Switch Chapter 8

Taking the train to NG was something K hadn't done in a while. He'd told Hiro that morning that it wouldn't look right if he arrived on the back of his bike. The only other time he'd taken the train was when one of Bad Luck needed an escort. He would have much preferred to have his car, but no such luck. He'd not only lost his car, but all his toys, guns, gear and his precious laptop. All of it, everything he'd worked for was gone. K's only comfort was that he knew his savings all went to Michael. Sigh. He had to figure out how to bring back his male self, since he could never see his son like this.

As he walked down the street, K thought that he knew what he'd say if the day ever came. They might not like it, but it was all he had. Judy would probably take pot shots at him for it and Bad Luck would call him insane, indefinitely. But it was the price he had to pay. As he stepped off the train he thought over what he'd say to Tohma. He also thought whether this was what he really wanted. Was this following his heart?

Of course this was what he really wanted!

But K was questioning all his motives these days. All he wanted was to prove his worth to those gods and be turned back into a man. If he didn't love his job so much, he never would have spent all his time away from home—away from Judy and Michael.

K stopped walking, his suede pumps partly submerged in a small puddle of water. What if that was the answer, reconciliation with his ex-wife? Would that be following his heart? His heart did include his son, but he'd only be doing it for Michael then. Mulling this over, K felt a tap on the shoulder.

"Excuse me Miss, you're standing in a puddle," spoke a soft elderly voice.

Blinking out of his reverie K focused on a tiny old man. He was standing next to a flower shop. Water was trickling through his shoes and K hopped out of the puddle like a rabbit. The shoes had only gotten dampened around the bottom. "Oh thank you. I never even realized I was standing in a puddle," K said to the old man. Damn, he was having bad luck with shoes lately.

"A woman in deep thought is a troubled one," the old man said and added, "And so early in the morning, whatever it is it can't be that bad."

K looked over the tiny old wise man. "Do you own this flower shop?" he asked.

The man nodded and hobbled over for a stack of tissues. "For over fifty-five years," said the man. He handed a tissue to K.

Thanking the man, K took the tissue and knelt to clean his shoes up. "Wow... Fifty-five years. That's incredible!"

"My heart belongs with nature and in this city it can be hard to find. So maybe I can lighten a few souls with something Mother Nature has given us," the gentle voice spoke. He plucked out a beautiful white calla lily. "A delicate flower for a delicate time," he told K and handed him the flower.

K tried to hand it back, but the old man insisted. What could he say? "Thank you. I don't think anyone has ever given me a flower before." K bowed politely clutching his flower, "Good day to you sir."

"An old man does nothing but wait," he said mysteriously.

K turned back, curious, "Wait for what?"

"Paradise, young lady. Heaven," he replied with a soft smile. "Stop by for tea one day…we'll have a chat."

Chuckling, K nodded affirmatively. "Why, do you want to show me how to arrange flowers or something?" he questioned, puzzled.

The old man only smiled and said, "Go on and win their hearts. We'll talk again."

Perplexed, K stared at the man. Did he know he was going for a job interview? But how? Was it that obvious? With a final nod he left and headed for the NG building.

His appointment was for exactly nine o'clock sharp. Not wanting to keep Tohma waiting K hurried up to the top floor. He announced his arrival to the receptionist and she told him to go on in.

K put on his game face, brimming with confidence that he could talk Tohma into believing him. Standing in front of a pair of double oak doors, he knocked.

"Come in," spoke a regal voice, feminine but regal.

He walked into familiar territory. Tohma's office looked exactly the same, nothing had changed. The large glass windows overlooking the city, the huge desk in the middle and the walls filled with framed platinum and golden records.

"Good morning Toh…I mean Mr. Seguchi," K said and held out his hand for a handshake.

Tohma ignored it completely and told him to sit down. Although he eyed him carefully, "Do we know each other?"

Taken aback, K shook his head no, "Maybe I look familiar? My name is Claudia. I'm K's sister." K bit his tongue.

Tohma did not change his expression but his eyes looked dubious. "K's sister?" he asked surprised. "When the receptionist told me your name…I just couldn't believe it. I never even knew he had a sister."

"Oh yes, me and Claude were—how do you say? 'Twins'?" K didn't know the term in Japanese so it came out in English.

Tohma studied him carefully, "Why did he never mention you? I knew him quite well as he managed Ryuichi for us once. Surely he would have mentioned…"

"Oh no, he couldn't. You see, I'm an international spy, an undercover agent in the U.S. Father insisted we both get into law enforcement. Only cops were too boring so we went special agent. You know more toys that way," K said coolly and easily. Fibbing seemed to come easily for him.

Tohma quirked a brow, "I see. Then I guess you couldn't give up your identity then. But if that is so, then why now? Won't you be breaking some code by working here with us?" The little man peered at him from behind his big desk.

"I quit. My brother gave me strict orders that if something ever happened to him, that I would come take care of Bad Luck. I gave him my word and whatever Claude did…I…can do better," K said, putting the last part in as an after thought. Teehee.

"Really now? You have knowledge of the music business? Think you can handle Shuichi Shindou? He's quite a handful you know. Even your brother probably got grey hairs because of him," Tohma said amusingly.

Yes! Tohma words meant he believed he was K's sister. "Oh, of course I know the music business, Claude taught me everything I ever wanted to know. Sometimes he talked so much about it I had to hang up the phone on him. Can you imagine?" K was laughing now and slapping his knee at his fables. But to prove he could talk the music business lingo, he told Tohma everything about Bad Luck. He told Tohma things down to market figures and the name of the next album they'd been working on.

A smile came over Tohma's face. "I must say I'm very surprised by this. You look just like your brother, only a touch shorter. Your methods involve weapons too?" Tohma wondered.

K opened one side of his beige jacket and showed Tohma the sparkling, freshly polished magnum.

"Oh, I see. It runs in the family, hmm?" Tohma looked amused. "Well I can't tell you how enough how greatly missed your brother is. He was a great asset to NG and to me. I'll have to put you on probation for three months, just to see how you do of course. You can take K's old office. I'm quite relieved to finally give Bad Luck a new manager." Tohma stood up once more and this time offered his hand.

Grinning, K shook it powerfully. "I won't let you down boss!" He turned to leave in an excited hurry, but Tohma called out to him. K looked back.

"You don't have a one letter name for yourself as well, do you?" Tohma wondered.

"Nope—it's just Claudia. Pfft, my brother and his silly names," K muttered with a childish wave of his hand. "Thanks again Mr. Seguchi, call me if you need me for anything," K said and dashed out of the office.

He was walking down the hall, all smiles and triumph when Ryuichi came walking down the hall. They looked at each other.

"K!" Ryuichi cheered and tackled him.

Groaning a little, K shoved Ryuichi off. "You have it all wrong. I'm K's sister," he told the singer who was clutching Kumagoro like usual.

With a gleeful face, Ryuichi shook his head 'no' back and forth exuberantly. "I knew you weren't dead. K makes a very pretty girl," he said. "It was a prank! K is always full of pranks. Kuma will have to punish you for this joke," his eyes began to well with tears, "Promise me you won't play a joke like that again?"

K sat on his rump, looking at Ryuichi—completely stunned. "Ryuichi, I'm not K. I'm his sister," he insisted as Kuma began chomping up his arm. It made K laugh. "Stop that! I have work to do." He shook his head and stood up.

Ryuichi joined him. "Ooo, K wanna play secret agents? It's so much fun when we played that. I think I heard ninjas on the top floor. I bet they want to steal company secrets," Ryuichi went on excitedly.

As tempting as it was to go hunt down ninjas, K declined. "I have to go see Bad Luck. Maybe later." It seemed pointless trying to correct the musician. No matter what K said, Ryu would insist he was K. And boy, he wasn't wrong. Was it some kind of special power? Or was Ryuichi that in tune with his heart and soul?

"Okay, say 'hi' to Shuichi for me!" Ryuichi sang as he darted off, talking to Kuma.

K straightened his jacket and went to find Bad Luck.


"Hiro I'm so sleepy. My voice doesn't want to work today," Shuichi whined and yawned.

"Oh, too much play time with Yuki?" Hiro teased, tuning his guitar. Shuichi's yawn made him yawn too.

Suguru tried to pretend he couldn't hear their conversation. "Let's work on track five today. I rearranged the last part and I think we should see how it sounds together."

No one was listening.

"Do you think Sakano will let me go home early? Yuki said he was making dinner tonight," Shuichi exclaimed dreamily.

"I dunno," Hiro said with a shrug.

"I know—I'll pretend I ate a bad shrimp and feign illness," Shuichi suggested, already practicing his acting skills for food poisoning.

Hiro barely paid attention to Shuichi's morning antics.

"Shuichi, don't be ridiculous. We have to finish this album for the release date," Suguru insisted.

But as Shuichi acted out in his own world, he never heard the door open and close. "Maybe if I made the choking noises, do you think that'd work?" the singer questioned to no one in particular.

There was a click and something hard and solid was pressed to his head. "If you really want to choke perhaps you'd like to taste the magnum?"

At that moment Sakano chose to return to the studio. He saw the woman and gun and simply fainted in the hall.

The voice belonged to a woman but the tone and actions were all too familiar. Shuichi yelled, "K!" He dove to the ground and started whimpering, thinking he was going to be shot. But then it dawned on him, "Hey, I thought you were…" He turned to look and gaped. "You're not K!"

From across the room Hiro stared silently.

Suguru gaped, then said, "Excuse me, but only staff are allowed inside these studios."

K eyed Bad Luck with eyes on the brink of filling with tears. He couldn't believe he was back, standing among all this. He knew for sure that this was where his heart belonged. "Well you see, I'm you're new manager," K said with a big grin.

"Why do you look a bit like K? Why do we have another trigger happy manager!" complained Suguru loudly. "Finally my nerves were beginning to feel normal again. I could even sleep at night."

Ignoring Suguru, K said, "I look like him because I'm his sister."

Hiro fell off his chair with a clatter. "So that was the secret." He eyed the flower K had hanging out of his suit jacket, rubbing his noggin.

Everyone looked at Hiro, wondering what he meant.

K went over and offered a hand to Hiro, talking to the rest, "Yep, I'm his sister from the U.S. Look, don't start asking about details. There is plenty of time for chit-chat later. Right now we work," K demanded, enjoying the feeling of reigning boy-band power in his clutches once again.

Hiro began to laugh, "Right, sure Miss, we'll work, no problem. Come on guys; let's show our new manager what Bad Luck is about."

K patted Hiro on the back in a silent thanks. He didn't really want to start answering questions. Claudia was only temporary anyway…he hoped. Then he went to fetch Sakano.


A/N: Will update very soon! Thank you all for reviewing, it's always great to hear what you think. Yay finally K is back at NG...but he's going to get desperate to return to a man eventually...crazy things my happen hehe.

Reviewers: Hehe yeah K's having PMS lol catmum56 ooh excellent portable AC. Yes I need one of those. Yes Anibee I know the heat is just killer these days. I can't complain today tho, finally it's at a normal temp but now I have a cold XD So glad you guys are still enjoying!