A Bed-ridden Detective

Souji frowned. The gray haired boy was used to waiting, but it was unusual for Naoto to be this late. The rest of the group seemed worried as well, Rise tapping her foot impatiently and Kanji twiddling his thumbs in worry. Truthfully, there was a thin veil of worry cast over the entire group. Naoto's profession put her in some incredibly dangerous positions, and although a skiled combatant, (not to mention Persona user,) Naoto was still small in body. Although this can allow her some element of surprise, her fragility can leave her vulnerable on especially dangerous cases. Nobody in the group had seen or heard from the young detective for several days, and due to cramming for exams, no one had had the time to contact her either. After the exams ended, Souji visited, so it was only natural that a celebration party was planned. They had all planned to meet at Junes, and Rise had left Naoto a message to meet at their old headquarters.

Days passed, and no reply had been sent. Finally, the day came for the celebration, and everyone arrived at the front of Junes. All, except for one certain petite detective. For the second time in a few minutes, Souji frowned. No matter how busy Naoto was, she wouldn't have hesitated at a chance to see her senpai again. Nervously twitching his fingers, the worried former leader of the team looked down at his watch. "OUT OF RANGE" The watch constantly slammed that picture into his face, not helping the increasing sense of unease growing in his stomach. Whipping his phone out of his pocket, he checked for any new messages. None whatsoever. Souji made a short growling sound out of frustration and worry, causing a few of his friend's heads to turn. However, no one in the group was surprised, as all of them had known about the relationship between the detective and Izanagi's chosen.

On the other hand, all of them were worried about Naoto, as the investigation team shared an irreplaceable bond after the events in the other realm. None of them could bear to think worried thoughts about Naoto's fate, nor see their normally calm and collected leader in such a state. It was eventually Yosuke, sick of twiddling with the 2 pencils he was holding, who broke the silence. "S-So... Anyone going to try calling her?"

Souji shook his head. "If the last 7 phone calls haven't worked, why would it work now?" It was obvious that he was in a bad mood, and all that his headphone-clad best friend could do was shrug, and say, "Hey, it might work this time. You'll never know unless you try, partner." Yosuke stuck the title on the end of his sentence in a vague attempt to cheer up Souji, although how exactly it would have worked is beyond me. The title seemed to have no effect, and Souji was as restless as ever.

It would be a full 10 minutes before he proceeded to say something.

"Ok, that's it! I've had enough of waiting, I'm going to go see if anything's wrong." Souji got up, and promptly began to walk in the general direction towards Naoto's house. Yosuke spoke up yet again, shouting, "Hey, w-wait! How do you even know she'll be in her apartment?"

A stop, and the barest of head turns. Souji merely brought his wrist up, and tapped the watch on it. "Trust me. I'll know." And he walked off.

---

"DISTANCE: 100M"

"DISTANCE: 50M"

"DISTANCE: 25M"

"DISTANCE 15M"

The gray haired boy stopped at the door to Naoto's apartment. The watch proved he was correct that Naoto was in there. At least, her watch was in there. As he knocked on the door, Souji's mind fought to repress horrible thoughts of Naoto being kidnapped, leaving her watch in her apartment. The criminals would come crashing in through the window, scaring the daylights out of her before knocking her out with a chemical. After then bring her back to their hideout, they strip Naoto, intending to humiliate the "boy" detective and release the footage worldwide, as if it were a message saying "Don't mess with us!" when the discover that Naoto is, in fact, a woman. A very attractive woman, which Souji had in depth knowledge of after a particular round of the king's game had gone way too far. The villains would gaze upon her naked figure, her eyes defiantly staring back at them. The criminals would then look at eachother, grin, and proceed to zip down their pants and walk towards Naoto, her eyes finally giving into fear as they grab her -

Souji's terrifying and somewhat guiltily satisfying day dream was interrupted as the door to Naoto's apartment slowly creaked open. Glancing down at his watch, he saw that it read, "DISTANCE: 5M." Looking up in extrodinary happiness at seeing Naoto again, his excitment was cut short when he got a look at her face. Naoto looked dreadful; she was pale, her eyes had bags under them, her hair was extremely messy, and her hat was actually lopsided for once. The "Detective Prince" looked extremely disoriented, and she held onto the door handle for balance support. Her eyes, although bloodshot and incredibly tired looking, filled with joy at the sight of the young man standing before her.

Just as quickly were they filled with nervousness and embarrassment. Looking down at the sight of herself, she was still wearing a long sleeved blue shirt with a tie, a standard outfit of hers, but half the buttons were untied on the shirt, revealing thick layers of bandages underneath, and the tie had somehow managed to hang loosely on her shoulder. Face as red as a novelty pet's toy, Naoto looked up and squeaked, "S-Senpai!"

The aforementioned Senpai looked at her and merely grinned. This explained everything, as well as generally being a hilarious sight. "Wh-what are you doing here?" The small detective continued, sniffing almost immediately after speaking. Souji looked at her, a hint of amusement in his eyes. "Well, I came here to reprimand you, but it looks like I'll be your caretaker for today." He said, grinning even further. Naoto somehow got even more red as she replied, "No! Souji-Senpai, you don't have to - "

Her protest was cut short by Souji picking her up bridal style and walking into her apartment, slamming the door shut with his foot. Naoto was ridiculously flustered by this action, shouting "Senpai, -achoo- put me down -achoo- this instant!" The yell came out more worried and embarrassed than angry, as her significant other did as she asked, and put her down on the sofa she had previously been resting on. Almost instantly, she began to have a coughing fit, causing Souji to immediately dash off to the kitchen, handing her some tissues. Managing to shove in a "Thank you." in between the coughs, Naoto eventually finished coughing. A short moment passed, neither of the Persona users knowing what to say to each other. That moment left as Naoto began to speak.

"... Allow me to apologize for any inconvenience I may have caused you. Up until a few hours ago, I was at Shirogane estate, recuperating from a sudden bout of sickness. Your calls were sent to my mobile as I was asleep, I'm afraid, so I could not answer any of your calls. When I was in better health, I left the estate to meet you, much to the protests of Yakushiji-San. It does seem, however, that -achoo- his worries were correct. As soon as I returned here, I was hit by another bout of sickness, leaving me in the sorry state you see me now." Souji frowned. "How are you feeling now, Naoto?"

Blushing slightly at his worry for her, Naoto replied, "Unfortunately, I am not well enough to join you or any of my friends for our scheduled meeting." Pausing slightly, thinking that Souji may think of losing a night out with friends in order to take care of her, she continued, "You will not have to worry about me. I will be fine, Senpai. Please, go enjoy yourself with everyone else." Souji grinned, shaking his head. "Naoto, you're my girlfriend." Assuming a mock heroic voice, he said, "As your knight in shining armor, it's my duty to protect you when you're at your worst." The detective chuckled slightly at her senpai's antics, but frowned quickly.

"Please, Senpai, there is no need to - " She was once again cut short, this time by Souji stroking her face. After the murders, her face had become unmistakably girlish, looking a bit more delicate and just plain pretty. The first thing Souji had planned to do with Naoto when he returned was to stroke her face, to feel how much she had changed over the years. Now, he had the oppertunity to do so with seemingly no limit. The detective attempted to protest, but then she realized how nice Souji's hand stroking her features felt. It made her feel fulfilled, satisfied, and strangely sleepy. Naoto put up a vicious fight against her body, which was telling her to go to sleep, but eventually lost, succumbing to the comfort and darkness of sleep.

Souji simply sat there, staring at her for a few moments. He was incredibly happy that he was in a relationship like this, and felt that they would be together for a long time, if not forever. Of course, he never said that to anyone, for fear of sounding a bit too... Gushy. Or whipped, as Yosuke would say. "Of course, there's no need to contemplate that now. A sick person's got to have food." Getting up from his makeshift seat of a table, he walked back into the kitchen to prepare a meal for the woman he loved.

Abrupt ending, but I'm writing this at 2 in the morning, so whatever~

R&R and all that good stuff.