I apologize for the last chapter having been rushed…but I hope this one will be much better. I had more than one person suggest this for the mission – one of them was Hero Slayer. If I didn't mention you, I'm sorry! x.x

Warning. There is language in this chapter. Lewk out.

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 Thirteen: Friction

Leon sat up from his sleeping spot, staring at the phone message he had received that morning. It was from someone calling themselves 'the composer,' and he had requested both he and Yuffie to be at a place called the Shibuya River the next day. Sora hadn't contacted them for a while, which meant he was either dead for good or simply busy. Leon tried not to concern himself over this, but truth be told, it was still rough for him. Knowing that your best hope for ending the heartless menace once and for all is dead is a rather frightening thought.

It was even more frightening that he was still fighting in his new, twisted afterlife.

After a few minutes of contemplation, Leon shook Yuffie awake. The young ninja groaned in protest. "What is it, Squall?"

"Leon," the man corrected her automatically. "We've got a mail from someone asking us to come to the Shibuya River. We're going to look for Sora and see if he can help us."

Yuffie rolled her eyes. "We can't see Sora, Leon. How do you plan on finding him?"

"By waiting patiently," Leon grumbled. "Now, come on. We might as well go get some breakfast or something while we're at it."

Sora woke up the next morning back at the scramble crossing. Neku was still fast asleep on the sidewalk, so Sora had time to himself before the boy woke up. Vaguely recalling Neku's comment on hearing music when he scanned, Sora pulled out his player pin and examined it carefully. "Well, I can't do anything until Neku wakes up," he mused aloud, pulling on its energies as he closed his eyes.

He hadn't scanned in a while, but he still knew how to pull it off. Weaving his way past the many thoughts, Sora found that indeed there was music playing. He smiled, tapping his foot to the beat; it sounded a lot like something Yuffie would be caught playing on her radio back at Radiant Garden. The song was actually quite catchy. No wonder Neku likes it so much.

Not wanting to risk getting caught in any noise, Sora ceased the scan and put away the pin just as Neku was waking up. "Scramble Crossing again today," Sora began.

Neku didn't say a word. Instead he rubbed his shoulder oddly and looked away.

Sora sighed. "Something bothering you?"

"Like hell there is," Neku grumbled.

He's obviously still upset from yesterday, Sora thought with a groan.

You think?

Oh, be quiet. You're not helping. Sora shook his head and took another approach. "I'm sorry for blowing up on you yesterday," he said. "It wasn't like me, and it wasn't right of me to do. You're in the same spot as I am, so we-"

"I'm not in the same spot that you are," Neku replied, his anger swiftly rising, "So don't even try to relate. This is my fourth time through this damn game and it's not getting any easier since those heartless things are running around. I'm sick and tired of being just a tool in someone else's plan. I don't know why the hell Joshua isn't intervening directly in this, and I doubt that bastard will ever tell me. Minamimoto is pulling strings behind the heartless, and even though this time I'm fighting on the right side, I'm still being used! I'm sick of it! And to top it off, you've been keeping secrets this whole time! I bet you could have fixed this whole thing up in a snap, but you had to keep quiet, didn't you?"

It took much of Sora's patience to keep calm; Neku was very intimidating when he was angry. "If I said anything, the heartless would have gotten worse, and Shibuya would be beyond saving."

"You couldn't even save your own home, Sora," Neku hissed angrily. "What do you know about saving anything?"

He did not just say that.

Sora, don't!

Neku continued, his fists clenched. "You have no idea what it's like to end up being a pawn for a jerk who just wants to destroy all you know! I've even had one of my own friends turned against me, and he tried to kill me! What do you know about helping anyone? The only thing you seem to care about is whether or not your friends know you're okay!"

At this point, Neku had crossed the line. Sora's eyes narrowed to slits in anger, and his blood began to boil. His fists clenched so tightly that his fingernails threatened to draw blood from the skin on his palms. The keyblade master was so angry, he did the first thing that came to mind without thinking about the consequences in any way whatsoever.

He punched Neku in the face.

The music-loving teenager fell backward, skidding against the pavement. There were a few scrapes on his arms and legs where he had fallen on the asphalt, as well as a bit of blood here and there, and he held his cheek in astonishment. Sora didn't spare a drop of anger in his gaze at the boy.

"I'll tell you what I know," Sora said, the calm tone in his voice betraying the anger on his face. "No, I couldn't keep my home from being destroyed, but even with it back, I can't go home until the fighting is over. I was being used for my enemies' purpose, and I knew I was even while I kept going. Every time I killed a heartless, which I had to whether I wanted to or not, they would use that heart for their own reasons, and they had more power to hurt me with. I can't help everyone, Neku, but in case you didn't notice, I didn't have a choice in any of this, and I'm sure you didn't either."

Neku continued to stare at Sora like he had grown three heads. Satisfied that he had the boy's attention, the keyblade master continued. "I saw a storm on the islands, went to check on things and my best friend was swallowed up by the darkness, and the keyblade just showed up in my hand. Before I knew it, the islands were literally gone, and so were my friends. I wound up somewhere that I didn't know, and no one looked familiar. I didn't ask for any of it, Neku. It just happened, and I had no choice." With that, he looked away.

There was a bit of silence, and Sora found himself listening very closely to the passing crowd. Indeed, he heard that music playing, just like Neku told him it always was. Over the hustle and bustle of the city, it was harder to catch, but it was there. It gave the city life, and calmed his nerves somehow. To think, Neku had defended this place…as crazy a world as it was, Sora couldn't help but feel at home there for some reason. "I know this place is important to you, Neku," Sora began, "Just like the islands were important to me. That's why I'm going to help you defend it with everything I have."

From behind him, Neku stepped forward, a contemplative look on his face. "Are you sure?" he asked.

Completely changing gears, Sora grinned and shrugged. "Well, I made a pact, didn't I?" he said, offering his hand. "Besides, we've got two more missions to go. Let's clean this place up, shall we?"

For a while, Neku looked hesitant, to which Sora retrieved his hand and patted the boy's shoulder with it. "Neku," he began, "The way I see it, you're not being used if what you're fighting for is what you hold close to your heart."

Neku grinned. "Yeah, you're right. Sorry I yelled at you."

Sora shook his head. "Don't worry about it."

On cue, their phones rang. Sora jerked an enthusiastic fist in the air. "Mission time!" he said. "You ready to kick butt, Neku?"

"Am I ever," The boy replied, pulling out his phone. "Let's see…oh, wow."

"What is it?" Sora asked, pulling out his phone. "Oh…wow."

Promote the dragon. You have 60 minutes. Fail, and face erasure. -The Reapers

The timer embedded itself into Sora's skin, and quickly the grimace of pain was changed into confusion. "Promote the dragon?" he repeated. "How are we supposed to do that?"

"It's a trend mission," Neku explained, sounding none too thrilled. "The GM of this game probably threw it in to get rid of any suspicion and to throw off Minamimoto."

Sora scratched his head. "But what exactly is a trend mission?" he asked.

Neku took a deep breath. "Basically, you have to make a brand of clothing popular in Shibuya."

He talks about it like there's nothing to it.

You do the same thing, you know.

Shut up.

"How do you go around making stuff popular when people can't even see you?" Sora asked.

"I don't get it either," Neku replied, "But if we wear certain clothes or use certain pins when we fight, it reacts to the RG's…vibe, or something…and it makes it popular. I have no clue how it works, so don't ask."

Sora glanced down at the clothes he was wearing. These had been a gift from Yen Sid and the fairies in the tower. "Can't we go with pins or something?" he said. "I kind of like these clothes."

Neku nodded. "Yeah. I'll do the dress up; I've got plenty of pins, too. Dragon Couture isn't nearly as bad as Natural Puppy at least…"

Judging by the look on Neku's face, Natural Puppy was not an enjoyable brand of clothing. Sora didn't press the issue.

The two made their way down the streets (there were no walls, luckily for Sora, so he didn't have to worry about unsealing anything and getting questions from Neku) to the store nestled on the third floor of a building behind the 104 tower. Neku scrounged some yen out of his pocket for the clothing, which was all very expensive. He ended up with a pair of goat leather boots, a white, sleeveless button-up shirt and a black suit to go over it. He refused to remove his headphones, which gave the otherwise formal appearance an odd look.

"You look like a businessman," Sora said dryly.

Neku rolled his eyes. "Whatever. What's the damage, Mister Odajima?"

The man replied with a considerably sizable five-digit number. Sora felt the color drain from his face, and Neku reluctantly handed over a very large wad of money. The clothes bought, they headed outside, with Neku walking rather stiffly in his new attire; he had kept his original clothes safely tucked in the bag he carried out. "So, what now?" Sora asked.

"We fight noise," Neku replied. "We don't have to fight too many since the effect is pretty fast, but Dragon Couture is a bit low on the charts, so we'll probably be fighting for a while."

Sora summoned his keyblade. "Ready when you are. May I have the honor of scanning?"

Joshua sipped casually at his cappuccino as he thumbed through the newspaper. Not that the RG had ever interested him, but it was nice to know what his proxy was dealing with. Being Composer had its boring moments, and he enjoyed knowing about events other than the Reaper's Game. Besides, with Hanekoma busy dealing with his own…affairs, he needed something to occupy the time while the shop was still empty.

"…might as well get something from here."

The boy's face snapped up to see two strange individuals approaching the front doors. Had he not had the powers of the Composer, he probably would have passed them as tourists, but he knew better. One of them wore a black jacket and matching pants, with the collar of his jacket lined with some type of fur (or was it?), as well as a white shirt, a lion-shaped necklace and too many belts to be normal. The other one with him, the girl that had spoken before the bell above the door had alerted him to their presence, was a much slimmer build, wearing tall laced-up boots, black shorts, and a slimming black tank top, combined with a similar headband.

Squall and Yuffie. Acquaintances of Sora's.

Joshua smiled that same smile he had always given Neku. "Welcome to WildKat," he said. "May I help you?"

"How much are your cappuccinos?" Yuffie asked.

Squall rolled his eyes and rubbed his head. "We don't have any more yen, Yuffie."

"But I'm thirsty!" Yuffie argued placing her hands on her hips.

Joshua winked at the two as he headed behind the counter. "Don't worry, I've been expecting you two anyway, so it's on the house."

"Expecting us?" Yuffie echoed, cocking an eyebrow. Squall eyed him with suspicion.

"Yes, both of you. Now let's see…" Joshua gave them both a long, calculating look. "You are…Yuffie Kisaragi and Squall Leonhart, am I right?"

"That's Leon," Squall said.

"Leon then," Joshua said, turning back to the machine behind him. "It would seem you're searching for the Shibuya River, correct?"

Both of the warriors blinked at him. Mmm, priceless. I do so enjoy this. "I can tell you where it is, if you'd like."

Leon crossed his arms. "Then do it. We really need to know where it is."

Joshua chuckled. "I assure you, there's no rush. Sora's just fine, I've made sure of it."

"You know Sora?" Yuffie asked, apparently amazed.

"Of course I do," the composer replied, handing her the cappuccino she had ordered. "He stopped in with Neku to speak with the shop's owner earlier this week. Since the owner is away, I've been minding the shop, and he sent me a text telling me to wait for you two and fill you in."

"Why should we trust you?" Leon demanded calmly.

Joshua grinned. "I help run much more than just this coffee shop, you know. Now, about the River…"