Transaction

Disclaimer: Don't own anything except Opium!

Author’s Notes: Alrighty then. I know I said I'd be doing two updates per day. This should, technically, be chapter 40. I apologize. When I came home last night, I had found out that my dog had chewed through the wire that chages my computer. I hope he got a nasty shock considering it was still plugged in. My older brother did a quick fix by stripping the wire and reconnecting it, so it'll last (hopefully) until I get a new wire that fits this computer.

On a lighter note, I've finished the basic editing on all the chapters I had left to go over. So, over the next few days of updating this story and trying to get Kel back on track with the sequel, I'll be going over the chapters more and more to fine tune the editing. I find it's easier to do a little bit at a time with a large piece of work. So, instead of spending hours and hours on one chapter, I spend a few hours on a bunch and do a little at a time. It's good.

Also, I'll try my hardest to get Kel's input when I can or feel it's needed. I really would've loved to have her words a few chapters back with the one we hated, but she's just busy. She has a friend coming in to see her in April, and school, and the relationships. Typical high school! So, between all that and school work, it doesn't really bother me. I remember how fun and hectic it was.

Anyways, enjoy!
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Transaction
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Chapter Thirty-Nine
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Keiko wanted to laugh, and she did, right in Haido's face. She was still angry, and this was just too priceless. "Why the hell should I tell you about Kenji?" She demanded, her arms folding over her chest.

She hadn't found Kenji when she had left to look for him, but it had only taken an hour for her to get the call from Haido to meet him back at the NG building. And now this?

The hilarity was almost too much.

Haido bit the inside of his cheek. What else could he expect? Keiko didn't want anything to do with him, and she most likely didn't want him to have anything to do with Kenji.

This was going to be a lot harder than he thought.

"He said he's going to quit," Haido said calmly. "All I've got is one week to make everything up to him. Hopefully I can do well enough to at least keep him in the band."

Would she deny him even after that?

"At least tell me about him so we can keep the band together," he said, almost pleading.

They were in one of the break rooms, and Keiko dropped into a chair. She propped booted feet up on the table, crossed at the ankles. For a moment, she just stared at Haido, then she sighed.

It was for the band, after all.

"Sit down. I'll tell you what he likes."

A huge wave of relief washed over him as he pulled out a chair and sat down across from Keiko. Haido wanted to say thank you, or something, but from the grudging way she was giving in, it didn't seem like the right time for pleasantries.

"I need to know everything," he said, leaning over the table. "Food, colors, music, TV shows all of it. Anything he's every told you he's wanted to do, or... or anything like that. I need to know."

Maybe if he got enough information, he could actually pull this off. Maybe he'd be able to do something right for once out of all of this. It was just feeling so rushed, Haido was starting to feel uneasy about it all.

"Food?" Keiko leaned back in the chair, front to feet coming off the floor. "He loves pizza, but he won't eat it in a restaurant because he thinks it's too small. He loves Ramune soda, his favorite color is light blue, he loves Iceman. Rin, particularly, but he thinks Kenichi Ito is funny. He watched Castle in the Sky eight times when he bought it, but his copy broke."

Her voice was tender, but still clipped with irritation. She'd known Kenji for years, but it felt so strange to list off his quirks, and the things he liked.

"He loves anime. He's always wanted to go to a convention, but every time one came around, he'd be out of town, or sick. He hates to be cold, and he has too many sweatshirts that he never wears out of the house."

She had to think, now, scraping over her memory of everything Kenji had ever told her he wanted to do. "He's never ridden a horse or a motorcycle. He hates grow out in his hair, and dyes it every two weeks. He can't sleep on his back or his stomach, always on his side. He hates having dirt under his fingernails."

She wasn't listing things that Haido could do for him, more quirks. Things she had noticed over the years. "He never has food in his apartment because he can't cook. He's asthmatic, can't run for more then a few blocks. He wants to get a tattoo and a piercing, but he's too afraid to do it on his own."

Haido listened with rapt attention, lips tugging in a small smile every now and then. He could see Kenji getting excited over some new anime in a store, or being mad when he's laid up sick and he can't go out.

The music tastes wasn't as much of a surprise to him. He'd thought that sounded right. Kinda made some sense of the red hair. A lot of the information seemed obvious once he heard it, but he wouldn't be able to figure it out on his own.

Maybe he could do something easy at first. Cook for him, or... teach him how to cook. Then again, the prospect of a burning apartment wasn't exactly appealing. Well, teaching him may not be the best idea.

A tattoo or piercing? Something to keep in mind, but really not the best thing to start out with. It had to be easy, but really nice at the same time. He had no idea where to start, but at least he could form an idea now.

"How come you never went with him to get it done... or why didn't you ever take him to do these things?" Haido asked, not really thinking about it. It just seemed logical that as Kenji's best friend, she would do what he really wanted to do sometimes.

The soft look that had come over Keiko's face was gone, and she brought her feet down from the table. "He's not a kid anymore. I don't want to be walking him through his life for the next twenty years. There are just some things he needs to do on his own."

Maybe these weren't those things, but a convention and a piercing were minor. Kenji could do those things on his own, and if he couldn't, he would have to learn how, or make Haido do it with him.

She was not an avid supporter of their relationship, though. She may beat the shit out of Kenji on a regular basis (it was all to get the important things through his thick head), but he was her best friend, and she did worry about him.

Haido was silent for a moment, regarding Keiko with a new attitude. Yes she was violent and abrasive. Rude and blunt, but she was a good friend... in her own way. She did have Kenji's interests in mind somewhere, though it did seem to get lost in the violence.

"I think I understand," he said with a slight nod. She did have a unique way of handling things. "I don't think it'll help any by saying don't worry, but I am going to try to keep him in the band."

He didn't know if it would aggravate her or possibly make things a little better, though he figured saying that would be better than saying what his initial intents were. Haido wanted to make things between Kenji and him work if he could.

"You... wouldn't know what I did wrong... would you?" he asked cautiously. Keiko was volitile. He didn't know what mood that question might bring.

The smile on her face was flat as she stood, and gone in an instant. Almost a mocking smile, but just a shade more approachable. "Sure, I know." She regarded him with cool eyes, arching a brow at him as her arms crossed. "Don't you?"

He was there, he'd have to know. All she knew was what Kenji told her, and what she saw with her own two eyes. She wasn't sure which version was more full of shit.

Now was not the moment to get blustered, and Haido tried to keep his own face as it was. He still wasn't positive which part Kenji was really upset about. But Keiko didn't need to know that, did she?

"Yeah," he said, maybe a bit too quickly. "I just wanted to know if he'd been talking."

He wasn't the greatest liar in the world, he didn't like to lie, but he didn't want to look like a huge idiot and the worlds biggest jerk by admitting he didn't know for sure. Haido suddenly just wanted to get out of there.

"Alright, thanks a lot for this Keiko," he said getting up, putting an end to the conversation. "I'm going to try my best."
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Author’s Notes: Can you notice something different? I didn’t want to dominate an entire chapter and have things completely go my way, so Kel played Keiko in this chapter. Sometimes I can tell the difference in our writing styles, but I’ve been over this story so many times, I’d like a third party opinion. So, could anyone tell the difference between my Keiko and Kel’s? Be honest!

Drop us a line.

~Subby