Ghost Monk

          
Shuichi opened the door to their latest house, having long ago given up on trying to talk Eiri out of moving every few months. He was holding a large bag behind him. Peeking in, he checked to make sure Yuki wasn’t around before padding into the kitchen. He had everything ready to celebrate his lover’s birthday. Strawberry shortcake, check. Candles, check. Wine, check.




          
He’d even dressed up for the occasion, having to go out and by a new casual suit, but that was ok! It was for his Yuki! “Yuki!” he called, starting with his study. Yuki was always in his study. The pink-haired teen slowly inched its way through the doorway. “Yuuukiii!” he called, peering into the darkened room. Yuki wasn’t in his study.




          
Starting to panic, Shuichi then raced through the rest of the rooms, verifying what he already knew. Back where he started, he stood in the kitchen and started pouting. Then he started fuming. Two years of living with Eiri had calmed a bit of his hyper tendancies. Well. A bit. Right now, the violet eyes were blazing with fury. That bastard! I plan a special date for him for his birthday and he’s not even home!!!




          
He went back outside where Hiro was waiting, just in case Eiri didn’t take it well and tossed Shuichi out on his ass. Again. It had happened last year for the man’s birthday, when it had happened to land on D-Day. Their ‘affectionate’ term for Deadline Day. “Goddammit he’s not even here! He said he was going to be here all damned day!”




          
Blowing a puff of smoke, Hiro didn’t bother to move from his position of leaning on his bike. “Now. Did he say he would be there, or did he just grunt at you while you chattered at him?”




          
“Well…. Ok so he grunted. But Yuki doesn’t ever leave near deadline! He ..” Shuichi paused long enough in his tirade to think things over. He did that every now and again. It saved his ass. “Maybe he’s at the park.”




          
“Let’s go then.” Hiro suggested, handing Shuichi a motorcycle helmet. They never drove anywhere without them, ever since that near-accident had scared the shit out of them. “We’ll do a drive-through, the bike’s faster than he can run.”




          
“Wait, I gotta put the food away first at least.” Shuichi kept the helmet and raced into the house, quickly tucking everything away before jamming the helmet on his head. Making sure the door was locked, he vaulted over the railing and landed down into the courtyard below. “Alright, let’s rock!”




          
With a chuckle at his best friend’s impatience, Hiro peeled out of the driveway and headed for the park.





•





          
Twenty minutes later, they had circled the park twice before realizing that Eiri wasn’t there either. Shuichi was getting more and more upset and Hiro thought they’d have to check him for rabies the way he was beginning to foam at the mouth. At least figuratively. “Okay, so he’s not home or at the park.” He turned to look at his friend and had to rush over, “Whoa, hey wait!!”




          
Shuichi had grabbed a nearby stick and seemed to be brandishing it like a sword. “That’s fucking fine! I don’t care anymore! I try to do something nice and he always spits it back at me! You wanna fuck with me Eiri Yuki, you’ll see just how far your pushing has gone!!” He appeared to be going to try and commit seppuku with it, holding it to his stomach.




          
“Dumbass, gimme the stick. That’s not even sharp enough to go through your stomach!” Hiro grabbed at the stick, ignoring Shuichi wailing and kicking at him in the best of five-year-old tantrums he was famous for. The only one that could ever rival it were Ryuichi Sakuma’s tantrums. “Try calling him then! He brings his cellphone with him, doesn’t he?”




          
Shuichi paused, but then mumbled into Hiro’s shirt, “He has caller ID. Half the time, he doesn’t pick it up cause he knows it’s me and doesn’t want to be bothered.”




          
“Fine then. I’ll call him.” Hiro pulled out his cellphone and dialed Eiri’s cellphone, holding it out of Shuichi’s reach when his pink-haired friend began grabbing for it, protesting that it wasn’t a good idea and babbling other inane nonsense.





•





          
Out of all the times he’d barked at Shuichi to leave him the fuck alone, and the bubble-gum-headed twit had to pick THIS time to actually follow his instructions for once?! Lost in his inner bitching, Eiri didn’t even open his eyes when his phone began ringing. Tatsuha eyed Eiri, waiting to see what he’d do. When it didn’t appear his older brother was moving, he nodded to the phone. “Aren’t you going to answer that?”




          
“It’s probably just Shuichi, wanting to ramble for hours about whatever the fuck he’s doing that I could give two shits about.” Eiri replied tonelessly, finally opening his eyes to glance at his brother. “If you’re so interested, YOU answer it.” he muttered, handing the still-ringing phone over.




          
“Yeah, my brother, the anti-social bastard coward.” Tatsuha muttered, flipping the phone open and seeing who it was first. “You’re wrong by the way. It ain’t Shu-chan. It’s Hiro.” He put the phone to his ear and pressed ‘talk’. “Yeah, hello?”




          
“Hey, uh.. Tatsuha, right? I won’t even ask why you’re answering…Listen, is Yuki with you?” Hiro asked, blunt and to the point.




          
Tatsuha paused, tossing his brother a questioning glance before answering slowly, “Yeeaaahh…. Why?”




          
“Great. Now I can get the dumbass to calm down.” Hiro paused as sounds of a scuffle were heard, as voices filtered through the speaker, “gimme the phone!” “hell no, you were too chickenshit to call..it’s my phone!” “I want the phone Hiro! Hiiiirrrooo….” “Fuck off, Shu…” “YYYuuuuuukkiiiiii where are yoooouuu?!??!” The sounds quieted down as Hiro managed to breathe, apparently having ditched Shu for the moment. “So where are you guys?”




          
Unable to keep the laughter out of his voice, having always been amused by the antics of Bad Luck’s crew, Tatsuha leaned against the pole and answered, “Shrine.”




          
“Who the hell is that?” Eiri demanded, now reaching for his phone as well. Apparently he really hadn’t been listening to Tatsuha, when he’d told him who was on the phone. “Gimme that phone, Tatsuha.”




          
“No no, Aniki. I think this will be a hell of a lot of fun.” Tatsuha laughed even harder, as Hiro muttered into his ear that they’d be there in a few hours and hung up. Handing the phone over, he rested his arms behind his head, staring upwards at the Shrine’s roof. “I think the party’s just getting started, Aniki. Better break out all the beer you can find.”




          
“What’d you do, Tatsuha?” Eiri growled, staring at the phone and trying to figure out why that number looked familiar.




          
“If you can’t bring the Mountain to Mohammed….” Tatsuha winked at Eiri and sauntered into the house. “Get your rest. You’re gonna need it. By the way, I find it hilarious as all fucking hell that the one who’s desperate not to have anything to do with the shrine inherited the abilities to go with it, while I, the one who it’s being dumped on, didn’t get anything.” Flipping him a casual wave, the younger Uesugi brother disappeared inside.




          
“You didn’t hit twenty-four yet! And you keep pissing me off, you might not make nineteen!” Eiri barked to his brother’s retreating back before muttering yet again, “Make the mountain fall on fucking Mohammed’s ass….. Birthdays suck…” He glanced towards the entrance to the Shrine, where the sword-uncle was swinging it in practice strokes close to where Kitazawa hovered. The latter ghost took it in stride and ignored him for a moment to look over at Eiri. Then he smiled that shit-eating grin, before returning his attention to the spectral Uesugi.




          
Running his hands through his bangs, Eiri took out another cigarette and lit it, inhaling deeply. “Where’d he say those beers went?” he muttered to himself, making a beeline for the booze.





TBC