Gravitation Fan Fiction ❯ Fleeting Inspiration ❯ Thief! ( Chapter 28 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Fleeting Inspiration
by Anna Sartin

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Chapter Twenty-Eight: Thief!

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"La li ho!"

Hiro looked up from tuning his guitar. "Hey, Shuichi. You're looking bright and chipper this morning."

"My life just can't get any better!" Shuichi announced as he held up the two bags he was holding. "Maiko gave me cookies yesterday and look, YUKI MADE ME LUNCH!!!"

"For real?" Hiro asked.

"For real! Now I'll know how guys feel when they eat a lunch from their loving wife during a hard day at work!" The singer rubbed his face against the bag in a cat-like fashion before hugging it lovingly.

Hiro raised an eyebrow. "Loving wife?"

"Who is Maiko?" Suguru inquired.

"His sister," Hiro answered, reaching for the bag of cookies. "Man, it's been forever since I've had some of Maiko's cookies..."

Shuichi clutched both bags protectively. "Hands off, lover boy! These babies are all mine!"

"Aw, can't I have just ONE?"

"Will you two get it together?" Suguru scolded. "We're scheduled to be in Studio 3 today so let's get down there."

"I don't want to go to Studio 3," Hiro said, making no move to get up. "Whispering Phantom is already in there."

"AGAIN?" Shuichi yelled. "Bad Luck always gets Studio 3 on Tuesdays! It's listed on the schedule!!"

"We've been dealing with this problem almost everyday since you went on vacation," Suguru explained. "Before then they were using one of the smaller studios on the first floor, but there's been a lot of security breaches lately and Seguchi-san said that the motorcycle accident was the last straw. No one is allowed anywhere down there except the lobby until all the doors and windows are re-enforced and new security measures are drawn up."

"What motorcycle accident?" Shuichi asked.

Hiro laughed. "A certain teenage idiot we know tried to barge into the place on his motorcycle two Sundays ago demanding to see Ryuichi. He apparently forgot that the only people who come to N-G on Sundays are janitors, security guards and workaholics like Sakano."

"And a good thing, too!" Shuichi responded. "Sakuma might have been hurt! I bet if Tatsuha had been here he would have kicked that guy's ass!"

Hiro and Suguru both sweatdropped, wondering how anyone could possibly be that dense. Weren't "teenage idiot", "motorcycle" and "demanding to see Ryuichi" enough clues for anyone who knew the youngest Uesugi sibling?

"Well, anyway... Sakano-san said he was going to talk to Seguchi-san about the problems we've been having with Whispering Phantom," Suguru said. "He's in a meeting with him now."

"Why is everyone sitting around here?" K asked them as he entered the room. "You're supposed to be in Studio 3!" Suguru gathered his things and stood up, but his two band mates made no move to exit the room until K fired a shot into the ceiling. "Let's get moving!" the American demanded. "Bad Luck only gets to use Studio 3 for two hours today and then Nittle Grasper is scheduled to use it."

Hiro and Shuichi both grumbled as they filed out of the room, but neither were stupid enough to argue with the large assault rifle their manager was holding. Shuichi was last in line as he hobbled out of the room on his crutches, hoping by some miracle Lola Eto wouldn't be there when they arrived.

. . .

So much for miracles... Shuichi thought sourly when he and his companions reached their destination. Although the room was silent as the tomb when they got there, all five members of Whispering Phantom and their manager were present. Lola was sitting a chair with her arms crossed, looking rather cross. One could almost see storm clouds brewing over her head. The rest of the band, including its one and only male member, were keeping a safe distance away on the other side of the room painting their fingernails. Hiro quickly decided that pink nail polish on a man looked very, very wrong.

"What's going on?" Suguru whispered to K. "Why aren't they working?" The blond American shrugged.

The band's manager was pacing the floor nervously, reminding Shuichi of Sakano before a concert... or before a meeting... or a TV appearance, or just about anything, really. He wondered if N-G had a thing for hiring nervous types, or if being employed by the company was really THAT stressful.

"Will you knock it OFF?!" Lola finally shouted in English, pulling at the man's tie to try and get him to sit down.

"Stop it," K ordered, also in English as he freed the man from her grasp and pulled him aside. "What's going on?" he asked, switching back to Japanese.

"Seguchi-san told me to halt all of Whispering Phantom's activities until he meets with us this morning. We're waiting here until he calls for us."

K nodded and turned to the others. "Let's get to work, people!"

"What about them?" Shuichi asked.

"They're waiting here to see Seguchi, not to use the equipment. I want those lyrics finished today Shindo or I'm locking you in closet until they're done! Hiro, get in the booth!"

There were only two chairs left to sit in, since K had seized the one closest to the sound booth and Whispering Phantom (and their junk) occupied most the rest. Both of the remaining available seats were far too near Lola Eto for Shuichi's liking, but in the end he knew couldn't stand all day on crutches and he wanted to get home at a decent hour so he and Yuki could go out to dinner as they'd planned. He grudgingly took the seat farthest away from his rival singer and sat the bags containing his lunch and Maiko's cookies on the empty seat between them. He then pulled out his sheet of paper containing his half-finished lyrics.

When my eyes are brimming with unshed tears
Words of the mouth fail to reach out
Listening to the unspoken words of your heart
I long to learn the secret language of your body

Golden light reaching out to you
Seeking the familiar warmth
Tears shed in the golden glow of twilight
For the soul of the wanderer in the darkness

CRY FROM THE DARK!
Something deep inside of me
Calls out to you without a sound

CRY TO THE NIGHT!
I hear your answering call
Together, let's create a new tomorrow!

It was at this point Shuichi's lyrical muse had abandoned him. He stared at the lyrics, hoping for sudden inspiration. Nope, nothing. He stared harder, trying to force the right words to come forth and present themselves on the paper. After CRY FROM THE DARK! the song was supposed to pick up the pace and he needed lyrics suitable to the increase in tempo. He knew how he wanted the song to end, but he wasn't sure what to write next. He pulled out his "lucky pencil" and started writing.

Echos of the past carved into our flesh
Whispers of future lead us on
Forging an era of blazing dreams
We stand and challenge the heavens

He examined what he had written. Not bad, maybe his muse hadn't abandoned him after all. He continued writing, oblivious to the rest of the world as he imagined Yuki encouraging him, just as his lover had when they'd started writing the song together on vacation. Maybe I won't be here all night after all. I'm coming, Yuki!

A few minutes later Sakano entered the room and informed Whispering Phantom's manager that Tohma Seguchi was ready to see them. The man motioned with his arms for the young Americans to follow him. "How does he communicate with them when they don't understand Japanese?" Sakano asked, scratching his head as one by one they filed out of the room while their manager frantically ushered them out like a crazed shepherd.

"The Eto girl speaks Japanese," K responded. "I guess she translates for the rest of her band."

Shuichi reached over for his bag of cookies, deciding that something sweet was just what he needed to keep his creative flow going. When he couldn't find it, he looked on the floor to see if the bag had fallen off. No. Where the hell was it? His lunch bag was still sitting on the chair but the bag of cookies had vanished.

"Hiro!!!"

"What?" the guitarist asked, coming out of the sound booth.

"Give them back!"

"What?"

"Maiko's cookies!"

"I didn't take them."

Shuichi looked at Suguru next, who shook his head.

"Where did you see them last?" Sakano asked in a motherly fashion, as if he were addressing a careless child who frequently misplaced his belongings.

"They were right here next to me and then they were gone!"

"Were they in a box?" Sakano asked.

"No, a pink bag!"

Sakano stared at the chair next to Shuichi, then at the door where he had just come in. "Was it a pink lunch bag that tied at the top?"

"Yes!"

"And did it have little triangles on it?"

"That's right. How'd you know?"

Sakano pointed to the door. "That young woman- Eto-san, I think- was carrying a bag that looked like that when she left the room."

"THAT BITCH!!!"

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~End chapter twenty-eight~