Sanctuary

Small!

The living space this human has is just too small.

I'm hungry.

I want some food.

Feed me.

You're not going to?

I'll get my own then.

I always have.

Chapter Six - Mew

"And hell, that last one nearly went in but I reached it just in time. You shoulda seen it Rhyme!"

The girl, who was walking beside him, gave her brother a small smile. "I wish I did."

"I gotta say, I owe it to you man." The boy punched Neku's shoulder. "Rhyme told me that she saw you go up to Coach and tell 'em to put me in as the keeper. How 'bout we catch another bowl of ramen?"

Neku rubbed his arm, wishing Beat would stop doing that. "Yeah, yeah. Just not tonight. I'm tired. I'll probably sleep early."

The taller teen nodded understandingly. "Yeah, I'll probably hit the hay earlier too. My folks can't say anythin' after I tell 'em I made it into the team."

"They'll be proud of you," said Rhyme encouragingly.

"Eh…ain't proud going a little too far?" He held up a victorious, clenched fist. "I'll just be happy if they don' yell at me." He stopped and looked around. "Ain't we supposed to turn right here?"

Rhyme and Neku paused. "That's right," Rhyme said. "I almost forgot." She turned to Neku and gave him a polite bow. "Thanks again for earlier today."

"Hah, that makes the two of us owe you again, huh Phones?" Beat scratched his head. "Still don't get why you don't wanna join the team – it would've been sick - but whatever. See you on Monday!"

Neku watched them disappear down the turn on the right, before walking straight down the road, hands now in his pocket.

"Beat has a point, you know. You would have been great on the team. The coach thinks you have talent," Stalker piped up. Woah, forgot she was there. He wondered how long she planned on staying on the phone with him. His phone battery would probably run out soon. Although, come to think of it, his phone seemed to be lasting longer than usual nowadays.

Coach Higashizawa had said something along the lines of, "I knew I sensed a secret recipe hidden in you, but that stop was truly impressive." Neku had bluntly declined the spot and left before anyone could say otherwise.

"I may have 'talent' but I wouldn't be great on the team," he stated. "I wouldn't be much of a team player." Even the others knew that – most of them had been muttering outraged protests because this was the guy who had insulted clubs and was rumoured to being a bully or being bullied (neither of which they wanted to involve themselves with). It was like listening to a broken record.

"Coach, you can't let him stay on the team."

"Yeah! You know what he did, right?"

"If even he can't rely on Neku, how can any of us?"

"Sakuraba…the matter of fact is that you're causing unrest among the rest of your teammates. With the District Tournament coming up, we can't afford a broken team. I appreciate your talents, but even I have some qualms about the whole incident…"

"Fine. I'll quit the team."

"…I didn't expect you to agree so quickly."

"Soccer was just a hobby anyway. Besides, you have him. I'm not needed here."

He didn't want a repeat of back then.

"Neku! Stop walking!" Out of the suddenness of Stalker's voice, Neku did actually come to a halt.

"What is it?"

"The shop on your right…it feels really, really familiar to me."

Neku looked over the shop. It was a simple sewing shop, and through the glass he could see all sorts of materials and needles on display. The shop's name was on a board at the top of the shop, with patchwork font: 'Thread to the Heart.'

"Kokoro e no Shiki. That's an original name," he said sarcastically. He wasn't all that surprised that Stalker would like such a girly shop like that.

"Shiki…" Stalker repeated.

"I swear most people go for 'Sureddo' now. Shiki sounds more like a name."

He heard a sharp intake of breath from her end. "That's it."

"What's it?'

"My name. My name is Shiki." Her voice clearly got more excited. "My name. I remember my na – argh!" Stalker let out a wail that caused Neku to automatically clutch his headphones.

"Hey, Stalker, what's wro – ngnh!" Neku's head started to throb, as a high-pitched screeching noise started to emit from his headphones. They echoed loudly through his head, and much like the first time he had answered Stalker's call, he couldn't move. His fingers were locked in a vice-like grip around his headphones.

"Neku…I…anymore…losing…going…black…" Stalker's words, interrupted by static finally stopped.

As the sound stopped coming out of his headphones the pain that was caused to his head ceased as well. "Stalker?" There was no reply.

He felt uncomfortable about what just happened, and it wasn't just because of the pain. The last time that it had happened, Neku could only think about the pain in his head, but this time he was aware of something else. He could feel that Stalker's head was hurting too and not only that – he could feel the nothingness. He felt the nothingness that Stalker had been stuck in for all this time.

He was also aware of the fear. Stalker's fear. He felt her panic about what was happening to her, and the fear started creeping up on him too until she was cut off.

He had asked her before what she had meant when she said she could just 'feel' what he was doing and it looked like he could do the same thing now.

xxxxx

Ring! Neku bolted up at the sound of his doorbell. Who the hell could that be? Especially at this hour. He glanced at the clock hanging in his room – shit. It's already one?! He had slept from seven last evening to one in the afternoon; that was eighteen whole freakin hours. He had never slept that long in his whole entire life and he was sure that no normal person did.

He eyed his phone with a bit of bitterness. Normal people don't have ghosts haunting them. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes with his right hand while putting his headphones around his neck with his left. Still feeling a bit heavy, he reluctantly got out of bed, slipping his phone into the pocket of his night-shorts. Dragging his feet along, he went to his front door and opened it up.

There was no one there.

Ugh. It must be some stupid brats trying to play a trick on him.

"Meow."

His eyes slowly trailed downwards until it was met with the sight of a black cat, looking up at Neku. He must have still been tired because he thought, how did it reach the doorbell?

He stared at the cat and it stared back, its yellow eyes glinting.

"Uh. Shoo." Because he had no idea what a cat was doing at his doorstep. He made flicking forward gesture with his hands. "Go –er – that way." He pointed to his right.

Instead of going the way he wanted, the cat did the exact opposite and walked straight past him into the flat. He was so weirded out by the situation at hand that he simply stood still for a moment. Slowly turning his head to where the cat was going, he narrowed his eyes. Give me a break, I just freakin' woke up.

He stomped towards the cat and tried to grab it by its neck; if it wasn't going to leave on its own, he would make it leave. Of course, it didn't give in so easily. It hissed and swiped at Neku, missing him by only an inch. It then made a point of jumping onto his sofa and curling up into a ball.

He glared down at the furry intruder. What was its problem?

Neku then noticed that it had a red collar around its neck and what looked like paper stuffed between it and the back of its neck. Great. It must have an owner. The paper must have a clue as to where this cat came from.

Taking it as safe to approach, since the cat's eyes were now closed, Neku carefully removed the piece of paper. The moment he did, the cat opened its eyes again and tried to scratch Neku. "Hah, missed me again."

The cat gave him a lazy, almost pitying look.

…did I really just taunt a cat?

He turned the piece of paper and it had a few words written on it, with neat, clear and cursive handwriting. "Take care of the cat. – Joshua," he read aloud. He swore to himself… Seriously? I didn't actually mean that wish.

He let out another curse as his phone started buzzing. "…good creatures, they wallow then they hollow ya…"

He put on his headphones and clicked the answer button on his phone. "What is it, Stalker? Can't you tell that I'm not in the mood to talk to you yet?"

"B-but Neku! There's a cat!"

"I know there's a cat. I can see it."

"No, I don't mean that cat! There's a cat here." Now that caught his attention. "It's not a real cat like yours but it's –"

"What do you mean by 'not a real cat'?" He interrupted her.

"I mean it's a plush cat. It's one that I made myself, I think. I woke up a bit after you did and it was here. I don't know how it got here, but this is big news!"

"How so?"

"If something can get in here, it means I can get out of here, doesn't it?"

"That's not necessarily true," he pointed out. "And why do you think you can get out wherever you are? You say you're dead, so maybe you're meant to be there."

"This can't be where you go after you die, or there would be more people here." Neku was about to argue but Stalker ploughed on before he could. "And I know that you're going to say that maybe everyone has their own small space of nothing – but then why did I get a phone? Shouldn't it be that everyone gets one? But if everyone gets one that would mean everyone could contact the living? And that's just not the case. I must have been put in here for a reason."

Neku sighed. "That's all on the assumption that everyone that dies gets the same thing and they might not. Your theory is just full of holes."

She fell silent. "Then…how do I get out of here?" It was then, because he could feel it, that he knew that she was thinking about this for a good long time now. She had wanted to ask him before this but she never did. It was that fear again – she was scared of what the answer might be.

"I don't know," he answered honestly. "If I could somehow get in contact with Joshua again then maybe he would know…"

"I've also been meaning to ask you that," she asked, and Neku knew she was doing so, trying not to sound too dejected that he didn't have the answers. "Who's Joshua?"

"He's – and you're just going to believe this – an angel."

He waited for the outcry of shock or anger that he was teasing her, but all she said was, "Oh."

He felt a wave of relief from her. "Is that really all you have to say?"

"It's just…if he's an angel then he must know what we could do to get me out of here."

Not voicing it out loud, and hoping that Stalker would not pick up on this certain line of thought, Neku didn't think that Joshua would be much help. For all they knew, he could have been the one to put her there in the first place.

"Neku, do you think we could find him?"

"Sure," he lied. Stalker's end was silent and he knew that she could tell he wasn't being honest. "Look, we've got the cat and this note. If we're lucky there will be a clue to where the cat came from. It could possibly lead us to Joshua."

The teen regarded the piece of paper once again, but he didn't recognise the writing at all.

"Do you think there's anything special about the paper?" she asked him.

"Nope…well, it does say 'Kiryu' at the bottom right corner which tells us…that this paper was probably bought in a super-saver pack."

He could sense her roll her eyes. "Stop teasing me. I've got enough memory back to remember Kiryu. I swear they make everything." She hummed a catchy tune that every person in Japan with a TV would know. "Shopping at Ki-ry-u - pick and choose. With prices like these –"

"- you can't afford to lose," he finished for her.

And suddenly they both burst out laughing.

"M-maybe we should call up Kiryu a-and ask them if they sell to angels," Stalker suggested in between her laughter.

"If we do that, t-they'll probably try to sell us the info." Neku gasped, trying to get some air in.

The cat meowed irritably at the noise. After a while the laughter died down and Neku sat down on the sofa, clutching his stomach which had begun to ache from laughing too hard.

"That's the first time I've heard you laugh like that," said Stalker. "I wonder why?"

He wondered himself too. He couldn't remember laughing so much in a long time. It hadn't even been anything that funny. Maybe it was the combination of heaviness he had been feeling from yesterday and the hopelessness that came with Stalker's situation; the regularity of the typical and highly common slogan had done it for him.

"In any case, I'm glad that I got to hear it. You've got a good laugh…I like it."

Perhaps it was the sincerity that he could feel from her that caused him to say, "Thanks. You've got a nice laugh too."

The cat mewed again; demanding attention, saving Neku from what he thought might have turned into an awkward kind of silence. "What is it, you damned cat?"

"Meow."

"I think Nimew is hungry."

"Nimew?"

"The cat I've got over here is called Mr. Mew so we'll call this one Nimew! Ni because it's the second Mr. Mew.*"

"I'm keeping this beast, now?"

"Shh! Don't say that! You'll hurt its feelings."

"I'll hurt its feelings?" He shot another glare at the thing. "It tried to hurt my eyes."

"Please, Neku? There's a chance it might try to go back to its owner, who is probably Joshua."

It was a plausible idea. "Fine, I'll take care of the little monster."

"That's great! Aw, you're going to love having a cat. They make really wonderful pets. I don't have one myself but I think they would make good pets. Nimew is the cutest thing as well, and it looks just like Mr. Mew, which is a total plus." Wow, Stalker was really pleased that he agreed.

At the same time, the cat gave him a look that he read as, what a softy!

He was not going soft.

Was he?

xxxxx

He found himself in Miyashita Park again, that afternoon, though he had not come alone this time. Sitting adamantly by his feet was the cat. He had tried telling it to go find its owner, but either it didn't understand (which would be the ordinary thing) or it just didn't like Neku. The playful breeze that was blowing through the park that day gave Neku the feeling that it was the latter.

Well, at least they had even managed to get to Miyashita Park, considering the cat's stubbornness.

Should have kept Stalker on the phone…The cat probably would have listened to her if maybe he put her on loudspeaker, but he hadn't thought of that before this and she had already told him she would hang up for the day. It seemed like her ability to know what he was doing while they weren't connected wasn't passed onto him, because the moment she hung up he stopped being able to read her. At least one of us has some privacy.

He nudged the black cat with his foot. "C'mon. Where's Joshua?" He chose Miyashita Park because this was where he properly met Joshua and perhaps he would be here again, just out of sight.

The cat, miraculously, actually started to move. It ran down a path and Neku chased after it, pleased that he was finally getting some progress.

That was, until they reached the area with the ramps. The cat then jumped onto someone's lap. Rhyme's lap, to be exact, and Neku highly doubted that Rhyme was in any way connected to Joshua. Indeed, the cat seemed to give him as close to a grin as a cat could give, just to spite him. This cat definitely belongs to Joshua…

"Neku! What are you doing here?" Rhyme had seen him already, so there was no turning back now.

Resisting the urge to groan, he walked over to her and joined her on the bench she was sitting on. He had just had to run and if he was tired before, he was even more tired now.

"Just…walking my cat," he made up. Did people even walk their cats? He didn't know.

He could guess why Rhyme was here.

"Bwaaaaaaaaah!" Beat landed wrongly from the last ramp and fell down, his skateboard scattering an arm's length away from him. "Dammit!"

"It's okay, Beat! You can do it!" Rhyme cheered him on from the side, much like she had yesterday.

Beat waved at her, and then spotted Neku. "Rhyme, Phones, I'll smash it next time! Watch me!" He got up again and attempted the same ramp, only to fall again. Still, he got up and tried again. And again.

And again.

"Why does he try so hard?"

He didn't mean to say it out loud, but after he did, Rhyme just smiled. "He's like that with everything, I'm sure you've noticed. Once he's put his mind to do something, he'll do it no matter what. He's got a strong determination and it lets him push forward, no matter what people say. Beat's got nothing to lose." She paused and looked at Neku. "I think that's why he wants to make friends with you. I think he sees you as similar to him."

He raised an eyebrow at her at the last part. "We're nothing alike. I've got to be the least motivated person out there."

Still smiling, she said, "Not that part. It's the, having 'nothing to lose' part."

He fiddled with the headphones around his neck. Nothing to lose…she's got that right. "Beat's got you."

He didn't expect her to start frowning. "That's right…Sometimes that can be a bit of a burden for him. You see, if anyone picks on me, Beat gets really angry. He used to get into fights all the time and a lot of people started to misunderstand him." She stroked Nimew behind the ears. "He means well but…he used his fists to solve his problems too much. Eventually, he stopped fighting, though. He got tired of it, especially after he fell out with his best friend. His best friend was a bad influence on him and he was always liked to egg Beat on."

"I see you've have been talking about me, Rhyme." Two arms had wrapped around Rhyme from behind and she let out a frightened squeak. Nimew leapt off her and started hissing.

"Hands off her, creep," said Neku to the perpetrator, seeing Rhyme's obvious discomfort.

It was a boy around Neku's age, with a mess of black, wavy hair. He was wearing what looked like one of the private high school's uniform, one that had a blazer and a tie. He gave Neku a side-on look. "Who's this trashy looking kid?"

"Let Rhyme go before I trash your face." The threat came from Beat, who had seen him coming from afar and stopped skating immediately to rush over. The boy retracted his hands, and Rhyme immediately ran to Beat. "The hell are you doin' here, Tai?"

"I just happened to be in Shibuya and wanted to pay my old friends a visit. Anything wrong with that?" His green eyes were full of malice that Neku didn't like the looks of it.

"What's wrong is that 'chu keep tryin' to talk to Rhyme like that. She don't like it."

"I never could catch her two years ago either," he said, "but we had a fun game of cat and mouse going on, didn't we Rhyme?"

"Go away Taichi," said Rhyme, quivering and clutching onto her brother's arm, clearly distressed.

"Better listen to what she says or I'll pound you down again."

Taichi's eyes narrowed. "Say that again, bastard." He pulled back one of his sleeves. "I can take you on."

As he made to pull back his other sleeve, Neku caught his wrist. "You can't take us both."

"Trash and trash together," he muttered. He yanked his arm away. "Fine, I'm willing to do this the fair way. See, I've been bored lately, and I hate having loose ends. So, let's have a wager. I heard that your school's having an exhibition soccer match next Friday with ours. I'm sure you know how big the rivalry between Ebisu High and Odaiba Acadamy is. Knowing you, you probably joined the soccer team." Beat grit his teeth, giving him away. "Thought so! If your team wins, I'll leave Rhyme alone and if our team wins…well, I'll take her."

"Yeah, when hell freezes over!" Beat growled.

"What, you scared?"

"I ain't stupid enough to say yes to–"

"He'll do it." It was Rhyme. She still looked shaky, but determined too.

Beat looked at her incredulously. "Wha-? Rhyme?"

"You can beat Taichi. I know you can."

"No way am I doin' this bet." He made an 'x' sign with his arms. "You ain't a thing to bet over!"

"He'll do it." There was a sense of finality in her tone – one that didn't sound harsh, but was decisive all the same - that made it impossible for Beat to argue.

Taichi grinned; his expression made it look like he had already won. "That's more like it. Looking forward to it." He turned, giving them a two-fingered flick of his hand as a goodbye.

It wasn't until he was completely out of sight that Rhyme let Beat's sleeve go.

"What's wrong with you?" Beat shouted furiously.

"You can't just let people like that walk all over you," said Rhyme, giving her brother a steady look. "If someone tries to hurt you, or things you care about, you can't just give in to what they want."

"Yeah but he's Tai."

"Exactly! You know what he's like!"

Neku didn't know what just happened, but he felt like an intruder between the two siblings. He shivered as a cold wind suddenly swept around them. "…I'm heading back."

He couldn't stay here. He picked up Nimew and walked as quickly as he could without running, not saying another word to them.

"You can't just let people like that walk all over you."

Sometimes you had no choice.

A/N: Tadaa! Woo. It felt like a lot of things happened in this chapter, to me anyway. Shopping at Ki-ry-u pick and choose, with prices like these, you can't afford to lose. Hehehe...references. I've got a catchy theme tune that I associate with it and I hum it a lot xD That moment when we know something the characters don't.

If anyone has read my Bito sibling fic, 'Rewind', you would recognize Taichi from there. I thought that he would be a good OC to use. If you have read, or plan to read that fic, his history with Beat here is similar as the one there. Reading it isn't necessary though, so don't think about it too hard.

Alrightee, thanks to those who favourited/started following: cutekitty5597, Alyss Penedo, , Nozomi Illuminated, IrateWritreviewer and Omega Zekrom.

Thanks to my wonderful reviewers: cutekitty5597, Chronic Guardian, B.A.G-GOMEZ, GRX3m0m, Xerzo LotCN, Shinra-ex-SOLDIER and Omega Zekrom.

To my anonymous reviewer:

OnCuzImBored: Thank you so much for your kind review :D I'm glad someone has finally mentioned the little 'pseudo-poems', as you called them. I think I'll refer to them as that, because you're right that I didn't write them while intending them to be 'poems'. I did indeed write them myself, and they're the ones so far are each in the viewpoints of different characters. Some are more obvious than others, though I'll confirm who they are later in the fic.

That's all for today. Thanks for reading, everyone!

- 19/4/2013

Content Notes:

* Nimew – Ni is 'two' in Japanese. So this would also work if we kept Mr. Mew as Nyaa-tan from the original. Nimew would then be Ninyaa.

Chapter Seven - Friends

It was nice seeing you again Beat.

"It wasn't me!"

Get ready for the match, I'm going to humiliate you.

"Where the hell have you been?"

I'll show you that I'm stronger than you.

"It's not over until I say it's over."

Don't worry, I'll treat Rhyme very well.