Sanctuary
Never do things in halves.
I believe in that saying.
So, I keep trying.
If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
That's another one I believe in.
And there's one more thing I have to believe in:
Myself.
Chapter Fifteen - Training
The whistle blew and Neku let a smile form on his face when Coach Higashizawa announced the goal. Their morning practice was going extremely well – it was a good sign, seeing as how later in the year they planned on entering the Inter-High National Tournament. That was a long way to go but everyday practice was absolutely necessary.
It was during half-time of their mock-match when Neku sat down on the bench, taking a sip of his water. Beat was off teaching Yammer how to pass more accurately; Neku somehow wondered what Beat's teaching skills were like. Watching Yammer trip over himself, he hoped they were good.
As for Neku's own 'apprentice' of sorts, Shooter was busy telling the rest of their team-mates about his ambitions.
"If we win the Inter-High tournament, we could even get scouted for the National Under-17 team. How cool would that be?" he said, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Going pro is my dream! You can bet I'm going to get there!"
Neku almost shook his head. Shooter's self-confidence knew no bounds. Shooter was exceptionally skilled, though, so maybe he did have some rights to what he was saying.
"By the way! Master!" Shooter suddenly shifted the conversation to him. "I've had this nagging feeling about you for a long time! It was just like, I heard your name before you came. I was sure of it."
Crap. He didn't like where this was going…
"And then I searched for you online. Neku Sakuraba – there was an article of you and some other dude in one of the online articles. It was an ancient one, from about two years ago. It was really small but it had your picture and everything. It said something about you being Shibuya's 'rising star' for soccer. It was awesome!"
"That…was a long time ago. No big deal." He put down his drink.
"It is a big deal! How come you weren't scouted for the national junior team? Or did you turn them down?"
"I stopped playing soccer for a while," Neku said.
"Oh yeah! You didn't want to join us either at first! How come, huh? Why'd you stop?"
"There's no need to talk about it."
"Why not? It's weird that you just stopped like that. But it's the same for that other guy. I searched that dude up, but for some reason I couldn't get a lot of info. Hey, what was he like, that guy – "
"Shooter." His eyes were deadly. "Shut. Up."
The younger boy did as he was told, shrinking back under Neku's glare. He immediately apologised, took a ridiculously low bow and started doing laps as self-punishment. The group of players that had been crowding around Shooter had also dispersed, giving Neku nervous glances.
"I can't believe that actually happened. At this rate, we could actually become future pros…"
"Of course we can! Didn't you know, it's always been my dream?"
"If Neku didn't know, it'd be super strange since you remind us, like, every day."
"H-hey!"
"That's the truth."
"Neku, don't take sides! It's your dream too, right?"
"I guess you could call it that."
That guy, huh? Neku stood back up and stretched himself out, ready to return to the pitch. He was a dreamer. That guy.
He clapped the sides of his cheeks. Right. The past was the past. Neku had more important things to think about.
There was no point in chasing a ghost of a memory when real ghosts were a lot more pleasant.
xxxxx
The garden belonging to the Kiryu household spread further than the eye could see. At least, Neku couldn't tell where it stopped. This did make it the ideal place to do some 'Soul Training' as their group had now dubbed it; they had a large space to allow movement and they were away from prying eyes.
Before they actually got started, there was one thing that Beat, Rhyme and Joshua were looking forward to.
"C'mon, Phones. It's Sunday already! When are you going to show us Shiki?"
Yep. They had been pestering Neku all week about showing them Shiki's visible form. He didn't want to bother Shiki too much with them, he was sure that they would all make a fuss. "It'll be a pain."
"But Neku, Shiki said it was okay, the other day, didn't she?" said Rhyme with a more calm approach. Her smile looked very friendly, but Neku got the creeping feeling that she had something accusatory under all that. It was almost like she was saying, 'you have no excuse now'. Scary.
"…Step it up, Spit it out, before you know what it takes…"
"I did say that," said Shiki immediately after Neku clicked the 'answer' button. He couldn't stop her from talking to them since she had been doing so for all this time, but still… "If you're worried about tiring yourself out, I understand."
"No, it's not that," said Neku, because something told him that he most likely could call her out now without getting fatigued.
"Then what is it, yo?" Beat demanded, staring down at Neku.
"…I just…" He frowned. He wasn't certain why he didn't want to call her out either. He just didn't want to.
"Oh look at him!" Joshua, who had been smirking quietly all this time, now spoke. "He's so sour. Neku, you can't hog Shiki all to yourself, you know."
"I'm not hogging Shiki."
"I wouldn't have taken you as the possessive type but you learn something new every day."
Possessive!? "If it will shut your trap from spouting out more rubbish, then fine."
He closed his eyes, wanting to concentrate, but not before seeing Joshua exchange an even wider smirk with Beat and Rhyme. Seriously, these guys…
Alright. I need to focus my thoughts on her. Just think of Shiki. Just Shiki.
He felt that she was doing the same, thinking of him, and when he opened his eyes, she was there, standing in her partially translucent form. He let his lips curve upwards into a smile – it worked!
His friends were staring at the space where Shiki was standing, eyes wide.
"He did it!"
"Hmm, I see…"
"I...uh…yo. Yo, guys. I ain't seein' nothin'." Beat's gaze grew stronger; he appeared to be willing himself to be able to see her, but it didn't seem to be working.
"You can't see me?" Shiki said, covering her mouth with a hand.
"I can still hear you, loud' an' clear, but no, I ain't gettin' to see you."
Joshua reached up to the taller boy's shoulder and patted it. "Your Soul is pretty stable, so you're not going to be able to see her."
"Bwaaah! That sucks!" He looked devastated, and clutched at his beanie. "What's she look like?"
"She's very pretty," said Rhyme instantly, which earned a flustered 'thank you' from Shiki.
"I have to agree with Rhyme on that one," Joshua said with a nod. "She looks like that kind of 'silent beauty' type. No wonder Neku didn't want to share her. I think that her round glasses compliment her short hair perfectly. Don't you think so, Neku?"
"Can you cut the crap already? Besides, Shiki's anything but silent."
"Hmm, are you also saying she's not a beauty?"
"I didn't say that."
"But you didn't say she was. How rude Neku." Joshua held out hand just in front of Shiki, as if presenting something on the television. "Please tell this lovely lady here that she is pretty – unless you don't think she is."
"What?"
"Come on, Neku."
"Ugh, why do I -? Just…okay…I think you're…er…"
He definitely could not meet her eyes at the moment. "Pretty." The last word sounded a bit too forced, and he hoped Shiki wouldn't be mad at him. In the contrary, when Neku looked up, and saw that Shiki was looking away, face a bit more opaque than usual.
"That wasn't so hard, was it? Neku, for a person who's usually so blunt, sometimes you're bad at being honest," said Joshua, with a mocking tone. "You should learn how to compliment girls, it's not very gentlemanly not to know how. Really, there's no need to be shy, since we're all frie – " The boy stopped mid-sentence. "Oh, wait, no, I get it." Joshua looked between Neku to Shiki and back to Neku again, much to the orange-haired teen's confusion. "Heehee, I get it. Alright."
"Is he okay, yo?" asked Beat.
"No, he's not okay." Neku didn't really get what Joshua was saying either.
After a few moments, he felt a clear 'realisation' emit from Shiki, but when he turned to question her she was in a whispered conversation with Rhyme. The younger girl giggled and nodded and then Shiki seemed to be denying something profusely. What are they talking about?
"Moving on, moving on," said Joshua swiftly, bringing back the girls attention. "We're here, more importantly, to train."
"Yeah, but what exactly do you mean by training?"
"We're going to endure a clash of Souls, so we must strengthen them, of course. Mine is powerful enough as it is, but I'm afraid that you and Rhyme need a bit more work before we're ready to go find the Boss and confront them properly."
"An' what about me?" Beat hadn't missed out on Joshua not mentioning him.
"Just sit on the sides for a while."
"No freakin' way!"
"Beat, we don't have time for this. You can't do anything at the moment. I will think of some way that you can help with taking down the group of Spirits, but I haven't yet, so would you mind being patient?"
Beat opened his mouth to argue, but his younger sister shot him a look that told him to back off. Reluctantly, he trudged off to the side, sitting down and crossing both his legs and arms, looking more angry than usual.
Satisfied by how Beat backed down, Joshua led the training session, instructing both Neku and Rhyme to face each other. They stood around seven metres apart. Shiki was now also by Neku's side, and with a flick of her hand, she summoned Mr. Mew. Joshua himself was standing halfway between them.
"Good," he said, approvingly. "Now, Rhyme. Remember, the problem with you is that you were concentrating too much while trying to control your Soul Energy. Think of it as the same as riding a horse. You can't be too forceful on it or it will start to buck, and you could fall off and hurt yourself. However, you do need to lead it, so that it does what you want."
"We ain't ever ridden no horses!" Beat shouted from the side-lines.
"It's an analogy."
"That would only be a helpful analogy if any of us rode horses," commented Neku. He's such a rich kid.
"You can surely grasp the concept of it, can't you, though, Neku?" Joshua countered smoothly. "Doesn't matter if you don't, I wasn't addressing you." He turned his back to Neku to look at Rhyme. "Do you get it, Rhyme?"
"I think, I do," she replied, nodding and closing her eyes. She started breathing in deeply and then let out a long breath, relaxing herself.
Taking a few steps back, Joshua spoke to Neku again. "Her Soul Energy can counter the power Shiki has as a Spirit, just like mine can. Like I said before, she won't be able to sever your Pact, so don't worry about it. However…"
Rhyme's eyes shot open, blue piercing blue as she glared at Neku.
"…if she manages to do enough damage to Shiki, your connection will cut off for now, and you'll probably faint again. Have fun, Neku."
I'll try.
Rhyme's sand grew in its volume, and danced around her in a whirlwind of black. Needless to say, both Neku and Shiki were feeling slightly intimadated.
"How do I fight sand with Mr. Mew?" Shiki said, shuffling closer to Neku, while Mr. Mew stood ready.
"I'll come up with something. I can't actually do any of the fighting, so just stall her while I come up with a plan."
The black sand reformed into a shape that reminded Neku awfully of a lance. Since when could she do that? Wait, Joshua did say that he he's been training with her. With Beat's support, they had been training after school and clubs. Neku hadn't been present, since he had been going to the CAT studio, which was why they were having an extra session today.
"Stall her. Stall her. Okay, I can sta – wha – ahhh!" The lance-shaped sand sped towards them; it triggered Shiki's yell and simultaneous offensive mode. Mr. Mew bounded forward, trying to punch the sand away, but as it drove forward the sand parted and came at Shiki from both sides.
"Duck!" Neku tried to push Shiki down as he dove forward but his hand went right through her. Again? He winced as he made contact with the ground, the supposedly lush grass failing to cushion his fall.
Gritting her teeth together, Shiki broke into a run the other way, though the lance was still on its course.
"My, this is getting intense," mused Joshua from his safe spot, pushing Neku on the urge to get back up.
Was this how the fights against the other Spirits going to go on like? Shiki fighting and Neku not being able to help. Granted, an unstable Soul, though powerful, was not something he wanted if only there was something he could do…Shiki needed Mr. Mew back to defend her, but it couldn't easily get through the sand. Think.
Shiki stopped running, spun around and nodded at Neku.
She's relying on me, there's got to be a way…wait, right!
"Shiki, don't go through. Go above!"
"Got it!" She motioned for Mr. Mew to jump upwards and towards her. Rhyme changed the course of a section of the sand, directing it towards the black cat plush.
"Heh." Neku grinned as Mr. Mew proceeded to slash and the sand, which parted again. This time, however, Mr. Mew bounced off the separated group of sand and then bounced along the lance at a lightning fast rate, until it took one final leap to get back in front of Shiki.
It worked! Shiki can defend herself now! Since the sand was gathered together, Neku had hoped that it would be dense enough for the plush to be able to rebound off . As Mr. Mew was an extension of Shiki herself, he predicted that it would obey the same laws as Shiki – it could go through material objects but not objects made of Soul Energy.
Come to think of it, wouldn't it have been alright if Neku didn't dodge the lance? No…that wouldn't have been a good idea. Joshua's wind got to me last time. So, if the person was strong enough, then they could make contact with real things.
The matter of concern was whether Rhyme was powerful enough that her Soul Energy could have actually hit Neku.
He glanced at her form, and she was standing there, steady and strong, although her eyes were beginning to look a bit vacant. She improved so much in so little time. He kind of wished he had been there to see it, now. Still…is she alright?
Noticing Neku's gaze on Rhyme, Joshua tutted at him. "That's no good, Neku. You've got to pay attention to your Partner. Look what happened when you turned away for even a second."
Neku whipped his head around – she can't be losing!
But Shiki was struggling, she increased the movements of Mr. Mew to speed up so that this time it could keep up with the sand. Slowly, though, the black particles started encircling the girl, until she was almost blocked from Neku's sight.
The particles rearranged themselves again, until they were almost like several sharp swords, all pointing towards Shiki.
"Neku," Shiki squeaked, her voice going a few octaves higher as she started to panic; she had stopped moving Mr. Mew.
Fear. He could feel the fear that was seeping into Shiki as she stared down the deadly looking thin blades of sand.
"Hey, Josh," said Neku, not taking his eyes off Shiki. "That's enough."
Joshua didn't answer him.
She's not just scared – she's terrified.
"We forfeit! We give up!" His voice grew more urgent. "It's enough, call it off Joshua."
There was still no answer, and Neku was about to start yelling when he realised that Beat was now by Rhyme's side, shaking her shoulders vigorously. "Rhyme? Rhyme? Can you hear me?"
She snapped out of whatever daze she was in and she gasped as she realised what she was doing. "Shiki!" She made a motion with her hand to gather the sand back to her.
Only, the sand stayed where it was.
"W-what's happening?" Rhyme made the motion again, but still, it didn't return. If anything, the sand started to rotate around again.
"It was going well," said Joshua quietly, who was just standing there. "Rhyme, you managed to control it really well for quite a long time, but you became too relaxed, and let your power control you. We need a little more practice."
"Joshua." Neku was staring open-mouthed at Shiki, starting to feel afraid too. "Stop talking! Do something! Shiki's in danger!"
The moment he said that, the sand blades started moving inwards towards Shiki, and she let out a shrill cry.
"Shiki!"
"Neku, relax." As the words left Joshua's mouth, the sand was blown away harshly by strong winds that Joshua himself was controlling. "See? I was here, so of course she wasn't in any real danger. And like I said, her Pact can't be severed and it's not like she can die again –"
Anything else Joshua was going to say was cut off by Neku's fist colliding with the side of Joshua's face. The impact was so hard, that Joshua actually fell back.
"Bastard!"Neku shouted furiously, eyes blazing. "If you knew that Rhyme lost control then you should've called it off! We agreed to help you, but you can't play with us like that!"
"I'm not playing with you," said Joshua calmly, rubbing his cheek. "Not now, anyway. I'm serious about this."
"Like hell you are."
"Of course I am. I asked for your help, didn't I? And what's your problem, anyway? It's not like you were the one getting attacked."
"My problem is that you scared Shiki shitless! Look at her!"
As Neku had said, even though the black sand had dissipated, Shiki was in shock, and was trembling in the spot she had been boxed in with.
Joshua frowned and tried to get back up on his feet. "I'll go talk to her."
"No. You'll just make things worse," said Neku, starting to walk towards her.
"We can both talk to her, then."
"No. Stay. Here." Neku didn't want the guy anywhere near Shiki – he was sure that Joshua's condescending words weren't what Shiki needed right now.
Unexpectedly, Joshua listened to his words and hung back.
Neku walked up to her slowly, not wanting to startle her even more. "Shiki…?"
She was still shaking and Neku didn't know what to do. He didn't know what to say to comfort her. He raised a hand, and hovered it just where her shoulder was. He could feel the warmth radiating off of her.
"Shiki," he said, trying to be gentle. "It's okay. You're safe."
It took a few moments – Neku wasn't sure how long – but after what felt like centuries, Shiki calmed down, and she stopped moving. When she looked up at Neku, he realised with a pang that there were the hints of tears that had formed by the corner of her eyes. He'd wipe them away for her if he could, but…
She blinked several times to get rid of them and shook her head.
"I-I'm sorry for worrying you," she apologised. "Guess I'm not good with these things yet." She dismissed Mr. Mew with a downward gesture of her hand. "I promise I'll get better."
"Don't force yourself to do something you don't want to."
"No, I'm not forcing myself. I want to get rid of those bad group of Spirits. They must be giving people like me a bad name, so don't worry about me." And how do you expect me to do that?
"…you're fine now, then?"
"Yep! One hundred percent! W-well, maybe around ninety percent if we're being specific but…"
Neku sighed and walked away, heading back to where Joshua, Beat and Rhyme were all standing now; they had been watching the two intently. Shiki sputtered an indignant 'hey!' before trailing after Neku.
Drawing closer to the group, Rhyme sprinted forward, bowing deeply in front of the older girl. "Shiki, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to do all that, it just became a blank to me for a while and – "
"Oh no! It's not your fault! If I was stronger I wouldn't have been so scared! You're really impressive for a small girl, Rhyme!"
"But still…"
"Don't mind it at all! The lance thing was scary, but pretty cool, too. How'd you come up with that?"
"The lance? Oh, well I actually read this book once, and – "
Leaving the girls to talk to each other, Neku continued on until he was standing in front of Joshua and Beat.
"…Sorry, for punching you." He may have gone a little overboard.
"You should be." Then again, maybe he hadn't. "In all honesty, though, being possessive really isn't healthy Neku."
"In all honesty, I have no idea what you're talking about."
"I'm talking about how it's fine that you care about her wellbeing and all, but you don't need to go that far."
"I didn't do anything wrong."
"Except punching me."
"That's 'cause you were a jerk."
"And this jerk wanted to go and apologise to Shiki, but you won't even let me speak to her. If that's not possessive, I don't know what is."
"What? I'm not -" What am I doing? Of course, letting Joshua speak to Shiki should be fine. Letting Joshua? It's not like he could decide who Joshua wanted to speak to or not, and that went for Shiki too. That does sound like I'm…
He was not possessive. Why would he be possessive? He was being protective. There was a difference.
Admittedly, at the moment there was nothing really to protect Shiki from – Joshua was just going to talk. "Just go."
He scowled as Joshua broke into a gleeful smirk. Now what?
"Oh, you should see your face right now. You really don't want me to talk to her. Don't worry, it's not like I'm going to steal her away from you."
"I don't think you could. You can't make a Pact of your own, or you would have made one yourself."
"That's not what I meant." He let out one of his more annoying giggles, and strode off to join in with the girls' conversation.
"He's unbelievable…"
He was brought back to attention to Beat now that Joshua had departed. It was peculiar that Beat hadn't said anything up until now.
"What's up, Beat?"
He was looking too downcast for someone usually so usually full of life.
"Yo…should I even be here?"
Neku asked, "What do you mean?"
"I mean, I'm not really doing anything, am I? Joshua said he's gonna help me, but it ain't going to happen. You've got that Pact with Shiki an' she's really strong. Rhyme's really powerful too, and Joshua said she'll be ready to kick ass in no time. Joshua's already at a kind of 'boss' level. I don't got no powers."
"I do have a Pact, but I don't have powers either." He wondered if his next line was a bit hypocritical, because he had just thought the same thing only a few moments ago. "There are other things you can do."
"But Phones!" He insisted. "I can't even see what they're doing. All I know is that Shiki's there, 'cause I can hear her. They were fighting, and Rhyme was winning 'cause Priss said so. I knew that Rhyme had some problems 'cause she kinda froze up and Shiki shouted. And then you got all mad, Phones. If it's really that bad and I ain't seein' it…"
Beat was doubting himself. In Neku's mind, Beat doubting himself shouldn't even be possible. That's because Beat was "…a supporter."
"Whazzat, yo?"
"You're our support. Who's going to keep us going when we're going to give up? It'll be you, Beat. And what if we lose? We need someone to get our asses back home. Even if you can't fight, we need you."
"For real?"
"For real."
Beat grinned and slapped Neku's back rather hard. "Thanks man! I gots this. Imma be cover for you guys. An' if there are any I can actually hit, I'll take 'em down."
Neku succeeded in not stumbling forwards. "That's more like it!"
"Hey, Rhyme, Priss, Shiki! I'm all fired up now! You know what that means?"
"What?"
"I'm hungry! An' guess what we're going to go get now?"
The group exchanged amused smiles with each other. Of course, the only answer to that was:
"Ramen!"
A/N: TADAA! I'm back! –glomps everyone- Hope you've all been doing well ^^ This chapter wasn't plot heavy, but I thought it would be nice way to ease everyone back into Sanctuary. Don't worry though, I've got things all planned out :3 If anyone's a bit hazy on what's going on, read the timeline on Chapter 14, which may help.
On a very random note, getting my exam results back, I've gotten an 'A' in English, rather than an 'A*' (equivalent of an A+). So that may or may not be an excuse as to why I'm not an amazing writer. Maybe I should make more of an active effort to improve…but I'm not doing English as a subject starting this year, so since I don't have to, I probably won't. I'm so lazy. –waits for shocked gasps but receives none because everyone knows-.
One more thing! On tumblr the 'subasekabang' blog will have a TWEWY Mini Bang on October the 4th, and I'll be participating in that, so if you use tumblr, look out for the fanfic written by me ('thestormfall'). Self-plugging for the world.
Thanks for those who put this on favourite or followed: griffinscale, Pyromaniiak, Maia Mitra, NinjaNinja, MrHappie, salamancachristopher, Alvayn, Quantum Cat, Storm Hawk 21, I'll Break Your Heart, codename zero
Even though I asked, I didn't expect this many, so thanks for the reviews from: Xerzo LotCN, B.A.G-GOMEZ, Chronic Guardian, CirciFox81314, ToTheSkye, Casual Lancer, Reilie, Faliara, SapphireOfTheCrescentMoon, BlazingKaiogra, MySweetYaoi49, Lemon Ponzu, Prussianess
Reader (Guest): Ooh, well you'll soon find out if you're guess about the Boss is right :D Thanks for reading!
Jt (Guest): Thank you! As you can see, I definitely won't stop writing x3
Content Notes:
*Horse Riding Analogy - I don't know if the analogy helped explain. I don't ride horses. My friend does, though, so hopefully the analogy fits owo
Thanks for reading, everyone! See you in two weeks!
Dina (29 September 2013)
Chapter Sixteen – Potential
Dear, dear. Two whole arcs before I get to do the preview.
"Sure. Just don't cry when you really lose."
No, Chapter One's preview was done by the Other Joshua.
"It's really fine, Shiki. Don't worry about it."
Even though we're on good terms now, mixing us up is very insulting.
"It's all I've ever dreamed of."
This isn't relevant to this chapter or the next? I'm talking about myself, and I'm very important and therefore speaking about myself is relevant. Heehee.