Author's Note: Thank you for reading onto Chapter 6! And thank you thank you thank you for those wonderful reviews! I can't say thank you enough! I'm soooo happy! Really, I don't know how I can put it into words, but thank you so much! I never thought I could receive these many reviews for one chapter. I can't tell you how happy I am. Your reviews are my power and my inspiration. Thank you again everyone! I really appreciated it.
Now, how should I brief you on this chapter… I'd say that you'll see how sweet Akihiko is. Yeah, I know that some of you are rooting for Akihiko and wish that he would have more roles/actions. Don't worry, he will. I assure you that he will, please bear with me for now. The drama is just starting, I'm working on it.
Oh, and to answer one of the review. Yes, there'll be love scenes later on. I did rate this fic M didn't I? So yeah, there'll be love scenes/mature contents in future chapters. I just don't want to jump to that just yet. I want to create a story and relationships first, so that the love scenes would be meaningful. I'm sorry if I keep you guys waiting long, but yeah… I want to do the drama first. Lols.
I gotta tell you, I've only written one lemon for Harvest Moon, and only one chapter. So I'll be having a hard time writing love scenes later on, but I'll do my best. So again, please bear with me for now… I'm still learning and improving.
Ah, also, my 2nd year at the university is starting tomorrow. I'm not sure if I'll have as much time to work on this story or not. But I'll do my best, as usual. I'll try not to keep you guys waiting long. Especially not after those wonderful reviews I received. So yeah, I'll try to update as soon as possible.
I think I've kept you here for a while now, so here's Chapter 6! I hope you guys like it as much as the others!
As always, thank you for reading. I hope you all enjoy the story/chapter and *please* review so I could improve! ^^

Disclaimer: I do not own Persona

Chapter 6 Worried

1F Dorm Lounge – Late Evening

"We're back." Hikaru said as she entered the dorm with Shinjiro and Koromaru. The white Akita just wandered into the lounge, whining happily. He lay down at his usual spot and went straight to sleep, causing Hikaru to giggle at him.

"Ah, you guys are back. How was the walk?" Hikaru turned around at the voice, and there was no surprised to see Akihiko sitting at the couch, holding a book in his hand and looking straight at her and Shinjiro.

"It was great." She answered, grinning. "The weather was nice too. I'm sorry I didn't take you with me… but I already promised Shinjiro-senpai.."

"It's okay. Don't worry about it." Akihiko said, waving his hand, though he did notice that Hikaru referred to Shinjiro by his first name, causing Akihiko's expression to change for a split second then immediately back to normal. "You don't have to feel guilty. It's not your fault." He added, all the while keeping his eyes on Shinjiro, who stared back silently.

"I'm going to make Koromaru dinner. Call me if you need anything." Shinjiro stated, the last sentence he said directly to Hikaru before taking off, disappearing into the kitchen.

"So, you had fun?" The sudden question from Akihiko startled Hikaru a bit. She arched up an eyebrow, curiosity painted across her face but she decided to say nothing about it.

"I think it was Koro-chan who had fun, but it's good to get some fresh air." She replied, trying not to think about what really happened since it would bring blush to her face. "But I'm surprised to see you're up so late, senpai." She commented, taking off her shoes and walked up to sit next to Akihiko.

"Well, I usually stay up quite late, studying and training, but then again, I spend most of the time in my room." He explained with a gentle smile, his eyes then widened when he suddenly caught a sight of Hikaru's hand and noticed the burn on the back. "Akane! What happened to your hand?" He said in a serious voice, taking a hold of her hand.

"Ah, that. I completely forgot." She said shyly, rubbing the back of her neck. "Um.. well.. I spilled some hot green tea over it before I went for a walk. It doesn't hurt as much anymore though."

"Wait here, I'll get the first aid kit." and without giving a chance for her to respond, he was off, going through the shelf near the reception, grabbed a white box and came back in a matter of seconds.

"You don't have to be so anxious, senpai. It's nothing." The way he rushed things for her caused Hikaru to giggle softly, feeling the warmth rising in her heart, but Akihiko seemed too focused on her injury to pay attention to that.

"At least take care of it properly." He said in a stern voice as he gently applied the medicine on her wound. Hikaru then noticed that his face was very serious, he was truly worried about her. It somehow made her blush lightly.

"I'm sorry, senpai." Hikaru said softly, looking guilty, causing Akihiko to turn to her, wearing a questioning look.

"Why are you apologizing?" He asked, his voice was gentle, full of worry.

"Because you seem so worried about me." She replied in a faint voice, looking down at her hand.

"Of course I'm worried." He said, still looking at her with gentle gaze as he carefully put a bandage on the back of her hand. "You always push yourself so hard, trying your best in everything. Don't get me wrong, it's a good thing. You're a great leader. But you have to take care of yourself sometimes. You worry me."

"I…" was all Hikaru could get out. The warmth and gentleness in his voice caused her to blush. She wasn't familiar to this feeling, to have others worried about her since she was always alone, up until now. "I-I'm sorry.." She whispered, still looking down but a faint smile slowly appeared on her face. "It's just… I don't know what it's like…to have someone worried about me so much.."

"I understand.." Again, his voice was gentle, so gentle that she could felt unfamiliar warmth rising inside her. "But you're not alone anymore. You have friends, you have us. All members of S.E.E.S. worried about you. We're all here for you. And I am here, for you." He looked deep into her eyes as he said it, his expression showed that he was serious, with every word he had said.

Hikaru expected that he would get all embarrassed and say something like 'I didn't mean it that way', but he didn't, he just kept looking straight at her, as if he was telling her that he meant it.

Somehow, she was suddenly aware that her hand was still in Akihiko's grasp. He gently held on to it, brushing his thumb over her wound tenderly, as if he was trying to ease her pain. This caused her to blush darker shade of red, unable to meet his eyes.

"T-Thank you… Sanada-senpai.." She finally broke the silence, only to receive a scolding look from the person in front of her, making her realize. "Ah! Um… I mean.. Thank you… Akihiko-senpai.." She corrected, casting her eyes down.

"What's wrong?" He asked out of curiosity, noticing that she wouldn't meet his gaze for a while now.

"N-Nothing.. senpai.. It's just…" Hikaru pressed her lips together, gathered enough courage to look up at him. "You're so kind to me… I just…don't know what to do…"

"Ah, I'm sorry! Did I make you uncomfortable?" Akihiko responded, immediately letting go of her hand. He started to panic.

"No! It's not that…!" She paused, trying to think of the right thing to say to him. "As I said before… I'm not used to having someone getting so worried about me.. I don't know what to do…" Her eyes casted down again as she muttered under her breath, blushing deep red. "What should I do… at a time like this…?"

Akihiko let out a soft sigh, he pressed his lips together, pulling the girl into his arm in a tight embrace, causing her to freeze, eyes widened in surprise.

"A-Akihiko-senpai!" She exclaimed shakily, her arms remained in the air, unsure of what to do.

"I'm sorry… But could you let me stay like this.. just for a second… Please…" His voice made her freeze. She couldn't explain why, but it sent exotic warmth through her body, calming her down, though the sensation was not the same when she was with Shinjiro. It was different, but she was unable to put it into words.

Hikaru calmed down after a while and she could hear her own breathing, as well as Akihiko's. She couldn't tell how much time had passed until she noticed that he hadn't move an inch and his breathing became surprisingly steady. She pushed him back slightly to look at his face, only to see that he was asleep.

She raised her eyebrow in surprise, gently laid his body onto the couch, careful not to wake him up. Her red eyes studied his sleeping face; somehow, he looked kind of worn out.

"That idiot." The deep, familiar voice caused Hikaru to flinch in surprise, gazing her eyes back to see Shinjiro walking up to her, his eyes looking at Akihiko. He was wearing his usual unreadable expression. "He was waiting for you to come back even though he was exhausted. I guess he wanted to make sure that you're safe." He added, his face had not changed at all. "Tch. This idiot. Like I'd let anything happened to you."

Hikaru smiled at his words. She then turned to look at Akihiko, a gentle smile stretched across her face.

"I wonder why he's so nice to me…" She mumbled innocently, eyes studying Akihiko's peaceful face, her hand touching his silver hair gently. Shinjiro's gaze suddenly turned to her, a thought popped into his mind.

Hikaru must have reminded him of Miki… But if that's not the case… then maybe…

"I think I should turn in too. I have school tomorrow." Hikaru words interrupted Shinjiro's thought. She focused her eyes at Akihiko once more. "But we can't leave him like this. What are we gonna do?"

"It's late. Just go to bed. I'll take care of this idiot." Shinjiro concluded bluntly, turning his head to look at Hikaru.

"Okay." She agreed obediently before looking up at him. "And… I'm sorry I have to skip dinner again today. I'm too tired and too sleepy to eat. But I'll have a proper dinner tomorrow, I promise!"

Her words brought a faint smile to Shinjiro's face. His arm pulled her close for a quick kiss on the lips. His face was kind when he drew back.

"I'll let that go for today. Just go to sleep." He repeated, giving her a light kiss on her forehead. "Good night."

"Good night." She said with a big grin before wandered off, disappearing to the second floor.

Now that Hikaru was gone, Shinjiro sighed to himself, his eyes focused on Akihiko, who was still in deep slumber.

"Now I have to carry you?" He questioned, knowing that he wouldn't get anything in reply. He sighed deeply once more while walking to his friend. He put Akihiko's arm over his shoulder and held his body up, groaning at the weight. "Damn. Heavier than you look." He complained, trying to keep balance as he partly held Akihiko to walk along with him.

"….Hi…karu…" A sound escaped Akihiko's lips, which caught Shinjiro's attention in an instant. The sound was faint; almost a whisper, but it was so loud in Shinjiro's mind.

"Aki.. you…" He paused, pressing his lips together to restrain his mixed emotions. He let out a long sigh, turning his attention back to helping Akihiko get back to his room.

The Next Day

In front of Gekkoukan High – Early Morning

It was a normal morning, early in the morning. Hikaru, Junpei and Yukari were walking from the train station to the school, with Junpei talking and complaining the whole time.

"God. I'm still so damn sleepy." Junpei yawned, tears swelling up in his eyes. "Why do we have to go to school so early? I just don't get it."

"Gosh. Did you ever shut up?" Yukari rolled her eyes.

"Come on Yuka-tan! It's too early to study! I can't concentrate when I'm sleepy." He protested, gaining another eyes rolling from the person mentioned.

"Like you ever concentrate!" She countered immediately. "You'll be sleeping in class anyway. So why complain?"

Hikaru just watched two of them arguing in silence. Nice weather, Junpei looked like he's ready to doze off the minute they got to class, Yukari was sick of him complaining and the two of them arguing. Yup, just the usuals.

As she was about to finish her routine school morning by get in the school and head straight to class, upon her arriving in front of Gekkoukan High, her eyes caught a sight of familiar figure with beautiful silver hair entering the school gate, not so far from her.

Akihiko-senpai?

Hikaru paused for a moment.

"Hey, you guys go ahead to the classroom. I'll catch up later." and with that, she was off, walking with more speed than usual.

Surprised by Hikaru sudden words, Yukari and Junpei immediately stopped their argument. The teen boy tilted his head to the side, raising a brow.

"Where's she goin'?" He wondered as Yukari's eyes followed her friend. She looked ahead to where Hikaru was heading, a faint smile then appeared on her face when she saw Akihiko.

"Let's go." Yukari said after knowing the reason. She grabbed Junpei's arm, forcing him to come with her.

"W-Wait! We don't know where Hika-chan is going yet!" He protested.

"Oh, just shut up, Stupei!" She said, slightly annoyed as she was using her full force to drag him into the school, with Junpei resisting the entire time.

Meanwhile, the sound of footsteps rushing toward him caused Akihiko to turned around, warmth rising in his heart as he saw Hikaru trying to catch up to him.

"Akane?"

"You walk so fast, Akihiko-senpai." Hikaru told him, breathing quickly. She arched an eyebrow when she lifted her head and saw surprise painted across Akihiko's face. She spoke her thought. "Why are you looking so surprise, senpai?"

"Oh, nothing," he said, a faint blush appeared on his face. "It's just that… I don't get to see you in the morning so often."

"Yes, you're right.." She realized. "Um.. H-How are you feeling?" The question brought back the surprising look on Akihiko's face. "I mean, last night, you fell asleep all of the sudden so I figured you must be very tired."

"Ah, that." Akihiko looked away from her gaze, embarrassed. "I-um…"

"If its okay with you, can I say something first?" Hikaru interrupted him, waiting until she received a nod from him then continued. "I-I just want to say…" She paused, feeling her own face heating up. Taking in a deep breath, she forced herself to go on. "T-Thank you for staying up and waited for me last night. You must be exhausted. And I'm sorry for making you worried so much."

Argh! Why is it so embarrassing just to say something this simple? She shouted silently, still blushing deep red.

Akihiko's eyes widened with surprise for a second. He looked at the girl in front of him, a weird feeling twirling inside him. He couldn't explain why. She knew I was waiting for her? Wait, how can-? N-No! That's not important! But she is not mad at me? Wha- Argh! What the hell! My head is a mess right now!

After panicking in his own head for a while, Akihiko finally spoke.

"I-It's okay. Don't worry about it." His gaze then moved to her hand. "How about your hand? Is it getting better?"

"Much. Because you helped me last night, it doesn't hurt at all. Thank you again." She said with a big smile, causing Akihiko's heart to skip a beat. But before any of them could say anything, the first bell rang throughout the school. "Shoot! I have to hurry! Sorry for holding you here, senpai!" She told him, turning around to run toward her classroom.

"Wait!" He grabbed her wrist, causing her to look back at him curiously. "If you aren't doing anything after school, would you like to go somewhere with me?"

Hikaru was quite surprised by his sudden request, but after all he'd done for her, she just gave him a bright smile.

"Of course, senpai. See you after school!" She answered cheerfully. Akihiko just smiled back and let go of her wrist. She flashed him another gentle smile before running off to her classroom.

After Hikaru left, Akihiko then rushed toward his classroom, all the while pondering and thinking hard on only one serious question.

Great. Now, how the hell should I tell the members of the boxing team that their Captain is not going to be there for today's practice?

P.S. Please review! Reviews are the source of my power :3