Anatomy Of A Tidal Wave
Anatomy Of A Tidal Wave
Chapter XIV:
How Much Did You Think Of Me?
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Sai scanned trough the grey folder full of medical records, his foot loudly tapping against the marble floor in eagerness as he absorbed every detail of the information.
A tired sight escaped past his thinned lips as his eyes traveled to his mobile phone. One week, one fucking week and he had no news from Kyuubi. A scowl of distaste worn across his pale accentuated his irritation and displeasure concerning this matter.
He thought that everything was going so smoothly and he had caught Kyuubi's interest if not with his charms, then at least with his painting skills. It seems that his calculations were inaccurate.
A loud clatter of falling figurines from his messy desk distracted him from reading further, but he remained rooted to his seat without any intent to clean the mess.
Everything was driving him insane, literary. Neji's constant calls about the progress of the plan and every damn move he had made up until now almost made him call it quits. However, it was fucking impossible to do it now, he new that perfectly well.
It was unconventional that Neji had smelt that he was scooping some information about Kyuubi and decided to use this piece of newfound knowledge to his advantage. It was working with him or some of his pieces of artwork along with evidence of his committed crimes would end up in the hands of police.
At first, he did not mind this agreement. He was perfectly fine working on the matter that had grabbed his attention (as he did previously), however, the prospect of caged bird did not fancy him at all. Besides, Neji's paranoia concerning Naruto freeing himself from his tight grasp and unstable behavior was getting harder and harder to handle than it was before.
Must be the excess damage for messing around with alcohol and drugs; he mused.
Sai's gaze drifted towards the shattered glass figurines on his marble floor and smirked. The shards of glass reminded him of the broken Kyuubi, the same one described in these medical documents, and not the man he became to be.
Sai's brows furrowed at his previous thought of 'the man that he became to be'. That did not sound right to him and he was sure to fix this once he had an opportunity.
This man was his canvas that is ought to be the perfect masterpiece, his last and first named masterpiece. The same canvas he came to hate for its filth in beauty, softness that should not be there in the first place, and love for an opportunity to rebuild this piece anew, the way it should existed in the first place.
He accidentally stumbled upon this beautiful death angel, which took his breath away, a couple of years ago, when he was visiting one of his acquaintances or a fellow artists to be precise.
He vividly remembered skipping through thick artbooks full of rough sketches, when his acquaintance – the word 'friend' was still foreign for him to say – had asked to help him to select the most worthy pieces of artwork to represent him in the upcoming opening of new gallery in town. He was far too inexperienced with these matters and was too afraid to mess up his chance to sign up to contract that would fund his further display of his artworks in the near future.
When he was halfway done, one of the rough sketches had caught his eye. The outline of male, Sai presumed it to be male, was surrounded by nauseating white walls of the hospital room – another assumption. It was hard to differ from all the mess of lines, which was part of his fellow artist's style. That persons head tilted to the side as if to warn anyone not to invade his claimed territory. It seemed kind of primal instinct for that person to defend whatever he had conquered.
"Who's this?" had slipped past Sai's lips without his permission.
"Huh?" the artist behind these works glanced at Sai quizzically and sat next to him to see what had he found so interesting to see. It was such rarity to peek Sai's curiosity with other artist works and his heart skipped a beat when he had such opportunity presented to him.
"Oh, I remember him" he said scratching his cheek. "Not a pleasant event, but he had inspired me. Therefore, I guess, I have nothing to complain about"
Sai glared at the sketch as if by doing so he would make this person breathe and come alive. His fingertips traced the outlines of its figure some millimeters above the sketch, not wanting to smudge it.
The occupant next to him sighted "When I had been visiting my friend, who had some mental problems" Sai had raised his eyebrow at that "What? He was not that good of friend that I would care to know about his disorders in detail, besides, I could not say no to his brother's invitations. It was a great place to scout some new ideas and search for new muses"
Sai shrugged." Who am I to judge you? I just cannot picture you there. That's all."
"Whatever. Anyway, when I was there I had been hearing many circulating rumors about this one kid who has been possessed by some kind of unearthly creature or demon. Therefore, one day I wondered through the halls of hospital, which by the way was surprisingly empty that day, and stumbled upon the area where I heard he was residing in."
Violet eyes watched fascinated as pale fingers gracefully danced above his sketch, while his fingers constantly twitched from the need to grasp and interlink their hands.
"Therefore, the scariest part had been when he had found me. I remember that my whole body shook upon seeing his face up-close, which reminded of untamed animal that broke loose from the chain and that bone-chilling glare forced me to stay rooted to the ground. His barred sharp teeth, hollow growling noise coming from his mouth awoke me from my stupor, and I fled from that room as if my life depended on it, which was beside the point"
Those pale fingers had stopped dancing, he noted, replaced by the bottomless eyes that were absorbing all the given information into art related material.
"Hn"
Sai stared in awe at how such dead eyes could convey such raw feelings and untamed personality that anticipated breaking loose from that already worn out body. Had he succeeded?
"But that was long time ago. Who knows what happened during that period of time to that boy or male by now" He shrugged, losing his interest on the said topic.
"Do you know his name?"
"Hmm" He ruffled his dark hair in attempt to recall a name, which overawes anyone who hears it.
"Kudi…Kubi…ah! Kyuubi"
"I have other business to attend to" Sai stretched, dusting off imaginary dusts of his clothes and making his way to the door.
"Wait! Can we-"The only answer that greeted the artist was the sound of the closed door.
Sai smirked, recalling how he had borrowed that sketch from the mentioned acquaintance without his notice. It seemed to be a good pay for using his services. Not that his so-called acquaintance was such a great artist, by his standards, and he had to put a lot of effort and not to mention time to make that messy sketch to look as real as it can look, according to his sources and found photos.
However, no matter how much he strived to make his muse and newfound infatuation to breathe and to come alive as the spiting image of all of his fantasies, the reminder of existing and life breathing copy revealed his passive-obsessive self that sought to release from its suffocating coffin.
The sound of clocks beat vibrating in the poorly lit room decorated with black and white beasts differing in form and size made Sai stay at ease. His irregular breathing slowed down, his stiff muscles relaxed as his sharp nose caught a light scent of burning wood - his favorite incense. It was the only place – his sanctuary – were his inner demons been put off to sleep.
One beat after another echoed through almost barren room, stubbornly announcing to his owner that it was time to go and to face another fight with his turbulent and violent inner demons.
It was time to pay a visit to Kyuubi.
He had already memorized all various schedules of the said male, even though his plans were irregular, misplaced, forgotten or postponed due to various reasons (usually the silly ones), he still had his own routine – like everyone does. It just took some time to digest the information, find the frequently repeated pattern and you were finished.
Sai quickly hid all the important information, for obvious reasons, and after his short goodbye said to his muse, he was ready to head off.
Kyuubi did not live that far away – it was the crucial point at choosing the place to open his art gallery. He was not that fond of walking very long distances.
He stopped beside the old-fashioned bench, sat dawn and took out his drawing supplies. If he tilted his head slightly to the right side, at the end of the bus stop, he could clearly see the two-story house that Kyuubi owned. Not a fancy one, but considering his living expenses it was somewhat beneficial to him.
Sai glanced at the clock, which fit on his pale hand like a second skin, and let out an irritated sight.
Kyuubi was late, again.
No matter how precise his calculations had been, including the tardiness of the other, he had always managed to screw up his plans and get a raise out of him. This indisputable fact had always trampled on his pride and skills he had habitually took pride in.
It took everything from him not to snap at him any day.
From his corner of his eye, he saw his target coming out of the house and locking his door.
Perfect.
His posture had not changed and his body robotically continued to sketch the landscape along with the riverbank. Sai did not even need eyes to know how many steps had the person taken and how long it will take the other to reach him. Sometimes, he was even amazed with himself at how sharp and sensible all of his senses were.
Two hundred steps more. Two hundred slow-paced steps more, while the owner of the body walked down the street with his headphones on and his eyes closed in attempt to catch some light sleep after the wild party he had last night.
Too bad, that he is not getting that well deserved rest today.
His foot anxiously tapped on the ground counting the distance until –
"WHAT THE FUCK?"
Until the target stumbled upon his carelessly dropped bag and scattered supplies that send the unsuspecting victim to say hello to the nice, hard, pavement.
How thoughtless of him.
Amused black eyes observed as the blood-shot and tired eyes tried to catch-up and evaluate – albeit a bit slowly – the mess that had currently occurred to him. However, soon that amusement replaced burning glares and irritation that started to swell in the pit of his stomach.
How dare he destroy his instruments of art, even thought, they were not that pricey and used that much as his more valuable ones had been. It was still his property. End of the story.
He harshly yanked the brush and some chalk from the Kyuubi's grasp, pushing him aside and out of reach of his supplies.
Heated, narrowed ruby eyes locked on his assailant and after processing the thought of familiar features upon the others face his glaring had subsided. It must be reminder of their last encounter involving his possessions taking a toll on.
Kyuubi rubbed his eyes sleepily, letting a tired yawn out of his mouth, as his hoarse and barely recognizable voice pronounced his name.
"Sai…?"
Without any affirmative sound, Sai continued to pick up his discarded possessions and neatly put them back in his black-painted leather bag.
Kyuubi scratched his neck nervously, still waiting for the inevitable outburst or earth-shattering glare from the pale man, but it seemed that he chose to ignore him.
"Sorry?" That did not sound convincing, at all. Fuck, he did not have enough time to stand here waiting while the other decided to grace him with some kind of reaction.
Kyuubi stood up, clenching his fists to prevent his hands from reaching to help Sai and after taking one deep intake of breath, he started to walk away from the caused scene with feigned indifference.
A white envelope thrown into Kyuubi's face had halted all of his moments. With confusion swimming in his eyes, he caught the envelope before it hit the ground.
"What's this?" he growled out, tired from all the stupid games the other seemed to like to play whenever he was involved.
"An invitation" Sai answered simply, too simply for Kyuubi's liking.
"Are you asking me on a date again?"
Sai shook his head, a fake smile spreading on his thin lips. "No"
"Huh?"
"It's an invitation to my exhibition. I am experimenting on my newfound realistic style. I hope it will intrigue you enough to buy one of the limited examples"
"Where's the catch?"
"There's none." Sai shrugged casually "Is that a disappointment for you?"
"No at all"
"Good" He sat on the bench once again, continuing to sketch his almost finished piece of work as if nothing ever happened.
Figuring that he will not gauge any response out of Sai, he pocketed the white envelope with a small black beast that imitated a glued stamp.
"Oh" interrupted him Sai when he was almost out of hearing range "Don't forget to bring your boyfriend. I want to meet him"
"Why would you – "
Sai said nothing to counter that. He just smiled one of those irritating smiles that can get you out of any trouble without any explaining to do. Words meant nothing in this one-sided conversation, but the completed action in this situation meant a world to Kyuubi, event without his knowledge and consent.
He did not have to worry or put more effort in persuading Kyuubi to come to the planned event. He knew that he would definitely come. There was no say in it.
It was a good thing that in the mornings – especially when he had not had enough sleep – Kyuubi was easily distracted and would not question his sudden appearance near his house with a ready invitation in his hands. That though would start to nag him latter on in the day and like a tempered man he was, he would go through many different scenarios to question his motives and maybe his stalkers tendencies.
His planted intrigue left the blooming seed inside of him that would bring him straight to his clutches to face his already carefully planned demise, leading him to reborn anew and much stronger human being that only he could achieve.
The time was already set on without any turning back.
Tick…
Tack…
His inner clock started to working again counting passing every passing second and awakening his inner demons from their endless and restless sleep.
Sai's blank eyes stared at his black and white colored painting void of bright color scheme that setoff the differences on his view of life. Void of life, void of emotions and names that lost their meaning once forgotten.
Something brief flickered in his eyes, as his lips morphed from uninterested and passive expression to more pronounced smirk of contentment.
"How much do you think of me now?"
(1) - I do know that there is no such incense. Therefore, think of it as specially made to suit Sai's taste.
I am in love with Persona's – trinity soul – OST. I cannot find words to describe how many emotions it can raise out of me. It is so inspiring and addictive at the same time - my newfound muse.
Black-Dranzer-1119 – I feel flattered. Personally, I like slow-paced relationships that are more suitable for long-chaptered stories, not for mere flings, and as an excuse for smut – even though, I like these stories too. I do not want to spoil it for you, so you will have to wait patiently and see what hardships are waiting for them in the future.