Transaction

Disclaimer: Bleh.

Author’s Notes: Hey everyone! Here's the second update. I hope you're all enjoying the story so far. It's been so much fun to write with Kel. We were surprised the the reviews didn't start pouring in after the sex scenes. That's usually how it happens, y'know? Anyways, this is a fun chapter.

Enjoy!
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Transaction

Chapter Thirty-Eight
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Haido glared at his cell phone, snapping it shut. No answer. So now what could they do? He set the small silver phone down in the table, crossing his arms and looking over at Keiko.

"No answer," he said flatly.

"No shit," she replied, glaring at him.

"So what do you suggest, then?"

"Let him come back on his own."

"Seguchi-san won't allow that."

Keiko said nothing as she sighed and picked up her things. Haido watched silently as she left the room. He did nothing as he knew she was leaving the building and going out to find Kenji.

As she stepped outside, she started walking in the direction of the flow of people. She didn't know where to look first since his mood was so unstable.

He didn't go home. Kenji knew he was being petty, but he held his phone as he walked, watching Haido's name blink on the little screen that told him who was calling. He wasn't going to pick it up, but he got a sick kind of pleasure knowing that Haido was trying to call him.

What was he going to do, apologize?

Yeah, right. Haido had said it himself, the only thing he regretted was getting involved with Kenji.

It shouldn't have hurt so much. It was only sex! Important sex, but it was still just sex.

Shoving the phone back in his pocket, Kenji wasn't paying attention to where he was going. But not home. He didn't want to be found yet. Some time on his own sounded good. Too good, almost.

He veered left, into a park, up a short flight of steps, and found himself staring up at a monument. The park seemed quiet, but he knew there were people around. He could hear them, children laughing, trying to get their mothers attention. Dogs barking, pulling along their owners on the lunchtime walk. Kids skipping class and talking on their cell phones.

And his phone was dismally quiet again.

Dropping hard onto the ground, Kenji let himself sprawl on the grass, eyes shut. He wondered if anyone would wake him up if he fell asleep.

Haido left the building a little while after Keiko, slipping his phone into his pocket. Kenji wouldn't pick up for him, that was obvious, but there was no reason to stay in the building. He just walked, trying to clear his head, but it all wound up back on Kenji and how to fix this, if for no other reason than to make sure the band stayed together.

Eventually he found himself at the park near his house. It was still early and he didn't feel like going back home yet. Nothing to do. He walked through, looking at the people around. He liked watching people. It was always interesting.

Haido walked passed someone laying in the grass and smiled. You really didn't see that anymore, someone just enjoying something so simple.

Wait... red hair.

He stopped and crossed over to a bench and took out his phone. Sitting down he called Kenji's number, if nothing else it would wake him up. He doubted he would pick up.

His pants were vibrating. Kenji cursed, pushing himself up and digging through his pocket to reach his phone. He glared at the screen with Haido's name, irritation taking over the sick pleasure. Sitting up fully, he turned and threw the phone hard. It landed well away from him, lying open on the grass.

Flopping back down again, Kenji draped an arm over his eyes, then promptly hissed and jerked it away. His eye was still red, and it was beginning to swell. He needed ice for it, but ice would mean he had to go home.

He didn't want to go home. He didn't want to be found, and that's why his phone was lying in the grass, probably racking up minutes as Haido talked to himself.

Well, good. Kenji didn't want to talk to him, so he'd get more conversation out of himself than anyone else. Bastard.

Haido frowned as he watched Kenji sit up and throw his phone. Someone was PMSing pretty hard. What a bitch. He didn't know why it was so hard to just talk about something.

He got up from the bench and went back over to Kenji, kicking one of his boots, arms crossed. He didn't know what he was doing or what he was going to say, but he couldn't avoid it now.

Would this wind up better or worse?

There was a dumbshit kicking his shoe. Kenji sighed, opening his eyes to glare up at the offender. The glare never reached its full potential, because his eyes widened and he stared, forcing himself to roll over and grab for his phone.

Maybe it was time to go home. He didn't want to talk to Haido until Haido knew what he was talking about.

The other man's ignorance made him angry, unstable and unreasonable.

"So that’s it?" he asked, watching Kenji scramble around. "You don't even want to talk this out at all?"

Oh hell, it didn't matter. Haido only needed to know if Kenji quit or not. Screw whatever happened between them. Hey couldn't deal with that right now.

"Never mind. Seguchi and Aizawa need to know if you quit or not," Haido said. "If you didn't, you have to come into work tomorrow."

No one said what would happen if Kenji had quit.

He stopped grabbing for his phone, sitting down cross-legged instead. Kenji snapped the phone shut, brow furrowing into a hard frown. "I'm not going back tomorrow." He tilted his head back, hands in his lap.

The entire position perfected the child like look, save for the bruise over his eye and the bright color of his hair. The want to stay away from home was very much gone, now, and he would love nothing more then to return to his apartment where he didn't have to face Haido.

He didn't know what to say. He wanted to yell again, because yelling had been easy, but he didn't want to begin to talk about the subject that Haido had first mentioned. He just wished it could solve itself.

Haido looked down at Kenji with raised eyebrows. He wasn't coming in tomorrow? Now, this could just mean that he didn't want to come in tomorrow.

It could also mean that he quit.

"As in you're taking the day off?" he asked, trying to clarify whatever was going on. "Or do you quit, because I didn't think of you as one who would quit their dream."

Haido couldn't believe the childish way Kenji was handling all of this. Damnit, it was so infuriating!

"It doesn't feel like the same dream anymore." Kenji sighed, his frown deepened. "It's changed." And he was sure Haido knew how it had changed, and how he wanted it to go back to what it was before.

Haido had to understand that, if not the entire situation.

Pushing himself to his feet, he shoved his phone back into his pocket, brushing off his pants. Rubbing his hands through his hair, he sighed. There was just something... wrong, and he wanted it to go away.

"You still don't remember, do you?" Quiet, because he hadn't meant to say it.

"If said I did, would you stop running away and talk to me?" Haido asked. "Or would we just keep playing this game?"

He couldn't fix Kenji, he couldn't change Kenji, but he couldn't put up with Kenji if he kept running away from everything. Haido wasn't exactly demanding or picky, he just wasn't a fan of the whole 'well, if you don't know what you did wrong, I won't tell you'.

"And if your dream has changed because of me, it's a stupid reason to quit. People are going to do worse and more idiotic things to you in your life... and if you let just me stop you because I'm a thoughtless moron who needs to be kicked in the head, then how is it you deal with Keiko every day?"

Haido rubbed the small of his back that was most likely bruised from her kicking his chair out. He looked up at Kenji, offering a small smile and a shrug.

The smile through him off, and Kenji blinked. "What happened to your back?" He asked, stepping around Haido to stare at his back as if he could see what was wrong through the shirt. Instinctively, accidentally, he touched Haido's side, fingers light and hesitant as he realized what he was doing.

He was going to deal with the subjects of their conversation one at a time, as he had to. He didn't want to think about it all at once, because it was an overwhelming weight to consider.

"Keiko," he said shortly, dropping his hand away. "We, uh... had a misunderstanding, and I wound up on the floor."

Haido felt the fingers brushing over him and looked over his shoulder up at Kenji. Still so very easily distracted.

"I don't know how you do it every single day," he sighed. "She's frightening."

And she didn't even directly hit him! She only kicked his chair out, the chair mainly did the damage to him. Kenji looked worse for wear than he did. Still, Keiko scared him.

"She's my best friend." Kenji shrugged, straightening up and taking his hands away. "You get used to it after a few years." He sighed, and took a step back, away from Haido.

"Unless you find a new singer, though, you won't have a few years." He wasn't going to do it anymore. He'd made up his mind, and that was it. He was sure there was someone who could replace him. It couldn't be that hard to find a lead singer.

He wasn't sure he wanted to stick around to see Haido's reaction, though, and ditching down the park's path sounded very appealing.

"Can we talk about this at all, Kenji?" Haido asked softly. "Can you at least give me the chance to try and fix this?"

He didn't want something to end before it even started. He wanted to make things right again. And if talking wouldn't help matters, maybe something else would.

"If I left, would you go back?" he questioned, turning around to face Kenji. "You can replace me, easy. But you and Keiko... why break something like that up? Go in tomorrow. I'll call Seguchi to tell him I'm leaving."

Most of the tracks were already recorded, advertising had just barely started, so no one really knew him. A replacement would be easily done for a synth player.

"You shouldn't leave, Haido." Kenji shook his head, shoving his hands in his pockets. He'd do something stupid if he didn't. "You worked hard, you should be able to go through with it."

And had he worked hard? Hell yes, he had, but this was his decision, and he was done deciding on it. He didn't think Haido could convince him out of it.

He didn't want to talk about replacements, though he knew it would become a subject that wouldn't leave him alone. He didn't really want to have anyone be replaced, even him, but leaving was just easier. He didn't want to have to suffer through everything just because he and Haido couldn't get along.

Even if they were getting along now.

Haido sighed, running a hand through his hair impatiently. This was not how it should've happened. It was Kenji's band, literally. It had been Kenji and Keiko, they dragged him in, and now Kenji was leaving.

That's not how it was supposed to go.

"Kenji, I just want to know," he said, shifting his weight for a moment. "Is there nothing I can do now?"

He wouldn't blame the other man if the answer was no. But Haido didn't want to think that this was the end. After all... the things that had happened between must've happened with some purpose behind them.

Or is could've been wishful thinking.

He didn't say anything for a long time. Kenji was frowning again, his fingers flat against his legs in his pockets. He was looking at Haido, but not seeing him, staring past the other man at the trees that kept the park from the road.

Was there anything Haido could do?

He wasn't sure, and it made him feel sick, deep in his stomach like he'd eaten something bad for lunch. But that wasn't possible, because he hadn't eaten lunch. He'd gotten beat up instead.

That was okay, he supposed. He hadn't really been hungry anyway.

"I don't know." He finally whispered, soft and quiet. He really didn't know. All he knew was that the problem stemmed from his own inability to talk to Haido, and tell him what was wrong, and Haido's inability to remember. He knew that if he told the other man, it was all too likely they could find a way to solve the problem, but he was still hurt, and couldn't make himself say the words.

The silence was unnerving considering where it was coming from. Haido was hoping beyond hope that something good would suddenly happen. After all this drama, something good was bound to happen for them eventually, right?

"Then let me try and make it up to you?" Haido asked. "Saying sorry won't really cut it, will it? So... just let me try."

If Kenji got sick of him, he'd give up. But it couldn't hurt to try, at the very least the singer should give him that... unless he was already sick of Haido.

"Please, Kenji," he asked quietly. "Because I didn't mean it when I said I wasted my time with you."

Kenji blinked, bringing his gaze back to Haido. His brow furrowed, as if he was confused, but he knew he had heard right. Haido wanted to try. For him. He couldn't make himself angry when Haido was looking at him like that. He tried, and he couldn't.

He was shaking his head, but it wasn't to say no. It was slow, like he was trying to convince himself this was really happening.

"You don't even know what you did, Haido. How can you make it better if you don't know what you're trying to fix?"

He'd have to tell him. Kenji knew he had to, but it made his stomach flip. Oh, god... He couldn't. He couldn't! But he wanted to let Haido try, more then he didn't want to tell him.

"Maybe I can figure it out as I go," Haido said with a shrug, though that wasn't to say he didn't really care what he had did, but to say that he didn't find that aspect as important as getting the chance to make it up to Kenji. "Give me a week, Kenji. Just a week is all I'm asking. If I haven't done anything to at least sway you in to staying with the band, that being the very least of my goals, I promise never to bother you again about anything."

Haido had no idea what he was going to do, but it was time to start thinking about it. It wasn't a matter of spoiling the crap out of Kenji for a week, it was a matter of doing things that would keep Kenji's mind on the good instead of the idiotic, stupid and moronic things he'd done. A grander form of apology than 'I'm sorry'.

He could do it... couldn't he?

"Okay." Kenji had agreed before he bothered to think about it. "One week."

Could he handle one week? He couldn't forget the day locked in the studio, or the anger he had felt at Haido only an hour before. One week of giving Haido a chance. One whole week.

What was Haido going to do?

What was HE going to do?

Kenji rubbed a hand through his hair, a light line pressed into his skin because of the way he'd had his wrist. "I should go home." He gestured at his eye, which was noticeably swollen now. It was throbbing, too, giving him a headache that rivaled the time when Keiko had kicked him into a wall.

Okay? Kenji actually agreed to let him do this? Basically they were both in the dark on what would happen, but Haido was determined to make it work. He had to, otherwise he could officially be blamed for destroying a few lives and their dreams.

"Oh?" he looked over the singer's eye quickly. It had gotten pretty bad. "Yes, alright. I'll tell Seguchi and Aizawa that things are on hold for now, and, hopefully, I'll be seeing you soon."

After he figured out how to pull off something great for Kenji. For a whole week. This was going to be insane. What had he gotten himself into?
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Author's Notes: See? More development on Haido. And a tender moment. Almost. So, the question is, what will Haido do? And what's going on with Tohma and Taki? All things shall be revealed!

Drop us a line.

~Subby