Sanctuary

Yo, ain't this funny?

No more fightin'.

That's what I promised.

But now we gotta fight.

If it's not for myself, then aight.

It's okay.

We'll fight an' we'll win.

Chapter Seventeen – Unexpected

Neku's classroom was always quiet when he arrived at school because not many people had morning club activities. As the minutes ticked by, the classroom gradually filled up. This progression was usually ignored by Neku, just like today, as he hid his head between his arms on the table, eyes closed.

"Earth to Neku?"

He lifted his head from the desk and turned around slowly. "Joshua?"

"Finally. Did you not realise that I've called your name at least three times now? Did you get this tired from your soccer practice this morning?"

"No."

Joshua leaned forward, his hand propping up his head. "If that's not it, then something happened yesterday, didn't it?"

The orange-haired boy considered brushing it off. But… "Yeah. It did." He described his encounter with Uzuki the day before and what she had said. "I'm trying not to let it bother me but I can't help but think about it. I know you probably don't want to hear this, since she's the one who - you know."

His friend 'tsk-ed' at him. "It's natural to have doubts. That's just the way people are. What Shiki said is right, you have to believe in what you're doing more. Or believe in me, since I got you involved. You can still pull-out, you know. I'm not forcing you to do anything."

"I know," Neku mumbled. "I want to help you but I'm just afraid that when it comes down to it, I might hesitate at the wrong moment and ruin everything. I might even get Shiki into danger…"

"Glad to know that you're worrying about the rest of us, too."

Neku rolled his eyes. "You know what I meant. I was talking about our Pact."

"Mm."

"Speaking about Shiki, she wants to know if we can have a day off for training today. We're all a bit tired, especially after yesterday."

"Sure thing. "

"I'm surprised that you agreed so easily," Neku commented, raising an eyebrow.

"Just trying to be nice," said Joshua.

"Now I'm worried."

"I do try, sometimes."

"U-huh."

Their casual conversation was interrupted when Ai walked up to their table. "Hey, Neku. This yours?"

She held out an envelope. The name 'Neku Sakuraba' was written neatly across the front. He took it from her, examining it.

"I haven't seen it before."

"Well, it was lying on the floor next to your table and I thought you might have dropped it," said Ai, looking at the spot on the ground. "It's clearly meant for you, so you should take it." She returned to her seat swiftly, wasting no time in starting to chat with another girl.

"Who's it from?" Joshua asked.

We'll see. Neku opened up the envelope. There was a note, written on a piece of lined paper, which simply said: 'Meet me at lunch in front of the soccer pitch. Come alone'.

Neku's froze. It wasn't signed and it was asking him to go alone? The words that Uzuki said rang though his ears like an alarm bell. He gave it to Joshua to read.

"How interesting," he stated. "Are you going to go? Want me to come with you?"

"No, who knows what'll happen if we go together." The letter sounded like a sort of challenge to him. Alone. Of course, only Uzuki would want a one-on-one re-match. And she was contacting him during school as well.

The Spirits were getting too close for comfort.

"Well, good luck," said Joshua.

It now turned out to be a good thing that Joshua decided not to try and push himself into involvement.

"I'll need it."

"Don't worry, you'll be able to handle it."

xxxxx

Lunch came sooner than Neku would have liked. He marched resolutely to the predetermined destination. He stood rigidly, feeling a kind of dread well up in him. He had told Shiki that he was fine but a second meeting with Uzuki might be too much for him.

"You came…"

Neku looked up, and then blinked.

Er…who is that?

It certainly wasn't Uzuki. It was a girl from his school. She had short brown hair, and was tugging at her skirt and fidgeting around. Actually, isn't she Ai's friend? And her name was…er…

"Aren't you…Mina?"

The girl let out a squeak and a nod. "Yes, I'm Mina Takagi. S-sorry, I should have introduced myself earlier. You had to call me by my given name…I'm sorry."

"That's…okay. I don't…mind."

Wait. She was obviously the one who invited him, judging from the first thing she said. She seemed like she was harmless but was that some kind of ruse? It wasn't that far-fetched to think that someone else in their school had links with those group of Spirits.

He took a step back, cautiously, prepared for anything.

"Before you say anything, could I just speak? I might lose my nerve if I don't."

At least this one wants to talk…

He nodded briefly.

"So…I um…well…" She started fidgeting more. Then, her head snapped up and she held her hands by her sides in fists. "I just wanted to say that…I like you!"

Apparently, he hadn't been prepared for 'anything'.

There was a momentary pause in his mind before his brain exploded. What? WHAT? Isn't that a confession? Is she confessing to me? The girl's face was red. Holy shit, she's confessing to me.

She covered her face in her hands. "That was too sudden wasn't it?" Well, yes. "You probably don't even know me but I'm a big fan of yours." You are?! "You're really good at soccer and my best friend Ai says that you're a nice person. A-and I think you're really cute." You do!? "A-and I've had a crush on you for a while and I just had to say it – will you go out with me?" Uh. Uh. Uh. "Y-you don't have to reply right away."

Having kept a neutral expression this whole time, Neku opened his mouth. "I…" What am I going to say? The girl looked up, her expression as open as a book – she was really hopeful. Ah shit.

He looked up, trying to seem as if he was in a process of calm thinking. There was nothing calm about Neku at the moment. Glancing at the school building he noticed two things. The first was that through a window on the first floor, Mina was standing with a sign that read 'Good Luck'. The second, was that on the next floor, Joshua and Beat were also watching them. Beat looked dumbfounded and Joshua looked like he was about to die of laughter. Joshua, you little sh–

"Neku?"

Neku looked back at the girl who called his name.

He was not in the middle of some life-or-death battle. He was in a conversation with a girl his age about...going out...with her.

Maybe he would prefer that now.

Okay.

He could do this.

"To be honest, I haven't really…been thinking of things like dating and stuff…"

"O-oh."

"I'm sorry but I can't go out with you."

Another painful pause. Did I say enough? Did I say too much?

"T-thank you for listening to me!" Mina Takagi ran back into the building.

Neku was not a hundred percent certain, but he thought that he just made a girl cry.

xxxxx

"Did it not cross your mind that you could tell me that I was just about to be confessed to?" His meeting with Mina Takagi only took about five minutes, so he had the rest of lunchtime to spend on the roof.

"Are you really that much of an idiot? That was obviously a letter for a confession," said Joshua, failing not to giggle. "Don't tell me you didn't notice that Ai hadn't actually found that thing on the floor. She was playing cupid."

"Ai's gonna kill you," Beat voiced. "She don't let nobody make her best friend cry."

"Freakin' hell, I went out there thinking I was just about to face a Spirit. A confession was the last thing on my mind."

"You've got a long way to go, Neku." Joshua patted the top of Neku's head, much to his annoyance. "And here I thought you actually understood and I was waiting to see what you would do but I realised that you had no clue by the way you were glaring around on that pitch."

"Yeah, yeah."

"The way you handled it was disappointing, as well."

"It's been a while, alright?"

"Yes, but that's not –" Joshua stopped mid-sentence. "Hmm? 'It's been a while'. Are you suggesting that you've been confessed to before?"

Damn, he slipped up. "…Yeah."

Joshua's eyes glinted and Neku had a creeping feeling that some disaster was going to happen.

"I nearly forgot. You don't do as well as me but you are pretty popular, aren't you Neku?"

"If that's what you think."

"So. Have you had a girlfriend before?"

"Why are we talkin' about this?" said Beat, looking pretty awkward. Beat did seem like the type who wouldn't enjoy a conversation on this topic.

Disregarding Beat's awkwardness, Joshua ploughed on. "Have you?"

"No," said Neku bluntly. Getting slightly embarrassed, Neku reached to take a sip of his drink.

"How boring." Joshua frowned for a second but then regained a smirk. "Ah, but even if you are a Sakuraba it doesn't mean that you're still a 'Cherry Boy', does it?"

Neku almost spat out his water. "Joshua!"

"Heehee. Are you?"

"…I am…" he admitted, not believing that Joshua would ask him that question. Ugh. Stupid Joshua.

"Still?"

"There are a lot of people our age who are still –" Neku couldn't even say it. "Look, in case I haven't told you, I've kind of been away from people in general for a long time, so that kind of thing was out of the question." He was about to also add a retort, shooting the question back at Joshua, but he stopped himself. Ugh, he did not want to know.

"What's a Cherry Boy?" asked Beat, being out of the loop again.

"It's nothing, Beat."

"A virgin."

"Joshua!"

"You're surprisingly innocent, Neku."

Neku wanted to bury himself in a hole. At least he wasn't the only one. Beat stared at Joshua as if he was absurd for even daring to bring this topic into conversation. Men did not talk about this kind of thing. It was an unwritten rule. They just didn't. Or at least men like Neku and Beat would prefer to not talk about this topic.

"Priss, you better be glad Rhyme's got duties today."

"I'm not stupid," said Joshua. "I wouldn't talk about it if a girl was around. Although, Rhyme would probably be more comfortable about the topic than you, Beat."

"No way in hell," said Beat, looking plain mortified of the thought of his 'little' sister being fine about talking about it.

"Speaking of which, that Shooter kid seems to have taken a real liking to her, hasn't he? Make sure that someone's in the house if he ever visits."

And now Beat was even more horrified. "Make him stop, Phones!"

Neku looked at Joshua helplessly. This is what happens when we ask for a day off…

"…Give me all your love…"

The ringtone instantly twisted the atmosphere.

"…"

"Shit."

"Dammit."

They had all forgotten that Shiki could hear them.

"Neku, might I advise you not to answer it right now?"

And face her alone when I get back home? Hell no. "Whoops." He clicked the answer button. Of course, he was sure as hell not calling out her physical form. Neku would not be able to look her in the eye.

"Joshua you pervert! I can't believe you!"

Ouch. Direct hit. It was as if Shiki shot an arrow at Joshua's head.

"I was simply curious," said Joshua, though his usual smug demeanour was cut down significantly by Shiki's thunderous scolding. Excuses were forged, but Shiki cracked through all of them until Joshua saying in a scarily obedient voice, "Yes, miss. I will never make jokes about one's purity again."

"And as for Neku."

M-me? He hadn't done anything.

"…have you really not had a girlfriend before?"

That question was unexpected. "I haven't."

"Oh," was all she said.

"Yeah."

And now it was silent again.

Beat was still recovering from mental scarring, and Joshua looked oddly tired out.

"S-so did you ever have a girl you liked?"

"I did…" he said. "But that was a long time ago. I don't like her…anymore." That last part was unnecessary. What's wrong with me?

"Oh. That's good." Shiki sounded relieved.

…

…

…

"U-uh. Good. You know! As in like…good that you moved on if it was a long time ago. Nothing like the present! Speaking of the present isn't the present weather just lovely? Sunny, isn't it!" It was cloudy. "Haha…ha…um…"

"Yeah…the sun's pretty bright…" It wasn't that sunny.

And at this point Joshua's smugness was making a comeback. Before Joshua could say anything, he shot Joshua an angry 'don't you dare say anything' look.

"Erm…that girl. What was she like?" What was she like?

"Look Ne-kun! Don't you think this is cute?"

"H-huh? Oh! Yeah!"

"See! He thinks it's cute."

"He's not talking about the hair-clip."

"Hey! Ignore this idiot, he's talking nonsense. The hair-clip's cute, alright!"

"Dude, don't pinch me - that hurts!"

"You guys are so silly."

"There's nothing much to say," said Neku, shrugging. "She was cute, I guess."

"I see."

There was then an understanding that passed between Neku and Shiki at that moment – there was nothing that needed to be said.

xxxxx

The upside from training days was that the group always got the opportunity to ride Joshua's limousine. After the extra training at school, sometimes they felt the need to rest before starting up training again – they would all take a nap in the car. Rhyme would fall asleep against her brother, with Beat snoring within two minutes. Joshua would sleep sitting up straight, looking as if he wasn't even asleep. Neku would turn on his mp3 until he slipped out of consciousness.

This time, however, none of them fell asleep.

"I thought Beat said we weren't having training," said Rhyme. "How come we're going to Joshua's house?"

Joshua nodded. "We're not 'training' today. We're going over to my house to strategize."

"Do we have to, yo? I mean, since we got free time I was gonna go and practice some moves." Beat held up his skateboard to emphasise his point.

"I was going to tell you when we got there…but the reason I'm letting us have a break today is…" He paused, seemingly for the dramatic effect. "We're ready. Tomorrow we'll start physically looking for the Boss. The Other Joshua has got a lock on his Soul. I've got the ability to sense it now so all we need to know is see what the person actually looks like."

"What!?" Neku exclaimed. "And you didn't tell us this earlier?"

"Ahah, well it was a pretty entertaining school day and I didn't want to kill the mood by serious news."

"What happened at school?" Rhyme inquired.

"Don't ask," said Neku as Joshua giggled again.

"I think you should tell her! It was a pretty amusing story –" Joshua turned around abrutly, glaring out the window. "Stop the car."

The driver, without question, pulled up to the side and Joshua flung the door open and ran out.

"Joshua?"

Neku followed Joshua's lead, with Beat and Rhyme coming soon after. When they finally caught up to Joshua, Neku realised where they were. Miyashita Park. We always end up in the same place...

"The Boss is here," whispered Joshua quietly. "It's actually here."

"Here? Now?"

"Yes, now." Joshua walked straight on until they got to the crossroads. He put a hand to his mouth, eyes narrowed in concentration. "The whole area reeks of Spirit Energy. I can't tell which way the source is."

"Then we gotta split up, yo!" Not wasting a second, Beat and Rhyme ran down to the left, towards the skate park area.

Joshua took off straight down the middle, still looking very much troubled.

Neku hadn't caught up with the pace of the situation yet and was left standing alone at the crossroads, staring down the separate paths his friends just took. "…guess that leaves the right side to me."

Not wanting to lose this chance, he ran down the path, being careful not to bump into people on his way. The sound of the fountain flowing reached his ears and he stopped, looking around. There were several paths leading away from the fountain, but he couldn't decide which way to go next. Maybe if he tried sensing the Spirit Energy like Joshua did…

"Ne-kun? Is that you?"

All thought process stopped. No…it can't be…

He turned around slowly, hoping he was wrong.

He wasn't wrong.

It was her.

"It is! It's Ne-kun!" The girl ran over to him and he had to force himself not to run away.

It's alright…it's been three years…it's…

She had that same radiant smile that she always had. To whoever she was talking to, her smile made it seem like there wasn't anyone else that she would rather have the company of. That hadn't changed.

The rest of her appearance had changed subtly, though. She had grown taller, though Neku would have expected that. Her blond hair was let down now and most of the left side of it was dyed a light purple. She had the Shibuya High uniform on, though over it she had a pink hoodie, the pink sleeves decorated with coloured beads. Different, but it was certainly her style.

"I can't believe it! I heard that you were in, like, Hokkaidou."

Hey…What was this? She was acting so…normal…

"Oh, you must have transferred again! That's the Ebisu High uniform, right? I knew it! I've got some friends in Ebisu. The girl's uniform is super cute!"

He looked down at his shoes. "I'm…sorry…I can't…talk…now…" No, he didn't have time to deal with her. Her and this…this attitude that made it seem as if nothing…as if it never…

He had to get away. If she was here then he could be...

"Hey! I've got the ice cream for us. It's strawberry! Your favourite-!"

It was too late.

There was no mistaking the other voice. He knew, even before he saw him.

He joined them, face showing nothing as he wordlessly handed the ice cream to the girl.

"Sakuraba. This is unexpected."

And suddenly it was not 'him' and 'her' anymore. They were no longer people he could just push away to the back of his mind, where he treated them little more like ghosts. No longer harmless memories. They were here in the flesh because this was Shibuya. It was going to happen eventually.

"Kazemaru. Coco. Yeah…I'm back."

Neku clenched his fists. He hadn't wanted to see them. Not now. Maybe not ever. But what he wanted didn't seem to matter. He tried to look in Kazemaru eyes evenly.

And it worked. He could just look at Kazemaru normally. Hey…maybe he had finally got over it. Maybe he could face Kazemaru now.

"Man, you should've called." He punched Neku on the arm amiably. "Don't tell me you lost your number or something."

Neku was stunned at first but then his mouth ran off on its own. "No, I didn't lose it. I didn't even think about calling you."

"Ouch, that's a low blow!" Kazemaru ran his fingers through his hair, black but with a hint of dark purple shine. "See? The first thing out of his mouth and he's already making jabs at me."

"Haha but Kaze-kun, you're not the most memorable person."

Neku couldn't help his grin. "Her words, not mine."

"Sakuraba, you haven't changed one bit."

"Neither have you."

What's going on? Why was he talking this way? It was like he couldn't stop himself from replying to Kazemaru in the way he used to. As if they were friends. Had he tried to forget about the incident so much that he even forgot the bit about cutting ties with them?

Kazemaru and Coco's way of speaking to him didn't seem to make sense to him either. It was as if they had forgotten too. Was it better this way?

No…they can't just act as if nothing happened…because if not…then all this time what have I been…

"Kazemaru! Coco! Let's go, didn't you guys want to head to – oh shit." More people. Neku couldn't remember who they were. Maybe they were from his middle school class? They must be, because the guy was giving Neku a mixed expression of fear and anger. "You! You're Neku Sakuraba, aren't you?"

The two girls flinched at the sound of his name. "N-no way. You mean that Sakuraba."

"You've got some nerve showing your face around Kazemaru again," the guy spat out.

"Hey guys, chill out," said Kazemaru soothingly before Neku could even open his mouth. "Don't get so worked up."

"That's Sakuraba. You remember what happened?"

"I do," Kazemaru admitted. So he remembers... "That's all in the past though. I forgave Neku a long time ago."

Now Neku understood.

"He was just…making a mistake, you know? It was three years ago!"

There was no doubting it.

"Anyway, me and Coco want to catch up with him. You guys head off first."

With much reluctance, the three other people walked away, though they didn't stop talking and they didn't bother to lower their voices.

"Kazemaru is too trusting."

"Don't you remember how scary Sakuraba was?"

"I don't even want to think about it."

Neku finally felt something then. Rage was bubbling up within him. "Yeah, you haven't changed a bit Kazemaru."

"Aw, man, you don't have to look so angry," the latter said. "It's not my fault that 'Neku Sakuraba ran away like a coward after what he did to me."

"After what they think I did to you. After three years, you must have had a lot of fun recounting your heroic tale."

"I don't make myself sound heroic. They do. I play the victim, duh. You don't get sympathy from being egoistic."

This was why Kazemaru had been acting so friendly. He still had his part to portray in front of the others. If that was the case then, why was he acting like this even though Coco was still here.

"So he told you the truth, huh, Coco?" It would be the only explanation.

Coco's cheery smile broke. "He did."

"And even then you're sticking around him, just playing along as if everything is alright," he accused. He shot them the most venomous look he can muster. "You two are despicable."

Kazemaru laughed. It sounded as if he was laughing at an innocent joke when he was actually mocking him. That was always his talent. Hiding things.

"You're taking this way to seriously, man. Lighten up. Why are you acting so wounded?"

"I am not acting wou-"

A cackle sounded out. "There you go! That's the teenage angst I was talking about! Less than a day and the here's the damaged little boy."

Neku spun around. Standing at the top of the fountain, wings spread out was Uzuki, looking recovered and ready for another fight.

He glared at her, wishing she would just go away.

Wait, she's what I'm here for today. He was here to find the Boss, not to deal with his former friends. But I can't start fighting here…Kazemaru and Coco would think that he was running away from them. That he was a coward. He was not.

"You scared to fight me?" Uzuki provoked. "Is the little boy a coward?"

"I'm not a coward."

Getting ready to fight, regardless of whether Kazemaru and Coco were there or not, Neku was waiting for Shiki's call.

…

C'mon, where is she?

Reaching out with his thoughts, he found that he couldn't sense her.

Why?

What was wrong?

Why can't I -

From behind him he could hear all three of his friends shouting at him to watch out. "Neku, the Boss is near you!" What?

He was on high alert, eyes darting around Uzuki to see if he could spot the Boss. Wait… there was another figure. The man was leaning against a tree behind Uzuki, a man with orange hair who was casually sucking on a lollipop.

Uzuki noticed Neku's gaze. "Oh, ignore Kariya for now. Your opponent is me."

Neku ignored Uzuki and rushed towards the man. He would sever all the Pacts now. He would be done with it. It would be over as quick as that and then he could go back to normalcy and he could go back to dealing with those two and…

The person she called Kariya caught Neku's hand as he was getting ready to punch him.

"Woah there, tiger. Do you actually know what you're doing?"

It took two seconds to realise that this Spirit could touch him easily and to realise that it was no good because Shiki had not called. Shiki, what's going on? He snatched his arm away from his grip and it hurt. Neku staggered backwards before he fell to one knee, wincing.

Then he realized that he recognised the man.

But no…this man…

"No way. You're the guy who…but you were with…"

From behind his glasses, Kariya's eyes transitioned from amusement to recognition. "Hey! I remember you. Hey Boss, wasn't this guy -"

Kazemaru's shadow loomed over him, a playful smile on his face.

"- yeah, he's that guy. Neku Sakuraba."

No…Kazemaru…

"Don't you get it? That Boss that you were looking for. It's me."

And then his world crashed.

"You'd think you would have figured it out. After all, you've met some of these Spirits before. They introduced themselves before, don't you remember? They're –"

Everything clicked because this was the same feeling he had experienced three years ago.

Neku finished it off for Kazemaru.

"- The Reapers."

A/N: TADAA! :D –fireworks explodes as I appear- See, I thought I'd give you one more funny and chilled moment [not funny for Mina, but oh well] before everything hit the ceiling. If you don't really understand what's going on then I've done my job [In time, you shall understand. Patience, friends]. Pfft. Who said the Boss was going to be someone you knew? Although, Kazemaru's personality would be the same one I would pick for the character in the actual TWEWY-game who was Neku's best friend but died (hence his emo-ness). If you can guess where I got the name Kazemaru from, you get a cookie. Coco ftw, by the way. Hehe, I always wanted to write her. That being said, Kazemaru and Coco were already chosen for this role before I even started this fic, so it was nice to finally write this scene out. And Kariya too. Yay for Kariya!

Thanks for the follows/favourites: Chronic Guardian, Moony Nymphia, lunar locket, ShadowK47, The Professor of time

Thank you for all the lovely reviews: Faliara, B.A.G-GOMEZ, CirciFox81314,Xerzo LotCN, I'll Break Your Heart, Pinkdesi101, Chronic Guardian, salamancachristopher, Emerald-eclipse, Moony Nymphia, lunar locket, GRX3m0m

Primo: That's a good question! Although Neku spends lengthy amounts of time on the line with Shiki, it doesn't go through his mobile service provider, so he won't get charged. The connection is made possible due to their Spirit Energy. Hope that clears things up for you and anyone else curious.

Jt: Aw, thanks! I do say that when one procrastinates, it gives a lot of freedom to one's imagination. As in I think up fanfics instead of studying, sometimes. It's so much more fun xD Thanks again!

Thanks for reading the chapter! You guys are all awesome! See you all next time!

Dina (27 October 2013)

Chapter Eighteen – Faceless

Wahh! I was rejected!

"No, don't listen to him. He's lying."

Why's Neku so cold? You should have warned me Ai!

"I can't go with you guys."

What? You know where he lives!?

"Nu-uh! There's no way you can get orange hair like that naturally."

No! Don't kill him Ai! Wait!