Graffiti
Konata: A little cross pairing that I just came up with. It's kind of surprising that the two are compatible.
Shiki: Konata does not own The World Ends with You or Kingdom Hearts.
/
He was always so quiet.
With a calm and almost bored expression, he always sat face forward, idly staring at his desk. With stunning grayish-navy eyes he glared while analyzing his surroundings. But the calm outlook miraculously remained, defying humane possibilities. Gingery orange locks were spiked in ways that seemed almost manga-esque.
He rarely smiled.
Sora only saw the male smile softly in front of his closest friends. A girl with pink hair, (Shiku?) a sly looking teen with colorless locks that faintly reminded the brunette of his friend Riku, a burly male and a small, eternally grinning blonde girl. Sora faintly wished the orange head would smile at him too.
"Just go over there and talk to him!"
Startling cerulean orbs turned to face their twin set, disbelieving. With an agape mouth, a furious whisper was aimed towards the blonde in the second row of Sho's Math Class.
"No Roxas! We're in class! And-! And-! Just no in general! I-I can't!"
"Send him a note!"
"What if one of his friends grabs it?"
"Well, Sora, then one of his friends grabs it. Too damn bad for you."
"You're no help at all Roxy!"
"Hey! Only I can call him that!" The brunette mouthed a sheepish apology to his brother's boyfriend, the well known flame haired pyro Axel, and returned to glaring at said brother, Roxas. Flaxen gold hair shifted ominously over orbs the color of the sky as the blonde roughly looked away, pretending to pay attention to man in the front screaming "ZETA!" and "SINE! COSINE! TANGENT!"
Sora also looked away, but soon found his gaze drifting towards the ginger haired boy again. He 'admired' this boy to say the least. The orange haired boy was gifted in both education and physical ability. Never once had Sora seen him in detention (A place he went to rather frequently) nor had he seen the boy being dragged off towards the principal's office. (Another place he knew all too well)
Unfortunately, the boy was so caught up in his staring and meaningless ponderings that he didn't notice the math magician, Professor Sho Minamimoto …(A/N: I'm sorry. I'm sorry. But I can't help but start laughing right here. XDXD Carry On… )Ahem, Professor Sho Minamimoto calling his name.
"-Strife! Sora Strife!"
A wad of crumpled paper was thrown at the brunette, courtesy of Roxas, to awaken him from his reverie.
"Yes sir!" He could feel his face heating up as many stared at him, the ginger head's devilish male friend with a smirk.
"Explain to me, you factoring hectopascal, what the square root of five is."
"Dude, we're learning about polynomials."
There was an awkward silence as the class watched Sho redden first in anger, then in pure embarrassment. Sora looked to his savior in awe, gratitude pooling in his eyes. The ginger head boy fiddled with his collar for a moment then stared at the embarrassed math magician, the amusement in his eyes showing just enough for Sora to spot it. The dark orbs slowly shifted from their spot on Sho to look at Sora. The brunette gasped as the navy widened briefly and looked away hurriedly. The red came even faster now and his breath hitched.
"I did not ask for your opinion Sakuraba!" The mathematician exclaimed, overcoming his momentary silence. Luckily for the rebellious teen, the bell decided to toll at that exact moment, signaling lunch for most of the students.
All quickly gathered up their books and left while Sho picked up the broken shards of his pride. Mustering up all of his courage, Sora marched right up to the ginger.
"A-Ah!"
"Hmm?" he turned around curiously, giving Sora his full attention. The brunette looked up, and then glanced harshly away, scowling; a really bad tsundere habit he picked up from his brother.
"U-Uh, thanks for earlier. Saving me and all of that other stuff."
Sakuraba nodded silently and also looked away, a similar stormy pout on his face. They stood together in an awkward silence until Sora held out a hand.
"I-I'm Sora. N-Nice to meet you." Good. A bit of his own persona was beginning to shine through. Navy stared the open palm down for a minute, then reluctantly accepted. They shook once then the ginger head stuck his hand s in his pocket.
"Neku." The boy said quietly. Sora began to freak out at the quiet that followed and randomly grasped at conversation threads.
"Uh, is that a CAT player pin?" he asked, gesturing towards the black pin on the other boy's shirt. Neku looked surprised for a minute then said slowly,
"Yeah. How did you know? These are-."
"So rare that only the really hardcore fans knew about them. I'm a CAT junkie too." He lifted up the cover of his messenger bag to reveal numerous pins, one of the bunch the bearing the same image as Neku's.
"You're one of the die-hards…" Neku seemed to be impressed. Sora beamed.
"Yeah, apparently you are too since you're wearing CAT threads. So, um, are you going to the unveiling tonight?" The brunette questioned. Never had he even once seen Neku so animated.
"You mean the unveiling of the new CAT soundtrack? Hell yes! You're coming too right?"
"A-Actually-."
"Actually, he'd love to go."
"Roxas." Sora stared at his brother who literally came out of nowhere. The blonde smiled at the brunette but the smile soon turned creepy (See Xerxes Break for reference) as he set his eyes upon Neku.
"You'll escort him for me, riiight?"
Neku's mouth was once again hidden by his collar.
"S-Sure."
"It's a date then! Later little bro!"
Roxas waved as Axel tugged him out the door. Probably going to make out in the empty classrooms again.
"Sooo…"
"Sooo…"
"Want to talk it over at lunch?" Sora offered. The ginger head nodded, following the brunette out.
-Sora/Neku-
"Guys, this is Sora."
"Hey Sora!"
The table was rather welcoming after that riveting introduction. The brunette managed to learn each and every one at that table's name and could comfortably hold a conversation with each individual. Beat and Sora both held a love for skateboarding so discussions on different tricks were numerous. Rhyme and the brunette found out that the other helped out at the local animal shelter and had shared some words about that. Joshua and Sora enjoyed Shio Ramen and CSI while Shiki and Sora both agreed on a common shopping ground for both male and female 'Tigre Punks'.
It was a refreshing lunch. Riku was a bit pissed at him after for abandoning him but quickly got over it when Sora handed him a photo of Joshua.
"Because I know you like him." The brunette had written in a note. Riku's pale face turned full out scarlet when he read it in biology.
The day didn't seem to wish to work with Sora. Classes dragged by because he really didn't have any one to talk to except for the occasional Kairi and Tidus here and there and his bus home was delayed by an old lady who didn't understand how the payment system worked. But, finally, he arrived at his lovely abode with only an hour left of free time to spare. Quickly he ran into his bedroom and pulled on his favorites, a Beatles T-shirt along with jeans and sneakers. Then the teen smoothly sailed down the stairs…Well, at least he tried to.
"Uh, Sora?"
"Hmm?"
"Yeah, no. Come on, let Marluxia dress you. You have a date today non?"
"How did you-?" A glare was shot at the blonde who began to whistle idly.
"You will pay for this Roxas." The brunette uttered as he was dragged upstairs by their brother.
"PAY!"
Ten minutes later, Sora was back downstairs, this time with an embarrassed blush spread across his cheeks. The devious Marluxia had managed to change the brunette into something more…alluring and nosebleed inducing.
Apparently, jeans simply did not fit the casual date bill. Instead the brunette wore black, buckled bondage pants that hugged his hips daringly, and a dark collared shirt with the arms ripped off a bit after his elbow. He wore a short, loose, black shirt with the band 'Heartless's insignia, a red checkered tie and black boots. Marly insisted that he scattered his hair even more than it already was and, apparently, the pink haired one also believed that Sora should keep the top two buttons of his shirt undone. The boy's style did a complete 180 and he really didn't like it.
"Ah what would you do without me." The pink haired one sighed, adjusting the finished product.
"Actually wear comfortable pants maybe?"
"What was that?"
"Nothing."
As soon as Cloud, the eldest of the brothers, saw Sora, he spit out his milk. With a frantic look, he called for his boyfriend, Leon,
"Mommy! Tell your son to get his ass back upstairs and change!"
"Huh. He does speak." Roxas aid, looking at Cloud unbelievingly.
"Well, like, duh, Roxas." Marly said between the pins in his mouth
Before any buster swords or gun blades were pulled out, Sora escaped the household and tore down the streets.
"Damn." The designer cursed after he left. "He should've taken Fenrir. It would've made a greater impact on his badass look."
Cloud gave Marluxia a look of pure icy death.
"Do you want to die?"
-SoraxNeku-
Sora quickly skidded to a stop as he saw Neku in front of the CAT building, looking like his usually sexy self. The teen was wearing black half pants with a chain leading from the pocket to his waist line. His shirt was a deep red with CAT's graffiti symbol dashing across the front. The ginger head's sneakers were red with black laces, and tapping to an unknown beat. Sora mistook this for a stomp of irritation and began spewing out explanations he reached the boy.
"Neku! Sorry I'm late. My brothers were-. Well, they were being my brothers and it really just got out of hand."
Sora looked apologetically up at the teen who…couldn't hear him?
"Oi! Neku."
The orange head pressed a hand up to his headphones, an almost serene look on his face. With his lashes against his cheeks and sincere smile rarely seen upon his lips, Sora felt something stir within him. A feeling of…joy? Longing? He didn't know.
But the brunette really didn't wish to interrupt this uncommon scene so he patiently waited for the song to end, occasionally sneaking a peek at the angelic face.
"Ah, Sora?"
"You looked as if you were enjoying that song so I didn't want to interrupt you."
"Thanks, I guess. Let's go in. I bet there's already a long line…Are you wearing the threads from Lapin Angelique?"
"Um, yeah."
Neku snickered, something that was all too close to a laugh.
"Shiki and Joshua would mow you down right now. They love that place. I don't have the same taste but it, kind of, looks good on you."
"T-thanks." Sora said, fighting down a blush. Apparently Neku had his own red demons to fight because the orange head swiftly turned away, muttering,
"W-We'll be last in line. Come on. I know a better way to get in."
Curiously, Sora followed the other away from the screaming haze of people to the back of the graffiti covered establishment. At the back door they met both a woman and a man, both with eccentric dressing styles.
The dark pink haired female wore a blouse that covered even her fingers like gloves sewed onto a long sleeved shirt. A white corset lay above her revealed navel, surprisingly not suffocating her. She wore booty shorts and white boots while the male wore matching ashen shoes and tan pants. His black jacket was cut at the shoulders and the white shirt under it apparently was too. Both wore demonic wings. A CAT original.
They seemed to be having a one sided lover's spat. The female was screeching and aggravatingly yanking at her hair with talons while the male smiled and tried to calm her down while sucking on a lolly.
"UGH! I CAN'T BELIEVE THE NERVE OF SOME PEOPLE!"
"Calm down girl. Getting pissed won't help us any. We've got to slowly climb up to the top. If you freak out and start ragin', you can kiss your little promotion goodbye."
The pink haired one seemed to be settling down and even let the flame haired man soothingly stroke her hair. Seeing an opportune chance, Neku jumped in, Sora hot on his heels. The hand immediately removed itself from the girl's scalp of pink as the man saw the two approach.
". Let us through."
"Well if it isn't phones." The flame haired male snickered.
"It's Neku." 'Phones' said shortly. Sora looked from one to the other. He couldn't tell what their relationship was. Their vibes kept jumping from positive to negative and he simply couldn't keep up. It was…complicated.
"Yeah. Yeah. So how has it been Phones? We haven't seen you in a while right Uzuki?"
"Pfft." The girl turned away. "I really don't care about you."
"She was really bouncing off the walls." The male murmured, laughing when he saw Uzuki shoot him daggers. The eyes behind his glasses looked to Sora, a mild curiosity piquing in them.
"So who's your friend?"
"Uh, I'm Sora." The brunette held out a hand which was disregarded.
"So…is Sora here you se-?"
A loud yelp of pain resounded when Neku 'prevented Kariya from finishing his sentence'.
"We're going in. Later you two."
Neku gestured for Sora to follow him and as their footsteps slowly resounded in the dark hallway,
Sora could've sworn he caught one of those rare smiles.
-SoNeku-
"Wow." The brunette breathed as he looked about the all too familiar place.
The room's main lights were off, leaving only the swirling and blinking colored spotlights to guide their way through the room. People mingled, laughed, and all together just clashed as music, which Sora recognized as the rock version of CAT's song 'Hikari', played in the background. CAT was all over the place. There was graffiti on walls, symbols on clothing and pins. Even phones had a Player Skull as a skin. Every hard core CAT fan was there and they were definitely enjoying life as a CAT fan should.
"This is amazing. I've seen this place in normal lighting before but never has it been so-."
"Vibrant." Neku finished quietly. He didn't say much but Sora could see the pleased gleam in his eyes. Unfortunately, his mouth was shielded by his hand so the brunette couldn't see if he was wearing a smile or not.
"Come here. I've got something I want to show you. Or someone in this case."
A warm hand grasped Sora's and the teen was pulled towards the back of the room, past torrents of chattering humans and a DJ that was currently rocking out to the techno Simple and Clean. He didn't complain as they were once again emerged in darkness but he did tighten his grip for a fraction of a zetta second. What surprised him was that Neku squeezed back.
"Don't worry," he heard the red head say softly. "I'm still here."
Sora nodded and tried to keep up with Neku's pace.
"Uh, Neku?"
"Yeah?"
"Where are we going?"
There was a pregnant pause.
"You'll see."
Sora remained silent after that. Five minutes of running passed by and finally, just as his legs began to tire, they emerged in a pad of some sort.
There, a man in a business shirt, black pants and a vest sat in a comfortable arm chair while drinking coffee and reading the paper. He looked up from behind his black shaded glasses and exclaimed,
"Phones! I haven't seen you or Josh in a while. I expected you to come tonight but not for you to bring a friend. Who's this?"
"This is Sora." The taller teen introduced. Both the brunette and the mysterious man shook hands.
"Nice to meet you Sora. I'm Mr. Hanekoma but you can just call me Mr. H like Neku and Josh do."
"Uh, okay. N-Nice to meet you Mr. H." Sora stuttered. Something about this man set him off. Mr. H seemed almost…reverent in the brunette's cerulean orbs. Catching Sora's confusing discomfort, Hanekoma smiled.
"Do you know who I am Sora?"
"N-No." The boy admitted finally. "But you do seem kind of important."
"Good. We'll keep your views that way. So, Neku is this the little Sora your boy-"
A yelp of pain resounded as Neku 'prevented Mr. H from bringing his demise'.
"Mr. H here is actually CAT." The carrot haired teen stated in the cool, stoic way of his.
"Oi! Neku!"
The boy did not respond but watched Sora's reactions carefully. First the boy's mouth was held agape disbelievingly, then he began stuttering random things and pointed, finally his frantic ministrations resulted in a
"Seriously?" and he just stared at Mr. H in shock.
"I guess the CAT's out of the bag. Hehe. Get it? CAT."
"How corny." Sora laughed, expressing Neku's thoughts exactly.
"Sorry if I've disappointed you. I really didn't want my fans to know who I was either. Thanks a lot Neku." Mr. H sent a mild glare.
The boy, as if on cue, pressed a hand to his head phones, obviously not listening.
"You haven't disappointed me." Sora said, trying to comfort the man. "I'm just shocked. I mean, not many people get to meet a famous artist and designer in numerous number one businesses."
"Mr. H has a publicity problem." Neku said, apparently the song had ended. (Or really had never started for that matter) "He absolutely hates cameras."
"The only person here with problems is you, you little emo child. I mean publicity is nothing compared to being bi-." He cut himself off as a glare was shot through Neku's bangs.
"So why did you boys come to see me?" Mr. H asked, abruptly changing the subject. Sora looked to Neku. What did they come for?
"I didn't want to mingle to I came to buy straight from the source."
"Tsk. Tsk Tsk." Hanekoma placed his can of Folgers back onto the table and wagged his finger in a 'No' motion.
"Sorry boys. You'll have to wait out there like everybody else. No exceptions."
Neku pouted. Both he and Mr. H had some sort of stare off for a few minutes, but the amused brown won out.
"Let's go Sor'."
'Sor?' The shorter teen questioned inwardly, once again grabbing the orange head's hand.
"I really dislike crowds so we're going to go outside for a bit. That okay with you?"
"It's fine. I don't mind."
So Neku rushed them out the way they came, stopping by the two 'guards' for a few minutes.
"I'll put in a good word for the two of you to CAT if you get us two of each new item. Here's the money," He threw a leather wallet at the two of them, the pouch jingling with munny, and turned away from their affronted calls.
"This way." He led Sora into a lightened passageway, home to great works of graffiti.
"This place is where most graffiti artists come to just let loose." He said, collapsing onto a red splattered rock. With a grand gesture, he presented the works of art on the walls. Sora recognized a few of CAT's symbols and some from Organization 13 but all of the others were unfamiliar to him.
"This is epic…" sighed Sora, gazing about in a love struck sort of way.
"Yeah, I made that one." Blue followed the long, slim finger to find a carefully detailed mural on the wall. Sora identified the characters within said mural to be Shiki, Joshua, Beat, Rhyme, and Neku himself, all having some fun by the statue in Hachiko. Neku almost nailed each of them. Joshua's sexy and in control yet extremely dangerous smirk suited his character perfectly while Mr. Mew was still perched on
Shiki's shoulder.
"That's so cool! I've never seen anything like it! It's-! It's amazing!" exclaimed Sora. Neku was surprised he didn't retreat back into his quieter world right then.
"I also made a sort of advertisement graffiti for CAT too. Its a few feet away from the one of my usual group. To the right."
"Whoa! Is it this one?" Sora questioned, pointing up at a unique illustration of a skull. Neku nodded.
"You're seriously good Neku. You seem to really get CAT's…I mean, Mr. H's style and you synchronize that with your own. That's totally cool."
"Thanks."
Was that a blush Sora saw on Neku's face? The brown haired teen would never find out for the taller one turned away, itchy fingers touching his headphones.
"So, um, how do you know Mr. H?"
Neku seemed relieved at the change of topic.
"My…friend," Sora noticed the slight curl of his nose as he gave the person in question the title of comrade. "Joshua, the private dick extraordinaire, and Mr. H go back a long way. Josh knew that I liked CAT so he hooked me up. Even though he's a total ass at times. He can be cool when he wants to be."
"Nice…Hey, is that-?"
Sora's eyes widened as his gaze set upon a new illustration, this time of completely new characters.
A boy, whose face and overall structure looked too much like Sora's to be a coincidence, sat on what appeared the be a heart. There was a defiant scowl on 'Sora's face and his eyes glared. His get up was rather interesting. He had black shorts on and you guys know what he looks like in KH2 is there a reason for describing this?
Anyway, he looked kind of well, hot to say the least. Even though he was carrying this gigantic key on his shoulder, he still looked kind of cool. Two humans he recognized as Roxas and Kairi were sitting with him, Roxas with a similar pout and glare while Kairi frowned and looked into the distance. The next few personas he did not recognize. They seemed to be a duck with a mage's staff, a dog with a shield, and some overgrown mouse brandishing a key similar to 'Sora's. It was a Neku exclusive, the brunette could tell from the artwork style.
Neku feebly attempted to shield his work by raising a hand in front of it.
"D-Don't look at it! It's embarrassing."
"Is that…me?"
Sora's heart began to pound faster and his cheeks grew scarlet, almost matching Neku's blood stained jaws.
"D-Do you like it?"
"Hell yes!"
"Then yeah, it is kind of you. I-I needed a hero type of person for my graffiti and since you were the only one that was hot enou-. Ah! I mean heroic-!"
"Did you just call me hot?"
An even redder blush and a fierce glance to the floor was all the answer Sora needed. With a smirk that would make Riku and Joshua proud, he sashayed up the orange haired boy. Neku gave a short gasp as he was pressed against the wall.
"That's great then," Sora breathed into his ear. "Because I always thought you were kind of cute too."
Neku looked up and Sora was confused by the look of amusement and smirk on his face. Suddenly, the boy found his back pressed to the wall and a pair of lips on his ear.
"Knew the blushing act would work."
"No fair. You played dirty."
"Ah, if you think I play dirty you should see Joshua. He's like a lion in a sheep's body."
Sora made a mental note to warn Riku.
"So I'm hot huh?"
"No. You're more of the adorable type."
"Oh shut up."
"And kiss you?"
"Do you really have to ask?"
/
Konata: It's done! After days of procrastination, nail biting and resisting emo urges it's done! Review Guys! I always love them!
Shiro: UGH! YOUFREAKIN' FORGOT ABOUT US!
Konata: Don't be a little bitch. Seriously, I don't know how or why Kariya puts up with you. Here's a little extended edition then.
/
"You think we should interrupt them?"
"They're making out Kariya! Of course not! Just leave the bag on the ground and let's get out of here. I don't want to see that kid sucking face."
"Aww you know you're jealous."
"Of what?"
"Of their blossoming love life. You really need to start seeing someone Shiro. Now go buy me some ramen."
/
Konata: Oooh, I want to write something for the two reapers badly right now!
Kariya: Then why don't you?
Konata: I'm already swamped with the one one-shot per hour thing I'm doing for the New Year. My highest form of procrastination right now is playing TWEWY and Kingdom Hearts RE:Chain of Memories. Anywayz, review guys! If you don't, I'll make you give in to your emo urges. Review guys!
Oh, and for the record. I do like the JoshuaxNeku pairing. I just wanted to see how SoraxNeku would come out.