Spider Lilies (彼岸花)

Chapter Seven

Growth

Even with the constant rejections, Nagi continued to expand her collection of paintings. As the months passed, while the more well-known art dealerships were still hesitant, some individual dealers slowly began to reach out to her to ask about her rumored work.

Being a young woman with no known experience in the art world drew in a flood of dealers who thought they could use her inexperience to con her. Some even dared to ask for their favored pieces at ridiculously low prices and call themselves generous. The more subtle ones, however, would pretend to be sympathetic to her situation and offered to show her collection around if she was willing to part with a painting at a 'reasonably lowered' price.

There were even occasions when the wandering hands of both the young and elderly would sometimes grope her waist or buttocks as if it were a natural part of the meeting process. A favor for a favor they said grinning as they pulled her closer into their greasy grasps.

Nagi never took up any of their offers. Instead she politely turned them down and noted down their names and agencies for future hunts. It frustrated Nagi that she wasn't able to cut them down on the spot. She itched to cut them apart where they stood and watch their smug faces twist in fear. But with no other means to path her way into the art world Nagi could do nothing but bury her dissatisfaction as she let them walk away.

A little over a year into her search, Nagi finally managed to find an anonymous buyer willing to negotiate within her price range. She wasn't able to sell the whole collection but it wasn't hard to find a second buyer after the first. And with each sell Nagi was gradually able to gain more and more notability.

Slowly, but surely, her name got passed around and her overall price began to rise with it. Within the next year she even managed to gain a sponsor by the name of Tsukiyama Tsubasa.

Tsubasa had come across Nagi's work when she'd received Tokyo's Ghouls as a birthday gift. She'd been fascinated by both the painting's subject and the deep aroma it emitted. So much so that she had personally sought out the artist herself.

The Tsukiyama name held a familiar ring to it but Nagi was too focused on the woman herself to care about what weight her surname held.

"I have been dying to meet with you, mon ange." Tsubasa said, tilting Nagi's face upwards with her finger tips to get a closer look at the younger ghoul's delicate features. "With such a rough beauty for its creator, it is no wonder your pieces hold such a delectable aroma."

Tsukiyama Tsubasa was a woman of great beauty.

The gentle softness of her features and the highlighted nature of the contrasting sharpness of the wine-red irises of her eyes are what first drew Nagi to the older ghoul. Her eccentric behavior only further intrigued Nagi as it reminded her of a certain ghoul who shared those very same characteristics.

Nagi had to hide her amusement when she was introduced to that very same ghoul six months into her sponsorship.

"He takes much after me, non?" Tsubasa said, as she showed off her babbling son.

"The resemblance is uncanny." Nagi replied, holding out a tiny plastic rattle for the obviously bored child.

Nagi wasn't allowed to do this for long though. Soon a slightly older child began almost desperately tugging on her trouser legs for attention. Attention Nagi was quick to give.

Today was originally a playdate Tsubasa had arranged after meeting Uta a few days ago. She had wanted the siblings to meet her son and hoped maybe Uta would form some sort of bond with her son. Unfortunately, as the Tsukiyama heir was barely a year old and Uta slowly nearing the age of 11, it was quite impossible for the two to even communicate with each other let alone form a bond with one another.

Due to that reason, and also due to Uta's slight possessiveness and Shuu-chan's oncoming naptime, the meeting of the two ghoul children was cut short. Something Nagi noticed Uta didn't look quite too unhappy about.

"Still not into sharing, huh?" Nagi said, more amused by the situation than anything.

When Uta didn't bother to reply, she ruffled his hair with a small chuckle.

On a whim, Nagi decided to take a short break from painting. For only a short week had she put down her brush and lazed around the studio. But in that short week, she'd somehow been coaxed into adopting a small beagle puppy. The reason why she ended up adopting a puppy was simple. Because Uta wanted one.

They'd been walking in a nearby park when Uta had spotted a human walking a dog. He'd watched the human play with the dog for sometime before turning to Nagi and asking, "Nee-chan, what do dogs taste like?"

"Shit." had been the short and straight answer Nagi had given him but it hadn't been the one he'd wanted. So, he 'd asked, "Can I try one?"

"Do you want to?" She had asked, not really thinking much of it. Nagi's tone had been mildly sarcastic but Uta's eyes had nevertheless sparkled at her answer.

"Can I?" had been his last question to which Nagi had just lazily nodded.

She'd adopted a small beagle puppy that very same say and had plopped him down in front of the younger ghoul as soon as she'd arrived home.

Uta had stared at the small pup, wide eyed with curiosity and aware at the tiny creature before him. Nagi had half expected him to start nibbling at the puppy as soon as she'd given it to him so she was fairly surprised when instead of eating the puppy, Uta started playing with it.

"Can I keep it?" Uta had asked, after a good hour's worth of playing with his new found friend.

Nagi had been half tempted to say no because while she didn't dislike dogs, she didn't particularly like them either. In the end though, she let him keep the damn thing so he'd have something to amuse himself with when she went out for long stretches of time.

Sometimes, when Nagi is deep into her dreams, she finds herself by a beach. She doesn't know which or where this beach is. All she knows is that she loathes it.

The salty sea air, the burning sunshine and the screams of horror that fill the air as she dips her bruised toes into the wet patches of sand, left by the flowing waves.

She can hear the footsteps of someone creeping up behind her. Afterall, the crunching of the sand beneath their feet really isn't hard to miss. She ignores it though. She ignores it with such pure ignorance that Nagi can feel the shock of her younger self so clearly as she is pulled forcefully down by an unknown hand.

Her head hits the ground with a loud thud. Her ears ring continuously even whilst she tries to look up to see her attacker. She always wakes before she can even catch a glimpse.

Today was no different. She opened her eyes to the familiar view of the studio ceiling. When she first woke her breath was so short and heavy that it almost hurt. It didn't help that Uta had decided to use her chest as a pillow while they were sleeping.

After shifting her otouto off of her it became much easier to breathe though it did take a few more minutes for it to become remotely comfortable.

Knowing that she probably wouldn't be able to get much more sleep Nagi had pushed herself off from the mattress, towards where she reluctantly calls the kitchen.

The reason Nagi was reluctant to call it that is because it only consisted of a table, a sink and a fridge, all clustered into the further right-side corner of the studio.

This was mostly because aside from storing meat, there wasn't much else she and Uta needed. Nagi had once contemplated on whether she should buy a coffeepot but had scraped that idea after she'd gagged on a mug of steaming black coffee.

Even as a human, Nagi had never particularly liked the beverage. Surprisingly that trait had followed her to this body. She assumed it was due to a more mental reason than a physical one as it wasn't the taste that had her gagging.

Fermented blood or 'Blood wine' as most ghouls called it was Nagi's preferred drink. She kept her own stash of the stuff in the small cupboard that rested above the sink. It was on days like this that Nagi would crack open a bottle.

Being as lazy as she was, Nagi had never bothered to buy a proper wine glass so as per usual she poured her wine into one of the spare mugs she had laying around. She was about a quarter way through the mug when Uta finally realized he was missing his favourite ghoul-pillow.

"Nee-chan?" He asked sleepily.

"Over here, otouto-chan." Nagi said, looking quite bemusedly at the half-asleep child.

She watched as her dear younger brother struggled to untangle himself from the duvet before hobbling over to where she stood. As soon as she was in grabbing distance, Uta clung to his sister's waist whilst she continued to lazily sip at her mug of wine.

'He's gotten heavier.'

Putting him on a regular routine had helped the previously rather scrawny 10-year-old gain some well needed muscles. While most of it would help him in the long run Nagi had to admit it was getting rather harder to pretend she didn't have about 30ish kgs of ghoul meat dangling on her sides.

It wasn't hard. Just uncomfortable. It was something that on a good day, Nagi would have begrudgingly indulged him with. But on days like this one, she just didn't have the patience to deal with it.

"Uta, off."

It was a simple command that the younger ghoul knew well to comply to. Pouting he slid down onto the floorboards and jumped onto the counter next to her. Coincidently, the half-empty wine bottle Nagi had left unscrewed sat right beside him. He managed to take a long look at it before watching in dismay as Nagi recorked the bottle and placed it back in the cupboards.

"Not until you're older." Was all the older ghoul said, still sipping at her small mugful.

"How older?" Uta challenged, even daring to look straight into Nagi's sharp black orbs.

Nagi chuckled at her younger brother's boldness and playfully flicked his nose for good measure.

"When you're old enough to kill." She said, her lips jerking slightly upwards as she saw a dangerous twinkle flash in the younger ghoul's jet orbs.

Uta would have probably have already had his first kill if they'd stayed at their old ward. Nagi wouldn't have had the luxury to have left him alone so he would have eventually killed something out of self-defense while tagging alongside her.

But that didn't really matter that much. Since, instead of raising him in a ruthless survive-or-be-killed sort of world, Nagi had chosen to raise him in a fairly domesticated world where overall she could keep a closer eye on him before he got into too much trouble.

After he learned to clean up his own messes, or learned not to leave a mess at all. That was when Nagi would allow him to have his fun. Until then however, he would have to be patient and learn to entertain himself in their mundane studio.

A/N So... Shit happened. Corona 19 is still happening. And I thought I needed something to clear my mind. Sorry for another long wait. Hope you're all doing your best to stay sane and healthy. I'm 5 minutes away from going absolutely barmy.

+ made a small mistake and wrote Uta's age as 8. He's 10, almost 11, in this chapter. Fixed it once I saw it.