(a/n: I've warned enough, but once again this chapter is THE chapter. Nothing too graphic, but it's a heavy T, I think.)

It was October 2. Minako had taken a few days to recollect herself. She had taken a few days to come to. It felt as if she was in a coma, trying desperately to wake up, but not being able to. She couldn't sleep, rarely ate, and wouldn't talk to her friends.

September 30, Minako realized that she needed to hunker down and get it done. She needed to understand, to grasp at reality. To take a moment to realize that Shinjiro was here, and she was here, and they weren't going to be forever.

But they were going to be something.

She steps up towards him, confident in stride. She had spoken to Yukari earlier that day, detailing her plan. Yukari had blushed, giggled, encouraged, and even given her a condom. Yukari Takeba had given Minako a condom.

If Minako wasn't as red as an apple, she didn't know what an apple was.

No more sadness. Only them.

"Shinjiro." Minako says. Her voice isn't forceful, but it's definitely doesn't sound like it belongs to the same girl that Shinjiro had spoken with at Naganaki a couple of days ago.

"It's okay Minako, really. I feel better after out talk." He reassures her, thinking that that's why she's here. Maybe it's a mistake, because now Minako looks angry. He has only faced her wrath once or twice, but it wasn't pretty. It wasn't fun.

"We need to talk." Minako speaks through her teeth, and now Shinjiro is really confused.

"I can't give you anything more-"

"I want to be with you." Minako interupts him quite forcefully. 90% of Shinjiro is really terrified right now or what he's done, or what he's said. 10% is furiously intrigued. Minako was a force of nature when she was angry. Fear and desire mixed together in a big blur, and Shinjiro really felt weak.

"You can stare at me like that all day. I got nothing for you." Shinjiro shoots back. Two could play that game. Oh yes, two could play that game. Minako smirked evilly. They were gonna play this game? They were gonna play this game.

"You've wasted enough time on me-"

"I love you." Minako says. She says it just loud enough that everyone else in the dorm can hear them. Aigis can at least, with her enhanced hearing. They soon become quiet, and Shinjiro has just been struck by a critical hit. Time for an all-out attack.

"Don't tease me like that!" Shinjiro argues with her, but she knows that he knows she's not teasing. She'd never tease. Well, technically she was teasing right now. Her bow had magically come undone before speaking to Shinjiro. She may have also accidentally undone the first two buttons on her blouse.

"I wouldn't tease you about something like this." Minako answers him. She's brief, but the message is getting across. The blush across Shinjiro's cheeks is so childlike, and so cute, that Minako has to stop herself from just kissing him right there.

What was happening to her?

All those months ago when she had first Shinjiro, if you were to tell her that she would be furiously trying to bed/be with him, she would have blushed like a tomato and yelled and stomped and laughed at how ridiculous it all was.

She loved him. He loved her. Why was this so complicated?

She supposed that she got kind of freaky when she liked a boy. That was only 'slightly freaky' with 'crushes', this was full-on 'super crazy sex goddess' with the only boy she's ever loved. Oh god, her head was spinning. Did she really just call herself a sex goddess?

"I mean, why just blurt something like that out!? Here...of all places!" Shinjiro complains.

"So we can go to my room then?" Minako asks. Oh shit. The bomb has been dropped. All areas evacuate because any pretense, any entendre that she had been planning just jumped ship. That was that. She just full-on propositioned him. Just like that. No big deal. There was no stopping her now. Her inner panther had been unleashed.

She really needed to stop reading those dumb romance novels with shirtless pirates on the covers.

"We can't do that!" Shinjiro blushes furiously as he speaks, his dark grey eyes wide. "People are gonna get the wrong idea!"

"Sooo..." Minako leans forward a bit as she speaks. "Your room, then?"

"D-don't be a moron..." Shinjiro shakes his head as if he cannot comprehend what she's saying. He can't actually. She's literally done a full 180 on him. Shinjiro had never...well he'd never been the object of anyone's affection before! He knew that he loved Minako, but that was different. He was pretty sure she loved him too. But sex? She really wanted that? Maybe that's not what she wanted. Maybe that's what he wanted and was appropriating that onto her.

No...he was pretty sure she wanted it to.

"I ain't a nice guy..." Shinjiro shook his head. No he wasn't. Very saucy thoughts began to enter his head and no amount of shaking would get them out. He had never thought of Minako like this before! What the hell!?

"Fine by me..."

Holy shit she was good at this.

Did she really just say that? Minako has the strange urge to bite her nails, but manages to stop herself. A wave of nervousness fills her stomach. No, she couldn't give up now. She was doing so good!

"I can't let you into my room." Shinjiro shakes his head, still trying to get the images of Minako out of it. They weren't bad images, but he preferred not to think of her like that. Well, now that she had brought it up...

No. No, no, stop.

"I know what I'm saying." Minako speaks clearly, almost one-hundred percent positive that the whole dorm can hear them now. Junpei turns on the radio, and suddenly the awkwardness fades away. She can do this. She can do this. So she does something she's never had to do before.

She sticks her bottom lip out, just a tiny, tiny bit.

"No way, it's not gonna happen..." Shinjiro hates himself so much right now. Now he's got these...these urges. Dammit. This is really not what he wants. Well, yeah okay he definitely wants this, but why does it have to be so complicated?

"I still love you." Minako repeats, a little more dejected this time. Shinjiro can't help himself, he really can't. He places a hand on Minako's shoulder, and she grabs it with her own. Her eyes...oh god those eyes.

"Alright."

"Wow," Minako begins as she takes her first step into the room. This is it. This is the room. This is the room that she's going to lose her virginity in? No, don't think of it that way. She has to convince herself to take deep breaths. In through the nose, out through the mouth. It was better that way. "It's pretty empty."

"Yeah." Shinjiro sighs as he takes off his hat. He never wears his hat in his room. It's always been that way.

"I like it." Minako doesn't look at him, but she does put on her best sultry voice. God she was bad at this. Why couldn't she just have the natural seductive gene? Why couldn't she just be really good at being sexy? She was not sexy, not by far.

Shinjiro had to collect himself before answering her. God she was good at this.

"Happy now?" Shinjiro asks, annoyance creeping into his tone. "You're always pushing me around all the time. You're just gonna ignore what I want huh?"

Minako cocks her head once more and looks at him with raised eyebrows. Now they were getting somewhere. Shinjiro wasn't accusing her, he was teasing her. This was better than they were five minutes ago.

Shinjiro had made the executive decision(exactly five seconds ago)that he wasn't going to win this battle. So...by that logic. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, right? This wasn't exactly an army that he was hesitant to join either.

"Well two can play at that game," Shinjiro steps over to Minako, a little spring in his step. He grasps her wrists then moves to her hands. Much more romantic than Minako had anticipated. He's much more of a gentleman than she would have expected.

"This is your fault you you know. I'm all confused. You're all I think about, day and night. Dammit, this isn't how it's supposed to be..." Shinjiro looks wistful for a moment, thinking of something sad and distant. Minako wants to yell and tell him to stop because this is their 'not-sad night' this is their night to just be simply happy.

And he's making it sad. He drops her hands.

"You get it right," Shinjiro shakes his head, almost as if he doesn't want to say this. "Go back to your room."

Minako tries not to sigh. No. She wasn't going. She would sleep in this room on the ground if she had to. She was going to spend the night with Shinjiro regardless of sex.

She smirks.

"If you don't go now, you're not gonna get another chance."

Minako turns around and steps towards the door. It's already closed. She stand there with her back facing him. One last chance she thinks to herself. The condom is still in her breast pocket.

Shinjiro knows that he shouldn't be disappointed. This was what had to happen right? They didn't have to muddy things up. They were muddy enough already. Bringing sex into the equation was not a good idea. He's still disappointed.

He's disappointed until he hears the click of the lock.

"I'm not going anywhere." Minako turns around slowly, eyelids lowered. She may have been awkward earlier, but instinct had kicked in. Adrenaline had kicked in. Hormones had kicked in.

Shinjiro chuckled, deep and throaty. Minako had never been turned on by a chuckle before, but she supposed there was a first for everything.

"You're a real piece of work, you know that?" Shinjiro smiles. It's futile at this point. Not even worth arguing anymore. It feels good to stop worrying for a moment. It feels very good. "Let me make myself clear: I'm not holding back any longer."

It took six words for Minako to turn to jelly. Literal jelly.

Shinjiro moves slowly, his eyes lowered. Minako knows that she's ready. She knows, and he knows. They've never talked about it before, but they both know.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" He gently caresses Minako's face, and she's never been more sure of anything in her entire life. She's sure, because he asks.

"Yes."

It takes all but two seconds for him to press his lips against her's.

Minako has read so many stories before. Most of them had some romance in them, and most have had some sort of kiss in them. The kisses had always been described as desperate and passionate and fireworks woooo! But this was different.

This was so much better.

It was gentle and perfect, and everything Minako could have hoped for. After a few moments, they broke apart for air.

And by air, Minako meant clothes. Clothes break.

She began to unbutton Shinjiro's jacket as he took her ribbon off. The process of undressing was always boring and somewhat embarrassing to Minako. But, once again, this was different. His hands were fast, so she struggled to keep up. Finally, the jacket came off just as her shirt hit the floor.

Shinjiro was a multi-tasker so he swept in for another kiss, this one much faster and more heated than the last. Minako was all too eager to accept it. She was glad that she had decided to wear her cute bra today. Pink and lacy, with a little bow in the middle.

Shinjiro was glad too.

She got her hands under his shirt and began to take it off. They broke apart for a moment to get the turtleneck over his head, but were just as soon attached to each other after the shirt was off. Shinjiro was built in a way that you wouldn't normally find on someone that had lived on the streets for a while. Perhaps it was the persona training, or maybe he just worked out. All Minako knew was that it felt very, very nice.

Her skirt hit the floor next and things got a little hazy. She undid his belt, and suddenly everything was very warm. The room was warm, their bodies were warm. Everything was heat and passion and Minako had never been in a situation like this before, but she didn't mind it.

Not by far.

They had somehow gotten over to the bed without breaking apart, and Minako shivered in ecstasy. In a surprising bout of dominance, she ended up on top of him, but Shinjiro didn't seem to mind.

No, he didn't mind at all.

(a/n: Phew. Well it was good to get that off my back. Anyway, this next chapter will probably be the last happy chapter, much to my dismay. I don't know how this whole thing is gonna boil down, but I do know that I will finish this story. Anyways, thanks again for all of the wonderful reviews y'all have been giving me! I really, really appreciate them. They inspire me to write more. On that note, I'll see you guys next chapter! Thanks again.)