Author's Notes: Welcome back. Onwards to Chapter 2.

I like to flit between characters as I write because it helps me keep everyone on track with how they feel, and sometimes people don't always say how they feel so while someone might seem to act a certain way, maybe they're actually thinking something else.

Hopefully it won't get too confusing, and I'm pretty strict about ONLY going between Akihiko and Yukari.

Akihiko usually tried not to skip classes for training, but knowing how near they were to the next full moon was starting to weigh on his mind. As he stepped under the warm spray of the shower in the school's gymnasium, he let out a sigh of relief; all that tension from training washing away with the sweat from a long work-out session.

Minato kept them trained well, but sometimes Akihiko just couldn't sit still for long enough knowing that they were close to their next battle; and with his already high grades in most of his subjects he felt sure he would make up for the missed lecture. Better than sitting there all jittery and not being able to focus; taking the strain out on a speed-bag was so much more rewarding.

Turning off the shower to towel himself dry, he paused at the wide expanse of scarring over his sternum with a wince. It still hurt like hell and his rib wasn't dong great either. They were leery at the hospital; he just said he'd been mugged and left them to guess because that was easier than explaining why it looked like he'd been clawed by a lion. Patting the pink scarring dry, his skin crawled when he heard the locker room door creaking open and banging shut.

It was foolish to be so jittery, knowing he was in a stall and no one could see him but the last thing he needed was more people asking about the scar. He really was a terrible liar, and he could already imagine what kind of gossip would spread as a result if someone saw and he couldn't explain himself. The doctors had luckily called Officer Kurosawa when he told them he'd been "mugged", but he doubted the students in the school would be so forgiving.

The boys who entered were talking loudly, slamming the steel locker doors shut and laughing obnoxiously... and it was so blissfully quiet before they came in.

"This year," one of them announced, "I'm going to make her mine!"

The laughter continued for a while, the obnoxious one's friends egging him on. Rolling his eyes, he thought about how much he detested lock-room bravado and wished to whatever deity existed that they would quiet down. Akihiko was about to zone them out until he heard one of them proclaim his love for a familiar girl-

"Yukari, you have alluded me for long enough! I think it's high-time I asked that beautiful junior out on a date,"

"Hey, c'mon man, leave some for the rest of us,"

"Not a chance, Yukari Takeba is mine, and I won't settle for anyone less!"

If it were anyone else they were talking about, Akihiko would have had no problem drowning out their guffawing chatter, but this was Yukari-chan they were announcing to stake claim to, and that would just not do. He thought about going out to warn them that she was having a thing (whatever the hell it was) with Minato and wasn't free for a date, but when he thought about if for a little while longer he wasn't sure. Going solely by Junpei's word about their relationship, really, wasn't a very smart thing to do, because Junpei made a lot of assumptions without knowing the whole truth.

"She's got Archery Club tomorrow evening, I think I may just go to watch,"

"Mind if I tag along?"

"It ain't a dictatorship here, you go where you want,"

Were they... going to follow her to Archery Club? Being attracted to the girl was fine but-

"Man," the obnoxious one started again, "watching her use that bow in that little skirt gives me the scratch,"

"Yeah it's a shame the Culture Festival was cancelled, I heard she picked the short straw and was going to wear a maid outfit for the day,"

"Yeah, I heard that. I put in like 10 complaints to the student council but that Mitsuru-bitch wouldn't arrange a later date. What I wouldn't give to see Yukari in a maid's outfit-"

"What I wouldn't give to have her serve me in a maid's outfit,"

Creeps, Akihiko thought as they started laughing again, utter creeps. He wondered if Yukari was aware that this pack of idiots were following her around, perving on her. It would be right to tell her, but a wave of apprehension washed over him at the thought. What would he say without freaking her out? What if she didn't know and it frightened her?

His throat closed up at the thought, his mind blank.

I'm an idiot, he thought dismally, I get tongue-tied just thinking about saying it.

"Guys, I got it all planned out. I'm gonna bump into her on her way back to her dorm and get her all flustered. Once she's scrambling to pick up her things and put them back in her bag (and maybe I can get a nice look down her top in the process) I'll be a gentleman and apologise by inviting her out for dinner,"

"Maybe you can get her drunk and bring her to Club Escapde,"

"Nah, she's a good girl, she doesn't do under-age drinking,"

"Yeah, but all good girls have a wild side, right? Who's to say she doesn't?"

"Oh I bet she does, but I ain't gonna get her drunk, what if she doesn't remember our date...?"

Shoving on his pants and shifting his shirt over his shoulders, he stepped a little closer to the door as the conversation outside slowly got lewder and lewder. He had to see them, he had to know their faces in case they tried anything on Yukari; Akihiko wouldn't be able to live with himself knowing that the pack of idiots out there could potentially hurt her. While he was aware that boys were boys and they talked like big-men around each other, when confronted with the object of their affections they lost a lot of that bravado... but what if these guys didn't?

What if they really walked their talk?

Grabbing his gym-bag and fixing his gloves in to place, he stepped out of the stall and casually pushed it closed, his superior height filling the space from floor to ceiling to cut an imposing figure. The seniors in front swivelled around to look at him; Akihiko recognised their ring-leader but didn't know him by name. He was average-looking, forgettable at a glance, with short brown hair and a deep under-bite, brown eyes locked on his for a moment, surprised, then apprehensive-

Hoisting his bag over his shoulder, Akihiko continued to watch them, and they him, as he exited through the locker-room door, closing it with a snap, hearing their chatter pick up again through the frame.

Committing their faces to memory, he decided he was going to keep an eye on them for the rest of the term. They could be perfectly harmless; just stupid boys gossiping about a girl they liked.

Or they could be dangerous in the "I don't take no for an answer" type of way.

And though Akihiko had faith in Takeba and her skill as both an archer and a Persona user, she was best suited to support and didn't do well with with clustered enemies.

He wanted to tell her, but just didn't have the words. Girls were... best handled with a kind of soft touch he just didn't have. Mitsuru didn't count, she took him at face-value because she knew him as he did her, their mutual friendship was based on that trust. But Yukari was... emotional and young and Akihiko just didn't know how to handle her. He could predict Mitsuru's reaction...

But he couldn't predict anything Takeba would do. What if she went crazy and beat a few of them up? What if she got scared and started crying... oh god what if she started crying?!

He grimaced, stepping out of the entrance to the school to head home. Lost in thought, he barely even noticed the group of girls rush over to ask him something (though all he heard was the angry buzzing of too many voices all talking at once) and brushed past them with ease, the chill of Autumn biting his skin through his clothes. It was jacket weather he noticed, wondering when the day summer ended was.

A huge part of him was eternally grateful the Culture Festival was cancelled and those creeps never got to fulfil their fantasy of seeing Takeba in a short, frilly dress. The older-brother in him he thought diminished when Miki died came roaring back as the urge to protect her overrode everything else.

He would make sure, because there was no one else who would or could, that those assholes would never get to lay a finger on Yukari (unless she explicitly asked). Despite the fights she had with Mitsuru and her dangerous curiosity, Akihiko really liked the girl. She was kind, had a good sense of humour and was pretty smart and level-headed in comparison to other girls in her generation. As well as being an excellent healer, she really did enjoy taking care of a lot of members in the group and Akihiko was more than grateful for the amount of times she saved his broken ass in Tartarus or when fighting a shadow at the full moon.

The last thing he wanted was for anyone to inflict any pain on her. She was a nice kid, she didn't deserve that.

Author's Notes: Fence visited, next we will get to some actual interaction!