A/N: Boom shakalaka boom KanjixNaoto go! Short chapter.
Kanji sat thoughtlessly on the roof of Yasogami High. He was literally just sitting there staring at the sky. Not a thought passed through his mind. Usually he thought about something else to avoid the problem at hand but this time he just turned it all off. The troubled young man was too exhausted to distract himself. He had stayed up late into the night thinking about the arrangement he had made after Yosuke's harsh teasing. Since Souji left, Yosuke had become even more out of line.
"Woah, do you still like dudes? You don't ever even seem interested in girls, no matter how cute." Yosuke teased Kanji, only half jokingly. After that, Kanji was pissed. He immediately pulled out his phone and text Noato a request to go on a date. That had occurred a few days before and Kanji wasn't able to talk to Naoto casually afterwards.
Finally a thought came back into focus, if he kept sitting there he'd be late. He forced himself to stand and dejectedly went towards the door. His bulky figure started a slow walk down the stairs but his mind was still on the roof, thinking only of the simplicity in the blue sky. His body went into automatic mode so he didn't notice the small figure running up the stairs. Their bodies collided and the small girl tumbled back over the stairs behind her.
Seeing the girl falling brought Kanji's brain back to his body. The cap fell off her head and her dark blue hair flew into her face. She grunted. Her eyes shut tight from both pain and surprise. Slowly, she looked up at the burly boy in front of her, "Kanji..."
Kanji quickly grabbed Naoto's arm and hauled her up. "I'm sorry." He picked up her hat and handed it to her. He frowned slightly when he looked at her, it was like what he was dreading to face ran head first into him. Actually, it wasn't like that, that was exactly what happened. "You okay?"
Naoto nodded her head solemnly, "Indeed I am." She looked up at Kanji's face. The dark circles around his eyes were obvious, he couldn't have gotten more than two hours of sleep. "The arrangement, as you said, date, you asked for me to accompany you upon was scheduled to begin thirty minutes ago. I assumed you would be up here and came to check." She didn't sound angry nor look upset, in fact, she was trying to keep from sounding excited. For at least the last month Naoto didn't want anything more than a date with Kanji Tatsumi.
His jaw slackened from slight surprise. "Thirty minutes? I felt like I was up there for three minutes. " Kanji sighed. He grabbed the back of his neck and closed his eyes. "You know, if you don' wanna come you don' have to. It won' hurt my feelings or nothin'." That was a lie, he'd be bummed as hell.
Naoto smiled and shook her head, "No..it will not be a problem. I'm actually quite looking forward to it, to be honest." Kanji raised an eyebrow. Maybe, a little too honest, Noato silently scolded herself. "Well, I've never been on a 'date' before so it will be a new experience for me."
Kanji grinned at the girl before him, "Same here." He shrugged, "I don' even know if it could be considered a date if we have no idea what we're supposed to be doing on a date."
"Well calling it a 'date' obviously refers to it being an arranged meeting. It is used to describe the meeting of two people interested in getting to know each other better. Whether the interest continues to intimacy is decided by whether or not the two enjoy each other's company and find the other's personality or physique appealing. How fast things go are based upon what the participants' intentions are." Naoto didn't take a breath between sentences like she was reading off a cue card. She looked up at Kanji's confused face and blushed, "A-at least that was how it was explained to me." I'm too n-nervous for this. Even my thoughts can't think straight.
"Ah, well.." Kanji paused. He couldn't find the words to say. Think of something before it gets awkwarder, Tatsumi! "That's prob'ly right. Let's get going." Kanji and Naoto walked together to Souzai Daigaku and bought some steak skewers before heading to Samegawa River.
When they sat down to eat Naoto decided it was time to start a conversation. Something simple. Something that won't cause conflict. "This place is beautiful. This whole town is beautiful. I wish I could've grown up somewhere like this."
Kanji frowned, "I'm glad you didn't." He looked at Naoto's perplexed expression. "If you did, you wouldn't be you. You'd be a different version of you. One not as cool or smart.." He could have continued, he had a million more words to describe Naoto. His better judgment told him to stop there though.
"Oh." She blushed and averted her eyes. She shoveled steak in her mouth so she couldn't say anything stupid. I-is he complimenting me? One tiny piece of meat, just big enough to get stuck, went down her wind pipe when she started panicking over the compliment. She coughed and coughed but was too panicked to do anything else.
"Whoa whoa whoa! You choking?!" Kanji quickly jumped up. He grabbed each of her wrist and made her put her hands on her head. The piece of meat went down and she took a deep breath.
"Thank you." She coughed. "If you weren't here I wouldn't be breathing right now."
Kanji smiled, "Well, if I wasn't here you wouldn't have had a reason to be eating steak skewers down here. But it's no biggie, I just remembered how when I choked when I was younger I'd put my hands on my head and it'd usually work." Her throat must be dry and sore now. Kanji pulled a water bottle out of his bag and handed it to Naoto.
She nodded her thanks to Kanji and gulped down half the bottle. When she tried to hand it back to Kanji he waved it away and she finished it. "Thank you so much." Even though it is technically your fault I started choking, with your damn compliment. She added the last part silently before saying, "I think our 'date' is going marvelously."
He nodded agreement. "Yup, choking is always a fun time." Kanji rolled his eyes. "But I thought it would be worse." He shrugged, "Honest is the best policy so to tell you the truth, I was scared shitless." It's going well enough, if she decides she don't like me then that's just that. "The only reason I asked was because Hanamura pissed me off into doing it. I would've never had the balls otherwise so I'll have to thank him."
Naoto smiled slightly. I never thought annoying teasing from Yosuke would've pushed us together. "Ah, but what if I decide I hate you? Wouldn't you want to bash his head in or something if that happened?" Naoto looked up at the muscular boy. "That's not what is going to happen, quite the opposite actually, but can we pretend it does just so you can beat him up?"
Kanji laughed. "Wow Naoto, you have the best evil ideas." He replayed her words in his head. "quite the opposite actually" Wait... "Wait... you said something about the opposite of deciding you hate me in there. What does that mean?"
Naoto smiled slyly, "Oh, you've caught me. That means." She took a small step closer to the now sweating boy and look directly into his eyes. "I think I like you Kanji Tatsumi." It worked, I thought of it like my detective work, dropping a subtle hint that unravels the case. And it made me feel normal when I said it, like confessing to a crime. I guess I'm the criminal in this case and he's the detective though.
"Woah." Kanji blushed and smiled. "I-I-I like you too." Don't stop there Tatsumi, be a man, keep on going. "Do you wanna be my girl?" He prepared for the worst and hoped for the best. The worst being he took her the wrong way, that question was completely out of line, being slapped, and her hating him. The best being her saying yes.
Naoto's smile widened slightly, "Yes. Though I do not guarantee I'll keep the position forever." Close enough to the best. "Though I must sadly say, I must go, I have business to attend to."
Kanji didn't care she had to go, to him, they had the rest of their lives now. "Let me walk you wherever you have to go." He pouted, "Please."
Her smile widened yet again, "Wouldn't deny you the pleasure. I must return home to do some homework and such. You can join me for homework if you wish." Just an excuse to spend even more time with him.
"Ah, yeah, I'd like that. Need better grades and crap." Kanji shrugged. "Please lead the way."
Naoto began walking up the path. "Quite the gentleman now huh?" Kanji raised an eyebrow. " 'Please lead the way.' Words like those never have passed through your lips and to my ears before." Kanji just shrugged. x
When they made it to outside of the apartment complex the sun was already setting. Kanji growled, "I didn't know it was that far. Sorry, I can't stay for homework, gotta head home or Ma will worry." Kanji really did want to stay but he could put money on the fact that if he came home at night, from a girl's house, his mother would flip a lid.
"Ah, yes. Quite understandable. Then I'll see you tomorrow." Naoto nodded and stuck out her hand.
Kanji stared at her hand. "Uh.." He blinked a few times. I don' think shaking hands is something we normally do. I'm not doing that. Kanji took her hand like he was going to shake it with a soft grip. He turned the back of her hand upwards. He got on one knee and kissed her hand. " 'Til next time." He quickly stood up and walked away, leaving the blushing Naoto in front of the apartment complex.
