Gravitation Fan Fiction ❯ Fleeting Inspiration ❯ The Downfall of Lola Eto & Breakdown of Eiri Yuki ( Chapter 29 )

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

Fleeting Inspiration
by Anna Sartin

. . .

Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Downfall of Lola Eto and Breakdown of Eiri Yuki

.

"In the end it all comes down to sales figures," K informed Sakano and Shuichi as they stood in front of Tohma's office. He had an ear pressed to the door, listening intently to what was going on inside. "Apparently their CD isn't selling well and Tohma has threatened to drop them from N-G if their sales figures don't improve."

"K-san you really shouldn't eavesdrop on private meetings," Sakano chided him.

"What are they saying now?" Shuichi asked.

"Their manager is pleading for more time to promote their album and the Eto girl is feeding the boss some sob story about having a sick relative to take care of."

Shuichi crossed his arms. "Sick relative, my ass!"

"This isn't right!" Sakano pleaded. "If Seguchi-san finds out we'll ALL be fired!" He turned to Shuichi. "Please, please let's go back to the studio, Shindo-san!"

"No! I'm not going anywhere until she gives me back my cookies!" After hobbling all the way here on his crutches to stake out Seguchi's office there was no way he was leaving now. All his newly-found inspiration had been sucked out of him by that wretched girl and he was going to make her face the music!

"I'll BUY you more cookies!"

"They wouldn't be Maiko's cookies!"

"Seguchi is reprimanding the Eto girl about her behavior now," K informed his companions. "Apparently she flicked off a security guard and-"

"K-san, stop this!" Sakano pleaded again. "The president will-"

"Will you calm down?"

"But Seguchi-san-"

"Seguchi-san, Seguchi-san!" K mimicked him. "I know you've got a life-sized poster of the man in your living room, but will you get over your precious Seguchi-san for two minutes so I can hear??"

Sakano turned red. "I-I-I-I-I do not!"

"You do. I've seen it. Now shut up, I can't hear!"

"You have a life-sized poster of Tohma Seguchi in your living room??" Shuichi asked, giving Sakano an odd look. Sakano groaned.

"The meeting has concluded," K told them. "Seguchi has agreed to give them more time to promote their album provided there are no more infract-" Before he could finish his sentence the door flew open and K was slammed into the wall behind it.

"Give me back my cookies!" Shuichi demanded as Lola exited the room.

"They're gone," she said, throwing the now-empty bag at him.

"YOU ATE ALL MY COOKIES?"

"No, my friends had some, too," she said, pointing to the rest of her band. They smiled at him, completely ignorant of what was going on. They had no idea what had been said during the meeting either, but they were all glad that their lead singer was in a better mood.

Shuichi was livid. "I don't know if this is how you people act in America, but you're in Japan now! You don't take things that aren't yours!"

"Well, they were just sitting there," the girl responded with a smirk.

"Are all Americans as rude as you?"

"You kidding? People's lunches got stolen at my school all time. You learn to watch your stuff!"

Shuichi just stared at the girl, both amazed and appalled by her complete lack of maturity.

"This isn't a school, Miss Eto," Sakano informed her sternly. "This is a place of business. Stealing another employee's lunch is entirely inappropriate and inexcusable."

"I didn't take his lunch, I took a bag of cookies. It's no big deal."

"Yes, it IS!!!" Shuichi yelled, before Sakano could respond. "My sister made them for me and you STOLE them! How would you like me to take something your brother made for you?"

Before Lola could ask how in the world he knew she had a brother, Tohma stepped out of his office and asked why everyone was shouting in front of his door.

"Because she's a thief!" Shuichi yelled, pointing at Lola.

Tohma gave Sakano a puzzled look, and after receiving an explanation from his subordinate the CEO turned to Lola. "Miss Eto, we agreed that your band would be given more time to promote its debut album provided that there would be no more infractions on your part and that you would stay away from Shuichi Shindo."

"Yes, but-"

"This is an inexcusable breach of conduct for an employee of N-G Productions."

"But-"

"Miss Eto, you're fired."

Shuichi's mouth fell open and he actually dropped his crutches. There WAS justice in the world! The idea of never having to see Lola's face again when he entered N-G made him want to dance and sing and... write. He felt the fleeting inspiration the wretched girl had drained out of him returning full force.

Lola burst into tears. She turned to run away, but her dramatic exit was cut short when she tripped over one of Shuichi's crutches and fell flat on her face.

. . .

Meanwhile, back at the apartment, Eiri was certainly NOT experiencing the sheer joy his partner was feeling. In fact, as far as he was concerned life couldn't get any worse. He stared hard at the computer, trying to make sense of the last three paragraphs he'd written. He couldn't, but he noticed that he'd used the word "cigarette" at least five times. Trying to work without inspiration was hard enough, but working without smoking was a nightmare. He'd already taken three smoke breaks in the last hour and he was still on the first chapter. Hell, he was still on the first PAGE. He had no plot, or even an idea for a storyline; he was just typing randomly hoping an idea would spring up. He read through the whole thing again, suddenly realizing that he'd named the main character "Nicotine". He growled and erased the whole thing.

What the hell am I DOING? I need a cigarette...

Not being able to smoke in his own house was frustrating as hell. Usually he kept an ashtray by the computer where he chain-smoked his way through the day as he cranked out the romance and tragedy that kept his readers happy and his wallet full. The ashtray was still there, but with no ashes or butts in it it looked (to him) sad and neglected. He could almost hear it crying "Feed me, feed me!"

I'm losing my mind...

Without a steady flow of Nicotine running through his system he felt... were there any words to describe how he felt?

Drained.

Frustrated.

Stupid.

Edgy . Very, very edgy.

Ready to kill anyone foolish enough to approach him at the moment.

"YUKI!!!"

Speaking of foolish... "Go away!" the writer shouted.

Never one to listen, Shuichi walked right in, smiling like the idiot he was. "I'm home! You won't BELIEVE the day I had! I figured you would be hard at work so I asked K to drop me off so you wouldn't have to pick me up. He drives like CRAZY! He almost hit a guardrail today and I swear I could see my life flashing before my eyes! Then he almost hit this old woman who was crossing the street and-"

"Get OUT!"

Shuichi stopped in his tracks. "Are you still having trouble writing? Maybe I could help y-"

"HELP? You're the fucking problem!" With that the blond swiped his ashtray off the desk and threw it at the singer. Shuichi ducked quickly and the object went crashing against the wall. Eiri grabbed his laptop next and sent it hurling across the room, followed by his coffee mug and Four Gay Elves. When he had nothing else to throw he got up and threw the chair he'd been sitting in, overturned his desk, and headed to the nearest bookcase and started throwing the books off the shelves. He had stopping aiming at his partner (who was still standing frozen in his original position afraid to move) after throwing the ashtray; he just wanted to throw things in general. Trash the fucking room, trash the whole damn apartment if he had to, but he had to vent or he was going to lose it. If he hadn't lost it already that is.

A short time later the author's study was in shambles, and he sat on the floor amidst the ruin with his head in his hands. Shuichi gingerly approached him, kneeling carefully in front of the man he loved and threading his hands through his lover's golden hair.

"Yuki?" he said softly, afraid he might set the older man off again.

The author said nothing, but he slowly leaned forward until he was resting his head against the pink-haired man's chest. Shuichi wrapped his arms around him and began rubbing his back soothingly.

"I've wanted to do that for a long time..." Eiri said finally.

"Since you lost your inspiration?" Shuichi asked.

"No," Eiri whispered, closing his eyes. "For about... eight years."

Since you were sixteen... Shuichi mentally noted. Out loud he asked, "Why didn't you?"

"I don't know."

"Maybe it was good that you finally got it out of your system."

"I just cleaned this room yesterday..." He grabbed Four Gay Elves off the floor and, after staring at it for a few seconds, started beating it against the wall. It was all the book's fault! He had no idea how he could POSSIBLY blame this situation on Four Gay Elves, but he just KNEW it was all the book's fault! He continued on his rampage until Shuichi pried it out of his hands.

"Calm down, okay?" he pleaded. "I've got an idea. Let's go to dinner like we planned and while we're in town we can get rid of THIS."

"IT CAN'T BE DONE!!!"

"We'll drop it in the library donation box like we were going to do before. That way it can't come back!" Regardless of the somewhat frightening situation he'd come home too, the singer was still feeling optimistic from the previous events of the day. If Lola Eto could be gotten rid of then the book that plagued Yuki could be gotten rid of, too!

After a moment of silence Eiri rose and helped Shuichi to his feet. He surveyed the damage the room and fought the urge to beat his head against the wall. Now it would have to be cleaned all over again. He definitely needed to get out here. "Fine. Let's go."

.

~End chapter twenty-nine~