Untitled Sailor Moon Fic
He was hungry. Not a rare situation, but he was hungry to the
point of looking at his paint and wondering if it had any possible
nutritional value at all. He was also rather hard up for customers
- not that many of them paid him anyway....
He sighed, leaning back in his seat and looking at the clouds while he
remembered the last good meal he'd had. At a cheap restaurant,
finishing the money he'd gotten from those girls. He smiled,
remembering them.
A few coins hit the ground in front of him and he looked up,
startled. There was a dark haired man sitting in the seat in front
of him.
"That's yours to keep, whatever I think, although a friend of mine says
you do good work."
The painter's eyes widened and he smiled, pulling out several brushes -
the good ones he'd gotten with most of the money from the girls.
He looked up at the man in front of him, brush poised above the canvas,
and broke into a sweat. Slowly, he lowered the brush. "I'm
sorry. I can't."
"Am I that ugly?" the man asked in cunfusion.
"No, it's not that. It's just... you won't like it...."
"It's all right," the man said with a smile, leaning back and draping
one arm over the back of the seat. "No matter what I think you get
something and if I like it I'll pay you more. No reason not to
try."
The artist nodded slightly, picking the brush up again. Slowly,
he began painting a background that had nothing to do with the
park. He painted what he saw; he always did and refused ever more
strongly to lie, but sometimes what his eyes saw and what his mind saw
were two different things.
Usually he could focus only on his eyes and keep the picture in the
park, like with the nice girl, Usagi-san. The things he'd seen
around her were too complicated and too... strong to show her in a
painting; even if she did know about them, as he found out later, or at
least part of it. But this time.... This time, try as he
might, he couldn't keep the park and what was in front of him as what he
painted.
So the man in front of him was the central figure of the painting, but
behind him, on a background of stars, was a woman, smiling and winking
at him. His hand shook as he painted, because the woman looked
like the man. On some level he knew that she WAS the man.
He glanced up at the still smiling man and hoped that he'd just leave
and not hurt him. Some did, and this man looked strong enough to
do serious harm - not that that was hard in his weakness. If he
just walked away, there would still be the money he'd already
left. If he got angry he'd likely take that back too.
Finally he put the brush down and lifted the canvas down from the
easel. Hands still shaking, he turned it around for
approval. The man sat up abruptly, eyes widening, face losing the
easy smile he'd held for the painting. Finally, after a long
moment, he stood and put his hand in his pocket, groping for
something. The painter winced in expectation, then gaped as a
large handful of coins and bills joined the ones already on the ground
at his feet.
As he stared at the money, more than he'd seen in the past month, the
man took the painting from his hands and looked at it seriously.
He nodded and started walking away.
"Wait!" the painter called, standing. "I can't take this
much! It's not--"
The man paused and turned. "Don't ever tell someone to give you
less," he said in a laughing voice, "especially less than you're worth."
"But.... Why is it worth that much?"
"Because," the man looked at the painting. "It reminded me of why
I'm here." He looked sad. With a last smile he left.
The painter gathered up the money almost frantically and packed up,
heading for the diner. He passed a sign for a concert to be held
later that day. "The Three Lights: Searching," he read, seeing the
face of his generous customer smiling at him. "I hope you find
what you're looking for," he said softly before passing it by to get
food and more art supplies.
Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon. Neither of the characters
are mine. [If you don't believe me, watch SuperS.]
