A/N: This story has gotten so much more attention than I initially expected. It warms my heart to see so many people who love Jin. I always thought he was really underrated. But here's the chapter early because I messed up the order of the chapters last weekend.

July 4th 9:43AM Waxing Gibbous Rank 5

The weeks leading up to the full moon are busy. News of the Revenge site exploded overnight and we'd received more requests than ever before. The three of us split up more often, taking out as many requests as we can afford. Between work and sleeping the only other thing I do is research. I'd hacked into the cameras at the dorms long ago, but there isn't much to watch.

Minako sends me messages less often. She spends afternoons and weekends with the others in the dorm and club mates but she is spending more time in the Tower of Demise. They're practicing almost daily for the Full-Moon battle according to Chidori.

Chidori is watching me almost constantly. I can't see any sign of Medea but I can feel her eyes on me day and night. She is watching me right now, in between her sketching.

*Bing*

I look at my phone before glancing quickly at the girl behind me. She doesn't move from her spot.

~"Do you want to meet up at the docks again?"

"Are you going to go?" Chidori's soft voice makes me jolt and I throw my phone at her out of reflex; the little device hits her in the chest. "...Ow."

"Sorry." I pick it up, sending Minako a quick reply. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Are you going to go?"

"Yeah."

"The full moon operation is in a few days. Are you sure it's a good idea?"

"It'll be fine."

Chidori continues to watch me intensely. Her eyes are narrowed in suspicion. She wouldn't rat me out to Takaya. I am sure of that by now, but it is entirely impossible to know what she is really thinking. "Don't fall in love with her."

I snort derisively. She couldn't be serious. That wouldn't actually happen. "Don't be stupid."

She says nothing in reply, resuming the strange drawings in her sketchbook.

Chidori was an idiot. I couldn't possibly fall in love with Minako Arisato. She was and still is the enemy. She is Takaya's target, and the main reason SEEs was succeeding. Not to mention she had plenty of other men running around her.

I took peeks into her life almost daily, more things she would probably hate me for if she knew. Iori, and her precious Sanada are just the beginning. She had some french kid hanging around her like a sore thumb at school, not to mention some tall foreigner that even Chidori couldn't read.

"He isn't human." That was what she'd said, but what the hell did that mean? Was he an alien? A shadow? Some weird figment of our collective imagination? Arisato had too many weirdos hanging around. How could I fall in love with someone like that?

"Shirato-san!" The sound of my name causes me to move back in alarm, nearly tipping off the docks and into the water. Minako's hand clenches around my jacket, pulling me back with all her might. I stumble, tripping over her legs and falling on top of her.

She is a small girl. I scrap one of my knees and both my hands in an attempt not to hurt her. My glasses fall off, disappearing into the clustered colors of the world. "Are you okay?"

"Y...Yes. Are you okay?" Her face is flushed, the tinge almost matching her eyes.

"I'm fine." She is close. Even without my glasses I can see her clearly.

"Shi...ra...to...san?" Her face looks confused, like she doesn't know what to say or do. I've never seen her so flustered. She is beautiful.

"Jin. Just call me Jin."

"Jin...Mina then, for me."

"Mina..." I couldn't possibly fall in love with her. I wouldn't let it happen.

Her eyes snap back to attention, like saying her name had destroyed the moment. She abruptly sits up, forcing me out of the way and into a sitting position on the dock. "I made you potato fries at the cooking club. Would you like to try them?"

She had made them just because I said I liked it? Had she been doing all this to impress me? For what? Why? What was her endgame? She couldn't possibly have feelings for me."Are you serious?"

"Of course!" Her face is full of excitement as she unwraps a small batch of fries from a piece of tin foil. The expression doesn't last long. "Oh, they got crushed when we fell."

I grab one for a taste, and she immediately starts yelling for me to stop. "No! Don't eat them."

"...They taste fine." They were better than fine. Delicious even, but she wouldn't hear that from me.

She smiles, her expression one of pity. "You don't need to lie to make me feel better. I bet it tastes awful after all that tousling in my bag."

"Don't be stupid. Food doesn't change just because it gets beaten around a bit. The consistency maybe, but not the taste." For such a smart girl, she could be immensely idiotic sometimes.

"Really?" She grabs one for herself before holding another out to me. The fry hangs limply, a few inches from my mouth.

I quirk an eyebrow in question, "What are you doing?"

"Eat." I reach out to grab it but she moves it out of my way. When she moves it back, I try to get it a second time, but again, she moves it out of reach. Her eyes twinkle with mischief."Use your mouth."

"Are you stupid?"

She rolls her eyes, a playful expression on her face. "Just do it."

I move my head down so I can eat it from her hands, my lips touching the tips of her fingers. I feel a blush creeping up my neck. This was embarrassing. Awkward even. Who still did stuff like this? We weren't children. "There, happy?" I growl.

"Yes. Very." She is still smiling, but I can see the same blush on her face. So it was equally embarrassing for her but she'd done it anyway. What an idiot.

I want to kiss him.

That was the only thing she could think of when she felt his lips brush her fingers. He'd been watching her as he did it, his glasses hidden in her bag. He'd dropped them when they fell, and she quickly hid them when he wasn't looking. He looked better with them, but he was attractive without them too. Maybe less sophisticated and harsh, like an assistant instead of the teacher.

When had the game changed? She'd originally acted a bit cutesy and girly in an attempt to get him to open up, maybe finally solve the puzzle in her mind. When had her farce become her desire? Jin was being a bit mean today, but she didn't really mind. He felt closer than before. Like their interactions in the past had been a show, and the curtain and closed off the audience.

Every so often he'd say she was stupid, but maybe she was. She was sitting on this dock, playing cat and mouse with a man who she barely knew and who barely knew anything about her. She was losing too. The thought almost made her want to laugh at the absurdity of it. How could they ever be together when she kept so many secrets from him? When he was so clearly lying to her?

"Jin?" He had been digging on the ground for his glasses, patting down his pockets.

"What?" She hands them to him without a smile. The joke had passed. It was time to get serious, and he may not like what she had to say.

"Do you...do you have someone you like?"

"I...what?! No! Well, I guess. Maybe. What do you mean like?" He splutters, backing away a few steps. That hurt. The pain in her chest surprised her. It was new, exhilarating even. She could feel the adrenaline pumping in her veins, almost as quickly as when she fought in Tartarus. The adrenaline that told her she was still alive, far away from everyone who loved her.

"Do you have someone you want to be with, for the rest of your life?" She says it differently, her eyes completely serious. There could be no hesitation. If she didn't catch him off guard, he might close up and she would never get an answer. She would ask him, honestly and seriously because this was what she wanted. She would do it, because he was what she wanted.

He seemed to look at her seriously as well. Perhaps because he knew what she was trying to ask or say, but she could also see it in his eyes. She wouldn't like whatever it was he was about to tell her.

"Yes." That one word shattered the illusion she'd built in her mind. They couldn't play pretend forever. Whatever else they'd tried to hide, this was the truth.

Minako turns back to look at the sunset. The second time they had done so together. Jin doesn't say anything else either. Perhaps there was nothing else for either of them to say. Their feelings had been made clear. What else was there? What had she been thinking the first time they sat together? She'd thought that she was happy. That she enjoyed spending time with him.

As the sky turns from orange to red, and then to a pretty shade of purple, the pair remains quiet, each contemplating the next steps of this relationship. Jin stands up to go, and he extends a hand for her to take. They walk silently until they reach the dark apartment building where Jin lives. The sun has just completely set, the sky dark except for the low illumination of stars. Neither of them say a word. His eyes shift to look at the apartment before they return to her face. He is anxious, either afraid of someone seeing them or itching to go. She can't tell which. If he left, she would never see him again. The thought drags the words from her chest.

"Don't leave me." This happened every time. Jin always looked like he was trying to get closer to her while trying to stay as far away as possible. It pushed her to her emotional limit. Why couldn't he make his motive clear like the others? At least with the others she knew there would be no future for her. She knew what they wanted out of her, but Jin was always walking on her lines. If she said the right things, then he would stay. But for how long? When was he going to abandon her like the others?

"What are you saying?" His eyes are pained. He clearly didn't want to hurt her, but this wasn't what he wanted. What did he want? Why couldn't he just tell her?

"I don't want you to leave me." She says it again, her voice a little clearer. A little stronger.

"Stop it. I... I have someone else. Someone more important to me. When you asked me if I would die for him, I meant it. I would. He is the most important person to me." There it was. The truth at last, and it surprised her. She hadn't expected it would be a man, but did it matter? Not really. At least now he was being honest. Throwing his secrets out in the open.

With every word, they said, the truth was becoming clearer. He had someone else so why did he come so close to her? Why did he accept all her attempts to get close to him? There was still so much to learn. "That's okay. It doesn't change anything."

This shocks him into silence. Whatever he was about to say, is lost to the confusion. "What...What do you mean that's okay? That should change everything! Are you crazy?"

"You would die for him, but would he do the same for you?" Jin doesn't answer her. That is all the confirmation she needs. "You know he wouldn't. So you're expendable. You're just there for him to use you. A tool. Is that what you want?"

He doesn't answer her. The pain on his face lets her know she can keep going, that everything she says is the truth.

She smiles, and it's sympathetic instead of cruel. This was the only way she knew how to live. To smile to hide all the darkest and most wicked parts of herself. Her words are hurting him, and she knows it. "Jin, I know we've been lying to one another. You don't need to believe me right now, but I will wait for you. I hope that someday, you will pick me over him, and when that day comes, I hope we can be honest with each other."

She turns and walks away. There would be no tears today. The pain she was feeling at that moment wasn't anything substantial. It barely registered in her mind. None of it could compare to losing her parents. To losing Minato. It didn't compare with losing the ones you loved. To losing a future that been promised to you. Minako had said what she wanted, and she'd put in her best effort. That was all anyone could ask for.

I burst into the apartment. Chidori is sitting in her room, chiseling at a half finished block of stone. She doesn't turn to look at me when I burst through the door. "How did you know?"

"I didn't."

"Don't lie to me!" I kick over an unfinished painting she'd placed against the wall. I'd ruined the fabric and all her hard work. Had it been Medea? Did she use a Persona to spy on the girl? She'd clearly been listening in to our conversation downstairs.

"I'm not." She doesn't even stop working. Her hands hammering softly.

I crumple against her wall, sinking to a squat. What did Mina mean? Did she want to be with me? Did she like me? Or did she mean in that moment? What the hell was going on? "What do I do?"

Chidori shrugs, her expression nonchalant. Her eyelids are drooping, sleepy. "Whatever you want to do."

"What the hell does that mean?"

She sighs, finally putting her tools on a small table next to her. "You're not Takaya. You live for him, but he lives for himself. You were never able to learn the lessons he tried to teach you."

"I..." I wanted to tell her it wasn't true, but what was the point of that? I'd be lying to one of the few people in the world I thought of as a friend. "What am I supposed to do...?" I repeated.

"Do whatever you want." She grabs me by the shoulders, forcing me to look into her eyes. "If you want her, take her. Leave. Do whatever it is you want to do. If you want Takaya, then stay. Follow him forever like his pet. "

I stare at her in wonder. She wasn't like me, nor was she really like Takaya. She was someone else entirely, and she had her own path in life. "If you found something you wanted, would you leave us?"

She watches me with detachment, this girl who had been with me almost my whole life. "In a heartbeat."

A/N: Again I apologize about the previous mix-up. The next chapter is titled Lovers. 10/27