36 Drabbles

17: Twilight

For Sakuno, twilight was always a very beautiful time of day. Luckily for her, it occurred twice a day; once as the sun set and once as the sun rose. Sakuno always stayed up late and woke up early to see the twilight hours, as she could very well consider it her favourite time of the day. And as an artist, the twilight was too beautiful to not paint. So whenever desire struck her, she would sit outside her house during twilight and paint the sight with what little time she had. They were always very quick; a stroke of orange here, a dash of yellow there, throw in some red for a dramatic effect and she was done! It never took her very long, and that was how she liked it.

But her mind changed during a particular sunset, when she peeked out of the house for a quick look of the twilight. It cast gorgeous oranges, reds, and yellows all across the sky, taking Sakuno's breath away. It was very rare for twilight to cast such brilliant colours and shades, so Sakuno took out her camera and snapped two quick shots for reference later. The second shot was always a backup, in case her hand was shaky on the first shot.

Pictures taken, Sakuno hurried back inside, shutting the front door behind her and not noticing the black blur bounding away into the night.

"Thank you very much." Sakuno said, bowing as she accepted her developed photos from across the counter. Luckily, the two photos she had taken were the last spots available on her roll of film, and she was able to develop them the very next day. Sakuno always went to the camera shop near her house, partially because it was close and partially because a sweet old man worked there. He recognized her the instant she walked in (her grandmother, Sumire, supposedly looked exactly like her when she was young) and offered her a freshly baked cookie his wife made him. She graciously accepted one as she waited for her photos to develop.

"Sakuno-chan has such a talent for artistic things." The old man (Hideaki-san) said as he handed Sakuno her bundle of photos. She blushed darkly, ducking her head in embarrassment.

"I only take these photos as references for pictures I'm going to paint." Sakuno said. Hideaki hummed and nodded a little, taking a bite of his cookie. He seemed deep in thought, but then again that was how he always looked.

"I see… I see… You will show me these paintings, yes Sakuno-chan? I really want to see the one with that striking young lad in it. Sakuno-chan has never drawn a man before…" Sakuno blinked in confusion. Did she accidentally take a picture of someone without knowing? Deciding she'd check that particular detail when she got home, Sakuno bid Hideaki goodbye and left before it got too late.

"Hideaki-san was right." Sakuno breathed.

The minute she got home, Sakuno threw off her coat and shoes and dashed up to her bedroom, sitting at her desk and leafing through her photos. All of them looked fine, exactly wwhat she had wanted to paint a picture of; all except one.

It was the very last of her photos, the painting of the gorgeous twilight she wanted to do. She took two photos of it, and the first was precisely what the scene looked like when she snapped the shot, but the second had the shadow of a man standing off to the side, the only thing visible on his face his golden yellow eyes.

And Sakuno could only stare at the glowing orbs that seemed to be alive in an object that was inanimate. A little shiver ran through her body, and she piled the other pictures on top of that one. Putting them all back in their package, Sakuno shoved them into her desk drawer and decided to hold off on that particular painting project.

But the golden eyes continued to burn brightly in her mind.

For a few weeks, things had been pretty quiet. Sakuno went to work everyday (she was a teacher at a local elementary school, and taught private art classes after school) and came home everyday normally. She still had loads of papers to mark, a few paintings to finish so she could submit them into art contests and bills to pay. The only thing that was different? Those golden eyes that nagged her at every possible opportunity.

Sakuno sighed, rubbing the back of her neck as she neared the front gates of her house, with a stone wall erected around her house to prevent intruders. Sakuno was lucky enough to find such a nice house in a good neighbourhood with her paycheck. It was close to work, and had a perfect view of the twilight. Sakuno couldn't have asked for anything better (except maybe a little excitement in her life… a boyfriend?).

She turned the corner, walking along the stone walls to her front gate, her eyes busy as she searched through her purse for her keys. It always baffled her how even though she put about a million key chains on that thing, she still couldn't find it in her teeny purse! Of course… then finding her keys became the least of her concerns.

"Just the person I've been looking for…"

With a little 'meep', Sakuno found herself pinned against the stone wall of her house, looking up into the same golden eyes that had distracted her for weeks on end. They burned brighter, much brighter, than their photographic counterpart. So bright, Sakuno flinched when she stared into them too long. Instead, her eyes wandered to the rest of his face, once shrouded in mystery. It reminded her a bit of a cat, especially his eyes.

"C-can I help you?" Sakuno sputtered, cheeks burning as she saw her position. Oh, if her students saw her like this! He was trapping her against the wall, arms splayed on either side of her body to prevent escape. And he was close; so very close. So incredibly close, Sakuno could see two fangs poking out as he smiled deviously, the teeth sparkling in the twilight. They certainly didn't look like fake fangs, but they had to be… right?

Because only people with fangs are vampires.

And vampires are myths.

Right?

"Now then, Sakuno-koi (love), you have something I want."

And Sakuno could only hope he was talking about the picture she took a few weeks ago.

Ryoma groaned, eyes cracking open as the first few rays of sunlight made their way into his room. Karupin was nestled at the foot of his bed meowing and peeking an eye open to stare at her master. When it was apparent he wasn't going to relinquish the rest his bed for her to occupy, she merely closed her eye and went back to sleep. Ryoma just sat up, rubbing his eyes and wondering what the hell he just dreamt. Seriously, calling her 'Sakuno-koi'?! For a while, Ryoma just sat there in deep thought before he came to a conclusion.

"I really need to tell her."

With a startled gasp, Sakuno's eyes shot open as her alarm clock beep, signalling it was time for her to get up and go to school. Breathing heavily in bed for a little, her body completely drenched in sweat, Sakuno groaned and sat up to rub her forehead. The morning air was cool on her skin, sending tingles up her spine and making her shiver a little. Something told Sakuno that it wasn't the air, though. Shaking her head to get rid of any leftover sleepiness, Sakuno's eyes flickered to the book on her night table and glared at it.

"I am never reading 'Twilight' before I go to bed again."

A/N Seventeenth drabble out! And yes, I just had to make a Twilight reference! I laughed so hard when I saw the theme for this drabble, XD. (PS, I don't own the Twilight saga.) (And if you're wondering why I'm not putting a P.o.T disclaimer, its cause I think its pretty obvious I don't make money off this fic when I posted it in the anime fanfiction section under Prince of Tennis.)

My inspiration for this drabble mainly came from my dear friend (the one who helped with the drabble "Candy") who said it would be funny if I did something related to vampires. I thought it was pretty undoable, since I was trying to keep this as canon as possible, but then I thought about an episode from Danny Phantom (yes I watch it, yes I think its awesome) where the pairing in the show have the same dream for some odd reason. And then I decided having a dream about being a vampire (or meeting one) is okay, because dreams are random like that, so I applied it to this drabble and this is the result! =)

Oh, and if enough people want me to, I've been thinking about taking this particular idea and making it into a full-blown story. So please tell me if you want me to continue it (and please be prepared to wait. I have a lot of things I need to do already). Which also I'd like to ask if you want it to have a lemon (cause I can't think "vampires" without thinking "smex" XD.)

That's it! Review for some cupcakes!

Snowflake Flower