Relaxing Together

Fair warning: this might be too wholesome. Just saying.

(Takes place in my Chase The Truth canon; sometime between the ending and the epilogue.)

Begin!

~Normal POV

It had been raining all day, but that wasn't any concern to Kanji and Naoto. That just made it perfect weather for staying indoors. When Naoto came over to his house today, the original plan had been to study, but that had long since been abandoned for random conversation and kissing. That was usually how it went, not that either of them minded. Currently, the two were lying comfortably in each other's arms.

Kanji stared down at her and a thought crossed his mind. "You know something, Naoto?"

She looked up at him curiously. "What?"

"You're cute."

Naoto blushed. "You-! You say that all the time...!"

"Doesn't make it any less true!" He knew it flustered her to hear such compliments, but that was why he said them so often. Along with them being true. And she was even cuter when she was flustered.

"I really don't see it..." She frowned and looked away. "Don't I get a say in this?"

"No, you don't get a say in whether or not I think you're cute." The way Kanji said that so bluntly, she couldn't help laughing.

He smiled fondly at her while she laughed. Damn, he loved her... Sometimes he looked at her and wondered how the hell an amazing girl like her would even consider being with him. But she was here, and had been some time now. He asked about it once, and she didn't see any issue with their relationship. It was built on mutual respect, care, and trust for each other. There wasn't anything unusual about that.

Naoto calmed down from her giggle fit and said, "I wasn't expecting such a serious response!"

"I'm always serious about cute things."

"Ha- I know you are."

She loved that about him. He was passionate- passionate about his interests and about the people he cared for. They may have met under not-so-great circumstances, but she didn't regret a thing. She had a wonderful, loving boyfriend because of it. And everyone was very supportive of their relationship. (Though with a certain level of teasing allowed on occasion.)

After a moment, she noticed Kanji was now looking at her as if he was thinking hard about something. "What's wrong?"

"Here, sit up- I wanna try something."

Naoto looked confused but sat up and crossed her legs under her. Kanji sat up and positioned himself behind her.

"Ok, close your eyes."

She turned to look at him suspiciously. "You'd better not tickle me again-"

Kanji smiled. "Not this time, just close your eyes for a bit."

"Alright...?" She was still confused, but she'd get answers faster if she listened to him.

She closed her eyes. For a few seconds, it didn't seem like anything was going to happen. Kanji didn't say anything and she couldn't tell what he was doing. Until she felt a small something being draped around her neck from behind. She shifted a little from the unfamiliar feeling but didn't look yet.

"Ok, you can look now."

She opened her eyes and looked down. "O-Oh!" Her face went pink.

Hanging around her neck was Kanji's gold bullet necklace. The string was a little long for her with her height, but it didn't bother her much. She'd seen him without it several times, but he'd never done this before.

She turned to face him again. "W-Why did you...?"

Kanji was blushing too. "Well- I've been thinking that maybe I don't... need to wear it anymore, ya know? And I had this crazy idea that... uhh..." He rubbed his neck sheepishly. "Since you're my g-girlfriend... I want you to have it."

He was being honest about not needing it much. Since Yu left town, everyone had been taking some steps to changing their appearances to better fit their new comfort levels- Kanji was no exception. It was a slow process for some of them. Naoto was working on it herself too, trying to find some more feminine attire that suited her tastes; (though with her boyfriend knowing how to sew, she could just ask him to make a few things for her to help) she even wore her hat less frequently now. (A perk that Kanji liked very much, cause she was utterly gorgeous without her hat.) If Kanji was giving this necklace away, then that certainly added to his changes.

That said, he was nervous too. He had gotten the idea to do this from a romance movie he happened to see on tv the other day. He wanted to try it, but how would Naoto feel about it? His heart pounded a little as he waited for her to reply. It did look really cute on her though.

Naoto fiddled with the string curiously, adjusting to the feeling. She'd never worn jewelry before. (Unless you count a wristwatch.) She had a few old necklaces and rings at home that used to belong to her mother, but due to her personal issues, she never wore them herself. They didn't fit her "detective" image. But maybe now that she was branching out more, she could give it a shot. Maybe make it a part of her new image? Yes, that sounded rather nice now that she was thinking about it.

She smiled at him. "I like it."

Kanji felt relief wash over him and grinned at her. "Really?"

"Mhmm- I'll take good care of it. Thank you." She leaned over and kissed his cheek.

"...You missed."

"Huh?"

He gently cupped her cheek and pulled her in for a real kiss. Naoto chuckled and wrapped her arms around his neck to deepen the kiss. When they pulled away, they rested their foreheads against each other's, both sharing warm, content smiles.

"I love you, Kanji."

"I love you, too, Naoto."

~The End!

I wanted to write up something small and wholesome for today since it's 5/16, the day they met in canon. You're welcome to assume that's the date of this story happening too.

Hope you enjoyed it, thank you for reading! :)