Reunion Interlude: Naoto: Mystic Eyes

Thank you all who reviewed!

I know it's early in the story, but I thought this may be important down the line, so I've decided to make an 'interlude' detailing a bit of Yu and Naoto's past relationship. Enjoy, anyways!

Let us go back, to a previous night~

Day 1, 10:00PM

Today had been a good day so far, so Naoto Shirogane felt. Having been reunited with her old friends Kanji Tatsumi and Teddie, she hadn't regretted finding herself back in the place that she considered to be her second home, Inaba. She had greatly enjoyed the sights and sounds of the place with her fondest memories, but even then, for so many good memories, there were some… less-than-pleasant memories, to say the least. There were the tragic deaths of those who fell to the Midnight Channel, and then, there was the entire incident with Taro Namatame and Tohru Adachi... and even nearly dying in the hands of a Shinto god, Izanami.

She shook herself out of these thoughts, life was to be enjoyed. Even if she had her life set out, being a detective gave her meaning, and she was going to be the best Shirogane detective she ever could be, no matter what happens. Her gender was not a barrier anymore. Although she still felt it was best to continue being a boy for the police, not to mention she felt more comfortable in boy's clothes and as an androgynous person than as a complete girly girl.

Naoto had walked over to the small house that she was staying for the week, after waving Kanji and Teddie goodbye at Junes, their old meeting spot. She fished the key out of her pocket, and entered. After taking off her shoes, the first thing she did was to put her clothes into the cupboard, and make sure the entire place was clean. Her grandfather had done this for her, and she was going to make sure nobody would destroy this!

She walked around and checked each room. The house itself was constructed as more of a Western style house than a Japanese household: it had mainly been rented out to outsiders who had found themselves in Inaba before. There were two bedrooms, a bathroom, a living room, and a small balcony in the back. While it wasn't exactly spacious, at least it wasn't a cramped apartment. Then again, Naoto wasn't one to care much about her temporary residence, as long as it was clean, efficient and had a roof over her head, she was fine with it.

When she moved back into the bedroom, she looked at the bed before her, and shrugged her small shoulders. She quietly removed her clothes, taking off the padding she used to give her shoulders a more masculine appearance, then her chest began to expand and round off when she took the bandages suppressing her chest. She sighed in relief, feeling her chest finally able to let itself go from the uncomfortable binding. The girl slipped into her masculine pajamas, and she then went under the covers.

When Naoto had settled in that night, she soon tucked herself into bed with a good detective novel, and quickly got stuck into the tightly written book. Before she knew it, her eyelids grew heavier and heavier, and soon, they were about to close. She didn't fight against the growing need to sleep, and after slipping a bookmark into it, she gently placed the book down, and let her eyes close to drift into a deep sleep.

She didn't know how long had passed, but a familiar voice began to ring in her head. "Shirogane-san. Shirogane-san. Have you fallen asleep, Shirogane-san?"

The next thing she knew, her eyes snapped open to see the familiar face of Yu Narukami, sitting on the bench of the Samegawa River. Taken by complete surprise, Naoto almost reeled back in surprise, but he gave her a small smile in response. Taken by this, Naoto let her head fall, mostly so her cap could hide her blushing expression. "I… I was only thinking about the situation at hand, Narukami-senpai."

"Perhaps being sound asleep is thinking about the situation, Shirogane-san?" Yu said in a completely deadpan tone, but in that way that Naoto could tell he was joking. Naoto shook her head, and adjusted herself so she was sitting straight up tall. She tried not to make eye contact with Yu, and when she felt her cheek with the palm of her hand, she could feel the heat radiating from her face.

"Is your silence your answer?" he said again.

"No!" the vehement denial caused her voice to go a pitch higher. She suddenly went wide eyed in shock, and then coughed to adjust her throat, "No…" she said in her familiar low voice. Her heart felt like it was pounding more and more as he spoke to her. She thought herself a professional, yet the way he talked and acted, made her only feel more and more like a shrinking violet in his presence. It drove her insane! Why did he make her feel this way?

She regained her bearings, and soon looked him dead in the eye. Her dark eyes fixated on his thoughtful, grey, beautiful, cold yet warm eyes, his eyebrows hidden by his hair, which, combined with his expert command of his eyes, lips and mastery of the poker face, made his expression harder to read. His hands were linked together, and he was pointing at the next letter from the Phantom Thief.

"Well, I believe the Phantom Thief has left another clue for us. I think we'll be able to find him soon, and then catch him in the act."

She nodded. Yu had really helped her when it came to the 'Case of the Phantom Thief', and she was ever grateful for his assistance. But while they went around solving the case, Naoto found herself even more interested in the city boy then she used to be. There was something aloof about him at first, he seemed way too unflappable and undeterred by anything. She had made mistakes, some she would never be able to let down for the rest of her life, but Yu was the type of person who could shatter through each barrier, and still keep going. He was a natural leader.

And while she was never one to use crude, casual language to refer to someone's physical appearance, he was a very handsome man. His face had an adult smoothness to it, with high cheekbones and a masculine, yet thin jawline. His face wasn't too long, nor was it too round. But it was his eyes that captured her attention. The curtains matched the window, as the bangs from his gray bowlcut flowered down over his eyebrows, serving only to highlight those charismatic eyes. Naoto was a master at studying facial expressions and eye cues, but no matter how hard she stared, she could never truly deduct what was going on in that mind of his.

Yu tilted himself forward, widening his eyes slightly as if to catch her by surprise, "Shirogane-san…" a slightly cat-like, teasing smile crossed through those lips of his, "you seem awfully quiet today, more than usual at that."

Caught offguard, Naoto stayed silent, while her cheeks flushed. "Um… er…" she looked around, using her cap to hide her own embarrassed expression, "I am sorry, Narukami-senpei."

A small laugh came from the boy. "No need. You're probably thinking of something much more important anyways," he grinned, unable to prevent a little teasing it seemed.

As if the moment was right for it, she giggled too, letting the corners of her mouth tuck into a cute little smile. He was right in a way, then again, all she had really been thinking about was the cases. Given what he had said, her own thoughts were starting to focus more and more on the mysterious city boy, who, for all his oddities, made her want to unravel him and understand the true person that was Yu Narukami.

But no matter, she just couldn't get him. Maybe it was his charisma, that flowing, heroic willpower and charisma that inspired everyone around him. Maybe it was just because of his unflappable personality.

She was interrupted from her thoughts when Yu stood up, holding the evidence in his hand. He began to walk towards the stairs, "It's time to start. Are you ready to crack the case, Detective Shirogane-san?"

Damn him, he really was feeling playful today! She frowned audibly, not amused by the little tease, and shook her head, "I wouldn't treat this in such a carefree manner, Narukami-senpai. But yes, let us go solve this case."

However, before she could get out of the seat and begin walking alongside him, he was already halfway. Yu turned his head slightly over to Naoto with a stoic gaze at first, but then smiled softly at Naoto, and then spun his whole head over to her, so she could see his full expression. She thought he looked absolutely wonderful with a smile on his face.

"Well, are you coming, Shirogane-san?"

Naoto was taken aback at first, even pulling her head back slightly, but then nodded.

Satisfied, Yu softly turned his back to her and began to walk up the stairs. As Yu turned to leave, Naoto stood up, and, making sure he couldn't see her, she slowly raised her arm up with her hand spread out. She then put it to her face, while her eyes looked at the ground, furrowed in a withdrawn gaze. Her fingers felt the heat form on her cheeks, blazing red… she couldn't take it anymore, she couldn't deny it anymore.

She was in love with Yu Narukami, that much was true. He had sneaked in beneath the disguise, and taken her heart. But, she didn't know how he felt about her. And that much scared her….

The memories faded at that point….

Naoto's eyes shot wide open to see the dark ceiling above her. Her vision was fuzzy, but it soon adjusted to reveal the ceiling light. She sharply glanced left-and-right to see where she was, and looking down to see only her feet covered by the blankets.

Her slender hand slapped herself on the forehead, her fingers kneaded the area to try and cleanse her head out of those embarrassing thoughts, to some success. She groaned, and looked up at the ceiling, gazing while she compelled what she had just seen.

She had a dream about him. She planted her palm onto her face, feeling utterly ridiculous about it. Her first crush, Yu Narukami, the man whom she almost poured her heart to. She should have seen it coming, by going back to Inaba, it was sure to awaken old memories, both good and bad, but she was glad that she didn't remember the confrontation with the Thief himself… because what happened then was something that left her heartbroken.

She had no regrets about the time she spent with Yu. But she only wished she was able to make her feelings clearer to him. Maybe then, he would have loved her back.

"Foolish," she told herself, "a Shirogane must not get hung up on those kinds of thoughts."

Naoto let herself calm down (by reminiscing about the hardboiled detectives that inspired her in the first place), and slowly fell asleep. Her eyelids closed for the last time that night, and there were no more dreams of that boy with the mystic eyes.

Oh, so something did happen! While I haven't really gone through the game myself, I have watched the full anime, and I find that my impression of Yu/Souji was similar to the anime's. He's a quiet, stoic guy, but he's a nice guy who has his priorities sorted out straight, even if he has his own issues. He also learns to open up more. While I'm trying to stick to the anime characterization of Yu, do note that considering he's a vessel for the player in the original game, he might start to differ if I write more scenes with him in.

The short chapter was mostly to say sorry for my late update.