Sanctuary

Sights that I can see for myself.

Sounds that I can hear for myself.

I have missed it for so long.

And yet, I still can't reach you.

Your hand – it's right there.

I'm so close.

But I still can't reach you.

Chapter Eight - Momentum

The Monday after the game against Odaiba Academy, Neku walked into the class that moment only to be greeted by silence. Every head in the room turned to look at him. And then the shouting started.

"It's him!"

"Oh my gosh, can I get an autograph Neku?"

"Sakuraba, you were epic."

Huh? The usual atmosphere that his class gave him had been completely thrown into the opposite direction. Instead of being repelled by him, they were all clamouring around him. To make things even more confusing, it seemed as if they were praising him, of all things.

"What's going on?" he asked, not talking to anyone in particular as he was finding it hard to hold eye contact with any one of them.

"Pfft, don't try playing dumb!"

"We're, like, talking about the soccer game on, like, Friday!"

"Seriously, can I get an autograph?"

Obviously, Neku wasn't really sure how exactly he was supposed to respond to all this commotion.

"Hey guys, clear the way for Sakuraba. He wants to get to his desk." The brown-haired girl from the other day ushered him through the small crowd, much to their protests. After a well delivered glare from her, the group dispersed and most went back to their usual places. They were still giving Neku not-so-subtle glances every now and then.

Neku pulled out his chair and sat down, feeling more than a bit disorientated. "Did I miss something?"

"Apparently," she answered, even though he had been talking to himself. She stood in front of his table, arms crossed. "Well, a lot of kids from other schools say that the students here get a bit too over-excited about everything. It's not so surprising to get a reaction like that after becoming Ebisu's new Ace."

"The new ace…"

"Yes. It seems like after they all knew that you were in the team, your status changed from 'The Lone Wolf' to 'Ebisu's Ace.'"

…they named me 'The Lone Wolf'?

"Thanks for the…update…I guess," Neku looked up at her, "…who are you, again?"

The girl's eyes narrowed. "I sit in the seat in front of you."Oh yeah, that's right. "And you should remember the names of your classmates at least!"

"I'm not good with names," he said. It wasn't like he cared for any of his classmates since he had come to school.

"You're a piece of work, aren't you? The name's Ai Urahara. Just Ai is fine."

"…So…did you need something?"

"I'm a friend of Beat's," she said, as if that explained everything.

His continuing blank face made her rub her temples.

"I've got a question for you. See, I was in Beat's class all last year and I thought we were pretty close. But he hasn't spoken to me much at all since we've become second-years. I don't see him during lunch anymore and I don't see him after school either. I've heard he's been hanging out with you a lot and Friday confirmed it." She slammed her hands on the table and glared straight at him, and Neku leaned back slightly. "So, how much are you paying Beat?"

"What the hell are you on about?"

"You've been paying Beat to act as your bodyguard!" she accused, pointing a finger at him.

Is she serious? Her expression face certainly looked serious. "I'm not paying Beat to be my bodyguard."

"Oh? Then that means you've blackmailed him into it!"

Geez, what kind of whacked-up conclusions has this girl come up with? "I haven't been doing anything like that. I hang out with him because Beat's my friend."

She stared at him for a moment. Great, it was one thing telling Beat they were friends, but telling some near-total stranger that was just a tad bit embarrassing for him. She's still staring at me.

"Your friend…" It seemed like she just had a shocking realisation. "I get it! Of course, that makes sense." She smiled reminiscently. "Beat made it a mission all of last year to make friends with people but a lot of them were quite intimidated by him, mostly because he was so pushy. He didn't have much time to talk to me when he was on one of those missions back then either. Well, I'm glad that he's succeeded this time."

The conversation was cut to an end by the teacher coming into the room.

As the days went on, Neku found out that Ai was only the first of many who wanted to talk to him. Throughout the week, his classmates started greeting him in the morning and even tried to start conversations with him. He was still reluctant to speak too much and he came off as a bit snappy most of the time, but many of them just waved it off with playful proclamations of 'that's our Cold Ace!' and continued trying to keep the talk going.

Perhaps, besides Friday, it also had to do with Neku being convinced by Beat to actually start attending soccer practice. He went to practice on both Wednesday and Friday, welcomed by the team with open arms. Shooter had taken a special liking to Neku, and had strangely started to call him 'Master Neku'.

He still had lunch with the Bito siblings and he liked those times the most. After finishing their food, they often spent their time chatting or trying to rush through the homework Beat had forgotten to do and were due the lesson straight after lunch.

Shiki, to his relief, hadn't gone on another space of being unable to call, and had called him every day without fail. He was even letting her call him more than once a day. He was becoming more and more comfortable with her and she gathered few more bits and pieces of her memories every day.

So many things had changed in such a small amount of time. It was almost too hard to believe. At the same time, it made sense. Neku was slowly allowing his world to open up again, even if it was only a fraction of it. The change he had taken for himself, of not completely chasing people away anymore, changed how the gears in his world turned.

To his surprise, Neku found that he could live with that.

xxxxx

It seemed that spring was settling down. The leaves on the trees were a healthy green; all the sakura petals had fallen off by now. There was not a cloud in the sky and the Sun generously shone down on the city. All in all, it was an ideal day for a walk.

The only thing that was off with this picture was...

Neku gave the black cat trailing behind him a furtive look.

...Nimew.

While he was going to Miyashita Park for the fifth time this week, he had not planned on bringing Nimew along with him this afternoon.

He supposed that the demon cat just fell into the habit of following him around to the park. Unlike a dog, Neku couldn't exactly walk Nimew on a leash. He told it to follow him, and thought himself stupid for doing so, but it had worked out.

"You, keep your eyes on this corruption. Come on, yes, you should watch this transformation."

"Aww, Nimew is so cute. I just want to give it one giant hug," she squealed the moment she got on the line.

"Hello to you too," he said.

"I think Nimew looks like a young cat. Not quite a kitten but quite a young cat. It must think that you're its new dad and doesn't want to separate from you."

Er...this thing is probably just bored. He didn't feel like killing her mood so early on, so he held himself back from pointing that out.

The cat was now strolling in front of Neku. I wonder if Shiki would get mad if I 'accidentally' stepped on its tail. The things it scratched weren't cheap to replace.

The cat stopped all of a sudden. Its ears perked up for a moment, before it started running.

Did Nimew get onto Joshua's track?

Sprinting straight after Nimew, he darted around the same corner it had taken, only to see that he was about to run into someone. His momentum was too high to stop, so he ran straight...through him?

Neku stood stock still. I walked through him. The moment he did, it felt like he had just walked through a freezing waterfall. It must be…"Joshua?" He turned around slowly, still shivering slightly.

It wasn't Joshua. Or at least he didn't think it was.

There was a man wearing a black jumper with a hood, matched with a pair cargo pants. His eyes were shaded by the hood, and his mouth was covered by a red scarf but Neku could tell he was looking at him. "Another one? Eh, and I thought having the eyes to see us were supposed to be rare..."

The man's most striking feature, though, were the wings protruding from his back. They were not feathery; they were black and looked almost skeletal. It made him look all the more menacing as he observed Neku.

"Oh! I get it. You've got a Pact." The man seemed to be contemplating. "Orders are to sever all Pacts." He groaned. "Man, I hate using up my energy but…sorry kid."

Before Neku could start to comprehend what the man was saying to himself, he charged at Neku palm facing forward. With no time to react, Neku felt himself shudder as the man's hand pressed against his chest.

"Neku!" He heard Shiki's cry. It seemed to ring in his ears closer than ever before.

The man jumped back, away from Neku. "Woah! Didn't mean for that to happen!" What did he do to me? I couldn't touch him but I know he did something to me.

"N-neku..." Behind me! He whipped around and his eyes grew wide.

There was no need to guess who he was staring at. The connection of emotions was closer to him then it had ever been before, and it was coming from the semi-transparent girl before him.

She looked just like how she had described herself to him - she had dark brown hair, round glasses and was wearing a white dress with faint floral patterns as well as a light green jacket.

Looking down at her outstretched hands, Shiki seemed to be too stunned to move.

Neku's eyes flashed towards the stranger. "You! Who and what are you? Are you with Joshua? What did you do to me?"

"Me? It doesn't matter who I am. Never heard of any Joshua before. And what happened…" The man sounded equally lost. "I'd like to know that too." He muttered to himself, "I should have just stayed put..."

Addressing Neku, he said, "Let's try this again." His palm started glowing blue and this time he charged straight for Shiki.

Body moving on its own, Neku stepped in front of her, about to take the blow for her.

"Now, now..." A flash of bright white light and a strong wind passed. The next moment, Joshua was standing in between Neku and the man. He had caught the man's fist in his left hand. "Play nice."

Out of the corner of his eyes, Neku saw Nimew sitting by the side, watching them while mewing.

The man yanked his arm away and moved back a second time. He shrank back at the radiance that Joshua's form gave off. "What the hell are you?"

"You do not know? Hmm, it seems as though you are not who I am looking for if you do not know what I am," he gave him a giggle. "But I know what you are. A Spirit, I presume."

"Aren't you one as well?" He shook off his hand, "Only Spirits should be able to touch other Spirits."

"No, I am afraid. The fact that you cannot tell is pitiful." Joshua tapped his head in a condescending manner. "And I do not know where you got that idea from, but it is untrue. You must have been misinformed."

"Tch. It's 'cause no one wants to tells me anything!"

"That is quite apparent," he said. "I suppose you are also not informed enough to realise that you would not be able to break this kind of Pact."

Muttering under his breath again, he said, "This kind of Pact? There are different kinds of Pacts? Someone needs to explain things to me again...I'm outta here." He dashed in the opposite direction of them and started to blur quickly, his wings giving a few flaps until there was no trace of him.

Neku looked into the empty space that the weird man had just vacated. Where did he disappear to?

The angel regarded Neku. "You seem to be doing well." He curled a strand of his glowing locks. "Although I think your friend might still be in shock there."

Hearing that Joshua was talking about her, Shiki took a step towards them so that she was standing beside Neku. "I-it's just a bit overwhelming to see with my own eyes again."

"I understand," he said almost sympathetically.

It was true that Joshua had saved them from...whatever else that guy was just about to do to them, but he still got bad vibes from him. Staying on his guard, he inched more to his left so that he was partly shielding Shiki from his view.

"Hmm, you are not the most subtle of people," Joshua commented, immediately spotting what Neku had been trying to do. "You do not need to worry; I am not going to hurt her, if that is what you are thinking. "

"..." Neku still put out an arm across of her. "You've got some things to explain to us."

"I do, do I?"

He looked at Shiki this time and she spoke up in response, "Y-yes you do! Do you know where I've been since I died? Why I ended up there?" She gestured about herself. "Also, how come I'm not there anymore and I'm here. What did the guy with the creepy wings do to me?"

"And while we're at it, who exactly was that guy?" Neku added.

"Hmm. If I am working backwards, the man who we had just encountered was a Spirit, much like Shiki over there. His Pact has a longer life than the one you two share, but I am certain your Pact will grow stronger over time."

He was speaking in a way that told Neku that this 'Pact' that Shiki had with him was significant.

"As for what he did-" He stopped mid-sentence and then started smirking. "Oh."

"What?" Neku demanded. "What is it?"

"It appears that we are out of time again. Such a shame..."

Once again, his wings became visible.

"Stop!" He's just going to leave. "You haven't answered our questions."

"I am sincerely sorry about this," he said, sounding very insincere, "but it cannot be helped. Perhaps we will get to your questions the next time we meet."

"W-wait!" Shiki cried, but with a powerful flap of his wings, within an instant, he had taken off to the sky. Before long, he was out of sight.

"He's gone..." Neku clenched his fists. "He finally shows up again but now we're even more confused."

"Yeah..."

Neku shifted so that he was now standing facing Shiki. She had on a disappointed expression, and no one could blame her. She must have thought that she was so close to finding out something more but she was let down after getting her hopes up.

"It's kind of weird," he said, making Shiki raise her eyes from the ground. "You're opaque enough for me to see you but at the same time I can kinda see right through you."

"...I guess this really does make me look like a haunting ghost," she said, sounding humourless.

"It sort of does. I wonder...can you hold up your hand?"

Shiki blinked at him and then raised her left arm. "Like this?"

Stretching his own right arm towards her, he tried to touch her hand with his own, but it went right through her and he withdrew it quickly.

"It's like the guy I literally ran into just now," Neku concluded. "Except that while he felt really cold, you feel kind of warm. That's a relief; I don't want to feel like someone dumped me in ice if I ever walked into you."

She blinked at him again before her lips started curving upwards. "Silly Neku, you shouldn't be walking into me in the first place."

"I guess so. Glad I can actually see you." He was gazing intently at her face. Her looks really suited her personality. She did look like a timid girl but also had the presence of someone with the potential to hold her ground against you if she wanted to.

"Uh...oh...um..." She started fidgeting. Oh, er, had he been looking at her for too long?

"W-well, you know, it's all even now, right? Before this you knew what I looked like since you could just see me when I was looking at a mirror. Now I know what you look like too so we're even." Even? What am I saying? It isn't like we're keeping a score of anything. Her face started colouring very faintly. Dammit Shiki stop looking so embarrassed for no reason, it's making me feel weird.

He shoved his hands into his pockets and looked down.

"Hey! Phones!" Saved, was Neku's first thought at hearing Beat's voice. Wait - Shiki! There had been no one around up until now, but surely her presence would freak Beat out and crap - he was here.

"Yo! Takin' a walk?" Beat grinned at him.

From the way Beat had nothing to say about the near-transparent girl beside him it occurred to Neku that maybe it was only he who could see her. Since I'm the one on the phone with her, it would make sense...

"Something like that. I'm here with my cat." Incidentally, Nimew had just been sitting down calmly for the whole previous commotion. It was merrily licking its front paw. "Are you here alone?"

"Yeah, Rhyme ain't with me now. She was here earlier today but she got tired an' went home by herself."

Neku nodded. "I see."

"Ah damn," said Beat, slapping his forehead. "I jus' remembered I'm supposed to be back now too. My folks are gonna kill me if I miss dinner again. Imma see you tomorrow."

Dropping the skateboard he was holding, he hopped on and zipped past Neku.

"He's lively as always," Shiki stated, watching him skate off. "It's too bad he couldn't see me too."

"Yeah. We should be getting back too; I've got to make myself some dinner." He peered over at Nimew. "I guess it's still going to follow us back."

It became evident on their trip back to Neku's flat that people really couldn't see Shiki's form. None of them pointed her out. What was more, Shiki discovered that she could walk through walls and the like, as well as people. She was amusing herself with sticking her hand in and out of shops as they walked pass.

"How old are you? Three?" Neku taunted as they entered the flat.

"Am not!" Shiki huffed.

Neku decided to prepare a simple omelette and rice dish for dinner and was finished eating within around fifteen minutes. Meanwhile, Shiki had been marvelling the view outside his window. He joined her side after clearing up.

"It's so pretty."

"Yeah..."

She turned her head and tilted it at him. "What?"

"What?"

"You're staring, again."

"At what?"

"I don't know! That's why I'm asking you."

"I'm not staring at anything."

"You sure?"

"Yes." What does she think I'm staring at? "But I have a question. "

"So you were staring because you want to ask a question! "

"Like I said, I wasn't staring at anything!" Okay, well now he was staring at her, but only because he was talking to her now and he couldn't help it because she had her cheeks puffed out. "Geez...I was just going to ask where your phone is. I mean, mine is in my pocket because it connects to my headphones anyway."

"Good question," said Shiki. "I don't know either. "

"Huh?"

"Well, I was holding it before that guy tried to hit you and then I was here and my hands were empty."

"Maybe it's in your jacket pocket," he suggested.

Shiki checked it and sure enough it was there. "We're still connected."

Taking his own out, they found that it was the same with him. Thought so…

"That's strange...You're not hearing me through your headphones anymore, right Neku?" It was true.

"If you can hear me without a direct connection maybe I'll stay without one now," she exclaimed excitedly. "Let's try it out!"

She was gone. The second she pressed the end call button on her phone, their call had stopped and she had just vanished from sight.

So we still have to call each other - huh? What? What is this heavy feeling? So...tired.

The drowsiness hit him all at once, and Neku barely made it to his bed before going
unconscious.

xxxxx

He was awakened by a certain cat that had decided to start the day by jumping onto him.

"Get off me."

Instead of doing that, Nimew tried to scratch his face off and Neku could only avoid it by rolling out of bed.

The cat then made itself comfortable on Neku's pillow. So that's what you're after.

With an irritated sigh, Neku checked his phone for the time.

7:45

What? I slept in?! He missed the morning practice the soccer team scheduled for today. Not only that, registration was at eight-thirty and he still needed to catch the train...

"Shit!" He got himself ready for school as quickly as he could manage. Stuffing everything on his desk into his briefcase, he ran out the flat, ignoring the rumbling protest his stomach made for not having any breakfast.

There was a train at eight that he managed to catch. While the train ride itself was pretty short, he still had to walk to his school and that usually took about fifteen to twenty minutes.

Running as fast as his legs could carry him, Neku dodged past everyone who was also hurrying to get to their destination.

He normally wouldn't rush like this, but he didn't want to ruin his attendance record after only three weeks.

Neku checked his phone again as he rushed past the school gates and into the building.

8:28

He could still make it before the actual registration.

"I'm here. Sorry for being late." He was panting, his knees and head down.

"Mr. Sakuraba, I was just about to mark you down as late...but I have started the register earlier than usual so I'll let this one slide," he heard his teacher say. She then motioned towards a boy standing at the front of the class. "Please continue with your introduction."

"Right. As I was saying before being rudely interrupted... The kanji for my name is quite common. Yoshiya - as in 'birth' and 'justice', and Kiryu - as in 'paulownia'. That's a tree by the way. It's why my father's company's logo is of one. What else...Hmm, this is my first time going to a school with other people. Please take care of me."

The boy whose hairstyle and voice were eerily familiar bowed towards the class who gave him a standard round of applause.

"Y-you!"

He straightened himself up and looked at Neku.

Neku dropped his briefcase. Seeing his face, there was no mistaking it.

"Joshua?!"

A/N: Tadaa! Distraction technique numbers 117 – 'insert a filler-y scene of a running character and then introduce a new character'. I. Regret. Nothing. Alright, alright, I'm really curious as to what everyone's reactions to Joshua were…was it something like "Pfft. I saw that coming." Or "I knew he'd join the school but not now." Or "Okay, what the fudge is Joshua doing here!?" And the classic cliff-hanger never hurts anyone 8D I've actually used the 'transfer student' cliff hanger before in a previous fic but this time, instead of already being in class I had him come (almost) late to school. So yes, a cliffie is my welcome back to Sanctuary present for you guys.

My exams are still ongoing but I had half-term so I had time to write and stuffs so I did. I've done all my English and Languages exams though – no more essays like that ever again.

The 'good things' that happened to my reviewers so far was that they all got a review on at least for at least of their fanfics if they have one up on this site. So, hope you enjoyed my little appreciatory gift there. I'm really glad I did that because it enlightened me to how good at writing all of you guys are. Thanks for taking the time to read my story :')

Thanks for the faves/follows: ToTheSkye, Dawnshadow10815, BlackRabbit0, obstinateRixatrix, Kaiser Spartan, ElementLegend

Thank you for the reviews last chapter:Alyss Penedo, Shinra-ex-SOLDIER, ToTheSkye, Chronic Guardian, Xerzo LotCN, Forever-Rose09, B.A.G-GOMEZ, Airhead259, Kaiser Spartan, cutekitty5597

Silent Reader: That's a seriously huge compliment ;-; Thank you so much! And I'm glad it reminded you of sports anime/manga because when I write the parts relating to sports I hope to give the same feeling that I get when I read that kind of manga myself. (I adore sports anime/manga x3)

- 2/6/2013

Chapter Nine - Bravado

I've made my debut!

"And you can cut the act now, Joshua. It's not like there's anyone around."

Although, no one really cares since Joshua's showed up in this chapter.

"You want me to tell him?"

Why am I never the star of the show?

"Can I punch him?"

Wait, am I even going to make another appearance?