Reunion 6: Day 2 – Finale: Under the Big Bright Yellow Sun

This was part of the initial Chapter 5, but I felt it was best off as its own little chapter.

UPDATED APRIL 6TH

Day 2, 7:00PM

As the three left the sea for the last time, the sunset was pouring over the beach, painting the landscape in a hue of orange lights. The sea was decorated with glimmering orange hues, while the land was coated in orange. A perfect romantic atmosphere, and indeed, Teddie noted that. He grinned and began to run off for some reason, leaving Kanji and Naoto to themselves.

Kanji's black beady eyes soon found themselves drifting towards Naoto's own piercing dark eyes. Naoto also let her eyes rotate back to Kanji, and stared at him with unassuming neutrality. Their eyes were connected like magnets.

"I really enjoyed that, Kanji-kun," smiled Naoto. Initially, Kanji's eyes seemed to drop out, but he then relaxed his face and let a smile form across it. If only Kanji had looked to the left of her feet, then he would have noticed the waves flowing past them.

Then to take him by surprise, her arm ducked down beneath the water, and then pushed forward at Kanji, causing a spray of water to slap him on the chest. Kanji almost lost his footing at the surprise attack, and appeared gobsmacked. She chuckled to herself, and then with a little kick, she splashed more water onto Kanji. The silvery spray flashed in the orange light briefly before it faded on impact with Kanji's skin, the warning whistle to another small barrage of water hitting his chest.

Kanji grinned and started laughing. His back bent down, then with a small flex of his fists, his muscular arms tightened up and he scooped up a volley of water, which splashed onto Naoto with full force. The water hit Naoto, who gasped in surprise, completely covering her in water, leaving her entire body wet and soaked, even more than the water did.

Her slender arms and legs, covered in sprinkles of saltwater, seemed to sparkle underneath the orange sun. The boy had looked down at the sea to splash some more at Naoto, and vice-versa, but when Kanji let his eyes fall on Naoto again, he was stunned. She didn't look like anything else he'd ever seen before.

She stood there, completely and utterly vulnerable. The orange sunlight poured over her, an her arms were lax, her eyes wide and rather adorable. Her smooth, milky porcelain skin only seemed to be highlighted, mixing well with her own dark hair. Kanji couldn't take his eyes off her.

Her lips slowly parted in confusion, and coupled with her wide eyes, only served to make Kanji's knees jelly. The sight of her was almost ethereal; the orange light bathing around her gave her an aura, or only enhanced it for him.

He didn't let his eyes peel once from hers, like hell he was going to blow this moment!

The two got closer and closer, the boundaries of their personal space breaking slowly, surely… Kanji gulped and eased his eyes, his face so red it was almost burning his entire body, while Naoto turned her shoulder slightly, almost as if she was unsure whenever she wanted to follow up or she wanted to run.

Kanji's arms lifted, his eyes unable to part from Naoto's. The detective, perhaps realizing she couldn't turn away even if she wanted to, let herself face Kanji, her shoulders slacked and her body almost shaking. Not a very professional stance for the Detective Prince. The connections between the two were like two magnets, unable to part from one another, but not fighting back.

It was even worse for the poor guy that Naoto, completely engrossed, tilted her head in an ambiguous gesture. Her eyebrows had lifted slightly, the ends at her eyes eased up, which only helped to print a wonderful expression on her face. Her parted lips, her slightly closed, nervous, fascinated eyes, Naoto was so adorable! Kanji could hear himself begin to choke, his legs were unable to move, his knees were buckling. He couldn't do anything but keep watching Naoto, the orange light bathing them for what seemed like forever….

However, their moment came crashing down when a familiar high-pitched voice intruded, singing a familiar song that came from some old 1980's movie. Teddie moved his head next to the two, a big grin layered upon his face as he sung the love song, the lyrics rather fitting for such an occasion.

"You say that I love him, But I love you more~ You and I in, Sunset Beach~"

The atmosphere now completely broken thanks to the bear, Kanji could hear what sounded like glass shattering in the center of his mind as he reconfigured into reality, and he looked down to see Naoto staring holes into him, mouth open wide and confused at what had just happened. Usually he would have just backed away, but his arms were forward… his hands were on her small shoulders. If he had pulled her in, Kanji's cheeks began to almost burn as he thought….

His arms were about to hold Naoto, the girl of his dreams, whom he had crushed on for the last two years. Just one small move was needed to erase the distance between each other. He quickly let go and took at least three major steps backwards, putting distance between him and the girl. He had been close to her before numerous times, but in a situation so intimate, it was… too much for his vocabulary to describe.

Kanji's throat almost seemed to close up on itself, preventing him from saying anything, probably for the best though. He scratched his hair, raking his brains to try and save the moment, his eyes hovered past the sand, before he looked up at Naoto awkwardly, looking like a deer in headlights.

"… S'ppose you liked ta sunset?"

After glancing at Kanji for a bit, Naoto only shook her head, and with a turn of her foot, showed her back to Kanji. She clutched her arms and shivered to herself, and began to walk back to her belongings alone, leaving the man in the awkward silence.

The two didn't speak, instead leaving Teddie to, once again, be the one to enjoy the silence. He arched an eyebrow in wonder, maybe there was something more going on between them. He only thought he would provide music to their moment, but it seemed to turn them off. What a shame! They certainly did have a natural chemistry to score with each other, so he felt. Suddenly, a light bulb went off in Teddie's head, and he smiled rather cheekily.

'Maybe while I score, I can help Kanji-kun and Nao-chan score as well! With each other! That's perfect! The two will gel like bears and honey!'

The two shuffled forward, their faces red enough to boil eggs on them, still giving the silent treatment to each other. Naoto because she had dented her pride by letting Kanji closer than she would have liked, and letting him actually hold her, and Kanji because, well, he finally had the girl he crushed on close to him. Well, close to him while wearing masculine swimming clothes. And she liked swimming with him.

After giving Naoto some privacy to get changed, Kanji had put his shirt and sandals back on, and looked around the tree, his lips pulled back as he watched Naoto methodically wipe sand off the soles of her feet. The corners of her mouth were tucked in, hiding in her lips, her fingers trying to pluck the tiny grain off the smooth skin with precision. She must have had a lot of practice with her fingers, what with sorting out evidence. He didn't know how he'd talk to her now, what with their 'moment in the sun'. Hell, when he tasted iron on his tongue, he paused and groaned. Another nosebleed….

He groaned again, much louder this time. That caught Naoto's attention.

"What is it?" she said, finally getting her foot through her shoe. She didn't sound too happy.

Kanji tried to speak, but nerves struck before he could even use the first word. "Nuthin'."

"Okay, then." Kanji turned his head away and bit his lip. She sure seemed eager not to talk.

As they went back into town through the late afternoon bus, while Kanji just sat there, blushing and trying to nudge his head away, looking rather embarrassed over what had just happened. Teddie had fallen asleep, snoring aloud something about 'honey' and 'sewing dolls' and 'seiza' and smiling quite mischievously over his dream too. The silence did not chew into any of their tired psyches, but certain visions still penetrated into Kanji's eye, being burned in there like a permanent photo.

If he squeezed his eyes shut, he could see Naoto standing there on the beach, her bare feet pressed on the wet sand, her small shoulders lax, her lips parted, and her wide eyes looking at him with wonder, while the orange light bathed around her, making her seem almost heavenly to Kanji. She looked like the one for him. She looked so positively cute that he could never capture it in a plush. Kanji audibly grunted remembering what happened, and pressed his back onto the seat to try and not recount it over and over again.

'Think no Naoto thoughts, think no Naoto thoughts, think no Naoto thoughts,' he tried to tell himself. The mental image of Yu, Yosuke and Teddie shaking their rumps to the beat of club music immediately made him tighten up, it was a nice mental image for sure: 'AW NO!' he mentally shouted. But the worst was yet to come. In Kanji's mental image, Naoto herself, dressed in her androgynous wear, arrived and moved to the center, and then she began shaking her bottom alongside the boys in a coordinated dance routine. Kanji could hear himself scream like a girl at that, as much as he strangely enjoyed it.

He planted his forehead on the seat in front of him, and moaned, trying to twist his head away as to avoid being seen blushing. This was just so embarrassing, seeing Naoto at her cutest… if his crush on the crossdressing girl could be sized up, it would be as big as Jupiter now. If he thought it was planet-sized before… ho boy.

He didn't notice Naoto sat in that focused position she always did, but in a posture very much unlike her, her lips were crossed into a slightly wide smile. Had he bothered to talk to her instead of moaning about his luck, he just may have heard a much happier Naoto, even if she tried to keep her professional attitude and over-developed pride intact.

Naoto actually felt happy for once, uplifted even. She had enjoyed today, even if it began with a few awkward sentences and having to see that nightmare of a swimsuit. Her shoed foot clicked on the bus floor, and she tilted the brim of her cap to shield her eyes from the last blades of orange sun. A smile was on her lips. And when she had turned to Kanji to see how he was doing, she saw him headbutting the seat in front of him. Maybe he had a headache. Even with the events of today, she had seen a gentler side to Kanji.

She would like to see more of that Kanji, but he was always a tough guy on the outside. So macho, like he was some comic book character. She had wished they didn't get so close, Naoto loved her privacy and personal space, and they came close to breaching each other's space. Even she didn't understand why she let down her guard like she did: maybe it was just the moment? In her eyes, Kanji had looked a lot gentler, caring, like he was looking at her as if she was someone he needed to protect. She was rather curious to that side, if annoyed at the idea of being seen as a woman to protect, but, before it could get started, Teddie had sung, she woke up from her semi-trance to see Kanji touching her on the shoulders.

Was it an innocent gesture? She wasn't sure, Kanji was definitely someone you could trust. But she didn't want to take the risk of letting someone into her space. He was nice when he wasn't being super manly, and really quite gentle when you got to know him, but she just wasn't sure.

Not thinking about it was probably for the best, she felt.

Satisfied, Naoto leaned back on the seat. She really did find herself having so much fun. It was nice to let go and enjoy yourself once in a while, after all!

Poor Kanji. Poor, poor Kanji. Again, he ends up getting screwed over when all he wanted was a romantic moment. :P

Also, I had a scene at the end that might be too suggestive/out-of-character, so I took it out of the chapter. I might put it up down the line, do you guys want to see it?