Chap 2

When I got around to writing this I couldn't remember how I had intended for it to be in the beginning so it's a little different from what I originally wanted but it not that bad… I hope.

As always Scramble Crossing was full. It was around lunch on a Saturday so a busy mass should be expected with all the local teenagers in the city meeting friends, shopping or just getting lunch. Neku started to walk in the direction of 104 but realised that he hated shopping and if the boy was anything like Joshua he would love it and they would be there for hours and hours. So instead of leaving himself open to receive such torture, Neku stopped to speak to Yoshi.

The whole of the area was too noisy. It was so noisy the pair couldn't even hear themselves think. They quickly realised (after a short tour of Shibuya) that there was not really anywhere quiet enough to talk around the city at this time in the day. Neku looked at the boy next to him before he walked back towards the 104 building. He knew he could get to Ramen Don that way and he was starting to get a little hungry. He had been meeting Shiki at Wildkat for some food anyway but thought that maybe the others would rather eat their overpriced pastries and food without the watchful eyes of the impostor composer.

As the two walked, the citizens of Shibuya fought around them to try and get out of the crowds and into the open where they could breathe or at least lift their arms from their sides.

"Let's just walk Neku," Yoshi suggested as he increased his pace to look at the other.

"You can show me around some more, maybe take me shopping," the boy giggled. Neku didn't react more than the small wince he tried to hide at the boy's giggle. His hands were shoved in his pockets and his head was down while he walked. The people around them seemed to steer clear of the ginger as if his body was giving out an aura of darkness. He really looked like the antisocial emo type he used to he before the game.

"I'm going to Ramen Don," Neku told the other. He made it known with a raise of an eyebrow that it wasn't a suggestion and that Yoshi's choices were to follow him or get lost.

With a sigh, Yoshi chose to follow Neku.

"Do you eat ramen?" Neku asked in a grumble he was obviously directing at the green eyed boy. Yoshi's eyes widened as he realised he was being spoken to. A faint blush painted itself on his cheeks because he realised he had been up in the clouds.

"Oh! Um... Yes," he replied while tucking a strand of hair behind his ear. Yoshi struggled to keep up with Neku's pace and ended up half running to keep up with the other boy. For a moment, Neku saw a different boy to the one who still seemed to be playing the role of the composer. He was timid but very polite every time he bumped into someone. Neku's speed increased to dodge and he didn't realise until a minute after he had lost Yoshi.

"Trying to get rid of me?" the boy in question asked with a smirk as he popped up next to Neku. He increased his speed to a pace that matched Neku's more easily now and Neku wondered why he was having so much trouble walking at this pace earlier. The ginger looked at him with a disbelieving look of almost disapproval. It was the kind of look he used to give Joshua during the first few days of their week when he was really tired of his bullshit.

"Gee I wonder where you got that idea," Neku mumbled sarcastically but he didn't change his pace to try and lose the other boy. He wasn't bothered about him that much to do so, just like he hadn't thought of trying to lose the other in the crowd. He was hungry and could just ignore the annoying tag along if he really needed to.

By the time they reached the ramen shop Yoshi was trying to talk to Neku again.

"Where do you go to school?" Yoshi asked as he sped up to walk next to Neku.

"There're only two schools around here. I think from your 'smarts' you can tell I'm not from the private school," he grumbled as he tried to speed up.

Yoshi managed to keep up pretty well as they entered the shop. "I'm at that school now too," he giggled happily. "I'm just glad someone else I know will be there, especially seeing as it's you, dear," Neku was getting a little annoyed with his new stalker. Neku didn't retaliate and therefore Yoshi didn't say anything as they went up to the till to order. Yoshi ordered for both of them, trying to get into his new friend's good books. Neku accepted with a reluctant grunt of a thank you while he accepted his favourite brand of ramen from the other boy.

"So what will it take for me to get rid of you?" Neku asked gruffly as he plonked into a seat and took a bite of his food. "And how did you know what I like here?" He asked.

"I just want to talk. I'm not going to bite... Unless you're into that thing," at first the silver haired boy smirked and winked at Neku. At the scow he recived from an annoyed Neku, Yoshi looked in the opposite direction looking confused and a little guilty. "Sorry. Um... I have his memories. You used to always order that," Yoshi sounded timid, like he didn't really want to talk about it. Neku almost missed the other boys mutter, but his eyes widened before they got defensive.

"How much do you know?" He asked as he started slurping his noodles up really quickly.

"All of it. From when he was human to how he...went..." He trailed off as he realised Neku was glaring. He decided to take notes from the boy who he looked like in this situation. He didn't know why Neku was angry, but he knew Joshua would've given him a reason to be angry.

"Heehee, I remember all of it, even your face when we had sex,"

"We?" Neku growled. He stood up am the smirk dropped from the other's face and was replaced by a frown. If he wasn't so annoyed by the boy's imitations, he would've been commenting on how he must have split personalities or something. One minute he acted like Joshua, the next he was timid and seemingly innocent. Right now the 'seemingly innocent' boy had grabbed onto Neku's arm as he tried to leave.

"Don't leave, I won't do it again," wide green eyes pleaded. The pools of deep green still made Neku shudder. The colour didn't look right to him on that face.

"I wanted to ask about what I would be to you," Yoshi's voice was quiet but Neku was sitting down again because he knew this conversation was inevitable.

"I want to be your friend Neku, without it being weird. Is that too much to ask?" The way he looked up at Neku made the other feel like he was blushing. This guy was supposed to have no effect on him but Joshua had never been nice to him like this and to see someone in his exact image acting so unlike him confused Neku to no end. Neku would never admit to that.

"Whatever, it's not like it matters to me, just make sure you don't act like him," Neku cautioned. The barrier he had put up -the one that made him look angry- had fallen away and he just looked down at the table in confusion. They were both silent for a moment. Yoshi was confused at Neku's confusion while Neku was confused by his emotions. He was annoyed Yoshi wanted to be his friend because it meant more suffering for him and he was angry because the other was still being Joshua at some points in time. He was confused at the feeling of hope that this boy's appearance bought forward. Yoshi didn't know what to feel so he settled to being hopeful for Neku to accept him. He didn't know why he still felt butterflies in his stomach. He promised himself he wouldn't fall for the other boy.

"I'll try not to, but I am influenced by his memories," Yoshi giggled causing Neku to growl again. Yoshi looked away from the other and pulled a face as he tucked a curl of his silver hair behind his ear.

"I don't want a remnant of him here," Neku said gruffly before he went back to slurping the soup still in his bowl.

"I'd dye my hair for you, but I like my hair. So does my sister," Yoshi explained with a giggle. Neku didn't look up at him he just finished off his noodles in silence. He noticed Yoshi had barely touched his apart from twirling a fork around in the bowl.

"I don't exactly know much about your sister," Neku said. He was trying to start a conversation.

"What's there to know? Her name is Aya she's 22 and works in cities as a fashion designer. She speaks French, English and Japanese, clothes size-"

"What is it with people and trying to give me their clothes sizes?!" Neku said with a growl of irritation. He remembered Shiki, Eri, Joshua and even Mr H try to give him their sizes at one point. He didn't know if they were hinting at wanting clothes but he just usually cut them off quickly.

"I could give you mine if you want, dear..." Yoshiya said suggestively. He lent down on his hand and looked up at Neku through his eyelashes.

"Aren't you going to eat?" Neku asked as he ignored the comment. He motioned to the full bowl of ramen sitting in front of the other boy. Yoshi looked down and looked back up into Neku's eyes. With a small smile on his face, he shook his head and pushed the bowl forward into the middle of the table.

"My stomach is in knots. I thought this was going to end in a fight," he sighed with a soft smile. One hand settled on his stomach as if he hoped that would help at all.

There was another silence. The boys voided each other's gaze as Neku started to eat again while Yoshi just swung his legs and messed with his food again.

"I don't want us to fight and make everything awkward," Yoshi says. He doesn't look up at Neku but he can feel the other boy glaring at him. it took a few seconds for Yoshi to get curious and glance up at Neku. His eyes flick up and then back down to the food on the table. Yoshi was swinging his legs again like a little kid but he looked like he was thinking. When he did finally look up it was with a smug smirk Neku saw often on someone else's face. It looked the same on Yoshi.

"Neku, what would you do if Joshua was still here?" the boy tried to act confident but inside he was nervous. It was an innocent question but Neku seemed to be irritated by it immediately.

"I thought you said you didn't want us to fight," the boy muttered through clenched teeth. Yoshi was confused by the other's behaviour.

"I don't want us to fight," the silver haired boy answered quickly with a flick of his hair. He watched Neku's face as his eyes flickered shut and he let out a forceful breath of air.

"You really are stupid," he muttered. Yoshi didn't understand, but he was going to make a point that he wasn't stupid! He had only just opened his mouth to report something when Neku's face filled with rage and he stood up from his chair which gave a loud screech in protest as it scraped across the floor.

"He can't come back. That's the point of being dead," Neku growled before stomping straight out of the restaurant and making quite a few people stare.

Yoshi watched the other boy look around to him and, with a shake of his head, he sprinted in the direction of home. His departure left Yoshiya breathless but he frowned when he realised the exact opposite of what he wanted had happened. They had fought and now he would have to go home this week and he'd have nothing to think about but the look on Neku's face when he yelled.

With a sigh, Yoshi apologised to the ramen shop owner and walked out into the street feeling down that he had just had an argument with the one person he wanted to impress.

Neku on the other hand was halfway home and had resorted to walking again while he grumbled angrily to himself. He wasn't particularly happy with the whole situation and was finding it hard to even look at the other boy while they sat and ate. He was just like Joshua in some respects but in others he was completely different and it threw Neku off. His voice and the pauses he took when he spoke made his speech pattern almost exactly the same. It was his eyes that were the giveaway and when he was surprised and slipped straight back into his own personality as a defence mechanism. He was still too similar for Neku which lead to him being confused. His heart ached for a person he had forgotten and also for the composer. He didn't really know how to take Joshua's death. He knew it would happen someday and he wondered if he should be glad it happened now before he got too involved...

Neku stopped as he reached his front door and had to pull his keys out. He called a usual hello to his mother as he entered but went straight to his room without even waiting for a reply.

Neku flopped down back on his bed as he started to think again. He can't help but think maybe he did get too attached to Joshua while he was around. He also thought that maybe he did get too involved. But these thoughts were pushed to the back on Neku's mind as he realised he wanted a quick nap from such an exhausting day. It was five when the boy drifted off to sleep and his mother was surprised when he didn't wake up again that night. The dreams he had were confusing and caused the boy to toss in his sleep but he didn't wake up until the next morning.