Day 18 Elemental
Warm blue skies faded to make way for her dark sister to claim for night. The sun kissing the horizon good night as it's last few rays of light disappeared from sight. Mothers called their children inside their warm houses to sleep in their cozy beds safe and sound until the next morning. The silence was peaceful on the warm summer night breezes. The calmness soothing the crickets to sing their lullabies to the dimming lights of the homes. Lantern lights being put to sleep after a long usage. The bustling town settling down and falling asleep soundly.
Your door opened quietly and you stepped out of your house and into the quiet, barren streets. The moonlight shining down and kissing your form. A shiver running down your spine from a warm breeze ghosting over your form. It would be a good night to fish. The door closed softly as you started walking towards the woods outside the village, fishing line curled up within your right hand. The moon shown down upon the forests illuminating the night bright enough for you to see and watch as the trees swayed im the warm breezes and hear the peaceful rustling of their leaves and lullabies of the crickets. It was just so beautiful and lively. You always loved doing this. Free from crowds of people and being able to peacefully just live in these moments.
The sweet smells of flowers and grass were encouraging your lungs. Combined with the warmth of the summer air warming your muscles and urging them on. Both made you feel as light as a feather on your mere feet and the ground felt soft under you. You were smiling. Arms out splayed against the wind blowing around your hair like crazy and cooling your body against the warm heat beaming down on you. Step after step. Faster and faster. You joyously started to run through the pathways and around a corner of a house as soft dirt pathways turned into grassy floors of forests as you excitedly entered the beckoning woods. The moonlight being blocked out a bit because of the swaying trees and branches but you could still see perfectly fine. The small pond so many people liked to fish at during summer wasn't too far from where you entered. It was just nearly a quarter of a mile into the woods. You loved coming out during these warm months and gathering the natural resources the forest provides your small village. It really was a perfect place to live being so abundant in resources and stationed within such a secluded and safe location. The way you found the decently sized pond was walking through a bush and having to blink when a flurry of sparkling lights glared your eyes for a second.
Blinking your eyes adjusted to the beautiful and wonderful sight of a dark beautiful pond reflecting the moon on its surface and sparkling as if the reflection had its own stars and consolations within its ripples. Completely untouched and waiting for you to touch its soft silence. Soft footsteps approached the gleaming water and a carbon copy of a woman appeared in the gleaming reflections. She smiled up at the original mirroring the actions of the woman above. The woman's fiddled with her line and the small contacts she brought along with her. A hook with a big, juicy worm stabbed on the end of it dangled over the woman in the dark reflection before dropping into the water and rippling the reflection woman away back into the darkness of the waters.
The night was a beautiful thing if you needed it to be, or if you wanted to make it become that way. And in a way, it was both to you in the end. The sweet smells of flowers and grass filling your lungs. Combined with the warmth of the summer season warming your smaller body as you walked along the forest back towards your small home. Tonight was the perfect night to go fishing within the woods as it was warm, full of food, and a wide variety of other items that you could harvest. Wild berries to be picked. Old fruit trees long forgotten. A small pond with plenty of fish that only you knew. It was perfect for someone like you who loved these nights. Even taking time to pick up a few stems of basil and what fruits were left by the hoards of hungry men who flocked through here during the day. You could just harvest and hunt whatever you needed even if you lost track of time and it was fairly dark now. It shouldn't take you too long to get back to your village, but even then it'll be darker and later before you got back anyways. Not that you were too worried about still being in the woods when night fell, after all there wasn't really anything dangerous like bears or tigers where you lived. They usually didn't go near human settlements. The most dangerous predator in these woods was the hawks and owls with the occasional fox here and there. You doubt a bird or tiny fox would even want to bother you, you were much bigger compared to them and it wouldn't be worth the fight for the food you carried when they could easily hunt their own. So no. You weren't worried at all. And it was beautiful outside tonight, a warm breeze in summer and the moonlight being your companions for the long trip back home.
You had nearly made it out when a curiosity caught your eye. Or should you say ear.
You had paused on your way back to your village when you heard something in the air. A long melodious noise that wafted upon the breeze like a whistle but..more elegant. Then it disappeared. You stared up at the moon for a minute before shaking your head, brushing it off as just the wind whistling through the trees. Your feet took two steps forward before you heard it again making you stop once more. Only this time it was followed up by more notes faint and barely heard but you strained your ears out and deduced the noises to be-..
A flute??
Who would be out here in the middle of the night playing music? Then again you were out here alone fishing so maybe someone else wanted to escape the large crowds? You stood there a moment longer before turning around and against your better judgement slowly started back the way you came. Back through the brush you went being as quiet as you could back towards the river. The darkness only illuminated by the moon as you slowly moved back to the river, and hiding behind a bush. Slowly moving the branches back just enough to peer out you froze at what you saw.
Soft lips pressed themselves against a flute as nimble fingers pressed against the air holes in certain ways to make sounds in higher or lower pitches. The beautiful music that came out of the other side was absolutely breathtaking to say the least. The man whom played there was absolutely stunning. Peach colored hair swayed in the wind as he played. A pair of purple eyes shined in the moonlight. From where he was sitting, you could see her was wearing all black minus the green and yellow patterned haori over his shoulders. He continued to play while you watched awestruck. His playing was amazing! He must've been a professional at it.
You didn't notice that you had leaned in closer to get a better peak at the man but also put more strain on the branches causing one to snap rather loudly.
You froze as all at once the music stopped playing and his head snapped up immediately in your direction. The look he gave you was a wide eyed surprised look black eyes wide open at you. For a long time neither of you spoke before you held up your hands.
"I-Im sorry. I didn't mean to disturb you." A hand pointed behind you. "I- I'll go now."
"No! Wait!" You paused as he suddenly held up his own hands. "It's alright. I-I don't mind but..What are you doing here? No human comes out here at night."
Human? That was a strange way to refer to you. "I.." Sheepishly you looked down. "I-I heard you playing and I got curious."
His brows rose but a friendly smile appeared on his face. "You were listening to me play?" You nodded guilty. "Hm. First time someone told me that."
You nodded. "Yes. I thought it was strange that someone was out here so late and got curious but now it makes sense I suppose." ..You gestured to the drum on his lap. "Y-You play very nicely. How long have you played?"
He slightly bowed his head. "Thank you. I've been playing for many years but my friend Giyuu is a better player than I am."
"You're really good at it. Would you play more for me?"
Immediately his eyes widened slightly. "You want me to play you something?"
You nodded. "If you want to that is."
Again he nodded. "Gladly. It's been a while since I played so I might be rusty."
"I don't mind."
He smiled again before lifting the flute to his lips and began to play. You were enraptured and captivated by the music. ...In fact you didn't even notice that the entire time since you saw him he was standing on top of the waters surface not falling in or causing ripples.