Ch. 21: Meeting Neku Sakuraba
T. J.: … I'm tired. And I get eccentric when I'm tired.
F.K.: Yeah, I know that.
T. J.: "Hadesfire, Dark Fire!" Fly my pretties! Fly! Fly! Ahahaha!
F.K.: You really need to stop watching "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", Roxas. It's starting to get to your head.
T. J.: Meheheh! *Collapses*
F.K.: Yeah, it's late, and Roxas is really tired, and Sora is playing Minecraft on the computer, saying sneaky like a broken record. Give me a sec. *turns to Sora* SORA! SHUT UP ALREADY! YOU'RE GETTING ANNOYING AGAIN!
T. J.: "You'll protect little ol' me, won't you Mr. Knight?" MEHEHEHE! GET KADAJ OUT OF MY HEAD!
F.K.: Now I regret telling Roxas the translation of what Shiki said to Riku in the new Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance trailer. And Roxas had been watching Advent Children again, and now I hope you guys know that we're not dead yet! We're not updating as much as I wanted to, because a certain sister of mine is being a lazy bum, having a weird conversation with our brother Sora. But, yeah, there's not much to it. Disclaimer! We will never in a million years own Kingdom Hearts or the characters in The World Ends With You. They both belong to Square Enix, but KH also belongs to Disney, I guess.
T. J.: I can only wish I owned the characters of The World Ends With You. Then, I could hug Rhyme and Beat and Neku. And, Shiki will just be there. As for Joshua, I dun like 'im. I think he's a monster, a traitor, and a murderer. He killed Neku twice. So, I don't like him.
F.K.: Okay Roxy, but I don't think the readers want to read about that. So, enjoy the chapter guys!
It all started out like any other normal, weird day in the Organization. Roxas getting a wakeup call from Axel who tries to either set him on fire or pouring a bucket of ice water, walking around the castle in his Pokémon pajamas until Axel forces him inside his jacket, checking to make sure that Xion didn't pull an all-nighter playing Tetris again, checking to see if Xemnas is still asleep, doddle all over Xemnas's face if he is, turning Saïx into a puppy again, saying hi to Repliku in the labs, running away from Vexen's killer icicles, feeding the cats, checking to see if Chester didn't run away again, and stuffing himself with sea-salt ice cream before he gets caught by Axel.
And that's just in a span of an hour. In what can be considered as an otherwise "normal" day in the Organization.
Today was different though.
"It's Mission Day again, and I hope you all know what that means," Saïx said as he produced a clipboard of the members taking missions. "Demyx, you and Zexion are going over to this new world that has been recently discovered. Zexion is to study the place, while you are to learn about the people over there, Demyx."
"Aww man! I always get stuck with the emo with these kinds of missions!" Demyx whined.
"Excuse me?" hissed Zexion dangerously as he looked up from his lexicon.
"Xigbar," Saïx continued. "The Superior is still upset at you for ruining his master plan—"
"It's just a drawing of a stick figure of him on top of Kingdom Hearts holding a heart towards the sky on his chalk board." Xigbar told him.
"Yes, I'm aware, but Superior's orders are as followed, and you are to go to the Hundred Acre Wood as your punishment."
"No! I don't care what Xemnas does to me, I am not going there!"
"Do you wish to say that in front of the Superior? I'm sure he'll be glad to find something else for you do to, like fixing dinner tonight?"
"NO!" Xigbar and everyone else in the room said out loud in unison.
"Fine, I'll go now," Xigbar said as he got up to go to the waiting corridor. "But Xemnas is going to regret it."
"Roxas, you, Xion, and Axel are going over to Traverse Town for a while. There have been some strange reports over there, and your job is figure out what is going on over there. Originally, Superior was only going to send Roxas, but he can't take care of himself, and Xion needs to stop playing on her computer." Saïx told them.
"Okay. Let's go, guys." Axel said as Roxas and Xion got up and followed him into the corridor.
-One Corridor Ride Later-
"Hey guys? Where are you?" Roxas yelled out as he came out of the corridor. He stood in front of the corridor to see if his friends would come out, but it soon disappeared. "Oh, that's just great. Why is it that I almost always get lost in the corridors?"
As he took in his surroundings, he drew in a huge gulp of air. "AAAXXXEEELLL! XXXIIIOOONNN!"
"SHUT UP, NOISE!" yelled another voice. A blur of color dropped down from a lamppost, and Roxas found a kid ready to punch him.
"Oh," the kid said as he looked at Roxas. "You're not a Noise."
"What? No! I'm not!" Roxas said.
"Oh." He said, and then walked away.
"Wait! Maybe you can help me! I'm lost!"
"No. I gotta go now."
"No! You have to help me!" Roxas said as he grabbed the kid's skinny arm.
"Let go of me, weirdo!" he said as he tried to shake him off.
"I'm not Weirdo! Name's Roxas!"
"Good for you. Now let me go!"
"No! You gotta help me find my friends! I lost them in the corridor of darkness!"
"Corridor of darkness? What are you talking about?"
"You know, I'm a Nobody! You know, no heart!"
"You're weird, you know that?"
"Well, who are you then?"
"Neku Sakuraba. That's my name."
"Oh. Okay, Mr. Cat."
"It's Ne-ku! Not Ne-ko!" Neku said.
"Oh. Well… Haven't you eaten for the past couple days?"
"What? Yes I have! Why?"
"You're so skinny and underweight! Whoever's been feeding you should be reported."
"I look after myself. And," Neku looked his hand. "I just wasted about five minutes talking to you."
"What do you mean?"
"The Reaper's Game. Remember?" Neku said as he showed his hand to Roxas.
Roxas grabbed Neku's hand and stared at it in awe. "You only have about twenty four hours. Are you from that one movie?"
"Wh-what movie?" Neku said, getting freaked out.
"You know, that one movie where people have clocks on their arms, and where the rich live forever and the poor die young. The time is like a form of currency."
-On The Other Side Of Traverse Town-
"ROXAS! WHERE'D YOU GO OFF TO?" Axel yelled, looking for the blonde.
"Do you think he got lost in the corridor again?" Xion asked him.
"Most definitely."
"You're so loud," came a voice from a roof. "People are gonna think that you're a Noise."
"What?" Axel said as he turned around to see the kid. "Oh. A weird kid. Well, I'm not a Noise, I'm a Nobody."
"…That's great."
"Anyways, have you seen a blonde kid about yay tall, spiky hair, wears a black coat, is kinda annoying."
The kid shrugged. "Might've. Might've not."
"Come on, Axel," Xion said, trying to drag him away. "This kid isn't gonna help us, anyway."
"Well you better hurry to your friend, or else the Noise will get to him first," the kid said.
"I don't know about that kid. Right now, you're just getting on my nerves." Axel told him.
The kid said nothing, and then got up and jumped off of the roof easily, and held out his hand to him. "Wanna make a pact?"
"What?"
"…Are you new at the Reaper's Game?"
"The Reaper's Game? What is that?"
"You know, someone killed you, and now you gotta win in order to come to life?"
"No, I don't know. You see, I'm not actually dead, but I'm not actually alive, either. It's because I'm a Nobody, I'm not supposed to exist. Sooo, yeah… it's kinda hard to explain."
The kid said nothing as he grabbed Axel's hand and ripped off the glove. "What? You're not in the Reaper's Game?"
"Uh, no. And give me back my glove!" Axel said as he snatched his glove back.
"But how can you see me?"
Axel shrugged. "It's probably because I'm a Nobody, and I'm not supposed to exist."
"…Okay."
"Speaking of Nobodies, where did Xion go?" Axel said as he looked around for the girl.
"She disappeared in one of those dark portals you used to get here." The kid said.
"Oh, great. Now I need to put both of them on leashes when we get home." Axel said as he facepalmed himself.
"You have to put your friends on leashes?" The boy asked, flipping his long, pale blonde hair to the side.
"I'm not gonna talk about that. So I'm gonna go now. Bye." Axel said as he turned on his heel and walked away from the boy.
He got about ten feet before the same boy dropped down from a lamp post in front of him.
Axel remained unfazed. "You know, you're seriously are getting annoying, kid."
The boy just smiled. "You know, I didn't catch your name."
"The name's Axel. Got it memorized?" Axel said as he pointed a finger to his temple.
"…Joshua."
Axel just shrugged as he walked along past Joshua. He didn't get too far when he heard footsteps behind him, signifying that Joshua is following him.
Finally, Axel turned around to face him. "Will you stop following me?"
"I can't." Joshua said simply.
"Why not?"
"Because, they said I had to help someone find their friend or else I will get erased."
"Oh, great. Why is it that I always get stuck with the weird ones?" Axel muttered as he walked on.
Joshua said nothing as he followed him.
-On The Other Side Of Traverse Town-
"WILL YOU STOP FOLLOWING ME AROUND?" Neku said to Roxas.
"No! You gotta help me find my friends!" Roxas objected.
"Why should I help you?"
"Because!"
"Because what?"
"Because if you don't, Axel is gonna hurt you."
"Who's Axel?"
"Mine's and Roxas's babysitter and friend." Xion said as she came into view.
Neku turned around to see Xion. "Who are you?"
"I'm Xion. What's your name?"
"Neku Sakuraba."
"Nice name. Oh and Roxas, Axel was looking for you, but this weird kid started talking to him. He was getting kinda annoying, so I left to find you."
"Did the kid have pale blonde hair?" Neku asked her.
"Yes. Why?" Xion answered.
"So you've met Joshua."
"Who's Joshua?" Roxas asked.
"He's a contestant in the Reaper's Game," Neku explained. "He can get pretty annoying, because he has this arrogant behavior that can annoy people easily."
"Well, bothering Axel isn't really a very good idea because he might either burn your hair off completely, or get roasted, or nearly impaled." Xion said.
"You mean like that one time when he pinned me on the wall with his chakrams when I started to bother him a lot?" Roxas said.
"Yep."
"Yeah, that wasn't fun at all, especially since Xigbar was shooting people again with his paintball gun."
Neku stared at them in disbelief. "I thought you guys said he is your friend."
"He is, but he just has a small temper issue." Roxas told him.
"But not as bad as Saïx's, though. You get him mad, he's gonna slash you to ribbons." Xion reminded.
"You two are probably the weirdest people I've ever met." Neku told them.
"Yeah, we get that a lot." Roxas said.
"But it's mostly to Roxas." Xion added.
"Hey…"
"It's true."
"…Well, I don't know where Joshua went off to." Neku said, already lost in their strange conversation.
"The last time I saw that kid and Axel, they were in the other side of Traverse Town. But I doubt that Axel would still be there because he will try to get away from that kid."
"Your friend has good taste then." Neku said, his skinny arms crossed over his chest. "I wouldn't be surprised if Joshua was following him around right now."
"Then we might hear a loud scream in three… two… one…"
Right on cue, they heard a loud scream and curse words and what sounded like someone yelling at someone else for setting them on fire.
"That's Joshua." Neku said, smiling slightly.
"And that was definitely Axel." Roxas said as he looked at the direction where he heard the scream.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Let's go!" Xion said as she grabbed both boys' wrists and dragged them along behind her.
-On The Other Side Of Traverse Town-
Joshua looked at Axel with fury. "Why'd you do that?"
"Because you're bugging me." Axel said simply.
"So you always burn people who are trying to help?" Joshua asked, nursing a burnt arm.
"No. I just burn people who are just standing there not doing anything."
"I was trying to show you the ropes around this place."
"In case you didn't know, I've been here before, so I know how to get around this place. It's just trying to find an eccentric blonde that's the hard part, with the added bonus of trying to find a Tetris freak as well."
"Well, I doubt you've ever dealt with a Noise before."
"You know, I'm gonna stop talking to you, because you more you keep talking, the more you remind me of Zexion." Axel said as he continued walking.
"Who's Zexion?" Joshua asked, not really caring if he did answer.
Axel remained silent as he ignored him.
"AXEL!" yelled a voice from a different street.
Axel barely even had time to look at that direction to see Roxas when the blonde hurled himself at Axel and hugged him. Axel doubled over slightly as his breath was knocked out of him.
"Good to see you too, buddy," Axel said as he got his breath back. "Where's Xion?"
"Hi Axel!" Xion called out as she came up to him, still holding on to Neku's wrist.
"Please don't glomp me. I don't wanna have my breath knocked out of me every five seconds." Axel told her as he pried Roxas off.
"Huh, you know what, Neku? I should've expected you to get tangled up with people like that." Joshua told him.
"We're not people! We're Nobodies!" Axel told him. "If I was a normal person, I wouldn't be able to set myself on fire, and be completely unharmed." To prove his point, Axel set his entire being on fire, and easily dismissed the flames. Neku looked completely surprised and awed at the act, while Joshua remained unimpressed.
Roxas caught sight of Neku's reaction. "If you think that was cool, you should've seen him on New Year's Eve. He set the whole castle on fire! And believe me, this is just a normal everyday thing for us!" After he said that, Roxas laughed bit.
Neku gave Roxas a look of shock. "What?"
"Yeah, Axel is the one who controls fire in our weird, messed up family," Xion explained. "There's Xemnas, who controls nothing and likes to draw his different plans on his chalkboard and yell at Roxas every day. Xigbar, who controls space and likes to hang up on the ceilings upside down. Xaldin, who controls air and likes to fly around a lot. Vexen, who controls ice and likes to try to kill Roxas with icicles and make the castle a frozen wasteland. Lexaeus, who controls earth, and likes to work on puzzles a lot, so there's nothing really abnormal there, except he holds the record of staying quiet for a month. Zexion, who controls illusions, and likes to create nightmares out of that, because he thinks it's fun. Saïx, who is a werewolf, but can turn into a puppy if you scratch him in a certain spot. You already know about Axel, right Joshua?"
Joshua glared at her as he rubbed his burnt arm again.
Xion continued. "There's also Demyx, who controls water, and likes to play on his sitar all day, but is not necessarily the smartest person at all. There's Luxord, who controls time, and likes to drink rum with his past self. Marluxia controls flowers and other forms of plant life, and he likes to care for his giant Venus flytraps. Larxene controls electricity and she likes to abuse people. Roxas there wields a Keyblade and likes to annoy us by doing random things. I also wield a Keyblade, and I like playing Tetris. There's also Repliku, but he's kinda weird, and also our cat selves. And I guess that's it."
There was silence after Xion finished.
The silence however was broken when Roxas clapped his hands. "Nice work Xion. Now you made them think we're psychos."
"We technically are, actually."
"Xion, just stop talking please."
"Fine."
"Well Neku," Joshua said at last. "I guess you made friends with psychos. Good luck finding Shiki." Joshua said as he walked away.
Neku stood there, glaring at Joshua's retreating form. He broke his gaze when he felt a poke on his shoulder. He turned around and found Roxas holding a rock to him.
"Wanna throw it at him?" Roxas asked simply.
Neku just took the rock from him without a single moment's hesitation. He smiled slightly as he threw the rock at Joshua's head. Joshua started to curse as the rock found its mark.
Joshua turned around to face them. "Who threw this at me?"
Axel pointed at Neku, Neku pointed at Roxas, Roxas pointed at Axel, and Xion pointed at Neku.
"Tell me the truth." Joshua told them.
"I am!" Neku, Roxas, Xion, and Axel all say in unison.
If looks could kill, the look that Joshua was giving them could've killed them.
Suddenly, Roxas started laughing.
"Why are you laughing?" Axel asked him, concerned if he had finally gone insane.
"He reminds me of another Zexion!" Roxas told him.
Xion started laughing as well. "He does!" she exclaimed. "He just needs the hair and jacket and dictionary!"
Neku just looked at both of them as if he thought they belonged in an asylum.
"You know, we should probably get home." Axel said.
"But I don't wanna go!" Roxas complained.
"We still need to report back our mission to Saïx."
"B-b-but… I wanna stay here!"
"Why do you want to stay here?"
"Because it's fun to hit that kid with rocks!" Roxas cheered, pointing at Joshua.
Axel sighed, and pulled out a pink infant leash and a harness. He quickly put the harness on Roxas and attached the leash on as well.
"I really don't like to do this, because it's really embarrassing."
He quickly made a corridor and walked into it, dragging Roxas behind him.
"See ya soon, Neku!" Roxas said as he waved before disappearing.
Xion walked into the corridor as well, waving to Neku before disappearing.
"… Crazies." Neku muttered before walking away.
-In The Castle That Never Was-
"Did you finish your mission?" Saïx asked as he saw Axel come through the corridor dragging Roxas along on his infant leash with Xion following.
"Yeah, we did." Axel said bluntly.
"What is the cause?"
"A bunch of dead kids."
"… What do you mean 'dead kids'?"
"Just dead kids." Axel rephrased as he walked away, still dragging Roxas along.
T. J.: MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY NON-EXISTENT HEART!
F.K.: Merry Christmas! I hope you guys will have a good Christmas, and a good New Year! Now I just need to work on the other chapter that will probably be either posted on Christmas Eve or on Christmas Day, depending on how much help Roxas there contributes to the chapter. So far, the reason why they're getting longer is because I am the one who is writing most of them.
T. J.: GIVE A BIG HAND TO THE NEWEST MEMBERS OF THE "A Day in the Life of the Organization" (Wow, I just realized how long our title is), REPLIKU, HAYNER, PENCE, OLETTE, AND (One of my personal favorites) VENTUS!
F.K.: Good for you. Now you spoiled the chapter.