A/N: Now for another Joshua/Neku fic! This one is back to Joshua being seme, so no surprises. And no surprise, it's all Neku's POV. And I'm sorta dragging Night into this, but he'll be in a different form this time. You'll see what I mean, hehe. Enjoy~
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story.
Different Pasts, Common Presents
Chapter 1
I trudged up to the large building, shifting my messenger bag a bit on my shoulder. As I walked into the high school, I made my way to the office, where I was greeted by a secretary at the front desk.
"Hello, may I help you?" she said kindly.
"Um, yeah, I'm new here," I murmured shyly.
"Ah, yes. What's your name, sweetie?" she asked.
"Neku Sakuraba," I mumbled, lowering my gaze.
"Okay Neku, just follow me, and I'll show you where your classes are," she smiled softly, and I nodded. As she led me around, I memorized where everything was, and then we ended up at my first class of the day, math. She stopped me before I could go in, though. "And here's a map of the school in case you get lost. It's a big high school, so it helps to have one."
"Thank you," I told her quietly, and she walked me into the classroom.
"Sho, your new student is here," she announced as we went inside. A gray haired, dark-skinned man stood near a desk, writing on the white board in preparation for the class. He looked over as we walked in.
"Ah, the newest radian, eh?" he grinned.
"Hush, you. Neku is just starting out here," she scolded, and he chuckled.
"I'm just teasing, you know that, Uzuki," he said. He then looked at me. "You can do math, right?"
"Of course," I nodded, and he smirked.
"Good to know, radian. What's your name?" he asked.
"Neku," I answered, and he nodded.
"All right, take your seat. We still have a good 15 minutes until class starts, so take advantage of it and start copying down what's on the board," he instructed.
"Yes sir," I agreed.
"And call me Sho. We all go by first names here, so don't sweat the formalities," he added, and I nodded once more before taking a seat in the back.
I slipped on my headphones and changed the currently paused song to Twister. As the music flowed over me, I glanced at the white board occasionally to see the notes that were already written up there. I copied them down quickly, even finishing right when Sho was done, and then pulled out my sketchbook and began to draw. What was I drawing, you might ask? None other than my cat, Night, as he slept. I love my cat; he's pretty much been my only friend since my parents died. But that I can explain another time.
Suddenly, the bell rang overhead, and I turned my music off before lowering my headphones to hang around my neck. I watched as the stragglers quickly filed into the classroom, and then Sho took roll before addressing the class.
"Today, hectopascals, we have a new student," he said, and motioned for me to stand up. "Go ahead and introduce yourself." I did as instructed.
"I'm Neku," I said shyly, and Sho nodded in approval.
"All right, sit back down. I'll have Rhyme help you if you need it," he told me, and I hurriedly sat back down, feeling the heat on my cheeks. A small blonde girl who sat in front of me turned around and smiled kindly at me before speaking.
"Hi, I'm Rhyme," she said. "I'll be here if you need help."
"Thanks," I murmured, and she turned back around to face the front. Sho started the lesson, and I was able to keep up with ease. That's the plus of being homeschooled by college parents.
Eventually, the hour long class ended, signaled by the bell ringing, and I got up, my bag on my shoulder. I waited until the rush to leave the classroom was clear, and then I noticed Rhyme waiting by the door next to a taller blonde boy.
"Hi Neku, this is my brother, Beat," she said, introducing the other boy. Beat didn't say anything, just glared at me. That is, until Rhyme elbowed him in the ribs. "Beat, be nice. He's not going to do anything to me, jeez."
"Damn, yo, that hurt," Beat whined. "Why can't you listen to me for once, yo?"
"Because you have poor judgment," Rhyme snorted. I decided to leave then.
"Sorry about the trouble, guys, but I'm just gonna go to my next class on my own," I mumbled, lowering my head a bit.
"You sure?" Rhyme asked.
"Yeah, I'll be fine," I assured her.
"Okay, well, I'll see you later, then, Neku," she waved, smiling at me. As I left, I heard a small thump as she punched her brother again. I didn't catch what she said, didn't care, either, so I just walked to my next class, language arts. I walked in, feeling a pair of eyes watching me, and my face heated up slightly out of embarrassment. I didn't dare to look, just took a seat in the back again, pulled my headphones over my ears, and continued where I had left off on my drawing.
Out of nowhere, my sketchbook was pulled out from my grip, and I looked up, glaring at the offender irritably. It was a silver-haired boy with violet eyes, pale skin, and wore dark, flared jeans and a pale blue button-up shirt. I quickly lowered my headphones as they continued to play the music.
"Do you mind?" I growled, and he smirked.
"Yes, I do, actually," he replied, the smirk turning into a cheeky grin. "Who are you? I've never seen you before."
"Neku. Neku Sakuraba. Can I please have my sketchbook back?" I said.
"Not until you sit next to me," he answered. "Then you can have it."
"Yoshiya, give him back his sketchbook," the teacher said as she entered the classroom.
"But Mitsuki, I want him to sit next to me," the boy, Yoshiya, whined.
"I don't care. Bribery is not the way to go about it," Mitsuki snapped, and Yoshiya reluctantly handed me back my sketchbook. "That's what I thought."
"And don't call me Yoshiya! Call me Joshua!" he added, scowling.
"Only if you behave, then I'll call you what you want," she retorted. "Treat others how you want to be treated."
"As you wish," Joshua grumbled, and went back to his seat.
"Sorry about him," Mitsuki apologized to me as she wrote on the board. "Joshua is kind of an attention hog."
"Sounds like it," I agreed, and she laughed lightly.
"Neku, right? It's good to have you join us," she smiled, and glared at Joshua. "Now be nice to him."
"Fine, I will," the silverette nodded shortly. Mitsuki nodded once, satisfied, and I returned to my drawing. As soon as the bell rang, however, I tucked my sketchbook back into my bag and pulled out my notebook, starting to copy down the notes on the board. No sooner than the bell had rung, everyone filed in, taking their seats.
"All right, class, I know it's been a good weekend for all of you, but it's time to hand in your essays," Mitsuki announced, and there were a few grumblings as she picked up at least half of the class's essays. It looked like not everyone had done them, but those who hadn't didn't seem to really care. I noticed Joshua had done his, and she collected it as he smiled charmingly at her. She whacked him on the head for trying to suck up, making me chuckle quietly at his misfortune.
"Now, even though I just collected your essays, I'm handing out another one." There was a collective groan from my new classmates, and she snapped at them. "QUIET! This is my class, my rules. Now, this one can be a freestyle essay, written about any topic you'd please, as long as it's nothing inappropriate, such as perverted subjects. Everyone is required to do this one. If you don't, I'll automatically put you at an 'F' until you bring it back up. Does everyone understand?"
"Yes, Ms. Konishi," everyone around me muttered. I merely nodded, eager to work on this one. It sounded like a good idea, as long as everyone stuck to something appropriate.
"Also, if you want, you can work with a partner," she added. Before the others said anything, however, she added, "But you still have to write your own essays. The partnership is merely for help."
There was another collective groan until Mitsuki slammed her hand onto her desk at the front, silencing the now fearful class. I happened to notice Joshua's violet eyes watching me, a smirk playing on his lips. I could tell he wanted to partner up with me, but I wasn't too keen about it.
"Now, I'm excusing you to the library, where you can start on your essays," she told us. "Go." Everyone but me scrambled out of the classroom, and then I spotted Joshua waiting behind as well. Probably waiting for me, I thought to myself. As I walked to the door, ignoring him, he suddenly jumped up and stopped me.
"Say, Neku, why don't we be partners?" Joshua suggested, and I shrugged.
"Honestly, I don't see why not. But I have one condition," I said.
"And that would be…?" he asked.
"No messing with me. Don't take my sketchbook, headphones, or anything of mine unless I say you can," I said firmly, and he nodded.
"Sounds somewhat reasonable," he agreed. "Where can we meet after school for this?"
"Um, I guess my place," I replied, feeling nervous about it. I hope Night won't attack him like he has other people he doesn't like…
"What's wrong?" Joshua asked, his smirk fading.
"Nothing, it's cool," I assured him, and quickly bolted to the library to make my escape. I sat down and pulled out my flash drive, which was shaped like a cat. As I wrote, kinda on autopilot, I thought about how much Joshua flustered me already. I barely know him! How can I be so easily embarrassed by him? He doesn't even know me or my life, anyway…
X*X*X*X*X*X*X
Soon enough, the bell rang, ending my third period free time. I didn't have a class during third period, according to my schedule, but that was fine. More time to write this essay, anyway. Once I finished the sentence, I saved it, ejected my flash drive, and stuck it back into my bag before leaving for fourth period. I glanced at my schedule; I have art next. A small smile worked its way onto my face as I walked, and then I arrived at the classroom. I walked in, sighing happily as I sat down and pulled out another sketchbook, this one free of drawings and ready to be used.
When the bell rang for the small class to start, a dark-haired teacher wearing black pants, a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, a dark grey vest over his shirt, flip-flops, and a small pair of sunglasses walked in.
"Heya class," he greeted. "Ready to start drawing?" There was a murmured agreement before the door opened, and in walked Joshua of all people. I groaned internally, but kept a cool exterior, even as he spotted me and walked over.
"Well, hello, Neku," he giggled, and immediately, my expression read WTF. I stared at him for a few seconds, shocked by the fact that he literally just giggled. "What, cat got your tongue, Nekky?" I snapped out of my stupor and glared heavily at him.
"Don't call me that," I growled, and the teacher cleared his throat.
"Joshua, leave him alone," he warned. "Neku obviously doesn't want to be called that. You should know that feeling by now."
"Yes, Sanae," Joshua grumbled, and sat down across from me. "Man, you're such a hard-ass sometimes…"
"Mr. Hanekoma needs to be a hard-ass when it comes to you, Josh," a girl with pink hair said snottily.
"Shut it, Eri, I didn't ask for your opinion," Joshua snapped. The brunette girl next to Eri pushed her glasses a little further up her nose, smirking, but didn't say anything. She held her black cat doll close to her chest, leering at me. I quickly looked away, looking down at my sketchbook before opening it, pulling my headphones over my ears, and beginning to draw.
Sketching lightly, I began to draw a picture of a fox and a kitten. The kitten was trying to climb on the fox to play with it while the fox was trying to ignore the kitten scrambling onto it. Smiling softly, I finished the outline, and then drew in the dark lines before pulling out my colored pencils. I colored in the fox with red-orange, and then made its eyes amber. When I finished the fox, I pulled out black, silver, and blue to color in the kitten. I colored in the kitten's fur with silver, using black for some flecks amongst the silver, and then finished by coloring his eyes blue.
"Very good, Neku," a voice behind me said, startling me. I paused my music and lowered my headphones, and then looked behind me to see Mr. H looking over my work. "I'm impressed. You need to take that kind of talent somewhere. If you want, I can recommend your work to a few places. I would just need a portfolio of your art."
"Uh…Can I think about it?" I asked nervously. Mr. H looked slightly surprised before nodding once in understanding.
"Sure thing, Phones. I understand," he agreed with a small laugh at my expression from the nickname.
"Thanks, Mr. H," I smiled slightly, and resumed my work, finishing off the shading and coloring perfectly. When I was done, the bell rang right on time, and I closed the sketchbook, sighing. Time for lunch. This meant I would be alone. I looked at my schedule again before cheering internally. I only had one more class after lunch, and then I could go home.
I left the classroom, making my way outside, where it was nice and I could sit in the shade. I hadn't brought any money with me for lunch today, nor did I pack one, so I had nothing to eat for today. I didn't feel like eating, anyway. Wasn't hungry, and I was stressing out, too. Joshua still obviously planned on coming over to my home, which I honestly wasn't too keen on. Maybe I should just cancel? No, he'll think I'm hiding something… You know what, I'll pretend I forgot and leave without him. He's got to have another class after fifth period, right? Hopefully he does.
I sat by myself until the bell rang, my eyes closed as I listened to my music. As soon as it rang, I left for my last class of the day, science. Honestly, it shouldn't be too bad. Just the teacher lecturing about chemicals and shit, right? I certainly hope so.
X*X*X*X*X*X*X
Yes, I love when I'm right, I thought gleefully as I walked out of class. Joshua wasn't in science with me, mercifully, and I could now go home without worrying about him finding out about my home life. I walked home, and when I opened the door to my small house, there was the sound of little bells jingling right before my cat ran into the room and straight up to me, purring and mewing happily.
"Hey, Night," I greeted, feeling relaxed for the first time today. He looked up at me with his big blue eyes, and I smiled. "Sorry I left you for so long, buddy, but this is going to be a regular thing now." The silver cat with black flecks in his fur narrowed his eyes at me, unhappy with this information. "I know, I know, it sucks, and I don't like it either, but since Mom and Dad aren't here anymore, I need to attend public school now or else I'll get in big trouble. I might lose you if that happens, so I need to go to this school."
"Mrow?" Night meowed, seeming confused.
"You'll be taken away from me if I don't go to school," I simplified, and the cat's eyes widened in horror before he mewed sadly. "Don't worry; I'll spoil you when I'm home."
"Meow!" he cried happily, and ran into the kitchen eagerly.
"At this rate, you'll be one plump kitty," I called after him as I shut the door and locked it. As I pulled my shoes off, he gave me a dirty look. "Oh, don't look at me like that. You know I know what you like." He rolled his eyes before returning back into the kitchen. "I'm coming, I'm coming. It's your dinner time, I know." I smiled softly while he ate his canned tuna, and stroked his back, causing him to purr happily. "Good boy. You get to sleep with me while this whole school thing is going on, okay?" Night meowed a couple of times between bites, and then returned to his meal.
When he finished eating, I fixed myself some dinner and ate before getting ready for bed. Night followed me to my room, curling up on my bed and watching me as I changed into a plain black t-shirt and black and white checkered sleep pants. I slipped my headphones off my head and set them on my dresser before climbing into bed with the silver cat. I stroked my hand along his belly, feeling and hearing him purr, and I smiled.
"Goodnight, Night," I murmured, and closed my eyes before going to sleep.
A/N: And there's that chapter! I hope you guys enjoy this. I worked hard on it, haha! R&R, peeps!