Disclaimer: I don't own Persona 3, or Persona 4.
Author's Note: I thought this was an interesting pairing; I love both, especially Souji, and the temptation of making Akihiko mourn so deeply over Minato's death was too hard to resist writing. Enjoy. c:
Jemand.
[Someone.]
Maybe if you sit here and stare at his empty seat long enough, he'll come back to you – his grey eyes always so sincere, always so deep as he leans across the dorm's coffee table to listen to what Aigis has to say, no matter how insignificant; his uniform will grace his sleek, thin frame, once again pressed and starched and immaculate, as it always had been; his pale skin that even paper couldn't compare to – and you're convinced it'll happen, just because, well, it's him, and you don't need a better reason.
Eventually, though, it has to end. You breathe out slowly, and close your eyes out of exhaustion. It hasn't been easy. None of this has been easy. How long was it since you felt the smooth, cold skin of his hand brush against yours 'accidentally'? When was the last time you would pick a navy hair off your uniform, and (when no one was looking) smile at it for what feels like eternity, just because it was his?
Too long. All of it. Far too long. You need to find someone new. Anyone new. You need to forget the feelings he made you feel, you need to forget all the things he made you see and experience and love and it had been so, so much more than friendship and…
You need someone new.
Anyone who doesn't make you feel like throwing up what little you have in your stomach at night because they look or feel or act just like him.
So you do what you do best – you try to act tough, you shut down your feelings and fight your way through life, hoping that that someone who doesn't make you feel like you failed comes to you –
And it works; you know it does, because one night, while you're walking around in the cold, night-saturated air, you happen to walk by the train station. A freshly-arrived train stops in the station; you glance briefly at it, then look back down and try to continue on your way. However, something makes you stop – perhaps it was a flash of midnight hair, or grey eyes – but you're turning and running back up to the train, your lungs heaving inside your red sweater. You pray it's him, all thoughts of forgetting his love, forgotten.
People flood around you; you're caught and swept up in a small stream of people like a pebble in the stream, but you stand your ground and wait for him.
You waited so long.
The last person you can see filters off the bus.
He wasn't here. Of course he wasn't.
You turn to go; your black gloved hands numb as they clench into fists. Of course he's not here, he's – he's –
"Hello," A soft, silky voice says to you, politely, pleasantly cool, "I'm new here…" You shake slightly; the voice is so, so familiar… "I was wondering if you could tell me where the dorms are for Gekkoukan High."
You finally turn around, only to find yourself inundated with a sea of varying shades of grey. You can tell he's a Persona user from the power around him, the exact same kind of him, and somehow this man is at once so very familiar and yet…not.
"Sure," You say, familiar over-confidence streaking back into your voice. The other man cautiously smiles, and you take his hand. "I'll walk you there."
The other silver-haired boy easily keeps the same pace as your long strides; you feel a sense of disconcert at his presence, and yet, all at the same time…
"It's late," He says, interrupting your train of thought with his quiet, polite, voice, "I'm sorry to have asked you, but there was no one else there to ask." He doesn't sound very sorry; he seems to enjoy being with you – almost as if he feels the familiarity too.
His grey eyes are so deep, so dark. His silver hair shimmers under the streetlight like water underneath the moon.
A confident smirk passes across your lips before you can help it, "It's not an issue, don't think anything of it," And the way this boy smiles at your fierceness makes you feel disconcerted and reminded of him, all at once, but this man has no blue, only grey, grey, grey…
Yet, at the same time, you feel peace that you haven't felt since he was right here beside you, standing underneath the very same alcove of the very same dorm, in the same exact position you are now: hands held, looking up at the midnight blue sky, raining down the first snow of the year.
This man could take his place; you know he could, with all his varying shades of grey and polite, shy smiles. However, you refuse to let the silver-haired man share the same fate as him, and instead of letting your past close the gateway to possibilities, you let this very familiar start with an unfamiliar man begin with no strings attached.
"Akihiko," You introduce yourself boldly, feeling yourself slowly tucking away the memories of Shinji and Minato, "Sanada. Nice to meet you." All in order to make new ones.