With new feeling comes new sketches...(Open)

[Jax~the~painter]

Jax's eyes roamed over the painting. The gallery owners told her that they would hold onto that painting and decide later if they would put it up. They didn't know exactly how they felt about it. They had asked her where this place was and if it was a church. She had lied and said it just came from her head and such a place didn't really exist. They seemed skeptical when she gave them that answer. Plus, she had asked for a sort of rental fee for the painting. It didn't belong to the gallery, it still belonged to her. They paid her for allowing them to hang it. It was much to precious of a piece to Jax to sell it.

Flashes of memories came screaming back into her head as she gazed at the canvas. She remembered exactly what paintbush and paints she used on it. They were given to her at Wammy's House. She only used them on very special art pieces. She remembered the sights and sounds of the house when she painted with them.

Mathew's arm draping across her shoulders seemed to jerk her back to reality. She looked up at him, her eyes glistening with tears. He seemed so...sincere when he looked into her eyes. She would get this warm feeling everytime he did it.

"Oh! Yes...I am fine. I just get a little sentimental when I look at some of my pieces. This one...is one of the most special to me. I wouldn't even let the gallery owners buy it. They are only renting it." she said with a small laugh.

[amtrum]

Mathew would blink when she said this was one of her favorite pieces and that she was just renting it to the gallery. That was not something that he had expected, though that would explain her reaction a bit. If she made it then it would make sense that it would mean something to her. He wanted to ask where it was, or what it meant to her. But instead the first question that came out of his mouth was, "you can do that?"

The fact that she was renting it just took him off guard. He thought they only bought paintings. It was kind of cool that she could just take it back anytime she wanted and hang it up in her house or something. Though she would probably have to give a notice or something. Or maybe it was a monthly rental, or yearly.

He would turn to look at the painting again trying to see what it would mean to her. Maybe it was a place of her childhood? An old church in her neighborhood or something? She did travel she said, so maybe it was a place she had seen in her travels? Or a compilation of several places all at once. Maybe she just liked Gothic Architecture. There was a lot of possibilities as to what it could be and he didn't think he could guess the right one. Though he had a feeling that it was a real place that she had seen. Probably in her travels or something though. Since he didn't know and he was curious what it was about this place, this piece that hit her enough to make her cry he figured he would ask her.

Turning his gaze back to her meeting her eyes once again he would give her shoulder another squeeze before he spoke. "So what is this place anyways? In the painting I mean." He would ask giving it another quick glance before looking back at her.

[Jax~the~painter]

She would only get to enjoy this rapture for a month. The gallery owners only paid for a month. Usually, gallery owners wouldn't even dream of doing such a thing as renting, but Jax could be very convincing when the occasion called for it. She explained that the piece meant so much to her and that she would be happy to paint another piece for them while they held onto this one for a month. Since the owners were so fond of her work, they agreed. Jax was overjoyed that they put it in the main window for all to see.

She looked up at Mathew when he asked if she could do that. She giggled and shook her head.

"Not usually, no. But I lent this one to the owners and promised to paint them one they could have. They are big fans, so they happily obliged. It surprised me really." she said with a happy smile.

She glanced over at the painting again. That voice whispered in her ear. The voice of someone who also went to Wammy's House. The voice was almost like an itch she couldn't scratch. It kept itching her and itching her and she could never quite reach to scratch it. It drove her nuts. She shook her head softly and looked back at Mathew.

She bit her lip when he asked where the place in the painting was. She had a feeling he would ask that eventually. Looked like she was going to have to lie again. Not her most favorite thing to do, but she was used to it.

"It was in a dream I had once. It inspired me so much that I jumped out of bed at once and began painting it at four in the morning! Crazy, huh?" she asked, a big smile on her face.

[amtrum]

"Well it is very well painted. I like it a lot. I figured it was just a church or something you saw once since you said you traveled." He would say with a small laugh accepting her answer. After all why would she lie about something like that? He wasn't used to thinking that people were lying to him or holding back. Well no more then any teenager was at least. And because of that he had no reason to doubt her answer.

"But hey it's really cool that they are renting it when they don't normally do that." He would say brightly. "And the fact that they like your work is a huge plus. I am afraid I don't really have a lot of fans with my computer programming." He would say with another small laugh and a shrug. Computer programming wasn't the type of thing you got a lot of fans for anyways. All numbers for the most part, the final project could be nice but it didn't have to have a look to it at all. A lot of times it was just background program, things that people took for granted.

"So how many paintings of yours are here?" He would ask curiously since she said that the people here were fans of her work. Also he wanted to know how many paintings she was going to show him, that is if she was just going to show him hers.

[Jax~the~painter]

Jax shook her head. He bought it. She figured he would. Most people wouldn't suspect that she would lie about something like that. She felt her stomach twist when he accepted the lie. What was that about? She never got that feeling when she lied? Was it because she...liked him? Was this what lying felt like when normal people lied to those they liked? It was new experiance for her. It made her feel sick...then again...It made her want to experiance other things she hadn't before.

"Thank you. I always like to hear peoples' opinions on my art and the style." she said when he complimented her.

She nodded when he spoke about the gallery renting it and her fans. She got a few fan letters here and there saying they admired her work and even some saying she inspired them to start painting. It filled her with joy to know she helped people to express themselves.

How many were in the gallery? She tried to remember. She had 5, including the one in the window. 2 of them were painted when she first heard about Kira. Those ones were really quite interesting to look at. Especially at different angles. She also told the owners that people were to be allowed to touch those 2 paintings because they were textured. Notonly did she want them to be looked at and felt, but she wanted people to touch them and really feel them.

"There are five in this gallery, including this one on the window. And there are a couple you can actually go up and touch. " she said with a prideful smile.

She looked up at him, her eyes searching his face. A small blush flooded her cheeks. She felt her heart pound. What was all this? Why was she feeling all of this? She didn't understand it. But before she knew it, instinct took over. She closed her eyes and leaned toward him.

[amtrum]

Paintings you can touch? Like for the blind?

He would blink again trying to process that little thought. He would be learning a lot about the art world it would seem today. He didn't know you were allowed to touch paintings in a gallery, he always figured they would be afraid of damage and theft. He also didn't know that it was possible to rent paintings, even if it wasn't common. He might become cultured yet.

"Textured paintings? Thats kind of cool. So it's like something that the artist does so that blind people can enjoy it too?" He would ask.

Hmmm I wonder how scented art would go...

He would muse to himself, a small smile creeping across his face at the thought of that. Scratch and sniff art. He wondered if anyone had ever done that before. Or if it was even possible considering how many people may scratch and sniff the piece. Hell, would they consider it art?

"Five? Wow thats a lot. They must really like your art." He would say, he had been expecting one or two. But five from one artist, and not even a famous one like Picasso was impressive he thought. At least to him it was.

He would look down at her as she looked up at him, his eyes meeting hers as her face started to blush. Once again he thought he felt that connection between them, something that he couldn't quite put his thumb on but something there for sure. She closed her eyes and slowly started to lean closer to him, he could almost feel a tugging on his body like they were connected by a cord as she moved. His own body would move as well leaning down closer to hers, his own eyes closing.

Mathew's body would shift positions slightly as he slowly moved his hand up to cup her cheek as he leaned forward, when their lips touched he felt a jolt of electricity course through his whole body. For a moment their lips were just touching as the feeling seemed to jolt his body sending his heart pounding, but the pause was only an instant before he kissed her, his thumb gently stroking her cheek as he did so.

[Jax~the~painter]

Jax remembered how when she was a little girl, how she wanted to touch the paintings and tapestries at the house. But of course, she was told to leave them alone. So, when Kira came around, it made her blood boil. Her rage seethed out in her paintings until she just let loose. What became of that was textured paintings. Her layers of anger and rage became layers of paint and canvas. She wanted people to feel the rage inside the painting. She honestly never really thought about the blind being able to touch her paintings. Although she may take that idea into consideration.

She giggled a bit. "Well, no actually. It's just when I was little, I always wanted to touch paintings to see how they felt. Not only does texture painting give it dimension, but it is also a different way to feel a paining. I never really had the blind in mind for them, but that's a great idea." she said with a nod.

She shrugged when he suggested that they liked her art. She was humble. Five paintings in one gallery didn't seem like that much to her. But she figured it did to someone who didn't know that art world that well.

Jax could hear her heart pounding in her ears as they lips met. She blushed so hard, she bet her entire face was bright red. She moved her lips against his very gently. She was basically going off of what she had seen in movies. This was her very first kiss. She calmed down a bit as his thumb stroked her cheek. It felt strange, but good. It was so gentle and calming.

[amtrum]

Mathew would feel her lips start to move with his and his other hand would move behind her to the small of her back slowly pulling her closer to him as they kissed. Still it was a first kiss and like all good things it had to come to an end, much too soon one might add. When Mathew broke the kiss his lips would pull away slowly stopping just shy of touching her lips still as he looked down at her with a small smile still holding her close to him. His heart was pounding and while he didn't have a blush like she did he felt slightly giddy. The first kiss was always the most exciting because you never knew when it was going to happen. After the first it started to become like a routine. But the first kiss was always pure.

His hand was still cupping her face as he gazed in to her eyes a small smile on his lips, the feeling of her lips still on his it seemed. The kiss proved it in his mind, there was definitely a connection between them Whether or not anything happened was yet to be seen, but there was definitely something there.

He would stay there for a moment just looking down at her before leaning closer to her once again to try and capture her lips in his kissing her this time less hesitantly then before.

[Jax~the~painter]

This was all so new to Jax. Unlike most girls, she never longed to be kissed when she saw chick flicks where the boy and the girl finally kiss eachother. Jax more or less analyzed it and merely wondered what was so wonderful about kissing? That longing for human contact with another was never really present in her. All she knew was her art and her abilities she was taught. Oh, and not to mention to guard herself against all others. But now it seemed she had stopped doing everything she knew, and had begun trying things she had never done before. It thrilled her.

But now, she could see exactly what was so great about kissing. It allowed a connection between two people. And of course, it felt good. She decided that she had grown quite fond of this action now.

She opened her eyes when he pulled away, sad that it was over. She held back a pout and looked into his eyes again.

But happiness and excitement took over when she saw he was leaning in again. She closed her eyes and leaned towards him, her lips meeting his softly. She felt as if she were floating. She wanted more of this feeling. She never wanted it to go away.

[amtrum]

Mathew wasn't new to kissing himself, he had girlfriends before, he was actually pretty popular with the girls. If not everyone's dream boy. Still he was smart and cute so it wasn't exactly hard for him to get a date when he was in high school. Though his love life had certainly dried up a lot when he started his classes as the university since his workload was pretty heavy. It had been a while since he had really felt connected to another human being and he found that he missed the feeling. That he wanted to find time to have a love life again. Who knows it might even help him manage his stress and aggression. Though he knew deep down that it wouldn't eradicate it.

The first kiss had been tentative. Like dipping a single toe in to the pool to test the water temperature. This time it was less so, more confident, more real. This time Mathew would add a little bit of tongue to the kiss, not a lot of tongue. Church tongue, like a kiss one might expect at a wedding. Still he wasn't really comfortable with making out in the middle of the street and this kiss wouldn't last that long either. Once again he would slowly break the kiss looking at her again with a small laugh escaping his lips. It was a bit goofy but he couldn't stop it from coming out.

This time he had to say something though. Thoughts coursed through his mind racing as he thought of a million things to say in an instant but none of them good. He didn't want to drop some cheesy line on her, he didn't want to look stupid. So he decided that he would go with a compliment. Something that was safe and wouldn't make him sound like a dork.

"You know, you have really pretty eyes, The color of a rainy day." He would say with a small grin as he looked in to her green eyes. He liked the rain and since her eyes reminded him of a rainy day he liked the color of her eyes.

[Jax~the~painter]

As they kissed again, Jax was thinking. She never stopped thinking. Even at a time like this, when she was having only her second kiss ever, she was thinking. She thought it was quite sad that she hadn't had her first kiss till she was 21. It seemed that most people had their first kiss when they were kids. But hey, that really wasn't the way wammy kids were brought up.

Her thoughts immediately stopped when she felt Mathew's tongue slip into the kiss. It wasn't alot, but it was enough to surprise her. Her cheeks flushed once again, but she didn't stop him. It was quite nice actually. She was baffled. Nothing she had really experiance had been able to stop her thoughts so quickly.

She opened her eyes slowly when he pulled away. She had a somewhat dreamy look on her face, like girls did in most shojo anime when they got kissed. She smiled up at him when he complimented her eyes.

"Thank you. It's nice to hear. Most people find them unnerving or cold." she said softly.

[amtrum]

"I don't find them cold at all. More like a spring rain. And I don't think anything about you is unnerving... Jax..."

He would say her name in little more then a whisper since she had made it clear that she wanted to keep anything about herself secret. Still she had chosen to give him her real first name. A token gesture that most people gave without thinking, but because she didn't it meant something. It was a sign of trust. She was trusting him with something that she held close to her heart. It sounded cheesy, and it really was but he was still touched by it.

"Did you still want to go in and show me your other paintings?" He would ask looking over to the painting that was hanging in the window. His thumb gently stroking her cheek still as they stood there. He felt like he could stand here forever. It was nice, after so much time of holding himself off from people with his studies, it was nice to have a connection with another human being in this way.

You know you are going to lose her right?

For once Mathew wouldn't reply to his own thoughts, instead he would just give Jax a warm smile and give her another small kiss on the forehead.

"Come on I want to see the rest of your work." He would say in an upbeat voice. He wasn't going to let himself get down right now. He was going to enjoy this day and whatever it sent his way.

[Jax~the~painter]

A small gasp would escape her lips when he whispered her name. It had been such a long time since she had heard another person say it. It was a strange name. One that was usually given to boys, but she never really cared. She liked it when he said her name. It comforted her and made her feel that she was more than just an ordinary person.

"I am glad. I find you extremely sincere, Mathew. I really have never...had this kind of connection with someone before...I like it." she confessed.

She nodded when he asked if she wanted him to see her other paintings. Nothing would make her happier. Even though he knew very little about her, she felt maybe he could learn more about her through her paintings. It would help, seeing as she wouldn't have to lie.

"Yes, I would love it if you saw the rest of them. I think you will enjoy them." she said.

She giggled softly when he kissed her forehead. She placed her hand in his and led him into the gallery.

[amtrum]

"It has been a while since I let myself be connected with someone else in this way as well. Though this time it does feel very natural. We just seem to click don't we?" He would ask with a small chuckle as he moved to the side of her, taking her hand in his as she lead him in to the gallery. She would have to show him which paintings were hers of course since he didn't know her style, and could only compare them to the one out front. And even that probably wasn't enough to pick out her work.

"So which ones are yours?" He would ask as he looked around at the art he could see from the entrance of the building. His voice seemed to almost echo in the gallery since he spoke louder then he should have not being used to being in a gallery or anything like that.

"Oops I mean, which ones are yours?" He would repeat in a whisper this time before continuing by stating which ones he wanted to see first. "Lets go see the ones you can touch first. Those sound like they will be really cool." He would say being careful not to be too loud since he didn't want to disturb the other people in the gallery or the mood of the building.

[Jax~the~painter]

Jax nodded when he mentioned how they just seemed to click. That was exactly what she was thinking. They seemed to understand eachother, even though they hardly knew eachother. Like some kind of unspoken bond. Deep down, she was actually very troubled and sad. Maybe he was too? Maybe that was why they connected. Perhaps their subconsious reconized similar traits? She pushed those thoughts away. She would think deeply about it later.

She had a hard time stifling a laugh when Mathew's voice echoed off the walls of the gallery. She saw the owners look up at them, a surprised look on their faces. She waved to them and they smiled. They pointed to Mathew and began to gush over the fact that they seemed to be on a date. She rolled her eyes.

"They are right over here." she said as she led him over to two paintings that stood side by side. They were both 6x6 foot tall paintings. One was red and the other was blue. The red one had alot of sharp angles to it and also black and grey paint mixed in. It took on a very dark and angry tone to it. The blue one seemed the complete opposite. It had soft, round edges to it and had different shades of blue mixed in. They were both abstract and stuck out from most of the other paintings in the room.

Next to the paintings hung a sign that said: "Please feel free to touch these paintings." A few people were doing just that in front of her and Mathew. She couldn't help but smile as she watched them. She figued they would wait for the group of people to move on before they would touch the paintings.

My Kira and Justice paintings...How I slaved over these...I hope people get what I am trying to say with these paintings...But that may be hoping for too much...But...Maybe Mathew will get it...Hell, maybe he even shares my opinion...Hmmm...Maybe...