Much Needed Time Off

His plans to go to sleep around three a.m. and sleep heavily only to wake up at three in the afternoon didn't exactly go as he'd planned. He konked out around 8 p.m., only to find himself wide awake around four a.m. the next morning.

K stared at the ceiling, unable to fall back asleep. He'd tried counting sheep, he'd tried counting goats- hell, he even tried counting bouncing Suichi's, each one of them baaing out "YUKIIIIII" as they jumped little crying Sakanos. Nothing seemed to work, and around five thirty he gave in and got up. The air in the room was chilly, as it was fast approaching winter in the city, and he was glad on more than one occassion for his long hair. K clicked on the lamp next to his bed and looked around the room. There was stuff...ALL..over the floor- half ripped or half read magazines that featured articles concerning Bad Luck, clothes half unpacked from the last tour he'd done with the band, and of course the endless boxes of Strawberry Pokey he'd eaten last week. He silently cursed Suichi for getting the blonde addicted to it.

He stood up out of bed and stretched as he checked the clock again. It had taken him five minutes to get up, and he still had seven more days left to go. Oy. He sighed and looked around the room again with a scowl. Oh well- if he was up, he might as well do something with the time he was given.
* * * *

"This is his apartment address and number, but I really DON'T think you should bother K-san on his week off, Nakano-kun." The producer handed over the scrap of paper with a worried look.

"Relax. It's just one small thing, that's all. What's the worse he can do? SHOOT me?" Hiro smirked as he took the folded peice of paper from Sakano's hand and stuffed it in the breast pocket of his jacket.

"but he does that all the time.."

"EXACTLY. Jai, Sakano-san." Hiro waved behind him as he turned towards the front door of the NG studios. He'd stopped by the office buildings to see something Fujisaki had done with a remix (didn't that guy ever leave work?), only to have Fujisaki ask Hiro to drop something off at Kay's place. Hiro had to practically force the manager's apartment information out of Sakano, who only gave it up when he saw the large manilla envelope Hiro carried under his arm. The guitarest shrugged as he tossed the envelope inside his jacket and mounted his bike. All he had to do was deliver the whatever-it-was and finish his delivery boy job. True, he might have to suffer a few bullet holes along the way but he was a fast healer.

K's apartment wasn't too far, thankfully, and Hiro recognized the neighborhood as being on the high end of the pay check scale. The buildings looked freshly whitewashed, the fake grass out in the front of the buildings a bright green color. All that was missing was the Greek statues and peacocks, Hiro figured with a shrug. Hell, if you got the money. He stepped up to the buzzer box, pushing the number 23 on the list. The familiar static sound buzzed out for a minute before the telephone system, or whatever it was they used, started ringing. A pause- then a voice, sounding a bit out of breath, answered. "WHAT?!"

"Glad to see you're in a good mood."

"....Nakano? What the hell are you doing here..and how the hell do you know where I live, anyway?"

"Sakano-san gave me your address. Open up, I've something here from Seguchi-san." He took the manilla envelope out of his jacket and waved it at the buzzer box.

"Somethig from Tohma?"

"That's what Fujisaki told me, anyways." Hiro waited for a response, but after a minute or so nothing came. "K- you still the-" He was cut off as the buzzer for the gate release sounded, and it swung open on an automatic release. "Be there in a minute." He wasn't sure if Kay had heard him or not, but he walked the hallway towards apartment number 23 anyway. The gold letters on the door looked shiney and new, and as Hiro rang the doorbell he wondered just how much it cost to live there a month. He looked up as the door swung open, and he almost dropped the evelope he carried.

K stood there, but it wasn't the K he saw every day. For once, this version of K didn't don the usual khaki slacks, white shirt or purple tie or everyday wear. Instead he wore a pair of low hanging, straight legged jeans and what looked like a normal shirt. The high pony tail actually put back in a rather sloppy looking bun, and was covered by a black bandana. The two men blinked at each other for a minute before K lifted an eyebrow. "WELL, you gonna tell me what you're looking at like that or do I have to make you?"

"Oh um...gomen, K-san, I was just..." Hiro looked for an excuse, any excuse at his hesitantcy. "Just wondering who Lynard Skynard is." He pointed at the shirt K wore, and the blondes eyes followed it to his chest.

"It's a band in America."

"Oh."

"Well, are you coming in or not?" K stepped away from the door, pointing his thumb towards the inside of the apartment.

"Oh, right...thanks..." Hiro slipped in through the door under the taller man's arm, and stopped short in the doorway. He was looking at what he HOPED was a work in progress, and not a landfill in progress. Clothes filled laundry hampers everywhere around the room, ones on hangers he ASSUMED were clean laying across the back of the couch. There were three or so full trash bags laying alongside the hampers, and more guns laying, dismantled thankfully, across the living room table than most serial killers had in a lifetime. "Um....spring cleaning?"

"You could say that." K shut the door and walked over to the table, sitting down as he picked up a still whole gun. "Didn't you say you had something for me?"

"OH! Uh, yeah, sorry...here ya go." He handed the rat manilla envelope out to Kay, and as the blonde took it Hiro took the time to marvel at the difference in his manager. He'd never seen K in anything less than a suit, and the change in apparel was kind of nice. He was about to comment on the fact before a scowl on K's face made him change his mind. K had just opened the envelope and was looking at what had to be legal forms with a look of utmost displeasure. Hiro watched K stuff them back into their enclosure, close the evelope again and toss it onto the couch with a snort. "Um...I hate to inerrupt your vacation time so I'l just be goin-"

"Question."

He'd half turned around before K's statement caused him to turn back. "Yeah?"

K stood up and looked around his apartment at the baskets of dirty laundry and trash with a sigh. "Listen, I'm not used to all of this time off so...I'm just wondering...what all is there to do around this town?"

hiro blinked. He couldn't decide which was more weird- his manager asking him, or K asking anything without reinforcing it with a gun. "Well..um..there's tons of clubs to go to around downtown...there's the arcade and the movie theater. There's lot of stuff to do. What plans did you have this week?"

"Outside of finishing cleaning...not a damn thing. I'm pretty damn boring outside of work, to tell the truth."

"Well..." Hiro scratched the back of his head, deciding to go out on a limb. "Suichi and I usually go out to the Spin Club downtown tonight...why don't you join us?" He smiled and lifted his brows hopefully. Somewhere along the conversation he'd started playing with his helmet, and now he tapped his fingernails on it as he waited for an answer.

K stood there, staring at Hiro for a minute. "Are you serious? don't I make your life a living hell enough while I'm at work?"

"Yeah, but we're not AT work, are we? Anyway, I gotta go. Think about it, and if you wanna come meet me n' Suichi at the club entrance around eight, alright?" He put his helmet back on, lifting up the visor as he gave K the thumbs up. He started towards the door, but stopped halfway. "Oh, and if you're going to come, come in something like that, okay?" He pointed his finger up and down K's frame at his clothing before he opened the door again, disappearing outside. He shut the door and leaned against it, his heart beating a mile a minute. He walked towards the gate and his parked motorcyle, replaying what he'd just done in his head. He just asked K, the trigger happy, violent American manager, to join him and Suichi at a club? A CLUB? A NRA meeting he could see K at but a club?!

Hiro shook his head as he got back on his bike and started it up. Oh well, the deed was done, and he couldn't uninvite K without souding rude. He reved up his bike and set off down the road, hair flying out behind him. More the likely K won't even show up, he thought.

K watched Hiro ride away out of his living room window, his face scrunched up in thought. Okay, that was weird. Nakano, the one person he thought liked him as much as a cockaroach would like a can of RAID, just invited him to a..a club? Was that like a date or something? He turned back into the living room, his eyes automatically falling on the manilla envelope on the couch. His thoughtful look became a scowl and he snorted. Well, he thought, if he was going out tonight he'd better get done cleaning and pick out something to wear...
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AN- yay :D