A/N: More music. Yay! It's too perfect not to include in a Persona 4 fic: Another Stranger Me by Blind Guardian. I use some of the game dialogue here, but the majority is original. Also, if you are interested in any of the songs that I am using, go to go to my profile page and click the link. It'll take you to a playlist. Anyway, this chapter really delves into Chie's character since I haven't really gone inside her head too much. I hope you enjoy!

Borderline of Madness

Part 2: Sauna

Interlude: Reach Out for the Truth

A glimpse of life from somewhere deep within
Awake and understand…is there anyone else here?
Let's find out now that I am not dreaming.
Here it comes, the real me.
I didn't know; I couldn't hear the answer.
My mind was blank; I should've known
I held it back but somehow there is someone else
Another stranger me…

Chie could hear the bass pounding out an odd rhythm from Yosuke's headphones as she followed him through the misty halls of Kanji's sauna. He must have had the volume turned up all the way. She couldn't help wondering what song he was listening to. What kind of music did he even like? (She never would have guessed that it was English Symphonic Metal).

Chie-san, why are you filling your head with thoughts of that foolish boy? You should be readying your mind and body for the upcoming battles. Tomoe's cold-steel voice filled Chie's head.

"I-I am ready." Chie told her persona. "And I wasn't thinking of anything." She could hear the look that her persona gave her (if, of course, her persona was actually able to give 'looks'). "All right, all right. So maybe I was thinking about Yosuke…err, Yosuke's music."

You are trying to hide your emotions from yourself, Chie-san. It doesn't work very well. I see very clearly that you care for this boy. Chie interrupted in protest, but Tomoe continued. See to it that this does not distract you from your mission. He is a man. He may not be worth what you would lose. The heart is weak and breaks easily.

Chie always wondered why her persona talked so much. It was a bit irritating. Tomoe had been aware of her growing feelings for Yosuke before she had even acknowledged them. But now that her persona pointed it out, it was impossible to ignore.

"Well…crap." She knew it was impossible to say anything to Yosuke. He might laugh at her. And besides, she was no Saki Konishi. She never would be either. Yosuke had put that dead girl on a pedestal, and even if Chie had possessed good looks (like Yukiko), it would have been useless. Yosuke gave Saki the air of inhuman beauty that can only come from a love never truly obtained and stolen away by untimely death. Chie could never beat that.

"Chie?" Yukiko's soft voice cut through her reverie.

"Huh?"

"Are you alright?" Yukiko looked at her in concern. "You looked very upset just a moment ago. Do you need healing?"

Chie shook her head quickly. "Oh, no. No. I'm fine. I was just thinking."

"Really? That's new." Yosuke's voice drifted haughtily back to the two girls.

Chie narrowed her eyes at him. "How could you even hear that? You're music is so loud that I can hear it all the way back here."

"Skill." Yosuke smirked.

"Never can pass up an opportunity to insult someone, can you?" Souji turned to Yosuke.

Chie glared at Yosuke. "You are a jerk."

Yosuke grinned and made a wide sweeping bow. "Thank you, madam. I live to serve."

Chie rolled her eyes and turned her gaze down the hall to Teddie. "How much farther Teddie?"

"I feel a powerful shadow up ahead."

"Is it Kanji-kun?" Yukiko asked.

The bear shook his head. "No. I don't think he's on this floor."

Chie would have said something more, but she was interrupted by a slow, lazy laughter. It seemed to be coming from the steam that hung in thick clouds around them.

"Did you hear that?!" Yosuke exclaimed, drawing his daggers.

"Yeah." Souji's hand fell on the hilt of his sword.

Chie fell into a fighting stance and Yukiko unfolded her fan.

"Oooooh, my my! Thank you for your undivided attention!" The steam echoed a deep but effeminate voice.

"Th-that's…Kanji-kun!" Yukiko exclaimed. "I recognize his voice!"

"There's something…different about it though." Chie said slowly, not wishing to voice her thoughts. If she was wrong, and no one else thought that the voice sounded a bit fabulous, she'd feel really dumb.

"He sounds so gay!" Yosuke snorted and confirmed Chie's thoughts.

The lazy laughter silenced them again. "At last, I've penetrated the facility! But I've yet to have any charming encounters. Could this hot fog be the cause? It's like steam rising from sweat! Mmmm, my body's tingling with excitement!"

Oh, yes. There was definitely something different.

"Crap. This is so wrong in so many ways." Yosuke groaned.

"Yeah…I remember it being kinda like this with Yukiko, too." Chie shuddered as she remembered the pink-clad double strutting around the halls of the castle bragging about her lacy unmentionables.

"N-No…It wasn't like this!" Yukiko blushed fiercely.

Kanji's shadow (or at least that's who Chie thought the voice belonged to) interrupted them again.

"That elusive thing I truly yearn for…Will I finally find it here?" The voice giggled. "Well then onward and deeper to reach further realms of romance! Let's get going, dammit!"

"That sounds a little more like the Kanji we met." Yosuke muttered.

Souji motioned for him to shut-up, but there was no need. Kanji's shadow spoke no more.

"What was all that about, Sensei?" Teddie plodded over to Souji, the Fox at his heels.

"Uhh…" Souji bit his lip. "I'll explain it to you later, Teddie. For now, we should get going toward that powerful shadow that you mentioned. It should lead us to Kanji."

Teddie nodded and directed them to a large door with heavy steam pouring out from the cracks.

Prepare yourself, Chie-san.

Chie nodded. "Let's do this, guys!"

Souji nodded and slid the door open. A rush of very hot, very thick steam blinded them.

Chie attempted to clear her vision, but the steam was just too dense. It was difficult to breathe. The air was soupy and humid. Sweat trickled down her neck. What if the shadow attacked them now? They wouldn't be able to do anything to stop it!

Calm! Tomoe shouted to her. Wait.

Chie stood still and watched as the steam slowly thinned to reveal a large figure.

"It's a Daring Gigas!" Souji said.

"It's huge!" Yukiko exclaimed.

"Holy shit." Chie stared up at the enemy and determined that if the entire party (including the Fox) stood on each other's shoulders, they might reach the monster's waist. The giant nude (save for the rainbow colored Speedo) monster towered over them and laughed a deep, throaty laugh.

"Welcome to Man's World. This place is heating up from the sudden entry of a fine young man! To celebrate this encounter, I've prepared a special stage tonight! A single match with no time limit! Who will be left standing in the end? Now, pour out your hot blood and guts!" Kanji's Shadow's voice echoed through the room.

"D-Don't lose, Sensei!" Teddie whimpered and backed up toward the door. The Fox gave an encouraging "Yip!"

"Alright! Let's do this!" Yosuke shouted.

Chie nodded and readied herself for battle.

Punch. Punch. Kick. Block. Punch. Dodge. PERSONA!

Chie went through the motions of battle with barely a thought. Fighting had always been a part of her life. Her family represented a strong line of martial artists, and Chie was proud to stand as part of that line. Her skills were honed. She took no little pride in the fact that everyone else in the party required weapons in order to fight. But not her. Her weapons were her feet and her fists. And now, her mind. For the first time, she could use her mind to fight.

"Protect me, Tomoe!" No sooner had the glittering blue card appeared, Chie shattered it with a kick.

The yellow-clad, spear-wielding warrior appeared and cast Bufu on the gigantic Daring Gigas. The monster staggered backwards following the attack.

"Let's do this, Jiraiya!"

Yosuke's voice carried over the sound of battle and Chie turned to glance over at him. His headphones were on, and his body swayed to the unknown beat as he slashed his card with a dagger. His persona appeared and knocked the monster over with a powerful blast of wind. She smiled at him and he caught her eye. Perhaps she only imagined it, but it seemed as if something passed between them in that glance.

Before she could decide, Souji interrupted her thoughts. "It's down! Let's go!"

"Right. All for one, and one for all!" Yosuke yelled and charged forward.

Chie followed with Yukiko on one side and Souji on the other.

They attacked at once, unleashing their fury. Sword blade hacked, daggers slashed, metal fan sliced, powerful legs kicked. Attack followed attack. Chie kept punching and kicking until she felt she could no longer breathe.

Fortunately, Souji seemed to understand that his team was tiring and pulled the group back from their all-out attack. They returned to their earlier battle formation.

Chie was soaked with sweat. The temperature and humidity of the sauna added to the exertion of battle. Yukiko healed the group with Media, and Chie almost felt worse. The heat from the healing spell may have healed her wounds, but it made her already overheated body even warmer.

Chie turned her eyes back to the Daring Gigas. It was slouched over in a weakened state.

Do it! Her persona prompted her.

Chie glanced at Souji. "Can I have this one?"

Souji smiled and nodded.

"Alright!" Chie crouched down and charged up with her persona. "Here we go!" She ran forward to the Gigas and unleashed a powerful kick. As her foot connected with the monsters body, Chie could feel Tomoe's power flow through her leg. The shadow went flying back through the wall and continued crashing through walls for another three rooms. He finally crashed to the floor and crumpled.

The battle was over. The shadow would never move again. Chie smiled to herself as she dropped to on knee. She was completely drained from the battle and the Galactic Punt.

"Holy shit, Chie! What was that?!" Yosuke had pushed his headphones down around his neck and sheathed his daggers.

Yukiko just gazed at her friend with awe.

Souji chuckled. "I told you it would work, Satonaka."

Yosuke turned to face him. "Wait, you knew she could do that?!"

Souji nodded. "We've been training after school at the riverbed. Chie had the great idea of combining her persona's power with an attack. I told her it would be an attack of amazing power."

Souji glanced at the multiple Gigas shaped holes in the sauna walls and then glanced back at Chie. "And I'd say that I was right."

Chie laughed weakly and accepted Souji's outstretched hand, allowing him to pull her off the ground.

"You were right. But I'm completely drained." Chie staggered and Yukiko rushed to her side to support her.

"Are you alright?"

"I am, but I can't…I can't summon Tomoe anymore now."

Yosuke looked at Souji. "Do you think I could do something like that?"

Souji nodded. "I'm sure you can. But I'd be careful about using attacks like that. Chie's really drained. Those attacks are for desperate situations only."

Chie nodded. "I'm useless now, Souji. I know we need to rescue Tatsumi today. It's going to rain tonight. But I just can't…"

"Yip!" The Fox ran up to Chie and nudged her leg.

"Yeek!" She jumped. "Oh, it's just that fox."

"I think it wants to give you something, Chie-chan." Teddie plodded over.

Chie looked down and noticed that the Fox held a leaf in his mouth. She took the leaf from the creature and stuffed it in her mouth. It tasted very much as she expected—leafy, crispy, and far too much like a vegetable. She swallowed it down with great distaste.

The effect was immediate. Her body filled with energy. She felt like she could perform one hundred Galactic Punts and then run a marathon.

"Holy shit. Those really are magic leaves!" Chie jumped around and did a few practice kicks. "I'm ready! Let's go save Tatsumi!"

"Yip!" The Fox nudged her leg again.

"Oh, what now?" She looked down to see the fox holding the ¥ can in its teeth. "Oh…umm…I don't really have any money."

"Grrrr!" The Fox snarled at her.

Chie took a giant step back. "I'm sorry! I didn't—"

Yosuke stepped forward and deposited the money in the can.

"Yip yip yap!" The Fox pranced cheerfully over to Teddie and sat on his feet. It began to shake the can and seemed quite pleased as the money inside jingled.

Chie wasn't sure what to say. "Why? Why did you pay for me, Yosuke?"

The brown-haired boy shrugged. "It's not like most of my allowance doesn't get spent on you and your goddamn steaks anyway. The way I see it, if I pay for you to get fixed up in the TV, I don't have to buy you dinner. Seems like a fair trade off to me."

Before she could respond, he'd slipped his headphones on again and walked toward the door. "You coming?" He directed the question at Souji.

Souji nodded and sheathed his sword. "Let's go."

Teddie (closely followed by the Fox) followed after Souji.

Chie was staring at the back of Yosuke's head with an odd expression on her face.

He may not be worth what you would lose. Tomoe reminded.

"But what if he is?"

You are the one to decide, Chie-san.

"I know. But…not now. For now, this…this is enough."

Yukiko hung back and glanced at Chie. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Chie answered honestly. "Just figuring something out. I think I understand now."

Yukiko looked at her with confusion. "What?"

Chie smiled. "Don't worry about it. Let's go save Tatsumi!"

Yukiko saw that her friend's smile was sincere and returned it.

The two walked together toward the hallway where the rest of the group was waiting to continue the rescue mission.

And there you have it. Please let me know what you think. Love it? Hate it? Feel ambivolent? Tell me! I welcome criticism (and of course praise isn't terrible to read :D )