Sakura

As pretty as a painting

Created on Midjourney

“She knows.”

“Knows what?” Ichika looked up from her book at David, marking her spot on the page with a finger.

“She knows what her name means.”

Ichika laughed at her husband’s consternation. “Is she sitting in the tree again?”

“Yes,” David said, staring out the window. “She only sits there when the cherry blossoms are blooming. Every spring, without fail.”

“Well, Sakura is a brilliant cat,” Ichika said, giving up on her book and joining David at the window.

Sure enough, Sakura, the flame Persian they had adopted after David moved to Japan right after they married, sat in the tree for which she had been named that first spring.

“She looks like a queen,” Ichika said.

“She looks like a painting,” David added, a gleam in his eyes.

Ichika knew that look. Before the end of the day, a new painting would be drying in his studio. Sakura was his favorite subject. Well, after Ichika. He always said nothing inspired him more than his girls.

Another Sunday, another painting. Ichika didn’t mind. It meant she’d get to finish her book. And maybe David would let her add this painting to his sale list. If not, she’d sneak one of the dozen others he had hanging around their apartment into his next exhibit. He couldn’t keep track of them all, but his fans loved Sakura as much as he did.  Maybe this time she’d manage to sneak two of them into the gallery.  David would be too busy painting to notice.

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I created the image for this story in response to a cherry blossom prompt within the AI Art community. All of mine have cats of one description or another. I really liked this one and it looked like a story to me! I hope you love Sakura as much as Ichika, David, and I do.