Sanctuary

It ain't easy.

Nothin' is ever easy for me.

I just don't get stuff. If I gotta think about it for too long, it messes up my brain.

I don' gotta think if I'm ridin'.

I just push myself and then I'm gone.

But it still ain't easy.

"Beat! Where are you? Something's happened!" A voice that Neku vaguely recognised as Rhyme's called out from a distance away.

"What? Rhyme? Somethin' happened to Rhyme!"

This was his lucky break, finally. With Beat distracted, he could get away. He quickly started to walk in the opposite direction from Rhyme's voice. "Well, I'll be going now –"

"C'mon, you're comin' with me!"

Before Neku could so much as open his mouth to resist, Beat pulled him by his arm, reducing him to something akin to a rag-doll. I should have known, he thought bitterly.

Shibuya was never going to give him a break.

Chapter Four - Ramen

The younger Bito was staring up at a tree, with a very perplexed look on her face, when Beat and Neku had finally reached her. Instead of her beanie, she was wearing a black helmet, though it too had a silvery skull design printed on it. The Bito family must seriously love skulls…

"What's goin' on Rhyme? Who did it?" Beat asked hurriedly, looking around and taking a battle-ready stance, which Neku thought looked childish.

"No one did anything Beat. It's just," she pointed up towards the branches of the tree, "my skateboard got stuck in the tree."

As far as Neku knew, the words 'skateboard' and 'a tree' could fit in a sentence together as long as it did not have the words 'stuck in' in between them. His eyes weren't lying though, and there was definitely an orange and black-surfaced skateboard wedged between the branches of the tree. "How did that get up there?"

Rhyme seemed to just have noticed him. "Hello, Neku. I'm not really sure what happened, to be honest. One minute, I was trying to flip the board while moving, like Beat always does, and the next I slipped and fell. I suppose that I was going too fast and the skateboard somehow gained the trajectory to fly towards the tree."

Trajectory? I'm no genius at physics but that seems kinda impossible. Unless she was moving at an inhumanly high-speed the likelihood of her skateboard ending up that high was near zero.

Although, perhaps Neku needed to stop thinking about the likelihood of anything considering how the past few days had been going.

"No worries. I gots this," Beat declared, dropping his own skateboard and rushing towards the tree and grabbing hold of either side of it, around the trunk; he was attempting to climb it. He got about halfway before losing his hold and sliding all the way down the bottom. "Shit, that hurt."

It did look like it hurt. And it looked really funny - funny enough for Neku to let out a snort.

Beat seemed to have heard him. "Oh yeah, why donchu try climbing it?" he challenged.

"If you haven't noticed, my clothes are soaked because of someone and I haven't climbed a tree since I was a kid." He made a point of gesturing to his white uniform shirt that still had water dripping down off it.

"I already said I'm sorry, yo. 'Sides, it's Rhyme's skateboard an' she ain't done nothin' to you." He walked behind Neku and pushed him towards the tree.

"Hey, watch it," Neku warned.

The taller boy crossed his arms and looked down on him, his eyes shaded by his beanie. It didn't look like he was going to move even an inch until Neku agreed to climb the tree. As he thought that Beat could possibly resort to violence if Neku didn't do what he wanted, he decided that he should just get on with it. Moving swiftly, he had reached the branch in less than a minute, grabbed the damned thing and was back down in less than two.

"Woah, Phones. How'd you do that?" Beat scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah, that was amazing. You kind of looked like a cat there," Rhyme chirped as Neku stretched out his arms to hand the skateboard back her. "Thank you so much."

"It was nothing," he said tonelessly. "If that's it, then I'm going home now." He tried to escape for the second time of the day, but Beat barred his way again.

"No way! After this I gotta treat you to some ramen," Beat insisted.

"That's a great idea. 'It is thankful people who are happy', and we'd be happy if you'd come with us for some dinner," said Rhyme.

He didn't really get what the big deal was. It wasn't like Rhyme had been in any real trouble and she only needed a little bit of help. He was tempted to tell them that he could care less if they remained unhappy for the rest of their lives, but a thought struck him.

This would be one night of free food and Neku wouldn't have to cook for himself for once. Then he wouldn't need to worry about buying more food for tomorrow. Although he had sufficient money to keep him going until the end of the month, he wasn't sure yet how punctual his uncle would be in delivering his spending money, so he had to save up some, just in case.

"I'll take you up on that offer. I still have to go home to change though, so I'll meet you there at around six," said Neku. "Where is this ramen place anyway?"

"Dogenzaka."

Oh. Maybe Neku needed to say no after all. He had tried to avoid that place and it had been successful so far since he didn't really need to go anywhere that had to go through Dogenzaka. He wasn't too fond about that place, to say the least.

"What's up, Phones?" Beat asked whilst Neku had been gazing into empty space.

"Nothing." Yeah, it didn't matter. Dogenzaka was still a suspicious place, especially at night, but Neku was old enough to look out for himself.

"Are your parents going to let Rhyme go to a place like that?" Rhyme was small enough to be mistaken for a middle-school student - no - make that an elementary-school student, after all, so he wasn't sure if she was safe to go into that area yet.

"It's cool, yo. My folks are fine with it," he said. Oh? What Beat said had seemed kind of forced.

"We go to that ramen shop all the time," Rhyme added. That was strange; Beat seemed tense when saying that, but Rhyme had said it very naturally. Hmm. He would wonder more about it later…if he could be bothered to.

"If you say so," said Neku. He tugged at his flopped down hair. He would need to wash it thoroughly. Who knew how dirty the fountain water might have been? His hands then touched upon the headphones that were hanging on his neck. If they were broken, he was seriously going to make Beat pay for it. "I'm going back to my flat and I'll meet you there if I'm still up to it."

"If you don't show, I'll pound you!" Neku sincerely hoped that Beat was joking.

With his damp clothes sucking the heat out of him, he was relieved to finally be heading back to the flat for a moment.

xxxxx

The sun was starting to set and red painted the sky behind the tall buildings in the Dogenzaka area. Neon-lights started to flicker to life as the flow of people continued to travel up and down the street. By now, Neku had changed into a fresh set of clothes, all bought from J&M, of course, and his hair was almost completely dry again.

Neku noted, in slight disgust, how there seemed to be more couples in this area than usual and everyone knew what they were here for. If the signs decorated with faded hearts and a picture of a fancy-looking bed wasn't clue enough, the intense public displays of affection already going on in the street across him were.

Can't they wait until everyone else has, well, left? Again, Neku questioned the thinking of bringing Rhyme here. He supposed, though, that if anything were to happen, Beat looked tough enough to be able to protect her. Judging from the way he had ran to her side earlier, he must really be protective of her.

As the Bito siblings arrived, they looked as unaffected by their surroundings as ever, and quickly ushered Neku into the restaurant, as if being in the restaurant would prevent him from leaving if he suddenly changed his mind again. Walking past the red-lit sign 'Ramen-Don', they entered into a cosy but fairly filled-up place with a traditional Japanese olden-day décor. They settled down on the stools just in front of the counter, with Beat seated on the stool between Neku and Rhyme.

The smell of traditional Japanese ramen filled his nose and the steam of the soup could be seen rising out of the wok from behind the counter, where the head-chef was cooking. Though there were other employees in the shop, he was obviously the master of the kitchen. It wasn't particularly that he looked like the part, what with the rounded-glasses and white bandanna around his head, but the aura he gave out when he was preparing the meal.

He whipped around and was instantly facing the three of them and placing three bowls of ramen on their place-mats. "Welcome! Enjoy the meal!"

"Thanks!" Beat looked about ready to swallow the meal whole but Neku interrupted him.

"Hold on a second. We haven't even ordered yet. Why'd you bring this to us?"

The chef peered down at him from behind his glasses. "Read the signs, boy. It's Telepathic Thursday."

"That doesn't mean anything to me," Neku said, raising an eyebrow.

"It's like this, yo. We all get food from the master chef on Thursday 'cause he's got physics powers to read our mind. He picks the food and cooks it and then we eat it." Although it was a poor explanation (it was 'psychic' not 'physics', Beat), Neku got the gist of it. "Oh! An' it's always your favourite type of ramen, you dig? "Cause the Old Man can tell just by looking at you what kinda ramen you're into."

"I doubt that you can just guess what someone likes to eat just by looking at them," scoffed Neku.

"Ah, kids these days. So rude. In my day our parents could beat you around the head for that. Well, I doubt your dad would have, even if it was back then. He had always been a softy." The chef started laughing heartily.

"My dad? You knew my dad?" Neku asked, startled.

"Eh? 'Course I did. You're Sakuraba's kid, aren't you? Heard that you were back in Shibuya," the chef crossed his arms. "Guess you don't remember me, but I recognised you right away. Your hairstyle has become even wilder than before. You used to come to my stall when you were younger, the one that was on Cat Street."

"Mr. Doi." Neku recalled, vaguely. "Ken Doi. Thought you went out of the ramen business when I was still a kid."

"I did not go out of business," Ken Doi corrected indignantly. "I took a break and went into the toy-business for a while. But ramen is my true passion. Ramen is food for real men, and so this place was born!"

"Mr. Doi opened and started renting the place just over a year ago," said Rhyme. "It was an instant hit with everyone because it's the best ramen around."

"Ah, you flatter me too much, Miss Bito!" He glanced at the watch on his wrist. "No more time to chat. Other dishes are calling to me." In the blink of the eye, he was off to serve another customer.

Neku looked down at his dinner. He had distant memories of Ken Doi's food being great, but the man wasn't kidding about predicting his favourite type of ramen. Just the smell of it was overwhelmingly good, and Neku could tell without tasting it yet that it would be a good meal. He was glad that it was Beat who was going to pay for it.

Speaking of Beat, the other boy had started eating while Neku was in conversation with Mr. Doi. That was rude if you asked Neku. At least Rhyme had the decency to wait before starting to eat. They both put their hands together and muttered the usual "thanks for the food" over Beat's loud slurping.

They didn't speak to each other for awhile, but since Beat had finished first he started a conversation. Of course, Neku had hoped that Beat wouldn't feel the need to converse. Key word: hoped.

"Ain't chu from Hokkaido? How come you know Old Man Doi?" Beat asked. At the same time he was eyeing Neku's bowl of ramen which he was going through at a steady pace. Neku had to grudgingly admit, that it really was the best bowl of Shio ramen he had ever tasted.

"I used to live here," he answered shortly.

"In Shibuya?"

"Yeah."

"Why'd you move to Hokkaido?"

"I don't have to answer that." He didn't want to, either. He was here to eat ramen for free, nothing else.

Beat blinked, and then he scratched the back of his head. "That's cool."

That was easier than he thought it would be. First Beat was the most persistent person in the entire universe, and then he managed to let go of a question on the first attempt. Neku didn't get what that guy was thinking, which was probably for the best, since Neku didn't really want much to do with him.

"Some things aren't meant to be told," Rhyme said quietly from beside Beat. Neku was starting to feel a bit weird about how Rhyme churned out all these very-fitting sayings.

The rest of the meal went on with Neku not saying much, and Beat rambling on to both him and Rhyme about things such as how his Maths teacher was giving him crap for not finishing the homework. "I don't get the whole 'x' thing. 'X' ain't a number, it's a damn letter!" This kind of atmosphere was starting to feel familiar; the relaxed mood and the constant smell of ramen…Neku didn't like it.

"I'm going to leave now," he announced, getting up.

"Already? It's only around seven, man," Beat said.

"Yeah, well I've got things to do." Like putting the clothes you got wet into the washing machine. There was also, of course, that essay he got during Japanese today. "See ya."

"I gotcha. See you at lunch tomorrow, yo!"

Neku raised his hand in back as a gesture of acknowledgement and goodbye. He had a feeling that Beat and Rhyme weren't going to just leave him alone, no matter what he wanted.

xxxxx

"The sky above changes its colour, from dawn till dusk I wonder why…"

Neku answered the phone call from Stalker while he was watching the TV. He expected her call this time and there was no tense feeling of what unexpected thing could come from answering his phone.

"Good evening, Neku!" The greeting was said cheerfully from the other end of the line.

"Hello, Stalker."

"Like I've already said, I'm not a –"

"Yeah, yeah, you're not a stalker. Even so, you're still 'Stalker'," said Neku, switching the channels at the same time.

"That's just so stupid. You can't just name people whatever you want. Wait, you know what? It's fine. I don't remember my name anyway so it doesn't matter," Stalker said.

"…" Neku yawned. He was more tired than usual, for some reason. Good thing he'd managed to get all his homework done as well as wash his clothes. He managed to take another, long, warm shower and wash his hair again; he didn't think he had gotten rid of the dirt the first time around. Right now, his hair was still flat down but this time it was from being washed with fragrant shampoo instead of stinky fountain-water. He was sitting down on his sofa, with a towel on his shoulders to prevent his night-clothes from getting wet.

Don't eat that, you idiot, you're going to get food poisoning. He was watching one of those game-shows where people did stupid things so they could get a chance of winning a ridiculous amount of money.

"I think he should have climbed the wall instead," commented Stalker. "That guy looks fat but I'm sure even he could manage a wall that's only that tall."

Neku frowned. "I'd ask how you're watching the TV at the same time as me yet not be stalking me in my room, but you're just going to say 'you just know'."

"What else am I supposed to say? It's the truth! I just know." Again with the things that don't make sense.

"Out of curiosity, how much do you 'just know'?" Neku experimentally waved three fingers in the air. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"…You're just going to say something mean if I tell you."

"Why would I do that?" he asked rhetorically. "...So? What's your answer?"

He heard her sigh. "Three fingers."

"Alright, there is no way you can know that and not see me," he said, he swatted the air to his right. "You're sitting beside me somewhere, aren't you?"

"That was mean. Geez, Neku, how many times do I have to tell you? I'm not stalking you. It's just that I can somehow feel whatever you're seeing and hearing. Only sometimes, though. And maybe even sometimes your thoughts. I'm not quite sure about it myself but I think that's why I know what you're doing."

"That's even creepier. That makes you a mind-stalker."

"Ugh, will you, like, cut it out?"

"It's funny how you can know what I'm doing yet you can't remember anything about yourself," he stated, ignoring the last thing she said.

"If it'd make you feel better, I'd rather have my memories back than know what you're doing," she offered. "Oh, but after you hung up, I think I remembered a few tiny things."

Neku wasn't going to ask what she remembered, but she told him anyway. "I remembered that I'm from Shibuya. While you were going around Shibuya today, I suddenly had the feeling that this was where I came from. I picked up a few images and they all feel familiar. I don't really recognise them much, but I can kinda feel that I should know the places. I'm not a smart person, but I figured that if I know the places then I must have died not too long ago. I'm still not sure how or exactly when, but the thought 'not too long ago' keeps coming back." She paused. "…Neku?"

"Hm? Did you want something?"

"Were you even listening to me?" Stalker yelled in his ear.

Neku winced at the sound. "Not really, but you don't have to shout at me." Admittedly, he had been only half-listening to what she had to say. His eyes had been glued to the TV screen and his attention had been won by the elderly contestant who was attempting to get through a physically-demanding looking obstacle course.

"I don't know how you managed to make friends with that guy, Beat, I think, with an attitude like that," she huffed.

"It sounds like you weren't paying attention the whole time, or you'd realize that I'm not friends with that guy."

"Really? He seemed like he was really close to you."

"Well, he's not. He must think is or something, because he keeps on talking to me."

"Oh, well don't worry about it. You had lunch as well as dinner with him today. That would count as a step towards making him your friend."

"You don't get it. I don't want to be friends with him. It's been four days since the start of school and I've already had enough of him for a lifetime."

"But the only people I sensed that you talked to today were him, his sister and that ramen-guy. You've just moved schools, right? I think Beat mentioned it. Don't you want to make some friends?"

"No. I don't need any."

That seemed to surprise Stalker since she didn't say anything for a little while.

"Everyone needs friends," she said, finally.

"Then that makes everyone but me."

"But who else would you hang out with? And go to clubs with, and each lunch with, and –"

"No one. I'm not interested and I'm cool with doing it solo."

Another pause.

"You can't tell me that you've never ever wanted a friend in your life. I'm not going to believe that," she said adamantly.

"Don't put words up in my mouth. I didn't say that I've' never ever' even once wanted a friend before. But even if I wanted one before, it was a long time ago," said Neku while unwillingly recollecting a few old memories.

'Don't feel too bad. You'll definitely score next time.'

'Of course he will! I know! I'll whip you both up some cookies to cheer you up.'

'You really don't have to do that for me…I just need to work harder.'

'You should listen to yourself, you sound almost dead. Relax! C'mon! Let's go already, I'm starving. Forget cookies, let's grab ourselves some ramen.'

He shook his head, shaking the memories off at the same time. Damn…he somehow said too much to her. "What do you know anyway? You should be worrying about yourself. You might not have any friends either, but unlike me, you seem to care about having friends."

"W-what? Of course I have friends!"

"Do you remember them?"

"I – no – I mean, that's just…" He knew he hit a nerve, and had successfully turned her attention away from him.

"If 'friends' are that important to you, then you should be able to remember yours, shouldn't you?"

"…"

"…"

"…I think...I need some time to think. I-I'll talk to you tomorrow, Neku. Bye."

She hung up instantly after that, leaving Neku with a grim sort of smile. He hoped he hadn't shaken her up too much, or he would probably get another earful when she next called.

In any case, he was glad that she stopped talking when she did; he was starting to feel tired.

Ironically enough, the last thing Neku saw before he fell asleep on his sofa was a scene of the old man on TV who had just completed the obstacle course and was dedicating his win to all his old school-friends who were no longer with him.

A/N: Tadaa! Welp, we learn a little bit more about Neku this chapter. I've been getting reviews that are saying that I'm doing alright with characterisation, which I'm pleased about. If I ever go too OOC, even with regard of the situations they're in, please tell me, because I really want to try to have at certain degree of the original essence of their characters.

Also, I'm glad you guys are liking this even if some of you don't usually like Highschool-AU fics (or so I am told). To be truthful, when I first thought up this fic it was more of the supernatural things that came to mind, rather than it being about them in school. I had a hard time deciding whether to put them in the last year of middle school or in the first year of high-school but eventually I settled for Neku and Beat being second-years, since that was the only way I could see the plot working out after planning it out properly. In fact I was actually kind of confused by it being called a Highschool AU, and then I was like - '...oh...-looks at plot plan and chapters already posted- ...this is a Highschool AU, isn't it? -facepalm-'. So hopefully my writing will get better since I actually know what category my fic is generally classified as.

Thanks to those who favourited/started following this story in the last chapter: Faliara, Rukaru Hika Bondkeeper, Symphonic Demon, Forever-Rose09, and k-kerning.

And to those who reviewed: Leige of the Crimson Nightmare, B.A.G-GOMEZ, Shinra-ex-SOLDIER, Symphonic Demon, Forever-Rose09, k-kerning.

To my anonymous reviewer:

Cheyenne - Hehe, I'm glad that you're liking this fic 8D

That's all for today! The day after I post this, I'm off to Berlin for a school trip and hopefully I'll still be able to get online to reply to any feedback before or during the trip. Happy Easter holidays (for those who have them...and don't have to study for their IGCSEs like me ;-;).

- 22/3/2013

Chapter Five - Skill

Thank you so much for getting my skateboard down!

"Oh? And I suppose you know what's going on with him."

I know you don't like us all that much, but I still appreciate.

"Yeah, well for once, you're actually right."

I think you could be a pretty nice person if you wanted to be.

"What makes for the best dish is not just the ingredients, but the way they blend together."

Actions speak louder than words, after all.