Eri loves clothes.

She won't deny it; she proud to be a designer. Fashion, to her, is easier than breathing. Having a friend like Shiki just made it easier to design, because now she can wear and show off what she's designed.

Oh yes, Eri loves modeling, too.

It's a wonderful feeling, being able to say, "I made this," when someone asks you where you bought your clothes. The surprised looks of awe, the compliments; but most of all, the publicity. Eri's been offered several jobs and contracts with several different companies.

Eri loves clothes, fashion, modeling, and recognition.

But, most of all…

Most of all, she loves him.

Neku Sakuraba.

It had started off as curiosity. Shiki had disappeared or something after their fight (Eri couldn't remember what happened exactly; only that Shiki had been presumed dead) and had come back with several new friends that Eri had never seen before. All of them seemed to know where Shiki had run off to, this "event" seemed to be the root of their friendship. The one Shiki seemed to have the most trust in was a very thin boy with orange hair that barely spoke.

This boy's name is Neku Sakuraba.

Eri will never forget how their first meeting went. Everyone had introduced themselves in their own way; there was a polite boy named Joshua, Beat, and his little sister, Rhyme (who was adorable in Eri's opinion.) Everyone, that is, except Neku.

Shiki had almost insisted on introducing him herself. This is what made Eri curious. Well, that and…uh…

…And the fact that Neku was the most beautiful thing she had seen since her first fashion design in the 5th grade.

After the first few weeks, Eri's curiosity grew into a fascination that was quickly growing into an attraction as time when on. Eri realized that one of the reasons she was attracted to him was because of his looks. Her designer instincts arose whenever she thought about him. There was no secret about it:

Eri wanted him to model her designs.

She had begged and begged and begged Shiki and Rhyme to help her get him to agree. They did help, albeit reluctantly. Both of them were sure that he would never say yes.

Imagine their shock when he did.

Well, okay, he didn't really say yes. Just nodded his head, accepted her cell phone number and directions to her house, and went back to listening to whatever song was playing from those large ever-present earphones. But that consent was all she needed.

A week later, he was standing in her bedroom, still listening to his music. He had looked very skeptical when she opened her closet. Well, he had a reason to; her closet was bigger than her bedroom. But then again, Eri loved fashion.

She quickly found the outfit she wanted him to try first. The rules they had set up were simple. No cross-dressing, and if he didn't want to wear something, he didn't have to. He was already out of his comfort zone by agreeing to this anyway, she figured.

She's embarrassed to admit it, but ever since she first laid her eyes of him, she's been designing clothes for his specific figure. It wasn't until she got him to agree to model that she showed Shiki her designs, and only then did they start making them.

She was entranced by his looks; that's something she's not ashamed to admit. He was tall and thin, but not tall enough to appear lanky. In fact, if he was a tad bit thinner, or a tad bit taller, he probably would look lanky; but he was a perfect, nearly impossible balance that Eri had a tough time wrapping her mind around. His eyes were this beautiful, clear sky-blue color, accentuated by his shockingly orange hair; she loved the way his eyes stood out in contrast to his hair.

In all accounts, he was the perfect model for the male line she started up.

She was nervous when she handed him the clothes, worried that maybe he was just playing a prank on her or maybe if she said the wrong thing that he would leave. He seemed to pick up on her nervousness, and questionably eyed her as she slowly handed him the clothes. "Are you okay?"

She was shocked to hear his voice, but quickly replied, "Oh…oh yeah, I'm fine! I'm just…I was wondering why Shiki thought that you wouldn't say yes…CRAP!" Her hand flew to her mouth, as though that would have kept her from saying the words that she had already said. "I'm sorry! I'm really, really, really sorry! I shouldn't have said that, especially since you did say yes, and—" Laughter had stopped her apology.

At first she thought she was imagining it. But no, hear he was, laughing. It was such a musical, heavenly sound that she found herself struck dumb by it. Just a short while ago he did not speak, but here he was, laughing freely in front of her—at her…

…

…Wait…he was laughing AT her! How RUDE! What reason did he have to laugh at her!?

As if a spell had been broken, she clenched her fists and yelled, "Stop laughing at me!" He stopped immediately, watching her. "Why…why were you laughing at me? Don't you know that it's rude to laugh at someone for no reason?"

"Sorry," He said after a moment of silence. His voice was nice, too. Eri remembered that Shiki had said Neku loved music and art. He'll probably be a singer, Eri thought, he has the looks and the voice for it. "It's just that…you act the same."

"What?"

"The same as Shiki," Her heart sunk to her stomach at the words. What…what if he liked Shiki? Of course he does, Eri told herself, he's her friend, not your's, it's only natural that he likes her more. Besides, it doesn't matter, he's just here to model, nothing else…right?

"What do you mean, the same as Shiki?" Did Shiki have a crush on him, too?

" I mean, when you accidentally say something that could be considered…ah…offensive. You both do this weird, 'oh my gosh, I'm so, so, so, so, so sorry!' thing. The only difference is that Shiki has this habit of flapping her arms in the air when she does it."

"Oh…really?"

"Yeah. So, you said that you needed me to change into something?"

"Oh…oh right! Sorry, here. Make sure to put the scarf on last, okay?"

"Sure.

"You can change in the bathroom over there."

"Thanks."

After he finished changing, he walked out of the bathroom and back into her bedroom. She quickly covered her face when she felt it heat up. She was right! The clothes were perfect for him.

She walked over him to put some finishing touches to the outfit. Nothing major, just smoothing out or ruffling some things, when she noticed the headphones. They were still on top of his head.

Eri made sure to remember what Shiki had told her about him in detail, so of course she remembered that these headphones were special to Neku. He never took them off; he didn't let anyone touch them, either. Shiki said that the headphones her practically attached to his head.

"Neku."

"Yes?" He answered slowly, not liking the guilty look in her eyes.

"Um, I know they're special to you." Oh that's what she was talking about. His hand reached up to touch the headphones, feeling comforted by their presence. "But, for the picture, I need you to take off your headphones. Please? It'll be really quick, I promise."

"O…okay," He said, his hand slowly grabbed the headphones, and started to pull them off when he stopped. What was he doing? He slipped them back into place subconsciously. "E…Eri?"

"Yes, Neku?" She asked calmly. She had noticed his dilemma right away.

"I…uh…I can't take them off. Would you…?" She was shocked to hear this. After all, Neku never let anyone touch his headphones. She was expecting him to call the whole thing off.

"If…if you want me to, Neku." She slowly reached forward, her manicured fingers interlacing with his pale ones already attached to the headphones. In a slow and careful manner, she cautiously lifted the headphones. She had never seen him remove them before, so she didn't know what the reaction would be.

Once they were off, she handed them to Neku. "Here."

"Thanks."

"You don't need to thank me, Neku. We're doing this for me, anyway."

"Right." She stepped back and readied the camera as he set the headphones down on her bed. After showing him how she wanted him to pose, she snapped picture after picture, each one as gorgeous as the next.

He tried on multiple outfits that day, but none was more special than the first, when she helped him remove his headphones, or the last, when she integrated the headphones into the design. She decided she loved the last outfit the best, because in those pictures he seemed to be truly smiling to her.

He left a few hours later, and Eri went to go print the pictures for her model scrapbook. However, she took extras of the last outfit. These needed to be framed, she thought, they're the most beautiful. On that day his laugh, his smiles, his voice, his looks; he officially stole her heart.

Shiki had gotten them other male models after Neku and his band became too busy to help with modeling (they wore clothes the girls had designed when they played on stage, but that was all they could do). However, when the girls finally opened a shop of their own, Neku's pictures were the ones she hung up on the wall. She didn't even consider the other models.

Shiki had taken one glance at Eri's face when she looked at the pictures on the wall and agreed that no other model was better. The look on Neku's face when he found out was priceless too. He had stood in this daze until Rhyme took him to concert practice about an hour later, telling him that Beat was getting impatient.

Eri was in love fashion, modeling, recognition….

…And a boy, now a young man, named Neku Sakuraba.