Fleeting Inspiration
by Anna Sartin

Chapter 45: Yoshi Eto and the Jesus-Mobile

. . .

Tatsuha came out of Riku's room a few hours later to find that his brother had locked himself in his study. Shuichi was sitting patiently outside the door like a faithful dog. "How long has he been in there?" Tatsuha inquired.

"Ever since he got hit on the head with a book," was the singer's reply.

Tatsuha decided not to ask. "Well, I finished the kid's room. I even remembered to take the glow-in-the-dark stars off the ceiling."

"Thank you," Shuichi responded, smiling sincerely. He'd bought them for Riku last month and the boy had told every person he'd encountered about them since. It was the first thing he'd told his "Aunt" Yoshiki about over the phone, and she'd promised to take him to a real observatory when he came to America to visit. I wonder how many times he's dragged her back since? Shuichi wondered, smiling. He was planning on getting some glow-in-the-dark planets to add to Riku's makeshift planetarium when he rebuilt it in the new house.

"Aniki!" Tatsuha called, banging on the door of the study. "How long are you going to stay in there?"

To his (and Shuichi's) surprise the door opened immediately. The author walked out carrying his laptop in one hand and Four Gay Elves in the other. "The study's finished," he announced. Tatsuha took a peek inside. The bookcases were completely empty, Eiri's desk had been cleaned off and everything had been boxed and stacked by the door. "I'm hungry," he announced, following the other two men into the living room. "Let's eat."

"I'm hungry too, Yuki," Shuichi added, keeping a safe distance away from the book the blond was carrying. The sight of it made him shiver, due to the fact the he never knew how his lover was going to act (or react) in its presence.

"Well, what do you expect me to do about it?" Eiri asked, squeezing the lighter in his pocket hard enough to make his hand hurt. He was dying for cigarette. He'd searched the apartment from top to bottom and he still couldn't find where Shuichi had hidden them.

"Can we order take out?" Tatsuha asked.

"If you go get it," was the blond's reply.

"I can't carry food back on my motorcycle!" Tatsuha protested.

Eiri took a deep breath and slowly pulled the lighter from his pocket. I need a fucking cigarette..."Fine. Take the car."

Shuichi and Tatsuha exchanged confused glances. Eiri was offering to let someone use his car? The one thing he had professed to love more than his family and his lover put together? Tatsuha dashed off immediately, deciding not to look a gift horse in the mouth. Shuichi just stood there, staring at his lover as he debated with himself over whether or not Four Gay Elves had the power to enslave Yuki's mind. "Do you want me to get rid of that?" he asked hopefully, pointing to the book. "I can throw it in a garbage can somewhere..."

"No. Just go."

Oh God, it's taken over his mind! Shuichi thought frantically as he scurried after Tatsuha, slamming the door behind him.

As soon as they were both gone Eiri sprang into action and grabbed one of Tatsuha's boxes. He'd had plenty of time to come up with a new plan to get rid of Four Gay Elves while he was packing the study, and he'd come up with the perfect idea when he'd noticed one of Tatsuha's books mixed in with his. If he couldn't rid himself of the thing by throwing it away, maybe he could solve his problem by trying a different tactic. He shoved the book in Tatsuha's box of magazines and closed it.

If I can't get rid of the damn thing, I'll just leave it here!

Satisfied that all was well (or as well as could be expected with that thing still under his roof) he decided to go in search of a cigarette.

.

We've got to save him, Tatsuha!" Shuichi insisted as they drove to the Sushi Shack. They'd played "Rock, Paper, Scissors" to determine who got to decide what to eat and Tatsuha had won.

"Save him from WHAT?"

"It's possessing his mind, I know it is!"

"Maybe he bonded with it while he was packing," Tatsuha joked. "They say quality bonding time can improve any relationship."

"Tatsuhaaaa!"

"Okay, seriously; maybe he just decided that getting so worked up over a book is silly. Or maybe he has his own plan to get rid of it."

"Maybe... but could you do an exorcism just in case?"

"I'm NOT exorcising my brother!"

"Please?"

"No! I already exorcised that stupid book."

"But I really think-," Shuichi began, but his train of thought was suddenly broken as they turned onto 4th street. "Hey, stop the car!" he yelled. The tires came to a screeching halt as Tatsuha did as he was told. "I know that guy!" Shuichi said, pointing to a young man who was kicking the tires of a car with green crosses spray painted on it. He was swearing loudly in English.

"That guy?" Tatsuha asked, looking to where Shuichi was pointing. He was about to ask who the man was when he noticed Shuichi was already out of the car running to greet his friend.

"Yoshi!"

Yoshi Eto looked up. "Shuichi?"

"What are you doing here?" they both asked at the same time.

"What happened?" Shuichi asked.

"I was visiting my grandfather and was about to head home when I found out some bastard did THIS to my car!"

"What's going on?" Tatsuha asked, joining the two friends.

"Somebody spray-painted graffiti all over his car," Shuichi explained, as if it weren't perfectly obvious.

"And slashed my tires, too!" Yoshi told them, giving the one nearest him a swift kick. He was starting to hate Japan.

"All of them?" Tatsuha asked.

"All four!" Yoshi responded.

Shuichi took a closer look at the graffiti on the windshield. Green crosses... He turned rather green himself as a sudden realization dawned on him. "Tatsuha?"

"What?"

"We're on 4th Street, aren't we?"

"Yes, unfortunately..." the young monk responded. "Do you think it was her?"

Shuichi shrugged. "I don't know... Maybe..."

"What are you guys talking about?" Yoshi asked, following them as they walked down the street to the alley where the homeless foreign woman lived.

"There's a religious nutcase-" Shuichi started to explain, but he was interrupted when Tatsuha suddenly shouted, "Look!"

They did. The brick walls of "The Daily Bread" now had green crosses spray-painted on them. Shuichi groaned. "Not her again..." Only one upside-down box remained from the last time Shuichi had been there, on which sat a chipped, weather-worn statue of the Virgin Mary. Shuichi approached the statue and touched it, wondering what dumpster the crazy woman had plucked it out of. It smelled like dead fish.

"GET AWAY FROM MY ALTER!" the homeless woman screamed, poking her head out of a rolled up carpet. They all jumped. Shuichi bumped the box with the statue on it and it fell off, hitting the ground and causing the head to break off.

"Are you the one who vandalized my car?" Yoshi demanded as the woman crawled out of the carpet and retrieved her now-headless statue. She placed it back on the box and ignored him. She scooped up the head next and shoved it in her pocket.

"Um... miss?" Shuichi asked. "Did you spray-paint the car down the street?

"What?" she asked in English.

"My CAR!" Yoshi shouted, also in English as he pointed in the direction of his vehicle. "Did you slash my tires and spray-paint it!"

"That instrument of the Devil? I purified it!"

Tatsuha snickered, while Shuichi stared at them blankly. His English skills were limited to the random words and incoherent phases that he used in his lyrics, so he was completely lost. "What are they saying?" he asked, looking to Tatsuha for clarification.

"Well," Tatsuha began, as the two bickered back and forth in their native language, "From what I understand she thinks that the devil is sending cars to try to kill her so she built a church for protection. Your friend says he's going to call the police, she says he needs to be saved from Satan, he called her a lunatic and I couldn't understand what they were saying after that." By this time the two former Americans had begun using a considerable amount of profane words that Tatsuha (naturally) had never been taught in high school, and now he too was lost.

"Church?" Shuichi asked, confused.

"Look around!" Tatsuha said, spreading his arms to illustrate him point. "The crosses, the statue, the telephone directory with the cross drawn on the cover..."

Shuichi looked around. "This is supposed to be a church? She told me it was a restaurant..."

"It looked like a carpet shop last time I was here," Tatsuha said. "I guess she changes her mind a lot."

Yoshi finally gave up arguing with woman and stalked back to his car, disgusted. "Where is the nearest police station?" he asked, when Shuichi and Tatsuha caught up with him.

"Not far," Tatsuha said. "We can take you there if you want."

"Why don't you come home with us?" Shuichi offered. "You can figure out what to do about your car over dinner."

"I don't want to impose..."

"You were coming to visit on Friday anyway," Shuichi pointed out. "So what if you're a day or two early?"

"And it's not like you're going to get very far in the Jesus-Mobile right now, anyway," Tatsuha added, pointing to the young man's vandalized car.

"I suppose you're right," Yoshi said, staring at his car glumly. It had been a gift from his grandfather on his 20th birthday, and he hadn't had it very long. I swear I'll get that crazy bitch for this! he vowed as he climbed into his friends' car. They rode past the "The Daily Bread" where the homeless woman was now bowing before her makeshift alter and praying to her now-headless statue.

End chapter forty-five

Author's note: For those asking, Riku appears in the new Gravitation EX manga currently running in Japan. He is the orphaned son of Yuki Kitazawa.