A/N: Well hello there! Name's Lilith, and welcome to my very first posted fic! I've been writing for a while, but have never posted anything until now. This happens to be my first reader-insert as well! I am hoping that this will turn out okay... I don't have an ending planned out yet, just ideas. ^^;;; There aren't many reader inserts here and I don't know how well this fic will do, but I do hope that someone out there will enjoy this! Adachi is probably my absolute fave character in the game and my mind has been begging me to write something with him. And then this was born!

Warnings: POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR P4, coarse language, sexual happenings later on, possible violence... rated M for a reason haha!

Disclaimer: I own nothing relating to the Persona franchise, nor do I own you.


Chapter One

Welcome to Inaba

June 2011


"What did I do to deserve this?" you groaned, mentally cursing the pissing night sky above you and every misfortune you had encountered before this moment.

You sank to your knees in the middle of the empty street, weighed down by defeat and the plastic bags of pricey necessities from Junes lining your arms. The thin clothes you had chosen to wear due to the summer weather clung to your body in a layer of chilling moisture. The countless predictions for a drier summer and the non-existent rain clouds had lulled you into a false sense of safety from the rain. Naturally, the idea of bringing an umbrella or a raincoat never occurred to you before leaving your apartment.

Until the skies opened up to vomit a torrential downpour upon your sorry head coming back from Junes.

You had no money left for a new umbrella, or even a cheap plastic poncho. For a moment you considered buying a box of large trash bags to drape over yourself like a crazy hobo, however you didn't think you even had enough for that.

There was no choice but to continue home soaking wet.

"But… where the hell is home?"

The sudden realization made your stomach sink even further. You raised your head away from your pitiful reflection in the rippling puddle before your knees, squinting through the stringy tendrils of your hair and the huge droplets splattering into your eyes.

The street lights were few and far between, making visibility even worse. No traffic passed and there were no familiar signs or landmarks. How you even found your way to Junes, you would never know. You didn't even remember the way back to Junes now.

You looked like a lost puppy left out in the rain… and you certainly felt like one.

There was a rising of hate for Inaba with each passing miserable second.

Late train. Missing moving boxes. A trek many blocks away from home to be practically robbed by the money hungry grocery franchise in order to purchase your replacement clothing and other essentials. Then, the damn rain...

The fact that you had to show up at the Inaba police department in the morning to start your job was just the rotten cherry atop the shit sundae being served to you.

It was past 11pm at the moment, and you doubted you would have a good night's sleep since you had to wake up at 4am to get ready.

Well… it's not like you slept all that well anyway.

After all the weird shit you had experienced 2 years ago in Iwatodai, you figured it was high time you moved.

FAR, far away.

Night patrol had been the absolute worst. Freaky green sky, blood and coffins everywhere, the strange shadowy blobs… You scrambled to hide wherever you could within the city when the clock struck twelve. For some reason you stupidly decided to tough it out for a few years during the start of your career and do what you could to protect the civilians.

And then the fucking moon had to open its giant eye and come crashing down onto the city.

God knows how many hours you spent with your shrink sobbing about your dreams of being squashed by a humongous eyeball or consumed by a sentient pile of tar.

You wished to escape the nightmares even after they were over, and transfer to a place where you could relax. A place where the most eventful problem you would have to deal with was fishing an old lady's cat out of a tree.

No more walking past slack-jawed, apathetic zombies.

No more looking the other way as Officer Kurosawa slips underage teens extremely strange and dangerous weapons.

No more puke green nightsky and bleeding coffins.

After a long while of searching, you finally found a suitable place to transfer to. You were content with the idea of living in this quiet country town, and hoped that it would be all the therapy you needed.

And so far… this might have been another mistake to add to the long list.

"Um, excuse me, Miss? Do you realize you're sitting in the middle of the road?" A soft voice tore you away from your morbid thoughts.

You looked up, blinking and swiping the rainwater from your vision with the back of your hand.

A tall, slender figure stood in front of you. Dark suit, short unkempt black hair, mildly concerned expression on his pale face. With one thin hand he held an umbrella that shielded him from the rain. You looked at the object longingly. It looked very dry under there…

You sighed heavily and gave him a bitter smile.

"I think being run over would be better than living the shit Fate's thrown at me."

The man chuckled, the sound awkward and uncomfortable from his frowning lips. He didn't seem to know what to say to that.

"Weeeell… are you hurt? Is there anyone I can call? Mom, dad… boyfriend?" he paused thoughtfully, a small friendly smile replacing his frown. He crouched down to your level and held the umbrella over you.

At this, your eyebrow rose. He thought you were a kid.

"I'm a police officer, Miss. I can help," he assured gently. The man laid his free hand on your shoulder. You could feel his warmth through the material of your shirt. The shock of your differing body temperatures and the oddly intimate squeeze he administered made you slightly uncomfortable. You flinched away from his touch.

He continued to stare with that same amiable gaze, unfazed.

You tried to clear your throat and felt your cheeks warm a little.

"Ah.. Uh, no," you said with a shake of your head. It was easier to see him now that he was closer and you found your gaze flickering over his average features. Nothing spectacular in your opinion, but the man wasn't all that bad to look at. He appeared to be your age… maybe a little older?

"Um, I mean no, you don't have to call anyone. Not that there's anyone to call anyway…" You trailed off, the thought of having to go home to an empty apartment haunting you.

"Oh? Not even your parents?"

Was it just you, or was his face a little closer to yours?

Your eyes found his dark orbs and you shook your head again, this time with a little more irritation.

"I'm not a wayward teen. I'm an adult with my own place and everything… I'm uh… just a little lost. New in town, you see." You sighed in frustration and sobered to the fact that the dirty puddle you sat in had seeped thoroughly into your underwear.

"S-sorry! I didn't realize… you look so young!" Again he laughed awkwardly and gave you a sheepish smile.

Sure, you were in your mid-twenties, but you didn't think that you looked like a high schooler. You settled with taking the comment as a compliment.

"Well since you're lost, I could escort you home... maybe help you with these bags as well? I know this town like the back of my hand now."

A smile ghosted your lips at his offer and you nodded gratefully.

"Oh man, that'd be awesome. Thank you!" Internally, you were sobbing with joy. Perhaps Fate wasn't all that angry at you after all.

You allowed him to help you up, relieved when he took some of the bags off your tired arms. It was then that you realized how cold you really were as the blood started flowing through your numb legs. The sensation felt like being stung by needles of ice.

You told him your address and hoped that the route would be quick.

"Wait, you live there? What a coincidence, I live there too! Was just headed home. Boy, are you lucky I found you!" The man grinned and you saw a soft twinkle in his eyes as he gazed at you. His smile was infectious and you found yourself beaming too.

He began to lead the way, kindly sharing his umbrella with you.

"So, you're new here huh? Explains why I've never seen you around. This town's pretty small, so I know practically every face I pass by. It's nothing at all like the big city," the man said.

You looked to him and nodded in agreement.

"You can say that again. I moved here from Iwatodai, and this place just seems like a whole other world. But all these little streets here are like a maze. Even if it's small, it's still confusing. But I'm hoping it'll be easier to memorize than the city."

"Oh don't worry, you'll get it. It took me a couple months to understand the layout, but I know my way around now. After all, it's my job being an officer of the law here." He turned to you with that easy smile you were starting to grow accustomed to and studied your face for a moment. "So, what's your name?"

You gave your name, wondering what about your face was so interesting to look at that he had to stare.

"Uh, well make sure you got it memorized, eh? We'll probably be seeing each other on a daily basis. I'll be working under the Inaba PD starting tomorrow," you stated.

"Wha? So you're a cop too? Man, you wouldn't know it by just looking at you." He casually gave you a once over and you felt another blush coming on. You could say the same thing about him with his rumpled suit but under his scrutiny you couldn't summon your voice to say so.

"Y'know, it's really a good thing we ran into each other. There's some crazy serial killer on the loose if you don't know. Seems like he's gotta taste for young women with how the case has been going. It'd be pretty bad if you were caught all alone and vulnerable this late at night. But hey! At least I'm here, right?"

You blinked at the cheerfulness he exuded and wondered how he could stay so sunny with this so called 'crazy serial killer' running around free.

A shiver passed through you.

You had nearly forgotten the strange murder case that was going on in Inaba with all the misfortunes that had piled up on you. Two women, one a well-known TV announcer, dead and hanging from TV antennas and telephone poles, multiple kidnappings…

Well, there goes your idea of finding peace in this town.

At least you were allowed to carry a gun.

You managed a nervous chuckle and rubbed at your arms in a vain attempt to warm yourself.

"Oh hey, you haven't told me your name yet, Mr. Policeman," you mentioned with a friendly nudge.

"I haven't? Sorry about that," he says with an apologetic smile, "The name's Tohru. Detective Tohru Adachi." He promptly pulled his badge from his pocket as proof of his identity and any suspicions you harbored melted away.

You flashed him a smile.

"Well, pleased to make your acquaintance, Adachi-san."

...

"Here's my place. Thank you so much for helping me back, Adachi-san," you said as you approached the door to your apartment. You fished the key from your dripping purse and inserted it into the lock.

"Hey no problem at all. I uh.. just hope you don't catch a cold after being out so long." You turned your head back and caught him eyeing your wet clothes. The moment you made eye contact with him, he let out an anxious cough and looked away quickly with a light blush dusting his cheeks.

It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out your clothes had been practically see through this whole time.

Well, damn it.

You whipped around quickly, face reddening, and opened the door.

"Um... If you ever need anymore assistance, you could just come knock on my door, heh." Adachi pointed to the door opposite from yours with a wide grin.

Your brows shot up in surprise as you looked to his door. Co-worker AND neighbor? This town was smaller than you thought.

"Wow, okay. I'll keep that in mind," you nodded and stepped inside your apartment. "You can just put those bags in the kitchen area here. Sorry about the mess. As you can see, I haven't finished unpacking yet." You inclined your head to the boxes scattered across the plain white room, some appearing to have exploded after your frantic search for your missing things.

You removed your shoes at the genkan and crossed the small apartment to your bed, dumping some of the bags you held on the floor next to it. You pulled out a few items of clothing from them and proceed to make your way to the bathroom with a bag of toiletries.

"You can go if you want to. I'll unload the groceries once I'm done changing. It's pretty late, I don't want to keep you up if you have to work tomorrow too, Adachi-san," you said. Checking the clock, you saw that there were fifteen minutes before midnight.

I swear to God, if I see any weird coffins, I'll eat my gun…

Adachi flashed you a thumbs up and watched you enter the bathroom.

"Christ, is this what he had to stare at all night?" you murmured with a frown at your reflection in the mirror. You attacked your smeared makeup with a cleansing wipe and towel dried your hair.

Though, it couldn't have been worse than being able to see your unmentionables without x-ray vision. Your face continued to burn as you peeled off your clothing and donned the new outfit.

You walked back out to the living area while combing the last of the tangles from your damp hair and paused, seeing Adachi still there taking it upon himself to put away your groceries.

"Oh! You didn't have to do that, Adachi-san! I could have handled it myself." You swooped in to help him but he shook his head with a smile.

"It's all right, I'm almost done. Whoa… this is a huge bottle of booze! You gonna drink all this by yourself!?" he exclaimed as he held up a comically large vessel of sake with a stunned expression on his face.

You snatched it away from him with a sheepish blush and shoved it into the fridge.

"Can't blame me for wanting to drown my sorrows. Besides… it was on sale," you admitted, running a hand through your hair. "If you want to share it with me sometime, then I wouldn't mind. It can be my thanks to you for being such a big help."

You eyed the clock again and deemed that you are way too tired to break open the bottle now. You only had a few hours to try and rest before work.

"That sounds good. I think I'd like that," Adachi replied happily. "What time are you going to work? We could carpool to the station in the morning, if you'd like."

Seeing as you had sold your car out of necessity before the big move, the idea sounded amazing. There was no need to risk getting lost and being late on your first day. You accepted his offer as you saw him out the door.

"Okay, see you later! Have a good night!" Adachi waved as he unlocked the door to his own apartment.

"Good night, Adachi-san," you answered, lips curving upward into a small smile.

You didn't have the strength to make it to your bed despite the fact that it was just a few yards from your door. You flopped onto the couch in front of the dead TV, staring at the screen with heavy lids.

Well, at least you had turned out the lights.

The steady tick of the clock was enough to send you to sleep, but for some reason you fought it. The thought of midnight being seconds away instinctively sent chills through your body. You didn't think you would ever recover from the trauma.

The clock struck twelve.

Before you closed your eyes, you noticed the TV screen crackled to life and bathed the room in a dull electronic glow.

You blinked.

A hazy figure appeared among the static. Some shadowy silhouette undulated on the screen. A girl?

Maybe you were more tired than you thought.

You shut your eyes and tried to sleep through the static.


End A/N: Alrighty! Hope you enjoyed this fic. Please review and tell me your thoughts on this. I am open to constructive criticism, suggestions, etc. Do tell me if I've made any errors and I'll try and correct them! As for your being able to walk around Port Island during the Dark Hour... well there's a reason for that... uh maybe LOL... I have some ideas, and hoping they'll work out. Otherwise... I'm starting all over from scratch... V.V;;;

Updates will come when they come. I'm a mom first before writing, so I may be busy at times. But I'll try to work as quickly and efficiently as I can! Please try and stay with me til the end!