Title: Too Much Thinking

Fandom/Pairing: Persona 4/KanjixNaoto

Disclaimer: They're too perfect for me to own. Persona 4 and all characters belong to Atlus. Not me.

Too Much Thinking:

Naoto stood on the school roof that Saturday morning with her arms crossed over her chest, foot tapping distractedly, and one thin eyebrow raised high. Her bue eyes were trained on the figure lying sprawled on the ground, a half open box of animal crackers on his chest and is mouth wide open in a snore. From behind was the sound of a barely concealed giggle. Naoto sighed, a hand tugging down the brim of her hat of out habit.

Practically skipping to stand next to the slumbering classmate Rise Kjikawa laughed, lightly tapping the side of one of Kanji's long legs with the tip of her shoe. "We'd better wake him up." She mumbled with mirth. "I don't think I can eat any lunch up here with that noise." As if to drive her point home Kanji let out a particularly guttural snore, his brow furrowing in sleep.

The Detective Prince nodded slowly. "Odd. I don't recall him snoring when he dozed off in the recreation room at the ski lodge when we went a couple of months ago."

Rise smiled haltingly, eyeing the Detective with a cock of her head. "Not sure that matters much Naoto-kun."

"Perhaps it does. Snoring can be indicative of several minor health concerns including nasal problems, obstructive sleep apnea-"

"Naoto-kun!"

"-or even sleep deprivation which I'm inclined to interpret this as. The dark shadows under his eyes and his manner when he stumbled into class late this morning, his skipping history, all lead me to believe that he came up here to catch up on some much needed rest."

Rise scowled. "And boy is he getting it." She muttered darkly. The idol kneeled down near the former delinquents head, cupping her hands around her mouth.

"Ah, Rise-san, I wouldn't-" Naoto began, reaching her hand out.

Too late.

"MOOOROOONJIIII!"

"THE HELL!?" Kanji shot up so fast that Rise went stumbling back onto her rear in shock. The tall second year glared daggers at his friend, expression twisted into a grimace as he scratched the back of his head. "Dammit Rise! Don't go yellin' my ear like that! S'annoying!"

Rise comically puffed her cheeks as she matched his look with her own. Naoto noted that next to the severe face of Kanji Tatsumi, Rise's glare was ridiculously outmatched, making the girl appear no more dangerous than a kitten.

"You were the one snoring like a dead animal Moronji! I was waking you up for lunch!"

Naoto refrained from explaining to her friend exactly why no dead animal could ever scientifically snore and instead stepped between the two teenagers. "If we could avoid the prolonging of this rather pointless argument-" Naoto intoned with a warning look at both parties. "-that would supply us with adequate time to finish our lunch hour."

Kanji had turned away when Naoto had placed herself in his direct line of sight, a telling flush to his cheeks. He cursed under his breath before catching her gaze for a moment. "Yer right Naoto. Sorry 'bout that guys." Reaching around the slender detective Kanji offered his hand to the still sulking girl on the ground. "Aw c'mon Rise, don't be like that dammit." He groaned when the idol turned up her nose at his proffered hand.

There was another beat of silence, where it looked as if Rise would be continuing with her childish display and Kanji's impatience began sparking through his expression. Luckily a reluctant smile crossed Rise's face before Naoto felt the need to intervene again and the girl grasped Kanji's hand. "Aww, I can't stay mad at you Kanji!" She practically sang, laying the sweetness just a dash too thick, resulting in a suspicious look from the other two as Kanji effortlessly pulled the girl to her feet.

Shaking her head Naoto took a seat at the small picnic table someone had recently had the foresight to carry up there. Her lunch that day was just a single sweet roll from the first floor vending machine she had acquired on her way into class that morning. Rise settled into a seat next to her with a flourish, brandishing the bento her grandmother had prepared for her. Still looking fatigued, judging by the way he was rubbing his eyes with the back of his knuckles, Kanji leaned up against the fence that circled the rooftop, popping a couple of animal crackers in his mouth from the box he had recovered from the ground.

Naoto watched the young tailor. Though he had never shown an exemplary form of proper posture his stance that day was downright dreadful. His shoulders were hunched over, his head stooping forward. His eyes she noticed were bloodshot and distant, eyeing the sky without clear recognition. It was on her tongue to ask him exactly what was the cause of such symptoms when Rise teasingly whispered in her ear, "Stare at him any longer and he might just notice you Naoto-kun."

The blue-haired woman's head jerked back quickly and she reflexively shot back, "Don't be ridiculous Rise-san. I was merely attempting to ascertain what has Kanji-kun so out of sorts."

Rise chuckled from around her chopsticks, winking at Naoto. "Worried about him eh?"

"As it is directly affecting his academics I'm going to have to answer affirmatively Rise-san. Lack of sleep can result in a number of ill effects-"

"M'fine."

Both girls looked up at their friend. He blearily gazed at them from over his shoulder. "Ain't gotta worry 'bout me. M'fine."

Naoto was poised to retort but Rise was quicker and frankly; louder. "Oh don't give us that Kanji! You look awful. What, were you up all night?"

A flash of something crossed his face before he schooled his features into a grumpy frown. "Just been working on 'nother project. S'no big deal."

A lie, Naoto noted with some level of shock. It had been a long time since Kanji had outright lied to her face. He and the rest of the Investigation Team had learned early on that she did not tolerate fibs. Out of everyone she expected Kanji to be one of the members she wouldn't have to worry about lying to her, not like say Yosuke. His blunt way of beating to the heart of the matter was both just like and completely different from the way she cut to the core of a situation when she spoke. His was an honest nature, a rare thing in a person. It was that disposition that had made Naoto regard him in a new light as opposed to her initial impression. They had grown closer over the last few months, walking home from school side by side, studying together (all part of Naoto's attempts to reveal to Kanji that his adamant claim to stupidity was nothing more than self-fulfilling prophecy) and had on more than one occasion accompanied each other on excursions out of town. He was still prone to stuttering in her presence, a faint pink dusting on his cheeks paired with much of that, but he was certainly comfortable in her presence as much as she was in his which was only possible from her respect and gratitude of his honesty.

The wary look he had sported for an instant was the most alert he had been all day, giving Naoto the impression that whatever was keeping him up was important enough that it had cut through the drowsiness it had caused.

Deciding that more information would be needed Naoto chose to steer the conversation away from Kanji as Rise's continuous quips were fueling what would soon be another famous Kanji Tatsumi outburst. "Ah, Rise-san, did you study for Natsumi-sensei's math exam today?"

The idol's face blanched and she began to ramble on about how she hadn't remembered the test and would Naoto please not be a jerk and give her some pointers within the next hour to help. Naoto glanced at Kanji, catching the grateful smile he sent her way.

For some reason Naoto felt her lips tug up slightly and a pleasant warmth spread over her cheeks. When Rise went scrambling down the stairs to fetch her books Naoto fully turned toward Kanji, hands on hip as she studied his posture further. A weary grin broke across his face.

"Ya don't have'ta worry ya know. I just been practicing how to dye silk." He told her with a shrug. "S'not easy and I'm still pretty bad at it."

Tilting her head Naoto raised a single brow with her inquiry. "Is there some reason why you couldn't say that in front of Rise-san?"

His hand went up to scratch the back of his neck, a nervous habit Naoto noted with some disdain. He was lying and she didn't appreciate it. She told him so.

Kanji's face flushed and where he would have thrown an outburst her way in the past he resorted to merely hanging his head and letting a breath out. "Ya never let anythin' go do ya?"

She simply cocked her hip in response. He chuckled humorlessly. "I know. I know. Yer a detective. Figures you'd see right through me."

Taking pity on him, revealing just how much respect she had for him, Naoto grinned wryly and stepped forward to lay a hand on his arm. "You don't have to say. If it's something you'd rather keep private I promise not to pry." He looked down at her with a certain something gleaming in his eyes, the worried set of his frown easing as she continued. "I understand that there are some things you'd rather not share but I hope you know that I don't care for lying. You can tell us when you're ready."

He almost seemed to shrink back, his cheeks florid before Naoto found herself swept into a strong embrace. She hadn't even seen him move. Blinking rapidly, cheeks flaming, she remained shock-still before allowing herself to relax slightly.

"I 'preciate it." He murmured. As if he had just realized what he had done Kanji rapidly let her go, Naoto nearly losing her balance as she was dropped back down to the ground.

"S-sorry!" He stammered roughly, inwardly cringing.

She faced away from him, lowering her hat over her fringe. He stood with his back against the fence, fists clenched at his sides with a miserable look of guilt across his face. His eyes looked at the pattern of the back of her hat, almost pleading forgiveness.

"I'll be waiting..."

"E-eh?" He watched her as her back straightened with a jerk and there was the sound of a sigh as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Wh-whatever it is..." She began shakily. "I'll be waiting for you to tell me yourself. I'm not going to force it out of you. So..." There was a shake of her head before she continued softly. "S-so I'll be waiting. For you to say it yourself."

Kanji's eyes widened and lit with relief when Naoto looked over her shoulder and she smiled.

Owari

Not sure. Just wanted to write KanNao... Figured I wouldn't post it but it seemed like a waste. I wish I had the time to do more with it, write more chapters but that will probably never happen. Still, I love KanNao and I wanted to share that. I am debating on writing a sentence challenge fic for these two (because I love sentence challenges). Let me know if anyone might be interested in that.

Thank you for reading!