[fic] Doctor Who/Persona 4 Crossover - The Art of Investigating (II)
Title: The Art of Investigating (Part II)
Author: winged_requiem
Series: Doctor Who/Persona 4 crossover. Doctor Who timeline would be post-Donna, and Persona 4 timeline would be post-Naoto's dungeon, before the next one starts.
Pairing: None in particular.
Characters: Naoto, The Doctor (Ten). P4 group is mentioned.
Rating: PG
Type: Three shot! Well, it's three chapters for one specific thing that just got really long. Part I/Part III.
Summary: Having confronted the Doctor, Naoto learns that the stalker isn't him, but someone else. The Doctor is also working to stop him from destroying space and time - in some way. After failing to corner him, they go back to square one; learning bits and pieces about each other.
Notes: SPOILERS FOR NAOTO (so, October-time at least). And er, Ten, I suppose. Bigger spoilers for Naoto though.
Naoto wondered if she must be in the middle of a dream right now, though the stitch in her side was reminding her every couple of seconds that it wasn't. It was far too excruciating for that.
When the man, who, indeed, she had speculated may have been following her for a period of time, and whom she didn't even know, had told her to run as the man who actually had been following her disappeared into the night, Naoto hadn't expected that her converse-clad ally really meant it. There was no leigh-way- he was practically bounding along the floodplain and down the quiet suburb streets towards the edge of town, with Naoto dragging along behind - it was more so to her poor height that was the problem factor there. She could run; she was good at it. It was just something that went without saying that she wouldn't outrun much. That and she hadn't been forced to run at this speed for quite a while.
There was an intersection ahead, she could make out, through the dull mist - not fog, just evening mist - and as he reached it, the masked man disappeared down a side street, from what she could make out. Her ally followed suit. A couple of seconds later, Naoto reached the corner, almost to run straight into the back of said ally who had come to a complete stop all of sudden.
In fact she would have fallen backwards, if not for the fact he seemed to step forward at the last minute, allowing her to totter unsteadily forward and back. Whatever had made him stop had made him start again; Naoto looked up, but all she could see was the back of his head, and a very dead-end looking passage.
And no man that they were tailing, and no reasonable explanation for where he had gone, her mind provided. She caught her breath for a second, before walking up alongside her ally, who had made his way to the end of the passage with a very large, inescapable wall. "Is he here?"
"Not right here. He's gotten..." he rubbed his chin, looking confused and frustrated at the same time. "... Out, but he's here somewhere, just... I can't figure out how he did it," he murmured to himself, staring at the walled escapade in front of them. Judging from his face, Naoto could gather he was thinking the same thing she was - that it was impossible for a man to clear such a thing in less than the second, give or take, that it had taken him to follow in pursuit. It just wasn't plausible.
"He couldn't have climbed out," Naoto deduced, looking to the side of her. The mist wasn't dense enough to be of a hindrance. "He couldn't have slipped by you. He couldn't have come back the way we came, because I was there. So, the question is-"
"-How did he do it?" he provided, finally dropping his hands back to his sides - or, one of them, as his right one was now scratching his head in frustration. "There has to be some logical explanation to all of..."
But whatever he was going to say - 'all of this', Naoto supposed - was cut off at the sudden crashing of metal scraping along behind them. The sound was enough to make Naoto cringe at the sharp slice to her hearing - but her fellow didn't. He was already spinning round on his heel, and shouting what sounded like 'No no no!' as he ran back to the entrance of the alleyway. Which, now she could see, wasn't an alleyway at all, but a cornered off section for a company that would usually be shut at night. And was now shutting on them, a certain sly, normal looking man hooking the metal locks into place on the other side of the fence.
Inches away from him, the mysterious stalking man sneered, before turning on his tail and walking back into the darkness, leaving her ally to merely crush his fist against the gates in frustration as Naoto ran up alongside, suddenly aware that they were now very much trapped. "Darn!" he cursed.
Most others her age would panic, but Naoto kept a level head, looking from him to the lock, and back again, face set, hardened by a thousand different escapades in the force. "Can we get out?"
His eyes flickered to hers - perhaps momentarily surprised at how evenly voiced she was despite them being trapped, and all she was going through besides - and then he shook his head. "Not easily... I can't jump like a gazelle, regardless of how interesting that would be. But I could probably use..." he rummaged in his pockets, clearly looking for something, only, nothing came out. Confused, he quizzically rummaged around them again.
Naoto left him to it, whilst she briefly analysed the locks - if she had something to pick them with, she could get out, but she didn't. She only had...
"Will this work?" She held out the gun she'd taken from the holster. "If push comes to shove," she suggested.
"Oh..." He stopped searching for a moment, turning to look at her with a mixed expression she couldn't quite fathom, his voice filled with disappointment she couldn't warrant, either. "You have a gun..."
Her eyes narrowed. "Why? Is that a problem?"
Silence followed for thirty seconds, and then he spoke. "It's just unnecessary violence."
"Don't you have a gun?" She raised an eyebrow. If he were what he claimed to be… it would be stupid of him not too. The unspoken words were clearly across her face.
Her question sparked a flicker of a smile on his face. "No. I prefer the... weaponless and planless approach. Whatever rocks the boat when the tide comes towards it, I'll cope with," he grinned, his hand pulling something out from his pocket. "Aha! There you are. I think we won't have to use your gun today."
She blinked, looking at what he'd retrieved - it looked like some sort of sci-fi equipment straight out of a novel... or something similar. Naoto immediately felt her curiosity and childish wonder at gadgets stir within her, and she felt a familiar sense of passive excited-ness when she saw it. It was new, something unseen. It was interesting. She was as curious as curious could be, and that shone through in her words. "What does it do?"
"Watch and see," he said, visibly delighted from his face - he seemed approving of her reaction, at the least. "Can you count the pins inside the mechanism? I just need to realign the settings..."
"Five," Naoto offered straight away. "Already counted them."
He nodded, and pointed the gadget at the chain linked door and the padlock keeping it shut - whatever he was holding emitted a blue light, a high pitched buzzing sound, and next thing she saw, the lock clicked several times and fell to the floor.
"And that, is how we open doors," he said cheerfully, giving the fence a friendly push and holding it open, and Naoto followed suit after him. "Never go anywhere without a sonic screwdriver."
"Sonic screwdriver?" Naoto echoed, still curiously looking at it, before realizing she was. "Oh - sorry. I'm just interested in things like that--" she trailed off.
"Curiosity never hurt anyone. Well. Except the cat!" he said, still cheerful, and holding it out in her direction. "Since I don't think we're going to be able to catch up with that guy before some reconnaissance, and some device building, and figuring out where he's gone... you can look at it," he offered, but still kept a firm clamp around it.
Naoto nodded, realizing the unspoken words - don't touch. And she didn't. She looked at the curves and the texture, the settings panel she couldn’t even begin to decipher, though it all followed a sequence she could recognize, and everything else that it held within. After a couple of minutes of looking at it, she stood upright, and he retracted it back.
"It's..." she searched for a word. "Astounding. There's so much within it."
"That's only scratching the surface." His eyes seemed distant, far away. "There's so much more out there."
"Things I couldn't even imagine?" Naoto suggested. She didn't say it patronizingly, or mockingly - she was beginning to understand that this man before her was different. This technology was far advanced beyond earth, and she was sure that he realized that before letting her look at the screwdriver in the first place. But she wasn't fazed.
"Yes," he grinned, nodding in approval. "Things you couldn't even begin to wonder how they came about. Anyway - reconnaissance!" he added, pointing back in the direction they came from.
"I'll lead you back to where we were; I know the area. And, if you need further assistance once we are ready to attempt apprehending him again, I'll gladly give it," Naoto offered offhandedly. "Besides, this issue involves me, so I feel I should have some involvement and help you out as much as possible."
He looked at her, square in the eye. If she wasn't used to such deep, penetrating looks from criminals Naoto knew she would not have been able to look him back without considering otherwise. She still found herself folding her arms, though - an unconscious reaction to protect herself. "If you want to," he said sternly. "It could get dangerous. I don't want to..." he trailed off. There was something else he was saying, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it with the little information she had. "I don't want to put people in danger."
"I'm used to danger," Naoto said, sullen, her face showing signs of years beyond what she actually was. How could she not be? First a detective, now a persona user. Danger was part of the job.
"Well, in that case; let's go," he nodded towards the road. Naoto began walking, and he followed her, keeping pace.
It was an odd feeling, to say the least. Naoto was so used to following; so used to having to follow behind either higher officials or sergeants or her senior detectives. Even with her friends, she followed behind Souji. Not that she minded; Souji was a good leader. But that was the thing - she was always in the shadowed footsteps of someone else. Yet, here she was, with a complete stranger who was heads taller than her, someone who was years older than her, whose name she didn't even know, solving a case they both had a stake in - and he was walking alongside her. Even.
Not judging her, and not presuming he was automatically better.
Maybe he just liked to see whom he was walking with, or that's what he did when it came to walking with people and he didn't know the way. But, even if it was nothing at all - it was a nice feeling to be on equal ground, not behind someone.
Speaking of names...
They'd been walking for a few minutes in silence, and were way on their way back to the floodplain. Now was a good a time as any. Naoto looked at him once, and asked, "Is it later? You said you'd tell me your name."
He looked at her, first, as if about to say he'd told her, before his face cleared.
"The Doctor," he said offhandedly... waiting for her reply, perhaps.
"Doctor," she said. The way he said it... it was not her saying the equivalent of the title of sensei for a western society. This was his name. She could almost hear the capital 'D' in the words he had spoken. "It's a pleasure to be working with you," she added, whole hearted.
"Doctor," he confirmed with a grin. Perhaps it was from the fact she hadn't immediately jumped into asking what his name actually was. With a name like that, she wouldn't be surprised if he got it all the time. "The pleasure is mine, my nameless comrade," he said cheerfully.
She smiled, half closing her eyes in exasperation, almost letting out a slight chuckle - she knew what he wasn't asking but wanted. "Shirogane Naoto."
"Nice to meet you, Naoto-" He floundered round for an honorific, as she could tell from the expression on his face. She wasn't really surprised - he was well spoken in Japanese for one, but she was also still, despite most of the school knowing of her being a woman, dressed in boys' attire. Any outsider wouldn't consider her to be a girl, in their wildest dreams.
So she was half expecting a '-kun' when he finished talking, ready to go along with it.
“Miss Naoto-kun.”
That, she did not expect.
And as such had had no time to guise the expression that would follow. It wasn't entirely surprise or shock - having rumours already gotten around, she was past that - but she couldn't quite hide the surprise, as her mouth opened very slightly, enough for someone well educated and in harmony with the world around him or her to notice the reaction. But this was The Doctor, and as she'd already speculated and seen for herself, he was a man of many things, and he would probably be able to see her reaction, too.
He seemed to waiting for her to say something, though, rather than smile, or smirk, or do anything that some would do at discovering her identity. He probably looked slightly pleased to her eyes - maybe it was just a trick of the dark, though - but he didn’t look at all like he was going to run with it.
Her partly opened mouth finally closed, and she let out a small chuckle, shaking her head. "Mm. How did you...?"
"Know?" He filled in - she nodded. The Doctor smiled lightly, before carrying on, "Well, the timbre of your voice. I've got very good hearing. It's got the slight tint of a woman in there in your disguise. Not that anyone else would probably notice. Just me."
That did seem a bit pompous, and the expression on his face caused her to laugh slightly. "I'm sure. That, and from my observations, I wouldn't be surprised if you figured this out the first moment you saw me, voice or no voice at all?"
"Well..." He scratched the back of his neck. "Maybe. Maybe not. I just know things when I know them," he said cheerfully.
The small soft smile remained, though she seemed more uncertain that previously. Disguises lifted, her voice seemed to climb half an octave immediately in her next words. "I am once again sorry for my presumptions. About you following me. I merely assumed from over accessing the situation, and I apologize, Doctor. Though, I wouldn't tarry longer in Inaba that beyond necessity," she added, voice caution infused. "You may have heard about the murders, and those are true. And despite the gap, there have been... further cases. I wouldn't want you to get caught up in all of this as well as what you came here to do."
"Murders?" The Doctor's eyes half glittered, with curiosity; it seemed this was one rumour he hadn't got any solid ground on. And Naoto wouldn't be surprised. Who would know? There was the first murder of Saki Konishi, and the second of her sempais' homeroom teacher. No one knew beyond that. That would have been all they had heard. And that had been in July; now was October, and nothing had happened since.
She knew she'd let a bit more slip than necessary. But it struck her, that, with chasing a man set on stalking someone, that the Doctor wouldn't run off because she told him there had been a couple of murders. Part of her knew she'd really have to convince him to go. And even then, he struck her as the type of person not to flee, but to help. And this was something she couldn't allow him to help him. The case of being thrown into the TV was not something she could share; and was not something, even if she could share it, let him take part in. "Yes," she said, not budging in giving him anything else, her face set. "Kidnappings and murders."
Surprisingly, his face split into a slight, wry smile. "It's all right, Naoto-kun," he said quietly. "They don't involve me; they're already set in stone."
Well, that was a confusing statement if she'd ever heard one. Maybe that was the intention, but Naoto found herself frowning. "What do you mean?"
"Hey, is that the floodplains already? Guess we didn't run that far after all-"
"Doctor," she interrupted. Her will was like iron; and she knew someone trying to get out of something when she saw it.
"Yes?" he said innocently.
"You know a detective doesn't back down," she said, voice still set. "So you may as well answer."
The smile returned, but it was replaced by a firm expression seconds later. "I would tell you," He started, sighing, shaking his head and placing a hand to his head, "But I can't. And that's something I can't back down on either. If you insisted, well... I'd tell you.." he paused, thinking of an adequate time. Naoto wondered if it was for him to think of another excuse, rather than when this designated time would be, but she decided to trust him, at least partly. She had her reasons to keep things secret from him; he probably had his own. "... Later."
Somehow, she didn't think this one would be a matter of minutes. "And when is later?"
"Well; that's something you'll have to wait for," He grinned, continuing on in a sudden lope towards the nearing floodplains, back to the benches he had been sitting on less than an hour before, conversation seemingly closed, for now.
But, even though she wanted to know, it was all right to wait. Even if that meant having to find out what it meant without his help. Sometimes, waiting was the only option she had.
"What's next?" She called, as she started to walk behind him, not even thinking about running to catch up this time.
"Where he's going and could go," he shouted back at her. "And I need to build something for that! So we better get back quick!"
"Coming," she sighed, pulling a face, before increasing her pace to catch up with him, not even questioning what he was planning to do this time.
It was strange, her putting her trust in a complete stranger. For, even with his name, that was what he was. A stranger, who she didn't know, didn't know his background or his skills. A few months ago, she wouldn't have thought of it. She'd have followed by the rules, tried to fit in, take everything to superiors who wouldn’t listen. But then, Naoto wasn't quite like her old self anymore. That was before she'd been thrown into the TV. That was before she’d started to face herself; and trusted, for lack of knowing them any better, a group of strangers to come and rescue her.
So maybe that was why she felt content as she caught up to the Doctor; as she felt like, maybe, they could solve this with each other's help.
TBC
AFTERWORD
Man, I wrote part of this a while ago, and then ended up planning it out and it was really, really long, so I kept pushing it further and further pack, writing things out of synch, and what not... but, I've finally got the second part up! Nothing much happens in this one, except for a few hints of them getting closer to each other, I guess. It's mostly so they can have some serious discussion in the next one. But alas, that's the next one.
A lot of stuff in here references stuff that's happened in Doctor Who, such as the gun thing; Ten doesn't like guns, so his opinion would probably drop if he found someone with one. He likes people being interested, but can't let them in since he doesn't want them hurt. And a few other things, too. There's also some Naoto character development hovering around, too. I'm quite happy with it.
This... was going to be two parts, but having wrote about two thirds of this and looking at my remainding plan, I decided that I wanted to go the full way with finishing it off and would go for three parts instead. A lot of stuff will happen in the next one (and it may be longer so as not to run into four parts, geeze), so stay tuned!
Espo (copyrighted to me! ©! No stealing please.) Persona 4 and all related characters and locations, etc. © Atlus. Doctor Who and all related referances and characters © BBC Wales (Cyrmu). This is merely a fanfic written by a fan - there is no determination of any of this happening at all. Thank you.
Author: winged_requiem
Series: Doctor Who/Persona 4 crossover. Doctor Who timeline would be post-Donna, and Persona 4 timeline would be post-Naoto's dungeon, before the next one starts.
Pairing: None in particular.
Characters: Naoto, The Doctor (Ten). P4 group is mentioned.
Rating: PG
Type: Three shot! Well, it's three chapters for one specific thing that just got really long. Part I/Part III.
Summary: Having confronted the Doctor, Naoto learns that the stalker isn't him, but someone else. The Doctor is also working to stop him from destroying space and time - in some way. After failing to corner him, they go back to square one; learning bits and pieces about each other.
Notes: SPOILERS FOR NAOTO (so, October-time at least). And er, Ten, I suppose. Bigger spoilers for Naoto though.
Naoto wondered if she must be in the middle of a dream right now, though the stitch in her side was reminding her every couple of seconds that it wasn't. It was far too excruciating for that.
When the man, who, indeed, she had speculated may have been following her for a period of time, and whom she didn't even know, had told her to run as the man who actually had been following her disappeared into the night, Naoto hadn't expected that her converse-clad ally really meant it. There was no leigh-way- he was practically bounding along the floodplain and down the quiet suburb streets towards the edge of town, with Naoto dragging along behind - it was more so to her poor height that was the problem factor there. She could run; she was good at it. It was just something that went without saying that she wouldn't outrun much. That and she hadn't been forced to run at this speed for quite a while.
There was an intersection ahead, she could make out, through the dull mist - not fog, just evening mist - and as he reached it, the masked man disappeared down a side street, from what she could make out. Her ally followed suit. A couple of seconds later, Naoto reached the corner, almost to run straight into the back of said ally who had come to a complete stop all of sudden.
In fact she would have fallen backwards, if not for the fact he seemed to step forward at the last minute, allowing her to totter unsteadily forward and back. Whatever had made him stop had made him start again; Naoto looked up, but all she could see was the back of his head, and a very dead-end looking passage.
And no man that they were tailing, and no reasonable explanation for where he had gone, her mind provided. She caught her breath for a second, before walking up alongside her ally, who had made his way to the end of the passage with a very large, inescapable wall. "Is he here?"
"Not right here. He's gotten..." he rubbed his chin, looking confused and frustrated at the same time. "... Out, but he's here somewhere, just... I can't figure out how he did it," he murmured to himself, staring at the walled escapade in front of them. Judging from his face, Naoto could gather he was thinking the same thing she was - that it was impossible for a man to clear such a thing in less than the second, give or take, that it had taken him to follow in pursuit. It just wasn't plausible.
"He couldn't have climbed out," Naoto deduced, looking to the side of her. The mist wasn't dense enough to be of a hindrance. "He couldn't have slipped by you. He couldn't have come back the way we came, because I was there. So, the question is-"
"-How did he do it?" he provided, finally dropping his hands back to his sides - or, one of them, as his right one was now scratching his head in frustration. "There has to be some logical explanation to all of..."
But whatever he was going to say - 'all of this', Naoto supposed - was cut off at the sudden crashing of metal scraping along behind them. The sound was enough to make Naoto cringe at the sharp slice to her hearing - but her fellow didn't. He was already spinning round on his heel, and shouting what sounded like 'No no no!' as he ran back to the entrance of the alleyway. Which, now she could see, wasn't an alleyway at all, but a cornered off section for a company that would usually be shut at night. And was now shutting on them, a certain sly, normal looking man hooking the metal locks into place on the other side of the fence.
Inches away from him, the mysterious stalking man sneered, before turning on his tail and walking back into the darkness, leaving her ally to merely crush his fist against the gates in frustration as Naoto ran up alongside, suddenly aware that they were now very much trapped. "Darn!" he cursed.
Most others her age would panic, but Naoto kept a level head, looking from him to the lock, and back again, face set, hardened by a thousand different escapades in the force. "Can we get out?"
His eyes flickered to hers - perhaps momentarily surprised at how evenly voiced she was despite them being trapped, and all she was going through besides - and then he shook his head. "Not easily... I can't jump like a gazelle, regardless of how interesting that would be. But I could probably use..." he rummaged in his pockets, clearly looking for something, only, nothing came out. Confused, he quizzically rummaged around them again.
Naoto left him to it, whilst she briefly analysed the locks - if she had something to pick them with, she could get out, but she didn't. She only had...
"Will this work?" She held out the gun she'd taken from the holster. "If push comes to shove," she suggested.
"Oh..." He stopped searching for a moment, turning to look at her with a mixed expression she couldn't quite fathom, his voice filled with disappointment she couldn't warrant, either. "You have a gun..."
Her eyes narrowed. "Why? Is that a problem?"
Silence followed for thirty seconds, and then he spoke. "It's just unnecessary violence."
"Don't you have a gun?" She raised an eyebrow. If he were what he claimed to be… it would be stupid of him not too. The unspoken words were clearly across her face.
Her question sparked a flicker of a smile on his face. "No. I prefer the... weaponless and planless approach. Whatever rocks the boat when the tide comes towards it, I'll cope with," he grinned, his hand pulling something out from his pocket. "Aha! There you are. I think we won't have to use your gun today."
She blinked, looking at what he'd retrieved - it looked like some sort of sci-fi equipment straight out of a novel... or something similar. Naoto immediately felt her curiosity and childish wonder at gadgets stir within her, and she felt a familiar sense of passive excited-ness when she saw it. It was new, something unseen. It was interesting. She was as curious as curious could be, and that shone through in her words. "What does it do?"
"Watch and see," he said, visibly delighted from his face - he seemed approving of her reaction, at the least. "Can you count the pins inside the mechanism? I just need to realign the settings..."
"Five," Naoto offered straight away. "Already counted them."
He nodded, and pointed the gadget at the chain linked door and the padlock keeping it shut - whatever he was holding emitted a blue light, a high pitched buzzing sound, and next thing she saw, the lock clicked several times and fell to the floor.
"And that, is how we open doors," he said cheerfully, giving the fence a friendly push and holding it open, and Naoto followed suit after him. "Never go anywhere without a sonic screwdriver."
"Sonic screwdriver?" Naoto echoed, still curiously looking at it, before realizing she was. "Oh - sorry. I'm just interested in things like that--" she trailed off.
"Curiosity never hurt anyone. Well. Except the cat!" he said, still cheerful, and holding it out in her direction. "Since I don't think we're going to be able to catch up with that guy before some reconnaissance, and some device building, and figuring out where he's gone... you can look at it," he offered, but still kept a firm clamp around it.
Naoto nodded, realizing the unspoken words - don't touch. And she didn't. She looked at the curves and the texture, the settings panel she couldn’t even begin to decipher, though it all followed a sequence she could recognize, and everything else that it held within. After a couple of minutes of looking at it, she stood upright, and he retracted it back.
"It's..." she searched for a word. "Astounding. There's so much within it."
"That's only scratching the surface." His eyes seemed distant, far away. "There's so much more out there."
"Things I couldn't even imagine?" Naoto suggested. She didn't say it patronizingly, or mockingly - she was beginning to understand that this man before her was different. This technology was far advanced beyond earth, and she was sure that he realized that before letting her look at the screwdriver in the first place. But she wasn't fazed.
"Yes," he grinned, nodding in approval. "Things you couldn't even begin to wonder how they came about. Anyway - reconnaissance!" he added, pointing back in the direction they came from.
"I'll lead you back to where we were; I know the area. And, if you need further assistance once we are ready to attempt apprehending him again, I'll gladly give it," Naoto offered offhandedly. "Besides, this issue involves me, so I feel I should have some involvement and help you out as much as possible."
He looked at her, square in the eye. If she wasn't used to such deep, penetrating looks from criminals Naoto knew she would not have been able to look him back without considering otherwise. She still found herself folding her arms, though - an unconscious reaction to protect herself. "If you want to," he said sternly. "It could get dangerous. I don't want to..." he trailed off. There was something else he was saying, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it with the little information she had. "I don't want to put people in danger."
"I'm used to danger," Naoto said, sullen, her face showing signs of years beyond what she actually was. How could she not be? First a detective, now a persona user. Danger was part of the job.
"Well, in that case; let's go," he nodded towards the road. Naoto began walking, and he followed her, keeping pace.
It was an odd feeling, to say the least. Naoto was so used to following; so used to having to follow behind either higher officials or sergeants or her senior detectives. Even with her friends, she followed behind Souji. Not that she minded; Souji was a good leader. But that was the thing - she was always in the shadowed footsteps of someone else. Yet, here she was, with a complete stranger who was heads taller than her, someone who was years older than her, whose name she didn't even know, solving a case they both had a stake in - and he was walking alongside her. Even.
Not judging her, and not presuming he was automatically better.
Maybe he just liked to see whom he was walking with, or that's what he did when it came to walking with people and he didn't know the way. But, even if it was nothing at all - it was a nice feeling to be on equal ground, not behind someone.
Speaking of names...
They'd been walking for a few minutes in silence, and were way on their way back to the floodplain. Now was a good a time as any. Naoto looked at him once, and asked, "Is it later? You said you'd tell me your name."
He looked at her, first, as if about to say he'd told her, before his face cleared.
"The Doctor," he said offhandedly... waiting for her reply, perhaps.
"Doctor," she said. The way he said it... it was not her saying the equivalent of the title of sensei for a western society. This was his name. She could almost hear the capital 'D' in the words he had spoken. "It's a pleasure to be working with you," she added, whole hearted.
"Doctor," he confirmed with a grin. Perhaps it was from the fact she hadn't immediately jumped into asking what his name actually was. With a name like that, she wouldn't be surprised if he got it all the time. "The pleasure is mine, my nameless comrade," he said cheerfully.
She smiled, half closing her eyes in exasperation, almost letting out a slight chuckle - she knew what he wasn't asking but wanted. "Shirogane Naoto."
"Nice to meet you, Naoto-" He floundered round for an honorific, as she could tell from the expression on his face. She wasn't really surprised - he was well spoken in Japanese for one, but she was also still, despite most of the school knowing of her being a woman, dressed in boys' attire. Any outsider wouldn't consider her to be a girl, in their wildest dreams.
So she was half expecting a '-kun' when he finished talking, ready to go along with it.
“Miss Naoto-kun.”
That, she did not expect.
And as such had had no time to guise the expression that would follow. It wasn't entirely surprise or shock - having rumours already gotten around, she was past that - but she couldn't quite hide the surprise, as her mouth opened very slightly, enough for someone well educated and in harmony with the world around him or her to notice the reaction. But this was The Doctor, and as she'd already speculated and seen for herself, he was a man of many things, and he would probably be able to see her reaction, too.
He seemed to waiting for her to say something, though, rather than smile, or smirk, or do anything that some would do at discovering her identity. He probably looked slightly pleased to her eyes - maybe it was just a trick of the dark, though - but he didn’t look at all like he was going to run with it.
Her partly opened mouth finally closed, and she let out a small chuckle, shaking her head. "Mm. How did you...?"
"Know?" He filled in - she nodded. The Doctor smiled lightly, before carrying on, "Well, the timbre of your voice. I've got very good hearing. It's got the slight tint of a woman in there in your disguise. Not that anyone else would probably notice. Just me."
That did seem a bit pompous, and the expression on his face caused her to laugh slightly. "I'm sure. That, and from my observations, I wouldn't be surprised if you figured this out the first moment you saw me, voice or no voice at all?"
"Well..." He scratched the back of his neck. "Maybe. Maybe not. I just know things when I know them," he said cheerfully.
The small soft smile remained, though she seemed more uncertain that previously. Disguises lifted, her voice seemed to climb half an octave immediately in her next words. "I am once again sorry for my presumptions. About you following me. I merely assumed from over accessing the situation, and I apologize, Doctor. Though, I wouldn't tarry longer in Inaba that beyond necessity," she added, voice caution infused. "You may have heard about the murders, and those are true. And despite the gap, there have been... further cases. I wouldn't want you to get caught up in all of this as well as what you came here to do."
"Murders?" The Doctor's eyes half glittered, with curiosity; it seemed this was one rumour he hadn't got any solid ground on. And Naoto wouldn't be surprised. Who would know? There was the first murder of Saki Konishi, and the second of her sempais' homeroom teacher. No one knew beyond that. That would have been all they had heard. And that had been in July; now was October, and nothing had happened since.
She knew she'd let a bit more slip than necessary. But it struck her, that, with chasing a man set on stalking someone, that the Doctor wouldn't run off because she told him there had been a couple of murders. Part of her knew she'd really have to convince him to go. And even then, he struck her as the type of person not to flee, but to help. And this was something she couldn't allow him to help him. The case of being thrown into the TV was not something she could share; and was not something, even if she could share it, let him take part in. "Yes," she said, not budging in giving him anything else, her face set. "Kidnappings and murders."
Surprisingly, his face split into a slight, wry smile. "It's all right, Naoto-kun," he said quietly. "They don't involve me; they're already set in stone."
Well, that was a confusing statement if she'd ever heard one. Maybe that was the intention, but Naoto found herself frowning. "What do you mean?"
"Hey, is that the floodplains already? Guess we didn't run that far after all-"
"Doctor," she interrupted. Her will was like iron; and she knew someone trying to get out of something when she saw it.
"Yes?" he said innocently.
"You know a detective doesn't back down," she said, voice still set. "So you may as well answer."
The smile returned, but it was replaced by a firm expression seconds later. "I would tell you," He started, sighing, shaking his head and placing a hand to his head, "But I can't. And that's something I can't back down on either. If you insisted, well... I'd tell you.." he paused, thinking of an adequate time. Naoto wondered if it was for him to think of another excuse, rather than when this designated time would be, but she decided to trust him, at least partly. She had her reasons to keep things secret from him; he probably had his own. "... Later."
Somehow, she didn't think this one would be a matter of minutes. "And when is later?"
"Well; that's something you'll have to wait for," He grinned, continuing on in a sudden lope towards the nearing floodplains, back to the benches he had been sitting on less than an hour before, conversation seemingly closed, for now.
But, even though she wanted to know, it was all right to wait. Even if that meant having to find out what it meant without his help. Sometimes, waiting was the only option she had.
"What's next?" She called, as she started to walk behind him, not even thinking about running to catch up this time.
"Where he's going and could go," he shouted back at her. "And I need to build something for that! So we better get back quick!"
"Coming," she sighed, pulling a face, before increasing her pace to catch up with him, not even questioning what he was planning to do this time.
It was strange, her putting her trust in a complete stranger. For, even with his name, that was what he was. A stranger, who she didn't know, didn't know his background or his skills. A few months ago, she wouldn't have thought of it. She'd have followed by the rules, tried to fit in, take everything to superiors who wouldn’t listen. But then, Naoto wasn't quite like her old self anymore. That was before she'd been thrown into the TV. That was before she’d started to face herself; and trusted, for lack of knowing them any better, a group of strangers to come and rescue her.
So maybe that was why she felt content as she caught up to the Doctor; as she felt like, maybe, they could solve this with each other's help.
TBC
AFTERWORD
Man, I wrote part of this a while ago, and then ended up planning it out and it was really, really long, so I kept pushing it further and further pack, writing things out of synch, and what not... but, I've finally got the second part up! Nothing much happens in this one, except for a few hints of them getting closer to each other, I guess. It's mostly so they can have some serious discussion in the next one. But alas, that's the next one.
A lot of stuff in here references stuff that's happened in Doctor Who, such as the gun thing; Ten doesn't like guns, so his opinion would probably drop if he found someone with one. He likes people being interested, but can't let them in since he doesn't want them hurt. And a few other things, too. There's also some Naoto character development hovering around, too. I'm quite happy with it.
This... was going to be two parts, but having wrote about two thirds of this and looking at my remainding plan, I decided that I wanted to go the full way with finishing it off and would go for three parts instead. A lot of stuff will happen in the next one (and it may be longer so as not to run into four parts, geeze), so stay tuned!
Espo (copyrighted to me! ©! No stealing please.) Persona 4 and all related characters and locations, etc. © Atlus. Doctor Who and all related referances and characters © BBC Wales (Cyrmu). This is merely a fanfic written by a fan - there is no determination of any of this happening at all. Thank you.