Transaction

Disclaimer: Blah blah blah, Opium, blah.

Author’s Notes: During these next few chapters, we’ll see a lot of conflict all at once. With Opium and with Tohma and Taki.

I can’t write too much here without giving a lot away. So, enjoy!
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Transaction

Chapter Fourteen
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"Put me down you sonofabitch!" Keiko yelled, struggling to get away from Kenji. "I can walk! See my legs and feet?!"

Why wouldn't he put her down? Why did he pick her up? And where was he taking her?!

"I see them." Kenji had swung her up and over his shoulders, holding her up by her knees. She'd almost kicked him in the face a few times. "It's just easier this way, though."

He was being intentionally happy, because he knew it would piss her off more then anything.

Hey, he thought she deserved it. He'd been about to go get coffee with Haido, and he didn't quite get why that was so important he had to do this. But, he wouldn't question. It was just easier if he let it go.

She made a noise of surprise and started pounding on his back as he walked them down the corridor. Keiko eventually stopped, though she wasn't any less angry, and from time to time, she tried to nail him in the face again.

"Alright you little shit, fine," she said, crossing her arm over his back. "But then I'm NOT telling you what I found out."

There. It wasn't as though she hadn't done something to help Kenji on his crazy ass theory.

...

Crazy ass theory she was buying into a bit...

In seconds, Keiko was in Kenji's arms like one would hold a child. He was giving her his most charming smile, even with his hair pushed into his face.

"Kei-chan..." He threw in the honorific for good measure. "What did you find out?"

She'd found out something? Aw, that meant she was going to really help him! That was sooooo nice. Of course, when it came to Kei, she could very well just be getting him off her back.

Again, she made a loud noise of surprise, and crossed her arms over her own chest this time as she was cradled. Why, why, why did Kenji have to be a little taller than her? And it wasn't by much either!

...

In her world.

Keiko snorted, turning her head away from Kenji, blonde-orange hair flying over her shoulder.

"I might tell you... if we go out to eat," she considered, pausing. "Your treat."

Kenji set her down on her feet, his hands heavy on her shoulders. He sighed, "Fine. Where do you want to go?" They still needed to find a member of ASK! He wanted to know what the fuck was up Taki's ass, because he was totally sick of dealing with it.

Going out to eat would take too long.

Maybe they could get fast food. Yeah. That'd be good.

He knew she wouldn't go for it, though. And that sucked.

Keiko decided to go from bitch to cuddly in an instant. She leaned back against him, smiling up at him. Oh, she would make sure this would wind up agitating him. Absolutely.

"Sushi," she sang playfully. "You need to get us sushi! It's been so long since I've made you take me out."

Keiko's grin turned the whole playful facade sour. It was evil and demanding and it would be heard. She was just that way sometimes.

Kenji's smile was dropped like a particularly heavy brick, and he groaned. Sushi? That was expensive! He was still running on his last paycheck, and she knew it!

Oooh, she was doing it on purpose. He would so get her back for this.

"Alright. Sushi." He sighed, running a hand through his unkempt hair.

It was still mussed from when he'd been talking to Haido. He hadn't noticed then, and he didn't notice now, giving Keiko a careful shove forward. "Come on. We've got to be back before this place shuts down."

He knew how long it could take her to eat. Especially if she was being particularly slow.

She raised her arms in the air and cheered like a child who had won something would. "Yay! Sushi!"

Keiko laughed happily and turned around to face Kenji as they walked. Now everything was good again. Food made everything better. Or sleep. Or cigarettes. Okay, a lot of things made everything better, but sushi was great because she was hungry, she didn't want to pay, and she and Kenji could talk about his half assed theory on Taki and Tohma.

She went over and grabbed onto his arm so they walked side by side as she chanted 'sushi' over and over again gleefully.

Kenji let her lead him along, toward the door and out of the building. The chant of sushi was a little grating, but he knew that it was just because he was too easily annoyed.

Keiko knew it, too. That was probably why she was doing it.

Still, it was better to spend time with an obnoxiously happy Keiko, then a pissed off, nicotine addicted Keiko. Though, the nicotine addiction never did go away.

"Can we try to keep this relatively cheap?" He asked, though he knew it was pointless.

"How much do you want to know what I have to tell you?" Keiko asked teasingly. She knew he wanted to know badly, which, in turn, meant that it would cost him big.

"Don't worry," she cooed. "I'll share though!"

Keiko laughed at this, finding it very funny indeed. Though... she would share a little with Kenji. She loved him so she only did something like clean him out, out of love! Of course!

She led him around to a sushi place and stopped. "Feed me, Kenji-kun!" Keiko nearly shouted.

Kenji brought her into the restaurant, flicking her hard in the side for being such a brat. It was all good natured, though, because he could never be seriously mad at her. She was his best friend, he had no reason to push her away.

"Alright, freak." He gave her a push toward the menu, and the bar itself. "Order something."

He'd been right, though. She was being loud and obnoxious on purpose. Sometimes, walking around with Keiko was like being with a child. Other times, it was like traveling with a mother.

Either way, it was somehow painful.

She whined, rubbing her side as they sat. It wasn't her fault she was hungry! And it was technically his fault they were doing this anyways. If he didn't want to get involved with some crazy shit, it wouldn't've happened!

But just that thought made Keiko smile again. She pinched his arm, looking over the menu and ordering a few things. After all, Kenji was probably hungry too! He was always hungry.

"Okay, so," she said. "You wanted to find a member of ASK, right?"

Ow! Kenji glared as he rubbed his arm, trying to kick her discreetly under the table. "Yeah..." He scowled. "Did you find one of them?"

There were only three total, after all, and they always knew where Taki was. Usually because he was yelling at them, the crazy bastard. It gave Kenji a headache, and it made it hard for him to sing.

And then they got yelled at again for recording something that Taki dubbed "crappy."

It was a cruel, cruel world they lived in.

"Well," she drawled, averting her eyes. "I got some information on them. Basically... Taki was a bitch, Ma was a slut, and there was a keyboardist. Ken."

She poked around her food a bit in silence, eating a little before speaking again.

"Also, there were some weird things between them. Ma was a little... rough. Mostly with... uh, Taki," Keiko said, trying not to blush. That secretary had stories to tell! "Ken was kind of a background guy. Drifter."

After that, it was mostly gibberish. Girl talk.

"Rough with Taki?" Kenji made a face, shaking his head. "What were they, gay?" Somehow, he could see it. Taki was just enough of a whiney bastard to pull off queerdom and make it work.

It wasn't that Kenji necessarily had anything against gays. He just didn't understand how they could find other men attractive. Sure, he could look at a picture of a naked guy and point out some good features, but...

A face flashed in his head, and Kenji felt his heart leap.

It would make sense, he reasoned with himself. It... it would make a lot of sense. But, he liked women too much to be gay! And Haido wasn't very feminine. Maybe he was just going crazy. Yeah. That could do it.

He needed just as much therapy as Taki did.

She took a large bite of her food and nodded, eyes on her plate. Taki could be whatever he wanted. It didn't bother her. She didn't know how Kenji would react to things along those lines. It had never really come up with them.

Keiko swallowed and gasped slightly. Okay, it hadn't been a large bite, a huge bite.

"But, from the rumors going around, Ma went to America," she explained. "ASK had some major falling out. Something big between Taki and the band. But Ken is heard to still be around somewhere."

Kenji decided it would be easier to ignore the fact that Taki was gay. Much, much easier. Though, it could... could explain some things. About Seguchi and...

No way. That had to be impossible!

It was probably better that Ma was out of the country. They wouldn't have to deal with the guy who was rough. It would be easier to deal with a drifter then an aggressor.

"What do you think the chances are that Ken's still at NG?" That would be the first place to look, of course. Then, maybe after that, XMRJapan.

Keiko thought on the question for a moment, chewing thoughtfully. Well, what were the chances? It was... two years ago that ASK had their breakup. Give or take a few months. So, if after the break up, Ma left, Taki left and Ken was a drifter... where would he go?

"There's a good chance that Ken with N-G," she finally answered. "But don't get your hopes up. Asking for his schedule could be risky, and for all we know, he could be going by a different name now."

Had to think it all through.

"Well... the worst we could do is check and be wrong." Kenji shrugged, reaching across the table to steal some of Keiko's sushi. "If we have to, we can say the guy is like... my idol or something, and I had to see him because he was in the building."

Kenji shrugged one uncaring shoulder. So what if Ken was a synth player and not a singer? It didn't matter THAT much!

Details were boring anyway.

Keiko looked at him like he was the dumbest person on Earth. How did that make any sense whatsoever?!

"Get Haido to ask then," she suggested. "Having a singer idolize a keyboardist is too risky. Especially with Taki around us. If Haido wants a reason, tell him that you've always wanted meet him since you think the music is great, but you're afraid to do it yourself."

That, and Haido was polite enough to pull it off. Kenji would so totally and completely fuck it up.

Mentioning Haido aloud brought back Kenji's scowl. "I can't ask him to do that. I don't know him that well!" He gave her a look as if to say, "Thanks to YOU!"

He knew it wasn't true, though. They would have been interrupted anyway. It was only a coincidence that it was Keiko who did it.

Leaning back in his chair, he sighed. "Maybe I could ask him, but it would take a few days, at least. I've got to get my phone back from him tomorrow, then we're going to get coffee."

Well, it wasn't agreed on, but Kenji was sure Haido wouldn't object.

Keiko raised an eyebrow. He was going for coffee, and he gave Haido his phone? She really must've interrupted something. But hell... as far as Keiko knew, she'd been Kenji's only friend since they met. Vice versa, but she hadn't really minded.

Suddenly Kenji wanted to branch out.

"Uh... well, I didn't think you'd take my advice seriously," she said, clearing her throat. Had it even been advice? She couldn't remember. "But, uh... yeah, using Haido wouldn't be a bad thing. I'm sure he'd understand. Maybe even want to help if you... no, if we explained it."

Haido probably didn't speak Kenji, if she let Kenji explain everything, Haido would be confused.

"Maybe..." Kenji's brow furrowed. He had spent more then his fair share of life with Keiko. Enough to know how she acted when something was on her mind. Since they were twelve... It had nearly been seven years.

Still, he'd never been good at prying into the way Keiko felt. In his experience, if she wasn't going to tell him about it, it wasn't that important. So, he just had to sit back and wait for her to tell him.

Brushing a hand through his hair, he seemed to realize what a mess it had become and started to flatten it back into place. "Will you help me talk to him tomorrow?"

Keiko leaned over, smoothing his hair a bit. He wanted her help? Well, maybe something in Kenji hadn't changed after all. She smiled, leaning back into her seat.

"Of course!" she said, nodding. "Why wouldn't I help you?"

It was interesting though... now they were actually involving the whole band. They'd never bothered before, but suddenly Haido was going to be around. She wasn't sure if it was interesting or not. Weird.

"So, we want Haido in on everything?"

Kenji nodded, though he obviously wasn't entirely sure on his decision. Really, he'd only talked to Haido the once since asking him to join the band. That was their longest conversation, and bringing him in on everything...

Well, that was a big step.

"Yeah... If we're going to need his help, we might as well." He nodded again, just to seal it. It was just easier. And certainly more fair to Haido.

Kenji didn't know when 'fair' had become so important to him.

"Alright, tomorrow at practice then," Keiko said with a nod. "Until then, how about we call it a day, huh?"

She didn't want to think about anything else anymore tonight. Let things pan out as they were. She didn't feel like handling anything else tonight. She was lazy, couldn't be helped.

"Why'd you give him your phone?"

Kenji shrugged, pulling long legs up to sit cross-legged on the chair. He just had too much energy. If he didn't move, he'd get restless. "So he could program his number into it. It's not like we don't see him every day, so I'll be able to get it back."

He shrugged. It didn't seem like a big deal to him. Maybe he just trusted a little too easily, or Haido was simply inspiring a lot of trust, but he knew he would get his phone back.

Haido just didn't seem like the kind of person to run off with something.

"Hey, just asking," Keiko said, holding her hands up. Touchy touchy.

Kenji made it sound like she didn't find Haido trustworthy. The kid was quite, not a devil. Keiko didn't mind him at all. And hell, it was Kenji's phone. He could do what he wanted with it.

"Alright, so we'll all work together tomorrow," Keiko told him, nodding. "But c'mon, let's get outta here, okay? You can play videogames at my place if you want."

Just something to make this feeling go away. Something unsettling about all of this Haido talk from Kenji...

"Okay!" Kenji grinned, all but bouncing up out of his seat. He picked up Keiko's plate and brought it to the front for boxing, because he wasn't going to let a bunch of sushi go to waste.

Especially not when he was the one who had to pay for it.

Like Keiko would let it go to waste anyways! She followed after him, laughing as he nearly tripped over his own two feet in his enthusiasm. But hey, he may have to pay for the sushi, but she would pay for letting him come over and wreck her place for a few hours. That's how it worked.
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Author’s Notes: These next few chapters will be the only time that Taki’s past with Shuichi will ever be brought up. And it’s brought up loosely at that. We name no specifics because there’s no point. But when you go digging around in someone else’s life, you’re bound to find the dirty secrets.

So, where does little Haido come to play in all this? Keep on reading and you’ll find out.

Please review!

~Subby