Riddle me this

Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

Beta: Lady Lunar Phoenix

A/N: To answer Prinny Ramza, yes, when I wrote that particular line, I did note the irony and humor. It's kinda like breaking the fourth wall without realizing it!

They came like white feathers, a proclamation of a type of war that was festering between them.

How could you betray me like this? It had been written in angry slashes.

What are you talking about? I've kept your secret. Nice crisp strokes there.

I may not be a detective, but don't patronize me. I know you figured it out by now.

I know what I'm doing.

You don't know anything

Then tell me.

I can't.

Can't or won't.

Both.

The first letter had been sent through her shoe locker, he had come early to school just to drop that one off. Her reply came during an 'accidental' bump between home room and first period. They passed notes written in growing anger at each other all day. At least Souji was getting angry, Naoto seemed collected the whole time. She even looked pleased that she had gotten beneath his skin in fact. Thus Souji stalked his way to the detective's apartment, the letters they had exchanged through out the past day beating through his head. He made his way up to the door unable to decide what he was going to do the Detective. He barely restrained himself from breaking the door down, waiting for the young detective. When it opened the only thing he had enough control to say was "Hello, Princess." Before he shoved her back into her apartment with enough force to send her to the ground.

She looked beautiful on the ground, men's slacks, blue shirt with a vivid yellow tie hanging from her neck. The hat would stay on her head through out a hurricane he was sure, the chest flat, but he knew that it was a lie. She was dressed down, almost casual, increasing the notion that she wasn't prepared for anything. But this girl was a fighter, and he couldn't help but admire how much of one she was. While she stared up at him in surprise, right before it switched to growing anger as she began to get up from the floor. 'Want to fight me Naoto-chan? Then get up, you got me in just the right frame of mind to forget you're a girl.'

He kicked off his shoes and shut the door quickly before he grabbed the tie she was wearing. He yanked her to her feet as he stalked past her feeling her stumbling after him trying to catch up to him. From there he threw her up against the first clear wall he came to, pinning the girl up against the wall using just his hands. Hands held high over her head as he glared down at her. "What were you thinking? 'Were' you thinking?" He demanded. The unofficial member, the one he hid from the group, why did she have to try so hard?

"Serving as bait," she replied, her voice low and dangerous, even now pinned against the wall stretched up by how he was holding her hands. Even now she looked defiant, one would have thought she was the one holding Souji down into near submission. He stood there looking almost straight down to see her face, while she looked up at him pressed between the wall and Souji's body. She looked so strong, but after having dealt with the Other world Souji knew she could get stronger. He could feel her sleeping Arcana nestled deep inside her, waiting to wake up. If this was how she was when she was sleeping, he ached to know what she would be like awakened. How much would she grow? Could she make him submit to her as he could make her to him?

"This isn't a fishing trip!" He snapped thinking back on the Shadows, about being forced to face a person's other self. He felt tense and scared at the same time, it was different then with Yukiko or Rise, even Kanji. Each one didn't know what was going on, they were kidnapped. But Naoto was openly challenging the murderer to come after the smaller detective. More then that, Naoto was counting on being a victim without even fully understanding the potential ending. "You'll be gone, they'll just assume you've run away. They won't think you're in any sort of danger until they find you hanging upside down from a TV antennae!"

"Are you implying you can't save me?" She asked her voice calm as she began trying to free herself from his grip. As close as they were, her writhing only served as a reminder of how slender her body was. "Are you saying I've signed my death warrant because you're not even going to try?" She looked up into his eyes, her voice was a low growl, a lone lioness facing the lion of a pride.

But if she could say anything to make his frustration worse it was that. He grabbed the cuffs of her sleeves and pinned them to the wall with one hand. With his right hand free he reached down and yanked on her tie forcing her forward while pinning her back. In a blink of an eye she was teetering on the brink of losing her balance. She was at his utter mercy now. "How does it feel, Detective 'Prince'? How does it feel to have your feet on the ground and not know what the next five minutes are going to bring, as the situation you're currently in gets thrown completely out of balance?"

He kicked her feet out from under her, releasing her hands at the same time. He didn't let her fall to the ground though, in those last moments he grabbed her arm and yanked her to her feet. Shoving the girl forward even as she stumbled and he pursued. "I go after these people because no one else can. But I don't go into it half cocked like this is some video game. There's no restart button on what I'm doing, there's no replay. No one is going to send me back in time a week to fix my screw up if someone dies."

"I'm more then just an empty headed girl with a fixation on romance." She shot back, moving as she refused to let him get his hands on her again. "But I've put myself into this situation as my last gamble. I tried to tell them they haven't got the original murderer, Kubo is just a copycat nothing more. They won't look, they won't listen because of my age. They're going to let Kubo go and take the blame for the three murders and the real culprit will be left to walk free." Her voice was heated, he could imagine this was what she was like in the springs when she went off on his behavior.

"So this is your solution? Make yourself into bait? If you die then everyone is going to realize you're right? We'll all throw a grand funeral and speak about how intelligent you were?" He began blocking her, she'd move left he'd move to block, she'd try right and he'd move there too. So all she had left was to retreat, and without thought she did so. She ended up in another room, the living room if they had the ability to notice. But it was as though two predators were fighting, they could have been in the middle of a burning building. Nothing was going to stop them. He was going to tear her down until she realized her stunt was stupid and careless.

"How dare you! How dare you talk to me this way!" she near shouted, her control snapping finally. "You can't understand what it's like to be me! I was born to a family that prides itself on the detectives that have been born from it. All my life all I hear is that it's a 'shame' that I'm a girl. No matter how many cases I solve no matter what I try to do, I'm never going to be anything more then a baby carrier for another man's child. I can't even keep the Shirogane name!" she growled out her chest heaving with her anger. If she screamed her voice would hit it's true pitch, and that was something she didn't seem to want. "I need them to understand! I need them to realize the mistake they're making before it gets worse!" She suddenly stopped, putting her back to him as she took off her hat before raking her fingers through her hair. "I'm a detective, risk is involved in my line of work. If you're not man enough to accept that then get out of my apartment."

The statement left him standing there feeling cold and hot at the same time. She scored a serious hit on him with that one remark. She was right, he couldn't protect her from everyone, the life of a detective was one with danger as an eternal partner. He fell in behind her, but she picked up on the danger and tried to dash out of his reach. He grabbed her wrist as she tried to escape his pursuit, yet she grabbed his wrist with her free hand in answer. Before he knew what happened, she had pulled him down to his knees and had his arm twisted out and rested on her thigh. She stole his balance, his posture, in a single fluid move had put him to his knees and had one slender hand applying pressure to his shoulder.

She had put him to his knees, she didn't need words after a move like this. Outweighed, smaller, and still defiant while he tried to think of a counter move. He turned his head slightly, gazing at her while she stared down at him pleased with herself clearly. "You wanted me to get upset." He finally commented softly. At her pleased smirk and nod he raised an eyebrow. "Why? What do you gain to make me want to do this?"

"Because it proves me stronger." She replied simply. "This way you respect my decisions, instead of trying to hide me away like some weak little girl."

"When have I ever treated you like you were weak?" He demanded his fingers flexing instinctively. She didn't flinch, the smile settling into her eyes even. How could she be like this? How could she not understand human interaction?

"You won't tell me the truth. You won't tell me where the victims are being taken when kidnapped. You're hiding things from me even as you say you trust me. Why would you do that if you don't think I'm incapable of handling things."

Detective novels, that's all she read, that's all she knew. She didn't know how to read a person's feelings, because she hid from her own feelings and thoughts. Focused herself purely on her intellect and tried to forsake her emotions. A 'Hard-boiled' detective was her goal, but those detectives were only two dimensional beings. They didn't show the day to day events that went on in the life of a person, rather the days of a person on a case. "You think my concern is a sign of my contempt? You think my desire for your safety is my way of showing you unable to handle the case?" He asked his voice soft betraying his anger. No wonder Kanji never made any headway with the girl even if he didn't know Naoto was a girl. "Tell me Naoto-kun, where are your neighbors during this time of the day?" he asked his voice growing hard.

"Not home, but I don't see you escaping my hold," she replied smugly.

"You have a hold on me that I can probably never break." He agreed before his voice turned hard. "But your shear unbridled, insufferable arrogance is something I'm going to break. You're so fixated on the excuses you create as to why you don't get the respect you feel is your due, that you ignore the very reason it happens. Simply put you act like a child!" He felt her nails dig into his flesh with that statement. "You think that people don't listen to you because of your age and gender alone? Perhaps the outside world does that. Maybe it's because when they tell you something you put them on ignore. You go into every situation thinking that people are looking down on you. Judging them before you even give them a chance. Because the only thing you know are the two dimensional characters in books. You have no life experiences, or understanding of the hearts that beat in people. Right now you have someone that is worried about you. But instead of seeing it for what it is, you automatically twist it into some type of misogynistic reason. You can't even comprehend that the reason I do what I do is because I'm worried about you. You just can not accept the idea that your life is important. Title be damned."

"How dare you..." her voice was trembling, she sounded like she was struggling against his words.

From the softer gentle Persona he had summoned up, he switched to one of his stronger ones. The hold he was in was good, it could hold down a grown man even, for as long as she could hold out. But it wasn't enough against someone who could adjust their strength to exceed limitations. With that he untwisted his arm as though her hands weren't bearing down on it, or on his shoulder. Then he stood up, "is that the type of men you respect? I can be that you know. I can be whatever type of man or leader you need. I can throw you to the ground, ignore you, treat you like dirt because I know what you hide under those clothes. Or I can treat you like a human being."

She tried to slap him, but he caught her hand and twisted it downward, forcing her to her toes and leaning against him. "Do you want me to break a bone or two in you Naoto-chan?" He asked his voice casual, and cruel in that casual ambivalence towards her pain.

"No," she breathed that word out her eyes locked with his. He could see her eyes, saw the pain in them. He was lost in her eyes as well, the vivid shade of color, how her hair framed her face. Oh Rise tried to get his attention, all the girls did, but there was something about Naoto that just drove him to distraction. Chie was tough, like Naoto, but Naoto's was a driven strength as well as an act. She was pretending to be something she wasn't, and under all that Detective Prince aloofness he had discovered a shy, introverted girl over the past few weeks.

His fingers slackened letting Naoto go, unable to continuously hurt her. From the corner of his vision he could see her fall back a half step, her good hand rubbing the injured wrist. He was supposed to be in control, to stay in control, but trust Naoto to make him forget that. Did she realize the nightmares he would have now? Did she realize the worry she had inflicted into him by this stunt?

"Pretend... Pretend that I will believe and trust every word you say. Then tell me the truth about what is going on." She finally asked her voice soft and even.

Swallowing a lump in his throat he finally yielded to her aggressive pursuit of the truth. "I won't be able to find you. Rise is the one who finds people not me. But even then she just locates the path that leads to where the victim is held. Once that's found it's multiple levels and you'll be somewhere at the end of that building. We only have so many days until the victim is killed."

"They'll be killed on a foggy day. Which means if I get taken away soon, you have until the next foggy night to find me before the murderer kills me." She said it so easily, as though she had no fear of dying. At the same time she rested her hand on his lower chest and waited for an answer to her unspoken question.

"Rescuing you, like the others takes time. We try to get it done all at once, but the locations are getting more difficult to enter." She was quiet when he was done, her eyes lowered, clearly thinking. Before he leaned down towards her, "I may never get the chance to see you again. If I fail this time, so forgive me." With that he grabbed her by the back of the head, pulling her in as he stole a kiss from her. For a moment all he could feel was her soft lips as her slender body pressed against his own body, knowing full well to expect a slap for this as well. Suddenly her lips parted though, her weaker hand reaching up and pulling him in. What started out as just an attempt to say what could be a final farewell, turned into something more deeper and intimate. Before she pulled away her cheeks aflame with her natural modesty.

He let her go before he slipped away on his own. Leaving the apartment before he said something he would truly regret. The kiss was bad enough, it was enough of an upheaval before her trap was sprung. Saying what was in his heart, would have to wait.