Sanctuary

The four seasons.

Every year, they come and go.

There's always something I like about every season.

The autumn festivals.

Watermelons in the summer.

It snows in the winter, sometimes.

My favourite season is spring because of one thing:

The beautiful cherry blossoms.

But they never seem to stay around for long enough.

Chapter Twenty One – Dreams

"Phones! He stole it! He just took the last rice ball from my bento! Do something!"

Yeah, even if Neku experienced an exhausting battle on Saturday, in which he learnt many things and was confused about so many others, it didn't stop school from rolling around on Monday. Truthfully, he was still tired but he didn't want to skip school. Uncle H was paying for his fees after all, so he didn't think it would be right.

With school, of course, was the routine rooftop lunchtime that the five of them had. Beat was the same as ever, eating like there was no tomorrow, though this time his eating habits had been interrupted by Joshua.

"Joshua, you've got a load of bento stacked up as usual – why don't you just get some rice balls from there?" Neku pointed out, as a response to Beat's cry to help him out.

"It's more fun this way," was Joshua's simple answer.

"Aight, then. Imma eat all yourextra bento, Priss and there better ain't be any complainin'!" Beat reached out for the piled up lunch boxes and continued the second part of his lunch.

"Isn't that a lot more than usual?" Shiki asked, staring at his meal worriedly.

"Beat, if you eat all of that you might explode one day," Rhyme joked as he passed her the ones that he had finished.

"One day ain't now!" He said between mouthfuls.

"How undignified," Joshua said, turning his nose up. "Though I'm actually getting use to this now."

"Speaking of getting used to things, didn't you spend a lot of energy that day? Wouldn't you usually be at home now?" Neku questioned.

"Usually. When I got home on Saturday night, I went straight to sleep and I didn't wake up until early this morning," Joshua explained. "Father was throwing a fit. When I woke up he was mumbling some nonsense about -"

"Let me guess," Neku cut in. "He thought it was something to do with aliens?"

Joshua sighed. "Yes. Something about aliens abducting my mind…"

This caused everyone besides Joshua to laugh – he did not seem very amused by it.

"Your father was in the house when I woke up," he said, addressing the siblings.

"So that's why Dad left really early today," Rhyme realized.

"He did?" Oh, Beat.

"Furthermore, he did say something rather interesting," he said; his tone had grown a bit more careful now. "He was talking to Father about how he got put in charge of another case of severe fatigue. He couldn't figure out what was wrong. Father asked who it was and Dr. Bito said it was a student from Shibuya High."

"So Beat's dad is in charge of Kazemaru, huh?" He still didn't know how he was supposed to feel about Kazemaru. He did all those horrible things but in the end… "I got a text from Coco last night. She said Kazemaru was still unconscious, but she wanted me to thank you for getting your butler to take him to the hospital."

"Let her know that her gratitude is appreciated," he said.

"I hope she's alright…" Shiki said quietly.

"Compared to all of us, her Soul is pretty much intact, so I have no doubt that she will be fine," Joshua said smoothly. "You should be more worried about yourself."

"M-myself?"

"Hmm. You can tell, can't you?"

Neku knew it. There had been something odd about Shiki yesterday. Shiki had told him about her connection with Minamimoto. He had been enraged, unsurprisingly. He understood why Shiki had not told him during their fight; if he had known, he would not have been able to think straight and the fight could have gone to shambles.

Shiki was disturbed – anyone would be – but Neku got a gut instinct that the revelation wasn't the only thing that had been disturbing her.

He could not figure it out. Shiki's emotions did not give away anything.

Joshua thought something was up, though, and if he did Neku's suspicions must be right. Something else was bothering Shiki.

"A-anyway. I'm going now. You guys have to get back to class soon!"

He was going to shoot questions at her before she left but he thought of a better idea. Going along with her request, he hung up.

"Joshua. What's wrong with Shiki?" Getting information from a second party would be much easier than trying to get Shiki to spit it out.

At this point, Neku would expect a teasing or snarky comment come out of Joshua's mouth. Instead, the boy cleared up his lunch and stood up. "Shiki's right, we should hurry along to class."

He certainly did 'hurry along', quickly descending the stairs. He was completely avoiding the question. That wasn't like him at all. Normally if Joshua didn't want Neku to know something, he would tell him something that was an almost-answerthat didn't actually answer the question. This time, though – nothing.

Beat and Rhyme looked just as out of the loop as he did, so there was no point asking them either.

Shiki…Is it that bad?

Xxxxx

There was an unfamiliar man at practice that afternoon, standing beside Coach Higashizawa. Neku didn't recognise him but there was something about him... He tried not to let it distract him – his overlap past Shooter went as smoothly as ever- though he wondered why he was just standing there, just watching the game.

Passing by another defender with a heel flick, he scored a goal against Beat, who made a valiant dive to save the ball, only missing by inches.

"Woaah! That was some awesome technique there, Master!" Shooter cheered, bouncing along to Neku. "I can't do a heel flick, yet! I never get it right! Can you please teach me? Pleasee?"

He looked around as the captain called in everyone for a break. "It's not as easy as it looks and it takes a long time to perfect. It's especially hard if you want to do it without anyone realizing that you're going to."

"Okay," said his underclassman, "but I still want to learn it! C'mon, if someone could teach you a heel flick then it means you could probably teach me a heel flick."

"I could try, but it'll take a lot of practice." A lot of practice. How did Neku learn it himself, again?

Ah. Right. Back in middle school. He and Kazemaru had seen it during a friendly game that they watched between Japan and America. They tried to get their captain to teach them, and he gave them basic instruction, but it took hours of practice between the two for them to finally get it right and be able to use it during a game.

"We should really take a break now…"

"No way. We gotta perfect this technique, Neku!"

"Yeah, you say that now but once Coco's not watching, you're going to ask for a break too."

"W-what. No! Shut up! I'm not trying to impress her!"

"I never said you were."

"Ack. You – you wise ass! Let's just practice, okay? Dreams don't just come true on their own!"

It was because Neku had felt so betrayed and angry – he thought that everything had been a lie. Now, he was willing to consider the possibility that maybe…just maybe…there had been a time when they really had been friends. Yeah…but when exactly did we start and stop? It was all so complicated.

Perhaps he would never know.

Everyone had their own story, right? No one could possibly know completely what others were thinking. Their motives and feelings. Sometimes, for better or for worse, things needed to be kept hidden.

He thought back to what Shiki was not confiding with him. Is it for the better that you're not telling me?

"Sakuraba!" called out his coach, bringing him back to reality. "Come over here for a second."

Neku jogged over to where his coach and the other man were standing. The other man peered at Neku's face that snapped his fingers. "There's no doubt about it. You're the same Neku Sakuraba that went off the grid a few years ago, aren't you?"

"'If you mean 'stopped playing soccer' by 'went off the grid' then, yeah, I guess so," he said. "How come you know who I am?"

"I'm Makoto Miki – or 'Mick' for short - and I'm acting as a scout for the under-eighteen national soccer team." A scout!? "We're not sure why exactly, but the numbers and level of talent for the age group this year is…worrying. We've been going around schools and your coach is a friend of mine. When he mentioned you, I thought I recognised your name. You were pretty prominent soccer player when you were in middle school, weren't you?"

"Yeah…" He was taken aback. He hadn't thought anyone would really have taken notice.

"It seems like you still have the talent for it. Would you like to attend the next training camp?" he asked. "It's not a definite that you would make the team but you can display your skills and if you're interested…"

"I…uh…" This was all so sudden…

"Looks like you need some convincing, huh?" said Mick. "What if I told you that we managed to convince Rita Kazemaru to participate? I remember from the old articles that you were an unstoppable duo! Your teamwork was topped by no others!"

Well. It wasn't like Mick should be expected to have gotten the memo about Neku and Kazemaru's recent history but still…

He seemed to have misread Neku's look of doubt. "Yeah, I know. You'd be competing against each other as rivals for a place and that would be hard for old friends but I'm sure it'll be fine!" He looked over his shoulder to make sure no one but the coach was listening. "Actually – don't tell him – to get Kazemaru to join, I told him we already scouted you. He didn't seem too happy either. For some reason, it seemed like he thought he had no chance if he had to go against you but after some good 'ol Mick Magic, I managed to recruit him."

Should Neku tell Mick that Kazemaru was currently in the hospital? He would have, if not for the pure look that the scout had, as if he had this all in the bag.

Should he accept the offer? He hadn't really thought about fulfilling his old dream. Up till now, he thought that it would remain a past ambition. But here it was – a golden opportunity.

"I'll think about it," he answered finally.

"Great!" said Mick enthusiastically, surely taking that as a definite 'yes'. He proceeded to shake Neku's hand eagerly and gave him his contact information and filling him in on the basic details of the camp.

So, Kazemaru…our first step to the national stage turned out to be something like this. It's funny how fate works, huh?

xxxxx

"Rise and shine, sleeping beauty!"

This phrase did not make sense to Neku. More like, it should not have been made. He was in bed, in his home alone and no one else had the key to the house.

His eyes flew open and slowly Shiki's face came into focus, merely inches away from his own.

"Woah!" They exclaimed in unison, Shiki jumping back and Neku letting go of…his phone? Oh. Right. He must have answered her call while he was half-asleep.

"Ugh. Did you have to wake me up like that? What's with the 'sleeping beauty', anyway?" He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and then stretched his arms out.

"'Cause you don't look so grumpy when you're asleep," Shiki said lightly, clasping her hands behind her back.

"Really? For a second I thought you meant that you were trying to wake me up like a sleeping beauty."

"E-eh!" She looked startled and her cheeks coloured. "You thought that?"

"What? No! I was just joking." It was supposed to come off like a joke. "It's not like I'd thought you'd…you know…"

"Y-yeah. That'd be weird."

"Yeah."

…

"I'll just wait outside. You need to change!"

"Yeah. See you in a few minutes."

Shiki quickly exited the room, shutting the door behind her and Neku quickly got changed. Damn…that surprised me. I should have kept my mouth shut. Obviously, Neku was still not a morning person.

Actually, wasn't there meant to be one more resident in the room? Neku was sure that Nimew had slept in his room again. He looked around having finished changing, and found Nimew at the bottom of the foot of his bed, lying on his side.

It must have fallen off after all that commotion.

Once it saw Neku, it gave him a look, as if to say 'really? That was even more awkward then last time'.

Neku glared at it. "You're a cat. Stop giving me patronising looks – it's weird."

It turned over from its side and licked its paw and then looked at Neku again. 'You're the one talking to a cat'.

Again, not a morning person.

He left a room to see Shiki staring out the window. "It's a beautiful day," she said as he approached her.

"Yeah…"

He studied her expression carefully, but there still wasn't any clue of what she was really thinking about.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday – those six days had all rolled by and he had not been able to get her to tell him what she had been worried about.

All week, Neku had tried to pester Joshua about it and he would just change the subject. Shiki would feign ignorance, trying to convince him that everything was fine.

If she had done this to him when they had first met, he would think that she was pushy. But things were different between them. They were friends, weren't they? He trusted her and he knew she did too. That, at least, he was certain of.

So why? Why won't you tell me?

Not taking notice of his gaze, she said suddenly, "Let's go sightseeing – just the two of us!"

What's up with that? They had been in Shibuya together for what, over a month now? Why did she want to go look around Shibuya now?

"…Okay. Let's go." Fine, if she wanted to go sightseeing – they would go sightseeing. It would give him the perfect opportunity to catch her off-guard.

If there was one reason she wouldn't want to tell me something…one reason…it would be because…

He brushed that thought away – not liking where it was going.

It was probably nothing.

Shiki did worry about the smallest of things sometimes, right?

As they left, Neku glanced at Nimew, who went out the door with them. The look it gave him now said, 'goodbye'. Well…it was just sending them off, as usual.

It mewed once more and rubbed itself against Shiki's leg, purring.

"Bye, Nimew."

Just like usual. Just like usual.

xxxxx

Shibuya – the urban jungle of Japan.

He used to hate it. Now, though, the noise was a comfort to him. At least, it helped to block out any unnecessary thoughts.

"Shiki, we pass Hachiko on the way to school every day. I know for people who don't live here, it's a great tourist spot, but I hardly think as a local that it's something that excites me."

"Oh, hush!" she said, nudging him. Just 'cause she could do that now, didn't mean she had to. "Hachiko has a really bittersweet story."

"Everyone who's Japanese would know that."

"Yeah but you know, when we first met I didn't remember Hachiko's story!"

He raised an eyebrow at her. This was new. "Really?"

"Mmhmm. I mean, I remembered it when we first walked passed it on the way to school."

Those thoughts came back. Why? Why did she feel that she needed to share that piece of information with him now? Was it that important to share that little detail about herself? Or was it because it related to their beginnings? Stop reading into it, Neku. Just don't.

"We'll see it when I walk to school tomorrow."

She walked towards the dog statue, and placed a hand on it, closing her eyes. She was probably making a wish on it. You're not supposed to wish on it.

"If you want to make a wish, shouldn't we go to that place?"

She retracted her hand and smiled at Neku. "You're right! Next stop, Miyashita Park!"

It was a bit surreal to be back in the park after the week before. He almost couldn't believe that it had been a whole week. He headed straight to the fountain. It was funny…none of the fighting had actually taken place in the fountain area. He guessed that was why he was able to go there now.

It was mostly empty today, too.

The running of the water was the only sound that was present as they stared at the fountain in silence. By the looks of it, Shiki wanted to say something. But it was almost like she couldn't.

"…we used to come here a lot," he started. "Me and Kazemaru and Coco. We used to throw in a coin every week. Wishing for our dreams to come true."

"That sounds nice," she said, a smile tugging at her lips. "You made a wish when you first came back."

"I wish I had something to wish for," he said, echoing his words from that day.

"Well…did it come true? Do you have something to wish for?" she asked. There was something about her eyes. Those eyes looking into his, with something unreadable.

He finally, finally, felt emotions from her.

It was a mixture of happiness…sadness…a sense of longing and…that other thing. That one…the one that he could now, perhaps, put a name to. Except he wouldn't put a name to it. Not when she was looking at him like that.

She looked away from him again, looking at the glittering coins in the fountain. "I have a lot of things to wish for you know." No…don't say it. "I wish I lived a longer life. I wish I finished high school….graduated…achieved my dream. There's a lot of things that I could have done."

"Yeah…I'm not saying that you dying is a good thing…but I wouldn't have met you, if you hadn't."

He looked way too, because he couldn't meet her eyes.

"You never know. Maybe we would have. We would have met like a normal high school girl and boy would have," she said. "Although, you wouldn't have wanted to be friends with me if I didn't have the chance to – "

"- to stalk me?"

"Aw, I thought you forgot about that."

The laughter came naturally and they both looked at each other again.

Once they both stopped, Neku realised that Shiki had tears running down her face.

No, it wasn't what he was thinking. She was just…she had just laughed too hard. That's why she was crying. That's why…

"Neku…I wish I didn't have to go."

She said it.

And as much as he wanted to act as if he was shocked, he wasn't. Not at all.

Deep down, he knew what the growing distance had meant. What the lack of emotions coming through meant. He just hadn't wanted to accept it.

"I don't want you to go," he said before he could stop himself.

"…I…"

Face it…don't run away. "I'm sorry. That was selfish of me to say. It's not like you can act like my ghost forever."

"I – I guess n-not." She was sobbing. "…but it's not fair. Even though our Pact was strong…even when we beat the Reapers…I don't understand why but it's…it's fading."

"…Do you know how much longer it will last?" Hey…he could do this. His voice was steady and…it wasn't as painful as he thought it would be.

"I don't know," she said. "Not long. Another day?"

He let out a long breath, then he reached up to wipe away the tears from her eyes. "…Then we better make the rest of the day count. There's still a lot of places we could go visit."

She raised her hand to keep Neku's by her face. "Like where?"

"There's this mural in the backstreets of Udagawa. Uncle H said that it was something that he did himself. It was done after I left and we've never actually gone to see it yet, so why don't we go there? Apparently there's something resembling a black cat on the mural too. Since you love cats so much, you can go and name it, too. You could call it Mew the Third or something."

Shiki let out a shaky laugh and Neku smiled.

"See. So no more crying, okay Stalker? You better not cry when you leave, either."

"I can't promise you that," she said, but she was smiling now, "but I'll try not to. And before I leave, there's something I need to tell you – "

Gone. One second she was there. The next she was nowhere to be seen.

"Shiki…?" She was just here. She was just here. "Shiki!"

With her abrupt disappearance it was like all the feelings of the constriction had hit his chest at once. One more day…you said…Shiki….Shiki…SHIKI.

It was then that a melody…a soft melody, started to play.

"There may not be an answer to this too, why the sky is blue, is the change in me all true?"

His phone. He reached for his phone desperately trying to hit the answer button.

"Now that you are next to me, I have no fears and all I know is that I want to be with you."

It was as if everything was against him as he found his hands wouldn't cooperate with him. As he finally managed to click the answer the button, Shiki reappeared again.

"Neku!" she cried. "I-it's sooner than I thought. It's…I'm going now. I can feel it. We got cut off but I didn't want to go yet…I still haven't…we still…"

The music that should have stopped playing was still sounding out from his phone, as if telling him this was the end.

He rushed forward and wrapped his arms around her, crushing Shiki to his chest. He was still holding her.

"Neku?"

"You can't leave like this. If I…if I'm holding you right now, then you can't leave."

He still wanted to reject the reality of it all. He closed his eyes, casting aside the cruel truth.

"Neku…" He felt her arms circle him too.

If they stayed like this. If they just stayed like this, then she couldn't leave him. She couldn't.

"There's still a lot of things I want to say -"

"You can tell them to me later."

"- but there's one thing I think if I left without saying I would regret it – "

"You're not leaving, don't be an idiot."

"- you know that feeling you were talking about – "

"The one right now? We can talk about that some other time"

"- I might be completely wrong, but it could have been -"

"Shiki..." He gasped, he couldn't feel her anymore. His eyes shot open and he let go, realising that she was fading.

"- something like love?"

With one final smile, she had completely disappeared.

Yet the song continued to play.

"Even in a moment like that, you were saying 'something like'?" Of course Shiki would say that - she wouldn't be Shiki if she didn't.

"…close to you I hope to stay, endlessly from today…even through cloudy days you are not alone."

Even if he wasn't alone anymore –

You couldn't stay.

Tadaa! THE END 8D 'But what? Why did Shiki's Pact disappear? What's going to happen to Neku? Why did you upload one week early? What's going ooooon?' Or...not the end. I find it funny how a lot of people assumed this was going to be the last chapter. I did say that it was ending 'soon' but I never said it was this chapter. I will answer one question and say that I uploaded early because…-drum rolls- …I felt like it. –gets coins from the fountain thrown at me-.

Also, I apologise if you're allergic to cheese. Because I am actually an unbelievably huge NeShiki shipper and I have been holding myself back (no, really, I have! Don't gimme that look, yo!). For this chapter I was like 'to hell with it' and unleashed my shipping monster. So if there was an overload, you know why. It was angsty Neshiki as well. xD I don't think I butchered their characters too much – after all, they are Soulmates having their sudden farewells (Geddit? Soulmates). Sorry(notsorry).

So yesh. Your thought process was hopefully something like 'What's up with Shiki? Oh cool, good for Neku. Fluff! lol at Nimew. Oh God, Shiki's going to leave. She's going to leave isn't she? But Dina wouldn't do that to us! She did it, that jerk- Oh phew, they still have one more visit to go before – DINA…Dina you little sh—'. Okay, maybe not the swearing part, but you get the idea.

Yeah. As you can see I had too much fun with this. Welp, that's the end of the 'Dreams' Arc. I haven't included the usual extras at the end of the arc, since we really are kind of close to the end. 'You said that last time!' Hey, this way you won't know when the end is! :D –more things thrown at me- Besides, since I (attempt to)make Omakes funny, it would kill the mood of the chapter.

Thanks for the faves/follows: Music of the Shadows, Michael Mario, Alice and The Mad Hatter

Thanks to: B.A.G-GOMEZ, RagnartheSemiGreen, Faliara, ElementLegend, Reilie, Chronic Guardian, Xerzo LotCN, I'll Break Your Heart, Michael Mario

Chocolate Kiss: Hehe thank you. Glad you liked the chapter!

YOLO: Aww, you're so sweet. Though I think reaching over 333 reviews would be a bit of a stretch for this fic. X3 I really appreciate the sentiment, though! Thank you! (Also, I love your anon name xD)

Primo: Kazemaru had a sort of memory confusion :3 Huh. Will you look at that? I did make her disappear. …Sorry? :"D

Jt: You're welcome! Presents are awesome! Although this one might not feel like a present. Hm. Anyway, thanks for the review!

Weee. Okay, I'm done here. Hope you enjoyed (lol) the chapter! See you next time!

Dina (8/12/2013)

Chapter Twenty Two - Ashes

…

"…Where do you think she's buried?"

…

"You don't know her last name?"

…

"We should…buy her some flowers."

Shiki…