Ghost Monk

by: Zemia

Disclaimer: Nobody in the Gravitation universe belongs to me. I claim no kinship whatsoever and sing Maki Murakami's praises. The only thing I'm getting out of writing these is sick sadistic pleasure out of making the character's lives even more difficult.

A/N: I really wanted Mika and Tohma to already be here, but unfortunately, the Three Stooges cough I mean Uesugis cough made that impossible. I kept forgetting to try and include Uesugi-san, probably cause my brain went "NO, leave him out of this, god I hate him!" But that's probably Eiri's influence. SO! The next chapter will definitely feature our Beloved Bitchiness OW I mean… Mistress of the Clan… um.. and Tohma. Queen in his own right. Mwahaha.

Chapter 12 – The Ghost Monk

Nearly half an hour later, the gathered Uesugi clan (including the spectral ones which had doubled in number), and a squirming Shuichi were sitting around the table awaiting the arrival of the remaining sibling and said spawn's evil mate. The two sons had warned Uesugi-san about the ghosts, and the pranks they pulled, to which he'd bitched and gone off to look for his wayward smokes.

Tatsuha glanced up at his father returning to his seat at the table, eyeing the scowl the elder monk wore. Apparently, he hadn't found them. "No luck, eh? I'm sure the smokes'll turn up. They have before, right?" He snatched his pack away from Uesugi-san's questing fingers, glaring at him. "You give me shit about not paying for 'em, you ain't getting any."

"Dammit, Tatsuha, I give you free room and board, cable and internet access, don't say one damned word about all the women you bring over." Uesugi-san barked out at his youngest son, banging his fist on the table and causing Shuichi to jump and wish he'd stayed home. "You can't find a decent bone in your body to give your old man one fucking, lousy cigarette!?"

Lighting up a cigarette, he took a long deep puff, before glancing sidelong at him. "Honestly? Nope."

The Uesugi leader tossed a death glare towards Eiri, who held onto his own cigarettes like they were the last ones he'd ever see. "See what an example you set for him!? See what he's turned into because of you?!"

"A person who can speak up for himself?" Eiri muttered, blowing a ring of smoke towards their father before leaning back on his palm. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I forgot you wanted a simpering, bowing yes-man who would kiss your ass and do whatever the fuck you said. Too bad you had us instead."

"Um… Yuki… you know, this seems like a real .. family thing and I, maybe I should just wait outside?" Shuichi suggested softly, hoping against the odds that Eiri would allow him to leave, tossing wary glances at the father who'd gone to an unhealthy red color. "Is that healthy for him?" he asked, snitching a cigarette out of his lover's pack and slipping it over to his 'father-in-law', which finally earned him something of a single notch in the old man's approval rating.

"You're not leaving my sight again until we're gone. I've got enough problems without having you molested again." Eiri immediately muttered, grunting as he glared at Shuichi for daring to touch his smokes. "Look brat, you don't for those, keep your fucking hands off of them."

Shuichi's eyes took on a defiant spark as he retorted, "I pay for them in the second-hand smoke I live in on a daily basis and don't complain about." It was a great start to the fighting-form he'd need when Mika finally showed up.

All three Uesugi men stared at Shuichi in shock for a moment, before Tatsuha and their father started laughing their asses off. Uesugi-san took the opportunity to light up, inhaling deeply to curb the withdrawal symptoms before his eldest pain in the ass thought to take his cancer stick away again.

"You don't have to live there, you know." Eiri growled, narrowing his eyes at the younger brat. To get even, he curled his lip up into a sneer as he tossed back at his lover, "You certainly have no complaints kissing me as I taste of smoke, or doing anything else for that matter. As a matter of fact, we were complimented quite nicely on a spectacular performance tonight."

Cheeks turning as pink as his hair, Shuichi stared in horror at Eiri as his thought processes reviewed the novelist's words. Performance. Compliments. He turned to glare at Tatsuha, jumping up to glomp onto and smack at his arm, "You taped us again you perverted bastard!? Wasn't bad enough that you tried to fuck with me in the furo, which is just nasty by the way!?"

Laughing, Tatsuha held Shuichi at arm's length, offering the flailing beast to his brother. "I didn't do anything this time! Though, now that you mention it, it sounds like a great idea!"

"Then what the fuck is he talking about!?" Shuichi demanded, squirming now in Eiri's lap as his lover wrapped his arms around him, trapping his arms. "YUKI!"

"Nothing. Just some of my ancestors being about as perverted as Tatsuha, which is probably where we inherited it from. Saying things like, 'That little pink-haired one sure does squirm nicely.' 'I like the way he can do and at the same time.' What was the other one? Hnn… No that was what they said about me, oh I know. The other one I remember hearing back at the Shrine was 'He sure is fucking hot when he gets flushed and panting like that, I really wish I had a dick so I could fuck him too.' Things of that nature."

Shuichi's eyes grew wider and wider the more Eiri spoke about what the 'ghosts' were saying. He, personally, didn't really believe in ghosts, but he wouldn't discount his Yuki's accusations. Blushing furiously, he frowned up at Eiri, ignoring the other two who were casting him calculating looks, trying to figure out if he really could do both things at once. "That's really mean of you to talk about our sex life to your family like that." Then he paused for a heartbeat before asking, "There are beings more perverted than TATSUHA!?"

"HEY! Shut the fuck up, I don't have to be nice to you, you know!" Tatsuha declared hotly, throwing an empty beer can at Shuichi, causing a ring mark on his forehead.

Clutching his forehead, which Eiri let an arm go in order for him to accomplish, Shuichi yelled, "OW! Dammit, Tatsuha! What the hell!?"

"To these people, I'm to leave my Shrine…." Uesugi-san muttered, taking another beer in an attempt to get wasted before the fireworks began. Being buzzed made his daughter's shrill bitching a bit more tolerable. At least she was useful in corralling the two shitheads that inherited his name permanently.

"Hey boy!" Great-great-grandpa Uesugi called from his perch at the window. "You, the blonde fuckhead who can hear us!" When he'd seen Eiri twitch, he knew he'd gotten his attention. "Your sister's here!" he called, pointing to a car that was still down the road, three minutes from pulling into the gates.

The ghost's nephew, great-granduncle Uesugi, rubbed his hands together, immediately seating himself across from Uesugi-san. "Mehehehehe…. Now the fun REALLY starts."

Shoving the vocalist out of his lap, which caused another indignant squawk, Eiri took another beer and opened it with a malcontented growl. "Mika's here."

Shuichi immediately cringed, wrapping both arms around one of Eiri's which caused the novelist to grunt and shove him a foot away. "But Yukiiiii…"

"Oh shut up and deal with it, punk, or do you want to be her stomping grounds forever?" Eiri growled, really not happy and starting to feel the effects of a really long day, on top of the side-effects a missed dose of the medication caused, not to mention the major factor to his stress levels.

"There's no sign of Mika, Aniki…" Tatsuha said, having gone to the window to stare out, not aware of the glare he was getting by his ancestor for standing on the hem of his robe. "Are you putting anything new in those cigarettes of yours?"

"The ghosts probably told him." Uesugi-san sneered, clearly tossing insults towards his blonde-haired son. He was still not really believing what he'd been told, having thought it another ruse for the kid to shirk his duties.

Light from a car flickered across the room, bathing them all in the glow for a moment as it turned into the parking area of the Shrine. Tatsuha, Shuichi and Uesugi-san all turned to stare at Eiri, who calmly sat there, drinking his beer, lifting his lips behind it as the ghosts cackled and tossed insults towards the ones that couldn't hear them.

TBC

Reviewer's Corner -

catmum56 - Thank you very much and welcome to Ghost Monk! Heh like I told Mi Querida, I can only write as fast as I can. When I first put this story up, I only had the first three chapters. So Chapter 4 through Chapter 11 is brand spanking new since joining in November. What an encouragement to keep writing and not drag my ass eh?

Mi Querida - Um, more than welcome. I tried writing some for the other stories and they were all like " sigh finish a bit more of that one. It's fine." at me. I've been concentrating a bit on Devil's Snare since that one's a 'requested story' for one of my friends, but I've been trying to add a few lines to Ghost Monk every day or so too. It's hard, cause I've got a lot going on IRL now. So I apologize for making you wait. Heh, I write as fast as I can write.

Riiiceballe - Heh. It was meant to be left hanging. Ooooh cookie! nibbles Thankee thankee. And it'll be plenty angsty... hnn... speaking of Shuichi's soul... 9, 9 Anybody want teasers? There ya go.

Vindalootoo - Thank you! I'm glad you like it. Lol. All of my stories seem to wind up with some of my sarcastic humor through it, so even when trying to be serious, my characters make smartassed comments. Sleep depriving? Aww, I'm sorry! Heh, it's weird, cause this story is about 10 pages in Word, altho the margins are 0.6 and the font is 8. I wonder how long it'd be if I put it up to 10 or 12 pt font and 1" margins. Hnn.

Xedra - Well, I figured, they grew up together and Tatsuha was the only one who'd never treated him different cause of his looks, so they WOULD be the two most comfortable with each other, out of the Uesugi family. I've been roleplaying Eiri on/off for a good three years now at various rp sites, so I'd HOPE I'm at least decent at him. heh. Tatsuha I've only been doing for a year, at a strictly Gravi rp forums. He's about as easy for me as Eiri. Mika's not so hard. It's Tohma and Shuichi I'm having problems with.

Shuichi is ... very very hard. lol. I don't feel very 'genki' a lot of time, so getting him to do so is effort on my part. But I have to remember that it's at least two years after the end of Gravi, which means Shu HAD to grow up some. So blending the genki and maturity is tricky. Ear bites are kawaii. Shu loves taking advantage. Heh. Thanks, I LOVE the Uesugi Ghosts. I can be as snarky with them as I want, cause they're my inventions. LOL.

Hikaru Itsuko - Thanks! No, not all of the ghosts likes Shu. They just haven't made an appearance yet. At some point, I have to get them away from the shrine. That's when the REAL fun will start. LOL.

Morlana - Thank you very much! This story started about .. um.. November 2005, I was reading over something that remarked on how sensitive he really is (to emotions around him, auras etc), which sparks the bastard mask to protect himself. And then when I was roleplaying Eiri one day (something I do to this day, which keeps me in practice) I went ... if he's so sensitive... shouldn't he be attuned to ghosts too then? Once that question filtered, it was all downhill from there into my world of snarky sense of humor, smirking and going "And who'd be the one ghost who he'd hate to see?"

AngelSigma - Hello again! Welcome back to another installment of my insanity. I have got to stop starting new story ideas, it slows down the ones I have currently. LOL. I've been trying to work on Devil's Snare, as it was a "commission fanfic", but Ghost Monk still comes out first. Some reason it's easier to write about. snickers Yes, Yes, Mature Shu much better! He's so much easier for me to deal with than that whining brat he was. LOL My best friend, who's gone now (SIGH) I couldn't get to watch more than the first episode. She kept insisting that Eiri should kick him out permanently or kill him with something heavy. She couldn't stand Shu at all! So I gave up making her watch them. BUT she'd sit there patiently accepting tidbits of funny stuff in the manga.