Reminiscing
"Slacker", "underachiever", "lazy bum", "directionless", Yosuke had been called it all. It was the kind of thing people who didn't know or understand him would label him as. But rather than get upset he would just shrug and move on. After all, it was understandable why they'd think so; he had graduated from a university and then came back to lazy Inaba just to take his old job from high school and work his way up to stock manager.
But he didn't care. As far as he was concerned he had everything he wanted; a stable job, a home he enjoyed, hell he even managed to get that motorcycle he had been saving up for since high school. It was the third most important thing in his life, and he cared for it like it was a child. Above that, however, was his music. He smirked remembering how he had studied music intending to be the next rock sensation from Japan, or at least the lead guitarist of some rich and famous band. But then there was that one night he had stepped into that bar, making good use of his new right to get himself legally plastered after a long day of math and other subjects he hated, when the musician they had that night began to play. That man would never realize just how much he changed his life within a few minutes.
After what felt like the first note, the first strike of those black and white keys, he was hooked. He always thought of the piano as an instrument for those high-class stuck-ups to play their overrated "classical" music on and nothing more. But when he heard the quick but calm rhythm of jazz, blues, and R & B coming from the meeting of ebony and ivory with light fingers he couldn't ever see that instrument the same way ever again. Everything that was bugging him just drained away in seconds and he was in a trance. He knew what was happening, he could've stopped it at any second, but he didn't want to. Whether it was full of energy or slow and melodic it just spoke to him. He still had his old tastes, a little techno here, a little rock there, a bit of pop in the mix, but they could never top the sounds of a single jazz pianist. And when there was a band to go with it, oh man was he in heaven.
But still, there was still one thing, one person, who was more important to him than that…
The front door slip open and a familiar tired voice came inside.
"Yo, Yosuke. How's it going?"
Speak of the devil.
"Hey, Chie-chan. Back from another long day of paperwork?"
"Ugh, please don't even joke," she replied, tossing her coat onto one of the chairs of the dining table before heading over to the living room sofa, untying her tie as she went. She ungracefully plopped herself on the plush seat untying the top two buttons of her shirt and letting the now untied tie rest around her neck.
A ding let Yosuke know that the portable grill had finished its job.
"What's for dinner?" Chie asked, not sounding particularly interested.
Yosuke smirked but didn't answer. He placed the food on two separate plates, making sure to give her more, and then grabbed one of the two mugs he had prepared before walking over.
"Tada! Grilled filet minion with a cup of coffee on the side!"
"Wow. My fav. Thanks," she said taking the plate and the mug. Yosuke was stunned at that reaction, she sounded practically dead. "What?"
"Ok, who are you and what've done with Chie-chan?"
"What? Stop joking, Yosuke."
"You're getting to eat steak! Steak! Even after a long day at work you've never been so tired that steak couldn't get you to gush like a schoolgirl!"
"Oh, come on. I'm not that-"
"Chie," he interrupted, his tone serious.
She sighed. "Can't fool you, huh?"
He smirked. "You're not that hard to figure out, you know."
She grinned back. "Same to you."
He shrugged. "I know." He went back to the kitchen to grab his own steak and coffee before sitting next to her. "Seriously, what's up Chie?"
She took a long gulp of her coffee before responding. "It's just… I guess I'm not feeling fulfilled lately."
"Whaddya mean? You don't like the job anymore?"
After high school Chie had immediately gone to enlist herself in the Inaba Police Department. It took her a few times to pass the test but she made it soon enough. Even before she did though she had already become a favorite in the department, her enthusiasm being appreciated and even began to rub off on the other officers. Eventually she had decided to try out to be a detective. She had failed that test even more times than the previous one. Eventually not only did she pass but she also got partnered up with Dojima of all people, who was more than happy to take her under his wing. That was only a year ago, and even now he could vividly remember her squeals of joy when she told him. It was impossible for him to imagine that she could ever be unsatisfied with things the way they were.
"No, I love the job, it's just… I don't feel like I'm actually doing anything anymore."
"… Go on."
"Well, I mean, I joined the police because I wanted to protect this town. I wanted to protect it from people like Adachi, to make it safer for everyone, not just Yukiko… or you." She blushed slightly as she added that last part. "But now, everything's pretty peaceful. Aside form a domestic disturbance here or a shoplifting case there, there's nothing really going on. I'm happy about that, I really am, but at the same time I feel like… like there's nothing to do. Sometimes I almost wish something like the murder case from all those years ago would happen again that way I could feel like I'm actually doing what I set out to do."
"So, you feel useless, is that it? Like the town doesn't need you?"
"Yeah, I guess. I'm sorry, Yosuke. I guess I'm not strong enough to handle that kind of feeling yet."
Just then Yosuke's mind went back to a few months ago, when Chie had been forced to do her job as an officer of the law and take him into the station because of a fight he got into…
"What the hell was that all about!" she yelled at him.
"Bastard deserved it," he muttered.
"Ugh! I can't believe you! I mean I get that you don't want to be looked at as weak as a man, but I can't believe you'd fly off the handle because some shmuck from out of town called you 'pussy-whipped!' I mean, I don't think even Kanji would make that big a deal about that anymore!"
"I'm not pissed because he called me that!" he yelled back. "I mean, I am, I'm angry because he said I'm weak, but that's not the part that pisses me off the most!"
"Then what is it then!"
"It's because- because…" he took a deep breath as he tried to find the right words to help explain himself. "It's because that by saying that it feels like he's insulting you too. Like he's saying that because you, a woman, is the person who goes and does the hard work while I stay home most of the time that I have to be weak because you can't possibly be strong. That's what it feels like."
She stopped dead in her tracks for a moment. "Yosuke…"
"I'm sorry. I didn't want to make trouble for you, but there was no way I could let him call you weak. People can knock around me all they want, I can shrug that off, but I won't stand them saying one bad thing about you."
"Thanks, Yosuke." She stared sympathetically into his eyes before smirking. "You know I still have to write this up, right?"
He scratched his head and chuckled. "I wouldn't expect anything less," he lied. "After all, a protector of the people can't have favorites, right?"
She rolled her eyes. "Now you're just trying to flatter me."
"Heh. You know me too well."
"Come on Chie-chan, it's not like you to be so down," he said as he jumped of the seat and looked back at her. "Come on! You're Chie Satonaka, great defender of Inaba, Kung-Fu mistress extraordinaire! It's your duty to set an example for young seekers of justice everywhere with a high flying kick and a screeching battle cry! WATAH!" He did his best impression of her kung-fu cry as he could while striking a clichéd martial arts pose. She couldn't help but giggle at his attempts. "And if nothing else," he continued before plopping down next to her again, "you've got me to lean on until you get back up, right?"
She smiled. "Yeah, you're right. But aren't you forgetting something?" She lifted her hand showing of the ring around her finger. "It's Chie Hanamura now, or did you forget our wedding? Or that stupid marriage proposal you made?"
Yosuke smirked as he fiddled with his own ring. That proposal was simultaneously one of the best and without a doubt the most painful experience of his life…
Yosuke had come back to Inaba, as the best man for Souji and Naoto's wedding no less. He had caught up with all his old friends, and was even introduced to few others that Souji had made that he didn't know about, or at least didn't know well. Everyone, even the ever-busy international sensation Rise, had made time to join the event. He knew he missed his old town and friends, but he never realized just how much until he was finally back. But of everyone there it was Chie he had felt drawn to the most. Officer Satonaka, as she had been known then, had let her untidy hair grow down to her shoulders now and had traded in her green and yellow sweater for a police uniform, though she often said the blue wasn't her color and she wished she could change it up a bit. She had mellowed out somewhat, probably a combination of her working environment and just getting older, but she was still the steak-loving livewire who could kick your head clean off he knew from back in high school. Amazingly, not long after that, the two of them had begun going out.
It had been two years since then, and he couldn't believe what he was about to do.
"This just isn't working, Chie," he told her with hesitation in his voice.
"Wha? Wh-What do you mean?" she asked.
"Don't get me wrong. These past two years have been great, and I still care about you a lot. But it's not enough. I need more."
"Yosuke. You don't mean-"
"I'm sorry Chie, but I don't want you to be my girlfriend anymore."
She stared back in shock for a moment before turning her head to the side. She began to well up with tears as her lip quivered. "I… I understand."
"So will you be my wife instead?"
She turned back to him, her eyes wide. Through her watery eyes she could see him holding a small leather box in one hand as he nervously smirked.
She snapped. "YOU!" she yelled punching him in the face. "SUNUVA!" she shouted plunging a fist into his gut. "BITCH!" she screamed swiftly kicking him between the legs. He had dropped the box during her assault and now lay crumpled on the ground clutching his jewels. "OF ALL THE WAYS YOU COULD'VE DONE THIS, WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO DO IT LIKE THIS!"
He groaned in pain before releasing a brief and pained chuckle. "I wanted to do something special," he wheezed, "but I'm not Souji, I can't pull off the whole romantic thing. So I figured I'd do something that we could laugh at later down the road. Though you're probably gonna be laughing a whole lot more than me. Heh-ugh!" He winced again as pain shot though him. "Man, I knew it would end up like this. I even wore a cup to lessen the blow. Not that it helped…"
Chie sighed and picked up the small brown box. She opened it and he saw her gasp. "Holy crap, Yosuke, this looks gorgeous! How did you pay for this?"
"I saved up all the cash from the few gigs I did over the years. Didn't spend a single yen from those times. So tell me, is it a yes or no?"
"…Fine, on one condition." She stared harshly at him before continuing. "Never pull a stupid stunt like this again."
"Heh. No problem here. Next time I pull a stunt it'll be much smarter. Heheh-ow! Oh man, it hurts."
Before he realized it she had knelt down by him. She gently held his head in her hands and pulled him in for a long kiss. After what felt like an eternity of paradise she broke the connection. "…Better?" she asked in a soothing, almost sultry voice.
"A little, " he answered after shaking himself from his shock. Seemingly against his will a grin crept onto his face and before he could stop himself he said, "Maybe if you kissed somewhere else it might feel even better?"
A flash of shock came across her face before quickly changing to a devilish smirk of her own. "Save it for the honeymoon…"
"Of course not," he replied. "How could I forget? But you'll always be Chie Satonaka to me, the cute but deadly Kung-Fu girl I knew from high school."
She smirked back. "And to me you'll always be the stupid and perverted city boy who, for some odd reason, I couldn't get enough of."
"Oh, thanks," he replied, tapping her on the shoulder. "Now you gonna eat that steak or what?"
Chie turned to her plate, which bore the delicious and thankfully still warm strips of filet minion on it. "Yeah, sorry about that. Let's eat!" Chie immediately headed for her first piece, but Yosuke remained still doing nothing but watching and waiting for her reaction. Chie took a bite of her strip and her eyes widened in delight. She quickly chewed and swallowed the strip. "Yosuke this is amazing! Did you really make this!"
"Hey! Are you saying all the other times didn't turn out good?" he asked glaring at her.
"Uh, well, that's not-"
"Heh, don't worry about it, I'm just kidding around." He smiled and gave her a pat on the back. "Actually, I did make it but I got a few tips on seasonings from the 'God of the Kitchen.'" He jokingly clasped his hands together and shouted "Praise be to the Great Silver-Haired Chef!"
Chie snerked. "So that's it. This is much better than anything you've made so far. Not to say your old stuff was bad."
"Hey, no need to try and coddle me, I can take it. Just 'cause I'm the one who cooks here doesn't mean I think I'm good. But hey, you're not so bad yourself now."
"Huh? Really?"
"Yup! After the last thing you made I can say with absolute certainty that Mystery Food X has no chance of seeing the light of day ever again."
Chie groaned and gave him a light smack to the back of the head. "Yeah, thanks."
The two then turned their attention to their meals, Chie practically moaning with delight as she savored each cut of the juicy meat. It was all Yosuke could do not to laugh at her. After she finished with the entrée Chie sipped the coffee while he finished his own meal.
"Ahh, that hit the spot," she muttered, sighing contently while leaning back into the padded seating of the sofa. She reached into her shirt pocket and pulled out a pack of toothpicks, quickly pulling out one and gripping it gingerly between her teeth before putting the pack back. During her time under Dojima's guidance Chie had begun to pick up some habits from her senior partner. Her toothpick chewing was a healthier alternative to Dojima's smoking addiction, as she refused to stun her physical abilities with lung problems. She also began to switch her coffee preference from cream and sugar to straight black, just like her mentor. Yosuke just hoped she wouldn't pick up his drinking habit as well. The poor girl could barely handle one glass of wine before getting a little tipsy, much less a few shots of saké.
Yosuke began to sip his own mug, black with two sugars, when she leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder. "Thanks for dinner, Yosuke. And earlier."
"Heh, no problem Chie-chan," he answered with a smirk.
The two sat together, enjoy each other's company. After a few minutes Chie broke the silence.
"Hey, Yosuke?"
"Hm?"
"Can you play something?"
Yosuke smirked. That was one of the other great things about his music. She loved it too, and he could still remember how shocked he was when she first saw him playing on a piano that happened to be at Souji and Naoto's wedding. It was the property of a musician they had called in and, when he had the chance, he couldn't keep himself from playing on it. Even now she still found it amazing that he, bumbling Yosuke Hanamura, could have such a connection with those eighty-eight keys. Unfortunately, here he had to settle for an electronic keyboard instead of the real thing, but it was enough.
"Not a problem, Chie."
He got up and walked the short distance to the seat in front of the keyboard. After turning the instrument on he sat down and gently rested his fingers on the keys. He struck a few notes, getting feel for where everything was, and then he began to play. Within seconds he had entered the trance state, the feeling he went into whenever her started playing. His eyes were closed, he didn't need to see the keys. He was thinking about what note to play next, he was just playing. The music was flowing out of him and he just let it come rather than forcing it. It was his soul speaking through the notes, and right now his soul was speaking a calm but happy tune with short but slowly bouncing notes.
He lost track of time and it wasn't until he heard a faint moaning sound that he was broken out of his trance. He turned around to see that Chie had fallen asleep, her head resting on the back of the sofa. He looked at the clock above her head, surprised to see that it read 1:18. Both he and Chie had work tomorrow, so he needed to get to sleep. He was about to wake her up so she could get to bed, but as he saw her lying there he found he couldn't. She looked so peaceful, so relaxed, so damn cute, he just couldn't bear to wake her up.
Aw, she'll be fine. Girl always could sleep almost anywhere anyway.
He headed upstairs to grab a blanket and gently placed it so it wouldn't fall off. As he cautiously tucked it behind her shoulders he heard her mumble "…anks…Yo…ke…"
He felt his face heat up as a smile came across his face, and a thought began to enter his mind. He hesitated for a moment for shaking off the anxious feeling.
Hell, we're not highschoolers anymore, we're married. She's not gonna mind.
He gently removed the chewed toothpick that was ready to fall out of her mouth then leaned in for a short kiss. After their lips separated he whispered "Any time, Chie-chan." He then removed the blanket before sitting next to her, careful not to shake her out of sleep. He then gently covered them both with the blanket after cuddling up as close as possible to her, letting her head lean on his shoulder, before closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep.
Wow, I can't believe I've actually managed to write these. I guess I really have overcome my writer's block. Now to get back to work on my bigger projects.
Oh, and for those of you noticing the connection between this and my other Persona 4 one-shot, heh heh, let's just say I have plans. But it won't reach the light of day for a long while. Need to do research. Lot's of research. I'll lead you to guess about what…