Ghost Monk

          Tatsuha had arrived at the apartment around 9am, but as usual, the novelist hadn’t answered the door. Not wanting to sit in front of the door all day, the teenaged monk decided a little breaking-and-entering was in order. Doing a weird shimmy up a column, he reached up and around, until he finally came up with a small key, murmuring, “Aniki, you’re so predictable.” Letting himself in, Tatsuha pocketed the key to be able to make a copy of, and made himself at home.
          Noise. There was noise being made in the house. Muffled though it was by layers of door, pillow and blanket, it still permeated enough to stir the resident blonde bastard. A golden eye slid open, promising death to whoever was causing the offending sounds. Finally lifting his head from the pillow cave he'd buried under, Eiri glanced at the nightstand and stared at the empty spot where the clock had rested. Looking around, he found the corpse of broken springs and cogs lying limply on the floor by the far wall, which sported a nice-sized dent in it. "Fuck."
          Running his fingers through his bangs and stroking them to the back of his head, he finally slid from the warm nest of covers. He wiggled his feet into his slippers before shuffling towards the living room, intent on doing bodily harm. Yet he paused at the archway, watching the scene playing out before him with the idea that perhaps he’d finally cracked after all.
          Scowl locked firmly on his features, Eiri watched as Tatsuha sipped the last of his beer, booted feet propped up on the coffee table as he stroked himself through the fabric of his jeans while he watched Nittle Grasper’s last video “The Reunion Tour”. It was only the fact that Tatsuha hadn't been actually jerking himself off that had probably saved his life, sparing him from joining the Shrine on a more ‘permanent’ basis. “What the fuck are you doing here?” he asked, well ok, demanded.
          “Shuichi must’ve fucked you again last night, I doubt you’re getting senile at your tender age. Of course, could finally be a symptom of poisoning yourself slowly with booze, cigarettes and medications.” Tatsuha replied, immediately snatching the remote before his brother could. Before Eiri decided to try and see if he could fly (the bastard had chosen the penthouse apartment this time), the young monk pointed to the kitchen. “Made you coffee. You’re the one that told me to show up today, remember? It’s not me who’s having hallucination issues.” He paused, several images playing through his mind. “Though some choice ones would be cool.”
          Ignoring all else, Eiri’s foggy brain focused itself on those few words that held any sway over the novelist. Fucked Shuichi. Booze. Cigarettes. All good terms, but not it. Coffee. The little shithead had made him coffee. Abandoning the remote war temporarily, Eiri immediately shuffled into the kitchen, seeking out the dark brew. He lit a cigarette as he poured, inhaling softly and exhaling it slowly before taking a sip of coffee. The fact that Tatsuha knew how to make it as he preferred was the younger Uesugi’s salvation.
Still, something was off about the morning. Morning? He glanced at the clock and waited for the numbers to shift from 9:25am to 9:26am. Yup. Morning. Fuck. Then the caffeine hit and his brain followed his body out of slumber. Shuichi hadn't kissed his ear when he'd left. The only times he didn't were the instances when K had already shot the angsty bitch. He'd have to confront the brat later. For now, he had another brat to deal with so that he could kick him out.
          “Haven’t seen a ghost since leaving the Shrine. Maybe the Clan of the Bastards turned it off.” Eiri finally replied, his voice a rough burr that bordered on bedroom growl. Heading for the couch, he flopped himself down next to his dark clone and put the coffee on the table. “So I don’t think ….”
          Tatsuha’s eyes gleamed with malicious humor as he interrupted, finishing his sentence, “…. That you’ll wake up with Kitazawa next to you in bed again?”
          Eiri’s expression caused Tatsuha to curse himself for not bringing a camera. The novelist looked nauseous, pissed off and dejected all at once. Taking a large gulp of coffee again, he kept the rim of the mug against his lips as he muttered, “Guess it couldn’t hurt to learn a new skill.”
          Chuckling softly, Tatsuha clicked ‘stop’ on the video and turned the television off. “Alright.” As he stood, the phone began ringing and he glanced at it before gazing at Eiri. His brother seemed disinclined to get it, so he leaned over and picked up the handset and handed it over to Eiri. “Here. Kami, if it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t have much of a social life, now would you?”
          “Nor as many headaches.” Eiri muttered back before pushing the [talk] button. “What do you want?” he growled, not even knowing who was on the other side, nor caring.
          Tohma’s voice sounded amused as he asked, “Did I wake you up again? I’m so sorry, Eiri-san.” His tone was anything but apologetic, even as he continued, “I wanted to know if you needed me to bring anything over for you.”
          “No. I don’t want you over here. Don’t you have some singers to pester?” Eiri growled, clearly not in the mood for his brother-in-law’s bullshit this early in the morning. You’d think running a highly successful records company would keep Tohma busy and out of his hair. “I’m busy.”
          “Oh, do tell.” Tohma asked, curiosity piqued. “Your deadline finished yesterday, didn’t it? Oh, wait, that means you still have another few chapters to finish, don’t you?” The malicious sweetness in his tone put Eiri on wary alert.
          “Yeah, so shut the fuck up and get off my phone.” Eiri went to hang up on him, until he heard the next question.
          “By the way, I happened to have lost Tatsuha. Have you seen him anywhere?” Tohma asked, the sweetness thickening in his voice. “I heard he was last seen escaping towards your house, I believe.”
          Eiri glanced over at Tatsuha, who’s eyes had widened and was shaking his head. “No. You lost him, you find him.” Then he sighed and hung up on Tohma, tossing the phone onto the coffee table. With the sigh of relief from his younger brother, he glanced at him. “We’re even now.”

          Tohma smiled almost lovingly at his cell phone, listening to it beep as it indicated the end of the call. The teal eyes shifted over to the chair in front of him, his smile growing polite as he murmured, “Get the helicopter ready.” Watching K leave his office, the president rose and went to stand by the window, facing the direction of Eiri’s new apartment. “What are you two doing over there? Playing without me? How incredibly rude, Eiri-san.”

          Eiri hadn’t even waited for Tatsuha’s response before he headed into the kitchen for a new cup of coffee. “So what do I do first?”
          “Work on your chi.” Tatsuha replied immediately, following Eiri into the kitchen, glancing around for cigarettes. If he could find them, that would be less he’d have to buy for himself.
          Eiri glanced over his shoulder at Tatsuha, frowning as he realized that they were now the same height. “You better stop growing, I refuse to let you be taller than I am!” he glowered at the teen, as if by will alone he could cease all growing ability in his brother. “My what?!”
          Tatsuha sighed and gave up the search while his brother was being vigilant with him. He rubbed at his face before getting coffee for himself, asking, “You didn’t listen to anything father taught you, did you?”
          “I paid enough attention to be a full monk, didn’t I?! That’s enough.” Eiri pulled out supplies from the refrigerator and cabinets to begin breakfast, hesitating on single or double servings. “I suppose you’re going to want to be fed too, aren’t you?”
          Tatsuha shrugged and sat himself down at the kitchen table, frowning curiously at Eiri’s involuntary glance at the table. “You work me, you feed me. Your chi is what you’ll use to get rid of ghosts, the psychic-type of energy.”
          “Clean the table then. I think Shuichi missed a spot from last night.” Eiri directed, nodding his chin to a dishrag while he poured oil into the pan. “Work on my chi. You’d think with me being able to communicate with ghosts, I’d have plenty of chi.”
          “It’s not how much, it’s how well you can…..” Tatsuha’s voice slid to a stop as he realized exactly what it was that Eiri meant. “Ugh, Aniki!” he protested, seeing that the ‘spot’ was pretty damned close to where his elbow had been a second before. Getting up again, he fetched the dishrag and poured a liberal amount of soap on it, intent on scrubbing the hell out of the surface. “We eat on that table!” he muttered under his breath. It was going to be a VERY long day.