The streets of Aphrodite are eerily quiet.  The nightlights are on, it’s almost as bright as day, and yet on what usually would be a night out for everyone - it was empty.

Gulping, Shiki remembered that two months ago, the city had began to deteriorate.  Now she was sure - she must be the only one in the city tonight.  Where had they gone?  

As she walked up into the apartment she had shared - noting shared because he had gone like the wind, mysteriously, with everyone else - she took notice of how lonely it was.  At school, it was empty, too - Shiki was the only one who roamed the halls.  She never stayed longer than 12 PM in the afternoon, and then it was to The Thread.

Not bothering to murmur the customary, “I’m home.” to the house, she quickly pattered to her room and to the windowsill.  The lights were on.  But nobody there.

She sighed, and prepared for bed.  Once done, she slipped under the covers.  Unshed tears slipped down her face before she fell into slumber. 

This is what it feels like to feel isolated and alone.

Sickening tears were the first thing she felt.

They overflowed onto the pillowcase, the red-head, shaking. The next thing she felt was her stomach twisting into knots. Her head hurts, and her mouth is scrunched in an ugly shape, teeth gritted together as soft sobs escape the barrier. Hands are balled into fists, clenching the sheets; her feet are curled in, a dull ache seeping out.

Her body aches so, mentality strained so, emotions broken so. She wants nothing more but to be happy. But even in this new life — it’s not there.

She is marred at the realization that she has been replaced. It sickens her, she cannot speak. The disgust mixes with the sadness. It was the time before the Game all over again.

Her sobs are wrecked and turn into full out gasps and wails, her eyes turning red. Not as red as the red that take s over when she goes past her battle limit, oh no. This red is bloodshot red. Hands blindy grasp tissue and she was tired. Tired of everything.

She was like a disposal. Use once, throw away. She was thrown away in the backs of minds. They didn’t care. She felt invisible again. Her fragile form shook with heavy-racking sobs. Arms went around her body as if it would protect her. She hated this one moment of weakness, of vunerability. But she was weak. She wasn’t worthy of anyone or anything. Breathing shaky breaths, she closed her eyes, hoping to sleep the pain away.

“And even if it’s superficial…I wanted so badly to be loved.”

So…wrote a drabble filled with fluff. I apologize for butchering Riku and Shiki. x:

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genimhaled:

using the prompts below, write a drabble (or whatever) a day for the next 30 days. find someone willing to hit you if you miss a day. look back at the end and go ‘oh! i’m a writer!’.

beginning. accusation. restless. snowflake. haze. flame. formal. companion. move. silver. prepared. knowledge. denial. wind. order. thanks. look. summer. transformation. tremble. sunset. mad. thousand. outside. winter. diamond. letters. promise. simple. future.

[[I really need to do those 30 day drabbles but ugh not in the mood so writing a drabble based on that Neku and Shiki thread I have with neku-the-proxy.  What would’ve happened if Shiki hadn’t gone back to him and actually went out further.]]

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She ran.

She didn’t stop running until she reached the park.  

She rushed over to the most isolated part in the park and collapsed there, heavy breaths being panted and tears leaking.  She didn’t care if she was a mess, all she cared was about the pain in her chest that wouldn’t go away, wouldn’t let go of the fact that Neku loved someone else.

“This is what it is…to be in love?” she hiccuped out, letting out more soft sobs.

She didn’t understand.  Why did she feel this way?  When did she start feeling this way?  When did Ai start getting all close to Neku?  Why was she replaced?

And another question…

Why Neku?

She wished Neku had trusted her more to tell her these things.  She wished Neku trusted her more.  She wished Neku…she wished Neku…

She wished Neku loved her. 

It would never happen, she knew, which made her tears flow harder.  Neku would never love her more than a friend.  He loved Ai more than her.

“I…love…Neku…but..he…doesn’t…” she gasped out quietly, as if the words were more conviction.  Instead, they lingered heavily in the air, and she cried more.

After what seemed like hours, Shiki made her way back to where she had ran from Neku.  He was gone.  She made her way home, and passed Noctis, who was cooking for once.

“Hey, are you okay?”

“Yes.” she muttered, and ran past him to her room, locking her door.

Once she was in, she went over to the windowsill and sat down, looking out to how the window faced the beach.  The sky was orange, the same hue as the orange-haired boy on her mind.

“I hope…he’ll trust me.  Trust me to still be his friend.  Even if I love him and he doesn’t know that and he loves Ai, I hope trust will be okay.” she murmured, turning on the music dock she had put on the sill and shuffling to the player, choosing a specific song.  ”Someday Again” began to play as Shiki sat staring listlessly out to the darkening sky.

“Futari wa doko ni ite mo kawaranai tomodachi.”

“Two people will be friends no matter where they are.”

二人は　どこにいても　変わらない友達.

The relationship between Shiki and Kadaj is a push and pull type.  They can be friends and then hate each other the next minute - mostly due to Kadaj’s bipolar personality.

-In ‘Your Homework’ the actual nature of the relationship is seen.  The two are generally kind to each other.

-In ‘The Result of Boredom’ Kadaj’s cruelty is shown.  In was also shown when Kadaj had to bug Shiki for one hour when he pulled her by her hair.  His cruelty is sinisterly kind.  Shiki is neutral about this and just humors Kadaj when he’s being a jackass.

While this relationship seems like Shuyin and Ashe, they do not seem to actually touch each other violently and will rather resort to using other things to fight each other - ie; Shiki stabbing him with a pointy heel - or use snarky words.  In the end though, they are just friends who like fighting with each other when they are bored.

Even when in sleep, even when in that dark place, she is restless.  

This is something she is plagued by often after the game.  

She tosses and turns, eyes clenched, hands balled up into fists by her face, teeth gritted tightly.

There.  Run.  Hands reach out.  The blade sinks in slowly, the pain doesn’t come until it’s slid back out.  Darkness.  

And then she wakes up and it’s 6AM and the bird are chirping.  She does what she does then walks around town, coffee cup filled with hot chocolate in hand, needing calm.

It is not until she comes into contact with him that her restless actions cease and are replaced by headphones.

When he accuses her of her jealousy, she tries to deny it.

But there is nothing to be denied.

It is true after all.

She was jealous of Eri.  There is nothing she could do to get rid of it.

The accusation affects her so much that she doesn’t notice much, doesn’t notice that Neku is concerned for her, that he’s actually DOING something…

And then when it all comes out when she sees Eri, he reaches out and grabs her from the abyss of the accusation.

It’s gone now.  The heaviness of the accusation.

She feels free.

The beginning of the rest of her life was something she hadn’t expected to change.

She remembered waking up, expecting to see brown hair, same amber eyes, old clothes.

But then she didn’t.  She saw reddish-brown-pink hair, same amber eyes, and Eri’s clothes.

Her heart dropped as she grabbed the mirror, eyes wide, wondering what the hell happened.  No…this can’t be… 

Everything that day is a blur until she finds herself on Cat Street.  She enters WildKat.  The hip barista behind the counter quickly raises an eyebrow at her.

“We’re closed, miss.” he says, taking off his glasses.  She raises an eyebrow back.

“Really, Mr. H?  So who are they to come in here?  Unless they’re in the Game.” she says back.  The man’s eyes widen and beckon her to come to the counter.

“Shiki.  Why are you here?” he asks gravely.  ”Your appearance.”

“I don’t know.  I don’t know why I didn’t change.  What is this?” she asked.  She had been pulled here, but didn’t know why.

“Joshua.   You know he is the Composer.” the barista told her, leaning against the counter.  She nodded.

“Yes, I do.  But what does anything have to do with this?”

“He told me he changed things.  Made you keep your UG appearance so he could ‘identify you’.  I’m guessing that’s not the case though seeing as you were nearly assassinated that second week.” Mr. H put his hand to the back of his neck.  ”Can you piece the puzzle together?”

Shiki quietly stared at the counter.  It was all making sense.

“Yeah…”

“Well, in any case, your life is safe.  Now have some coffee or something!” Shiki laughed as Mr. H grinned at her.

“Thanks.  I guess I’ll take a coffee and some donuts.” she said.  Mr. H winked at her.

“Coming right up!” he said, and went off to make her order.  Shiki looked around, sighing.

This was the first day of being alive.  Her new beginning.

And she would live it to the fullest.

“What’s that?” Shuyin asked as Shiki got in the car, a steaming pretzel in her hand.

“A soft pretzel.  From Zack’s place.” she bit into it, watching his face contort into what seemed to be interest and…some sort of angry emotion?  It was amusing to her.

“Zack?” she raised an eyebrow at his steely tone.  Well, this was new.

“Yes, Zack Fair.  That guy Yunie’s dating.” she said plainly, biting into the pretzel again.  Shuyin growled as she mentioned Yuna.  

“Why?  Jelly?” she teased, grinning.  So this was why!  Her grin grew wider as he turned to glare at her.

“I am not…jelly!  What’s that supposed to mean, anyways?’ he asked heatedly. Shiki giggled.

“It means jealous.” she said, biting into her pretzel again.  Shuyin sighed.

“I’m not jealous!!  It’s just…he…well…UGH!” Shiki tried hard not to laugh as he turned the ignition on and began to drive.

“Look Shuyin, Zack’s not that bad.  He’s a lot like you, without the slightly creepy flirting thing you do.” she quipped, finishing the pretzel and wiping her mouth clean.

“Creepy?  My flirting is creepy?  Well.” he said through gritted teeth.  ”That…kid…he…Yuna…I can’t…” Shiki laughed at how angry he seemed on the subject.

“Relax, Shu.  I think you can trust him.” he turned to her with an quirked eyebrow.

“And since when did you start calling me ‘Shu’?” he mocked in the same tone she had just used.  Shiki stuck her tongue out.

“Since a few seconds ago.” he stopped in front of the school, and she got out, grinning.  He yelled after her as she began to walk in.

“HEY!!  I’M NOT FINISHED WITH YOU OVER ZACK FAIR YET!!” Shiki giggled and raised a hand in response as she walked further in.

“Shiki, this is your driver.  He’ll be picking you up to take you to school because I can’t anymore.  Treat him nicely, okay?” Noctis said to her.

“Okay…” she looked at the man in the driver’s seat, and her jaw dropped.  The driver raised an eyebrow at her.

“Miss Shiki, it’s not polite to gape at people like that…” Shiki’s eyebrow twitched.

“S-Shuyin…”

“Why, hello there.” he smirked.  Eyebrow twitch got faster by two twitches.

“Well, Shiki, I’ll see you later.   Have fun at school!” she turned and let Noctis press a quick kiss to her temple before going over to Shuyin’s car and getting into the front seat.  She shut the door and put on her seatbelt.  Shuyin revved the engine and drove off, leaving her brother at the stop.  All was quiet before she let out a sigh.

“Tired?” he asked.  She shook her head.  Not like he would see it.

“No, not tired…hey, why are you driving me to school in the first place?” she asked, turning her head to look at the dirty blonde.

“I owe that brother of yours.  Plus he wouldn’t let me go on it.  Even offered money before I caved in.” his answers were short.  She nodded and the drive was spent silently.  As he pulled up, girls began to stare, even whisper.  Shiki rolled her eyes as Shuyin smirked out the window.  

“Don’t egg them on like that!” he turned to her, smirk still plastered on his face.

“And why not?” she rolled her eyes again.

“Well for one, you’ll make things harder for me at school, two, you might have the entire teenage boy population on your heels for a chance to chop your head off, and three, they’re minors!” his smirk disappeared and his face grew nonchalant.

“Fine, fine.  I won’t hit on them if that’s what you want.” he said, putting up his hands in mock surrender.  She gave him a grateful smile and got out.

“Thanks for the ride, Shuyin.  I’ll see you later?” he nodded, and she shut the door, smiling once more before retreating into the school grounds.  She only turned to wave as he sped off.  When she turned back around, a smile was on her face.

This could be the start of something interesting.