A/N: I'm off from university for a while so will post more regular updates between working Christmas hours and doing my dissertation thesis :) As always, read, enjoy and review
She took another glance at her watch, then at him. It wasn't that late, and yet he was falling asleep.
"Senpai, are you ok?" She asked, kneeling down in front of him. "I guess that the last week has really taken its toll on you." She smiled.
"Mm-hm." He nodded sleepily. "It's ok, I can still be a good leader."
"I don't doubt that."
"Hey Naoto, can I wear your hat?" He asked in a half daze.
"M-my hat?" By instinct she reached to touch the brim of the hat.
She hadn't expected him to move as fast as he did, he wrapped his hands tight around her, pulling her forward until she tumbled slightly.
"S-senpai!" She tried to pull loose as she felt his head rest on her shoulder and his grip tighten. "Yu-kun please let me go!"
"Thank you Naoto-kun, for everything you did to help." The way he said it made her realise he wasn't just referring to her help after the Nanako incident. "Oh and Kohyru said you were confused, I really am glad you're a girl, and I really do love you." She could feel how hot her body was as he released his grip and she fell back onto her backside.
"I…I…" She took her hat off and placed it on his head.
"Thank you Naoto-kun, sorry about the sudden grabbing, I know you don't like it." He chuckled softly at how red she was. "I know you're still trying to sort your feelings."
"No…I mean…you know how I feel…" She blushed deeply. "It's just…"
"Whilst I remember, that stone in the middle of the ring…it's called a Star Sapphire…I've never seen one before, but I know of them." He glanced at the floor sheepishly. "They're rare to be found naturally, that thing is worth a fortune, my father has an interest in gemstones, he has helped with several businesses that trade in them."
"I've never really investigated the stones before." She admitted. "It seemed disrespectful to grampa, and my grandmother and mother."
"Why?"
"This was a handmade ring my grandfather had made for his wife, when my mother was born, they vowed they would give the engagement ring to the man that would win her heart, so that she could feel the joy and comfort that ring had bought…" she trailed off. "My grandmother died when my mother was a teenager, she never saw my father request the ring from grampa, giving it to my mother."
"Wait, if your mother was the Shirogane, surely you should have your father's surname?"
"No…my father did not want that, he wanted to be the next one to carry our family name and profession, he wanted my mother's name to be respected in this country too, just like it was in the Americas." She shook her head.
"After the accident, they recovered the ring from my mother's hand. My grandfather was hesitant to take the ring, and for nearly six months, I remembered he would be fiercely aggressive when it came to that ring, it never moved from the box on his desk." She hadn't realised she was talking about deep intimate feelings and memories, she could feel Yu pulling her close, feeling his warmth, and the contentment that came from himself and Kohyru's presence. "Then he decided that he wanted to do my grandmother's idea, he would keep the ring safe, but not until I married, like he had done for my mother. He would give it to me whilst I was still young."
"He gave it to a little girl?"
"I was five when he gave me the ring. He told me to keep it close at all times, and when I was old enough, I would fall in love myself, then that boy would have to come to him, just as my father did, and request for my hand in marriage…" She felt a sting at her eyes as she placed her hand on his chest, shuffling so her head was tucked beneath his chin. "Only then would I be allowed to wear the ring on my hand, until then, I was to wear it around my neck. It reminds me of my mother and father, and makes me think about who my grandmother was, I never had an interest in love before, but I know I was born of loving parents when I wear it." She felt as his breathing changed, he was comfortable, and deep down she knew she was as well, she felt an arm draped over her shoulder as his breathing became deeper, steadier and silence fell between them, they did not want to break the silence, an understanding passing between them as they caught just half an hour of sleep.
She stepped out to brew some more tea, and replace the candles on the table that had burnt out to nothing and bring the still sleeping Yu a cushion.
"Hey how does this thing work?" She heard through the door as she carried the tea tray back to the living room, and the now alert Nurakami, sat on the edge of the sofa.
"Did that sound like Rise-san to you?" He mused.
"She must be playing with the intercom." Naoto walked to the wall. "Grampa had these intercom screens in all the major rooms of the house, including our kitchen." She pointed to the screen.
"I don't think you're meant to hold it down like that Rise…and it does say to ring the bell first." Yu struggled to his feet, watching the screen as the smaller detective sighed with embarrassment.
"There is a huge button labelled 'bell'" She sighed. "You press that to alert us to your presence before you speak into the intercom, that button is meant so you can talk back to us when we speak to you."
"I know." The silverette noticed that Naoto had not made a move to either remove the speaker system with the screen embedded or talk back to their friends. "It comes off the wall, right?" In response she pulled it from the hooks that suspended the silver screen from the floor.
"It isn't raining any longer, and it's only eight in the evening, perhaps we should just observe. Like it was a nature documentary." He had a mischevious smirk.
"Hey senpai, since you're awake again, I was actually meaning to ask you something." She joined him, keeping a distance of one sofa cushion away from him, balancing the screen on the edge of the sofa arm.
"What is it?"
"It's about Kohyru, we know that the Kohyru you see and the one I see are the same, and I think you tried to explain to me about how it was I saw him when I was awake…"
Being a persona, he was caged up in Yu's heart in the world of reality, yet Yu had wanted to test a theory that Naoto had been pondering, could they both see the golden dragon that she claimed to see when she was awake on occasion? She had explained that the image she saw had been flickering and filled with static, almost like it had emerged from a badly tuned in television. When Yu had taken this to the velvet room, Margaret had suggested that each time Naoto had seen him; she had in her hand an electronic device, or was in the room with a large, switched off television – lucid dreaming and hallucinations accounted for the bathhouse incident, where Naoto had struggled to remain focused. Margaret had then explained that it was Naoto and his wish to allow it to pass through their minds, and it could be potentially be altered. Naoto had confirmed this and had wanted to test a second hypotheses before Nanako had become sick – she wanted to test if it was possible for both her and Yu to see the dragon together, doing the same movements and making the same noise, outside the TV – that test had been put on hiatus.
That had been tested inadvertently tested when Yu had mentioned seeing the dragon positioned behind her the night Nanako stopped breathing, leaning over her shoulder and whispering in her ear and she had seen him at the hospital, coiled tight around his master.
"Nao-chan! I know you're in there somewhere! Could you let us in?" Teddie's voice was shrill through the intercom. "Oooh buttons! Bear, bear, bear!" All he had managed was to increase the volume on either side of the line and a screech had echoed through the room where Yu and Naoto were seated. He laughed, laying across the space between them both and letting out a yawn. Naoto shuffled a little, wanting space between her and him, which she was sadly lacking again.
"Teddie! You don't know what those buttons do!" Yosuke scolded. "Look, that's a big house; maybe Naoto-kun can't hear us. One of these buttons must ring a bell."
"You said it was labelled, Nao-chan?" She blushed at Yu's new pet name for her. "They'll find it eventually."
"D-don't call me that!" She was aghast. "And you didn't let me ask my question!"
"Go ahead." He was trying to keep his eyes open.
"Can the others see him too? If we asked for it of course."
"I have no idea, can you hear him?" Yu was curious.
"No, he is almost always dormant when I am around you, he is yours after all." She had begun to stroke his hair without realising. "There is only one of him, and you said he's quiet when I say I can hear him."
"Well, let me see if I can hear him." He stretched slightly, giving her better access to soothingly pet his hair as he closed his eyes.
"What do you require of me master?"
I need you to come forward, Kohyru, guardian of the stars, the serpent that has guarded Naoto, and conquered her loneliness and fears, protected her emotions and proved that serpents are not tricksters.
"Open your eyes." His eyes shot open, to be met with a more solid image of the dragon. "I answered your call, what do you need of me master?" It turned to Naoto. "Misstress?" It growled softly.
"Do not refer to me as mistress." She reached out to touch it, disappointed that her hand still floated straight through the flickering dragon.
"We have decided to change our wish."
"And what wish is this?" It turned back to Yu, the ruby red eyes focused entirely on his own.
"I and Naoto-kun wish for the other persona users, our friends, to see your presence in this world, just once."
"If that is both what you will, it shall be so. Call upon me as you need."
"He seems to ignore me when you are around." She glanced down to the boy at her side, who was letting conscious slip from him again. "I wonder what's going on with those imbeciles outside?"
It had been half an hour, at the moment, they were arguing over disturbing Naoto, and whether she even knew where Yu was.
"Hey look, even a cat has outsmarted us." Sure enough, one of her family's cats had slipped between the bars of the gate stopping to glance back in defiant triumph.
"Ah stupid cat." Chie hadn't meant to kick it as hard as she did, she was aiming for the gate.
"What was that noise?" Yu's eyes shot open, his chest rising and falling in short gasps.
"Sorry." She had left them outside long enough, she didn't want them kicking her mother's cat or any of the other animals on the estate. She pressed the button on the intercom.
"Did you just kick my cat!?" She was pissed off, she held the intercom in her hands, holding the button as she seethed.
"Wha-?" Yosuke panicked, turning to the intercom the others were still recovering from the shock. "Why didn't you let us in!?"
"I was reading in my grandfather's study, I heard the screech of the cat through the door!" She lied, remembering they were not aware of Yu's presence in the house, nor the fact she had been observing them quietly for almost 45 minutes. "That does not give you permission to kick one of my family's animals!"
"I'm sorry!" Chie cried out, her and Yosuke had begun bickering.
"Give me a quarter of an hour." She let go of the intercom button.
"A quarter of a-!? Where is this girl's study!?"
"I guess they are stupider than I gave them credit for." She handed Yu the intercom, reaching for a button in the back to power the intercom down. "I will go and collect the one from the door beside Grampa's study. Perhaps you would be best to sleep here."
"Well that is no fun." He was teasing her, she knew it. "Well…I guess if you wish to test our little experiment…" He let out a long yawn.
Fool, I am used to late nights, you are not…
"Get some rest, I shall be back soon enough, should this work, perhaps we could spend tomorrow discussing what we know -in full - about the most unusual events with regards to your persona."
"That sounds like a plan, now shouldn't you be going to pretend you were in the library? I will sleep here until one of them clicks on." She nodded, turning away from him and switching out the lights, closing the door tight behind her.
Between them deciding to test if the others could see Kohyru when they were ready, they had devised a plan to test when the others eventually worked out where the 'bell' label on her gate was and when to reveal the dragon. Her grandfather had converted a large section of the house to almost be like a library, the study lined from floor to ceiling in bookshelves, broken by the large windows letting natural light in around the sofa and ancient desk that could be found on a mezzanine floor behind the rows of shelves. She sighed, taking her seat at the old desk, opening the laptop sat upon it.
Much like using the library system at school, she began to type the word "sapphire" into the search engine, specially designed to tell her the location of any book her heart desired in the room. There were several hits, the first five pages listed many of his detective novels. She sighed, searching "star sapphire" instead. There was but a single hit, and a note attached to the details of the book showed that Yakushiji had recently purchased an updated copy of an old textbook, moving the old one into the basement.
"A book on gemstones, what a strange thing, perhaps he used it for a case, or…maybe he used it to study the gems in the ring…"
She located the book, tucked it under her arm and then paced down the stairs, the intercom in another hand.
"Can you hear me?" She pressed the button down at the bottom of the stairs, bored of listening to yet more bickering from Chie and Yosuke and the howling laughter of Yukiko. "I'm just going to go and open the gate now."
The main gate mechanism was located besides the main door to the Shirogane estate, it was also the master control for the various portable intercoms located around the estate. From that mechanism she could power them all off until the morning, she did not desire more unexpected visitors.
"Master has asked me to aid you…" The voice was a deep growl, deep inside her thoughts.
"I see." She said to the air around her. "Then you will be most useful keeping a quiet watch." She assured. "I am certain I know what I am doing."
The gates slowly creaked forward, and the group eagerly rushed forward, running towards the bright light emitting behind the tiny figure at the huge door.
"Whoa this place is amazing!" Everyone was pacing around the entrance hall, too busy gawping to notice the nervous glance Naoto made towards the door behind which Yu was sleeping.
"It sure is…and Naoto-kun…sorry about the cat."
"There is a rather large button labelled "bell" on the gate, you use it to summon the attention of either myself, my grampa, his secretary or the estate staff, the sound is much louder than the one of people simply talking." She moved to the intercom and powered off the mechanism. "Now, what are you all doing at my home?" Noticing they all had rucksacks on their back. "Were you planning on going somewhere?"
"We were going to go to senpai's house, but his phone was off, and when we got there it was locked and the house was empty, we wondered if you knew where he might be?" Kanji did not notice her awkward shuffle under his gaze.
"Unfortunately, I do not." She felt guilty for lying. "He was here earlier, he bought me food, as a thank you for helping him."
"Oooh is that what I smell?" Chie and that damned nose, she'd probably smelt the steak from the street.
"Perhaps you would care for some food, myself and Yu could never have finished all the food he bought."
From behind the door which they had mostly ignored, a growl was against the half asleep boy's ear.
"She is leading them away."
"That is good." Yu twisted on his side. "Ah, I see what she means about the flickering." Sure enough, the dragon's image was flickering far more than normal.
"She is most interested in me, in learning about me."
"As am I, you are most unusual, your presence in her thoughts, your independent thought process of us both…you are not like my other personae." His muscles were still aching.
"I have a purpose. A purpose I intend to serve, just like my purpose as your persona." With a bow of the head, the dragon left its master to his half sleep.
-x-x-
This is so awkward…
"I just told you all you asked, he bought me food, we ate, we talked about Nanako." She noticed how they ate the now cold meal, the gluttony in their eyes. "Why are you all carrying bags?"
"Well…" Yosuke awkwardly glanced around the group. "We were…"
"We were hoping sensei was here, so we could all have a sleepover at the Amagi Inn again! We were going to invite you and sensei together, since we thought he would be visiting you! Since your grampa is still away and it's nearly Christmas!" Teddie chimed in, only quieting when he noticed the others glaring at him.
"I-is that so?" Naoto shook her head. "Well, the estate is empty tonight, I guess you could stay here."
-x-x-
A change of plans she was sure, but it seemed to work better in the long run, she had left the group in two separate bedrooms that had no assigned owner, then made her way into her own room to change into her pyjamas – urging the others to do the same, she made sure to make noise and draw attention as she passed by the doors to the rooms, mumbling about senpai and his phone and his possible whereabouts, she did not have to turn round at the stairs to see the rest of the group waiting for her to descend the stairs, at the bottom, they observed from the corner as she entered the room.
"Senpai?" She was sure to be loud.
"Naoto-kun?" He was groggy.
They paced to the door, carefully glancing in.
