I'd like to give a plush Azumarill to Bell Marilli, for making kick-butt, tragedy, mysterious stories. It's pretty much motivation-giving! Since I obviously can't give that to her cus I don't own one, I'll give a big thanks instead. Thanks!

And don't worry too, to all of you, since some of my stories are on-hold, but they aren't to be given up on.

I don' t own Pokemon, you would've had a Magikarp as a starter...

Prologue

Again, he felt like shattered glass. Again, she had walked out curtly, a frown escaping her lips.

And frankly, again, she had shut him out.

The greninja gave a small frown, quiet like he usually was in front of her. And although he may have seemed stunned, thousands of thoughts roamed in his head. It may have been a storm of thoughts, but the foggy unspoken question, "why," stands out.

He saw her walk away with soft steps, covered with a cloak of a dark toned violet that dragged along the carpeted floor. It clung unto her scarlet furred shoulders, making her look so prim and preserved over-all. He mildly wondered if it was really optional to do the gloomy gimmick.

She looked nervous, fire red eyes looking so pale and dull as if drained by fear, the fur that stuck out of her pointy ears drooping as it embraced her neck. Her paws were drenched in sweat, the result of clenching them everyday. He never saw a bright grin plague her face, not even for the sake of pretending. It was all frowns and wrinkled foreheads for the poor delphine fox.

He knew by heart she locked herself in her room after her sudden escapes, not even a close relative to spare of a pep talk. She didn't need to tell him - in fact, she didn't tell him. With that lonely nature, she probably never known the meaning of friends, and if he asked him, she'd probably end their talk with her regular "I don't think that's even a word" phrase.

"Mafoxy-chan!" he randomly blurted out, reaching out a hand, as if it would just stretch and grab her.

"I told you to get out here." She swatted the topic away with a cold reply, stopping in her tracks but not turning to face him.

"But -"

"But what?!" She raised her voice, sounding cruel as she grew impatient.

"I was wondering, because-because you've been st-staying indoors so long, as I've heard, and -" he mumbled, messing up the sentence he tried to make, lost. He wasn't afraid of her though, he just really disliked talking.

"Where are you going with this?" She lowered her voice a little, letting a soft sigh leave her mouth. "You just stopped midway." He could take a guess at what she was trying to do. He somehow predicted her well.

"N-no-no..." He couldn't bring himself to say it, he didn't want to end it.

"Nowhere?" She finished, her eyes giving off a bitter and arrogant expression, one which she hid from him. "I appreciate the notion of curiosity, but some things are best left unsaid."

After a second's worth of a long blink, she felt his hand touch her soaking paws, tightly linking them together in an effort to make her take him seriously. Mafoxy pursed her lips, trying not to gawk, but failing to hide the tinted pink on her cheeks.

The ninja pokemon looked skeptical now, piercing his eyes at her, (luckily) oblivious to her embarrassed shock. He still wouldn't leave, not until he got an answer. "Why?" He briefly muttered, now straightforward about this. He practically choked her paw now, for lack of a better term. Now he was certain that she wouldn't make loopholes this time.

"I-I, er...um," she stuttered, trembling as a sole streak of rainwater began to sear through her snout one after the other. "...I'm scared." A salmon pink spread widely on her face - a worse feat than the whole situation at hand, actually - glancing down as she was too numb to release the grip her friend gave. She clutched the dark cloak she wore and brought it against her chest, letting her keep warm As she rubbed it against herself.

He still looked unconvinced, but she looked serious enough for it to be true. He gave a soft sigh of defeat. "Scared of what?" He briefly asked, silence sealing his throat right after.

"I always feel like throwing up when-whenever I-I be around you for more than half an hour."

"So...you hate me?" The dark-type concealed his mouth with his tongue-like scarf, looking slightly offended.

She smacked herself, lately realizing how stupid that sounded.

"N-n-no! Not like that at all, Sh-Shino-kun! Like I-I...I wanna be with you for more hours, and lately, you've been all I've been thinking of, to be honest..." She trailed off, rubbing the scruff of her cream-toned fur on her back. Saltwater began to cling at the corner of her eyes.

"I see... But why are you scared? That's how friends feel like when they're together, right?"

Friends? What...what are those?

"A-are you that stupid!?" She shrieked, extending her arms at her back, eyes closed as tears slid down, concealing their identity through the outpour of rain. "Friends don't exist! Why do you - why do you still believe in that nonsense – that sham!" She jerked her hand away from him, running wildly towards the wooden door before her, knocking it open with sheer force. All the greninja could do was extend his arm once more...

...but he already knew they couldn't grab her back.

"Friends, i-it's not t-true..." Mafoxy whimpered, tucking her head in her knees to hide all the tears. "Th-they're -they're a myth...all but that...it won't help me..."

She rose her head a little, staring at her paws that started to be adorned by a dark aura of some sort.

"Not-not like this..."