Sunset

As they watched the sun set over the horizon, sitting side by side, she stealthily stole a glance at the boy beside her.

'He's so beautiful. They way his hair falls over his eyes... his beautiful, brown eyes.' She thought.

As if feeling her gaze on him, the boy turned to look at her.

She looked away quickly, a blush slowly creeping up on her cheeks.

The boy looked at her curiously, but decided it wasn't important and went back to watching the sunset.

'That was too close. I need to stop doing that.'

Despite telling herself not too, she looked anyway. 'What is it about him, that makes me feel so...'

"You know," He said suddenly, turning to look at her again. "It's not polite to stare."

She grimaced inwardly. 'Stupid. Stupid, stupid! I just had to stare at him, didn't I.'

"S-sorry." She said quietly.

'Why was she looking at me like that? The look in her eyes... I've never seen her, or anyone look at me like that.'

He didn't say anything, but looked straight ahead.

She followed his gaze back to the sun. It was almost completely set.

'It's almost time.' She thought to herself. She was suddenly overcome by the feeling of butterflies in her stomach. 'I can do this.'

She took a deep breath. "A-Ash," Her voice squeaked. 'Damn it!'

"Yeah, Misty?"

"I... Okay. I'm just going to come out and say it..."

He waited.

"We've been friends for a long time... a really long time..." She started.

"Yeah, we have. It's been so long since the day we met. When you fished me out of the river." He laughed.

"Y-yeah," She forced a smile. "A-and, I... your my best friend, you know."

"And you're mine!"

"Mmmhhmm... And I... ever since we were ten, I've always used my bike as an excuse to travel with you. And it was... at the beginning. But..." She trailed off. She couldn't look at him. So she turned and faced the sun set. She looked anywhere but him.

"But...?" He asked patiently.

"B-but... after awhile, I forgot all about my bike. I-I... I s-started to..." She took deep, slow breaths, trying to calm herself. 'It shouldn't be this hard. Why, oh why, does this have to be so hard?'

"You started to what, Misty? ...Misty? Misty!" Ash cried out in alarm.

She was crying.

Tears streaming freely down her face, she continued, completely unfazed. "I started to..."

The sun had set.

She turned to face him; She was ready.

"I started to love you." She said quietly.

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A/N: I couldn't think of a suitable response from Ash, without making him seem OOC-ish, so I just ended it there. I was listening to the song 'At the Beginning' from the movie Anastasia (or however you spell it), while I wrote this. I personally don't see any connection between that song and this story... but whatever.

Anyways, I hope you liked it.

Review, kay? It'll make me happy.