Charmed Kitsune
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NarutoxPhoebex Prue x Piper x ?
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Story Start
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Prue's gaze shifted intently over the large painting standing against a display. "Painting of a gothic castle, artist unknown, circa 1920's. Oil on canvas, 20 by 28." Prue clicked her tape recorder off as she finished her brief description. She had a question for the owner who was currently seated across the room in one of the office chairs. "Miss Franklin, where did you say you got this?" Prue questioned curiously.
"I inherited it a few months ago but it's been in my family for generations." Miss Franklin answered.
Impressed by how long the painting that been in the family Prue turned back with a brief admiring glance. "The composition is so unusual. The artist used pure color straight from the tube and then varnished each layer over and…"
"I'm sorry for interrupting but do I really need to be here?" Miss Franklin asked, effectively ending Prue's ramble over the painting.
"No, of course not." Prue appeared partially apologetic and partially embarrassed. "It's just that most people prefer to be at an appraisal, especially when they plan on selling the piece." She continued as she returned to her seat behind her desk.
Ms. Franklin nodded slightly. "It's just that I'm kind of in a hurry." She admitted.
Prue flipped open the folder with her client's information and pulled out one of the sheets. "Say no more." She assured her, passing Ms. Franklin the paper. "Just sign at the bottom and you're free to go." She allowed.
Ms. Franklin immediately snatched up a pen. "Thank you." She appreciated, hastily scribbling her name at the bottom of the sheet. "So how long do you think it'll take to sell it?" Ms. Franklin wondered.
"Well, I'll need to see some ownership records before I can do anything." Prue reminded her, glancing up briefly to study her client.
"I'll send you everything I have." Ms. Franklin promised without hesitation. She smiled a little nervously at Prue. "So is that all then?" She pressed impatiently while slamming the cap back onto the pen.
Prue shook her head slightly. "Uh, no, since you definitely want to sell the piece, I'll need to confirm its authenticity, it's physical condition…" Prue trailed off as she picked up another piece of paper and sat it in front of Ms. Franklin. "… So if you'll just sign at the bottom that will let us go ahead and x-ray the piece." She explained.
Ms. Franklin had already finished signing by the time Prue had finished her explanation. "Done." She announced, dropping the pen. "Anything else?"
The woman's behavioral cue's alerted Prue to her client's hurry. She took a moment to take the papers from Ms. Franklin. "Um, well, yes, Ms. Franklin." She admitted, leaning forward just slightly while her eyes flickered back to the painting. "I would really like the time to research this. That way I can get you the best price." Prue elaborated.
"Look, I appreciate your professionalism. I really do…" Ms. Franklin started, her impatience clear. "… but I'm not interested in getting the best price. I just want you to sell that painting as soon as you can, alright?" Ms. Franklin insisted as she grabbed her purse and swung it over her shoulder. "Good night, Miss Halliwell." She offered.
Prue shook her hand professionally. "Good night." She repeated, watching curiously as Ms. Franklin left. After the door closed, Prue's gaze shifted back to the painting before she grabbed all the necessary paperwork.
"It's not even my fault you know. If that jerk hadn't cut me off I wouldn't have driven it into a pole." Phoebe groaned into the phone. She stepped inside an elevator pressing the correct floor on the elevator.
Piper paused in her stocking up her newly bought place that would, with luck, become her club. "How bad's the damage?" She asked hesitantly.
Phoebe frowned, not sure if she really wanted to think about that at the moment. "Not bad, but maybe expensive which is why I need a favor." Her voice shifted into a pleading tone at the end that caused Paige to raise her eyes from her work curiously.
"If you're calling to borrow money, I don't have any." Piper admitted.
"No, it's not about money. It's just … I don't want you to tell Prue or Naruto."
'I can understand not wanting to tell Naruto, but Prue as well?'
"I'd just die from embarrassment."
'Well do you have any idea on how you'll gather the money to get the damages fixed?'
The elevator stopped at the correct floor.
"I'm at this company called Web San Francisco. It's an interactive network on the internet and I faxed them my resume this morning and they want to meet with me tonight." Phoebe explained enthusiastically.
"I've gotta go so see you tonight."
Phoebe pushed open the door to find the room full of people dressed in expensive suits. Phoebe's smile had faded but she walked determinedly to the desk. "Hello, I'm Phoebe Halliwell, I have an appointment." Phoebe explained to the secretary that looked bored out of her mind. The secretary silently passed Phoebe a clipboard. "Thanks." Phoebe appreciated and then leaned slightly forward. "All these people, they're here for the interview too, aren't they?"
"Well, you won't have any trouble with this if you figured that out. It's an aptitude test. You can finish it at home." The secretary drawled.
Phoebe nodded slightly in understanding before turning around and finding a place to finish the test.
The man on the other side of Phoebe was talking to another woman. "So you won a fellowship from the National Science Foundation?" He asked, sounding impressed.
"When I was at Harvard, yeah." She replied. Phoebe's eyes widened at the woman upon hearing 'Harvard'. "How'd you know?" The woman wondered.
"I saw it on your resume. I was cum laude, also. Except I was a Ford Foundation scholar." The man bragged on.
The woman narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. "So then you must have went to Stanford." She realized.
"Stanford?" The secretary spoke up curiously. "I went to Stanford." She admitted.
A man behind them seemed to be watching her leaned back to talk to her. "Intimidating, isn't it?"
Phoebe rolled her eyes. "The Good Will Huntings or this aptitude test?" Phoebe joked.
"Who cares about linear algebra or differential? And that test is a snap. I mean, in this day and age, who can't write in the HTML and numeric languages, right?" He laughed.
Phoebe forced a laugh while she carefully hid her worksheet from sight as she figured what she was working on was much simpler than whatever the man was talking about.
Prue was sitting down at her desk and filling out some paperwork when she heard a knock on her door. She looked up and smiled as she found Naruto in the doorway. "Hey." She greeted enthusiastically.
Naruto returned her smile and stepped behind her desk. He rested his hands on her shoulder and leaned forward placing a kiss on her head. "So what are you up too?"
"I'm just finishing up a project. A client brought in this painting. It's impressive really and I just had to finish the paperwork so I can get started on everything tomorrow." Prue explained, waving her hand at the painting. "What brought you here?"
"Well I was over at the club earlier. Piper wants us to help her with stocking her club. I left a few clones behind to speed things up, but from the look of things you had a full day." He sussed as Prue looked to be on the verge of sleep.
As if on cue, Prue yawned. "Tomorrow is probably better." She reasoned. Prue saw a flash of light from the direction of the painting and her head snapped around to see what it was. A window of the building in the painting was glowing brightly. She was so entranced, she didn't even realize Naruto was saying something back to her. Prue dropped the pen in her hand. "What?" She mumbled, hastily standing up, much to Naruto's surprise. She grabbed a magnifying glass that was on her desk and ran to the painting.
"Prue? You alright?" He called out to her.
Prue jumped back from the painting when she saw the man on the other side of the little window… inside the painting. "Oh!" She exclaimed as a flash of light soared past the window and the man ran off.
"Prue, what are you looking at?" He asked again.
"There is a man in the painting!" Prue announced, spinning around to face him and pointing frantically at the painting.
Naruto began rubbing his face. "It's going to be one of those days isn't it?"
Prue, Piper, Naruto and Paige were each crowded around the island in the kitchen the next morning. Prue was fixing her lunch for the day, Paige was eating a bowl of cereal before she had to go to work, Naruto was preparing the vitamin potions that the sisters had added to their routine to compliment their training and Piper was reading over the inspection sheets for her club.
"At first I just thought it was a reflection off of something in the room but when I moved closer, I saw a man, inside the painting, in the castle. Right but the moment I saw him, he backed away from the window. And then there was this strange glow that went past the window again. It was just so…" Prue trailed off of her ramble as she noticed Piper was no longer paying her any attention but was sorting through the papers in front of her. At least Paige and Naruto were paying her attention. "Piper?" Prue called impatiently.
"What?" Piper snapped.
Prue waved her hands dramatically between them. "We were talking." She reminded her.
Piper nodded without looking up at Prue. "Yes, I know. About a man in a painting."
"Well its not something to dismiss lightly. We have no idea who the man is or his alignment. Its not something we can just ignore." Naruto pointed out.
"Kind of remind me of that one Darkwing Duck episode. I wondered where I put that VHS tape at." Paige wondered. Prue glared at Paige for comparing what happened to a kid's show. "What? It was a good show."
Before Prue could argue more, Piper held up one of her papers. "Listen to this one. 'hallway near club entrance too narrow.'" She exclaimed, slamming the paper down.
"Piper, sweetheart, we'll solve whatever problems come as they go. But right now I'd rather focus on the problem of big sister looking like she wants to maul me."
Piper just threw her hands up dramatically. "But I keep finding more. The plumbing, the electrical, the heating. It… none of it's up to code." She groaned and dropped her head into her hands. After a moment she peeked up at Naruto with wide brown eyes. "Naruto, dear, forget about what I said earlier. Heeelp me. Make all the problems go away." Piper pleaded hopefully.
"I'll ask around and see if I can find any good professionals." He promised her.
"You're the best." Piper pecked his lips before continuing back to the papers finding another paper at the bottom of the stack with more violations.
"Stop." Prue ordered and Piper immediately cut off. "You're obsessing."
"Well, it runs in the family." Piper shot back.
Prue appeared offended by the comment. "I do not obsess." She denied.
Naruto couldn't stop the snort that escaped causing causing Paige to laugh and Piper just shot Prue a what-were-you-just-doing-five-minutes-previous look. "I just think intensely." She finally argued unwilling to concede defeat. "Anyway, I can't really help it. We've seen so many bizarre things, why not a man in a painting?" Prue insisted.
Piper just bitterly threw her papers down on the table. "Well, at least he's safe from building inspectors. I can't imagine that castle's up to code."
"Well if he was an innocent in danger then surely Phoebe would have had a premonition. I think the best way to go about this is to get as much information as we can. As much as Phoebe has been training her power we should be able to get a read if we're pressed to go that route." Naruto considered only for him to look up at the sound of quickly approaching foot steps.
Phoebe came in with the Book of Shadows. "I'm sorry but I couldn't find anything in the Book of Shadows about people who may be trapped inside of paintings. I looked everywhere." She apologized, taking a seat on a nearby stool.
"Well I do know a few witches who are lore keepers. I could always just ask them for more information. Anyway I have to go. My usual session with Aviva is in half an hour. Well have to continue figuring out what to do with Painting Man later tonight. Later ladies." And with that he was gone.
"I have an aptitude test I have to finish...hopefully." Phoebe began to leave the room shulking.
"Should we be concerned?" Paige asked in reference to Phoebe's odd behavior.
"If it was that serious I'm sure Naruto and Prue," speaking to whom was already making her way to the front door with a ciao, "...wouldn't have just left without seeing what's wrong."
Piper just shrugged. "I just need to find someone that does construction…"
A looking of planning and perhaps concoction was flashing in the youngest Halliwell's eyes. "Doesn't, uh, Dan, the new neighbor work in construction?"
Piper tilted her head to the side. "Does he?" She inquired suddenly becoming interested.
"With a build like that and his looks I'm surprised he hasn't been snatched up yet." Paige continued, throwing subtle hints at Piper.
"Right, right, so are you sure he's in construction?" Piper asked as she noticed the not so subtle look of irritation from Paige's face. What could she had possibly done to earn the girl's ire?
"Well yeah, but I'm just thinking maybe you want to...you know...freshen up?" Paige was beginning to wonder if her sister was one of those people with romance blinders.
What on Earth was Paige suggesting? Was she suggested that she...oh no wait. They hadn't exactly sat down with her and had that talk yet. And she certainly wasn't going to be the one and doing it alone at that. "You know what, good idea." She completely deflected the situation. She had too much on her plate trying to balance all these issues.
Piper leaned down to pick up Dan's newspaper as she made her way up his driveway, up the steps, and onto his porch. She flipped her hair over her shoulder and started to ring the doorbell when the door opened. She hastily dropped her hand as Dan paused in his way out to get his paper.
"Hello Dan." She greeted him cordially
"Good morning." Dan returned, a little surprised.
"I'm sorry to bother you…"
"No, you're not bothering me." Dan interrupted while taking a step over the threshold in front of her. "Unless you refuse to hand over my paper." He added as a joke.
Piper hastily passed the paper to him despite knowing it was a joke. "Oh, all yours." She allowed.
Dan chuckled as he took it from her. "Thanks." He appreciated and then pushed his door open wider. "Uh, do you wanna come in?" Dan offered.
"No, no really, I just stopped by to ask a quick favor." She admitted. "My club received a visit from a DBI last night…" Piper started.
"And you've got code violations." Dan guessed, nodding in understanding.
Piper nodded enthusiastically. "I have the war and peace of code violations." She joked. She passed the folder full of them to Dan.
Dan took it and scanned over the first few pages. "And you were thinking what? Neighbor Dan, he's in construction, maybe he could help, huh?"
"Of course, I'd pay you something." Piper added hastily before he got the wrong impression of her. Last thing she needed was to throw out cues that was she was interested.
Dan was pretending to think about it when Jenny came running to the front door. "Uncle Dan, I'm late." She yelled as she grabbed her book bag and swung it over her shoulder. "Oh, hey, Piper." She smiled warmly at the Halliwell sister.
"Hi, Jenny." Piper replied.
Jenny ran across the porch, calling over her shoulder. "See you later, Uncle Dan." She paused midways down the driveway and turned back to face them. "And don't forget your promise." With that, she spun around and took off for school.
Dan suddenly appeared uncomfortable and made a split second decision. "Alright, I'll tell you what I can do. I'll check out the code violations, see how serious they really are, if you help me with the promise I made Jenny." He proposed.
"Deal." Piper answered immediately, unable to believe her luck. She hesitated when she realized she didn't even know what the promise was. "Wait, what's the promise?" Piper asked.
"She needs help with a paper. It's for a bio class. You know, something to do with the human reproductive system." Dan explained.
"Oh, you mean sex." Piper realized.
Dan nodded and smiled, seemingly embarrassed. "It's just way too awkward for me to talk to my niece about." He admitted.
"Yeah." Piper laughed a little. "Sure, not to worry, I have plenty of experience." She assured him before realizing exactly how it had sounded.
Dan looked at her, seemingly in a new light. "Really? With sex?"
"Oh god I can't believe I said that." Piper clasped her head. "That was a Freudian Slip. Let's just say I have knowledge in the matters of discussing it and its a bit of a private matter." Yet now there was another matter to smooth out.
Prue kept her eyes on the notes in front of her as she arranged her thoughts and as well as the statement she would need to make. Ms. Franklin waited nervously in silence for many minutes before she finally spoke up.
"So was there a problem with any of the ownership records that I sent over?" Ms. Franklin asked.
Prue was forced to look up from the notes. "No, everything's in order."
Ms. Franklin tilted her head in confusion. "Then I'm not sure why you wanted to meet with me." She prompted for more of an explanation.
"Ms. Franklin, I know that you don't really want to be here, so I'll just be perfectly honest. There's something strange about that painting." Prue explained with a pointed glance to where the painting was still on the display.
Ms. Franklin's face fell into one of fear. "Have you seen him?" She demanded in a low voice.
Prue raised her eyebrows, not expecting that kind of response so she decided to feign ignorance to pump for more information. "Him?"
"That's how it all starts, you know." Ms. Franklin continued cryptically.
"What do you mean?" Prue inquired, leaning forward slightly in curiousity.
Ms. Franklin hesitated another moment. "At first, you see him…" She whispered. She slowly lifted her gaze to meet Prue's. "… The man inside the painting. At least, you think you see him. But he just… He disappears so fast. And you start to think about it, but it doesn't really make sense. I mean, how could a man be inside a painting?" Ms. Franklin exclaimed. She sounded on the verge of tears. "Then you see him again. This time longer. And now you're sure…"
"So you think that the painting is haunted by a ghost?" Prue interrupted her hysterical tirade.
"Oh, no, no. I think he's definitely alive. I think he's trapped inside." Ms. Franklin clarified.
Prue shifted slightly in her chair. "Do you know who he is?" She asked.
Ms. Franklin shook her head. "No, I have no idea. Nobody does." She breathed. Ms. Franklin suddenly looked at Prue with a desperate gleam in her eyes. "Look, all I know is if I don't get rid of that painting, I'm gonna end up just like everybody else in my family who's ever owned it. I'm gonna be completely insane." She insisted.
Prue slowly reached out to take her client's hand. "Ms. Franklin…" She started in a soothing tone.
"No, you've only seen the beginning, Ms. Halliwell. Just trust me when I tell you, it's only gonna get worse." Ms. Franklin yelled. She jumped to her feet, grabbed her stuff together, and stormed out of the room without a backward glance. Prue was left in her now silent office to ponder the possibilities of the painting.
Prue was waiting at her desk when one of the young assistants, by the name of Joe, came back in with the painting. "Hey, Joe, that was fast." Prue remarked, offering him a half-smile.
"No line at the x-ray machine." He explained cheerfully as he passed her the folder of the said x-rays.
"So did the x-ray confirm its authenticity?" Prue questioned curiously.
Joe nodded enthusiastically. "It did a lot more than that. Check out the x-ray. It's got definitive underwriting on the canvas." He returned.
Prue eagerly stood up from her seat and ran to the x-ray light. "It's got a pentimento?" Prue repeated in wonder.
"Yeah, I couldn't believe it either. But you can see it on the x-ray. The text is in Latin. I've never seen anything like it before." Joe described, following her with just as much eagerness.
Prue took a moment to study the words. "Absolvo Amitto Amplus Brevis." She read slowly. "To free what is lost, say these words." Prue translated.
"Wow, you speak Latin?" Joe realized in surprise.
Prue looked up as if she just remembered he was there. "Yes." She admitted politely. "Goodnight, Joe." She told him, subtly hinting for him to leave behind her polite smile.
Joe nodded as he picked up on it. "Okay. Well, why don't I just return the painting to the vault, say tomorrow?" He suggested, backing away toward the door.
"Good idea." Prue agreed.
Joe just smiled. "Okay." He decided as he left her alone with the painting.
Prue watched him leave before she caught sight of the window on the painting light up from the corner of her eye. She spun around to look at it and grabbed the magnifying glass that was on her desk that she put up against the little window. 'Help' was clearly written and she caught sight of the man before he ran away again. "Help…" She breathed, glancing over at the Latin phrase.
Words had power. That was a phrase she heard a few times in certain circles and after the whole debacle with Rex and Hannah, Prue was on guard about who she trusted. That and remembering Naruto's words about if this was an innocent Phoebe's power of premonition would give them insight decided against vocalizing the incantation in case something happened.
Research, planning, and relying on resources was the key to avoid many headaches. After getting confirmation that was their indeed a man in the painting from the woman, Naruto ran the woman's name by a local lore keeper.
Lore Keepers were one of the most respected pillars in the magical community. They often held on to information that to dispense to those in need.
Information in particular was important in this case. Unfortunately not all matters of magical practioners were practical in sharing information in regard to vanquished demons and warlocks so Lore Keepers often had to go out and get the information in order to help prepare unprepared magical users.
'In the late 1920's, a witch named Nell tricked a powerful warlock into a painting with a hidden spell that only his power of x-ray vision could see…"
"So that woman that brought Prue the painting… she's a warlock too?" Phoebe guessed after the information was relayed. "But why bring the painting to Prue? Surely most of the evil community should know by now she's one of the Charmed Ones?"
"Probably figure they could steal your powers and kill you." Naruto figured with a half hearted shrug. "So how do we want to do this?"
"Well first we need to learn and memorize the incantations." Prue made note of that and then suggested,"Second we need to trap this second Warlock. That should be rather simple as I'm sure I can make up something to call her in to which Piper can freeze her. We cast whatever spell we need to taking Piper and I inside along with the Warlock where she can freeze the Warlock trapped inside and we can say the incantation to get out."
"Well, sounds like a plan. Only one thing. Does anyone one of us know how to speak Latin?" Phoebe asked as the sisters immediately looked to Naruto.
"To your shock ladies I am not an Omniglot."
Before the woman could do anything she was frozen the moment she stepped into Prue's office and the door was closed behind her. "Ready?"
"Ready as I'll ever be." Piper answered as she went over and grabbed the proned woman's arm.
"Absolvo amitto amplus brevis… semper mea."
Before the man in the painting could do anything he was launched back by Prue's telekinetic attacked and frozen by Piper.
"Verva omnes liberant." The two chanting the words before leaving the painting. And with that the painting would soon be disposed of. All and all for all things considered for a weekly incident that was taken care of quick and efficiently. A nice change of pace from how things would usually be handled showing that the sisters were indeed getting better at handling this sort of thing.
Piper stared down at the piece of paper in her hands in shock. "A new heating and cooling system, retrofitting, imported pre-stressed I-beams, architectural flooring." She read and then glanced up at Dan. "Your estimate requires a quarter of a million dollars and a crew of seventy five. I gotta tell you, Dan, I'm not feeling real guilty for not helping Jenny with that paper." Piper admitted, sitting the paper down on the bar.
"Well, actually, those were Phoebe's suggestions." Dan explained with a faint smile.
"Phoebe." Piper repeated. She nodded slightly to herself and laughed a little as if she should have known. "Can you fix it cheap and fix it quick?" She asked hopefully.
Dan nodded. "In a couple of days, sure." He assured her.
"Great, you're hired." Piper announced and then passed him the paper with Phoebe's unwanted suggestions. "You can take that with you."
Dan chuckled and walked over to where Prue, Phoebe, Paige, and Naruto were sitting on the couch on the other end of the club. Prue and Paige had just given Phoebe a present and Prue moved to sit on Naruto's lap. "Hey, Prue, Paige, Naruto." Dan greeted with a nod to each of them.
"Hi." Prue returned with a smile. Naruto gave a way as he was more focused on necking with Prue.
"Hey, Dan." Paige greeted him.
After a brief discussion Dan was on his way.
Phoebe smiled slightly. "Well I have an announcement to make. After the whole debacle with the smart spell I've come to realize how useful it is to have more knowledge in things then I do now." Suffice to say Phoebe's announcement was met with encouragement and approval. A good way to end off another one of their unusual days.