Temptation of the Sea

Painting the Wind

Chapter 3: Painting the Wind

June 1993

I was at Michiru's house. I had come here right after school, picking Michiru up first of course. She lived in a large house and even had her own studio just for painting. She also had a sound proof room where she could play her violin. We were in her studio and she had me wearing a very light, thin, short dress.

"It's so I can paint your figure and then draw whatever clothes I want on you later," she said while she was setting up the room and her supplies. I was in the middle of the room against a white wall, her easel set up in front of me, and a large window to my right. She was currently putting fans on top of shelves to get a wind effect.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do this," she said, putting the last fan where she wanted it and checking her work.

"Oh yeah?" I asked, curious as to exactly what she'll have me do.

"Ever since I first saw you run I knew I just had to paint you," she explained.

"And when was that?' I asked, wondering how long she had been watching me.

"A couple months ago Elza asked me to go to a track meet with her so that she assess the competition. You ran in the first race of the day and you won. The entire time I was watching you I was getting inspirations for paintings, but I was too shy to approach you and ask. It wasn't until I found out that you were my partner that I realized I had to talk to you at some point. So why not start off with asking about the painting?"

"You've been wanting to do this for months?"

"Yes," she blushed. "And you finally broke down."

"Hey, I didn't break down," I argued. "You won the race fair and square."

She shrugged, "Lucky me." She walked over to me. "Alright, now I'm going to pose you." She started placing my arms in certain positions and turning my body in different ways trying to get the right angles. "Okay, perfect. Now I want you to look up there and close your eyes. Try to keep your face soft. If you ever need a break, just ask. Once I get the basic outline, I won't really need you to be posing unless I need to figure out details for something." She walked over to her easel and dipped her paintbrush in some paint. "Are you ready?" she asked.

"I guess," I said, getting into position.

"Then let's get started," she flipped a switch on the wall and the fans turned on, immediately blowing into my face and blowing my hair out of my eyes. I closed my eyes as she pressed a button on a CD player. Classical music began playing.

About twenty minutes later, she told me that she had finished the outline and I could take a break if I wanted. I excused myself to grab a glass of water from her kitchen. When I came back, she was adding definition to my legs. The painting wasn't much yet, but it already looked so amazing.

"Wow, it looks so life like," I commented while looking over her shoulder to get a better look.

"I told you that you'd bring the painting to life," she said, still painting.

"Yeah, but I've only seen your waterscapes, I didn't think it was going to look this good."

"I am an award winning painter. Everything I do looks good," she said matter of factly.

"Yeah you do," I said, not really registering what I said.

"What was that?" she asked. She stopped painting and turned around.

"It does. Yeah it does," I quickly said, realizing what I said.

"Hmmm, are you sure that's what you wanted to say," she said flirtatiously. She stepped closer and looked up at me, the painting abandoned for now.

"Uh..." I was drawing a blank just looking at her beautiful face. Had her eyes always been the gorgeous blue that they were right now. My eyes drifted down to her lips. They were shiny and light pink, probably from her lip gloss. I suddenly felt the urge to taste her lips. My face slowly got closer to hers. I paused for a second and she didn't move or react, she just kept looking at me with that flirtatious smile.

So I closed the gap and pressed my lips against hers

I pulled back and looked at her face. She was just looking at me with a small smile on her face.

"Haruka," she breathed. She put her hand on the side of my face and pulled me back down to meet her lips. I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her closer. She wrapped her arms around my neck. I felt her go up on her toes because she got slightly taller.

When we finally broke apart I gestured to her painting. "You know, you should probably finish your painting."

She looked behind her at her painting. "I suppose I should," she said. She went up on tip toe and gave me a quick peck before picking up her paintbrush and getting back to work.

I watched her with a smile on my face for the rest of the day.