Hey, all! I know, it's been EONS (*attempts to count on fingers the number of days/months I've been gone, but fails*) since I've written anything, but here I am! Trying to get the creative juices alowing again, and since I've been playing Pokemon Black (Beat it twice in less than two weeks! Mwahaha) and I really love the whole N x Touko/White ship, I thought I'd use it to get back on the writing track. Tell me what you think! Also, just an FYI, I prefer the name Touko, so that's the name I use. Thanks for reading!

~Pika

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Touko sighed. She'd won the battle.

"Dewott, Return," she commanded, sealing the monster back into its Pokeball.

Behind her was the ferris wheel, lit up against the inky sky. Its lights glittered tantalizingly, winking into the night as if it knew something she didn't. Before her stood a young man who was kneeling before his fallen Pokemon, stroking its head before returning it to its 'Ball.

After a while, he stood and looked straight at her. Touko resolved to focus her attentions on the ferris wheel. His continued stare caused the heat to rise in her cheeks until she turned and looked back into his eyes. They were the color of pale spring leaves, as she had recently noticed (when, minutes before, she had been swept aloft in the ferris wheel's clutches with him). Him. The enemy. How dare he force her onto that ridiculous thing?

Still he stared at her. When she had finally surfaced from her angry pool of thought, he was still standing there awkwardly, looking at her. Looking through her.

"N," she said quietly, "no. This is not the time...not the time to...discuss anything. No debates on Pokemon liberation." Her eyes flicked from his to the shuffling group of Plasma grunts, standing uncertainly in the dark.

"Touko..." She began to open her mouth in response to his query, but he held up a hand. It appeared to be nearly luminescent in the half-light that emanated from the amusement park rides. "I have a question for you."

"M-my lord N!" said a timid grunt, finally stepping forward to face his king. "We must be off. Your Pokemon are hurt, and my lord Ghetsis will" - the man made a cut-throat motion in the air - "if you are harmed! Please, come along!"

Touko couldn't decide whether the odd sensation in the pit of her stomach when N gazed despondently at her was due to relief at his parting or exasperation at his innocence. It was amusing to observe the Plasma grunts as they timidly "forced" him to comply. He allowed them to take him away - a fact which stirred an irritated murmur in the back of Touko's mind. Why would he let them do such a thing when the two of them were -

"Touko," she reprimanded herself, "that's enough. N's the enemy...the king of Team Plasma, for goodness' sake! He's not exactly a dark hero, either..."

"I'm not?"

Touko considered passing out from shock - then decided that it would give N too much satisfaction. "How do you know I was even talking about you?" she retorted without missing a beat. She began to walk down the thoroughfare - the same say she'd come twenty minutes before - and she felt his presence just behind her.

"You're good," he commented idly. She could hear his steps grow slower, and she matched his pace, hardly realizing she did so. "Not easy to scare."

"No," Touko said, sensing the warmth in his tone, "I guess I'm not." She was content to walk ahead of him, knowing that her facial expressions of embarrassment and wonder could be her downfall in such a situation. Her mother had once told her that anyone could read her face like a book.

The dusk deepened, darkened, grew warmer. Rich hues of purple and red became infused with the few trees along the road in Nimbasa City, and the outlines of the stars grew stronger, brighter. Touko recalled that the setting sun had been in her eyes on the ferris wheel, and that surely, it was far more pleasant at night.

"N?" she asked.

"What?"

"What was the question you were going to ask me?"

Suddenly, he was directly in front of her, having stepped into her path. "Oh, that?" he said airily, in that tone of voice he used before launching into a stricture on his beliefs.

"It's not going to be some question about Pokemon and how their owners should liberate them, is it?" Her flatly spoken words were more of a statement than a question.

"For once, you're right."

"For once?" she shook her head, allowing him a full dose of her rolling eyes before turning her sights toward the road again. "...Never mind. What is it?"

N's eyes shone like faded emeralds in the light, catching her attention. The reddish tint of the surroundings lent strength to his gaze. Untold tales of liberty and captivity, of a struggle for truth and ideals, seemed ready to burst from his lips, which trembled. Unconsciously leaning forward, Touko awaited his next words.

And then he smiled. The tales longing to be told were gone, and in their place a light mischeviousness that had been missing from earlier encounters. "You really want to know?"

"Yes," Touko said, trying her hardest to conceal the eagerness which had begun to saturate her mind.

With a tentative touch on her shoulder, he seemed to suggest that she turn around so that she was facing the way they had come. She complied, responding to the barely perceptible gesture. He didn't seem comfortable making contact with anyone - even a handshake seemed to discourage him.

Thus, it came as a bit of a shock when she felt warm breath stir alarmingly close to her right ear.

"...How did you like the ferris wheel ride?"

What! A strange croak issued from Touko's throat; astonished at his nerve, she whipped around to face him. "N! What kind of a question is -"

But he was gone.

When she turned back in the direction in which he'd placed her, she realized that she was standing by the entrance to the dreaded - or was it really? - ride. Whether he was near or far, she determined not to give him the satisfaction of knowing the answer to his question. A small, unheeded smile curved her lips.

No, he would never know. Not if she could help it.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

So? How'd you like it? REVIEW if you liked, loved, or hated! I did my best to keep the two in-character - I really wanted to develop a bit of a personality for Touko, who seems to be (at least in the Ferriswheelshipping fics I've read) depicted as the weaker of the two characters who desperately misses N and is either acutely aware of it or is really naieve but it's, well, really obvious that she likes him. I tried to give her a different, hard-shelled, quick-witted personality. After all, that's why she wears the boots, right? :P

All I have left to say is: I love me some feedback. Thanks, all!

~Pika