It may sound weird but I had this idea when i was taking a shower. So, as you can see, I threw away my homework and started writing this in just 2 hours! Anyways, I love MinatoxMinako pairing so might as well give it a try. Notice that this is my first time writing this kind of romance story so I'm still very inexperienced.

It was twelve. The Dark Hour had descended and the team had entered Tatarus once more, with a hope that they might discover something new today. At the start of the investigation, Minato Arisato had ordered the team to split up in order to explore the tower at the least amount of time. Though he knew that it was extremely risky, he believed in his teammates abilities, but if anyone got themselves into an unavoidable battle, he'd told them to inform others as soon as possible, and not to handle it alone.

Minako Haruki was hardheaded girl, who enjoyed solving problems on her own accord, and Minato recognized this very well, so he decided to keep a close eye on her. A few minutes after the group had broken up, Minako constantly found herself running into Minato around corner after corner. Every time the boy just smiled and said again and again that: "Coincidence seeing you here," or "We keeping running into each other, huh?"

She finally noticed this and began to set her own trap of losing him. She succeeded, and happily went out on her own exploring the floor. She encountered many Shadows, but most of them were nothing to her. The time she spent in Tatarus had shown its effectiveness, but luck comes before experience, up until now, she only faced weaker foes.

Near half an hour later, Minako came across another Shadow, but this time instead of countering its attack, she went for the kill. The Shadow was small, but its figure helped. It ran as soon as it saw Minako approach. Turning a corner, and another one, she eventually confined it in a small room.

"Got you now," she spoke to the creature pridefully.

She slowly walked up to the Shadow, pointing her Naginata fiercely at it, pushing it towards the wall behind. But suddenly, the Shadow emitted a dark aura around its body, and then, like a snap of fingers, it vanished into thin air. Dumbfounded, Minako stood motionlessly for a moment, and heard a loud slam behind her. Looking back, the door, which she'd entered the room from, was now sealed with thick, heavy chains. Just in an instance, she knew that it was a trap. In the middle of the room, a dark smoke appeared, following by a large figure. Just as she thought she was the hunter, she was now become the prey. It was Death who appeared.

It went after her immediately, aiming it guns and shooting several times, Minako was lucky that sh was able to avoid the shots. She circled the creature, hoping to find a small opening to escape, but she was the only target there, so the chance was zero. Desperately, she decided to communicate with the other members.

"I'm in trouble, need help right away!" she yelled.

"I have informed the others, they will be there in just a minute! Please be safe until they get there!" she could hear Fuuka voice in her head.

A minute! Minako exclaimed in her head. A minute would be too late, she was only barely dodging the blows, and she had just encountered Death for only ten seconds.

The Shadow attacked viciously, as if killing her was its only intent. A shot, she ducked down. Another shot, she side-stepped it. The third shot, she wasn't so lucky anymore. It hit her leg, which caused her to fall down to her knees. She instinctively cried out and wrapped her hands around her wounded leg. The Shadow didn't give the kill shot, which somehow make her feel relieved, but not for long.

It stopped, gazed at her fear-filled eyes for a second, and then slowly approached her. By this time, Minako realized that the Shadow wouldn't kill her instantly, it would toy with her, making her suffer pain before putting her in a slow death.

It smacked her with its long gun into her side. The attack sent her flying into a wall. As her back hit, an imaginable pain she could feel around her chest area. Her ribs were broken. Adrenaline shocked her, but the pain was unendurable, even her breathing caused her pain.

The Shadow made its way to her again. Minako drew out her Evoker, in an attempt to call out Eurydice, but Death shot the gun away. It raised the gun and smacked her again. This time, she flew even further, and landed face first on the cold floor. At the impact, she felt light,and numb. It was harder to stay conscious, and somewhere in her head, she knew she was going to die.

Am I dying? Here? Like this?

The thought scared her, but nothing could be done at the moment. She was drained, and energy wouldn't stay back in her body. Her eyes felt heavy. And she fainted.

And she saw him in her mind...

…

…

…

"Minako! Hang in there... Yukari... cast Dia!... Get her... Duck!" a few voices, but she was too powerless to even opened her eyes.

"Grab... distract it... carry... Run!"

The pain was not there anymore, replaced it was a warm and comfortable feeling. Minako felt as if she was falling into an infinite space without stopping. She liked the feeling and wished it to never go away.

Am I... dead?

Maybe she was. Recalling the encounter, the thought now seemed real to her. Death was probably the reason she was having this delightful feeling. But just as quickly when she met this happy feeling, she turned angry. Mostly at herself.

I have failed... I didn't even... What good in thinking about it now? I am useless...

A brutal light she could feel in front of her, and a few voices she could hear surrounded her. Minako couldn't determine whose voice it was, but it sounded awfully familiar. The light seemed to be growing more intensive. She hated it now. She shut her eyes stronger but it did little effect on the light. At a last resort, she forced her eyes to open.

She was greeted by a white ceiling, and the smell of disinfectant. Looking around she could saw some faces, but still couldn't tell who they were. The light had blinded her for a short while.

"Hey, you're awake!" Now that her hearing has improved, she knew that persona who said that to her was Yukari Takeba. "You worried me so much!"

"She's awaken?" a boy in red vest sitting in a chair in a corner rose up. "Thank god," he said that, walking towards Minako's bed. "Welcome back." It was Akihiko Sanada.

"It's good that you're not laying there forever..." To her right, Junpei Iori, smirked, but honestly happy. "Hey there."

"Thank goodness..." Fuuka Yamagishi said this, then covered her face with her hands and wept. "You're alive!"

"Hey now," Yukari tried to comfort the girl. "Don't cry here, she's just got back."

"I know, but, still..." She kept on weeping.

"Where are the others?" Minako was the one who asked.

"Oh, Mitsuru has just left, she said that she had something urgent going on. Ken has to attend school." Akihiko was the one who answered.

"And... where's Minato?"

"Oh, him. After bringing you here, he stayed here until morning and left. I haven't seen him come back yet."

"Just opened your eyes and have already questioned for your 'prince'," Junpei teased.

"Come on, Junpei!" Yukari kicked him in the shin, which made him skipped around in pain.

As for Minako,she didn't react to him joke. She really did concern about Minato. Not that whether or not he was hurt or not, but whether or not she had caused him troubles or not.

And she laid there, thinking about the blue haired boy.

Yukari, Fuuka, Akihiko, and Junpei all had left when it was three o'clock, and only Minako was left. The doctor had told her that it was going to be until next week she could leave the hospital. Though her wounds were severe at first, but with the treatment she had received from both Mitsiru and Yukari tremendously reduced the time she had to stay.

She sighed deeply, at the fact the she couldn't move around for the next few days and at the fact that Minato wasn't here. She couldn't explain that to herself. The boy was always a burden to her. He was the leader of the group after all. She was faster, stronger, more skilled, and knew more about Tatarus than him, but she despised that she had to listen to his orders. Last night was an excellent example.

But somehow, not seeing the boy here made her upset a little bit. Maybe she was just lonely, and just wanted someone to talk to. But if that was the case, then Yukari and Fuuka should be fine, right? The truth: it was different than that.

Talking to the girls didn't feel exactly the same way as talking to him. Even though sometimes he irritated her, and she had to hit him. And when she tried to make her point,it angered her that he just simply rolled his eyes to the ceiling. Yet, it felt empty without seeing him around.

Maybe he got angry? Maybe he hated that she didn't listen to his order? Maybe yes. Maybe Minato disliked her now. She would get frustrated if someone wouldn't listen to her, and she would get frustrated if someone disobeyed her, and maybe Minato was not an exception.

She sighed again, and it was longer. Minako felt watery in her eyes and realized that she was in tears.

"Why am I crying?" she talked to herself. "He is not someone for me to be wept about..."

But the tears was overflowing, and wasn't stopping anytime soon. She used her sheet to wipe the tears, but more of them just kept on coming. Finally, she began sobbing. A pain shot through her chest and spread to her fingertips. It wasn't of the wounds. It was something else, something even more painful than the wounds.

"These tears..." she spoke through the tears. "Why? Why am I?'

She cried even louder, ignoring the whole world.

A few minutes later, her crying softened. Her eyes felt horrible after the tears had gone out. The sheeting she used to weep was drenched. She sighed once more, and dropped down to the pillow, hoping to find a good sleep. Just as she was about to dream, a knock on the door drew her back to reality.

Another knock.

"C-come in!" she informed the stranger, and silently trying to brighten her face.

"Hey,you're awake!" the door slid open and a figure walked into the room. Minako surprised and sat up. It was a boy, dressed in Gekkoukan uniform, and a pair of headphones around his neck. With his blue hair and gentle navy blue eye, it was none other than Minato.

"Don't get up so abruptly! You'll hurt yourself again!"

If this was in normal circumstance, Minako would just refused the boy and kept on sitting up, but this time was different, she smiled and happily obeyed him. She laid her back down with her eyes still glued to Minato's.

"I have something for you," said Minato, and placed a bag of food on the table next to her. "Wild Duck burger. The special one. Your favorite." he quickly dug his hand to his pocket and brought out something. "And also this."

It was a phone strap with cute, small doll. Minako received this hesitatingly, as she was still feeling awkward from what she just did before. From her small lips, she uttered a thank.

"Nah, you don't have to. Just promise me that you won't go out on your own again," he said, adding a smile.

Minako could feel blood rushed to her face, and it gradually grew hotter and hotter. She grabbed hold of her sheet and drew it to her face so that she could hide herself in it. It was too embarrassing for her for some reason.

"What's wrong? Your face is red," Minato concerned. "Don't tell me you have a fever."

He reached a hand to her forehand and gently placed on it. At the warmth of his hand on her face, her face was so hot that it could burn something. "It's hot! You have a fever! I should go call the nurse."

The blue haired boy swiftly stood up. "No! I'm fine!" Minako desperately tried to call him.

"It doesn't look 'fine' to me, You've just regained conscious, and you are having a fever, that's not fine!" He turned and began to walk away.

"Wait!" instinctively, Minako leaned and caught a handful of Minato's shirt in her hand. But just as sudden as she caught it, she let it go and looked away, holding the hand by her other. "..." she became speechless.

Seeing the girl's strong desire of making him staying, Minato smiled and touch her head with his palm. "Okay, I won't call the nurse then," he started rubbing her hair. "But at least let me, buy some drinks for the food."

"But there are water bottles around here."

"They are empty."

"I have one."

"You know we can't share the same bottle, right?" he raised a brow.

Minako turned away again, embarrassed.

I don't mind though...

Minato chuckle. "Don't worry, the vending machine is right across the hallway." He turned again, and walked towards the door, opened it, and disappeared.

Minako returned back fast, but wasn't fast enough to see the boy had gone. She gazed for a moment at the direction which he went by. She dropped her face, seeing the doll on the phone strap on her lap. She picked it up, toying it with her fingers, and the most beautiful smile spread across her face.

Maybe... just maybe... I do like him...

And that is my very first romance story! Hope you guys like it! Reviews would help me a lot and please, if there is anything wrong, teach me the right way to do it. Thanks in advance!