Chapter 3: Soul Searching

(Ok, this chapter is some Kanji and Naoto in the beginning, however is shifts to Naoto for a brief period so she can accept that she has feelings for Kanji, sorry for any OOC-ness, I am a dude and it's hard for me to write like Naoto, which is why I try to stay from Kanji's perspective. Anyway, thanks for reading and the support, don't forget to Review)

Kanji woke up to a bright sun in his face, It felt good to sleep well past noon on the weekends, unfortunately, Naoto was still hospitalized after collapsing from exhaustion. Kanji looked over the scarf he had made for her and smiled,

"Guess I'll go see if she is up yet." With that he got a jacket and left for the hospital. Naoto was awake but she was very tired, "What happened?" she asked herself, then it all came back, what Kanji had said to her, and the confession, Naoto blushed slightly,

"He, did say he had feelings for me ever since back then, despite my disguise, he saw right through it." As if on cue, Kanji slowly opened the door to Naoto's hospital room, "Uh, Naoto you up yet?" his voice was actually soft for once, Naoto tried to got up but felt weak and fell back on her pillow, Kanji saw this and ran to the side of her bed,

"You don't need to get up, I was just checking up on ya, 's all." He scratched the back of his head, "You scared me back there ya know" Naoto looked confused, "Sorry, I hadn't slept for days" Kanji looked perplexed, "You need your rest, right, I just came by to say hello" Naoto nodded, "I appreciate it, Kanji-kun" Kanji nodded and left the room.

Naoto just lay on her bed not being able to do anything, this gave her plenty of time to think about what Kanji had said,

"He has feelings for me?" she was confused, "I had no idea I caused his shadow to turn out like that. Is it my fault, shouldn't he blame me?" Naoto rubbed her silky hair, "So the fact that he still has feelings for me is illogical. I caused him pain, and I was the least girly person on the face of the earth." She thought about it more, "Souji helped me get the spark I had for problem solving back, but there was still an issue. I was still extremely insecure about being a woman, and having it public knowledge."

The more Naoto thought about it however, the more she warmed up to the idea of giving Kanji a chance, "You know, the more I think on it, he really is kind of like me, He is a man but he has hobbies that aren't commonly considered manly." Naoto decided right then that she would recover fast and see where this led her.

Kanji had a lot on his mind as he set up to fish along the riverbank, "Damn, she looked so fragile laying in that bed" Kanji had hurried out of the hospital room because of this, Naoto was just still, no hat, no bindings, she looked like a girl, and a damn cute girl if you ask Kanji. He placed his bait on the end of the line and tossed it in the water, Kanji had no idea why fishing relaxed him so much, but it did.

A lot of time passed and Kanji failed to catch anything, "Damn, not even a nibble?" He sighed heavily. But packed it in and headed for the textile shop, he stopped when he heard a familiar voice, "Did you have to order the steak though? I'm tight on funds as it is, ya know" It was Yosuke, Kanji wondered who he was talking to but figured it out when he got closer,

"Well maybe if you weren't lazy you'd have more money" It was the voice of Chie for sure. Kanji got closer with the tackle box hung over his shoulder, "Hey Senpais, what are you two doing out here?" Yosuke seemed startled but Chie waved, "Hey, Kanji-kun, how goes it?" Kanji smiled, "It's fine, just finished fishing, couldn't catch shit though" he scratched the back of his head, "So you two going for a walk or something?" he finally asked, Chie turned away, but Yosuke responded, "Uh, well, it's our date night" Yosuke looked down and Chie was still turned away,

"Oh, crap, sorry, forgot you two were a couple, I'll just leave" Yosuke nodded, "Yeah, thanks, but we can hang out tomorrow if you want Kanji" Kanji nodded and speed walked to the shopping district. "That was awkward" Chie said, Yosuke nodded, "It was fine, he seemed like his mind was somewhere else" Chie nodded in agreement, "Hey I kinda got that too." Yosuke laughed to himself, "Three guesses on where his mind is, haha" Chie laughed with him and the two left for the river.

Kanji was outside the shop unlocking the door, "Damn that was bad; I need to pay more attention." He walked into the shop and went straight for the sewing machine, he pulled out a half done sweater, it was navy blue with gold buttons and a turtleneck. Kanji nodded at his progress as he got down working, after about three hours the sweater was ready for fine details, which he would put off until tomorrow.

Back in Naoto's hospital room, she was sitting upright finally, she still felt extremely weak, but she was getting stronger, "I really did a number on myself didn't I" she thought, she took a bite of bread from the tray and thought more of Kanji,

"A very interesting person indeed, One thing is for sure, Kanji-kun never ceases to surprise me. Even when I faced the other me in the TV world, he risked his life and his youth to protect me, I've been wondering since then why he refused to run like the girls did, and I call myself a detective."

She shook her head and bit into the bread again, taking a larger bite. "The only problem being, I have no idea how to tell someone of mutual attraction, however, so additional research will be required." Just after sh thought this her phone buzzed on the side table, it was from the man himself, "Just texting to say good night, I hope you are back on your feet soon!" Naoto smiled a little at the text message, she decided not to respond,

"He really does care about me, doesn't he." With that she fell asleep. Across town, Kanji was still working on the blue scarf, he was making it so it read Naoto's full name on it, he went to bed later, satisfied with his effort on the gifts.

A/N: That's chapter three, I hope you enjoyed it, please Review, I love reading them! Tell me also if you would like to see more of the other characters in upcoming chapters, like Rise, Yosuke and Chie, Teddie, Ext. Thanks and look forward to Chapter Four: Sight to the Blind Part 1 of 4.- IshvalanBlood