Transaction

Disclaimer: Blah, blah, blah crap, blah.

Author’s Notes: Hello from New Orleans! Hotels are awesome. Big tub and a nice hot bath. Yay! Anyways, we don’t have anymore reservations to make, so it’s all fun from here. No more doing one state a day. Anyways, here’s the regular notes.

I liiiiiiiiied! I did, I did, I did! I did not sleep at all. And I’m packing and I got bored and now I’m here. WOOT! This chapter is awesome good times, peoples. Awesome good times. I think, and no offense to you good, nice, fun readers, that once the next few chapters go up, we’ll be flooded with reviews.

Why?

I’ll tell you if it happens.
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Transaction
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Chapter Twenty-Three
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"Alright, good afternoon," Tohma greeted Opium as they sat. "Is everyone doing well?" he looked at all of them, smiling. "Good to hear it."

Keiko slumped downwards in her chair. Bored. So very bored, and confused. One leg was tempted to lift up and rest on the table, but she could feel Taki glaring at her already for slouching. Bastard. The dick really needed to get laid if you asked her.

Loosen up a bit she mentally groaned exasperated at Taki, rolling her eyes as her head lolled to one side to look at Tohma.

Haido was sitting on one side of the table, hands resting neatly atop it, his right one still bandaged. His eyes were downcast and he looked sullen, though since he was always quiet, he wasn't sure if anyone could tell the difference.

Kenji had been ignoring him since they had gotten walked in on. He guessed it was only to be expected, after all, no one wanted their boss to know their sexual habits. It was weird.

Haido felt his face heat up at the though of the two of them in the studio last week. What had happened?

"-Which is why I'm happy to announce that I will be filling in for Chiba-san while he is healing," Tohma said pleasantly, looking around the table. "Unless of course you all object. I would be more than happy to arrange something else."

Kenji couldn't look up at Tohma, or at Taki, or even Keiko. But especially, he couldn't look at Haido. Every time he did, his face would heat and suddenly, the room would become too warm. He couldn't hold and keep eye contact with anyone in the room, not if he tried.

He'd been angsting over the entire situation for days. Even now, seated across the table from Haido, he couldn't stop thinking about it. He remembered with stunning detail the way it had felt, and he had to wonder how far they would have taken it if they hadn't been interrupted.

Neither of them had been thinking very clearly.

Just like Kenji wasn't thinking now. He just nodded when Tohma stopped talking, before finally, the words penetrated through the fog that had been surrounding him. His eyes widened and he felt his jaw drop.

But... Haido would be fine soon! They didn't need a replacement, even if it was Tohma!

Taki interrupted before he could protest. "No, I think the arrangement will do fine." He glanced at Kenji, then Keiko, as if daring them to object.

Keiko felt the urge to flip Taki off for her own amusement. She didn't care who was doing what. Yes, she was in a very bad mood today. She'd gotten up like that and couldn't explain why, nor did she care to. She kind of liked these days. The ones that she told the world 'fuck you' and laughed.

Keiko certainly wasn't taking the whole... Kenji and Haido thing very well.

Tohma nodded. "Wonderful! I hope to get started right away. And Chiba-san, I assure you that you can direct me with your music all you wish."

And that was saying something.

Haido just nodded glumly. He didn't feel much like playing anyways. After all, it really wasn't a good feeling, this. He didn't know if it was used, or possibly a moment of clarity on Kenji's part, but it was just... disheartening.

This was disgusting. It made Taki feel sick, because they'd all been like this for days. He and Tohma were becoming the only driving force behind the band, and that wasn't the way it was supposed to work.

They had to have energy, had to want to do it, or nothing would get done. There would be no point in recording if they weren't inspired to do it.

He'd already cut Kenji off from coffee, curious to see if it would help inspire him to get more done. All it did was make him sleep on his feet.

Taki was running out of ideas.

"Then let's get to work." He pushed himself up, out of his seat. All this was doing was adding more stress onto all of them. He was sure they knew it.

His eyes fell on Kenji, who had drifted into his thoughts again. "Now, Sonoda." Red hair shifted as Kenji looked up, and he nodded mutely as he stood.

It defeated the purpose entirely. A mute singer. Useless.

Tohma continued smiling, though this was one of those moments where the smile wanted to fall and his face would twitch. This certainly wasn't the band he'd signed, and if this continued and no work was accomplished, they could be certain that they would be the band he fired. This was job, not a game. It was not high school where you could pout.

Keiko got up with a groan, the long black skirt flowing out behind her, revealing the large boots underneath. Her shirt had some inane saying on it and her arms were coated in bracelets. Tohma thought he kind of liked that look. But that hair... what was with them and hair color?

Haido got up quietly leaving after Kenji so as not to make himself nervous or awkward. He was a tad paranoid. Tohma pitied the boy, but didn't look it. Something had happened, and the blond would bet his company on the scene they had walked in on last week.

Tohma exited in time to walk beside Taki. If he was personally involved with the band, then he needed to confer with the manager to help get the job done.

"We need to fix it," he said in a low tone watching the three ahead of them.

Taki nodded, his eyes on Kenji's back. His walk was sedated, slow and tired. "They can't keep this up." His voice was equally low, quiet so only Tohma could hear. "We won't get anything done if they don't have the motivation."

It was the motive that they lacked now. They'd had it, and since that day, it was gone. Taki could only wonder at what kind of trouble they'd gotten themselves into beforehand, but there was no way to ask. Not without exchanged and quickly dropped looks, red faces, and mumbling shrugs.

They were impossible.

Sighing, Taki glanced at Tohma. "Any suggestions?"

They looked dead. Not physically, but dead in the way that there was no emotion. Not even hostility, something Taki was readily familiar with. There was nothing, just that same quiet acquiescence that wasn't doing them any good.

"Lock them in a room together is my best suggestion to fast forward what will eventually happen," Tohma murmured quietly.

It was inevitable. Even if it had been a moment of passion, the two of them wouldn't be acting like that unless there was something more too it. Unless only one of them was acting this way, but it was both.

If they locked them in a room together, well... the results would vary. It could range along the lines of tears, shouts or something more private. He didn't know if Taki would go for his suggestion either way, but it was something to keep in mind when they got desperate.

"We're almost done with this CD, Aizawa," he said firmly. "You know what comes next."

Concert. The first big concert, and then a tour, then another CD, if it all went as planned.

"I will not put up with a dead voice and soulless music."

"I wouldn't let you." Taki countered, hands slipping into his pockets.

How tempting was it just to lock them in a room? Incredibly tempting. Keiko was the only one who had some life to her. Would she find the inspiration if both Haido and Kenji stopped sulking?

Maybe, but Taki wasn't willing to risk it.

There was a small quirk to his lips as he slipped a hand out of his pocket and took Tohma by the elbow, stopping their progress down the hall. "You wouldn't happen to have your keys, would you?"

What better room to lock them in then the studio? They might even get some work done. Either that, or they'd break something. One could only hope for the better option.

Tohma halted, watching the group plod on. You could almost see the dark haze of their downcast emotion hanging over them. It was frightful what was happening to the band, though maybe it could be fixed.

No, it would be fixed.

He smiled slightly and wriggled a hand in his pocket, which produced the sound of muffled jingling. He had his keys. He never left without them. Mostly because of the incidents like the one Haido and Kenji had been caught in.

"Which room would you like?" the blond asked graciously, a bite of droll, but excited, sarcasm in his voice.

Taki could feel the smile spreading over his features, but it didn't occur to him to stop the progress. "The studio. Maybe they can get some work done while they're there." He snorted, because it was a highly unlikely prospect.

They'd probably kill each other. Or Keiko would kill her band members.

He didn't care, so long as the end result was a productive one. He didn't want to push any harder then he already was for a sellable track.

At this rate, though, they'd never make it onstage. They would be booed off before Kenji bothered to open his mouth.

Tohma was smiling widely and nodded happily. Wonderful! They could even watch the results from his office if they wanted. He pulled the keys from his pocket. It was a small ring choked with an assortment of keys all set by size order. He held them in a tight fist and nodded.

"Hurry or they'll come looking," the blond said, feeling excited.

Messing around with other people's lives always got the blood pumping.
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Author’s Notes: Oh, Tohma. Why do you do such things?

Tohma: Because I can, of course.

What are you? God?

Tohma: I’d like to think a lesser version thereof.

But… I control you.

Tohma: So you think! But you never planned half this stuff.

o.O He’s right! I know what you didn’t know I knew I was gonna do.

Tohma: Oh?

You’ll just hate it. And then we’ll see who’s in charge!

I’m at the delusional stage of no sleeping. And if I take a nap, I’m fucked and off schedule. Tune in next time! It gets good.

~Subby