*WARNING! LONG CHAPTER!*

"Hey Naoto? Go to Rise-san as soon as you see a Shadow, okay? Tell me and then go to him." Naoto stared at Minato questioningly as she nodded in understanding.

"Okay. Why Rise-san?" Her gaze had that same innocent curiosity as before as she clasped his hand like she usually did at that age.

"Because... Not all of us will actually be fighting them. So I suppose you can go to anyone who isn't. Just keep out of their way, okay?" The two smiled at each other as she nodded calmly before looking back towards the rest of the team. "That's okay with you guys, right?" The others all returned the smile as her expression remained curious.

"Yep! I'm cool with that!" Chie perked up with enthusiasm before the rest of the team chimed in.

"Yeah, I don't mind!"

"Sure, if she doesn't still have her gun." That comment earned a slightly mischievous expression from the small girl as she turned her head away from them to hide it.

"That's good. Thanks guys." The blue haired teen smiled calmly in appreciation before turning back to the path way that seemed to slowly be widening.

"Minnie..." Naoto mumbled as she caught sight of something that the others didn't seem to pick up on as she tugged slightly on his sleeve.

"Hmm? What is it?" She pointed to the shadowy creature lurking not too far away from them before retreating a few steps. "Go to Rise-san." He mumbled in response so only she could hear before she swiftly raced towards the idol fearfully.

"Eek!" She froze dead in her tracks as she noticed the being that stood over Rise and masked her eyes with a visor. However the more she stared at it the more it intrigued her as she now timidly continued her dash from before.

"Hmm? Oh hi Naoto-ku-chan. What's the matter?" The idol smiled as she stared in awe at the Persona.

"What's that?" Her voice was laced with amazed curiosity as her eyes grew wide with interest.

"Oh this is... My friend Himiko. She helps me see where things that are far away or she lets me scan those shadow things from before." Naoto's expression was one of slight hurt as she spoke and explained as simply as possible.

"Oh, okay. How?" Her interest grew once again as her eyes glittered with excitement.

"How? Umm... I'm not sure. She just has this ability that lets her do that." Rise's frown only turned into an expression of wonder as the young girl seemed satisfied with that answer.

"Okay. When did she get here?" She rolled her eyes at the kid in amusement. If Naoto was always asking questions when she was this age then its no wonder how she got the hang of detective work so swiftly.

"She's magic! Himiko can teleport to me whenever I need her!" The emphasis she placed in her words seemed to earn a sceptical stare from her before the blue haired girl shrugged in indifference before jumping fearfully at the sound of an explosion. She'd completely forgotten about the shadows! Racing forwards she clung to Rise's hand as she timidly avoided the battle.

"Hey, you okay?" The girl nodded at her question as she quivered nervously. "Come here..." She knelt down before wrapping her arm round her shoulder comfortingly whilst the girl hesitantly remained clinging to the same hand that embraced her. "Minnato-kun's going to beat it soon."

"Yo. You okay there?" Yosuke wandered over as he wasn't part of the fight. Naoto glanced up at him curiously as he came closer. She nodded before glancing past them towards the battle. Minato was there after all.

"Hey Yosuke-senpai? Can you take Naoto-chan while I help the others out?"

"Er, sure. Why not right?" The small girl watched him closely expecting him to do something stupid even though she barely knew him. That was a bit odd... "Well, as long as she can't shoot me, that is." And there it is.

"Waste of bullets..." She grumbled just loud enough for Yosuke to make out earning a slightly uneasy look. "Why do you look nervous?" Her confusion only grew as she followed him without an answer.

"Oh... um..." Was all she could get out of him when she questioned him. His uneasiness only grew as she took his hand like she usually did to anyone.

"Geez, lighten up Yosuke! Look at her! How can you be nervous around her?" Chie stared in disbelief at Yosuke before joining her over side and offering her hand to her. "See? It's not that hard!" As another explosion erupted past where the battle was she jumped before clinging to the steak loving girl with both hands. "Aww, it's okay Naoto-kun. Minato-kun'll be here soon. The shadows don't stand a chance against him!"

"Really?" Her eyes glittered with expectancy as she gazed up at her completely ignoring the fact that she'd used the wrong honorific.

"Of course!" The enthusiasm in her voice just excited the kid even more as she glanced back towards the fight that had just ended. A proud look crossed her features as Minato strolled over to them. In an instant she sprinted towards him to be met with his arms lifting her into a small spin on the spot making her giggle excitedly.

"Your so strong Minnie! Chie-san said so!" Out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of the now slightly red brunette. Was she embarrassed? She pondered this without it showing on her still excited face.

"Did she now?"

"Yeah! She said that the Shadow thingy's don't stand a chance against you!" He grinned as he ruffled her hair affectionately before throwing an appreciative glance at Chie.

"Thanks. Not to much trouble is she?" The question seemed to catch her of guard as she hastily attempted to regain her composure.

"Er... No! None at all!" She grinned in embarrassment as Naoto's now curious gaze met her still startled eyes.

"Good. Well we should get going."

"Oh I don't think so!" Suddenly two boys wandered out of the darkness along with an albino husky at their heels. Rise seemed to visibly flinch catching Naoto's attention in seconds.

"Rise-san's scared." With that comment the ones around her turned to glance at her before their gaze shifted towards Rise.

"Well, lookey what we have here! Its Rice-y-chan!" One of them grinned smugly before stepping forwards to stare her in the face.

"G-get lost!" She screeched before slamming her fist into his face only to miss as he simply dodged the attack. The dog instantly growled and leapt forwards to protect his master. Said dog wore a lilac leather collar round his neck with several sharp objects that looked like they'd just been taken from a wolf's mouth attached in various places around the accessory.

"Go boy! Go!" He called before sending the canine hurtling into a full blown attack on the idol!

"Heal boy! Heal! Wha!" She cried as she bolted away from them. Naoto suddenly struggled in Minato's grip as she saw a chance to help the idol. The second he let her down the future detective rocketed over to Rise aiming a Nerf gun that had apparently been perfectly concealed in her jacket pocket at the hound. "Naoto-kun!"

"Naoto!" For some odd reason found herself smiling as she was clearly too young to realise what on Earth she had gotten herself into.

"Aww! Look at that! Ricey-chan has a little body guard! Hew pathetic!" The boy smirked before pointing a finger at the small girl. "Sick 'em boy!" In moments the dog had leapt forwards again to attack the child only to land a few inches in front of her after a fake bullet hit him square in the eye!

"Headshot!" She giggled in excitement at the thought of being like her cousin. The others couldn't move beyond a certain point to help them so what good were they? All she could do was do what she always did and see this as a case in her favourite TV show. "Bonk! Feather shot!" She called as she whacked the unsuspecting canine over the head with the gun as hard as she could whilst somehow not breaking the plastic shell of said gun. In the distance she just caught her cousin face palming in a way that just said; 'why did you choose now to have one of your moments?'

"Naoto! Get back over here!"

"No! I'm not pathetic!" She cried in response to her cousin. "I'm gonna be like you for once!" Out of the corner of her eye she notice the second opposing teen silently step towards them seemingly unnoticed by everyone but her. "Rise-san! Look out!"

"Huh?" The idol spun round just in time to avoid a punch to the face before she slammed her fist into his belly in the hopes of being able to copy the one on one combat she had seen from everyone else in the past. In mere moments she was pounding him with rapidly occurring punches flailing her fists in random directions until he fell to the ground!

"Grr!" Naoto spun round as a growl sounded somewhere beside her. She'd forgot about the dog... oh well.

"Pew!" She shot as many bullets she could in the canines face causing it to be completely blinded in mere seconds as it pounced at her face! Suddenly fear caught a hold of her causing her to spin round and sprint away so the dog wouldn't hit her only to be caught by one of the teens on her mad dash towards Rise. He grabbed her by the hair making her screech in pain before flinging her towards the rest of the team. She slammed into an invisible wall before crashing to the ground, now winded. "Pew..."

Rise's foot slammed through the guy's chest as it dissolved like the regular shadows she'd fought in the past just seconds before she turned to see Naoto flung across the still deformed Okina street! In an instant she bolted towards the goon that had thrown her, barrelling into him and sending him sprawling to ground in shock as the dog struggled to see where she was! Mere moments later the dog was sent to the same place as it's master as she kicked its side. She repeated what she had done with the first goon, successfully destroying the two of them before the invisible walls dropped and the rest of the team raced towards them.

"We did it!" Naoto cried in excitement as the others reached them, flinging her hands in the air to celebrate.

"Naoto! What did I tell you about going near the Shadows?" Minato's voice was seriously displeased causing the young girls face to drop into one of disappointment and slight fear as she shuffled her feet awkwardly.

"Don't go near them... But they weren't Shadows were they? They were people weren't they?" Her innocent and slightly desperate voice earned a shake of the head from her cousin as she gazed up at him.

"No. They were shadows... Are you okay though?" This time she nodded silently at the concern in his tone.

"I just wanted to be like you..." She turned her face back to her feet as the others spoke to Rise before their attention fell on them at her last comment.

"Aww... It's okay Naoto-kun! You were just like your 'Big Bro'!" Chie's comment seemed to spark some excitement in her as her gaze shifted towards her in the most curious way possible.

"Big bro?" Her head tilted slightly at the idea of who she meant by that. "Minnie's not my brother! He's my cousin!" The second she'd realised what she'd meant she had grinned in amusement as she spoke in a jokingly annoyed tone.

"Well we're just glad you and Rise-san are okay." Her attention shot towards Souji as he spoke with the same slightly familiar tone as before. He smiled at her suspicious gaze as she once again tried to remember where she recognised him from.

"Yeah. Now next time be sure to stay close to us." Minato's gaze then moved to Rise in a questioning sort of way before he spoke up again. "Now since we told you about Naoto's past with those psycho's would you like to explain what happened with you and them?"

"Oh... Um... Sure. There's not much to tell though. What happened was,"

*FLASHBACK!*

Rise wondered round the streets of Tokyo side by side with her best friend Kanami Mashita. The two of them were chatting idly about the future on their way to school before they both stopped dead in their tracks at a single sound. A growl erupted from behind them as two voices joined it along with the increase in heart rate from both of the girls.

"Hey Ricey-chan and Cani-chan!" One of them called out to them. The two of them spun round to meet the two boys that casually approached them along with an albino Husky following closely at their heels.

The Azuma brothers were both blonde haired boys with blue eyes. One of them always wore a badge with a green dinosaur on it and always had his hair tied back in a tiny pony tail with the name of Haru. The other had simple hair and wore a silver eagle pendant round his neck that his grandfather apparently gave to him. His name was Isamu. The husky was – like said before – an albino with a lilac collar that had several spiked studs jutting out of it along with the name of Kazuhiko.

"Er... Hey! G-guys!" Rise forced a smile that her friend tried to copy. "W-we were just going to school. Er... Um... We should be going now o-or we'll be late! C-c'mon Kanami!" The two of them turned and sprinted away from them and in mere moments they froze again as Kazuhiko snarled a warning at them.

"Yeah! So why don't you join us? I'm sure it'll be better to come with us right?" Haru spoke in a menacingly, knowing tone as he took a few steps with his twin towards them. "Right?"

"Er... Yeah. It would..." She mumbled before letting them catch up to them. However to her dismay they seemed to be herding them towards a secluded alleyway in which they would undoubtedly be attacked in. The more she knew that would happen the more she wished she wasn't right...

"I... Um... I'm sure you can guess what happened then... Right?" Rise clearly didn't want to go into detail on the subject so she earned a few sympathetic nods and encouraging smiles from the team.

"Did it ever get resolved?" Minato's voice seemed to snap the girl out of her teary eyed stasis before she nodded calmly.

"Yeah. It did. It ended at the school talent show,"

*FLASHBACK!*

"Hey Rise-san! Are ya ready?" Kanami called to her from outside the classroom as Rise sprinted out of it. Her girls uniform was replaced by a sparkly pink dress, some pink leggings and a orange ribbon tied round her neck with her hair tied into pigtails at either side of her head. Kanami was similarly dressed but the colours were more a mixture of sunset oranges and yellows with her hair tied in a single ponytail with several curled locks, behind a sun-visor cap.

"Lets do this!" Rise had grinned excitedly as the two of them exchanged their special handshake before joining the rest of the competitors backstage.

"Hey look! Those two dorks decided to show up!" Haru spoke up as they arrived in a smugly competitive way.

"Why? Your not gonna win so what the hell are you even trying for?" His brother was now grinning in the same way as he clung to Kazuhiko's lead. The three of them were performing in the talent show with an act that was going to show off their well trained canine's tricks and abilities, clearly expecting to wipe the floor with the opposition.

"Oh yeah?" The future idol had a sudden burst of courage as she glared at the two of them. "Why don't you bet on it? If we win you have to leave us alone forever!" She inwardly flinched as she realised she was probably earning a one way ticket to pain town.

"Ha ha! Look at this! She thinks they're gonna win! Well fine! Your on Ricey-chan!" Their smug laugh setting a fire deep within her heart as she held her hand out to make it official. "See you in hell." The two of them grinned before shaking her hand in turn before doing the same to Kanami.

"Our next act will be... The Azuma brothers and their Husky, Kazuhiko!" The head teacher called out to the crowd of students before the brothers led their dog onstage. Their act was pretty good as the Husky followed their commands with ease.

Kazuhiko had raced around the makeshift stage, bounding through hoops and sliding on greased trays before he had leapt onto both of his owners shoulders and stood on his hind paws so it was like a human, dog pyramid. The act ended then with a huge applause from the audience before the two girls were announced to be up next.

"Ready Kanami?" Her nervous voice and encouraging nod, received a complete mimic of the action from her friend.

"Ready!" With that the two of them raced on stage and stood proudly, side by side before their act began. The second the music began the two friends began to sing in perfect tune and time with the music which was accompanied by not too badly performed choreography. Like the boys performance they were met with a huge applause at the end of their song earning two excitedly amused expressions from the girls.

The talent show continued for a bit before the results were announced much to the anticipation of the two rival acts. As all the different contestants gathered on stage the head teacher stepped forwards to announce the winners.

"In fourth place we have... Shiro Okami's hilarious comedian act! Congratulations!" As the boy stepped forwards he was met with a chorus of cheers and applause as he excepted the small bronze medal from the teacher.

"In third place we have... Naoko Furitsuke's amazing dance show! Congratulations!" Once again the one called stepped forwards to receive the prize and was met with just as much applause as the last.

"Now, in second place we have... The Azuma Brothers wonderful canine act! Congratulations!" This made the two girls' hearts drop. They had won... If they didn't get first place then they would be doomed to be beaten again forever! Well maybe not forever but it would definitely seem like forever! The more the crowd cheered the more their anticipation grew along with the dread that very nearly turned to fear as they stood tall on the stage nearby.

"And finally, in first place and the overall wining act of this years talent show is... Rise Kujikawa and Kanami Mashita with their simply dazzling performance!" The two of them stared in amazement at the head teacher as they stepped forwards in stunned silence. A grin slowly spread across their faces as the reality sunk in and the crowd cheered much louder then before for them.

"We did it!" Rise mumbled in excitement to her friend before excepting the humble sized trophy from the teacher. They held the trophy together as they smiled at the crowd before the show ended and they were forced to leave the stage.

"Oh my god! We really did it! I cant believe it!" Kanami cried out in excitement the second they got backstage, closely followed by Rise doing the exact same thing.

"I know! I can't believe it either!" It was then that they noticed the Azuma brothers glaring at them with slight awe in their gaze. They seemed to be avoiding them since they'd gotten of stage but who really cared? They'd just won a talent show!

"Hey Rise-san? I've just thought of something!"

"Me to!" They exchanged an excited glance before they both spilled out their thoughts in perfect unison.

"When I grow up I wanna be an idol!"

"And that's my story." Rise smiled at the team as she relived the memory with her gaze lingering on Naoto's overly awestruck yet still curiously innocent gaze.

"That's so cool Rise-san!" She called out in excitement as the rest of the team returned the smile as well.

"Wait... Isn't Kanami Mashita your rival now?" Chie spoke up earning a nod from the idol.

"Yeah. We weren't allowed to be a double act anymore but when that happened, we swore to each other that we'd be the best rivals we could be!" It was then that Naoto noticed the slight change in the girl as she suddenly began to glow an eerie silver before the team gasped as she vanished into thin air.

"Where'd she go?!" She called out in shock along with the others.

"Aww, what a sweet story! Well, hurry up and find her before I get bored and decide to wipe her memories too!" The evil Teddie sounded slightly bored but also amused as he threatened them.

"Teddie! Where is she?" Minato ordered the costumed bear to search before the team raced of to find the idol...

"Ugh... Where am I?" Rise slowly sat up in an alleyway similar to the one they'd found Naoto in before she glanced down at herself curiously. Damn... She was a child too... But how come she could still remember what she had done up until this very second in her life? Why her and not Naoto? Hmm... Oh well! More things to think about later! However the nagging loneliness that gnawed at her mind was only another reason to why she should just bolt down the alleyway to find her friends. In mere seconds she had done just that. Completely ignoring anything and everything until she could see them...

"Rise-san!" Naoto called out as a small figure raced towards them as if some invisible force was chasing her away. That 'force' apparently didn't exist either...

She stopped in front of them as she gasped for breath. Her fuchsia coloured sundress reached down to her knees and white leggings covered the rest of her legs whilst a pink jacket covered her arms. She wore a silver chained charm bracelet and small beaded earrings with her auburn hair tied back in a ponytail.

"I... Finally... Found you guys..." She managed to say between breaths.

"What? You remember us?" Chie's confused stare earned a confused nod from the small girl.

"Yeah! It's weird right? I can remember everything but Naoto-ku-chan can't." She hurriedly corrected herself earning the most curious stare from the blue haired child the others had ever seen.

"Remember what?" The others all glanced at each other, unsure whether they should tell her or not.

"Oh er... Its not important." Her eyes narrowed at her cousins claim before she shrugged it of. If he said it was unimportant then it must be true. Right?

"Just so you know, the rules say that if you cheat you loose your memory. If you don't you can keep them! Nao-chan broke the rules more then once so she doesn't get to keep them. How bear-y unfortunate!" The fakes voice cut in to answer their question.

"I broke the rules?" She mumbled dully as if she didn't want to believe it was true. After all, Naoto hated to break the rules of anything.

"No. Just ignore him." Souji spoke up beside her bringing her once again curious gaze towards him.

"Okay..." her voice was slightly suspicious as she could have sworn she had met him somewhere before. "Minnie? Can we stop for a bit?"

"Er... Sure. We could do with a short rest anyway." Glancing round at the team she noticed how at that comment almost the entire team had plonked themselves down on the concrete ground to recuperate as she and her cousin sat down next to each other along with Souji.

"Hey Naoto-chan!" Rise squeaked as she sat down on the other side of her.

"H-hello. Rise-san." She blinked a few times before the other girl suddenly dragged the to-be detective away from the two teens. "Stop it! Let go of me!" Her demands went unnoticed as she struggled to dig her heels into the ground to at least attempt to get away from this strange girl. "Hey!" She suddenly tripped over her own feet causing her to fall to the ground with Rise still dragging her for some unknown reason.

"Rise-san! You shouldn't do that!" Naoto bit her lip as tears suddenly welled in her eyes and Yukiko came to the rescue. She gently lifted the almost crying child up onto her hip so the to-be idol had no choice but to stop.

"But –!"

"It's not very nice. You should know better!"

"Wow, Yukiko-senpai... Talk about mothering..." Rise pouted before nodding in annoyance. "Fine. Yeah I do know better but... I don't know... I think I still have the same attitude that I would have if I was like Naoto-ku-chan. Besides, Minato-kun and Souji-kun wanted to talk without Naoto-chan being there!" Her indignant reasoning just attracted the attention of Kanji who had most likely been watching from a distance.

"That don't mean ya' can just ignore 'er!" He wandered over to join in the conversation.

"Fine. I'm sorry Naoto-chan." Her slightly forced apologetic tone earned a slightly annoyed glare from Naoto before she looked away after a few moments.

"Well, if Souji-kun and Minato-kun need to talk to each other alone then you two can come other here with us." With that Yukiko led the way towards the rest of the team before sitting Naoto down on the floor next to her as she took the space next to Chie.

"Hey, what's up with you?" Yosuke glanced over at them to see the blue haired child's teary eyed face as she forced her tears back. She didn't need to cry! Crying was for really girly girls! Her resolve didn't work as a few tears managed to escape her forces.

"I accidentally tripped her up as I was bringing her here." Rise spoke up in annoyance as she showed a slight glare to match her words.

"Seriously? That's it?" He was instantly punched in the upper arm by Chie as soon as his sentence ended.

"Geez! Look at her! She's only little! You can't blame her for that!" She yelled at him before he apologised in annoyance.

"Fine! I'm sorry! Look if your that upset about it then... I'll get you an ice cream later. K?" The steak loving girl nodded in satisfaction before her expression turned expectant. "What?"

"Don't forget Rise-san you dork! You do something for one kid you've gotta do it for the other if they're around!" She grinned as he groaned and accepted that.

"Okay. Fine. I'll buy you two an ice cream later if that's what you want..." Naoto smiled cheerfully at him along with Rise at his half hearted promise. After all a promise was a promise. Right? She sniffed before nodding in unison with the to-be idol further annoying the heir to Junes.

"Aww, look at that! You've made them so happy!" Chie's taunt earned a slight snarl from him making Yukiko smile in amusement.

"Shut up." He groaned before Yukiko turned to the kids.

"Um... Yukiko-san? Do you have a Persona?" Naoto's curiosity seemed to get the best of her as she gazed up at the successor of the Amagi inn.

"Yes, I do. Her name is Konohana-Sakuya." Her calm response seemed to stoke the fire of curious questions that raged in the small girls mind as she questioned her further.

"What does she look like? Can you summon her?" Her face fell as she shook her head. "Aww, why not?"

"I don't know why. I just... cant. Oh and she is a pink, bird-like being with a biker helmet-like head and um... a cheerleading costume on." She seemed slightly unsure about how to describe that part as she had hesitated for a second.

"Can everyone summon Persona's?" The anticipation in her voice was followed by an excitedly curious question. "Can I see them?"

"Sure." Kanji spoke up before he summoned his Persona. "Take-Mikazuchi!" The second the huge slightly robotic creature appeared behind him Naoto's eyes widened in an awestruck way and she grinned as her eyes glittered in excitement.

"Wow! What can it do?" The others all watched in amusement as she began to question Kanji further like she did with Yukiko.

"Well... Er, it can make lightnin' appear."

"Really? Can I see?" He shrugged in response as she stared up at the Persona excitedly.

"Sure. Why not? Zio!" Suddenly a bolt if lightning crackled down from the sky striking the ground next to them before she squeaked in a mixture of both shock and amazement.

"Wow! Can it do Marag... Maragdye? Maragi..." She fumbled for the right word for the attack her cousin had used when he'd saved her from the shadows. "Maragidyne! Can it do Maragidyne?" She exclaimed as she finally got the word right.

"Nah. Yukiko-senpai's can and Minato-kun's can so can... uh... I don't think the others can." A spark of suspicion crossed her features at the awkward hesitation in his voice for just a second before she asked the others more questions.

"What can your Persona's do? What are they called? Can you summon them?" Her barrage of questions earned a slightly overwhelmed glimmer in Chie's eyes before she responded.

"Er... Mines called Tomoe and it has ice powers but I can't summon it right now." Her face fell slightly but she then turned to Yosuke with a curious stare.

"Well, mines called Jiraiya and its an awesome tornado summoning Persona!"

"Can you summon it?" His enthusiasm fell as she asked him that simple question.

"Er... No."

"What about you Teddie?" Her head tilted slightly before Teddie spoke up.

"Hmm? Oh my Bear-sona is called Kintoki-Douji! He's great at ice attacks and healing spells."

"Cool!" Her still awestruck voice brought a smile to everyone's face. Even Rise's.

"So um... Who's your favourite character in Neo Featherman?" She frowned at Kanji's obviously improvised attempt at making the conversation last.

"Feather Swan of course! He's the best ranger ever!" The enthusiasm once again seemed to entertain the others as she spoke.

"Hmm? And why's that?"

"He's the smartest! And he's really cool! Not like Feather Owl. He's just stupid." At her response to Yosuke's question for some reason Chie threw him a slightly smug glance at the fact that she'd just down graded the yellow ranger. "Do you like Feather Owl?"

"No! I just... Its a long story. I'll tell you another time. So what do you think of the green one?"

"Um... She's okay. But she's pretty much just there cause she can be. She's pretty strong and all but she doesn't use her abilities when I think she could. Her names Feather Parakeet by the way."

"Er... right. So what about the others?" Chie swiftly moved the conversation away from Feather Parakeet before Yosuke could tease her about it. "Like the um... the pink one?"

"Feather Argus doesn't like Feather Swan. She always teases him. But it's funny to see what Feather Hawk does when he finds out! I like Feather Hawk more then Feather Argus." She smiled at their reactions to her response. All three of them looked rather amusing when they were trying not to laugh at what she'd said about them. "But Feather Falcon is the best bad guy in the series! Him and the four kings are so cool when they get beaten cause they just get up and try again! And Feather Falcon joins the good guys eventually so he's cool too!" That brought a slightly proud glint to Kanji's eye for some unknown reason.

"Oh, oh! What about the white one?" Teddie spoke up excitedly causing her to shrug carelessly.

"Umm, Feather Horned Owl is pathetic and only there for comic relief. He can't do anything! He even tells the bad guys secrets sometimes by accident. Actually, I think he might be a secret bad guy!" Teddie instantly pouted with a slight whine at her response.

"Hey, um Naoto-chan? Do you watch Loveline?" Rise piped up after she had giggled at the stupid bear costume thing.

"Yeah! Loveline's amazing! She can solve any case ever!"

"Aww, that's adorable!" She glared at Yukiko before she grumbled;

"I'm not adorable..."

"You ready to go?" Minato interrupted their conversation as he wandered over to them with Souji in tow. "We should get going."

"Right. Lets go!"

"Naoto-kun!" Naoto's consciousness slowly drifted back to reality as she forced her eyes opened.

"What?" She mumbled in annoyance as she sat up only to find herself utterly alone in pitch blackness. "Where...? Rise-san?" She called for the voice that had woken her, only to be met with silence. Where was she? Where were the others? Glancing round she scrambled to her feet only to be knocked back down again by some other being that had apparently just appeared beside her at that exact moment.

"Sorry, Nao-ch~an!" Her eyes widened at the lab coat wearing person stood in front of her.

"What are you doing here?" The figure just grinned at her like it had done before as it extended a hand out to help her up. She stubbornly refused as she got up on her own.

"I don't know. Same as you I guess." Her shadow shrugged nonchalantly as it answered her question.

"Why are you here?" The shadow shrugged again whilst her annoyance slowly grew.

"I don't know. Why are we here?" It questioned in a childishly curious way.

"... You know as well as I do that I don't know either." She mumbled in response before a stupidly familiar voice cut of their conversation.

"Your here because I want you to be! Now sit back down and enjoy the show!" The fake Teddie's voice left unasked questions lingering in her mind as a holograph-like image appeared in front of them.

"I'm the magical detective, Loveline!" She flinched as her own voice from her past rang through the area along with the image from her childhood appearing on the hologram. She was only about five or six, maybe even four, and the image depicted her dressed up as Loveline with the same magnifying glass from the show to match the costume.

"Okay Loveline. Tell me. Where did the last cookie go?" An all too familiar voice joined the first as an unforgettable character appeared in the image. Her father. She cringed as she remembered the day the images showed her.

"Hmm... I'm on the case daddy!" With that, the younger Naoto had sprinted away in search of 'clues' to help with her 'investigation' with her dad chuckling discretely as she did so. The image suddenly changed to her younger self inside her room singing one of favourite songs at the time.

"Near a tree by a river,

There's a whole in the ground,

And an old man of Aran,

Goes around and around," She smiled as she remembered the song with ease before she noticed that her Shadow self had began to sing along with the image in a carefree way.

"I've got plans for us,

Nights in the scullery,

And days instead of me

I only know what to discuss,

Of for anything but light,

Wise men fighting over you," She smiled again as she fought the urge to join in but before she could the image changed again to one with her and her cousin playing one of his PlayStation games together.

"If you put a portal there and a portal here then I can go threw it and you can catapult me over there."

"Okay!" She recognised the game as the puzzle game Portal that they were never particularly good at. They were in Minato's room with a jar of biscuits between them that the two of them would gradually empty the contents of whilst playing the game. After a few more moments it once again morphed into another scene from her life except this one was of her sprinting down the hallways of the old Shirogane Estate with a Nerf gun in her hands jumping of couches and chairs shooting various random things.

"Naoto!" It was then the young version of Naoto froze before she swiftly hid the gun under the couch and hastily moved to a different room in order to avoid her mothers scolding for breaking one of the vases that held various flowers in it. "Naoto Shirogane! Come here right now!"

"What's the matter Mummy?" Her mothers eyes narrowed suspiciously at her use of the word 'Mummy'. She only ever called her 'Mum' not 'Mummy'. It was only ever the latter when she'd done something she shouldn't have or she was hiding something.

"I think you know what." Her scolding tone brought a soft smile to her face as she gazed at the scene. "You should know better then to go around breaking things like a vandal. Now what do you say?"

"Sorry Mommy..." She'd been staring at the ground at the time shuffling her feet awkwardly as she waited for her mother's response. She'd just sighed and shook her head.

"You know what that means don't you?"

"Umm... No more cookies?" The child's dull voice was actually quite pitiful now that she thought about it...

"No cookies, no ice-cream and no chocolate cake either. That includes any other sweets you have in mind." It was then that her younger self had pouted sadly whilst giving her mother the puppy dog eyes in a pleading way. "Don't give me that look! You brought this on yourself!" She whined slightly making her roll her eyes. She remembered winning this eventually. "Aww, fine! You can keep your cookies but nothing else! Now go and find your father. He has work to do." There it is.

The scenes continued to play until finally one in particular caught her eye and this time forced a small tear to stain her cheeks. Her Shadow was pretty much the same except for it's tears were like waterfalls streaming down her face.

"Grampa? Whens mom and dad coming home?" Her grandfather was knelt in front of her whilst he seemed to be mulling over how to tell her.

"Look Naoto... They er... They won't be coming home." He was clearly struggling for words as he watched her clueless gaze turn slightly hurt.

"Why not? Don't they love me anymore?"

"Naoto, They will always love you."

"Then can I go visit them? If they can't come home then can't I go to them?"

"No Naoto. You can't." He was clearly struggling with her as she came up with more ways to see them again.

"Then... Can't we meet them somewhere else? Like meet them at the park or something?"

"Look Naoto. You can't see them. Ever again."

"Why not?"

"Because they're... They're d... Dead... Naoto they, are dead." He choked slightly on his words as he watched her face fall to the depths of the Earth.

"Your lying! They can't be! Not my mom and dad!" She screeched to him painfully.

"No Naoto! I'm not lying. There's been an accident. A car accident that involved them both. Trust me. I really do wish I was lying." It was then that the two of them had burst into tears and he hugged her tightly as she was one of the only members of family he had left. Only her Minato and his father remained. They were the last Shiroganes to remain on this Earth. The final two...

It was then that Naoto fell to her knees as the pain of the memory both mentally and physically attempted to release itself all through her tears. Her Shadow was the same except she was sat with her knees tucked under her forehead. It was then that the pitch blackness had suddenly been replaced by a blinding light that she would have noticed had she not been scrunching her eyes shut the second she had fallen to the ground, causing the headache of reality to only worsen as she kept them forced closed...

Authers Note!

Hey guys! Long time no update! Yeah I've gone over this one to check that things aren't too mucked up but if I missed things I missed things! Er yeah so about Naoto? Yeah she broke the rules when she was fighting the school bullies cause she got the others to help so she lost her memories. As for Rise, she kept her memories yes but not her regular attitude or personality. Don't ask about Kanami either! I muck Persona timelines up if I feel like it bro! (JK) So when Naoto helps Rise I tried to make it seem like she was one of those kinds of kids that just had these... 'moments' where they are just ridiculously stupid. So yeah! T'is a thing! Oh and apparently Neo Featherman has a wiki! Mind blown for no reason! Lol Also I was half asleep whilst writing some of this as it is the school holidays here in England so yeah...

Please Read & Review cause as always, I love hearing from you guys and I heed all advice given! By the way I hope I didn't use to many '!'s in this cause that's the advice I was trying to heed this time. Anyway Thanks for reading! :D :D :D :D :D

PS. I got a new computer! :D however Microsoft word doesn't want to download on it yet so you'll again have to put up with me not being able to use spell checkers and things! :D Also! Naoto as Loveline was just too amazing for me to resist! Lol hope you all enjoyed that! :D :D :D :D

PPS.

I don't own Portal OR PlayStation! Or The song called The Riddle that I cant remember if I named or not! (And yes. That is an actual song by Gigi D'Agostino)