Stalker

Disclaimer: You know I don't own Persona 2, because if I did, Katsuya would be the main protagonist. tee hee :P

Summary: They have resumed to normal lives. Katsuya started smoking and Maya is being shadowed by a stalker. Despite his reluctance, Katsuya is tasked to protect an old friend and the person he love.

Maya slumped on her chair. She finally completed the article her boss has been nagging her to make which's deadline was still a week away.

Her friend Yuki went on a trip with Fujii, a photographer like Yuki, to take photos of the beautiful landmarks in Sumaru city.

It had been six months after the incident at Seven Sisters High. It had been six months after she found out that she had a persona. It had been six months after Tatsuya last called her name. And it had been six months after she played blackjack at the casino with her friends while the world was in peril.

Yes, six months had passed after the crazy and frightening events in Sumaru took place.

She hadn't seen her friends since. She sees Ulala all the time because they're roommates. Despite the fact that Ulala has teamed up with Baofu, Maya never saw the guy. She managed to snag a few hello's to him through the phone but that was it. She caught sight of Tatsuya one while crossing the street, but he didn't know who she was anymore. She's seen Lisa Silverman, the lead singer in MUSES. She met Eikichi again in the Ramen Shop during an office celebration there. She heard about the people she once knew from the news, tv or the paper. All but one. The police officer.

Katsuya. The first impression Maya had on him was that he seemed rigid. Like he was a bamboo that refused to bend, and however people bend him, he won't snap. Then she slowly met him. How he can be a worrywart, a cat lover, and a considerate guy with a hard past. She never saw him afterwards. Sure it was Maya who decided not to affiliate herself with the Suou family anymore. But she couldn't help wonder how they were now. Despite the Police Dept. being a a block away, she never crossed paths with him. She wondered if she would still see those two again. But she mentally prevented herself.

Since she was done, she decided to fill her empty stomach at Clair de Lune. The place she adored because of the lights that sends her gut feeling like she was flying.

Her shift was almost done so she killed time first by browsing the web. When the clock hit five, she promptly pulled out from her desk and left.

She walked to Aoba Street, it wasn't that far anyway. There weren't many costumers at the restaurant, the rest of the world may be having ramen.

She ordered a plate of Cassoulet. She always orders it when she goes here after work. She even used to eat this dish with Ulala, Baofu, and Katsuya back then. Because for some reason, she felt like it was giving her strength. For 1000 yen.

When she finished her plate, she thanked Garcon, the maitre'd, and made her leave.

The city was nice and chilly at night she decided to walk home. She passed by the shops of Aoba, admiring the clothes from the windows. There was a new line at Rosa Candida. Just as she was passing by 2xSlash, she recognized a pair or familiar shades coming out of Etheria, some sort of healing store.

A smile etched in her face, as her hand was slowly rising in the air. Katsuya was heading out of the said store, with a woman clasping on his arm.

Maya fought back the urge to call out and watched them instead. Katsuya looked uncomfortable in her hold, but he didn't move away. The two of them got in a car, Katsuya's car. He jiggled the keys from his pocket in it and then drove away.

Maya was anxious to tell Ulala about it, but aside from anxiety, she was also curious on who that woman was and why is she clinging onto him like that.

However, Ulala wasn't home when she arrived. The lights were all out and there was no sign of her. Maya decided to wait for her for a while. But whatever shall she do to kill time? She wasn't up to playing games or listening to her stereo… somehow her questions being unanswered are hauling her down. She went over her stuff, picking up clothes as she deducted that Katsuya got himself a new girlfriend.

Six months ago, Katsuya had confessed he had feelings for her. It shocked everyone, including his brother. Because no one would expect Katsuya to fall for anyone, much less with Maya's type (Being a scatterbrain compared to him).

And if in six months he was able to move on with someone else, there could be no doubt Tatsuya has moved on too.

Before she realized it, her room was more organized than before! Dirty clothes had found their way into the basket. Her CD's are messily stacked near the stereo. Her magazines were compiled in a corner, It wasn't perfectly arranged, but it was far more better than before. And it only took about two hours, without her noticing it.

A few more hours passed and Ulala was still out. Maya had dozed off.

In the middle of the night she heard a few shuffling noises. Ulala must have arrived. Ulala..? She cracked an eye open and caught a blurry picture of her friend in the balcony. That woman must be smoking again. Ugh... Maya shut her heavy eyes and decided to tell Ulala tomorrow.

"Wake up, Nya! Wake up, Nya!" Maya's voice came from a bobble-headed cat alarm clock.

She had woken up at her alarm. It was a cat clock that looked the cat back at the Detective's Office in Yumezaki. She had bought it with Ulala a month ago, saying it was too cute she would not forgive herself if she didn't buy it. One of the most awesome features it offered was to record people's voices and sound off as an alarm.

"Wake up, Nya! Wake up-" Bam.

The NekoClock (which Maya called it) had a cool hit-in-head-function as snooze. She felt she didn't waste 4500 yen on it.

"-goodmorning, nya!" NekoClock said, with Maya's cute voice.

She got up from bed and checked if her friend had cooked breakfast for them. No one responded when she knocked at her friend's door.

There was a note however. Put up outside the glass window. This must be from last night, Ulala must have slipped by to get something but was in a hurry and left early. Maya assumed.

She slid the glass open and snatched the note.

"You've cleaned your room, I see."

Maya's brows curled in confusion. It was unlike Ulala to be formal about it. Of course, leaving a note wasn't entirely formal, but rather her friend's choice of words. If Ulala had seen her room she would've woken me in my sleep and demand to tell her where the real Maya was. Maya giggled at the thought. But perhaps something occurred and she just didn't want me to wake up.

It was already quarter past two when Maya's phone rang. She was in the middle of a minesweeper game and she was very much focused. Ignoring the looks from her officemates, she grabbed her phone and answered it.

"Mayaaaaaa!" The woman from the other end almost screamed. It was Ulala.

Before the magazine reporter could respond, her friend went on.

"Someone has cleaned your room. I repeat, someone cleaned your room!"

Maya chuckled and moved away from her PC.

Ulala spoke again, "It has to be the work of a burglar! He probably went inside but couldn't find anything in the mess so he fixed the place up."

Maya laughed harder this time and spoke, "Oh Ulala. It's nice to have a change, don't you think? Is it really that shocking?"

"Uh, yeah?" Ulala answered, "Girl, the last time I saw your room like this was years ago. Before you started working at the publication."

"Well, you didn't seem to be so surprised last night." Maya said, poking on her mouse.

"Wha-? Last night?" Ulala sounded perplexed, "I wasn't here last night."

Maya paused.

"What?" She asked.

"Don't you have any ideas now, okay? I slept at Baofu's. He was monitoring this ..guy-whatever. Took him long enough and wouldn't even let me leave. I slept on his couch while he was up all night listing in to the phone calls. Man, I tell you, his place reeked! I mean, the place was filled with smoke and alcohol and..."

Her friend's voice trailed off as she thought about the note from this morning. She tossed it in the bin afterwards and took the trash out, there's no way she could retrieve it anymore.

"...well, I better hang up now. Don't want you stuck up boss firing you because of little phone call. I'll see you later Ma-ya!"

"Y-yeah. You too, Ulala." She forced a smile her friend wouldn't even see.

For a moment, Maya remembered about Joker; the first she received a letter. She hoped it wasn't anything similar to that. Still, she didn't tell anyone about it.

Three days later, she had dismissed the note as her imagination and soon forgot about it because of her work. Mizuno, Kismet's Editor-in-chief, forced another task on her.

Lisa Silverman and the Muses will have a concert in Seven Sisters High in their Sumaru Schools Tour. Sine the group all undertook studies there, Maya is assigned to know their background and dig out hidden their secrets.

Of course Tatsuya could still be in there, studying. Hoping she would and would not run into him, she made her way there.

It was the same as before. Mizuno had told Maya that her work was crap and forced her to work on the Joker's case. First, from the Other Side, she went with Yuki. On This Side, she was with Ulala. Now she hopped into a cab and went on her own.

The world lost its memory regarding the Grand Cross and the whatnot. Only those who stood up till the end got their memories in tact. But somehow, the memories of battling demons are fading away from her.

No, Tatsuya wasn't around. Which was good. She didn't see him anywhere and she had no intention of looking in the bike racks to check. Last thing she needed was another rumor-ruled world and war.

Most of the students were still there. But she didn't have time to interview the whole student body. It would take her days doing so. In the end, she didn't get much and she may go back again.

She left the school tired and weary. Going around the place was extremely tiring compared than talking with demons. As she was crossing an empty street, she didn't see a rock that laid out on the ground and tripped over it. She landed on the ground on fours. With her face burning red, she quickly stood up and dusted herself. Luckily, no one was around. She carried on.

The next day, after work, Maya had brought some ramen take-out to share with her roommate. The two girls ate while playing Shin Megami Tensei 3.

"Oh, I almost forgot." Ulala put away the controller and took an envelop from Maya's desk. She handed it to her, "It's for you."

"Thanks!" Maya gladly took the letter. It was a little thick, maybe there was something else inside.

The letter was blank aside from her name in red ink. MAYA. There was no address of either the sender or hers. Curious, she ripped the side and slid the contents out. A pice of paper and photos fell on the floor.

"Your secret is safe with me." The letter contained.

Maya was puzzled. She and Ulala grabbed the pictures. There were about ten of them; all from the same place, with the same person.

Maya gasped the instant she saw herself in it. It was taken yesterday, during her awkward fall. She thought there was no one around by then.

This person has illegally taken her pictures and, what more, he or she had sent it to her. But for what purpose?

"When did this happen?" Ulala asked, she was also going over her friend's shots as well.

"Where did you get this?" Maya disregarded her question.

"I saw it under the door. Someone must've slipped it in." Ulala said, "What do you think this mean?"

Maya shrugged. She remembered the time someone posted a note in her balcony, but preferred not to tell.

"He is probably a stalker!" Ulala concluded angrily, "We should inform the police right away. Or do you want me to tell Baofu? You know he's good at those."

Maya giggled and shook her head, "If there really is one, I'm sure we could take care of him."

Ulala stared for a moment before erupting of laughter. Of course, they were Persona Users. What could a mere stalker do to them?

"Heh, yeah." Ulala wiped a forming tear, "Well, even without the Persona. I'm sure I could still beat him out for you."

The two girls laughed. But even if Maya scoffed the stalker thing as joke, she couldn't help but worry.

She was thinking about it the next day that she unconsciously shared it with Yuki and Fujii and two more guys from the office. Yuki and Fujii had returned from their trip and were having lunch with the staff at Gatten Sushi in Hirasaka. Eikichi wasn't around, and there's no reason for Maya to ask his dad where he was.

"You're being stalked?" Yuki asked Maya, her chopsticks hanging in the air.

Maya paused; I didn't just retell the tale to them, did I? But she did, and there was no backing out.

"Did I say that?" Maya asked sheepishly.

"You said someone took pictures of you by secret. And you're assuming it was the same person who put up a not in your balcony." Fujii supplied. Maya giggled.

"That's something you should take seriously, Maya. Have you told the police?" Yuki asked, before munching on her sushi.

"I'm sure it's no big deal." Maya said, trying to look convincing.

"If he made it to your house, and took pictures of you without you noticing it, I'm pretty sure it's such a big deal." Yuki told her, her face frowning.

"Are you sure it wasn't a joke? Maybe one of your friends is trying to creep you out." A girl named Kitty from her office, the one who always wore a red jacket, said.

"Maybe high school neighbors? It's some silly prank kids these days do." Another girl, Marra, said.

Maya just shrugged.

"I don't know about you, Maya. But I'm going to tell the police about it. You should bring the pictures as your proof." Yuki informed her.

"Yuki," Maya said, "Thanks. But you don't have to. I can take care of myself."

Yuki looked unconvinced.

"Well, if there's anything you need, you could give me a call." Hiraii said, putting a hand onher shoulder. He was a man in his thirties, still single. He was the bulky guy who handles the photocopying machine back in Kismet. He had an obvious infatuation towards Maya. But Maya always disregards it.

The tension in the store disappeared when the others began teasing Hiraii about it. They went back to Kismet afterwards.

Hiraii offered Maya to take her home, to be sure she's safe. Maya kindly rejected the offer and left.

The following day, Maya didn't wake up from her Nekoclock. Instead, it was Ulala's voice waking her up.

Another note was plastered on her window.

"Shut you friend up."

Under those words was a picture of Yuki. Terror ran in her veins that she immediately called her friend. Maya sighed of relief when Yuki answered at the other end.

"Yuki, are you okay?" Maya asked.

"Uh, I'm fine. Why? What's up?" Yuki said.

"I just…wanted to check on you." Maya said, her eyes darted at the note. Ulala had just woken up when she saw the note. She made her way to the balcony and grabbed the note.

When Maya was at work, she was relieved to see Yuki doing well, aside from being scolded by Mizuno for unknown reasons. Even though she was an optimist, there's a chance something could happen to her friend if she told the police about the stalker thing. Perhaps it was a joke. But it was too much of a joke. This person, the stalker, had heard about their conversation back at Hirasaka. It could've been one of them, or this person had been following her without noticing.

Maya took her bag and went over the photos and the notes she managed to keep that came from this 'stalker'. Ulala had shoved it in her bag so that Maya could inform the police after work.

"Anything okay, Mackey?" Fujii asked from behind her, Maya didn't have time to hide the pictures.

He took one from the pile and thoroughly observed it.

"Well, this guy's got no sense of angling." He commented expertly. "He used a cheaper camera when he took these. Compared to mine." he said before sliding the photo back to her.

"What's up?" Yuki went to them and saw the pictures. "Are those it?"

Maya answered, "Yeah.."

Yuki and Fujii observed the pictures. Then Yuki spoke, "We're going today! After work. We're going to deliver this to the police station. We can't have someone doing this to you."

"No!" Maya jerked up, "I...I'll do it myself, Yuki, It's okay."

"Don't you two have a conference in Kakashi?" Hiraii asked from the other side of the desk. Fujii and Yuki are attending a photographer's meeting in Kakashi, Two miles away from Aoba.

"The conference can wait. I can't just let-" Yuki paused. Mizuno was looking at them from her office. Observing them since Yuki was making a fuss.

"I'll take these to the Police myself." Maya said, smiling. "You can attend the conference. Don't worry, Yuki."

"B-but."

"Come on, Yuki. Be positive!" Maya let out an infectious smile. Yuki tried smiling. Fujii chuckled and patted both their backs.

"See, Yuki? Mackey's a strong girl." He said.

"I-If you want," Hiraii stood up, "I can take Maya to the station."

"You would?" Yuki asked.

"Yeah. It's no big deal." He said.

"Well, as long as you're safe, Maya." Yuki told her.

"We'll be fine." Maya said.

No. She wasn't. Looking at the police station, she wondered if she would come across Katsuya. What would she say to him? Oh, congratulations for having a girlfriend. I hope you and Tatsuya are doing well. And oh, I'm being stalked. Like she would even say that.

Maya was hesitating. Maybe the world was only being exaggerating and this was only a stupid prank. Come on, this happened once before; ages before the Joker case. There was one time she received loved letters during high school. It was sweet in one perspective. But the words the note contained weren't. It said he would offer his life to her, give her his hair, and include a handful of hair in the letter. In the end, she found out it was only a prank from her friends.

Assuming it was a similar case, Maya refused to ask help from the police. Since the very beginning. Even during the Joker incident, she didn't seek help from the police. And she knew she would be able to take care of herself. And Yuki was no longer in danger since she's not informing the cops herself. So why continue?

"You don't have to if you don't want to." Hiraii said from behind.

She had completely forgotten who she was with. She spun around to face him.

"I'm sorry. I just..."

"It's okay. If you want, I could walk you home now. At least, I'll be sure you're safe and all this stalker talk will be over." Hiraii said.

Maya smiled. Her hands made their way to her elbows, she shivered a bit. Then Hiraii had removed his white jacket and put it around her.

"Come on." He said.

There was something comforting in his voice that soothed her. They both turned away from the station and headed to Lunar Palace, just across the block.

Maya didn't notice someone walking out of the Police Dept. He stood out there for a while, looking at Maya's fading figure. He recognized her, but couldn't tell who she was. Until the man, Hiraii, put an arm around her. This caught her off guard and turned to the man beside her. The Police officer identified her right away. It was the raven-haired girl he met six months ago.

"Wake up, nya." NekoClock said for the umpteenth time before Maya landed a hand on its head. She well last night. Ulala wasn't around when she arrived, so there was no one on the other room boxing with her furniture. The kind Hiraii had taken her to the lobby and watched her take the elevator. She kindly returned the jacket back to him since she didn't want him to go to her place at that time of night.

She had prepared to leave. She was going to take breakfast on the way to Kismet since Ulala wasn't there to cook breakfast for them.

When she opened her door, a letter in red ink was plastered with a thumbtack.

"I will never let anyone touch you." It said. Underneath was a photo of her curled up, sleeping.

She looked around to see if there was anyone around, but found no one.

Since she was almost late, she shoved it inside her bag and jogged down the lobby.

As she was passing by 24-hour mini store for a quick take out, her phone rang. It was Fujii calling.

"Mackey, have you seen the news?" There was tremor in his voice. Like something dreadful happened.

"No..why?" Maya spun around the store to look for the built-in tv that hung in the wall. There was murdered man in the news.

"Hold on," she informed Fujii and turned to the girl behind the counter, "Can you increase the volume on that?" The girl nodded and took the remote.

"-just last night. The man was seen by a group students in an alley." said the lady anchor.

"We thought we heard someone call for help so we checked." A video of one of the students was shown.

"It has been confirmed that the man's name is Hiraii Matsuda. He was taken to the hospital but was reported dead on arrival. The pattern of his death was-"

Maya dropped her phone. The picture of the man who just took her home last night was in the flat screen. Placed under the words: Unusual Killing.

Alright! So did I bore you to death already? I sure was. The first chapter was a bit boring since it only contained Maya's thoughts and few important parts and Katsuya's short appearances. But hey, I promise there would be more of Katusya coming. I mean, I just love those two. Don't get me wrong I also adore Tatsuya and Maya's relationship. But I really prefer Katsuya for her. I mean, KATSUYA's uber cute. hee hee

There were only a few KatsuyaXMaya stories so I thought I had to help this shipping out. :) I hope you guys like it. Did I make a mistake somewhere? Please do inform me. I would like to improve my work. So please don't hesitate to review. Reviews are like cookies to me. :)

Thank you for reading :D I really hope you like it.