me, even though I can't see his face. Or am I just being too conscious?
When he entered his room after dinner, when Hiei picked up his dirty clothing to put in the laundry basket, Hiei noticed the scent of roses was back. He sniffed the bundle in his arms experimentally. The smell must have stuck onto my clothes in the lift, he thought, as he left the room.
The scent lingered faintly in his bedroom, when he returned to continue his work, as though unwilling to leave.
How was it? Review, please!
1 Is 500 yen per hour expensive or cheap? XD
2 Kurama lost his voice. I purposely made it that way. XD It's not harmful, but I thought the idea of a love between someone who can talk and someone who can is just ... sweet. Lol.
