Sanctuary

I sweep the dusty layer away.

Enuffa lying under the cupboards.

Pictures are meant to be seen.

Stories are meant to be told.

Music is meant to be heard.

"We've just arrived at the Shibuya General Hospital."

The hospital?"What?"

"It's Rhyme. She's almost drowned and she's unconscious and – no, Beat, that way – I can't talk now. Just get over here."

Joshua hung up and Neku swore.

Just when he thought his weekend was going to be peaceful, life decided to kick him in the face and go on a riot. He didn't need to say anything to Shiki, as he started running.

Hang in there Rhyme.

Chapter Thirteen - Unstable

As soon as the bus doors opened, Neku sprinted towards the automated sliding glass doors of the Shibuya General Hospital. Hurrying to the reception, he demanded to know where Raimu Bito was staying. After being directed by a startled receptionist, he took the elevator up to the third floor and burst into Rhyme's room.

"Oh, Rhyme," Shiki exclaimed into his ear as she came into sight.

The room was a standard one, just like the one he stayed in when he passed out and on the bed laid Rhyme. Her chest rose and fell evenly, mirroring the steady beeps of the heart monitor. Beat was sitting on a stool next to the bed and was clinging onto her hand. His beanie was thrown carelessly onto the floor. Neku bent to pick it up, and placed a hand on Beat's shoulder as he put it on the bedside. "How did it happen?"

"S-she wanted to do some extra swimmin' and the janitor let us in and it was goin' fine. Then suddenly she was splashin' and shoutin' and then she went underwater an' didn't come up right away." His voice cracked at the end. He suspected that maybe Beat had cried. "An' I just froze up, man. I – I didn't go after her and she was drownin' and –"

"Stop your sobbing, it's unbecoming of you." Joshua was sitting on the chair in the corner, just behind Neku. He must have walked right passed him… "You said you can't swim, right? What good would it have done if jumped into the pool? Nothing. I couldn't have dragged both you and Rhyme out at the same time. One of you would have really drowned."

"You pulled her out? What were you doing there too?"

"Apparently I asked to be driven to school." Apparently? "Not that I remember."

Neku understood what he was getting at. "The Other Joshua?"

"Yes. I came back into consciousness just at the entrance to the pool," he recounted. "Rhyme's Soul had gone berserk again. Once it gets like that, it can really affect your physical body too, and that's exactly what was happening to Rhyme. Naturally, I dove in to save her but when I pulled her out she wasn't breathing. She should have been fine after I did CPR on her but her Soul was still extremely unstable. We took her to the hospital in my car; it was the quickest way.

"Souls tend to stabilise if they're in the presence of a huge number of others, which is why she's fine now…but…" He let out a frustrated sigh. "She's an idiot and brought this upon herself."

"Whatchu you say?" Beat thundered, getting up so quickly that his stool clattered to the ground. "What did say 'bout Rhyme?"

"You heard me," said Joshua, standing up as well.

"Come over here so I can hit you." Rhyme's brother started forward but Neku pushed a hand against him, trying to hold him back.

"Alright then." He did exactly as Beat asked and walked straight up to him. "But it doesn't make what I said untrue. Rhyme shouldn't have tried to train by herself."

"She wasn't by herself - she had me!"

"Yes but it doesn't mean anything if you can't even see the reason she needs to train. It makes your presence obsolete."

This time, Beat shoved Neku's hand away and grabbed Joshua by the collar. "Say that again."

"Please refrain from fighting – this is a hospital." It was the doctor, who walked in with a tight-lipped expression. Neku recognised him as the same doctor who had been with him when he woke up the other day…

"Dad!"

"Doctor Bito!"

Beat and Joshua had both spoken simultaneously and then there was a pause.

"You know my dad?"

"That's your father?"

Neku would have jumped in with a something of his own but it was confusing enough as it was.

"Daisukenojo, I didn't expect you to be acquainted with Yoshiya," he said.

"Dad I told ya, it's Beat,"he said through gritted teeth, though he did release Joshua from his grip. "And how'd you know him anyway?"

"Aside from working here I've also served as the family doctor for the Kiryu household for a while. I make house calls whenever Yoshiya here collapses. You would know that if you actually listened to anything I've been saying, Daisukenojo."

"If you ain't callin' me Beat at home, fine – just don't call me that in front of my friends," Beat muttered.

Dr. Bito brushed past Beat to stand over Rhyme and was checking over her and ticking things off his clipboard. His expression didn't betray any emotion of concern. Neku supposed, though, that doctors needed to be able to do that, even if it was a member of their own family.

Beat nudged Joshua with a glare. "You didn't tell me you knew Dad."

"Bito is such a common family name. Why should I be expected to know that he was your father? Besides he's nothing like you."

"At least you've got one thing right," agreed Beat lowly.

"His dad does give off a more serious kind of aura around him, don't you think?" said Shiki.

"Yeah," he whispered back.

The doctor suddenly straightened up and pierced Beat with a cold look. "What kind of dangerous situation did you put her into this time?"

"I didn't mean to – she was just swimming and then she – "

"Never mind. I probably don't want to hear it. This is exactly why I said clubs were a waste of time. You two should be using that time to study instead."

Hey, at least hear Beat out. Feeling more than a little ticked off, Neku opened his mouth to defend Beat when –

"Dr. Bito it wasn't Beat's fault." Joshua? "Just because Rhyme was in danger doesn't mean it was because of Beat. Maybe you should ask her what happened when she wakes up. Pointing fingers at people without hearing the full story isn't the way to go."

Well, okay then. Joshua must be the most indecisive one out of them all. Whose side was he on? Maybe he just said whatever he wanted to. Yeah, that was it.

In any case, Dr. Bito did not so much as blink. He simply retrieved his phone from his pocket and started calling someone. "Hello….yes it's me, please stop moaning. As a matter of fact I have seen him…yes, at the hospital…you're here? That makes things simpler…yes, yes, room twenty two, third floor…stop making such a racket there are patients here trying to get some rest…I hope you're not running….you're running aren't you?"

The next moment the door swung open. "There you are, Yoshiya."

Joshua froze. "Father…hello."

What was this? 'Introduce your Dad day?' The two fathers seemed to be in stark contrast, though. Dr. Bito's serious features were the opposite of Mr. Kiryu, who was looking around the room in a carefree manner. He had his long ash-blond hair tied in a low pony-tail and was wearing some kind of extravagant looking suit.

"Yoshiya! You weren't home when I arrived and I couldn't get hold of Mr. Kitaniji. I was worried you might've run away. Or have been kidnapped. Or been abducted by aliens." Is he for real?

"Father, I highly doubt any of that would have happened – "

"You're absolutely right. That would have been terrible. Think of what it could have done to your hair."

"My hair is of no importance – "

"Yoshiya, how could you say that!" Mr. Kiryu gasped as if hurt. "Appearance is everything. Our names are Kiryu. Have you forgotten our motto? Success is everything, anything else is – " He looked at Joshua, smiling expectantly, crossing his arms.

"- a waste of time," Joshua finished with his own smile. At first glance it didn't look forced, but there was a slight twitch of annoyance that Neku could sense from Joshua.

"Very well done," said Mr. Kiryu, nodding approvingly. He then turned to Dr. Bito and Rhyme. "Oh dear, that's your daughter isn't it? She looks exactly the same as in the photos. Is she alright? Is she dying? Do you need to fly her out overseas? I can arrange that if that's –"

"Raimu will be fine. She's just very fatigued. Yuu, you're giving everyone here a headache. Including me," said Dr. Bito.

"Nonsense. I am Yuu Kiryu. My presence should be enough to cure all patients here of their illness." And he looked like he meant what he said too. Now we know where Joshua got his ego from. "Oh and Kenji, is this your son?" He was referring to Beat and Dr. Bito nodded in response. "I see! Then who's this other one?" This time he was pointing towards Neku.

Neku shifted uncomfortably at the sudden attention on him. "I'm…their friend. Neku Sakuraba."

And then Kiryu was right up in his face. "My, my, Sakuraba? Yes, I thought you looked familiar."

"Do you know him?" asked Dr. Bito, now also looking at Neku curiously. "I treated him once and also felt a sense of knowing him but I couldn't put my finger to who he reminded me of…"

"You can't be serious. Sakuraba. You know – Kyohei Sakuraba. He was only our best friend for since, what, middle school?" Mr. Kiryu smirked in a way very like Joshua usually did as realisation dawned on Dr. Bito's face. "Please. For someone so sharp you can be extremely slow sometimes. One day that could really hurt you. You could get run over. Or robbed. Or abducted by aliens."

"Father, no one's going to be abducted by aliens."

Forget the aliens, these two knew my dad! It really was a 'Dad's day' of sorts. And now Neku's head was just spinning because everything was a bit too much to take in.

"I get your point. Unfortunately, you're being too noisy. I need to do some extra checks on Raimu and I'll need you all to leave for this." He shot Beat a levelled look. "That means you too, Daisukenojo."

"Ooh. Scary, how scary!" Mr. Kiryu giggled. Nevertheless, they all were ushered out by Dr. Bito.

Once they were in the hallway, Mr. Kiryu started talking to Joshua. "Now that I've seen that you're fine, Father needs to run! I've got a meeting. It's only the first day I'm back but every second counts."

He turned as if to leave but Joshua caught him by the elbow. "Father, about the thing we discussed…yesterday?"

And then the whole atmosphere just shifted. He looked down at Joshua and offered him a regretful sort of smile. "Yoshiya, I know that you like to enjoy your hobbies. However they aren't going to make you successful in life. And even if I did want to go to the recital, I've got a meeting at that time next week. You understand, don't you?"

"…Yes, Father." Joshua let go of his father's sleeve and watched him as he left.

Wondering if he should relieve the tension, Neku whistled. "Your dads are certainly…er…"

Shiki came to his rescue. "Interesting."

"Interesting," Neku echoed.

"Interesting? Why, of course! We are Kiryu after all. Only the best," said Joshua instantly, twirling his hair with a smirk. Okay now that did look a little forced.

"You can say interestin' but Dad's a prick sometimes," was what Beat said, no remorse on his face for just insulting his dad.

"Dr. Bito's nice enough in my opinion. Father is better, of course." He really struggled to get that one out.

"Nice ain't the word. I feel like punchin' him sometimes. You know what I mean?"

"Punching your father? How barbaric. I would never even think of doing such a thing."

Beat and Neku exchanged a look. Neku spoke up, "You don't always listen to him, though, do you?"

"Perhaps not, but – "

"But I thought big man Kiryu was always 'right', yo."

"…" Joshua seemed to be at his line now.

"Hey Josh, why don't you tell us how you really feel about your dad?"

"…"

"It ain't gonna hurt anyone," prompted Beat.

Joshua opened his mouth, and then closed it again. A pause. "…You won't speak of this to anyone. Promise me that."

"Alright, man, we promise. Just let it out already."

And let it out, he did. "Father is an absolute pain to be around. He's an embarrassment to me. I am not even kidding with you, you heard him today. Why was he talking about alien abductions? Is he insane? Aliens don't exist! Even if they did why would they want to kidnap anyone here? Why? And he's always telling me to stop wasting my time. Oh please. Half the things that come out of his mouth are just a waste of time. He talks so much that I can hardly get a word in when he's around. And how often is that, anyway? Almost never. He's never around. It's always a meeting here, a meeting there. Come on. I ask him to come to one recital. One. It wouldn't kill him to listen to me for just a second…"

He stopped at the sound of chuckling from Neku. It's then that Joshua seemed to realise that nurses passing in the hallways were giving him glares, because his voice had been so raised. He cleared his throat. "Ahem. That's...that's all, really. I mean, other than that I do think that he is a good person. He does care for me - stop laughing."

Neku tried to but he failed miserably. "You didn't say we couldn't. C'mon, you can't expect us not to. The great Yoshiya Kiryu spilling his feelings in a rage is pretty amusing."

"Yeah, Phones's got it! But yo, you hear me complainin' 'bout my dad all the time. If you ever need to talk 'bout your dad you can always talk to me 'bout that."

Joshua shook his head with his trademark giggle. "I should've known you'd say that. Fine, I'll do that. If only to stop myself from repeating that embarrassing display."

"Heh. Good. Thanks for standin' up to my dad for me earlier on, by the way."

"Don't worry about it."

Neku smiled, glad the two were back to being cool with each other.

"But if you diss Rhyme again I really will kill you."

"…I'll keep that in mind."

Or at least as cool as they could be, being Beat and Joshua.

The door of Rhyme's room opened and Dr. Bito stepped out. Crap. Neku hoped he hadn't heard anything. He didn't seem angry, so he guessed maybe he didn't.

"Raimu has to stay here overnight. You can stay with her now if you want to," Dr. Bito announced evenly. He turned to Joshua. "I suspect your father was already here because he was visiting your mother. She should still be awake if you go to see her now."

Joshua's eyes widened. "Right, I'll go there right away." He took off down the corridor, without another word.

Beat and Neku were left in the hallway. "Should I follow him…?" Neku asked.

"You go. Imma stay here with Rhyme. You can fill me in later," said Beat.

Neku nodded and went off to catch up with Joshua. The other boy had taken a left and was standing in front of the corridor, hand stuck in mid-action of a knock.

"…Do you mind?" Neku asked, walking up to Joshua.

"No…it's fine. And Shiki's welcome too."

"Oh! He could tell," she said. "And here I thought I was being quiet enough."

"You're quiet enough, don't worry. You aren't on loudspeaker," Neku assured her.

"And it's just me being perceptive," Joshua added, before opening the door.

Joshua's mum was a pale looking woman. She had light-brown hair, and it was apparent where Joshua got his facial features from. She was sitting up and looking out the window, but turned to look at the door when she heard it open.

When she recognised that Joshua had entered, her face lit up and she did not look as sickly as she did a moment ago. "Joshua, dear."

"Hello Mother." The first genuine smile Neku had ever seen on Joshua arrived at this very moment.

Joshua went forward to hug his mum and when she released him she giggled. "Dear, have you grown taller, Joshua?"

"Of course not, Mother. It's only been two weeks since I last saw you," said Joshua lightly.

"It must have been my imagination then. Silly me!" She peered around him at Neku. "Is this your friend, dear?"

"Yes," said Joshua. "His name is Neku Sakuraba. We go to school together now."

"How lovely! I'm glad you're spending more time with people your age. Learning is more fun with others around. It's wonderful that you're friends with Kyohei and Ayane's son. We always hoped our children would get along." And this is another bad time to ask about my parents. I don't want to kill the nice atmosphere here. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Neku."

"The pleasure is mine," he said almost automatically, a smile not missing on his face. Mrs. Kiryu seemed to radiate some kind of positive energy.

"Tell me Joshua, have you been practicing your piano? I do love your playing. It's too bad we can't bring a piano in here."

"I have, Mother. In fact, I have a recital next week."

"Oh! That's exciting! Is your father going to be going?"

"Yes, he is." Joshua lied, though his smile remained on his face. This was one lie Neku thought from Joshua to be one that wasn't ill intentioned.

The rest of the conversation was very normal. They talked about how school was going for Joshua and Neku couldn't even bring himself to make any comments about Joshua's attitude in front of Mrs. Kiryu.

As Shiki said when they left the room, with Mrs. Kiryu telling them both to visit again soon, "She's just so…nice. Why…"

"Why does she have to stay here?" asked Neku cautiously, hoping the questions wasn't too sensitive. "Has she been here long?"

"She's been in the hospital for over three years," said Joshua, his smile fading. "She's been getting so frail that she needed to be hospitalized. The doctors aren't a hundred percent sure what's wrong with her, but her health is at its best when she's in the hospital, so they keep her here."

Oh…

"I know what's wrong with her, though. Her Soul's unstable."

"What?" Shiki gasped.

"Hers?"Neku hadn't been expecting that. "I couldn't tell at all."

"I told you earlier, didn't I? Souls stabilise in the presence of other souls. When she's not around a lot of people, her Soul is unstable to the point that it affects her physical body almost permanently. I don't quite know how her Soul got to that point, but I do know that if you play around with your Soul the wrong way you could end up like her…"

"Neku! That must be why Joshua doesn't want Rhyme to train alone. He doesn't want her to end up in the hospital," Shiki said as it occurred to her.

It would make sense as to why Joshua had been so insistent on training her. No wonder he blew up at Beat earlier on. He didn't want to see another person go through the same thing his mother was having to go through.

Joshua sighed. "I don't want to worry her while she's in the hospital. Neither does Father. That's why he works so hard. He wants to make sure that we'll always have enough money to be able to take care of Mother. I'm sure he eventually wants to know what's going on with her, but I don't think I can tell him."

And it must be why he lies to her. To keep her with a peace of mind. "So, it's your Father who started calling you Yoshiya?"

"Maybe saying 'stopped calling me Joshua' would be more appropriate," he said. "Yoshiya's official – Yoshiya Kiryu. And Kiryu is the way to success." Success in order to heal. Joshua cleared his throat again. "There's a flower shop downstairs, I forgot to get some for her this time. Perhaps you'd like to accompany me in getting them next time I visit?"

"Sure," said Neku, smiling.

"Beat and Rhyme should come too."

"Me too!" piped up Shiki, though only Neku could hear her.

"You come with me everywhere anyway, Stalker."

"Oh shush!"

Neku held back a grin. "Let's get back to Rhyme's room, maybe she's awake too."

xxxxx

"…So my words can start to glow, And you might not have to plow…"

"Oh, er, I'm just going to step out for a bit to get that," said Neku with a nervous smile.

"No probs, kiddo," said Hanekoma casually, as Neku stepped out of his office.

"Shiki! What's the deal?" he said, miffed that her call had interrupted his conversation with his uncle.

They had returned from having dinner again and were having a pleasant talk about the songs that were in the charts at the moment. While Neku argued that 'Naked Summer' didn't really cut it for the top, Hanekoma thought it deserved the spot. They did both agree, though, that the music video was strange – just nude people swimming in the sea. Good thing it wasn't a CAT production.

"As much as talking about naked guys is fun," said Shiki. Hey, that's twisting it – wait, did she say it was 'fun'? "Wouldn't this be a perfect time to ask Hanekoma about your parents?"

…how did she know that it had been bothering him? Alright, of course she could tell that he was bothered, but he figured that she would pass all of it off as being worried for Rhyme. Unless… "Hey, are you able to read my thoughts and not just my emotions now?"

"I wish," she replied. "If I could do that I'd stay clear of your sight when you're thinking of trying to give Nimew a bath. It's a bit scary to see Nimew attack you like that."

"Huh, so you do realise that it's a monster."

"No, it just doesn't like you," she pointed out. "Anyway, how about it? It sounds to me like you don't know a ton about your parents."

"Well, I do have some photos of them in the albums…"

"But you don't know what they were like, do you? After our early run in with both Dr. Bito, Mr. Kiryu and Mrs. Kiryu, surely you're just a bit curious as to how they all know each other."

"Maybe…" Neku shoved his hands in his pockets. "I've asked some of my relatives and they all said that they were nice people. No specifics though…"

"Then go on! You should ask! I'll help you along with it," she encouraged.

He was sure that if Shiki could, she would pull Neku by the arm herself and make block the exit until Neku talked to Hanekoma about his parents. The thought of that brought a smile to his lips. "Heh, alright, alright."

"Heh? What was that for?"

"Nothing," he said innocently.

"Nekuu!"

Going back into the office, Neku sat back down in the chair. Taking a deep breath, he started to speak again, "Uncle H? I was wondering if you could…well…"

"Go for it!" Shiki whispered.

"…if you could tell me about my parents," he managed to get out. "As in, you know. What they were like…and who they were friends with and…well, yeah."

Hanekoma did not seem to be surprised at all. In fact, his eyes glinted between his glasses. "About time, you asked that!" He opened his bottom drawer and pulled out one large looking file. "I had this prepared for ya, just in case."

What the -? The file was titled 'Kyohei and Akane Sakuraba – Exposed!' in giant printed letters. He flipped open the first page and there were his parents, his dad on his left and his mum on his right. Only they were in a picture with their parents; Neku recognised his grandparents.

"You don't mean…" Shiki said.

"…we're starting from the very start," he ended for her.

"So! Your parents were both born and raised in Tokyo. Ikkebukuro was the place where your mum grew up but your dad always lived, at the most, an hour away from Shibuya. Your mum has a sister, whom you've stayed with once, and your dad was a lone child, but he did have lots of cousins. Such as me." Hanekoma did go on for a bit about a lot of their childhood and although it was very long-winded with what he thought must be unnecessary details, he found himself interested all the same. "And in high school he was the head of the student council! Alongside him were Kenji Bito, Rika Tatsunoko, Yuu Kiryu, and Koji Iwase."

"Oh, Dr. Bito and Mr. Kiryu were in the student council with your dad!"

"I was still in middle school at the time, but your dad sometimes dropped by there to sneak me some good snacks. Haha, good times, good times," said Hanekoma with some nostalgia. "He met your mum in university.

"Your dad was a businessman, and he was very charismatic. Always a friendly thing to say; he had many friends, but it was good for business too. You look like your dad, and sound like him, but your personality is more like your mother's. She didn't always have a lot to say, but she was a good person." He rambled on and on, but Neku found that he was taking it all in, trying to commit everything to memory.

Okay, maybe he had been a lot curious as to what his parents were like. When Hanekoma was finally done, Neku felt as if he had no more questions to ask

"See, wasn't this nice, Neku?"

"Yeah…" he admitted, softly. "It was."

"Now that I think about it. Maybe you would've liked going to the same high school as your dad went to. Shibuya Highschool," Hanekoma mused. "I looked around a few places, but judging from what I heard from your previous guardians I went with Ebisu."

"It's cool," said Neku. "I wouldn't have wanted to go to Shibu High, anyway."

"Oh, and why's that?"

"…No reason in particular," he said with a shrug. "I'm glad you put me into Ebisu High."

"Got yourself some good pals there, huh?"

"Yeah," he agreed. "I do. We get into some rough spots now and then, but I think we get along fine now."

"That's what's most important, having good friends!"

They chatted for a little while more, before Neku bid Hanekoma goodbye and left the building.

"Even though I don't go to Ebisu, I count as your good pal too, right?" Shiki asked on the way back.

"Hm, let me think about it…" He put on a thoughtful look on his face, sure that Shiki could sense it. The 'hmph' confirmed it and he let it drop, a smile sliding onto his face again. "C'mon, of course you count."

"I was just checking," she said, through what sounded like a pout.

"You always worry too much."

"You give me a lot to worry about, Neku."

"Then stop worrying about me."

"I can't do that, silly."

"And why not?"

"Because!"

"Because what?"

"Just…just…because." With another loud 'hmph', Neku could tell she was really pouting now.

He must look weird, laughing to himself right now, but it wasn't like there was anyone else around to see. She really let's herself get wound up too easily. Not that I'm complaining. Whenever she makes that 'hmph' sound, it's actually kind of cu-

Neku stopped still once he opened his door and turned on the lights.

"You damned cat! Not the curtains again. I have to pay to get them repaired. Do you know how expensive it is? I'm only a highschool student, I don't have that much money!"

"Stop shouting at Nimew!"

Of course, she was ignored.

"C'mere, for that, I'm going to shave off all your fur. Oh, you think I'm joking? I'm not. Get back here!"

Thus it was a hectic end to a hectic day.

A/N: Tadaa! Phew, I hope this chapter didn't give you brain damage with all the revelations. In my head it seemed okay, but maybe it's because I planned all these connections beforehand. Welp. So yay, Rhyme's gonna be fine :D Hmm, I'm replaying TWEWY and I just got to Week 2. Gosh. You forget how much of an ass Joshua is sometimes…I write him as less of a jerk in this fic since he doesn't have that whole 'lonely Composer' background. Just a flamboyant pain in the ass dad and sick mum, no biggie, right? –gets stuff thrown at me-. I did have fun writing his dad, though. The arrogance has to come from somewhere.

Thanks to those who put this on favourite/followed: CirciFox81314, fangstormking, Brookpelt, Paper Crease, KokoLockhart, KarakuRoku

And to my reviewers: Xerzo LotCN, B.A.G-GOMEZ, Omega Zekrom, CirciFox81314, Faliara, Alyss Penedo, Prussianess, MySweetYaoi49, KarakuRoku

Content Notes:

Naked Summer – For kicks, I typed in the 'charts' for Japan at the moment, and it seems the song that's number one (according to the site I visited) is 'Summer Nude 13' by Tomohisa Yamashita'.I youtubed it and it sounds good but the music video is weird. Check it out yourselves if you have the time x3

Thanks again for reading! :'D

- 11 August 2013

Chapter Fourteen - Family

Yoshiya, Yoshiya, I hope you understand.

"He's doing his best. For you."

Father's a very busy man, and we need to take care of your mother.

"C'mon brat, show me what you got!"

If we don't, her condition could get worse. Or she might run away from the hospital.

"I'll do it!"

Or she could get abducted by aliens!