The World Ends With You

CAT's Mural

First Tag Color: Red

A back arched away from the spray painted wall. A small voice tenderly moaned in the secretive air behind the Wild Boar skateboarding shop and fingers curled against the graffiti. She could feel the hot breath of the older girl against her neck, in her ear, on her lips…

It had been a few years since that dark month dominated over their very existence. For her, it was an event that could never leave her. Thankfully she did not remember much. Unfortunately, she would never remember what she had given up and ultimately lost the moment the Noise had overcome her. It had been a hard time for all of them, really. That pain would never leave her dusty blue eyes, no matter how big her smile might be in the face of her friends, of those who had suffered through it with her.

No one really understood what exactly went through her head anymore, left in the wake of such a life churning episode. Hell, she hardly understood what went on herself with her thoughts. Especially now, at the sensitive age of sixteen, with her back to CAT's famous mural and her baggy denims crumpled around her ankles. The only thing she thought was going through her head was the fresh, raw, and almost animalistic desire for the older girl holding her against that wall.

Soft brown hair brushed against her damp cheek, and for the first time she realized that she was crying. Carefully she reached a sleeve covered hand up to try to wipe the tears away before the older girl noticed, but of course she could never hide her pain from Shiki. "Rhyme, you're crying," Shiki whispered into her ear, pulling her free hand from under the girl's hoodie to gently touch those tears.

"Ah, I know, I'm sorry," the faded blonde gasped, shaking against the hand between her thighs. She pulled Shiki's other hand away from her dampened cheek and halted any other further conversation by kissing the older girl. The sky above and beyond their little alley glimmered with a few brighter stars, the younger girl's voice softly cried out to them.

For a couple of months now, CAT's inspirational mural had become a much more personal staple of emotion to both Shiki and Rhyme alike. It was while studying the mural alone together that they had shared that first tearful remembrance of the Game, and it was by the mural's watchful eye that they had shared their first tearstained kiss. Now, it would be the very form of their first physical intimacy, helping to keep the younger girl up on her weak and trembling legs.

She cried out Shiki's name in a quaking voice, clutching on to the back of the older girl's jacket. Shiki's touch was gentle but relentless. Rhyme was not sure how much longer she could keep herself up. Her knees shook hard, her legs felt like jelly, and she could feel herself sliding down against the painted wall. The older girl felt Rhyme slipping as well, and urged the girl to curl her arms around her neck and help hold herself up. Silently, Rhyme complied, hugging Shiki close and gasping into her ear.

Rhyme was certain that if their friend Neku ever knew what his favorite piece of CAT's rather bizarre artwork meant to her and Shiki now, he would be appalled. To him it was a great source of personal inspiration, but for Rhyme and Shiki, it was that and so much more. It was a symbol of their fragile and new relationship; a relationship that rapidly grew stronger the more Rhyme was pushed against the spray painted wall.

The weight of Shiki's body pressing against Rhyme's own made the young girl's head spin. She slipped a hand from around the older girl's neck to graze fingertips against bare skin, underneath her jacket. Against her Shiki shivered, the gentle sensation of Rhyme's timid touch exhilarating. "Oh, Rhyme…" Shiki whispered tenderly, running her fingers through faded blonde bangs.

Her breath was hot against Shiki's ear, her soft moans becoming more urgent. Around her fingers Shiki could feel the younger girl starting to tense, throbbing hard. Smiling softly, Shiki began to kiss along the edge of Rhyme's ear while she moved her fingers with more purpose. Now Rhyme was faintly crying out, her thighs trembling fiercely against the rising force of her first climax induced by another person. Shiki lightly bit the edge of Rhyme's ear as the girl inhaled sharply and her entire body became rigid. The flash of ecstasy seemed to stretch into forever; at least, to Rhyme it did.

Once it had at last began to subside, she became weak and depended entirely on the older girl to keep on her feet. Gasping quietly for air, Rhyme finally opened her dusty blue eyes and took in Shiki for a moment. The older girl held a small smile on her lips, her dark eyes behind her glasses glimmering a bit with tears. "Shiki…?" Rhyme questioned faintly, touching a soft cheek and feeling its dampness. The older girl had been crying with Rhyme.

The two shared a deep, bittersweet kiss, and at last Shiki slowly withdrew her wet hand from in between Rhyme's still quaking thighs. She took a small step back only to allow the blonde a chance to reach down for her pants, Rhyme keeping one hand on Shiki so she did not lose her legs entirely. With a bit of help from Shiki, the button was secured and the zipper lifted again, and with a heavy sigh Rhyme slid down against the wall to sit on the concrete.

There was a very heavy pause of silence between the two, a car honking in the distance. Shiki moved to sit beside the younger girl with her back against CAT's mural as well, watching her while Rhyme studied her hands. Gently Shiki rested a hand on Rhyme's shoulder and whispered, "Hey, are you doing alright? You… you aren't having second thoughts about this, are you?"

Rhyme quickly turned her head to look at Shiki, her blue eyes wide. "What? No, no! It's not that… I'm just…" Her voice fell silent and again Rhyme cast her eyes away from the older girl, as if trying to hide her weakness in shame. Shiki held her breath; although there were several questions screaming through her head, she decided to wait and let the younger girl find her own words. After a few quiet moments, she did.

Turning her eyes again to meet Shiki's own, Rhyme began in a hesitant but determined tone, "Shiki, I-"

BAM

Shiki's eyes grew wide. A cry was building up inside her chest and throat, a cry of horror. Something felt warm and wet on her face, something dark colored, it was hard to tell in the darkness of night what color it really was. Filling her now blurry vision was the sight of Rhyme, of the younger girl with the dusty sky blue eyes wide with surprise and blood trailing between them, down her tearstained face.

Slumping forward into Shiki's arms, Rhyme managed to groan; a sound that was somehow sorrowful and shocked at the same time. The last thing that Rhyme remembered was hearing someone sob her name and an embrace that tightened fiercely around her, as if trying to squeeze the very life out of her. In fact, she felt as if her life were being squeezed out of her, pouring from an open hole in her head…

-End Pre-Game Prologue