Welcome to Shibuya, Sora. You have seven days.

Summary: An accident sends Neku back into the Reaper's Game, but this time it's more than accomplishing missions or even survival. Neku knows these new creatures aren't noise, and a certain keyblade-wielding teen may hold the answers for him. (Kingdom Hearts Crossover)

Playing For Keeps

By FlikFreak

Chapter Three: Making the Pact

Neku couldn't help but smile. He had played Reaper Creeper both in the UG and in the RG. In the UG, he had been the one pushing the coin, but in the RG he would play it typically like any other person would. He hadn't lost his touch with psychokinesis, either; the coin moved exactly where he told it to, and at exactly at the right speed. Sora's question caused him to hesitate, but he knew that lying wouldn't be fair to his friends, and spoke the truth. Once their game was done, he walked away and down the street, deciding to take in the sights and breathe some fresh air…not that the air in the UG was any sweeter than the air in the RG, but he could deal with it.

In a blur, he saw a familiar boy race past him, shotgun in hand. Neku got a good look at him and recognized the face. Joshua…? He thought. He must be in the RG. Why is he running?

The answer came in the form of a man pursuing him…a man Neku recognized all too well: Sho Minamimoto "Great…it's Pi-Face." He did a double take. Wait a minute…I thought he was erased! What's he doing back?!

Neku chased after them to find both had stopped in a back alley. He made it just in time to see Joshua holding Sora at gunpoint, threatening Minamimoto. He cocked his head. What threat does Sora have to the grim heaper? If he's still trying to become the composer, then why is Joshua threatening him with this kid?

Gunshots fired, and before he knew it, Neku saw Minamimoto fleeing and Joshua staring at Sora's dead body. Sighing, Joshua reached into his pocket and placed a familiar player pin in Sora's own pocket. Neku clenched his fists as Joshua set his eyes on him. "Nice to see you again, Neku. Shame it's like this."

"You killed him," Neku growled angrily. "Why did you do it?"

"He's the one we've been needing all this time," Joshua replied simply, his smirk still not showing itself. "Minamimoto's been dabbling in stuff he shouldn't again, and it's worse than taboo noise."

Neku blinked. "What do you mean again? I thought you got rid of him!"

Joshua shrugged. "He was only knocked out. A mistake on my part that won't be happening again."

Okay, something's definitely up, Neku concluded, crossing his arms. Last time I met with Joshua, he wasn't this serious. Whatever's going on has to be huge. "What's Sora got to do with this?" he demanded. "Why're you putting him in the game?"

"Don't worry," Joshua replied. "I'm restoring both of you once this whole mess is cleared up. I just need someone reliable to help deal with this noise problem we've got."

"Why are you bothering with noise, anyway?" Neku asked. "Aren't those just the monsters sicced onto the players all the time?"

Joshua shook his head. "That's the thing. We're not sure if these even are noise. What we do know is that if they keep spreading, they'll get into the RG and wreak havoc there. We don't want that."

Neku narrowed his eyes, remembering the mail he had received. "Right. What do you need me to do?"

Smiling, Joshua folded his arms delicately. "Simple, really…"

Sora groaned, rubbing his head and cracking his eyes open. The last thing he had remembered was that weird boy pointing that gun at him, and then he had passed out. Am I dead? He wondered. As he looked around though, he saw the sun overhead, familiar buildings around him, and people walking past him. They didn't seem to care about him lying in the middle of the street, however, and he was able to stand up and dust himself off without drawing too much attention. I can't be dead. This place looks way too much like… he paused. …of course. I only passed out. Someone thought it would be a cruel joke to toss me into the Scramble Crossing. Yeesh, it was bad enough when I got ridiculed for talking about a dead kid. At least no one's looking at me funny…

Sighing, the keyblade master reached for the communicator he hadn't taken off yet when he felt something in his hand. Looking down, he found an odd, black-and-white pin designed with a skull and crossbones motif. It was the kind of pin someone would attach to their shirt or jacket during a protest or some sort of odd promotion. "Where'd this come from?" he wondered aloud. Curious, he tossed his hands a bit to test its weight. It was heavier than it seemed. Must be one of those weird promotion buttons, he thought. But it's a little heavy for one.

Misjudging his hand's movement, Sora nearly dropped the pin. Fearing that it would be lost among the masses, he admonished himself for his clumsiness and caught the pin in his hands. The moment the pin made contact with his skin again, there was a very brief silence. Then, almost from nowhere, an explosion of sound struck him. Sora clasped his hands over his ears in effort to block it out, but it didn't work. In fact, it only seemed to amplify the sound.

Ugh, what a drag. I wanna go home.

Geez, what the hell is taking him so long?

That guy is way out of his league.

Damn, that chick is hot!

I knew I should have picked that up.

Where's that ramen place, again?

Omigosh! I'm totally late for the karaoke meet today!

Sora stumbled, falling backward on his rear and dropping the pin onto the ground. Picking it up again, he stared at it in disbelief. What just happened? He wondered. Where'd this pin come from, and what were those voices…?

Beep, beep.

Blinking, Sora heard a familiar sound of a phone ringing. He stared at his pocket as it continued. What the…I don't have a cell phone. Reaching into his pocket, Sora found that there was indeed a phone situated inside, along with several other small pins similar to the black-and-white skull one. Well…looks like I have one now. Good thing I know how to work these. He flipped it open. "A text message?" he mumbled, reading it.

Reach 104. You have 60 minutes. Fail, and face erasure. –The Reapers

Sora stared at the message blankly for a moment. "104?" He said. "That's just ahead. Why would I need an hour to-AUGH!" His words were cut short when a sharp stinging cut into his right hand. He grasped his wrist in agony, his breathing labored for a moment as the burning sensation died down.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

The sound of a clock reached his ears, and Sora gazed around wildly for it. No clock could possibly be that loud. Pausing and making a guess, he removed the glove on his right hand and stared at it. Someone…or something…had engraved the letters 59:49 on it. No, it said 59:48. Now it said 59:47. Sora's eyes widened and he shoved his glove back on before anyone could see it. This is nuts! He thought. There's some weird timer burned into my hand!

A strange, synthetic whirring sound reached Sora's ears, and he swept his gaze upward. Graffiti-like symbols hovered over him, slowly forming into wolf-like monsters. Eyes widening, Sora cried out for help, but no one in the intersection seemed to pay any attention. What's going on?! He cried. Why isn't anyone listening…or running away, at least? He attempted to call the keyblade to his aid, but found that it wouldn't come. Swearing, he tried again. Nothing. Knowing he had no choice, Sora ran, the wolves following after him at a high pace.

It was then when a thought occurred to him. Neku had told him earlier to go to the statue of Hachiko if he ever needed help. This certainly qualifies, doesn't it, he thought bitterly, But all those people at the scramble pretended I wasn't even there! Who's going to help me now?

By the time Sora reached Hachiko, he wasn't out of breath, but he was running out of hope. For some reason, he couldn't summon the keyblade, and without the keyblade he couldn't defend himself from whatever those twisted monsters were that were chasing him. One of the noise lunged for him. Sora was sure he wasn't going to make it when a blur of white and blue tackled him to the side, causing the wolf to miss its target. Looking up, Sora saw his rescuer holding a hand toward him. He blinked; this person was very familiar. "…Neku?" He asked. "I thought-"

"Forge a pact with me!" Neku demanded, ignoring Sora's question.

"Wha?"

"Do you want to be erased?" Neku said impatiently, eyes narrowing. "If we forge a pact, we can fight the noise!"

Sora's eyes widened. "Noise?"

"Hurry!"

"Alright, alright!" Sora shouted, reaching forward. "I accept!"

Neku grabbed Sora's hand, and a burst of white light shot from where their hands connected. Neku dragged Sora to his feet and spun around to face the noise, letting loose a stream of fire that trailed along the ground and consumed the wolves, demolishing them in a burst of what looked dangerously similar to the static Sora had seen before on a television. Neku breathed a sigh of relief. "Whew, close one."

Sora glanced from Neku to his hand in disbelief. "What just happened?"

"We made a pact," Neku explained, "And I erased those noise that were attacking us."

"Those monsters were noise?" Sora asked, standing up.

"Yeah."

Sora was at loss for words for a moment before he shook his head. "Hold it. You're Neku, that kid from the restaurant yesterday."

Neku didn't seem surprised, and he nodded. "Yep. Nice to see you again, Sora. I was kind of hoping it wouldn't be like that, though." He turned away. "Come on. We need to get to 104."

"Wait a sec!" Sora cried. "How do you know about that?"

"Easy," Neku replied. "It's in your mission mail, isn't it?" Sora, eyes wide in shock, pulled out his phone and stared at the text message screen. Neku nodded and continued. "Besides, the first mission is always to reach 104 after making a pact."

"Mission?" Sora echoed. "Pact? What's going on?"

Neku grabbed Sora's arm and dragged him along. "I'll explain later. Just come on; we're on a time limit. Look at your hand if you don't believe me."

Sora followed. He knew precisely what Neku was talking about when he referenced his hand. The timer must have been the time limit the boy was referring to. Both boys remained silent until they reached the vicinity of a tall building past the scramble. Once there, Sora felt a numbing sensation on his hand momentarily. Neku noticed, and showed his own hand. "Timer's gone. Mission accomplished."

"That was easy," Sora commented.

"Not really," Neku replied, crossing his arms again. "The point of day one in this game is to find a partner and form a pact while avoiding being erased by the noise. If you don't do that, you're immediately disqualified."

Sora groaned. "Great, so we're in a game? I don't remember signing up for any of this."

Neku sighed, rolling his eyes. "Welcome to the UG. You're invisible, and while you can see everyone else, no one sees you. You're stuck in an alternate Shibuya playing the Reaper's Game for seven days with no way out but to win."

"I don't have time for this game!" Sora protested. "I'm trying to find someone!"

"I know," Neku replied. "I'm supposed to take you to him. Now that you're here in the UG…which wasn't supposed to happen, by the way…it just got a bit harder for both of us."

Sora paused. "Wait a minute; you know who I'm looking for?"

Neku rolled his eyes. "Of course I do," he said. "That is, if he's the same one that told me to find you. The main problem is that we need to get past some walls if we're going to make it there, and we still need to keep up our missions if we're going to survive the game and get a second chance."

Second chance…? Am I being punished for something? I've never committed any crimes... Sora found the statement somewhat confusing, but didn't say anything. "Well, we cleared the mission," he said. "What do we do now?"

"We could wait for the next one," Neku began, "Or I can take you to that guy we're supposed to meet."

"Meeting sounds like the better idea," Sora said. "But I still have a lot of questions. For one, aren't you dead?"

Neku froze dead in his tracks, staring at the ground. Sora felt a sense of victory in his mind; he had hit the nail on the head. Shiki and the others were right; Neku was dead. But even so, how was that possible? Neku was standing right in front of him, dragging him along by wrist. It gave him the chills for a moment, and he had expected Neku to be cold, but he was as alive as…well, Sora himself. Neku didn't look back at him, but kept going. "Yeah," he replied. "I am dead."

"And you like to haunt burger shops, I take it?" Sora asked, highly suspicious.

"No," Neku replied. "They just have good food there."

"I don't get it," Sora began. "How can you eat if you're dead?"

Neku shook his head, sighing in exasperation. "Trust me, you just can. And for the record, I don't haunt places. I'm not a ghost or anything. When you're in the Reaper's Game, you're basically invisible to the entire world. Why do you think no one helped you when those noise attacked?"

Sora saw Neku's point; he had shouted for help but no one heard him. No one even panicked. He was in the Reaper's Game…and no one could see him. Maybe he could still contact Cid…

"You can still go into certain shops and be seen, though," Neku added. "That's how I was able to follow you into Sunshine."

"So I can go into a store and shop for clothes or buy food like anyone else?" Sora asked. "That's a relief."

Neku rolled his eyes. Apparently he hated playing questionnaire. "No, it's not. You still have to do missions, and you're still on a time limit. We cleared today's mission though, so we're free to roam until tomorrow comes." Neku then stopped, turning around and glancing at Sora. "You can stop me at any time, you know."

"Oh," was Sora's only reply. He cleared his throat nervously. "There's one other thing I'd like to know, though…who are we going to see?"

"A man named Hanekoma. My friends and I call him Mr. H. He runs a café on Cat Street, which is about a twenty minute walk from here. He's also the guy that sent me to find you and bring you here."

With nothing more to say, Sora followed Neku back to the scramble and past two large department stores. Neku paused a moment in front of a large music store, smiling slightly, before moving on. Maybe he likes music, Sora thought as they continued through a graffiti-filled tunnel and a similarly-decorated city park. The whole way, Neku never said a word, and Sora followed, his mind still filled with questions. What about that pact they made? What was the pin for? What were those voices he heard? Why could he see Neku now, if he couldn't before? How was he interacting with some kid who was dead? And if Neku was dead, why did he still seem like he was still alive?

"Here we are," Neku said suddenly. "This is Cat Street."

Sora took a look around. There were several small cafés and furniture stores, as well as a clothing store near where they entered. Several people walked about, though compared to the scramble crossing, this place seemed rather bare. "Kind of refreshing to be out of the crowd," Sora commented.

Neku chuckled quietly. "Tell me about it. Come on; Mr. H is meeting us in WildKat."

The two entered a small coffee shop, where Sora spotted a man with black hair and a goatee. He wore relatively normal clothes: a white shirt coupled with a black vest and black slacks. He was adjusting his glasses when the two walked in, and waved cheerfully. "Hey there, Neku! Cup of joe for the road?"

"Not today Mr. H," Neku replied. "I've got a visitor for you. Didn't you ask to see him?"

Hanekoma looked at Sora and nodded. "Ah, you found him. Joshua told me about what happened. I'm guessing you two made a pact for the game?"

"Other people know about the game?" Sora asked, surprised.

"Of course," Mr. H replied, smiling. "We just don't talk about it much."

Neku shook his head. "Anyway, Sora's got some questions for you. I would have answered them myself, but 20 Questions isn't my favorite pastime."

Hanekoma laughed. "I know, I know. So, Sora, what do you want to know?"

And so Sora asked everything that had been plaguing his mind and learned some new vocabulary. The black-and-white pin he had was called a "Player Pin," and was used to "scan" people's thoughts. At first, the thought of it shocked Sora, but when he recalled what had happened earlier he began to get a grasp on it, and Neku promised to help him "get a grip on it" later. The pin was also used to imprint messages into people's minds, which explained how the Organization had wormed its way into Sora's head (Neku seemed to shift in his seat when that was mentioned). When the question of the pact came up, Hanekoma explained that everyone needed a partner for the game, and that without one, no one could survive the game.

"You have to trust your partner," He explained. "Whether he's a criminal or not, and even if you hate your partner you still have to trust him. Otherwise, you'll be erased. That's why the first mission is to get to 104. You're chased by noise right off the bat, and you can't go to 104 because the wall there will keep you from moving forward."

"Wall?" Sora echoed.

"The Reapers that run this game put up walls so you can't go to certain areas sometimes," Hanekoma replied. "In your first mission, the wall between the scramble and 104 won't go down unless you've made a pact. Anyone who doesn't make a pact by the time the timer is up will be erased. That, or they might be erased by the noise before they even get a chance."

"So you have to make a pact fast," Neku added. "In this game, it's either open up or get picked off."

Just then, the bell over the door jingled and a boy entered the store. "Sorry I'm late, Mr. H," he said. "I got held up a bit."

"Not a problem, Josh!" Mr. H called. "Sora's already here."

Sora stared at the boy with wide eyes. He had nearly white-colored hair, and a familiar gray and black outfit on. Pale blue eyes glanced around before settling on Sora. The boy grinned. "Oh, you made it. I was hoping you would."

The keyblade master, however, didn't share the sentiment. His eyes narrowed in suspicion and he glared at the boy. This was the very same boy that had threatened to shoot him in the alley. What was he doing here?