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It was a good thing Kanji had managed to get better control of his emotions over the last year or so, particularly around one ace detective... because he was fairly sure he would've bled out by now if not. Rise had dragged the entire Investigation Team into this music festival thing as her backup dancers, and while Kanji had never been particularly opposed to the idea, per se (unlike the object of his affections, who was admittedly more nervous than defiant), he was freakin' ecstatic about it now that he was watching Naoto dance.
Her first number had been fun, feminine, and a little jazzy, and dancing to it with her had been the second happiest moment of his life, despite a couple mishaps in coordinating with her steps. The happiest moment was probably right now, watching her second number with jaw to the floorboards as she moved with more grace and sex appeal than he had ever seen from anyone, including the idols whose friggin' jobs depended on that sorta thing.
Holy shit, I'm a dead man... he thought, feeling his face and lower half burst into flames when she beckoned to him with a come-hither gesture during the bridge of her song. He desperately wanted to go up with her on the stage, his hands itching to be on her, but he waited for his cue and eagerly joined her in dancing the Shadows away. (Hands, though, were kept to himself.) By the end of her track, it was a miracle he was still conscious.
"That was..." Naoto breathed heavily as she jogged back towards the group, her cheeks pink with equal parts effort and emotion, "...exhilarating! I've never danced like that in my life."
Kanji grasped for words he could utter in public forum, but his tongue felt like sandpaper so nothing would've come out even if he'd come up with something. Rise and Teddie unknowingly jumped to his rescue, the former enveloping the young detective in a crushing embrace and the latter bouncing excitedly around them. "Naoto, that was INCREDIBLE!" Rise cried, spinning her friend around a quarter turn. Naoto grabbed her hat in alarm, but beamed nonetheless. "I definitely never taught you any of that." Rise's suggestive tone prompted Naoto's signature pull-of-the-cap over her eyes in embarrassment.
"Nao-chan, I think all the Shadows just fell head over heels for you!" Teddie declared loudly. "I know I did!"
Naoto laughed at his comment, ruffling the tuft of fur between the bear's ears once Rise had released her. "I don't know about that," she said, bemused, "but thank you for the compliment."
For his part, Kanji could only gape like the lovesick fool he was at the way the light from the dissolving Shadows gleamed off of the sheen of sweat on her face and chest. As far as he was concerned, he had never seen anything more beautiful. He realized with a start that Naoto had caught him staring and was smiling bashfully -- how long had it been since she noticed? -- and he nodded quickly with as much of a smile as he could muster in his flustered state.
Fortunately, the situation at hand imposed on Kanji's embarrassment and the dances continued, his own included, until all the Kanamin Kitchen girls had been rescued and the LMB Festival audience had been delivered from the wrath of yet another malcontent deity. Which, for the record, marked yet another 'best moment' for him after dancing with Naoto yet again, the two perfectly in sync the entire set. In the aftermath, Kanji felt slim fingers brush the back of his hand and found a flushed, exuberant young sleuth smiling broadly up at him. He was too caught in the moment of victory to care about things like nerves, or shyness, or what was or was not appropriate, and took her small hand in his own, giving it a squeeze. He knew he was blushing, and so was she, but he didn't give a shit and she didn't seem to either... until the lights flared, momentarily blinding them, as the group was introduced by Ms. Ochimizu for the show's finale. Kanji scowled, cheeks aflame, infuriated that his moment with Naoto had been interrupted. As he danced his way clumsily through the song he and his friends had never properly heard (much less practiced), he made up his mind to finally tell Naoto exactly how he felt about her, once they had a moment alone.
That moment finally came in the dressing room hours later, once the obentos Kanami had prepared for everyone had been finished off. (The girls could stand to learn a thing - or eight - from Kanamin when it came to cooking something edible, Yosuke had declared, which earned him a quickly forming bruise on the arm after two of them punched him in the same spot.) Yu, Rise, and Kanami had been dragged off by the dance coach with Nanako and her father, presumably for the purpose of recruiting the dancing prodigy as a young idol-in-training. Chie and Yosuke had gone in search of dessert with the other Kanamin Kitchen girls, and Yukiko was trying to distract Teddie so "Innochy" and Ms. Ochimizu could wrap things up post-festival without the enthusiastic boy-bear trying to pitch himself as their newest client. Naoto had opted to stay behind and clean up after the meal with Kanji, who had immediately volunteered to clear everything away in hopes of avoiding anything even remotely resembling a stage for at least the rest of the week. The two worked together with their usual ease once Naoto had divvied up the to-do list, even though the otherwise comfortable silence ate at Kanji's need to fill it with confessions.
"So, uh..." he began lamely, fidgeting with the edge of the trash bag he was absentmindedly filling with food waste.
"Hm?" Naoto glanced up at him in the midst of stacking containers that were empty enough to go straight to the sink. Her line of sight was half-blocked by the brim of her cap, and Kanji found it extremely distracting.
"Your dancing..." he continued, feeling his stomach flip around more than his body did on stage. He swallowed hard, steeling his resolve. I can do this, damnit!! "It was-"
"Ah," she interrupted, dropping her gaze to the task at hand, as if she could no longer bear to maintain eye contact. "I know my background in ballroom dancing probably made it a bit... awkward, especially with my tendency to take the lead, but I think it went well regardless...? Er, I hope."
Kanji blinked silently for a moment before gathering his thoughts again. "No, I- that's not what I was gonna say at all, Naoto, what are you talking about? You were incredible out there, man."
"I...beg your pardon?"
"You were the best of us by far, y'know. Yosuke-Senpai was a pretty close second, but you owned that stage every time you got on it. Even more than Rise. ...But, uh, don't tell her I said that." Kanji grinned, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. Naoto just stared at him, and if not for her cheeks pinking up, he might have gotten the impression that she hadn't heard him. "And..." Kanji carried on hesitantly, "dancing with you was one of the most amazing things I've ever done."
At that, Naoto's eyes went even wider, pupils shrinking to tiny dots in her astonishment. She mellowed quickly, however. "Kanji-kun... I-"
"Hold up, 'm not finished," he cut in, raising a hand in the air to stop her, "and if I don't do this now, I may never do it." Naoto quirked a brow at this, but nodded and stood patiently, if anxiously, before him. "Look, uh... shit, where do I start..."
"The beginning is typically ideal," Naoto suggested quietly.
"Like, back when we first met?" Kanji asked, more to himself than the girl standing in front of him. "Huh... yeah, I guess it did start back then, even though we didn't know you were a girl yet. But... I think even then, I... a-and then we saw, y'know, your... stuff, and the way I felt didn't change, and then I got to know you better and the feelings got stronger the more I knew, and then you got up on the Midnight Stage..." Kanji paused for a breath amid his vocal stream of consciousness, gesturing aimlessly as he considered what he'd say next. "Watching you up there, and being up there with you... I think something inside me... woke up."
"'Woke up'?" Naoto echoed, her voice higher in pitch than usual.
"Yeah, I guess. I was feelin' somethin' I've never felt before, even though I didn't really think that was possible when it comes to you. The way you moved, the way you looked at me... I mean, I've always liked you, but I ain't never felt like-" Kanji stopped short just as he realized what he was about to say, his entire body suddenly hotter than the sun. It didn't help that Kanji noticed the flush on Naoto's face and the same look in her eyes as when she had beckoned to him from the stage.
"Felt like... what, exactly?" she pressed, edging almost imperceptibly closer to him. Almost, because he always noticed her proximity to the millimeter. Kanji's fight-or-flight instincts exploded, but he clenched his fists at his sides and stood his ground. He had come this far, saying... oh shit, he'd said it. He'd finally come clean. Craaaaap. ...Oh well, that had been the whole point, right? And she hadn't slapped him, or shot him, or even so much as laughed yet. It was already far more than he could have hoped for.
"Like..." He gulped audibly as Naoto edged closer again. Or had he moved closer to her? Maybe both of them had moved closer? Whatever, didn't matter at this point. Throwing caution to the wind, Kanji raised a deceptively steady hand to the bill of Naoto's cap, pulling it up and off of her head. She blinked as its absence registered and jumped for it, more out of habit than anything, but he held it well out of her reach with an infuriatingly attractive smirk. With his free hand, he took the one reaching for the hat and lowered it between them, gently tugging at the connection until she was close enough for their rising body heat to mix. She craned her neck to look up at him as he leaned down towards her. "Kinda like I want to get you against a wall and not come up for air for a while."
Naoto inhaled sharply (in surprise? fear? what did it mean??), and in an instant, icy panic shot through his veins as he scrambled to undo any possible damage. "...Uh, I mean... shit, what am I sayi-"
The answer to that, just then, was nothing as Naoto grabbed the back of his neck and yanked until his lips were flush with hers. Some inhuman squeak came out of him in his shock - Naoto was actually kissing him!! - and it occurred to him later than it should have that he should probably reciprocate. She had already noticed his lack of participation, regrettably, and withdrew just as quickly as she had engaged. The hand that had pulled him in was now covering her mouth as her eyes went wide with fear.
"Oh my god, I... m-my apologies, Kanji-kun, I don't know what came over m-"
And then it was her turn to say nothing, because Kanji, having since dropped her hat on the floor (he'd have to apologize for that later), took her face in his hands and kissed her with over a year's worth of enthusiasm. A muffled, pleased whimper from Naoto nearly gave the ol' epistaxis a comeback of its own, but he held out, coaxing her back against the nearest wall as he deepened the embrace. He could feel her fingers raking through his gelled hair, headband probably somewhere beneath their feet (as if he cared at the moment). The small twinges of pain whenever she broke through more firmly congealed tufts of hair only made what was happening better somehow. Everything he had felt while watching her dance was making itself apparent, including, to his horror, in the last way he wanted. Before he could do anything to hide it, she definitely noticed - if the way she jolted upon contact with his pelvis was any indication - and they broke apart just long enough for Kanji to realize how hard she was breathing, how dilated her pupils were as she looked at him with as much fire as he felt in his loins.
With a growl that surprised even him, he took her mouth with his own again, this time lifting her up and holding her against the wall propped up on his knee, hands grasping her hips and backside to secure her in place. Naoto had thrown her arms around his neck in the sudden movement, out of necessity more than anything, but kept them there and tightened her hold on him by wrapping her legs around his waist. Kanji lost track of time as they lost themselves in each other. Later, it would occur to him that he'd have to thank Rise for asking them to come with her to this stupid thing... assuming Naoto was okay with him saying anything, anyway.
There was an unfamiliar tension growing in his stomach as things intensified, one Kanji didn't fully understand but certainly didn't dislike, until the ever-increasing pressure was too much to take anymore without sacrificing every bit of public decency. With no small amount of difficulty, he tore himself away from her and, slowly so as not to excite himself further, lowered her to the floor. There they stood as they tried to recover, hands joined tightly and foreheads resting together as they struggled to catch their breath. His eyes were screwed shut, and when he was finally able to open them, he found Naoto staring at him, glazed over but eyes blazing. Kanji gently dropped her hands and took hold of her face once more, lifting her gaze until it met his, and smiled at her with more emotion than he had ever dared display. Which, honestly, was saying something. Naoto returned the smile tenderly as she covered his hands with her own, and just as they leaned in again, his eyes passionate and hers fluttering closed, the door suddenly opened with a click! They jumped apart in a flash, but still just a little too late and far too disheveled to go unnoticed.
"Chie, I swear to Marie, if you don't give me back that- whoa, what the-!!" Yosuke and Chie, with Teddie in tow, barged into the room carrying several bottles of various types of soda, the two arguing like an old married couple as usual and Teddie with his own drink, smiling as if he hadn't a care in the world. All at once, the group realized what they had walked in on and balked.
"O-oh! Oh my... Geez, you guys, we are so, so sorry, we didn't... uh, haha, anyways," Chie stammered, blushing furiously and averting her eyes as Yosuke wolf-whistled at them.
"Ooh, is Kanji scoring??" Teddie asked happily.
"GET OUT!!" the mortified couple roared in unison, Naoto noting in a panic that her shirt had one too many buttons undone as her hand flew to her chest.
"Don't have to tell me twice," Yosuke winked, putting two of the drinks on the counter nearest the door before turning to walk back out. "Chie, our two awkward children are growing up so fast..."
"Shut UP, you idiot, they're not ours," Chie hissed as she followed suit, punching him square between the shoulder blades while dragging a loudly protesting Teddie out by the collar. She turned back only to shut the door behind her with a promise (her "penance," she said) to turn everyone else away for the next ten minutes with whatever excuse she could come up with. She also promised to knock Yosuke into next year if he even hinted at what they had walked in on without permission.
Kanji and Naoto, both frenzied and red-faced, finally relaxed after the sudden interruption and looked at each other in stunned silence. And then, they grinned. Then laughed. Heartily. "Holy crap," Kanji chortled, wiping the corner of his eye, "that would only happen to me right as I finally fess up."
"To me as well, I suppose, by association," Naoto empathized.
Their laughter died down, but the amusement remained, and Kanji unassumingly reached out to take Naoto's hands again. "So," he started as Naoto closed what little distance remained between them, throwing an arm across his shoulder. "Think ten minutes is enough?"
"For now," she decided, adopting the same professional manner she used when discussing her cases despite the fact that her lips were achingly close to his. "But after we return to Inaba, I'll need more time to gather data on what's happening here."
"Wait, Inaba? I thought you were going back to Tokyo after this," Kanji said.
"Not for several days. The case I'm consulting on right now is ahead of schedule, and can be put on hold while I visit home," she explained, laughing happily as Kanji picked her up and spun her around in his delight. He set her down somewhat abruptly as a question occurred to him.
"So, uh, for that... data gathering stuff. Y-you... gonna need me for that at all?"
Naoto giggled, sounding more like a schoolgirl than the rest of the time she'd been one. "I should say so. How else would one properly investigate the merits of you and I together?"
Kanji beamed and brushed her lips with his own, the tips of their noses lightly pressing together. "Makes sense," he murmured, lifting his chin to kiss her forehead before returning to her mouth. "I'm yours for as long as you need, then." The look of unbridled joy on her face when he said that would be forever burned into his memory. This was officially the best moment of his life.
"Good," she purred conspiratorially in response. "Let's get to work then."